I met Ree!!!

Chances are if you've talked to me on the side you know I love Ree and her blog, The Pioneer Woman. I've wanted to meet her for quite some time, but timing has just never worked out for when she's in town.

Earlier today I saw her tweet about being in Naperville, which isn't far from Johnny's work, which isn't too far from our house. So I met him at work and we drove out to the bookstore.

I was really nervous, so I texted Mara and Sophia to get rid of some giddy anxiety and tweeted with a bunch of you to pass the time.

I grew up a piano playing, ballet dancing, straight A kind of a gal, so I haven't led the most exciting life.

My celebrity spottings thus far have included handing Van Cliburn a bouquet of roses at a concert and asking him to blow my mom a kiss (which he did).

I also was in the same building as Joey McIntyre once. (He was Fiyero one of the three times I've seen Wicked.)

I know she's not a movie star (yet), but I kind of think of Ree in celebrity-like status. I've loved her books and her blog and seeing her on TV. I was going to have to walk up to her and talk! Eep!

Anyways- there I was, wearing my holey yoga pants, and the line finally dwindled down. There were 103 tickets and we were #98, so it had really dwindled down.

Ree sang Ethel Merman for the girls in line ahead of us, much to my delight. Then we approached her and I gushed bout loving her blog, and her, and Johnny and I talked about her little son that we find adorable, and then poof! it was over and I survived! She is so down to earth and sweet that I forgot my irrational fears of turning bright red, puking, or bursting into tears, embarrassing myself.



We were starved, so after we headed to a little Italian place just up the street, Rosebud. It was the first time either of us had eaten there, but J's friend highly recommended it.

I started with fried calamari. Hands down the best I've ever had! Delicious!

Then I had fetticine alfredo. (I went with a low-fat, low-cal dish since I have to fit into a wedding dress eventually.)

Johnny had some vodka penne dish. He almost always chooses vodka sauce dishes when we eat Italian. He loves them. And he ate this entire plate to prove it.

Then he had a creme brulee for dessert (I snuck a few spoonfuls of it). I ordered some cannolis to go, which I'll eat tomorrow in my PJs while catching up with 16 & Pregnant online since I watched every Glee episode in existence and now have to wait for new ones.

Sorry the restaurant photos are dim. I just have a point and shoot. Which brings me to a survey:

Blogger Meet Up - Big Bowl

Sunday morning Di (Johnny's sister) and I set off to pick up Jenn. Then we met Mara, Beth, Mel, and Kelly (Johnny and Di's sister-in-law).

We were all at Big Bowl to gab it up and chow down - which is exactly what we did! We definitely need to do this more than once a year! Can you believe September 2009 was the last time I saw Beth and Mara!?

I'd never been to Big Bowl before and to be honest, I was so busy conversing that I really didn't study the menu like I normally would. I opted for a ginger seafood dish, with scallops and shrimp.

It was good, but because I requested no mushrooms, there really wasn't much in terms of veggies - just the green onion bits.

Before we said our goodbyes we got a group shot. Last time we totally forgot to get pictures together!

I left with some goodies too, of course!

Jenn made everybody mini banana muffins with chocolate chips. Forgive the notebook paper background, but I had to get a really quick pic because this was the last one! They were so good, I had all I could do to save one for a shot!

Mel made an awesome white chocolate "bark" with pecans and dried cranberries. This is so creamy and delicious - just my type of dessert! I'm not a huge fan of chocolate, but dark and white chocolate are an exception!!

And Beth was such a sweetheart to get up early and make us all pumpkin scones! I've already gobbled up three four of these!

Thanks girls! Di, Kelly, and I had a blast with you! :)

Friday Firsts - Spotted Dick

Happy Friday!! (Click the image above if you need more information on Friday Firsts.) Also, please see the exciting announcement/invitation at the end of this post!!

Tomorrow is my birthday! I've requested Johnny take me to Big Tuna for dinner and make me my family's cheesecake in lieu of a cake.

Four years ago my brother e-mailed me the recipe with the subject line "damn cheesecake" because I'd been bugging him about it for days. The first line of the e-mail is "cheese cake *do not share with anyone, cook it in private, i will kill you*" and he ends it with "DONT LET ANYONE KNOW ANY OF THIS OR I WILL SERIOUSLY KILL YOU. ps. happy birthday." Brothers - gotta love 'em, right?

Ok, onto my first because I'm sure you're dieing of curiosity after a title like that.

We found it in the ethnic food aisle and had to get it. It's British. And when you shook the can (which was very light), there was a solid mass that rattled back and forth inside.

