June 14, 2011- Refrigerator Roulette

Ben had plans with a couple friends after work tonight.  Katie and I were planning on going to our PEPS gathering for dinner, but ended up staying home because she wasn't feeling well.  We've been fighting a cold for several days, and I thought we were on the mend.  When she was really fussy after her nap this afternoon, I looked at her throat.  It was swollen and red.  We'll probably end up at the doctor tomorrow to get her checked out.  We have a new baby in our PEPS group, and I don't want to get that family sick.  

When asked what she wanted to eat for dinner, Katie surprised me and said pepperoni.  She never wants to eat it on a pizza, but seems to like it just fine by itself.  Although she told me she didn't want any cheese, she ate a stick of string cheese when I handed it to her.  She also had a few slices of apple.  I had a cheeseburger, using a left over grilled patty from last Friday. 

Sunday, 4/24/2011

Happy Easter!  Christ the Lord is risen today!

When Katie woke up, we let her search for her Easter basket.  She found it right away and was wonderfully thrilled with each thing in her basket.  Animal crackers, straws that turn regular milk into chocolate milk, a book about a lamb, a Dora the Explorer backpack, a flower headband, and a Disney princess coloring kit.  After breakfast we went to church with my parents and grandparents this morning.  We quickly had lunch so that I could get Ben to the airport.  And, after Katie's nap, she got to hunt Easter eggs in the backyard.  What fun!  

For dinner we played a little refrigerator roulette.  I ended up making a ham and cheese omelet with some bell pepper strips on the side.  Other than having to say goodbye to Ben for a week, this was a wonderful Easter.  

Friday, 3/4/2011

Our church's women's retreat began tonight with a potluck at one member's home.  I made a chicken and pasta casserole to take.  I started with sweet Italian chicken sausage, sliced thin and then pan fried it until a little brown around the edges.  The sausage was mixed into a store-bought, creamy, four-cheese alfredo sauce with rotisserie chicken.  Once it was all hot, I added some cooked penne pasta, and stirred it all together.  There was enough to make two small dishes (see photo) for Katie and Ben and one medium casserole dish for the potluck.  We topped each dish with shredded mozzarella cheese and put them in the oven to let the cheese melt.  

I was running a bit late, so I didn't do any more with my dish other than cover it and transport it to the potluck.  Ben had more time; so, he turned on the broiler and got the cheese a little crispy and golden brown on top.  I wish I had had more alfredo sauce for the dishes.  Although very tasty, they were not as moist as I hoped they would be. 

Friday, 1/28/2011

Tonight, Ben and I had a fantastic date night.  A year ago my name was selected in a drawing for a free night's stay at the Hotel Monaco, Downtown Seattle.  That is the same hotel we stayed at on our wedding night and our first anniversary.  How very cool!  Anyway, we had to use the gift certificate by the end of this month.  It's January 28th.  Yes, it was time to use it or lose it.  Thankfully Ben's brother, Spencer, was willing and available to stay with Katie while we took a night off.

After getting Katie and Spencer settled, I took the bus into Seattle to meet Ben.  We checked into the hotel and went out in search of food.  We ended up being able to get a table quite quickly at the Purple Cafe and Wine Bar.  What a great meal!  Here's what we ate:

Appetizers

I had the pork and chicken sausage with cranberry-apricot chutney and pecorino sardo gran cru cheese.  Ben had lamb chili with polenta croutons and rogue smokey blue cheese.  The cheeses were served with a fig jam which was delicious.

Drinks

We each enjoyed a flight of wine--four wines to sample.  I had the red wine flight from Italy with these wines:

• cabanon ‘augurio’ . provincia di pavia . 09
• fattoria pogni . chianti . 08
• il trullo . primitivo del salento . 08
• vinosia aglianico . irpinia aglianico . 08

Ben had the red wine flight from Washington with these wines:

• substance merlot . washington . 08
• l’ecole syrah . columbia valley . 07
• gamache ‘boulder red’ . columbia valley . 07
• brand cabernet sauvignon . columbia valley . 08 

The Substance merlot in Ben's flight was fantastic.  We each had a glass of that with our entree.  It was divine.  

