Spring Arrives

After much ado, spring has finally arrived in southwestern Virginia and we celebrated with all the wonders Mother Nature brings with the revival of spring.
We started our meal this evening with an appetizer, Pine nut and chive dip served with sliced multigrain bread.
Our main dishes tonight were full of fresh spring ingredients. Veggie Spring Bundles with Healthy Spring Risotto graced our plates tonight in a beautiful, healthy and tasteful way.
I cannot overstate how wonderful these dishes were. The bundles required about 10 minutes of preparation and turned out beautiful. They are representative of spring are well worth the effort.
The collaborator of the spring bundles was the risotto. This lemon infused risotto was a nice surprise as it was flavorful and creamy without being too rich.
The main dishes tonight were individually enjoyable, but together they pushed the dinner onto a new level. The joining of flavors is an important aspect in cooking and developing menus and this is a great example of dishes that together are better than the individual components.
Our dessert tonight was Strawberries with Spiced Syrup. This was simply sliced strawberries with a spiced up sugar sauce. We served them with a dollop of whipped cream.Fitting into our spring theme this desert was the perfect closing to the night.

Thai One On for Mother Nature

It's Earth Day
Tonight we celebrated Earth Day with a Thai inspired meal. We used fresh ingredients to create a feast with minimal waste.

Our appetizer was a low-energy spring roll. I say low energy, because most of the ingredients were raw and only required chopping power. These spring rolls were light, yet flavorful and filling.

Our main dish was Pad Thai, a traditional Thai dish. Pad Thai is a noodle-based dish mixed with spices, veggies and tofu. The end product was a spicy, hearty and fresh main dish. The dish was topped with cashews, cilantro, green onions and lime.

Our dessert was also Thai themed, a Mango Sorbet. The desert was cool, creamy and refreshing. It was a great and traditional way to end the evening.

For our Earth Day tallies, we completed the meal with mostly fresh ingredients. Canned goods were kept to a minimum (actually no cans were opened for the dish, we only used a few seasonings from bottles). Fresh, local ingredients were our focus tonight-and our meal was delicious. Making an effort to include earth friendly ingredients does not have to be cost prohibitive. Making every day Earth Day involves a commitment to conservation and the future - but remember it is a commitment to your future.

Little bites...big dinner

Tonight we entered the realm of tapas. Tapas are Spanish appetizers literally translating to "little bites". So, we made many little bites and we would love to show them to you.
We started with a crostini... french bread smothered with a cream cheese/feta cheese mixture and topped with a sauteed mushroom mixture. This was a great way to start our evening!

After the wonderful starter, we delivered our next three tapas as our main dish. Together they compete for BostonsInVirginia's best meal ever. We could not choose a favorite on the plate and they are all worth making again.
Minature Napoleons with Eggplant Creme

These dainty bites were full of flavor and big on nutrition. We loved this tapas and would recommend that you try them too.
Next, the asparagus and white bean paste tart was a welcome addition to our plate. I cannot overstate how great this recipe is. It would be a great appetizer for a dinner party, a light main dish with a salad, or an interesting side dish. However you choose to serve it, we are confident it will be a highlight of your day.
Perhaps the most surprising dish of the evening was the Tofu Nut Balls (pictured in the head picture). These tofu balls have the consistency of meat balls and mix well with a spicy tomato sauce. They were a perfect tapas, but we also have inside information to let us know they also make a great main dish when coupled with pasta.
Onto dessert, which was great as always. Tonight our choice was Chocolate Rounds with Macadamia Nut Goo. Yum, Yum, Yum - these chocolate bites were full of sweetness complemented with the nutty caramelized goo.

Tonight was a complete home run! These dishes were photogenic, delicious, and relatively easy to prepare. We would recommend them all and encourage you to try a tapas dinner at home. A dinner of small dishes is a great way to have a fun evening at home.
Enjoy and we will see you next week. Please leave us a comment and let us know what is on your mind. Any ideas of what we should fix in the future....a fan's favorite dinner would be really fun :)

Jamaica me crazy - or just hungry

It's trying to be spring here in Virgina - but winter is not quite ready to let go. In the last week we have had highs in the 70s, lows in the 20s, over an inch of rain and snow flurries. So with all the crazy weather, we decided to take a culinary trip to the Caribbean tonight and enjoy a break from indecisive Mother Nature!

Our spicy starter was Jalapeno Popper Dip. This warm cheesy dip had a creamy texture with a spicy aftertaste. We served it with carrot sticks and toasted french bread.


Our main course tonight incorporated two dishes influenced with Jamaican flavors. These dishes were bright, spicy and warm- the perfect mid-week pick me up :)
Jamaican Veggie Patties were our main dish tonight. These were a bit unusual, but surprisingly tasty and delicious. The crust was moist while the filling was spicy, flavorful and hearty. Alongside the patties was Caribbean black beans with mango salsa served over a wild rice mixture. The black beans enhanced the veggie patties making a perfect combo.



