Catching Up: Days 320-331

I look forward to the day this 365-day journey is over and I can just blog when and where I feel like it, for whatever (food-related) reason.  It will also mean my new website will be up and running!  Yep, can't wait for that!  In the meantime, however, please enjoy this rambling re-cap of the last 11 days with some new recipes sprinkled right in!

Days 320 & 321: Randy and I had the privilege of being out 2 days in a row!  Friday (12/5) was to celebrate my birthday.  We went to Leo's Ristorante in Worceester which was fabulous as always.  Then on Saturday night our church had a Christmas Gala which we attended.  It was a very nice evening and good food!

Day 322: I made my chicken & spinach alfredo pizza for our life group.  However, I cheated and used store-bought pizza crust, unlike the link above.  It wasn't as good. :/

Day 323: (Monday, 12/8)  Randy worked late this night so I drove my kids down to Auburn to visit my parents.  My mom and the kids and I went to Applebee's (or as Abby used to call it, "Bumblebee's", her new favorite place) for dinner. 

Day 324: Parmesan-Crusted Chicken, mashed potatoes, garden salad.  Today was a really gross day weather-wise.  Normally, it's my grocery shopping day, but I wasn't bringing the kids anywhere.  I let Abby pick something out of one of my cookbooks for us to bake together.  Her first pick was a roasted chicken with carrots and onions.  haha!  But after I nixed that idea, she picked these linzer cookies (luckily she picked something with few ingredients--so I had them all!):

Linzer Cookies
3/4 lb of butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
raspberry preserves
powdered sugar

In an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar until smooth.  Add the vanilla, then the flour and salt and mix until the dough comes together.  Dump dough out onto some plastic wrap.  Form it into a disk, wrap completely, and chill for 30 minutes.  Then roll the dough out and cut circles or different shapes you may desire.  Cut a small circle out of half of the shapes.  Place on ungreased baking sheets and chill for another 15 minutes.  Bake in a 350* oven for 20-25 minutes, until edges begin to brown.  Allow to cool to room temperature and make "sandwiches" by spreading the raspberry preserves on the flat side of the cookies without a hole.  Sprinkle powdered sugar on the cookies with a hole and then place those cookies on top of the raspberry preserves.


Day 325: Sunday-Dinner Pot Roast on a Wednesday!  How awesome.

Day 326: Home all day to cook and play!  Spent the morning preparing the sauce and meatballs for the good ol' faithful: spaghetti and meatballs.  I also made up the dough for the gingerbread cookies we would make the next day.

Day 327: Tonight I made Hawaiian pizza and mozzarella spedinis.  These are a very filling but very delicious appetizer!  We also made our gingerbread cookies and read the story "Gingerbread Baby" by Jan Brett as a family.  We moved our family movie night to tonight (Friday) since Randy would be gone Saturday night.  Couch-cuddling and watching "The Santa Clause" was a great way to spend the night!

Mozzarella Spedinis
Inspired by an appetizer we had at Il Forno's about 4 or 5 years ago...

6 slices of white, hearty bread (or however many you want to make)
6 slices of mozzarella cheese
butter
breadcrumbs
2 eggs, beaten + water for dipping
2 cups or so of oil for frying

Spread the butter thinly on the slices of bread and fold in half over a slice of mozzarella cheese.  Press firmly to make a "tight" sandwich.  When the oil is hot enough for frying (350* or so), dip the sandwiches into the egg and water mixture and then into the breadcrumbs and then place in the oil.  Fry the spedinis in batches and place on a paper towel when golden brown and finished frying.  Serve with warm marinara sauce.

Day 328: Randy was out tonight so the kids and I rocked the leftover pizza from last night.  Delicious and easy!

Day 329: (Sunday 12/14) Surprise birthday party in the family!  I made a carrot-cake and chocolate-praline crisps.  Here is the EASY recipe for those crisps:

Chocolate Praline Crisps
12 whole graham crackers
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups chopped pecans
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Layer the graham crackers on a baking sheet.  In a saucepan, bring the brown sugar, butter, and vanilla to a boil and boil for 4 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and stir in pecans.  Pour over the graham crackers and bake in a 350* oven for 10-14 minutes or until bubbly and pecans are lightly toasted.  Let cool slightly.  Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave and then, using a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off, drizzle the chocolate over the crisps.  Let cool until chocolate is firm.  Cut into triangles to serve.

Didn't get a picture of the crisps, but the cake was pretty enough for 2 pictures!

Day 330: Our church had an outreach event at Roll-On America, our Happy Birthday, Jesus! party.  It was a great night with pizza included!  Dinner=done. :)

Day 331: TODAY!!!  Served up some restaurant-style salsa along with chicken quesadillas.  #comfortfood

#yesplease