Tag Archives: #howsweeteats

A Delayed Easter Recap

It’s been a long two weeks. It all started Thursday night (Maundy Thursday – who knew?!) with a work-related ladies poker party. Once we got someone from the Audit Department in there, the rules were official…and then I started to lose. But completely fun nonetheless.

cards

We moved immediately into Good Friday Pizza Night with a visit from Grandma and our Duxbury Guilfoiles.

dux Then onto, of course, The Block’s Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday.

egghuntsign Here they come.

egghunt1

And there they go.

egghunt2 Remember that scene in the movie Parenthood where Rick Moranis’ kid knows French and Steve Martin’s kid is all “he likes to hit things with his head” with a bucket on his head? Yeah, well, welcome to my world.

buckethead Easter was a lot of the same food as seen in past Easter posts.

sign

Hint: Pasta Blanco is just plain butter noodles but thanks to Uncle Tom I learned how to class the joint up a bit. But there was the addition of this Crunchy Spring Salad from The Kitchn.

salad

Super bright and springy. I added thinly sliced carrots too for color. Of course, we busted out some new desserts. Well, there were three planned, and two more showed up. As it shall be. I mean really, there are 30 people, you need at least 5 desserts right?

sign2

If you need something simple, this Chocolate Toffee Trifle from Or So She Says is super easy as you used boxed cake mix and Heath pieces.

dessert Bunny Garden Pudding (bottom right) is just bunny Peeps in Smitten Kitchen’s Best Chocolate Pudding Ever in graham cracker tart shells. Some of the bunnies fainted from the deliciousness.

And lest we forget a new cocktail! Grapefruit Daiquiris from How Sweet It Is are delicious, not too sweet and would be fantastic if the weather here ever warms up (to quote my friend Laura T. with respect to this weather – “Mother Nature, I think you are drunk”).

final1459975419941

Table favors were teeny, tiny succulents from Mountain Crest Gardens in bunnies.

succulent

And my new purple highball (yep, I said highball) glasses from Crate and Barrel.

table1 table3

And then, of course, our own McNamara/Guilfoile/Kuhn Easter Egg Hunt with these fabulous ladies.

mia

alfab

molly Egg won’t fit.

eggdontfit

But D don’t care.

And all the cousins in a selfie taking process (which makes for a better picture when they don’t know we’re watching).

selfie

I don’t mean to bring the post down, but we ended on a sad note Monday when my step-father Jim passed away. What can you say about a guy that has five daughters and marries my mom who has four more?

McGovern wed

Only that he was a strong, strong man who loved us all very much. We will miss you Jim.

And so we don’t end that way, and now this.

And this is picture of me trying to write this blog post tonight with “help”.

help

We’re going to a trivia contest fundraiser this weekend that involves TV related costumes (which was NOT disclosed to me in advance of me writing the check). So you have those pictures to look forward to.

Have a great rest of the week.

Well, That Went By Fast

People, I cannot believe it is December 29th. What happened? There was no snow before Christmas (note – hating on the snow now). There was a Wednesday night Pizza Night. There were holidays rendered in cheese.

Ok. I promise, that’s it. No more cheese sculptures. Until it’s time for cheese hearts, cheese shamrocks…. Although I will say that after Cheese Snowman was mangled I made a joke on Instagram about zombies and Darryl Dixon/Norman Reedus’ body double liked my picture. Swoon.

Moving on, I made a lot of different food that wasn’t cheese based. I made these easy Apricot Glazed Chicken Thighs from Shutterbean on one busy weeknight. Super fast and super delicious. Didn’t take a picture because, well, we’ve been over how my brown food photography skills are. So you’ll just have to trust me and make it soon.

This Big Italian Salad from Once Upon a Chef:

The dressing for this salad was really good. I think it would go well with any type of salad you want. And probably fantastic during summer with freshly grown herbs.

For Christmas Eve dinner, I did what I always do, Smitten Kitchen’s Braised Short Ribs with mashed potatoes. The crowd demands it. Plus you can make it the day before.

In the treats category, How Sweet Eats Peppermint Pattie Brownies

Smitten Kitchen’s Easy Roasted Sugar and Spice Candied Nuts.

Smitten Kitchen’s Mom’s Apple Cake – Guitar Boy’s favorite.

Gluten Free Chocolate Pan Cake from King Arthur Flour. With their Easy Chocolate Frosting. It was good. LIght and fluffy. I used milk and not water as we aren’t watching dairy.

For both Neighbors Christmas and Mac Christmas I made everyone sprinkles mix using Avery design website again.

My favorite one was “Bears on the Glen” mix with green sprinkles on the bottom and orange and blue on the top. Get it? Fun, right? I’ll understand if you want to leave and click back over to Facebook now.

As to presents, we had a very llama/narwhal-heavy Christmas. Want some salt or pepper? No probllama!

And of course, Star Wars figured prominently. Went to the movie too and it was great.

One of my favorite gifts was this handmade artwork by Fake Sister.

Or from my Nerd collection of gifts, maybe my very-hard-to-photograph Mother of Dragons wine glasses.

Or maybe this?

Ah yes, just like my childhood, when my mom would make 2001: A Space Odyssey pancakes every Sunday.

There were Christmas carols at GG’s.

And we did some Christmas Crackers this year (the English party favor kind, not the snowflake-shaped Ritz kind). Then the kids put on a musical number with bells that were in the crackers, as expertly directed by me. Well, “expertly” might be a bit of a stretch. As is “musical number.” A clanging mess just might be slightly more accurate. At least they all cooperated for the picture.

Mmmmmngh.

So I’ll take a one day breather, and then on to New Year’s Eve, Guitar Boy’s New Year’s Day family party brunch and then some classmates coming over to celebrate his birthday with Nerf and Halo–as one does as a tween–on Saturday. There will be some Avery projects and a significant amount of puff pastry goin’ on the next few days. I’ll report back as soon as I dig out.

Have a safe and happy New Year everyone. Peace out 2015.

Fall Fall and a Little More Fall

So many Honeycrisp apples. Decided to do an apple based dinner. And dessert. But no, no apple dessert because despite cleaning out the kitchen benches to allow me to see all the pans,

leading me to believe I, in fact, owned ALL the pans, I did not have the right size pan for the apple cake I wanted to make. Sure I could have substituted a different pan, but I didn’t. Because, math.

So dinner went on as planned otherwise with Cider Braised Chicken with Spiced Butternut Squash from How Sweet It Is. I’ll be totally honest, I was not loving how this smelled before it went in the oven. Really strong. So much so I was texting guests to say “I’m not sure about this so manage your expectations”. But how dare I doubt Jessica at How Sweet It Is. This was delicious. I didn’t use the mushrooms because mushrooms and I are not friends. But you go ahead and add them if you like.

And as a side I did my standard Apple Walnut Salad. This is very versatile salad. You can add almost any crunchy vegetable you like. If you don’t like blue cheese, leave it off, or substitute with goat cheese or maybe even ricotta salata. Whatevs.

Everyday Apple Walnut Salad
WHAT YOU NEED
3 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
3 TBSP maple syrup
2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
1 TBSP dijon mustard
Pinch of salt and pepper
Bag of your favorite lettuce (I use Romaine)
1/2 bag of baby spinach
2 Honeycrisp apples, cored and diced
1 cup walnut pieces, toasted
1/2 cup dried cherries or cranberries
1/2 cup crumble blue cheese (optional for the haters)
Any other crunchy vegetable you want (celery, shredded carrots, jicama)

WHAT YOU DO
Mix first 5 ingredients in a jar and shake to make dressing. Combine the remaining salad ingredients in a bowl and toss with the dressing.

So about that dessert. Having softened 12 tablespoons of butter before my discovery of my need to go to TJ Maxx/Homegoods to get a 10 inch non-springform cake pan (I HAVE to, I have no choice!), I searched for other recipes that needed 12 tablespoons of softened butter. And lo’ and behold, Cookies and Cups comes through again with Brown Sugar Pound Cake with Salty Butterscotch Sauce.

I didn’t have time to make the sauce, so I just melted some Trader Joe’s Salted Caramel Sauce and poured in on top. I don’t think anyone stormed out in protest.

And the Halloween Block Party 2015 went off without a hitch. I made The Pioneer Woman’s totally 80’s Bacon Appetizer. Because who doesn’t want a warm cheese coated bacon wrapped cracker on a cool fall day. No one, no one doesn’t want that (hmm?). There was also mummy wrapping,

pinatas, fear factor,

tug of war,

and bobbing for donuts.

We had it all. Just like Bogey and Bacall (the kids love that reference). But mostly, we had live action Hungry Hungry Hippos.

You wish you lived here. You can admit it.

Next up, Halloween decor faves. Happy Thursday.

Vacation’s All I Ever Wanted

Except now I’m exhausted from all the vacationing. We rented a house on the lake in Indiana and it was lovely.

There was beach time (ahem, strike a pose)

Bowling time (cold, rainy day)

Rollerskating time.

BIG waves (well, for Lake Michigan).

Up to no good at the beach time.

Digging holes.

Spotted an elusive beach gnome in one of the holes.

Just down the street, an American Ninja Warrior-like park. Big M as Kacy Catanzaro!

But from this blogger’s perspective, most of all, it had a really fully stocked kitchen which is unusual in a rental. Silicone basting brush – check. Juicer – check. Three colanders, one ginormous – check. I wanted for nothing.

So here are a few things that were on the menu for the week:

Smitten Kitchen’s Tomato Sausage Risotto which is a go-to dish to serve a lot of people. I use turkey Italian sausage to lighten it up a bit. Add 1/2 to every ingredient to serve 4 adults and 2 girls who are good eaters.

Cobb Salad with Pioneer Woman’s Homemade Ranch Dressing

WHAT YOU NEED
4 cooked boneless chicken breasts. You can cook them any way you want, but this method from thekitchn really works for salads.
16 oz. bacon, cooked crisp
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 cup fresh peas (hint, Trader Joes has them in the refrigerated section)
3 hard boiled eggs
1 medium red onion, diced.
2 avocados, diced
Cooked corn kernels (good use for left-over corn on the cob)
1 head Romaine lettuce
1 head/clamshell butter lettuce
1 head iceberg lettuce
Blue cheese crumbles (optional)

WHAT YOU DO
Arrange all lettuce in bowl or platter. Toss with a little of the ranch dressing. Arrange all the ingredients in rows on the lettuce and drizzle with a little more dressing. I serve the blue cheese crumbles on the side as not everyone like blue cheese in this particular vacation house.

From BevCooks, Seared Steak with Chimichurri Sauce. I didn’t serve it with polenta, instead roasted a bunch of fingerling potatoes, halved, tossed with olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast at 400 for about 30 minutes, flipping half way through. Forget to take picture. To compensate, here are the sauce and marinade that I made ahead before we left.

Also featured in that picture is ginger syrup for the Ginger Beergaritas from How Sweet It Is. Tasted like a margarita soda. Yum.

We packed up this group of cousins and headed up the road to see the lake-adjacent house of my cousins. Showing up with 6 kids in tow, Tessa had this response:

We had a great time, great meal of turkey burgers, regular burgers, brats and as a side I made The Pioneer Woman’s Pasta Ai Quattro Formaggio, otherwise known as four-cheese, clothespin-on-the-aorta, mac and cheese.

Really a very simple dish when using Trader Joe’s 4 Cheese Italian blend. I make it often as a weeknight side. I also made a peach crumble from The Kitchn’s Make a Crumble from Any Fruit recipe.

It got a little dark to get too many pictures, but as least we got some fire pit action in.

And the song McNamara’s Band MAY have been played. And there MAY have a been a parade with tupperware instruments. However, in the interest that anyone may have in running for Supreme Court justice or other public office someday, we’ll keep that video just between us cousins.

There was card playing for money, natch.

And some pool time.

And this creepy, Scooby-Doo-like abandoned park named Canada Playground. This is Indiana’s way of saying “Hey Canada, maybe if you’d stop giving away health care you could step up your parks and rec maintenance!” Note it also says no dogs allowed. Because you wouldn’t want to mess up the facilities.

All in all, a success at Beachwalk Resort.

Now, one more day until I’m back to the life where there is much less joyful jumping.

But not before I made everyone one of these Birthday Cake Milkshakes. There are lots of different riffs on these out there, but I think using frosting makes for a better texture than the ones I’ve done with cake mix.

WHAT YOU NEED
1.5 Quarts of vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt
8 oz vanilla frosting from a can
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 – 1 cup milk (depending on how thick you would like the shake).
Sprinkles. Always sprinkles.
Extra frosting for the glasses

WHAT YOU DO
Blend first 4 ingredients in blender to desired milkshakiness. Rub vanilla frosting on the rim of each glass. Put sprinkles on a plate and turn the cup to coat rim in sprinkles. They can be any color or size, I just had Fourth of July nonpareils on hand. Pour in milkshake and serve to this happy camper.

I mustache you, was this delicious?

What Worked Well – Valentine Edition

So what did everyone make for Valentine’s Day? Did you go with fancy (something with scallops perhaps) or a nice steak? I went with comfort food and a joint Valentine’s Day with my sister’s family. The more the merrier!

The Slow Braised Beef from Smitten Kitchen was easy-peasy lemon squeezy. 3 ingredients. That’s it. 4 hours. It’s done. Did I take a picture? No, I didn’t.

For dessert, I made How Sweet Eats Chocolate Cream Pie. Continue reading →

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 →

New Feature – This Week in Alliteration – What Worked Well

New feature – this will be where I post which recipes of the prior week worked out the best. One of my New Year’s resolutions was to get dinner on the table 4 out of the 7 days of week. Really more like 4 out of 6 because Pizza Night lives on. And really 4 out of 5 because the boys have band practice on Thursdays until after 9:00. So really, I’m killin’ it.

Hopefully this leads to healthier choices (less take out) and can also remind me as to what recipes we liked rather than searching all my various Field Notes planners.

Last week in the sub-zero wind chill, this Cream of Tomato Soup from SmittenKitchen hit the spot. Accompanying it were grilled cheese and prosciutto sandwiches. Trader Joe’s makes a gruyere/white cheddar combo cheese that makes a really good grilled cheese. Also, grate your cheese instead of slicing when making grilled cheese because then it melts faster and the bread won’t get overly toasted. Hmmm, grate your cheese sounds like a saying about being mad at someone (“That Helen in Accounting, she really grates my cheese”).

I don’t have a picture, but I also made this Roasted Almond Crusted Salmon from HowSweetEats. Now to act like a recipe commenter by telling you about a recipe I like and then making changes**, I didn’t have regular breadcrumbs so I used all Panko and added ¼ teaspoon dried oregano and a dash of onion salt. Nor did I make the glaze but instead served with lemon risotto. I cooked it on a rack on a baking sheet as directed and it was deliciously crispy.

** Still the funniest recipe-commenters-out-of-control moment is chronicled in the article, “Rainbow Cake Inspires Comment Apocalypse” at Deadspin. If you haven’t read it, please do. I’m laughing just typing the article’s name.

If that’s too much reading, you can always head over to Food.com and read the reviews for the Ice Cube recipe.

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

#nothelpful (and Ewww!)

Ordering presents online

#nothelpful

Wrapping the presents

#nothelpful

Changing the sheets:

#nothelpful

Perhaps some baking?

#nothelpful

Setting the other table

#nothelpful (and Get down!)

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

#nothelpful

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

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

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

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

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!

Halloween Redux

Here are various pictures of the crew:

at Alvin’s costume birthday party:

carving pumpkins:

and actual Halloween.

Check out the detail on Fake Sister’s home made by Dad Up costume. Amazing.

New decorating idea – cheap snakes from Target dollar section stuck in my flowers.

Green pepper ghouls:

Oranges for the kids – everyone knows that kids DEMAND healthy snacks when they return from trick-or-treating in the Illinois Halloween snow. Yep, snow.

And, best drink from Halloween Pizza Night:

Vampire Blood Margaritas (aka Pomegranate Lime Margaritas from Howsweeteats)

As I had to make 2 pitchers of them, after juicing 12 limes I decided that bottled lime juice is no longer as fake tasting as I tend to think it is. And it tasted fine mixed with the fresh in the drink.

Dipped top of pitcher in corn syrup mixed with red food coloring and let it drip down the outside for spooky effect. But forgot to take a picture, because, well, 2 pitchers of pomegranate margaritas might explain why.

NEW MONTH

But, now that it’s November and Halloween is behind us (other than the 12 hours of putting away all the Halloween décor), I made a mini Thanksgiving. I was inspired to do so when I saw pumpkin/cornbread croutons at Trader Joe’s. Then I found this recipe for Pumpkin Cornbread Stuffing at The View from Great Island.

Use 2 boxes of TJ’s pumpkin cornbread croutons. 3 out of 5 Wileys surveyed recommend this stuffing. But quick, it’s a seasonal item so HOARD NOW. Among other things, I combined it with the Citrus Sage Roast Turkey Breast from Epicurious.

I’ll be back when Christmas season approaches.

Don’t forget to set your clocks back!

Happy Daylight Savings Time everyone!

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:

Hello gorgeous! From TJ Maxx/HomeGoods:

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

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

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

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

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

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

And at night:

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 9^th Avenue Halloween Block Party? Allison’s Costume-Mandatory 6^th 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 10^th 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!

Lucky Rhino

For the recipes and pictures I promised to send, but never do.

Tag Archives: #howsweeteats

A Delayed Easter Recap

Well, That Went By Fast

Fall Fall and a Little More Fall

Vacation’s All I Ever Wanted

What Worked Well – Valentine Edition

Warm Food for Cold Days

New Feature – This Week in Alliteration – What Worked Well

Getting Ready for the Holidays? Better Call Skunk

Halloween Redux

Welcome to October