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!
The Cupcake Gallery
Mar 12th
The area of Chicago that we live in is called Uptown, in the heart of the north side of Chicago just a mile north of Wrigley Field. It’s a gentrifying neighborhood, or “up-and-coming” as some put it, and as such has a very diverse population in a small area ranging from the homeless to the working class to young professionals to insanely wealthy mansion owners. Many business have come and go, trying to fulfill the needs of this wide clientele. One newcomer to the game filling up an empty storefront along a stretch of Wilson Avenue is The Cupcake Gallery. Everybody, both rich and poor, loves cupcakes so it’s a welcome and refreshing addition to the neighborhood!
Ancho Chili Lemonade
Mar 10th
Katrina and I can’t quite remember how this drink came to be. We had talked about making this Chipotle Cream Sauce, and somehow leftover peas led to our leftover lemons which led to the creation of this sweet and spicy lemonade. We couldn’t find dried chipotle, so we ended up using ancho chiles. I think we really lucked out from this last minute decision at a local grocer, and created an Ancho Chili Lemonade which starts sweet and earthy, lightens up with some sour citrus notes, and then finishes with a mild heat that creeps up on the palette.
Fettucini with Chipotle Cream Sauce and Bacon Wrapped Shrimp
Mar 10th
There’s a Mexican restaurant in our neighborhood called Fiesta Mexicana that Katrina and I like to go to whenever we are craving good food and cheap margaritas. No seriously… the half-pitchers of margaritas and sangria average $15, and hold enough drink for six to eight full glasses, enough to make two adults feel pretty good. To top it all off, they give you free after dinner shots with the check. Anyways, recently they added a supplemental menu of specials to the regular menu. One of these is a creamy chipotle pasta topped with bacon wrapped shrimp, with some tomatoes and a rainbow of bell peppers mixed in. Katrina hates bell peppers, so without ever seeing or trying the dish we decided to make our own version at home. Read on to see how you can make your own Fettucini with Chipotle Cream Sauce and Bacon Wrapped Shrimp.
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