Entree

We shared the artisan cured meat pizza with soppresata, coppa, spanish chorizo, mozzarella, fresh oregano and tomato sauce.  The flavor of the meats took us back to our vacation in Italy.  On that trip, we purchased a variety of cured meats in Greve and ate them with cheese, bread, and wine for a meal at our bed and breakfast.  Who would have thought this meal would take us back to that wonderful vacation.  Here's a photo of that picnic meal for fun:) 

Dessert

The desserts were perfectly sized--small:)  I had the ruby port chocolate torte with cocoa nib whipped cream and port fudge sauce.  Ben chose the bittersweet espresso truffles.  He said the truffles were good, but mine was definitely the better of the two desserts.  Yum!!!  

After dinner we saw Black Swan.  I'm so glad we saw it in the theater.  There were parts of the movie that just needed to be presented in a bigger scale than our TV would have.  While it was definitely a disturbing movie, it was beautifully acted and had amazing cinematography.  

Saturday, 8/28/2010

It's party day...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNIFER!!!

It is my mother-in-law's 60th birthday today.  Ben, Spencer, and I are throwing her a big party along with her friends Chris and Larry.  They graciously agreed to let us hold the party at their home in Oregon City, Oregon.  Thank you Chris and Larry!  After a delicious coffee cake breakfast, the three of us took off to run errands and prep for the party.  Katie got to stay behind for some Grandma time.  Maybe I should say, Katie stayed behind so that Grandma could have some Katie time:)

Our first stop of the morning was JaCiva's for the birthday cake--chocolate cake, chocolate mousse filling, and butter cream frosting.  Spencer forwarded a photo of the napkins we purchased for the party to be used as cake decoration inspiration.  They did a fantastic job matching the colors and overall floral theme.  The cake was quite yummy, although, I did eat too much in the end.  I planned on sharing my large corner piece with Katie, but then she wouldn't eat a bit.  So, I ate the whole thing by myself.  Later, Katie really did want cake and insisted on sharing it with me.  Yes, I ate a lot of cake tonight.  And yes, I had it with vanilla ice cream too. 

Once at Chris and Larry's home, we arranged flowers, decorated, arranged tables, washed potatoes, stuffed peppers, chopped rosemary, sliced citrus fruits, prepared appetizer dishes, and got ready for the wine and cheese tasting.  We were busy!  For the first two hours of the party, we served appetizers and had a blind wine and cheese tasting activity.  Yesterday we shopped for wine and cheese at New Seasons Market, located not far from Jennifer's home.  Ben did pairing research ahead of time and took his list of 10 wine and cheese combinations to the store.  He and Spencer did their best to pick out the right cheeses first.  Then, they talked with a wine steward who helped pick out the right wines to pair with the cheeses at the right prices.  After the wines were selected, the cheese expert was back from her break and helped tweak the cheese selections a bit.  In the end, we were under budget on wine and cheese and super pleased with the service we received.  Just so you know, if you buy a case or more of wine at New Seasons Market in one purchase, you get a 20% discount.  That is huge!

For the tasting activity, we covered the wine bottle labels and numbered them.  I made the cute covers:)  The cheeses that complimented each wine were cute into bite sizes and piled in front of the bottles.  We made a large poster that listed the wines and cheese in random orders.  If the guests were interested in participating in the activity, they could take a stab at guessing which wines and cheeses they were tasting.  I am very proud of myself for guessing 8 out of 10 wines correctly.  Unfair advantage you say?  Nope...I left Ben alone for his research and didn't pay any attention to the wine steward while he recommended the wines.  I'm just that good ;-) We purchased a wine glass for each person who said they were coming.  I made personalized tags to circle the base of each glass.  With 28 adults expected, we did our best to avoid wine glass confusion.  I think it worked well! 

We had quite a few appetizers to choose from.  Chris prepared stuffed jalapenos and a fresh veggie dish with a Peppercorn Parmesan dip.  I made a Hot Mango Chutney Cashew dip, a Spicy Lemon Veggie dip, and roasted elephant garlic.  Ben blanched a pound of sugar snap peas to go along with the veggie dip.  We served sliced french bread baguettes to spread the chutney cashew dip and roasted garlic on.  The dip recipes and peas I made are included at the end of this blog entry.

For dinner we made Pollo Pibil--citrus spice marinated chicken, roasted potatoes with rosemary, and our standard household spinach, mandarin orange, and goat cheese salad with balsamic vinaigrette on the side.  For the salad, we ended up using about a pound of spinach, 1 1/2 small cans of mandarin oranges, and a 1/3 of a pound of crumbled goat cheese.  Follow the imbedded link for the chicken recipe, previously posted on this blog. The potato recipe will be at the end of this blog entry too.  

