May I kiss the cook?

As I mentioned in a previous entry, I don't cook much. It's not that I can't; I just don't enjoy it as much as Devin. He's my chef, and I love it.

We (I mean he) finally got back into cooking real, hearty meals recently. He planned a menu that fit into our grocery budget, and we purchased lots of fresh veggies and other items to get us through the week.

Steak sandwich goodness

We started with a steak sandwich last week: a tender, juicy fillet topped with sauteed onions and blue cheese crumbles, all packed in a ciabatta roll. Gosh, that was a tasty bite. Devin also served up a side salad with his own vinaigrette.

Then on Sunday, right before an afternoon of golf, Devin did up a Bobby Flay burger recipe. A mango chutney bacon burger with a slice of herbed goat cheese! Can you say yum? Really wish I had taken a photo of this, but it disappeared pretty quickly. We'll definitely be making that one again.

Monday's dinner was pan-seared pork chops sliced onto Israeli couscous, carrots, celery, onions and artichoke hearts and topped with a lemon and Dijon mustard sauce. Ahhh-mazing! It was light, fresh and slightly tart.

Then Devin made a smoky ham and potato corn chowder, which provided us with dinner Tuesday night and lunch and dinner on Wednesday. Also forgot to photograph that one. So good! It was also convenient that we still had a bag of sweetcorn in the freezer from my mom.

Thursday was spaghetti squash. Until this dish, I wouldn't touch a squash. Devin has this way of making less-than-appealing dishes simply irresistible, kind of like the sausage endeavor.

I'm pretty excited to try new soups this fall and winter. This weekend we made a pot of chilli (and I can say we because I suffered for the cause by helping chop onions). Normally our big pot of chilli will last about two-and-a-half to three days if we eat it for every meal. This time, though, we threw everything into a 16-qt. stockpot. Believe me, there are leftovers. We threw a couple containers in the freezer, just in case we get sick of eating it all week, because it will last us. I'm enjoying some right now on my lunch break. mmmMMM!

LoLo loves chilli.

Here's to being blessed with food in our fridge, and here's to LoLo's chef, who always finds something new and impressive to create. *Cheers*