What's Growing In The Garden-Horseradish

Horseradish!

When I planted it my grandma told me that I probably never needed to plan it again! That ever if i dug it up, that it would probably come back. She was right.

Over the weekend I was planting and there was some horseradish growing somewhere where I swore I had dug it up last fall. In fact, I know I did. But there it was. And I wanted to plant something there.

So I dug it up again.

I made horseradish mashed potatoes with some of my garden potatoes that I still have in the refrigerator but I've already made those before. They were delish and horseradish isn't nearly so pungent grated as it is when you buy it in a jar with vinegar.

I also made a horseradish dressing that we used with grilled steaks. So simple and so good. And I've never used horseradish in that manner before. It was surprisingly good. I don't often use horseradish but after the potatoes and this dressing I think I may re-think this a little.

Horseradish dressing
15cm horseradish root, peeled and finely grated
8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 tbsp white wine vinegar

Mix everything together well and the dressing is ready to use on salads, eggs, potatoes, roast beef, and thinly sliced raw tuna or trout. The dressing will keep for a week or so in the refrigerator but is at its most potent when first made.

In other food related news, we used the leftover sauce from this chicken with sauteed asparagus, mushrooms & shrimp over pasta for a nice mother's day dinner.

What's Growing In The Garden-Chives

Oh my goodness, it's been a long time since I've been here. The museum is opening on the 14th and I'm feeling a little frazzled at this point. I still feel like there are many many things to do before then.

In the midst of all of this I decided that I miss cooking. I really do. I used to get immense enjoyment of browsing through cookbooks or websites for delicious things to make and then making them.  I have not done that in a long time. I haven't cooked dinner in months. (Except for the Best Roast Chicken ever-But I don't really count that because it only takes 5 minutes.)  Don't worry, we're all eating still-my husband does dinner.

They say your tastes change every 7 or so years and I believe them because I can't actually think of anything I'd like to make at this point that I have a recipe for except for these Blueberry Muffins, which I made this week.

And I'm itching for food from the garden, which there isn't very much of at this point.

So I've decided on a new feature for my blog & my life. Each week I'm going to cook something new with food from my yard. (and my freezer as I'm trying to clean it out in anticipating of new produce this summer!) and post it here. That way people can see what's actually in season and local.

Today we have chives I have a lot of chives and they are beautiful right now. ...Actually this experiment started on Monday with a horrendous Seafood Salad with herbed olive oil. That was a complete waste of shrimp, calamari, scallops & fresh herbs and  prompted my husband to ask if I just wanted to leave the dinner prep to him....

Undaunted, I made the muffins on Tuesday (Farmer's Market Frozen Blueberries) and Chicken Breasts with Chive and Mustard Sauce today.  This was delicious and it made a lot of sauce. Don't you hate it when a recipe with sauce hardly makes any sauce? Well this didn't dissapoint and I served the sauce over the chicken and the broccoli I steamed as a side dish. I even had leftover sauce that I put into the fridge that I can't decide what to do with-It was that yummy! (how many times did I just say sauce?)

I felt better about my cooking skills tonight!

Where Rachel Ray Has No Soul and I Cook Indian Food

My husband and I are good cooks. What I mean to say is that we like to cook and like different foods and like to make nice things, because really, anyone can be a good cook.  All you need to do is follow the recipe.

Provided you've picked out a good recipe.

And therein lies the challenge.

The other night I was talking to Toni Lynn about food and cooking and I was explaining how the recipes in my favorite Italian cook have something special. They have a depth of flavor that you just don't get from Rachel Ray's 30 minute races to the table. And don't stone me or anything, we've made some Rachel Ray recipes, they were good, but they lacked soul. Her recipes are one dimensional ways to feed your family real food in a reasonable time frame. I get it. It's not all bad.
 

BTW, am I the only one who wants to slap Rachel Ray until she falls down? Seriously, I'd like to stick one of her annoying SAMMIES in her big mouth every time she utters the phrase EVOO.   My husband recently read an article to me from her magazine. It was some dumb ass thing about cooking new foods from around the world with an Americanized twist and how "don't worry, they'll taste as familiar to you as pizza and fried chicken"

OMG, How sad is that? Cooking foods from around the world that taste just like they came from your own country. Does anyone really want to do that???? Do they? Speak up if you do. Especially if I know you because I'll feed you what I made for dinner this weekend to knock some sense into you.


Maybe this sounds like a bit of food snobbery on my part and maybe it is. Hell I eat plain food and junk food and nothing special too. I just don't WRITE about it. If I write about something it's because I like it or care about it. It makes me think. Americanized French food? That is what Rachel Ray thinks about?


I'm also willing to admit that if someone were to pay me bags of money to wax cutsey about SAMMIES, I'd probably do it. There's no crime in it. I just don't have to like it when I see it.

And now that we've covered my hatred of Rachel Ray we can move on.

Back in June one of my husband's students who happens to be Indian, brought him a small cooler full of Indian food that her mother had cooked for him. This stuff was amazing. I mean I've had Indian food before,  restaurant cooking, this was home cooked, southern Indian fare.

