[66] Simple, Perfect Chili

Cover of The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond

I can’t lie to you guys. I really love The Pioneer Woman’s blog, and all of her recipes and photos make me drool. Except the ones with cilantro.

Bill also loves her blog. So when we found her cookbook in a bookstore, not too long after it’d been published, we both really wanted to buy it. We knew we could get most of her recipes online (thus costing us nothing), but we felt we should support her work. Also a book is, in some ways, more portable than the internet. For example, I can take this to my mother’s house and cook out of it more easily than hauling a laptop into the kitchen.

Not that I don’t want a kitchen laptop, even so.

I picked this recipe as one of the first to make out of this book because I really enjoy chili and I love having some in the freezer for cold days and lunches and so forth.… Continue reading →

[65] Classic Lasagne, Italian-American Style

How to Cook Everything, Revised Edition by Mark Bittman

So, the last lasagne in the freezer had all been eaten, and it wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind when I first envisioned a pile o’ lasagne in the freezer anyway. Given all of that, I decided to try again with Bittman’s “Classic Italian-American” version of lasagne.

h2. Ingredients

Salt (Assuming you boil your noodles.)
Lasagne noodles, fresh or dried (Dried is about a pound.)
~1 c ricotta cheese
~1 c mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp softened butter or extra virgin olive oil
~3 cups, Meat Sauce, Bolognese Style
1.5 c freshly ground Parmesan Cheese (We used 12 month aged Manchego)

h2. Instructions

This is a lot like the last lasagne, so the directions are going to be almost exactly the same. You might get a sense of déjà vu.… Continue reading →

[64] Tortilla Beef Cassarole

Cover of Cook Once, Eat Twice

Well, this is the third “recipe set” we’ve made or attempted to make from this cookbook, and the the second of the third set.

The basic idea behind the book is a solid one; make something that will definitely have extra on day one, then transition it into a new meal on day two. The idea is to use the ease of making extra while avoiding the “stigma” of leftovers. Unsurprisingly, this means the stuff that goes into “day two food” tends to be extremely easy to obtain and use. You’d think that would be a good thing.

Unfortunately, something is making the second day’s recipes fall somewhat flat. I’m not sure what. Now, admittedly, of the three sets we’ve made, only two have had a second day’s worth of food, so we can’t judge the second day’s recipe for the second set (that’s a failing of it’s own, for sure).… Continue reading →

[63] Italian-Style Pot Roast

Cover of Cook Once, Eat Twice

Confession time:

“Michelle”:http://www.metacookbook.com/archives/66-Cherry-Pie-For-Michelle.html got this recipe before anyone else did. She specifically asked for an easy recipe in a recent e-mail. Since I’d just made this pot “roast” and it’s companion recipe, they were right on my mind. And, truly, they are easy. When she asked me to post about the cherry pie it was so my readers would know that even someone who makes a lot of “fancy” meals pulls out a can from time to time.

Well, y’all, this is that time. I wanted a slow-cooker recipe for last Friday, because I tend to be out in the afternoons during prime “cooking prep time”. Frankly, while I can still get a meal on the table when I get home, the thought of just having dinner be ready whenever Bill and I were was sublime.… Continue reading →

[62] Broccoli & Tofu in Spicy Peanut Sauce

the cover of The Enchanted Broccoli Forest

I could swear we’ve made more recipes from this book than the blog indicates, but I can’t think of what they are. Which is unfortunate, as it means I’m daydreaming cooking and recipes. Still, I suppose one could have worse daydreams than of cooking out of a generally good vegetarian cookbook.

This recipe, unsurprisingly, is the result of me poking around and trying to figure out how to best use up some CSA produce. We got broccoli for several weeks, without me having a good use for it, until we were suddenly overrun with broccoli. At that point, I didn’t want to just steam it up as a side, I wanted to make it the star of the show. And then it took another week (and another share with broccoli) for me to figure out how.… Continue reading →