Weekend Update - Hogs for the Cause

Well, this little bunny rabbit has completely fooled me into thinking that all babies are awesome...

So I had agreed to babysit for someone who needed help while she went on a vacation. Kids are no joke. Sure they can be cute, but there is a little too much, snot, slobber, poop, and blood for my tastes. So glad to be done with that. 

Friday after I had babysat all day, I came home and noticed that the basketball courts were empty so I begged Joe to go play with me and he finally agreed. After balling by ourselves for a minute, a short little boy asked if he could play with us, and then his two friends came over and asked if we wanted to play a game with them. So me, Joe and Brandon played Jamal and Oscar in a friendly little game of hoops and I would like to say that the Granades have gained some major street cred. Brandon was not much of a help, as he was playing with his iPhone for most of the game and updating us on Beyonce's celebrity gossip. After we finished playing, the ice cream truck came around and Brandon asked Joe if he could have some ice cream? Joe said absolutely not, no hand outs here son.

When we got home and were covered in sweat and smelled terrible, our upstairs neighbors asked us if we wanted to go eat with them, so we hopped in the shower and went to Three Muses to eat and listen to Davis Rogan and Glen David Andrews, which was extremely entertaining. Joe was super jacked because a character on Treme is based on David Rogan, and Joe apparently loves celebrities these days.

A random man walked in off Frenchmen Street 

and started playing with Glen

Neighbors

We went to Fat Harry's afterwards, and then realized that it was 1 am, and I had to babysit in five hours. After I got finished with that on Saturday, I went to Hogs for the Cause with Christine and Deanna, and we met up with Joe and his pals. Joe was so excited about the BBQ cook off and wanted to stay all the way until the concert that night with Robert Randolph and Anders Osbourne, even though it was getting verrryyy cold and rainy.

Dixons at the festival

waiting for Robert Randolph

pals

Anders Osbourne in the rain

Sunday we walked to my new favorite place after church, Il Posto. For dinner, we made chicken and biscuits pot pie, which was a hit.

Chicken and Biscuits Pot Piesource: adapted from The New Best Recipe by the editors of Cook’s Illustrated

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, chopped fine
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut crosswise 1/4-inch thick
• 2 small ribs celery, cut crosswise 1/4-inch thick
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 to 2 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 3 tablespoons dry sherry (optional)
• 3 to 4 cups (about 1 1/4 lbs) shredded chicken
• 3/4 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Heat a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the oil.  Once the oil is hot, sauté the onions, carrots, and celery until tender, about 5-7 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Transfer cooked vegetables to a bowl with the chicken; set aside.
2. Reduce the heat to medium and add the butter to the same pot.  When melted, stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute.  Whisk in the milk, chicken broth, and thyme.  Allow the sauce to come to a simmer and let it simmer for 1 minute to thicken.  Season with salt and pepper and stir in the sherry (if using).  Turn off the heat and transfer the vegetables and chicken to the pot, stirring until the filling is well-combined.  Mix in the peas and parsley.  If the filling is too thick (you’ll know), stir in the extra chicken broth, about 1/4 cup at a time up to 3/4 cup until the filling loosens up a little.
3. Pour the filling into a 13×9-inch baking dish and bake for 18 minutes.  Remove the dish from the oven (keeping the oven on and door closed) and top the filling with the biscuits.  Return the baking dish to the oven and bake for an additional 10-12 minutes, until the biscuits are golden brown and the filling is bubbly.  Cool for 5 minutes before serving.

I used a rotisserie chicken, and Pillsbury grand flaky biscuits, and made the whole thing in my dutch oven. Easy and delicious!

St. Paddy's Day in New Orleans

Saturday there was a St. Patrick's Day parade, and people were extremely pumped up about it. Turns out there are a lot of Irish folk among us. Most claimed that this was their favorite holiday all year. I'm still not on board with that, but it was a whole lot of fun.

Christine made a delicious brunch to start  our day, and then we all walked down to Louisiana Street to watch the parade.

