November 29th, 2011

The Christmas decorations are up, the tree is trimmed, lists are piling up, goodies are getting baked, and shopping is happening.  We still, however, have brussel sprouts from the garden to eat.  Enter: December Cooking Light issue.  I have 3 favorite months for Cooking Light: November, December, and August.  November because it has all kinds of fantastic holiday dishes.  December because it continues with holiday dishes, all well as baked goodie recipes out the wazoo.  August because it helps me come up with new ways to eat all the veggies in the garden.  But December threw me a curve ball and offered up a great recipe to use the brussel sprouts from the garden.

Cooking Light Chicken and Brussel Sprouts with Mustard Sauce

Seriously it was oh. so. good.

I added some portabella mushrooms too.  Great autumn meal!

 

Completely and utterly unrelated.  While I am at our Y hopefully getting in a workout and not chit chatting, Sydney is in the child watch center playing.  Lately have been doing the cutest Christmas crafts with the kids.  This is the one she brought home with her today, I thought it was pretty clever and cute.

November 28th, 2011

The baking lamp is officially lit!  I don’t know what gets into me during the holidays, but I become a baking fool.  I have about 4 recipes I always make and then each year a throw a couple new ones into the mix to see if they stick.  This one is a sticker.

These are double chocolate cookies stuffed with a peppermint patty from Rachel Ray’s magazine.  I have to put this out there so I keep myself honest.  I don’t like mint chocolate things.  Buuuuuuut, Trent and the girls adore the combination and were huge fans of the cookies.  So I get to feed my family fun treats and I’m not remotely tempted.  I have to admit I didn’t eat one, but I did send them to Trent’s work and he said everyone devoured them.  Also they look so darn festive!

If you make this with kids, there is the PERFECT job they can do to actually help you, not “help” you.  Unwrap all the peppermint patties for the middle and hard candies for garnish.  Then they can put the hard peppermint candies in a plastic baggie and beat them to oblivion with a meat mallet or rolling pin.  Sydney had a blast doing both jobs, for a small “fee” of course.  She charged me a peppermint patty for her services.  It was worth it.

Everyday with Rachel Ray Magazine Double Chocolate with a Peppermint Patty Surprise Cookie recipe.

November 27th, 2011

Brussel Sprouts…farm to table.

I wanted to winterize two of the raised beds.  After a summer of disappointing garden results, I wanted to give a boost to the dirt before things freeze and go into dirt hibernation for the winter.

Leaves.  We have a TON of leaves.  We corralled some and made a little leave blanket over the soil.  Then covered it with sphagnum peat moss.  Nighty night 3rd bed.  As a little experiment I also sprinkled some lettuce seeds on top.  Let’s see come March if I have a little garden starting!

The middle raised bed was lucky, it was the recipient of a finished composter ready to be put out and do its magic.  We put a layer of leaves between the dirt and the compost.  We have more than enough leaves to go around.

Right now this bed is my favorite.  It still houses many herbs.  It is pure fun to go outside in November to clip fresh rosemary, thyme, tarragon, and oregano.  Another little gift in this garden is the huge amount of brussel sprouts ready for harvest.

I pulled up two big stalks, big fellas!

It took a good 20 minutes to get all those little suckers off the stalk.  My hands were the victims in this process.

Cleaned, prepped, ready to go!

I am a huge fan of roasting brussel sprouts (I also am dying to try them in a frittata, but that’s still on my list).  I diced up about 2-3 slices of raw bacon.   I then put brussel sprouts, diced bacon, salt, pepper, and granulated garlic spread out on a cookie sheet nice and even.  Roast until golden brown at 385 degrees.  You don’t need any oil because as the bacon cooks it will add yummy bacon goodness to the party.  I just used the smaller brussel sprouts on the stalk.  If you have bigger ones, half them and put the cut side face down on the baking sheet.

Sweet, crunchy, and healthy.  Yumminess in a bowl!

November 24th, 2011

Today is Thanksgiving and we are in Kansas City to celebrate!  We arrived the night before so I could join Michelle, Jon, and Caleb (yes Caleb, the 7 year old cutie patootie nephew) for the Turkey Trot 5K and kid’s 2 mile fun run at 9 am.  After we all got our run on, we made a necessary trip to Starbucks before getting ready for the big meal.

Sally always goes all out in the decoration department.  Always a festive house come any holiday. 

There were a few extra moments before everyone was going to arrive and everything was almost done.  What do Trent and Kirk do?  It’s a toss up, but normally the topic goes to cell phones, money, computers, or social media.  This time they delve into cell phones.

Check out Trent’s longing face when looking at Kirk’s iphone.  I photo shopped the drool off Trent’s chin.  Rest assured, after this brief discussion Kirk can now scan his iphone at Starbucks to subtract from his gift cards.  Whew, I was losing sleep at night that he had to get gift cards out of his wallet and actually hand them to the barista.  Good thing we got that resolved.  

The Turkey Trot was Jon’s first 5K (and he rocked it!).  I think it took a little toll on his energy level.

Sally had Thanksgiving coloring pages for all the kids.  Coloring is big in our house, so it was the perfect mellow activity while we had appetizers and finished the final preparations on the big meal.

Turkey’s done!!! Time for carving.  Kirk held open auditions for who wanted to take over the carving.  Jon got the callback and had his opening night debut with the bird. 

He shocked the audience with mad skills and got a standing ovation.

Gravy girl!

My contribution, Ocean Spray's Wild Rice with Cranberries and Caramelized Onions.

Michelle’s contribution, Cornbread stuffing with leeks and sausage (gluten free).  I am not sure of the exact recipe, but if anyone wants it, I know a guy who knows a guy who can get it for me.

My contribution, roasted sweet potatoes with rosemary and thyme.  So easy, cube and roast!

Sally’s classic crowd pleasing recipes, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes.  Lauren and Sydney will ask me every time I make mashed potatoes, “did you make Nana’s mashed potatoes?”  When I say no, they tell me that she really makes their favorite mashed potatoes. 

Hands down my favorite meal of the year, no question about it.  And the leftovers?  Fuggeddaboudit!

And don’t get me started on the desserts!  Michelle’s flourless chocolate cake, Sally’s sugar cookies, Sally’s pumpkin pie, and my Pilgrim cookies for the kids.

Memorable and delicious night!  And the Holiday Season is officially upon us. Here we go!

A fun little surprise…

I was waking up Lauren for school, which is a surprisingly daunting task.  It’s like waking a bear out of hibernation in the middle of winter.  Okay, maybe not that dramatic, but something like that.  All of a sudden Trent comes barreling up the stairs all excited to show me the Post Dispatch, which is a first ever.  The Post Dispatch is normally not exciting in a “I gotta run and show Jenny” type of way.  Between twitter and facebook, if anything really news worthy happened the Post is probably not our first notification.  That said, I do enjoying reading it daily, so we get it delivered. 

My meatloaf recipe was on the front cover and made the best recipes of 2011.  That’s kinda cool.

Top left corner, that’s me!

The article in the St Louis Post Dispatch

Not a bad way to start a Wednesday morning.