Memorial Day Party...and one cruiiiisin' baby!

I'm so excited!  My little bug had her first Cheerios with Mommy and Daddy this morning!  It's so amazing how quickly she's growing up.  I remember when she was this cute little wiggly cuddlebug, then when she started sitting up, then crawling around like a little speed demon.  Now my little girl is almost half my size (yep my eight month old is 32 inches tall folks), is cruising around the house, and is eating all the big girl food she can handle.  Sometimes I wish we could slow down time a bit, so that she enjoyed Mommy feeding her mush just a little longer, but I guess this is one of those times where you have to let go a little bit as a parent and say, "here ya go kid, eat the Cheerios...and don't choke or I'll have a heart attack."

I'll do a post next week with all of the fun party food I'm making today for our Memorial Day barbeque tomorrow- including some great treats for the little ones.  Have a great holiday weekend everyone!!

It's a....Skeletor!

This is a pic of my buddy Dawn at her baby shower.  We all call her impending nugget Skeletor, hence the little skeleton dude in the pirate ship on the cake.  Dawn's also got a thing for sharks, so I had to toss one on there as well.  As simple as they were, the waves were my absolute favorite part of the cake.  Isn't Dawn the cutest pregotini pirate you ever did see?

Here's a close up of the cake:

Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Cauliflower Mash

So Laela is over mushed food and is on to big girl goodies!  Since I don't want her to grow up a picky eater, or a Fatty McFatterson, I'm trying to feed her a wide variety of healthy, nutritious, natural, flavor-packed meals as possible.

The tricky thing with feeding an 8 month old is that I have to make sure it's easy for someone with only four teeth to chew.  Thankfully, she's really good at understanding that she needs to chew her food, and doesn't try to stuff her mouth and just swallow her food.

Kyle and Laela both LOVED this chicken recipe that I snagged from my Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Cookbook:

Garlic Parmesan Chicken

This crumbing technique is so versatile—you can cook pork or even cod in exactly the same way. As there is butter in the crumb mixture, you can grill, fry, roast or bake the meat dry in the oven and it will turn lovely and golden.

Servings: Serves 2 (plus a peanut)

Ingredients:

1 clove garlic

1 lemon

6 cream or plain crackers , such as Jacob's

2 Tbsp. butter
4 sprigs fresh Italian parsley
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 heaping Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 large egg , preferably free-range or organic
2 skinless chicken breast fillets , preferably free-range or organic
Olive oil

Directions:

To prepare your chicken: Peel the garlic and zest the lemon. Put your crackers into a food processor with the butter, garlic, parsley sprigs, lemon zest and a pinch of salt and pepper. Whiz until the mixture is very fine, then pour these crumbs on to a plate. Sprinkle the flour on to a second plate. Crack the egg into a small bowl and beat with a fork. Lightly score the underside of the chicken breasts. Put a square of plastic wrap over each one and bash a few times with the bottom of a pan until the breasts flatten out a bit. Dip the chicken into the flour until both sides are completely coated, then dip into the egg and finally into the flavored crumbs. Push the crumbs on to the chicken breasts so they stick—you want the meat to be totally coated.

To cook your chicken: You can either bake or fry the chicken. If baking, preheat your oven to its highest temperature (475°), place your chicken on a sheet pan and cook for 15 minutes. If frying, put a frying pan on a medium heat, add a few good lugs of olive oil and cook the chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, until cooked through, golden and crisp.

To serve your chicken: Either serve the chicken breasts whole, or cut them into strips and pile them on a plate. Beautiful and simple served with a lemon wedge for squeezing over, and a tiny sprinkling of salt. Great with a lovely fresh salad or simply dressed veggies.

For a deliciously healthy side, try a cauliflower mash..if you're a little nervous, toss a potato in so that it has more of that yummy potato flavor that everyone loves!

Cauliflower Mash

1/2 head of cauliflower

salt and pepper (to taste)

2 Tb shaker parmesan cheese

butter (taste)

1 potato (optional- I prefer Yukon Gold)

Steam or boil cauliflower head until fork tender (it'll mush like a potato when ready).  If you want a potato in it as well, boil the potato until mashing soft.  Toss all of your ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend it all together. 

Laela really enjoyed "dipping" her chicken pieces in her mash!  (so did I!)  This is really great paired with some peas or broccoli.

Happy Birthday Ali!

Sorry for not posting anything last week.  My husband was away for work, and I have to tell you, I'm still recovering from Laela crying for Dada, and screaming whenever she can't see me.  All you single parents out there, and other fellow families with a spouse that travels for work from time to time, I give you tons of credit. 

So here's all that came out of last week:

My girlfriend Ali's birthday was on friday, so I whipped up a cake while Laela was sleeping.  It's not one of my best, but it was the best I could do while half asleep.

Hopefully this week I'll be more productive!

