French Fruit Tarts ala Chloe Chronicles

Austin would rather have a fruit tart from Whole Foods than a birthday cake. That was cool when we lived 5 minutes from Whole Foods, but it makes planning a little tricky now that we're an hour and a half away. The thought of making one of these yummies myself never crossed my mind - I always figured it would be much too complicated.

Whole Foods mini fruit tarts

I'm not sure if I should thank Chloe or block her blog from my view... I suspect that once I make that first tart it could become a very bad habit. Although, they ARE made with FRESH FRUIT, right?

The Perfect Tart Crust
French Pastry Cream
French Fruit Tarts

Can't wait for an afternoon at home to try making fruit tarts from scratch!

Holiday Apricot Kugel

I came to kugel relatively late in life, introduced to it by my cousin's mother-in-law. It was love at first bite! It seems a stretch to call it a comfort food since it isn't a product of my childhood, but there is something about this lightly sweet, rich dish that wraps me up like a warm blanket, straight from the dryer. This version caught my eye because the creator adds apricot preserves to the mix. It didn't disappoint! My husband, father-in-law, 13yo, and her friend all give it two thumbs up!

HOLIDAY APRICOT KUGEL

Ingredients
1 (16 ounce) package wide egg noodles
1 (18 ounce) jar apricot preserves
6 eggs, beaten
1 cup melted butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
1 (16 ounce) container cottage cheese
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add egg noodles and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
In a large bowl, stir together the apricot preserves, eggs, butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt, and mix to thoroughly combine. Fold in the cottage cheese and noodles, and spoon the mixture into the prepared baking dish.
Bake in the preheated oven until the center of the kugel is cooked and set, about 50 minutes. Remove the kugel and top with Cheddar cheese, return to the oven, and bake until the cheese is browned and bubbling, about 10 minutes. Let the kugel rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Amazingly, I didn't make any changes to this recipe. Of course, how do you mess with kugel, I ask? I used preserves that had no added sweeteners, but regular apricot preserves would work just as well. I imagine it would be a tad sweeter than my version.

ENJOY!


note: click on the recipe name to link directly to the original recipe

Shrimp and Avocado Salad

I stumbled upon this recipe playing with my Dinner Spinner Pro app on my iPhone. It *sounded* incredibly tasty and with the teens out of the house today it was the perfect opportunity to give a try. Oh. My. Word. This EXCEEDED all of my expectations! The husband was looking for seconds. :)



SHRIMP and AVOCADO SALAD

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups cooked & coarsely chopped shrimp
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbs cocktail sauce
salt to taste
2 avocados, halved lengthwise, pitted, and scooped out of the skin
1/2 lemon
Boston lettuce leaves
paprika

Directions
In a bowl, mix the shrimp, chives, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, and cocktail sauce. Season with salt.
Line individual serving plates with one leaf of Boston lettuce and sprinkle with paprika to taste.
Place 1/2 an avocado on each lettuce leaf.
Mound the shrimp mixture into the avocado hollow and sprinkle with fresh squeezed lemon juice.

This recipe is modified from a recipe by the same name I found on AllRecipes. The changes are pretty significant, so I'm not going to list them separately.

Although, I will note that the original recipe seems to serve the avocado IN its skin on top of the lettuce. That seemed a waste of a perfectly yummy looking piece of lettuce, so I scooped the avocado out of the skin in one piece and spooned the shrimp mixture into the hollow. One of the reviewers on AllRecipes suggested lining a rectangular plate with the lettuce leaves sprinkled with paprika, placing the wedges in a line, and spooning the shrimp between the avocado slices.

Also, the original recipe uses bibb lettuce. I substituted Boston lettuce only because it was the better looking of the two at my grocery store.

ENJOY!

I heart Paula Deen OR the best. potroast. ever.

Pot Roast

Ingredients
1 (3 to 4-lb) boneless chuck roast
Seasoning mix **
4 Tbs butter
1 large onion, sliced thinly
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 can golden mushroom soup
1/4 cup red wine
2 Tbs Worcestershire
1 scant Tbs Tone's Beef Base
3/4 cup water



Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Rub seasoning into the roast on both sides. Heat butter in a large skillet and brown the roast, searing it on both sides. Place the meat in a roaster pan. Add onions and garlic to skillet for 1 to 2 minutes to absorb leftover roast juice. (I added a little extra butter because the pan was dry.) Place into roaster pan with meat.
Combine the golden mushroom soup, wine, Worcestershire sauce and beef base into a bowl. Pour over the roast. Add water.
Cover pan bake for 3 to 3 1/2 hours or until tender.

** seasoning mix (based on Paula Deen's House Seasoning: 4 parts salt, 1 part white pepper, 1 part granulated garlic

This recipe is modified from Paula Deen's Pot Roast recipe to fit what I had on hand in the pantry. Well, that, and that niggling little character flaw that compels me to change recipes.

The roast was moist, falling apart and incredibly tasty. No need for ketchup with this pot roast! I also peeled and quartered six medium sized potatoes and cooked them on top of the meat and gravy. Can't have gravy without potatoes, right? Although, I think this dish would be just as awesome served over wide egg noodles.

