STEWED TOMATO CASSEROLE

In my mind I have this vision of a dish grams made with okra, stewed tomatoes and toast. I wanted to recreate it. It doesn’t appear to have been written down anywhere. I’m sure she used stale white bread too, but since I can’t find a copy anywhere, I’m writing my own version. Do you know how hard it is to find okra here in the west?

1 can stewed tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small shallot, sliced thin
1 handful snap peas
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper
bread
butter

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  • Spray casserole dish with PURE.
  • Layer shallots on bottom, then sugar snap peas and garlic.
  • Pour stewed tomatoes over top.
  • Generously salt and pepper.
  • Sprinkle cheese even;y over the tomatoes.
  • Butter both sides of the bread and cut into chunks.
  • Layer the chunks of bread randomly on top of cheese.
  • Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

The best thing about the leftovers is you can top it all over again with cheese and toast pieces and it tastes just like the first time!






aprons 3

Babka: Lovin’ From the Oven

Have you ever picked up an old cookbook off of your shelf, you know, one that you have used for decades and turned it to a recipe you haven’t seen for ages and suddenly been transported to the last time you tasted that dish? That happened to me recently with this recipe. It is excellent. It’s not quite a bread and it’s not quite a cake. It can be served for breakfast, brunch or dessert.

Babka:
1 cup milk
1/4 cup warm water
2 pkg yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 stick butter, softened
4 eggs
1 egg yolk
4 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup raisins
topping:
1 egg white
4 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 Tbsp butter
In a small sauce pan, heat milk until bubbles form around edge of pan. Remove from heat. Cool to lukewarm. In a large bowl, combine warm water and yeast, stirring until dissolved. Add lukewarm milk, 1/2 cup sugar, salt, stick of butter, eggs, egg yolk and 3 cups flour. With electric mixer, beat until smooth and blended. Stir in remaining flour, stirring until dough leaved side of bowl. Mix in raisins. Cover with towel; let rise in warm place until double in bulk (about 1 hour). Grease and flour a 9 inch springform pan. Turn dough into prepared pan. Cover and let rise until dough is 1/2 inch from the top of the pan. Meanwhile, make the topping by mixing flour, sugar, cinnamon and butter in a bowl with a pastry blender. Brush the egg white on top of the babka and then sprinkle on the topping. Bake 350 degrees 60 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool pan on wire rack 15 minutes. To serve, remove from the pan and cut in wedges.

This is SO good!!!!

A country walk between storms

So we’re between storms again and I saw this country road that I really wanted to hike to the top of to take a few pictures. It all started off so well till I noticed Big Mama there literally in the middle of the road napping.

Turns out Big Mama could care less that we were there, but little Jo here (the one with the mean look in his eye) decided he didn’t care too much for our choice of locale for our walk and decided to charge the dogs. Big bull or little bull I’m not challenging him.

It was really quite comical, but with the racket they were making we decided not to chance that there was also a bull lurking somewhere and we took a different path.

It worked out well as I was able to get this great tree picture.

I couldn’t resist this picture of a couple of local dog pals who were a bit jealous!


aprons 3

PICKLED BEET MARBLED DEVILED EGGS

Somewhere during the past few months I saw an article on Chinese Tea eggs. They were so beautiful and intrigued me enough that I wanted to make some. Well I never quite got around to it, but then hubby asked for some deviled eggs and my brain went into overdrive. I decided to create the same affect with pickled beets.

1 dozen eggs, hard boiled
1 jar pickled beets
1/8 + cup mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon prepared horseradish
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
Sweet Hungarian paprika

  • Boil eggs as normal. Rinse under cool water.
  • Drain beets, retaining juice.
  • Gently crack eggs all over.
  • In a medium skillet heat water and beet juice together.
  • Add eggs and simmer 20 minutes, gently rolling eggs periodically.
  • Remove from heat.
  • Remove eggs from pan and drain on paper towels.
  • Remove shells.
  • Slice open eggs and scoop out yolks.
  • Mash yolks with salt and pepper.
  • Add mayonnaise, vinegar and horseradish and blend well.
  • Fill eggs.
  • Sprinkle with paprika and serve.

