So, Curt and I have only been married for a couple of months, but I absolutely love being a newlywed. Things have been very busy for us. This year, we had 7 weddings to attend, 1 major career change and 1 major company change. All of these changes have been for the better, however, we have both been extremely busy!

One of the reasons I love being married to Curt is that we always make time for each other. We always have weekly date nights where we make sure that whether we order a pizza, snuggle up with a movie, or go out for a drink, we are together. In the hustle and bustle of our lives, having at least one night to ourselves is pretty important for us.

Last week was pretty cold outside. It was the perfect type of weather where you need to sit at home with sweats on and snuggle under a blanket with big bowls of soup and crusty bread! I decided to make a big pot of Cioppino for dinner, along with some fresh rosemary bread, and Curt's favorite dessert- chocolate mousse.

I found a recipe for Cioppino on one of my favorite websites: http://www.allrecipes.com/

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cioppino/Detail.aspx

I cut the recipe in half and still had PLENTY of soup left.

Here's my take:

* 4 tbs butter

* 1 onion, minced

* 2 cloves garlic, minced

* 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

* 1 can stewed tomatoes

* 3 cups chicken stock

* 1 bay leaf

* 2 tsp dried basil

* 1/2 tsp dried thyme

* 1/2 tsp dried oregano

* 1 1/2 cups chardonnay

* 1/2 lb fresh shrimp

* 1/2 lb fresh sea scallops

* 1 lb fresh cod fillet

* 1 lb mussels

* 6 large topneck clams

First, I melted the butter in a large saucepan. I had made this soup before with minced onion, but the onion pieces were still apparently too big, so this time, instead of mincing the onion and garlic, I threw them in my mini food processor and pulsed for a few seconds. This resulted in teeny tiny bits of onion and garlic that Curt couldn't possibly pick out! Anyway, once the butter was melted, I threw in the onion/garlic mixture along with the parsley, and cooked that until I could start to smell the aromas.

Next, I added the chicken stock. The original recipe called for chicken broth, but I had made some fresh chicken stock the week before and I think it adds a much richer flavor, so in that went! I also added the can of tomatoes, bay leaf, herbs, and wine. The original recipe called for water, but I just increased the amount of chicken stock used. Once everything was in the pot, I covered it and let it simmer for 30 minutes. This allows the flavors to really infuse and make the house smell great!

While the broth was simmering, I prepared the seafood. There was definitely a large selection at Grand Mart, so I just picked out my favorites. I started by peeling the shrimp. I kept the shells because I know that you can make a really good shrimp stock with them (keep your eyes out for a posting about my experiments with them!!!).

Anyway, once the shrimp were cleaned, I started on the mussels and clams. A couple of the mussels had died, so I tossed those. I ended up cutting the scallops into quarters because they would hav been too big for 1 bite of soup. I would have used bay scallops because they are smaller and a good size, but they didn't have any at the store.

Once all of the seafood had been prepared, I just sprinkled some kosher salt over all of it and began tossing them into the soup. First, I added the clams. Since they were big, I knew that they would take the longest to cook. Next, I added the mussels.... next went the shrimp... then scallops... and lastly, the cod.

I was watching an episode of Julia Child (I NEVER really watch her but she's apparently amazing, so I tuned in for a minute)... she was making a fish chowder and she said not to cut up the fillet of fish before putting it in the soup. The fish is so delicate that it will naturally break up, and if you cut it first, it would break up into even smaller pieces. So... I put in the entire piece of fish and covered the pot.

The seafood only took a few minutes to finish. I let the soup sit until the fresh rosemary bread was out of the oven and served big bowls of the soup with big chunks of fresh, warm bread.

It was an amazing meal! Next time, however, I think I might add a bit of red pepper flakes to give it a little kick :)

Here's all that was left haha! Just a bunch of empty shells :)

MoRe StUfF wItH pUmPkIn

So I've been feeling the urge to try all things punkin! Aside from the pumpkin cookies I made last week, here is another of my other experiments!

I found a recipe for this in the Food Network Magazine and thought it looked amazing. I haven't been able to find a link to the recipe or the picture, but here's my version!

