robirdstx

Great looking meals everyone! THAT, is one good looking pizza !

I will be gardening in my raised bed this year. The box was built by my hubby last June and we tried to grow tomatoes and peppers there but I think they went in too late (southeast Texas) and we had a terribly dry summer. Last fall I put in curly and flat leaf parsleys, purple sage, creeping rosemary, garlic, garlic chives, and arrugala. I also planted various radishes, spinach, and mixed lettuces in October and November. This winter has been unusually cold so the plants are only now really starting to take off. Actually I'm surprised at how much made it through. A few of the "squares" are fallow right now and I plan to plant them with more lettuce and spinach in the next couple of weeks, plus some basil and cilantro.

Individual size Pizzas. We made a party of it by each of us rolling out our own dough and adding our own toppings. This one is pork sausage with black olives and onions. We ran low on mozzarella so mixed it with some monterey jack. The jack added some extra good cheesiness.

Okay I'm in. Just received my copy of The Silver Spoon (a birthday gift from my son ). I will be making the Lasagne Alla Bolognese early next week. The recipe calls for 2 3/4 cups ground meat - any suggestions - I have ground chuck and ground veal.

Ready for the oven. Tonight will be braised Beef Shanks (Osso Buco-style, using Marcella Hazan's recipe). I've never made this dish before so thought I'd use the much cheaper beef shank before investing the big bucks in the veal. The dish has been in the oven for about an hour and a half now and the house is smelling amazing! I'll be serving the beef over Saffron Risotto.

Hong Kong Style Chicken and Vegetable Curry was dinner last night and the leftovers will be dinner tonight.

Thanks kayb! Below is my basic recipe (made up from parts and pieces of several different online recipes) - this time I used fresh roma tomatoes instead of canned and threw in some frozen corn kernels near the end: Black Bean Soup 5 slices smoked bacon, finely chopped 1 1/4 cups onion, chopped 1 carrot, chopped 1 stalk celery, chopped 3 garlic cloves, pressed 1 cup low sodium chicken stock 3/4 cup canned chopped tomatoes with juice 1 Tbs ketchup 1 tsp Worchestershire sauce 1/2 Tbs chili powder 2 cans black beans, drained but not rinsed Kosher salt, to taste fresh ground black pepper, to taste 1/2 bunch cilantro juice of 1/4 lime 1 Put the bacon into a large heavy pot and place it over medium heat. Cook until it starts to give up its fat, about 4 minutes. Stir in the onions and cook, stirring, until they start to turn translucent, about 4 minutes. Stir in the celery and carrots and cook, stirring, until they have started to soften. Stir in the garlic and cook until you can smell it, about 1 minute. Add the broth, tomatoes, ketchup, Worcestershire, and chili powder. Stir in the beans, turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat so the soup is bubbling gently and cook 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. 2 Meanwhile, pick off all the thick stems from the cilantro. Wash it and shake dry. Chop the cilantro coarsely and stir it into the soup when it has been simmering 10 minutes. Cook until the soup is thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the lime juice.

Black Bean Soup. Declared as really good by my other half.

Well, while a bit of a drive from Alamogordo (and a much longer drive from Hobbs), my vote for "favorite small town spots" in New Mexico goes to Chopes in La Mesa (on route 28 south of Las Cruces). Great information! I will be staying in Old Mesilla in April so will definitely put a visit to Chopes on the agenda.

I made this bread this morning and we used half of it to go with dinner tonight. Meatballs with Marinara Sauce on Fresh Pasta with Parmesan Garlic Toast

Valentine's Day Dinner was Chicken Parmesan For Two served over homemade spaghetti with a side salad.

Chicken and Noodle Soup. Boneless chicken breast and thigh meat poached in chicken broth and shredded, red potato, carrot, celery, onion, garlic, chicken stock, kosher salt and black pepper, and homemade egg noodles.

Steve - Aloha! I did make a couple of substitutions when I made the cornbread. I already had bacon fat on hand so just coated the pan real well, about 3 Tbs., without having to cook more bacon. And I used shortening (Crisco) for the vegetable oil. I used the minimum amount of sugar. Be sure to get your skillet really hot in the oven before you add the batter. My cornbread was done, using the toothpick stuck in the middle method, after 25 minutes.

Steve - Funny you should ask. The cornbread was cooked in an 8" square cast iron skillet. This skillet was sent to me by my mother-in-law ages ago. She had ordered a round skillet but the square one was sent by mistake. Works great! P.S. This has always been our go to skillet, when camping, for making bacon and eggs.

Kim - hope you can get out today. I lived in Richmond back in the early 70's and can not believe all the snow you guys got. Dinner tonight was ham and bean soup (photos not good) from the freezer and fresh cornbread. I found the cornbread recipe (Keri's Blue Ribbon Cornbread) on this site and printed it out at the end of last year. I'm glad I finally tried it!

mgaretz - Lovely! Thanks for sharing.

Grilled Rib Eye, Zucchini, and Artisan Bread Marinade ingredients for steak: Steak and zucchini on the grill: Done resting and ready to slice: Steak smothered in caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms:

Blether - great looking ravioli! I plan to make some on Sunday for Toasted Ravioli, St. Louis Style (breaded meat-filled ravioli that are deep-fried, sprinkled with grated parmesan and served with marinara sauce for dipping). One of my all time favorite appetizers that makes a great main course! mgaretz - good looking ribs and sweet potato fries! Dinner tonight was Polish Sausages and Black Pepper and Garlic Mashed Potatoes.

Tonight was more fun with bread. I had 12 day old olive oil dough that we fashioned into Focaccia and a thin crust Pizza. I forgot to take the photo of the focaccia until after we had already torn into the second half of the loaf. I really liked the way the pizza crust turned out this time. I par-baked it for 2 minutes on the stone before adding the toppings. The crust was really thin and crispy! Almost didn't get a photo before the second half disappeared! Out of the oven and ready to slice.

I made another loaf of Artisan Bread on Tuesday and I used some of it to make an Onion Soup Gratin. Last night we used the rest of the loaf to accompany Goulash Soup (sorry no photo) from the freezer. Cooled and ready for slicing. Hot out of the oven.

MrSpiffy - I too have been using RiceSelect Arborio for my risotto. I have found that it can take up to almost 3 cups of broth for 1/2 cup of rice. I keep the rice bubbling and taste the rice before adding each ladle of broth after the first 15 minutes. The batch I made tonight absorbed 2 1/2 cups broth, 1/4 cup wine, and was ready to my taste about 25 minutes after adding the first liquid. I use an electric range, a chef's pan, and a wooden spoon. I've not made batches any larger than this so don't know if the size of your batch had any effect on your cooking time. HTH!

Kim - where can I find the recipe you used for your American white bread? It looks amazing!

Thank you Kim, Percyn and Prawncrackers. Tonight I am on my own and its chilly and rainy out, so I made a simple Risotto using the last of the goose broth from the Christmas goose. Just what I was craving.

Tortilla Soup with Chicken and Avocado using Martha Holmberg's recipe in The 150 Best American Recipes.

French Onion Soup and Garlic Bread were on the menu last night. The photo of the soup turned out too blurry - but it was wonderful. All I have is a pre-toast view of the garlic bread but no post because we practically inhaled it!