Sometimes I wonder how Josh can handle living with me, I’m like a child. Constantly making messes or getting hurt.

Tonight I was making Roasted tomato and black bean soup and it did not go well. I put too much soup into the blender and even though I was holding the lid down it came open and went everywhere. The worst part? The soup wasn’t even very good. So now we have a vat of soup that no one wants to eat, and we’re still finding soup on things.

I think it’s time to invest in an immersion blender.

Last weekend Josh and I had a Christmas cookie baking extravaganza.

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When Josh and I bake cupcakes, we won’t settle for lame cookie cutters. Instead, we create a plethora of awesome cookies.

As you can see from this photo we had the U.S.A., triceratops, lobsters, squirrels, sharks, snails and ice cream cones. And let me tell you, those cookies were good. We used Martha Stewart’s Ideal Sugar Cookies recipe.

I am a big fan of Martha Stewart’s recipes. I get Everyday Food magazine and Martha Stewart Living, as well as daily recipe emails. I have never made a recipe of hers that I didn’t like. However, this recipe goes above and beyond the call of duty – Slow-Cooked Tex-Mex Chicken and Bean.

However, I’ve made some adjustments which I would like to share with you guys, so this is my version. I don’t have a slow-cooker big enough, so I always just cook it in the oven. It’s really, really easy.

2 cans (15 oz.) pinto beans – drained and rinsed
1 jar (11 ounces) salsa
2 tablespoons chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
Coarse salt and ground pepper
5-6 cloves of garlic, minced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a 5-quart Dutch oven or large pot, stir together beans, salsa, chiles, garlic, flour and 2 cups water. Season chicken with salt and pepper and arrange on top.

Cover pot and bring to a simmer on top of the stove. Transfer to oven and cook until chicken is tender, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Remove chicken from stew; shred into large pieces and return to stew. Serve over rice topped with sour cream and pepper jack cheese.

On this rainy Friday night I present to you, noble blog reader, a selection from Harry Field’s 1959 “Music For Cooking With Gas À La Carte”. We picked up the album some time ago from a thrift shop (purchased not for the music, mind you, but for the kickin’ title—the music is just bonus.) After a little bit of digging, I’ve found that this album was produced by Caloric, a kitchen appliance manufacturer that was acquired by Amana in the mid-sixties. If only companies produced promotional items like this today!

From the liner notes:

“When you want food that is prepared perfectly for your own special tastes, it’s best to order “A La Carte”. And, when you dream of a new kitchen for yourself, the “À La Carte” approach is the best way to go about planning it. Just as Caloric offers the very finest in gas ranges to ensure complete flexibility in kitchen design, so the “À La Carte” music on this record has been carefully selected to bring you the utmost in easy listening enjoyment.”

Enjoy Bossa Nova Prelude: