Muppets in Miscellania

Curried Potatoes

Tonight we had a very special treat....a new Muppet Christmas Special! SH and SB planned a warm, spicy, colorful, and easy menu for the festivities. The meal included Butternut Squash and Leek soup topped with Garlic Croutons,

Curried Potatoes over Brown Basmati Rice,

Steamed Broccoli with Cheese Sauce,

And a dessert of Amaretto Flan!

SB: What a fun night! Our dinner was very easy, yet tasty! I made the soup and flan ahead of time, and they were both very easy recipes. The soup was thick and creamy, without any added milk or cream, so the calorie content was low. The added croutons gave it a crunch that was wonderful. Our main dish was chopping intensive-but worth it. The vegetable simmered with the liquid and spices for about an hour, and it smelled wonderful (and my kitchen still does smell wonderful)! It was spicy, warm, and very filling. The steamed broccoli was a great side-always one of my favorites. This was my first time eating flan, and I was very impressed. It had a good caramel flavor.

The leftovers of the curried potatoes reheat very well, I had them for lunch today! This meal is very affordable, easy, and attractive.

Bees and Sweet Potatoes

Dinner and A Movie

African Sweet Potato Stew with Red Beans

For our second dinner party, we planned a dinner and movie night. We have both read The Secret Life of Bees in the past, and it was showing at our local independent theater. So, we brought out the crock-pot and had time for dinner, a movie and Top Chef!

Our dinner tonight was African Sweet Potato and Red Bean Stew. It is a flavorful, light stew with a hint of peanut butter in the liquid. It simmered in the crockpot for hours, and it was very nice to walk into a great smelling house and have dinner ready at 6:00 after our busy days!

For a side item, we had corn bread muffins with jalapenos. The spicy bread was a nice addition to this tasty stew.

SH- The stew and muffins were a great meal at the end of a busy day. We had time to eat, clean up and visit with SJ who stopped in to say hi before heading to the movies. The meal wasn't too heavy- we still had room for popcorn at the movies! I guess it would have been fun to have cooked with honey to fit the theme of the movie - maybe next time. Next week we are planning a colorful meal as we watch the Muppets Christmas special on NBC, then catch up with the Top Chefs!
Thanks for visiting!

Our First Blog Entry

Tonight is the inaugural night of our Top Chef cooking extravaganza. We started with a classic autumn ingredient - Butternut Squash. Our menu included:




a simple spinach salad adorned with almonds, dried cranberries and feta cheese.





The main dish (pictured above)was roasted butternut squash and red peppers over garlicky fettuccine.








Our desserts (completely made by SB) were a chocolate souffle drizzled with a rich chocolate sauce AND accompanied by SB's special truffle.

Reviews:

SH-I felt the menu was a huge success. The salad was a nice starter. The pasta was very yummy- especially the roasted veggies with the fresh garlic in the pasta. The desserts were chocolaty but not over the top- a perfect way to top off the evening.

Admittedly, Top Chef started a few weeks ago but, our schedules didn't work out until now. So, we are catching up on Top Chef (thanks to the miracle of DVR technology) while enjoying this great meal and a bottle of wine.

SB-Wow! What a great way to start a tradition. Our simple salad was a perfect starter, the combination of spinach, feta, dried cranberries and almonds was classic and yummy! The main dish was simple, yet elegant. The flavors were excellent, I look very forward to making this tasty dish again in the future, especially for my special someone! Dessert was a chocolate fest, but I am not complaining! The chocolate souffle was very easy to make, but very warm and chocolaty. Having a dinner like this is worth getting up at 5:45 am to run in the morning!!!

The butternut squash recipe was a cooking light recipe. To view the recipe click on the picture at the top of the post.

Check back next week for an African Sweet Potato and Bean Stew!!