BEEF STEW W/ RED WINE & CARROTS

A few  years ago I made a spectacular dinner for my husband and my sister.  The said it was the one of the best meals that they have ever eaten!  Wow, what a compliment huh?!?!?  The reason why it is so easy for my husband to remember is that I made it for one of the Pittsburgh Steelers playoff games.  I just have to bring up that game and he will remember the dinner I made.  This year to celebrate a bunch of family birthdays that take place in October I made this meal again.  The dinner was Beef Stew w/ Red Wine & Carrots, Brussel Sprouts Braised w/ Pancetta, Shallot, Thyme & Lemon, Mashed Potatoes & my Fall Salad.  I was thinking ok it is mid October.  The temp. should be at least 50 degrees or less right?!?!?  WRONG.  It was 75 degrees out and my house was burning up since the stew has to be in the oven for at least 2 or so hours.  Everyone still loved it and again this dinner was a hit.  I will post the Brussel Sprouts Braised w/ Pancetta and also my Fall Salad on later posts, because those are a must have in your fall recipe repetoire.

MEXICAN MINESTRONE

Ok...so it has been since August 2nd since I last posted. What can I say...things have been crazy here. Here are some of my reasonings: it is summer, I have two two years olds, it is summer and oh ya... and did I mention that I have two two years olds? But...here I am now. It is funny that it is summer, but this is a posting for soup. It has lots of great ingredients in it...and plus it has been so hot here lately (in the 90's) we have been spending a lot of time indoors in the cool air conditioning. Hey....the electric bill could be half the size of our mortgage so we should all just sit inside and enjoy it right! So made this awesome soup that has a mexican flavor...so I called it Mexican Minestrone. Tell your kids it is kinda like taco soup and they will eat it...vegies and all!

Fiesta Chowder with Chile-Corn Custard Squares

It was walk the red carpet night last night!  Yes, that is right it was "my superbowl" or at least that is how I explain Academy Award night to my husband.  The festivities started at 5:00 with some pre-show glamour and then moved on at 6:00 with the Barbara Walters special (we are going to miss your Oscar special Babs!), which preceded the event of the evening.....The Oscar's!  Of course my dinner for this special night was already thought about and pre-made during the day so that I could enjoy my evening.  I chose to make a simple dinner filled with mexican flavor.  I made my Fiesta Chowder which is a soup that is a mix between tastes of tacos & fajita's with a little reminder of chili, but in a soup version.  It is great!  I also made some Chile-Corn Custard Squares that I found in my June-09 issue of Bon Appetite.  These little squares can be served as an appetizer, but I cut them into larger squares to go on the side of our soup.  They are a mixture between corn bread and a Thanksgiving corn casserole; creamy and  yet breadlike....a perfect side for a Mexican soup.

Cabin Fever!

My family and I spent our New Year's at our cabin in the northwoods of Wisconsin with some family friends.  We had a great time!  All we wanted to do is have some fun family time in the snow (even though it was well into the negative numbers up there), sit by the fire and relax and try not to do too much work!  I had promised my husband that I would take it easy and not do a lot of cooking....so like a good wife....I listened to him!  I did however make a few things to make the cabin cozy!  Check out the following recipes on this post...they are sure to cure your "cabin fever"!

Silent Night, Holy Night - A Quiet Christmas Eve

You will see a lot more posts coming up today and tomorrow. I am trying to post all my recipes and menus for the upcoming Christmas holiday in case some of my followers need some ideas.  Also, because I am going to start running out of time to post blogs because my schedule is getting a bit hectic.

My husband and I wanted to create a tradition all our own with our children for Christmas Eve.  Since my family celebrates a big Italian Christmas Eve a week before(plus we see them on Christmas Day) and Mike's family all lives out of state, we decided that we would have a quiet Christmas Eve at home tradition.  We want it to be a night of attending Christmas Eve mass and also relaxing at home with our kids.  We also wanted to come up with a Christmas Eve dinner tradition as well.  A menu that is not complicated and also a bit lighter since we will be eating huge at my parents the next day. We also wanted to stick with the Italian-Christmas Eve seafood theme as well.  I have attached my "Quiet Christmas Eve At Home Dinner" in this post for you to view.  You will find that it is simple and yet elegant!

Pleuthra of Potatoes

So you peeled, cooked and mashed 20 lbs of potatoes and there "ain't" no way you are tossin' any of those darn mashed potatoes out!  That's ok....there is a solution...here are some recipes that can help you out!

What Do We Do With All This Turkey?

