I'm working this weekend, as usual. I made a red pepper and chickpea soup for us today and tomorrow I'm putting a beef and barley stew in the slow cooker. Other than a batch of cookies I think I will not have time for anything else. Happy weekend to everyone with a few days off!

Meatball subs for football on Saturday, and maybe something sweet and seasonal. The apple tart that Smitten Kitchen posted today looks divine!

I've been determined to start over-cooking/baking and stocking up my freezer lately. Yesterday it was a double batch of leek and potato soup, tomorrow I'm thinking maybe meatballs and some flat-breads. And I have some granny smith apples that are just begging to be made into some fritters!

Well, my kids turn 4 next week and this is party weekend (yes, twins). So, today I made 4 dozen cupcakes. Tomorrow we'll order pizza to go with homemade pumpkin cookies. And Sunday is Ina Garten's Lemon Chicken with Crunchy Bread. My son's FAVORITE dinner.

I'm working on canning projects! A raspberry tincture (http://www.designsponge.com/2012/09/behind-the-bar-pharmacies-take-on-the-1966-cosmopolitan.html), homemade spaghetti-Os (http://www.bigredkitchen.com/2011/10/the-barf-stops-here/), and port wine caramel sauce for holiday gifts (http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/port-caramel-sauce). I'm feeling ambitious!

Well, I'm planning to make borsch (http://www.mangotomato.com/2011/06/recipe-for-russian-borscht-or-at-least.html) once again b/c it's just THAT good and also try out a few recipes from my new cookbooks: Kim O'Donnel's and Lidia Bastianich's.

Happy cooking to everyone!

Haven't decided what but something on the grill tomorrow while the weather is still nice. Gonna drag out summer as long as I can. Although, the 'hint' of a nip in the evening air prompted me to pick up some squash at the market. The scrumptious aroma of soup is wafting from the kitchen as I type, encouraging me to get busy stocking my freezer for the winter months. .

Rendering lard tonight. Then making crockpot caldo verde tomorrow, if I can find any dried white beans...

Creamy Broccoli cheese soup & apple gingerbread upside down cake, both from Alaska from Scratch,and both so yummy ! Also a lemon tart is in the making...

No idea what we're eating today but tomorrow is carnitas and veggie cuban rice with beans. There'll also be a chocolate-chip banana bread in there.

I just got new recipe software and am having a lot of fun organizing my recipes. For anyone with a Mac who is interested, MacGourmet is being offered at a discount as part of the MacHeist bundle with a lot of other apps as well.
http://macheist.com/bundle/t/616356

Mini English Muffin pizzas (a childhood favorite) for dinner tonight. Family birthday lunch for my sister in law tomorrow. She preggers, so we'll probably have her favorite Chinese takeout. Leftovers for me tomorrow night while I catch up on Downton Abbey since the hubby will be out of town until Tuesday. Planning on Chicken & Mushroom Wild Rice Soup, my friend Jane's Crockpot Chicken Cacciatore and maybe Fajita Casserole too.

We took our first family vacation of 4 to Florida this week which means a week off of cooking for me! A very rare occurrence. I miss the cooking terribly but not the kitchen clean up! Come Tuesday when I get home I will be cooking up a storm.

The yogurt's doing its thing on the heating pad and there's a pot of herby black eyed peas on the stove. I planned to make apple cranberry chutney to preserve, but I just don't think I'll get around to it. The main thing is I need to have stuff for lunches during the week and now I've got that covered.

Blueberry pancakes (with wild Maine blues I froze a few months back) for breakfast this morning, with maple syrup, of course!

Hmmmm....I'm listening to Lynne Rosetto Casper's podcast and she's talking about potato gratin...I think I'm about to ditch the screen and go make one. Lots of pepper & cream.

I spent most of the afternoon yesterday making the Moroccan phyllo crescents from the Milennium Restaurant cookbook. For dessert I made individually portioned lattice apple pies. It was lovely. Tonight I think we'll make something easy: fried rice or a stir fry.

Somehow, I haven't really gotten around to cooking much this weekend, but I'm making chicken tagine with preserved lemons and green olives for dinner tonight, with roasted vegetables (carrots, parsnips, and kabocha squash) to go with it.