Both of the dinners I made came from my all time favorite cook book The Gourtment Cookbook. Eighty percent of what I cook comes out of this book and I have yet to be disappointed with any of the meals I have made from it. For Le Creuset’s first meal I made Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic.

Ingredients:

1 (4 lb) chicken, rinsed and patted dry

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

1 scant cup olive oil

2 fresh flat leaf parsley sprigs

1 fresh rosemary sprig

1 fresh thyme sprig

1 fresh sage sprig

1 Turkish bay leaf

1 celerey rib

40 garlic cloves, peeled (from 3-4 heads)

Instructions:

Put rack in middle of oven and preheat to 350 F

Sprinkle chicken inside and out with salt and pepper. Tie legs together with kitchen string and fold wings under chickn. Heat oil in 6- to 8- quart wide heavy oven proof pot (enter the Le Creuset!) over moderately high hear until hot but not smoking, Add chicken and sear, turning it carefully, until golden brown all over, about 10 min. Transfer chicken to plate.

Tie the herbs and celery rib together with string and add to pot (I don’t have string, so I just threw it in the pot). Scatter garlic over the bottom of the pot and put chicken breast side up on top. Cover tightly (not a problem because the Le Creuset lid weighs about 5 pounds), transfer to oven and bake, basting twice, until thermometer inserted into thickest part of a thigh (without touching bone) registers 170 F. Transfer chicken to cutting board and let sit for 10 min. Reserve pan juices. Spread garlic on toast and cut chicken into pieces and serve with some of the pan juices.

Yummy!

Now I always eat my food before I remember that I am supposed to take a photo of it, but I encourage you to make this recipe yourself to see (and taste) how the dish turns out.

For the second recipe I made Black Bean Chile, which went great with the leftover chicken we had, and also made some killer Juevos Rancheros the next morning. I have made bean chile before, but honestly it wasn’t nearly as good as this one (and I know this as a fact because Kevin said “Hot damn, that is good chile,” or something like that.Whereas when I made the other chile and asked his opinion he said, “Well you seem to like it, but really I just think it’s okay,” again I may be paraphrasing).

Ingredients:

1 lb black beans (about 2 cups) picked over, rinsed and soaked

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

2 teaspoons paprika

1/2 teaspoon cayanne

1 teaspoon dried oregeno, crumbled

1 small dried pasilla chile, stem and seeds discarded, coarsely chopped (Now I live in Canada where Mexican food seems to be a foreign concept – so I just used a Chipotle chile – which I found dried at Market on Millstream)

3 tablespoons veggie oil (which I almost never cook with, so I just used butter)

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded and finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced (but since I used all the garlic in my house the night before I just threw in some of the roasted garlic that I had leftover)

1 tablespoon chapped canned chipotle chiles in adobo (again, I live in Canada, so I just grated a bit extra of the dried chipotle chile I had)

1 turkish bay lef

6 cups water

1 (14-ounce) can whole tomatoes in juice, drained (juice reserved) and chopped

salt (I found I needed quite a bit)

1/2 cup fresh cilantro

Oh, I also added corn and carrots to the stew. I often throw in extra veggies to stews/chiles. I take after my mom and with cooking, at least, I take the recipe as a rough guide not the end all of how something can be made. Baking though, I take very seriously and always follow recipes. 

Instructions:

Soak beans in enough water to cover by 2 inches, refrigerated, for at least 8 hours. Drain.

Toast cumin, paprika, cayenne, and oregano in a dry small heavy skillet over moderate heat (I just used the Le Creuset pot for all of this), stirring constantly, until fragrant and a shade or two darker, about 2 min. Transfer to bowl.

Finely grate pasilla in coffee grinder (or in my case just use my micro-plane grater and grate chipotle chile and toast with other spices).

Heat oil (again I used butter) in 5- to 6-quart wide heavy pot over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Quickly add onion and bell peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Add garlic, chipotles, and spice mix, reduce heat to moderate and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 min. Add beans, bay leaf, and water, bring to a simmer, and simmer, covered until beans are tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Add tomatoes, with their juice and salt to taste and simmer, uncovered for 15 more min. Discard bay leaf and add cilantro just before serving (unless you are like Mrs. Child and hate the taste of cilantro).

I also threw a dollop of sour cream in my stew before chowing down.

Yummy!

Le Creuset I won’t neglect you in the next year, I promise. Cast iron pots/pans have found a way into Kevin and my life in a serious way – nearly every morning we use our caste iron skillet to make breakfast – and even though they are old school technology they are amazing and hold heat better than any other pot (or pan) in our house.

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I made Kevin watch “Put a Bird on it,” the first night in Portland and the running joke was that just about everywhere we went, sure enough, there was a bird on it. Here are a few photos from the trip. Some I took and some Kevin took (I am also waiting for a role of film to get developed, so look for the “film follow up”).

Welcome to America! This is the first thing you see. Kevin is excited about deep dish pizza! Kylies was a great late night dinner option in Seattle.Last time we were in Portland we were told to check out Mother’s and it was amazing, so of course we had to go back!There were birds everywhere, even in empty store windows.
Drinking beer at Henry’s makes you sleepy. Tasters from Migration Brewing.
Yes, even the dogs in Portland can have a hipter stache.Ok, maybe not the best doughnut ever (still pretty good though), but certainly the only place (I know of) that has bacon on a doughnut. We checked out the Japanese Gardens, which were lovely.More beer at Rogue.And if you are a REALLY posh store (such as Oblation in the Pearl District) you not only have birds on stuff in your store you have a real bird in the store!Le Pigeon figured one bird isn’t enough, so two must be better.

