Humble Homemade Hamburgers & Chocolate Crisps

Hamburger on homemade bun with provolone, ketchup, sweet pineapple mustard, pickles and spinach. 

Crispy chocolate chip ice cream sandwich

Apparently I am stressed out about the wedding and did not even realize it. Shane came over tonight so I wanted to make dinner for him. I decided on hamburgers, but did not want to just use regular bread, so I made homemade buns. I am not the most patient person when it comes to cooking. It is an unfortunate trait, but one that I have to come clean about. I did not wait long enough for the dough to rise, so the buns were very dense. I looked past that and pressed on towards the goal. When I moved on to the hamburger patties, I made them with egg, bread crumbs, milk and other spices. Our beef is incredibly lean, so they did not hold together well while I cooked them. Another unfortunate mishap. I was able to put the rest of the meal together with a smile and laugh off the mistakes. Shane was very gracious and ate what I gave him. After dinner I wanted to make some warm gooey chocolate chip cookies and some how I messed those up too! They ended up completely flat and crispy. At this point I fell apart and told my mom and Shane that I am a terrible cook and baker. Once I got past the self pity I realized that I probably messed up so many times because I am so distracted by thoughts of the wedding. I also realized that even when you make mistakes in cooking, you can almost always turn them into something else. And no one will no the difference, unless of course, you write it about it in a blog :) Until next time. 

Homemade Steak Fajitas

Cooking the steak and red and orange peppers with taco seasoning

the "innards"

Steak Fajitas with avocado, tomato, cheddar cheese and sour cream

My dad made dinner tonight. He made ribs and mashed potatoes since my mom wasn't home. I looked at the ribs and thought that it was the quintessential "man meal." I crave color, texture and taste in my meals, and most men are completely satisfied with meat and potatoes. So I looked in the fridge to see what I could do, using the steak he had already made. I found half an avocado, cheese, red and orange peppers, tortillas and sour cream. The perfect ingredients for a fajita. I chopped up the steak and put it in a sizzling hot pan with taco seasoning and the peppers. Occasionally I would splash some water on it so the flavors would combine nicely together. While the meat was cooking I chopped the avocado and tomato and grated the cheese. Once all of this was done I assembled them, topping them with sour cream. For the side dish I used the left over tomatoes and avocado topped with the rest of the cheese for a veggie salad. It was delicious. The only down side was that I only needed to make it for me so I didn't get to share it, and half the fun in cooking is making food for other people. I am really looking forward to being married so I can make food for Shane and at times entertain for our friends and have them over for dinner. So if you want to try anything from this blog, let me know. We would love to have you over. :)

French Toast w/ Nutella Syrup

Homemade Cinnamon French toast topped with nutella syrup

I have had a love for nutella ever since I spent time in Europe. It's a great excuse to have chocolate for breakfast. The french toast was made with Dave's Killer Bread, a wonderful hearty choice. The egg mixture included eggs, cinnamon and lactose free milk. We did not have any syrup and the nutella we did have left was a little dry. I reconstituted it with so Corn syrup and put it in the microwave for about a minute to give it a smoother texture. It was a simple and filling meal and I will definitely be making this syrup again:)

Baked Salmon with a Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Sauce

Baked salmon with a homemade pesto sauce, topped with sun dried tomatoes. Sides include quinoa with chopped vegetables and a salad

It has been a while since my last post. Mostly due to the insane amount of wedding planning we have successfully executed thus far. Anyway, This dish is an idea I got from a friend. I love pesto sauce and found a pretty simple recipe for it.

Pesto Recipe

2 cloves garlic

2 cups basil

1/4 TB pine nuts

3 TB parmesan

1/2 cup olive oil

dash of salt and pepper

(quantities can vary, depending on how many you are cooking for)

Combine all ingredients except the olive oil in a food processor. Once combined, slowly pour in the olive oil. Set aside.

Take the frozen salmon and lay them on a baking sheet. Cover them with the pesto sauce and top with chopped sun dried tomatoes. Place in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

The side dish is quinoa with chopped carrots and okra and the salad is covered in a balsamic vinaigrette, let me know if anyone wants directions for the quinoa. It is a great alternative to rice and has a lot better nutritional value.

