Nibbles

A Hawaii Five-0 Milestone Birthday Luau!

Nibbles

We had so much fun this weekend!

Post-Party Selfie

Post-Party Selfie

One thing about Todd is that, while he doesn’t mind celebrating mine or anyone else’s birthday, he’s not what you would call enthusiastic about celebrating his own birthday. Which is why I was so surprised when he told me, one night before bed, that he thought of the perfect theme for his 50th birthday: his Hawaii 5-0!

Anyone up for a luau?

Setting the Scene

Oriental Trading was kind enough to send me a box of goodies for the party, including leis, decorations, and tableware. I combined them with items I’d saved from a previous promotion (long-time readers may recall the Avocado party from 2013) and beach-themed items I’d stowed away after a wedding shower I threw in 2010.

Now, I’m not necessarily thumbing my nose at the de-cluttering movement but, well, maybe I am a little. There’s a lot to be said for hanging on to decorations and party supplies (even through 2 moves) because you just don’t know when you’ll be able to use them again. And if I’d had to start over from scratch? Oof! (Did you know I “broke up with” FlyLady back in the day when she suggested we cull any craft supplies we hadn’t used in 6 months?) The important thing is how you store it! I keep decor items in bins organized by color, so for this party I knew I could grab beachy items from the blue bin and utensils and other decor from the green bin.

So I took the new stuff from Oriental Trading and combined it with my decor stashes to decorate our dining room and entryway fit for a luau.

Perfect use for a coat tree when the weather warms up? I think so!

Perfect use for a coat tree when the weather warms up? I think so!

To be ready to greet our guests, I draped the leis over the newel post and on our coat tree so I could deck them in flowers as soon as they arrived.

I once read in a mid-century party guide that the perfect hostess greets her guests at the door, takes their coat, and offers them a drink. While it might be old fashioned, is it really all that bad an idea? The problem comes when the drinks cart is two rooms away from the door, so I thought it might be worth a try setting up a drink station in our main hall.

A two-tier beverage station ready to go!

A two-tier beverage station ready to go!

Our console table was just the right size to hold a punch bowl, glasses, and two pitchers, and the inflatable canoe cooler from Oriental Trading snugged right underneath to hold cold beers. Not only was it convenient to offer guests a drink as they entered, it kept the party moving around the house a little more than if everything were in the dining room (the way we usually do it). Along with the leis from Oriental Trading, I also received some hibiscus hair clips that I hooked to the netting on the table as decoration until our guests arrived and claimed them for their own. It was a great way to have them handy without just having them in a pile somewhere!

Speaking of keeping people moving, there is some debate on whether it’s a good idea to have seating available or not (to encourage folks to mingle). It depends largely on the type of party I’m throwing, but for the luau I knew people would want to sit and enjoy their food, not have to juggle their plate and drink.

Our guests appreciated the place to put down their drink and plate and relax.

Our guests appreciated the place to put down their drink and plate and relax.

 

I took the chairs from around the dining room table and dispersed them through the library and living rooms with some small, wooden folding tables. We also had seating available out on the front porch for anyone who wanted to enjoy the beautiful day it turned into (despite predictions of all-day rain).

These palm trees were a quick way to really give the room a luau vibe.

These palm trees were a quick way to really give the room a luau vibe.

In the dining room I decorated our windows with these fabulous foil palm trees. They’re meant to hang from the centers but it was no problem to rearrange the fronds and hook them over the curtain rods. The looked fabulous with our gold curtains and the cheeky little sun hanging between them was just plain fun!

Just because it's off to the side, I didn't want to neglect the mantle for decorating potential.

Just because it’s off to the side, I didn’t want to neglect the mantle for decorating potential.

The dining room mantle featured cotton netting, seashells, and beach glass from my stash, and those charming tin lanterns are from Oriental Trading from a few years ago (similar ones can still be found on their site in white). That’s the great thing about a luau theme, bright colors and beachy items all work together seamlessly!

A Little Mood Music

While I wasn’t too worried about providing entertainment–I’ve learned that guests are quite capable of entertaining themselves and each other when the right atmosphere is provided–I did want to add a little something to the background.

