Coffee and Cannolis

I must admit, I'd never heard of Champ until I'd seen the recipe in a Williams Sonoma catalogue but as soon as I saw it I knew I'd love it. I mean, it's mashed potatoes and the potatoes were steamed using lager rather than flavor-less water! Then add LOTS of butter?! You've got yourself a deal! Champ adapted from a Williams-Sonoma recipe , picture from W-S online Ingredients : 3 cups lager-style beer 3 lb. Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces 6 green onions, white and green portions, thinly sliced 4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces 3/4 cup heavy cream Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste 6 Tbs. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted Directions : - Pour the beer into the bottom pan of a steamer, place the steamer insert inside and cover the pan. Set over medium heat and bring the beer to a simmer. Add the potatoes to the insert, cover and steam until tender, about 25 minutes. - Transfer the potatoes to a large b

So, I've been wanting to try to roast an entire chicken sometime and based on every recipe I've seen it never looks too hard. Well, somehow I managed to turn a relatively simple cooking experience in to a disaster that put me in tears and made me just want to give up and eat mashed potatoes for dinner. I had seen a meal in a Williams-Sonoma catalogue that looked amazing and I'd been wanting to try it for months. Well, since any other WS recipe I've tried has been amazing I thought I'd give this meal a go.... Well, it was essentially a disaster BUT as the old adage goes - when life hands you lemons.... while the whole process of this meal was a disaster, the end results could have been a lot worse off. The chicken was covered in bacon and the bacon grease kept splattering in my oven and the fire alarm went off not once, but twice. Plus, I kept getting scared and taking it out, adjusting the cooking temp, etc. and therefore it took FOR-EV-ER to make and it dried out

I've never had much luck with stews and roasts - for some reason they just never have much flavor... that is until I discovered Williams Sonoma recipes online. The last time I made a pot roast it was from W-S and now this stew is also adapted from a W-S recipe ... This stew was out of this world amazing and it was just what I was looking for. Full of flavor but still simple and comforting. DEFINITELY a winner! Williams Sonoma 20-Minute Beef Stew Ingredients : 3 lb. boneless stewing beef, cut into 1-inch cubes 1⁄3 cup all-purpose flour Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste 3 Tbs. olive oil 1 1⁄2 cups red wine 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, crushed 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1⁄2-inch pieces 2 celery stalks, cut into 1⁄2-inch pieces 1⁄2 lb. new potatoes, cut into 1⁄2-inch pieces 1 Tbs. tomato paste 1 1⁄2 cups beef stock 3 fresh thyme sprigs Directions : -In a large bowl, toss the beef with the flour, salt and pepper to coat evenly. -

Trying to beat the winter blues, a hefty cold or just want something heart warming and still figure (and budget) friendly? What's more comforting than homemade Chicken Noodle Soup?! This soup was super simple, delicious and very budget conscious as it's easy to freeze for future meals or individually for quick grab and go lunches. Chicken Noodle Soup Ingredients 48 oz. can reduced sodium chicken broth 1 lb. Whole Wheat sprial noodles (or any wide, short noodle of your choice) 1-2 cups chopped or shredded cooked chicken (rotisserre chickens are GREAT for this!) 2 carrots, peeled and chopped 2 stalks of celery, peeled and chopped 1/2 cup chopped white onion (or desired amount - I just like it for flavor but I'm not a huge onion person) 1 tablespoon of EVOO 1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning S&P to taste Directions - In a large pot, boil noodles just a little less than directed on packaging, drain and set aside - In the pot you'll use to s

What can I say?! I love good old fashioned retro comfort food sometimes. Now, it's so semi-homemade that I feel bad blogging about it but this right here is one of the ultimate comfort foods to me... Chicken and Stuffing Casserole. My best friends mom used to make this and I finally got the recipe about 2 years ago... I've since adapted it to my liking by adding cheese. I mean, come on, you can't go wrong with adding a little cheese!! Chicken and Stuffing Casserole adapted from Mrs. ECK (of course I'm not gonna put her name...duh!) Ingredients 4 b/s chicken breasts, pounded to even thickness (I also cubed) 1 can Cream of Celery or Chicken Soup (I use celery) 8 oz. Sour Cream 1 package Stove-Top Chicken and Herb stuffing, cooked per instructions on the box) (I add 1/2 shredded cheddar cheese) Directions - Preheat oven to 350 and spray baking dish with non-stick cooking spray - Place chicken in bottom of prepared dish - In a bowl mix soup and sour cream and top on c

Normally when I bake chocolate chip cookies I use the recipe on the bag. While they're always good I was looking for something a little different for my husband's birthday. Also, a few weeks ago we were hanging out with some friends and one of the snacks was Chocolate Chip Cookies and my husband loved them. They were thick and chewy and had a slight hint of cinnamon. So, since he said he wouldn't mind if I made chocolate chip cookies for his birthday earlier this week I decided to start trying out new recipes. I found some with cinnamon but none that seemed like what I was looking for so I just opted to try a recipe that I've heard LOTS of raves over and just add a bit of cinnamon. So, anyway, the recipe I chose was from a blog I frequent. These cookies were definitely a hit! However, after eating them my husband said that after thinking about it he'd rather have a regular chocolate chip cookie and if he wanted cinnamon he'd go for a Snickerdoodle. Ugh, oh well

So, yet another uninspired menu plan. To be fair though, it's my husband's birthday so I'm making things more to his liking this week... Sunday: Dinner at the in-laws Monday: Lasagna Tuesday: Sloppy Joes and tater tots (Yep, we're 8!) Wednesday: Spicy Chicken Sandwiches , baked french fries and a side salad Thursday: Hockey Game (something quick on the way) Weekend 1: Toasted Ravioli Weekend 2: Roasted Chicken and Mashed Potatoes (as I planned to make last week but then we went to dinner at the in-laws instead)

It's 2009 and I'm vowing to not be so lazy with my blog this year (along with a few other goals - not resolutions!) Anyway, I haven't blogged in awhile because a.) we've had internet connection issues at home due to my husband stealing the router for his XBox and b.) with the holidays I wasn't really needing to make as much in the way of meals (we go elsewhere for hoildays - I wouldn't trust myself to have a holiday at my house!) So, now that we're back in the swing of things, here's the menu for the week! Sunday - Honey Glazed Chicken over Rice Monday - Beef Stew Rest of the week: - Pizza's (I want a spinach and chicken pizza for myself so my husband will have pepperoni and bacon) - Salad with Grilled Chicken and Toasted Almonds - Roast Beef Panini - Roasted Chicken and Mashed Potatoes