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Boca Burgers

I got a jump on the holiday -- I made my great great grandmother's clover leaf rolls- I made chicken stock for the freezer-- I needed to "stock up" (ha ha) I also made a big pot of vegetable beef soup. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen this weekend.

It was a perfect, chilly fall weekend here in Atlanta, and just right for simmering savory soups and hunkering down before a nice fire. Last night I made my favorite French Onion Soup. We had a loaf of crusty bread and some pinot grigio. Heavenly.

My recipe for French Onion Soup:
4-5 large Vidalia Onions
1/4 cup Olive Oil
2 Tbs. butter
salt/pepper/tarragon
8 cups beef stock
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup sherry
toasted rounds of crusty bread
gruyere cheese (or Provolone or a good swiss if Gruyere is not in the budget)

caramelize onions over medium heat in olive oil and butter until a lovely golden brown. season with salt, pepper and tarragon. deglaze pan with sherry, then wine. add stock and let simmer for 1/2 hour. Put toasted crusty round of bread in bottom of oven-proof single-serve crock. Pour soup over bread, making sure to get plenty of the onions. Put slices of gruyere over top and put under broiler just until cheese is bubbly and golden on edges -- should be quick. Serve! YUM.

I have a potluck at my work on Wednesday and somehow our area got stuck with appetizers and salads...not my strong point, when it comes to make-ahead material. I didn't want to have to schlep a crockpot for meatballs or anything like that, and I didn't want to have anything that if made ahead would not taste good the following day. So, in the end, I took on my mothers old 1950's Americana-style cookbooks called simply "Salads" and found a recipe fro tuna-pasta salad. I had to have her taste test it, though, since I really really cannot stand the taste of mayo in any form. She liked it, so I hope that others do, too. And it least it won't go bad by then.

And I discovered a new gingerbread recipe that I love...probably because for an 8 by 8-inch pan, it called for a full cup of dark molasses. You can't beat that. :)

Mmm...I need to smoke some brisket...

No guests here, and we ate out on Saturday. But on Friday, I grilled a marinated top round steak (medium rare, thinly sliced), which we had with chimichurri sauce; roasted potatoes and a big salad on the side. Back in August I canned several pints of chimichurri sauce, and I'm so pleased about that decision now:-).

Last night, I made a miso soup with spinach and scallops, soba and chicken salad with sesame-ginger dressing and roasted Brussels sprouts.

Tonight is our "random pizza night" (it used to be "pizza Friday":-)), so I'll be making two pizzas, as usual - chesseless for the OH, pizza bianca for me.

I made chilil and potatoe bread for dinner, shortbread for christmas, blueberrie muffins for breakfast....

@mepolo--Liverpool, NY a northern burb of Syracuse. We've had an inch and a half in the last hour--our golden retriever pup is thrilled, dancing and snapping at the snow. Oswego and parts of the Tug Hill got nailed overnight with some places seeing as much as 2 feet. We won't see that much though. I think I may make some bread today. I also made some Nutella cookie bars yesterday. The kids were in heaven!

Saturday, my boyfriend made a pizza with bresaola; yesterday gave rise to a plum pudding (annual event), some castagnaccio (nostalgic wallow), two loaves of bread (this happens at least bi-weekly), and for last night's dinner, duck breasts with rice and cannellini.

Salmon loaf. Four of them, actually, after the first batch of two was eaten quickly. I did not partake but everyone, including the hound, approved.

green curry (following recipe from Chez Pim) with tofu, green bean, bell pepper, and curried, fried butternut squash.
Tom kha soup.
stir fried gai lan with chili, ginger, garlic, soy, and fish sauce.
Gingerbread (recipe a mixture of Laurie Colwin and Shuna Fish Lydon of eggbeater blog)
oven fried chicken thighs with steamed broccoli, sneaky collards, and cornbread.
pretty good weekend.

@machellebelle--My kids go to Elmcrest right across John Glenn from Longbranch. The Wegmans on 57 is now a new "super Wegmans" bigger and better than ever, and it's less than a minute drive for me. Did you ever go to Beaver Lake out in B'ville as a kid? We take the kids there all the time, something I'm sure they'll remember if they move away.

Turkey chili on Saturday, and Chicken and Dumplings yesterday. I just love cool-weather comfort foods!

