BBQ

Last night my brothers and I went to my parents house for a going away bbq for Corey, my youngest brother, who is going back to college today.

To start out we had shrimp cocktail and guacamole for appetizers. We tend to have these alot because the frozen shrimp at our local Costco, is really surprisingly good. Yum!


For the BBQ, we had a mix of things. Grilled vegetables, salmon with aioli, BBQ ribs, salad, tomato mozzarella, potatoes, and corn.

My mom and I stopped by a farm on Long Island, and picked up a ton of vegetables, dill, cilantro, corn, potatoes, zucchini, lettuce, tomatoes, and sunflowers.

We grilled the vegetables, and made tomato mozzarella and basil salad. Lastly, we steamed the potatoes and the corn. I think the plan is to make potato salad today.


For the main dishes, my mom made BBQ ribs, and I prepared the wild salmon with dill aoili.

To make the ribs, she first boiled the meat on the stove until it was fork tender. In the pot, was water, and tons of fresh oranges.

She then slathered them with bbq sauce and put them on the grill for twenty mins.
Yum!


For the wild salmon with aioli. I first rubbed the salmon with olive oil, and generously seasoned it with salt and pepper. I then layered fresh dill and lemon slices over the fish, wrapped it tin foil, and grilled it for 25mins.

To make the aioli, I combined 1 cup of mayonnaise with 1/2 cup of lemon juice, 2 tbsp fresh dill, and salt and pepper. When the fish was done, I drizzled the mixture over the top.

Fifty Six Union

The second night my friends were in Nantucket, we decided to go out to dinner at a restaurant called Fifty Six Union. It is on the outskirts of town, and with a menu inspired by global cuisines, affordable prices, and 1/2 portions of entrees available it seemed like a good fit.

We started out with a variety of appetizers. I had a little bit of my friends, which included
Philly Cheese Steak
marinated & seared beef , carmelized onion, pepperjack, american, & provolone cheese, in a spring roll wrapper


Crab Ragoons
jonah & lump crab, confetti peppers, cilantro, scallion, cream cheese, & mascarpone filled won tons - spicy asian yellow pepper coulis

These were both so delicious. The crab ragoons, were crispy on outside, creamy and perfect. Yum!

We all had the seared tuna for dinner. The restaurant offered half portions, which was perfect, because the appetizers and bread were quite filling.

The tuna had a delicious wasabi mayo sauce along with it.


Finally for dessert with split a warm blondie with vanilla ice cream and toffee. It was rich and incredible. IT was huge! I couldnt imagine having the whole thing.

Nantucket-Part 2, Dinner with Friends

My girlfriends came to Nantucket from Wed through Saturday. We had a great time, hanging out relaxing, and eating some really great food.

The first night, we had dinner at my house. We started out with a variety of appetizers.

Chips with Dip (Queso & Spicy Salsa), Brie and fresh peaches, Jalapano Cheddar Cheese with Crackers, and Shrimp Cocktail.

For the main course...we had a big ceasar salad with grilled chicken and a crusty baguette. We were pretty stuffed from the appetizer so this was the perfect main course.

In our group, 1/2 are Chardonnay drinkers, and the other half likes Pinot Grigo. My friend Kristian brought a wine that was the perfect solution. 1/2 Pinot/1/2 Chardonnay. It was soooo delcious.


I had never heard of Luna de Luna, but will definetly buy this again. It was a crowd pleaser...not too sweet either. It hit the spot.

Vacation Hiatus-Nantucket part 1

My apologies for slacking on my posts..
I just finished up my summer session of school, and between finals, and trying to get everything in on time. I took a bit of a hiatus from blogging. I was lucky enough to go straight from finals, onto a week long vacation in Nantucket.

When we arrived in Cape Cod, I was seriously craving a lobster roll. I got the most delicous one at little restaurant, while we waited for our ferry to Nantucket.

It was incredible, with a minimal amount of mayo and tons of chunky lobster meat, and fresh chunks of celery and pickle. It was served on a hot dog bun with chips on the side.. Mmm the perfect way to start a vacation.

But here is the first of several recaps of my time on vacation, over the past week 1/2 in Nantucket.

We ate out most nights, so there were many delicious meals. My boyfriend came from Chicago for three days, and my friends for the last three. There were so many fun dinners out and lots of wine

The first night Phil and I went to Arnos, Main Street. A restaurant that has affordable casual eats.

We both started out with the Ceasar Salad. The dressing was creamy and delicious. I love when there are big chunks of parmesan cheese in the salad like this one.


For my main course, I had the tuna tartare...which was delicious. Looking back, I think I had tuna five nights that I was on the island. This was especially good and sushi grade tuna.

Phil got the ribs, that were falling off the bone and soooo delicious. They were wet ribs with a very sweet barbeque sauce. I helped him eat a few.


My parents came to Nantucket the following night, and they were pretty pooped from their trip over. Once again, they wanted something casual, so I suggested we go back to Arno's since the food was good, and the menu is universally pleasing.

On the second night....we started with appetizers:

Bruschetta

& Spinach and Artichoke Dip.

