So, what will you be having tonight?

Today is Valentines Day. Chances are either you love this day or you don't care for it much. I think it might come as a surprise to some people that I fall in the later group. I really don't care much about this day. I think it's a shame that people feel pressure to tell those they love that they love them by showering them with flowers and gifts that they may or may not need. I feel so horrible for the guys during this time of year - to be flooded with all those "romantic" commercials on T.V. telling them that they must get the best diamond ring for their special someone. How awkward for those who don't get those pricey presents and were kind of expecting them to show up because they fell for those commercials on TV? Bleh! I'm tired of all the hoopla and added pressure that comes with this day. That's why this year my husband and I decided to not get each other presents or cards! We know we love each other. But instead of spending our precious money on things we don't really need or care for we have decided to spend more time with each other. That is something we haven't been able to do for quite some time. I think we go on dates about 3 or 4 times a year...isn't that horrible? It's not because we don't want to date each other, it's because of our current situation. That will change soon enough. But for now what we will give each other is our time. This Saturday we'll be doing just that. Just the two of us. I really can't wait! The other thing we do to "commemorate" this day is to have a nice meal. We don't go out to eat much and when we do go out to eat we often leave feeling that we could have done a better job with the meal ourselves! So we fix ourselves a mighty fine meal. Something we wouldn't fix on a day to day basis. Something special. So tonight we'll be having a great meal (See below) with our two boys and just enjoying our time together. So, what will you be having tonight? Here's what we'll be doing:

Rosemary and Garlic Roast Leg of Lamb
with some lovely roasted vegetables. For some time I've been interested in doing something with parsnips. I don't recall that I've ever had them and I've heard they taste wonderful - so I"ll be roasting some parsnips along with sweet potatoes, onions, and some cherry tomatoes dressed with a little olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. Can't wait to see how it all turns out!

For all of you out there, Happy Valentines Day!

Hooray for Bacon!

Today for lunch was all about bacon. We love the stuff. So in honor of bacon, we cooked it and ate it and enjoyed ever little bit of it. A few years ago I had purchased this neat looking cookbook for Mike geared towards grilling. There were lots of great looking recipes and we even tried a few then. But ever since we tried out the first few recipes, the cookbook has been sitting in my cupboard untouched. Today we pulled it out. We found the recipes we came to love the first time around and decided that it was time to try them out again. We made a delicious Chicken with herb and ricotta stuffing and grilled some asparagus wrapped in bacon. We also enjoyed some grilled onion and some freshly baked bread along with our baked potatoes. Can you say yum? Here are the recipes. Enjoy!

Chicken with Herb and Ricotta Stuffing
4 tablespoons ricotta cheese
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 tablespoons mixed chopped fresh herbs, such as chives, parsley, and mint
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
8 chicken drumsticks
8 slices of lean smoked bacon

Combine the first four ingredients. Season well with salt and pepper. Carefully loosen the skin from each drumstick and spoon a little of the herb stuffing underneath, smoothing the skin back over firmly. Wrap a bacon slice tightly around the wide end of each drumstick to hold the skin in place over the stuffing during cooking. Cook on a medium-hot grill for 25-30 minutes, turning occasionally.

Asparagus wrapped in Bacon
1 pound of asparagus
bacon

Take four or five spears of asparagus and wrap in one slice of bacon. Continue until all asparagus spears are wrapped. Season with salt and pepper. These are good grilled and are excellent cooked in the oven when drizzled with a little EVOO.

Button Cookies

One of my absolute favorite cookies right now is this great little butter cookie with M&M candies. Give them a try!

Button Cookies

3 sticks of softened butter
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
M&M's
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. In a mixing bowl cream the softened butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Add the vanilla. Slowly add the flour mixture. Roll dough into balls, the size of a tablespoon. Flatten the balls out. On each piece, place 3 M&M's. Now, put one flattened ball on top of another flattened ball, so you are stacking two pieces together. Each piece should have the M&M's on top. Put the cookies on a cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake 17-18 minutes. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet before moving to wire racks.

