The Best Meal I Have Made My Guy....So Far

Last week, I received the ultimate praise from my guy. This is the praise that every woman that wants her man to be happy loves to hear. What is the best way to your man's heart? Through his stomach. Ok and being loving and supporting and a good listener and all those other things. But as a girl that loves to cook, I love it when I please my man with my cooking. So what was it that I heard him say?

"This is the best meal you have ever made"

And the best part - the meal was sooooo simple, thanks to some Pinterest searching and some Food Network TV watching.

I am a huge fan of Ree Drummond, AKA - The Pioneer Woman. I love her blog, her TV show and most of all her cooking style. She is so down to earth and cooks with normal ingredients. Most of her meals are simple to make and will keep you full and satisfied.

Recently, my guy and I watched an episode of her show where she made creamy herbed potatoes. They looked absolutely fantastic and we were left just short of drooling after the episode. I knew this was something I needed to make soon. Mind you this is not a healthy dish and even though I used a few healthier ingredients than Ree, it's still a splurge side dish.

Start with sauteing some onions in a lot of butter!

 
I was able to use my new mandolin to slice up the potatoes. It worked like a dream and all the potatoes were the same thickness to cook the same.

Then you add cream cheese (I went with the 1/3 less fat kind)

I used just a small amount of cream (because I had it) and 1% milk to complete the creamy part of the potatoes. I didn't have any fresh herbs, so I just cut back on my dried herb usage. I have read that dried herbs can have double the flavor as fresh so you don't need to use as much.

Stir it all around until everything is smooth and combined and then pour it over the potatoes.

The it's into the oven for about 45 minutes, or until the middle is bubbly. I do think I could cut back on the butter a bit - maybe use half a cup instead of a cup, but that would probably affect the flavor.

While the potatoes were cooking, it was time to make the Paninis. 

I recently got a Cuisinart Griddler and have been trying different Panini sandwiches on it. Cafe de Arts in Waukesha makes an awesome Prime Rib Panini, so I scoured Pinterest and found something similar to try in my press. I think what makes Cafe de Arts Panini so delicious is the sauce, so I made sure to buy some fresh horseradish to use in the mix.

I started by softening some onions with a little oil over medium heat. I didn't actually caramelize them, just softened them up for the sandwich. I nuked some mushrooms for about a minute in the microwave, drained off the water and set them on the side to add to the sandwich.

I made the spread from Miracle Whip, horseradish and mozzarella cheese.  Then it was time to assemble. Oil the outside of the bread and lay that side on the heated Panini maker. Spread the spread over the bread and then put two pieces of roast beef, onions and mushrooms and then 1-2 more pieces of roast beef. Then spread the spread on another piece of bread and place the spread side against the roast beef. Spray the outside of the bread with EVOO and then close the Panini press using light pressure for about 30 seconds.

The sandwiches were done 5 minutes later and the potatoes rested. It was time to dig in. My guy was in heaven. And that's when I heard....."This is the best meal you have ever made" He loved everything about it. The crisp bread with a little heat to the sauce on the sandwich. The potatoes were rich, creamy and irresistible.

I told my mom about the delicious sandwiches and she wanted the recipe as well. I sent it to her and she made them this past week too. She agreed they are fabulous! This meal definitely goes on the list of To Be Made Again (and again and again)!

Cauliflower Soup

For my cousin's New Year's Eve party, I brought a huge bowl of vegetables with dips - the healthy option for us! I was going to buy a pre-packaged veggie platter but found out that was actually going to be more expensive and have less variety to buy individually. Sure I spent more overall, but the pre-packaged option only had carrots, tomatoes and celery in it. How boring!

So I walked around the produce section of Woodman's and picked up all my favorites to bring along - carrot slices, celery, cauliflower, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, yellow and green peppers and cucumbers. I picked up a light ranch dill dip and Woodman's had a new brand for free with coupon. I bought a spinach variety of that dip. Both dips and the veggies were well received and almost gone by the end of the night.

I did have some leftovers of the veggies and started looking at some recipes to create a soup using the veggies. I found The Pioneer Woman's Cauliflower Soup and decided to modify it slightly to fit my tastes and use what I had in my condo.

I started with dicing some celery, onion and carrots. I added the onion to a dutch oven with some margarine (recipe calls for butter) and sauteed it for a bit. 

I then added the carrots and celery to get the veggies soft.

 Then I threw in the cauliflower and parsley, covered the pot and let it simmer for 15 minutes.

Next, I poured in the stock and let it simmer some more.

In a separate pan, I mixed together margarine (recipe calls for butter) and 1% milk (recipe calls for whole milk, but I don't buy that kind). And then I added this mixture to the veggie and stock mixture.

The half and half is added to the pot when it's removed from the heat. A little stirring to get all the flavors melded and it was looking great. I seasoned lightly with salt and pepper and decided to throw in some more carrots and broccoli to give more flavor and some color.

I did not add the sour cream to the recipe because I already felt the soup was rich enough. I wanted to keep it a little healthier as well.

I made a half recipe of The Pioneer Woman recipe and it came out to be 4 servings. I have been eating it all week and it's very flavorful. I love that the cauliflower absorbed the flavors during the initial simmering.

This week was exceptionally cold in Wisconsin with noon temperatures hovering below zero. Add in the wind chill and it was quite bitter - can you say "return of the polar vortex?" Soup was the perfect thing to bring to work to help me stay warm!