Just wanted to share...

Just the news about the fabulous eating the last few days, and my new cookbooks I got for Christmas this year.

New Year's Eve dinner

We had courses, spread out over several hours, so our tummies wouldn't get too full.

Prawns, sauteed in garlic and chili flakes, with a bit of white wine at the end

Venison tenderloin, quickly seared in butter, then sliced with bits of bread for rescuing any sauce

King crab legs, grilled, with butter for dipping, salad and bread on the side

Creme brulee for dessert!

New Year's Day dinner

One of my new cookbooks this year was Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. More on that later. We had a lovely roast from our November CSA delivery, so boeuf bourguignon seemed necessary. Homemade chocolate-peanut butter ice cream for dessert.

Fun Gifts!

Three lovely cookbooks:

Adventures of an Italian Food Lover, by Faith Heller Willinger

Simply Organic, by Jesse Ziff Cool

The aforementioned Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. I've long thought that this cookbook wasn't really for me, as it seemed fussy and full of butter. But I changed my mind after seeing Julia and Julia this summer (reading the book twice didn't convince me, but seeing the food being cooked was enough to push me over the edge). Don't know how many recipes I'll try, but I'm having fun just reading it.

Also, I got some gorgeous 18-year old balsamic vinegar and basil olive oil from Fustini's Oil and Vinegar (yes, I got vinegar for Christmas, and yes, I'm that excited about it).

And fun tools! A kitchen scale, so less guessing of measurements, and a mandolin, so cool slicing and dicing and pretending to be on Top Chef.

Alas, I did not get any big giant elastic fat pants for Christmas, so I'm gonna have to be good for a while. Expect lots of fish and salads. Happy New Year!

Special Cookie Update

I'm on break now for the next two weeks, so menu planning is taking a back seat to other merriment. And also, I'll have time to go day-by-day and go to the grocery store during daylight hours and stuff like that. But I have been working on some goodies. Thought I'd share.

The big plan this year:

Chocolate-covered peanut brittle

Homemade s'mores

Chocolate caramel cookies

Strawberry jam thumbprints

Here's my peanut brittle recipe. It's made in the microwave, and it uses corn syrup, and while both of those things normally make my spine shriek a little, it is the holidays... I need to let go.

1 c sugar

1/2 c light corn syrup

mix together in microwavable glass dish (I use a giant Pyrex measuring cup)

microwave for 4 min.

add 1c peanuts, stir, cook for 3 - 5 min. more (I do 3:30)

add 1 tsp butter, 1 tsp vanilla, cook for 1 - 2 min (I do 1:30)

add 1 tsp baking soda, stir, pour on greased cookie sheet, cool

Then, later, I melt chocolate and dip the pieces, spread on waxed paper and cool.

The s'mores idea came from the $26 box that is currently selling at Williams Sonoma. It was one of those "I can make that" moments. I haven't yet, but here's the plan:

Make homemade marshmallow.

Cut to graham cracker size.

I'll either dip the whole sandwich in chocolate, or dip just the graham crackers and then sandwich them around the marshmallow. I need to experiment a little.

I might sprinkle some crushed candy cane on top, just for more fun.

The chocolate caramel cookies are Phil's favorite.

The strawberry jam thumbprints are another new thing this year. I was looking for something not chocolate-based, and I have a ton of strawberry jam that I made this summer.

Not currently on the menu, but a good gift option is orange coconut bread. I made some batches of this last week and gave a few loaves away. And it's yummy for breakfast or a snack.

Happy holidays!

December 13 and it's rainy and sleety

What yicky weather. Makes me want spicy food! (But then, I want spicy food in the summer too... so maybe I'm just looking for an excuse).

Sunday

Jambalaya. I'm trying a new recipe.

Monday

Sole, probably roasted in the oven... a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, a few capers. Roast until it's done, then sprinkle lemon juice.

Roasted fingerling potatoes

Salad

Tuesday

Homemade tomato soup

Cheese toast (bread with cheese sprinkled on it, then toasted in the oven)

Wednesday

More soup. Or maybe more jambalaya. Or both?

Thursday

Salmon with salad...

Probably pan-roasted (the salmon, not the salad)

and then just a basic salad with yummy balsamic vinegar dressing, and maybe sunflower seeds. They sound good right now.

And Christmas cookies for dessert!

December 6 and so on...

A great thing about cold weather is cooking warm delicious things and having the house smell all yummy for days afterwards. Just makes me want to roast chickens all the time, you know?

Sunday

We'll roast a chicken! A regular-sized one this time...

Mix up some chopped garlic, random herbs (maybe some pesto), olive oil, salt, pepper, a little bit of white wine... Loosen the chicken skin and start shoving the mixture in between the meat and skin. I've put quartered lemons and apples inside the chicken before, but today we have oranges, and so I'm wondering about doing that. Don't know for sure yet. Roast for 45 minutes to an hour covered with foil, then remove and roast the rest of the way (45 more minutes, about).

