(photo found here) Yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving, which we celebrated with a turkey dinner, just the three of us.  The turkey kinda sucked.  I was feeling kind of poor, so I bought a pressed ‘turkey roll’ instead of a fresh, real turkey breast (it was 2/3 price of a plain turkey breast).  God, it was salty.  I should have spent the money.  In addition, we had stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, broccolini, green beans, and caramelized butternut squash. A week or two ago, we found ourselves in a bookstore, and I was looking at a different Barefoot Contessa cookbook than the one I have.  There was a yummy looking recipe there…

(I found this image here) You like babies?  We got babies.  This summer, we had four babies born into our little condo community.  One of the couples lived here already, has lived here for several years, and the other three moved in while expecting their babies. Now we have four little infants, all within a few weeks of each other, three boys and one girl.  I keep telling Maya that she should go take one of those fancy babysitting classes, because there’s going to be a ton of money to be made around here pretty soon, but the child has no work ethic, and just looks at me.  Of course,…

Yesterday, I woke up and did the usual weekday thing…walk the dog 45 minutes (she’s coming with me less and less often, actually, because I need to get my heart rate up, and she’s 10 years old, and really slows me down…but I brought her yesterday, which she loved), come home, work out to an exercise show I like on FitTV, get Maya’s breakfast ready, and while Ted takes her to school, I sit down to my breakfast.  My plan is usually to have Cheerios and fruit (especially good with a really ripe peach or raspberries), but sometimes, by the time I finish my walk, I’m starting to think of…

Ever since I read this post over at Fancy Toast, I’ve been trying to figure out how to make a meal out of crab cakes.  They’re not cheap to make, even with canned crab, and even less cheap when you buy them like I do, pre-made.  So to have enough to fill everyone up would be difficult.  But I could buy us one each without breaking the bank. Last Saturday, I went to the Farmers’ Market in Pleasant Hill, and there was a booth there for a new restaurant in the neighborhood that sounds pretty yummy, Nibblers.  (I only ate four or five of the little samples they had sitting…

I was watching reruns of Take Home Chef last week, and Curtis made a yummy looking Pear Crumble. There are some ladies at the farmers’ market who have the tastiest pears, so when I went this Saturday, I got some specifically for the crumble. For my money, a crumble beats a cake any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Mmmm. Fruit and crunchy topping. Delicious. Seems like it would be good with nectarines or peaches, too. Even plums. So I made this yesterday, and we enjoyed it after dinner. It was good, though I kind of thought the proportions were off…I think I would use twice as many…

(image not mine…I was too lame to take a picture. This picture was found here.) This Sunday again found me at the Farmers’ Market, trolling for fresh summer produce. Ted’s youngest cousin had a birthday last week, and her party was on Sunday afternoon.  She is a fan of this bruschetta, so I happily made a batch to bring along.   There’s nothing like bruschetta to make you appreciate the bounty of summer…fresh, really ripe tomatoes, fresh basil, good quality olive oil…mmm.  Really, really good. The recipe comes from The New Basics Cookbook. Bruschetta 12 to 14 fresh ripe plum tomatoes (about 1 3/4 pounds) 2 tablespoons minced garlic 2 tablespoons…

Sunday morning found me at our local Farmers’ Market, shopping for nectarines and peaches and tomatoes…and who should I run into at the nectarine and grape stand, but my good friend Pat. Pat’s from working class Pennsylvania, but he’s got a certain savoir-faire sensibility about him, from time spent living in London and an apt. in Paris.  Deep down, though, Pat comes from his Italian roots, and has a deep respect for all things pasta and really fresh produce. We meandered over to the stand with the basil, and he said he was going to make some pesto for dinner. Mmm. Pesto. We don’t have pesto much around here. It’s…

Sunday is farmers’ market day here in Walnut Creek, and if you know who to ask, and what to ask, and you ask nicely, in August and September, you can get a box of slightly over-ripe heirloom tomatoes for $4. And by over-ripe, I mean just ripe. Most of the tomatoes at the farmers’ market would do well to sit for a day or two, because they don’t want you to buy them, take them home, and have them be a soggy mess in a day or two. So, this Sunday found me at the farmers’ market, asking the right person, nicely, if she had 1/2 box of ‘sauce tomatoes’…

I guess it’s all about the cooking here lately, huh? Well, Monday we had a yummy chicken dish that utilized both my beautiful dutch oven AND my beloved Shun knife. Fun! The chicken recipe is SO good…I mean, why wouldn’t it be, when you take a chicken and cover it in a whole stick of butter and some herbs. What’s not gonna be tasty about that? I found this recipe on the Williams-Sonoma website.  My picture isn’t nearly as gorgeous as theirs, but still. Good chicken. Slashed Chicken with Herb Butter 8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature 1 Tbs. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley 1 Tbs. chopped fresh…

Photo found here Sunday morning, I woke up wanting Turkey Meatloaf. I have a cookbook of Ina Garten’s (Food Network’s Barefoot Contessa), and it has a wonderful recipe in it that we really enjoy. It makes a LOT of meatloaf though. If you look, the recipe calls for 5 lbs of turkey. That’s a LOT. So I halved it, and there’s still plenty left over. Plen-ty. Barefoot Contessa’s Yummy Turkey Meatloaf 3 cups chopped yellow onions (2 large onions) 2 tablespoons good olive oil 2 teaspoons kosher salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (1/2 teaspoon dried) 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce 3/4 cup chicken stock…

Sunday was chore day, and one of the chores that had to be done was the grocery shopping. I enjoy cooking, and I don’t mind cooking dinner almost every night (since Ted works late), but what I do dislike is trying to come up with ideas for meals week after week that won’t get boring. So Ted came up with a few yummy ideas, and I was trolling through Food Network’s website, looking for something that might be good. I came across this recipe, which not only looked good, it had a catchy name. It’s from their new show, Down Home with the Neelys, which I haven’t seen yet. The…

(sorry, my food photography skills are sorely lacking, so there’s no artsy aspect to this photo) The other day, Michelle at Scribbit had two chocolate cookie recipes on her blog, and invited folks to try them both and vote between them. I’m not a huge cookie fan, so I passed. But curiosity got the best of me, and I went back to see which cookies were winning. It was close. And then, in the comments, I found a recipe that was just different enough that it made me want to try it myself. What was intriguing? Well, instead of cocoa powder, the recipe called for chocolate pudding mix to make…

Monday, I was working and trying to figure out what to cook for dinner, when Yahoo came to my rescue with their weeknight menu. Thanks, Yahoo! This one looked yummy, especially since I was kind of craving pasta, but wanted something a bit different. Peanut Noodles with Shredded Chicken and Vegetables Ingredients: 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts 1/2 cup smooth natural peanut butter 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce 2 teaspoons minced garlic 1 1/2 teaspoons chile-garlic sauce, or to taste (see Ingredient note) 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger 8 ounces whole-wheat spaghetti 1 (12 ounce) bag fresh vegetable medley, such as carrots, broccoli, snow peas Cooking directions: Put a…