What I cooked this week, Episode 1

The hubs and I are trying to eat at home more than we did in our last few months of living in Houston, at least two dinners during the week and at least one dinner and one lunch on the weekend. In the interest of holding ourselves accountable to this, I'm going to post a weekly rundown of what I cook each week. Also, I take a lot of photos that I want to share but don't have the energy to put together a post every time I cook a meal; this way, I get to post them.

Episode 1, June 7-13, 2010

Thai red curry with chicken, zucchini, and yellow squash

An old standby. Zucchini and yellow squash from the Divisadero farmers' market. I explain how to make this dish in this post.

Beet, bacon, goat cheese sandwiches

Beets from the Divisadero farmers' market; Niman Ranch bacon; Redwood Hills Farm garlic-chive chevre. This was a good idea, and all the elements were great (I love roasted beets!), but there was too much bread. Better luck--and less bread--next time.

Peach and blue cheese baby arugula salad with bacon and vinagrette

California peaches; Point Reyes blue cheese; Niman Ranch bacon (at $6 a package, I really stretch this bacon out); homemade vinagrette. This salad, inspired by a special at The Monk's Kettle, was AMAZING. I loved the peach and blue cheese combo. Will make again.

Whole wheat pasta with pan-cooked salmon and arugula pesto

This dish came together in about 15 minutes. Everything about it is fast: Throw stuff in the food processor--you've got pesto. Salmon cooks in five or six minutes. Pasta cooks in less than ten. The pesto was a little bitter on its own but was helped by the other elements of the dish.

We also had some spaghetti with sauce that Andrew made last week (we froze the leftovers, exactly two portions' worth), but I have no photo.

A successful week, all in all. I am taking more care in plating my food these days, and still trying to find the best lighting in my kitchen during the day and at night.