Coconut Tilapia, Orange Brussel Sprouts 1/30

I wanted to do a white fish dish this week and there was some Tilapia on sale at wegmans so I picked it up.  I hadn't done something tropical in a while so I figured I could put together a coconut fish.  I had to finish up the brussel sprouts, so I figured something citrusy would go best, and I had some Golden Jewel blend rice mix from Wegmans.  The meal was amazing!!

Coconut Tilapia
Dip a piece of tilapia in an egg wash.  Mix together 1/2 cup panko crumbs, 1/2 cup of very lightly packed coconut flakes.  Dip the Tilapia into the mixture and pat some extra mixture into spots that didnt get coated. Place the Tilapia on a baking sheet and bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes.
While it is cooking, in a food processor mix together 1/8 cup of coconut cream, 1/4 cup pinapple chunks, 1/8 cup greek yogurt.  Remove fish from oven and spoon the sauce over the fish.

Orange Brussels Sprouts
I started with the idea from this recipe. However I have gotten addicted to roasting vegetables lately so I twisted it a little.  Cut brussels sprouts in half and spread on a cookie sheet.  Drizzle a little sunflower oil over them, crack some fresh salt and pepper.  Zest an entire clementine over the brussels sprouts, then cut it in half and squeeze the juice over the sprouts.  Cook at 400 for 15 minutes, then toss them and sprinkle with hazelnuts.  Cook for another 15 minutes until done.  While they are cooking, you will make a sauce.  Finely dice a shallot and cook it over medium heat in 2 Tsps sunflower oil. Add in 1/2 cup of orange juice and allow it to cook down until slightly thickened (~7minutes).  Remove from heat and add in 3 Tbsp of Citrus Champagne vinegar.  Spoon the sauce over the Roasted Brussels Sprouts.

Golden Jewel Blend
Wegmans had an interesting rice mixture that I thought I would try.  Unfortunately it boiled over very quickly and we lost some of the water to the bubbling.  It came out a bit chewy - a tad too al dente, and could have used a bit more water/time.  I toasted some sesame seeds and chopped up some parsley and mixed it into the rice.  It added some decent flavor, but the texture just needed to be a bit better to really be able to tell if it went well.

Overall an excellent meal.  The Fish was such a perfect tenderness with the nice crunchy panko and coconut, and the sauce tasted like a creamy pina colada poured over it!  And the Brussels sprouts were near perfection.  The tang of the orange with the zip of the vinegar and richness from the roasting really made this side pop.  Mmmmmm another full belly!

Chipotle Pork, Black Eyed Peas & Roasted Broccoli

I've had a big hunk of BJs pork in the freezer for a little while now, so I decided it was time to cook it before the freezerburn took it over.  I also have had some Black Eyed Peas in my pantry that I've been figuring I could find something to do with one of these days.  Add that to a giant bag of BJs broccoli that needed to get used up and you have tonight's meal!!

Chipotle Pork with Bourbon-Ancho Sauce
I had a chipotle rub that my dad had given me for christmas so I rubbed the pork with that this morning.  An hour before I started cooking, I mixed a little of the rub with some brown sugar and patted that on the fat side so that it would crisp up the fat nicely.

We put it on the rotisserie and cooked it to 145.  Unfortunately, my timing was a bit off with the other dishes, so we stopped it at 135, let it sit, and then turned it back on again just before everything was ready to finish it at 145.

I figured the pork could use some sort of sauce, so I pulled out my Bobby Flay books, and found a good one in Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill Cookbook.  I figured the Bourbon Ancho Sauce would compliment the Chipotle rub on the pork.  I halved the recipe, and didn't have apple juice concentrate so I used apple cider instead.  I also used chipotle chili in adobo instead of ancho chilis.  It definitely heated up the sauce a lot, and I probably could have done with a touch less, but hey, sometimes some heat is fun!  You can see me pouring it over a slice of pork to the right.

Baked Black Eyed Peas
My next Recipe is a modification of Bobby Flay's Bar Americain Recipe for Barbecue Baked Beans.  I started by cooking up some crispy maple bacon. I added diced carrot and onion to the bacon fat to cook down.  Then 4 cloves of garlic minced, and stir that in.  I added about 3/4 cup of Dark Rum and let that cook for about 5 minutes until evaporated.  I had cooked up 1/2lb dried black eyed peas (follow the packaged direction) and put them in a baking dish.  I crumbled the bacon over the BEPs and added the rum cooked veggies, 1/4 cup cilantro, 3Tbsp honey and 1/4 cup brown sugar.  The original recipe called for molasses, which I thought I had, but I didn't, so I just used brown sugar instead.  The molasses would have given it a nice richness, but this did in a pinch.  I added a cup of chicken broth and tossed it in the oven for 30 minutes.

