Pilsner + Pork = Perfection

I had something today that I rarely have anymore- time.  Time to clean the house.  Time to do laundry.  Time to grocery shop.  And most importantly, time to cook.  I even squeezed in a yoga workout and a trip to one of my favorite local ice cream shops.  It was a fabulous day. 

The Hubs was busy tutoring students all day for their upcoming AP Exam so I had the house to myself...for almost 7 hours.  These days are very rare and I treasure them.  I'm an incredibly independent person and so "alone time" has always been very important to me.  It also meant that I had time to attempt an all-day recipe. 

In Honor of a 'Snow' Day

Our district gave us the day off tomorrow.  Not even sure when or how much it's going to sleet or snow  here (hoping it's not going to be much), but I feel as if I have received a last minute pardon on a death sentence. 

Okay, maybe that's a tad dramatic, but I do feel as if tomorrow is a precious gift. 

Here is the email we recieved from the district telling us in no uncertain terms that no, we may not set foot on campus tomorrow.  I want to know who the heck emailed the Ad Building asking for permission to work tomorrow?!?!





I have been tired this week and have felt like I just couldn't catch up on lessons and grading for one of my classes.  On top of that we are heading out of town this weekend for a family reuinion where we will celebrate my grandparents' 65th wedding anniversary and I haven't even begun to think about packing. 

Feeling overwhelmed/tired + severe arthritis flare-up in my hand + temps that have been pretty much below freezing for the past 2 and a half days = need for some seriously unhealthy and junky comfort food. 


My bowl - perfect ratio of fritos : chili : cheddar

 Before I left for the grocery store this afternoon I asked the Hubs what he wanted for dinner.  His response, "Something hearty and warm".  To me that screams Frito Pie.  Not made with canned chili of course, but still warm, hearty and deliciously unhealthy.  Sweet Hubs even chopped the onions and grated the white cheddar.



The Hubs' bowl - incredibly full &  heavily garnished 

After dinner - a nice fire roaring in the fireplace and some white chocolate macadamia nut cookies in the oven.  Yep, it's gonna be a great evening.

A Week of Soups...

As the Hubs and I were sipping our coffee on the back porch this morning watching the fluffy little monsters darlings ran around the back yard, we lamented the fact that January and February can be incredibly dreary.  They just seem so overwhelmingly gray to me.  Not that every day is cold and/or rainy, but it sure can feel that way. 

Ajax (the Hubs' little buddy)



Smudge (my little diva)



 And this region is famous for its weather sucker-punches.  Just when you think it's safe to start wearing those capri or crop pants again and work on making your skin a little less pasty-white because the skies are a clear blue and the temperature is a lovely 70 degrees, temperatures once again plummet to near freezing and those dreary clouds return.  Such a cruel joke.  Not to mention the fact that the kitties don't speak very good English, so it's a little tough to explain to them why we can't go outside when it's 35 degrees!

Since realistically it's not going to reach the 60s & 70s on a regular basis for another 8 weeks or so, I've decided to embrace this weather and use it as an opportunity to explore a wide variety of soups.  I guess it's one of those "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" things.  Because really, is there anything better than a bowl of piping hot soup on a wintery day?   

On the menu for this week:
My Mom's To-Die-For Potato Soup (yes, it's that good and surprisingly low fat), Split Pea Soup and a Vegetable Beef Barley Soup

Two small details I still need to work out... Getting my mom to agree to let me share her fabulous recipe and figuring out how to get the Hubs excited about eating so much soup in one week.

Fail-Proof Meatballs and Tomato Sauce

There's something really comforting about a plate (or bowl) of spaghetti and meatballs.

photo by: the Hubs

Growing up we never ate spaghetti and meatballs.  My mom can't stand doesn't care for meatballs so she always just browned some ground beef and stirred it into the sauce to serve over spaghetti.  I didn't know any different so it was fine with me...until I tasted my first really good beef meatball.  There was no going back. 

Meat and Potatoes

One of my favorite hearty cold-weather dishes is Shepherd's Pie.  I think last winter was the first time I even tried it and all summer I longed for the cooler weather just so we could have it for dinner again.  I love the rich gravy and the luscious layer of potatoes on top, especially when they get a quick blast from the broiler. 

Perfect for a rainy evening.

