New Name, New Look and New Recipe!

Now it will be even MORE exciting to write in here because while my sister was in town, she gave me some "blogging" lessons so I can do things like add labels, links and also ways to spruce it up.  Along with the new look, we came up with a new name and I am stoked beyond belief!

She and my niece flew in from Fort Lauderdale Thursday night, and we were so blessed to have family time all day Friday and Saturday and part of Sunday, also with my brother who just hit 5-0 last Thursday.  I asked him what he wanted for dinner on Saturday night (when we would officially celebrate) and he answered exactly how I thought he would - Mom's Beef Stroganoff!

Talk about teamwork - my niece, daughter and I did the grocery shopping while my sister helped Brad with some errands on Saturday.  We were ready to roll with prep work at 3:30 or so, and divvied up the tasks amongst all of us so that it would all get done.  And the result was amazing!!!

The first step was to get the Ribbon Pie going - that is also one of Mom's famous recipes that Brad loves.  The first step is to cook the pie crusts, something I forgot until the first layer of pudding was done, but it worked out fine.  Here is the recipe for one pie - we made two, but you can adapt for one.

Ribbon Pie

Pie crust (cook according to instructions)
1 small box of instant vanilla pudding mix
1 small box of instant chocolate pudding mix
Milk (see boxes for directions on how much)
Cool Whip

Bake the pie crust according to instructions and while it is cooking, prepare the vanilla pudding according to the instructions.  Once the pie crust cools, fill halfway with vanilla pudding.  Refrigerate and let set for 2 hours.  Once it is set, make the chocolate pudding according to instructions, and layer over the vanilla pudding.  When ready to serve, spread cool whip all over the top.  Can you say DELICIOUS?!?

I then started on the beef stroganoff, another easy recipe, but I had to laugh at the lack of measurements in my mom's original recipe.

Mom's Beef Stroganoff

Cut round steak in cubes.  Salt, pepper and flour.  Brown with 1 medium onion (chopped) and one clove of garlic (minced).  Add 1 can of undiluted beef bouillon soup (or 2 beef bouillon cubes) and 1 cup of water.  Simmer until tender.  Add sour cream during the last 5 minutes.  Serve over cooked egg noodles.

So you may be wondering - how much of everything?  We bought 3 pretty good sized packages of the meat - since 3 of the folks we would be serving were grown men who like their meat and potatoes.  After I did all the simmering, I put it all in the crock pot to continue to slow cook.  I added about 1/2 container of sour cream.  We cooked 2 packages of the "No Yolks" egg noodles and had TONS leftover - will probably be making some kind of soup tonight since the fridge is STILL not working properly.

We put together an amazing salad with greens, fat free feta cheese, strawberries, walnuts, avocado slices, and mangos along with some rolls and Brad was one HAPPY camper!  A super fun birthday celebration for my awesome brother.

Uh oh...I was about to upload pictures and that icon is missing.  Somehow I was able to upload the pie picture above, but I have made a LOT of changes.  Will publish this for now and look for it later!!!

YAY!  Finally got my old toolbar back!  Won't even say how long it took, but here are some pics of the yummy dinner!  Beef stroganoff just isn't a "sexy" meal, so though it does not look as appealing, it really was tasty!

Banana Bread (Crumble)

Since it's trivia night (so no food pictures), I figured I could share my recent baking debaucle.  How I managed to screw up my mom's tried and true banana bread is just beyond me.  Oh wait - I actually know why.  I am not a baker as self-admitted.  And as embarrassed as I am to admit this (but said I would stay true to everyone), I made the mistake of confusing a bundt pan with a large copper ice mold.  I knew the copper pan didn't look quite right - but - it  had pretty much the same shape so I figured it would work.  I then learned that it was much more shallow (evidenced by all of the batter that overflowed and burned onto the bottom of the oven and made for a horrid stench instead of having that yummy "my grandmother is baking something" scent).  What makes it more ironic is to see my note in the actual recipe below!

Anyways, this is a great recipe to use up over-ripe bananas IF you use the right pan.  Honestly, we still enjoyed it.  Just wouldn't have been something I proudly served.

Mimi’s Famous Banana Bread
Ingredients:	Directions:
·         1 cup sugar	Grease pan (best if in bundt pan).  Cream margarine.  Add sugar, eggs and the flour which you will sift with baking soda.  Mash the bananas in a separate bowl with lemon juice.  Add those to the sugar mixture and add the nuts.  Bake in bundt pan at 350 for one hour or until done.  You could probably use another size pan like an 8 x 8, but you’ll want to bake it for less time and keep an eye out for it.  Or maybe do muffins???
·         2 sticks margarine
·         2 cups sifted flour
·         2 eggs
·         2 tsp lemon juice
·         3-4 ripe bananas
·         1 tsp baking soda
·         ¼ cup nuts (chopped pecans)

And here we have it...a crumbled (but tasty) mess!!  I'm thinking it will be a yummy topping for oatmeal or yogurt!



On a brighter note, we did some AWESOME back to school shopping today!  Scored 5 pairs of shorts, 5 shirts, and a dress for $115.  This was between Kohls, Ross, TJ Maxx and Target!  And as for the shorts, they are all too big in the waist so she can wear a belt this year and just take it in a notch each year (hopefully).  Here is the score from Kohls.  Gotta love it when you save 3 times what you spent.  Oh - and earned $10 in Kohls cash!

