Sunday, December 20, 2009

Snow Weekend

If the weather forecast calls for snow, it's a good bet that I'll be busy cooking some tasty goodness.  Here's what was on the menu this weekend:
  • Pancakes at my mother's house.  First time I'd made these for her, and she rather enjoyed them, even though she only ate like two of them.  She cooked up a bunch of breakfast sausage, and I made eggs as well.  I'm supremely jealous of her two-burner nonstick griddle, as it was pretty easy and fun to cook on, especially our eggs (over easy, of course).
  • A giant pot of chili.  My chili is a Cincinnati-style, with chopped sirloin (as opposed to the more traditional ground), onions, garlic, a boatload of spices (chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, cayenne, along with some weirder ones like cinnamon and cocoa powder), crushed tomatoes and kidney beans.  Topped with a ton of shredded cheddar (and a giant dollop of sour cream for Steph), I'm rather proud of my chili recipe.

  • A bottle's worth of mulled wine.  An easy recipe - a bottle of light red (I spend $7, my Uncle David said I spent too much), 1/4 cup sugar, the zest of 1 orange (in long strips), 6 cinnamon sticks, 12 cloves, 3 allspice berries, 1/2 a cracked nutmeg and a sprinkle of ground ginger.  Dump it into a saucepan, heat it over low until warm.  Don't let it boil, then run it through a fine strainer into glasses.  Delicious on a cold day.
  • Chocolate chip meringues.  Having a KitchenAid makes making meringues the easiest thing in the world.  These were easy to make and tasted great.  Steph couldn't tell you as well as I could, because I think I ate all but like 3 of these.  Not quite your quintessential 'cold weather cookie' but they really hit the spot.
  • Steph woke up this morning and says "Man, I wish I had asked you to pick up cinnamon buns".  Steph, you see, is a fiend when it comes to Pillsbury cinnamon buns - she loves them more than most things I make.  However, I didn't pick them up, so I figured I'd look up how to make them.  Fortunately, I found this recipe for easy, non-yeast cinnamon buns.  They came out more like biscuits than real cinnamon buns, but they were close enough, especially with the icing on top.  When I make them again (which will most likely be tomorrow morning...thank you, snow day!), I'll work on making them stick together.  I admit - these tasted delicious, but look ugly as hell.


Tomorrow, the plan is to make more cinnamon buns, some ginger cookies, and a deep-dish pizza.

Here's the question:  what are YOU cooking on a snowy day when you're stuck in the house?

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I made Shredded Cowboy Chicken, Rice, Black Beans, Plantains and guacamole. With sotre bought tortillas.
Yum!

Ms. Meg said...

Let me preface by saying I made none of this. Thank god for Aaron. I would have starved.

BREAKFAST:
Tons of bacon, rye toast, coffee, OJ, and two soft boiled eggs (eggs were for him).

LUNCH:
Nachos with chipotle ground chicken, peppers, onions, cheese

DINNER:
Three kinds of pizza with fresh dough. One pizza was broccoli and garlic, One was peppers and spicy olives (which were...weirdly tasty), One was chipotle ground chicken with a ton of hot sauce on it - all with red sauce and cheese. YUM TIME.

And at all times during the day, chocolate chip cookies, beer, and wine.

Alex said...

Meg - what is chipotle ground chicken, and what's the recipe.

Well, ask Aaron to send me the recipe.

Rob Timko said...

Chili - Similar to your recipe actually. Only I deglaze with a beer and grind my meat (next time, I'm going to chop it though).

Breakfast - Bacon, Eggs, and toast on the cast iron skillet.

Lunch, a bag of tortilla chips while standing over the pot of chili!