Birthday!!

Yesterday we had a backyard summer party! I have been telling Mike that "This is the summer of the yard!" I didn't make a ton of food, only blue/bleu cheese dip, guac and cookies and a lot of cracker/chip things. Mike made a delicious pumpkin pie with walnut strudel.



Mike and I both wore special B-day outfits!



I bought that dress in a Virginia Goodwill when we were there for Thanksgiving and I have been saving it for this special bday occasion! I found Mike's shirt at the Salvation Army in Bloomington. I think it is the most beautiful shirt I have ever seen!



And I got to hold a tiny baby!

I didn't take any pictures of the blue cheese dip but it was a big hit at the party!
Recipe:

Hunk of blue cheese crumbled up
Sour Cream- about a cup
Couple twists of the pepper grinder

Stir up and refrigerate! Super easy.

Pesto Change-o!

I made "pesto" and froze it last weekend. I don't know if serious pesto people would consider this real pesto. I made it by putting basil and oregano (from my garden!), olive oil, almonds and garlic into our mini mixer. Real pesto uses pine nuts but they are super expensive!

We had "pesto" with brown rice pasta, chicken and veggie dumplings from Trader Joe's, and a salad with tomatoes, avocado and blue cheese.

my job is super boring...

and terrible news! My work pens are running out of ink!

well, I ate brussel sprouts

And was super impressed! I had sworn off brussel sprouts since I was a kid and my mom told me they were "candy", she did not have me fooled and I thought they were disgusting. However, I found a good-sounding recipe and tried them out again. Totally delicious!! We also had lemon pepper pasta tossed with olive oil and an aprium ( apricot/plum hybrid). The meal could have been served without the fruit but Mike photographed it for me and said it needed something red or orange.



Here is the recipe, modified from Shutterbean's recipe!

1 bags of TJ’s Brussels Sprouts
butter ( I didn't really measure)
1/2 c. onion
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
2 cloves of garlic

Take sprouts out of their packaging. Soak in water & rinse. Cut the ends off all the sprouts & quarter the sprouts. Set aside. Place butter in a pan on medium heat. Stir in onions & garlic. Cook on medium until onions are translucent. Add sprouts & toss them in the butter/onion mixture. Let sit- stir occasionally. At this point, you are working on steaming them. When the sprouts are softened (about 10 minutes), add brown sugar & remaining butter. Turn the heat to high and brown the sprouts. The brown sugar & butter help caramelize them.

Delish!! I will be making this again!

Happy Birthday Nichol! and avocado soup!

My friend Nichol's birthday was Thursday, so on Friday we had her and her hubby over for dinner. I made this avocado soup!



The presentation is very fun but the soup was so-so. It was just like eating guacamole, which is good but weird as a soup. I would make it again but would serve it with chips. I got the recipe from Design Sponge - my favy blog.

Here is the recipe I used:

Chilled Avocado Soup in an Avocado Half
Yield: 6 servings
3 ripe avocados

2/3c. water

lime juice- about 3 tablespoons
1-2 cloves of garlic

a fistful of cilantro
 (from my garden!!!)
1 tsp. salt

Prepare the avocados: Use the line where the avocado meat turns from light to dark green as a guide to help you scoop out a regular amount from each avocado half (you should be leaving 1/4″ of meat). If you have to prepare the avocados more than an hour ahead of time hold them in a bowl of water with a bit of lemon juice or vinegar, and then drain before serving.
Blend your Soup: Place the avocado meat, water and cilantro in a blender. Blend until smooth. Add garlic, lime, cilantro and salt to taste (do not add all the garlic at once, some garlic is stronger and you want just enough to add an edge to this dish). Also check to make sure that your garlic is incorporating well, not stuck under the blade of your blender. Adjust the amount of water until your soup is just liquid enough to pour (it should still be quite thick). The proper amount of cilantro will make the pigment of the soup match the darker green meat left in the the avocado bowls. Chill for 20 minutes.
Serve: Pour soup into avocado halves. Garnish with sour cream and a sprig of parsley.

more doodles

This is what I do at work.

Memorial Day!

I have been reading this blog, http://www.shutterbean.com/, lately and it has been making me super hungry. So, I made 2 recipes from it today!




My food photography is lacking quite a bit! I made Chewy Molasses Ginger cookies.

Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies 
(recipe from Martha Stewart’s Cookie Book) 
Makes about 36

 Ingredients:

-2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

-1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

- 2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

-1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-1 1/2 cups sugar

-3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

-1 large egg

-1/4 cup molasses
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a shallow bowl, place 1/2 cup sugar; set aside.
2. With an electric mixer, beat butter and remaining cup of sugar until combined. Beat in egg and then molasses until combined. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in dry ingredients, just until a dough forms. Put dough in the fridge and chill it for at least an hour.
3. Pinch off and roll dough into balls, each equal to 1 tablespoon. Roll balls in reserved sugar to coat.
4. Arrange balls on baking sheets, about 3 inches apart. Bake, one sheet at a time, until edges of cookies are just firm, 10 to 15 minutes (cookies can be baked two sheets at a time, but they will not crackle uniformly). Cool 1 minute on baking sheets; transfer to racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container up to 4 days

I pretty much followed the recipe except I didn't have nutmeg so I used pumpkin pie spice. Yum.

I also made zucchini pancakes. They didn't turn out very pancake like, but still very good! Next time I will chop the zucchini smaller and maybe add more flour/egg to thicken them up a bit. I topped the "pancake" with sour cream and fresh dill.

We also had a salad with spinach, avocado, onion and a dressing I made with olive oil, vinegar, lime juice and zest, whole grain mustard, sugar and pepper!

I love summer dinners.