The Adventures of a Calamari Queen
Christian, Wife, Mommy, Homemaker, Retired nurse, Fur-mama,living a simple and minimal life!
Hello everyone! I can finally “see” spring in our own yard! I cleaned some parts of the yard today because the gardener who was suppose to take care of our messy yard got sick and who knows when he will get better. So I just started to clean some parts and will continue to do so in the coming days. I don’t mind because the weather today was sunny and the perfect time to spend outside. I will probably buy some flowers and herbs/veggies next month so I can start gardening. I’m kinda excited!
Hi Friends! I prepared a nice “surf n turf” dinner at home last Friday night! I told hubby that instead of eating out for our “date night” we should just make something yummy and watch Netflix after ( we end up playing Dominion), a game that my In laws gifted the hubs for Christmas. I got the lobsters and the steak at our local Safeway (I’ve been shopping there lately) because it’s only a 4 minutes drive from our house, it’s so close! This one is a little more upscale and nice compared to the other one in downtown Issaquah in my opinion. I also made Mashed Potatoes with gouda cheese, and grilled broccoli. I’ve been loving grilled broccoli lately! It was such a lovely night with my Hubs and Riley. We will definitely do something like this again in the coming weeks.
Roquefort Chive Sauce (Ina Garten recipe)
1½ cups heavy cream
2 ounces French Roquefort cheese, crumbled (4 ounces with rind)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
Bring the heavy cream to a boil in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook at a low boil, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has become thick and creamy, about 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, add the cheese, salt, pepper and chives and whisk rapidly until the cheese melts.
I’ve been enjoying some lunch dates with Hubs lately (at least once a week!), because the Hubs works at home he has the flexibility to manage his schedule. It doesn’t happen a lot of times but lately we did go out for lunch dates several times. Lunches are fun because it’s not as busy as dinner and it’s cheaper too.
Hello everyone! I went shopping a couple of times this month because I had gift cards from last Christmas and there were lots of good deals this month. I do not post these hauls to brag (not at all) but personally it’s just fun for me to look back and see what I’ve been buying. I’ve got some nasty comments from “anonymous” people before and I just laughed at them because seriously “NOBODY’s got time for that”. Anyways, I went to Homegoods and Marshalls, The bodyshop and for the first time I shopped online at HSN (the hubs and I watched it one time and really loved the product).
Here’s my candles empties for this month:
I enjoyed the Colonial candle and the lavender vanilla (bath and body works);the rest were OK. I was disappointed with the Vanilla bean noel because the throw was not there, I can’t smell it unless the candles right in my face!
This is Pioneer Woman’s (Ree Drummond) French Onion soup recipe. I saw her make this on her Food Network show and checked it on her website too. My husband loves this soup. I’ve made this before and it’s a really simple, cheap kind of soup. I had everything in my pantry too (even the gruyere cheese). Her recipe called for the oven, but again this time I used my crockpot and it turned out good. I still have leftovers and we plan to finish it this week.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Melt butter in a heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add onions and cook, covered, for 20 minutes. Place soup pot into the oven with the lid slightly ajar to ensure the onions will brown. Allow onions to cook in the oven for 1 hour, stirring at least once during the cooking process so onions won’t stick and burn.
Remove pot from oven and place back on stovetop over medium heat. Stir, scraping off all the brown, flavorful bits. Turn off heat and pour in wine. Turn heat back to medium. Cook wine for five minutes, allowing it to reduce. Add broths, Worcestershire Sauce and minced garlic and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 30 to 45 minutes.
Butter one side of the bread slices and broil over low heat, allowing bread to brown and become crispy.
When soup is ready, ladle into bowl or ramekin. Place crispy bread on top, and then sprinkle generously with grated cheese. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly.
Serve immediately.
Hello family and friends! Happy weekend! Just relaxing here at home and currently watching 3 shows (Miss Universe 2015/Pro-Bowl/NBA). I wanted to post another recipe (Rachael Ray again!) because I really enjoyed this Short ribs dish. Short ribs are one of my favorite meat cuts (if it’s on a restaurant menu, I will most likely order it). I found this recipe on Rachael’s website. I did tweak it a bit because her original recipe called for Rigatoni pasta (my Hubs is not a big fan of this kind of pasta,so I used mashed potatoes to go with the ribs). It’s just a comfort food. And instead of cooking this in the oven (like her original recipe called for) I used my crockpot and it still turned out delicious.
Short Ribs in Red Sauce with Rigatoni (but I used mashed potato for us;I will just use the original recipe by Rachael Ray)
Pre-heat the oven to 325ºF.
Heat the EVOO in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Season the meat with salt and pepper and brown all over in batches. Remove the meat to a plate and add the vegetables, garlic and bay leaves to the pot; season with salt and pepper. Cook to soften, 5-6 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, cook for 1 minute, then add the wine. Reduce by half, then add the stock and tomatoes. Break up the tomatoes and slide the meat back in along with the herb bundle. Cover and transfer to the oven; cook to tender, 2 1/2 hours.
