Soup. The best soups combine hearty vegetables with a delicious blend of liquid and spices. For a cold winter day, canned and processed souplike products from the likes of Campbell's and Progresso do not fit the bill. I based this soup on a recipe from Rachael Ray's newest cookbook, 365: No Repeats--A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners
Behold: a 15 minute soup

Ingredients
Olive Oil
Crushed Red Pepper
Marjoram (or, any green spice: name your flavor)
Garlic (not powder)
4 cups fresh or frozen vegetables (thin sliced carrots, celery, onion, zucchini, green beans, yellow beans, sugar peas, peppers)
1 can/1.5 cups chicken broth
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 jar tomato sauce (plain)
Parmesean or Romano cheese
Italian or French Bread
Tools
Large saucepan/pot
Spoons
Sharp knives for cutting veggies
Can opener
Steps
Line up your ingredients: chopped/sliced veggies in a bowl; spices; cans and can opener.
Add a few tablespoons of OO to the saucepan, medium heat.
Add a few (chopped) cloves of garlic. You can't have too much garlic!
Add a sprinkle of crushed red pepper.
Add the veggies. Mix to coat with the oil.
Cook the veggies, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.
Add the cans of broth, tomatoes and sauce.
Add another sprinkle of crushed red pepper and whatever green spice you're in the mood for.
Heat through, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat, top with a dash of parmesean/romano cheese.
Serve with a few slices of fresh italian or french bread for dunking.

With my move back to Buffalo, one of the things I looked forward to the most was being close to the ski hills to the south. Kissing Bridge and Holiday Valley offer just enough variety for a new skiier like myself.
I'll never be a fast and furious skiier, racing down a slope at breakneck speeds while doing tight little spins, like Jeremiah. I won't even be as mobile as the four year olds I've seen zipping along at Kissing Bridge. However, I ski slowly and steadily, with occasional slips and falls. For someone who hadn't even encountered the Bunny Hill until she was 24 years old, I do fine.
We bought our Schussmeisters ski passes; our equipment (boots and skis) is in great condition; and, we have most evenings free to hop on the Schuss bus.
While walking outside today in the mud, I'm just bummed that the ski conditions are, to put it bluntly, totally sucking. We won't be back in business until a few more heavy snowstorms come our way.

Last night I whipped up a concoction that, though I call it tapenade, according to the true definition should just be called "a tasty spread for crackers and stuff."
Tapenade generally contains a combination of black olives, capers and anchovies. I will eat exactly none of those foods. I don't even know what capers are. So, based on how I've seen my hero, Rachael Ray, prepare her "tapenade," here's my recipe.
Ingredients
1/2 jar (12 oz) marinated artichokes (found in the pickle aisle; save the oil)
1 jar (6 oz) roasted red peppers
3-4 tbsp. minced garlic (or, a few cloves of chopped, fresh garlic)
other condiments in your fridge (i used 2 tbsp. of sliced pimentos; you could also use seeded pepperoncini, pickled veggies, olives, hot sauce - go crazy, it'll work)
1/4 c parmesean cheese
2 tbsp. lemon juice (fresh, if you have it)
several dashes of parsley or italian seasoning (or fresh chopped herbs)
dash of salt
Tools
Food processor. This is essential.
spoons for adding/removing the ingredients
clean, delabeled jars (you can use the empty jars from the rrpeppers or artichokes; I washed mine thoroughly with soap, then a mild bleach solution, then rinsed. The ingredients are mildly acidic, so bacteria growth potential over a few days isn't likely, but super-clean is better).
a towel (I made a mess w/ my food processor)
Steps
Add all ingredients to the food processor
Blend (on pulse; you don't want it too watery)
Add the leftover oil from the artichokes as needed; the final result should be thick, not chunky, not watery; add olive oil if you need more
Spoon into clean jars.
Store in the fridge
Serving
Goes well with pita bread (or any bread), triscuits/crackers, polenta (We first tried this as a sample at Wegman's - it's delicious). You could also take some italian bread or a baguette, slice it on an angle, top with the tapenade and mozz. cheese and heat until the cheese melts.

