dinner tonight by scott

Brazilian Shrimp Kebabs (from Steve Raichlen) and  sweet potato fries!!   Nothing like coming home to dinner after working all day long. 

late night 80’s

what did you do at 1:29 am sunday the 30th of september?  Scott and I relived our very early childhood, by listening to Squeeze, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Rick Springfield, Neil Diamond, The Buggles, Billy Idol,  and later on the songs of our adolensence… Ace of Base, The Cranberries, chumbawhama, Liz Phair, Green Day and anyone else that we could remember at a middle school dance. All in the name of finding music for our wedding…. Hope you had a lovely sunday Morning

dinner last night

some fresh tomatoes, basil, mozzarella,  lobster ravioli and chicken cutlets.

30 days to go

 

yesterday I started and finished the vase project for the wedding!!!!

dinner and ice cream

We have been craving a little homemade ice cream lately so we decided on mint chocolate chip and I was off to the store.  I bought fresh mint, cream ,milk, eggs and some chocolate chips.   

After making the custard, letting it chill overnight and a lot of hand turning we ended up with a quart of mint chocolate chip in our freezer.  then it was on to dinner. Spice rubbed chicken with hominy sauté. One of our favorites for a quick meal.

dinner last night

I finally got to reunite with my kitchen after being away and I decided to try out a sweet and sour brisket recipe. The first roast I made wasn’t all that great and the sauce for this one sounded really tasty. So I started after work around 6:30.

I used a 3 lb shoulder instead of brisket as our local grocery was out of brisket.  First up was searing the large hunk of beef. I have never been able to get a really good crust on anything when I have seared beef before but this time I was determined to get it right.

After searing and pulling out the brisket, in went the onions garlic and various other saucy ingredients. Then a  quick dunk in the sauce for the beef and it all went in the oven for about 2 1/2 hours.

 

And at around 9:30 after the smell of this roast had been teasing us all night long we got to pull it out of the oven to rest. We made some sour cream  smashed potatoes and green beans with a bit of bacon. Finally at 9:50 we sat down to a fantastically satisfying meal and still had tons left for lunch and another dinner.

 

The sauce alone is more than enough reason to make this recipe, it was tangy and sweet and tasted just like it smelled.

Sweet and Sour Brisket                          

Ellie Krieger

• Ingredients
• 1 (3-pound) beef brisket, first-cut or flat-half cut, trimmed of any excess fat
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 medium onion, cut in 1/2, then thinly sliced into 1/2 moons
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped (about 1 tablespoon)
• One 15- oz. can tomato sauce, preferably no salt added
• 1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth or water
• 3 tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 5 black peppercorns
• 1 allspice berry

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Pat the brisket dry and sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat in a Dutch oven or braising pot. Sear the brisket until it is browned, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer the brisket to a plate.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the pot and cook the onion, stirring a few times, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the tomato sauce, broth, brown sugar, 1/3 cup of the vinegar, the raisins, peppercorns, and allspice and stir to combine well. Bring mixture to a boil, return brisket and any accumulated juices to the pot, spoon some of the tomato-vinegar mixture over the brisket, cover tightly, and transfer to the oven. Cook until the brisket is fork tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Remove the brisket from the oven, transfer the meat to a cutting board, and let rest for 10 to 20 minutes or, if serving later, cover and refrigerate the meat and sauce for several hours or overnight. When you are ready to serve, cut the meat against the grain into 1/4- inch thick slices. Stir the remaining 1 tablespoon vinegar into the warm sauce. Return the sliced brisket to the sauce until heated through, then serve.

Yield: 10 servings, serving size: 4-ounces brisket plus 3 tablespoons of sauce

pancakes!!!!!

This morning I got up a bit early and got started on my pancakes from Nigella Lawson’s Homemade Instant Pancake Mix, solely to try to use my  new pancake warmer…

We originally had this on one of our registries, then it went on sale and we took it off, giving up on the hopes of lovely fluffy, warm pancakes. Then I was lucky enough to be working in Richmond for a bit and we ended up with this lovely little guy in our possession. 

The mix is simple to assemble and store. I added some cinnamon and nutmeg to mine. I’m looking forward to using it for some delicious waffles as well. It looks like I will have to start making more breakfast dinners soon.

Pancake mix:

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons sugar

Pancake batter:

• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon melted butter

For the pancake mix:

Directions

Mix the above ingredients together and store in a jar.

For the pancake batter:

For each 1 cup pancake mix, add 1 egg, 1 cup milk, and 1 tablespoon melted butter. Do not overmix.

Heat a flat griddle or pan over medium-high heat.

Spoon drops of 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of batter onto the hot griddle and when bubbles appear on the surface of the little pancakes, flip them over to make them golden brown on both sides. A minute or so a side should do it.

tonight

tonight’s dinner was a massive dinosaur steak fit for barney rubble and some fantastic spinach and roasted potatoes.     

And after that we had the most divine peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream ( Thanks Pam)!   Then I got everything set up to use my newest addition to the kitchen…my pancake warmer. I found a new recipe for a pancake mix you can make in advance and just add milk, butter and and egg to.

48 days and counting…

Today we met with Brian ( the guy who is performing  our ceremony) at the church to run through the ceremony details. Friday, I had my final fitting for my gown and my sister has finished the cake topper.

I am starting to feel like things are falling into place more and more everyday. When we got home I went upstairs to check out what we still need for the kids corner.  

The  last  thing we are going to add is a few disposable cameras and a scavenger hunt for some if the older kids to find and take pictures of. Other than that I think the glow sticks, hula hoops, pinwheels and tiaras will keep everyone busy.       

The next big things is the package that arrived Friday night. I’ve got a riddle for you…

    

What do you get when you mix 50 glass vases of varying sizes, 100 pair of pink flip flops, 1000 yards of ribbon and 2400 sheets of colored tissue paper?

Answer to come soon!!!

Our first yellow tomatoes

and a few mini sweet peppers. That’s right- the ones that I started from a tiny little seed have finally sprouted some fruit. We have had a little bit of a pest problem on the tomato plants since I have been away and we will probably only get a handful of these lovely yellow guys. Those pesky hornworms can be a pain.