Zinfandel Braised Short Ribs

Recently, my sister in law and her husband butchered a cow and gave us a large selection of various cuts of poor ol' Bessie.  For those of you who don't live in Oklahoma, or someplace like it, this is actually fairly common.  And I love the idea of eating locally raised food that I know was treated humanely and healthily Anyway, one of the cuts we were gifted with was short ribs, something I have heard a lot about but never actually cooked.  So I busted out the cookbooks, scrolled around on Google and ended up with a recipe that seemed to work best with my tastes and pantry contents.  Here is the original recipe from SimplyRecipes.com

Now, I don't know about you but I do not have veal stock in the pantry!  However, I have heard that a combination of chicken and beef stock create a similar flavor so that was my plan.  What I ended up doing (because I forgot) was just using beef stock.  I mean, I'm cooking beef right?  So, here is my adaptation of the recipe, 'cuz it's impossible for me to actually follow the recipe line by line!

4 Large or 6 medium beef short ribs
2-3 T flour
Salt, pepper, and paprika to taste
2T Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Pre-heat a large dutch oven or stockpot on medium heat with extra virgin olive oil.  Pat ribs dry and season with salt, pepper,and paprika.  Dredge in flour and shake off the excess.  Brown in olive oil until a nice crust has developed all over the ribs.  Remove ribs and get started on the veggies.

1 Large onion, chopped
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
4 Large carrots, washed and large chopped
4-6oz white mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
1/2 bottle of red wine, preferably zinfandel (or maybe that's just my personal favorite)
1 box or three cans beef broth
Salt, pepper, herbs de Provence (or fresh thyme and rosemary)

In the same pot that you browned the meat, add veggies (except garlic) and cook for about 8 minutes or until veggies have a nice color on them.  Remove veggies and de-glaze with the wine.  Hmmm...whatsya gonna do with the rest of the bottle???  Stir the pan with a wooden spoon, scraping up the crusty bits from the bottom and add the garlic. Let the wine cook down for 8-10 minutes or until reduced by half.  Add the meat back to the pan and add the stock until liquid almost covers meat.  Cover pot with a lid and put into a 375 degree oven for 2 hours.  Add veggies to the pot and cook for another 1/3 hour or until meat is very tender and shreds easily with a fork.  Let ribs cool on the stove top, then refrigerate overnight.  This was truly my favorite part of this recipe.
A) you can do it in the evening before a busy day and have a great meal ready to go tomorrow and
B) These ribs are fatty, fatty, fatty.

Yes, I know, fat is flavor but I tend to be a bit grossed out by large volumes of fat.  Not to mention I don't have the time to run the 39 miles it would take to burn all of that off!  When you refrigerate overnight, a lot of the fat hardens on top and you can remove it, but you still have the flavor/tenderness of cooking the meat with all of its fatty bits.

So, the next day, remove the pot from the fridge and remove as much of the hardened fat from the top as possible.  Then re-heat the meat over the stove top for about an hour, cooking uncovered until sauce reaches your desired consistency, like a thick gravy/glaze.  Serve with rosemary and Gorgonzola mashed potatoes (recipe follows) and steamed fresh peas.  This was a great Sunday supper!  There are a lot of steps and planning ahead but it was not at all a difficult meal and it sort of had that "wow" factor.  Definitely going in the regular rotation!

Potatoes:

6-8 medium red-skinned, yellow fleshed potatoes (you can us any potato, I just think they have a better flavor)
4 T low-fat sour cream
2 T butter or margarine
1/2 C crumbled Gorgonzola or blue cheese
Sprig of fresh rosemary, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste


Wash potatoes and chop into 1 inch chunks.  Place in pot of cold water and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Boil 15-20 minutes or until potato pierces easily with a fork.  Drain water and add potatoes back into the hot pot.  Toss in the remainder ingredients and smash into a chunky consistency with a potato masher or large wooden spoon.  Serve in a large bowl with extra Gorgonzola sprinkled on top.  Mmmm...I could eat just these for dinner!

