Beef Tenderloin Bruschetta

On the rare occasion that Hubby and I get to go out we enjoy going to Winewood Grill here in Texas.  The atmosphere, food and service are all wonderful.  One of our favorite menu items is their beef tenderloin bruschetta.  

It is on the appetizer menu at Winewood, but it is so good I think it would be great as a main course.  

You can't imagine how excited I wast to find the recipe in a local magazine. I couldn't wait to give it a try.  

I decided to make them for lunch the Saturday before Christmas and everyone really enjoyed them.  

The meat is so tender and when all the different flavors come together it is like a party in your mouth!  The only variation to the original recipe was that I used my own homemade french bread instead of a store bought baguette.  

If you are ever in the Dallas area, I highly recommend trying Winewood.  If a trip to the Big D is not in your near future then you should definitely give this recipe a try instead.  It is a real winner.

Renee

Recipe
1 small baguette, cut into slices
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb. beef tenderloin, sliced thin
1 teaspoonful salt
1/2 teaspoonful pepper
1 cup arugula
basil pesto
tomato jam*

Tomato Jam*
3 large tomatoes, seeded and cubed
1 tablespoon chopped red onion
1/4 cup balsalmic vinegar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoon mixed herbs, chopped
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoonful salt
1 teaspoonful pepper

Place all ingredients into saucepan, slowly simmer for 30 minutes or until thick.  Cool and stir in refridgerator until needed.

Balsalmic Syrup**
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup balsalmic vinegar

Place all ingredients in small saucepan, simmer over low heat.  Reduce until thick.  Cool and store in refridgeratior until needed.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Arrange baguette slices on baking sheet and drizzle lightly with 1 tablespoonful of olive oil.  Toast in oven for 3-4 minutes.
Season tenderloin slices with salt and pepper and sauté in pan over high heat.  Sauté until just cooked through and set aside.
In another pan heat remaining olive oil over medium heat and sauté arugula until just wilted.
Top each baguette with 1 teaspoonful of basil pesto, 1 teaspoonful tomato jam and 1/2 teaspoonful wilted arugula.  Then drizzle lightly with balsamic syrup**.

Renee

Welcome 2014!

Happy New Year to everyone!! At the end of 2013 I turned the big '40' and I've decided to make some positive changes in my life.  One of those changes will be to put forth more effort on my blog.  I really do enjoy writing new posts so I promised myself that I will blog on a regular basis.

My last post was from April 2013 and a lot has happened since then.  One of the best was a summer trip to my hometown, New Orleans.  The boys and I had a wonderful time and RJ celebrated his 5th birthday there with all of his cousins.  It took him FOREVER to decide on a theme, but he finally settled on Curious George.

I must admit I had a lot of fun creating the decorations for this party.  It took a lot of time, but I think for a DIY party everything looked great.  The Curious George balloon wall was a big hit.   RJ didn't want to give up his George stuffed animal until the last minute.  I'm not sure what he thought I was going to do with it, but as you can see he finally gave it up.

I loved the kite strings with all the baby pictures of RJ.  I really wanted lots of pictures of him from birth to 5 years and this worked out well.  I was able to incorporate his pictures into the design and it looked more put together than a wall of pictures.

I cut out a large R and 5 out of an old cardboard box that I receive my wine of the month in.  With 2 young boys, you must have your "Mommy Juice" on a regular :-)  I cut out tons of red, yellow and blue crepe paper and glued them to the cardboard.

I set up a table for the gift bags and a Curious George book for our guests to sign and leave notes for RJ.

We had chocolate covered bananas, cupcakes and chocolate covered marshmallows for all of our little monkey friends.

The majority of our party took place outside.  My mother went dumpster diving and found several crates that we used to make a table and chairs for the kiddos to color their Curious George pictures on.  

We also had a large sheet of paper for the kids to do finger painting on.  My dad wasn't too thrilled about this because he had a lot of paint to clean off his house the next day.  Sorry Daddy :-)  In addition we had a pool in the backyard that kept the kids and adults quite busy.

Attached to the house I had my favorite decoration, a balloon banner.  It took me two days to blow up all those balloons, but it was by far my favorite.  

At the end of the party we had a Curious George piñata filled with candy and toys.  The kids all had a blast taking turns hitting poor George. 

RJ had a great time, he asks me on a regular basis what we are doing for his 6th birthday party!!  Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed the party.

Renee

Basil-Orange Lemonade

We have all been enjoying the beautiful springtime weather here in Texas.  Especially since soon we won't be able to go outside without fear of melting from the heat.
Spending time outside preparing the yard for spring and watching the plants begin to flower has been a real pleasure.

