Dinner for 2

We typically don't have a huge celebration for Valentine's Day.  While I think it's imporant to recognize the one you love and celebrate your togetherness, I don't think it requires an expensive dinner, jewelery and dozens of roses.  I'm perfectly happy making a meal with Jeremy and enjoying a quiet dinner at home!  Which is exactly what we did!!!!

Dinner for Two Menu

Butter Chicken

Broccolini

Rice

Molten Lava Cakes

with Blue Bell Vanilla Ice Cream

I found the recipe for Butter Chicken on the Tasty Kitchen website- they have great recipes.  I really liked the butter chicken and it's pretty simple to prepare, but lots of the reviews said "best chicken ever" and I don't think I would go that far.  But very tasty nonetheless!

You can find the recipe for Butter Chicken here!

If you haven't tried broccolini, you're really missing out.  It's more delicate and tender than regular broccoli.  It is often mistakenly referred to as baby broccoli, but it's actually a hybrid between broccoli and a Chinese broccoli.  I'll spare you the specifics!  You should definitely give it a try!  It's available in most stores (if I can find it in OKC, you should be able to find it, too!).  I roasted it and used a sauce with garlic, dijon mustard, and balsamic vinegar.  Yum!

Let's move on to the real star of this show!  Dessert!

This recipe came straight from Mrs. Paula Deen.  I think you're gonna love it!  I substituted Bailey's Irish Cream for the Grand Marnier, because a) that's what I had at my house and b) I don't like orange and chocolate together.  I think it turned out well, so feel free to use one of your favorite "flavorings."

 Molten Lava Cakes

6 (1-ounce) squares bittersweet chocolate
2 (1-ounce) squares semisweet chocolate
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 stick) butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 large eggs
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons orange liqueur

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Grease 6 (6-ounce) custard cups. Melt the chocolates and butter in the microwave, or in a double boiler. Add the flour and sugar to chocolate mixture. Stir in the eggs and yolks until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and orange liqueur. Divide the batter evenly among the custard cups. Place in the oven and bake for 14 minutes. The edges should be firm but the center will be runny. Run a knife around the edges to loosen and invert onto dessert plates.

I baked mine just a tad too long- they could have been a little gooey-er, but still delicious!  And the vanilla ice cream is the perfect compliment!!!

I thought we looked a little sleepy in this pic . . .

Ah, much better.

Hope you had a lovely Valentine's!!!

Life is a Chair of Bowlies

Well, last night, Jeremy went for a run and when he got back, he was really craving a drink from Sonic. He ordered a cherry limeade and I wanted a cherry slushie. We drank our sonic drinks while watching tv and chatting and then, we went to bed.

My sonic slushie was left on the coffee table, on top of a magazine (so it wouldn't leave a ring on the coffee table!). Well, somehow, my cup had a hole in it, so cherry slushie was slowly leaking out all night while I slept peacefully. It wouldn't be that big of a deal, because of course, I had set my cup on a magazine, so only the magazine was ruined. EXCEPT- sitting right next to the magazine was my cell phone. My cell phone was covered in cherry goop and I spent most of the day letting it dry out and checking to see if it worked?!?!

It wanted to come back- it tried very hard- I saw it flicker a few times. But in the end, it just wasn't strong enough. It died. Just one black screen- not even a flicker now.

I have purchased a $14 Wal-Mart go phone- my contract isn't up until December 29th. But at least, I have a working phone!

We had squash from Jeremy's parents, so I made a squash dressing for dinner.

Dinner tonight- grilled chicken, squash dressing, and green beans

Squash Dressing

2 cups diced yellow squash
2 cups crumbled cornbread
1/2 cup margarine, melted
2 teaspoons dried sage
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 (10.75 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
1 egg, beaten
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
salt and pepper to taste1/4 cup milk


Place squash in a pot fitted with a steamer basket over boiling water, and steam 10 minutes, or until tender.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a medium baking dish.
In a bowl, mix the squash, cornbread, margarine, sage, cream of mushroom soup, egg, onion, sugar, salt and pepper, and milk. Transfer to the prepared baking dish.
Bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned.

E’s Notes:

• It took much longer than 30 minutes to bake- closer to 1 hour.
• I added a little bit of chicken bouillon for more flavor.
• You could use cream of chicken or cream of celery soup instead.
• I used my pastry blender to mash the squash up a little bit.
  

Let Me See Ya Grill

The summer moment I have been waiting for . . . the arrival of our grill! I was very excited! I've been wanting Jeremy to pick one out for such a long time- I think I finally wore him down! I didn't really know what I was getting myself into . . .

Of course, on the box, it says- some assembly required. I'm not sure what that means exactly, but 2 hours later, several cuss words, tons of sweat, a few leftover bolts, and a marriage on the rocks- we had a grill. The instructions said it's helpful for 2 people to put together the grill and work as a team. I'm not sure if I would call it "teamwork," but there were 2 people working on the grill. We chose a very hot afternoon, in the direct sun to assemble our grill, which was no doubt, poor planning on our part. I have a whole new appreciation for grills now!

After we finished putting it together, I didn't know if I even wanted to grill out last night- I was kind of sick of looking at the thing. But after a shower and some iced tea, I was ready to grill. Maybe you're wondering why it's nighttime in all our pictures- we ate dinner at about 9:45pm. Again, took a little longer than expected to put it together!

Dinner tonight- steak, mushrooms, onion, sausage, and corn on the cob!

The grill master!

Cheese on the Cob

1/2 cup mayonnaise
5 ears corn, husks and silk removed
1 cup shredded Parmesan
Chili powder
1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Prepare grill. Brush a thin layer of mayonnaise on corn. Sprinkle the corn with cheese, chili powder, salt and pepper. Wrap each corn with foil and place on the grill. Turn occasionally and cook for about 10 minutes (until kernels begin to brown). Serve warm.

Grill gleamin

Poor little Ivy- we didn't let her come outside!

Give me a fish and I eat for a day. Teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime.

Well, not exactly. Our neighbor gave us some fish. She had caught it a few days ago and said it's very fresh. Great. So I make a lemon- herb butter to top off the fish when it's out of the oven.

And I get started making the side dishes- baked sweet potato fries and lemon asparagus.

Fish only takes a few minutes to cook, so I get that out last. I call Jeremy and make sure he is on his way. There is almost nothing worse than cold fish. He says he will be leaving in 5 minutes. So I get out the salt and lemon pepper. Take the fish out of the fridge. And that's right- it's 3 whole fish. By whole, I mean entire. Not your average fish fillets!

I immediately call Jeremy and tell him we have a problem with dinner. Of course, he's surprised, since he thought we were having trout. I explain that they are whole and they completely gross me out and I don't know how to fillet a fish and I don't want to learn. So we only have potatoes and asparagus for dinner. Jeremy offered to stop on his way home from work and pick up a rotisserie chicken.

Dinner was saved!
Recipes:

• Asparagus- zest of half a lemon, drizzle olive oil, salt liberally and bake at 350 degrees, 7-8 minutes
• Sweet Potato Fries- cut potatoes into fries, put on baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt, pepper, cumin, and chili powder, bake at 400 degrees for 25- 30 minutes
• Lemon Herb Butter- soften stick of butter, mix with parsley and zest of lemon, put back in fridge before serving
• Rotisserie Chicken- have husband purchase from grocery store immediately before serving!