Iron Man Dinner

Ant-Man came out on Friday, so we thought we'd keep with the Marvel movies and do an Iron Man dinner!  

For dinner, we had Iron Man Pizza, Pepper Pott's Stuffed Peppers, The Mark II Fruit Skewers, Tony Stark's Cocktail, and Iron Man Cookies!!

Iron Man Pizza

We basically just made an Iron Man shape in the pizza instead of a Captain America Shield like we did for the Avengers!

Pepper Pott's Stuffed Peppers
I found the recipe here!

Ingredients:
2 cups of brown rice, cooked
2 peppers (red, yellow)
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1/2 tsp of chili powder
1/8 tsp of paprika
1/2 tsp of ground cumin
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 a 10oz can of tomatoes with green chiles
1/2 cup of canned black beans
1/2 cup of frozen corn
1/2 tablespoon of lime juice
Monterey Jack cheese shredded on top

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
2. Bring a large pot to a boil
3. Cut peppers length wise cutting out the seeds.
4. Once boiling, place halved peppers in the boiling water for 4-5 minutes.  Remove from water and let dry.
5. Heat oil in a large skillet.  Add onions and garlic and cook for 5 1/2 minutes
6. Add chili powder, paprika, ground cumin, salt and pepper, tomatoes, beans, corn, lime juice, and rice.
7. Scoop mixture to fill in the peppers
8. Bake peppers for 30 minutes and top with cheese

The Mark II Fruit Skewer
Pineapple and Strawberries for Iron Man colors!

Tony Stark's Cocktail
Ingredients:
1 part grenadine
1 part cranberry juice
2 parts orange juice
2 parts scotch

Iron Man Cookies
This is the same recipe I used for Toy Story, Breaking Bad, The Avengers, and Jurassic Park!

If you liked this dinner, check out our other Marvel dinners: The Avengers and Captain America: The First Avenger.

Ratatouille Dinner

Yesterday, France celebrated Bastille Day so we decided to watch Ratatouille!  We had a fabulous French dinner!  

For dinner we had Remy's Ratatouille, Linguini's Linguini and Clams, a French Baguette and Emile's Cheese, French Wine, and Colette's Creme Brûlée.

Ratatouille
I found this recipe and slightly modified it to fit our needs.

Ingredients:
1 red pepper, halved with the seeds removed
1/2 yellow pepper with the seeds removed
3 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons of Olive oil
1.5 teaspoons of minced garlic, separated 
1/2 cup of finely diced yellow onion
3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
2 sprigs of thyme
2 sprigs of parsley
Kosher salt, to taste
2 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 eggplant
3 roma tomatoes
1/8 teaspoon of thyme 
Ground pepper
1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar

Instructions:
1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Place peppers on foil lined sheet with the cut side down.  Roast for fifteen minutes until it loosens.  Peel and chop finely
2. Combine 2 tablespoons of oil, 1 teaspoon of minced garlic, and the onion in a medium skillet over low heat until soft, about 8 minutes.  
3. Add regular tomatoes, their juices, thyme, and parsley.  Simmer on low heat until little liquid remains, about 10 minutes.  Add peppers.
4. Season to taste and discard herbs
5. Puree in blender and spread on the bottom of baking pan
6. Heat the oven to 275 degrees and using a mandoline, thinly slice zucchini, squash, eggplant and roma tomatoes… don't slice your finger like I did.  
7. Arrange the vegetables over the sauce alternating the slices.
8. Mix 1/2 teaspoon of garlic, 2 teaspoons of olive oil, and 1/8 teaspoon of thyme leaves in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
9. Sprinkle over vegetables and cover with aluminum foil.
10. Cook in the oven for two hours, then remove the foil and cook for 30 more minutes.

11. For vinaigrette, combine 1 tablespoon of the sauce, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar, thyme, and salt and pepper.  Drizzle around the vegetables.

Linguini's Linguini with Clams
I found the recipe here. 

