My husband is manning the kitchen tonight. He is making homemade Italian meatballs made from ground chuck and spaghetti in a nice, seasoned arabiatta sauce with some more garlic bread. Perfect Italian comfort food on an October day.

Pork roast wrapped in bacon, steamed broccoli, roasted sweet potato chunks. The house smells great.

Last night for dinner I made cream of mushroom soup from a recipe I found on All Recipes. I did some minor tweaking and it came out quite tasty for my first time making it. I only get to cook on the weekend so for the rest of the week I amde Cuban black beans to be had with spinach and mushroom over egg noodles. Quick, easy and tasty.

Mission-style burrito: gigantic flour tortillas from Supermercado Morelia, chopped Evanston farmers market tomatoes, black beans borrachos, chicken chile with white beans, guacamole, pico de gallo, chopped romaine. . .whew!

Pork chops with homemade applesauce, butter poached salad turnips (delicious) from a late farmer's market in Mineral Point, WI, and roasted tiny new potatoes that we bought at an organic farm in Southern Wisconsin on our way home yesterday afternoon. A lovely fall meal.

Life got insane with the kids schedules, and I dropped the habit of posting dinner. I've missed it, so I'm going to try to get back into the swing.

Last night was kind of a clean out the freezer dinner. I had a smoked chicken on hand (wonderfully prepared by Seamus) and some sauce made from tomatoes I roasted before we went on vacation. I took the sauce and added garlic & cilantro and let that simmer while I hacked away at the chicken (I have no carving skills), added chicken to the sauce & let it all sit together. I also roasted some corn, added some black beans & finished it all off with some chili oil. I made what my family calls Mexican lasagna, layering with flour tortillas, sauce, corn & beans and some shredded Mexican blend and sharp cheddar cheese. Served topped with avocado slices, (sour cream would’ve been nice but we didn’t have any, and I wasn’t running to the store). I must say, it was pretty delicious! And, there was enough left over to freeze for a quick dinner on a busy night.

Made a simple but delicious dinner last night. Trader Joe's turkey kielbasa sautéed with mushrooms and served with gnocchi and gorgonzola cheese. Had some blanched asparagus on the side, ‘cause you gotta have your veggies and it needed some color.

My 8 year-old had a taste for
rosti mit Gruyère Käse, Zwiebel briet im Entenfett

(hash brown potatoes with Gruyère cheese & onion roasted in duck fat)
the duck fat was my addition!

a quick dinner last night.

pulled apart (3) leftover fried chicken breasts from Rip's, Wedron Office, & J.T.'s and knocked out a basic chicken salad(mayo, minced pickles, black pepper, garlic poweder, tumeric.) Made for a tasty sandwich while watching Simpson's episodes with Shay.

All about the comfort food with the weather lately and evenings have been busy this week, so convenience foods are in heavy rotation. Made some quick cook grits with chicken chorizo sausage and sautéed mushrooms. Added a couple of laughing cow garlic & herb wedges to make the grits creamy & cheesy (both good things, as far as I’m concerned!). Served some steamed some organic broccoli on the side to get some green stuff in.

working nights is a pain because it leaves me no time to cook and I gave to eat leftovers or make boring simple foods that I can take with. Tonight's dinner elbow macaroni with a blend of shredded Mexican cheeses.

Made ahead so it would have time to mellow for tonight - kielbasa with sauteed apples, onions and saurkraut.

Queso fundido, made with rajas of home-grown chiles, homemade chorizo, and pico de gallo full of those red jalapenos from Supermercado Morelia. Fabulous! Downside: I can't move now.

Baked mahi mahi with Penzey's Mural of Flavor, sides were sauteed spinach, baked acorn squash and polenta with quinoa. The last item was a "hmm, this sounds healthy and interesting" purchase from Whole Foods. Mr. X commented that it tasted like porridge with bird seed. It definitely needed something. But overall, a tasty, healthy meal.

Eggplant baked with spinach, onions and tomato sauce topped with ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan.

a bin full of pissed off and snapping blue crabs @ H-mart means a crab boil for supper tonight.

Roasting a chicken, with stuffing/dressing and a green veggie and an apple pie with the end of the apples from Seedling from the last Wicker Park market.

