Amateur Gastronomist

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-04T18:55:00.001-04:00

Hope everyone is having a great, safe celebration today. I'm currently sitting on the roof-deck enjoying a margarita my sister made for me with freshly squeezed citrus juice. We have a bucket of beer and some snacks to enjoy throughout the night. Then I'll be making some delicious food later... Peach salsa with Brie bruschetta, an American salad with strawberries, blueberries, onions, goat cheese, & candied pecans, and honey-chipotle barbecue chicken sandwiches for dinner. For dessert I made strawberry pretzel squares that are delicious...

The real reason for my post is to let you all know that I'll be on a mini posting hiatus. My awesome husband is helping me create my own website and until it's finished I'll be taking a break from posting. I'm hoping my new site will be up and running by next weekend so I can continue sharing all of my new recipes. Until then...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Nostalgic Weekend in New Hampshire

2010-07-01T13:58:00.007-04:00

I have always had an unhealthy obsession with ice cream but when you add in ice cream cake to the equation I just go crazy. I remember being a kid anxiously waiting the end of the party or the birthday dinner... it was all a means just to get to my precious ice cream cake. I'm not picky. I will eat and enjoy all brands or homemade cakes but I think most of my memories involve Carvel.

A couple weeks ago my younger sister turned 25 (which means I'm getting old) so we traveled to New Hampshire for a family celebration.

I present my sister, Jocelyn, in all her glory... Aruba this year...

Being goofy a couple of years ago...

To be a little nicer to my baby sister, a nice photo of all the ladies in my family from our trip to Aruba... my youngest sister, me, my mom, and Jocelyn.

If my she read this blog she'd hate me... but she doesn't so I think I'm safe. She will never know that I've shared these great pictures!

Anyway... back to the ice cream cake... the first night we were at my parent's house the Carvel cake made an appearance. I immediately forgot that it was my sister's birthday, and not mine, and pushed and shoved my family out of the way to get to some of the cold, creamy goodness... then I saw my mom's handy work, "Happy Birthday Jocelyn"... oops!

In addition to the Carvel cake my sister had picked up a sampling of goodies from a local bakery. My plate featured the heavenly ice cream cake and a taste of carrot cake. Personally I don't think the carrot cake had a chance but it was still tasty.

After a sugar induced night of sleep we all went out to the Strawberry Patch for breakfast. Matt ordered traditional Eggs Benedict which was served with home fries and, of course, a strawberry.

I ordered a cheese and tomatoe omelet with home fries and homemade cinnamon raisin toast.

It was a great weekend reminiscing both with our taste buds and with our stories!

Just in case you're actually reading this post... Happy (Belated) Birthday Jocelyn!

*sorry about the photos!*

Pork Meatball Banh and Vianne Chocolat

2010-06-29T20:44:00.016-04:00

I've ruled out a lot of recipes over the years because of ingredients I never thought I would have in my kitchen. One of those ingredients was fish sauce but ever since I read Betsy's post on bánh mì xiu mai (her take on Bon Appetit's recipe) I've been reconsidering my decision. I decided that a night when we had friends over would be a good time to sneak fish sauce into Matt's dinner... as we all know my husband can't stomach seafood.

Our friends Kaleen and Matt ended up being my lucky victims. My husband was too busy tidying the home before our guests arrived to notice me slipping in the secret ingredient...

I served appetizers and beer while I finished making dinner. Trader Joe's edamame hummus with ak-mak crackers is my new favorite snack. I love the crunchy, crispy, wheat and sesame crackers with the flavorful green hummus.

After a couple of drinks and catching up dinner was finally ready. There was a quick assembly of sandwiches and then we all went to the roof deck to enjoy the view and our dinner.

The sandwiches were a hit... even after my husband discovered the secret ingredient. The layers of flavors are perfect together... crunchy, cool and spicy. It's probably the best sandwich I've ever had or made.

For a dessert I had another little surprise... a new, Boston-based, local ingredient chocolate company had dropped off some samples and we were all going to participate in the little taste test. I had been drooling over the beautiful package from Vianne Chocolat all afternoon so I could barely wait to rip into them.

First we split the two dark chocolate raspberry truffles with cocoa and raspberry powder into halves.

After the truffles I carefully cut the five other chocolates into quarters with my good-enough-to-be-surgeon skilled hands. From the below picture starting with the bottom right corner you can see the delightful chocolates; Chambord filled with raspberry powder, lavender, burnt caramel cup, and mint.

There was one additional chocolate under these four beauties... a rose scented dove. This beautiful little dove was one of my favorites. I really enjoyed the slight hint of rose in the dark chocolate.

All of the chocolates were amazing but my absolute favorite was the burnt caramel cup. I wasn't expecting the liquid center so when I cut into it I frantically shouted for my dinner crew to come quickly... they needed to catch a taste of the caramel before it was all over the plate. I think we all agreed that the caramel was perfect; you can tell that a very talented chocolatier made the perfectly burnt caramel. I may have run my finger through the caramel that was leftover on the plate when no one was looking... maybe...

We all felt so privileged to partake in a tasting of these wonderful chocolates!

The owner, Valerie, also throws chocolate parties which I'm sure would be a great event, perfect for a bridal or baby shower! If you're interested in trying some of these chocolates or setting up a chocolate party go to the website.

Pork Meatball Banh Mi

Ingredients
Hot Chili Mayo

2/3 cup mayonnaise
2 green onions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon hot chili sauce (such as Sriracha)*
Meatballs

1 pound ground pork
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 green onions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fish sauce (such as nam pla or nuoc nam)
1 tablespoon hot chili sauce (such as sriracha)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
Sandwiches

2 cups coarsely grated carrots
2 cups coarsely grated peeled daikon (Japanese white radish)**
1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil
4 10-inch-long individual baguettes or four 10-inch-long pieces French-bread baguette (cut from 2 baguettes)
Thinly sliced jalapeño chiles
16 large fresh cilantro sprigs

*Available in the Asian foods section of many supermarkets and at Asian markets.

**Available at some supermarkets and at Asian markets

Hot Chili Mayo
Stir all ingredients in small bowl. Season with salt. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.

Meatballs

Line rimmed baking sheet with plastic wrap. Gently mix all ingredients in large bowl. Using moistened hands and scant tablespoonful for each, roll meat mixture into 1-inch meatballs. Arrange on baking sheet. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.
Toss first 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour, tossing occasionally.
Preheat oven to 300°F. Heat sesame oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of meatballs. Sauté until brown and cooked through, turning meatballs often and lowering heat if browning too quickly, about 15 minutes. Transfer meatballs to another rimmed baking sheet. Place in oven. Repeat with remaining meatballs.

Sandwiches

Cut each baguette or baguette piece horizontally in half. Pull out enough bread from each bread half to leave 1/2-inch-thick shell. Spread hot chili mayo over each bread shell. Arrange jalapeños, then cilantro, in bottom halves. Fill each with 1/4 of meatballs. Drain pickled vegetables; place atop meatballs. Press on baguette tops.

Serves 4

Dinner at the Blue Room, Dessert at Mooo....

2010-06-23T13:27:00.010-04:00

We recently had a great food night around Boston. Matt had a work dinner at The Blue Room in Kendall Square, and I tagged along as his "plus one" along with Betsy (who was on the guest list). As we joined the group that had arrived a few minutes before, my gaze fell upon a dark and very tasty looking beer in front of one of the guests. He noticed my stare and offered me a sip. I dropped all sense of decorum and grabbed the closest chalice I could find...a wine glass. So much for class. When it comes to dark beers, everything I learned from fine dining just seems to be so irrelevant. Here is the photographic evidence of my fall from grace. Hint: The beer is in the left glass.

While I was enjoying the beer, the server poured a bottle of Willamette Valley Vineyards Pinot Noir. It was a bit of an awkward moment when she tried to fill my glass.

First up, some snacks. Our side of the table fired off a few orders that ran the gamut of sweet, savory and just plain different.

The brown sugar, cayenne spiced nuts put out the right combination of sweet and spice. Never would have guessed that based on what the name of the snack was... but I have to put something in between these photos...

I loved the texture and taste of the real, homemade chickpea dip with crispy flatbread.

The best of the bunch by far were dates stuffed with ricotta and pistachios; a bite sized snack with a lot going on. The creamy ricotta blended perfectly with the date and pistachios, with a hint of honey. I can't wait to try to recreate these at home.

Snacks in the belly. Time for more wine.

No, this is not a prop bottle from "The Great Gatsby," but rather a very earthy Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles, California. I am not an earthy wine fan, but in this case it did not overpower the big, juicy flavor of the wine.

For the main, I opted to combine two appetizer dishes; the pasta special and a Vietnamese steak salad.

The pasta was orecchiette with pea tendrils, lemon, and ricotta. It was a light pasta dish which was perfect for the warm night.

Next up was the Vietnamese beef salad with green papaya, fermented black beans, lime, mint, and chili oil. I was initially put off by the fact that the beef was served cold, however it fit nicely with the rest of the salad and the flavor profile complimented the other ingredients perfectly.

Later, the three of us headed across the river into Boston to what we like to call "our living room" (Mooo....) for a nightcap and maybe... a look at the dessert menu.

The ladies decided to go against the stereotype and we ordered...the... Lady's Martini. Ok, not really against the stereotype, but with Lilet blonde infused with fresh lemon, hibiscus syrup and a champagne chaser, it became too tempting to pass over. The martini was full of fantastic flavor but I'm not sure it could be really classified as a martini. Very sweet, not much alcohol... or so it seemed... not bad for a night cap.... not good if it is your first drink of the night because these go down like a Capri Sun and would end your night before you even knew what was happening.

For some reason, the dessert menu taunted us with a very intriguing dark chocolate stout cake. Now I'm not a huge chocolate fan but I do enjoy the "health benefits" of dark chocolate and a good stout. The cake was wonderful and really well done. Thank God Betsy and Matt were there or I might just have developed a real passion for chocolate... and by that I mean I would have eaten the whole thing.

Overall, this unscripted rambling back and forth across the river was a culinary and viticultural success. You can see Betsy's perspective here. Our photos are almost identical. We were snapping dueling pictures so much that Matt had compared us to the most flash happy crowd in Boston in a tweet:

"@upwitholives & @amateurgastro take pics of food like Asian tourists take pics of the Cheers facade #canon #Boston."

Give these ladies a camera that fits in a pocket and combine that with a love of food, and what do you expect? I'll post my pictures of the Cheers facade in another post ;)

Foodless Post

2010-06-20T14:33:00.003-04:00

This has nothing to do with food but I just had to share a couple of pictures that I took last week. The view from our roof deck of the Boston skyline at sunset after a storm.

A Baby Shower Weekend in Chicago

2010-06-15T22:00:00.019-04:00

We arrived in Chicago Saturday morning leaving us plenty of time for food throughout the day. On our way to my sister-in-law's home we stopped and picked up sandwiches from Potbelly for lunch. When we got to their home all the ladies of the family, and Dave (the dad-to-be), were reunited for the first time since Christmas 2008. The baby of the family, Alleigh, has been doing good deeds all over the country, working in Americorps. We were lucky that her break fell during the week of the shower. It would have been great if Matt and his dad could have been there but the two New England men had to stay behind to run the bed and breakfast.

After our little reunion we left to head downtown to meet up with some important Michiganders at Cafe Iberico for dinner. There is nothing better than pitchers of sangria and tapas galore! It was so nice to catch up with the extended family over a fantastic meal. Dinner was over early so a group of us walked over to the Hotel Felix to have drinks in their swanky restaurant, Elate. Of course I forgot to take any photos on Saturday but Alleigh got a shot of her Blueberry Lemonade drink at Elate. I had the cucumber collins which was delicious but I think the table's favorite was the ginger-basil mojito.

Later on that night Alleigh and I met up with one of my best friends who moved from Boston to Chicago a couple years ago. We all caught up over a couple of beers at The Bad Apple. It wasn't nearly enough time but we all had to get up in early in the morning.

Sunday morning, after a quick run along the Lake, we headed to the suburbs for the baby shower!! The shower was held where Carrie and Dave got married almost two years ago, the Riverside Reception. It was a beautiful day for a perfect baby shower!

Here are some photos of the room and the view

A little sweet favor

My mother-in-law made the most beautiful diaper bag for Carrie. For the rest of the weekend everyone referred to her as Linda Bradley.

Our gift came from a little boutique in Boston, Red Wagon. I loved how they wrapped the gift in a small pizza box. Too cute!

All of the food was fantastic!

After our big lunch there were two desserts, cake and ice cream! The beautiful cake was a chocolate sponge cake with a cherry filling.

We were so full that we couldn't even imagine eating dinner.

Here I am with Matt's beautiful twin cousins. Before Saturday, I hadn't seen them since my trip to Michigan in October.

Here I am with my two gorgeous sister-in-laws getting ready to open all the gifts.

When we were finally back in Chicago and had made room for dinner, we enjoyed pizza and a salad while we watched the season premier of Drop Dead Diva. We love the talented Brooke Elliot! She's a college friend of Carrie's and we're all so proud of her! It's been so much fun watching her on her show. Here is my favorite photo of Brooke with Matt at Carrie and Dave's wedding.

I love spending my weekends in Chicago but it doesn't happen as often as I would like and when it does happen it's always over too quickly. Before we knew it Alleigh, mom, and I were getting ready to leave for the O'Hare airport Monday morning. Before we left we wanted to get one last photo of all of us.

Then I took another one just for good measure. You can see we're all laughing because Duncan, their chocolate lab, was very confused as to why we were all standing there so he started to bark at us. Silly Duncan!

After reuniting with the hardworking men back in Boston we went to dinner at Scollay Square. I started with one of my favorite salads in Boston, the roasted pear salad, and a Blue Moon.

Then Matt and I shared the buffalo chicken mac and cheese. We feel better about eating this heavenly, fatty dish if we share it!

It was a great long weekend and I can't wait to meet the newest member of the family!

Date Night at Market

2010-06-15T10:30:00.010-04:00

I felt like a little giddy school girl the night of our last date. All I knew about the evening was our meeting place... Boston Common at 6PM. From there we took a little walk down the street to the W Hotel. The plan was drinks at the lobby bar then dinner at Market by Jean-George. When we got to the hotel we discovered that they were filming a movie at the lobby bar so we walked right past the doors into the hotel and ended up at Avila for our pre-dinner drinks.

We sat down at the bar and ordered our drinks. A slightly dirty Grey Goose martini for Matt and a Hendricks martini with a twist for me. I forgot how potent gin martinis are and had to leave half of my gin in the glass. I knew that if I had finished my martini I would not have enjoyed (remembered) much of dinner. We really liked Avila and I made a mental note to come back for dinner some time.

On to Market! We felt so special walking into the restaurant; walking through velvet ropes to get to the lobby, having our names checked off on a list and passing through the movie set to get to our table. From our table you could see some of the film equipment outside the restaurant windows.

The restaurant was beautiful. I loved how the table was set with different dimensions and textures.

We ordered a bottle of Barbaresco for dinner. It was a very young wine that needed to open a bit so we decanted the bottle.

After a short perusal of the menu we figured out what we wanted to order.

We started with the arugula and Boston lettuce salad with a mustard vinaigrette and fine herbs.

For my dinner I ordered an appetizer; rice cracker crusted tuna with a citrus-chili emulsion.

To make my dinner a little bit more robust I also ordered the fine herb and Comte fritters. They were the most delicate, mouthwatering cheese fritters I have ever had! I definitely didn't want to share but after much bickering I finally let Matt have one or two.

Matt ordered the Parmesan crusted organic chicken with white asparagus and a lemon-basil butter. It was really good but it was basic enough that I think I can recreate this dish at home.

My man's dish was lacking a little bit of substance so he also ordered a side of mashed potatoes.

Dessert was the most amazing part of our meal; caramelized banana cake with a praline crunch and salted caramel ice cream. Words can't even begin to describe how much we enjoyed this dessert!

Our date was so much fun and delicious. I can't wait until Matt plans our next one... sometime in July!

A Week or Two of Recipes

2010-06-10T22:34:00.020-04:00

As I mentioned previously, the last couple of weeks were very chaotic. Aside from my trip to Chicago, most days were a blur of good food. Thank goodness there was a long weekend to break it all up! After our shopping trip on Memorial Day it was time to try my Aunt Joan's Chicken Marsala recipe. It definitely earned a spot in my recipe box. It's a great staple recipe; easy to make and full of flavor. I love the process of deglazing the pan with the Marsala wine and watching it slowly reduce to a sauce. The hypnotic motion of scraping the pan while tasting the sauce to determine if anything is missing just makes you feel like you know what you are supposed to be doing (see the recipe at the end of the post).

Tuesday after work I made Garlic Chive Chicken from my Allrecipes recipe box. I have a slight obsession with garlic so this recipe touched my heart. Along with the garlic obsession, I realized that Matt and I consistently enjoy chicken on pasta dishes. It was no surprise that we awarded this meal a sacred spot in the Longaberger recipe box.

Wednesday was date night. Matt planned a romantic night out with drinks at Avila followed by dinner at Market by Jean-Georges. It was a great night; special enough that it will get it's own future blog post.

Thursday I made Pork Medallions with Cherries from an old Women's Health magazine recipe. I tried to get a cool shot of the cherry sauce reducing but I couldn't quite capture the steam. It ended up looking just foggy.

I served the finished dish over brown rice. It was fantastic but the cherries were slightly overwhelming. I would recommend using less cherries than the recipe calls for, however it is still a keeper.

On Friday we left work a little early to pick up Matt's mom from the train station to bring her to Winthrop. She was visiting friends for the evening before meeting me at the airport in the morning for our trip to Chi-town. After dropping his mom off, Matt & Bailey headed north to Maine to help run the B&B for the weekend. Since I was home alone Friday night I decided to make seafood. These seafood recipes are reserved for nights when Matt is not around (he cannot stomach seafood, much to his dismay). I picked hazelnut-crusted scallops from Coastal Living. I enjoyed the scallops on a bed of whole wheat spaghetti with a glass of sauvignon blanc.

Two things I don't have very often, white wine and seafood. It was weird not having one of my two boys home with me but my meal was good enough that I forgot they weren't here while I ate.

My fun weekend in Chicago will be detailed in another post.

The Chicago trip extended through Monday, so my weekly planning of meals was disrupted. Tuesday night I stopped and picked up a whole wheat pizza shell for a mindless dinner. It bought me another night to figure out what we were going to eat. Last Thursday was the first night I got to cook at home. High off of my recent seafood excursion, I decided to make a twofer. Candied Salmon from my Allrecipes collection for me, and Balsamic-Glazed Pork Chops, for Matt, courtesy of Epicurious. The candy-shell-esque topping on the salmon reminded me of a taffy brittle with onions. I even convinced Matt to take a bite... and for a moment, he forgot he was eating fish... and then he made that gagging sound again... baby.

