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Recipe Review

Banana Pudding
Southern Living magazine

Ah, one of R's favorites. Banana pudding is one of those desserts that the hubby constantly bugs me over, "When are you going to make me banana pudding?" "Mmmmm, sure would love some banana pudding right about now." Okay, R. Roger. Got it. Noted.

Southern Living must have recognized hubbies' summer needs and included this recipe in a recent magazine. Also met the wives intent with keep it light. Thank you, Southern Living.

I began by making the pudding.


Then you just layer the sliced bananas, (light) vanilla waffers and pudding a few times.

Top is off with some stiffened egg whites.

And bake!

Doesn't it look beautiful?

Then this....

The recipe doesn't say anything about cooling in the fridge. Just says to let it sit for about 30 minutes. I did put it in the fridge for about an hour, but as soon as we sliced into it, the 'pudding' just ran everywhere. What a mess. So we put it back in the fridge and let it sit over night. Clearly the key! Was much better the next day. The taste was totally there, so I will not be discouraged.

Girl likeability - 4
Boy likeability - 4 (the next day)
Ease of preparation - 3.5

Avg 3.8. Cafeteria-style. Totally like momma's cookin', although hers would've turned out much better than mine. Large quantities; great for a family Sunday dinner.

Luray Caverns

My parents came up a few weekends ago for my brother's last summer ball weekend with the Rockbridge Rapids. Rockbridge is about three hours from where we live, so a trip down for a game is difficult to come by. This weekend, however, they were playing in Harrisonburg, about two hours away.

I haven't seen my parents since Christmas 2009. Figured we should spend a little time together for the day. Therefore, we agreed to meet at Luray Caverns prior to the game.

The tour is self-guided with a headset that gives you information on the caverns.

The part of the canern with the Stalacpipe Organ was pretty neat. The video below shows how it works.

After the caverns we headed to Harrisonburg. During inning five it began to rain. Unfortunately the game was rained out, BUT Chris' team walked away with a W.

Recipe Review

Almost-Famous Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Prep time:
Total time:

I discovered P.F. Chang's only a few months ago. Hello, where have I been? Anyway, R insisted we get the chicken lettuce wraps. Good thing, because they were sooo good. Only a month or so later, my Food Network Magazine had a recipe for Almost-Famous Chicken Lettuce Wraps, a take off the P.F. Chang version.  

I started out by making the stir-fry sauce. I couldn't find rice wine in the grocery store, so I used dry white wine instead.

I coated the chicken next and stored it in the fridge until needed.

The noodles were my favorite part. The package I bought included three bundles of noodles. I heated up the oil and thought it was ready, but nothing exciting was happening when I put the noodles in. At first I thought I bought the wrong noodles, but I gave it a few more minutes to heat up and tried again. The noodles bubble up super quick, like one second, and they're ready to take out.  They're pretty tasteless, but have a great crunch to them. Making mental note to use these noodles in more dishes!

Cooking the veggies. I think I burned them a bit. Oops!

And voila!
Suggest you don't put the hot chicken mixture on top of the noodles. Doing that makes them 'melt,' for lack of a better term, and they tighten up.

R and I both really enjoyed the dish. There are a lot of components; lots of pots and cooking going on, so this is a good recipe for a multi-tasker. I wouldn't say the dish is complicating, but all the different parts can be a turnoff.

Girl likeability - 4
Boy likeability - 4
Ease of preparation - 1.5

Score: 3.16 - totally buffet-style. Would be great for a party/large group. Eat 'em with your hands, and enjoy!

Oh, how fast they grow

Awwww, so little and so cute.



25 pounds later...

She's really grown into her face, and most of her body feels like solid rock. She's still a puppy, though, and loves to chew on things, chase her tail and play. Still waiting for another 20 pounds...oh my!

Recipe Review

Recipe Review
Bay Scallop Gratin
Prep time: 20 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes

It's rare that I watch any actual cooking shows on Food Network these days. I'm way more into the reality TV shows. One day while watching Barefoot Contessa (I was likely cleaning my room, or something) I saw her make this scallop dish that looked amazing, and simple! I thought I'd give it a try.

Now I'm all about saving a few bucks in my homemade dinners. This recipe calls for Prosciutto di Parma. I used cooked bacon. It also calls for Pernod. I don't even know what that is, so I left it out.
:)

I blended all the ingredients it called for.


Then I folded in the panko breadcrums.


I used these oven-safe bowls that I have (not a gratin dish. Oh well.) I poured some white wine in the bottom and topped the scallops (four per bowl) with the butter mixture (above).

It was a lot more food than it looks. Four scallops really filled me up. I didn't buy french bread at the store. Instead, I just toasted in the over some sliced wheat bread we have in our cabinet that we use for sandwiches.

So, uh, I think I over-cooked the scallops. Oops!

Otherwise, the topping was really good, and went great with the toasted bread. R gave the topping a 4 rating. Suggested next time we cook the topping separately, pan sear the scallops, then combine, rather than cooking all together in the oven. Noted.

As a whole dish, over-cooked scallops and all:

Girl likeability - 3

Boy likeability - 2.5

Ease of preparation - 4 (surprisingly easy for an Ina Garten recipe!)

Score - 3: Buffet-style. Could easily make this in large serving. If you use small scallops, would be great for a one-bite dish. I could go back for more.

Happy 4th!

R and I took a very long weekend to spend some quality time in Wilmington, N.C. during the 4th of July. Our trip began rather slowly. This was the first time we'd taken our new pup, Rosie on a long car ride with Milo. She didn't adjust well, and motion sickness quickly took over. The frequent stops on top of DC traffic turned our typical 5.5-hour trip into 7.5 hours. Ugh. But we made it.

