Crunchy Creamy Crab Cakes…YUM!

I spent this New Years Day with my husband’s family having a day of resting, celebrating, playing games, and eating some good food!  We wanted to start the year off as a family, focusing on what we wanted 2012 to be about…and one of those things was quality family time.  For me, having a great meal and fellowshipping around the table is one of the best ways to bond as a family!  For our dinner on January 1st, I decided to make Dungeness Lump Crab Cakes with a side salad and Rosemary Bread!  And then I quickly had to make a “new year’s resolution” not to “shellfishly” eat the entire plate before dinner started!   These cakes are very rich and creamy on the inside while maintaining a crispy crusty coating on the outside…and they are just in-crab-ibly delicious!  And no, I  will not apologize for the silly seafood puns!

Potato Skins

One of my husband’s favorite things to do is to watch a football game at home or at a Sport’s Bar and Grill.  He likes to have a drink and some good food, and one of his favorite things to have is Potato Skins.  I saw this recipe on one of my favorite blogs, Life’s Ambrosia, and decided to have my own go at them.  I made one pan and when Chris and I ate them all in about 5 minutes I realized that this recipe was a KEEPER!  I made these for a few football games this season and they are easier to make then you would think!  It does take a bit of time to make them, but most of the time is spent in the oven so you can be doing other things while they are cooking. I hope you will try it out…and there is NO need to wait for the next football game…these are too good to wait till Football season starts again!

Crock Pot Wonder! Red Wine Braised Pork Roast with Veggies

I am a firm believer that Crock Pots are one of the seven wonders of the world.  You can put almost any combo of meat, veggies, legumes and herbs in there and when you come back hours later….it will have turned into some fabulous version of FLAVOR TOWN!!!  I know if you have never used a Crock Pot…they might seem intimidating but I promise…it is one of the easiest, time-saving and friendly tools in your kitchen!   I threw this particular combo in the pot around 11:00AM  and when my husband got home around 6:00 PM, all we had to do was scoop the goodness into our bowls and partake together!  I hope you will give it a try and let me know what you think!

Asian Grilled Pork Loin! Easy and So Delicious!

A few weeks ago I made this pork Loin and I have to say that it was a very good decision!   I marinated it over night and then grilled it on my grill pan on the stove.  I served it with white rice and Fired Broccoli along with the marinade reduced into a delicious sauce.  I highly recommend this recipe as it is easy to prep the night before and only takes 15 minutes or so to grill and serve, and then you have a delicious and impressive meal ready to go in minutes!  The flavor of the pork is actually pretty sweet because of the Orange zest, but also has a good saltiness to it from the soy.  Feel free to adjust the flavors according to your own tastebuds…but the recipe below is what worked for us!  I hope you will try it and let me know what you think.

Guinness Shepherd’s Pie

St. Patrick’s Day is a really fun holiday to celebrate, especially if you have some shred of Irish Heritage…which a lot of us do!  My middle name is Eavvie, named after my Great Grandma Eavvie Sharrock.  Even though I am probably only 1/8 or less Irish, I have always identified with that part of my heritage for some reason and LOVE celebrating St. Patty’s Day!  I usually choose to make Baily’s Chocolate Milk Shakes, but as I am pregnant that was not an option for this certain holiday.  I decided to make Guinness Shepherd’s Pie as the alcohol would be totally cooked out, but the flavor would remain!  The picture of this dish might not look super appetizing, but this was hands down the BEST Shepherd’s Pie I have ever eaten.  We will definitely be making this again…and I will not be waiting a whole year to do so!

Potato Pancakes…yum yum yum!

These Potato Pancakes were sort of an experiment…and a lovely experiment at that!  I had a bunch of potato pulp left over from  scooping out the insides of my potato skins and wasn’t sure what to do with it.  I decided to try and make some potato pancakes and the results were tasty, cheesy and delicious!  I highly recommend trying this recipe if you find yourself with leftover mashed potatoes, or potato pulp of any kind!  I used cheddar cheese in these particular pancakes, but I think parmesan, blue cheese, or any other mix of cheese might be fabulous in these!  You might even want to mash up some potatoes just to make this recipe…it is that good!

