Snowy Day at Home

It's a Snowy New Years Eve here in the Boston area...We're expecting 5-7 inches, I think. It's just starting to accumulate. Shelagh has a friend over so she's pretty occupied.

She started off the day "working on her website", which to her means drawing out the seasons on paper. Not sure how that conclusion was drawn, but she's pretty serious about it.

There was also a fierce competition of Hungry Hippos this morning.

Rory started off a tough race car driver this morning, but Shelagh and Lily got a hold of him and his toughness is wearing off...

Meal Planning wk of 12/26

Here's my plan for the week...Next week begins the freezer cleanout project I am determined to complete before the baby arrives so that my mom has room to fill it back up :)

Friday - Take out

Saturday - Ham/Bean Soup - I wrote about this recipe in previous post. I did it to use up the ham bone from Xmas.

Sunday - Garlic Roast Pork Loin from The Complete Meat Cookbook by Bruce Aidells (my favorite cookbook), Mashed Potatoes, sauteed Brussel Sprouts w/ onions. This recipe is close to the Roast Pork from the book, but not exactly. I used a 3 3/4 lb partially boneless center cut roast, cut away the bones and tied them back to the roast. I used 6 cloves garlic, 1 Tbl salt, 1 tsp dried sage, 2 tsp dried rosemary. When the temp goes down to 300, it is expected to take 1-1 1/4 hours to bring the pork to temperature and I may even have to put the bones back in if the roast is done but the bones are still pink. Otherwise, same idea.

Monday - Teriyaki Chicken but without the Roasted Scallions (I love them but I have veggies in the frig I have to use), Gnocchi (Trader Joes), sauteed Zucchini

Tuesday - Leftovers

Wednesday - New Years Eve - not sure yet

Thursday - Roast Beef, Broccoli, Rice or Pasta something or other

Pampering Day

Yesterday was a total "me" day. With Joe having some stuff going on over several weekends in December and January, I realized I needed to schedule a day for myself before it's too late! I started the day with a nice prenatal massage and then a pedicure. I left the house a little early and sat at the bagel shop with my book for awhile first (The Secret Life of Bees per a referral from my friend at work who says it's her favorite book. I'm split right now at about 1/2-way through).

Then I did some shopping and pretty much reversed the physical benefit of the massage by being on my feet too long. You could argue that that's not the way to spend a day to myself, but doing errands without the kids and actually being able to browse is so nice sometimes. I got some crafts for Rorys 3rd birthday party next weekend (I'm not crafty...this took some time); a new outfit for myself for the hospital; and 2 outfits for the baby (I have no business buying her anything really since I have a ton of stuff from Shelagh, but I had no dresses for 0-3 and they were on sale at Old Navy).

Post-Christmas Food Catchup

Christmas week was really nice. We spent Xmas Eve in Southern NH at Joes brothers house with most of his family. The kids had a fantastic time with their cousins. Christmas Day we like to spend at home since the kids are still young and like to just hang out and play with their toys. I make dinner and my mother in law usually joins us in the afternoon. Joes brother and his girlfriend also joined us this year for a low-key meal of Spiral Ham, Roasted Potatoes, Rice, Creamed Spinach, and Chocolate Mousse.

It was my first time making Chocolate Mousse and the recipe I used from Everyday Food came out great and was fast and easy. After my disaster chocolate pudding, I was nervous about the consistency of the mousse not being right, but it was perfect!

I chose Spiral Ham so that I could not have to do too much...it's getting tough to be on my feel for periods of time. I kept the ham bone and searched online until I found a ham/bean soup that seemed good. I used this recipe for Good Ham Bean Soup...don't let the silly recipe title deter you. It was good. I used dried beans for the first time. Even though I soaked them in water for >24 hours, I had to cook the soup for 2 hours instead of 1 to get them soft enough. I think I like canned, rinsed beans better. Shelagh loved it once I added some corn for her. Rory insisted on having separate ham b/c he didn't want his ham to be "soupy". Seriously.

My 1st Hanukkah Latkes!

My first time making Hanukkah Latkes didn't turn out so bad! I used a recipe from Bon Appetit, which was fine save being short a little on salt. The recipe isn't on epicurious.com, but this one is close. The only missing ingredient is 2 tablespoons of matzo meal added to the egg mixture. Grating the potatoes and onion by hand would have sucked so happy I figured out the grating attachment for my food processor. It seriously took less than a minute to grate everything.

Baking Extravaganza

Shelagh & I had a baking extravaganza today...After the peppermint bark disaster, I decided to make some easier stuff to put together in bags for our family gift on Xmas Eve. Here's what we made...

Cranberry Bread (which I've written about before)

Cherry-Oatmeal Bars from Cooking Light - The recipe is actually for Cranberry-Oatmeal Bars with the option of a substitution for Cherry.

Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chunk Cookies from Martha Stewart Food

Meal Planning - Holiday Week

Had to plan this week with Hanukkah and Christmas meals...

Saturday - Linguine w/ Pesto - Joe was out so quick pasta dinner for me and Shelagh.

Sunday - 1st Night of Hanukkah - Latkes (not sure which recipe yet) & Gail Simmons Horseradish Brisket - Did a search on Food & Wine and found this brisket recipe. I just screwed one up a few weeks ago, so I wanted to try a new one. Note: I do not like ANYTHING spicy and always avoid Horseradish. However, I decided to give this a whirl anyway and just reduced the amount of it (Love her on Top Chef, but haven't had any luck on previous Top Chef recipes...probably b/c they are crappy as they are posted on Bravo). Here are some pics of the process today...

Starting with veggies...

After the Brisket is browned, smeared with Horseradish/garlic/olive oil paste...

After some of the Horseradish paste is wiped off by me and has been cooked for about 2 hours.

Final product cooling...Will go in the frig until dinner tomorrow night. I did taste a little forkful b/c I used a brisket 1/2 the size of the recipe (which is how I hosed the last one). I cut all the times in half and the taste seemed pretty good and not spicy. I'll update tomorrow night.

Monday - leftovers

Tuesday - Pork Tenderloin, Brussel Sprouts sauteed w/ Onions, Pasta; Kids: M & C

Wednesday - Xmas Eve - At Sister in Laws

Thursday -

Xmas Breakfast - French Toast & Bacon - I do French Toast like my mom did when I was a kid. Big loaf of Italian Bread, sliced thick. I soak it overnight in a random concoction of eggs, cinnamon, sugar/vanilla sugar and milk. I saute it in the morning until cooked through.

Xmas Dinner - Brown-Sugar Spiral Ham, Sauteed sliced Potatoes & Onions, Creamed Spinach. The sauteed thin-sliced potatoes and onions from the Tortilla Espanola last week inspired me to make them for a side dish (circle french fries to get the kids to eat them). Creamed Spinach is my moms, I think. it has shallots, nutmeg, onion, garlic, mushrooms, and cream...so good.