A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Celebrating James' Birthday with Auntie Miranda's Grapefruit Cake

(Photo below: James demonstrating his "Dexter knife skills".)

 

After tweeting one night that grapefruit-flavored cake sounded "awful", as usually happens with my crazy family of foodies, the decision was made that we had to make it, bake it, and try it.  Auntie Miranda volunteered her time and James volunteered his birthday--win/win!

After reading through several recipes, Auntie used her own baking skills to create her own version based on elements from different recipes and her own experience.

Our prounouncement:   Delicious!  Just like orange, lemon, or lime, grapefruit is just a twist, so to speak, on the citrus genre.

Thanks, Auntie, for introducing us to this new dish and for sharing your recipe!

 

 

Note: Please excuse the phone pics--forgot my camera.

Broiling the Perfect Steak in Five Easy Steps

Going out to dinner for a nice steak can be just the thing after a long day, but doing the same thing at home, only in t-shirt, shorts, and no shoes, can be just the ticket as well.  Steaks are one of those things that seemed intimidating to me years ago, but it only took a little practice to gain confidence quickly.

Lots of folks are very accomplished on the grill. To be honest, I'm not so much simply because with only me and Gene in our small family, it feels like way too much work to drag out the grill for two steaks.  The answer? Broiling.

 With four simple ingredients and five simple steps, the process is painless.

Appetizers with Style: Christmas Tree Veggie Plate

My friend, Jennifer, sent me a pic of the appetizer plate she made for a Christmas work party. I LOVE this!  What a great way to turn a simple veggie tray into a festive wrok of art!

It's as straight-forward as it looks: She halved one broccoli spear, leaving about 3 inches of "trunk" and then laid in bite-sized floret bites to form the tree itself.  Next she decorated with yellow pepper slices for garland and then added cherry tomato ornaments. The final touch is a treetop star cut out of yellow pepper using a small cookie/hors d'oeuvre cutter.

Thanks for sharing, Jenn!

 

 

 

Better Than Mom's (Sorry Mom!) Lasagna

 

 

Sorry, Mom, even though you were a fabulous cook, I think in this one instance I beat you at your own game. 

I love lasagna but with only two of us it's something I only get to make when we're having company.  You just can't make a small lasagna!

So for New Year's Eve, that's what I did, although I stepped up a few of the ingredients my Mom used to use, switching out ricotta and cream cheese for the cottage cheese, and using a 50/50 mix of ground beef and country sausage for my Slow Cooker Meat Sauce. 

We were all pretty pleased, patting myself on the back. The result was rich without being overwhelming and not too wet, not to dry, perfect texture. Will be making these changes always from now on.

 

Christmas Eve Traditions: Mushroom, Goat Cheese, & Spicy Chicken Sausage Lasagna

 Newlywed bride Sarah made this incredilble looking lasagna for hubby Sebastian and put these photos up on Facebook--is this not beautiful looking and scrumptious sounding? I'm going to give this one a try as soon as I get through this work stretch. 

Although I will be working Christmas Eve, I love the tradition of other friends of ours, Janell and Jerry, who always have lasagna on Christmas Eve with just their kids and then get together with all the family members on Christmas Day. I've always loved their tradition. It feels right to have your immediate family home on Christmas Eve for a cozy meal and small family night and then let the holiday bloom out the next day in all of its family-ness.

Just in case I get next Christmas Eve off...this is what Gene and I will be eating.

 

Last Minute Food Gifts: Cookie Dippin'

I'm down to the wire. After making two huge batches of Ghirardelli/French vanilla cocoa mix and pomegranate winter comfort tea and I-forget-how-many batches of chai-spiced pretzels and curried almonds and cashews....I'm almost out of goodies and there are still so many people I wanted to share with! Sigh.  But since I have to work the next three nights, sleep during the days, and take the nieces and nephew's presents over to my sister's house Friday afternoon but wanted to take goodies there too... What's a girl to do?  Improvise! 

This blog's not called "A Fridge Full of Food...and nothing to eat" for naught. I grew up at my mother's side in the kitchen and she was the Queen of pulling something good to eat out of her....cupboards!  I had some Wilton candy chips, a few dark chocolate chips, and a bag of leftover caramel chips (from Halloween for caramel apples).  Gene found a box of 'Nilla wafers in the back of the pantry and ran to the store for a few packages of sandwich cookies.

Food Gifts: "Christmas Crack"

My cousin, Colleen's new recipe for the holidays is this toffee recipe. When I asked if I could blog it and said "It looks aMAzing!"  She replied "It IS amazing! I heard about it a few years ago, and for some reason I got an itch to make it for this family gathering. It's a pretty big hit!"

Yum!

Christmas Food Gifts: Curry-Honeyed Almonds

I only have one thing to say about these:  Gene asked when I was making more.  That says it all! 

Christmas Food Gifts: Ghirardelli/French Vanilla Hot Cocoa Mix

A few weeks ago I got really annoyed by the commercialism and non-stop bombardment of "Buy Buy Buy!" that constitutes the retail version of Christmas that I vowed on Facebook that I would only give small, home-made, heart-felt gifts. This cocoa mix is one of those gifts. 

When I was a kid, we were very poor but our Mom was very creative in the kitchen and for the same price of a few packets of Swiss Miss Cocoa that we could inhale in under a half hour (five kids!) she could make gallons of home-made cocoa mix.  This is one of my favorite memories from childhood winters-- endless comforting cups of cocoa.

It's a new day and, like everything else that was cheap when I was a kid, the "cheap" has wafted away in the wind BUT the beauty is that the warmth, the comfort, and the memories are still there.  I've updated the recipe to be with a better quality cocoa, less fat and carbs, but it's still one of my favorite winter things.

Christmas Food Gifts: Chai-spiced Pretzels

A friend, Dianne, gave me some yummy nummies similar to this that got my little brain working overtime and my hands experimenting in the kitchen.  I love iced chai tea in the summer but there is nothing better than those spices warmed in a cup for winter or baked onto pretzels for anytime.

The other night when I made this final rendition of the recipe I knew I had it when our friend, Corbin, ran by the house and he, Gene, and I ate handfuls and handfuls of these.  They were definitely a winner so I sent home a bag of these, along with home-made cocoa mix, and other treats, with Corbin for his family.

Then I sealed up the rest so Gene and I wouldn't make ourselves sick on them!  I'll be making these again and again: to give away, to serve as an appetizer, for weekend movie nights, etc. I used two different kinds of pretzels: the sourdough chubbies and the waffle pretzels.  While the chubbies should win my heart from the name I just assigned them, the waffled ones are my fave because of all the yummy sugar and spices that get caught in the holes.