Valentine Treats

This is how we celebrate Valentine's Day....no gifts.  No outings.  Just cards, a little candy for the boys, and food.  Awesome food.  Because, why go to a restaurant, wait in line for an hour WITH RESERVATIONS and come home completely ticked off that the food was so-so?  Making our own is so much more fun.  This year, Brian made a day of it.  The day was bitterly cold and no one wanted to leave the house.  The comfort foods made the house feel pleasant and we didn't mind being stuck inside.

Breakfast:  Homemade waffles with caramel coulis.  Homemade caramel, even.  AWESOME.

Lunch:  Squash soup and cheese toasts.  The soup was from Epicurious I think, and featured both butternut and acorn squash.  The toasts were just baguette with a little asiago on top, but it complimented the soup nicely.

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Dinner was a stuffed pork loin wrapped in bacon.  I don't have any photos because it was a bit frustrating for Brian to cook.  There's reason to believe that our oven is on it's last legs, as it takes FOREVER for things to bake/roast.  It was delicious, despite the issues.


Dessert:  Chocolate Almond Mousse with fresh whipped cream.  It was supposed to be hazelnut, but you need to change gameplans when the hazelnuts are rancid.  This was good, a little heavy for any other night of the year.

So that was our day of delightfulness.  Until next year....

Playing Catch-Up

Well.

Life has a way of running away with you sometimes, especially around the holidays.  So normally I would have written a post about each of these things individually.  Instead, here's a group post.  These are all things that we've eaten in the last couple of weeks that I thought were noteworthy...

 Spinach frittata.  Something that I had never had before, and it was awesome.  I'm not sure what the difference is between this and crustless quiche, if there is a difference at all.  Leftovers were delicious for a couple of mornings after we had this for dinner.  

 This is called "Cowboy Caviar."  I made it from a recipe online for the resident holiday party last week.  The recipe calls for corn, black beans, black-eyed peas, cilantro, green onion, tomato and avocado.  They didn't have black-eyed peas at the grocery store so I subbed pinto beans.  This was great with tostitos scoops.

We were going to have friends over for a football game one Sunday but they had to cancel last minute.  So we ate the food anyway (of course!)  Mushroom swiss burgers were incredible, and this warm potato salad was simply divine.  It's a stretch calling it a "salad" instead of roast potatoes but you know what?  The name doesn't matter, it was so good.

We Do Snowstorms Right

I'm a lucky girl.  When Brian hears that there's going to be a storm and we're going to be snowed in, he starts dreaming up something good to cook.  Because, if you're going to be stuck inside, you might as well eat well.

This particular storm:  chicken and waffles, and our first homemade ice cream.

First up, chicken and waffles.  I'd never had chicken and waffles before.  I knew that it was a Southern thing, and I've said it before:  I adore southern cooking.  We don't eat a lot of southern food often because done right, it's laden with calories.

Now, I couldn't see what the big deal was about chicken and waffles because I was picturing a fried chicken breast on a plate, side by side with a waffle with maple syrup and butter.  And although that sounded intriguing, it wasn't WOW!  This is incredible!

Suffice it to say, I get it now:

This. Was. Incredible!  Fried chicken, in a batter with tabasco flavoring, served atop a perfectly crisp waffle, and then topped with a pan gravy that has a little bit of maple syrup in it.  The most beautiful pairing of sweet and savory that I have ever tasted.  That being said, it's certainly not going on our menu again anytime soon.  And I don't feel the need, because a once-in-a-long-while treat like this is the greatest.   I don't want it to lose it's special-ness.



And now for the ice cream...Brian got an ice cream maker for Christmas, because when watching Cutthroat Kitchen or Chopped he always remarks "We should make our own ice cream!"  It's definitely not cheaper than buying ice cream, but certainly fresher.  And it doubles as a fun activity for kids.  Will helped make the base, and he smashed the cookies for our inaugural ice cream batch:  Chocolate Cookies and Cream.

It was deliciously rich, and I'm glad it doesn't make a bigger batch.  The only critique that Brian and I agree on:  scrape the chocolate cream out of the oreos next time.

Next time we may make strawberry ice cream.  I'm not a fan of artificial strawberry flavored anything, but I'll bet fresh strawberry ice cream would be incredible!  Or banana, with bits of Nilla Wafers.  Good Lord, the possibilities!

Taking the Reins

As I've mentioned before, my husband is the cook.  I CAN cook, but he's more of the family chef than I am.  I can certainly feed my family, and I can make good food, but fancy food is not in my reparte.

Except for last night, where I have to say I made a pretty damn good Chicken Marsala.

