What we eat

Have you noticed people asking you what you cooked after you state that you cooked last night? It seems like this always happens to Travis and I. Being the cooks that we are, we are always asking it of others. We enjoy hearing what people cook, in order to think of new ideas for dinner.

With that said, what's your favorite meal to cook/eat?

Here are some of ours...

Butter lettuce (also known as Boston or Bibb lettuce) salad with balsamic vinaigrette, pulled chicken, dried cranberries, pecans and a goat cheese croquette. The goat cheese croquette is best made if you pat the goat cheese into patties, then flash-freeze the patties. Once you are ready to cook, dip the patties into an egg mixture and dredge in breadcrumbs (we prefer panko with herbs added). Fry until golden brown. The goat cheese warms to just the right temp to spreading consistency.

Thank you, Smitten Kitchen! These grilled shrimp kabobs/cocktail for two are wonderful! We made a meal of it and loved every minute of it!

Hamburgers are a safe, go-to meal when cooking indoors isn't available/desirable. We paired it with a salad Giada De Laurentis featured on 'Giada at Home'. Note: if you aren't a fan of the maple syrup, omit completely because this salad is maple, maple, maple.

Ovens + summer = one hot kitchen! We enjoy grilling as much as possible in the summer to save on indoor heat/electric bills. Grilled chicken is one of our summer staples. Pictured here with summer squash (tossed lightly with spray butter and sea salt), a three tomato salad (tossed with herbs, balsamic vinegar and olive oil) and fresh watermelon.

A ritual of our house is to cook a meal, using all of the available ingredients, before going to the grocery store. We started to notice that many of our fresh vegetables were going to waste within a week or so of going to the store. To remedy the situation, we throw anything and everything into a pan, cook it up and serve it with pasta. This week's "Kitchen Sink Pasta" features mushrooms, a little sauteed onion, leftover chicken Italian sausage, ground beef, remnant yellow and red bell peppers (originally from fajitas), leftover spaghetti sauce and carrots (for added crunch and nutrients). Throw in a little herbs and red pepper flakes and you have one fabulous meal. Past "Kitchen Sink Pasta" meals have included chicken, eggplant, various squashes, cheeses of all sorts, garlic, olive oil sauce (too many tomatoes can wreak havoc on the stomach), fresh spinach, and leftover assorted meats. Okay, not all in one dish, but you get our point...anything goes, as long as it goes together!

There you have it! Now that you know some of what we eat, what's your favorite thing to make/eat?