The stuff dreams are made of...

Well my dreams anyway. Last year for Christmas my in-laws got me one of the best gifts anyone could ever give me...Betty. My red HOTT Kitchen Aid mixer. I have had a love affair with these thing ever since my parents bought one when I was maybe 12. She is just about the prettiest thing in my kitchen. I mix just about everything in Betty.

So this year with our Christmas gift from my in-laws I knew exactly what I wanted. An attachment for Betty. The newest attachment in a long line of attachments...the ice cream maker attachment. It is genius I tell ya! Mike and I made our first batch a few nights ago. Simple vanilla (recipe from the book that came with the attachment) but SO good. Mike said "I am still blown away that you made this" I asked why? he said "because you are suppose to buy ice cream in a store." Ahhhh sweet husband.

Here is a picture of Betty with her new friend. I think they look happy together!

Party Time with pictures!

My cousin must have felt bad for the blog because she gave me her old camera to use until mine returns from it's travels abroad. YAY Gail!

So our Christmas party was this past Friday. It is really just an excuse for me to cook for someone besides my husband. I had all the food ready at the same time. It was amazing really. Here are pictures of the food and a few of our fun guests.

We will start with dessert because it is most important you know?

The green cupcakes are chocolate with mint frosting.

The white cupcakes are red velvet with cream cheese frosting

These were a few people's favorites. Roast beef in puff pastry with horseradish sauce.

Balsamic BBQ chicken drumsticks

Pioneer Woman's Spicy orange garlic shrimp. These went very fast.

Brie and Aunt Gerry's Pomegranate Jam in Filo dough
Now for pictures of the guests, they will love me for this!

Lacie(left) and Kristan(right), Lacie hadn't had any drinks!Doug(left) and Mike(right). Mike had had a lot of drinks. Jason likes sweets...and he likes we I take his picture while he is eating, don't you Jason?

That is Lindsie there smiling.

The hostes' with the mostestsssess

Last one. My husband folks... I have NO idea.

Oye Vay..Latkes

Last year on the first night of Hanukkah Mike and I thought it would be fun to make latkes, no we aren't Jewish. They turned out okay. This year we wanted to do it again and we scored with a great recipe. Mike liked his with sour cream only. I liked mine with sour cream or apple sauce but not together.

From: Rachel Ray

1 (24-ounce) bag shredded potatoes for hash browns
1 large carrot, peeled (I left this out because I didn't have a carrot)
1 medium onion, peeled
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons matzo meal, cracker meal or all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil, for frying
2 cups chunky apple sauce
1 cinnamon stick (left out)
1 cup sour cream

Directions
Heat 1/2-inch oil in a large skillet over medium to medium high heat. To test oil, add a piece of bread to the pan. It should turn golden brown in a ten-count. Adjust heat, as necessary.
Place potatoes in a large bowl. Using a hand grater, grate the carrot and onion into the bowl. Add eggs to the bowl. Add salt and baking powder, then sprinkle in meal or flour. Combine vegetables and meal with a wooden spoon.
Drop mixture into oil in 3-inch mounds, press down gently with spatula to form patties. Fry in batches of 4 to 6 patties depending on the size of your skillet, 1-inch apart, until golden, about 3 minutes on each side. Put chunky applesauce and the cinnamon stick in a saucepan over medium heat and warm for 3 to 4 minutes. Drain latkes on paper towels or parchment lined tray. Serve with warm applesauce and sour cream.

Sloppy Janes

No I have not up and joined the circus. My camera however, may have! I have lost it. I hate to post without pictures but I have been cooking A LOT lately and wanted to share this one because Mike loved this. I know that isn't too shocking expect that this is a wieght watchers type recipe. Mike loves sloppy joes. He was excited to hear I was making them but got confused when no manwich can was around. We both really liked this recipe. So much we took it for lunch the next day. I made a few mods to the recipe, they are below in red.

Sloppy Janes (from Hungry Girl)
Serving Size: 1 (very stuffed) sandwich
Per Serving: 5 WW points; 271 calories; 3g fat
Recipe makes 5 sandwiches

1 lb. raw extra-lean ground turkey
5 small hamburger buns
1/2 cup chopped onions (I used a whole medium onion)
1/2 cup chopped red bell peppers (I used a whole bell pepper)
Garlic (I added about 6 cloves..what!?!?! we love garlic)
1 cup canned tomato sauce
3/4 cup canned no salt added tomato sauce
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 1/2 tbsp Splenda (granulated)
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (I used about 2 tablespoons)
1 tsp steak seasoning blend, dry
Dash of salt

Spray large pan with nonstick spray and bring to medium-high heat. Add turkey to pan. Spread meat around pan and break it up.In small dish, combine Splenda, salt, and steak seasoning. Sprinkle this over the meat and continue to stir meat in pan. Once meat has browned, reduce heat to medium.Add onions, peppers, Worcestershire sauce, and vinegar to pan. Stir and continue to cook for 5 minutes.Add tomato sauces and tomato paste to pan and stir well. Reduce heat to low and cook mixture for an additional 5 minutes.Toast the buns, if desired. Put one-fifth of the mixture in each bun.