Top Chef Polenta with Braised Meatballs

This was meal 2 of 2, ordered from Schwan's Top Chef meal line. (For meal 1 review click here.)

I had high hopes for this one because it was Kevin's polenta with braised meatballs from season 6. Johnny and I both loved Kevin from the start. He was so sweet, so loveable, and above all the drama.

Unfortunately, this contained whey so Johnny couldn't try it, I was on my own.

First impression? It was pretty small - see my finger on the left for comparison. This was packaged as three (yes, 3!) serving sizes. In what world?

I divided it up into two portions, eating one for lunch and reheating the second half later.

Braised meatballs = pretty good, but were more like sausage balls. They kept having those little hard chunks in them too, which really grosses me out.

Roasted cauliflower = a lot better than any other frozen vegetable I've ever had. You could tell they went through a lot of effort to make these good, even adding lemon zest for a nice flavor burst.

Creamy polenta = mind blowingly good. Also, probably mind blowingly bad for you. But I couldn't stop gobbling it up! By far my favorite part of the meal.

The stats on this were horrific. The entire package contained 69 grams of fat, 30 grams of saturated fat, and 2760 mg of sodium - or 114% of your daily amount!!!

Besides the polenta being good, I wouldn't eat this again. Not only for the taste, but especially for the stats.

At the end of the day it was fun to try some Top Chef meals, but I think I'll stick to my home made dinners. I'm just not cut out for processed foods and boxed meals, I guess! They were both way too salty and not fulfilling for me, personally.

This is not a compensated review. Top Chef and Schwan's have no clue who I am. I bought this meal with my own money and this is my honest opinion of the product.

Halloweenaholic!

Maybe it's because it's the same time of year as my birthday, but I love Halloween! I think it's so much fun to dress up as something else and play games and trick-or-treat and go to parties. It's such a great start to the holiday season!

In the spirit (har har, get it!??) of Halloween, here are some things going on around here!

Kitchen towels bought at The Center

Witch ornament, also from The Center - she's an old lightbulb!

Bat I made from a coat hanger and garbage bag.

Mice on the stairs I made from an old orange juice container and a template.

Taking a step outdoors are the items I'm REALLY proud of. Creations from plywood, jigsawed and painted by yours truly! (The witch still needs her broom and lantern affixed.)

Close-up of the kitty's face - those are elecrtical wire whiskers!

Close-up of the google eye couldron.

Heading up the walkway is a sparkly witch's hat ...

... and a spooky bat!

And last but not least, a vegetable tray we brought to a recent gathering. What's that you say? There's nothing Halloweeny about an old, boring vegetable platter?

Not so, my friends!! Simply purchase an orange bell pepper, and using a small paring knife make him into a tiny jack-o-lantern! Fill with your favorite dip. (In this case I filled him with my delicious homemade hummus.)

Birthday Eats

Johnny took me out to dinner at Big Tuna, a local Japanese restaurant. I'd eaten there once before, but this second time really won my heart!

First thing to hit the table was the edamame.


We started with the usual ginger salad and miso soup. I need to find a recipe for the ginger dressing they always serve at Japanese restaurants. It is so frickin' good. Johnny and I were sitting there trying to think of words to describe it, but eventually gave up and just stuffed our faces.

Johnny's appetizer was their vegetable gyoza. I had one and it was good, but I didn't want to waste any of my precious stomach space on them!

My appetizer was a Godzilla roll. I was going to snap a picture of the description, but I forgot and by the time I remembered she'd already taken the menu! From what I can remember it was spicy tuna, eel, avacado, and cream cheese. Then it was tempura fried and had an eel sauce and this spicy pepper jelly on it. It was one of those "I'm feeling adventurous" kind of orders, so I wasn't sure how much I'd like it - but I loved it! The texture was spot-on and all of the flavors complimented each other so well. Plus the cream cheese created this really nice gooey creamy aspect to it.

Johnny's entree was teriyaki steak. He offered me a bite, but I never took him up on his offer because I was too busy eating everything else!