There was this rice. And it intrigued me. I mean it came with the Star anise and cinnamon  sticks whole in the dish. It was aromatic and tasted like, well, I can't even describe it. There were just all of these layers of flavor in this one rice dish. That someone made in their kitchen...

There were 3 different kinds of rice actually and I've been pondering that rice all summer (and we've been mostly grilling and eating easy meals with our schedule and the heat-See what I mean...nothing to write about.)

This weekend, with a little time to spare,  (because I'm actually a pretty sucky cook when I rush) I made Indian food, Chicken Tikka Masala (my favorite Indian main meal) and this Indian Style rice with Cashews and Raisins. OMG... Seriously. Coconut milk in the rice cooking broth! The best rice I've ever had IN MY LIFE. It was yellow from the turmeric and sweet from the golden raisins and spicy all at the same time. The chicken had  a mixture of cinnamon and cumin in the marinade.  The flavor in these dishes was so RICH.   Today I made, Rajma chawal (red bean curry) to go with the remainder of the rice for my lunch tomorrow.


These dishes were like a wake-up call to my senses and I liked it! It's been a while since my own cooking has spoken to my soul like that.

(Well except for that lobster popcorn but I fear that boarders on gluttony.)

Spring Herb Dressing & Garlic Scapes

Today I noticed that my garlic had scapes! (The green things on the left). I have been wanting to make my favorite herb dressing for a week now (nothing has been stopping me, I've just been lazy busy.)

The recipe I use is from The Horn of The Moon Cookbook. Jen used to make it when I would visit her in college. I never forgot the title of the book and could never find it. When I finally did I bought it just for this recipe. I bought it used. On Amazon it is $74 new.(out of print)  Used it was $3.99.

Herb Dressing-I called it Spring herb dressing because I used fresh herbs. Yes, that picture is actually my herbs!

1 C. Sunflower Oil-I usually use olive oil for salad dressing because I like the taste and usually just make a simple vinegarette where that matters, but this is SO flavorful I think you can skip that. Olive oil is expensive. I used canola oil.

2 Large Garlic Cloves (I used 3 scapes)
1/2 C Fresh Parsley
2 tsp dried dill. I have this growing in the garden so I used fresh.
1 tsp dried chives. Fresh also. This cookbook was written in 1987 a time when I don't think I ever saw a fresh herb at my house. I think it was the time period. The fresh are better but it is nice to know that you could make this in the dead of winter....
Dash of ground black pepper
1/4 tsp celery seed (I skipped this today)
1/3 C Cider Vingar. I had plain white today. It was fine.
1/4 tsp salt.

Blend it all together in the blender!

We used this on zucchini that we then grilled this evening for a side dish. This was after I planted 5 zucchini plants in the garden. That  is more zucchini than ANYONE needs. I just had some space. And some leftover plants.  I can't bear to see possible food go to waste. I guess I'll just send people home with zucchini when they visit this summer. Having zucchini tonight was just plain dumb. We also also had snow peas that I picked today stir fried with a cut up garlic scape. Don't worry, scapes are milder than garlic. I do have garlic breath right now though.

Leek Gratin

Leeks. I love leeks.

I planted some last year and have been enjoying them since the fall. I bought one $3 pack of seedlings at the garden center and have enjoyed over 75 of them, at least. At Wegmans they are pretty expensive so I think that the leeks have given me the  biggest return on investment for all of my veggies.

Alas it is almost May and I have to clear out the garden to make way for new veggies. And since, I rotate my crops each year, I need to make way in the leek garden for something else. We've been eating a lot of leeks. Not just as ingredients, as side dishes. Yes, we probably all do have stinky breath right now.

My favorite side dish is crazy easy.  I got it from an old episode of Rebecca's Garden, which used to air on HGTV.

Leek Gratin
3-4 large leeks (Mine were considerably smaller than the picture so I used more.)
1 8oz containger heavy cream
2/3 cup Gruyere Cheese (I used plain old swiss this past weekend and it was fine.  Gruyere is just really nice Swiss cheese anyway.)
Salt & Pepper
Sprig or 2 of Thyme ( I have an herb garden, if you do not, skip this. Don't buy thyme just for this)

Cut the leeks into 3 inch pieces and slice lengthwise. Keep Leeks in half moon shape and lay cut side down in a 9-inch pie plate. Cover bottom of the plate with leeks. Pour heavy cream over the top and add a pinch of salt & pepper & thyme sprigs. Bake at 350 for 30 min  (45 if the leeks are really huge) min. After 30 minutes sprinkle with cheese and bake 15 minutes more.  This is SO DELICIOUS. The leeks are nice a sweet and the cheese and cream are warm and gooey. It is rich though.  You don't need a lot even though you'll want to eat a lot.

This makes enough for 4 people but you might need something extra like asparagus to balance the richness.

