Recently in Cooking Category

I was completely correct. With enough butter, cream, and cheese, anything can be made edible (I'm still sticking with hot poo, in that assumption). Case in point, last night the side I served along Nigella's one-pan of sage-onion chicken and sausages (which will serve 27 large, fat lumberjacks, just FYI) was cauliflower which I've never made before and don't ever eat. But Ina's Cauliflower Gratin sounded good so I bought a head and doused it with enough cream, butter, cheese, and pepper to actually make it palatable.

Tonight's fare for one: Pork Chops done in the slow-cooker with onions and dressing. Of course this recipe serves 6 also but as I was informed several weeks ago at someone's dinner party, "well, you can't ever serve pork at a dinner party, it's just not polite.", I'll be eating alone since I don't want to appear impolite and offend anyone with pork.

OK. J.Go and Max both dissuaded me off fennel last year. But the power of Food TV and specifically, Ina Garten, have over the last year persuaded me that I should give it a whirl. I trust the boys implicitly, but I can't argue with an amazing white dish filled with creamy something or other and what the hell, if it was inedible, they they were right as rain and all is ok.

So I got the fennel this weekend, found some Gruyere and whipped out a dish of potato-fennel gratin tonight.

OMG. I know what was in the dish because I shredded the cheese and sliced up the potatoes, onions, and fennel, but seriously, it was like CRACK. I skipped everything else for dinner and just ate the gratin. And when I tell you I was eating it out of the dish, standing over the stove, that is not a lie. It was just that good.

So of course I realize that with enough cream, butter, and cheese, one could make a steaming turd into dinner party fare, but this gratin just flipped me into something else all together.

All my cooking endeavors, certainly those in the past year, have been noble attempts but yet I felt I was missing something essential. I'd watch the shows on TV and then make them dutifully using the recipes as supplied but still, I was left with a, "this could be better?" feeling.

Enter the Rachael Ray 5-quart Oval Saute pan. I know that everyone who cooks needs their own correct pans and skillets for whatever they do and I'm enough of a worrier that I'm particularly high strung if I'm using a pan that might not be the right one. I also know that most people who cook have too much cookware they never use, me included. But I've watched RR enough to know that she can just about do anything in this oval pan and now that I found one, I'm gettin' it.

It isn't right to be this excited about a pan. Not at all.

I officially celebrated the start of Autumn this weekend. It wasn't by driving upstate to see the foliage (though we did and it was gorgeous), and it wasn't by planting all my spring bulbs (though I did). It was because the autumnal cooking season has been offically started by the ceremonial cooking and eating of Roasted Garlic Soup, the most autumnal thing I know and love to make.

A few words about the recipe. I automatically double it from the start. It's worth it for the leftovers and to share with others so just do it.

I love garlic. The recipe calls for roasting two heads which is crazy. Even when I double the recipe, I still roast eight heads of garlic and use every bit of it. It suits the soup just fine so don't be afraid. Also, you could roast and use almost any kind of harvest vegetable that suits. The all will change the flavor a bit, but I can only imagine in the best ways possible while making it your very own thing.

Get a stick-mixer. Period. Pouring any hot soup into a blender is fucking CRAZY shit.

Enjoy the Autumn:

Roasted Garlic Soup (recipe via ‘Country Living’ Jan. 2002)
8 servings

2 lg. garlic heads, plus 1 clove minced
3 tbls. Olive oil
2 bay leaves
1 tbls unsalted butter
2 cups minced onion
1 cup minced carrots
1 lg. potato (or sweet potato) peeled (1 ¼ cups) and cubed
4 cups chicken stock
½ cup dry white wine
1 tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. pepper
¼ cup heavy cream

