Week 19: A Breakfast/Brunch for Champions

February 28th...the day of my first 5K race.  And as promised, this week's menu is a (post race) Sunday breakfast/brunch.  The certainty of today's race (and brunch for that matter) were called into question due to the continued snow and ice.  Up until the very last minute, I was expecting that the race might be cancelled which in turn could've left me with quite a bit of food and no guests.  For that reason, I decided to keep it really simple.

Menu:

Warm Cinnamon Apples
Cinnamon Rolls
Ham & Cheese Omelets Scrambled Eggs

So the recipe that I'll share this week is just for the apples. 

Warm Cinnamon Apples (modified from chef "356" at allrecipes.com)

1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon butter
4 large tart apples - peeled, cored and sliced 1/4 inch thick (I used Granny Smith apples)
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1.In a large skillet or saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; add apples. Cook, stirring constantly, until apples are almost tender, about 8-10 minutes (a few minutes longer if you prefer the apples softer).

2.Dissolve cornstarch in water; add to skillet. Stir in brown sugar and cinnamon. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and serve warm.
 
The great thing about this recipe is that I made it the night before.  I stored it in a pyrex dish with a lid, and just popped it in the oven for a bit to warm it back up before serving.  I can admit the cinnamon rolls were not home-made, but they were still delicious and wonderfully warm after running in the cold.  Jason was in charge of the omelets, which actually ended up as something I'd like to call "Scrambled Egg Style Omelets" (aka, flipping them wasn't as easy as he expected...I told him we should've practiced the night before.)  Now that I'm typing this, I realize that I intended to make hash browns too, but apparently that completely slipped my mind after all that running.  :)   
 
All in all, I'm feeling good today.  Finishing the 5K in a pretty decent time (34:10) and catching up with some old friends during the run was a great way to start my Sunday.  On top of that, I won a (randomly drawn, totally unrelated to actual running skill) $100 prize at the 5K.  Hooray! 
 

 

 
 

   

So I've come to the end of this week's post, and  I leave you with a finish of a different kind below. 

That's me, by the way! :) Until next week!

Week 18 (Better late than never?)

February 21, 2010 - Week 18

Oooppss...I'm a tad late with this post.  After more than a month gap in posting, I'm starting up again.  But allow me to digress for a moment to ask your opinion.  Do you feel that as an adult, it is more difficult to stick with hobbies (in my case, like this lovely cooking project/blog)?  I have no problem being committed to people (my husband, family and friends) or my profession...but this hobby thing seems much trickier.  I have never considered myself a "quitter"(and never quit anything as a kid or in college) but I was a bit disappointed in myself that I let keeping up with the blog get away from me.  Does this happen to you? I look back and try to figure out where I got off track.  I think the holidays were hectic, combined with crazy weather over the last several weeks where grocery store trips to get the special ingredient of the week were not always conducive.  And of course, my ADD kicks in and I decided to take up another hobby (I'm currently in training for a half-marathon.)  I suppose I feel like a serial-hobbiest.  I need to commit!  So that's something I'll be working on.  :)

So to ease back into the cooking and the blog, I made a super-easy dinner.  At the store, Sirloin Tip Roast was buy one get one free, so of course I took advantage.  I'll be trying to think of something a bit more creative to do with the second roast.   

Menu:
Sirloin Tip Roast in Mushroom Sauce
Mashed Potatoes
Green Peas

I decided to roast the meat very simply.  I used one can of Cream of Mushroom Soup with an equal amount of water.  I covered the meat with foil to help keep the moisture in and roasted it on low heat over several hours.  The result was a tender, moist cut of meat with nice subtle flavor.  Nothing out of the ordinary for the potatoes and veggies.  Just a simple, good-old fashioned meat and potatoes kind of family dinner.

Next Sunday's post should be much more interesting.  I'll be making a brunch for several people that will be coming to my house after a 5K that we are running.  I have a few recipes in mind already, but if anyone has a great brunch recipe, send it my way.   

Stay warm, eat well, and stick to it (whatever your it may be) until next week. 

(Really....next week....I promise!)

   

Week 14, 15, 16, 17

Welcome to the Party!

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season!  The weeks leading up to the holidays were full of lots of running.  My idea of using the Sunday dinners up until Christmas to practice components of my debut family dinner party worked out pretty well, but I decided not to post the compellation until after the big day.  This is mostly because I didn't want to ruin the surprise for my family members who read my blog.  That's why I'll do a recap of weeks 14-17 all in one post. 

