Snow Day Breakfast

Last week we had a surprise snow day off from school.  Though there wasn't a whole lot of snow, it was enough to make the commute messy and the schools to close, so we all stayed home together.  And Daddy made an awesome breakfast:  crepes.

 Of course, any time that Hubby gets to play with his induction burner, he's a happy camper.  Crepes made on the stove don't compare...all of these were perfectly prepared.  No messy, unuseable first one, either.

There were two kinds...first one was a crispy ham and cheese.  They just didn't compare to this one featuring strawberries, a swipe of marscapone cheese and a dollop of my mother's homemade caramel sauce!  

Winter Weekday Breakfast

I can't think of a nicer way to greet the day then dropped eggs on toast and half of a very fresh Florida orange. :)

Takeout from Home

Brian got a new cookbook for Christmas, "Epicurious Cookbook.". The other night he made something called Mahogany Chicken.  It was a very simple Asian inspired dish of chicken thighs and sauce, served with jasmine rice and steamed broccoli.

Oh, but it was so much more than that.  I have seen a lot of recipes that proclaim that they taste like making Chinese takeout at home.  This one didn't boast, but was so delicious I wanted to lick the plate.  The only thing I would change was not to use bone-in thighs, as they slow you down.  Brian had a point though, boneless thighs probably would fall apart in the sauce.

This was an easy weeknight dinner with incredible flavor.  And certainly something that we will be making again and again!

Sexy Chicken

Brian got me a cookbook as a joke gift....it's called "50 Shades of Chicken."  It's a parody of "Fifty Shades of Grey" and is pretty hilarious.  And well....dirty too.  We had chicken in basil cream sauce (I won't tell you its dirty name...it's too embarrassing) and it was so very good!  I can't believe some of the recipes in this book.  Can't wait to try the chicken with apricot jam, sage and lemon zest next sometime next week.

If you read the books, you'll get a kick out of this cookbook's play on words.  If you just like good chicken, well, you'll like this cookbook too!

Will the Chef

Will decided today that he wanted to make lunch for him and Sean.  He's done this before, he's gotten pretty good at making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the two of them.  I love encouraging this kid to do his thing in the kitchen with minimal help, but teaching him the "right" way is important too.  Like cleanup...putting things back where they belong (jelly in the fridge instead of the cabinet, etc.) and wiping the peanut butter off the counter.

Today's lunch, courtesy of Will:  peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, with fruit salad.  He did everything except cut up the apple...I did that.  He found out that butter knives don't cut everything!  I had him help me cut up the apple, I taught him that you need a cutting board, and then slowly slowly...with my hand over his, we cut the apple into slices.  Then I cut it into chunks and he tossed them into the salad.  Both kids devoured every bite!

Christmas Eve Dinner

We broke out of our norm and instead of having spaghetti for dinner, we roasted a chicken.  And it was excellent.  :)

Potato side dish:  originally was going to be a crockpot potato recipe so no oven space was needed.  Then I saw that the recipe took 10-12 hours to cook!  No way!  (Yes...that was on low, and I didn't feel like experimenting on Christmas eve with the crockpot on high.)  Instead we roasted red potatoes with garlic, then topped with cheese and bacon.  What's not to love?

The more "Chopped" we watch, the more we try to cook like they do on the show.  And Brian has a lot more success with that most of the time than I do.  Well, the green bean side dish was a HUGE success!  We blanched the green beans, and then I sauteed them in bacon fat, and tossed in onion, brown sugar and pecans.  They were delish.  :)  And yes....bacon fat.  It's Christmas Eve dinner....go big or go home!

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!