I save the pickled beets to use with 1000 Island dressing on my Crab salad.

Thumbing through the pages…


Amazon’s book description: She’s taught us every facet of Italian cooking–from traditional and regional to seasonal and contemporary. She even made us fall in love with pasta again by opening us up to lighter, healthier versions that don’t weigh us down. Now the Food Network star and bestselling author of Everyday Pasta, Giada De Laurentiis, takes us down a new path, sharing her love of food with clean, vibrant, simple flavors and bursts of bright colors that look as beautiful on the plate as they are delicious.

Yes, you will still find those fabulous recipes she remembers so fondly from family meals, but you’ll also find updated twists on classic trattoria favorites–California-inflected, hearty but not overwhelming, and with the perfect balance of healthfulness and terrific flavor. Wouldn’t you love a faster, lighter take on osso buco (here made with turkey instead of veal), a salad with real substance (like one of cantaloupe, red onion, and walnuts), and fish that gets an Italian makeover by way of lots of fresh veggies and accents such as fennel and grapefruit salsa? And let’s not forget dessert. After all, what’s not to adore about little doughnuts dipped in chocolate sauce?

Ranging from soups and snacks to easy entres and elegant dinner-party fare, Giada’s recipes are perfect for any day of the week. And for the first time, she includes a full section of dishes that the little ones will love making as much as they love eating (like mini chicken meatballs). With something to please everyone at your table, Giada’s Kitchen deliciously demonstrates why Giada De Laurentiis has become America’s best-loved Italian cook.

Italy meets California in Giada De Laurentiis’s collection of 100 new recipes. She focuses on fresh ingredients, simple preparation, and bright flavors. Anyone who wants to indulge in the pleasures of Italian food without feeling weighed down will find inspiration for delicious, hearty yet healthy weekday meals. Giada’s recipes satisfy both our desire to eat with gusto and to feel good about what we eat.

Amazon’s book description: Slow-roasted meats, marinated vegetables, surprising flavor combinations, this is not your mother’s sandwich.

With acclaimed restaurants located across the United States, and a high-profile job as head judge of the hit show Top Chef, Tom Colicchio is one of the best-known chefs and personalities in the culinary world today. His popular chain of ’wichcraft sandwich shops is known for crafting sandwiches with high-quality fresh ingredients prepared to Colicchio’s exacting standards. And since the first ’wichcraft opened in 2003, diners can’t seem to get enough.

In ’wichcraft, Colicchio shares the shops’ secrets with step-by-step recipes for all their best-loved offerings.

Amazon’s product description: Anyone who has visited Carmine’s flagship Times Square restaurant knows that Carmine’s food is the best of classic Italian cuisine—each dish prepared simply to bring out the most vibrant flavor and make anyone who tastes it smile and reach for seconds.

Carmine’s Family-Style Cookbook reveals the simple secret of Carmine’s longtime success—hearty, rich Italian food, just right for sharing, and perfect for cooking at home!

Carmine’s Family-Style Cookbook’s perfect Italian recipes include:
–Appetizers, Soups and Salads: from Chicken Wings Scarpariello-Style to Carmine’s Famous Caesar Salad
–Carmine’s Heroes: from classic Cold Italian Hero sandwiches to Italian Cheesesteak Heroes
–Pasta: from Country-style Rigatoni to Pasta Marinara
–Fish and Seafood Main Courses: from Salmon Puttanesca to Shrimp Fra Diavolo
–Meat and Poultry Main Courses: from Porterhouse Steak Contadina to Veal Parmigiana
–Side Dishes: from Spinach with Garlic and Oil to Creamy Polenta
–Carmine’s Desserts: from Chocolate Bread Pudding to the world-famous Titanic Ice Cream Sundae

Carmine’s restaurant packs them in every night in its four bustling locations, including its warm, festive Times Square flagship where over a million people from all across the country come every year to share meatballs, chicken parmigiana, linguini with clam sauce, and fried calamari. Carmine’s flavors are the tastes Americans love to cook and eat at home—fresh garlic, bubbling tomato sauce, and pasta boiled just to the perfect al dente. Try any of the recipes in Carmine’s Family-Style Cookbook and bring home that classic Italian flavor to your family.

