Sylvia's Scenario

I've been on a cooking frenzy ever since we  said good bye to Ichi  on Thursday.  I can't help it, it's what I do.  Before yesterday, I also made shepherd's pie ,  stuffed jumbo shells , and turkey thighs and wings in the crockpot with cranberry sauce; all favorite comfort foods. Yesterday, we had my sister and her husband over for dinner and I made  beef stroganoff , my ultimate comfort food, with  biscuits .  I know that's a lot of carbs together with noodles from the stroganoff but this was about comfort, not nutrition.  I left out the cheddar cheese, jalapeños, and chives in the biscuits and just made them plain.  We have one jar left of our  plum jam  that made the perfect combo.  I did throw in a salad, our favorite   watercress and mango salad .  Fruit like mangos are tasting pretty good just about now when we're getting tired of winter.  I added some red leaf lettuce to it along with so...

Here is a lightened up version of Shepherd's Pie from Weight Watcher's, another appropriate recipe after over-indulging during the holiday season. Lauren came over for dinner tonight and the three of us ate nearly the whole pan; the recipe says "Serves 6". Really?  I've already changed the original version of the Weight Watcher's version so I can't even tell you how many points this recipe is now.  With our cold weather, we want hardy meals yet we want to eat light. I guess if we eat twice as much as we suppose to then we're really not eating light. But this recipe was that good. It was hard to stop going back for more so that is why I'm posting this recipe. It's not the most picturesque recipe but it tastes a lot better than it looks. Serves 4 4 large uncooked potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces 1/2 cup lite sour cream 1/8 tsp. salt or to taste 2 tsp. olive oil 1 cup chopped onion 3 medium carrots, diced...

Here's another leftover Thanksgiving turkey recipe to add to your recipe file. How many people eat turkey soup the week after Thanksgiving? A lot, I'm sure. We are no exception. Besides the fact that I love soup this time of year, it's perfect with leftover turkey. I did mention that I didn't host Thanksgiving dinner this year, right? I was lucky to be a guest this year at my sister's house where we had a lovely, traditional Thanksgiving dinner with all our family favorite recipes at a beautiful Thanksgiving table. (Or should I say two tables since there were 14 of us) Then why do I have leftover turkey?  Because I couldn't stand to be without it so I invited everyone over on Saturday for another "mini Thanksgiving". Then Bruce and I could cook our own turkey, thus leftover turkey. Having another "mini Thanksgiving", also gave us an opportunity to use up some of the leftover side dishes. I had plenty of my Hernon gree...

It's still "soup weather" here - gray, cloudy and wet - so no better time than one of my favorite family recipes of pasta fazool. This is the ultimate comfort food (still in demand after the Super Bowl ) and this dish always hits the spot on a rainy day. Needless to say, we ate this often when we lived in Seattle, one of the kids' favorite meals.  It's a one-dish meal, although we usually have a salad and bread with it. Our version is thicker than a lot of versions you might get in Italian restaurants where it is called Pasta Fagioli but I've always loved our home cooked version the best. I think the macaroni in this recipe causes it to be thicker because it continues to absorb the soup as it cooks but I like it that way.  The Italian name means "pasta and beans" and was considered a peasant dish, made by those who could not afford expensive food with meat.  This is not an expensive dish at all but it is healthy with beans for protein, l...

If you are as busy as I am getting ready for the holidays, then you don't have a lot of time to think about eating.  That is why soup is the perfect solution. I'm currently planning our  Christmas party  for Saturday night.  Planning isn't the hard part - that's just scribbles on a piece of paper, known as the menu.  ( I know my spelling is an issue, but  I  understand it and that's what important!) I am only making a few items on this list because our numbers have jumped up this year by 9 additional guests so we won't be doing a sit-down dinner like the past 3 years.   Instead of 14 people, we are now up to 23 people which means a buffet-style dinner.  But we are still going to make our   mustard crusted beef tenderloin .  I am also making the vegetable dish which we had on Thanksgiving which everyone liked and then I will put it on this blog.  Everything else we will pick up at local delis which will ...

Yesterday, I was craving  Chinese food   so when I went to the grocery store, I bought some mushrooms for it but then I didn't use them.  So, today I decided to make my favorite dish with mushrooms - beef stroganoff.  I love this dish and I've made it so many different ways.  I decided to keep this one because it is pretty easy and doesn't use heavy cream or other high calorie ingredients, so common in beef stroganoff.  This beef stroganoff is a good, easy any-night dinner you can have during the week without a lot of fuss.  Serves 4 1-10.5 oz. can beef broth 2 Tbsp. flour 1 tsp. dry mustard 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce 1 pound uncooked trimmed beef tenderloin, trimmed of all visible fat and cut into 2-1/2 inch strips 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. pepper, freshly ground 2 tsp. oil 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced 10 ounce fresh mushrooms 1/4 cup sour cream 4 cups cooked egg noodles, hot 1.  With a whisk, stir 1 ...