So Trent came back from his Trial Thursday afternoon. And I don’t think I even turned the oven or stovetop on once while he was gone. Well, maybe once to make macaroni and cheese for the girls one day, but that was it. It was a nice break and the cleanup/dish duty was minimal. But on Friday I was ready to get back into the swing of things and happy to have the whole family under one roof again.
Cooking Light's Roasted Rosemary Shrimp and White Bean Salad
With the house still smelling like bacon from the Top Chef Party, I had quite a bit of leftovers I had to figure out how to use. Trent was leaving in the afternoon for a week long trial near Branson, MO, so I decided to make a lunch incorporating a little of this and a little of that. We had half a package of raw sausage, half a thing of mushrooms, and some brown rice leftover from a couple days ago.
So I put together a sausage and mushroom rice. It took minutes, all I had to do was cook the sausage and then combine and heat it up. I also made a spinach salad because Trent’s eating habits on the road can be questionable and I wanted to send him off knowing he had some veggies in him.
That night was a big family get together at the Roadhouse in Webster. Some of our Italian relatives were staying at my Aunt Mary’s house and my dad and his cousin, Cesare, wanted to host a dinner to celebrate and get everyone together.
The girls were excited, they love the Roadhouse and were excited to see everyone.
We had 4 tables in their outside area, which was great for the kids to run around before and after dinner.
The girls split an order of fries and ordered Macaroni and Cheese, which really should be called cheese with a little macaroni, it’s sinfully ooey gooey.
That morning I picked a bunch of tomatoes and eggplants for my Grandpa Coco. I also picked my hot peppers for my Aunt Mary. The woman LOVES anything spicy. I gave them to her at the Roadhouse and she popped one into her mouth like it was a grape.
Isn’t she a cute little thing!? And look at what she ordered, her dinner is as big as her, I love it!!!! Atta girl!
Noni!!
Another Roadhouse tradition is the kids ending their meals with a scoop of vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce and a cherry. Despite Trent leaving for the week, we had a fun time with the family.
There are a group of us who live in the 63123 zip code. Inspired by the episode of Friends when Joey coins the phrase “Bank Buddies,” I call them my zip code buddies and a couple times a year we all get together for a “63123 Dinner.” I was wanting to host a 63123 dinner, but decided to switch things up and make it an adult Top Chef 63123 dinner party (the idea of the Top Chef party is all Julie, they’ve hosted 2 Top Chef parties, the last one being in August). Everyone was asked to bring an ingredient they had to incorporate in their dish and most people brought bacon. Lots and lots of bacon.
I made a pitcher of grape and apple sangria.
Set up people’s cooking stations.
Then the people came and we decided who cooked in what round. There were 2 rounds. The first round was Dennis, Markham, and Stef and their challenge was making sliders. They had 45 minutes.
The table of ingredients the contestants had to choose from. They took turns choosing 2 ingredients at a time and could pick as many as they wanted, as long as they used it.
Strategies strategies…….
The cooking has begun. And Tim was our sideline commentator….with his fancy Hannah Montana Microphone.
Reporting live from Cambrook Kitchen…
The sliders are on the grill ladies and gentlemen!
Energized spectators.
This is by far the best thing about hosting a Top Chef party, sitting and watching other people cook in your kitchen with no pressure!
Ready to judge some sliders!
Stef’s sliders with a side of marinated artichokes.
Dennis’ sliders on rye bread.
Markham’s feta stuffed sliders.
And Stef was victorious for round 1. Now comes round 2, which is French fries, nachos style with 45 minutes to cook. Tim, Beth, and Phil are going head to head on this one. You bake fries and pick the toppings.
The cooks begin and Dennis is our commentator.
Which he did mostly in song….I seriously haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.
Tim’s bacon weave!
Which was the bed for his cheese fries that could also be topped with chili…..enough grease to go around for every chamber of your heart.
Phil’s cheesy fries with chili and secret sauce…..I sense a theme.
Beth made Buffalo inspired waffle fries…..with bacon…..the theme of the evening was definitely bacon!
