Dinner 1/20/11 - Canes v Caps

Tonight's dinner is taking place during our hockey tailgate.  So, in addition to the normal re-use challenge, I also had the challenge of having everything made ahead and tailgate friendly.  My official reused ingredients are tomato and yellow pepper.

GF Pasta Salad:
Rice Pasta spirals
cucumber
green onion
sweet peppers
celery
tomato
yellow pepper
dressing: dijon mustard and a tiny scoop of miracle whip for creaminess, champagne vinegar and lemon juice (1/4 cup total), olive oil (1/2 cup), pepper, garlic

Slow Cooker Wings with Carrots, Celery, and Blue Cheese Dressing:
1/4 cup lemon juice
some sriracha hot chili sauce
1/8 cup worchester
bbq sauce
1/4 cup molasses
garlic powder
1 can miller light
texas pete
chili powder
salsa

broil the wings - 6 minutes side one (slightly frozen), 6 the other and throw it all in the crockpot with the above mixture. Let it sit overnight in the fridge, then turn on for the whole day on low.  Take to the hockey game and enjoy!

Gluten Free Blondies - from http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups bisquick gluten free
1/2 cup sweetened coconut
some walnuts
a little over a cup of dark chocolate chips

Mix by hand, then put in a pan (we put Pam in ours first).  Bake for around 25 minutes at 350.

1/13/12 Dinner Review

John made a Choose Your Own Adventure Dinner.  And I had a nice long blog post ranking everything, but then I lost it. Computer 1, Wyetta 0.

So here's the quick version:
This meal would be a great party meal if we're hosting.  We could have both gluten free and gluten loaded flatbreads, and our guests could pick their own toppings.  It also was excellent reheated for breakfast.  Along those lines, I think having a brunch party, these would work well too.  Some mimosas, flaming coffees and breakfast flatbreads? Yum.

Overall, the flatbreads were a little dry and dense, but we're pretty sure that was due to only using half the yeast.  Next time, I think we'd try with all of it.  The ones that we reheated to melt the mozzarella had a better texture, so we might consider that for the future too.

The flatbread flavor combinations were fun.  My favorite was the avocado and mozzarella, and John's was the mozzarella and pepper.  The special topping pairing was zucchini and ricotta with salt and pepper.  It was light and summery.

The chocolate cake, there isn't much to say.  It was flourless chocolate cake, so dense, creamy and rich.  We just had to cut it down with ice cream.

And don't forget the pictures of the wine and dog!

01/13/12- Our First Friday Dinner of the New Year

After a great stay in Cancun, a nice Holiday, and a wonderful break from work we are back to cooking friday night dinners. This weeks challenge was to go 100% gluten free and vegeterian, while re-using an ingredient. My re-used ingredient: Zuchinni.

This is a 2 course, DIY meal. The great thing here is you can adapt toppings as you see fit for the main course (desert should be the same, if you wanted).

Flatbread Pizza Breads with various toppings:

On day 1 I started the dough

Ingredients:

6.6oz oat flour

6.6oz brown rice flour

6.6oz white rice flour

2tsp sea salt

1 1/2 packet of active dry yeast

2 tablespoon golden flaxseed, finely ground

12fl oz warm water (about 120F)

Combine all flours and flaxseed. Then add the most of the water. Continue splashing water in until the mixture is pliable and doesn't stick to your hands. It will happen, don't worry.

This is the proper recipe to follow, I unfortunately (while doubling the original recipe messed up and didn't put in enough yeast).

For toppings we used the following:

1/2 container of ricotta cheese

1 Orange pepper

1 Zuchinni grated (put on top of a flatbread with the ricotta to be a wonderful combination)

1 block fresh mozerella

4 plum tomatoes

1/2 onion carmelized with sugar

For desert, we made a wonderful flourless chocolate cake:

• 10 ounces chocolate chips
• 7 ounces butter, cut into pieces
• 5 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• Directions:
• Melt chocolate chips in a double broiler
• Whisk eggs and sugar together in a bowl
• Fold chocolate into egg mixture
• Combine all ingredients
• Pour into a 9" springform pan
• Put springform pan into a larger pan filled with water, so that the crust does not burn.
• Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes
• Serve with ice cream
• Hint: Cut into 12 or more slices, this is extremely rich.

12/16/11- Dinner Review

Being the first dinner after our engagement, I believe this was the true test of whether or not this will last :). Overall, this dinner was wonderful. However, we must grade it through a rigorous report card.

