Chorizo Lentil Stew

Since my ex bought so much Chorizo I am still looking for ways to use it all up. This time of the year I enjoy soups for lunch so when I found this recipe I was a happy camper. I found this on TastyKitchen.com

Ingredients:
1 pound Chorizo
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 can (15oz) Cannellini beans, drained
1 can (15 oz) fire roasted, diced tomatoes
1 cup dried lentils
2 cups chicken stock
6 cups chopped, fresh spinach
crumbled goat cheese for garnish

Directions:
In a big pot, brown the Chorizo in a little bit of vegetable oil, stirring constantly until almost done, about 5-7 minutes**. Add in the Canellini beads, tomatoes, lentils and chicken stock. Stir until well combined. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes or until the lentils are soft and tender. Remove from heat, stir in the spinach; cover and let sit for about 5 minutes or until the spinach wilts.

Garnish with the crumbled goat cheese.

**Note: after browning the Chorizo there was so much grease in the pan I removed the Chorizo to some paper towels and drained off all the drippings except for about a teaspoon.

Apple Buckle

Each year a client brings a bushel of apples to our office and I make pies and such from the ones we don't eat.

This year I made an apple buckle. It was really good! The recipe came from SparkPeople.

APPLE BUCKLE

Dough:
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 butter melted
1 egg beaten
1/2 cup milk
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Apples:
5 medium apples, peeled, cored and very thinly sliced
2 tsp cinnamon
6 tblsp sugar

Crumble:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup butter, softened, not melted
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease a 9 x 11 inch pan

In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

I in a medium bowl, using a mixer, combine the sugar, melted butter, egg and milk. Blend until smooth. Mix in the flour mixture until well blended.

Toss the apples with the cinnamon and sugar. Using a wooden spoon mix the apples into the dough. The batter will be rather stiff.

Place the apples and dough into the prepared pan.

Using a fork or a pastry blender combine the crumble ingredients. Sprinkle evenly over the dough in the pan.

Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Make sure you are not sticking the toothpick into an apple.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving weekend I loaded up Wahine (my CR-V), got the dogs in and headed off to my daughter's house for a family holiday.

At the time I did not realize how far out of whack my date stamp was on my the camera, it has since been corrected. Anyway,,,,

Thanksgiving morning my son in-law Justin picked up my son from the airport and they sat and chatted for a bit.

I got a picture of my children and I, not too many of these out there as I am usually the photographer.

CJ and Patricia in the kitchen doing some prep work for the big meal.

Black Friday after we had done some shopping Patricia and I took the 4 dogs for a walk. The saying about unless you're the lead dog the view never changes is true.

My 4 legged kids and I before we head back to Patricia's house.

Saturday morning Justin, Patricia and I headed out to put up the outside lights. After Justin and I got them all out of the attic we started at the corner of the garage.

Once I knew Justin could handle his portion alone I went to put the lighted garland up over the front door.

Once the outside was done we headed off to get a Christmas tree. Patricia was happy with the one we picked out and it came from West Jefferson.

My pregnant baby girl putting the lights on. She only paid $10 more for her tree than I did for mine,,hmmmm.

Sunday morning I loaded up and headed home. The traffic was awful. At one point I hit 30 mph,, OMG!

Nope,,,that must have a been a figment of my imagination because I am stopped now. It took me a total of 14 hours to get home that day.

May Day in November

I like to entertain. I like to do different things like Christmas in July. This year I decided to do a May Day in November.

In Hawaii, May Day is a big deal. It is a day to celebrate the Hawaiian heritage, food and music. I invited a few friends over and we had Hawaiian food and listened to Hawaiian music while enjoying each other's company.

Since people in Hawaii eat Spam I found a recipe for Spam and Pineapple Kabobs, brushed with honey and broiled. They were good.

I made Lomi Lomi Salmon, Oven Roasted Kahlua Pork with Cabbage and Huli Huli Chicken.

A few years ago my wonderful co-workers gave me some sea shell shaped floating candles. I used them for a table centerpiece.

Guests included Emily, Damon and Nancy.

Bill and Sue. There was a prize for the most colorful a/k/a loud shirt. There was a coin toss between Bill and Nancy. Had Damon been there on time he would have won.

After everyone left I got the kitchen cleaned up. I cannot stand waking up to a messy kitchen.

By the time I was done the dining room was ready for Thanksgiving.

The living room was back to normal. It was a fun night and next time I'll invite more people. Aloha!

Pot Roast Smothered in Onions

I was curious about this recipe, a pot roast with apples and cinnamon? Sounds interesting. So I gave it a try, not bad.

4 large cooking apples, unpeeled, cored and sliced 1/4" thick
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 (2 1/2) pound beef chuck pot roast
1 tblsp mild vegetable oil
4 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
1 cup apple juice or water
2 large cloves garlic minced
1 tblsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dried, crumbled oregano
1 tsp dried, crumbled thyme

Put apples in a 3 1/2 quart or larger crock-pot. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Trim fat from roast. If necessary cut roast into 2 pieces to fit into crock-pot. In a large pot brown the roast on all sides, about 10 minutes.

Place roast on top of apples. Separate onions into rings and put on top of meat. In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients and pour over meat and onions. Do not stir. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Transfer meat to a carving platter. Let stand for 15 minutes before slicing. Serve with apples, onions and pan juices.