A blog about food, and a little about reading, and some sewing, and I might even knit something.
For as long as I can remember, I have wanted a Mary statue in my yard. My mom, found me one, and on a trip home to St. Louis, we scooped her up and brought her back to Tennessee. I remember my mom saying, that we could freshly paint her because she was in sad shape. No way. I love her worn beauty.
As a rule, I do not buy prepackaged or processed foods very often. There is one exception. Not that I buy it that often, but when I want it, I don’t hesitate to buy it. That is…frozen tortellini. Yes, some of you who have been reading my blog for awhile, may remember me lamenting my lack of the Kitchen Aid Pasta Attachment. I just HAD to have it. So, I got it. I think that was 3 years ago. How many times have I made pasta? zero.
I have the feeling that even if I ever do make pasta, I will not be making cute little filled tortellini. It will be nice and easy flat pasta, cut a little unevenly, and only slightly recognizable.
So, back to buying frozen tortellini. It is the very best thing to have in your freezer. You can cover it with a jarred red sauce, you can make a quick garlic butter sauce, or you can take a few extra steps and make, Tortellini with Butternut Squash, Mushrooms, and Fontina from Real Simple.
This was really a perfect fall dish (yes I know it’s no longer fall), but our grocery store is still carrying plenty of winter squash. I did feel it was a little dry and perhaps needed some kind of sauce.
I’m not going to type it all in, since all you have to do is click on the link above, zip on over to real simple and see if it floats your boat.
I’m curious though, if you were going to put a little saucey sauce on it, what would you use. Because honestly…butternut squash, mushrooms, cheese…I can’t let it go.
Alto Agrelo, Sweet White, Argentina, 2010, $5.99, Total Wine and More. They say: nose-green apple, pineapple, and citrus. Taste – fresh and lovely, sweet. We say: very sweet, fruity, creamy. We gave it an 86, because it is pretty much what they say. Buy again – if we need a dessert wine or are in the mood for a sweet wine.
Coco said, “ahhh, the focus is much better on this photo.”
Smudge is glad he grew all his hair back in time for winter.
This will be my entry for Weekend Cat Blogging hosted by nobody. I’m not sure what is happened to the person in charge of this, but I emailed in December saying that I would be willing to host, and nothing has happened to the schedule. I’ll post my kitties on Saturdays no matter what, but I wish we could get this organized. EDITED to ADD that a host has been assigned for this weekend: Paulchen's Food Blog.
This will be my entry for The Saturday Pet Blogger Hop!
Yesterday I promised you my first recipe with my oh-so-beautiful Rancho Gordo beans. With my shipment of beans, they included Heirloom Beans: Great Recipes for Dips and Spreads, Soups and Stews, Salads and Salsas, and Much More from Rancho Gordo. After pouring through the recipes I settled on Risotto and Cranberry Beans with Pancetta.
The first thing I discovered when making this recipe was that my sweet little grocery store, Greenlife Grocery, which later was bought and became a Whole Foods had gotten rid of their deli meat counter. I loved that counter. Pancetta, prosciutto, chorizo, it was all there. But now, no more. So instead I had to go to the packaged meats section, where there was no pancetta. Now, I know that you can sub bacon or ham for prosciutto or pancetta, but I can never remember which is which. So, I got Coppa. I have no idea what it was, other than it ended in an “a'” and pancetta ended in an “a” – yes that is how I make substitutions. Whatever. It was good. This whole recipe was wonderful!
Risotto and Cranberry Beans with Pancetta
In a saucepan over medium heat, bring the broth to a simmer.
In a large, heavy skillet over medium heat, melt the butter with the olive oil. Add the pancetta and the onion and saute for about 10 minutes, or until golden. Add the celery and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the rice and stir to coat. Increase the heat to medium-high, add the wine, and stir until most of the wine has been absorbed. Add the broth, 1/2 cup at time, stirring. As each addition is absorbed, add another.
Total cooking time is about 40 minutes. The rice should be creamy with a bit of bite in the middle, but not chalky. If you need extra broth, dilute it with a bit of water.
When the rice is just short of being done, and there are only about 1 or two additions of broth left, add the beans and 1/2 cup of their broth, and stir until warmed through. When the rice is done, turn off the heat and stir in the parsley and parmesan cheese, season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serves 6
This will be my entry for Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum!
Last year, I made two resolutions: win the lottery and be joyful. I succeeded in being as joyful as I could without actually winning the lottery. So, I have carried those two over to this year, added my word of the year “create” and included one more to the list. Eat more beans.
As a special education teacher, I can tell you that a goal that simply includes the word “more” is not a good goal. “More” can not be measured. So, I knew I had to do something to make “more” happen, without actually clarifying it in a poundage amount. Enter Rancho Gordo’s Year of Beans. For a short while last year, they offered a year of beans, where you signed up to receive a shipment of beans every few months. In that shipment would be beans (of course), and a special treat. This would guarantee “more”.
Above is my first shipment. Isn’t it beautiful.
Tune in tomorrow, same time, same bat channel to find out what I do with these. It’s good, I promise.
You’re looking at December 15, 2009. I don’t know. Chicken? Boneless pork chop? Looks like sweet potatoes and red onions on top of something yellowy. I really have no clue
***What Was it Wednesday – my attempt to work my way through my backlog of cooking photos.
