Sunday Dinner 4.29.12

Oeufs en Cocotte

Today's recipe comes from my absolute favorite food blog, Roost. Seriously amazing stuff, and totally gorgeous visuals.  Go check it out.

This is a cream-less version.  To be honest, I didn't know what this was until I saw it on Roost, but apparently this recipe normally has cream.  So there ya go.

What you need:

Cherry tomatoes, about 8 or so.
2 large eggs
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup coarsely chopped swiss chard (I used rainbow chard, but I've also made this with kale)
1/2 tbs fresh thyme, chopped (for those of us living in an apartment without herb gardens or large spice collections, dried basil leaves will also do the trick)
1/2 cup grated parmesan

Heat oven to 350.  Place tomatoes on a foil lined cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and roast for about 10 minutes.

Heat some oil and saute onion until translucent.

Add swiss chard until wilted.  Add garlic and thyme (basil) and cook for about a minute.

Put chard mixture in a bowl to cool.  Stir in parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste.

Take tomatoes out of the oven, but leave the oven at 350.  Put a small pat of butter into each of two ramekins and place in the oven until the butter is melted.

Crack the eggs and stir the whites into the chard mixture.  Keep the yolks separate.  Evenly distribute the chard mixture into the ramekins.  Place one yolk in each dish, then add several roasted tomatoes.  Place in the oven and bake for ten to fifteen minutes until the egg is cooked.  

If you're feelin fancy, garnish with some more parm and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

That's it! This is seriously delicious.

Enjoy!

Playlist 4.16.12

Well, hello again!
Sorry, what?  You don't remember me.  Oh...this is awkward.

Seriously though, sorry I have been gone so long.  I was on spring break and got a little lazy.  But I am back now, and I have some new posts, so stick around.  I will try to get a couple up this week!

In the mean time, here is a playlist for ya!

1. Psychotic Girl - The Black Keys
2. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel
3. Colourblind - The Art of Sleeping
4. Hopelessly Stoned - Hugo
5. Silvia - Miike Snow
6. Grown Ocean - Fleet Foxes
7. Solid Ground - Maps & Atlases
8. Black River Killer - Blitzen Trapper
9. Sons and Daughters - The Decemberists
10. Featherstone - The Paper Kites

Hope it's getting warm wherever you are!

Tangerine and Turquoise

Lovelies

Hope everyone's weeks are going well so far.

Photos via weheartit

Spring Fashion Love

Alice + Olivia
Spring 2012 Ready to Wear

I love this ready to wear collection!  Alice + Olivia always has such a fun and flirty aesthetic.  It's youthful yet still sophisticated.  This particular collection also has a nice 60's mod sort of feel to it.






Love , love, love!


Photos from here.  Click to see the rest of the collection!

Sunday Dinner 3.25.12

Sorry it's been a while!

Lobster Mac and Cheese

Oh yes I did.  This dish is the ultimate example of "so bad, yet so good."  It is rich and cheesy and luxurious and delicious.  So.  Freakin.  Delicious.

I got the recipe from here. It is actually surprisingly simple to make.  The hardest part is getting the lobster meat out of the tail.

Here's what you need:

2 tbs butter
2 tbs flour
1 cup of half and half
1 cup each of sharp cheddar and gruyere cheeses, shredded
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/8 tsp of ground mustard
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 lb of pasta
1/2 lb of lobster meat

Note about the lobster- you can get this pre cooked at some fish markets or frozen at many grocery stores. I just got a 4 oz lobster tail and cooked it myself.  Getting it cooked it probably simpler.  Also, I could have done with two tails.  By the time the meat was out of the shell, there was not much left.

If necessary, cook your lobster.  Fill a pot with water, add a generous amount of salt, and bring to a boil.  Drop the lobster in and cook 1 minute for every ounce (I had 4 oz so I cooked it for 4 minutes.)

Cook pasta to your liking.

Melt butter in double boiler.  (I don't have one so I just used a pan.)

 Stir in flour.

 Stir in half and half and let sit for 3 to 4 minutes

 Slowly add handfuls of shredded cheese and mix until it is all melted.

  Add seasonings.  Adjust if necessary.

 In a large bowl, mix together cooked pasta and cheese mixture.  Add the lobster meat.

 Put mac and cheese in an oven safe dish.  You can use one large dish or smaller ramekins.  If you're feeling fancy, you can put some bread crumbs on top.  Bake at 350 for about 15 minuts, until the top begins to get golden brown.

Seriously, this is so good.  Go make this immediately.

Lush Life - The Green Bubbleroon

Bubbleroons are some of Lush's newest products.  They are bubble bars that are supposed to look like macaroons, emphasis on the supposed to, because they totally don't, but anyway...  Each half is about an inch tall.  You break them in half and use them separately and they all have a layer of moisturizing coconut oil in between.  There are currently three scent options.  I got The Green.

According to the Lush site, The Green bubbleroon smells like sweet orange and lime.  When I smell it, it isn't all that citrus-y, but there is a definite slight sweetness about it.  It smells grassy, but not in the way the Grass shower gel smells (I don't like that scent.)  It's really natural and earthy smelling and light.  I really like it.  It's relaxing and happy.

If you have never used a bubble bar, basically the way they work is you crumble them under the faucet while the water is running and they make bubbles.  This bubbleroon created a lot of frothy bubbles, but they unfortunately didn't last as long as some of the other bubble bars.  The water was turned a light green.  And it definitely smelled amazing.  The water also felt silky from the coconut oil.

Overall, I liked this product, but it is not something I can't live without.  The scent was the best part about it.  I will purchase this again when I want a bath with this scent, but there are other bubble bars that I would rather have for the lasting power of the bubbles.

Have you used a bubbleroon yet?

Bubbleroon photo via google images