Dessert Party

Finished! I successfully completed the dessert party with a lot of help from friends and family. The party knocked out 14 recipes and the best part is I didn't have to eat all of those desserts and gain 30 pounds. I learned some lessons in the process...  (recipes are at the bottom)

1. Sour milk in recipes is actually sour milk....disgusting! If you come across sour milk in a recipe and happen to not have a carton of old milk, don't fret. Here is a makeshift recipe.

2. Oleo (Which is apparently not pronounced O-lay-o) is a margarine brand. I couldn't find much information but it seems that the brand has been around since the 1940s and probably well before that. Does anyone know when Oleo came out? Moral of the story...I just used butter.
3. Karo syrup is corn syrup and is not in the baking section at the grocery store. You can find it in the cereal aisle. Okay, I get that it is a syrup...but your not going to put it on cereal!

3. Read through the whole recipe before you go to the store

4. Don't mess with molten sugar...no joke!

5. Mixers can be messy

6. Don't add too much liquid to a glaze

7. White trash can be a good thing

8. Homemade wine is great - but pretty strong

Ghosts in the graveyard. Do those look like ghosts or lumps of cool whip?

Grasshopper Pie - Brought by Gretchen. This is minty, chocolaty and ever has liqueur in it...perfect combo!

Applesauce Cake. I learned a valuable lesson about making glaze...do NOT use too much milk. I made a lumpy thin glaze that looked really bad. I had to make another trip to the store to buy more powdered sugar and start all over again so the glaze actually looked good.

White Trash - brought by Debbie. Similar to puppy chow but with a few extra ingredients. Best part is you shake it all in a trash bag. Classy, YES!

Apple Cake - Brought by Gail, but Kathleen's recipe. Gail was convinced that it didn't turn out pretty, but I thought it was beautiful (and tasty).

Mississippi Mud Pie - This dessert was VERY hard to make. You have to beat 4 eggs for 5 minutes each. That is 20 minutes! Very boring but this dessert is really good (similar to a chocolate silk pie)

Nut Cups - These were a labor of love. Probably the most time consuming endeavor, but my favorite treat there. The recipe comes from Rob's cousin. In order to make the cup shape, put a small ball of dough in a muffin pan and then use this tool from Pampered Chef to push it down. The result is perfect little cups. They tasted like miniature pecan pies. So I have a nasty habit of just making my shopping lists from the ingredient lists and not reading through the whole recipe. Often recipe writers (mom's who know the recipe by heart) sneak an additional ingredient in the instructions paragraph. So I sat down to make my nut cups and forgot a crucial ingredient...the nuts. Rookie!

Pumpkin! Just kidding, but it looks like one right? This is a Quick Coffee Cake from Jenny that couldn't be easier to make.

Not a recipe but part of the party flare. Raspberry-lemon ice cubes.

Rhubarb Crunch - This recipe from my mom is so good! Isn't it amazing how expensive rhubarb is in Colorado when it is a weed in the Midwest?

Spritz Cookies - Jenny brought these cookies, she usually makes them red and green around Christmas time.

 Cherries in the Snow - Jenny also brought these decadent, creamy, cherry dessert. A favorite of mine.

Rhubarb Picnic Cake - Made by my mom, this cake had a delicious cinnamon topping.

Caramel popcorn - Jenny used to always bring this to our family Thanksgiving weekend until her kids got braces. Careful, this dish is addicting! It is great to throw the caramel and the popcorn in a paper bag to make clean up a breeze. Also, careful because this recipe utilizes molten sugar. Have you ever had boiling sugar on your skin? Well my mom and I have. I had to take it one step further, though, forget about how hot it was and put a little in my mouth to taste...maybe someday I will be able to taste food again...

Peanut Butter Fudge Sauce for Ice Cream. I made this ahead of time and put it in tiny Tupperware as a party favor. In the process I spilled powdered sugar everywhere and had a little trouble with the mixer. My mom was helping me clean up and she said, "you got chocolate on the walls, on the counter, on the toaster!" - Sorry Mom!