As an Amazon Prime member I’ve really been enjoying the albums and playlists available through Amazon Music at no extra cost. For the party I put together a playlist featuring Israel Kamakawiwo’ole (aka Iz), the Beach Boys, Jimmy Buffet, and even a little Bob Marley. They also had several classic hula and luau albums I selected some songs from. All told it was about 3 hours worth of music and I set up my Kindle tablet and a small portable speaker in the hallway.

Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a way to share the playlist, but if you’re a Prime member and haven’t checked out their streaming services, I’d definitely recommend it!

The Menu

The shining star of the luau, of course, is the food! After all, a luau is a feast first and foremost, and I got a lot of help with my menu planning from The Polynesian Cultural Center.

What everyone looks forward to: the food!

What everyone looks forward to: the food!

Roast Pig
King’s Hawaiian Rolls
Condiments (Mayo, Grainy Mustard, BBQ Sauce)

Hawaiian Chicken Legs
Lomilomi Salmon
Sweet Leilani Luau Salad
Potato Salad

Hawaiian Cheese Dip
Assorted Crackers
Fruit Tray

Banana Pudding
Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes

Luau Punch
Sweet Tea
Sparkling Hibiscus Berry Tea
Beer and Soda

A whole pig is synonymous with a luau and it was the first thing I knew we needed. Now, I considered doing the pig myself and looked into multiple ways but, thankfully, came to my senses and called our favorite local barbecue joint to see if they would be willing and able to handle the roasting duties for us. Man, did they delivery!

That's some pig!

That’s some pig!

Not only did Fallin’s source and smoke a whole pig for us and the owner, John, delivered in on Saturday afternoon, they did it for an amazing price, too. There was no need to carve the pork, once you peeled back the skin it just came off in pieces with tongs. And the flavor was amazing. Our guests unanimously agreed that it was delicious–not too much smoke, just right. Of course, this is just one of the many reasons we love Fallin’s, but it’s a big one!

Preparing the Lomilomi Salmon the day before gave the flavors time to mingle.

The napkins from OTC coordinated nicely with the plates we purchased at Sam’s Club.

I’d taken Friday off of work so I could prep as many of the dishes as possible and not have to rush before the party started at 2pm. It helps that a lot of the side dishes were meant to be served cold or had components that could be put together and combined just before the party.

Those chicken legs... wow!

Those chicken legs… wow!

The Hawaiian Chicken Legs were a particular hit, and it’s all thanks to marinating them overnight. I did tweak the recipe just a little bit as I had a surfeit of pineapple juice and, unfortunately, Kikoman soy sauce which the recipe originator claimed too salty for the job. So I improvised with 3/4 c of soy sauce, 3/4 c of water, and 3/4 c pineapple juice per batch. Between that, the brown sugar, and the coconut milk, the chicken turned out the best I’ve ever made.

The fresh pineapple in the Sweet Leilani Luau Salad worked to marinate the rest of the vegetables overnight, then I added the actual dressing about 15 minutes before combining it with the quinoa I made in the rice cooked just before the party.

The fresh pineapple in the Sweet Leilani Luau Salad worked to marinate the rest of the vegetables overnight, then I added the actual dressing about 15 minutes before combining it with the quinoa I made in the rice cooked just before the party.

Another favorite was our vegetarian main dish option: the Sweet Leilani Luau Salad. Quinoa, vegetables, and pineapple with a light dressing of soy sauce and lime juice. Even though most of our friends and family are omnivores, we do have some vegetarians in our crowd and I try to always accommodate their needs with more than a side dish or vegetable platter.

There was one slight mishap with the menu: the Banana Pudding. I’ve made cooked vanilla custard many times with nary an issue, but this time it just didn’t gel. It looked like it was right when I took it off the heat to cool, but after a night in the fridge it was just as liquid as when it went in. Maybe even more so! And baking it long enough to brown the meringue topping didn’t magically pull it together.

But when something like this happens right before the party you just have to roll with it. After all, I knew the components were good, so I put out extra cups and a ladle and the first pan was empty by the end of the party. If you’ve ever had Floating Islands (meringue in a pool of thin vanilla custard sauce), this was a lot like that, but with banana slices and Nila Wafers.

