April Menus 72 to 75 - April showers go away...

April is associated with the season of spring, when trees and flowers begin to “open” and we shed the winter blues and start to prepare for loads of outside playtime.  It may bring April showers too, but we don’t need to worry about getting stuck inside and be bored waiting for the sky’s to clear.  April is a month jam pack of food celebrations: national bake week, egg salad week, chocolate mouse day, hot cross bun day, pecan day, it’s the national grilled cheese month, picnic day, blueberry pie day and so much more that I don’t think we can NOT come up with some awesome choices for us to get gutsy on April.

You can put away those umbrellas; you are staying in and cooking up a storm.

Week 1, to post week of April 2^nd 

• Peanut Butter and Jelly Day needs to be celebrated with a different take of the sandwich – Peanut Butter and Jelly Pie Sticks via Spoon Fork Bacon
• The 4^th is cordon blue day – I have not had one of these in so long, I’m thinking its time to bring them back – Chicken Cordon Bleu via Martha, via Emeril.
• There is a Coffee Cake day too, not that we need that excuse to make one.  Like this Honey Lemon Olive Oil Whole-Wheat via Eat the Love.  Or if you are to lazy to wait for anything to rise you could go with King Arthur Flour favorite Sour Cream Coffee Cake.

Week 2, to post week of April 9^th 

• Did you know there was a Grilled Cheese Sandwich day! I got all sort of excited with this – let’s see what we can come up with, here are some ideas to get you started via Tasteologie. Go ahead, pick one and surprise us!
• I love mushrooms and you can incorporate them in pretty much anything.  But these Balsamic Green Beans & Cremini are calling my name via What we’re eating.
• Let’s do the technique post, this is what’s next on my kitchen bucket list – Beef Wellington via Chow 

Week 3, to post week of April 16^th 

• The apple pie worked (sort of), maybe its time for Blueberry Pie in a Jar via Babble.
• Shrimp has a day too this week.  I’m thinking Shrimp Au Gratin via Cooking in Sens
• Because Monkey’s holds a special place in my heart, I cannot hold myself back from trying these – Monkey Bread Minis via shutterbean 

Week 4, to post week of April 23^rd 

• Celebrating National Picnic day should not be hard with these menu options via Epicurious.  Then pack it and take your family to the nearest park and enjoy. 

So there you have it a bit of everything to celebrate April. How Gutsy are you going to get this month?

March Menus 58 to 71 - Spring is in the air...

March, how did we get here? Because it seems only yesterday that we were celebrating new years.  But, here we are – MARCH.  And with it a new set of menus.

Not going to lie, this one was a tough one.  I have no idea why, usually the monthly recipe line up come to me pretty quickly, but March was proving to be a bit of a challenge.

Besides, green beer celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. March, marks the beginning of spring, which means for most of us, the gardens are waking up…

Carrots, cauliflower, leeks, spring onions, oranges, salmon, mussels, oysters, parsley are at their best…

So how about building some of our menus using these ingredients?

Week 1, to post week of March 5th 

• Fish fillets in Caper Sauce, Roman Style – by Julia Della Croce, via Cookstar
• Mac ‘n’ cheese Filos with Parmesan, cauliflower and chilli – by Paul Bloxham, via Good Food Channel
• Gremolata Encrusted Hake Fillets over Lemony Swiss Chard and Leeks – Jill Mant via Honest Cooking 

Week 2, to post week of March 12^th 

• Always wanted to try this Salmon en croute with pea puree – via taste.com
• Creamy pot roast chicken – via Delicious Magazine
• This has been calling my name for ages – Brown Mushroom Tortano – via Cook Republic 

Week 3, to post week of March 19^th 

• Cheesy pancakes with ham and leeks – via Delicious Magazine
• 101 Cookbooks has not failed us yet, so how about trying her Sunburst Carrot Salad
• Ok they are not mussels, but clams and pasta is always good stuff - Linguine with White Clam Sauce by Lidia Bastianich 

Week 4, to post week of March 26

Lets throw in here a recipe from scratch challenge – DONUTS! 

