my happy lunch

I bought some really good avocados so I had to make a sandwich. And I love veggies sandwiches, as long as there is a bunch of fresh produce to use. My sandwich had hummus, Japanese mayo, whole grain mustard, tomatoes, avocados, and cucumber on multi-grain bread.
Mmmm. It was good.

birthday

For my sweet baby girl's birthday, we had a picnic at a park for lunch. She got a simple ham & cheese sandwich from Target and some whole milk chocolate milk. But Blake and I had some fancier sandwiches. I had a turkey and brie with whole grain mustard on a baguette and Blake got their Italian on ciabatta. It had hard salami and ham and pesto and all sorts of good stuff, a lot like a mufuletta. If you have a super target close by, you have to try these sandwiches. If not, try making them yourselves. I think turkey and brie is my new favorite sandwich combination.
For her birthday, my girl got a new kids' book called "Bee-bim bop" so I thought it would only be fitting to make it for dinner. For her I chopped up the beef really fine so she wouldn't choke. She loved it!And for dessert I made cupcakes. I thought after her birthday party last Saturday I should take it easy on the sugar intake. I was so tempted to have more than one. But don't you worry, I was a good girl and held back.

happy birthday to me!

When Blake got home from work he headed to the kitchen and made me some pad thai like last year (but this time with wide noodles. Yum!) and my FAVORITE panna cotta topped with blueberries and pink grapefruit, a super unique and tasty combination, for dessert. I'm so spoiled! Thanks, sweetie. I love you!

sunday dinner {insert contented sigh}

For Sunday dinner this week, I decided to make my sister's pot roast. Delish, fall-apart roast beef that you just can't beat. Ahhh, thanks, Lis, for teaching me how to cook a good roast.

Slow-cooker pot roast
1 2.5~3.5lb roast
3 medium sized carrots, peeled (or scrubbed really well) and cut diagonally into 1 inch pieces
2~3 medium sized potatoes (I prefer the waxy yukon gold potatoes, but I used russet today and it was ok. Just doesn't cook as well), peeled and cut into 1.5~2 inch chunks
1 large onion, peeled and cut in half and then into quarters
3 cloves garlic, peeled and ends trimmed
1 can diced tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
oil (such as canola or olive) to coat the pan for searing the meat

1. Pat the roast dry of any excess moisture on the surface with a paper towel. (Otherwise it won't brown) Season it generously on all sides with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until slightly smoking. Add the roast and sear the meat on all sides.
2. Toss all the ingredients in the bowl of a slow-cooker, set to low and let cook for 6~8 hours. The longer the more tender your meat will be. The meat should just fall apart so don't bother slicing when you serve it.

I was planning on making my aunt Carolyn's famous dinner rolls, but alas, I was too lazy. But we needed bread with our roast, so I remembered a fancy and easy looking bread recipe by Pastor Ryan on The Pioneer Woman's blog, and thought I'd give it a try. I've noticed that it's kinda trendy to bake bread in an enameled cast iron pot, so it was time I joined the cool foodie club, right? Anyway, I gotta tell you, this was the easiest bread I've ever made. And super fast and very low-maintenance. And SO DELICIOUS! Honestly, I thought it would turn out more like Irish Soda bread, but it was chewy and dense and aromatic and PERFECT! The crust was super crusty, but really yummy. Not distractingly crusty at all. Honestly, if you have a cast iron pot, you have to try this. And if you don't, go buy one. You deserve to have one of the most important kitchen items anyway.

have you ever tried this?

I don't drink much carbonation. In fact, I don't really like it. Except for my occasional San Pellegrino and good ol' ginger ale with lemon on the air plane. Well, and root beer floats, but does that even count as carbonation? It's so creamed up that it doesn't even really sparkle anymore. Anyway, we had pizza again tonight, and since it's Friday we decided to have a movie night. And movie night/pizza night means I'm allowed my cheat food for the week. Which means the chocolate, ice cream, soda, pizza, it all comes out to play. And as we were at Target doing some grocery shopping, we walked by soda isle and decided we want root beer floats. But then I saw that my favorite Canada Dry ginger ale was on sale, so I thought I'd better get it, using the excuse that soda bottles are the best for water food storage. (yup, it's true! So go out and buy your soda bottles and when you're done, fill 'em with water and you've done something good for your family!) But then as we approached the ice cream isle, I saw the beautiful Haagen Daz zesty lemon sorbet and a thought popped into my head. Ginger ale lemon sorbet float! And it was goooooooooooood.
But I don't recommend making it with any cheap lemon sherbet or anything like that. I liked the real lemon flavor of the Haagen Daz. It wouldn't work too well with a treat that has "lemon flavor" written on the side. Just my little input. Now go out and try it for yourself!

pizza

My basil finally grew big enough,
so I picked a few leaves,
bought some fresh mozzarella,
made some pizza dough,
And made my favorite pizza! Mmmmmmmm.
Margherita Pizza
1 ball of pizza dough
fresh tomatoes, sliced and seeds removed
fresh mozzarella, sliced
fresh basil leaves, torn
finely grated parmiggiano reggiano cheese (optional)
homemade pizza sauce

1. Cut the dough into 2 equal pieces, and roll out flat. Top with a thin layer of sauce, and top with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, and parmiggiano reggiano cheese, if using.
   
2. Bake in a 450° over for 12 minutes.
   

for the chef

I'm often told that a happy cook makes better food. So they always cook with a glass of wine. But since I don't drink, I had to come up with a different option. I was so excited last week when I found a bunch of San Pellegrino bottles on clearance at Target! So I decided to treat myself to a little fancy San Pellegrino water while I made dinner. And it's true, a fancy drink makes you happier, and a happy cook makes better food. Try it!