A Great Day with Summer Deliciousness April 17, 2009

Today was a great day.  “Spring Break” this year hasn’t felt like much of a Spring break since I’ve had some work to do everyday so far.  Today was the first day of the week that I didn’t have any work to do (well, I had to clean the bathrooms, but that’s just life).  I had a good morning at home getting things cleaned and organized.  I got 4 bags of clothes to Haven which I have been meaning to do for months.  They are so appreciative there, it makes you feel like you’ve really done something helpful!  After that small errand, I headed to Emily’s to meet up with her and her girls.  We had a great lunch at Fresh Choice.  Hailey and Leah were little ladies and entertained me with their napkin artwork and silly stories.  After lunch we headed to Dairy Queen.  Emily and I have been taunted for weeks by the ad for the Midnight Truffle Blizzard.  It was sooooooooooo good, but very, very rich!  After dessert, we all headed to get our hair cut which was so much fun and felt so good after 5 months without one!  On the way home, we stopped at Consign Design Boutique and I purchased my first 2 maternity outfits, for just $37!  I can’t wait to wear them!

After a busy but wonderful afternoon, I headed home to fix dinner.  Last week at the grocery store, I grabbed a pork loin roast just because it looked good.  I figured we’d throw it in the crock pot with something or other and call it a meal.  Well, when Ross suggested grilling it, there was no way I was turning him down!  I started my morning with searching for a good marinade recipe and starting the process.  The recipe I found was on cooks.com and is called Grilled Marinated Loin of Pork.  We loved it.  The honey and cinnamon add just the right amount of sweetness, and it came out perfectly tender.  Along with it we had a pasta salad that we first made and blogged about last summer, Spicy Vegetarian Peanut Noodle Salad.  It was even better that we remembered, and went perfectly with the pork. 

Today was a fun, beautiful day, and the sunshine, the carefree schedule and the awesome summer meal made me feel like summer is finally on its way.  I am so happy!

Asian themed meal June 22, 2008

We had guests for dinner on Friday night.  My sister, Kara had requested grilled food since she never gets to eat it.  She’s also a vegetarian, so we had to work around those specifications.  We also had to work around some sketchy weather… but it all turned out fine in the end!  We had some great food and played fun games.  It was a really great night!

 

Ross made his homemade salsa for an appetizer… I’m not sure he’s ready to share his secret recipe, or if he ever will be for that matter.  It is the best salsa you will ever taste, though!

 

Ross grilled chicken for the carnivores in the group.  He used this marinade recipe found on recipezaar.com and spiced it up a bit with things like cilantro and green onion… and who knows what else.  The recipe is actually for sandwiches, but we just used the marinade.

 

Hoisin Chicken Marinade

• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
• 1 garlic clove 
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger 
• 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

Mix all ingredients together and marinade chicken overnight.

 

We made Spicy Vegetarian Peanut Noodle Salad courtesy of Food Network and Ming Tsai.  It was also very easy to make, had fairly simple ingredients and was a super nice change from a typical pasta salad.  We all loved it!  I didn’t have any coriander, so I had to leave that out… I’ll put it in next time, but it was still great without it.

For Kara, we made Grilled Portabello Mushrooms with Artichoke Puree and Roasted Corn-Tomato Topping.  I found this recipe on another recipe blog with lots of vegetarian recipes.  This was nice because you could make the toppings ahead of time, so all you had to do at the last minute was grill the mushrooms.  We didn’t have room on the grill to roast corn, so I cooked some corn in a frying pan in a little bit of butter until it was slightly blackened.  We also cook corn this way to put in tacos or other Mexican meals and it is delicious.  The dish looks really pretty when you serve it, and Kara said it tasted great, too!  I want to make it again sometime soon when I can eat it!

 

At the last minute, we decided to skewer some pinapple and grill that, too.  The meal turned out really well, and Kara made us a key lime pie to have for dessert.  It was a great night with some good food, but more importantly, great company!