Goodbye 2012!!

Gary and I had such a lovely end to 2012; relaxing and spending quality time together. We both made it a mission in 2013 to find more meaningful things to do together. I'm excited because he's a pretty cool dude :)

I had to work allllll day long on December 31. I'm not complaining one bit but here's what my day looked like:

Sleeping in since gspice didn't have work
7:30a - wake up, shower, get ready
9-1p - WMC work
1-2:45p - clean kitchen, make spinach dip that we'll bake off when I get home later, cut chicken for chicken nuggets, make lunch, clean all used dishes
2:45-11:05p - Front Desk work (yes, we toasted the new year with champagne at about 10:45!)
11:05-12a - MAKE FOOD!!

It was a busy day but oh so worth it. Both new recipes were delish and we capped it all off with our favorite mimosa recipe, Blushing Mimosas!

Here are the recipes:

Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip adapted from Closet Cooking

1 (16 oz) package frozen spinach, thawed drained and coarsely chopped
1 (14 oz) can artichoke hearts (I left this out on purpose, but it was missed)
8 oz cream cheese, room temp
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayo
2 cloves garlic, grated
1/2 teaspoon chili sauce (I used cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes instead)
3/4 cup shredded parm
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella

1. Mix everything and pour in to a baking dish.
2. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until the sides are bubbling and cheese has melted and turned golden brown, about 20-30 minutes.

Healthy Baked Chicken Nuggets from SkinnyTaste

2 large skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into even bit sized pieces (We used a pound of chicken tenderloins)
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp olive oil
6 tbsp whole wheat Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
2 tbsp panko
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese (We used shredded parm)
olive oil spray

Preheat oven to 425°. Spray a baking sheet with olive oil spray.Put the olive oil in one bowl and the breadcrumbs, panko and parmesan cheese in another.
Season chicken with salt and pepper, then put in the bowl with the olive oil and mix well so the olive oil evenly coats all of the chicken. Put a few chunks of chicken at a time into the breadcrumb mixture to coat, then on the baking sheet. Lightly spray the top with olive oil spray then bake 8 - 10 minutes. Turn over then cook another 4 - 5 minutes or until cooked though.

Gary dunked his in to BBQ. I am superior and dunked mine in to Tabasco :)

 

What's for Dinner {7} - Anniversary Style!

I planned a really special dinner for our 1YR anniversary. I searched through so many recipes on the internet and on pinterest for months looking for just the right ones to use. I also knew that after an amazing celebratory weekend that this meal really had to shine to even compare. I am happy to report that it was AWESOME. I didn't happen to like one recipe (AT ALL) but Gary loved it so I suppose we can consider this "What's for Dinner" a raging success.  

Side-note: it was a bit chilly on Monday, March 26. As I was driving out of the Fareway parking lot with all my groceries, I captured this really funny picture:

Here are the recipes we ended up using:  

Side #1 - Herbed Cheese Straws

This was the recipe that I really didn't care for, but like I said, Gary LOVED these. He literally bit my head off when I tried to throw away the foil that had some small pieces of herbed cheese straws lingering. Lesson learned :)

* 2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
* flour, for dusting
* 1 extra-large egg
* 1 tablespoon water
* hot sauce
* 1 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated (make it a heaping cup!)
* 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, minced
* 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced 
* 1 teaspoon kosher salt
* Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

1. Lightly dust your cutting board with flour and unfold each sheet of puff pastry and place on top.
2. Beat the egg with 1 tablespoon of water and a few dashes of hot sauce. Brush the surface of the puff pastry with this mixture.
3. Sprinkle each sheet evenly with 1/2 cup of the cheese, 1/2 tablespoon each of the thyme & rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, and some pepper.
4. With the rolling pin, lightly press the cheese and herbs into the puff pastry.
5. Cut 1/2″ strips using a knife or cutting wheel.
6. Twist each strip and lay on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until lightly browned and puffed. Turn each straw and bake for another 5 minutes. Cool and serve at room temperature.

Side #2 - Sauteed Garlic Asparagus

Asparagus has been on sale for quite awhile now and we can't seem to get enough. This is a tried and true recipe!

