New Years Eve

The party was a success last night! Ken was thoroughly surprised as we tricked him into thinking it was an early New Years Party. Let's see, today was a chill day as we were out really late this morning. :) Needless to say, I didn't cook what I had intended to cook. But I did finally cook a Rustic Italian sauce I purchased at Trader Joe's earlier in the month. Along with a potato gnocchi I purchased a couple of days ago. I have to say when I opened the sauce, I was enveloped in the wonderful aromas escaping from their sealed in freshness. The sauce was wonderful. Neither of us was taken by the gnocchi. Even though the gnocchi wasn't bad, we both thought the texture was something in our way. I won't rule them out, but I won't buy that same kind again.

Eve of New Years Eve Party

We partied on December 30 with our friends in celebration of Ken's birthday. Jen made stinky beans which was so GOOD! Alisa made sticky rice and chicken. Michi brought cocktail shrimp and sauce. And there were purchased potstickers. I took the most chocolatey cake ever made. It weighed 7 pounds and was so good, but my taste buds have changed and it was way too sweet for me.

PIZZA

I had a meal planned for tonight but we had to go to Costco instead and pickup stuff for tomorrow night's party at a friend's house. Anyway we bought a pizza from Costco. Trouble is, it is a 17" SQUARE. I have a round pizza stone and it is not 17". I keep the pizza stone in my oven at all times. I believe it helps to redistribute the heat better within that electric box. I put the square pizza on the round stone and it hung off the stone and each corner burned and the smoke detector started going off and scaring the cat and he was like "don't you smell it burning" "AHHHHHHHHHH"!!!!!!!!!!!! I did smell something but didn't put it together that the pizza was burning. He moved it up to the top rack and it finished the cooking process and ALL disasters were abruptly averted. The pizza was descent and in a pinch will do again. BUT I saw Alton Brown on Good Eats make his pizza crust from scratch and I am definitely going to try it. Now I have made pizza crust before. My mother-in-law always made her pizza crusts with some type of Bisquick mixture. His aunt owned a pizza shop at one time. I used a hot roll mix to mix my crust before which was a good crust. BUT Alton's was from total scratch, with all that rising and everything.

Balsamic Dinner (Halibut and Cipolline Onions)

We cooked Roasted Cipolline Onions in a Balsamic Marinade, Halibut in a Balsamic Marinade, and Couscous. The onions were really good, but after eating a couple, they became really sweet. The fish was good, but Halibut is a different tasting fish from the others we've had. He did not like the couscous. While these recipes were tasty, I think the menu needs to be revamped. It was too much sweet and too much Balsamic. The original menu was going to be steamed broccoli with corn, so maybe that will be a better menu.

Chicken Marsala with Sauteed Vegetables and Navy Beans

My newest recipe to try. "Chicken Marsala" I watched Food 911 with Tyler Florence a couple of days ago on Food Network and he made Chicken Marsala for a guy who was cooking for his band. I took my time preparing this meal and from start to finish I invested less than two hours. This included cutting up the vegetables for the sauteeing and pulling everything out of the cabinet and just taking my time to do it right. The chicken marsala dish only took about 30 minutes from start to finish. In the show, Tyler flamed the Chicken Marsala. We flamed ours too. This was our first time flaming a dish. The flame went really high and hit the microwave. But nothing caught on fire. It was fun and we'll definitely do it again. The taste was great! Definitely a keeper recipe. Though the menu needs to be improved. I think potatoes would have worked better and been something to soak up the juice. The veggies were really good but I need more practice with stir-frying and sauteeing.

Leftovers

Throughout today we just ate ham leftovers. Ham and biscuits, Ham sandwiches, Ham, Ham, Ham...

Christmas Day Dinner

I'm a FoodTV addict and can just listen to it all day long. Granted there are a few shows that don't appeal to me, but the majority I love. One of my favorite shows is "Good Eats" with Alton Brown. His "Ham I Am" episode featured him cooking a city ham and a country ham. But living in the Pacific Northwest, real hams are hard to find. We finally found a ham in natural juices on the bone that we cooked up. We glazed it with a bourbon, brown sugar, gingersnap, brown mustard glaze. It is definitely a keeper recipe. We also cooked Purple Hull Peas, the southern way. And I made "Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes." Along with some frozen Pillsbury rolls, which are perfect because you can keep them frozen and only cook what you need. We are both so STUFFED! But we'll have some good eatin' the next few days.

Christmas Day Breakfast

This morning I cooked "Corn Grits" otherwise known as "Polenta." They had a different texture than the white grits we are used to, but I added a little cream and butter and they really had a creamy flavor. I will definitely make them again. I cooked some bacon in the microwave and he had some toast to go along with his meal. It was a nice change from the fast-paced day to day quick breakfast I normally have.

Christmas Eve Dinner

We had Grilled Ahi Tuna with a Lime Tomato Garlic Sauce, and Smothered Okra with Tomatoes over rice. Not surprising but the two dishes really, really complimented each other. This is definitely a keeper meal.

Christmas Eve Breakfast - Pancakes (plain and blueberry)

He made pancakes this morning. He substituted cream for half of the milk and this really added flavor. He separated out half the batter and added frozen blueberries to mine. Very good!

Leftovers

I had leftover steak and he had leftover chicken and we both had leftover cheesy pasta. What can you say about leftovers?

Cheesy 'Lil Smokies Pasta and Roasted Chicken

We had some leftover penne pasta in the fridge and added cheese and pork 'lil smokies browned in olive oil to create "Cheesy 'Lil Smokies Pasta." When we were at the store they had some freshly roasted chickens and I picked out a Southwest Roasted Chicken to complement the Mac and Cheese. Dinner was very good. I love the lil smokies sausage cooked in with the mac and cheese.