Upon opening the can, I discovered it's like some kind of cake. I don't know, it's hard to describe, but I think maybe it was baked in the can.

I cut a wedge out and heated it in the microwave, as it instructed. It's impossible to make this stuff look pretty. It was really dense, dry, crumbly, and sickeningly sweet. I would describe it as a dry, heavy coffee cake that tastes as if molasses were poured over it. Not my favorite thing. But then again, it's not everyday you can say you ate Spotted Dick!


Now it's your turn to tell me about your first! To participate in Friday Firsts create a blog post featuring a "first" of yours. Next, link that blog post below and tell us about it! If you don't have a blog or a specific post to link to please tell us about your first in the comment section! Any and all participation is welcome!



If you would like to display the Friday Firsts button as a badge in your post or on your side bar, you can copy and paste the following code:

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Chicagoland Blogger Meet-up Announcement/Invitation:

Beth, Mara, Jenn, and myself would like to extend a welcome to any fellow Chicagoland bloggers and/or readers to come have lunch with us on Sunday, November 21st. We will be meeting at Big Bowl in Schaumburg, which looks absolutely delicious and offers a gluten free menu. If you would like to come or need more information, shoot me an e-mail!

Croissant-Wrapped Baked Brie

Don't blink or you'll miss this recipe I served at our food blogger potluck.


Brie (a wedge, or a wheel depending on how much you'll need)
1 refrigerator can of croissants
sesame seeds
olive oil

Unwrap the can of croissants and leave the triangles connected. You should have one long rectangle, or two smaller squares. (I used the two small squares in this case.)

Pinch the dough's seams together, unwrap the brie and place it on the bottom square. Pinch the 2nd dough seams together and place the 2nd square over the brie. Crimp or fold the edges, cutting off any excess. You can use the excess to make pretty designs on the top.


Before baking. (I assembled mine until this point the night before, then sprayed plastic wrap with a tiny bit of non-stick spray and covered it in the fridge.)

When ready to bake, brush the top with a little bit of olive oil and sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Bake according to the package instructions for the croissants. It might need a few more minutes, just watch it closely - you can tell by the golden brown color and it will start to look flaky.


I would recommend waiting a few minutes to cut into this, as the brie will be very hot. You can even let it sit out and cool completely, coming to room temperature. (Brie is best served warm or at room temperature, not chilled.)

Serve with extra crackers to schmear the brie that has escaped from the croissant crust.

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies

Yes, that's their official name, according to Pioneer Woman, Ree. This was the first thing I decided I would make for the food blogger potluck. I'd been drooling over them for weeks.

You'll need:

Jalapenos
Cream cheese
Bacon

Just adjust quantities to how many you're making! Couldn't be simpler.

I bought 20 jalapenos for a total of 40 poppers.

Cut the jalapenos in half, lengthwise.

Scoop out the seeds. I also removed the stem, so they could be popped as one-bites. I noticed Ree left hers on.

Invest in some gloves. I got mine at the Dollar Tree, it was a small investment, but a wise one.

Fill the halves with cream cheese.

Cut the bacon slices into 3rds and wrap around the jalapeno halves, securing with a toothpick.

At this point you can store them to bake later, either in the fridge or by freezing.

When ready to bake, line them up on a cookie rack over a baking pan. This allows the bacon grease to drip down.

Bake for 20-25 minutes in a 375° oven until the bacon is cooked. Ree doesn't suggest going much further than that because the bacon will shrink and start to squeeze the jalapenos. If your bacon needs a bit more crisping, pop them under the broiler for a minute to do the trick.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Just don't cook them too far ahead of when your guests are meant to arrive. You'll have a really, really, really hard time not eating them all. That's my prediction anyways, it's not like I would know or anything...

White Wine Sangria

I made this white wine sangria for a refreshing drink during our food blogger potluck. It's a compilation of many googled sangria recipes and what I thought looked pretty!

1 orange, thinly sliced
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1 lime, thinly sliced
~ 1 cup stemmed and quartered strawberries
4 oz Brandy
2 bottles white wine (see note below)
healthy squeeze of agave to sweeten
~2 cups chilled club soda

Place the fruit in the bottom of the glass. Add the agave and Brandy, and stir to mix. Add the two bottles of white wine. (Note: I went to Trader Joe's and asked their suggestion for a sangria I was making. I forget the name and already recycled the bottles, but it was a crisp apertif from Portugal. Don't be afraid to ask for suggestions, especially at Trader Joe's - they're great!)

Cover the pitcher with plastic wrap and let sit in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Right before serving add club soda.

