Every once in awhile, I second guess a magazine purchase, I end up with a recipe like this … an OMG if I ever had one, that totally makes the magazine cost worth every penny.  Heck, it even made the groceries for the entire trip (let alone the ingredients for the recipe) worth every penny.  Remember awhile back I told you about the Baked Crab Rangoons that The Neighbor Husband made?  This blows that one to bits.  To smithereens.  I promise you.

Crab Rangoon is a popular appetizer found at Chinese restaurants.  Fried little suckers that are filled with smooth and warm crab-studded melty cream cheese, they’re a great way to start off a take-out meal.  Not all Chinese restaurants have them, though; out of our five local places, two of them make it.  Go figure.  But after you’ve made these, you won’t order them again.

Yes, they’re fried, so no, they’re not the healthiest of choices but a) you’re not having them every day and b) they fry really quickly so I felt less guilty about it.  I also used a lighter oil and drained them on paper towels once they came out of the pan.  I am totally making these for our Chinese New Year get-together.

For New Years’ Eve, we had our traditional (now 10+ years and counting) annual seafood feast, and this was one of the dishes.  I loved that we were able to end 2008 with an OMG recipe - that seems perfect to me.  It joined the table along with Salt and Pepper Shrimp, Coconut Fried Shrimp, Lobster Tails with Melted Butter, Scallop Casserole, Shrimp Cocktail, Shrimp Toast,  Weight Watchers Crab Cakes, and OMG Mussels.  I feel like I’m forgetting something…

You know how infrequently I give out my OMG classification on a recipe … it’s reserved for only the eyes-roll-back-in-your-head, moaning inducing type of bite, and this recipe for Crispy Crab Rangoon is that.   I was expecting them to be heavy and a little greasy since they’re fried, but I think the key is they fry for literally just a minute, even less when you flip them.  They were so light, so tender, so crisp, so good.  Try them.  You won’t be disappointed. Continue reading this entry…

No Comments

It’s been a few days since I wrote here and my head is swimming with what I could talk about … do I tell you about our recent New Years’ Eve Seafood Feast?  The back-to-back new OMG dishes we had over the last few days?  The chicken dish with the most unusual substitute for traditional bread crumbs?  That it took us half an hour to calm Nicholas down tonight after he saw an ASPCA commercial?  That all four of us were up together at 1 am this morning watching a show with a behind-the-scenes look at the Disney cruise ship?  The Red Lobster knock-off recipe that hit the table tonight?  My New Years’ food resolutions?

Nah … all that can wait.  This is the last hour and a half before tomorrow rears its head and reality beckons us back.  Back to work … back to school … back to the same old, same old.  No more holidays, short work weeks and alarm clock freedom.  So with that, I’ll be back tomorrow instead and will start sharing some of the old and new … and in the meantime, I’m leaving you with one of my favorite pictures from the Christmas holiday (Claire, this one’s for you!).   This is one of the pictures we got taken recently - no digital available, so I took a picture of the picture.  I loved this one because it is just so her …

3 Comments

I have had this strange obsession with hot dogs for the last couple of months.  I can’t explain it really.  I am just totally craving them, and as soon as I start thinking about them, I want them.  Obsession aside, I have actually only indulged two or three times since this situation started, but it hasn’t been easy to practice restraint.

On a recent episode of Guy Fieri’s show, Guy’s Big Bite on Food Network, he made Rhode Island Style Weiners, so you know I was all over that.  The recipe was inspired from visits to his father-in-law’s house in Rhode Island.  He said that there they eat hot dogs with a ground beef concoction on top of them.  Throw in the steamed buns and I was done for.

The day after Christmas we celebrated the holiday with The Neighbors and since I wanted to do a bar-food type menu, this was perfect.  Okay, it might be a bit of a stretch since you likely don’t belly up to the bar and order hot dogs, but cut me a little slack here.  The ground beef mixture takes just minutes to prepare and totally takes the hot dog to a whole ‘nother experience.  Alright, stop laughing.  Just so, so good.  I steamed the buns (another small nuance I will have to remember for the future), and once the meat was on top, I added the suggested chopped raw onions and yellow mustard.

Food snobs be darned, this was one good eat. Continue reading this entry…

2 Comments

The night before Christmas Eve, I was strongly tempted to pick up the phone and order take-out.  I was beyond tired, and there was so much left to do that taking the easy way out for dinner was alluring to say the least.  Then I remembered what Rachael Ray always says … “I can make dinner better than any take-out meal, and usually faster too.”  And that’s with her ending her day at 10 pm most nights.  But it’s true, really.  What we can whip up in our own kitchens can seriously rival restaurant cooking (and especially take-out) anytime, but more often than not, it’s more a question of energy.

But my problem was quickly solved when I discovered this recipe for La Dolce Pasta in the January 2009 issue of In Style magazine.  The recipe is a creation from Chef Nancy Silverton (she of La Brea Bakery fame and a slew of cookbooks) from the Osteria Mozza restaurant in Los Angeles.  A favorite Hollywood Italian eatery, Osteria Mozza is a frequent celebrity haunt.

With just a few easy ingredients and less than 30 minutes of your time, you’ll be enjoying this one as much as we did (and Madeline in particular, as you can see from the picture).  And the kicker?  The whole family ate broccoli rabe!  After The Husband took a few hearty bites, I asked him how he liked it. Continue reading this entry…

8 Comments

I cannot believe that Christmas was only yesterday.  For some reason, it seems like so long ago.  It’s like planning a wedding … so much work and build-up, and it’s over in the blink of an eye.

On Christmas Eve, we did our usual Italian Feast of Seven Fishes.  I don’t know if it’s because I was sick last week (and suspect that’s why), but I was really unmotivated planning this year’s menu.  So much so that I actually didn’t plan it until the night before.  I think the Christmas Flu just really zapped my energy and for a brief period, I actually considered calling the local Chinese restaurant to see if they could come up with seven different fishes for a take-out dinner (and still don’t think that’s such a bad idea to keep in mind for future years).

I stuck entirely with tried-and-trues this year…

Shrimp Cocktail
Smoked Salmon Dip
Spumo di Tonno
Scallop Casserole
Crabbies
Linguini with a Steamers and Mussels Marinara Sauce Continue reading this entry…

7 Comments