Mexican Food

We actually went to a restaurant - Jalisco's Mexican Restaurant! Mmmm.....Mexican Food! I had beef fajitas and he had an enchilada and a burrito. We love our Mexican food!

Leftovers

I had leftover pasta with a roasted garlic alfredo sauce topped with sundried tomatoes and mushrooms. He had leftover steak and fries. We cook way too much food when we cook, which would be excellent if I would take the leftovers as lunch, but I don't.

Steak and Potatoes

Last night we cooked ribeye steaks in the oven, marinated in Worcestershire sauce and topped with sauteed onions. I had a baked potato topped with butter and cheese. He had some seasoned fries. Steak was very, very good!

Leftovers

We kinda cleaned out the leftovers throughout the day. I know I had Chinese a couple of times. I slept for about 4 hours during the Seahawks football game. I just wasn't feeling well.

Chinese Food

We were hanging out with our friends Amanda and Judy today and ordered take-out from the local Chinese restaurant, Chang's. Between the four of us this is what we brought home Hot and Sour Soup, Shrimp Fried Rice, Almond Fried Boneless Chicken with gravy, General Tso's Chicken, and Chicken Chow Mein. It was enough for 4 people and plenty of leftovers tomorrow. We watched the movie "Mr & Mrs Smith" with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt at their house too. It was ok, but mostly so unbelievable that it really scored low in our book. Plus I just have problems with their whole "non" relationship. Just tell the truth and get over it.

Pasta Dinner with Cajun Shrimp

I love pasta, but he isn't a big fan. On nights when there is absolutely no suggestions, I turn to old faithful and cook pasta. We had Penne Pasta with a Roasted Garlic Alfredo Sauce cooked with mushrooms and sundried tomatoes. Then he seasoned shrimp with a cajun seasoning and cooked them in a skillet. It was really, really good. I just used a purchased sauce and kicked it up with the mushrooms and sundried tomatoes. The shrimp was seasoned with a purchased premade cajun seasoning.

Thursday's Dinner

I have absolutely no idea what we had to eat on Thursday night.

Leftovers

We cleaned out our refrigerator and I had leftover Tequila Lime Chicken with Black Beans over rice. He had leftover chicken wings and smashed potatoes.

Blackened Swordfish w/ Garlic Parmesan Smashed Potatoes

Last night was our first time blackening anything. It was an interesting episode but the food was well worth it. We created our own blackening seasoning mix and we served it with a Creole Cajun Cream Sauce that I adapted from a couple of recipes I found on the internet. Our side dish was Garlic Parmesan Smashed Potatoes. This was definitely a keeper recipe.

Leftovers

I had leftover tequila lime chicken with black beans over rice and he had a couple of burgers. What can you say about leftovers?

Tequila Lime Chicken with Black Beans and Corn over Rice

Tonight's dinner was sooooooo good. Tequila Lime Chicken and a black bean dish over rice. Yummy! I love this meal. The chicken is marinated in a citrus mix and the black bean dish complements those flavors so well. I only cook my black bean dish in a cast iron skillet. It is the perfect cookware to conduct the right amount of heat for the proper cooking.

Hamburgers

We haven't had hamburgers in a while so tonight we had grilled hamburgers stuffed with onions, mushrooms and seasonings. I should have put a little Worcestershire Sauce or A1 in them, but they were delicious! We had roasted garlic parmesan herb yukon gold potatoes. Yum.

Quick Seafood Dinner

I boiled some shrimp with crab boil, crushed red pepper, fresh ground pepper and salt. Baked a few purchased stuffed crabs and fried some potatoes. It was a quick dinner.

Leftovers

Leftover brats and canned soup for dinner tonight.

Grilled Ahi Tuna with Rice

Last night we had grilled ahi tuna with rice and lime-tomato-garlic sauce. The sauce really complimented the tuna but overall the sauce was way to citrus tasting for me. However, the grilled ahi tuna was fantastic. It was grilled to a medium rare and tasted really good. Grilled Ahi Tuna is definitely a keeper recipe. We had just white rice cooked in chicken broth and butter.

Leftovers

I had leftover brats last night with french fries. Instead of eating a sandwich, I cut my brat into bite size pieces and mixed it in with my sauerkraut mixture. Then I took my crunchy shoestring curly fries and mixed those in with it. Every bite had potato, brat, and kraut. It was delish!

Seahawks, Sauerkraut and Brat Supper

Monday Night Football: Last night the Seattle Seahawks played against the Philadelphia Eagles and won 42 to 0. We needed a quick meal to cook so we could watch the game. Bratwurst and sauerkraut was our choice. It was very good! I should have taken a picture but we were in a hurry. We ate our brats on buns with the sauerkraut mixture on top. The quick side dish was fries and onion rings. Unfortunately, the onion rings were not very good and were very heavy in grease. But the curly fries were good and the seasoned fries went fast.

Christmas Tree and Steaks

I put up our Christmas tree today. It is a beautiful artificial tree we bought last year after Christmas for $35, it was regularly $250 - it was a great bargin! But it took me forever to put it up. Fortunately, it is pre-lit so I didn't have to deal with stringing lights. We still had snow on the ground so we stayed home and chilled. For dinner, we had Grilled Cowboy Peppercorn Steak and Rustic Rounds. Leaving the peel on, I sliced potatoes really thin and I thought those were the best. I did try to slice them using my grater but that turned into a potential knuckle buster so I cut the rest with the knife. The steaks were delicious.

Chicken Creole

I cooked Chicken Creole last night and served it over rice. It was delish. The only bad thing about this dish is it is very warm the next day so I don't eat the leftovers.