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Indian Butter Chicken

February 16, 2011 By Julie 35 Comments

I was first introduced to Indian butter chicken about six years ago after finishing up a marathon road journey to my dear friend Camilla’s, who was living in Kansas City at the time.

Call me crazy, but I love to drive long distances and am known to throw caution to the wind and just hop in the car at any given moment and go. On this occasion I had been chatting with Camilla over the phone and we decided a get together was long overdue so the following week I popped Nicholas in the toyota, then about 16 months old, and made the eight hour trek from Dallas to Missouri. The drive was probably about one hour longer than a 16 month old had patience for, but we arrived in one piece, none the less for wear, and ready for a hearty dinner.

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Prosciutto and Mushroom Ravioli with Basil Browned Butter Sauce

February 14, 2011 By Julie 35 Comments

The boys and I celebrated Valentines this weekend by indulging in a truly special and incredibly delicious meal. It was a feast fit for a king (or four kings as the case may be) that required ample time, patience, and love to put together. Alex helped roll out the pasta and cut out the shapes. He really wanted to make dinosaur ravioli, but I somehow convinced him that hearts would be more suitable for the occasion. When it came time to stuff them, I put out on APB to my facebook fans and asked them what they would like to see in a ravioli. I received 13 fabulous and completely unique responses. In the end I decided to go with a variation of what Melanie suggested:

Melanie: Mushroom, shallot, sage, proscuitto, ricotta – simple butter sauce would be all you’d need to top it and maybe some fresh grated romano??

Definitely a rockin’ delicious choice. Thank you so much Melanie for the inspiration!

Before I move on to pasta rolling however, I have a little (exciting!) housekeeping to attend to. First up, I wanted to share with you all that the (hopefully) final redesign for Mommie Cooks is nearing completion! I am beyond excited about the new layout and I hope you will be too. Look for the change to take place sometime between this Wednesday and Saturday. This design has been a long time coming; I actually first started the process back in August if you can believe it!

Next in line, this mommy blogger has a blogoversary coming up! Believe it or not, my first year blogoversary will be on the 24th of this month (coincidentally the same day as my birthday) and we are going to celebrate with some fun giveaways. So be sure to stop by in the upcoming days to see what fun items I’ll be sharing with you all.

And last but certainly not least, If you’ve ever been interested in the art of chocolate molding, then you’ll want to stop by my local NPR station’s food blog, WFAEats and check out an article I wrote on just such a topic. I did a lot of “research” for that topic and found it to be a very tasty endeavor.

Enough jabbering. Its time to get back to the good stuff, who’s ready to roll some ravioli?

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Family Friendly Fridays: Caramel Apple Cake

February 11, 2011 By Julie 46 Comments

Just when you thought it was safe to tighten up your belt again, I present to you the caramel apple cake.

Now just try and tell me that doesn’t sound good.

The inspiration for this delicious creation was actually gleaned from my newly aged five year old, Alex. When asked what flavor of cake he wanted to have for his birthday, he promptly replied, “Apple”. I thought about it for a minute, taking into consideration the fact that it was something of a unique answer from what the typical child might request, and then decided that it was no challenge for this mom of three. If apple cake was what he wanted, then apple cake was what he would get. And boy did he ever get it.

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Cajun Shrimp Chowda

February 9, 2011 By Julie 23 Comments

I get several emails filtering through my inbox daily regarding requests to pass on information through my blog. While I read every single piece of mail I receive, not all the requests see the light of day. But every now and then, I get an email that’s worth mentioning and sharing with others.

Yesterday I received a note from Kimberly over at The Hospitality House of Charlotte asking me to help promote their virtual Valentines fundraiser. I love working with local charities and giving back to the community I live in and the hospitality house administers a much needed service of providing housing for out-of-town families with medical needs. I’m hoping to get the chance to donate some cookies and take a tour in the upcoming days so that I can share a bit more of this wonderful charity with you. In the meantime, check out what the Hospitality house is all about and see if you can find it in your heart to help out with their worthy cause.

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Slow Cooker Lamb Curry

February 7, 2011 By Julie 36 Comments

Yesterday was my middle guy’s birthday. Alex turned the big 0-5. We had apple cake, we had marble cake, we had ice cream, and tomorrow his class will have a life sized sugar cookie baked and decorated with love by both myself and Alex. I think I might have a sugar coma just from the celebration of this one special day and I still have my youngest’s birthday as well as my own and my blog’s to get through this month (that’s right, my blogoversary is coming up in just a couple short weeks!).

Whenever I find myself over my head in sugar, which incidentally, happens every February around this time, the best way I know to get out is to cook up a dish so hearty and delicious that it erases all memory of the oversized pile of sweetness I just finished consuming. That is, until I open up my fridge and see the caramel apple cake sitting there.

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Family Friendly Fridays: Toblerone Fondue

February 4, 2011 By Julie 31 Comments

If I had to make a list of my all time favorite chocolate bars, Toblerone would certainly sit towards the top of that list. I attribute my love of the triangular Swiss delights to those small white nougat pieces they hide within the chocolate. I relish the surprise of biting into an edible triangle and tasting the chewy little delights nestled amongst the smooth melty confection. So it seemed only natural that when I was thinking about which type of chocolate to use for the final act of fondue week, this bar pushed it’s way to the top of my list.

I want to iterate that I am not the creator of this fondue idea; I first saw it showcased in my all time favorite fondue book; Fondue by Rick Rodgers. As with most fondue recipes I’ve tried, there’s nothing too complicated about putting it together. You merely melt a few Toblerone bars with a little heavy cream and if you want to get fancy, you add a bit of your favorite liquor into the mix. But I’ll tell ya what, no matter how you decide to cook it up, you can be assured that the result will taste as though you’ve just been served up something reserved only for the best of the best. This stuff is good. Real good. My bet’s on the nougat pieces.

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