Seasonal Recipe and Menu Binders

Okay, I know I'm a little obsessive with organizing things.  Being organized energizes me on several levels.  First and foremost I hate reinventing the wheel.  What I mean by that is if I've found a great recipe or put together a fantastic menu, I want to be able to locate that information easily in the future. 

I know that it's not always easy to re-create a mood or feeling - and sometimes dinner parties and casual get-togethers take on a personality of their own - duplicating a particular menu or cocktail at another time may create an entirely whole new experience. 

Nevertheless, I like to be able to easily find specific menus and recipes - I really hate spending time looking for things like that - the time spent searching always distracts me and I find myself engrossed in looking through new recipes and cookbooks and before I know it an hour or so has gone by!!

This is my "Winter Binder" from Vera Bradley - a little blurry, sorry.

 So, several months ago I started putting together a Winter binder of easy entertaining menus along with the recipes.  Vera Bradley designs have never been a favorite of mine but I do love her  colorful binders. Color motivates me and can also add to the whole feeling of creating and looking at something special.  

The idea of creating this binder was the result of wanting to have simple delicious entertaining menus at my fingertips.  FHFB and I love to cook, but sometimes we are so exhausted after having a dinner party that I had to begin simplifying things, but still keeping our menus special, delicious and fun.  I think that as foodies ourselves we just want to have lots of things to taste and of course, a table full of delicious homemade dishes is always so wonderful to see - we eat first with our eyes 

(my eyes should be 10x their size if that's true!) 

This week I purchased a second Vera Bradley binder for Spring entertaining!

So far I have two vegetarian menus filed away.  

Our son is coming home for a few days at the end of March before heading over to Florence, Italy for the month of April, so I wanted to be ready with some simple but delicious vegetarian meals.  

Menu #1

*upside down mushroom tartlets

*yellow squash with hazelnuts and pecorino

*warm peanut and sesame noodles

Menu #2

*vegetarian lentil soup

*white bean and tomato casserole with broccoli rabe

*whole grain penne pasta with shaved 

 

If you would like any of these recipes please let me know and I'd be happy to send them to you!

 

Here are a some links to a few of the recipes:

 

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/upside-down-mushroom-tartlets

 

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/upside-down-mushroom-tartlets

 

It's snowing here this morning - spring is a little confused.

 

I'm participating in Metamorphosis Monday over at Between Naps on the Porch.

 

Ciao, bella!

Decisions! Decisions!

Last night I had dinner with two wonderful friends, both teachers from Tewksbury and both very special in their own rights.  Carol and Becky, that was a delicious bottle of wine, wasn't it?  :)  Here's to many more!

I've been looking through all of my cookbooks and my back issues of the Thanksgiving themed Bon Appetit,  Martha Stewart Living and Gourmet magazines to find appetizers for our holiday parties.  My most favorite issue is a 1979 copy of Bon Appetit - the subscription was a gift from my mom and the recipes were used for the very first Thanksgiving dinner that FHFB and I hosted in our first home in Rockway Township, lovingly called "Little House on the Highway".  We still make the cornbread stuffing and Italian Roasted Turkey recipes from this issue!

You can see that it's definitely been used!  The cover is detached and the edges are frayed.

More magazines saved from prior Thanksgivings...

My collection of Thanksgiving recipes and decorating ideas also includes several little pamphlets from Whole Foods and Williams-Sonoma. 

So far I've come up with my first draft of appetizer recipes for Thanksgiving.  I know, why am I serving so many appetizers in addition to the traditional turkey dinner?  Well, my family has a tradition, at every gathering, to sit and chat for a 2-3 hours before the meal while eating delicious appetizers and drinking whatever special cocktail we have prepared for the day.  For Thanksgiving we're thinking of serving a light but delicious white sangria, with slices of apples and pears.

Can I call this list of appetizers a transformation of sorts, from an empty piece of paper to a list of 9 appetizers, most of them making it to the final cut?

Here's what we have so far:

Alton's Salty Sweet Pecans
Cheese Straws
Parmesan and Thyme Crackers
Cheese Tray with Many Varieties of Olives
Veggie Tray

Crostini with Sun Dried Tomato Jam
Olive-Garlic Soft Cheese Spread served with Whole Grain Baguette
Prosciutto Cups With White Beans
Stilton Toast and Cranberry Chutney

I haven't linked to each of the recipes because many of them are from a fantastic link I found on Epicurious.com called Cocktail Party Menus - it's just full of delicious cocktail party menus with all of the recipes linked in as well - a very easy site to work your way through.
I'm linked in to Transformation Thursday with Gina at Shabby Chic Cottage- stop by to see all of the ideas and links!

(from Google Images)


Ciao, bella!

Dinner and Dessert Menu for the Weathermen on the Porch at Frog Hollow Farm

It's raining outside - and I'm supposed to be on my way to my yoga class but I've decided that I don't want to get wet, so I'm here posting Part 2 of the Weathermen's Barbeque menu.  Don't get me wrong, I love yoga and feel great whenever I practice either in a class or on my own, but today is just not a yoga class day for me. 

Okay, now for the dinner menu from our gathering on Saturday here at Frog Hollow Farm!!  Several of these recipes are from Ina Garten's collection.  I just love her style and everything about her!

Appetizer Menu for the Weathermen's Barbeque on the Porch at Frog Hollow Farm

On Saturday FHFB and I hosted a barbeque for FHFB's office staff - 9 meteorologists and their families.  Everything turned out wonderfully, however, it was absolutely pouring that morning - a real deluge - FHFB promised me that it would clear up by the afternoon and he was right - there wasn't a drop of rain the entire afternoon and evening.