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Clean Out the Fridge Pasta

This is a first for me, I am actually writing this blog as I am making dinner......let's pray I don't burn anything!


Tonight I am making what I call "Clean out the Fridge Pasta".......I know, I know....... very Rachel Ray of me and for this I apologize. I do this once a month or so when I do not have a meal planned. Although this particular Fridge Pasta is loosely based off a recipe in Everyday Food called Rigatoni with Sausage & Parsley and when I say loosely I mean that, basically the similarities end at sausage and parsley.


Tonight the treasures I am working with are of course pasta, mini-ziti to be exact, red onion, green pepper, freshly grated Parmesan, hot turkey Italian sausage and left over prime rib which I made on Sunday night. For the sauce pinot grigio with a tad of butter. Delicious!

My last post of the evening

Three post in one night, that is a record for me but I wanted to make sure to get all my thoughts down.

I can not wait to find some time this week/ weekend to make some recipes from my two new resources.

Yesterday I picked up Dinner Parties, from the editors of Fine Cooking. It is one of those special edition magazines and I want to make just about every recipe in it!

And the other Peter gave me as an early birthday gift. Baking Illustrated, by the editors of Cook's Illustrated Magazine, a book I have been wanting for some time. It is full of great recipes but also gives amazing information on what to do and what not to do with every recipe. I am ecstatic about this book!

My never ending quest for exciting breakfast food

I have decided that I LOVE breakfast food, really I do.....and why is this surprising? Basically because I have struggled with the first meal of the day my whole life. For much of my almost 29 years I did not eat breakfast at all. But, for about the past year, I have been trying very hard to eat breakfast and not just drink a half pot of coffee.

The challenges for me are many. I am really not hungry for at least an hour or two after waking up, I don't like cereal, and I do not have a lot of time in the morning to prepare breakfast. I also go back and forth with eggs, well at least I used too until I discovered that I really just don't like scrambled eggs (unless they are covered with a generous amount of cheese), but I really do enjoy eggs over medium with toast, or an egg white omelet.

With all of that being said I am constantly looking for new breakfast recipes that I can make ahead and will still keep me interested in eating the meal. Yesterday I found one of my best yet on epicurious.com. It is Breakfast Risotto, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/240748. I have never made risotto before and I can't wait to do it again, what fun! I took some of the suggestions in the comments section and added the liquid slowly as you do with traditional risotto. Also, this morning I topped it with an over medium egg......DELICIOUS! So good actually that I thought about it all day and had it again for dinner!

Before the liquid is added.

Half way through adding the liquid.

Finished product.

Atkin's Park Tavern

Saturday evening we enjoyed dinner with some neighbors at Atkin's Park Tavern, http://www.atkinspark.com/, in near by Vickery Village.

I love this "village" and we seriously thought about buying a home in the neighborhood and then thought better of it due to the amount of house you get for the price. There is no denying however how beautiful the entire community is and we feel lucky to live with in just a couple of miles so that we can take advantage of the shops and restaurants.

Jennifer and I had the fish special and it was Divine! Probably one of the best fish dishes I have ever eaten. Unfortunately, I can not remember what the fish was but it was very similar to Sea Bass and was wrapped in apple wood smoked bacon and served on a bed of sauteed spinach and tomatoes as well as roasted red potatoes. The dish was finished with a light soy ginger sauce that I thought was excellent.

Peter got all adventurous and had the chicken fingers! I thought they were tasty, he thought they were good but kind of slimy. Not sure where slimy came from, I didn't think that at all. To each their own I guess.

Andrew had the blackened chicken breast, also looked good.

It was a nice evening and I look forward to eating here again soon.

Hoping for Spring and Catching Up on Bloging

It has been a hectic couple of weeks and I have not found as much time to blog as I would have liked. So....on this very raining and fairly lazy Sunday afternoon I am sitting in front of the fireplace, (while the cool weather is still around) enjoying a delicious glass of pinot noir and catching up on updating the blog.

Our nephew Riley, here he is looking like such a big boy, is having surgery in the morning to correct his skull which has fused too early.

So several of our girlfriends have gotten together to make dinners for Max & Lindsey during the next week and a half or so to make life a bit easier for them while they care for Riley.

Tonight was my night, as they have several out of town guest in for the night to offer their support. Much of the weekend was spent cooking in preparation for a meal to feed a crowd. On the menu: Lasagna, Salad, & Lemon Vanilla Bundt Cake.

I made the cake Saturday, which I found in the March 2008 Everyday Food, http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=116ef011250f7110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&autonomy_kw=lemon%20ginger%20bundt%20cake&rsc=header_1. I know this recipe is called Lemon Ginger Bundt Cake, but when I began to make it I went looking for the crystallized ginger I thought I had and could not find it, so in it's place I used the inside of a whole vanilla bean.

The batter came together nicely and was very thick.

It baked up beautifully golden in about an hour. I really like that there is no frosting on this cake, just a sprinkling of powdered sugar. Here is the cake before I cut it into slices, it made a lot., probably enough for 10-12 servings.

