1 pound beef chuck, cubed
1/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, quartered
8 cloves garlic
2 cups button mushrooms, halved
6 small tomatoes, cored and halved
1 cup red wine
1 cup beef broth
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped (optional)

1. Dry stewing beef and coat evenly with flour.
2. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and brown beef in batches.
3. Reserve beef in a separate dish and deglaze the pot with red wine.
4. Add onion, garlic, mushrooms, tomatoes and bay leaf and cook until tomatoes start to lose their shape.
5. Return beef to pot with the red wine and reduce heat, simmering until beef is tender, about an hour and a half.
6. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with chopped parsley, if desired.

Makes 6 servings

24 asparagus spears, trimmed
1 medium red pepper, sliced
2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
water

1. Bring water to a boil in a large pot and quickly blanch the asparagus.
2. Drain and transfer the asparagus to cold water to prevent further cooking.
3. Meanwhile, combine vinegar and oil to make a simple vinaigrette.
4. Arrange on a platter with red pepper slices and drizzle with vinaigrette.
5. Season with salt and pepper and serve chilled.

Makes 4 servings

1 cup corn meal
2 cups chicken stock
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon parmesan, shredded
1-1/2 tablespoons butter

1. Bring chicken stock to a boil in a large pot and add the corn meal.
2. Stir constantly until all of the liquid has been absorbed. Remove from heat.
3. Combine cooked corn meal with the beaten egg and spread out over a baking dish or cake pan to cool in the refrigerator.
4. Preheat oven broiler.
5. Once chilled and set, remove polenta from the fridge and cut into individual shapes and transfer to a greased baking dish.
6. Divide butter equal to number of cutouts and place a piece on each.
7. Place polenta into the oven and allow to broil until the tops are browned and crisp, about 8 minutes.
8. Top hot polenta with parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

Makes 6 servings

The best part about tonight's dinner was the glass of wine I had with it. The food smelled and looked delicious, but there was something off about every dish. These are simple recipes, so I'm not sure what I did wrong, or what I failed to do at all. Maybe I'm pregnant and it's throwing off my taste buds. (Note: I'm still a man, I can't actually be pregnant.)

To use up some leftovers I prepared a quick appetizer Asparagus and Red Pepper Salad. This was alright, I suppose. I've never really been a fan of cold asparagus, but I decided to give it a whirl again. I imagine it's my fault for preparing something that I know I don't like in the first place, but after my battle with cilantro I thought maybe it'd work out for the best. I think I better play it safe for the next week or risk losing a drive to prepare dinner at all for a while.

I was watching Everyday Italian on the Food Network and was inspired to make Broiled Polenta. Typically I don't like her show very much, but these looked easy and tasty and I've wanted to make polenta shapes, so I gave it a whirl. My First Experience with Polenta made me liken it to yellow cream of wheat, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that it tasted very much like crispy porridge. My previous desires to create fantastic polenta dishes are disappearing with each failed attempt to impress me.

We bought a whole bunch of tomatoes when we made the Broiled Goat Cheese Tomatoes and I've been waiting for the Atkins week to be over so I could toss a bunch of them into a dish. I thought that a Red Wine and Tomato Beef Stew would be a nice, rich compliment to the polenta, but something went horribly wrong. It didn't taste good at all. Maybe it's because I'm short on patience today and didn't let it cook long enough, but nothing melded. I could still taste the sharp bite of the red wine separate from the flavors of the beef and the flavor from the garlic, onions and tomatoes didn't come through at all. It was like eating a slurry of beefy red wine.