I love spinach. Like on the level of Popeye. There is a good chance that I eat something with spinach in it at least 3x per week. And creamy spinach combined with pasta and cheese is likely one of my absolute favorites: so here we have Baked Spinach Cheesy Shells. Sort of like a vegetarian lasagna, filled with 3 types of cheese and spinach galore, it is delicious. Total comfort food on a cold January day. You could add some sauteed mushrooms to up the protein level too.
One-pot meal from the CSPS girl: Triple Meat Ragù Bolognese — bacon, sausage and hamburger mince. This is my go to sauce, I make it at least once a month and can eat it for days with spaghetti, penne, in lasagna, etc. Shown here with parpadelle. Freezes really well too. If you are craving comfort food, this is the recipe for you!
I made this absolutely fantastic soup the other day: I roasted a Kuri squash (sort of like a small pumpkin) and made a bisque with some other aromatics (onions, carrots and peppers) and lot and lots of curry. Its delicious and I’m seriously contemplating making another batch with my leftover squash (I bought a whole bunch and I still have two left). The one thing though, is that single color soups don’t photograph well, so the pictures aren’t all that great. Just pretend you have a whiff of the curry and that makes up for the photo. I need a scratch-and-sniff website.
I have a thing for pickles. I have told the story many times that my first word was actually “Gurke!” which is the German work for pickle. And I will eat them by the jar. OK, hopefully not by the jar because that is a little too much vinegar even for my iron stomach. So, I decided to make my own this year. I do this every few years, but when I saw the baby cornichons (these are literally just an inch or two in size), I just had to make them. They are a little salty (next time add a little more sugar to the brine), but otherwise, these are pretty fantastic. They should stay good in the fridge for a while, but I’ll likely eat them all by next week!
This is dinner: an “Italian BLT with added Mozzarella”. It’s a labor of love thing …. I baked the Sourdough Basil Pesto Focaccia, after making the pesto. I grew the basil to make the pesto. I also grew the tomatoes and the lettuce in the BLT. I didn’t make the mozzarella and I didn’t cure the prosciutto, but nevertheless, 2/3 of the ingredients were grown or made by me so that’s worth the labor. And it was a delicious sandwich.