Thanksgiving 2011

So this year I am hosting my first Thanksgiving meal.  My parents and brothers are coming to my house for dinner on Saturday.  Looking forward to cooking a meal for my parents, being able to choose what I want to serve and staying home.

Here is what I am cooking:

Herb Butter Turkey
Traditional Stuffing and Gravy
Cranberries
Skillet Green Beans with Lemon and Garlic
Mashed Potatoes

Knotted Dinner Rolls

Pumpkin Cheesecake
Blue Ribbon Apple Pie
Pecan Pie

Cooking November 2011

So I fell off the Blog updating wagon.  Life is busy and I feel exhausted by the end of the day. 

As for cooking, I have had many successful dishes made.  This month I am trying to master
bread baking.  Not just sandwich bread but french bread, ciabaitta and rustic italian. 
The French bread was loved by everyone in my family.  The Ciabatta was a utter failure and
the Rustic Italian was edible but not what I was hoping for.  The bread baking process
takes up to 2 days.  I have to really decide whether the house is going to be cleaned or whether
we are going to eat fresh bread.  There is no time for both.

Successful and delicious recipes loved by my family (not necessarily myself)

Pork and Sausage Ragu 
Fine Cooking magazine Nov 2011

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
Fine Cooking Magazine Oct 2011
Absolutely delicious!  Very time consuming.
Made my first homemade Chicken Broth

Potato and Leek Soup
ATK

Molasses and Chocolate Chip Cookies
Real Food
(Priya's favorite)

Pecan Pie
(have not mastered the pie crust) 

Rustic Italian Dinner Rolls
Ok, Jack thought they were great

Chocolate Chip Cookies
ATK  Jack made them for his teacher, bus driver and Auntie Martha

Spiced Pumpkin Bread
Jack's favorite.  ATK

Blueberry Buckle
ATK
Made for a baby shower that I hosted.

Quiche Lorainne
Quiche Broccolli and Cheddar
Quiche Asparagus and Grueye
Spinach Feta Frittata



Not great:
Chicken Burgers with Red Cabbage and Apple Slaw
Sour Cream and Leek Mashed Potatoes
Oatmeal Muffins

Amelia Faith Smith

Stacee Smith had her 3rd child Amelia Faith Smith.  Here are a few photos of her adorable girl in the hat I knit for her.  Then another photo of the sweater and booties.

Moonen Dinner

Mike celebrating his 36th Birthday.  We had the Moonen Family over for a BBQ.  For dinner we had

Hamburgers stuffed with Blue Cheese
 Grilled Corn on the Cob with a Lime-Chive Butter
 Smashed Red Potatoes with EVOO.
Dessert was Chocolate Cupcakes and Cheesecake

Reggae Festival in Duluth, MN

A super fun weekend with Andrea Moonen, Aleeyah Sheenan and myself.  We left on Friday afternoon for a road trip to Duluth, stayed at the Holiday Inn that overlooked the Canal.  It was beautiful with exceptional weather. 

Festival Food
Turkey Leg for $7
Plantains for $4
Jeremieah Sweet Tea for $6

Sushi at a sushi joint.  I had an avocado roll and sweet potato tempura roll.  Both decent.  I like Crave better.

Angie's Cantina for drinks were soo sweet that I got horrible gut rot.  It was not fun.

People watching was not as great as the State Fair but pretty close.  It is amazing what alcohol, sunshine and reggae will do to some.  Puking in the pretend "forest" , dancing in a bikini/wrap with a muffin top jiggiling and a man laying down in the middle of the park.  The best was an 80 + guy wearing a pot leaf shirt (about 4 sizes too big) carrying a Jamaican flag around for 11 hours. 

Great food, great friends and great weather.

Tavern on France

Tonight we went out to dinner.  It seemed like one of those weekends where Jim was busy working on house projects all day and I was not itching to cook.  First we took a little adventure to Ikea to look for curtains for our bedroom and then a "big" girl bed for Julia.  We were successful in both and what is even better is that Jim and I agreed. Yeah!

