Super Suppers

Super suppers was actually a lot of fun. Chris and I got there at 11:45. He was a bit skeptical (about the quality of the ingredients, how much he would be participating, who else would be there potentially staring at him and his lack of knife skills). It's only 15 minutes away from our house, so if this works out, we might go there monthly.

The ingredients were pretty good--definitely what you would get a standard supermarket. We used chicken cutlets (frozen), fish fillets (frozen), pre-cooked sausage, pre-cooked canadian bacon, shrimp (frozen), and flank steak (refrigerated, so we could put a rub on there).
There wasn't a lot of produce, beyond fresh herbs. One dish required some broccoli florets, which you kept separately from the rest of the dish, and they looked pretty fresh. Otherwise it was wonderful to have everything just laid out in front of you with the appropriate measuring spoons already in there. I was just thinking the other day how when I first started cooking I thought it would be like, witchcraft or something. A little bit of this, a little of that, and poof! Magically delicious. Now I realize that it's actually the gathering of ingredients and prep that is all the work, and the "poof" part is the shortest part. Afterwards you get to clean up your disaster zone of a kitchen (or in my case, make your husband do it). At Super Suppers, someone else does that. Chris loved that part.

The recipes were really broken down and easy to follow-down to what materials you needed, which were all stacked next to the "stations." Chris even made one recipe on his own! I did one on my own, and the others we worked at together. Most of them were about putting ingredients into a bag or a pan, sealing it up and putting it away. The most fun recipe was the pork empanada, because you get to roll out dough, stuff it, and crimp it. I'm most skeptical about this recipe, though, because it came with the pre-cooked sausage, and I don't know what that will taste like.

The stations were like salad bars positioned against walls, and usually there were two recipes per station. This made it a bit crowded, but we never had to share a station with anyone. One person was there when we came in, and others came in after us, but everybody finished at their own pace. That solved Chris' other problem about interacting with strangers. The Super Suppers people were very friendly, and when we got to the empanada station, she was really helpful in showing us how to work with the dough. We definitely would have ended up with blobs if she hadn't stepped in.

I'll discuss how the recipes turn out (we split a lot of them in half to stretch out the portions, which are meant for six people). One recipe I'm doing on my own this week is a Creamy Spinach pasta from the Family Fun Month of Meals. I had never seen this website before! I'm kind of excited to try some of the recipes out. They all seem fairly easy and kid friendliness is on their mind. There do seem to be an overload of chicken breast rolled in cracker crumb type recipes though, and I generally don't like that.

Menu, revised and reworked

So what did we have for dinner this week? We didn't go grocery shopping until TUESDAY so actually it's been quite erratic.

Sunday-Got some jang-jo-reem which is like beef boiled in soy sauce (and eggs also marinated and boiled in soy sauce) from mom, tore it into small pieces (just the beef) and mixed into rice with some of the soy sauce. Korean comfort food is the BEST!

Monday-Tuna melts-tuna salad on bagel with tomato and cheese on top, then broiled. So simple!

Tuesday-Spam fried rice--Chris claims this is his favorite dinner. It does have a very comfortable feel to it, but favorite? That seems extreme...

Wednesday-felt frustrated with life and fat with artichoke and spinach dip (and Bruschetta). The above was served at Elaine's Office Marathon party, which I was not frustrated with, but I think the hormones are trying to consume me or something. I felt tired? Hence, I did not cook dinner and forced Chris to eat doritos for his meal.

Thursday-Slow cooker pot roast. Successfully plugged in the pot roast this time, so it did cook. I'll let you know how it turned out.

Friday-The plan is curried shrimp (another Bittman recipe). Seems very simple.

I am highly contemplating registering for Super Suppers (just to try it out..)

This weekend we are going to a Birthday BBQ but I'm on vacation for the next two weeks..perhaps I should try to make something fancy?

Menu and More

Before we get started, I just have to say that Violet Affleck (Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck's offspring) is the most beautiful child I have ever seen. She has these amazing dimples and eyes, just like Jennifer Garner. No idea what she got from Affleck. I look at pictures of that baby and I'm thinking how does that work?? Knowing that our baby could look adorable like me and Chris as babies or have a head the size of a basketball, like my brother.

Menu:

Tues-Meatballs, potatoes, and salad
Wed-Spaghetti and meatballs with vodka cream sauce (trader joe's of course)
Thurs-Korean Chicken Stew
Fri-Out for dinner with friends!
Sat-Baby Shower BBQ (not ours)

What should we have for dinner next week?

La Mer

Yesterday Chris and I went to the shores of Delaware for a lovely beach outing that included:

The ocean attempting to drown me by constantly pushing waves towards me and making water go over my head.

A delicious corn dog and not so delicious chili cheese dog (chili shouldn't taste like Chef Boyardee, right?) and delicious fries.

Maternity bathing suit. Nuff said.

Pina colada water ice. Funland--and a ride on the not recommended for pregnancy "Paratrooper" on which Chris claims he almost threw up. It's just a tilted carousel that goes somewhat fast and somewhat backwards sometimes. My biggest fear on the ride was that our cart would disengage from the main arm and fling us into the realm of Funland never to be seen again.

25 cent skeeball. Do you know how affordable that is? I could have stayed there all day. I won a small orca!!

Finishing my first Agatha Christie novel. Do you know how many times I've attempted to finish one of these books? I have millions laying around. I've seen so many of her mystery mini-series on Masterpiece Theatre. Yet, Murder on the Orient Express truly held my attention, and the ending was GASP worthy.

Our first Cold Stone ice cream. It just tasted like ice cream with a lot of stuff in it. My white chocolate ice cream didn't seem to have any flavor. Odd.. But calorific.

All in all a fantastic day with NO traffic and other bumps of life that ruin fantastic days. That is why I have no menu for this week. We'll probably be eating pasta every night.

Picture Test of the Excellent Vacation We Went On... LAST YEAR