perfect : accessories

Pink bunny crochet knit coin purse (perfect for the easter basket!).

photo by paper source

menu : week eleven

SATURDAY
Open tacos with refried beans (The Joy of Cooking)

SUNDAY
Beff Bourguigon
Mashed potatoes

MONDAY
Pasta and sauce

TUESDAY
Leek and cheese tart (The Kitchen Bible, page 229)
Roasted beet salad over mixed greens

WEDNESDAY
Breakfast night
Belgian Waffles (The Joy of Cooking)
Simple homemade sausage (The Art of Simple Food)

THURSDAY
Baked Shrimp Scampi (Back to Basics, 128)
Rice

FRIDAY
Sauage, bean and cheese nachos (Food Everyday, January 2010, page 33)

menu recap : week ten

The end of our week got a bit messed up. We were all set and ready to drive down to Richmond yesterday for my oldest sons soccer tournament, however, early Friday morning just a few hours before we would have left we got a call saying that it was cancelled due to the bad weather that was heading there and scheduled to come our way. I had nothing planned for the weekend so we headed out for pizza on Friday night and I put together a menu for the rest of the week.

SATURDAY
We do not eat steak here very often, but when we do the kids love it. We made a bit extra to use for sandwiched on Sunday night. The corn pudding was not a bit hit with the kids.

SUNDAY
Our day was a mess. Everyone had to be somewhere different and no one seemed to be home at the same time. No. one and my husband had to head to the soccer field for training from six until eight so it was not a good night for a nice sit down dinner. I made the kids steak sandwiches and they ate when they were home.

MONDAY
Broccoli and cheese and bacon and cheese loaded potatoes came out great. The kids loved them. They were a lot more work than a thought they would be, but I like to mix things up once in awhile.

TUESDAY
I thought the roasted potato leek soup was amazing. No. two does not care for soup, so I knew going into it she would not like it. However, I was a bit surprised when no. one did not care for it. The other two ate tons. However, it made a ton, so in order for no. three not to have to have it for lunch everyday for a week I gave some to a friend, I never heard back so maybe she did not like it either. My husband was out that not and did not have any, so while I was reheating it the next morning I made him try it and he was nice enough to give it a try and said that it was the best soup I have made recently.

WEDNESDAY
The chicken parmesan burgers were a hit with the kids. It is served on a french bread and it fell apart on then a bit. Next time I think I would just serve it on rolls for them.

THURSDAY
I switched up what the plan was. I spent hours outside cleaning up the yard and decided to just do a clean up the fridge night. I wanted to get as much as I could done outside since we were scheduled to be away all weekend and the weather did not look good for the next few days.

crumb topping

I some nice blueberries and blackberries left that I needed to get rid of so I decided to bake a batch of muffins for the kids. I uses the recipe for the muffins that I posted about here, and I added a good crumb topping to them. The recipes makes enough for twelve muffins, but the crumb topping is the only part of a muffin that I like, so next time I will make one and a half times the recipe.

CRUMB TOPPING
5 tablesppons unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup flour
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until mixture is moist and you can form crumbs.

Press topping on top of each muffin before baking.

signs of spring

No. four and I have been spending lots of time outside. During the big snow strom we lost lots and losts of pine branches (I think at least fifty) and now they need to be cleaned up. It is a boring and messy job, but it is nice to finally be outside.

While doing our work we spotted signs of spring!

baked blintzes

This past weekend I made baked blintzes with blueberry sauce from Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics. My husband and the girls really liked them. They are a bit time consuming to make, but they would be perfect to serve at a brunch. They made a ton (9 x 13 baking dish) and my husband ate them with maple syrup for dessert and I sent the rest in with the girls for lunch.

spring

My husband brought me home some lovely sorry you hurt your hand flowers last week. They were a nice way to kick off the great weather we have had the past few days.

menu : week ten

I did not make two of the meals last week, so I carried them over to this week.

SATURDAY
Steak with chimichurri sauce
corn pudding

MONDAY
Broccoli and cheese and bacon and cheese loaded potatoes

TUESDAY
Roasted potato leek soup (Back to Basics, page 63)

WEDNESDAY
Chicken parmesan burgers (Bon Appetit, March 2010, page 48)
Homemade fries
Broccoli

THURSDAY
Vegetable soup

menu recap : week nine

The menu was a bit of a bust this week. On Tuesday night I fell in front of the kids school on the way into the science fair (damn fair) and may or may not have fractured my hand. I decided that it was not broken because it would be too much of a pain if it was. However, it was really messed up for several days and since it was my left hand and I am sadly left handed, I was unable to get much done for a few days. Dinner was one of the things that suffered.