So every year like most people we make  a turkey that can barely fit into our oven or roasters.  And every year we have so many left overs we have no idea what to do with them all.  Last year my mom used a William Sonoma recipe and made us the best darn turkey sandwich ever! Just seeing the recipe and picture now makes my mouth water!  I am dedicating this post to some great recipes where you can use your left over turkey without feeling the burden of " What do we do with all this turkey?"

*Photo Courtesy of William Sonoma

ANNUAL HALLOWEEN PARTY

So it has been a bit over a week since I last posted...October can get pretty crazy in our house with birthdays, anniversary's, family coming to visit and Halloween. It is a tradition in our family to host a festive Halloween party. For as long as I can remember my parents always hosted this party at their home. They invited the neighbors and some friends and family and everyone came over right after trick or treating. Their menu always consisted of a hearty soup and chili. Both my brother and his family and me and my family moved about 45 minutes west of my parents. It is hard for the trick or treating to take place and for us to do the driving back and forth with all the kids. For the past three years my husband and I have now taken the reigns and we now host the annual Halloween party. We invite pretty much the same people that came over to my parents and this year we added a few neighborhood friends as well. We also tried to stay close with the annual menu of soup and chili, but we also added a few special recipes of our own. Please read more to find all the recipes!

Minestrone Soup

Do you have that one recipe that just seems to be what you are known for?  I do...that recipe for me is my Minestrone Soup.  If we go out to dinner and we see minestrone soup on the menu, my husband and I both look at eachother and say " We can't order it.  We won't like it.  We are spoiled!"  It just seems that no matter where we go no other minestrone soup will do.  I hope you try this recipe and see for yourself what we are talking about when we say "We are spoiled"!  Mangia!

A "Chili" In The Air

Our twin daughters turned two years old on October 6th!  Very hard to believe!  On Sunday we had the first of three little parties to help celebrate their birthday. We had my husbands family from Indiana over.  Thanks to the horrible economy we are trying to watch our spending just like every other family out there.  I love to entertain and make large meals for parties.  Trying to find ways to still entertain and keep on a budget is hard to do...BUT...I have come up with some simple menus that will not break the bank and will still keep them coming back for more!  Here is the first of those menus:  A Chili Party!

Remembering Italy

My husband and I were in Italy a few years ago. Everywhere we went the small Trattoria's were serving bowls of amazing Pasta Fagioli soup. We had eaten this soup several times back in the states' (both being Italian heritage), but this soup was like nothing we had ever eaten before! It had a chicken broth base, but was thicker in consistency. I think we ordered a bowl of that soup at every meal just so we could figure out how it was made! We finally came up with the idea that it had to have been pureed northern beans that was making the broth thick. As soon as I got home I went to work and came up with my own recipe. Enjoy!

The " Go To Soup"

My husband travels a lot for work.  While on the road he has to eat out for every  meal so I am always trying to come up with a great "welcome home" meal for him.  Last winter I had a lot going on (raising one year old twins) and I just did not feel that creative.  I had some bone in split chicken breasts in the freezer and all the rest of the ingrediets to make chicken noodle soup.  Half way through making the soup I realized that I had never made chicken noodle soup for my husband before ( dated 2 years and married for 2 years).  Later that night when he got home very tired and very cold he was surprised to see a big pot of chicken noodle soup on the stove waiting for him. Long story short...he devoured it!  Two whopping bowls later he asked me "Why have you never made this for me before?" This soup is now my go to soup for when I run out of recipe surprises for my husband...I just know he will love it every time!

Chicken Noodle Soup

• 16 cups / 1 gal. chicken stock
• 64 oz. / 8 cups canned chicken broth
• 2 large russet potatoes (peeled & cubed)
• 3 carrots (cleaned & chopped)
• 1 large onion chopped
• 2 celery sticks chopped
• 3 bone - in split chicken breasts
• 2 TB. chopped parsley
• 1/2 TB. dried oregano
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1/2 lb noodles (uncooked)
• Parmesean cheese to garnish

* I choose to use the bone in chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken because our family does not like
   the dark meat of the chicken.  The breasts have the best of the white meat.

1. Heat chicken stock & broth in large pot and bring to a boil. Add chicken breasts and boil for 20-30  minutes until chicken is no longer pink inside.
2. Remove chicken from pot and place on cutting board. Remove chicken skin and cut chicken into bite sized cubes. Add cut up chicken to broth in pot.
3. Add potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, parsley, oregano, salt & pepper to pot. Simmer for 30 minutes.
4. Add noodles to pot and simmer for about 20 more minutes.
5. Ladle soup into large soup bowl and garnish with freshly grated parmesean cheese.