The grading scale will be based on learning from past experiences, combination of ingredients, juiciness.

Our first attempt (weeks ago) at the meat we used for the main entree in this meal resulted in disaster, or at least the process was a disaster. Lamb has eluded us during Friday night dinners, however, this time we better learn from our past mistakes since we are cooking inside.

This dish is packed with wonderful veggies:

Learning from past experiences: Utter Success

As you can see we pan seared the lamb and it looked wonderful while cooking.

The finished product was not burned, and the house was not on fire. This is why we can consider cooking lamb this time an utter success.

The other past experience we learned from was our sweet potato breading.

This just as last time, turned out to add a wonderful sweetness and crunch to the lamb. Remember though, don't eat all the sweet potato chips before making enough breading.

Juiciness: Excessive

The only part of this meal that could be improved was the juiciness. The lamb was juicy and tender (which is good), but the zuchinni au-gratin had quite a lot of water. This ran over and made it slightly mushy. However, with a little flour this is a great way to have vegetables.

Combination of ingredients: A+

Bananas and icecream, an amazing combination. Caramelizing the bananas, just superb. This provided a crispy, cold, and sweet desert that was the perfect end to a great meal.

Our DIY Photobooth!

Warning - This is not a food related post, but it is about something great we made and made part of it during a "Friday" night dinner.  

About 2 weeks before my roomie's wedding, we were chatting about what she had left, and she asked if over the weekend we could help her figure out a little photobooth.  I, of course, agreed and later informed John that I agreed for him, too. After talking to John a little more, the project became a bit bigger and we decide this would be the perfect wedding gift.

Below is a basic set of steps we followed, complete with pictures:

1. Draw out some sort of plans. These eventually will just be used as scrap paper while your at Lowes, along with an idea of general dimensions.
   
2. When you get to Lowes (or your other local hardware store) purchase the following supplies: 
• Plastic shelves, around 6'H x 4'L x 2'W
• 1" PVC piping
• 6 PVC elbow joints
• 1 PVC T joint
• 3 PVC 3 way elbow joints
• 3 8' sections of 1"x2" 
• 1/2 inch bolts
• lots of screws
3. Other supplies you need, and may have at home: 
• Computer (We used a laptop)
• Printer (a fast photo printer) and photopaper
• Computer monitor (you can't use the one from you laptop unless you modify the setup)
• Frame for the computer monitor
• Keyboard
• Sparkbooth (or other) photobooth software
• Lots of fabric and a way to hem it (we used hem tape)
• Drill, saw, PVC saw, and random drill bits
• Staple gun and staples
4. Assemble the plastic shelves. 
5. Cut the wood to make 2 boxes, one each for the top and bottom. The bottom should be about 3 inches wider and about 1 inch longer in order to nicely slide the bottom over the top. The top box should sit on the top shelf but be slightly longer (about 4' 3" long). On the top add 4 1' sections to help hold the top box in place.  These will be screwed into the plastic frame.
   
   
   
6. Cut 6 sections of 6' PVC, 3 sections of 4' PVC, 2 sections of 1'11" PVC. 
7. Assemble the PVC as shown below, don't glue it together, because this way you can transport more easily and choose where you want the door after you decide on the location of the setup.
   
   
8. Screw 2 of the elbows into the top box just over 4 feet apart (add about .5" - 1" to allow for the space added by the joints). Screw 2 more into the bottom in the same location.
   
   
   
   
   
9. Drill a hole for the bolts in the elbow joints with the top 2 PVC pieces in.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. Use the 1"x2" to create a holder for the computer monitor.
    
11. Have a drink, you deserve it.
    
    
12. Using extra framing material (we used molding) create an external frame for the monitor.
    
    
13. Cut and hem the fabric.  We used the wedding colors (royal blue and a marigold yellow) for the walls, grey for the top, and black for the frame.  For the frame, just staple the black fabric around the 2 wood frames. For the top, staple to the inside of the top frame.  When you set up on site, tack into the top of the top end of the PVC, if there is extra fabric, roll it up and tack so none hangs over.  For the walls, we slid the fabric over the PVC and cut slits to allow for the joints.  If you think you'll need to rearrange the set up, cut slits from both sides of the fabric to make it reversible. 
14. Now, your done with the building. Hang Christmas lights using shower hooks to light the inside.  Set up your software and printer for a practice run and you're done! Note: We used the images from the couple's Save the Dates for the side image on the photos. 
15. Transport and enjoy!