Roasted sweet potatoes, some kind of green veggie will accompany.

Most of the week...

Probably scrounging off extra chicken, eating random leftovers...

Thursday

Beef (or maybe venison) stroganoff:

Brown meat, add onions, garlic, mushrooms, some extra beef stock, simmer w/ salt and pepper, stir in sour cream, serve over egg noodles.

And maybe, if we're lucky, candy canes for dessert this week! (If I remember to buy some)

November 29 - December 3

December... yikes!

Sunday

Using the turkey leftovers I brought home from my mom and dad's dinner -- tenderest turkey EVER! Mom, don't let anyone tease you for getting a good happy chemical-free turkey. It was fabulous! And now, it will be part of one of my favorite soups. The soy sauce makes the difference:

Turkey noodle soup

Good bread

Monday

Mongolian beef (but with venison -- we're trying to plan our meals based on what's already in the freezer, not just what our latest whim is)

Tuesday

Salmon -- probably oven-roasted, since I think it's supposed to be cold and maybe even snowy, so grilling might be less fun than usual

Sauteed swiss chard

Sweet potatoes -- probably diced, coated with oil, salt and pepper and roasted

Wednesday

Personal pizzas on naan. With whatever veggies are hanging out in the fridge.

Thursday

Phil's making spaghetti!

No side dishes, he has decreed: the sauce will have everything we could possibly want.

Except maybe bread, for mopping up aforementioned sauce.

November 22 - 25

Happy Thanksgiving! This will be a short week. Not complaining, just sayin'.

Sunday

In an effort to use up the last of last year's venison (before our new stuff comes back from the processor), we're having venison chops. Quick, quick saute in a pan with a little bit of butter and garlic. Gorgeous. They're kinda small, so we'll have a bit of a smorgasbord:

Venison chops, sauteed with garlic and butter

Pan-seared scallops (just a couple)

Sauteed shiitake mushrooms

Broccoli

Sauteed cabbage (just olive oil, salt and pepper -- I do love it so)

Monday

Sausage-stuffed acorn squash (Cut a squash in half, turn face down in a baking dish with an inch of water, cook for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Meanwhile, saute some turkey sausage with casings removed to brown it. I'm thinking there might also be some onion involved here. When the squash is cooked, put brown sugar on the inside, then stuff with the sausage & onion. Bake for 15 minutes more.)

More sauteed cabbage (and the joy of cabbage is that when you buy one, it lasts for so darn long!)

Tuesday

I'm betting it'll be time for leftovers. The acorn squash I bought is pretty big.

Maybe we'll saute some cabbage!

Wednesday

Grilled salmon fillet

A side dish of some kind: perhaps cabbage? ( I know, it's not even funny anymore)

Thursday

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm not cooking. I get to bring appetizers and a side dish. Here's the plan:

Appetizers:

I'm going to drag out some of the stuff I pickled and canned this fall: Pickled cauliflower, pickled beets, and sun dried tomatoes soaked in white wine vinegar and olive oil. We'll also have some marinated mushrooms and kalamata olives. And cheese. Always cheese.

Side dish:

Brussels sprouts with bacon: Cook some bacon, drain, cool and crumble. Chop big sprouts in half, leave the little ones whole. Heat some olive oil in a pan, put the sprouts in, let the parts touching the pan brown up a bit. Add some garlic, stir around a little, add some stock (veggie or chicken) or wine (white semi dry is good) and let it all steam up a bit and make a little sauce. Add the bacon, some salt and pepper. Drool.

Friday

You thought I'd say turkey, huh? But I'm thinking it will probably be pizza. :)

November 15 - 19

I feel like we're in a bit of a food rut lately. We've been sticking with the tried-and-true super quick stuff during the week because of the massive number of meetings in our lives (have you noticed that, be they monthly meetings, quarterly meetings, or whatever, they almost all seem to fall about two or three weeks before Thanksgiving? Gotta get 'em in before the holidays! -- but I digress) and that means the same old stuff. I don't know that I've done any better this week, but my eyes are open for some inspiration to smack me upside the head. Yoo hoo, inspiration, I'm ready...

Sunday

Beer and cabbage soup... with different sausage. Last time I made this, I used some sausage I bought at the farmer's market, and I know everyone has their own sausage preferences, but the stuff I used just did not go with the soup. And I so love this soup. So, I gave it a few weeks, and I'm trying it again. With different sausage.

There will also be bread.

Monday

More soup, should the sausage perform as expected. Otherwise, maybe Easy Mac. :)

Tuesday

Gnocci with tomato sauce

sauteed green beans

Wednesday

Flatbread pizza: Piece of naan, top with sauce, veggies (maybe some marinated mushrooms), mozzarella, bake at 400 degrees for about 12 - 15 minutes.

Thursday

Grilled salmon, roasted sweet potatoes, salad.