ENJOY!

(And yes, once again I forgot to take a picture, so I borrowed the photo above from pauladeen.com!)

Tomatoes! Tomatoes! Tomatoes!

Does this picture make you drool?

It makes me drool. I dream about tomatoes fresh-from-the-garden all year long and I tolerate the less-than-perfect hot house tomatoes the rest of the year.

I'm going to make something with tomatoes for dinner tonight - not sure what yet, maybe we'll just have sliced tomatoes - and I stumbled across all these incredibly yummy sounding tomato dishes out on the web. Haven't tried any of them. YET!

Savory Tomato Crumble
Onion Tart with Gruyere and Tomato
Easy Tomato Galette
Gina's Summer Tomato Pie
Summer Tomato Salad with Creamy Garlic Vinaigrette
Scalloped tomatoes with croutons
Tomato, Onion and Potato Gratin

Overnight Blueberry French Toast

OVERNIGHT BLUEBERRY FRENCH TOAST
Adapted from the recipe at Heritage Acres Homestead

1/2 loaf of the long, skinny Italian bread from Sam's club cut into cubes
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, cut in cubes
3/4 cup fresh blueberries
8 medium eggs
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup milk

Layer 1/2 of the bread cubes in a greased 9" deep-dish pie plate.
Sprinkle (I use the term loosely with the cream cheese!) the blueberries and cream cheese cubes on top of the bread cubes.
Top with the other 1/2 of the bread cubes.
Mix together the eggs, maple syrup, and milk, then pour over the bread, blueberries, and cream cheese.
Cover and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning (or when ready to cook):
Preheat oven to 350F.
Bake covered for 40 minutes, uncover and bake for an additional 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

I planned to serve mine with maple syrup, but there is a recipe on the linked blog for a blueberry topping that would be delish if you have time to make it.

I say 'planned' to serve because it wasn't cooked in time for me to serve it to my family (I'll be serving it warmed up before church tomorrow). I think because I made it in a deep dish pie plate. In any case, as you can see in the picture mine is a little brown on top since I added cooking time at the end when it was uncovered. In the directions I added that extra 10 minutes to the time it's covered.

ENJOY!

Is it still Cobb Salad without the avocado?

Lettuce - check
Cubed Turkey - check
Bacon - check
Hard boiled eggs - check
Tomatoes - check
Bleu Cheese - check
Avocados - OOPS!

Forgot to pick up the avocado this weekend.  I also forgot chives, but in my defense my recipe didn't call for chives.  In my research to determine how essential the avocado is to Cobb Salad I discovered that a traditional one would also include the chives.


Dressing for Cobb Salad

3 Tbs red wine vinegar
2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp dijon mustard

Whisk together in a large bowl. Add lettuce for salad to bowl and toss with dressing.

This is an incredibly yummy salad. I can't believe I've lived 45 years without trying this! Both Flower Child and I agree that this could be a dinner main dish, although the rest of the family probably would like some kind of pasta alongside it. Tonight I served it with mac and cheese.

Oatmeal Pies

One of my children (who shall remain nameless) has an obsession with Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies.

For the most part, I've just looked the other way when the box ends up in our grocery cart and in her lunches pretty much every single day she brings a lunch to work. I rationalize this by reminding myself that "it's only for the summer" and "she's burning WAY more calories than she's consuming". With the older two working full time and the youngest old enough to have a life of her own, I have a lot of time on my hands these days. Time to sit and rationalize all of the above, BUT time to think further and COMPLETELY FREAK OUT ABOUT ALL THE CHEMICAL CRAP THAT'S IN THOSE THINGS!

And then I started plotting. To build a better Oatmeal Creme Pie. Because it finally struck me that they are almost exactly the same thing as Whoopie Pies and I know how to make Whoopie Pies! All I need to do is switch the chocolate for an oatmeal cookie. EUREKA!

You'll notice a new link under my Inspiration... Smitten Kitchen. I stumbled across that blog in my search for a big, soft oatmeal cookie. Not only did I get the basic oatmeal cookie recipe, I found a plethora of new cooking inspiration. True to my nature, I did change up the recipe just a BIT because I use fresh-ground whole wheat flour.

No artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives.  Amazing!

OATMEAL COOKIES

Ingredients
2 cups (4 sticks) butter, softened
2 2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
6 small eggs OR 4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups fresh ground whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
2 teaspoons salt
6 cups rolled oats

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
• In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together.
• Stir flour mixture into the butter/sugar mixture.
• Allow dough to chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (I think an hour would have been even better), then scoop out onto cookie sheet. I used the Pampered Chef medium scoop and they ended up about the same size as the Little Debbie's.
• Bake 10 - 12 minutes, taking them out when golden at the edges but still a little undercooked-looking on top. Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.

