Butternut squash lasagna; braised short ribs; crock pot roasted cabbage and potatoes; wheat berry, rice, and mushroom pilaf; and fruit-sweetened candy

I love cooking at home because I don't have to pay for groceries, I get a lot more counter space, and I get to cook more things because the leftovers disappear more quickly.  But, I didn't cook as much as I thought I would because I was only really in town for about 5 days (despite being in FL for 2 weeks).  I did get to try several new things, though.

The first thing I made was a Cooking Light's butternut squash lasagna.  I was nervous because I didn't know how I would like the mix of flavors, but it was really good.  Next time I would use even more squash, and definitely a bigger pan (it overflowed a little).  The sauce was simple, but very tasty (even though I didn't use the fire-roasted tomatoes), and I can see myself making this for all types of pasta.

Next up was Christmas Eve dinner.  I wanted to do something a little out of the ordinary, and what immediately came to mind was a dish that my friend Sam made a few weeks earlier - braised short ribs.  I sort of followed Cooking Light's recipe for braised short ribs, but also used Sam's instructions.  Basically, I sprinkled salt and pepper on the ribs, browned them on all sides, and set them aside.  Then I sauteed sliced onions, celery, leeks, carrots, and garlic until tender.  I then added about 2 cups of cabernet sauvignon, peppercorns, thyme, parsley, and a bay leaf and let that reduce until the wine had almost completely evaporated.  Then I added a few cups of beef broth and poured that over the ribs, adding more broth so that they were almost covered.  Then I covered the pan with foil and let it cook at 300 for 3 1/2 hours (at this point I picked up a piece of meat and the bone fell out).  It was really tasty and probably the most tender beef I've had, but not an everyday recipe (because of time and money).  I also made a mushroom, brown rice, and wheat berry pilaf from the Moosewood cookbook.  It was really tasty, and I can't get enough wheat berries!  Finally, I made roasted cabbage and potatoes from A Year of CrockPotting, but unfortunately I didn't know that the cooking temperatures on Mom's crockpot are way too low, so the potatoes weren't cooked.  I've made it again in mine since I got back to Michigan, and it was really good.

I also made some desserts sweetened with dates and fruit juice.  The fudge had grape juice in it, and that's all I could taste.  I didn't like it at all.  However, the peanut butter chewies were very tasty, and I'm sure I'll be making them again some time.

After that I didn't get much cooking done due to a lot of small trips to Atlanta, Gainesville, and Jacksonville (and because we had to eat up some leftovers!), but I'm trying to make up for that now.

Meatloaf with oats

The beginning of this week was brutally cold (highs in the teens with wind chills in the single digits).  That, combined with a stressful week (including constant fire alarm tests!) meant more comfort food.  You thought I was kidding, didn't you?  I don't think I've had meatloaf in about 4 years, but that's what came to mind.  I don't like anything fancy with my meatloaf, so I made this basic recipe from Quaker.  I didn't measure anything, and I think I changed the proportions quite a bit (I only had about 3/4 lb meat, but probably used closer to the actual amounts of everything else that the recipe called for).  I also used tomato paste instead of sauce and added some minced garlic.  It's really good, especially with the roasted red potatoes that I made with it.  It has been a bit dry warmed up, but it was perfectly moist the night I made it.  I'm not sure what to do about that, but it's not bad enough to worry. 

I already miss the wheat berries.  The salad got so many compliments, and I had several people ask for the recipe (and MANY requests to explain wheat berries - "no, you don't harvest the flour").  Anyway, I gave some away, and I somewhat regret that because it only gave me enough for about 2 more servings.  I suppose I'll have to make more while I'm home...

Crock pot grits and green chiles, chili, and mashed potatoes (I mean cauliflower!)

I've been in the mood for comfort foods since I've been back in Michigan (and apparently also in the mood for foods starting with 'C').  It's all because it's been snowing a lot and dark by 4, and that leads to seasonal depression.

I've been dying to try out my new crock pot (thanks Mammom and Papa!), but I haven't been home for more than a few days since I got it.  It finally got a trial run on Monday.  I needed a recipe with a short cooking time because I didn't want to leave it on all day before I tested it out a time or two, but I couldn't stand the thought of waiting til the weekend to try it.  Luckily I found a recipe in one of Dad's books for green chile grits.  This was perfect because I got some local stone-ground yellow grits the last time I was in Atlanta, and kept meaning to cook some.  About the time the grits were done I added some browned turkey sausage slices.  It was so good (and still is!).  I'm not sure why, but things are always better when you cook them for a long time at lower temps.  I found a blog by a woman who made a New Year's resolution to use her crock pot every day in 2008.  That's quite excessive (although sometimes she uses it for non-food things), but she has some good recipes.  I'm excited to try some out!

