The Champions Dinner at The Masters

It's Masters Week in our household, live from Augusta.  It's a very big deal for my husband every year. Our morning coffee time with our news program has been replaced with every waking second of the "Morning Drive" on the Golf Channel.  He is also already planning our tournament meals for the weekend.  Of course, The Masters cannot be watched without taking in one of their famous pimento cheese sandwiches.  (Stay tuned for that one later this weekend).

Tonight is the Champions Dinner.  The Champions Dinner has been an annual tradition at The Masters since 1952, when Ben Hogan suggested and hosted the first dinner. 

The idea is simple:  Winners of The Masters are members of an exclusive club, so they get together each year on the Tuesday night of tournament week to welcome the previous year's winner to the club.  That club is officially known as the Masters Club, but unofficially the gathering is called the Champions Dinner.  

The previous year's winner get to select the menu (and even bring his own chef, if he chooses) - and he also has to pay for producing that menu. Over the years, the dinner fare has ranged from cheeseburgers to sushi to haggis.  This year Adam Scott, from Australia is expected to serve Moreton Bay 'bugs' (lobster), pavlova (meringue dessert).

So my husband and I were also discussing what other people's dinner selection would be if they were the returning champion.  Since he also has a golf tournament this weekend, I thought about my husband as a Masters Champion and knew the perfect dinner he would select as his favorite choice.

Pine Ridge Epitome Chardonnay

Roasted Garlic, Cheese and Olive Platter

Loaded Garden Salad with
Italian Dressing and Foccacia Croutons

Puttanesca over Penne
and Roasted Italian Sausages

Belle Glos Pinot Noir

Apple Pie with
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Mushroom Soup for Momma's Soul

It is Friday...thank God.  I have been sick all week and I am so over being sick.  I heavily dislike being sick. There is this so called head cold going around that has sucked the life out of me this week.  I even bailed out of work yesterday with zero energy to drive to Boulder.

I do not make a good patient, because when I get sick, I get really sick.  It usually starts out small, so I push myself too far and keep going about my business not listening to my body...then it's too late to go back.  There I am, out for the count for a few days at least.

This week did have some happiness though, the creek near my office is running again and so beautiful.  I love hearing the water as I walk to and from my car every day.

The only good part of being sick is that I crave soup, any kind and all kinds of soups.  It's a comfort thing.  When I was younger and sick my mom always made me a can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup and a Grilled Cheese Sandwich with a cup of Lipton hot tea sprinkled with a spoon full of sugar (served on our landscape painted, metal TV tray with the antique brass legs that fit perfectly over my lap - if you were a child of the 60's/70's you know exactly what I am referring to)....the perfect cure all!!

Mushroom Soup
Courtesy of Wolfgang Puck, Modern French Cooking for the American Kitchen

1 pound firm white mushrooms, cleaned
1 medium lemon
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon of water
1 tablespoon minced parsley

Sprinkle the mushrooms with lemon juice. In a food processor, coarsely chop them.

Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan and lightly saute the shallots. Add the mushrooms, thyme, and bay leaf and saute over moderate heat for 10 minutes, or until the liquid disappears.

Add the salt, pepper, cream, and chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.  Add the cornstarch to the soup and continue to simmer 10 minutes longer, stirring constantly.

***This soup is even better the second day as leftovers.***

Chinese Chicken Salad - Ramen Style

It's planting season here and my personal in-house farmer friend has got his garden on!  Us rookies admitted that we completely over planted last year and definitely learned our lesson.  So, we discussed this year's selections and he mapped out his seedlings to get started.

Last year we definitely realized that in order to achieve our cases of dill pickles that my husband is so great at, we need much, much, much more fresh dill to be planted.  There are so many people that make dill pickles here, I swear the dill is going to be sold on the black market.

Good thing our fresh produce is right around the corner, because we cannot get enough of this Chinese chicken salad.

Oriental Cole Slaw with Ramen Noodles (a.k.a. Chinese Chicken Salad)

1 bag shredded mixed cabbage with shredded carrots
2-3 green onions, chopped 
1 package chicken flavored ramen noodles, crushed
2 ounces slivered almonds
3 Tablespoons sesame seeds (optional)
2-3 cooked chicken breast, diced

Dressing:
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 Tablespoons vinegar
1 package ramen seasoning (from the noodle package)
1/4 cup Best Foods Real Mayonnaise with Olive Oil

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Put crushed ramen noodles, slivered almonds and sesame seeds in a pie dish and bake 5-10 minutes, until ight brown.

