Our Delicious Life

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T09:30:00.001-05:00

Happy snowy Valentine's Day!

I love Valentine's Day not really for the cards, flowers and candy....but more because I love everyone in their pink and red and it's another fun excuse to make crafty stuff and a fancy dinner with the one you love...
Tonight Rob and I are planning on making a fancy dinner at home... and I'm looking very forward to it :)

Luckily for me the one I love is willing to stay up late with me the night before Valentine's Day and help decorate Valentine's Day cookies.. Want to see them? They turned out pretty cute :)

Have a very Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Restaurant Review - Taste of Belgium

2012-02-10T15:10:00.001-05:00

Yay! We finally got around to visiting Taste of Belgium over the weekend for Rob's birthday. He wanted mussels, fries and Belgian Beers for his birthday and that's what he was going to get! We have been here for beers and french fries twice, but this was our first time coming in for a full meal.

We showed up and were told it would be about a 20 minute wait so we grabbed a couple of belgian beers at the bar and chatted...

I hate waiting, but I will say that this place has plenty of room to wait. You aren't standing on top of people's tables or smooshed into some area near the cold front door..there is plenty of space around the bar to sit/stand and have a drink while you wait. We ended up waiting about 45 minutes (we were offered a seat the community chef's table, but chose to wait for our own table).

Once we were seated we already knew what we wanted to get. The first time we ever tried escargot was on our honeymoon in Europe on a cruise. It was not something we would usually order, but on the cruise everything is included so we ordered some things that were different than our norm (knowing if we didn't like it, we could just order something else) and luckily ended up realizing how delicious escargot is. Anyway, we knew that's the appetizer we wanted.

delicious escargot

Oh man...honestly you might be able to cook a dirty boot in this sauce of butter, garlic and wine and I would probably eat it and ask for seconds, but thankfully for us instead of a boot we had these big and delicious pieces of escargot. After we finished them there was lots of bread soaking to soak up all the last drips of their delicious sauce.

We ordered another beer.....

Then we were ready for the main event, what we came for, what the birthday boy had been hankering for for a month...... the 2lb pot of mussels. There are four different flavors you can get...but we went traditional with the Provencal style.

Big meaty delicious mussels cooked in a sauce of tomatoes, white wine and garlic. I had all but given up hope finding delicious mussels in Cincinnati...so thank you Taste of Belgium for restoring my hope.

Oh, and did I mention these mussels are served with a large plate of french fries with aioli on the side? Because it is....and they're great.

As much as I like the fries, to me it's not eating mussels without some crusty bread to eat some more of that broth...we asked our waitress for just a couple of pieces of bread to sop up some of the sauce and she was happy to bring some out....

We ended our night with one of their famous waffles with some strawberries on top... mmmm

Happy Birthday!

I can't wait to go back...friends that have been there before are the chicken and waffles as good as the mussels? Because I think that's what I have to have next time.. mmmmm

Pizza Monkey Bread

2012-02-08T09:00:00.000-05:00

Pinterest oh pinterest how I love thee...let me count the ways...

When the superbowl rolled around this year I knew I already had a pin board full of delicious choices to make for our small gathering, but this one was at the top of my mind...delicious, fun, easy and kind of impressive looking.... Pizza Monkey Bread!

Each of those little pull of pieces has a piece of (turkey) pepperoni and a small piece of mozzarella cheese in it.... seriously..how fun is that?

You could make your favorite pizza crust and sauce...or make it quick and easy like us and buy your favorite pizza crust and sauce...

We whipped up some garlic butter

and brushed it on the inside of the bundt pan

Then broke off little pieces of pizza dough, flattened them and topped them with a piece of pepperoni and a piece of cheese...

Then pinched it into little balls painted each one with a dab of garlic butter and just started loading them up into the bundt pan.

Fill it up, bake and it will come out looking this....

Let it cool a little and flip it upside down on the plate

Look how fun!!

pull a piece off, dip in pizza sauce and enjoy with friends!

I want to try to make this sweet sometime....stuffed with baked apples and rolled in cinnamon and sugar...doesn't that sound good?

Here is the recipe: from JasonandShawnda.com:

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
4 Tbsp butter
2 lbs pizza dough
6 oz mozzarella cheese, cut into small cubes (you'll need ~48 pieces)
48 slices of Turkey pepperoni (from 1 package)
2-3 cups marinara sauce, warmed, for serving

Instructions

Heat garlic and butter over medium heat just until the garlic begins to brown. Remove from heat and let sit.
Lightly brush the inside of a bundt pan (or other oven-safe dish) with garlic butter.
Pull off large marble-sized balls of dough and flatten. Top with a slice of pepperoni and a cube of mozzarella.
Wrap the dough around the pepperoni and cheese, pinching well to seal.
Very lightly brush the pizza ball with garlic butter and place into the bundt pan
Repeat until all of the dough is used.
Cover and let sit for 30 minutes, while preheating the oven to 400.
Bake for ~35 minutes, until the top is very brown.
Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes.
Turn out onto a platter and serve with warmed marinara sauce for dipping.

Restaurant Review - A Tavola

2012-02-02T11:16:00.000-05:00

Yes! We finally got the opportunity to go to A Tavola (every other time we tried to go they were on a 2+ hour wait), so Saturday night when our group was hungry for dinner early, we headed that way for some of this pizza we have heard so much about... There was still a 45 minute wait at 5:30, but no one complained about going across the street to Taste of Belgium for some pre-dinner beers and pomme frites with aoili.

We were out celebrating THIS!!!!

They called us when our table was ready and we headed over to try the pizza.

We started off with some sliders and risotto balls.....

Wagyu Beef Meatball Slider & Eggplant Slider..both served on a Blue Oven mini english muffin

Arancini- Fried Risotto balls served with pesto

At $5 a pop, the sliders are a little pricey but absolutely delicious. The beef meatball was extremely flavorful and I loved the pesto that was on both the eggplant slider and the arancini. The arancini was crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside....I would definitely get these again...

So bring on the pizza....for 5 hungry people we got 3 pizzas and ate every last bite...

Sausage & Panna: house sausage, panna, red onion, mozzarella, fennel pollen

I wasn't sure what Panna was, but I knew that this pizza was one of the creamiest pizzas I had ever had, if that makes any sense, and sure enough after looking it up, Panna is an Italian cream. A lot like heavy cream but thicker and less sweet. Whatever it is it needs to be on way more pizzas from here on out...

Fig & Prosciutto: fig jam, prosciutto, fontina, arugula salad

Claire suggested we get this pizza and I wasn't too sure about it as I am not a "sweet on savory" kind of person much. I don't particularly want jam on my pizza, but she said it was good and prosciutto would win a "what's the best meat ever" competition if I was the judge, so I agreed. I'm also just a little obsessed with arugula on everything, so that made the decision easy. It was just the right amount of sweet and salty with the fig jam and the prosciutto and in my humble opinion every pizza should be topped with an arugula salad, so this was a definite winner in my book.

Sweet Pea & Bacon: sweet peas, house bacon, fontina

This pizza was also good, but all 5 of us rated our pizzas in order and this came at the bottom of everyone's list (even mine and I picked it)- so this is probably the one that I wouldn't order again if I went back. But it was still really good..the peas were firm and still had some bite to them and the bacon was thick cut and you could really taste it in every bite....just couldn't quite compete with the first two.

salted caramel ice cream. mmmmmm

The five of us split this bowl of salted caramel ice cream to finish the night. It was no Jeni's Salty Caramel,but it was still pretty good. Ironically while I don't like sweet on my savory I love savory on my sweet.....if that makes any sense?

All in all this place really lived up to the hype. The service was great and the pizza was delicious...so we're already looking forward to going back..

Light Mushroom Lasagna

2012-01-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

If you think I say that every recipe I post is delicious, it's because if I make a recipe that is not delicious, I do not bother posting it here. If it's ugly or the recipe needs tweaking, I don't post it. This, my friends, is a delicious recipe. Creamy, rich lasagna that is light because it uses skim milk and low fat cream cheese. This dish is pretty and delicious enough for company too. yum!

I made a couple of changes to the original recipe mostly because I am way too cheap to spend $10 for an ounce of dried porcini mushrooms, but I assure you you won't even notice.. I have made my changes in the recipe below. Look at the original link if you want the recipe with the dried porcinis.

Since I left out the fancy dried mushrooms, I doubled up on the button mushrooms.....and got this pretty package of fancy mushrooms.

sautee all of the mushrooms (button and fancy) in the skillet with the butter, olive oil, garlic and shallots

add the white wine and let it cook down a little bit

stir in the cream cheese and green onions

whip up the bechamel sauce

and put a layer of it in the bottom of the dish

start the layering

End with a layer of sauce and parmesan cheese

Take out a bubbly creamy delicious lasagna

serve with a simple salad and some crusty bread

mmmmmmmmmm

Mushroom Lasagna

Slightly adapted from Ezra Pound Cake originally from “Cooking Light”(January/February 2012)

Makes 6 servings

1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 1/4 cups chopped shallots (about 4)
1 (12-ounce) package presliced cremini or white button mushrooms
1 (4-ounce) package presliced exotic mushroom blend
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
6 garlic cloves, minced and divided
1/2 cup white wine
1/3 cup (3 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, divided
3 cups 2% reduced-fat milk, divided
1 1/10 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1/4 cup)
Cooking spray
9 no-boil lasagna noodles
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
For the Mushroom Filling: Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add shallots to pan; sauté 3 minutes.
Add cremini and exotic mushrooms, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; sauté 6 minutes or until mushrooms are browned.
Add thyme and 3 garlic cloves; sauté 1 minute.
Stir in wine; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute or until liquid almost evaporates, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.
Remove from heat; stir in cream cheese and 1 tablespoon chives
For the Sauce: Heat a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add remaining 3 garlic cloves to pan; sauté 30 seconds. Add the 2 3/4 cups milk, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper; bring to a boil.
Combine remaining 1/4 cup milk and flour in a small bowl; stir with a whisk. Add flour mixture to milk mixture while whisking, and simmer 2 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly with a whisk.
To Assemble: Spoon 1/2 cup sauce into an 11 x 7-inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray, and top with 3 noodles. Spread half of mushroom mixture over noodles. Repeat layers, ending with remaining sauce. Sprinkle cheese over top.
Bake for 45 minutes or until golden. Top with remaining 1 tablespoon chopped chives.

Spicy Mulligatawny Soup

2012-01-16T12:35:00.000-05:00

Are you already thinking of Seinfeld and the soup Nazi just by the name? Anyone?

NO SOUP FOR YOU!

I don't think it's any secret that I am totally obsessed with soup. This is a delicious soup that I've been making for a couple of years and I am totally in love with it. It is spicy and flavorful and has chopped up peeled apples in it which is a totally fun and interesting soup ingredient...

If you are not a totally spicy person, then you could decrease some of the spicy ingredients and it would still be full of flavor...but I love spicy so bring it on.....and think about making a double batch to bring for lunch all week!

Let's get started shall we? This soup comes together QUICK...so my biggest piece of advice would be to cut up all your ingredients and measure out all you spices into a bowl, etc before you even start cooking..that will make everything much easier...

Get all of your ingredients together
I leave out the celery and double up on the green pepper...do whatever you like!

Chop up all the veggies & the apple

Brown a piece of chopped up chicken (no need to cook all the way through-it will
cook the rest of the way in the soup) and then take it out.

pour in your bowl of chopped up goodness and let it sweat

Add your bowl of spices that you already pre-measured because you are so smart

let it cook out a little

add the chicken broth

and chutney & tomato paste

bring to a boil and then let it simmer..it will get nice and thick and delicious

ENJOY!

Spicy Mulligatawny Soup
Recipe (from Cooking Light)

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil, divided
1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup chopped peeled Gala or Braeburn apple
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup mango chutney
1/4 cup tomato paste
Chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Preparation

Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add chicken, and sauté 3 minutes. Remove from pan; set aside.

