I'm cooking a turkey(!)... for no other reason than it was on sale and we want turkey for sandwiches next week. Plus, it's been a couple months since "Turkey Mania 2012".

Home corned pork loin (Julia Child's recipe) on Panera rye with grainy mustard. Side of oven fried parsnip strips.

I'm surprising my Valentine with "American Truffles" from Cocolat (http://www.amazon.com/Cocolat-Extraordinary-Chocolate-Alice-Medrich/dp/0446514195). This is the only recipe a make from this book. I had the pleasure of attending a hands-on class at Sur La Table with the book author Alice Medrich as well as get her autograph in my copy of the book.

I'll also making creme brulee. Thanks to the January Cure, I was able to find my torch and torch fuel.

Just braised some shortribs in Newcastle Brown Ale. Will serve them with Melissa Darabian's crock pot polenta. They just need a dash of Hoisin sauce to finish them -- that sweet/sour thing.

Crock pot polenta! Brilliant, I am looking that up right now.

I'm still eating through all the groceries I bought before the snowstorm last week, so my cooking plans are not ambitious. Tonight I threw together some pasta with kale, onions, tomato sauce, and gorgonzola and mozzarella cheese, and I'll probably be making the Smitten Kitchen baked ranchero eggs again because there's some sauce and black beans in the fridge. Other than that, leftovers.

Baking this weekend. Banana Bread, muffins, apple cake. Also trying out some smoothie recipes. Lunch tomorrow at my favorite Japanese restaurant.

Lots of bread, trying out a couple of new crock pot recipes, 4 cheese skillet mac and cheese, brined pork chops ... love a long weekend!

Rhode Island style calamari & cassatas with candied orange slices, per the hubs - he saw this on TV and hasn't stopped bugging me to make them.

We're driving my son to a hockey game in another city this weekend. I plan on making these chickpea almond butter wraps for the road. Packed with protein and nutrition for the athlete- plus mighty tasty for his spectators! http://kaleeats.blogspot.ca/2012/03/almond-butter-chickpea-wrap.html
Hoping to try out a mango bran muffin of some sort too. And there is some lovely collard greens in my fridge asking to be used. Will need to find a new recipe to try out with those

cooking shrimp creole--- EASY SHRIMP CREOLE
1 1/2 c. chopped onion
1 c. chopped celery
1 lg. bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/4 c. butter
1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 c. water
2 tsp. parsley
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves, crushed
16 oz. cleaned, raw shrimp
3 c. hot, cooked rice
Cook and stir onion, celery, pepper, and garlic in butter until onion is tender. Remove from heat; stir in tomato sauce, water, and spices. Simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes. Add water, if needed. Stir in shrimp. Heat to boiling. Cover and cook over medium heat 20 minutes until shrimp are pink and tender. Serve over rice.

Kale and hot sausage soup. Something....what?....with beets. Applesauce with some spongy specimens. Pancakes because I was too busy & tired to make them on Tuesday. I haven't made a potato gratin in a long time, so maybe that too? Snowy & cold again, perfect for this stuff. I have a three day weekend so I can spread it out over a few days.

I'm having friends over for dosa, with all the fixings: sambar, potato masala, and a couple of chutneys.

Hubs had to go into work for half a day so I figured I'd trash the kitchen while he was gone. I made some brandied cherry jam (found a jar of brandied cherries when cleaning out the pantry), some almond joy butter for the food swap I'm going to tomorrow and a pot of vegetable beef soup which is now simmering on the wood stove. I've got to check out the crockpot polenta recipe - sounds right up my alley.

Since we didn't have enough chocolate this week, we're making the "Boulder Blackout Cake" from "The High Plains Sifter".

Well this morning I made Eggs Benedict. I toasted and jammed English muffins, fried bacon and crisped it in the oven, poached eggs, and made a homemade hollandaise sauce with cayenne pepper. My kitchen was a mess, but it was oh so worth it.

This Sunday I am making that Damp Molasses Cake from The Kitchn. My father-in-law and sister-in-law have chocolate aversions, and thus 100% avoid even things in the same vicinity of chocolate, and I always dslike making dessert for family parties because of this. I am a chocolate dessert kind of person, so I thought I would give this a try and see what we all think.

I went to bed thinking about shakshukah, so when I woke up we all took a walk to the store so I could pick up tomatoes, peppers, and greens. It turned out SO incredibly good, I think I have a new breakfast addiction!

just made a lovely orange, almond and saffron drizzle cake for a friends birthday..might have to make a repeat cake just for myself!
http://porridgejunkie.wordpress.com/2013/02/16/orange-almond-and-saffron-drizzle-cake/

My neighbor gave me a dozen eggs from the farm he works at so I will be making Shakshuka from the Jerusalem cookbook. I also made whole wheat pita bread to serve with it for Sunday Brunch. Might make some mimosas too!