Matt enjoyed the pork, but commented that the Maple-Balsamic Glazed Pork Medallion should remain as the top spot of the "P" tab in the Longeberger box.

All in all we had an assortment of recipes for a less than planned out couple of weeks. I would say the highlight was eating fish twice, even once within mere feet of my husband...

Here are the recipes:

Aunt Joan's Chicken Marsala

Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/2 t dried basil
3 T butter
3 T olive oil
6-8 oz sliced fresh mushrooms
1/2 c marsala wine

Pound chicken to 1/4" thickness between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Combine flour, salt, pepper, basil, mix well. Heat oil and butter in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Dredge chicken in flour mixture. Cook chicken until lightly browned on first side (2 minutes). Turn chicken and add mushrooms around chicken. Cook about 2 minutes more until lightly browned; stir. Add marsala wine to pan. If you like more sauce, you can add chicken broth and more marsala (to taste). Serve over fresh linguine with a nice loaf of Italian bread. ENJOY!

Serves 4

Garlic Chive Chicken
Ingredients

1 head garlic
1 (8 ounce) package egg noodles
1 cup chicken broth
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup chopped fresh chives

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Wrap the garlic head in foil, and bake 30 minutes, until cloves are soft. Remove from heat, and cool enough to handle.
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add egg noodles and cook for 6 to 8 minutes or until al dente; drain.
Slice off the top of the garlic head, and squeeze the softened cloves into a medium bowl. Mix in the chicken broth, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Lightly coat the chicken breast halves with flour, and cook in the skillet about 10 minutes on each side, until lightly browned. Set chicken aside, retaining skillet juices. Stir in the garlic mixture, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and return chicken to the skillet. Continue cooking the chicken about 5 minutes on each side, until no longer pink and juices run clear. Remove chicken, and arrange on plates over the egg noodles.
Mix the butter into the garlic sauce mixture in the skillet until melted, and stir in the chives. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and egg noodles to serve.

Serves 4

Pork Medallions with Cherries

Ingredients

1 lb pork tenderloin, sliced into half-inch-thick medallions
1/2 C finely chopped red onion
16 oz bag frozen dark sweet cherries, defrosted slightly in microwave and drained of juice
1/2 C reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 tbsp honey
3 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dried thyme

Season medallions with salt and pepper to taste.

Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and cook pork until light pink in the center (2 to 3 minutes per side). Transfer to plate and cover with foil.
Add remaining oil to skillet. Add onion and saute until soft (about 3 minutes).
Stir in cherries, broth, honey, vinegar, and thyme. Simmer until sauce thickens (5 to 8 minutes).
Divide medallions evenly onto four plates and top each dish with 2 tablespoons cherry sauce.

Serves 4

Hazlenut-crusted Scallops

Ingredients

5 tablespoons butter, divided
½ cup dry white wine
¼ cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of grated or ground nutmeg
1 pound sea or bay scallops, drained
¼ cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
¼ cup finely chopped hazelnuts
Hot cooked pasta

Preheat oven to 375°.
Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a cast-iron or ovenproof skillet. Stir in wine and next 5 ingredients. Add scallops, turning to coat. Remove from heat.

Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a small bowl in the microwave, and stir in panko and nuts. Sprinkle mixture over scallops. Bake at 375° for 10 to 12 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Serve with hot cooked pasta. Garnish, if desired. Makes 2 servings.

SERVE *This is a great go-to salad dressing*
Mixed Greens with Honey-Poppy Seed Vinaigrette
Whisk together ¼ cup honey, ¼ cup white wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon grated onion, ¼ cup olive oil, 2 teaspoons poppy seeds, and salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Serve over fresh salad greens.

Candied Salmon

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter
1 clove garlic, minced
4 (6 ounce) salmon fillets
3 large onions, thinly sliced
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and grease the foil with cooking spray.
Combine the onions, vinegar and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally until the sauce begins to caramelize, about 15 minutes.
Melt butter with garlic in a small skillet over medium heat. Lay salmon fillets on the prepared baking sheet, and brush with garlic butter. Pour the onion mixture over the fillets.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until the fish flakes easily. Cooking time may vary with the thickness of your fillets.

Serves 6

Balsamic-Glazed Pork Chops Ingredients

4 (3/4-inch-thick) center-cut pork chops (about 2 lb total)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 oz small shallots (about 8), quartered and peeled, leaving root ends intact
2/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

Pat pork dry and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then cook pork (in 2 batches if necessary) along with shallots, turning pork over once and stirring shallots occasionally, until pork is browned and shallots are golden brown and tender, about 5 minutes total. Transfer pork with tongs to a plate and add vinegar, sugar, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper to shallots in skillet. Cook, stirring until sugar is dissolved and liquid is thickened slightly, about 1 minute.

Reduce heat to moderate, then return pork along with any juices accumulated on plate to skillet and turn 2 or 3 times to coat with sauce. Cook, turning over once, until pork is just cooked through, about 3 minutes total. Transfer pork to a platter and boil sauce until thickened and syrupy, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour sauce over pork.

Serves 4

Where Have I Been?!

2010-06-09T14:53:00.004-04:00

I am SO far behind in my blog posts! Last week I was getting home late from work and eating dinner at 9:30 which didn't leave any time to blog. Then this weekend I flew out to Chicago for my sister-in-law's baby shower. A weekend full of family and fun didn't leave any time to post. Last night the Celtics were playing and they're more important than writing. Tonight I'm going out to dinner and won't be home until bedtime. It looks as though tomorrow is when I'm going to be able to sit down to start writing. In the meantime, I wanted to share last week's meals and my plan for this weeks recipes.

Last week we enjoyed Garlic Chive Chicken from my Allrecipes collection, my Aunt Joan's Chicken Marsala, Pork Medallions with Cherries from Women's Health, and Hazelnut-crusted Scallops from Coastal Living. In addition to last week's four recipes I also have a second date night to summarize and a weekend in Chicago. Once I'm all caught up from last week I'll share my reviews on the recipes that I picked for this week. Tomorrow night I'll be having Candied Salmon from Allrecipes while Matt enjoys Balsamic-Glazed Pork Chops from Epicurious. Friday night we have twp of our friends coming over for dinner so I'm going to try to make Pork Meatball Banh Mi from StraightUpWithOlives.

It'll take me some time but I hope to catch up soon! I don't like being so behind in my posts! Until then, good eats and fun reads!

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-06-01T21:17:00.008-04:00

It was lunch on Friday that began my holiday weekend. We went to Sidney's Grille for a department lunch to initiate a new hire into our crazy clan. I ordered the mozzarella, prosciutto, tomato, and pesto panini. There was one unexpected flaw: too much prosciutto! I never thought I would consider that a flaw, but for some reason, it just felt like overkill. As I made my way through the sandwich, I decided to sacrifice one of the slices of bread in exchange for a handful of fries. Munching through the sandwich something kept making me pause, there was something about the taste that just seemed "off." After poking, prodding, tasting, and smelling I finally discovered the source. The trademark green color of the pesto was from spinach. Now don't get me wrong, I like my spinach like any other girl, but when the menu promises "pesto" is it too much to ask that they actually use basil? If they had said "spinach pesto" on the menu, I would not have even considered it. Thank God for the fries and pickle. Nothing like the accouterments to compensate for a misstep in my judgment.

As we left work for the day, Matt and I stopped at Central Bottle Wine & Provisions to, well, to do exactly what the shop's name implies. We had only been here once before on a very busy Thursday night. The atmosphere was cool, but the abundance of Cambridgians in relation to the available square footage was a bit too much for us. The Friday before Memorial Day, however, was the perfect time to engage the "slow browse." This shop is fantastic! The selection of cheese, wine, beer, bread, chocolate, etc. is amazing! We ended up leaving with a growler of Berkshire Brewing Company's Steel Rail Extra Pale Ale, a 6-pack of Troeg's Dream Weaver Wheat Beer, a 4-pack of Harpoon's Leviathan Imperial IPA, and a bottle of Barbaresco for a friend's recent law school graduation. This place will most definitely become our regular check-in to the world of new and interesting wine, beer and the occasional pigs hoof (right next to the register, by the way).

The rest of the evening included takeout from Zen on the roofdeck, watching the Celtics win the playoff series against Orlando with friends, and stopping in to that graduation party to (reluctantly) offload the Barbaresco.

Saturday "morning" we loaded up the Swagger Wagon (our Ford Edge) and headed off to Maine for the night. Once the car was parked and the dog safe with grandma and grandpa, we headed off to imbibe with some friends at Frills (famous for their "Thirsty Traveler" a rum punch-inspired concoction). Later, we enjoyed great pizza and salads from Caffe Prego while relaxing with Matt's parents and some Spanish red wine on the front porch. After dinner we met back up with our friend's at Maxwells Pub for a few beers and some terrible (and that is not nearly a strong enough word) karaoke. I admire the guts it takes to get up there, but I consider myself smart enough to know that the only people who want to hear me sing are the ones stuck with me in my 430 square foot condo and they have no choice.

Sunday started with the 16 Beach Street "test kitchen." This is where Matt's mom tries out new B&B breakfast recipes on us. This morning it was almond-crusted challah french toast. It was as good as it sounds (and looks!). The toasted almonds made a crunchy and lightly salted crust that blended perfectly with the sweetness of the challah bread. What a wonderful way to begin a beautiful day!

After breakfast Matt and I headed to the beach for a little R&R with our friends from the night before. The weather was great, the water was wonderful. Sometimes, you forget you are in Maine. Then you wade into the water and realize that the pain in your feet is actually early-onset frost bite. Regardless, I'll take a day at the beach over any other day! Dinner Sunday night was take-out from the Front Porch, our favorite restaurant in Ogunquit. Matt and I split a pepperoni flatbread and a chicken mozzarella sandwich. Both of these entrees were new for us, and we enjoyed them both. The flatbread had thick, real slices of pepperoni with dollops of creamy ricotta cheese and perfectly caramelized, roasted cloves of garlic. Apparently, Matt is not a huge fan of ricotta on pizza. This became evident when there was a piece left and he was all to eager to let me take it. The chicken sandwich reminded me of a chicken bruschetta with divine mozzarella on top. The bread roll fell a little flat compared to the other vibrant flavors in the sandwich, but hey, it's just bread, right?

Matt's dad knows that I am a sucker for ice cream so he surprised me with a Kahlua brownie ice cream from a local creamery. He served it with Linda's fantastic oatmeal cookies. Great culinary ending to a great beach day.

These series of photos are from the "it will have to do for now" iPhone camera.

After the great meal, we headed back to Boston. Monday morning Matt made breakfast (probably in an attempt to avoid taking the dog out, but the end result was worth the hassle). An Eggo whole wheat waffle with bananas and an over easy egg. I always love it when he makes breakfast!

He also had a decadent surprise for me. My favorite vanilla creme donut from Dunkin Donuts. This is such a treat because not only are they hard to find (not all of the DnDs carry them) but I am now sadly aware of my caloric intake. "Fortunately" he split the donut with me so I didn't have to beat myself up all day.

After breakfast we headed out to the Natick Collection to take advantage of some bittersweet deals. The Calvin Klein store is closing, and everything was 50% off. We also hit up Martin + Osa as they prepare to close the brand... sad, but GREAT deals! On our way back from our errands we got this smokey view of Boston. I don't know if you can tell from my iPhone photo but the city is covered in smoke from the Quebec wildfires. It was crazy! It was hazy and it smelled like a campfire in the city!

The rest of the night was a typical end of the weekend routine... dinner (recipe post to come) and getting geared up to head back to work after a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

Superfast Kofte

2010-06-01T11:29:00.009-04:00

Wednesday I left work a little early so that I could join my friend Ian for two classes at his gym. I knew before I left that it was a bad idea. I knew that I was going to fall in love with his gym, Equinox. And I knew that I would be heartbroken when I remembered that I can't pay $150 a month for a gym membership, let alone $300 if I could convince Matt joined with me. But I went anyway. *If you have time click on this link and explore the gym and the photos. You'll understand why I fell in love.*

Ian and I took Centergy, which is a "fusion of Yoga, Pilates, Dance and traditional exercise done to amazing music". After Centergy we took Power Yoga Flow with his new favorite yoga instructor. Both classes were amazing! So much fun and so much pain! Good pain.

After showering with the Kiehl's products that are stocked in the beautiful locker rooms we walked towards my home hoping to find some food on the way. When we got to the Boston Garden we decided to stop for a little pre-dinner dessert at the Frosty ice cream truck. We both got a kiddie cup of vanilla soft serve with rainbow sprinkles. Sorry the photo is blurry. I had to take an iPhone photo while walking. Doing two things at once is not my strong suit.

By the time we had walked a block I had finished my ice cream and we were standing in front of Boloco. After my sweet first course I was ready for dinner. My chicken terriyaki bowl was very satisfying with chicken, carrots, brocoli, and brown rice. Yum!

Ian and I had such a great night catching up on his trip to Africa, exercising, and eating! It couldn't have been any better. Regarding Equinox, I feel this quote summarizes my experience with this amazing gym, it's "better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all". Maybe someday we'll find our way back to each other?! I just need to bring home a bigger paycheck first.

Thursday night after work I picked my copy of the Superfast Koft e (Turkish meatballs) recipe from Cooking Light, March 2007. A colleague of mine is Turkish so she was more than excited to give me tips and tricks regarding kofte Thursday afternoon. When I went home I was more than prepared to make dinner! Taking the advice of my colleague I added a little minced garlic and sea salt to my yogurt which was an amazing addition to the recipe!! Dinner was delicious! I brought in the leftovers the next day for my colleague to try and she said I did great! Traditionally, kofte does not have mint or cinnamon however she enjoyed the addition of the mint but would leave the cinnamon out. She also suggested that next time I put the onion in the food processor so that it is more minced than chopped. Also, my "chopped" onions are HUGE. I think I'm going to take a knife skills course very soon!

Matt's review: I loved it! He even had seconds!
Lauren's review: This is great. Next time I make this recipe I'm going to use ground turkey instead of beef, mince the onion, will definitely keep the yogurt with the garlic and salt addition, but will also keep both the cinnamon and the mint because I liked both of the flavors in the dish.
Final decision: Keeper!

Superfast Kofte

Ingredients

1/2 cup prechopped white onion
1/3 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1 pound lean ground round
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
8 (1/4-inch-thick) slices plum tomato (about 2 tomatoes)
4 (6-inch) pitas, split
1/4 cup plain yogurt *To make garlic yogurt add minced jarred garlic and salt to taste. I think I did a 1/2 t of garlic and a dash of sea salt.*

Preheat broiler.

Combine first 12 ingredients in a large bowl; stir until just combined. Divide mixture into 8 equal portions; shape each portion into a (2-inch) patty. Place patties on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Broil 4 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Place 1 tomato slice and 1 patty in each pita half; top each half with 1 1/2 teaspoons yogurt.

Serves 4.

Date Night

2010-05-31T21:39:00.011-04:00

Tuesday night Matt and I had our first "date night" as a married couple. We recently realized that the only time we go out is with friends. Although we're always having fun, whether it be at home or with our friends out and about New England, we decided that we should go out with just the two of us every week. Last Tuesday was our first date night and I decided I would plan the evening. Dinner and a movie! We went to Cafe 47 for dinner and then strolled down Newbury Street stopping at JP Licks for an ice cream before ending at the movie theatre to see Iron Man 2.

It was cute. Matt kept confusing the night with our first date. "Not knowing" how to start conversations or if he could hold my hand. I quickly reminded him that we've been married for almost 5 years and this was just our first date NIGHT not our first date. Anyway, we got past the confusion shortly after we left our building so the rest of the night was just fun. It was so nice to get out of the house, away from life stress and just enjoy each other and living in the city.

I bought a Groupon a couple weeks ago for Cafe 47. I have been wanting to try this new restaurant for awhile and finally had a reason to get out of our neighborhood to try it. I'm glad we did! It was such a cute little restaurant. The restaurant is warm and inviting with exposed brick and an open bar kitchen. The jazz duo that was playing was fantastic. We loved every minute of our dinner.

I started with a house salad while Matt enjoyed the wedge salad.

I really wanted to try their pizza because with a short detour they can be on our way home from work. So I figured they may be a good place for an after work take out. Matt and I decided to split a slice of pepperoni pizza as an appetizer. It was good and filled my need for pizza but it doesn't replace our favorite pizza place, Figs.

I got the Atlantic Salmon for my entree. It came with a roasted red pepper sauce on a bed of sauteed spinach and vegetable risotto. The salmon was cooked well-done, which is just the way I like it. The risotto was perfect. It included vegetables that I would not have thought to put into risotto, such as carrots and peas, but it was delicious!! Last but not least the spinach was perfectly sauteed with massive amounts of garlic and olive oil. Yum!

Matt really enjoyed his entree as well! He got the grilled chicken kebab that came with the vegetable risotto as well.

Dinner was great and I loved the atmosphere of the restaurant. If we ever find ourselves near Cafe 47 around a meal time we will definitely come back!

After dinner Matt and I walked down Newbury street so that we could get dessert. We stopped at our favorite ice cream shop, JP Licks. I got a small coconut chocolate chip yogurt with rainbow jimmies in a cone. YUM! (Matt took this photo with his iPhone app, Hipstamatic, which is why it looks vintage)

It was a beautiful spring night for ice cream and a walk to the movie theatre! Matt and I loved Iron Man 2 but we pretty much love anything with Robert Downey Jr. It was the perfect first date night.

I can't wait to see what Matt plans for next week! It's his turn!

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-05-29T12:56:00.000-04:00

Matt and I are on our way to Maine for a couple of days this weekend! When I get back Monday night I'll finish blogging about my week which includes a great date night with my hubby, a trip to an expensive gym, and a delicious Turkish meatball recipe! Enjoy the wonderful 3-day weekend!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Chicken Fajita Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing

2010-05-27T15:26:00.007-04:00

Monday after work I decided that we were going to try a recipe that I had got in my work mailbox from our "LivingWell" group at my company. The recipe was for Chicken Fajita Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing originally from the LowFatLifestyle website. It was quick and easy to make. For the chicken I used up the rest of the frozen kebab chicken from my mom's graduation party. The seasonings of the kebab tasted very similar to fajita seasoning so it was perfect. You can see all of the yummy garlic and the caramelization.

While the chicken was cooking I assembled the salad. I decided to add some jalapenos to the salad for an extra kick. Yum!

