Ja cię kocham…

Yes, that is a homemade birthday cake.  And yes, I baked it.  And yes, it actually turned out!   At some point I will learn how to put icing on a cake, but right now I’m just excited that the cake itself wasn’t underdone.  Let’s just say that I was going for a rustic look.

Emmy, of Cleanliness is Next to Godliness, and I decided to throw The Mommy a fantastic birthday dinner that surrounded her with good food, family, and lots of laughter.  Being The Mommy means that she cannot stand by and let us have all of the fun in the kitchen.  She wanted to help cook, too!

The Mommy prepping the tomatoes for the Mediterranean-Style Stuffed Chicken

My sister was a good sport because she and I were supposed to cook everything together, but unfortunate circumstances (mainly traffic and last minute food purchases) led me to arrive a mere 30 minutes before dinner.  I manged to bake the cake and make the salad, but the majority of the work was done by my sister.  Thanks, Emmy!  Although, I don’t think she completely minded because normally we celebrate The Mommy’s birthday at my house and I do all of the cooking.  Now that Emmy has a house of her own and is getting married in LESS THAN A WEEK it was her turn to show off her culinary skills that she has mastered for her husband-elect.

Above: Please note the Birthday Wine glass on the table.  The Mommy uses it every year!

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Emmy sauteing the chicken on her new stove!

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Emmy did a fantastic job hostessing for the very first time!  Not only is it so exciting to have been there and shared in the joyous occasion, it is equally wonderful to share it with all of you!  Our (mainly Emmy’s) meal served 8 people and was incredibly inexpensive.  This feat in itself is something that should make Emmy proud.

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And just because it’s fun: I bought The Mommy a pot of herbs from Trader Joe’s and we used it as a centerpiece.  It smelled fabulous as we ate!

So please take notes!  This is how you can prepare a charming and flavorful dinner for 8 people without having to break the bank but all the while being super proud.

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Now onto the food!

Pea Pesto

Emmy made this fabulous Pea Pesto served with crostini and crackers.  (I’d like to note how simple it is!   A few ingredients can take you a long way!)

Source: Giada DiLaurentiis
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas, defrosted
1 garlic clove
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for seasoning
1/3 cup olive oil

Directions:

Pulse together the peas, garlic, Parmesan, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper in a food processor. With the machine running, slowly add the olive oil until well combined, about 1 to 2 minutes. Season with additional salt and pepper, if needed. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.

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Mediterranean-Style Stuffed Chicken

Source: Food Network
Serves: 8

Ingredients:

8 boneless, skinless breasts of chicken
3 cloves minced garlic
1-1 1/2 packages thawed, drained frozen spinach
1/2 cup white wine
4-6 ounces. Feta cheese, cut into 4 pieces
3 tablespoons Olive oil
3 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1/2-3/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 teaspoon dried basil

Directions:

Cut a two inch pocket into the thickest part of each chicken breast. Stuff each pocket with spinach and feta cheese and seal with a tooth pick. Season each breast well with salt and pepper. Heat oil over medium high heat and saute the breasts until golden brown on all sides. Remove chicken to a plate and cover with tin foil.

Add onion to remaining oil in pan and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in white wine and bring to a simmer. Stir in tomatoes and basil. Bring to a simmer and return chicken to the pan and cover. Simmer for 10 minutes. Remove lid and season sauce to taste. Serve with butter noodles tossed with parsley.

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Smashed Red Potatoes

I’ll have to double-check with Emmy about how she prepared this one!  I know it involved milk and red potatoes with the skin on it.  I mentioned preparing this first and then putting it in a crock pot while we prepared the rest of dinner.

If you are able to prepare anything and put it in the crock pot or in a warmer drawer of your oven, I highly suggest it!  It alleviates so much stress of having to make sure everything is served hot.

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Steamed Broccoli

Ingredients:

3/4 c. water
lemon slices (optional)
minced garlic (optional)
2 small or 1 large bag frozen broccoli
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil (optional)

Directions:

This is how The Mommy makes her broccoli: Place water in a small pasta pot or large skillet.  Add lemon slices, garlic, and broccoli.  Place on medium heat and cover.  Turn broccoli every minute or so to make sure that all broccoli is getting adequate steam.  When broccoli is ALMOST done, turn off the heat, and drain.  The broccoli will keep steaming when you transfer it to your serving dish and cover it.  (If you wait until your broccoli is fully cooked there is a good chance that it will keep cooking and turn yellow and mushy.)

Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil, and gently toss when ready to serve.

This is how Emmy makes her broccoli: Place the water and broccoli in a microwave-safe casserole dish (she omitted lemon slices), cover it and heat in the microwave for 4-5 minutes.  Toss it if some broccoli remains frozen and heat for an additional 30 seconds to minute.  Season with salt and pepper and serve.

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The Mommy’s favorite Salad – Purple and Blue Crunchy Salad

Unfortunately I had already tossed the lettuce before taking the picture so you can’t see all the purples and blues that are hiding underneath!

We call this “crunchy” salad because The Mommy LOVES when her salads are very crunchy.  The radicchio and walnuts add the crunch that she considers to be a stress reliever

Ingredients:

dressing of your choice – mom likes balsamic or citrus vinaigrette*
2 heads romaine lettuce, washed and torn into bite-sized pieces
half a head radicchio, chopped
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup walnuts
2 oz. feta cheese, cubed
salt and pepper to taste (we like LOTS of freshly cracked pepper)

Directions:

Place 1 Tbs. of dressing at the bottom of a large serving bowl, add remaining ingredients and gently toss.  Garnish with extra blueberries, walnuts, and feta.

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Southern-Style Strawberry Cake

Source: Joy the Baker

Ingredients for Cake:

1 (18.5 ounce) box white cake mix (without pudding)
1 (3 ounce) package strawberry jello
1 Tablespoon self rising flour
4 teaspoons granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup fresh strawberries, finely diced.

Directions for baking cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

To make the cake, combine to cake mix, Jello, flour and sugar in a large bowl.  Mix well.  Add the oil.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition  Add the water and strawberries and mix well.  Divide the batter evenly into three 8-inch round baking pans that have been oiled and floured.  Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean and the layers pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer the layers from the oven to wire racks.  Let them cool, still in their pans, for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, run a knife around the inside edge of each pan, then unmold each layer onto the racks to cool completely.

Ingredients for icing:

1 (8 ounce) block cream cheese, softened
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
1 box (1 lb.)  powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
pink food coloring
4 sliced strawberries

Directions for icing:

To make the frosting, in a bowl combine the cream cheese and butter.  Beat until soft and pliable and no lumps remain.  Add half of one box of the powdered sugar, salt and vanilla extract.  Beat until incorporated.  Taste test it.  If it isn’t sweet enough, add the second half of the box and mix until incorporated.  If you would like a smoother consistency, and a slash of milk.  If you would like a thicker consistency, and a bit more powdered sugar until the desired consistency is achieved.

Put the coconut in a small bowl and sprinkle with two or three drops of pink die.  Mix with hands to distribute the color and wash hands immediately.  Once the cake is frosted, decorate the top of the cake with the shredded coconut and sliced strawberries.

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After an amazingly satisfying meal, we sat and had coffee and chatted.

Starting in the front and going counter-clockwise: Emmy, Dad, my hubby (looking at the ceiling for some reason), Emmy’s husband-elect, Uncle D., Kitty, The Mommy.

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The party didn’t stop there!  The Mommy loves the fact that Emmy lives in a prime location for walking to different parks, restaurants, and shops so we stopped at a local Mexican restaurant for drinks.

And if you haven’t noticed, I’m in absolutely NO pictures because (clearly) I’m the photographer.  Emmy took some photos as well and will be posting about this fabulous day so maybe she has some of me in my flour-covered Phillies t-shirt.

Anyway, thank you for stepping into the lives of Ja Cie Kocham and Cleanliness is Next to Godliness!  We certainly had fun together and hope that you can take something away from our charming and inexpensive birthday dinner!

This dish is simplicity at its finest.  If you follow my blog at all you know how much I love recipes that consist of only a few ingredients.  Being the horrible multitasker that I am I need to have each and every ingredient prepared and right in front of me (and sometimes I put them in order of when I use them) before I start cooking or baking otherwise I will forget something.  This is especially true when I bake.  I have been known to forget key ingredients like eggs and milk in a cake.  I know.  It’s pathetic!  I blame it on the fact that I typically make vegan cakes that don’t require eggs and milk, but that’s not actually the truth.  I just get going and grab what’s in front of me – and if the eggs and milk aren’t in front of me, they ain’t goin’ in the cake.  Oops.

This recipe comes from a fellow foodie, and when I saw how simple the recipe is to prepare I leaped at the chance to make it.

I think what really makes this meal stand out is the homemade breadcrumbs.  They only take minutes to make and really add depth to the pasta.  This classic Italian dish is a good reminder that less is more. Recipes consisting of too many ingredients can get awfully expensive, and quite honestly I end up with far more dishes in the sink than I would prefer.  Stick with simplicity.  It never fails us.  Bearing that in mind, I really wish that I had doubled the recipe so I could share it with my friends and family.  This is definitely one to show off.  Bookmark it, friends!  This one is a keeper.

Pasta with Garlic Breadcrumbs
Source: Minimally adapted from Las Vegas Food Adventures
Serves 6

Ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil
2 cups fresh homemade breadcrumbs
2 large garlic cloves, very finely minced
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley
4 slices bacon, cooked, drained, and chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound pasta, such as spaghetti, linguine or capellini

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the breadcrumbs and sauté until golden, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté another minute or two. Remove from heat; add the cheese, parsley, bacon pieces, salt and pepper. Stir well to combine.

Cook the pasta according to package directions for al dente. Drain and add to pan with breadcrumbs. Toss over low heat until pasta is coated. Serve immediately with additional Parmesan cheese.

