A Nostalgic Tuesday Treat

I have a soft spot for scones.  One of my favorite memories is eating them with English clotted cream in a park in London with my friend Alexi.  I'd just finished college, gotten engaged and landed my first job out of school.  Lots of things to be happy about!  I still remember the warm sunshine, the comfort of our rented lawnchairs and this incredible feeling of happiness and satisfaction.

So when I discovered that we had a ton of blueberries in the fridge and Brian suggested scones, I was all for it!  These are from Cooking Light, so there's no sugary glaze.  I like them better that way.  Lemon would also be a good addition here.

After baking I sent Lexi a text and said "I made scones, now I want clotted cream."  She texted back a selfie of her holding a big jar of the stuff, with a huge grin on her face.  Apparently there's a British goods store not that far from her.  I know another shop besides the local yarn shop that I will be visiting the next time I'm in the area!

Care Package

I'm going to a friend's house tomorrow to see her new baby and visit for a bit!  And of course, bringing the new mom of two some goodies......chicken tortilla soup and a pan of brownies. 

The great part is, I made the soup a couple of weeks ago and froze half of it, and still have some homemade tortilla strips.  Add a sandwich bag of shredded Mexican cheese an an avocado, and that's one less meal thst they have to make.  Because really, not much cooking going on for the first month of having two kids.  Ask me how I know.  ;)

Food from This Weekend

My friend Maureen was here this weekend, and we ate out a lot.  A lot, A LOT!  Usually Brian or I cook, but this weekend was a flurry of activity and we didn't get around to getting groceries.  And everything we had was full of AWESOME!

Three places worth mentioning:

Friday night we went to Ronnie's in Auburn, MA.  I'd been before and this place is worth raving about.  It is the BEST fried seafood around.  It doesn't taste greasy but honestly, like they change the oil in the fryer in between customers.  Clean, delicious and exactly how it should taste.  Brian and I had fried clams, she had clam fritters, and Kid 1 and Kid 2 had a burger and fish strips, respectively. Sean normally likes fish sticks at home, but he proclaimed these "too fishy."  Ah well.  After we finished our meals we went to the back of Ronnie's where they have the ice cream.  The ice cream is certainly worth raving about!  I had just enough room for a twisted soft serve cone, and I decided to share with Sean.   That boy....if you get him his own kiddie cone he'll refuse to eat it.  Offer to share your small cone and the child will devour it as if it's the last cone on Earth!  The funny part of the evening was when Will asked us if he had ice cream on his face.  Um.....not your whole face per se, buddy.  But pretty close!

Saturday evening we found this place in Oxford called "Oxford Casual Dining."  What a find!!  It had lots of Italian specialties, plus a decent kids menu.  An added bonus is that no one seemed to care around us when the kids weren't perfect angels.  I got my ultimate favorite, chicken marsala.  They did not disappoint!  And there's leftovers for lunch tomorrow so that's great.  :)  And dessert....authentic key lime pie.  Not the kind that makes your mouth pucker as soon as you taste it, just smooth and citrus-y.  We will definitely go back to this place.

On Sunday, we went to Uncle Jay's Twisted Fork for breakfast, in Cherry Valley.  This place was rated a "Hidden Gem" by the Phantom Gourmet.  And they totally deserve it!!!  Will's already asking if we can go again next weekend.  What a treat.  This place is certainly NOT a "greasy spoon."  Everything is made to order, and to die for.

My lobster Benedict.  I had it in Maine several years ago and have always wanted to have it again.   English muffin, lobster meat, poached eggs and fresh hollandaise.   Call it a "once in every six years" treat.

Will was super-impressed with his "Wicked Awesome Waffle."  It was a waffle, sliced banana, chocolate sauce and fresh whipped cream.  He ate as much as he could, stopping twice and coming back for more.