*3 tablespoons butter or margarine
*1 bunch fresh asparagus
*3 cloves garlic, chopped

Melt the butter or margarine in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and asparagus spears; cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until asparagus is tender. If you like your asparagus well done, reduce heat and cook an additional 10 minutes.

The Main Event - Shrimp and Parmesan Steak

This was an amazing recipe already but I took it to the next level. Instead of the suggested steak, I opted for filet mignon. Oh yes.

* 2 10 oz sirloin steaks
* 2 cups heavy cream (or 16 fl oz)
* 2 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped (2 tsp dry)
* 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
* Salt to taste
* Pepper to taste
* 20 shrimp, tails and shells removed

1. GRILL steaks to medium rare.
2. HEAT cream in a sauce pan and lightly boil until it is half its original volume, being careful not to scorch.
3. STIR in Parmesan cheese, basil,salt and pepper.
4. SAUTE shrimp.
5. TOP steaks with shrimp and cheese sauce.

SERVE! Gary seems to believe his plate looks better than mine since he's got the cheese straws. I disagree.

Gary's Plate

My Plate

Our meal didn't end here (although it probably should have!) Our dessert course consisted of:  

Dessert Drink - Blushing Mimosas

This was the bomb! I couldn't find pineapple juice so I used a orange/pineapple juice instead.

*2 cups orange juice (not from concentrate)
*1 cup pineapple juice, chilled
*2 tablespoons grenadine
*1 bottle Champagne or sparkling wine, chilled

1. Stir together first 3 ingredients.
2. Pour equal parts orange juice mixture and Champagne into Champagne flutes.
***2 (12-oz.) cans ginger ale or lemon-lime soda may be substituted.

Dessert-that-we-realllly-didn't-need-at-this-point-but-still-really-good - Crockpot Chocolate Fondue

* 18 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
* 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
* 6 oz. milk chocolate, chopped
* 13 oz. can evaporated milk
* 1/4 cup powdered sugar
* 1 tsp. vanilla
* Fruit, cookies, and cake pieces for dipping

1. Combine all chocolates, milk, and powdered sugar in 3 quart crockpot.

2. Cover and cook on LOW for 45 minutes.
3. Stir well, add vanilla, stir again, and continue cooking if necessary to completely melt chocolate. This can be held on low for another hour.
4. Serve with dippers.

We also used bananas and strawberries. Yes, the strawberries were the best :)

Cheers!!

Food & Fun {1}

Bridget, Gary, and I had our very first Food & Fun day! It was trial by fire with all new recipes but overall, it was quite successful. You simply cannot beat a houseful of new flavors, smoke (oops!) and one cuddly dog.

Here are the recipes we tried out:

Appetizer by Vanessa

Chef Guy Fieri's Pepperoni Parmesan Bites "Deconstructed Lasagna"

I added my own flair to this by using a few different ingredients than Guy.

1/4 lb. pepperoni, cut into 1/4-inch cubes (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup diced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. fennel seeds
1 cup crushed tomatoes (I used 1 cup of mom's canned tomatoes and 1/4 cup of tomato sauce)
1 bay leaf
48 RITZ Crackers
Italian parsley, for garnish

I'm not a huge fan of ricotta so I used that amazing Garlic Feta Cheese Dip for the cheese mixture instead :)

HEAT oven to 350ºF.

SET a large saute pan over medium heat, and add pepperoni cubes and onion. Cook for 3-4 min. until pepperoni begins to render oil, then add garlic, pepper flakes and fennel seeds. Cook until fragrant, about 2 min.; drain oil and add tomatoes and bay leaf. Simmer for 10-12 min. until thickened and all the flavors have come together in the sauce. Set aside and keep warm. Discard bay leaf.

IN a large mixing bowl, combine ricotta and Parmesan; smear a teaspoon of Parmesan-ricotta mixture on each RITZ Cracker and top with a teaspoon of pepperoni sauce. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 5-6 min. or until heated through. Garnish with parsley.