An unpleasant mix of odors has taken hold in my apartment; the faintly vinegar scent of a sourdough starter that is well past its prime; the sour smell of an apple juice-alcohol concoction that, I have been told, is part of a Christmas gift; and, the gag-a-rific stench of canned mackerel.
The first two components are fine; we make our own bread every week, and have taken to brewing various drinks quite often. Fish have never been part of our diets. When we went to Maryland a few summers ago, we were on the Atlantic shore, surrounded by fantastic meals of seafood, specifically crabs. We ordered some crabcakes because that was the thing to do, and uniformly agreed that they were not that good. Their only redeeming quality was the extraordinary amounts of butter used in the sauce that came with it. Butter makes everything better.
Why was I cooking with mackerel? Well, in trying to come up with a secret santa gift at work, the coworker I randomly selected loves cats and animals. So, in addition to the blah donation I made to the Erie Co. SPCA in her name, I baked some homemade cat treats. Using mackerel. Here's the recipe. Make this on a day you can open the windows, light a candle and get the heck out of dodge.
Ingredients
2+ c. flour (I used white whole wheat; go for the whole wheat if you can)
2 eggs
1 can of mackerel (find it with the tuna fish)
Tools
Large bowl
Whisk
spoons and fork
cookie sheet
clothespin
cooling racks (optional)
rolling pin
cookie cutters
Steps
Whisk the eggs
Add a cup of the flour, mix well
Pin clothespin on nose
Add the can of mackerel. It comes in large, disgusting chunks, so chop it up well with the fork - it crumbles
Add the rest of the flour; you will need more to keep the rolling pin from sticking, so keep it ready.
If the dough feels very sticky, add flour in 1/4 cup intervals and mix thouroughly.
Transfer to a flat surface, and roll into a 1/4- 1/2 inch sheet; cut with cookie cutters and transfer to the cookie sheet. I also rolled a few into disks, and made a few pretzels with coils of dough.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Greasing or leaving the cookie sheet ungreased didn't seem to matter. I prefer ungreased.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until firm.
Remove from the oven, and cool completely. Then store in the fridge or freezer.
Dump all utensils and bowls into a sink full of hot soapy water. You'll thank me later.

My puppy taste-tested these soon after they cooled. It's been an hour, and she seems ok. Then again, she brought me a frozen mouse this weekend, so her tastes are not very discerning.

Many years ago, my family sat around the table at Thanksgiving, finishing a delicious turkey dinner and anxiously awaiting a selection of pies for dessert. With this holiday, as with all others, I wasn't going to choose which kind of pie to devour; why choose, when you can have a piece or two of each?
Long story short, the homemade apple and pumpkin got to stay on the table, while the French Silk Pie met an unfortunate end. That's right - after it was cut, plated and set in front of us, my mom took it away and wouldn't let us eat it: "raw egg is dangerous." And yes, this pie contains not one, but two raw eggs. Of course, pregnant women or people with compromised immune systems shouldn't eat raw eggs in any form. However, at the time, my brother and I were young, strong and hungry. To this day, we can't hear the words "French Silk Pie" without thinking of that horrific day. And of that delicious pie.
Here is the recipe, so it can live long on the internets. I stole the recipe right out of my grandma's recipe box because my mother, bless her heart, would have thrown it away.
Ingredients
1/2 c. butter
3/4 c. white sugar
1 square baker's unsweetened chocolate
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
Tools
Mixer/hand mixer
bowl
prepared pie crust (graham cracker or chocolate works well)
Spoons
Steps
Cream together the butter and sugar; melt the chocolate, and add to the butter/sugar mixture when cooled.
Add the vanilla to the mixture.
Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat for 5 minutes each. The only way to describe the final texture is - it looks like the inside of a three musketeers bar, but it is not nearly as gooey.
Chill in the 'fridge for a few hours. Garnish with (fresh) whipped cream, chocolate shavings, or plain old chocolate sauce. Or oreo crumbs. Or nuts. Go wild.