Almost Meatless by Joy Manning

excerpt from Amazon’s review: Despite its title, almost every recipe in this book uses meat, fish or eggs. A collaboration between Manning, a former vegan, and Desmond, an unabashed meat lover, the aim is to help Americans, who they believe eat far more meat than is healthy or good for agricultural sustainability, compose meals that are both tasty and filling without having a slab of meat as the overbearing star ingredient. Instead, meat appears in smaller quantities supplemented by layers of flavor in the form of additional savory ingredients that should keep people who usually expect lots of meat from noticing the difference.

aprons 3

TUNA PASTA SALAD

Remember that less than stellar dinner I told you about the other day? Well I had about 4 ounces of pasta left and wasn’t sure what to do with it. So I coated it in about a tablespoon of safflower oil and 2 tablespoons of champagne vinegar overnight. Then the next day I added a can of drained tuna, chopped onions and a handful of aged white cheddar cheese. Let me just say YUM!

aprons 3

LEMON BASIL TEA ala My Year on the Grill

Greetings from the tropics! All you east coasters, I see that you are getting a late winter surge of the white stuff. 6 inches to a foot. Ah yes, I used to worry about the next surge of weather. But, I only have one reaction to the news…


Ha Ha…

Hee Hee…

(insert snort where i try to be gracious and stifle the giggle)

… But

To no avail

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Ho ho


You see, I finally made the move. As of Saturday of this week, Jackie and I are residents of the US VIRGIN ISLANDS! The above shot is a view out our balcony overlooking the harbor town of Charlotte Amalie (the Island capital). I feel terribly guilty about the giggling, but in fairness, Jackie had the same reaction when we watched MSNBC this morning.

If you would like to follow along, I have started 2 NEW sister blogs that will be exclusively about my island adventures. One is my foodie experiences, called, A Kansas Foodie in the Virgin Islands. The other is more of a visual scrapbook of what I see and do. No food details there, just little slices of my new life. I figure when we get shipped back to Kansas in 6 months (just in time for tornado season, so you can save the laughs for when I deserve em), “Daily Photos in St Thomas” will be a great souvenir.


Here is a photo of Jackie shopping at a local farmer’s market. I already did a post on the experience at the Kansas Foodie site. Lots of new and interesting items to look over. I am not quite brave enough to jump in on the new veggies I see yet, but soon.


HOWEVER, we did buy some “Lemon Basil”. I have seen flavored basil in my local farmer’s market. I never did buy any, but I figured this would be a good chance to get my feet wet so to speak with more local ingredient cooking.


At the same table, they offered “Lavender Basil”. The salespeople were very gracious, allowing us to sample a bit. Both kinds were so full of flavors, matching what you would expect. We were told that often you can see this growing wild on the roads and they will take a leaf and suck on it to sweeten their breath and encourage saliva (it is hot, and not having a dry mouth is not always easy).


BUT, what interested me was the idea of making tea with the leaves. We got some very handy instructions (it’s not difficult) from one of the locals. I figured if it worked, this is a skill I can take back home with me when I shop at the local KC Farmer’s market.

And maybe it is something you might want to try…


It is not at all difficult. I have limited cooking supplies. So, I used a coffee pot as my steeping pot. For each pot full, I used 1/2 cup of the leaves (washed). just dump them in and get the water slowly simmering.

Here’s a collage of what happened over the next 10 minutes… notice the darkening of the water.


