Good Eats and Good Times!!

So the hubs and I celebrated 8 years of marriage the other week, June 24th to be exact.  Amazingly it has taken me one whole week to post about it. You'd think I would have TONS of time, this being the summer and not working and all. I have no excuses really. 

We decided to introduce PC to a local "beach." In a couple of weeks we will be spending a whole week at the beach...of course this will be a whole new experience and probably not as relaxing as we are used to.  But....it will be another memory to add to the books, so for that I am definitely excited! PC had her first experience of a "wave." As well as her first taste of sand - blech! I'm hoping that the sand was a negative experience.  

 Sunglass Friends!

" I'm not eating the sand I promise!"

For dinner we decided to eat in, we typically do, usually G makes dinner, but this year we decided to co-make the dinner. I made bruschetta (the appetizer) and dessert (creme brûlée). G made homemade gnocchi with a brown butter sage sauce and grilled asparagus! DELISH!

Brushetta recipe:
2 tomatoes diced up
2 garlic cloves (you can add red onion instead, but I am not a fan)
freshly chopped basil
salt/pepper to taste
1 tbs of EVOO
2 tbs of balsamic vinegar
diced up mozzarella
sliced up and toasted baguette sprinkle with EVOO before toasting

The "snakes" that's what G called them....

 Waiting to be boiled

 Brown Butter flakes sticking to the gnocchi perfectly- I almost licked my bowl clean, but I stayed classy!

 Ohhh and the vino was from our 5 year anniversary trip to Italy- it was amazing(both the trip and the wine...mmmm......)

 See the specks?! Not pepper! Fresh Vanilla bean   

       Topped with white sugar

 Mmm...the sugary crust

Fresh strawberries- shoulda made homemade whipped cream, next time! 

Creme Brûlée for Two!
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup white sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 vanilla bean

1) Mix white sugar and egg yolks with whisk until light yellow and creamy
2) bring heavy whipping cream and vanilla bean to a slow boil
3) Add the cream a little at a time stirring continually
4) Pour mixture into two ramekins
5) Place ramekin in a large cake pan, or I used my pyrex casserole dish- pour hot water all around until the water comes up half way
5) Bake @ 325 F degrees for 40-45 minutes until creme brûlée is set, but still trembly in the middle
6) Place in fridge to set 2-3 hours, or overnight
7) Remove from fridge add white sugar to the top spread evenly (I kind of shake the dish around-let sit out for 20 minutes)
8) Broil the creme brulee @ 500 degrees F for 1 1/2- 2 minutes- monitor to avoid burning

Tis the season for baking(no, it's not Christmas)

So....I baked about 5 dozen cupcakes the other night. Two types, red velvet with a cream cheese frosting and snickerdoodle with a fluffy vanilla frosting.

I did NOT use a box(not that there is anything wrong with that).  Boxed cakes are great too, really easy to make, less time consuming and usually very moist.  That's the kicker.  I'm not a fan of dry cake!

I also made the icing from scratch- usually if I do end up using a box then I will make the icing from scratch. But....being the overachiever on Monday, I did it all up! Gotta celebrate special co-workers :-)

My Martha Stewart Cupcake Cookbook and I are besties!
Snickerdoodle:

 I've learned that cracking the eggs into a bowl and then adding them one at a time(as directed) is easier than cracking them on the side(makes more dishes, but prevents any eggshells from getting in the mix).

 The Snickerdoodle mixture

Finished product! 

Red Velvet with a cream cheese frosting:  You can't have red velvet cupcakes without the cream cheese frosting. Mmm....

Cream Cheese frosting Recipe:
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
12 ounces cream cheese at room temp.
4 cups confectioners sugar sifted
3/4 tsp of vanilla extract
1) Beat Butter and cream cheese together until smooth
2) Add 1/2 cup of sifted confectioners

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting Recipe:
3 sticks of unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 lb (4 cups) of confectioners sugar sifted
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1) Using an electric mixture beat the butter until creamy and pale
2) Add confectioners sugar about 1/2 cup at a time
3) Add vanilla- beat until smooth and fluffy

A New Healthy Snack

Roasted Chickpeas....mmmmm......

There's a restaurant here that makes fried chickpeas with a lemon pepper. Soooo yummy! Plus, chickpeas are high in protein, of course frying them makes them a little less healthy. They also have iron(which I need), folate, phosphorus and dietary fiber.  We don't own a deep fryer- if we did it would be game over! I'd try and fry everything lol, so it's really good that we don't! But....you can roast chickpeas and they still get crunchy and delicious.

You can coat them with anything, make them sweet, make them savory, make them salty.....We all love to pop something crunchy and these are a lot healthier than potato chips. Full of protein! Bring on the Chickpea!