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in pan. Add apple and next 4 ingredients (apple through bell pepper); sauté 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in the flour and next 4 ingredients (flour through salt); cook 1 minute. Stir in broth, chutney, and tomato paste; bring to a boil.

Reduce heat; simmer 8 minutes. Return chicken to pan; cook 2 minutes or until mixture is thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with parsley, if desired.

2011 in review

2012-01-01T19:00:00.000-05:00

What a year!!! 2011 will definitely be a year I will always remember...so many highlights!!

Here are a few of them....

Rob and I turned 30 years old and celebrated with a "30 is the new 20 party" where we drank cheap beer, played drinking games and encouraged people to come in whatever they wore the most when they were 20.... we also tried to dig pictures of the people we knew when they were 20 out and hang them up for everyone's viewing pleasure :)

I celebrated my upcoming nuptials with 2 showers and a Chicago bachelorette party with some of the bestest gal pals a girl could ever hope for...

We hosted our second family Easter at our house in unseasonably gorgeous weather....and a couple of weeks later we got married in downtown Cincinnati!

The next day we were off to our two week honeymoon that also marked my first trip to Europe and both of our first cruise!

We wrapped up the year by spending Thanksgiving in California and a day up in Sonoma winery-hopping with Rob's parents....

and celebrated Christmas in Cincinnati

There were so many fantastic things in between including tons of beautiful babies being born this year.....lots of birthdays celebrated with friends...and of course some heartbreaks too.. but all in all 2011 was pretty darn good to me and I'll always remember it....

Last night I got to welcome 2012 in with some pretty cool people too...so I'd say so far we're off to a pretty good start in 2012!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Restaurant Review - Take the Cake

2011-12-29T09:00:00.000-05:00

Christmas Eve morning I met one of my bestest friends, her boyfriend and her brothers for brunch in Northside at Take the Cake... I was excited because I have been wanting to try their brunch for a while... I sometimes have an issue with going out for breakfast ... (unless it's with friends or for a specific reason) mostly because I have an issue with paying $10 for two eggs, toast and coffee that I could most likely make better at home and would cost me about $1/person....so the kind of brunch places I like are when the food is different than the normal eggs/toast/pancakes type fare and more creative kind of stuff.... that is definitely take the cake.

The restaurant was cool with high ceilings, exposed ducts and the menu written on giant chalkboard.... and the tables were big long wooden tables mixed with smaller tables....perfect for large groups of breakfast goers... The coffee was self serve and tasted great and the employees were super friendly, helpful with the menu, cleared our plates when we were done and let us sit and drink another cup of coffee and catch up with our friends without rushing us out.

I had the Cuban biscuit with a poached egg, swiss cheese, local ham, pork tenderloin, mustard aioli, onion, jalapeno and cucumber..... It was really delicious....the mustard aioli was something I would buy a bottle of... really just every bite was different and interesting....ham with the runny egg yolk, pork with the mustard, the really flavorful melty swiss cheese.... this is my kinda brunch.

Rob had the Steak & Egg with black beans, chimichurri, guacamole, feta & cabbage slaw

I didn't try any of his but he said "the meat was cooked perfectly and was easy to cut and it was just the right amount of spice for breakfast time."

Both meals were between $8-$9.... and something I will be definitely back for...
Also if we didn't have ten thousand Christmas cookies at home I would have been excited to take home some of the yummy looking things in their bakery case....so we will definitely have to be back for that!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

2011-12-28T09:00:00.000-05:00

It's probably a little late for another Christmas cookie post, but I figure this cookie can be for more than just Christmas...so I might as well share. These little guys are cute, simple and Rob's favorite cookie....

Mix up the dough and the refrigerate..... seriously...refrigerate the dough for a while...otherwise you will have a big sticky doughy mess, if you let it chill for a little bit, the dough will be much easier to form into little balls....which is the next step...that I forgot to photograph...so anyway... refrigerate the dough, roll into small balls pop into a mini muffin pan and bake....

While they are baking, start unwrapping the reese cups and pop them in the freezer for a few minutes just long enough to put a lil chill on them...then when the cookies come out of the oven, press the Reese Cups into each cookie.

As if a reese cup isnt delicious enough...this one has a peanut butter cookie wrapped around it!

Enjoy!

Recipe from all recipes:

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.
Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well. Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool and carefully remove from pan.

Restaurant Review - Gordo's Pub & Grill

2011-12-26T09:00:00.000-05:00

I have heard so many great things about this place that we were really excited to try it...but after eating there I have to say I have no idea what all the hype is about....

Here is a picture of the outside, just because it's really easy to drive right by if you don't know what you are looking for....

Inside it smelled a little like something unpleasant that I can't quite put my finger on....

We came for the burgers and that's what we were going to have! I ordered the Gordos burger that was topped with Roasted Poblanos, Mushrooms, Onions, smoked bacon, Boursin cheese and Mayonnaise for $9....the burger that I ordered medium was VERY much well done, which is annoying and it looked like this.....

I am just not quite sure hot to put something like that in my mouth...

The mushrooms were slimy and rubbery and The fries looked like they were frozen out of a bag, but they tasted pretty good.

The burger mostly tasted like overcooked meat smothered in boursin cheese. The beer selection is pretty good.....everything was fine, not great but not terrible...but there are just too many good burger joints in Cincinnati to return to this one.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T10:00:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone is having a fantastic day with your families and that Santa was good to you this year

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cookies with Royal Icing

2011-12-24T15:34:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a day full of baking here at our house....Is there anything better than baking and Christmas music? Because I honestly can't think of anything more relaxing....

I decided to make, cut out and bake the cookies during the day so that when Rob and Emily came home we could have a decorating party without worrying about all the pesky baking.......

Big Blue was excited to make her Christmas time debut......

I mixed up the ingredients into a delicious sugar cookie dough....

Rolled it out..

and cut it into cute Christmas shapes.
This year's choice was a Christmas tree, a candy cane, a snowman and a star...

Baked them and listened to some of the most random Christmas music that I've ever heard.... seriously I'm pretty sure everyone and their mom has a Christmas album these days...

baked them in the oven and let them cool.....

Then wrapped them up, put on a Hallmark Christmas movie and waited until it was time to decorate!

After dinner we unpacked the cookies, whipped up the icing and got to decorating....
The (very short) story of this icing is basically as follows:
Pipe icing around the edges.....

water down the icing to be more liquidy and "flood" the cookies so they get that pretty smooth topping...

pipe on the decorations!! (the fun part!)

Look how pretty the turned out! We had fun trying to be creative with some of the cookies (some creative attempts turned out way cuter than others :) )

Sugar Cookie Recipe from Annie's Eats
Ella’s White Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 ½ t. almond extract
1 t. vanilla
1 t. salt
2 ½ c. sifted flour

Directions:Cream butter. Add powdered sugar. Blend in egg, almond extract, vanilla, salt and flour. Chill dough until firm. Roll to ¼” thickness on well-floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters. Place on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375° for 8-10 min. Cookies should not brown. Frost and decorate when cool. Yields ~40 cookies (depends on the size of your cookie cutters- I doubled the batch)

Royal Icing Recipe also from Annie's Eats

Royal Icing
Ingredients:
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. meringue powder
5 tbsp. water
Directions:Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the sheen has disappeared and the icing has a matte appearance (about 7-10 minutes). Transfer the contents of the mixing bowl to an air-tight container. This will be the stiffest consistency of the icing, and at this point it is still too stiff to use for decorating. Add water a very small amount at a time and stir by hand until fully incorporated. Continue until the icing has reached a consistency appropriate for piping. (Remember, if you are having any difficulty piping, it is still too thick. Add a little more liquid and try again.) Using a pastry bag, pipe around the edges of each cookie. Let stand so the icing will set. Make sure to keep the leftover icing covered at all times when not in use so that it does not begin to harden.
Once all the cookies have been edged, transfer some of the remaining icing to a separate air-tight container. Thin out by incorporating a small amount of water at a time, until the icing drips off the spoon easily when lifted and then smooths in with that still in the bowl. If you go too far and the icing is too thin, add more sifted powdered sugar to thicken it again. Once the icing has reached the desired consistency, transfer it to a squeeze bottle (or a plastic bag with a hole in one corner), and flood the area surrounded by the piping on each cookie. If it does not completely spread to the edges, use a toothpick to help it along. Allow to set.
Use the remaining thicker icing for piping decoration as desired. Gel icing color is best as it does not add a significant amount of liquid. Liquid food coloring can be used as well – add powdered sugar as needed to compensate for any thinning that occurs.

Restaurant Review- Saigon Cafe

2011-12-22T10:47:00.001-05:00

Before getting to the review can we talk for a second about the "half-price" sushi phenomenon in Cincinnati? If the sushi is half price for every single minute that the restaurant is open.....isn't that just the price? What is the point of printing the menu with double the prices but then never ever charging that much? I get that it's a head game thing.....but wouldn't it make sense to at least charge full price for a couple of hours a week? They're like the Kohls of Sushi...nothing in Kohls has ever been its "original price" and everyone knows it but yet everyone still feels like they're getting the deal of the century by looking at those ridiculous sale signs....but I digress....let's talk about Saigon Cafe...

We went on a weeknight late after an event and actually went to Amarin only to find that it was shut down... I had no idea....so down the street we headed to try out the new Saigon Cafe (in the location where Saki Bomb used to be)... it hadn't gotten the best of reviews up to this point, and the man who greeted us at the door seemed to apologize before we even ordered so I was a little more than worried. "Have you been here before?" "No" "Well hopefully you like us enough to come back again!".....

We were starving so we ordered the crab rangoon as an appetizer and it was fine...actually pretty greasy, but otherwise pretty standard....

Then we ordered a couple of rolls, our standard spicy tuna roll and some salmon and then took the waitress's recommendation on the third one,The Hyde Park (Spicy Tuna, Cucumber, Masago,
Scallions, topped with Avocado, Wasabi Sauce, Crunch) I'm so glad we went with her recommendation because that roll was really delicious...along with the others... the salmon was fresh and a good temperature (I am really weird about everything coming out way too cold)..and the spicy tuna roll was a good amount of spice.

They also have half price bottles of wine Sunday through Thursday...
To get an idea of the prices, check out the menu here (and divide all prices by two obviously)

The ambiance is nice too and it has a little parking lot to the side especially for them.. We will definitely be back in the future...

Tofu Curry

2011-12-18T21:10:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we made this tofu coconut curry over brown rice. It was really great and even better the next day.... Since I am too lazy to write too much, here is the recipe in pictures with the actual recipe at the bottom.

This recipe was really delicious, but next time I will add some kind of green vegetables... I think peas would be a good addition.... Enjoy!

Adapted from Very Simple Curry, p. 271, Jamie’s Food Revolution

recipe found here: http://www.lafujimama.com/2010/03/revolution-tofu-curry/

Serves 4

6 scallions
large bunch of fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 heaped teaspoons curry powder
1 tablespoon butter
2 cans (14-ounces each) coconut milk
sea salt
juice of 1 lemon
1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
15 ounces extra firm tofu, patted dry and cut into 1-inch cubes

1. Finely slice the scallions and finely chop the cilantro.

2. Put a pan over low heat and add the olive oil. Sprinkle the curry powder over the oil and the scallions. Stir everything together and then add the butter. Continue to stir and cook for 20 to 30 seconds more. When it’s all bubbling, add the coconut milk. Bring everything to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 2 minutes. Finish the sauce by seasoning it to taste with salt and then stir in the cilantro and lemon juice.

3. In a skillet over medium-high heat, heat the sesame oil. When it is hot (it is ready if a drop of cool water sizzles when it is dropped into the pan), add the tofu. Let the tofu brown, and then toss and continue to brown the tofu on all sides. When it is browned, turn off the heat and serve the tofu with the curry sauce over rice.