January 2, 2010 - MENU

Appetizers:

Savory Party Bread (Pictured above)

Fruit Platter

Cranberry-Mandarin Blue Cheese Salad

Main Course:

Beef Tenderloin with Roasted Shallot-Port Sauce

Side Dishes:

Garlic Smashed Potatoes

Tossed Green and Yellow Beans

Dessert:

Molten Chocolate Cake

_______________________________________________________

Savory Party Bread:

1 lb. round sourdough loaf

1 lb. Monterey Jack cheese (block)

1/2 cup butter melted

1/2 cup green onions, chopped

2 tsp poppy seeds

Directions:

1. Cut bread in cross hatch pattern, lengthwise and crosswise several times as in picture above, without cutting through bottom or crust.  (This gets easier with practice.) Cut cheese in small pieces and insert into cuts.

2. Cut green onions and sprinkle over the bread.

3. Melt butter and pour over bread sprinkle poppy seeds on top of bread. 

4.  Bake at 350 degrees on cookie sheet, covered with foil for approximately 30 minutes or until cheese appears to be fully melted.  

My Commentary:

This is a special recipe to me.  Not only was it one of my mom's, it was one that we actually made together many times.  It's one of my dad and my brother's favorites for that reason too.  Once you get the hang of it, it's really simple.  The cutting may feel clumsy at first, but its a breeze after you've made it a few times.  The great thing is that you can do the first two steps the morning of the party and keep it in the fridge until you're ready for your party.  A few important notes: Make sure you try to spread the bread apart a bit so it doesn't act like an insulator for the cheese while its baking...want the cheese to melt pretty thoroughly for best results.  Baking it on a cookie sheet also helps this problem.  Also, keep the bread covered with foil so the green onions do not singe in the heat.  To add some extra tang to this recipe, you can make it with a cheese of your choice, other than Monterey Jack.  In a pinch, I've done some cheddar-jack mixes and it's turned out well.  Use your imagination! 

Cranberry Mandarin Blue Cheese Salad (based on Joy Chou's recipe at All Recipes.com)

Romaine Lettuce (2 prewashed bags)

Baby Spinach (1 prewashed bag)

1 1/2 cups sweetened dried cranberries

1 (20oz) can Mandarin Oranges

8 ounces crumbled Blue Cheese

1 1/4 cups chopped walnuts

Raspberry-Pecan Dressing (I used the Ken's)

Directions:

1. Toss ingredients together in large serving bowl, reserving dressing for guests to add on their own. 

My Commentary:

I'm not a salad girl myself, but this one got rave reviews.  As a general rule, I think fruit in salads is a great idea.  Those are truly the only salads that I'll eat.  Great mix of flavors and textures overall. 

Fruit Platter

I used a variety of fresh fruits for this.  I get my fruit at Sam's Club, and the fruit makes my membership worth it.  I used strawberries, red and green grapes, blackberries, raspberries, and orange slices.  The fruit platter, while technically not difficult, was just a really beautiful part of my table.  It goes along with my theory that sometimes simple things, presented artistically on a nice plate/platter can make a big impact. 

Beef Tenderloin with Shallot Port Sauce (based on Christine L's recipe on All Recipes.com)

3/4 pound shallots, halved lengthwise and peeled

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
3 cups beef broth
3/4 cup port wine
1 1/2 teaspoons tomato paste
2 pounds beef tenderloin roast, trimmed (or individual cuts of filet mignon)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  In 9 inch pie pan, toss shallots with oil to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Roast until shallots are deep brown and very tender, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.  In food processor, blend shallots until smooth. 

2.In a large saucepan, combine beef broth and port. Bring to a boil. Cook over high heat until the volume is reduced by half, about 30 minutes. Whisk in tomato paste. Set aside.  (This step can be done ahead of time)

3.Pat beef dry; sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper. Heat a large pan on the stove top with a small amount of oil.   Add beef to pan; brown on all sides over medium high heat, about 7 minutes.

4.Transfer meet to oven roasting pan.  Roast beef until meat thermometer inserted into center registers 125 degrees F for medium rare, about 25 minutes. Transfer beef to platter. Tent loosely with foil.

5.Reheat broth/port reduction in pan, and bring to boil.  Add in blended shallot mixture. Mix melted butter and flour in small bowl to form smooth paste; whisk into port/shallot mixture, and simmer until sauce thickens.

6.Cut beef into 1/2 inch thick slices. Serve with port-shallot sauce. 
 
