What was dinner Monday 04/30/2012

Tonight was a classic easy quick and bursting with flavor dinner.

 London broil seasoned with Montreal seasoning blend and perfectly broiled to a light red medium rare doneness.  Paired up with creamy cheese covered mashed potatoes, asparagus steamed with the zest of a lime, a basic but very good tossed salad and  yesterdays left over corn on the cob warmed up with gobs of melted butter.

                             Lip smacking goodness all on one plate.Extra napkins required !
                             

What was Dinner Sunday 04/29/2012

I was trying to be lazy so a 1 pan dish that cooked in the oven with out stirring or supervision was the dinner for me.
  So a thin layer of mayo spread on chicken leg quarters and then a dipping into seasoned bread crumbs was all I needed to do before placing the meat into my cast iron skillet.I added sweet potatoes and onions cut in quarters,covered the pan with foil and placed in a 425 degree oven. 30 minutes into cooking I removed the foil and continued to cook til the bird legs were done.
      While the oven was doing its thing I sliced a tomato and placed it on our plates. I cooked corn on the cob. trying something new with the corn I added honey to my boiling water. Not sure but I think the corn was the best I ever tasted. I will try the honey again that is for sure.                                                                              

                                             One of my favorite dinners.To eat as well as cook!                                                                                                    
   

I went Bold With butter

   If you belong to any online recipe club I am sure that this month you couldn't help but notice the advertisements and logos all over the site and I do mean everywhere for Go Bold With Butter

                   http://goboldwithbutter.supranet.net/

From this very cool blog site I found some very good recipes made that much better for the butter in them.

   Starting with the very tasty and very easy to make "Deconstructed Chicken Kiev",I made this dish for dinner last week and we are still talking about it.For my next dinner party this recipe is my main dish on the menu.Not only was it quick and easy to prepare and full of flavor it was extremely beautiful in its presentation. If you follow the recipe directions you are sure to serve a dish that will more then impress your guest.

                                                                                         I also came across another recipe that I just had to try because it gave me such a nostalgic feeling and brought back so many memories all good and all butter. You think Paula Deen is the butter queen,        well you have never met my Mom. Even in our brokest  days there would be butter in the house and mom would have some way of using it that would make us kids think we were eating like kings. Moms favorite butter recipe was and is honey and butter mixed together and then spread it on anything( the best a biscuit). So when I saw Bree's Honey Butter I just had to make it. This recipe is very very good a perfect blend of butter,honey,powder sugar and cinnamon.The first thing I used it on was a sweet potato,oh boy what a perfect fit.Making my potato seem so decadent with its rich creamy melt in your mouth goodness.As I enjoyed my sweet potato slathered in Bree's Honey Butter my mind traveled backwards  to a time that doesn't seem all that long ago. A time when my brother and I would sit eagerly at the kitchen table waiting for our favorite treats,all made with butter and a lot of love.Our top most wanted treat was the good old peanut butter and butter on toast(I still eat them from time to time). Running a close 2ND as most          hoped for treat was canned peaches(mom canned her own)with toast and butter.I still serve peaches with buttered toast as dessert and my husband absolutely loves it.

Sweet potato with Bree's honey Butter

Peanut butter and Butter Toast

Peaches and buttered toast

                        I am GOING BOLD WITH BUTTER and LOVING it !!!!                                                                                 

Butter Lamb

Most people when they think of Easter don't exactly think of butter.The same goes for the Easter Lamb, unless your cooking it in butter you don't think of butter.I do however think of Butter at Easter time.It wasn't always so.A pound of butter molded into the shape of a lamb was not always on my list of Easter symbols.
 I recently married into a Polish family that works hard at keeping the Polish traditions, heritage and beliefs in their holiday celebrations. Expanding my knowledge of other country's customs and tradition has been a very enjoyable journey.
  I didn't realize until just recently when asked to think about butter and what it means to me that I considered butter an important Easter tradition.I did not know what the Butter Lamb represented or why it was on the table all I knew for sure was every Easter with out fail the Butter Lamb is on the table. As I write this my husband tells me it is THE LAMB OF GOD. (Why the butter molded into a lamb and not the actual lamb being passed along the table?)I have questions not always do I get answers.
  This year I was more aware of the Lamb then normal. I am sure that was because butter was on my mind.While shopping the week before Easter with Bill we stopped at the dairy case for something or other and there sitting off to the side in it's pretty yellow box with the large cellophane window saying louder and clearer then all the chocolate bunnies and colorful eggs" I am Easter" was the perfectly molded Butter Lamb.
   Easter Sunday arrives bright and beautiful,full of sunshine and holiday cheer.As we gather around the dinner table so long it runs the length of 2 rooms to accommodate us all very comfortably I notice the Lamb is not in its usual place of honor in the very center of the table.I have no fear I just know that it will soon appear on the table.
  The hostess begins to seat herself having made sure everyone is comfortable and ready for a feast.Half way down to her seat she notices the Lamb is missing. With a quick look around and even faster movements our hostess is back up and placing the Lamb proudly in its honored place.
   The Lamb in place the hostess seated we can now share the blessed egg and say grace and eat.Dishes all hot and steaming being passed from one person to another,plates filling up with amazing speed,family and friends sharing  good food,great stories and making wonderful memories.As I sit back and watch this warm and happy scene unfold before me a smile comes to my lips as I notice the Butter Lamb being passed along the length of the table,looking less and less like a Lamb with each cut of the knife.As testament to the sweet creamy taste of that butter is the quick lick of the fingers on the right hand as the left hand passed the butter dish along the table.There really is nothing better then butter no matter what the shape.
 So as it turns out when I think of Easter I think of family,colored eggs,ham and
                                                                BUTTER

If you look hard you can see what is left of the butter lamb,now about  to become  a part of dessert!

                               

Photo thanks to Kate Oleykowski