Some more Christmas Fun

2011-12-12T15:32:00.000-05:00

I mentioned a couple of years ago one of my favorite holiday traditions was Katie and my annual treat making day. This year the husbands decided to join along with their hobby and brew some beer during the day while Katie and I worked on our adorable Christmas treats... We are like old pros at this these days....we have come so far since the first couple of times we did this and the terrible chocolately mess that came with it.... now we just have piles of perfect delicious pretzels wrapped in cellophane and tied with a bow and passed out to my co-workers this morning :)

Beautiful Christmassy Pretzels :)

wrapped up and ready to gift

The boys brewed beer on the deck and listened to the bengals game on the radio

very serious work...

chocolate covered pretzels, beer and more Christmas music than normal people can stand

More pretzels and beer :)

Also, another one of my favorite yearly holiday traditions is our annual book club christmas party. We always forgo the book in December and use it as an excuse to just get together, eat, chat, have some mimosas and do a little ornament exchange.... I can't believe this is our fifth one!

stuffing our faces with a delicious gigantic brunch

Every year Rob and I exchange ornaments too and here are some of my favorite ones... the goal is to one day have a tree full of meaningful ornaments that will remind us of all the years we've celebrated....

here are a couple of my favorites...

I hope everyone else is having a fantastic holiday season...this is absolutely my FAVORITE time of the year :)

Christmas Music Favorites

2011-12-01T10:48:00.001-05:00

I thought today on December 1, I would do a list of my favorite Christmas songs. I LOVE Christmas music. Secretly sometimes even in the middle of the summer if I'm alone I will listen to it in the car or even on my headphones at work on a particularly stressful today. Music has such a neat way of making you FEEL certain ways, remind you of certain people (sometimes people you'd prefer not to be reminded of) and just bring you back to certain memories. Some of my favorite albums are just albums that I heard over and over again in my childhood, some are tied to a specific event in my life and some are just plain awesome... here is a very quickly put together list..so I'm sure I'm leaving out some important ones...but let's get started.....

Favorite albums from my childhood:
Christmas in America (Kenny Rogers)- My mom used to listen to this record (yes, record) on repeat when we were little....a couple of years ago I bought the CD on ebay and it was just as glorious as I remember...
The Carpenters Christmas Album (especially "Merry Christmas Darling") - another childhood favorite record. The kind of voice that makes you feel like a Christmas angel floating on a cloud... ok that's going a little far, but it's so good.

Other Old School Favorites:
O Holy Night - My all time favorite Christmas Song (and the song my high school choir sang at the Christmas concert every year)
We need a little Christmas
Carol of the bells (another show choir favorite)
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Christmas Time is Here- from the Charlie Brown Movie

New(er) Favorites:
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays (NSync) - I dare you to listen to this song in the car and not dance around like a crazy person
All I want for Christmas is You (Mariah) - Same challenge as above
Last Christmas (Wham Version & Glee Version)
Little Drummer Boy (Any version or Bing Crosby/David Bowie Version)
The Christmas Song- Dave Matthews Band
This Gift- 98 Degrees
Reverse Gifts of the Magi- Rascal Flatts/SheDaisy - hilarious

Recent Favorite CDs:
Sister Hazel: Santa's Playlist
Barenaked for the Holidays
A Very She & Him Christmas

Is my Christmas Playlist missing an important song? What's your favorite Christmas Song?

Restaurant Review - Orange Leaf

2011-11-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

We made an afternoon visit to the new Orange Leaf yogurt in Hyde Park Plaza over the weekend... It was bright and happy and full of lots of fun colorful furniture....

You grab a cup and fill it up with whatever yogurt flavors you want...they have everything from birthday cake to strawberry to snickerdoodle...

add add all the toppings you want (they have fresh fruit, nuts, chocolate, smashed up candy bars, etc etc)

afterwards you weigh your dessert and pay (49 cents an ounce) -for reference, mine was about $2 and Rob's was over $5...so it really just depends on how much yogurt you want- my one request would be to give a smaller cup option...they were huge and I know you can obviously just fill it up less...but I think it would be nice to have a smaller cup..

I ended up with half (nonfat) strawberry and half peanut butter with a topping of a few chocolate chips, some fresh strawberries and a sprinkling of butterfinger... It was really good. The strawberry was especially good..very light and fruity...and I like the idea that I can just get a tiny bit if that's all I want...

I still prefer yagoot to almost any ice cream dessert I've ever had...but Orange Leaf is not really comparable..it's just different... I would definitely be back....and with plenty of outdoor seating I think it will be a very popular place come next spring/summer.

The City Flea- Factory Flea Edition

2011-11-16T09:00:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago Emily, Rob and I visited the City Flea, which is normally located downtown, but the week we went had taken a special field trip to Northside to the old can factory....

From the City Flea website:
The City Flea is a place for the city's countless creative minds and skilled hands to share what they are working on or collecting. The flea serves as a venue for social interaction amongst the already burgeoning local community of entrepreneurs, artists, and enthusiasts. It is a new common space for city dwellers who are strolling after brunch, walking the dog, thirsty for coffee, hungry for lunch, on their way to Findlay Market, or just looking for someplace to hang out. It gives people from areas surrounding the city a unique urban experience and opens their eyes to what is going on around town. The goods will speak for themselves once the eyes have arrived.

Here is our day in some pictures I took around the event.

Beyonce!!!

animals made out of old metal signs..so cool

creative & delicious quesadilla truck

streetpops trolley

chocolate sea salt and kettle corn street pops (kettle corn tasted JUST like kettle corn- so unique and fun!)

very open space filled with sellers selling all kinds of wares

so much fun craft inspiration

DJs playing music

goat cheese, spinach and pine nut quesadilla...ridiculously delicious

cool artwork of different neighborhoods around town

I definitely want to try to get to more of these next year..such a fun afternoon!

Restaurant Review - Habits

2011-11-14T09:00:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I haven't written this review yet. Habits is right down the street from me and we spend a lot of time there..... I would describe the food as higher end reasonably priced bar food...and the beer selection as excellent. The new patio outside is the perfect place for a sunny lunch or happy hour and the inside is full of friendly bartenders and familiar faces. It is also really fun to watch weddings get out late night on the patio and watch all the bridesmaids/groomsmen (and usually the bride and groom too)- walk across the street from the 20th century theater for a little afterparty.

On this particular day it was a little bit chilly but the kind of day that was perfect to be outside as long as you were in the sun and wearing a jacket. I had a california club, which included big generous pieces of avocado and a side of fries. Their ranch dressing here is homemade (I think- and if it's not I would like to know where I can purchase some) and absolutely delicious, so I recommend getting a side of that with almost anything that is dippable. The bread was perfectly toasted and the turkey was fresh...

My sister got a grilled cheese with bacon and tomato and a side of sweet potato fries. The sweet potato fries come with a side of apple butter to dip them in which is also very delicious, but just a little too sweet for me, so even these I like to dip into my favorite ranch.

Overall, Habits is a great place that just got better with the addition of this beautiful patio. They also have great burgers, quesadillas, etc... this is a go-to place for us for day or night.

Grecian Avocado Pizza in Pictures

2011-11-01T09:00:00.000-04:00

One of our favorite things to make on a Friday night after a long week of work is some kind of creative pizza. We usually grab a whole wheat crust from Whole Foods during our other favorite Friday night activity and then add all of our own toppings... I like a thin crust, so the whole foods crust usually makes two pizzas for us.

I saw this recipe.. red onion, kalamata olives, feta and Avocado! On a pizza? I was so in.

Sooo there isnt much to say...
we rolled the pizza dough out, topped it, baked it, suffered through 10 minutes of delicious smells and then it was eating time!

I love avocado added to anything and pizza was no different. It adds a nice level of creaminess which delish.
Enjoy!

Recipe (adapted from avocado.org)

Ingredients:
Whole wheat pizza dough from whole foods- split into two pizzas
garlic, chopped (depends on how garlicy you like it.. I used like 6 enormous cloves)
parsley, chopped (about a tablespoon)
olive oil
mozzarella cheese, shredded
Avocado, sliced
red onions, sliced
feta cheese, crumbled
kalamata olives, sliced

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees.
2. Shape pizza dough into a 12-inch round. Combine the garlic, parsley and olive oil to form a paste. Brush this onto the pizza dough.
3. Sprinkle ¾ cup of the mozzarella cheese over the brushed pizza dough. Add the red onions, avocado, feta cheese and kalamata olives. Spread the remaining ¼ cup of mozzarella cheese on top.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes on a pre-heated pizza stone (we pre-heat ours for 30 minutes at 500) or until cheese is melted and crust is browned. Serve.
5. Pour yourself a frosty beverage, put in a good movie and have a good Friday night!

Sacred Heart Ravioli Dinner

2011-10-27T09:00:00.000-04:00

Last year around this time I read a little about a local Italian Catholic church with a seriously delicious ravioli dinner that happens 2 times year, and once was this past Sunday. I put it on my calendar months ago and when this weekend finally came, I was so excited to see what all the excitement was about... I read that there were two lines... a take out line and an eat in line...and also that many times the eat in line was shorter than the take out line. Emily, Rob and I had a late breakfast and skipped lunch and were out and about so decided to hit up the event at around 3...thinking that maybe there wouldn't be such bad lines since it wasn't lunch or dinner time really.

The takeout line was full of people holding their own large stockpot, which they will get filled up with delicious homemade ravioli and take home to their family. (you can buy fresh or frozen) We decided to go for the full experience and eat in. Here was the eat in line when we got there:

The inside was a MAD.HOUSE. Tons of long tables..very close together...we got seated at a table with some nice people and chatted a little bit with them about the food.

The dinner includes a small salad, bread, a plate of ravioli, spaghetti or "half and half" and a little ice cream cup with a store bought cookie on top....the salad, bread and cookie are fine, nothing special..the main event is the delicious ravioli...tender and stuffed with ground veal, pork, spniach and ricotta cheese and served with tomato sauce that's summered slowly in huge pots. The ravioli is totally worth the somewhat disorganized service and young church goers possibly hitting you in the head with their trays while going through the maze of tables... If we hadn't spent all of our cash on getting in ($12/person)- then I would have gotten a couple of boxes of the frozen ravioli to save for a rainy day...they were really delicious... next time I will have to plan ahead!

This year was their 100 year anniversary! That's a lotta years of ravioli!

Besides the loudness of a church auditorium with a ton of people running around in it..there was also this Frank Sinatra impersonator.... We barely even talked to eachother...we were taking it all in..

Already counting down the days until Palm Sunday so we can do it again :)

Cheers to Art

2011-10-24T09:00:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago we celebrated our friend's birthday at Cheers to Art in Madeira... The basic concept is that you go and the teacher breaks down a painting into (very) basic steps for you so that you can paint an exact replica of the picture. You can just go in on an open night, or you can plan a private party (lots of groups at work have done this and have fun paintings hanging in their cubes). Stephanie, however just bought a new house and took all the paintings home with her..so instead of all painting the same thing, we painted whatever we wanted and she is going to have a super fun friends and family art display in her new house!

The couple that owns this place is absolutely awesome. It's so fun to go somewhere where the people are so passionate about what they do. The woman that runs the place is so artistic, friendly and helpful.. and her husband was so nice to chat with afterwards...

Here are some pictures of the night!
Cute lobby and bar.... I heard a glass of wine unleashes the creativity :)

Colorful inspiration to use in your paintings

Including a kids corner! (kids get the shapes drawn onto the canvas with pencil to help them out a bit)

Birthday girl!

We hung out, had some wine and painted our canvases

Here are some of the pieces Stephanie took home at the end of the night

If you have an event to plan or are just looking for something to do on a random night, definitely check this place out...you will have fun and come home with a new work of art for your house! So fun :)

Scenes from the Columbus Marathon

2011-10-21T09:00:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was the 33rd annual Columbus Marathon...
My hunky hubs and a couple of our other friends were running...
Here are some random pics from the day

hilarious.