* 3/4 cup flour

* 1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

* 1 tsp baking powder

* 1/4 tsp. salt

* 3 eggs

* 3/4 cup granulated sugar

* 1/4 cup brown sugar (the original recipe didn't call for brown sugar, but I love the flavor it adds, so I substituted 1/4 cup regular sugar for brown)

* 3/4 cup pureed pumpkin

Preheat oven to 375. Spray 2- 8 1/2 inch round cake pans with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a small bowl, sift together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and salt, then set aside.

In another bowl, beat eggs and both sugars together until the mixture thickens a bit, then mix in the pumpkin puree. Slowly add in the flour mixture and beat with electric mixer until combined.

Bake for 16-20 minutes, until completely baked through. Cool on wire racks.

The recipe I found calls for a chocolate ganache icing, but I didn't have the chocolate chips needed, so I made my own whipped cream:

* 2 cups heavy whipping cream

* 1/2 cup brown sugar

* 1 tbs brown sugar, pushed through a sifter to remove chunks

Beat all 3 ingredients in a chilled glass bowl until stiff.

When the cakes had cooled, I placed one cake on a decorative plate and slathered on some chocolate frosting that I always keep on hand. ( I guess I could have used the whipped cream, but I love the taste of chocolate with pumpkin) Then, I placed the 2nd cake on top and spread the whipped cream all over the cake. To make it look a bit snazzy, I sifted some unsweetened cocoa powder on top.

The layers were kinda thin, so next time, depending on how adventurous I want to be, I might double the recipe and make a 4 layer cake!

And here's the final result!

Punkin Cookies

Fall is my absolute favorite season! It's time to break out the cinnamon and the nutmeg and the pumpkins and the apples... I love everything about this season! One of my favorite things is smelling all the warm smells of cookies baking, so I figured that I could combine a lot of my favorite things and make PUMPKIN COOKIES!!!


I used a basic recipe that I found online and followed it through without making many changes (which is pretty rare for me)! I just love the flavor of brown sugar, so I swapped out 1/2 cup of granulated sugar for brown sugar... they turned out great!

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

~ Preheat the oven to 350
~ In a small bowl, combine all dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt).
~ In separate, larger bowl, cream together the sugars and butter until thoroughly combined. Add in the pumpkin puree, egg, and vanilla.
~ Slowly, add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and blend with hand mixer until all ingredients are combined.
~ Drop the cookie dough by the spoonful onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until cooked through. Set on cooling rack to dry.
~ Again, I love sugar and cinnamon, so I whipped up a quick icing with powdered sugar, cinnamon and a little bit of milk. Once all combined, I drizzled over the cooled cookies with a fork.









Because I had a HUGE can of pureed pumkin, I doubled the recipe and came out with TONS of cookies... I took half of the batch to school with me (which my fellow teachers all ate very quickly!) and sent the other half with Curt to his office!

Does anyone else have any good pumpkin recipes?
I think I want to try making a pumpkin cheesecake next!

Happy Birthday Mom

I absolutely love living so close to my parents. They are about 10 minutes down the road, so we get to spend time with them. For my mom's birthday, Curt and I thought that it would be nice to have them over for dinner at our place rather than go to a boring old restaurant. I decided to make a feast, so here's what was on the menu!

• Mussels Josephine (My mom's name is Josephine, so I thought it was perfect!)
• Steak Au Poivre
• Roasted Potatoes
• Raspberry Tiramisu

Mussels Josephine

If you haven't had the Mussels Josephine from Bonefish grill, you are completely missing out! I love the way the sauce has a garlicky, lemony, licoricey (is that a word?) taste. It's delicious to dip the mussels in... when you're out of mussels, it's perfect to dip in fresh, warm bread! I found a copycat recipe online. The only problem I have with cooking mussels is that I get annoyed when you buy a whole bunch of them and some of them are dead. I always wash them and if some of them are open a little bit, I tap them on the counter to see if they close... if they do then they are still alive and ok, but if not, you have to throw them away.

http://www.mrarticle./com/food-and-drink/mussels-josephine-recipe/

Here's a picture of what they look like! I just followed the recipe, except I doubled the recipe for the lemon butter sauce since that's my favorite part!

Steak Au Poivre

Traditionally, this recipe calls for the steaks to be crusted in black peppercorns, but, of course, I made my own modifications!