Chicken Marsala is my favorite meal.  It's what I judge a new (to me) restaurant on, and a favorite at some of my favorites.  So when I saw that Brian had put it on the menu with rice and steamed zucchini, I was excited for a Monday night dinner.  Being excited for anything on a Monday is a stretch, so this was a big deal.

In comes Murphy's Law.  Good Ol' Mr. Murphy likes Mondays.  And a big monkey wrench was thrown into the Chicken Marsala plans.  Huge accident on the MassPike involving a coffee truck overturning and leaking fuel, which naturally brought gridlock and a rotten commute for all.  Even for me, the lady who has nothing to complain about now that she has a itty bitty commute compared to the big honking 35-miles-each-way-through-Hell that I had years ago.  I called Brian on the way home and reported the mess, and told him that it was going to take a while.  He said that we could order sandwiches when he got home, whenever that was going to be.

Upon getting home though, I remembered that driving in that kind of mess just sucks the energy right out of you.  Sometimes Brian would have a hot meal waiting for me and the travel stress would just slide away like water off a duck's back.  So my mind was made up...dammit, I'm going in.....to the kitchen.

Instead of rice, I chose mashed potatoes since potatoes go bad a lot faster than rice.  I pounded chicken breasts, sauteed mushrooms and onions, made sauce from scratch.  All while feeding the kids sliced apples and leftover homemade mac n cheese with ham and fielding math questions from Sean and Minecraft video recaps from Will.  At one point my house grew very smoky, and I had to run around opening doors and windows.  (No fire alarms!)  I was plating the chicken as the garage door opened, and everything was perfect.  Well, truth be told the house was a little chilly because I forgot to close the dining room window.  Usually I'm the chilly one but I was in a camisole and busting my butt in the kitchen!  The chicken was perfectly cooked, soft without a hint of "rubber."  The mushroom and onions didn't burn at all and the sauce was blended nicely.  Awesome, I pulled it off!!!
And Brian?   He loved it.    Not that our local sandwich place doesn't have mighty fine wares, but a homecooked meal from someone that loves you at the end of a stressful day....nothing better than that.

July Eats

Well.

I haven't been doing so well in keeping up this blog this month, but vacation and stuff will do that to you!  That of course doesn't mean that we haven't been eating good stuff.

Fourth of July was super-rainy.  So instead of having a cookout or something, we stayed home.  And Brian made these homemade fish sticks.  They were SO much better than the frozen kind.  And I made a tartar sauce to go with them, which the kids of course wouldn't touch.  Tartar sauce surprisingly has few ingredients.  Mayonnaise, chopped pickles and capers.  That's it.

And for something fun, we decided later on to make lumpia.  Brian was looking for something different with ground pork and he came across this recipe--it's like spring rolls.  They came out awesome!!  There was pineapple fried rice to go with it, which needs improvement as it's a one-note wonder.  Still was delicious, though.

Now we've just gotten back from vacation--Orlando!  We stopped at Perkins once we got off the plane, which Brian and I both love.  Sadly, the closest one I've ever seen to us is Pennsylvania.  Their pies alone are worth the trip.  I just ordered a chicken tender plate, I had been craving fried chicken for some time but was trying to behave.  (Vacation is not for behaving.)  This is how I knew that we were in the South--when saying "Yes, I'd like gravy" I had to specify what kind.  Turkey, beef, brown, cream or plain.  This is what I love about the southern part of the country!

 Orlando brought us Disney World, with our first dole whip.  Pineapple juice and ice cream...I must have one again!  (I actually did see a recipe on Pinterest, will have to try.)  Food at Disney World, though expensive, is mostly delicious.  I say "mostly" because of course we did eat a lot of "kid friendly" stuff.  Will and I took a "Mom and Will Day" at Universal Studios to see all of the Harry Potter attractions, and one of the things that we experienced was butterbeer.  I always wondered what butterbeer was, exactly.  I can now tell you, butterscotch!  They had two versions, frozen and non.  Will and I shared a frozen one and it was incredible.  We stopped at the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley (that is really fun to say, by the way!) and had a very British lunch of fish and chips for me, and macaroni and cheese for him.  (the other two items on the kids menu, Meat Pie and Fish and Chips, did not appeal.  Not surprised.)  The fish and chips was surprisingly one of the best I've ever had, and I had a non-frozen butterbeer.  It's still butterscotch but carbonated.  Incredible.

Another restaurant worth mentioning is Carrabbas.  It's Italian food, which is a crowd-pleaser in my family.  I always judge a place by their chicken marsala and this place didn't disappoint.  What was disappointing, is that there aren't any in the area.  In Massachusetts, yes.  In Central MA?  No.

