After eating a lot of soup and a very unhappy stomach for the last few weeks, I wanted to make something filling, tasty and comforting. So what better dish than lasagna.

Lasagna is one of those dishes that is way easier than it appears. I do “cheat” and use the no bake noodles, but the rest is homemade. I use a nice combination of ground beef and pork with some onion and seasonings. I like a videlia onion tomato sauce. So layer noodles, the meat sauce and the cheese (ricotta and mozzarella) and bake. That’s it. Really, nothing more too it. And I get leftovers for the next few days. (Even with Mom and Dad over for dinner we still have half a tray.)

For dessert (you have to have dessert) I did my very first attempt at panna cotta. Turns out, this is a stupidly simple dessert to make. I dissolved some gelatin in water, heated cream and sugar, added a little vanilla and combined the two. Chill and done. I got the basic recipe from David Lebovitz. I did cut it in half since there were only four of us, but this took about fifteen minutes to make. I topped it with macerated blueberries and mango from my veggie basket and came out with a panna cotta Dad said was better than a restaurant’s and Mom actually liked. (Turns out she is not a panna cotta fan -who knew?) Bob said it was a definite do again. I’ll take all of those as high praise.

Erin, I did find a vegan version that I am dying to try, so come visit so I have an excuse to make it!

My intention today was to get over this cold, but it is just lingering. And since nothing sounds good, I decided to go with a flavorful dish for dinner in hopes of getting my appetite back. So … Jerk chicken it was.

My recipe for this called for cider vinegar and nutmeg, neither of which I have. I should have both, but somehow when I go shopping, I always forget to put them on the list. So, I decided to improvise. The marinade – white balsamic vinegar, two scallions chopped, three cloves of chopped garlic, olive oil, thyme, allspice, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, chili pepper, salt and a little brown sugar. I debated using honey and molasses, but wasn’t quite up for that much of an experiment. Chicken marinated for a few hours then hit the grill.

While the chicken was grilling, I took the bok choy from my veggie basket and braised it in veggie broth with some carrots and garlic (also from the veggie basket this week). The results were surprisingly good. And oddly, the Jamaican and slightly Asian flavors worked well together. I almost called is my “wanderlust dinner” post.

I will say, a lot of times there is nothing prettier on the plate than a colorful pile of veggies. It is almost enough to get my appetite back. Almost.

I haven’t done a ton of cooking this week as the nasty cold/virus thing just will not go away. But last night I was feeling a little better and decided, after dinner, to make a cake. And the one I wanted was the chocolate chip cake. Think big, moist, soft, chewy chocolate chip cookie in cake form.

So the basics of this are a lot like chocolate chip cookies – brown sugar, white sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour. It is the adding of milk to make a cake batter instead of cookies that is the real difference. And the best part is that you put everything together and mix – no add this then that to this recipe.

I made this as a bunt cake as, for some reason, I do not have any round cake pans. Weird. But, the bunt cake came out well and I drizzled some caramel over it when it was still warm. Bob really liked is one, and his description is the title of the post!

I also tried a butternut squash pie for lunch yesterday. I roasted the butternut squash and caramelized onions. Once the squash was nice a soft, I scooped out the flesh and blended it with an egg and some cream. I folded in goat cheese and sheep cheese and added a little Parmesan with thyme, salt and pepper. I did make a crust – I figured I was sick and so I get the crust this week – but this one would be really good with no crust.

I am hoping that I can get a few more things made this week, but we will have to see if the virus will go away.

There are times when I think my best food creations come with the first experiment. Sometimes it is the second or third version, but often the first time I make something it comes out really well and I never capture the same incredible flavors and texture of that first dish. I’m not sure why – it may be my expectations are increased, it might be a slight bit of ego going into the food or it might just be dumb luck. Whatever it is, I love experimenting in the kitchen.

This week I had prepped a few dishes over the weekend knowing it was going to be a busy week back at work. The chicken and onions was ok and we are having the beef stew tonight, but earlier this week I popped my fist ever chicken enchilada attempt into the oven … And it came out fantastic. Now if I can just remember what the heck I did when making the sauce, we will be in good shape.

The chicken part is pretty basic – cook a chicken breast in some water in a covered frying pan until it is cooked and you can pull it apart. Remove and pour out the water. Cook some chopped onion in a little oil with spices – coriander, cumin, pepper and … I think allspice -until soft and translucent. Reserve some of these for the sauce.

Meanwhile, grill a few tomatillos on the grill until they are slightly charred. Cut in half and put in a food processor with some chili (I used the paste), cilantro, parsley, some of the cooked onion and pepper. Blend until it looks like a sauce. I’m pretty sure that was it. I don’t think I did anything else to it and I know I didn’t have lime in it because I remember commenting to Bob that I had forgotten it.

Shred the chicken and mix it with the onions and some rough chopped, skinned tomatoes. Roll a portion in a flour tortilla with some shredded cheese. Lay in a pan, cover with the sauce and then another layer of cheese. I did find that I had to cook them at 400 to 450 to get the cheese to really bubble and melt, and that some sort of sauce or cooking spray would help with the clean up on this one.

The taste was surprisingly bright and tangy without a lot of heat. It had a nice balance of flavors and something I have to keep in mind as a “quick” dinner. Not the prettiest dish I have ever made, but a very tasty one. Not a totally grainless meal, but not bad.

Erin, this one was almost just for you.

As I was prepping meals for the week yesterday, it occurred to me that there are several kinds of cooks – those that cook because they need to eat, but get no real pleasure out of the process, those that enjoy the routine of cooking and coming up with something tasty to eat, and those that like experimentation with cooking – the trying different things and seeing what does and doesn’t work. When I mentioned to Bob that I like the experiment part of cooking best,he was not surprised. Apparently having a family with scientists in it means experimenting is in my genetic makeup. I would be offended by this, but really he is probably right.

That is a long set up for this week’s posts, but I spent a good portion of yesterday prepping meals for this week. (I know it is going to be a long week but I want to eat!). I liked making things I knew would work, but when I got to the experiments, the meals that were not direct from a recipe and I had not made before, I got really excited and happy. The same feeling I use to get when running or swimming (for the very brief time I swam as exercise). It just felt good.

Tonight’s meal was a meatless, grainless pie. A savory pie … A chard and feta pie. I got a beautiful bunch of rainbow chard in my veggie basket this week and wanted something different to do with it. I searched and searched and finally found a chard and feta tart recipe. Good start, but Bob is back on no grains (or as little as I can do) and I don’t have any more flour in the house after the holiday baking madness. So … I took the concept and changed it.

Erin, I know you are not a huge fan of ricotta, which forms the base of this, but if you had a crust I think you could substitute cottage cheese for the ricotta. So … One bunch of chard, chopped and wilted in a pan with olive oil. Add some onion and garlic (I didn’t measure here) and cook until the chard is wilted and the onions soft. Drain for about 3 minutes just to get all the liquid out.

In a separate bowl, combine one container of ricotta (or cottage cheese) and three eggs. I used two and it needed one more. Add the zest of one lemon, and mix. Fold feta cheese (about a third of a cup, maybe a little more) and the chard mix into the cheese. Pour into a pie plate (or tart pan with a crust) and bake at 350 for a half hour to forty minutes. Make sure the internal temperature is 160 or higher due to the eggs. Let rest for five minutes, slice and serve.

I liked this one. It did need salt after cooking as I didn’t add any to it prior because I was unsure of the saltiness of the feta. I thought an additional egg (hence the use three) and some seasoning would really improve the dish. But for an experiment, and a meatless, grainless one, it worked.