Military band playing music...so fun!

Congratulations to Jason, Alejandro, Nick, Ralphie & Nick....and thanks to Lilah for being my watching partner/map reader for the day :)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownies

2011-10-20T09:00:00.000-04:00

I love that the second fall hits all the food blogs and food magazines I read are FULL of pumpkin everywhere...

I have made these pumpkin brownies three times so far this fall..so I decided it was finally time to do a post on them. Chocolate, pumpkin and pumpkin spices all together? yes.please! oh and super easy and not totally unhealthy...double yesplease.

Collect your ingredients....

Then pour your sous chef a glass of wine and make her mix together the dry ingredients...

add them to the wet and then stir together and fold in the chocolate chips...

Then besides the fact this is pumpkin and chocolate chips mixed together in one dessert....the best part is that you bake it on parchment paper which means zero clean up afterwards...

Like I said, I have cooked this three times and they turn out perfectly everytime....(but I did have to add 10 minutes to my cook time...could depend on your oven, etc)

Fluffy, pumpkiny, chocolatey...
A tray of these dont last more than three days in our house..and a whole batch of them got devoured at book club....so my focus groups say...this is a winner! Enjoy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownies

Yield: 24 small brownies

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1 whole egg
2 egg whites
1 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line an 11″- x 7″-inch pan with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine pumpkin puree, eggs and oil until smooth. Set aside.

In a separate medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, spices, salt and brown sugar. Add to the wet ingredients and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until passes toothpick test. Cool completely before cutting.

from Pennies on a Platter, originally from small home big start

Dairy Free Stuffed Shells

2011-10-19T09:00:00.000-04:00

Ok, stuffed shells are delicious. I could eat them every single day...then I would gain 100lbs and that would probably not be too cute. So the other day when I was craving some comfort food,I thought about a recipe that had intrigued me a while ago.....these dairy free stuffed shells. So let's just clear the air right now, these shells are stuffed with tofu...but please believe me you will NOT miss the cheese in these...they are delicious. Ok you still might not believe me because maybe once you came to my house and I tried to tell you that steamed and whipped cauliflower tasted exactly like mashed potatoes (which I stand by) so don't take my word for it but you must try these, they are awesome. As a matter of fact I think they taste even richer than real ricotta....which is crazy but crazy true....

So let's get started....
Grab a block of your favorite tofu... extra firm

Drain it, pat it dry and add it to the food processor with the other ingredients....

Then whir it up, add the drained & defrosted spinach and whir it up some more...

At this point Emily and Rob were dipping pita chips into the food processor until I forced them to stop so I could stuff the shells...

Grab your favorite pasta sauce (the more garlic the better in my most humble opinion)

Cook the pasta until al dente and stuff them with the faux cheese mixture

Lay them in the pyrex on a thin layer of sauce

and then cover them with sauce

then wait for the magic

mmmmmmmm

Ours was enjoyed with a salad and a giant piece of garlic bread.

Enjoy!

Recipe:
from Eat Live Run on the PBS Website

2 tablespoons olive oil
1.5 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon oregano
16 ounces extra firm tofu
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
10 ounces frozen spinach, defrosted
1 box jumbo shells
1 jar of your favorite marinara sauce

Directions

Drain the tofu and pat dry with paper towels. Crumble into the bowl of a food processor or high-speed blender along with olive oil, salt, oregano, garlic and nutritional yeast. Process on high until smooth and “ricotta-like”.
Add the defrosted spinach to the blended tofu mixture.
Cook shells in boiling salted water until el dente. Drain
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour about ½ cup pasta sauce into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. Stuff shells with 2 T of filling and place in pan, seam side down. Repeat until all shells have been stuffed.
Pour remaining pasta sauce over shells, cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Serve!

Yield: 6-8 servings

Pumpkin Patchin'

2011-10-12T09:30:00.000-04:00

Saturday Rob, my sister, her boyfriend and I headed out for a ~~cool~~ ridiculously hot fall day at the pumpkin patch. The drive was beautiful...even though it was 85 degrees out, it still felt like fall driving the back roads with all the colorful and falling leaves.

I brought the fancy new camera and took lots of fun fall pictures....

There were a ridiculous amount of pictures to put your head through (seriously this is a very small percentage of put-your-head-through cut outs that were at this farm.

and this port-o-let complete with pants-less legs which we all got quite a few pics in...but Brett is the only one lucky enough to get his on the internet :)

There was this cow with a seat inside of it which I still don't completely understand...

and lots and lots o' PUMPKINS

We took a hayride through the woods...

and picked out the perfect pumpkins..

Then got lost in a 7 acre corn maze that apparently looks like a train from the sky.

Even though the day was more bottles of cold water and looking for shade than chunky sweaters and hot cider, we still had a great fall day at the pumpkin patch! At the end of the day we got caramel apples the size of our heads and a bag full of farm fresh fall squash....so all in all I would say the day was a success....

Happy Fall Everyone!

Restaurant Review- FUSIAN

2011-10-07T15:37:00.000-04:00

So I FIIINNNAAALLLy made it to Fusian today (formerly Soho Sushi). I had heard it was like the "chipotle of sushi" and that there were non-fish proteins you could make into sushi rolls like chicken & steak..so I gotta say I was kind of skeptical of the quality. I was excited to try something new, but was fully expecting sub-par sushi in return. It is located in the mall downtown,

You go up to the counter and pick your wrapper (seaweed or soy), your fish (or chicken/steak), your veggies (as many as you want!) and your toppings. Then they wrap it up and put it in this contraction that squeezes it together and cuts it into pieces. I went with a seaweed wrapper filled with spicy salmon, cucumber, avocado, asparagus and green onion topped with a little spicy sauce and sesame seeds. The roll was very big and suprisingly tasty. Since I could put all the veggies I wanted in it, it had a nice crunch plus some good heat from the spicy salmon and spicy sauce. I was very pleasantly suprised with how good the roll was! This is not a nice sit down sushi place...it's definitely "fast food" sushi, but as far as fast food goes, I'll take sushi any day of the week!

The girl I was eating with got half spicy tuna and half steak (very cool that they let you get half and half)- and she wasnt a huge fan of the steak half...it looked more like shredded beef than steak. I didn't try it so I can't comment specifically on it, but I will probably stick with the fish going forward...

Dilly Cafe Wine Tasting

2011-09-30T12:56:00.000-04:00

Lately I've been kind of into twitter. I don't say much... I just like to listen....and then unfollow celebrities that talk way way too much. (sorry fabio from top chef)- anywhoo..the other morning I was having coffee and tweet reading and I saw that the Dilly Cafe was doing a wine tasting.... we love the Dilly Deli and Mariemont, so we decided to head East to try out the tasting....

They had a nice selection of wines picked out, including a sparkling red which I had never tried before and actually really enjoyed.... felt like a "wintery champagne" to me if that makes any sense. Most sparkling reds are made in Australia and are Shiraz...this one was a little different at 50% shiraz, 25% cab and 25% malbec. I will definitely want to taste more of those in the future.

The tasting was fun and the area it's in naturally encourages random people to talk to eachother. We ended up chatting with a couple of different groups about beer brewing, local restaurants and farmers markets.... all of our favorite topics :)

The Dilly also has a a little wine shop and an extensive selection of beer that you can get....and every kind you can take one out of the 6 pack and buy individually....

Here is an excited Rob with his Pumpkin Beer Sampler 4 pack.

It was a fun little Saturday afternoon activity! We will definitely be back!

Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites

2011-09-29T11:53:00.002-04:00

Sometimes if I've had a stressful day....all I want to do is go home and bake. Cooking comes pretty easy to me...but baking is a whole different story. Baking can be really complicated...and I never claimed to be very good at following directions...which is why I like cooking so much... but sometimes concentrating on exact measurements and making something I've never made before helps get my mind off of whatever I'm trying to get my mind off of. And it's just fun to try and make something new.... so fast forward to our latest baking adventure. Pretzel Bites!

Isn't it funny when sometimes you look at a picture and are like those look great but I've already accepted mine will never look that good... look how pretty these turned out! Seriously...brown and salty on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside.. such a fun snack to munch on while watching the sing off ... speaking of which, is anyone as excited as me that Sara Bareilles has replaced ~~Paula Abdul~~ Nicole Shertzinger. Ben Folds and Sara Bareilles together....as if I wasn't already obsessed enough with this show. . I haven't quite picked who I want to win yet....but I think I can narrow it down next week :)

On to the pics!

Look at that color!

With your choice of mustard dipping sauces-

Aren't they pretty?? YUM!

Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 package active dry yeast
3 ounces unsalted butter, melted
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil
3 quarts water
3/4 cup baking soda
1 whole egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water
Coarse sea salt

Directions:
Combine the water, sugar, yeast, and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with the dough hook until combined. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Add the salt and flour and mix on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the side of the bowl, about 3 to 4 minutes. If the dough appears too wet, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Remove the dough from the bowl, place on a flat surface and knead into a ball with your hands.

Oil a bowl with vegetable oil, add the dough and turn to coat with the oil. Cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until the dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Bring the water to a boil in a small roasting pan over high heat and add the baking soda.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a flat surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, about 4 1/4 to 4 1/2 ounces each. Roll each piece into a long rope measuring 22 inches and shape. Cut the dough into one inch pieces to make the pretzel bites. Boil the pretzel bites in the water solution in batches. We did about 15 bites at a time. Boil for about 30 seconds. Remove with a large slotted spoon. Place pretzel bites on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Make sure they are not touching. Brush the tops with the egg wash and season liberally with the salt. Place into the oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes until golden brown.

Enjoy!

from two peas and their pod, originally from bobby flay

Breakfast Tarts

2011-09-26T11:21:00.003-04:00

Saturday morning I wanted to make something yummy for breakfast for Rob and I. (Rob is training for the Columbus half...and ran 11 miles before I even got out of bed!) So I remembered I had a roll of crescent rolls and some other things that could potentially make a delicious breakfast and got to cooking...

I get so excited about opening these...totally forgot to take the picture before hearing its startling pop...but you get the idea....these are just regular crescent rolls....

I took off each piece and stuffed them into my muffin pan. I used a nonstick muffin pan and sprayed with nonstick spray before stuffing the triangle shaped crescent dough pieces into the holes and just moving it around to (as Tim Gunn would say) "make it work." I was a little worried about how this method would turn out, but it was totally fine..they didn't all look exactly the same but they tasted delicious and looked homemade :)

Anyway... I fried up some bacon (this was turkey bacon)

Whipped up 4 eggs and some half and half in my big measuring cup

Send Rob out in the rain to our "herb garden" to harvest some chives....

And got to stuffing my tarts

I put in a little bacon, then poured in the egg mixture, topped with cheese, more bacon and a little chives...

Then baked at 375 for about 20 minutes...

I recommend putting a cookie sheet on the rack underneath the rack your muffin pan is on in case anything decides to go rogue on ya....

Look how pretty they turned out!

A little of all your favorite breakfast foods in one delicious little muffin.

This is so ridiculously easy it's definitely a breakfast that will be repeated at our house :)

Happy Monday Everyone!

Baby Shower Fun

2011-09-20T12:05:00.000-04:00

Sunday Rob and I hosted a shower for our friends Jason & Jenn (who should most definitely be a pregnancy model- seriously)- and had a great time doing it... Rob and my sister were awesome sports who helped me with every single thing including my all completely homemade menu, favors and bunting projects. We had a great time and I am so excited to meet Baby Sperry when she gets here in November...but until then...let's take a look at the party.... true to form I stopped taking pictures midway through...so there are no photos of the main meal, dessert or the drink station...but hopefully you get the idea anyway :)

Like any good theme, I had bunting themed invites and that continued throughout the party...

The pre-dinner snack table included:

Veggies & Dip

Fruit & homemade fruit dip

Deviled Eggs
Cucumber Bites (cucumber slices with a delicious mixture of goat cheese, cream cheese, garlic & herbs piped on top)

and mini chocolate cupcakes with raspberry frosting

Dinner (not pictured- boo) was:

Turkey & Cheese Sliders

Ham & Cheese Sliders

Homemade Macaroni & Cheese

Salad with Goat Cheese & Dried Cranberries

and for dessert..... an angelfood cake trifle with strawberries & blueberries...

People chatted and had food and drinks..

The boys did a beer tasting in front of the football game :)

Jenn & Jason opened lots of adorable baby girl gifts

future bobcat!!

the dog showed off her dedication to the theme

and on the way out people grabbed homemade onesie cookies

Congratulations Jenn & Jason!! This is going to be one adored little girl... I can't wait to meet her!

xoxoxo

Potato Leek Soup in Pictures

2011-09-14T22:32:00.005-04:00

Fall is officially here..and that can only mean one thing....

It's Soup Season! Glorious Soup season!... Big amazing pots of it. Delicious excuses to use the immersion blender... creamy bowls ready for toppings and hunks of fresh bread....

yummmmmm!!!

Want to make this creamy creamless soup?

Get the recipe here!

Fountain Square Beerfest

2011-09-09T14:55:00.000-04:00

Rob and I are doing our favorite kind of volunteering tomorrow night...slinging beers :) Come down to the Fountain Square Beerfest tomorrow to have some fun and to see us (we'll be working a booth- not sure which one yet- from 5-10pm) Hope to see you there!!

BeerFest Details:
Friday: 5-10pm
Saturday: Noon – 10pm
Sunday: Noon – 8pm

The first Cincinnati Beer Fest actually held IN Cincinnati! Cincinnati has a long and proud tradition in the brewing of beer, and the Cincinnati Beer Fest brings local distributors and brewers together in one place for a beer tasting and sampling event. 3-oz beer tastings are only $1 (or $2 for higher-priced brews), and there is NO ADMISSION FEE!

In addition to over 150 different flavors of beer, patrons will enjoy live music plus multiple food and merchandise vendors.

Quinoa Risotto with Shrimp & Broccoli

2011-09-01T11:48:00.005-04:00

I love quinoa...but sometimes it can be a little bland...

I was searching around on the internet to find an idea that I might be a little different and found an idea for making a quinoa risotto..and decided to give it a try.

The result was really delicious...but my pictures are pretty ugly..so try to look past them and make this sometime bc it tastes super rich and buttery and fattening but is actually super healthy, low in fat and high in protein!

sooooo...

saute up your garlic and onions in a skillet in a little olive oil

and add a cup of quinoa to kind of toast up a little bit....

On the side you should have a pot of your stock going to keep it hot throughout the entire cooking process.....

Add your wine (I love keeping a box of wine in my fridge for cooking- and there are really good ones that come in boxes now...so it's nice if you just want one glass of wine with dinner and don't want to open the bottle!)

Let the wine cook off and then slowly add your hot liquid a half cup at a time, stirring and waiting until it absorbs before you add the next half cup of hot liquid...

While you are waiting start peeling your shrimp! (did you know a lot of times in grocery stores the shrimp they sell behind the "seafood" counter is just thawed bags of frozen shrimp... ask before paying the upcharge! It's usually cheaper to just buy the bag of frozen shrimp!)

I thawed them, peeled them and cut them up into smaller bite size pieces...

and chopped up my broccoli

all while I continued to add the hot broth a half a cup at a time to my quinoa....

I blanched the broccoli for about a minute and threw in the shrimp at the end and let it just turn pink in the quinoa/broth mixture... then added the broccoli and let it all hang out together for a few minutes...

The result is a creamy, healthy and delicious dish...my sister asked if the shrimp was cooked in butter!- that's how creamy it turned out...

Recipe

Adapted from Poor Girl Eats Well

1 c uncooked quinoa
5 c chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 c white wine
1 T olive oil (or butter, if you prefer)
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
15-20 frozen shrimp, thawed & cut into bite size pieces
A head of broccoli, cut into pieces
A sprig of rosemary, chopped
1/4 t dried thyme
Salt & pepper to taste

Rinse Quinoa well. In a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook slowly until the onion begins to soften.

Increase the heat to about medium high and add the rinsed quinoa. Cook for about 3 minutes then add the wine and simmer until the quinoa absorbs the wine. Slowly pour about 1/2 cup of chicken broth into the quinoa and allow to simmer until it is completely absorbed by the quinoa, stirring frequently. Continue this process, pouring in the broth only 1/2 cup at a time, until the quinoa is creamy and the quinoa germs have burst (you may have extra broth left over; if so, set aside for a different meal), about 20 minutes.

While the last bit of broth is being simmered and absorbed, add the shrimp and broccoli and mix in gently, cooking for another 3-4 minutes. Season with rosemary, thyme, and a couple dashes of salt & pepper. Serve with a parmesan sprinkle on top of you like, and enjoy!

New Camera!

2011-08-18T10:14:00.005-04:00

I came home earlier this week and this beauty was on my stoop:

So I started playing....

Pretty, yes?

Hopefully with some more reading & practicing I will start getting good at this!

Anyone have any great sites for learning? I'm thinking I need to buy this book asap.

Restaurant Review- La Poste

2011-08-18T09:52:00.007-04:00

Jenn and I headed to La Poste on Wednesday night. It's in Clifton right off of Ludlow near Graeters... it used to be a Post Office (although I grew up in Clifton and it was never a post office so I guess it was a really long time ago)- but they do a cute little play on post office stuff with the menu and decor....

First the waitress brought us a little amuse bouche of a watermelon and cucumber salsa with salty fried pita pieces. It was a fun way to start the meal...very refreshing...

We started off by splitting a poached pear stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in prosciutto....areeee you kidding me? It came over a bed of arugula. Honestly we couldn't taste too much of the actual pear but the texture of the soft pear was a nice little vessel for the goat cheese and prosciutto...oh and those are crispy fried parsnips on top. mmmmm

Next up we each had 1 piece of mushroom ravioli as a midcourse. We were excited at the opportunity to try a small portion so we could taste multiple things without being completely stuffed (or completely broke)- the small tasting of ravioli was really delicious. It was stuffed with tiny chopped up pieces of mushrooms and covered in a gorgonzola cream sauce, some fried mushroom pieces and a crispy fried sage leaf. Next time I go to this restaurant I will get this as my entree. No questions asked. If we weren't in a fancy restaurant we would have both licked our bowls...it was so delicious. Jenn (who claims to dislike mushrooms) loved it just as much as I did...

Next up was our entrees.... I had the:

fried chicken breast: skyhaven ham, mornay sauce, wax beans and asparagus

It was good. The breading on the chicken was really good and right underneath the breading it was stuffed with ham ....kind of like a play on a chicken cordon bleu. The sauce was good..and was my favorite part. This was a solid dish but didn't compare to the ravioli..

Jenn got the:

Seared Salmon: warm quinoa, carmelized mirepoix, asparagus, piquillo-clam broth

The portion was huge and the fish was cooked to perfection...but I think it would have been better with a different sauce...I took a bite of the quinoa separately from the salmon and it tasted exactly like the salmon....I think it would have been good with some varying flavors or a different kind of sauce...but again, a perfectly cooked fish is always a good thing...

The waitress came back around to ask us what we wanted for dessert and we joked that we just wanted a bowl of the mushroom ravioli sauce for dessert (only we were only kind of joking)- the dessert menu changes often and sounded interesting, but we decided we would take a few laps around Ludlow to walk off our dinner and if we were in a dessert mood we would split a scoop at Graeters....but we ended up being way too full.

In conclusion this place was really delicious and very cute. The staff knows what they are talking about and the bathroom smells like a field full of Lilies...seriously it was the best smelling bathroom I've ever been in. It's also a lot fancier than I was expecting with them swapping out all of our silverware and plates for every 'course'. Try it out! Oh, and get the mushroom ravioli.

Goat Cheese & Mushroom Quiche

2011-08-15T10:30:00.004-04:00

Last night I decided to make a quiche...the nice thing about quiche is that you can really put whatever you have/like in it and its like a delicious little dinner pie of your favorite foods. I chose one with goat cheese, mushrooms and red onions... three of my favorite things and got cooking.

You could easily buy a pre-made pie crust but I made my own. It didn't turn out as pretty as I would have liked it to (and expect to do a much better job on my second go around) but it tasted great...sooo no big deal.

Anyway... I whipped up my thyme pie crust and got it in my pie tin.

I sauteed up some garlic, red onions and mushrooms

and whisked eggs and herbs together in this bowl...

I put the sauteed onions and mushrooms into my pie crust and topped it with pieces of herbed goat cheese

then poured in the egg mixture....

It went in looking like this:

and came out like this!:

So pretty!

Some bites tasted like a fluffy omelette while others tasted like a creamy goat cheese pie... mmmm goat cheese pie....

Can't wait to experiment with more ingredients!

Get the recipe here

Restaurant Review- Shaan (again)

2011-08-13T08:00:00.000-04:00

I had previously reviewed Shaan ...but at the time was using Rob's iphone 3's camera and the pictures were ugly. Also, since this review we have been back again and again and again and so I figured I would review again with some prettier pictures and more visits under my belt.

I love this place. I love that I can bring my own bottle of wine. I love the couple that works there and that they remember us AND what we order every time we walk in..

and I LOVE the food.

This time we had an appetizer.. I can not remember what this was, but I do know there were potatoes involved. It was crunchy on the outside and pillowy and potatoey on the inside....

and then there is the delicious trio of indian sauces.. which is just fun to eat....

Let me say that I do not eat Indian food nearly as much as I would like. My favorite dishes have lots of butter and cream and so unfortunately for me it can only be a sometimes food...so when it is I always want the same thing. Spicy Creamy lamb Saag with fluffy white rice and a side of toasty garlic naan (this meal is more than enough for Rob and I to split).

Incredible. Often times I forget how delicious it is until I take the first bite...

If you have not been here do yourself a favor and try it.

My first attempt at Royal Icing

2011-08-12T14:11:00.005-04:00

Last weekend was my first attempt at decorating sugar cookies with royal icing. I see them all over the internet looking so beautiful and professional and fun....but very complicated and scary. Well, last weekend was my good friend Krista's birthday, so I decided to to make her some birthday cookies!

I needed a simple shape and to start off with just a few colors...I wanted my first attempt to be as low stress as possible so I chose a heart from my year of cookie cutters collection, headed to the store for all my supplies, armed myself with a royal icing recipe, tutorial and a delicious sugar cookie recipe...and started baking!

I forgot to start taking pictures until too far in but you get the idea. Made dough, rolled out dough, cut dough with cookie cutters, baked cookies..... etc etc.

Made the icing, colored the icing, put the icing in tupperware containers...

ok yes I am skipping waaay too many steps..but I needed concentration! It was my first time..

Then I piped the royal icing on the outside of all the hearts to set up some lines to keep the icing in...because after that you thin the icing out with some water to give it that pretty smooth look..and the piped icing edges keep the smooth pretty icing from sliding right off the cookie.

So after all the steps mentioned above, I had these:

cute, right??

Then it was time to start attempting decorating them.

It is amazing how much, even during the course of making this one batch of cookies, how much better and more confident I got at decorating these little guys as the process went on..

I think they turned out pretty cute for my first time, don't you? (can you pick out which one Rob made? :) )

Now that I have all the supplies I am very much looking forward to attempting these again!

Happy birthday KP :)

Downtown Dash Fun

2011-08-08T10:34:00.007-04:00

We had a great time at the Downtown Dash on Friday....

Runners:

Non-Runners:

Mix:

We watched the race...

Whoops......

People pedaled a bike to make their own smoothies....

Then headed over to neons for some dinner (check out the condiment table for this burger! A burger with cheese, chips and your choice of literally every condiment that has ever existed for $4... I'll take it)

and some giant jenga....(man are we good at this game!)