Homemade wine brought to you by my uncle Harley. The rhubarb wine was pretty intense and sour. The sparkling apple was light, not too sweet and had a great apple taste. The Pumpkin Frost (which was used with pumpkins after the first frost) was not my favorite but other people loved it. The pear was sweet and strong. The apple wine was so good and my favorite. My uncle has these homemade labels that tell a story on the side...which one of his neighbors grew the food, examples like the pumpkin frost, etc.. It really is a great idea in a world where it is hard to know where your food is coming from. It felt like home drinking these.

 This one is pretty dark, but the photo grabbed my attention. Not sure why....

So after three trips to the store, and about $100 dollars (which was really good because my mom already had most of the ingredients) and hours of baking, I was ready to open the doors and allow people to come eat, drink and be merry. There was a drawing for prizes and we had four winners! Kori won a box of tea, Liz won recipe cards, Kelly won a soup cup that comes with a lid and our grand prize winner....Linda! Linda will receive a free printed copy of the recipe book when it is complete.

Ghosts in the Graveyard
• 3 ½ cups cold milk
• 2 pkgs. (4-serving size) Jello Chocolate Flavor Instant Pudding and Pie Filling
• 1 tub (12 oz) cool whipped topping, thawed
• 1 pkg. (16 oz) chocolate sandwich cookies, crumbled
Pour cold milk into large bowl. Add pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 2 minutes. Stir in 3 cups of the shipped topping and ½ the cookies. Spoon into 13x9in baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cookies.
Refrigerate 1 hour or until ready to serve. Store dessert in refrigerator. Makes 15 servings. Decorate with cookies (tombstones), candy and remaining whipped topping dropped by spoonfuls (ghosts)

Grasshopper Pie
Crust:
• 1 ½ cup cookie crumbs
• ¼ cup melted butter
• Heat oven to 350°F. Mix cookie crumbs with melted butter. Press against pan and bake for 10 minutes.
Pie:
• 32 Large marshmallows (3 cups small)
• ½ cup milk
• ¼ cup crème de menthe
• 3 Tbsp. white crème de cacao
• 1 ½ cup chilled whipping cream
• Green food coloring
Heat Marshmallows and milk over medium heat stirring constantly just until marshmallows melt. Chill until thickened; blend in liqueurs. In chilled bowl, beat cream until stiff. Fold marshmallow mixture into chipped cream; fold in food coloring. Pour into crust. Garnish. Chill at least 3 hours.

Applesauce Cake
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 ½ cups Applesauce
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• ¾ tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• ½ tsp. cloves
• Cinnamon glaze
In mixing bowl, combine oil, granulated sugar and brown sugar, egg, applesauce, and vanilla. Beat until blended, sift together flour, baking powder, soda, salt and spices. Add applesauce mixture and beat until smooth. Pour into greased and floured 2 quart Bundt or tube pan bake in preheated oven 350°F for about 50 minutes. Cool and drizzle with cinnamon glaze.
Glaze – combine 1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar, ¼ tsp. cinnamon, 1 Tbsp. butter and tablespoons milk blend until smooth.

White Trash
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 large bag chocolate chips
• 1 large box raisins
• 1 jar peanuts, dry roasted
• 1 – 12 oz box Rice Chex
• 1 to 1½ box confectioners' sugar
Melt together butter, peanut butter, and chocolate chips. Mix in large pan the raisins, dry roasted peanuts, and Rice Chex. Pour melted mixture over mix and stir real well until coated. Put 1½ box confectioners' sugar in large white trash bag and pour in mixture. Shake, shake, shake.

Apple Cake
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup oil
• ½ cup water
• 3 cups chopped apples
• 3 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup nuts
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 tsp. vanilla
Mix together in a large bowl and pour into a greased and floured Bundt pan. Bake at 350°F for 60 minutes. You can frost with a powdered sugar frosting if you want. I usually leave it as is.

