Recipes

Blackened Chicken Wrap

Blackened Chicken Wrap with spinach, red onion, sweet winter carrots, red and yellow peppers, and a sour cream dill sauce

I don’t do a lot of wraps. But this winter has provided us with a bounty of sweet winter carrots, we had some really good local chicken that needed eating, and, after a slow market day (too cold, I guess), we had several unsold bags of our spinach to eat our way through. Sure, salads seem like a logical choice. But, I wanted something different. So, I improvised a blackened chicken wrap.

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Turkey Casserole

A turkey casserole based loosely on turkey tetrazzini

So many ways to use a turkey… But it’s winter, and comfort food is in order. Carbs, cheese, AND tryptophan, all in one dish! This casserole is loosely based on turkey tetrazzini, and was made with shredded turkey meat picked off the bones after making turkey stock. Of course, I used some of the stock, too.

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Beef Short Rib and Noodle Soup

Beef Sort Rib Noodle Soup in a Hole in the Woods Farm soup mug, with a torn baguette

This beef short rib and noodle soup is perfect for winter. It’s rich, savory, and full of comforting umami. It is braised for hours, filling the kitchen with the wonderful hygge we so long for during nesting season. Yet a healthy dose of ginger gives it a pop of brightness during the season of dark grey. It is also full of collagen, elastin, and chondroitin, to help support our joints – always appreciated in the cold days of winter!

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Lamb Tagine with Blackberries and Dates

Lamb Tagine with Blackberries and Dates, almonds, onions, garlic, ginger cinnamon, corriander, honey, and orange zest
Christmas Eve found us retreating inside, close to the wood stove, as the -35 F wind chill and blowing snow made outdoor activity rather unpleasant. But, if you have a wood stove and time to hang around it, you can do all sorts of fun cooking. On this day, I made a delicious lamb tagine with freeze-dried wild blackberries we foraged this summer, and dates from the pantry.
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Savory Onion Mushroom and Cheese Rolls

Savory onion, mushroom, cheese rolls made with leftover pizza dough

If you bought into the media hype, you knew winter storm Elliot was going to kill us all. Comparisons to the blizzard of ’78 were flying everywhere, and I understand there was nowhere nearby to get eggs, milk, or bread. In reality, we only got about an inch and a half of snow. But the cold. The cold meant doing everything possible to stay inside! With wind chills approaching -40, traveling any further than the sheep barn was not in the cards for us.

But, Xenia had foraged some winter oyster mushrooms ahead of the storm, and I had some old, leftover Neapolitan style pizza dough. It was really too old to make good pizzas, and since the pizza oven is an outdoor only appliance, I wasn’t going to be making pizzas anyway. But, a savory onion, mushroom, and cheese roll for breakfast? That sounds perfect for a cold day next to the wood stove!

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Gingerbread

Gingerbread made with both powdered ginger and candied ginger

Gingerbread. It’s for more than making houses and teaching kids the dangers of hubris, overconfidence, and ignoring the advice of others. It also tastes good. At least when made like this. So, put away the royal icing, the gumdrops, the candy canes. Open up the spice rack instead, and wrap your taste buds in true holiday yum.

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Chipotle Chicken and Wild Rice Stoup

chipotle chicken and wild rice stoup (a soup as thick as stew)

Like most folks, we’re struggling a bit financially right now. But we also want to eat well, with some comforting winter food to tide us over the dark months. Stoups – thick, hearty one-dish meals that fall somewhere between a stew and soup – are among my favorite winter concoctions. They’re delicious, comforting, and fill the house with wonderful aromas while they cook. They also play well with improvisation. This time, I improvised a smokey, somewhat spicy, chipotle chicken and wild rice soup.

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Ground Beef Ragu

Ragu Calzone
A ragu is an Italian sauce or stew, made with tomatoes, ground meat, vegetables, and wine, and cooked for a very long time.  Blognese sauce is a variation on a ragu that most of us are familiar with – though, in that case, a specific regional variation that is a bit heavier on tomato than most.

Ragus are frequently used with pasta, especially spaghetti.  But they can go on just about anything.  Or, in the case of this week’s Pie of the Week, in anything, or at least a calzone.  They are rich, hearty, and full of flavor!
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