• Croatian Jelly Doughnuts – via Honest Cooking
• Bomboloni (Italian filled donuts) – via La mia vita dolce
• Malaysian Sweet Potato Donuts – via Smoky Wok 

I’m really looking forward too these, I hope you are too.  Let March madness begin!

February Menus - The second Act

So we continue with February and I think I’m going to mix it up with a couple of options to try new techniques as well.  I had several emails from the group members that they wanted to try baking more with yeast, or making pasta from scratch, or even their own cheese… I figure why not make the second part of February a technique month?

Here we go…

Week 3, Post Feb 20 – Let’s make it fresh, as in Pasta! And then pair it with your favorite sauce.

Basic Fresh Egg Pasta – from Lidia’s Italy (this is my GO TO recipe - has never failed me)
Whole-Wheat Pasta may also be an option – from A full Measure of Happiness

Sauce options are plenty, but these sounds too good to pass up:

Porcini Mushroom Fettuccine – from 101 Cookbooks
Norcia – from Madonna del Piatto
If meat is what you want, here are 10 different options from theKitchn

Week 4, Post Feb 27 – From scratch, why not? I’m craving Croissants, how about you?

How to make them homemade – from theKitchn
JoCooks has a really good post about them, plus a pretty good recipe too
Need more tips? Press for time? The Fresh Loaf Forum has a good post from a reader about making them with minimum effort.

So there you have it, the choices for the end of February, both options are a bit time consuming, but like all of us cook know, anything made from scratch is a gazillion time better than store bought.  And in some cases we learn that what we thought was going to be a huge time effort turns out to be not such a big deal after all.

Ready for the second half?

Ready, Set, COOK!

February Menus 54 to 57 Game on, Sweet Days

You guys! You rocked it in January.  I have seen so many of you guys getting back on the cooking horse and participating, we had a least 2 gutsy cooks every week posting something.  It was great.  I love visiting your blogs and seeing your suggestion and gustiness with each of the recipes.

We also had new members joining us, so make sure you visit and give a bit of a welcome and some comment love - Anna from Making Ends Meat , Anusha from Tomato Blues and Janis from The Kitchen is my Shrink

I’m still working on the last 2 weeks of the February Menus and they will be posted by the end of the week. But for now, how about if I give you the first 2 weeks so you guys can start to plan it out… 

Week 1, Post Feb 5th - Its Game time!  This week I’m going to leave it open for all of you to share your favorite game/party dishes.  I for one, going to try these:

Game Day Chili - from Cooking Channel

Bourbon Onion Dip - from Cooking Channel

Loaded Bake Potato Dip - From Brown Eye Baker

Curried Chicken Wings with Peach Dipping Sauce - from Virginia Willis

Week 2, Post Feb 12 - Let’s be sweet and spicy with our beloved.

Frozen Peanut Butter Pie - from Cook Republic

Breakfast Galette - from A Cozy Kitchen

Flammkuchen with Red onions - from Delicious Days

Your choice of any of the Valentine Menus -  from Epicurious

I hope these are just as inspirational as the January options were - I cannot wait to see what you will all come up with this time.

Ready, set.. GO!

January Menus 50 to 53 – Healthy Start

2012 is here folks.  365 clean days to fill up with new successes, new recipes, new adventures and everything in between. I for one has promised myself to be more bold in the kitchen, to try to cook more greens, make things from scratch and put myself totally out of my comfort zone with techniques and ingredients. 

2011 was a year of indulgence, lots carbs, cheese, pastas and the desserts really topped most of my post, as well as some of my fellow bloggers.  I’m going to go out on a limb here and pretty much say that a healthy start is probably the most anticipated trend we will see in the new year. So this will be the theme for our January Menu line up.  Veggies recipes, natural foods, and maybe in between, because we are all going to be good, a couple of sweetbites.

