A relatively mellow Father’s Day.
An awesome pulled pork/BBQ buffet by Uncle M and Aunt C.
Kane wonders if he could have some.
A certain member of the family won the “Daddy Cup” made by hand by Miss Mimi.
I made Chilled Dark Chocolate Pie with Strawberry Sauce from Oh She Glows. Gluten free and vegan. And no one misses the gluten, as the picture shows.
Baby D is on the move.
A good time was had by all. Happy Father’s Day everyone.
I have a perpetual problem when ordering spices of thinking, “Oh, 4 ounces doesn’t sound like much”. This mindset results in my owning an extraordinary number of light spices that don’t weigh very much. Like this, just one of my many, many jars of bay leaves (did I say many?):
And sadly, I’m not in need of a laurel. Anyone need a cinnamon stick? Just ask, call any time. And well, vanilla beans fall into that category too. However, I industriously turned 2 of them into vanilla sugar (scraping the seeds into a clean jar and adding fine sugar).
So now what to do with vanilla sugar? Since Spring began, I’ve seen a number of recipes for fools. LIke take 8 beers, combine with 2 frat boys, add a Family Guy episode, stir…. No, I mean like British fools…take 8 Pimm’s cups, combine with 2 muggles.. No, wait, I digress again. A fool is a English dessert that combines stewed fruit and cream. I have a lot of strawberries, so I thought I’d use my vanilla sugar and strawberries and make a fool.
.
Strawberry Fool
WHAT YOU NEED
4 cups strawberries, hulled and chopped
1/2 cup of vanilla sugar
2 TBSP water
1 TBSP vanilla extract
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
WHAT YOU DO
Put strawberries, vanilla sugar, vanilla extract and water in a bowl and stir. Let sit anywhere from 15 minutes to 5 hours. Mash half the strawberries with potato masher or two forks until there are mushy bits and still whole pieces of strawberries.
Whip the cream with the powdered sugar until peaks form. Fold in half the strawberry mixture and stir just a little bit with a spatula. Then fold in the rest of the strawberries and only stir once. Garnish with a sliced strawberry and mint if you have it (I didn’t). Serve with Nilla Wafers or Lorna Doones.
Had a nice surprise visit from my nephew Joe before he departs to study and work in China this summer. So we made some steaks, following the directions from Serious Eats. I’ve mentioned in other posts, or maybe I just wrote it in my recipe binder, but yep, salting beef ahead of time works wonders. So we grilled NY strips, made Oh She Glows’ Smashed Potatoes with Avocado Aioli (yes, again) and a big ol’ salad with homemade ranch dressing from Foodie With Family.
This time I boiled and smashed the potatoes ahead of time, covered the baking sheet and kept it in the refrigerator. At dinner time I then cooked them in the oven a little longer, about 35 minutes, flipping them half way through so both sides got crispy. Worked great.
While I made dinner the boys and Fake Sister played soccer with Joe (sorry Joe, hope you didn’t think this would be a restful visit).
And games about football:
And music:
I didn’t host Mother’s Day, so there are not many recipes to report on. But who am I to let a holiday go by without an appropriate beverage? This year, it was Blueberry Bellinis from She Wears Many Hats.
Here they are in all their blueberry and bubbles glory!
Really couldn’t be easier. Just boil the ingredients, puree with a stick blender in the pot, bring to your sister’s house. Add to Prosecco and eat donuts. Done and Done.
Mmmmmmmh, donuts.
A leeeetle mishap involving Alvin’s face and Aunt Colleen’s windowsill of death. What would Mother’s Day be without a trip to the emergency room for 8 stitches on one’s lip? Al was a trooper, didn’t even cry.
Happy Mother’s Day everyone. May Father’s Day be stitch-free.
I promise you all, not in the same week. Well, mostly not all in the same week. Somehow in the last week these recipes all rose to the tops of their various lists, so, armed with a loaf of rustic bread, I took on the challenge to see if the family would eat pasta three times in 7 days. Disclaimer: Drummer Boy eats plain pasta every day, but that doesn’t mean pasta with actual sauce of any kind on it will skew the results here.
First up was Spaghetti All’Amatriciana from Blogging over Thyme.
I didn’t have the thick pancetta only thin in my refrigerator, but it still worked and was delicious. It’s a keeper.
Rating from the boys: It didn’t make me gag (so 4 forks)
Next up was this lovely Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo Bake from Bev Cooks.
This was really good, though a bit much to do on a weekday. I happened to have roasted garlic cloves that I had put in the freezer which was my original inspiration. If I were to do this again on a weekday I would precook and chop the chicken and the roasted garlic.
Rating from the boys: Dad already fed us before practice so we don’t have to try that, right? (So 3 forks it is).
And from Oh She Glows, Roasted Tomato Basil Pesto, a vegan pasta sauce that you really have to try.
As she notes in the recipe, it may not be the prettiest sauce, but it is good and rich. I would recommend using the nutritional yeast, it gives it that pesto-heft.
Rating from the boys: It was ok (call the MIchelin folks)
But sure, those are all carbs, but what if one needs more carbs with their carbs (to balance out all the vegan eating)? Well, if one is lured by the siren song of free samples at Whole Foods, one might walk away having purchased this:
Might spread it on some rustic bread add some fresh chopped parsley. Might even throw it under the broiler for a minute or two if one is feeling so inclined. And then:
Need coconut water and celery, stat!
Earlier in the week, when it was still big-coat cold, I made this soup, inspired by How Sweet It Is’ Potato and Roasted Garlic Soup,
But I changed quite a few things.
WHAT YOU NEED
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 yellow onion, diced
(or, if your onion is ginormous, use ½)
3 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped
5 cups low-sodium chicken stock
2 bulbs roasted garlic
¼ cup whole milk
2 TBSP plain Greek yogurt
¾ tsp salt
¼ tsp fresh ground pepper
WHAT YOU DO
Then I followed her directions, but used an immersion blender to blend in pot. Served with Turkey sandwiches on Artichoke Bread from The Merry Thought. The bread was done as a test for an appetizer at the Super Bowl but wow, it is amazing as a sandwich. Continue reading