Well, our first two meals went well. If you are looking for a simple, hands-free recipe for roasted chicken (minus the crispy skin) then the French chicken in a pot recipe is great. The meat remained moist and cooked evenly and the jus it created was a knock-out. The sauce for the enchiladas was super simple and shredding the chicken only took 5 minutes post-dinner.

Last night’s meal was a little overly ambitious for post-work cookery, made more so by the fact that Pickle and I got home before Chris and I had to assemble the casserole and get the rice going alone, with “help” from my little guy. I will definitely make both recipes in tandem again, but I will not make the rice with the enchiladas next time. The rice was really good and I love that it has spinach in it for the hidden veg-factor, but it was just too much to do in a short amount of time. A simple steamed vegetable with lime zest and butter or a salad will work better next time. The rice will get star treatment on the weekend.

On the list for this evening: carry out from our favorite Lao restaurant and prepping for both the roasted winter squash and mushroom tacos and the gingery squash soup.

Happy eating, -s.

my boys with banana stickers on their noses

In response to my 2010 goals posting, my friend Katie of Art Wall Online shared with me her food-related goal for the year:

I have one food goal, which is to plan and prepare a nice dinner from a recipe once per week with enough for leftovers. Ryan has the same goal so we should be set 4/7 days. Baby steps.

With the busy lives we all lead, it's tough to get a home-cooked meal on the table — at a reasonable hour — without wanting to pull your hair out or have a lie-down. As I wrote before, prepping on the weekend is the way to go. Casseroles and roasts scream “leftovers,” and are great things to tackle over the weekend.

I am so enamoured with Katie's idea of making one dinner that has enough leftovers for the next night — be it in its original form or morphed into another dish — that I am going to try my hand at it and share my results with you.

Here's what I am going to make:

Dinner One (Sunday): French chicken in a pot, served with crème fraîche mashed potatoes and mixed greens vinaigrette
On sunday, I'll make the sauce for the enchiladas and post-dinner, I'll shred the leftover meat, too.

Dinner Two (Monday): Layered chicken enchiladas with arroz verde

Preheat the oven, assemble the casserole and pop it in the oven; then start on the rice. Both should be done within a few minutes of each other.

Dinner Three (Wednesday): Roasted winter squash and mushroom tacos (my own recipe) with goat cheese and scallions, served with mixed greens

On your "day off," (a.k.a. carry-out night) roast the squash and mushrooms, so they're ready to go for the next day.

Dinner Four (Thursday): Joy of Cooking's winter squash soup with warm, crusty bread
Use the reserved roasted squash to make this quick, velvety and warming soup. Great topped with pepitas.

Happy eating, -s.

I just received an email from our CSA farm, Driftless Organics, about this coming season. I know, I know, it's been below zero for days, there is snow on the ground — how can I be thinking about summer? But, it will be here before you know it and it's fun to imagine it being warm and sunny again.

Last year was our first year with Driftless and it was a great experience. The produce was beautiful, the newsletters were informative, the recipes were great and I loved being able to pick it up at my favorite breakfast and lunch spot, Mermaid Cafe. We did the every-other-week share so that I could go to the Dane County Farmers' Market on the off weeks. It worked well, and while sometimes you had to be creative in order to eat everything (like the enormous head of cabbage!), the produce lasts so much longer in the fridge because its super fresh since a truck didn't have to drive from California or Mexico to bring it here.

I would highly recommend doing a CSA this year for several reasons:
1. You know where your food is coming from — and the people who grew it, harvested it and packed your box.
2. It will be the freshest, most vitamin-rich produce you can get.
3. It's like getting a present every week or two — there are always a few (good) surprises in your box.
4. It will inspire you to try new foodstuff, experiment with new recipes and eat less meat, all of which is good for your health and the planet's.

If you live in the Madison area, check out there are some great resources to locate a farm:
1. REAP Food Group: an excellent resource for eating locally, seasonally and responsibly; check out their annual Farm Fresh Atlas for a comprehensive list of area farmers and producers.
2. MACSAC: an organization that supports and promotes CSAs in Southern Wisconsin. They have a great list of CSAs from which to choose.

