Archives for November 2017

Fork Tender Beef Ragu with Roasted Tomatoes

This recipe for slow cooked Ragu has large pieces of fork tender beef in a fragrant wine and herb infused sauce with shallots, bacon, and mushrooms served over pasta and garnished with slow roasted tomatoes. This ultimate comfort food will make your home smell so good, everyone will be asking when it will be ready. I know my crew did!

Is it kind of sad to admit that when I woke up this cold, winter Sunday morning, one of my first thoughts was what kind of hearty, slow cooked, make the house smell delicious, preferably with pasta comfort food did I want to make today? Or does everyone think like that…

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Chicken Satay – It’s What’s For Dinner!

Dinner you say? Isn’t Chicken Satay an appetizer at a Thai restaurant?

Why, yes. Yes it is. It’s also one of my husband’s favorite dishes! When asked what he would like for his birthday meal, this has been his answer two years running. So how do you have your favorite appetizer for dinner? You turn it into an entree!

Satay is simply a grilled, marinated meat that is very common through out southeast Asia. It is usually served on a skewer with a peanut dipping sauce and sometimes a cucumber and onion salad.

What makes it so special is that it just explodes with complementary flavors and textures. The meat is first marinated in a coconut and curry mixture and then grilled to perfection. The peanut sauce is creamy and slightly sweet with a hint of salty heat and a light crunch. The cool texture of the cucumbers and onions adds a crunchy bite of sweet heat that enhances every mouthful.

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Buttermilk Butter Cake with Berry Compote

Buttermilk Butter Cake with Berry Compote is a show stopper!

‘Mom, I want a strawberry cake but with all the berries for my birthday!’ Goes to show that my newly 5 year old really is his mother’s child, lol. Nothing is ever simple. But I accepted the challenge, and my Buttermilk Butter Cake with Berry Compote was created and loved.

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Pan Seared Salmon with Garlic Wine Cream Sauce

Salmon is all about how you cook it. When done correctly, it will melt in your mouth like butter. Of course, it always helps when you are cooking with butter. My Pan Seared Salmon with Garlic Wine Cream Sauce is guaranteed to impress.

This simple, but decadent recipe uses technique that will create a dish easy enough for a weeknight, but would be outstanding for company.

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Coq Au Vin aka Cock with Wine

Cock with wine? Really? Well, that is the literal translation for Coq Au Vin and it caught your eye, didn’t it?

We could also just say it’s a chicken stew made with copious amounts of red wine, bacon, mushrooms, garlic, and shallots and slow cooked to a tender, fragrant deliciousness that will rock your world.

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Sticky Chinese Pork Belly

Winner, Winner Pork Belly Dinner! My Sticky Chinese Pork Belly is a new family favorite.

This Sticky Chinese Pork Belly is melt in your mouth, sticky, sweet, crispy, and spicy. It’s absolutely fabulous with rice, ramen, or noodles or by itself for those who prefer low-carb or keto.

I may have mentioned my love for homemade bacon like once or twice, right?

Well, recently while cruising the samples at Costco with my 4 year old, I discovered that they are now selling pork belly by the slab. Fresh, not frozen and they will cut to order a nice thick center piece if you request it. (That’s the sound of angels singing in the background.) So excited!…

Pumpkin Bread! Need I say more?

Pumpkin Bread!!! Need I say more?

Well, maybe the fact that this is the most fragrant, moist recipe for pumpkin bread and/or muffins that you have ever had!

This recipe is my absolute favorite, no fail, go-to for one of my favorite cold weather treats. Ok, a little honesty, I’m sort of obsessed with pumpkin as my kids will attest and I make this year round, but hey…The cooler weather is an just an excuse to make it more often, right?

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Makin’ Bacon – Homemade Hickory Smoked Bacon

Homemade Bacon! Not bacon you cook at home, but Bacon cured from scratch!

What even is that? Just think sirloin vs filet. Yes, really!

I remember when I met Homemade Bacon for the first time. Bacon with a capital ‘B’. Bacon smoked with REAL hickory chips. Bacon made with Pure Maple Sugar, as in sugar straight from a maple tree. Until you have had Homemade Hickory Smoked Bacon, your life is not complete. Is it kind of sad that I might actually believe that?

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