Taking a break.
Back to work in a huge way, and am taking a ridiculous amount of MBA classes this summer.

Blue Cheese Dip

Sorry about the lack of updates. You'd think that when I had more time on my hands, I'd be posting more. Somehow the opposite ended up being true.

I have some great job prospects and should have something wrapped up by the end of next week which is awesome. Take that Georgia unemployment rate! But anyways, here's the latest thing I cooked up..a simple blue cheese dip I served with homemade potato chips.

I've been on a blue cheese kick lately, so I made a bechamel sauce with flour, butter, and scalded skim milk and let it thicken. Then I pulled it off the heat, added a container of blue cheese (I told you I've been on a blue cheese kick) and a bunch of chives and pepper.

Sliced up some potatoes on a mandolin, pressed out the water and fried them up. It was a wonderful appetizer to get us through the evening as we headed out.

By the way, I'm thinking of heading to Canoe for the first time..any suggestions?

Roasted Tomato Soup

My husband has been sick the last few days, and when he gets sick all he wants is soup. I made up some chicken and rice soup earlier in the week, but he inhaled it. So I had a bunch of stewed tomatoes in my pantry and made up some roasted tomato soup.

Recipe:
4 cans of stewed tomatoes, liquid separated
1 onion, quartered
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbs Herbes de Provence

Lay the tomatoes, onions, and garlic on a sheet pan and roast for 45 minutes at 350. Reduce the tomato liquid by half over medium high heat. Let the tomato and onion mixture cool, and blend in a blender. Add to the tomato liquid. Season with salt and pepper, and add the Herbes de Provence. Simmer for 30 minutes.

The soup came out great, and just in time. As soon as my husband got over his sinus infection, I got one. At least I have some yummy soup while I'm stuck on the couch the rest of the day.

Quick homemade pizza

So as much time as I have now that my job was eliminated last week, I was NOT in the mood to make some pizza dough. Mostly because I was hungry right then, and was not patient enough to watch it rise. So I headed to my local pizza shop and bought some dough and whipped out my cast iron griddle. I sliced up some tomato, some fresh mozzarella, some basil from my herb box on the patio, and some anchovies (ask me one day about these anchovies, they're legend in my house). I preheated the oven to 450 and cranked up my cast iron on the stove. I toasted the bottom of the dough, added the toppings, then placed the cast iron in the oven for about 7 minutes. Added some freshly grated cheese and the basil and had a wonderful meal all to myself in my big old empty home. The puppies were jealous that all they got to eat was kibble, but they'll get over it.

Someone Actually Reads This?

My site has been chosen as the site of the week over at Atlanta Dish. Please go check it out. These ladies have the best job in the world, and make me jealous every time they update their website.

Thanks ladies for the honor!

Laid-Off Eggplant Gratin

Sorry about that whole lack of posting for a week - getting your position eliminated will do that to you. Anyways, here's a big ol' updated about what I made the other evening for dinner. Sometimes I still impress myself.

I'm not a big fan of eggplant. I've really tried to like it, and every time I tried it I was just told that I'm not eating it prepared correctly. So, in my laid off glory, as I was watching Barefoot Contessa cook an eggplant gratin the other day, I figured I had to try it.

Here is the link to her recipe. The only changes I made was omitted the egg and added a pinch of nutmeg.

This came out amazing and we ate every bite. I served it with a simple romaine and celery heart salad with a lemon mustard vinaigrette and some whole wheat crusty bread with some extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar as a dipping sauce.

For dessert, I made this yogurt cake and made a strawberry sauce with some lemon juice, lemon zest, Splenda, strawberries, and a splash of Grand Mariner.

I was laid off today.
If anyone knows of any open HR Coordinator/Assistant positions, please let me know.
Thank you.

Plank Poses = The Suck

I've decided that Jillian needs to lay off the plank poses and the military presses in Level 2. My shoulders are killing me. I did sign up for an online community to keep me motivated to get through it. Summer will be here before you know it, and I'm sitting about 10lbs heavier than I was last summer. Ugh.

