Chicken Sloppy Joe's

Started off a bit too running when everything was cooked up, but the beauty of having to much liquid? Just cook it longer. Ended up just about right. Splash of spices, some diced tomatoes some tomato paste and a pound of chicken. Why on earth would I want to buy sloppy joe in a can with all the extra ingredients they might give me?

Duck Risotto (made with my own duck stock)

The only complaint I got was that there was perhaps too much finishing salt. But this turned out great. It was onion, rice and some leftover diced duck and the duck stock. I do think that since the stock was a bit more salty then the normal low-sodium broth that I would use, I probably shouldn't have added as much salt. I thought it was a bit too salty (though I a much more salt sensitive now, then I used to be). So in going back to the stock, I'll probably not add as much salt when making my next batch of stock. But even with that, it was amazingly good.

I used most of the duck stock, though I still have 3-4 cups left to put into something. Which is still pretty amazing. considering that I had started out with two of my biggest containers full of stock and reduced it down to less then half... I had a lot of fun doing it, and look forward to making more in the future.

Pulled-Pork Macaroni and Cheese with Caramelized Onions and Four Cheeses (p8 Fine Cooking February/March 2010)

So instead of following the recipe and and buying a smoked pork shoulder I headed down to Uncle Wendell's and picked up a couple of pounds of pulled pork. Other then that, it went pretty well, I probably wasn't as patient with the sauce as I should've been, but I liked it and Shannon did too.

leftovers

Since I often make recipes for many (example I had near 2 gallons of chili made) and we are just a few, I usually eat leftovers for lunch (and Shannon does this from time to time as well), but we were so far behind, that we had to take a chance to catch up again.

Red Bean and Sausage Cakes with Poached Eggs and Cilantro Salsa (p47 Bon Appétit February 2010)

Often times when I make things with vegetables and try to put them into patties or cakes, it just doesn't turn out well. However, this worked well. I didn't use breakfast sausage, but the Graziano spicy sausage. The fresh cilantro that I bought didn't look very good by Thursday, so I used some diced tomatoes, the green sauce and some (gasp) dried cilantro that I had leftover from something that actually asked for it, and made it that way. It turned out well.

This was also my first attempts at making poached eggs The first couple didn't turn out well, but the last two, started to get better. I've heard that adding vinegar to the almost boiling water works well too, but I did not do that. It does make me want to try more. One of my favorite things in the world are eggs benedict...so...it'd be nice to be able to make them.