Iced Coffee Anyone?

Speaking of great recipes...

My talented and creative friend (and future guest writer here), Vicky had the girls from our weekly Mom's group over for some wine, yummy-fruity drinks and appetizer's last night.  Delightful.  It was such a fun night on so many levels.  In addition, she made us some iced coffee that we will all be talking about for a long, long time.  Move over, Starbucks.

I hope she doesn't mind, but I couldn't resist posting this great summer recipe that she found at thepioneerwoman.com  Vicky also rimmed our glasses with a cinnamon and sugar combination that looked and tasted amazing.  If only I had thought to bring my camera : )

Perfect Iced Coffee


Gorgeous coffee “concentrate” to keep in your fridge: iced coffee whenever you’d like!
Preparation Instructions
(Adapted from Imbibe Magazine)
In a large container, mix ground coffee with water. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature eight hours or overnight.
Line a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth and set over a pitcher or other container. Pour coffee/water mixture through the strainer, allowing all liquid to run through. Discard grounds.
Place coffee liquid in the fridge and allow to cool. Use as needed.
To make iced coffee, pack a glass full of ice cubes. Fill glass 2/3 full with coffee liquid. Add healthy splash of half-and-half. Add 2-3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk (can use plain sugar instead) and stir to combine. Taste and adjust half-and-half and/or sweetened condensed milk as needed.
Ingredients
1 pound Ground Coffee (good, Rich Roast)
8 quarts Cold Water
Half-and-half (healthy Splash Per Serving)
Sweetened Condensed Milk (2-3 Tablespoons Per Serving)
Note: Can Use Skim Milk, 2% Milk, Whole Milk, Sugar, Artificial Sweeteners, Syrups...adapt To Your Liking!

This March Break, I'm Thankful For...

Shamrocks

Watching Bethie play with her little people

Catching up with friends

Kids having sleepovers

St. Patrick's Day Themed Dinner Party
(although never again will I attempt to make 'Champ'!)

Family fun night in Waterloo

Windows open

Good hair days

Kids happily playing outside

Learning vulnerability and courage

Kids sleeping in

Gradually being freed from perfectionism

Cousin time

Breakfast at Cora's

My Mom's homemade Soda Bread

Life giving friendships

Size 4 Skinny Jeans

Kids with great imaginations.  Eva was disguising herself, so that Beth wouldn't "bug" her. Never a dull moment around here :)

A God, who is good.  Even when life is hard.  A God, who is worthy of my trust.  A God, who is for me and not against me.

Meals on Wheels

I'm always looking for ideas as to how to simplify life.

At the beginning of last year, my lovely friend Tracey (who leads the Mom's group I attend every week) was telling us about her friend out west who has 3 friends on her street and between the four of them they take turns cooking for each other. The idea was that on Monday night one girl would make 4 meals, on Tuesday night another girl would make 4 meals and so on. It meant that you cooked one night and then had meals brought to you for 3 nights each week.

I loved the idea and mentioned it to my friend Alison, who lives around the corner from me.  We immediately thought it was a fantastic idea and decided to give it a try between the two of us. So on Tuesday nights Alison brings my family dinner and on Wednesday nights I bring her family dinner.  We intentionally chose nights that each other would benefit most from receiving dinner.  We also talked about what each of our family likes and doesn't like and we agreed to be completely honest with each other.  In other words, if a meal is a big hit, we tell each other and if it wasn't then we tell each other that too.

We decided to try it for a month and we have never looked back!  It's almost been a year that we've been doing this.  We have both found that this really simple, non-rocket science idea is completely game changing.

 Here's what else I have found - it doesn't take any more work to double what you are making for dinner.  I would never have thought so, but it's so true!  And can I just say that Tuesdays are my favourite day of the week?  It's so relaxing during the day knowing that I don't have to think about making dinner :-)

Here's what my dinner table looked like after we received and ate a delicious meal from Alison!

As a Mom, I want to get better at living life in community.  It's so easy to live in isolation and loneliness.    The truth is that we need each other and we can't do this journey of parenting alone.  It's hard stuff!  Wouldn't it be awesome if we were each other's biggest cheerleaders and advocates?

There are so many great ways that we can support and bless one another and swapping meals is at the top of my list these days.  Now if only we could find 2 more neighbours to participate...

What are some ways that you depend on your female friends?

CJ

Monthly Dinner Parties

While reading Bittersweet this summer, Steve and I got on the topic of dinner parties.  If you have read anything by Shauna Niequist, you know that she loves getting people and food together as much as possible.  We began talking about all of the people we say we want to have over for dinner and never do anything about it.  We decided no more "someday".  We wrote a list of all of the people that we want to have over for dinner in the next year.  As we began to talk about it, I recognized that I have 8 seats around my dining room table, china for 8, 8 wine glasses and so on......so let's invite six people over for a meal once a month.  As I casually ran the idea past Steve, to say that he loved it would be an understatement. He is a strong extravert and would love to have friends over each weekend, all weekend. So from there, we put a list together of all of the people we would love to have over in the next 5-6 months and arranged them into groups - our criteria being that we wanted to stimulate great dialogue.  Typically we don't allow our worlds to collide much - so to combine family and friends and different groups of friends is a bit outside the box for us. But we're learning to take risks.  Our theory is that when you combine great food (hopefully!), wine and fantastic people around a table, what can go wrong?

The great thing about this is that you only have to make one large meal and you only have to get your house all tidy once.  I'm loving the simplicity aspect!

I still host life group and coffee dates and family dinners - but only one big hosting event a month and I never thought I would - but here's the thing...I love it.  I love the menu planning and using my china and going all out and experimenting with new recipes.  It's been really life giving for me.