Mississippi Mud Pie
• ½ lb butter, softened
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 3 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 1 – 9 inch prepared pie crust
In a medium-sized bowl, mash butter and sugar together with a wooden spoon and then add the chocolate and vanilla stirring well. Add eggs to the butter mixture on at a time. Beat each egg for 5 minutes with an electric mixer at medium speed. Pour mixture into the pie shell and refrigerate for several hours to set. Serves 6. You can also, instead of a pie shell, put the moose in custard cups.

Nut Cups
Dough:
• 1 stick (¼ lb) butter or margarine (cream butter)
• 1 – 3 oz pkg. of cream cheese (add cheese) blend well
• 1 cup flour
Add flour a little at a time. Blend as well as you can with a form and then with hands to form a soft ball. May refrigerate for later baking. Divide dough into 24 pieces and press into mini cupcake pans. Use your finger to form dough cups and bring dough slightly above rim.
Filling: Blend together
• 1 egg (slightly beaten)
• ¾ cup brown sugar (packed)
• 1 tsp. butter or margarine (melted)
• ½ tsp or more vanilla
Fill cups with coarsely chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts) add filling over nuts with teaspoon (slowly), be generous but try not to overflow. May have to add a little filling at a time while the nuts soak it up. Top nit cups with a layer of coarse nuts. Bake at 350°F for 20 to 30 minutes – until edge is light brown. When cool, remove from pan with sharp point knife (to loosen sticky edges). Sprinkle with powdered sugar. My family has to have these nut cups every Christmas.

Quick Coffee Cake
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. milk
• 1 stick oleo (butter or margarine)
• 3 tubs buttermilk biscuits
Mix 1st 3 ingredients. Pour ½ into a bunt of tube pan. Open biscuits. Do not separate, but arrange around pan. Pour remain syrup on top. Turn out of pan while hot. Bake for 35-40 minutes at 350°F.

Rhubarb Crunch
• 1 cup flour
• ¾ cups oats
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ½ cup melted shortening
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 4 cups diced rhubarb
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 Tbsp. corn starch
Mix flour, oats, brown sugar, shortening, and cinnamon till crumbly. Add diced rhubarb. Cook white sugar, water, vanilla and corn starch over medium heat until clear. Put half flour/oatmeal mixture on bottom of 8x9in pan. Add rhubarb. Pour sugar mixture over.

Spritz Cookies
• 1 lb butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 5 cups flour
350°F, 100 cookies
Cherries in the Snow
• 8 oz cream cheese – softened
• 1 pkg. dream whip – made according to directions
• Graham cracker crust – 18 crackers, 4 Tbsp. butter, sugar
• 2 cans pie filling
Let cream cheese mixture set before putting cherries in.
Rhubarb Picnic Cake
• 1 ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup shortening
• 1 egg
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup sour milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 Tbsp. grated orange rind
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 cups rhubarb, finely cut or chopped
Cream together sugar and shortening. Beat in egg. Stir in salt, baking soda, baking powder and flour together. Add alternately with sour milk. Blend in vanilla, orange rind, lemon juice and rhubarb. Pour into greased pan. Sprinkle with topping.
Topping:
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ¼ cup slivered almonds or other nuts
Bake at 350°F for 35 minutes.

Caramel Corn
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup white karo syrup (corn syrup)
• 1 cup butter
• 1 ¼ tsp. soda
• 7 ½ quarts popcorn
Cook everything except soda and popcorn until soft ball for 240°F.

Peanut Butter Fudge Sauce for Ice Cream
• 1 – 16 oz Hershey’s chocolate syrup
• 1 – 18 oz jar peanut butter
• 1 – 13 oz can evaporated milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 ¾ cup powdered sugar
Blend all ingredients together with mixer until smooth. Makes about 1 ½ quarts. Stores will in refrigerator.

Corso

After wining/whining the day away, we settled in Richmond and went to Berkeley to grab some dinner. Corso was recommended by our host, Marcia. I was pretty tired and a little sick but very excited to try a new restaurant. When we walked in the host said that they were full, unless we wanted to sit at the chef bar. He made it sound like it was a bad thing! The chef bar is really a fun place to sit; you get to see all of the food being made and it gives you a first hand idea of what to order. Plus they can't spit in your food (not that they would).

