Thanksgiving Update

Things have been moving along nicely here at the apartment. We have a few final things to do in terms of the setting up/unpacking/moving in and we're about to move in to the decorating phase this weekend. Life is starting to feel a bit more settled which is good since Kim started her job this Monday and I start this coming Monday. It's been a bit of a trial with getting paperwork sent where it needed to, but everything seems to have come through and I should have my practice permit on Saturday, just in the nick of time. We'll probably also be decorating for Christmas, which is always a highlight. I can't believe how quickly Christmas is coming up! It seems like only yesterday it was Thanksgiving.

This Thanksgiving, we had dinner at my parent's house. When I was younger, we had Thanksgiving at our house almost every year with both sets of grandparents. Then my mom's parents moved to Florida so it was just my dad's parents. Then my dad's parents got a new, bigger house and so my grandmother starting cooking dinner for the whole family again. Which was nice and all, but everyone besides us would already have eaten at their other in-laws house so then my grandmother would just complain about how no one ate her food. So since my grandfather has been sick this year, she threw in the towel and my mom and I got to make Thanksgiving. It was fun and with only minor arguments, my mom and I pulled off a fantastic dinner. My dad even pitched in by deep frying the turkey. And I am telling you it was to die for! Most of the family did get together the following Saturday for homemade pizza which was equally yummy in its own way. I'll leave you with a few selected shots of Thanksgiving at the Calimer's.

Thanksgiving

Cake in a Cup

One of my new favorite foods are cupcakes. I've had a few barbeque/party type events to go to recently and I've decided to make cupcakes my thing. For some people it's some kind of salad or cookies but my thing is officially cupcakes. I think that cupcakes are a generally overlooked food. Everyone loves them but I think we all associate them with elementary school birthdays. Before I started making them I don't think I'd had a cupcake in years. But they're the perfect food. Bite size, you eat it with your fingers, and everyone loves them. I usually try to make some kind of "gourmet" cupcake to make it a little more interesting and adult, but you can't skimp on the sprinkles either.

This Saturday, I made chocolate surprise cupcakes for my church's softball picnic. The other great thing about cupcakes? When you have 12 left over they're really easy to give away. Two to one of the kids, two to my roommate, four for a shut-in and his caregiver, and four for my parents and I have to eat absolutely zero cupcakes before they go bad. Unlike the huge bowl of expensive dip I had left over from the Super Bowl party I went to. The only downside to cupcakes is they probably take a little longer and make a bigger mess then some other options. But I think the work/reward ratio is defiantly in the right proportion when it comes to making cupcakes. They're just so cute, how can they not make you happy?

Now that you know my love for cupcakes, my new link addition will make perfect sense! It's a blog called Cupcakes Take the Cake. It's written by "true cupcake fans" and claims to be "all cupcakes, all the time." Expect some taste tests in the near future.

Weekend Goings On

Kim came over this weekend and we had fun and relaxed and made pizza. But not just any pizza. Cool fun pizza! And meatless since it was a Friday during Lent. So we made spinach pierogi pizza and it was so yummy! So I'm giving you all the recipe as a wonderful favor. You should totally make it.

Spinach Pierogi Pizza

Ingredients:
1 roll refrigerated pizza dough
10 ounces chopped frozen spinach, thawed (squeeze to drain)
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cup mashed potatoes
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 small onion, sliced, separated into rings

Directions:
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Grease 13 x 9" pan. Place dough in greased pan; starting at center, press out with hands.

Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until light golden brown.

Meanwhile, in large skillet cook spinach and chopped onion in butter until onion is crisp-tender. Stir in potatoes; mix well. In small bowl, combine oil and garlic salt; mix well. Brush over partially baked crust; top with spinach mixture.

Sprinkle with mozzarella and then Cheddar cheeses; top with onion rings.

Bake for another 15 to 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and edges of crust are golden brown.

Here's a picture of our finished product!Not perfect but so so yummy!!

Experiments in the Kitchen

Ever since moving into my new apartment, I've vowed to be a more adventurous cooker. It's hard sometimes. The last thing I feel like doing after class is making myself food. I'm always hungry and tired, but somehow I make it. The latest in the series of "food purchases to broaden my culinary horizons" was tofu. It was on sale. I like sales.

I used my tofu in two grand experiments. The first was a stir-fry. I sliced the tofu into thin strips and then sauted it in some butter and spices. Then I dumped it into a frozen veggie stir-fry mix and added tequila lime marinade. It was good. The tequila lime was a little over-powering and salty. I should have cut it with some water or juice or something. Or maybe just used less.

Tonight's tofu experiment was much more brave. I decided to make tofu parm. I crumbled up bread and mixed it with flour and spices and then coated the sliced tofu in it. Problem one arose in that the bread was too big despite my best efforts and didn't really stick to the tofu. So I decided to pre-bake it for like 10 minutes to get that nice crunchy coating. This did not work either. So I went ahead and dumped on the sauce, added the garlic, sprinkled on the cheese and baked it for about 20 minutes. The finished product was...nothing like chicken parm. But it wasn't bad either. It just kind of tasted like sauce and cheese with some mushy stuff. Almost the same consistency as mozzarella. So yeah. It really wasn't bad, but I don't think I'd use that procedure again. Next time, I think I'll stick to the established recipes for first tries.