Mocha Steak and Vanilla Mashed Potatoes
Oct 26th
One time my mom was making mashed potatoes for dinner with my stepfather and discovered that she didn’t have any milk. Instead, she grabbed a bottle of Silk Very Vanilla soy milk and used that as a substitute. The result: creamy potato goodness that both she and my stepfather loved. She raved about it when she came to visit this summer and I decided to try it out for myself. I’ve also been reading from many sources lately about using coffee to bring bigger, bolder flavor to grilled steak. I took it a step further and added some cocoa powder to the spice rub to enhance the flavor even more. The end result was this fun dish of Mocha Steak and Vanilla Mashed Potatoes.
Turtle Cheesecake
Oct 23rd
Ladies and gentlemen, this is my famous Turtle Cheesecake. What makes it so famous, you ask? Not much really, but it’s absolutely delicious. The only negative comment I get when I serve it is that it’s too rich. It’s a standard cheesecake with a solo chocolate layer that is topped with chocolate ganache, caramel, and pecans. The cheesecake recipe I refined myself, by doing tons of research on cream cheese based cakes and through trial and error. I almost don’t want to share the recipe, but there is a lot of finesse and familiarity on my part to get it to come out just perfect. Keep on reading past the break for more information on this delicious Turtle Cheesecake.
Sweet and Tangy Grilled Eggplant
Oct 19th
I’m not going to lie, I’ve really missed blogging about our culinary adventures. My puppy Kinley, who is now nearly a year old, managed to take up all of the free time I had set aside to keep this page updated. However, I’ve been inspired recently to jump back into the food-o-sphere. Katrina is thinking about switching from library science to culinary school, and it’s very exciting to think about how much delicious food I might be eating in the future. I’ve also started doing the Beach Body P90x workout program, so you guys will be able to see how you can still eat delicious foods while maintaining a healthy weight. I’ve had a few recipes sitting around on my computer for awhile. One of them is this fantastic Sweet and Tangy Grilled Eggplant which is a great side for a big juicy steak.
Brown Sugar Meatloaf and Fingerling Potatoes with Shallots and Garlic
Apr 29th
I come from a very meat-and-potatoes family. My mom still has Fried Chicken Mondays and makes mashed potatoes just about every night with dinner. She also buys a side of beef (that’s half a cow!) every year for just the four people still living in the house. When I was a vegetarian in high school, I ate a salad for every meal because my mom didn’t know what else to make without meat in it. Moral of the story: We eat a lot of meat. And we eat a lot of potatoes. With Mothers’ Day coming up, what better way to celebrate my mom and the childhood she gave me than to make my wonderful boyfriend a Brown Sugar Meatloaf and Fingerling Potatoes with Shallots and Garlic?
Smoked Baby Back Ribs and Barbecue Sauce
Apr 4th
The weather in Chicago was amazing this past week. We were hit by several 80 degree plus days and people started swarming outside to eat and play. The first thing that came to my mind was barbecue. We’ve already used the Weber a few times this season to cook steaks, but I wanted to go all out and smoke a few racks of baby back ribs, and it was finally warm enough to set up the charcoal grill for it. Katrina loves ribs (I sometimes make fun of her rib cravings) and it gave her the opportunity to make a batch of homemade barbecue sauce. The ribs were already fantastic after being smoked with a dry rub, but the messy barbecue sauce brought them up to perfection.
Spices!
Mar 24th
Kieran has had a pepper mill for a while, but he’s never bought peppercorns for it. We keep using powdered pepper, and, while it’s not bad in a pinch, I’d rather have freshly ground pepper. So, I did some research and found some for pretty cheap on Etsy. Laura at Willow Spice Co. was so wonderful and my order came 3 days after ordering! It was $3 + $1.85 s/h for 2 oz, and the peppercorn looks so great. I can’t wait to use it! For my next purchase, I’m thinking the cardamom pods and lavender buds. If you’re in the market for spices, I definitely recommend Willow Spice Co!
A Message from Katrina
Mar 18th
Hi! Kieran is busy at work today, so I thought I’d post a surprise entry on here 
Remember those cute dogs we have? We’re planning on starting them on a raw food diet! (Well, not completely raw, as we will be cooking the meat – even though dog’s digestive systems aren’t the same as ours and dogs can’t get salmonella, we don’t want raw chicken all over our kitchen) Anyway, it’s going to bring an exciting change to our kitchen, and we’ll probably even post some of the recipes on here!
And, because I know you want to see them, here are some cute pictures of the animals (from left: Kinley, Simon, Timus):
Hope you’re having a great day!
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