http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/blogs/ ChefTalk.com Cooking Forums - Food and Cooking disucssion for the professional and the at home cook. en Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:22:26 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/images/styles/cheftalk/misc/rss.jpg http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/blogs/ http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/blogs/rpmcmurphy/103-my-easter-extravaganza-pt-3-final.html Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:07:12 GMT Laurie had the idea of doing stuffed mushrooms with Feta stuffing... Image: http://www.smugmug.com/photos/269231073_96wjc-S.jpg (http://www.smugmug.com/photos/269231073_96wjc-M.jpg) Image: http://www.smugmug.com/photos/269231096_reABz-S.jpg ... Laurie had the idea of doing stuffed mushrooms with Feta stuffing...




Easter morning comes....I wake up at 6 to put the turkey on...this was quite the 'experiment' and I was really unsure "if" it would work..it did.






Baked Mac and Cheese




Mom and Dad came over, Mom making the herring.




No one touched the salad...Mushrooms and Eggs were a big hit...


Yep and a Ham...


And lots of other stuff...


Dessert

Along with the chocolate cake..

Overall, we had VERY little leftovers.....the things I thought would be a hit that were on the original "menu" were not so much (backed mac, asparagus) and the things we added last minute, were a HUGE hit...(stuffed mushrooms, fruit dessert) ]]> RPMcMurphy http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/blogs/rpmcmurphy/103-my-easter-extravaganza-pt-3-final.html http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/blogs/rpmcmurphy/102-my-easter-extravaganza-pt-2.html Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:52:59 GMT Laurie took on flower duty. At one point I made a comment alluding to the fact that I thought the flowers grew those bright color. I'll never live THAT one down...












Had to drop by Marshalls on the way to get my hair cut on Saturday and found a few gems in the cookware dept. 2 all-clad pots and 2 calphalon pans to complete my set..






Chocolate Almond Brownie Cake



]]> RPMcMurphy http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/blogs/rpmcmurphy/102-my-easter-extravaganza-pt-2.html http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/blogs/rpmcmurphy/101-my-easter-extravaganza-pt-1.html Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:47:53 GMT This is the first time our families were meeting. I've never had a dinner where 2 complete families met so it was a little exciting. Her parents and Grandparents came and my parents came along with my sister and her boyfriend. We came up with a huuuuge menu. We just kept adding to it....don't mind the "names" much of it was very campy and inside jokey. We've also been watching a lot of Top Chef. We thought it would be neat to print out a menu...

Easter Menu

Hors d'œuvre
Deviled Eggs
Vegetable Crudités with a Cream Cheese and Chives Spread
Pickled Herring with a Slice of Fresh Onion on Rye
Shrimp Cocktail with Homemade Horseradish Cocktail Sauce
Giant Mushrooms Stuffed with Feta Cheese Topped with Fresh Breadcrumbs
Salads
Simple Green Salad with a Variety of Dressings
Traditional Belarusian Potato Salad
Entrée
Smoked Ham Basted with a Tangerine Glaze
Slow-Roasted Turkey Breast
Fresh and Smoked Sauerkraut Over Kielbasa
Swedish Meatballs
Baked Macaroni & Cheese
Sides
Mashed but Fluffy Potatoes
Mrs. Paul’s Famous Sweet Potatoes
Asparagus Roasted with Garlic and Parmesan
Butter Infused Corn
Homestyle Baked Beans
Jellied Cranberry Sauce
Dessert
Fruit Pie ala Timko
Chocolate Brownie Cake
Babka
Cookies
Coffee
Drinks
Miller Light
Coors
Wine
Soda


Easter started a few days ago making Babka's for the family....someone has to keep the tradition!












Oh yeah I redid my office too...




We dyed eggs...



Don't ask...
]]> RPMcMurphy http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/blogs/rpmcmurphy/101-my-easter-extravaganza-pt-1.html http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/blogs/rpmcmurphy/87-brunch-ish.html Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:37:21 GMT Girlfriend and I whipped up a quick breakfast this weekend that, while it wasn't really all that special, was excellent!! Took about 15 minutes too.

Some ham and cheese mini-fritattas on a biscuit (pilsbury!). Some super special Heinze'de'tobasco sauce. with some left over "whatever was going bad" fruit. Baked them in a square tart pan, not sure why, next time I'll use a muffin tin.

really came out good for a quick 15 minute whip-up.



Don't mind me trying to get all fancy with it. I'm a big dork...





