Red Velvet Cake: 1, Jenny: 0

Last week I learned my share of lessons...

• Confession: I didn't go on one, big grocery shopping trip last week. (Gasp!) I kind of "fell off the wagon." It was a good reminder to get back on, that's for sure.

• Since I didn't go to the grocery store, one night I challenged myself to make something with ingredients I only had in my house. I made peanut chicken curry and I was pretty proud of myself. It was only a little spicy, so we let Anderson try it. He loved it...went back and forth between mom and dad for bites.
  
  
• Speaking of grocery shopping - it's best not to grocery shop at 5pm on Valentine's night...I've never seen so many guys wandering around with a cart full of french bread, flowers, and marinara sauce.

• When making a crockpot dinner, don't forget to plug the crockpot in. Enough said.
  
  
• It seems like almost every dish I've cooked in these last 7 weeks has had garlic in it. I followed a recipe the other night where, to my surprise and confusion, there was no garlic whatsoever. Weird!
  

• It was my mom's birthday yesterday (Valentine's Day) so on Sunday night we threw her a surprise dinner. My brother made Paella and my job was the cake. Our family tradition for birthdays is a heart-shaped red velvet cake and I've never been brave enough to make it, so this was the year! To make a long story short, the lesson here is to never use Nature's Flavors natural food coloring (damn co-op hippie stuff). It flavored the cake batter so bad that I didn't even bake it. We ended up buying one from Costco for $7. So, Red Velvet Cake: 1, Jenny: 0.
  
  
• I have no food pictures this week because I am having problems with my cell phone. Even MORE of a reason to use my real camera!
  
  
• Speaking of cameras, I officially dropped out of the running for mother of the year yesterday. Anderson and I were playing outside, and I was trying to keep him from running into the street while also trying to capture his cute little smile with my big honking camera. At one point, I let go of the camera totally to grab him up, and the camera swung forward from around my neck and bonked him in the head! I took him inside to smother him with kisses, and it took me a minute to realize that he wasn't crying because of the new purple goose-egg on his head - it was because he wanted to go back outside! So we ended up playing some more, without the camera. Please don't report me to CPS.
  
  
  
  

• I found a new favorite recipe: Brussels Sprout Ragout:
  

10oz Brussels Sprouts, quartered & steamed
1 Tbs Olive Oil
1/2 cup diced pancetta or bacon
1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup dried cherries
1 Tbs fresh sage leaves, chopped
Salt
Pepper

Use a small saute pan and add the the olive oil, heating to moderate-high heat. Cook the Pancetta or bacon just until brown. Stir from time to time as it cooks for 3 minutes. Lower heat to moderate settings and add the onion. Saute for about 5 minutes or until translucent. Add the cherries, sage and Brussels sprouts. Continue cooking for another 3 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper.

Mmmm, delish. You should try it.

Here is a link to the original recipe - For the meat part, I made it with chicken because, well, we know my history with pork dishes. But the chicken was very good: http://healthyrecipe.net/mustard-rubbed-pork-tenderloin-with-brussels-sprout-ragout/


Here is this week's plan of attack:

• Monday - Valentine's Night! We had flank steak, green salad, and tortellini
• Tuesday - I am trying the pork again in the crockpot. It's already on, and plugged in!
  
• Wednesday - Grilled Chicken, grilled asparagus, and roasted potatoes
• Thursday - I am hoping we go to Goodwood - it's Chelsey's (my sister-in-law) last week as a server there before she moves to Challis (tear!)
• Friday - Teriyaki chicken, steamed broccoli, and jasmine rice

Have a great one!