Roasted Broccoli
The next recipe is from another of my favorite Food Network stars... Ina Garten.  I wanted to dress up my broccoli a little more, and found her recipe for Roasted Broccoli.  I omitted the pine nuts and basil as there was already going to be plenty richness to my other dishes.  The lemon and parmesan added plenty of flavor, and the tangy citrus helped offset the sweetness and heat of the other two dishes nicely.  Definitely a recipe I will use again!


Overall an incredibly tasty meal.  I would have done a few things differently as mentioned, but for just kind of playing in the kitchen and trying to "use up" some ingredients I had on hand, it was definitely a tasty meal!

Mango Lassi 1/28

We've been lazy all week, between me being sick and both of us busy with work, we've had a lot of "nights out".  I seem to go in phases, I will cook for over a week straight, and then get lazy for a week :)

Anyways, last night we decided to get Indian from our favorite restaurant in Framingham: Welcome Indian Cuisine!  Its a tiny place that you probably wouldn't think much of when you drive by it, but its the best Indian food anywhere in the area, possibly in Boston!  The first time we went there, Eric ordered his food "hot", and they asked him if he was sure... he said of course, and when we got home, the food made him more than sweat!!  I can barely stand medium, but the food there has so much flavor that sometimes you don't even need the heat.

So last night I ordered medium, Eric ordered hot.  I figured we would both be in need of some heat quenching, so I decided to try and make a mango lassi.  I had a big thing of greek yogurt in the fridge, and some mango juice.  I found this recipe online and decided to modify it a bit.

My Mango Lassi
1 cup greek yogurt
1 cup mango juice
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 Tsp cardamom


So I hadn't ever used cardamom in a dessert/drink like this before, and it turns out it was WAY too much.  It basically ended up tasting like a cardamom lassi.  Which in all, wasnt terrible, as it went well with the Indian food, but it was overwhelming and would have been nice to balance it with the mango flavor.  Next time I will only use a dash or two!  And I think the real mango makes a difference as the mango flavor was much more subtle.  Not bad for a few things I had in the fridge though :)

Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes 1/28

On weekends we are home and don't have a ton to do, I like to try out new pancake recipes.  This morning, for whatever reason, I was thinking Cinnamon Raisin Pancakes might be fun.  I think it was because I saw the Raisins in the pantry.  As I started to think about it, it reminded me of the cinnamon rolls with the raisins folded in, and I wondered if somehow I could capture that in a pancake.  I jumped online and came up with several similar recipes that basically came down to this Cinnamon Swirl Pancake Recipe.

So I started digging in my pantry and fridge, and started gathering ingredients.  I was missing a few things, and decided on a few changes so here goes...

First off I halved the recipe.  It was just for Eric and I and I didn't want a million leftovers.  I also decided to try and use my half whole wheat flour, half bisquick recipe, which basically means 1 cup bisquick, 1 cup whole wheat flour, a tsp of baking powder and tsp baking soda.  I also added in a tsp of cinnamon and a tsp of nutmeg.

I mixed the cinnamon swirl ingredients per the recipe, and poured out the pancakes, adding in a few raisins to each one.  I only had golden raisins so I hoped those would do!

They definitely look great when you first drizzle in the mixture.  Though the pan and the spatula get instantly sticky after the first batch, so you definitely need a nonstick pan, and will want to wash the spatula between each use.  After flipping the pancakes the cinnamon sugar cooks into the pan and spreads out leaving some sweet looking swirls into the pancake.  I liked the look, but almost wished I had figured out a way to make it more batter consistency so it didnt run out of the pancake into the pan as much.

The next part was tackling the cream cheese icing.  Unfortunately I didnt have cream cheese, but I read that you could mix cottage cheese & yogurt and puree it really fine to essentially make cream cheese.  I tried it and it seemed to work, but when I mixed in the rest of the ingredients, the mixture seemed to get a little lumpy.  It worked out though, because when I spread it on the hot pancakes it melted in and didn't look quite as lumpy anymore.  And the taste was still good!