Mushroom Marsala Fettuccini

Lately I have been back on the Rachael Ray meal train.  It may have something to do with a sick day, a DVR, and a need to "clean up" the hundreds of hours of recorded shows that I never have time to watch.  So, my friend Rach gave me some yummy new ideas to shake up the family mealtime rut, so stay tuned for a few more RR meals in the future.

For Valentine's Day, we experimented with cooking a mushroom Marsala steak sauce with lovely results so it's my current new obsession.  So of course when I saw her make Double Mushroom and Marsala Creme Fettuccini, I knew that would be hitting my table soon!  Of course, I had to change a few things, I don't know where Rach shops but in my grocery store dried Porcini mushrooms are about $8 an ounce!  If you feel so inclined, check out the original recipe, I'm sure it is completely fabulous, but mine was pretty dang good too.  Here we go:

1 8oz package each, whole button and cremini mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced.
1/4 red onion, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced

2T extra virgin olive oil and 1T butter
Handful of fresh thyme
Black pepper
1/2 C dry Marsala wine (sort of like port and quite tasty, it's helpful to have a small glass for the chef while cooking!)
1 C (approximately) beef broth
1/2 C half and half or heavy cream (I used half and half)
1lb fettuccini (original recipe calls for whole wheat but I had the regular so I just used that)

Heat a non-stick pan to medium heat with butter and olive oil.  Add mushrooms, onions, and garlic.  Saute veggies for several minutes until mushrooms are well browned.  Douse mushrooms with Marsala and cook for a few more minutes or until about halfway reduced.  Add beef broth and cook reduce again.  Add half and half, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer gently while pasta cooks.

While pasta cooks and sauce simmers, make the panko topping.  As a side note, panko is my new favorite thing!  It is light and crispy and lovely and magical.  Okay, maybe not magical, but it can make a fish sooo yummy that it happily fed three generations of my family, so that's pretty magical to me.  Stay tuned for magical fish recipe...  Annnyyyway, back to panko topping for pasta:

2 T butter
1 clove garlic, finely minced or pasted
1 C panko
1/2 Parmiggiano Reggiano
Handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Heat butter in a small saute pan until bubbly, add garlic and panko, stir around and cook on low until panko gets toasty and golden brown.  Turn off head and stir in cheese and parsley.  This is a heavenly crunchy little "garlic bread" tasting topping for your noodles.




When pasta is just slightly under-cooked, drain and stir gently into the mushroom sauce.  Stir for a minute or two to combine well and thicken the sauce.  Sprinkle toasty topping on individual plates and enjoy!  In order to offset the butter/cream sauce, I made a simple spinach and tomato salad to go with this.  That negates the fat you know!  It should be noted, this is not the best "money shot" of the meal, but I couldn't resist the toddler slurping up his noodles in the background.  There you go, kid approved!

Community Christmas

A few years ago my family moved to a quirky little neighborhood with its own little identity.  Neighbors are proud to tell you all about the intersting and odd history of the community and how long they have lived there (in decades, not years).

This was TWO plates of delicious sugar cookies 10 minutes ago!

Our first Christmas, one seemingly random December day, the doorbell rang about 6 times.  Each time it was a different neighbor bearing gifts, mostly baked goods but sometimes a basket of Mexican delicacies, or a handmade quilt for our children.  And each would drop off these gifts with a jolly "Merry Christmas."  At first Hubby and I were a little overwhelmed; this did not happen in our last neighborhood.  Then we rushed to the store and started baking.

That was three years ago and we have firmly settled into the routine of delivering baked goods to the neighbors.  It has become an important part of our holiday traditions.  Each neighbor brings something different and we all have a chance to chat, exchange holiday plans, laugh, and feel a part of a community.  Clearly I am a sentimental sap but I love this part of my neighborhood, where I actually know my neighbors, their gandchildren's names, their birthdays, the good, and the bad.  Plus, those people can bake! 

