New Year's Eve Sushi

I have tried and tried to post these pictures, and for some reason Blogger has NOT been cooperating with these particular pics. But, 24 days later, it looks like it has decided to not make them all wonky, so now I can finally share my beautiful pictures with you! I had so much fun playing with my new camera, and Nils was a good sport about me sticking my camera in his personal space while he was making the sushi.



We got our hands on some sashimi-grade sushi, thanks to our new Fresh Market!!

Sophie became very interested in what Nils was doing once she caught a whiff of the fish...

One thing I never realized about sushi is what beautiful pictures it makes! It was almost like art, what with the vibrant colors and contrasts!

Lemon Curd Trifle with Fresh Berries

For the Fourth of July I tried Tyler Florence's Lemon Curd Trifle with Fresh Berries. It turned out delicious, but it did take awhile. However, if you can find a lemon pound cake (which I was not able to do), this recipe would not require any baking, which would cut down on your kitchen time.

I found that the bowl to my Kitchen Aid mixer worked perfectly to prepare the curd over a pot of simmering water. Then I could stick it straight in the fridge to chill and whip the Cool Whip in without changing bowls!

The recipe called for sweeted Whipped Cream, but I used Light Cool Whip with delicious results. Using real whipped cream MAY have made the curd easier to build the trifle with, but I was going for slightly less fat :)

As mentioned before, I could not find a lemon pound cake for purchase, so I decided to make one from a regular pound cake mix and replace about 2/3 of the water in the cake with lemon juice. I also made one other change to the cake: you're supposed to drizzle Lemoncello over the cake after cutting it into cubes, but I used Jim Bean bourbon. It produced a different taste, but it was very good in my opinion. Lemoncello just isn't something I keep handy!

As far as actually building the trifle, the first challenge I faced was the fact that I don't own a trifle bowl, which has straight sides to show off all the pretty layers. But I DO have a tall, cylindrical vase, so I decided to be adventerous and try that. This was my first real attempt at building a trifle, and I learned one thing: the curd spread out a LOT once it sits for a few minutes! It didn't make for a very pretty trifle, but we all agreed that it tasted good!

Mike and I had some after lunch today, and it tasted even better than yesterday. When I make this again (and I plan on it!) I'm going to make it the day before. The lemon and the berries went perfectly with the bourbon-drizzled pound cake. A perfect summer dessert!!

Black Bean Croquettes

I've made these once before, but apparently I never posted it. Mike actually made them the first time (which may explain why I forgot to post about them), and here they are:


Obviously we enjoyed them, since I made them again. This time I took a lot more pictures:

I had some black beans leftover from the Beef and Black Bean Burritos, so instead of canned beans I used dried (rehydrated, of course). Once I mashed them I worried that I should have cooked the beans, but it turned out fine. They were a little harder to mash, though. I also just threw in some of my homemade salsa instead of messing with their salsa recipe. The corn is frozen and I also threw in some chives instead of scallions....close enough.

You have to take the black bean mixture and make little mounds out of them, then roll in breadcrumbs. Don't mind my messy hands.

Mike used Italian breadcrumbs when he made them, and I used panko. Both were good, but I think I liked the panko a little better.

Plated up after a quick trip to the oven. I served them with fresh salsa on the side and some tortilla scoops, along with some steamed broccoli.

If you did them like this, they'd make great tapas!!

These croquettes made for a satisfying, guilt-free meal. I plan on making these often to stretch our budget, because it doesn't feel like a "cheap" meal. And get this: even Sophie liked them!!

Pork Chops in Garlicky Sauce



This recipe came from Cooking from the Heart of Spain, a cookbook I got from the library. I was drawn to the use of fresh herbs. Pork chops aren't usually something I am enthusiastic about, which is partly the reason why I chose this recipe - garlic makes everything tasty!


I did make several adaptation to the recipe, including not peeling the potatoes and skipping the bitter pimenton, which I've never even heard of. All of my adaptations are in italics. In the above picture I had just added the potatoes, and on the back burner is brown Basmati rice, a recent find of mine at Publix. Mike LOVES Basmati rice, so I was happy to find a brown version. It was called "popcorn rice" on the package, and I couldn't figure out why until the fragrance filled the house - it really does smell kind of like popcorn!




Just about ready! At this point Mike and I were both standing over the stove about ready to reach in the skillet and dig in! The combination of garlic and parsley added at the last minute smelled SO good!


I didn't realize until I got to the table that I prepared two starches...whoops! I don't think I've EVER made that mistake! This was the first time that I really, truly enjoyed pork chops - I definitely plan on making these again! TRY THIS RECIPE!

Buffalo Burgers! (aka, The Battle Between Good and Evil)

I went to a place called The Uncommon Market in nearby Minneola last week and came home with some ground buffalo meat. I decided to give it a try because I've heard that it's a very lean meat with lots of flavor. A nice, healthy indulgence, right? The lady pulled it out the the freezer in a little vacuum-sealed package that was so hard I could have used it to knock someone out, and it lived in my freezer until the weekend, when Mike discovered it and decided to give buffalo burgers a try. Thus the battle began.


These are my nice, healthy buffalo burgers. With ground bacon mixed in!! So much for healthy! But when Mike volunteers to cook and wants to try something new, I want to be a good wife and support that, so I just took all the rage I felt towards Mike for ruining my dream of a healthy indulgence and took it out on my body. How did I do that? I ate a bacon-filled buffalo burger. With cheese. And after I was done, I felt a little like this:

Some other dinner pictures Mike took:

The veggies on the Big Green Egg. Locally grown corn and zuchinni from the new produce stand in Yalaha.

Yum-ness.