Halloween Dinner

I wish I could remember where I found this recipe for pumpkin soup,  all I know is, with it I hit the JACK'O Lantern POT! I made it last year for friends and once the fall weather blew in those great friends began to ask when I was making it again. Silly me I had almost forgotten about it! Not to worry - I pulled out my recipe book and added ingredients to my grocery list.

Due to popular demand I made it today and doubled the recipe as I knew we all loved it and wanted to make sure we all left the table satisfied until next year! Its quite a work out! Between the cutting and the peeling of the pumpkin I worked up a sweat! It brought back great memories of pumpkin carving with my niece and nephew! I even baked the seeds to enjoy with the soup (although I'm not sure there will be much left after all my "snacking" :)

Thanks to my amazing MIL (who not only loves Halloween but also loves sending us packages) we've got some great decorations to make dinner quite an  event! Over the years she has supplied these great place settings. I got the spider bowls from Big Lots last year.

This year she gave us wine and glass ornaments - Such a cute idea.

We ended dinner with sugar cookie - putting to use the cookie cutters that arrived this year. I wish I could capture the smell of the soup combined with the great candle she sent because its absolutely heavenly!

I happened to have the day off and it happened to be a good night for everyone to come over and it happened to be the night that this came on TV -Coincidence? Who cares! All I know is that Great Friends, Great Family, and Great Food is a priceless combinations! So happy the Holiday Season is OFFICIALLY HERE!

Laura's Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

3 Tbs Butter
2 Tbs Flour
2 Tsp Salt
Pepper to taste
2 Cups hot milk
1 1/2 Cup Shreddd Chedder Cheese
6 Potatoes, pealed and sliced
1 Small Onion Chopped

Melt butter in a double broiler or sauce pan over medium heat. Add flour, salt and pepper. Cook stirring constantly until smooth, Gradually stir in hot milk. Cook stirring constantly until thickened. Add cheese and cook continue stirring until melted. Layer potato slices, onion and cheese sauce in a lightly greased  9x13 baking dish. Repeat layers.

Bake @ 350 for 1 hour

If you love scalloped potatoes this is the BOMB! I usually make the boxed ones but these were super easy and better tasting. I added ham so that it could be an all in one meal, and the turn out was a success - both of us went back for seconds and there is still enough for me to take for lunch. It was a rainy day and this is a perfect meal for that kind of weather or for a winter meal.

Laura's Grilled Flank Steak

1/2 Cup Soy Sauce
3/8 Cup Veg Oil
1 1/2 Tbs Oriental Sesame Oil
5 Garlic Cloves minced
3 Tbs minced Ginger
6 Green Onions White and Green parts trimmed and minced
1 (2-21/2 lb) Flank steak
Salt
Fresh ground pepper

Process first 6 ingredients in a blender for 1-2 minutes
Reserve 1/3 of marinade for basting
Rub Steak with salt and pepper
Combine steak and Marinade in large zip lock bag for 1-2 days
Remove steak from marinade and discard marinade
Grill steak 4-5 inches above hot coals for 5 minutes each side for rare - or to your liking
Basting occasionally with reserved marinade - Steak may also be broiled

TIP - always bring meat to room temp before grilling to reduce cooking time and ensure more even cooking.

This was very simple and taste. I love prepping food the night before so that when I get home from work dinner is effortless and delish! I am not very good at choosing meat so I admit I took quite a while searching out with Steak to buy and honestly I don't remember what I picked and will have the same look of confusion next time i am in the Meat section of the grocery store. I added a baked potato and a summer salad that my sisters MIL made while I was in NY. Tomato, Cucumber and Onion drizzled with Oil and Vinegar salt and pepper. I still need to work on my proportions because hers def tasted better than mine but i'll keep at it.

Dinner for two

This weeks menu was quite a success - it felt like we fell into a routine and things went so smoothly and we ate so well!

Sunday we went grocery shopping with my list in hand and this time I got EVERYTHING I needed. Which is quite a shock seeing as I usually forget at least 1 item and have to make a mad dash to the supermarket.

