Cooking Tales

Over the past 2 weeks, I had a total of 7 people request frozen meals. My goal was to get the orders cooked and delivered by Thanksgiving so that I could rest and relax and enjoy my LONG weekend off! This means that I cooked a total of 35 frozen meals in two weeks time but I actually only cooked on three separate occasions. Whew! So far I am hearing good reviews from my coworker "customers" and more and more people are getting excited about my little business venture. Actually, some of them are probably more excited than I am! Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to have a small number of friends and coworker "clients" but really don't have a desire to launch into a full blown commercial-kitchen business at this moment in time...but I'll keep you posted! I was very much looking forward to having a little extra cash to spend on Christmas gifts this year but that idea was put quickly to rest yesterday (more on that later!)

In addition to my freezer entrees, I've also been doing some cooking for Graham and I and a few of our friends. I thought I'd share a few of my favorites since I haven't done so recently. The big hit for us this week was a Creamy Indian-Spiced Halibut Curry--oh my! It is so incredibly tasty and also super spicy for spice lovers (you can cut back on the cayenne pepper if you don't). I made it with half and half instead of cream and low fat yogurt instead of whole. It still turned out great.

Tonight I was in the mood for a comfort meal so we had:

Gnocchi Gratin


Yield 6 servings (serving size: about 3/4 cup)

Ingredients
1 (22-ounce) package gnocchi
1 tablespoon butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 ounces)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups fat-free milk
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded Gruyère cheese
1/3 cup chopped fresh chives
2 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
Cooking spray
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°.
Cook gnocchi according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain.
Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Add flour, salt, and pepper to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add milk and broth, stirring with a whisk until blended. Bring to a boil; cook until thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add Gruyère, chives, and bacon; stir until smooth. Add gnocchi; toss well.
Spoon mixture into an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray; sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve immediately.


It is a Cooking Light recipe that was especially creamy-real treat in our house! Graham's comment was that it tasted like a really yummy, glorified mac n' cheese. Try it!

Right now I have a pot of Cranberry Cherry and Walnut Chutney bubbling on the stove for our Thanksgiving dinner at my parents. We're leaving tomorrow night after work and I get to stay through Friday (Graham has to work Friday) so I'm super excited.

So going back to the extra cooking cash I've earned....why exactly can't I spend it on Christmas gifts? Well, let me tell you using a couple of illustrations:

So yeah, Graham got in a little fight with a short yellow post in the Overlake parking garage--it appears that the post won. Poor guy! He was so upset and he made it sound so bad over the phone that I was quite excited to find the damage as limited as it is. I just smiled and said "Now the Jetta has a bright yellow racing stripe!" :o) Unfortunately, we've taken it in to 2 places for quotes. One said it would cost us $1400 for the repair and the other $2000. Whew, that's a lot of cash for such a seemingly minor scrape!! Anyway I am very THANKFUL that Graham is okay and now I'll be looking for some more cooking clients to help us pay the bill--any takers? ;o)