I'm a big fan of spicy, so of course I made my first batch was a chipotle garlic.

Drain and Rinse

 Spices:

 Before Roasted:

After Roasted: Definitely ~*SpIcY*~

Ingredients:
2  tablespoons olive oil
2 cans Garbanzo Beans, drained, rinsed and patted dry(so the EVOO sticks to it)
1 tsp paprika powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
salt, to taste

Preheat Oven to 425 degrees.
Combine the mixture and stir gently
Spread the chickpeas in a single layer on the baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes until brown and crunchy
Make sure you check on them and stir them up gently - you don't want them to burn! (I stir like every 10 minutes)

Next batch is gonna be garlic parmesan! 

It's a soup kind of day

Thanks to Punxsutawney Phil we will have 6 more weeks of winter.  Although, when you think of it, Spring doesn't come for awhile anyway.....but....it's ok because I am a big fan of winter, well more like snow. The cold weather without the snow isn't quite as epic.

Today is one of those days where I don't really want to get out of my pjs. I just want to sit curled up on the couch with a good book and blanket. However, today I am curled up while PC naps, watching the Olympics. We didn't want to venture out, but alas we needed food for the week. So we bundled up and trudged out.  I decided that I wanted to make Zuppa Toscana.  If you have ever been to Olive Garden, then you know what I'm talking about. I mean who doesn't love unlimited soup, salad and breadsticks?!

So we bought, spicy sausage, potatoes, kale, chicken broth, heavy cream and of course bread.

Thank goodness for the crockpot.  I cooked up the sausage, added 2 diced garlic cloves and half a chopped onion. Added those to the crock pot with 4 cups of chicken broth and 2 cups of water. I sliced the potatoes thinly and also added them to the pot. Then I set it to cook for 4 hours.  After 4 hours I added 1 cup of heavy cream, 3-4 cups chopped kale and salt and pepper to taste.  Then I let the soup cook an additional 1-2 hours.

I  had a lot of kale left over and it isn't a typical vegetable that Gary and I eat so....I made kale chips. I chopped off the leaves and then tore them smaller. I washed the kale and then I added a tablespoon of EVOO some kosher salt and then garlic powder. I made two batches, the other batch also had chipotle chili powder. I spread the kale onto a cookie sheet and baked for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. I rotated the sheet 180 degrees at the 5 minute mark.

Garlic and Salt

Garlic, Salt and Chipotle Chili Powder- may have added too much, kinda spicy

What's your favorite crock pot soup to make? I'd love to hear some recipes! 

Super bowl Treats

What kind of goodies are you making for the Super bowl? 

We are having a low key night, having some friends over, because of course, we have a baby.  I actually don't mind taking her out......but she's just getting over a cold, so, probably better to stay in.  I also think that it would be great to have the Super Bowl on a Saturday instead of a Sunday, because honestly, who wants to go into work after eating, drinking and staying up later than normal(ok maybe I'm the only one staying up past her bedtime.) What time do I go to bed you ask? Well 9:00, no, I am not 12 years old, but I know I am one of those people who need their 8 hours of sleep. Plus I still wake up at least once a night to feed so it isn't a pure 8 hours.  Don't judge....if I could get by with 6 hours of sleep it would make my days much longer and maybe more productive. Ha! Who am I kidding? I'd probably be less productive....

Anywho....we cheered for the Broncos. I am a big fan of Peyton Manning, I dunno why, lie, I do know why.  He's a great quarter back. He also just seems so real, so approachable.  I could be completely off, but he is just so likable.  He's not a pretty boy, he isn't showy. He's likable!

 I guess no one told the Broncos that they were playing in the Super Bowl. Whoops!!! I do admire how Peyton responded after the Super Bowl. True class!

Someone wanted to help mommy bake!

Today also happens to be the hubs' birthday. I allowed him to choose the cupcakes he would like from my wonderful Martha Stewart Cupcake book. Being the beer LOVER that he is, he choose the Stout Cupcake with the Stout Icing, he of course supplied the Stout. Based on the recipe, they are definitely more a spiced cupcake with molasses, cinnamon and orange zest.  The icing only called for 1/4 cup stout and 2 cups sifted confectioners sugar. I also added some vanilla extract to give it a little more depth.

We are also trying Beer-Candied Bacon. I found the recipe here. I mean, Bacon, Beer, right up every guys alley and seems perfect to go with our super bowl treats. Hopefully it turns out right. We purchased the thick cut skin off bacon from our local market. We chose to use an Octoberfest because it is maltier.

 This was delicious! This will be happening again.

 This little girl was no impressed with the football game.

We also served our barbacoa, cilantro rice and corn salsa tacos..... you can find the recipe here.