For the last couple of years I have settled on Pumpkin Apple Bread as my "neighbor gift."  I love this bread, it is rich and spicy and not too sweet.  I have adapted the recipe from The Gourmet Cookbook, a must have in my opinion.  There are a couple of things that I do differently, such as using whole wheat flour for half of the flour and substituting half of the oil for unsweetened applesauce.  Do those two things and you can have a second slice!  I also typically add nuts.  Here's my translation, with my apologies to Gourmet if it's just not quite the same:

For Strudel Topping:
1 T all-purpose flour
5 T sugar (I used half granulated and half brown)
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t unsalted butter, softened

Mix all ingredients with fingers until "pebbly" and set aside

For Bread:
3 C all-purpose flour (I used 1 1/2 all-purpose and 1 1/2 whole wheat)
3/4 t salt
2 t baking soda
1 1/2 t ground cinnamon
1 t freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 t each ground cloves and allspice
1 can, 15oz solid pack pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
3/4 C vegetable oil (1 small "snack pack" of unsweetened apple sauce is exactly half of this and cuts down of the fat while still making the bread moist)
2 1/4 C sugar
4 large eggs, slightly beaten
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped (about 2 cups)
1/2 chopped nuts or raisins, if desired (I used chopped almonds or walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350and spray non-stick cooking spray into loaf pans.  Sift together dry ingredients into a medium bowl.  Whisk together pumpkin, oil (and applesauce), sugar, and eggs in a large bowl.  Slowly add flour mixture, stirring until well combined.  Fold in apples (this is also where you would add nuts and raisins if using).
Divide batter evenly between loaf pans.  Sprinkle strudel topping evenly over batter.  Bake until a wooden toothpick or butter knife comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes for large loafs or 45 minutes for smaller loafs. Cool about 1 hour.  This recipe makes 2 large loafs or about 5 small gift-tin loafs.  I usually double it to come up with 10 small loafs.

Cook yourself some pumpkin apple bread and get to know your neighbors!  Merry Christmas from my community to yours.

Not Yo' Mama's Tuna Casserole!

Okay, I admit it, I really like tuna casserole.  All that goopy cream of chicken soup and noodles, covered with melty cheese.  Yum!  Healthy?  Not so much.  So, over the years I have given my casserole a little "tune up" to make it slightly more healthy but still cheesy gooey yummy.

1 can white albacore tuna in water, drained
1 can Healthy Request cream of chicken soup
1/4 C 1% milk
1/4 red onion or 1 shallot, finely chopped  (This tiny bit of raw onion adds a huge amount of flavor!)
2-3 large carrots, peeled and cubed
1 C frozen peas
1/2 bag No Yolks egg noodles
Black pepper and Herbs de Provence, to taste
Fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 C good-quality medium or sharp cheddar cheese

Bring a pot of water to boil.  Cook noodles and carrots together until noodles are al dente (slightly undercooked).  Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, flake tuna into a casserole dish.  Add soup, milk, onions, peas, and herbs, stir.  Carefully combine noodles and carrots with soup mixture.  Top with cheese and more parsley if you like.  Cook at 375 for 20-30 minutes.  May I suggest a nice pinot grigio for this lovely fancy meal?

Pork Fried Rice

A while back I bought a 1 lb pork loin from the Oklahoma Food Coop.  Since then it has been hanging out in the freezer waiting for me to figure out what to do with it.  It was too small for a roast, and that's pretty much my "go too" pork recipe.  So, finally I got the idea of doing a fried rice.  I'm not a big fan of rice but the hubby is so I try to accommodate him once or twice a year.  I also had some leeks (I really don't remember why) so I made pork fried rice with leeks and carrots.  Here goes:

3/4-1lb pork lion (1 small tenderloin or a couple of thick-cut pork chops would probably do)
2-3 large carrots, peeled and cut into thin sticks
1 leek, halved and sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, minced
2-3T canola oil with 1T Sesame Oil
2 eggs
Splash of milk
1T butter
2 cups Minute brown rice, cooked according to package directions
Soy sauce to taste
1 C frozen peas

Fill a large bowl with water and add sliced leeks.  Separate them with your fingers and let soak in the water to rinse grit off of the leek.  Fish out the leeks and pat them dry on a kitchen towel.

