Eating Dinner With My Family

Well while tonight's recipe was really yummy, as yummy as it is a bit vague. (thanks Honey:/)  We had some veggies laying around and wanted to use them so my husband took over the sides and I did the shrimp with lemon dill sauce.  (No I didn't make it, some fancy brand that Publix put on clearance because no person who thinks food is worth spending that kind of money on would by sauce premade.  But as they were practically giving it away, my curiosity got the better of me, and I bought it and it has been sitting in the pantry for a few weeks and tonight is it's night to go. It was alright Roasted Root Veggies 4 small rutabaga, peeled & diced 4 small beets, peeled & diced 1 medium Sweet potato, peeled & diced 1/2 medium onion, diced Extra Virgin Olive Oil Dried Basil Dried Thyme Paprika Dried Oregano Toss and roast at 350 for 45 minutes (or until tender)

We enjoyed our last recipe from Happy Valley Chow , so I decided to try another.  The pizza was one I picked out for my husband; tonight's recipe I picked out for myself!  (not that the boys are complaining;)  I did make a mistake; I forgot to buy provolone, so I used the mozzarella I had on hand.  While I do think the provolone would make a better dish, there were no complaints about the one with the mozzarella!  It was comfort on a plate.  I think the idea to use the immersion blender to make the sauce was brilliant.  Now I love my immersion blender and use it quite a bit, but using it on this sauce remind me of an article I read about a chef that thought it "one trick pony" until he was told to use it to beat eggs before scrambling them, and that reminded me that I probably do not use my immersion blender to its full extent.  I am determined to make scrambled eggs in the near future and whip them thusly!  If you are a vegetarian,...

I feel like I am on a roll!  Two nights in a row I have improvised a meal, cleaned up some ingredients and it was good!  I had these frozen chicken leg quarters.  I can't handle chicken: raw or on a bone and this was both.  I couldn't eat the chicken.  It just bothers me, but the boys, who love chicken and in particular dark meat, really loved it.  The really, really , loved it.  I made the beans for me, but the boys put a little on the bottom of their tacos.  I made the chicken ala my family's beloved Enchilada Chicken recipe, but with the plan not save the cooking liquid, so I was going to need to find some way to sauce it up a bit.  The solution was a taco seasoning flavored butter.  You can serve these tacos with whatever toppings suit your family's preferences, but I think what we used was pretty perfect.:) Oh in case you are wondering what the heck Pdoma is, it was something a contractor my husband was talking to at work about ...

This recipe was born out of the ever increasing clutter I find in my refrigerator, freezer and pantry.  I don't know how or why this clutter grows; I cook every night.  I realize I do grocery shop a lot, but I use almost every thing I get.  Occasionally, I will have a portion of meat that was a bit more than I needed (like tonight's ground beef) and I will seal it and freeze it for future uses, but I am constantly astounded at the overflow of ingredients.  Anyways, rant over, this is why I just went in there and started using things to get this recipe.  I am a little embarrassed to say I loved it, not because it was bad, but it tasted suspiciously like a McDonald's cheeseburger.  I have a secret love of McDonald's.  When I am eating it, I think this really is garbage, but my mom craved them when she was pregnant with me and I think it is just something written in to my genes that when I see a McDonald's commercial, I secretly want some.  Now I am ...

I have had a lot of fun blogging the past 18 months or so but  I enjoyed trying all these new recipe (and revisiting some oldies), but also I love that I have found a lot of cool people with cool food blogs. (although I am annoyed with my phone for making it impossible to comment on the blogs, and I rarely use the computer) I tried a recipe tonight from a blog I love, and suggest you check out: Happy Valley Chow .  I knew this recipe seemed made for my husband.  With the exception of blue cheese, every ingredient is one he loves, its PIZZA, he went to Penn State and he loves the Rolling Stones.  I am not a fan of sweet and savory (nor apples in particular) but I thought this might be something I would like too.  It was quite good.  My husband and son loved it; I liked it despite the fact it had apples on it.  I personally would have liked a tad more cheese, but I did go light on...

I am not the biggest fan of chicken.  It's not that I never like it, but I do have issues with it.  The boys love chicken, so I try every now and again to serve them their beloved legs and thighs.  I got this recipe from Food and Wine.  As always, Food and Wine delivered a tasty recipe.  The chicken was really juicy.  I did take out all the pieces but the thighs after the 45 minutes and the thighs I wrapped in foil and cooked a bit longer since they were only at 145.  I make one other deviation regarding the dried chipotle in the Harous recipe.  I couldn't find them and I kept forgetting to order some online, so I used dried chipotle powder.  I went light too just in case; I used a little over a teaspoon.  We all enjoyed the dish.  The boys remarked on how much they liked the skin.  Next time I would use more of the harous (perhaps because of my chipotle switch up??) because it wasn't really spicy.  It would also be n...

Well, it is freezing here in Florida tonight, and by freezing, I mean "Florida Freezing" and that is mid forties.  Since there is a chill in the air, I thought of soup, and I decided to try my hand at french onion soup.  I like that this recipe called for toasting the crouton instead of broiling the entire bowl of soup with the cheese over it.  Now I love a bubbling cauldron of cheese, but I simply don't have the crocks.  It wasn't a fast dinner, (25 minutes for caramelizing onions alone!) but it was a tasty dinner.  Next time I would make homemade broth; I felt that the cartons I used took a bit a way from the end result.  However, we all enjoyed it.  Even the three year old ate heartily.  French Onion Soup   1/2 Cup unsalted butter 4 onions sliced 2 garlic cloves chopped 2 bay leaves 2 fresh thyme sprigs Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 Cup red wine about 1/2 bottle 3 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 Qt bee...