Now we're back home and getting into the swing of things.  Got some new recipes to try in the next week or so, but tonight's an easy night:  Will's favorite, cheese ravioli.

A Visit to Childhood

What does one do when the primary grocery shopper brings home the biggest box of Rice Krispies?  You start eating it with fruit as planned for breakfast, and then decide on rice krispie treats!

These whisk me right back to childhood.  We had these for school snacks often enough, or would bring a pan to a class party or bake sale.  They always went fast. I don't care what anyone says, the homemade ones are infinitely better than the prepackaged ones.  Plus, they require minimum effort and most of that is melting and stirring.  The kids won't even touch them, though.  They don't know what they're missing.  :)

Valentine's Day

Hubby and I aren't big on celebrating Valentine's Day.  It's a simple affair, really.  We exchange cards between ourselves and the kids, and we always get them a little box of chocolates.  Haven't gone out to dinner in years, between the crowds and reservations and (often subpar food) we just gave it up.

Besides, when your significant other can cook like THIS, why would you want to go out?  Especially if this masterpiece is followed up by Marscapone and Fudge brownies??

 Steak with a mushroom wine sauce, baked potato, crab legs and asparagus.  

Something Different

Three "Different" dinners had in this house in the past week.  Because the "same old, same old" gets well....old!

 Fried Chicken isn't new.....but this was a cornmeal fried chicken instead of breaded.  Still was good, but I like breading better.  The batter got Hubby thinking about corn dogs.

 Flank steak with a chipotle aioli.  Delicious!  Flank steak is my new favorite cut of beef.  On the side is saffron rice and peas.

Tonight:  what I refer to as "Chinese Spaghetti."  It's kind of like a pork lo mein, but unfortunately we put too much rice noodle in it.  Still had great flavor though.

Caramel Corn

Snow day yesterday!  I don't know how many the kids have had so far this year but it feels like we're going to be doing school til the end of June for sure.

Snow days always make me feel like baking.  So there I was, going thru Pinterest for something new and exciting.  And that's when I saw it.  On my "Sweet" board, there was a recipe for homemade caramel sauce.  And the author shows it being poured over a bowl of popcorn.

Now, caramel popcorn is one of my favorite things on the planet! I never have it for a few reasons:  it's messy, it's labor-intensive and it's one of those trigger foods where I "may" just try to eat all of it.  I've loved it for years, ever since some popcorn company came out with a microwave popcorn recipe with caramel.    I'm more of a purist these days though, and don't do microwave popcorn.  (The stench of it being permeated into more than one microwave between a boyfriend whose father was addicted to the stuff, and every dorm I ever lived in reeking of burnt popcorn)

We do have an air popper machine but I leave it at work for when we host movies for the residents.  Sometimes, one less thing to drag to work and back is really a good thing!  Naturally, that's where it was yesterday.  Then I remembered that a friend of mine had posted her popcorn process on her blog recently.   And I was game!

First of all, I had no coconut oil, only vegetable oil.  Turned out just fine though.  I had never made popcorn on the stove before, and now I don't know why because it is ridiculously easy.  And smells incredible to boot!  The boys enjoyed it plain for a bit while I made the caramel sauce.  The caramel sauce was also easy, and allowed me to finally use up a bottle of corn syrup.  I did follow the suggestions of the comments and add a teaspoon of baking soda to the caramel, to have it harden a bit.

The end result was so insanely delicious, I brought a bowl and spoon out to Hubby, who was snowblowing the driveway.  Just couldn't wait, it was THAT good!  Will really liked it but Sean didn't care for it.  Will and I did like the recipe said and ate it with a spoon while watching yesterday's movie choice of "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving."  I'm proud that I didn't eat all of it, but it was quite challenging.  This is something we're going to have to make again for sure.

Those Cookies

I'm talking about Rollo Cookies.  Sweet, chocolate-y cookies with a rollo candy encased in each one, then rolled in sugar and chopped pecans.  I make them no more than once a year, usually at Christmas time.  Why?  Because they are B-A-D for you.  They're the kind of cookie that you can eat four in a sitting and die happy.  Dangerous, I tell ya.

I ran out of time at Christmas and didn't make them.  Friends of ours from Maine were originally supposed to visit the weekend after Christmas but postponed.  I had shelled the rollos out of their wrappers to make the cookies that weekend, so I just popped them in the freezer for their weekend visit in January.  

