Birthday baked goods

This week we've had two birthdays and I've baked for both.  The first requested white cupcakes with white frosting.  I'm not the best at frosting cakes, but they turned out pretty well and I didn't have to bring any home with me.

I tried using the mugs to stop the cling wrap from sticking to my frosting.
It didn't work so well so I ended up just being gentle. 

Tonight I made two different kinds of brownies.  Double chocolate with peanut butter  and walnut.  We'll see how they go.  There are so many that I have a feeling I'll be bringing some home.  I don't think Nick will mind much.  

I used a small piping tip to make the peanut butter swirls.

The glare is from the cling wrap.  I had forgotten to take the picture before
putting it on.  

Tonight's dinner: February 29, 2012

Lately we've been having a lot of Hawaiian BBQ.  Inspired by our beloved food while watching our waistlines, tonight I made chicken katsu (something I've made before) and macaroni salad.  Nick made some amazing gravy to go on top.  Yum!

Without gravy

Dinner: Monday, February 27, 2012

Sage butter chicken and baked potato.  Nick said that unlike the last chicken I made it wasn't too salty but it was nice and moist.  Score.

Valentine's Day Dinner 2012

We were just going to go get corn dogs on the weekend and then a simple dinner the night of since we spent so much money for our Christmas dinner at Morimoto's.  Nick surprised me with an awesome lamb dinner and caprese salad with a big ole ball of burrata.  I'll let the pictures speak for them self. All I have to say is, I have the best boyfriend ever. SOOO DELICIOUS.

Tonight's dinner: February 26th, 2012

This isn't a new one, but I made nachos.  Yum!

New-Old Cabinets

In my last post I said that I mentioned that I was refinishing my kitchen cabinets.  After three weeks, I finally finished!  Next up, new counters and a dishwasher.  We'll get there eventually.  For pictures of what the cabinets looked like before, check out my DIY Flooring post where I show the cabinets as well.

We decided to move our paper towel rack to the ledge to give us some space
for our dish drying space.  

Spinach, Spam, and Cheese Fritatas: February 23, 2012

Because I ate four slices of Costco pizza for lunch I didn't actually eat any of these.  Our chicken wasn't defrosted so I started pulling things out of the fridge after my jog with Emmy.  This is what I came up with.  (Nick made his own hashbrowns).  Since I didn't eat them, I don't really know what they tasted like, but Nick said that they were heavy for being so small.  They serve their purpose.  Full of nutrients and filling.

In other news,  my lunch breaks and nights have been taken up with the task of refinishing my cabinets.  A coworker had turned me on to one of those Rustoleum Cabinet Transformation kits.  I've been working on them for about three weeks now even though the instructions say that they can be done in a day or weekend.  Pfft.  I have a tarp down in my guest room so that I can only paint a few cabinet doors at a time.  It's a slow process and I'm sure if you had a garage to do it in you could actually get it done in the time frame that they claim.  In my circumstance, however, it isn't feasible.  (I can only paint four doors at a time.)  I can only imagine how long it would take to do a normal sized kitchen as mine is the size of a bathroom.  Granted, half the kitchen is cabinet space and the fridge.  The process is almost done now and I've reinstalled the hardware to my kitchen drawers.  I'm very pleased with my handy work.  And for those of you who are wondering, "Did Nick help?"  The answer is no.  Like many of my other large projects, I didn't want him to help me do the bulk of the work though he did offer.  I think it's a pride thing.  He'll have to help me with putting the doors back up since I won't be able to hold them in place and screw in the hinges at the same time.  I will take numerous pictures when I'm done.  My goal is this weekend, but we will see. 

Honey-Mustard Pork Roast: February 22, 2012

To start, no pictures from last night's dinner.  I took some left over soup and added some dumplings.  I forgot to take pictures!  I didn't look like much anyway.  Tonight's dinner, however, is much more picturesque.  After having garlic noodles on Monday night I wanted them again.  This time I added the greens from the radishes that I put into the salad.  For $1.00 I was able to use the whole radish!  No waste!

I also prepared a spinach salad with half an heirloom tomato and the "fruit" of the radish.  Nick decided last minute to make a sauce since I had added about three tablespoons of chicken stock to my roasting pan before broiling.  That part is optional, but it is nice with the sauce.

Honey-Mustard Pork 

4 lb Pork roast
6 tbsp Spicy Brown Mustard
3 tbsp horseradish
4 tbsp honey
3 tbsp fresh rosemary, minced
3 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
2 tbsp crushed red pepper
3 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt
1 bulb garlic, peeled
1 head onion, chunked 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In small bowl mix mustard, horseradish, honey, rosemary, parsley, red pepper, pepper, and salt.  Using a sharp knife, slice holes into the sides of the pork roast.  Stuff whole cloves of garlic into the pork.  Slather mustard rub over the pork.  Add onions around the roast for flavor.   Put into preheated oven for 1 hour for medium rare.  For color, turn on broiler for 10 minutes; rotate half way through.  Let rest for 15 minutes before slicing.  

Grade: A- 

I made this on a whim because I had all of the ingredients on hand.  If you can marinate the pork in the mustard mix I bet it would be AWESOME.

Dinner: Monday, February 20, 2012

Since I've been so terrible about blogging I figured I'd try to at least post my dinners.  Nick and I are trying to be healthier and cook every night instead of eating out.  Tonight I prepped chicken quarters by separating them and then adding, garlic, salt, pepper and sprigs of rosemary.  I let it come to room temp while I took Emmy for a run.  By the time I came back, Nick was ready to go for a second run with her.  I stuck them in the oven and stir fried some Sweet Pea greens and made some garlic pasta.  Yummy!

Simple Garlic-Rosemary Chicken

Chicken thighs and drumsticks

Garlic cloves; whole

Rosemary sprigs; whole

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Separate chicken skin from meat.  Insert garlic and rosemary.  Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken.  With the rack in the middle, bake for 45 minutes and then turn on broiler for 7 minutes.  Let rest before eating.

Grade: B+

I used a heavy hand with the salt, but other than that it was moist and the rosemary gave it great flavor.