Poultry

Edith, Mark and Jay came over for a very casual dinner - we ate in the living room, in front of the TV and watched a couple of videos on Peru for our upcoming trip. I served a menu of reliable favorites. This chili is fast becoming one of our most-liked chili recipes. It's different, but really good and healthy. I made the dessert the day before, and not only was it easy to make but soooo good. I'm nuts about honey.

• Chive and Pine Nut Dip with Sourdough Toasts (Gourmet, June 2005)
• Barley & Turkey Chili with Jalapeño Sour Cream and Amaranth Crunch (Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way, p. 186)
• Napa Pantry World's Best Cornbread
• Roasted Baby Beet and Rocket Salad with Walnuts and Gorgonzola
• Honey Panna Cotta (Pure Dessert, p. 178)

Wine:
- Ridge 2004 Buchignani Ranch Zinfandel (Alexander Valley, California). Just at the edge of not being enjoyable. It's losing its fruit.
- Rockpile 2006 Cemetery Vineyard Zinfandel (Rockpile, California). One of my favorite appellations. A big, juicy wine.

A quick dinner for Larry and Jay tonight - I liked the chicken fingers, but Larry wasn't that crazy about the coating. However, he loved the barley pilaf, which used barley flakes instead of the standard whole barley. the beans were also very good. I'm still working through some recipes in the Dorie Greenspan book - this chocolate cakes is mostly flourless and very good.

• Turkey Fingers with Maple-Mustard Sauce (Eating Well, November/December 1995)
• Barley Pilaf with Fennel, Pecans & Cranberries (Whole Grains for Busy People, p. 142)
• Borlotti Beans with Porcini & Trumpet Mushrooms (Heirloom Beans: Great Recipes for Dips and Spreads, Soups and Stews, Salads and Salsas, and Much More from Rancho Gordo, p. 117)
• Almost-Fudge Gateau (Baking: From My Home to Yours, p. 218)

Mark, Edith and Jay were all here for dinner. The chicken is just a take on coq au vin. Good, but nothing special (I seem to say that a lot lately, wondering if I'm getting overly picky). The chocolate mousse was a hit and a definite make-again. Creamy and thick, and easy to make.

• Creamy White Bean & Herb Dip (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 76)
• Wine-Braised Chicken with Shallots and Pancetta (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 8)
• Creamy Goat Cheese Polenta (Fine Cooking #57, May 2003, p. 86C)
• Garlicky Braised Kale with Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 49)
• Real Chocolate Mousse (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 25)

Wine:
- Rosenblum 2005 Carla's Vineyard Zinfandel (San Francisco Bay, California). Really, really good. Well balanced and what a Zin should aspire to be.
- Thumbprint 2005 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Lighter than the Rosenblum, so we should have opened this first. Okay, but disappointing after the Rosenblum.

This was an interesting way to bread turkey cutlets. The recipe calls for salted popped popcorn that is then put through a food processor, then used like breadcrumbs. I had to figure out the popcorn thing first. We usually use SmartPop microwave popcorn, butter flavor. I don't think I know how to pop regular popcorn anymore, so I looked around at the store and settled on Orville Redenbacher's reduced fat Natural Popcorn. Basically just popcorn, oil and salt.

We really liked everything tonight. The turkey was interesting, and I pretty much like anything with farro. The sorbet was delicious and creamy.

• Popcorn-Crusted Turkey Cutlets with Cherry Tomato Salsa (Whole Grains for Busy People, p. 78)
• Farro with Broccoli Rabe & Prosciutto (Whole Grains for Busy People, p. 109)
• Blood Orange & Mango Sorbet (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 47)

We loved this pasta. I used spicy chicken Italian sausage from Whole Foods, and fresh whole wheat fettuccine. It had a nice mix of flavors, and I think one of the reasons we liked it so much is that the chicken sausage was really good.

• Fresh Pasta with Sausage & Mushrooms (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 91)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

This sauté sounded interesting, but it turned out kind of blah. Not something I'd make again. Not like it was bad, it just wasn't anything special.

• Chicken Sauté with Lemon, Cumin & Parsley (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 90)

I was skeptical about these sandwiches. First, I'm not that crazy about turkey lunchmeat. And even though these don't have corned beef (which I don't like), anything titled reuben just doesn't appeal to me. But I'm so glad I made them! Great sandwiches. The slaw, with the pickles and the updated Thousand Island dressing made with sun dried tomatoes was really nice.

• Smoked Turkey Ruebens (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 89)

I packed up a lunch for Larry and I today, to take to San Francisco with us. We're in a running clinic all day and needed to bring a bag lunch. I wanted to make something somewhat light and nutritious. Both were pretty good. I used lavash for the wraps and they fell apart as usual.

• Smoked Turkey Wraps with Mango and Curried Mayonnaise (Bon Appétit, August 2002)
• Chickpea Salad with Parsley, Lemon, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Bon Appétit, August 2002)

Shawn & Jackie came over tonight - early, so we could prepare dinner together. Fun! Jackie and I sorted out the menu ahead of time and came up with something simple that wouldn't take too much concentration so we could also visit while we were cooking. Everything turned out great!

Shawn and Jackie brought the fixings for the appetizer and salad. The salad was delicious and had arugula, bacon, dried cranberries, toasted walnuts, blue cheese, and apple. We made up the focaccia dough first, which is as simple as dumping the ingredients into a bowl and stirring it up. The pears were simple because once they went into the poaching liquid,we could forget about them. And the mascarpone was a nice match with the pears.

• Baguette Toasts with Goat Cheese and Black Truffle Paste
• Rosemary Focaccia (No Need to Knead, p. 40)
• Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Spinach & Goat Cheese (Fine Cooking #69, January 2005, p. 62)
• Cape Cod Chopped Salad (Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics: Fabulous Flavor from Simple Ingredients)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Pears Poached in Port with Mascarpone (Fine Cooking #23, November 1997, p. 68)

Wine:
- Kosta Browne 2005 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley, California). Delicious, but more Pinot-y than some of their other Pinots. Has that earthy nose.
- Breggo 2006 Ferrington Vineyard Pinot Noir (Anderson Valley, California). Shawn and Jackie brought this excellent Pinot - I really like young Pinots. And we're lucky to have friends with great taste in wine!

Larry was in charge of dinner tonight - I helped prep and made the kale. I love this kale recipe. I was worried about the meatloaf, because plain turkey can be kind of one-dimensional. Cook's Illustrated is pretty reliable, though, and it turned out great. Easy to make, and the glaze is really good. The brownies are good, but more cake-y than the last ones. I think I like the previous batch better.

• Turkey Meatloaf with Brown Sugar-Ketchup Glaze (The Best Light Recipe, p.209)
• Garlicky Braised Kale with Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 49)
• New Bittersweet Brownies (Pure Dessert, p. 138)

A quiet Christmas Eve dinner for just the two of us. I always want chili at Christmas for some reason. Larry picked this out - I'd made it before but it's been a long time. It's really good.

• Chicken & Pinto Bean Chili (Fine Cooking #29, November 1998, p. 40)
• Napa Pantry World's Best Cornbread

Mally and Jay joined us for Sunday dinner tonight. I chose a pretty standard menu with things that I've made several times in the past - we love these chicken breasts. The parsnips were something new but nothing special, a little bland, in fact. We loved the tart but I didn't see the point of the pistachio brittle and won't make it next time - although it was delicious on its own.

• Smoked Trout Rillettes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 44)
• Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Spinach & Goat Cheese (Fine Cooking #69, January 2005, p. 62)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Spinach & Basil Salad with Tomatoes, Candied Walnuts & Warm Bacon Dressing (Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 55)
• Roasted Parsnips with Cinnamon & Coriander (Fine Cooking #84, March 2007, p. 18)
• Bittersweet Chocolate Tart with Salted Caramelized Pistachios (Fine Cooking #96, October 2008, p. 90)

Wine: Kosta Browne 2005 Gary's Vineyard Pinot Noir (Santa Lucia Highlands, California). This is a great wine. Exactly how I like my Pinot.

Larry made dinner for Jay and I tonight since I was at the 49ers game for most of the day. He's always the one who makes this chili, which is excellent. I wasn't crazy about the cornbread but Larry and Jay thought it was okay.

• Barley & Turkey Chili with Jalapeño Sour Cream and Amaranth Crunch (Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way, p. 186)
• Paraguayan Corn Bread (Cooking Light, September 2001)

The last of the turkey leftovers - I really liked this salad for a light dinner.

• Turkey & Blue Cheese Salad with Tarragon-Mustard Vinaigrette (Fine Cooking #60, October 2003, p. 66)

Now begins the effort to use up the leftover turkey in interesting ways. This baked pasta is good, and different. I used the vinaigrette that I've been using on green beans as a dressing.

• Baked Rotini with Turkey (How to Cook a Turkey, p. 227)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Butter Lettuce with Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 47)

I decided to branch out from my standard Thanksgiving food and try some different things this year, since we just had one person join us this year (Eddie). I didn't exactly use the recipe for the turkey - I salted it and stuffed the cavities as described, but then went my own way with roasting (breast side down first) and gravy.

We couldn't stop eating the walnuts - yum. I think I still need to experiment with stuffing, but the vegetables were all good, as was the turkey. Larry liked the pie but wants a firmer texture.

With the exception of the potatoes and the pie, all of the other Fine Cooking recipes are available in the book How to Cook a Turkey. I checked the book out of the library, although I thought the title was stupid. I ended up really liking the book.

• Spicy Maple Walnuts (Fine Cooking #48, December 2001, p. 62)
• Salted Roast Turkey with Herbs (Bon Appétit, November 2008)
• Madeira Gravy (Fine Cooking #35, November 1999, p. 30)
• Fennel & Escarole Stuffing with Pine Nuts (Fine Cooking #24, December 1997, p. 43)
• Roasted Carrots & Parsnips with Shallot & Herb Butter (Fine Cooking #70, February 2005, p. 46)
• Mashed Potatoes with Caramelized Shallots (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 48)
• Sugar & Spice Pumpkin Pie with Brandied Ginger Cream (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 50)

Wine:
- Ridge 2004 Carmichael Vineyard Zinfandel (Sonoma County, California). I think this is my favorite Ridge Zin.
- Loring 2004 Gary's Vineyard Pinot Noir (Santa Lucia Highlands, California). Larry's not crazy about Loring wines but I love them. It's a very Pinot-y Pinot, elegant and plummy.

Jay came for the usual Sunday dinner tonight. Everything was great. Loved the cauliflower and the beets, and the chicken was nice because it was prepped the day before, so it just needed to be roasted. I loved this tart, but I love anything caramel.

• Rosemary-Garlic Chicken with Apple & Fig Compote (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 66)
• Cauliflower with Brown Butter, Pears, Sage & Hazelnuts (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 48)
• Green Beans with Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette & Parmesan Breadcrumbs (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 47)
• Warm Roasted Beets & Shallots with Crisp Prosciutto Dressing (Fine Cooking #56, March 2003, p. 43)
• Chocolate Caramel-Almond Tart (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 76)

Wine: Gamba 2004 Moratta Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). Last bottle, and still delicious.

Scott and Jay were both over for dinner. Scott is staying with us for a week, taking care of our house and Coco while we're off in San Antonio running the San Antonio Rock & Roll Half Marathon. When Scott comes to stay, I always make Polish Lasagna, because we've known each other forever and my mom would make it for us when he came over for dinner in high school.

It may sound weird, but this is so good, especially leftover. It's comforting. Layers of shell pasta, ground turkey with mushrooms, tomatoes, garlic, onion and marinara sauce, cheddar and mozzarella cheese, and sour cream (which comes out sort of like ricotta).

• Polish Lasagna (Sheri's Recipe Box)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Butter Lettuce and Radiccio with Tomatoes & Lemon Poppyseed Dressing (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 48)

Wine: La Cassacia 2002 Chianti (Italy). One of the wines we bought in Siena last year. Good but not outstanding.

A few notes on tonight's (yummy dinner): the spicy rosemary rub was too spicy. I'll use less red pepper flakes next time. I made a change to the green bean recipe as well. I roasted the green beans, then tossed them in the vinaigrette before serving. There was way too much vinaigrette so after I tossed them I just removed them from the vinaigrette with tongs and plated them. But yum, they were really good! I wished I would have made more. Larry raved about the mashed potatoes.

• Spiced-Up Grilled Chicken Thighs with Spicy Rosemary Rub (The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great, p. 248)
• Mashed Potatoes with Caramelized Shallots (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 48)
• Green Beans with Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette & Parmesan Breadcrumbs (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 47)

Jay was here for one of my favorite types of dinner. Everything is pretty simple and really good. I am starting to really love roasted green beans. I like them best when there is some sort of flavoring besides just olive oil, salt and pepper. I loved the chicken - this is one of my favorite ways to cook a chicken (butterflied and under a brick).

Tonight was just simple chicken breasts on the grill pan with salt and pepper, more kabocha squash (which is clearly a favorite around here), and a barely-carrot kugel. The kugel was interesting. Lots and lots of carrot, with egg as a binder, and baked. It was sweet due to the addition of honey. I didn't hate it. Larry thought it was weird and wasn't crazy about it. The honey ice cream, though, was absolutely delicious.

• Pan-Grilled Chicken Breasts
• Soy-Braised Kabocha Squash (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 57)
• Barley-Carrot Kugel with Honey Glaze (Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way, p. 208)
• Heavenly Honey Ice Cream (Pure Dessert, p. 177)

Larry made this turkey chili on a night I wasn't home for dinner. I didn't have any, but he said it was very tasty and much better the next day.

• Turkey Chili with Black Beans (How Stuff Works)

Jay was over for dinner tonight. Dinner was good overall, but the chicken was just so-so. Just bland-ish, poached chicken. We especially loved the squash.

• Jerry Traunfeld's Tarragon Chicken Breasts with Buttery Leeks (The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper, p. 200)
• Sugar Snaps & Scallions with Coddled Lettuce (The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper, p. 266)
• Soy-Braised Kabocha Squash (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 57)

Wine: Ridge 2002 Ridge Grenache/Syrah (Russian River Valley, California). I love this wine from Ridge. I'm a big Grenache fan.

Excellent quick dinner tonight - the cumin rub is really good on the chicken thighs.

• Spiced-Up Grilled Chicken Thighs with Cumin and Coriander (The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great, p. 248)
• Roasted Green Beans with Cherry Tomatoes and Oregano (The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great, p. 268)

Another good dish from How to Eat Supper. It wasn't exactly super quick to put together because I tend to spend a lot of time trimming boneless, skinless chicken thighs.

• Chicken Curry with Gentle Spices (The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper, p. 205)
• Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Naan
• Roasted Cauliflower

Edith and Jay came for dinner tonight. Everything was pretty good, although Larry wasn't overly crazy about all of the parsley in the green beans. The crisp was his request, and he picked apple-blueberry.

• Chicken Breasts Roasted with Honey, Pine Nuts and Thyme (Best of the Best Vol. 7, p. 96)
• Couscous Salad with Cherry Tomatoes, Lemon and Pine Nuts (Best of the Best Vol. 7, p. 119)
• Green Beans with Lemon, Garlic, And Parmigiano Gremolata (The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper, p. 270)
• Apple-Blueberry Fruit Crisp with Crunch Crisp Topping (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p, 52)

Wine: Lucia 2005 Gary's Vineyard Pinot Noir (Santa Lucia Highlands, California). Really, really good Pinot.

This was a late dinner, but I wanted to make this test recipe before I missed the deadline for the feedback period. Wow, was this chicken good! We both loved it. It came together in under an hour. I had planned to make polenta and a salad with the chicken, but it was getting so late that Larry just put together some garlic bread and that was that.

• Sauteed Chicken Cutlets with Porcini Sauce (Test Recipe)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Wine: Ridge 2003 Lytton East Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). We're not drinking enough wine lately, and our Zins are going past their prime... not lots of fruit left in this one but okay for a weeknight.

Larry and Jay were planning on going out to dinner, but I had picked up stuff for a quick, light dinner. The markets are bursting with heirloom tomatoes (not too many from our garden yet), so we just had a tomato salad with the chicken. We liked the chicken, and it was really quick and easy.

• Sear-and-Sauce Chicken Cutlets with Mustard Cream Sauce with Tarragon (The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great, p. 222)
• Fresh Heirloom Tomatoes

Wow, were these turkey burgers good. Great flavor. I used half dark meat, half white meat and served them on pita with a cucumber & yogurt sauce. We also liked the salad a lot. The tart was also really delicious, with a light, buttery crust.

• Middle Eastern Turkey Burgers (Fine Cooking #94, September 2008, p. 50)
• Cucumber & Yogurt Sauce (Fine Cooking #94, September 2008, p. 50)
• Cucumber, Fennel & Roasted Potato Salad with Parsleyed Yogurt (Fine Cooking #92, May 2008, p. 44)
• Plum Tart with Lemon-Shortbread Crust (Fine Cooking #94, September 2008, p. 64)

Wine: Cakebread 2003 Rubaiyat (Napa Valley, California). We should have drank this a long time ago. I didn't like it at all (past its prime), Larry and Jay thought it was drinkable but just okay.

We had a few people over for a post-July 4th barbeque: Assana, Dan, Chris, Tony, Janett. This chicken was excellent, and I think it would make a great chicken salad. We used both breasts and thighs. I hadn't made the zucchini roll-ups before but we liked them a lot. Janett and Tony brought a pumpkin polenta and Chris brought curried lentils and roasted veggies in a tomato sauce - all really good.

• Grilled Zucchini & Goat Cheese Roll-Ups (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 55)
• Goat Cheese, Pesto & Sun-Dried Tomato Terrine (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking 2003, p. 98c)
• Moist Mustard-Rosemary Chicken for a Crowd (Fine Cooking #65, July 2004, p. 86)
• Quinoa with Roasted Red Pepper Dressing (Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way, p. 156)
• Black Forest Trifle (Fine Cooking #69, January 2005, p. 58)

Wine:
- Loma Prieta 2000 Zinfandel (Lodi, California). Assana brought this yummy Zin to start us off for the night.
- Sextant 2004 Wheelhouse Zinfandel (California). Delicious as always.

I haven't made this salad for a long time. For some reason I thought making a half-recipe would be perfect, but I could barely finish half my salad. This recipe makes a lot of salad and a lot of dressing. I made a full recipe of the dressing so we'd have some leftover for weekday salads. We love this salad and it's great for a summer night.

• BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad (California Pizza Kitchen Pasta, Salads, Soups and Sides, Larry Flax and Rick Rosenfield, p. 23)
• Lemon Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze (Inside America's Test Kitchen, p. 249)

Jay came over for burgers - I've been wanting to make these again but have been waiting until I could get figs at the market. Finally! I made these with turkey instead of beef this time, and they were really good. The cake.... well, I had issues. It didn't look the best but it turned out okay in the end.

• Born in Berkeley Burgers (Food Network Challenge, Build A Better Burger III)
• Roasted Baby Beets
• Grilled Bread Salad with Tomatoes & Spicy Greens (Fine Cooking #58, July 2003, p. 38)
• Chocolate Stout Cake (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 422)

Dan, Assana and Chris came over for a casual holiday weekend dinner tonight. I make these roulades for company all the time, but hadn't made them for this group yet. We liked the zucchini salad okay, but I probably wouldn't make it again. The pie, on the other hand, was spectacular.

• Chicken Roulades Stuffed with Goat Cheese & Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 86C)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Zucchini & Yellow Squash Ribbons with Daikon, Oregano & Basil (Fine Cooking #93, July 2008, p. 51)
• Black & Blueberry Pie with Lemon Cornmeal Crust (Fine Cooking #93, July 2008, p. 70)

Wine:
- Gamba 2004 Moratta Vineyard Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). Yum - probably needed to be decanted, but it eventually opened up.
- Ridge 2004 Caboose Nervo Vineyard Zinfandel (Sonoma County, California). Good, but we should have had this one first.
- Don Pedro Ximenez 1979 Gran Reserva Sherry (Spain). Assana brought this over to drink with our pie - we both picked up bottles at The Spanish Table on our last trip there. It's really delicious.

Another simple but really good dinner for Larry and Jay tonight. I substituted boneless, skinless chicken thighs for the bone-in chicken parts. The blueberry bars are excellent.

• Grilled Chicken with Apricot-Balsamic Glaze (Fine Cooking #93, July 2008, p. 43)
• Roasted New Potato Salad with Dijon & Rosemary (Fine Cooking #15, July 1996, p. 40)
• Blueberry Streusel Bars with Lemon-Cream Filling (Fine Cooking #93, July 2008, p. 70)

Wine: Thumbprint 2004 Beasley Vineyard Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Wow - lush berry fruit in this wine. This is why Dry Creek Zins are my favorite.

