Time for a change!

So I've been thinking about this for awhile, but I think it's time for a blog change. I've decided to stop the focus on me, my life and my observations and refocus it on my recipes, the parties I host, the "crafty" side (or attempts anyways), and favourite products, ingredients, sites, etc.

So here we go!

Last night I hosted a dinner party for 6 plus 5 children. I made for an appetizer a butter puff pastry filled with Brie and brown sugar. This is one of the easiest recipes to make, and could easily be a dessert! Confession: I totally bought the butter puff pastry :) I just cut the pastry, then put them in mini muffin tins, put a piece of Brie and a good topping of brown sugar. I baked then in a 350 degree oven until cheese was melted, bubbling and pastry was golden brown!

For dinner I made Greek chicken served over a Greek pasta. This is also super easy and has been adapted from a recipe an old boyfriends mom found in a men's health magazine. First i start the water boiling for the pasta then I cube the chicken, and fry it in sun dried tomato oil and Greek seasoning. The sun dried tomato oil is just from the jar of oil packed sliced sun dried tomatoes that I will later use in the vegetable mix. Once it's cooked I set it aside. Usually by then the water is boiling and I start the pasta. I had already prepped the veggies, so in a wok, I fried multicoloured sweet peppers, onions, black olives (sliced and drained), roasted red peppers (found in a jar, drained and sliced), mushrooms, marinated artichokes and the sun dried tomatoes. I continue to heat this until the onion is cooked. Pasta is usually ready by now, so I strain it and put it in the serving bowl. I then top it with my vegetable mix and feta (lots cause I love feta!). I serve this family style cause I think it works well like that. The pasta doesn't have a sauce per say, but the vegetables have so much flavour, that it really doesn't need it - plus why add the calories if you don't need to?! The kids ate the pasta, some with topping, some just plain, and it worked well to accommodate everyone. (some kids ate whatever their parents brought for them)

I also took a loaf of French bread, sliced it, buttered it, seasoned it with Greek seasoning, and topped it with cheese. Then I tossed a quick Greek salad and we were set! I use the clubhouse Greek seasoning which is a great mix and packed full of flavour.

Tonight I am making a dinner for my mother in laws birthday. We decided on rack of lamb seasoned with garlic and rosemary to remind her of when their family used to raise and eat a lot of lamb. One day I will find someone local to supply us with lamb at a more reasonable price, but for today it was New Zealand lamb.

I decided to make a simple Caesar salad and steamed asparagus to side this. Then in the crockpot I sliced a pound of bacon, added small potatoes and a package of ranch seasoning, mixed it all together and let that cook down. There is no liquid in this because as the bacon cooks, it releases fat which the potatoes absorb and cook in.  All in all, real simple. (Thank you Pinterest!) Then because I will not eat the lamb and would like more than just sides for dinner, I made a mushroom soup from a cookbook I received as a gift for my wedding. It has a lot of gourmet recipes, so I don't use it often but when I do they are always great! I sliced 2 lbs of cremini mushrooms (which are mini portabellas if you're wondering) and sautéed that with a little butter. As they softened, I added one chopped white onion and salt and pepper. As they began to soften, I added some white wine. I had some left in the fridge from our company yesterday so it was probably about 2 cups. That absorbed and I added 2 tablespoons of flour, 1 cup heavy cream and 2 cups vegetable stock. Then I took out about 2 cups of the soup and blended it with some lemon juice and thyme. Once it was a thick purée, I added it back and let it simmer most of the day. I will serve this with a toasted baguette topped with Brie. I wanted to add another side, so I sliced tomatoes, seasoned them with vegetable seasoning, topped them with Kraft shredded Parmesan cheese and baked them for about 15 minutes until the Parmesan was melted. It's a simple side that adds some nice color to a plate. 

For dessert since my mother in law does not eat chocolate, and the birthday cake recipe in the themed cookbook was for a chocolate fudge cake, I found a recipe for poached pears. I'm changing it a bit as I don't want to serve it crazy fancy, and I'd like it to be more of a topping for the ice cream so I will dice the pears. They will be sautéed with cinnamon, apple cider, nutmeg, and brown sugar. Once they are cooked down, I will make a homemade caramel spiced with cinnamon and a hint of cayenne.  This will then be served warm over the vanilla ice cream and pears. (The original recipe has the pears served whole and cold, with lemon sorbet)

Whenever J is home I do some "deep cleaning" that I just cant do when he is away. In the past it has always focused on the girls closets.  Packing away the outgrown and out of season, labelling the bin, and adding it to storage, while hanging up all of the new clothes that fit or will fit soon. 

Today I pulled in a ladder and cleaned above every single door frame upstairs as well as washed the inside of every upstairs window.  This may seem like not a big deal, but the house still has drywall dust from being built above the door frames and it really was time this was done!  I had J move the ladder downstairs and tomorrow the basement will get the same treatment.

Often I get asked about how I keep my house clean, or organized, and one of my favourite tips is using daylight savings as a reminder to do things you don't normally do in your routine.  In this case, I used "fall behind" as cleaning all my horizontals.  Come "spring ahead" I will clean all the verticals (including the walls).  The baseboards are still on the to do list but likely that will get done slowly as J's time home is quickly coming to a close.  I think I will just have to tackle these once room at a time to make sure they get done in the next couple of weeks.

On another cleaning note, I found a "recipe" for homemade shower cleaner on Pinterest that was made simply with vinegar and dawn dish soap. I made this before J got home, placed it in a spray bottle and headed into the 2 bathrooms we use to try it out.  Seriously, this was one of the toughest cleaners I've seen!  I often struggle with the shower as not a lot of cleaning products can cut the soap scrum.  When you have 2 little ones who are always bathing, it's important to make sure the product(s) you are using actually get this done.  So, although the vinegar/soap mix doesn't smell great (actually, I make sure to run the bathroom fan as it's quite strong smelling) it really works well!

Anyways, that's this weeks entry! Hope the new format works out. :)