journey of life

1 1/2 cups butter or margarine, softened
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until combined.

Combine flour and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Pour batter into a greased and floured 10-inch Bundt pan.

Bake at 300° F for 1 hour and 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 to 15 minutes; remove from pan, and let cool completely on wire rack.

Note: This makes one ten inch cake. I used this recipe and made five mini loaves.

4 garlic cloves, 1 clove cut in half lengthwise, remaining cloves minced
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 cut shredded Gruyere or Swiss cheese
1 cup coarsely grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 1/2 pounds russet potatoes (4 to 5 medium), peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick
4-5 slices hearty white sandwich bread, crusts removed and torn into pieces (about 4 cups)

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350° F. Use cut side of halved garlic to rub sides and bottom of 2-quart shallow baking or gratin dish. Allow garlic in dish to dry briefly, about 2 minutes, then coat dish with softened butter. Combine cheeses in small bowl.

Bring minced garlic, cream, broth, thyme, nutmeg, salt and pepper to boil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until liquid is reduced to 2 1/2 cups, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and gently stir in potatoes.

Spoon half of potato mixture into prepared dish. Sprinkle with half of cheese, add remaining potato mixture, and press with spatula to compact. Press bread pieces into casserole. Bake 40 minutes. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and continue baking until golden and bubbling, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest 20 minutes before serving.

Make Ahead : This casserole can be assembled (leave off the bread) and refrigerated up to 24 hours. When ready to bake, add bread topping and bake according to the recipe. If you are cooking for a crowd, double the ingredients and use two baking dishes of similar size.

Recipe courtesy of Mary Ann Montgomery, Laura’s great aunt.

1- 3 1/2-4 pound beef tenderloin, trimmed
2 tablespoons red peppercorns
2 tablespoons green peppercorns
2 tablespoons coarse salt
1 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Place peppercorns in blender and chop. Transfer to bowl and add salt. Combine parsley, butter and mustard in a separate bowl. Place beef on a lightly greased rack in a shallow roasting pan. Rub parsley mixture over tenderloin. Pat peppercorn mixture over beef. Cover and chill up to 24 hours.

When ready to serve, bake beef at 350° F for 50 minutes or until meat thermometer inserted in thickest part of meat registers 145° F (medium rare) or 160° F (medium). Transfer to plate, cover loosely with foil and let stand ten minutes before slicing. Serve with horseradish dipping sauce.

Recipe courtesy of Mary Ann Montgomery, Laura’s great aunt.

1-8 ounce container sour cream
3 tablespoons dijon mustard
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish

Combine together, cover and chill.

Recipe courtesy of Mary Ann Montgomery, Laura’s great aunt.

A few months ago, our handy dandy Black & Decker toaster oven crapped out.  I knew it was dying, but kept pushing it, hoping to make it last just a little bit longer.  But then it finally died.  I was making some chocolate chip banana bread (a double batch, of course) and noticed the top of the loaves were getting crispy and too done, while the bottoms were still undone. As Beth in Ireland would say, feck.

So, I consulted Mark and Penelope about the toaster oven they fell in love with. Now, Mark and Penelope don’t joke around when they rave about a product. Mark’s been my go-to guy when it comes to recommendations and I trust his rigorous testing. This is the guy who sits outside in his hunting gear to see if it passes the test. He’s recommended the Bolle sunglasses I fell in love with (that they no longer make), Chaco sandals (yes, the ones I wore at our wedding), North Face’s Cat’s Meow sleeping bags (Yes, Craig. They can save your life), Polypropelene underwear, cell phones and probably much more.

With a steep price tag of $179.00, I was a bit reluctant to make the purchase. But, after all, we were living in a basement, cooking off a hot plate and in a toaster oven. We really needed a good toaster oven. After a few months, I’ve been quite happy with the performance. It is a little bigger than my other toaster oven, which has been great. The features are amazing, especially when toasting frozen bread. I’ve not used the convection feature yet, but have no reason to believe I’ll be disappointed. All the online reviews I’ve read have been very positive.