SUNDAY
The oven roasted pull pork sandwiches turned out great. We used a pork should that was almost eight pounds (we could not find any smaller) put we split it in half and saved the other half for the pulled pork tacos.

MONDAY
The pasta with pecorino and black pepper was not a huge success. I cut back by almost half on the pepper, but it was still too much spice for two of the kids.

TUESDAY
A mess of a day.

WEDNESDAY
Luckily I had some dim sum in the freezer that I steamed for the kids. I spent a lot of the day trying to get my hand looked at with no luck.

THURSDAY
The pulled pork tacos were really good. I knew I was going to have a hard time rolling out the tortillas so I enlisted the help of no. one who did a great job. Earlier in the day I went to a few place to try and find a press, but I had no luck. However, this past weekend my husband stopped into the mexican stall at the farmers market to get some tamales for lunch. The place is no bigger than 6 feet by ten feet, but they make awesome food. We thought they only made tamales but they were out by the time he got there and he came out with a bunch of other amazing food and a TORTILLA PRESS. I was so excited. Those things are hard to find, go figure.

FRIDAY
NYC

nyc

The kids had a half day today and since there were no activities after school I decided to take them into the city to meet my husband for dinner. We took the train up, which went better than it usually does. We then hit a few stores on our way down to his office. The kids and I hung out for a bit and then we went over to Crumbs and we let the kids each pick out a cupcake (they lasted the kids three days). Their cupcakes almost make me wish that I liked cake. We then all headed back towards mid-town for some dinner. We decided on Korean BBQ. We all really like it and we do not have a place around us that we can get it. There is a good Korean market, H Mart, that is near us and we sometimes go there for lunch. We hit the place that we went to last time. I have the name and once it is located I will post it, it is worth a stop if you are in the area.

perfect : dress

Homegrown dress.

photo by anthropologie

ricotta pancakes with blueberry sauce

For breakfast this past weekend I made ricotta pancakes with blueberry sauce for breakfast. The kids and my husband said that they turned out great. Next time I will have to make a double batch, this did not make nearly enough. I had to give them a blueberry muffin on the side.

Ricotta Pancakes
Makes about twelve 3- to 4-inch pancakes.

For the pancakes
4 large eggs, separated
1 1/3 cups ricotta
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Melted butter for brushing the griddle

In a bowl whisk together the egg yolks, the ricotta, the sugar, and vanilla, add the flour, and stir the mixture until it is just combined.

In a bowl with an electric mixer beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they hold stiff peaks. Fold about one fourth of the whites into the ricotta mixture, then fold in the remaining whites gently but thoroughly.

Heat a griddle over moderately medium heat until it is hot enough to make drops of water scatter over its surface and brush it with some of the melted butter. Working in batches, pour the batter onto the griddle by 1/4-cup measures and cook the pancakes for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, or until they are golden, brushing the griddle with some of the melted butter as necessary.

Blueberry Sauce

2-1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

In a medium size pan combine the berries, sugar and 1/4 cup of the juice. Heat over medium heat and cook until the berries start to burst.

In a small bolw combine 1/4 cup of the orange juice and the cornstartch. Mix until the starch has dissolved. Add to the blueberry mixture and cook for one minute.

Reduce the heat and add the lemon juice to the mixture. Continue to cook for about 10 minutes.

Serve warm over pancakes.

perfect : jewerly

Necklace by eninaj.

photo by eninaj.

blueberry muffins

I often make muffins for the kids. They are a good snack to send into school for lunch. Sometime they also get them for dessert. I tried tons of recipes and have finally come up with one that is a hit round here.

Blueberry Muffins
adapted from The Joy of Cooking
Makes: 2 dozen 2-inch muffins

1-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastery flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs
1 cup milk
8 table spoons butter, melted
2/3 cup of light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

1-3/4 cup fresh blueberries

cinnamon sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Either line or butter a 12-muffin pan.

In a large bowl mix together the two flours, salt, and baking powder. Take one tablepsoon of this misture and toss with the blueberries in another bowl and set aside.

In another bowl whisk eggs add melted butter and whisk. Then add the milk, sugar, and vanilla and whisk until combined.

Combine the liquid and flour ingredients with a few swift strokes, do not over mix. Fold in blueberries into the batter before the dry ingredients are completely moist.

Fill cups two-thirds full, sprinkle tops with cinnamon sugar and bake 18 to 25 minutes.