Couple of Cooks in Love

I'm not sure what it is about this salad that I'm addicted to.  It could be the combination of the salty bacon with the tart cranberries, or the creamy dressing with the Gorgonzola cheese.  I don't know, and I don't care.  I'll I know is that I LOVE it!  I first had a version of this salad a local restaurant years ago. That happens a lot, where I will have some dish out that I really like, so what I do when I get home is check out the restaurant's website for the dish and see what ingredients they have listed, what I remember ,and then I try to re-create it at home.  Sometimes it works, like in this case, sometimes not so much!  The only problem with doing that is experimenting with sauces, or in this case dressings. Restaurants don't list ingredients in the sauces the make so you have to be creative. If you wanted to make this salad more hearty you could certainly add a chicken breast.  In fact, at the restaurant that is what they did. Dar...

It really was as good, or even better then it looks! Tonight's meal is all Daryl!  He asked me what I wanted and my response was something like, "Meat sounds good, clean, not a lot of cheese, cream etc..." and what he came up with was  Coffee Rubbed Filet Mignon with Ancho Mushroom Sauce, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts.   Did I marry a good man or what?!  I also thought another Cesar Salad sounded good so, you guessed it - we're having one!   We are huge fans of Bobby Flay and we chose his recipes a lot.  I have said before that his recipes can be pretty time consuming, but there are days when that can be fun, and this was one of those days.  Daryl enjoys the steps that he has in his recipes, it makes it interesting for him, and a it is a challenge.  I am grateful to Bobby because of him I get to eat awesome food! SMOKED RED PEPPER SAUCE Yields: 2 ½ cups 4 roasted red bell peppers, chopped ½ small red onion, coarsely ...

39°. The current temperature here in Eagan MN!  Less than a week ago we were on the cusp of a Polar Vortex, where our high temperature was -23.  This is nuts! It's too dark outside to get a good picture of Daryl at the grill, but it's great to see him grill with snow in the background! Last week I was writing about making chili and soup because the weather dictated it. Well, today we are making chicken wings ON THE GRILL! We have used this glaze before to make chicken kabobs and loved it so we decided to put them on wings tonight.  Use the glaze on whatever type of chicken you are in the mood for.  It has an Asian feel, spicy and sticky. Check these out!  BBQ in January! Chicken Wing Glaze 1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar 1/2 cup unseasoned rice vinegar 1/3 cup hot chili paste (such as sambal oelek) 1/4 cup fish sauce (such as nam pla or nuoc nam) 1/4 cup Sriracha 2 t. finely grated peeled ginger 12 full  chicken wings with tips We make f...

A fresh and tasty weeknight meal in the middle of a Minnesota winter! I have already told you that I feel like I'm a bit of an expert where Bloody Mary's are concerned. Well, my area of expertise where food is concerned is, salads.  I can whip up an amazing salad in the blink of an eye.  I enjoy salads like most people enjoy chocolate.  I understand that a lot of people think of salads as a diet food, just boring, or not a meal.  I completely disagree.  I think, if made correctly as a main course meal, they are delicious, healthy and satisfying.  The salads I enjoy have homemade dressing that starts with a base of oil and vinegar and grows from there depending on the time and energy I feel like putting into it. This is not what you would call a healthy salad, but how can you say no to a combination of blue cheese and bacon? Ingredients: Time: 10 minutes Yield: 2 8 slices bacon 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese 10 cherry tomatoes, sliced 1 avoc...

I wish the camera had captured the steam coming from it!  It was delicious! Today is Day 2 of the Polar Vortex so I decided to make another batch of soup.  I bought a head of cabbage for the Vegetable Soup,  not knowing the Daryl had one in the fridge, so since I had an extra one I decided to make, of course, another type of veggie soup.  This one, however, is an old family recipe.  My mom has made it for as long as I can remember.  I loved it as a kid, and I still do!  It is pure and simple, using only vegetables and water.  I feel that there is a story behind every meal. Especially those that are passed down from generation to generation, or are based on your ethnicity.  That is really big reason why I wanted to start this blog.  My nieces and nephew have always loved my mom's, their grandma's, cooking.  As a wedding present for my oldest niece I gave her a recipe book of all of my mom's best recipes and new ones that Da...

