Christmas Dough-nu-matic

Uncle Dino gave R.D. a Dough-nu-matic for Christmas... very exciting. We were all very perplexed when the recipe said it make 120 dozen... that right 120 dozen! On R.D.'s first try we got Cheerio size donuts... hahah (120 dozen not enough). He also had some issues with the oil, not getting hot enough and the donuts not flipping. I helped by trying to thin the batter... this did not work. The donuts still did not flip. We figured out that the batter was just night right. We had more cake like donuts instead of the light and fluffy Krispy Kream. R.D. decided to give up since it was Christmas day and there were many other distractions. A few days latter on R.D.'s second try Kelly helped and the batter came out just right. We also changed to canola oil, which gets a much hotter. And, we needed the 120 dozen because Andrew was having a sleep over. This batch came out bigger... more the size of the donut's from 7-Eleven! And tasty Too!!!

Christmas Turkey - Brine

Kelly will be cooking her delicious Christmas turkey this year, recipe from Martha Stewart, but I really wanted to try brining it. Kelly said if I brine the turkey then I will have to cook the whole thing!!! Scary! I was able to convince her to cook the turkey and let R.D. and I try brining it. I hope it comes out... or we may be in trouble! Some of the blogs on the Martha site say the turkey may be salty.... I hope not! Anyway, it was fun doing the brine. We altered the recipe a bit, because Grandma Judie can not have sugar and we could not find the juniper berries. We just added rosemary and thyme. I will update if the turkey comes out!

Chorizo con Huevos y Papas Burritos

My mom Judie is here to celebrate Christmas, and one of her specialties is Chorizo con Huevos y Papas Burritos. My Grandmother passed down this recipe and my mom (Judie's Mother-in-Law) enhanced it and use to sell these breakfast burritos at BMX and was known as the "Burrito Lady" On this trip Grandma Judie passed down this recipe to R.D.... and they had a great time and they tasted just like my childhood. Tony asked if R.D. if he wrote the recipe and he said, naw it is all up here (pointing at his head). I can't wait for him to make this!

Potato Leak Soup and a Classic Baguette

After eating all the usual Thanksgiving food, we all thought a vegetarian Sunday dinner would hit the spot. R.D. often cooks from a Ratatouille cookbook which was a birthday gift from Grandma Judie. We spent the whole day in the kitchen, but that was a good thing, and it turned out great. R.D. started on the baguette which needed yeast. We waited, not so very patently watching to see if it foams, and it did!!!! After I put in too much flour (instead of adding it slowly) we thought it may become a bit of a mess. It took a couple of hours of rising and kneading and waiting and hoping and praying... but we had bread!!!! Except our baguettes were fat!!! haha As for the Vichyssoise, it was good. Came out a little thin... we hopped the leftovers would thicken up, but it stayed the same. Very very good flavor though, and the bread was great for dipping or butter. R.D. is thinking of making the bread again for Christmas I sure hope so!

Thanksgiving 2008

Well this is very late, but R.D. did help some with Thanksgiving Dinner. Grandma Connie does most all of the cooking and I was hopping R.D. would learn to make the stuffed mushrooms. But, he was to busy running around with his cousins. Wednesday night he made cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Both of these recipes from his cooking school Culinary Underground. I didn't get a chance to try the pumpkin pie... it was gone before I had a chance, but heard it was very good. The cranberry sauce went great with Grandma's turkey. R.D. and his cousin Rachel also made some pilgrim hats, there were very good!!! and looked great. This recipe came from Grandam Connie, the little cousins loved sneaking these off the table, I may have helped them reach. Thanksgiving turned out great with family and friends and good food. Watch out winter weight, here I come! Happy Birthday Tony!

In Love with Apples

R.D. loves apples... maybe because of the 21 apple trees in our yard, but who knows. He like to recreate candy and make fruit into candy. Today he put honey on pealed cut apples... then into the fridge they went. They turned out pretty good. R.D. is determined to create a new sweet with honey.
Don't know why these pictures are blurry... hahah sorry.

Monkey Bread

Andrew had a friend over who never had monkey bread... so we went into action! I ran to the store while R.D. prepared the other ingredients. R.D. can do this with his hands tied behind his back... well maybe not his left hand. It was good... and gone in less than 5 minutes. We did not serve it out, just all huddled around the dish with our own forks!

Gordon Ramsay's Fast Food

One of R.D.'s favorite chef's is Gordon Ramsay so he decide to make Sicky Lemon Chicken from his new book Fast Food. THIS TURNED OUT GREAT!!! When watching these chefs on TV they always say, go simple, less ingredients more flavor. Well this recipe... was just that. It was simple ingredients, but the cooking techniques made it great. R.D. didn't need much help, it just took him a long time. We were all starved when it was done... and unfortunately were left wanting more. The pieces of chicken were small and we really wanted more!!

