New Year's Long Weekend

We had a lovely New Year's! Since we didn't have a lot of time before or during Christmas, we opened our presents after Christmas once we got home. The carnage was still evident on New Year's Eve.

Dale was a cooking fool on NYE. (I made the enchiladas the day before and they were very, very good). Dale made chocolate espresso mousse from scratch. Delish!

He also made a batch of his grandmother's homemade chocolate syrup. In this picture he's also showing off what was probably his favorite Christmas present of the ones I gave him. He has used the infrared laser thermometer for all his home-style cooking this year.

However, dinner was the real prize. He made crab cakes. very, tasty little brown puffs from heaven!

We served them with a lemon wasabi sauce we bought ages ago back when we first went to Lake Geneva!

We started the new year with fresh homemade hash browns. My mom would be happy to know that Dale is putting the Kitchen Aid she bought for him (seriously, she gave it to him, not me).

And it wouldn't be a post from me without the cats. I went to make the bed and Monty was sitting on the edge of the bed, transfixed. Two squirrels were feasting on the seeds I left out for them. Monty is deeply fascinated by woodland creatures. Particularly when they show up on the porch of our third floor apartment!

Pizza!

One of our new favorite things to do is to make pizza! We started lazy. I buy whole wheat crust from Whole Foods and rub a little olive oil on it. Then I take some pizza sauce--also acquired from WF--and spread it on evenly. We started out with just pepperoni but have quickly graduated to a whole new level (because we're dorks).

We bought a brick of smoked mozzarella and some Crimini mushrooms in order to replicate one of our favorite pizzas from Trattoria 225 in Oak Park.

Anyway, we also re-discovered our Kitchen Aid slicer/shredder attachment--and it works so awesome with the smoked mozza brick! Check out the silly video! I would highly recommend the attachment if you have a KA. And I would also highly recommend smoked mozzarella with Crimini mushrooms on your next pizza.

We were so excited with teh results that we forgot to take the "after" photo of the pizza until, well, "after" we ate some! If you come visit me? I will make you some of this pizza!

Our Favorite Things...

I've been meaning to do this for ages! I want to start a series of "favorite things" posts that talk about some of our household standbys. First up...

Penzey's Red & Green Bell Pepper Flakes!

I've been using the heck out of these lately! Dale's not the biggest fan of bell peppers so they often go to waste when I want to keep them around. I make egg muffins for b'fast and take them to work a few days a week. Cutting up only 1/4 of a red pepper and trying to eat the rest raw and/or throwing the rest out seemed like a waste. And then I found these! They are dried. You pop them in water for a few minutes and they come back to life!

I don't even bother with the water since I put them in raw eggs (and then cook them, of course). I used some in my omelet this morning and they were delish.

You can buy them online in a variety of sizes and variations or you can pick them up at your local Penzeys!

A New Kitchen Gadget!

This is our stove. One of my goals for this year is to become a better cook and to cook at home and not just "reheat" or "thaw"!

So, we bought a reversible double grill/gridle, which is sure to change our lives! We grilled chicken tonight after letting the chicken sit in a DELICIOUS marinade I found on Kalyn's Kitchen Blog. She highlights South Beach Diet-friendly recipes and everything I've tried to far has been great!

I also purchased a small metal collander for steaming veggies. I steamed some Trader Joe's frozen organic asparagus and tossed some pepper, olive oil and lemon juice on it. Tasty! Dale had corn from a can.

Our stovetop, being fully utilized!

What's up with Dale?

He got a new coffeemaker and is in hot pursuit of the perfect cuppajoe! He's making two or three pots a day with a strange alchemy involving a variety of coffee types, a new grind for each style of coffee and on and on. It's quite the experiment. Good thing I like coffee! --Rebecca

I made awesome pancakes for b'fast using the most awesome mix from American Spoon Foods.
I got the mix from Rebecca for Christmas and I've been ordering it ever since. It's heavenly! I like the wheat and malt mix best. YUMMY! Buy some, yo!