Winter Warm Up

It has been COLD here. I'm talking about subzero temperatures. On such days I find respite in a steamy warm kitchen. Recently SB and I made homemade pasta with homemade sauce. We were so ready to eat by the time it was done that we didn't take a photo! ;) I can't wait to introduce my 4-year-old niece to pasta making. She will love it.

We got a pressure cooker for Christmas and are testing out recipes in the booklet that came with it. So far the chicken noodle soup was delicious, as was BBQ pulled pork. Our chili didn't really turn out, mostly because it didn't call for beans or as many veggies as we like. A largely meat chili doesn't have the same great texture of beans and veg. Just sayin'.

We tried a quesadilla recipe that was fun and tasty. We always eat tacos - never quesadillas. This recipe is a bit labor intensive for a quesadilla -- roasting peppers on the stove top and then separately charring cauliflower in a cast-iron pan -- but I enjoyed the extra steps and it made the final product more satisfying. The recipe came from Smitten Kitchen. You can find it here.

charred cauliflower quesadillas with a simple lime-y slaw

Tonight we made a tried and true winter favorite - a miso soup with veggies and kidney beans (it also has cauliflower in it -- I guess we're into cauliflower these days!). The recipe was previously posted on this blog. You can find it here.

nothing beats the smell of mirepoix...
the base of this miso soup and so many other things.
ONION, garlic, celery and carrots

Speaking of the glory of onions, my aforementioned niece loves chives. She refers to the chives at my parents' house as "the eating plant" and happily plucks a few and chews on them every time she is at their house. Love it.

More soon...