Sara Jane's Birthday Dinner

I have known my friend Sara Jane since elementary school.  Despite living super close to each other, we weren't always the closest growing up.  Yet through the years, our friendship slowly grew and now I can't imagine what my life would be like without her.  Sara Jane has lived in San Francisco since she graduated from Emerson College in 2003 and I only get to see her maybe two or three times a year at most.  But Sara Jane is always generous with her time and manages to squeeze in a visit with me whenever she finds herself back on the East Coast.

Tuesday night was Sara Jane's last night in Massachusetts and I was happy to throw a little dinner party for Sara Jane, her wife Meghan and their precious pup Albie.  It also happened to be Sara Jane's birthday so I went all out for a huge birthday feast and even set the table in the dining room!

When they arrived, we started the night off with a little prosecco and a prettier version of my watermelon and feta bites.  But we were so busy chatting and laughing that I forgot to take a picture!  I'll have to blame it on this hysterical "Get Well" card that I made for Sara Jane in the third grade.  She found it when she was at home and couldn't resist bringing it over!

If you can't read it, the card says, "Dear Sara, I hope you get well.  Or I won't be happy. So you better get well. Or there won't be any cheerleading cheers. From your friend, Michelle Lee"  Doesn't it sound slightly menacing?  I guess there's a reason why my Hallmark career never took off!

Anyway, our meal for the evening was simple but full of lots of flavor.  The main attraction was our maple pepper and habanero chicken breasts.  The chicken breasts were marinated with the maple pepper and habanero dry rub, olive oil and a touch of maple syrup during the day and then were given a dry rub of the maple pepper and habanero seasoning.  The chicken was seared on both sides and then thrown in the oven to cook through.

As a side, we served corn on the cob with a healthy rub of Myers + Chang's sriracha butter.

And I made a side of my new favorite pasta salad - pesto orecchiette salad.  Instead of using feta, I substituted it with mozzarella and served this pasta cold.

And of course, it wouldn't be a birthday party without birthday cake! Bret and I made a two layer Funfetti cake with Funfetti frosting!

It was so lovely to spend a whole evening with Sara Jane and her wife Meghan.  And I insisted that we take a  self-timer photo to remember the night...along with some photos of their adorable dog Albie.

Have you ever seen a picture of a dog with a mohawk?

It was a wonderful evening with one of my oldest friends.  I was so happy to celebrate her birthday with her and even happier when everyone took multiple servings!

Bret and I also had a hidden agenda and we wanted to ask Sara Jane if she would honor us by officiating our wedding.  Without even a moment's hesitation, she said yes and we're thrilled that she will be part of our special day.

Happy Birthday Sara Jane.  I hope you have a happy birthday.  Or else I won't be happy. 

Adventures with Quinoa: Quinoa, Black Bean & Zucchini Salad

I've heard a lot of great things recently about quinoa.  It is a high-protein grain that is highly recommended as an alternative to white rice.  I have to admit that I was always hesitant to try quinoa because of its resemblance to couscous and I absolutely cannot stand the texture of couscous.  But when I tried a delightful quinoa salad at the Clover Food Truck, all fears disappeared and I was immediately a fan.

On Saturday, after the Bloodypalooza event, Bret and I ran some errands in the Back Bay.  We stopped at Trader Joe's to stock up on a few of our staples when I saw a box of quinoa and decided to throw it in our shopping basket.  I was really excited to give quinoa a try so I decided to play around with it the very next day.

I read the instructions on the box and saw that there were three different methods of preparation - stove top, rice cooker and microwave.  I decided to go with the method that sounded easiest to me and threw in two cups of quinoa with four cups of water in my rice cooker.  While the quinoa was cooking, I put a pot of water to boil to cook some corn on the cob, which I planned to use in my quinoa salad.

While the quinoa was cooking and the water was boiling, I got to work on my other ingredients.  First, I drained and rinsed a can of black beans.

I then chopped up one jalapeno pepper.  I kept about half the seeds of the pepper because I wanted to add a nice heat to my salad.

I then diced up one small zucchini and also added that to the bowl.

When my two ears of corn were almost done cooking and were a perfect al dente, I gave it a quick cold rinse to cool it down and then stripped the corn from the cob.  My quinoa was done cooking in the rice cooker just a few minutes later and when I opened the lid of the cooker, I was shocked.  There was a LOT of quinoa.  I had definitely made way too much and only used about half of the quinoa in my salad.

I added some black pepper, salt, red pepper flakes and cayenne to the large bowl of quinoa salad and gave it a stir.  The salad had a lot of nice crunch from the zucchini and peppers, along with a good level of heat from the jalapeno, cayenne and red pepper flakes.  Although I could have eaten this salad on its own, I decided to use it as a filling in a whole-grain sandwich wrap.

I'd have to say that my cooking adventure with quinoa was definitely a success.  Quinoa is so easy to cook and you can't help but just love the nutty aroma it gives off when it is cooking.  I definitely made way too much quinoa and had a lot of salad leftover (which made for a great lunch).  As for the rest of the quinoa that I didn't use in my salad, I made a risotto-like dish last night by cooking it in chicken broth, butter, garlic and Parmesan cheese.  Yum!  Since it is so versatile, I'm definitely looking forward to using quinoa again in my kitchen.

Have you tried cooking with quinoa? If so, please share your quinoa recipe with me!

Slow Cooker Braised Short Ribs

On Sunday, B and I decided to make braised short ribs.  We received two pounds (bone-in) of short ribs from Stillman's Farm via our farmers market delivery on Friday and we were excited to put the short ribs to use right away.

B found this simple recipe online to braise the short ribs using a slow cooker and I thought this would be the perfect way to cook our short ribs until they were tender.  Although the recipe used a lot of different ingredients, it was still fairly simple and straightforward.

First, B tossed the short ribs in a bag with flour, salt and pepper.  Don't you love the action shot?

When the short ribs had a nice coating, B gave the short ribs a nice sear in a pan with melted butter.  When the short ribs had browned, B placed them in the slow cooker while we worked on our liquid components.  I put B on stirring duty while I prepared the ingredients.  Reading down the recipe, I first started out by chopping up a cup of white onion.

I added one cup of beef stock to the onions and B got going on heating these two ingredients on the stove.  The recipe called for beef broth but I had a box of beef stock open in the refrigerator and I didn't want it to go to waste.

I then measured out three-quarter cup of red wine vinegar, which was added to the pan.

Next I measured out a three-quarter cup of brown sugar.  I filled the measuring cup but I didn't pack it.

I also measured out a quarter cup of Sriracha chili sauce.  Nothing will wake you up like working with spicy chili sauce first thing on a Sunday morning!

I also measured out two tablespoons of ketchup and Worcestershire sauce, along with a generous teaspoon of chili powder.

And finally, we used our garlic press to add four minced cloves of garlic to the pan.  The recipe only calls for two tablespoons but I love garlic and I always add more to any recipe where I can.

When all of the ingredients were in the pan, B kept stirring until the liquid ingredients came to a boil.

B poured the sauce over the short ribs in the slow cooker.  Since the liquid ingredients didn't cover the short ribs, B coated each side of the short ribs in the sauce but ultimately put the short ribs bone-side up to ensure that most of the meat would cook nicely in the juices.

We put the slow cooker on for nine hours but ended up taking the short ribs out in about eight hours when our horseradish cheddar mashed potatoes and fresh corn on the cob were both ready.  The meat was so tender that it fell clean off the bone.  We used the remaining sauce as a gravy for both the short ribs and the mashed potatoes and found it to be intoxicatedly spicy.

I would definitely call our first attempt at slow cooker braised short ribs a huge success and they made excellent leftovers for lunch the next day!

Speaking of horseradish cheddar mashed potatoes, have you entered by Cabot Cheese giveaway?