Our friends brought some other goodies:

A cheese and charcuterie plate

7-Layer Taco Dip

and.....venison dip in a bread bowl (forgot to take a picture)

This was definitely not(at least in my mind) your typical Super Bowl food.  I mean at least not college days of pizza, and frozen treats heated in the oven. I thought we classed it up a bit more. Too bad we had waaaayyyy too much food, but that's ok because now we have leftovers! Holla!

Barbacoa

I love Tacos! Fresh ones, especially from food trucks! YUMMMMM!!!

I got my recipe from here, but I didn't have a pressure cooker so I used our slow cooker. I love our slow cooker add all the ingredients, push the button and go about your day. Then several hours later mmm....deliciousness....well hopefully.

Fresh Ingredients! Yummy!

I pureed the "sauce" mixture in my food processor. *Side note, I wish that when I had done my wedding registry I had done better research on a blender/food processor.  My Cuisinart blender is SO loud! It seriously hurt my ears.  Crazily enough PC slept through the whole screeching process.

I purchased 3 lbs of bottom round roast which I cut up into 5 chunks. I then browned the meat on all sides in oil. I then added the meat to the crock pot and poured my "sauce" on top of the meat. I then set the crock pot for 6 hours.

Cilantro Rice:

 I cooked jasmine rice in our rice cooker, normal style, 2-1(two cups of water to one cup of rice) I also added a tablespoon of EVOO and some salt.  Once the rice was done I added lime juice and fresh chopped cilantro.

Corn Salsa:

1/2 of a red onion, diced
chopped cilantro
4 cups of cooked corn
2 tomatoes diced
Chipotle Chili powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 jalapeño peppers seeds removed (I added a few for extra spice)
**Note: I've never chopped a hot pepper before. Next time I will wear gloves. I didn't realize how potent the oils from the pepper were. I thought I was being careful. washed my hands and HA! I then rubbed my nose and OWWWWW! Yeah, nose burning, sucked!! I was so worried I was going to touch my eye and of course I wear contacts.  And to top it all PC has been chewing/sucking on my fingers lately. I was so scared that I was going to get the oil on her or in her mouth. Thankfully I don't think she got any. Although I could SWEAR that there was still spice under my nails like a day later! WEAR GLOVES people!

We of course had leftovers.  We've been trying to be a lot more savvy with our dinners. Trying to use up leftovers. We are trying to save money.

So, with our leftovers the other night we had

Barbacoa Tacos!

We used flour tortillas.

***Snow Day!***

What are some of your favorite things to do on a snow day?

Yesterday we had a snow day and we have another one today! As a teacher, there is nothing better! 

And so it begins.....

Someone is super excited for Snow!

I'm a big fan of traditions....
Gary and I have the tradition of walking in the snow, even if it is snowing at midnight. Actually walking in the snow at midnight is so peaceful. There are usually no cars out and most likely not people, except for us adventurers.  I love walking down the middle of snowy streets, being bundled up, frolicking through the beautiful soft white flakes.  So, of course we have to continue the tradition with PC. So far we've had two walks in the snow....the last two "snows" were not really that epic, but snow is snow and I will take what I can get here in the district.

Not quite sure what to make of the white stuff.

So, other than hanging out in our PJs, watching some movies, snuggling and taking our walk I'm starting a new tradition.

PC hanging out in her PJs

What movies did we watch you ask?! Why, the Fast and the Furious 6 of course and Immortal Bones....Ever since watching the first Fast and the Furious back in what, high school I've been addicted. I mean Paul Walker(RIP) and Vin, come on! haha.....the only true fall was Tokyo Drift, I love the Ludacris, I mean Chris(his more serious side), Tyrese and the Rock are in in. Classic!  So while the snow falls down, PC naps and we are snuggled up on the couch.

Homemade pretzels! 

Mmmmm.....who doesn't want to come home after a chilly wintery walk to a cup of hot chocolate and fresh homemade pretzels. I can't wait for Charlotte to be able to truly enjoy these traditions as much as Gary and I do.

 Yeast in 1 1/4 warm water and 1 tsp sugar

 4 cups flour, 1 1/2 tsp salt , 1/2 cup sugar; create a well then add 1 tbs oil and yeast/water mix

 Kneaded for 7-8 min until smooth, I used my Kitchen Aid! Win!

 Let sit for an hour covered near warmth so that the dough rises. Then divide into 12 sections. I used our pizza cutter, kinda like Auntie Anne's.

 Roll dough out and then dip into 1/2 cup baking soda and warm water

 I also brushed my pretzels with butter before, during and after

Bon Appetite!

****Happy Snow Day Y'all!!!****