E's Chili

I've been making my chili for years... but I've never written it down, just made it over and over from memory. So now it's official and I'm sharing my secret recipe with you!

Time: 15 mins prep, and 6+ hours to stew in your crock pot. (Start around noon and it will be perfect by the time you are ready to eat dinner.)

Feeds: Your whole family or a loving couple with days of leftovers.

Recipe continued after the jump...

Fish Filets Poached in White Wine with Mushrooms & Cream Sauce

Filets de Poisson Bercy aux Champignons & sauce à la crème

"Most of the famous French Dishes involving filet of sole center around fish poached in white wine and coated with a lovely, creamy sauce made from the poaching liquid." - Julia Child

Say no more Julia... throw it over some pasta and I'm in! Tonights dish was very easy, although when I was reading through the recipe and got to the 'Butter brown paper' part, I was wondering if it was going to more difficult than I first anticipated. But it wasn't... just a few simple steps  & in about 15 mins you'll be eating dinner.

Recipe continued after the jump...

Bang-Bang Shrimp

A few weeks back, I found a homemade Bang-Bang Shrimp recipe on Pinterest. And for those of you who've been to Bonefish, probably know exactly what I'm talking about, YUM-MMY! I thought today would be a perfect time to take a little break from Julia's French cooking and go Asian for the night. Courtesy of a fellow foodie, FakeGinger, I made her Bang-Bang Shrimp(click here for the recipe).

Continued after the jump...

Oeufs pochés ... échec

The French language is so beautiful! Oeufs pochés ... échec certainly looks a lot better than Poached Eggs... Fail. Late Sunday morning, I finally took on the poached eggs recipe and attempted to make Eggs Benedict with asparagus for brunch. Maybe 'Fail' is too harsh, because it wasn't entirely bad... just not up to my own personal expectations. I often find myself having too high of hopes for my cooking. I let it get to me when something doesn't turn out right. But I'm trying to accept and anticipate that I won't always get it right the first time, but I will always have a second time to try again.

Continued after the jump...

Poulet Poêlé Á L'Estragon & Risotto-Pilaf-Plau

[Casserole-roasted Chicken with Brown Tarragon Sauce]

I was supposed to be bold enough to try two french lessons from Julia for Saturday: poached eggs for lunch and roasted chicken for dinner. Feeling overwhelmed and underzealous, I saved the poaching for Sunday brunch and invited some good friends to join David in the panel of judges for the roast chicken dinner extravaganza. After all, how can you know if your food is good if you only ever get one opinion. :) 7pm was gonna come quick...

Continued after the jump...

Bifteck Sauté Béarnaise

Tonight's to do:

• Pan sear the filet steaks
• Roast red fingerling potatoes
• Sauté spinach
• AND don't mess up the béarnaise

Continued after the jump...

A Simple Start

My loving and very supported boyfriend, who has always been my meal time guinea-pig, gave me the much desired Mastering the Art of French Cooking books for Christmas. Wow... speechless! Julia Child, I bow to you. So of coarse, I can't just use these masterpiece recipes as a decoration on the shelf... 

LETS GET IN THE KITCHEN!

The Menu

Thursday

dinner: Pan Broiled Steak with Bernaise Sauce

Saturday

lunch: Poached Eggs & asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce

dinner: Casserole-roasted Tarragon Chicken

Ok, I can do this. Simple start. Riigghht...