The verdict?? Decent!  I'd like to try these again and not use the whole wheat flour this time.  I'd also make sure to have all the ingredients on hand so I could really make the frosting and use dark raisins.  Overall they were fun and something interesting.

Potstickers and Stir fried Veggies 1/27

Another Wegmans Inspired meal!  I bought the Potstickers and snow peas at Wegmans with the intent of doing something like the Recipe in the Wemgans Magazine.  I had some leftover purple cabbage in the fridge to use up, so I figured I could do a stir fry of sorts.

I bought the Wegmans Chicken Potstickers, and Eric cooked those per the directions on the package.

We chopped up some carrot, onion and sweet potato for the base of the stir fry.  I used a little sesame oil, and cooked up the onions.  I then tossed in the carrots and sweet potatoes and cooked down for at least 5 minutes. I threw on the cabbage and put the lid over the pan to let it steam cook down.  Another 5 minutes or so until the cabbage was wilted a little.  I then tossed in 1/8cup of ginger plum sauce and a tablespoon of oyster sauce and stirred the veggies.  I threw the snow peas on top and covered for another 3 minutes and turned off the heat and tossed the veggies again.

The result was this beautiful array of colorful vegetables!  I definitely liked the veggies.  They had perfect texture from the softness of the carrot and sweet potato to the super crunchy peas, I definitely nailed the textures.  The Potstickers turned out to be really salty, and I don't think I would buy that kind again.  I checked the sodium on the package, and it didnt seem to be through the rough, but I definitely wasn't in love with those.

Spinach and Lentil Soup 1/22

So the night of the big Patriots game, I decided to throw together this soup.  I was just starting to get sick that night, so I was glad to have a hearty soup to coat my throat.  The Spinach and Lentil Soup with Cheese and Basil was yet another Cooking Light Recipe.

For starters, I didnt have pancetta.  I think when I was shopping, for some reason I was thinking I could use prosciutto, since I had some I wanted to use up, but I ended up using that all on the pizza and forgot to save some for this recipe.  I had some turkey bacon in the freezer, but I wasn't sure I would get enough flavor for that, so as I thawed that I realized I had some bacon fat I had saved and could use to add the flavor.  I'm normally a health nut in my cooking, but I've started to learn that a little bit of bacon fat or oils can go a long way in really amping up the flavor of a dish without adding much in the way of fat/calories.

The next change I made was that I had some yellow lentils to use up, so I didnt buy brown lentils.  This meant that I actually could skip the puree step as the way the split yellow lentils cooked down, the soup was more than soft enough and came out creamier than the photo in the recipe.  The rest of the soup was made per the recipe instructions.

The other thing I decided to make was a little chicken and cheese biscuit.  I just used the Bisquick Biscuits recipe and flattened out a small patty in my hand, smooshed some shredded chicken into it and topped it with a piece of sharp cheddar cheese, then patted on some more biscuit dough.  I baked them for a little longer than the package direction since they were a bit larger and stuffed.

Serve it along with a Patriots victory and it tastes oh so good!

Chicken Udon Soup 1/21

I was completely intrigued by this healthy soup with "fancy" mushrooms.  It looked simple, but had some ingredients I had never used before... like star anise, and while I have certainly eaten udon noodles, I'm not sure I had ever actually cooked with them.  Don't quote me on that one, but it may be true!  I was a little nervous when I opened the spice bottle of the star anise because it reeked of black licorice, which is one of the few things in the world that I won't eat, but I decided it was worth a try in this broth.

I followed the Cooking Light Recipe almost to a T this time.  Let me tell you, the broth that this creates is out of this world good.  So incredibly rich and flavorful it does not seem like a water based broth. I did make a slight modification to the recipe in that I wanted more veggies incorporated so I added in a good handful of baby spinach leaves on top of the udon noodles before pouring the broth and chicken in.


The other fun part about this was when I was wrapping up the leftovers, I decided to use one of those tall round chinese food containers, and when I put this in, it looked just like a takeout soup you might get from a real chinese place with the udon noodles, chicken and spinach all piled in there.

Another recipe I would definitely recommend!

Maple Mustard Chicken 1/18

Another Cooking Light Recipe that looked simple but good.  I don't often do recipes with chicken, as to me it is the "boring" meat and its sort of my fall back when I am bored or lazy.  But this time I decided it was time to try out a recipe.  This one had a ton of flavor and was rather simple to cook.  The cleanup was a little sticky, but well worth it!  Check out the Maple Mustard Chicken.  I'm in love with the full seed Dijon mustards these days, so this was perfect!

