week of dinners, january 18-23

i love taking pictures of food, i create a weekly menu every weekend, and we cook almost every night, so i've decided that from time to time i'm going to post my menus of weekly dinners.  these posts will often include recipes and pictures and my hope is that they will always inspire fresh, seasonal, and thoughtful cooking by you! weekly dinner menu:

roasted vegetables (brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes and onions), roasted peppers with goat cheese and pesto:

Half and seed 1 each of red, yellow, orange bell pepper.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Brush roasting pan with olive oil and place peppers in pan, cut side up.  Drizzle peppers with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Put a basil leaf, a generous spoon of pesto, and a chunk of goat cheese in each pepper half.  Drizzle with more olive oil.  Add the pan to the oven for about 30 minutes- you are looking for the peppers to get crispy brown at the edges.  Serve with extra fresh basil leaves.

beef and spinach ravioli, mid-winter green salad

buttered turnips, orzo, slow cooked chicken:

Place about 2 1/2 pounds of bone-in chicken pieces in a slow-cooker (or crock pot).  Drizzle with 3 tablespoons olive oil and 3 tablespoons of white wine or chicken broth.  Season with 1 tablespoon of dried rosemary, salt and pepper.  Add about 2 tablespoons of water, 1 lemon (cut in half), and 8 cloves of smashed garlic.  Cook about 6 hours in slow cooker.  Chicken will fall right off the bone.

salad of fennel and winter leaves, onion soup (both adapted from the kitchen diaries by nigel slater):

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Peel 4 onions and cut them in half from tip to root, then lay them in a roasting pan and add 3 tablespoons of butter, salt and pepper.  Roast until tender and soft and toasted brown around the edges.  Cut the onions into thick segments, put them in a saucepan with about 4 ounces of white wine and bring to a boil.  Next, pour in 6 cups of chicken stock, bring back to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes.  Before you serve the soup, make cheese croutons.  Use good quality bread, sliced, and toast lightly under a hot broiler.  Turn over the slices and sprinkle with grated gruyere cheese.  Ladle the soup into bowls and place cheese croutons on top.

chicken quesadillas using leftover slow-cooked chicken

flank steak with white beans and arugula