1. Roast the garlic: Preheat oven to 350oF. Using a serrated knife, cut the top off each garlic head so that the tip of each clove is exposed. Place the garlic heads on a large piece of aluminum foil and drizzle with 2 tbls. Olive oil. Add the bay leaves and fold the foil to form a packet. Place the packet in the oven and bake at 375oF for 45 minutes. Remove and let cool until able to handle. In a small bowl, squeeze the garlic head until all of the roasted flesh is released. Discard outer husks and bay leaves.
2. Make the soup: In a large heavy duty saucepan, heat the remaining olive oil and butter, add onions and cook over medium heat until translucent – about 4 minutes. Add the carrots and continue to cook for 5 minutes more. Add the minced garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the potato, chicken stock, white wine, roasted garlic, salt, and pepper. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and continue to cook for 35 minutes.
3. Finishing the soup: Using a blender or stick blender, puree the soup in small batches until smooth. Return the soup to the saucepan if using a blender over medium heat and whisk in the heavy cream. Heat until warmed. Do not boil. Keep warm until ready to serve

Suggestions: I like a lot of garlic so I always double the amount I use for the single recipe. Same for the onions. I’ve used a sweet potato in place of a regular potato before with great results. I’ve also used a red wine instead of white when that was all I had on hand. Get a stick-blender! You need to pour this scalding soup into a blender like you need genitals on your face.

Garlic cook time: 45 mins. (Soup prep time: 15 mins)
Soup cook time: 55 minutes
Total Time: 1:40 minutes

When Jeff is out of town, such as he was this weekend, I'm left to my own devices meaning I get to cook whatever I want, just for me. Since Jeff is not a fish-lover, I picked up a couple Red Snapper fillets on Friday and following Ms. Ray, produced a rather nice late night dinner for myself. Unremarkable in and of itself except that I've never made fish before. I'd admit the caper and white wine sause wasn't exactly top quality...too many flavors that stood out instead of blending, but the fish was cooked and it wasn't difficult so it's a winner.

On Saturday, I jumped from Rachel to Giada Di Laurentis's Italian Picnic. I have sort of a love/hate thing with Giada. She's amazingly beautiful, her cooking is so easy-looking and relaxed, but she's got this italian thing when she speaks that sort of disrupts the whole image for me. That being said, the recipe for the Caponata Sandwiches sounded too good to be true so I whipped up a batch yesterday and it was awesome. Full of flavor, sweet and sour, it has it all.

I've been trying to expand my cocktail experiences and started looking for my summer drink, other than strong white wine. While in Boston last week having drinks with Ron, I discovered that I love a good gin and tonic. Cool and refreshing, it is perfect for me. Then along came the NYTimes article on their summer cocktail contest winner, The Cuke, which is a horrible name but a compelling recipe. I whipped up a batch of them last night and they were awesome. I'm not sure if I'd make them for just myself, but having friends over (Nick and Steve gave them thumbs up last night, too), I'd throw a pitcher of them together and share.

I've been eyeing the recipe for Paula Dean's White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Pie for about six weeks because I love almost anything white chocolate wiht macadamia nuts (except those nasty, pre-packaged Mrs. Fields version. They're totally toxic). I'd been holding off until I was done with school and give it my full attention. That was this weekend and just happened to be early Sunday morning. Nothing beats melting chocolate over a jimmy-rigged double-boiler at 8am with a hot cup of steaming decaf at the ready.

Overall, I thought the result was pretty good. The recipe is ridiculously simple which makes it a no-brainer if you need to take a good pie somewhere for this summer. I quite possibly over-roasted the nuts but it didn't seem to matter much. As a big fan of white chocolate, I was a little disappointed in how much the flavor was subdued by the nuts and chocolate ganauche but overall, the pie is really good.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Pie
Ganache:
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy cream

Garnish:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 to 2 ounces chopped macadamia nuts

Ganache:
Place chocolate chips in a metal mixing bowl. Bring cream to a simmer over medium heat. Pour simmering cream over chips and stir until melted. Set aside and allow to cool to room temperature.

Filling:
Beat cream cheese and sugar with a handheld electric mixer until smooth. Scrape bowl with a spatula and mix in 1/3 cup heavy cream. Add the melted white chocolate, zest, and nuts and stir just until incorporated. Fold in the whipped cream. Spread into pre-baked pie shell and level off using a rubber spatula. Put in freezer until frozen.

