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What a great meal! The sherry sauce is a nice touch with the tart apple and sweet parsnips The dirty rice was almost as good as my moms, I left out the chopped chicken livers and added green peas. Sautéed Chicken with Parsnip, Apple, and Sherry Pan Sauce Recipe | Bon Appétit (bonappetit.com)

Dirty Rice

1 Tbls of bacon fat

1 Tbls spoon of butter

1/3 lb Spicy Italian sausage- mine was precooked

1/2 a Diced onion

1/4 of a Chopped bell pepper

Celery leaves from the heart

1 Clove off minced garlic

1 Box of long grain and wild rice

1 Tsp of cajun seasoning

1/2 Tsp of salt

Chicken stock- as much as the box calls for as water

Heat your bacon fat and butter on medium. Add your sausage and cook until brown, breaking it up as you go. I used precooked sausage, so I just cooked it until it started rendering a little fat. Add your, onion, pepper, and celery and cook until the vegetables are tender. Add in the garlic and cook a few seconds. Add in the rice and the cajun seasoning and cook until the rice is translucent. Add your stock and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce and simmer 20 minutes until all the liquid is evaporated.

We love roasted butternut squash at my house. This galette is sweet, savory and creamy in a crispy crust. I added a little white balsamic vinegar to the cooked onions for a little acid, I used a smoked fontina and the recipe says thyme or sage. I chose sage. What a perfect combination. butternut squash and caramelized onion galette – smitten kitchen

This is one of favorite Mexican dishes. The sauce differs from place to place The following is the sauce recipe that I use. I make it in advance. I put boneless chicken breast, sliced red pepper, poblano pepper and onion into the crockpot with 1/2 cup of sauce and enough water to cover and cook on low for 6 hours. I used a slotted spoon and transfer the peppers and onions to a skillet, then the chicken to a bowl to cool. When the chicken is cool enough to handle I shred it and add it to the skillet with the veg and add in the rest of the sauce and simmer for 20 minutes. I place my chips on an oven proof plate and top that with the chicken mixture and add on some grated cotija cheese and broil until the cheese is melted. Then top with your favorite toppings. For me it is cilantro, radish, avocado, sour cream and lime juice.

Chilaquiles sauce

3 Guajillo chilies seeds removed

1 Ancho Chile seeds removed

4 Roma tomatoes

1 Clove garlic

1 tsp Cumin

½ tsp Chipotle chili powder

1/4 Onion

2 tbls Vegetable oil

Bring the chilies, tomatoes and 6 cups of water to a boil over medium high heat. Boil for 10 minutes. Transfer the chilies, tomatoes and about  1/2 a cup of the water to a blender. Add the garlic clove, spices and the onion to the blender. Blend for a couple of minutes until you have a smooth sauce. Heat up the 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a pot over medium heat. Once the oil is hot and sizzles add the sauce and let fry for a couple minutes. Add salt and more of the spices to taste. Then reduce heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes.

The flavor of this sauce is so fresh and bright. I love the sherry vinegar and I used 4 sundried tomatoes. I also used fresh pasta.

Linguine With Cauliflower Pesto – The Washington Post

What an amazing soup. I have not used a poaching method to cook meatballs before. I am use to browning them in oil. This method still kept them moist and used the liquid they cooked in to add more flavor to the broth. The recipe called for a larger pasta but the I used acini de pepe, the kind used in Italian wedding soup. Escarole Soup with Pasta and Meatballs Recipe | Bon Appétit (bonappetit.com)

I have posted this before. But, I am cooking from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook again this week. I did add 1/2 lb of cooked breakfast sausage to the recipe this time. And as usual I did not make the crust. I buy a store bought refrigerated pie crust. Mushroom Tart (an Ode to Smitten Kitchen) | With Two Spoons

This was a nice change from my usual hash of some sort. I skipped the hollandaise. I added extra cream and some herbed cheese spread to the spinach. It was creamy enough that we didn’t need the sauce.

Smitten Kitchen Cookbook: Greens, Eggs and Hollandaise – kneading + knives (wordpress.com)

I thought that I was going to grill for dinner. The snow kind of put a damper on that for me. So, I bought one of my favorite go to items. Risotto cakes from the fresh market. I had some veg in the fridge, so I tossed yellow squash, matchstick carrots, shallot, broccoli, red pepper and mushrooms with some olive oil, garlic and Italian seasoning and roasted them in the oven at 400. After 15 minutes I tossed them and added the risotto cakes for another 10 minutes. I turned the cakes over and topped them with taleggio and cooked then until the cheese was melted. I placed the roasted veg on the plate and topped it with the risotto cake and topped that with some pesto. Ta Da a nice winter meal!

The sauce is kind of a sausage ragu with heavy cream. The cream cuts the acid. I needed a little more flavor. The fresh basil comes in the end, so if your tasting for seasoning prior it is a little bland. I added a little dried oregano. I also needed a green element, so I added in a few frozen peas toward the end. Sausage and peas are always a good combination. Farfalle with Sausage, Tomatoes, and Cream Recipe | Bon Appétit (bonappetit.com)