Trim extra fat off of pork loin and slice paper thin.  Pre-heat a large skillet or wok with oil (both canola and sesame) to high.  Add pork and cook 1-2 minutes on each side until lightly browned.  Remove from heat and add veggies, minus garlic and ginger.  Cook veggies  until tender crisp, then add garlic and ginger (you can also add some hot peppers if you want).  Toss and cook for another minute or two.

While veggies are cooking, whisk eggs with milk and pre-heat a small skillet with 1T butter.  Add eggs and cook, stirring, until scrambled.  Remove from heat and set aside.

To veggies, add pork, rice, and soy sauce to taste.  Stir and toss in eggs and peas.  Check taste and add more soy sauce if needed.  Top with sesame seeds if desired.  Use some chopsticks if you are that talented, I'm not.  Sushi and big chunks are fine, but rice, I just don't know how people do that!  Enjoy!

You Say Cold Front, I Say Pot Roast!

What's more comforting than a big pot of roast with veggies and gravy?  Yesterday a cold front hit and all I could think was "it's time for pot roast!"  This is basically my mom's pot roast that I grew up with, with the exception of the mushrooms.  I love mushrooms and will pretty much sneak them into any dish!  Here goes:



1 2-3lb chuck roast
4-6 T all-purpose flour
1t Paprika
1t dried Oregano
1T Black Pepper

Heat a large cast-iron skillet to high heat with 2-3T extra virgin olive oil.  Trim roast of any extra fat or connective tissue.  Mix flour and seasonings together in a bowl and rub all over the meat.  It's nice to have an extra helper to stir and sample the raw flour!  Add meat into skillet and cook several minutes on both sides (turning only once) to sear the meat and form a nice crust.  This will add extra flavor to the roast and the flour will help thicken the gravy.


While roast is searing, add liquids to the slow cooker:
2 C beef broth (or 1 packet concentrated beef stock w/ 2 C water...I had a coupon)
1 can Healthy Request cream of mushroom soup
1 bay leaf
Turn slow cooker on high so that liquids can start heating.  You don't want to add a hot roast to a cold soup.  And don't judge on the "well-loved" crust of my slow cooker, she and I have been though a lot together!

Now you are ready to introduce Mr. Roast to his hot tub.  Toss that guy in and cook on high for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  Then, turn the cooker to low and add the veggies:

1 medium onion, chopped
2 russet potatoes (I like to "roughly" peel these)
3-4 medium to large carrots

4-6 oz white mushrooms, sliced
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bunch fresh rosemary

I like to large chop the veggies so that there are big, recognizable pieces in the roast.  Cook with veggies on low for 4-5 hours or until everything is tender.  Then add 1 T cornstarch to a splash of water in a small bowl.  Stir to mix into a "slurry" and add to roast.  This will help the juices thicken into a nice gravy.  Cook for another minute or two then turn heat off and serve.  Mmm....hearty and delicious!

Meatless Monday: Spaghetti Alla Ceci

Somehow, this weekend we had heavy red meat dishes three days in a row.  So by Monday, I was more than ready for a meatless meal!  For inspiration, I scanned some old recipe books and came across a loved but forgotten recipe for spaghetti with chickpeas in Rachael Ray Express Lane Meals.  I didn't have all of the ingredients but it provided a great starting off point for a great pasta dinner, with a little more of a Greek flair than the original.

Here is the original recipe, which is wonderful.  