Day 16: Picnic in the Woods

We met up with some old friends last night at Myles Standish State Forest.  Collectively amongst us there were 5 kids, running around and playing games and darting in and out once in a while for food.  Our cooler included pb+j's for the boys, Subway sandwiches and Stop n Shop Red Potato Salad for us, cokes and juices.  Oh, and some packets of cookies and gummy snacks.  It was great to hang out and nibble.  The boys were so busy playing that Will ate one bite of his sandwich and felt sick when we got home late because he didn't eat enough.  (Kids.....playing is more important than eating.  And it was when I was a kid too.)  A great night.

Day Three: A Cookout

Dinner last night was a cookout with friends at their house.  The weather wasn't exactly compliant, so we ate inside.  Shrimp salad, chicken kabobs, hot dogs, hamburgers and corn on the cob.  Lots of delicious summer fare!

For dessert I brought a chocolate cream pie that I picked up at the grocery store on my way home from the nail salon.  It was ok, nothing special.  As I was plating it I discovered that I had bought one that's sugar-free.  Oops!

Weekend of Take-Out

I went to Maine this weekend for a night just to get away.  (yes, I was my own personal Southwest Airlines commercial.)  Just to visit a college girlfriend, where we indulged in yarn and food.  Oh yeah!  All take-out, and none of it featured cartoon characters or had chicken fingers on the menu.  Because sometimes you really, really need that.

Lunch:  Sushi in Dover, NH.  We each got a lunch special with two kids of rolls and miso soup, and then shared the rolls between us so we each got a little bit of different stuff.  And man....their wasabi was a mind-altering experience! I think that my sinuses were cleared to my brain!

Dinner:  Mexican and Margaritas in Portland, ME.  Two of my very favorite things.  Hot corn chips and salsa, accompanied by a frozen margarita.  In a word, awesome.

Then there was breakfast this morning in Wells, Maine.  Wells is one of my favorite places, with family vacations growing up and all.  We went to a famous donut and breakfast place, where the line was kind of long so we each got a donut while we waited.  And then it was coffee, eggs, toast...the works.  And I was kind enough to bring home some donuts for my guys!

Now there's a roast chicken in the oven, and potatoes and fresh green beans on the stove.  What a weekend. I've had way more than my fair share of sodium, but damn, it was worth it!

Recent Foodstuff

I've had a few experiences in the past week or so that I've been meaning to blog about, so I'll roll them into one big post!

First, I was at the library last week before my hair appointment and I remembered finally to look for Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking."  I'm more looking to drool over the recipes that I saw in "Julie and Julia" than make a whole bunch of them, especially anything involving liver or calf intestine.  They didn't have it, but I took a good look at their food and cooking section and liked what I saw.  I brought home a slow cooker cookbook on a whim, and well, it was pretty disappointing.  I was reading aloud some of the recipes to Brian and commenting on the recipes.  Suddenly Brian asked me if this was also a three-ingredient cookbook.  A quick glance at the cover and yeah, it is.  I had missed that on the cover when checking it out.  Let me tell you something, three ingredients does not make a good cookbook.  Black bean soup cannot be made with a can of corn, a can of black beans and a jar of salsa.  Not good black bean soup, anyway!  Ah well, it was a valiant effort and next time I'm in a food rut, there's free cookbooks to the rescue.  Any kind of food I could imagine!

Going through the cabinets the other night, I found something I've been meaning to ask someone what to do with it.  Every year, one of the tenants at my old job sends me a food gift from this Amish place in Pennsylvania.  (I miss her, she's the nicest lady!)  One year it was homemade salsas from this place, another year jams.  This year it is fruit butters....so far I've opened the peach, and I have apple and pumpkin butter as well.  The last jar is something called "Peanut Butter Schmeir"  What the heck is that???  So I googled it and it turns out it is a dessert dip and sauce.  It's quite peanutty, with a smooth texture.  It makes ice cream really special, with a little drizzle over it.  Mmmmmm.....

