Sunday, March 4, 2012

I am finally feeling better, thank goodness! Life has not been very exciting over the last week, what with being sick and all. I got my computer back. I also went back and added some pictures to last week's blogs so I hope you'll go back and look at them.

Saturday I ran errands with my sister. We went to Barnes and Noble Bookstore. I could spend hours looking at cookbooks. Amazing what's out there!

Saturday evening, Jordan and I went out to dinner at Macaroni Grill. It was ok. They are running a promo of Two Tapas, Two Entrees for $25. Such a deal!

We slept in this morning, not intentionally. Jordan has been working such long hours, no wonder he slept in. The cat is always ready to get us up, however, so when he lets us sleep in, it's a miracle, lol.

Breakfast was fruit and yogurt with toast. For lunch, I had asparagus that needed to be used so I went back to the book "Lunch in Paris" by Elizabeth Bard. The book talks about how she came to live in Paris and her life since moving to France. She included many recipes, most of which are fabulous! There is a recipe called Asperges au Pistou, Jambon Cru et Oeuf Poche. In English: Asparagus with Pistou, Cured Ham and a Poached Egg. French sounds so much better! You poach your asparagus (about 8-10 spears per person). Once they are done to your liking, toss them with a little Pistou (a mix of basil, garlic and olive oil) or if it is more convenient, you can use a nice Italian pesto. Plate them neatly on a large plate. Poach one egg to the soft boil stage, drain the egg and place it on top of the asparagus. Drape the sliced ham, or in my case, proscuitto, around the asparagus so it looks pretty (I knew I should have taken a picture, lol!) and serve. It was really good! Say what you will about the French, they know how to cook and how to make pastries.

I made Mini Baked French Donuts in the afternoon. One of my sisters gave me a donut maker so I decided today was the day to use it (plus I was in the mood for donuts). I mixed up the dough-

After some trial and error, I found my small cookie scoop was the best thing to use to place the batter in the little donut wells. Unfortunately, the instructions do not tell you how much of the batter to put in each space, so I had to guess.

The donuts take only about three minutes to bake in this machine. Once the donuts are nicely browned, you remove them with a wooden spoon/spatula (so you don't ruin the teflon), then dip them first in melted butter, then in Cinnamon Sugar. (Can you say YUM?)

They turned out well. I liked the French Donut recipe that came with the machine. So here is the plate of finished donuts. I must confess, it was hard not to sit down and eat the whole plate, but I stopped after two. Jordan asked me what I was going to do with them. I said-"eat them?" I think that would be a bad idea, lol. So I will likely give them away...

Dinner was leftovers, revisited. Seems like my sister had a much better meal! She emailed me this picture of the Orange-Soy Glazed Pork Ribs she made for herself today. Good job, Janell!!