To be perfectly honest, I wasn't a fan, but Bridget & Gary seemed to like them. Let's give them 2.5 stars

Main Course by Bridget

Perfect Pizza Crust and Roasted Garlic Chicken Pesto Pizza

1/2 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp.) instant yeast
1 1/4 cups water, at room temp
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plug more for dusting
1 1/2 tsp salt
Cornmeal
olive oil or non-stick cooking spray for greasing bowl

Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes. Add the room temperature water and oil and stir to combine.

Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Briefly combine the dry ingredients at low speed. Slowly add the liquid ingredients and continue to mix at low speed until a cohesive mass forms. Stop the mixer and replace the paddle with the dough hook. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 ½ to 2 hours. Press the dough to deflate it.

To bake, place a pizza stone in the lower third of the oven. Heat the oven to 500° for at least 30 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Form both pieces of dough into smooth, round balls and cover with a damp cloth. Let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes but no more than 30 minutes.

Working with one piece of dough and keeping the other covered, shape the dough and transfer to a pizza peel or round of parchment dusted with semolina or cornmeal. Top as desired. Slide the dough onto the pizza stone. Bake until the crust edges brown and cheese is golden brown in spots, about 8 to 12 minutes. Repeat with remaining ball of dough or freeze for later use.

Recipe: Roasted Garlic Chicken Pesto Pizza Adapted from Annies Eats

1 perfect pizza crust (recipe above)
1/2 cup prepared pesto (store bough or homemade)
1 bulb of garlic
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked
Mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese

To roast the garlic: Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic. Place the garlic heads in a baking pan; muffin pans work well for this purpose. Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head, using your fingers to make sure the garlic head is well coated. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 400°F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed. Remove garlic gloves and smash with a fork.

Spread roasted garlic over pizza dough. Do this to taste. I used almost the whole (small) bulb, but I LOVE roasted garlic.

Spread the pesto on the pizza.

Add the sliced, cooked chicken.

Sprinkle with mozzarella.

Top with fresh grated parmesan.

Bake on preheated pizza stone for 8 - 12 minutes.

We (maybe just me) had so much excitement for this recipe but it just didn't measure up. The pizza crust was a little thick and the flavors didn't burst out as much as we'd hoped. 2 stars :( Add overwhelmingly more garlic and I'd bump it up to 3 stars...

Dessert by Vanessa

Molten Chocolate Cake

4 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for muffin tins
1/3 cup(s) granulated sugar, plus more for muffin tins
3 large eggs
1/3 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon(s) salt
8 ounce(s) bittersweet chocolate, melted
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
Whipped cream, for serving

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously butter 6 cups of a standard muffin tin. Dust with granulated sugar, and tap out excess. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and granulated sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. With the mixer on low speed, beat in flour and salt until just combined. Beat in chocolate until just combined. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups.

Place muffin tin on a baking sheet; bake just until tops of the cakes no longer jiggle when the pan is lightly shaken, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes.

To serve, turn out cakes, and place on serving plates, bottom sides up. Dust with confectioners' sugar, and serve with whipped cream, if desired.

I was soooo nervous to make these because I didn't trust how easy the recipe seemed. Luckily for us, they turned out perfectly! 4 stars!

To top it all off, Daisy was being SO cute and cuddly. The pizza pan made the house a little smokey so she snuck off to my mom's room. When the house cleared up, she came back out and slept :)

Super Sides {3} - Dipppppp

At some event last month, the kitchen made an insane feta cheese dip that I could not stop nibbling on. It was a dip that I dreamed about often. Yes, I had dreams about this dip. I talked to Gary about it at some point and he seemed just as excited to try it. SO it was my goal to make it and thought that a family Christmas was the perfect platform. I have to say that I was a bit nervous to try a new recipe that I wasn't even sure was THE recipe on a group of people but thought I might as well.

The day before I was to make it, I worked with the individual who actually made the dip. He so kindly shared with me the recipe he had used and IT WAS THE EXACT SAME RECIPE! I just about peed with excitement.

Needless to say, I made the dip and I feel like it was a hit. If not with the family, it sure was for Gary and I. Seriously, this dip is amazing.

Garlic Feta Cheese Dip

4 oz crumbled feta (I used block feta and crumbled it myself)
4 oz cream cheese
1/3 cup mayo
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp dill weed
1/8 tsp dried thyme

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well until blended together. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serve with crackers, pretzel crisps, assorted crisp breads or veggies.