• 1 tbs black pepper
• 1 tbs kosher salt
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 2 tbs butter
• 1/3 cup Brandy
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 4 small ribeye steaks
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 3 minced garlic cloves

First, I let the steaks come to room temperature so that they would cook evenly. Then I patted them dry with a paper towel. I covered both sides of the ribeyes in a mixture of the pepper and kosher salt, then set aside. Next, I heated a pan to high heat and melted the butter with a little bit of the olive oil so that the butter wouldn't burn. If you just put butter in the pan, it would burn a lot faster than the butter and olive oil. I wanted to sear the outsides of the steak to capture all of the flavor. Once the pan was nice and hot, I added the steaks and didn't touch for about 2 minutes. If you want to form a nice crust, you can't touch the steaks... just let them cook. After 2 minutes, flip the steaks and let them cook for 2 more, then remove to a plate.

In the pan, I added a bit more olive oil and then, once that was warm, I added the onions and garlic and sauteed until tender. Steak Au Poivre really isn't supposed to have the onions or garlic, or the mushrooms, for that fact, but I love the flavors they add, so I added them. :)

After cooking the onions and garlic, I added in the brandy to deglaze the pan. Since Curt and I really don't drink brandy, I just bought a few small airplane bottles from the ABC store. The brandy did a good job of deglazing the pan (this means that all the yummy brown bits from the steaks cooking and the onion and garlic, were dissolved into the brandy which helps to flavor the base of the sauce that the steaks will finish cooking in.

After adding in the brandy, I added the sliced mushrooms. I had button mushrooms, so that's what I used, but I bet that portobello mushrooms would taste delicious! Once they were cooked, I added in the heavy cream and stirred until it thickened a bit. I think I added a bit more salt and pepper until I found a taste that was just right!

Once the sauce was made, I returned the steaks to the pan with the sauce and let the steaks continue to cook through. For a rare steak, (like Curt likes) I cooked it for about 5-8 minutes. For the others (medium rare), it took about 10-12 minutes.

So overall, it wasn't exactly traditional, but it was really good!!!

Roasted Potatoes

This is a easy go-to recipe for me. Curt and I love potatoes... baked... fried... mashed...scalloped... and roasted!
* 2 lbs of red potatoes
* 2 tbs olive oil
* 2 tsp garlic salt
* 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. I cut the potatoes into chunks about 1 inch thick and put them on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil. Then I just sprinkled the olive oil, rosemary, and garlic salt over the potatoes. With my hands, I just tossed everything together until it was throughly covered, then popped them in the oven. I made sure to move the potatoes around and stir them every 15 minutes for about 45 minutes, or until they were a nice, golden brown!

Raspberry Tiramisu

I stole this recipe from Giada De Laurentiis... http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/raspberry-tiramisu-recipe/index.html

I wanted a nice summery dessert and thought a trifle would be perfect! This recipe was absolutely amazing, although it was a bit intense to make because you needed so many little steps to put it all together... the result was well worth it though!

• 1 cup seedless raspberry jam
• 6 tbs orange liqueur
• 8 oz mascarpone cheese
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 28 lady fingers
• 3 baskets of fresh raspberries

In a small bowl, mix the raspberry jam and 4 tbs of the orange liqueur. In a separate bowl, combine the mascarpone and cream cheeses with the remaining 2 tbs of orange liqueur. In yet another bowl, combine the whipping cream and vanilla. Mix with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form (for a short cut, just buy some Cool whip or ready made whipped cream!). Once the stiff peaks form, slowly fold in the mascarpone cheese mixture until combined.














In the trifle bowl, line the bottom with a layer of lady fingers. Brush the tops with the jam mixture, then layer the whipped cream/mascarpone cheese mixture. Lastly, add a basket of the fresh raspberries on top. Then you just repeat until you are out of ingredients. I think that I made 3 layers... but I'm not 100% sure. Once assembled, cover and let it all set in the refrigerator for a few hours.

The flavors were delicious and after the steak au poivre, this was a great way to end the dinner. It was a great dessert that was satisfying and not too heavy!

Curtman Cooks

So occasionally my husband tries to cook for himself. This typically ends up with him boiling water for pasta, then adding a jar of spaghetti sauce on top... then he'll throw on some sort of cheese... if we don't have parmesan, he'll just melt American cheese on top. I know... american cheese on spaghetti?... but, yes, this is a combination that doesn't seem to bother him.

