Category Archives: Food

Food

Thor’s Hammer

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As many of you may know, June is a huge birthday month here in the NerdFamily! The challenge is that I have to keep coming up with cakes;). NerdBug turned 9 on the 30th and he loves all things super heroes or Star Wars. Since we had just given him a Thor comic book, NerdDad had the idea for me to make Thor’s Hammer!

What was the most challenging thing is that I thought I had black color but I didn’t. All you have to do is make a cake in a loaf pan. I added a touch of blue color into my white butter frosting.  Then I inserted a rolled brown bag with a handle loop into the bottom. To make the knob on the top I just frosted an Oreo and stuck a toothpick in the bottom of it. Then I shoved the toothpick into the top!

Pretty easy and he guessed right off what it was!

Food

Meal Plan Monday

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This week is my ramp up to get everything done before I go to the Savvy Blogging Summit next week! I also have 2 mildly sick kids and that always makes me nervous in addition to adding to the chaos. So I want to keep the food simple so I can get some stuff done!

Monday: Carnitas tacos, Beans and Rice

Tuesday: Hamburgers, Fried Zucchini, BBQ’ed Corn and BBQ’ed Zucchini

Wednesday: Leftover Beans and Rice

Thursday: Chicken Kiev, Buttery Rolls, Broccoli

Friday: Pasta with Shrimp and Spinach in a Butter Garlic Sauce

Food, Uncategorized

Meal Plan Monday: VBS Edition

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Ever know that you are going to have a super crazy, crazy week? Well, this week is Vacation Bible School and I am still trying to go to the gym everyday (and twice on Tuesday and Thursday). So we are keeping it extremely simple over here!

Monday: Shredded Chicken and Broccoli in Rice

Tuesday: Chicken Kiev (in the freezer), Bread (either Buttery Rolls or leftover French Bread), Broccoli

Wednesday: Beans and Rice with Shredded Chicken and Broccoli

Thursday: Spaghetti with Meatballs (in the freezer)

Friday: Pasta Bake (in the freezer)

Food

A Roll of the Dice

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So here we are for the 2nd of the 2 episodes of Hell’s Kitchen for this week! Will Salvatore finally be driven out? Will Fran be the next woman out the door?

Aww, Ramsay took Salvatore aside and said that he hasn’t given up on him. That Sal has to bounce back when Ramsay says something to him. Scott and Salvatore got up early and Scott was helping him.
Next challenge! Each chef will roll a die to get a letter for an ingredient. Scott asked Ramsay to blow on the dice, he said no but not that nice;). When they roll a letter they come up with the ingredient within 10 seceonds. So the blue team had halibut, endive, salsify, crab, peas, and bacon. The red team had beets, shallots, mango, ham, turnips, and duck. The red team bombed out! No one would let Salvatore help. Both teams’ dishes turned out well. The winners were the men because there was raw fat on the red team’s duck.
The punishment was cleaning the entrance hall and prepping both kitchens for service that night. The guys got to go sky diving. Jason was not happy about going sky diving. But it was actually a wind tunnel. Of course JP did white glove inspections in the entrance hall before the girls could prep the kitchens. The girls apologized to the guys as they walked in about prep. We will see how bad a job they did in prepping and nothing makes Ramsay hotter than a sabotaged prep. Maria started crying during prep because things were being done well and things may not get done. This is not a good sign. I have a feeling there is a mid-service breakdown in her future.
So we are going to have the return of the Chef’s Tables. The red team will have Kevin Frasier and his wife. The blue team will have Debi Mazar and her chef husband. It was also a star studded night in the dining room.
Then service starts. Scott is trying to “help” Jason and was driving everyone nuts. Jason starts the blue team off well with appetizers. Siobahn messed up the first appetizers by putting lobster into the pasta instead of crab. Then Salvatore gave Ramsay raw fish. Siobahn gave Ramsay lobster again and come to find out, the containers were mislabeled. Overall the appetizers on both teams seemed to finally go well. Then Salvatore and Nilka both start off entrees well. Then Ramsay took Autumn to task for using tongs on the fish and tearing it up. Then Scott messed up the beef. Nilka was having a great day on the meat station. Scott on the other hand was bombing hard. The shocking thing is that both sides seemed to have no problems with their Chef’s Tables. Eventually it seemed that Scott pulled it out a bit.
They completed service within 2 1/2 hours so that was a much better job than anything we have seen this season. There wasn’t a winning and losing team. Instead he had Nilka and Salvatore each pick 1 person to put up. Nilka has to decide between Siobahn and Autumn. I really think that the guys had more real issues so I think who ever goes up may go home. But Ramsay did say that he didn’t think Autumn respected the ingredients and that is a huge thing with him. Salvatore was struggling because he was feeling that Scott really messed up. But he doesn’t want to put his only friend up.
In the end Nilka chose Autumn. Salvatore chose Scott. I felt bad for the guy because this is the chef who helped out Salvatore but he did screw up big time. Ramsay called Autumn the appendix of the red team and he called her soulless. Apparently she left a phd program to cook. Scott said he was to busy helping everyone else. Ramsay said he talks like a politician and isn’t as good as he thinks he is. Ramsay put Autumn in the blue team and Scott in the red team.
It will be interesting to see how the dynamics change on the teams. Will Autumn drag down the blue team or will Scott drag down the red?