To search nationally: Check out the Robyn Van En Center which provides information on Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs located both nationally and internationally. Here's a link to their CSA database.

Happy eating ... locally, -s.

I don't make new year's resolutions, but by looking at the increased members at my gym, it appears many people do. Inspired by my sister Holley and her annual list of goals, I am setting a few goals of my own. My little family and I have a lot on our plates this new year, so most of my time will be spent looking for a new job, a new house and possibly a new city in which to live ... all TBD at this point ... but the few things I want to accomplish for me, for fun, for a new experience I can easily squeeze in, right? Eek!

So, here it is ... in writing, so I can be held accountable:

1. get two pieces of writing published.
2. eat as locally and seasonally as possible and talk to and ask more questions of my favorite farmers at the market.
3. make the following foods: red and green curry pastes, yogurt, duck confit, pork steamed buns a la Momofuku (I love them so), sausage, beef tongue, grilled octopus and my grandmother's famous Lithuanian dumplings.
4. Chinese food: my new frontier.
5. go on a short trip with my husband ... sans Pickle (that's a biggie).

What are your goals for this new year and new decade?

Oh, and here's our menu for the week ...

Menu: week of 3 January 2010

Sunday: Provencal-style short ribs with mashed potatoes

Monday: grass-fed beef empanadas with sultanas, peas and egg served with an apple-celery slaw with toasted almonds in a sherry-maple vinaigrette

Tuesday: short rib tacos with avocado, red chile salsa and homemade refried black beans

Wednesday: sauteed lacinato kale with fresh ricotta bruschetta

Thursday: lentil salad with curry spices and yogurt from my new Field of Greens cookbook from Holley (thanks!).

Friday: Caesar salad with poached eggs from Michel Roux's lovely cookbook, Eggs.

Happy eating, -s.

Check out all of the amazing food we ate over the holidays ... how I am not 15 pounds heavier can only be attributed to Pickle and his non-stop energy (and dancing!). We had loads of fun, with many games of cribbage played, many Tom and Jerry's imbibed and a lot of delicious food eaten.

Here are the menus, with links to some of the recipes:

Christmas Eve: my sister Heather cooked up quite the feast that included lasagne bolonese and wild mushroom lasagne (not pictured) and a delicious salad of mixed greens, gorgonzola, cranberries and toasted walnuts.

Christmas Day: my mom made an amazing meal that included herb-crusted beef tenderloin with a creamy horseradish sauce, potato dauphinoise, roasted asparagus, brioche rolls and cranberry sauce.

And every meal ended with a delicious assortment of homemade cookies. Yum.

As you can tell, my whole family is kind of into food. My mom inspired all of her children to get their hands dirty in the kitchen and show their love via the dinner table. It's the best gift we ever received.

Happy eating and entertaining! -s.

Chris and I love going out and socializing ... except on New Year's Eve. We've done the parties, the multi-course dinners at restaurants, the pub crawls — all of which are fun — but none of them beat being at home. We splurge on delicious bottles of wine, indulge on delicacies that seem to be made for ringing in the New Year and either play numerous (heated) games of backgammon or watch a movie we missed seeing in the theaters. When the clock strikes midnight, we're usually in bed watching the ball drop in Times Square, thanking our lucky stars we're warm and cozy and not standing with throngs of strangers freezing our tushes off in NYC (which Chris has done and doesn't recommend).

I know, we're boring, but our menu is not. Here's what we'll be noshing on this Thursday.

Menu: New Year's Eve
first course: ceviche of red snapper with freshly fried tortilla chips
second course: potato and parsnip latkes with crème fraîche and smoked salmon or mascarpone and homemade applesauce served with Swiss chard sautéed in butter and garlic.
grand finale: butterscotch budino with caramel sauce
To drink: copious amounts of Prosecco and red wine

I hope your New Year's celebration is as rocking or relaxing, tipsy or tame as you want it to be!
Cheers! Salud! Cin cin! Prost! -s.

Wishing you a wonderful, peaceful, joyful holiday!

Here's to an inspiring new year filled with delicious food, good wine, special moments and an abundance of happiness.

xoxo, -s.