This is the salad after the chicken and the dressing was added.

Matt's review of dinner: "It's good!" He helped himself to seconds too!
Lauren's review: Easy to make. Lots of good, healthy ingredients. The only reason to keep the recipe would be for the dressing recipe but the dressing was just okay in my opinion. Too much of a sour cream taste for my liking.
Final decision: Not a keeper

After dinner Matt and I took Bailey for a walk down the hill to Cafe Podima for some frozen yogurt. I ordered vanilla yogurt with Reese's Pieces mixed in. What I got was vanilla with Reese's Pieces, coconut, a little Oreo, and even a piece or two of pineapple. They apparently didn't clean their mixing machine very well before mixing my dessert. It was good but a little strange. Matt had malted vanilla yogurt with Heath Bar. His came out perfect so I made sure to have a bite or two to make sure it really was perfect. It was.

Chicken Fajita Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing

Ingredients

1 pound skinned, boned chicken breast tenders - cut into thin strips
Cooking oil spray 1 tablespoon lime juice dash of salt and fresh ground pepper to taste 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
6 to 8 cups shredded romaine lettuce 1/2 cup sliced green bell pepper 1/2 cup sliced red bell pepper
1 small red onion, sliced into rings 1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded fat free cheddar cheese 1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans - rinsed and drained (optional) 1 medium tomato - diced

Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing:

2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
1/2 cup low fat or fat-free sour cream
1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon chili powder

To Make Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing: Combine all ingredients, and stir well with a whisk. Cover dressing and chill.

Place a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium high heat until hot. Add chicken and sauté 8 minutes or until chicken is done and no longer pink inside and browned on the outside. Sprinkle with 1-tablespoon lime juice, dash of salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro. Set aside.

Combine lettuce, peppers, cheddar cheese, tomato and beans and toss with chicken. Drizzle with cilantro lime dressing and serve with baked tortilla chips and your favorite salsa or pico de gallo.

Serves 4

Funday Sunday

2010-05-27T13:39:00.007-04:00

Even though last Sunday flew by it was fantastic. It all started with breakfast. I made scrambled eggs and heated up a couple of Eggo waffles while Matt contributed Dunkin Donuts coffee and a donut. While we ate breakfast we started the Grey's Anatomy season finale. WOW is all I have to say! The finale was incredible! I think I cried the entire two hours. Once my eyes dried off and my face was back to normal I decided to go for a run.

Saturday I had tried to go for a run along the Esplanade only to discover a big festival along the river so my run turned into a slow "high intensity interval session", stopping and going around Boston. I was hoping Sunday's run would make up for Saturday's. For those of you who don't know I am not a runner but last year decided I wanted to be so I started training for a half marathon last year. My longest run ended up being 5 miles. I have always had issues with my knees but during my 5 mile run I bent down to itch my knee and felt a snap which was followed by a lot of pain. I shouldn't have but I pushed through the last half mile after the pop and I think I really hurt myself. I went in to my doctors office to see about a brace, exercise recommendations or to get a "prescription" to a physical therapist. What my doctor ended up telling me was that "some people just aren't built for running" and there was nothing I could do but stop running or hurt myself further. I went home and cried. The race I had signed up for came and went. I was still not running and was very bummed about it. After the encouragement of fellow blog runners, Caitlin and Betsy, found a physical therapist and set up appointments back in April. After seeing my therapist at Marathon Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine twice a week for almost 7 weeks I have been able to run pain-free. Sunday my beautiful run took me the farthest I have been since my injury, 3.5 miles! I know it's not a lot but it was a huge accomplishment for me. I was so happy! I know it has nothing to do with food but I had to share!

I took a quick shower after my run then headed down to Whole Foods to grab some essentials for our Lost series finale party that I was having with me, myself, and Matt. Dinner was a homemade pepperoni, jalapeno, and red pepper pizza. Then after the first two hour special we took a break and had dessert before starting the finale. I decided we should have something tropically inspired so I made a sorbet sundae. Mango sorbet with strawberries, kiwi, and coconut. Perfect for our little Lost party!

Regarding the Lost finale... was anyone else slightly disappointed with it!? I thought everything was going great until probably the last 30 minutes then it all went downhill. I expected more from these great writers! I may have thrown a little temper tantrum. Oh well...

I couldn't have asked for a better Sunday!

Flank Steak with Coffee-Peppercorn Marinade & Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

2010-05-26T16:09:00.004-04:00

Last Saturday night we finally got together with our friends Julia and Chris. We haven't seen them since our trip to the Bahamas in December! They've been busy buying a home so we traveled North to visit their new, beautiful place! Here's the cute couple in front of their new, huge home with a fantastic backyard (that you can't see) for all of our puppies to run around in!

To celebrate Matt and I brought part of dinner, a marinated flank steak to cook on their grill and dessert. The entree was Flank Steak with Coffee-Peppercorn Marinade, one of my saved recipes from the FoodNetwork. For dessert I tried to make Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies from Epicurious.

With Julia's additions to my steak we ended up with a fantastic, well balanced dinner. Grilled marinated zucchini and summer squash with a delicious spinach and strawberry salad. We have very nice friends. They insisted that the steak was good. However, I finally got the truth out of Matt on the ride home. He agreed with my opinion of the recipe. Aside from flank steak not being the greatest cut of beef, the marinade sort of fell flat. There wasn't as much flavor as I would have liked. The two of us decided that it didn't earn a spot in our recipe box.

On to dessert.... unfortunately, I tried to bake the cookies " until center is slightly firm and top is cracked" per the recipe instructions. This resulted in the first batch of cookies to be cooked for another 6 minutes which is when I saw cracking. Then by the time they cooled they were burnt chocolate hockey pucks. I only had four cookies left to bake. This time I baked them for only the suggested time, 12 minutes, and they were still a little too crispy for my liking. I forgot to take a picture of the final product because I was in scramble mode trying to figure out how to fix my disaster. But here is a picture of the dough balls before they were pressed and baked.

Thanks goodness for Matt being my logical, calm side of my brain because he reminded me that we had half of the delicious sorbet still available from the night before. He saved the day! We all ended up having one crispy chocolate cookie and a scoop of sorbet for dessert. Matt and I decided that the chocolate cookie recipe wasn't a keeper but dessert reaffirmed our decision to keep the sorbet recipe!

Even though my two planned recipes weren't very good we all still had a wonderful time at dinner! It was so nice to catch up and see the big project that they've been working on since we saw them in December. We also got to see the Celtics win game 3 in the NBA playoffs against the Orlando Magic over dinner and drinks.! It was a great night!

Flank Steak with Coffee-Peppercorn Marinade

Ingredients

3 tablespoons strong brewed coffee
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pound flank steak, trimmed of fat

Whisk coffee, vinegar, oil, sugar, garlic, peppercorns and salt in a glass dish large enough for meat to lie flat. Add steak and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 8 hours.

Heat grill to high.

Remove steak from marinade (discard marinade). Lightly oil grill rack (see Tip). Place steak on grill and cook for 4 to 5 minutes per side for medium-rare. Transfer steak to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes. Slice thinly across the grain and serve.

To oil a grill rack: Oil a folded paper towel, hold it with tongs and rub it over the rack. Do not use cooking spray on a hot grill.

Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons steel-cut oats
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter large rimmed baking sheet. Sift first 4 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture and beat until moist clumps form. Mix in oats with spatula until evenly distributed (dough will be very firm). Add chocolate chips and knead gently to blend.

Using moistened palms, shape 1 generous tablespoon dough into ball. Place on prepared sheet; flatten to 2-inch round. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing rounds about 2 inches apart.

Bake cookies until center is slightly firm and top is cracked, about 14 minutes. Cool on sheet.

Makes a dozen cookies.

Whipped Feta and Pepper Dip, Chicken Mojito with Mint and Lime over Couscous & Strawberry Margarita Sorbet

2010-05-25T16:16:00.003-04:00

Last Friday night we had a couple of friends over for dinner. It was a beautiful warm, spring night in Boston so I kept that in mind while I planned our meal. I ended up picking Whipped Feta and Pepper Dip from Martha Stewart's Blueprint, March/April 2007 (I wish they still published that magazine!), Chicken Mojito with Mint and Lime over Couscous from Women's Health, and Strawberry Margarita Sorbet from Cooking Light, June 2006. I picked our appetizer because it had a little heat to match the day's temperature which helped me pick the entree and dessert recipes. There is nothing better than a mojito or a margarita on a warm day! It was a great menu and a great dinner party!

I served the dip with Kashi's TLC Crackers, Original 7 Grain. I unfortunately couldn't find peppadew's at any of my grocery stores so after doing some googling I decided to use my hot cherry peppers and a couple slices of jarred jalapenos. I made this dip the night before which let the flavors intensify while it chilled. Everyone thought the dip was great! It was such a huge success that I didn't remember to take a picture until the bowl was empty. An empty bowl is always a good sign though. The recipe is a keeper!

I made dinner right after we polished off the dip. It didn't take very long and was easy enough for me to read the recipe, cook, and talk with our friends which is usually a difficult task for me to do. I thought the flavors were great. The only flaw with the dish was how I prepared the couscous. I used the leftover chicken stock for the fluid, which gave it great flavor, but I let it sit longer than the box recommended so we ended up with overcooked, clumpy couscous. In the end everyone thought the dish was delicious except for Matt. He thought it was good but apparently doesn't like couscous. He told me that when I picked the recipe but I thought he must have had couscous confused with something else. Who doesn't like couscous?! I was wrong. I decided I'm going to keep the recipe and see if he likes the dinner better over brown rice the next time I make it.

Last but definitely not least was the Strawberry Margarita Sorbet. It was delicious! A perfect summer sorbet! For some reason I forgot to take a picture of this beautiful dessert?! Probably because I made Matt serve it while I sat back and relaxed. Everyone loved this dessert. It definitely earned a spot in the recipe box! Just be aware that the sorbet recipe takes awhile to make. I started making the dessert Thursday night at 9:00PM and I wasn't going to get to put the mix into the ice cream mixer until 12:30AM. I quickly decided to take Matt's advice and leave it in the fridge overnight and put it in my mixer first thing in the morning so that I could go to bed. Also, after it mixes it needs to be in the freezer for 8 hours. Definitely need to keep the timing in mind next time I make any ice cream or sorbet!

Enjoy the recipes!

Whipped Feta and Pepper Dip

Ingredients

4 ounces cream cheese
6 ounces feta cheese
10 small (or 5 large, about 1 1/4 ounces) peppadew peppers, removed from brine
1 teaspoon brine from peppers
1/2 teaspoon hot smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 tablespoon water

Combine the cream cheese, half of the feta, half of the peppers, and all of the remaining ingredients in a food processor. Blend them until smooth. Add the rest of the feta cheese and peppers and pulse until chunky. Chill.

Makes 1.25 cups

Chicken Mojito with Mint and Lime over Couscous

Ingredients

1 cup couscous
24 spears asparagus
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped red onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp sugar
4 chicken breasts (or one per person), cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup light rum
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

Cook couscous according to package directions.
Preheat oven to 400. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray. Chop asparagus into bite-sized pieces, arrange on cooking sheet, and coat with cooking spray (we used olive oil in a diffuser bottle). Season with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Roast 15 minutes, until tender.
Meanwhile, heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and sugar. Saute about 3 minutes.
Add chicken and saute 3-5 minutes until golden brown on all sides. Add rum and broth and simmer 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in lime juice and zest. Season with salt and pepper.
Put a bed of couscous on each plate, top with chicken mixture and asparagus. Garnish with mint.

Serves 4

Strawberry Margarita Sorbet

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
2 cups water
1 teaspoon grated lime rind
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (about 4 limes)
1/2 cup tequila
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
1/3 cup fresh orange juice (about 2 oranges)
2 cups hulled strawberries

Combine 1 cup sugar and water in a medium saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves; bring to a boil. Cook 5 minutes. Pour sugar mixture into a medium bowl; stir in lime rind and next 4 ingredients (through orange juice).

Place strawberries in a food processor; process until smooth. Add strawberry puree to sugar mixture; stir well. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours or until chilled.

Pour strawberry mixture into the freezer can of an ice-cream freezer, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Spoon the mixture into a freezer-safe container; cover and freeze for 8 hours or until almost firm.

Makes 4 cups

Leftovers

2010-05-24T11:18:00.003-04:00

Wednesday and Thursday ended up being leftover nights. Wednesday night I used some leftover chicken kebabs from my mom's graduation party. I cooked up the chicken and added it to whole wheat pasta, marinara, zucchini, and pecorino cheese. Matt found the perfect words that described how we felt about this dinner. It was a pre-blog Lauren dinner. Good but nothing special. Sustenance.

Thursday was another pre-blog Lauren dinner. Leftover meatloaf sandwiches which are delicious and nutritious. I toasted deli flats, re-heated the meatloaf, placed the meatloaf on top of one side of the deli flat then topped it with marinara and mozzarella, finally I put it under the broiler until the cheese melted. It's a great way to use the leftovers from my meatloaf recipe and it's perfect for a busy night because it takes 5 minutes to assemble dinner.

Friday morning I brought in the basil plant that I was previously so excited about to give it to a friend. I thought maybe her place would get more sunlight than our condo. After showing my poor plant to my co-workers they informed me that my droopy looking basil plant was beyond repair. I killed it. It was a sad morning.

My morning was quickly improved when Matt decided we were going to Four Burgers for lunch! Lunch was just what I needed! I had a turkey burger with cranberry chutney and pepper jack cheese for lunch, shared a side of sweet potato fries with Matt and our friend, Sean. Then for dessert I shared a chocolate frappe with Matt. All better! My Friday was saved by a delicious lunch!

Ciao to Chopping Meatloaf

2010-05-19T14:03:00.003-04:00

A long, long time ago... in January... I made the decision to purge all of the recipes that I had collected over the years. I challenged myself to try a new recipe a day. This post laid out the challenge and explained how I was starting. An empty recipe box with the exception of 5 recipes that I knew were good enough for a place in the box. Well, last night I decided that I had to make one of those recipes. I figured my little group of readers may enjoy this recipe and I had all of the ingredients in the house. I made my version of the Women's Health Ciao to Chopping Meatloaf. Unfortunately, you can't find this recipe on their website probably because this was from one of their first magazines. This recipe was one of my first "reliables" that I probably made at least once every other week. I've even served this dinner to the majority of our friends throughout the last couple of years.

Last night dinner was no exception, it was fantastic. You can tell by the green and orange that you can see in the photo that I use a little more than the recommended amount of zucchini and carrots. I served the meatloaf with a side of roasted beets. I washed, peeled, and cut the beets into chunks. Then drizzled them with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. They went into the oven at 375 for ten minutes, then flipped them and put them back in for another ten minutes. Delicious!

Matt and I both recommend this recipe so the recipe was quickly put back into my recipe box.

Ciao to Chopping Meatloaf

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 pound (lb.) extra-lean ground turkey
1 egg (or 2 egg whites)
1/2 c. whole wheat panko bread crumbs (or any plain bread crumbs)
1/2 c. grated carrots
1/4 c. grated zucchini (I typically put 1 whole zucchini in the food processor and use it all)
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 t. dried sweet basil
1 t. dried oregano
1 t. Italian seasoning
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. salt
olive oil spray

Preheat oven to 375F. Spray nonstick loaf pan with olive oil spray. Mix all ingredients. Press into pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until there is no pink. *40 minutes was a little too long last night. I recommend checking it after 35 to ensure it doesn't get too dry*

My Mom's Weekend - Graduation Celebration

2010-05-18T15:59:00.013-04:00

Friday night Matt and I made it up to my parent's house in time to have dinner with family! My sister was kind enough to wait for us along with my aunt and cousin who had just arrived before us from New Jersey. I didn't take any photos but there was ham, macaroni salad, and Matt made me make the pear salad again. It was a great dinner! The rest of the family (mom, dad, graya, and poppy) kept us company while we ate so we could all catch up.

Friday was an early night because Saturday was an early morning. We all had to leave the home at 9AM to get to the graduation site to ensure we got the best seats in the house, thanks to my mom's mandate. Her graduation was great even though it was freezing! The graduation took place in an outdoor music venue and Saturday morning was cold. Brrr!

So proud of my mom! Her gold tassel was because she earned honors. She was so happy!

Doesn't she look pretty in blue and gold?

After graduation my sister, Joce, and I went get a quick manicure and pedicure. It had been the first time that I have been to the nail salon in about a year. It was such a nice treat. After getting our nails done we walked over to my favorite ice cream shop, Bailey's Bubble, so I could get a kids vanilla soft serve in a cone with sprinkles. I ending up feeding three-quarters of it to the fish in the lake because we realized that we were running late for our combined celebration lunch. My cousin turned 9 years old on Saturday so it was a day of celebrating!

Here's the birthday girl

Lunch was pretty good but no one in the family can remember the name of the restaurant. Anyway here are some food.

Appetizers: pepperoni dip and fried green beans

My garden salad and Tuckerman's beer

Another cool shot of my beer and Matt's Guinness

The cheese steak that I shared with my sister. I didn't even touch the fries. Way too much food. Oh, and Matt was experimenting with a faux white background, light box, with a napkin. I think it looks silly. We're going to have to try this again.

Matt's steak tip salad which was delicious!

The view from the restaurant's porch

Again we had to get up early, Sunday morning, to say good bye to the family and then to help set up for my mom's BIG party!

It was the perfect day!

Getting ready

The dogs not-so-patiently waiting at the door (left to right, Bailey, Dudley, and Molly)

My mom got beautiful table arrangements

My dad hard at work, beer in hand, cooking up the food for the party

It wouldn't be a party with out a margarita and strawberry daiquiri maker! I forgot to take a picture of the SnoCone machine which was right next to this machine. My family likes to go all out!

Or lots and lots of alcohol.

The food:

Chicken wings

Kabobs. There was beef, lamb, and chicken.

Cheese and crackers

Shrimp cocktail

There was a lot more food too! Macaroni salad, potato salad, hot dogs, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, french bread with a pesto anchovy spread, salad, chocolate cake, rugalach, and cannolis. My family probably had about 50 people stop by throughout the day.

The middle-aged adults (which was an age range of 23 - 33 years old) snuck out to our boat for a quick spin around the lake. We didn't make it too far. It was very windy which meant their were white capped, large waves which resulted in a very wet boat!

The lake

My sister and her friend braving it at the front of the boat

After our boat trip we went back to Bailey's Bubble for my fourth (shh!) ice cream of the weekend. Yum!