I just thought of something. One thing I've never mentioned before is the fact that we don't usually have a starchy side dish with our dinner. (As much as I love them.)  We usually have a main entree and then a vegetable side, sometimes 2 if it's a rich one like the above mentioned leek, but usually just one.  We cook good meals from scratch almost every night.  I'm convinced we can do this more easily because of the fact that we only make 2 things. Sometimes if there are leftover vegetables from the night before they get heated up, but mostly we eat only one side. 

Both my husband and I are from homes where dinner was a main entree, starch side dish and a vegetable. Sometimes my mom puts 2 or 3 sides on the table. At first when we tried to lower the amount of  rice/potato/pasta on the plates, our plates felt weird, like they were missing something. Now it's just normal for us and is so much more simple than trying to cook 3 things at once. 

We eat the same amount as before, just less starch. Since I tend to eat too much of any starch at the expense of my vegetable, this forces me (my husband does not  need forcing ever) to eat enough vegetables. It is more expensive to eat this way, as asparagus is more costly than rice, but it's a cost  that I am willing to pay. 

It's gotten dicey lately as my daughter has gotten more picky and often I'm making broccoli as a 3rd side a few times a week because it's her favorite, but that is a post for another day.

The Last Word On Roast Chicken

My husband is a very good cook. And most evenings he cooks dinner for us. He spends a lot of time flipping through various cooking magazines, making grocery lists and meal plans for the week (I know!!!)  Most of the time I'm all on board with this.

Except for Roast Chicken.

We can't seem to agree on a Roast Chicken recipe. Ok, I don't actually have my own recipe. I just sit around complaining about the different ways that he makes his. He prefers a high temperature roast but I think that makes the house smell and I don't like the finished product and am constantly worried that it is undercooked. It skeeves me out. Sometimes he makes an Asian style bird that calls for boiling it before roasting but that is really complicated and messy. Mostly I steer him to something else when he's talking about making a whole chicken.

Pretty much lately we've resorted to Wegman's rotisserie chicken

A while back we had a roast chicken at Jeannine's house that I loved  so I stalked her on her home and cell phones today trying to get this magic recipe. Unfortunately I was unable to locate her before I had to work on the bird. I did know that she roasts hers for a longer time on lower heat.

That in mind I found THIS RECIPE!!!

OMG... I'm done. I've found the prefect roast chicken recipe. It was so easy and the chicken was tender and literally falling off the bone.  It roasted for 5 hours today and it was cold and rainy out. What a wonderful smell wafting through the house. It's not ideal for a work night if someone is not home during the day but it went together so fast that it would be the perfect centerpiece of a nice Sunday meal that you didn't have to slave over all day long. It says to keep the rub on overnight which would have probably been really great but I only had 45 minutes before it needed to cook. It was fine. I also cut the amount of salt down from 4 tsps to 2 tsp and it was still salty, next time I might go less.

I think you could probably use any kind of seasoning you like as long as you stick with the cooking time/temp. Jeannine told me she pierces the skin and pours wine over the bird. Next time I may try that with some rosemary and garlic.

And my husband? He agreed that it was absolutely delicious!

Blue Plate Special-Meatloaf for Dinner

I don't eat meat loaf. It's not a foodie bias mind you. Well maybe it is. See, my mother used to make terrible meatloaf when I was a child (Served with a brown mushroom gravy. She also makes bad meatballs. I think the act of forming ground beef into something other than hamburgers (which she does really well) is just something she never mastered) She also does not read my blog....

But meatloaf. Just the word makes me think of a hard slab of dense meat "product" (This is from my mom's  use of breadcrumbs rather than bread soaked in milk, my MIL makes awesome meatballs and she swears by the bread/milk combo.)

So I don't know what possessed me to make meatloaf for dinner. Well yes I do, last week we made (ok, my husband made) linguine with clam sauce from The Pioneer Woman Cooks, cookbook and it was delicious. (She's not a real pioneer like me of course, but her husband IS a cattle rancher while mine is a History teacher who makes clam sauce..... I guess she wins that round... Oh well. She's got a blog, it's great.) I don't think she makes her own butter though....

Today was rainy and cold and when we got back from pre-school the last thing I wanted to do was go to Wegmans. Unfortunately we had NOTHING in the refrigerator. Nothing except the ingredients to Pioneer Woman's Meatloaf. (I think half the people in America could probably make this meat loaf right now.)

Why not, I though, give Meatloaf another try.

Meatloaf
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

1 cup milk
6 bread slices
2 pound ground beef
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
1/4 teaspoon Lawry's season salt
Fresh ground black pepper
4 eggs, beaten
8 -12 thin bacon slices

Tomato Gravy:
1 1/2 cups ketchup
6 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
Hot Sauce, to taste


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Pour the milk over the bread and let it soak in for several minutes.

Then, combine the ground beef, milk soaked bread, Parmesan cheese, salt, seasoned salt, and black pepper in a large mixing bowl. Pour in the beaten eggs. With clean hands, mix the ingredients until combined.Form into a loaf on a broiler pan. Lay bacon slices over the top, tucking underneath.

To make the tomato gravy, pour the ketchup in a small mixing bowl, and add the brown sugar, dry mustard, and Tabasco. Stir until combined.

