Now that it’s January, my slow cooker has become my best friend. Our house is chilly and I find myself wearing a scarf and felted wool slippers. This new recipe for African Chicken Peanut Stew seemed just right for a chilly Minnesota weeknight. I was working from home for the day and this stew only needed 4 hours in the slow cooker, so I made it mid-day. I love the feeling that dinner is already done!

I have toyed a little with Indian cooking, learning the bits and pieces I know from my world-traveling husband and friends who are versed in Ayurveda, an Indian science that includes healthful methods for cooking. One of the simplest ingredients used in Ayurvedic cooking is ghee – basically butter that is simmered until the solids separate. Then, the clear golden liquid is poured off and used like oil in cooking. The beauty of this is that the resulting ghee performs more like oil, handling higher temperatures, but has the flavor of butter. You can buy ghee, but it is so easy to make your own using only one easy-to-find ingredient: a pound of unsalted butter.

Winter seems never ending at this point, so coming home to the wonderful aroma of slow-cooker fajitas was just what we needed this week. And, we're getting ready for a winter trip to Mexico, so a little spice seemed apropos. These Make-Ahead Fajitas are incredibly easy!

  When it's cold here in the midwest, it is COLD. We don't mess around! But we seasoned snow bunnies know that warm clothes and a hot meal can transform the view out your window from that of the frozen tundra to a winter wonderland.

   Yes, I know this appears to be a strange recipe choice for me to be blogging about at the end of July but, there really is a great explanation.  A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a pre-showing of a soon to be released movie – Julie & Julia.  The movie is based on two books, My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme (I have read this book) and Julie & Julia by Julie Powell (I have not read this book).