My First Mommy Blogger Party

Today was a first for me.  I attended and partially hosted a fabulous mommy blogger party on behalf of my client, Dreamfields Pasta.  It was officially hosted by Beth Aldrich/Real Moms Luv 2 Eat, in her gorgeous Oak Street condo overlooking Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline.  All I can say is WOW!  I'm gonna half to get me one of those some day!

Beth invited Chef Brian Schreiber of Ravinia to come in and demonstrate two recipes using Dreamfields pasta. (Ladies, he's adorable, aimiable, single and can cook! The perfect man.)  For those of you who don't know about this fantastic pasta, please go to http://www.dreamfieldsfoods.com/ for recipe and more information. It's a delicious pasta that serves up only 5 grams of digestible carbs and 5 grams of fiber per one cup serving!  Best of all, it doesn't have that gritty texture of whole wheat pasta, yet has the same amount of fiber.  Becuase of it's reduced carbs, it's great for people with diabetes -- yet tasty enough for the whole family.

OK, I'll stop with the PR pitch. :-)  But seriously, this is great pasta that worked perfectly with Chef Brian's recipes.  My favorite was the Roasted Angel Hair and Tandori Shrimp.  We roasted the Angel Hair in the oven for about 8 minutes before putting it in the boiling water.  I've never done that before and the results were awesome.  Try this recipe out as it's so easy and so delicious.  Emily and I are going to make this later in the week for the family.

Toasted Dreamfields Angel Hair Pasta with Oven Roasted Tomatoes and Tandoori Shrimp
Created By: Chef Brian Schreiber
Serves 4


1 box (13.25 oz) Dreamfields Angel Hair Pasta

For Roasted Tomatoes:
5 Roma tomatoes
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
Salt and Pepper to taste


For Tandoori Shrimp:
1 pound medium peeled and deveined shrimp
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes
Zest of one lime


For Garnish:
Parmesan cheese shavings
Fresh basil, cut into thin strips
Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil


1.) Quarter and seed Roma tomatoes. Toss with extra virgin olive oil, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. Place on a large, rimmed baking sheet. Roast at 375 degrees F 45 minutes.


2.) Bring four quarts salted water to a boil. While waiting, place pasta on large, rimmed baking sheet. Roast at 375 degree F oven about 5-8 minutes or until golden brown; let cool.


3.) For shrimp, toss peeled and deveined shrimp with extra virgin olive oil, ginger, cardamom, cumin, smoked paprika, chili flakes and lime zest.


4.) Cook toasted Dreamfields angel hair pasta in boiling salted water about 5 minutes, uncovered. Do not overcook.


5.) While pasta is cooking, drain shrimp. Pat dry. Cook in large, preheated nonstick skillet over medium-high heat just until cooked through, stirring frequently.


6.) Drain pasta; toss with Tandoori Shrimp and roasted tomatoes.


7.) Garnish with Parmesan, fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil.

Thanks again to Beth at Real Moms Luv 2 Eat! 

House Party Rocks

I just finished cleaning up from my first sponsored "House Party" and and totally impressed. This was sponsored by Calphalon Unison Cookware and Williams-Sonoma and it rocked!  So glad they found and selected me to host one of their parties.

House Party is a company that matches up consumer packaged goods with consumers that match their target demographic (i.e., people who like or should like a particular product or even TV show).  They ask about 1,000 consumers to host a party on a given day revolving around the sponsor's selected theme.  They provide all the props ( in this case TWO free Calphalon Unison non-stick fry pans and other cool stuff) and even a gift card to defray the cost of the dinner party.  In exchange, I promised to have a dinner party with about 10 friends and talk about the cookware.  That was easy.

The Unison pan lived up to the advertising:  Great searing qualities + a dishwasher-safe, non-stick surface.  All I can say is "Where have you been all my life?"  These are seriously the pans for me.

I was provided recipes for an appetizer, salad, entree and dessert. Emily helped with the appetizer and did a fabulous job garnishing the Grilled Bruschetta. We loved every recipe except for the Grilled Radicchio.  (No one liked it for that matter -- too bitter.)  Also, the quantity of the batter that is produced with the recipe for Lemon-Ricotta Blinis was WAY TOO MUCH. I have enough of these little pancakes to last me a month!  But they were yummy with the raspberry sorbet.

We even had a raffle for a Michael Symon cookbook that I received from the House Party people -- my buddy Liz won it in a drawing.

I was very happy to host this affair and hope to have the opportunity to do so again in the future.  It was fun and yummy - what more could you ask?

Better Late Than Never

Just because I've become a "C and E" Catholic doesn't mean I'm also turning into a "C and E" blogger!  But it sure looks like it, since the last time I posted was around Christmas and now I'm finally getting around to posting about my Easter Lamb Cake.  Oh well, as the title of this segment says, better late than never.

This was the second year in a row that I attempted to make, bake and decorate a lamb cake for Easter dinner.  And while the end results were acceptable, I will say that it took some finagling to get there.

As always, I ran over to my mom's house to pick up her 50-year-old metal lamb cake mold.  That thing is so study and heavy I'm confident it will survive a nuclear attack!  Knowing that this mold works best with a firm cake, my 10-year-old daughter and budding chef, Emily, and I went to work looking for a good pound cake recipe.  I used the one from the Betty Crocker Baking for Today  cookbook I received from a friend and former client, Mary Bartz (who was pretty much "Betty Crocker" for much of her career).

According to my mom, the proper way to make the cake is to pour batter into both halves, bake them separately and then assemble the two sides with frosting and toothpicks. However, I recently read an article in which an expert from Wilton Enterprises suggested to only fill one half with cake batter and tie the two halves of the mold together to form one solid cake.  A co-worker, Jessie, tried it that way and had great success.  I, unfortunately, tried it my mom's way and had to really work at leveling the two halves in order to get them to stick together.  Half of the lamb's head even broke off and had to be surgically attached!

Once Emily and I got that taken care of, we whipped up some homemade frosting and started decorating.  It's wonderful how frosting can cover up a multitude of mistakes -- kinda like a good makeup foundation.  Chocolate chips made the eyes and we gave him/her a red ribbon scarf to complete the project.  And while our lamb may not have looked like a perfect creation, no one seemed to mind when they were eating it.  Seriously, it was delicious and I will do it again next year . . . with a few minor alterations!  Heck, this could also work for baby showers, birthday parties for 4H meetings.  Use your imagination and have fun.