Two quick meals

First up... I made Spinach Fettucini from scratch and it turned out quite well with a nice homemade alfredo sauce--- now if only the picture didn't look so lousy!

Last night I made the trout I had previously listed the recipe for. This time I mashed the capers a little with a mortar and pestle to break them up. I think that was a nice touch-- just lightly smash them so they split up a little. YUM. I could happily eat this trout every day! (Stupid pollution PCBs and Mercury--- oh well, to be cautious-- only one serving per week)

Thats it for cooking this week. Other than this I am working on the seminar of doom for Thursday and STILL trying to get that comforter to dry.

Veggie Pizza Things Recipe

Veggie Pizza from my Mom

1 tube crescent dough
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese softened
½ cup mayonnaise
1 envelope Ranch Dressing mix
Assorted finely chopped veggies (scallions, cauliflower(note by Jesse-- EWWWW!), broccoli, tomatoes, carrots (note by Jesse-- I usually just shred them), etc.)

Press crescent rolls to cover the bottom of a cookie sheet (note by Jesse-- Line the pan with foil-- use the foil to lift it out of the pan when finished). Bake at 350 until golden brown (follow the directions on the tube to guesstimate a time). Cool.

Combine cream cheese, mayo and dressing mix. Spread in a thin layer (heck spread however far it goes) over the baked crust.

Combine chopped veggies (and finer is better here…..) in a large bowl, then distribute over the cream cheese layer to cover. Press down on the veggies so they adhere a bit.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours or longer, if you have the time.
Cut into small squares to serve.

***Note: I have seen other people use grated cheddar or something on top of the veggies....not heated or melted or anything, just kind of laid on there like the veggies.***

The Bridal Shower and Barbecue Night

Well... I forgot to get a picture of the food spread before it was demolished... but it was nice. We made kingergarten punch (Hawaiian punch+ginger ale + floating rainbow sherbet) and I made these veggie pizza things that mom gave me the recipe for (someone once told me that they "simplified their veggie dipping experience") and Kim made her extra delicious spinach dip. So that was out with some cheese and crackers and the cake for food.

Here are some pics of the day. Bride-to-be Leah had a good time and we all got a kick out of the ever popular TP bridal gowns.

We told the guys (Leah's fiance Mike and Craig) that they couldn't be in the living room, so they sat on the stairs and looked at us... then shortly decided to grab as many snacks as they could and some DVD about communists taking over Colorado and head to the cellar (and "check out" the beer fridge).

Jackie and Nekeshia won the first game and some "fabulous" prizes from Dollar Stores (and playdough)

Nekeshia won the "guess the kitchen white powder" game after finally believing that not all the bags were FLOUR... and that none of the bags were "crack". My friends are NUTS!!! Craig is sad to see the flower leave as he was quite enjoying wearing around the house as a hat.

Bride-to-be Leah with the two "models" in the Super-Biodegradable Gown Contest Kara and Jackie. Jackie and Nekeshia won by a close vote for their daring "bare the goods" neckline, while Kara and Candice received special note for their traditional gown, long train, and lovely veil.

Tiki was adorable all afternoon, but she then decided that all these gowns with the dangly trains were just big toys for her! She started chasing the gals through the house trying to pounce on the trailing TP trains. Cute... but she is a naughty little girl!

I had to pick her up to prevent further disaster to the "gowns" so here is one more pic of the kitten (and me).

All in all a big hit, and a lot of fun. When the shower was over, we let boys out of the cellar and sent them outside to fire up the grill. Craig cooked up hot dogs and burgers for everyone-- the gals and then our guy friends who came over just for dinner while we hauled all the chairs out of the house (we are still looking around for a picnic table set when we pass clearance stuff at Lowe's) and got chips and all that kinda stuff ready. It was gorgeous weather out and was nice to be able to sit outside. I got my hot dog perfectly burnt... and 3 other people asked for theirs burnt as well, so I proved to Craig that that particular foible is not THAT odd. It was a great evening and a really nice day.

Saturday was a tired day

Well... Friday night I had 2 huge glasses of Moe's super delicious sweet tea... and this was my first caffeine in over 4 months... I was WIRED. I was up past 5:30 this morning and showing no signs of drooping.. not good. I was up by 9 and getting ready for the day-- I made it through the shower, got all the stuff done I needed to, hosted the BBQ and now I am ready to crash. I have pics of the cake and all that, but its going to have to wait for posting til after I sleep. (maybe through til tommorrow evening at this point. I am BEAT! (of course, if the weather as pretty as promised, the sun will be in my window bright and early and I will be awake... but some nice daylight is totally worth it!

night all.