One night a week or so ago, I had to work a late shift at the restaurant (Dogfish Head Alehouse). I knew that I hadn't had time to cook food for Curt in a while and didn't want to make him eat his random dinner creations. I had made some amazing jerk seasoning marinade a while ago(recipe to follow in another posting), and I had some chicken legs. I dumped the chicken into a tupperware and covered it with the marinade. I wrote down the directions on a little white board that we keep on the refrigerator. All Curt had to do was preheat the oven to 350, then place the chicken legs on a pan and bake for 30 minutes. I made sure to explain what to do and the importance of preheating the oven rather than just sticking the chicken in there and turning the oven on.

The next night, I came home around 11:30. After the long day of work, I had completely forgotten that I had marinated some chicken for Curt. I walked through the door and instantly detected the smell of something burning. It didn't seem like anything was on fire, and it was a pretty faint smell. It definitely smelled like someone had burned something throughout the course of the night. I went to the kitchen to investigate, but everything looked fine- there were no dishes in the sink or pans on the stove (tell tale signs that Curt had been cooking). Having found nothing... I went upstairs to crawl in bed with my hubby. As I was crawling in bed, I asked Curt (who was half in and out of sleep) if he had burned something earlier that night. His response was, "It sure smells like it, doesn't it?" I just assumed Billy had made some dinner and maybe burned a little bit of it. Then Curt says, "Ohhhh, I never took the chicken out....don't worry, I'll still eat it... I'll just put ranch on it!"

Curt had apparently gotten home from work around 7 and put the chicken in at 7:30 (he did, in fact, preheat the oven). Apparently he found something else to eat for dinner, because he forgot completely about the chicken in the oven. All in all, the chicken legs baked for about 4 hours. Needless to say, they were a little bit overcooked for anyone's taste!

Lesson learned: I need to be more specific in my directions for Curt. I had told him to bake the chicken for 30 minutes... but I never told him anything about having to take the chicken out of the oven :)

Here's the what happens when you bake chicken legs for 4 hours!

The Screen on the Green

One of the things I love about living outside DC is all of the fun events that take place each day. One summer tradition is called the Screen on the Green. Several Monday nights in the summer, people from the DC area flock to the National Mall to watch classic films on the lawn of the National Mall. They bring in a GIANT movie screen and a great sound system. People and families arrive after work, equipped with blankets and picnics, ready to relax and enjoy the movie. Last Monday, Curt and I braved the metro to make a little date night of watching a movie under the stars.
Since you have to get there decently early to snatch a good spot, I picked Curt up from work and we headed straight there. I wanted to pack a great picnic dinner so we would have plenty to eat.



The Menu:


Pesto Steak Sandwiches
Brie, Salami, and French Bread
Carrot Sticks
Apple Slices
Pasta Salad
Graham Crackers with Nutella
Granny Smith Apples with Caramel Sauce
Mango Iced Tea


Pesto


I decided to make some fresh pesto because my mom grows it in her garden and she had a ton of it that she picked and needed to use. As usual, I didn't have a recipe, but I know the main ingredients, so I experimented.

• 5 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 3 cups of fresh basil
• 1/4 cup of grated parmesan
• olive oil
  salt

This was pretty simple... I just threw the garlic, parmesan and pine nuts into my little food processor first to make sure that I could grind up the "big things" first. Once that was all ground up, I added in the basil leaves and drizzled in some olive oil (I just eyeballed it).

Once that was all whirled, it looked like pesto.I tasted it and added in some salt and a bit more pine nuts. It had a pretty strong taste of garlic, so I'll probably leave out a clove or two next time.
Anyway, this pesto only took about 5 minutes to make, so it was a success in my book! Just in case you need a "real" pesto recipe : http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1826,152188-250203,00.html






