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waffles and coffee

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!

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 🙂

Leftovers, and a look at frozen fish

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.

A Pumpkin-Filled Halloween

Since it is nearly the end of November, I figure it’s about time to get my Halloween post up.  We were very un-halloween-y this year.  The wonderful Dori was in town, and we didn’t eat any Halloween candy at all! We didn’t dress up and we didn’t trick-or-treat (and since we’re in a secure building, no kiddies stopped by for our non-existent candy).  However, we kept the spirit of the holiday alive with lots of pumpkin!

So that is actually a picture from last year’s pumpkin t-shirt.  It is one of the most adorable Santana pictures ever.  But she did wear it this week to celebrate!  This year she was actually a scary scary green monster…

Last year she also attempted to be a bat….this got mixed reviews.

Instead of eating out for Dori’s whole visit, we made a fun asian-inspired dinner one night. It included peanut butter pumpkin curry noodle.  It was…strange. But mostly good.  At first, the flavor of the sauce was very off-putting, but once we thinned it out and added a bit more peanut butter, it was pretty tasty and made a nice side to the coconut shrimp soup we made.  This was a really light, pretty soup that I enjoyed quite a bit and had for leftovers the next day.  In the original version of the soup, the shrimp was cooked perfectly, nice and soft, but of course when reheated it got a tiny bit rubbery. Bleh.

 

We also tried these fancy juices called “First Blush”.  They’re basically grape juices from wine grapes…chardonnay, merlot, etc.  We did a group taste test. Including one that was a juice-tea blend.  I think we all agreed on which one we liked best…but I can’t remember which it was at this point.  Dori, do you remember???

To round out the pumpkin-y-ness of the weekend, Dori had french toast stuffed inside of a pumpkin for breakfast one day. Insanity!

2 stolen recipes and some frozen corn

One of our favorites this year has been Major Grey’s Chicken.  I posted about this earlier…maybe?  I can’t seem to find the post now.  I will link to it if I find it.

It is a delicious, creamy, mango-filled pile of deliciousness.  The recipe we use is stolen from one of Matt’s co-workers, and I usually add some fresh mango to the mix because we have some on hand.  It’s actually usually the mango that inspires us to make this dish, since it’s a failsafe use for the fruit.

We also stole another recipe from a coworker of mine…Kale Pesto!  We’re both wary of dark greens in general, and have had some bad luck with them in the past.  Kale is no exception, and I’ve consistently avoided adding it to my salad in our cafeteria at work.  But I heard rave reviews about this kale pesto—the bitterness is cut with a few handfuls of basil, but the healthy kick of kale is still blended in.

We used a huge package of basil (the kitchen smelled AMAZING!) and a whole bunch of Kale that came in our CSA box.  Matt was in charge of adding everything to the bowl, so I’m not sure of the exact amounts, but garlic, salt and olive oil all went into the mix.

Then….we realized we really need to invest in a food processor soon.  Where will we put it? No idea.  Maybe in our imaginary cupboard with the stand mixer, pressure cooker, waffle iron and rotisserie cooker (this one’s just for Matt). 

Anyway, we got it blended in tiny batches and then mixed all together. Tossed with some tri-color pasta. Yum yum yum.

These two seemed a little mismatched, but I figured the bitter of the kale would pair well with the sweet and creamy of the chicken dish.  What kind of side could make this even more strange?? Some frozen corn, of course!  The only other option in our freezer was cheesy broccoli, which I thought was way too out there.

It was a little all-over-the-place, but still delicious, and Matt has been eating leftovers this week while I’m on the road 🙂

In the spirit of fun fall stuff, here’s our decorated mantle for the season! Very exciting—notice the real life candlesticks…I’m pretty pleased with how grown up these beeswax taper candles make me feel.  Plus, the adorable mini-loaf pan that I turned into a candle holder.

We used that loaf pan a couple weeks ago to make some amazing banana nut bread for a party, and now it’s clean and full of pumpkin spice scented candles!  Spectacular!

   

Also, this is how Santana sits while I cook.  She’s so dainty and genteel, huh?