Making lots of hors ‘doeuvres for tomorrow’s party. I had an entry prepped and ready to go but it’ll have to wait. So…forgive me?

I like waffles.  I don’t live near Waffle House so the Majestic’s waffles up the street have to do. They were pretty okay, but the turkey sausage needs some work.

I am a compulsive recipe-clipper. Be they in the New York Times Wednesday Dining Out section, the AJC Thursday Food & Drink section, Cook’s Illustrated, Cooking Light, or wherever I may find them, I have a crazy huge stack of them. I wish I could say they are all clipped nice and neat and arranged in some sort of order that would, to the sane mind, make sense. But they are not.

The LSC calls them my hobo-recipes. I think he means this term as indicative of their shabby poorly-taken-care-of state and not any actual recipe that lies within.

Sometimes my hobo recipes call for dishes that may not be in sync with the weather. Here is example #1:

I made Thai peanut noodles Sunday; the recipe called for rice noodles, but I couldn’t find any at my local grocery, so I made do with thin spaghetti. Luckily, I always have leftover pasta somewhere in my pantry.

My only caveats about this particular recipe are these: I used sunflower seed butter instead of peanut butter and if you can, halve the peanut sauce recipe because it makes a lot of it and there’s high potential for swimming noodles instead of lightly coated noodles. If you end up making the entire batch of sauce, save some for making chicken satay or a dipping sauce for basil rolls or something. And, again, if I had had any crushed peanuts or perhaps some tofu, I would have totally done it up like that.

Rice Noodles with Peanut Sauce

8 oz. rice noodles

1 cup reduced-fat creamy peanut butter

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce

2 tsp. fresh grated ginger

1 tsp. crushed red pepper

1 cup veggie broth

1 cup matchstick carrots

1 small red bell pepper. cut into thin strips

2 medium sliced green onions

2 tbl. chopped fresh cilantro

Cook noodles according to directions. Drain, rinse in cold water, drain well and place in a large serving bowl. In medium bowl, whisk together peanut butter, soy sauce, ginger and red pepper flakes until smooth. Gradually whisk in broth. (Reserve half of sauce if you made a whole batch.) Add peanut mixture, carrots, bell pepper and onions to noodles; toss to mix. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Last night I made a huge batch of couscous.

For this one, I used Israeli couscous for the first time; you can tell it’s quite larger than regular couscous—and I’m pretty sure that’s a record for using that word so many times in one context. I didn’t make any subs with this one really; I might have used a nice sheep’s-feta instead of the Parmesan, maybe added some protein. Heck, now I’m even thinking goat cheese would be super.

Mediterranean Couscous

1 cup dried Israeli couscous

10 kalamata olives, chopped

1 6-oz. jar marinated artichoke hearts, with liquid

1 yellow bell pepper, diced

1/2 red onion, diced

1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced

1/4 cup julienned sundried tomatoes

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Prepare couscous according to package. Rinse under cold water and drain. Meanwhile, in a large plastic container, combine the olives, artichoke hearts and liquid, bell pepper, onion, cucumber, sundried tomatoes, basil, parsley and lemon juice. Add the cooked couscous and stir to combine. Fold in the grated cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Monday, Matt C. and I kicked late afternoon-style at The Porter again. He opted for the St. Bernardus Christmas ale, which he pronounced delicious with a sweet finish and a hint of nutmeg. After perusing the extensive beer list, I finally decided on St. Bridget’s Porter, which had a lovely coffee-like taste.

I wanted a snackie so I had these homemade wheaty pretzel that were served with a roasted red pepper mustard. The mustard was awesome though I would have liked a bit more of it. I love the Porter’s atmosphere; it’s cozy, well-appointed, and would make a great neighborhood bar if I still lived in the ‘hood. Some dude who bummed a cigarette from me owes me a drink, though.

Not everything has to be Top Ramen or takeaway. I find that I can spend at least $20 dollars at the store and come away with enough ingredients to make a fairly healthy and nutritious meal. And last night, as a cold cold wind was blowing through the trees, I made something really yummy for myself. Soon I will be making yummyliciousness for two, but for now, it’s just me (and the two furry beasts).

Here in the South a traditional breakfast dish is fish’n'grits. Usually the fish is catfish or trout and it’s fried.

Don’t get me wrong: I liked fried. But I don’t own a FryDaddy nor do I wish set up a pan of boiling oil in the kitchen and live with the stink of it for the rest of the foreseeable future.

So I found a recipe that called for making some spicy baked white-fleshed fish and that sounded more my speed. It was crazy easy; you just rub the raw filets with an impromptu spice mix, bake, then slather with a compound butter afterwards.

I apologize for the slightly less appetizing photo, by the way. The filet flipped as I was placing it down and trying to fix would have messed up the entire dish into something even uglier. I forget that thin filets are very delicate.

Spicy Tilapia with Chipotle Butter

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp. paprika (I used smoked)

4 4oz. tilapia fillets

1 tbl. butter, softened

1 to 2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, finely minced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a bowl, combine cumin, paprika, 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/8 tsp. pepper. Rub into the fish. Transfer to a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

Meanwhile, combine butter and chile. When fish has cooked, transfer to serving plate and spread butter evenly over fish.

I was originally going to serve this over some jasmine rice, but as I stated before, I wanted to do something Southern.

Even though I’ve lived here most of my life, I’ve never really been a big fan of grits. However, I am a big fan of polenta, though admittedly polenta is just Italian grits. The cheesy slightly gritty texture works so well with the spiciness and tenderness of the fish that this dish was a really great idea.

Cheesy Polenta

2 1/2 cups of milk

1 1/2 cups water

1/4 cup butter

2 tsp. chopped garlic

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 cup plain yellow corn meal

1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1/4 grated or shredded Parmesan cheese

Combine milk, water, butter, garlic, salt and pepper in a large saucepan. Bring to boil over high heat.

Add corn meal, whisking constantly, until well-blended. Reduce heat to low and cook 8 to 10 minutes, whisking often, until thickened.

Stir in cheese, mixing well. Serve polenta soft as you would grits.

I made it through NaBloPoMo, didn’t I?

Yesterday was my BDO (known as the Big Day Off) and I decided to make pumpkin bread. Not from scratch, mind you, but from a Trader Joe’s mix that I bought a couple of weeks ago. As you can see, it turned out…okay.

To my way of thinking: bread implies loaf, loaf implies loaf pan, and pumpkin bread batter implies pouring said batter into a loaf pan. Only it didn’t really work out that way. The bread came out perfect in the center and the edges burnt, so: lesson learned.

Dinner tonight was a potato salad that I made yesterday—a little heavier on the dressing than I intended—and panfried sausages. They were good. It was all good. I’ll have a recipe for you guys in a couple of days.