Note: Recipe was quadrupled for pictures shown below.

Super Sides {2} - Potluck edition

Gary's work held a potluck this week for all their workers. How cute, right? I talked Gary in to making a bbq meatball recipe because I remembered how much he peed about the ones Bridget made for the Oelrich Christmas gathering on January 1, 2011. Did he remember what I was talking about? Of course not, but he signed up to make that anyway. A day or two before the potluck I then asked what everyone else was bringing. He rattled off a number of things, all including meat. Why on earth did he let me talk him in to bringing meatballs??? Dork! Anyway, they turned out quite well and they were all gone by the time Gary returned from work. I suppose that means they were a success!

Crock pot BBQ Meatballs*

*I created my master meatballs (see What's for Dinner {4})** and used the directions from the link above.

**I didn't add mozzarella balls and somehow forgot to put in the dijon. No worries, they still tasted like candy!!


Meatballs
1 lb ground chuck
1 lb ground turkey
1 large egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
2 T minced garlic
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T Tabasco
Salt and Pepper - to taste

Sauce
1 large bottle of regular BBQ Sauce (don’t go too thick on the sauce you need to be able to stir)
1/2 C. Grape Jelly

Preheat oven to 350. Get a nonstick cookie sheet ready. Get a large skillet and drizzle about 2 TBS. of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in the pan, this needs to be hot but do not turn it up to high you don’t want to burn the oil.

Get your hands dirty! Start mixing the meat and seasonings together. Then start forming one inch balls, just like you would for peanut butter cookies.

Carefully lower the balls into your hot oiled skillet. You want to put them in here to sear them, give them a nice color and lock the flavors in. You may have to turn them a couple times to get even color.

When you have some great color on your meatballs transfer them to your cookie sheet and put them in the oven to finish cooking them. Mine were done after 15 minutes but start with ten and make sure you test one by opening it and seeing that its well done.

Transfer your cooked meat to the crock pot and then cover them with half the bottle of BBQ sauce and the jelly. Stir it and get them coated, then stir in the rest of the BBQ sauce. Put the mixture on the temp that makes them bubble a little but not boil. Let simmer for 2 hours before devouring the entire crock pot. Recipes makes approximately 54 mini balls.

***

***Don't worry - this was taken after a semi-sear and before baking. They should end up well done once finished in the oven.

Date Night - December style

Since returning to Decorah, I've been dying to try the Tap Room located in the Hotel Winneshiek. They've done really well over the last few months and even started a Happy Hour menu. Gary and I finally made it over for drinks and an appetizer on Friday, December 16.

Part of my excitement was being able to get my drink of choice for only $3 - Malbec, which is normally $5. I had done a wine tasting at the hotel a while back and LOVED this wine and the Sangeovise but that one is no longer on the menu. They are both reds that pair really well with red meat. And boy do I love my red meats :) STEAK! Speaking of, we got an incredible appetizer called the Steak & Potato Stacks for only $4. This usually goes for $8. Sweeeeet! The stack comprises of a red potato, sliced filet mignon (OMG), a blue cheese butter, and a cherry tomato. My mouth is watering just thinking of it. Rest assured, I'll be back for more.

We decided that we would splurge on getting a meal too but headed to Rubaiyat for that because Gary was peeing his panties over their chicken sandwich. I've got to say I was pleasantly surprised with my order. My last go at this restaurant wasn't so pleasant, but I'll just keep my comments to myself because it's been a few years since I didn't like what I was served. I'd say that's a pretty good track record. PS: we haven't actually sat in the restaurant for a few years. It's just so gosh darn expensive. Besides, the bar has really great offerings - usually smaller portions of items on the regular menu.

Gary's meal choice:

Isaiah’s Chicken Sandwich 9.95
Country fried chicken filet, Carolina BBQ sauce, caramelized onions, tomato,
bacon, pickles; choice of soup, salad or sweet potato fries

My meal choice:
Tilapia Piccata 9.95
Artichoke hearts, capers, lemon butter white wine sauce; rice medley

**The fish was SO tasty! I'd definitely order this again.

Spicy!

Beat the Heat.