Escargot !

Ty and I were at 2J's today when Ty discovered that they had genuine French escargot. He had to try it.

I was very skeptical. Eating snails just didn't sound like something I would enjoy. I was especially worried about the texture. Ty, on the other hand, looked forward to his escargot all day long.

Here are the little guys before they're put back into their shells...



After Ty stuffed them back into their shells (with a tasty sauce) he put them in the oven...



They're done!



Ty was the first one to taste escargot. He loved it! Matt tasted it and also gave it his stamp of approval. I really trust Matt's opinion when it comes to things like this because he can really be a picky eater! But I still wasn't completely convinced. Our friends Shiloh and Jessica tried them and Jessica said they were the best escargot she'd ever had. I really had to talk myself into trying them, but when I did I was so glad! They were a tasty explosion of flavor. Great taste, and the texture wasn't gross at all!

So, yeah, Ty's awesome, but then again, he already knows that.



Whew! What an awesome weekend with my favorite husband!

More Sushi!

Ty loves making homemade sushi on the weekends. Here's what he came up with this time...

"The Madison"

We have a great restaurant here in Montana called The McKenzie River Pizza Company. They have delicious pizzas, pastas, salads and more. It's so good, that every time we go there we have to wait for a table...sometimes for a long time, but we do it because it's delicious.

On my wedding night, June 28, 2006, Ty and I had dinner at McKenzie River with my relatives who were in town for our wedding. My parents were there, along with my brothers, Matt and Jacob, and my sister, Jayne. My Aunt Carrie and Uncle Jeff, along with cousins Mallory and Wyatt were there too. It was a really fun night. That night, and almost every time since I've eaten the "Madison" whenever I eat at McKenzie River.

When Ty's parents took us out to dinner at McKenzie River a couple of weeks ago I decided to try a chicken, bacon, broccoli Alfredo dish instead of the usual "Madison". While the pasta was also delicious, I thought about the "Madison" for days. So I decided to make it!

At McKenzie River the "Madison" is a regular pizza crust topped with tomato sauce, Cheddar cheese, Provolone cheese, ricotta cheese, sliced mushrooms and diced bacon. It's amazing. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water!

Here I am topping the pizza...



Ta-da! Covered with deliciousness!


Here are before and after pictures of our pizza...



I caught Matt by surprise when I took this photo of him cutting the pizza!


Our homemade "Madison" pizza turned out to be just as delicious as the restaurant version. Because it was such a hit with everyone, including our friends Shiloh and Jessica who stopped by, we'll be adding the "Madison" to our regular rotation of pizza recipes!

Simple Sunday Breakfast

Last Sunday I wanted to do something fun for Ty, so I got up early and made him pancakes while he was still sleeping. To cut back on sugar we ate the pancakes with light vanilla yogurt and sliced strawberries instead of syrup. So yummy!!

Irish Stew Extravaganza!

For St. Patrick's Day 2009 I decided to try my hand at making a delicious Irish stew recipe. After consulting our cookbooks we decided to go with a recipe we found on AllRecipes.com called Special Irish Stew.

Since there was a lot of chopping involved, I decided to enlist the help of my brother Jacob, who is a wonderful cook himself. We always have a wonderful time cooking together and there are actually a few dishes, like our homemade salsa, that only tastes right when we're both involved in the cooking process.

Here is Jacob cutting up various veggies for our delicious Irish stew...




Here's what our ingredients looked like after all that peeling and chopping...



The recipe called for a 12 ounce bottle of Irish stout beer, but I'd had Guinness recently wasn't really in the mood for it. So instead of an Irish stout we went with a bottle of Killian's Irish Red Lager. It gave the stew a delicious flavor and we didn't feel we were missing out on the stout taste at all.

Though I hadn't initially planned on making Irish Soda Bread to go with the Irish Stew, Jacob eventually guilted me into it. I decided to use the Irish Soda Bread recipe I used to make Irish Soda Bread when I was in Ireland and I couldn't have been more pleased.

Here's a look at the final product...




It was delicious and a big hit with all of us! We ate our stew and Irish Soda Bread curled up on the couch while we watched "Darby O'Gill and the Little People". Happy St. Patrick's Day!

If you're interested in trying these recipes for yourself here's where you can find them:

Special Irish Beef Stew

Irish Brown Soda Bread

Ty's Amazing 23rd Birthday Dinner

As I mentioned in a previous post, Ty decided that for his birthday he wanted to serve a 3-course meal featuring recipes that were made with infused vodkas. The dinner was spectacular, but of course, we've come to expect nothing less from Ty!

The first course of Ty's 3-course vodka dinner was Vodka White Bean and Roasted Garlic Soup Served in a Roasted Tomato. Yeah, you heard that right...served in a roasted tomato! I don't know about anyone else, but I love foods served in containers that are edible!