I did steal a little nibble this morning just to make sure it was good. I thought it was great, not too sweet and perfectly dense. Also very moist from the sour cream. I will make this one again for sure.

Then it was on to lasagna.....I love lasagna, actually I really love it, and people seem to like my recipe as I am asked to make it often. But I have to say it is a task, not because it is especially difficult, but because it takes a good bit of time and makes a mess of the kitchen. So I do not make it very a lot however, the end result is always worth it so I suppose I will quit complaining now...

What makes my lasagna different? I think it is the cheese, which I always grate myself rather than buying it pre-shredded. I use a mixture of Parmesan, Gouda, mozzarella, and cream cheese. The cream cheese really lends a richness that I think is wonderful. I also use ricotta which I mix with any assortment of fresh herbs, today I used parsley and basil, and a beaten egg. Here are the beginnings before I began layering.

I made the lasagna for Max & Lindsey in my roasting pan as they will have about 8 for dinner tonight and I wanted to make sure they had enough to go around.

Then the layering began, including the pan I made for Peter and I. He does not care for ricotta cheese and prefers hard boiled eggs in it's place......don't ask people, I just work here.....






As is common for me, I made too much and had enough ingredients left to make a 9x9 pan of for the Gilbertson's so we took it over to them, along with some of the cake this afternoon. As always it was great to see them. When we came in Presley asked Mr. Peter for a little girl to play with. She just welcomed her new baby brother and was asking for a baby sister, Jeremy & Traci told her that she would have to get with Peter and ask him to start working on that for her. Score one for Presley, I will have to remember to make her a special treat next time I see her, probably something with chocolate! :-)



Anyhoo.....here is everything ready to go to the "other" Kallos household. I missed seeing Riley when we dropped off the food because he was down for nap, but I did get to spend time with him last evening and kissed his sweet little head no less the a hundred times. I am hoping that the kisses and the food will bring a little joy, and also take some of the stress off before tomorrow morning.

A Couple of Nights Before Valentine's

Valentine's Day was a crazy one for me as I had a long day trip I had to take for work. So a couple of nights before I cooked for Peter and went out for pizza and a movie on Valentine's day to make things easy. I also did some baking for co-workers.

Made Moo Shu Pork (didn't mis-spell this one, this is how it is spelled in the mag.) from the Jan./Feb. 2008 Everyday Food Magazine. These recipes can usally be found on http://www.marthastewart.com/, however I am not finding it, so if anyone doesn't have this issue and would like the recipe, please let me know.

Here are the beginnings of the Moo Shu Pork, really very easy to make, it is basically a glorified stir-fry.

We both really like this one, I even put the mushrooms in and Peter picks around them. :-)

Then I moved on to making Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies and Blondies for my co-workers.

I cheated a bit for Sherri's gift and bought a boxed Gluten-Free cookie mix. I am always concerned that I will use something with gluten by mistake when cooking for her so I thought this would be the fool proof way to go. I did doctor up the mix with some extra chocolate chips because the mix didn't seem to have very many.

Here the one I used, I bought it at Harry's Farmers Market.

They came out great I thought, found it interesting that they did not spread out. I shared one with Peter and we both thought they tasted good, a different texture than a normal chocolate chip cookie. Sherri also gave them rave reviews and gobbled them up quickly threatening anyone who came to close, so I think that I will call this one a success.

The blondies are the same from my Taco Sunday post a few weeks ago. Here they are all packaged and ready to go. Not much feed back from the co-workers on these, so I am going to assume they were OK since no one was out sick! :-)

Cookies & Cakes...Oh My!

Spent sometime baking last week which I used to dread and now really enjoy. Unfortunatly it is not too friendly to the waist line so I try and share my creations with others.


I started with Chocolate Chip Cookies for some clients who were coming in for lunch at my office. Used a recipe that I recently found on epicurious.com that I loved so much I shared it with some of my girlfriends, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/108703. The key to this recipe I have found is to under bake them just a bit. This way you get a chewy inside and a crispy outside which is the way I like them.


This go round I made the large cookies that the recipe suggests. Although they are beautiful I have to say the cookies were WAY too big. I would suggest making them the more traditonal sizes. Also, a thought, due to the texture of these cookies I think they would be great for making ice cream sandwiches, I think I will try that this summer.









I also made the Red Velvet Cupcakes from January's Cuisine at home.

These were excellant, the cake was moist and delicious. I ran out of red food coloring so they were not as red as would have liked, but this did not make a difference in taste.

The frosting was the most interesting part, it was a white frosting that called for you to make to a rue with milk and flour which is then chilled. After the rue is completly chilled it is added to 5.....yes 5.....sticks of creamed butter and sugar. It was wonderful, has a great texture, sort of like stiff whipped cream, and was not overly sweet. The recipe made WAY too much frosting, I think it was a good amount for a full sized cake but too much for the 24 cupcakes so next time I think I will half it.