Best part of sitting at the chef bar? Special treatment. Jeff and I were both staring (maybe with our mouths open) at a risotto the chef was making. He had dumped a whole spoonful of truffle butter in a sizzling pan. HEAVEN! I guess our staring was not so secretive, because the chef made us a tiny plate of extra for us to try. MMM, so glad we got to.

Caprese  house-pulled mozzarella- heirloom tomatoes- pesto- bread crumbs: Wow! I have never had a caprese like this before. I have a new rule: bread crumbs make everything better. I have never thought of using a pesto as the "basil' component of a caprese. Kodus for creativity.

Watching the cooks work. They also feature a chicken that is fried in a pan of butter. Amazing? I think yes.

I got a gnocchi with braised pork. This dish was very savory and the gnocchi was soft and delicious.

Jeff got some kind of sausage with some kind of orange vegetable....descriptive, I know. He loved it though (he rarely hates anyting).

Panna cotta vanilla bean custard- fresh berry sauce: Imagine the center of a creme brule, with a melt in your mouth perfectly smooth consistancy and a light vanilla bean flavor. Then top it off with a little sweetness from grapes. One of the best desserts I have EVER had.I would highly recommend this restaurant if you ever find yourself in the Berkeley area.

The McCelland-Priest

We stayed at a very beautiful and ornate Bed and Breakfast in Napa Vally, The McCelland-Priest. I love to stay at B&Bs because breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. Course one, yogurt and granola with pineapple and strawberries. So good! There were little coconut flakes and flavored whip cream.

I generally request special food that is not so gluten/sugar heavy to give my tummy a good start but this time I thought I would leave it to chance. Surely, I will get lucky and we would have omelets or just eggs. No such luck though, the food was wonderful tasting but awful for my stomach. Arguably, the worst possible thing for my stomach...baked french toast! Dun, dun, dun. Sugar...check, yeast....check, gluten....check. Not Candida friendly at all! I then topped it off with 1.5 cups of coffee and I transformed into this jittery, shaky, belly aching monster who was about to go drink wine.

After the second tasting, the wine was enough to distract me from my belly pain. After the fourth tasting, the wine added to my belly pain and I became one sick little Jenna :(

Parmesan Vegtable Stir-Fry, Red Beans and Rice, Mexican Hot Dish

Happy Friday!

As promised, I am back cooking for the Family and Friends recipe book, trying to finish before January 25th. I cooked through three recipes this week, right on schedule! Cooking was not without incident though....

Parmesan Vegetable Stir-Fry: So this one wasn't too bad, and actually is really easy. The only difficult part is when you go to the store buy the ingredients, come home, pull out the ingredients and...where's the onion? I know I paid for an onion. Perhaps the onions disappeared into the great unknown or perhaps the onion grew legs and walked right out of my bag. Or maybe, although more unlikely than the previous ideas, the onion was left in the bagging area. Oh well....back to the store!

Parmesan Vegetable Stir-Fry
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• ½ onion, thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• ½ cup mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup fresh spinach
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• ½ oz (2 Tbsp.) Parmesan cheese, shredded
Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add mushrooms and cook until done. Add spinach, toss well and sauté very briefly. Sprinkle on lemon juice and Parmesan cheese. Serve hot. Makes 1 serving.

Red Beans and Rice: So I guess this is a classic dish that everyone has had before...apparently everyone but me. I insisted to Jeff that we make a half order. Jeff said it 'won't be that much' and it 'freezes well' so we went ahead and made the full batch. Uhg! The recipe filled my largest cooking pot. I will now be eating Red Beans and Rice for the next 3 months.

