Cioppino and Heartland

Yesterday afternoon Charlie offered to take me out for dinner if I could find a babysitter. While most women would swoon at that offer, I came back with a better one! We'll save the money we would have spent on a babysitter, stay home, and I'll make cioppino (an Italian seafood stew). I've been wanting to make it for a long time, and since Charlie asked for seafood for dinner, it was the perfect opportunity. Lily helped me out in the kitchen. The two pictures below are of Lily (with my help) going through the mussels, looking for open or cracked shells and cleaning the mollusks off. They are quite sandy, and about a third of the mussels were already open. Do not ever cook or eat an open mussel. It means that it is already dead and unedible. To cook the mussels, you need to steam them with a cup of water for about 5 minutes. They will open up, and the inside is what you eat. They are delicious!

I am making fish stock in the red pot below. I was horrified to learn that our local market doesn't carry it on the shelf. I had to take the shells off the shrimp myself and boil them in water for 45 minutes to make my own. It was quite satisfying!

Here's the beginnings of the stew. A good stew or soup always starts with some olive oil and onion. There is also bell pepper in this recipe. The recipe called for a green pepper, but I only had a yellow. That's what I love about cooking, compared to baking. Nothing is exact, and you can improvise as you go. If you don't bake according to directions, more than likely your recipe won't turn out. Cooking allows for so much more creativity with flavors.

Here's the final presentation. We had fresh, crusty bread and great red wine. The meal was delicious! If you're interested, you can find the recipe at Simply Recipes.
The girls were behaving nicely (Sophia and Grace were sleeping!), so we played Heartland Strategies, which is a homemade game I received from my friend Kimberly. Sadly, the guys beat the girls this round, but we're ready for a rematch.Here's a random picture of the girls taken while I was doing laundry on Saturday morning.

There really isn't a meal plan for this week. I will be working at the Farm Show all week selling ice cream. Come on out and say hi if you're in the neighborhood!