To finish pie, place the ganache in the microwave on low for no more than 10 seconds at a time. Stir after each warming, until ganache pours loosely but is not even close to boiling. Be very careful when warming chocolate, as it will burn very quickly when heated in the microwave. Once chocolate is scorched it is unusable. Spread warm ganache over top of frozen pie, smoothing to the edges with a spatula.

Garnish:
Beat cream and confectioners' sugar with a handheld electric mixer to stiff peaks. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe edges of pie with whipped cream. Sprinkle macadamia nuts over top. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

I whipped up another batch of Paula Dean's Almond Danish Swirls yesterday to sooth myself and my aching head (bond-ratings! alternative capital financing strategies, pork! pork! pork!) with every intention of eating every last one. From the ingredient list, that's two full tubes of cresent rolls and a whole package of cream cheese mind you. Loveless chicks with spoons and pints of Ben & Jerry's have nothing on me.

I had a change of plans about half way through this orgy though, when the glob of confectioner's sugar glaze I licked off the back of my hand turned out to be the Neutrogena moisturizer I had just slathered on. Brought up short by this assult on my hungry inner child and left with a taste of Alpha Hydroxy well into the evening, I saved myself the estimated 2534 calories left in the almond swirls and packed them away for another day.

Almond Danish Swirls
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup slivered almonds, chopped fine
2 (8-ounce) cans refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
1 egg white
1 teaspoon water

Glaze:
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
4 teaspoons milk
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, almond extract, and sugar until fluffy. Fold half of the chopped almonds into the cream cheese mixture. Separate 1 can of dough and assemble into 4 rectangles. Firmly press the perforations to seal. Press or roll each piece of dough to form a 7 by 4-inch rectangle, and spread each with about 2 tablespoons of the cream cheese filling to within 1/4-inch of the edges. Starting at the short end, roll each rectangle tightly into a cylinder. Repeat with the other can of dough and remaining filling.

Place on a plate, cover with plastic wrap, and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F while the rolls are chilling.

Remove from the refrigerator and cut each roll into 4 slices. Place 1/2-inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. In a small bowl, combine the egg white with 1 teaspoon water. Brush over the swirls. Sprinkle with the remaining chopped almonds. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until light brown.

While the swirls are baking, combine the glaze ingredients in a small bowl. Cool the swirls for 3 minutes on wire racks placed over a sheet of waxed paper. Drizzle the icing over the warm swirls.

I've been going through Rachel Ray's "365: No Repeats", marking up potential recipes to try so when it came to tonight’s dinner, it was either ordering in pizza or trying something with stuff we had on hand. I opted for cooking and canoodled Jeff into it, promising as I always do that if it doesn't taste good, I won't be offended if we toss it and go with plan B. I'm still so new at cooking that I can't be surprised if things turn out inedible and would never force anyone to eat it just to sooth my fragile psyche.

All that being said, the chicken croquettes with sweet potato mashers and pan gravy were completely edible and are on the repeat list. Lessons learned: mashed potatoes are simple and quick to make, so I need to stop being a pussy about side dishes. Also, pan gravy isn't rocket science.

Chicken Croquettes with Spinach Mashers and Pan Gravy
from "365: No Repeats", Recipe # 74, page 66

3 lg. potatoes, peels and cubed (I subbed in sweet potatoes)
Course salt
1.3 lbs ground turkey or chicken
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
1 sm. onion, finely chopped
2 tsp. poultry seasoning
3 tbls. chopped fresh thyme
3 tbls. chopped flat-leaf parsley
Coarse black pepper
1 egg yolk
2 cups bread crumbs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 tbls. butter
2 tbls. flour
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup cream or half-and-half
1 lb. baby spinach leaves

Place the potatoes in a pot adn cover with cold water. put a lid on the pot and bring the water to a boil. Salt the water and cook the potatoes until tender, about 15 minutes.

While the potatoes cook, make the croquettes. Place the meat in a bowl. Add the celery, onions, seasoning, thyme, parsley, salt, pepper, and egg yolk. Combine and form 8 patties. Coat both sides with bread crumbs. Heat the vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Cooke the patties for 5 minutes on each side. Remove the croquettes to a plate and cover loosely with foil to keep warm. Reduce the heat under the skillet and add 2 tbls of butter, melt, then whisk in the flour. Cook the roux for a minute or two. Whisk in 2 cups of chicken stock and bring to bubble. Thicken for a minute and turn of the heat. Season with sauce with salt and pepper.