Tonight's meal is just for me.  Daryl is not a fan of the flavor profile of this pizza, but I love it. It's Friday night, and on Friday nights we do something fast and easy and this pizza is just that.  I was missing one ingredient;  prosciutto but luckily there is a great Italian deli, Buon Giorno , on my way home from work.  They have a variety of fresh Italian foods - today's goodies were, Prosciutto de Parma, Soppresetta Salami, 2 cooked pork shanks (Daryl loves them), and a tasty Asiago, dun-dried tomato cheese spread. The pizza can be either a main course, like I am using it for, or as an appetizer. Ingredients: 1 small store bought pizza crust/dough ( I used Boboli) 1 T. Olive Oil or more for pizza dough 4 oz (1 c.) Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled 2 oz (1/2 c.) fontina cheese, shredded 1/2 pitted dates, coarsely chopped Salt and pepper 4 oz prosciutto Brush the olive oil on the pizza dough.  Spread the cheeses on the dough, then the dates and l...

Today is our Polar Vortex. We woke up to a temperature of -23, with a wind chill of -45.   I am a public school teacher so I am very lucky to be home safe and warm.  Since the Governor cancelled school last week I was able to prepare for 1 to 2 days of being in the house. After having chili yesterday the next best meal to make when it's this cold is soup.  I decided to make my two favorites today and tomorrow; Vegetable and Cabbage.  At first they may seem similar, but other than the vegetables, they are really very different.  The vegetable soup uses olive oil and sautes the veggies, and the cabbage soup simply boils them. I found this recipe in some magazine years ago, probably in some doctors office's waiting room where I ripped it out and took it home!  It has everything in it I love- vegetables and beans!  I have made changes to the original recipe so this my final version.   Don't be alarmed by the amount of olive oil, it disappears. I l...

Yes, I know this is a food blog, but I have to talk about the weather again.  I have heard that people from MN like to discuss the weather a lot.  Well, can you blame us?  It effects our lives and what we eat!  So  here is another weather report:  we are on the cusp of what the weather people are calling a Polar Vortex .  Yes, it's what it sounds like --- cold!  As I write this it's  -9 and with the wind chill, and that's what really matters, it's - 21.  The Governor of Minnesota canceled classes for all public schools in the state tomorrow due to the COLDER weather that's still coming in.  Now, the reason I'm telling you all of this is because of what we made today. What better thing to eat on a cold day like today? Chili!  Like most of you, we have tried many, many chili recipes over the years.  Honestly, I have liked a lot of them, but a couple have really stood out among the crowd.  One was by Bobby Flay, a very...

Looks and sounds amazing, doesn't it?  This is one of my absolutely favorite meals!  Over the years we have tried many different types of curry and this recipe uses the best ingredients of each one.  You can use whatever seafood you would like.  I use halibut a lot in the summer, but today I was in the mood for a shellfish version. After all of the meat based meals we have had recently this meal was the perfect alternative.    It is still warm and hearty but has completely different flavor profile. The veggies and spices ready to go - or as Daryl likes to say "mies en place"! Ingredients: 2   tablespoons  peanut oil 5   green onions, finely chopped, dark green parts separated from white and pale green parts 3   tablespoons   minced fresh cilantro, divided 3   garlic cloves, minced 6 oz crimini mushrooms 1 T. Curry Powder 6   tablespoons   Thai green curry paste(we use Maesri green curry paste tha...

We have had a wonderful year and I hope you have too.  We are celebrating the new year with our good friend tonight.  We hope you are with your close friends and family, whatever it is that makes you happy and content. Daryl made lasagna bolognese yesterday so it would be ready to slide into the the oven today.  Making the meal the day before allows us to enjoy tonight a bit more. It also allows us to make a Cesar salad, homemade bread and margaritas without having to worry about the main course also.  I'm excited to eat and drink just typing all of that! The bolognese recipe came from Mario Batali and I found it in an bon apetit magazine. We have made it for years.  We made it for Christmas a few years back and sadly our guests weren't as impressed as we had hoped.  The were expecting the classic Italian recipe with red sauce. If that is what you are looking for,  this isn't it.  If you're not familiar with bolognese,  it is a...