Steak Sandwiches
I'm not a huge fan of sandwiches with regular lunch meat... I think eating them every day for lunch growing up has just turned me off of them. But... since we were going to be having a picnic, you can't deny how convienent they are... I decided to make up a yummy sandwich to bring with us.
I had bought some beef tenderloin strips from the store, so I just seasoned them with some salt and pepper and grilled them on my indoor cast iron grill. I love using our indoor grill because you get the nice grill marks on them! Sinc the steaks were only about 1/2 inch thick, they didn't take long at all to grill, especially because Curt and I both like our steaks done medium rare/medium. Once they were grilled, I just let them cool for a while on a plate. You don't want to cut them too soon anyway, because then, all of the flavorful juices will spill out of the steak and you won't have as much flavor or tenderness.
Earlier in the day, I had made a run to Trader Joes to pick up a few little things for the picnic, including some fresh French Bread. Now having a sandwich on French bread is great, but I decided to jazz it up a bit. I sliced it in half lengthwise and spread some butter on each half. Then I sprinkled a bit of garlic salt and parsley on top. I was going to bake it in the oven for a bit, but I didn't want the whole piece of bread to dry out, I just wanted the garlicky side to be browned and crunchy. Instead, I cooked it face down in a non-stick pan, on medium heat... that way it browned up nicely, like a grilled cheese sandwich. Once done, I let the bread cool.
The last little twist I made was to the mayo... I love mayo, but, again, I wanted to it up a bit... I took about 2 big tablespoons of the pesto I had made and added it to 2 tablespoons of mayo, then mixed. The result was a yummy pesto mayo! This worked out perfectly too, since the mayo sort of mellowed out the strong garlic flavors.


So now, assembly time! I took the bread and spread it with the pesto mayo. Then added the steak. The steak was already very tender since it was beef tenderloin, but I wanted to cut down on any chance of messiness, so I sliced the steak into thinner strips before putting in on the sandwich. I also had two pieces of gouda left over from last week's pork loin so I went ahead and added that to the sandwich... Here's the final product! It was SUPER delicious!

Here's a picture of our whole meal on our little blanket. At Trader Joe's, I had picked up some crackers, double creme brie (my FAVORITE), and some salami. I also made some pasta salad... I cheated and bought the "Suddenly Pasta Salad" out of the box. It's surprisingly easy and good... you can add a few things to make it a bit more exciting. I added some diced pepperoni and cheese. I also cut up some carrot sticks and apple slices to have with the meal. For dessert, I didn't have time to make anything fancy, but I did have some graham crackers that I spread with some Nutella which was surprisingly good (at least in my opinion). I also sliced up another apple and we dipped it in some caramel dip. To drink, I had made a pitcher of Mango Iced Tea, so I brought that with us in my little eco-friendly water bottle. The iced tea was the perfect match for the meal... my best friend's sister, Stephanie Pool makes and sells her own loose leaf tea. Her company's called Regency Tea and it's amazing! The website isn't up and running yet, but I'll put a link up when it is so you can check it out!

Portobella Mushroom Bisque

For our honeymoon, Curt and I stayed at an AMAZING all inclusive resort in the Mayan Riviera of Mexico. We loved everything about the resort, especially the food! All of the restaurants we tried for dinner served 4 or 5 course meals. Since we were on the honeymoon, I decided to try being adventurous and ordering foods that I normally wouldn't order. At the Italian restaurant, I decided to try a portobella mushroom bisque. I like portobella mushrooms, but I've never been a fan of mushroom soups at all... so, naturally, I decided to order it. It was DELICIOUS! I really, really liked it and decided that I would try to find a recipe to make it at home.

After searching a few websites, I finally found a very simple recipe that I liked.

• 1 quart chicken broth
• 3 large portobella mushroom caps, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 tbs butter
• 6 tbs flour
• 8 tbs creamer (I used skim milk to make it healthier)

First, I poured the chicken broth into a big saucepan and heated on medium heat. Then, I added in the portobella mushrooms, onion, and bay leaf. Bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for an hour. This makes a very flavorful mushroom/chicken broth which is the base for the soup.




In a separate saucepan, I melted the butter over medium heat. I then added in the flour, stirring constantly, to make a roux. It's important to make sure the roux doesn't burn. I've burned it in the past and it makes everything taste burnt. Once the roux has cooked a little bit, I slowly started ladling in the broth/mushroom mixture into the roux mixture. To avoid clumps, add the broth when it's hot and make sure to keep stirring the whole time. Once all of the broth is added, keep stirring until the sauce thickens a bit.




Once everything was combined, I added in the milk and let it all heat through. Next, I removed and discarded the bay leaf. I wanted my soup to be creamy rather than chunky, so I used my immersion blender and pureed the soup until it was nice and creamy... this also helped to thicken the soup up a bit. Here's a picture of the finished soup, it doesn't look that pretty, but it trust me when I say that it was great! (I've made it twice in the last 3 weeks) I loved it fresh and even the leftovers over the next few days!