Loeffelholz baby shower

I suppose we better get to posting Baby L's shower before Baby L actually arrives! He/she will be blessing his/her parents with his/her presence before we know it, and I for one CANTFREAKINGWAIT to find out if we have a little Miss or a little Mister. Our group of girlies has gotten pretty great at planning, organizing, and executing bridal showers, bachelorette parties, and baby showers in the last few years as we all enter into different stages of our adult lives. It was Amanda's turn to be the one in the VIP chair as we threw her a shower to celebrate the upcoming arrival of her first bundle of joy!

 

Usually, I volunteer for food duty, for obvious reasons. But this time, I was put in charge of the games, so I was determined to find some fun games that didn't involve melted chocolate in diapers or eating baby food. I'm sorry folks, not all of us have babies yet, so eating out of a diaper does seriously freak me out. Not saying you moms eat out of diapers, but you see them a little more often, and maybe even when you're eating chocolate? Anyway, I had gone to a friends baby shower earlier in the year and they played some nice games without the gag factor....so I stole their ideas like a good shower thrower does :)

 

The first game involved only a paper and a pen. It was like baby Scattergories so the paper was lettered from A-Z and participants were asked to write down a word involving pregnancy, labor, babies, or motherhood corresponding with each letter. You only get a point for a word if someone else in the room doesn't use it so being creative is a plus! 

 

The next game involved a few more purchases. I filled a tray with each and every baby/mommy item I could find in a store and walked it around the room slowly, before stashing it where no one could see it. The person who remembered and wrote down the most items from the tray, won! Both games were very simple, took a bit of time, and the Mom of Honor got to take home all the extra baby gear used for the games....

 

 

Yummy, yummy cake on the gift table!

 

Brandy Sue's first ever diaper carriage, it turned out AMAZINGLY! She used a tutorial I sent her from Pinterest, so if you're interested in trying one of these, you can check out THIS LINK. I've made a couple diaper bikes before too, if you want to go that route.

The spread...bagel bar, fresh fruit, egg bake, lemonade punch...

Bagel bar with lots of different jams and cream cheeses...

 

Part of the planning crew :)

 

Mommy to be enjoying her cake!

 

Baby L is due to make his/her appearance on December 3, so I will keep you posted on the newest arrival to our friend family! Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday week...

 

Berbere rubbed pork chops

It's Monday. I'm pooped. I feel 30. Good thing I have 3 more days to be 29. My sneaky (and loving) girlfriends with my sneaky (and loving) hubby planned a surprise birthday dinner for me this weekend. It was a wonderful weekend of shopping for a whole new work wardrobe (my birthday present from Main Man), a surprise dinner at one of my fave places (see pic of my oscar below...so mad I forgot my leftovers), and lots of fun times with friends. I won't forget it anytime soon...I'm a lucky girl, and 2012 has been the best year yet. I can't wait to turn 30 on Thanksgiving day and welcome an even better year to come!

 

 

Like all good things, this weekend had to come to an end....but the best thing about your birthday being during a holiday week is that you have a short work week! And believe me, I need a short week right about now. I'm sure you're all planning your Thanksgiving meals this week, so if you want to check out some of our family's favorite holiday dishes, go check out last year's post with our  Thanksgiving menu on it, I promise you'll find something you can't live without!

 

As for us this week, easy dinners are the ticket when you're planning on a few large Thanksgiving meals later in the week. This is a simple weeknight meal, with great flavor that won't leave you unsatisfied and counting down the days for the real deal fat kid meals in a few days.

 

I had never heard of Berbere spices before but Wikipedia says:

 

Berbere (Amharic: በርበሬ berberē, Tigrinya: በርበረ berbere) is a spice mixture whose constituent elements usually include chili peppers, garlic, ginger, dried basil, korarima, rue, white and black pepper and fenugreek.^[1][2] It serves as a key ingredient in the cuisines of Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Berbere sometimes encompasses herbs and spices that are less well known internationally. The latter include both cultivated plants and those that grow wild in Ethiopia, such as korarima (Aframomum corrorima)^[3] and long pepper.^[4]

 

Interesting. I got the cutest little package of fun spices (and the cutest little package of cool flavored olive oils and vinegars) from my friend Leslie for one of the wedding showers we have a couple months ago. Leslie knows what is right up my alley because she resides in the same alley. She's a foodie, loves to stay active, enjoys a good time out on the town, and has a little of that OCD stuff I've got floating around. We mesh well. Anyway, she got me a bunch of cool cooking stuff from this little place called All Spice in the East Village (you can order online with that link if you're not from around here. I need to go there. I'm scared though. I have a vision of my bank account slowly draining itself in there....

