A simple winter meal

Since my first time using this recipe from Epicurious.com, I have known it's a keeper. A meat-and-potato kind of dinner, comforting yet not lacking in aromas or flavors. I always serve it with a little Sriracha chili paste or Vietnamese sweet and chili sauce, for a kick.

This meal is good on the economical side as well. I usually buy 4 chicken thighs, about 4-5 medium size potatoes, and 2-3 medium size carrots, for the total cost of $10. (It helps that I am able to buy in-season local organic taters and carrots.) Between my husband and I, we can make 2 meals out of these: a good dinner (with a greens salad on the side) and a lovely lunch the next day.

Last week, when I saw chicken wings on sale at our co-op ($1.21 for a tray of 6 pieces), I decided to substitute them for the thighs. That worked out pretty well, though I would suggest reducing the cooking time for the meat by 10 minutes or so.

Baked goodness

We are going over to a friend's for dinner tonight and I baked a banana cake following a recipe by Orangette , one of my favorite food blogs. I made a few small changes, like using Stonyfield Farm Cream Top yogurt instead of sour cream, using three frozen organic bananas instead of two, (I always like my banana bread or cake extra banana-y), and sprinkling some toasted coconut flakes on top of the cake. In addition, my cake pan was smaller, so I ended up with three extra banana muffins. Great for tasting purposes!

I have yet to try the cake, but I sampled a muffin sans chocolate glaze. It was very good: very light with fluffy texture,moist, not too sweet, which is good because the chocolate ganache will take care of that.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr Day!

Cooking, eating and sharing

2010 has been here for over two weeks, and I had my _th birthday a few days ago. After an eventful and difficult 2009, I am ready to turn a page.

I have been daydreaming about what I would like to do for the next five to 20 years of my life. I found that the most exciting ideas occured to me have to do with food. While I have to wait and work through various types of uncertainty, I will begin using this blog as a place to document and share with you some of my culinary activities, including, but not limited to, simple and good recipes for home-cooked meals, how to transform them into kid-friendly meals, how to prepare a delicious dinner (4 servings) using organic and natural ingredients for under $10.

I am excited to begin this project. As is my husband, who is an excellent eater.