Yorkshire Pudding and Beef Beerguinon

I'm a big fan of beef bourguinon, so when I found myself craving it the other day, with no time to go to the store and get some red wine, I raided the fridge and found the following:

Beef Beerguinon

1lb Sirloin tip

2 Carrots (chopped)
2 Large Yukon gold potatoes (quartered)
1 Onion (diced) (I prefer red onons, but any will do)
4 pieces of quality, thick cut bacon

1 crushed clove of garlic

1 bottle of Guinness, Yards Brawler, Boulder Cold Hop or any deep flavored beer of your choice

1 1/2 cup beef broth

1 can of tomato paste

2 sprigs thyme
2 sprigs of finely diced rosemary

1 tsp salt (more or less to taste)

1 tsp pepper
1 tsp parsley

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Cut (I like to use scissors) the bacon into one inch pieces. Cook the bacon to medium (you don't want it too crispy, when you cook it with everything else, you want it to get all yummy and to almost dissolve into the stew).  Some recipes tell you to blanch the bacon for a few minutes, and while it is good to do this, sometimes you just don't have the time, and it really doesn't make that much of a difference in this recipe.  After the bacon is cooked, toss it into the heavy casserole pan/heavy bottomed dutch oven.  DON"T DUMP YOUR BACON GREASE!!  Keep it in the pan, and leave the pan on

med-low heat.

If you have the time, it really brings out the flavor of the meat if you can brown the sides of it in the already hot bacon fat.  ONLY brown them though, you're not trying to cook the meat, just get it a light outer cooking.

When the meat is browned, add it to the bacon.  If you don't have time to brown your meat, don't fret.  The stew will still taste great, and the world will not end.  I'm only suggesting it because it makes it taste just a smidge better.

Carmelize your onions.  Add them to the meat and bacon.  Then, quarter your potatoes and chop your carrots.  Give them a quick sautee in the bacon fat (if you're beginning to lose some fat, just add a bit of water and a Tb of butter.  You're not trying to cook them fully, you're just getting them some flavor, and a bit of crust.  This should only take about two minutes.  Add them to the bacon and meat.

Now pour your beer over the bacon, meat and veggies.  Next, pour the broth over the mixture.  You want the meat and veggies to be completely covered, but not entirely submerged.  Mix in the salt, pepper, garlic, thyme, rosemary and parsley.

Put the lid on and pop at the lowest rack in the oven for 3 hours.  You'll know it's done when the meat is fork tender.

This recipe only takes 15 minutes to prepare.  It's the waiting that makes me crazy!  The great thing about this is that you can make this the night before and it tastes even better reheated.

Something I love to make with these are Yorkshire Puddings.  I found them in my new Jamie Oliver cookbook and man oh man are they a great pairing for this stew!

Yorkshire Pudding
makes 12

3 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
a pinch of sea salt
1 1/4 cups milk
vegetable oil

To prepare your Yorkshires:
Whisk the eggs, flour, salt and milk together really well in a bowl to make your batter.
Pour the batter into a jug and put to one side to rest for 30 minutes before you use it- this will help to make it smoother, giving you wonderfully light and crispy puddings.

Cooking your Yorkshires:
Turn the oven up to 475 degrees and let it preheat fully.
As it's warming up, put a muffin pan onto a cookie sheat and place on the top shelf of the oven.  When the oven is up to full temp, carefully remove the pan and sheet, close the oven dor, and add a tablespoon of vegetable oil to each muffin hole in the muffin pan.
Pop the pan and sheet back into the oven for 5 minutes, until the oil is smoking hot.
Open the door and slide the shelf with the pan on the seet on it halfway out. 
Quickly fill each muffin hole with batter, then slide the shelf carefully back into the oven. 
Leave the door shut for at least 15 minutes, and don't open the door even once to check on them, otherwise they'll end up all sunken.
After 15 minutes, the Yorkshires will be crip and golden with a soft, fluffy center.

They pop out of the pan very easily, and taste delicious dipped in the stew (or gravy, or anything yummy you have on hand!)
Jamie recommends not washing the pan and using it just for your Yorkshires, as it'll just improve the
non-stick surface even more.

My family LOVED this!  I broke the Yorkshire pudding into pieces for Laela and sopped it in the broth and she loved her mushy, meaty, veggie goodness!  (and so did Kyle, he ate 4 puddings! haha)  Don't fear the long recipe, there's always fantastic leftovers, and it only gets better if it sits in the fridge for a day or two.

Chocolate Lava Cake

If you're looking for a delicious, quick and easy dessert to make for your friends and family, here's one of my absolute favorites:

Chocolate Lava Cake

4 Baker's Semi Sweet Chocolate Squares
1/2 stick butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
6 Tbsp flour

PREHEAT oven to 425°F. Butter four 3/4-cup custard cups or soufflé dishes. Place on baking sheet.

MICROWAVE chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 min. or until butter is melted. Stir with wire whisk until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar until well blended. Blend in eggs and egg yolks with wire whisk. Stir in flour. Divide batter among prepared custard cups.
BAKE 13 to 14 min. or until sides are firm but centers are soft. Let stand 1 min. Carefully run small knife around cakes to loosen. Invert cakes onto dessert dishes. Serve immediately.

This can serve 4-8 people, depending on the hunger level, and if you're serving it with ice cream or not.  It's a very filling dessert!

If you want to make this ahead of time, just prepare the mixture and add it to the buttered custard cups.  Then cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate it.  When you're ready to bake the cake, let the cups sit out for a half hour before you put them in the oven.
Also, this recipe turns out best when you put the cakes in the middle rack and don't open the oven to check them until the 13 minutes is up.

Happy baking and good luck!!