The Pineapple Upside Down Cakes were a big hit!

The Pineapple Upside Down Cakes were a big hit!

But it also didn’t hurt that I’d made a second dessert, as well. Options are a good thing and the mini-Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes might have been the single most time consuming dish of the party (pineapple rings don’t fit into the bottoms of muffin tins, so each little piece of pineapple was trimmed and placed individually, for all 36 cakes) but it was so worth it once I actually tasted one.

While I used the linked recipe for the inspiration, I subbed a Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Yellow Cake mix for reliability and used pineapple juice in place of the water the instructions called for on the box. Another thing to know is that you really need to saturate your cupcake liners with pan spray before filling them to ensure the brown sugar mixture and the cake do not permanently bond to the liners and make a big mess when you unmold them shortly after they come out of the oven.

The End Result

Another view of the buffet, just because.

Another view of the buffet, just because.

Todd and our guests had a wonderful time. Fewer people than expected showed up so we definitely didn’t run out of food (and I won’t have to cook much of anything for the first few days of the week, at least). We showed the house to the few folks who hadn’t been there before, everyone ate their fill and spent some quality time chatting in the library, living room, and on the front porch enjoying the cool breezes and sunshine.

Todd’s dad came into town from Nebraska for the weekend and helped get the bathroom into shape before our guests arrived–they even squeezed in a Lowe’s run Saturday morning after breakfast! We had a nice visit with him before he headed back to the Midwest on Sunday afternoon.

Big thanks to Oriental Trading for providing the decorations and huge props to Fallin’s Barbecue for taking on the pig roast duties. I will faithfully recommend both for their outstanding customer service and products to anyone who asks (and plenty who don’t, truth be told).

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We’re linking up with the Get It Together Link Party this week!

Sunny Sweet Days

Seafood Chowder & Cooking with a Counter’s-Eye View

Nibbles

To complement this week’s post about last week’s menu, I thought I’d try something different and set up my point-and-shoot camera on the counter while I made dinner. It was also a way to test out the camera as a vlogging alternative for my larger camcorder and, despite needing a larger memory card and more frequent charging, I think it’ll do just fine for casual vlogging.

View from the Countertop #1: https://youtu.be/u-26_0wQdnE

Obviously I’ve edited it down significantly as I spend, on average, half an hour making dinner each night, but what did you think? Want me to do this again? Would you like more commentary or is the music background alone cool? Feedback is always welcome. Like I said, this is an experiment.

On the Menu

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Monday: Seafood Chowder (recipe at the end of this post)
Chowder is less a recipe and more a method, at least the way I make it. Usually you start with bacon but I didn’t have any defrosted so I used the more easily divided local-made Italian sausage–it worked just as well. The thing about seafood anything is that you have to be careful not to overcook it or the shellfish will become tough and rubbery–not exactly appetizing. So you wait to add it once everything else is pretty much done and, in this case, I turned off the heat once I added the seafood mix and let the heat of the soup cook the seafood gently–once the shrimp was pink we were good to go.

Tuesday: Coconut Curry Chicken with Basmati Rice
One of the better freezer meals from that first batch I put together, I did forget that the sauce tended to be a bit thin by the end and didn’t thicken it this time. I’ve noted it on my freezer meal master list so the next time I put some up I can note it on the bag. Sometimes I’ll make a version of naan with this, but opted not to because I had a call to be on at 8 and needed to make sure dinner was done and dusted well before then.

Wednesday: Beef Quesadillas and Mexican Corn
A surprisingly good supper, I was just looking for something a little different to do and this came up in a Pinterest search, though I didn’t use any particular recipe. Seasoned beef with tomatoes and green chilies, my sweet potato refried-bean substitute, and plenty of shredded cheese. The Mexican Corn was just as simple: corn, a little diced tomato, a little diced green chilies, salt, pepper, and cumin for flavor. Top with salsa and sour cream (or Greek yogurt, in our case).