We finished the night with a light banana pudding. A great cap to the evening.

We Are Back On Track

The Smell of Success is in the air tonight! After last week's disappointing main dish - tonight we hit a home run! This was a four course meal including some old favorites and a foray into new culinary territory as well.

Our first course was a garlic, feta and dill dip served with carrot sticks and fresh toasted pita chips. It was warm and inviting on the cool, rainy March evening. This is a favorite of SB and one I always look forward to. Since she now has fresh dill growing - it seemed like the perfect appetizer for this meal.
Our second course was a basic salad. We used arugula as the base topped with dried cranberries, toasted walnuts and a homemade mustard vinaigrette. It was simple and easy, but it was also tasty and the perfect segue into our main dish.
Our main dish was where we ventured into new territory. SB had a potato gnocchi at an Italian restaurant recently and wanted to try to recreate the dish at home. So, we found a recipe and we tried it. I must say, making the dough was quick and easy, but shaping it was a little bit of work. But, the time invested turned out to be well worth it. This pasta was light, but filling and held the tomato-basil sauce perfectly. I think this is a dish we will both make regularly in the future.

Onto the fourth course - dessert. Tonight this is another of SB's favorites, Individual Upside-Down Peach Cakes. These were warm, moist and delicious- a great way to end a wonderful evening.

St. Paddy's Day Meal!

Our Irish Inspired Meal tonight had some hits and a very big miss!
Our appetizer, while not really Irish inspired, involved us trying a new ingredient -Panko. Panko is Japanese bread crumbs and I had picked some up at the grocery recently for us to try. So, SB found an appetizer recipe for Panko coated risotto cakes. These cakes were delicious; they were crispy, creamy, cheesy and just yummy. I probably could have made a dinner from these alone - and actually I probably will combine these with a green salad for dinner soon.

Next, our main course was Vegetarian Irish Stew with Oatmeal Soda Bread. These dishes came together quickly and were easy to put together. They both cooked in the same amount of time - and the kitchen smelled great. The bread was moist and delicious - this recipe is a keeper! On the other hand - the stew was not a keeper. We tasted the dish before serving and found that as it cooked down, it developed a bitter taste. We tried a few remedies to mellow the flavor, but in the end - we found it to be uneditable. I guess all recipes can't be winners - but this one really isn't worth trying in our opinion.

But, we persevered onto dessert! SB made some great Flag cookies which resembled the Irish Tri-Color Flag. These were shortbread cookies with a light icing - very tasty and a nice way to wind out the evening.


All things considered the evening was a success, but the main dish was a disappointment- oh well, you can't win them all.

The Dangerous Kitchen

Welcome Back!
After our week off, we returned with a night of fun and whimsy. We were inspired by a short lived cooking show on the Food Network called Dweezil and Lisa. The show focused on the two musicians as they toured around the nation sampling new and unique food creations. We used a couple of their recipes as a springboard - and before we knew it we were carried away by fun food ideas. Since we had recipes by a Zappa family member it seemed the next logical step to add a Frank Zappa tribute into the meal as well. Since SJ is a big Zappa fan, we invited the boys to join us for dinner and had fun with the meal.
We started with a "Zappatizer". These were Frank inspired snacks. We used a cibatta bread base, with hummus, roasted red peppers, sprouts and sunflower seeds. They were fun and pretty tasty, too!

We had a Deliciously Sweet Salad as our next course. This salad contained fruits, nuts, cheeses and a sweet-tart dressing. MMMMM :)




Our Main Course was Cupcake Lasagna. These were spinach

lasagna cupcakes topped with ricotta frosting and garnished with grape tomatoes and basil. Not only were these really fun to make and eat -but they were actually a healthy version of lasagna.



Of course we had a dessert and continuing with our fun and whimsical theme we had an Almost Flourless Cake topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit. The cake was chocolaty, gooey and delicious!

SB-- What a fun meal. I think that overall, this is the best meal that we have made. Each component of the dinner was delicious, there was no course that outshone the others.

The Zappa-tizers were the product of SB's brainstorming, and they were excellent! It was a light, tasty starter, and fun to look at as well!

The salad was one of the best that I have ever had. The combination of the blueberries, feta cheese, and goat cheese were amazing. I will be making this salad again, it is a beautiful salad to serve to company.

The cupcake lasagnas looked great, and tasted even better! They were hot, spicy, and filling. These will be great for a party, they are easy to prepare ahead of time and take about 20 minutes to bake.

The cake was fudgy and fabulous! The addition of the fresh strawberries made it taste wonderful.

I recommend all these recipes for anyone who likes to cook, they are all easy and yummy!