@dhorst....you're a bit east from me...I'm in Angola, right on Lake Erie. They did get about 20" in South Dayton, a small town southeast, and of course ski country got about a foot or so. Lake effect is the craziest thing....I'm in the city right now (Buffalo) and the sun has been shining here...go 20 miles or so southeast and it's a snowstorm....isn't Mother Nature grand?!

Tortilla Soup on Friday. With homemade stock, of course. Grilled steaks with radish, cucumber and red bell pepper salad in lettuce bowls on Saturday and turkey chili last night. @hungryinhouston I'm afraid I'm going to run out of cool-weather comfort foods here in Maryland!

My bf was seriosly ill this weekend; and so the cooking enthusiasm at home was amost n-ill.
I did get to eat my favourite Hot and sour soup from our local favourite northern-chinese resturaunt--so it wasn't a TOTAL loss :)

@brooke29 - I'm curious to try cooking a miso soup soon--I haven't even tried it yet; care to share the recipe? I think if I add seafood it'll be great!

lemme see...Friday night I ate some frozen Traders Joes pizza and the last of the red leaf with creamy feta dressing.

Saturday was our girls dinner club and italian was the theme, so I made chicken parm and rigatoni and the other girls brought italian salad, fried greens, sausage stuffed banana peppers, italian bread, tiramisu and wine.

Sunday I went to my favorite place, Beachwood Mall in Cleveland and ate, for the first and last time, Cheesecake Factory. It was just meh. We got the spicy chicken nachos (cheese barely melted, fantastic guac though), I had the kentucky hot brown (meh...a little salty), Sarah had the orange chicken (very orangy, lots of veggies, nice rice) and Jess had the roasted eggplant sandwich (I can do the same at home...ya know?). I didn't even get cheesecake. It was not worth 60 bucks and that was not including the eggplant sandwich. She had her own check. Sarah's raspberry lemonade (no booze) was FIVE BUCKS!

Right now I have a loaf of cinnamon bread rising to make french toast tonight. Its cold, icky, snowy, blowy and Im just not in the mood.

@hungrychristel - mine is ridiculously simple. I make it in small batches, often several times a week. I don't really measure, but I'm going to try to figure it out for you, more or less.

In a small saucepan, briefly saute 3-4 chopped scallions in about 1 Tbsp of toasted sesame oil (medium heat). While you're doing this, boil 2 cups of water - I use my electric kettle for this (you could, or one would argue should use dashi instead of water, but I don't always have it, and water works fine). Add about 4 oz of frozen spinach to the saucepan (don't have to thaw it first), and the two cups of boiling water. Stir and let cook for a couple of minutes, to thaw the spinach. At this point, I dissolve 2-3 Tbsp of white miso paste (OK, I really just take two soup spoons, one heaping, one level) in a cup of cold (filtered) water.

When the spinach is thawed, add about 1/3 lb bay scallops (could use shrimp), let cook for 2-3 minutes and add the miso-water mixture. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes, until it's about to boil but does not boil. Take off the heat. That's it. It's quite good when it's cold, as well.

I sometimes saute some sliced shiitake together with the scallions, omit the spinach and use cubed tofu in lieu of scallops (that was the original version I used to make), but my OH, while quite fond of miso soup, does not fancy either mushrooms or tofu. So I came up with this - and he never gets tired of it:-).

Friday night I grilled Ina's herb marinated pork tenderloin - it was the best! Also made dill potato salad with marinated cucumbers and radishes. On Sunday afternoon I made crockpot chicken tortilla soup. I made a vow this past summer that I'd start making a lot of the recipes I've been copying off the internet or out of library cookbooks and it's been fun and tasty!

i made falafel and tahini sauce on saturday and little english muffin pizza's on sunday. and ham steak for the morning. i love when i have the house to myself, i can eat when i'm ready and not worry about everyone else.

Smothered Pork Chops w/onions & 'shrooms, mashed potatoes w/apples, Swiss Chard, cheap Pinot Grigio. The chops were expensive, but worth it; I still have plenty left to reheat and eat until Thursday.

I got the smothered chops recipe from "Harlem Really Cooks" by the late Sandra Lawrence. There are lots of awesome soul food, Caribbean, African and Latino recipes in that little book.

I also had my sister visiting from Miami, my aunt's birthday and my dad'd upcoming birthday this week... I invited them all to lunch and we had a roasted garlic and tomato whole wheat pasta... side green salad with a whole grain bread pudding for dessert. Delicious!

Madelyn
KarmaFreeCooking