a Few of My Favorite Things

Anyone who is reading this blog knows that among other things, I love my friends, I love babies, and I love to cook!

The only thing I love more than these things is getting to put them all together!!!

This past week, I got to do just that.  In thanks for a friend breaking her Med-School-Board-Exam-Social-Hiatus so that I could come over and hang out with her and Milana, I promised to bring dinner to her.

I searched the good old internet for a good idea as to what would be a good meal to "bring to someone" and came up with this site:

I chose the Chicken & Dumplings, since it was new to me, and sounded yummy and filling.

I had never made anything like this, and the Dumpling part felt a little too close to baking for my liking, but boiling them in chicken broth, and then roasting a chicken from scratch and putting the meat into the chicken and dumplings, the final result was quite delicious.

Now tell me that this is not the face of a girl who's thrilled that I brought her mama & dada a warm hearty meal...

The Irish

Today, just like everyone else on the planet, Me, the Hubs, and the FIL enjoyed Corned Beef & Cabbage for dinner.

You know me though, I couldn't just boil meet and cabbage and call it an Irish holiday.  So, I put carrots, potatoes, and corned beef in the slow cooker. But...the head of cabbage that I bought for $0.17 per pound at the grocery store was too large to fit in the crock-pot. So the remainder of it got boiled in a separate pot,

in Guinness!

For Dessert, I didn't feel like pushing the "baking" envelope any more than necessary, so instead of making Irish Soda Bread, or Guinness Cake, I bought cheesecake at the store and made my own Bailey's Whipped Cream to put on top!

We were so excited about eating it all that we didn't get a picture of course. But it was consumed in it's entirety, and already put on the menu for March 17th, 2014.

For my first "Married to an Irish Guy" St. Patty's Day I call this a success!

Family Days

It's really great living so close to my parents and cousins.

Much of my family is a couple states away in New York, but the family members in MA definitely spend lots of time together.  This past Saturday was one of those times.

My parents and I met half way between our two houses, which happens to be the town where my cousins live.

Unfortunately My Man had to work :( but little Tyler kept him with us in spirit by wearing one of My Man's old tee shirts.

Beauty

 

Winter scenery while riding along with the hubs on his oil delivery route...

iPhone pics don't do it justice, but sometimes you just have to stop and enjoy the droplets!

Chicken, a Yummy Way!

My Bon Appetite cookbook has been getting SO much use these past few days.  I have to say though, this latest choice has taken first place so far.

I've actually been highlighting the recipes as I've made them so that I know I've done that one, and when I'm looking for a no-thought choice of what to make, I'll know which ones I've already deemed as "yummy"!

This was a simple Chicken Braising recipe.  I'm a definite sucker for anything that says Braising in the title.

The recipe went something like this:

Sear chicken thighs in pan with salt & pepper in both sides, then put aside and cook onion, parsley, & garlic, then add chicken, green peppers, diced tomatoes, and white wine to simmer for a half hour.... that's it!!

The chicken was so incredibly tender, we didn't even need knives.

 It got a thumbs up from my main audience :)

I served it all on top of a bed of wilted Kale, and we walked away from the table totally stuffed!

Wonderland

Winter Wonderland that is!

We have been getting snow every weekend pretty much since I posted on this blog that we hadn't gotten any snow this winter. (crap, maybe I shouldn't have actually said that on the blog)

Anyways... the one nice thing about snow, is that when the sun shines the next day, it's really pretty!

On my way to work the other morning, while I was stopped safely at red lights, or in my driveway, I snapped a couple of snowy-with-blue-sky photos.

Enjoy :)

hmmm, Pizza!

Our next culinary adventure is brought to you by "Pizza"!  A surefire way to please the crowd :)

 

A friend came over for dinner one day and I already had a simple meal planned of pizza, so we ran with it.  I picked up an extra pre-made dough at the store, pulled out all kinds of leftover items that went well on pizza, chopped them up, and came up with these combinations:

 

Whole wheat crust, crushed tomato sauce, shredded Mozzi, sauteed onions & peppers along with just a touch of crumbled Goat cheese.

Next we have white crust, sauce, Mozzi, chopped chives and chicken that had been marinaded in Italian dressing (pre-cooked by me and leftover from a lunch plan earlier in the week)

 

Needless to say, Pizza is always a Hit!