Sunday evening I had to go into work at 9pm and work until 9am Monday morning. Althought the night went relativly smoothly we encountered a small glitch around 7am that required me to do a little driving and delayed me getting home on time. Monday the plan was to have Mr. Fij grill the ribs before he left for work so I could throw them into the crock pot when I got home from work. Due to my work delema I didnt make it home until after 10am meaning he'd already left for work. I jumped in bed and the Mr. came home on lunch to grill for me  . . aweeee! I woke up a little after noon and dumped them in the crock pot with the beer. Let them cook for 2 hours added in the BBQ sauce and took another short nap. The house smelled amazing! The ribs turned out fantastic - litterally fell off the bone no joke! We weren't sold on the BBQ sauce I used but there's a great BBQ place around here called 4 Rivers and I think next time I'll pick up their sauce to see if it gives mt ribs more kick.

Tuesday was grill night! On Monday I cut up some chicken into cubes along with a green pepper, red pepper, and zucchini. I put all these into a zip lock bag with some cherry tomatoes and a bottle of Italian dressing. Let that marinate over night. When I finally got home (how is it that I leave for work before the MR and get home from work AFTER him? I'll never understand it!) I put these on skewers and had the MR grill them up for me while I made some rice and threw together a salad. Officially the most effortless dinner ever and so good there were NO left overs!

 

After dinnerni began the cake making for my Wednesday morning meeting at work. Threw togther the cake mix, baked and let it cool. Mixed up the pudding, milk and cream cheese topped the cake with that and then the pineapples and added the whip cream and viola a lovely dessert.

Its was a hit at work and at home! I admit I was a bit skeptical but in the end I am sold. Its easy and tastes amazing I'll defiantly make it again!

No More cooking for me this week!Thursday- Tonight we're both working late so i may pick up some fast food . . .shhhhh don't tell! Friday is my BFF's birthday (aka my maid of honor - I'm sure there's a better picture of us from the wedding but this was the best I have saved to my PC)

so I get to dress up whoo hooo and enjoy a great night with great friends - Greek food and dancing at Opa.
Saturday we have a little house hunting planned as well as Beach time and dinner with friends!Sunday we will take part in some 4th of July festivities with friends fingers crossed there will be a BBQ involved so that I can make a great dessert recipe with a little patriotic theme! To be honest among all the fun things that we have in store what Im looking forward to the most is Monday . . . when my nephew will be fly in from NY to spend the month with us and my parents . . we've got ALOT of fun things planned!

Stay tuned for more of our adventures!

Ohio Tradition

Mrs. "what size do I make these?"
Mr. "I don't know"
Mrs. "haven't you had these before?"
Mr. "I don't remember, they are an Ohio tradition?"

This from the man from Ohio? I thought he'd be a little more help but I was on my own. Were mine 3/4" im not too sure.

Here is another quickie made from stuff in my post vacation pantry.

                                 

 


But I admit I did have to break into Ari's peanut butter jar (yes Ari had his own food) To make it up to him I let him go to town on the Jars.

They were quick to make then popped them into fridge for a half hour while we watched the season finale of How I met your Mother.

Then went to work on the coating. I bought the chocolate from Michaels that I use for my chocolate molds and for chocolate covered Oreos. Due to my previous experience with this chocolate I didn't put them in the fridge because they would have turned a little white. I just let them harden at room temp then put them in Tupperware.

This is bad news for my current calorie counting but I'll have a few and then take them to work and they will be gone in no time at all!

Hot Chicken Casserole

2 1/2 Cup cooked chicken, cubed
1 Cup diced celery
1 Tbs lemon Juice
1 Tsp Salt
2 Tbs minced onion
3/4 Cup mayonase
1 Cup cooked rice  (3 Cups)
1 Tsp Chicken Seasoning
1 Can water chestnuts, sliced
1 Can cream of chicken soup

Combine all ingreadents spoon into 2 quart casserole dish, Top with 1 cup oleo, 1 Cup crushed corn flakes, 1/2 cup sliced almonds crumble on top of casserole.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes

I took a few short cuts, #1 I used uncle Ben's rice in a bag because I had my chicken cooking whent to grab the rice from the pantry only to find I was out. I made a quick run to Publix and grabed the rice - 10 minutes was what sold me.

I also used onion salt instead of fresh onion and used crunchy nut cereal since thats what I had and I didn't want to buy corn flakes that were buy one huge box get a huge box free when I only needed one cup.

I dont have a traditional casserole dish so I used two pie plates. Worked out perfectly. Steamed some veggies and dinner was a served.