Filet Mignon with a Red Wine Cream Sauce

For Valentines Day this year we decided to cook a fancy dinner at home instead of going out.  In the past, Valentines Day has meant spending quite a bit on dinner and usually having some sort of fancy steak or fish dish which could be  hit and miss!  This year to save a bit of moola, I thought I would try cooking a fancy steak with a Red Wine Sauce at home!  I will be honest and say this is the first time I had ever purchased Filet Mignon at the Grocery store and was slightly concerned that I would ruin it!  However, this dish turned out really really good and the steak was tender, delicious and surprisingly EASY to prepare!  I can honestly say it might be making more frequent appearances in our house in the future!  I do have to confess that the SAUCE was the big hero of this dinner and I think it would have made Old Shoes taste amazing drizzled all over them!  It was that good!

I hope you will try this…I took a risk and experimented with this on a special occasion and it paid off big time!  If it had turned out yucky, we could have survived on the best Mashed Potatoes (recipe coming at a later time)  in the world along with some grilled asparagus ( made even better in the amazing SAUCE!)

Chicken Feta Spinach Crepes, A Perfect Meal for Two!

My husband and I decided to start off the weekend by making brunch together, but could not decide what to make!  After a careful inspection of our kitchen and all of our options, we decided to make Savory Crepes for ourselves!  Now if you have never made Crepes before…please note that they are MUCH EASIER than you think!  YOU CAN DO IT!

It would be an understatement to say that I do MOST of the cooking in our household!  Aside from the occasional quesadilla or…lets be honest here and say a quesadilla pretty much sums it up, I am mostly on my own in prepping the food for our family!  Since I have been pregnant however, my husband has stepped up in a big way and has been helping me out much more with the cooking!  He has prepared us some delicious salads, grilled sandwiches, and is always helping me with the chopping and dicing and prep work.  I am very grateful to him for this help and know he will get more chances to use his new skills when our little baby arrives in July!

I also want to say that these Crepes were the start to a perfectly relaxing weekend together and I think that making brunch together on Saturdays may just become a tradition!  They would also be perfect for a stay at home Valentines Dinner!  You could even make Sweet Crepes for dessert afterward…Banana and Nutella, strawberries and Nutella, Cinnamon Apples with IceCream…the dessert possibilities are endless!

Caprese Salad that so so good!

This pregnancy has been going good so far and as I mentioned before…I have been craving Cucumbers, but I have also been craving tomatoes!   This simple salad has been a delicious and healthy choice for me as it provides lots of protein and calcium from the cheese and lots of fruit/veggie servings from the tomatoes…which even though I know they are a fruit, I still think of them as a veggie!

I know you have probably all made Caprese salads before, but this is a simple way to make a single serving for yourself or a nice side salad for a dinner party!  It is a great partner for pizza or garlic bread, or soup!  I hope you will enjoy!

Garlic Hummus

So I have not been posting as much lately and I wanted to let you all know that there is a good reason for that.  I am PREGNANT!  And one of the symptoms I have been experiencing pretty strongly is nauseousness and aversions to strong smelling foods!  This has resulted in me living on a steady diet of mostly toast, fruit, ice cream, pasta and Cucumbers!   However as I am getting deeper into the second trimester, I am venturing back into the kitchen and attempting to actually cook a few meals and to prepare some food for myself and my poor starving husband!

Today I made my most basic recipe for hummus.  The great thing about this hummus is that you can flavor it however in the world you would like!   I will expound on that more later, but for now…lets get to the recipe!  I kept it pretty simple today  as simple is better for my taste buds and stomach right now.  This is a really healthy snack that is good to keep in the fridge as you can eat it with crackers, naan bread, veggies, or spread it on sandwiches.  For me right now it is good so that I have something to dip my Cucumbers in!  Also it is actually much CHEAPER to make your own hummus at home…just some food for thought!