My commentary:
 
Wow! I love this stuff!  The first time I did my trial run, I learned a few things.  It makes a ton of dishes, so it's smart to do the parts ahead of time that you are able to.  You can make the port/broth reduction up to 1 day ahead and bake and blend the shallots a few hours before the party.  It will save you time and clean up after your guests have arrived.  One warning about the port/broth reduction...put it an a larger pot than you would anticipate...something about the alcohol content in the port makes it boil fast and furiously, and it boiled over on me 3 times on my practice day.  Also...pay attention to it and don't walk away.  On party day, I let it "reduce" a bit too long, and ended up needing to make an extra batch because I didn't have enough.  In terms of your cut of meat, it was most economical for me to purchase individual filets because of the small number of guests I was having.  I served each steak with the port-shallot sauce on the side in a beautiful small bowl. 
 
Garlic Smashed Potatoes and Tossed Green and Yellow Beans: I put so much time and energy into the rest of the meal and preparations that the sides were your pretty standard, run of the mill starch and vegetable.  Since this post is getting excessivly lengthy, I won't post the recipes here unless someone is interested in them.  If so, just let me know.
 
My dessert, Molten Chocolate Cake has appeared in my blog before in Week 7, found here.  (Just try to ignore the other recipe listed at the week, because it wasn't one of my better ones.)  These individual portion cakes are restaurant quality and make you look like a 5 star pastry chef! Once again, this goes along with my theory that sometimes, the fewer ingredients and the simpler the concept, the better the end result.  One thing that the recipe neglects to mention is that during preparation of the batter, you need to temper the eggs, in order to prevent them from curdling when adding the hot ingredients.  Cuisine at Home shows the technique in the short video clip found here.  This is another great thing to prepare early and stash in the fridge until your guests have arrived.  Just try to remember to take it out of the fridge to get the batter at least close to room temperature before baking.  If you don't, you'll just need to bake it for a bit longer.  I prepare my cakes in an oversized muffin pan, however ramekins are another option. 

So I'm just about caught up on my posting.  I'll be adding one more post (my French Onion soup disaster) sometime between now and Sunday.  That wraps up the cooking portion of tody's post.  Before I go, I'll leave you with my wish of a

Happy

Healthy

Fullfilling

2010

    to ALL!   

Week 13:
Pork Roast with Thyme

Wow! Thursday already and I'm just writing up this past Sunday's installment of the Sunday Dinner Project. Hopefully, after the craziness of the holidays, I can get back to being a little more faithful to my little blog.

I'm going to be a bit lazy right now and just post the link of the recipe I used this week:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pork-Roast-with-Thyme/Detail.aspx

My commentary:

The good news is this recipe was voted a "make again." That's always encouraging. I did a few things differently than the recipe. First, I used pork tenderloin instead of a pork roast. Using a roast would be much more economical, but I was willing to pay a few extra dollars for a better cut of meat. Also, if you watch for the sales at Giant Eagle, you really can get a great bargain on pork tenderloin.

The other big change I made was to cook the roast on a sightly higher temperature than recommended in the recipe. I cooked mine at 375 degrees simply to alleviate a time crunch. Of course, I still checked the internal temp with a meat thermometer to make sure it was done.

This was another quick and easy recipe with pretty good results. The pork was very juicy and had a nice flavor. It worked very well with mashed potatoes.

This week or next, I'll be testing out my menu for the day that I'm having the whole family over. I'm still putting together the whole thing, but I'll probably need input from all of you experienced hosts and hostesses.

Sunday Dinner on a Monday

Week 12: Crispy Onion Chicken with Green Beans



This week's Sunday dinner is a day late, but for good reason! Yesterday was a fantastic girls day out to see the Rockettes, followed by dinner at Atrias. This all day event kept me out of the kitchen, but I made up for it today. Kim (who was one of the 5 lovely ladies out yesterday) actually gave me this quick and easy recipe.

Crispy Onion Chicken

Ingredients:
-Chicken Breast (cubed)
-1 (2.8 oz) can French fried onions
-Honey mustard
-1 Cup Italian bread crumbs

Directions:

1. Cube chicken and coat with honey mustard.
2. Crush french fried onions and combine with bread crumbs. Combine in bag.
3. Add chicken to bag and shake until fully coated with the dry mixture.
4. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

My commentary:

Fast, easy, and tasty! I made this with some green beans (with the left-over onions that I had.) Because I was in a hurry, I did not cube the chicken, which caused it to take longer to cook. I think smaller pieces of chicken would make the breading taste even better. Since I hate to cut up raw chicken, I think I'll try this in the future with thin sliced chicken breasts.

This was a wonderful week full of good food, fun, and family. I have yet to cook my own Thanksgiving dinner, but I'm working up to it. I am happy to report, though, that for the few smaller gatherings that we hosted, all of the food turned out very well! I used one of my previous Sunday dinner recipes (the Italiain Roast Beef) for the Pitt football crowd we had here on Friday night. Not a drop was left!

