Avocado, Cilantro, and Feta Dip

I love dip.  So easy to throw together, and a good way to blend flavours. The heat can be easily turned up or down to your taste. You can also focus on one or two interesting ingredients. What's not to like? Well, they can kind of taste similar if you're not careful and they all look like a pile of mush. Mounding it up in a decorative bowl helps, and garnishes like parsley, olive oil, and those ubiquitous rustic triangle crisps can distract your attention.

Avocado, cilantro, and feta dip. I forgot to take a picture, so
I borrowed this one - it turned out pretty much the same.

In this case, avocado is the star ingredient. It has a healthy and tasty reputation, and is kind of fun to prepare. Who doesn't like thumping a knife into the pit to remove it?  Lately cilantro leaves have enjoyed immense popularity in our house - so fresh tasting, almost delicate. As far as I'm concerned, you can't go terribly wrong with feta in almost any application either. This dip also has some diced hot peppers, although just enough to knock on the door to let you know they're there.

Next Time: may try something other than cilantro, or turn it into a fiery avocado dip

Me: 8/10
SO: 9/10
SSO: n/a

Scalloped Potatoes

I don't usually make good scalloped potatoes. There, I said it. But it's true - usually over/under cooked, curdled sauce (as SO reminded me), or just plain boring. Well this was none of those things, an actually very tasty. Cheesy, but not too much, cooked just enough, and flavour to boot. This was actually a sit-down Sunday dinner type thing, one of our stand-bys - a ham from the butcher, some form of potatoes, and peas. Is cheap to make, and there's always lots of leftovers for lunches. And to think I didn't even use cream this time - didn't really need it. No really!

Scalloped Potatoes

I have to say the key was both bacon and the cheese combo. The bacon - although somewhat redundant because of the ham - replaces the usual butter and gives lots of yummy flavour. The cheese combo was good quality old cheddar and Parmesan.  The cheddar gave it a bit of ooey gooey, and the Parmesan browned a bit and gave even more flavour. I'm going to make it like this from now on.

Scalloped Potatoes with Ham and Peas

Next time: wouldn't change much I don't think

Me: 10/10
SO: 9/10
SSO: 1/10

Fast-Fry Beef and Goat Cheese Salad

SO had a hankering for steak salad, so we did the cheap and easy version. Instead of fancy steak we used fast-fry. We had one of those giant plastic containers of spinach with half of it left, so we used that. Finally, we needed something to make it interesting so add the cheese.  It could have arguably used some sort of sauce, but I actually like it a bit on the "dry" side, plus there was a tiny bit of pan dribblings that moistened it up a bit.

Fast-Fry Beef and Goat Cheese Salad

Since there are "three bears" in this house (as in too lumpy, too smooth, just right), we cannot possibly have just one variety of cheese for the meal. SSO had the usual medium St. Albert's cheddar, I had pepper goat cheese, and SO and fancy blue cheese.  No pepper on the steak for SSO either - "too spicy!". Overall, everyone was really happy - not sure if it was because it was truly an awesome meal, or just that we have been eating throw together crap for 6 weeks (see details re kitchen renovation in the previous blog entry).  Well I exaggerate perhaps a bit. One of the tricks I think here was the Montreal Steak Spice (a hit-you-over-the-head variety of spice), and another was slicing the steak really thinly once fried up.

Next Time: would try a higher-end version with nice steak and some fancy drizzling sauce.

Me: 9/10
SO: 9/10
SSO: 9/10 (!!)  It was eaten in component form, but "whatever"...