So to Tavern on France. We first had a drink outside which is pretty nice.  There is a firepit area and some cozy seating around it.  Jim got a extra large Summit beer and I had a Pomegranate Mojitio. My Mojito was very weak. For dinner I had a build your own salad which the waiter said I shouldn't have any problems with since I built it. Jim on the other hand had Fish Tacos which he said lacked a "kick"  it may have been there 2 extra large beers that filled him up.  Jack and Julia had mini hamburgers that took them less then 5 minutes to eat.  Think my kids like meat?  Too funny.

Our rating of the food was a 6 out of a 10. 

Grilling

Grilled Lemon-Parsley Chicken Breasts
Cooks Illustrated 2007 pg. 11

Very simple recipe to make. 
Would make again.  Everyone was happy.

Grilled Rosemary Garlic Red Potatoes
Cooks Illustrated 2007 pg. 9

Rhubarb Crisp

Homemade Pizza Dough

Lemon Lime Basil Shortbread Cookies

Food Photos

Alexandria

We are in Alexandria this weekend to hang out with my younger brothers.  My parents rarely get the chance to go out of town and us siblings never get the chance to be without our parents.  Needless to say it is a win-win for all of us.  Jack and Julia are having a great time eating food they never get to eat, watch endless amounts of cable TV and play in the hot tub.  Julia this weekend learned to float with her life jacket on.  She was always a little nervous.  How fun to have both kids confident in the water. 

Baking Photos

Pretzel Crusted Chicken with a Mustard Dill Dipping Sauce

Pretzel Chicken with a Mustard Dill Sauce
Fine Cooking Magazine


Cantalope and Plums with fresh mint.
Cooks Magazine
Ok, not worth making again.

Basil Lemondade
Yummy

New Restaurant Tilia

Located in Linden Hills, Tilia is a great place for breakfast.  Jim and I went for a breakfast date on Saturday.  I had the poached eggs in a parmasean cream sauce with a side of smattered hashbrowns.  Jim had steamed eggs in a brown buter bagna cauda.  To drink I had a latte and Jim enjoyed the coffee.  We went right when it opened which fills up fast.  I would love to check it out for lunch and dinner. 

Father's Day

Today we started the day by the kids giving Jim their gifts of popcorn boxes, ice cream sundae cups and iron man underwear.  Jim decided he would rather go to Lake Harriet for a walk and lunch at the Pickle and Chips.  Then we came home for nap and Jim had some alone time.  Now we have been working on going to the pool for about an hour.  What a long and drawn out process of trying to get out the door. 

I made the Almost No Knead Bread which is edible even though I did NOT follow the directions at all. I will post photos later.   So we tried the bread right out of the oven.  Jim thought it was great. Next time I am going to knead in green olives and parmesean. 

The second half of Father's Day was spent at Edina Pool, D'Amico's and then home for home made Peanut Buster Parfaits.

June

Not work cooking:
Bonappetit
Grilled Flatbread

RealFood
Summer Potato Salad w/ Whole-Lemon Vinaigrette

Gardening

This years garden is as follows:
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Peas
Green Beans
Watermelon
Broccolli
Lettuce

Herbs:
Rosemary
Tyme
Basil
Mint
Oregano
Parsley

Knitting

I started to knit 8 years ago.  It was always on my list of things I wanted to some day do and until I met my husband Jim, I hadn't picked it up.  When we were going to Puerto Vallarta (where we got engaged), Jim had said I should find a "hobby" for the plane ride.  Now 8 years later I have an addiction to yarn, yarn literature and any and everything to do with fibers. 

Recipes

So this week I have been busy making some new recipes.  I don't know what it is but summer always gets me in the mood to try new things.  Most of the recipes were winners and then there were a few I would never recommend.  This is my first attempt to start a blog.  I decided I would start blogging not only to let others know that it is ok to try new recipes but to also have a record for myself and family.  Let me know what you enjoy and hopefully we can all help each other find some balance in the kitchen.

Rhubarb Crisp
Betty Crocker Cookbook

Banana Bread
Secret

Almost NoKnead Bread
American Test Kitchen

Cannelini Bean-Kale Brushetta
American Test Kitchen

Watermelon Granita
Bonappetit

Roasted Pork Butt
American Test Kitchen
A pain to cook but Jim said it tasted great.

Roasted Cabbage
American Test Kitchen
super delicious!

Bread Crumb Spaghetti
Special recipe



Not Great:

Summer Potato Salad w/ whole-lemon vinaigrette
RealFood