Well, it's my first post from Boston. How do I feel? Completely liberated. As imagined, I am still on the job hunt, but I know that time will unfold my path. I'm pumped.
Before I left, a big group of my friends got together at my house for one last hurrah. Of course, we just insisted on making almost everything. Was it delicious? Yes. Was it very time consuming? Yes. But all in all, totally worth it. If you're looking to host a cocktail party, I will be posting several recipes in the next few weeks. Get inspired! Spinach and Artichoke Dip 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened 1/4 cup mayonnaise 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1/4 cup grated Romano cheese 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced 1/2 teaspoon dried basil 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt Salt and pepper to taste 1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped 1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained 1/4 - 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a small baking dish. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, Romano cheese, garlic, basil, garlic salt, salt and pepper. Gently stir in artichoke hearts and spinach. 3. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top with mozzarella cheese (I go with the notion that more is better). Bake in the preheated oven 25 minutes, until bubbly and lightly browned
You've seen that I eat a lot of sweets, right? Well... I have a few other tricks up my sleeve.
One of them? Vegetables! I love them. I love them with all my heart.
And this dish is simple. It has six ingredients, and it rules. Sweet, crunchy, tart and creamy. I think I described a sandwich that way yesterday? But it's true.
And there is THUNDERSNOW in Virginia. Yikes! So make this before the power goes out!
Roasted Butternut Squash 2 1/2 lbs butternut squash, cut into 1-inch cubes 4 cups red onions, peeled and chopped 2 tablespoons olive oil Salt and pepper, to taste 6 ounces baby spinach 3/4 cup craisins
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 2. Combine squash and onions in large shallow pan. 3. Drizzle with oil. Season with salt and pepper. Toss lightly. 4. Roast for 45 minutes until tender and brown. 5. Add spinach and craisins last few minutes of cooking, toss.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I love occasions. You know, birthdays, parties for a reason, events, that sort of thing. I'm a planner, so spontaneity doesn't always work for me. Pre-planned things, however, right up my alley.
Amie and I always have these grandiose ideas. Dinner parties, wine parties, cook outs, you name it. Well, of course we needed a holiday party, and to save time and money, potluck was the theme. My friends are well represented when it comes to food, so don't expect to see much store bought anything at our gatherings. I've managed to get my hands on a few of the recipes for the night, so I hope you enjoy! Here was our menu:
Spiked Cranberry Punch Cheesy Crab Dip Shrimp Salad Pasta Lasagna Panko Crusted Chicken with Spicy Sauce Dinner Rolls Red Velvet Brownies Sprinkled Cupcakes
This was some tasty punch. I'm not much of a fruity drink type of gal, but this was the balanced mixture between spicy, sweet, spiked and bubbly.
Spiked Cranberry Punch 1/2 bottle of spiced rum 1/2 liter of lemon lime soda 1/2 big container cranberry juice 1/2 liter club soda Squeezed some lemons and added lemon and orange slices
1. Combine all liquids over ice (add more to taste) 2. Garnish with sliced oranges
Shrimp Salad, refreshing and light! I don't have the exact recipe but I believe it was shrimp, dill, salt and pepper and some sort of milky sauce (maybe sour cream?). Whatever the case it was a wonderful combination.
This crab dip was literally impossible to resist. My friend Rachel made it and served it as an appetizer and it was very popular. Creamy and cheesy but not heavy. Perfect party food.
Cheesy Crab Dip 11 ounces cream cheese, softened 1 small onion, finely chopped 5 tablespoons mayonnaise 2 (6 ounce) cans crabmeat, drained and flaked 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder salt and pepper to taste Cheddar cheese Old Bay Seasoning Crusty Italian bread sliced into thin pieces
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 2. In a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese, onion, mayonnaise, crabmeat, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Spread mixture into a 1 quart baking dish. Top with cheese and old bay and bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven. 4. Remove baked crab dip from the oven, and stir well. Serve alongside bread or chips.
