Happy Birthday Mommytini!

Since today is a holiday, and my Mommy's birthday, I won't be posting a recipe.  Instead, I'd like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who has served, or is currently serving in our military.

And of course, happy birthday Mom!!!

I'll be back Weds with something yummy!

Wonton Ravioli with Garbanzo Spaghetti Sauce

If I had to write a love letter to a specific type of food, it would probably be pasta.  It's the one thing that I could eat almost everyday, and never get sick of it.  So when I looked at the label on my wonton wrappers, and saw that I could make them into ravioli, I decided to give it a go.

Wonton Ravioli:

 Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups part skim/part whole milk ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 8-9 large basil leaves- chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1 egg
• 40-50 wonton wrappers
• 1 cup water

Instructions:

• In a large bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, basil leaves, salt, pepper, and egg. 
• Mix well.
• On a clean surface, line up all of your wonton wrappers.
• Using a spoon, or melon baller, scoop the mixture onto half of the wontons.
• Dip your finger in the water.  Run your wet finger along the edges of the wonton wrapper. 
• Top the scooped wonton wrapper with a plain wonton that has also been lined in water.
• Pinch the wontons together so that they won't open when you boil them.
• Boil them in salted water.
• When they float to the top, they're done.
• This is what they'll look like:

Garbanzo Spaghetti Sauce:

Ingredients:

• my super easy pasta sauce
• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed.
• 5-6 large basil leaves, chopped
• 1tsp crushed garlic
• 1tsp olive oil
• 4 oz frozen spinach, defrosted and drained

Instructions:

• In a medium pan, on medium heat, combine the spinach, garbanzo beans, garlic, and oil.
• Cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add the pasta sauce and basil.
• Cook until it becomes one cohesive, well mixed sauce.

Top your pasta and enjoy!

A Butterscotch Filled Birthday

I am not a big fan of my birthday.  While I've had a few amazing ones (graduating college on my birthday will probably always be the best experience I've ever had), I've had too many birthdays that were so bad, that it's a miracle that I'll celebrate the day at all.  Since I've been with Kyle, he's made it a mission to make every birthday special- such as taking me to an awesome restaurant, or getting my small group of friends together to hang out.  He gets that I'm never going to be a surprise party/fireworks/wild to-do kind of gal.  Most importantly, he puts the most important kind of effort into planning my birthday (and every other special occasion) that really matters- love. 

My husband is a hopeless romantic.  He's a love-letter, flowers and candy kind of guy.  He remembers every anniversary, every first, every important date/moment/place that has happened in our life together.  He catches the little things- a handbag I swooned over, a charm I looked at for ten seconds, or that I said when we started dating that I hadn't had a birthday cake since I was a teenager.  And that I LOVE butterscotch and no one ever has it anywhere.  Literally.  Try any bakery in the Northeast for a butterscotch cake and they'll look at you like you've lost your mind.  Or direct you to Tastycake.

My husband HATES baking.  Seriously.  While using a timer, and a recipe with specific instructions and measurements is right up his alley, the idea of something potentially not working, or having to trust his instincts (and nose) that it is indeed done in the middle, is not.

But I have to say, the man can bake.  He makes the best damned butterscotch cake I've ever had in my life. (He has this innate gift for making the best icings in the world.  No joke.)  It may not be the most gorgeous cake in the the world, but to me, it's a masterpiece.  And the baker?  He is too.

Ky, thank you for showing me that with my awful history with birthdays, there's no where to go but up.  Thank you for all of the love and thought that you put in to my birthday.  It was amazing!! xo

Want to make the yummiest butterscotch cake ever?  Here's how.

Vanilla Cake with Butterscotch Icing

• 1 1/2 c Butter (3 sticks), divided
• 6 lg Eggs, separated
• 1 1/2 ts Baking soda
• 1 1/2 c Buttermilk
• 1Tb Vanilla extract (or more)
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 c Sugar, granulated
• 2 1/2 c Confectioner’s sugar (4x)
• 2 1/2 c Flour
• Shortening (to prepare pans)

Instructions:
Separate eggs; place all the whites in a large bowl, place 3 yolks in one small container, and the other 3 in another.

