Beer. Bread. More Later.

I've been away.  No.  Not just away.  I've been to New York.  For something pretty cool.  And I ate a lot of food (especially considering I was there for 40 hours.  More on that soon.  In the meantime, here's something I made and polished off prior to leaving:

If you ever go to a Tastefully Simple party, buy the beer bread mix in bulk.  It's awesome.  

Then go to Trader Joe's and buy at least one six pack of Kennebunkport Blueberry Wheat Ale.

You know what to do next.

YUM!

Snack of Champions

I am eating this and drinking a big ass martini. Cheers, Siri!

Money Lamp looks on with approval.

Hangin' with the raisin girls....

We didn't have any Rice Krispies.

And no one was eating the Corn Flakes I bought to try to have fewer sugar-filled cereals in the house.  

And we had all these marshmallows.

So I made a pan of these:

And I ate at least 2/3 of the pan myself.

And then I learned about these.

Which are clearly too dangerous to make any time soon.  

I can't be trusted.

Am I missing something?

These are E-Z peel, deveined shrimp. I was assured (as I was last
time, when the same thing happened) by the butcher that these were
deveined. Aren't we calling this a vein? I think it's actually shrimp
poop, but aren't we polietly referring to it that way? Please tell me
if I'm wrong/crazy. I'll be at the sink running a fork tine through my
shrimp while you answer.

Winter = Stew

It's definitely winter here.  I keep telling my husband at we're having such a mild, late-start winter so far this year, but, really - it's winter.  And it's going to be winter until my birthday in mid-April.  .......sigh.......

So, I'm going to be making a lot of stew.  And things in crock pots. This week I'm going to experiment with some sort of lamb curry in a crock pot.  If you have any helpful ideas/recipes, please send me info/links.

One of my favorite stews is French Country Beef Stew.  I made it for my in-laws last month.  I use real bacon instead of turkey bacon.  It hikes up the fat a little, but I'm willing to accept that.  I also put in more orange zest than the recipe calls for because I like it.

I serve it over these super fat noodles I buy in my local supermarket (Rainbow, for those of you playing along at home), but I think pappardelle or regular old egg noodles would work great, too.  Trader Joe's carries a great pappardelle.

What's your favorite stew or crock pot meal?  What other winter comfort foods are you thinking about this season?

Bring something to share.

This summer we moved to a great new neighborhood.  There's an event once a month for the adults.  One family hosts, and everyone brings their own drinks and something to share. The other night we went to a games party at our neighbors' house.  Have you ever played BUNCO?  You must.

We brought a Big-Ass bottle of wine (and subsequently napped a lot the next day) and a tureen of Roasted Pear-Butternut Squash Soup with Crumbled Stilton. 

I put it on a tray with a ladle, spoon rest, little cups and spoons.  The garnishes in the recipe are chives or scallion greens and crumbled stilton.  I had one more compartment on my cute little tray, so I also added toasted slivered almonds.  

Shortcut to what?

MUSHROOMS!  

(Thanks for playing along, Geek Readers.)

A while ago, I confessed to not liking mushrooms.  The next day I bought some and made some stuff.   I was in a bit of a frenzy, so I can't remember exactly what I did, and again, these are my crappy iPhone pictures (must remember to use real camera).

I know that I chopped them up really fine,

 sauteed them in butter with garlic, 

threw in some chicken stock - frozen in ice cube trays - perfect for this sort of thing.  I make a lot of pan gravy.  

Then I whirled the whole thing in the food processor because I really can't get past the texture.  

Put it back in the pan and thinned it out again with stock and wine, and spooned it over a chicken tender.  

Is there a way to make a mushroom sauce look pretty?
I don't think even a real camera and sprig of something green could save that.

AND I LOVED IT.

I loved it so much, I added milk to what was left in the pan, and maybe some other stuff, and ate in on pasta.  While standing over the stove. 

 And I think I ate a little much - it's very rich - but I can't wait to try more! 

Me, after eating possibly too many mushrooms..... wait.
Also: Dig the ShrinkyDink earrings my 5 year old made for me.

The moral of the story, dear readers, is:  If you throw yourself down a hill to get away from the farmer you're stealing from and the black riders who are looking for you, you could just find a shortcut to mushrooms.

~OR~

Try something you think you don't like.  You might change your mind. 

But I'm still not doing olives.  I take my martinis up with a twist. (Gin, no Vermouth)