Here’s a nifty new recipe to go along with the seafood theme of the current ad. If you’re in need of a holiday appetizer this coming weekend, these crab cakes are the perfect little number. I’m considering serving them for Christmas Eve dinner, alongside big bowls of my favorite New England Clam Chowder.
I had a palm-thwack-to-forehead moment when deciding what to blog about for today. Sliced white mushrooms are on sale, which of course made me think of this soup, and I can hardly even fathom that I haven’t written on this one here before. I swear it’s one of the best things about cold weather. If you’re a mushroom fan, I promise you will have trouble not eating the entire kettle all by yourself.
I cannot even tell you the number of times I fell back on this recipe during track season last spring. Have you ever been to a track meet? They’re kind of like swim meets except on dry land. There are approximately 12,000 events. And your own offspring is likely to compete in oh, let’s say … two. It’s awesome when this child becomes adept at narrowing down the window of time in which she will be competing, because then you’re able to plan your arrival to the asphalt venue accordingly. Not that it’s not 100% awesome to watch other people’s children run like they stole something. Because it is. For real.
The DamFam vacationed in the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a week this past July. It was a family reunion of sorts with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins of all ages, all under the roof of one ginormous ocean front house. Grownups took turns making dinner for the crowd each night and one of the best meals was the one my Aunt Vicki made, which featured the delicious Clams & Shells I’m sharing with you now.
In deciding on what sort of dish to discuss here today, I was torn between two major issues at hand: back-to-school-night dinner ideas, and Packer watching munchies. Don’t laugh. In my little world both rank right up there as “major issues” this week, so I went round in my head and then decided on a happy compromise. These crunchy little shrimp make a fantastic busy weeknight main course, but they are equally suited for football snacking. You can bet I’ll be making them twice this week.
My diet has been somewhat off the rails throughout the past several weeks. A few of the unhealthy habits that I ditched when I started my weight loss campaign 18 months ago have crept their way back in. Likewise, some of the healthier rules I’ve developed have left on summer holiday. Admittedly, math was never my gift but I Read more
If summer’s heat ever comes back in full force, this is what you should make to celebrate its return. I made these for dinner at the lake this past weekend when it was pouring and we were bundled up in jeans and sweatshirts and what I really felt like making was meatloaf and mashed potatoes — but I had all of these ingredients on hand and decided to forge ahead with a summer menu anyway. It’s summer, darn it! Let’s eat some summer food.
No Thank You Boy returned yesterday from two weeks in China. While he was away I heard from him one (that’s ONE, as in a singular instance) time and when I did it was a one (again, ONE) sentence email in which he briefly stated that there were creepy crawlies in his hotel room but that he didn’t care because all of the Chinese girls thought he was Justin Bieber. Frankly, I don’t see the resemblance, but oh well … I had a laugh and so did he. Now he’s home and hungry for American food and (SURPRISE!) his mom’s home cooking. He said he missed milk, cheese (“I just really want some cheeeeeeeeeeeese, Mom”) and chocolate. So last night, I made these cheddar burgers in his honor.
Here’s another one of those open-palm-meets-forehead recipes that I’ve had in my repertoire for a long, long time (since 2/2000 according to my chicken scratch) but has never made its way to the blog until today. It’s such an easy prep for a simple and inexpensive cut of pork, and I am sorry for not sharing it before now. I’ve been holding out on you guys, I guess! But since boneless sirloin chops are on sale this week, there’s no time like the present. Give them a try, and don’t skip the coconut rice — it’s not that much more work than making a boxed version but tastes just a little extra special. In fact, it goes over so well here that I’m always mad I didn’t make a wee bit more.
This week, I’m discussing my habits with you here — Tuesday it was my pizza issue. Today, it’s mangoes. The DamFam fights over mangoes the same way we do about greasy cartons of Chinese food leftovers. I guess there are worse things to fight about. So when mangoes go on sale, like they are this week, I stock up. I bring them Read more
