Monday night chaos

Daddy's gone for two weeks, basketball night, Scouts night....it's got to be easy.  Crockpot to the rescue.  Pot roast with carrots, potatoes and onions.  The house smelled so good when I first got home.  Now dashing out to pick up the basketball boys.  Mason will be so glad to have a warm meal when he gets home!

Wrappin' up the week!

Mason requested corned beef.  The boy loves his meat.  Always one of my favorites.

Saturday night!

Dragon rolls!  I can't really take credit for this one.  Love ya, Akio!

saturday

Buckwheat pancakes thanks to my friend, Bob.  Thanks for treating me to your secret recipe, Bob!  Ummm, good!

Friday night delight

Dinner was a stretch tonight.  But dessert was good.  AL

Soup time

Finally, the soup is done.  The house has smelled good all day.  Our sore throats are going to love this!  Day 2, simply chop up all your vegetables and let them simmer in the broth at a very low simmer.  Saute your onions, mushrooms, etc in a little butter before adding to pot.  At the end you can add in precooked wild rice, noodles, etc.  I finish it off with fresh herbs, whatever I have around.  Always makes the soup!   Served tonight with warmed Brie cheese topped with cranberry chutney and fresh made bread. Enjoy!

Soup!

One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is the leftovers!  And my very favorite thing.....SOUP!  Everyone always asks me how I make the soup.  Well, here you go, my friends.  It is a two day process usually.  So here is the "fun" part.  Day 1...take the bones from the meat and roast them in the oven, 350 degrees for an hour or so.  Pull them out and then put them and all the drippings in a stockpot.  Add extra broth as needed.  Simmer on low heat for several hours.  Now comes the REALLY fun part!  Strain all the broth to filter out the junk floating in the broth.  This may take a while.  Use a fat separator to remove all the fat.  Now the hard part is done!  You can freeze the stock for later use or make a lot of soup and then freeze it (which is what I usually do).  Either way, you can't beat fresh made broth.  I never throw away any kind of bones.  If you can't get to it right away, just wrap them up and put them in the freezer until you can.  In a few days I plan to take the ham bone and make more soup. Since we have sore throats today it will be just the thing....In the meantime, ham tetrazzini and pumpkin pie a la mode.

Change of Pace

Goin' Mediterranean for a change.....with friends.  Thank you, Lord, for all your grace and goodness!

The Big Day

Oh, my, I forgot all about taking the pictures.  I was too busy serving dinner.  Here are a few highlights.  We made two turkeys, ham and all the fixin's.  (Don't forget about PIE for dessert!).

More Pie!

OK.  I am behind on the posting as we have had a houseful this weekend.  I have missed documenting many dinners, but here are a few highlights......
....Just when you thought it was over, there comes MORE PIE!  Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without my pumpkin pie.  A surefire favorite, I got the recipe a number of years ago from a friend who said it came from a specialty deli.  To serve, you drizzle a little homemade warm caramel sauce on the plate, top with the pie, and top it off with either ice cream or whipped cream. Guess we will be eating a lot of pie!!!!!!!!

PIE

PIE!  It's what's for dinner! (And breakfast and lunch.....)!  Chocolate macadamia nut pies......

Pressure Cooker!

Well, tonight I was uninspired after a busy week at work.  My "always in-the-know" friend, Bob, had mentioned that he often takes a whole chicken and cooks it in the pressure cooker for 20 minutes and then finishes it off on the grill with some barbecue sauce, so when I found the whole chickens on sale at Fresh Market today I decided to give it a try.  Well, Bob, help me here.  It took the pressure cooker like 45 minutes to begin to jiggle.  Then, once we cooked it for 20 minutes it was overdone.  I opted out of the barbecue and simply drizzled a little olive oil and an herb medley on top of it and grilled it for about five minutes.  All in all, it was pretty good, but will try to cut down on the time in the pressure cooker next time.  The drippings will make for good soup though and I am planning on that for tomorrow.  I am always amazed at how far a whole chicken will go!  Served the dinner tonight with acorn squash, salad and a few new potatoes.  No one complained!  Happy Friday all!

