Mar 17 2013

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

IMG_1482

I’ve always loved St. Patrick’s Day. I remember creating rainbows and leprechaun art projects and hunting for gold nuggets (painted rocks) in elementary school. The whole pinching someone if they didn’t wear green was also a HUGE thing in school. Glad to see that little tidbit has faded with adulthood :). I’m sure it’s still a big thing for the little ones. I also remember my Mom’s corned beef and cabbage dinners. They were delicious and filled with fun family memories.

I decided last minute to run to the store for the quick and easy St. Patrick’s Day supply list to make a St. Patrick’s Day spirited baked potato lunch.

IMG_1473

Ingredients:

Cabbage
Potatoes – I usually like Yukon Gold, but they only had tiny ones left.
Corned Beef – cubed
Kerry Gold Sweet Cheddar Cheese
Butter
Sour Cream
Green Onions
Salt
Pepper

Directions:
I baked my potatoes in  the advantium oven – 8-10 minutes for 10-12 ounce potatoes. No advantium needed, it’s just a faster way to bake potatoes and I happen to own one, you can just bake your potatoes however you are used to baking them.

I purchased a slab of corned beef from the grocery store deli – I then cut it into small cubes. You could make these potatoes with your leftover corned beef and cabbage as well. I cut my cabbage into chunks, removing the harder core sections. I then added water to the dish, ground pepper, salt and some garlic gold nuggets. Not necessary, it was just a last minute decision.

IMG_1476

I put the lid on my dish and microwaved the cabbage for 4.5 minutes. I prepared my potato mixture while the cabbage was cooking. I split the potatoes in 1/2 and scooped out the majority of the cooked potato into a bowl. I then added a tablespoon of butter per potato, 2 generous handfuls of shredded cheese and a few grinds of pepper and sea salt to the mixture. I then added a tablespoon of sour cream and mixed things really well. I scooped the potato mixture back into the potato halves and then topped that with cabbage strips, corned beef, more sweet cheddar cheese, green onion, more ground pepper and more sour cream. Nothing was precise, the reason I didn’t put down measurements.

IMG_1481

The potatoes were delicious and super easy! Just what I needed this Sunday. I somehow managed to injure my hip digging a giant bush out of the yard last weekend, so I’m trying not to put much weight on it, so hours in the kitchen wasn’t going to work this year.

IMG_1461

I will also be having Jameson and ginger ale and store bought chocolate dipped cake pops later this evening. Sounds pretty perfect to me.

Now for some home decor… with St. Patrick’s Day and Easter so close, thought I’d take pictures before swapping out shamrocks for Easter eggs, bunnies and carrots.

IMG_1428

I just add little clover and green accents for St. Patrick’s Day. I definitely don’t go all out. You will see repeats of some of my staple decor items – I actually moved my numbered apothecary cabinet to the top of the entertainment center, I’m missing it as a backdrop for my ingredient photos. It might be moving back soon.

IMG_1426

I cut up a garland and clipped shamrocks to my photo clips on the shelf I found last year at an antique fair. You saw the same shelf with snowflakes for Christmas and I added hearts to it for Valentine’s Day – it’s been fun to figure out what to hang on it each holiday.

IMG_1437

IMG_1448

Just a simple wood green clover, some ribbon and a lucky horseshoe on the suitcase I found last month.

IMG_1446

I placed random shamrocks on my Pottery Barn shelves in my entry way… similar to what I did with snowflakes and hearts for previous holidays.

IMG_1430

Shamrock garland on my vintage door.

IMG_1436

More shamrocks and green accents…

IMG_1434

IMG_1440

IMG_1441

I loved putting my winged angel schnauzer on display… St. Patrick’s Day will forever be special to us because it’s the day we brought our new puppy home. What an amazing year we’ve had. So hard to believe how fast it’s gone by. I hope you are having a great St. Patrick’s Day and that it’s filled with family, friends and good eats and drinks!

foo1120

 

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=8447

Mar 09 2013

Creamy Asparagus Pasta

I tried another Eating Well recipe from the Mix It Up nutrition program that my work is doing. This time around I substituted a few things because I didn’t have all of the ingredients and wasn’t feeling like making a special trip to the grocery store. I’ll include my substitutions, but will mention what the original Creamy Asparagus Pasta recipe actually called for.

IMG_1407

We are in our 5th week of the nutrition competition with only 3 more weeks to go. My team has dropped into 14th place. A few team members are finding it hard to get in 9 servings a day and that’s pretty much the only way to compete with the top teams. I’m super proud of our team, we have all  worked hard to hit every color category.

chart

I’m the first pie chart. I clearly favor red and green fruits and vegetables. I’m trying very hard to ramp up my blue – so far I’m primarily eating black beans, purple cabbage, frozen blueberries and blackberries and purple kale when I can find it. Raisins are on the list, but I don’t want the extra sugar. 3 more weeks and then the 8 week 60 min./day exercise challenge starts back up. Excited to change it up this go around, I recently joined a new gym. Woohoo!