I just made shakshukah after reading David Lebovitz's post on it! Well I made the sauce anyways and it turned out great! Can't wait to eat it tomorrow for brunch.

Trying to avoid desserts after two months of indulging (bad coworkers who bring treats to work aren't helping!) so I made a fabulous "hobo packet" in the oven last night with purple potatoes, red and orange bell peppers, onions, and Portuguese chourico. It was FANTASTIC. And very colorful. Next time I'll add green beans and more veggies.

Had leftovers tonight, but a big beef roast is at its sell-by-date, so it just went into the crock pot with lots of garlic powder and black pepper and aromatics (onion, carrot, celery). We'll see how it turns out.

Creamy pasta with ham and veggies (green beans and/or broccoli, onions, and mushrooms) and/or beef stroganoff (with mushrooms and cabbage) are also in the offing. Ditto sausage and peppers.

Trying to avoid sweets, but might make pancake pie (pancake batter and chopped fruit baked in a buttered glass pie plate) for breakfast tomorrow.

We are having friends over for a raclette. Assorted grilled meat, melted cheese and veggies on a cold winter evening....oh, and wine.

This weekend from American Water Kitchen: Lemon Chia Seed Muffins --
http://americanwater.blogspot.com/2013/02/tea-crumpets.html

made this Cincinnati-Chili-I but followed the suggestions of some reviewers to boil the meat. I also used 1 lb beef and 1lb venison, cause had some aging venison trying to use up from the freezer. It is as much coney sauce as it is chili, and is one of my favorite chili recipes. served over spaghetti with shredded mild cheddar. Will get a second meal out of it. Waiting for Sunday adds to arrive to determine what I will plan for meals this week. Really hungry for some spicy Chinese foods, but I am only one in the house who likes spicy. Wish I could afford to travel back to China.

I just created a new chocolate beer no-bake cookie recipe... turned out super yummy. I reduced down two bottles of beer and used cocoa and oatmeal to make a wonderfully deep, dark, rich, super simple cookie. I would love for you to pop over and take a peep.
http://honeylimekisses.com/2013/02/16/no-bake-chocolate-beer-meteor-cookies-the-alien-trojan-horse/

Shrimp and grits from Saveur. Roasted carrot and avocado salad. German pancake with butter and homemade raspberry jam.

Fish with safron! Super fresh and fast to cook.
Can check how it looks here http://www.flickr.com/photos/hugoalexandrecruz/8481381433/in/photostream Hope you enjoy it.

Too much sugar in the past week so I'm focusing on vegetables. A mushroom/spinach/sun dried tomato omelette, roasting an eggplant with garlic tucked into it, roasted red pepper and broccoli tacos. And raw carrots for a double batch of smitten kitchens newest hummus.

It's been a Smitten Kitchen sort of weekend in my kitchen - almost hilariously so in fact! I made a slightly belated Valentine's Day dinner last night that featured the mussels in vermouth and tarragon oven fries from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook (with a frisee salad with crunchy garlic alongside), and these ridiculously cute brownies for dessert (and yes, I did cut them into heart shapes). Big latkes with fried eggs for a brunch treat today. Dinner will be a beef stir-fry with homemade pickled ginger and cauliflower that I'm excited to try!

Oh, and a trip to the gym is definitely in the offing too ;)

Last night was arctic char with a citrus glaze (lemon & blood orange) on a bed of rice and sautéed spinach.

Tonight, slow cooked ribs, sauteed baby chard and a potato galette.

Steak fajitas last night. Been experimenting with my marinade & last night's tweak resulted in sheer perfection. I'm done....if I can only remember what it was I adjusted. One day I'll learn to record my tweaks as I go.

Unseasonably cold here today, so some warming comfort food was in order. Right now the aroma wafting from the kitchen is enticing. Got 'authentic' (snort) red beans simmering and dh is anxiously awaiting the upcoming nuptials along with the rice. Both impatient grooms, they are. Red beans + rice = a marriage made in heaven. Much like dh & me...

pure bliss

Made lemon curd from our Meyer lemons, with the recipe from Alice Waters' Art of Simple Cooking. It turned out great. I doubled the recipe so had lots of extra egg whites, so made citrus tuiles to go with. First time trying those, and I used a recipe off the web (just searching for how to use up egg whites), and they were super easy and tasty. I thought they'd be crispy though, and they're not, so I'm not sure if I did something wrong. Husband is still requesting more though, so I guess I did okay.