Easter Weekend

April 22, 2014

Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend. Ours was jam-packed and I can confidently say we are still recovering.

Friday was date night so sushi it was. This is one of our favorite places and we never leave disappointed-or hungry. Sheesh, I think we ordered everything on the menu.

Saturday was Tee Ball and a lazy afternoon. Getting us all ready for the festivities on Sunday.

My sister had us over to their house for the most amazing brunch.

Bloody Mary Bar anyone?

Mimosas too!

Sweet things.

Not so sweet things (but equally amazing). These chicken sausages were awesome.

Steak which was also delicious.

I had a little bit of everything on my plate. There was also bacon, eggs, corned beef hash, croissants, fruit and a hash brown casserole my sister made that was incredible.

The kids had such a blast!

It was a great weekend. Hope your Easter was just as fun!

Birthday Weekend

April 15, 2014

This weekend we celebrated my Mom’s Birthday. It was a great day filled with great food and even greater company. We even got to play with this sweet little face.

Cheese and fruit appetizer.

Then the main event. My Mom decided she wanted a seafood boil to celebrate her special day. Ours had crab legs, shrimp, sausage, corn and potatoes. The guys manned the fire and it all came together pretty quickly. Every 10 minutes something new would go in the pot.

Potatoes first.

Then the corn.

Sausage and lemons next.

Finally the shrimp and crab. They turned off the heat and let steam for about 10 more minutes.

Time to eat!

We finished the evening off with a few different desserts from our favorite bakery. Cheesecake, Carrot Cake, Rum Raisin Bread Pudding and Mom’s favorite Tiramisu.

It was such a great day celebrating my wonderful Mama!

Love you Mom!!

Blame it on the Beach

April 11, 2014

Living in Florida, we are able to get to the beach a lot. I know when my sister and I were little our parents would take us quite a bit. We would sometimes rent a house and stay for a week. Ahh, those were the days.

I remember snacks always being super-important when we headed to the beach. Must be the salt and sea air that would make us extra hungry. My sister and I were big snackers when we were young. We loved chips and crackers (Funyuns-yelp), candy- anything quick and easy. Snacks + beach = awesome.

For some reason one particular trip to the beach sticks in my memory. It was the summer before I was going to start high school. We were staying at a hotel-type place on Daytona Beach. It was busy and I remember having to wake up super-early to go put towels on chairs to hold our place once we were ready to head down. The days would consist of this, wake up, eat breakfast, head down to the pool. Swim until it was lunchtime, head up to the room to eat, go back down and play at the beach until the sun started to set. On this trip my mom made brownies to take with us. One day after swimming all morning, I was particularly hungry, (considering I probably ate a cinnamon roll or something equally as sugary and non-filling for breakfast). I was so famished I remember grabbing a brownie, shoveling it into my mouth and chasing it with a handful of salt and vinegar potato chips. Hope you are still with me. I did say salt and vinegar potato chips. I have no idea how this combination came about, but knowing my sweet/savory fondness it really doesn’t surprise me all that much. Can I tell you my mind was blown. The combination of fudgy chocolate with the super-salty-sour-crunchy chip was so good. You are probably thinking I wrote this on April 1 and forgot to publish, but I am completely serious. So good.

It is so funny how food can bring back such intense memories. I am hoping I ate something other than that for lunch (probably a sandwich of sorts) but I don’t remember. All I remember is that crazy-stoner-type-food-combination that was so delicious.

That brings me to what happened this week. I don’t know if I was feeling nostalgic or maybe just hungry (when will Paleo get easier?) but I needed the chocolate/salty-sour combo STAT. I should have saved one of my Dark Chocolate Brown Butter Brownies for emergencies but who am I kidding? Those puppies were gone in two days. I didn’t have the foresight or patience to make/keep brownies so I melted some dark chocolate in a bowl and dipped flipping salt and vinegar potato chips in it. Dead.

