Iron Chef: Fresh Mozzarella

It's been too long since we did Iron chef. So on Saturday Erik bought me a secret ingredient: Fresh Mozzarella. At first I thought this would be an easy ingredient. But the more I thought about it and tested it with different flavors, I realized that it was a more difficult ingredient. Either that or I've lost my creativity! I didn't want to do the usual - tomato, mozzarella, basil, and garlic mixture too much. So I tried to mix it up...somewhat.

Iron Chef Fresh Mozarella

Erik's mousse

The dishes I made were:

1. Sauteed tomato with garlic, basil, and mozzarella. I wanted to stay away from the usual pairings of fresh mozzarella but couldn't stay away entirely. This was yummy but I put too much garlic on.
2. Roasted red pepper and mozzarella ravioli. This was an excellent dish. I roasted red peppers then made a butter/wine/garlic sauce and added the red peppers to it. Mozzarella was the finishing touch on this sauce that covered cheese ravioli. 
3. Mozzarella Mac and Cheese. I thought it would be a great idea to make my usual Velveeta mac and cheese but use mozzarella instead. Sounds great right? Wrong. It became a clumpy cheesy mess. So we had to research this and found that adding wine helps mozzarella melt better. This makes sense since wine is usually added to cheese fondue. So I learned something from my mistake with mozzarella mac and cheese. This dish was okay but it needed more flavor.
4. Buffalo chicken and mozzarella enchilada with corn salsa. This was amazing. Erik especially loved it. The corn salsa actually decreased the heat of the dish. Whereas in most dishes the salsa adds heat. I'll be making this again!
5. Chocolate dipped mozzarella and bacon. I wanted to try something different as dessert. I knew that plain mozzarella dipped in chocolate would not be flavorful and knew it needed some salt. So I thought the perfect thing to add salt would be bacon. I mixed mozzarella, bacon, sugar, and cream (I know - sounds weird) and dipped it in chocolate. Erik said it was strangely good. 

Erik's concoction

After learning about wine and how it helped the melting of mozzarella, Erik took the rest of my melted chocolate, added some wine, mozzarella, cocoa powder, heavy cream, cool whip, and vanilla to make chocolate mousse. This was rich and yummy. A perfect ending to our iron chef!

Bulletproof coffee

Erik and his coffee

Erik is seriously on a diet. In fact the only thing he "eats" for breakfast now is bulletproof coffee. It keeps him full all morning and gives him energy. He really likes it. Since I gave up coffee for lent, I had to wait until Sunday to try it. I drank the coffee before church and was only slightly hungry for lunch after church. It really does work. I'm not going to do it because I like eating ;). See recipe below.

 Erik's bulletproof coffee:
1 cup of hot coffee
2 tblsp coconut oil
1 tblsp butter (optional)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cocoa powder

dog shirt and bob pants - Matthew's favorite outfit

 I also had to include some cute pictures of Matthew. This is his favorite outfit - dog shirt with spongebob pants. He has never seen spongebob but he really likes these pants. Matthew is now going to an integrated class at preschool. Here he is riding scooters with some of the other kids. He loves it.

Scooters at preschool

 So Erik made me a beautiful spice rack several years ago and I really loved it. However I bake a lot and cook a lot. A LOT. And the spices just didn't fit. Every time we walked by the spice rack we would knock something down. We found someone on etsy to make an epic spice rack for us. This epic spice rack now has all our spices on it and even our vinegars and cooking wines. I love it!! Now Erik's spice rack has been moved to hold knick knacks and other unimportant items.

Epic spice rack

58 points on Quiddler today

Green Pi

Every March 14 we celebrate Pi day. Next year will be really exciting since it will be 3/14/15!! At 9:26am we will have a party!

                                                                                                 

To celebrate pi day I made a key lime pie, Tricia made pizza pie and blueberry pie and Andria made french silk pie. We all ate a piece of each pie. I made a delicious peanut butter pie for the kids too. This pie had a crushed nutter butter crust and was divine!

Pi day party!

 Our Monday morning women's Bible study takes turns making breakfast. On St. Patrick's day the person making breakfast (Jaye) brought green eggs and ham. How fun! She also brought green yogurt and shamrock muffins. I loved it.