This week, I've thought about all that I'm thankful for, and the list is very long. I'll end this week with I piece that I found that helped to put things into persepective:

Be Thankful (Author Unknown)

Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire. If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don't know something, for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times. During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations, because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge, because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes. They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you're tired and weary, because it means you've made a difference.

It's easy to be thankful for the good things. A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are also thankful for the setbacks.

Thankful for the good and the not-so good, and looking forward to this holiday season!

The Big Easy and Cornish Hens

Week 11:

Rosemary Cornish Hens
Couscous with Dried Fruit

I made it back from New Orleans very late last night. The south definitely has their own way of cooking, and maybe sometime soon I'll draw some inspiration from this trip. For today, I was just happy to have food on my plate that was not looking back at me (I'll have to post a picture of the crawfish from our lunch in the French Quarter.)

The presentation (which is the reason that I was in New Orleans)went very well! About 80 people attended and we had a lot of great feedback. It was nice to see so much interest in our topic and have some great discussion with so many people.

So as for dinner, you may remember that Jason was supposed to be in charge this week since I was away. This included both finding a recipe and doing the grocery shopping. What he came up with was a "recipe" he created himself... his very own version of couscous. While that was a noble effort, I needed more food than that so I stepped in to contribute part of our meal. I made the Cornish hens to go with Jason's couscous. Here are the recipes:

Rosemary Cornish Hens:

Ingredients:

2 Cornish Hens
1 TB dried rosemary
1 TB garlic
2 TB lemon juice
2 TB olive oil
1/3 cup white wine
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Mix together the rosemary, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, wine, and pepper.
2. Leaving the skin on, use a knife to separate the skin from the hen to create a "pocket" in which to place the herbed mixture.
3. Using a spoon, insert several spoonfuls of herbed mixture between the skin and the meat. Place left over mixture inside the cavity of each hen.
4. Place hens, breast side down, in a roasting pan.
5. Broil for 45 minutes, turning the hen over at the half way point.

Jason's Couscous with Dried Fruit

Ingredients:

1 box Near East Toasted Pine Nut Couscous
1 TB minced garlic
1 1/4 cups water
1 TB olive oil
Dried cherries
Dried cranberries

Directions:
1. Combine water, olive oil and garlic and bring to boil. Add coscous and cook according to directions on box.
2. Add desired amount of dried ingredients to coscous and serve.

My Commentary:

The Cornish hens turned out very well...juicy and flavorful. In the future, though, I'll probably do just a few things differently. I'd prefer to use fresh rosemary as well as fresh lemon juice. I've read a variation of this recipe that places a quarter of a lemon and sprigs of rosemary inside the hen. I think that would really add to the flavor. As for the couscous, I think that Jason was subconsciously paying hommage to my Apricot Pistachio Wild Rice Salad from Week 6. :) I have a few other recipes that look great for Cornish Hens, so I'm sure this little bird will be the topic of some future posts.

Messy Food: Hassle or Heaven?

Week 10:

Barbecue Beef Short Ribs

After several weeks in a row of great Sunday dinners, this one was a bit of a flop. It was a failure on a few levels. First of all, it is truly hard to get a good cut of beef short ribs (short of going to a butcher.) The selection was not great at the grocery store. The best ones that I could find were incredibly slim on the meat and heavy on the fattiness. I realize this is the nature of ribs, but I'm sure there are better cuts out there than what I got today. Anyhow, I liked the recipe that I used, found here:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Barbecued-Beef-Ribs-for-Two/Detail.aspx

I did make a few modifications though. First, I boiled the ribs for about an hour and a half to make them more tender. Other reviews on the site have noted you could boil them for even longer (up to 3 hours). I omitted the hot sauce and chili powder since I didn't have them. I also added a few shakes of mesquite flavored Liquid Smoke (that stuff is neat, by the way!) After putting it all together, I didn't feel that it looked like enough sauce to cover all of my ribs. To beef it up, I added some Sweet Baby Rays barbecue sauce in order to make sure all the ribs were fully coated. I cooked this for just short of an hour in a 350 degree oven.

The result was a great flavor and tender meat...just not enough of it! To me, it was just too fatty. After cooking for a few hours, I don't feel like I should have to work that hard to get at the food! The messiness and work involved made the ribs so not worth it to me. In my mind, the same goes for wings. I want to know your thoughts on this. Weigh in and let me know why you think what you think. I need some perspective.

Next week's Sunday Dinner will have a little twist. Since I'll just be returning from presenting at the ASHA conference, Jason is picking the recipe and doing the shopping for next week's meal. Maybe I can even convince him to cook it...


Poll of the Week- Messy food: Hassle or Heaven? Comment below!