Sauerkraut

Cabbage, salt, boiling water, time in a jar. After one week kraut not so sauer. Still quite yummy. Very cabbage & good with caraway. We will try the second jar in a few weeks. And I will post the results.

Favorite Song (led to in a more or less direct way by my favorite radio station):

Sean Hayes- One Day the River

Fennel Coleslaw

Another delicious slaw. Man, I love fresh fennel.

Thinly slice one quarter head of a large cabbage, one bulb of fennel (cored), & one quarter up onion. Toss together.

Whisk together one quarter cup mayonnaise, one & one half tbsp apple cider vinegar, one & one half tbsp honey, one tbsp chopped fresh parsley, one half tbsp Dijon mustard, and one half tsp fennel leaves. Pour over vegetables & toss until coated.

Refrigerate until ready to serve. So refreshing!

Favorite Song (from my favorite radio station): The Bevvy Sisters- The Littlest Birds

Fish Tacos with Creamy Cilantro Slaw

I think I found a new favorite food or really two new foods.

To make these fish tacos we used a lovely snapper. The recipe also recommends rockfish or tilapia. I haven't tried rockfish, but I don't feel like the tilapia texture would be quite so satisfying nor do I feel its subtle flavor would come through the spices the way the snapper's did.

To begin, make a mix of spices in a small bowl. 4 tsp chili powder, 2 tsp ground cumin, & 1/4 tsp red pepper (optional).

Then cut the snapper into one inch pieces. Dredge them in the spice mix. Then put them in oil that has already been brought up to medium high heat. Cook for about one minute on each side, or until brown & cooked through.

That's all there is to it!

Before I made the fish I also made the creamy cilantro slaw to go with it.

Mix 1/4 cup plain yogurt, 1/4 cup mayonnaise, half a lime's juice, half a bunch of cilantro stems & leaves chopped, a few teaspoons dill, one clove of garlic chopped, & 2 cups of finely chopped cabbage.

The creamy cilantro tang is the perfect counterpart to the spicy deep taste of the snapper. Not to mention the crispness pairs well with the flakiness of the fish.

The textures in the complete taco are as enjoyable as the flavors, & both are spot on.

It was a good Sunday for us. Guacamole & bean dip while vaguely watching the super bowl. Individual projects with occasional glances across the room. Some serious conversations & some good laughs. All in all, a day of winning combinations.

Favorite Song (from my favorite radio station): Capercaillie- The Tree

Winter-Night Borscht

I've got to say, this was my favorite borscht yet. It manages to not be too watery, or too beety, or too meaty, or too anything! And I love the hints of bay leaf, dill, & parsley.

Start with a large soup pot & brown one pound of stew-beef (or chicken) with one chopped medium onion for ten minutes. I only used half a pound of beef. Then add 8 cups of water (I substituted one of the eight with one cup of chicken broth), one shredded half-head of cabbage, one cup of chopped beets, one chopped carrot, two chopped potatoes, one half cup pearl barley, two bay leaves & salt/pepper. Bring to a boil. Then simmer for 30 minutes.

Then add one half cup each of beet greens, fresh dill, & fresh parsley. (The first two are optional, but I thought they were great.) Simmer for another ten minutes.

I garnished with fresh parsley & plain yogurt.

We ate while watching an episode of Psych, pausing to look at each other to laugh quite often. It is filmed in Vancouver, Canada & we daydream together sometimes of living in Vancouver, Washington some day.

After dinner it was off to my parents' house... chasing away a bit of our feeling of being trapped in by recent weather & bringing us into good company beside a crackling fire.

Favorite Song (from my favorite radio station): Jez Lowe- Jack Common's Anthem

Au Gratin Cabbage

1. Shred 2 cups of cabbage. Grate one half cup of carrots. Slice one third cup green onions. Saute until "crisp-tender".

2. Transfer to one quart baking dish.

3. Mix together one half cup milk, one egg, & three tablespoons cheese. Pour over cabbage, etc.

4. Bake thirty minutes at 350.

More like a fritatta than au gratin, but still satisfying.

A warm meal & hot mulled cider on a cold night, followed by the comforts of phone calls, couch, sheepskin, cats, & togetherness.

Favorite Song (on my favorite radio station during prep time): Bellowhead- Cold Blows the Wind

Comfort Rice-Dish

As we were sampling the beet salad, we had "Bounty Rice" baking in the oven.

There were several variations of this recipe. The one I originally meant to try was cooked on the stove. However, it called for sour cream and we'd used all of ours in the dilly bean soup. Below this variation was a "Cajun" version made on the stove without sour cream. The variation I opted for was essentially the same as the original, minus the sour cream, & baked in the oven.

This dish may not sound like it, but it is usually served with Italian flavors. Tomatoes, garlic, basil, oregano, & mozzarella. The recipe calls for beef or pork, and since we've had the perfect amount of beef sitting in our freezer for a few weeks now, I opted for that.

On a tangent, we are not vegetarians. However, we find meat is often an extra cost and we love vegetables. For example, for this week's groceries we spent our same weekly budget for groceries. We came away with, in all seriousness, five more bags of groceries than the week before. So much of it vegetables!

So this is just to say, I like this book because most of the recipes don't have or are light on the meat & dairies. I would take it a step further and say that in most cases these recipes could be easily adapted to a vegetarian or even vegan lifestyle.

The recipe did not call for fresh fennel, though some of the recipes up ahead in the book do. I think I would like to try this dish with the fennel next time and also with Italian sausage in place of the beef. Ah, but I'm getting ahead of myself...

This dish was amazing. Definitely a comfort food for any cold night. It was like lasagna, only with less cheese, less meat, rice & Brussels sprouts!

Really the recipe called for cabbage not Brussels sprouts. We had some of the sprouts left over from a good sale a few weeks ago where we picked up four pounds of the little cabbages. Cabbage would have been much easier to prepare for this dish. I opted to use what I had, in the spirit of this cookbook, but would generally find the cabbage more practical.

I am so glad to add this dish to my list of foods to snap together & dig into when there are troubles or coldness in our world.

Favorite Song (on my favorite radio station during prep time): Steeleye Span- Captain Coulston