Cooking on the Front Burner: July 2011

Perfect Popovers and Perfect Night

Yesterday Sue called and invited us to dinner - and it was a welcome invitation! Been super busy the last couple of days - with Kristina's wedding gown fitting, invitations, a bridal shower for another bride, etc. etc.

They made these popovers (same ones we had for book club) and this time I was given the recipe! They seem rather imitating but Steve said they are just a little putzy and not so hard to make (OK Steve, I'm taking your word for it but might be calling you when I try them!!) (Click here for the recipe)

I was also greeted with this fun cocktail called a Flirtini... I'll work on getting this recipe. He chilled everything in the freezer before making - now that's a way a martini should be made.

Raspberry Vodka

Muddled fresh raspberries

The mixture - not sure yet what is in there

Topped off with some champagne

Cheers!

It was a great night - sitting outside, visiting and enjoying good food and drinks. Thanks guys!!

>Frequent Party Stops

Rain Delay...

I had a plan tonight - work until about 4 then get groceries especially something for dinner. The sky looked like it was about 9 at night but no rain (yet). But by the time I walked to the ramp and drove out, it was absolutely coming down in buckets... the kind where you need the wipers on high and it still isn't good enough. So had to nix the groceries because I just wanted to pull into the garage.

Luckily the magic freezer had something that I could use... some leftover sausage. So I took these ingredients and turned it into a meal. Peppers and basil from the garden too!

Prepping and cooking

I even took some string cheese and cut it into pieces - pretty resourceful, right :-)

After the pasta was done, mixed it all together and sprinkled with basil

Dinner is served

John gave it 3.5 stars.

Ironically, about 15 minutes after I got home, the rain completely stopped and the sun came back out! I really need to get groceries - the magic freezer is running out of stuff to help me!

>Frequent Party Stops

Shrimp Scampi

I'm excited to share this dinner with you - it was one of those nights when I left work (and a Happy Hour with Julie and Jen!) that I had no idea what I was going to make for dinner. I was pretty sure I had a bag of frozen shrimp in the freezer and thought I could maybe grill that and serve with some rice and veggie... kind of like what I did last night minus the chicken. So got home, found the shrimp, put it in some cold water to start thawing and then visions of ~~sugarplums~~ scampi danced in my head. A quick google later this is the first recipe that popped up from Simply Recipes. Luckily I had all the ingredients and prepared this dish (click here for my slightly tweaked version)

The ingredients

Time to cook

Dinner is done and served over some angel hair pasta - super fast, super good!

John gave it 4+ stars and even ate the leftovers before it hit the refrigerator!

>Frequent Party Stops

Detox Dinner

After a weekend of eating many of the foods we love out east (see previous post), I decided that we needed to curb some calories and eat something healthier but still tasty. This meal was probably under 450 calories and easy to make. I took chicken breasts, pounded them thin and added some spice to kick it up a notch - flavor without the calories

I also took a zucchini, kinda cubed it up and added a small amount of olive oil, freshly grated pepper and salt

Both the above items were grilled

The chicken was really moist - grilled on each side for about 3 1/2 minutes.
Dinner is done and served with about a cup of rice (Uncle Ben's 90 second packet).

John said even though the meal was simple, he liked the flavors and gave it 3.5 stars. Though I have a feeling I will be hungry in about an hour but I WILL resist from snacking!

>Frequent Party Stops

Road Trip

Five days, over 2300 miles and we are back home. We traveled to NY for my dad's 80th birthday and also managed to throw in a surprise bridal shower for Kristina. Everything went off without a hitch! I hope to be back in the kitchen soon but here are a few pictures of what we experienced back east....

Kristina's surprise shower was held at a Tea House


Gotcha - Kristina was very surprised!

This was a delicious chicken salad with a cranberry-orange sauce

Berry Tart

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

Lemon Mousse Cake

Dad and Grandpa turns 80 -hope he doesn't mind his picture is here :-)

I'm thinking he looks pretty good for 80!

In the last hour we were in Endicott, we stopped at 3 food places - Lupo's Char Pit, Custard Corner and Roma's Bakery... so yes, the diet begins tomorrow!