A's favs

We eat enough leftovers that a full week's meals often includes only a couple of unique things. This past week, in the frigidity, leftover French Onion Soup, salvaged from the freezer (and prepared 6 months ago), was delightful.
Other recent treats:
1. Sherpherd's Pie
This recipe http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/30-minute-shepherds-pie-recipe.html was the inspiration and I followed the instructions overall, with these exceptions: I cooked the onion prior to adding the beef. (And, I used only a pound of beef instead of 1.75; it was plenty). I also added several cloves of garlic and then later: a bit o garlic powder to the beef mixture. I added the carrots and peas earlier than she suggested, so they would be a bit softer, and added a bunch of paprika as the beef mixture cooked. Finally, at the end, just prior to going under the broiler, at A's request: some cheddar cheese was sprinkled on top. Ooooh, and I did not use a rectangular dish, as she suggested. The curves in the dish I used worked out just fine :)

2. Chocolate cake
http://addapinch.com/cooking/the-best-chocolate-cake-recipe-ever/
This was my first time solo-making chocolate cake from scratch. It was delicious! I don't know why I gave Betty Crocker mixes so much credit (not that there's anything wrong with boxed mixes, its just so  . . . different). The difference is pretty amazing. And my arm is sore from the "high speed, low speed, paddle attachment" lingo that I tried to interpret with my muscles and a wooden spoon. But I'm kinda proud of making it that way. And did I mention it was delicious? We used a cream cheese based frosting that I might make sweeter next time.I was too shy with the confectioner's sugar.