I have seen lots of chocolate covered potato chips out there so the combination isn’t so crazy (I’ll just keep telling myself that), but I didn’t see many where salt and vinegar chips were the vessel. It is definitely the way to go. This combination is really good. You get the sweet-bitterness from the chocolate and the salty-vinegary crunch from the chip. I used kettle cooked but you could use any type (as long as they are salt and vinegar flavored).

Our beach snacks these days are more fruit/cracker less chip/brownie but let me tell you, if I came home from a day at the beach and had a bag of these babies, I would surely devour the whole thing.

Don’t be afraid. Try new weird things! You’ll realize maybe they aren’t that weird after all and they might even turn out to be delicious!

Do you have any crazy food combinations that ended up being tasty? Tell me!!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Another Weekend Here and Gone

April 7, 2014

In what seems to be the new norm, our weekend was full of food and fun. Here are some highlights.

We headed to the beach after Tee Ball on Saturday. Perfect day for it. The water is still way too cold for me but it certainly didn’t stop the kids from jumping in. When we were done with sun and sand, we grabbed a bite to eat.

These nachos definitely hit the spot.

My husband ordered this Pizza Burger. It was no joke. Had mushrooms, pepperoni, cheese, black olives and tomato sauce. Perfect pizza-burger love child.

Sunday I took the kids for an early lunch before heading to a friend’s birthday party. I had egg salad on an everything bagel and it was delicious. Potato salad on the side.

Bounce House fun

Since we were near my parents house, after the party we stopped by for a visit. I love going to my Mom and Dad’s. The kids love it too. We had so much fun and ate well of course.

Burgers.

Cookies too 🙂

Needless to say we were tired and full come Sunday night but it was so worth it. Another great weekend.

Too bad today started with a dead battery in one vehicle. Happy Monday to us. Hoping the rest of the week is smooth sailing!

Hope your weekend was great too!

Dark Chocolate Brown Butter Brownies

April 1, 2014

Some days call for butter, sugar and lots of dark chocolate. It could be the weather, it could be because you need something to fill the void left by the terrible How I Met Your Mother finale, or it could be for no reason at all.

I choose number three.

I’m late to this game but I am happy to jump on the brown butter bandwagon. It has such a great flavor. You can add it to savory and sweet dishes and it just makes them nuttier and better. These brownies are super-dark, super-dense and super-brown-buttery. I am certainly a fan and will not admit to how many I ate. My kids on the other hand, were not fans. “Mommy they smell delicious but do not taste delicious”. Oops. More for me.

While I do think they are delicious, I will warn you if you aren’t into dark chocolate (e.g., my children) you might not be crazy about them. I am a little obsessed with all things dark chocolate so these are my new favorites.

The brown butter is a bit of a labor of love. You have to babysit a little bit but once you do it a couple of times it is easier and you won’t be like me, paranoid that I was going to burn it at any second. I actually found this post super helpful. Once the butter is melted it foams and then when the foam starts to subside is when the browning is really happening. When you are done you are left with some brown bits in the bottom that give the great flavor.

I know this pic isn’t the best but those are the bits!!! They are the good stuff.

This is the Himalayan Pink Salt. It has great flavor and it a bit more subtle than kosher salt.

I used larger chocolate chips. You may want to chop yours if you like smaller bits of chocolate.

I really didn’t want to wait for them to cool to cut but miraculously something distracted me so they were safe until I cut them (I won’t mention what happened to the mixing bowl/spoon). I got 12 brownies from my 9×13″ pan.

See how they are super-dark? That makes them super-good!!

Here is the recipe! I hope you make them for no reason at all!!

Dark Chocolate Brown Butter Brownies

2014-04-01 10:29:50

Yields 12

Super dark, super dense with great brown butter flavor.

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Ingredients

2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter cut into pats
1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (I used 60% cacao)
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp Himalayan pink salt

For the Brown Butter

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat until foam is gone and brown bits appear.