One major plus of spring is the reappearance of fruit on the grocery shelves.  Even though winter is one of my favorite seasons, I miss being able to enjoy all the wonderful fruit spring and summer offer us.

Since my guys are all in love with lemons I decided to make them lemonade with a twist.
As usual RJ was all too happy to help.  He was great with the electric juicer, that will be his job from now on.

I absolutely love basil and am currently growing large leaf and purple basil in my garden.
I decided to add a few leaves to the lemonade to give a little added flavor.
I also bought a large box of naval oranges from Costco (I LOVE COSTCO) so I thought I would juice an orange and add it to the lemonade also.

Once the lemonade chilled for a while, Hubby and I went outside to enjoy a glass and to watch the boys play on the trampoline.
 The lemonade was a big hit with my guys.  I am sure I will be making lots this summer.

Recipe

1 cup sugar
6 cups water
16 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
4 oz fresh squeezed orange juice
5-6 basil leaves

 In a small saucepan dissolve 1 cup of sugar in 1 cup of water and bring to a boil.  Set aside until the syrup is completely cooled.

Meanwhile juice approximately 6-7 lemons to obtain 16 oz of fresh squeezed lemon juice.  Also, juice 1-2 oranges to obtain 4 oz of fresh orange juice.

Pour lemon juice, orange juice, syrup, remaining 5 cups of water and basil leaves into a pitcher and refrigerate until ready to enjoy.

Renee

Video Game Birthday Party

             This year for MJ's 11th birthday we had a video game themed party.  We considered having a game truck since we had one a few years ago but the price of the game truck has gone up considerably since then.  My boys have a Wii, an X-Box 360 and a regular X-Box, so we decided to have a video game party at our house.  

When the boys arrived they each received an All Access pass to wear during the party.

I tried to put as many video game characters as possible into the decorations.  I wanted the boys to feel like they were inside a video game arcade.

I was really happy when all the boys stopped at the Pac Man wall and said how "cool' it was.

MJ made these cute Pac Man ghosts out of legos.  He was very proud to show them off to all his friends.

I also made some Boo ghosts and hung them from the ceiling.  They were a big hit, especially with RJ. He had a blast shooting at them with his Nerf gun :-).

We also pulled out the Nintendo 64 to add the old school video game theme.  Too bad we didn't have our Atari or Intelevision from when we were kids, the boys probably wouldn't have known what they were, LOL!

 The boys also got a kick out of the Mario mustaches, the 7- "Up" cake and all the different labels on the Gatorade and water bottles.

I had a great time getting the dessert counter ready.  

The streamers on the back wall really added a great touch.

These chocolate covered marshmallows were a huge hit.  All the boys loved them, and I must admit, I loved them too.  This was my first time making them, but I promised MJ and RJ that I will make them more often.

The cupcakes were delicious too.  I just made a yellow box cake with a delicious butter cream frosting.  I stuck with the primary party colors, red, blue, yellow and green for the frosting colors.  

When the boys left they each received a goodie bag filled with stickers, pencils, erasers, a cup, tattoos, and a pencil sharpener.

 MJ had a great party.  He was so excited all day.  I was a little concerned since we were partying on a budget, bit it worked out great.

Renee

Chocolate Chip Cookies

My parents spent Christmas with us again this year and we had SO much fun.  My daddy loves cookies and I love to make lots of them for him when he visits but I may have gone a little overboard this year.  I made 5 different types of cookies.  At least two dozen of each so we had over 120 cookies!!

One of my favorite cookies is the traditional chocolate chip cookie with pecans.  RJ and MJ also love them so I definitely had to make them for Christmas.  

Hubby and my dad aren't huge fans of the chocolate chip cookie so I made oatmeal raisin cookies for them.  I'll share that recipe later.   

One thing that I did not do for these cookies was use parchment paper on the cookie sheet.  I never used parchment paper before but I gave it a try on a different batch of cookies.  Let me say that I will never make cookies again without using parchment paper.  The cookies just slid off the paper, it was great.

I bought one of these cute holiday tins from Target to put the cookies in.  All of the cookies didn't fit in the tin, so I was able to hide some away from the boys :-0

This is one of the best cookie recipes that I have found.  The boys and I really enjoyed them.  Fortunately, we didn't have to share these with Santa since he is a big oatmeal raisin cookie guy.

Ingredients 

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons hot water

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
3. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

Renee

Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe