My Boyfriend made me Dinner

Roasted Chicken, Brussels Sprouts, and Potatoes

Brussels Sprouts in Balsamic Vinegar Reduction Sauce

Potatoes with Chicken Removed

Carving the Chicken

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Roasted Chicken- Rub with half a stick of butter all over the bird. Add spice mix to the butter and rub

Salt

Pepper

Oregano

Basil

Onion powder

Garlic Powder

Roast at 425 degrees for 1 and a half hours

Cut potatoes and lay in the bottom of glass pan with spice mix. Cover with olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Paprika

Garlic Powder

Oregano

Basil

Brussels Sprouts-Saute a balsamic vinegar reduction sauce in separate pan after steaming sprouts. Add spice mix

Mustard

Paprika

Salt

Pepper

Balsamic Reduction Sauce- Sauté balsamic vinegar with sugar and corn starch

Salad Dressing was Balsamic vinaigrette with fresh Cabbage, Chard, Carrots, and Hearts of Romaine lettuce. Dissolve salt and vinegar together then add mustard, then whip the oil in at the end.

1 Tablespoon Vinegar

1 Tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon of Mustard

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Pepper to taste

Chives on the potatoes are from my tiny home garden

Breakfast with Mother

Lemon Bars with Black Tea

I did the lemon filling in the blender

The crust cooked for 20 minutes

Add the filling

Browned around the edges means it is done

Eggs Benedict

I made a morning date with my mother on Sunday morning because my boyfriend was out of town. I made lemon bars the night before. I used the Smitten Kitchen recipe from my new cookbook by Deb. I used a rice flour/wheat flour mix for the crust which tends to make the crust more crumbly. The lemon bars came out perfect! The crust was flaky and did hold together.

When my mother arrived I made us smoothies out of bananas, frozen berries, agave syrup, and frozen orange juice cubes. I added a splash of water for consistency.

Soon after we drank up the smoothies, we decided to make eggs benedict. I had asked her to get english muffins but she misunderstood and brought bagels. No bother! I poached the eggs and made the hollandaise sauce. I toasted the bagels and added salt, pepper, sweet paprika, and cayenne pepper on top of the poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. The sauce came out very yellow because the eggs are free range and have lots of carotene in them.

We ate the eggs first. Then I made black tea and we ate the lemon bars. It was a 3 course breakfast and it was so delicious.

Pizza Revisited

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Prepping the dough

Add Sauce

Add Cheese

Add Ingredients 

Before

Finished

Pizza Revisited:

          We decided to do two doughs and two pizzas one night apart. This was to compare the doughs. In the book “Smitten Kitchen,” by Deb Perelam, she has two doughs: a fast dough and a dough you put in the fridge and use later. Tonight we used the dough from the refrigerator. We did not let the dough rise to room temperature like the recipe says to do. We missed that part. The dough softened as we went. It rose very slightly, but was the best pizza yet. It was soft inside and crispy on the outside.

          The sauce was reused from the night before, but Chris added more tomato paste and simmered it for a half an hour more. It was much better than the first nights sauce. It was sweeter and still tangy.

          I made a salad to complement the pizza and used left over cesar dressing and left over croutons from a few nights before. I added avocado to romaine lettuce with green onions and carrots.

Pizza from Scratch and Salad with Black Cherry Dressing

Pizza from Scratch and Salad with Black Cherry Dressing:

Pepperoni- Kalamata Olive- Mushroom- Ricotta Cheese

Romaine Lettuce- Roasted Pine Nuts-Carrots- Sun Dried Tomatoes-Avocado-Green Onions
Dressing: Black Cherry Vinegar (4 Tbs)-Lemon Infused Olive Oil (2Tbs)-Agave Syrup (1 Tbs) -Dijon Mustard (1/2 Tbs) - Salt (1/4 tsp)

          Pizza is one of my all time favorite foods. Since we got our new mixer, we have been experimenting with dough and yeast. Each time we do a pizza, the dough comes out differently. The ingredients came from our local Co-Operative local food mart, and Trader Joes. I really liked the mozzarella from T.J.’s. I got the whole milk, not skim because I want it to be amazing. As with all ingredients, I can taste the difference.

         I made the pizza sauce from scratch with canned tomatoes with juice, onion and garlic, dried oregano, basil, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, sugar, tomato paste, and red peppers. All the spices are to taste. Just throw it in. I only had about an ounce of paste left in the jar so my sauce was light. Usually you would use 5 oz of paste to 16 oz of canned tomato. After sautéing the ingredients on the stove, I transfer them to the blender and puree on speed 2 until fairly smooth.