As mentioned in a previous blog, I got into BJs vegetables, and had bought a huge bag of brussels sprouts.  I love roasting them, but decided I wanted something that went along with the chicken, but stood as a side dish and didnt overpower the chicken.  So I chopped up some thick slices of carrot to go with them and tossed it all on a cookie sheet with olive oil, salt & pepper and some herb de provence. Yet another mention of Sandy & Sarah, as they first turned me onto this herb blend when they brought me back a grinder of it from Paris many years ago.  Since then, it has completely replaced Italian seasoning as my herb blend of choice.  Roasted them for probably 20-30 minutes at 400.

Lastly for something quick, I threw together a lemon raisin couscous.  A cup of chicken broth, two tablespoons of lemon juice, tablespoon of olive oil, a quarter cup of raisins and bring to a boil.  Once at a boil, remove from the heat and add a cup of couscous.  Cover and let sit for 5 minutes, fluff with a fork and serve!

By the way, the leftovers for this meal were equally amazing! It held up well for a couple days!

Farrotto 1/17

So the Cooking Light magazine this month had a ton of recipes that looked great.  I found a recipe for a "Farrotto" with Butternut, Gruyere, and Hazelnuts. I had never cooked with Farro before, so I thought it would be fun to try something with this healthy whole grain.

The recipe was certainly easy, though it is a little bit labor intensive as you pour and stir, pour and stir, etc etc.  But it was well worth it, as this was probably one of my favorite meals, and we will definitely make it again!

I pretty much followed their recipe exactly, except that I didn't buy fresh sage since I had a ton of it that had been dried from Sandy & Sarah's garden from this past summer.  I just used that in place of the fresh sage, and everything else was per their instructions.

You should definitely try this one if you get some time!  Wegmans and Whole foods definitely sell Farro, not sure if regular grocery stores typically stock it, but its worth digging up.

Prosciutto and Arugula Pizza 1/16

I've fallen in love with grilling pizzas.  For anyone that has heard or seen me talk about them... wow, I don't ever want to go back to using an oven!  The crust comes out crispy with amazing flavor, and the pizzas cook so fast!  The only thing is that you have to learn your technique and get the timing down just right.  We've burned a few corners here and there, but I'm getting reasonably good at it.

So we've been working some of the recipes from the Pizza on the Grill Cookbook that I got Eric for our anniversary at LLBean.  So this time I tried the Greens on White Pizza on page 68!

If you are interested in how to best deal with the dough, here is what we have found works.  For a gas grill, heat the grill as hot as you can get it.  Stretch fresh dough.  We found it easiest to do it in two pieces, so instead of one large pizza, you end up with two smaller ones that each fit on a cookie sheet.  I usually use a little cornmeal or wheat flour to make sure the dough isn't too sticky.  I like using my Dough Makers Cookie sheets (Sandy & Sarah got me a few years ago for Christmas!) as they have a flat edge that makes it easy for maneuvering the pizzas on and off the grill.

The next step is to get ALL of your ingredients ready.  Whatever you want to put on the pizza should be ready on a plate so that you can throw it all on within a minute.

When absolutely everything is ready, head out to the grill.  Turn the heat down to low and spray the grill with Pam or similar spray.  Be careful for flareups. Lift the dough from the sheet and throw it onto the grill in a quick motion.  Close the cover and allow the dough to cook for 2.5-3 minutes.  If you see any steam/smoke immediately open the grill, as the dough is probably burning.  As soon as the time is up use tongs to drag the doughs back onto the cookie sheet.  Then use the cookie sheet to flip the dough back onto the grill onto its other face.

As soon as you have flipped the dough, immediately start loading the toppings onto the crusts.  Get everything on as fast as possible and then close the lid of the grill again.  Cook for another 3 minutes.  Raise the lid and if the cheese hasnt completely melted, turn off the grill and close the lid for another couple of minutes to finish cooking the toppings.

Remove the Pizza from the grill by sliding it onto the cookie sheets and enjoy!