Thursday: Breaded Pork Chops, Quinoa, and Green Beans
I almost didn’t cook this night, I was so tired when I got home. But, at the same time, I was in the mood for some home cooking and the pork chops were defrosted so… Three step breading with coconut flour followed by beaten egg and then seasoned gluten-free breadcrumbs. Baked because it was too hot to even consider pan-frying them (plus a touch healthier, I suppose) and I could at least leave the room once the food was in the oven. The quinoa is cooked in our rice cooker with chicken broth, celery, carrots, and a splash of garlic olive oil. Todd’s turns out better (turns out he adds butter at the end) but mine wasn’t too bad.

Friday: “Brown Foods” Night
Otherwise known as appetizers for dinner. Not something we do often (thank goodness) but sometimes you just want to indulge in snacks and not eat a “real” dinner. So that’s what we did. Originally I’d planned to do breakfast for dinner so it wasn’t like this was any worse than the corned beef hash that we would have had. I regret nothing.

Saturday: Roasted Red Pepper Pesto Pasta with Goat Cheese and a Side Salad
Making up for Friday, a bit, this was a meatless meal that started with making the red pepper pesto (super quick and very tasty) and then boiling pasta. Can’t beat simple! Pesto sauces are generally not my favorite as a stand-alone pasta topping but the goat cheese helped smooth it out and even the leftovers were amazing. And the extra pesto came in handy the next night when I was putting together another batch of freezer meals. (Recipe from Table for Two)

Sunday: Greek Lemon Chicken with Tzatziki Sauce and Seasoned Potato Wedges
This was the dinner that almost wasn’t! We got home from the Sam’s/Publix run around 6pm and I got started on the freezer meal prep while Todd went to lay down–he was exhausted! Around 8 something I put the marinade on the chicken and started the potatoes in the oven (seasoned with garlic olive oil, rosemary, oregano, salt, and pepper, like the patates we get at the Greek Festival) and kept going with the freezer meals for another hour. Todd wasn’t interested in getting up for supper–he was out for the night–but I forced myself to sit down and eat something before finishing meal prep. (Recipe from Recipe Runner)

It was after 11pm when I finished the 18 freezer meals. None of these needed any pre-cooking (thank goodness) but they still needed to be put together one by one. In addition to the freezer meals we also added another 7 meals worth of protein to the chest freezer and picked up some of the larger items we needed for the party this coming weekend. All in all a productive, if tiring, day. (And the time change didn’t help matters, but that’s an old rant.)

Seafood Sausage Chowder

Serves 6

2 T Garlic Olive Oil
2 Bell Peppers, Diced
4 Green Onions, Chopped
1/2 lb Italian Sausage, Diced
2 t Salt
1/2 t Black Pepper
1/4 c Flour
6 c Chicken Broth (or 2 T bullion powder and 6 c water)
6 Yukon Gold Potatoes, Peeled and Diced
1 can Coconut Milk
2 lb Seafood Mix

Heat olive oil in a large pot and saute peppers and onions until the peppers start to soften. Add sausage and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle the flour over the vegetable and sausage mixture, stirring to combine the flour with the oil in the pot, forming a roux. Add the potatoes and broth and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender (about 10 minutes). Stir in coconut milk and return to a boil.

Turn off heat (or reduce to low if your seafood mix is still slightly icy) and stir in seafood mix. Cook only as long as it takes for the seafood to cook (judge by the shrimp or squid’s opacity). Adjust seasoning to taste and serve hot.

Enjoy!

Tasting Thomasville: Bacchus

Nibbles

Today’s Tasting Thomasville venue has been mentioned in passing (see our YEP! Bar Crawl post and video) but now gets it’s day in the sun.

I was happy to see that there was a wine bar downtown, Bacchus, when we first moved here. And the fact that it was next door to the yarn shop seemed like a fabulous combo to me! But it wasn’t until our first Valentine’s Day as Thomasville residents that we made the time to visit. They were hosting a wine tasting dinner in the event space next door.

Valentine's Selfie!

Valentine’s Selfie!

Bacchus is located on W Jackson St, "on the bricks" as you come into town on Hwy 319.

Bacchus is located at 229 W Jackson St, “on the bricks” as you come into town on Hwy 319.