It's traditional to serve with a long-handled wooden spoon. This enables guests to use it either to help spoon out fruit into their glass, or to hold it back as they pour, whichever is their preference.

Blogger Potluck

A handful of my favorite bloggers don't live too far from me, we have a nice little cluster here in the Chicagoland area. While emailing back and forth with a couple a few weeks ago I thought "I wonder if they'd be up for a potluck at my house?" and asked their thoughts on it. Surprisingly they all immediately said YES!!! without a moment's hesitation!

I've seen pictures of blogger meet-ups at restaurants and events, but I thought it'd be really cool to have a potluck because we all read and follow each other for our cooking and recipes! I decided to just make it simple - meet at my house at the set date and time and bring whatever you wanted! No expectations, no limits, because I wanted them to just cook whatever they felt like, without having to be pinned into "you need to bring a dessert." Thankfully, none of us cooked any repeats and it was a super well-rounded spread!

Biz of Biggest Diabetic Loser arrived first. I was so nervous and excited beforehand with the anticipation. I knew these people from their blogs, but I wasn't sure if we'd get along in real life too, but thankfully Biz has a really strong personality that burst forth within 20 seconds of meeting her and I felt like I'd known her for years! Within a few minutes Mara of What's for Dinner? arrived with Michelle from Lucky Taste Buds. Again, it was like we'd known each other for years once we started assembling the food and "talking shop."

Biz brought us each a jar of her made from scratch tomato sauce that I can't wait to try! I've never canned home-made sauce, just made extra and frozen it. I think that's a terrific idea to have some easily on hand! Then, she got to work making her famous no-rise pizza dough pizza! I've made her pizza three or four times before, but seeing her make it in person was great and she had a few little tricks that made it taste so much better than my versions! The basil shreds really made this!

Mara came to the door with a crockpot full of her Chicken Chili Blanco and also assembled her addictive (and unpictured) buffalo chicken dip within minutes of unpacking her bag! After everybody left Johnny came downstairs hungry and attacked some of the leftover chili I snagged! He really liked it, so I'll have to make this easy recipe in the future - so much flavor from so little ingredients! That's my kinda dinner!

Michelle made a delicious pasta salad that she presented beautifully with lettuce leaves around the bowl. I might have had two servings of this! She said she only used about a tablespoon of mayonnaise in it, and it made it so light and refreshing, not bogged down like other pasta salads! She also presented me with my huge bag of goodies from winning her giveaway a few weeks ago and an adorable little treat bag with a sweet note in it! I've already broken into both! She was also the only one to bring a sweet item! A delicious (and unpictured) banana bread with cashews (!!!) and chocolate chips. I enjoyed a slice last night for a snack and it's so moist and flavorful. I'll have to add cashews to baked goods more often!

We were all talking and having so much fun I totally forgot to take pictures of US. I also meant to ask Johnny to grab a group photo of all of us with our cameras, but only remembered after everybody had already left. Here's a small idea of what the spread looked like (with Mara on the left and Michelle on the right) - this was before everything was even put out! We ate for a good solid hour until we were all stuffed!

Here's the dishes I brought to the mix:

White wine sangria. (post forthcoming)

Pioneer Woman's bacon-wrapped jalepeno poppers. (post forthcoming)

Veggie tray with unpictured dip

Croissant-wrapped baked brie with crackers (post forthcoming)

...and finally the secret family recipe of zucchini pie!

Thanks again Biz, Mara, and Michelle! I sent them each home with some homemade sausage I made during my dad's visit in these adorable foodie Dollar Tree bags! I can't wait to see what they cook with them!!

Check out Biz's recap and Mara's recap for their take on yesterday's fun with pictures!

Winner!

Congratulations to Sarah from NoWheyMama!!! Coincedentally 4 is my favorite number! I was excited to see it pop up and also that it's one of my favorite bloggers! Sarah, e-mail me your address at christina at dinneratchristinas dot com and I'll pre-order your cookbooks to arrive later in October when they're released. (I might accidentally have to order myself copies too!)

Speaking of contests, Laura's Best Foodie Foto voting is underway today and tomorrow. I have two photos entered, so go check it out and vote!

And, in super exciting news, I had a blogger meet-up at my house earlier today with Biz of Biggest Diabetic Loser, Mara of What's for Dinner?, and Michelle of Lucky Taste Buds! I was so excited to meet them and they all brought some amazing things to share at our little potluck. I'll post a full update about it tomorrow, with recipes for the things I made to follow in upcoming posts!Thanks for coming guys!