• Spicy Mac – Mac and cheese with a twist
• Pesach for the Rest of Us and a Passover lamb recipe – lamb for the season
• Root Vegetables Roasted with Sausage – I haven’t made a dish like this for a while. Time to try it again.
• How to Make Pesto like an Italian Grandmother – skip the machine and do it by hand.
• Ham and Potato Hash – a good breakfast fry up from Simply Recipes.

• Irish Soda Bread – A great St. Paddy’s day recipe, paticularly if your going to prepare…
• New England Boiled Dinner – Also know as Jiggs’ dinner.
• Cooking to Connect – Some Lenten thoughts from Milton
• Red Bean Hummus with No-Knead Bread – Hummus made with kidney beans instead of chickpeas.

Valentine’s Day Breakfast

Originally uploaded by Ian McKenzie.

I had seen something at Slashfood about frying heart-shaped eggs for Valentine’s Day using a cookie cutter. I liked the idea, but varied it a little to make eggs in a hole. I used the cookie cutter to remove a heart-shaped piece from the bread, broke the egg into the hole and fried. It worked like a charm.

• Arroz Con Pollo Recipe – the classic Spanish chicken and rice dish.
• Chocolate-covered cars – a waste of good chocolate.
• No-Knead Bread – A bread recipe that requires no kneading, but takes plenty of time.
• Love is a big rare roast – Lynette creates one of her great sounding meals for Valentine’s Day. Lucky Cakes!
• The Fundamentals Of Running A Restaurant - A Forbes.com article on what is involved in running a restaurant. (Hint, it’s not all Food Network glamour.)
• Roasted Garlic - Getting Back to Basics – Just thinking about roasted garlic gets me salivating in a Homer Simpson kind of way.
• Breville 800ESXL – on my wish list.
• Pork. Chop. Noodles. – Who needs to eat out when you’re preparing food like this.
• Yogurt Panna Cotta with Raspberries – A simple, elegant, light dessert.
• Spicy Beef Curry Stew for the Slow Cooker

Here are three bite-sized nut appetizers that are quick to make and delicious.

1. Sandwich a bit of blue cheese between toasted walnut halves. To keep from getting soggy, serve within two hours.
2. Combine equal parts of a mild goat cheese and cream cheese to make a soft spread. Add a bit of milk or cream if the spread is too stiff. Add whole grapes and stir to coat with the cheese mixture. Then roll the coated grapes in a bowl of toasted, chopped pecans or walnuts. Serve with toothpicks.
3. Slice crisp red apples, with the skin on, into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Dip in lemon water and dry. Top with a slice of sharp Cheddar cheese and a toasted walnut or pecan half.

My favourite Christmas cookie

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter/margarine
• 1 package instant chocolate pudding (4 serving size)
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• apricot jam
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3 Tablespoons butter/margarine

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Cream butter and pudding mix together.
3. Beat in egg.
4. Mix in flour.
5. Shape into small balls, roll in sugar and place on greased baking sheet.
6. Make a dent in each ball with your thumb.
7. Bake for 5 minutes, remove cookies from oven and press dent again. Continue baking for 10 more minutes.
8. Fill dent with apricot jam.
9. Melt chocolate and butter in saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently.
10. Glaze top of cooled cookie with melted chocolate.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cups Italian salad dressing
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 3 lbs. chicken wings, split and tip removed

Directions:

1. Pour salad dressing into small bowl.
2. Put next 3 ingredients into separate small bowl. Mix well.
3. Dip each wing piece into salad dressing.
4. Dip into cheese mixture until coated.
5. Arrange in single layer on greased foil-lined baking sheet with sides.
6. Bake in 350˚F oven for about 45 minutes until tender and no longer pink inside.

Makes about 24 drumettes or 36 wing pieces.

Ingredients:

• 1 small rutabaga, peeled & diced in 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 medium parsnips, peeled & diced in 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 medium carrot, peeled & diced in 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 large leek, chopped
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

Recipe Instructions:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add rutabaga, parsnips, and carrot. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside.
2. While vegetables are cooking, melt butter in large pot over medium heat. Dust chicken with flour seasoned with salt and pepper, reserving any leftover flour. Brown chicken half at a time in pot with butter; remove chicken when brown. Add leek to pot. Saute 3 minutes or until tender. Add 1 tablespoon flour to pot. Stir to form a paste. Stir in chicken broth. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
3. Return chicken to pot. Add vegetables and reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 10 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Technorati Tags: recipes, stew, chicken, rutabaga

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From Gourmet magazine:

Nine Amazing Turkey Stuffings…

• Sage Stuffing

• Sausage Cranberry and Cornbread Stuffing

• Wild Rice, Apple, and Dried Cranberry Stuffing

• Herbed Bread Stuffing

• Poblano Chile and Pumpkin Seed Stuffing

• Herbed Oyster Stuffing

• Sausage, Cranberry and Pecan Stuffing

• Herbed Shallot Stuffing

• Chestnut and Sausage Stuffing

…and One Magnificent Alternative

• Jeweled Rice and Dried Fruit

Fill Up on These Stuffings at Gourmet Features at Epicurious.com

I was surfing around, looking for posts to compile as a how-to for Canadian Thanksgiving day —October 9, 2006–– when I came across this post by Wendy Cooper. With links to a handful of ways to [tag]cook turkey[/tag], through to [tag]pumpkin pie recipes[/tag] and on to leftover-turkey recipes, she has covered the gamut of need-to-know information for [tag]Thanksgiving Dinner[/tag].

No need to reinvent the wheel, so go check out her links: The Cooking Blog: Canadian Thanksgiving Day Goodness :: 2006 edition