What We Ate in 2011

So, since we haven't blogged in over a year, here are some things that we have been eating in the past few months. Nik and I really enjoy cooking and trying out new recipes together. For his birthday, I got Nik a new cookbook from Williams-Sonoma which has been great so far. In fact, we made soup for the first time ever but sadly I didn't take pictures of that. Sorry.

Up first is sweet and sour chicken with pineapple and plums.

 Then we have biscuit pot pies- basically I am too lazy to make actual pot pie dough.

 Nik and I do love our pasta. We have an entire cookbook about it. This is one of my favorites from that book: spaghetti with gruyere (a delicious French cheese) and ham. So delicious, especially with good bread on the side!

 Our first attempt at making gnocchi together. When done right, they are heavenly pillows of deliciousness. Here, we made the gnocchi out of ricotta cheese instead of the usual potato. Then we tossed it in a homemade gremolata- basically lemon zest, parsley and cheese.  They turned out pretty good but we still have to work on it. We'll probably try again with a different recipe.

 The first meal from our newest cookbook. Chicken encrusted in panko, pecan pieces and ground mustard and then sauteed. To go with it, we made brussel sprouts as we learned it in our cooking lesson from one of the chefs at Pizzeria 712 (our favorite restaurant in Utah). The cooking lesson was my Christmas gift to Nik. We had a blast learning some new techniques and were eager to try them at home.

 Making the brussel sprouts in the pan- it was so easy and quick! The longest part was breaking up the brussel sprouts into individual leaves. Then we tossed them into an already warmed pan with so oil to get a light char and added water to steam them. When they were done we added lemon zest and juice, pecans, and parmesan. They were so good we have already made them another couple of times.

 The second meal from our new cookbook. These pictures aren't quite a pretty as the other ones but the pork chops with sage and rosemary and a horseradish applesauce (not pictured) were even better tasting than the chicken. We'll have to make some of this when we are down in AZ since my dad can't handle gluten and none of these include any wheat.