Here is my adaptation:

1 lb thin spaghetti

1 can chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained and rough chopped in the food processor
2T extra virgin olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1T herbes de Provence
1/2 T oregano (just a shake or two)

Black pepper

1/2 cup unsalted chicken stock

1 can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes

Small handful kalamata olives, pitted and roughly chopped

1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped

1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano

Crumbled feta cheese

Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook spaghetti.  While spaghetti is cooking, preheat a large skillet to medium high with olive oil.  Add chickpeas and saute for a few minutes.  Add onion, olives, garlic, and herbs.  Stir and cook a bit longer or until onions start to color.  De-glaze with chicken stock and reduce down for a minute or two.  Add tomatoes, turn heat to low and cook for 10 minutes or so.  Drain spaghetti and toss in sauce with parsley and cheese.  For an extra Greek twist, add some crumbled feta on top.  Mmmm...this was such a yummy and simple meal, light and hearty at the same time!

Grandpa's Birthday

Last weekend was my dad's birthday and they were nice enough to bring the party to us.  In exchange for them making the trip down the Turnpike (with some of the "Jersey" clan in tow), I decided to make him a nice birthday dinner.  Making something special for dear old Dad is a little difficult as he is not really a fan of most food that I would consider "special."  As in, he's pretty much a meat and potatoes,nothing "weird" type of guy.  But, he does really love a good lasagna (who doesn't?) so that's what I decide to make.  I even threw in dessert.  From a box, of course

On a rare trip down the baking aisle, my ever-helpful 4 year old said with some skepticism "Mom, do you even know how to make brownies?"  Well, my dear, I know how to buy a box and I know how to follow directions, so there!  Just to stack the deck a little bit, I sprang for the "gourmet" brownie mix, no plain ol' Betty Crocker for my dad.  So, here's the line-up:

Lasagna (adapted from my great friend Catherine...10 years later and I still call it "Catherine's Lasagna"):

1 box Barilla lasagna noodles
1 lb lean ground beef (sometimes I thrown in a little breakfast sausage, it gives a nice extra flavor)
2T Extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
4-6 button mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced or chopped
1 large (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes with basil (Muir Glen is my favorite)
1 T dried oregano
Black pepper
1 large tub (3 cups) low-fat, small curd cottage cheese, drained slightly (just pour some of the liquid out with the lid slightly loose)
1 egg
1/2 cup grated Parmiggiano Reggiano
Handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped (or 1T dried)
8-16 oz good-quality mozzarella cheese

Heat a large pot of water to boiling.  Drop noodles in and stir.  Under-cook noodles by a few minutes, as they will keep cooking in lasagna.  Drain noodles and set aside, tossed with a touch of olive oil to keep from sticking.

While noodles are cooking, brown meat in olive oil.  Avoid stirring meat for the first few minutes so that it develops a nice brown "crust" that will add flavor to the sauce.  Drain fat, if necessary.  Add veggies and cook a few more minutes until veggies get some color on them.  Add remaining sauce ingredients (tomatoes and seasonings).  Turn to low and simmer for 20 minutes or so.

In a large bowl, mix cottage cheese, egg, parm cheese and parsley (with a little extra black pepper).  This is your "ricotta" layer.

Spread a little extra olive oil evenly over a large glass baking dish (or use cooking spray).  Spread a thin layer of red sauce in the bottom of the pan.  Slightly overlap noodles over sauce (my pan takes 4 noodles per layer with a little extra for the ends).  Top noodles with 1/3 of the cottage cheese mixture, 1/3 of the red sauce, and 1/3 of the mozzarella.  Add another layer of noodles and repeat sauce layers.  Repeat again until you have three layers each.  Add a bit more mozzarella and parm and fresh parsley to the top if desired.  Toss that baby in a 350 degree oven and wait 45 minutes for bubbly, cheesy goodness!

 I apologize for the lack of an "after" shot but by that point I was focusing on hostessing and not blogging!  Trust me, it was yummy and beautiful.


I served this with a chopped salad of romaine, red bell pepper, kalamata olives, yellow tomatoes, and more cheese.  And, of course, buttered garlic bread!  Crack a clove of garlic and heat it with 2-3 T butter in the microwave for 20-30 seconds.  Discard garlic and add some olive oil, fresh herbs, and black pepper.  Smear on bread and forget to count the calories while it browns lovingly in the oven with your lasagna.  Gild the lily with some Ghiradelli turtle brownies and a nice glass of red wine.  I chose Jarhead Red for this one in honor of my dad.  Does he drink wine?  No, but he was a Marine and I managed to enjoy a nice glass in his honor anyway!  It was actually quite tasty, and the proceeds go towards the Marine Corps Scholarship Fund.  Bonus!  Semper Fi Dad!  And happy birthday.  I hope this makes up for the fact that I didn't actually buy you a gift.

