cook's illustrated's chicken enchiladas with red sauce

rarely does cook's illustrated disappoint me. this is one of those times. but they did not fail jason.

it's the dang jalapenos. they got me. these enchiladas are waaaaay too hot for me, all i could taste is heat. but jason, he ate these suckers up without batting an eyelash. long story short: yes, i'll make them again, without the raw jalapeno and with half the pickled jalapenos. 

 

fine cooking's chicken parmesan

see, i told you the heat wave wouldn't last long. last week i was basking in the sun, enjoying the 50 degree weather. this week? it's hovered around 25. this morning my alarm rudely woke me up with a  friendly reminder that yes, it is still in fact winter:"highs today in the mid 20s, it's 7 right now." great. perfect. why can't i have this week off like everyone else?!

good thing i have this chicken parm to keep me warm.

 

ina's fleur de sel caramels

two months ago we were running around like crazy, still getting ready - and looking forward to - the impending holidays. i don't know about you, but it seems like forever ago. anyway, i made these caramels in mid-december and brought half of them in to work. they were gone in less than 48 hours.

fallen almond pound cake

...or tracy's birthday cake. perfect for a midweek treat.

right now i have 97 cake and 78 cupcake recipes saved in my google reader. yea, that's right, over 150 cake recipes that have interested me so much that i have tagged them to make later. insane? yes. so when birthdays or dinner parties come up and i'm given the chance to make a cake, i take it. since i had leftover blackberry sauce in my refrigerator from the last sweet treat i made and i didn't have a lot of time to fuss around with a cake since tracy's birthday fell on a weekday, this almond cake jumped to the top of my list.

vegetable soup with tortellini

it rained today. yes, rain. not snow. not sleet. not hail, straight up rained. and although we've had a heat wave (it was 50+ today!!) over the last few days, rumor is it isn't going to stay too long.

spaghetti stoup

as a follow up to his wildly successful first post, here's the third installment from jason, my best taste tester. i've been making this dish for years, since like others, it's one of those that is so simple and delicious, it finds it's way into my weeknight menu each winter. this time, it's his turn.

Now that the weather is cold and snowy, I've been wanting something that Kate made a long time ago: Spaghetti "Stoup" (as Rachel Ray calls it).

raspberry glazed baked chocolate donuts

this past christmas, my sister got me everything i need to make donuts: lara ferroni's book, a donut cutter, and a mini donut pan. which gave me the perfect opportunity to retry mini baked chocolate cake donuts. i made the exact same recipe, this time using my donut pan and this time, they're topped with a perfectly sweet raspberry glaze. did i mention these are done - start to finish, i even did all the dishes - in thirty minutes?!

one bowl chocolate cake

i'm a big fan of cake in all flavors. nutty, candy filled, fruit filled, topped with fruit, covered in fruity buttercream, made from vegetables, chocolate & peanut butter, slathered in peanut butter, soda flavored, lemon, yellow, crumb cake, you name it, i like it.

but when my dad's birthday came (and went) two weeks ago, there was only one choice: chocolate.

somewhat surprisingly, i haven't made a chocolate cake (or cupcakes) in over a year, and even then, the recipe was so uneventful that i didn't even post it (but my mom's peanut butter buttercream is still one of my favs). so while i have at least a dozen (two?) chocolate cake recipes on my 'to bake' list, i stuck with martha. i had great success with her yellow cake, that her chocolate version shot to the top of my list.

risotto stuffed portobello mushrooms

lately i've been stumbling across a few recipes so perfect - so simple, so delicious - that my first reaction is "why didn't i think of that?!" first, there was smitten kitchen's chocolate-peanut spread (think nutella with peanuts instead of hazelnuts) and then there were these risotto stuffed mushrooms from kitchenist. and all i thought leftover risotto was good for is risotto cakes.

potato, corn & cheddar chowder

even though we're a few days into february, my vegetarian january actually ran january 4th through february 4th. and even though it's over, i have a few more vegetarian entrees in my queue. first up is this corn and potato chowder.

and unlike my first attempt, this one actually has flavor. a lot of it. and even though it's not corn season, we used two cans of no salt added corn and it worked perfectly. this one will definitely be added to my winter soup rotation. 

panna cotta with blackberry sauce

the week after christmas, at my aunt's surprise party, my cousin steve and i were talking about food. sure, it always starts innocent enough - have you been to any good restaurants lately? - and turns into an hours long conversation about what we've been cooking, how to photograph food, and what each other should be cooking. steve mentioned panna cotta and how easy it is. it immediately shot to the top of my 'must make now!' list.