It was a great weekend! Lots of fun but too much food! I did get one run in with my sister but it was after an ice cream trip (or two) so it was very slow and painful. I won't be making that mistake again. If I'm going to get ice cream I'm just going to be lazy for the rest of the day!

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend like I did! Matt and I took Monday off again so we have another short week. Hope it's not as busy as it was last week!

A Week in Review

2010-05-18T10:45:00.003-04:00

Between taking Monday off to finish our home renovation project and all of the plans that we had for the rest of the week, last week flew by! I didn't even cook once! Crazy! This will just be a quick recap of our week.

Tuesday night we got together with our friend, Ian, who was leaving for Tanzania to train the locals how to test for and teach prevention tips for AIDS. I admire him! We hadn't seen Ian since February when we had him over for one of my first meal posts. So Tuesday was a great, late night of catching up over some home-cooked food. Ian made us a fantastic salad to start with spinach, candied pecans, dried cherries, pear, grated parmesan cheese and a balsamic dressing.

Then he made a home made pizza with soy and almond milk cheese, fresh tomatoes, basil, orange peppers, and marinara. It was the first time we had ever had non-dairy cheese and we both thought it was a great substitute! We didn't even notice a taste difference. Ian had to point it out halfway through our first slice. Yum! It was a week for firsts, first time to have almond butter and first time to have non-dairy cheese. So adventurous!

For dessert Ian had made chocolate, white chocolate chip cookies and plated it with some beautiful Dean & Deluca sugar cookies that he had received for his recent birthday.

I had also brought the ingredients to assemble a mock strawberry shortcake: macerated strawberries, pound cake, and vanilla ice cream.

It was a nice, long, indulgent dinner accompanied by great wine and fantastic conversation! We decided we need to get together more often than our current every three month rotation.

Wednesday after work neither of us were very hungry so we decided to just have a salad for dinner. Matt insisted that I recreate Ian's salad because he loved it so much! I had almost all of the ingredients except for the parmesan cheese and candied pecans. My replacements were regular pecans and blue cheese. I also made my own dressing with garlic, honey, dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, and extra-virgin olive oil. It was just what we needed!

Thursday night Matt had a guy's night out so I was on my own. We have some Boca burgers in our freezer so I decided I should just make myself a quick and easy dinner. I heated up the veggie burger, put it on a toasted deli thin with a thin layer of Trader Joe's Edamame Hummus (which is another first and amazing!) and a couple dashes of hot sauce. It was a very satisfying dinner. However, I realized later that night that I should have made myself one of my fish recipes instead of a frozen veggie burger. Oh well, maybe next time.

Friday after work Matt and I headed up to New Hampshire for my mom's graduation celebration weekend but more on that later...

Home Project Weekend

2010-05-14T14:55:00.013-04:00

Last Saturday Matt and I had a lazy morning while we figured out our strategy for the bedroom project. After running a couple more errands to get some necessities for the painting we began our arduous task around 5PM. There was no time for dinner so we grabbed takeout from Zen. Matt got his usual, Chicken Katsu, and I decided to try Taki Soba with Chicken. Thank goodness we live in the city! Dinner is a breeze and always satisfying! After our quick little break we got right back to work and didn't stop until 5AM. Don't ask me what we were thinking because I have no idea?! Sunday morning we started right back into the project around 11AM. We did take another quick break for dinner which was Domino's pizza and beer. After dinner we got right back to work but around 1:30AM we realized that we weren't going to be able to finish our project before the end of the weekend so we decided to take a sick day from work to finish. After sending our colleagues and managers emails we went back to work and didn't stop until 3AM. Ugh. Monday was another full day of work which was at least met with a satisfying result at 1:30AM. So much earlier! Woohoo!

Have you seen the show Hoarders?! Well that's what I felt like all weekend. I don't know how I didn't have a panic attack. We had to move all of the bedroom furniture into the family room/kitchen. Please do not judge but this is what our little house looked like all weekend.

I had the tiniest counter space which allowed me to make some Barney Butter sandwiches. Speaking of Barney Butter, this was the first time I bought almond butter and I LOVED it! It was delicious!

I also had enough room to fit right in front of the sink to at least get a load of dishes done.

Poor Bailey. He was such a good boy all weekend. You can't see it but he could get to his bed which is where he spent almost the whole weekend.

Ahhh... I'm getting stressed just looking at these photos!!

Saturday night's dinner, Soba noodles

Sunday night's dinner was Domino's pizza and beer which is the perfect painting dinner.

Chicago beer, 312 Urban Wheat

Monday night dinner was Bolocco's Buffalo Chicken Burrito Bowl (sorry the photo is so blurry).

While we were out and about running errands throughout the weekend we saw our future home and I had to share. Isn't it beautiful?!

Back to reality... the bedroom before we painted walls, trim, furniture, or sanded furniture and the mirror, or brass cleaning the door knobs. Notice the dark wood, dark walls, and clutter above & under the bed.

Drum roll please...

Our room is almost 100% done. We still have to change the fan to this one that is on it's way to our home.

We are also waiting on this duvet cover

We will eventually be getting this bed skirt

Then we have to figure out what art to put on the walls. What do you think!? I hope you like it because there was a lot of blood, sweat, unhealthy eating, and tears that went into this little room!

Wingless Buffalo Chicken Pizza

2010-05-12T22:48:00.004-04:00

Last Friday Matt and I went to our company's beer hour for one drink before rushing to Charles Street Hardware to pick up the paint for our bedroom project! Thanks to our headboard project and our good friend Tricia a weekend project was born! After picking up our paint Matt dropped me off at home to make dinner while he ran to Home Depot to get supplies. Dinner for the evening was Wingless Buffalo Chicken Pizza one of my Food Network saved recipes from Rachel Ray. I have made this a couple of times before for friends and has been a hit but I still wanted to make it again so I could share on my blog. I used the other pizza shell that I had in my freezer from my last pizza dinner from the Top This! pizza crust company.

Dinner was delicious but by the time we ate I gave up on starting our project that night. We were going to get up early on Saturday to start. Matt and I thought that the project would be quick and easy... boy were we wrong... but more on that later...

Lauren's review: I love this recipe! I would recommend taking half of the sauce and spreading it on the pizza before adding the chicken to the sauce. It's a little difficult to spread the sauce and the chicken.
Matt's review: This gets a thumbs up! *my man of many words*
Final decision: It goes back into my recipe box!

Wingless Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Ingredients

3/4 pound chicken breast cutlets
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
2 teaspoons grill seasoning, (recommended: McCormick Montreal Seasoning) eyeball it
1 pizza dough , store bought or from your favorite pizzeria
Cornmeal or flour, to handle dough
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, eyeball it
2 to 3 tablespoons hot sauce, medium to spicy heat
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese, a few generous handfuls
1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
3 scallions, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Preheat grill pan to high.

Place chicken on a plate and drizzle extra-virgin olive oil over the chicken then season with grill seasoning. When grill is hot, add chicken and cook about 3 minutes on each side.

Stretch dough to form pizza using cornmeal or flour to help you handle it. If you let it rest and warm up a few minutes it will handle even easier. Set pizza on pizza pan to the side and clean board.

In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt butter and stir in Worcestershire, hot sauce, and tomato sauce.

Remove the chicken from grill and thinly slice it. Add chicken to sauce and coat. Cover the pizza dough with the saucy Buffalo chicken, cheeses, and scallions. Bake 18 minutes or until crisp.

Cranberry-Glazed Pork Loin and Strawberry Ice Cream

2010-05-12T22:06:00.004-04:00

A couple of weeks ago Matt and I attended a wine dinner at the Taj with our friends Zach and Jen (original post here). At this dinner the four of us decided to split a case of wine that Matt and I just picked up last week from Charles Street Liquors. Jen and Zach decided that they should pick up their 6 bottles, probably before we could drink them, last Thursday so we made a dinner party out of the event. This ensured that we at least had great wine to drink but I also tried to plan a beautiful dinner to compliment the amazing wine! The final dinner menu included Cranberry-Glazed Pork Loin which was originally from Cooking Light, November 2004, but was a recipe my manager recommended I try a couple of months ago. I also steamed two heads of Boston Organic's broccoli as our side. As the finale I made Perfect No-Cook Strawberry Ice Cream which was of my saved recipes from Epicurious, originally from Gourmet's August 2009 edition. Matt and I have had our ice cream maker for about two years and, aside from a disastrous surprise attempt from Matt, we haven't had a chance to use it. Learning from Matt's first attempt we knew that the ice cream container needed to be in the freezer for at least a day and that the ice cream was supposed to be transferred to another container and kept in the freezer at least over night. It was a good start! It meant that I knew I had to make my dessert Wednesday night.

Jen brought a beautiful selection of cheese and prosciutto from the South End Formaggio. Zach had got stuck in traffic with a dead phone, typical man (sorry!), so they arrived a little late. Needless to say all of the cheese and prosciutto was gone by the end of dinner. It tasted fantastic with our Stephen Ross zinfandel and pinot noir!

After we ate half of our cheese platter I served dinner. Now, Zach was kind enough to take the blame for my super dry pork but it was all my fault. I haven't quite figured out how to cook pork. The dinner was delicious just dry. Everyone was kind enough to say that they loved it which I appreciated. In addition to the pork being over cooked I didn't make enough for the 4 of us. The two slabs of pork tenderloin that I picked for our dinner looked like enough but I think they shrank in the oven. Oh well, you live and learn. Luckily there was plenty of cheese, prosciutto, broccoli, and ice cream!

After a short break from eating I dug into dessert. I turned into my mom serving the ice cream and gave everyone more than enough, a whole bowl full. Maybe I was compensating for my small dinner portions? Again, everyone really enjoyed the recipe. It was very rich and creamy! Definitely a great first attempt at ice cream. I can't wait to try another ice cream recipe!

Final reviews of both recipes from my dinner party was that they were both keepers! So they have made it into my recipe box.

One last picture from the evening. Bailey loves to sneak onto the couch and right into Jen's lap whenever she comes over to visit. It would be sneaky if he wasn't almost 85 pounds. Jen is kind enough to cuddle with our giant sized baby!

Cranberry-Glazed Pork Loin

Ingredients

1 (8.5-ounce) jar cranberry chutney *I used Stonewall Kitchen's Apple Cranberry Chutney*
1 cup apple jelly *I used a little less than a cup because my chutney had apple in it too*
1 tablespoon Creole mustard
1 cup chicken broth
2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 tablespoons fresh or 2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 (4 1/2-pound) center-cut boneless pork loin roast
Garnishes: Granny Smith apple slices, fresh thyme sprigs

Stir together chutney and next 5 ingredients in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes.

Sprinkle salt and pepper evenly on pork roast; place roast in an aluminum foil-lined roasting pan. Pour chutney mixture evenly over pork.

Bake at 425° for 45 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion registers 160°, basting every 20 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing. Garnish, if desired.

Serves 8-10

Perfect No-Cook Strawberry Ice Cream

Ingredients

1 pound strawberries, trimmed, halved if large
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups heavy cream

Equipment: an ice cream maker

Coarsely mash strawberries with sugar, lemon juice, and salt using a potato masher in a large bowl. Let stand, stirring and mashing occasionally, 10 minutes.

Transfer half of strawberry mixture to a blender and purée with cream until smooth. Return strawberry cream to bowl with remaining strawberries and chill, stirring occasionally, until very cold, 3 to 6 hours.

Freeze mixture in ice cream maker. Transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to firm up.

Makes 1.5 quarts.

*When planning your menu with this recipe keep in mind that this recipe needs to be made about a day in advance. There are a lot of time consuming steps*

I love Boston Organics

2010-05-12T21:22:00.000-04:00

I came home today to my biweekly Boston Organics delivery tonight and was so excited to see a potted basil plant! Now I just need to figure out how to keep it alive in a Boston apartment that receives very little sunlight. Any and all suggestions are welcomed!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Cinco de Mayo: Chicken with Spicy Tomato Sauce

2010-05-11T16:54:00.003-04:00

In the festive spirit on Wednesday I wanted to make something that reminded me of Mexico but wasn't your typical tacos or burritos. After searching my many recipe boxes online and at home I found an easy Mexican dinner, Chicken with Spicy Tomato Sauce found on Epicurious originally from Bon Appetit, December 1999. The recipe calls for 3 large cloves (for 6 servings) to be added to the blender along with the other sauce ingredients. Unfortunately I forgot the garlic so while the sauce was thickening I quickly tossed a heaping teaspoon of jarred minced garlic into the sauce and crossed my fingers. I also added some chopped zucchini to the sauce for the last three minutes for a serving of veggies then served it all over brown rice. I really enjoyed this dinner! The sauce was fantastic! It was sort of like a fine wine, you tasted different flavors at different intervals like an explosion in your mouth. You picked up on the citrus through a little zing in the sauce which was also attributed to the chili powder. Thinking about it now is making my mouth water.

Lauren's review: Another easy and delicious meal!
Matt's review: This is great!
Final decision: Into the recipe box!

Chicken with Spicy Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

1 14 1/2-ounce can Mexican-style or regular stewed tomatoes
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons olive oil
6 skinless boneless chicken breast halves

Puree first 9 ingredients in blender.

Heat oil in heavy large skillet over high heat. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to skillet; sauté until brown, about 2 minutes per side. Add sauce from blender. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer uncovered until chicken is cooked through, turning chicken over once, about 10 minutes. Using tongs, transfer chicken to work surface. Continue to simmer sauce until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes longer. Season sauce with salt and pepper.

Cut chicken crosswise into thin slices. Return to sauce and heat through.

Feta, Herb, and Sun-Dried Tomato-Stuffed Chicken

2010-05-11T16:47:00.002-04:00

Dinner last Tuesday night was Feta, Herb, and Sun-Dried Tomato-Stuffed Chicken courtesy of Cooking Light, April 2007. It was really easy to assemble and took no time to cook! I served the chicken over a bed of orzo with a side of steamed zucchini. Dinner was delicious! It was the perfect dinner for a warm spring night!

Lauren's review: Fantastic, easy dinner! The chicken was cooked perfectly and was so flavorful.
Matt's review: This is really good!
Final decision: It's a keeper!

Feta, Herb, and Sun-Dried Tomato-Stuffed Chicken

Ingredients

2 cups water
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed without oil
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1/4 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons thinly sliced fresh basil (optional)

Preheat oven to 425°.

Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a small saucepan; add tomatoes. Remove from heat; cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Drain and slice into thin strips. Combine tomatoes, cheese, 2 teaspoons chopped basil, oregano, garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a small bowl.

Place chicken breast halves between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap, and pound each piece to an even thickness using a meat mallet or small heavy skillet. Cut a horizontal slit through one side of each chicken breast half to form a deep pocket. Stuff 1/4 cup tomato mixture into each pocket. Sprinkle both sides of chicken with salt and remaining 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

Fold 4 (16 x 12-inch) sheets of heavy-duty aluminum foil in half crosswise. Open foil; place 1 1/2 teaspoons butter on half of each foil sheet. Lay one stuffed chicken breast half on top of each portion of butter. Place 1/8 teaspoon grated lemon rind on top of each stuffed chicken breast half, and drizzle each serving with 1 tablespoon chicken broth. Fold foil over chicken, and tightly seal edges. Place packets on a baking sheet. Bake packets at 425° for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, and let stand for 5 minutes. Unfold packets carefully, and thinly slice each chicken breast half. Garnish each serving with 1/2 teaspoon sliced basil, if desired. Serve immediately.

Serves 4

Weekend of Organization

2010-05-11T16:01:00.009-04:00

I came home last Saturday to find my house clean and organized! Matt had spent the week building and organizing a surprise for me. He had gone to the Container Store and designed a shelf system to maximize the space in my closet. It's perfect! I was so happy with my new closet and clean home that I wanted to cry! I don't have a before picture but this is the after. What you can't see is hooks on the side of the closet, for my scarves & belts, and my boots neatly organized with boot shapers in them. Up along the top of the hanging rack is a shelf that has my purses on it. The top shelf under my hanging clothes is actually a HUGE jewelry holder. Perfect!

This closet project put the organizing bug into Matt and I. Our weekend was over before it even began. As soon as I got home Saturday we headed out to the Container Store, Home Depot, and Joanne Fabrics for some additional project tools.

First, my project, the kitchen cabinets. We got some shelving units from the Container Store for the kitchen island. Again, I don't have a before but this is the organized kitchen island after:

This project also helped me free up some additional space in the other cabinets. Hooray! When you live in a small space any additional space you get you happily take!! While I was working on reorganizing my kitchen Matt was busy in the bedroom. The plan was to build a headboard. What ended up happening was I got a newly patched and painted wall AND a new headboard. Here is the before and the after:

The weekend was a blur. I don't remember eating what, when or where between Saturday and Monday. I know that sometime during those three nights I used a Groupon that I got a month ago and got takeout from Tantric India Bistro. It was SO good! We had paneer pakoras, chicken tikka masala, garlic naan, and daal tarka with jasmine rice.

We had so much food that our neighbor, Tricia, came over for dinner and proceeded to help us redesign our bedroom. Tricia has been a designer on This Old House, has been photographed for multiple magazines & newspapers, and has had multiple design tip interviews for other design shows. Needless to say when she tells us what to do we do it. These are the new colors for our room that she picked.

What do you think!? Hope you like because we just spent at least 36 straight working hours changing our room. More to come in a future post...

A Week in Washington, D.C.

2010-05-06T16:11:00.019-04:00

Before I even begin my entry about DC I wanted to apologize in advance. Most of these photos were taken with my phone because I got down to D.C. to discover my camera's battery was dead and of course I forgot the charger.... and on to my late week recap...

Sunday afternoon Matt dropped me off at the airport, destination Washington, D.C. for a week long work course. I traveled down with two colleagues so after we checked in and went to the gym we headed out to dinner. We ended up eating at Sweetwater Tavern. By the time we got there I was ravenous and had to apologize because I was on the verge of "evil Lauren" that, typically, only Matt sees. We quickly ordered chips with guacamole and roasted red pepper queso dip. I also ordered a stout with the dips. It was delicious and delivered enough sugar to my system to get me back to normal function mode.

For dinner I had a roasted chicken salad with mixed greens, corn off the cob, tomato, sun dried cranberries, dates, pine nuts, goat cheese & champagne vinaigrette.

Monday, after a long day in class, our little group headed into Washington, DC on the Metro to do a little touring and to grab dinner. After walking by the notorious Watergate complex, we ended up at beautiful Washington Harbor.