Today I made some chili.  Al gave me his Chili recipe a while ago, so I finally got it out and gave it a shot.  I only made 1/3 of a recipe because I wasn't in the mood to invite the whole neighborhood, so here's the reduced version with my adjustments:

2 Tbl butter (I didn't use it - just coated the pot in cooking spray)

2 medium onions, sliced

1 lb ground beef (I used 3/4 lb because it worked out more conveniently)

1 can (20 oz) tomatoes (I used 28 oz can diced tomatoes)

2/3 can (6 oz) tomato paste (I used a whole can)

1 tsp salt (I used 1/2 tsp)

2/3 tsp MSG (no thanks)

1/6 tsp tabasco

1 Tbl chili powder

1 can (20 oz) kidney beans (I used 15 oz can)

Melt butter, add onions, and cook until tender.  Add ground beef and cook until brown.  Add everything else except beans, cover and simmer for 45 min.  Add beans and simmer 15 min.

It was good.  Probably not the best chili I've ever had (I may add a few more dashes of tabasco to give it more of a kick), but I'm still excited to eat leftovers.  Perhaps if I'd used the butter and msg it would have been wonderful.  I was excited to try out some of the ground beef that I picked up from the Amish people at my farmers' market (along with the sausage in the grits) before it closed for the winter.  They called it "lean", but the label just said "ground beef."  There was hardly any fat that came out when I browned it, so it must be extremely lean, but it had a really good flavor.  And the sausage was good too!

And finally, I made some mashed cauliflower today.  I boiled the florets until they were falling apart (about 20 min).  Then I let it drain for a while to get as much water off as possible, but it was still wet enough that I didn't add any milk.  I added a little bit of butter, salt, garlic powder (just for you, Dad), and cheese (I used Havarti because it was already grated, but I'm sure anything would be fine).  It is SOOO good, and I swear that it tastes exactly like potatoes.

Settle in for a lot more soup/stews and homey foods until the weather gets better (maybe around July??).

This week's creations

Most of my leftovers were gone by the end of the weekend, so on Monday I got back into the kitchen.  I found an interesting recipe for Quinoa and Beef Picadillo in my new whole grains cookbook, so I went for it.  Basically you saute onions, garlic, green pepper, cumin, and ground beef, then add diced tomatoes and green chiles, raisins, and spices (oregano, chili powder, and cinnamon) and let it simmer for a while.  Then you add in cooked quinoa.  I love the interesting blend of the spices, and once again the raisins work even though I had my doubts.  It is definitely more of an authentic mexican dish than the usual tex-mex fare.  I'm really excited to try more recipes from this book because there's a lot of variety and this one really hit the spot!

I also roasted a turkey breast on Monday so that I could make some sandwiches this week.  I didn't do much to it - just rubbed a little bit of olive oil on it and sprinkled some thyme on top, then roasted it at 350 for a while (I think it took about an hour and 15 min).  I love turkey (and haven't had any for a while), so I'm really enjoying it.  There's nothing new or exciting about it, but all I wanted was some good simple turkey.

And finally, today I roasted a butternut squash.  Coincidentally, I made this much like the turkey.  I cut it into small cubes, drizzled olive oil and thyme on it, mixed it together, then spread it out in a pan and roasted it at 450 for about 35 min (stirring once).  It's delicious and simple.  After not venturing much into the winter squashes before, I'm really enjoying them now.  They're so easy, and there isn't a rush to use them since they last so long.  I still have a spaghetti and acorn on the counter, but I'm wishing I would have filled my apartment with them before the farmers' market closed.

My first flop...

Ok, so it wasn't exactly a flop, but it wasn't what I expected.  It had been a week since I used my sourdough starter, so it was time to use more (or throw away some of it).  I decided to try making a sourdough loaf in the machine.  I enjoy sourdough occasionally and I hated to throw away some of my starter, so I decided to see what kind of loaf it would produce.  I added some sunflower seeds and raisins to a basic whole-wheat sourdough recipe.  For comparison, here's my first loaf of bread:

And here's the sourdough one:

No, I didn't cut the top off.  Needless to say, it's quite dense, but actually tastes pretty good.  I still don't think it's something I'm going to want often, which means I'll either stop keeping up with my starter or throw some away most weeks (probably the former).  It was a good experiment, but not exactly what I expected.

Fortunately I had other successes this weekend.  It's been raining (or pouring, rather) since Friday afternoon, so I've spent most of the weekend cooking, reading, and watching movies.  Yesterday I made a good stir fry with lots of leftover things I had (brown rice, chicken, peppers, and mushrooms), and today I baked some tomatoes that I had stuffed with ground beef, brown rice, and a bunch of spices.  I enjoyed both, especially along with veggies (which consisted of more sauteed squash, steamed spinach, and steamed carrots).