Happy New Year!

Happy 2011 everyone!  I hope you all had a great New Years Eve and rang in 2011 with the ones you love.  My NYE started off with our roommate celebration of Christmas.  In order to make Christmas last just a little bit longer, the roommates and I decided to celebrate ours and exchange gifts on New Years Eve morning.

 

There were Cinnamon Buns

Scrambled Eggs and Bacon

It was all very delicious

 

After we exchanged gifts, Dani and Adrienne hit the road for Pittsburgh, and I started prepping for my night.  I even used my new Kitchen Aid Mixer and whipped up a batch of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Not surprisingly, Filet stuffed with Lobster and Asparagus won the majority of votes in my poll, and it was really what I wanted anyway so that is what my New Years Eve meal was.

I know it sounds fancy and complicated, but I promise it’s super easy!  First thing is head over to your local grocery store pick out your pieces of filet, smile nicely at the man behind the meat counter and ask him to pretty please open the package, butterfly the meat, and reseal it for you.

Press the meat out even thinner with your hands, then season however you desire.  I just used a little salt and pepper.  Pick up your lobster tails, if you’re lucky they’ll even be on sale like mine were!

 

lobster, lobster

 

Throw a big pot of water on to boil, and while you’re waiting utilize that same pot to steam your asparagus stalks.

Once, your pot of water has come to a boil, drop in the lobster tails for about five minutes, they also cook in the oven so you just want them cooked enough to get out of the shell.

While that is cooking, prepare your butter and lemon juice for drizzling over top of the lobster tails.

hard at work

 

Once the lobster tails and asparagus are cooked, shell the lobster, split the tail in half length wise, place them on one side of your piece of filet.

Drizzle (or pour) the lemon juice and butter over the asparagus and lobster.  Get ready to roll them up and tie together, you might need an extra set of hands.

 

voila!

mmmmm

 

Place the pieces of filet on a rack in a roasting pan, and you’re ready to go.

Into the oven at 425 degrees (I actually ended up lowering that to 375), for about 20-30 minutes depending on how thick your slices of filet are.

Eat up and enjoy!  So, so, so easy, and definitely impresses and pleases a crowd.

Filet Stuffed with Lobster Tails and Asparagus

• 2 Lobster Tails
• 2 pieces of filet, butterflied
• 3 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/3 cup butter
• Asparagus
• butchers twine
• salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Press your butterflied filets out thin with your fingers, season with salt and pepper.  Bring a pot of water to a boil, add the lobster tails, cook for about 5 minutes.  Steam the asparagus over the water while it boils, this only takes a few minutes.  Remove the lobster tails from their shell, cut in half length wise, and place on one side of the meat.  Add the asparagus, and drizzle your lemon juice and butter mixture over top.  Fold the other side over, and tie closed with butchers twine.  Place everything on a rack in a roasting pan, and cook for about 20-30 minutes.

April Fools!

I was going to try and think of a funny joke to play, but I could really only think of one and I didn’t want the bf to have a heart attack when this post was emailed to him.  So instead I’ll just ask, anyone playing any good April fools jokes this year? Last year my friend and co-worker, Ashley, put pieces of tape on the bottom of everyone’s mouse so that they wouldn’t work.  She cracked herself up for awhile about that, our boss didn’t find it very funny.

I had a dentist appointment after work last night, I really, really hate the dentist.  I still have a retainer cemented to the back of my bottom teeth from the end of my braces days, and they never leave it alone.  I swear the lady always spends a good 15 minutes picking at it with that stupid metal thing.  Metal, on metal, on teeth is not a good noise, or feeling.  Also, I need two more fillings.  In the past year, I have already gotten six.  Yes, six fillings in one year.  I went 22 years of life without a single cavity, and then my teeth decided to crap out on me.  The funny thing?  When the dentist came in to look at them, his first words were, “Wow you have really nice teeth”.  Ok, then why do every single one of them have a filling?  The good news is the newest two fillings aren’t for cavities, apparently I managed to chip both of the left side molars.  No idea how that happened, but whatev.  I’ll just wave goodbye to $150.

Alright enough biotching and moaning from me, I made myself go to the gym after the dentist and am glad I did.  I like swimming, but it felt good to get on the elliptical last night and break a sweat.  I did 35 min on the elliptical, sprinting to the refrains in songs.  Then I did some stretching and plank work for the old abdominals.  PT tonight, so probably no workout, which is kind of the one thing about this that is bumming me out.  Two days a week for the next month I’ll be in PT which means I’m losing two workout days.  I’ve already been struggling to not gain weight since I stopped running, and I have gained a few lbs, and now this is going to reduce my workout time even more.  Ugh.  I know once I can start running again everything will even itself out, but in the meantime I’m afraid my clothes from last summer won’t fit 😦 .  Wow, even when I say I’m going to stop complaining I don’t, ok I swear moving on.

My sister is home for her Easter break, so last night we had a nice little family dinner.  I talked about this recipe before on the blog, but I didn’t put it together so I didn’t have any real pictures or ingredients to give you, so I present again Weeknight Lasagna.

One package of Lobster Ravioli

One package of Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli

I put a thin layer of Vodka sauce on the bottom of a casserole dish and laid out the Spinach ravioli.

Followed by a layer of defrosted frozen spinach and mozzarella cheese.

Then topped with the package of Lobster ravioli.

And another layer of sauce, mozzarella cheese, and Parmesan cheese.

Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.  Uncover and bake for another 10 minutes.  Enjoy with a bottle of Chianti, like this one.

Isn’t that a pretty bottle?  I really like it.  After cooking let the “lasagna” sit and cool for five minutes before serving.  My sister and I crowded around the stove and just kind of stared at it for the whole five minutes.

After what felt like forever, we dished it up and served it along side some chicken that had baked in marinara sauce.

Looks messy, but it was still fantastic.  Again, as with everything I make soooo much is leftover.  I need to learn how to cook in smaller portions.  Alright well that is all from me this morning.  I’m super jealous of everyone that has off tomorrow, I will be dragging my butt to work in the gorgeous 80 degree weather that is in the forecast.  Since today is “Friday” for some people, any good weekend plans? I’m off to NYC tomorrow to have dinner with the bf’s family on Saturday night, and then we’re both headed back down here for Easter dinner with my family on Sunday.  Busy, busy weekend.  Have a great day!