Thursday, March 5, 2015

The Week of No Cooking, Well Almost...

This week I did not really make dinner, well except for Thursday. The past 2 weekends have been occupied by making cookies for a fund raiser for a co-worker's friend. The co-worker asked if I would bake some cookies. She supplied all the ingredients I supplied the cookie baking. Needless to say there was no way I could cook for this week and do the cookies. So we went to the freezer.

We started the week off on a high note with leftovers from a dinner at Leon's. Chris had the Chicken Zingara, "Gypsy Chicken", boneless chicken, fennel sausage, caramelized onions, hot cherry peppers, fried potatoes, red wine vinegar reduction. This is now his favorite menu choice, unless Osso Bucco in on the goodies list. I have had this dish before and it is wonderful. I chose Risotto Funghi. Arborio rice, sautéed wild mushrooms, spinach, pecorino-romano, and white truffle essences. This is the item I will be ordering from now on at Leon's. Each little piece of risotto was like a cloud that I wanted to rest my head on. Okay maybe a little dramatic but seriously it was perfect. I was so sad when I cleaned my plate tonight because I wanted more.
To go along with the leftovers I had some Vegetable Stew in the freezer.

On Tuesday we got more snow. It started snowing right before the evening commute. It took me 2 hours and 15 minutes to get home. I can not tell you how happy I was to walk in and find Chris plating Pasta with Meat Sauce.

Wednesday was actually a nice commute home. I was home in one hour! I had Chicken Cutlets in the freezer and there was left over pasta from last night. Just the perfect amount of food.

And then on Thursday it snowed. Again. All day. It was crazy how much snow we got. Close to 8 inches in 8 hours. I do not think we will see our lawn any time soon.

Dinner Thursday night consisted of Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup from Lidia's Favorite Recipes which I was made when took my lunch break.

My version of Pappa al Pomodoro, Tomato and Bread Soup, adapted from Lidia's Favorite Recipes.

Ingredients-
1 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the finished
1/4 cup onions, finely diced
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes
1 cup water
2 slices Italian bread, crusts removed
salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. dried basil

Method-
In a deep, heavy 4 to 5-quart pot heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until wilted, about 3 minutes.

Crush the tomatoes by hand.

Add the tomatoes and their juice to the pot. Add the water. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Once the tomatoes have boiled for 10 minutes, add the bread to the pot and bring back to a boil. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Add the basil and adjust the level of heat to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, whisking occasionally to break up the pieces of bread, until the mixture is dense and silky, about 40 minutes. The soup was rather chunky from the bread so I used the immersion blender to give it a smooth texture.

Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper. Serve in warm bowls, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. 


And about those cookies. Well, here are some photos of the finished cookies packed and ready for delivery...

Cinnamon Sticks


Lemon Shortbread
Palm Beach Brownies with Chocolate Covered Mints


Vanilla and Chocolate Butter Cookies

Rainbow Sprinkle Cookies

Lenore's Oatmeal Raisin

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 comments:

Dina T said...

What are the stick type cookies and are any ofthem unique cookies?

Lucia from Madison said...

Dina I added the names of the cookies under each photo. Let me know if you want any of the recipe.
Thanks for visiting!