Technical High School

R.D. Went to our local technical high school for Culinary Arts Classes. It was $20.00 for four classes and the bus took him from the middle school to the high school.... awesome deal! The classes were OK, but R.D. didn't LOVE them. The first day they made cookies, which seemed like a wast of time to R.D. And his cooking partner didn't wash his hands, which made R.D. not even want to bring the cookies home... the instructor made him. The next day the class made knot rolls, they were very tasty. The dough however was made by the instructor earlier in the day, which seemed necessary for a 2 hour class. But, this did not make R.D. very happy... they should have made the dough one day then the rolls the next class. The third class we missed. The fourth class was bread again, but this time it was bread animals. R.D. was also upset they didn't give him the recipes. Oh well... it was fun for the two weeks and at least he was in the kitchen!

Meghan & Scott's Engagement Party

We have been planning Meghan and Scott's engagement party for some time... and Saturday was the big day! R.D. wanted very much to cater the whole event, but giving this whole project to an 11 year old was hard to do. After saying no to his request, R.D. did not give up, he created a PowerPoint presentation detailing everything he wanted to make for the party. Unfortunately we still said no, but made him the head chef with a supervising Kelly, we did however kept some of the ideas! They both worked very hard cooking for two days. I stayed in the kitchen cleaning after them the sink was always full (soon we will need two of everything, kitchen aid mixer, food processors, etc). R.D. made shrimp salad on a endive leaf, artichoke dip, chocolate dipped strawberries, rumaki (bacon wrapped steak with a Bourbon sauce) and helped prep much, much more. What a trooper, spending two days in the kitchen and smiling most of the time. The rumaki was almost ruined, all I had to do was sear them then put in the oven... I was left this job while R.D. when to shower and get ready. I didn't know I had to add the sauce and deglaze... whoops. R.D. just put the sauce in a small sauce pan and started reducing. It was fine by the time we our guest came another save... this is why I only do the dishes. R.D.'s big hit was the shrimp salad, everyone loved it especially Grandma Connie. All and all it was a great party and we can't wait to have the bridal shower (wonder what R.D. will make).

Chocolate Chip Pie

Today we went to Meghan & Scott's house for dinner... so R.D. decided to bring chocolate chip pie, recipe from Culinary Underground. I had to go out and get chocolate chips, while I was gone R.D. made the recipe with white chocolate chips and readied the ingredients to bring to Meghan's. This is a very easy recipe and turns out great and R.D. always gets a good response. Meghan's dinner was also very good and R.D. helped a little bit by flipping her chicken.

Trip to China Town

Our good friends Catherine and Allen took us on a trip to China Town for lunch and some grocery shopping. R.D. was very excited to get some different ingredients. Before hitting the grocery, we went for Dim Sum. It had been many years since Tony (R.D.'s Dad) and I had Dim Sum and it was as good as we remembered. Our hosts were very gracious and explained every dish and we drank a ton of tea, probably why I couldn't sleep that night! Once we got to the grocery we spent at least 2 hours going up and down every isle. All of the products were very interesting and so different. It seemed like we were in a different world everyone around us speaking Chinese. R.D. seemed to like the the meat and veggie area best, they had duck heads and tongue. He also spent a lot of time with the fresh ginger. Catherine takes a trip to this store every weekend and 9 out of 10 times brings home fresh fish. And when she says fresh, she means fresh! Basically you picks a fish out of the tank and they hit it with a mallet and clean it,you can't do that at stop and shop! R.D. wanted to also bring home one of these fish and steam in his bamboo steamer. The grocery has different kinds of fish, but on this day there was tilapia. R.D. got two fish and we amazingly watched the process. Now this is fresh... we started seaming it about 2 hours after R.I.P! Once we got home, the fish needed to be cleaned a bit more, but neither one of us wanted to touch them... haha (the were actually still moving a little). This is where our big mistake comes in haha. We should have cleaned it a lot more. When talking to Catherine about this the next day, she runs water into the fish for about 10 minutes... we did not do this. It was also hard to take the meat off the bone, so our plates did not look very pretty and the fish tasted dirty. On the way out of China Town we stopped by what I can only call a Chinese deli. They had ducks hanging and all kinds of great looking food. We picked up some real BBQ boneless spare ribs... not those red ones from the take out place on the corner, these were real. Overall it was a great trip and we can't wait to go again... R.D. wants to give the fish another try.