The holidays have passed, and now we're happy to get back to a routine. And also, cook some healthier, less rich food. Not that we don't love the rich stuff, because we do.
Brian got a new 30-minute meal cookbook for Christmas put out by America's Test Kitchen. So far we've had three recipes from it and have plans for more. Like most things ATK puts out, everything has been good so far.
First dinner: Salmon with lime and spice, with rice and broccoli. Nothing too fancy...
Saturday night: white chicken chili. This was definitely more than 30 minutes, more like 45. It probably has more to do with the fact that dried hominy was used instead of the canned hominy that the recipe listed...but oh well. Hominy was a new ingredient to us, and took a little getting used to. Leftovers yesterday weren't quite as chewy, and the flavor was really good. It's weird eating chili with no tomatoes or beans, I definitely prefer the other way better.
I roasted a chicken on Sunday, and we had baked potatoes and roast carrots and parsnips. The whole dinner in the oven, yeah! Roast parsnips are so delicious and sweet.
last night: meatless Monday! Tortellini with asparagus and peas, in a tarragon cream sauce. Yeah, I said healthier and less rich. Total lie tonight, but no meat, so it's a trade?
Tonight's dinner is scallop risotto with tomatoes. I'm dying to see if the "thirty minute recipe" is the real deal or full of lies. We shall see.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Naturally, There's Cake
Happy New Year!!! Hubby made this gorgeous, sinful chocolate cake, since we always celebrate NYE with cake. Wow.....it's so good!
Hope 2015 brings lots of good things.
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Holiday Sweets
It's not Christmas without cookies....so cookies we shall have.
So far we have coconut macaroons, oatmeal scotchies and chocolate shortbread. I made the macaroons last week, I'm surprised that they've lasted this long. (there's also been brownies and birthday cake in the house so that's probably why) I spied a bag of butterscotch chips at Walmart last week and they made me nostalgic for the oatmeal scotchies that my mother used to make. They came out pretty well, too. Well, two thirds of them came out perfect and the other third were a bit crisp. The chocolate shortbread was a new recipe from a cookbook that we received from Brian's brother, John and his wife, Patricia. (They also sent a cookie press....how did they know that I've always wanted one!!!) I also made dough for snickerdoodles but was overcome by fatigue and back pain to actually bake them. Rule #1 in baking: know your damn limitations! Rule #2 in baking (in my world, anyway) wear something more supportive than slippers, you crazy lady! Tonight's baking will be playing with the cookie press, in sneakers. :)
So far we have coconut macaroons, oatmeal scotchies and chocolate shortbread. I made the macaroons last week, I'm surprised that they've lasted this long. (there's also been brownies and birthday cake in the house so that's probably why) I spied a bag of butterscotch chips at Walmart last week and they made me nostalgic for the oatmeal scotchies that my mother used to make. They came out pretty well, too. Well, two thirds of them came out perfect and the other third were a bit crisp. The chocolate shortbread was a new recipe from a cookbook that we received from Brian's brother, John and his wife, Patricia. (They also sent a cookie press....how did they know that I've always wanted one!!!) I also made dough for snickerdoodles but was overcome by fatigue and back pain to actually bake them. Rule #1 in baking: know your damn limitations! Rule #2 in baking (in my world, anyway) wear something more supportive than slippers, you crazy lady! Tonight's baking will be playing with the cookie press, in sneakers. :)
Brought to you by The Letter "F"
No, not that "F".......today's words are Freezer, Frittata and Fail.
First the frittata....last night's dinner was from the Epicurious cookbook that we like so much....it was called "Kitchen Sink Frittata." In other words....tons of stuff in it. In anticipation of (hopefully) knocking some things off the Holiday To-Do list, Brian had dinner on the table early. The kids weren't interested in the slightest so they had leftover pizza. Sean's got an aversion to pizza lately, but even he had a little and then some yogurt. Anyway.....it was delicious. Not the most filling meal in the world but just have two pieces and you're good to go! It had tomatoes, basil and potatoes, and plenty of cheese. Brian said that the recipe had called for bacon but he didn't put it in, given his bacon-cooking woes as of late. (Smoke, smoke smoke!) And I now know the difference between a frittata and a quiche....quiche has crust. And either of them would be delicious at breakfast.
Now for Freezer and Fail. I've got a lot of friends that have super good luck in freezing things. There's a lot of pins on Pinterest about freezer meals. Yet.....I don't have much luck in the freezing department. Either I forget something is IN the freezer and it gets destroyed over time, or it wasn't meant to be in the first place. We also seem to have a shortage in plastic containers, but obviously that's an easy fix: get more containers. The most recent fail was the other day: Brian had made bone-in chicken breasts with a corn relish, with mashed potatoes sometime in November. It was more food than we could eat at one meal and we were heading to Philly in a few days. I hate to throw food out, so I froze the chicken, relish and potatoes separately. This week being a busy week (HA! That's an understatement) I defrosted them. Only to my dismay....the potatoes were soup and the relish had turned brown. The chicken was probably fine but I'm throwing it out anyway because I have nothing to go with it. I want to get better at this, if other people can do it so can I!