I just had two weekends both consisting of going out with my girlies.  And yes, it’s Friday night, and I already went out this weekend with my girls.  And yes, it’s before 8pm and I am home already.  Don’t judge.  I start early

Confession: I cannot tell you the last time that I had a girls’ night out let alone having it happen two weekends in a row.  One of which was my darling sister’s bachelorette party downtown filled with laughter, mojitos, and tapas and the other consisted of a bunch of co-workers hitting up Happy Hour at a local restaurant.

Another Confession: If I’m out with a bunch of friends and the restaurant offers free bread to snack on before our meals come out, I’m doomed from the start.  You can be pretty certain that I’m the first one to take a piece of bread and then wait until everyone has eaten her share to see if I can also have the last piece of bread.  Don’t you hate when there is just ONE piece of bread left untouched in that basket?  Personally, I think it’s a crime, but so often I find that no one is willing to take that last piece of bread as if it makes them greedy or something.  C’mon, we all know you want it.  I know I want it.

Sometimes I wish that they wouldn’t even offer that bread because then I’m “forced” to eat it until I’m full.  Then my meal comes out and I’m “forced” to eat that, too.  I can’t let it go to waste, right?  We won’t talk about the dessert that I inevitably always have room for despite eating most of the bread and my meal.  I can’t divulge too many secrets right now.

We’ll just stick with the irresistible bread.

I have to laugh because I made this bread WAY back in February when my area was slammed with several MONSTER snow storms.  The snow piled up against my sliding glass door, and I had nothing to do besides bake (even though I am challenged in the baking department) and play Wii.  Since I work at a school and the snow was well over 2 feet high, I had several days to mill around the house finding something to do.

That’s when I discovered this guilt-free bread.

Did you catch that, people!?  GUILT-FREE bread!!  You may wonder why this bread is worthy of such a title.  Does it have carbs?  Yes.  Does it satisfy your hunger?  Yes.  Is it tasty enough for restaurants to put it on their tables instead of the yummy white bread?  YES!  It’s that good.

And it has minimal ingredients.  And the ingredients are good for you.  This bread was specifically made so that we can consume it without a guilty conscience.  SWEEEEET!!!

Let’s have a go with it, shall we?

Clean Whole Wheat Bread

Source: Clean Eating Magazine and Eric Pater
Yields 18 slices

Ingredients:

3 cups whole-wheat flour
2 tsp yeast
1 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

Mix 1 ¾ cup warm water, flour and yeast in a small bowl. Let rise until mixture doubles in size, approximately 30 minutes.

Combine remaining ingredients with dough and knead by hand or with bread maker until dough is sticky. Add additional warm water if needed. If kneading by hand, let rise for 30 minutes, knead again and let rise for 30 minutes. If using a bread maker, let rise once, then put it in standard bread loaf pan to rise for an additional 30 minutes until dough fills out loaf pan.

Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes. Slice to desired width and serve.

NUTRIENTS per 2 5/8-inch slices:

Calories: 160
Total Fat: 3.5 g
Sat. Fat: 0.5 g
Carbs: 30 g
Fiber: 5 g
Sugars: 14 g
Protein: 3 g
Sodium: 55 mg
Cholesterol: 0 mg

The ladies of the family celebrating Mom’s birthday in 2007 – Mom, me, Mom-Mom, and Emmy

Writing this I realize that it has been close to two months since I have posted anything on Ja Cie Kocham.  The past two months have been filled with tremendous joys and utter sadness, both of which have kept me from taking the time to cook meals worth blogging about.  Exactly one week ago, our family suffered a tremendous loss that will take a lifetime to overcome.  My unbelievably sweet and loving Mom-Mom passed away unexpectedly.

Mom-Mom was the ultimate peacemaker and matriarch.  She was always calling (and I emphasize ALWAYS) to make sure we were all tucked in safely, always making sure that we were happy and healthy, and always ready to offer invaluable words of wisdom and encouragement.

I miss you so much already, Mom-Mom.

Me and Mom-Mom bustin’ a move at my wedding in 2006.  We seriously had a crowd of people surrounding us cheering us on.

She and I always laughed at the fact that I am a “mini-Mom-Mom” worrying about everyone else, dancing around the house for no reason, and being ornery as sin.  I still have an answering machine  message that Mom-Mom left me telling me how to curse in Polish.  (She only told me because I asked.  Hehe.)  See??  We’re both ornery!  (Sorry, Mom!!)

My beautiful sister and soon-to-be-wifey (soon-to-be meaning in a week!), is posting all of Mom-Mom’s favorite recipes.  Since I was a little girl, I helped Mom-Mom make her famous Mashed Potatoes and Filling.  I treasure the memories that she and I share and cannot wait to pass these recipes along to my children (that have yet to conceive… and apparently Mom-Mom was antsy in her pantsy for me to birth her great-grandchildren).

Mom-Mom all decked out in her princess gear for her birthday last year.  Awwww… you are so beautiful!

I love you so much, Mom-Mom, and cannot wait until we meet again.