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Friday Favorites #5

Friday Favorites

Not much exciting happened this week.  The kids finally had a full week of school.  With work and the kids’ activities, it was another busy week around here.  Here are some of this week’s favorites.  Most of them this week are food-related, but some aren’t.

1.  Favorite Book –  If you liked Gone Girl, you will probably enjoy this book.  I read this book in two days and then gave it to the Mr. to read.  It’s a page-turner!  The Mr. was a bit disappointed with the ending but he, who rarely reads, also finished the book in two days.

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2.  Family Favorite Show – We don’t have cable anymore, which I’m starting to miss, since I’m not able to get my fill of trashy reality television from Netflix!  Does Hulu air the Real Housewives and The Bachelor?!!!  So only having Netflix, there’s not a lot of shows that we can all watch and enjoy together as a family.  I don’t really enjoy watching Pokémon and Good Luck Charlie.  We’ve all been happy watching episodes from the Man v. Food collection on Netflix though!

3.  Favorite Bookmarked Recipe of the Week – This Shrimp and Scallop Stroganoff from blog Penny’s Passion.  I’ve made the traditional beef stroganoff and even chicken stroganoff.  But shrimp and scallop stroganoff is different! Looking forward to cooking this soon!

4.   We love Jimmy Fallon!  Check out this ice cream prank he pulled in honor of the debut of Ben & Jerry’s Tonight Dough.

5.   These Chicken Avocado Enchiladas that I made for dinner this week.  I adapted the recipe from Dinners Dishes & Dessert, which had used leftover turkey.   I ended up snapping this photo before cooking.  Lighting was so bad when they were ready and I was planning to take a pic of leftovers the next day…..but leftovers do not photo well!  They were really good though and highly recommend.  The kids ate them even after telling me that they don’t like avocados (they didn’t even taste them, since they get blended in the sauce!).  The Mr. commented that these tasted like something you’d get in a restaurant!
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Linking up with Andrea @ Momfessionals, Jennie @ The Diary of a Real Housewife, Tif @ Bright on a Budget and Michael @ Rattlebridge Farm.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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Slow Cooker Garlic Honey Teriyaki Chicken Wings

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The Mr. and I like chicken wings.  Growing up in high school and college, I remember many of the local bars and pubs having 10 cent wing nights.  Then when the Mr. and I were visiting a friend of his up near his alma mater, Binghamton University, we visited a local restaurant that served all kinds of different flavored wings.  We were in wing heaven!  Nowadays, we don’t eat wings very often and rarely, if ever, do we cook them at home.  I’ve seen many different recipes for slow cooker wings out there on the internet and Pinterest and thought we’d give it a try.  Instead of regular hot wings, I figured these garlic honey teriyaki flavored wings would appeal more to the kids.  Slow cooking definitely beats standing over a deep fryer!  And the kids did enjoy the sweet honey teriyaki sauce.  We are going to need to eat wings more often though and get our son accustomed to the mess of eating them.  He actually asked for a fork and knife to eat the wings with since they were “too messy!”  These are a healthier and easier to cook alternative to fried chicken wings.

Slow Cooker Garlic Honey Teriyaki Chicken Wings
Recipe adapted from The Housewife In Training Files

Ingredients:
  • 2 lbs chicken wings
    Teriyaki Sauce:
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 3 tbsp honey
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
  • ½ tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 tbsp cold water
  • Garnish: sesame seeds, scallions
 Directions:
  1. Make the teriyaki sauce by combining the water, soy sauce, honey, garlic and garlic powder in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
  2. Whisk together the cornstarch and water until dissolved. Add the cornstarch mixture to the saucepan.
  3. Heat the sauce until it thickens. Add more water if the sauce becomes too thick. Set aside to cool.
  4. Layer the wings in the bottom of the slow cooker and pour the sauce over them. Set on high for 3 – 4 hours, depending on size of wings.
  5. Once wings are finished cooking in the slow cooker, remove from the sauce and place on baking sheet.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for fifteen minutes.
  6. While wings are baking, pour sauce from slow cooker into a medium sauce pan and heat over high heat to reduce (approximately 15 minutes), stirring frequently.  Once wings are done baking, toss in the thickened sauce.
  7. Serve sprinkled with sesame seeds and scallions.
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Simple Clam Chowder

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Today is National Clam Chowder Day.  My parents have a house in Rhode Island and every summer when we go visit it’s tradition for us to eat a lunch of clam chowder and clam cakes.   While traditional Rhode Island clam chowder has a clear broth, we prefer the New England style, like this one, with a milk base.  Below is a recipe for clam chowder that I have made twice now, and I rarely repeat recipes!