Ingredients: 
12 oz of garlic linguini
3 tablespoons of butter
3 cloves of minced garlic
A Pinch of red pepper flakes
1/2 cups of vegetable broth
Kosher salt and pepper
1lb of clams 
2 tablespoons of chopped parsley

Instructions:
1. In a large pot, cook pasta according to package instructions
2. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium high heat.  Add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook
3. Stir in vegetable broth, season with salt and pepper
4. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until reduced by half, about 2 minutes.  Stir in clams.  Cover and cook until clams open, about 5-8 minutes.
5. Stir in pasta and garnish with parsley

French Baguette and Emile's Cheese

French Wine

Colette's Creme Brûlée

I found a mix to make Creme Brûlée in a box basically and it wasn't authentic but it tasted like smores!   Yum!

If you liked this dinner, check out our Beauty and the Beast dinner.

The Sopranos Dinner

Well folks…after three years we have finally completed "The Sopranos."  To commemorate our great achievement, we went all out tonight and prepared a huge feast!  We started cooking at 11am and had dinner around 7pm… and it was worth it!!

For dinner we had Carmela's Baked Ziti, Artie Bucco's Arancini, Satriale's Capicola and Crackers, Furio's MOLTO LIMON!, and Pie-Oh-My Cookies.

Carmela's Baked Ziti
We adapted this recipe.

Ingredients:
2lbs of ground beef
1lb of Italian sausage
1 large onion, chopped
28oz of crushed tomatoes
18oz of tomato paste
1 tablespoon of dried basil leaves
1 tablespoon of dried oregano leaves
4 cloves of chopped garlic
3 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
1.5 teaspoons of pepper
6 cups of Mozzarella cheese
1 package of Ziti noodles
Parmesan

Directions:
1.Brown ground meat and onion in large skillet, drain grease
2. Brown the sausage and grind in the food processor
3. Move meat and onion into a large pot
4. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, oregano, garlic, salt, pepper, and sugar
5. Stir in water until sauce is slightly soupy
6. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly
7. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 3 hours, stirring every 30 minutes
8. Once the sauce is complete, boil water and cook the ziti noodles for about ten minutes
9. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
10. Get out the largest oven safe pan you can find… you'll need it!
11. Layer the ingredients as follows: Add a layer of sauce, parmesan cheese to cover the sauce, add half of the noodles, add a layer of Mozzarella cheese, a layer of sauce, parmesan cheese, the rest of the noodles, another layer of Mozzarella cheese, and a layer of sauce
12. Put in the oven for 40 minutes 
13. Pull it out of the oven and put another layer of Mozzarella cheese on top
14. Put back in the oven for 10 minutes and then turn to broil
15. Take out once the cheese has browned

Artie Bucco's Arancini

This one was a toughy… I adapted this recipe.

Ingredients:

For the Filling
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 finely chopped onion
1 finely chopped clove of garlic
8 oz of ground beef
1.5 cups of canned italian peeled tomatoes
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 cup of frozen peas

For the Rice:
5 cups of chicken broth/stock (I had used a mixture)
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
2 cups of rice
2 tablespoons of butter
Salt, to taste
1/2 cup of grated Parmigiano
1/2 cup of grated Pecorino
4 large egg yolks

To Assemble:
5 large egg whites
2 cups of Italian bread crumbs
Flour
4 ounces of cubed sharp provolone
Vegetable oil 


Directions:

To make the Filling: 
1. In a medium skillet, combine oil, onion, and garlic.  Cook on medium for five minutes
2. Add the beef and lightly brown, about ten minutes
3. Stir in tomatoes, salt and pepper
4. Bring sauce to a simmer and reduce heat to low
5. Cook for 30 minutes stirring occasionally
6. Add peas and cook for five more minutes and let cool

To make the rice:
1. Bring broth and turmeric to a boil in a large pot
2. Stir in rice, butter and salt.
3. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 18 minutes
4. Remove rice from heat and stir in cheese, let cool slightly
5. Stir in egg yolks

To assemble:
1. Beat the egg whites until foamy
2. Cover a plate with flour and another with bread crumbs
3. Have a bowl of cool water on hand to dip your fingers into to prevent the rice from sticking
4. Grab a small handful of the rice mixture and poke a hole in the center of the rice.  Fill hole with burger mixture and add a piece of provolone, cover with rice
5. Gently squeeze into a ball
6. Roll into flour
7. Cover in egg white
8. Roll in bread crumbs 
9. Repeat steps 4-8 until out of ingredients (or you get tired!)  
10. Heat vegetable oil in a pan (oil should be about two inches deep)
11. Once hot, place in oil for 3-4 minutes until golden brown.  
12. Carefully remove from heat and let cool.