Drain the cooked potatoes and return to the hot pot. Add 2 tbls butter, 1/2 cup of chicken stock, and the cream. Mash and season with salt and pepper. Fold in the spinach leaves until they wilt.

To serve, pile the spinach mashers on the plates and top each portion with 2 croquettes and gravy.

I've cooked my hands down to a bloody pulp this weekend. Encouraged by the 30-minute Meal books I've purchased over the last few weeks, I swung out, planned my grocery lists, and had at it:

Chili Sweet Potato Hash with Fried Eggs and Fresh Tomato Salsa
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
1/2 pound bulk breakfast sausage, such as maple sausage
1 medium sweet potato, scrubbed clean, cut in 1/2 lengthwise, thinly sliced into 1/2 moons
1 large red onion thinly sliced, divided
2 teaspoons chili powder, 2/3 palm full
1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/3 palm full
2 teaspoons ground coriander, 2/3 palm full
Salt and pepper
3 yellow vine ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, a palm full
1 lime, juiced
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley, a few handfuls
1 cup grated manchego or extra-sharp Cheddar
1 tablespoon butter
4 large eggs

Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat with 2 turns of the pan of olive oil, about 2 tablespoons. Add the breakfast sausage and break it up with the back of a wooden spoon into little chunks, brown sausage for 3 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes and 3/4 of the chopped red onion to the sausage, season with chili powder, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper, stir frequently and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the potatoes are nice and tender.

While the hash is cooking, in a small bowl combine the tomatoes, jalapeno, and the remaining chopped red onion, cilantro, lime juice and a little salt and pepper.

Once the hash is cooked, add the chopped parsley, stir to combine and transfer hash to a serving platter. Sprinkle with the cheese and cover with aluminum foil, the cheese will melt while you make the fried eggs.

Wipe clean the skillet you made the hash in, return it to the cook top over medium-high heat and add the butter. Once the butter has melted, crack each of the eggs into the skillet, season with a little salt and pepper and fry to desired doneness. Eggs may, of course, be scrambled as well. As you like!

Transfer the fried eggs to the top of the hash, sprinkle with the fresh tomato salsa and serve.

My take: This was AWESOME!! My favorite of the whole weekend. I could make this over and over again. Seriously, the surprise is the great salsa flavor over top of the dish.

Sausage, Mushroom, and Pesto Polenta Lasanga
recipe in Rachel Ray's No Repeats cook book which I left at home. I'll post the recipe next weekend for anyone interested. This was ok. I need to tweak the amount of the ricotta filling but Jeff ate it and liked it so it's a keeper.

Turkey Cacciatore Burgers on Portobello "Buns"
1 1/3 pounds ground turkey breast, the average weight of 1 package
Salt and pepper
6 crimini mushrooms (baby portobellos) stems removed and finely chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, smashed away from skin and finely chopped
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Romano, a couple of handfuls
Handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
4 large portobello mushroom caps, stems removed
Coarse salt and black pepper2 cups arugula leaves, coarsely chopped
1/2 pound fresh mozzarella or fresh smoked mozzarella, thinly sliced
Sliced red onion and sliced yellow and plum tomatoes

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.

Combine meat with salt and pepper, chopped crimini mushrooms, chopped bell pepper, chopped onion, garlic, tomato paste, Worcestershire, crushed red pepper flakes, cheese and parsley. Score and form meat into 4 large patties, 1 inch thick. Drizzle extra-virgin olive oil on top the patties then fry 5 or 6 minutes on each side in a hot skillet.

Place portobello caps on a small baking sheet gill side up and drizzle extra-virgin olive oil on them. Roast the caps 12 minutes. Remove them from the oven and season them with salt and pepper. Turn oven off. Top each cap with about 1/2 cup arugula and a burger. Cap burger with mozzarella and place back in still-warm oven. Melt the cheese 1 minute. Transfer burgers on "bun" bottoms to plates. Top with onions and tomatoes and serve.