Pour one third of the tomato gravy over the meatloaf. Bake for 45 minutes, then pour another third of the gravy over top. Bake another 45 minutes.

I did not make a lot of changes to this recipe but I did not have Lawry's Season Salt so I just skipped it. I also did not have bread so I used whole wheat hot dog rolls from the freezer (I told you we had nothing in the fridge). I added some sauteed green onions and garlic to the meat mixture & I also made 2 meat loaves instead of one big one and it cooked for about an hour and 15 minutes. The next time I may half the recipe as it makes a LARGE amount of meatloaf. One was sufficient to feed my family (there are only 3 of us) but I like leftovers so it was ok.

My family LOVED LOVED LOVED this meatloaf. I liked it too. Meat wrapped in bacon, how can you go wrong. I was a little surprised by how much we all liked it. I think my daughter ate 3 pieces.  I've officially revised my stance on meatloaf.

I would have really liked it with mashed potatoes, but like I said, nothing in the fridge.... So for side dishes we had that giant turnip cubed and roasted in olive oil  with a side of Braised Leeks with Lemon and broccoli leftover from last night's dinner.

I really need to go grocery shopping tomorrow because I don't think I can pull another meal like that out of thin air!

Homemade Hummus

My recent favorite snack is

 

Sabra Hummus (I like them all but prefer roasted red pepper.) This stuff is SO good.

On 

Stacy's Simply Naked Sea Salt Baked Pita Chips.

The problem with this is that both items are $3.99 at the grocery store. $8 a week for a snack of hummus and pita.... (Yes, I do remember the $20 a gallon Eggnog. It's my blog though. I get to pick and  choose.) I usually cave and buy them anyway. Then I feel guilty because for $8 I could buy yogurt for the week or a pork roast or a bag of Wegman's Belize shrimp. 

Today I thought about the fact that I have a perfectly good Hummus recipe that takes minutes to whip up and is really great. And the fact that I already had everything at home to make this. (I did buy the chips though. Perhaps next week I'll downgrade to regular pita....)

I got the recipe from a Lebanese man that I worked with. His wife would make big batches of it for special events and people always loved it. 

Hummus

1 Can Garbanzo Beans (Chick Peas) rinsed. You can (and I have) make this even cheaper by buying dried beans and cooking those before making this but since I'm offering you a replacement to a store bought convienience product I'm not going to turn you off by making you start by soaking your beans the night before. A can will do just fine.

Juice 1/2 Lemon. Or, 2TBSP lemon (I like fresh but we always have a bottle of lemon juice just in case.)

2 Cloves Garlic-Just cut it up a little, it's all going in your food processor anyway. I like a little more.

2 TBSP Tahini. It's sesame paste. You can't make good hummus without it. You just cannot. The first time you make Hummus you'll be cursing me because the jar is $5. You'll be thinking that you could just buy hummus for $4. However, you can make A LOT of Hummus with a jar of tahini. And it lasts a long time. 

1 tsp Cumin-Also a requirement for good hummus. I actually like a little more than this but this is a good starting point. 

2 tsp salt 

The key here is to process all of these ingredients in a food processor or blender until it is VERY smooth. It will take you longer than you think. You can add a little water or olive oil if you think it needs a little extra wetness to get things moving. I'm only talking like 2-3TBSP though.

You can get all crazy and add  extras like roasted red pepper or roasted garlic but it's really good just like it is.

Split Pea Soup

Today I made one of my favorite soups, split pea.   I have already posted this recipe but it was back in 2007 (I could hardly believe that myself!) It's something I make a lot  in the wintertime and new readers may not have seen it.

I only use yellow peas because the green makes it look like, well, split pea soup. And no one likes that visual. Look how nice it looks with yellow peas! The key to making this really great is having a ham bone with a nice amount of meat still on it, so be generous when carving your ham.  I love this soup because there are hardly any ingredients in it and it's simply wonderful. It also makes use of something that you would normally discard and an entire pot can be made for under $2.

I'm  the only person in the house who eats this. (Please do not let this be seen as a reflection of the quality of the soup. )  I don't understand what scares people about making a large batch of something if you are the only one eating it. I don't want to eat this soup all week so I freeze it in 1-2 serving size portions and take some out when I want some. I do this all the time with leftovers.

My brother also happens to love this soup so I packaged up half of it to take to him tomorrow.

Vanilla Chai Tea

For  those of you who may be getting tired of the diary, I made this instant Vanilla Chai tea mix today & enjoyed it while I browsed the diary and Ancestry.com this evening.... 

The first time I made this I omitted the non-dairy creamer... I hate non-dairy creamer (in theory anyway). Originally I used just straight powdered milk. Well the finished product was good but not as good as one I recently had. So I added it today. And it was just like the one I recently had. And it was delicious.... (I know, I'm a terrible hypocrite. Hate me...)  

