Merry (almost) Christmas!

From Jett, the Reindeerpug!

Ornament Exchange

A few coworkers and I started a tradition of doing an ornament exchange for Christmas. Last year I decided I would make mine instead of buying something I didn't like. This year I came up with these!
I really do think I need my own Etsy account. SQUIRREL!!! And acorn. :)

Taking requests for Christmas 2011!

I like to eat Christmas ornaments!

Thanksgiving Leftover Breakfast

G has been eating leftover pie for breakfast for the past couple of days, but I wanted something a bit more filling. So I made some pan-fried stuffing cakes, which were really yummy...it's crispy, fried bread, people, what's not to like about that?! Also had an egg and a leftover biscuit. My right side is cramping up again, but it was worth it! :)

November Comfort Food

November's been a rather busy month, so I haven't been cooking as much. But, with the change in weather and the dark nights, the dishes I've made in the last few weeks have mostly tended to be comfort food. I made a giant batch of sweet, salty, and savory olive oil granola...it was seriously so delicious and easy, I don't think I will ever buy pre-made granola again! Ingredients included pistachios, pumpkin seeds, coconut chips, dried cherries, maple syrup, brown sugar, salt, and olive oil (which apparently is generally not used for granola). The olive oil adds this savory and slightly bitter aftertaste to the granola that balances the sweet and salty.


I also made some polenta topped with sauteed chard in balsamic vinegar and sunny-side up eggs. If you're looking for a warm, filling dinner, this is the dish for you! It's not the prettiest dish once you break the eggs and mix everything up, but it's amazing to eat!

Cold weather fare....

Another long overdue post...October came and went and here we are with Thanksgiving around the corner.

Our Halloween was mellow, no carving and zero trick or treaters. I made some French onion soup and we watched the "Crazies".

Ready to get ooey and gooey:

I guess you can never have too much cheese.

We ate it all up! It was delish and satisfying! Next time, I think I'll let the onions carmelize a bit more... But after 45 minutes I got impatient. Story of my life.

I also made these halloweenies for work. Long story short, our company likes to hold festive potluck contests with cash prizes. Although everyone ate up my pigs in blankets disguised as mummies/Afghanis, I didn't win.

It was this delicious Pumpkin soup that took first prize and I recreated it this weekend. I don't know why but I've been on a soup kick with the recent change in weather.

We also had these smoked salmon appetizers:

I blame my point and shoot camera for my lack of posting. We've had a few meals that have tasted and looked better than my camera could capture... but I'm also a bit lazy. ;)

Excuses aside. I shall be better at this. Looking forward to Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween...and my neighbors suck!

Mitch came over the other day to carve some pumpkins. I made a skeleton...


Mitch (aka the "Master Carver" according to one of my neighbors), carved a cat sitting on a moon:


So adorable! And then while I struggled with my skull, she easily added a star and then a little spider off to the side:


Sadly, when I woke up this morning, I walked outside and saw that the pumpkin Mitch carved had been smashed. Not to pieces, but the top was all smashed in...I suspect my neighbor across the hall because she had a bunch of people over last night. And they like to sit on our front steps to smoke disgusting cigars and drink wine. The porch was a general mess this morning with cig butts everywhere, a broken wine bottle, and Mitch's ruined pumpkin. I haven't received any sort of apology and I'm pretty pist...ugh, people are so rude.

Anyway, Happy Halloween.

Roasted Garlic Bread

roasted garlic+butter+thyme...DELICIOUS!

Tomatoes, pizza, and skeletons!

I have some random things to share...

First, my Tiny Tim tomatoes are all grown up. Woo! They're very sweet and delicious...there are a few more ripening on the vine, so once those are picked, perhaps I will make something special with them. Or maybe I'll just eat them plain, since they're so yummy.


Second, we made some pizza on Friday night. We had leftover turkey sausage that we needed to use up, so we whipped up a pizza topped with caramelized onions, turkey sausage, gorgonzola, roasted red peppers, and basil. I also brushed the dough with some garlic/thyme/red chili pepper oil I made. G helped in the kitchen by making the dough...


Here's the oil simmering on the stove...


Before and after shots of the pizza:


I got a new pizza stone, which I used for the first time. Best purchase ever, the crust came out crisp and perfectly cooked!

Third random thing...don't mess with us or we'll hang you up on our door!


Random Halloween decorations from Target that now decorate the little window on our front door.


Now I'm off to eat some roasted garlic bread I made for dinner tonight! Pictures to come...

Papadums!

