December 31, 2013
Happy New Years Eve! Relaxing and celebrating were pretty much the only thing on the schedule for this girl today. I spent the morning catching up on sleep and relaxation, hit the gym, and got ready for the night - a night of dinner, family, conversation, movies, cooking, and relaxing.
We started the night by going to our favorite restaurant,
Sushi King. We have been going here since I was a kid. I started out with adventuring my taste buds with a delicious bowl of white rice. After a couple years, I tried the salmon teriyaki and fell in love. A few years later I expanded to sushi and it was all down hill after that. My first true love was found.
Brenden met us at the restaurant once he got off work. He got chicken teriyaki but I was very proud that he tried a few of the rolls we got. My dad got his usual (and favorites) white tuna and sweet shrimp. Yes that's the whole head there, eyes and everything and he loves every bite.
We also got our favorite, Golden Roll, and even splurged for two this time so we could enjoy it for even longer. It was all delicious and I left stuffed and satisfied as usual. But of course not too stuff for the desert Brenden had schemed up. We had originally thought of going out somewhere else for desert but then decided to make something at home so we could relax sooner. And what else to make then cannoli's! Well cannoli cream at least. We didn't think to buy a shell to put the cream in and decided the shells were too much to take on for the night, but hey the cream is the best part so I can't really complain because a spoon and the cream was amazing. (Future note: this def tops drowning my sorrows in cookie dough, way easy and way delis!)
Once the cannoli cream was ready to go we grabbed a seat on the couch picked out a movie and cuddled up during our count down to the New Year, where we watched the ball dropped and set our sights high for 2014.
Cannoli Cream
Recipe adapted from foodnetwork.com, Homemade Cannoli Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups ricotta cheese,
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Directions
- In a medium bowl, whisk ricotta until smooth.
- Whisk in the powdered sugar, cinnamon, and all spice until fully blended.
- In a separate, small bowl, quickly whisk/beat the heavy cream until fairly stiff.
- Combine the cream with the ricotta mixture.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Cool in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes.
- Remove and serve by itself or in cannoli shells or mini pie crusts.
- Enjoy until it is gone!
Since last night was Thanksgiving, Brenden and I obviously did not have our typical Thursday night date night dinner. Now hold you horses, I know what you are thinking, no dinner?! You have been waiting all week for this very moment, a new delicious recipe, and I let something like Thanksgiving stand in the way?! Don't worry, I wouldn't let you down that easily. Although it wasn't a date night dinner we were very excited to try our date "morning" Thanksgiving inspired breakfast! And we had a right to be excited as it was amazing and a definite keeper. And, if you are anything like us, and like breakfast for dinner, there is no doubt that this would make a stupendous breakfast for dinner, dinner. MMM :)
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| I know, our Turkey hats are pretty awesome. It is okay to be jealous :) |
The anticipation was killing me ever since I found this recipe via
Pinterest almost a week ago. It sounded super delicious to me. Plus a fun morning cooking with Brenden leading to a tasty breakfast to fill my tummy pre-Thanksgiving dinner would be the perfect way to take my mind off not being able to run in the turkey trot I had been planning to participant in with my cousin and his friend since we ran it last year. I was psyched to get back on the course with my turkey hat a whip out a personal best time. But, injuries got the best of me and I had to reconsider. My cousin later told me that it was a good race as usual, the weather held out and he ran a great race and time. Congrats to him! And, I am excited to hopefully be back on my feet to join him next year. But, enough rambling about that, back to the breakfast that made up for it!
When I saw this sweet potato based recipe, I instantly thought Thanksgiving (after all sweet potatoes are my favorite part of the meal, next to the stuffing of course). But this dish would be great anytime of year, especially in fall. Plain white potatoes could be substituted to make it a less seasonally inspired meal. Honestly, pretty much anything in this dish could be substituted to transform it into something you want, after all it is basically a baked hash, and, a hash (in my eyes) is simply ingredients you enjoy mixed together. But definitely start with this version because it may turn out that you don't want to alter it after taking a bite! Brenden said he loved it but would add his favorite breakfast staple, corned beef hash, next time. I thought it covered all the flavors (and food groups) as it was.
Twice Baked Sweet Potato Casserole
Recipe adapted from juliasalbum.com Stuffed Sweet Potatoes For Breakfast
Ingredients
- 2 large sweet potatoes
- 1 lb breakfast turkey sausage, casings removed
- 6 eggs
- 1/4 cup almond milk
- Cooking spray
- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded and divided
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Rinse sweet potatoes in cool water to remove all the excess dirt on the outside.
- Place sweet potatoes on a baking tray and bake for 55-60 minutes.
- Remove and cool sweet potatoes.
- When able to handle, cut each sweet potato in half.
- Scoop out the middle of the sweet potatoes with a knife or spoon, placing the piece into a medium bowl.
- Mash the insides into small chunks with a masher potato masher or fork and set aside. (If the potatoes are still a little hard you can heat them in a skillet and mash in there on low heat).
- Cook the turkey sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat, breaking into small chunks until no longer pink.
- Drain fat and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together
- Pour into the same skillet you cooked the sausage and scramble over medium-low heat, or until nice and fluffy.
- Once eggs are cooked, turn heat to low and combine the sausage and sweet potatoes.
- Turn your oven on to broil.
- Spray a small casserole dish with cooking spray.
- Pour in half of the egg mixture, forming an even layer.
- Sprinkle half of you cheddar cheese on top.
- Pour the remaining egg mixture, forming a second layer.
- Sprinkle the second half of the cheese evenly on top.
- Place dish in the oven, watching carefully until cheese is melted but not burnt (above 5 minutes).
- Remove from oven, cool until warm, and gobble it up (pun intended).