The chicken and sauce were made by Amie. Amie and I used to work at Outback Steakhouse. Oh wow I just admitted that. Well, truth be told, we sort-of loved it. And maybe ate too much of it, but that's neither here nor there. When Amie made the sauce for this chicken, she had Outback's Bloomin' Onion on the mind. The sauce is almost exactly the same! The chicken was a simple breaded chicken. Panko is crispier than reguar breadcrumbs and I actually much prefer it. This could easily be morphed into a chicken parm.
Panko Crusted Chicken with Spicy Sauce
Cooking spray 6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, about 5 ounces each Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 cup all-purpose flour 2 eggs, lightly beaten 1 cup panko crumbs or unseasoned dry bread crumbs 1 cup grated Parmesan
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 2. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray. 3. Season both sides of chicken with salt and black pepper. Place flour in a shallow dish. Place eggs in a separate shallow dish. Combine panko crumbs and Parmesan in a third shallow dish. 4. Dip chicken first in flour, then in the egg and then panko crumb mixture. Transfer chicken to the prepared baking sheet and spray the surface with cooking spray. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until chicken is golden brown and cooked through. Remove from oven, serve with sauce.
For the sauce: 1/4 cup sour cream 1/4 cup mayo 2 tablespoons ketchup dash of salt and pepper 1/8 teaspoon oregano 1/4 teaspoon paprika Dijon mustard... enough to get a small kick
1. Whisk all ingredients together and serve alongside chicken.
Happy Holidays From Fairfax!
You could easily serve this menu at your next dinner party. It's festive but not overly holiday. Maybe for your New Years bash? Eh eh? Think it over. And look for a fantastic dessert recipe coming at you tomorrow!
Though I can appreciate long and lazy days, as August comes to an end, I am ready for the fall. Ready for new notebooks and light sweaters. Ready for crisp mornings and caramel apples. Bring it on.
The summer does have many redeeming qualities, and I certainly had a great one.
I traveled to New Jersey and Texas and Maine and Boston and Pennsylvania and Ohio.
I saw my Dad retire.
I went out to great dinners in DC, Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax.
I baked up a storm for my friends and family.
I’m exhausted! Aren’t you supposed to be well rested at the end of the summer?
Yesterday marked the first day of my last year in grad school.
It also marked the first day that full time job meets full time school.
My social life is going to struggle, but my friends will understand. As loyal readers I regret to inform you that my blogging life (oxymoron?) may suffer too, but I will try my darndest to update as much as possible. I hope you’ll forgive me.
Please, say you will!
To cap off my wonderful summer was this weekend. It was chock full of food, friends and fun. Cliché as that may sound, it’s true. From Friday to Sunday, I was in a constant whirl of girlfriends, awesome food, and uh, wine.
With the end of summer in DC comes one magical thing: restaurant week. I’m talking deals. Big deals. Big expensive dinners for not big expensive dollars. In other words, complete bliss for a foodie. Along with DC restaurant week comes Old Town Alexandria’s, and it is just as exciting.
Think DC, but a little quainter and a little quieter. On Friday, Amie and I ventured downtown to a restaurant called Southside 815. It’s not on Old Town’s King Street, which is definitely the most hoppin', but it was still busy and bustling so it met the needs of two twenty-something gals looking for a good night.
Southside definitively has its roots in southern country cooking. The menu has classics like meatloaf, fried chicken and biscuits with gravy. It also had paintings of large women, which Amie seemed to appreciate. She’s weird.
The deal was $35.00 for one appetizer, two entrees and a dessert. Um, awesome? Especially considering that our entire bill should have been $80.00. Not a bad deal.
To start, we went with spinach and artichoke dip. Look at the size of those chips.
Damn. It was pretty good which made it hard to save room for my entrée.
Good thing I did because I decided to order the huge strip steak marinated in Jack Daniels and topped with a gouda and crab gratin. What a boy I am. It was ginormous. I think 14 ounces. And it came with green beans and taters. It was delightful and definitely a treat. But this whole weekend was, just keep reading.