Jason showcasing Christine's brunch spread

The parade was loooooooong! There were tons of drunk Irish men walking around with beers and handing out flowers. I saw one of them almost get run over by a float, and a bystander pulled him out of the way in the nick of time (not really- he did kind of get hit first, good thing floats dont move too fast.) Yikes. 

ready for the parade!

dixxonnssss

The parade members LOVED anyone with red hair, and a little red head girl in front of us had three bags packed full with flowers. The people on the floats were throwing Irish Spring soap, carrots, potatoes, and huge heads of cabbage. You are supposed to take it all home and make Irish soup with it. NO thank you!! 

Joe was so excited he caught a cabbage. 

No clue where that thing went later.

Big group

All of our swag

Is that Kate Middleton??

Decked out

We love our neighbors..looks like John caught a cucumber

Finally over!

The next day we had some cabbage of our own..but not Joe's parade catch. I made this hot and sweet vegetable slaw with ginger dressing and it was awesome. I am still eating it every day for lunch. Joe didn't eat it because he doesn't like ginger, so more for me! I used Kathy Z kale and left out the Brussels sprouts because I was sick of chopping. I also used cilantro instead of parsley because that is what I had, and it was great. I would do it on purpose next time. ALSO- I didn't use fennel and I used napa cabbage instead of red cabbage because that was all that they had at Rouses! 

fall vegetable slaw with hot + sweet ginger dressingserves: 8-10

dressing:
1-2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
juice of 1 lemon
2-3 tbsp honey or agave nectar
pinch of cayenne (as much as you want)
salt and pepper
1/2 cup grapeseed or other neutral oil

slaw:
1/2 head red cabbage, cored and shredded
1/2 lb brussels sprouts, shredded
2 kale stalks, stems removed and finely sliced
2 green onions, thinly sliced
10 sprigs of parsely, leaves sliced
1 small fennel bulb, halved, cored and shaved thin
1 semi-ripe bosc pear, cored and thinly sliced
1/3 cup sunflower seeds, toasted
salt and pepper

Make the dressing: combine all of the ingredients in a blender and flip to high for 30 seconds. Taste for seasoning and set aside. If you don’t have a blender, whisk the finely minced ginger, lemon juice, cayenne, salt and pepper together to combine. Slowly drizzle the grapeseed oil into the ginger mixture while whisking until thoroughly mixed.

Toss all of the slaw ingredients except for 2 tablespoons of sunflower seeds with a a good amount of salt and pepper. Pour the ginger dressing over top and mix with your hands to combine. Scatter remaining sunflower seeds over the top and serve.

Delicious Gnocchi with Kale and Sausage

I made the easiest and most scrumptious dinner tonight in about 20 minutes! Here is the link to the recipe I found and pretty much followed. I used the last of Kathy Z's homegrown organic (possibly?) kale that she sent me, and I am sad to see it go!

It doesn't look very pretty in a picture, 

but it tastes wonderful...trust me.

Here is how I made it: 

Saute some chopped onions and two links of turkey sausage (squeeze it out of the casings, I used white wine and garlic turkey sausage from Fresh Market - they have a lot of different chicken and turkey sausage choices and any of them would be good in here) on medium high heat until the sausage is cooked, then add some minced garlic and saute for another minute. Turn down the heat to medium. 

Add about 1/2 cup of chicken broth, some red pepper, and the kale and stir it until the kale is wilted. Meanwhile, cook the gnocchi (I used whole wheat) and when it is done, put it in the pan with the sausage and kale with about 3/4 cup of the cooking water. Cook it for a minute and then season with salt and pepper. Add some Parmesan cheese on top if you want it. Time to eat!

Here is the original recipe from bevcooks:

Gnocchi with Sausage and Kale:

What it took for 4:

* 1 (17.6 oz) package gnocchi (or homemade if you want!)
* 1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
* 1/2 red onion, diced
* 4 cloves garlic, minced
* 2 Italian sausages, casings removed and crumbled with your hands
* 1/2 tsp all-spice (this will yield a sweet flavor, so leave it out if you want straight savory)
* 1 pinch crushed red pepper
* 1/4 cup white wine (or vermouth. or broth)
* 10 cups roughly chopped kale
* coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
* 1/4th cup parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the onions and sauté until they start to soften, 4 minutes. Add the sausage and all-spice; continue to sauté until the sausage is browned all over, another 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté one more minute.