Soup's On!

Ahhhh, fall has finally hit the Great Plains after the longest, hottest summer on record!  I say, bring it on.  I'm ready for tumbling in autumn leaves, wearing boots and jackets, and eating steamy pots of soup.  Lately I have been slightly fixated on chicken noodles soup.  I'm not sick.  I'm not sad.  Maybe a little stressed but what else is new?  Anyway, it just sounded...good.  So today I hauled out the soup pot and started cooking.  Here goes:

1 package boneless, skinless chicken breasts, mine was 1.2 pounds
1 box chicken stock
1 C water
1 lemon, halved
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 onion, halved and trimmed of ends
2 bay leaves
Several black peppercorns

Clean and trim chicken.  Add to pot with other poaching ingredients.  Poach gently on medium low for about 20 minutes or until cooked through.  Remove chicken to a large bowl and strain out solids from poaching liquid.  Reserve the onion and garlic, chop and add back to the pot with the other veggies.  Shred chicken with two forks and set aside.  Now onto the veggies!

2-4 large carrots, chopped, diced, sliced, whatever
4oz. white mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
1 small Fresno pepper, finely diced (this adds a nice fruity, mild spice to the dish)
Notice I did not use celery, 'cuz I don't like it.  Toss some in if you want to be "authentic."
Reserved chopped onion and garlic from poaching liquid


Add veggies to the pot and simmer for 20-30 minutes.  Add chicken back in.  Add black pepper, paprika, and cumin.  While veggies are simmering, boil a pot of water and cook 6-8oz egg noddles.  Check seasonings  (you may need to add salt if you used unsalted stock).  Scoop noodles out of boiling water with a slotted spoon and add to soup.  It doesn't  matter if you get some noodle water, it is soup after all and the starchy water will add an extra consistency to the soup.  Cook, stirring, for a few more minutes until everything comes together.

Ladle into large soup bowls and top as desired (I used parmigiano reggiano and chopped chives) and serve with bread or crackers.  Mmmmm....mmmmm.....good!

Fancy Nancy Dinosaur Dig!

Grammie created Fancy Nancy!

Nope, that is NOT a typo!  This is what happens when you ask a 4 year old what kind of birthday party she wants.  Well, let's see...she's part girly-girl princess, part rough and tumble adventure girl.  Sooo, I should not at all be surprised when she asked for a Fancy Nancy dinosaur dig party.  Surprisingly, it came together fairly easily thanks to the help of some great friends and a lot of luck.

The first thing we needed were dinosaur bones.  You know, for the dig.  Our wonderful neighbor happens to work at the local Natural History Museum and was more than happy to start sending us a steady stream of not-quite-perfect museum replica bones.  We had vertebra, jawbones, and a lot of other miscellaneous bones courtesy of the upcoming baby apatosaur exhibit.  Just for extra fun, I bought the dollar store out of small plastic dinosaur skeletons as well.  I mean, I really thought the museum bones were a superb find, but I figured those tricky pre-schoolers might be more impressed with a dinosaur they could actually see.  Next up, we poured several bags of sand into an already-blank spot in our landscaping, buried the bones and waited a few days for them to develop a "weathered" look.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (ranch house that is), we had to work on the Fancy Nancy aspect of the party.  I sent out eVites this year with an image from Fancy Nancy Explorer Extraordinaire and lots of extra fancy language (one of my daughter's favorite parts of the books).

