Wife's Birthday Dinner 2010

"Fall Flavors"

Strip steak with dry rub of Montreal Steak seasoning

I had also considered pork chops and was planning to do flank steak, but the grocery store was out of flank steak so went with plan B.

Butternut Squash and Vanilla Risotto

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/butternut-squash-and-vanilla-risotto-recipe/index.html

Pear Cobbler with Cranberry Streusel

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/pear-cobbler-with-cranberry-streusel-recipe/index.html

Wife's Birthday Dinner 2009

"Kickin' Chicken, Potent Potatoes, and Zesty Zucchini -- and a classic for dessert"

Chicken/Pomegranate Skewers

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/larrys-fire-roasted-chicken-skewers-tangerine-cascabel-glaze-tangerine-pomegranate-relish-recipe/index.html -- I did with chicken breasts instead and skipped the skewers, and for the tangering juice it was 1/2 tangerine + 1/2 orange (since I had 5 tangerines which made about 1 cup of juice), also next time maybe keep the glaze slighly warm so it doesn't get sticky and viscous so fast

Spicy Chipotle Mashed Potatoes

Make Classic Mash (No. 1 on Food Network's page...or what I did was used Simply Potatoes in the microwave); add 1 tablespoon chopped chipotles in adobo sauce. Garnish with chopped scallions and cilantro. (that recipe goes with 2 pounds of potatoes, so adjust for instant amount) -- I also added chives

Pan-fried Zucchini seasoned with olive oil, garlic, and nutmeg


Apple crumble coffee cake with vanilla fro yo

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/apple-coffee-cake-with-crumble-topping-and-brown-sugar-glaze-recipe/index.html

Scrambled Eggs with Smoked Salmon

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_22135,00.html

Grapefruit Brulee

An interesting dessert from Food Network:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_21496,00.html

Strawberry-Lime Stuffed Cupcakes

Strawberry-Lime Stuffed Cupcakes
From Food Network Kitchens

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk

Icing:
1 1/3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 1/2 tablespoons finely grated lime zest
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 drop green food coloring
6 large ripe strawberries, hulled
Green sanding sugar
Fresh mint leaves or candied leaves

Equipment: 6-cup jumbo muffin tin

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.

In another medium bowl, beat the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until light and foamy, about 2 minutes. While beating, gradually pour in the butter and then the vanilla.

While mixing slowly, add half the dry ingredients, then add all the milk, and follow with the rest of the dry ingredients. Take care not to over mix the batter. Divide the batter evenly in the prepared tin.

Bake until a tester inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove. Cool on the rack completely.

For icing: Mix the confectioners' sugar and lime zest in a medium bowl. Add the lime juice and mix with an electric mixer to make a firm but pourable icing. (If needed, add up to 1 teaspoon more juice, but take care if the icing is too loose it doesn't set properly.) Add food color to make a pale pastel green icing.

To assemble: Remove cupcake from its liner. Cut and remove a strawberry (coned) shaped portion of cupcake from the top of each cupcake, leaving about 1/2 to 1-inch of cake in the bottom. Stuff each cake with a strawberry and cover with a little bit of cake. Spoon and spread icing over the top of the cupcakes. Sprinkle with green sanding sugar. Top with small mint leaves or candied leaves.

Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 6 jumbo cupcakes

See original at http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_35909,00.html

Recipe Archive

Until I get a chance to upload individual recipes, an archive of many of them is here:

http://kedro4.googlepages.com/recipes.zip