The Unofficial Cook

Here’s a healthy alternative for dessert: Vanilla Yoghurt with Strawberries and Blueberries. [Read the rest of this entry...]

I’ve been cooking a lot of heavy dishes the past few days.  ‘Tis the season for all those rich recipes to come out and Osso Buco served over plain-boiled polenta sounds perfect for another cold, snowy day in Colorado….

Yesterday morning, Spouse and I went up to Denver and drove through the beautiful and cold fog in Monument and Larkspur.  I can say “beautiful” cause I wasn’t doing the driving.  It was another story when we got to the city.  Driving in this weather means freezing slush and mud on the road that all stick to the whole car, including your windshield…ugh!

We were supposed to stop for lunch at our favorite Italian restaurant in Denver, Cucina Colore but changed our mind at the last minute.  I still had Italian on my mind today and dug into my freezer…guess what I found…beef shanks!

Well, okay, it’s not veal shanks like what all Osso Buco recipes call for….but I like beef shanks better than veal shanks anyway.  It’s more robust in flavor and robust is perfect for the season. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Lovely weather we’re having in Colorado…light snow and single-digit cold since yesterday and into the middle of next week!  Perfect night for a bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup.

My recipe is based on Jeff Smith’s Chicken and Noodles from “The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American” cookbook.  It’s a lovely, comforting soup with thyme and sage.  Like a lot of old-fashioned, good recipes, this one will take a lot of time to prepapre and cook.  If you have the energy, make a double batch of noodles and keep it in the freezer.  It will take almost as much time to make half a batch or double the batch. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Food allergies are a terrible thing to live with, especially if it’s shrimp and crustaceans you cannot eat anymore!  Does one really have a choice when the last lobster meal I had sent me to the emergency room half dead?  Goodness, but hat meal was worth it….

Spouse loves shrimps.  He has a  nose like an English hound for the best deals on “Eat All You Can Shrimp” promos from here to Iowa.  For Valentine’s Day, I just had to make him a shrimp dish to make up for all the shrimp he cannot have all the rest of the year. [Read the rest of this entry...]