At the end of the day, we feel like we threw a great party.  The guests enjoyed themselves and Jennifer had a wonderful time.  It was a lot of work, but TOTALLY worth it:)  

Jennifer, Spencer, Katie, Ben, and me

Here are the recipes:

HOT MANGO CHUTNEY CASHEW DIP- from my friend Taran


Ingredients:
8 ounces cream cheese
2/3 cup sour cream
3-5 tsp curry powder, depending on preference
1/2 cup hot mango chutney
1 cup chopped cashews, divided

Directions:
Mix together all ingredients, saving 1/4 cup of the cashews for later.  Spoon into a serving dish and top with the reserved cashews.   Spread on slices of french bread baguettes or similar bread. 

Notes: I doubled this recipe due to the high number of guests expected.  With the amount of food available, we ended up taking home one recipe worth of the dip.  I'm not complaining, but it is worth mentioning.  It is a rich dip. 

SPICY LEMON DIPPING SAUCE- from Alton Brown's cookbook "I'm Just Here for the Food, volume 2.0"

Ingredients:
2/3 cup mayonnaise
3/4 cup sour cream
Zest from one lemon, chopped fine
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon zest, lemon juice, red pepper flakes and tarragon.  Taste and add salt and pepper as desired.

Notes: This really is a spicy dip.  The spice hit on the tongue is a bit delayed.  The recipe calls for 12 ounce of sugar snap peas.  I have found that you will end up with 2-3 times more dip than you need for 12 ounces of peas.  So, either have more peas available or make a smaller batch of dip.  

SUGAR SNAP PEAS- also from Alton Brown


Ingredients:
Heavy pinch kosher salt
12 ounces of sugar snap peas, trimmed and rinsed (approximately 4 cups)

Directions:
Bring 2 quarts of water and the salt to boil in a 4-quart saucepan, covered, over high heat.  Add the peas and cook uncovered for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes.  Drain the peas and immediately plunge into ice water.  Drain and set aside.  The actual time of course will depend on the peas.  These aren't big ole green beans, and few things are as awful as limp sugar snaps.  So stay right with them as they cook.

Even if the dip is perfect and the peas are dead on, the dish will fail if the peas are wet.  Once they've chilled down, dry them well or the dip just won't stick...and that would be sad. 


ROASTED POTATOES WITH ROSEMARY- from the Safeway brand Produce Stand fresh rosemary package

Prep time: 10 minutes--for one batch;)
Bake time: 25 to 30 minutes

Ingredients:
2 pounds small (1 1/2 to 2-inches) red skin or White Rose potatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt, course type preferred
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Scrub potatoes, dry well and cut in half lengthwise.  Pour olive oil into a rimmed baking sheet into which the potatoes fit comfortably.  Heat in oven until oil is hot, about 3 minutes.  Swirl to coat pan and place potatoes cut side down in hot oil.  Sprinkle with salt.  Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until cut side is golden brown.  Remove from oven, turn with a spatula, sprinkle with rosemary and toss to coat.  Serve immediately.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Notes: We made approximately 9 pounds of potatoes for the party.  Thankfully, Chris and Larry have two ovens.  With two full baking sheets in each oven, the potatoes were ready in 30 minutes.  Be warned, the oil heats up quickly in 450 degrees and starts to smoke.  Keep your fan running when you open the oven door to reduce the risk of a smoke detector going off. 

Monday, 8/23/2010

It's nacho week at the Ackers home.  Well, really, it will only be nacho Monday and nacho Thursday.  Anyway, I covered two plated in tortilla chips, added a layer of shredded cheese, a layer of taco seasoned lean, ground beef, a little hot sauce, and then another scant layer of cheese.  Popped in the microwave and dipped into salsa, these were pretty good nachos:)  

I tried to give Katie some left over pork, grapes, and cheese for dinner.  She wanted nothing to do with them.  She was only interested in dipping things into the salsa.  The catch was that she really didn't want to eat any of the things she dipped into the salsa.  So, she would whine and grunt and point and make awful sounds to get something like a chip and then continue that noise until she was given the salsa to dip into.  She would dip in, lick it, then give it back to me.  I will admit it--it got quite annoying after a while.  Sorry Ben, I wasn't very patient with that tonight. 

Tuesday, 8/10/2010

Katie and I were gone most of the day today.  I took her to Waterbabies swimming lessons this morning.  She is doing great!  She doesn't mind going under water at all anymore:)  She jumps off a platform in the water, goes all the way under, and comes up blinking and asking for "more".  Swim suit, or shee shee as she puts it, has become a frequent word in the house.

After swimming we went to Red Robin for lunch, Bellevue Square for an hour of shopping, the chiropractor, and then Redmond Town Center for more shopping. She did pretty well during the day, considering she only napped 5 minutes in the car, just before we got to the chiropractor's office. After all of our shopping, we drove back to Seattle to pick Ben up from work. Thankfully, she fell asleep on the way and had a good nap before we got home.

I planned for us to have a Southwest salad for dinner tonight. But, at the last minute, we decided to have chicken nachos instead. We took a plate of tortilla chips, topped it with shredded rotisserie chicken I bought at the grocery store, hot sauce, and cheddar cheese. After being heated in the microwave to melt the cheese, we dipped the loaded chips into salsa. It was a very satisfying dinner.

Katie ate deconstructed nachos for dinner--shredded chicken, cheese cubes, and chips. She is soo funny. She really likes to dip her food into condiments. So, it makes sense that she would want to dip chips and chicken into the salsa. But, she wasn't so fond of the salsa itself. She kept sticking out her tongue to taste it, but would shake her head "no" just before actually tasting it. Then, she would so kindly offer her food to us. I didn't mind so much when she decided not to eat the loaded chip I gave her and gave it back to me. It was like finding an extra fry in the bottom of the fast food bag. Thanks for sharing Katie:)

Saturday, 8/7/2010

I had another wonderful day visiting with Nancy today. I am so thankful that we still keep in touch after all these years. My family moved to Spokane, Washington, from Gresham, Oregon, in 1989. Who knew at that time that I would love to get together with Nancy 21 years later:) After eating breakfast at Anita's Crepes in Ballard, working on a birthday party game, and lots of playing with Katie, we took Nancy to Federal Way to catch her ride back to Portland with her daughter Sonya.



We passed The Rock in Federal Way on our way to drop off Nancy. It seemed like a good place to stop for dinner on our way home. We started off with an order of potato chips with a bacon cheese dipping sauce. O.M.G. they were sooo good. We polished off that basket. Ben chose the "It's Your Thing" pasta dish--A flavorful red sauce with ground pork and beef, tossed with fettuccine and topped with Parmesan cheese. I chose the "Born on the Bayou" pasta dish--Pan blackened chicken, hot sausage and dry-aged pepperoni with crushed garlic and roasted peppers in our cajun cream sauce. Tossed with penne rigate and topped with shredded Parmesan cheese. Both dishes were delicious. We each managed to restrain ourselves so that we could take home leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

For dinner Katie ate animal crackers and drank milk. She tried our pasta dishes, but wouldn't have more than a bite. I think she was too distracted by the television directly over our table showing the Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony;)

Saturday, 6/5/2010

Ben grilled hamburgers for us tonight. He started with lean ground beef and mixed in A-1 steak sauce, kosher salt, Lawry's seasoning salt, black pepper, and an egg to hold it together. He said that burgers usually stick to the grill, but tonight they were sliding all over the place. We topped them with bacon and Tillamook Garlic White Cheddar. We got to taste this cheese while at the Tillamook Cheese Factory on our vacation. We have enjoyed it in omelets and scrambles this week too. Other than being a bit too salty, the burgers were really good!

We had a fruit salad on the side. Katie and I shared a dill pickle, much to Ben's disgust:)

Friday, 6/4/2010

I pulled a couple chicken breasts out of the freezer today, unsure of what I was going to make for dinner with them. As dinner time approached, I decided to go with good old chicken burritos. I diced the raw chicken into pretty small cubes, maybe 1/2 inch. I cooked the chicken in oil until done and added taco seasoning and water. When the sauce had thickened a bit, I add it to tortillas already topped with shredded cheddar cheese. Drizzled with a little hot sauce and nuked in the microwave to melt the cheese, the chicken burritos were delicious.

In the past, Katie has willingly eaten the taco seasoned chicken. Not tonight. I don't think she ate more than 3 pieces. And, she definitely prefers cubed cheese over shredded. Much like her friend Oliver:)