A little lemon makes everything work...

Potlucks are big business at my office. I've never had to participate in so many potlucks in my life! I seem to have developed a "reputation" for making delicious things for potlucks, so I'm feeling a little pressure to produce something special for the birthday potluck. We had a potluck last week I couldn't bring anything for (not enough notice) so I was chastised a bit for NOT bringing in something "fabulous."

The theme for tomorrow's potluck at the office is "healthy foods" so I decided to come up with a fruit salad as my contribution. I hit the legendary West Side Market in Cleveland and for about $12, I ended up with a pineapple, a giant mango, some blueberries, strawberries and raspberries.

I chopped everything up and then tried to figure out what to add to spice it up. I threw in one tablespoon of sugar and 2 tablespoons of limoncello to macerate the fruit.





For a sauce, I took a container of greek yogurt and had planned to add a jar of lemon curd I had in the pantry. Um, yeah, so the lemon curd had gone bad (ugh -- talk about gross), so I went to plan B. I zested a lemon and added the juice. I added a splash of vanilla and about 2 tablespoons of honey. End result -- the limoncello and sugar really bring out the sweetness in the fruit and the lemon zest and juice add a nice complement to the tanginess of the greek yogurt. The honey helps to mellow out the acidity. This is a really refreshing salad -- hope everyone likes it!

A little heat, and a theme emerges

I've noticed two themes that have emerged in my cooking as of late. 1) Orange things (butternut squash, pumpkin, sweet potatoes) and 2) heat. I have used various chile powders, cumin, and pepper in a lot of different things lately.

I made some honey-chile glazed roasted almonds (recipe courtesy of my dear friends, the Hart-Davidsons). Mine didn't turn out as well as the ones I received from Bill, and I think I know what I did wrong. Will have to make another batch and try again. I also think I may have been a little heavy-handed with the chimayo chile powder. Yowza. Warm heat to start, but WOO! a bit of a bite to the finish. But, they're addictively good and very satisfying.

I made a triple-threat squash soup, adding cumin, roasted garlic and cayenne pepper to spice it up a bit. The soup was delicious, but I did get a bit fussy when I strained the entire batch through a one-cup strainer.

Tonite, I had a couple of salmon fillets to cook. I seasoned them with cumin, and pan seared them, 2 minutes each side over medium-high heat. Really nice sear, I was very pleased with myself. I also managed to not cook the fish to death, which is something that I always worry I will do. The salmon was just barely cooked through in the center and finished with some fresh lime juice. Very nice. To accompany, I microwaved a sweet potato (don't judge me, I'm busy, and sweet potatoes take forever to bake) and then did a roasted cauliflower dish (recipe courtesy of weight watchers) that used more chiles and smokey spices. Separate one head of cauliflower into florets. Toss in a glug of olive oil and then 1/2 tsp each salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder. Roast at 400 for 10-12 minutes, stirring halfway thru, until tender.

And, since I have an insatiable sweet tooth, a couple of ginger snaps for dessert.

Caving to Public Pressure

Ever since I started my facebook account, I would start to include status updates that told everyone what I was up to in the kitchen. The world of social media is interesting. Many people use Twitter, sending out little blurbs about various things, some informative, some inane, some just trying to solicit a click-through to another site. But I found that anytime I posted a status update that talked about what I was cooking, I had people asking to come to dinner, asking for leftovers, or asking for recipes. Over a year later, someone suggested that I should start a weekly blog and include recipes. So here I go, diving head first into the blogosphere, starting a blog about my travails in the kitchen.

I've spent the last few weeks cooking, thanks to the holidays. I'm trying not to waste food as much this year (I tend to go shopping and my eyes get really big and I end up with crazy things in my cart that I never use), so I'm trying to cook strategically.

It's New Year's, tho, and for many, that means a traditional meal of something. I grew up with the black-eyed peas, country ham, cabbage camp. I moved to Ohio and discovered the pork and sauerkraut tradition. I used to hate black-eyed peas. I assume my taste buds have evolved and I really should give that another shot, but I also tread carefully around the world of sauerkraut (stemming from a summer as a prop master for a play and dealing with raw sauerkraut -- I grew to hate the stuff. I like it now, but only on reubens). So, my compromise is kielbasa and cabbage.

I used fresh kielbasa (but you can use the pre-cooked kind, too). If using fresh, brown the kielbasa in a pan, then add a bottle of beer, bring to a boil and cook for about 15 minutes until the kielbasa is cooked through.

Ingredients
1 medium onion, sliced thin
4 large potatoes, quartered
1 can beef broth
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp each -- fresh pepper and dried thyme
1 package kielbasa

Put all ingredients in a large skillet, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

To cook the cabbage, take a large pot and melt 3 tablespoons of butter. Chop up the cabbage (removing the core) and sautee in the butter and season with salt and pepper.