Mix all dressing ingredients.

Combine cabbage mix, green onions and toasted noodles, almonds and sesame seeds.  Wait to toss with dressing until just ready to serve.

Friday's Fish Fry for Blake's Birthday

Happy Birthday to my brother Blake.  I am so happy to know that I am not the only one that is "40-something" in our family now. (Although I won't be able to say that much longer, as I will be pushing to higher digits soon - yikes!)

Of all his attributes, Blake has two very outstanding qualities, great guitar player and great cook.  When he was in Jr. High, he was an aspiring future Eddie Van Halen.  He even convinced my mom to let him perm his hair, so he could have those long wavy locks and feathered bangs of the "big hair bands" like Van Halen.  I must say between his endless guitar practicing (in our basement music studio that he built with his buddies) and the hair, he was a very close second to the all wonderful "Eddie".  How many sisters get to have Happy Birthday To You played on an electric guitar, for your special day.

Blake is also quite the awesome cook.  He makes these unbelievable Halibut Cheeks.  Growing up in Alaska, you have access to some of the best, freshest halibut in the world, right in your own backyard.  Blake does these phenomenal beer battered halibut nuggets that are out of this world.  Hard as I try, I still have not been able to duplicate them.

That being said, we did our best with making Fish 'n Chips for Fish Friday with homemade tartar sauce and steak fries.  Really messy...really delish!!  The leftovers made perfect fish tacos for Saturday's lunch as well.

Happy Birthday Blake - hope you have wonderful and memorable day!!

Beer Battered Fish and Chips

Courtesy of Paula Dean

1 (12-ounce) bottle beer
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon House Seasoning, recipe follows
1 1/2 pounds cod fillets, skinned with bones removed, and fish cut diagonally into 1-inch-wide strips (5 to 6-inches long)

In a Dutch oven, heat oil to 375 degrees F.

Preheat oven to 225 degrees F,

Batter:
In a large bowl, pour in 1 bottle of beer. Sift 1 1/2 cups flour into the bowl, whisking in gently until just combined, stir in House Seasoning. Pat fish dry and season on both sides with salt and pepper and coat the fish in the beer batter. Dredge the pieces of fish in 1/2 cup of remaining flour and slide into oil as coated. Fry fish, turning over frequently, until deep golden and cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined baking sheet and keep warm in oven. Fry remaining fish in batches, returning oil to 375 degrees F between batches.
Serve fish with French fries.

House Seasoning: 1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder

Peas Bonne Femme from JoAnne and Dick

Today was a very special day for Joanne and Dick, my husband's sister and her husband.  Today after many years of a beautiful, wonderful and strong marriage, they had their marriage blessed in the Church.  Such a very spiritual day especially since it is also the 1st anniversary of my husband's father's passing last year.

Still love birds after all these years.

In celebration of Dick and JoAnne's special day, we made Dick's very special Peas Bonne Femme from the family cookbook.  The first time we had these many, many years ago my then future husband and I thought it was such a strange way to make peas and had never seen anything like it.

I am here to tell you that anyone who claims to not like peas, after they have had these, they are a lifelong fan of them.  After all these years, this dish has definitely turned into one of our "go to" side dishes.

Peas Bonne Femme
Celebrating JoAnne and Dick

3 to 4 green onions
1 bag (regular size )frozen peas
2 to 3 tablespoons sugar
1 to 2 teaspoons Lawry's seasoned salt
2 to 3 red leaf lettuce leaves

Saute the green onions in a skillet with a tablespoon of butter.  Once they have softened, empty the frozen peas into the skillet with the onions.

Sprinkle the sugar and salt over the peas.  Place the lettuce leaves on top of the mixture.

Cover with a lid and simmer for about 20-30 minutes, until cooked through.  Discard lettuce and serve.