       The pizza dough was made with bread flour that we are giving a try. So far the bread has been rising and we are yielding good bread. Tonight’s crust came out a tad more crisp than we have been having, and we attribute that to using a high heat in the oven. 500 degrees. I enjoyed the crust being crispy with the slightly wetter tomato sauce. I thought they complemented each other very nicely. I also brushed the edge of the dough with basil olive oil before baking. 

Calendar Postcards

Calendar Postcards for Friends and Family

Last year my mother gave me a calendar from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was on the small side for a calendar, but I put it on my mantle and watched the pictures go by nonetheless.

          I like to reuse calendar pictures and this year I made them into postcards for my friends and family. I cut out each picture and the paper was already thick enough to be a post card. (I wonder if the Aquarium does this on purpose?) I also cut out the pictures from the back of the calendar and glued them to the back so that the recipient could enjoy two pictures from the calendar instead of just one.

       

Front

Back

   I used my new Bic marker set I got in my stocking for Christmas to write the notes and this made me very happy. I really enjoyed using the different colors of blues and greens to complement the water colors in the pictures.

Address goes in the blank spot

This is a great way to send out thank you cards after Christmas and it can be very meaningful. You look at your calendar pictures all year and then decide which picture goes to which person in your life.  

Minestrone Soup with Bread Sticks

Minestrone Soup with Bread Sticks

          This soup is one of my favorites because it does not have to have dairy to be wonderful. Parmesan cheese can be added but it is just as good without it. Amounts of ingredients can vary depending on what veggies you have and how much of them you want to use.

My ingredients list:

I can of Tomatoes

Zucchini (3)

Carrot (3)

Onion (1)

Garlic (2)

Celery (1/2 a stalk)

Potato (purple 5) and (sweet potato 2)

Purple cabbage

Lemon

Garlic powder

Onion Powder

Salt

White pepper

Oregano

 Basil

Thyme

Kidney Beans

Orzo pasta (a handful into the broth)

Red Wine (a splash for the pot, a splash for me)

Homemade chicken broth ( half of what your pot holds)

          I simmered the broth in our new, stock pot to start. I sautéed in a separate pan, onion and garlic. I used a special infused olive oil I got for Christmas from my dad. It was the basil infused oil tonight. I then added the carrots, zucchini, and potatoes. I added the pasta, kidney beans, tomatoes, celery, cabbage, lemon and wine directly to the broth without sautéing it first. I then added the sautéed ingredients. I brought the soup to a boil and simmered for a little over an hour. I added spices to taste.

          We added fresh bread sticks to the soup tonight by first warming the mixing bowl with warm water. Then dumping the water from the bowl and add 1 cup of warm water to one package of yeast. Add 2 ½ cups of bread flour. (Regular will do fine too). Put mixer on speed 2 until dough forms a ball and the hook kneads the dough for a minute or two. Oil the ball of dough and let rise for an hour. Set bread sticks on floured parchment paper and put directly on bread stone. (Or on a pan) 10 minutes.

The Snobby Moose  

Jan 2 2013

Dinner for Two-Chicken Cesar Salad

          The New Year is upon us and we have upgraded our kitchen and our electronics for documenting our creations. However, our meal tonight has no photos because we were sick and did not feel like doing the extra step of documentation. We had two organic chicken breasts to start. We decided to do Chicken Cesar Salad. I had made the dressing for it once in my high school food class.  We went to the store to get the anchovies it calls for. We bought both brands to compare taste and quality. “Star” and “Yankee Clipper Seafood.” We used the Yankee Clipper Seafood brand and the anchovies were curled up in a spiral and had a caper berry in the middle. I believe this brand would be good for crackers but is not necessary for the salad dressing because you chop the fish up anyways. I threw the capers in the small food processor with six anchovies.

   

       The croutons were made with sourdough bought from the store that I toasted in the oven with spices and olive oil. I used garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper. I tear the bread into a bowl and throw the oil and spices on it and then put the bread on parchment paper on a cookie sheet in the oven for 10 minutes at 425 degrees. I flip it once to create evenness.

  

        We bought romaine lettuce as it is traditional for Cesar salad. I also bought an avocado and some green onion because I love those two things so much in all my salads.

     

        The chicken breasts were marinated in lemon, Soy Vay sauce, and pepper for about 2 hours. Then they were tenderized. Chris did the BBQ for this dish and we had BBQ grilled chicken for our salad. The lemon was from a local tree and really shined through as a flavor in the dish.