Sweet Rice

Got Brian to try a sweet treat this weekend...rice pudding!  I'd had it before but he's always thought it would be grossed.  Was he ever surprised at this sweet, simple treat.  I can't wait to try some different variations.

Chocolate Chess Pie

I can't believe that I forgot to post about this!

I had some knitting friends come over last month so Brian made this chocolate chess pie.  It's out of Alton Brown's latest cookbook, which is a compilation of things he makes in his own home.  (He's often bragging about how all of the pics were shot with an iPhone too...but meh, whatever.)

It came out great, plus Brian got to play with fire so he was thrilled.  We all agreed that smaller pieces are better, a huge slice of this pie is a lot to take.  But it was so good, it's going to be one of two Easter desserts that we're bringing to my parents this weekend.  Not sure what the second one will be, but a lighter flavor to balance out the richness of this pie.  Stay tuned....

"Chopped"

One of Brian's favorite shows is "Chopped" on the Food Network.  The goal is to create a dish in each of three rounds that uses four food items that are presented at the beginning of the challenge.   It's fun but I think daunting to anyone other than a professional chef....sometimes there are outlandish ingredients or things that just do not seem to go together!

Last year I got Brian a "Chopped" cookbook for Christmas and the couple of recipes thst we've tried were pretty good.  Tonight he made a coconut panna cotta with candied peanuts.  First, panna cotta is kind of like flan.  (Which we love!)  Second, he had every single ingredient in the house and was using up Pantry ingredients.  It was delicious...not super sweet, very creamy.  The peanut brittle topping was the best part, though.   A keeper for sure!

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.  ;)

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....

New Cookbook in the House!

Last week was Brian's birthday and Will picked out a new cookbook for his gift.  Since  Dad is a big fan of the Food Network show "Chopped" why not a cookbook from that show?  He loved it and we tried two recipes this weekend.

The first was a warm banana pudding with caramel sauce.  I love that I'm married to someone who, on a Saturday night will spontaneously decide to make treats from scratch.  :)  Let me tell you, it smelled incredible.  The taste was good too, though it felt weird to be eating pudding that hadn't "set."  And if you are eating hot banana and caramel topping, watch out!  My tongue and throat are still slightly scorched. 

Next up was grilled chicken sandwiches for lunch, with a parsley pesto spread.  I had a ton of parsley to use up on the deck so this recipe seemed like a no-brainer.  I'd never had anything other than basil pesto, and clearly I've been missing out!  This also had a great way of toasting the bun using an egg white instead of butter or just dry in the toaster oven. 

This cookbook has a lot of potential.  And obviously,  since I've marked it up, it's here to stay. 

Either Way You're Only Getting Half a Pan

I learned a hard lesson......you don't leave cast iron items in the oven while baking.

For one thing, they make it so that the oven takes forever to heat up.  I left a skillet and a grill pan on the bottom shelf when I was making banana "snack cake" and later on in the week I made magic bars for the karate picnic.  Yes, I made this mistake twice.

The edges were the only cooked pieces on the banana cake, I was able to salvage this much and throw the rest away.  The boys loved it, though.  Will asked for a taste, and then took the piece from me with a big smile and a "Mine!"  :)  It's going to be the first recipe I write into The Notebook in a while.

 Good Cake.

Bad Cake.

The magic bars edges were destroyed.  Not only because of the cast iron roommates hogging space in the oven, but because I thought that the first step of melting butter in the pan would be enough to grease it.  Yeah.....not so much for the sides.  This is how much I had to throw out, and I despise throwing out food.

So....lessons learned and shared from me, so you don't have to learn them for yourself.

Peachy Keen

This past weekend we decided that it was high time to bring the ice cream maker out again.
This time, we went for a summer favorite that we'd never tried:  peach ice cream.  And whose recipe was the obvious first choice?  That's right, Alton Brown....who just hit a million Facebook "likes" last week and celebrated with some live videos!

Alton Brown's Burned Peach Ice Cream

This was fantastic, though we did have to melt it and re-churn so it wouldn't be rock-solid.  No pictures, it didn't last long enough.  I would definitely do this again.

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!

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.  

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.

Holiday Dessert Time

It was my brother and SIL's turn to host Christmas, so we got to bring dessert.  Brian really outshone himself this year!

 Chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes....incredible!  Looked labor-intensive though.

 This is a Christmas Cake with Tutti-Frutti filling.  Almonds, maraschino cherries, coconut...what's not to love?  Plus that hand-painted Christmas tree rocks, especially with the chocolate chip trunk.

And it's just not the holidays without biscotti.  I love these things....but have no control over how many I want to eat!  

Oh, and MY contribution?

Rocky Road fudge.  Marshmallow and walnut, to be precise.  I hadn't made fudge in many years, and this was so good!

Holiday Prep

Some of the things that have come out of my kitchen in the past week:

Cookies, Cookies and Cookies.  Over the years we've cut down on the number of different kinds, usually choosing 4-6 types.  These fall into the "It's Just Not Christmas Without..." category:  coconut macaroons, old-fashioned sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, Rollo cookies and biscotti.  No biscotti yet, but everything else has been baked, one kind a night in the past week.  No power outage is gonna stop us, either.  :)

Fudge.  I haven't made fudge in about five years...and now I remember why.  It's because I love it so damn much!  I am bringing Rocky Road fudge to my family's Christmas party tomorrow, and it's heavenly.