This is a month late...

We were super lucky to have gracious guests from across the pond prepare a homemade curry dinner! After hours of their hard labor... in no particular order, papadums, chicken, lamb curry, lentils, rice, cucumber & tomato salad, yogurt coconut mint sauce. YUM! I'm salivating as I post, waiting for tonights roast lamb dinner!

And I couldn't resist taking a picture of a meal G prepared last week. Baked salmon with Thai chili sauce, roasted asparagus and rice!

Sorry Blog...it's been a while!

Apologies for the long absence. It's been a busy few weeks, so it's been hard to post. Plus, I've been so tired after work that I was uninspired to cook for the past couple of weeks. So to make up for it, here's a mega post of random stuff I've made and/or eaten in the past few days...

We had a French-inspired Thursday night dinner a couple of weeks ago. I made some "French" mac & cheese that included fontina and goat cheese, grilled onions, sun-dried tomatoes, and olives. I forgot to take pictures of said pasta because we were hongry and gobbled it all up. But I made the same dish last week, with some roasted rosemary chicken.

Back to French Thursday night dinner, we made some creme brulee for dessert. I did manage to get a picture of that. It was delicious, but I highly recommend following the directions of using superfine sugar. I used regular sugar by accident and it took A LOT of sugar and a lot flame to get the top crispy brown.

Another delicious dessert treat we had -- these little heart-shaped lavender shortbread cookies from Whole Foods. Butter+Lavender=Amazing!

For dinner tonight, I took a break from the kitchen...because -- wait for it -- my dear husband cooked a delicious meal for us! He picked the dish -- spaghetti with sauteed turkey sausage, onions, and peppers -- and did an excellent job. Yum!

And now, good night!

Weekend meals

Weekly dinner was on Saturday night. I was originally going to make pizza, but when I realized it was going to be 90+ degrees, I looked for alternative recipes that did not require the use of an oven. So I went with a grilled panzanella salad, courtesy of my favorite person, Ina Garten. Ina's regular panzanella salad is delish, but her grilled version is heaven. I grilled up some red onions and red & yellow peppers on my handy panini press/griddler and made my own croutons.


In addition to the salad, I served some meats and cheese (p.s. I love my pear cheese board!), olives, and fruit. I also picked up these delicious fruit pastes from Whole Foods, they were a nice complement to the cheese.


On Sunday, while G watched hours and hours of football and munched on leftover cheese and crackers, I made myself some kimchi fried rice with spam for lunch. I used low-sodium spam, I guess I was kind of scared the regular spam would make me really bloated and thirsty. While it was still yummy, I think next time I will try the regular spam, because the dish just wasn't salty enough...and maybe add some more kimchi juice, for added flavor and color.

Yummy pasta

For dinner tonight, I made a simple pasta dish -- penne in a cream tomato sauce with basil, topped with parmesan and BACON. I use canned San Marzano tomatoes to make the sauce, which I highly recommend. The pasta doesn't look so pretty, but it was delicious!

We also had some La Brea Bakery olive bread with olive oil and the fancy balsamic. I finally had a chance to use the "vintage Italian" plates for the oil/vinegar. :) Too bad the vinegar covers the cute train drawings.

For drinks, a tall glass of purple milk:
J/k, it's just my favorite wine drank!

Chili for a chilly night

I woke up this morning with a serious chili craving...so after scouring the internets for good chili and cornbread (you can't eat chili without cornbread!) recipes, I headed to the market after work to pick up the necessary ingredients. Who knew you could put cocoa powder in chili? Here's my turkey chili cooking in my dutch oven, which is so much better than making it in a crock pot...the last time I tried the crock pot method, everything burned -- that's right, I somehow messed up a crock pot recipe!:

Yes, it's a giant pot, we will be eating chili for days.

As for the cornbread, I looked on the Food Network site and saw several unappetizing recipes by someone I won't call out by name (but she sure likes butta!)...and then I found a delicious-sounding Cheddar Dill Cornbread recipe by the Barefoot Contessa. I switched out the milk for creamed corn, which my favorite food blog, The Kitchn, says guarantees a moist cornbread. Here's the cornbread straight out of the oven, with some melted cheddar on top:

Sadly, the cornbread was a bit bland and too moist. How can three of my favorite things -- corn, dill, and cheese! -- be bland? No clue, but I couldn't really taste any of those ingredients, they seemed to cancel each other out.

Still dinner was delicious...I washed it all down with a nice glass of my new favorite wine drank, Tinto.