Green eggs and ham for St. Patricks day

 Sarah made white board sentences describing me and Erik. It is so cute - she just sounded out the words. She has impressed me with how quickly she has picked up writing and reading.

My Daddy by Sarah

My Mommy by Sarah (Jenna wanted to be in the pic)

Tomorrow is the first day of spring. I'm so excited for warmer weather. We have several camping trips and vacations planned this summer. I can't wait!
67 points on Quiddler today

Who wants a shardblade anyway?

Our friends Erin and Steve were married on Saturday. The wedding was beautiful and we were excited to be a part of the wedding. The reception was fun too but the toast was epic. Steve and Erin play table top role playing games and are quite the nerds (we love them!). Steve just finished his Industrial Engineering degree at OSU and Erin is a PhD student in English at Ohio State. Steve is one of the funniest people I know - just like Jon Cook. Erin is one of the smartest people I know and the only one I've heard use the word "draconian" in a sentence.

The groomsman giving the toast gave part of the toast in engineering language ("may no shearing force separate you", "the tensile strength of your love", etc) and part of the toast in Old Norse which is a language that Erin has been studying. When he finished the room erupted in applause. I had tears from laughing so hard.

Erin and Steve

On Sunday I went to my cousin's baby shower. It was exciting since we didn't know the gender of the baby until she cut the cake. This is a fun way to reveal the gender of a baby. She cut the cake and it was pink!

Angie cutting her cake

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson was released on March 4. It is 1087 pages of
AWESOMENESS!
He really knows how to write, especially endings. I laughed (seriously laughed) and had my heart broken while reading this book. I loved it.

In high school I decided to read all of Ray Bradbury's books. I loved his writing and wanted to read all of it. I tried this with Isaac Asimov but he had too many books.  I want to read all of Brandon Sanderson's books. He is such a good writer.

I copied this list below from wikipedia:
Firstborn (short story) (2008)
Defending Elysium (short story) (2008)
Infinity Blade: Awakening (novella) (2011)
Infinity Blade: Redemption (novella) (2013)
The Emperor's Soul (novella) (2012)
Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell (short story) (2013)
Elantris (2005)
Warbreaker (2009)
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians (2007)
Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones (2008)
Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia (2009)
Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens (2010)
Legion (2012)
Mistborn: The Final Empire (2006)
Mistborn: The Well of Ascension (2007)
Mistborn: The Hero of Ages (2008)
Mistborn: The Alloy of Law (2011)
Steelheart (2013)
Mitosis (short story, 2013)
Firefight (Fall 2014)
The Rithmatist (2013)
The Way of Kings (2010)
Words of Radiance (2014)
The Gathering Storm (2009)
Towers of Midnight (2010)
A Memory of Light (2013)


Out of the 26 I have only read 11. So now this is my new task. Then obviously I will make a list of my favorite books!

Not hot chocolate

For the third year in a row Tricia and I did the indoor triathlon at lifetime. I was curious to see if I would be in shape to complete it considering I hadn't run, swam, or biked since the summer. However it turns out that just doing the Shaun T 25 workout videos is enough. I swam 15 laps in 10 minutes which is a personal best for me. I biked for half an hour and ran 2.06 miles in 20 minutes. I know I need to run faster but I'm not there yet. 

At some point in my life I will beat Tricia at something. She is always faster than me at everything.

After the tri

 There is another triathlon in June we may do together and Tricia and I will be doing the tough mudder in May as well. So we have quite a few events coming up this year. .

Matthew wanted me to take a picture of him on the horsey at Meijer

Lent started yesterday and this year I am giving up hot chocolate and coffee. I LOVE hot chocolate. Just about every night I make a cup of hot cocoa and sit by the fire. I put whip cream, marshmallow fluff, caramel and hershey's syrup on it. I missed my calling as a barista.

So this will be difficult "nobody knows the truffles I've seen...." but I love the lenten season as a chance to sacrifice.

Jenna is giving up chocolate and Sarah is giving up Marshmallows and M&Ms. Chocolate will be difficult but Jenna can do it. Both girls will do a great job. I don't know what Matthew will give up. Maybe whining.....now that would be wonderful!

66 points on quiddler today