 

This was the first of the new spices I used from the gift and I was uber impressed. I rubbed the pork chops with olive oil very generously, rubbed with the spice mixture, and refridgerated overnight to let that shizz fall in love before cooking. It was goooooood. Check this place out.

 

We grilled our chops to a charred perfection (the rub and olive oil made a nice almost sauce) and served with the Stensland vegetable favorite at the moment...roasted brussel sprouts. There were a lot of "mmmmm's" resonating from the walls of the casa that evening. Hopefully you hear them too!

Bay scallop scampi

 So, I get these "recipe of the month" dealies in the mail with a coupon for Waterfront (awesome sushi and fresh seafood market). They all sound great, but I've never had the gumption to try one before, so I just file them away in my rolodex and hope to look back on them someday with a fresh bounty of seafood at my fingertips. OK, that never happens...but I did have some frozen bay scallops leftover from the proscuitto wrapped scallops I did a while back. Thus, my gumption rang the doorbell when I saw the recipe of the month was bay scallop scampi. Boom shaka laka.

 

Here is the original recipe and I will tell you how I altered it in parentheses (I love parentheses):

 

1.5 T olive oil

3 T butter (I used marscapone cheese rather than butter, just because I had it on hand)

1 lb bay scallops, rinsed and patted dry (very important to decrease popping in the pan)

3 garlic cloves, minced (I used 5...I'm crazy like that)

2 T fresh lemon juice (no lemons, I left this out)

1/4 cup white wine (no white wine, I'm a red fan, I left this out)

2 T capers (not a caper fan, left this out)

salt and cracked pepper to taste

2 T lemon zest (no lemons, no zest)

 

In a large heavy bottomed skillet (I used my new grill pan to make some perdy marks on my scallop friends), heat the oil and butter over medium high heat until mixture starts to brown. Make sure the pan and oil mixture is very hot before adding scallops...but don't burn it.

 

Add minced garlic to the pan, and continually stir to prevent scorching. Season scallops with salt and pepper and add them to the hot pan. Sizzle, sizzle, pop, pop...don't move the scallops around, let them sear for 30 seconds, then turn them over to sear for another 30-40 seconds. Be veddy veddy careful not to cook them for too long (cut into one if you have to), because rubberized scallops are a sin. If you burn them, you have to go to church twice this weekend.

I placed my seared scallops (do you see what I mean about those peeeeerdy grill marks?!) on a bed of the marscapone mashed potatoes that I made earlier in the week. This is the exact reason I don't make mashed taters much at home. We eat them every night...I love it but my potato ass doesn't love it. Extra Kosama this week, here I come!

I also threw 3 cups of fresh spinach into the hot pan with the marscapone after I had pulled the scallops. Wilted it and scooped it onto the plate as a side with the sauteed garlic and all it's love all up in there. Main Man's first words were "What's the green stuff?" but after I told him it was wilted spinach, it was the first thing that was gone from his plate. Score one for wifey!

This was a great meal, and one that I would've been happy with had we gone to Waterfront and ordered it at the restaurant. Nice to have it at home for half the cost!  Happy Friday, all! Enjoy your weekend :)

Chicken bacon rice bowls

I feel happyyyyy,

Oh so happyyyyy,

I am happyyy and witty, and gayyyy

And I pityyyy any girl who isn't me todayyyy!