Dinner Pics from 7/26

The evening was AWESOME and I had so much fun putting together a creative and healthy meal.  Now it's time to play around with the blog and add some pictures. 

My favorite part of cooking is the prep work - chopping the veggies (though I HATE chopping onions so you will see a pre-packaged tub of chopped onions and celery), planning out times so that the food is all ready when my guests come and of course tasting along the way is a must :)

I started out my prep with marinating the chicken; I really wish I had written down everything I used.  I do know that I pureed some mango, added in a bit of olive oil, basil, garlic, chili sauce, salt, pepper, and lemon juice.  I don't *think* I used anything else, but can't guarantee it.  The taste of this marinade was light, with a tiny touch of heat from the chili sauce, but not enough to consider it spicy, more like tangy.

As the chicken was marinating, I did a lot of the prep work.  I went ahead and completed the tomatoes dish; slicing up fresh tomatoes, topping with a piece of mozzarella cheese and some chopped basil and drizzling with balsamic vinaigrette.  Those went into the fridge on the serving platter I would be using; one item completely accomplished.

Next, I prepped the other 2 appetizers, which both just needed 10 minutes or so in the oven.  I mixed some herbed goat cheese with pureed mangos and stuffed my figs.  I actually did a search to find out the best way to stuff a fig.  I tried both of the methods I found - one is making a slit and putting the stuffing in there.  The other is making more of an X and pulling the outsides apart and stuffing it.  I liked the presentation of the second one better.  All I did was stuff the figs with the mixture and put them on a plate in the fridge until time to cook.

For the mushrooms, I wanted something other than a cheese mixture since the other 2 appetizers had cheese.  I looked all over the internet, and finally found one that called for pesto, but I didn't have any on hand.  But I started thinking - what about hummus?  We always have a lot of hummus on hand, so I combined some original, some garlic flavored and some that was flavored with roasted red pepper.  I also stirred in chopped red and orange peppers and some basil.  I stuffed the mushrooms with that, then topped with a light sprinkle of breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese.

Next was making the salad, a light and fresh tasting mixture of greens, chopped mangos, chopped basil, crumbled feta cheese and cherry tomatoes.  Into the fridge it went in the bowl I would be using so it would keep cool.  My plan was to serve with an Asian Sesame Light dressing.  I also cut the peaches in half, and got my ingredients ready for the quinoa.  I sliced up the zucchini and topped with spray butter and parmesan cheese and had that ready to go.  At this point, it was just a "hurry up and wait" thing b/c the rest was the actual cooking.

With my friends coming over at 7, I started the actual cooking at 6:30.  At 6:15, I took the chicken out of the fridge and kept at room temperature for 1/2 hour, a tip I learned directly from Melissa D'Arabian in a live chat I was on the other day.  She actually answered my question about tips for grilling chicken and taught me about the room temp tip, and also to put thinner pieces towards the front of the grill as the back gets hotter.  Lastly, she advised to use a meat thermometer and take the chicken off at 5 degrees less than desired as it would cook those extra degrees while resting.

I started the quinoa at 6:30, figuring i could keep in the oven at 175.  What I love about quinoa is that it takes on whatever flavors you give it.   I started by sauteeing some chopped celery and onions in olive oil.  Once those were soft, I added in a cup and a half of chicken broth and brought that to a boil.  Then I added the quinoa and let it simmer for 12 minutes.  I also added in some chopped basil for flavor, along with some lemon zest.  I put it into the oven to warm, and 5 minutes before serving, I added in some raw red and orange pepper and some shoepeg corn as I wanted those to still be crunchy.

At 6:45, I fired up the grill and cooked the chicken and the peaches.  I have found that using a lower heat helps to keep the chicken more tender, and does not char the outside.  I used the top rack for the peaches and used some spray butter before grilling for flavor.  When finished, I knew I could just put them into the oven to warm.

I put the figs and mushrooms into the oven at this same time so that they would be ready, as well as the zucchini.  At 7 sharp, I was ready for company :)

I loved the flavor of the figs; a light drizzle of honey on the plate added a touch of sweetness to the savory taste of the goat cheese.  The mushrooms were everything I wanted them to be and then some.  The hummus is a perfect stuffing and I loved that the peppers stayed crunchy even after cooking.  There is NOTHING better than the taste of fresh tomatoes with mozzarella cheese and basil; so fresh and flavorful.

I was uber pleased that the chicken was cooked perfectly; tender and juicy and delicious!  The quinoa benefitted from the crunch of the veggies I added, and the mixture of ingredients in the salad was divine.  Parmesan zucchini was simple but delicious.

After dinner, I served up the grilled peaches that had been warming, putting each half on a piece of pound cake and used a dollop of whipped topping, as well as a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar.

I now have a new found respect for food bloggers.  It's hard to remember to take the pictures along the way, and I'm still learning the easiest way to upload.  I was FINALLY able to activate "instant upload" on my phone, so from now on, any photos I take will automatically be available for upload.  YAY - it took forever, but I'm so glad I figured it out :)

Mari