Catching up - 3 more cookbooks

I apologize for being delinquent in updating the blog. I've been busy with work, home, and play, and I forgot the password to get into the blogspot account. But over the past few weeks, we have used three more of our cookbooks. And I'm currently considering buying one more.

We've been doing Saturday dinners at home after Oliver goes to bed. A couple of weeks ago, we bought a tri-tip and made Flank Steak with Red Wine Sauce from Giada De Larentis' "Giada's Family Dinners." It was delicious and easy, and we served it with steakhouse mushrooms, asparagus, and a potatoes anna recipe from an old issue of Cooking Light. The whole dinner was excellent, but we're still working on perfecting the potatoes anna. It always tastes great, but never comes out of the cast-iron skillet right.

The Saturday after, we went with an Asian flair. We seared pepper and sesame seed-crusted tuna and served it with an Asian slaw. We also had Ina Garten's Szechuan Noodle recipe from "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook." I love sesame noodles, and this was a tasty variation. Quite a few ingredients, but only a couple of states. I'll definitely repeat this one.

And as I said earlier, our household has been busy. So I pulled out one of my five crockpot cookbooks—"Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook"—and made some Chicken Cacciatore. I put all the ingredients in and started it when I was taking a break from work for lunch. So simple. And making a thicker sauce is optional at the end, but who needs to bother with that. The juicy broth was perfect with bread.

We're halfway through February and have only used seven of the 73 cookbooks in the house, so it's time for us to pick up the pace. Now that I have retrieved the password to the blog, I'll be updating more often so check back soon! —CS