Food

College Food

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We are back for a double episode of Hell’s Kitchen this week! Does this mean 2 or 4 will get tossed? This season has already had a lot of scheming and drama so nothing would surprise me. But I am only going to do 1 hour at a time because they are actually 2 episodes.

So we start off with Jason losing it because he felt thrown under the bus. We will see how badly that effects the blue team’s service. Then we find out that Hell’s Kitchen is serving lunch. They are serving burgers, fries, etc. It is to get them to communicate because they only have 30 minutes to prep and who ever finishes serving their side first wins. They were feeding the USC marching band and cheerleaders. The red team starts off strong getting their salads out with 2 of them working together. But Jamie started having a problem with burgers. Then the blue started catching up but then Ramsay found raw burger. Of course we end up with both teams having 10 left. Down to the last minute and both teams were down to fries but the women won!
So the girls were going to the Malibu Beach Inn while the guys were helping Heal the Bay. They were cleaning up the LA River. The guys expected more of a river instead of the cement they found. Apparently they don’t remember it from all the movies or tv. When the girls get to the beach they are challenged to a soccer game by Ramsay and his whole family. The Ramsay’s skunked them;)!
Fran burnt her hand and chose not to tell anyone how bad it was because she wanted to be in the service. 1 person from each team will be assistant maitre de’s. It is Holly and Salvatore. Salvatore comes in with his first ticket and Ramsay gives it back because he can’t read it. Apparently Salvatore can’t write in English so JP is helping him. But the girls got a ticket earlier but Maria had problems with her risottos. Milka helped her out her first few to get her on track. Scott wanted to keep Ed off his station but he messed up the first appetizers. Then Jason was having problems on the garnish.
The blue team got back an entree because the customer wanted done and it wasn’t on the ticket. Ramsay was reaming Salvatore and Salvatore said he couldn’t take it. JP convinced him to stick it out. Then Holly had to bring back something but the kitchen had actually screwed it up. Then Fran was really inconsistent with the meat and wasn’t getting it out. But at least she asked for help. Once again the blue team was waiting on garnish. Scott tried to come over and help Jason and Jason wasn’t handling it well. Jamie on the red team was also struggling on the garnish station. Siobhan came to help but then that caused problems on her fish station. While the women were struggling, the blue team seemed to be doing a lot better.
Fran was still messing up but also having a lot of pain. She told Autumn but didn’t want to see anyone so then had to try and keep everyone quiet so she didn’t have to go off and see the medic. But Ramsay demanded to see her hand and sent her to the medic. The medic wrapped her up and she went back in. She says that if she gets thrown under the bus over it, that would be wrong. But I think Fran told everyone at the end so she had an excuse. Because she was bad as far as the food was concerned.
In the end the guys pulled it out due to Benjamin’s good meat so they won. The red team had to come up with 2. Of course Fran was the first but then it was between Jamie and Maria. Part of Jamie’s problem is that no mater what she says that she has it. They ended up nominating both Fran and Jamie.
Ramsay ended up cutting Jaime because he believed the Fran could fight back.

Food

Here We Go Again

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Here we are Sunday night and it is time to start thinking about the meals for the week. I know that it brings such sanity during the week but it is always a bit of a challenge to make the decisions on Sunday;).