Restaurant Review- Tom + Chee

2011-08-04T14:21:00.005-04:00

yay, I finally got to Tom + Chee after months of wanting to go!

I was out with a new co-worker so didnt want to go too picture crazy, but it's a cute little place on court street with menus written on huge overheard chalkboards filled with every possible grilled cheese combination one could ever imagine. Like seriously. You imagine it, they have the sandwich. You can add things to your sandwich like bacon, pickles, potato chips, etc...to make it like your mom used to make you...or you can get it fancy with brie, bleu, etc etc. I want to go back again and again to try different sandwiches and make someone with similar tastes to mine split sandwiches with me so I can try even more. YUM

My co-worker mentioned he was getting the mushroom, onion and swiss on rye and that sounded so good I decided to do the same...oh and also I made it a combo and added some creamy tomato basil soup. (even though it was approximately 5 MILLION degrees outside) but how can you not get soup with a grilled cheese?!

Anyway...onto the food...

Here is the sandwich

This sandwich was SO GOOD. The thick toasty rye bread was a little salty (in a good way)..the cheese was melty, the red onions still had a little crunch and the mushrooms were cooked perfectly. The sandwich was a little greasy, but it's a grilled cheese for heavens sakes...they are grilled in butter....anyway, next time if I get the soup I think I would just get a half sandwich since this ended up being a lot of food. Can't WAIT to go back and try the others....oh yeah, the soup. It was thick and creamy and I thoroughly enjoyed it ...and a grilled cheese without tomato soup just seems....unnatural.

Beer Can Chicken

2011-08-01T09:00:00.000-04:00

In an effort to make more delicious food on the grill this summer, a couple weekends ago we attempted some beer can chicken....

First we got a chicken....

Then Rob drank half a bud light so that we could get cooking (otherwise the liquid will boil over and make a big mess) and we stuck a sprig of rosemary in the beer....

We rubbed the chicken with thyme, kosher salt and olive oil...

Then shoved the beercan up the chicken's rump and stuck him on the grill

We let him cook for about an hour and a half and came back out to this...

Next time I will put the electronic thermometer in to keep an eye on the temperature the entire time as this time we had to open and close the grill a lot to check the temperature...

Also I would turn him about halfway in so both sides get that nice crisp on the skin.

I was entirely too embarrassed to show you my butchering job on this guy (add to personal checklist: get better at butchering a chicken)

But it was delicious. Very moist and flavorful and the skin was salty and crispy.

Oh yeah and I served it with a tomato and avocado salad coated with a little olive oil & kosher salt..

Get the full recipe here

Restaurant Review- Skinny Pig

2011-07-29T09:32:00.011-04:00

I have been dying to go to the skinny pig. It is owned by the same people as Mayberry and was a brand new restaurant, a byo and had a menu full of flatbreads... yes. please.So after spending the morning at the Findlay Market wine tasting (more on that later!)- we brought a couple of beers from market wines and headed to the skinny pig.

It's located in Walnut Hills right off of Madison. A little one room restaurant with about 6 tables and a small open kitchen with a few small ovens and an ice cream maker... we cracked open an afternoon beer and perused the menu..

We decided on a vegetarian and not vegetarian flatbread for a little variety...

First up: wild mushroom pate, beets, sweet & sour eggplant and a curry cucumber yogurt. ($6.99)- This was really delicious.. I think I would like it even better if the curry was a little spicy!...but it was a fun and interesting combination

Then a garlic beef, horseradish, asparagus, goat cheese and tomato chutney flatbread ($7.99)- this is essentially 5 of my favorite things in life on one flatbread so needless to say I loved this one... the tomato chutney was just delicious...

Next time I think we will order small side salads with our flatbreads to make it more like a meal ($4) During our lunch one of the owners stopped in and was chatting with us. I love asking questions about these brand new start up places and he seemed to like answering them so we chatted away for a while about how the neighborhood originally had asked them to open a little grocery store and they declined that but said they would open a new restaurant. It didn't take too much for them to move in, some tables, a small kitchen and some artwork on the wall.... I also learned from him that they were going to be grilling outside on the weekends and setting up some outdoor seating... He said they plan to grill anything from chicken to octopus and we should definitely stop by again for dinner.

soooo... we did :)

We called ahead to see if they were grilling and what they were grilling and headed over there armed with a mini cooler of frosty beverages. (a 6 pack of blue moons with orange slices chopped and neatly stored in a tupperware container to be exact)- it was little hot for sitting outside, so we grabbed a table inside.

The night's menu:

We started off with the garlic beef flatbread pictured above for an appetizer to split among the five of us...everyone agreed that it was pure deliciousness....

We all ordered the Flat Iron Steak with Arugula Salad and Lemon Vinaigrette... $10

Seriously? $10 for this whole plate of perfectly cooked steak. Seasoned simply with salt and pepper and cooked over a small charcoal grill out back. Oh summer.

On the side Rob and I split a bacon wrapped drumstick. This thing was outta.this.world. The bacon was crispy, the meat was tender... I've never had bacon wrapped anything this good...it always sounds soo much better in theory than it ever ends up on the plate, but this was bacony chicken drumsticky perfection.

Jason agrees:

Even though we were all full we still wanted to try some of their delicious looking desserts. so we did. Between the five of us we split this cinnamon sugar flat bread, belgium chocolate, fresh ground peanut butter and bananas.....

and this house made strawberry softserve

a little spoon of each and you are in GOOOD shape. Seriously.

Also Bernadette got really excited about the various pigs scattered throughout the store. (Spiderpig not pictured)

All in all this place is great and will hopefully change their menu around every once in a while to keep it interesting. It's a little warm in there (I think they have eventual plans to upgrade the AC)- but just make sure you dress accordingly...

enjoy!

Grilled Pizza Deliciousness

2011-07-08T11:13:00.005-04:00

Don't get me wrong... I love grilling..cooking outside and not having to turn the oven on on a hot summer night is awesome...but I quickly get sick of the regular grilled food... burgers, dawgs, burgers, dawgs... blah. This year I've been trying to mix it up a lot to use our grill for lots of veggies, shrimp skewers, marinated chicken thighs, etc... but the most recent deliciousness has been grilled pizza... yes, that's right. The best thing to come off my grill so far this summer. Let's discuss....

First we whipped up an easy and delicious homemade pizza dough using this recipe.

Ingredients: flour, yeast, oil, water, salt. That is it.

We whipped up the dough:

Had to do all the dough related things like letting it rise, punching it down, etc etc...

Then froze half of it for another delicious night and broke the remaining half into four equal pieces to make four individual sized pizzas. We let them rest under a clean damp cloth for about 10 minutes and then got to rollin!

Next we threw them on the grill for a few minutes to get grilled on the toppings side...

Then brought them in and got to topping... I love individual pizzas because then no one can tell you no when you want 10 different delicious (to you) toppings...

I topped mine with a layer of homemade olive tapenade (basically just threw some olives, garlic, parsley, olive oil and lemon into my mini food processor and whirred it up a bit) and then some tomatoes, zucchini, red onion, goat cheese, prosciutto, basil and a little bit of parmesan cheese. To me, this is the perfect pizza.. to others...maybe not so much...but that is the joy that is a personalized pizza.... make it however you want!

We threw them on the grill to get the bottom size crisped up and melt the cheese and then voila....seriously grilled pizza you are delicious. You are crunchy and warm and you have pretty grill marks. You also have little grill divets that are just fun to eat. You make me happy..(and thinking about you makes me hungry).

Restaurant Review- Doodles

2011-07-07T10:02:00.003-04:00

This weekend we wanted to go somewhere we've never been before and randomly found Doodles (dumplings + noodles) on UrbanSpoon... I had never even heard of this place...but not much was open becuase of the holiday so we decided to head over to Erie Ave (a little bit down the street from the new cock & bull) to try it out...

I was half expecting strip mall chinese food...fried rice, beef and broccoli, sweet & sour chicken, etc etc...but I was very wrong...I was suprised to see a menu full of interesting flavors and combinations and a waiter who was very knowledgeable and took the time to explain the different dishes to us...

Also, we were excited to learn that Monday and Tuesday are half price wine night! We shared a nice bottle of Sav Blanc for about $12.50...

We started with the chicken spring rolls...these weren't really anything out of the ordinary....I love a sauce medley but really only loved one of the sauces...the tangy soy garlic sauce...yes please! Watch out for that mustard!

I got the Cantonese Pan fried noodles with spicy sauce and assorted fresh chinese vegetables with beef. The noodles were pan fried until they were nice and crispy, but then the assortment of vegetables and sauce on top of it made it just a little soft but still with some bite. So fun to eat! It was spicy and flavorful with lots of interesting textures. Really impressive!

Rob got the Singapore noodles with piquant curry-garlic sauce, beef & shrimp.
Also really interesting flavors. I really liked the fresh yet spicy flavor of the curry....

Doodles- we will be back!

OTR Brewery Tour

2011-07-05T19:18:00.007-04:00

Last weekend we decided to head to Findlay Market to take the Over the Rhine Brewery Tour... Sometimes it's so fun to be a tourist in your own city and see buildings you see all the time in a whole different way...

In 1890, Cincinnati was the 3rd largest beer producer in the country by population, annually producing 4.2 barrels of beer per resident and shipping it across the country and around the world. This economic and social powerhouse was primed by the city’s excellent transportation options and fertile farmlands, and fueled by the large amount of German immigrants that comprised over one quarter of the city’s population by 1840. The immigrants who settled in Over-the-Rhine brought with them a strong brewing tradition, work ethic, and cultural identity. (source)

Anyway, I thought I would share a few pics from our tour!

Our tourguide, Jim, was very knowledgeable on the topic and very passionate about Cincinnati and particularly small businesses in Cincinnati, particularly downtown. Love that.

This was once Christian Moerlein's House!:

Old Bottling House- did you know back in the day it was illegal to brew and bottle in the same building?
We even ended up going into an old cave that was used to bottle lagers. It was a HOT day so this was a very nice part of the tour...

And of course on this hot hot day we ended the tour with a frosty beverage at the Findlay Market Biergarten while listening to some live music before picking up some food for dinner that night.

If you are interested in Cincinnati history or beer brewing history in America (or both!) you should take this tour!

Whole Foods Happy Hour

2011-06-20T11:34:00.004-04:00

I've talked a couple of times about one of my favorite activities...

Whole Foods Happy Hour (or 5 after 5 as they call it) is one of my favorite Friday night activities. I thought it might be fun to walk you through a happy hour to see what it's like!

First you pay ($5- $4 if you bring back your glass from last time) and get one of these guys that will list the food and drinks you will be enjoying for the night. There is usually some kind of a theme (steak night tops my list of favorites)- and the theme in this post was Blueberries... You get 5 food and wine pairings and then a little bite of dessert and coffee at the end... let's get started, shall we?

First up was a blueberry parfait with greek yogurt and honey.... paired with a tasty sauvignon blanc... mmmmm. delicious combination!

Next up was a blueberry salsa with organic tortilla chips... it was not quite sweet but not quite savory...tasted fresh and with lots of cilantro.. Not something I would buy and eat by the bowl full but very interesting!

Next up is a fail on my part since it was so delicious I ate it before I remembered to take a picture of it... a blueberry marinated salmon.. The salmon was cooked to perfection....here is my empty plate to show you how delicious it was....

Next up was a cold peaches and cream soup served with blueberry cream. Rob loved this.. I thought it was good but I have to say I prefer my soups savory.... it was paired with a nice cabernet sauvignon.. mmm

Next up was a little mini toast with ricotta cheese, mint and (obviously) some blueberries... I need more fresh mint in my life. Stat.

Lastly was pound cake with blueberry sauce and whipped cream.. a little too sweet for my palette..and possibly even Rob's ..which is saying a lot...but it was a nice little sweet bite at the end of the tasting...