Larry made dinner for us tonight. I'm not sure why we hadn't made this chicken before, but it's really tasty. He also grilled up delicious baby squash and sweet potatoes.

• Fastest Barbecued Chicken (Fine Cooking #65, foldout)
• Grilled Baby Squash
• Grilled Sweet Potato Planks

Wine: Amphora 2005 Mounts Vineyard Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California)

I had this soup for the first time a few weeks ago in a class at Sur La Table. Pam Anderson (the cookbook author, not the jiggly Pam Anderson) just came out with a new book about healthy eating so I signed up for her class. I've made a lot of Pam Anderson recipes in the past, since she's a regular contributor to Fine Cooking. The new book is pretty good, a lot of easy, common sense recipes and guidelines. This soup was perfect since I'm developing a cold. And it's really fast and easy to make.

• Asian Chicken Noodle Soup (The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great, p. 137)

Larry made dinner for us tonight (something I enjoy quite a bit!). We really liked this dish.

• Sausages & White Bean Stew with Tomatoes, Thyme & Crisp Breadcrumbs (Fine Cooking #91, March 2008, p. 86a)

From whole grains every day, every way. With cauliflower salad.

I made this casserole for Larry and Jay because my massage therapist Kris said it was really good. I gave her the cookbook at the beginning of the year, since she loves whole grains so much. We really liked it, and it was good leftover. I used wheatberries for the grain. It could be made vegetarian by leaving out the sausage.

I've made a lot of gingerbread, but this one really did it for me. The gingerbread itself isn't anything special, but the addition of chunks of milk chocolate make the cake. Larry prefers something more ginger-y. But I'm the one doing the cooking so this is what he got.

• Hearty Grain Casserole (Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way, p. 192)
• Gingerbread with Milk Chocolate Chunks (Chocolate Holidays, p. 16)

Larry picked out this chicken chili to make for dinner. I really like it when we make dinner together - it goes faster and is a good way to wrap up the day. The chili is excellent, and I especially liked the avocado salsa on top.

• Spicy Chicken & White Bean Chili (The Best of Fine Cooking, 101 Delicious Chicken Recipes, p. 66)

Jay and Larry loved these pot pies. They aren't something to throw together at the last minute, but they're still not too time consuming to make and can be made ahead of time. We also liked the salad a lot - something different for a change.

• Chicken and Root Vegetable Potpies (Cooking Light, September 2007)
• Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Green Peppercorn Vinaigrette (Fine Cooking #50, May 2002, p. 52)

Larry is making more things out of this new cookbook than I am. Tonight he made this stew, made up of turkey thighs, steel-cut oats and lots of spices. The flavors are really nice in the stew and I love the addition of oats.

• Oat and Turkey Soup with Tex-Mex Flavors (Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way, p. 126)
• Whole Wheat Tortillas

For dinner tonight I made Jay and Larry something pretty simple and easy to make. I've made these turkey cutlets and the mashed potatoes before, both are really good. We love these shortbread bars. So buttery and delicious, I could eat a lot of them.

• Turkey Cutlets with Mustard Cream Sauce (Fine Cooking #55, December 2002/January 2003, p. 98C)
• Creamy Mashed Potatoes with Goat Cheese & Fresh Sage (Bon Appetit, November 2004)
• Lemon-Cornmeal Shortbread Bars (Fine Cooking #68, Holiday Baking 2004, p. 64)

Larry made dinner again tonight (yay!), and he bravely chose something from a cookbook I just got for Christmas from his dad. He did a great job finding ingredients (Whole Foods had amaranth) and the chili was really delicious. I loved the sour cream and we were surprised that we really liked the amaranth crunch.

Neither one of us had tried amaranth before, but the description in the cookbook says it's earth and kind of grassy - and compares the texture of cooked amaranth to okra. Yuk! But this is toasted and it's delicious. It's about the size of mustard seeds. The amaranth crunch also calls for hulled pumpkin seeds, which we didn't think we'd ever seen in a store, but now we think they're labeled pepitas.

Larry also inadvertently discovered a shortcut in the recipe. As he added the two cups of uncooked pearl barley to the chili, he couldn't figure out how it was going to cook in only 5 minutes (described in the recipe). I had just gotten home from work, and when I looked at the recipe I noticed that it called for two cups of cooked barley. Whoops! No big deal, we added some homemade vegetable broth I had on hand so the extra barley had something to soak up. It only took 20 minutes for the barley to finish cooking. I loved whole grains.

• Barley & Turkey Chili with Jalapeño Sour Cream and Amaranth Crunch (Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way, p. 186)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

This chicken was really good, and fast to make. Another lemon dessert, these little cheesecake squares are good. Not outstanding, but good.

• Caribbean Chicken Stir-Fry with Mint (Hot Chicken, p. 54)
• Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Chipotle Chile (Fine Cooking #67, November 2004, p. 49)
• Lemon Cheesecake Squares (Fine Cooking #86, July 2007, p. 53

This sounded better than it tasted. I learned that I don't like chicken that's been browned in bacon fat. Odd, I thought everything was better with bacon. The chicken was okay, and the potatoes were fine, but I prefer my fingerlings roasted. These were boiled, then the instructions said to peel the potatoes. I don't think so. What a waste of time! Larry had requested peas. I'm not a fan of frozen peas, because I think they're mushy. But Larry liked these.

• Garlic-Roasted Chicken with Fingerling Potatoes and Bacon (Bon Appétit, November 2007)
• Peas with Pancetta (Bon Appétit, December 1997)

It's been cold, and I haven't made this hearty, yummy, healthy dish in a while. We used chicken pesto sausage - yum.

• White Bean and Sausage Ragout with Tomatoes, Kale and Zucchini (Cooking Light, January 2005)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

We spent Christmas with our neighbors Chris and Assana and Assana's boyfriend Dan. Assana, always a terrific hostess, made excellent appetizers, supplemented by Chris's signature clam dip. We snacked all afternoon and sipped hot cider with rum and hung out. We had an early dinner of chili and cornbread, and Chris brought a cheesy spinach dish. The chili was good as usual. I had cornbread issues but in the end it turned out okay. It needed to cook a little longer. And I don't know why, but I added crumbled bacon to the top. The recipe says to do this, but I never have because it sounds weird. But I did it anyway and it was okay.

I hadn't made this cheesecake for this audience before. It's always a hit. Chris said it's my best dessert. It's really rich but so good. The recipe is under the "Sheri's Recipes" link on the right.

We had packaged up our s'mores kits and handed them out at dinner. I think they turned out okay. The graham crackers are stacked on the bottom of the container.

• Chicken & White Bean Chili (Bon Appétit, October 2005)
• Corn Bread (The Bread Baker's Apprentice, p. 151)
• Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake (Sheri's recipe box)

I've become a huge fan of cooking with boneless, skinless chicken thighs. They're slightly more work than chicken breasts because there's more to trim, but they're much more moist, flavorful and forgiving. I expected tonight's dinner to be really good, but the chicken was kind of blah.

• Lemon-Garlic Chicken Thighs (Cooking Light, August 2002)
• Orzo with Lemon, Garlic, Parmigiano & Herbs (Fine Cooking #90, p. 44)
• Trader Joe's Spinach Salad

Larry made dinner for us tonight. He did most of the prep last night, and threw everything in the Crock Pot at lunchtime. We had a discussion about the chorizo. The recipe doesn't specify what kind of chorizo. He picked up chicken chorizo at Trader Joe's, which worked fine and is less greasy than standard Mexican chorizo. But I wondered if Spanish chorizo would work also - I think the spices would be really nice in this stew. The recipe calls for boneless, skinless chicken thighs, which are added whole to the mix but stay moist and kind of fall apart during the cooking.

• Spicy Slow-Cooker Chicken & Chorizo Stew (Cook's Illustrated Best Make-Ahead Recipes, p. 150)

Jay was over tonight for an early Thanksgiving, since we'll be in Italy over the holiday. I made the usual turkey I've been making for years. The Brussels sprouts were good, but I think we've had better.

• Butter-Rubbed, Cider-Glazed Roast Turkey (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 46)
• Poultry Dressing (Sheri's Recipe Box)
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Brown Butter and Lemon (Fine Cooking Web-Only Recipe
• Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes with Chives (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 61)

Excellent dinner tonight. It seems like whenever I try to slap something together at the last minute, it turns out really good. We both really loved these chicken thighs, and I plan on making them again soon. Larry is becoming a fan of chicken thighs - as long as they're boneless.

• Spicy Honey-Brushed Chicken Thighs (Cooking Light, March 2007)
• Garlicky Roasted Potatoes with Herbs (Cooking Light, December 2006)
• Butter Lettuce with Creamy Black Pepper Dressing (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 48)

Larry and I kept it simple for dinner tonight - this is a typical pre-race meal for us. I learned long ago that my tummy can't handle things like Mexican food the night before a race. Tomorrow is the second annual San Jose Rock & Roll Half Marathon.

• Grilled Chicken Breasts
• Orzo with Parmesan
• Roasted Green Beans with Lemon, Pine Nuts & Parmigiano (Fine Cooking #82, December 2006, p. 55)

Jay came over for dinner, and we all really liked the meal tonight. I love a good roasted chicken. Larry and Jay both really loved the gratin, which isn't creamy but has lots of layers of very thinly sliced potatoes (I used my v-slicer). The pound cake is one of the better cakes from Whole Grain Baking.

• Rosemary Split Chicken (Restaurant Favorites at Home: A Best Recipe Classic, p. 170)
• Potato, Thyme & Olive Oil Gratin (Fine Cooking #74, November 2005, p. 50)
• Garlicky Braised Kale with Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 49)
• Lemon Cornmeal Pound Cake (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 386)

Sunday Dinner was a little different this week, since our house is somewhat torn up from plaster repair and painting. We've got a kitchen, but the dining room and living room are awash in fumes, plastic and tape. So I made up a casserole, Larry prepared some garlic bread, and we gathered stuff to make a quick salad, then took everything over to Jay's house to eat.

• Polish Lasagna (Sheri's Recipe Box)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Butter Lettuce and Radiccio with Tomatoes & Lemon Poppyseed Dressing (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 48)

Wine: Ridge 2002 Teldeschi Ranch ZInfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Yummy wine.

We're experiencing our first rain of the season, so Cincinnati sounded perfect. Plus, our house is a bit torn up because we're having some plaster repair and painting done. Luckily they haven't done any major work in the kitchen yet so I can still cook (we just have nowhere to sit since the dining room and living room are both completely blanketed in plastic and tape).

• Snows Chili (alias Cincinnati Chili) (Hollyhocks & Radishes, p.104)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Larry made dinner for me tonight since I've had my head in a book, studying for a professional certification. I hinted that this sounded good (by leaving the cookbook open to the recipe!). And it was. I thought it might be odd, braising chicken in oil, but it was good and not greasy at all. The garlic and shallots were really good too.

• Chicken in Garlic & Shallots (I'm Just Here for the Food, p. 125)
• Smashed Potatoes
• Butter Lettuce and Radiccio with Tomatoes & Lemon Poppyseed Dressing (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 48)

Our neighbors Chris and Assana came over for a casual Labor Day dinner. We used the grill for the appetizer and chicken, and did the rest inside. The grilled crostini was pretty good. We liked the five-spice chicken thighs better, although these were also good, as was the corn saute. I don't usually like tiramisu, but I loved this dessert.

• Grilled Goat Cheese Crostini with a Tangle of Marinated Roasted Peppers (Fine Cooking #87, September 2007, p. 42)
• Grilled Rosemary Chicken Thighs with Sweet & Sour Orange Dipping Sauce (Fine Cooking #87, September 2007, p. 31)
• Corn & Mushroom Sauté with Leeks & Pancetta (Fine Cooking #87, September 2007, p. 37)
• Summer Wheatberry Salad (Fine Cooking #28, September 1998, p. 39)
• Fresh Berry Tiramisu (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 406)

Wine:
- Rafanelli 2001 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California)
- Gamba 2004 Estate Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). The favorite of the night.
- Valdez 2004 Rockpile Road Zinfandel (Rockpile Road, California). Delicious, but also big and boozy.

I was in the mood for something comforting, like chicken soup. This suited me perfectly, and I loved the spiciness for the ginger.

• Clay Pot Ginger Chicken (Food & Wine, March 2005)

Jay was here for dinner (Sunday night, of course). We all loved the chicken thighs - excellent flavor, easy to make, and very moist. We also liked this corn saute better than the last one. The mashed sweet potatoes were good, and the tomatoes came from the garden.

The chocolate stout cake was an experiment, since I made the Fine Cooking version a few months ago. I believe this one is the winner - Larry really loved it. This one was a little more difficult to put together, since it involved slicing a standard 9-inch cake round into two. It also made too much ganace, and frosting it was kind of messy. But it turned out great.

• Grilled Five-Spice Chicken Thighs with Soy-Vinegar Sauce & Cilantro (Fine Cooking #87, September 2007, p. 31)
• Corn Sauté with Ginger, Garilc & Fresh Cilantro (Fine Cooking #87, September 2007, p. 37)
• Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Marsala (Cooking Light, December 2000)
• Heirloom Tomato Salad with Fresh Mozzarella, Basil and Olive Oil
• Chocolate Stout Cake (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 422)

Wine: Rafanelli 2001 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Delicious. Rafanelli has been kind of hit-and-miss over the past few years, but this is drinking really nicely.

This chicken was pretty good, and we really liked the corn saute. Jay and Larry were happy to have grilled asparagus (even though I despise it). I hadn't made this tart in a while, and it's delicious. Love the mascarpone topping.

• Oven-Fried Chicken (Cooking Light, October 2006)
• Corn, Sweet Onion & Zucchini Sauté with Fresh Mint (Fine Cooking #87, September 2007, p. 36)
• Grilled Asparagus
• Butter Lettuce and Radiccio with Chives, Tomatoes & Lemon Poppyseed Dressing (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 48)
• Chocolate Truffle Tart with Whipped Vanilla Mascarpone Topping (Fine Cooking #68, Holiday Baking Winter 2005, p. 54)

Wine: Williams Selyem 2004 Feeney Vineyard Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). Pretty good, but I think Williams Selyem excels with their Pinots, not necessarily their Zins.

This chicken is good and so fast, but the tomato salsa was a bit acidic. Lots of potential, but next time I'll add the sherry vinegar a little at a time. I whipped up the biscuits first, and was able to make the chicken while they were baking. They're really good, light and fluffy and flavorful.

• Grilled Chicken Breasts with Sun-Dried & Fresh Tomato Salsa (Fine Cooking #65, July 2004, p. 86C)
• Parmesan-Pine Nut Biscuits (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 77)
• Trader Joe's Pear & Gorgonzola Salad

Wine: Bartholomew Park 2002 Estate Zinfandel (Sonoma County, California). A marginal Zin.

Jay, Edith and Ron joined us for Sunday dinner this week. We had a party to go to in the afternoon, so I made the pie and prepped everything in the morning. The menu was made up of things I make quite a bit, because I knew I'd be pressed for time.

The pie is really good. The filling isn't as firm as I'd like, but the crust is a buttery shortbread and really tasty, and the raspberries, blueberries and strawberries in the filling are delicious and very summery. It was also really simple to make - the filling was done in about 15 minutes.

Today also marks the four-year anniversary of Pork Cracklins, and incidentally, the 500th entry as well. That's a lot of cooking. And eating.

• Smoked Trout Rillettes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 44)
• Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Spinach & Goat Cheese (Fine Cooking #69, January 2005, p. 62)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Fennel & Red Onion with Arugula (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 48)
• Bumbleberry Pie (Fine Cooking #79, July 2006, p. 70)

Wine:
- Heritage Vineyard 2004 Zinfandel (Oakville, California). This is the wine that's sold at the annual ZAP festival. It's made by a different winemaker every year. The 2004 was made by Kent Rosenblum, and is really nice right now.
- Biale 2004 Aldo's Vineyard Zinfandel (Napa Valley, California). Big and hot. We decanted and it opened up a little, but it was still kind of tight.

We both liked this a lot, although the stuffing was a little too mushroom-y for me. But I liked the twist on roasting a butterflied chicken.

• Stuffed Roast Butterflied Chicken (America's Test Kitchen)
• Mushroom-Leek Bread Stuffing with Herbs (America's Test Kitchen)
• Sauteed Spinach with Garlic

Wine: Ridge 2000 Buchignani Ranch Carignane (California). This is kind of Zin-like, smoky and fruity. Yum.

I love Chinese chicken salad, and this is a good one. Larry and I both really liked it.

• Chinese Chicken Salad (Fine Cooking #86, July 2007, p. 59)

Another Sunday night dinner - tonight we used the grill for both the chicken and the salad. The chicken wasn't anything special. The effort making the brine and the spice rub was wasted, because it tasted just like grilled chicken. Good, but nothing special. I cut back on the salt in the brine since I was using a Kosher chicken.

Jay and I both liked the salad, which involved a quick grill of halved hearts of romaine. Larry wasn't so crazy about it, but he doesn't especially like blue cheese dressing, either. The beans were excellent, though. I used huge runner cannellini beans from Rancho Gordo, which took forever to cook but they were worth it.

• Beer-Brined Butterflied Chicken (Fine Cooking #79, July 2006, p. 55)
• Grilled Hearts of Romaine with Blue Cheese Dressing (Fine Cooking #73, September 2005, p. 58)
• White Beans with Garlic, Lemon & Parmesan (Fine Cooking #58, July 2003, p. 45)

Wine: Atelier 2004 Rockpile Zinfandel (Rockpile, California). Yum. I don't think I've ever had a bad wine from Rockpile.

I haven't made this easy mole in a while. It's really good. I cut back on the orange this time and I liked it better.

• Easy Puebla-Style Chicken Mole (Cooking Light, May 2005)
• Black Beans

These chicken breasts use the same technique as the ones I make that are stuffed with spinach and goat cheese. So far, I like the spinach and goat cheese version the best. These were good, but probably not something I'd make again.

• Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Chiles & Jack Cheese (Fine Cooking #69, January 2005, p. 62)
• Roasted Cauliflower
• Black Beans

I finally made the chicken salad that Amy loves. She's right - it's really good. I followed the recipe since it was the first time making it, but next time I'll just eyeball the amounts. I was unsure about the smoked almonds, but I chopped them up pretty good and it was a surprisingly good addition.

Larry is the sandwich maker - he lightly toasted whole grain bread and added avocado to the sandwiches. Yum.

• Rosemary Chicken Salad Sandwiches (Cooking Light, April 2005)

Jay was here for dinner tonight. This chicken was very easy to make and also very tasty. The brown sugar-cumin rub created a nice carmelized coating on the chicken, and the guacamole sauce complimented it well.

• Cumin-Dusted Chicken Breasts with Guacamole Sauce (Cooking Light, January 2007)
• Mixed Greens with Poppy Seed & Tarragon-Crème Fraîche Dressing (Fine Cooking #86, July 2007, p. 49)
• Creamy Parmesan Orzo (Cooking Light, March 2004)

Wine: Sapphire Hill 2002 Winberrie Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). One of Sapphire Hill's better wines. A good everyday Zin.

We had a light dinner tonight, just this yummy soup. About a half hour to make, it's got a little spice in the broth from Asian chile paste and crushed ginger. A full batch makes four servings, but split between the two of us it was just right for dinner.

• Ginger Chicken Soup (Fine Cooking #85, May 2007, p. 84a)

Ron and Jay came over for a spur-of-the-moment end of the week dinner. We delivered Ron's Rafanelli to him - he usually takes part of our allocation. I shopped at lunch so dinner was pretty quick to make. We loved this salad. I'm obsessed with butter lettuce.

• Goat Cheese Crackers with Hot Pepper Jelly (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 63)
• Chicken with Marsala, Mushrooms & Gorgonzola (Fine Cooking #63, March 2004, p. 43)
• Creamy Goat Cheese Polenta (Fine Cooking #57, May 2003, p. 86C)
• Butter Lettuce with Poppy Seed & Tarragon-Crème Fraîche Dressing (Fine Cooking #86, July 2007, p. 49)
• Bourbon-Chocolate Mousse (Fine Cooking #85, May 2007, Back Cover)

Wine:
- Gamba 2004 Estate Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). One of our favorites.
- Amphora 2003 Mounts Vineyard Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Delicious.

Jay and Jeff came for dinner last night. Dinner was good - I love this chicken. And the potatoes. The cake is super moist and kind of different because of the stout and the molasses. I'm eventually going to make a whole-grain version of this cake and see which one we like best. The recipe is also in Fine Cooking's Chocolate 2006 special issue.

The only issue I had with the cake is that my ganache broke. Yet again. Chocolate-to-cream ratio too high? I should have fixed it by whisking in some warm cream but I didn't.