De-Baum Cookies

In honor of my father's birthday today I thought I would post a yummy new recipe that I just tried today. After a few small ingredient changes and a new name (After my daddy of course) they are ready! Enjoy!

De-Baum Cookies
yields about 3 dozen cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, at room temp.
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. almond extract (I had none so I used vanilla)
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup flaked coconut (for one dozen I chose not to put the coconut in, for my husband who doesn't like it!)
1 cup almonds, chopped fine (I omitted this)
1/2 cup golden raisins (I omitted these as well...didn't have any!)
1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Use a silpat or parchment paper to drop the cookies on, otherwise lightly grease your baking sheet. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, cream the butter and two sugars. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating vigorously after each addition. Beat in the almond (vanilla) extract. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Fold in the oats, coconut, almonds, raisins, and chocolate chips. Drop the dough by spoonfuls 1 1/2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until lightly colored. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Let's all sit down to dunk a few of these yummy cookies and toast my Daddy. Enjoy!

Red Snapper Fish Recipe

Last night we tried something new here. I had gone to Trader Joes yesterday morning while Jonah was in school and came across some frozen Red Snapper fish. I'd never had it but felt intrigued...Red Snapper sounds like a pretty cool fish, right? At the store they had a suggestion as how to prepare it and I took that suggestion and ran with it. Here is what I came up with:

Red Snapper

2 Red Snapper fillets
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
2 Limes sliced
A handful or two of small cherry tomatoes, sliced
A quarter or half of an onion sliced
A handful of cilantro
5 cloves of garlic

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Zest one lime to save for later. Add some olive oil to a glass pan. Season the fish with salt and pepper then place inside pan. On top of the fish add the slices of limes, then the tomatoes, and onions. Gently cut up the cilantro and scatter over the fish. Smash - but do not cut any further - the cloves of garlic and scatter around the fish. Go over the entire dish with another round of olive oil, then salt and pepper to season. Take the reserved lime zest and sprinkle that on top. Bake in the oven for about 20-25minutes, or until cooked.

We had a wonderfully zany rice dish (also from Trader Joes) that I got specifically to go with the fish...it was super yummy and everyone here loved it as well. Sorry, I'd link you to it but can't seem to find it anywhere online. It was chimi...something or other...and all I can say is...WOW. So, next time you are in the mood to make something a little fishy, but oh so wonderful, try this refreshing dish!

Ribs to die for...really, they're that good!

Every once in a while Mike and I like to treat ourselves to a nice homemade meal. We both enjoy cooking, most of the time, and some days we just need to out-do ourselves. Today was one of those days. A while ago we came across a recipe (actually saw Dave Lieberman on Food Network make this and drooled the ENTIRE time he made it - we drooled, not him!) and we had to try it. I used to think that teriaki steak was my absolutely favorite steak but not anymore. No-siree. This short ribs recipe wins hands down. In fact, if I could have these ribs for every one of my birthday dinners, I would...they are THAT good. If you or someone you know loves meat then by all means make this recipe and watch the socks fall off of that special someone.

Braised Hoisin Beer Short Ribs

3 pounds beef short ribs, about 10 ribs
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
10-12 garlic cloves smashed
1-inch piece ginger, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch slices
12 ounces good ale (we recommend Guinness)
3 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 cup hoisin sauce

Season the ribs generously with salt and pepper. Heat the vegetable oil in a large heavy pot with a lit (Dutch oven) over high heat. Sear, and brown the ribs on all sides, in batches if necessary. Remove the ribs and pour off all but a couple tablespoons of the rendered fat.

Return the pot to the stove, lower the hear to medium and saute the garlic and ginger for about 3 minutes. Add the ribs back to the pot. Add the beer and the vinegar. Stir and then cover and simmer for 2 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Pour hoisin sauce over the ribs, move the pot to the oven, and cook, uncovered for 30 minutes.

Remove ribs and ginger from sauce. Strain fat from the top of the pot so that you're left with just the good stuff. Serve with mashed potatoes and vegetables.