As my daughter said, “It’s so not funny how sweet this is!” I’m still in shock she said this.
All you need:
- Bridgeford dinner rolls
- Home made cream cheese frosting
- Sparkling sugars in green, purple, and yellow
Prep& bake rolls per packaging, make the frosting. When cool, frost the rolls and sprinkle on the sugars
As some of you may have already seen on my FB page, meal planning was very…uninspired this week. If I plan for take-out three days in a row – it’s still a plan, no?
Combine a crazy week (Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday, AND Valentine’s Day) with this calorie counting I’m doing – I’ve got to plan carefully. Very carefully.
Monday
Monday was originally supposed to be meatless Monday. Actual, was far from it. (I figured with Ash Wednesday and the first Friday of Lent – we’ll have two meatless meals this week.) I ended up finally making the Baked Apricot Mustard chicken with green beans. Though my kids ate it, they kept asking, “Is that all? What else are you making?”
Tuesday
Mardi Gras. Plan was for slow-cooker red beans & rice and king cake to follow. Almost there. Instead, we had dirty rice – which the kids LOVED! (No king cake, unfortch.)
Wednesday
Ash Wednesday. Though we are not practicing Catholics, I still adhere to a few of the rules. But because, I didn’t plan for tonight, we’re ordering sushi. Oh, and king cake.
Thursday
Valentine’s Day. Meat. In a big way, too. Some sort of steak – Florentine-style or a filet mignon – with potatoes & broccoli. And because it is Valentine’s Day – chocolate fondue for dessert. (Thank you to Mrs. A, for the idea…) The Husband was trying to justify both a cheese fondue and a chocolate fondue, but I think that may be a bit much.
Friday
First Friday of Lent. Fish. Either a miso-glazed whitefish or baked salmon.
Saturday
Late swim class, so a night out likely. Kara-age ramen sounds good…again…with the weather being so chilly lately.
Sunday
Easy, peasy chile verde with rice and beans.
I am SO looking forward to the short work week next week it’s not even the slightest bit funny.
But first, I need to get through the brilliant idea of crafty Valentines.
I bought this kit at Paper Source – the best store EVER – thinking it might be a nice project that Peanut could work on for her class. I was blind to the fact this task may end up in my lap as it did/will. Good thing I’ve got wine and two episodes of Downton Abbey to catch up on tonight. I guess I’m not giving up alcohol for Lent.
So, I think I’m finally recovered from a devastating Super Bowl loss – looking forward to next year though!
I’ve come to accept that, even though I meal plan and I may not even follow through with the plan (I was 2 for 5 last week, excluding the 2 date nights) – it prevents me from (most of the time) buying unnecessary stuff at the grocery store. Less waste – yay!
Starting Monday, I’ve also started keeping a food journal on the My Fitness Pal app. I’d say I’m A LOT more conscious of what I’m eating and checking labels like no tomorrow. Their food database is quite extensive – they have even the nutrition facts for the freshly ground peanut butter we buy!
I had to take it to extremes because the jeans just are not fitting like they used to. Sad. So the exercise routine is being bumped up to several times a week and I’m looking to get back with my endorphin dealer next week.
So the plan for this week is/was:
Monday
The frittatas I was supposed to make Friday, I made Monday. Two frittatas/crust-less quiches with sauteed leeks, cremini mushrooms, and pancetta. Froze one of them for either lunch or dinner later this week.
Tuesday
We had a last minute dinner guest – so we ordered Thai…again.
Wednesday
Take two for the skillet pie – thank goodness for freezers!
Thursday
I think Thursday will have to be a leftover night.
Friday
Take two for the Apricot-Mustard Baked Chicken
Saturday
Not sure yet – might go out – we get out of swim SO late!
Sunday
Either a pasta carbonara or spaghetti with tomato sauce.
What’s cooking with you this week?
It’s FAR from Monday.
So while last week’s efforts to plan the meals was stellar, execution lacked. I found myself pooped after three nights of cooking (and working and doing other mom things) and ordered pizza Thursday night from here, we went out Saturday night (and had some great Kara-age Ramen here), and fell back on to the mac ‘n cheese crutch Sunday night.
I also didn’t take into account that I would have leftovers coming out of my eyeballs.
So, better late than never here’s this week’s plan:
Monday
Date night #1 – Muse concert (yay!) (link to one of my faves)- Grandma babysat, so dinner was taken care of.
Tuesday
Polenta Bake with Asparagus, Simple Salad, with Fish Sticks/Chicken Nuggets for the kidlets.
Wednesday
Southwest Skillet Pie – recipe from an early issue of Everyday Food.
Thursday
Date night #2 – Sketchfest at Nightlife – so I plan to pick up teriyaki bowls for the kids & babysitter.
Friday
Dinner with friends at home – two kinds of quiches, “simple” salad, and a “fun” dessert.
