Amazing chicken stew

I usually make chicken soup, not chicken stew, but with winter dragging on into what's supposed to be spring, I couldn't help myself.  Last weekend, I set aside the three-plus hours it takes to make this incredible stew.  The recipe is from Cook's Illustrated, but of course they won't let you have it.  I'm perfectly happy to send you somewhere else that will: Best Chicken Stew

Cranberry-white chocolate chip monster cookies

Recently I made a batch of my monster chocolate chip cookies, shown below, and it occurred to me that some of my other recipes could probably be adapted to make over-sized delights like these.

I started my experiments with my recipe for Cranberry-White Chocolate Cookies, and it worked out so well that I think I'll probably try it again with other recipes!  Start with the basic recipe at the link above, and make these four adjustments.  Melt the butter and let it cool before beating with the sugar, add an extra egg yolk, lower the oven temperature to 325, and form and bake them according to the directions for the chocolate chip cookies.

Fried cats and rotten children

Brown rice cakes with sauteed vegetables

When I first saw this recipe, I thought, "Well, maybe..."  And then I promptly set it aside for a couple of years and forgot about it!  Recently I found it in my "to try" file, and thought, "Well, maybe..."

I'm glad I finally got around to actually trying it.  It's really really good!  Brown Rice Cakes with Sauteed Fennel, Broccoli Rabe, and Ricotta

Cuban shredded beef

More Cuban!  Now that my taste buds have been fully enticed, I don't seem to be able to get enough!  This is another Cook's Illustrated recipe, and you can find a kind soul who posted his own version of it right here: Cuban Shredded Beef.

It isn't, no.

Cuban pork and beans stew

I have really grown to love the flavors of Cuban food.  All except for cilantro...still can't abide the stuff.  Smells like dirty socks to me, and apparently that's some sort of genetic "I can't help it so don't tell me how good the stuff is" thing.

I recently made a Cuban Pork and Beans Stew that I found in Hannaford's Fresh magazine.  But I made several changes.  I neglected to soak the dried beans overnight, so I ended up using canned.  That was fine, because I really prefer small red beans to black beans anyway, which is what the recipe calls for.  Also, I seared the meat before stacking the slow cooker, because nothing tastes better than seared meat...boiled just doesn't do it!