Did everyone have a great holiday break? As you can see, I had a total holiday break, meaning that I totally put the Gutsy Cooks responsibilities on the shelf, and instead cooked everything else but the set menu – yes, bad, bad administrator I am.

But, I’m back and along with a new sense of Gutsy. The December menu choices are coming compliments of Raymond, who has been very good about keeping the schedule up, I think he has been one of the cooks in the club that has done all of the menu thus far. I think he needs like a special gold star!

Especially,his choices for the month, because he knows how to pick them for sure. Just take a look at this week’s menu, which is making my mouth water and its a complete meal - perfect dinner if you ask me:

Chicken a la King - page 304
Spinach Timbales - page 144
Kasha Pilaf - page 211

Chicken a la King, whose name suggest a French influence, but there are a lot of people trying to get credit for this one. But, all I know is that it’s a creamy chicken dish, that has mushrooms (love them) and cream (love it even more). You just cannot go wrong when you put those ingredients together.

And the Timbales have nothing to do with a type of kettledrum or Latin-American percussion. But, it does have everything to do with a dish that is baked in a mold, usually rice or even pasta combined with vegetables or meats/fish. In our version it’s more like custard like, since it uses eggs and goat cheese. Having had this dish before, I highly recommend that you try it; it’s a great appetizer or in this case, a vegetarian choice for a light meal, if you pair it with a salad (which the book does).

And last is the Kasha Pilaf. Kasha is toasted buckwheat groats and is actually not a grain, but it looks, cooks and tastes like a grain. It comes in several forms, from whole to fine granulation. It is used for cereals, side dishes and main dishes. It is prepared similar to rice, but takes a little less time to cook. I’m actually looking forward to making this one, I’m thinking the combination of raisins and walnuts in there is going to really make this easy dish shine, and a perfect compliment to the chicken a la king dish. You should be able to find it in your local supermarket if not try a specialty store and if you just cannot find it, you can use quinoa in it’s place.

So, what do you say?

Ready? Set?…Get Gutsy!