Posts from — December 2010

If you like cheesecake and you like eggnog, you will L-O-V-E this dessert. And if you think drinking eggs is the most disgusting thing imaginable, so you can’t stomach even the thought of eggnog, you’ll still love this dessert! The eggs are cooked and this just screams Christmas – so rich and sweet and all nutmeg-y. The miniature cakes make not only a sweet little presentation but the perfect bite-size for a holiday dessert buffet or the just-right pop of sweetness after a big Christmas dinner.  You can purchase the mini-molds HERE.

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About a week ago, when I was making an appetizer for a cooking class, I told you about the convenience of purchasing fully cooked beef short ribs. Back when I was testing that recipe for the class, I’d purchased several packages of beef.  Two of them were still sitting in my freezer, and I need that space for Christmas, so this recipe was born from that. And, did we love it! Everyone joined the clean plate club and I won’t tell you how many of the four of us had seconds, it’s embarrassing.

Now you’ll never find me calling any lasagna recipe “easy-breezy”.  There is way too much layering and trying to keep all the amounts of each of the components straight – for me to consider that.  For example: “Spoon 1/3 of the sauce over the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle 1/4 of the Parmesan cheese over. Arrange 1/3 of the lasagna noodles on top. Drizzle 1/2 of the cheese mixture over noodles; sprinkle 1/4 cup  Parmesan cheese over. Repeat. Cover with remaining noodles. Spread cheese mixture over noodles. Sprinkle remaining Parmesan over…” Oh my goodness!  I am too dyslexic to follow along and ever call that easy!  But it’s the nature of the beast, if you want to make lasagna, it’s just the way it is!

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We enjoyed Gwen’s lentil stuffed acorn squash so much last week, that I decided to take another spin at it, with quinoa, this time. Especially since I STILL had more squash from that darn Thanksgiving centerpiece to get rid of. Not that I’m really complaining, but those things take up more than their fair share of room in the refrigerator.

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I’ve been holding out on you, and I do not mean with those special Raincoast crackers. I mean about informing you about reaching my goal. Exactly 2 weeks ago, on November 29th, I asked you to help me reach my goal of 1,027 comments, by the end of the year. You have done it, and we reached that goal several days ago. The current number of comments for this blog is 1,044!

Thank you so much for all the kind words, it means so very much to me. Plus those comments help make me feel a little less sickened by how many spam comments come in every single day. Yes, blogs get a ton of spam. I have a spam blocker, and since the end of June, it has blocked 2,832 comments of spam! That is an average of 17 per day. That’s more “real” comments than I get in an entire week! So Annoying (and usually of disgusting nature too!) But enough of that, what I really want to say is Thank You All!

The other things that I used to find annoying were deviled eggs and meatballs. I know, that sounds strange, but when you hear this little tale, you will see why.

I am in the beginning stages of planning an 80th birthday party for my dad. That brings up memories of the 70th birthday party I threw for him. I worked for months; planning the menu, decor, invites, etc. Of course, the food was all “gourmet” and took days to prepare. My gorgeous sister, Sloane, worked long hours but wanted to make something to help. She asked, “Well, could I at least bring some deviled eggs?” I happily replied, “Sure, that would be great!”

She arrived hours early to help set up. The food was all laid out on the buffets; the guests arrived, greeted the birthday boy, chatted, and began to eat. Within minutes, and I do mean just a few minutes, all the deviled eggs were gone, while loads of gourmet food looked untouched! What the heck is it with deviled eggs? Although we didn’t serve meatballs at that particular party, the same thing happens with them! I honestly just don’t get it. But I will tell you one thing for sure, we will have several dozen deviled eggs and hundreds of meatballs at our dad’s birthday party in April, and these are the meatballs I will be serving! [Read more →]

We shall begin with “a dollar short” – Do you ever buy something that you want to keep all to yourself, even though it really needs to be shared? Oh, you say that do it all the time? Yup, me too! Last week, I discovered another one of “those” things! As silly as it sounds, “that” thing is a box of crackers. Not just any box of crackers, but really expensive and amazingly decadent crackers. How expensive? How about $6.99 (at Whole Foods) for a 6-ounce box! That is about $1.17 an ounce or about $18.50 a pound! How many food items are you willing to pay $18 a pound for? Maybe something like jumbo shrimp, prime rib or beef tenderloin. But crackers?

Raincoast Crisps are the most amazing crackers on earth. I have to thank, and then loudly curse, Gwen Ashley Walters for turning me on to them. And when I say me, I mean that I shall be purchasing these ridiculously expensive crackers and hiding them from family and friends while carefully rationing them out for myself.  (This post was written in 2010 – by now, I hope you all know that Trader Joe’s sells knock-offs of these crackers for a fraction of the price!)

Next, let’s address, “a day late” – Two days ago, I posted a recipe in which I used a smokey marinade from Gwen. At the end of that post, I said that the next day I’d put up another recipe of Gwen’s, that I adore. Well, I forgot and put up a lentil recipe yesterday instead. Sorry, here is Gwen’s scrumptious and “easy-breezy” party spread recipe that she made last week for the Les Gourmettes cooking class and served atop the Raincoast Crisps.

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Last night was our neighborhood Holiday Progressive Dinner. A fantastic time was had by all. My name was drawn to go to Tony and Cindy Hancock’s gorgeous home for dinner, and I was one lucky girl. Check out that beautiful holiday table! The food was fabulous too, and the company… it couldn’t have been more lovely.

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The other night, our last guest chef of the year at Les Gourmettes, Gwen Ashley Walters, made an outstanding Pepper Crusted Flank Steak with Chianti Honey Demi. I was about to dump the leftover meat marinade down the drain when I stopped short and realized what a great appetizer I could make, using it. We have our neighborhood Holiday Progressive Dinner tonight, and appetizers begin at my house. Here is the recipe I created, using Gwen’s smokey marinade.

And tomorrow, another fantastic and super easy recipe that I am crazy for – a pumpkin appetizer spread – from Gwen!

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