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The vintage clutch I used at our wedding making a cameo in this shot–I thought it’d be fun to put it into service for a night out.

Dinner started off with bruschetta and a garden salad served at the table. We shared a table with two other couples and enjoyed chatting with them over dinner.

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The main course was served buffet-style and included Beef Wellington, grilled mushrooms, seasoned potatoes, asparagus, and chicken fettuccine alfredo.

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Dessert was a choice of cheesecake or warm brownie (the brownie might have been a touch underdone, but it was still rich and chocolatey, and the little chocolate arrow was a nice touch).

Our wines, the real reason for the event!

Our wines, the real reason for the event!

Paired with the courses were some very tasty wines.

  • Chamisal Unoaked Chardonnay
    This was really nice and light. I like the idea of a crisp chardonnay, but not the oaky reality of it, so an unoaked version is right up my alley. All the buttery notes with none of the barrel!
  • Bistro Pinot Noir
    Of course we enjoyed this one as we enjoyed almost any Pinot Noir. I think this was Todd’s favorite of the night and, if my searches are pulling up the same one, it’s a very wallet-friendly wine (which is always nice).
  • Broquel Malbec
    This was my favorite of the evening and I find myself, in general, enjoying the spicier notes of a good Malbec more often than the richness of a Pinot Noir these days.
  • Excelsior Cabernet Sauvignon
    I remmeber being surprised by this one, as I usually don’t care for cabernet to drink (I’ll cook with it, but it’s not what I want to sip and savor if there are other options around). This was one very enjoyable, kind of mellow–or it could well be that the three previous wines had mellowed me, your guess!
  • Brachetto Fizz 56
    A sparkling red always peaks my interest because it’s still not super common to find them. This had definite floral and berry notes (a really strong nose, if I recall correctly) but tasted much more subtle.

Overall we definitely enjoyed ourselves at this event. The only downside was that we didn’t get a chance to try their regular menu. Aw, shucks, I guess we’d just have to come back.

Twist my arm why doncha?!

We got our chance during the Downtown Bar Crawl.

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I won’t repeat myself overmuch, but the sushi really was delicious. Todd’s nachos were difficult to eat due to the pretty presentation, but tasty as well. One day we’ll try the sausage nachos (they’ve been out both times we’ve been).

The nacho experience came in handy as our next visit to Bacchus was with friends on Saturday afternoon, we advised them to order a spare plate along with the nachos. I had mentioned, a few years back, that I wanted a party for my 40th and that I didn’t want to plan it myself. Well, L decided it was going to be her project and has just run with it and so now I get to look forward to a wine and cheese event at Bacchus for my birthday! (And yes, I’ll be sure to post all about it!)

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One of the things that will be on the menu (at least the last version I saw) is this duck breast flatbread with goat cheese and caramelized onions. I took a little nibble (Todd ordered it) and it was divine! I somehow neglected to get a picture of the personal-sized spinach and artichoke fondue I ordered that day. I think I was too hungry by then to bother!

Bacchus features a large shaded patio in the back that also joins both the main space and the event space. I attended a Chamber function there and when the Creative District improvements are complete I believe you’ll have a grand view of the amphitheater from said patio.

We adore Bacchus, we just don’t make the time for a leisurely night out that often. Of course, now they’re open for lunch Tuesday through Saturday, so there are more opportunities to stop by.

 

Weekly Menu 2/22-2/28

Nibbles

You know what sounds good when you have the flu? Almost nothing. And yet, a body can’t fight without fuel, so I stuck it out and put together a pretty decent menu for last week.

Weekly menu for the last week in February

Going clockwise from upper left corner:

Monday: Grilled Ham & Cheese Sandwiches and Soup
Soup and sandwiches are usually a pretty safe bet for any night you need a quick and easy meal. The soup was some gumbo we had in the freezer and the sandwiches used up some of the spiral-sliced ham I’d frozen from our New Year’s Day meal.