Bouillabaisse 1/15

So the other day I was inspired by the Wegmans Magazine to do something with mussels.  I saw the Bouillabaisse Sauce that was on sale, and  their mussels looked fresh, so I figured I could make a stew of sorts.  Let me extol Wegmans here... when I asked for a pound of mussels, the guy behind the counter handpicked each and every one making sure it closed properly (ie was alive), and gave me the tip to leave the plastic bag open so that they would breathe.  I don't think I have ever had anyone so careful with mussels before!

I got home and figured I would just kind of make a stew based on the Bouillabaisse recipe I found online. I pulled some salmon out of the freezer, and had bought some fresh calamari and mussels and had some frozen shrimp.

My Bouillabaisse
1 filet of salmon (cubed) white fish
1/2lb calamari pieces (cut heads into rings)
1lb of mussles
20 shrimp
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
4-5 medium carrots
2 potatoes
5-6 stalks of celery
2 bay leaves
4 cups of vegetable stock (or fish stock)
1 can of chopped tomatoes (28oz)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Bag of Wegmans Bouillabaisse 
1 can of Tomato Juice (ie V8)

Heat olive oil in a stock pot.  Saute the Vegetables and potatoes for 5 minutes.  Add the vegetable stock, can of tomatoes, bay leaves, lemon juice and can of Tomato Juice. Cover and cook for ~20 minutes on medium until vegetables are somewhat tender. Add the bag of Bouillabaisse and the salmon cubes.  Cook for about 5 minutes until Salmon pieces become light colored on the outside.  Add in the shrimp and calamari and cook for another 2 minutes.  Add the mussels to the top of the pot (do not stir) and cover.  Cook until all of the mussels have just opened up.  It should be under 5 minutes on medium heat.  Stir up the pot and serve immediately :)

The soup came out excellent, but the salmon flavor tended to overpower the dish.  I think the next time I would use a white fish in its place so that all of the flavors balance well.

Becca's Death by Yummy 1/14

One of our favorite weekend, and sometimes weekday things to do is to get together with our friends Kevin & Becca who now live 5 minutes from us!  We often cook for eachother, and sometimes nothing is better than a home cooked meal that you didn't have to cook yourself!  This weekend, I made the dinner, but Becca brought the dessert.  It was so easy and tasty that I wanted to document it!

Death by Yummy!!
Buy or make a package of soft chocolate chip cookies.  Buy or make a batch of Brownies.  These brownies I just made from a giradelli mix, but I added the small Reese peanut butter cups. Yum! Mix up a batch of chocolate pudding.   Crumble one cookie and one brownie into a dish.  Take a small handful (10-15) pretzel sticks and crumble them over the top.  Dollop a heaping spoonful or two of the pudding, then sprinkle with toffee pieces.  Cover in whipped cream, and decorate with pretzels!  YUM!
Ok so I made up the silly name... don't blame Becca :P

Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts 1/13

Another BJ's thing, I had a giant package of brussels sprouts, and was looking for some creative ways to cook them.  I've found just roasting vegetables in the oven lately with olive oil and salt is a great way to really get a lot of flavor out, but I thought I'd go a little farther this time.

Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts
I started with this recipe.  But I simplified it a bit.  I cut the brussels sprouts in half and roasted them in the oven at 375 for ~20 minutes with some olive oil, salt & pepper.  In the last 10 minutes, I put a half cup of balsamic vinegar and 1/8 cup of brown sugar in a pan on the stove and cooked it down on low heat for about 10 minutes.  I then drizzled the mixture over the sprouts and tossed to coat.  Mmm flavor!

Bon Appetit!

Orange Meal 1/10

Wanted to throw together something quick and tasty.  I've been going to BJ's a lot lately, and found that their giant bags of fresh vegetables are not only a great value, but tend to hold up fairly well as well.  With Wegmans being a good 25minute drive, I don't get there every weekend, so I've started stocking up more often at BJ's. They have a gigantic piece of salmon that is usually around $18, and I bought a huge bag of cubed butternut squash.  Makes for a super fast meal!

 Sage Roasted Butternut Squash
Cube some fresh butternut squash and throw it on a cookie sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Chop up some fresh sage, or in my case, I had some dried sage from Sandy's garden that I crumbled into the mix.  Crack some fresh salt and pepper over it and roast it in the oven at 400 for 20-25 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so.

Orange Tricolor Couscous
I also get the big container of couscous so we can have a fast rice-like side dish as needed.  I follow the package directions, but replace 3/4 of the water with orange juice, and added some thyme into the liquid before it boiled.