 

The spices for this are kind of steep  if you don't already have them.  I had to buy Cardamom which was $11 a bottle. (What the heck is in this stuff? Cardamom, yes, I know that.....) And you only use 1 tsp. (which means I won't run out for a long time thank goodness. ) It's a lovely lovely spice though and I can only describe as smelling faintly like spicy lavender. I'm  going to look for some recipes which showcase this new found gem. 

 

Please note this recipe needs a sweetener.  The original recipe called for sugar but I left it out so that people can control what and how much they use. I also used decaff tea so that I can cosy up with a mug of this at night.

 Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups nonfat dry milk powder
• 1 1/2 cups French vanilla flavored powdered non-dairy creamer
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened instant tea
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine milk powder, non-dairy creamer, vanilla flavored creamer,  and instant tea. Stir in ginger, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. In a blender or food processor, blend 1 cup at a time, until mixture is the consistency of fine powder.(I did not do the blender part this evening as it seemed unnecessary. I don't think the end product suffered.  I may just keep mixing it together and be done with it.)
2. To serve: Stir 4 heaping teaspoons Chai tea mixture into a mug of hot water. (I mean the teaspoons from your silverware drawer, not an actual unit of measure.) Add sweetener of your choice. 
3. Send me a mental thank you for this lovely drink.

You Should Invite Me To Dinner

Because if you do I will bring,

Chocolate Caramel Frozen Parfaits

These were so so very good this weekend! I brought them to Kristin and Michael's house for dessert on Saturday night.They turned out exactly like the picture and tasted like frozen chocolate mousse.

I even made the homemade chocolate sauce and real whipped cream as an accompaniment.

However, foodie over zealousness prevails in this recipe as well. There are not that many ingredients in the recipe, and yet.... and yet, it uses so many bowls....At one point it says "melt x in a small saucepan" and  then it goes on to say, "In another small saucepan, heat up x"  What? How many small saucepans do they think I have. The answer, is that I have 1!! Just like I have only 1 bowl to my kitchenaid stand mixer yet the recipe has you mix up the custard for 10 min and then "in another bowl" beat the whipped cream...Those extra bowls are like $40, I don't think so.....

Overall, except for all of the dishwashing, it was a pretty easy and impressive dessert.

Scrambled Eggs

Yup, this post is really about scrambled eggs. I didn't use that title as a pithy little intro about my biological clock or anything like that. I'm really talking about chicken eggs....

I make really great scrambled eggs. Jen thinks I make the best scrambled eggs ever and lets me make them whenever we see each other. Or perhaps it's that fact that I'm critical about the scrambled egg endeavors of others and she just doesn't  want to be bothered with my bitching.

Ok, I know there are other things in the world that one might want to brag about. Harder more complicated things to cook.  This might seem like a pretty small accomplishment, almost not worth mentioning. Scrambled eggs. But a lot of people get them wrong.

I'm not one of them.

There are a few key things that you must and must not do and I am going to share these with you today.

Scramble your eggs with a little water. I mean like a teaspoon per egg (not like the one in your silverware drawer, like a real teaspoon-you don't need to measure this-just be aware of this. Of course if you have no clue what a real teaspoon of water looks like you may want to check it out.) Now just mix it all up. Don't beat the hell out of them. You don't need to totally incorporate your white into your yoke. Gently is your key word here. Use a fork. Don't be a spaz.

Melt some butter. Ok this is important. I use a stainless steel pan so I need to do this. Otherwise the eggs stick like crazy in it. But even if you use non-stick, MELT SOME DAMN BUTTER IN IT. And I mean REAL butter. Forget the non-stick spray. That is why your eggs suck.

I'm going to take a small aside and talk about butter for a minute. Most of you know I love butter. You know what-Life is way to short to use crappy margarine. Really people. Butter is not going to kill you. Neither is real cream in your coffee for that matter. It's the other crap you eat that might kill you, but butter won't be the culprit. Trust me, my father had a heart attack and a quadruple bypass and eats margarine and those flavored fat free coffee creamers.  That didn't help him....It won't help you. Enjoy your life a little more. Eat some butter.

So back to your pan with some melted butter. Use enough so your eggs don't stick. I use about med high heat. Pour the eggs in and let them set for 20-30 seconds. I like a heat resistant spatula for this next part.  Gently fold the eggs over on themselves. Keep folding. Don't get all crazy and stir them around. You'll end up breaking them apart too much like that. Again, gentle.....

Ok here is the CRUCIAL step. Just BEFORE you feel the eggs are done. Like you think "These eggs are almost done." At that point take the eggs OFF the heat. Then fold them over again. The eggs will finish cooking in the pan. You won't be eating runny eggs. I promise. If you wait until the eggs are done then you will over cook them. They will be hard and dry and you'll have to eat them with burnt toast with margarine and coffee with fake cream in it.... (and I do know so many of my  friends use this creamer, don't worry. I still love you. I can even find pleasure in it myself sometimes...I just prefer the real thing.)