Tuesday: Carne Asada-style Quinoa Bowls
Thank you slow-cooker and rice cooker–my one-two punch. This was my first day back at work after 4 days out sick and I figured I’d be pretty tired when I got home. I figured right. The recipe from How Sweet It Is was intended for nachos, but I thought a bowl would be easier to eat. Making quinoa in my rice cooker, with chicken broth instead of water, is my new favorite thing, especially on nights like this one.

Wednesday: Classic Chicken and Rice with Green Beans
On Wednesdays Todd works late, so an oven dish with a long lead time always fits in well, here. Super simple to put together and very good comfort food. Which we needed as we were both bone-weary by the end of each day. We struggled through work this week out of necessity, alone.

Thursday & Friday (not pictured) Take Out
That exhaustion was a big part of why Thursday and Friday ended up no-cook nights. I’d allowed for one this week, knowing the likelihood was high of needing a night off, but two? Oh, well. Thursday we got Jimmy John’s (our just opened! and while I have some philosophical issues with the owner’s recent big game hunter kerfuffle, being able to get a decent lettuce wrap won out) and Friday I got a salad from Zaxby’s. And a milkshake. I earned it, trust me!

Saturday: Garlic-Parmesan Pork Chops with Roasted Carrots and Red Potatoes
If I hadn’t earned that milkshake before, the fact that I spent all afternoon and part of the evening fussing with the bathroom tile on Saturday then cooked supper made up for any former lack. That was a long day, folks! The pork had been defrosting the last couple of days so, really, all I had to do was slice and dice the carrots and potatoes and toss them in the oven for an hour. Not exactly neurosurgery. But I did spice things up by adding some garam masala and ground mustard to the olive oil, salt, pepper, parsley, and paprika that I usually season them with.

Sunday: Sweet-Potato and Kale Turkey Burgers with Coleslaw
These turned out a lot better than I was expecting–you just never know with turkey burgers. The sweet potato and kale were really good with the ground turkey and I’m glad we have two more batches of these in the freezer. The recipe came from Multiply Delicious.

So here’s a question: What’s your favorite “sick” food? The one you always turn to when you’re feeling under the weather. Is it the classic chicken noodle soup? I’m partial to egg drop soup when I’m feeling icky, but we’d just had that the previous week, and then Todd made us chicken noodle soup a few days later.

Something Mom used to make when I was little was milktoast (milquetoast?). Has anyone else had that before? It’s milk, just barely scalded (the point just before boiling where the little bubbles form around the edge of the pan), sweetened with a bit of sugar, with torn up pieces of white bread stirred in. It was comfort food when I was sick and a treat on occasional cold winter’s nights. I haven’t made it for myself in ages, but when it’s cold and I’ve got the flu, I do think about it sometimes.

The other fun food thing we did this weekend was turn the leftover King Cake (which I’d stashed in the fridge so it wouldn’t go bad) into bread pudding. Since it’s a brioche loaf to begin with, it seemed like it would work okay. The banana filling and sugar on top did make for a slightly sweeter pudding than usual, but I was relieved to see that the colored sugar didn’t turn the mix technicolor. Just a little hint here or there.

Have a tasty week!

Of Menus and Radishes

Nibbles

This was a big week, food-wise! Lunar New Year, Mardi Gras, and Valentine’s Day all within 7 days… Let’s dig in!

Meals and Radishes

Monday: Lunar New Year Feast!
In honor of the Year of the Monkey I decided it was a good time to look into Lunar New Year dinner customs and found a good resource at ChinaHighlights.com. Along with another site I failed to bookmark (oops!) I devised a 6-dish menu that, I think, hit the high points of the celebratory dinner. Everything about the Lunar New Year is about prosperity, so the food tends to either resemble symbols of wealth (like spring rolls resembling ingots) or have homophonic names (a lot easier in a culture whose language depends tremendously on inflection for meaning).

I steamed almost-whole catfish (head-on would be traditional, but I didn’t miss it–have you looked at a catfish face lately?) with a broth of chicken stock, soy sauce, fish sauce, and ginger. Then I used the same broth to cook and flavor our “Longevity noodles” with cabbage. The noodles were the small rice noodles sometimes known as cellophane noodles, the important thing is that they are long (see the play on words) and these definitely qualified. It was nice to see that leafy greens are synonymous with money and good fortune across cultures, too.