Add the kale and wine. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Toss until the kale has wilted and is bright green and gawg. If you need to use a lid to quickly wilt, that’s fine.

In the meantime, cook the gnocchi in boiling water until al dente, like 3 minutes. Drain and reserve 1/3 cup pasta water. Add the gnocchi to the sausage and kale mixture; toss to combine. Add enough pasta water to create a thin sauce.

Off the heat, add the cheese, and maybe another drizzle of oil. Okay taste it. Need anything? Salt? Pepper? Your face in it?

Serve garnished with more cheese!

Meatless Monday

Tonight, I made a slightly different version of shaved brussels sprouts with apples, hazelnuts, and a brown butter vinaigrette from The Kitchn. 

Instead of raw, shaved brussles, I cut them into fourths and roasted them before tossing with the vinaigrette and toasted pecans (not hazelnuts.) It was tangy and delicious. The apples were crunchy and fresh compared to the roasted sprouts. I loved it and wished there was more! 

I finally took down our Mardi Gras beads from our balcony today :( Joe did not like me leaving them up for so long, but I thought it made our house look awesome. 

R.I.P. festive porch

I will show you our updated porch tomorrow!

Wednesday at the Square

Last night, Christine and I headed downtown to see a free Anders Osborne concert in Jackson Square and Joe met us there after work. It took us a long time to find him, and then we realized he was just jamming out in the crowd near the stage. When we met up with him, Christine got her first "show Joe" experience. I told her it was normal whenever there is a festival around.

Afterwards, we went to Irish House and Joe had bangers and mash, made by a chopped champion chef! Christine gave us a special treat... a crunchie bar, which is a honeycomb covered in chocolate and is quite delicious! 

via

Meatless Mondays

My New Years resolution for 2013 was to start participating in Meatless Mondays, which helps lower cholesterol and conserve natural resources to reduce our carbon footprint! Between that and the Prius, we are definitely doing our part. Joe is not a fan of Meatless Monday, but he also doesn't cook, so he has been forced into it. You can learn more about the health and environmental benefits of the Meatless Monday movement here, and then you can join in and share recipes with me.

This week, we had an intense vegetarian meal. We didn't really like it, because neither of us like beets (now confirmed) and I don't like sweet potatoes (already knew it), and Joe doesn't like celery root (now confirmed.) 

veggies everywhere

It was a fancy looking dish though!

Michelin 5 star presentation???

I got the recipe from my new favorite website, thefirstmess.com. Since I have been exploring vegetarian options lately, I have kind of become obsessed and stopped eating meat regularly. I'm trying to get Joe on the bandwagon, but he is resisting. Click here for our favorite recipe so far - oregano-roasted-brassica-salad. He said he wanted to eat it every week! I want to eat it for every meal. It's seriously delicious. We have tried this warm brussels sprouts toss with maple and paprika too, and I loved it (Joe liked it.) Tons more to try on this awesome website, I will let you know how they turn out! Peace and Love, players.

Weekend Update

We went to Mobile this weekend and hung out with Martin on Friday night at Taste. Saturday, we hit up the chili cook-off downtown which was freeeeeeeeeeezing. Then it was off to Fairhope for Emily and Philip's wedding. We got to stay in the Fairhope house for the first time! Bryan and Carie joined in on the fun too. The reception was freezing too, so we mainly hung out in the house (mansion) on Chapel Farm. Thankfully they handed out "free" gloves and blankets (according to Joe.)

Sunday, Mr. Ryan came over and we got to play with this babe on the beach:

little Sonny Z

Later, we got to celebrate mom and dad G's birthday week at the Fairhope Inn for brunch. Uncle Bill stepped in and picked up the tab right before Joe could. 

When we were driving back to New Orleans, we discovered that there was a boil water alert going on for the next 24 hours. We stopped and got two gallons of water, which I completely forgot about later until after I took a shower and brushed my teeth. I was on edge after that, but nothing ever came of it (yet.) Today at my workout class, the instructor said "I forgot about the ban earlier, and I washed my hands!!!!" which completely freaked me out since the water had been in my mouth mere hours earlier. Water bans are super annoying, and it finally ended a couple of hours ago. It is nice to have purified water in gallon jugs though and not have to wait on the filtered stuff from the sink - laziest sentence ever.