Simple Clam Chowder
Recipe adapted from Cooking Light, January 2008

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 garlic clove, minced
2 (6 1/2 ounce) cans chopped clams, undrained
2 1/2 cups diced, peeled, baking potatoes
2 (8 ounce) bottles clam juice
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup flour

Directions:

1.  Add olive oil to  a Dutch Oven or large pot over medium heat.  Add the onion, salt, thyme and garlic, cooking approximately 4 minutes until tender.

2.  Drain the clams, reserving the liquid.  Add the reserved liquid, potatoes, clam juice and bay leaf to the pot, bringing to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer 15 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.  Discard the bay leaf.

3. In a small bowl, whisk the milk and flour until smooth.  Add the flour mixture to the pot; bringing to a boil.  Stir constantly for approximately 10 – 12 minutes, until thick.  Add the  clams and cook for 2 more minutes.

Manhattan style, New England style, Rhode Island style……what kind of clam chowder do you like best? …..Or do you not like it at all?!!! 

 

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Snack Spotlight: Lesser Evil Super 4

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We are always on the lookout for new snacks and thought that we would occasionally showcase some recent ones that we have tried.  Nowadays, there are an infinite number of snacks in a myriad of different flavors on grocery store shelves.  And more are constantly being added!  On our quest to find new and interesting snacks we have been frequenting Marshalls of all places.  Their specialty and gourmet food selection is surprisingly large and constantly being updated with new and interesting products!

Today we are featuring Lesser Evil brand Super 4 Snacks. The name is a mouthful:  White bean, Quinoa, Lentil Chia snacks.  We tried the Cheesy Nacho flavor but they also come in two other flavors, Kale & Roasted Garlic and Roasted Red Pepper.  Before I told the kids what these were I had them try them.  Taking after their mother, neither can say no to salty, crunchy chip-like foods!

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I wasn’t surprised when they liked them!  I then told them the name and they kind of shrugged.  I know if I had told them prior to eating they would tell me that they don’t like those things.  The Lesser Evil brand company headquarters is located in Danbury, Connecticut, which is only about an hour away from us.  By purchasing these, I feel like we’re supporting a semi-local company.  We also like that these snacks contain no GMOs, preservatives, or refined sugars.  While we are attempting to eat somewhat healthier, I cannot give up my salty, crunchy snacks.  I am always on the lookout for healthier alternatives that will fill my snacking needs and these Lesser Evil Super 4 snacks fit the bill!   You can check out the official Lesser Evil site here.  I am excited to see that the company also makes other snacks including popcorn and Baked Bean Chia Crisps.

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Pineapple Banana Bread

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Today is National Banana Bread Day!  If you are like our family, you always have ripened bananas sitting on your counter.  We have made countless banana breads and muffins with these too ripe to eat bananas.  I saw this recipe and thought it was different with the addition of the pineapple.  The pineapple helped moisten the bread and added an additional sweetness.  The kids enjoyed this bread for breakfast with some yogurt and fruit.

Pineapple Banana Bread
Recipe adapted from Jam Hands which sourced the recipe from Taste of Home.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
  • 1/3 cup drained crushed pineapple
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly spray or grease 8x 4 inch loaf pan.

2.  In a bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the banana and pineapple. In a medium bowl combine the dry ingredients.    Stir the dry ingredients into the creamed butter and sugar mixture until just combined.

3.  Pour into the loaf pan and bake at for 65-70 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clear.

4.  Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.

 

NYC Restaurant Week: David Burke Kitchen

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With the kids visiting their grandparents over their winter break, the Mr. and I were able to dine out for the first time ever during NYC restaurant week.  Running from February 16 through March 6, over 300 restaurants throughout the city are participating.  The list of participating restaurants can be found here.  Of course many of the restaurants that I’d like to eat at in the city are not participating (I’m talking about you Eleven Madison Park!).   And some restaurants were already booked up for Wednesday, the only night that we were available.  There were too many restaurants to look through all of their menus.  However, I spent some time perusing the menus and felt like a lot of the restaurants only offered about three or four similar choices for appetizers (soup, salad, roasted beets) and main courses (salmon, chicken, braised short rib).  I had seen David Burke on Top Chef Masters and was excited to see that reservations were available for Wednesday at his restaurant David Burke Kitchen.  The restaurant is located in SoHo at 23 Grand Street.  It was a bit of trek from Grand Central but we made it!  When you enter the building the restaurant is located on the lower level.  Our table was ready when we arrived and after checking our coats we were seated.  We were first offered a wine and cocktail menu.  I had a glass of winter sangria and the Mr. had a “Rabbit Hunter” cocktail consisting of bourbon, lime juice and mint.