Saturday
Slow cooker chile verde, with brown rice, and beans
Sunday
Har-bowl! Go Niners!
Kapernicking
image from bleacherreport.com
One thing I haven’t been really good at is planning out meals for the week. I’ve also been really bad at remembering when the CSA box was arriving and I always managed to double up on the fruits and veggies, which some, unfortunately, went to waste.
Well for some reason, I decided to change that. Yesterday.
I went to the CSA site so I knew what to expect in the box this morning (and knew what not to buy at the grocery store).
Then I took it one step further and mapped out what we were going to have for dinner this week:
Monday – Chipotle Bean Burritos
This recipe from Cooking Light is tried and true and the kidlets LOVE it.
Tuesday – Lentils with Spinach and Eggs
I’ve been seeing a lot of lentil dishes with poached eggs. Really, anything with poached eggs. I don’t have a recipe for this, so will be making it up as I go along. May serve it with roasted potatoes, not sure yet.
Wednesday – Butternut Squash Soup
Recipe courtesy of Mrs. Chris Martin. Grilled cheese and/or salad on the side.
Thursday – Italian Sausage & Chard Crust-less Quiche
…or fritatta. Using my basic quiche recipe (eggs, cream, s&p, nutmeg, gruyere) and adding sauteed sausage & chard.
Friday – possible date night?
Saturday – Easy Peasy Chile Verde
The kids have swim class late on Saturdays, so needless to say we get home pretty late. I’ll be using the slow cooker for this one.
Sunday – 10-hour Roast Chicken
Another one courtesy of Mrs. Martin. Slow roasting the chicken at a very low temp for 10 hours.
(I’ll update with pics if I remember…)
What are you cooking this week?
A s'more walks into a bar...
While waiting for Peanut at the dentist office – of all places – I find this recipe for S’mores Cookies in Kiwi Magazine.
It looked easy enough not to try. S’mores – yum! Shortbread – yum! S’mores and shortbread – jury is still out. I think I liked them, I mean, The Husband and I kept eating them like no tomorrow.
Funny thing about my kids, they said they liked them, but didn’t indulge themselves as much – or I was just hoarding them so much they didn’t even have a chance.
They were sweet and rich at the same time – sweet from the bruleed marshmallows and rich from the shortbread cookie base – did you see how much butter was called for?
Would I make it again? Probably. This definitely a once-a-year cookie – again, did you see the butter content?
Most of the fixin's...
Yeah. You KNOW exactly what I’m talking about! Those (toaster-oven) broiled hors d’oeuvres that mom made when you were young!
I had always thought this was one of my mom’s recipes that handed from friend-to-friend, until I saw a similar recipe published in my hors d’oeuvres book. (Side note: I am so glad that I have some knowledge of the French language, because spelling hors d’oeuvres now is so much easier!) They actually published another cheesy canape she made right alongside it – which she actually got from one of the SF Junior League cookbooks.
Anyhow, the holiday season came and went without these cheesy canapes. So, I took it upon myself, after an especially tough week at work, to make some last Friday.
My mom’s recipe differs slightly – she adds curry powder to the mix – which makes it all that much better. With this batch I forewent the Best Foods and substituted it with a vegenaise of some sort and it turned out just as I remembered.
These were fully enjoyed (maybe enjoyed a little too much) with a glass (or two) of Coppola Diamond Merlot.
Yum!
All ready for pancakes!
Oh man, two posts in one week – somebody better stop me before I actually maintain this blog!
Years ago, I was a bit perturbed that my Cooking with Julia blog idea was taken. Two years, too late.
Oh well. In no way am I trying to do that now with GP’s cookbook. But, I am trying to put more effort into cooking, baking and blogging more. I enjoy it so why deny myself something I enjoy? Plus, I have plenty of cookbooks to choose from and blog about.
Anyhow, this pancake recipe is named, “Bruce Paltrow’s World Famous Pancakes”. You’re pretty sure of yourself or those must be some bad-ass pancakes!
These are some bad-ass pancakes!
I’ll admit to using Bisquick and other mixes in the past – they were quick, they were easy – but so is this recipe. I’ve made them a few times already. They’re based on the basic pancake recipe in the Joy of Cooking, but with the late Mr. Paltrow’s twist.
Let me tell ya, they’re pretty damn good pancakes. My kids inhale them – I think this morning they had three pancakes, EACH. Even The Husband had a couple, even though he had a protein shake this morning.
I won’t share the recipe here but it’s in GP’s cookbook and I also saw it in an older issue of Self Magazine.
Minutes away from pancake goodness
Note: if you do make these for a small family, half the recipe, you’ll have more than enough for everyone.
Thanks to a largely-misread e-mail and an available babysitter/grandma, The Husband + I had a last minute date night in Jordan’s Kitchen. Yay!