Maybe another reason I absolutely love it is because the flavors and the richness remind me of the pasties a friend and I enjoyed in a cozy little joint called The West Cornwall Pasty Company.  We (the girls) took the day to shop at Harrod's and the boutiques around Covent Garden while our husbands toured Stonehenge.  A wise decision considering it ended up sleeting and snowing that day. 

It was so cold and windy on the Thames!
The Hubs doing his job as trip photographer.

That was such a fun trip!  And so was our trip to Mexico the following March, in fact, none of us wanted to come home. 

We were going for the 'sun-kissed' look that week.
One of the most relaxing trips ever!

After taking a year off in 2010 we are on the move again with a trip planned to Costa Rica this spring break.  Booked the tickets last night and the countdown has begun!

It's Not Delivery...

We had pizza for dinner tonight. 
But it wasn't delivery, and it certainly wasn't DiGiorno. 
It was homemade and it was delicious.

The Pioneer Woman posted two pizza recipes last week (CPK's BBQ Chicken Pizza & Carmelized Onion and Prosciutto Pizza) and I've been craving the stuff ever since.

Made the dough last night and let it rise slowly in the fridge overnight.  Best part is the crust recipe makes enough for two pizzas, so I now have a ball of pizza dough just sitting in my freezer hanging out.  Patiently waiting for the next time a pizza craving hits.

I swapped out few of the toppings (Pancetta and deli ham for the prosciutto) and added a few of my own (I cannot resist mushrooms on pizza). 

Hot, fresh pizza straight from the oven.

A little closer... look at the yummy melted/browned cheese.

The crispy edges of the salty ham were divine.

Only thing I will do differently next time will be to pre-bake the crust.  My edges were nice and crispy, but the middle of the pizza crust was a little under-cooked.  Carmelizing the onions with a little brown sugar was a great idea (thanks, PW!) and provided a nice balance to the saltiness of the meats and cheeses.

Lazy Weekend

This weekend we had some of the most beautiful weather we have had in months...but did I go outside and enjoy it?  No.  Because this was also the first weekend in months where we had absolutely ZERO commitments.  So, I chose to be lazy.  Yes, it was a conscious decision.  One that I reveled in. 

I didn't cook at all on Saturday - we ate leftovers for breakfast and lunch, and for dinner we ate out. That meant Sunday would be my cooking day for the weekend.  First, though, I had to plan out our meals for the week, make the grocery list and then actually do the grocery shopping (something I love).

Last post, I mentioned a granola bar recipe I had seen on Smitten Kitchen and wanted to try.  I have recently become so disgusted by all of the preservatives and chemicals in a lot of the foods that we eat.  Another thing that really bothers me is the amount of trash generated from all of the packaging from so many foods on the market.  In fact, that is one of the main reasons R and I have switched to packing our lunches in our new Laptop Lunches bento-ware. 

According to the literature that came with our bento-ware, the average elementary school student generates about 67 pounds of trash from their disposable school lunchws each year. YIKES!

But back to the granola bars...

One thing I really loved about this recipe  for Thick, Chewy Granola Bars was the fact that it's so easily customizable.  Although the 'batter' is pretty much set, it's the baker's choice as to what the 2 to 3 cups of nuts and dried fruits can be.  I ended up choosing pumpkin seeds, ground flaxseed, pecans, walnuts and dried cranberries to add to my first batch.

 (I would have loved to put some coconut in there too, but R can't stand it.  Maybe next time...)

I was a little nervous about how they would turn out, but I shouldn't have been.  The smell coming from the oven as they were cooking was soooo good.  And once they cooled and I was able to cut and taste the granola bars... well, let's just say I am NEVER buying granola bars again.  Nothing compares to these.

These are some dense little guys... very filling

This one has an appointment with me for tomorrow morning

Once I had the week's breakfasts taken care of it was time to move on to dinner.  Another Smitten Kitchen recipe - Baked Rigatoni with Tiny Meatballs. 

This is NOT a healthy dish. 

This dish is all about ooey-gooey-cheesey goodness.  Besides the obvious (pasta and cheese), there were several other things that attracted me to this recipe: 1) it required me to make a bechemel sauce, something I had not yet attempted and 2) it gave me the opportunity to use my dutch oven for frying, and I don't really fry anything... ever.  I liked that this recipe 'stretched' me. 