My take: These didn't work at all. I ate a half and threw the rest away. I was really disappointed because all the ingredients looked and smelled so great but the end result was like bland, woody cardboard that would need SO much mayonaise just to eat, it wouldn't be worth it.

Grilled Chicken Cutlet Parmigiana
2 pounds thin cut chicken breast, cutlets
Salt and pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling, plus 2 tablespoons
3 to 4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 small yellow skinned onion, finely chopped
1 (28-ounce) can fire roasted diced tomatoes, such as Muir Glenn brand
1 cup, 20 leaves, fresh basil leaves, shredded or torn
1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/2 pound smoked mozzarella, thinly sliced

Heat outdoor grill or indoor grill pan to high. Season chicken with salt and pepper and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil to keep it from sticking to the grill. Cook 3 to 4 minutes on each side and transfer to a foil covered platter to hold. If you are using a grill pan, cook the chicken in 2 batches if necessary. While chicken cooks, make sauce.
Place a medium pot on the stove over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan. Add garlic, crushed red pepper flakes and chopped onions. Cook 10 minutes, stirring often. Add tomatoes and heat through, 2 minutes. Wilt in the basil and season the sauce with salt and pepper.

Preheat the broiler to high.

Layer the chicken with fire roasted sauce in a casserole dish. Top the casserole with Parmigiano and mozzarella. Brown the casserole under the broiler 3 minutes.

My take: This turned out pretty well which surprised me. I thought for sure it would flop and be tasteless but it was surprisingly flavorful and moist AND I was actually able to put it together and have it on the table in under 30-minutes.

And my non-Rachel Ray attempt:

Almond Danish Swirls
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup slivered almonds, chopped fine
2 (8-ounce) cans refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
1 egg white
1 teaspoon water

Glaze:
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
4 teaspoons milk
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, almond extract, and sugar until fluffy. Fold half of the chopped almonds into the cream cheese mixture. Separate 1 can of dough and assemble into 4 rectangles. Firmly press the perforations to seal. Press or roll each piece of dough to form a 7 by 4-inch rectangle, and spread each with about 2 tablespoons of the cream cheese filling to within 1/4-inch of the edges. Starting at the short end, roll each rectangle tightly into a cylinder. Repeat with the other can of dough and remaining filling.

Place on a plate, cover with plastic wrap, and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F while the rolls are chilling.

Remove from the refrigerator and cut each roll into 4 slices. Place 1/2-inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. In a small bowl, combine the egg white with 1 teaspoon water. Brush over the swirls. Sprinkle with the remaining chopped almonds. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until light brown.

While the swirls are baking, combine the glaze ingredients in a small bowl. Cool the swirls for 3 minutes on wire racks placed over a sheet of waxed paper. Drizzle the icing over the warm swirls.

And so that was it. I did manage to squeek out a paper on private versus public insurance reimbursements and finish a team presentation on core performance measurments in healthcare so I'm feeling rather...productive, strangely enough.

My take: I LOVED THESE and they were so simple! It's unfortunate that I wanted to lose 15lbs because these pieces of evil are going to fuck that plan to hell...but I DONT CARE! Seriously, they're amazing.

I haven't had a blog crush in some time...in a VERY long time but as soon as J.Go introduced me to Bloghungry, I knew I was hooked. A cute guy who cooks and likes to put a lot of pictures up of himself cooking. Holy SHIT! Why didn't anyone else think about doing this YEARS ago when blogs were new and shiny. Yet his is very shiny and it just so happens to coincidently coincide with my current manic phase of wanting to cook the shit out of things (to be followed in the next month or so with All Things Gardening) and watching Rachel Ray's 30-Minute Meals incessantly on the TiVo. Sometimes the world does give us exactly what we need.