Washington Harbor was surrounded by restaurants so we decided that it was a perfect time to grab dinner. We ended up at Farmers & Fishers which is an organic restaurant that sources from sustainable agriculture from family farmers and fisherman to ensure fresh, unprocessed foods and high quality ingredients. I loved the concept of the restaurant! For my dinner I ordered the Mussels and Calamari Fra Diavolo which was served on a bed of North Dakota durum spring wheat pasta that is made fresh daily. Yum! To accompany my meal I also had a glass of Pinot Noir. It was the perfect dinner!

Tuesday was another long thought provoking day. After my class I got to catch up with Matt's beautiful cousins who live in the DC area. We had a great dinner at a local Thai restaurant. It's an awful picture of me... I thinking I was mid-sentence?! How else do you explain my face?!

Wednesday was another long day in class. By Wednesday, I realized that our afternoon snack break was always something fun and delicious. Monday it was fresh baked cookies, Tuesday was ice cream and Wednesday I finally remembered to take a photo of our delicious treat, fresh made whoopie pies! YUM!

After class on Wednesday I joined two lovely ladies for a trip to the mall. My suitcase was already too stuffed to bring anything home but it was still fun to window shop. While we were at the mall we decided to grab dinner at Coastal Flats. We decided to start with deviled eggs as an appetizer because it was intriguing to see them on the menu. You don't see deviled eggs on a menu very often! They were delicious! Sweet (from the sugar cured bacon) and savory. Yum!

For my dinner I ordered the Sauteed Shrimp & Creamy Grit Cakes with ham, roasted corn, asparagus, peppers, sweet onion & cajun cream. It's hard to get grits up in New England so I jumped on the chance to have a "southern" dish! It was the perfect combination of flavors and textures. I wish I could recreate this dish at home but I wouldn't even know where to start or even where to buy grits!?

Thursday.... another day in class... followed by a fantastic dinner at Fogo de Chao. We had so much fun eating dinner! They have the most beautiful salad bar with an array of vegetable and cheese options! They warn you not to fill up on the salad but I couldn't help putting a heaping pile of veggies on my plate!

After salad, when you're ready for dinner, you flip over this little card. One side of the card is red and the other is green. When you're ready for your protein you flip the card to green but you better be ready because the gauchos charge at you when they see green and your options can become very overwhelming! Every cut of beef, chicken, pork (ribs and tenderloin), lamb, and linguica. Oh my! In addition to your salad and meat every table also gets warm cheese bread, crispy polenta, garlic mashed potatoes, and caramelized bananas. I save the bananas for the end of my meal as dessert. Needless to say you get very full very fast! In the below picture you can see all of the sides, a slice of beef and my Brazilian drink, caipirinha.

The Fogo de Chao wine wall

Dinner was sumptuous and so much fun!

After dinner we headed to Union Station to hop on a Monuments by Moonlight Trolley Tour.
On our way to our first stop at the Jefferson Memorial we got to see the city at twilight.

The Capitol

The Washington Monument at the end of the Reflecting Pool

The United States Botanic Garden

US Supreme Court

Library of Congress

This shot is courtesy of a fellow classmate. We thought this looked like Jefferson playing Darth Vader with his light saber and so I had to be a dork and share.

On our way to our second stop, Lincoln Memorial, we drove by the World War II Memorial. It didn't photograph very well but if you're ever in DC you have to go see this memorial. It's my favorite! So beautiful, especially at night!

Lincoln Memorial

Last stop of the evening was the Iwo Jima Memorial out at the Arlington Cemetery.

Friday... our last day at class. The course was fantastic but it was the longest week of my life! Our days started between 6:45 and 7:15 (to grab breakfast before signing into our course) and didn't end until 5PM. We had breakout group sessions, presentations and sat in on seminars all day. My brain was very full! I'm so happy that I got to go but I was even happier at noon on Friday when the course was over. After grabbing lunch and saying good bye to classmates, friends, and colleagues my friend, Candice, and I went into D.C. for one final walkabout which is when I got this pretty photo of The Capitol.

We walked through a sculpture garden which is where I saw this pretty tree.

Our stroll ended up taking us to the National Air and Space Museum.

Model of the F16

The Wright Military Flyer

I'm not sure what this is but Breitling is the name of a watch company. My husband used to have one of these fancy watches until I accidentally washed in our washing machine. Oops! This photo was in honor of my hubby and his destroyed watch.

Missiles

Planes

And more planes...

After all of the walking around in the museum I was hungry! Candice and I stumbled upon a McDonald's so we decided that we had to keep our traveling together tradition going strong. Two McFlurry's please! M&M for me and Oreo for Candice. Yum!

By the time we finished walking around the museum it was 5:00PM and we realized that everything that we wanted to check out in D.C. closed at 5:00. Back to the hotel we go. After a quick hop in the hot tub followed by some leisure book reading time we decided to order delivery for dinner. I never eat Chinese food at home so we decided to give one of the hotel's recommendations a try. The food was just okay but we still had a great night. There is nothing better than Chinese food, a bottle of Pinot Grigio, and "Say Yes to the Dress"!

I had a great week in D.C. I ate a lot of great food, saw important U.S. buildings & memorials, and learned a lot that I can apply to my job!

A Wedding Weekend

2010-05-04T16:48:00.012-04:00

Last Friday I worked from home so I could take a half day so that I was done with my work I could immediately start packing. I had to pack for Matt and me for our wedding weekend in Maine and my upcoming trip to Washington, D.C. I managed to finish my work right around 2PM which left me enough just enough time to pack before Matt picked me and Bailey up at 3:00. Needless to say, I left Matt with a very messy home. Sorry honey!

We got up to Maine just in time to say hello and good-bye to Matt's parents. They were off to a dinner party and we had to hurry to the rehearsal dinner.

The rehearsal dinner at Johnathan's Restaurant was for our friends, Art and Meghan, who we visited in Orlando in February (post here). The groom's parents made the evening a lovely night to celebrate their love with their family and friends.

Appetizer table

The beautiful rehearsal dinner cake

Salad

Our name "plates" - Art is the only person that calls my husband Matty

A top down view of our baskets which held delicious chocolate eggs

My dinner - salmon

Matt's dinner - the biggest slab of meat we have ever seen, aka prime rib

After the rehearsal dinner we went home changed into warmer clothes so we could join the group sitting ocean side by a fire pit. It was a beautiful, chilly evening!

Saturday morning we woke up to the smell of a campfire in our B&B room. Oops! I guess we were too close to the smoke. We quickly showered the smell out and changed into our wedding attire. It was the most perfect day for an early afternoon April wedding at the Clay Hill Farm Restaurant! They couldn't have asked for better weather! I spent most of the wedding with a drink in my hand sitting on the restaurant porch in the sun. Perfection! But before we get to sitting on the porch there is the ceremony...

The cutest flower girls

The beautiful bride walking down the aisle with her dad

Ceremony

And they're married! Hooray! I never thought I would see the day that Art got married... and then he met Meghan! Storybook ending! *tear*

Now on to the reception...

First a delicious sweet and savory salad

Stuffed haddock for my entree

The beautiful wedding cake

Cutting the cake

Like I said I spent the rest of the day on the restaurant's porch with a glass of Four Vines Naked Chardonnay, which proceeded a Bloody Mary and a local stout beer. It was a beautiful wedding and a fantastic day!

After the wedding we went back to my in-laws for my birthday dinner. My mother-in-law made homemade meatballs and sauce for spaghetti (of course I forgot to take a photo) with a delicious salad and garlic bread!

My birthday dessert was local mint chocolate chip ice cream and a slice of apple pie.

After dinner we went back out to meet up with the wedding party at Five-O Restaurant for a drink or two. While we were there Art & Meghan's were kind enough (I wish I could capture sarcasm in text) to sing Happy Birthday to me. Thanks all (again sarcasm... I hate that song)! After drinks at Five-O we all proceeded to go back to the fire pit from the night before. We had to call it a night shortly after because I needed some sleep before my trip Sunday afternoon. We had such a great weekend meeting great new friends while we all celebrated the marriage of two great people!

MIA

2010-05-03T13:50:00.003-04:00

Hello Faithful Readers!

I just wanted to let you all know that I will be back to writing either later tonight or tomorrow. I was away in Washington, DC for an intense course all last week. I spent the week leaving my hotel room at 7AM and not returning until 10:30PM which left me little time to do anything! Then when I got home on Saturday I found my home undergoing a ton of minor projects that my wonderful husband started. We spent the rest of the weekend finishing and starting additional projects... but the house looks great and we're almost done with our projects! On top of the projects we have been "camping out" in Boston the last couple of days. There was a big water main break which has left Boston and about 20 other towns (about 750,000 households) with a "boil water" order, causing a "state of emergency" in Massachusetts. We have to use bottled water or boiled water for everything. Time consuming! Last but not least my poor puppy has been sick. It's been a crazy week but I'll sum it all up within 24 hours. Tonight I'm back in the kitchen cooking. Now I just have to figure out the most sanitary way to clean my dishes!

Hope everyone is enjoying the lovely spring weather!

Pictureless Birthday Celebration #2

2010-04-25T21:48:00.003-04:00

This year I told Matt that I didn't want a gift, I just wanted us to go to a really nice restaurant to celebrate my birthday. After some research, and apparently some hinting on my part, he picked Barbara Lynch's newest restaurant, Menton.

From the moment you walk into the restaurant you are transformed into a culinary world like none other! I was actually trying to determine if it was too "cheap" of me to pull out my camera to take pictures in such a nice restaurant. Well, I decided I should so that I could share the culinary art with the world or rather my little blog world. Matt pulled out my camera to take a quick shot of the beautiful amuse bouche when he realized that he had taken the flash card out of my card the night before. We couldn't believe it! I sulked for a little while! Then took a sip of the parsnip soup with pumpkin seed oil and two of the tiniest little pickled mushrooms I have ever seen and I forgot all about being sad (Matt would probably tell you that I never really got over the loss of the flash drive but I like my version better).

The service at Menton is phenomenal! They wished me a happy birthday as soon as we were greeted and welcomed us back, knowing that we had dined at No. 9 Park before... I know all that information is in their computer system but it makes you feel special. There are a sea of help bringing out beautiful plates of food, synchronizing the placement of the plates, and then explaining in beautiful detail the dish that was set before you. We had some great conversations and learning sessions with our beautiful server about the food. During the course of the clearing and presenting of our dinner plates we met the General Manager, Alec, who we had a chance to talk to for a little bit. He invited us for a tour of the kitchen when we were done with our meal. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! I was in heaven! We proceeded to eat a couple of more courses, including a complimentary cheese course with an Austrian dessert wine pairing. After dinner we didn't want to search for Alec and demand to see the kitchen so we decided we would just take our leave from the beautiful restaurant and head home. Lucky for me, Alec saw us on our way out and made sure that we got the kitchen tour that I wanted! The kitchen is beautiful and spotless. The chefs and sous chefs were so in sync that they didn't even need to talk and beautiful food was created. It was like watching a beautifully choreographed ballet. Last but not least, Barbara Lynch had just shown up to oversee the rest of the dinner service. I got to see the master chef in action! You can't even imagine how giddy I was that night! During our kitchen tour we mentioned to Alec how I write a food blog and was unable to take photos which is when he informed us that he had two extra flash cards in his office. What bad timing for this conversation! Oh well. He was kind enough to email me our own personalized version of our prix fixed menu from our Thursday night dinner including the cheese we selected so I could at least share words with my readers.

Matt's Prix Fixed Menu

Late Winter Vegetable Salad
Banyuls Vinegar, Yogurt, Shallot
*The salad was all early spring vegetables cooked in their own juices and beautifully placed on top of a yogurt, shallot dressing with little cubes of vinegar jelly that was a burst of flavor in your mouth as you ate the salad*

Duet of Beef
Parsley Root, Pearl Onions, Sauce Perigueux
*If my memory is correct there was a piece of 24 hour slow cooked short rib and two slice of beef tenderloin on top of the parsnip puree. The meat was so tender and delicious!!*

Elysian Field Farm Lamb
Eggplant, Citrus, Black Garlic
*Neither Matt nor I are big lamb fans but they were kind enough to substitute this dish from their chef's tasting menu for him because he doesn't eat seafood. This dish made us both a fan of lamb! It was beautifully done! Fantastic flavors!*

Palet d'Or
Honey, Pine Nut, Milk Glace
*I don't know how Matt knew that this was chocolate but it was and boy was he happy! Lots of delicious chocolaty heaven!*

Lauren's Prix Fixed Menu

Terrine of Foie Gras de Canard
Muscat Grapes, Truffles, Walnuts
*Beautiful foie gras with the truffles delicately placed in slivers symmetrically throughout the canard of foie gras. Along with the grapes were little jelly squares of muscat as well. So delicious on top of the perfectly toasted piece of bread! I probably won't order foie gras again though because I can't eat a whole meal size (too rich for me to finish and be able to finish additional courses) but I think I probably insulted the chef, they came back to ask me if everything was okay with it and I felt awful. Our waitress understood though.*

Watercress Veloute
Morels, Mussels, Saffron
*Deliciously prepared watercress soup with delicate morels and mussels. I couldn't have imagined a better second course!*

Cavendish Vermont Quail Farci
Asparagus, Ramp, Pistachio
*Quail stuffed with foie gras on top of a ramp puree with asparagus. YUM!*

Rhubarb Clafoutis
Orange Blossom Glace, Pistachio
*A white cake topped with pickled rhubarb, pistachio crumbles, and orange blossom ice cream. I felt like I was floating on a cloud! Served with "Happy Birthday" delicately inscribed on the plate in chocolate and one single candle. Beautiful!*

The cheese course that we shared included:
Leonora, a goat cheese from Spain
Cravero Parmigiano-Reggiano, a hard cow cheese, from Italy
Gorgonzola Dolce, a soft cow cheese from Italy

They paired the cheese with a glass of dessert wine, NV Kracher Trockenbeerenauslese from Austria. Words cannot explain the perfection of the cheese course!

With the help from our server we picked an Italian wine to accompany our entire prix fixed dinner, 2003 Albino Rocca, Barbaresco, Piedmont. They decanted the wine which made the wine open up beautifully! It was delicious! One of our new favorites!

If you live in the Boston area I definitely recommend this restaurant. It is an experience that you shouldn't miss!

Maybe in a couple of years we'll have a big group of friends join us for dinner at the chef's kitchen table where we could watch our meals be made!

Birthday Celebration #1 - Stephen Ross Wine Dinner at the Taj

2010-04-23T14:24:00.008-04:00

About a month ago Matt was in our local liquor store, Charles Street Liquors, picking up his new favorite bottle of Zinfandel, Stephen Ross. While he was checking out the owner of the store told him about the Stephen Ross wine dinner that was scheduled at the Taj. Matt immediately contacted our two friends, Zach and Jen, and booked the dinner for the four of us for my birthday first birthday celebration.

It was a small event with a total of 15 people which included Stephen Ross, the owner of the liquor store (and his wife), and the wine distributor and his wife. So there were only about 3 other couples that we didn't know at the wine dinner... so much fun!

The event started with a tasting in the wine cellar with appetizers. We tasted a Chardonay, two different Pinot Noirs, and a Zinfandel. There were lots of yummy appetizers to compliment the wine we were tasting but I only got a picture of the salmon.

We then proceeded upstairs to the restaurant where we started our wine paired dinner. We started with a full glass of the Chardonnay with the lobster salad.

Then we had a light pinot noir to accompany the gnocchi with truffles.

For the main course we had a bigger pinot noir that was a perfect compliment to the steak that was served with asparagus and mashed potatoes.

Last but not least was a glass of Matt's favorite zinfandel which was paired with heavenly chocolate dessert.

It was such a great night and a fantastic event! We hope to visit the Stephen Ross wine cellar in San Luis Obispo sometime soon for another tasting!

After dinner Matt and I were stuffed so we decided to walk home. It was a beautiful night, perfect for a stroll through the Public Gardens and the Boston Common! Happy early birthday to me!

Vanilla Balsamic Chicken and Roasted Beet, Citrus Salad with Feta

2010-04-21T16:13:00.006-04:00

Just looking at the title of this blog post I'm sure you've conjured up smells of deliciousness. Well I am sorry to say that I jinxed myself this week so the vanilla balsamic chicken was a huge disappointment. Monday, while my Chicken Paprikash was cooking, I thought about how lucky we've been, all of these delicious meals, all keepers, for about three weeks. Starting with the Chicken Paprikash I've had a run of bad luck.

Back to my Tuesday dinner... Vanilla Balsamic Chicken with a Roasted Beet, Citrus Salad with Feta. The chicken recipe was courtesy of Cooking Light, April 2006.

While I was making the chicken I had some left over minced shallots, tangelo juice, and zest so I decided to make a salad dressing and my salad was born. I had two beets and a head of romaine lettuce in the fridge from my Boston Organic's delivery. My chicken was in the oven at 450 for about 25 minutes. I cut my beets into tiny cubes and placed it into the oven with the chicken... stupid, stupid Lauren... beets are cooked at 400 for about 40 minutes, no need to cut them so small to "hurry up" the cooking process. Ugh. Needless to say when I pulled out my chicken my beets were burnt! The smell bothered Matt so much that I had to make him a completely different salad. He didn't want my "salvaged" beets (cutting off the burnt ends of beets that I thought I could save). The salad would have been fantastic if I hadn't burnt the beets. I'll try it again someday.

Now on to the actual recipe that I was trying. I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts rather than boneless thighs and I used a substituted amount of vanilla extract instead of a scrapped out a bean (did you know that a vanilla bean can cost $12 for ONE?!). I don't think these changes had anything to do with the lack of flavor. The chicken was pretty dry, flavorless, and the sauce burned on the pan which made it a pain to clean! I ended up putting the chicken on top of my salad because the salad dressing tasted better than the chicken.

While I was eating my salad I thought to myself "I wish I had something else to eat, like a carb". Oh wait! I do! SHOOT! I had put a prepared piece of Whole Food's garlic naan in the oven to get golden brown! By the time I got to the oven it was brown and reminded me of a hockey puck. Like I said it was a bad kitchen night! I quickly fixed the problem by putting another piece in the oven and setting the timer so I couldn't forget. Ugh!

Oh, and I forgot. Poor Bailey's tummy is upset so we had to make his own special dinner (after fasting him for 24 hours). I hope he feels better soon! The Bud Light Lime was mine, not Bailey's.

Lauren's review: Disappointing.
Matt's review: I can't remember what he said... probably something like "don't be upset, a bad dinner isn't a reflection of your cooking abilities" *Thanks hun! I love you and your faith in my cooking skills!*
Final decision: Trash it and try to forget the horrible dinner!

Vanilla Balsamic Chicken

Ingredients

1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon grated orange rind
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 (2-inch) piece vanilla bean, split lengthwise
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
16 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (about 2 pounds)
Cooking spray
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Orange rind strips (optional)

Preheat oven to 450°.

