Sunday Meals

Hello? Anyone still out there? Sorry for my absence over the past week. I've been a busy girl again! But I plan on getting you caught up on everything this week, plus I have a little something fun in store for you.

Ok, before I move on to this weekend, I have a few more pictures from the weekend Doc's parents were here to post.  That Sunday, they joined us at church and then we headed over to my parents' house for lunch. We were excited to take them there because they finally got to see their patio set that we made them.

We let them choose their own paint color and guess what they chose...

...purple!

I think they were pretty pleased with how it turned out. Doc delivered it to their house this past weekend.

We had a few little people join us for lunch.

Because we had such a big group, the kids got to sit up at the bar all by themselves. It looked just like my two brothers and me when we used to eat up there as little kids.

You know what the only thing better than dinner by Doc is? Dinner by Doc and his parents.  They put together a great menu for the evening and it was so delicious!

Pat whipped up a wonderful homemade cheese souffle. I tried very hard to pay attention but I doubt I'll ever be able to make it as well.

Doc seared scallops for the first time ever. I hope he remembers what he did because they were awesome!

We also made my Aunt K's salad, which is always a big hit.

Bill and I mostly watched while they slaved away in the kitchen.

They seem to love us even if we are no help.

The four of us managed to eat every last bite - all the scallops, the whole bowl of salad, and we scraped the sides of the souffle dish.

Needless to say, when Doc's parents are around, the eatin' is gooooood.

Dinner by Doc

So, every now and then I like to make a nice dinner.  If you are an avid reader, you have seen some of my creations – if not, you can reference them here.

Last night was a special occasion for Lucy and me – it was we-are-both-in-town-and-don’t-have-any-plans-so-we-can-just-come-straight-home-from-work night.  I believe it was the first time in nearly a month.  We enjoy our busy lives, but it is nice to have a calm night occasionally.

Given that it is summer and very hot I wanted to make a light meal that didn’t require much heat to be generated inside the house.  Also, I have a pretty awesome grill that is perfect for just about anything.

I really enjoy cooking, but I oftentimes make the same things.  I tried to branch out a little bit last night.  After gathering some necessary items from the grocery, I came home and began my cooking ritual in the same way that I normally do.

I am a big believer in fresh ingredients (not free-range, or organic – but fresh is always better).  One of my favorite summer foods is a good fruit salad.  I like my fruit salad a bit different than most – light on the apple, no melon, heavy on the berries and other fruits.  This particular fruit salad consisted of the following:

- 1 green apple cut into small pieces - 2 fresh local peaches - 2 nectarines - 1/3 carton red raspberries - 1/3 carton blackberries (these guys were so big I had to cut them in half) - several strawberries

Lets just say it was awesome.

I also got some fresh dill and a lemon at the grocery and seasoned up some salmon fillets that cooked up quite nicely on the grill.  I was able to sear the top and then drop the heat and cook through.  It really held in the natural juices and the flavor.  I topped them with a little bit of dill butter that I threw together.

The coupe-de-gras was a recipe that Lucy sent my way late in the day – a Spinach-Orzo salad.  Actually turned out to be pretty easy, it made a ton, and was yum-yum-yummy.

I do my best to not only prepare something tasty but also have it look appealing on the plate.  Lucy picked out our dishes and I think they are great for showing off some of my creations.

Here is the final product.  Who’s hungry?

Needless to say, we had a very nice dinner for two at the newly painted green house...

TGIF!

The kids have not been here very long and we've already done so many things. Who knew Friday nights could be so productive? To start, we patched some holes and cracks in the walls.

Then we painted some color splotches on the exterior of the house. We still don't think we've found the right color yet.

We made sugar water and hung the new hummingbird feeder.

We cooked dinner and ate it.

We learned about our ancestors.

We matched in our cherry aprons.

And finally, since we had all been good and eaten a good dinner, we made cookies and ate them too.

After all that, we were exhausted. Lights were out at 10:00 on the dot.

Now, as I finish writing this, it sounds like everyone is finally stirring. The sunshine's out so who knows what today has in store for us!

Dessert Dreams...Shattered

It wouldn't be a Sunday afternoon if we didn't blow something up in my mom's kitchen, would it? Or at least that's how it seems things have been going lately. This time, though, I'm happy to say it wasn't my fault. Doc and I were sitting at the island while my mom was making a dessert for tomorrow night's dinner. She was making 4-Layer Cake, or as my friends and I like to call it, Girdle Buster. It starts with a crust on the bottom made from a stick of butter, a cup of flour and pecans. Instead of melting the butter in the microwave, my mom placed the stick of butter in her glass dish on top of low heat on the stove. She stirred it around until it melted, then added the flour and pecans and kept stirring.

And then it all blew up.

Literally.

Somehow we all managed to escape the flying shards of glass so, thankfully, none of us were hurt. I'm just hoping that round 2 goes much better so we can have dessert after my birthday dinner!

New Toy

My mom and I went out shopping this past weekend and guess what she bought me... a cookie press!

I was so excited. Doc's mom has one and I've eaten cookies she's made with it, but I've never gotten to see it in action. I was very eager to try it out, so Sunday afternoon I whipped up a batch of cookie dough.

I started with a cup granulated sugar and cup of powdered sugar...

...and a cup of crisco and butter.

I creamed those four ingredients together, added two of these bad boys...

...and then mixed it some more.

Next it was time to add the sifted dry ingredients: 4 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Once I had those all mixed in, I added in the last ingredient: 1 tablespoon vanilla.

Now, if you wanted to make these cookies at home, you would go ahead and continue using your mixer to blend in the vanilla. That would make the most sense. But since I am so good in the kitchen, I managed to almost blow up my mom's mixer. Still not exactly sure how it happened, but there was a lot of smoke. Smelly smoke. Luckily, the cookies no one was harmed.

At this point it was finally time to load the cookie press.

Watch out, Martha Stewart. I'm comin' for ya.

I have to be honest, it took me a couple tries before I got rolling.

It was so fun! Just like the box says: one click = one cookie.  Here's a look at one of the first batches.

Soon I was experimenting with food coloring and all the different shapes. Here is a pic of each shape/color that I made.

They were all very tasty, if I do say so myself. The recipe made about 1,000 little cookies so my mom and I both took some to work today. They've all been gobbled up now!

If this post is considered a product review for the cookie press, I say it passes. It only took about two minutes to get the hang of it and it all cleaned up very easily. The only thing is that it did take quite a bit of time. Does anyone know if I could press the cookies out on cookie sheets and then freeze them? It would be much easier if I could just pull them out and bake them before a party or something. Either way, I can't wait to use my new toy again soon!