The Christmas Eve Big Show!

Christmas Even dinner - Ham, rolls...

Peas, asparagus, corn casserole, mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts and carrots, mac & cheese...

My sister's trademark cathedral cake! This is a pumpkin strudel cake and it was fabulous.

My sister also made 7 layer bars.

Here are the cookies that I made the day before. No one believed that I actually baked them. My family assumed that they were store bought and that I was trying to pass them off as homemade... Not that I have ever done that in the past.... Okay, I have done that in the past but these really are home baked - by me.

Pre-Christmas Festivities!

I made about 10 dozen cookies for the holidays. I rarely ever bake, so this was a big undertaking for me. The plan was for the kids to help out, but they could not have been less interested. When given the choice of playing video games, playing in the snow, or helping mom bake cookies, the first two win out every time.

We always host our families on Christmas Eve and that requires me to cook my ass off. I like to save my energy for "the big show" in the days preceding Christmas Eve, and that means that we order pizza so that I don't have to cook or clean. This pie is from Flyer's.

Here's Ian at his first grade class Winter party. As is typical at public schools, the Winter party is non-specific to any holiday or religious event (as it should be). I had a great time helping out and hanging out with the kids.

I also joined Connor's third grade class for their party. Oddly enough, theirs was Christmas specific. The teacher even read a book about Christmas and the Christ child's birthday. I've been to half a dozen Winter parties at the kids' school and this is the first one that was specific to Christmas. Looks like someone's teacher decided to pull a Sara Palin and go rogue... The kids didn't seem to notice the non-secular nature of the party and had a great time.

Soup & Salad, and Tony's Antics

Lunch at Lindey's last week was so good that I was inspired to recreate it over the weekend when my sister and her husband came over for dinner.



Baby greens with feta, mozzarella, roma tomatoes, and olive oil vinaigrette.

Onions and lots of 'em! Other ingredients: butter, bay leaves, sea salt, cracked black pepper, beef broth, thyme, red wine, and garlic.

Finished product topped with sourdough bread slices and provolone and finished under the broiler.

Tony wasn't home for dinner and decided to make a salad for himself when he got home. In typical fashion, he took what had the potential to be a delicious and healthy meal and ruined it with creamy dressing, excess amounts of cheese, and crushed saltine crackers. The best part of this photo is that Tony wasn't posing for it. I just happened to catch him talking while he was mid-bite. Like I've said before, you can take the boy out of Indiana but you can't take Indiana out of the boy...

Guest contributors - my mom & sister-in-law!

My mom and sister-in-law, Mandy, were kind enough to email me pictures of their recent dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.

The Cheesecake Factory is known to be generous with their portions and my mom's entree was no exception. She ordered chicken (on the left) and steak (on the right) in a red wine sauce with mushrooms, served with mashed potatoes.

Mandy ordered shrimp scampi and salmon with asparagus.

Dessert! I can't remember the specifics of this dish but I can tell that involves apples and ice cream.

Okay, this portion size is over the top. Even by Cheesecake Factory standards.

pizza

Homemade pepperoni pizza from a couple of nights ago. I also made a whole wheat, pesto and tomato pizza but I overcooked it a little because I got distracted doing other stuff. Whammy. It wasn't picture worthy.

Grub from this week

I've been cooking my ass off this week! Stuffing, pan roasted pork tenderloin, redskin mashed potatoes, and brussels sprouts. I *heart* brussels sprouts. I love them so much that I actually had them for breakfast twice this week.

Close up of the meal. Look at those brussels!

Another homemade meal - chicken paprika. My mom used to make this when I was younger and I loved it so much. Chicken, garlic, onions, tomatoes, chicken stock, parsley, and sour cream. What could be better?

Thank you to The Boss for taking me and a colleague out to Lindey's for lunch. The best salads are the most simple - greens, lemon vinagrette, grape tomatoes, blue cheese, and smoked Gouda.

Also from Lindey's... French onion soup! So good.

No Square Dogs! Part II

Much to Tony's delight (okay, not so much), we've added another member to our family. Her name is Lucy and she was adopted from the Capital Area Humane Society. She's about a year old and looks to be a German Shepherd/Lab mix. She's a sweetie. And because this is a blog about food, I am obliged to inform you that she eats Science Diet dry food.