• Goat Cheese Crackers with Hot Pepper Jelly (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 63)
• Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Spinach & Goat Cheese (Fine Cooking #69, January 2005, p. 62)
• Lemony Salt-Roasted Fingerling Potatoes (Food & Wine, October 2006)
• Hearts of Romaine with Caesar Dressing (The Best Recipe, p. 42)
• Chocolate Stout Cake (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking 2003, p. 46)

Wine:
- Sea Smoke 2004 Botella Pinot Noir (Santa Barbara County, California). Sadly, our last bottle of Botella. Absolutely wonderful, as usual.
- Gamba 2004 Moratta Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). This wine is settling down and is really delicious. The good news is we have several bottles left.

This was another test recipe. It was good, but I don't think I'd make it again. I didn't mind the mushroom-y stuffing because the mushrooms were chopped up. It wasn't really a stuffing since it was cooked separate from the turkey breast. At any rate, it's nice to have some leftover turkey breast for sandwiches.

The potatoes were good, but not as good as my usual stuffed baked potatoes. The recipe for the potatoes is also in FIne Cooking's Side Dish 2007 special issue.

• Turkey Breast with Mushroom Stuffing (Test Recipe)
• Twice-Baked Potatoes with Crème Fraîche & Chives (Fine Cooking 76, p. 46)

Wine: Rosenblum 2003 Lyon's Reserve Zinfandel (Napa Valley, California). Absolutely delicious.

Jay was here for dinner tonight instead of the usual Sunday since we have plans tomorrow night. We had a long-ish, very wet bike ride this morning followed by a visit with friends in the area, so we got home somewhat late. At 6pm I headed to Trader Joe's for a few things, and still had dinner ready by 7:30.

I made one change to the chicken recipe - I used sun-dried tomatoes in place of olives since Larry's not so crazy about olives. They both liked the whole meal. The whole grain pilaf from Trader Joe's wasn't bad either and was easy to make. The chicken recipe is also in Fine Cooking's 2004 Quick & Delicious special issue, and the carrots are also in Fine Cooking's 2006 Quick & Delicious special issue.

• Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Goat Cheese (Fine Cooking #26, May 1998, p. 90)
• Glazed Carrots & Shallots with Thyme (Fine Cooking #55, January 2003, p. 54)
• Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend

Wine: Williams Selyem 2002 Central Coast Pinot Noir (Central Coast, California). Yum.

Jay came over for dinner tonight - I wasn't planning on cooking until we realized it's Easter, and most restaurants are closed. So I did as little as possible, and ended up with a chili that Larry really loved and wants again.

We had plenty of cake left over from this morning, so we even had dessert after dinner.

• Chicken & White Bean Chili (Bon Appétit, October 2005)
• Napa Valley Pantry World's Best Cornbread
• Trader Joe's Spinach Salad
• Lemon-Raspberry Cake with Lemon Buttercream Frosting (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, pp. 375 & 430)

Wine: Carol Shelton 2003 Rocky Reserve Florence Vineyard Zinfandel (Rockpile, California). Good, not great. I'm a fan of Carol's wines (and of Carol).

This recipe is a test recipe. It was pretty easy to make, especially compared to the version I made last year from Fine Cooking. Not only was it easier to make, but I think it tasted better. Really tasty, and less butter and cream, too. I'll definitely make this again.

In my notes back to the magazine, though, there are a couple of things I'll mention: I made a half recipe of the chicken and sauce, but still needed a full recipe of the spice rub and yogurt coating for the chicken. The onions for the sauce needed to cook at a lower temperature, also.

We liked the cabbage okay. Good, but not make again good.

• Chicken Tikka Masala (Test Recipe)
• Curried Cabbage (Cooking Light, October 2002)
• Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Naan

Wine: Limerick Lane 2000 Collins Vineyard Syrah (Russian River Valley, California). A decent Syrah, kind of herbal.

Chris and Julie came for dinner tonight. I had everything prepped as much as possible last night, so it wasn't too bad putting together dinner after work. The smoked trout was especially good tonight. The meal consisted of reliable stand-bys, things I've made a million times so I don't need to think about it. Julie loved the potatoes, and Chris was crazy over the pot pies.

• Smoked Trout Rillettes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 44)
• Chicken Roulades Stuffed with Goat Cheese & Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 86C)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Fennel & Red Onion with Arugula (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 48)
• Chocolate-Raspberry Pot Pies (Just a Bite, p. 228)

Wine: We opened several bottles of Zinfandel, since we're all Zin lovers:
- Rockpile Ridge 2002 Rockpile Ridge Vineyard Zinfandel (Rockpile, California). One of the best Zins I've ever tasted. Perfect balance, lots of fruit, but not a huge fruit bomb.
- Valdez 2004 Rockpile Road Vineyard Zinfandel (Rockpile, California). We opened this second wine without even thinking it was another Rockpile. This wine is still a bit hot and closed, even though we decanted it. We bought a case so we'll continue to wait and drink. Still good, though.
- A. Rafanelli 2000 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). One of the better Rafanelli vintages. A bit earthy, but still with bright fruit, kind of mellow.

Jay was here for dinner tonight. Yet another night of good recipes from Cooking Light. I cancelled my subscription, but I've been searching for recipes that have high ratings and it's been working so far. Larry loved the orzo. I wasn't crazy about the green beans tonight - not roasted enough.

• Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Cooking Light, March 2004)
• Creamy Parmesan Orzo (Cooking Light, March 2004)
• Roasted Green Beans with Lemon, Pine Nuts & Parmigano (Fine Cooking # 82, December 2006, p. 55)

This mole got a good review on a cooking forum I was on - one I can't remember anymore, but since I love mole I thought I'd give it a try. Larry and I both liked it. It's not as good as traditional mole, but for a reduced calorie/fat recipe that comes together quickly, it's a keeper. I think next time I'll add a bit less orange rind. I wasn't that crazy about the black beans.

Easy Puebla-Style Chicken Mole

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup thinly sliced onion
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 stemmed dried seeded ancho chiles, torn into 2-inch pieces (about 1/4 cup)
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 1/3 cups coarsely chopped tomato (about 1 medium)
1/4 cup golden raisins
3 tablespoons sliced almonds, toasted
3 (1/2 x 2-inch) orange rind strips
3/4 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
3/4 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs
1/2 ounce unsweetened chocolate
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook 5 minutes or until almost tender. Combine cumin, coriander, and cinnamon in a small bowl; sprinkle over onion in pan. Cook 1 minute. Add chiles and garlic to pan; cook 2 minutes or until chiles soften. Add broth and next 4 ingredients (through rind) to pan; bring to a boil. Add chicken to pan; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove chicken from pan; shred with 2 forks. Set aside.

Add chocolate to chile mixture; let stand until chocolate melts. Using an immersion blender in pan, puree the chocolate mixture until smooth. Cook over medium heat 20 minutes or until reduced to 3 1/2 cups. Add shredded chicken to sauce; stir in salt and pepper.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: about 1 cup chicken mixture)

CALORIES 211 (29% from fat); FAT 6.8g (sat 0.0g,mono 0.0g,poly 0.0g); PROTEIN 27.2g; CHOLESTEROL 80mg; CALCIUM 50mg; SODIUM 380mg; FIBER 2.5g; IRON 2.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 10.5g

• Easy Puebla-Style Chicken Mole (Cooking Light, May 2005)
• Spicy Black Beans (Cooking Light, January 1998)
• Whole Wheat Tortillas

Sunday night, so Jay was here for dinner. The chicken was good, but just your regular everyday roasted chicken. Nothing exceptional. I love butterflied roast chicken. We all loved the potato salad, and the escarole was pretty good too (both can be found in Fine Cooking's Side Dish 2007 special issue).

• Yogurt-Marinated Butterflied Chicken (Fine Cooking #79, July 2006, p. 53)
• Braised Escarole with a Parmesan Crust (Fine Cooking #18, January 1997, p. 43)
• Roasted New Potato Salad with Dijon & Rosemary (Fine Cooking #15, July 1996, p. 40)

Wine: David Bruce 2004 Pinot Noir (Central Coast, California). Good, as are most David Bruce Pinots. I've really been drawn to Pinot lately.

Scott is in town for a few days, so I picked something relatively easy I could make after work for dinner. It's probably a lot easier to just make this the day before. Again, I shredded the meat off the thighs because it just seems weird to serve entire thighs in this dish. The recipe is also in the cookbook Cooking New American.

I made packaged cornbread, and it was by far the best packaged cornbread we've had.

• Southwestern Spiced Chicken & Black Bean Stew (Fine Cooking #56, March 2003, p. 38)
• Napa Valley Pantry Worlds Best Cornbread Mix

Again, Larry to the rescue since I was at work again today. He picked the menu, did the shopping, prepped and made the guacamole and beans so dinner was just about ready when I got home. I love chilaquiles. This is so easy to make once everything is prepped.

Larry picked out this recipe. He did most of the prep for the whole meal, since I had to go into work. We loved the chicken. The snap peas were just okay, but the sauteed veggies were really good. The chicken recipe is also in the Fine Cooking's 2003 Quick & Delicious special issue and Cooking New American. The recipes for both vegetable dishes are both also in Fine Cooking's 2006 Fresh special issue.

This was a somewhat quick dinner - the chicken needed to marinate for at least an hour, but other than that it was easy to make and really tasty. The recipe is also in Fine Cooking's 101 Deliciuous Chicken Recipes special issue.

Jay was here for dinner tonight, even though it's not Sunday. We thought we'd share the first meal on our new dining room table with him. The chicken breasts were good, although I ended up with way too many breadcrumbs.

I'm experimenting with ways to cook sweet potatoes in the oven that will result in a crispy-ish exterior and a creamy interior. These were good (cut into thin rounds instead of wedges), but the oven heat wasn't high enough. After I turned up the heat, some got a little too crispy. My next experiment will be with wedges in a generous amount of oil in a cast iron pan.

I loved the kale this way. Who would have thought that kale would be delicious raw. Only change I'll make next time is to go easy on the cheese. I bought Greek dry ricotta instead of Italian ricotta salata - I don't know if the Greek version is saltier than the Italian version, but it made the salad a bit on the salty side.

Just me for dinner tonight, but I was craving this dish. With garlic bread, of course. I'm posting the recipe here since I keep having to look it up on Cooking Light every time I make it.

White Bean and Sausage Ragout with Tomatoes, Kale, and Zucchini

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 (4-ounce) links chicken sausage, cut into (1/2-inch) slices
1 zucchini, quartered and cut into (1/2-inch) slices (about 2 cups)
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
6 cups chopped trimmed kale (about 1/2 pound)
1/2 cup water
2 (16-ounce) cans cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté onion and sausage 4 minutes or until sausage is browned. Add zucchini and garlic; cook 2 minutes. Add kale and remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve immediately.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 3/4 cups)

• White Bean and Sausage Ragout with Tomatoes, Kale and Zucchini (Cooking Light, January 2005)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Jay came for our weekly Sunday dinner tonight. I've been wanting to make this dish ever since Julia made it and called it "heaven". I didn't have anchovies, but my trusty tube of anchovy paste saved the day.

I thought the chicken was really tasty. Jay and Larry liked it too. I wasn't sure about the cauliflower, but it turned out good - I even had seconds. I liked how the florets were sliced.

This chicken was good, but not so good that I'll want to make it again. The chicken itself was very good, but the sauce was a little odd. There were all sorts of goodies left in the pan when I took it out of the pan, so I made a quick pan sauce and I think Larry and I both liked that better. The salad was good, too, but again, I probably wouldn't make it again.

One thing we did love about the chicken breasts was that they were perfectly cooked. I only used a small amount of oil in the pan and cooked them on high heat to brown them, then I turned the heat down and covered the pan and let them finish cooking.

• Pan-Fried Chicken with Asian-Cajun Sauce (Hot Chicken, p. 55)
• Fennel Salad with Mango-Walnut Herb Dressing (Hot Vegetables, p. 52)
• Roasted Baby Beets

Larry wanted a turkey breast for Christmas dinner this year, so we made a pretty simple meal. Trader Joe's was out of the usual Kosher turkey breasts, so we ended up with a Deistel from Whole Foods. It was good, very moist - but definitely not as good as the Kosher turkey we usually get.

• Roasted Turkey Breast
• Roasted Califlower
• Trader Joe's Spinach Salad
• Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes with Chives (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 61)

Wine: Gamba 2003 Moratta Vineyard Zinfandel (Russian River, California). Last bottle of this purple fruit bomb (this vintage). So delicious.

I picked Cincinnati chili for tonight, because I had all the ingredients already and didn't feel like going to the store. Excellent as usual.

The shortbread is really tasty. I'm still working on using up all the Meyer lemons we got from our neighbor's tree. Larry says he likes this shortbread better than the Scottish version. I like the cornmeal crunch. Very buttery. We gave some to Bea and Jim. This recipe is also in Fine Cooking's Weekend Cooking 2006 special issue.

• Snows Chili (alias Cincinnati Chili) (Hollyhocks & Radishes, Bonnie Stewart Mickelson, p.104)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Lemon-Cornmeal Shortbread Bars (Fine Cooking #68, Holiday Baking 2004, p. 64)

Wine: Nalle 2002 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). I'm not sure where we got this wine - maybe on one of our trips to the Sonoma Valley? It's an okay Zin. Kind of light without the oomph! I like so much in Zins.

I picked this out only because I happened to have this issue of Fine Cooking sitting out. I've suffered from an icky cold all week, and by the time I finished cooking I just wanted to go to bed. So Jay and Larry got to enjoy this meal without me. They said it was good - especially the ragout and the salad.

• Chicken & Shrimp Ragout with Curry Spices (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 63)
• Toasted Almond Rice (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 63)
• Spinach & Cucumber Salad with Yogurt-Mint Dressing (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 63)

For dinner tonight, I made Jay and Larry one of my favorite foods - fried chicken. It's coated in buttermilk and flour first so it formed a nice, crispy coating. The cucumber salad was also really good - the dressing also had buttermilk so it paired well with the chicken.

The potatoes had so much potential, but I was disappointed. They were good (besides needing more salt), but I like Potatoes Fondantes better. I threw the cake together quickly while I was putting the rest of the dinner together - Larry cooked the chicken for me so I could finish it up. It's really good. Very light. Larry says it's a definite do-again.

• Buttermilk Country Fried Chicken with Cucumber Salad (Fine Cooking #83, January 2007, p. 82a)
• Crispy Smashed Roasted Potatoes (Fine Cooking #83, January 2007, p. 45)
• Velvety Cocoa Cake (Gale Gand's Short and Sweet, p. 61)

Wine: Grey Wolf 2003 Zinfandel the Jackal (Paso Robles, California). We have three bottles of this wine, picked up when we worked the Paso Robles Zinfandel festival last year. It got better after it opened up - very fruity.

Larry picked this recipe out of an old Fine Cooking he was looking at - it was pretty easy to make, and just needed time to cook so the beans could soften up and the flavors could meld. The chili was a little spicy for me, but still good. I threw together some packaged cornbread - Marie Callendar's organic, so it was without trans fats.

• Chicken & Pinto Bean Chili (Fine Cooking #29, November 1998, p. 40)
• Marie Callendar Cornbread

Wine: Rosenblum 2000 Holbrook Mitchell Trio (Napa Velley, California). This is a blend wine, a mix of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot. Pretty tasty - rich and heavyweight. It wasn't really our choice for dinner, but we were going through old bottles tonight, tossing out bottles gone bad, and this one ended up being good, so it's what we drank.

Fiyaz came for Thanksgiving dinner, and Jay showed up just in time for dessert. It was a nice, relaxed Thanksgiving meal. Larry had asked for a stuffed turkey breast instead of a whole turkey, and he wanted apple pie instead of pumpkin pie. Everything was good - especially the squash soup. I love the croutons. My potatoes were a little thin for some reason, but they worked out okay after they were baked. We did the goat cheese crackers again, this time on Carr's whole wheat crackers, and they were much better.

• Winter Squash Soup with Gruyere Croutons (Bon Apetit, December 1996)
• Goat Cheese Crackers with Hot Pepper Jelly (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 63)
• Dried Apricot & Date Stuffed Turkey Breast with Marsala Glaze (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 49)
• Potatoes Mousseline (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 41)
• Spinach & Basil Salad with Tomatoes, Candied Walnuts & Warm Bacon Dressing (Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 55)
• Apple Pie Covered with Leaves (Fine Cooking #54, Winter 2003 Holiday Baking Issue, p. 43)

Wine:
- Ramazzotti 2005 Zin-Giovese Rose (Dry Creek Valley, California)
- Inniskillin 2003 Sparkling Ice Wine (Niagra Peninsula, Canada). Fiyaz brought this wine for dessert - and it was very tasty.

This made a quick and yummy weeknight meal. I used whole wheat pasta. Yet another excellent quick meal from this issue of Fine Cooking.

• Chicken "Stroganoff" with Mushrooms, Sherry & Sage (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 98c)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Jay was here for dinner, and I made Indian food for him and Larry. I don't make Indian food very much, and when I do, it's not really traditional Indian food - more like simple curries. I wanted to bake this weekend, so I figured I'd get my baking fix by making naan.

The chicken was good. Not super fantastic, must have again, but good. It was kind of a lot of work, and so much butter and cream. Which I usually don't shy away from, but it was really A LOT of butter and cream. I might make the chicken tikka on its own again, though.

The naan. Oh, boy, was I over-ambitious about making naan. It wasn't easy to make at all. The dough wasn't easy to handle. I wanted it smooth but not too dry, and I tried not to handle it too much, but it was difficult. My first two came out very mis-shapen (I cooked them in the oven on a pizza stone). I got the hang of it after that, and the rest came out beautifully... but I live in an area with a huge Indian population. No reason not to buy naan - and it's better than what I could make, too.

• Chicken Tikka Masala (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 70)
• Homestyle Indian Naan (Fine Cooking #47, November 2001, p. 47)
• Mixed Greens with Balsamic-Olive Oil Vinaigrette
• Double Ginger Pound Cake with Brown Sugar Mascarpone Whipped Cream (Fine Cooking #82, December 2006, p. 64)

Wine: Cinnabar 2003 Mercury Rising (California). This is a Bordeaux-type blend from a local Santa Cruz Mountains producer, and oh man is it good. We finished the whole bottle.

Tonight I was in the mood for one of my favorite types of meals - American comfort food. Roast chicken, salty potatoes, and a yummy roasted veggie. I couldn't decide what to do with the chicken. I knew I wanted to butterfly it and roast it, but I couldn't decide on flavorings. I finally settled on a modified recipe from Good Eats (I roasted the chicken instead of broiling it).

The potatoes were really excellent. And easy to make. Salty, not as much lemon as I expected. Larry loved them. The butternut squash was good too.

• Roasted Butterflied Chicken (Good Eats, A Bird in the Pan)
• Roasted Rosemary Butternut Squash & Shallots (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 57)
• Lemony Salt-Roasted Fingerling Potatoes (Food & Wine, October 2006)

Wine: Peterson 2001 Bernier Vineyard Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, CA). A nice, reasonably priced Zin from a small producer.

Jay came for dinner tonight. It was a Thanksgiving-themed dinner, and it was really tasty. The stuffing for the turkey was really tasty - not a typical bread-based stuffing. I used pecans instead of hazlenuts because Larry and I don't like hazlenuts. This was a really good dinner overall. I realized when I was making the pan sauce for the turkey I realized I only had dry marsala - not sweet. I used madiera instead.

• Dried Apricot & Date Stuffed Turkey Breast with Marsala Glaze (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 49)
• Honeyed Cauliflower with Toasted Almonds (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 10)
• Baked Sweet Potatoes with Maple-Pecan-Shallot Butter (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 24)

Wine: Ridge 2002 Lytton Estate Grenache (Dry Creek Valley, California). Really yummy, and a good match for the turkey.

Jay was here for dinner - I wanted to do something quick and hearty, and this easy stew fit the bill. I used turkey sausage, and it was really excellent. Definitely a make-again.

• Spicy Sausage, Escarole & White Bean Stew (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 98c)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Wine: Bonny Doon 2002 Cardinal Zin (California). Pretty tasty. A typical California old-vine Zin.

Jay came for dinner tonight. The chicken and green beans were a big hit. The potatoes were good, and the icebox cake was fantastic. Kind of like a cold, rich cheesecake.

• Chicken with Lemon Rosemary Balsamic Mustard Marinade (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 51)
• Green Beans & Radiccio with Shaved Parmesan (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 47)
• Gratineed Red Potatoes with Chives (Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 52)
• Ginger-Mascarpone Icebox Cake (Fine Cooking #33, July 1999, p. 53)

Wine: Ridge 2000 Buchignani Ranch Carignane (California). Tasty wine. Kind of complex with some fruit and integrated tannins.

This was the last of the three recipes in this Fine Cooking article on spice-rubbed meats with complementary salsa. As with the previous two dishes, this chicken was really good. We had freshly-picked heirloom tomatoes from our friend Steve, so there was nothing to do with them but cut them up and add salt and pepper. So good.

• Spice-rubbed Chicken with Fresh Pineapple Salsa (Fine Cooking #79, July 2006, p. 42)
• Oven-Roasted Sweet Potato Fries
• Tomato Salad

  Wine: 2006 Monkey Bay Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough, New Zealand). The first time I had this wine was in Austin with Amy. This is a really nice wine.

I really thought this chicken would be tasty. I like pomegranate. And honey is always a nice addition to a glaze. But I really didn't like the final flavor at all. Neither did Jay. Larry liked it, though. We all loved the farro salad. This was my first time using farro, and I think it's one of my favorite grains. It's flavorful and kind of chewy - a nice texture.

• Honey-Pomegranate Roasted Chicken Thighs (Cooking Light, December 2004)
• Farro Salad with Corn and Tomatoes (Cooking Live, Foods Of the World: Global Grains)

Wine: Gamba 2003 Moratta Vineyard Zinfandel (Russian River, California). We've been hoarding this, but now that we have a few bottles of the latest release, we can drink it more freely. This is one of my favorite Zins, but it's big. A big fat cherry bomb.

I wasn't sure how this dish was going to turn out after I tasted the wine butter. Kind of weird tasting. I never, ever cook with a wine that I wouldn't drink, but I think for this dish the wine needs to be really good because it's boiled down to a syrup for the butter. The wine butter is used to baste the halibut, to coat the potatoes, and then drizzled over the entire dish (which includes the halibut, red potatoes and sauteed greens). It all came together in the end and was really good. We had a beautiful piece of halibut and I really liked it cooked this way.

• Pan-Roasted Halibut with Red Wine Butter and Red Potatoes (Wildwood, p. 34)
• Roasted Cauliflower

Wine: Prahova 1999 Pinot Noir (Romania). This wine was a gift from someone we know who's Romanian - it was drinkable, but I wasn't that crazy about it. A bit flat.

Jay was here for dinner tonight. I wanted something like fried chicken and potato salad for dinner, so this was my take on it. I love this chicken. So simple. And the potato salad was really good. Jay and Larry loved the zucchini. Both the salad and the zucchini are also in Cooking Fresh 2005, and the chicken is in Fine Cooking 101 Delicious Chicken Recipes.

• Chicken Under a Brick (Fine Cooking #36, December 1999, p. 35)
• Creamy Potato Salad with Radishes, Lemon & Dill (Fine Cooking #52, September 2002, p. 45)
• Sauteed Zucchini with Sun-Dried Tomatoes & Basil (Fine Cooking #65, July 2004, p. 49)

Wine: Martin Family Vineyards 2002 Red Rooster Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Pretty good.

Jay came for dinner tonight. This is one of my favorite types of dinner - very homey. The chicken was good - nothing special, just chicken. Flavorful, moist, but not something that blew us away. The bread salad was a big hit (I absolutely love bread salad), as were the tarts. The tarts are very summery and can be made mostly ahead of time.

• Butterflied Chicken Dijon Grilled on a Bed of Thyme (Fine Cooking #79, July 2006, p. 54)
• Bread Salad with Corn, Cherry Tomatoes & Basil (Fine Cooking #52, September 2002, p. 43)
• Grilled Asparagus
• Mixed Berry Tarts with Lemony Filling (Fine Cooking #79, July 2006, p. 69)

Wine: Sapphire Hill 2001 Tom Feeny Ranch Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). A decent, everyday Zin.

Our friend Mic is in town from Denmark, so we squeezed in some time for a visit between my trip to Austin and his flight out of the area. I needed to make something easy and quick since I got back late last night and spent the day working. We arranged to have dinner on the late side, so that helps, but really, this menu is ideal for weeknight company.

• Smoked Trout Rillettes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 44)
• Chicken with Marsala, Mushrooms & Gorgonzola (Fine Cooking #63, March 2004, p. 43)
• Creamy Goat Cheese Polenta (Fine Cooking #57, May 2003, p. 86C)
• Sautéed Spinach with Garlic
• Fastest Fudge Cake (Fine Cooking #61, December 2003, P. 18e)

Wine:

This dish had been on both Amy's and my to-do dish, so it made sense to make it together. We had a lovely bike ride with Shayla, then all had dinner together. Prep was simple for the chicken, and the cucumber salad was quick too. We picked up fresh cucumbers at the farmer's market and fresh dill at Boggy Creek Farm for the salad, which was part of the same Hungarian menu article as the chicken. We also got the potatoes at Boggy Creek Farm - in fact, as we were selecting potatoes, one of the farm employees was brining in more potatoes that had just been dug up. Very, very fresh. We all loved the salad and the potatoes. The chicken was good, probably not a make-again.

• Chicken Paprikas (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 34)
• Cucumber Salad (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 35)
• Gratineed Red Potatoes with Chives (Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 52)

Wine: Seghesio 2003 Zinfandel (Sonoma County, California). Gary picked this wine up on Amy's birthday - it's a nice, inexpensive Zin. Tasty, too.

Happy birthday, Amy! For Amy's birthday we made a simple but really delicious chicken dish, and we ate way too many gougeres, which were light and airy and really easy to make. We also made another bread from No Need to Knead - Rosemary focaccia, which is quite simple to make.

• Gougeres (House & Garden, July 1960)
• Chicken with Mustard Cream on Watercress (Bon Appétit, June 1999)
• Rosemary Focaccia (No Need to Knead, p. 40)

Wine: David Bruce 2003 Truchard Vineyard Pinot Noir (Carneros, California). A good Pinot from one of my favorite local Pinot producers.

I think Larry liked this dish better than I did - probably because I'm just so-so on Italian sausage. I used hot italian Turkey sausage to lighten it up. The recipe is from the cookbook "Come for Dinner: Memorable Meals to Share with Friends" by Leslie Revsin. I don't have the cookbook. I got the recipe via "Best of the Best", which was given to me as a gift last year. This is the first time I've cooked from it, although it looks like a good cookbook.

The vanilla pudding was good. I think I probably prefer chocolate, but Larry loves vanilla desserts.

• Orzo "Risotto" with Roasted Tomatoes and Hot Sausage (Best of the Best Vol. 7, p. 98)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Individual Vanilla Puddings (Fine Cooking #71, May 2005, p. 68)

Wine: David Bruce 1999 Ranchita Canyon Sangiovese (Paso Robles, California). Yum.

The plan for tonight's dinner started with a plan to make the Potatoes Boulangére. Larry saw the recipe in an issue of Fine Cooking that I had laying out, and we both wondered why I had never made them before. The dish is similar to a potato gratin, but without the cheese and cream. It was excellent. In fact, the whole meal was yummy, although Larry was just so-so on the salad.

• Garlic Chicken with A Crunchy Chip-Basil Crust (Fine Cooking #25, March 1998, p. 37)
• Potatoes Boulangére (Fine Cooking #63, March 2004, p. 49)
• Tri-Color Salad of Belgian Endive, Arugula & Radicchio with Shaved Parmesan (Fine Cooking Fresh 2006, p. 38)

Wine: Sapphire Hill 2001 Winberrie Vineyard Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). When we both tried this wine, we both said "wow!". Usually Sapphire Hill wines are nice, everyday-type of wines. This is a big fruit bomb with a bit of residual sugar.

After a week on the road, I was ready for a home-cooked meal. This chicken was quick and easy and perfect with roasted cauliflower. Larry really liked the curry and the peas.

• Chicken with Potatoes, Peas & Coconut-Curry Sauce (Fine Cooking #63, March 2004, p. 43)
• Roasted Cauliflower

Wine: Adeladia 2000 Syrah (Paso Robles, California). Surprisingly good with the moderately spicy chicken. A good wine.

Jay came over for dinner again tonight (this is our standing Sunday night dinner). I had planned this chicken for a couple of weeks ago but never made it because it required an overnight marinade.

- The chicken recipe is also in Fine Cooking's 101 Delicious Chicken Recipes special issue. I'm such a sucker for special issues. Anyway, it was really, really good. Larry says it's a definite do-again. It's virtually no work for dinner, too - almost everything is done the day before.
- Pan fried potatoes - how can they not be good? I like them just like this, fairly unadulterated. I don't really like them as much when you start adding things like onions and peppers.
- Larry said he kind of liked tonight's salad better than last night's. They were both good.
- The souffle cakes were good, not super fantastic. I'm not a big fan of white chocolate. If I make them again, I'll do dark chocolate soufflé cakes with the chocolate-raspberry sauce. I was going to do that tonight but it will take some advance planning to do it.

• Lemony Balsamic-Mustard Marinated Roast Chicken with Rosemary & Garlic (Fine Cooking #62 January 2004, p. 50)
• Pan-Fried Red Potatoes with Pancetta & Rosemary (Fine Cooking #71, May 2005, p. 10)
• Forty Shades of Green Salad (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 53)
• White Chocolate Soufflé Cakes with Raspberry-Chocolate Sauce (Fine Cooking #68, Holiday Baking Winter 2005, p. 69)

Wine: Steven Bannus 2003 Pinot Noir (Central Coast, California). This is a very inexpensive wine that Jay picked up - pretty good for the price. Very fruity and a nice, jammy nose.

• Smoked Trout Rillettes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 44)
• Chicken with Marsala, Mushrooms & Gorgonzola (Fine Cooking #63, March 2004, p. 43)
• Creamy Goat Cheese Polenta (Fine Cooking #57, May 2003, p. 86C)
• Sautéed Spinach with Garlic

Larry picked this recipe out of one of the latest issues of Fine Cooking - I thought it sounded wonderful, and as I was tossing the chicken thighs in the marinade I became convinced that it was going to be super tasty.

I was wrong. It was good, but nothing fantastic. The veggies were a little plain-tasting - I used turnips, not parsnips, for some unknown reason and that may have been part of the problem.

The cake, on the other hand, was super yummy and super easy to make. I could have eaten the whole thing in one sitting.

• Burnished Chicken Thighs with Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Parsnips & Shallots (Fine Cooking #77, March 2006, p. 38)
• Fastest Fudge Cake (Fine Cooking #61, December 2003, P. 18e)

Wine: David Coffarro 2002 Block 4 (Dry Creek Valley, California). Usually Coffarro wines don't age very well. But this one was so good, we drank the entire bottle. Especially yummy with the cake.

I haven't made Cincinnati Chili in a long time, so Katie and I stopped in at the grocery store for ingredients today (she decided to make it too).

Cincinnati chili is not spicy hot - it has a bit of cayenne and chili powder, but it also has more delicate spices such as allspice, cloves and cinnamon. And chocolate. It's served over spaghetti with onions, cheddar cheese and oyster crackers on top. I usually use ground turkey in place of beef, and serve it over whole wheat spaghetti.

• Snows Chili (alias Cincinnati Chili) (Hollyhocks & Radishes, Bonnie Stewart Mickelson, p.104)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Wine: Crane Canyone 2001 Elsbree Vineyard Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). Just so-so.

I've been craving this, probably since I hadn't made it for almost a year. It's so good, and so easy. Both Larry and Jay loved it.

This was the third time I've made this chocolate cake, and it was an utter failure. Okay, not utter, because we ended up eating it anyway, without the ganache or glaze. For details, see Kitchen F-Ups.

• White Bean and Sausage Ragout with Tomatoes, Kale and Zucchini (Cooking Light, January 2005)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Chocolate-Amaretto Heart

Wine: Rosenblum 2000 Cullinane Vineyard Zinfandel (Sonoma County, California). So good, we drank the whole bottle. Especially good with the chocolate cake.

Anything with the title "creamy tomato" always gets my attention. I gave Jay a choice between two dishes I was making tonight, and he picked this one. Great choice. A little involved to make, but nothing overly difficult. I used mostly thighs and a couple of legs. It was really delicious.

Sometimes I have a really bad cooking night, where nothing seems to go right. Tonight was the opposite - everything just worked and dinner was on the table two hours after I started. The side dishes were both really good, and I even had time to throw together a dessert while the chicken was cooking.

• Creamy Tomato & Fennel Chicken (The Best of Fine Cooking, 101 Delicious Chicken Recipes, Winter 2006, p. 62)
• Sweet Potato & Parsnip Purée (Gourmet, January 2001)
• Roasted Medley of Winter Roots (Fine Cooking #48, January 2002, p. 56)
• Apple-Blueberry Fruit Crisp with Crunch Crisp Topping (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p, 52)

Wine:
- David Bruce 2001 Truchard Vineyard Pinot Noir (Carneros, California). So good that we went through most of the bottle before I even served dinner. This is exactly my style of Pinot Noir - complex, juicy, luscious. Yum.
- Sonnet 2003 York Mountain Kruse Vineyard Pinot Noir (York Mountain, California). Also really good. A bit lighter than the Bruce, and less complex. Very drinkable.

As usual, I was looking for something quick to make for a good after-work meal. My usual requirement for after-work meals is that all ingredients have to be available at Trader Joe's, and it has to come together in less than an hour. This meal fit the bill, and it was really good (despite the mushrooms - I just picked around them). Even Larry liked it, and he's usually not crazy about gorgonzola.

Amy and I made the tarragon chicken from this article once when she was visiting. Even though I like tarragon quite a bit, I think this dish has more flavor.

This polenta is becoming a real favorite, despite its flagrant use of cream and whole milk and cheese.

• Chicken with Marsala, Mushrooms & Gorgonzola (Fine Cooking #63, March 2004, p. 43)
• Creamy Goat Cheese Polenta (Fine Cooking #57, May 2003, p. 86C)
• Sautéed Spinach with Garlic

Wine: Eric Ross 2001 Occidental Vineyard Old Vine Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). A good value Zin - under $20, I think, and drinking very nicely. An everyday type of wine.

It's Sunday, so Jay was here for dinner tonight as always. I made these chicken breast because I'm a copycat, and I thought they sounded good when Amy made them. I've been craving (more than usual) homey-type comfort food.

- The chicken is good, but I think the Fine Cooking method gives better flavor with less work. The potatoes and gratin were both tasty, but I thought the gratin was a bit rich. I used dino kale for the greens, and parmesan cheese.
- I was a bit unsure about this pie. But the reviews on Epicurious were really good, and it sounded different. It was pretty easy to make, and Larry and Jay both loved it. It has a bit of everything that's good about pies - flaky crust, fruit, yummy custard and streusel topping.

• "Brick-Roasted" Chicken Breasts (Everyday Dining with Wine, p. 197)
• Pan-Fried Yukon Gold Potatoes with Paprika (Fine Cooking #77, March 2006, p. 17)
• Creamy Winter Greens Gratin (Fine Cooking #77, March 2006, p. 41)
• Sour Cream Apple Pie (Gourmet, October 2004)

Wine: Rafanelli 1999 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). We only have one bottle left of this, but if I'm going to drink wine right now it has to be really good. This particular vintage is excellent. Not only that, but it's listed as a suggested wine with the chicken recipe.

After over a month of not cooking (and three weeks eating Mexican and Belizian food), it's finally time to get back into the kitchen. When I'm looking for something really tasty but quick to make, I almost always turn to Fine Cooking. The chicken is easy and fast to make, and the polenta is even faster.

I had picked up some quick-cooking polenta a couple of months ago, specifically for a night like tonight. This polenta is really yummy - I'm sure the copious amounts of cream and whole milk have something to do with that. Larry and I both loved it. The quick cooking polenta is creamy and has a finer texture than normal polenta. The chicken recipe is also in Find Cooking's new 101 Quick & Delicious Chicken Recipes special issue. I'm such a sucker for special issues.

• Chicken Breasts with Parmesan-Herb Stuffing (Fine Cooking #45, July 2001, p. 60)
• Creamy Goat Cheese Polenta (Fine Cooking #57, May 2003, p. 86C)

Jay and Ginger were here for dinner tonight. Overall a really yummy dinner.

- The chicken breasts were good, but I wasn't especially fond of a meat stuffing. I'd prefer just cheese and herbs or something like that.
- This orzo was a big, big hit. I crisped some pancetta and fried some sage leaves while I was making it, then added those at the end. Good addition.
- The apples were extremely easy to make. Ginger made the filling while I prepped the apples. They took about ten minutes to make. I used Mutsu apples, my favorite for baking.

• Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Prosciutto & Fontina (Fine Cooking #69, January 2005, p. 63)
• Butternut Squash and Sage Orzo (Bon Apétit, March 1998)
• Delicata Squash Rings (Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, p. 440)
• Baker, Baker (Good Eats, Apple Family Values!)

Wine: Koves-Newlan 2000 Zinfandel (Napa Valley, California). Yummy but not memorable Zin. Larry and I won this in a contest (AmaZIN Race).

Larry requested soup for dinner. His only criteria was that he wanted turkey soup. My criteria was that it had to be something that I could make without a trip to the store. I make one substitution - shallots instead of leeks, but otherwise I had everything on hand. I used canned low sodium chicken broth since I'm out of homemade chicken broth and I didn't make turkey stock.

At any rate, it still turned out very nice. Refreshing, homey and tasty. I love the ginger and lemon in this soup. And it was ultra-simple - took me about a half hour to make, start to finish. I served it with the non-rising rolls from yesterday, which in the end turned out very nice. Larry really loved them.

• Turkey Soup with Ginger, Lemon and Mint (Fine Cooking #60, November 2003, p. 69)
• Herbed Dinner Rolls (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking 2004, p. 72)

Wine: Lava Cap 2000 Reserve Zinfandel (Amador County, California). This was my making-dinner wine. Not bad.

It was just Larry and I for Thanksgiving this year. It's nice to have a crowd of people to feed, but I kind of enjoyed the relaxed pace of cooking. I didn't need to be done at any particular time, and I didn't have to stress about things like forgetting to make the spinach (whoops!).

- I modified the turkey this year, and tried a dry brine - basically just like the Zuni Roast Chicken. I wasn't especially impressed. Once again, brined turkey takes the prize. Next year I'm back to a traditional brine.
- I used a different brand of cider this year, and bleh! It was too sweet. I didn't like the color, either - it turned my pan juices a bit grey. I actually had to resort to Kitchen Bouquet to fix the color. The horror! Larry thought it turned out okay, though.
- My rolls didn't rise fast enough, so they weren't done in time for dinner. I'm positive my yeast is the problem, since I had the same issue with my multigrain bread. And the kitchen was like a sauna, a perfect environment for rising.
- I don't like pumpkin pie, and I've never successfully made a good one. I decided to lean on Fine Cooking once again, because it's hard to go wrong with their recipes. I love this crust recipe. It's the same one I use for my apple pie. It's easy to work with, delicious, and flaky. I had some problems with shrinkage when I blind baked the crust, but not too bad. The leaves browned more than I wanted, even with foil protecting them during the final baking. Larry gave the pie a thumbs-up.

• Butter-Rubbed, Cider-Glazed Roast Turkey (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 46)
• Poultry Dressing (Sheri's Recipe Box)
• Pureé of Yukon Gold Potatoes & Celery Root
• Herbed Dinner Rolls (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking 2004, p. 72)
• Pumpkin Pie with a Leafy Rim (Fine Cooking #54, Winter 2003 Holiday Baking Issue, p. 42)

Wine: Gamba 2003 Moratta Vineyard Zinfandel. Oh, my. This is drinking really nice. It tastes a bit like a late harvest Zin, and it's not hot at all, even with 16.5 percent alcohol. We have four more bottles.

I know we're going to have turkey later this week, but I couldn't help making these turkey cutlets for Jay and Larry tonight. These are yummy, and the potatoes were especially good (but I should have made more).

For dessert, we decided to have some dark chocolate with dessert wine (for once). We sampled individually wrapped Dove and Hershey dark chocolate, plus a bar of Vahlrona bittersweet chocolate. Jay liked the Vahlrona the best, and I think I did too. Larry thinks he likes the Hershey's dark because it's slightly sweeter.

• Turkey Cutlets with Mustard Cream Sauce (Fine Cooking #55, December 2002/January 2003, p. 98C)
• Roasted Potato Sticks with Rosemary & Lemon (Fine Cooking, 101 Quick & Delicious Recipes, p. 88)
• Assorted Dark Chocolate

Wine:
- Camellia Cellars NV Lost Barrels (Dry Creek Valley, California). This is just a red table wine, but it's a nice wine.
- Sapphire Hill 2003 Very Late Harvest Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). Yum. Lots of residual sugar, raspberry and smoke (according to Jay and Larry).

This chicken was super quick and really yummy. I love sauces with coconut milk. This weekend, I also made a second version of apple turnovers, for comparison to last week's. This recipe was from Cook's Illustrated. The dough is a bit more complicated, and I thought it was more difficult to handle (not awful, but the Fine Cooking one was easier). The filling in these was grated apples with lemon and sugar, as opposed to apple halves with sugar, flour and cinnamon sprinkled inside the pastry. Larry liked last week's filling better. I kind of liked this week's pastry better - definitely flakier, and held up better the next day. I think the perfect marriage would be this pastry with apple halves as filling.

• Chicken Breasts with Red Thai Curry Peanut Sauce (Fine Cooking #76, January 2006, p. 86C)
• Steamed Brown Rice
• Sautéed Spinach with Garlic
• Flaky Apple Turnovers (Baking Illustrated, p.276)

Jay was here dinner tonight. I had lots of veggies in the house, so meal planning was easy - I knew I wanted to cook up a lot of them before they went bad.

- Larry loved this chicken. Thicker phyllo strips worked better for these. The marinade was very good. Jay thought it was good, but not great.
- Jay loved the squash. So did I. I used two different squash - one that was heavy with dark green skin, one that was larger and not as heavy, with more orange in the skin. The smaller, green squash was much better.
- The romanesco broccoli was really excellent. We got it in our weekly organic delivery, and I only had a tiny bit. It tasted a lot like cauliflower, but I assume it's better for us because it's green. I roasted it in the convection toaster oven.
- Amy told me that even I, a lifelong hater of green beens, would like these green beans. I have to say that I was confident after reading the recipe, because usually the only way I like vegetables is roasted (asparagus is an exception). She was right. These are good. Not chocolate cake good, but edible. I had two helpings because they're good for me and I didn't choke on them. Larry wasn't super crazy about them.

• Sesame-Lemon Chicken with a Crisp Phyllo Crust (Fine Cooking #25, March 1998 p. 37)
• Roasted Acorn Squash with Maple (Fine Cooking #49, March 2002, p. 41)
• Roasted Romanseco Broccoli
• Roasted Green Beans with Red Onion and Walnuts (Cook's Illustrated, November/December 2005, p. 10)

Wine: David Coffaro 2001 Estate Zinfandel. Eh. Coffaro wines are best young - I don't think they age very well. Drinkable. More of a weeknight wine.

We had Jay, Ginger, Ron and Dave over for World Series game three tonight. I threw everything together at the last minute. I had leftover dough for the Cheese Sablés (which made them incredibly convenient). Everyone always loves sweet potatoes this way - just tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper. Ginger brought yummy chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

• Mrs. Lenkh's Cheese Sablés (Fine Cooking #74, November 2005, p. 10)
• Guacamole
• Crisp Curried Chicken Fingers with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce (Fine Cooking #74, November 2005, p. 90c)
• Grilled Sweet Potato Slices
• Ginger's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Wine:
- Fritz 2000 Old Vine Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Opened from last night, but yum!
- David Bruce 2001 Branciforte Creek Pinot Noir (Santa Cruz Mountains, California). Wow! Really excellent Pinot. Unfortunately, our last bottle.
- Forth 2002 Sauvignon Blanc (Mendocino County, California). One bottle left of this lovely SV.

We had Jay and Ginger over for dinner tonight. I was pretty sure I wanted to make chicken, and after looking through a bunch of old Fine Cooking magazines, decided on these stuffed chicken breasts. Dinner was good overall, but probably not the best choices as far as make-ahead. Everything required too much attention.

The pan sauce uses verjus (vair-ZHOO) as the acid, instead of something like lemon juice or vinegar (although a combination of vinegar and cider would have worked). Verjus is the tart, fresh juice of unripe wine grapes. The advantage of using verjus is that it's very wine-friendly. It would make a nice wine-friendly vinaigrette for a salad, I think.

- I really liked the sables, but Larry thought they were too cheesy. I have a bunch of dough left over that I'm going to freeze for another time.
- The chicken breasts were pretty good. I'm not so crazy about mushrooms but it was okay like this. I bought huge Rocky free range breasts for this, and I'm glad I did - it made stuffing them much easier than if I would have tried to create pockets in smaller breasts.
- Everyone loves this squash dish. I don't know why I don't make it more often. Trader Joe's carries diced butternut squash, which makes preparation a snap.
- All I can say about the spinach salad is "candied walnuts". I want to eat them by the handful.
- Larry picked the dessert out of Bittersweet. I'm not crazy about coffee desserts, but I made it anyway and cut back on the amount of coffee. Jay hated it, Larry and Ginger loved it. I was so-so on it. It was a breeze to make, though. I loved the shortbread crust.

• Mrs. Lenkh's Cheese Sablés (Fine Cooking #74, November 2005, p. 10)
• Chicken Breasts with Mushroom-Pancetta Stuffing & Verjus Sauce (Fine Cooking #49, March 2002, p. 51)
• Braised Winter Squash & Potatoes with Mustard & Shallots (Fine Cooking #31, March 1999, p. 37)
• Spinach & Basil Salad with Tomatoes, Candied Walnuts & Warm Bacon Dressing (Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 55)
• Warm Mocha Tart (Bittersweet, p. 278)

Wine: 2003 Sapphire Hill Bastoni Vineyard Palomino (Sonoma County, California). A nice, well-rounded white. I think there are only three wines in the state made with the Palomino grape. We know the people who grow the grapes, which makes it even nicer to drink.

Jay was here for dinner tonight. Larry and Jay really liked this chicken. It couldn't have been easier to make. I found both orange and purple cauliflower at the farmer's market yesterday, so I couldn't resist. I love roasted cauliflower.

• Chicken Breasts with Lemon-Caper Sauce (Fine Cooking 101 Quick & Delicious Recipes, p. 62)
• Roasted Cauliflower
• Wilted Spinach with Sauteed Garlic and Dried Cranberries

Note: the leftovers made excellent sandwiches!

I was inspired to make this dish for several reasons. First, I picked up what will probably become the last of the summer's figs today at the farmer's market. Also, I had stashed a review of the Zuni Cafe Cookbook in the inside front cover of the book, and this was one of the dishes that was recommended. Plus I recently read a writeup of the dish on The Traveler's Lunchbox (Melissa's photo is gorgeous). Lastly, I wanted to post something to the Zuni Cookbook Club thread at 101 Cookbooks.

Wow, was this delicious. I think I could have crisped and browned the chicken skin a bit more. The sauce was delicious. I have one complaint about Judy Rodger's writing style, though. I prefer my recipes to be concise. Hers are wordy and very descriptive. It's not my favorite style.

Once the chicken comes out of the oven, the sauce is finished on top of the stove. Nothing in the recipe said to remove the chicken while finishing the sauce. It just seemed wrong to finish the sauce while the chicken was still in the pan. So I took it out to finish the sauce and put it back in the pan to warm it back up.

• Chicken Braised with Figs, Honey and Vinegar (The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, p. 350)
• Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes (The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, Judy Rodgers, p. 233)
• Wilted Spinach with Sauteed Garlic and Boggy Creek Farm Smoke-Roasted Tomatoes

Larry had marked this recipe in Fine Cooking's Cooking New American, and I finally decided to make it tonight. It was excellent. I didn't have a dried chipotle, so I used some chipotle powder instead. Larry wasn't up for whole chicken thighs, so I shredded the meat off the bones. I imagine this will be excellent on a cold winter night.

• Southwestern Spiced Chicken & Black Bean Stew (Fine Cooking #56, March 2003, p. 38)
• Whole Wheat Tortillas

This chicken was good, although since both of us remove the chicken skin before we eat it, I think it would be better to put some of the marinade under the skin also. I tossed the sweet potatoes in olive oil, salt, pepper and a bit of chipotle power before grilling them.

• Cowboy Chicken with Ancho Chile Rub (Hot Chicken, Hugh Carpenter, p. 32)
• Hearts of Romaine with Caesar Dressing (The Best Recipe, p. 42)
• Spicy Grilled Sweet Potato Fries

This salad was really yummy - especially the chicken. Very hearty, and easy to make. I used Trader Joe's frozen roasted corn and cut back on the onions.

• Baby Romaine Salad with Spicy Chicken & Warm Chipotle Vinaigrette (Fine Cooking #74, November 2005, p. 55)

Jay came by for a late dinner tonight, on his way home from the airport. These chicken fingers were easy and yummy. The dipping sauce was especially good.

- I used homemade curry powder and no tabasco for the chicken fingers, to cut down on the spice for Jay. Homemade curry powder is much better than store-bought, anyway.
- The potatoes were good. I think I like sweet potatoes best with olive oil, salt and pepper and then grilled.
- The cake was sooo rich. But so good. It's just chocolate, butter and eggs. Really decadent and dense.

• Crisp Curried Chicken Fingers with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce (Fine Cooking #74, November 2005, p. 90c)
  
• Brown Sugar-Glazed Sweet Potato Wedges (Cooking Light, December 2004)
  
• Spinach Salad with Dried Cranberries, Walnuts, Cherry Tomatoes, Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil
  
• Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte (The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum, p. 84)

Wine: Carol Shelton 2002 Wild Thing Old Vines Zinfandel (Mendocino County, California). A big, jammy Zin - yum! We got this bottle after working the ZAP Mendocino Flights event this year. Carol was nice enough to sign our bottle for us.

I've been craving this salad. I love the combination of avocado and bulgur - I'm a big fan of grains anyway. Larry likes it but not as much as I do. It's got an excellent mix of unsaturated fat, protein, and whole grains - very healthy.

• Chicken and Bulgur Salad with Avocado (Food and Wine, September 2002) with Mixed Greens
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Amy is in town from Austin this week. We made dinner and let Larry have some of it tonight. It's her first night in town, and we haven't cooked together since January! Dinner came together very quickly because there was two of us. The chicken was excellent. Amy brought the sage from her garden in Austin.

Amy brought smoke-dried tomatoes from Boggy Creek Farms (which we visited in January). They look like sun-dried tomatoes, but they have a strong smoke aroma. Wonderful! I added them to the spinach as I wilted it. I think next time, I should add the tomatoes to the garlic.

• Chicken Saltimbocca (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, 86C)
• Smashed Red Potatoes with Basil and Parmesan (Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 51)
• Wilted Spinach with Sauteed Garlic and Boggy Creek Farms Smoke-Dried Tomatoes

Wine:
- Ridge 2002 Nervo Vineyard Zinfandel (Sonoma County, California). Yummy - fruity and big.
- Rafanelli 2002 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Excellent. Less fruity but still nicely balanced.

Jay was here for dinner tonight. It was an excellent meal! We grilled chicken, since it's been so hot out. I love this chicken. Butterflied, so it cooks evenly. The yams can be fried on the stove (which is what I did tonight), or they can be grilled (more healthy). The tart was excellent. Larry wants me to try it with blueberries next.

• Grilled Thai Chicken (Fine Cooking #58, July 2003, p. 63)
• Crispy Yams (Mustards Cookbook, Cindy Pawlcyn, p. 174
• Wilted Spinach with Sauteed Garlic
• Rustic Apple Tart with Vanilla and Cinnamon (Fine Cooking #73, September 2005 p. 50) with Vanilla Ice Cream

Wine: Copain 2003 Arrowhead Mountain Zinfandel. Tonight was the first night we've tried Copain. I got on their mailing list, which requires a three-bottle minimum on allocations. This Zin was an excellent choice. Jay thought it was a bit young, but I like my Zins big and young. Yummy!

Yum! Larry and I both loved these. What's not to love about chicken and homemade green salsa and cheese? Luckily Amy made these recently, so had helpful hints about making these. I also used almost double the cheese.

- I was too lazy to go to Albertson's and get Anaheim chiles. Instead, I used a mixture of a couple of Pasilla peppers, plus peppers from the garden (Peri Dots, from Brazil - fruity and sweet when grilled; and Pimientos de Padron, from Spain, that had gotten too large to eat in our normal manner -- they added quite a bit of spice to the chile sauce). The components of the enchiladas can be all done ahead, so this can come together very quickly.
- I made my regular black beans - slowly browned onions and garlic, black beans, chile powder, chipotle powder and a sprig of epazote. Yum.
- I added a side of spinach at the last minute - an effort to get more veggies into our diet.

• Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchiladas (Fine Cooking #73, September 2005, p. 63)
• Simmered Black Beans
• Wilted Spinach with Sauteed Garlic
• Guacamole

Margaritas

Tonight I spent the evening with PJ and her mom and dad, along with her sister Joyce, neice Natasha and friend Ellen. PJ had asked me to their beach house to give a cooking lesson on something that they wouldn't normally think to cook. My criteria for choosing the menu was easy, yummy food that can be made on a weeknight. I also wanted things that would be easy to demonstrate.

• Smoked Trout Rillettes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 44)
• Chicken Roulades Stuffed with Goat Cheese & Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 86C)
• Mushrooms & Spinach with Soppressata Crisps (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 49)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Blueberry-Blackberry-Cherry Fruit Crisp with Crunch Crisp Topping (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p, 52) with vanilla ice cream

Katie and I made these burgers for Larry and Les. Yum! They're easy to make, too. We served them on honey wheat buns instead of on ciabatta.

- The bean salad is excellent, and Larry loves it. I used two cans of aduki beans in place of the kidney and the black eye peas.
- I wasn't paying attention while making the crisp and grabbed the baking soda instead of the cornstarch. Bleah. It had potential.

• Seared Turkey & White Bean Burgers (Fine Cooking #58, July 2003, p. 86C)
• Mixed Bean Salad with Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Cooking Light, September 2004, p. 213)
• Pear & Brown Sugar Crisp (Fine Cooking #23, November 1997, p. 70)

After a week eating crappy trade show food in LA, I was ready to have some good comfort food at home. Jay was here for dinner, and I made exactly what I was craving - roasted chicken and bread salad. Both were excellent.

• Chicken Under a Brick (Fine Cooking #36, December 1999, p. 35)
• Grilled Bread Salad with Tomatoes & Spicy Greens (Fine Cooking #58, July 2003, p. 38)

Wine: Ridge 2002 Buchignani Ranch Zinfandel. Yummy fruit bomb of a wine.

I got home after 7pm tonight, so it was kind of late to cook, but I felt like making dinner anyway. I shopped for dinner and got everything done within two hours - not bad. Larry liked everything. I especially liked the chicken. The chili rub is like a dry rub paste.

The bean salad is supposed to have grilled shrimp in it - I just omitted it and adjusted the ingredients accordingly. The salad is originally from Fine Cooking #40, but was adapted for the special issue listed below.

• Chili-Rubbed Chicken with Avocado-Mango Salsa (Fine Cooking #57, May 2003, p. 86C)
• Black Bean and Corn Salad (The Best of Fine Cooking, 101 Quick & Delicious Recipes, Fall 2003, p. 26)

Wine: Ridge 2000 Dusi Ranch Zinfandel (Paso Robles, California). Not as much fruit as some Ridge Zins, but still nice. Opened up after a while. This was more of a before-dinner wine.

Katie and I spent the weekend with her mom D'Arcy, mom's boyfriend Keith, and her niece Raquel. We made dinner tonight - D'Arcy used Pork Cracklins to formulate a menu (that's the part I hate, coming up with a menu). Everything was yummy. Katie made the crisp (including pitting cherries by hand!), D'Arcy mixed the topping together, and Raquel helped prep the roulades and stirred the walnuts.

We just cooked the walnuts on top of the stove to candy them. After the cauliflower was tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper we roasted it, then tossed it with chopped tarragon before serving.

• Chicken Roulades Stuffed with Goat Cheese & Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 86C)
• Whole Wheat French Bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Satuéed Spinach with Garlic and Candied Walnuts
• Roasted Cauliflower with Tarragon
• Blueberry-Cherry Fruit Crisp with Crunch Crisp Topping (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p, 52) with vanilla ice cream

Wine:
- Ridge 2000 Buchignani Ranch Zinfandel (Sonoma County, California). Yummy and big and fruity Zin. Katie liked this one.
- Salmon Creek 2002 Merlot (California). I'm not a Merlot fan, but this is a nice wine. Not over-oaked, more on the fruity side.

Jay came for dinner tonight. I napped excessively today, so there was very little time for me to prepare dinner. I needed something that required no trip to the store (although Larry went across the street to pick up pancetta). The chicken was really yummy - I thought I had made it before, but I hadn't. I've been wanting to make it since Amy made it. I love using chicken cutlets because they cook so quickly. The chicken recipe is also in one of Fine Cooking's Quick & Delicious issues. Larry and Jay really liked the broccoli like this, too. I thought it was a good way to cook broccoli (it's Katie's favorite), but I'm still put off the by texture of the tops. I just tossed it with olive oil, salt and pepper before roasting.

• Chicken Marsala with Pancetta & Cream (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 88)
• Crisp Herb-Roasted Fingerlings with Scallions (Food & Wine, April 2004, p. 127)
• Roasted Broccoli

Wine: David Bruce 2001 Kozlowski Farms Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley, California). Yum. We drank the whole bottle.

Les and Katie came for dinner tonight. After a long workout day, a quick, hearty meal was in order. Larry picked up berries at the market this morning, so a fruit crisp was the obvious choice for dessert. It's one of the easiest deserts I make. And it's yummy, too.

• Hummus (Fine Cooking #10, August/September 1995, p. 66) with Whole Wheat Pita
• Chicken Roulades Stuffed with Goat Cheese & Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 86C)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Baby Spinach Salad with Bosc Pear, Stilton Cheese, Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar
• Blueberry-Blackberry-Cherry Fruit Crisp with Crunch Crisp Topping (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p, 52) with vanilla ice cream

Wine: Gamba 2003 Moratta Vineyard Zinfandel. A ripe, concentrated, jammy old vine Zinfandel. A bit of residual sugar, and lots of alcohol. Really, really good. This was one of the best wines at the ZAP festival last January.

I meant to do a search on Epicurious for a quick, low-fat chicken dish, but somehow this recipe ended up on my list. Definitely not low-fat, although I didn't eat a huge amount of the yummy sauce. This was really good, and quick to make. I picked up a baby spinach salad at Trader Joe's on the way home from work - we found out that they are really delicious and it's a nice change from a plain spinach salad. It includes dressing, blue cheese, candied pecans and dried cranberries. A little over half of the one-serving salad is plenty for the two of us to have with dinner. Larry cuts back on the blue cheese and dressing when he puts it together.

• Chicken with Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce (Bon Appétit, November 1994)
• Orzo with Butter and Parmesan
• Trader Joe's Baby Spinach Salad

Wine: Storrs 2000 Rusty Ridge Zinfandel (Santa Clara County, California). Eh. Drinkable, but not the greatest. Storrs usually has nice wines. This isn't one of their best.

We got home very late tonight, but I wanted to cook anyway since we took a couple of boneless chicken breasts out to defrost this morning. For some reason, I bought a lot of spinach at the store this weekend, so we're slowly working our way through it. This spinach dish is excellent, although I pick around the mushrooms. Larry loves this dish. The crispy sopressata is a nice touch. I just grilled the chicken with salt and pepper on the grill pan. This recipe is also in the Cooking Fresh special issue of Fine Cooking.

• Grilled Chicken Breasts
• Mushrooms & Spinach with Soppressata Crisps (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 49)

Wine: David Bruce 2000 Beato Vineyard Zinfandel (Paso Robles, California). This wine is supposed to be a couple of years past its prime, but it still has soft fruit and is well balanced. We have several bottles left, so we'll try to work our way through them in the next few months. Good for a weeknight wine.

John and Jeff came for dinner tonight. I wanted to make something that would allow me to spend time with our guests without having to spend too much time in the kitchen. This meal is mostly prepare-ahead, with some last minute preparations. The key, though, is to have everything ready when your guests arrive (I didn't). Everyone hung out in the kitchen while I rolled up the roulades and performed my regular struggle with the chocolate pot pie dough. The dinner turned out really, really well.

- I couldn't find raspberries, so I used blackberries in the pot pies. Larry says he thinks likes the blackberries better.
- I cut the roulades in half, diagonally, before serving. They looked so pretty like that I think I'll do it again next time.

• Crab Cakes with Chipotle Aioli (Viking Home Chef, Fabulous Fish & Shellfish class)
• Chicken Roulades Stuffed with Goat Cheese & Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 86C)
• Fennel & Red Onion with Arugula (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 48)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Chocolate-Blackberry Pot Pies (Just a Bite, Gale Gand, p. 228)

Wine: Renwood 2001 Grandpere Zinfandel (Amador County, California). I just love this big Zin. A Pinot would have been more appropriate with dinner, but I think Zin is almost as food-friendly as Pinot. And I was in the mood for a big fat Zin.

