Beef and Barley Soup

So it was the day after Christmas and I was looking at a lot of leftover Roast Beef.  I was in the same situation a couple of year ago on the day after Christmas. What did I do... I looked at my archived recipes on this blog! I found this recipe from back in January 2010. I made enough for a couple of meals and put them in the freezer (!!!).
Fast forward to tonight and dinner is served!

Meatballs with Quinoa

Once again the freezer is my friend. I made this meal on New Year's day and popped in the the freezer.
I found the recipe for Beef and Quinoa Meatballs on the Whole Foods site. I had all that fantastic sauce leftover from the Osso Bucco.  Meatballs were the perfect addition.
And this recipe seemed like a good way to stretch the meat ($$$) and also cut down on the amount of meat we are eating. And we both like Quinoa.
This got two thumbs up from both of us.

Pizza and a Few Loaves of Bread

Let's start at the beginning. This past week I was on the Food52 site and came across a bread recipe. Pain a l'Ancienne. I had to make it. So I started the dough yesterday morning. The first two loaves did not come out as nicely shaped as I would have liked but the next to were spot on. This dough had great texture. And I liked the addition of Wheat Germ.

Then there was a recipe on another blog. Food Wondering and Marbled Rye Bread. Yes I made this today. It looks so cool. Hopefully Chris will like it in his lunch tomorrow. Such an easy recipe to follow.

So what was for dinner... well seeing I was into the flour I made pizza dough. Half of the pie was just canned tomatoes and cheese. The other half was the leftover tomatoes from last night's chicken and some roasted cauliflower. We ate the whole thing!
And someone liked having me in the kitchen today...

Chicken Cutlets with Tomato Sauté

Kind of an important game tonight so I wanted an easy meal. Chicken Cutlets with Tomato Sauté was easy and delicious. I found it on RealSimple.com.

For a side dish, keeping with the easy game plan, I had a dish of Chris's amazing stuffing in the freezer. And I really like Roasted Cauliflower so...

Roasted Cod and Scallions With Spiced Potatoes

From Real Simple. I loved this. Chris loved this. But Archie... he was in heaven. He was definitely into the fish. And yes the fish was great. But I liked the potatoes, of course!

 

Under the heading of too cute. I got a photo of Lucy waiting for Chris to come home!

Pasta with Meat Sauce

This could be wordless Thursday. But I will type a couple of words. My mom's recipe for meat sauce. Gosh I can't think of anything else to say. Oh one thing. I have finally decided on a canned crushed tomato to use in this sauce. Tuttorosso Crushed Tomatoes. It is the brand my mom used and I have tried all the other brands but Tuttorosso Crushed Tomatoes gives me the taste I remember. Gosh I think I did my first product endorsement!

Shepherd's Pie

I knew I was going to be making this on Saturday when I made the mashed potatoes.
I thought ahead and made sure I had enough leftovers for this dinner. This is so simple to make. It's just browned ground meat and then add veggies. Usually I use frozen mixed vegetables but I did not have any! So I chopped up some carrots and those leftover green beans from Saturday night and the lonely zucchini.
Sauteed it, seasoned it and put it in a pie plate. Topped it with the mashed potatoes and baked. See I told you it was simple.
Today would have been my mom's 91st birthday. She often made Shepherd's Pie for me. When Chris and I were first married we ate her food at least twice a week. She would pack up "care packages" for us. She was too funny! And I do miss those "care packages".

Chicken Cacciotore

Wow it is cold out! I was so glad I was able to walk in the house and find a pan of Chicken Cacciotore on the stove. I made it this weekend along with a few other meals (love the freezer). This is the first time this year, okay it is only the 3rd of January, that I have made this. By year I meant this fall-winter season. I seem to cook different things in the fall and winter. I would never make Chicken Cacciotore in July. That is when we grill. But I digress...

The recipe came from La Cucina, The Regional Cooking of Italy cookbook. Yes more red peppers. They were on sale this week.

The pasta may look familiar. It was leftover from Sunday night. We had it last night too with the Sausage and Peppers. No waste this year.

Roasted Sausage and Peppers

Day 2 of the New Year and this is my favorite dinner so far. Some Italian bread and red wine. Delicious!

Pasta e Lenticchie (Pasta and Lentils)

So the story goes that it is good luck to eat lentils on New Years Day. I figure why not, it certainly can't hurt! I did a quick Google search and found Pasta e Lenticchie on the Splendid Table site. I was going to make homemade pasta but I did a lot of cooking today - sauce, meatballs, chicken cacciatore, shepherd pie... so when I looked at the recipe and it said writer's mother would use up bits of extra pasta she had I was very excited. I had at least 3 opened packages of pasta. Linguine, shells and elbows. Loved this recipe.
Happy New Year everyone!