 

Sorry for being annoyingly upbeat today. Something in the air, I guess? Thanksgiving is next week (my 30th birthday just so happens to fall on Turkey day this year), it's Mama K's birthday today (shoutout to my favorite lady in the 'verse), I feel light and airy and like I have tons of time now that it's not all taken up by wedding planning (married life is swell, by the way), I'm back in the swing of Kosama with a great workout partna (Kristyn, you've been a lifesaver to my motivation), it's almost the weekend (where we get to celebrate Brandy Sue's birthday, yeaaahhhhh), and ohhhhh what else...do I really need any more reason to be in a fabulous mood? I think not. So you're going to have to deal with my extra bubbles today, be grateful you can't hear me squeal about how yumtastical this meal was, and how mad I am that I had never thought of it before because it is soooooo easy. Be very grateful.

 

This recipe came from my favorite place to steal sweet food ideas from, Iowa Girl Eats. It's ok, you can like her better than me. I like her better than me. I've come to terms with it. I saw this posted a couple weeks ago, happened to have all ingredients standing at attention, ready to report for duty, and decided this was happening...immediately. I tweaked it a bit to what I had on hand and now, my grasshoppers, I share this with you...

 

8 slices bacon

2 bags rice (I used Uncle Ben's long grain and wild per usual)

2 large chicken breasts, cut into bit sized pieces

salt and pepper to taste

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 can mushrooms

4 cups baby spinach

 

Cook your bacon to your liking, everyone likes it different you know. I like ours crisp but not crispy...still some rubbery to it but it has to be done. Do as you wish with this part. IGE actually baked her bacon, but I wanted to use a bit of the bacon grease to season this rice bowl (my father would be so proud) so I cooked it like normal in a skillet. Take the bacon out, drain over half the liquid and add 2 t of olive oil. Add the chicken and saute until cooked throughout. Add mushrooms and garlic, stir continuously so garlic doesn't burn. Add the spinach to the skillet and allow it to wilt beautifully. Cook the rice packets in the microwave and add them to the skillet to allow everything to cook all together for a bit. Use kitchen shears to snip the bacon up into small pieces to add to the party, and you're ready to serve!

 

Did you notice that you only used one skillet? Hot diggety-no dishes-dog! I mean, you do have a couple dishes, the skillet and the stirrer you use, but that sounds better than hot diggety-minimal dishes-dog. Know what I mean? Anywho...I threw a bit of soy sauce on here for a little extra flava and I was one happy camper. I saw the forkplane of rice fly into my mouth more than once while I was putting the leftovers away.

 

P.S. The leftovers are gone. They gone.

 

Rosemary roasted chicken

We're going to go with an easy one today, folks...it is hump day, after all. Get through today and it's running downhill to the weekend, wheeeeeeeeeeee! Sidenote: have you ever seen the commercial with the little pig in the backseat of the car yelling "Wheeeeeeeee!!!!" all the way home? I die. Every time. But I digress....

 

This is one of those "I don't know what to make for supper" meals that always pleases. Main Man loves this shizz. The chicken gets a crispy skin (we are forever carnivores in our household and the skin is a treasured commodity since I normally serve boneless, skinnless chicken breast), the inside is super moist (I can type that word, but I cannot say it in real life....it's such a gross word), and the flavor (omg, you guys, the flavor!) is just perfection. I'm telling you...

 

Here's the scoop:

 

olive oil

rosemary

salt and cracked pepper to taste

chicken thighs

 

You take some thawed chicken thighs, enough for however many people you're serving, rub some olive oil into them like you're massaging away the stress of a hard week on that little chicken's thighs (I know how it feels if it had to do a zillion squats in Kosama this week too), season with salt, cracked pepper, and plenty of rosemary. Rosemary on chicken is like my fave spice...great on taters too. It just works.

 

 

Throw them in the oven (preheated to 400 degrees) for 20 minutes or so (maybe longer depending on your oven or the size of your thighs) until done. I always cut into chicken in its thickest part to make sure its done, I cringe at the thought of eating pink chicken. Ugh.

 

I served this with leftover marscapone mashed potatoes and it was the most down-home meal we've had in a while. Crisp chicken, creamy taters, and a big glass of milk...sigh. Happy hump day, all!

