Happy New Year!

It was a pretty low key New Year's here at the SOTB household. We decided that eating out and battling crowds isn't our thing (well, we decided that a long time ago...anywho...), so we agreed to stay in and make some yummy comfort food and watch a movie.

On the menu:

Lobster Mac n' Cheese
Spinach and Orange Salad
Rose wine

A local fish market (Ipswich Shellfish) has the most to-die-for lobster mac & cheese. We're talking nirvana here, folks. I brought some home not long ago for John and I to have for dinner and ever since then, we've been slightly obsessed with the idea of eating it/making it. So, we decided what better day to try it than New Year's Eve?

John chose a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa -- found here. The only changes we made were using Panko bread crumbs instead of fresh and we had some Asiago cheese, so we added it in. (I then proceeded to take a Lactaid pill.) We got two smallish lobsters from our local supermarket, boiled them up and added them in. A good homemade mac & cheese recipe has always eluded us -- but that came to an end last night!

It came out great! (And yes, there were only two of us eating, but we made enough for a small army, as you'll see by the photo).

We paired that with a spinach and orange salad. I had found this recipe as a side dish to a Cooking Light entree and really liked it, but haven't had a chance to make it since. Again, what better day to try it than New Year's Eve? It's very light and refreshing -- thanks to the cool orange slices and the honey Dijon vinaigrette. If you're tired of plain old garden salad, I recommend giving this a shot:

6 cups of baby spinach
1 1/2 cups fresh orange sections (I use the Mandarin oranges)
1/3 cup slivered red onion
3 Tbsp. chopped pecans

Combine these ingredients in a large bowl.

For dressing:
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. honey
1 1/2 Tbsp. EVOO (now I sound like Rachael Ray -- yikes!)
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Whisk these ingredients. Drizzle over salad and toss to coat.

We had a bottle of Rose wine that had been in the fridge for quite some time (I'm pleading the fifth on how long), so we had that with it.

It was a great meal!

(That little ramekin has what John was calling our appetizer -- some "leftover" lobster in butter with bread crumbs.)

After eating, we had planned to watch The Fighter on our new TV with new sound system. Um yeah, Netflix streaming? Not so much. So, we perused the choices On Demand and watched this:

Yes, that's right -- a kid's movie. I'm a sucker for animal stories. It's based on a true story, so the premise was great and heartwarming, but the writing/acting? Pretty bad.

We then rung in the New Year by celebrating with some Spanish sparkling wine in the toasting flutes that we used at our wedding. We do this every New Year's Eve. I love the flutes (they're a deep amethyst color) and want to actually use them vs. keeping them in a box.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope 2012 is the best yet!