The wait staff were dressed casually in jeans with blue button down collar shirts tucked into their jeans.  Our waitress was friendly and explained the menu to us.  The menu we received looked a little different than what is published on the website.  It was a specially printed Restaurant Week menu.  For $35 you choose an appetizer, main and dessert.  They also offered some other shareable dishes like mushrooms and homemade ricotta for an additional cost.  Each section of the menu had the list of choices and included the original menu prices.  The one negative that I noticed on this menu (and many of the other restaurant week menus I looked at) were that several options had a supplemental fee of anywhere from $5 (kale salad) to $39 dollars (ribeye steak).

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For appetizers I chose the Crisp Chicken & Tallegio Grilled Cheese and the Mr. started with the Skuna Bay Salmon Tartare (pictured above).  I think I was expecting more of a sandwich type dish, but was surprised at what I received.  It looked like an egg roll filled with lots of veggies and tender chicken served over a sour cherry sauce and a tarragon jus served with a small frisee salad. The Salmon Tartare was served over carrot puree and topped with strips of radish and cucumber. The corners of the plate had little dollops of tangy pomegranate yogurt. For the entrée, I had a braised short rib over red wine cabbage with a crisp saffron and gruyere risotto cake.  The Mr. chose the Grilled Berkshire Pork Chop with crisp potato croutons and honeycrisp apple and mustard glazed carrots and turnips.  For dessert we had the Mocha Mousse Bar and the Toasted Coconut Custard Tart.  The chocolate dessert was rich and super chocolaty with layers of chocolate, chocolate mousse and chocolate praline crunch with a side of vanilla bean ice cream.  The custard tart on the other hand was light and tangy with a lime custard and roasted pineapple.  We shared everything but the appetizer.  I of course tasted the tartar, but am not a big fan of raw fish.  All of the dishes were well plated and delicious!  The portion sizes were decent.  By the end of the three courses I was on the brink of being uncomfortably full!  I apologize for the lack of pictures, but my iPhone does not take good pictures without a flash.  The Mr.’s phone usually takes decent pictures without a flash, but for some reason, it kept going off and we decided against attempting anymore photos.

The only criticism I have of the restaurant is that it is a bit noisy.  Background music was playing and with the tables so close together and lots of conversations going on, it got pretty loud.

We really enjoyed our meal and, for the price, we thought it was a great deal!  We highly recommend the restaurant, if you can still get reservations during Restaurant Week!

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Friday Favorites #4

Friday FavoritesDid everyone have a great week?!  The kids spent the week with their grandparents in Rhode Island, while the Mr. and I were working.  We managed to get in a couple of date night dinners in their absence.  I’m tired of complaining about the weather but first there was all the snow and now it’s been absolutely freezing!  The poor kids couldn’t even play outside in the snow while up in RI it was so cold!  Here are some of this week’s favorites!

1.   Beard Papa Cream Puffs – It was Japan Week at Grand Central Terminal in NYC this week.  On my way into the city to meet the Mr. for dinner I stopped to check it out.  The line at the Beard Papa stand was crazy long.  I didn’t even know what I was getting in line for, but if everyone was waiting in line, it had to be good, right?!!!  I ordered the Doraemon (named after the popular, blue Japanese character) “Yummy Bun” and yes I was embarrassed ordering it by that name.  But for $3.25, this was one of the best cream puffs I’ve had.  They fill the cream puff when you order, so you know you’re getting a fresh pastry.  The Doreamon “Yummy Bun” was filled with the original custard cream mixed with red bean and chestnuts.  This cream puff made its debut this week and is allegedly going to be offered at Beard Papa stores.  Check out the official Beard Papa site here for more information.

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2. Free Chipotle Burrito – The Mr. tried the Sofritas burrito bowl during Chipotle’s promotion and thus earned a free item with the receipt.  Over the weekend we took a trip to the Palisades mall and got our free burrito.  We ended up splitting a chicken burrito…..and then a Yogen Fruz frozen yogurt!

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3.  Favorite Bookmarked Recipe of the Week – This Banana Stuffed French Toast from blog Damn Delicious.  I’m always looking for recipes to use up the ripened bananas that we always seem to have.  Plus, this is a no-brainer, the kids will love it, breakfast for dinner!

4.  This video of American kids trying breakfast foods from around the world!

5. This Goat Cheese Cheesecake – We ate dinner this week at a new, local restaurant Hopscotch.  The food was delicious and this goat cheese cheesecake was so memorable!

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Linking up with Andrea @ Momfessionals, Jennie @ The Diary of a Real Housewife, Tif @ Bright on a Budget and Michael @ Rattlebridge Farm.

Have a great weekend!

