Birthday Dinner Leftovers

For my birthday we went out to dinner with my parents and stepgrandmother. I usually don't take photos at restaurants unless we're on vacation, but I ended up bringing home some of my dinner so I took a photo of the leftovers. This was my pork paprikash with spaetzle:


SP has ordered this dish a few times so I knew it would be good, but I didn't know how good. Absolutely delicious. The pork was succulent and juicy, falling apart at the mere touch of the fork. The spaetzle was almost creamy and all I could think as I ate was that it was a big bowl of comfort food.

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Today is my birthday. My 28th birthday, to be exact. I've always loved birthdays, especially my own. I mean really, what's wrong with a day that's all about wonderful, fabulous YOU! :) I know so many people who hate getting older and hate their birthdays because it reminds them of this fact, but every January 5 is like a special holiday just for me. It's not even about the gifts, although that's always nice. It's just about being happy I'm alive, smiling and feeling good about life.

Obviously my birthday is pretty close to Christmas. Growing up my parents always made a point to separate Christmas and my birthday so I wouldn't feel cheated, but one of the perks of having a birthday so close to the holidays is that it extends them. We always keep the Christmas tree and decorations up until after January 5, it means more fun dinners out and presents and family time. Thanksgiving through today always meant special times.

As regular readers know, these past few months have been rough for us. I hit a low point on New Year's Eve (SP was sick, we'd had to cancel plans with our friends and I spent most of the day on the couch feeling sorry for myself) and all I could think was "I can't wait for 2008 to be over!" We ushered in 2009 with the burning of the bad from 2008 and the planting of our hopes and dreams for 2009. At my first birthday celebration on Saturday, when I blew out the candles on my delicious cake, in addition to my real wish I wished for things to be different in 2009.

Today I happened to wake up at 12:00am on the dot. All I could do was smile and wish myself a happy birthday. And I haven't stopped smiling since. Between the happy birthday hug and kiss I got from SP while I was still in that blissful sleep/wake state all snug in bed this morning to the sushi lunch, homemade cupcakes, cards and gifts from my coworkers to the promise of a fantastic Mexican dinner tonight, it's just been a great day. After feeling so low for so long it almost feels wrong to be happy. Maybe I'm just out of practice, but it feels sore, almost like a muscle I haven't exercised in awhile. I keep searching deep within myself to find that little pang of sadness, but it isn't there. I'm just enjoying my day, smiling to myself and feeling, in the very dark and dusty parts of my heart, as if something has changed. Something feels different. I can't put my finger on it, but I think 2009 is going to be a good year. I hope I'm right. We could really use some goodness in our lives, but for now I'm not going to worry about that. I'm just going to enjoy this feeling and the last few hours of my special day.

Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday, happy birthday
Happy birthday to me!

Pizza

On New Year's Day we decided to make pizza for dinner. We had a few mushrooms in the fridge so I sliced them up to go on top of the pizza, along with sliced pepperoni.


The lighting is bad, but as you can see I cooked this pizza the traditional way on the pizza stone instead of in the deep dishes.

Baking with Brooke

My office was closed the week between Christmas and New Year's so Brooke and I decided to get together to tackle one of my biggest fears - baking bread. She thought Hawaiian rolls would be a good place to start. After a few minor mishaps involving an errant mixer and needing to run to the store for more yeast this is what we produced:


Delicious, sweet, pineapple-y rolls. SP loved these, especially with a pat of butter. We cheated and used her breadmaker, which gave us this huge ball of dough after an hour and a half:


We separated the dough into two pieces so we each got 9 rolls. We rolled the dough into balls and placed them in baking pans:


After the dough went into the pans it needed to rise another hour so we took the opportunity to make cookies. Since SP loves peanut butter cookies and we all love the combination of peanut butter and chocolate we decided to make these peanut butter cookies.


The cookies are a pretty basic recipe. We added copious amounts of chocolate and peanut butter chips:


... before rolling them in sugar and pressing them down with the tines of a fork. Here they are ready to be baked:


SP said these were the best peanut butter cookies he has ever had, and that says a lot because he loves peanut butter cookies. I have to say, they are truly amazing. We've been rationing them out because we could have eaten them all in one sitting if left to our own devices. Delicious!

Thanks for a fun day, Brooke! We have to do it again sometime. :)

Breakfast

Last weekend I made us a quick breakfast. SP wanted an omelet but I was in the mood for gooey egg yolks so I poached myself two eggs and served them eggs Benedict-style:


... on toasted English muffin halves with strips of crispy bacon. The eggs were perfectly cooked and delicious.


I also cooked some mushrooms with garlic:


They were good, but SP said the garlic pieces were too raw to be eaten whole. Next time I'll leave them off our plates, but they did impart a nice flavor to the mushrooms.

Scallop Gratin

The last time I made this dish I used shrimp and scallops and didn't follow Ina's recipe exactly. I wasn't thrilled with the results so this time I used only scallops and actually used the butter in the recipe and it was delicious.


I didn't have Pernod so I left that out and I subbed bacon for the prosciutto. I haven't used my broiler since it's a tray underneath the actual oven so this needed a little more time to finish cooking and browning. I served it with a mixed greens salad tossed with lemon juice, oil, salt and pepper:


I love how this looked before it went into the oven. All that gorgeous butter laced with bacon and seasonings and the crunchy panko crumbs:


This is easy to prepare, although it reminds me why I need gratin dishes. I think this would be even better in individual serving dishes.

Tuna Melt

For lunch one day this week I decided to make an old favorite, the tuna melt:


I mixed the canned tuna with mayo, finely chopped onion and celery and seasoned it with salt and pepper. I toasted one slice of bread and piled the tuna on top, then topped that with slices of cheddar cheese. The whole thing went into the toaster oven to heat through and then I turned on the broiler for a few seconds to lightly brown the top.

Birthday Dessert

For dessert my stepdad picked up a cake from a local bakery, a framboisier:


... which is three layers of dark chocolate cake and chocolate truffle topped with fresh fruit:


Here's the cake after we'd tucked into it:


It was very rich, which made the fruit a nice counterpoint.

Birthday Dinner

My stepgrandmother turned 82 yesterday. Since my Aunt E was in town for Christmas she decided to cook a nice meal to celebrate the occasion. Look at this gorgeous roast pork stuffed with herbs.


But first the nosh. We had an olive tapenade with toasted bread:


The olives were deliciously salty:


We also had some creamy cheese that was similar to brie:


Here's the pork roasts fresh from the oven:


... and the main event, the porcini risotto:


E also cooked some peas:


... and we had a tossed salad:


Here's my plate with a little bit of everything:


... and a closeup of the risotto:


It was creamy and delicious, with large pieces of earthy porcini. I had two helpings of it and could have eaten more. Happy Birthday, B!!

Christmas Dinner

For Christmas dinner we went to my stepgrandmother's for the same meal we've had every year since my mom and stepdad got married. We had salad:


... roast beef tenderloin:


... a loaf of garlic bread:


... green beans with almonds:


... and Christmas cookies for dessert:


Unfortunately this year things didn't go according to plan and the meal was less than stellar. My stepgrandmother, who is 82, has finally decided to hand the reins over to me and my mother. After years of being an amazing cook she just doesn't have it in her anymore. She was so upset that the meal didn't turn out the way it usually does. The Yorkshire pudding (not pictured) never rose or cooked all the way through. The beef and green beans were overcooked, and she decided not to make mashed potatoes (much to the disappointment of everyone in attendance). At least the cookies were good.

Christmas Morning Strata

Every Christmas my mom makes Christmas Morning Strata and I always have to have a piece for old times sake.


It was delicious. I love the sausage and cheese and the soft bread with the crispy bits at the top.

Beignets

A few months ago my friend Amy in Louisiana sent me a package of local, regional foods, including beignet mix. SP wanted to do something fun on Christmas morning so he whipped up a batch of beignets using the mix.


We made these together after breakfast. SP mixed the dough and then I was in charge of cutting the dough and dropping the pieces into the oil while he manned the oil and my mother-in-law made sure each beignet had copious amounts of powdered sugar on it.


The funny thing is the box of mix says to refrigerate after opening. Hmm. I wonder why. I don't want it to go bad so I have a feeling we'll be making beignets again soon. It was certainly easy and the results were delicious.

Christmas Morning Breakfast

Every Christmas morning we have my mother-in-law over for breakfast. She always asks for the same thing - scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast. I wasn't in the mood for scrambled eggs this year so I made them for her and SP and made myself some fried eggs.


I also cooked up some breakfast potatoes in addition to the bacon and toast. For the potatoes I cubed them into small pieces and cooked them with onions, salt and pepper until the potatoes were tender. They were delicious, especially with some of the egg yolk.

Baked Stuffed Shrimp and Baked Potatoes

The rest of our Christmas Eve meal included Baked Stuffed Shrimp and baked potatoes:


I had extra-large shrimp in the freezer so that's what I used for the recipe. These little guys look so gorgeous with the stuffing tucked into them:


For the baked potatoes I cleaned and dried them, then gave them a rub with olive oil, salt and pepper before baking them at 400 degrees for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half:


I served mine with a little butter and sour cream. Delicious! The whole meal was actually very easy to make. The asparagus had very little prep and just cooked in the oven. Same for the baked potatoes. The shrimp was the most involved, but it was still easy to put together. We ate ourselves silly and thoroughly enjoyed the meal. Merry Christmas to all!

Asparagus with Fried Egg and Pecorino

Every Christmas Eve we have seafood for dinner. We loved the meal we had for Valentine's Day so much we decided it would be perfect for Christmas Eve. We started with roasted asparagus topped with a fried egg and grated Pecorino cheese:


The bunch of asparagus SP picked at the store was perfect. Most of the time the stalks are all different sizes, which means when they're roasted some end up burning before the others are cooked through, but not this bunch. They were a uniform size and all small and tender. They spent about 10 minutes in the oven drizzled with salt, pepper and olive oil before they were plated and topped with a fried egg and freshly grated cheese. The broken egg yolk makes a perfect sauce when mixed with the cheese:


A delicious and colorful start to the meal.

Asparagus with Fried Egg and Pecorino
Inspired by Piatto

1 bunch asparagus, woody ends removed
salt and pepper
olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 eggs
Grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350.

Toss asparagus with salt and pepper and olive oil. Spread on a baking sheet in a single layer. Roast in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the asparagus is tender to your liking.

Meanwhile, heat butter in a small skillet. Add eggs and fry to your liking.

Remove asparagus from the oven and divide into two bunches. Top each bunch with a fried egg. Grate cheese on top and serve immediately.

Pizza Pockets

After the holiday get together with my friends a few weeks ago SP was dying for me to make the pizza pockets Colleen brought to the party. I realized I had all the ingredients on hand so I made them for a snack on Christmas Eve.


I used a regular ball of pizza dough that I get frozen from a local Italian bakery, so I had some issues rolling it into a rectangle and cutting it into even pieces. So some of the pockets were much larger then the others. It was OK...they still tasted great. Here they are ready to go into the oven:


And fresh out of the oven all golden brown and crispy:


While SP liked them, the look on his face when he first bit into one was total and utter surprise. It turns out he wasn't expecting this filling:


... of spinach and sausage mixed with cream cheese. Apparently the name "pizza pockets" evokes thoughts of pizza flavors (sauce, cheese, maybe pepperoni) stuffed inside the dough and baked. Whoops! I knew what to expect because I'd had them already but SP was a little surprised. He liked them, but he asked me to please make real pizza pockets sometime soon. Stay tuned for that in the coming days...

Pierogies and Cheddar Broccoli

It's been awhile since I made pierogies. SP got tired of them after eating them basically once a week for a few months. Then one of his work friends told him she was going to a local place that makes homemade pierogies and offered to pick some up for us to try. She got us two dozen potato and cheddar so I cooked them up with some slow-cooked onions for dinner last Tuesday:


The pierogies were lighter and tasted much fresher then the Mrs. T's variety we're used to eating. I served mine with a little dollop of sour cream, but unlike all the previous times I've made pierogies I decided not to use bacon in an effort to keep this meal somewhat healthy.


I also steamed some broccoli in chicken broth and melted cheddar cheese on top before serving:


It was a delicious meal and even tastier because we hadn't had it in awhile. I think we're spoiled now by the fresh pierogies.

Wendy's Snack

SP got home late on Monday which meant stopping for food on the way home. He was going to Wendy's so he asked if I wanted anything. The broccoli rabe pasta wasn't satisfying so I asked him to pick me up a double cheeseburger. I snagged a few of his fries and had a tasty snack: