Cheesey Ham and Potatoes with Beans

My hubby has been asking me for years to make something
he remembers fondly from childhood. For lack of a better name
I am calling it Cheesey Ham and Potatoes with Beans, and as
the name implies, it is cheese, ham, potatoes and green beans.

Use your casserole dish and have at least an hour or more cooking
time. You start out slicing the potatoes (I actually cubed them
tonight). Layer them in a buttered casserole dish with sliced
yellow onion,cubed ham and blanched green beans. Make sure you
use plenty of pepper to season, but leave out the salt.

Then make your cheese sauce with roux and milk, a little
worchestershire and lots of shredded cheese.

Put it in a 400 or 425 oven and let it go to town.

Mark said it wasn't the same as his mom's because she used a whole
block of velveta....but I just couldn't bring myself to do that.

Grilled COP Salad with Stilton Steak and Cherry Dressing

I am in a book club. Not just any book club, a club where we
also try to cook a meal centered around the book we just read.

My sister and I are making up some club cookbooks for our group.
We thought that after 2 years of cooking we should immortalize
ourselves and our friends in this way. So Mary came over last night
to work on that project and I made this salad for us.

First I made the dressing. I put a large spoonful of black cherry
jam in a jar and added some cider vinegar, oregano, pepper, dijon
mustard and honey, then shook it up real well, till the jam dissolved.
Then I added some good EVOO and shook it up again. I set that aside so
the flavors could meld.

I then grilled some red onions, pineapple and halved black cherries
till they were nice and flavorful. I also grilled some pepper
seasoned beef fillets to medium, then let some stilton cheese melt
down on the top.

I filled two plates with washed salad greens, chopped yellow peppers
and halved cherry tomatoes. I scattered the grilled cherries, onion
and pineapple over top, sliced the steak and fanned that on top, then
dressed it up.

It was delicious!! Worthy of our new cookbook, but does not fit the criteria.
So I am passing it on to you all to eat and enjoy! Serve it with a nice
Cab Sauv.

National Spaghetti Day!

In honor of the day, I made a sweet and spicy
noodle dish with chicken and broccoli.

I saw a similar recipe online and thought it sounded good, so
I cooked some fettucelle noodles (I prefer chinese noodles, but not
Mark) and tossed them together with sauted chicken,
broccoli florettes, sesame seeds, red chili flakes
(which is our own blend of hot chilies, dried and ground),
and water chestnuts.

I coated them with a wonderful sauce made from
minced garlic, Olive oil, a touch of sesame oil, rice wine vinegar,
raw sugar, soy sauce and chili paste.

Yummy, spicy, goodness to keep you warm on the frigid January day.

Peppered Pork Tenderloin

Marinade 1-2 pork tenderloins in some teriyaki sauce.
When it is ready, take out and lightly pat dry. Prepare a
blend of pepper; black, white, green and pick, add a pinch
of cayenne. Crush or gring in a peppermill to a coarse
grain and coat the tenderloin all over with it.

Roast in a 425 oven untill you reach the desired doneness.
Serve with a rice pilaf and some lemon peppered green beans.
Simple, but oh so tasty.

Jerk Chicken Salad

This is a nice light, yet spicy meal that will satisfy
your after-the-holidays appetite, but still get you back on
track of eating well.

Have a mix of salad greens, whatever is your fav.
Slice some heirloom cherry tomatoes and some cucumbers.
Chop up some mango and pineapple. Toss it all together.
Add some jerk chicken on top. (You may use leftover or
take a shortcut and season and marinade some precooked
chicken)

Top with a lime dressing.
Mix the juice of one lime, some good olive oil,
a little honey and some jerk seasoning. Salt to taste.

Feel free to add any other fruits or veggies that you like-
Have fun with it and know that it is healthy!