My entree was the seafood tempura platter. There were two skewers of scallops, two shrimp, two hunks of white fish, and two crab legs, not to mention a boatload of tempura veggies.

Both entrees also came with rice and we were too full for dessert. But they did bring us some fresh honeydew melon cubes to end the meal while our check was being processed.

When we got home and digested a bit we were ready for my birthday request: cheesecake!!!! I'm not a huge fan of cake and I hate frosting. So Johnny made me cheesecake from my dad's recipe he always made for me when I was growing up.


Sorry for the photos in this post! I was in "birthday girl mode" instead of "food blogger mode." So they're darker and more hurried than usual!

The Big Two Six

In honor of my birthday, a very close family friend (and mother of my God daughter) made me a special cake from afar and shared it via Facebook. Thank you Lyn, Marissa, and Cecelia! I love you guys!!!

I thought I'd share it with you guys too, because it's fantastic!

The recipe for this "kitty litter cake" can be found here.

Doesn't it look real!? Perfect for Halloween or April Fool's Day!

I love the "escaping" poo on the edge!

Swirly poo made with tootsie rolls!

Obvious disclaimer: Use a brand new pan and a brand new scoop!

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:

<a href="http://www.dinneratchristinas.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://glc.dinneratchristinas.com/i/fridayfirsts.png" alt="Friday Firsts / DinnerAtChristinas.com" style="width: 220px; height: 220px; border: none"/></a>

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!

Lea & Perrins Recipe Challenge

Recently, I was given some coupons to purchase Lea & Perrins for FREE, to enter their "Shine at Dinner Time" Video Recipe Challenge.

All you need to do is make a home video (under four minutes) featuring their sauce. Six finalists will be featured on their web site, and voting will determine the final winner. The grand prize winner receives $10,000 and a chance to meet Claire Robinson (from Food Network's 5 Ingredient Fix). The five runners-up will receive $1,000.

This video challenge is open to anybody. You can submit your video through November 14th.

Comment on this post and I will select two winners to mail a FREE Lea & Perrins coupon to so you can create and submit your own video recipe! (Coupons only good in the USA.)


I received three FREE coupons through FoodBuzz and Lea & Perrins. This informative post allows me an entry to win $500 in their sweepstakes.

Cinnamon Ice Cream

Ok, finally! The very last recipe from my dinner party! I knew I'd cooked a lot that day, but it wasn't fully clear just how much I'd cooked until I sat down to write out the recipes for you guys.

Although, technically, I didn't cook this one - Johnny did. From start to finish, all by his pretty little self.

As most of our home made ice creams do, this came from The Perfect Scoop. If you have an ice cream maker I highly recommend getting this book to go along with it. It's the perfect companion, with everything from ice creams, sorbets, sherberts, mix-in recipes and ideas, sauces, toppings, and even recipes for cones and edible bowls! We got this book as a "starting point" for our ice cream collection, but we haven't bought another book because we haven't needed to!


1 cup milk (we used skim)
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
5 six inch cinnamon sticks, broken up
2 cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks

Warm the milk, sugar, salt, cinnamon sticks, and 1 cup of the cream in a medium saucepan. Once warm, remove from the heat, cover, and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour. (Holy cow this step smells really good!)

Remove the cinnamon sticks with a slotted spoon, discarding them. Pour the remaining 1 cup of cream into a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, and slowly pour the warm mixture into the yolks, whisking constantly. Add everything back to the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula.

Pour the cooked mixture through a mesh strainer into the large bowl with the cream. Stir over an ice bath until cooled. Chill the mixture in a refrigerator for a few hours, or overnight. Freeze in your ice cream maker according to directions.

Makes 1 quart.

Interested in making your own ice cream at home? Below is the ice cream maker Johnny and I use. We've had it for a year and a half and we love it! It's really convenient and requires no salt or ice. Just freeze the bowl for 24 hrs ahead and you're ready to go!