Shrimp, Andouille Sausage and Chicken Gumbo

I have made gumbo a few times.  I had to go to five grocery stores to find okra and had no luck, but finally found it at my Korean market - frozen.

Ground Turkey/Beef and Root Vegetable Skillet Gratin

I saw this recipe and it instantly appealed to me.  I am a huge fan of "Shepherd's Pie" dishes.  I had to make it a little healthier though.  I love any chance I can get to use my cast iron pan.  I decided to use white turnips and yam for the "scalloped potatoes" part of the dish on top.  I also used extra lean ground turkey and a half pound of extra lean ground beef.  I am starting to get a little tired of turkey so this would help that out.  I substituted non-fat cream in place of the heavy cream.  Changing the cream to that was like blasphemy!  However, this was like comfort food without it being too naughty health wise - well except for the cheese but I was not substituting the Gruyere, no way...

Cod Cakes

I had so much cod leftover from last night, I decided to make cod cakes.  That was my original plan for the cod I bought in the first place.  I was going to use this recipe, but I ended up just poaching the cod last night and serving it that way with my tofu dish.  I decided instead of frying these cakes,  I was going to bake them on parchment on a baking sheet.  I sprayed the parchment with "Pam" first.

French Omelette by Chef Ludo Lefebvre

I have been fascinated by this omelette ever since I saw Chef Lefebvre make it on television.  It is on my list of travel things to do - to go to his restaurant and experience it.  This was not my first time attempting it.  I have tried it about three times previously but have never been able to perfect it.  I've come close but unfortunately end up with a bit of "brown(ing)" color on it.  😞

Vegan Basil "Chicken"

I came across this recipe and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to try it.  I used real fish sauce so mine wasn't truly vegan.  They give what you should buy for vegan (white soy) in the recipe.  I bought some organic, non GMO firm tofu and put it in the freezer before I made this.  I took it out and let it thaw overnight in the fridge and when I went to work.  It was thawed when I got home.

Poached Wild Pacific Cod

I saw this beautiful fresh wild cod at Costco and had to buy it.  I decided to poach it because I was sure it would be delicious and obviously "healthy" that way.  For my poaching liquid, I used:

Homemade Curry Chicken Soup

I was finally ready to use the chicken broth I made in my slow cooker.  I thought just to change it up a little, I would add some curry and apple.  Tonight I used:

Chicken Pot Pie

As I stripped the meat off the rotisserie chickens my son bought me yesterday so I could make soup, I decided to make pot pie for dinner tonight.  My soup stock was going to go overnight in my crockpot.  This was a very easy version of pot pie as I was just going to use Pillsbury biscuit dough as the topping for it.  The other ingredients that went in were what I had on hand in the fridge.  I had a half bowl of homemade mushroom soup left, so I threw that in the mix below too.  I used:

Turkey Meatloaf with Sun-Dried Tomato & Feta Cheese

Today finds me at home, for my second day in a row from work, completely under the weather.  It seems the whole office has been decimated with a "bug" that has taken everyone out.  Out of eight people in my group, only three are working and two of them left are affected by this virus too.

Non-Dairy Cream of Mushroom Soup

It felt like a soup day, and I wanted to try and make a creamy soup without dairy, which I have never done.  I was reading this post and based my soup on hers.  Tonight I used:

Veggie Chili

I'm not accustomed to vegetarian dishes, but am turning over a new leaf in this new year.  I saw this on "The Chew" and it looked good, so I decided to make it for Sunday dinner (I used the recipe as a guideline).  I have never used cocoa in my chili so this looked interesting.  Unfortunately,  I didn't have any veggie stock.  I will remedy that in the near future by buying this.  I decided to just use no salt strained tomatoes and see how it worked out.  Tonight, I used:

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

This was my cheat day for all the healthy eating we've been doing lately, and I decided to splurge on some crab stuffed mushrooms.  I planned to make this at Christmas, but we had too much other food and I never got to it.  I don't need a recipe for this, I just did what I've always done pretty much.  I used:

Dutch Baby Pancake

I have never eaten one of these, but have always wanted to because I like the way they look.  If I ever find a restaurant that makes them, I will try it.  I found one in Palm Springs when we were on vacation but we never ended up going.  So, I decided to try making this for my son for New Year's day brunch.  I used this recipe.