Amie got a fried chicken pasta with sun dried tomatoes and asparagus in a cream sauce. The sun dried matos and asparagus make it healthy, right? Oh, it was good.
Lastly, we split the brownie sundae dessert. I’d be lying if I said I loved it. Definitely not as exciting as the meal but hey! It was still edible. I mean, I ate my half…
After dinner we loosened our metaphorical belts and rolled home, literally—so full.
After an hour or two of Say Yes to the Dress, it was time to go home and prepare for Saturday’s festivities.
On Saturday night, a big group of girls got together for my kind of party- appetizer, dessert and wine only. There were 9 of us, which yes, you guessed it, meant 9 bottles of wine and 9 different dishes. Needless to say, we were well taken care of.
I’ll give you a run-down of all the bites.
Amie brought two dishes. The first was a crispy phyllo shell filled with feta, cucumber, onion and tomato. This was certainly one of the healthier choices, you’ll see.
She also brought a shrimp dip recipe which combines everyone’s favorites: cream cheese, sour cream, baby shrimp and some spice mixture. So good on Fritos, and I hate Fritos.
Rachel brought a dish I’d never tried before. There were three major ingredients: wonder bread, cream cheese and bacon. We’re definitely watching our waistlines in this group! Hello delicious. The bacon was baked, to be fair!
Laura (our hostess) made a really nice cracker dip that had cream cheese, chutney and pecans (I think). It was a little sweet, a little savory, and perfect on a Triscut, of which I had many.
Kelly made this awesome salsa with a bunch of chopped veggies. I’m a salsa fiend, especially when it contains black beans, so you can imagine I had several scoopfuls.
Dabba, the new little housewife (just kidding) brought my favorite: a bruchetta-type munchie. She had little pieces of sliced bread topped with tomato, basil and mozzarella. TBM to me. Love TBM. Love love.
Hayley brought yummy yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Can you go wrong with this? The answer is no.
Liz brought these self-proclaimed “cups of frosting.” They were actually more like a rich mousse; she didn’t give herself enough credit!
Melanie brought chocolate covered strawberries. Fruit covered in chocolate. Sweet, awesome fruit. Chocolate. Do the math.
Last but not least, I brought chocolate cake balls! I’ve wanted to make these forever. I’ve seen them so many places! The recipe is coming tomorrow, promise! I made one bath of red velvet and one batch of yellow cake with chocolate frosting. They were awesome, if you have good taste.
Lastly, we all brought wine. Look at it! This isn’t even all of it. Guess which one is mine? Yep, the only white one. Well, Amie’s was too, but was already gone by this point. Oops.
We wined, dined, and then hit the town. Love me some girls’ nights!
Well, all the appetizers and desserts must have not done the trick, because when I got home late at night, I scarfed down some Papa John’s pizza. Or. I mean. Okay, it’s out there.
Sunday morning, I woke up at the crack of dawn. I hate that considering I never get to sleep in. What a drag. O took the day off of exercise and just mosied around the house, killing time, you know.
Killing time for what, you ask? Oh I’ll tell you.
My friend Melanie loves me sooo much that she bought a Groupon for me! Well, for us. And she got it as an early birthday gift. For me! Woo! And do you know what that Groupon was?
A mega deal from The Melting Pot, my favorite restaurant to date.
Have you been there? If you have, what’s your favorite dish? If you haven’t: go. Right now. Get off your chair and go. Well, maybe get a light jog in first, because you are bound to eat your face off… in the classiest way, of course.
The Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant. This translates to good food made better by dipping it in cheese and chocolate. Can you believe it?
Melanie and I have been going to The Melting Pot since we got our driver’s licenses.
It’s always been our little thing. It’s definitely a treat because it can get very expensive, but like I said, we had a Groupon, so it kind of felt like we were eating for free!
We both got salads.
Justttt kidding. Well sort of. We got salads but we also got the Wisconsin Trio, a blend of fontina, butterkase and buttermilk bleu cheese with white wine, scallions and sherry.
