Winter has flung itself upon us and, as my husband snowblows the driveway and I stay toasty inside, I keep thinking about the amazing meal we enjoyed during this week’s Ladies’ Night.

Abbie riffed on a Cooking Light recipe and created an amazing beef stew, K made a sweet salad with bleu cheese and honey, and I supplied some girly beer, because who drinks wine with stew? It didn’t seem right.

The stew was delicious – and we all marveled at the potato-like parsnips that would surely go unnoticed by certain men who don’t regularly eat their veggies.

Abbie’s Beef Stew

• 3 center-cut bacon slices, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2-2.5 lbs stew beef, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 C chopped onions (about 2 medium)
• 5 C sliced button mushrooms (10-12 oz)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 T all-purpose flour
• 1 (12 oz) bottle dark beer
• 2 C (1/2-inch thick) sliced carrots
• 2 C (1/2-inch hick) sliced parsnips or potatoes
• 1 1/4 C beef broth, divided
• 2 T dijon mustard
• 1/4 C ketchup
• 2 T Worcestershire
• 2 tsp salt
• 1.5 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 2 bay leaves

1.  Cook bacon in a large skillet over med-high heat until crisp.
Remove bacon from pan, reserve drippings; set aside. Add half
of beef to drippings in pan; cook 5 min, browning meat on all sides.
Remove beef from pan and repeat with remaining beef.

2. Add onion to pan; saute 4 minutes. Stir in mushrooms, garlic,
and 1/4 C beef broth; saute 4 minutes or until half of liquid is evaporated. Stir in flour; cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3.  Transfer beef/mushroom mixture to separate large bowl and add
remaining ingredients, stirring to combine. Set meat mix aside to prepare
vegetables. Cut up carrots and parsnips, place in large crockpot. Pour
meat mixture over vegetables. Cook on low setting for 8 hours or high
for 4 hours, stir occasionally during the last hour. Serve hot with good buns!

For dessert we had chocolate chip coffee cake, right out of the oven.

That recipe will make an appearance soon!

Snuggle up,

Tuesday’s dinner with the ladies was long-awaited and absolutely fabulous. Due to illness, we hadn’t met in several weeks, so I wanted this dinner to be special. Unfortunately, I was short on time, so I defaulted to one of my favorite easy dishes: frozen wild mushroom ravioli.

I made the sauce from scratch, though – and let me tell you, it made the meal. YUM.

Mushroom Ravioli with Creamy Sun-dried Tomato Sauce

• 3 packages of frozen mushroom ravioli
• 4 sun-dried tomatoes (8 halves), finely chopped
• 8 oz smoked gouda (shredded)
• 1/4 c butter
• 1/4 c flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1 tsp granulated garlic powder
• salt and pepper
• 2 tomatoes, chopped

Cook ravioli per instructions on package.
Make a white sauce: melt the butter in saucepan; once melted, add flour and whisk to combine. Cook for 3 minutes. Add milk and heat until thickened.

Stir in gouda, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Whisk until creamy. Add a little more milk if sauce is too thick. This should take about 5 – 8 minutes to fully come together. Pour over the top of ravioli and garnish with chopped tomatoes.

We paired the pasta with some pinot grigio and Abbie’s delicious girlfriend salad and rosemary rolls. Yikes – I ate at least 3.

To finish the delightful meal, K produced her fabled red velvet layer cake.

I’ll let her share the recipe

**************

Hello, lovelies! Mushroom ravioli, creamy gouda sauce, gourmet rolls, let me tell you – it was a hard act to follow! Luckily, I pulled out my secret weapon: red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and milk chocolate. Because I love you, I will share my top secret recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 mode of transportation
• 1 Super-Target store
• Approximately $6.00

Utilize your mode of transportation and travel to your nearest Super-Target store. Make your way to the bakery department (generally turn left immediately upon entering the store). Locate the cake in the refrigerated case. Head to the check-out, choose the shortest line. Hand over approximately $6.00. Go on your merry way. Slice and serve chilled.

Julia Child has nothing on me.

Happy Wednesday, and don’t skimp on the gouda,

and

Tuesday’s dinner with the girls was delicious this week. I mean, it always is, but now that I can smell and taste again, it seemed particularly enjoyable.

Here are the recipes, so you can be like us. Just don’t make a bunch of whole-grain spaghetti to serve under the chicken and then forget that it is keeping warm in the microwave. Because then you’ll find it the next morning and feel slightly stupid.