Something Out of Nothing

Exhibit A: The nearly empty refrigerator

Exhibit B: A light dinner, created from the ingredients in the nearly empty refrigerator

So, I haven't posted in a while. Mostly because Shane and I got engaged last month and I have been working on things for the wedding. Besides that fact, the other day my mom and I both worked all day and were both really hungry. The only problem was that we had not been to the store in a while and didn't want to go out. Our fridge was pretty bare and at first I thought there was no way I could create a meal out of anything in there, but then I looked closer. I found three small bell peppers, spring mix lettuce, home made garlic dill salad dressing, pumpernickel bread, a soft french cheese, cottage cheese, peaches, and a liver pate (can't make the correct symbol for that lol,). For the salad I chopped up the peppers, shredded the cheese, dressed it and had a unique entree. Then I cut slices of the pumpernickel, buttered them and placed the liver pate on top. I finished the dish with the cottage cheese and peach side dish. While eating it I realized that I had nearly every food group accounted for on my plate. I had a meat, dairy, fruits, vegetables, and grains. It may not have been the most extravagant meal but I take pride in creating something out of nothing. So next time your fridge is bare, take a closer look and see if you can create something new:).

Homegrown Tomato Basil Soup

For the last 3 years Shane and I have helped plant the garden but had to leave for school before anything was ready for harvest, in other words, we never got to reap the benefits from our hard work. However, all of that has changed now that we are done with school:). About a week ago my mom picked about 10-15 tomatoes and left them on the window sill to continue to ripen. Once they were ready we washed them, placed them in bowl and then poured boiling water over them. This process helps remove the skins. Leave the tomatoes in their bath until you can see the skins splitting. Once that happens, you can easily peel it off and remove the stems. Then place the tomatoes in a pot. When this is done slice up an onion and and put it into the pot with the tomatoes. For the next ingredient I went out to the garden and picked about 6 or 7 leaves of basil, washed them and added them to the pot. Then add salt and pepper to taste and equal parts chicken broth and water. (The amount depends on how much soup you are making, but be sure to cover the tomatoes and onions.) Leave this on medium heat until they are soft. When the tomatoes and onions have cooked, let them cool a bit and transfer it into a blender. In the empty pot make a roux, which is about a half cup of butter and flour mixed together, then add about a half cup of milk to soften the mixture. This acts as a thickening agent. Once everything is blended slowly add the soup mixture in with the roux, making sure all of the clumps are gone, then add a tablespoon of sugar to sweeten it. Once the soup and roux are mixed let the soup warm back up and taste test it to see if it needs any more salt, pepper or sugar. Then top with more basil leaves or oyster crackers and serve.

Shane's Birthday Dinner

This year I wanted to make Shane dinner for his birthday, he chose lamb for the meat and wanted to be surprised for the rest. I wanted it to be a special dinner so I made Leg of Lamb, roasted carrots, garlic mashed potatoes, salad, and homemade bread. For the lamb, I had a big frozen leg of lamb that my mom got from her physical therapist and let it thaw for about 12 hours. Then I made slits in the lamb and sliced garlic into small pieces to put inside those slits. After that I sprinkled it with kosher salt and pepper. Then it went into the oven at 350 degrees and stayed in there for about an hour and a half. It was pretty pink, so if you like your meat well done, it should probably stay in for another 10-15 minutes. Once the meat was done I boiled the potatoes and cut up the carrots into thin sticks. When all of that preparation was done I added sour cream, milk and garlic (quantities as desired for consistency) to the mashed potatoes. Then I placed the carrot sticks on a cookie sheet, drizzled olive oil and sprinkled rosemary on top. Once this was complete I put the carrots in a 425 degree oven until they became crisp. Every couple of minutes I would turn the carrots to roast them evenly. I then prepared the salad and once that was complete The next step was to make the bread and my sister and Shane graciously helped, since I had a lot going on. We use my mom's simple recipe to make amazing bread.

Bread Recipe:

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 1/2 T yeast

1 T sugar

1 t (heaped) salt

add as much flour as it will take

Combine the warm water and yeast in a mixer and then add the rest of the ingredients. Once the dough reaches your desired consistency let it mix for about 10 minutes. Then knead it and place in a bread pan. Let the dough rise for about 15 minutes before putting it into a 350 degree oven and baking until it is done and lightly browned.

For dessert I used my Aunt Leanne's recipe for Peanut butter Ice Cream Pie. and it completed the meal. It was a lot of work but Shane had a great time and enjoyed the food, so it made it all worth it.