Out and About, at Last

I was finally able to get to the recycling center - when they were actually open. Too bad it was only 10 degrees and the wind was coming from the north.

Mission accomplished. I've done my part to help save the planet today. Now, onward and upward... (echo, echo, echo...)

Ah, what a lovely morning. Again with the icky cold, though. What do you mean it's -4 degrees outside? And why am I outside taking pictures?

If you click on this picture and the next, you will see that the deer (and a 4-wheel vehicle) were busy in our yard.

Have I mentioned that it was cold?

Well, I've had enough of the cold. I'm heading back into the kitchen.

I have had the idea for this dish for some time now. I found a recipe from Williams-Sonoma's web site for Pasta Rustica with Chicken Sausage and Three Cheeses. Obviously, I will be substituting turkey sausage for the chicken. I also opted to make a half recipe as I only needed enough food for three people.

My mise en place includes dried oregano, red pepper flakes, dried basil, salt, canned crushed tomatoes, tomato paste (since I couldn't find canned tomatoes in puree), penne pasta, Ricotta cheese, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, Fontina cheese, onion, garlic and turkey sausage.

The recipe says to remove the casing from the sausages. Ooookay, that was fun.

Since I don't need all of the sausages for the recipe, the rest went into a labeled zipper-top bag and that went into the freezer.

The penne pasta has been cooked to al dente. Now it's time to work on the sauce. (And bonus points to those of you who noticed that I disregarded the recipe instructions on this point.)

First the onion sautes in some olive oil.

Then the minced garlic is added....

before the sausage is brought into play.

Work to break up the sausage as it cooks.

Then we add the herbs and red pepper flakes. The heat releases the essential oils and perfumes into the air.

Now the crushed tomatoes and tomato paste are added to the pan.

Yep, this is red.

Stir in the pasta...

And then the Ricotta and Fontina cheeses.

But wait; we're not done yet.

Sprinkle the grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese over top. Then this bakes for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

I smell food.

Some toast with butter and garlic salt complete this simple meal. Alas, my plans for a nice salad were foiled by the lack of lettuce in my refrigerator. Blast that snow!

The Italian Rosso that I bought the other day was opened for this meal.

The good news is that we all liked this dish - a lot. I can't tell you what an accomplishment that was!

Another Snowy Day

The weather forecasters really missed this one. We were supposed to get 1 to 2 inches of snow by the end of the day. Instead, we got 3 inches in about 2 hours. Oh, did I mention that it was during morning rush hour? My husband's normal 20 minute commute to work took 45 minutes, while my daughter's 20 minute commute to campus took a full hour. At least they arrived at their destinations safely, and for that I am thankful. White-out conditions caused some nasty accidents in the state, including a multi-vehicle accident with fatalities within sight of my son's house. And you still wonder why I don't like winter?

At least I have the luxury of being able to stay home most days. Ah, the joys of retirement.

And the snow from last week had just started to melt. At least I had been able to get out to fill the bird feeders the day before.

This seems to be a 'sticky' snow.

All right, I'm stuck inside once again, so obviously I need to cook something. Since my daughter and I were eating alone, I asked her for ideas for dinner. After some thought, she requested steak with Jack Daniels sauce and mashed potatoes.

Of course, her favorite mashed potatoes come from the store. She absolutely adores Yoder's mashed potatoes. The daughter doesn't like lumpy mashed potatoes, while I like to have lumps in my mashed potatoes. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that while growing up we often had instant mashed potatoes made from dehydrated potato flakes from a box?

I made an executive decision that in order to make a proper meal we would need some green vegetables. Ah ha! We have some leftover broccoli, carrots and celery from our Super Spread. I think a quick saute is in order.

But first, I have to make the Jack Daniels Sauce. Yes, I know that that is not Jack Daniels whisky. It's what I have on hand. My red wine vinegar was skanky, so I had to substitute white wine and cider vinegars. But hey, I was snowed in. I also subbed real garlic for the garlic powder. That should even things out, right?

My daughter asked me to make a triple batch so that there would be sauce for later.

That's it! No more tears! I'm getting out the chopper to finish off these nasty onions.







All of the ingredients go into the pot. Notice that the level of the liquid is just under 1 liter.

Now, the recipe directs you to bring the liquid to a boil and then simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Since I was making a larger batch, the actual time was more like 45 to 60 minutes. But that's okay. I wasn't going anywhere.

The sauce has reduced to a nice syrup.

I ended up with just 2 cups of the sweet/spicy sauce. My daughter is one happy girl.

I pulled out some veggies for yet the side dish. Here I have carrots, broccoli florets, green onions, celery, crushed red pepper flakes, canola oil and soy sauce. I think I can make this work.

The veggies cook quickly over high heat. A pinch of red pepper flakes nicely seasons the veggies. A splash of soy sauce is added at the very end.

I like my veggies to be crispy, so I made sure to pull them out before they lost their 'bite'.