Now another step for the more advanced. If you want cheese in your eggs, you NEVER, EVER, EVER mix the cheese into the eggs when you scramble them up. Put the cheese into the eggs at the time that you take the eggs off the heat. Just fold it all in. There is no way that your cheese needs to cook for as long as your eggs do. Additionally, some cheeses will give off a lot of water and you'll end up with a runny mess if you add the cheese and eggs to the pan from the beginning. Just don't do it. You might as well start from scratch if you do.

Add salt and pepper after the eggs are done. Not before they are cooked.

If you want to add veggies, cook them up before you add the eggs, unless we are talking spinach and then add that with some feta cheese at the cheese time mentioned above.

It's all really about the butter and the heat, use them both well.

Happy Eating!

Creamy Leek Soup

I made my Sunday soup this evening.

I really really like leeks but find them rather expensive at the grocery store, thus the reason that I planted so many. I bought 1, $3 pack of leeks at the nursery this year. They come in one big clump and you can separate them and plant each one, which is about the thickness of a piece of grass. I planted every single one in the package. They look all funny and bent over at first. Then, with 6 or 7 months to spare, you have a field of leeks. It's a pretty great deal actually. $3 and a little patience. (which I usually have in short supply.) Deer don't even eat them so they don't take up room behind the fence.

At any rate, at this time of year I am judiciously using them and looking for new recipes. I had been looking for a potato & leek soup recipe, and while this one has potato in it, it's not very much, just to add a little depth I think. This soup is all about the leeks!

Creamy Leek Soup

I get most of my recipes from epicurious.com, which is the recipe site for Bon Appetit and Gourmet Magazines.  Their search engine is great and if you can think of something you would like to eat, you can probably find a recipe for it, complete with ratings and comments. Also, it's probably the best version of whatever item you are looking for. However, once in a while, these foodies take themselves WAY too seriously. This recipe calls for 1 Turkish bay leaf or 1/2 California Bay left. Really? Seriously? Am I really to believe that the California Bay Leaf is oh so much more pungent than the Turkish that I would need to determine which one I have in order to make this recipe???? Seriously???? My bay leaf comes off of a wreathe that I got fresh and dried. I have no idea what kind it is. A dutiful cook would maybe google images of the leaves and then compare them to what she has. I didn't do that. I split the difference and included 3/4 of one leaf. The soup tastes just fine. 

Pioneer Dinner Party

Last year, when I was a pioneer who died of Malaria, they gave me a reciept (recipe) book of all of the items that I was to cook that weekend. While I did not get to all of them, (Squirrel) I cooked many of them and had wanted to have a dinner party so my friends could share them with us. The foods were very much fall inspired so I waited the entire year to have this dinner. I sent everyone receipts to make and they all did fabulously!

When people arrived I made them churn butter for the meal. This took them an hour taking turns (I think I made my own in about 30 min) They were, however, drinking wine, so perhaps that slowed the process a little as churning usually requires two hands.....

Dinner was:

-Green Tomato & Jalapeno Jam over cream cheese on crackers-we didn't actually eat this as pioneers but I recently made it and thought it was a rather frugal way to make use of green tomatoes. A few guests complained that I didn't make my own crackers. It was yummy though and we'll be serving it for Thanksgiving while people have drinks.

-Pumpkin Apple Soup

-Artisan Bread with Homemade Butter (see above!)

-Sauteed Apples and Onions

-Carrots with brown sugar and herbs

-My fingerling potatoes with leeks-Not part of the original meal, but you can't get much more pioneer than growing your own side dish right?

-Rotisserie Pork Roast-This was neat at the museum-I took a pork roast and tied it between 2 sticks. Then strung it next to the fire and twirled it ALL DAY LONG. It acted like a rotisserie and the taste of this pork roast was really really great. We used the grill rotisserie last night and it worked well.

-Apple Ketchup-This is a rather appley/spicy condiment. I made a full batch and sent guest home with a jar.

-Laura Ingalls's Gingerbread Cake. Also, not on the original menu. Someone else made a dessert for the dance that I didn't get to attend. I don't recall ever hearing about it. When Deanna and Bridget visited me in the infirmary during the dance I was in the final stages of Yellow Fever and no one wanted to mention food....

All in all, everyone thought that the pioneers ate really well. What they didn't actually experience. (as we all cooked pieces of this meal) is that a meal like this takes all day long to make as well as many journeys to the well for water. And I'm just talking about the main part, not including the appetizer, soup or dessert, which would not have been a usual part of the meal. The soup would have been it's own meal.

I'm fascinated by the way in which people used to live but I know I tend to romanticize pioneer life sometimes. Mostly because I get a real thrill doing things by hand. But really, I do those things in my heated or cooled house, on my own time, and not as a means to survival. In practice it was much different.

When I was at the museum they gave me Women's Diaries of The Westward Journey which I read by candlelight next to the fireplace with a shawl on. (Yeah, how jazzed was I at that point?!?!?) It was an amazing glimpse into the lives of those women, much of which was filled with struggle and heartbreak. One woman loses her husband to Cholera (and she also notes that she's been wearing the same dress for 6 weeks while tending to all the sick on the wagon train) and she turns around and marries a bachelor who is heading west as well. I mean, like the next day! Not because she loved him of course, but because she was halfway to her destination, could not go home and could not set up a homestead alone. Good Lord.....

