Garlic shots, chili sauce and inspiration

1. Put together a hasselback potatoes recipe

2. Work on your lasagna recipe

3. Also enchiladas...

4. Lasagna enchilada synergy?? or the cajun lasagna...

Authentic chile sauce:

Do this soon...

Small batch (1-2 person) of Wendy's Garlic Shot

1 14 oz can diced tomatoes, juice and all

6-9 cloves of garlic (depending on the size of cloves)

a nice wedge of red or white onion (about 2 TB or so)

1 smallish carrot, cut into 1 inch chunks

a few dashes of turmeric

2 tsp apple cider vinegar (and/or lemon juice)

dash of soy sauce or crank of sea salt

1 tsp hot sauce

Blend the first 3 ingredients together to as fine a puree as can be managed. Strain this somehow (cheesecloth, those wire strainer-dealies or whathaveyou) add the remaining ingredients to this and drink the delicious juices to ward off the winter sicknesses and bolster the immune system. Save the pulp accumulated for other tasty purposes, I've added some lime and cilantro and eaten it with chips and also used as a base for tomato pasta sauces and chilies.

Best Potato Salad********************

About 2 -3 cups of cubed, boiled potatoes (20 min. covered, med. heat)

If you like your inalata patate nice and lubed up use less, if you like to keep mayo to a minimum, use more

1/2 cup mayo (lowfat if you so desire)

1/2 cup sour cream (ditto)

1/2 lemon, juiced

2-3 TB chopped scallions

2-4 cloves garlic

1 TB white wine vinegar

1/4 cup mixed fancy olives: kalamata, picholine, nicoise are my favorites (or just pick one kind)

1 celeriac (celery root) peeled and shredded coarsely

TBC...

Oh the weather outside is frightful cocoa

2-3 TB unsweetened chocolate

2 TB honey or sugar (or omit sugar and chocolate and use a cocoa mix)

1 small-large dash of cayenne (depending on your spice tolerance)

1/8 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp ground or freshly grated allspice

1 stick cinnamon

2 c milk

Grate chocolate. Heat everything except chocolate in a saucepan, take off heat and stir in the chocolate, stirring periodically with the cinnamon stick until melty and delicious.

This is great to add some spice (literally) to your cocoa, and it pairs well with vodka. Rum would do in a pinch but don't even try whisky. Trust me, it's uber gross. Now I'm off to trudge through mountains of snow to see an Elvis impersonator!