For the Brownies

Add butter, and both sugars to a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and mix until fluffy (about 5 minutes at Speed 3).
Add vanilla and then the eggs one at a time (mixing between each addition until combined)
In a separate bowl combine cocoa powder, flour and salt and stir with a wisk.
Add half the dry ingredients to the wet until combined, then add the remaining half until everything is incorporated.
Remove bowl from mixer and then stir in the chocolate chips.
Pour into a 9x13" baking dish lined with parchment paper and greased (I used Pam).
Bake at 350 degrees for 26-29 minutes.
Let cool and then cut.

Adapted from Something Swanky's "Browned Butter Brownies"

Steph in Symmetry https://stephinsymmetry.com/

Weekend Fun

March 31, 2014

Happy Monday and happy end of the month. March is over? Really?

We had a great weekend. The weather was a little scary Saturday afternoon (crazy thunderstorms), but Sunday was absolutely gorgeous, so the weekend wasn’t a complete wash-out.

Here are a couple of eats and drinks from the weekend.

Sunday we met my mom, sister and her family for pizza. We went to Mellow Mushroom. We all shared a couple of appetizers, a salad and two pizzas. I also had an Orange Blossom Pilsner and it was delicious.

Mellow Balls

Meatball Trio

Holy Shiitake

Philosopher’s Pie

Greek Salad

This was the best part of lunch though. I can’t take it. They all love their Gigi so much!

We also celebrated my cousin’s birthday. The food was great as always. My family likes to cook!

Ribs, pulled pork with coleslaw, smoked chicken, baked beans, garlic bread, salad and macaroni and cheese.

Can’t forget the Strawberry Lemonade Gelati.

It was a beautiful afternoon spent with friends and family.

We ended the weekend watching The Walking Dead season finale. It was such a great episode. Very intense! I can’t wait for Rick to kick butt in the next season. I just hate that I have to wait so long!

Hope your weekend was wonderful!

Recent Dinner Adventures

March 28, 2014

This week we were all over the place. My computer decided to stop working which took two days to fix. I am completely lost without it and needless to say today I am trying to play catch-up to make up for lost time. It is a little scary how dependent we are on technology. Luckily it was an easy (and somewhat inexpensive) fix. Anyhoo, on with the food.

Spring Break was also this week so our meal plan was a little lax. I went with the flow a little bit and I am suffering now because of it. I just hate to make multiple trips to the store during the week. It saves so much time and money to make one big trip for the week and maybe one more small stop (we always need bananas mid-week) as opposed to stopping each night or worse, eating out because there was no plan.

Since I had Little Man with me for Spring Break we ate out lunch almost every day so I tried to lighten-up our dinners. Monday we went to the movies and I ate my weight in popcorn and Raisinets (did you know they have a dark chocolate flavor? I will neither confirm nor deny that the box was empty when we left.). Since I was in a movie-food coma dinner was light. I made a frittata with zucchini, mushrooms, spinach and Parmesan cheese. I also mashed up half of an avocado to put on top of toasted whole wheat mountain bread. Tomato topper and called it a day.

Tuesday I took the kids to Gatorland. They had a blast. On our way home I grabbed some meatballs that were on sale from the grocery store. These were Teriyaki Pineapple flavored so I decided to have Asian-inspired dinner. I sauteed them in a little olive oil to heat through and then added, a small onion, zucchini and bell pepper. I combined some Tamari, honey and rice wine together and added at the last minute. I served this over rice. On the side was an avocado drizzled in a combination of sesame oil and lime juice. I also drizzled a combination of mayo, sriracha and ground ginger over the meatballs. I really enjoyed this. I think next time I will make cauliflower fried rice instead of white rice to amp up the veggies.

Wednesday I found spinach buy one get one at the grocery (yes if you are keeping track I have been to the grocery store every day this week so far). I use spinach for all sorts of things, salads, smoothies, and sometimes I will just put some at the bottom of whatever bowl I am eating dinner out of to add some nutrients. I had two containers so I decided to try and make pesto with one. I roasted some almonds in the oven and combined them with Parmesan cheese, garlic, the spinach and olive oil. I then added a little of the pesto with some mojo pork I got at the grocery and tossed in some baby bowtie pasta. I loved the spinach pesto, but I think I went a little heavy on the garlic. Oh well, live and learn.