I'm exhausted after the fundraiser. We were able to raise more money than we thought, which is always great. We had a blast. I can't wait to do another one.

Didn't do much yesterday. We ended up with about 90 leftover chicken wings, which we attempted to eat for lunch. Zach and I failed miserably, only eating 2 wings each before pushing the plate away. Oh well, we tried.

Have a huge project for one of my MBA classes that is coming due faster than I would like. That is pretty much my entire day..and probably will take up most of the next week or two.

Making a cabbage and sausage pie tonight for dinner which should be yummy. I'm in the mood for a bit of comfort food. I even made zucchini bread last night. Delicious.

Attempt at a Celebration

Tried to go to Varasano’s last night for a celebration after our great fundraiser for the MS Society. Sat down at the bar, got a drink, and as soon as we placed our order..the bartender told us that Jeff wasn't happy with the dough so he was shutting down the kitchen. We got our drinks for free, a coupon for our next visit, and were told to come back.

Not my idea of a celebration, but maybe I'll try again soon.

Sweetwater Brewery Event

My husband and I are involved with the Multiple Sclerosis Society of GA here in Atlanta. It's a great organization with wonderful people who are fighting a horrible disease. Zach and I have offered to run and host a fundraiser on THIS SATURDAY March 28th from 1-4PM at the Sweetwater Brewery.

We are offering private beer tastings, brewery tours, food, music, networking, and great company...all for a wonderful cause.

The cost is $25 in advance and $30 at the door, with all proceeds benefiting the MS Society of GA.

You can get your advance ticket, directions to the brewery, and more information on the MS Society of GA at http://mssocietysweetwater.blogspot.com.

Please consider joining us at this great event.

Birthday at BLT Steak

I mentioned that I convinced my husband to take me to BLT Steak for my birthday. I'd been super excited about it since it opened, and was not deterred in the least bit by the string of bad reviews during opening week. And boy, am I so glad we went!

We had a birthday feast is the best way I can describe it. We started off with a half dozen oysters while I sipped on some procecco and Zach enjoyed a martini. The chicken liver pate was out of this world (anyone have the recipe? I'd kill a small child for it right about now). We then noshed on a field green salad (which was a little too mustardy for me, but I'm not mustard's number one fan) and some tuna tartar with crispy shallots and a soy lime dressing. Amazing!

After we finished our salads and those popover STILL weren't out, we began asking for them. Like a lot. I felt like I was an addict who didn't have her pills. And boy, did they live up to the hype. I quickly swiped the recipe card and will be making them very soon. I will also attempt a whole wheat version of them just to try and be slightly healthy. But I have found a new addiction in the form of BLT Steak's gruyere popovers. I'm getting the shakes just thinking about them!

We split the porterhouse for two, and ended up with a doggie bag that our dogs will never come near. We are not ones for sauces for our steaks, but the red wine sauce was delicious. I haven't had a baked potato in about 3 years, so I ordered one that came out about the size of my head with sour cream, chives, bacon, and chedder cheese. On my recommendation, Zach ordered and quickly devoured the BBQ corn. I think I was able to sneak a bite, but he did growl at me haha. We ended up with a faboulous bottle of wine from a very attentive sommelier that we sipped as we watched people flow in and out of the W.

I've become slightly obsessed with rhubarb lately (as in I'm determined to consume it more and cook with it for the first time ever) so a marscapone cheese cake with a strawberry rhubarb soup topped with strawberries instantly caught my eye. It did not dissapoint. After 3 hours we waddled our way out of the restaurant with our doggie bag, full tummies, and a giant 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY MELISSA' from the staff as we walked out.

Zach refused to let me take pictures of the amazing food, but I couldn't have asked for a better meal.

Much Better Than the Drive-Thru

Made myself a quick little bacon, egg, and cheese whole wheat bagel to scarf down before I headed to class and it just looked so pretty, it needed a photo.