Cooking with Dad

March is the month of my Grandmothers birthday so I decided to make her recipes this month and started with her cookies. I had planned to make her Manicotti this week and when our weekend plans changed and my husband suggested a weekend at my parents I jumped at the chance to make this WITH my Dad. Hes made it many times before and thought it would great to have him teach me his mothers recipe and that way I was sure not to completely butcher the dish! Here are some pictures of our cooking.

Cooking

Sauce

Hand made Crepes

  

Ta Da

A special thanks to my Dad - for always making time to build memories and teach me traditions - I love you!

Mission Complete

Another rough recipe! Being that I haven't had these cookies in over 10 years as my Grandma passed in 2005 and went into a nursing home in 2001 - this was hard to get my memory to match my cookie but . . . It was successful being that it was my first time making it - with time I know I will be able to perfect them.

First of all they took a big chunk of time! I started at 8pm and didn't finish until 11 and thats just the baking! I made a few phone calls to my Dad to verify the recipe  when things didn't make sense. For starters I invested in Crisco after the "Gobs Fiasco" but when I melted it like the recipes said, it looked like vegetable oil - hummm maybe I did this wrong so I called my Dad and he said I did it right. Then 9 cups of Flour sounded a little hefty so I called to make sure that was the correct amount and turns out it is and thats not including all the flour you use to get them onto the cookie sheet! I also had to do some goggling to see how much a Whiskey glass is because I don't just have those lying around, Turns out 3 TBS.

There began my rough start. Once everything was assembled I then had to figure out how to "kneed" the dough that was so sticky that I  would have needed massive amounts of flour to form it into a solid mass - which I chose not to do afraid that they would taste like a lump of flour. So I left the sticky mess and just floured my hands "pinched" out some dough and made balls, dropped them onto the wax paper covered cookie sheet and baked for 20 mins. Now I am used to 5-8 min cookie baking. 20 minutes with 6 sets of  cookie sheets = time consuming!

Once they were all baked I made my recipe for butter icing as the recipe says to use, but I had the same issue I had with the Gobs where the ingredients wouldn't blend so it looked separated and chunky not smooth like icing, I cant adequately describe it but trust me it was no good. I then just went to my dads suggestion of Confectionery Sugar, vanilla and milk and that looked right but I had used all my sugar on the disaster icing and was stuck with 5 dozen un iced cookies.

Tonight I was able to make it to the store to get more sugar and viola the cookies are done, 3 days later but they are done, they are pretty, they are tasty and they remind me of the Grandma - MISSION COMPLETE!

P.S 3 hours of baking later my husband come in and says "wait, what are these called? My Grandma makes them! = two family recipes in one!

Momma Mia

This week I chose a family fav from my side and probably the most requested dinner of my childhood. I'm pretty sure 3 of us 5 kids requested this as our birthday dinner each year in addition of family friends who would request it.

Growing up we alway had home cooked meals, my mom was pretty much suzie home maker. What can I say other than shes amazing. There are so many recipes that she knew by heart. She was big on family dinners together at the table with everyone and anyone. She passed that on to me - a love of family dinners, people you love and care about gathered together away from tv and other distractions focused on food and each other. I love to set a table with the anticipation of the laughter and conversation that will take place once everyone is seated and dinner is on the table. I don't think she knows how many friends she would allow to stay for dinner and what an impact it had on those who didn't have the parental support and traditions she gave us, Thats why friends loved to stay for dinner not just the food but the environment she created. I could go on and on but suffice to say I learned everything I know about cooking and baking from her. She was never afraid to experiment and tried everything at least once, many memories took place in the kitchen!

I've made her Chicken Pot Pie many many times. its super easy and very forgiving. I've cut the recipe in half to make it a better portion when I was single and it was a success. Tonight I used Cream of Mushroom in place of  Cream of Celery because the MR. loves himself some mushrooms. Its a crowd pleaser, very tasty and super easy! I guarantee - once you make it no other pie crust chicken pot pie will satisfy!

Being that this is such an easy recipe there are a few variations I'd like to make - watching the food network, Gilda made individual pot pies and I'd like to attempt that but I don't have the mini dishes so i'll have to invest in them first. I'd also like to mix up the veggies and add in carrots and pea etc. Give it a try - take it, love it and change it!

My Valentine

Valentines day - well when you're married to some one who treats with with love and respect and daily proves his love for you every day feels like Valentines but . . . I had the weekend off so we took some time to celebrate our love a little more than we do on an everyday level.

