OMG....a new blog.....what a shock!

You know that feeling you get when you make something with your own two hands that you really can enjoy? I forgot how good that feels. I need to cook more.

When Mike was out of a town a few weeks ago I didn't do any cooking.....zip, zil, nada. But when he came home he brought me this book:

 I think this cookbook is based on this blog. It's pretty neat and has a log of tips for how to deal with your fresh (or not so fresh) catch. So back on the first of the month I decided to try one of the poached grouper recipes:

It came out really good and the left over veggies from the poaching liquid made a nice topping for the steamed veggies. And, no, I did not make the bread. It's sad, I know. I got the rolls on discount at a WalMart bakery.

The following day I still had some cooking fever in me, but not to the point where I wanted to stand in front of the hot stove. So I tried this slow cooker recipe to use up some country style beef short ribs I had:

I know it doesn't look very appetizing, but it was good with just the right amount of spice. I just need to learn how to time my rice cooker  right to match up with dinner time!

Then, on the 6th, after watching Rachael Ray make some sort of meatloaf burger things, Mike was inspired to make a similar thing with turkey. And thus we have the turkey meatloaf burger:

Of course we had no buns, but they were excellent just by themselves. Mike used mozzarella cheese and basil in them which made them even that much more excellent. And they tasted even better a few days later.
Yum-o  :)

And finally tonight. I had planned on roasting a chicken tonight so I invited the neighbor over (she bailed at the last minute, but I still made everything I planned on). Earlier in the day I made a blueberry strawberry crumble with walnut topping using the recipe from this month's Food Network magazine. Before:

And after:

Delicious! I sort of want to try the variation with cornmeal. I would have never thought to use cornmeal for a crumble. Using a variation of the lemon roast chicken recipe from the Feast book I talked about last blog we have tonight's chicken. Before:

And after:

And I paired the chicken with the rice-pasta pilaf recipe also from this month's Food Network magazine:

Wonderful! I am glad I made everything because it was a great dinner and now we have home made left overs for the rest of the week....the best kind of left overs. And I will also be making chicken stock tomorrow using my leftover carcass. I love home made chicken stock!

Until next time, please enjoy this photo of a little tree frog who has taken residence above the left half of our sliding glass doors: