What's For Dinner?

Veggies and Clouds

Have I told you all lately how much I love Trader Joe’s? I’ve discovered that on certain days, the fastest route home from work passes right by the Trader Joe’s, so I stop. I stocked up today on raw almond snack packs (the extra plastic for the wrappers is worth it for the portion control!), crunchy almond butter, some frozen veggies, chicken sausages, and some other various random food items to fill in the holes from yesterday’s shopping trip.

I came home all excited to make a recent favorite recipe even better! Ok, better isn’t the right word because well, the tomato sauce with butter and onions is hard to bead, but I felt the need to doctor it up and make it a bit heartier.

The basic recipe, in case you forgot:

Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions
Adapted from Marcela Hazan’s Essentials of Italian Cooking

28 ounces (800 grams) whole peeled tomatoes from a can
5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste

Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan (it fit just right in a 3-quart) over medium heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste and keep warm while you prepare your pasta.

I added to the pot one bag of TJ’s “Melange a Trois” tri-colored peppers, and let it simmer all together, stirring occasionally until the peppers started to fall apart and the onion was just about mush. In a separate pan, I sauteed 2 links of TJ’s Sweet Pesto Chicken Sausage with a chopped up zucchini and about 6 sliced mushrooms. Then, I served the sauce and sausage mixture atop a twice-roasted spaghetti squash half. I roasted a spaghetti squash yesterday, and only used half, so today, I threw the remaining half back in the oven and let it kind of caramelize while the sauce cooked. It added a depth of flavor that was really delicious… I’ll have to start double-roasting it all the time now!

After dinner, for some strange reason, I had the desire to bake. I’m NOT a great baker, as I’ve said many times before, but sometimes I like doing it. It also gives me an excuse to use my stand mixer! Today I felt like meringues. Well, to be honest, I wanted lemon meringue pie, but since I didn’t have the stuff to make lemon curd, I settled for making some coconut meringue cookies.

I looked up a few recipes, and got the general idea of how it’s done, and then decided to just wing it. I needed sugar free, I wanted coconut, I had eggs… so I went for it.

Coconut Cloud Cookies

Makes about 16

Ingredients

5 egg whites, brought to room temperature

4 packets Splenda (feel free to substitute with 1/4 c. sugar)

1/2 c. unsweetened coconut flakes

Directions

Make sure your bowl, beaters, and any surfaces are completely oil free. Pre-heat the oven to 200*. Add the egg whites to a mixer bowl and beat on medium heat until soft peaks form. Add the Splenda (or sugar) slowly, and beat until whites hold firm peaks. Fold in the coconut, and then either pipe or spoon onto a parchment lined (or not) baking pan, and bake until lightly browned, dry and move easily off the pan.

These hit that spot… you know, the “I want something sweet but not that sweet” spot. And they’re crunchy. And not terrible for me!

I got another anonymous question today after tweeting about how yesterday’s post must’ve been boring. It wasn’t so much a question as yet another rude statement about how my blog “used to be great” and now is “boring” and all I do is sell stuff you could get at “bed bath and beyond.” So please, lovely readers, be honest with me… have I gotten boring? Am I stale in my “old age”? What do you want to see more of? Less of?

In a non Bed Bath & Beyond area, there’s an incredibly great deal coming on Wednesday morning from the EnviTote people… they want to hook you up, so if you’ve been wanting an EnviTote but holding off? Wednesday is your day! Trust me… the rest of the info will come tomorrow!

Technorati Tags: Baking, cookies, OpenSky, pasta, simple recipe, twitter, vegetables, vegetarian

17 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, March 8th 2010 | Tags: Baking, cookies, OpenSky, pasta, simple recipe, twitter, vegetables, vegetarian
Posted in Baking, chicken/turkey, simple recipe, vegetarian

I’m No Chicken

I had a first as a blogger today.

I got my first official rude comment. I’ve had some backhanded ones before that I chose not to publish because that wouldn’t have done anyone any good. But today? Today I got a comment telling me that I “shouldn’t” be eating things like dark chocolate and “how is it possible that rice isn’t allowed” on this “newfangled plan” of mine.

I thought about letting it go. I thought about not saying anything, about not giving “Scared Sandy” any sort of recognition at all, and then I thought again. What is it about anonymity and the internet that makes people think they can say whatever they want? I’ve linked to this before, and I’ll do it again:

I’ve seen it on message boards and on other people’s blogs, but I’ve never experienced it firsthand in the comments of my own. The negativity. The rudeness. The inexplicable need to be anonymously terrible to another person. So rather than taking the easy way out and just hitting “delete” on the comment, I took a chance and responded. I defended myself, and explained that I’m not a blogger that reveals each and every thing I eat. And then you all came along. You, my amazing readers, came along with emails and comments too, defending me and my choices, and I’m absolutely blown away and humbled. Thank you all from the bottom of my non-rice-eating heart.

Speaking of chicken, that’s just what I made tonight. It was simply roasted much like I did back in January, and I served it along with some (more) roasted brussels sprouts. Since there’s no recipe, and just a bunch of photos, please enjoy the visual candy. Meat-o-phobes, you might want to stop reading after the pictures of the sprouts!

Thank you again, friends, for confirming why exactly I stay a part of this amazing community. We may all have our differences, but in the end, we have one common bond… and energy vampires and flower cutters be damned! When one dares to try to bring us down, there’s 30 more to pull us back up.

Also, a VERY happy anniversary to my mom and stepdad!! How cute are they??

Technorati Tags: chicken, friends, simple recipe, thank you, vegetables

27 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, March 4th 2010 | Tags: chicken, friends, simple recipe, thank you, vegetables
Posted in friends, simple recipe

Two Recipes and a Sale

Get it? Like Four Weddings and a Funeral? Ok, I’m a nerd.

Let’s get to it, shall we?

First of all, a big huge welcome goes out to all my new readers! Thanks for stopping by and reading! Feel free to de-lurk and leave comments so that I may follow your blog as well (if you have one). I don’t bite! Those of you coming over from Peas and Thank You, you’ll find that while my blog isn’t vegetarian or vegan, I usually give modifications to my recipes to make them such. Thanks again for stopping by!

Next, I have another chili recipe for you… see, I have this “thing” with trying to make the perfect pot of chili, and I’m getting there, but I’m not quite there yet. This last recipe was well, meaty. VERY meaty. Like, almost 3 lbs. of meat meaty. But it was delicious (do I ever say that something wasn’t delicious?) and could easily be halved and part of the meat could be cut out.

My recipe is based off this recipe for Paleo Chili found here.

Very Meaty Paleo Chili

Ingredients

1.5 lb. lean ground beef (90%)

1.5 lb. lean stew meat

1 medium onion, diced

1 large can crushed tomatoes

1 can ro-tel (or other tomatoes with jalapeños)

1 can salsa verde (I used Herdez brand)

2 c. beef stock

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 tsp. minced garlic

2 Tbsp. ground cumin

4-5 Tbsp. chili powder

1 tsp. garlic powder.

Directions

Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the stew meat a bit at a time to brown the outside. Don’t worry about cooking it through, as you’ll add it back in. Remove the stew meat, then add the onion and cook until translucent. Then, add the beef stock, bring to a boil and reduce by half. Add the ground beef, return the stew meat to the pot, and add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer a few hours.

Adam added some beans to his chili, and I gotta say, I really did miss them in this dish. He said it was great though! My bowl had no beans.

Tonight, I opted for a more veggie-friendly meal with a bit of chicken stir fried with spinach, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, sriracha, and a bit of teriyaki sauce. I also roasted some brussels sprouts and red pepper strips. Ok, so that wasn’t really a recipe, but I’m going to call it one for now!

Last but not least, something I think you’ll ALL be interested in: cheap and gorgeous kitchen gadgets! For this week and this week only (until 3/9) I’m offering this beautiful oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper set from my OpenSky shop for 50% off!

See, the two carafes are for oil and vinegar (the larger for vinegar, I’d say) and the carved wooden base doubles as a pinch bowl for cracked pepper and salt, perfect for dressing a salad in style. Just visit this special sale link or click on the picture of the oil and vinegar set above, and enter your email address, and you’ll be emailed the coupon good for use in my OpenSky shop. Feel free to check out the other great stuff I have there as well, including the multi-tasking EnviTote.

Happy shopping!

Have a wonderful Wednesday, I’m off to watch Biggest Loser and eat some dark chocolate. Oh the irony…

Technorati Tags: Asian, beef, EnviTote, OpenSky, paleo, recipe, red meat, sale, simple recipe, spicy

13 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, March 2nd 2010 | Tags: Asian, beef, EnviTote, OpenSky, paleo, recipe, red meat, sale, simple recipe, spicy
Posted in Asian, Mexican/Latin, beef, chicken/turkey, simple recipe

Smoky and Roasty

Happy Wednesday!

I’ve come to really enjoy Wednesday evenings because I know that there are only two more wake-ups until the weekend! I hate that Adam has class so late, but I get to watch garbage TV for a few hours, read quietly, or cook stuff I’m not sure he’ll like. Usually, that ends up being something like the stuffed kabochas from last week, or something with an inordinate amount of vegetables and mushrooms.

Today’s dinner though, I thought might be a risk since it’s pretty tomato-y, but there’s no doubt that the leftovers will be consumed soon.

I had no idea how this would turn out. I had some idea in my head of what I wanted it to be, but I didn’t know if it would work…

Oh did it work!

Smoky Chili Chicken

Serves 3

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

4 strips bacon, cut into small pieces

1 large can whole tomatoes

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 Tbsp. chili powder

1 tsp. onion powder

1/2 tsp. red chili flakes

Directions

Heat a saucepan and add the bacon. Allow it to cook until crispy, then add the chicken and stir well. Then, add the spices, stirring to coat the chicken. Let the spices sear onto the chicken a little, then add the can of tomatoes and stir well. Cover and simmer about 45 minutes, then uncovered for about 15 minutes to allow it to thicken.

HO-LY-GOODNESS this was delicious. I seriously almost typed “Serves 1″ in the recipe because I want to go eat the rest of it. The bacon lent a smokey flavor to the chili powder and tomatoes, which almost tasted like chiles in adobo. I topped my bowl with some aged white cheddar, sour cream, and half an avocado… oh I want more now! I’m really glad I need to type recipes out for you all, because otherwise, I don’t know that I’d remember what I did! Like the recipe? Don’t forget to Spring It!

I also made some roasted asparagus that were apparently alive on their little plate because EVERY picture was blurry. This was the best I got:

See? They were moving, I swear!!

They were delicious though… moving or not.

Make sure you enter the SkinMD Natural Giveaway! It runs until Friday and as of right now, your chances are pretty good!

Also, I just want to give a special shout out to my OpenSky fairy, Lindsay… HI LINDSAY!

Look for more OpenSky posts in the next couple days!!

Have a great rest of your night, and a fabulous Thursday!

Technorati Tags: bacon, chili, Mexican, OpenSky, recipe, simple recipe, soup, spicy, vegetables

22 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, February 24th 2010 | Tags: bacon, chili, Mexican, OpenSky, recipe, simple recipe, soup, spicy, vegetables
Posted in Mexican/Latin, chicken/turkey, simple recipe

Just That Easy

I was at a loss today about what to cook. I had forgotten to take the chicken out of the freezer, and while I have enough spinach to sink a ship, I don’t have many other veggies to make a spinach salad. So it was off to the grocery store after work and I swear, I stared at the produce and the meat case for a long time before I figured out what to make.

I still wasn’t quite sure when I got home, but I started throwing some stuff together and wound up with a delicious Thai-style coconut curry type dish which I served atop a bed of spinach. Hey, I have to use it up somehow! Oh, and just FYI, I’m super-proud of this photo!

Simple Thai Coconut Curry

Ingredients

2 lbs lean pork loin or chicken or 2 blocks tofu, diced and drained

1 can (14 oz) coconut milk

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 to 2 Tbsp. Singapore Seasoning (or something similar)

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. (or more) Sriracha

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large wok. When hot, add the onions and garlic and cook until lightly browned. Add the pork and half the Singapore Seasoning. Stir well and then add the rest of the seasoning. Add the coconut milk, stir in the sriracha, and lower the heat to a gentle simmer. Cook until pork is done, about 25 minutes. Serve over rice or veggies (or both!)

There was something about the jar of Singapore seasoning that spoke to me today. It smelled remarkably like my favorite Thai Matsaman curry, which has potatoes and blanched peanuts in it, which sounded SO good when I got home!

That’s all I’ve got tonight… I’m off to finish up my blue/green monster I made this afternoon with spinach, avocado, and blueberries and finish up reading this amazing book a student loaned me. It’s the second in the Hunger Games series, and I’ve been thinking all day about what’s going to happen next!

Have a wonderful night!

Technorati Tags: Asian, food, green monster, pork, red meat, simple recipe

20 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, February 22nd 2010 | Tags: Asian, food, green monster, pork, red meat, simple recipe
Posted in Asian, pork, simple recipe

Steak House? No! Our House!

Today was one of those days that made me realize how lucky I am to be a part of this wonderful blogging community. Who else can say that they have friends from LITERALLY all over the country, many of whom they’ve never met in person??

I started my day bright and early by meeting up with two of my favorite bloggers, and girls who have been loyal readers and commenters pretty much since day one of this little blog of mine: Jenn and Caroline! We met up with each other at a childhood favorite restaurant of mine, Walker Brothers Pancake House, and as usual, the line was out the door. Luckily, they got us in and seated quickly!

I got a mushroom omelet, fruit, and a side of bacon. I only ate the strawberries out of the fruit cup…

Walker Bros. was the first place I ever remember going that had amazingly fluffy baked omelets, instead of the flat and folded over ones of so many greasy spoon places. The bacon was, well, bacon…so it was awesome! The best part though was the company and conversation. Thanks so much for a great morning!

From left: Me, Jenn, Caroline, and Caroline’s cousin

I’ve made an executive decision: all the bloggers I’ve met need to move to Chicago so that we can hang out on a regular basis.

Since I was so close, I stopped off at my mom’s house to show off the new camera, and of course, the lovely Stella was thrilled to be the subject of an impromptu photo shoot!

She’s been watching Top Model!

I came home and vegged out for a while, because its Sunday…and then set out to the grocery store with my EnviTote for a few days worth of produce and ingredients for dinners. Much to my surprise and delight, 3 lb. bags of baby spinach were on sale, buy one get one free for $3.99! Needless to say, I then needed to stock up on Green Monster ingredients too… I had a very specific dinner in mind, hence the trip to the grocery store.

Last weekend for Valentine’s Day, I bought a bunch of ingredients for broth/bouillon fondue after we ate our cheese, and found that we were too full after the first course. The ingredients went into the freezer, and I wanted to use them today. What were these ingredients? Jumbo shrimp and filet mignon!

The steaks needed a simple preparation: just a sprinkle of salt and fresh ground pepper, then a quick sear in a pan and then a few minutes under the broiler.

The shrimp though, got the royal treatment… they got Scampi-fied!

Shrimp Scampi

Ingredients

1 lb. peeled raw shrimp

2 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 c. dry white wine

juice of 1 lemon

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped

Directions

Heat a saucepan over medium heat. Add the butter and olive oil, then the garlic. Cook a few minutes, then add the white wine. Reduce by half. Add lemon juice and shrimp and cook until shrimp are done, about 6 minutes. Add parsley, stir and serve immediately.

In addition, I made a batch of the same creamed spinach I made recently. In all, this was, as Adam said, like Wildfire at home. Remember Wildfire? We went there at the end of my first week of camp this summer, and it’s one of our very favorite steakhouses! To hear that I successfully recreated at home a similar meal as we enjoy out was one of the best food-related compliments I’ve gotten!

All together now:

So, with a full belly and a sleepy head, and thoughts of snow days lingering in the back of my brain… I bid you good night!

Technorati Tags: bacon, beef, breakfast, Chicago dining, dinner, EnviTote, food, friends, fun, out, seafood, simple recipe

14 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, February 21st 2010 | Tags: bacon, beef, breakfast, Chicago dining, dinner, EnviTote, food, friends, fun, out, seafood, simple recipe
Posted in beef, fish or seafood, friends, simple recipe

Simple Genius

I’m a skeptic when it comes to super simple recipes.

Wait, what do you mean I don’t have to open 5 spice jars and chiffonade a bundle of basil? You mean I don’t have to chop a dozen onions, grate a pound of carrots, and roast something for two hours? The resounding answer is YES.

Sometimes a good recipe takes 3 ingredients and a little bit of time, like what I made tonight. I saw this on HEAB’s blog today, and immediately clicked the link and discovered I only needed one thing to make this for dinner. What is this glorious thing? A simple tomato sauce as posted by Smitten Kitchen and adapted from Marcela Hazan. When I saw Marcela’s name attached to this recipe, I knew it had to be good. She’s never let me down!

The recipe:

Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions
Adapted from Marcela Hazan’s Essentials of Italian Cooking

28 ounces (800 grams) whole peeled tomatoes from a can
5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste

That’s it. I served mine atop half a roasted spaghetti squash, scooped out, and some sauteed mushrooms with a link of leftover sausage from last night. Please excuse the multitude of photos, as I was having fun with the new camera!

This was comfort food at its finest, and would’ve been great eaten with a spoon rather than on anything. There’s something delicate and yet still rich about this sauce, and I really can’t put my finger on it, but Julia Child was right: there’s something about butter!

Don’t forget to enter to win the amazing Organic Coconut Peanut Butter with a comment on yesterday’s post! Winner will be announced tomorrow night.

I wanted, also, to thank you all for your compliments on my openness and honesty with my “Ask Me Anything” questions. While there may be times I’ll post something cheery when I’m feeling anything but, 99% of the time, what you get on here is all me. I’m lucky enough to have truly supportive readers, and I’m grateful every day that I don’t have to field cruel comments… but if that day ever comes, you can rest assured that those commenters will be taken care of. Years of teaching have helped me grow a much thicker skin than I ever thought I’d have! So thank you all for reading, commenting, and supporting this little blog of mine.

Technorati Tags: dinner, giveaway, Italian, pasta, sauce, simple recipe, thank you, vegetarian

20 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, February 18th 2010 | Tags: dinner, giveaway, Italian, pasta, sauce, simple recipe, thank you, vegetarian
Posted in Italian, giveaway, simple recipe, vegetarian

Skirting the Issue

¡Buenas noches!

I hope you all had a wonderful Monday, whether you worked today or not. I did not and had a thoroughly unproductive day off. I tend to do nothing on my days off and then feel guilty about it, but I have NO shame about being completely useless today. I did have a doctor’s appointment to meet my new doctor, then hit the grocery store. I found the CUTEST thing:

Pocket kabocha! I thought of HEAB and Coco when I found them! I can’t wait to roast this and FINALLY try it! It was also an exciting evening because our new dishwasher was installed! A huge thanks goes out to LIzz’s dad, who took time out of his busy day to come out and put it in for us. I can’t wait to see how it works! It certainly looks nice:

I insisted that Lizz’s dad stay for dinner, and I made a marinated skirt steak (now do you get the title?) and garlic steamed broccoli. I’d never made a skirt steak before, so I asked my mom for advice on what to do with it. Unfortunately, her suggestion included a bunch of stuff we didn’t have in the house, so I’m going to have to save it for another day. I went with a simple marinade:

1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1.5 Tbsp. dijon mustard
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp parsley flakes
Salt and pepper

I mixed up the marinade, set the steaks in, and let them sit for almost 2 hours. Then, I simply broiled them for a great result!

Tomorrow’s a big day over here… a certain 5 lb shipment from Amazon is coming that I just can’t wait for! Some of you know what it is, and the rest of you will just have to wait! There are big things this week, maybe a giveaway, and definitely some shopping opportunities!

I have gotten a few questions to answer in the last couple of days:

Have any tips on substitutions for those of use who keep kosher?? My answer here depends wholly on how strict of a kosher house you keep! For the very strictest, I’m low on ideas, as I’m not sure of all the intricacies. However, if you’re a “no pork, no milk and meat together” kind of kosher-keeper, I do have a couple of ideas. Many of my pork dishes are easily recreated using chicken or turkey. All of the marinades taste great on chicken, and cooking time will need to be adjusted slightly. If there’s a milk/meat dish, I’d recommend subbing in either rice cheese or casein free soy cheese instead. Casein is a milk protein often found in some soy cheeses, so avoid those. Usually the vegan ones will work. Also: most foods that are marked as kosher (either a circled K or a circled U) will also be organic, and vice versa.

If you could change places with anyone for one day who would it be and why? This feels like an essay question on a state achievement test… but I kind of like it! I would have to say that honestly, I wouldn’t change myself at all, I’d just change my circumstances. I’d love to be me, still be married to Adam, still be a blogger, etc, but I’d love to have the house of my dreams, no financial worries, no weight problem… so I guess I’d like to change places with my ideal me, just to know what I’m striving for.

What are your absolute favorite blogs? You know, the ones you can’t miss a day reading? Name your top 5 faves. I check in on a ton of blogs every day, so many that I can’t even keep track… but yeah, there are a few that I HAVE to read every day. Many of them are bloggers I’ve met in person, and a few with whom I have a great phone and email relationship with. So, in no particular order, and since I can’t just pick 5:

EatingBender (She’s been such a great friend)
On A Lobster Placemat (for her honesty, passion, and amazing artwork)
Fitnessista (She’s just fabizzle)
ColorHungry (She’s a fantastic writer with a great perspective)
MizFit (For her inherant Mizfitednessandpassion)
Gliding Calm (She’s just adorable)
How Sweet It Is (for her love of bacon and sweets)
The Daily Balance (Food, Fashion, Fun…what else do we need?)

I have over 200 blogs in my Google Reader that I read regularly, and most of them are on my Blogroll Page. Feel free to check that out!

What are you most looking forward to this summer? Warm weather, like I am? Haha Warmth for sure. Camp as always, especially since Skylar (Lizz’s daughter) will be attending for the first time! Maybe a small vacation, going to the pool, and sunshine until after 8 p.m.

And on that warm note, I bid you good night… I can’t believe I’m looking forward to doing dishes!

Technorati Tags: ask me, beef, dinner, friends, red meat, simple recipe, steak

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Mara @ What's For Dinner?, February 15th 2010 | Tags: ask me, beef, dinner, friends, red meat, simple recipe, steak
Posted in beef, friends, simple recipe

Do You Fondue?

Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you all had a wonderful day, whether attached or not… After being surprised with a mani/pedi from one of my favorite spas, Adam and I spent a relaxing day at the public library and doing our taxes, and then got going on tonight’s special romantic meal.

It’s such a stereotype: the newlywed couple spends their first Valentine’s Day as husband and wife over a lovely slow meal of fondue… and it’s a stereotype Adam and I were thrilled to indulge in!

When we were first together (Winter 2004-2005), I used to make us pots of cheese fondue for dinner. We’d go through a good 2 loaves of French bread, and probably 2 lbs. of cheese over the course of a night. Things have certainly changed, though my fondue recipe hasn’t! We so rarely indulge in food such as cheese fondue, so we figured Valentine’s Day was the perfect opportunity.

Adam cut up some fluffy French bread:

and a crisp Fuji apple:

as I stood at the stove and made my favorite cheddar-beer fondue. I asked around about what I should make, Cheddar or Swiss fondue, and while the response was overwhelming towards Swiss cheese, I just couldn’t do it. The intent of staying in on V-Day was to save money… and spending $30 on enough cheese and liquor for white cheese fondue defeated that purpose! Instead, I went with Cheddar. For those of you without a fondue pot, never fear! A small sauce pot and hot plate work just fine. In fact, this is the first fondue set I’ve ever had!

The process and recipe is easy, as taught to me by my mom:

Ingredients

14 oz. extra sharp cheddar cheese

1 12 oz. bottle dark beer (I used Negro Modelo)

1 Tbsp. dijon mustard

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 Tbsp. olive oil

flour for dusting

Directions

Grate 14 oz. extra sharp cheddar cheese. Dust lightly with flour. Set aside. Heat the olive oil and garlic in your fondue pot (or other pot). Add mustard and stir well until lightly browned. Add the bottle of beer and cook until reduced by about 1/4. Whisk in handfuls of the floured cheese, stirring until fully melted. Add handful by handful until all the cheese is added and the fondue is thick. Simmer on low heat a few minutes. Transfer to your fondue burner (or hot plate) and enjoy!

Originally, this was going to be a two-course fondue meal with a meat/seafood cooked in broth course… but we got too full! (Don’t forget to SpringPad the fondue recipe!)

We finished off the carbo-loading meal with decadent chocolate lava cakes from Jenn! She was kind enough to get us a kit with ramekins and the mix as a wedding gift, and we’ve been saving it since! I had every intent of doing the double dessert thing I spoke of yesterday in Cute Food Saturday, but we both wanted chocolate… so chocolate we had!

These were supposed to be inverted onto a plate and served out of the ramekin… but this is what happened when I did one of them:

Big gooey chocolatey mess… with a curved divot in it from where the ramekin fell. It was still amazingly decadent and delicious, and I now feel like I have a brick in my stomach. I think I’m going to have some tea while we watch a movie… there’s cool stuff coming to our house this week that I’m SUPER excited for, but I’ll save the surprises. You may have noticed the OpenSky picture in my sidebar…that picture will bring you RIGHT to my shop, where you can buy all sorts of amazing kitchen goodies. Check them out!

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

Technorati Tags: Baking, cheese, dessert, family recipe, fondue, holiday, simple, simple recipe, vegetarian

17 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, February 14th 2010 | Tags: Baking, cheese, dessert, family recipe, fondue, holiday, simple, simple recipe, vegetarian
Posted in Baking, family recipe, simple recipe, vegetarian

Simply Random

I had a big event after school today. I got to do something I haven’t done in a very long time… I went to Trader Joe’s! I got a pretty decent haul for a small amount of money, and proceeded to make a simple and random TJ’s dinner. After, of course, I spent some time packing up my secret bloggie Valentine gift! I just hope it doesn’t snow so much tomorrow that I can’t get to the post office!

Back to the random dinner:

First, on the left, were some simply sauteed mushrooms and green peppers. Then, to the right of that were some TJ’s tomato basil chicken sausages (quite good I might add!) and above that, the star of the plate, some simple creamed spinach. My mom used to make this creamed spinach ALL the time, and it always surprised me because well, we didn’t eat creamed anything. When we went out for dinner on Saturday, she told me how to make it, and I had to try.

The process is simple: steam and drain a bunch of spinach. Stir in 1 Tbsp. cream cheese, 1 Tbsp. sour cream, and I added a sprinkle of garlic powder. You have to try it!!! It works with fat free dairy, or regular… I might have to make a second batch for when Adam gets home, as I might need to finish this batch!

I had a couple of questions over the weekend, some anonymous and some not… so I’ll get to it!

Lauren from Say What You Need To Say asked: IF you could have anyone in the world over to dinner, who would it be and what would you make? That’s a really tough question… it depends on the day, honestly! There are people I’d like to have over just so I could look at them, but somehow I doubt they’d eat much. If we’re talking living or dead, I’d say Julia Child and/or Eddie Izzard. I know, random! Julia Child would get a simple and standard Jewish meal of brisket, kugel, matzoh ball soup, and kishke. Eddie Izzard though, he’s a bit more difficult. I’d be tempted to cook something very “executive” (Eddie fans will get that) or something with Jam.

Annabel from Feed Me, I’m Cranky asked: I would like to know how you met your hubby! Adam and I actually met in college… but the story isn’t that simple! We met probably multiple times at multiple parties, but neither of us particularly remember, for various reasons. Then, in 2004, sick and tired of dating the “wrong” people, I signed up on JDate. I paid for 3 months, went on COUNTLESS bad dates (seriously, go read that guest post from Jessie’s blog, whose blogiversary is today!) and upon getting the “renew now!” email, I decided to cancel. I had 2 weeks left on my subscription when I got this message from this adorable guy saying “Hey, you went to Bradley and look really familiar. Here’s my IM, let’s chat sometime.” Turned out that this adorable guy was Adam, we had DOZENS of people and stories in common, and figured out quite a few times we’d met before.

Do you ever get scared that you’ll never get to where you want to be? I sometimes feel like I am on a hamster wheel and sometimes I feel like my life, my weight, everything is GREAT and then another week I feel like it is horrible. I wish sometimes I could just be….do you ever have those same fears? This is such a loaded question! There is part of me that wants to say “yes, I get terrified that I’m not really that good at my job, that I’ll be overweight forever, and really don’t want to stay ‘here’ for much longer.” Then, there’s another part of me saying that this, right now, is really the most wonderful things have ever been for me… While yes, sometimes things just suck, and sometimes I get scared, when I get that “hamster wheel” feeling, I make a conscious effort to just get off of it. Change something. Do something I’m scared of.

I’ve been on and off of Weight Watchers for years- and it works really well for me, when I’m that point-counting mode- which is hard to do every single day! How’s your new style of eating going? See any results yet? Can you tell us what you typically eat throughout the day? Thanks! UGH POINT COUNTING MODE!! I know that all too well! I get on the whole Point thing fairly easily, and fall off easily too! I just hate having to overanalyze everything that goes in my mouth. My new eating style is going very very well! According to my bathroom scale (which I get on maybe 2-3 times a week, but really only “take” my Saturday morning weight) I lost 4.5 lbs in my first week eating the way I do. A typical day for me on this plan is:

Breakfast: 2 eggs and 1 egg white scrambled with about 1 c. cooked spinach and 1/2 c. sliced mushrooms, 2 pieces bacon, coffee with half-and-half

Lunch: Usually leftovers from dinner, including additional vegetables. Today was about 2 sliced green peppers and some leftover Italian beef

Snack: Today was a handful of raw almonds. Some days its beef jerky (DYING to try those PrimeSnax that MizFit loves!), some days its avocado or vegetables.

Dinner: Most of you know my dinners already!

As a kid, what was your favorite family meal ? Mine was spag with meat sauce That’s easy. My absolute favorite family meal that was a never-fail, smile on my face meal was when my mom roasted chicken, made garlic roasted potatoes, asparagus, and fillets. My grandma made a very similar meal too, and no matter who made it, I always loved it!

WOW I’m long-winded today… thanks for sticking with me, and don’t forget to Ask Me Anything! I’m LOVING answering all this stuff!

Have a fantastic evening! We’re supposed to get about 8 inches of snow… nothing like you East Coasters, but it still might be enough for a snow day. Keep your fingers crossed!

Technorati Tags: ask me, cheese, dinner, friends, fun, simple recipe, vegetables, weight loss

19 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, February 8th 2010 | Tags: ask me, cheese, dinner, friends, fun, simple recipe, vegetables, weight loss
Posted in chicken/turkey, friends, simple recipe, weight loss

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