Happy Valentine's Day <3

I'm normally not one to celebrate this crazy, historically depressing Hallmark holiday but this year I felt festive. So I put on a cute black skirt & a red sweater & red heels & I brought cupcakes to work! Not just any cupcakes... my new (made up) chocolate covered cherry cupcakes! And they were SO GOOD! Really tasted line chocolate covered cherries!! I whipped up some chocolate cupcake batter (I did mine from scratch, but the box stuff would probably work too) and I mixed in cherry chips (I found these around Christmas with the baking stuff and they got lost in the back of the pantry until I remembered them yesterday). The frosting was just vanilla, butter, confectioners sugar, milk, marachino cherry juice, and beaten egg whites folded in.

The thing about baking is that it's a lot easier to screw up.

My cherry chips all sank to the bottom of my cupcakes and stuck to the cupcake papers when they cooled. My frosting was a bit thin bc of all the liquid but I couldn't add more sugar or it would be way too sweet so I had to deal with the melting, dripping frosting... but I think that just made it more like a chocolate covered cherry, right?

Overall, a success. And I will be making a second attempt if I ever find cherry chips again.

Thusly, I leave my nonexistant audience with this question: how do cupcake shops make that perfectly pretty & decadently delicious beautiful buttercream frosting???

It happened upon a New Year's Eve

Every year I host a NYE dinner party. It's always fun & there's alway a great deal of wine. What's better than good friend & great food? Nada.

Here's what was on the menu for NYE 2012:
>steak stuffed with brown rice, tomatoes, spinach, garlic, onion, sage, rosemary & thyme with a burgandy sauce
>twice baked potatoes
>fresh garden salad with apples & candied walnuts and a fresh basalmic vinagrette
>candied carrots
>brown & serve rolls
>loaded poatao skins
>green fluff
>caramel apple pie

It was well worth all the time I spent in the kitchen, making up recipes as I went (especially the beef roll ups). I hope everyone who was there can agree. Enjoy the photos.

nachos -- leftovers' bff

What do you do when you have leftover ground beef, random veggies, a tiny bit of cheese, and tortilla chips? Clean the fridge & make nachos, of course! That's all I really have to say about that (except that they were delicious).

Rub vs. Marinade

I had some friends over for dinner the other night. I made venison steaks, garlic mashed potatoes, and green beans. As I was prepping, debate ensued over whether I was going to grill or fry -- obviously the answer was grill pan (best of both worlds in February in Wisconsin). Then the marinade vs. rub debate started. I like to marinade. I feel it seals the flavor better, especially when you're going to finish off in the broiler.

My kitchen, my rules: marinade. And you know what? My friend admitted that my marinade was "on par" with his rub -- but he did it with a smirk that said I won :-)

Here's what's in my marindade:

Soy sauce
Olive oil
Ketchup
Garlic salt
Pepper
Oregano
Parsley

I know what you're thinking. Ketchup? Yes. Trust me. It works. Especially with venison. My theory is that when it comes to marinades & rubs & seasoning is that you try anything, just because you can. You never know what might taste delicious.

How Was Your Pizza?

My boyfriend (who lives in VA) was telling me he had pizza for dinner tonight. I had steak & pasta.

The steak I did medium in a grill pan on the stove (finally cold and snowy here in Wisconsin so I didn't bust out the grill). Little bit of pre-cooking salt; very simple.

The pasta was relatively simple as well. Linguini with diced mushrooms, onions, garlic, and spinach. Cooked the pasta with the garlic until al dente then added the rest of the veg for another 3 min or so. Strain & drizzle with olive oil, salt & pepper.

Finish with... Miller Lite? Hey, the Packers are on. Gimme a break.

**Note: The best thing about my apartment is that I can see the tv from the kitchen. This is critical when you get hungry during the play offs.

My Night at Samba, in Pictures

Pork and Potato and Cabbage -- OH MY!

Tonight I made myself some spareribs & sour kraut with potato dumplings. Good stick-to-your-ribs eastern European deliciousness. And really quite easy. It's boneless pork spare ribs and a jar of sour kraut in the slow cooker all day. Best bet is to pick some ribs with some fat on them so they marinade in the melted fat and fall apart when they're done 6-8 hours later.

The potato dumplings are a little more difficult. And it's a hand-me-down family recipe, so a real recipe doesn't really exist. If I ever write a cookbook (which I doubt I ever will) I'll take the time to figure out measurements and temps and times... but for now, for a blog that only my boyfriend reads, this is good enough. Put a wide pot of salted water on and let it come to a boil. While it's getting hot, put some peeled potatoes in the food processor (or you can grate them with a cheese grater if you don't have a food processor). Mix the potato with flour, salt, a little bit of pepper, and an egg yolk to bind. It should be the consistency of drop biscuit dough. Drop by the spoonful into boiling water -- be sure to keep it boiling. Don't drop too many in at once because 1) it'll cool the water to less than a boil, and 2) they'll all stick together. When they float to the top, they're ready to be taken out.

Now, for most people, this would be good enough. And you can totally eat them this way. And they're really yummy. But my family takes it a step farther. With bacon. While the dumplings are boiling, get the fattiest bacon you can find (I prefer the extra thick cuts) and cut it into bite-sized peices. Start it in a large frying pan on medium heat. When your dumplings float to the top, remove them from the boiling water and transfer them to the frying pan. By this time, the bacon fat should have broken down and liquified and you'll fry the dumplings, making them crunchy &brown and getting little pieces of bacon to stick to them.

When they're evenly browned and fully fried in bacon fat, put them on your plate with some of you deliciously tender spare ribs, and cover the whole plate in slow-cooked sour kraut.

Good for your diet & waistline? Heck no.
Good for your tastebuds? Most definitely. 

Christmas cookie and holiday pot-luck recipes to follow this week. I love the holidays. I hate working so much that I haven't had time to cook or bake much yet. I will also love tomorrow's leftovers :-)