And there you have it...your first ever Whole Foods Wine Tasting..
Fun, yeah?

Hi! I'm Back!

2011-06-17T09:19:00.003-04:00

Well as most of you know I have been a busy busy girl lately :)

First I got married:

Then went on a lil trip:

Then bought a new car!!

...and now I've just been spending the summer with my friends and family by the grill, pool, deck, etc... I can already tell it's going to be an amazing summer... and I promise more posts about the wedding, honeymoon and obviously lots of summertime food asap.

xo,

Jen

Restaurant Review- Walnut Street Grill

2011-04-21T16:33:00.009-04:00

Last week a co-worker of mine accepted a job in Chicago so my team headed downtown to celebrate with him with a happy hour at Bartini followed by dinner at Walnut Street Grill.

I had read some very mixed reviews on the place so I wasn't sure what to expect. To set up the situation, we had about 12-15 people in our group and we were out on a Tuesday night.

The restaurant hasn't changed much since it was Bootsy's not too long ago. Some of the really eccentric flair has been taken down, but for the most part the "bones" are the same. The bathrooms still have that almost Spanish flair going on...and the sushi bar is covered with jars of pickles ... interesting...

The food is kind of like high end comfort food....with items like pulled pork nachos and chicken pot pie. They also have a "TV" dinner, which I imagine changes every night. A lot of the complaints I read about for this place was about the service. We had great service... our waitress was nice and our drinks were filled up promptly... They did pass out our food with the whole cattle call thing "who ordered the pot pie?" kind of thing...which I think the place is a little too nice for that, but not a big deal... now onto the food...

I would say everyone at our table got either chicken pot pie or pork shoulder.

I got:

short ribs in a skillet- roasted vegetables & potatoes

It was really delicious, the meat was good and the cooked carrots were clearly cooked in the meat drippings (not the healthiest way to cook carrots- but DELICIOUS nontheless)

Sorry for these terrible pictures... taking pictures of co-workers' food needs to be fast and discreet....not artful :)

Other co-workers' meals, that I didnt taste, but looked pretty darn tasty:

CHICKEN POT PIE- Tender Chicken & Gravy, Loaded with Vegetables in a Flaky Crust

ADOBO ROASTED PORK SHOULDER Crispy Grits, Fried Egg & Tomatillo Salsa

SIMPLY GRILLED SALMON Asparagus, Lemon & Olive Oil

All in all the food was really tasty (except the cornbread- don't order the cornbread)- and the menu is different and interesting.. Also it's a little bit pricey... I would like to go back and try that chicken pot pie at some point!

What's Been Cooking Lately

2011-01-01T22:03:00.005-05:00

Happy New Year!!!

Here are some recipes that have been hanging out in the que waiting to be written about... but instead I am going to just post some pictures of delicious homemade food.

....and as a couple of new years resolutions

lose 20lbs before my upcoming WEDDING.... (more would be nice..but trying to set a reasonable goal)
just be an all around healthier person...more active, healthier food, etc
...post more?

Now onto the food!!

After a trip to Melt in Northside, I tried my hand at re-creating their sweet potato coconut soup....It was tasty, but tasted a lot like my butternut squash soup... I'm thinking the light coconut milk might not have as much flavor as the full fat version..... but regardless, here are a couple of pictures of my roasted sweet potato and coconut soup with sage and crispy sage leaves on top. yummm...

Goat Cheese Pasta..... made from a recipe I got at a Whole Foods Wine Tasting...

Medium rare steak, asparagus, mushrooms and the world's most perfect cheese... mmmmm

Using the leftover steak from the night before with sauteed mushrooms and onions, the rest of the asparagus and a side of the always delicious Israeli couscous
One of my favorite weeknight meals, Tofu, kale chips and Israeli couscous with lima beans and peas... yumyumyummmm And a pre-new year's party meal:
Ina's baked shrimp scampi, with caesar salad and some garlic and herbed basmati rice...

Seasons Eatings to you and everyone you care about!

Here's to more delicious food in 2011!!

Book Babes 4th Annual Christmas Party & Ornament Exchange

2010-12-14T16:09:00.005-05:00

It's hard to believe that our little book club has been going strong for 4 years!!

Sunday we celebrated Christmas with a champagne brunch and an ornament exchange....
We had a delicious spread food including sausage rolls, a tatertot casserole, french toast casserole, fruit salad, a yogurt parfait bar, free flowing mimosas and everyone's favorite pumpkin cookies for dessert!!

Here is some of our day in pictures:

Looking forward to more book babin' in 2011!

Restaurant Review- Amarin Dollar Sushi

2010-11-03T12:43:00.004-04:00

Rob and I were craving sushi last night (let's be honest. I am always craving sushi) and decided to finally check out Amarin's Dollar Sushi Menu. (which is available Monday- Wed).

The back of this menu included all kinds of "rules" that I should have taken a picure of...including but not limited to..

no ordering more sushi until you have eaten the sushi you already ordered
to take out
no reservations
no substitutions
etc

Why do all sushi places always have this waving cat? anyone?

So $16 later we had two rolls and 8 pieces of sushi... While the menu is limited... I still think this is a good deal... The rolls pictured are a spicy tuna roll and a california roll. Both were good, but I think next time we'll be going for the "screaming" spicy tuna. The pieces were not as big as they sometimes can be...but for $1 each I was pretty happy...

Amarin, your dollar sushi is delicious and your service is good. We will be back.

Halloween Weekend 2010

2010-11-02T16:20:00.007-04:00

OMG I'm alive!! I will say that wedding planning has been keeping this girl quite busy lately....but not too busy to enjoy a beautiful fall Halloween weekend....

We had a blast at Krista's Halloween Party...

UNICORNS AND GLITTER!!- Flo from the progressive commercials

Saturday morning we headed north to Dayton to check out a rental company. Maybe before we made the drive all the way up I should have asked more questions as we sat in a COLD small room with more crap than you can ever imagine shoved into it. A sales lady with a winnie the pooh t-shirt and a child that would not SHUT UP topped off the delightful small town experience...

Afterwards we passed Ikea to pick up some wedding related items but unfortunately they were out of what we came for....but we somehow managed to spend a good amount of money anyway.... and I oohed and ahhed over the table decorations.... I need to have a dinner party stat just so I can set my table like this!

Then it was down to Macy's for some more wedding related fun...Registering! For those who have not done this it is super fun at first....you want it? Scan it! But after a while it gets overwhelming and STRESSFUL. Good thing Rob almost instantly knows when I have hit my overwhelmed place and encourages we move on to the next department...we can always come back. I love weddings and doing whatever I can for the people I love to make whatever I can amazing...but the thought of people doing this for me is almost more overhwhelming and emotional than I can think about!

We topped our long day off with a cold bottle of wine at one of our favorite BYO Sushi places.

Sunday I was excited for some cooking...

Some spicy white chicken chili went into the crockpot and my very first attempt at making fresh homemade bread... (well second attempt if you count the absolute disaster that was actually the first attempt)- good thing yeast comes in a three pack!

And what is chili without toppings... nothing if you ask me.

Sour cream, crackers, cheese, green onions, jalapenos and some freshly baked bread....

We feasted on this spread, dragged the firepit to the front yard and passed out candy to the kiddos.... Welcome Fall!

Restaurant Review- Chez Nora

2010-09-17T11:00:00.001-04:00

This review is a long time coming as it's from Krista's Birthday back on 8/8...but here goes anyway! Chez Nora is a cute little spot located in Mainstrasse in Covington. We had a huge, loud party ready to celebrate and they couldnt be more accomodating! At the end of the night I even made a point to tell the owner what a great job our waitress did with our large group and he was proud to tell me our waitress was his lovely wife :)

Now onto the food...
First off I was lucky enough to be sitting next to Carrie, who ordered this appetizer.... I guess maybe its not on the menu anymore since I can't find on the online menu...but regardless it was enormous perfectly cooked scallops topped with a delicious sauce. The stuff underneath it were nothing to write home about but man those scallops were delicious... almost left me wishing I had those and a side salad for my meal.

For my meal I had a salad...if you can even call it that. Obviously I knew when ordering it I was ordering a salad with a calorie equivalent of a couple of big macs, but MAN was it good!!!

Filet Tips Salad:
A salad of chopped romaine lettuce, red onions, tomatoes, asparagus, bleu cheese and garlic-horseradish redskins, topped with filet beef tips

This was one delicious salad. A Salad with steak and potatoes on it?? yes please! really really good. and hearty... I definitely didnt finish it...

Rob ordered the Vegetarian Pesto Pasta:
A generous variety of sauteed vegetables, tossed in our signature basil pesto, topped with parmesan cheese

He really loved this pasta dish too... I mean what's not to love. Homemade pesto, pasta, sauteed veggies...cheese...pretty much a winner in my book!

Also- here is someone's random dish. I cant remember who's or what it is....but I'm gonna throw it in here anyway :)

Happy (extremely) belated birthday to Krista!

After dinner we headed upstairs to the rooftop deck for another drink before hitting the streets of mainstrasse for some birthday fun. Speaking of the rooftop deck, Tuesday is half price wine night and a great place to hang out and enjoy a bottle of wine with a friend... go here!

First Soup of the Fall! - Bean Soup!

2010-09-16T12:48:00.006-04:00

One of my favorite things about fall.....SOUP season! I ADORE soup...but who wants an oven or a burner going for hours when it's 90 degrees out? or a hot liquidy dinner after getting back from a sweaty dogwalk? That's one of my most favorite things about when the weather starts to change and the slow cooking soups and other recipes I love to spend the day making a slow cooked meal..

A co-worker of mine (hi nancy!) was eating some homemade bean soup at lunch the other day that were leftovers from a dinner made by her dad... from that moment on I have been craving the bean-y goodness and scoured the internet for some healthy bean soup recipes.... and in the process, discovered something wonderful...

Bob's Red Mill 13 bean soup mix. This guy has EVERYTHING. Navy, black, red, pinto, baby limas, large limas, garbanzo, red lentils, great northern, kidney beans, black-eyed peas, yellow splits, green splits, and lentils.

The result is a THICK, delicious, filling, warm soup that seriously yum.

If you are looking for a quick weeknight soup recipe, this is NOT it... it takes a little forethought (soaking the beans overnight) a little prep time and about 3.5 hours of simmer time...but I can;t wait to make it on a Sunday afternoon in the winter and have it fill the house with smells and warmth until dinner time..

So let's get cookin!

Rinse the dried beans and put them in a BIG bowl..they will expand up to 3 times their size! After soaking overnight....throw out that water and add the beans, an onion (or two), some ham (we used those tiny little cubed up pieces you can buy so we have a little ham in every bite- but this would certainly be a good use of leftover ham...or no ham at all if you prefer to make it vegetarian!)

Bring it to a boil and then let it simmer for 2 and a half hours until some of the beans start to break up and thicken the soup and you have this going on.... yum.

At this point we're gonna add our tomatoes, garlic, chili powder and the juice of one lemon and let it simmer away for ANOTHER hour....

We put ours in individual containers (1cup is only 1 weight watchers point...and super filling... it gets an A+ for the bridal diet!)

Enjoy!

Actual recipe with exact measurements of everything below:
20 ounces assorted beans

1 lb of ham cubes

1 large onion, chopped

15 ounces canned diced tomato

1 teaspoon chili powder

Juice of a lemon

1 - 2 cloves garlic, minced

NIGHT BEFORE: Rinse the beans and pick out any dried beans. Cover with 2 quarts of water and leave to soak overnight.

DAY OF: Put the beans in a very large pot or Dutch oven. Cover with two quarts of new water. Add the ham and onion. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 2 1/2 hours.

Add the tomatoes, garlic, chili powder and lemon juice and let simmer for another 30 - 60 minutes.

