Happy Birthday, Nate!!!

23. August 2012 · 20 comments · Categories: life

Today is my wonderful fiancé’s birthday.

Happy Birthday, Nate!

You can see the recipe for this cake I made him last year here:

I think that was the prettiest cake I’ve ever made…or at least the most colorful! It was actually a joint bday cake for Nate and my dad, since his bday is two days after Nate’s. So Happy early Birthday, Pops!

Nate doesn’t know what I have in store for him this year cake-wise. I’ll be posting the recipe sometime in the next week so I guess you’ll just have to wait :)

Oh, and on a side note, I made the quickest, easiest, most delicious soup ever on Tuesday. We had some cherry tomatoes sitting in our fridge for a while, so I decided to roast them in the oven. I’d say it was a little over a pint. I wanted to do something with them thought. I sauteed about 1-2 cups of finely diced carrot (also dying in our fridge) in some olive oil, added about a cup of chopped fresh basil and sauteed a few min. Then I added the roasted tomatoes and sautéed til the carrots were just about soft. I then added the veggie mixture with a little leftover tomato juice I had on hand to the food processor and processed til it was almost puréed, but still a little chunky. It wasn’t the most delicious looking texture (kinda pukey if you ask me), but I don’t like real super smooth purées. Anyway, I then added this with the rest of the tomato juice (prob about 2 cups total) back to the pot and heated til warm. I added a splash of balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and garnished with some parmeson. SO GOOD!!!

Cat-Approved Citrus Swordfish over Arugula

19. August 2012 · 32 comments · Categories: Baking, cooking, Dinner, food, life, recipes · Tags: citrus, swordfish, wedding

Nate and I were down in PA last weekend, where I was working on more wedding-day crafts. I made the signs for the back of our chairs and they turned out exactly how I wanted! I used some more of the old fence I had found that I used for the signs. I’m going to post a whole bunch of pics with tutorials after the wedding.

Speaking of which, I can’t believe I’m getting married in 9 weeks. It’s totally crazy. I think maybe it’s starting to feel more real. I still have a bunch more stuff to do.

Nate and I are writing our own vows and I’m not sure I love what I have so far. I know Nate’s going to totally steal the show on this…he’s much funnier than I am. He claims that his vows are going to make our guests both laugh and cry. My goal is just to make Nate get a little teary-eyed since he claims he isn’t going to.

Obviously with the wedding fast approaching, I’ve been trying to cook pretty healthy. In fact, I had my first dress fitting on Tuesday!!! Anyway, I think that Nate and I don’t eat enough fish so when I saw some frozen swordfish filets at Trader Joes, I decided to get them. I’ve never cooked with Swordfish before. I think that I thought it was dry and that I didn’t like it.

I learned that I actually don’t mind Swordfish, although parts of it were a bit too fishy tasting. I also discovered that L.C. likes it…or at least she thinks she does judging by the way she photobombed my pics!

Citrus Swordfish

I tried to stop her but when she reaches out her little arm to try to grab things, it’s just so cute that I can’t yell at her. Nate says I’m not strict enough with her. But look at that little face!!!

Citrus Swordfish over Arugula

Adapted from Emeril

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serves 6-8

Ingredients
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 oranges
2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
4 (6-ounce) swordfish fillets
6 cups arugula

Segment (supreme) the two oranges, squeezing out and saving all the juice that remains after removing the segments. Set the segments aside and put the juice in a medium bowl.

To the bowl of juice, add the rice wine vinegar and Dijon, season with salt and pepper. Whisk to combine. Drizzle in the 1/4 cup of the olive oil in a slow and steady stream to properly emulsify the vinaigrette. Add the chopped basil and set aside as you prepare the rest of the dish.

Turn on broiler and set oven rack about 6 inches from flame.

Season each swordfish fillet with salt and pepper. Brush with the remaining olive oil and place on the broiler pan. Cook for 6 minutes minutes, turn over, salt, pepper and oil, and cook another 6 minutes or until cooked thru. Remove the swordfish.

