Smoked Sausage and Artichoke Casserole

Winter is comfort food time, and where I come from comfort food most often appears in the form of a casserole. Since I'm still living without the benefit of a working stove top, my normal method of making a casserole doesn't work so I've been having to get creative. This particular combination was something I threw together on a whim, with happily tasty results.

Planning the Holiday Baking Extravaganza

I am WAY late this year! Usually I sit down at the end of September, first week in October at the latest, and figure out what I'll be putting on my trays for Christmas. However, I didn't get around to it until this past weekend, so now I'm scrambling a little bit. The advantage to figuring it out so early is you can catch some killer sales on things that will keep like flour and sugar. Not that there aren't still sales to be had, but I'm used to having much more time to plan.

Basic Herbs and Spices

Herbs and spices: Absolutely necessary, but almost obscenely expensive. What are you supposed to do? Many of us make do without certain things, or substitute others, or occasionally bite the bullet and go buy a $7.00 half-ounce jar of something. You know what I do? Buy basics at the dollar store, watch for sales, and this year I started growing my own herbs.

Ham and Spinach Quiche

The adventure of not having a working stove continues (and boy do I envy those of you who are allowed to call repair people for things in your houses!). Originally I intended this to be a frittata with bacon and onions, but lacking a means of frying I improvised with other things. It ended up being really tasty!

Even better, I got to make it at my leisure since I got out of work early today. But it should only be about 20 minutes' prep, which puts it at about an hour total. Still not bad even if you're trying to make it a weeknight dinner after work.

Marinated Beef Pot Roast

No matter how much I experiment with food, no matter how much I thoroughly enjoy trying new things, and no matter how much I love eating things in new and different combinations, one of my favourite things will always be an old-fashioned pot roast. I prefer beef, but I certainly won't turn my nose up at pork, or venison if I can get it.

This one is a variation on what I normally do. Instead of adding everything to the roaster at once I marinated the beef, and it's definitely a keeper! It came out moist, flavourful, and I could cut it with the side of my fork.