Chicken broccoli rice casserole

I've been making variations of this dish for years...it's like the first thing I learned to make on my own. I was so proud of myself. Everyone seemed to like it...and I made a flipping casserole!!! So grown up, I was. It was like a new beginning when I was in college and made something besides spagetti or tacos (those were the only things I knew how to work with after I left home, pretty much). I'm sure you all remember the timeframe in your lives where you left the box, and started wanting more than takeout or pasta...it was life changing for me. What was your first "real meal" cooking experience that you remember?

Anywho...I used to make this allllll the time. So I got sick of it for a while once I started exploring cooking at home even more. But it popped into my head the other day, and I had to throw it together for old time's sake. It's even easier than I remember...super yummy, and not to mention kid friendly as well!

Let's get this party started....

4 large chicken breasts, seasoned, baked, and diced into bite sized pieces
3 bags long grain wild rice (I use this stuff)
3 cups broccoli, chopped small
1 can mushrooms
8 oz fat free cream cheese
1 cup skim milk
1 cup chicken broth
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
fresh cracked pepper to taste

Mix everything up in a mixing bowl (don't cook the rice or broccoli first, it will cook while it bakes), spread it into a 9x13 baking dish (save a little cheese for the top if you wish...and I wished). Bake while covered at 400 degrees for 40 minutes, or until heated throughout. Serve with a veggie side or all by itself...that's up to you and your cohorts. I chose to include a side of our frozen sweet corn that we make each year, so we don't have to be without it after the season is over. Serve while steaming hot, close your eyes, and take in all the comfort of the casserole....you won't be disappointed.  Happy Tuesday, all!!

Marscapone mashed potatoes

You can't really get much simpler, or a more comforting food than mashed potatoes. They are a real treat around our casa, as I can house them like no other. I'm seriously a potato freak, and a good mashed potato is un-freaking-beatable in my world. I saw this recipe and seriously freaked because I've been wanting to try marsapone cheese foreva, eva! They always put it in desserts on the tv show Chopped (I'm a bit obsessed) but I don't do desserts very often so I've never found a reason to buy it. Until now.....

 

 

2 lb yukon gold potatoes

1/2 cup skim milk

5 T marscapone

2 t salt

 

Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Throw your taters in and bathe them until you can fork them with no effort...to the point where they fall apart when you throw a fork in there. Drain and add them to your new, sweeter than crap, Top Chef mixing bowl that you got from an awesome bridesmaid named Amanda for a wedding gift, and add the marscapone, salt, and milk with your new, absolutely awesome, Top Chef measuring spoons you received from a sweet cousin named Lauren. I also added 1-2 teaspoons of garlic powder (do what you can depending on the vicinity your breath has to be to another person's face that night).

 

I used my hand mixer to mash these babies up, but you can use a hand smasher, a Kitchenaid mixer, whatever you can get your potato loving hands on at the moment. The hand mixer made them sooooooo creamy (if you watch The Soup, I said that in my head like he says "Soooooo meaty" when it's Chat Stew time...Im horribly weird, I know) and decadent. I was SO PROUD (that was said in Coach Paul Rhoads voice in his famous speech after a big ISU win last year) that these turned out perfect...these were like restaurant style garlic mashed potatoes, you guys. Do you find it weird that I have other people's voices floating around in my head for certain phrases? I'll stop if I'm scaring you...I mean I won't stop hearing them, but I'll stop letting you know about random football coaches and tv show hosts narrating my thoughts. I would do that for you...

I'm cracking up right now looking at the final pictures. I had my plate all put together, a nice floofy (yes, that's a word in my inner dictionary) plop of potatoes with a fork in them looking like they're ready to eat.....I had my camera up to my face trying to get the right angle with no shadows (photographing after the sun is down is hard)....and Main Man was standing there watching me, grabbed the fork and smeared the potatoes across the plate right as I snapped the picture. I can't even believe he got his hand out of there in time! He took off running (knowing I would be in flight right behind him for payback) and I caught him quickly due to his uncontrollable laughter. He thought it was hilaaaaaarious...and I have to admit, I was laughing so hard at how funny he thought he was that I had tears streaming down my face!

Anyway...the morals of this story are:

1. Make these potatoes. They would be great for the holidays!
2. It's super fun to be married to your best friend :)