Hello blog readers! Remember how I used to post a bunch of recipes of food that I had recently made? Well I do. Those were the days. I have run into several problems that have kept me from posting recipes as much as I would like. I always eat with my eyes first. When food looks good I want to eat it. I think most of us are like that. When I go on a blog that has poor quality pictures I am not really motivated to try that recipe. Also Holli and I are trying to use our own pictures of food we made and not use them from another blog. We try to take the best pictures we can, but we're no pros. Now that it gets dark early, by the time dinner is ready it's there is not enough light to take good pictures. So we eat it and don't take picures then I never blog about it and that brings us to our
current predicament of no food blog posts. Also Holli has been doing a lot more cooking and I normally only cook on the weekends.
So this is what I have decided to do. If I make something and it's too dark to get a good picture I will post the picture from the blog or website where I got the recipe and will write a small review on it and give some reccomendations. Then if you want to make it you can go to the origional site and find the recipe and make it yourself.
That being said here is a really nice dinner I made when my Sister-in-law Erin and her friend Tillie were visting us from Utah:
Braised Short Ribs with Creamy Gorganzola Polenta by the Pioneer Woman
These were soooooo good. I have been wanting to make these for years! This is fall/winter comfort food at it's best! They weren't too hard to make, but took a decent about of prep time and cooked for about 3 hours. It's not one of those things you whip up real quick, but more like a Sunday dinner or special occasion meal. The original recipe called for goat cheese in the polenta, but I used gorganzola cheese instead. I'm not a huge goat cheese fan. If you don't like eaither I posted a
recipe a while back that uses cream cheese. Just thinking about this meal puts me in a wonderful food coma!
Roasted Carrots with a Honey Balsamic Glaze By me
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| Here is a picture of what my finished product looked like all though I didn't use this recipe |
These were a good addition to the meal. I made a balsamic glaze the night before by adding a couple cups of balsamic vinigar and a coulpe of tablespoons of honey to a small pot and let it boil and reduce way down. Like maybe to 1/3 of the original volume. That made it nice and thick and as it cooks down the balsamic vinigar gets sweeter, but still remains tart. I even used carrots with the greens still on them so it looked very rustic and farm like, similar to the ones in the picture. I coated them in olive oil and a generious amount of salt and pepper and roasted them in the oven for about 30 minutes at 375. Then I brushed them with the glaze and cooked them for about 5 more minutes.
Apple Fritters by Pioneer Woman
I first tried theese at Charly's baby shower. Brinn Willis made them and I about died right there. I could eat a milliuon of these and not feel guilty. They are really easy to make if you don't mind frying things. I would recommend using a candy thermomiter or something so you can keep the oil between 350 and 375. You don't want to burn them, but you also want them to cook fast enough so they don't get soggy. The awesome part is you can make them a day ahead and put them in the fridge. Then when you are ready just throw them back in the oven at 350 for 8-10 minutes and they crisp right back up. Please make a mental note to make these, or at least con someone into mak them for you. You can thank me later.
Maple Brown Sugar Ice Cream by the Pudgy Rabbit
What goes best with deepfried dough? You got it! Ice cream. This ice cream was the perfect combo with the apple fritters. I love ice cream, but even more I love homemade ice cream! This is by far the best ice cream I have ever made! I will definitely be making this again...and again...and again...you get the drift! Don't make the mistake of using normal light brown sugar on this. Buck up and get the dark. It is a good $1.50 investment. It gives the ice cream a deeper flavor.
So there you have it. The perfect meal! Just think, if you come vistit us I may cook you a good meal and blog abou it like this one! Thanks for an awesome visit Erin and Tillie! Our house is always open to visitors!
