Cooking, Recipes and a Touch of Snow

It actually snowed late yesterday! After this "Green Winter", that was a bit of a shock. As I recall (I haven't looked outside yet), we're supposed to get approximately an inch, so it's not much of a snow. But still, it's actual white when I'm driving to the YMCA today, and the streets might well be icy, so caution driving will be a wise decision. 

I do love my "days off", even though I'm working just as 
hard on those days as I do at the shop. 

Of course, it's a "day off" of grocery shopping, errands (office supply shop, mainly) and cooking. I'm in the mood for a stew, so I pulled out a couple of possible recipes from my stack: Hungarian Goulash and Wrangler Stew. I'll read through those again before heading to the store, and decide which of the two I would rather make. I'd normally be making a chili, but I think a bit of a switch would be wonderful. I still have one portion of my "Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato" soup left, and it's been lovely. With the colder weather today, replenishing my soup/stew portions would be a great idea. 

Although I pulled two different stew recipes from my stack, 
it's this one I might try - Wrangler Stew. I'd drop out the 
potatoes, but I can easily deal with the rest of the ingredients, 
and I think it would be a lovely stew. 

I also pulled out the recipe for a Pomegranate Molasses Barbecue Sauce. I'm actually still in good shape on my Bar-B-Q sauce, but I wanted to take a closer look at this recipe and think about whether I'd like to give it a try. Not all recipes I try are successful, and my time for experimentation is quite limited, but this one is whispering to me. We'll see if I indulge or not. I have everything on hand except the pomegranate molasses (which I actually MIGHT have in my top cupboard). If I have the molasses on hand, I might just mix up a batch of this. 

I'm pretty sure I have a bottle of pomegranate molasses 
in my cupboard. I haven't used it for a couple of 
years, but I only needed a small bit in the recipe I 
required it for. I'll have to take a look through my 
cupboard before heading to the grocery store 
later today. 

The other thing I have to make is my baked fruit. I make that to have for breakfast every day, and I love it. I usually make it with pears or apples (or a combination of the two fruits). I add raisins or dried cranberries, chopped nuts, and seasonings and it's a lovely meal. I'm down to a single portion left in the refrigerator, and after my meal after swimming, I'll have none for tomorrow. Therefore, my baked fruit is a high priority item. I can toss together a pear bake within an hour of kitchen time, but I might want to change things up a bit ... just for the heck of it. 

I make a baked fruit to have for breakfast most 
mornings. It's not always the same fruit - it's what's 
available that looks good. I toss the cubed fruit in 
with nuts and dried cranberries, maple syrup and 
home-made pumpkin pie spice mix, put it into the 
oven, and let it do its' thing. It's a perfect meal 
first thing in the morning. 

So, life goes on. I've got bills to pay in front of my computer - I'll have to check the bank balances this afternoon and pay what I can. I shifted some personal funds into the joint account a week or two ago, and I'm unwilling to donate more of my funds unless I have no choice. I don't have that much at hand, so I need to be a bit careful. DH has increased his monthly donation for the bills, but there are some quarterly bills that we get that can punch a hole into our budgets, and two of those came through this month. *sigh* Death, taxes and utility bills - the guaranteed things in life - LOL. Have an excellent Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.