Tuxedo Chili

If you're tired of chili, skip this post.  I never get tired of chili; I make several different kinds.  For our neighborhood chili cook off, I decided to make a new one.  Why not?

Pancakes for One--The Solo Cook and her Breakfast for Dinner: It's a Beautiful Thing!

Fat Tuesday has a great ring to it.  I have memories of a lot of soggy or burnt pancakes made by legions of cook-once-a-year men in kitchen after church kitchen.  I've been in a lot of places. The very best pancakes I've ever eaten are those made by my own kitchen-man husband.  Those are made on a propane camp stove and stand out as some of the finest food in the world to me.  Either everything really does taste better outside, or my man just knows from pancakes.  He puts fresh butter on the griddle for every pour.  He heats the syrup before he starts.  He fries the bacon before he heats the syrup.  He makes the coffee before he fries the bacon.  Did I say he looks good while he does it?

Pork Tenderloin Salad with Blueberries, Oranges, and Sherry-Honey Vinaigrette

 I could look in my mom's frig and think there was nothing at all to eat in there.  I might even be found staring blindly into the freezer, hoping something would come to me.  Usually it was ice cream.  But let my mom loose in that kitchen and in record time, there was a full meal on the table.  Practice makes perfect.  The early bird gets the worm.  Hunger makes the best sauce.  Desperation is the mother of invention.  Whatever.  She knew how to bring it, as they say.  It seemed miraculous.

Valentine's Day- Make Your Own Chocolate Bark

Chocolate, chocolate everywhere and lots of drops to drink.

Chocolate. Chocolate. Chocolate.  Valentine's Day IS chocolate.  Sounds like a good song.  

This chocolate is a semi or bitter-sweet bark that Dave had made for me for Valentine's Day a couple of years ago.  Truth to be told, his bark is better than mine.  Candy maker, I'm not, though my toffee was to die for this year.  (pat pat)

Pot of Pinto Beans-Simple Pictures are Best

Pintos garnished with plain Greek yogurt and Frontera salsa

When I was a kid, a pot of beans sounded nasty to me.  It smacked of nothing to do out in the country (except make a pot of beans) and I didn't particularly like the taste of beans--particularly pintos.  My parents grew all kinds of vegetables and they were fond of many sorts of beans and peas; our neighbors were of a similar ilk.  Married during the depression, but first raised on or near the farm, they all knew every trick for saving money on food.  Moving to the big city, they searched for a piece of land out a ways in order to plant that garden every year.  (Weed, can, water, repeat.)

Pan-Roasted Brussels Sprouts and New Potatoes with Parmesan and Onions

When folks began oven-roasting Brussels sprouts and bringing them back into vogue, I began pan roasting them.  Either the oven was full the first time I tried it or I just wanted to see what would happen.  Whichever way, we loved them and I kept making the sprouts stove top.  I blogged them cooked with pumpkin seeds one Thanksgiving, and later made them with shredded, crispy ham or prosciutto, or just on their own with whole, quite soft garlic cloves and lots of black pepper.  Once I threw in a few slices of  hot Capicola, an Italian ham that sometimes comes rolled in ground red pepper.  Whew.