First thing Friday morning we had to slowly introduce Rosie to my in-laws' pup, Bailey. Bailey's a little thing. Rosie immediately wanted to play. Surprisingly they got along pretty well most of the visit. Bailey must be getting used to new pups in the house.

I spent every single day by the pool. I'm now two shades darker than before the trip.

We kayaked one day, took a boat ride another. Nothing beats having family that lives at the beach!

On the 4th the neighborhood had a cookout complete with red, white and blue jello shots!

The in-laws' neighbors ROCK. Seriously. They are all pretty much amazing people, their kids and all!

Here's R with some of the boys:

R and me.

Hope you all had a happy 4th of July!

Recipe Review

Easy Red Beans and Rice

Prep time: 30 minutes

Total time: One hour

My college friend, Jared, likes to cook, and he blogs all of his own recipes (check out Nice Vices and Spices). I'm a big fan. Recently, he's updated a number of new recipes, I can't keep up!

I'm finally getting around to this side dish that stuck out to me as something both myself and the boy would enjoy.

I sliced up some mild Italian sausage and cooked it till brown.

Then I made the rue. I used whole wheat flour in my attempt to make this a bit healthier. I did add the two cups of water, but left it there. I didn't add another cup because then I would've cooked this thing down in too long of a time.

Then I added in the beans and sausage, as well as the spices.

Added in my cooked rice (which took 45 minutes to cook; could use instant rice if you wanted.) And voila! A very hearty side dish or meal. We ate this as a side dish with grilled chicken, but could totally be eaten on its own.

I added a ton of spice; ended up being almost too spicy for R. Oh well!

Totally thought this was a success! Be sure to have friends over to share this with you, though, because it makes a TON.

Girl likeability - 4

Boy likeability - 3

Ease of preparation - 2 (Jared calls this "easy" red beans and rice, but I know my readers, and this recipe ain't "easy" in their book. :)

Score - 3 - Buffet-style: Large portions and simple food. A definitely crowd pleaser!

Kisses!

Remember when I blogged about welcoming Rosie into our family, but Milo was having trouble warming up to her?



The tables have turned. They are now best buds - brother and sister - and sometimes they like to show it.



Milo and Rosie from Stefanie on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday, Army!

The U.S. Army will celebrate its 235th birthday Monday, June 14.

Each year the Army celebrates with a fancy ball in the DC area. I'm working the public affairs piece for Army Birthday this year, so I thought I would treat myself to an evening of fun.

First I'd like to highlight that my hair stylists would charge me $90 to get an up-do. No, thank you. Instead I checked out do-it-yourself videos on YouTube, got some tips, and did my up-do all by myself. What say you?


This year's ball was held at the Gaylord, a newer hotel in National Harbor, MD. Stunning. (I tried my best to get a good photo of the ballroom, but the lighting wasn't working on my side.)




The evening began with a song by country music star, Trace Adkins and the West Point Glee Club.


After some introductions we moved on to the best part, DINNER!

Any meal with mozzerella will be an instant fav for me. This was our salad course:


Then the entree course, which consisted of beef tenderloin (soo good!) and crab cake.


Ahh, dessert. Yum!
(Poor R, who's allergic to chocolate, couldn't enjoy this.)



Dinner was followed by a short show by the Army's Drill Team;



And the Army Hearald Trumpets played:



Of course, you can't have a birthday celebration without cake. Trace Adkins about to cut the birthday cake (with his sword!):


Trace Adkins, whoo's a HUGE supporter of the troops. played an hour show after. He was amazing. We had such a great time.

Happy Birthday, Army!

Recipe Review

Frogmore Stew

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

You can never go wrong with Frogmore Stew (a.k.a Low Country Boil) for dinner. I liked this recipe because you make it for how many people you're trying to feed (rather than the typical recipe that makes enough for four.) It tells you how much food per person; you increase the amounts from there depending on the number of people. In my case, two!

All you really need to prep is the ingredients; chopping them up. You also need to give the water some time to boil.

I didn't have cheesecloth, so I just threw the celery in the water as is.

Then after adding in the sausage, I added the corn.

Then the shrimp (I have frozen that I get on my monthly trips to Costco.)

About 20 minutes later, dinner's ready! I just threw it in a bowl and let us pick up what we wanted.

Our assessment? Larger, fresh shrimp would make a huge difference. R missed his potatoes (he's such a manly man.) Overall, we were happy with it.

Boy's likability - 3.5

Girl's likability - 3

Ease of preparation - 5

Average: 3.8 - Cafeteria-style. It's like momma's cookin' (but not quite as good). Totally feeds a crowd, and you can pick and choose what you want!

Milo and Rosie

Untitled from Stefanie on Vimeo.

Her name is Rosie...

R's been talking about a puppy for a while now. A bull terrier puppy, to be exact.

I love my hubby, so when a solid breeder with four new puppies came along who lived nearby, I supported R in his decision to add a new addition to our household.

Her name is Rosalita. "Rosie" for short.

She is now nine weeks old. Some of her favorite things? Peeing. Chewing. Biting. Yep - typical puppy behavior.

Thanks to the nice weather we've been able to spend a lot of time with her outside. These photos are from when we first got her - 8-weeks-old.

Rosie loves, LOVEs her daddy. R's been so great with her. He wakes up extra early to take her out, and stays up late so that she can get one last pee in. They cuddle. She's definitely Daddy's Little Girl.

How is she getting along with Milo, you ask?

Well, here's one of her absolutely favorite things to do with Milo:

Yeah, he's not a fan. (Would love some tips on how to mix the two!)

I'm looking forward to her adult teeth coming in, and her ability to control her bladder. I'm looking forward to spending time with her for the next several years. Hope you all like her, too!