30 Day Shred - Level 2

Just stepped it up to level 2 of the 30 Day Shred. I've been able to get about 2 workouts a week in with Jillian, and level 2 is awesome! I was getting pretty bored with level 1, but was too much of a wuss to go to level 2. I'm so glad I did today - I'm covered in sweat. Should hit the gym this afternoon for a long cardio session before I head off to my group meeting at 7 as well, but I'm quite pleased with level 2.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Buns

In an act of bordem today, I was searching through The Kitchen Sink Recipies website and stumbled upon these delicious little buggers. So away I went.

Modifications: I used 2.5 cups of whole wheat flour instead of AP flour. I also used 1/2 a cup of brown sugar and 1/4 cup of splenda for the 3/4 cup of brown sugar mixture. I also added some vanilla to the glaze, and omitted the cream cheese.

These came out amazing - mine finished up in about 18 minutes..rare considering it is whole wheat flour. Usually they take an extra 5 minutes or so. Delicious, and they made the house smell amazing.

Dinner from the Fridge

So I noticed that my shitake and crimini mushrooms were starting to look a little tired when I was making breakfast yesterday morning, so I was determined to use them for dinner last night. I was a little worse for the wear once we finished running errands: no defrosted meat, some spinach, leftover brie, a lemon that was just as sleepy as my mushrooms, some white wine, olives, and some parm cheese. It took me about 15 minutes to come up with a great meal.

I should note, that I made fresh pasta for this recipe - I make the whole wheat recipe that came with my Kitchenaid attachments and it's never failed me. I made super thin angel hair pasta which came out amazing.

Recipe:

2 cups of mushrooms, sliced
1 clove of garlic
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup white wine
1 tbs butter
1/2 cup parm cheese
Zest of 1 lemon
2 tbs lemon juice
Cooked pasta

Sautee the mushrooms and garlic in the olive oil. When cooked through, add the white wine and allow that to reduce. Take the mushrooms off the heat. In the meantime, cook and drain the pasta. Add the pasta right to the pan of mushrooms. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, butter, and cheese and toss to combine. Serve with a salad of spinach, lemon vinaigrette, brie cheese, and olives and you're good to go!

Viking Cooking Class

So I've been dying to take a real cooking class for quite a few years. For whatever reason, I was browsing Viking's website to see how out of reach their classes were, and I was so surprised to see how reasonably priced they are! So my husband and I registered for their Best of: Special Dinner class with the following menu:

Pancetta-Wrapped Filet Mignon stuffed with Boursin Creamed Spinach and Shallot-Merlot Demi-Glace
Oven-Roasted Frites
Baby Greens with Candied Pine Nuts

I'm way more excited about this than I should be. April 17th can't come soon enough.

Bon Appetit Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Carrots

So I did it. I made a recipe from this month's Bon Appetit! *dances around*

I pretty much followed it as written, except I took the pan I seared the pork in and put that right in the oven, and left the carrots separate on their own sheet pan. I also reduced down some balsamic vinegar with some orange peel and agave nectar for a sauce.

There's really not much else to say: this meal was fabulous.

Orange Coconut Granola

Was a little hungry this afternoon as I was cleaning the house like a mad-woman, so I dug through my pantry and was very excited when I discovered I had all the ingredients for my granola recipe.

All I do is take about a cup of oats, 1/4 cup of oil, 1/4 cup of agave necter, the zest of one orange, and a third of a cup of unsweetened coconut. Toss it all together, put it in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350, turning halfway, and I've got a great afternoon snack with a banana.

Limoncello Update

As I posted before, I made a Greek themed dinner. I know limoncello is Italian, but the flavor seemed like the perfect ending to a flavorful dinner.

I still have about a week and a half to go on the second part of the recipe, but we couldn't resist a taste. The flavor is amazing..sweet, thick, easy to drink, and very lemony, but I see some room for improvement over the next week or so. Mostly, the sweet is separated from the lemon vodka flavor - the first taste is spot on, but the swallow and the aftertaste is distinctly lemon vodka. Hopefully this will mellow over time.