Spaghetti Squash and Ya Ya's Farm

Today I was lucky enough to visit one of my favorite places in Longmont...Ya Ya's Farm (a.k.a.), the Hops & Heifers farm owned by Oskar Blues.  The company I work with remodeled their awesome farmhouse retreat last year and today I photographed it for our marketing website.

I love going to the farm and just sit for a moment in peace.  It is breathtakingly beautiful, quiet, tranquil and the sun always shines there.  Their goats are actually used for their amazing "Fried Green Tomatoes and Goat Cheese" appetizer on the menu at Oskar Blues Restaurants....so delicious!!! I could eat plates and plates of this stuff.

My buddy always smiles at me when I come to visit.

Trouble is about to happen.

I wonder what Angus and Theo would think
if I brought this little guy home.

In the spirit of being on the farm we made our baked spaghetti squash and marinara sauce.  So fresh and hearty for photographing or working the farm.

Spaghetti Squash with Marinara Sauce

2 whole spaghetti squash
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 cups prepared (jarred) marinara sauce

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Split the squashes in half and scrape out seeds. Line an oven tray with aluminum foil. Season the spaghetti squash with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place flesh side down and roast for 30 to 40 minutes until fully cooked. Remove from the oven and let rest until cool enough to handle.

Meanwhile heat the marinara sauce in a large sauce pan.

When squash is cool enough to handle, using a large kitchen spoon or fork scrape the strands of squash from the inside of the skin. Toss the spaghetti squash in a large bowl with a little butter and garlic salt.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Serve with the marinara sauce either drizzled on top of the spaghetti squash or on the side with your favorite cheese bread.

Honey Ham Biscuit Sliders - Wife Of The Year

This morning I won the "Wife of the Year" Award.  Well, actually it was self-awarded, but I'm sure many would agree with me.

Today was the first golf tournament of the season - yeah !!!!  I get my mornings back to myself again...pajamas, coffee time, food episodes, reading magazines, blogging, manicure, pedicure...ah, the life of a golf widow.

However, the weather was 30 degrees with a chance of rain and snow.  Tournament still on, husband bundled up and ready to go.  Tee time set for 9:20 am.  However he realizes that he never had a chance to buy his "winter" golf gloves before the tournament.  Slight issue...sports stores don't open until 9:00 am., and there is no way he will have time to drive out, purchase gloves and make his tee time, in time.

"Honey, will you please run out and buy the winter gloves for me and hand warmers and drop them off a the clubhouse before my starting time?"  This was all asked as I was in my pajamas, just put the recliner in "lounge position" and topped my coffee off with my own warmer.  I'm not going to say what went though my mind at that point (because he also reads this blog...)

The only saving grace he had was that I also needed to do the weekly dinner menu grocery shopping and needed to get out eventually...just wasn't planning on that early.

Needless to say, he made it through 13 holes,
and then this happened.

For those chilly tournament mornings, these are the best little breakfast sandwiches.

Honey Ham Biscuit Sliders
Courtesy of  plainchicken.com

1 can Grands Jr Butter Tasting Biscuits (10 count)
1/2 lb deli ham, shaved
1 cup shredded swiss cheese
1/4 cup honey mustard dressing
1 Tbsp butter, melted
2 Tbsp honey
Preheat oven to 400.

Lightly spray a 9-inch pan with cooking spray.  Set aside.

Separate each biscuits into two layers.  Spread each layer with honey mustard and top with swiss cheese.  Place half of the biscuits, cheese side up, in the bottom of prepared pan.  Top with ham.  Top ham with remaining biscuits, cheese side down.  Brush biscuit tops with melted butter.

Bake 12-15 minutes, until golden brown.  Heat honey in microwave for 20 seconds.  Brush biscuit tops with warm honey.  Serve immediately.

Taco Tuesdays - Tri-Tip Version

Mornings in our house are extremely busy, even more hectic than our evenings, I think.  We have four people trying to squeeze in showers in the allotted amount of time, I of course need my 15 minutes of coffee/wake-up in my chair time, lunches to prepare and I try to get a couple loads of laundry done, so it is not overwhelming on the weekends with trying to fold 37 loads.

