January 18 - 23

The candy from the holidays is finally all gone, except for the 2 big fair trade fancy chocolate bars my mom got us, and you can't really nibble on those -- you have to commit.  So maybe the endless grazing will settle down.  But probably not so much.

And after that fun update on my chocolate supply, this is what we'll eat before we wish for chocolate every night!

Sunday

Salmon (probably pan-roasted in our beautiful new Christmas-gift skillet -- salt and pepper, heat a bit of olive oil, cook until it has a gorgeous crust)

Oven-roasted potatoes and carrots (chop 'em, dress in oil, salt, pepper -- the universal seasonings, you know -- and put on a pan in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes)

Salad

Maybe today is when we try the creme brulee!

And also...  homemade bread.  The breadmaker from our wedding finally died.  So I'm trying to make bread by hand.  The kind I made this week comes from a recipe in the New York Times.

Monday

Venison fajitas:  Saute onion, garlic, mushroom, red bell pepper in olive oil until tender.  Add thinly sliced venison steak, cook for a few minutes.  Add some fajita-like spices (ancho chili powder?  garlic powder?  anything red that isn't paprika?) and a bit of water, simmer.

Steam fajita wrappers over the simmering mixture.

Fill your wrapper, top with sour cream, shredded cabbage, avocado, cheese, salsa, whatever.

Tuesday

Happy inauguration day!

Ham and bean soup:

In addition to the fair-trade chocolate, my mom also gave us some Six Bean Organic Soup Mix from the Women's Bean Project, a non-profit that employs women who have experienced chronic unemployment, poverty or difficult life situations.  It's in Colorado.  She finds this stuff at servv.org, a site that supports farmers and artists around the world.  It's pretty cool.

So, we're going to use the beans, soak them overnight, rinse, and put in the slow cooker.  We'll add the spice packet that came along, along with a chopped onion, a big can of diced tomatoes, more water, chopped garlic, and an anniversary ham bone (it's from the ham we had for Phil's parents' anniversary party -- we wrapped them and saved them in the freezer for winter soup!).

We'll slow cooker it all day and see what we get.

Wednesday

I'm guessing it'll be leftovers.

Thursday

Crispy Tofu Pad Thai (but we're putting some shrimp in, too)