California Central Coast Wine and Food Guide.

When you think about February, Valentines Day just naturally comes to mind. If you're cooking for a special someone in your life, I've got two recipes that have hungry -pleasing tastes: Chicken Cacciatora | Chicken Hunter Style and Chili - Sue's Own Hardy Mediterranean Style. The Chicken Cacciatora is so "hit-the spot" delicious with its multi-flavors and mouth-watering appeal that you'll want to make this more than once a year!

And Chili you say! When it comes to down-home-goodness, nothing satisfies a hunger than an absolutely delicious meat and vegetable stew of chili. Until I developed this chili recipe, I thought of chili as being rather "crude." -But no more! This recipe tastes so flavorful the first time cooked. -And it's a chili that you can be proud of!

Then, in keeping with this festive month's Mardis Gras, we'll make a really good French Onion Soup, courtesy of my husband's grandmother's recipe. This is such an easy recipe to put together! The only really time-consuming part of this recipe is the sauteing the large quantity of thinly sliced onions. And what a presentation it has! This will delight any guest at your table. And it's a soup, that most people don't think about unless they're in a French restaurant. Also, because of its straight-forward ease to put together, you'll wonder why more people don't serve it and have it more often!

Instead of having a Mardis Gras Seafood Jambalaya, we'll be making another fun dish for February: our Shrimp Risotto that is easier, delicious, healthy and attractive too. If you can get them, Mexican Wild Shrimp are the best choice because of their sweetness, but good Tiger Shrimp will work well too. Risottos are always good for this time of year when the weather "can't make up its mind" if it's still Winter, or if it's turning into Spring!

And while it's still cold outside, starting this month, we'll start featuring a pizza a month, which is always fun-to-eat! This month it will be Pizza Margarette! This is the classic pizza from Naples.-and it's so simple to make. Please see my blog Homemade Pizza: my quest for a really good recipe.. The only time-consuming part of this homemade pizza is making the dough. So if you can't afford the time to do this part, you can "cheat" and use ready-made crust.

So there you have it. It's a quick month, and since we're still "working off our excesses" of the Holidays, it's a good time to recoup but have a little fun too with these "no-guilt-laden" recipes that will see us through another winter month.

Enjoy!