Veggies and more veggies . . . .

Cold winter afternoons are great for making soup!  On this particular day, an emptying of refrigerator drawers and the freezer, added to a few things off the pantry shelf resulted in a delicious, hearty vegetable soup.  Primary ingredients for this vegetable medley included carrots and golden beets from the garden that are wintering nicely in the downstairs refrigerator and are as sweet and luscious as the day we dug them out of the ground; green beans that I froze in August; rutabaga; leeks; onion and garlic; cabbage and canned tomatoes.  A few chunks of summer sausage added a flavor boost, along with herbs, salt and pepper.  Great for lunch and supper!

Where’s the beef? . . . .

Beef burgundy in a crock pot was a first.  We usually prepare it in the oven but it doesn’t matter where you slow cook it, so long as it is slooooow.  This time a raid for ingredients fell short of mushrooms which make this dish truly wonderful, but we had the pearl onions and a good red wine which helped.  The beef is the star of this dish and it was delicious, with a touch of bacon added.

A trip to the fish market . . . .

We don’t find lots of fresh seafood in the grocery stores where we live, so a trip to Fort Collins and Whole Paycheck meant an opportunity to load up.  Plans were for cioppino, a favorite fish stew.  Fresh clams, mussels, shrimp, and a firm white fish are basics.  Some restaurants serve king crab legs, but a tomato based stew makes for a messy finish when you wrestle with crab legs.  We decided against those and chose cod which, while it tasted delicious, didn’t hold together at all well.  Should have chosen the scallops!

Hmmmm . . . .

A crusty loaf of bread, along with a nice white wine, and you’ve got a meal fit for a cold winter evening by the fire.  Other recent favorites were Super Bowl green chili and chicken vegetable soup. They were consumed before I was able to photograph them. Onward and upward!