Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve is a time for festivity.  Wear a paper crown (those looks you get at the restaurant?  That's just jealousy!), give your kids noisemakers (and yourself earplugs), toast the New Year in every time zone (Cheers!). 

May 2011 be a banner year for you and your families!   

I resolve...

The internet is ablaze with New Year's Resolutions.

"Lose 20 pounds in 2011!"

"Kick your bad habits to the curb this year!"

"Find the love of your life before the ball drops!"

For the past several years, my New Year's resolution has been to stop procrastinating.  I decided to continue putting that one off in 2011.  I think, though, that I'll have a kitchen resolution as well.  I haven't made the final resolution yet (I still have a few hours before Dick Clark!), but here are my ideas:

• Use a new ingredient once a week.
• Eat dinner in front of the TV no more than once a week.  (30 Rock just beckons to me...)
• Cook a vegetarian meal once a week.
• Shop at the farmer's market weekly (when it's open).
• Eat fish once a week.

As you can see, my resolutions must be manageable, and they must be easy to measure.  Otherwise I will procrastinate (see New Year's Resolution 2008, 2009, and 2010.)

So, what do you think of my ideas?  Have you tried any of them?  What's your resolution for 2011?

I Love My Calendar by Lady of the House

3-2-1-Happy New Year! Is it just me, or does a new calendar with fresh pages kind of trump that apple dropping at midnight? I have always relished this integral purchase, and I think the joy of choosing just the right guide to take you into the next year is nothing to mess around with.

I have come across a few in the last little while, and I thought I'd share a few resources.

Paper Source is an obvious spot to check out, and their 2011 Wall Art Calendar is a vibrantly printed option for the laundry room or drab dorm.

I troll Etsy like it's my job, and Bryan Kring's Organic Wreath Letterpress Calendar is simple, lovely and wonderful. I purchased one for a friend, and at the cost of sounding like a complete letterpress nerd, I must tell you the registration is impeccable. You'll be so proud to pin it up somewhere in your home.

Another yummy Etsy find is Dekanimal's large 13x19 Little Flower poster. It's the right amount of folk meets Japan meets quirky enough to please you til next December.

I hope you all have a happy New Year!

xoxo

Lady of the House

Beef Tenderloin with Roasted Shallots, Bacon, and Port

We had this beef tenderloin for dinner on Christmas Eve.  I'd say more about the recipe, but every time I think about it, I drool a little.  And I don't want to short-circuit my computer, so I'd better just get to the recipe.

Suffice to say, it was GLORIOUS.  Bacon-y, boozy, beefy...Oh, there I go with the drool again.

Beef Tenderloin with Roasted Shallots, Bacon, and Port
Adapted from Bon Appetit via epicurious.com
Serves: 6

3/4 pound shallots, peeled and quartered
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper

3 cups beef broth
3/4 cup tawny Port
1.5 teaspoons tomato paste

1 3-pound  beef tenderloin
1 teaspoon dried thyme
4 slices bacon, chopped
1.5 tablespoons butter
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Line a large baking sheet with foil.  Place shallots on the baking sheet, drizzle with oil, and season with salt and pepper.  Roast until the shallots are browned and tender, about 20-25 minutes, stirring halfway through.  Set shallots aside and reduce heat to 375 degrees.

Combine broth and Port in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil and allow mixture to boil until it's reduced by about half, about 30 minutes.  Whisk in tomato paste.  Set aside.  You can make the shallots and the broth mixture a day ahead.  Just refrigerate separately until you're ready to use them.

Meanwhile, pat the beef dry.  Season with thyme, salt, and pepper.  Heat a very large skillet over medium-high heat, and saute bacon until until crisp, about 5 minutes.  Transfer the bacon to paper towels.  Add beef to the same skillet and brown on all sides, about 8-10 minutes.  Place the skillet in the oven, and roast the beef until it reaches an internal temperature of 125 degrees for medium rare, about 35-40 minutes.  (If the bacon grease gets too smoky in the oven, transfer the beef to a separate baking dish.)  When the beef is finished cooking, transfer it to a platter, and tent with foil.

Pour fat from the skillet, and place the skillet over high heat.  Add broth mixture and bring to a boil, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Reduce heat to medium-low and allow the sauce to simmer until it thickens slightly, about 3 minutes.  Whisk in butter.  Stir in bacon and, if desired, shallots.  If you have onion-averse in your group (like I do), feel free to serve the shallots on the side.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Thinly slice beef and serve with sauce on the side.

Eggs-in-a-Hole

Are you a parent?  If so, your kiddos are probably on school break this week.  I don't have any rugrats running around my house, but if I did, I'd be worried about keeping them entertained all day long.  There's a lot of opportunity for mischief during school break.  (Don't ask me how I know this.)

One way to keep everybody busy is to get the whole gang in the kitchen for meal prep, and this breakfast is the perfect opportunity.  Eggs-in-a-hole looks so doggone funny, everybody will love helping out.  Let the kids use a cookie cutter to cut the hole in the bread or dump the egg into the hole.  And if it doesn't look perfect, who cares?  The kids will be too busy chowing down their delicious creations to notice.

How do you get your family into the kitchen? 

Egg-in-a-Hole

Serves: 2*

2 pieces of your favorite bread

2 eggs

1.5 tablespoons butter

Salt and pepper

Since this cooks so quickly, be sure to have all of your ingredients ready to go before getting started.  Using a cookie cutter or a sharp knife, cut a 2.5" hole into each slice of bread.  Crack eggs into separate small bowls or cups.

In a 12" non-stick skillet, heat butter over medium-high heat.  Once the butter is melted, add the large pieces of bread to the center of the skillet and the "holes" to the outside edges of the skillet.  Immediately pour one egg into each hole.  Sprinkle eggs with salt and pepper, and allow them to cook for about a minute and a half.  Carefully flip the eggs-in-a-hole, and allow them to cook on the second side until they reach the desired consistency, about 70 seconds if you like your eggs a little runny.  Serve the eggs-in-a-hole with the egg hiding under the "hole" part of the bread.  

*If you're making more than two servings, keep the first eggs-in-a-hole warm in a low oven.  Also, wipe out the skillet with a paper towel between each batch.    

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and your families a Christmas filled with joy!

-Erin & The Lady of the House

Joy to the world, the Lord is come;

Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare Him room,

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven, and heaven and nature sing.

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns;

Let men their songs employ;

While fields and floods,

Rocks, hills and plains

Repeat the sounding joy,

Repeat the sounding joy,

Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make His blessing flow

Far as the curse is found,

Far as the curse is found,

Far as, far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,

And makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness,

And wonders of His love,

And wonders of His love,

And wonders, wonders of His love.

Final Christmas Warning

This is what happens when you force your husband to decorate Christmas cookies with you:

Consider yourself warned.