I did some research and found lots of wonderful ideas for activities like decorating your own purses or hats and other very "girly" things.  Problem was, half of our guests would be boys.  So instead of girly accessories, we made "explorer boxes."  Basically, they were cigar boxes (again, provided by my neighbor) painted with gold metallic paint.  Inside there was a paintbrush (for dusting bones), a magnifying glass, and a pack of flash cards for dinosaur identification.  I bought Hobby Lobby out of clearance stickers and each child decorated their own explorer boxes.  Then it was on to the dig!  What fun the kids had rummaging around in the sand pit and unearthing the bones.  My son spent pretty much the whole party in the sand, digging and re-burying the bones.

If the kids got tired of the dino dig, we had the handy bounce house running at full throttle.  Truly, there is nothing better for entertaining kids than a bounce house.  Next it was time for "refreshments" as Fancy Nancy would say.  Pink and purple cupcakes, with sprinkles of course.  Fancy Nancy would never dream of a cupcake without sprinkles!  We also had fruit salad, PB&J dinosaurs, and Fancy Nancy's extra pink, extra fancy pink lemonade (recipe to follow), with bendy flower straws of course.

Overall, it was a great time.  The activities went over very well and my daughter had a blast.  Plus, the entire thing probably cost less than $100.  Like I said, luck was on my side with the dinosaur bones and the free bounce house.  But it did take some creativity and tips from helpful friends on pulling off an extra fancy, girly-girl yet boy-friendly party!  I guess now I can rest easy for another year.

Extra Fancy, Extra Pink Lemonade (From Fancy Nancy, Explorer Extraodinaire):

1 Concentrated can pink lemonade
1 can water *
1 bottle cranberry juice
1 Cup fresh or frozen raspberries

Mix and sip, daintily, with pinkie up if you please!
* This recipe really needs more than one can of water.  I diluted it a little and it was much better that way.   The kids loved it both ways though!

Merci to everyone involved, my Fancy Nancy loves you all!

Gorgonzola Stuffed Mini-Meatloaves

Yesterday, I pulled some ground beef our of the freezer to defrost and asked Hubby if he wanted meatloaf or taco soup for dinner the next day.  He replied "Um, meatloaf.  Have you ever met me?"  Touche, the man tends to shrink from anything labeled "soup" but I keep trying to shove it down his throat.  Not literally.  Yet.

I had some Gorgonzola and spinach hanging in the fridge waiting to be used so I thought I would use that as a starting point and here's what I came up with.

For Meatloaves:

1 lb lean ground beef (I like longhorn or sirloin)
1/2 small onion, chopped
Handful of button mushrooms, wiped clean and chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 egg, slightly beaten
6 whole wheat saltines, finely crushed.  Or 1/2 C bread crumbs.
2-4 T Worcestershire sauce
Black pepper, cumin, herbs de Provence
4 oz. Gorgonzola or other blue cheese, cut into 4 1 oz each pieces.  Or the equivalent amount of crumbled blue cheese.

Pre-heat a small skillet with olive oil.  Saute veggies until tender-crisp, then set aside to cool.  Meanwhile add remaining ingredients in a large bowl, except for cheese.  Add cooled veggies and mix until well incorporated.  Form a mound of meat in the bottom of the bowl and score it with the side of your hands to make 4 equal-ish wedges of meat mixture (a Rachael Ray trick).  Scoop out a wedge and form it into a patty, like you are making a burger.  Add the piece of cheese in the center and fold up the meat around it, like you are making an empanada.  Carefully form the meat around the cheese until the cheese is completely covered inside the meat.  Form into a football-ish shape and put in a glass baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.  Repeat with the remaining meat mixture.  Bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes, until meatloaves are browned and cooked through.

Spinach and Grape Salad:

This one's tricky so pay attention...combine fresh spinach leaves, halved grapes, pecans if you have them, and dressing of choice.  Look the other way while your kids eat only the grapes.  Actually my daughter ate all of her spinach, and her brother's.  My little rabbit girl!

I also served this with Knorr Stroganoff noodles.  Yes, sodium-filled, processed, dehydrated, packaged food.  They're yummy and go great with meatloaf!  The spinach cancels it out, right?