To that end, I pulled out a recipe from RR's "30-Minute Meal Comfort Food" that used only things I already had in the house. I came up with her Pumpkin and Black Bean soup recipe on page 77. I'm a soup-whore so I doubled the recipe for long-term consumption and made my first-ever batch of guacamole (not as hard as one would believe) while the onions were sautéing. Seriously, seriously good with a little extra cayenne pepper for some heat. Give it a whirl:

Pumpkin & Black Bean Soup
1 tbls veg/canola oil
1 tbls butter
1 med onion, finely chopped
1 can (14.5 oz) chicken or veg stock
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes in juice
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and washed
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp cumin
3 pinches cayenne pepper
Coarse salt to taste

Heat a deep pot over med heat. Add oil and butter. When butter melts, add onion and sauté, 5 minutes, until tender. Add broth, tomatoes, black beans, and pumpkin. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and stir in cream, curry, cumin, cayenne, and a few pinches salt. Simmer 5 minutes and adjust seasonings. Serve with chunky guacamole and tortilla chips.

Me, I'm thinking beer would be good with this hearty soup

I've done a large turkey several years in a row just to prove to myself that I could. I'm still saying that Alton Brown's suggestion of a 24-hour brine for the turkey is the best way to go. My mother may have made fun of me but she ate the damn thing and was pleasantly surprised that I was able to do it, I think.

This year, it's just Jeff and me. Cooking Thanksgiving for two is more challenging then at first glance because it is just so easy to say "fuck it" and have pizza. But we decided it was still Thanksgiving so I'm trying out a turkey breast in the slow cooker, Jeff's Mom's stuffing, roasted parsnips and sweet potatoes, and some ginger squash soup I made last weekend. Sounds peaceful and relaxing to me.

I am in no way any kind of food snob and my cooking skills still mark me as an amateur which I'm fine with. I am getting comfortable with trying some new things, working through my fear of self-poisoning, and really just enjoying the discovery that some cooking isn't really as hard as I've imagined it would be.

Case in point, salmon, which I love. If someone told me that four nice pieces of salmon on a bed of spinach and chopped mushrooms in the microwave for nine minutes gets what appears to be a top-quality and snazzy meal, I'd have said they were crazy. But it is true. I've done it twice now, once with an orange juice and Dijon mustard sauce and once with a teriyaki sauce and both times, it came out perfect.

Who knew the microwave was good for anything but heating up leftovers and water?

In an attempt to completly sabotage my Health Care Infrastructure course this weekend, I put off my very important presentation on the VA Health Care system to take a side trip down the cooking trail. By the end of the weekend, I'd wound my way through the current issue of Everyday Food and managed to make a big pot of roasted red pepper soup, four delicious salmon fillets in an orange juice and dijon mustard sauce, roasted parsnips and sweet potatoes, and eight rice and bean burritos that promptly got frozen for later use.

At least if I flunk out of school, I won't starve.

Sweet & Sour Beef Stew in the crockpot: Very good and made the kitchen smell really good all day.
Charlotte's Noodle Kugle: Very good. Freezes beautifully!
Chicken Enchilada Cassarole: Pretty good...too many onions for Jeff, though. This got much better after substituting shredded chicken for that nasty, no flavor tempeh. I love making vegetarian dishes better and more...meaty.
Curried Chicken Turnovers: Very Good but takes too damn long to thaw, cut, and fill those pesky puff pastries...especially when I've doubled the recipe. File under "Painful, but worth the effort...sometimes".
Spicy Crab Salad: Very good...but too many onions for Jeff. He'll have to make his own. I don't have to fucking cook everything just for him.
Cranberry mulled Wine: Good...but no cranberries to be found in late december and substituting with frozen Berry Medley just didn't cut it. Tasted OK but not after one glass. Would be better when it's really cold and there are actual people around; i.e., don't drink alone.

Recipes for anyone who wants them.

Up and at ‘em this morning. I’ve got the slow cooker turned on already and will be trying out a recipe for sweet and sour beef stew I found on the internet. I’ve decided to spend the rest of the weekend cooking and freezing to take back to the city. So far, my itinerary includes:
Sweet & Sour Beef Stew
Beef Stroganoff
Chicken enchilada casserole
Cinnamon Beef Noodles
Noodle Kugle

On the wish list if I can find the recipes and ingredients:
Hot buttered run
Mulled wine
Borscht
Red beet and blue cheese salad.