Saturday we went down to visit my parents, my mom had to work until 5 so we went to a state park and enjoyed the sun shine, fresh air and sentry with a nice long bike ride. Then went back to my parents, took a nap, celebrated my birthday (whoo hoo for a Keurig - thanks Mom&Dad), went out for a nice dinner and a walk around down town. A lovely evening with my amazing parents!

We drove home that night and had a nice slow lazy Sunday morning complete with heart shaped pancakes! Ran some errands made the sauce for the lasagna ( i used ground beef but used turkey last time - cant really tell the difference), went to church and then our for Hibachi which is our Valentine traditions. This year we went to Benihana - it was good but I vote Kobe as my #1 fav thus far.

Monday we both worked but I put the sauce in the crock pot and let it cook all day - so when I got home the house smelled aaa-mazing! and was surprised with Candy and a most beautiful heartfelt card that may have caused me to tear up a little.  I made up the rest of the lasagna set up the table and was all ready for a candle lit dinner with my Valentine when he got home from work - sometimes(most of the time) home made valentines and a night in beat all the fuss and fancy of commercial valentines.

All this to say I had an amazing Valentines but it had nothing to do with the date but everything to do with the Man!

F+?

Is an F+ a real grade? This a big fail for me. which I do NOT take well! I've never gotten an F but the + makes me feel a little better

It all started yesterday when I assembled all my ingredients and made a list of items I needed to pick up. After a bike ride to dinner and the store and then back I started to whip up some of Grams Gob's only to run out of Vanilla - fail #1. My wonderful husband made a quick run to the store to pick some more up while I continued to bake the cookies, half of which burned - fail #2. After the cookies cooled I trimmed off the burnt bottoms and began the icing. I combined the milk and flour as told and put it in the fridge to cool, mixed the rest of the ingredients for the icing and pulled out the milk/flour mixture and added it in and i had . . . SOUP. . . not icing SOUP. Fail #3 After reassessing the recipe and pulling from experience, I gathered that I should have simmered the Milk and flour until it was thick not until it was mixed. So i put the cookies in Tupperware and grabbed my book at went to bed at 9pm - I didn't want to give the Day a chance to get any worse.
I know I am over exaggerating a bit but baking is my thing - it may not always come out pretty but I know how to follow a recipe and it always tastes good, so this was hard for me to take in.

I woke up this morning and made attempt #2 of the Icing. I started with the milk and flour and cooked it until it was thick, placed it in the fridge to cool and started on phase 2 of the recipe. I then added in the milk/flour mixture and beat it but it NEVER got fluffy but it was thick enough to make the cookies stick together and tasted fine to me. So I assembled the cookies and called it a day.

Not sure why I couldn't get this recipe right - it seems easy enough. I admit I did cheat on the Crisco - I always use generic margarine. I've always used it for dinners, cookies, cakes and icing and NEVER had an issue but I suppose that could have been the issue either way the MR. has been warned if he ever wants these again he'd better ask Gram because I wont be attempting them again for a looooong time!

Below are a few pictures to show my progress - at the end I added red food coloring to the icing (figured I couldn't ruin it any more) because its almost VALENTINES DAY!

My Persian Prince

I didn't even make it through the first month of 2011 and I already missed a week of cooking & Blogging! We'll I suppose it can be expected - it was my Birthday after all (my 26 . . . for the 3rd time). In addition to that it was absolutely the craziest week at work - easily trumping black Friday and Christmas. It included inventory AND a corporate Visit. So I was a bit sleep deprived but thankfully able to recharge with a wonderful extended weekend off with my fantastical Husband - but sadly did not make one home made meal at all last week. Thankfully things are now calmed down and should stay that way for the next few months. This week to make up for last I asked the Mr. to pick out this weeks recipe. When he picked salad-e Olivieh (his FAVorite)I was a little daunted.

