Cookbook Challenge: Week 4

Yeah, we're behind - you'll notice weeks 6 and 7 were completed before 4 and 5. So I decided as long as we complete 52 recipes, it's a win. ;) Lowering expectations...

This week's recipe is Riccota and Spinach Calzone, from the Williams Sonoma Comfort Food book:

I put Dave on dinner duty, and he did a fine job! Next time I think we'll add more cheese because the filling was verrrry spinach-heavy. I like cheese.

It worked!

Remember when I took some green onion roots after we used them and tried to grow more onions? I was doubtful I'd be successful because of my black thumb, but it worked! I'll take my lapel pin now ;)

After a few days of allowing them to sit on the sill and soak up the sunshine and water, we had a good inch of growth, and about a week later (maybe 0 days total) we had full stalks!

The new growth was so much stronger than the ones we bought at the store - they always seem flimsy or floppy to me, but these were crunchy and stood up on their own. Dave used some for an omelet and said the taste was fresh and very potent.

Success. After we got good growth, I chopped them up and threw them into a water bottle like Bonnie did, and put them in the freezer. There's no way we'd use the entire bunch before they went bad, so I wanted to save them.

We're on our second round now, with less success, but I've been less diligent about changing the water and we've had very cloudy weather the last week or so. Here's hoping I can keep those going to get a good supply of onions. Every dollar I can save on groceries is one I can spend at Target! :)

Valentine Blondies!

Valentine's Day was 2 weeks ago? 3? Meh, don't care. I had some Valentine's Day M&M's in the pantry and wanted to use them before the next major holiday, so I trolled Pinterest for a themey snack.  Enter Baked Perfection's brown sugar blondies recipe:

Here's her recipe - I used a 9x9 brownie pan, so the bars (we got 12 pieces) were about an inch thick:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract {homemade by yours truly}
• 1 1/2 cups M&M's (1 cup for the batter and 1/2 cup to sprinkle on top)
• {I added 1 cup pecans because yum} 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).

Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.Melt 1/3 cup butter. Add 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar and mix well. Cool slightly. Add egg (beaten) and vanilla and blend well. Add flour mixture, a little at a time, mixing well. Mix in 2/3 cup M&M's. Spread in 9 x 9 x 2 inch pan. Sprinkle 1/3 to 2/3 cup M&M's on top. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Store in airtight container at room temperature.

YUM!

Cookbook Challenge: Week 7

This week we relied on Bobby Flay to provide something yummy - Dave is attempting to grill his way through this entire book, so this is a bit of a crossover week. :)

We didn't make the celery-carrot slaw or blue cheese dressing, because ew, but we made turkey burgers with a spicy buffalo sauced.  So flavorful!

This recipe can be used with beef, turkey, or any other kind of burger.  Just make the burgers using your usual method, but brush the ancho chili powder/butter/hot sauce mixture on every time you flip them.  They certainly had a kick, but nothing too spicy!

What's for Dinner? Week of 2/24

Cookbook Challenge: Week 6

Yep, you'll notice weeks 4 and 5 are missing. We're already slacking.

We (well, I) have come up with we have a more structured plan:

• Challenge recipes will always be made on Sundays, since we're less likely to use the ol' "I don't wannnna cook!" excuse that frequently plagues us after long workdays
• I Created a spreadsheet with a list of all the recipes we've earmarked for the challenge - why didn't I do that at the beginning? Once it's on a spreadsheet I'm not likely to forget it.  #nerd

A note of success (and only 6 weeks in!) - I've already recycled 3 cookbooks that didn't contain any recipes that appealed to me. The BH&G classic cookbook is cool-looking on the shelf, but the recipes I'd actually make from it are already in our routine, which explains why I've never opened it.  

But back to this week's recipe - I chose it from my Gooseberry Patch One-Pot Meals book. I'm a huge fan of throwing a bunch of ingredients in the Crock Pot in the morning and letting dinner cook itself throughout the day. No work for me when I get home! Win!

We've been on a quiche kick lately, so when I saw this I quickly added it to our challenge list - Turkey Spinach Quiche! Yum!

Dave is the resident quiche maker in our household, so I had nothing to do with its execution, but in the tasting department, it passes! We'll definitely be making this again - adding it to our quiche rotation, which currently includes breakfast and seafood versions.

What's for Dinner? Week of 2/17

You may notice some crossover from last week's menu :)  I forgot about Valentine's Day, plus a particularly crappy Tuesday warranted a night out!

Bucket of Love

Dave and I don't usually do gifts on Valentine's Day, but when I saw this adorable guy-specific gift I wanted to make him one!

He's pretty easy to please, so I got to work making his love bucket!  One trip to Target yielded a few of his favorite things:

• 2 bottles of Vitamin Water - his favorite flavors
• KitKats
• Storm Trooper note pad - to jot things down at work
• Beatles t-shirt!
• Single serving of his favorite cereal - Archer Farms blueberry granola with flax
• Advil - for his head after I nag him about something
• Wine thermometer - this was an impulse buy, but he'll get good use out of it.  It's like a pipe clamp that goes around a wine bottle so you can tell when it's chilled.  You could prolly also touch the bottle to find that out, but whatevs ;)
• Cashews
• Starbucks gift card

I also got him Big Lebowski on DVD (FINALLY found it at a store) but Bonnie prompted reminded me that she got that for him on his last birthday.  oops...so I got him Blade Runner instead :)

I feel like this little collection of inexpensive items pretty much sum him up - movies, chocolate, coffee, Star Wars, wine...yep, that's mah man!  I got a cheap metal bucket at Home Depot and filled it up:

Happy Valentine's Day, Dave! 

(pssst - don't tell him you saw his love bucket before he did! he has to wait 'til tomorrow.)

What's for Dinner? Week of 2/2

Brownie footballs!

I'm a huge fan of neither brownies nor NFL football - so why I chose brownie footballs as a treat to bring to Dave's parents' for Super Bowl viewing festivities, I have no idea.  They looked cute on Pinterest:

Pretty simple:

• bake brownies
• use a football-shaped (or in our case, round bent into the shape of a football) cookie cutter to cut out footballs
• pipe icing onto them using a piping tip or one of these

Cute, right?