I purchased dumplings and spring rolls to reheat, as well as tangerines to serve as is. Then I made the sticky rice cakes from a Chow Hound recipe. They’re less like a cake, more like a cooked pudding, and reminded me of cream of wheat meets rice pudding. All these dishes, plus the baking for the next day, made for a late supper and a messy kitchen, but it turned out to be totally worth it. And we learned about cultural traditions in the process!

King Cake 2016!

King Cake 2016!

Tuesday: Sushi & King Cake with Friends
A friend of ours organized a dinner meetup at our favorite sushi place and of course we said yes, even if it was Fat Tuesday. Since we were meeting friends after work, I made an extra King Cake to bring with us. This year’s experiment used the brioche recipe from Gluten Free Baking Classics (by Annalise Roberts of My Gluten-Free Table) with the Bananas Foster filling recipe from Tasting Table. Not only was the brioche amazing on its own, the banana filling was a nice change from the cinnamon sugar we usually default to. Granted, I opted out of the cream cheese and just subbed a 4th banana for it, and I used frozen bananas from our banana bread-to-be stash instead of fresh. They cook down faster.

Wednesday: Maple-Mustard Pork Chops with Roasted Green Beans and Red Potatoes
I was so glad I had this one in the freezer to pull out for a relatively quick meal. When I got home I chopped up the potatoes and tossed them with olive oil and seasonings along with a bag of frozen green beans. In the oven they went, occupying half a cookie sheet lined with foil and pinched in the center to create a barrier. After half an hour the pork chops went onto the open half and back into the oven. Made for some easy clean-up to sort of make up for the mess from Monday.

Thursday: Coconut Curry Chicken with Basmati Rice and Not-Exactly-Naan
Another freezer meal, this one for the slow cooker. The house smelled divine when we got home, but I found the sauce to be a bit thin, so added more salt, garam masala, and an arrowroot slurry to pull it all together. Much better. I’ve been working on my gluten-free “naan” for a while and this one, while still not quite perfect, was a big hit with Todd. It was 3:2 GF Bisquik and Self-Rising cornmeal, an egg, a can of coconut milk, and seasonings (salt, cilantro, chives, and garlic oil), mixed and griddled.

Friday: Bacon Pancakes and Eggs
We’ve all seen these online, right? I hadn’t tried it and figured it would be a fun Friday-night supper. I tried laying the cooked bacon on the griddle and pouring the batter over it and the other way around. Pouring the pancakes first yielded prettier pancakes by far. Once again, Pamela’s pancake mix rocks!

Saturday: Spaghetti and Meat Sauce with a Green Salad
I knew we’d be working on the bathroom so I wanted something relatively simple and high on the comfort food meter for Saturday’s supper. Now, I’ve written about how a spaghetti dinner isn’t exactly cheap when you’re on a restricted diet, this time I avoided one of the major expenses (specialty marinara sauce) and threw together my own. Not something I always feel like fussing with on a weeknight, but on a weekend I will.

Sunday: Lemon Dump Chicken, Brown Rice, and Caramel Apple Tarts
Such an ignoble name for a tasty slow-cooker supper, we really enjoyed this freezer meal and I have no idea where I copied the recipe down from. Basically it’s chicken breasts, a couple of lemons (halved, but otherwise intact), carrots, Brussels sprouts, and seasonings. I hadn’t planned on a starch, but there was so much juice in the slow cooker that I decided some brown rice would not go amiss. The Caramel Apple Tarts were part of the Omaha Steaks gift package Todd’s mom sent us for Christmas. Very High-FODMAP between the wheat and apples (and we added vanilla ice cream), but just the right size for a splurge. I regret nothing. And in honor of Valentine’s Day I broke out grandma’s china and poured us a little wine, too.

When I was putting together our salads Saturday night, I remembered that I recorded a video back at the beginning of January about the neat little trick I use to get perfect radish slices. So I dug out the footage for you and here it is!

Direct link for the feed readers: Perfect Radish Slices!

Here’s to a tasty week, my friends!