The soup was amazing!! We all went back for seconds and some of us (Glen, you know who you are) even went back for thirds!!!

The second course of Ty's birthday dinner was Vodka Lemon Chicken served on a bed of thin spaghetti. I regret to say that I don't have a single photo of this delicious dish. I was far too busy stuffing my face to remember my duties as official food photographer!

The dessert course of Ty's birthday dinner was Blitzed Vanilla Ice Cream with Twisted Citrus. Ty blended vanilla ice cream with vodka and served it with citrus peels cooked in sugar, lemon vodka and then rolled in sugar. I wasn't sure about the Twisted Citrus but it was actually quite delicious! And you just can't argue with ice cream that gives you a buzz. Thumbs up!

Congratulations to Ty...he completely outdid himself!

Here are some really fun photos from the night of Ty's delicious birthday dinner...

Ty and Jacob


Jacob and Cristal


Ty, Cristal and Jacob


Hmmm...Matt, Glen and I were also in attendance. Apparently, we escaped being photographed.

These delicious recipes all came from "The Vodka Cookbook" by John Rose which is available at Barnes and Noble and wherever else books are sold.

Onion-Roasted Sweet Potatoes

When Ty's mom gave us several sweet potatoes a couple weeks ago we weren't quite sure what we wanted to do with them. We looked at some cookbooks and on AllRecipes.com and finally decided on Onion-Roasted Sweet Potatoes. The recipe turned out to be as simple as peeling and dicing the sweet potatoes, then tossing them in a mixture of vegetable oil and store-bought dry onion soup packets.



Then we dumped them on a cookie sheet and popped them into the oven...



When they were done we served them alongside some green veggies and Worthington meat-free Choplets cooked Shake 'N Bake style!



The Onion-Roasted Sweet Potatoes were delicious! Definitely a big hit with the guys who have each asked when we're going to make them again!

If you're interested in trying this delicious (and easy!) recipe for yourself, here's a link to the recipe on AllRecipes.com:

Onion-Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Flavor-Infused Vodkas

It would be an understatement to say that Ty "likes" vodka. Vodka is Ty's favorite hard liquor and he often uses it for cooking as well. Matt got Ty a vodka cookbook for Christmas as a last-minute gift having no idea how much Ty would actually like it.

Ty immediately began planning an all-vodka recipe birthday dinner. Each of the recipes he chose needed their own flavor of infused vodka. Ty made four flavor-infused vodkas: lemon, fresh basil, green apple and habanero pepper.



In each case the herbs, peppers or fruits needed to infuse with the vodka for a time period of a few days (in the case of the basil vodka) to a couple of weeks (in the case of the green apple vodka). When we were finally able to open and taste them we were very happy with the results. The green apple vodka was a big hit for shot-taking, with the lemon, fresh basil and habanero pepper vodkas being used almost exclusively for cooking.

These vodkas were such a success that we're planning to try various other vodka infusions and have even talked about infusing some delicious fruit flavors into rum (which is my favorite hard liquor). When we do, we'll be sure to post pictures!

Rainbow Veggie Pizza

This pizza was featured on the cover of a vegetarian magazine we picked up while out-of-town one weekend. It looked too delicious to pass up so we had to give it a try!

Here I am chopping some veggies for the pizza...



Look at all those colorful veggies!!




Next, we sauteed some minced garlic in a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil...



Then it was time to roll out the pizza dough...



We topped the pizza with delicious shredded mozzarella cheese...



Time to load on all the veggie toppings...





And finally, before and after photos of our delicious Rainbow Pizza...




The Rainbow Pizza was absolutely delicious and a big hit with all of us. It will definitely be going into our family's regular rotation of pizza recipes!

Sushi Up a Storm!

Ty is an avid sushi fan. When you live somewhere like Great Falls, Montana, where sushi is a largely unappreciated form of cuisine, you have to get a little creative when it comes to figuring out where your next sushi fix will come from.

I decided to solve this problem for Ty by getting him a complete sushi-making kit for Christmas and following that gift up with a set of sushi knives for his birthday in March. Now Ty can have delicious sushi, at home, whenever he likes.

The real problem we've encountered is being able to locate sushi-grade fresh fish at the markets in town. One store, 2J's occasionally carries sushi-grade fish, but it's not always a sure thing. To compensate for not having completely fresh ingredients, Ty will occasionally sear the fish in a pan for a minute or so on each side as you'll see him doing here in this series of photos.

Cooking the asparagus...



Chopping some veggies...



Preparing the tuna...




Here is the seared tuna and cooked asparagus...



Whenever Ty makes sushi he makes two different varieties. Here are photos of the filling for the Spicy Surimi Rolls...




Here are some photos of the sushi-rolling process...







Ta-da!