Pre-Tournament Crazies

Sorry for the lack of updates this week.  I have been cooking, but I have been too busy to update.  Our golf tournament is Friday, so we have been meeting up, working on signs, last minute details, etc.  In fact, I have been so busy that I have even forgotten to take pictures of some of the food.  I'll be better after this week, when the craziness of the last week of school plus the tournament is over!

So, first, the ice cream!  I mentioned on Sunday that I made it and had to freeze it overnight.  Besides the fact that it was a little soft due to my mom leaving the freezer door open for a few hours, it was delicious!  I am glad I didn't blend the strawberries, because the chunks of frozen berry were a plus.  The graham crackers somehow end up tasting like a perfect cheesecake... it's an ice creamy miracle.  We had Tracy, Kelsey and Gram over for dinner and everyone enjoyed their cones... especially Kenzie.  Make this ice cream for any party, picnic, graduation, or other get-together you have this summer.  It is delicious and it makes people think you spent hours slaving over an ice cream maker, when really you just used a mixer and tossed a Tupperware into the freezer!

Yesterday I tried out a new recipe for dinner.  As a mostly vegetarian, I try to cook as many meatless meals as I can, but my family always whines about "protein."  So, when I saw a recipe for white skillet beans, I had to try it.  No meat, and it's protein?  Perfect.  The ingredients were a little out there: maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, sage (it calls for fresh... had to sub dried) and brown sugar... but it also had tomato paste, which made me think of the amazing beans we used to get at our favorite Lebanese place that isn't open anymore.  This was not the recipe at all, since that sauce is more tomato-based, but it did make me decide that I will find that recipe ASAP!  Anyway, the skillet white beans: it calls for three different types of beans: butter beans (which are my favorite since they were in that Lebanese recipe), navy beans, and chick peas (although we didn't have any, so I used cannellini).  I can honestly say that this meal is very quick, very easy, and very delicious!  The sauce is a great mixture of salty and a little sweet, and the beans just soak up the flavor.  We served it over Mark's famous pilaf, and I highly recommend calling over your favorite Armenian if you choose to make this dish, because they paired together perfectly.  I'll share his pilaf recipe some night when he isn't working and is willing to share his secrets.   I loved these beans; I had them for dinner and for lunch today and frankly I am excited to eat them again tomorrow!  (It makes a lot!)

Recipes:
strawberry cheesecake ice cream
skillet white beans

Lobster Love

This weekend was another busy one.  I console myself by saying that it will all be okay after Friday, which, as well as being the golf tournament, is also the last day of school!  Lots of free time coming up.

Yesterday, Mom begged for another batch of the glazed doughnut muffins that I had made for Amanda earlier in the week.  I was going to Cathleen's birthday party, so I figured I would make a double batch.  Of course, once I buttered two muffin tins, I promptly forgot to double it and ended up with one batch, and an extra buttered pan.  More on that later.  The muffins were great as always!  My mom had apparently forgotten how much she loves them.  I'm sure I will be making these more now that we have rediscovered them!

At Cathleen's birthday, there was a lobster extravaganza.  Let's just say her mom threw her the tastiest birthday ever, but had way too many lobsters.  She gave us two to take home to my mother, who had apparently already eaten.  So tonight, we had two cooked lobsters to do with whatever we pleased!  It was just me and Mom home, and we were contemplating a good old lobster roll, but I figured that it is not every day I get lobster meat as an ingredient to use in a meal, and I wanted to do something more.  I found a recipe from the New York Times, and then Mom and I made a few changes.  We didn't use spaghetti, simply because we didn't have it; we used penne.  We didn't peel the tomatoes, because we aren't picky about that, and we didn't dice the lobster.  We roughly chopped it - we both agreed that we wanted to actually know when we got a piece of lobster in our mouths!  I also did not add the extra oil after sauteing the tomatoes; it was fine without it.  Neither of us used the red pepper flakes.  This made a huge amount and there is a lot leftover, which is great because Mom and I were both in love with this meal.  Sauteing the lobster with some fresh basil almost made the lobster sweeter (if that is even possible) and we both thought that even without the lobster, the tomato sauce was delicious and would be a great meal in and of itself.  Pretty excited for leftovers!

Also at the birthday party, Cathleen's mom made strawberry cheesecake ice cream.  I was thrilled when I asked for the recipe, and she showed me an ad for Philadelphia cream cheese.  It only had 3 steps, so I was really excited to try this out.  I made it this afternoon and it will be all ready tomorrow.  It is really easy, and I can say after having it at the party that it is absolutely delicious.  I foresee this ice cream being a regularly-made item in my house this summer!

Lastly - back to that extra buttered muffin tin!  I decided to make individual raspberry cobblers.  I had recently pinned this recipe, and thought it was perfect since it does not call for paper muffin cups!  Of course, it makes 24 cobblers, so I had to rebutter the other pan as well, but that is beside the point.  These were ridiculously easy to make (they were ready to go in the oven before it was even preheated, and that never happens!), but I have mixed feelings about the end result . First, the recipe calls for 2 sticks of butter, which is kind of gross no matter what, but the butter seems to have made a chewy outside.  I guess I was expecting a different consisency.  Mom and Rachael both liked them, but I thought it was a bit strange.  Also, you were supposed to drop a handfull of raspberries into each cup, but my berries were huge, so I only put one in each.  The berries are supposed to sink to the bottom, but they didn't move at all.  That doesn't really matter though, but I figured I'd mention it.  I may like these, or I may hate them.  I have not decided yet.  I'll keep you posted.

For now, it is past 10:30, my report cards are not finished, I have a golf tournament to put on, and there are 4 days of school left.  I'd say it's time for bed to give me the energy to get through all this, not to mention make some rather amazing meals that I grocery shopped for today :)

Recipes:

glazed doughnut muffins

lobster spaghetti with fresh tomatoes
strawberry cheesecake ice cream

individual raspberry cobblers