Israeli Couscous with Chicken, Mushrooms, Asparagus and Garlic

2010-09-14T12:56:00.004-04:00

A couple of weeks ago we had NRN (New Recipe Night) with our friends Suzi and Wall. Trying to stick to my bridal diet, I emailed Wall a quick email asking him what vegetables he considered edible, to which he replied:

"How about potatoes, corn, green beans, asparagus, peas??, mushrooms?"

Regardless of the fact that only 3 of these 6 choices are actually vegetables (love you Wall!)... I got to work making a delicious dish that would be palate pleasing to my guests....

First I got the mis en place ready....Vital for when you have people over for dinner...if everything is chopped up/cleaned up you can cook when your guests arrive without being completely frazzled!

Here we have:

Olive Oil
A container of baby bellas
1 large shallot, peeled and minced
2 large clove of garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon Herbes de Provence
pinch of Kosher salt and some freshly ground black pepper
1.5 pieces of diced/seasoned chicken, browned on the skillet then taken off and covered with foil before fully cooked

1 teaspoon of butter
2/3 cup Israeli couscous
1 1/4 cups hot chicken broth
1 bunch of asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
thyme
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus additional for sprinkling

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. When it begins to shimmer, add the mushrooms and cook, stirring as needed, until mushrooms are tender and just beginning to brown. Add the shallots and garlic and saute for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the curry powder and the Herbes de Provence and saute for one minute, then season with a bit of salt and pepper.

Add 1 teaspoon of butter, allow it to melt, then pour in the Israeli couscous. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, allowing the couscous to toast and brown slightly. Add the hot chicken broth and stir well to combine, scraping any browned bits up from the bottom of the pan. Add the asparagus, the garlic scapes and the leaves from 4 sprigs of fresh thyme. Stir well to combine.

Bring the mixture to the boil then immediately reduce heat to low, add the mostly cooked chicken cubes, cover and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes or until couscous is tender and most of the broth has been absorbed. Before serving, add in 1/4 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and stir to melt and combine.

Serve immediately, garnished with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. Enjoy! Yummmmmm!

I just can't say enough how much I LOVE israeli couscous...and this dish had the slight curry flavor, the crunch of the asparagus and the soft deliciousness of the mushrooms. VERy yummy lil weeknight meal!

Recipe adapted from here

Catch up of my Life in Pictures

2010-09-09T11:09:00.005-04:00

Ok OK OK okok. I know I've been gone for a while....but look what happened while I was away!:

yaaaay!! Can't wait to marry my bestest friend and my love! What a lucky girl I am :)

Followed by an immediate suprise engagement party!!

Then 4 days later we were off to a 4 day weekend in NYC for Rob's cousin's wedding:

and while we were there... a lil site seeing

and of course a NY City hot pretzel from a street vendor!

Followed by a Connecticut baptism for Rob's newest Nephew:

Baby Matthew!

and since then between venue hunting, working and bridal magazine reading, I've been one busy lady.....but I promise new updates, food reviews and wedding obsessions very soon....

Cheers!

What's Been Cookin

2010-08-19T08:48:00.004-04:00

There is something about the summer that makes creative cooking almost come to a halt. I find myself making a lot of stuff I already know how to do that is fast and easy (taco salad) and a lot of things that are practically just assembled instead of cooked....(the other night I had an apple and popcorn for dinner...)

But, here are a few yummy things we've been cooking up lately though...

I decided to make a lower calorie version of a dish I made a while back and swap out the whole wheat pasta for some spaghetti Squash. Add a little homemade pesto made with the basil growing out on our back deck and a little sauteed chicken to the roasted and scraped spaghetti squash and voila...pure deliciousness...

One morning we were feeling fancy and decided on a homemade brunch of eggs benedict and spicy roasted potatoes... I even whipped out some of the old culinary school skills and make a little hollandaise for topping it...delicious!

A lot of vegetarian meals also get consumed around here in the summer. This was a ridiculously simple dish of a can of black beans and a can of rotel sauteed together, added to some millet and topped with a dressing made of lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, chili powder, cumin, allspice, salt, pepper and a pinch of cayenne.. served with a side of fresh corn on the cob. mmmmmm

We've also been eating all over the city...more posts to come soon. Promise!

Restaurant Review- Chinese Imperial Inn

2010-08-10T08:00:00.000-04:00

I was driving around with a co-worker for work around lunchtime the other day in Sharonville and we both started getting hungry. She was seriously craving chinese food, especially since her husband doesn't like it so she never gets to eat it....so we pulled over so I could pull out the iPhone and find the closest chinese joint. "Chinese Imperial Inn" it was and we headed there for some traditional american chinese food...

Here is the outside of the restaurant, which made me wonder if it was even still in business....but it was so in we went!

We sat down and were immediately brought a bowl of crispy noodles with two dipping sauces and a pot of hot tea... I like that!

We got a lunch special that came with either soup or an eggroll.. I went with the eggdrop soup and it was good...especially with all those cripsy noodles to use as garnish!

For lunch I ordered the boneless chicken cantonese and it was enough for this meal plus 2 more later... I could have used a little more sauce but all and all, it was pretty good cheap chinese food...

Speaking of cheap...this entire meal cost me $5.....$6 with a 20% tip. Crazy.

If you are in Sharonville and looking for a quick, cheap lunch...this is your spot...

Grillin' Girls

2010-08-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

Sunday morning I was being a bum and watching a little TV in bed when I caught an episode of Grill it with Bobby Flay... He made the most delicious looking meal ever and I haven't been able to get it out of my head since I saw it...So Martin and I decided to put our grillin' hats on and get to work... who says grillin is a man's job??

We knew once the prep work was done, this meal would come together on the grill in a FLASH..so first we got to work prepping all of our ingredients...

Jenn whipped up this delicious honey mustard horseradish....

And I halved chicken breasts and pounded them until they were nice and thin and layed out the paper thin pieces of prosciutto and provolone cheese..

and we skewered tomatoes and seasoned them along with the asparagus..

then everyone was ready for the grill....

As expected, the entire meal cooked up in no time flat. You want to make sure the asparagus holds its crunch and the tomatoes their pop!...and no one likes overcooked chicken!

After the chicken was ready I threw the prosciutto and cheese on each piece and closed the grill so the cheese would melt...

When everything came out the grilled veggies got a generous dousing of this (ridiculously) delicious sauce:

and the chicken was covered with peppery arugula, a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil....

Enjoyed on the back deck with a couple of white wine spritzers.....

Pretty much the most perfect meal ever.... Enjoy!

Asparagus and Tomato Skewers with Honey Mustard-Horseradish Sauce
Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay

Ingredients
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup clover honey
3 tablespoons prepared horseradish, drained
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint leaves (we left out the mint)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pint cherry tomatoes on the vine
Wooden skewers soaked in water
1 pound asparagus, trimmed
Olive oil

Directions:
Preheat the grill. Whisk together the mustard, honey, horseradish and mint in a bowl and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Let sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes to allow the flavors to meld.

Thread the tomatoes onto skewers and put them into a large bowl. Add the asparagus and drizzle with a little oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Put the tomatoes on the grill and cook until charred on both sides. Grill the asparagus for about 2 minutes per side. Put the vegetables on a platter and drizzle them with the mustard sauce. Serve hot or at room temperature

Grilled Chicken Cordon Bleu
Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay

Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound triple creme cheese (recommended; Red Hawk) or brie, thinly sliced (I used provolone)
2 lemons, halved
8 paper thin slices prosciutto
1/4 pound baby arugula
Directions
Heat the grill to high.
Brush the chicken on both sides with oil and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Grill until slightly charred on both sides and just cooked through, about 2 minutes per side. Put a few slices of cheese on each breast, close the cover and let it melt slightly, about 40 seconds. Brush the cut side of lemons with oil and grill, cut side down until golden brown and slightly charred, about 45 seconds.
Put the chicken on large serving plates, top each breast with 2 slices of prosciutto and some arugula. Squeeze the grilled lemon on top and drizzle with olive oil.

Restaurant Review- Cabana on the River

2010-08-02T12:41:00.005-04:00

Sunday night we headed down to the river for a low-key waterside dinner at "Cabana on the River"... 30 minutes later we were sitting down at a sunny table with these guys!

Check out this view....

So, the atmosphere was good and the beer was good and cold...but how would the food be?

Something we noticed immediately...everything (and I mean everything) is served on paper/plastic plates. Wine is served in plastic glasses, salads are served in plastic to-go containers and you are given a baggie of plastic silverware to eat everything with.... very interesting...

Certain things on the menu were in a yellow box, which apparantly meant "specialty items" so right away that narrowed the menu down for me to specialty items. Jenn and I ordered the beef tenderloin sandwich:

This looks a little like a mess, and it was. I'm not really sure how anyone would eat it as a sandwich....but I will say the meat was cooked nicely and seasoned deliciously. I ate the steak with my (plastic) knife and fork and snacked on a little of this bread, but left most of the bread behind.... all in all it was a great steak and a big portion for a little over $10!

Rob got the mahi mahi sandwich and also ate it with fork and knife. It was also cooked perfectly and seasoned really nicely and the fries were tasty too!

Later that night the bugs started to come out... about a million flies were all over our table and us... Not sure what could prevent this since we were outside, had food and were by the river....but there were MASSIVE amounts of them. Next time I will definitely wear some bug spray...or bring one of those nifty Off things...

Things to note: the entire restaurant is outside, so in the colder months, the whole place shuts down. On weekend nights they have live bands playing! fun! I definitely plan on coming back and trying more things on the menu.... or even just for some riverside drinks with friends.

Chicken & Israeli Couscous with Tomato & Lemon

2010-07-28T14:00:00.007-04:00

Couscous is good....Israeli couscous is delicious. I didn't know there was a difference until I tried an Israeli couscous salad at wicked witch and thought....this is WAY more delicious than couscous...what IS this? So browsing the aisles at Trader Joes last week... I spotted a box of the little balls of heaven and brought them home.

Here was my first (very successful) experiement:

Chicken & Israeli Couscous with Tomato & Lemon

First all my mis en place in a bowl.... onions, tomatoes, garlic and lemon zest...

Then I toasted up the tasty little balls for about a minute...and then took them back out of the pan and sauteed up some chicken until it was just browned...

Then the chicken out and the tomatoes, onions, etc went in until the tomatoes were breaking up and the onions were soft..

I poured in some white wine and let that cook down a little bit before adding in the stock, couscous and some salt and pepper and let that simmer away for about 12 minutes...

The recipe had us putting the chicken back in with the wine, which I did....but in my opinion it led to slightly overcooked chicken, so next time I will put it in way later...and my thoughts have been reflected in the recipe below...

Once the chicken is cooked through and the couscous is soft, I stirred in some frozen peas (that I thawed under some warm tap water to keep from watering down the sauce)...

last but absolutely not least, squeeze a lemon wedge over the bowl after you serve yourself up some....it really makes the dish....trust me.

Enjoy!!

Chicken and Israeli Couscous with Tomato and Lemon
Adapted From Martha Stewart Living (January 2009)

Ingredients
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup Israeli couscous
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I only used 1 large breast- cut into bitesize pieces)
1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
2-3 tomatoes, chopped up
3 garlic cloves, minced (1 tbsp)
zest of one lemon
Pinch of saffron- (I didnt have any- so I didnt use any)
1/2 cup dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc
1-1/2 cups homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 lemon, cut into wedges, for serving

Directions
1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add couscous, and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Transfer to a bowl, and return skillet to heat.

2. Cook chicken, smooth side down, until browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Flip, and cook for 2 minutes more. Transfer to a plate, reserving drippings in skillet.

3. Reduce heat to medium, add onion, and cook, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, garlic, lemon peel and cook, stirring frequently, until tomatoes begin to break down, 2 to 3 minutes.

4. Add wine, and cook for 4 minutes. Add stock, salt, and couscous, and stir. Add chicken back to pan...Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until couscous is tender and chicken is cooked through, 12 to 14 minutes. Stir in peas, and cook until heated through, about 1 minute. Serve immediately with lemon.