And off we go - remember you can cook one option, two or all four.  Posting should be up by Sunday, or at the latest on Monday.

Click to read more ...

December Menu - Free Choice "Holiday Favorite"

And our little club is growing guys!  Please help me welcome two new members:

Anna from Making Ends Meat and Hyma from Hyma’s Flavours

Remember visit their blogs and show some comment love.

It was so hard to choose menus for December, between all the options out there for the Holidays and the fact that this month is the busiest for most home cooks out there, the Gutsy Cooks have decided that the best thing to do (to keep all of our sanity in check) is to make this a FREE month.

Pick any recipe that you are doing this month and post it under the Gutsy Cook tag. 

Have a holiday family favorite? A great holiday cookie recipe? A recipe that reminds you of your childhood during this special time of the year?

Cook it, Write about it and share your post!

And in between, I wish you and your love ones a great Holiday season - with lots of great surprises and safe and happy days.

See you in 2012!

November Menus 45 to 49 - Inspiration - Warmth and Comfort Food

Here we are folks, the November line up – sorry it has taken me this long to post and I totally understand if anyone takes a pass this week!

Since it is November (HOW DID THAT HAPPEN!?) I could not think of a more appropriate inspiration than food that gives us warmth - for some of you who are already enjoying snow and everything that comes with cold weather (including us Floridians) and comfort.  Nice long cooked stews and comfort food - hearty and warm and filling the entire house with the smell of something good in the oven. Perfect for days where you want to crawl into a soft couch with fuzzy socks and snuggle with your favorite person. 

So I mixed and matched some stews, and soups and threw in a couple of recipes made with corn, because, well I’m not going to lie, I been craving it and it just so happen that I ran into a couple of recipes that I been dying to try out.

As always, you are free to do as many of the recipes as you like and experiment by using them as a jumping point to creating your very own version. Since this month is also hosting the great FOOD FEST HOLIDAY – other wise known as Thanksgiving, you can take a free pass the week of Nov 20 or 27, since I’m sure you will be up to your head in turkey and leftovers. (Tip: Try Bobby Flay’s Kentucky Hot Brown, which is an open face sandwich using roasted turkey and savory French Toast).

I also want to welcome another Gutsy Cook to our circle.  Kavi, from Edible Entertainment, has decided to be a bit more gutsy in her kitchen and what better place to start than with us. Take a couple of minutes for a quick peek at her blog and give her a quick hello!

Here we go:

Week Nov 6 

• Sweet Potato Bisteeya
• Cornbread Sticks
• Corn, Sweet Onion, and Squash Curry
• Sopa de Ajo Castellana (Castilian Garlic Soup) 

Week of Nov 13 

• Sausage, pumpkin and sage casserole
• Haitian Stewed Chicken (Poulet Creole)
• Cheesy Corn Puff
• Tuscan White Bean Soup with Prosciutto

Week of Nov 20 

• Pumpkin Shrimp Curry
• Creamed Corn Tamales
• Kentucky Hot Brown
• Peanut and Squash Soup

Week of Nov 27

• Corn Cooked in Milk with Chiles and Coconut
• Carne Adobada (Red Chile and Pork Stew)
• Thai Chicken Stew

And there you have it November line up.  Hope you guys enjoy it. 

And I cannot sign off before I share this hilarious site that I came across one Sunday during a boring internet click fest – I have been in need of some comic release and Hanna Hart has given me that in large quantities over the past few weeks.

Hart is a food video star who got famous online. This girl is funny and while the appeal isn’t the food she cooks, it’s her persona - cool slacker geek, complete with glasses, self-deprecating humor, and real comic timing.  Her writing is just as good as her videos.

So for now, I leave you to it.  Looking forward to seeing your gutsiness every week this month.

Make me proud!