I've saved the best for last.  We had our friends Chris and Jenny over yesterday with their boys, Ethan and Nolan.  I made two pans of lasagna, one traditional and one roasted veggie.  She brought bread and a salad to round out the meal.  I am in love with no-boil lasagna noodles, I don't know why I resisted them for so long!   They make putting together a lasagna so much easier.  The veggie lasagna was great, roasting the vegetables first before assembling the dish really brought out their flavor.  The meat one was good as always too.  And dessert.......fresh banana cake with homemade caramel frosting!  That's the best part.  :)  Cake Doctor of course, the cake was full of banana flavor but light instead of dense like a banana bread.  Now, I've always thought that making frosting was really hard, but it wasn't!  You melt brown sugar and butter together on the stove until they're boiling, then add a cup of milk and bring to a boil again.  Then you add vanilla extract and powdered sugar until you get the consistency you're looking for.  Simple and so delicious!! 

Something Different, with Hamburger

I tend to get tired of the same old things with hamburger.  Meatballs.  Tacos.  Meat Sauce.  Meat Loaf.  Zzzzzzzzz.......  So tonight I tried my hand at an "Italian Casserole."  Very quick and easy.  Since it was just for the two of us, I halved the recipe and baked it in an 8x8 square pan.  Ground beef, onions, spaghetti sauce, then a sour cream and monterey jack cheese layer, and then the piece de resistance, crescent rolls on top!  Oh, how I LOVE crescent rolls!!  It was a little heavy on the sour cream layer but the crusty cover was perfect.  Plus there's two leftover pieces for lunch tomorrow.  We didn't end up using all of the crescent rolls for the crust, but of course they weren't going to go to waste.  We just rolled them into actual crescent rolls and baked them alongside the casserole. :)

This cookbook has an entire chapter dedicated to just lasagnas. Twenty-one total!.  I'd heard of a couple, like Lasagna Bolonogese or Roast Veggie lasagna..  Bolonogese is your typical meat lasagna that most people have, only theirs boasts three different kinds of meat.  (Sausage, hamburger and bacon, if you're interested.)  There was a seafood lasagna that looked interesting, a couple of chicken ones that were intriguing, but it was the vegetarian ones that caught my eye.  Now, Brian would rather poke himself in one eye than eat a vegetarian lasagna, he is very much a "meat and potatoes" kind of guy.  I, however, enjoy the occasional vegetarian meal.  So, the next time we have our friends the "S" family over, I'll make two pans of Lasagna, the Bolonogese one for Brian and Chris, and a Butternut Squash one for me and Jenny.  There will be plenty of leftovers to send home with our guests and for our freezer.  Can't wait for a lasagna date!   :)

Food from Friends

I volunteered to bring a meal to a new mama so she wouldn't have to cook every night while she bonds with her baby. It's kind of a neat idea that the playgroup I belong to came up with. Anyway, today was my turn so I made rigatoni with meat sauce for dinner. Yep, from a jar. I haven't been feeling well today so I was impressed that I even pulled that off, considering my own family is getting pizza from Domino's for dinner!

This is a recipe for a Fruit Pizza that I received from my friend, Jen. She moved to the Midwest last year and whenever I make it, I think of her. Well, to be fair, LOTS of things make me think of her, but she introduced this delicious dessert to me, and I made it for the mama and her family for tonight! Of course, while I was slicing it, I just HAD to keep a piece for myself! It comes together really quickly, too.

Fruit Pizza

1 pkg (18 oz) refrigerated sugar cookie dough

1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1/3 c sugar

1 c. marshmallow fluff

Assorted sliced fresh fruit (I decorated mine with blueberries, strawberries and mandarin oranges)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Roll dough out to a circle (or as best as you can) Place dough on round baking stone (I used a thin crust pizza pan) and cook 10-20 minutes or until golden. Make sure to keep an eye on it though, because there's not much time between "golden" and "burned!" Remove from oven and cool thoroughly.

Combine cream cheese, sugar and fluff and mix well. Spread over cooled cookie. Decorate with fruit.

*TIP* Use a pizza wheel to cut the cookie into wedges, it works really well