Showers of Happiness

For a bit of a change, I wanted to commemorate the baby shower we had at the house for my mom's friend Charissa from work who is having a baby girl in December. It was celebratory of other things as well, in what my mother referred to as the first "happy party" we had in the house since my Dad died. We spent weeks cleaning the house and preparing the menu. As usual, I planned enough menu items for 30, when we were only about 12.

Unfortunately, we were both left having to work late the night before forcing us to rush around cooking up until the moment Charissa walked in the door to her surprise party.

What kept us sane was everyone at the party contributed food...and we were flexible enough to ditch some of the "cute" ideas as we went (i.e. chicken salad sounds great in a lettuce cup, but sometimes you just have to get down to business).

We proved to ourselves that we can still put on a pretty good party...

that no one will ever leave our house hungry...

and that you really can put on a great baby shower without any goofy games whatsoever. We are all so excited for Baby Mackenzie (aka Baby Mango) to arrive we can't wait to meet her!

Notably, I think our recipe triumphs of the day were the Mediterranean barley salad:

Ina Garten's Lemon Bars (which I successfully made without burning the house down and putting the new juicer to good use for the second time):

And today's featured recipe of the day, Shrimp Canapes (which I somehow couldn't manage to remember to get a picture of all by itself). We tested this recipe as it was originally written by Claire Robinson from the Food Network, and made the necessary changes featured here to make it a more well-rounded appetizer.

20 large fresh shrimp, peeled, cleaned and deveined
2 tbsp old bay
1 quart water
1 cup white wine
1 bag presliced french bread
1 small container sour cream
1-2 tbsp prepared horseradish, depending on how strong you want it
1/4 cup champagne vinegar
chopped chives for garnish

Bring a quart of water to a simmer in a large pot over medium heat. Once simmering, add the white wine and the Old Bay to flavor. Add the shrimp, and poach (do not boil!) for 5 minutes until pink and cooked through. Use caution to not overcook or they will be too tough.

While the shrimp is cooking, mix the sour cream and horseradish in a small bowl. Place in refrigerator to chill.

Drain the shrimp and place in a bowl of ice to cool.

While the shrimp is cooling, place the bread slices onto a baking sheet, heat oven to 350, and toast for 10-15 minutes until just lightly toasted (not too hard to bite through).

Once the shrimp is cool, pull the tails off the shrimp and slice in half to form two shrimp rounds.

Take the toasted bread slices, dip one side quickly in the champagne vinegar to gently flavor (don't let it soak through) and place on a plate. Spoon a small amount of horseradish sour cream onto the bread, then top with a shrimp round. Continue this process with each of the toast slices. Top with chopped chives for garnish, and serve. Enjoy!

And congratulations again to Charissa and Shannon!

A Light Weeknight

I love making this recipe as a last minute weeknight throw-together. It cooks fast, is low in fat, and is very light. For my vegetarian friends who are shaking their heads while reading this, substitute vegetable stock for the chicken stock.

Recipe of the day: Quick Spaghetti with Sauteed Zucchini in Broth

1 tbsp Olive oil
1/2 small onion, sautéed
Ground black pepper for seasoning

1 bag frozen yellow and green squash
1 can chicken stock
1/2 lb spaghetti

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Boil spaghetti according to directions. Meanwhile, sauté onion and frozen/fresh squash in olive oil until softened and season liberally with pepper. 

Add chicken stock and stir to make a thin sauce.

Add pasta to the pan to coat with the sauce...

...and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Serve hot. Enjoy with extra cheese and toasted Italian bread.

Macaroni and Gravy, Part II

While I maintain that I am not anywhere near an authority on Italian cooking, I think I've come up with a meatball recipe that has a good balance of taste, from the meatloaf mix, and moisture, from being simmered in the sauce instead of being baked in the oven or fried on the stove. One of the changes I edited into the recipe, compared to the photos shown below, is processing the onions instead of trying to chop them by hand to add more moisture.

As one of my friends started the gravy vs. sauce argument, I figured I'd mention it here (after all, I do enjoy being a true pot-stirrer, no pun intended)...keep in mind that to true Italians, as I have been told, it doesn't become gravy until the meat goes in to simmer. Just sayin ;)

Recipe of the Day: Italian Meatballs
1 1/3 cups parmesan cheese
2 1/2 lb meatloaf mix
1 tsp each salt, pepper, garlic powder
1/4 large onion, finely chopped in a food processor
1 cup Italian flavored breadcrumbs (use fresh if you have them)
1/3 cup whole milk
2 eggs

Soak breadcrumbs in milk.

Add all ingredients to large bowl...

...and mix with your hands. Cover and refrigerate until you're ready to form the meatballs (this should be done by the end of the day, don't leave the mix in the fridge for more than a few hours)

Form golf-ball sized meatballs and set aside. 

Place meatballs in simmering sauce, cover, set heat to warm/low and cook 30 minutes. Stir sauce gently every few minutes to prevent burning on the bottom.

Macaroni and Gravy, Part I

I think it's about time to reveal the sauce recipe. The long one that I never get to make because, well, who (especially someone as impatient as me) has that amount of time to stand around and stare at a simmering pot. I took a risk, and left the pot on to cook while I went to work with the plan that 1) Hillary was going to be home 2 hours after I left, and 2) only after calling a couple of the firefighters on Station 40 and asking them to listen for my address, stating that any smoke alarms would, in fact, be a true fire.
The combination of the different textures of the tomatoes makes for a more complete sauce that doesn't taste too dry or monotone.

I continue to use canned tomatoes against better judgement, because my tomato "crops" yielded no more than one appetizer sided portion for a caprese salad.

We calculated that the tomatoes I gardened cost me approximately $50 each. Better luck next year.

Recipe of the Day: Red Sauce (Long Version)
1/2 stick butter
1 large yellow onion, halved and sliced
3-28oz cans petite diced tomatoes
2-28 oz cans crushed tomatoes in puree
1-29 oz can tomato puree
1-29 oz can tomato sauce

Before simmering seasonings:
1 tsp each: salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried basil
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup good red wine

After simmering seasonings:
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf


Melt butter in a large pot, and cook onions for 5 minutes until softened and turning translucent.

Add the contents of all of the canned tomatoes (7 in total, pictured above)....

...and bring to a boil over medium. Add the "before simmering seasonings" listed above and stir to incorporate. Reduce heat to warm/low, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.

Cook for 5 hours, then add "after simmering seasonings" and cook for another hour. At that point, the sauce is ready to use however you wish. We used it to cook meatballs and sausage in, to make sausage heroes.

it's back (again)

Figured I'd ease into things and put up one of the most simple dessert recipes I have. Now some may say that any idiot can make yellow cake mix taste good, but this really is failproof as long as you don't set the kitchen on fire or forget to take it out of the oven. The cake turns out so moist, it does not need any frosting to make it delectable. If you're looking to dress it up a little bit, it goes well with vanilla or chocolate ice cream.

Recipe of the Day: Easy Cake
(Pam for Baking spray)
1 box Duncan Hines yellow cake mix
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil


Preheat the oven to 350. Spray the inside of a light-metal Bundt pan with Pam to coat it.

Combine all the ingredients listed above in a large bowl.

Using a hand mixer, mix ingredients on low for 1-2 minutes until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Pour the batter into the greased Bundt pan.

Bake in the oven at 350 for 40 minutes and remove from the oven. Turn out onto a cooling rack immediately after removing from the oven to allow to cool completely.