Happy Balumtine'th Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

Traditionally for Valentine's Day Adam and I would leave work (Busy Season hours) around 7ish and get italian take out for dinner. Since this year i'm not working I decided to make an italian dinner for us instead of us going out. I found a few recipes that I wanted to try out so I made 3 different kinds of appetizers instead of a huge meal. Also thinking that a few appetizers wouldn't fill us up so we could indulge in a great dessert =) I mean it wouldn't be Valentine's Day with out some chocolate!!!

Ok, First appetizer was Sunflower Seed Pizza's. Unfortunately we were hungry waiting for the other two to cook and we forgot to take a picture before we gobbled them down...therefore you get the internet picture. I made these the size of crackers so they were easy finger food!

Sunflower Seed pizza

Below is the attached website where I got the recipe. It really is delicious!!
http://deliciouslyorganic.net/pizza-grain-free-paleo-primal-gaps-recipe/

Second appetizer was French Onion Soup Stuffed Mushrooms. These were really good as well, probably my favorite of the 3 last night.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Here is a link to that recipe as well.  http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/appetizers-and-snacks/french-onion-soup-stuffed-mushrooms/

Third, was Arancini, which is fried Risotto Balls basically. Unfortunately I don't really like to eat fried things so I opted for baking them instead and they were still really good. My recipe actually comes from the Williams Sonoma Italian Cookbook Adam got over Christmas. Really though you just make a small portion of risotto, I made 1/2 cup of cooked arborio rice. Once it's cooked let it cook thoroughly so when you roll it into balls it sticks together. Then you roll the ball in flour, then in a whisked egg white, then in the bread crumbs. After you can fry it or bake it.

Arancini

Finally....DESSERT!!! I found this recipe on Pinterest and it is really really good!! They are Bourbon Pecan Pie Brownies. Actually I used scotch instead but regardless it was good.

Pecan Pie Scotch Brownies...all homemade by the way!!

Here is the recipe for probably now one of my favorite desserts. Beware though it is very very decadent so I wouldn't eat too much at one time =)
http://www.howsweeteats.com/2010/11/bourbon-pecan-pie-brownies/

This is the spread in the living room, very cozy and TVless!!

Adam was so sweet and bought me Truffle's

You can't have a Ward Valentine's Day without watching Dave Barne's Balumtine'th Day video's hahahaha.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY from the Wards!!

Donut Heaven!!

So I did some more experiments in the kitchen today. I found a recipe for baked homemade donuts. I changed the recipe a little because I can't find all the ingredients here in Zurich, but so far so good. They at least look tasty. My official taste tester will have to let you know how they taste for breakfast in the morning.

Cinnamon Maple Donuts
1 C Whole wheat flour
1/2 C granulated sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1tsp vanilla
1/3 C vanilla yogurt
1/3 C milk
1 Tbsp oil or applesauce
1 Egg

Maple Frosting
1/2 C Powdered sugar
3 T maple syrup


Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 400 F
2. Mix together all dry ingredients in glass bowl
3. Mix together all wet ingredients in separate bowl until blended
4. Combine wet ingredients into dry ingredient bowl until it is all combined
5. Fill donut tray and bake for 8-10 min.
6. Mix together 1/4 C of powdered sugar and maple syrup, keep adding the last 1/4 C of powdered sugar until the frosting is the right consistency for dipping.
7. After baking let donuts cool then dip tops in syrup. 

Cheese and Church!!!

During busy season our favorite day is Sunday. It's our only day together where we can just hangout and relax, maybe catch up from the week since we barely have 5 min to talk before we go to bed every night. After a long breakfast we decided to bundle up and go walk around the city since the sun was shining. By the way it is 16 degrees here...not nearly as nice as home apparently! We head out and by the time we get to the tram stop I can't feel my knee caps. We then head over to the park off of old town to see if we can get a nice picture of the mountains in the winter. This was also a bust...too much fog and no mountains. Adam then asks what I want to do next...Ummmm go home it's freezing!!! We walked back to Paradaplatz to catch a tram home and by then the feeling in our toes and fingers was fading quickly.

You can see a little snow on the buildings but no mountains

Adam and I in the park...freezing!

After thawing out at home we both decide we can't bare to go out again so we opt for church at the apartment instead. We also had a fondue recipe we wanted to try out as well. So it became church and cheese night at our place last night. We realized, yet again, that fondue is hard to make. This time it was creamy, but we think we over cooked it. It was kind of hard, like melted mozzarella, chewy not liquidy like fondue should be. At least it tasted good and neither of us got sick...bonus!!!

Adam trying to get the fondue to a good consistency

Fondue dinner and Metro Community Church