Combine first 6 ingredients in a small saucepan. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean; stir seeds into broth mixture, reserving the bean for another use. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer until reduced to 1/2 cup (about 20 minutes). Stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Arrange chicken in a single layer in the bottom of a roasting pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle chicken evenly with remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Bake at 450° for 10 minutes.

Brush half of broth mixture over chicken; bake 5 minutes. Brush remaining broth mixture over chicken; bake 15 minutes or until a thermometer registers 180°. Garnish with orange rind, if desired.

Serves 8

Roasted Beet, Citrus Salad with Feta

Ingredients

1/4 c fresh tangelo juice
1 t tangelo zest
1 T olive oil
2 t minced shallots
1 t dijon mustard
romaine lettuce
1 beet
feta cheese
salt & pepper

*I used a Minneola Tangelo that I had from my last Boston Organics delivery for my zest and juice. I think it was more sweet and flavorful than an orange.*

Preheat oven at 400. Cut beets into large chunks. Place the beets on a cooking sheet that has been prepared with cooking spray. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook for about 30 minutes. Toss the beets about 15 minutes into cooking so they don't burn on one side. *Keep an eye on them so they don't burn like mine did* Test their doneness with a fork and cook for longer if desired.

While the beets are cooking fill two bowls with torn romaine lettuce. Then mix together the
juice, zest, shallots, dijon mustard, salt & pepper. While stirring add in the olive oil. Taste test. Add some ingredients as you see fit, maybe a pinch of sugar, a little lemon juice, or a little balsamic vinegar.

When the beets are done cooking top the lettuce with the beets. Add a handful of crumbled feta and then pour the dressing over the top.

Serves 2

Slow Cooker Chicken Paprikash

2010-04-21T16:06:00.003-04:00

Monday was Marathon Monday/Patriot's Day so we had the day off! I slept in a little then when I got up I made dinner before breakfast. The recipe for the day was a slow cooker recipe and I figured it was a great day to try it! Slow Cooker Chicken Paprikash courtesy of Cooking Light, March 2006. By the end of the day the meal looked and smelled a little burnt so I wasn't really looking forward to trying it. It ended up tasting much better than I thought it would, definitely not burnt! The recipe is definitely a fall or a winter recipe not really a good spring meal. A hearty, slow cook stew like meal served over egg noodles. I should have known better but I couldn't resist trying it!

Lauren's review: It was okay but not nearly as flavorful as I would have liked. Even with more salt and pepper it was still lacking something.
Matt's review: It was good.
Final decision: I initially thought that I would keep it and tweak it the next time I made it (in the winter or the fall!) but after having leftovers for lunch on Tuesday I decided it's not worthy. I'm sure I can find a better option.

Slow Cooker Chicken Paprikash

Ingredients

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch strips
2 cups chopped onion (about 1 large)
1 1/4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup shredded carrot
2 tablespoons Hungarian sweet paprika
2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms
1 1/4 cups reduced-fat sour cream

Combine flour and chicken in a medium bowl; toss well. Add chicken mixture, chopped onion, and the next 8 ingredients (through mushrooms) to an electric slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Stir in sour cream.

Serves 6

Grilled Rosemary Steak

2010-04-20T13:23:00.007-04:00

Sunday was a fantastic day! It started with breakfast! I made scrambled eggs, blueberry waffles and coffee! Then I was off to the grocery store to pick up groceries for the week and for the dinner we were bringing to our friends, Matt C. and Kaleen's, house for a cook out. After grocery shopping it was time to assemble. My contribution to dinner was Grilled Rosemary Steak courtesy of Cooking Light, September 2006 and a salad. The steak recipe called for the rub to be set on the steak for an hour in the fridge. So I made the rub first, put the steaks in the fridge, then made a salad. I wish I planned better. I could have also made a dessert to bring.... there's always next time... and it ended up working in my favor!

On our way to our car Matt got inspired to take this photo. The lighting was perfect, the trees looked so green! Isn't it pretty?! We love Beacon Hill! Our car is down the hill on the right somewhere...

We finally got to Matt and Kaleen's house around 5:30. After catching up over a beer the boys started grilling our steaks and the girls got the brown basmati rice and salad together. Our combined efforts got a delicious dinner on the dinner table in no time!

The dinner table set with a glass of red wine

Kaleen's dinner plate all set up for a photo

Time to eat! In the middle of the meal I made a comment about how I should have brought a dessert. Matt C. suggested we go to Dairy Queen for Blizzards. I love nothing more than a DQ Blizzard so we were all in! DQ closed within an hour of our mid-meal point. It was the fastest clean up I have ever seen! My Blizzard of choice Sunday night was Cappuccino Heath. Did I mention I love Blizzards?! I may have even finished Matt's and then proceeded to have a stomach ache the rest of the night... which is when Matt reminded me I can't eat ice cream after 8PM because of my lactose intolerance. Oops! I'll deal with the pain any day for a Blizzard!

Lauren's review: I loved this steak! The steak was so tender and delicious. I think I found my new favorite cut of beef! Check out the nutrition info, it's low in calories too! Even better! Of course it costs an arm and a leg for beef tenderloin... I have good taste! In addition to the steak, the rub was fantastic! Perfect for spring or summer! Rustic, simple, fantastic! I love fresh herbs!
Matt's review: What she said!
Final decision: It earns a special place in the recipe box!

Grilled Rosemary Steak

Ingredients

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 (4-ounce) beef tenderloin steaks, trimmed (1 inch thick)
Cooking spray

Combine rosemary, lemon rind, pepper, olive oil, salt, and garlic in a small bowl. Rub rosemary mixture evenly over steaks; cover. Refrigerate 1 hour. *Our steaks ended up "marinating" with the rub for almost 3 hours*

Prepare grill.

Place steaks on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 5 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness.

Baby Celebration at Upstairs on the Square

2010-04-19T22:42:00.005-04:00

Thursday night I was too tired to make anything for dinner after going for a run (and icing my stupid knees) that I just heated up a couple of Boca veggie burgers and a salad for Matt and me.

Friday after work we picked up Zen take out with our friends Sean and McCaela for a nice relaxing night at their home. I got Alaskan Maki (salmon, avocado, cucumber, and scallions) and Spicy Crispy Tuna Maki (roe, spicy mayo, cucumber and tempura crumb inside with tuna on top). Matt got his life staple, Chicken Katsu (as Sean liked to call it "fried chicken"). After dinner McCaela made us delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. It was a great night!

Saturday morning I made scrambled eggs, toast and coffee for us to start our day. I love lazy mornings! However, shortly after breakfast Matt took off for a beer summit with friends while I got ready for a baby shower at Upstairs on the Square. The baby shower was beautiful! A lovely little high tea which was a perfect way to celebrate the upcoming arrival of a new baby girl!

The first photo of all the beautiful, delicious finger sandwiches and desserts.

A photo of my cup and pot of green tea

A photo of the beautiful, glowing mom-to-be with her friend and her mom

Another photo of the food, just so we didn't forget!

After the baby shower I was stuffed from trying almost one of everything on the trays so we decided to do a relatively light dinner. Before we could make dinner we had to take a walk down to Whole Foods to get some weekend meal supplies, ingredients for our pizza dinner, ice cream, and frozen blueberry waffles for Sunday's breakfast. Shortly after we got home my belly startled to grumble. Time to make the pizza! It turned out great! Matt picked a new pizza shell for us to try, Top This! I would definitely recommend it and get it again. It is made of whole wheat so the fiber count is higher than most pizza shells. The thin crust was delicious and crispy! Yum! We topped the pizza shell with pasta sauce, mozzarella & romano cheese, hot cherry peppers, red peppers, and pepperoni. We also got a bottle of zinfandel that complimented the pizza perfectly!

By the end of Saturday it had been a great weekend already and we still had two days left! Yippee!

Marthon Fundraising Event - YES!

2010-04-19T00:59:00.003-04:00

Wednesday after work a group of my colleagues headed over to Penguin Pizza for a fundraising event. The event was raising money for my big boss' son who is running the Boston Marathon tomorrow for YES, Youth Enrichment Services in Boston. It was a great event! We all started with pizza and beer while we waited for additional food for the event to be prepared. Penguin has some of the best pizza and the best beer selection in the city! The table ordered an Aegean (four cheese blend, sliced tomatoes, kalamata olives, and feta cheese), a Bolognese (four cheese blend, portablla mushrooms and a homemade Bolognese meat sauce), and a Caribbean Jerk Shrimp (white pizza with jerk shrimp topped with fresh mango and pineapple salsa). I personally tried the Bolognese and the Aegean. They were both fantastic! I also had a couple of Grey Ladies which was a whitbier from Cisco Brewers that my boss recommended. One of my favorite dinners, beer and pizza!

My slice of Bolognese and a Grey Lady

My slice of Aegean

My colleagues

Me and my friend/colleague

The non-pizza food (mussels over spaghetti in a delicious beer and shallot sauce, pork tenderloin in a braised in beer, and a salad with fennel & citrus).

It was a delicious, fun night! I'm hoping it was also very successful financial event for YES!

Chicken Piccata with Summer Vegetable Pasta

2010-04-19T00:39:00.004-04:00

On my way home from work on Tuesday I made Matt stop at Whole Foods so I could pick up a bunch of basil for our dinner. The entree for the evening, Chicken Piccata with Summer Vegetable Pasta courtesy of Cooking Light, April 2006. It was a very similar recipe to Sunday night's dinner so it was a hit in our household!

Lauren's review: Delicious and nutritious! Look at all the pretty colors!
Matt's review: I love it!
Final decision: A keeper!

Chicken Piccata with Summer Vegetable Pasta

Ingredients

Olive oil-flavored cooking spray
1 cup (1/4-inch) strips red bell pepper (about 1 medium)
3/4 cup thinly sliced onion (about 1/2 large onion)
1 1/2 cups matchstick-cut zucchini (about 1 medium)
1 1/4 cups matchstick-cut yellow squash (about 1 medium)
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
2 garlic cloves, minced
8 ounces uncooked whole wheat blend spaghetti
3/4 cup (3 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, trimmed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (about 2 1/4 ounces)
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons capers
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1 tablespoon butter

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add bell pepper and onion; sauté 8 minutes or until tender and beginning to brown. Place onion mixture in a large bowl; keep warm. Return pan to medium-high heat. Recoat pan with cooking spray. Add zucchini and yellow squash; sauté 4 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add tomatoes and garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Add squash mixture to reserved onion mixture. Keep warm.

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain pasta in a colander over a bowl, reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid. Add pasta and reserved cooking liquid to vegetable mixture, stirring to combine. Add 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese and basil; toss to combine. Keep warm.

Sprinkle both sides of chicken with salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Place the flour in a shallow bowl. Dredge chicken in flour, turning to coat; shake off excess flour.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat the pan with cooking spray. Add olive oil to pan, swirling to coat. Add chicken, and cook 4 minutes on each side or until done. Remove from pan; keep warm.

Add broth, juice, and capers to pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Bring to a boil; cook 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Add green onions, butter, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon black pepper; stir until butter melts.

Arrange about 1 cup pasta mixture on each of 4 plates; top each serving with 1 chicken breast half, 1/4 cup sauce, and 1 tablespoon remaining cheese. Serve immediately.

Serves 4.

Chicken Kiev and Roasted Asparagus with Dijon-Lemon Sauce

2010-04-17T22:24:00.003-04:00

Monday night I needed an easy recipe with minimal ingredients after a long day at work. I decided on my mother-in-law's recipe for Chicken Kiev which used to be and may still be one of Matt's favorite meals. I had some leftover asparagus from Sunday's dinner so I decided to make another recipe, Roasted Asparagus with Dijon-Lemon Sauce courtesy of Cooking Light, September 2007. In addition to the two recipes I decided to mash up some sweet potatoes that I received in my last Boston Organics box. My chicken dish wasn't the healthiest (lots and lots of butter) but with all my veggies I think it was the perfect meal! Who doesn't like a healthy dose of butter every now and then?!

Lauren's review: Everything was fantastic! The only thing I need to remember is that if I'm using a small, averaged size chicken breast just to pound it down very thin, it doesn't need to be cut in half (as the recipe suggests) unless it's an usually large chicken breast.
Matt's review: I love, love, loved this dinner! It reminds me of what my mom(my) used to make. *I guess switching from mommy to mom was hard transition for Matt to make?!*
Final decision: If you couldn't tell, both recipes were keepers and apparently I'm supposed to continue making mashed sweet potatoes just like this!

Chicken Kiev

Ingredients

4 large chicken breasts cut in half
1 T chopped green onion
1 T snipped parsley
1/4 lb stick butter chilled
1/4 c. flour
1 beaten egg
1/2 c fine dry non flavored bread crumbs *I used whole wheat bread crumbs*
1/4 c butter *all of this butter reminds me, fondly, of Paula Deen*

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the chicken into halves, lengthwise, and pound out until the chicken is 1/8 inches thick. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, onion, and parsley. Cut 8 rectangles out of stick of butter, a half of a stick long. Roll the chicken around the butter rectangles, tucking in the ends to form a tight seal. Coat with flour, dip in egg and then roll in bread crumbs. Chill in the fridge while you melt the 1/4 c. butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Brown the chicken in the pan for about 2-3 minutes a side. Place the browned chicken in a baking dish and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Serves 4

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

3 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 T butter
sea salt
cinnamon

Boil sweet potatoes in water until soft, about 15 minutes. Drain the water and return the sweet potatoes back to the pot. Add butter, salt, and cinnamon and mash. Voila!

Roasted Asparagus with Dijon-Lemon Sauce

Ingredients

2 pounds asparagus spears, trimmed
4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 425°.

Combine asparagus, 2 teaspoons olive oil, salt, and garlic in a large bowl, tossing well to coat. Arrange asparagus mixture in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 425° for 12 minutes or until crisp-tender.

Combine remaining 2 teaspoons oil, rind, juice, mustard, and pepper in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Arrange asparagus on a platter; drizzle juice mixture over asparagus. Sprinkle with parsley.

Serves 6

Rotini with Chicken, Asparagus, & Tomatoes and Parsnips & Leek Soup

2010-04-16T16:05:00.005-04:00

Sunday night for dinner I made a delicious dinner! Rotini with Chicken, Asparagus, and Tomatoes courtesy of Cooking Light, November 2007. I think that for the first time my meal looks almost identical to the professional photo on the Cooking Light site! Hooray! The original recipe calls for goat cheese but Matt is not a fan of goat cheese so he replaced his with feta. We both loved our dinners, mine with goat cheese and his with feta!

My review: I love the flavor combinations!
Matt's review: I love rustic meals like this. (I'm not quite sure what this really means)
Final decision: This entree definitely earned a spot in my recipe box!

While I was putting together dinner I also threw together a parsnip and leek soup for my work lunches. I had 4 parsnips and a large leek in the fridge from my last Boston Organics delivery and needed to use them for something before they went bad. I think I did a pretty good job for my first vegetable soup creation. My Monday lunch ended up being delicious!

A bowl of parsnip and leek soup.

My red pepper bean dip, spinach, and goat cheese on a slice of whole wheat bread. Doesn't it look beautiful?!

Now on to the recipes....

Rotini with Chicken, Asparagus, and Tomatoes

Ingredients

8 ounces uncooked rotini (corkscrew pasta) *I used whole wheat ziti instead of rotini*
Cooking spray
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/4-inch strips
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup (1-inch) slices asparagus
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup (1 ounce) crumbled goat cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken and asparagus to pan; saute 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and garlic to pan; saute 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in pasta, basil, vinegar, and oil. Arrange 2 cups pasta mixture on each of 4 plates; top each serving with 1 tablespoon cheese.

Serves 4

Parsnips & Leek Soup

Ingredients

olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 leek, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4 parsnips, peeled and chopped
1 stem of rosemary, leaves removed from stem
1 stem of thyme
1 cup of reduced sodium chicken stock
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 cup fat free milk
salt and pepper

Saute chopped onions in olive oil for 4 minutes over medium high heat. Add chopped leeks and garlic saute until soft, about 4 minutes. Add chicken broth, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 45 minutes - 1 hour. Then stir in milk and half & half. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat. Add to blender and puree in batches.

Makes about 6 cups

Italian-Style Grilled Steak and Roasted Red Pepper & Cannellini Bean Dip

2010-04-15T21:29:00.004-04:00

Matt and I live in a big old condo building that doesn't allow grills so we have to bum off of our friends for a good grill. Last Saturday our friend's, Jen and Zach, allowed us to invite ourselves over so I could try one of my many grilling recipes. We brought the Italian-Style Grilled Steak, Roasted Red Pepper & Cannellini Bean Dip, whole wheat spaghetti, and a salad. Our hosts were kind enough to supply two types of cheese to go with my dip as an appetizer, and delicious homemade chocolate chip cookies and gelato for dessert! Oh yea, and lots of yummy wine!

First our appetizers!

While the girls were finishing the final touches on dinner the boys set up our table. They did such a good job!

A close up of the salad which my awesome husband actually made! He saved me with this assist! I was running late before we left for Zach & Jen's and still had to take a shower and make the salad. Matt offered to take over and he did such a great job! (How's that for props honey?!) The lettuce had spinach, romaine, tomatoes, mushrooms, blue cheese, olives, hot peppers and was dressed lightly with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Perfect! I have a sous chef!

A close up of the steak over whole wheat spaghetti and drizzled with olive oil

The girls taking a break from eating to get a couple of awful photo shots.

Jen's delicious cookies!

Dessert assembled, cookies, gelato, and wine!

After too many bottles of wine and a delicious meal we were officially stuffed to the gills and ready for bed! Matt and I decided to walk home to try to walk off some of our full bellies! On our way home we walked past the Wang Theatre where Chelsea Handler had just finished her last show! I LOVE CHELSEA! So Matt was kind enough to walk down the street, out of our way, to see if we could catch a glimpse of her. We waited 5 minutes by a crowd surrounding a Cadillac Escalade and sure enough out came Chelsea and her friend Heather MacDonald!!! I made Matt take pictures!

Saturday was a great night!!!

By the way, we all decided that both recipes were keepers.

Roasted Red Pepper & Cannellini Bean Dip, courtesy of Cooking Light, January 2007

Ingredients

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 (16-ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 (7-ounce) bottle roasted red bell peppers, rinsed and drained
1 large garlic clove
2 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place first 5 ingredients in a food processor; process until smooth. With processor on, slowly add oil through food chute. Stir in salt and black pepper.

