Birthday Brunch

I had the pleasure of throwing a birthday brunch for my bff! We had eggs, bacon, croissants, sausages and homefries! For dessert we had amazing bourbon peach pies by Anne, and I made my first strawberry mouse. Yum!

Beach Eats

After a great trip to the beach, we hopped over to restaurant we've never been to. Here's what I ate:





Coconut curry veggies over basmati rice, and a spinach salad. I loved the salad, and just thought the curry dish was OK. Ah well.



My husband's haddock. I wish I had ordered this instead, ah well. The nachos were disappointing though. I like to load mine up.

Overdue Pics

Pork Souvlaki



Strawberry Cake



Honey Mustard Glazed Chicken
I made the glaze myself - just winged it!



Lazy Meal : Mushrooms with Egg Noodles & Garlic Bread



Veggie Quesadillas



Creamy Green Onion Mashed Potatoes with Grilled Lemon Chicken





Chocolate Cake for My Mom's Birthday



One of the Best New Year's Meals Ever! Thanks to my Aunt and Uncle!



My Vasilopita (Greek New Years Bread)



What happens when dough is placed on warm cookie sheets? Disaster!



My dessert plate over the holidays. I have a thing for custard! The little roll on the left is filled with bocconcini. Who knew?



My Mom's Lamb in Red Sauce.



Her "stuffing" -- which is a very tasty rice dish!



Her spanakopita.



Her roast lamb.



Grilled Haddock, oven baked salmon and spanakorizo.





My mom's famous galaktobouriko. No one gets their philo as crispy as hers, and her custard is perfect.



Turducken my brother in-law ordered.

Hilopites with Beef

I absolutly love this sauce! I have done this red sauce with chicken, but this time, went with stew beef. This is a brief description, since its late and I'm tired after a tough workout! Nice to be back!

I sauteed onions with olive oil, and browned the meet, and then add some basic tomato sauce. I also added a few cups of water. I flavoured the sauce with salt, pepper, cinnamon and a few bay leaves. I was simmering this on the stove, but worried that the meat wouldn't be tender enough. I decided to put it in the oven, uncovered, at 300 degrees. After one hour, I added the hilopites and took the pot out after another hour. This sauce is also great over hand cut fries --my mom would make that for me. Yum!!

Enjoying the Harvest!

So far, have picked 2 delicious cucumber, and picked our first zucchini today. Look a how SHINY that zucchini is! Still waiting for the tomatoes to get color...

Banana Bran Muffins

This easy recipe was found here . I doubled the recipe, used a bit less oil and added an extra banana, and made a couple of minor changes. My variation of the recipe is below. They turned out great and were very moist and not too sweet.

2 c. flour
4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
2/3 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 c. All Bran, slightly smushed
2 c. skim milk
3 lg. mashed bananas
2 eggs
3 tbsp. vegetable oil

Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl, and hand mix the rest of the ingredients in another bowl. Let the wet ingredients sit for 5 min minutes, and then add the dry ingredients to them. Pour the batter in paper lined muffin tins and place in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until cooked through. Done.

Party at My House

I love throwing parties. Sure, they can be a bit of work, but who cares about that once the food is served? Other then under seasoning the potatoes (my fault!) , everything was super delicious. My husband manned the grill with his bro cooking up some delicious Italian sausages. I also got to make beer can chicken -- loved it!


Hot Italian Sausages : We started off with some of these delicious sausages. They were spritzed with lemon and accompanied by grilled panini bread and tzaziki.


Mussels : My mom made these - for the first time ever! They were steamed with wine, garlic, tomatoes and onion. The juice was great for bread dipping too.


Mushrooms: I added onions, bell peppers and red chilies. They were further flavoured with salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.


Salad : Mixed greens, peppers, onions, tomatoes, etc.


Zucchini Fusilli : A simple pasta with zucchinis, and a homemade sauce made of plum tomatoes and spices.


BBQ Potatoes : These poor guys were under seasoned. Woops.


Meat : T-Bone, Prime Rib and Strip loin steaks, and pork chops. Wicked.




Beer Can Chicken : My proud moment that day! It is best right out of the oven, but it was still delicious when company arrived. I used a Montreal chicken rub for the marinade.

Unfortunately, dessert was forgotten, picture wise. I will make up for that the next time around.