Satriale's Capicola and Crackers
or as they say, "Gabbagool!"

Furio's MOLTO LIMON!
3 oz Limoncello
2 oz Gin
Splash of Lime Juice
Sprinkle Thyme on top

Pie oh my cookies
I used this recipe!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of butter, softened
1/2 cup of margarine, softened
2 cups of flour 
3/4 cup of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
10 oz of Cherry pie filling
1/2 cup of white chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2. Mix together butter and margarine until fluffy
3. Add flour, powdered sugar, and vanilla until dough is formed
4. Roll the into little balls and place on a cookie sheet
5. Make an indentation in the center of each ball
6. Scoop 1-2 cherries in the indentation
7. Back for 15 minutes
8. Let cool completely
9. Melt 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips in the microwave 30 seconds at a time until melted.
10. Use a spoon to drizzle over cookies

The end of this show gave us a lot to chew on literally AND figuratively.  I'm so glad we finished the show and had some Ziti that they had been talking about since the first season!!

Despicable Me Dinner

Since the Minions Movie comes out today, we decided to have a Despicable Me inspired dinner!! And let me say, this was the easiest dinner we have done in a long time!

To eat we had Shrunken Moon Sausage, Minion Macaroni, Agnes' Caterpillars, Dr. Nefarius' Anti Gravity Serum, and "IT'S SO FLUFFY" Unicorn Fur.

Shrunken Moon Sausage

Sausage patties cooked for four minutes on each side

Minion Macaroni
They had Kraft Mac and Cheese with Minion shapes… So I just made that up quick according to box directions!

Agnes' Caterpillars 
Puffy Cheetos! 

Dr. Nefarius' Anti Gravity Serum
2 parts V8 Splash: Blue Raspberry
2 parts Sprite
1 part vodka

"IT'S SO FLUFFY" Unicorn Fur

Cotton candy is hard to find!  We got ours at a gas station… it was good… just maybe not so fluffy!

Our Macaroni came with a finger puppet!  Happy Friday!!

30 Rock Dinner

We are just finishing 30 Rock on Netflix and we're celebrating with a themed dinner!

For dinner we had Kenneth's Pig-Dad Pork, Kim Jong-Un's Korean Noodles, Sabor de Soledad, 30 Rock Cocktail with Geiss Cubes, Liz Lemon's Lemon Pie Bars, and Leap Day William's Candy

Kenneth's Pig-Dad Pork
Tim made pork chops that he seasoned with Lawry's seasoning salt, white pepper, and garlic pepper.  He cooked them for four minutes on each side. Yummmy!

Kim Jong-Un's Korean Noodles
I bought a package of Annie Chun's Korean Noodles and cooked for 90 seconds.  Not too shabby!!

Sabor De Soledad
Based on Liz's Mexican Cheeto knock offs! We just taped the label to puffy cheetos!

30 Rock Cocktail with Geiss Cubes
Ingredients:
1.5oz of Spiced Rum
3oz of Ginger Ale
1/2 oz of Lime Juice
Put in a few ice cubes

Liz Lemon's Lemon Pie Bars
I found this great recipe here!

Ingredients:
1 package (2 crusts) of Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crusts
8oz of cream cheese
1 cup of powdered sugar
8oz of Cool Whip
3.4oz of instant lemon pudding, dry
2 cups of milk
Yellow Sprinkles

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Line a 9x9 pan with aluminum foil and non-stick cooking spray
3. Unroll both refrigerated pie crusts.  Press both pie crusts into the bottom of the pan folding the edges down
4. Bake for 10 minutes and let cool
5. Mix together cream cheese, powdered sugar, 1 cup of Cool Whip.
6. Spread cream cheese layer on
7. In a small bowl, whisk together instant lemon pudding mix and cold mix 
8. Once it is firm, spread on top of the cream cheese layer
9. Spread the remaining Cool Whip on top of the lemon layer
10. Place in the refrigerator for four hours
11. Sprinkle bars with yellow sprinkles

Leap Day William's Candy
Salt Water Taffy from Philipsburg 

Thanks 30 Rock!  It's been great!  