Red Beans and Rice
• 2 pkgs. of sausage
• 2 bell peppers chopped
• 8-10 green onions chopped
• 2 large cans of kidney beans (don’t drain)
• 2 large cans chopped tomatoes
• Worcestershire, salt and pepper to taste
• Rice
Cut sausage into bit size pieces and brown from skillet, leave drippings. Remove sausage from skillet, place in large in large pot. Sauté the bell peppers and onions in drippings, add water and Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Add everything together; beans, tomatoes, sausage, bell pepper and onions, simmer for as long as you want. Serve over rice.

Mexican Hot Dish: This on really went astray. I was brought back to my first recipe...where I was immensely confused and didn't know which way was up. I went to my parents to make them this dinner and was ready to wow them with all that I had learned. Ha! Not even close. As I was making this dish, I was also trying to make some peanut butter chocolate sauce for the dessert party on Sunday which lead to averted attention. So I am browning the meat and I miss a pretty integral step: drain the grease. So that never happened and the dish was little...extra savory we could say. So then the meat is taking FOREVER to cook and I even had it on med-high,what the heck? Turns out my mom's burner dials are backwards from mine and it was actually on med-low. Rookie mistake! Don't even get my started on the peanut butter chocolate sauce; after a huge spilling of powdered sugar, a mixing bowl that was too full and chocolate everywhere my mom says to me, "It's on the toaster! and on the walls!" I will get this some day.

Mexican Hot Dish

• 1 can Enchilada Sauce (mix with browned hamburger)
• 1 can Cream of Chicken Soup (mix with browned hamburger)
• 1 jar Pace Hot Sauce (mix with browned hamburger)
• 1 can Can Green Chilies (Diced) (mix with browned hamburger)
• 2 – 3 lbs. Hamburger
• 2 cups Cheddar Cheese (shredded)
• 1 large bag Tortilla Chips
Brown hamburger in large skillet. Pour off excess grease. Mix in all liquid ingredients and simmer (just until all are combined). In a 9x13in pan, place all but one cup of the tortilla chips over the bottom. Pour sauce over chips. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes Top with cheese and remaining chips (crushed). Bake 10 min uncovered, or until cheese is melted.
*Hamburger may be substituted with chicken or shredded beef.

ZuZu

Welcome to Napa! Unfortunately, we were only in town for a day, so we didn't have the chance to check out all of the food and wine. But dang it! We sure did try. After a very nice and informative wine tasting we headed off to ZuZu, a Spanish tapas restaurant. Tapas are the way to go when you want to be able to try a variety of foods. Also, ZuZu is dedicated to local and organic products.

The decor was very reminiscent of a Catholic Church. Beautiful!

And wine...you HAVE to drink wine in Napa. Or so they say :)

Niman Ranch Grass Fed Flat-Iron Steak with Roasted Jalapeno "chimichurri" - I think most of these dishes speak for themselves. They tasted as good as they looked.

"Queso Frito" Pan Fried Manchego Cheese with Roasted Poblano Chiles - aka really good 'mozarella sticks"

"Tortilla Espanola" Traditional Potato and Sweet Onion Spanish Omelet - One of our favorites!

Hm, can't quite remember what these were. Quail stuffed grape leaves?

"Chilaquiles" Corn Tortilla Chips, Rancho Gordo Beans, Pork Shoulder and a Poached Egg

What a great way to try so many different kinds of food.

Road Trip Snacks

This is what happens when you put Jeff in charge of car snacks...overload! It worked out though because we were able to eat some breakfasts and lunches from the snack bag and save money.

Here is the breakdown of what we had....

-Rockstar energy drinks (for Jeff)

-Morning Thunder Tea, Celestial Seasonings (for me)

-Pau D Arco (helps my tummy)

-Sparkling water

-Soda (for Jeff)

-Gluten free crackers

-Corn nuts

-Terra sweet potato chips

-ProBar (these are full of good things! Organic and vegan)

-Bananas

-Apples

-Oranges

-Pepper Cashews

-Carrots

-Hard boiled eggs

-Spelt bread

-Almond butter

-CasCal Soda

-Homemade peach Jelly from my mom

-Trail mix

What food do you like to bring on road trips?

