Jeremy, The Chef?

Last Sunday, as I was planning the dinners for the week and making the grocery list, I asked Jeremy for his input on the meals (we usually try to comprise, where I pick 3, he picks 3 and we eat out one night).  Well, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that one of his goals for 2009 was to help me out with the dinners and cook one night a week!  Though I love cooking and look forward to it daily....WHOO HOO!  I get a night off. :)

Jerm made his first meal of 2009 last night and I must say, it was very delicious.  The dinner he chose to prepare was Club Sandwiches with french fries/onion rings and fruit.  It was a fairly simple meal, but boy was it good.  The sandwiches consisted of sourdough bread, ham, turkey, cheese (for me), tomato, lettuce, bacon and mustard.  He agreed to wear an apron while cooking (isn't he cute?) and assembled the sandwiches, while I put the french fries/onion rings in the oven and cut up some fruit.  I just had to help somehow, plus we were starving and wanted dinner ASAP.

Starting dinner.

 

Carefully cutting the tomato.

 

Assembling the sandwiches.

 

My delicious dinner made by the hubby.

  

The sandwiches were HUGE, but of course, he could fit it all in his mouth!

So, Jeremy's first dinner of 2009 was a success!  My sandwich was so big that I had to save half for lunch today...so that's dinner AND lunch from him...to quote my mom, "What a guy, huh?"

Company is Coming to Dinner

I LOVE having people over for dinner!  Mostly I enjoy it because it's fun having friends over to hang out for the night, but also because I don't have to cut recipes in half or make small side dishes since it's usually just Jeremy and me.  Tonight we had our good friends, Jake and Kayla over for dinner, dessert and of course, board games!

On the menu were 2 new recipes and 2 old standbys.  The new ones were: Pineapple Teriyaki Burgers and Frozen English Toffee Cake.   And the old standbys were Cheesy Potatoes and baked beans (from a can). 

I get off of work at 5pm and Jake and Kayla were coming over at 6pm, so right after I walked in the door, I started cooking.  I knew my time was limited before they arrived, so the first thing to do was to get the Cheesy Potatoes into the oven, since they take the longest.  I made a special stop at the grocery store on the way home for the cream of chicken soup for the potatoes...and sadly, wouldn't you know it....in my rush to get it in the oven, I completely forgot to put the soup into the mix.  Oops!  (But they still turned out delicious!) 

Next came the burgers.  The recipe is from Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee on the Food Network!  LOVE her!  I saw her make this recipe last weekend and I thought they looked tasty.   The burgers have onion seasoning mix, teriyaki mix, pineapple juice and  a pineapple ring grilled in them.  YUM!  I forgot to get pictures of the burgers, but here is the link to the recipe.

While the potatoes were cooking and Jerm was grilling the burgers, I finished up my cake.  Since I knew I'd be short on time, I baked the cake and made the ice cream layers the night before.  That way, I just had to assemble the layers, frost it and sprinkle on the toffee chips. 

 

The finished cake, about to go into the freezer.

Playing our new game,"Sequence."

Jake's fancy piece of cake.

Eating dessert!

What a fun night with friends!  Thanks for coming over guys...see you Saturday at the Circus! :)

Frozen English Toffee Cake

1 box devil's food cake mix

1 1/3 cups water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1/2 gallon chocolate or vanilla ice cream (or any flavor)

1 bag (10 oz) English toffee bits

1 container (8 oz) Cool Whip

 

Cake

1. Bake cake as directed on box, in two 8-inch round cake pans.  Cool completely.

Ice Cream Filling

2. Line three 8-inch round cake pans with plastic wrap, allowing 3 inches of plastic to hang over sides.  Divide ice cream equally among pans.  Using rubber spatula, spread ice cream over bottoms of prepared pans, forming smooth, even layers.  Sprinkle 1/4 cup of toffee bits over ice cream in each pan.  Freeze for 3 hours or until solid.

Assembly and Frosting

3. Cut each cake layer horizontally in half.  Working quickly, remove ice cream from pans.  Peel off plastic and place 1 ice cream circle on each of the 3 cake layers.  Stack cake and ice cream layers on top of each other on serving platter.  Frost cake with Cool Whip and sprinkle with remaining toffee bits.  Freeze until ready to serve.  Let stand at room temperature 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 12-16 servings.