On the menu that night was:
*Roasted Three Beet Salad with Orange Vinaigrette
*Arancini with San Marzano Tomato Sauce
*Slow Roasted Pork with Creamy Polenta & Cherry Tomatoes
*Fig & Hazelnut Biscotti
Armed with our bottle of Cab, The Husband and I were ready to cook!
After a brief introduction and review of the dinner menu, we prepared our beet “packages” and pork shoulder for roasting and jumped right into knife skills – how to properly cut an onion. We didn’t need very much or any onion at all that night, but it’s always good to practice your knife skills with an expert nearby.
Someone didn't pay attention
Once the pig and beets were roasting away, we got started on dessert. When possible, always prepare dessert first – who wants to be cooking/baking away after all that cooking? We chopped roasted hazelnuts and dried figs and after three failed attempts, fished eggshells out of the biscotti batter. D’oh!
Working in shifts, we started the orange juice reduction for the orange vinaigrette, emulsifying the San Marzano tomato sauce, and whisked the polenta like no tomorrow.
After roasting for about an hour, the beets were peeled and cut and bathed in the orange vinaigrette. There was more knife skill practice on how to properly segment an orange while the greens were prepped. We are ready to plate and eat!
So deelish!
The class moved pretty quickly at this point. Using prepared risotto, we formed, rolled and breaded the arancini, got the oil ready for frying, and finished up the tomato sauce. While working in groups, we fried the arancini, drained it on paper towels, and plated our next dish. The tomato sauce was amazing – I could have eaten that alone!
The pork was removed from the oven as was the biscotti.
Smelling good and fall apart tender, the pork was shredded, while the biscotti were sliced.
This was my fourth class with Jordan, The Husband’s second. For some reason I keep coming back…the classes are small and extremely hands on – Jordan does very little cooking – the company is good, the instructor even better, and the food is always amazing.
Buon appetito!
Not quite a birthday weekend in Paris, but it sounds a lot better than, working remotely from France for one week and I happen to be in Paris for my birthday. Fortunately, or unfortunately, with the internet/WiFi/VPN one is able to work anywhere.
So, yes, I am managing to work, what makes it difficult is a clingy-jet lagged child. Finally, after 4-5 days, she’s not so clingy and is playing well with her cousins. She’s looking up to her cousine, wanting to do things like her. For example, this morning, her cousine was granted a spoonful of nutella post-brekkies. Next thing I know, Mads wants “like cousine”. Ugh. A spoonful of nutella isn’t what I had in mind for her brekkies, since she only had hot chocolate. I suppose anything goes chez grandparents.
an assortment of saucisson...
Friday evening, I managed to take the RER from Le Pecq to the 7th to meet S, family & friends for dinner at Chez L’Ami Jean. L’ami Jean is a tiny Basque restaurant in Paris’ 7th arrondissement and definitely not a place for vegetarians.
We started with plenty of saucisson, two small casseroles of pate campagne, some jambon, and a jug, yes, a jug, of cornichons. There were so many options on the menu, S & I made it easy on ourselves and ordered the menu for two: cote du veau. For some reason, I had scalloppine on my mind, so I was a bit overwhelmed when a small cow was presented on our platter. Our meat was accompanied by sauteed spring veggies and the most sinful mashed pureed potatoes I’ve ever had! Unfortunately, I’m not one to say non to dessert, so I opted for strawberries, but I did get to try the drinking chocolate that someone ordered and regretted not getting one of my own.
Chez L’Ami Jean
27 rue Malar
75007 Paris
Dinner was followed by a lovely walk from the 7th to Opera – passing such sights as Pont Alexandre III, Place de la Concorde, Place Vendome, Longchamps, John Galliano, Cartier, Hotel Costes, Buddha Bar and the like and a late RER train ride home.
Come Saturday evening, I was too tired to make the trek for a Parisien birthday dinner, so we opted for dinner in Saint-Germain-en-Laye at La Feuillantine. It was a small restaurant, charming and chic at the same time and food was SO good! Turns out Saturday was a popular night for birthday celebrations – 3 other people were celebrating their birthday, too! I guess, La Feuillantine is the place to go for your birthday. We started with an amuse buche of pureed lentils and chorizo (yum!). Followed was foie gras cooked in a vanilla-mushroom cream sauce for S and a feuillantine (puff pastry) with green & white asparagus, grapefruit, and prawns, with, of course, a citrus cream sauce for me. It was here that I noticed this was the second resto to serve us non-white flour bread – which was nice, seeing that I probably met my carb intake for the year in the past couple days. Our entrees were just as tasty – yes, there’s more! – lamb shank (I think) with couscous and fish baked in parchment with baby spinach, proscuitto, fresh goat cheese and a (salty, for me) thyme au jus. To finish, an Ile flottante on green matcha and a chocolate-raspberry dessert. (Sorry, no pictures of the food here!)
What a wonderful start to my thirty-something-th year!