Puppy Chow

Waaaaay back in October or November I asked some coworkers for suggestions for snacks they would like me to make. Someone asked for puppy chow and finally, 6 months later I'm getting around to making it for her.

I know the recipe is pretty standard but I'm crediting myself with it because I didn't research one to go off. Besides, I doubt many recipes call for refrigerating the mix overnight and adding extra powdered sugar in the morning. Not to mention I put this recipe in the "healthy" category because I made it without butter or oil. Winner.

My "taster" bowl

Regardless, this stuff is dangerously addicting. You've been warned.

Restaurant Review: Christo's (Minnetonka)

What should you do if a friend is coming over and you burn dinner? Use it as an excuse to try out a new restaurant of course! Which is exactly what I did one evening last fall when Daren was coming over to hang and the chili I had in the slow cooker decided to stick to the bottom and ruin itself.

I usually don't suggest Greek places because Mark isn't a fan of the Tzatziki sauce (...I know!), but I was longing for some gyro meat so to Christo's we went. This excited both Daren and I tremendously as we are both huge fans of Greek food.

Since I was so hungry and already knew what I was going to order, I asked for the spinach & artichoke dip with flatbread appetizer to give the gentlemen time to browse the menu. In all honesty, the only thing I remember about this item is the bread. Not that its a bad thing! The flatbread was made on their wood fire grill and was soft yet crispy. I'm sure the dip itself was tasty, but THAT bread.... all day. The closest comparison I can think to compare the flatbread with is perfect thin crust bread sticks.

Curried Lentil Soup

Lentils. Not that anyone could tell from this blog, but I'm slightly obsessed. I'm 90% positive I could have them everyday for the rest of my life and be satisfied. If I chose my last meal before passing it would be lentils with some sautéed cabbage. I would estimate that we go through an average of a pound of lentils per week here in the Welchmeyer household. Obviously my doing, but Mark enjoys them about as much.

Most of the time I just boil them in some broth for a quick side with dinner, hardly blog worthy. What is  blog worthy, however, is this quick curry flavored lentil soup. I've made it for lunch every Wednesday for the last 2 months and will continue to make it for the foreseeable future.

On top of being ridiculously filling and embarrassingly simple, its one of those meals that leaves an awesome aftertaste in your mouth for hours. Based on my recipe for basic lentil soup I posted awhile ago, this is a worthy upgrade. One that I highly suggest trying. Serve with some crusty bread or crackers for a healthy, light lunch.

Mushroom Stroganoff

Growing up one of my favorite meals was beef stroganoff. You know, the one with the sauce made of browned beef, onions, cream of mushroom soup, milk, and sour cream served over egg noodles. My mouth waters just thinking about it. Slathering the leftover sauce over toast the next day... Fogettaboutit.

I however had never made it.... for two main reasons:

1. It was one of those dishes that was always made by the same person and will never ever taste the same. Ever. No matter what. Ever.

2. I don't even have a can of cream of mushroom soup in my pantry.

Not to mention, up until about 3 months ago I thought I loathed mushrooms so buying some at the store for cooking was out of the question. Then I took a cooking class and learned how to properly prepare mushrooms for cooking and I've been hooked ever since.

After browsing through the recipes on Gina's site and coming across one for mushroom stroganoff (using real mushrooms!) I had to give it a try.

Flavor-wise this dish was fabulous! Was it the stroganoff I remember from my childhood? No, but I wasn't expecting that either. It hit the spot and thats all I care about.

The best part of all: the sauce tastes even better leftover on top of rice.

Key Lime Pie Cupcakes with Graham Cracker Frosting

Mini cupcakes for taste testing. Always a must!

I can be a sneaky person. You see, I organized a little Q1 bake-off at work and marketed it as a way to bring all of us closer together. While that was part of the reason, the main thing was getting people to bring in food which I then eat.

It had so-so results but remember I'm sneaky. So what did I do? Created a "finals" round of course!

The finals start this week and will have three competitors, myself included. I was originally going to make homemade oatmeal cream pies, but in lieu of a coworker transferring at the end of the week I decided to go with something she would enjoy.

Given key lime pie is her favorite dessert and I'm pretty awesome at making cupcakes (not that it shows on here) I created key lime pie cupcakes with graham cracker frosting. I will win based on this frosting alone.

Humble, I am not..... When it comes to cupcakes or frosting.

Valentine's Day 2013

The day before Valentine's Day Mark comes home and says:

"I've got all three meals planned for tomorrow."

"All three? Why?" I ask.

"For Valentine's Day." He exclaimed.

This took me by surprise because up to this point we hadn't even so much as mentioned the holiday. I was/am ok not celebrating. Was I aware Valentine's Day was the next day? Yes. Was I hoping and praying for flowers, chocolates, or a card? No. His announcement made me giddy nonetheless. Anytime he goes out of his way to do something nice is always appreciated.

So I asked what we were doing for breakfast and he told me we would be eating downtown. I inquired as to where we would be eating and he sent the following text:

Cute, right?

Valentine's Day morning I went into work early to make sure we would have time to meet up. Luckily, I correctly deciphered the text and we headed to the Classic Cookie Company for some sugary goodness. I was excited because we had talked about going since Mark first noticed the place a few months prior. In the morning they have muffins, but in the afternoon they have cookies. What's not to love?!

Restaurant Review: Heidi's

Have I mentioned before how much we love going to brunch around here? The multitude of choices at reasonable prices, its like the best of both worlds. Our friends Ben and Angie also enjoy brunching so we sometimes meet up for a double date. One Sunday morning this Fall we all met at Heidi's on my "suggestion" as a place to try out (I will have to give props to Mpls - St Paul Magazine for the heads up).

Being smart we decided to go on a Sunday morning in hopes that it wasn't too crowded. Score one of us, it wasn't! After we were seated everyone (except me) ordered bottomless coffee, reminding us of college when people would drive 45 minutes to the nearest Perkin's at 11 pm at night and do the same thing. To put into perspective as to why anyone would drive that far that late for coffee: We went to college in a small town where everything closed at 8 pm. Got it? Thought so.

Back to Heidi's, after receiving our drinks the waiter brought us out Banana Muffins with whipped salted butter on the house! You heard that right: On. The. House. Just because. Score two for us. They were delicious to say the least. The tops were as crisp and sweet as muffin tops get, and the middle was chewy and full of banana flavor. I'm not sure what kind of salt they use in their butter but that butter was AMAZING!