Out of the park, grand slam home run!

I took the kids out to Iacono's in Hilliard for dinner last night. The meal started with a very contentious match of tic-tac-toe. Ian won several games, but was getting increasingly pissed off every time that he lost. I could see a shouting match brewing so I finally had to take the activity/coloring book away.

Ian ordered chicken fingers, Connor had an Italian sub, and we all shared a pizza (1/2 cheese, 1/2 sausage and mushroom). Connor and I had the following discussion regarding the quality of the food:

Connor: "Mom, how do you think the food is tonight?"
Me: "Amazing, I think that they hit it out of the park."
Connor: "Like, a home run?"
Me: "Yeah, it's a good thing. Like a home run for food"
Connor: "Ahhh, well then this is a grand slam home run. An out of the park, grand slam. Oh - it's a walk-off, out of the park, grand slam!"

Please check out Freshbox Catering

Freshbox Catering is a not-for-profit company and 100% of their proceeds go to support The Faith Mission return to work program. We had a work lunch catered by them this week and the food was fresh, high quality, well made, affordable and they delivered it at no cost! I highly recommend that you use Freshbox Catering!

Check them out here - http://www.freshboxcatering.com/

leftovers

I love thanksgiving leftovers.

it's the big show!

I almost feel bad posting these pictures. My Thanksgiving meal is so incredible that all others pale by comparison. I am truly sorry that I couldn't share this meal with each and every one of my loyal readers.

I can't give away any of my secrets, so I am posting pictures only without any details regarding the actual, super-special, very delicious recipes.

Tony set up the bar area. He did a nice job. When it comes to seasonal decorating, I skip fall decor and go straight in to Christmas flair.

Asparagus, mashed potatoes

Turkey, brown sugar glazed brussels sprouts and baby carrots, cheesy potatoes, stuffing, rolls, mac & cheese. not pictured: corn casserole

I shit you not, my brother actual wept with joy during dinner. It was that good! (he was actually just rubbing his eyes for a second, but I would like to think that he was crying with happiness)

It was a great Thanksgiving. Even better than the meal was spending the evening with our family.

A huge thanks to my mom for bringing the pumpkin pie, corn casserole and brussels and carrots. Big ups to Mandy for the cheesy potatoes. Thank you to my mother-in-law for the gluten free pumpkin pie and homemade apple pie.

Ian's Best Day Ever

This past Saturday was Ian's 7th birthday. We celebrated for two straight days with dinner at BW3, a sleepover with my cousins, a trip to see Planet 51 with five kids in tow, and a pizza party.

Let's start with the cake. I love Sam's Club cake - sugary and heavy on the frosting.

This was my favorite gift that Ian received. His Grandma and Grandpa Davis his gave him, among other things, a rubber chicken! When you squeeze it, an egg comes out with a yolk and all. Awesome.

What does every boy want for his 7th birthday? A chainsaw, of course! Here is Connor with Ian's new (fake) chainsaw.

Here's the birthday boy, Ian! Ian's quote of the day "I can't believe I'm 7 and I can't believe that I am having my best day ever!"

Here is Ian with my cousin, Emma. They are dressed as Batman and Batgirl.

Soup & a Sandwich

One of my favorite sandwiches - grilled baby swiss, turkey, and ham on whole wheat.

Homemade ham, bean, and veggie soup!

party food

Tony invited people over for the Bengals v Steelers game a couple of week ago. Here's some wine, hummus, veggies, chips, and salsa. Oh, and I spy a highball near the tortilla chips.

I also made white chili. My mom wisely advised that I only add half of the habanero and serrano peppers that I had diced. This was a very good decision considering that the chili was hella-spicy without the extra peppers.

What goes with white chili? Red chili, of course! You can never have too many kinds of chili.

My dad recently threw his girlfriend, Christy, a 50th birthday party. These are some amazing cabbage rolls that her sisters made. This recipe was passed down from their mother.

Here's the sandwich spread, and a bucket of beer!