*Sigh*

But now as I here absolutely stuffed, I admit, I am quite proud of myself. Going to the Mr.'s parents and eating so many delicious Persian dishes really made me want to be able to duplicate them for Him at home. He has introduced me to Middle Eastern restaurants throughout the Orlando area and its turned out to be some of my favorite food. Every thing is so different than the Italian food I grew up with and that I could make with my eyes closed so the thought of trying to master a new ethnic food was not some thing I thought would be easy. Turns out (thanks to my Mother-In-Law's detailed recipes) it is do-able! I remember having salad-e Oliveh on my first trip to Ohio and loved it. I thought in my head I could make a cheaters version (ie canned chicken etc), but never tried. I remember my MIL telling me it took all the pots in the kitchen but was totally worth it as the boys loved it. Well it totally would have taken all the pots in my kitchen had I had them! Looking at my pots and pans this morning I realized I have 2 mini pots, 3 Super large pot and 1 yes ONE every day pot, That being said I cooked the eggs, potatoes and chicken one at a time in the same pot. This began at 11am and lasted until well after 1. The one good thing being the super easy clean up because there was only one pan to wash. ;) Once every thing was cooked I grated it all and assembled the rest of the ingredients and had a moment of panic : "who is going to eat ALL of this?" it made so much! I sent out a quick text and Facebook post and had some friends over to share and sent some home with them as well!

I served it with Pita bread and some chips (because I need some "crunch" at dinner) Mr says its usually a dish that is kept in the refrigerator, ready when some one wants a snack. Its ideal for lunch or a light dinner. Its now my #1 go to option for this years summer cook outs or Pot luck but I'll have to invest in one of those carrying cases with the cool packs to keep it cold. One other option I am considering is half-ing the recipe to make it closer to a 2 person serving size.

I must admit, I love nothing more than hearing my cooking tastes just like his Moms from my Persian Prince :)

Chocolate fix

LOVE Tongo Bars - The Mr. calls them white brownies with chocolate chip - I don't care what you call them as long as I can eat them! I love that the ingredients are so basic and there was no need to run to the store to make them, as I had everything in my pantry. Work has been crazy and today we had to go in at 5am to do inventory. 5 am is bad but this is when a 30 minute commute hurts! I was in bed by 9:30pm and the alarm when off at 3:30am - yikes! I admit the snooze was hit a few times but I finally made it up and showered and out the door with my pan of Towanda bars for which my employees were grateful. They all ask why I work retail and don't open my own bakery hahahaha if only they knew how easy baking was. As I made these bars I wondered why I alway opt for the box stuff when baking from scratch is just as easy with only a few more measuring cups and spoons to clean? My only concern is that the middle collapses after it cools - The Mr. assured me that thats whats supposed to happen but maybe hes just trying to make me feel better :)

Big Hit!

A few friends and I take turns hosting dinner each week and this week I offered since I knew I was planning to make this. Chicken Tavern was a hit with my dinner guests, I believe everyone had seconds and no left overs went to waste.  One dinner guest even offered to take left overs home! It was pretty simple to make. Hubby says it looked like his moms and even tasted the same (except for the celery which i didn't cut small enough) Not every one is a fan of mushrooms and its one of the main parts so be sure you've got mushroom lovers before making.

Sausage Bread Vs Stromboli

I posted this recipe because I made it for our Christmas Party last week. In the future I plan to take pictures of the process and product of each dish but for now this will have to do.


I have very fond memories of my Aunt Ginny's cooking. Growing up our families we very close as her daughters were that same as me and my sisters. Our back yards connected so it made easy access to her kitchen . When ever she made Sausage bread we always did our best to invite ourselves to dinner! She has perfected so many recipes, I loved staying for dinner for just about anything she cooked (except when Uncle Tony made venison - but thankfully I've since learned to enjoy that too). Thanks to the wonderful Facebook I was able to ask her to send me the recipe and she sent it right away.


The preparation for this took a bit of time and energy but I think it had more to do the pending holiday more than any thing else. I had to make trips to three different grocery stores before I finally found Pizza dough, apparently its a big seller come Christmas. Then I couldn't find the roasted peppers and onions to save my life so I finally settled on a jar of roasted red peppers. I bought Pepperidge Farm sausage but next time I plan to use fresh sausage from the butcher because I think it will have better flavor and easier to remove the skin before browning.


The process of making this recipe was not hard at all and turned out delicious! Everyone kept telling me how good the Stromboli was  . . . . "you mean sausage bread" I replied to each compliment. No matter what you call it, its tasty!


This is defiantly a recipe that I will make again. It was relatively easy and a big hit. There were about 18 people at the party and I doubled the recipe and made two. Due to the amount of food options, there ended up being a lot of left overs so for future I'd only make one for a party and two if it was a main course for dinner.


Go ahead and give it a try - I gaurentee you'll love it. Be sure to let me know how it turns out!