Wow. It comes with some crudités and fresh bread for dipping. It’s basically God’s gift to man.
We filled up on cheese, but there is always, always room for dessert here. We were convinced by our smooth talkin’ (well, not really) waiter to get the Cookies and Cream chocolate fondue.
You read this correctly. Dark chocolate with marshmallows and Oreo cookies flambéed tableside.
It comes with dippers like strawberries, bananas, pound cake, cookie covered and graham covered marshmallows, cheesecake, and brownie bites. We had two plates. I’m not exaggerating. We killed them.
And once again, I rolled out of the restaurant. It was so fantastic. It’s not like I was gorging on McDonalds. The Melting Pot is worth it, for sure. Whether it’s a special occasion or just a great deal, you need to try it.
Oh and guess what? We only had to put down $8.00. Thanks Groupon!
And that was my weekend. Full of (almost) all my favorite things.
Okay enough. I live in Northern Virginia. Very different from Virginia. No farms, cows or tractors near me. Though I would 9 times out of 10 prefer the north (like New England), something is appealing about southern comfort, and I’m not talking about the alcohol.
Few dishes in my recipe box fit in with southern cuisine. Not a lot of soul food. Never a deep fried pickle. You get the idea.
Well, consider this an exception.
I happen to love black beans. Love. And did you know that beans and rice make one complete protein? Nice little nugget there.
I also hardly ever venture out in the vegetable world. I typically am eating broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, asparagus, squash, zucchini, carrots, mushrooms, peppers… oh wait. Well, I guess I do use a lot of different vegetables but none of them okra. So this was an experiment with me.
But my soco (southern cooking, c'mon!) was delicious! The beans had a creamy consistency and the okra had the perfect amount of spice. This is a great meatless meal but if you prefer, you can sprinkle some bacon on your okra. Whatever suits your fancy.
Oh and check out this beauty with homemade croutons! To die for.
Next week I'll be making fried chicken and grits. Well, not really, but I'm going to find a healthier version for you. Alright that's it!
What ya need:
1 1/2 cups uncooked long-grain rice (didn’t have any, used Success Rice, oops!) 3 (15-oz.) cans black beans, divided 1 cup chopped onion 1 cup chopped green bell pepper 3 garlic cloves, minced 2 teaspoons olive oil 1 (14-oz.) can chicken broth 1 (6-oz.) can tomato paste 1 teaspoon ground cumin 3/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper Salt to taste Toppings: shredded Cheddar cheese, sliced radishes, chopped tomatoes, chopped fresh cilantro, sliced green onions, sliced jalapeño peppers
What ya do: 1. Prepare rice according to package directions. 2. Meanwhile, drain and rinse 2 cans black beans. (Do not drain remaining can of black beans.) 3. Sauté onion, bell pepper, and garlic in hot oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in drained and undrained beans, chicken broth, tomato paste, cumin, and dried crushed red pepper. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 30 minutes. Add salt to taste. Serve with hot cooked rice and desired toppings.
What ya need:
1/2 cup chopped onion (1 medium) 1/2 cup chopped green sweet pepper 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 tablespoons butter or margarine 8 ounces whole okra, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (2 cups) 2 cups chopped, peeled tomato (2 large) 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon black pepper 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional) 2 slices bacon, crisp-cooked, drained, and crumbled (optional)
What ya do: 1. In a large skillet cook and stir onion, sweet pepper, and garlic in hot butter over medium heat about 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in okra, tomato, salt, pepper, and, if desired, cayenne pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, about 20 minutes for fresh okra (10 minutes for thawed okra) or until okra is very tender. If desired, sprinkle with bacon.
Before I left, a big group of my friends got together at my house for one last hurrah. Of course, we just insisted on making almost everything. Was it delicious? Yes. Was it very time consuming? Yes. But all in all, totally worth it. If you're looking to host a cocktail party, I will be posting several recipes in the next few weeks. Get inspired! 