This does warrant more samples over the next 12 days of course ;)

Greek Chicken Patties

Zach and I hit up the AJC Auto Show for something to do on a rainy Sunday, and I decided to make up some greek chicken patties for dinner. I've been making these off and on for a while, and I have no idea where I got the recipe for them.

First, I sauteed some spinach with some garlic and lemon zest and let it cool. Then in a bowl I added the spinach, feta cheese, cumin, salt, pepper, dill, oregano, and green onion to the ground chicken. Formed those up as some patties and made some tsiziki for a topping. I also cut up some sweet potatoes and put them in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes for some sweet potato fries.





Came out delicious, and I served it up with some warm pita and the extra tsiziki sauce. Going to finish it off with some of the homemade limoncello to see how it's coming along. The limoncello is in the freezer in a shot glass right now. Can't wait to see how it tastes.

Homemade Limoncello

My grandmother has probably taken about 6 sips of alcohol in her almost 78 years. That's why I was so flabbergasted when she called me up all excited about this new endeavor she had taken: homemade limoncello. The process took her about 3 weeks, and every time I called, I got a status update. When I finally got the verdict, she simply said to me "I created a bottle of gold." That's when I asked for the recipe and stocked up on some lemons.

I'm about halfway through the process. First, I bought some really cheap vodka and ran it through my Brita filter about 5 times. That process in itself is amazing. Then I added the zest of 8 lemons and let it sit for 2 weeks. That's where I'm at now. After 2 weeks, you take the (now) lemon vodka, and add a cooled simple syrup to it (1.5 cups of sugar and 2 cups of water) and bottle it back up for 2-3 weeks.

Here is the vodka after 2 weeks of steeping with the lemons (the lemon vodka itself tastes delicious by the way):



Cooking the simple syrup:


I'll update this in 2-3 weeks when I'll apparently have created 750ml of gold. I'll let you know.

Next on the list - making vanilla vodka.

Homemade Chicken Stock

So now that I finally have a day off to catch up on things, I decided to empty out my freezer and my vegetable crisper and make some homemade chicken stock. I used a leftover carcass from a roast chicken I made a few weeks ago, some celery, onion, garlic, and some portobello mushrooms stems I had saved. I was lacking in the carrot department, and only had one clove of garlic (gasp!), but what can you do.

The ingredients, minus the bird of course:


I added about 10 cups of water to just barely cover..and I let it go for about 3 or 4 hours.


The finished product is the first picture. Now, time to figure out something for dinner with this lovely stock.

Long day ahead with not much to report

I'm back in the swing of things coming off my Spring Break from GA State. My MBA classes start back up tonight and I'll be tied up from 7:30 am to 10:30 pm. Makes for long days, but it's worth it. They sure don't give those MBAs away!

My birthday is coming up on the 25th and I've finally decided that I want to check out BLT Steak for my evening out. Any thoughts?

We are also going out on the 27th to celebrate Zach's most recent success in his practice, and he chose Hals for his meal. We've been there a bunch of times for drinks and music..it's a great little gem right down the street from us, but I've never had dinner there. Looking forward to a few good meals.

Thanks to Jimmy at Eat It Atlanta for plugging our MS Fundraiser at Sweetwater. You made my day! Go check his site out..it's a must read.

Made some stuffed pork last night. My step-mother-in-law (is that the correct term?) gave me a seasoning blend called Gator Sprinkle from Florida that she swears by. They don't list ingredients, but it seems like a mix of salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and sweet paprika with some other stuff mixed it. Nice easy seasoning for pork chops. I stuffed them with fresh spinach and a touch of goat cheese. That, some lemon linguine with parm cheese and parsley, and a salad was a nice satisfying meal after 40 minutes on the treadmill last night. Back to leftover chili for this evening..there will be no dinner cooking at 10:30 at night!

Have tomorrow off, and outside of a ton of errands, will be planning on making some chicken stock. I'm about out of mine and I have a bunch of frozen chicken parts I've been saving for a while. Time to clean out the freezer and get some stock made. I'm also thinking of hitting up a farmer's market for the first time since I moved to Atlanta..any suggestions?