Riva Grill

So back to some fine California dining. Our last night in Tahoe, we had dinner at Riva Grill. It was right by the water, so we thought we would have a fantastic view...but as it turns out, the one thing you can't control is the weather. Oh well! The view of the clouds rolling over the shore and the food made it worth our while. We ended up sitting in the bar, because it was the only window seat left, so that was a little awkward. We were dressed to the nines and the people at the table next to us were in jeans and jerseys yelling about the Giants game (As of last night, they won the world series, congrats!)

Pomegranate Martini. Unfortunately, this was way too sweet for my taste, and an orange slice...where's the lime!?

Bread sticks with a hummus for dipping. The bread sticks were really good and didn't have that stale feel that other places' bread sometimes has. The hummus was very flavorful and made a great addition for dipping. *You can clearly see Jeff watching the baseball game on the TV above my head, busted!*

French onion soup. Oh how I love French onion soup. Onion/oily broth with cheese and bread, are you really missing anything? This was one of the best FOS I have ever had. Do you think that acronym (FOS) is going to catch on? Use it in passing and see how it goes. "Ahh yea dude, we were totally chillen with some FOS last night". Instant street cred (little do they know it is really food cred, which isn't really as cool).

The cloudy yet very mysterious view of the lake

MMM bacon wrapped fillet. Okay, I have not been doing so well on my 'only eat humane meat' kick as I could be, but this was seriously amazing! Served with garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus.

Jeff ordered Lamb Chops (this is the song that never ends...) Too soon? They were also VERY tasty.

No dessert because we were too stuffed. We managed to wander over the the casinos and lose money. Has anyone actually won lately while gambling?!

Moet and Chandon - Nectar Imperial

~Happy Monday~

I have great news...I am getting promoted! I have accepted a new position at my work and I am very excited. I am also a little nervous, but hey, life calls!

To celebrate...a champagne post (or toast)

Jeff got us this very nice bottle of champagne for our anniversary and our California trip. We opened it up in Lake Tahoe. I LOVE THIS CHAMPAGNE. I know what you are thinking....Jenna I thought you didn't like champagne? And the truth is a don't, it is just too sugary and sweet for me. Good news: this champagne is not sweet and I love it. It drinks more like a good glass a wine, a little ascetic but with carbonation and without that unnecessary sweetness.

Thank you to everyone who has been supportive. I have the best family/friends/boyfriend/coworkers that a gal could ask for. Here's to you! Look at the pictutes below, then close your eyes and pretend you are drinking champage too...did it work?



