I believe I will be home at least one evening this weekend and plan on whipping up the following for the Swede’s last Tara-made meal.  (Well, hopefully it won’t be his last ever…)

Moroccan-Style Chicken Pie

with Caramelized Cumin-Roasted Carrots

and a nice Cardamom Vanilla Pound Cake (with a lemon caramel sauce) for dessert….

wish me luck….

(posts and pictures to come next week!)

and Happy Baking to you all!

Last night I cooked over at my friend’s place……

Main Meal = eh, just okay. It was a chicken/hazelnut dish with a heavy cream sauce which I served over rice.  Its nothing to write home about so I won’t burden you with it.  BUT, I am excited to whip up a savory Moroccan chicken pie this weekend which I will indeed share with you…. 

Dessert = A.Maz.Ing. which means, of course, that I whipped up a kladdkaka.   And since I had to purchase all the ingredients at the store, I went with high quality chocolate powder (Ghirardelli) and finally bought some real, organic, pure Madagascar vanilla.   These made a huge difference.  I served the kladdkaka with whipped cream and raspberries as we watched gobs and gobs of Olympic hockey!

Onto this morning’s breakfast:

• Oikos plain greek yogury +
• a small banana +
• 1/2 a Choco-walla bar +
• 1 tbsp of flaxseed +
• 1 tbsp of almonds

= perfect combination of protein, healthy fats, fiber, and most importantly, deliciousness.

Okay,  I can honestly say that the next time I may spend any amount of time in my kitchen is Friday….at the earliest.

Monday night was delicious sushi at Kamehachi in Streeterville.  I’m not sure why we haven’t gone there more often (my friend lives 1.5 blocks from it and I think we’ve been 4 times), but every time we have gone there we have both loved what we’ve ordered.  (Except for the eel and that was just because we ended up not liking eel in general.)  Monday we opted for two Maki-Mono sushi orders (though we’ve been pleased with their noodles and kitchen entrees in the past as well) with an appetizer of yakitori.  The yakitori was really nice and we devoured our Rainbow and Spicy Salmon Deluxe rolls with delight.

They also have quite the martini list which quickly turned me into a blathering fool….:O






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Also, if you’re a fan of Pop-Tarts you might want to give Kellogs’ new product, Fruit Crisps, a try.  I have to admit, I have a soft spot for a strawberry poptart….all warm and delicious from the toaster and my cousin even introduced me to swiping a little butter on the plain crust side = NUM!  Well, I believe Poptarts tip the scales at something like 400 calories for two pastries/1 package.  (And really, who can leave one lonesome Pop-Tart in that big, unfriendly looking tin bag….)

I saw the new Fruit Crisps in the store and thought they might make a nice addition to the emergency snack stash in my drawer (an attempt to keep myself from frequently the vending machine. :$ )   These guys are part of the low-calorie, portion-control push that the food business is currently obsessed with and come in at a slim 100 calories for two small crackers/1 package.  And the taste? The really do taste like a mini, lighter version of a Pop-Tart.  Are they healthy?  No, of course not.  The ingredient list is a mile long!  BUT, are they better than that 270 calorie Milky Way calling your name when the afternoon munchies hit?  Yes.

NOTHING I made yesterday turned out even close to worthy enough to be blogged about.

• The fudgy chocolate cupcakes I made should have been like individual kladdkakas but were really dry and tasteless.
• The blood orange marscapone frosting had a good taste but refused to whip up into something of a decent thickness and consistency.
• The turkey roast was NOT. GOOD. Not purchasing that product again.
• The only thing I’m actually looking forward to eating is the simple brown rice pesto I made.  Which merely included mixing in 2 tbsp of my Amore Pesto paste and 2 tbsp of EVOO into 3.5 cups of brown rice.  Its delicious.

I promise there will be more cooking and baking and posts in general after March 1st. Unfortunately, an amazing friend  is moving far far away and I am spending as much of my time as possible enjoying their company until the airplane whisks them away…..

• make that turkey roast defrosting in my fridge along with some brown rice and broccoli for next week’s lunches…
• whip up some chocolate cupcakes with blood orange mascarpone frosting…
• try out 101cookbooks.com’s golden crusted brussels sprouts recipe…
• cook up mark bittman’s squash soup recipe if my squashes are still good…
• call my wonderful parents and two good friends…
• call my landlord to get someone over here to fix my kitchen sink ASAP…
• go to grocery store to pick all needed ingredients for cooking and baking…

but first…….

• I need to get my arse in gear and run my 20 miles before the snow hits!

I may need at least a rough schedule of events in order to get everything done:

10am-11.30pm:  grocery shop (dominicks & whole foods), return dvd and library books (normally I would run first, but I’m scared after 20 miles I won’t be able to get myself to leave the house again!)

11.30-3.00:  run 20 miles

3.00-4.00:  shower, eat, relax with my new book, Hunger Games

4.00-7.00:  cook, bake, cook

6.00-9.00: make various phone calls

and, of course, have the Olympics on in the background all day/evening…