Back in the ATL

Vegas was a great time. We made it to the strip twice...once just for a quick round of gambling, and the other to go out with my father in law for some drinks. I finally was able to hit Mesa, Bobby Flay's restaurant at Caeser's Palace. We had a glass of wine and a few appetizers and let me tell you..I'm going to steal his goat cheese queso dip recipe. I bothered the bartender until he told me the basic composition of it, and I'll go from there. It was delicious. Unfortunatly, I didn't get any pictures of the fabulous food, but we noshed on the goat cheese dip, squid, and a spicy duck pancake. A great end to a wonderful weekend full of family and new friends.

We also ran into a free agent who is interviewing with the Falcons today on our plane ride last night. We didn't catch his name, so I'm interested to see who he is, but he told us he's interviewing with Atlanta and he plays defense. I'm interested. He certaintly looked qualified haha. I can't wait for football to start. I'm stoked about our season tickets this year.

We got back into Atlanta around 9 last night when I hit Publix and whipped up some chili dogs before we headed off to bed. No pictures again, but I've been making these for years. It's the only time I make beanless chili. A delicious way to stuff our faces with the doggies next to us before passing out for the evening.

Between heading to the west coast for just long enough to get used to Pacific time and the daylight savings time change, I'm all messed up. Need to get through today at work, then get caught up on some school work and house work. Dinner may just be leftover chili dogs..we'll have to see.

Down Market Mussels

My husband is a Wealth Manager at Merrill Lynch. Therefore, I keep a close eye on the market to get an idea as to his mood. Seeing as the market was down as it was today, I decided to cheer him up with a nice meal before we spend the rest of the evening packing for Vegas.

I have no idea where this recipe came from..I've just always used it for my mussels.


First I cleaned the mussels, checked for any broken ones, and added them to a pot with a half cup of white wine and covered the pot. After the steamed for about ten minutes, I fished them out and let them cool.


Mussels cooling off in the pot.

In the meantime, I melted some butter, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a pan and let that combine and reduce. I added a shot of cream, then mussels, and a handful of chopped parsley. Toss it with some pasta. Ta-da! Dinner accomplished.

The day before Vegas

I've been to Aja a few times..first off, I'm a sucker for that beautiful bar. I've been to Emeril's about a half dozen times, and never had any desire to go past the bar. It's stunning. Same with Aja - never had a bite of food, but the drinks aren't bad. We went last night for a networking event on a Wednesday night and they BLASTED 10 year old Britney Spears, followed by Smooth Operator. I couldn't even hear Zach sitting next to me. It was horrid. Needless to say, Aja is now off my list of acceptable restaurants.

Other than that, the night was good. We ended up at Two Urban Licks to nosh on some salmon chips which are the most amazing concoction in the world. Headed home at a decent time and I crashed with the long dogs curled up next to me. Not a bad end to the evening by any means.

And I have a confession to make..I got tied up at work and didn't do day 3 of the Shred. I had enough time to let the puppies out, clean the kitchen, and then Zach was there for us to leave. So, sorry Jillian - I owe you a workout tonight.

Already ran some errands for the Vegas trip tomorrow AM. Looking forward to getting out of the city and having a nice, relaxing weekend. Amanda is coming after all..so we'll see how the storm cloud behaves. *rolls eyes*

Got my new issue of Bon Appetit in the mail which, along with the January issue of Food and Wine (I swear I ACCIDENTLY stole it from my doctor's office), will keep me happy and hungry on the flight to Vegas. I plan on posting about at least one of the recipies, as I'm determined to make my subscription worth it.

Didn't do any cooking last night - as Mortons and Two Urban Licks supplied the grub for last evening. Will have to come up with something for tonight..we'll see how that goes.

