Good Eats Archives - Page 2 of 2

Impromptu Gatsby Dinner Party!

August 29, 2013 by Susan Leave a Comment

Looking for a great excuse to have a girls night and a mini-dinner party? The release of The Great Gatsby on DVD is a great one!

I was one of those folks who realllllly wanted to see this film in the theater but unfortunately never had the chance. So with it’s release on Tuesday, I chatted with a sweet friend about watching it together…

Here was the plan… a quiet Wednesday evening and a movie. What did it turn into? Homemade pizzas, chocolate covered fruit, champagne with strawberries and of course the glitter and glam that is Gatsby.

Minus the actual glitter and glam. We wanted to be comfortable.

Then the phone rang and it was my sister. Who had no plans for this dull Wednesday night. I tempted her with the champagne and pizza just enough for her to make the hour commute to Newport News and join in what now was becoming a Girls Night Gatsby Party!

Then the phone rang again. It was my mom. She was working about 30 minutes away from my house. I mentioned our ‘now party’ and she drove a bit further to come join in on the fun!

I was oh so excited to get these sweet peppers and lonesome tomato out of my garden for the pizzas! They were delicious!

We ate a few macaroons as our appetizer… You know, a normal and totally healthy pre-dinner snack.

This was the line up and options for pizza toppings…. green peppers, sweet peppers, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms of all sorts, pineapple, spinach, pepperoni, and cheeses!

Sarah tried to go all-italian-mobster-legit on her pizza dough…

Leslie, the champagne opening expert that she is, snuck outside to pop the booze open! It shot all the way to the garden. We are entering her in the Champagne Opening Olympics next year.

Cheers ladies! To Mr Gatsby!

The Happy Pizza Makers:

Rockie even joined us for the movie… He now likes to be call Mr. Catsby!

Did I mention how off the hook Sarah’s dessert was? Chocolate covered strawberries, bananas and pineapple!

And just in case you were wondering where all the Gatsby glitter and glam of the evening was (and still is) … it’s on my dining table.

With a wedding theme of Gold and Glitter I’m pretty positive watching Gatsby AFTER most of the planning has taken place was a good thing. Because if I was just starting now I’m very sure we would be having a Roaring 20s themed wedding…

Until next time, Old Sport…

Community Pancake Breakfast

July 6, 2013 by Susan Leave a Comment

Have I mentioned that Hertford, the town my family’s cottage is located in, has many similarities to Andy’s Mayberry? On any given day you can walk down the main street and get three scoops of ice cream for 70 cents. (It used to be 25 cents when I was a kid. Darn inflation.) You can get fresh squeezed Lemonade for 50 cents. You can sit on benches in front of the quaint little court house and watch people pass by. There’s a handful of antique stores and a historic hardware store. My family owns the little Carriage House Tea Cafe in the midst of town serving the best chicken salad you will ever eat. Oh and the town is particularly proud of the fact that is has the only “S Bridge” in North America, not to mention the local icon: The Turtle Log. (Yep, it’s a log. And turtles sit on it.)

It’s definitely got charm and I’ve been lucky enough to spend a good chunk of my summers down here, splashing around in the water and enjoying the sunshine. But this morning was a first.

Community Pancake Breakfast.

My dad, Godmothers, my Mom and I piled into the car to head to one of the cutest little building you will ever see. We had a mission: All you can eat, pancakes and sausage, for $5.

Challenge accepted.

My dad, extremely serious about he plain pancakes and no sausage meal.

Jean, proud of her pancake successes!

You learn to socialize with all the “neighbors” quite quickly.

For the record, I ate a mere 5 blueberry pancakes. I expected better from myself but hey, this girl is going to have to fit into a wedding gown in 4 months and 3 days… No need to go too crazy.

#notpaleo

Frozen Fourth of July Treat

July 4, 2013 by Susan 2 Comments

For the record, I’m that girl. The girl who has a macbook pro, an ipad, an iphone, and even an old dell laptop… but I still try to carry my imac with me as much as possible. For some reason I absolutely dread doing anything creative on my macbook pro. I need a big screen. I need to spread things out, digitally. I need somewhere to hang my hat.

That being said, Happy Fourth of July! In between all the rain and storms yesterday, I was baking away! It was my mom’s birthday (which you will hear about in a couple of days) so our favorite orange cake was in order. But with today being Independence Day I figured a festive holiday treat was also necessary! Without further ado, let me introduce you to one of the most delicious Fourth of July dessert this side of the Mississippi.

I guess you could call it a Fruity Frozen Berry Flattened Trifle.

I found a recipe years ago, that I just can’t seem to re-find, online. It was for the most delicious trifle I’ve ever had! This go round though, I decided, with the mugginess and ultra-humid weather we’ve been having, it would be even more of a winner if I could turn it into a frozen treat.