Real pioneers spent most of their lives just surviving and rather isolated. How far can you go when you need to haul water and cook all day just to meet your basic dietary requirements. And while you are inside doing this your husband works tirelessly on crops, hunting and providing food and firewood.

If you happened to live before the time when textile mills appeared, things were much much worse for you. A family had to spend part of every day in the production of their own fabric if they wanted any clothes at all.

And now that I've made you all grateful that you live in this day and age, go get some more coffee and get back to work in your nice heated offices!!!

You Have NO IDEA

When I was in college I would go home for Thanksgiving break. Every Thanksgiving night after my own families festivities were over, I would head to Stephanie's house for leftover mashed potatoes and dessert. It became a tradition and her family was always so welcoming to me. Her mom, the beautiful Mrs Accongio, gave me pointers on being a cool blond and taught me to shimmy..... (I'm still working on getting the cool blond act right however. )

There was always this FANTASTIC pound cake. I've spent years remembering that cake. We recently starting talking about it again and Stephanie asked her mom for the recipe.

Just today this recipe made it to my in-box. It completely made my day and I am thrilled to share it with you. I am not kidding you folks, this is the best cake EVER. It's dense, it's velvety, it's buttery. Seriously, it's a good thing I'm not diabetic because I would probably put myself into a coma with this cake. My goodness, look at the ingredients!! A POUND of combined butter and Margarine, 6 Eggs and Cream Cheese.....

I am SOOOOOO making this for Thanksgiving this year!

Best Pound Cake Ever
Ingredients:
3 C. Softasilk Cake flour ( must use a cake flour for this recipe- all purpose will not work)
6 eggs at room temperature
3 C. sugar
1 8oz. package of cream cheese softened at room temp
1/2 pound of butter softened at room temp
1/2 pound of margarine softened at room temp
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp grated lemon rind (optional- can also use orange rind) be sure not to get the bitter white membrane

Directions:
1. Cream well: sugar, cream cheese, butter and margarine, salt, vanilla, and optional lemon rind.
2. Gradually add 3 C flour. One cup at a time and gently mix after each addition
3. Add 6 eggs 1 at a time mix after each egg.

Put batter into WELL greased (buttered) Bundt pan

DO NOT preheat oven! Bake at 300degrees for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. until golden brown
(usually about 2 hours)


I usually make This Pumpkin Pie for Thanksgiving. It's simply the perfect classic pumpkin pie with exactly the right amount and blend of spices. I love this pie and look forward to it every year. Alas, I am saving myself for my rekindled love with Pound Cake.

Sunday Soup & Muffins

Awhile ago, back when I worked actually, I designated Sundays (In the fall & winter anyway) as a day to make soup & muffins or quiche or something for breakfast that we could eat for more than one day. Then we could either have the soup on Monday evening for dinner or pack it for lunches during the week.

I've kind of gotten away from that but was thinking I should re-institute it. Being home I guess I can make soup any time I want, but I tend to work better with a schedule. I think I'll post my recipes each week in case you want to play along at home!

So today I made:

Butternut Soup with Cider Cream. I actually skipped the cream on this one because I didn't have any whipping cream. I also skipped the sour cream in the soup as I felt like this would be a nice non-dairy soup to have (even a dairy whore like myself needs to take a break sometime.) This soup is fabulous! You can taste both the squash and apple and the carrots and leeks give it a nice
depth of flavor.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins. My girl and I made these together. I used whole wheat pastry flour instead of white flour. Whole wheat pastry flour is a great way to incorporate whole wheat flour into your baking without experiencing all the heaviness that is usually associated with exchanging whole wheat for white flour. I was going to skip the chocolate chips but then changed my mind and chopped up some Halloween chocolate bars instead. This of course, took this item from the breakfast to snack category but I've never been convinced a muffin is really breakfast food anyway (The ingredients are the exact SAME as cake people!) These are YUMMY!!!

Tomato Bisque

Yesterday I was staring at 4lbs of tomatoes that ripened on my windowsill this past week. What to do?

Then I remembered my favorite tomato bisque and quickly set down to making it.

This is not your run of the mill Campbell's soup people. You don't even have to like that stuff to like this. It's SO good!

This recipe is perfect as is so you really don't have to make any adjustments to it at all. I however, did not have any beef bullion and used homemade chicken stock I had made a few days before. I just cooked it down longer. I also did not put the tomatoes through a food mill as after cooking for the longer time I just mashed them a little with a fork, I don't mind some chunks anyway. You could also use a hand blender if you wanted a smoother texture like the picture.

Also, I used the same amount of butter/half& half (that is what I had and you really don't need to use heavy cream) that one would use for 2 lbs of tomatoes for 4lbs of tomatoes. It's still really rich and you won't feel as naughty eating it. You can even used canned tomatoes for this, although I prefer fresh.

I used yellow and pinkish tomatoes so the color of this soup is a little like sunset.

