Things have been so busy this Advent season that I've gotten incredibly behind on posts, but what better way to catch up than through food updates? I've been having a blast cooking some cold weather favorites!
The other day it was cold and rainy, and my poor little self is not a fan of such weather, so I was in serious need of some comfort food. Then it struck me! Beef stroganoff! This was always my favorite meal growing up, and I remember my mom always making it when I most needed to be comforted. It seemed like a natural choice. Of course, this is one of those recipes that I learned from simply watching her make it with "a little of this and a dash of that." I hadn't attempted the dish in more than three years, but once it was on my mind there was no denying that it had to be our dinner!
I did my best, and who knows if it was the "original" recipe, but it was close enough for me, and it was a huge hit with the Hubs and Li'l E! I couldn't believe that she was willing to trying something that had so many ingredients mixed together. She's not a fan of food touching. "Everything in its place" and all that jazz. But the whole family was begging for seconds within minutes! Success!
A few days later, I was ruminating over another Crockpot meal. However, after a few successes over a couple or three weeks, I was starting to feel adventurous. I wanted to attempt something sans recipe. I had heard that chicken breasts could be Crockpot-ed to the point of falling apart and that gave me the inspiration to try and replicate some of our favorite chicken soft tacos from a local restaurant. I gathered chicken breasts, chicken stock, and some cans of Rotel tomatoes (no sense in trying to go Cordon Bleu on my first solo, I reckoned), and tossed them in the pot for six hours. When I took out the chicken to shred, it quite literally fell apart. It was PERFECT! I returned the shredded chicken to the pot of delicious juice and set up a "taco bar" on the island.


The picture just doesn't even do it justice! The beautiful white chicken and the brilliant red tomatoes! Gorgeous! And the whole house smelled like healthy Tex-Mex heaven! We added it to flour tortillas and piled on lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, sour cream, and salsa. Que sabroso! And we were able to eat off of it for a couple of days-- definitely one of my favorite benefits of Crockpot meals.

In the past week or so we'd enjoyed German and Tex-Mex meals, so I knew that it was time to delve into one of my favorite cultural culinary cuisines: French food. Of course, with our crazy life, I couldn't go full on Julia Childs with it, but I definitely gave my best attempt at capturing the fresh deliciousness on an American time line!
I made a thick and creamy tomato basil soup and then added "grilled cheese", but it was grilled cheese à la française, mais oui! This meant starting with croissants and adding brie and sliced basil and then cooking it on a griddle until it was warm and melted perfection. Add a few Honey Crisp apples on the side and it was a fresh delicious meal fit for ma 'tite famille!


I had some croissants, brie, and basil left, so of course there was nothing left to do but add a little chocolate for the most delectable complementary dessert! These little treats were cooked the same way, but the sweet, melted chocolate that oozes out of them with each bite pairs with the salty brie for one of my favorite taste combinations. Delicieux!
As far as I can recall, that was my last interesting foray into the kitchen, because then all of the family meals and travel and visiting began in the gear up to Christmas! I'm really looking forward to making it through the next week, so that I can focus on more adventurous dinners again once life calms down post holidays!

 


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