So I did.

Here’s what you need:

Two Sleeves of Graham Crackers

One stick of Melted Butter

One Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk (For a slightly lighter, less rich taste use fat free)

Approximately 8 ounces of Greek Yogurt. Four-ish of Pineapple Greek and Four-ish of Lemon Greek. (Again, for a slightly, less rich taste you can use normal yogurt)

An average sized lemon to zest and squeeze the juice

One 8 ounce Container of Thawed Cool Whip

Half of an Angel Food Cake (I did store bought)

Approximately 1.5 cups of Fresh Strawberries

Approximately 1.5 cups of Fresh Blueberries

**Please keep in mind that I love to cook and bake but rarely do I measure anything. I just do it. It drives my fiance crazy. And then I think “Man! I should’ve documented and measured so I could blog it!” All of the ingredients are approximations and depend on the size dessert you make. I used an 18×12 inch cookie sheet.

Take the Grahams, double ziplock bag ’em, then smash them to bits! Add the melted butter and mix into the bag.

On your cookie sheet, spread out some wax paper. This makes for a much easier cleanup. Lay the buttery grahams out and press them down hard. Making a make-shift crust. I popped it into the oven, on 350 degrees for about 5 minutes to help bind it. {Not sure if this is necessary or not though since you will be freezing it.}

In a separate mixing bowl you need to mix your yogurt, sweetened condensed milk, zest the lemon until you don’t feel like zesting anymore, then cut the lemon in half and squeeze it’s contents into the bowl, sans the seeds. Then blend in the Cool Whip.

Cut up your strawberries and tear up the Angel Food Cake. You could cut it, but let’s be real… it’s way more fun to tear it up. More than likely it will take you back to your first birthday where they told you to run amok with the cake. DO IT! And do it so the pieces are small squares.

I highly recommend fresh fruit. Unless you are in Hertford, NC. In which case they “ran out” of blueberries. I have never made this with frozen fruit before but in my mind, they are going to be frozen in the long run - this should just save on the freezing process? (Bottom Line: Stick with the fresh if you can.)

On top of your grahamy crust, lay out some blues and straws… berries that is. This ensures that even when the top looks like the American Flag, your happy family and friends will get some of each fruit.

Put a layer of the Angel Food Cake down. Surprisingly this is AWESOME when frozen. Then smooth the layer of your fruity cool whip concoction on top of the cake.

Use your slices strawberries and blueberries to make the top look like the American Flag. OR, I think this would look just as pretty, scatter the strawberries and blueberries around like you did on top of the grahams. Use your creative juices to figure out your frozen treat decor.

Cover it up and pop it in the freezer. I let mine freeze through the night. It’s still a bit gooey because of the contents, but my oh my! You’re going to enjoy!

Happy Fourth of July Friends.

#thisisnotpaleo

Guten Abend Meine Freunden

October 26, 2012 by Susan 6 Comments

It’s Friday night.

My boyfriend is off buying yet another man-toy for his garage that looks something like this…

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… and not this…

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My roommate just headed out for the weekend and the house is all mine, which means I am blasting this recently downloaded itunes purchase…

Anyone else a t-swift fan? Have you listened to this yet? I’ve only made it to song two thus far… so far so good, but I’m hoping she stays true to her country roots. In my personal opinion, she doesn’t need get too poppy and beiber-ish. But she’s gotta pay the bills, and I get that.

Anywho! I’m sure you must be wondering why this post title is in German. {After 4 years of German in high school, I was pretty impressed I remembered A. How to say “good evening my friends” and B. How to spell it correctly!

Sehr gute Susan! Du bist eine Rockstar!

The title is auf deutsch for two simple foreign country-ish reasons.

1. I’m heading to the land of Heidi, Fondu, and Yodeling {Switzerland} in 37 days! Woot Woo! I mean yodel-ay-ee-oooooooo

and

2. Because today I ate at the most delicious German restaurant Hampton Roads has to offer, The German Pantry. (If you are local, it’s a tiny hole in the wall kinda place right off Military Highway by the ORF airport… check it out!)

It was so legit that I happily ate a bratwurst, pretzel roll, warm potato salad, and spaetzle for lunch.

So ! Much ! Food !

German beer would have been consumed had it not been 1:30p in the midst of a work day!

I was so excited to eat real German food I forgot to take a photo prior to inhaling half my meal!

With all that being said, it’s 7:45p and I am still completely full from lunch still. I must be stuck in the German version of a Thanksgiving food coma. If only I had some German Chocolate Cake right now. Sigh.

I think it’s time to go bust out my rain boots and start preparing for Hurricane Sandy. I have purchased the essentials (wine, water, dark chocolate and peanut butter) to get me through the storm. Keep the East Coast and our battened hatches in your thoughts this weekend…