Well today was no different and just as crazy.  As I was in the kitchen tidying up (because my OCD kicks in and I hate coming home to a messy kitchen) and cleaning the counters off, I hear one daughter yell from her room, "Mom, will you please make me a cappuccino to go ?" Not two seconds go by and the other one yells, "And could you please toast me a bagel with butter?"

I looked at my husband in dismay and said, "Does this look like Starbucks drive-thru to you?" Since when did I become their personal Barrista???

The Princesses' personal cappuccino machine.

Since my Barrista mornings are so busy, I try to plan the dinner menus a week ahead of time and use my crock pot as much as possible.

This taco meat is so easy, juicy and flavorful!!!  Best part...it's all ready to go when you walk in the door from a long day at work.

Prep before leaving for the day.

Awesome dinner when you arrive home.

Ultimate Tri-Tip Tacos

2-3 lbs. Tri-Tip steak
1 or 2  jars favorite salsa (depending on your size of steak)

Put tri-tip in crock pot.  Empty both jars of salsa over meat.  Cover crock pot with lid.  Set to low setting and let cook 8-10 hours.

When ready to eat, shred the beef with two forks (like you are making shredded pulled pork), in crock pot.
Serve on flour or corn tortillas with your favorite accompaniments.

**Also really delicious if you want to do a taco salad with or without a flour tortilla bowl.

Green Eggs and Ham - "Angus The Ham"

We take the boys to their spa for a shampoo, rinse and blow dry every 2 weeks at our favorite self-serve dog spa, Paws 2 Groom.

They have the best set up there for a DIY dog treatment area.  All the shampoo, combing/brushing accessories and dryers at your fingertips.  Spa day is by far Angus' favorite day every month.  He loves all the warm bath water and personal attention he gets for that hour.

There's King Arthur...and then there's "King Angus".

When blow dry comes, he gets up on his "throne", crosses his feet and gets this look on his face that says, "Serve me now, you peasant".  He loves to ham it up and work the room like he is actual royalty.  He walks out of there thinking he is pretty special and struts his newly clean coat.

In honor of St. Patrick's Day and my dog "The Ham", I couldn't resist by making Green Eggs and Ham (bacon in this case - that counts doesn't it??) for the first time in my life.

Heather and Matt came over for the festive dinner and I made this version of deviled eggs for our appetizer. Nothing difficult, just added green flood coloring to the deviled egg mix and topped it with a small piece of crisp bacon.  My husband and kids looked at the creation, looked at me and shook their head.  I blamed it on the blog...said I needed something fun to post.  They ate it and loved them!

We also had fun with making the secret recipe for a Shamrock Shake - delish!!!  My daugher perfectly got the taste of the original shake.

Since we didn't have enough green going around I also made a batch of cookies for the girls this week, green mini M&M's and mini chocolate chips.

Simply Salmon with Shrimp Tortellini and Sunsets

As I have previously mentioned, we have the most unpredictable weather here in Colorado.  On any given day, you can go to work in cute strappy high-heel sandals and come home that day in boots and down parka.  You clearly need to be prepared every day for mother nature.

The great thing about this is the most beautiful sunrise and sunsets occur.  Rolling clouds come in and out with purple and orange skies.

Last night's sunset (after a high of 68 yesterday) was rolling in a new rain storm for us today.  For our no meat Friday, I pulled together this very flavorful dinner with minimal ingredients.

Salmon with Shrimp Tortellini

1 pound, peeled and deveined shrimp, tails off
2 salmon filets
2 Tbl, melted butter
lemon-pepper seasoning
1 tsp. crushed garlic
1 package, refrigerated cheese filled spinach tortellini (in deli case)
1 container, pre-made pesto (in deli case)
1/4 cup, heavy whipping cream
fresh parmesano reggiano

Preheat oven to 350.  Place salmon filets on foil lined cookie sheet and drizzle with melted butter and lemon/pepper seasoning.  Bake for 20 minutes, or until salmon is done and flaky.

While salmon is baking, cook tortellini according to package directions.

Saute shrimp on medium-high in butter and crushed garlic, until pink and a light golden crust has formed.

Warm pesto in saucepan.  When sauce is fully heated add heavy cream off heat.  Cut salmon in bite size pieces and serve over tortellilni with shrimp, pesto-cream sauce and fresh parmesano reggiano cheese.