Haven't really cooked to much since Thursday night Taco night, in honor of my oldest son’s 10th birthday (double digits – yikes!). I’m not the “throw some taco seasoning in and call it done” kind of cook (not that there's anything wrong with that), so I roasted tomatoes in olive oil, a dash of chili oil and salt & pepper. I pureed them and added some cilantro and half a bottle of Sam Adams Harvest Ale. Had to add the obligatory taco seasoning mix because birthday boy likes the flavor, and really, I haven’t found a mix of seasoning to get that “taco” flavor without it. I added that sauce blend to cooked ground sirloin and let it sit through the day for the flavors to sit together & have a little party. I finished with some homemade guacamole, Spanish rice and corn w/ cilantro butter. Birthday dessert was homemade cookies, which are the classic Tollhouse recipe w/ a little Keri flare. I use King Arthur flour, add cinnamon and use mostly organic ingredients. Also, I use a blend of whatever chips I have on hand, this batch was chocolate & white chocolate, and I always use toffee bits. I’m not much of a baker, but I make a darn good cookie!

Yesterday was game day appetizers at our house. Cheddar and Pepper Jack cheese slathered in some sambal and pastelillos lobster rangoon consisting of lobster chunks, cream cheese and shredded cheddar cheese. we were quite full with just those alone.

This week for taking my lunch to work I have egg noodles with tofurkey Italian sausage from Trader Joes. Need to get back to TJs and get some more soy chorizo because I can definately do a variation in a rangoon including that.

Dinner tonight was actually leftover lunch from Saturday, which was born of my favorite use of leftover cheese platter: grilled cheese. I used slices of wheat baguette coated with olive oil & some chili oil (I may be developing some sort of addiction to chili oil, using it in a lot lately) and garlic. The gooey inside of the sandwich was a blend of pepper jack and cheddar cheese and some raspberry jam. Melted some butter on the griddle, and let the magic happen. Now that’s a grilled cheese worth having as leftovers.

KeriG wrote: I haven’t found a mix of seasoning to get that “taco” flavor without it.

Cumin
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Smoked Paprika
Oregano
Thyme
Ancho
Celery Salt
Black Pepper

gocubs88 wrote:

KeriG wrote: I haven’t found a mix of seasoning to get that “taco” flavor without it.

Cumin
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Smoked Paprika
Oregano
Thyme
Ancho
Celery Salt
Black Pepper

In equal proportions?

Thanks for the taco seasoning mix!!

Going on here makes me think perhaps I'm too accustomed to Facebook. I keep looking for a "like" button for post

Meatloaf for dinner last night, a hit with everyone in the house and it makes enough that I can freeze half for a delicious dinner in a flash another night. Everyone’s happy, and an already prepared delicious dinner for another night? Winning! I make my own interpretation of Rachel Ray’s Irish Pub meatloaf featured on her talk show. For this version, I used mix of ground sirloin and New Directions veal but left out the corned beef, and substituted regular shredded sharp cheddar instead of the Irish version since that’s what I had on hand. I also substituted finely chopped cauliflower for the carrots for the same reason. I replaced the stout the recipe calls for with Sam Adams Harvest Ale, and I always use skim milk instead of whole. Served with oven roasted potatoes seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder and tossed with some organic ranch dressing.

I made Jibaritos for the first time last night. Came out pretty good despite the tomatoes not really having much flavor.

I made my first Ferran Adrià recipe last night for an appetizer: sautéed chicken wings with garlic and mushrooms. They were delicious and made the world seem just a little bit smaller.

Pork Chop seasoned in Italian spices and double baked potatoes finished with black pepper, cayenne, old bay, garlic and shredded cheese on top.

Roasted chicken, stuffed with home-grown rosemary and lemon verbena. Pan roasted red potatoes and shallots, and roasted Brussels sprouts in their own little skillet. Chunks of a baguette, and the pan jus. Sauvignon Blanc to wash it down. Perfect cold-night dinner!

It's not super hard and if the group is small, a small bird is just fine
here's what I did today.

11 lbs bird. Remove legs and thighs
Debone double breast with skin attached

Roast wings, legs for stock ( done the day before and made Rulman's overnight stock in the oven)

Debone thighs (added to the reducing stock on the stove)
Stuff thighs between breasts
(one in the neck cavity , one in the thin end)

S&P, butter & herbs the interior
Roll & tie the breast/ thigh combo


Sous vide for 5 hours at 160 deg. ( I use a big A$$ stockpot on the small burner and can hold right around 160 no problem)

Roast for 20 min at 400 deg
Rest 15 min.

Slice and serve.

Well, not tonight, but this weekend: venison stew with cranberries and chestnuts. I can't wait. I picked up my meat today at Paulina and we'll be eating it this Sunday. I'll have to report back if it was good.