The bechemel sauce came out beautifully, although at one point early on I kind of freaked out because it was looking more like pate a choux than a sauce.  Luckily, I just kept going and things worked themselves out.  Parmesan cheese gets mixed in to the sauce right before it is mixed in with the rigatoni and meatballs.  The only thing I would do differently next time would be to throw in another sharp cheese as well for more 'bite'.  Maybe something like a Gruyere. 

I used ground pork (instead of beef) for the meatballs and was really pleased with that decision.  I'm not always a huge meatball fan.  In fact, I never order them in restaurants, so I was really surprised with how tasty the little boogers turned out to be.  These are about the size of raspberries and are lightly fried 'til golden brown.  Yum.  Oh, and the garlic, parsley and cheese in them help with the 'yum' part too!

Fresh out of the oven... the cheesey sauce was still bubblin' away

I love the crunchy, cheesey parts on top ...

and when the meatballs get covered in cheese too.  Who can resist that combo?

Apparently neither R nor I could!  We each ate more than our fair share tonight.

This is definitely not a dish to make every night, or even just once a week.  I would say it's more of a once a month  or special occasion kind of meal. 

Completely unhealthy, yet utterly delicious. 

And don't we all need that every once in awhile?

Comfort Foods

It has been ridiculously cold here recently.  The kind of cold that hurts.  The kind of cold we experienced in London. 

March 2008

Houston has been under a Hard Freeze Warning for 3 days!  Now, I realize all you Northerners think we are a bunch of pansies, and maybe we are, but I don't care.  Houses here (at least those 30+ years old) are not built to weather those temperatures very well.  That seriously stressed me out.  I could just picture waking up in the morning to water gushing from our ceiling, flooding the entire house.  Needless to say, I have not slept well the past few nights.  R says I spend too much time worrying about things I can't control.  Maybe he's right.   

Our pipes did survive (great job protecting them, R) and for that I am incredibly thankful, but I am dreading our next electricity bill.  I so wish we had gas heating (and a gas dryer, oven and stove)... but that's a whole other post. 

In addition to the biting cold weather and the stress it caused me, we had "one of those weeks".  You know, the kind where nothing goes as planned and just when you think you might have finally caught a break, or at least caught up, something else goes disastrously wrong?  Yeah, well that was us.  The mother of a former student/player passed away, a "simple" home improvement project went awry and we have a back door that no longer opens, R got a nasty virus on his computer which halted ALL photo processing, my cat broke R's marble chess board and all accompanying pieces and  then yesterday morning the little plastic flanges on the shutoff valve snapped off as we tried to turn the water back on.  Lovely. 

 Needless to say, this week's events left me in need of some serious comfort food.

Friday evening I made a pot of chili for frito pies.  This wasn't fancy chili.  Just the kind I always make, the kind that takes 25 minutes.  The kind made with canned beans and canned tomotoes.  The kind that uses the McCormick's seasoning packet. 

(http://www.mccormick.com/)

Cheating?  Maybe.  But remember, comfort food should not be stressful to prepare.  Plus, it's the way my mom always made chili for us growing up. 

Now for accompaniments.  While some may argue that cornbread would have been a better choice, I disagree.  Nothing is better than Fritos that have become somewhat soggy from chili "juice", and the semi-melted shredded cheddar cheese sprinkled on top - divine. 

Oh, and one more thing.  Frito pie must always be served with a cold beer. 

Really liked this brew, by the way. 

Had never had it before, but seemed like an appropriate purchase considering the weather.

(Photo by R.)

Saturday night we were invited over to some dear friends' house for more comfort food - pulled pork sandwiches and homemade mac and cheese.  How could we say no to a menu like that?

As soon as we stepped out of the cold into their warm home we were hit with all sorts of delicious smells.  The pork shoulder and onions had been in the slow cooker all day, becoming tender and juicy, and were just begging to be devoured.  The mac and cheese was finishing up in the oven, developing that nice crunch on the edges.  I could not wait to eat. 

So yummy!

The meal did not disappoint and everything tasted even more wonderful than it smelled.  My friend said both recipes came from the Deen boys, Paula's sons, but when I searched Food Network I could not find them.  Maybe she pulled them from a cookbook or maybe I just didn't look hard enough.  Whatever the case may be, I will be giving my friend a call soon to ask for both recipes.  Until then I will have to be satisfied simply enjoying the leftovers they sent home with us!