We also tried a test run of a cheesecake we were going to make for Easter dessert....well...the crust scorched :( Probably the silly recipe I used that said temp 500 for 12 minutes after I put the filling in the already baked/browned crust. Silly me for not using my instinct. The filling came out great, however.

No pics as it wasn't all that pretty looking. ]]> RPMcMurphy http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/blogs/rpmcmurphy/87-brunch-ish.html http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/blogs/rpmcmurphy/83-kitchen-back-together-some-turkey-burgers.html Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:09:17 GMT Made some turkey burgers last night after finally getting my kitchen back together (i had made some upgrades) made a bacon ranch sauce, mainly because i wanted to cook the bacon in the cast iron before the burgers. sauteed some veggies quick too. Made about 3 lbs of burgers, (about 8) and... Made some turkey burgers last night after finally getting my kitchen back together (i had made some upgrades)

made a bacon ranch sauce, mainly because i wanted to cook the bacon in the cast iron before the burgers.

sauteed some veggies quick too. Made about 3 lbs of burgers, (about 8) and froze half cooked the rest.







]]> RPMcMurphy http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/blogs/rpmcmurphy/83-kitchen-back-together-some-turkey-burgers.html http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/blogs/rpmcmurphy/74-finally-satisfied-my-ribeye-craving-but-wasnt-easy.html Tue, 04 Mar 2008 01:28:45 GMT Went on a little vacation this weekend to PA, skiing at Eagle Rock resort.

Went to a supposed to be half-way decent restaurant (Top of the 80's was the name), ordered a ribeye medium-rare due to a SERIOUS craving I have been having for one for weeks...and getting it well, no pink, and dark....first time I ever sent food back. Since Laurie was done her meal by the time I sent it back I just told the waitress I'd pick off hers as I was already miffed....the rest of the meal was great though, and Lauries suft and turf was good.

Not to be defeated dad came through and dropped off some ribeyes to the residence when I returned home.

Ribeye cooked perfect (medium rare, even color inside, perfect crust and sear outside)

A kind of Gratin concoction that I made from some left over potatoes (not sure on the types i used, but whatever decided it wanted to start growing roots in my fridge got the ax. Put some heavy creme in a pot and the sliced taters and cooked for a few minutes, then put it in a baking dish, poured another cup of heavy cream and some butter milk (hey it was left over too) and then grated about a cup and a half to 2 cups of Gruyer cheese over it and baked for good 25 min.

]]> RPMcMurphy http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/blogs/rpmcmurphy/74-finally-satisfied-my-ribeye-craving-but-wasnt-easy.html http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/blogs/rpmcmurphy/66-new-cookware-some-thai-stir-fry.html Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:17:20 GMT Sunday is "supports the economy" day usually for me....stumbled on a Le Creuset factory outlet today and they had a sale....(actually, the girlfriend conveniently took me there BEFORE the Coach hand-bag outlet...how can I justify not spending money on a purse after blowing a small fortune on a pot!...I'm on to her....)





Got a cut of sirloin on sale at shoprite, cubed, lots of paprika, some of this "spicy" oil that i picked up, some soy and pepper....let it sit while I threw some Jasmine rice into my new pot.

stir fried the beef up with some red and green peppers, chilis, shitake shrooms, garlic, and shallot, with more soy, and a little fish sauce and I threw some basil in at the end.

The pot worked great for rice....first time I cooked rice where it was this great....perfect stickyness and taste.







]]> RPMcMurphy http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/blogs/rpmcmurphy/66-new-cookware-some-thai-stir-fry.html http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/blogs/rpmcmurphy/61-valentines-day.html Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:18:27 GMT OK 2 updates in 1.....

Valentines day I made 2 desserts for my valentine to choose from....(she had a little of both!)

homemade Strawberry shortcake, with some kickbutt whipped cream I "whipped" up. (nothing special, I just like homemade cream)



and chocolate lava cake (couldnt believe how easy it was!) with vanilla ice cream and chocolate covered strawberry



last night i had my parents over for dinner, partly moms birthday and my father is laying his mother to rest today so I didn't want them cooking.

I made a caprese salad again

appetizer of pesto shrimp





main course of veal with a marsala cream sauce with white truffle oil and capers over linguine and a side of roasted garlic parm asparagus.



and for dessert.....

"Bill Gates Peanut Butter Chocolate Mud" (because its too **** rich!)





]]> RPMcMurphy http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/blogs/rpmcmurphy/61-valentines-day.html