MsDivinaLoca

This morning: left over, grilled polenta with a poached egg over top and an apple.

Appetizers Grissini Toasted baguette slices Olives (kalamata, marinated mix) Cheese and salume platter w/mustard and cornichons Toasted, spiced nuts Dinner Roasted Turkey (herb/butter mixture under the skin) Bread/Cornbread, sausage and sage dressing with a few dried cranberries in the mix Gravy Mashed potatoes Raw Brussels Sprout/Apple salad with a red wine/Dijon mustard vinaigrette Roasted cranberry sauce Green beans with a shiro miso butter sauce garnished with toasted almonds Dessert Roasted Caramel Pears topped with crème fraîche and toasted pistachios

I use blue painters' tape and a Sharpie. The painter's tape is easily removed from both rigid containers and freezer bags.

For those of us who are not suffering financially or at least where we have the means to make choices about what and how we eat rather than worrying about whether we're going to be able to eat at all, there's nothing wrong with a little preaching. Also, consider that you may not be the target audience. A message that is intended to suit all generally reaches none. There is nothing wrong with being reminded to: Stop. Take a step back from your life and if you're complaining about the price of a dozen, organic and free range eggs while holding your daily $5 latte, maybe it's time to re-think your priorities. I eat about 50% (or more) less meat than I did five years ago. There is a list of reasons why, but one of them is that I no longer want to support CAFO industrial farms. Organically and ethically raised meat is quite a bit more expensive so to be able to afford that (and rent), I eat less of it. Global change requires personal change and, in some cases, letting go of something you previously enjoyed or to which you felt entitled.

1. C4C (Cup-for-cup) is: cornstarch, white rice flour, brown rice flour, milk powder, tapioca flour, potato starch and xanthan gum. Article in the San Francisco Chronicle (SFGATE) - where they do a taste-test.

Holy buckets - that's one sexy, delicious looking foccacia!

Nothing radical here: pot roast, gravy, mashed potatoes, garlic green beans with toasted almonds, shredded Brussels sprouts with a mustard vinaigrette and aged Romano

For this dish, we wanted thicker noodles and they turned out perfectly - tender,tasty and they took in the sauce nicely. I have gone the thicker noodle route with not-so-good results, but not this time.

Turkey/pork meatballs with dill and a little nutmeg, mushroom sauce, handmade wide noodles

OH MY!!! Care to share the recipe? I see those fritters turning into my own personal "bacon jam" quest (oooh i bet they'd go well together ;-) ) I second that - it looks delicious.

A friend asked me to test drive one of her recipes and I did so last Friday - it was wonderful. Her recipe is here, if you're interested: Peking Duck Tacos

Friday: Flank steak w/chimichurri sauce, tomato, cherry/grape tomato and red onion salad w/feta, elota asada and grilled focaccia

Recently I read about starting fish skin side down in a cold pan, to promote a crispier skin without overcooking - which I'm going to try sometime this week. On the other hand, I had the same thing happen to me a couple of weeks ago with a salmon filet (fish was done before the skin was crispy) and I slipped the skin off after removing the filet to a plate, sliced it skin lengthwise into strips, crisped it in the pan (just takes a couple of minutes) and served the crispy strips on top of the filet. It looked kind of cool and tasted great.

- One good (Texan and vegetarian) friend loves his queso so much, we refer to him as the queso-vegetarian. Back to slow cookers/crock pots... I don't use mine so much for meals as I do for ingredients or parts of recipes: beans, yes huge batches of caramelized onions, the first steps to my carnitas, etc. A recipe at which it excels is in the making of fruit butters - low, low temperature and no burning. -Nancy.