First the frittata....last night's dinner was from the Epicurious cookbook that we like so much....it was called "Kitchen Sink Frittata." In other words....tons of stuff in it. In anticipation of (hopefully) knocking some things off the Holiday To-Do list, Brian had dinner on the table early. The kids weren't interested in the slightest so they had leftover pizza. Sean's got an aversion to pizza lately, but even he had a little and then some yogurt. Anyway.....it was delicious. Not the most filling meal in the world but just have two pieces and you're good to go! It had tomatoes, basil and potatoes, and plenty of cheese. Brian said that the recipe had called for bacon but he didn't put it in, given his bacon-cooking woes as of late. (Smoke, smoke smoke!) And I now know the difference between a frittata and a quiche....quiche has crust. And either of them would be delicious at breakfast.
Now for Freezer and Fail. I've got a lot of friends that have super good luck in freezing things. There's a lot of pins on Pinterest about freezer meals. Yet.....I don't have much luck in the freezing department. Either I forget something is IN the freezer and it gets destroyed over time, or it wasn't meant to be in the first place. We also seem to have a shortage in plastic containers, but obviously that's an easy fix: get more containers. The most recent fail was the other day: Brian had made bone-in chicken breasts with a corn relish, with mashed potatoes sometime in November. It was more food than we could eat at one meal and we were heading to Philly in a few days. I hate to throw food out, so I froze the chicken, relish and potatoes separately. This week being a busy week (HA! That's an understatement) I defrosted them. Only to my dismay....the potatoes were soup and the relish had turned brown. The chicken was probably fine but I'm throwing it out anyway because I have nothing to go with it. I want to get better at this, if other people can do it so can I!
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
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.
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.
Monday, November 3, 2014
The Art of French Cooking
Brian's birthday was in September and I got him a cookbook that he's wanted for some time: Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." As neither of us have any experience in EATING french cuisine, much less cooking it, it's a new culinary adventure.
He's made two dishes so far....Daube de Boeuf and Pork Sylvie. Both meals took the better part of a Sunday but were out of the park. The Daube de Boeuf was kind of like a beef stew, only baked in the oven. We had it with a Parmesan Risotto that was to DIE FOR. Brian told the kids that it was "steak and cheesy rice." Will remarked that he'd never had steak like it and Brian just told him that it was a "wet method" of cooking. He didn't eat it all but certainly didn't complain.
The Pork Sylvie came at a time where I was needing comfort food in a big way, after my kidney surgery. It was this perfect pork roast, stuffed with swiss cheese. Normally I'm not a big Swiss cheese fan but this was divine. Lots of leftovers, which of course made me quite happy.
I think I could get used to eating French food. Not every day of course, but as often as Brian can cook it.
He's made two dishes so far....Daube de Boeuf and Pork Sylvie. Both meals took the better part of a Sunday but were out of the park. The Daube de Boeuf was kind of like a beef stew, only baked in the oven. We had it with a Parmesan Risotto that was to DIE FOR. Brian told the kids that it was "steak and cheesy rice." Will remarked that he'd never had steak like it and Brian just told him that it was a "wet method" of cooking. He didn't eat it all but certainly didn't complain.
The Pork Sylvie came at a time where I was needing comfort food in a big way, after my kidney surgery. It was this perfect pork roast, stuffed with swiss cheese. Normally I'm not a big Swiss cheese fan but this was divine. Lots of leftovers, which of course made me quite happy.
I think I could get used to eating French food. Not every day of course, but as often as Brian can cook it.
Sunday, October 26, 2014
All things Pumpkin
Last night we attended our very first "Trunk or Treat." Don't know what that is? It's this really cool way of doing "Trick or Treating" in a parking lot with candy in people's trunks. Also, it's safer so yu don't worry about your kids walking by themselves.
The party also featured "Glow Chucks" (it was at Will's karate school) and the kids had a great time! Also a costume contest and the purpose of this blog, a pumpkin cooking contest.
Brian was originally going to make individual pumpkin creme brulees, but we didn't have enough time since we were also preparing for Will's birthday party this weekend. So I found a recipe for pumpkin cupcakes with caramel cream cheese frosting. They were an awesome Pinterest find and really easy. Any recipe that lets you use a box mix and a jar of caramel ice cream topping is aces in my book. After the cupcakes are baked you take a straw and poke holes in them, then put caramel topping in the holes. It makes for a really moist, sweet cake. And the frosting was incredible too! We had said that we were going to bring cookies, which I had planned on just buying. I never got to the store though, so Brian baked pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for the potluck table. They were really good too, chewy and just enough pumpkin flavor.
We didn't win the contest...a pumpkin-maple bar with bacon took the prize. And who can argue with that....it's BACON! We did get a lot of compliments, though. There's always next year. And stupidly....I didn't get a picture. Use your imaginations this time. :)
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