I am happy to say that everyone enjoyed them. I let our neices Isabel, Sophia & Amelia frost them as I took them for dessert at my father in laws house. Here is their handy work......absolutly georgous! :-)

Spelling....My Apologies.....

I have to apolgize for my last two posts, I know there are spelling errors as I am probably the worst around. Unfortunatly there is a problem with the spell check in this blog software.....or maybe it is user error, not sure which. I am trying to correct, but in the mean time please bear with me.

Where the Columbines Grow

Peter and I spent the first weekend of February in Denver Colorado with our good friends and newlyweds, Angie & Nate Middleton. We absoulty love them and Denver and always have a great time when we are there, it is such a beautiful place.

Saturday was a big day for us! We started out with breakfast at Cafe Terracotta, http://restauranteur.com/cafeterracottalittletoncom/, a great little place that Angie and Nate introduced us to when we were in town for their wedding in May.

The last time we ate there was during lunch and I had the Terra Cotta Cobb which was delicious and I have recreated several times at home. I am a sucker for bacon and bleu cheese so this was a no brainer for me! This time we were there for breakfast and we ordered Bloody Mary's due to the promise on a wall plaque that they won first place in the annual Litteton, CO Bloody Mary contest.....here it is, it sure does look pretty, but I have to say we were all disappointed in them as they were fairly bland. Nate tried to doctor them up with A1, this helped....but still not that great. The food however was excellant!

I enjoyed the House Fittata......after being scolded by Nate.....I guess I didn't realize that when we were conversing about the menu and he mentioned this tasty dish that it meant no one else could order it....he and Angie both (guess she didn't care about breaking the rules) seemed happy with their choices and each had The Louthan House Special which looked great. Unfortunatly the photo I took of their food was far to blurry to share.

Peter enjoyed his Meat Lovers Omlete.....what's not to love when you have an abundance of fat and salt all on one plate! Happy husband for sure!

After breakfast we stopped by to visit Angie's mom Christine and her new puppy Windsor. What a cutie this little yellow lab is! Even Peter melted and commented how much he would love a puppy......I think I am still going to hold out for a baby instead! :-)

Saturday evening we hit the town! We took the light rail, I really wish we had one this nice and convient in Atlanta, to downtown Denver where we stopped at several great places.

The night started out with a drink at the Jet Hotel, http://www.thejethotel.com/, which has a very swanky lobby. Peter accidently may have insulted the bartender, that I have a good feeling was homosexual, when he was asked where he would like to sit and he answered by saying over there so we can "gaze" out the window..... a bit of tense moment, which was completly unintentinal, I am pretty sure there were no hard feelings.

We were then off for a light dinner and martinis at The Cruise Room, http://www.theoxfordhotel.com/cruise-room.html, located in the Oxford Hotel. This place was great and screamed 007, I was expecting to see Pierce Brosnan at any moment.

I had a pear martini which was very lovely and not too sweet. We also shared some appetizers which were delicious. Crab & Shrimp Tater Tots, which I hope to be able to recreate at home, and Baked Brie with Roasted Garlic, Olives, and Roasted Red Peppers.....heaven! And in case you are wondering, there is nothing wrong with my camera, the entire room was lit in red light, great ambiance here.

We were then off to the Wynkoop, http://www.wynkoop.com/, a local brewery that we played pool at during one other visit to Denver. However this time, after having a brew in the bar we were headed downstairs to watch improve comedy at Impluse Theater. I am happy to say almost all of our suggestions were used in the act and we have out 5 minutes of fame for the evening.

We had a great night, it was so nice to hang with Angie & Nate and to see the sites in downtown Denver!

Sunday we stayed in and watched the Super Bowl and the whole crowd was happy that the Giants won! We had lots of great football food, spicy cheese dip, chili dip, shredded chicken sandwhiches, and meatballs. Unfortunatly I was far too busy....OK, I forgot....to take any photos of the food, but I assure you everything was delicious.

Angie & Nate, thank you again for yet another memorable weekend, we can't wait to see you soon in Atlanta!

Steve's Shrimp Spaghetti

This is a dish that my father in law Steve has been making for us for about as long as I have been a part of this family. Peter and I both really enjoy it. Here is the recipe exactly how he sent it to me in an email from March 2004.

Ingrediants

1.5 lbs. shrimp
2 minced garlic cloves
1/3 cup brandy
3 cups tomato sacue
1/2 tsp. dried chile flakes
1/3 cup heavy cream

Clean Shrimp
Fry in 2 tbls. olive oil to which garlic cloves are added- watch you don't burn the garlic
Add dried red chile peppers
When shrimp states to get reddish, add brandy, and allow alcohol to burn up



Remove shrimp from pan; keep stuff in bottom of pan
Add tomato sauce to pan; add cream



Cook for seven or eight minutes
Add shrimps back to sauce
Add spaghetti- if shrimp sauce needs to be diluted, can use spaghetti cooking liquid



A bit of a rough recipe I know, but it really is very easy and tasty. I usually make an entire box of spagetti as this makes a lot of sauce