Archive for the ‘Holidays’ Category
waffles and coffee
February 27th, 2010 Posted 1:21 pm
This is so ridiculously late it’s not funny at all. For Christmas, part of my present to Matt was some fun kitchen stuff…a waffle maker, coffee grinder and a sampler of Vermont Maple Syrup! This called for a taste test!
I think we preferred one of the middle syrups, but can’t remember which for sure.
Santana was intrigued (as she always is when we’re eating at the table), and was sporting her new holiday sweater & fancy Hawaiian collar that she got in her stocking!
The coffee was an anniversary surprise from Matt’s favorite coffee place in Seattle…Caffe Vita. Now two and a half months later, we’ve just finished the first bag (Caffe Luna blend), so we’ll be starting the Holiday Blend in March.
The waffles we made came from AB’s I’m Just Here for More Food, and were spectacular. Instead of paring down the recipe, we made about 18 waffles and froze the 12 or so that we didn’t eat. They have been wonderful homemade frozen waffles ever since then. They were thin and crispy and very very tasty. Not your typical waffle batter, but very delicious and froze really well. Here is our gigantic stack.
Matt loves his coffee and waffles!
Santana may or may not have had a bite of waffle. We’ll never know!
Celebrations!
February 23rd, 2010 Posted 10:31 pm
I went a little crazy last week baking all day on the President’s Day holiday…the prettiest creation? Mardi Gras cupcakes!! The frosting is wonderful cream cheese frosting from a can, but I made the cupcakes from scratch! Fun! It was a simple yellow cake recipe from my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. Fairly easy (would have been easier with a stand mixer!) and very tasty. I went a little crazy with the frosting colors and played around for a bit…the batch made two dozen, so by the time Matt got home from work, the kitchen was covered in cupcakes and the other food I’d been working on (chili, mac & cheese, apple bars). Very exciting!
Why all the excitement??? Big huge enormous wonderful news!
Matt proposed!!!! AHHH!! So, it’s been almost 2 weeks since then, but it happened on 2/13 and I am still sort of reeling. We aren’t in any hurry to start planning, but are really enjoying the love….lots of love to go around. Plus, Santana is so happy! Look at her excitement: 
Of course, we put the ring on the pup…she was not very happy about this, but it made for a funny picture:
Here’s the ring on me 🙂
I LOVE it! The diamond was a gift from my grandmother for my undergrad graduation and it means a lot to me that we could take that diamond and get it set in the perfect ring. Especially with someone I’m so crazy about. LOVELOVELOVE 🙂
Lots of Yum
January 18th, 2010 Posted 1:08 pm
So we are still around…I know I have been way off schedule with this blog, but there has been a lot going on and I have been putting way too much energy into watching football lately (how did that happen!?).
Anyway, we’ve had lots of delicious things going on. I’ve got a few recipes and more detailed things to post, but for now, here’s a breakdown of some really wonderful things we’ve been eating.
Root Vegetable Chowder, thanks to Emeril (with lots of additional veggies tossed in)
Cheddar Garlic Chive Scones topped with pan-fried ham and sunny side up eggs for breakfast:
Cuban-inspired panini: ham, turkey, thin-sliced pickles, onion, tomato mustard—all on garlic bread. 
Chili Mac Casserole, made with ground turkey and topped with a corn tortilla chip crust (plus cheese, sour cream and salsa, obviously).
Roast chicken with kale pesto rubbed under the skin, with green beans and potatoes and a Caesar salad. 
Amazing breakfast scramble with bacon, spinach, potatoes and onions….plus Beecher’s flagship cheddar. This was our treat breakfast for the week and was so so spectacular. 
Spinach, onion and garlic english muffin pizzas with italian and feta cheeses. Plus a side of broccoli. 
And I’m still celebrating this amazing Christmas present from Matt: 
Love <3
Leftovers, and a look at frozen fish
December 6th, 2009 Posted 5:00 pm
First up, I have to point out that Santana is loving her new comforter (passed down from our bed after we upgrade for my birthday) now that the cold weather is settling in. She leads a rough life, as you can tell…
Second, a quick look at what happened to some of our Thanksgiving leftovers last week…
Our mini turkey cutlets on a warm roll, with a smear of cranberry sauce on either side. YUM! These turkey cutlets were really delicious and actually pretty easy…I may start doing this kind of thing on a more regular basis. 2 turkey tenderloins made a huge amount of turkey bites…spectacular 🙂
This slightly strange picture is a view of the inside of a sweet potato ravioli that was pretty tasty and a big step outside of the box. We took our leftover sweet potato casserole (minus pecans), seasoned it up a bit, and turned some gyoza wrappers into ravioli. Boiled them and then tossed in a pan of cranberry glaze made with a bit of leftover cranberry sauce all spiced up. Strange? Yes, very. But the tangy sweetness of the cranberry sauce went really well with the smooth creamy flavor of the sweet potato. And it used up our leftovers pretty wonderfully.