Makes 2 cups which is probably enough for a party of 8-10, too much for 4!

Italian-Style Grilled Steak, courtesy of Cooking Light, June 2007

Ingredients

1 (1-pound) beef rib-eye steak, trimmed
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray
4 cups hot cooked spaghetti (about 4 ounces uncooked pasta)
4 teaspoons extravirgin olive oil

Cut beef across grain into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Combine beef, rosemary, thyme, lemon juice, and garlic in a large zip-top plastic bag; seal. Marinate beef in refrigerator 1 hour, turning occasionally.

Prepare grill.

Remove beef from bag, discarding marinade. Sprinkle beef with salt and pepper. Place beef on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 1 minute on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Serve with pasta. Drizzle oil over beef and pasta.

Serves 4 *1 pound may not sound like a lot of meat for 4 people. I asked the butcher if it was enough and he suggested 2 pounds for 4. I think 1 - 1.5 pounds is enough. I ended up buying 1.75 pounds which fed us all but it was a lot of meat when it was cut into thin strips! I think the only reason we ate it all was because it was there and we could.*

On the road again...

2010-04-13T16:35:00.013-04:00

Last Tuesday I flew down to New Jersey for work. On most of my business trips to NJ I try to visit as much of my family as I can! I used to live in NJ for all of elementary school and most of my extended family still lives down there. So while I hate to travel there for work I love it at the same time! Once I arrived in Newark (very late, thanks to a delay) I picked up my rental car and drove out west towards the Delaware Water Gap. I was getting together with my grandmother (I call her Graya), my grandfather (aka Poppy), my Aunt Lenore, cousin/god-daughter Courtney, my Great Aunt Barb, and my Great Uncle Tom for dinner at a restaurant called The Forge. Phew... that's a lot of family!

Here's a cute picture of my god-daughter. She wanted to take a photo of me while I took one of her. She's so adorable!

I started with a salad with balsamic.

Then we all shared some calamari

For dinner my aunt and I shared two entrees that we couldn't decide between. Sometimes you can't just pick one!

The first entree was risotto with lobster and asparagus

The second was spaghetti with crab, shrimp, and spinach in a garlic, olive oil sauce

They were both very good but HUGE! My aunt ended up bringing home more than half of each entree! I'm sure they made delicious leftovers!

That night I stayed at my Graya's house along with my Aunt Barb and Uncle Tom who were visiting from Maine. Graya had made lemon bars for Easter. I don't get to indulge in my grandmother's delicious goodies all too often so I HAD to have one!

Then for a little night cap my grandmother opened a bottle of Cherry Heering, a cherry brandy, that was at least 30 years old. I had to take a picture, or two, of the old bottle.

The next morning I woke up to Graya already cooking bacon. She is great in the kitchen! My love of food started with the family traditions that she and my great-grandmother (aka Babci [pronounced Bopchee], Polish for grandmother) used to make. I had a fabulous breakfast! Two eggs over easy, two slices of bacon, and two slices of my favorite rye toast that you can only get in NJ! I've talked about this delicious rye toast before, here! Of course I forgot to take a picture! I was busy eating before I had to run out of the house to make it to work by 9AM.

At lunch I ran out to a local bagel deli, Kettleman's Bagels, for a turkey sandwich on an everything bagel with chive spread (or as my Jersey mother calls it chive SHMEAR)! This is my favorite sandwich of all time! Again, it's only a sandwich that I would get in NJ or NY because it's the only time I can get a really good bagel! Anyway, Wednesday was beautiful so I sat outside in the sun while I ate lunch!

After work I stopped at Smoothie King for a Skinny Peach Slice Plus smoothie (peaches, papaya, strawberries, soy protein, carbohydrate mix, nonfat milk, and honey). A "skinny" meant that they left out the turbinado which is a sweetener which saved me 100 calories! The smoothie was really good! I wish there was a Smoothie King in Boston! There were so many options I wanted to try them all.

Once I had my smoothie I steered my rented Toyota Corolla to the Jersey Shore. I don't mean the TV show but if you've seen the MTV show you know that it took place in Seaside Heights. Growing up I used to spend every weekend in the summer at my grandparent's house in Seaside Park which is a couple blocks away from the Seaside Heights boardwalk. It really is beautiful and I swear my experiences are SO different than the show! Going over the bridge from Toms River to Seaside I always roll down the window and inhale the salty air. This trip was no exception! I went over the bridge, memories flooding, and picked up my grandmother to take her to dinner! We headed back over the bridge to Toms River to go to Rivoli's. The place needs a remodel but other than that it was great! We started with a salad for the table that was lightly dressed with olive oil and vinegar.

Along with the salad we got a delicious, warm crusty bread. I love warm crusty bread!!!

For my entree I got the pistachio encrusted tilapia in a garlic sauce over mashed sweet potatoes and veggies. I also didn't realize that the garlic sauce was going to be a cream sauce. I was slightly disappointed about the cream but it was still delicious just HUGE! Again, my grandmother had more than half of both of our entrees to bring home for leftovers.

When we got back to her home the sun was setting over the bay. Seaside is on a peninsula. My grandmother lives on the bay side which is literally a 2 block walk west of the beach on the ocean side. It's such a great place to visit. The best part about my grandmother being on the bay side is that the sun sets over the water. Wednesday the sunset was beautiful!

While we watched the sunset my grandmother and I had little sundaes, another little tradition! We both had vanilla ice cream with a little caramel sauce on top! Yum!

After dessert it was time to head back to my hotel. I had another early morning of work. I said my good byes and rolled down the windows for my final trip across the bridge.

After a good nights sleep it was time for the hotel's breakfast buffet. I had a little of everything I love for breakfast foods.

Fruit, yogurt, and granola

Oatmeal with a little brown sugar and raisins

One scrambled egg and one slice of bacon

Now that I was fully fueled for my morning I headed to work. Before I had to leave for my flight I grabbed a quick catered lunch at the office. This is the spread that I got to pick from. I ended up getting a turkey and pepper jack cheese sandwich with a bottle of water. I passed on cookies and chips because I was still a little full from breakfast!

When I got home Thursday night Matt and I went to Scollay Square for a quick dinner. I had a grilled pear salad and then we split the buffalo chicken mac and cheese with a Blue Moon to wash it all down. Matt tried to take a photo on his iPhone but it was too dark in the restaurant.

Then Friday night, after a full day of work and a mini side "work" trip to the Natick Collection and The Met Bar & Grill, we went to our company's beer hour for a beer. After my one beer we headed to Shabu-Zen for a Japanese hot pot dinner with our friends. Of course I forgot to take pictures. However you can see some photos from the last time we were all there, here! For dessert my friend and I grabbed ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery before going in to the theatre to see "Hot Tub Time Machine"! It's a great movie, I definitely recommend it!

Last week was a great week! I hope you all had as much fun as I did!

Chicken Baked with Tomatoes and Sweet Potatoes

2010-04-12T22:48:00.003-04:00

I'm officially a week behind again! It's crazy how busy life can get! I'm back to writing though so expect a couple of posts from me over the next day or two!

Let's go back to last Monday...

After work I decided to make what used to be a weekly staple in my house, Chicken Baked with Tomatoes and Sweet Potatoes. This recipe is part of the reason why I started my recipe project. It was just as delicious as Matt and I remembered it to be. Last Monday I learned it doesn't matter how many times you make the same recipe you can still forget steps in the instructions. The recipe calls for the feta cheese to be added for the last 3-4 minutes. I, however, was distracted by the "ease" of the recipe and put the feta in from the very beginning. Even with my hiccup it still tasted great. The cheese finally melted how I always wanted it to!

To accompany dinner I toasted a slice of whole wheat bread, rubbed it with a clove of garlic, buttered it with my yogurt spread and then sprinkled Jane's Crazy Mixed Up Salt over the top. Easy, tasty garlic bread!

Matt and I both love this recipe so it's a keeper. It's our version of comfort food.

Chicken Baked with Tomatoes and Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

1 T lemon juice
1 t oregano
1/2 t pepper
1/4 t salt
1.25 lbs unpeeled sweet potatoes, cut into 3/4" chunks
1 lb plum tomatoes, cut into 1/2" chunks
8 skinless bone in chicken thighs (total 1.5 lbs) *I always use chunks of chicken breasts*
2 oz. crumbled feta
nonstick cooking spray
2 T water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 9 x 13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. In a small bowl mix lemon juice, salt, pepper, oregano, and 2 T water. Arrange sweet potatoes and tomatoes in baking dish. Drizzle with half of the lemon mixture. Place chicken on top of veggies and drizzle with the remaining lemon mixture. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Occasionally spoon juices over the chicken and vegetables. Uncover and bake for 15-20 minutes. Crumble feta over the top and bake for 3-4 minutes longer to melt the cheese.

*When I use chicken breast chunks I cook the chicken covered for 30 minutes, then sprinkle the cheese, uncover, and cook for 10 minutes.*

Easter Sunday

2010-04-06T10:58:00.007-04:00

This year when Matt and I were figuring out our plans for Easter we discussed how if we lived in a bigger home (anything larger than 450 sq ft) we would be having family to our house for dinner. So I decided that even though we didn't live in a large home I would still cook our holiday meal. Instead of having Easter dinner in our little condo we brought dinner to my in-laws in Maine. The menu that Matt and I put together:

Appetizer:
Roasted Red Pepper Spread (recipe from my dear friend Lauren) with crackers and carrots

Entree:
Orange Baked Ham courtesy of the Barefoot Contessa, Food Network

Sides:
Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Browned Butter courtesy of Cooking Light, September 2001
Herbed Bread-Stuffed Tomatoes courtesy of Cooking Light, May 2007
Roasted Potatoes with olive oil, balsamic, herbs, and garlic (my own concoction)

Dessert:
Frozen Peanut Butter Pie courtesy of Cooking Light, August 2007

When we got to Maine on Saturday I immediately started prepping our dinner. I started with the frozen peanut butter pie because it had to be in the freezer overnight. Once the pie was in the freezer I started roasting my red pepper under the broiler for my spread. Roasting the red pepper actually took longer than I thought it would! Finally after about 25 minutes of broiling a side and turning, then wrapping in aluminum foil for 15 minutes the pepper was done. Once I had the red pepper cut into strips I finished making the dip and put it into the fridge. The timing was perfect. I finished my two dishes just in time for my mother-in-law's dinner before church.

Sunday morning after a delicious breakfast I immediately started making dinner. My sister was coming down around 3:00 for dinner. She was only going to be able to join us for two hours before she would have to rush to work so everything had to be timed perfectly to be done around 3:00. At noon I started by pre-heating the oven for my half of a ham. It was to be in the oven at 275 degrees for two hours and 15 minutes. When the ham was in the oven I started making the glaze for the ham (the ham only needed to be cooked with the glaze on it for an hour). The glaze smelled delicious! I couldn't wait to taste it on the ham!

Once I had the ham glazed and back in the oven for the last hour and 15 minutes I immediately prepped the potatoes. I cut about 8 red potatoes into chunks then drizzled them with olive oil and balsamic vinegar then sprinkled them with sea salt, pepper, fresh oregano, fresh thyme, and minced garlic cloves. I popped them in the lower oven at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. You can't even imagine how amazing it was to me to have a lower oven! I could cook two things at two different temperatures at the same time! WOW!

My go-to sea salt for the day

Once the potatoes were in the oven I got to trimming the asparagus. Did you know that if you bend an asparagus spear that the spear will snap right where it's supposed to so you don't end up with any of the tough ends?! It's so easy! After snapping off the ends of the spears I went through and trimmed off the asparagus "leaves" that are on the side of the stalks. Once they were trimmed and cleaned I put them on a baking sheet that had been sprayed with cooking spray and sprinkled them with sea salt and pepper.

Once the asparagus was done I moved on to my tomatoes. I cut the plum tomatoes in half and scooped out the insides. Then I prepared the stuffing mixture. I place the tomato halves on the baking sheet and sprinkled them with sea salt and pepper before stuffing.

When the ham came out I changed the main oven temperature to 400 degrees and then added the tomatoes and asparagus to the oven for 12 minutes. While the vegetables were in the oven and the ham was "resting" I made the balsamic browned butter for the asparagus. While I was finishing the dinner preparations, Matt set the table, got water glasses for everyone, opened a couple bottles of wine and set out the appetizer.

He was also my photographer throughout the day, making sure I got photos of everything. Finally he helped me plate dinner. We decided to do this in the kitchen so we all wouldn't be tempted for seconds. A serving of each part of dinner was on the dinner plate which was more than enough for all of us. The trick worked and everyone was full when their plate was clean and no one over-indulged.

After dinner we went on a family walk while our frozen pie sat in the fridge for 30 minutes. It was such a beautiful day! The town was coming to life! People were spending Easter on the beach. It was incredible!

When we got back from our walk we dove into dessert so my sister could have some before she had to leave. Dessert was delicious!

Everything turned out really good! The only thing I need to make sure to do different next year is that I remember to cover the ham so it doesn't get dry. I remembered with 45 minutes left in the oven so the ham ended up being a little dry. Oh well. Live and learn! All the recipes were definitely keepers! All delicious and definitely worthy of another meal!

Hope you all had a fantastic Easter if you celebrate and if you don't I hope you all enjoyed your Sunday!

Roasted Red Pepper Spread

Ingredients

1 large red pepper, roasted
1 8-oz package of less fat cream cheese
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 small garlic clove, pressed
salt and pepper to taste

To roast a red pepper:
Place a red pepper right on the oven rack under the broiler. Keep an eye on the pepper and turn when a side gets all blackened. When it's done cover with aluminum foil or put in a paper bag for 15 minutes. Scrape off the skin, remove the seeds and cut into strips.

For the spread:
Place red pepper in food processor & process until chopped. Add cream cheese, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper. Process until smooth. Serve with crackers. Makes 1.25 cups.

Orange Baked Ham

Ingredients

1 (14 to 16-pound) fully cooked, spiral-cut smoked ham on the bone
6 garlic cloves
8 1/2 ounces orange marmalade
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 orange, zested
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the ham in a heavy roasting pan.

Mince the garlic in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the marmalade, mustard, brown sugar, orange zest, and orange juice and process until smooth. Pour the glaze over the ham and bake for 1 hour, until the ham is fully heated and the glaze is well browned. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Browned Butter

Ingredients

40 asparagus spears, trimmed (about 2 pounds)
Cooking spray
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400°.

Arrange asparagus in a single layer on baking sheet; coat with cooking spray. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake at 400° for 12 minutes or until tender.

Melt the butter in a small skillet over medium heat; cook for 3 minutes or until lightly browned, shaking pan occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in soy sauce and vinegar. Drizzle over the asparagus, tossing well to coat. Serve immediately.

Herbed Bread-Stuffed Tomatoes

Ingredients

6 ripe firm plum tomatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds), cut in half lengthwise
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 ounces whole wheat bread (about 2 slices), toasted and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 tablespoon minced fresh basil
1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon minced fresh oregano
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375°.

Scoop pulp and seeds from tomato halves into a sieve over a bowl; press with a spoon. Reserve 1/4 cup liquid in bowl. Discard pulp mixture.

Place tomato halves, cut sides up, in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Place bread in a bowl; drizzle with tomato liquid. Stir in remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, basil, oil, oregano, thyme, and garlic. Fill tomato halves with bread stuffing, pressing gently. Sprinkle each with 1/2 teaspoon cheese. Bake at 375° for 12 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Frozen Peanut Butter Pie

Ingredients

1 2/3 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs (about 8 1/2 cookie sheets)
7 tablespoons sugar, divided
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
1 1/4 cups fat-free milk
2/3 cup reduced-fat crunchy peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup (4 ounces) fat-free cream cheese, softened
1 (8-ounce) container frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed
3 tablespoons finely chopped salted, dry-roasted peanuts
1/4 cup shaved milk chocolate (about 1 ounce)

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine crumbs, 3 tablespoons sugar, and egg whites; toss with a fork until moist. Press into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate coated with cooking spray. Prick crust with a fork before baking. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Remove from oven; cool on a wire rack.

Combine milk and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook 2 minutes or until sugar dissolves, stirring constantly; transfer mixture to a bowl. Add peanut butter and vanilla, stirring with a whisk until combined. Cover and chill 30 minutes.

Place cream cheese in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add milk mixture, beating on low speed until combined. Fold in whipped topping; pour mixture into prepared piecrust. Freeze, uncovered, 8 hours or overnight or until hard. Sprinkle with peanuts and shaved chocolate. Transfer pie to refrigerator 30 minutes before slicing.

The Rest of the Week

2010-04-04T14:09:00.004-04:00

Thursday night when Matt and I got home from work I was exhausted and it was late. Instead of starting to make dinner at 7:30 Matt saved the day by ordering Japanese from Zen. He got Chicken Katsu for himself and I got an Alaskan Maki Roll (salmon, avocado, and scallions). We got to eat before 8:00 and it was perfectly delicious! However, I was so tired that I forgot to take pictures.

Friday was a wonderful day! It was beautiful out and I finished the huge project that I've been working on for the last couple of months. To celebrate we had two of our friends over for dinner on our roof deck. We ordered two pizzas from Figs and I made a salad. Figs is my favorite place in the city to get pizza because their crust is thin and whole wheat! Always delicious!!! It was a great night! Again, I forgot to take pictures.

Saturday we came up to Ogunquit to visit Matt's parents for Easter weekend. Before we headed off to a wonderful Easter Vigil Mass at their church we enjoyed my mother-in-law's famous homemade spaghetti sauce. It's Matt's favorite dinner! Again, another perfect night but this time Matt remembered to grab my camera in time!

Then this morning, Easter Sunday, my mother-in-law made one of her famous breakfasts for us, orange croissant french toast. It was the perfect delight on this beautiful spring morning.

I've got to run. I'm making dinner for the family and I have to go put the vegetables into the oven. Wish me luck! This is the first holiday dinner I have ever made! Hope you're having a great day!

Happy Easter!

Roast Chicken with Wild-Mushroom Sauce and Banana Soft Serve

2010-04-01T22:01:00.004-04:00

I was feeling motivated last night and made three pieces to my dinner. For our entree I made Roast Chicken with Wild-Mushroom Sauce (Martha Stewart Living, March 2007) then served it on a bed of garlic sauteed dandelion greens which was on top of quinoa. Dinner looked beautiful but it was such a taste bud disappointment! The chicken was not flavorful, dandelion greens taste like soap (I apologize if I offend anyone who likes them but we both thought they were gross!) and the quinoa was just boring. It did look pretty though. I felt so proud when I was done, before I put that first bite in my mouth. I was bummed because I bought all of these great ingredients for this dish and I felt like it was a waste. Wah-wah. Oh well! Moving on....