Fresh Salmon
We often cook this huge thing of salmon all at once.  This time I froze half and cooked half.  We added a seafood rub that my dad gave me for Christmas, and just baked it for around 25 minutes.

And the resulting dish!  I'm still working on the photography part, but everything was very flavorful and complimented well, and best of all it was fast and simple!  Wa-la!

Bon Appetit!

First Breakfast of 2012 1/1

In my typical fashion of going way overboard with food... I made 4 kinds of pancakes on New Years morning with our houseful of people!  Unfortunately I did not take any pictures, so I need to get Cynette to send me some of hers when she gets a chance!

Blueberry Pancakes & Chocolate Chip Pancakes
I just used the bisquick recipe and added blueberries or chocolate chips :)

Pumpkin Pecan Pancakes
Use the Bisquick Recipe, but replace 1 cup of Bisquick with 1 cup of whole wheat flower.  Add 1tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda.  Add about 1 cup of canned pumpkin, and 1/2 cup of chopped pecans.  Whisk together and add a bit more milk if its too thick.

White Chocolate Coconut Pancakes
Again, use the Bisquick Recipe, but replace 1 cup of Bisquick with 1 cup of whole wheat flower.  Add 1tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda.  Add about 1/2 cup of toasted coconut, and 3/4 cup of white chocolate chips.  Whisk together and add a bit more milk if its too thick.

Bon Appetite!

New Years Insanity 12/31

As many of you know, I love to cook and I love to have people over.  Throw a party where I can cook a lot and my cooking addiction goes a little bit crazy!  We had 12 of us for New Years, of which several were staying overnight &/or for the weekend, so I figured left overs wouldnt be a bad thing! Here is the menu I contrived for our New Years.

Pulled Pork Sliders with Vinegar Coleslaw
I combined a few recipes to make this one up... I started a 6lb Pork Butt in the slow cooker the night before. I rubbed the entire thing with a Smokehouse Maple Spice, added a can of gingerale, and about 1/4 cup of brown sugar to the crockpot.  I cooked on low for ~6hrs, then pulled the pork.  It probably needed a bit longer as I had to return the center to the slow cooker for another 2 hours, and pulled it again.  Then I let it sit warming overnight, and in the morning turned it back on low again and added 1/2 bottle of Dinosaur BBQ sauce.  1/2 a bottle won't make it lather in the sauce, so we served with additional sauce, but it gives it a nice flavor.
For the Coleslaw, I just grabbed a bag of coleslaw mix, added 1/8 cup cider vinagre, 2tbsps sugar, salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon, tossed it all and let it sit for an hour before serving.  This will hold for a day or two chilled.


Bloody Mary Soup Shooters

I started with This Recipe and ended up doubling nearly all the flavorings (horseradish, vodka, Worcestershire).  I would suggest starting with their recipe and then after the blending taste the mixture, and add more of any of the items according to your tastes.  I also used vegetable stock in mine in an attempt to make them vegetarian friendly!

You can see some of the spread here... although the paper towels are from the great spill of the bloody mary shooters!! (be careful carrying a tray of them, any little tip will send them all falling into eachother!

My dad bought me a new serving plate for Christmas that I wanted to show off.  The picture didnt come out that great, but it is a chance to mention my prosciutto wrapped asparagus!

Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus

This one can be a tad time intensive, but its so simple & worth it.

Take a bunch of asparagus & wash.  Use a vegetable peeler to peel of the outsides of the thick stalks (a trick I learned for making them less chewy/stringy & more tender!).  Wrap each asparagus in about half a slice of prosciutto.  Place on a cookie sheet and roast in the oven for ~15 minutes until tender.

Bourbon Hot Dogs

Super Simple Crock Pot Recipe I used those proportions, but just put it in a crockpot on high for a couple hours.

Blue Cheese Toasts

This is one of my all time favorite go-to recipes for parties.  I learned it from Holly Buckley!!  Simply mix together roughly 1/3cup margarine to 2/3cup blue cheese crumbles.  Slice a baguette into 1/4in cuts and toast the baguette pieces for 5 minutes.  Cover each slice in a heaping teaspoon of the mixture and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes (until cheese is melty).  Serve hot!

Chex Mix

This one I didnt do exactly to the recipe posted, but I increased a lot of the spices and added some Tabasco and chipotle powder to give it a bit of a kick.  It probably still could have been spicier, but its always a good snack!