Prepare 3 8-inch cake pans with brown-paper rounds (for bottoms) greased with shortening.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Soften 1/2 C butter in a large bowl; add confectioner’s sugar and beat until thoroughly mixed.

Add 3 egg yolks, one after another, and continue beating.

Add vanilla and mix till thoroughly blended, scraping sides with spatula if necessary.
Measure flour into a small bowl and stir in baking soda.

Add to butter/sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk in 4 steps, beginning and ending with the flour.
Sprinkle about 1/2 t salt on egg whites. Beat till stiff, but not dry. Fold egg whites into batter.

Divide batter between pans and bake at 350 degrees F. about 30-35 minutes, until done.


Butterscotch Frosting
•1/2 cup shortening or butter, softened


•1/2 cup butterscotch chips, melted and cooled

•1 teaspoon vanilla extract

•5-6 cups powdered sugar, sifted

•4-5 tablespoons of milk or cream

In a bowl, beat butter or shortening, melted butterscotch chips, vanilla extract and powdered sugar with an electric mixer. It will be dry. Add milk 1 or 2 tablespoons at a time and combine. Continue adding milk and beating until you get your desired frosting consistency. Frost cake when they're completely cooled.

Enjoy!!!

Breakfast Bars

I feel like breakfast doesn't get enough attention.  We're all in such a rush in the morning, that we slug down our coffee, and if we're lucky, grab some kind of processed "food" on our way out the door.  In an effort to cleanse my house of processed food (yes, even the beloved granola bar), I decided to look into making my own granola bars.

I found this recipe in the Nigella Express cookbook that Kyle got me a while back.  You can vary some of the ingredients, such as the nuts or seeds, just don't mess with the oats or sweetened condensed milk.

Also, my Dad complained that they were chewy, while a lot of other people (especially Laela) liked that they were chewy.  I think this is a personal preference issue, so if you are a "crunchy" granola bar type of person, the longer they are in the container, the crunchier they get.  If you want them crunchy immediately, store them in the fridge, and crunch away.

Ingredients:

• 1 14-fl-oz can condensed milk
• 2 1/2 cups rolled oats (not instant)
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup mixed seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, flax)
• 1 cup natural unsalted peanuts (I didn't have a whole cup of peanuts, so I used almonds and pecans as well)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees and oil a 9- x 13-inch baking pan or just use a disposable aluminum foil one.

2. Warm the condensed milk in a large pan.

3. Meanwhile, mix all the other ingredients together and add the warmed condensed milk, using a rubber spatula to fold and distribute.

4. Spread the mixture into the oiled or foil pan and press down with a spatula or, better still, your hands (wearing those disposable latex CSI gloves to stop you from sticking) to make the surface even.

5. Bake for 1 hour, remove, and after about 15 minutes, cut into four across and four down, to make 16 chunky bars. Let cool completely.

Store in an air tight baggy or container.  Will keep for about 2-3 months (if they aren't gobbled up by then!)

Some Deadly Red Snapper

Whenever I go out to eat, the first thing I do is ask the waiter or waitress what their favorite thing to eat is. It's pretty much foolproof that every time I do this, I discover something incredibly delicious- and sometimes not on the menu.

One of those delicious discoveries is the whole red snapper at Tamarindos.  It's freaking incredible.  You don't need an appetizer, you don't need any side dishes.  It is a decadent, flavorful, perfectly seasoned, ridiculously filling meal that will leave you in a blissful food coma afterwards.

The problem with this meal is that I crave it more often than Kyle wants to go there.  So I did what I always do, I made it for dinner.

Red Snapper:
You'll need:

• 1 whole, gutted fish (bones in, fins, guts and scales removed)
• 2 limes
• 3 Tb chopped garlic
• 4 sprigs cilantro
• 1 sprig rosmary (chopped)
• 3 sprigs Italian parsley
• 1 sprig thyme
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

Instrucions:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
• In a medium sized bowl, squeeze the juice from one lime into the bowl. 
• Zest the lime.  Add the zest to the juice.
• Sprinkle 2 tsp of olive oil into the bowl.
• Dice the onion very finely (it will look like chopped garlic) and add it to the mixture in the bowl.
• Add the chopped garlic to the bowl.
• Add a dash of salt and pepper to the mixture.
• Add all of the herbs to the mixture.
• Stir all of the ingredients together.
• Lightly oil a baking sheet. 
• Slice the other lime.  Insert half of the lime slices in the fish.
• Rub the mixture on both sides of the fish.
• Cook for 30-35 minutes.
• Serve with a slice of lime and your choice of spanish rice.
• Enjoy!

