Ja cię kocham…

I hope all of the Mommies in the food blog world had a FABULOUS Mother’s Day!!  I can envision your sweet, little children bringing you breakfast in bed or making a darling card out of construction paper and stickers and the grown up children giving you a phone call or paying you a visit that simply made your day.

You deserve it, Mommies.  You have worked so hard all of our lives to bring us the best that life has to offer and we thank you!

In case you didn’t already pick up on this – I absolutely adore my mom.  And honestly, she makes it very easy for us to love her.  The Mommy is such a giver and is literally the strongest, most loyal and loving woman that I have ever met.  Growing up she braided my hair, ironed my clothes, wrote me cute notes in my lunch box, drove me to dance lessons, cheered me on at field hockey games (which she still does even though I’m all grown up), and much, much more.  I don’t know what I would do without my mom.  I love you, Ma!  You’re the most beautiful woman on this planet, and I thank God for you each and every day!

Bearing this in mind, this Mother’s Day was very bittersweet this year because it was so exciting to celebrate the many accomplishments of my mom but we were missing another mother of equal importance.

My Mom and her Mom (Mom Mom) in 2007.

As you  learned from this post, our amazingly wonderful Mom Mom passed away less than a month ago.  In the few weeks since then we have been fortunate enough to have much to celebrate – my mom’s birthday and my sister’s wedding.  We are so thankful to have many joys in our lives at a time that can often be overwhelming.

Even though Mom Mom wasn’t physically present at our Mother’s Day Dinner we made sure to honor her by using her dishes.

Small things such as preparing a loved one’s favorite meal or using his or her every day dinnerware brings about a sense of comfort and love.

Are the dishes adorable?!  I think so!

This Mother’s Day, The Mommy and I made a simple but fabulous dinner.  It wouldn’t be a family meal without The Mommy and I in the kitchen cooking together!

Normally when I’m cooking a family dinner, I make a detailed schedule of when to prepare and cook each dish and inevitably wind up behind schedule for some reason like talking too much or forgetting something like BAKING A CAKE.  Yes, I forget to bake cakes.  I’m that bad.

Thankfully, this meal was very relaxed in terms of preparation and cooking.  Maybe I’m getting a knack for cooking family meals.

We made very low maintenance dishes that required few ingredients and minimal active prep time.  For once I didn’t have every last detail written down and wouldn’t you know it – everything came out PERFECTLY and ON TIME.

Sometimes I look back on past meals and wonder why I feel the need to make things so complicated.  I’m truly learning that less is more.  I know I keep saying that over and over again in this blog, but I cannot stress it enough!  LESS IS MORE!

I’m going to give you the run down of our menu and will post individual recipes in the near future.  I’m just too excited about this meal that I want to show you what we made!

————————————————————————————————–

Pumpkin Hummus with Semi-Homemade Pita Chips

————————————————————————————————–

Rosemary Pork Tenderloin

————————————————————————————————–

Scalloped Potato Gratin

————————————————————————————————–

Nutty Greens with Bacon and Blue Cheese

————————————————————————————————–

And we had vanilla bean ice cream with chocolate syrup for dessert!

————————————————————————————————–

It was delicious!  I loved being able to spend more time with my family without having to constantly pop into the kitchen to check on the food.  After dinner, we sat around with coffee and chatted around the table until 10pm!  It doesn’t get any better than that.

These ribs are always a huge hit with our family and friends, and I cannot take one ounce of credit.  These are made by my grill master husband, Jay.   If something needs to be grilled, he is always ready to go, beer and cigar in hand.  It’s so funny because on our teeny, tiny patio outside we have a huge Weber grill, a charcoal grill, and a smoker.  Do we have enough??  Apparently not because we’re thinking about getting a tailgate grill for when we go to sports events, too.  Ha.  We love our food in this house.

We pretty much always get our meats from the super wholesale store, Costco.  Their meats are outta this world.  Honestly, a lot of Costco’s stuff is pretty amazing.  (Their birthday cakes are unbelievable!)  If we don’t go to Costco, then we go to our local Amish farmer’s markets for meats.  They, too, have great stuff for great prices.  And I have to just give a shout out to Trader Joe’s because it’s my favorite grocery store.  I can’t talk about good food and prices without mentioning TJ’s.

So…. the superbowl is about a month away and you need a great recipe for a party, don’t you?  I suggest you try these ribs.  They can be cooked in the oven, on a grill, or in a smoker.  Does not matter.  We’ve done it all and they are always a huge hit.  HUGE hit.

My only critique is the price of the food to make this meal, but it is important to know before you get to the grocery store.  Bobby Flay uses 2 different types of chili powder both of which are expensive (and hard to find) in addition to a whole lot of maple syrup, which is also expensive. It’s totally fine to use any chili powder and syrup you have in the house.  Yes, the specific kinds that are chosen do make these ribs particularly yummy, but using any chili powder and syrup still tastes amazing and you will still rock the house in grilling.

For New Years we served these babies with Sauerkraut with Bacon and apples (recipe follows).  Mmmmmmm…..

Spice Rubbed Smoked Ribs with Maple-Horseradish Baste

Source: Bobby Flay

Serves 8

Prep Time: 15 min

Inactive Prep Time: 30 min

Cook Time: 1 hr 30 min

Ingredients:

Maple-Horseradish Glaze:

2 cups pure maple syrup
1/2 cup prepared horseradish, drained
2 heaping tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon ancho chili powder
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Ribs:

1/3 cup Spanish paprika
3 tablespoons ancho chili powder
3 tablespoons New Mexican chili powder
2 tablespoons ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
3 cups wood chips (hickory, mesquite, or applewood)
4 racks pork ribs (3 pounds each)

Directions:

Glaze:

Whisk all ingredients together in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Ribs:

Stir spices together in a medium bowl.

About 1/2 hour before cooking time, soak hickory chips in enough water to cover. Drain chips. In a covered grill, place slow burning charcoal in both sides of a drip pan. Sprinkle coals with wood chips.

Rub top side of each rack of ribs with about 3 tablespoons of the rub. Place ribs, bone side down, on grill. Close cover or place cover on the smoker. Grill about 1 1/2 hours, adding chips every 20 minutes. During the last 10 minutes of grilling, brush liberally with the Maple-Horseradish Glaze.

_______________________________________________________

SERVED WITH:

Image courtesy of Simply Recipes

Sauerkraut with Bacon and Apples

Source: Simply recipes

Serves 8-10

Remember I told you that we need to move on from my crappy pictures?  Apply that thought right now.  It was dark, I was hungry, and I just took a quick pic of a fabulous dish.  Please don’t let the picture fool you!!  This portion of my pre-Thanksgiving meal along with my Fresh Cranberry Sauce with Apples with Ginger and another side dish a dessert soon to be revealed were awesome!

Again, the stuffing came from my Clean Eating Magazine.  The pork was a recipe that I created on the fly.  It is all healthy, simple, inexpensive, and has explosive flavor.  Sweet deal.   Trust me, you can’t go wrong with these recipes.  I wish that I had these ideas sooner!

Sweet Apple Cider Pork

Serves 4

4 4oz. pieces of pork tenderloin, 1 1/2 inch-thick (preferably)
2 1/2 cups apple cider for marinade + 1 cup for cooking
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. butter
1 tsp. cornstarch

Directions:

In a large ziplock bag, add pork, cider for marinade, cloves, ginger, and salt.  Let marinate for 30 minutes.

Once the pork is done marinating, heat a large skillet on medium-high heat.  Add olive oil and butter and distribute throughout the skillet.  Add pork and brown each side (about 2 minutes each side).  Add the remaining apple cider, bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer.  Cover with lid and cook for about 8 minutes more.  Be sure to keep a close eye on it to make sure the cider doesn’t completely evaporate.

Then add the cornstarch and stir until the cider thickens.

Place pork on a serving plate and drizzle sauce over top.
—————————————————————-

Mushroom and Leek Stuffing

Source: Clean Eating Magazine, Nov/Dec 2009

Serves a huge crowd (enough to stuff a turkey if desired)

Ingredients:

1 680g whole-wheat sourdough bread or regular whole wheat bread
1 Tbs. olive oil, divided
1 lb. portobello mushrooms, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (4 cups)
1 cup carrots, finely chopped
1 cup celery, finely chopped
1 large leek, trimmed, halved lengthwise and chopped
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. chile powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. sea salt

Directions: You can do this one of two ways –

1 – The oven-baked traditional method – Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Decrust and cube bread into 3/4-inch cubes.  Spread bread cubes out in a single layer on 2 rimmed baking sheets and bake for 10 minutes or until lightly toasted.  Transfer to a very large bowl.

Heat 1/2 tsp. oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add mushrooms and cooking, stirring until tender and lightly browned (8-10 minutes).  Add mushrooms to bowl with bread.  Wipe out skillet with paper towel and heat remaining oil on medium-high.  Add carrots, celery, and leeks and cook until tender and lightly browned (again, 8-10 minutes).  Add to bread bowl.

Add remaining ingredients to bowl and stir gently.  Bread should be moist, but not soggy.  Allow to cool.

Coat a 9×13 inch baking dish with olive oil cooking spray and add stuffing.  Cover tightly with foil and bake for 20 minutes.  Them remove foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

OR

2 – The weeknight, I don’t have time to do all that work method – Tear bread into bite-sized chunks.  In a large skillet heated to medium, add 1/2 tsp. oil (I cheated and added a little tab of butter, too) and mushrooms, cook until tender and lightly brown (8-10 minutes).  Remove from skillet.  Wipe down skillet with paper towel.

Add remaining oil, carrots, celery, and leeks to skillet heated to medium-high and cook until tender and lightly brown (8-10 minutes).  Add mushrooms back into skillet along with the remaining ingredients.  Stir until bread is completely moist, but not soggy.  Once bread is completely moist, crank up the heat to high and stir stuffing for a minute or two until the bread begins to toast.  Serve immediately.