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1 Tbls of olive oil

1 Tbls of butter

1/2 onion diced

1/3 of a bell pepper diced

diced celery, again I pull the leaves from the heart

2 garlic cloves

2 bay leaves

1 pkg of smoked sausage, I use an uncured, cut down the middle and diced

1/4 c of flour

5 cups of chicken stock

1/2 of a bouillon cube

Add oil and butter to a stock pot and warm on medium heat. Add the onion, peppers and celery saute until the onions are translucent. Add sausage and saute a few minutes, add in garlic and bay leaves and saute about 1 minute. Stir in flour and cook for a minute stirring. Whisk in stock and add bouillon. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 20 to 30 minutes until the reduced. Add salt and hot sauce to taste. Serve over rice.

Beef and Guinness hand pies!

2 ways. I could not decide. So, I made some with pie crust in a muffin tin and made some with puff pastry. I preferred the pie crust. Patrick liked them both equally.

It turns out that I am not a big fan of wheat berries. Too chewy. This would have been better with brown rice.

Wheat berries, romesco sauce, sauteed kale from my garden and roasted cauliflower. The romesco was really good. I used sourdough as the bread, smoked almonds and the smoked paprika. The acid was a nice aged sherry vinegar.

Grilled lemon basil chicken with a warm green bean salad.

I use one dressing as a dressing/marinate.

Zest of 1 lemon

Juice of 1 lemon

1 Tbls dijon

1 Tbls honey

2 cloves of garlic grated on a microplane or minced

1/4 c of chopped basil

1/2 salt

1/3 c of olive oil

1/4 c of black olives, I prefer the oil cured

Hold back 1/2 of the zest and the olives. Whisk together all of your ingredients except the basil, stir that in last. Put 1/3c of the dressing in a plastic resealable bag. Pound out boneless chicken breast to about 1/2 an inch even thickness and add that to the bag. Marinate about 2 hours and grill. Let the chicken rest and slice. Add olives to the remaining 1/3 cup of dressing and top the chicken when plated.

Salad

1lb of fresh french green beans

1 Tbls of olive oil

1/4 c of water

1/4 c of feta

2 Tbls of toasted almonds

Warm the oil in a non stick skillet that has a lid. Add the beans, water and salt to taste. Cover and steam 4-5 minutes stirring occasionally. Uncover and cook out any remaining water. Add 1/3 c of dressing and toss.Top with feta and almonds.

I knew that I wanted ham,mushrooms and dill in the quiche. I told Patrick what we had so far and asked would you like feta or cheddar, cheddar was the answer. I said I think roasted red peppers would go well, he said I love roasted red peppers. So here we are!

1 refrigerated pie crust rolled out a little

6 oz of chopped mushrooms

6oz of diced ham

1 roasted red pepper diced

3/4 c of heavy cream

1/2 c of half and half

salt and pepper to taste

3/4 c of cheddar cheese

Warm crust to room temp. Heat oven to 350. Spray a deep dish pie pan with cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.Roll out the dough a little and press it into the pan. Sprinkle ham, mushroom and peppers in the bottom of the crust. Whisk eggs,cream, half and half, salt and pepper together, stir in 1/2 cup of cheese and pour into the crust.Bake for 30 minutes add the last 1/4 of cup of cheese and bake 10-15 minutes more until middle is set.

Air fried french fries, tossed in hot sauce, then topped with cheddar cheese to melt under the broiler and a side ranch for dipping!

I love this panna cotta. It comes together so fast. You just have to wait for it to set and you have an amazing vanilla blank canvas just waiting for you to decided what your palate wants today. Fruit, berries, jam..endless options. Tonight I chose warm pear preserves.

This recipe makes about 4-6 portions depending on what size containers you use.

1/2 Tbls of powdered gelatin

1 1/2 Tbls of water

1 c of heavy cream

1 c of full fat greek yogurt

1/4 c of sugar

1 Tbls of honey

1 tsp of vanilla paste

Whisk yogurt and 1/2 c of cream together in a large bowl. Set aside. In a small bowl mix gelatin and water. In a small sauce pan add 1/2 c of cream, sugar and honey and warm until the sugar is dissolved. Do not boil. Off the heat whisk in the gelatin until dissolved then add this to the yogurt mixture. Put into dishes and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until set, about 4 hours. If you want to serve this on a plate run hot water over a butter knife and run it around the edges of the dish and invert. If that does not work you can put some warm water in a shallow bowl and put the dish in for a minute and then invert. Top with what ever suits your fancy.

My go to when I am flying solo. I went out of the box on this one. Smoked mozzarella, chopped olives and herb de provence.