Tuesday, 5/4/2010

We enjoyed a delicious PEPS meal tonight at Sara, Aaron and Ari's house. Sara fixed chicken alfredo with penne noodles, caesar salad, garlic bread, fruit salad, and cookies. I wish I knew her secrets, because each dish was fabulous. The pasta dish in particular had a divinely gooey sauce that I could have eaten like soup. And, the garlic bread was restaurant quality. Rustic wheat bread (I think) with thinly sliced garlic on it. Sara, please share your secrets with me;)

Katie loved the strawberries from the fruit salad, ate a bit of the pasta, and begged for more cookie crumbs than we would give her. But, eating was not her primary focus. Ari's toys were far more interesting. Oh yes, and she was a champion sippy cup tester tonight. She can spot a friend's sippy cup from across the room and has no problem taking a swig or two to see what they are drinking. The parents played a good game of protect the sippy cups.

Monday, 5/3/2010

Time for something different tonight. No sausages, no chili:) I made Parmesan-Crusted Halibut & Brown Butter Beans. You will notice that both recipes came from Cuisine at Home. Ben and I have received subscriptions to this magazine a couple times and love it. The dishes are practical with great tips. And, the flavor is usually really good...not bland at all. I've made the Halibut before. It is super simple to put together and the taste is FANTASTIC! Definitely a dish you could serve to company. I didn't have a lemon on hand tonight, so I made it without the lemon zest. It was still delicious, so don't fret if you don't have that ingredient.

The Brown Butter Beans recipe was new for me. I didn't weigh the beans when I purchased them, so it is very likely that I had fewer beans than the recipe called for. Regardless, it was a super tasty way to fix them up. I really like that the beans boiled in the same pan that the sauce was made in. It is far better to clean one pan than two:)


PARMESAN-CRUSTED HALIBUT (from Cuisine at Home magazine)

1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
Minced zest of 1/2 a lemon
Salt & pepper to taste
4 tsp. purchased pesto, divided
2 halibut fillets, 1-inch think (4 oz. each)

Preheat oven to 450°; coat a baking sheet with nonstick spray.
Combine panko, Parmesan, lemon zest, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
Spread 2 tsp. pesto on 1 side of each halibut fillet and arrange on the prepared baking sheet. Press panko mixture onto pesto side of fillets, spritz crumbs with nonstick spray, then refrigerate until ready to roast.
Cook fish until crumbs are golden and flesh flakes easily with a fork, 10-12 minutes depending on the thickness of the fillets.

BROWN BUTTER BEANS (from Cuisine at Home Weeknight Menus)

Makes 4 cups
Total time: 15 minutes

4 cups haricot vert or thin green beans, trimmed
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 t. garlic, minced
1 T. fresh lemon juice
Cooked beans
Salt & pepper to taste

Cook beans in a large saute pan of boiling salted water for 4 minutes. Drain and set aside; wipe out pan. (We thought they could have cooked a bit longer.)
Melt butter in the pan over medium heat until light brown, about 2 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook 30 seconds.
Deglaze with lemon juice; remove from heat.
Add beans, toss well, and season with salt and pepper.

Sunday, 5/2/2010

Ok, time to finish off the chili. I covered two plates with tortilla chips, added the chili that I made earlier in the week, and topped with shredded cheddar. A minute in the microwave each and we each enjoyed chili nachos. It was a fine, filling meal, but I now know I prefer to use taco meat for nachos. The chips got a bit soggy and would have been better dipped into the chili.

Saturday, 5/1/2010

What a fun day this was. My friend Elly and I hosted a bridal shower for our friend Lauren at my home. I will create a special "Bridal Shower" post later on with details about the shower. It was perfect!

After the bridal shower, we all went to downtown Seattle to the CanCan, a kitchen and cabaret, for the bachelorette party. I'd been there two times before, once for another bridal shower and once for a 30th birthday party. There is a tiny stage and the tables are packed in. Each show I've seen is a bit different, but always very entertaining and slightly odd at the same time. We arrived at 6pm so that we could have dinner and relax before the 7:30 show. Our ticket included a 3 course meal. Here's what I ordered:

1st course: Vegetarian soup made with fresh market produce (it is located at the Pike Place Market)
2nd course: Salad Ortaggio- spinach, pear, gorgonzola, and spiced walnuts tossed in balsamic-basil vinaigrette
3rd course: Three Cheese Macaroni- penne pasta in a sauce made with pecorino, gorgonzola and parmigianno cheeses, fresh sage and bread crumbs.

The food was delicious, the show was fun, and the drinks were tasty! I highly recommend a visit to the CanCan if you ever need something different to do in Seattle.

Friday, 4/30/2010

It would take quite a bit of time to mention everything that happened in this day, but I can sum it up by saying it was EXTREMELY busy for me. This evening the youth from our church performed their first Sweet, Sweet Music concert: Fauntleroy Fledglings. Ben's brother Spencer came down to watch Katie for us so that we could go to it. I sang and played the guitar and piano on the group songs. Ben was in charge of videography for the show.

Dinner had to be simple, so I grilled Italian Sausages. That's it. I dipped in left over Roasted Garlic pasta sauce and Ben and Spencer dipped in mustard. For dessert we all indulged in the bounty of cookies at the concert. Spencer ended up bringing Katie for an hour or so until intermission. It was fun to have them there with us.

Thursday, 4/29/2010

With a batch of chili in the fridge, I decided to make and eat my first ever chili dog. I grilled a couple of big sandwich buns and Hebrew National Polish Beef Sausages. Spooned on some chili, sprinkled on shredded cheddar, and TA-DA...chili dogs. Ben said they were great. I thought the taste was good, but don't really need to try it again. I prefer to eat my hotdogs/sausages separate from my chili.

We cut up part of a sausage for Katie and gave her some chili. Seems like she is now a cheese snob. Shredded cheese no longer works for her. It must be sliced or cubed. Fine by me, shredded cheese gets everywhere!

Wednesday, 4/28/2010

My friend Lyle invited me to go see the musical "On the Town" this evening at the 5th Avenue Theater. He brought over burritos from Chipotle Mexican Grill for us to eat before heading downtown. I had a Carnitas Burrito with rice, pork, cheese, and medium green salsa. Although the burrito was huge and delicious, I must comment on the crappy website I tried to navigate in order to find the menu.

When I first went to the site, I looked at the graphics and links on the page and saw nothing that said menu. I tried looking for a location near me, thinking the menus might be regional. Nope, nothing there. Eventually, I started the process of ordering food online and found a faxable form which was essentially the menu. The funny part is that just now, when I was getting the site link to add to this post, I just happened to run my curser over the Chipotle graphic in the top left corner of the page and out flew the site menu. It included the food menu I previously struggled to find. In my experience, it is expected that the header graphic on a website will take you back to the home page. I have never seen a site menu hidden in that graphic before. I'm not sure it is the best strategy Chipotle.

While out on the town (pun only slightly intended) Lyle pointed out that we have been friends for over 10 years now. On one hand, I can't believe that so much time has passed. And on the other hand, I can see how 10 years have passed based on how much has changed in our lives since we first met at BER orientation in 1999. I'm glad we are still friends:)