Not that I did that.

Anyway, recipes:

Bruschetta Stuffed Chicken

• 1 can (14-1/2 oz.) Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1-1/4 cups  KRAFT Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese, divided
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1 pkg.  (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken
• 8 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (2 lb.)
• 1/3 cup  KRAFT Roasted Red Pepper Italian with Parmesan Dressing

1. Heat oven to 350ºF.

2. Mix tomatoes, 1/2 cup cheese and basil in medium bowl. Add stuffing mix; stir just until moistened.

3. Place 2 chicken breasts in large freezer-weight resealable plastic bag. Pound with meat mallet or side of heavy can until chicken is 1/4 inch thick. Remove from bag; place, top-sides down, on cutting board. Repeat with remaining chicken. Spread chicken with stuffing mixture. Starting at 1 narrow end, tightly roll up each breast. Place, seam-sides down, in 13×9-inch baking dish. Drizzle with dressing.

4. Bake 40 min. or until chicken is done. Sprinkle with remaining cheese; bake 5 min. or until melted.

5. Serve as is or on a bed of whole-grain pasta that you put in the microwave to stay warm. Don’t forget about it.

6. Eat and eat.

And here is Abbie’s delightful Girlfriend Salad:

• 1 C dried cherries/craisins/whathaveyou
• 5 C spinach or whatever lettuce you love
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 C feta cheese, crumbled or cubed
• 1 C toasted pecans

Dressing (to be chilled before tossing):

• 5 T sugar
• 3 T red wine vinegar
• 1/2 C oil
• 1 tsp minced onion
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp dry mustard
• juice of 1/2 orange

Hope you have a lovely Thursday,

White Chicken Chili

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts–cooked and shredded (when cooking, place on baking sheet, sprinkle with salt & garlic powder, and bake at 350 for 25 min or until no longer pink–then shred to prepare for chili)

5 C water

2 Tbsp salted butter (real deal, no fake-o schtuff)

1 large yellow onion, chopped

2 celery ribs, chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded & minced

3/4 C all-purpose flour

3 (16 oz) cans great northern beans, drained

2 (4.5 oz) cans chopped green chiles

1 C chicken broth

1 Tbsp cumin

1 bay leaf

1 tsp salt

1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 C fresh cilantro, chopped OR 1 Tbsp dried (not, not, not the same as fresh though)

–Melt butter in large dutch oven (or soup pot).  Saute onions, celery, & jalapeno over med heat until tender (about 3-5 min).

–Add flour & 1/4 C of the chicken broth to saute mixture and stir evenly with wooden spoon until mixed thoroughly.  Once flour is evenly distributed throughout, add rest of ingredients through red pepper flakes (not cilantro).  Bring to a boil, boil 5 min, then turn heat to low and let simmer until thickened, stirring occasionally.  Add cilantro just before serving.

–Serve garnished with a dollop of sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese and/or freshly minced chives

As J said – perfect comfort food!

Hope you’re not chilly,

For our girls’ night this week, Abbie made us a delicious, warm, filling meal. We started with dark, leafy greens, pears, walnuts, bleu cheese, cranberries, and honey, with some soft multigrain bread:

Next was white chicken chili, finished with yogurt and some green onions. It. Was. Amazing.

There was, of course, wine.

The dessert, though, is what I really want to tell you about. Abbie made the Barefoot Contessa’s Pear, Apple & Cranberry Crisp. She brought it over and baked it while we ate dinner. The smell was heavenly.

With some yummy crumble topping:

And, finally, warm from the oven and perfected by vanilla ice cream:

Do yourself a favor and make this. Or have Abbie come over and make it for you. It worked out well for me.

Pear, Apple & Cranberry Crisp

• 2 pounds ripe Bosc pears (4 pears)
• 2 pounds firm Macoun apples (6 apples)
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Topping:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Peel and core the pears and apples and cut them into large chunks. Place the fruit in a large bowl and toss with the cranberries, zests, juices, granulated sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pour into a 9 by 12 by 2-inch baking dish.

For the topping, combine the flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal, and cold butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the mixture is in large crumbles. Sprinkle evenly over the fruit, covering the fruit completely.

Place the baking dish on a parchment-lined sheet pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until the top is brown and the fruit is bubbly. Serve warm.

Warm thoughts,