Chicken Wing Pizza

I love making this pizza for groups!  Buy the premade dough and stretch thin into 1 or 2 rounds.  Boil a chicken breast in just enough water to cover it, plus 1/4 cup tabasco sauce.  Allow chicken to cool for a minute, then shred with two forks. Cover base of pizza crust in tabasco sauce (in place of tomato sauce, but not as thick!).  Sprinkle pizza with chicken and crumbly blue cheese.  Dollup the pizza with your favorite blue cheese dressing, then cover lightly with mozzerella.  Bake for ~20 minutes at 375 or until crust has browned.

BBQ Pork Pizza

Similar to the directions above, but use BBQ sauce for the base, sprinkle with pulled pork, cover in mozzerella.  You could also add some cabbage for some crunch/veggie if you wanted.

Ginger Carrot Soup

Cut up 4-8 large carrots and place in a pot with 6 cups of vegetable broth (broth should cover carrots completely).  Add 6 thin slices of peeled fresh ginger, 1tsp of ginger powder, and 1Tbsp Garlic powder.  Boil mixture until carrots are very tender (~30 minutes). Add salt & pepper and purree with an immersion blender.

Rum Balls

I played with a couple of versions of different recipes and came out with some decent rum balls.  The important thing to note is they WILL be sticky when you roll them.  Coating your hands in powdered sugar before you roll is key!

Nilla Wafer Rum Balls

Coconut Rum Balls - use coconut rum & roll the above ones in toasted coconut

Pecan Rum Balls

And then for my own recipe, I used the Nilla wafer recipe, but used Baileys Irish Cream and Starbucks Liquor to make a kind of Irish Coffee ball.

White Trash

I used this recipe, minus the peanuts and did two batches - one with coconut M&Ms, one with dark chocolate M&Ms.  My favorite is mixing the two together :) Yum!

And I think that about does it for the New Years insanity.  Hopefully some of these recipes come in useful!

O'Toole Christmas 12/29

My schedule has been crazy ever since the holidays, and my New Years Resolution was to really start filling this blog.  Keeping up with it day to day hasn't quite worked yet, so I figured I would start backfilling and see if I can catch up and get back on track.

For the O'Toole Christmas, I decided to do a simple menu.  It was a late dinner and my dad & uncles came up to visit.

The first course was a garlic potato soup!

Garlic Potato Soup

Roast 2-3 bulbs of garlic in a garlic baker for 2-3 hours. Baste a few times with olive oil.

Cool for at least an hour, and remove all garlic from the bulbs. (this can be done 1-2 days ahead)

Peel 2 medium potatoes and chop small.

Boil potatoes in 3-4 cups of vegetable broth (just enough to cover potatoes).

About 10 minutes into boiling, add the garlic & finish when the potatoes are tender.

Add some salt & pepper (~1/2tsp of each)

Puree with an immersion blender.

Slice up some green onions to serve on top.

Potatoes with Rosemary & Lemon

Wash potatoes and cut into ~2in chunks

Place on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil.

Squeeze 1/2 lemon over the potatoes, then chop the lemon into thin slices and place on the pan.

Sprinkle with fresh rosemary, salt and pepper.

Roast potatoes in the oven at 400 for about 30 minutes.

Rotisserie Beef

Unfortunately while the crust on this was amazing, it came out overcooked, so I will suggest an alternate method.

Get a 6lb cut of beef (Round Roast shown here)

Rub thickly with your favorite spice rub I made up a cumin ancho chile rub - cumin powder, ancho chile spice, chipotle mexican spice, instant espresso powder, corriander, salt & pepper.

Let it sit for at least an hour before cooking.

Prepare for the rotisserie & place a pan for the drippings on the grill under the rotisserie.

Set the grill on medium and cook for ~2-3 hours.  You will want to stop the rotisserie every 30 minutes to check the temperature.  You should stop it at 140 for Medium Rare and allow it to rest for 15 minutes (should rise to 145 before cutting).

 And we have arrived at my favorite Whole Lemon Tart!!

Thats right, for this Tart you actually get to use the entire lemon, rind and all!

The recipe I use comes from my favorite cooking blog, Smitten Kitchen.  Her recipe for the Whole Lemon Tart is posted here.  I've served this recipe before with a homemade blackberry sauce, and I imagine a raspberry sauce would go just as well.  But in the effort of keeping this dinner simple, I just served it sprinkled with powdered sugar as shown here.

Bon Appetite!!