Father Feeds Flock!!!

I'm playing the role of a bachelor tonight as the Dutchess and Zach are in Nacogdoches for some grandparents visitin'. To save money on dog/house sitting, I stayed home. So I took advantage.  I usually have to take into account 3 people's likes and dislikes and design menus around that.  Well tonight I was solo. I went to Kroger not knowing what I wanted to make.  After looking to see what was fresh and plentiful, I decided upon lamb and asparagus. 2 things that would normally cause strife in my home.  Dutchess doesn't  like to eat lamb, and Zach is so against asparagus that he claims he is allergic to it. The cool thing about this meal is that I came up with it completely on my own.  No recipes or internet suggestions or nothin! They didn't have any lamb steak today, so I gravitated to the ground lamb. I immediately thought about rice balls that had this lamb included. I also got some shitake mushrooms, shallots ...

My mother used to make the BEST lasagna!!!! She is smiling down from heaven now, as I again attempt to even come close to the greatness that is Mom's Lasagna! I inherited her cookbooks, which include some handmade notebooks with recipes hand written, typed and cut out of magazines. This particular recipe was typed out, but I also have it hand written on an envelope. I had asked her, about 20 years ago, for the recipe and she wrote it down.  I still have it and used it last night. I made a few changes, but was true to the spirit. First, I browned some italian sausage and ground bison. Then I used these ingredients to create the meat sauce. Which simmered for about 30 minutes. The cheese sauce is where my mom stood out from  other recipes.  Cottage cheese, egg, parmesan and parsley created the ooey gooey goodness. Layer the noodles, cheese sauce, meat sauce then slices of mozzarella.  Then repeat the process....

Our good friend Elizabeth came to spend some time with us, so I decided to do it up right.  We decided to stuff chicken breasts with brie, bacon, walnuts and basil. The side dishes were equally as delicious, green bean salad with tomatoes, slivered almonds, feta cheese and mint was made into a salad. I also took couscous and put roasted champagne grapes, toasted pine nuts and chopped italian parsley. I started off cooking the bacon with rosemary. I cooked the green beans for only about 2 minutes. Then stopped the cooking process with an ice bath. This was a cold salad, but the quick cook kept the bright green color and fresh taste. I put a slight toast on the slivered almonds. Green beans, tomatoes, feta cheese and slivered almonds were tossed in a dressing of olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and lemon juice. I broiled a few hatch chilis to add to the stuffing  for the chicken.  I put them in a ziplock bag to sw...

Zachary and I have been enjoying palettas from Rusty Taco since it opened (and I worked there).  So when I stumbled upon a recipe for my favorite flavor, rice pudding, I jumped at the chance to make them. Whole milk, water, vanilla bean and cinnamon sticks got heated up in a pot, then I added some rice and cooked for about 25 minutes. Then I added vanilla extract, cinnamon and a mixture of sweetened condensed milk and water and  cooked for another 15 minutes. Wow, this smelled so great! Filled our rocket molds and they are waiting in the freezer for us to enjoy for our dessert tonight!!! I tasted the mixture before molding, and I know this is  going to be a homerun! A rice pudding paletta shaped like a rocket HAS to be a hit!

I picked up 2 cookbooks at half priced books the other day.  One by Gordon Ramsay and the other by Tyler Florence.  I was flipping thru them both this evening, and came across this gem in Tyler's book. It intrigued me cause of the semantics of the title...Pot Roast Risotto. He didn't say it was pot roast with risotto, or pot roast and risotto. I found out the reason why, when I tasted it. To start off, you sear and brown a shoulder roast in olive oil.   After it  is crusted on all sides, you add onions, garlic, thyme, red wine  and beef stock.  Put this into the oven and slow cook it for 2-3 hours. Once the meat is done, strain it to reserve the liquid, and keep the meat warm. Put some olive oil in a skillet, cook some onions til tender. Add some arborio rice and coat with the oil.  Add white wine and  cook until the wine is absorbed.  Then add 1 cup of the roast liquid and stir constantly until t...

For christmas last year, I got a meat grinder attachment for my Kitchen Aid. I'm not sure why it took me so long to use it, but I finally did last night! In high school, I worked at an Italian Deli, that made and sold sausage too. So this really isn't my first rodeo with making sausage, but I digress. I got some chicken thighs, red onion, granny smith apples and... wait for it....chardonnay!!!! Send the thighs through the grinder with the skin. This is what it looked like after first grind, then adding all the ingredients.  Then you send this through for a second grind. You come up with this.   Looks very appetizing, don't it? Maybe something a dog threw up? Believe it or not, without cooking it yet, it smelled  quite good. So now, you change to the sausage stuffer, put on the casing (which is just like putting on a condom) then put the mixture though and stuff the casings.  I used hog casings. I used about...