Ready? Set… Be gutsy!

October Menus 40 to 44 - Ingredient: Rice

Thank you all for the participation in last months Mexican theme, I was so happy to see the different takes on the chosen theme and I can tell that everyone is much more exited with the new club model.

But, before I let you on the October Menu.  We have a new member in the club – Andrea from Adventures in all things Food has joined our virtual kitchens. And if you have time, please give her blog a little visit and say “hi”.

Last month I choose the theme.  This month I decided to let luck picked our ingredient for the whole month.

And out came the most important staple food for a large part of the world’s human population, specially the East and South Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and West Indies.  It is the grain with the second-highest worldwide production, after maize (Corn).

Oh glorious rice!

So there you go – October recipes will all involved one common ingredient – Rice.  And for it not to get boring, I decided to give you all different techniques and/or themes in how to cook it.

You can cook any of the recipes that I suggested, or venture on your own, as long as you stay within the theme of the week

Ingredient: Rice

Week of Oct 2 - Theme: Unusual and out of the box Use 

• Rice Flour Pancakes
• Pumpkin Rice Laksa Soup
• Horchata
• Adas Polo (Persian Rice with Lentils) 

Week of Oct 9 - Theme: Stuffed into something or with something

• Creamy Risotto Layer Cake
• Tomatoes Stuffed with Rice
• Arancine (Saffron Rice Balls)
• Calas (Fried Rice Fritters)

Week of Oct 16 - Theme: All in one dish 

• Imperial Rice - Arroz Imperial 1 or Arroz Imperial 2
• Rice Salad or Tuna Rice Salad
• Butternut Squash and Rice Timbales
• Indonesian Coconut Rice with Chicken and Zucchini

Week of Oct 23 - Theme: Let’s make it Sweet!

• Swedish Rice Pudding
• Coconut Rice Fingers
• Rice Pudding Turnovers
• Rice Pudding Ice Pops  

Week of Oct 30 - Theme: What came first? The Risotto or The Paella? 

• Butcher’s Choice Risotto
• Fisherman’s Paella or Seafood Paella
• Cauliflower Risotto
• The Ultimate Paella

There you guys have it, hopefully I got your Gutsy-ness flowing and we will be treated to wonderful takes on any of the above themes.  Can not wait to start!

So are you guys ready? Get Set, and GO

Menu 38 & 39: Mexican

And we are back to cooking folks.  After all of the suggestions, I decided to start off with something that everyone seems to like.  Most ingredients are not hard to find, and it lends to creativity galore and can be a bit of a chanllenge.

Ready to go Mexican?

ARRIVA then!

I wanted to give us all an option to try something new and I always wanted to try my hand at making Tamales from scratch.  All of the recipes are from one of my favorite Mexican Chef - Rick Bayless.  I have two of his cookbooks and I have never had the chance to cook anything from it - this will give me the opportunity to do so. Then I included two types of Enchiladas - one vegetarian and the other is not.  I’m thinking of trying them both, since they both sound good and I’m a huge fan of mushrooms. 

Here are the links to the recipes for the menu for the next two weeks - you can choose what you want to do either week and remember posting dates are Sept 18 and Sept 25.  If you have questions, tips and simply want to share, leave a comment in this post.

• Tomatillo-Sauced Enchiladas with Spinach and Mushrooms
• Chicken-Filled Enchiladas with Tangy Tomatillo Sauce
• Yucatecan “Pudding” Tamales with Achiote and Chicken
• Enchiladas Especiales Tacuba Style
• Short Ribs Kabik

Remember these are our staring points, you can follow the recipe to the letter or be daring and play with it, you can take something that you like from one and incorporate in the other, or change it totally around… 

Are you guys ready?

Get set, and be Gutsy!

Summer break, here we come

The Gutsy Cook Club is taking a break during the summer months.  So go out there and have some summer fun!

We will be back to cooking up a storm in September.