There are several items we usually get at Costco, simply because the price beats anything else I can find. So, why do we use Costco instead of Sam’s or BJ’s? Well, we never have lived where there was a BJ’s close by and we’d rather support Costco over Sam’s. Costco is committed to its employees, paying them well, offering them outstanding benefits and as a result they have better staff and a considerably lower turnover rate, and it shows. Read this article: How Costco became the Anti-Wal-Mart. And, their prices are comparable, if not cheaper than Sam’s.

So, what do we regularly buy at Costco? For the most part, things I can’t find cheaper elsewhere. Here’s what we regularly buy:

• Kirkland bottled water (35-16.9 oz. bottles) - $4.59 - After a price comparison, we ditched the bottled water delivery service. Kirkland bottled water was the cheapest bottled spring water around.
• Kirkland’s adult dog lamb & rice dog food (40 lb. bag) - $18.99 - Kirkland dog food costs a fraction of the $35.00 we paid for a 40 lb. bag of Sensible Choice lamb & rice dog food and the quality is quite comparable.
• Parmesan cheese - $4.99/lb.
• Dubliner cheese - $4.99/lb.
• Feta cheese - $2.69/lb.
• active dry yeast (32 oz.) - $2.99 - Keeps a long time in the freezer.
• Crystal Light (makes 32 quarts) - $6.99
• Splenda packets (1000 count box) - $19.99
• lemon juice (2-24 oz. bottles) - $5.39 - Makes great lemonade!
• frozen blueberries (3 lb. bag) - $6.29 - with some plain yogurt, this tastes much better than pre-packaged flavored yogurts.
• pork tenderloin (2 tenderloins in a package) - $3.29/lb.
• boneless, skinless chicken breasts (12 breasts in a package) - $2.49/lb. - I’ve seen boneless, skinless chicken breasts cheaper (as low as $1.69/lb.), but only on special occasions. I really like the way Costco vacuum individually packs 2 breasts together for easy freezing and thawing (and great for camping).
• bananas (4 lbs.) - $1.30
• Kirkland brand whole bean coffee, roasted by Starbucks (2 lbs.) - $9.79 - In the grocery stores, most good coffee will run you $8.00/lb. This is an amazing deal.
• Mitchum deodorant (4-3.4 oz. containers) - $9.89
• Edge Fusion Gel (4-9.5 oz. containers) - $8.79
• Clear Care Contact Solution (2-12 fl. oz. containers) - $9.89

Some of these prices have gone up or down, so don’t hold me to them. With most warehouse club memberships, you have to weigh whether or not it’s worth the yearly membership fee when joining. For us, the savings in dog food pays for the membership. For others, the savings in eyeglasses is worth the membership fee. We’ve also managed to snag some amazing rental car discounts with our Costco membership card. As a whole, the meat prices at warehouse clubs beats almost any supermarket, unless it is a loss leader of the week.

1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup pineapple juice
2 teaspoons salt (1 with regular soy sauce)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Bring to a boil. Let cool. Store in refrigerator for up to two weeks.

…it could have been worse. Much worse.

With this blogging format I have the capability of putting passwords on specific posts. I know that many of you will forget passwords like crazy, so I am resorting to giving password hints. I’m sure that any grand hacker would be able to break the code, but it will make me a little happier to know that I have some sort of restriction when it comes to sensitive data, children and the like.

Our first niece was born last week and I’ve been dying to post pictures of her, but want to have them protected. Until I figure out a better way, here’s your password hint: Ella’s daddy is a _____. If you don’t know the answer, but want to see pictures (and aren’t a freak!), just contact us and we will get back in touch with you.

Also, we are going to have some posts about our new home that will be password protected as well.  In a little over a week you will be getting an email from us with our new contact information, as well as the password.  However, here’s your password hint:  The neighborhood in which we live in is called ___ ___.  Again, if you don’t know the answer, send us an email.