We also whipped up an apple pie at the end of Thanksgiving weekend. I think we loved it so much I failed to get a picture. It was huge. I used my grandma’s recipe, substituting the Pillsbury dough I had in the fridge for her homemade crust and crumb topping, but the filling was all her. yummm….we ate this with vanilla ice cream for a few days and now we are pie-less. It was a good couple of weeks full of pie and it will be missed.
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A couple weeks ago we tried two different types of halibut. There was a buy-one-get-one-free sale on the frozen packs of halibut at our grocery. They’re pretty decent quality, frozen pretty quickly after being caught, and simple to prepare.
The first preparation was a spicy seasoning on a simply grilled filet, served with my carrot perfection (a little too much honey on this batch) and some creamy parmesan risotto. 
Because we didn’t give the fish enough time to defrost in the fridge (8 hours, as noted on the package, was NOT enough), the fish stuck a little to the grill. Also, because the fish was thick on one edge and thin along the other, not all was as moist as it should have been. However, pretty tasty, and ridiculously easy on our stovetop grill pan.
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The second was an almost-easier foil packet of halibut, zucchini, yellow pepper, onion, leftover kale pesto that had been hanging out in the freezer, seasoning and white wine baked in the oven. Served with a boxed mix of lentil something or other that made a pretty tasty side. Again the first fell apart a little bit, but it was SO moist and the sauce formed by the wine, veggies and pesto was unbelievable. I can’t remember if we had bread to soak up this sauce, but if I made this again I would be sure to include it. 
I would definitely recommend these frozen fish packs. These particular packages were each individually vacuum-sealed, with two coming to a pack. They’re really easy to work with and relatively affordable. With just a little seasoning and some veggies, they make for a light and filling meal.
November Has Been Good To Us
November 28th, 2009 Posted 2:47 pm
As November wraps up, I’m realizing that amid some craziness, stress and worry, there has been a lot to be thankful for. Matthew and I have had a really great month. We got our holiday flight for Christmas nailed down, watched the Yankees win the World Series and got a brand new comforter for our bed…we are easily impressed 🙂
Mid-month, around my birthday, we flew to Hawaii (a partial work trip) and took full advantage of the sun, relaxing atmosphere, tourist-y goodness, and amazing food. Here are some pictures to share:
Love 🙂
Some of the food….
Sampler (for lunch) at the Kona Brewing Restaurant.
Lots of pineapple at the Dole Plantation…where we tried to refrain from chomping them right of the stems :)
Fancy dinner at Roy’s, where we had an AMAZING meal:
Free spicy edamame appetizer. 
Pineapple martini (that piece of fruit had been soaking in vodka for days). 
Macadamia-crusted Mahi Mahi w/ lobster butter sauce.
Caramelized scallops with a blueberry vinaigrette and some bacon-wrapped sweet potatoes I think. The scallops were cooked to perfection.
Finally, pineapple upside down cake, which you give them 30 minutes to prepare because they make each one fresh. They sliced the pineapples thinly so there were juicy amazing layers of pineapple on top of the cake. On the side: vanilla bean ice cream in a burnt sugar cup. All in a caramel sauce. Unbelievable. 
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To wrap up our wonderful November, we are in the middle of a spectacularly relaxing Thanksgiving weekend. We’ve been together almost 3 years and this is the first time we’ve spent Thanksgiving together. It was wonderful. We went with turkey tenderloins, sliced into medallions, marinated in Annie’s Natural Tuscany Italian dressing, breaded with Panko breadcrumbs and pan fried. Really yummy. With some comforting sides and homemade stuffing/dressing….yum! We went with a nice mix of new/more-involved things and easy standbys. Matt was in charge of the traditional green bean casserole and did a great job! I made some dinner rolls from a Cooking Light recipe, and my favorite was the turkey knot…
Here are the rest of our pictures, including pumpkin pie that we were so excited about we made 4 days earlier, and some gorgeous orange flowers we got for $5 on sale!
Thankfulness all around! Happy Thanksgiving! Let’s cross our fingers for a December that is full of pleasant surprises, healthy families, lots of love and new adventures.
