Been eating a lot more meat lately. I had visions of throwing a roast in the slow cooker and it turning into something magically amazing. Turns out there are a few extra steps, but they are worth the effort.

Made panna cotta for the inlaws tonight.  Used Martha’s basic recipe, but added some lemon zest to steep then topped with macerated blueberries.  Easy and a crowd pleaser even if I didn’t leave enough time for it to set properly.

I’ve been looking for a tomato pie recipe for a while, and we finally found this one. Just in time for the end of the season.

This dish came together really by accident, but it was so good and so easy I need to be sure I don’t forget about it.

It was basically just a gratin. I sliced one eggplant and probably five or so tomatoes. Layered them in a large skillet then topped with a mixture of breadcrumbs, parmesan, and EVOO. Into the oven for about 40 mins, with foil on for the second half.

I was trying to make pasta with carmelized onions as the main dish, but it turned out pretty bland. So we scooped the gratin on top of the pasta instead, and tada! Screw the onions. I’ll make plain pasta next time for a crazy-easy dinner.

I imagine, is something like living inside a giant mound of panna cotta and lazily eating your way out. (In hell there’s a time limit.) I think I’ve posted this recipe  for vanilla honey panna cotta from Martha Stewart before, but it’s worth repeating.

Surprisingly good.  Basically onion rings with fennel. Parboil the bulb, then slice and dip in egg and then a breadcrumb/parmesan mixture.  We had it with steak and mushy peas with carrots tonight.  Perfect antidote to a craptacular day.

We’ve had gobs of strawberries on hand, and we’ve been trying out different pound cake recipes for something to eat under them.  These are two good ones:

• Sour cream pound cake
• Cream cheese pound cake with strawberry coulis

We finished the latter off yesterday, and now, with no sweets in the house, we are forced to resort to Dave’s amazing rice pudding.

We were out of bread this am, and I knew if I headed to Von’s I’d come back with donuts. I wasn’t ready to roll biscuits, but this drop version came out great.  In twenty minutes flat.

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 cups chilled heavy cream

18 mins @ 400.

We waited the full 6 months, though she was interested earlier.  And we’ve been taking the conservative route, starting with rice cereal.  But that brought on vicious constipation, so I added in apples before I was planning too.  She’s doing great, and I can’t wait to ditch the cereals and do all whole foods instead.  I was worried about iron, but plan to make sure we include iron rich foods, rather than continuing with the baby food. I’m the tiniest bit worried about a patch of dry skin that might be eczema, but otherwise things are going great.  Here’s what she’s had:

• rice cereal with milk
• rice cereal with milk and grated apple
• sweet potato
• oatmeal
• a tiny bite of a crust of bread (I felt sorry for her)
• some blackberry jam (I looked away for half a second!)

Up next: avacado, peas, pears, and more grains, like quinoa and amarinth.  First though I think I’ll be adding blackstrpa molasses to her oatmeal (and mine).

We tried to be super-economical and green on the gift front this year.  We skipped my side of the family entirely (except for the kiddos, who all got used books). We’re visiting Dave’s side, and since I knew there would be a flood of gifts for Emily I didn’t want to show up empty-handed.

I wrapped up a book I enjoyed this year for Dave’s mom and some yarn and knitting needles I haven’t touched in a while for his sister.  Then I got all crafty on the rest.  Bought some nice tins from Ikea and filled the largest one with the makings for chai tea (recipe below) for Doria. Filled the medium one with my own blend of Herbes de Provence (recipe below) for his dad and then filled the smallest with Giardelli Chocolate’s blend of hot chocolate.  I figured I’d spend too much buying all the ingredients to make my own and would end up throwing out a lot of dried milk, so I just cheated.

I also bought some small glass jars to fill with homemade bath salts for the ladies.  My original batches failed.  I put some basil and lemon in with one batch of epsom salts and lemon and ginger in with another.  The first batch smelled awful.  I think the basil rotted a bit.  The second smelled tasty in a weird way but not like something you would bathe in.  So I cheated again and filled the bottles with fresh salt and added a healthy drop in each one of some fancy schmancy bath gels I had around.

Throw in some meat rub for Dave’s dad purchased from a friend and the obligatory Baby’s FIrst Christmas ornament for Dave’s mom and all in all I think we did pretty good.

Laura’s do it yourself Herbes de Provence Blend

* 6 tablespoons  dried oregano
* 6 tablespoons dried thyme
* 4 tablespoons dried, crushed lavender
* 4 teaspoon dried basil
* 3 teaspoon dried sage
* 3 teaspoon dried, crushed rosemary

Doria’s Famous Soy Chai Latte

Boil 5 minutes, then steep 10 minutes:
1 Tbsp fennel or anise seed
6 green cardamom pods
12 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1/4″ ginger root, sliced thin
1/4 tsp pepper corns
2 bay leaves
7 Cups water

Add, bring to a boil, and simmer 5 minutes:
2 Tbsp Darjeeling tea

Add:
6 Tbsp honey or brown sugar
1 Cup soy milk

Yum!

It’s Thanksgiving.  This is our first with baby, and we’re lucky to have Dave’s sister in town too.  We have a traditional turkey dinner planned, and I hope to keep up my tradition of making cassoulet with the leftovers.

Saturday – Tomato pie and a nice big salad.  (I’ll probably cheat and use a pre-made pie crust. Or even phillo.  Unless I can talk Dave into prepping the dough…)

Sunday – Potato chowder.  I’m gonna try it in the crockpot.  I think I’ll pre-cook the bacon and sautee the aromatics, then throw it all in.

Monday – salmon, rice (make extra for Tuesday), creamed dandelion greens

Tuesday – Lazy stuffed cabbage

Wednesday – pasta primavera and salad

THANKsGIVING!!! – Turkey, fancy mashed sweet potatoes, fancy greenbeans, canned cranberry, dinner rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy, mmm mmm mmmmm pumpkin pie!

Friday – bobbies, duh!

Saturday – cassoulet.  I use Elizabeth’s Rozin’s recipe in Ethnic Cuisine.  My snootie French friend says it tastes like the real thing.