Garlic and Chicken "Stew."  This was dinner tonight, and it's one of my all-time favorite meals.  Two heads  (yes, HEADS not cloves) of garlic, chicken parts (tonight we used thighs and breasts) and various other ingredients left to stew in a Dutch oven is such an incredible smell.


Coming up on the horizon:  Christmas eve dinner, which is getting changed up this year from Spaghetti to Roast Chicken.  Christmas morning breakfast....overnight baked french toast.  (In my humble opinion, the best kind)  And we're doing dessert for the family get-together on Christmas Day, and have some great things!

New Gelato Fan

I'l say it, and risk ridicule:  I've never been much of a gelato fan.  But then again, I've never eaten gelato in Italy, which is totally on my to-do list.  Tonight though, Brian brought home some gelato from the grocery store called Talenti.  I'd had it before but not like this.  Tonight, I become a gelato fan.

Salted caramel gelato.  Smooth, rich, and decadent.  I had to stop eating it because I was afraid I'd polish off the container.  If you are a caramel fan, or a gelato fan or hell, just like frosty desserts, you HAVE to try this stuff!  If it can make Brian put down his chocolate and ask for another spoonful, it has got to be that good.

Day Nine: Down at the Cottage

This post isn't just about dinner, but eating at the cottage in general.  I love it, and so does the family!  dinner is almost always on the grill, and if it's a nice day we have breakfast on the deck, watching the water.  Sitting at the table, drinking your coffee and looking at the ripples on the lake really is a crummy way to start the day.  :)  Plus, next week is Father's Day and we usually have something special.

Last night's dinner was marinated steak tips, rice pilaf and salad.  Today we had leftovers, since we were coming back from strawberry picking.  the boys had a good time filling a box with juicy berries and being outside in general.  Strawberry shortcakes this afternoon!  Now I'm freezing what I brought home, for syrup, scones and who knows what else.  Mmmmmmm......

A Holiday Worth Celebrating!

Today is National Chocolate Ice Cream Day!!  If there was ever a holiday worth celebrating, this would be it.  Had I even realized that this was an actual thing, I might've planned a party.  C'mon, you know you would want to go to a Chocolate Ice Cream party!

Make sure you celebrate with a spoon in one hand and a big dish of the stuff in the other!

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!

A Brownie Preview

I've never been really "into" Valentine's Day."  As a whole, I find it to be commercial and forced.  Plus, I still remember being single on Valentines Day and just wishing the day to be over.  Sure, we used to go out to dinner on Valentine's Day, or get flowers or gifts.   Restaurants on V day are for suckers....and the last time I made a reservation on Valentine's Day and STILL waited an hour for a table, well that was the end of THAT!  In short, it's become a very simple affair, cards and a little treat for the boys, and cards for Hubby and I.

But when Hubby suggested we make ourselves a really nice meal, I couldn't say no.  It's a well-known fact, neither of us can say no to good food!  He decided on the menu (filet and lobster tails) and I decided to make a chocolate dessert.  Nothing too crazy, after all, it was going to be a weeknight so there wasn't enough prep time.  I posed the question to my friends on Google Plus, and my (real life) friend Alisha came to the rescue with her Lindt Chocolate Brownies.

I had never made brownies from scratch before, and that's a damn shame.  After all, there's nothing wrong with a dessert recipe that starts with this:

Chop 'em up, and melt 'em.  Luckily, I had Alton Brown's final episode of Good Eats, entitled "Turn on the Dark" to help with all of that.  And thanks to him, I know to chop and microwave.  Smooooooooth.

Look at all that chocolatey goodness!  

Now they're baked, Hubby is still at school and the house smells like a chocolate factory.  I texted him to give him a preview and he said "We have to wait til TOMORROW??  But I'm starving."  

And I'm weak.  If he comes home and wants to cut into them, I won't be able to say no.

After all, from-scratch brownies that look like that can't be anything short of amazing, right?  :)

A Love Affair

Nobody comes between Sean and his....ketchup?

Baby loves this stuff!  We've quickly learned that Sean will eat anything, as long as it's dipped in ketchup.  Homefries?  check.  Crackers?  check.  Eggs?  check.  Turkey???  Ummm....check!  It was a bit weird to put ketchup for the little man at the Thanksgiving table.  but hey, if it gets him to eat?  I'm alllllllll about it.  Heck, if I could figure out a way to add ketchup to milk without it being gross, I'd do it.  Lately he doesn't want anything to do with drinking milk, he's always opening the fridge and either grabbing the orange juice carton or pointing and yelling "Ju!  Ju!  Ju!"  However, I think the ketchup and milk thing....I won't stoop to that.

Another thing that Sean was absolutely gaga over this Thanksgiving was my mom's pumpkin flan, and his own lil' bowl of ice cream.  We gave him a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a little plastic bowl and he was very serious about getting every last bite.  Then I gave him a nibble of my pumpkin flan and he kept coming back.  "More?  More?"  He probably ate an entire piece on his own.  So we were sure to bring some home for him.

Brian and I are about to embark on our leftovers lunch. I hope Thanksgiving was fantastic for all of you!