Healthy Eating Night

Usually, we fill our cooking group nights with butter, sugar, cheese and flour, but not tonight!  We jumped on the healthy bandwagon (I do love healthy, don't get me wrong...but I love the other stuff too!)  Brook taught us how to make Kale chips and they are DE-licious!  They are currently a staple in my house and my children love to eat them too--bonus!! You can find the recipe Here

We also learned how to make this amazing Quinoa dish with fresh peas, asparagus and avocado--it has a lemon basil dressing and I have made this a few times and my kids love it too!  It's completely guilt free, full of nutritious vegetables and most importantly...flavor!  The recipe for that is from here







Some tips for cooking with quinoa:

Basic Quinoa Facts

How much cooked quinoa does 1 cup dry quinoa yield?
1 cup dry quinoa yields about 3 cups cooked quinoa.
How much liquid do I need to cook quinoa?
To cook 1 cup quinoa, you need about 2 cups liquid.
How long does it take to cook quinoa?
1 cup quinoa will cook in about 20 minutes.
How do I make quinoa less bitter?
Nearly, if not all, of the natural bitterness of quinoa's outer coating can be removed by a vigorous rinsing in a mesh strainer.
How do I make better-tasting quinoa?
Quinoa is really excellent when cooked in vegetable or chicken broth. Also, add about 1/4 teaspoon salt to each cup dried quinoa when cooking. Try adding other spices aromatics during cooking as well: A clove of smashed garlic, a sprig of fresh rosemary, a dash of black pepper.
Can I use my rice cooker to make quinoa?
Yes! Just use the 2:1 liquid to quinoa ratio and follow the instructions on your rice cooker.

Also, it's important to not overcook the asparagus!  You want it to be bright spring green and still a little bit crunchy...al dente!  Nobody likes soggy asparagus....

Now that's some pretty fluffy quinoa!!!

To finish the night, we tried our hand at some sugar free/gluten free donuts.  These were....okay. I just think they shouldn't be called donuts because they taste nothing like the donuts you'd find at Krispy Kreme.  These were tasty and muffin like, but not rich or decadent like the name donut implies.  If you are watching your sugar/fat/white flour intake then these might just do the trick for you! You can find the recipe here

Masquerade Soiree

This October we had our first annual Masquerade Party and I dare say it was a huge success!  Candlelight, cloth napkins, glass goblets, real silver and porcelain dishes were required....  (and thanks to all my friends who let me borrow their stuff it was achieved!! ha ha :) )  

Was this the work of crazy persons?  Don't you think it would be ridiculous if it took two people til 2 in the morning to set a table?  yeah....me too. 

Enjoy the show!!

PART I:  The Table

(i.e. Brook's grandfathers antique collection of glass bottles, chocolate skeleton keys, lots and lots of candles, ferns, deer moss, spiders and gourds, a raven invasion, skeleton bones and pictures of apparitions...)

PART II: The Cabinet of Curiosities

(i.e. our guests were able to take samples home of all of our anthropological finds...)

PART III: Appetizers to tide over a healthy appetite

(i.e. Devils on Horseback brushed with maple syrup, Ghastly Gruyere on puff pastry, Swarming Cheese Plate {Brinton Bee honeycomb, Salemville Gorgonzola - from the Wisconsin Amish Cheesemakers, Jarlsberg -mild swiss, Bonne Bouche - Ash-ripened goat's cheese (my personal fav!)} and Shrunken Heads in Cider

PART IV: The Guests

(i.e. it would have been zero fun without these generous, creative, talented and amazing people.  Thanks for a great night!)

in the spirit of Halloween, we had a little Sprite pay a visit...

PART V: Dinner is Served

(i.e. Pork Tenderloin with Mustard Sauce {recipe below}, Mashed Boo-Tatoes,  Roquefort Pear Salad,  Beet Salad, Slivered Scream Beans--basically a whole table full of deliciousness)

Brook's Mashed Boo-tatoes piped into the shape of ghosts with peppercorn eyes

Trisha's Beet Salad with recipe to come!

Cheryl's Pork Tenderloin, scrool to bottom for recipe

Brook's Slivered Scream Beans

Devil's Kiss (Gingerale, cranberry juice and cherries)

PART VI: Dastardly Desserts

(i.e. Double Chocolate-Pumpkin Cheesecake, Chocolate Pumpkin Bundt Cake--we are the luckiest dinner party I know of...)

Camille's AMAZING chocolate bundt cake--recipe to come!

Brook's pumpkin cheesecake and melted sugar spiderwebs

PART VII:  The Entertainment

(i.e. a hooded purple lady came streaking {basically} through our dinner party.... be on the lookout for said lady at Wal-Mart, the Post Office, or Cafe Rio.  She enjoys swinging at the park, a good cup of hot chocolate and long walks on the beach...)

Please don't kill me for posting this one.....

 Pork Tenderloin with Mustard Sauce

by Cheryl McLane

1.5 lbs. pork tenderloin (costco is a great source for this!)

Season with Seasoning salt and ground pepper

Brown in frying pan

Bake at 375 until pork reaches 145-150 degrees

Brown mean in frying pan with a little olive oil.  I like to use my grill cast-iron frying pan so it gets grill marks on it.  Brown all sides and then place in the 375 degree oven for 12-15 minutes or until thermometer reaches 145 degrees.  Bring out and place on cutting board and tent with foil 10 minutes.  Cut into nine slices about three to a place.  Drizzle with sauce.

Sauce:

1 strip bacon and 1 small shallot sauted

3/4 c heavy cream

2 T Country style Grey Poupon Chunky Mustard

1 small sprig of fresh rosemary

1/4 c sour cream

Brown bacon and shallot until shallot is tender.  Add cream, mustard and stir until warm and blended; add 1/4 c sour cream.  Do not boil after adding sour cream or it will curdle.  Drizzle over slices of tenderloin on each plate.

NOTE: Most pork tenderloins come two to a bag--though it may not look like it.  They are small.  I find that cooking the two tenderloins will feed about 8 people.  I cut each tenderloin into about 12 slices for a total of 24 slices.