Have you noticed that whatever we’re having is always my favorite? We love good food and for the most part, I only fix things I like to eat. I do fix spaghetti and meatballs and I don’t like that at all but Vince loves it so . . being the good perfect wife that I am, I fix it.
For several years we’ve been enjoying bread from the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day book. One of my favorites from the book is the Onion & Rosemary Focaccia. When you make the bread dough ahead of time and just pull off what you need, it’s so easy to have fresh bread every night but we don’t have fresh bread every night. We’d be bigger than we are if we did!
Last week when we had so much snow, I got the hungries for smoked ribs. The smoker is in the garage and even though we got the driveway cleaned, the walkway to the front porch had a mountain of snow blocking my path and I put the smoker on the front porch when I’m using it. There was no way I could get the smoker to the front porch but this weekend Vince shoveled the snow off the walkway and I was able to get the smoker out of the garage and onto the porch and last night, we had smoked baby back ribs.
We also potato salad and cranberry beans. Sunday night we had black beans. Almost every night we have some kind of beans. Vince was talking to an old friend yesterday and they were talking about the price of groceries and she said “I guess everyone is going to have to eat pinto beans every night!” Vince said he didn’t say anything but he was thinking . . that’s what we do already! 🙂
Nothing like a good meal at home!
Chris says
I can only eat so many beans and I am beaned out. I worked as a baker and I love focaccia. It is versatile bread. Can be torn and dipped in marinara sauce, used as pizza crust, or used like an open faced sandwich with all the fixins on the top. Looks like a great meal. If it weren’t for the veggie I can and freeze I would be eating beans all the time too. My mother always tried to make a meal for a family of 5 for less than three dollars when I was young. I push for less than $5 for a family of 3 now. Meat is the big expense, but as you have shown buying on sale is the best for budgets.
bev blair says
Cranberry beans?? Ok, now you really have my interest….whats that recipe??? We love anything with cranberries.
Bev/Mo
Alicia says
I have the Artisian Bread Book on my wish list at Amazon. I added it about a year ago when I first heard about it. I just keep holding back because once I get it, I will want to make lots and lots of bread–but–like you mentioned–concerned about adding on all those pounds ~~~~Darn.
Patti Tappel says
I got that book last week in the mail. Now I need to go to town, all I have is bleached flour. Hopefully we won’t get snowed in tomorrow and we will have “town” day.
check this out, http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/ I thought about you and all your yarn when I saw it.
Patti
Susan says
Beans are so good………… There are so many ways to use beans and they are a good source of protein…………… I would tell you my favorite beans but they all are………
Mimi says
Judy, I just have to tell you that I love reading your blog each day. I browse a lot of them, but yours is my favorite.
Thanks for posting and keeping things fresh.
Hugs, (Helen) otherwise known as Mimi
Kathy in BC says
I have not tried foccaccia. Looks fantastic! I noticed you have some parchment paper under it. Does it not burn? The stuff I have says not to go over 400. I’ve always wanted to try the flat breads and pizza, but wasn’t sure how it would be to get the big flat dough off of the peel. What temp do you cook that at — 450? Same as the bread, or hotter? Thanks! 🙂 PS: I have turned several people here onto that recipe, all because of you! 🙂 Several of us have bought the book.
Diana W. says
Smoking in Feb? You sound like my husband, he will shovel a path to get to the smoker or BBQ. He often smokes more than we will eat and then freezes some, they warm up great in the oven and we have smoked ribs in the dead of winter and no shoveling! 🙂
candace says
Judy, this is a great little story….last summer after having read on your blog about Artisan Bread in 5 Min. I checked it out from the library….twice! Then, I went on vacation to see family in AK and started telling my MIL about this great bread book and found out she has already been baking out of it for a couple months! We shopped for a baking stone together while I was there. I came home and forgot about it having got caught up in the beginning of the school year rush and then the holidays. What do you think she gifted me with for my birthday? Yep! The book, and not only that…my neice and nephew gave me a stone for Christmas. I haven’t tried anything out of it yet but that foccacia bread is making me hungry!
Shirley Albertson Owens (sao) says
Cranberry beans – sounds good! I like unusual things. The other night I added prunes to my stir fry (I was SHOCKED to find out how GOOD that was!) I don’t think it is something that others will be anxious to try – but HONESTLY, it was really good!
sao in Midlothian, VA