23rd month

I think I've mentioned before in one of these intros for our anniversary dinners that Patrick didn't think we'd continue them too consistently after the first year. I agreed with him to some extent but, as we near our 24th month anniversary dinner and celebrating two years, I think as we look back on this second year we'll see we enjoyed a fair amount of anniversary dinners. Here's the 23rd month!

23rd Month Menu

July 10, 2015

entree and sides: fancy filet of beef with marsala sauce, 

roasted garlic mashed potatoes, and green beans with shallots from rachael ray

dessert: mocha pudding cakes    wine: santa barbara landing pinot noir

Rachael Ray's Fancy Filet of Beef with Marsala Sauce, Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans 

   Serves 4 (we halved)

Ingredients

   For the Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes:

1 large bulb garlic, end cut off to expose all the cloves

Extra Virgin Olive Oil, for drizzling plus 1 tablespoon

Salt and pepper

1 sprig rosemary

4 medium starchy potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes (we roasted Yukon gold potatoes whole)

3 tbsp butter

1/2 c chicken stock

1/4 c cream or half-and-half

A handful grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

   For the Green Beans with Shallots:

Salt and pepper

1 lb haricots verts (thin green beans)

1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 tbsp butter

6 to 8 large shallots, cut into 1/4-inch dice

1/2 cup chicken stock

   For the Filets with Marsala Mushrooms:

4 filet beef steaks, 1 1/2-inches thick or petite filets, 6-8 ounces each

Extra Virgin Olive Oil, for drizzling

4 tbsp butter

3/4 lb cremini mushrooms, sliced

Salt and pepper

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 tbsp fresh thyme

1 rounded tbsp flour

1/2 c Marsala wine

1/2 c beef stock

Directions

For the Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes:

   Heat oven to 425F.

   Drizzle garlic with EVOO and season with salt and pepper. Set the rosemary sprig over the exposed end then wrap tightly in foil. Roast 45 minutes or until lightly golden and very soft. When the garlic is ready, place potatoes in water, cover and bring to boil. Remove cover when boiling, season water with salt and cook potatoes to tender. Drain and return to hot pot. (We roasted the potatoes whole, wrapped in aluminum foil in the oven with the garlic.)

   Mash potatoes with roasted garlic cloves, butter, stock, cream and cheese; season with salt and pepper to taste.

   To keep warm, place mashed potatoes in a small pot and cover. Set the pot into a larger pan with half an inch of simmering water, adding more water as necessary until ready to serve.

For the Green Beans with Shallots:

   Bring a few inches of water to a boil; salt water and add beans. Cook 3-4 minutes then cold shock and drain; reserve.

   In a large, deep skillet, heat EVOO over medium heat. Melt butter into oil, add shallots and season with salt and pepper. Lightly caramelize the shallots, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes. Add stock and stir to combine, turn off heat and add beans. Cook to heat through.

For the Filets with Marsala Mushrooms:

   Bring steaks to room temperature and heat a cast-iron griddle or grill pan to medium-high heat.

   Heat a skillet with a drizzle of EVOO over medium to medium-high heat. Add butter and let foam, add mushrooms and brown 10-12 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, add shallots, thyme and flour; stir 2 minutes. Add Marsala and reduce by half; add stock and simmer over low heat.

   Drizzle meat with EVOO and season with salt and pepper. Cook 8 minutes, turning once, for medium rare; 12 minutes for medium to medium-well. Top with Marsala mushroom sauce and serve.

Mocha pudding cakes for two from Taste of Home

Ingredients

1/4 c all-purpose flour

3 tbsp sugar

1-1/2 tsp baking cocoa

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

3 tbsp 2% milk

1-1/2 tsp butter, melted

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

   For the topping

2 tbsp brown sugar

1-1/2 tsp baking cocoa

3 tbsp hot brewed coffee

1 tbsp hot water

Whipped topping, optional

Directions

   In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Stir in the milk, butter and vanilla until smooth. Spoon into two 4-oz. ramekins coated with cooking spray.

   Combine brown sugar and cocoa; sprinkle over batter. Combine coffee and water; pour over topping. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature with whipped topping if desired.

Wellness Wednesday - Food Challenge

I was setting up some posts for our new wellness Wednesday themed posts and realized that now would finally be a good time to give a summary of the food challenge we completed back in the spring! As a reminder we did a 14 week food challenge with a goal of removing processed foods from our diet put together from the 100 Days of Real Food blog. Here's a summary of the weeks (and they're all hyperlinked to the meal plan posts if you'd like to read more about them):

Challenge Meal Plan Summary
Week 1 Fruits & Veggie - Eat a minimum of two different fruits or vegetables with every breakfast, lunch, and dinner meal.
Week 2 Beverages - Beverages will be limited to coffee, tea, water, and milk (only naturally sweetened with a little honey or 100% pure maple syrup). One cup of juice will be allowed throughout the week, and wine/beer will be allowed in moderation (an average of one drink per day).
Week 3 Meat - All meat consumed this week will be locally raised (within 100-miles of your hometown). Meat consumption will also be limited to 3 – 4 servings this week, and when it is eaten meat will not be presented as the “focal point” of the meal. Instead meat will be treated as a side item or simply used to help flavor a dish.
Week 4 No Fried Foods - No fast food or any foods that have been deep-fried in oil.
Week 5 New Whole Foods - Try a minimum of two new whole foods that you've never had before.
Week 6 Labeling - Do not eat any food products that are labeled as “low-fat,” “lite,” “light,” “reduced fat,” or “nonfat.”
Week 7 Grains - All grains consumed must be 100% whole-grain.
Week 8 Internal Cues - Listen to your internal cues and stop eating when you feel full.
Week 9 No Refined / Artifical Sweeteners - No refined or artificial sweeteners including (but not limited to): white sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, sucanat, splenda, stevia, agave, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, brown rice syrup, and cane juice. Foods and beverages can only be sweetened with a moderate amount of honey or maple syrup.
Week 10 No Refined / Hydrogenated Oils - No refined or hydrogenated oils including (but not limited to): vegetable oil, organic vegetable oil, soybean oil, corn oil, canola oil, organic canola oil, margarine, and grape seed oil.
Week 11 Locally Grown - Eat at least 1 locally grown or raised food at each meal. This includes, but is not limited to: fruits, vegetables, eggs, grains, nuts, meats, and sweeteners like honey.
Week 12 No Added Sweeteners - Avoid all added sweeteners including, but not limited to: white sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, honey, maple syrup, date sugar, maple sugar, sucanat, splenda, stevia, agave, fruit juice concentrate, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, brown rice syrup, and cane juice.
Week 13 No Artificial Ingredients - Avoid all artificial ingredients including, but not limited to: sweeteners, flavors and colors.
Week 14 5 Ingredients or Less - Avoid any and all packaged food products that contain more than five ingredients no matter what ingredients.

What changed?
Looking back at the food challenge I'm really glad we did it. It really made us examine different aspects of our diet because there was a particular element each week - the 14 week challenge was almost like 14 mini-challenges because the weeks didn't build on each other. It was interesting to see what we picked up from one week and carried throughout the rest of the challenge and even are still doing today. Here are a few specific examples:
   Week 1 Fruits & Veggie - We are now eating a lot more fruit than we were before the challenge. Our CSA box made including vegetables in our pretty easy but we were definitely lacking in the fruits category. I am consistently buying more fruit at the grocery store (bananas, apples, and pears regularly and then other seasonal fruits) and we're eating them as snacks
   Week 2 Beverages - We had already cut out sodas at home (I don't buy soda at the grocery store anymore) but Patrick was still enjoying sodas at work or when going out to eat. For the most part he changed that over to water. I also stopped putting sugar or flavored creamer in my coffee - only using a little half and half.
   Week 3 Meat - We are eating a lot more meatless meals! I imagine this has been a lot easier in the summer with the surplus of farm fresh vegetables. Some weeks we may have up to 3 meatless meals.
   Week 6 Labeling - I'm doing my very best not to buy anything that's "low-fat" or "reduced fat".
   Week 12 No Added Sweeteners - We still like homemade desserts... don't think this is changing anytime soon.
   Week 14 5 Ingredients or Less - I don't always stick to the item with the shortest ingredient list but I definitely compare the ingredient lists and labels and try to make the most educated decision for which product to consume.