Almost looks like tea!


And the verdict is that it tastes like tea. Actually, it tastes like green tea. It has a lemon taste thanks to the lemon basil. Jackie happens to be a fan of green tea. She gave it a big thumbs up, and fills a water bottle of it every day to start on her way to work. I drank one cup while it was hot. I added a bit of locally made honey to sweeten it and it was indeed… TEA!

Who knew it was that easy!

Dave here from MY YEAR ON THE GRILL. As always, I was SO surprised to learn that I CAN COOK THAT!!!

Give me a little taste of home, and stop by the comment section. Let me know you won’t forget me while I am gone!

See you next week!

Roast Chicken with a Lemon Herb Sauce

This week’s recipe is for Roast Chicken with a Lemon Herb sauce the easy way, on the stove top. That way all the tantalizing smells will bring your family to the table on time.

ROAST CHICKEN
4 tablespoons butter, divided & softened
1 whole chicken cut into pieces
1 1/4 cups hot water
2 teaspoons Better than Bouillon Chicken Base
salt & pepper

SAUCE
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 green onion, chopped fine
Juice from 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon flour
1 tablespoon butter

  • Rinse chicken and pat dry. Salt and pepper.
  • Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet and when HOT, place chicken skin side down in pan.
  • DO NOT TURN chicken pieces until you see blood and bottom side is golden brown.
  • Whisk together the hot water, bouillon, thyme and basil.
  • Turn chicken and add 3/4 cup of chicken stock.
  • Reduce heat and simmer on low 15 minutes.
  • Transfer chicken to a plate and pour stock into a measuring cup.
  • Melt remaining butter in skillet and return chicken skin side down to skillet and cook another 5 minutes until skin is crisp.
  • Transfer to an ovenproof plate, cover with foil and keep warm.
  • Skim the fat from the broth and add enough of the additional broth to make 3/4 cup.
  • Heat the olive oil in the skillet on a low heat, scraping up any of the little pieces from the chicken to add to the flavor.
  • Add green onions and saute’ a minute or so.
  • Add flour and mix well.
  • Increase heat and add broth and bring to a simmer.
  • Simmer until reduced to about 1/2 cup.
  • Stir in any juices that have drained from the chicken. Simmer a few more minutes.
  • Remove from heat and whisk in lemon juice, thyme and basil.
  • Pour sauce over chicken and serve immediately. I like to serve it with rice.

aprons 3

SWEET & SOUR CUCUMBERS

1 cucumber, chopped
1 large firm tomato, chopped
1 bunch green onions, sliced
6 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar

  • Toss chopped vegetables together in a tuuperware bowl.
  • Whisk together vinegar and sugar until well blended and sugar is dissolved.
  • Pour over vegetables.
  • Chill several hours or overnight.
aprons 3

COUNTRY CHICKEN & RICE

COUNTRY CHICKEN and RICE

1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts, tenders or thighs
1 cup uncooked long grain rice
1/4 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes, drained
or I prefer 1/4 cup sun dried tomato pesto
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons Marsala wine
3 teaspoons minced garlic, jar
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 bunch green onions, sliced thin tops and all
1 cup chopped carrots
2 cups boiling water
chopped fresh parsley for garnish
  • Whisk together the tomatoes, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, Italian seasoning and 1/2 of the salt and pepper.
  • In a Tupperware marinader or a large Ziploc bag pour sauce over chicken pieces and marinade 2 hours or overnight is really yummy too.
  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  • Spray a 9×13 baking dish with PURE.
  • Place rices, carrots and onions in the baking dish.
  • Sprinkle with remaining salt and pepper.
  • Remove chicken pieces from the marinade to a plate.
  • Stir remaining marinade into the boiling water and then stir that into the rice.
  • Evenly layer chicken pieces over rice.
  • Cover tightly with foil.
  • Bake 1 hour or until all the liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.
  • Sprinkle with fresh parsley as garnish.

aprons 3