In a large bowl, combine the baby greens, and 1/3 cup of the vinaigrette. Toss to combine and divide the salad among the 4 plates with the swordfish. Top each fillet with a few orange segments. Drizzle a bit of the remaining vinaigrette over each swordfish fillet and serve immediately.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

09. August 2012 · 38 comments · Categories: Baking, Cake, cooking, Dessert, food, life, recipes · Tags: coconut, cookie, whole wheat flour

So I’ve still been busy taking care of a bunch of stuff for the wedding. The invitations arrived last weekend and I spent about 6 hours assembling and stuffing them. I’d like to say Nate helped. In his defense, he was working on his wedding video…and I’m a bit of a control freak so I probably would have ended up yelling at him anyway :)

After my last few healthy posts, I figured you guys might be itching for something a little bad. While this recipe may fool you with “whole wheat” in the name, It has a decent amount of butter and chocolate.

That’s not to say that it doesn’t have its benefits. The whole wheat flour and coconut add a little fiber. And really, you should indulge now and then anyway.

Nate was lacking on desserts in the apartment so I thought I’d do something nice. This is a cinch to mix up and will bake up in no time.

I was extremely sad that I didn’t have a little vanilla ice cream to eat with this when it was warm from the oven. But even so, it was outstanding- dense, gooey, everything you’d want in a giant cookie cake!

I can’t take credit for this recipe. I got it off the site Bran Appetit. The recipe below makes a couple very small changes.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Print this recipe!

VERY slightly adapted from Bran Appetit

Serves 16 (if you can stand to only eat a small piece)

8 oz. butter, softened, plus 2 Tbsp for buttering your pan
1 and 1/4 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 inch springform pan.

Dump the 8 oz. of butter into a large bowl (stand mixer or other big bowl) and pour in the brown sugar and sugar. Beat together for 3-5 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Beat in the vanilla, then add the eggs, one at a time, to the butter and sugar mixture.

Pour the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl and mix into the butter.

Once the dough has come together, add the chocolate chips and coconut and beat the mixture for another minute until the chips are mixed into the dough.

Dump your dough into your pan and press into an even layer.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes until the top is golden and a toothpick comes out clean (or a little wet).

Let the cookie rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.

That time Nate deleted my food photos.

22. July 2012 · 49 comments · Categories: Baking, cooking, crafts, food, life, recipes, Savory · Tags: barbecue, Crafts, ribs, ring bearer pillow, wedding

I don’t want our wedding to look like anyone else’s. Is that so much to ask? I don’t think so.

I really want to make a statement on the tables and so I decided a while back that I wanted the napkin to have a pretty print on it. Do you know how hard it is to find printed rental napkins in my color scheme that are exactly what I want? Harder than it should. Actually, impossible.

Anyway, I finally convinced my mom that I could find a fabric cheap enough that we could get napkins made for the same price as renting would be…AND we could keep some and sell the rest after.

This way I got a gorgeous fabric that was exactly what I wanted, and no one else could possible have it!

But in my fruitless search for the perfect napkin and tablecloth, I came across this one and showed it to Nate:

source

Have I mentioned that Nate LOVES dinosaurs?

This was the IM conversation that ensued:

Nate:  oh my god

MAKE THOSE THE TABLE CLOTHS

me:  we could do it just for our table

tell you what

we’ll make our first child’s bday a dino theme

Nate:  obviously

im gonna groom them

to become a paleontologist

me:  haha

Nate:  and then they will create the first real jurassic park

me:  as long as they make enough money to support their folks

Nate: well if my son/daughter creates the first real jurassic park that will be our family business
i’ll work there
and with any luck, at a ripe old age, be eaten by a dinosaur
by far the way i want to go

So there you have it. Nate’s chosen way to go is death by dinosaur. Probably not a bad way, in fact, assuming there isn’t too much chewing involved.

That also solves the mystery of who on earth would rent dinosaur tablecloths. But luckily Nate is not involved in making wedding-related decor decisions, or it would be a dino-themed wedding…and he’d probably serve these ribs.

These aren’t dinosaur ribs, but they’d certainly go with a paleontology-themed event. And I can’t say I’d be upset if someone served them to me.

Unfortunately, the only photo I have to prove I made these ribs is one from my iphone, since Nate somehow deleted the others before I got them off the camera.

We, unfortunately, don’t have a grill, but this is better than ribs you could ever make on a grill. Yeah, take that, grill!