Maureen and Sky arrived in a surprise New England snowstorm last Saturday. These cookies were a perfect treat to end what is usually a two-hour drive to my house.  Maureen, a big fan of the Rollo cookie, was thrilled to hear that I was getting them in the oven.   As soon as they had cooled SLIGHTLY, we all attacked them like they were the last food on Earth.  And why not....they're best when they first come out of the oven, the still-warm cookie turns the rollo inside all smushy and delicious.  :)    Sky, new to the fold, soon became a quick convert. 

I guess we didn't go crazy on ALL of them....I just ate the last two in the plastic bowl at lunchtime a week after I made them.  And now there's no more til Christmastime.  I'm sad, but my waistline is elated!

Guac Talk

Hi, I'm Ginny and I'm a guacamole fan.  Make that a guacamole addict, and I'm roping my husband in on it, too.

Good LORD I love guacamole.  And if it's homemade, even better!  Actually, now that I've been making it myself for some time, I don't think I'll ever buy store-made again.  I don't even use a recipe.  Just a few avocados, a chopped tomato, finely-chopped onion (red is better but white will do in a pinch), fresh lime juice and salt, and fresh cilantro.  I mix 'em together and bring on the chips!

I didn't think my husband would ever eat avocado, but now we edge each other out at the bowl.  Funny how things change over the years!

I'm thinking now that the avocado could shine in other dishes.  Perhaps a salad with avocado and either grapefruit, orange or mango, and definitely the red onion.  My wheels are turning for this summer.

A Cheesy Day

Today's recipes are courtesy of my trolling around on Pinterest.  Cheesy Potato Soup and Spinach, Chicken and Pasta Casserole.

First up:  the soup.  The first instruction is to cook a pound of diced bacon.  OH YEAH!!!  The chopping was almost theraputic today, onions, celery and garlic and then, potato all having a turn on the cutting board.  Brian got a new peeler set for Christmas, and I didn't realize until today just how DULL our old one is!    It took forever to cook the potatoes because I didn't cut them up small enough, making our lunch a very quick one at that because we had movie plans.  It was delicious though, and there's enough for leftovers AND the freezer.  Hooray!

The casserole was good, but a bit of a pain to make.  The only reason it was a pain was our lack of planning, though.  Brian browned red onion in the oven while I defrosted chicken and frozen spinach.  And I'm making a decision:  no more frozen spinach in casseroles.  Or maybe at all:  why would you put yourself through squeezing all the moisture out of it with paper towels if you don't have to?  Peeling chopped spinach out of a paper towel is tedious, next time I'll just wilt some fresh spinach in a skillet and add it later.  The cheesy part of this casserole that I liked best was adding 8 oz of chive and onion cream cheese to the pasta, chicken and spinach.  It melted beautifully and combined with a can of diced Italian-style tomatoes to make a thick "sauce."  And the mozzarella cheese melted on the top was pretty fantastic, too.

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.

Super Meatloaf

In honor of the Superbowl (not that anyone was really caring in our house, since neither of our teams was in it) we made a Super Meatloaf.  I'm not usually a big fan of meatloaf, but this was an exception: bacon.

Because bacon-wrapped meatloaf has GOT to be delicious, right?  Three of the four family members agree....it indeed was SUPER!  The fourth didn't like it but didn't make gagging noises at it AND was running a fever, so if that wasn't going on I conclude that he would've liked it.  It had two of his favorite things making a joint appearance:  burger and bacon.  What's not to like? 

Recipe from Epicurious.  I got a lot of Facebook comments on it...one person asked if I had stuffed it with cheese as well, as her mother-in-law prepares it.  Well, I didn't, but I know what to strive for next time!

Easy Empanadas

When i first started working in housing, I had a tenant named Mrs. Alvarez.  I remember her fondly, not just because she was a lovely person but also because she was the first tenant I ever got to practice speaking Spanish with on a regular basis.  My Spanish back then was pretty awful, but we seemed to understand each other on some level and I got better with time.  It was with them I graduated from stammering "I'm sorry, I don't understand" to confidently marching out "You have too much soap in the machine, that's why it's leaking."

Mrs. Alvarez and her husband were originally from Colombia, and enjoyed showing me pictures of their life there.  She also made the BEST empanadas.  She would bring them down to the office at 9:30 in the morning, and they would smell so good I would eat one right then and there.  (I've always had the ability to eat pretty much anything at any hour)  Eating these kinds of things has led me to a love of Hispanic foods.