As you can see we had a lot of positive change come out of the challenge! Not everything changed and that was fine - I didn't expect it too. I want us to enjoy all things in moderation.

Patrick's thoughts (I requested he send me a small blurb about the food challenge):
   The biggest benefit for me was that I did switch to drinking water throughout the day. I also had to get used to having a significant vegetable component in most meals. The stuff we cared about we were already doing anyway, like eating local.

Patrick does have an interesting point - the stuff we cared about we were already doing anyway. Some weeks were really easy because we had already incorporated that particular challenge into our diet. One of the reasons I wanted to do the challenge was to see if there were other things we could do differently that maybe we didn't realize we were missing.

This post finally wraps up the food challenge!

Peach cobbler

At the end of June I brought home some fresh peaches after picking up our CSA box. Usually Patrick picks up our CSA on Thursday afternoons because it's on his way home from work. If I know he has a meeting, needs to work late, or I've got errands to run near the pick-up site then I will offer to pick up the box. There are a few other farmers set up with produce at the location and on this particular day when I went to pick up our CSA box I was tempted with fresh, local peaches! So I brought some home. Those peaches were fated to go in a peach ice cream! 

I requested Patrick get us more peaches so that we could make more peachy things. So I waited patiently for Patrick to get home with peaches and he walks in the door ... with no peaches! Slim pickings that week the peach farmer said and they were sold out for Patrick! Hm... so I had to wait another week! Well it was worth the wait when this peach cobbler came out of the oven!

This recipe is your standard simple cobbler which can be customized with any fruit - it's sugar, self-rising flour, whole milk, butter, and fruit. Don't let other cobbler recipes lead you astray. The Lomo Market blog featured the recipe at the beginning of the summer and that's how it got on my radar.

Simple Peach Cobbler Recipe as seen on the Lomo Market blog

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup whole milk
3/4 stick of butter
3-5 fresh peaches, diced

Directions
   Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place butter in a 1.5- 2 qt casserole dish and melt in oven while preheating.
  Mix; flour, milk, sugar and pour over melted butter. Dump in diced peaches and bake for 30-45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown around the edges. Let cool 10-15 minutes before serving.
   Serve over ice-cream or with whipped cream.

Meal Plan Monday Post

Another successful week using veggies from our CSA box! Our farm takes a little break in August between their spring/summer CSA and fall CSA subscriptions therefore we picked up our last box of the summer during this week. We'll be using August to reset the pantry and freezer to make sure things aren't getting pushed to the back. We tried a lot of new recipes this week (have to get creative with all the produce), something sweet, and also something we were familiar with. We did some traveling over the weekend - Patrick to a bachelor party in northern Virginia and Whitney to the Watermelon Festival - so some splurges on the food front were had.

Meal Plan for Monday July 27 - Sunday August 2

Monday - Pasta peperonata

Tuesday - Snapper, green bean and cherry tomato salad

Wednesday - Shrimp and edamame succotash, couscous; roasted strawberry buttermilk sherbet

Thursday - Basil peach chicken breasts, black rice, fried okra
Friday & Saturday - Patrick leaves for a bachelor weekend; Whitney to the Watermelon Festival
Sunday - Thai beef with basil

It's Always Caturday
... must nap on clean, folded towels

Corn chowder with scallops

It's corn time! Fresh corn straight out of the fields is quite the luxury ... after you've shucked it, fended off all the hungry caterpillars, and gotten all the silks off the corn, that is. I had about 15 ears in the kitchen a few weeks ago and decided that I couldn't get it all into the meal plan so I put this corn chowder on the meal plan and put the rest in the freezer so I could save the corn bounty.