Jay came for dinner tonight, and I've been wanting to make this dish ever since Amy made it a few weeks ago. I was going to make a salad with this, but at the last minute decided on the spinach, from the same section in the same issue of Fine Cooking. Jay and Larry both loved the spinach - they gobbled it up. They liked the potatoes and chicken too, but they really liked the spinach. I was so-so on it, mainly because I don't like spinach when it's cooked so much.

• Chicken Piccata with Fried Capers (Fine Cooking #56, March 2003, p. 82c)
• Spanish Braised Spinach with Chickpeas (Fine Cooking #56, March 2003, p. 82c)
• Smashed Red Potatoes with Basil & Parmesan (Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 51)

Wine: Woodenhead 2002 Wiley Vineyard Pinot Noir (Anderson Valley, California). Surprisingly good. Can't remember where we got this, but it was nice, kind of jammy with that cherry that I like from a Pinot.

The last time I made this, I made it with dino kale and spicy chicken Italian sausage. Tonight I used regular kale - but chopped up (bagged), because that's all there was at the grocery store. I used portabella mushroom chicken sausage. Larry and I both prefer the spicy sausage with this, and I think dino kale has a nicer, less tough texture. It's still good, and nice for a quick weeknight meal. I wished I would have made garlic bread with this again.

• White Bean and Sausage Ragout with Tomatoes, Kale and Zucchini (Cooking Light, January 2005)

Wine: Sylvester 2001 Zinfandel (Paso Robles, California). A jammy wine. Ultra-cheap but not bad for an everyday wine.

I planned dinner tonight around our wine. We got a bottle of the 2004 Sylvester Zinfandel barrel sample yesterday at the Paso Robles Zinfandel festival. I decided to do a spiced chicken (I've made this before), and one of Larry's favorites - whipped sweet potatoes. No recipe for the potatoes, - I just baked them until they were done, then whipped them with a little bit of butter and chipotleEverything turned out really nice and went well together.

• Butterflied Roast Chicken with Chile-Cinnamon Rub (Fine Cooking #47, November 2001, p. 55)
• Chipotle Whipped Sweet Potatoes
• Mixed Greens with Roasted Sugar Plum Tomatoes and Citrus Viniagrette

Wine: Sylvester 2004 Zinfandel Barrel Sample (Paso Robles, California). Nice, for a barrel sample. Jammy.

Brian was here for dinner tonight. My standard Zuni chicken and bread salad wasn't as good as the first time I made it. Not sure why, probably because I wasn't paying attention while I was cooking. It was still good, just not as good as before. I chose the chocolate roulade, because we made a roulade in my cooking class a couple of weeks ago. This dessert took a lot of time to make - a lot of steps, and I didn't think it was that great. Low work/reward ratio. I won't make it again.

• Zuni Roast Chicken with Bread Salad (The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, p. 342)
• Chocolate Roulade with Raspberry Filling (Fine Cooking #61, Winter 2004 Holiday Baking, p. 75)

Wine: David Bruce 2001 Bien Nacido Mt. Eden Clone Pinot Noir (Santa Maria Valley, California). Yum. Could have sat in the bottle for a few more years. A really big Pinot.

I chose this chicken because I thought it would be nice with the polenta I've been craving for weeks now. These aren't necessarily something to make on a weeknight, but they can be made up to three hours ahead. Larry really liked the chicken breasts, but thought the polenta was nothing special (I loved it, I've made it a bunch of times before).

My Home Chef class this week was on composed salads and legumes. The salad we had tonight was similar to one we made in class. Our Planet Organics delivery this week included some wonderful baby fennel, so I added that to the mixed greens, along with shallots, cherry tomatoes and chopped shallots. I made a vinaigrette using meyer lemon and orange juices.

• Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Spinach & Goat Cheese (Fine Cooking #69, January 2005, p. 62)
• Polenta with Goat Cheese & Fresh Sage (Fine Cooking #29, November 1998, p. 61)
• Mixed Greens with Shaved Baby Fennel, Shallots, Cherry Tomatoes, Toasted Pecans and Citrus Vinaigrette

Wine: Sapphire Hill 2001 Tom Feeney Ranch Old Vines Zin (Russian River Valley, California). Yum!

I bought Turkey cutlets this weekend, but never had a chance to make this dish. I whipped it together tonight in about 20 minutes, in time for Larry to eat before his Planning Commission meeting. Yum! Larry wanted seconds on the spinach. Very easy, and good (how could a mustard cream sauce not be good?). Next time, I will double the amount of spinach (I made half a recipe). I used Kosher turkey cutlets - I think Kosher poultry is far superior.

• Turkey Cutlets with Mustard Cream Sauce (Fine Cooking #55, December 2002/January 2003, p. 98C)

I made Larry roasted chicken for our Valentine's Day dinner tonight. I skipped the Zuni bread salad and made a baked goat cheese salad and butternut squash orzo instead.

- I couldn't find any chickens smaller than 4.5 pounds at Trader Joe's. I was worried that the Zuni method wouldn't work as well with a chicken this large, but I just used the upper time limits in the recipe and it turned out beautiful as always. I used cast iron this time, and I'll save the drippings in case I want to make a bread salad later this week.
- Amy suggested this salad last month when I was visiting her in Austin. She's been making it for years, using a recipe clipped from the paper. We liked the salad. It's really elegant and a nice change from a plain green salad. We each had some crusty french bread with it, and spread the warm goat cheese on it.
- We had a similar butternut squash orzo at ZAP's Good Eats and Zin event this year. The only difference was the ZAP version had crispy bits of fried sage and serrano ham in it. This was a nice addition, and I'm going to modify this dish the next time I make it. The version we had tonight was still very good.
- The cake was easy to make, and is really pretty and oh so delicious. Amy gave me the recipe, cut from a newspaper. The original recipe calls for Amaretto, but I followed Amy's lead and used Grand Marnier. The only problem I had was that my ganache became a bit grainy as it cooled. McGee says that "With chocolates high in cocoa solids, the cocoa particles can eventually absorb so much moisture that they swell and stick to each other. The water-deprived emulsion then fails, allowing the fat globules and droplets to coalesce, and the fat to separate from the swollen particles. This is why high-chocolate ganaches are often unstable and coarsen with time."

• Zuni Roast Chicken (The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, p. 342)
• Baked Goat Cheese Salad (The Cheese Lover's Cookbook & Guide, Paula Lambert, p. 126)
• Butternut Squash and Sage Orzo (Bon Apétit, March 1998)
• Chocolate-Amaretto Heart

Wine: Sanford 2001 Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir (Santa Rita Hills, California). Yum. Sanford makes wonderful Pinots. Larry and I picked this up last summer at the winery, on our way back from a trip to the winery. Really intense and chewy. It could have easily sat in the cellar for another year or more because of the firm tannins.

Amy made this chicken this week, along with the same mashed potatoes. I've been craving roast chicken, so I thought I'd try it as well. I agree with Amy's assessment - this is an excellent method of making chicken, equal to the Zuni method. The Zuni method required fewer steps (no butchering), but the brick method produces equally delicious results with a bit of work on the front end.

- I don't especially enjoy butchering meat, but this wasn't bad. The end result is a mostly boneless chicken, which means almost no carving after it's cooked. The skin is golden, crispy and delicious. I couldn't help myself and ate most of the skin off of the thigh. The chicken is supposed to marinate overnight, but I didn't start it until 6 pm (we ate at 7:30). I used my instant marinater to speed the process along. This device is controversial, and I'm not positive that it works quite as advertised, but I like to use it for last-minute cooking. I bought a kosher chicken, which is well-seasoned off the shelf.
- Larry and I both liked these potatoes a lot. I love the combination of goat cheese and sage, and I like that the addition of goat cheese makes the dish a bit lighter (less butter).

• Chicken Under a Brick (Fine Cooking #36, December 1999, p. 35)
• Creamy Mashed Potatoes with Goat Cheese & Fresh Sage (Bon Appetit, November 2004)
• Baby Spinach Salad with Grape Tomatoes, Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil

WIne: 2001 Heritage Vineyard Zinfandel. This is a nice everyday Zinfandel. We were given two cases of it for our work with ZAP this year (we're long-time volunteers). There's a different winemaker on every release - this release was made by Joel Peterson of Ravenswood.

Amy and I planned a mole party for my visit to Austin (we served sixteen people). We chose a Rick Bayless recipe out of an old Fine Cooking. Mole is a lot of work - it was a three-day, laborious process but very satisfying to make. The article says it takes a total of six hours to make, most of which is unattended, but even with two of us it was much longer than that. The end result was excellent. Very authentic, and perfectly seasoned. Amy's husband, Gary, made margaritas that were absolutely perfect. The beans were started on the stove, but then were moved to a slow cooker to simmer for several hours. I made a chunky version of guacamole, and Amy made my favorite Mexican rice, which looked gorgeous in her silver serving bowl. This was a terrific menu for a party, especially with two of us sharing the workload.

- We couldn't find mulato chiles. We got advice from the staff at Fiesta and at Central Market, then decided to substitute equal amounts of ancho and pasilla chiles instead. I've never seen mulato chiles in any Latino store, so mail-order might have been the best way to go.
- Seeding the chiles wasn't difficult, but gloves are recommended. Although the chiles aren't spicy, the residue will cause burning if you touch your hands to your eyes or other mucus membranes, even after multiple hand-washings.

The dried chiles, seeded and torn into large pieces.

- We decided to make the mole as traditional as possible by using lard to fry the chiles and other ingredients. The aroma of the hot lard was very strong and off-putting for both of us (probably because it's not something we're accustomed to.

The chiles, after quickly frying them in lard.

- We pureed the mole ingredients and chiles using a blender. The recipe says to use enough chicken broth in the blender to keep the ingredients moving (about 1/4 cup), then once it's smooth strain it through a sieve. We ended up using a lot of chicken broth - just over four cups, because the mixtures were just too thick. We finally figured out the trick: add chicken broth to the bottom of the blender and slowly add the solid ingredients or chiles until the mixture is thick and smooth, but not so thick that it doesn't move around in the blender.

Some more mole ingredients - tortilla, bread, tomatoes, raisins.

- We ended up adding another four cups of chicken broth to the mole when we simmered the chile and tomato purees together, The recipe calls for a total of ten cups. We used a total of eight cups.
- The recipe notes that it's important to drain and blot the grease from the various ingredients. We drained at ever step, to ensure a non-greasy mole.
- We added 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sugar to the mole before cooking the mole with the turkey, plus another tablespoon after.

The turkey pieces after browning - ready to bake in mole sauce.

The mole sauce after simmering - ready to bake with the turkey.

- It was difficult to remove the skin and slice the meat off of the turkey legs, thighs and wings. Amy thinks she would just buy turkey breasts next time. We both think it would be best to remove the skin before it goes into the mole, because it was difficult to tell what was skin and what wasn't. This was an especially messy step.

The mole and turkey before going into the oven.

The turkey and mole after baking - after this step, we separated the turkey and sauce. We tore the meat off the bones the next day.

- We brushed flour tortillas with butter on one side, then sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top and popped them under the broiler. When they were nice and toasty and slightly crispy, we repeated the procedure with the other side of the tortillas, then cut them into triangles for the ice cream sundaes. We found that to prevent the tortillas from puffing (and breaking apart), it was best to cut them in half before broiling them.

Cinnamon Hot Fudge Sundae.

• White Corn Tortilla Chips
• Roasted Tomato Salsa
• Black Beans
• Guacamole (with Jicama, Fresh Corn, Green Onion and Cilantro)
• Mole Poblano (Fine Cooking #23, November 1997, p. 65)
• Arroz Verde (Fine Cooking #35, November 1999, p. 45)
• Vanilla Ice Cream with Cinnamon Hot Fudge Sauce (Fine Cooking #61, Winter 2004 Holiday Baking, p. 30)

Margaritas

Amy and I made this wonderful chicken tonight, and we even let Gary have some too. It was so much fun making it together. We agreed that the recipe could be written in a more organized way - it's full of details and very long. We made one change from the recipe - we didn't cover the chicken after salting it, and when it came out of the refrigerator the next day, it looked weirdly dry. Amy was worried but I reassured her that this would make the chicken skin so nice and crispy that she would actually eat the skin for once (she did!). We used more bread than the recipe calls for, and doubled the vinaigrette. The vinaigrette doesn't need to be doubled, even though we used more bread.

• Zuni Roast Chicken with Bread Salad (The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, p. 342)

Wine: Renwood 2001 Grandpere Zinfandel (Amador County, California). This wine is made from a clone of pre-prohibition vines. It was excellent. Well balanced, soft, muted fruit. I really liked it and so did Amy.

I made this ragout again because it was so yummy and easy last time. I made a few changes and it was still good. First, I cut the sausage into smaller bits at Larry's requests - sliced, then in half, so there was more sausage spread around. I used dino kale instead of regular kale. I used one can of beans and no zucchini because my pantry/produce drawer was lacking.

• White Bean and Sausage Ragout with Tomatoes, Kale and Zucchini (Cooking Light, January 2005)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Scott is staying with us for a couple of days, so I decided to make dinner after work tonight. These roulades make a really nice weeknight meal. These are supposed to be sliced before presenting, but I find it easier to just serve them whole.

• Chicken Roulades Stuffed with Goat Cheese & Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 86C)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Oven Roasted Cauliflower

WIne: 2002 Patricia Green Pinot Noir (Oregon). A nice, light Pinot.

Larry loves kale, and I'm always looking for different ways to cook it. I wasn't sure about this dish, but it was really yummy. I used spicy chicken Italian sausage. It was a nice dish for a chilly evening, and only took a half hour from start to finish. Larry really liked it.

• White Bean and Sausage Ragout with Tomatoes, Kale and Zucchini (Cooking Light, January 2005)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Roasted Cauliflower

Wine: Sapphire Hill 2001 Tom Feeny Ranch Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). Again, I mainly just opened this to have a glass with dinner. Yum.

Steve came for dinner tonight. We started off with wine and some of the cheese we got during our last trip to the Cheese Board Collective: Baita Fruili, and Istara. Larry thought he liked the Istara a little better.

- I started the roast chicken following the instructions in Fine Cooking, which were very similar to the preparations for the Zuni Cafe roast chicken. I decided to cook the chicken using the Zuni method - higher heat, no roasting rack, hot skillet, and turning the chicken twice during cooking. Perfect.
- I almost didn't make the Brussels sprouts, since I was already making potatoes. I consulted Amy, and she thought it was too much food. Well, Larry overruled and we had them anyway. And they were good! Roasting is a good way to make them - not like the hated Brussels sprouts of my childhood. I wouldn't mind roasting them without the potatoes next time.
- Larry and I both liked these potatoes. I really liked that they had no cream or butter, just olive oil and some parmesan. I went easy on the parmesan. The recipe says it serves four, but we could have served a lot more people, even without all the other side dishes.
- Larry said he really liked this spinach salad, and I did too. It was different enough to stand out. I can't stop eating the candied walnuts.
- Neither of us were happy with this dessert. Steve said he liked it, but in my opinion, way too lemon-y. And although I cooked it just until the spongy top left a slight indentation, the custard part was too liquid still. I won't make these again.

• CheeseL Baita Fruili, Istara
• Roast Chicken (Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 42)
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Potatoes and Bacon (Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 47)
• Smashed Red Potatoes with Basil and Parmesan Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 51)
• Spinach & Basil Salad with Tomatoes, Candied Walnuts & Warm Bacon Dressing (Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 55)
• Lemon Pudding Cakes Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 62)

Wine: Storrs 1999 Sunnyknoll Ranch Pinot Noir (Santa Cruz Mountains, CA). Very nice, earthy with cherry and well-balanced.

Larry chose this recipe out of one of my new cookbooks - it was a perfect choice for a cold night. I think cider and poultry are a perfect pairing. I have to complain a bit about the recipe. I cook a lot out of Fine Cooking magazine, so I'm used to very detailed, well-written recipes. This recipe says to put the chicken into the roasting pan. Breast side up or down? I decided breast side down for the first 45 minutes, and breast side up for the rest. The recipe doesn't say anything about a roasting rack, but I think if the chicken was sitting on the bottom of the pan in a bunch of cider and surrounded by vegetables, it would tend to steam rather than roast and get that nice, crispy skin. Lastly, the recipe says to salt and pepper everything after it's in the pan. So you should only season one side of the chicken? I seasoned the entire chicken before putting it in the pan. This wasn't anything special, just your average roast chicken. The Zuni Cafe roast chicken is much, much better.

• Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables and Cider (Staff Meals at Chanterelle, David Waltuck, p. 142)

Wine: Ridge 2001 Del Carlo Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Yum, yum, yum. A lighter-style Zinfandel.

Our friend John mentioned last weekend that he makes this chicken quite often, and that it's very good. I've been wanting to make it, so I picked up a chicken this week (kosher). This was an excellent meal - one I'd like to repeat soon. Larry said both recipes are definitely keepers. Larry especially loved the goat cheese with the kale (I used dino kale).

- The recipe for the bread salad called for eight generous ounces of bread. I didn't think this looked like enough, and ended up using the entire loaf - double what the recipe called for. I used a 3.5 lb. chicken and the cooking times were perfect, but at 500 degrees instead of 475 - I never even had to check the temperature of the chicken, either. I normally butterfly chicken when I roast it, but since the cooking method in this recipe is so specific, I left the chicken whole (I heated a 10-inch skillet on the top of the stove, then put the chicken in breast-side up, placed it in the oven, and turned the chicken over several times at specific intervals). I was worried that the kosher chicken would be too salty, since the recipe calls for salting the chicken the day prior, but it was fine. The pan drippings were to die for. I used arugula for the greens in the bread salad.
- The addition of the goat cheese to the kale is optional, but it really made the dish nice -the combination for the cheese and the slightly bitter kale was really nice.

• Zuni Roast Chicken with Bread Salad (The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, p. 342)
• Garlicky Braised Kale with Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 49)

Wine: Sea Smoke 2002 Botella Pinot Noir (Santa Rita Hills, California). We bought this wine on a whim at Vintage Wine Merchants when we were there for a tasting. It's a very reasonably priced Pinot at $25/bottle, and we got the last one. Our friend Ralph had recommended it. It is an excellent Pinot - ripe cherry, concentrated, long finish. Just really, really good, and perfect with the chicken.

Larry, his dad and Jay were here for Thanksgiving dinner. I skipped out on the herbed dinner rolls that I made last year, because I wasn't up to making them (although they're very easy).

- I decided to make this soup after Amy told me she was making it. I was more convinced that I should make it after she tried it and said it was fantastic. I was worried that it would taste too much like pumpkin, but it didn't. It was really excellent. I loved the croutons.
- I made the same turkey I've made for the past few years now. I love the way this turkey turns out. It was an 18-lb turkey from Costco, nothing special. I usually brine the turkey the night before, but I didn't this time. It really makes a difference in the flavor.
- I usually make a crouton-based dressing, using Mrs. Cubbison's stuffing mix and cornbread dressing mix as a base. Since we are virtually trans-fat free now, I had to find an alternative since Mrs. Cubbison's has trans fats. I used Fair Scones, Inc. brand Rosemary-Sage Cornbread dressing and Rosemary-Sage stuffing, evenly mixed (purchased at Whole Foods). It's more crouton-y than Mrs. Cubbisons but they have a nice flavor. I added celery, onion, parsley, chicken broth, melted butter, beaten eggs, salt and pepper and baked it. I didn't add enough salt. It's not as good as my usual dressing, but a good compromise.
- I skipped the pumpkin pie because I don't like it. I made apple pie instead, which Larry loves.

• Smoked Trout Rillettes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 44)
• Winter Squash Soup with Gruyere Croutons (Bon Apétit, December 1996)
• Butter-Rubbed, Cider-Glazed Roast Turkey (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 46)
• Poultry Dressing (Sheri's Recipe Box)
• Oven-Roasted Beets
• Puree of Yukon Gold Potatoes with Parmesan (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 48)
• Glazed Carrots (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001 p.24)
• Apple Pie Covered with Leaves (Fine Cooking #54, Winter 2003 Holiday Baking Issue, p. 43)

Wine: 2001 Amphora Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Yummy. Very deep dark ruby. I expected a full-bodied wine but it was pretty light. Nicely balanced.

I purchased a Heritage Turkey on Friday. Larry and I talked about it, and decided to buy a small-ish one before Thanksgiving (since they are so expensive and we didn't know how it would taste). I picked up the turkey at Mollie Stone's in Palo Alto - it was a Bourbon Red from Mary's Turkeys, ten pounds.

The turkey was very different from the standard broad breasted white turkeys that are raised commercially. The meat is richly flavored, and the texture is very firm. There is not very much white meat on the birds. It was good, just really different than any turkey I've ever had. The flavor is not mild at all.