Beth won round 2 (and she was the one most scared of cooking under pressure!). It was a fantastic night, so much fun. I also have 4 packages of bacon in our freezer right now, but my LDL needs a break from the pig belly for awhile.
Whenever we get into the fall season (despite warm fall temperatures this month…I mean really, I am still getting mosquito bites and hot outside in shorts, but I digress….), I start to crave certain foods and polenta is definitely one of them. When I was little, I was not a fan of polenta, but Rachel Ray (not personally) talked me into trying quick cooking polenta. I’ve seen many members of my family making it the old school way and forming it into a log to slice off for stews, so not for me, especially on a weeknight. I’m an official fan of quick cooking polenta and play around with all different herbs, seasonings, liquids, and cheese to put into it. I saw a recipe for Mushroom and Sausage Ragu with Polenta in Cooking Light and that was dinner.
Lauren has swim lessons on Wednesdays, so I made the ragu that afternoon.
When we got home, I made the polenta and dinner was ready in under 10 minutes. Hence my affection for the quick cooking polenta!
Soccer practice night! I normally take both the girls for Lauren’s 6:00-6:45 pm soccer practice on Tuesday nights. Lauren practices with her team and Sydney and I play on the playground. Everyone is happy. Tonight Trent offered to take both the girls so I could be mellow and make dinner in a quiet house (sheer indulgence!). That Trent is a keeper. I planted a bunch of arugula seeds last month and we now have arugula in the garden.
I did a recipe search for arugula on Cooking Light’s website and came upon Brie, Apple, and Arugula Quesadillas. I thought it sounded delicious.
And it was. I think Trent wasn’t as big of a fan (he has an apple in savory dishes weirdness that I don’t understand), but he did have seconds, so I doubt it was all that dramatic for him.
There was a sale on fish. I bought said fish. It was called a “white fish” on the package. This part I didn’t notice, not sure why. But anyway I defrosted the fish and felt like it wasn’t going to have much taste or texture. So I did what I normally do when I want to add a good amount of flavor to something. My go to sauce I use as a marinade or dip.
Equal parts of each, or adjust to make it more or less spicy. I put the sauce on the fish, roasted it in the oven with some brussel sprouts (later added some slivers of bacon on top), and cooked some brown rice on the stove.
The fish turned out okay, but it was definitely still bland and watery tasting. I still have half a bag of it in the freezer and not sure what to do with it. Would love any ideas! Or should I just pitch the stuff???
My mom is a baker, especially with anything in the bread family. A sweet treat she would make often was cinnamon rolls. We would have them for breakfast or dessert hot out of the oven and they were delicious. When I was in grade school my parents hosted Christmas morning and my mom would either make homemade english muffins or cinnamon rolls. So to keep with the tradition, I make cinnamon rolls at Christmas and a couple times throughout the year. I wanted to make some sort of breakfast treat for Kirk and Sally and didn’t want to wake up early to have the bread go through 2 rounds of rising. I happened upon this recipe for Bite Size Cinnamon Pecan Twirls in Southern Living.
So, so easy! My intention was a fun breakfast treat for Kirk and Sally, but Kirk and Trent busted out of the house for manly errands and coffee upon awakening and didn’t return until after 11. But the girls enjoyed seconds thirds of the rolls that morning. Good thing they had a nice and sugary breakfast, because we then took them to the Columbus Day parade on the hill where all the cars in the parade throw MUCH candy to the kids.
The girls also got “Glo” Bears from a car or tire (or something car related) store too which they love to light up at night in their beds.
Remember the fun adult sippy cup Trent and I got in NYC at Promises Promises?
Trent and I decided it was time for our sippy cups to step out with the people.
That is my sippy cup of chardonnay at Ronnie’s Theater. Ronnie’s is down the street from us and has 20 theaters, but alas they don’t sell wine there. So my big purse came in handy. Kirk and Sally had the girls at the house for the night, so we went to see Social Network and then go out for sushi at our new favorite neighborhood restaurant, Tokyo Sushi afterwards. I think Trent has talked about the sushi there every night since we went, he’s an official sushi convert to the point where he’s craving the stuff. NEVER EVER in a million years would I think I would type that sentence. Love it!