When I saw a recipe for empanadas, I immediately remembered these little beef "pies" that she would bring down.  Plus I am always game for something that is not your typical hamburger use.  (i.e. meatloaf, meatballs or cheeseburgers)  The recipe was spiced beef and cheese, baked in piecrust.  They tasted pretty good, but obviously weren't the same.  Mrs. Alvarez also used diced potatoes, and her empanadas were spicier and also fried.  Still, they were pretty delicious, and now I have ideas on how to improve.  I served them with home-fried potatoes and green beans.  Next time I will use black beans.  All in all, it was a nice visit to a memory.

Mac N Cheese Success!

5.  perfect macaroni and cheese from scratch

Finally, a success story!  Years of separating sauces, general gloppiness and all-around YUCK, I've finally made a decent baked macaroni and cheese.  The recipe was from Cooking Light, part of their 25th anniversary issue.  I know I know, light mac n cheese sounds like a drag.  But it wasn't!  It had parmesan, sharp cheddar, fontina and yep, Velveeta cheese product in it.  I think the secret is making sure the cheese is shredded fine, and the continuous whisking.  The garlic cracker crumbs baked on top weren't bad either.  This was so good, I had a second helping and was thrilled to have tons of leftovers.

Sadly, the kiddos wouldn't touch it.  So next time I make this (and there WILL be a next time) I'm going to trick them by leaving an empty box of Kraft on the counter. 

Zucchini Feast

What do you do when you have a bumper crop of zucchini?  Well for starters, you share it.  So far my daycare provider and coworkers have both benefitted from the tons of zucchini that I've managed to grow this year, as well as two of my neighbors!  After that, you start to cook with it.  A lot!  Although I love zucchini grilled or sauteed, we need some other ideas.

We had friends over for dinner the other night and I tried something I'd never done before:  fried zucchini.  It was, in a word, awesome!  I never realized how delectable fried zucchini is.  The recipe came from Joy of Cooking  and was very simple.  Flour, club soda, parsley and dill.  Dip the zucchini in the batter and fry for a few minutes.  We dotted it with a little cider vinegar and the four of us polished it off!

Chocolate zucchini bread.  This recipe yielded two delightful loaves of bread, and they smell heavenly!  Plus the boys have been fooled before....can Mama pull it off again?  Only time will tell...

Mark Bittman's Lemony Zucchini Risotto.  Fried eggs this time instead of poached, and it was every bit as good as the first time!  I seriously wanted to lick the bowl.  There's leftover risotto for lunch at work tomorrow, sans eggs.  If only it wasn't messy to bring an egg to fry!

Guess what?  Still have a ton of zucchini.  Some of it is shredded in the fridge, waiting to become Cheddar Zucchini Bread.  The rest?  Not so sure.  I'm still looking for new and exciting recipes.

Sunshine Pie

mmmmmm......pie.

I love pie.  It doesn't matter what kind, I pretty much love it all.  But a summer "peach and cream" pie with fresh peaches?  For breakfast, even?

Yes, please.  I baked this pie on Sunday, and the house smelled heavenly while it was in the oven.  I got the recipe from allrecipes.com,, which I go to often.  I did tweak the recipe a little bit, after reading other pie maker's notes.  I cut the sugar down to half a cup instead of a whole cup (there's six peaches in there, so enough natural sweetness.  I didn't miss the excess)  and instead of baking it for an hour at 300 degrees, I did 15 minutes at 400 degrees and then 45 minutes on 350 degrees.  The top was golden and everything was perfection.

Peaches are perfection in fact, they taste like warm sunshine.  

Sunday Summer Supper

Three of my favorite summer foods on one plate:  grilled sausage sandwich, corn on the cob and homemade potato salad.  :)  So, so, good.

I did top the sandwich with sauteed green pepper and onion.  They're invisible here, and no, you can't have the recipe for invisible peppers n onions.  :)

In For A Treat

Last night's menu item at Chez Crafty Mana:  fried chicken.

I chose this because I was missing my favorite meal at the Chateau in Waltham, MA:  chicken supreme.  It's a fried chicken cutlet served with a white sauce.  Brian made it happen, only I liked his white sauce better.  Perhaps it was the paprika, I don't know.  But I am pretty excited that there was plenty of leftovers for lunch this week.

I remembered yesterday that there was a pie crust in the fridge that needed to be used up because it was going to expire soon.  I had bought a ton of peaches over the weekend so peach crumb pie sounded perfect.  I prebaked the crust and when I pulled it out of the toaster oven, um....that did not look like piecrust.  Apparently it was already bad, because it resembled a taco shell, the kind that holds a taco salad.  Ewww!  So instead it became another peach crisp.  Which was delicious, but would have been better with vanilla ice cream.  And this time the leftovers made it into the fridge, so perhaps a stop for ice cream on the way home from work tonight is in order.