Parsley and Rice Soup

Parsley and Rice Soup

I had a bunch of parsley in the fridge dying to be used.  I figured why not make a soup with it?  I started planning.  At first I was going to use potatoes, but then decided on rice instead.  Onions, carrots, and celery were a given.  Simple seasoning of salt and pepper worked out great.

Broccoli Bell Pepper Salad

Broccoli Bell Pepper Salad

To accompany Guinea Pig's amazing Korean BBQ Ribs, I decided to make a salad.  The dressing for this one envolved soy sauce, peanut butter, and honey.

At first I was a bit worried about the chunks of broccoli and how they would go together with the ribs, but my worries were unfounded.  I almost licked the bowl clean.

Needless to say that I will be making this again very soon.  Good thing I only made half the recipe and still have all the needed fix-ins.

Korean BBQ Ribs

Korean BBQ Ribs

Another turn for the Guinea Pig to cook.  He's been bugging me for something to make on the grill and when I came across a recipe for Korean BBQ Ribs, I couldn't resist.

The Guinea Pig outdid himself this time.  The ribs came out finger licking good.  This recipe is definitely a keeper.

New Years Eve Meal

New Years Eve Meal Menu

For the past few years, it's been just the Guinea Pig and me for New Years.  We usually just make a goose.  A wonderfully, melt-in-your-mouth, fall-off-the-bones, delicious goose.  It has always been more than enough food for us and satisfied our needs.

This year, we had a few guests over, 5 to be exact.  One goose was not going to be enough.  On top of that, one guest was a vegetarian, so the goose definitely wouldn't work.  I decided to make another meal.  I made all the sides/soup vegetarian, this way the one guest could eat everything but the goose and I wouldn't have to worry about her having enough food.

Winter Vegetable Soup

I started the dinner with a winter vegetable soup I've made before.  One of the guests was crazy about sweet potatoes, so I ended up putting a few more in the soup.  She loved the addition and it didn't hurt the flavor.  I kept the seasoning to just salt and pepper, not wanting to over power the rest of the meal.

For sides I went with 3 salads - beet, carrot, and eggplant - and a hot side of pearl barley with peas and mushrooms.  All were a hit.  At the end of the night, I maybe had a tablespoon of each left over and was going to toss it.  One of the guests stopped me saying she'll eat them for breakfast, which she did.

Goose and Sides

The goose was perfect, as always.  All four paws went right away and some came back for seconds.  We barely ended up with leftovers this year, which means everyone enjoyed.

For dessert, I let the Guinea Pig make a layered pudding cake.  Finding a recipe for something called "sex in a pan" will brighten anybody's mood.  I added simple gel icing to it.

Pudding Cake

Carnitas Tacos

Carnitas Tacos

Since the first recipe that the Guinea Pig made turned out amazing, I figured I'd let him try another one.  This one required meat to be in a slow cooker for a day.

Unfortunately, I think I ended up taking over too much.  I guess I just couldn't sit and watch something that I knew I would do differently if I were making it.  I ended up putting together the spice mix rub to use on the meat and I cut up all the veggies.

What started out as a Guinea Pig special, ended up being a joint venture.  The outcome was totally delicious.  Next time, the Guinea Pig will do more of the cooking.

Christmas Meal

Christmas Menu

Having successfully put together a Thanksgiving meal, I endeavored to repeat the feat for Christmas.  This time around, I did not try out any of the recipes ahead of time.  Even roasting a duck full was new to me.  It was a calculated risk worth taking.

Knowing that roasting the duck would take the longest, I made the cranberry pie first thin in the morning.  It teased us the rest of the day.  I prepped all the ingredients for the soup, salad, and side dishes ahead of time.  I even got to have all four burners going while the majority of the cooking took place.

Spaghetti and Pea Soup

I chose a light soup to start the meal with.  It was also very simple:  onions, peas, spaghetti, chicken stock with salt and pepper for added seasoning.  After the first bite, the Guinea Pig declared that we are going to be making this soup again...soon!  I guess I'll take that as a very successful starter to the meal.

Chopped Kale Salad

Next up was the salad.  Once again, wishing to keep things light and simple it had few ingredients:  kale, pine nuts, golden raisins, Parmesan cheese with a lemon juice and olive oil dressing.  I think there may have been a bit too much dressing, but that would be my only negative comment about the dish.  All the flavors really came together well.

Oven Roasted Duck

Then came the star of the meal.  As the duck was cooking, it seemed that it was more melting away than roasting.  Having never roasted a duck before and knowing how fatty the breast is, I wanted to see if scoring it would have any effect.  I scored one side and left the other as is.  I was surprised to see that the scored side ended up with more fat under the skin and the other side seemed to have had more of the fat cook off.

I chose a sampling of both light and dark meats to be able to fully evaluate the success of the duck.  I was a bit afraid that having been in the oven for over four hours, the breast meat would be tough.  No such thing happened!  Both types of meat were wonderfully moist.

Toasted Quinoa with Mushrooms

As a side to the duck, I made toasted quinoa with mushrooms.  Mushrooms are always good.  A pound of assorted mushrooms is even better.  Add to that quinoa toasted with garlic in sesame seed oil and cooked with vegetable stock and you got yourself one delicious combination.  While the quinoa was cooking in one pot, I was busy sauteing the mushrooms in a large pan.  It always amazes me how much mushrooms cook down.

Cranberry Pie

Both Guinea Pig and I were being careful not to get too full.  We did not want to miss out on the dessert.  When the time finally came to devour the pie that's been filling the house with delicious smells for the better part of the day, we were not disappointed.  We warmed it up a bit, being careful not to dry it out.  It was a perfect way to end the meal.

Pomegranate Cranberry Sangria

All throughout the meal, and for the better part of the day, the Guinea Pig and I got to enjoy a yummy beverage.  My first sangria came out pretty good.  I made the decision to keep ginger ale out of the mix and add it to order so as not to let all the carbonation out.  I even enjoyed the fruit.

This Christmas meal was another success.  A delicious side effect of making a lot of food for just two people is that we now have enough food to last us the rest of the year.

Braised Pork Belly

Braised Pork Belly

The Guinea Pig has been asking to have a go at cooking something delicious for us to enjoy.  He's off for the rest of the year, which makes this a perfect time to try.  He's good at following recipes to the letter, which makes it the perfect time to try something new and totally out of our comfort zone.

I have to really applaud the end result.  The pork belly was melting at every bite.  The sauce was fantastic!  I think I like this Guinea Pig cooking complex dishes idea.  Especially dishes where the recipe has to be followed as a rule rather than a guideline.