Dinner Guests: The Meal

On Wednesday evening we had two of our closest friends, Christopher's brother Steve, and his wife Melody over for dinner.  We couldn't believe it had been almost a year since we had them over.  We all went to the same elementary school, and have been close friends since childhood.  The cute thing about Mel and Steve (besides everything) is that they were standing side by side in our grade four school picture, and now they're married.  Adorable.  I love love.  In case you haven't noticed. 

Okay, you've noticed. 

Anyway, they came over early and we ate for hours.  That's just what we do around here.

We started with homemade French fries:

Next up, bacon wrapped, stuffed jalapenos:

The next course was a mini Southern-BBQ snack, with two BBQ ribs, and a little piece of my fresh, buttermilk cornbread.  Christopher whipped up the BBQ sauce, without a recipe, but it turned out perfectly.  I'll get him to jot something down next time.  We did the ribs in the slow-cooker all day.

Next, was a cauliflower soup.  We made the soup the night before, because soup is always better the next day.  We then let it simmer, very, very low, all day.

The main course was a perfect combination of dishes:  fried chicken, coleslaw, mac & cheese, and baked beans.

Ahhhhh yeaaaah!  Talkin' 'bout comfort food.

Then, we had to save room for dessert.  That morning I whipped up a couple, including apple pie:

And berries on a cloud:

Well, I'm thinking our guests left full ... and that's always a good thing.

Happy Friday everyone!  What do y'all have planned for the weekend?

(I'm southern now, I can say y'all). 

Prepping for Dinner Guests

On Tuesday evening we did a bit of prep in the kitchen ...

We were in bed early, and then up on Wednesday around 8:00 a.m. to prep some more.  We work together in the kitchen seamlessly, each taking charge of some of the dishes, while helping with the others.  We turn up the music, and dance around the kitchen, laughing, chopping, and having the greatest time.  There is something so soothing about cooking, and we both really enjoy it.

We set the table, and chose serving dishes for each course.

We put napkins out for appies.

To see what we did with everything, what else we ate, and how it all came together, check back tomorrow!

Do you ever spend all day in the kitchen?  Do you enjoy it?

Eats this Week

We made a ham dinner recently, and then froze the ham bone to use later for soup stock.  On Monday evening we made that fabulous, flavourful stock.

We then used it to make borscht, one of our favourite soups.

We topped it with a big dollop of sour cream, and a lot of fresh dill.

We also had a creamy, bacony, garlicky pasta this week.

Last night we prepped for today's dinner.  We had guests, and a big, yummy meal (post to come soon). 

Do you like borscht?  How is your week going so far?

Five on Friday

1)  We are hooked on the show Scandal.  In fact, it had us hooked within the first minutes of the first episode.  It's that good.  It's fast paced, and the momentum never seems to die, even though we're seasons into it.  If you're looking for something new to watch on Netflix, give it a shot.

2)  About a week ago, we ordered Pizza Hut, which we do once a year.   Mmmm, I love their greasy crust. 

3)  On Wednesday for dinner we had simple curried shrimp over rice.

4)  Yesterday we had our first snowfall of the year ... earlier than last year (it was November 11th last year).  It all melted, which is nice, and it's expected to be really nice this weekend.  Yes, I've lived in Saskatchewan my entire 33 years, and no, you never get used to the cold.

5)  The beet, potato, goat cheese, and dill perogies were just as good as they sound.  Actually better.  We'll definitely be making them again.  You could really taste each component, and yet they blended so well together.

How was your week?  

Do you have anything exciting going on this weekend?

No-Spend November & Four Kinds of Perogies

We had such a fabulous weekend!  Yesterday was the start of our no-spend November.  No-spend November is mostly about avoiding going out, spending money out, and leaving the house, as much as we can.  We love entire weekends where we can cook at home, relax together, and have absolutely no where to be.  It's a way for us to relax and hibernate as the weather starts to get cold, and before the busyness of December starts.  It's a time for us to purge household items, and make hearty meals that stretch.

To kick off no-spend November, we spent our entire Sunday afternoon in the kitchen.

We made a giant dough baby ...

And then made four different kinds of perogies - at least 10 dozen total!

We've had the idea for a while now, of doing fusion perogies with some of our favourite types of cuisines.  We're both part Ukrainian, so we're very familiar with traditional potato and cheddar filled perogies, but we wanted to get a little creative with them.

We made some with an Indian samosa-style potato filling:

Korean perogies, with potato, gochujang and kimchi:

And gorgeous perogies with potato, beet, goat cheese and dill:

We also made some more traditional perogies, with potato, cheddar, onion and bacon:

In all the excitement, and mess of making a bunch of perogies, we also cooked up a ham dinner, with scalloped potatoes and peas.

We'll be enjoying the leftovers for a few days, and we're going to use the bone to make borscht soup.

How was your weekend?

Do you have anything fun planned for November?