Mexican Bean Soup

 ~~~~California Intermission, Check back Monday for more California~~~~

I know I have been slacking on the family recipe book project, but I declare now...I am back in action! Although I may still not finish by December, I am going to give it my best try to finish it in less than a year (January 25th 2011). I am planning a family/friends dessert party to tackle some of the dessert recipes and a friends Italian night to get through some of my Italian recipes. Here is the breakdown:

About 12 weeks left
Recipes Left: 54
Dessert Party: 14
Italian night: 5

So that leaves 35 other recipes which is about 3 a week. I need some help eating all of these!

So for your reading pleasure... a recipe book cooking experience story:

Cloudy...check. Cold...check. Soup recipe...check! What better time than now to make a soup. My mom gave me this recipe and it is only 1 weight watchers point/cup! For those of you who are unfamiliar with WW, 1 point is about 50 calories.
So I stopped at the grocery store and went straight to the canned and Mexican aisle. I am getting good at this! Instead of grabbing the cheapest item, I tried to be more eco/heath conscious when making my decisions. I got vegetarian refried beans, no salt added black beans, and organic chicken broth from free-range chickens. Although other items (i.e. the frozen dinner) kind of ruined my streak, I felt good enough about my choices. I searched and searched the frozen dinner aisle but was not able to find a 'Smart Ones' fiesta chicken dinner...easy fix, insert 'other low calorie frozen fiesta chicken dinner'. On my way to get some cheese I was not able to walk by the Egg Nog without picking one up. Horray for Nog! Cheers!

This recipe cannot be any easier! Well it was a little difficult because of my tools. Normal people would open the cans/packages and dump it into a crock pot and then relax until done. Me, of course, had to make it more difficult. I have a great crock-pot and can opener still packed up from my move. Don't you think I could have just gone downstairs and opened the box and brought them up? No, no....I would rather put it on the stove where I felt the need to attend to and use a broken can opener. Instead of easily sliding around the can, I had to poke hole after hole around the rim until it opened (4 cans). Why you ask...why the madness? You know that moment when you say, "this won't be that bad" and it is kind of difficult but you keep going because maybe, just maybe, you will get the hang of it? Then you reach that moment of, "I should go get the dang stuff from the basement". Then you irrationally decide that you have already put so much work into the process and there is no use in quitting now (even though quitting halfway through and unpacking things would have still taken less time).

But in the end....excellent soup that has quite a kick to it. Since I have whined to no end...I will unpack a few things tonight, just for you :)

Mexican Bean Soup
• 1 can non-fat refried beans
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can Rotel diced tomatoes (spicy)
• 1 can diced green chiles
• 2 cans non-fat chicken broth
• 1 Smart Ones Fiesta Chicken dinner
• 2 cups frozen corn
Dump all into a crock pot. Can add an extra bit of uncooked rice. 1 weight watchers point/cup. Can add chips to bottom, cheese and sour cream to top, but points go up. (yea, duh! I added the extras, I can't resist the cheese)

Embassy Suites

Generally I expect very little from a hotel breakfast. Perhaps some bagels and yogurt cups...hard boiled eggs if I am lucky. Imagine my delight when we had breakfast at the Embassy Suite in Lake Tahoe. Here is the spread....

-Bagels, english muffins, danish, toast

-frest fruit

-yogurt

-scrambled eggs

-potatoes

-bacon and sausage

-pancakes

-coffee, milk, assorted juices

-and the best part: omelet bar

Jeff and my breakfast. My omelet had spinach, onions and bacon! YUM YUM.

What you get at hotel continental breakfasts?

Fire + Ice: Lake Tahoe

Fire + Ice was recommended by the hotel concierge as a good place to get dinner. If you have been to Mongolian BBQ in Denver, this place is almost identical. Here is the step-by-step guide for how to enjoy dinner at Fire + Ice in Lake Tahoe....

1. Order a martini. I couldn't find this on the online menu so I am a little fuzzy on the ingredients, but I know it had cream and citrus in it and was good good good!

2. Take a picture of the menu: because it is cute and...well just because

3. Take a picture of the ambiance: to really give your blog readers a feel for the place.

4. Make a bowl: they have a wide variety of pastas, veggies and meats that you can blend in whatever way you see fit. Then choose a sauce to put on the side. DON'T make too big of bowls because this place is all you can eat and there is no point filling up on your first creation.

5. Let the cooks take is from here: Some guys (maybe girls) will take your bowls and throw them on this large round burner. They move around the area chopping, stirring and cooking away. Do not get scared if you think your food has been cooking too long...they know what they are doing.

6. Watch the show: the guys will do a number of tricks to keep you entertained. Throwing cups, spinning spatulas, flipping food. These guys have a tip jar that we were happy to add to...come on, they are sweating over a hot stove for your dollars!

7. Enjoy! Jeff's first creation: lo mien noodles, peas, peppers, tuna.

My first creation: bow tie pasta, kidney beans, potatoes, onion, cilantro, sausage and a sweet chili sauce.

They also serve you warm tortillas and rice to make little burritos.

Step...I forgot which number we were on: Order another martini (Cosmo this time)

Jeff's second dish: Total copy of mine with a few changes (his was better)
Mine: Shrimp alfredo...I couldn't resist

Step 9: Take some close-up pictures of the food as Jeff sits very patiently waiting to eat.
Step 10: Apologize profusely for being a crazy photo-woman and let the poor boy eat!