Monday: Tilapia, Zucchini Corn Cakes, Broccoli (I changed last Friday’s meal plan at the last minute)
Tuesday: Chicken Kiev, Broccoli, Buttery Rolls
Wednesday: Pasta Carbonara Florentine
Thursday: Meatballs, Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli
Friday: Pasta with Shrimp and Spinach in a Butter Garlic Sauce

Food

Butterfly Cake

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So I made the NerdPie a butterfly cake for her 7th birthday. It didn’t turn out as smooth as I hoped. Doesn’t it look nice from a distance (just ignore the messy counter;). But seriously, here is a close up picture.

My frosting was a little goupier than I wanted. I have to quit making them chocolate cakes! It would make my life easier, who cares what they like to taste;). It is a round cake that was cut in half. Then I put it round sides together and then cute a triangle out of each straight side. I used some tubed red and pink icing that I got on 75% off clearance at Valentine’s Day. The yellow triangles are sugared grapefruit with sour fruit tape in the middle of the grapefruit and as antennae. Then I used cotton candy jelly bellies in the middle. I guess it wasn’t a failure because she knew what it was on the first guess;).

Food

And How It Will Burn

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So we are back for Hell’s Kitchen! The first episode of this season was quite dramatic with Ramsay tossing a bunch of people out during service. It leads me to wonder if those people are doomed and if so, why not just toss them now (other than it making the series run shorter;). Well, let us see if the drama continues!

Autumn is really trying to assert herself as the leader of the women. But I think the women are going to buck against it. Of course they wake all the chefs up at 5am. It is time for their challenge. They will compete in pairs and have to make 4 different egg dishes: poached, sunny side up, soft boiled, and scrambled. They only had 5 minutes. Siobhan on the red team is by herself. So Autumn decides that they are all going to help her. I don’t think Ramsay is going to be cool with that. So when they went up to evaluate Ramsay asked her how long she boiled the egg. When Ramsay found out that her teammates did some of her eggs, he was hot! Something we have found out is that Ramsay is really picky with the scrambled eggs;). The men won the challenge by 1.
So the guys got to take a helicopter tour of LA. The women had to clean, gut, and filleted tuna for the next night’s service. We have now seen that Siobhan is a crier! The girls decided to take the tuna out of the box and to carry it that way. It was very interesting to watch because a tuna is not a little fish. Then there were disagreements as to skinning the fish before or after cutting sections of meat. When the women are doing the prep, they are fighting and pushing around Siobhan. It appears that she just doesn’t have the confidence or knowledge that some of the others have. Then during the pre-service meeting Sal couldn’t tell Ramsay the desserts. So Ramsay tossed him out with a menu.
Service didn’t even actually start before the problems did. Autumn over seasoned her boiling water but said she was sure that someone else added salt too. Since they had to reboil water it set the girls back a bit. But Mikey messed up his first risotto by under cooking it. Then Autumn was seasoning Siobhan’s risotto while Siobhan was cooking it. Fran was having issues finding where she was supposed to be in the dining room. It took Mikey 45 minutes to get out his first risotto just to have it sent back for being undercooked. Hopefully the girls might win this on because they were starting to put out entrees while Mikey was still fighting with the boys’ appetizers. The girls had issues talking and Andrew was talking a lot on the boys team but it was to the food. Then he decided to fight with Ramsay. So Ramsay took him into the dining room and yelled at him. JP told him to go back into the kitchen but Andrew said he was done and left.
But both teams finished service. But there wasn’t a winning team. So they both had to come up with 1 person to put up for elimination. Jason and Mikey wanted to put up Sal. Jason was also mentioned. It seems no one remembered that Mikey really messed up. Over on the red team they discussed Autumn because the salting issue. Nilka was also discussed because she was in the weeds at the garnish station.
In the end the red team put up Autumn because of the salting and not being a team player. Ramsay seemed shocked when the blue team put up Jason. When Ramsay called them up Autumn said they wanted to get rid of her for personal reasons. When he asked the red team if Autumn was the worst cook they all said no. Someone said that Jamie was the worst chef. She said she should stay because of her heart and hard work. Jason says he pushes through and wants to work for Ramsay. In the end Ramsay kicked out Mikey because he was the worst in 2 services.