- To roast the turkey, I just used salt and pepper, and midway into roasting I basted it with melted butter. I normally roast turkey breast-side down for a while, then turn it over breast-side up. I couldn't balance the turkey on the breast side at all, so I had to cook it fully breast-side up. Because of this, the turkey did not cook evenly and the back side skin did not brown at all.
- I cooked up a batch of Willie Bird turkey bacon, and decided to use the same pan to saute the fennel and onions. It's very good this way.
- The salad called for goat cheese, but all I had was Ricotta Salata. It was a good substitution.

• Roasted Heritage Turkey
• Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Chipotle Chile (Fine Cooking #67, November 2004, p. 49)
• Sautéed Fennel and Red Onions
• Roasted Beets
• Warm Spinach Salad with Bacon, Walnuts & Ricotta Salata (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 94C)

Wine: Rafanelli 1999 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Good, but losing its fruit.

I made one of my favorite winter meals today (although it hasn't been very cold lately). This is also one of Larry's favorites. I used ground turkey breast instead of ground beef tonight.

• Snows Chili (alias Cincinnati Chili) (Hollyhocks & Radishes, Bonnie Stewart Mickelson, p.104)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Today was Larry's birthday, and he asked for something with chicken. He picked out a few dishes that I had made before, but I wanted to do something different. Amy helped me choose the menu (thanks - just garlic bread was perfect!). We both thought this chicken sauté sounded really nice. It was good, but not fantastic. Not make it again good. Larry thought it was missing something, and I did too. I was surprised. The chicken was good. The curly endive smelled so fragrant after I wilted it, and I loved the mix of garlic and coriander. But the dish just didn't come together like I had hoped.

The poppy seed cake is Larry's favorite. I have no idea where I got the recipe (Mom?), but it uses a regular cake mix, a box of vanilla pudding, sour cream, sherry and oil. I use mostly sugar- and fat- free versions of everything, plus grapeseed oil. It's better than when I make it with the fatty sugary versions of the products. Tonight I used the new Pam with Flour on my bundt pan, and it worked like a charm. I hate doing the whole grease and flour thing.

• Quick Chicken Sauté with Walnuts, Curly Endive & Orange Pan Sauce (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 62)
• Sourdough bread with Sautéed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Poppy Seed Cake (Sheri's Recipe Box)

Wine: Ridge 2001 Nervo Vineyard Zinfandel (Alexander Valley, California). A white would have been lovely with this meal, but Larry and I wanted a Zin to sip before dinner - and it was so good, we just kept drinking it. A big, fruity, juicy Zin, just how I like it.

Jay was here for dinner tonight. I needed to make something that could come together in an hour or so. I used some small red fingerling potatoes for the Potatoes Fondantes. Before dinner, we had some cheese that we picked up yesterday at The Cheese Board Collective in Berkeley. Extra Aged Gouda, Aged Manchego, and a very excellent Italian cheese called Baita Friuli.

The chicken was good, but not as good as the first time. Some things I did different:
- I used regular whipping cream this time instead of heavy whipping cream. The sauce could have been thicker - I probably should have added some flour.
- Last time, I browned the chicken, then moved it to a plate (tented with foil) before making the sauce. Once the sauce was about done, I added the chicken back in. I think this method is better than making the sauce with the chicken in the pan, as the recipe suggests.

• Chicken with Rosemary Sauce (The Best of Cooking Light, Quick and Easy Around the Clock, p. 78)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Roast Cauliflower with Shallots, Tarragon and Lemon (Fine Cooking #50, May 2002, p. 52)

Jay was here for dinner tonight, so I wanted to do something kind of light. As soon as I saw the photo of this on the cover of Cooking Light, I knew I wanted to make it. I make a cider-basted turkey for Thanksgiving, and I always love the results. I made two 3-lb. chickens instead of one large chicken. Larry and Jay really liked tonight's meal. The cookies I made were from a Splenda dessert cookbook I got Jay for his birthday - I told him to mark the things he liked and I would make them. This was the first.

- I used Kosher chickens, so I reduced the amount of salt in the brine by half. I thought the recipe made way too much brine. Half probably would have been sufficient. I didn't have time to brine overnight, but I brined for a good part of the day. I butterflied the chickens, and instead of putting onion, garlic and parsley in the cavity, I sliced the onion and laid it with the garlic and parsley on the rack - then I just put the chickens on top. The drippings were excellent.
- I started out thinking I would make the sweet potato fries in the same Cooking Light article, but I modified them once I started making them. I left out the red pepper, since Jay doesn't like spicy. I just tossed them in a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper (instead of spraying them with cooking spray). They were excellent. I used small sweet potatoes from Trader Joe's.
- The cookies turned out okay. Jay likes them, and that's all that matters. I don't like Splenda so I didn't expect to like them. I added walnuts to the mix.

• Cider-Roasted Chicken (Cooking Light, October 2004, p. 154)
• Spicy Sweet Potato Wedges (Cooking Light, October 2004, p. 158)
• Baby Spinach Salad with Tomatoes, Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar
• Chocolate Chip Cookies (Unbelievable Desserts with Splenda, Marlene Koch, p. 56)

Wine: Rosenblum 2000 RustRidge Vineyard Zinfandel (Napa Valley, California). A really big, juicy fruitbomb. Yum.

I picked up a special issue of Cooking Light magazine a couple of weeks ago, because as I've mentioned before, I'm a sucker for special issues. Especially if they have the word "quick" in the title. This chicken was on the cover. Instead of going out like we usually do on Friday nights, I decided to cook since I had everything I needed for the chicken.

- The chicken was excellent, one of the best Cooking Light recipes I've made. It was also extremely easy. The recipe calls for serving the chicken over angel hair pasta, but I skipped the pasta and made potatoes instead.
- The potatoes are really good, and they couldn't be easier. Larry says he likes Potatoes Fondantes better.
- I made the apples because Amy made them last week and said they were good - they were! And really easy. I didn't do such a good job with the nuts, though - I stopped paying attention for 30 seconds and the sugar burnt. The apples were still very good. I used Fage Total yogurt, the one with full fat and honey on the side. I just mixed the whole thing together.

• Chicken with Rosemary Sauce (The Best of Cooking Light, Quick and Easy Around the Clock, p. 78)
• Skillet-Roasted Rosemary Potaotes (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 18)
• Baked Apples with Candied Walnuts (Gourmet, October 2004)

Wine: David Coffarro 2000 Neighbors Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). A nice, light, everyday Zin.

Renee and Rex came for dinner tonight, the night after they got back from their trip to Costa Rica. I decided to cook since I got out of work at 5:30. After I went to the store, I got right on dinner. It was ready shortly after 7, which was pretty good considering how yummy the dinner was. I love these roulades. Last time I made them I used panko rather than regular bread crumbs. I like regular bread crumbs better. The potatoes are always a big hit.

• Chicken Roulades Stuffed with Goat Cheese & Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 86C)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Herb-Baby Lettuce and Arugula Salad with Tomato, Lemon Juice and Olive Oil

Wine: David Bruce 2000 Gimelli Vineyard Pinot Noir (Cienega Valley, California). Yum, yum, yum. A really nice Pinot. Not light.

Larry wanted fried chicken tonight, so I just dredged some chicken pieces in flour, salt, pepper and paprika. I used grapeseed oil (not too much) to fry the chicken. I had bought sweet potatoes last week, so of course we had to have the twice-baked sweet potatoes again. They were so good, especially for how little butter and sour cream I use. They weren't as spicy this time - I like the kick that the chipotle gives the potatoes.

• Pan-Fried Chicken
• Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Chipotle Chile (Fine Cooking #67, November 2004, p. 49)

Wine: Ridge 2001 Buchignani Ranch Zinfandel (Sonoma County, California). Another really good Zinfandel from Ridge. They really can't go wrong in my book.

Tonight I made the dinner I had planned for Sunday night, since we had ground turkey in the refrigerator. It took about an hour to make everything. Larry loved this meal.

- I used ground dark meat for the burgers, since whole foods was out of breast meat. I didn't have time to make pesto, and I didn't have any on hand, so I just added some chopped basil to the mayo (I used low fat canola mayo). The pesto mayonnaise was really good. I was out of arugula so we just left it out. I used a grill pan indoors instead of doing it outside (convenience - I think they would be better grilled outside).
- I don't like red kidney beans, so I used Aduki beans instead. The bean salad was very good - Larry said I should definitely make it again. He really liked the vinaigrette.

Jay was here for dinner tonight. I wanted to do some sort of comfort food tonight, so a roast chicken fit the bill.

- I made a change with the chicken by butterflying it before I marinated it. I think whole chickens cook better when they're butterflied. The chicken was excellent, very flavorful. It was perfectly cooked.
- There were two types of sweet potatoes at the farmer's market yesterday - one with orange flesh (the vendor called it a yam, but I think it's actually a type of sweet potato), and one with yellow flesh. I bought three with yellow flesh, one with orange, and prepared the orange-fleshed one separately, without chipotle since Jay is non-spicy. The photo in the magazine shows an orange-fleshed potato. I don't really like sweet potatoes, but I think the orange fleshed one had a nicer texture when I was mixing the filling, and the presentation was nicer. However, the yellow fleshed potatoes tasted more buttery. I love twice-baked potatoes. These are a healthier alternative to my normal version, and they were really good.
- I couldn't resist the purple cauliflower at the market again, so I made the usual roasted cauliflower again. I ate a huge pile of it.
- I was tempted to make the Ginger Apple Crumb pie from the November issue of Fine Cooking, but I didn't feel like doing all that work. Plus, I'll need to use an alternative crust recipe for this - the one in the article calls for vegetable shortening, full of trans fats. Instead, I made the Apple-Walnut Cake. It was good. Not too sweet. I think Amy would want to eat it for breakfast - it's definitely got a coffee cake quality to it.

Larry picked this recipe out of my list of Cooking Light recipes to try. I made a few healthy modifications: used wheat flour tortillas and refried black beans, plus we used fresh salsa made from tomatoes out of our garden instead of bottled green salsa. This could come together in about a half hour. Larry really liked them. I thought they were good, not fabulous. The black beans we used needed more salt, so that may have been why I thought they were a touch on the bland side.

• Roast Chicken Chimichangas (Cooking Light, April 2004)
• Guacamole
• Fresh Tomato Salsa

I've been trying to make things this week that are healthy and will be good for lunch. This recipe was part of an article in Cooking light on food to pack for air travel. Larry and I both really liked the combination of onions and corn. It was also very filling. I used a rotisserie chicken for this, and the breast meat was a bit dry but it turned out fine. I think it would be really nice with some freshly grilled boneless chicken breasts. It took me about 45 minutes to put this together.

• Barley-Chicken Salad with Fresh Corn and Sweet Onions (Cooking Light, August 2004)

Jay was here for dinner tonight. I haven't made this dish for a while, but after talking about it with Amy last week, I've been craving it. It's really easy to make and once it's prepped, it takes under ten minutes to cook.

- I like to add chantarelle mushrooms to this, and matchstick cut carrots (although I didn't tonight). I use Rustichella d'Abruzzo fusili pasta for this dish. I like the long curly pasta. I also like to mix in the goat cheese so it melts, making the dish nice and creamy.
- I did something different with the salad tonight - I used Trader Joe's herb salad mix along with microgreens and tomatoes from our garden. Yum.

• Southwest Pasta with Smoked Chicken (Hot Pasta, Hugh Carpenter, p. 79)
• Green Salad with Tomatoes
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Wine: David Bruce 2002 Pinot Noir (Dry Creek Valley, California). Young but nice and light - went well with the pasta.

I got an e-mail last week from a magazine, asking me if I'd be interested in testing some recipes for the magazine. Uh... yes! I think this recipe is a try-out before they pick the regular group of testers.

- The chicken was really good, and very easy, except for deboning the chicken thighs. It was just like at a Japanese restaurant, very tasty sauce.
- The macaroons are a gift, for Jay's birthday this week. He loves macaroons. I dipped a few in chocolate for him. They turned out pretty good. The only disappointment was that the recipe calls for cream of coconut (the stuff you use for pina coladas). As I was throwing away the can, I noticed the ingredients - hydrogenated soybean oil. I assume that means it's full of trans fats. Unless I can find cream of coconut without trans fats, I won't be making these again.

• Chicken Teriyaki (Test Recipe)
• Steamed Brown Rice
• Sautéed Sugar Snap Peas with Garlic and Ginger
• Coconut Macaroons (Baking Illustrated, p. 476)

I wanted something easy and cool tonight, and I wanted to be able to do all my shopping at Trader Joe's. I thought a salad would be nice, and I've been wanting to make this one. It was really good, and pretty quick to make. Larry really liked it. I cut the recipe in half and just made two servings - it was plenty, and I couldn't finish mine.

• Seven-Layer Grilled Southwestern Chicken Salad (Fine Cooking #65, July 2004, p. 86c)

We marinated and grilled the chicken for these sandwiches yesterday - it made it an easy weeknight dinner. These were excellent, and of course I used my panini grill.

• Grilled Chicken and Roasted Red Pepper Sandwiches with Fontina Cheese (Cooking Light, June 2004)

Our basil is completely taking over my tiny wine barrel herb garden, so I did some serious pruning today and I ended up with a lot of basil. Lots of basil means it's time to make pesto. I marinated the skinless chicken breasts in the CPK BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad marinade. This is my very favorite pesto recipe. It's a bit creamier than traditional pesto.

• Grilled Chicken Breasts Marinated in Soy Sauce, Olive Oil and Garlic
• Pesto Pasta (Fine Cooking #45, July 2001, p. 65)

Wine: Ridge 2000 Mazzoni Home Ranch (California). A nice, inexpensive table wine (ZInfandel blend).

This is Larry's most favorite salad. He asks for it a lot. I like it too, but it's a lot of work for a salad.

- I made a full recipe of the salad, and a half recipe of the dressing. Tonight I did a few things different. I used a canola-based vegan mayo, fat-free sour cream and low-fat sour cream for the dressing. The vegan mayo is a bit lemony and isn't as good in the dressing as regular mayo, but when it's on the salad we couldn't tell the different. I doubled the black beans and used fresh corn instead of canned. And I used dry jack instead of Monterey jack cheese. I got to use basil, oregano and cilantro straight from the garden. The chicken marinade is excellent - just garlic, olive oil, soy sauce and salt.
- Our neighbor gave us a huge bag of Meyer lemons this weekend, so I wanted to make a lemon dessert before I juice them all - I freeze the juice. Larry opted for Lemon pound cake. Larry thought it was really, really good.

• BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad (California Pizza Kitchen Pasta, Salads, Soups and Sides, Larry Flax and Rick Rosenfield, p. 23)
• Lemon Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze (Inside America's Test Kitchen, p. 249)

The main reason I chose to make this chicken tonight was because I needed to make something quick that I didn't have to shop for. The snap peas had been in the refrigerator for a few days, so they needed to be consumed as well. The chicken was good. Not great, but good. I like butterflied chicken breasts because they cook evenly and don't get dried out.

• Grilled Butterflied Chicken Breasts with Cilantro-Lime Butter (Fine Cooking #65, July 2004, p. 86C)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Sautéed Sugar Snap Peas with Garlic and Onion

Fiyaz and Jay came for dinner tonight. This is one of Fiyaz's favorite dishes, and since he's headed off on a road trip for several months, it was the dish of choice. A description of this casserole is here.

- Tonight I made the casserole with ground turkey breast, and I used fresh mozzarella to top it off. It was really good. As tomatoes come into season, I may use fresh tomatoes instead of canned.
- I got terrific raspberries and blueberries at Costco for the crisp. I decided at the last minute to include blackberries as well. I added just a tiny bit of sugar to the fruit, so the crisp was slightly tart (everyone seems to like the fruit a little tart).

• Polish Lasagna (Sheri's Recipe Box)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Triple Berry Fruit Crisp with Crunch Crisp Topping (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p, 52)

Wine: Rafanelli 1997 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). One of our favorite Zinfandels, and 1997 was a fantastic vintage. Unfortunately, the bright fruit is fading and this wine is getting to the point where it's almost over-aged. We have one more bottle left, so we'll have to drink it soon.

Larry made dinner tonight. This pasta dish only took about an hour to make, start to finish. It was good - I especially liked the roasted tomatoes. It's been so long since we had garlic bread - mmm good.

• Penne with Chicken, Arugula, Roasted Tomatoes and Feta (Bon Apétit, March 2003)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

I've been meaning to make these soft tacos for the past week. The article has two other soft taco recipes in addition to the chicken - steak and fish. I'm really interested in the fish tacos, since they're baja style - yum. I really liked the filling for these tacos. I was a little unsure because of the bacon in it, but it turned out really nice.

I sautéed some onion and garlic, added the black beans and some chipotle powder and let that simmer for a while. Good and easy.

• Grilled Chicken Tacos Alambres (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 69)
• Tomatillo Salsa (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 68)
• Pico de Gallo (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 68)
• Guacamole (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 70)
• Black Beans

Wine: Rosenblum 2000 Continente Vineyard Zinfandel (San Francisco Bay, California). I didn't have this wine with dinner - I like beer or margaritas with my Mexican food. But I opened this yesterday and have had a glass before dinner for the past couple of nights. It's a huge, jammy Zin. Really nice.

I wasn't really up for cooking tonight, but since the days are getting longer and it was so warm today, Larry convinced me that we should grill some chicken.

• Grilled Thai Chicken (Fine Cooking #58, July 2003, p. 63)
• Rice Noodles (Cooking Light, March 2002, p. 186)

This recipe was on the cover of the recent issue of Food & Wine Magazine. It looked good to me - I've been craving spaghetti and meatballs, so I thought this would be a good substitute. It's in the "fast" section of the magazine - it says it takes 30 minutes to prepare, but it took me about an hour, thirty minutes of which was actual cooking time. I liked the end result, though - the mixture of ground beef and ground turkey was nice.

• Pappardelle with Red Wine & Meat Ragú (Food & Wine, February 2004, p. 98)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Wine: David Bruce 1999 Ranchita Canyon Sangiovese (Paso Robles, California). A really nice everyday red. Well balanced and stands up well to meat pasta.

Amy is here from Austin, so we had fun cooking dinner for Larry, Jay and Martin.

- Amy and I loved the chicken. Larry thought it was just okay. It was really easy to make.
- I think I like pureéd yukons with some celery root in there better than without. These were really nice.
- This is my favorite fennel recipe. The arugula with it is really nice.
- The consensus on the carrot cake was that my other version from Cook's Illustrated is better. I was leaning towards leaving the walnuts and dried currants out, but decided to go ahead and put them in at the last minute. Jay was the only one that liked the walnuts in the cake. I don't like carrot cake that much so I was so-so on it anyway.

• Chicken with Tarragon & Vermouth (Fine Cooking #63, March 2004, p. 42)
• Pureé of Yukon Gold Potatoes & Celery Root
• Fennel & Red Onion with Arugula (Fine Cooking 62, January 2004, p. 48)
• Ultimate Carrot Cake (Fine Cooking #63, March 2004, p. 42)

Wine:
- Ridge 2001 Llewelyn Zinfandel (Sonoma County, California). Yum! Big and juicy.
- David Bruce 2000 Windsor Gardens Pinot Noir (Russian RIver Valley, California). Good, but a poor follow-up after the Ridge.

I had leftover Napa cabbage, so I made Chinese Chicken Salad tonight. Normally I make this with iceberg lettuce, but it's just as good with Napa cabbage. This is a really good salad. I had an odd problem with frying the rice noodles tonight. I don't know if it was the package or the brand or what, but they didn't puff up like they should have.

• Madame Wu's Chinese Chicken Salad (Dear SOS: Thirty Years of Recipe Requests to the LA Times, Rose Dosti, p. 59)

Tonight's dinner was better than last night's special Valentine's Day meal. Jay came over so I wanted to do chicken or fish.

- I had a bunch of parsnips in the refrigerator and wanted to do something different with them. This soup is good. It lists cream as an optional ingredient. I think cream would have been a nice addition - added body to the soup, but I didn't add it. I tossed bread with olive oil, salt and pepper and baked it to make croutons rather than fry them as the recipe instructed. Jay really liked the soup.
- I did a similar stuffed chicken breast before, with Prosciutto, Parmesan and Sun-Dried Tomatoes. This one was better. I really like doing chicken like this - it's fast and relatively hands-off.
- The cauliflower was a big hit. I liked it this way, and so did Larry and Jay. Larry told me "this is a keeper".
- Amy made this tea cake last week and that made me want to make it again. She used poppyseeds instead of caraway seeds, and I did the same. Yum.