I ate the front half (in my opinion the head is the tastiest part):

Kyle ate the other half:

The truth about this recipe is that while it was completely delicious, and tasted almost exactly the same as Tamarindos, I don't think I'll make it again.  For whatever reason, I don't get a ton of bones when I pull the fish off of the bone at Tamarindos, but at home, it became frustrating.  So yes, the flavors were there, I made it correctly, but obviously they know something that I don't.  Plus, the price of buying the fish was the same as getting it with some free margaritas at Tamarindos.  I think if I did choose to do this again, I'd make boneless filets instead.  I know that the bones add to the flavor, but having to give Laela a separate dinner because I was concerned she'd choke or something just wasn't worth it.

The moral of the story?  Just because you can make something that you love at a restaurant, does not always mean you should- and sometimes you don't know that until you give it a go yourself.

However, if you don't live near Tamarindos, or somewhere that makes whole red snapper rubbed in garlic and herbs, give this a try!  It really is delicious...just watch out for those nastly little bones...or better yet, make some boneless filets.

Mother's Day a la Husband

We now interrupt your regularly scheduled blogging to provide a brief interlude from Kyle, based on the delicious items I whipped up for Cara to help celebrate her third Mother's Day (yes, I know Laela's only 20 months and that math may appear faulty, but trust me- I was informed that yes, Mother's Day very much still counts if a woman is pregnant).

Anyway, before I begin I should probably mention that everything I am about to describe is due to Cara: my culinary knowledge before meeting her was limited to fast food, Healthy Choice frozen dinners, and whatever fried concotion the cook at my frat house whipped up to serve 70-odd guys.  Fine dining (or any "dining", really) was out of my element. 

Then Cara came along and taught me that being such a picky eater wasn't really the way to go, and that food (even vegetables) could taste delicious beyond my wildest dreams.  So to me making breakfast and dinner for her on Mother's Day means maybe just a little bit more than it does for your average Joe husband who does it - it's really a testament to the fact that any truly delicious thing I've ever eaten has been because of Cara, so I'd just like to return the favor.

Anyway, I started her day off with a pretty standard breakfast....scrambled eggs, bacon, an everything-bagel with cream cheese, as well as some fried potatoes.  Basic stuff, yes, but I've learned that scrambled eggs actually take a pretty deft touch if you want to make them pop.  The key, as I've learned, is to go "low and slow" (Of the many nuggets of culinary wisdom Cara has imparted to me, possibly the most important is this: just because a little heat is good DOES NOT mean a lot is better.  Trust me: if a recipe says 300 degrees for 20 minutes, it does not mean that 450 for 12 will work).

Anyway, crack a few eggs into a mixing bowl, add some salt and pepper, a bit of milk, and then whisk until combined.  The key then becomes pouring the mixture not into a blazingly hot inferno pan, but into a skillet that's on nothing more than medium-low heat.  Let the eggs cook for a good 10-15 minutes, folding over gently several times throughout as they solidify.  Towards the end of the timespan you can added shredded cheese, if you're part of the "cheese makes everything better" political party.

Just make sure you keep the heat low....if you've ever had awful rubbery eggs at a diner, it's because they broke this cardinal rule.  Low and slow gets you light and fluffy.

So Laela and I took this delightful breakfast up to Cara in bed, and she loved it....but the best was yet to come.

For dinner, I opened up the grill Cara gave me for my birthday a couple years back and made the first burgers of the season.  (At our house, the grill is closed for business all winter, much to Cara's chagrin - you just don't grill in January.)