Yeah for anniversaries!

Kevin isn’t a huge fan of sun-splosions near/on peoples heads, but I kind of like it, even though my hair looks about twice as big – being all backlit and all. 

Thanks Sharon and Kevin for making me feel extra pretty!

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I feel like singing that song….”one of these is not like the others.” Standing next to this two talented ladies I feel old and tall!Joe listening to Kelsey. Best Ramen I’ve had in North America….. possibly one of the only places too…Playing around in the casino with Kelsey. Gotta love that walking sidewalk as a reflector!

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Photos by Darren Beckwith:

Photos by Nichole Taylor:

Photos by Scott Paterson:

Photos by Geri DeZarn:

Yes, my dress did shrink a little after I got it cleaned. No biggie, but you can see the liner.

Looking at these photos reminds me how much I love my husband, so a big THANK YOU to all the photographers who sent me photos. Also, a big shout out to Jenna and Tristan who documented the day.

Here’s hoping you have a Valentines filled with love. I take that back, here’s hoping you have a full life filled with love. Why confine it to one day?

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Some of these photos were taken by either Kristin Ferris or Rebecca Wellman, though I am not 100% sure which ones were taken by whom, otherwise I would have credited them. My apologies.

Having a good idea is only good when you create something from it, and I get the most satisfaction from sharing my creations with others (see above about needed affirmation from others.)

Where do you fall on the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator?

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But first I have a short rant about food. I believe in cooking from scratch (pot stickers are the only frozen pre-made packaged food you will find in my freezer.) I certainly agree with Michael Pollan’s advice that that if there are more than 5 ingredients in the ingredient list, or you can’t pronounce one of the words, you shouldn’t buy it (and yes I know that the post stickers break this rule, but I am not perfect). I believe that a lot of packaged foods are responsible for the rise in obesity, despite many of their claims to help you lose weight or be heart healthy. Moreover, I believe in fat. I drink homo milk and cook with butter everyday. It fills me up and I find that I do a lot less snacking when I have a nice fatty breakfast. Bacon, eggs and a slice of toast for breakfast? Yes please. The best analogy I can come up for why I don’t think eating fat is going to make me fat is to look at the meat industry. What do cattle ranchers and chicken farmers feed their animals to make them fat? Grains, not fat. Granted we are not cows but I still think it stands as a good example.

Okay, rant done. So, I’ll admit I got a bit lazy and only photographed the first two dinners I made this week. Actually they were the only dinners I made this week, Mr. Husband made the others, we went out for sushi and we had leftovers for the other meals.

Can you guess what these final dishes are? (Answer and yummy recipes are at the bottom):

This one is one of my all time favs:

And this one was completely new (thank you Sunset Magazine!)

You ready for the answers?

The top photo is the ingredients for baked ziti and the bottom is squash fritters which I served with radicchio and greens salad.

Recipes:

Baked Ziti

Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound hot Italian sausages, casings removed
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 28-ounce can diced peeled tomatoes
• 1/4 cup purchased pesto sauce

• 10 ounces ziti or penne pasta (about 3 cups), freshly cooked
• 8 cups ready-to-use spinach leaves (about 2/3 of 10-ounce package)
• 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, cubed
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)
• I added a bit of wine as well, mostly because I had some open that I was drinking while cooking. Add with tomatoes.

Prep:

Heat heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add sausage, onion and garlic and sauté until sausage is cooked through, breaking up meat with back of spoon, about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes with juices to pan. Simmer until sauce thickens slightly, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Stir in pesto. Season sauce with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to simmer before continuing.)

Preheat oven to 375° F. Lightly oil 13 x 9-inch glass baking dish. Combine pasta, spinach, mozzarella and 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese in large bowl. Stir in hot tomato sauce. Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish. Sprinkle remaining 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese over. Bake until sauce bubbles and cheeses melt, about 30 minutes.

Squash and chickpea fritters

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup toasted hazelnuts
• 8 oz. cubed butternut squash
• 2 slices whole-wheat bread
• 1 can (14 oz.) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 large egg
• 2 tbsp. flour
• 1 tsp. chopped fresh sage leaves (I used dried cause all the sage at the store looked very pathetic)
• 1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper
• 1/4 tsp. red chile flakes
• 6 tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 4 cups mixed winter greens such as radicchio and escarole
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 
  

Prep:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toast hazelbuts on a rimmed baking sheet until browned, 5-8 min (or for a more energy efficient solution: use your toaster oven – if you don’t have one, you should!). Put squash in microwave-safe container with 1/4 cup water and cover with a 2 paper towels. Cook on high til squash is tendet when pierced, about 3 minutes. Drain. Pulse bread in a food processoruntil fine crumds form. Add Squash and chickpeas and pulse again until slightly chunky. Ass egg, flour, sage, salt, pepper, and chile flakes. Pulse until just blended. Heat 3 tbsp. of olive oil in a large frying pan (my cast iron skillet worked GREAT for this). Drop 1/4-cup portions of squash mix into opil, making a few fritters at a time, and cook turning once, until golden broan, about 3 minutes on eash side. Transfer to plate. Toss greens with remaining oil, lemon juice and hazelnuts. Serve squash fritters with salad.

ENJOY!