O.k… so back to the Creamy Asparagus Pasta recipe.

IMG_1377

The Ingredients:

  • 10 oz. Mrs. Leeper’s Rice Vegetable Twists (Recipe called for 8 oz. whole-wheat penne pasta)
  • 1 Bunch Asparagus – trimmed and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
  • 1 1/2 Cups Whole Milk – room temperature
  • 4 Teaspoons Stone Ground Mustard (Recipe called for whole-grain mustard)
  • 4 Teaspoons Flour
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Pepper
  • 2 Teaspoons Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
  • 3 Tablespoons Crushed Garlic (Recipe called for minced)
  • 1 Teaspoons Dried Crushed Rosemary (Recipe called for 2 teaspoons minced fresh tarragon, or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
  • 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest  – I used Meyer lemons
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 3/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese, divided (Recipe called for 1/2 cup)

Directions:

  1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 3 minutes less than the package directions. Add asparagus and continue cooking until the pasta and asparagus are just tender, 3 minutes more. Drain and return to the pot.
  2. Meanwhile, whisk milk, mustard, flour, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant and lightly browned, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Whisk in the milk mixture. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly, and cook until thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in dried crushed rosemary, lemon zest and juice.
  3. Stir the sauce into the pasta-asparagus mixture. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the sauce is thick, creamy and coats the pasta, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup Parmesan. Divide the pasta among 4 bowls and top with the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan and Meyer lemon zest.

Link to the original EatingWell.com Recipe

IMG_1383

I prefer the thinner asparagus in general, so that’s what I used. I washed, chopped and set the asparagus aside until my pasta had cooked most of the way through.

IMG_1386

Inglehoffer Stone Ground Mustard is one of my favorite mustards. I’m a huge fan of mustard seeds in my mustard. I’ve been known to dip pretzels in it for a snack. I’ve found it for pretty cheap at Cost Plus World Market, but they also have it at some of the grocery stores that I frequent.

IMG_1392

I brought my milk mixture to a simmer, stirring constantly, and cooked it until thickened. I then added the dried crushed rosemary, lemon zest and lemon juice.

IMG_1389

I added the asparagus to the Mrs. Leeper’s Rice Vegetable Twists with 3 minutes remaining. I’ve found that 7 minutes is the perfect amount of time for the twists, they are really easy to overcook and then they turn to mush. A gluten-free friend turned me on to the twists at one of the Foodbuzz festivals a few years back. The twists get their coloring from spinach, beet and tomato powder. If you read the description on Amazon, it will tell you beef powder, ha! ha! – thinking that might stop some vegetarians from purchasing it… I assure you, I read the packaging, it’s beet not beef powder.

saute

The directions told me to stir the sauce into the asparagus/pasta mixture, but I did the opposite… oh well, it worked just fine.

IMG_1403

Not the prettiest bowl in the world, but it tasted great! I would have loved to try the fresh tarragon, and will do so next time. I also might try switching up the veggies for next time too. If you are not a mustard grain lover, you might want to go with 2 teaspoons instead of 4 – I could definitely taste the mustard zing… but for me, that was a good thing.

IMG_1409

I portioned out 4 servings and each was about 1 1/2 – 1 3/4 cups each. I ate the bowl piping hot for lunch… but could also see it as a side dish to grilled veggies (I’m a little obsessed with mass amounts of veggies right now), chicken or fish.

I’m having fun trying the Eating Well recipes from the Mix It Up app. We also get daily tips. The tip for today was about pint-sized portions – one of the things it mentioned is that children have a natural instinct to stop eating when they’re full… so let them tell you when they’ve had enough. Don’t pressure them to clean their plates if they’re not hungry.

Question: Were you (or are you still) part of the “Clean Your Plate” club? We were not pressured to clean our plates as kids… but we were encouraged to eat what we served ourselves as we got older. I do however remember sitting at the dinner table with a full glass of milk and being told… finish your milk. It was after numerous stomach aches that we determined that I was just not meant to be a big milk drinker.

foo1120

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=8412

Mar 06 2013

Day Trippin’

A discussion at work turned into a day trip adventure this past Saturday. My girlfriend Kristen and I decided to drive to Napa for the day. We started at the outlets. CAbi was having a 40% off outerwear sale and I’ve not lost my addiction since I stopped being a consultant years ago. I scored some very cute jackets and a few tops. Kristen bought some shoes and then we were off to our next stop.

Prager Winery

Prager Winery & Port Works is a family owned and operated winery located in the heart of the Napa Valley. Since the first harvest in 1979, they have been specializing in the production of various styles of Premium California Ports.