"I want to go to there!" - Liz Lemon

If you liked this dinner, check out our How I Met Your Mother dinner and our Parks and Rec dinner.

Captain America: The First Avenger Dinner

Happy 4th of July everyone!!  We had a fabulous meal themed to Captain America: The First Avenger.  

We went to Tim's parents house and celebrated the holiday with Gene, Cindy, our friend John, Tim's Uncle Nick, Aunt Dawn, and his cousins Liane and Kollen.  It was a great party and of course, we finished off the night by shooting off some fireworks!

For dinner, we had a Red White and Bleu Cheese Burger, Fourth of July Firecracker dogs, All-American Corn on the Cob, Steve Rogers' Fruit Shield, Captain America's Patriotic drink, and Stars and Stripes Cheesecake Shots.  YUM!!!

We had three items that needed to be put on the grill so Gene made this awesome set up so we could do the burgers, dogs, and corn all at the same time!  The dogs needed to be "baked" so he created an oven in the grill!  Pretty handy!

Red, White and Bleu Cheese Burger
The burgers were cooked on the grill for about 15 minutes.  It was then placed on a bun, topped with a tomato and bleu cheese.  We also had a whole bunch of other condiments so people could doctor up their burgers any way they wanted!

Fourth of July Firecracker Dogs
We found the idea here but cooked them on the grill instead.

2 cans of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
12 skewers
12 Colby Jack cheese stars
12 Hot dogs

1. (We actually did this part last… I suggest trying it first!) Pierce the hot dog with the skewer and enough to put a star on the top.  Be careful because you could end up with some crooked wieners!  

2. Wrap the Crescent rolls around the dog in a spiral fashion
3. Cook/Bake the dogs on the grill for 20 minutes.
4. Once the crescent roll is golden brown, remove from heat and let cool.
5. Once it has cooled, place colby jack cheese star on top of the firecracker dog

All-American Corn on the Cob
1. Soak corn with husks in water for an hour
2. Remove corn from water and remove corn silk
3. Keep the husks on and cook on the grill for twenty minutes
4. Remove from grill and let cool
5. Once it has cooled, remove the husks and serve with butter

Steve Rogers' Shield Fruit Tray
Ingredients: 
Sliced Strawberries
Sliced Bananas
Raspberries
Blueberries
Marshmallows

Captain America's Patriotic Drink
I found the recipe here.

Ingredients:
Cherry Sprite
Grenadine
Pina Colada Mix
Blue Kool-aid (pre made) 

Directions:
1. Fill glass with ice
2. Fill glass 1/3 full with cherry sprite
3. Add grenadine until it gets a nice red
4. Pour the Pina Colada mix over a spoon to get a good layered look until it's another 1/3 full
5. Add blue Kool-aid until glass is near full

Also to drink, Cindy found Red, White and Blue wines!  A great find!

Stars and Stripes Cheese Cake Shots (makes 12)
I found a great recipe here:

Ingredients:
Puff Pastry Sheet
White Crystal Sprinkles
32 oz of cream cheese
1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon of sugar
8oz of Cool Whip
10 graham crackers
Fresh Blueberries and Raspberries

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
2. Flour a cutting board and roll out puff pastry dough
3. Sprinkle the white crystal sprinkles all over the puff pastry
4. Cut puff pastry into stars using a cookie cutter (about 16)
5. Place in the oven and cook for 12 minutes until brown, remove from heat
6. Beat Cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a mixer until smooth
7. Gently stir in Cool Whip until blended
8. Fill your glass half way with cream cheese mixture using a spoon.  
9. Sprinkle graham cracker mix so you get a nice stripe in the center
10. Fill the rest of the way with cream cheese mix
11. Add a dusting of graham crackers
12. Add a pastry star
13. Add Blueberries and Raspberries
14. Repeat steps 8-13 for all glasses
15. Refrigerate for 4 hours and serve chilled

We had a fabulous dinner and a great holiday that finished with Fireworks!  

Tim also met Captain America on our Honeymoon last year!

If you liked this dinner, check out our Avengers dinner!!