And while despite Cara's best efforts, I may never become a truly amazing chef....but I do make a pretty mean burger.  It's a little difficult to give a recipe, as I don't really use one....but the following guidelines should get you a pretty awesome burger:

- 2 lbs ground beef (80/20 is best for standard ground beef, grassfeed is usually leaner by nature but can give a nice flavor, so it's a personal choice)
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
- One small squirt of BBQ sauce

Combine the above ingredients in a mixing bowl with pinches of the following: salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, and montreal steak seasoning. (I know some burger purists will scoff at all this and proclaim that a good burger should stand on it's own beefy flavor, but spices were invented for a reason - just don't overdo it).

Anyway, with the goods in the bowl, it's time to get your hands dirty.  Work the mixture together and form 6-8 patties, and press your thumb down in the center of each to make a little depression  (this will help prevent over-plumping during cooking).  Once you've got the patties formed, sprinkle some additional salt on top, and you are ready for the grill.

It's critical to not overcook a burger, as even an extra minute or two can be the difference between an amazingly juicy and decadent sandwich and a dried-up husk of a cow.

I find it best to have the two halves of your grill set to different heat levels: half at high heat and half at medium.  Toss the patties onto the high heat part for about 45 seconds to get in a good sear to lock in the juices, then flip onto the medium heat side and let cook for about 2-3 minutes.  Flip once more on the medium side and go for another 2 minutes, and you should have some pretty solid medium burgers. 

Note: if you are cooking grassfed beef (it cooks quicker) or are like Cara and prefer your burger to be basically mooing while you eat it, reduce the above time by about 1-2 minutes.

After letting the burgers rest for a minute or two, serve with cheddar cheese and your choice of rabbit food and condiments and you have a burger that will make any woman's Mother's Day (well, maybe not those pesky vegetarians.  Meat is murder after all....tasty, tasty murder).

So those were Cara's Mother's Day feasts, and I think she enjoyed them.  At least I hope she did because, as any reader of her blog knows, she spends so much time being the best wife and mother in the world that she usually forgets to do anything for herself....which I think is why they invented Mother's Day in the first place: so that we could actually force these women to take the break they all need and deserve, but would flatly refuse if it wasn't a freakin' holiday.

So I guess that's the best way to put it: I used a delicious hamburger to get my wonderful wife to take the day off that she absolutely deserves....and if she enjoyed the meal too, even better.

We love you Cara, happy Mother's Day!!! 

A Note on Scheduling.

Kyle had a last minute business trip come up, so the Mother's Day feasting blog has been postponed until Sunday.

Beginning next week, I'll be posting on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Mother's Day

When I was a kid in school, our teachers would help us make gifts for our moms for Mother's Day.  The trouble for me, was that for for a very long time, I didn't have a Mom.  So, my teachers being the sensitive people that they were, had me make Mother's Day cards and presents for my Dad.

And so the tradition began.  Every year, my Dad would get a bunch of drawings (I remember the "supermom" card the most- a card with a drawing of my Daddy dressed as superman, thanking him for being both my Mommy and Daddy), and he'd make a super big deal about how fabulous they were.  My Dad is a remarkable person, and is a great father.  For many years, he was Mom/Dad/Friend. 

Then one day, my Dad met Barbara.  Fiery, serious, but silly, artistic, organized, creative, loving and fun.  She became my Mom.  I don't think I'd really realized it at the time, but once she walked into my life, she was never really going to leave.  Truthfully, I'm sometimes surprised she's still there.  I wasn't the easiest teenager.  I don't mean that I was a druggie, or that I got around.  I didn't steal or do lots of crazy things.  But I think now that I'm a Mom, I can realize how much worse what I did was.  I played push me/pull me.  I'd let her in, and then I'd shut her out.  I wasn't that kid that screamed and cursed.  I just looked at my feet and said "I don't know" like a mantra.  I think silent emotional warfare is much more frightening than a kid that's willing to curse you out.  At least then you get some kind of clue as to what's going on with them.

Barbara was a good mom to my pain-in-the-rear, angst-ridden teenage self.  She tried her best to protect me from the bad things in my life (my birth mother the psychopath, among other things), as well as from myself.  Because regardless of whether or not you have given birth to someone, THAT'S what a Mom does.