• Parnsip & Leek Soup (Fine Cooking #48, January 2002, p. 55)
• Chicken Breasts with Parmesan-Herb Stuffing (Fine Cooking #45, July 2001, p. 60)
• Roast Cauliflower with Shallots, Tarragon and Lemon (Fine Cooking #50, May 2002, p. 52)
• Lemon Tea Cake (Fine Cooking # 63, March 2004, p. 65)

Wine: Ridge 2001 Lytton Estate Grenache. Yum!

Martin, Jay and Fiyaz were here for dinner tonight. We went to the farmer's market today and stocked up on root vegetables, so I wanted to do some sort of chicken dish with the roasted vegetables. Most of tonight's dinner could be prepared ahead of time.

- The chicken breasts were very good and very easy. The article describes a basic technique and has a few stuffing recipes. I took them out of the oven at around 155 degrees instead of 165 like the article said - they were perfectly done (I cut into one to check). I like this method of searing the breasts skin-side down in cast iron before turning them over and finishing them in the oven.
- The root vegetables were really good. I'm loving parsnips. I also added some scarlet turnips for more color.
- The soufflés were a bit of work. I was glad I had prepped everything ahead of time so I could concentrate on whipping the whites and making the sugar syrup. They were excellent, though, and can be made ahead of time (up to a week ahead if you freeze them!) since they're made with an Italian merengue. I used frozen blackberries and raspberries. I'm definitely going to make them again - they'll be great for a dinner party.

• Smoked Trout Rillettes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 44)
• Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Prosciutto, Parmesan & Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #45, July 2001, p. 60)
• Roasted Medley of Winter Roots (Fine Cooking #48, January 2002, p. 56)
• Rustic Mashed Red Potatoes with Butter
• Berry Soufflés (Fine Cooking #19, March 1997, p. 71)

Wine: Langmeil 1999 Shiraz (Barossa Valley, Australia). We originally opened a Rosemount Grenache/Shriaz to go with the meal, but it wasn't good (bad storage, perhaps). I didn't like this wine with dinner at all. Too heavy. Not well-balanced. Martin thought it reminded him of pomegranite. I agree, but I don't like pomegranite!

Larry's out of town, so I treated myself to the last of my frozen chicken pot pies tonight.

I've been experimenting with cooking times. I think I've settled on 425 degrees for one hour with foil covering the pastry, then another 15 minutes uncovered. The foil keeps the pastry from getting too brown. I poked a fork in after an hour to see if it's done, but it usually is slightly cold in the middle, still.

Next time, I think I'll also try brushing the tops with an egg wash before putting them in the oven.

These are definitely better fresh, but still very good for a frozen dinner.

Although tonight's chicken recipe was from Fine Cooking's "Quick & Delicious" section, it took a bit of time to prep and prepare the roulades.

- I used Panko instead of regular bread crumbs, because that's all I had. They were still very good.
- These potatoes were excellent. Amazingly quick and easy and sooo good. Just olive oil, rosemary, and coarse salt in a cast iron pan, then put red potato halves on top and roast them. Wow!

• Chicken Roulades Stuffed with Goat Cheese & Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 86C)
• Skillet-Roasted Rosemary Potaotes (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 18)
• Mache salad with avocado, cherry tomatoes, baslamic vinegar, and olive oil

Wine: David Bruce 2000 Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley, California). Yum. One of the best Pinot producers around, right in our backyard (almost).

I made chicken pot pies tonight, Larry's request. This recipe is from Liberty Cafe, a restaurant in the Bernal Heights area of San Francisco. I've had the pot pies and Liberty Cafe, and I think they're excellent - better than any I've ever made. These take time. The dough for the top is a rough puff pastry, and it's kind of difficult to work with. The filling is relatively easy - roast a whole chicken with the vegetables, and use the pan drippings to make a gravy for the filling.

These freeze nicely. Tonight I made five pies (the recipe calls for six, but Larry thought they were a little small last time, although I couldn't finish mine tonight). I put two right into the oven for dinner, and I put the rest into coated paper ceral bowls. The cereal bowls work great. The pies can come straight out of the freezer and into the oven and the paper bowls don't burn.

A couple of years ago, Hilary and I spent an entire day making pot pies. We tripled the recipe and froze a bunch of them. It's a good rainy-day activity.

The turkey leftovers begin.

- The turkey cakes were really good. The turkey flavor isn't overpowering. They can be made ahead up to coating them with the cornmeal and cooking them.
- I don't have a recipe for black beans. I just sautée some onions, then add the black beans, cumin, and chili powder. I add chicken stock as needed to make them a little saucy.

• Turkey Cakes with Spicy Roasted Tomato Salsa (Fine Cooking #60, November 2003, p. 70)
• Refried black beans
• Guacamole

Fiyaz was here for Thanksgiving. I made a huge turkey - almost 21 pounds, because we like to have the leftovers.

- I've never followed a recipe for roasting turkey until last year, when I found this recipe. I love the deep carmel gravy that it makes. I double the amount of apple cider and chicken broth in the recipe.
- My dressing is a family recipe. It's a traditional dressing, and I really like it. It's base is Mrs. Cubbison's dressing and cornbread stuffing - a pouch of each. It also has chicken stock, fresh sage, eggs, parsley, celery, butter, and onion.
- I wanted to make some potatoes that were a little different. These were good, and even better after they set up a bit.
- My obsession with finding a pumpkin recipe that I can stomach continues. I was unsure about the coconut milk in this recipe. Larry said he likes plain pumpkin pie better. Fiyaz liked the pie.

• Butter-Rubbed, Cider-Glazed Roast Turkey (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 46)
• Poultry Dressing (Sheri's Recipe Box)
• Potatoes Mousseline (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 41)
• Herbed Dinner Rolls (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking 2004, p. 72)
• Pumpkin, Sweet Potato & Coconut Pie (Fine Cooking #60, November 2003, p. 75)
• Baby Spinach Salad with Croutons, Cherry Tomatoes, and Brianna's Poppyseed Dressing

Wine: Rafanelli 1998 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Yum, and great with the dinner.

My friend Steve from LA was in town and had dinner with us tonight. I made this chicken again but this time I roasted it in the oven. We decided that we like the flavor of it grilled better.

• Grilled Thai Chicken (Fine Cooking #58, July 2003, p. 63)
• Polenta with Goat Cheese and Fresh Sage (Fine Cooking #29, November 1998, p. 61)
• Baby Spinach Salad with Croutons and Brianna's Poppyseed Dressing

Wine: Chalone 2000 Pinot Noir (California, Paso Robles). This was our second bottle of this. The first was excellent. This one sat in my trunk on a hot day this summer, which did nothing good for the wine. Bleah.

This chicken was easy and so yummy! I think butterflied chicken is easier to do when it's roasted, but Larry likes the flavor of grilled better.

• Stephen Pyle's Butterflied Roast Chicken with Chile-Cinnamon Rub (Fine Cooking #47, p. 55)
• Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes
• Haricots Verts Sautéed with Shallots

Jay was here for dinner tonight. I've made this chicken once before and used it in a cold noodle salad. I liked it so much I decided to make it as the main dish.

- Although the chicken marinade has Asian flavors, I don't think the final result is necessarily very Asian. The chicken is butterflied whole and flattened for grilling. I love making whole chickens like this, and I think I'm going to do it more often. They can be grilled, roasted, or cooked in a pan on the stove. The advantage is that the dark and white meat both stay moist and cook at about the same rate.

• Grilled Thai Chicken (Fine Cooking #58, July 2003, p. 63)
• Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes
• Baby Spinach Salad with Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes and Breanna's Poppyseed Dressing
• Haricots Verts Sautéed with Shallots

Wine: Rafanelli 1997 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Normally, Rafanelli is one of my favorite wines. However, this bottle had a problem. I think it's the bottle itself, not the vintage. It was unbalanced and I thought it had a little fizz to it. It was drinkable, but not to Rafanelli standards.

Brad, Jeanine and Jay were here for dinner tonight. I had the option of making either chicken or vegetarian - Jeanine doesn't eat any other meat.

- Although the appetizers are from my "Fast Appetizers" book, I don't think anything involving phyllo dough can be considered fast. I've only made these with a warm goat cheese filling. This one had cranberries and orange zest and chives as well. They're pretty good.
- The chicken recipe calls for all thighs, but I used some large free-range breasts as well, since Larry doesn't like dark meat. It would have been better with just thighs, because the breasts just dry out too much. They were okay. I don't think I'll make this recipe again.
- The mushrooms are allegedly good. I don't like mushrooms, but everyone else seems to like these. I've only made these as an appetizer in the past, but tonight I served them as a side. Once the prep work is done, they hardly need any attention during the cooking.
- I took a tip from Amy and added chopped rosemary to the mashed potatoes. It adds a nice flavor.
- I am extremely pleased to announce the discovery of a pumpkin dessert that I like. Of course, this cake only had a half can of pumpkin in it, and it really doesn't taste like pumpkin at all. It was really good, though, and would make a nice breakfast.

• Beggar's Purses with Cranberry and Orange Zest Filling (Fast Appetizers, Hugh Carpenter, p. 83)
• Chicken Thighs Baked with Lemon, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (Fine Cooking #46, September 2001, p. 38)
• Catalan Mushrooms with Garlic and Parsley (Fine Cooking #46, September 2001, p. 37)
• Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes with Rosemary
• Hearts of Romaine with Caesar Dressing (The Best Recipe, p. 42)
• Pumpkin and Cornmeal Cake with Orange Syrup (Fine Cooking #60, November 2003, p. 78)

Wine: Rosenblum Vintner's Cuvee Blanc III (California). This is a nice, inexpensive white. We served this along with Rosenblum's red Cuvee Blanc for our housewarming party last year. I would have preferred a Pinot Noir with dinner.

I love roast chicken. It's the ultimate comfort food. Unfortunately, it's not Larry's favorite. However, since I made so many foods that I don't like, I told him we get to have roast chicken every once in a while. Jay was here for dinner tonight.

- This chicken is a lot of work, and because Larry's just lukewarm about it, I don't think I'll make it again. It's good, though. I made two chickens - Empire Kosher brand from Trader Joe's.
- I absolutely love delicata squash. I never take seconds of vegetables, but I love this technique. I bought another one at the store today. They taste like french fries when I make them like this.

• Garlic Roast Chicken (Fine Cooking #14, April/May 1996, p. 34)
• Delicata Squash Rings (Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, Deborah Madison, p. 440)
• Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes
• Baby Spinach Salad with heirloom tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil

Wine: David Bruce 2000 Brosseau Vineyard Pinot Noir (Chalone, California). Tastes like cherries. Excellent Pinot.

This dish comes together in about ten minutes if everything is prepped ahead of time. The prep work can be done up to eight hours ahead of time. Last time I made this, it was for Larry and Jay, and they both really liked it. This time, Larry thought it was just okay.

• Coconut Curry Chicken (Hot Wok, Hugh Carpenter, p. 38)
• Steamed Jasmine Rice

I wanted to make a quick chicken dish tonight. This can be prepped several hours ahead of time, and looks nice on the plate.

• Chicken in Creole Tomato Cream Sauce (Hot Chicken, Hugh Carpenter, p.57)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Baby arugula and cherry tomatoes dressed with a splash of balsamic vinegar and olive oil

This casserole is something my mom always made for us when I was growing up. This is what I think of when I think "family recipe". This is a homey, non-fancy casserole, but it's great to make ahead and is excellent left over. I usually make it just before we go on vacation, so whoever is staying over with Ginger has something they can just reheat for dinner. I put the casserole together yesterday, and just popped it in the oven to cook tonight. It consists of layers of shell pasta, ground meat mixture (ground turkey, mushrooms, tomatoes, onion, garlic), sour cream, and cheese (cheddar and mozzarella). The casserole obtained its name from an Italian I used to know, who was making reference to my heritage. I think the name fits.

- I've made a few changes to the casserole over the years, including switching to ground turkey instead of ground beef, I use fresh mushrooms instead of canned, and I used canned diced tomatoes instead of stewed tomatoes. I can think of a few other things to make it even better - fresh tomatoes in the summer, and fresh mozzarella.
- This is my best chocolate chip cookie so far. I have a few other recipes I'd like to try. The secret is good, fresh butter, and high quality chocolate chunks. I add walnuts to mine.

• Polish Lasagna (Sheri's Recipe Box)
• Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (Fine Cooking #56, March 2003, p. 55)

I received my new Alton Brown Salt Cellar today. Finally, I have a place to store kosher salt, and no more trying to pour salt into measuring spoons from the big box!

Jay came for dinner tonight. This is a good summer dish, even though it's a soup. It uses fresh vegetables, and I wanted to use up the last of the corn. It's my favorite tortilla soup. It can be made ahead and put together at the last minute. It's best when made with homemade chicken stock.

Draeger's San Mateo store used to sell a fresh mint gelato that I loved. I decided to try to duplicate it tonight. I didn't have a recipe, but I did find something on Epicurious. I followed my own basic gelato recipe, then looked to the Epicurious recipe to figure out how I should do the mint. Larry thought it was too minty. Jay and I liked it, and thought it was very refreshing. It's much more earthy than using mint extract. I have a Cuisinart electric ice cream maker, the kind with the cylinder that you freeze. It works really well. It's basically the same as my manual Donvier that I started out with years ago, but now I don't have to do anything but press "on".

• Tortilla Chicken Soup Ole (Hot Chicken, Hugh Carpenter, p. 23)
• Chicken Stock (Fine Cooking #48, January 2003, p. 94)
• Fresh Mint Gelato

For the gelato, I used two recipes as a reference:

- Cinnamon Gelato (How to Make Ice Cream, Cook's Illustrated, p. 83)
- Fresh Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (Gourmet, August 1998)

Fresh Mint Gelato
2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed fresh mint, chopped
4 large egg yolks

Combine the milk, cream, 1/2 cup sugar and mint in a heavy 2.5-quart saucepan set over medium heat. Bring mixture to 175 degrees, stirring occasionally to dissolve sugar.

Meanwhile, beat remaining 1/4 cup sugar and yolks in medium bowl, scraping down sides as needed, until mixture turns pale yellow and thickens so that it falls in ribbons, about 2 minutes with electric mixer on medium-high or 4 minutes with whisk.

Remove about 1/2 cup hot milk-cream-mint mixture from pan and slowly whisk into beaten yolk mixture. Gradually whisk thinned yolk mixture back into saucepan. Reduce heat to low and bring mixture to 180 degrees, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Custard should be thick but not curdled or boiled.

Remove saucepan from heat and let mint steep in milk mixture for 10 minutes. Pour custard through a fine-mesh strainer and into nonreactive bowl or container. Chill custard, its surface covered with plastic wrap, until cold, at least 3 hours and up to 1 day. Stir will and then pour custard into ice cream machine. Churn until frozed but still a bit soft. Transfer ice cream to nonreactive container, seal, and freeze until firm.

This chicken has a lot of flavor and can be easy to make. The lemon-garlic viniagrette was the most time-consuming part, but the chicken is excellent without it. The recipe includes sauteed/steamed veggies - I used leeks and asparagus.

• Lemon-Garlic Chicken (Mustards Grill Napa Valley Cookbook, Cindy Pawlcyn, p. 129)
• Steamed leeks and asparagus
• Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes

Wine:David Bruce 1999 Ranchita Canyon Sangiovese. I would have chosen a chardonnay for this meal, but the bottle was open. It's a really good wine and would be great with spaghetti and meatballs.

These are a quick and really delicious was to make chicken breasts. It's also different from the standard chicken breasts. The coleslaw was actually leftover from Thursday, and was still excellent - very crispy, even after two days.

• Island-Spiced, Pineapple-Glazed Grilled Chicken Breasts (Fine Cooking #59, September 2003, p. 33)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Creamy Coleslaw (The Best Recipe, p. 43)

Jay, Renee, and Rex came to dinner tonight. Larry asked for enchiladas (I think he was craving margaritas). This is a great make-it-ahead dinner, because most of the work can be done early... although it's still a lot of work.

- I like green sauce on my enchiladas. These are very simple and tasty.
- This is a really nice Mexican-style rice. I don't like the typical Spanish rice that's served in Mexican restaurants, but this one is different and really good.
- I usually make black beans with Mexican food, but I wanted to do something different, so I made refried pinto beans. The same technique can be used for black beans.
- My tart is a composite of different recipes. It's so pretty! The blueberries and raspberries are huge right now. I arrange them in concentric circles, then I brush them with slightly warm seedless berry preserves as a glaze.

• Chicken Enchiladas with Creamy Tomatillo Sauce (Fine Cooking #47, November 2001, p. 80)
• Arroz Verde (Fine Cooking #35, November 1999, p. 45)
• Classic Mexican Fried Beans with Onions and Garlic (Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen, Rick Bayless, p. 237)
• Raspberry-Blueberry Tart (Sweet Tart Pastry: The America's Test Kitchen Cookbook, p. 276; Mascarpone Filling: Fine Cooking #21, July 1997, p. 57)

Margaritas

I've been doing pizza on the grill for years now. I got the idea from the recipe listed below, but I usually just make up toppings as I go. The best thing about grilled pizza is that everything can be done on the grill.

- The secret to successful pizzas on the grill is simplicity. Too many toppings just overwhelms the pizza.
- I buy my pizza dough from Trader Joe's. It's really good, very cheap, and a lot easier than making my own.
- I used a pre-shredded four cheese mixture for the chicken pizza, just because it's easy. I don't use a lot of cheese.

• Grilled Pizza with Tomato-Balsamic Sauce and Chicken (Fine Cooking #15, June/July 1996, p. 57)
• Grilled Pizza with grilled tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, basil, and parmesan cheese

Wine:Ridge 2000 Buchignani Ranch Zinfandel (Sonoma, California). Zin is a great wine for pizza. And few wineries do Zin better than Ridge. Excellent.

I was not motivated to make dinner tonight. Fine Cooking magazine to the rescue, their Fast and Delicious feature is excellent and I usually find something good. Tonight was no exception, and it came together very quickly.

• Fettucine with Chicken, Goat Cheese, and Spinach (Fine Cooking #55, January 2003, p. 98C)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

This is a good summer salad. The chicken and the bulgur need to be cooked, but that's the extent of the cooking for this dish. Larry's not totally crazy about it, but I love avocado and I love bulgur.

• Chicken and Bulgur Salad with Avocado (Food and Wine, September 2002)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Wine:White Oak 1999 Russian River Chardonnay. Larry and I generally don't like the typically heavily-oaked California Chardonnays, but this is a pretty good wine. When it's hot out, a chilled white wine is really refreshing.

I love cold Asian-style noodles, so I thought I'd try some tonight since it's been so warm.

- The chicken for the salad is very good on its own. It's butterflied and grilled - one of my favorite ways to cook a whole chicken.
- The salad was good, not great. Part of the problem was the spicy dressing, which bothers my always-chapped lips.

• Cool Rice Noodles with Chicken (Fine Cooking #58, July 2003, p. 65)

Mark and Catherine and Fiyaz came for dinner for Independence Day.

- The phyllo appetizers are fairly quick to make and are an excellent freezer item. I usually make a variety of fillings and freeze a bunch of them to have whenever people come over.
- Everyone flips out over this guacamole.
- Both burgers are excellent. I'm always looking for an especially flavorful way to make turkey burgers, and these were just that. They seemed more like beef to me. The mushroom burgers aren't just a grilled portobello slapped on a bun - it's a burger-like patty made up of chopped and sliced cooked mushrooms. I hate mushrooms, but I love these.
- This is the best pasta salad I've ever had. It's full of flavor (sometimes pasta salads are bland) and it captures summer perfectly.
- The basil vinaigrette is just okay.
- The fruit crisp can be made with many kinds of fruit - the Fine Cooking article that I use is excellent because it gives general guidelines for putting together a crisp, rather than a specific recipe.

• Tortilla chips with New Age Guacamole (Fast Appetizers, Hugh Carpenter, p. 22)
• Phyllo Triangles with Goat Cheese-Peppercorn Filling (Fast Appetizers, Hugh Carpenter, p. 84)
• Oaxacan Turkey Burgers with Chipotle Salsa (Food & Wine, June 2003, p. 134)
• Wild Mushroom "Burgers" (Mustards Grill Napa Valley Cookbook, Cindy Pawlcyn, p. 151)
• Grilled Cherry Tomato Pasta with Crisp Breadcrumbs and Basil (Fine Cooking #46, September 2001, p, 51)
• Grilled vegetables (scallions, king oyster mushrooms, bell peppers, and eggplant) with Basil Vinaigrette (Fine Cooking #34, August/September 1999, p. 42)
• Vanilla ice cream with Cherry-Blueberry Fruit Crisp with Crunch Crisp Topping (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p, 52)

Wine: Valley of the Moon 2000 Pinot Blanc. Not bad.
Margaritas