Random Nonsense and (no)news

OK, so 1 day with no post and I get complaints... so here is a post.













haha... I bet you thought that was all you were getting-- I will ramble some more though!

I am working on planning a bridal shower for a friend this weekend-- she requested not a really dressy shower... in fact she requested it be a "jeans" kinda time-- woooohoooo! So I have to bake the cake (no big surprise there) and I am taking votes on what kind to make--

White Cream of Coconut Cake with Citrus curd filling
Chocolate Cake with Mocha Silk filling
Extra Moist Yellow Buttermilk Cake with Whipped Cream and Fresh Strawberry Filling

Some other mix of the cake flavors and fillings?
(Or maybe this one?)
Any votes? Any other suggestions? I am most likely to cover the thing in some sort of fondant for class practice-- but the inside is the important part anyway!

Tonight my friends Kim and Katie are coming over for dinner-- we try to get together at least once a month to do this-- we split the meal meat, sides, and dessert-- and this is my turn to make meat. If its not raining and above freezing I am making barbecue chicken on the grill.... if it is cold and raining I'll be making foil packet baked barbecue chicken. No news on dessert yet-- but Kim usually brings 2 so it should be good!

Easter flubs

So in addition to the pretty pics and fancy food-- there were a few snafus -- the biggest being the creation of "loch mathers" in our cellar. Ah yes, some sort of voodoo force my parents bring with them leads to the explosion of major disasters of home ownership. Previously the ceiling opened up and flooded the hallway and this time we got a lake.

Long story short... all those dishes and pots and pans from cooking had to be washed.. only the drain line was backed up and all that dirty soapy water ended up pooling to 6 inches deep in the basement. ugh. Thankfully Dad was here and he and Craig figured out how to suck all the water out of the basement and then snaked the drain in the floor and dug out.... somehow... a piece of duct tape?!?!?!! How the heck did duct tape end up down our drain? ugh, what a mess, but Craig got it all cleaned up and it seems to be better now.

other than that, anyone need some mashed potatoes???? we have a TON! (seriously, 6lbs of mashed potatoes serving 4 people... I've got loads!) I'd make flitch, but these have horseradish in them... and I can't see that being good with sugar and peanut butter. (nor can I see flitch being good for my waistline!) but it is sooo yummy.

Easter

Here are a couple of pictures of the feast I made up for Easter... the final verdict was bacon wrapped dates, Cream of Asparagus Soup with spinach, Beef Wellingtons (with no liver bits!), horseradish mashed potatoes, parmesan roasted broccoli, and home made rolls. Topped that off with a special blend red wine made in California by a friend of Annie--- Meritage. VERY nice. (and it looks all pretty on my fancy table!)And here are a couple of pictures from the dessert! A mild lemon pudding topped with a fresh lemon curd served in a cleaned out eggshell with pound cake "toast"-- breakfast for dessert! I thought they were cute and spring-y.

And one picture of the two of us this morning after church.

Easter preparation and plans

In just under 2 weeks my brother and his girlfriend Christina will be at our house... here's hoping we can get it ready in time! My parents will be here 2 days later for the Easter weekend. This will be my first "big" "fancy" house party-- (we had ~25 people over for the 3rd annual Cookies and Cocoa in December-- but that was not for a nice dinner and all, and it was just one evening)

I am trying to come up with some impressive displays of my cooking and baking and housekeeping in general-- here are the plans thus far-

-Must clean guestroom and change linens, I also need to find a rug for the floor in there!
-Tidy up bathroom, and permanently mount a curtain over the window (there is one kinda tacked there for the moment)
-Remove craig's bins of ski junk from the hall and get that to be a hallway again
-touch up paint in the stairwell that got beat up in the desperate attempts to fit furniture up the tiny winding staircase so we could have a bed and a dresser.
-design and plan food for the weekend-- and shop for it-ugh, that is not going to be pretty at the grocery store-- thank goodness for Easy-Scan
-come up with a fabulous fancy dessert for Easter dinner (cake decorating class should help there)
-Clean out living room and hopefully get the monstrously huge plants my dear husband loves ever so much OUTSIDE for a few months -- seriously these things are HUGE (and in bad need of some sunshine, and maybe some water too)-- that depends on the weather though, it has to get a bit warmer first.

-- other things to be added as needed

-- I will probably try and post some of my meal ideas on here to see if I can get some votes--
Currently debating between beef wellington (newer version, no foie gras... I have a thing against eating filtering organs) and some sort of leg of lamb thing (we are definitely a red meat kind of bunch) I am definitely making this cream of asparagus and spinach soup recipe I found online... so that one is set. everything else is still up in the air. Any suggestions?
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