Pumpkin (Squash) Side Dish

While we were on our library date, I had my favorite fall side dish roasting in the oven at home.

We call it Pumpkin with Apples but it's really butternut squash. If you call it squash my daughter will not eat it. As pumpkin, it's perfectly acceptable.

This was my veggie harvest from this afternoon. Both of the squash & the onion were harmed in the making of this blog post!

Small aside-I am SO SICK OF GREEN BEANS. I'm just blanching them now and throwing them into a freezer bag for use this winter. I just can't face them anymore.

This is a really easy recipe & everyone who eats it really likes it! I made it up myself but it's really not difficult so I imagine a lot of people make something similar.

1 large or 2 small Butternut Squash
1 Apple (I used a Sweet Tango which is a cross between my favorite Honey Crisp & Something else, generally at this time of year we get a bushell of apples so that I can make applesauce and other yummy treats but we didn't get it yet so I bought those apples at Wegmans.)
1 small onion
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Peel & seed squash. Chop the apple ( I don't peel it) and squash into cubes. Slice onion into rings & separate. Drizzle enough olive oil over it so that it coats everything nicely for your taste and salt & pepper.

Roast in a 350 degree oven for 1-1 1/2 hrs-If you like it really caramelized you'll probably want the longer cooking time. Don't try & speed up the cooking time by increasing the temperature, it won't work. Just let the slow roasting do it's job.

The apple adds a perfect amount of sweetness to the whole dish. At this time of year you can find a lot of roasted veggie recipes which contain maple syrup and while I like those, they sometimes seem too sweet. This is perfectly savory taste with a hint of sweetness.
I put this together right before we left for the library but sometimes I have chopped up all of the ingredients the evening before. The worst part is peeling the squash.

We served this with a roasted chicken & boy it was a nice cosy fall meal. I'm not going to lie to you people, it was a Wegmans Roasted chicken-Nobody here wants to cook on Monday night and I had a date with my girlie to keep!

Roasted Tomatoes in Olive Oil

The past 2 weekends I have made 2 batches of these lovely tomatoes. I got the recipe from my friend Diana and I'm completely copying it here for your reading & cooking pleasure (with her permission of course!)

"I used '4th of July' tomatoes, but any small roma-type will do. ('Juliette' is also a good variety). I cut them in half, take out the seeds and place them on cookie sheets.

I put my gas oven on WARM, then crack the door. I leave them in overnight, and part of the next day, always keeping the oven low, but close the door if I'm up and about to speed things along, but checking them often. They're usually done in 24-30 hours or so. You want them to be a little rubbery, not crisp!

Then, I put them in a jar with fresh rosemary snips (or you can use garlic or basil or hot peppers; whatever you like) and cover them all with olive oil. Make sure every tomato is COVERED to prevent any mold problems. Keep them in the fridge. The oil will harden, but 15 minutes on the counter when you want to use them brings it back to clear... I snip them and use them in salads, on pizza, with pasta, in dips, etc. They last a good 6 months in the fridge, but they never last that long!"


I actually used an oven at 200 degrees and it took from morning until evening with me turning them ever so often. I also used my own homegrown garlic and basil in the olive oil. They are DIVINE. Last week I had Kristin over for lunch and made grilled cheese with mozzarella, my homemade pesto and these tomatoes. I used the oil from the jar on the outside of the bread. These sandwiches tasted like the best pannini you've ever had. We've also been eating them along with olives as a pre-dinner snack! I'm dying to put them in a really great pasta recipe. I may have to make even more of these soon! Two trays of tomatoes just fits in one small canning jar!

A Pasta For Karley

Since my Vodka sauce recipe slightly derailed my friend Karley from her new trek into being a full vegetarian I thought I would post a pasta recipe for her that is meat-free and also delicious!

Penne with Greens, Olives and Feta

• 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley (I used some that I dried from my garden last year and just soaked it in water beforehand)
  
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel (I just used lemon juice from a bottle)
  
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 large bunch greens (such as spinach, mustard greens, kale, or broccoli rabe; about 1 pound), thick stems removed, spinach left whole, other greens cut into 1-inch strips (about 10 cups packed)-I used broccoli rabe. This is a great reminder that the season for spring greens is upon us (or soon to be in some areas.) A perfect time to score some good greens at the farmer's market!
  
• 12 ounces penne
• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pitted Kalamata olives
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (about 3 ounces)

Mix parsley, lemon peel and garlic in small bowl; set aside.

Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Add greens and cook just until tender, 1 to 6 minutes, depending on type of greens. Using skimmer or slotted spoon, transfer greens to colander to drain. Return water to boil. Add pasta and cook just until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 3/4 cup pasta cooking liquid. Return pasta to pot; add greens and 3 tablespoons oil and toss. Stir in olives, feta, and enough reserved pasta cooking liquid by 1/4 cupfuls to moisten. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl. Drizzle with remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Sprinkle with parsley mixture and serve.

This is CRAZY good and can be made in one pot! We loved it. The day after I made this we also served chicken over the top for leftovers and it was excellent!