And now it's time to cook the steak. I have a boneless rib eye steak that I seasoned with kosher salt, freshly cracked black pepper and olive oil. Both sides seared before the cast iron pan was pulled off the heat and a double layer of aluminum foil was placed over the pan. After several minutes, the steak was removed to a plate and allowed to rest with the foil over the top.

This was a nice meal for a snowy winter evening. I also had some tabbouleh left over from the day before.

The veggies were cooked just the way I like them. Tender-crisp, with a hint of heat from the red pepper flakes and the umami from the soy sauce.

The steak was cooked to medium-rare. The Jack Daniel's Sauce added just the right piquancy to the meat. The potatoes satisfied my daughter's craving for the creamy goodness of real mashed potatoes.

My poor husband doesn't know what he missed.

To Recycle or Not to Recycle

Ah, that is the question, isn't it? Monday dawned bright and clear, so I decided that I should head out to the grocery store, with a stop first at our local recycling center. As the recycling bins at home have been overflowing, this seemed like a very good idea.

Okay, the back of the car is loaded. Sadly, this is only a portion of recyclables that need to go out.

Well, what do you know? The recycling center is now closed on Mondays. I tell ya, there's nothing like getting the word out. Oh wait, this was nothing like that. So now I have to drive around with a full cargo area. Rats. And here I thought I was avoiding all of the obscure holidays that the center seems to observe. National Pet-A-Wet-Chipmunk Day?*

*Okay, not really, but you get the idea.

Oh well, but since I am in the area, I think I'll make a stop for a photo op.

The bridge for the Clear Creek Trail is beautiful against the brilliant white snow and the azure sky.

One of the nice things about Bloomington is that people from all over the world come here because of the university. As I have documented from time to time, our community has many ethnic restaurants. That diversity carries over to ethnic grocery stores. One of the larger ethnic markets, Sahara Mart, recently opened a second store near where I shop. I thought I'd stop in while I was out this time.

It was very interesting to just wander around, reading the labels of the different products. This store has everything; from olive oils from Turkey to an entire aisle devoted to bins of coffee beans. They even carry horny goat weed powder and dragon blood chunks. The first is rather self-explanatory, while the second can either be used to cleanse the blood or in voodoo love spells.

As the television ads promised, the entire back half of the store was reserved for wines. Again, I had fun just reading the labels.

And it looks like I brought home some interesting things from the store.

Here I have a bottle of Tvishy wine from Racha, Georgia and a Rosso Barbera D'Asti from Canelli, Italy. I also found a Vanilla Balsamic Cream from Italy and I picked up a package of tabbouleh and a mozzarella, tomato and basil sandwich.



This is a big sandwich. Fresh mozzarella pairs beautifully with the sliced tomato and the aromatic basil.

And the tabbouleh was bright and refreshing.

I'm glad I decided to stop in. I know I'll be going back.

Super Spread II

As is our usual tradition, we prepare a Spread of appetizers for this Super day. Having already made some seasoned tortilla chips and salsa yesterday, I am ready to finish preparing the food for our buffet.

First up we have Drunken Hot Dogs. Ingredients are red wine, catsup, barbecue sauce, hot dogs, onion, garlic, brown sugar and celery seed.

The ingredients for the sauce go into the slow cooker. I opted to grate both the garlic and the onion this time around.

I cut the hot dogs into 1/2-inch slices. These too went into the slow cooker.



Now it's time to move on to Beef Barbecue. This, like all the dishes on today's menu, was requested by my family. The Beef Barbecue can either be eaten in a sandwich or as part of nachos.

My mother-in-law, who used to work in the office at an elementary school, got this recipe from a cook there.

The ingredients are 1 pound ground beef, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup catsup, 2 tablespoons chopped onion, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper.

After the beef is cooked and drained, the rest of the ingredients are added and the meat is cooked for about 3-1/2 minutes in the microwave.





The Beef Barbecue is ready.

As are the Drunken Hot Dogs.

While I was working on the meat dishes, my daughter made the Cheese Ball and got out some of the other items for the spread. We sent my husband out to the grocery store to get a couple of items that I had forgotten: namely buns and crackers.

We also have a store-bought veggie tray and chips and dip. Some of these other items seen here will be moved to other Stations.

Here is the Meat Station. The Drunken Hot Dogs are kept warm in the slow cooker and the Beef Barbecue is in the chafing dish. The mini buns await their filling.

The Nacho Station contains plates for the nachos to be heated in the microwave, chopped onions, salsa, shredded mozzarella cheese (my daughter's favorite), shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, Romaine lettuce, and of course the store-bought tortilla chips. The meat is waiting on the Meat Station.


And of course we have to have the Drinks Station. A pitcher of Whisky Sours sits next to some whisky, margarita mix and tequila.

Looks like I'm ready to eat.

Just in case you were wondering, we'll be cheering for the Steelers to win, since Big Ben Roethlisberger is from my husband's and my alma mater, Miami University (in Ohio).

And just to annoy my football-loving family: I hope Big Ben gets a hole-in-one in the ninth inning.