IMG_1357

The barn look of the building was really cool. I also loved the garden and grounds.

Kristen had been to Prager’s on a previous girlfriend’s weekend and purchased some Port balsamic that she loved and was almost out of. The 12 year old Port balsamic vinegar is aged in cherry and oak wood, produced from Napa Valley Port. It tasted amazing!

IMG_1356

I was fascinated by the entry and tasting rooms interior…

IMG_1355

Currency from around the world covers the walls and ceilings.

IMG_1353

photo-(2)

I missed getting a photo of the cob web/spider window to the right of the cabinets. I noticed it right away and then saw on their website later what it was all about. Nobody has disturbed the only downstairs winery window for the past 25 years. Built in Halloween decor for sure.

While we would have loved to drop $20/each for 5 pours, we decided to skip it this time around. It was getting late and we were starving.

IMG_1358

After driving around for a bit, we decided on stopping at the Oxbow Public Market in the heart of downtown Napa’s Oxbow District. I had been to Oxbow once before with Deede and knew that it was full of artisan merchants and lots of delicious foods/samples.

IMG_1359

Our first stop was to check out some candy at Anette’s Chocolates. The Easter themed treats caught my eye, but it was the sample brittle that really made the stop worth it. Kristen makes brittle every year for the holidays and I’m pretty sure I ate my weight in her cashew and white chocolate this past Christmas.

IMG_1360

So many flavors to choose from…

IMG_1360b

We first sampled the Chili Lime Tequila Tortilla Brittle and really liked the unusual combination. Then the gal broke out her favorite – the Triple Nut Kentucky Bourbon Brittle and WOW! that stuff was insane…. so good. Had I not dropped major cash on clothing earlier and if I wasn’t tracking every morsel that I’ve been eating, a bag would have definitely gone home with me. Kristen did purchase the Triple Nut, so I can always beg for another piece.

IMG_1361

We sampled different olive oils at The Olive Press and Kristen ended up getting a bottle of their Jalapeno flavor for salad dressing and things she wanted to add a little extra kick to.

IMG_1364

We rounded the corner and headed into spice heaven. I popped open so many jars and seriously began to wonder why I don’t create some of my own custom blends.

IMG_1362

I like that you don’t have to commit to a full bottle. You can weigh out whatever amount you want. I could have spent more time jar whiffing… but my stomach was pretty much yelling at this point… FEED ME!

IMG_1367

We decided on Ca’ Momi – mostly due to the incredible smell coming from their wood fired pizza oven.

IMG_1376

We sat on the patio and after all the walking we did, it was nice to just relax.

IMG_1370

It’s no secret that I’m a pizza freak. I prefer a simple cheese pizza, but also like a variety of veggie toppings with the occasional meat thrown in. We asked our server what her favorite two pizzas were and ended up going with those to share.

IMG_1373

I blame Josh and Deede for starting my blood orange San Pellegrino addiction years ago.

IMG_1372

Our server dropped of this bag of delicious pizza crackers – I’m sure there is a more legit name… they were tasty.

IMG_1374

The first pizza was the Margherita – (San Marzano DOP tomato sauce, mozzarella di bufala Campania DOP & fresh basil)  Apparently their pizza is VPN certified (a legal entity able to give special designation to pizzerias who meet strict requirements that respect the tradition of the art of Neapolitan pizza making), which basically means it should taste exactly like the pizza from Naples. Since I’ve never been to Naples, I had nothing to compare it to. I’ve had other Neapolitan pizza and this was definitely better. The crust was incredible… crispy on the outside, soft on the inside with a nice smokey balance.

IMG_1375

The Pancetta – (house-cured bacon, smoked buffalo mozzarella and sauteed wine forest mushrooms) was the second pizza. I got a piece that was mostly mushroom and it was incredible! I loved it. I’m not a huge bacon on pizza fan, but the ratio of mushrooms to bacon worked.The smoked buffalo mozzarella was delicious. I would for sure order pizza from Ca’ Momi again. I liked it so much, that I ate the leftovers as a late dinner the same evening.

After our relaxing meal, we walked around some more and ended up at Kara’s Cupcakes. The cupcakes were not photo worthy after being in the box for 20 minutes. The frosting had rolled off the sides of the mini cupcakes and I was left with a pink box of mess. I got two minis – a  Meyer lemony lemon cupcake and their flavor of the month – a Baileys Irish Cream cupcake. The Bailey’s was the best of the two. The Bailey’s Irish vanilla butter cream frosting was nice once I scraped it off the side of the wrapper and bottom of the cupcake box. It’s like they frosted them when they were too warm, who knows.

The sweet treat was a nice end to a fabulous day. Thanks Kristen for suggesting our little adventure. Now back to the gym and logging fruits, vegetables and calorie counting. It was nice to enjoy a little break.

foo1120

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=8374