Marlene

Those taco plates I love! And yes, that's quite the spread, looks terrific!

They're kind of my favourite part too lol. I add some leaf lard to the roasting pan when I can find it and tenderflake when I can't, and roast the potatoes with the roast after I par boil them for 10 minutes or so.

I can never find duck here , especially in this small town but even down in the city I have a hard time. Did a roast pork, roast potatoes and peas and brioche buns for dinner on Sunday. I know the current thinking is to cook pork to medium so it is pink , but that will not go over well in my house. I tried it once, no one would eat it. Been on soft foods for a couple of days after a couple of teeth extractions and temp plate put in, but its healing nicely so should be able to eat Christmas dinner which will basically be a reprise of son's birthday dinner.

Made a batch of Shepherd's pies up for the freezer. For the purists, it's technically cottage pie as it is made with beef, not lamb, but here in Canada at least in my neck of the woods, we tend to call it Shepherd's pie regardless and I've been calling it that all my life and at my age am unlikely to change now To be further non conformist, I also added some shredded cheddar cheese to the mashed potato topping as well. I kept one out and had it for dinner last night as well. I also love this deep electric skillet that I got a couple of years ago. its perfect for this sort of large batch cooking

Just simply steak and baked potatoes tonight. I always take the potato out of the skin so I can eat the skin last lol

30th birthday dinner party for the lad. Even though this is what we will have for the most part for Christmas dinner, this is what he wanted. Prime rib, yorkies, carrots, mashed potatoes, gravy of course, my shortbread cookies and I made a chocolate bailey's poke cake as well . The yorkie picture keeps posting upside down so will forgo that one

Ham tonight with mashed potatoes and broc and hollandaise. Ham and I have a bit of a love/hate war going on. Sometimes it works for me , sometimes not. Don't ask me why. We've mostly called a truce since I've been doing it in the slow cooker and the juices reduced and thickened make a lovely sauce as well. I use orange juice in the bottom of the cooker and make a paste of brown sugar, honey, balsamic, dijon and of course a splash of bourbon, and spread that on the ham whilst it's cooking

I just discovered that! but haven't got as far as shipping yet

US Amazon can be so much better than ours sigh. I can get their horseradish mustard on our amazon but not their horseradish. I do have friends in the city though who are willing to go to the market to get it for me sometimes though. Oh! Edited to add, they have it on their own website to ship now. They didn't used to, so win!

Kozliks is one of our best kept secrets lol. Its not sold in many stores here in Ontario though a few, and they have a stand at the farmers market in Toronto. If you can get hold of their horseradish, give it a try!

As I said, it doesn't really photograph well, and as much as I love these plates, they always look a bit weird in photos but there you go, beef stroganoff, which we actually prefer over rice instead of egg noodles.

I meant to post this last week and the week got away from me. We had company last weekend so one night we cooked and the other we went out. We did a beef tenderloin on the spit, accompanied by mini roasted potatoes, glazed carrots (that I do in the slow cooker) and bearnaise sauce (that I use a blender for instead of stovetop) rounded off with a lovely barolo. (I might have overdone putting the bearnaise on the plated one) , We are now snow bound for a few days, it is snowing and isnt' supposed to stop, so the lad had picked beef stronganoff for dinner on Sunday. Its not terribly photogenic so there may not be any pictures of that.

I've put it in Recipe Gullet

2 Tablespoons Ground Ancho or ground chili powder, (i use a tablespoon of each) 1 Tablespoon Ground Black Pepper 1 Tablespoon Dry Mustard 1 Teaspoon Ground Coriander 1 Teaspoon Ground Allspice 1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cloves 1/2 Teaspoon Grated Nutmeg up to 1 tsp cayenne (adjust to taste) 1/4 Cup Neutral Flavoured Oil such as canola or vegetable oil 1 Onion Finely Chopped 6 Cloves Garlic Finely Chopped 1 Shallot Minced 1/2 Cup Lightly Packed Brown Sugar 1 Cup White Vinegar 1/2 Cup Honey 1/4 Cup Worcestershire sauce or Soy sauce (I use 1/2 and 1/2) 1 Teaspoon Smoked Salt (optional) 1 32 Oz Bottle Ketchup 1 Cup Bourbon Mix all the spices together and leave for later.Heat oil over medium heat (recipe makes 6 cups so use a large enough pot!) and saute the onion, garlic and shallot until soft.Add the spices and mix thoroughly - about 3 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes..You can use a hand blender if you prefer a smooth sauce.You can can this sauce like you would any preserves ... mason jars,etc etc. I freeze it and have noticed no difference.