Franks

Basketball tonight.   Great game, Squires, despite the last minute loss.  I am too emotionally drained after all that basketball angst.  Franks Pizza to the rescue.  Sure hit the spot, and it was ready by the time we got there to pick it up.  May have to make that a basketball night tradition.  And you probably thought I never picked up pizza!

Hugs to the Husband!

Well, the morning started with MORE food (are you beginning to see a pattern here?).  I woke up to smell of bacon and came down to find Kevin had made omelettes (sorry, no picture; the boys had devoured theirs!).  I was still so full from dinner that I settled for a little one.  Had class tonight so Kevin made leftover risotto and barbecued chicken.  Guess I'll have to try to get creative by tomorrow night!  Thanks, Honey, for all you do!

Parmesan-Crusted Chicken Cutlets and Saffron Risotto

Today was a gross, rainy day - perfect for cooking a nice warm meal and staying in tonight.  My good friend, Kimberley, recommended the Rubus Chardonnay from Russian River Valley (AWESOME CHOICE!) and, trust me on this one, NOTHING could be bad with this little nectar from Heaven!  Thanks, Kimberley!  (If you have never visited her shop, Wine Gourmet, go and be pampered and guided.  She's the best!).   Halfway through the bottle we had a light appetizer of Alouette Garlic and Herb cheese spread on Wheat Thins with a sliver of sundried tomato on top (again, I could just stop here and eat this for dinner and be very happy, but the "dudes" in the family want their meat!).  I then spent the next 90 minutes cranking out saffron risotto and parmesan-crusted chicken.  It was delicious, although I think the saffron was a little too sophisticated for the boys' tastebuds.   They loved the chicken.  I am sure we will do this again (let me have another glass of wine and reflect on that!).  Best part....there's enough for leftovers tomorrow night!

Leftovers!

Can you ever have too much of a good thing?  Well, leftovers are one of my favorite things!

Baja's Pinto Beans over brown rice with a small side salad

This weekend has been a literal food-fest in celebration of my birthday! Not too hungry, but the troops seem to always be starving. Decided to try to use up stuff I had in the pantry. Appetizer consisted of Wheat Thins topped with red pepper jelly and Parmesan Reggiano cheese sliced thin, accompanied with the mandatory glass of red wine. (Frankly, I could just stick with that for my dinner). Dinner was spicy Baja pinto beans over brown rice and a nice spinach salad. I sent Kevin (my husband) to the store to get a jalapeno and he came back with a habanero pepper instead. The dish ended up being a bit on the spicy side, with a hint of brown sugar. All in all, it ranked about a 5 on the scale.

Baja's Pinto Beans over brown rice with a small side salad

    

 Today's dinner had a high amount of spice in it. Very spicy but was made favorable by the brown sugar used while cooking the beans. All in all the family liked it but it could of used a little bit of work on the texture side.  (This was Mason's comment.  Quite the little food critic....) 

Me and the Family

OK. Here we go.  I am a blessed wife and mother of two boys, all of whom have a love of food that transcends the usual fast food fare most families gravitate to these days.  Suffice it to say these boys are a little spoiled, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  I love when it gets all of us into the kitchen together at night and we all compare notes at the end of the meal. There is a huge sense of satisfaction knowing  my children will be able to take care of themselves once they leave home and are out on their own.  Sure, we have one who likes the occasional Chick-Fil-A sandwich, but he doesn't turn his nose up at much other than acorn squash.  Of course, when beef is on the menu he is in heaven.  As I celebrate my 48th birthday this weekend I was trying to think of a fun project; the family thought it would be a good idea to blog our nightly meals for an entire year, complete with photos (taken with my new digital camera, no less....maybe this is really all about making me learn how to use the darn thing!).  Never having done this before, I beg your patience with me.