For dessert I was so excited to try banana soft serve sundaes which I got from the blog KathEatsRealFood. It sounded so easy! Put 2 - 2.5 bananas in a food processor and let it run for 5 minutes. This is great if you have one of those big food processors but I live in the city which means I only own a mini-food processor! However, I thought nothing of it until my bananas had been whirling around for almost 2 minutes when I saw smoke coming out of my food processor. Uh oh! I stopped the food processor and touched the base to make sure it wasn't just frost misting off the container. Nope! It was really hot! I quickly unplugged the mini-food processor and decided that 2 minutes was going to have to do. I'm also just hoping that my food processor is okay. I thought I should let it take a break before I tested it again. Anyway, after my dilemma I scooped out banana "soft serve" into two bowls and put a teaspoon of the Peanut Butter Co. Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter on top. Melted of course! The end result was delicious! Matt couldn't believe it was just frozen bananas! Maybe next time I'll try using my blender!?

Lauren's dinner review: Too bland for all that effort.
Matt's dinner review: It was okay but not worthy of a spot in the recipe box.
Final decision: Trash it.

Roast Chicken with Wild-Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients

4 boneless chicken breast halves with skin (about 11 ounces each) *I used skinless, boneless chicken breasts*
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 pound assorted mushrooms (such as shiitake, cremini, and white), stemmed and quartered
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups homemade or low-sodium store-bought chicken stock
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus sprigs
1 tablespoon heavy cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, skin side down; cook until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Flip; transfer to oven. Roast until a meat thermometer registers 160 degrees, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a plate; cover.

Place the skillet over medium heat. Add onion; cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add mushrooms. Cover; cook, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes. Stir in vinegar. Add flour; cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in stock and chopped parsley; simmer, stirring, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in cream; season with salt and pepper. Serve with chicken; garnish with parsley sprigs.

Serves 4

Gnocchi with Turkey Ragu

2010-03-31T23:29:00.003-04:00

Tuesday night I stopped at Whole Foods on the way home to get a fresh package of gnocchi for dinner, Gnocchi with Turkey Ragu courtesy of Cooking Light, November 2007. The recipe was really easy to make and smelled delicious! I couldn't wait to taste it! Unfortunately, the gnocchi was too big which made for an awkward bite. They were also slightly overcooked and flavorless. The ragu was heavenly but next time I have to try a new gnocchi or maybe even learn how to make my own!

Lauren's review: The sauce had delicious flavors that I felt like I was discovering with each bite! I couldn't believe that my serving was only 320 calories! Bonus!
Matt's review: This is really good. My only recommendation would be to get a different kind of gnocchi next time.
Final decision: This recipe is going in the box!

Gnocchi with Turkey Ragu

Ingredients

1 (16-ounce) package gnocchi
Cooking spray
8 ounces ground turkey breast
1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 tablespoon bottled minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh Romano cheese
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Basil sprigs (optional)

Cook gnocchi according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add turkey to pan; cook 3 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Drain. Add onion and next 4 ingredients (through fennel seeds); sauté 2 minutes. Return turkey to pan. Stir in wine; cook 2 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and tomatoes; cook 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in cheese and black pepper. Place about 1 cup gnocchi in each of 4 shallow bowls; top each serving with about 1/2 cup sauce. Garnish with basil, if desired.

Serves 4

Presto Chicken

2010-03-31T23:17:00.002-04:00

Dinner on Monday night was Presto Chicken, originally from a Paul Newman salad dressing bottle. I had planned on making this for dinner Sunday night when we got home from Ogunquit but hadn't accounted for the step "marinate for 1 hour". By the time we got home and settled it was 8:00PM and there was NO way I was waiting until 9 to make dinner. As you know, I made a chicken sausage pasta dish on the fly instead. While Sunday's dinner was under way I still put the chicken breast into the Italian dressing to marinate over night. Needless to say the chicken was delicious! It had soaked up all the good flavors from my Paul Newman's Italian dressing! Accompanying my chicken was my first attempt at mashed cauliflower. I boiled a head of cauliflower for 12 minutes and then mashed it with a tablespoon of butter, a splash of milk, garlic powder, salt & pepper. It was really good! Maybe even better than my mashed potatoes?!

Lauren's review: Both the mashed cauliflower and the chicken were easy and delicious! My two favorite descriptions for some of my favorite recipes!
Matt's review: This was really good! I loved them both! Blown away at how good mashed cauliflower tastes! *That's a lot from Matt!*
Final decision: The recipe is a keeper

Presto Chicken

Ingredients

1 cup Italian-like dressing (oil/vinegar based)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, pounded thin
4 sheets aluminum foil
chopped tomatoes
chopped olives

Place chicken and salad dressing in a large sealable bag, marinate for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven at 350.
Place chicken in the center of foil and top with tomatoes and olives. Close the foil tightly with space around the chicken.
Bake for 35 minutes.

Serves 4

Interesting Article

2010-03-30T20:37:00.003-04:00

I received a Women's Health email today with an interesting article. I've recently talked to more people than I can remember about "cleanses" and their experiences with them. It didn't sound like something I would like to try. This article is a safer, healthier take on a cleanse, A Body Cleanse That Isn't Crazy.

Wine & Dine Weekend at 16 Beach Street

2010-03-29T21:11:00.008-04:00

Friday after work Matt and I rushed up to my in-laws fully booked B&B to coordinate a "Wine and Dine" weekend. I forgot to take pictures of most of my food from the weekend but I did remember to take a ton of photos of all of our hard work with the wine tasting.

Friday night was a seated dinner catered by both my mother-in-law and their favorite restaurant in town, The Front Porch:
New England Clam Chowder
Salad
Assorted Flatbreads
Ice Cream Sundae
White or Red wine to accompany the meal

Saturday morning my mother-in-law treated all of her guests to my personal favorite of her breakfasts, Blueberry Morning.

After breakfast Matt and I ran down to the Kittery Outlets for a couple of errands. We came back to Ogunquit with new white bowls for my kitchen and some, much needed, socks for Matt. I think I got the better bag of goodies for the day.

When we got back to the inn it was time to set up the wine tasting.

Matt arranged the wine tasting to be a blind wine tasting which tested the wine tasters palette by making them determine which three red grape varietals were there and which of each pair of wines from the same grape varietal was the more expensive bottle. The guest had little tasting cards to write down their notes and I had assembled some general descriptions for the different red wine.

Matt's details:

Matt hand stamped and created the "wine glass stain" on the front of the tasting notes

The back of the tasting cards he hand stamped, our location, Ogunquit

Then he hand stamped a monkey and a word commonly used to describe wine. The monkey, Pleepleus, was in honor of our favorite drinking show, Three Sheets with Zane Lamprey. He brings a little stuffed monkey named Pleepleus around the world with him so he never drinks alone.

All the details put together this final product

All of the guests listening intently on how the tasting was going to be run

The wine tasting was a hit and so much fun!

After the wine tasting we went to church to watch my father-in-law sing in their Easter Cantata. After the wonderful cantata when went to Kennebunkport to eat at Alisson's Restaurant. I got a salad with calamari, pepperocini and feta. I ended up eating the salad and the calamari separately.

The next morning my mother-in-law made DELICIOUS eggs in a puff pastry topped with mushrooms and tomatoes with a side of bacon. I didn't take a picture because I was so excited to eat it that my brain couldn't remember where my camera was! Later that day we said our good byes and headed back to Beantown. By the time we got home it was too late to create my meal list and go grocery shopping so I improved with what was in the house. We ended up with whole wheat rigatoni with chicken sausage in a marinara sauce sprinkled with asiago and parmesan cheese. Easy and tasty!

It was a great weekend! We had so much fun running the wine tasting for such a cool group of people! We have four scheduled for next year and we're hoping they all come again!

Zucchini, Sausage, and Feta Casserole

2010-03-28T23:20:00.004-04:00

Thursday night after work I had a lot of chores that needed to be done around our little home. We were going up to Maine for the weekend so I had to pack and clean (for some odd reason I always like to clean before I leave for a weekend). My recipe for the evening, Zucchini, Sausage, and Feta Casserole, Cooking Light from July 2007, gave me the time to do all of that while it was baking. The meal was delicious, nutritious, and allowed for time efficiency! All great things!

Lauren's review: This meal tasted fresh and healthy while being satisfying. Delicious! However... removing the casings from the sausage is NO easy task! I think I may have gotten half of the casings off before giving up. I have to find a better way to do this!
Matt's review: This is really good!
Final decision: It's a keeper!

Zucchini, Sausage, and Feta Casserole

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups uncooked ziti (short tube-shaped pasta)
8 ounces chicken sausage
Cooking spray
1 teaspoon olive oil
5 cups thinly sliced zucchini (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 cups vertically sliced onion (about 1)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400°.

Cook pasta in boiling water 5 minutes, omitting salt and fat; drain.

Remove casings from sausage. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add sausage to pan; cook until browned, stirring to crumble. Remove from pan. Heat oil in pan. Add zucchini, onion, salt, pepper, and garlic. Cook 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender and zucchini begins to brown, stirring occasionally.

Combine broth and flour in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add broth mixture to pan; cook 1 minute. Combine zucchini mixture, pasta, sausage, and feta cheese in a large bowl; toss well. Spoon pasta mixture into an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned.

Serves 6

Try this recipe! It is really good!

If anyone has any tips or tricks for removing sausage casings they would all be appreciated!

Artichoke Chicken in a Skillet

2010-03-28T23:07:00.003-04:00

Wednesday night the recipe of the evening was Artichoke Chicken in a Skillet served over whole wheat pasta. I actually have no idea where this recipe came from. It's just printed on a piece of paper and my Google search came up empty.

Lauren's review: The recipe was simple. It was also pretty tasty and colorful. Color = nutritious
Matt's review: I don't like artichokes (my reply was "You don't like artichokes and you don't like wilted spinach but you love spinach, artichoke dip?!" Matt's reply was "Maybe it's because the artichokes are cut up smaller?" Interesting...)
Final decision: Matt didn't like it and I wasn't wowed by it so into the recycling bin it goes!

Artichoke Chicken in a Skillet

Ingredients

10 piece package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I used chicken breasts because as we previously discovered I am not a fan of thighs)
2 cans of artichokes in water, drained and halved
2 14 oz cans of fire roasted tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 onions, thinly sliced
handful of capers
handful of kalamata olives, chopped
kosher salt and pepper

Season your chicken thighs with kosher salt and pepper and brown them 4 minutes per side in a heavy skillet with olive oil.

To the skillet, add garlic and onions, cook another minute or two, until vegetables are starting to soften.

Next, add your tomatoes, artichoke halves, capers & olives. Turn heat down to low and simmer 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked and the sauce starts to thicken.

Bon appetit!

On a side note, nothing related to food but related to wine. My husband framed 84 corks last week. This framed wine shrine represents a lot of great wines that we've had over the years and a lot of good money that was spent. I just wanted to share a quick, cool photo of his handy-work.

Book Club Tuesday in the North End

2010-03-28T22:59:00.004-04:00

After work on Tuesday I got together with my book club to discuss our most recent book, A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick. It was a fantastic book. It reminded me of an old world soap opera.

While we discussed the book we noshed on pizza from Ernesto's and then treats from Modern Pastry. Accompanying our dinner, dessert, and conversation were 5 bottles of wine to split between 5 ladies. Needless to say I had a fantastic evening while Matt was working at home eating a frozen veggie burger for dinner. Sorry to rub it in honey!

Our new book for this month is Apothecary's Daughter by Julie Klassen. I'm already looking forward to our next book club get together!

Baked Ziti Casserole

2010-03-28T22:49:00.003-04:00

Monday after work I made a delicious and easy dinner, Baked Ziti Casserole courtesy of Cooking Light, October 2007. There wasn't anything extremely memorable about the dish but it was good and simple to make! It reminded me of my recent burrito recipe. I didn't really need this recipe to figure out how to make a baked ziti casserole. I've actually made one before but it's always nice to have a recipe on hand to guide you if you can't remember certain steps.

Lauren's review: Good, solid recipe to have on hand.
Matt's review: This was good!
Final decision: Keep as a reference for future quick and stress-free meals.

Baked Ziti Casserole

Ingredients

6 ounces uncooked ziti (short tube-shaped pasta)
2 cups Basic Marinara (I used jarred marinara)
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
1/4 cup (1 ounce) shredded Asiago cheese, divided
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)
6 ounces ground turkey breast
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain.

Combine pasta, Basic Marinara, 1/2 cup mozzarella, 2 tablespoons Asiago, salt, pepper sauce, and turkey in a large bowl. Spoon into an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella and remaining 2 tablespoons Asiago. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until cheese is lightly browned. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Serves 4

I picked up some really good Asiago cheese from our Whole Foods and I think it made the dish. Perfect nutty, salty flavor that melted beautifully!

Enjoy!

Stuck in a Jail with My Family

2010-03-28T20:59:00.004-04:00

Last Sunday my sister, Matt & I walked down to the Liberty Hotel to meet my parents for brunch at Clink. If you are ever in Boston near Massachusetts General Hospital make a little detour trip to the Liberty Hotel. Just walk into the lobby for a look. They recently renovated this 1850 jailhouse into a spectacular hotel. It's beautiful!

Brunch started with coffee, fresh squeezed orange juice and homemade donut holes. The donut holes were the heaven, light and fluffy with the perfect cinnamon, sugar coating!

For breakfast Matt and I split our meals. We tend to split breakfast a lot because I like both sweet and savory breakfast foods. When we split I get to taste the best of both!

Matt got the Western omelet.

I got the greek yogurt parfait with homemade granola and fruit.

Both of our breakfasts were good but not really memorable.

After breakfast we took a little stroll along the Charles River with my family. Then we said our good byes so they could head back home to New Hampshire. After they left Matt and I did a quick clean of the condo before we started working for the rest of the night. Both of us have been really busy at work so we've been trying to get ahead while at home. Before we knew it, it was 7:30PM and I hadn't started dinner yet. Matt saved the day by proposing he take care of dinner so that I could keep working. My savior ordered Dominos! We never order pizza but if there was any a night that called for delivery last Sunday was it. Apparently, Dominos recently revamped all of their recipes. We ordered the Brooklyn style pizza with light toppings of pepperoni, pepperoncini and roasted red peppers. It was very good. I'm actually looking forward to trying their hand tossed pizza which, from what I've heard, has been the best improvement on their menu.

After pizza we both starting working again. Only to start the week all over again on Monday...

Sweet & Sour Chicken and Raspberry Lime Freeze

2010-03-28T12:55:00.004-04:00

My parents had a wedding that they were attending downtown so my little sister, J-Ro, came to spend the night with us.

She told us that she wanted to see what it was like to live in the city, in fewer words. So I had her help me pick the menu for the evening and then dragged her with me to go grocery shopping, at three different grocery stores (Market Basket, Whole Foods AND Trader Joe's). By the time we got home it was almost 7PM so we decided to start dinner with an appetizer. She looked up a recipe for bruschetta online and then I made my own interpretation of the recipe. I mixed together chopped up tomatoes, basil, balsamic vinegar, EVOO, salt & pepper. Then broiled a split baguette that we brushed with olive oil. When it was all toasted I rubbed it with garlic cloves and sprinkled it with Jane's Crazy Mixed Up Salt. We finished of the garlic toast with the tomato mixture. It was delicious!

After the fantastic bruschetta we quickly got to work prepping the ingredients for dinner. Here's my little helper hard at work. Isn't she cute?!

For our entree J-Ro picked Sweet and Sour Chicken courtesy of Cooking Light, April 2007. We served it over a bed of brown rice.

It was a beautiful, warm day so we decided to make a summery dessert. We picked Raspberry-lime freeze courtesy of Martha Stewart Living, July 2007.

Our meal was fantastic! I was so lucky to have such a great helper too!

Lauren's review: All of our dishes were fantastic!
Matt's review: Appetizers to dessert were great! I don't even like raspberries and I loved dessert!
J-Ro's review: The chicken was a little spicy but it was all delicious! So much fun too!
Final decision: The recipes are keepers! Family approved!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon bottled minced garlic
1 teaspoon bottled ground fresh ginger (such as Spice World)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 (15 1/4-ounce) can pineapple chunks in juice, undrained
1/3 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1/4 cup dry-roasted chopped cashews

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic, ginger, red pepper, and chicken to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove chicken mixture from pan; set aside.

Add onion, celery, and bell pepper to pan, and sauté 4 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain pineapple, reserving 1/2 cup juice. Add 1 cup pineapple chunks to pan; cook 30 seconds. Reserve remaining pineapple for another use. Combine the reserved 1/2 cup juice, soy sauce, sherry, cornstarch, and sugar in a bowl, stirring with a whisk until smooth.

Return chicken mixture to pan. Stir in juice mixture; bring to boil. Cook 1 minute. Sprinkle with cashews.

Raspberry-Lime Freeze

Ingredients

2 1/2 pints raspberries (about 7 cups)
1 pint raspberry sorbet, softened
1 tablespoon finely grated lime zest, plus more for garnish
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (from 2 or 3 limes)
1 cup vanilla ice cream, softened

Put 5 1/2 cups of raspberries, the sorbet, lime zest, and lime juice into a blender. Use a spatula to push down the ingredients. Pulse a few times, then puree until very smooth. Add ice cream and puree, stopping and stirring with spatula as needed. Stir in 1 cup raspberries.

Pour mixture into glasses. Garnish with remaining 1/2 cup raspberries and lime zest. Serve immediately.

Friday Night in Maine

2010-03-24T21:13:00.003-04:00

Last Friday was a bad day. After working all day on a time-sensitive document I accidentally over-wrote it and it was unrecoverable. Ahhh! I definitely needed something to look forward to. Luckily, Matt and I drove up to Maine after my hellish work day to visit with his parents and pick up our puppy! They had been watching Bailey for us since our Chicago trip. A week without him is a LONG time! After being greeted by Bailey's welcome ceremony my misery disappeared! My in-laws even made the night better by telling us we were going out for Thai for dinner! My second favorite Thai restaurant is Mekhong Thai in Wells.

I thought their straw design was too much fun not to share

Salad with yummy ginger dressing

Spring rolls for the table

Then my entree, drunken noodles which is a "spicy noodle dish. Pan fried rice noodles with your choice of meat, eggs, onions, broccoli, carrots, red pepper, bamboo shoots, basil leaves and a spicy chili paste". It was meatless Friday so I got shrimp! I have never had drunken noodles before but I will definitely be having them again! YUM!

My day was all better by the end of dinner!