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Awesome Egg Rolls

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Today is the first day of Chinese New Year.  In honor of the holiday we had an early celebration last weekend and made a feast of different dishes.  The first we are sharing are these Awesome Egg Rolls.  Believe it or not, but we had never made egg rolls prior to this.  We’ve made dumplings before, but never egg rolls.  This was a fun activity for the whole family to get involved in.  We deep fried these egg rolls.  However, with the kids helping with the filling and sealing of these, they may not have sealed the wrappers as tightly as they should have.  As a result, the egg rolls may have turned out a little greasier than we had wanted.  The filling and flavor was great though and we enjoyed these as part of our feast!

Awesome Egg Rolls
Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com courtesy of ROUVER

Ingredients:
6 cups green cabbage, shredded
1 carrot, shredded
 2 tablespoons chopped onion 
4 ounces cooked, frozen baby salad shrimp, defrosted
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
black pepper to taste
1 egg, beaten
cornstarch
20 egg roll wrappers
vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine the cabbage, carrots, and onion. Stir in the shrimp, soy sauce, garlic powder, and black pepper.

2. Heat a small skillet over medium heat.  Pour the beaten egg into the pan, flipping once, until done. Remove from the skillet and let cool.  Once
cooled chop finely and stir into the cabbage mixture. Sprinkle the cabbage mixture with approximately 1 1/2 tablespoons of cornstarch.  Mix and allow to sit for 10 minutes.

3. In a small bowl, combine 1 tablespoon of  cornstarch with 2 tablespoons cold water. Set aside.

4. Place 2 to 3 tablespoons of the cabbage mixture into the center of each egg roll skin. Dip a spoon into the water/cornstarch mixture, and moisten all corners but the bottom corner. Fold the egg roll skin from the bottom over the mixture, making a tight tube. Fold the corners in from the sides, and press to stick against the folded roll. Finish rolling the rest of the way. Repeat with remaining egg roll wrappers.

5. Fill deep fryer with vegetable, using the manufacturer’s recommendations.  Heat to 350 degrees F.  If not using a deep fryer, pour vegetable oil into a deep frying pan to a depth of 3 or 4 inches, and heat oil to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Carefully place egg rolls into hot oil, and fry until golden brown. (approximately 4-5 minutes in the deep fryer).  Remove to paper towels.

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Italian Herb Muffins

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Whenever I make soup for dinner I also try to make a muffin or a bread to go with it.  Soup just doesn’t seem filling enough as a meal by itself for me.   I love to make muffins because they’re so easy and leftovers can be eaten frozen and/or eaten for breakfast.  These are an easy to make, savory muffin.  As the Mr. noted, they have an almost biscuit-like consistency.  The kids were surprisingly not big fans of these muffins.  However, I think that these muffins made a nice side to have with our soup.

Italian Herb Muffins
Recipe slightly adapted from One Perfect Bite
Yield:  10-12 muffins

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. Penzey’s Pasta sprinkle
3 tsps. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Grease a 12 cup muffin tin (or you can use cupcake liners).

2. Combine flour through salt in a large bowl.  In another bowl combine the egg, milk and vegetable oil.  Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until combined.

3.  Fill muffin cups 3/4 full and bake in oven for 15-20 minutes until toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.  Cool for 5 – 1o minutes in the pan and then take the muffins out and let them continue to cool on a wire rack.

 

Sharing at the Tasty Tuesday Recipe Link-Up.

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In Honor of Mardi Gras – “Blackened” Catfish

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To help celebrate Mardi Gras this year with the kids, we made an interpretation of blackened catfish. This is a dish usually associated with  the deep south and especially Louisiana. The basic recipe calls for coating the fish with butter and a variety of spices which are darkened through cooking to become almost black. The original recipes often call for quite a bit of cayenne, which we wanted to tame for the benefit of the kids while maintaining some of the essential flavors.. We also opted to soften the cooking style a bit to get the fish crispy without heading toward black and possibly burnt. The following is our take on “blackened” catfish.  Our only mistake was not buying more fish.  We all enjoyed this a lot!

“Blackened” Catfish
Recipe by NY Foodie Family

Ingredients:
1 Lb Catfish Fillets (approximately 3 pieces)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp Penzey’s Pasta Sprinkle blend
1/2 tsp Penzey’s Ruth Ann’s Muskego Chicken & Fish seasoning blend
1 Tbsp melted butter
1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp olive oil

Directions:
1.  Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

2. Mix all the dry seasonings (salt through Penzey’s Ruth Ann’s Muskego Chicken & Fish seasoning blend) together in a small bowl and set aside.

3. Heat an oven-safe nonstick skillet over medium heat, and add the olive oil and solid butter to the pan. Brush both sides of the catfish fillets with the melted butter and then coat the top sides with the spice mixture. Add the fish to the pan, spice side up. Cook for 5 minutes and carefully turn the fish over.

4. Place the whole pan into the preheated oven and bake for another 15 minutes or until the edges become crispy and the top looks golden. Remove the fish from the pan and serve immediately.