apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

It's time to grate the potatoes and make the latkes.

my sister is hosting a white elephant at my house next Fri, and bless her heart, she has no idea how to throw a party (it's her first party). I volunteered to make a dessert section so I'm making all these doughs in advance:

sugar cookies
oatmeal cranberry cookies
NY Times best chocolate chip cookies
mexican wedding cookies

In addition, im going to show her how CHEAP, TASTY AND SIMPLE a frittata or two can be for the party, (she doesn't cook either). going to make an "Atikins" style, vegetarian and a carnivore style to show her eggs and a couple of throw ins can satisfy all the freaky eaters that are coming to the party

I'm bringing macaroni and cheese with ham and broccoli to a cookie exchange tomorrow night. I'll probably bake some Earl Grey cookies for that. Sunday, I get to use the rest of the ham for split pea soup.

Prepping for the cookie exchange and having salad the rest of the week.

I'm also making a pot of beans... the "Spicy, Citrusy Black Beans" from simplyrecipes.com.

I'm also making puff pastry for another project later this week, and the Nieman Marcus chocolate chip cookies (not to be confused with the NYT cookies that @chusmabilly is making, haha).

I'm done baking and I'm heading to NYC!

Latkes and matzo ball soup tonight!

hehe, kitchenette. Lol, I put that because those damn cookies are so good, I've had to differentiate when I make toll house vs the NY Times one.

Cooking? During the great Exam Cram? I can only dream... It is my favourite form of procrastination though. I guess the answer then is kimchi ramen noodles and friend eggs. Mmm...

I've got plans to make caramels tomorrow, and for dinner I'll probably make a squash galette with gruyere, then I'm going to a cookie-making party on Sunday.

Have no clue. Have just come off a week of baking gingerbread men with various friends on various days. Perhaps a pasta dish- something with pumpkin and sage.

I need to make fudge for my Christmas packages that are going out next week. I'm also hoping to make some hot cocoa mix for gifts.

I might make a beef tenderloin for Sunday night's dinner.

Dinner with a friend tonight: simple roasted potatoes, carrots, fennel, baby zucchini and baby yellow squash and then some leftover red velvet birthday cake. (Isn't cream cheese frosting the best on day 2, when it's a little more firm? The mini squash was too adorable to pass up, and very delicious.)

Later on this weekend, probably more roasted veggies and pasta. I am really craving pasta lately.

Oh, and more cake. That thing is ridiculous. Really tasty, but it feels like we'll never eat it all.

Birthday dinner of braised short ribs, wild mushroom risotto, brussel sprouts. Maybe a meyer lemon dessert.

mailing toffee from here for my in-laws, pretzels from the Cast Iron Darling (http://castirondarling.blogspot.com/2009/12/beer-drinking-pretzels.html) for a potluck tonight, and maybe some chewy gingerbread people for my husband!
And bottling some chocolate vanilla porter for the holidays, and putting some Orange-cardamon flavoured Belgian Ale into a carboy.
Busy weekend for me!

Two parties (one last night and one tonight) means no need to cook dinner those nights but I will get some no-knead bread started today and tomorrow will be cheese souffle and a tuna noodle casserole for a dinner during the busy week ahead. I took Monday off of work and will spend it baking my holiday cookies and preparing a sausage, lentil and kale soup for dinner. Looking forward to spending all the time in the kitchen.

I am having my local family and a friend over for my version of CI's Beef Pot Roast with Root Veggies. Yeah, I could do it in the slow cooker, but I feel the extra effort of doing it in the oven with the Le Creuset dutch oven will make it taste better. It is still chilly in Seattle, and the pot roast will make the house smell great while I pickup beforehand. I should also make chicken stock, but that'll keep until Sunday...

cookies, crackers, spiced nuts, candied orange peel to finish off holiday packages before I mail them out for family

Saturday is big breakfast day--scrambled eggs with green chili from the freezer, accompanied by yukon gold homefries or cheesy toast. Dinner party tonight, and for that I'll bring roasted brussel sprouts (never tried, looking forward to it) with salt, some olive oil, and a sprinkle of parm.
Mlle. Cara's Early Grey cookies sound intriguing...

I just made a German apple pancake, but used persimmons instead. Nice and warm on this blustery rainy day!

Meyer lemon budino too!

Dinner tonight: I roasted veg's (parnsips, turnips, carrots, onion) for a side dish, roasted potatoes for what may become soup, made a cranberry sauce to which I injected horseradish, and there's a chicken roasting, stuffed with oranges. All this will give us full bellies for a tasting of three Oregon gins. Lunch tomorrow: a surprise birthday lunch for two friends, with pork chops, a small macaroni and 3-4 cheeses, and cake of some sort...or maybe pie. Oh, pie would be good.

I've baked like a mad woman this weekend! From 11 am to 7:30 pm. Phew! I'm exhausted. But I've got delicious cookies for gifts! Cranberry Noels from Martha Stewart, Cherry Chocolate Christmas Cookies and Peppermint Cookies by 101 Cookbooks. Yum! But has anyone noticed that you don't eat when you bake? I completely forgot to have lunch! Oopsie!

baked banana bread and finished it already :-)

Like so many other commenters, I'm mostly doing holiday cooking this weekend, some to give out right away, some to tuck into the freezer for Christmas gifts. On today's list:

chocolate almond toffee
pepita chipotle brittle
almond biscotti
cranberry-orange biscotti
shallot shiraz compound butter (right now, I'm taking a break while the shiraz reduces)
olive & orange compound butter
spiced sherry butter

We're having pretty simple meals in anticipation of the feasts to come. This weekend, we're eating scrambled eggs with broccoli, roasted vegetables, jacket potatoes --- things we can throw together quickly and enjoy simply.

Nothing warms my soul on a rainy Sunday like French Onion Soup -- here is my super easy, toast and cheesy recipe:
http://bit.ly/6xZeos

Made the Sparkling Ginger Chip cookies from 101cookbooks yesterday: highly recommended, but you must love ginger -- they're spicy!
Making mushroom casserole from the same website tonight; also made (unrelated) seitan. Who knows what the week holds now that I'm unemployed. Likely BBQ seitan sandwiches, and a bean and mushroom dish.

Grace biscuits with White Lily flour!

I discovered that salmon en croute is easier to make than I thought.

Salmon, cream cheese with spinach baked in puff pastry. Delicious and pretty and impressive looking!

Grate the potatoes and onions on Friday for latkes.

Satuday and Sunday its pastele time! More grating: yucca, yautia, calabaza, green plantains, green banana. Make the achiote oil, the masa and the meat filling on Saturday and assemble the pasteles on Sunday.