Holding down the fort…

Well, our Ike-related family issues are in the process of being settled. Still a pretty chaotic situation, but much of the responsibility/work/decision-making is in the hands of other folks now, so we’re pretty much off the hook for the time being. It’s been crazy and I can’t really talk about it in detail here, but suffice it to say, Hubby’s family has been through the wringer since Hurricane Ike.

I did have houseguests for a while and have been doing a fair amount of cooking. Some of the things that I made, I remembered to take photos for:
Giada de Laurentiis’ Italian Doughnuts
(made from pizza dough – one small, 2 oz ball of dough made 10 small doughnuts and 10 “holes”, which I rolled in powdered sugar)

The Best Quiche, this recipe from “Skip To My Lou” really DOES live up to its name! It makes 2 quiches and freezes very nicely.

(I added a little bit of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry, ’cause we like it.)

Negroni Cocktail. I haven’t quite gotten the hang of lighting up the orange peel, but I’m willing to keep working on it. This is a sweeter, tangier drink, that still has enough resemblance to a classic martini to keep me interested. Would be great as an aperitif.

Cooking Light’s Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze (baked in my mini loaf pan)
This was delicious and a HUGE hit, especially with Girl.

I also made Cooking Light’s Spiced Chicken Thighs with Yogurt Sauce, but had to throw it out when a family member, who will remain unnamed, but might possibly be celebrating a birthday today, accidentally knocked a glass out of the cabinet over the grill and broken glass fell all over the cooking chicken.

They smelled DELICIOUS as they were cooking, so I’m going to try the recipe again for today’s lunch (and will NOT be trying to unload the dishwasher and put away glasses as the chicken is cooking!)

Some of the things that I made, I did NOT remember to take photos for, but the recipes were GREAT and I will likely be making them again soon:
Cheese Muffins from The Pioneer Woman Cooks (which is a GREAT blog, if you’re not already familiar with it) and Fig

and Black Bean Chowder, also from The Pioneer Woman Cooks.

Both of these recipes were delicious and a BIG hit with our guests. I didn’t realize beforehand, however, exactly how much cheese was in both items, so, next time, I probably won’t make them together, but will make popovers or biscuits with the chowder and will serve the cheese biscuits with something else that’s not so cheesy, like tortilla soup or Portugese soup or corn chowder or even plain old barbecued chicken.

I also managed to pull off a pretty spectacular birthday party. This one was a lot of fun to plan and will definitely go down in the record books. Considering that I have some pretty over the top things to compare it to, this one definitely holds it’s own.

Unfortunately, for safety and security reasons, I can’t show ALL of you the party photos, but if you send me an email (see that little “contact” link up at the top of the page? the one under my photo?) and I am able to confirm that I know you, I’ll send you a flickr invite and will allow you permission to see them. Staci and Trish – by the time this is posted, you should already have been “invited” by flickr. Let me know what you think.

This party finally did inspire me, as my friend Eileen has been advising, to throw away all of my “pot” style food/icing colors. I had planned to just replace them individually, as I used up each color, but they are just so messy and unhygienic. I have now completely converted to the Americolor brand squeeze bottle icing colors. MUCH better and you don’t have to keep dipping a toothpick in (a new one each time!) to add more color. Just squeeze in the right # of gel drops until you get the color that you want.

Buh-bye! Into the trash with you!

I do hope to be back on track very soon. The kids are pretty much settled back into the school routine at this point. I have one birthday party down and one to go. The Ike aftermath has settled down a bit. It’s too early to start planning for Christmas. My only other major event on the horizon is an upcoming Columbus Day weekend girls’ trip to New York. I am looking forward to that getaway like you wouldn’t believe. I am going to eat at Adour, Le Bernardin, Craft and maybe David Burke & Donatella for brunch, if there’s enough time. We’ll be seeing a couple of shows and I am super excited about attending the “Waiter Rant” book reading and I am also absolutely, positively, making a stop at Kalustyan’s. Much, much more on the trip later.