Holiday Family Fun Night

Thursday evening is Holiday Family Fun Night at Sam's school.

Since the school is in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood,

the food is usually great!!

This week it's tamales, horchata, atole, bunuelos and churros.

I can't wait!

What's for Dinner? - April Version

4.01.07 - (mike)Thai Red Curry Chicken from this cookbook , Thai Rice, Feta Stuffed peppers, Organic Wolfgang bread from Whole Foods


4.02.07 - Chile Relleno Casserole from Eating Well, Broccoli (the kids wouldn't eat this)


4.03.07 - Parmesan Tilapia*, Cheddar/broccoli rice, sauteed spinach, heirloom tomatoes

4.04.07 - Macaroni & Cheese with Spam (a special request from Sam) What? Are you kidding? OF COURSE I DIDN'T EAT THAT!! I had Nachos with low-fat turkey, low-fat cheese and low-fat sour cream.


4.05.07 - Pork chops, Asian Chicken Salad, whole wheat vermicelli with garlic and herbs

4.06.07 - DiGiornio Pizza (pre-planned for Sam's sleepover. This wasn't an "I don't feel like cooking" excuse.) Ana ate at Panera with friends. Karen and Mike ate this.

4.07.07 - (mike) Grilled Ribs, Black Eyed Pea Salad


4.08.07 - (mike) Grilled Orata, Salmon Burgers, Green Salad
Karen foraged. Mike cooked.

4.09.07 - This is the day I bought my car. I didn't get to dinner.

4.10.07 - Spinach souffle stuffed chicken breast from South Beach, steamed artichokes


4.11.07 - Turkey burgers on whole wheat English muffins, sauteed mushrooms, fresh green beans


4.12.07 - Salt & Pepper Salmon, sauteed spinach, brown rice


4.13.07 - Grant's birthday party. Pizza at Strike Zone at Sunset Station


4.14.07 - Lunch at Lucille's Bar B Que(their spelling, not mine)- no one made dinner



4.15.07 - (mike) Grilled steak, grilled red pepper, olive bread, tapenade, broccoli
(Happy Anniversary, Laurie & John)


4.16.07 - Chicken, potato wedges, pesto pasta salad, hard boiled eggs
A picnic in the park during soccer practice. Karate test night.


4.17.07 - Tacos, refried beans, Spanish rice

4.18.07 - Whole wheat angel hair pasta, Italian sausage. I served a vegetable, but I didn't write it down.

4.19.07 - Crispy Tilapia, Broccoli, pierogi, taquitos (looking like the United Nations around here!)

4.20.07 - Chinese take out from China-a-Go-Go $23.71


4.21.07 - (mike) Smoked scallops, Halibut braised in chicken stock with vine-ripe tomatoes, fresh peas & carrots, homemade bread, fromage fort


4.22.07 - (mike)Oven roasted chicken, roasted white potatoes with onions, organic baby lettuce salad and leftover homemade bread with Irish butter

I know what you're thinking. "What? No grill this weekend?" Well, no, in fact the wind was blowing, GUSTING EVEN, which is not conducive to outdoor grilling.


4.23.07 - Curry in a Hurry chicken salad over mixed baby lettuces and arugula
I used the leftover chicken from the weekend instead of store bought.


4.24.07 - Stovetop Tamale Pie, goat cheese stuffed mushroom caps
I was trying new stuff this week. This wasn't very good.

4.25.07 - Turkey burgers on whole wheat english muffins with tomato & avocado, cole slaw
This is pretty clearly a family favorite. Everyone will eat it!!

4.26.07 - Sundried tomato and goat cheese chicken wraps with avocado, tomato & arugula (inspired by this recipe which had ingredients that some of us don't like so I changed it), cole slaw (again)

4.27.07 - Girls Night Out! Karen ate at Elephant Bar ($14.00) with friends, leaving Mike and Sam to buy DiGiorno pizza and Henry Weinhards Root Beer and Orange Cream Soda. Ana went to a church youth group event and I guess she ate there but I really have no idea because she's 13 and eats irregularly.

4.28.07 - Karen & Ana ate ball park food (nachos and hot dogs $14.75) at the 51's game. Mike grilled burgers for himself and Sam.

4.29.07 - (mike) Grilled pork loin roast, homemade cole slaw, baked beans, bratwurst, homemade bread with olive tapenade

4.30.07 - Ana's Choice. For herself and Sam she chose "Red Box Meals" so named because Banquet and Smart Ones both come in red boxes. Mike gets Sushi (chosen by Karen) and Karen is having Chinese Chicken Salad.