Remove the meat and discard the herb bundle. Cover and keep warm; simmer the sauce to thicken while you cook the rigatoni.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Season the water with salt and cook the rigatoni to al dente. Drain the pasta and toss with butter and half to two-thirds of the sauce. Serve the pasta topped with the meat on or off the bone. Pass extra sauce at the table with the remaining cheese.
Hello family and friends! I hope you’re all are having a great day. I wanted to share this recipe (a Rachael Ray) from her Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine. I’m not a big fan of her (she’s too “exag” as a host and find her annoying sometimes) but every now and then I still watch some of her reruns on the food network. I do subscribe to her magazine because I enjoy the food pictures and it’s easy to follow her recipes. This pasta recipe was delicious and will probably make this again sometime (we do eat this kind of food in moderation because of the high cals). Her original recipe called for fusilli pasta. I have fusilli in my pantry but I prefer spaghetti, so that’s what I used instead. I also added some shiitake mushrooms because they’re my fave kind of mushroom. If you like pasta dishes,you should try this one (simple and tasty!).
Creamy Mushroom Pasta (recipe:Rachael Ray)
Ingredients (serves:4)
1 lb. fusilli 1 onion,chopped
3 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. olive oil 2 cloves garlic,chopped
1/4 cup panko 3/4 cup heavy cream
8 oz. cremini mushrooms, sliced 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2 tbsp. chopped fresh sage 2 tbsp. white wine
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water and add the fusilli;cook until al dente. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta cooking water.
2. Meanwhile, in a small skillet,heat 1 tsp.oil over medium-high. Add the panko and toast,stirring, until golden, 3 minutes; transfer to a plate.
3. In a large skillet, heat 2 tbsp oil over medium-high. Add the mushrooms and sage. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until browned, 5 minutes. Transfer to another plate. Reduce the heat to medium. Cook the onion and garlic in the remaining 1 tbsp oil, stirring, until softened, 4 to 6 minutes;season.
4. Add the mushrooms,fusilli,reserved pasta cooking water,cream,parmesan and wine to the large skillet. Cook over medium, stirring often, until the sauce thickens, about 3 minutes;season. Divide among the plates;top with the panko.
Hello Friends! Hope you’re having a good weekend, we just saw the Seahawks beat the Panthers in NFC playoffs game minutes ago. So Seattle is pretty happy right now! Anyways, I wanted to share the Cornish Game recipe I used for our NYE dinner because it was really tasty and so simple. I will definitely put this in my recipe binder for future use. I cut the recipe in half because it was just me and the Hubs.
Cornish Game Hens with Garlic and Rosemary (allrecipes.com)
Ingredients:
4 Cornish Game Hens
salt and pepper to taste
1 lemon,quartered
4 springs fresh rosemary
3 tablespoons olive oil
24 cloves garlic
1/3 cup white wine
1/3 cup low sodium chicken broth
4 fresh spring rosemary for garnish
Directions:
Hello family and friends! Hope your weekend was fun and relaxing. On our side, my husband is still recovering from the nasty flu/cold he had after Christmas. It was spent napping (for my hubs) and taking down the Christmas decorations (for me). I still have some decorations left but the majority, like the Christmas tree, are done and stored already. We were also able to order our Christmas tree for next year (it was on sale but I still find it pricey:-0). We didn’t go out this weekend because I cooked our meals at home, but we did get some things from the Asian market in Seattle. I wanted to get a Filipino delicacy called, “binignit”. I’m not sure what they call it here in the U.S but it has the consistency of pudding, with lots of tapioca, bananas, and yams. I’ve tried it in other Asian/Filipino stores here in Washington, but Foulee Asian market in Seattle is the only place I go now if I want to eat “Binignit”. I also got some filipino “junk food” too.
I also cleaned my empty candles. These are the ones I’ve gone through since September. I will not buy the small cheap ones from Target anymore because they aren’t very fragrant. It was pathetic! My favorites in the pic below are the Walmart candles (719 walnut and Better Homes), the Yankees were Okay, but nothing great. I like the Fresh Balsam (from Bath and body works) but it was too much for my husband so I only burn it when he’s not around. I burn a candle everyday, so I plan to share some of them here (I’m not a candle expert so don’t expect too much!). I just like making our house cozy and I think candles are one way I can do that:)
Have a great week all, I’m off to hangout with my Hubs and Riley now! Talk to you soon:)
Hello Family and friends! I hope you’re all having a good day! I wanted to share my Christmas decorations this year. Although I decorated our home the usual way and the only new Christmas decors I have are my Holiday pillows from target. I still wanted to put it here because it’s fun for me look back through the years on how our home looked during the Christmas season. I’ve been really intentional this year about not stressing about my Christmas decorations, we have no Christmas lights outside our house (I think we are one of the few who didn’t put any lights out and I’m fine with that). We live in a community where our neighbors hire people for that kind of thing. I’d rather see all the lights inside the house:) This might also be the last time we will have our Christmas tree in our living room because we plan to get a new one for next year (we are waiting for the after Christmas day sale). The Hubs just can’t wait for a nicer tree, he doesn’t like the current one (we’ve used it for the last 4 years) and I “sort of” agree with him that it’s time to get a nicer tree for next year. I apologize in advance because some of the pictures are blurry.
