Category Archives: Dessert

Warm Food for Cold Days

Earlier in the week, when it was still big-coat cold, I made this soup, inspired by How Sweet It Is’ Potato and Roasted Garlic Soup,

But I changed quite a few things.

WHAT YOU NEED
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 yellow onion, diced
 (or, if your onion is ginormous, use ½)
3 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped
5 cups low-sodium chicken stock
2 bulbs roasted garlic
¼ cup whole milk
2 TBSP plain Greek yogurt
¾ tsp salt
¼ tsp fresh ground pepper

WHAT YOU DO
Then I followed her directions, but used an immersion blender to blend in pot. Served with Turkey sandwiches on Artichoke Bread from The Merry Thought.  The bread was done as a test for an appetizer at the Super Bowl but wow, it is amazing as a sandwich. Continue reading →

Getting Ready for the Holidays? Better Call Skunk

Our cat Skunk has offered to help you get ready for the holidays any way he can.   He will help with:

Setting the table

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#nothelpful (and Ewww!)

Ordering presents online image

#nothelpful

Wrapping the presentsimage

#nothelpful

 Changing the sheets:

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#nothelpful

Perhaps some baking?

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#nothelpful

Setting the other table

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#nothelpful  (and Get down!)

Getting the kids to stop playing video games and help pick-up

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#nothelpful

Well, at least when all is said and done, you can relax and read a good book: image

Non-Cat Stuff 

Here are some recent recipes that we’ve made for the various parties or just because:

Rainbow cookies from How Sweet It Is

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I’ll be honest, these were way too sweet for me but Guitar Boy gave them thumbs up.  Mine needed more cooking time than the recipe states as the first batch wasn’t quite done.  I made the small ones (yes, those are the “small” ones).

Soft Gingersnaps from Two Peas and Their Pod

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These were delicious.  I definitely preferred them flattened with the bottom of a glass rather than puffy. To keep the coating both sparkly and crunchy, I used a mix of white sugar and Demerara sugar (also known as Turbinado sugar.  Also known as cheap at Trader Joe’s.)

Gingerbread Granola from Minimalist Baker

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Well, since I opened a jar of molasses, might as well find other things to do with it.   This is granolatastic.   Every time either Kevin or I walked by it, we would grab a handful.    And the house smells great while it is cooking.   I used one extra tablespoon of sugar and you could probably use another tablespoon of maple syrup if you want it more maple than ginger.   Either I didn’t use a big enough pan or my oven runs cool, but I cooked it about 25 minutes before it started to brown.  So check it at 18 but if it still feels really wet, leave it in for 3 minute intervals.  It was great over vanilla Greek yogurt for breakfast.  What is not great?  Pieces of granola in my work keyboard.

Oh and one other thing:

hats

#notregrettingthispurchaseatall

Merry 3 days to go!

Welcome to Middle Christmas

So here we are midway through the festivities, with Neighborhood Pizza Night and McNamara Christmas behind us. Let’s review, shall we?

Neighborhood Pizza Night was a fine time with many food gifts made.  I made this Sriracha Salt, Middendorfs made all sorts of chocolate bark, Madly Pop’n sent Chicago Mix popcorn and the Coluntuano’s gave everyone their famous hand made tomato sauce so we have something to look forward to.  I had planned to serve this Cake Batter Chocolate Bark from How Sweet It Is, but by the time I got home from work on Friday, this is all that was left:

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Looking at you, Guitar Boy!

Fortunately, our neighbors from Pastries So Tasty make cake pops!

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For the record, Baker Boy made lots and lots of cake pops, but by the time I could clear the children out to get a picture, this is what was left!

And they also did this with a Christmas wine topper.  Cute!

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Every year since we’ve moved here, which is also the year we acquired a digital SLR camera in an attempt to capture ANY picture of baby Drummer Boy smiling, we have created The Block book of pictures through the year.  It forces us to actually create a yearly photo book and it makes a nice gift for the neighbors. Here is the 2014 edition on top of all the others:

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Speaking of gifts, in honor of this here blog, the Borkowskis gave us these awesome lucky rhino bookends.   And a gift card to TJ Maxx.   Borkowskis are enablers.

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In other gift news, when you make a joke saying the boys’ band should be called Turkey’s Furcula and you have a friend like John with immense creativity (see Fake Sister’s costume in Halloween posts), a touch of OCD and a love of music, you get this from the Rehors:

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That’s right, Furcula concert t-shirts.  For the whole family.  Here’s the back:

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Turkey’s Furcula, with the special guest, The Cranberries.  Oh wait, such a gift would’t be complete without an magazine cover (bonus Furcula poster inside!):

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In the end, all 34 people had a lovely time, and Kevin ordered…

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…just the right amount of pizza.

Next day was McNamara Christmas.  At the last minute (since Thursday I was flying from LaGuardia to Chicago, so it was anyone’s guess whether I’d be home by Saturday) I made this Smoked Salmon Dip from thekitchn.  It was yummy and it tastes great with Trader Joe’s Everything Bagel Chips.

The boys went with ugly Christmas sweater theme for Mac Christmas:

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And here is the whole crew:

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it was basically your standard McNamara Christmas, with Irish dancing demonstrations, the cousins grab bag, and the children gathered around:

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one kid playing Minecraft on an iPhone, while the rest of the family gathered around the traditional…

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Danimals tree.  Yep, your basic Christmas celebration.

I hope you’ve all made a dent in your shopping and will have time to relax and enjoy the rest of the month  I just finished making the 5th batch of Chex Mix to create teacher gifts today, will move on to cookies next weekend.

Happy Middle Christmas everyone.

Thanksgiving Wrap Up

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Cheers!

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Oh relax, its a pomegranate/apple juice spritzer. But Cousin Minecraft’s face does have a Dorothy Parker Algonquin Round Table “bored with you all” kind of look to him.

The Table

Because this is the smallest of McNamara/Guilfoile/Kuhn holidays, what with people going to various in-laws’ houses, we can, for this one-time only, fit at one table.

These are my new dishes that Kevin got me for my birthday.   My other ones are almost 20 years old and are starting to show their age.   I’ll still keep the ones that aren’t chipped, but I thought it was time to class things up around here.

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The aforementioned salted butter:

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The Final Menu

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The Gravy  While the gravy made with the turkey was good, it was not that different from the gravy made two weeks ago and frozen.  Therefore, that gravy wins as it doesn’t require sweating over the stove at the last minute until your previously flat bangs turn into water buffalo horns.

The Turkey from Epicurious.  Was done even faster than the recipe said (maybe because I only did one pan, not two).

The Pumpkin Cornbread Stuffing

The Salad.  I used the dressing from this Brussels sprout slaw from The View From Great Island but poured it over butter lettuce, toasted walnuts, shredded carrots and dried cranberries.

Also Colleen & Mitch’s cheesy potatoes, sweet potatoes, Mom’s stuffing, corn and fruit.  So for those counting, yes, that is 3 potato dishes and 2 stuffings.  For 13 people.   Irish Thanksgiving.

Dessert Table

Chocolate Pie from the Pioneer Woman.  Guitar Boy’s comment:  My life has been changed forever.   So I think he liked it.

Salted Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats   I’d seen so many food bloggers comment on Smitten Kitchen’s recipe that I had to try them.  Plus, Drummer Boy doesn’t really like cake, pie, pudding or candy which leaves him a bit stranded in the McNamara dessert oasis.

Apple Pie – from Kirschbaum’s bakery.   Why mess with greatness.

Cranberry Orange Scones from Trader Joes – because GG likes them.

And Aunt Colleen brought brownies.   Because you can’t have only 4 desserts for 13 people!

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Who Was There?

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But Really, Who Was the Cutest Person There?

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Why it was Colleen and Mitch’s grand-nephew, Sweet Baby D.

So what now?

Christmas is going up.  I’ll come back with a post about some of my favorite Christmas items a little later.  With respect to recipes on deck, I’ve got to take something to Rob and Nancy’s most awesome white elephant Holiday Party that we look forward to every year.  But my company’s party is the same night, so it’s going to have to be cookies that I can pre-wrap on the tray I’m giving them:

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And then Kevin can just bring the cookies with him when he picks me up at the train from the company party.  Note, the tray is not our white elephant gift as it is not impractical, inappropriate, useless or hilarious. I’ll let you know what we gave/received after the party.

Here are some of the possible choices on the cookies though:

The Pioneer Woman’s Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cookies

I’ve made them before and they are quite tasty.  However, the Chocolate Pistachio Sablés from Bon Appetit look delicious and fancy (you can tell they are fancy because of l’accent aigu over the e).    Food always tastes better with an accent aigu or accent grave.  It’s a fact.  I’m sure it’s on Wikipedia somewhere. Or it will be shortly.

If I find myself slacking off and sleeping more than 4 hours a night, I might do these wonderful, but time-intensive, Lemon Wreaths from Martha Stewart.

Now go get your weekend on!

.

 

 

 

 

Welcome to October

Well, it’s official. I have more Halloween storage bins than Christmas storage bins (and I have a loooooot of Christmas storage bins). So it only took 2 days to get all the Halloween stuff up with help from my 10 and 8 year-old Halloween gravestone-placement consultants. I wanted to share some of my favorite décor items.

These are my new platters. I love, love, love them. I would marry them, but I don’t think they could get all the Halloween bins down from the attic with the efficiency that Kevin can. They are from Cost Plus World Market online:

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Hello gorgeous! From TJ Maxx/HomeGoods:

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Candles from Martha Stewart for Grandinroad a few years ago.  Ghostie and pumpkin from TJ Maxx/HomeGoods:

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Nosferatu painting in the bathroom – from Ebay, can’t read the artist’s name very well anymore, looks like it says Renee Backer:

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Pillows for the kitchen table bench from TJ Maxx/HomeGoods (are you sensing a theme here?): image

My favorite Halloween picture of Guitar Boy and Fake Sister (they were 4 & 5).  Frame from TJ Maxx/HomeGoods:

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My favorite Halloween picture of Drummer Boy.  Frame from Kohls:

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 Here’s what the outside of the house looks like during the day:

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And at night:

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Soooo, it’s pretty clear that I have a TJ Maxx/HomeGoods “problem” that needs to be confronted.

Moving on.

What food is being made to celebrate this magical season you may ask?   Well, it depends.  Are we talking about the 9th Avenue Halloween Block Party?  Allison’s Costume-Mandatory 6th Birthday Party?  The High School/College/Old Friends We Never See Halloween Pizza Night Open House?  Or are we talking about actual Halloween (on a Friday – woot!)?  It is a crowded Field Notes party planner, that’s for sure.

Food on deck:

Crack Dip with Tomatoes from Whiteonricecouple.com

(see picture from prior post)

White Pizza Dip from Howsweeteats (my newest blog obsession)

Apple Cider Sangria from Howsweeteats (see above)

Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cookies from The Pioneer Woman  (who is now designing her own line of cookware – jealous!)

Candied Pumpkin Seeds from Healthygreenkitchen

Cheddar Chive Cheese Pumpkin from Jamhands

Creamy Tomato Soup from Howsweeteats (really, I need to stop bothering this woman).

And in case you were wondering, Guitar Boy will be going to various parties as a crypt keeper/angel of death (need to get multiple uses out of our scythe!) and trick or treating as Star Lord from Guardians of the Galaxy. Drummer Boy will be a faceless specter at the parties and the 10th Doctor Who for Halloween.   Because out here, one costume is simply not enough.

Where could these kids get their sense of Halloween excess from?  I wonder.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Father’s Day 2014

Happy Father’s Day everyone!  We thank the Dads that are still with us and keep those who are not in our hearts.

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To quote the song of the summer of the century:  Let it go:

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The Wileys hosted quite the get-together with scootering, volleyball, giant badminton, gnome eating Godzillas, friendly squirrels and a megaphone.   Yes, you do wish you were there.

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Here is the sangria recipe I promised and the sprinkle cookies that I didn’t bring to Father’s Day but will taunt you all with by telling you that I made them about a week ago and gave none to you (except Kate and the Rehors). And they taste like Kirschbaum’s sprinkle cookies the day after you make them.

Warning – the recipe makes like 5 dozen. I would halve the recipe the next time. And you need a really big jar of rainbow sprinkles.

Strawberry and Limoncello Sangria

Couple of changes. I don’t use Rosé, I just use regular Prosecco and then add a half a tablespoon of sugar.  Also, you need the raspberries to cut the sweetness of the Limoncello.

Sprinkle Cookies from Poppytalk

Poppytalk has a super cute line which will debut at Target later this month of pretty and inexpensive cake stands and other party goods.

DIY Glow Balloons from sayyes.com

(sorry about the link, their server is not responding and I won’t remember to do this later this week)

We didn’t do this either because we all left while it was still light, but this has been a big hit with the 9th Avenue crowd at night. I put two glow braceletes into a white balloon because they are easier to get them into the balloon.  If you happen to have awesome next-door neighbors who are also your dear friends who also built your house and who also have a helium tank, the balloons will float just slightly above your head.

So really, it’s one recipe from Father’s Day and a some other stuff I promised people.  Happy Summer.

McNamara Christmas 2013 – Ann Marie’s House

Barefoot Contessa’s Caramelized Onion Dip

The nice thing about this is you can caramelize a bunch of onions ahead of time, split them into separate freezer bags and thaw one the night before to make the dip.  Though I am no one to doubt Ina Garten, I find caramelizing the onions on low for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, creates an even deeper flavor.

H&H Gluten-Free Chocolate Peppermint Snowcaps

I saw this one in Canadian House and Home magazine, which if you haven’t read, is awesome.  First, because you see different household goods than we do in the U.S.  Second, because a summer home in upper Canada is sometimes one house on a small island.  And finally, what excellent taste in decorating Mr. Michael Buble has! Continue reading →