I wish that I had called her Mom earlier in our relationship.  I wish I could have given her that.  Goodness knows she deserved it.  But I can say, I'll never forget calling her Mom for the first time, and the look on her face.  I'll never forget when I adopted her and wrote it in her Mother's Day card.  Or when she held my hand while I had my baby.  She's my Supermom, my rock, my safe place, and my friend.

It's funny, because I have so few mom-related Mother's Days in my memory.  The first Mom-related one that I have is when she and I went shopping for my college graduation outfit.  I'm pretty sure that was the last year I gave my Dad something for Mother's Day, and that after that, Mother's Day was only about my Mom.

Mother's Day isn't just to celebrate moms.  It's to celebrate everyone in your life that has filled a "mom space" for you.  Sometimes it's Daddy.  Sometimes it's Mommy.  Sometimes it's your best friend's mom, or your grandmother.  The point is that someone woke up one day and said "Hey!  A little appreciation is needed here!"  So maybe, just maybe, we could all start to be a little more appreciative.  A little more thankful.  Everyday.

Wouldn't that be something?

Tomorrow's post will be by Kyle.  He's sharing what he made for Mother's Day (from my yummy breakfast in bed, to the super delicious burgers he made me and my Mom!)

Happiness and Breakfast Sandwiches.

The days are long, but the years are short.

I just finished reading Gretchen Rubin's "Happiness Project."  I figured that I'd enjoy it since I enjoy her blog so much, that I should give the book a go.

How often have you thought about happiness?  Unhappiness?  What makes you happy?

Almost every morning since Laela was born, I have woken up our household with the good morning song.  It's silly, the lyrics often change, but it's our little ritual that gets our day started right (even if we're all grumbalinas, are sick, and in need of a BIG coffee.)  It usually gets a giggle or a twirl out of our daughter, and Kyle usually gets a little smile on his face before he grudgingly gets out of bed.  We sing songs and snuggle- how could the start to the day get any better than that?

I love my family.  It makes me happier than anything on the planet.  We just had our two year wedding anniversary, and since we were away for the weekend looking for an apartment in Greenville, we spent the day as a family- and it was perfect.

My point with all this happiness talk, is that life is busy.  There's a lot of hustle and bustle and insanity packed into every day- and it's not going anywhere- so appreciate that each day has these really special, remarkable moments that you'll miss if you don't take the ten seconds to appreciate them.

Ironically, this week's subject of focus on Gretchen's blog is "set aside a specific time for something that's important to you."  I almost never do that (which is why my blog has gone a bit to the wayside lately.)  I, like a lot of other parents, are busy focusing on running a household, taking care of a little one, etc.

That said, here's a super fast, super delicious, easy (and easy going) breakfast:

Breakfast Sandwich:
makes 1 sandwich
takes about 5 min.

You'll need:

• 1 egg (2 if you're super hungry)
• 1 big slice of tomato
• 1 slice cheese (I used American, Kyle prefers cheddar)
• Whole wheat English muffin
• Salt and Pepper
• Cooking spray

Directions:

• Heat your skillet to medium heat.
• Spray with cooking spray.
• Put English muffin in the toaster (I like mine super crispy, but make it however you like it)
• Crack egg(s) into skillet.
• Depending on how runny you want your egg, cook it for about 2 minutes on one side and 1 minute on the other (this should make a reasonably runny egg without any clear egg white).  Cook longer if you want a firmer yolk.
• Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper on the egg if desired.
• You can do the cheese 2 ways.  You can just slap the piece of cheese on there while the egg finishes cooking on the raw side, or you can wait and put it on the egg after the egg has been put on the english muffin.
• After your egg and cheese are on the muffin, slice a piece of tomato, put it on the egg, close up the sandwich, and chow down!

*optional additions:

• I LOVE hot sauce, so instead of salt and pepper, I dump a lot of hot sauce on my sandwich.
• Kyle really likes chipolte hot sauce on his- with NO tomato, and extra bacon, ham, or whatever meat we have on hand.
• I've made this with salsa, chorizo and avocado.  Delicious!
• Laela likes hers with lots of ketchup.
• For make ahead meat, you can make your bacon/sausage/ham/whatever blows your hair back days before and just reheat it in the skillet with the egg(s) or in the microwave.