Baked Polenta with Sausage and Artichoke Hearts

I saw these logs of polenta while shopping and because I've never tried one, I decided it was time to.  I have this great bag of heirloom polenta grains in my freezer that I ordered from Anson Mills in South Carolina, but yet, I had to try this stuff that costed $3.  Go figure  ;)

Devils on Horseback

Looking around at my food inventory, I had a mishmash of stuff and lots of odds and ends.  I saw pitted dates and decided to make some Devils on Horseback.  I looked a bunch of recipes - they all varied by minute details, but it's basically just a date stuffed with something and wrapped with bacon.

Cream of Garlic Soup

I've always wanted to make a garlic soup.  Chef Susan Spicer of restaurant Bayona in New Orleans apparently makes a killer one.  I've dined there twice and haven't tried it, yet...  So, I decided to make hers this evening.  My only dilemma was whether I wanted to use real garlic or just buy it already peeled.  I bought it peeled at the Korean market and hoped it was fresh because I really didn't want to spend the time of doing it myself.

Stir-Fried Soba Noodles with Beef and Cabbage

I still had lots of leftover roast beef, even after making my son beef dips and sandwiches.  I decided to make myself a stir fry with it.  I used this recipe sort of... I didn't really need a recipe, but I get scattered sometimes so this focused me.  Well, it almost did.  I still added extra "stuff".  I chose this one because of the Napa cabbage.  That's what grabbed me.  I've only used soba noodles for a cold salad before so I wanted to try it this way.  I used all the ingredients except for the steak of course, but I did my own thing for the stir fry.  I chopped up my roast into bite size pieces and cut the snow peas in half on the bias.  I had a bag of "Power Blend" salad (284 grams) in the fridge which was Brussels sprouts, more Napa, carrots, kohlrabi, broccoli and kale so I threw that in with the Napa I cut up.

Prime Rib Oven Roast

I had to search my posts to see if I had already blogged this and no, I hadn't.  That was surprising and meant I haven't made it in almost a year (or was just too lazy to write it out).  Prime Rib is expensive to buy here.  It used to be that you could find it on sale regularly but now I can only find it at $7.99 a lb when on sale, which isn't really a good deal to me.  I was very surprised when I looked at the Safeway flyer this morning and saw it for $5.99 a lb.  I decided it was time for roast beast (as "the Grinch" would say)...My son picked it up after work.

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup Lasagna

OMG, when I saw this, I knew I would have to make it and I haven't stopped thinking about it since...  I mean, isn't every childhood reminiscent of comforting grilled cheese sandwiches and Campbell's tomato soup?  I know mine was and I know this was one of my son's favorites too.  I had to dunk,  I loved to dip the sandwich in the soup.  My son never did and still doesn't - unless I bug him about it - I'm always like, "dip it in your soup!", lol.  I remember when he returned from Europe after 32 days away, I made him an elevated grilled cheese and homemade tomato soup (with a side of bacon) to welcome him home.

Spanish Cod in One Pot

I saw IGA had fresh cod on sale this week so searched for a recipe.  I found this one and thought it looked great, it was really appealing to me.  It is from the UK so some of the words are different than what we use here.  Anyway, it was also a way to try out the Saffron I bought at Trader Joe's.

Christine's Mock Italian Wedding Soup

So this was a "Christine" original soup today inspired by "Italian Wedding Soup".  I've had this soup on my brain for quite some time now but wanted to use escarole or curly endive for it.  For that reason, I have never made it yet.  I finally discussed finding escarole with one of my grocers as I have never seen it anywhere.  He said IF it comes in, it usually only shows up in summer but he has not gotten any for a couple of years now.  He advised me to source out local farms as it is not an import usually.

Homemade Sloppy Joes

I was at work today, trying to think of something easy to make for "Monday night dinner" and it popped in my head that I wanted Sloppy Joes.  I based mine on this recipe which is my goto for this dish.  I omitted the beans but basically followed everything else.  Except the mustard.  I have dry mustard but it's old - I threw it out tonight as a matter of fact.  I mean, how often have I used it???  Not very much, that's for sure.  I have this huge Costco squeeze bottle of French's yellow mustard so I just used a good plop of that instead.  Oh, and I think I threw out my molasses a while ago too for the same reason as the mustard powder.  I just substituted real maple syrup instead though brown sugar would have done the trick too.

Spicy Ginger Beef Stir Fry

I thought this recipe was pretty good looking and kept with the healthier eating I'm trying to do lately, except for the sodium.  However, everything in moderation, right?  I liked the idea of the top sirloin steak and putting it in the freezer for 30 minutes.  I had to try it... I wouldn't eat "top sirloin" as steak but I think it's a great idea for a stir fry.  I had more steak than the recipe called for.  I had about a pound and a half which was more than is what is showing below.

Turkey Divan

This dish tonight ended all the turkey leftovers.  I have always wanted to make this but never did because my son didn't like broccoli when he was young.  He doesn't mind it now, so I thought this would be a good time.  Most importantly, this was an easy work night dish to prepare.

Turkey, Mushroom, Quinoa Soup with Chinese Sausage

So, my broth was made yesterday with the leftover turkey carcass and the house smelled wonderful all day (8 hours of simmering).  I used an onion, a carrot, a stick of celery and herbs:  rosemary, thyme, parsley and sage along with fresh cracked pepper and kosher salt.  Below is how it looked coming out of the fridge today.

Leftover Turkey & "Fixings" Shepherd's Pie (a.k.a. Deconstructed Turkey Dinner)

After Thanksgiving, getting creative with leftovers can be a problem sometimes.  It's hard to eat the same thing over and over for days and not get bored.  I spent today making my broth which is an all day eight hour job.  The soup gets made tomorrow, after the broth cools overnight in the fridge.  The fat gets skimmed off the top and then it's ready to go.

Thanksgiving: Croissant, Caramelized Onion, Sausage & Pecan Stuffing

For Thanksgiving this year I decided to try a new stuffing, like I usually do.  It is my favorite part of a turkey dinner.  I was attracted to this one because of  the caramelized onions.  My son is not a fan of stuffing.  He won't have it on his leftover turkey sandwiches (crazy!!!) and only eats a couple of bites with dinner.  When I mentioned this years would have "croissants" in it, he was intrigued.

Green Grape Cobbler

I'll start by saying that I'm a huge fan of Alton Brown.  I have a big crush on him and think his attractiveness comes from his intelligence and humor.  I saw his live show when he came to town and I even got to meet him by showing up at map coordinates he posted.  [Insert cheesy photo here (which I have)].  Most people liked his show "Good Eats" which I did, but I really fell for him over a show he did called "Feasting on Asphalt". It's hard to believe that is 10 years ago already!