I used this Pioneer Woman Corn Chowder with Chiles as inspiration but kind of winged it as I went along. I snapped phone pics throughout the prep and will share them too. Everything I did was approximate so keep that in mind as you read through.

Corn Chowder with Seared Scallops

1. Begin by sauteing (about 3 strips) diced bacon. Once fat has rendered add in (1) diced onion and (1) diced and seeded jalapeno.

2. After the onions and jalapeno have softened add in (about 1/4 cup) chopped sun-dried tomatoes and (about 2 cups, blanched) corn.

3. Next add in (1 cup) chicken stock and (1.5 cups) whole milk plus salt and pepper. Mix (1 tbsp) cornmeal with a small amount of water and add to the chowder. This will thicken it.

4. Finally, top with seared scallops.

Buttermilk pancakes with warmed maple peaches

Double team brunch! This buttermilk pancakes with warm peach topping brunch is a great example of Patrick and myself working together in the kitchen. Sometimes we split up different parts of a recipe and combine things together, sometimes one of us is "in charge" and tells the other how to chip in, or sometimes, as in this case, there are two different components to the meal and we can work independently as we both prepare our portion. While Patrick made the pancakes I worked on the peach topping! 

Buttermilk Pancakes with warmed maple peaches inspiration from Cook's Country Cookbook & food.com
Serves 2

Ingredients
   For the pancakes
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 egg
3 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
vegetable oil
   For the peaches
3-4 peaches, peeled and sliced
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp lemon juice
good sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice (or combination of cinnamon and nutmeg)

Directions
   Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl to combine. In a separate bowl whisk the egg and melted butter into the milk until combined. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients; pour in the milk mixture and whisk very gently until just combined with only a few lumps remaining - do not over mix.
   Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot (about 3-5 minutes). Add 1 tsp oil to coat the bottom of the skillet. Pour 1/4 cup batter for each pancake and cook until large bubbles begin to appear (1 1/2 to 2 minutes). Flip the pancakes and cook until golden brown (will need slightly less time than the first side). Serve immediately with peach topping.
   While the pancakes are cooking, prepare the peach topping. In a medium skillet over medium heat melt butter. Add peaches, maple syrup, lemon juice, and pumpkin pie spice. Toss to coat evenly and simmer for about 5-10 minutes. The peaches will soften and a sauce will come together.
   Top with whipped cream - shaped in a heart if you made these for your significant other!

It's Always Caturday

Dupree being Patrick's sous chef

Sauteed chicken with yellow grape tomatoes

This recipe caught my eye because it is so simple! It's so simple and easy that after reading it you just might think "oh wow I could've thought of that" or at least that's what I did anyway. It's sauteed chicken with grape tomatoes, garlic, balsamic vinegar, and topped with fresh basil. We tossed it all with orzo to complete the meal! It was fantastic and a keeper for sure.

Simple sauteed chicken with yellow grape tomatoes inspiration from epicurious & Bon Appetit
   Recipe as written serves 2; add in the orzo and it can serve 3-4

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
2 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
   (we used a small package of chicken breast tenderloins that we diced)
1 cup yellow grape tomatoes, halved
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil

Directions
   Heat olive oil in heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper; add to skillet. Sauté chicken until cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to 2 plates. Add tomatoes and garlic to skillet; sauté 1 minute. Add balsamic vinegar; sauté 30 seconds. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Add chicken back to the pan.
   While preparing the chicken we cooked 1 cup orzo according to package directions. Once cooked we added it to the pan after the chicken.
   Divide into dishes, sprinkle with basil and serve.