Nibbles at Mortons and a Social at Aja

So Zach and I are headed for a quick bite to eat at Mortons (serving free fillet mignone sanwiches to celebrate their annviersary) and then off to a cocktail social at Aja for the High Museum. We joined in December, and so far they've had a lot of cool events for us to spend our time at. No real reason for this one, but it's right down the street - and you can't go wrong with a cash bar and free appetizers. Plus it starts at 6:30..I could use an early night. Day 3 of the Shred is coming up after work..with just enough time to shower and change before we have to head out. I'm sore today, mostly my calves and my abs and the first circuit yesterday was torture, but I'm going to finish up this week..whether I like it or not. Maybe I need another week of level one before I move up to level 2. This thing is a beast.

Oh, and by the way, can I tell you how excited a BLT Steak is now in Atlanta? *dances around* I can't wait to go. Plus $20 for all you can eat mussels and a glass of wine at Dogwood? Never been there, but may have to give it a try. Stupid Atlanta and all of it's AMAZING restaurants. Now I'm hungry.

Oven Fried Chicken

So what's a girl to do when her husband is tempted by the evil creature that is the wholesaler who will buy him free drinks just to listen to him speak? Why you make the best oven fried chicken in Atlanta..that's what!

Of course, made with whole wheat flour, I enticed him home with this, a beer, and some sugar snap peas. Oh..and the cool HD screensaver of a fireplace is pretty nifty too.

Thirty Day Shred update...day 2 sucks. I'm tired and I'm sore already. But I got through it without collapsing. Here's to day three!

Pittsburgh Maybe?

So after Zach's sister came into town a few weeks ago, we decided to visit her this summer. With some handy A+ Airtran credits and a great sale from Airtran, we happily booked our flights for June 6-8th and saved a fortune.

However, things are gloomy in the world of Amanda once again, so we may be re-routing our flight to Pittsburgh for the weekend. We'll see how it goes.

30 Day Shred - Day 1

So I bought the 30 Day Shred based on way too many reviews at Amazon. With my crazy schedule, I figured I could get some benefit out of a 20 minute workout - even if it wasn't going to change my life. Of course, it arrived the day before I had a cyst removed from my back that sidelined me for a week. So I finally picked it up yesterday, dusted off my 5 lb dumbbells and headed into level one.

And the verdict? So far, so good. Not totally sore but I felt like I went to the gym yesterday. Planning on doing it every night the rest of the week until we head to Vegas Friday morning. We'll see how it goes - hoping to hit level 2 next week.

Another Dinner Party in the Books

So we had Zach's business partner and his wife over for dinner last night. I've been bugging Zach to let me start to entertain, but considering my house is about 1,000 square feet, it turned into "Zach, start letting me entertain 3 people or less".

Holly decided she wanted a Mexican themed cocktail, so I based dinner around that. I spent most of the day cooking and cleaning, so pictures were at a premium, but I did manage to snap a picture of my goat cheese spread before it was gobbled up. If anyone cares for the recipe, let me know.

My menu included: guacamole, salsa, goat cheese spread with cumin, dill, mint, and olive oil and margarita cocktails for starters; chicken thighs with a tomatillo and pepita salsa with jasmine rice and white wine for a main course; and cinnamon profiterols with coffee ice cream and homemade chocolate sauce for dessert.

It went pretty well - I was impressed with my ability to go dinner party with ingredients I've never used before. Another feather in the hat of Melissa, the wanna-be-Barefoot Contessa.

Alcohol + Silent Auction = Bad Idea

So over the weekend we went to a chili cookoff and silent auction that my friend Leslie was putting on to benefit the Make A Wish Foundation. Zach and I have gotten into charity a lot the past 6 months and not only decided to make an appearance, but decided to look at the auction items as well.

The problem was, the cookoff was held at Atlanta Brewing Company with unlimited beer, so by the time we got to the auction, Zach wanted everything. We have been talking about buying a piece of original artwork for a long time, and have visited the art festivals at Piedmont park the last few years looking for something, but whether it be the alcohol, our good will, or the chili..we bid and and bought our first original piece.

It looks beautiful in the house..and the fact it's a tax deduction makes it even prettier.