Tuesday, November 17, 2015

The Hunger Games Dinner

Tonight we did a Hunger Games dinner to prepare for the Mockingjay: Part 2 dinner.  Tim suggested since everyone's hungry that we should have nothing to eat... but this pregnant lady did not go for that!



For dinner we had The Capital's Lamb Stew with Rue's Dried Fruit, Mallark's Bakery Bread, Girl on Fire Cocktail, and Deadly Nightlock Berries.




The Capital's Lamb Stew with Rue's Dried Fruit
We got the recipe from this site and modified it (since we didn't want to make 5 pounds of lamb)

Ingredients:
1lb of lamb chops cut into 2inch pieces
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
1/2 cup of flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped (divided)
1/2 cup of water
1 cup of beef stock
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 carrot, diced
2 stocks of diced celery
1 potato, cubed
1/2 cup of prunes
1 teaspoon of dried thyme
1 teaspoon of dried rosemary
1 teaspoon of dried basil
1 teaspoon of parsley
1 bay leaf
1 cup of ginger ale

Directions:
1. Put lamb, salt, pepper, and flour in a bowl and coat meat evenly.
2. Heat olive oil in a large pan and brown the meat.  Remove from heat and set aside. 
3. Add garlic and onion.  Saute until onion becomes golden.  Add water and cook to reduce the liquid slightly, then remove from heat.
4. Place lamb and garlic mixture in a large pot.  Add beef stock and sugar until the sugar has dissolved.  Bring mixture to a boil, cover and let simmer for twenty minutes.
5. Add the vegetables, plums, herbs, and ginger ale and simmer for thirty minutes.

Enjoy!






Mallark's Bakery Bread
We bought rolls from the grocery store!





Girl on Fire Cocktail
4oz Malibu
8oz Mango Juice
A splash of Grenadine
Two maraschino cherries 

*Tim did an awesome job layering this drink!

**I just had the mango juice, grenadine and cherries.





Deadly Nightlock Berries
Just sweet raspberries for dessert




I had thought about making a tree stump cake as a joke because this meme cracks me up every time...




Thank you for joining us tonight and may the odds be ever in your favor! 

Monday, November 9, 2015

Casino Royale Dinner

Tonight's dinner comes Tim's favorite series, James Bond.  We did a Casino Royale dinner to celebrate the release of Spectre!  




For tonight's dinner, we had a Monte Carlo Sandwich, Tuxedo Crackers, Red and Black Poker Skewers, Vesper Martini, and Dice Cheesecake.





Monte Carlo Sandwich
Ok... so I got a little creative with this one!  Since they are in Monte Carlo in the movie, I took a Classic Monte Christo Sandwich recipe and replaced the cheese with French Gruyere cheese and called it the "Monte Carlo"

Ingredients:
1 large egg
1/3 cup of skim milk
A splash of heavy whipping cream
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
4 slices of white bread
2 teaspoons of Dijon Mustard
3 ounces of sliced ham
3 ounces of sliced turkey 
3 ounces of Gruyere Cheese
2 tablespoons of butter
Powdered Sugar

Directions:
1. Whisk together egg, milk, salt and pepper until mixed, set aside
2. Cover all four slices of bread with mustard on the inside side.  Add turkey, ham, and cheese to make the sandwich.
3. Melt butter in a frying pan on medium-low heat. 
4. Dip each sandwich in the egg mixture coating both sides
5. Fry on each side until golden brown
6. Dust with powdered sugar and serve with raspberry jelly





Tuxedo Crackers

Ingredients:
Entertainment Crackers
Havarti Cheese
Black Olives






Red and Black Poker Skewers
Raspberries and Blackberries on skewers 







Vesper Martini
My pregnant lady drink we jokingly called "The Virgin Vesper" and it was just sprite with a lemon twist in a zazzy glass.

For the real drink, we adapted this recipe.

Ingredients:
3oz of Bombay Sapphire
1oz of Smirnoff Vodka
1/2oz of Martini and Rossi Extra Dry Vermouth
a Lemon twist 
2 green olives 

Shaken, not stirred

“I never have more than one drink before dinner. But I do like that one to be large and very strong and very well-made.”– James Bond





Dice Cheesecake 
We bought store made cheese cake and cut it into squares.  Then we put mini chocolate chips on top to look like dice. 




We had a fabulous dinner that was actually one of the easier ones!

Monday, November 2, 2015

Sleeping Beauty Dinner

Tonight is an extra special dinner!  Tonight we are announcing if we are having a girl or a boy!   What better way than by watching Sleeping Beauty?  



Is it going to be a boy or girl?  Pink or Blue!?



We had an excellent dinner to celebrate with Briar Rose's Homemade Jam, Magically Made Biscuits, Sleeping Beauty's Breakfast Sausage, Prince Phillip's Sword of Truth (Fruit Skewers), Sleepy Cycle Cocktail, and Princess Aurora's Pink Popcorn.


Briar Rose's Homemade Jam
I got the recipe from this cookbook!

Ingredients:
1.5 cups of Strawberries
3 Tablespoons of cold water
2 teaspoons of cornstarch
2 Tablespoons of sugar

Directions:
1. Slice up the strawberries and put them in a medium pot.
2. In a small bowl, mix cold water and cornstarch together.
3. Stir in sugar.
4. Combine sugar mixture with the strawberries.
5. Heat on medium heat until mixture begins to bubble.
6. Turn the heat low and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
7. Remove from heat and let cool.



Magically Made Biscuits
These Pillsbury Biscuits basically made themselves! 





Sleeping Beauty's Breakfast Sausage
Tim got sausage patties and cooked them for about three minutes on each side on medium-high heat






Prince Phillip's Sword of Truth
These are just some fruit skewers using strawberries, pineapple slices, and blueberries.





And we had some leftover fruit!  Is it pink or is it blue?



Sleep Cycle Cocktail
1 part Kinky Liqueur 
1 part Hypnotiq Liqueur 
1 part Sprite

*Unless your pregnant then you get all parts sprite!


This is one of our favorites!  We've tried it a few times over the last year.  It's pretty amazing!



Princess Aurora's Pink Popcorn
I got the recipe and we tweaked it from the same cookbook as above.

Ingredients:
1 bag of microwave popcorn
2.5 Tablespoons of butter
16 marshmallows
3 Tablespoons Strawberry Jell-O

Directions:
1.  Make the popcorn according to packaging.
2. Melt the butter in a medium-size saucepan over medium-low heat. 
3. Add the marshmallows and stir until it turns into the most amazing sauce ever
4. Stir in Jell-O.
5. Pour over popcorn and let cool





Alright the time is now! 

Make it..... PINK!!!


Baby Pip is a beautiful baby girl!  
And we couldn't be happier!!!




We had a fabulous celebration!  Can't wait to share these dinners with our little lady!



If you liked this dinner, check out our other Princess dinners: Snow White and the Seven DwarfsTangled, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella,  Princess and the Frog, and  Beauty and the Beast.