We started in October and this past Saturday we had our "November Dinner Party".

So, here's the recap for this past Saturday...
Everyone came over for dinner at 7 p.m.  Beth was just falling asleep and I bribed my older girls with the Ramona and Beezus movie and a bowl full of popcorn and they were happy for the night :-)

I put on some Christmas Music and lit my candles and off we went.  This month we had Leah, Craig, Kelly, Chris, Becky and Jeff over.

For appetizers I made:
-cherry tomatoes wrapped in fresh basil plus ripe mozzerella balls placed on skewers and then I drizzled fig balsamic vinegar on them.  Simple and really yummy.
-Brie covered with pecans, brown sugar and brandy - all wrapped up in pastry and baked at 350 degrees - yummy and I served it with a fresh bagette sliced up.


I took these photos right before everyone arrived and left my camera out to take more more photos as the night went on, but got so caught up in the moment and was having so much fun that I totally forgot to take photos.  Whoops!

The dinner turned out great.  I'm a bit strange in the sense that I love to try new recipes when having friends over.  I love the menu planning aspect and here's what I came up with for November.  Fortunately for me, everything turned out awesome. This was the first time I ever roasted beets and they were delish.

PEPPERCORN ROAST BEEF WITH BALSAMIC BEETS
HOLIDAY FOOD AND WINE 2009
By: Julia Aitken
As with all roasts, remove the beef from the fridge at least 30 minutes before cooking. Crack the peppercorns either by grinding them in a pepper grinder set to the coarsest setting, or by crushing them with the base of a cast-iron skillet.

8 medium beets, trimmed and peeled,
about 1½ lb (750 g)
3 tbsp (45 mL) olive oil
2 tbsp (25 mL) finely chopped fresh
rosemary leaves
2¼ tsp (11 mL) salt
2 red onions, cut into 1-inch (2.5-cm)
wedges
8 whole cloves garlic, unpeeled
3 tbsp (45 mL) cracked black peppercorns
1 beef tenderloin, about 3 lbs (1.5 kg)
2 tbsp (25 mL) good-quality balsamic
vinegar
Rosemary sprigs for garnish


1. Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C).

2. Cut beets into 1-inch (2.5-cm) wedges. In a large shallow roasting pan, toss together beets, 2 tbsp (25 mL) oil, rosemary and ¼ tsp (1 mL) salt; spread beets out in roasting pan. Roast, uncovered, for 20 minutes, stirring once.


3. Add onions and garlic to roasting pan; stir to combine with beets, breaking up onion wedges as you stir. Roast for 10 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, stir together peppercorns and remaining salt in a small bowl. On work surface, lay a piece of plastic wrap large enough to enclose beef; sprinkle with half of peppercorn mixture. Rub beef all over with remaining oil. Lay beef on peppercorn mixture on plastic wrap; sprinkle evenly with remaining peppercorn mixture. Wrap beef in plastic wrap, pressing so that peppercorns and salt adhere evenly to meat. Unwrap beef; transfer carefully to a wire rack.

5. Stir vegetables. Set rack holding beef in roasting pan containing vegetables; roast for 25 to 30 minutes for rare (125°F/52°C on a meat thermometer), 30 to 35 minutes for medium-rare (135°F/57°C on a meat thermometer).

6. Remove beef to a cutting board, tent loosely with foil and let stand for 15 minutes. Stir balsamic vinegar into vegetables; season with more salt and pepper to taste if necessary. Spoon vegetables onto a warm serving platter. Cut beef into slices; arrange on top of vegetables. Garnish with rosemary ( I forgot to do this part!)




Roasted Potatoes with Bacon, Onions, and Sage
Bon Appétit  | November 2009
by Josie Le Balch
1 pound thick-cut bacon slices, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick strips
5 pounds assorted baby potatoes (such as red-skinned, white-skinned, and Dutch yellow), rinsed, dried, halved
2 large red onions, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 4 cups)
3/4 cup 1/3-inch pieces torn fresh sage leaves (from about 2 bunches), divided
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
Coarse kosher salt



Preheat oven to 375°F. Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until crisp and golden. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels to drain. Reserve 4 tablespoons drippings from skillet.

Combine potatoes, onions, 1/2 cup torn sage leaves, melted butter, and reserved 4 tablespoons bacon drippings in very large bowl. Sprinkle generously with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Toss to coat. Spread potato mixture evenly on 18x12x1-inch baking sheet. Roast 1 hour, stirring occasionally. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand on baking sheet at room temperature.

Increase oven temperature to 400°F. Stir bacon into potato mixture and continue to roast until potatoes are tender and beginning to brown, about 15 minutes longer. Transfer mixture to large serving bowl. Season to taste with more coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Sprinkle with remaining torn sage leaves and serve.

I also put out some fresh bread and lots of butter.

For dessert, Becky made a white and dark chocolate mousse/pie and it was divine.  Maybe I'll see if she'll share her recipe.  She makes the best chocolate desserts :-)

Not that we needed help with great conversation because we clearly did not..it was a lively and fun crowd..but we did play this game that my friend Christa introduced me to last month and it was super fun.  Easy to learn and easy to play.

Want to hear the spectacular thing? My husband, who is the king of the budget - is so excited about these monthly dinner parties -that he lets me blow the budget.  If you know him, you know that this is no small thing!   And on top of it all, he does all of the dishes after everyone leaves.  Seriously, this is win - win.  We'll see where things land in the next 6 - 12 months, but for now I'm sold on the idea.