You give them a quick boil beforehand and then shove them in the oven for an hour and a half.

I’m a fan of saucy, succulent meat. I know this is definitely possible on the grill, but I hate dry things. These ribs get braised in the oven, mixing with the homemade tangy bbq sauce you add, creating their own, absolutely delicious sauce. I could eat it with a spoon.

Even if you have a grill, you NEED to make these this summer.

I served it up with some baked beans and corn on the cob. Felt like summer for sure!

Too bad the caterer doesn’t offer them….

Oh and here’s another photo for you since I don’t have any more of the ribs. Here’s the ring bearer pillow I made for the wedding :)

burlap ring pillow

Saucy Country-Style Oven Ribs

from Gourmet

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serves 6-8

4 lb boneless country-style pork ribs
1 large onion, finely chopped (2 cups)
4 garlic cloves, minced (2 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups ketchup (12 oz)
2/3 cup honey
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 2 lemons)
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 teaspoons drained bottled horseradish
1 teaspoon black pepper
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

Put ribs in a 6- to 8-quart pot and cover with water by two inches. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, skimming froth, 30 minutes (I only cook for 15 and it’s completely fine).

Meanwhile, cook onion and garlic in oil in a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until onion is tender, about 15 minutes.

Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes.

Drain pork in a colander and pat dry, then arrange in 1 layer using tongs in a 13- by 9-inch baking dish. Pour sauce over pork to coat evenly, then cover dish tightly with foil.

Bake 1 hour, then remove foil and carefully turn pork over with tongs and cook, uncovered, until very tender, about 30 minutes. Skim fat from sauce if desired.

(**note that I don’t normally cut the ribs apart before cooking as in the above pic, but that’s how this particular batch came. Usually I put the whole rack in the pan in one long piece, only cutting off the ribs that don’t fit the length and putting them along the side)

Marinated Broccoli Salad

01. July 2012 · 12 comments · Categories: food, life, recipes, Savory, Side dishes, vegetarian · Tags: broccoli, Crafts, olives, salad, wedding

This weather is disgusting.

When you wake up it’s already 80 degrees out, and by noon it’s 90. It just doesn’t feel right turning on the oven to cook. So it’s good to have a bunch of no-cook, cold, fresh salad recipes in your recipe box.

Salsa and tabouli are both great for this purpose, and this recipe is another good one.

You need to make this a day ahead to give the broccoli time to marinate and soften. I didn’t realize this when I was making the recipe, so I blanched it as a shortcut. I recommend following the directions though :)

On a side note, did you know that sometimes pignoli nuts can cause you to have a bitter taste in your mouth for days? Yeah, I didn’t either until it happened to me. It’s not ALL pignoli nuts, but apparently some are affected.

I also don’ t know if it only affects some people (since Nate didn’t seem to notice it) or if I’m just hyper aware of tastes, but it was disgusting. All food tasted bad/bitter until it wore off several days later. It probably didn’t help that I continued to eat this for 3 days until I realized that the pignoli nuts were the cause. Don’t let that this stop you from making this recipe, and I hope I haven’t in any way affected your love of these tasty little seeds.

On another note, I worked on more wedding crafts this weekend! I have to say they came out super cute…here’s a sneak peak.

I also had my wedding hair trial appointment today. I don’t know what I want to do! I hate making decisions.

Nate is pretty set on having me wear my hair down, and since he hasn’t asked for much I feel like I should honor his request. i know I want it off my face though, so maybe some sort of half up, half down thing? I think I want some loose waves.

The hairdresser showed me a few options. I defintely don’t want anything complex…I’m a simple girl.

Cold Broccoli Salad

From mom’s recipe box (original source unknown)

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Serves 6

1 head broccoli, cut in 1″ pieces
1/2 cup sliced black olives
4 thin-sliced radishes
1/4 cup pignoli nuts
1/2 cup olive oil
3 Tbsp wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
tomato wedges for garnish

Soak broccoli in salted water for 10-15 min. Drain.

Add olives, nuts.

Combine oil, vinegar, and seasonings to make dressing.

Marinate broccoli for five or more hours, chilled.

Add rest of ingredients before serving.