Weekend Roundup: S’mores and Menu Planning
I’ve discovered a new favorite dessert.
Chocolate date cake, you will always be in my heart, but you’ve been temporarily displaced by another.
It begins with a stack of fluffy white marshmallows …
Turn up the heat in your Big Green Egg.
Show off your mad toasting skillz.
Layer with chocolate and graham crackers …
… and you have yourself the perfect gooey, chocolatey treat with just the right amount of crispy toasted marshmallow.
Who says S’mores are only a summertime food?
Last night, Peter made an extra large batch of mapo doufu and I toasted marshmallows in the remains of the charcoal grill fire. What in blazes does mapo doufu that have to do with our egg-shaped charcoal grill?
Ever the diabolically inventive cook, Peter bought a metal frame that he can set right inside the Big Green Egg. Once the grill is burnin’ hot, he lays a round-bottomed wok in the frame so that it sits almost directly on the flames. High-temperature wok cooking is essential for a stir-fry with richly layered flavors. Real wok burners are bulky and expensive, so, as with his sous vide device, he just made his own.
Sometimes his brilliance is scary. Just as long as he uses that massively intelligent head for good, not evil.
I wish I had taken a picture of the wok burner setup to show, but that’ll have to wait until next time. Meanwhile, check out this post for shots of the BGE in its Egg Cartin’.
Okay, just let me shift gears.
*Griiiiiiind*
So, how about that menu planning? From last week:
Day 1: Roasted duck with hoisin buns and Delicata squash (pushed from last week)
Day 2: Baked beans with leftover pulled pork (preview of tonight’s dinner!) and “special” soup
Day 3: Tofu cauliflower stir fry (pushed from last week)
Day 4: Leftovers or FFA (free for all)
Day 5: Mac ‘n’ cheez with a “special” ingredient
Day 6: Curry chicken salad or Golden Harbor
Day 7: TBD (we might be having people over)
How’d we do, reader?
Day 1: Roasted duck with hoisin buns and Delicata squash
Done! See this post.
Day 2: Baked beans with leftover pulled pork (preview of tonight’s dinner!) and “special” soup
The “special” soup was pushed to later in the week, but it was a go on the beans.
Day 5: Mac ‘n’ cheez with a “special” ingredient
I moved Day 5 to Day 3 because we actually made the “special” mac ‘n’ cheez on Wednesday. Recipe forthcoming! (And a pat on the back for being flexible, Jessie!)
Day 4: Leftovers or FFA (free for all)
After making new dishes three days in a row, we deserved a day of leftovers.
Day 3: Tofu cauliflower stir fry (pushed from last week)
Hmm … still haven’t made this. The dish must be cursed. We ended up going to friends’ house for dinner and it was FABULOUS.
Day 6: Curry chicken salad or Golden Harbor
We’re pushing the curry chicken salad to this week. We had lots of tofu in the fridge because of the cursed tofu stirfry. Peter had a craving for mapo doufu, so mapo it was (see beginning of this post)!
Day 7: TBD (we might be having people over)
We still haven’t decided what we’re having yet, but it isn’t people over.
… please tell me that sentence doesn’t sound like we planned to eat people for dinner.
Final tally? 5.5 out of 7. Nice. (The 0.5 is from the mapo doufu day, because although we didn’t make the stir-fry, we still used the tofu, which is super awesome of us.)
This upcoming week:
Day 1: Curry chicken/tofu salad with fresh-baked bread (pushed from last week)
Day 2: Leftover Mapo Doufu. Because we have a LOT. Peter doesn’t cook wimpy portions, y’all.
Day 3: Savory Ingredient Week dish 😉
Day 4: Halloween gourd soup and frittata
Day 5: Leftovers or FFA (free for all)
Day 6: Dinner at one of Peter’s colleague’s house
Day 7: Ravioli or Golden Harbor
Happy Sunday!
Q: How was your weekend?
I used to not like smores but am newly obsessed with all smore like desserts. So good!
I really only like marshmallows in s’mores, otherwise I kinda find them blech.