Pork and Broccoli

We had some broccoli that still needed to be used from the CSA. I was in the mood for some beef and broccoli, but decided I would make pork and broccoli since we had half a pork roast in the freezer from the noodle bowl we had a couple weeks ago. I did some research and found a good recipe at chinesefood.about.com. It turned out delicious. The only change I made besides substituting pork for beef was it called for cooking the "beef" in 1 cup of oil which seemed excessive so I just eyeballed what looked decent in the bottom of the pan. Then it also said to use new oil for the broccoli and then new oil when you put the pork and broccoli together- which seemed wasteful. I dumped the oil from the first time into a ramekin and then reused it in less quantities for the next two steps. Chris also made up a quick and easy fried rice.

Pumpkin Tarts

These cuties are inspired by Bakerella's blog. We had a bake sale at work to raise money for a local group called Classroom Central. I thought these were perfect for that. The only variation I made was I used pumpkin mix as opposed to plain pumpkin and adding spices. It made it a little easier but really I only did that because apparently there was a shortage of plain pumpkin around Charlotte this week.

Farfalle Surprise

This meal is one that Chris and I have been cooking together for a few years. It's quick and simple and we usually have the majority of the ingredients in the pantry/ freezer. The recipe is from one of Giada's cookbooks- the first one I believe. The original recipe name is pretty much a list of the ingredients: Farfalle, sausage, peas, and mushrooms- or something close to that. It did not seem like much of a recipe name to us so I just started calling it farfalle surprise to shorten it up. It's delicious and best of all quick and easy. Occassionally I leave out the mushrooms if I do not have them on hand and I am looking for something quick to make. Other than that all the ingredients are pretty much staples for us.

Chicken and Herbed Dumplings

I have been craving chicken and dumplings for quite sometime. While flipping through the 2009 Cookinglight book I came across a recipe for chicken and herbed dumplings. Obviously I knew since this was in Cookinglight it was in no way going to resemble my Nannie's (grandma) chicken and dumplings which is what I wanted but I figured hey why not I will give it a try. Overall I would have to say, it was decent. It actually was a pretty solid chicken soup recipe. The dumplings contained parsley which I was not huge on but the texture seemed close to right. But the whole thing together was just not my Nannie's chicken and dumplings. I have decided since I am fortunate and she is still around in one of the next few weekends coming up I am going to see her and learn how to do this correctly and not half way.

After having these Chris and I had a big discussion about Dumplings versus Pastry. His grandma makes chicken and pastry; which I believe is just the same dough rolled out and cut into noodles instead of dropped and more like biscuits in the broth. Since he is used to pastry that is his preference and he thinks I should do that instead- I responded with a good luck with that. If I am making it, I am making dumplings.

Herb Roasted Chicken

We love roast chicken. I am often reminded of a Barefoot Contessa episode when we have roasted chicken. Ina mentioned that she makes roasted chicken every Friday night for her husband. At the time I remember thinking that is amazing but not practical for the average person. I still consider it a little impractical but it's not as bad as I once thought. I mean it's really not that difficult. The time can be a little bit of an issue because by the time you prep it, cook it and then let it rest you have taken up about an hour, but it really is worth that hour. This particular chicken was an herb roasted chicken out of the William Sonoma cookbook. It was pretty decent but no match for TK's salt crusted chicken. I do wish that I had trussed her- she kind of looks like she is flailing around.

There is a tapas restaurant here in Charlotte that we love; Las Ramblas. The quality of food is excellent and they have a nice wine selection. My favorite tapas there is patatas bravas. They are amazing; whenever we go there with other people we always get more than one plate. After some research I decided they are not the traditional patatas bravas so I have been trying to recreate the recipe. A little on the unsuccessful side. I know the key to the amazingly smokey taste is the pimenton, a Spanish smoked paprika. I know my first two attempts were incorrect because according to the menu the potatoes are fried. I have been trying to bake mine- it's easier and healthier but I suppose the taste is obviously suffering. Either way these were a decent attempt at the recreation. Next time I guess I am going to have to try frying them.

Chili

I love chili in the fall and warming. It's so easy to make and a good hardy meal. I make mine from scratch - it's very easy and should not be done any other way. It's a one pot meal - brown the ground beef, drain, add back along with tomatoes, kidney beans, onions, green peppers, and lots of chili powder.

Lamb Shank

These sweet potato oven fries are a great side dish or snack. They are from one of the Barefoot Contessa's books and are very simple. You just cut up the sweet potato and then drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper, and brown sugar. The salt, pepper, and brown sugar give a really interesting mix of sweet and savory. We had them once or twice last year but now that I am getting a lot of sweet potatoes in from the CSA all I want is these. In addition to a side dish with the lamb shank below we also had them the other day as a football game snack. It made me feel a lot better about myself than the usual potato skins that I like to eat.


I got two lamb shanks a while back at the Bloom. They were on sale and although it was still a bit warm for something so hardy at the time I decided to get them and stick them in the freezer. I found this recipe on Epicurious- braised lamb shanks with caramelized onions and shallots. It sounded exactly like what I had in mind for these two beauties. The end result was really delicious and good quality comfort food for a fall day.