What's For Dinner? Jan Week 1

I love my home. And I love these long weekends for the holidays! (I really think part time work would suit me better. But then again, the days off wouldn't be the same without Craig home too.) When it's cold outside and the flakes are falling, I just love being holed up with my family in comfy clothes just hanging out. The only thing that makes that better is the aroma of yummy food filling the house...

Today I made a big pot of beef stew to simmer on the stove top for the afternoon and enjoy during half time of the Rose Bowl. (Go Buckeyes!) The recipe is courtesy of Tyler Florence: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/the-ultimate-beef-stew-recipe2/index.html I love Tyler. He's easily my favorite on Food Network. But he also goes the extra mile with every recipe and this one took every spare minute of nap time to make. So plan on a leisurely Sunday to try it.

First, let me show off my new knives!


Made cutting up all the veggies and meat a cinch!

Tyler's all about layering different elements of flavor. So we add fresh thyme, bay leaves, garlic, orange rind and cloves. Plus a whole bottle of good red wine - Shiraz is my fave.

And the results are worth every minute.



And tomorrow night we're having friends over for fondue. We typically do cheese and chocolate with lots of dippers and then some other sort of substantial "main dish". Warning: we tried the meat-in-oil fondue years ago and it stinks up the whole house. Better to stick to cheese and chocolate. We also did a caramel fondue with apple, graham cracker, and pretzel dippers. That's a good one too.

This post should actually be titled Dec Week 5/Jan Week 1. Earlier this week, we just did cheeseburgers on the panini grill. And then on New Years Eve I made roast beef and white cheddar dijon paninis.


I'm still loving making "Bento Box" style lunches for Will using his new plates. It just looks so neat and organized in the little compartments.







On the menu for next week:
1) Fajitas in the crock pot - it's such an easy and flavorful way to make them
2) Bow tie with pesto pasta - chicken, mushrooms, roasted red pepper, peas, and a sundried tomato pesto... scrumptious
3) Zucchini bread - I shredded and froze portions of zucchini at the end of summer to make bread over the winter. My boss actually gave me a 5# zucchini from her garden. Seriously, we weighed it on the baby scale. :) It was the size of a baby!


New for Sophie this week:
1) Blueberries, for sure! Steamed for about 15 minutes and then mashed or pureed. Good in combination with banana, yogurt, pears, oatmeal, etc.
2) Not exactly sure what else. At this point, we have a pretty broad range of food to give her, so it's just whatever we feel like that week. Maybe a mild cheese shredded for picking up or melted on her dinner. Maybe cantaloupe. We've tried some whole peas on her tray to pick up and she mostly just played with them. So it may be a short while before we can expand on the finger foods.