*I tried to apply Parmesan Chicken to Tilapia. It wasn't very successful. The fish is too delicate.
Only ordered out one time for $23.71 for the month. Not bad. Karen and Ana ate out a couple of times, but that is what allowance is for!!!

What's for Dinner? - March

1. TH - Parmesan Chicken Paillards with Cherry Tomato Sauce (Cooking Light 3/07)
2. FR - Roasted Chicken (store bought)
3. SA - Chicken wings (prepared by Mike on our Weber Classic grill)
4. SU - Lemon-Rosemary Chicken, Spicy Steak and Italian Sausage (again, by Mike on the grill)
5. MO - Every Man For Himself (Monday nights involve soccer and karate with little time between for food)
6. TU - Chicken Tacos
7. WE - Crustless Quiche
8. TH - Salmon
9. FR - Crisp-Crusted Tilapia
10. SA - Heavy snacking early afternoon. We spent the evening with our friend, Di, at her Boulder City home.
11. SU - See last Sunday above. It was a delicious repeat.
12. MO - Little Caesar's Pizza for the kids, Smart Ones frozen dinner for Karen. For Mike, who knows. I leave as soon as he gets home.
13. TU - Sesame Ginger Pork Chops
14. WE - Turkey Burgers on whole wheat English muffins
15. TH - Chicken Dijon (the day from hell!)
16. FR - Fair Food - Sam had Chicken Fingers and Fries, Ana had fries and I had a Teriyaki Chicken Sweker at the St. Patrick's Day Festival in Downtown Henderson. Mike? Who knows. He didn't want to come. Then we went to the carnival.
17. SA - Ribs (grilled by Mike)
18. SU - Chicken (grilled by Mike) (Karen's family visiting from Phoenix)
19. MO - Leftovers
20. TU - Chicken Tacos (family here - this feeds a crowd)
21. WE - Pasta toss (clean out the fridge of cold cuts and cheese and throw it in pasta with Olive Oil)
22. TH - Potage Parmentier (fancy French name of Potato & Leek Soup with bacon, more family)
23. FR - 777 Brew Pub at Main Street Station for Happy Hour and the UNLV Rebels v. Oregon Ducks (family again - this was a good family week.)
24. SA - Papa John's Pizza. All the family here and Ana has a soccer game at 7:20pm
25. SU - New York Steak on the grill (Can you tell it's Mike's cooking again?)
26. MO - Little Caesar's for the kids (they paid) and Crustless Quiche for the grown ups (I'm starting to see a pattern)
27. TU - Cornflake Crispy Crusted Tilapia (I altered an earlier recipe. This one was better.)
28. WE - Turkey Burgers on whole wheat English muffins
29. TH - Parmesan Chicken Paillards with Cherry Tomato Sauce (Cooking Light 3/07)
30. FR - Salt and Pepper Salmon, seared on the grill pan and finished under the broiler
31. SA - Rainbow Trout on the outdoor grill. Who can guess whose night it is to cook?

The Cupcake Verdict

We, the jury, in the above entitled action do hereby find the defendant, Barefoot Contessa Coconut Cupcakes, NOT WORTHY, of a clogged artery. So say we one, so say we all.


While I enjoyed making these cupcakes since I haven't done any baking in a long time, the end result wasn't worth it. I used all the finest ingredients I could find (just like a REAL chef) and followed the instructions carefully. Maybe part of the problem is that I really don't like cake.

The best part was the cream cheese frosting but I ended up with enough frosting to do another cake - maybe a carrot cake. That would be really good with cream cheese frosting.

Sam doesn't like coconut, so he won't be eating these. He asked me to leave the coconut out but I explained that they wouldn't be Coconut Cupcakes without coconut.

In the final analysis, I would much rather have spent my calories on a brownie. Not just any brownie, either. These brownies, which we refer to as Alton Brown-ies in our house.

Having said all that, none of it stopped me from eating two of them. Sigh....

Ina Garten is excessive...

For a long, long time I have wanted to try the Barefoot Contessa's

Coconut Cupcakes. Ina made these for a birthday celebration

and they looked YUMMY! I read the recipe (available on the Food

Network website and here) and thought, "What a way to die!"

This recipe has:

6 sticks of butter

5 extra large eggs

an entire pound of full fat cream cheese.

This afternoon I made them - from scratch - not the mix that is

now available at places like Sur La Table. Let me just say for you

coconut haters out there (and you KNOW who you are), this is

NOT the food for you. There is enough coconut in these cupcakes

to feed a Survivor tribe for all 39 days! Sadly, (well, not really)

Mike made a spectacular dinner tonight and I ate too much of

that so the long sought after cupcake will have to wait.

I'm sure they'll be just as good for breakfast tomorrow.