Thursday the boys went to a hockey game so Princess and I ate together. I mixed the leftover mojo pork with some black beans. Topped with lime juice, bell pepper, sour cream and avocado. I also put some spinach at the bottom of my bowl.

Tonight is date night so we will eat out. Hopefully this will conclude our eating out/Spring Break festivities so we can get back to business-as-usual next week.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Now I know what they mean by “Mom Taxi”

March 19, 2014

Spring Break is right around the corner, and I will be honest I am really looking forward to a week without after-school activities. Don’t get me wrong, I love that my son is interested in trying new things but it gets to be a real challenge when it comes to scheduling. I don’t understand how Mom’s of more than one child keep up with all the activities. Between homework (yes it is Kindergarten but still), Running Club, Tee Ball and Golf we are all over the place during the week. The Princess is now at the age where she wants to do things too and I seriously wonder how we will be able to do it. I have such an admiration for parents that have multiple kids in different sports/activities and seem to pull it off seamlessly. We are still fairly new to the “activity” game and I am learning every day. Time management is crucial and keeping to a schedule really helps. And as with most things, a little preparation goes a long way. Here are a couple of things that have worked for us so far.

Since we spend quite a bit of time in the vehicle going to and from all these events I decided I needed a “survival kit” for fussy kiddos. I always hear “Mommy, I’m STARVING!” so I decided to fill a small basket with snacks and mini waters for our little trips. Since everything we do tends to be within a 15 mile radius, we are never too far from a bathroom so I’m not too worried about the liquids. My kids drink like you would not believe so I have to be sure the car drinks are smaller so we aren’t having to make emergency pit stops.

I found these little bins at Target. They were on clearance for $3. They are perfect because they are a canvas-type material that is super-easy to clean. They are pretty too.

We also have a DVD player in the vehicle which is nice when the bickering gets to be too much to take. Did you know that a three-year-old and a six-year-old will go back and forth in an argument (“No it isn’t”. “Yes it is”.) no less than 736 times? Sometimes my “Please stop” just doesn’t cut it. I call on reinforcements in the form of Yo Gabba Gabba DVD’s. I know the phones, iPad’s etc. are good too, but my kids seem to fight over these as well. I think just being in a vehicle makes them combative. So thank you DJ Lance for your help with this.

I have also learned that you must be prepared for baseball fields. Just grabbing my purse that I’ve tossed a couple snacks in does not work. I take a separate bag (that I don’t mind getting dirty) with all the essentials. The Essentials=keeping a three-year-old entertained at a Tee Ball game.

I put snacks, little toys and her Leap Pad in here because apparently watching five and six year olds hit balls, run crazily and otherwise stress out their three grown coaches is just not entertainment to a three-year-old. I’ve also learned not to pack too many liquids for said three-year-old. When I do, I will inevitably hear “Mommy, I’ve gotta go to the bathroom”, RIGHT as Little Man is about to step up to bat. Did I mention that the bathroom is 1/4 mile away from the Tee Ball fields? We are averaging 2.5 trips per game. So no more drinks until after the second inning.

As I mentioned we are still learning but I feel like we are getting better at being prepared. Something as amall as planning ahead can make all the difference.

How do you better manage all the “activities” in your family? Any tips or suggestions?

The Weekend and St. Patrick’s Day

March 18, 2014

So another weekend in the books for good ole 2014. This one was nice because we were able to get a lot done and were also able to relax a little.

Saturday was Tee Ball again. Little Man just keeps getting better and better. I am so proud of him. After the game we were pretty hungry and went to a close-by pizza place with some of his teammates and their families. We were able to sit outside and it was absolutely beautiful. After that we spent the afternoon at my aunt and uncle’s house and this crazy (I repeat CRAZY) child went in the pool. It couldn’t have been more than 65 degrees!! He is nuts!

Kids Pool Snacks

Sunday was pretty lazy. The Princess and I did some shopping and got the ingredients to make side dishes for our St. Patrick’s day dinner. We decided to eat it on Sunday since the weekdays get so hectic.

I made Caramelized Onion Scones and Colcannon. I used this recipe for the Scones from Savvy Eats. They were really yummy. Sometimes my scones can get dry, but the onions actually add moisture so these were perfect.

For the Colcannon I just mashed about 3 lbs of Yukon Gold potatoes and mixed in sautéed kale, bacon, milk and butter. They don’t photograph all that well, but they sure taste good.

It was a great ending to a nice weekend. Hope your weekend was wonderful and your St. Patrick’s Day lucky. 😉

This is from a couple of years ago. No green beer this year for us.

Missing The Keys

March 11, 2014

Some of my favorite family memories involve the Florida Keys. We have been taking trips there annually since I was young. Some of the most important life events have happened in the Keys. My sister and brother-in-law were engaged and later married there, my very best friend was also engaged there. Some of my favorite memories come from time spent in the Keys. The Keys stretch out from just South of Miami to the Southernmost Point in Key West. We tend to spend most of our time in the Upper Keys (Key Largo, Tavernier, Islamorada). We also love Key West and the Lower Keys when we have the opportunity to go further south. It is a whole different world once you cross the Overseas Highway and enter the Keys. Things are more laid back, the water is gorgeous, the fishing is awesome, and most of all the food is amazing. You would expect the seafood to be delicious as the waters surrounding the Keys are filled with sea life and most places do not disappoint.

One of our very favorite places to eat in Key Largo is The Fish House. You must go when you are there as it is one of those places where you will have a great “Keys Experience”. The fish is always fresh and local. You can order your fish of choice several different ways, but I always choose the“Matecumbe” preparation. It is a combination of tomatoes, onions capers, lemon and olive oil, poured on top of your fish of choice. It is magical. The menu says “often copied but never duplicated”. This is so true, but I still try to capture the flavors myself at home when I can.

While at the coast over the weekend we picked up some fresh Cobia. Cobia is very mild and when it is available we always try to pick some up. Since we had the fish component, I wanted to see if I could try to replicate the flavors of the “Matecumbe” sauce.

The Fish House’s version has capers and basil. Both of which I forgot to get while I was at the store. But I did have some green olives and spinach so I substituted that and it was really delicious. It is true though, although this version was pretty good, it is definitely not as good as the original. I guess that means we will just have to make a trip back down there soon.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of us in the Keys.

Us way before kids in Key West. What am I doing with my arm?

Little Man’s first trip to the Keys (approx 6 months)

This was the first trip for The Princess (approx 7 months)

Lobster!

Okay, enough of that here is the recipe.

Cobia "Matecumbe"

2014-03-12 13:40:12

One of our favorite fish dishes from one of our favorite places.

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Ingredients

5 tomatoes, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
2 shallots, diced
1/3 cup sliced green olives
1 cup fresh spinach, finely chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
1 to 2 cobia (or any mild fish) fillets

Instructions

Combine tomato, onion, shallots, green olives, and spinach in a bowl.
Add olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, stir.
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Place oven rack 6 inches from top element.
Preheat broiler to 500 degrees.
Sprinkle each filet with salt and pepper and creole seasoning (I used Tony Chachare's).
Place under the broiler for approximately 4 minutes a side*. *This all depends on the size of the fillets, you will just need to keep an eye on them).
To serve, top each filet with 1/2-1 cup of the topping.

Notes

This topping can be used on just about anything. It is awesome on fish but just as good on chicken, steak, eggs (you get the idea). Enjoy!

Adapted from The Fish House "Fish Matecumbe Recipe"

Steph in Symmetry https://stephinsymmetry.com/