I originally posted this on my personal blog (Reitter's Block) on November 17, 2012 as part of my "Tasteful Countdown"
project counting down to the family trip to Walt Disney World in October of 2013. This is the project that gave me the idea to create
this blog. And then life got in the way... so I am starting it up again
in the New Year.
We are back on track with the Tasteful Countdown for our 2013 Disney
trip. This week's movie was Pinocchio. It's not one of my favorites, but
it has the song that became Disney's "theme", so it is a must watch. I
found out that dad's favorite Disney character growing up with Jiminy
Cricket, so that also made it special! We're learning more about each
other as a family as we go through this.
The menu was
themed around Northern Italy as that is the area that Pinocchio is
supposed to take place (who knew?! I always thought he was German! LOL).
It was difficult to find something that was Northern Italian that
wasn't really *out there* or expensive, or that anyone would eat. I
finally found a website that linked recipes by region and away we went.
Dad
helped with the menu, I'm trying to keep him excited about this
adventure, and so we settled on a main dish of Chicken with a Fire
roasted red pepper red sauce over fettucine, and the dessert was a Peach
tart with a Cocoa-Almond crust (the best part of that being it was
gluten free so mom could have it). I couldn't figure out a good side
dish, but my friends at
Golden Skate Forums helped me out and suggested Polenta. DorisPulaski gave me a good recipe for a creamy polenta so my menu was all set.
Thursday
rolled around and I felt all set - until we realized we never went and
got the ingredients. So mom made a quick trip to the store in between
her Bible Study and PCC duties, and called me to let me know I'd have to
get the stuff out of her car on my way home from the office. No
problem, a quick drive over and I had the stuff and was on my way home.
That's when I noticed that I was missing some key ingredients - mainly
the roasted red peppers!
 |
The peach tart's directions were scary,
but it was successful! |
So I sat around hoping I'd just missed a bag in mom's
car. No such luck, instead of roasted red peppers she'd bought roasted
tomatos! Whoops! So as I started on the dessert mom hurried over to the
store and got the missing peppers. The tart had me very nervous because I
had to make a syrup with the peaches and I was so scared that I would
burn the sugar (I didn't!). When I chose this dish, I just read the
ingredients and not the instructions. There's a lot to this little tart!
I didn't have all of the tools I needed, but I made do.
With
the tart baking in the oven, I started on the main dish. It was easy
peasy and I realized the sauce was going to be finished before the rest
of the meal! Oh no! I took it off the heat and made the polenta. I was
worried I would do it wrong, and so I think I cooked it a bit longer
than what I should have, but how was I to know?! While I finished up the
polenta I boiled the pasta, and finished the sauce. Unfortunately this
meant the polenta was cold by the time it was ready to dish up. I guess I
still need to work on my timing!
 |
| Main dish was awesome! |
The chicken also had me worried, as I didn't want to
cook it wrong. Mom "taught" me by doing it herself. She said I watched
so I would be able to do it next time... okay, mom, whatever you say!
Once everything was done I dished up the plates, sliced up the chicken
breasts and served my family. Duane was at youth group, so he was dining
on Pizza while we had our own Italian meal. He was fine with missing
out - except that he wanted dessert! Mom and Dad loved everything on the
menu, but I found I am not a fan of polenta, so mom was happy because
that means she's gotten to have left over polenta for days!
We
also decided that the next time we make the main dish that we'd make a
double batch -
we needed more sauce! The sauce was super yummy - and I'm
not normally a fan of peppers, but this was really good! I definitely
ate all of that on my plate, but I was full from lunch (I ate late, my
bad!) so I didn't eat all the chicken and I skipped the polenta.
 |
| The tart was so good dad ate half of it! |
Dessert was served about half way through the movie,
and Duane was back from youth group, so he had nothing to worry about. I
am not a fan of peaches at all, so I didn't try a piece, but judging by
the reactions of my family they all loved it. I served it with ice
cream and the extra peach syrup and they gobbled it up!
Because
it was an almond crust, I used almond flour instead of the all purpose
the recipe called for - so mom could have it. From what I could tell it
didn't do anything to negatively affect the dish - though the dough was a
little wetter than it called for. We also had to use frozen peaches, so
the syrup was runny and we had more of it, which made the middle of the
tart to be very soft, but everything was cooked through. Dad ate the
last piece of it the same night, so obviously it was a win!
If you have any vegetarian ideas please share them with me by commenting on this post! I need all the help I can get!
Links to recipes from this week meal:
Chicken Fettuccine with roasted red pepper sauce
DorisPulaski's Creamy Polenta
Peach Tart with Almond-Cocoa Crust
