Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Warm Brussels Caesar Salad

I made a delicious take on the typical Caesar salad last night. Instead of using the typical romaine lettuce I found a recipe that called for shaved brussels sprouts, warmed with home made croutons and bacon. I do love the typical Caesar and make it quite often but with the cold winter weather a warm, heartier version of it sounded like a must try.

recipe below, adapted from How Sweet It Is 








What you'll need:
2 slices of bacon, well done and chopped
1 cup bread, cubed
Garlic powder
1 pound of brussels sprouts, sliced
salt & pepper
Freshly shaved Parmesan cheese
for the dressing:
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
3 tablespoon plain greek yogurt
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
4 anchovy fillets, chopped
salt & pepper
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 cup light olive oil

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spread the bread cubes on a baking sheet.
Heat a skillet and add the bacon. Cook until crispy. Removed the bacon and place on a paper towel to drain off excess oil. Pour the oil left in the pan over the bread cubes and sprinkle with garlic powder (about 1/4 teaspoon). Bake for about 10 minutes, until golden.
Return the skillet to the burner over medium-low heat. Add the brussels sprouts with a pinch of salt and pepper and toss well. Cook for about 5 minutes, until softened and warm.
While that is cooking make the dressing.
Add the chopped garlic, yogurt, parmesan, mustard, vinegar, anchovies, lemon juice, salt & pepper to a food processor and blend until well pureed. Add in the 1/2 cup light olive oil and puree until creamy dressing forms. 
(This will make more dressing then needed for this recipe but will stay in the fridge for about 5 days)
Remove sprouts from the skillet and toss with the croutons, parmesan cheese, bacon & Caesar dressing. Serve immediately & enjoy!





I served mine aside a piece of salt & sugar broiled salmon (to balance out the not so healthy bacon)
recipe for that to come!

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Ice Balls


I recently used Arctic Chill Ice Ball Molds and they have changed my drink making forever.
You just fill the little spheres with water and stick them in the freezer for a few hours. 
Once you are cocktail ready you just peel off the non stick silicone molds and drop them in your drink. 
They ice balls are about 2.5" and keep your drink cold much, much longer then regular ice cubes.
And they look super stylish too!
The best part, they are BPA free and you can just stick them in the dishwasher when you are done.

Next time I am going to try dicing up fresh fruit and freezing it in there.
How good does that sound?





Sunday, January 26, 2014

Art of the Bar

I love a fun (and stocked) bar. 
A few bottles of your favorite liquor, a decanter with wine or glass jar filled with whiskey, some fun lowball glasses and a bar book make up a perfect bar cart.

When I was first looking for a bar cart, about a year ago, I had a really hard time finding one that I loved. I ended up getting the below butler stand and tray which ended up working out perfectly.
Recently I have seen a ton of great and affordable bar carts. (see links below)
I just may have to invest in another one for the den! You can never have too much space for cocktails, right?











Resources








Saturday, January 25, 2014

Winter ONEderland

Yesterday was my friend's son's 1st Birthday Party. 
The theme was Winter ONEderland. How cute and apropos considering this frigid weather we've been having. She did such a cute job with all of the little details.
The lunch was right out of a ski lodge.  She served mac & cheese, chicken pot pie and chili, and had a hot chocolate station and an array of wintry sweets for dessert.
To add to the sweet smorgasbord I made s'mores cupcakes. 
They were adorable and delicious!

recipe below.

What you'll need:
24 cupcakes
Frosting
Box of honey flavored Teddy Grams
Bag of large marshmallows
Hershey chocolate bar, broken up

Directions:
Make 24 cupcakes, chocolate or vanilla. I used vanilla.
Frost cupcakes.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
On a baking tray roast large marshmallows for about 5 minutes, until they get a little golden.
As soon as they come out put on top of each cupcake.
Squeeze in a little teddy gram in the marshmallow. I thought it was cute to use Teddy Grams since it was a 1st Birthday but  you can most certainly use regular gram crackers and break them into smaller pieces.
Put one piece of Hershey's chocolate behind the marshmallow.
Try to make as close to eating time as you can, they marshmallows tend to harden up as time goes on.

I got the adorable red tartan plaid baking liners on etsy.com
They went perfect with the theme! 











Harper holding hands with the adorable Birthday boy!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Harper's Room!


I finally got around to snapping some shots of Harper's Bedroom to share.
I loved decorating her room. I mean what could be more fun then a girly little girls room?
 My favorite part is the butterfly orb that hangs over her crib. I found it on etsy before she was even born. It was the first thing I purchased for her room and worked the room around it. 
Everything in her room comes from different places (resources below). I did my research trying to find sites with more reasonable prices. For example, I knew I wanted a leather pouf as an ottoman for her rocker but couldn't justify spending $450 at Serena & Lilly. I found basically the same exact one on amazon for half the price. The website 20x200 has great affordable art. I found the adorable baby lamb print on there and brought it to a local shop to get it framed.

What do you think? Do you want to climb into her crib for a siesta? 











Resources














Friday, January 17, 2014

Playroom!


Room by room our house is starting to come together. 
My focus the past few weeks has been the playroom since this is where Harper likes to spend most of her time, especially when friends come over. 
There are still a few odds and ends that need to be done before it's totally complete but it's turning into a perfect place for Harper to play and "create".

What do you think so far?








Resources











Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

Yes really 40 whole cloves of garlic!
It is delicious and I promise not as scary as it sounds. 
I made mine over some smashed potatoes and spinach but I also recommend having some crusty bread on the side so you can sop up every last bit of garlic sauce. 
It is that delicious! 

What you'll need:
40 cloves of garlic (I bought the pre peeled garlic, much easier then peeling 4o cloves yourself)
1 chicken cut up (8-10 pieces)
Handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup heavy cream or whole milk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
salt & pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 
Pat the chicken dry with paper towel and season with 1 teaspoon salt &  1/2 teaspoon pepper.
Heat the oil in a dutch oven until very hot. Place chicken skin side down and cook until very well browned, about 10 minutes.
Transfer chicken to a platter skin side up and set aside. 
Remove the oil from the pan except for about 1 tablespoon. Add in all 40 garlic cloves and cook for a few minutes, till browned. Make sure not to burn!
Add in the chicken stock to de-glaze the pan. Scrape up all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan and into the garlic. Add in the chopped parsley and cream & stir. 
Return the chicken to the pan, skin side up and remove from heat. 
Cook COVERED in the oven for about 25 minutes, or until the juices run clear. 

Take out of oven and remove the chicken to a separate plate. 
Using a potato masher (or whatever you have handy) mash the garlic in the dutch oven and then stir in the unsalted butter. 
Plate the chicken. I made it over mashed potatoes with spinach. Drizzle the garlic sauce on top of chicken. There should be enough left over sauce to serve on the side. (Trust me, people are going to be using every last bit of sauce, it's that good.)

Serve immediately and enjoy!