Overall I wasn't impressed with either. The dip was basically melted cheese, and the crostini was over done on the brushetta.

My main course, mussels, was delicious though. I love seafood, so this was right up my alley. They were in a light white wine broth, with cloves of garlic, and dicey tomatos. Simple and pleasing.

Drinks and Appetizers

I have been on a bit of a hiatus from posting to the blog, since I started school. But things should be less hectic this week and the next, with my all day class now over.


This past Friday, I had some girlfriends over for drinks at appetizers at my parents house. We had originally planned to do it outside, but it started to rain so I moved everything into the basement instead.


On the menu was:

Shrimp Cocktail with cocktail sauce and a yogurt aioli

Tomato, mozzarella, and basil skewers, dressed in olive oil and balsamic

Cold Spinach and artichoke dip

Turkey sausage stuffed with red pepper, and feta

Assorted cheese, brie with raspberry preserves and crackers

Lemoncello with sparkling water and blueberries

Wine




I made everything far in advance so that I could get ready and relax with my friends when they came over.

I bought a big bag of frozen shrimp at Costco and defrosted them.

To make the yogurt aioli, I combined
½ cup of mayo
½ cup of yogurt
1 tbsp of maple syrup
2 tbsp of mustard
And turmeric

I served this along with cocktail sauce.



For the basil, mozzarella, tomato skewers, I marinated the tomatoes in olive oil and then on tiny skewers I arranged them. It was a really easy alternative to a salad, and very convenient to eat.

For the spinach and artichoke dish, it was very simple. I cut up veggies for the crudite, and cut a hole out of a sour dough round bread loaf.

To make the dip, I combined 1/2 cup of reduced fat mayo and 16oz of sour cream with a packet of frozen spinach and Knorrs spinach dip seasoning packet. I love this stuff, its sooo easy to make and delicious (Not to mention addicting). Sometimes we serve it with tortilla chips, but the left over bread was perfect for scooping out the dip.



I wanted to spice up the usual cheese and crackers. So along with cheddar, I selected Brie at the cheese shop. I love the combination of the nutty Brie, with sweet preserves. I used raspberry here, but blueberry, or rhubarb would be delicious.

Aside from just wine, I also made a cocktail. I normally make Sangria, because its easy and delicious. This was a recipe I recently saw on "Giada's Cooking at Home" and it looked interesting.

I combined 1 bottle of lemoncello with sparkling water and blueberries.

The drink was a bit too strong for me, and tasted similar to a lemon drop, but I think with a little less lemoncello, and the inclusion of lemonade it could be wonderful.



Here’s a look at the spread:


More postings to come this week

Banana Bread

Tonight I made banana bread for my family. My Dad loves bananas, but is unfortunately allergic to them raw.

I made this for him to take to work, as a nutritious convenient breakfast. For only 180 calories per serving, it is definitely a healthy and delicious way to start the day!

I let the bananas ripen until they were covered in dark spots and so sweet that the smell of them mashed, wafted through the room.

First I added the sugar and butter to the blender. I then mixed this until creamy and incorporated the egg, banana, and vanilla.

The result? A beautiful yellow batter, that tasted as good as it looked. It was slightly chunky when I put it in the oven, but came out moist and delicious.

I used apple sauce instead of yogurt (Because we didn't have this on hand). I really think that's one ingredient that's interchangeable.

Yum!


Recipe courtesy of Cooking Light:

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cooking spray
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Nutritional Information
Calories:187 (21% from fat)
Fat:4.3g (sat 2.4g,mono 1.2g,poly 0.3g)
Protein:3.3g
Carbohydrate:34.4g
Fiber:1.1g
Cholesterol:40mg
Iron:1mg
Sodium:198mg
Calcium:20mg

Rhubarb blueberry pie, with crumb topping.

In celebration of the 4th of July, I adapted my strawberry rhubarb crisp into a rhubarb blueberry pie. We had two frozen pie crusts in the freezer, so it was easy to convert the recipe into this.


To start, I rolled the pie crust out and baked it for 15mins, then let it cool.


I then chopped up the rhubarb and combined with the blueberries in a large bowl.



Next I combined the fruit, with the lemon, sugar and other dry ingredients.


I then added the crumb topping and baked until bubbly and golden Mmmm

Here is the complete recipe:
For the filling:
1/2 pint blueberries
1/2 pound rhubarb, large dice (CAUTION: the leaves are poisonous! only use the red)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon tapioca starch (this can be found in the Asian aisle, or you can use corn starch)
1/4 teaspoon all spice
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice.

Mix together the blueberries, rhubarb, sugar, tapioca starch, cinnamon, all spice, salt and lemon juice. Mix well and pour into invididual buttered ramekins.

For the crisp:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup rolled oats
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoon cold butter, cut into small peices (Leave in fridge til last minute)
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of fine sea salt


Preheat Oven to 375

Mix together brown sugar, oats and flour. Add the cut up butter and using a pastry blender (or cold hands), cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it resemebles the size of peas. This will take approximently 5-10mins, be patient. Mix in the cinnamon and salt.

Sprinkle the mixture evently over the fruit mixture. Bake until the filling is bubbly and top is brown, about 30minutes.