King Under the Mountain

Sorry to my friends in Buffalo buried in snow–stay safe and warm!  We have very little snow just an hour away in Rochester, but it’s still chilly.

Also, aren’t cats kinda like dragons?  They like to defensively guard their little burrows and sneak around peering at stuff.  I call it Smaug-mode.

Smaug eyeball.

See?

Anyway, I’ve had a crazy busy week at work and just haven’t gotten around to cooking/taking pictures/etc–that unfortunate combination of too much work and too much laziness afterwards. We’ve eaten an impressive variety of frozen Trader Joe’s products (hello, vegetable samosas) that I managed to warm up in the oven, and I even made a delicious meatloaf one night.  But then it was dark, and pictures would have been ugly, and we ate it all.

Sorry about that (it was the America’s Test Kitchen recipe, except I halved it and subbed ground turkey for beef, since that’s what we had in the freezer).

I also made this jambalaya, but didn’t take pictures of it until the second day, and I didn’t think the photos were good enough to warrant an “official” blog post.  Since I followed the recipe almost exactly (a few tweaks passed on from the cook who taught the class), you can find it here.

Although once inserted into a blog post and not in a tiny little thumbnail in my hard drive, it looks better.  If anyone wants, I’ll do a full post with tips once I put together a spice mix (like the pre-mixed “New Orleans” spice you can buy).  I didn’t buy any mixes while I was in New Orleans ’cause they are loaded with salt and I’d rather make a salt-free version that I can adjust myself.

With Thanksgiving coming up, there are a few recipes I’ve been eyeing for side dishes.  If anything turns out good, I’ll post them here.

Lastly–any recommendations for beet recipes other than pickled (yum, but over it), and plain roasted with balsamic (and occasionally goat cheese)?  I’ve got lots to use up but am a little tired of the same old, same old, and I’ve had a few recipe failures with beets over the years, so I’m wary (note: uncooked grated beets is an automatic no).

See ya later!

I AM KING UNDER THE MOUNTAIN

Also, just in case you don’t follow me on Instagram (I accept all non-suspicious/creeper, non-client/coworker followers)…Emerson just fell asleep like this:

“My teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail is a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death!”