ADVENTURES OF THE FORTUITOUS COOK

With the excuse of needing to plan for our next Girl Scout meeting, and the fellas wanting a game morning, we had our friends over for brunch. I had recently watched an old episode of Ina Garten where she made a challah bread pudding French toast and was inspired (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/breakfast-bread-pudding-recipe/index.html). Unfortunately, while it was rather lovely looking, the taste left much to be desired – I feel that is a theme with me lately!

What was scrumptious was my frittata – a recipe I came up with on my own! With six actively laying chickens, we are always looking for good egg recipes, so we frequently eat omelets and frittatas for breakfast and dinner. Thankfully they are simple to make, and fairly hard to mess up. Jacob rounded out the brunch with some oven roasted potatoes.

We worked diligently on our planning, of course, and then had lots of time to hang out and make fun of our husbands who were playing Magic while the kids all had a blast.

Frittata:

4 oz Pancetta

1 Large Red Bell Pepper

1 Large Onion

1 Garlic Clove

9 Eggs

1 Tablespoon Goat Cheese

Fresh from the garden (a Tablespoon or so of each):

Basil

Thyme

Sage

Oregano

And:

Swiss and Gruyere Cheese

 

Cook the pancetta on the stove top in an oven proof dish (I recommend cast iron). When cooked, remove with a slotted spoon onto a paper towel. Cook the bell pepper, onion and garlic in pancetta grease. When cooked, remove from heat and add pancetta, eggs (mixed with goat cheese) and all other ingredients. Place in oven at 375 and cook until eggs are the consistency you desire. Serve up and enjoy!

My mom wanted to celebrate her birthday at her favorite downtown Thai restaurant. Maybe I should just stop there, but then what fun would that be? We all met downtown and sat out on the patio where we experienced a slight tornado like wind through the narrow buildings that made up the outside patio area. Then there was the spilled wine, broken glass, spilled water and oh, they kind of forgot about us. And then there was my cake, it’s really the thought that counts right?? My mom is gluten and chocolate free, so I found a tasty looking recipe, well, it looked tasty.

Somehow though, the evening was a blast. While we were stranded on the ridiculously windy patio we were entertained by “Phony” Bennett and had stimulating conversation with life-long friends. The girls thought it was a great, and didn’t seem to notice the three hour dinner, running around the patio and dancing to the music. So I guess it was fortuitous after all!

 In case you want to make a cake that looks rather lovely here is the link to the recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/hungarian-flourless-hazelnut-cake/detail.aspx

 

My adventures this week took me to a remarkable conference in Anaheim, and I swear, I had absolutely no intention of going to Disneyland sans children… but when the fantastically brilliant women I was with found a great deal to go to California Adventure, well, I just couldn’t turn them down. So we made a pact of no photographic evidence and no telling the kids, as we all have children who would not be very happy with us if they found out we were riding on the new Cars Land rides without them! We forgot though about the pictures taken on the rides, oops!

My adventures in Anaheim also took me to Downtown Disney and the House of Blues with my sister and my niece. One of my favorite Food Network chefs, Aarón Sanchez, developed the menu, and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. The cornbread was the most delicious corn bread I have ever had. I’ve so far not been successful with my recipe search; I need to find a contact that can get me directly to the source!!

 My sister’s favorite liqueur is the creamy hazelnut Frangelico straight from the Monk shaped bottle. But, my sister is pregnant, so her new mission – find recipes using Frangelico so she can have the taste but the alcohol cooks out. She sent me a Frangelico Brownie recipe and asked me to make them and Fed-Ex them to her…well, I made them, and devoured them! I did report back to her that they were delicious – definitely one of the top five brownies I’ve ever made.  

 The brownies made for a delightful ending to my husband’s homemade spaghetti Bolognese and a lively evening with good friends.

 http://thesecondpancake.typepad.com/the_second_pancake/2008/09/chocolate-frang.html

My Grandma Peggy (well, she is more like a surrogate grandma) gave me her banana bread recipe while I was in college, and it is still my favorite. Sunday I woke up to some perfectly ripe-for-banana-bread bananas so out came my special cookbook – the book full of handwritten recipes, some written by my very own grandmother – a special piece of her I will always cherish.

 I’m not sure what it is about this recipe that makes it so delicious, perhaps it is the simplicity of it.

Cream together: 1 stick butter, 1 cup sugar, 3-4 bananas, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Add 2 eggs, 2 Cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon salt. If you want to make it just a little richer, I love adding some chocolate chips.

 Bake in greased loaf pan for about 45 minutes and enjoy warm with some tea or coffee – trust me, you will start leaving bananas out just so you can make this again!