WHOOPIE PIE FILLING
from Cooking from Quilt Country by Marcia Adams

Ingredients
1/3 cup plus 3 Tbs all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
3 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

• Place the flour in a medium sauce pan, add the milk gradually, whisking smooth. Cook over moderate heat, cooking and whisking until the mixture becomes thick and bubbles up in the center. Simmer over low heat for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. (Note: this will be very thick.)
• Place the butter in a large mixer bowl and beat it until it is slightly softened. Ad the salt, vanilla, and sugar gradually and beat for 2 minutes. Gradually, one large spoonful at a time, add the cooled milk mixture to the butter mixture. Then beat on high speed for 1 minute until filling is smooth, light, and fluffy.

Spread whoopie pie filling between two oatmeal cookies. My plan is to freeze them in individual plastic sandwich baggies, then store these inside a freezer bag.

This recipe makes about 24 Oatmeal Creme Pies.

ENJOY!

Penne Franco

I could eat at this place every day! UNFORTUNATELY, there isn't one within an hour of my house.

This weekend the craving hit with a vengeance. I had to have Carrabba's Penne Franco!

Picture from Between Blue & Yellow blog, link below

Okay, maybe it was just the kalamata olives and pasta I was craving, but why stop there, right? Thankfully, a quick google search of 'Carrabba's Penne Franco' gives me 9,690 sites to peruse. Complete with recipes and pictures.

I started with the recipe for Penne Franco at Between Blue & Yellow, but as usual I didn't have all the ingredients on hand (a sad reality of living in the boonies) and I had to improvise.

PENNE FRANCO (Veggie Version)

Ingredients~
1 box penne pasta
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can artichoke hearts, quartered
3 tbsp olive oil
1 pack of mushrooms, sliced
kalamata olives (as many or as little as you want)
5 garlic cloves, chopped
Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
Salt & pepper to taste


Preparation~

• Cook pasta according to package directions.
• Pour olive oil into large pan, and saute garlic for 1-2 minutes over med-high heat. Add in mushrooms, tomatoes, artichokes, and olives. Saute for several minutes, stirring frequently.
• Toss with the cooked pasta. Stir until heated through, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with grated parmesan.

I'll be completely honest. I would have much preferred sun-dried tomatoes (packed in oil) and GRATED, fresh parmesan, but those would be the two ingredients I didn't have on hand. To make up for the lack of sun-dried tomatoes, I doubled the amount of mushrooms. Actually, I'd double the mushrooms anyway... we're a mushroom lovin' family. :) I also added more garlic and a tad bit less olive oil than the original recipe.

Also, you can add cooked chicken or shrimp into the pasta to make this a main dish. I love, love, love to order it at Carrabba's with SHRIMP! Alas, I'd already promised the hubby beer can chicken, so we had the pasta as a side/vegetable dish.

ENJOY!

Noodle Kugel

I was in my teens the first time I ate this dish and I've been in love since the first bite.  Noodle kugel says COMFORT FOOD in a big way.  I've been in a somewhat melancholy mood lately and find myself craving comfort foods.  Today at the computer noodle kugel came to mind, so I googled a recipe.  (LOL!  Google 'kugel'!)

While some recipes include cinnamon and other toppings, I chose to try this simple sweet kugel from Smitten Kitchen because I had all the ingredients on hand.  I did cut it in half since I only had one pound of cottage cheese.

Noodle Kugel

1/2 pound wide egg noodles
5 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 pound full-fat cottage cheese, creamed or large curd
1 stick melted butter margarine
2 teaspoons vanilla
Dash of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Parboil the noodles (five to seven minutes).

In a very large bowl beat eggs until fluffy. Add the sugar gradually, then the cottage cheese, margarine or butter and vanilla. Stir in the drained noodles.

Pour into a 9×13-inch pan. Bake for 1 hour, or until kugel is set.


It's still in the oven. Verdict later. Right now I'm praying for extra compassion so I will not stress over sharing with the family. :)

My life will never be the same...

After nearly 21 years of marriage, I was finally talked into buying an electric griddle.  Granted, it was seriously on sale at Kroger or I never would have even considered it.

 

Do you see what I see?   There are SEVEN grilled cheeses being made at the same time.  Dinner for all of us in ONE batch rather than seven.  This is seriously life altering!  I made pancakes for four this morning in only three batches instead of nine.

I'm so hooked I used the griddle for all three meals yesterday. The grilled cheese was dinner.

PANCAKES ala Nourishing Traditions

Soak overnight 2 cups of fresh ground whole wheat flour in enough buttermilk to make a loose paste

In the morning, add 3 small (2 large or xlarge) eggs, 2-3 Tbs sugar or honey, 1 tsp baking soda, and 1/2 tsp salt.  Mix together and add a water to make the batter pancake consistency.

Cook on the griddle set at 350F.

PORK QUESADILLAS

Everyday Food: Great Food Fast by Martha Stewart Living Magazine p. 138

Layer the following on half of a 10" tortilla:

• Swiss or provolone cheese
• Thinly sliced deli ham
• Thinkly sliced dill pickles (or dill pickle relish)
• Onions (sauteed in butter until translucent)
• More swiss or provolone cheese
• Sliced pork roast (I used leftovers from the day before)
• Spicy brown mustard

Toast on the griddle set at 375F until tortilla starts to turn brown.  Flip and toast the other side.


As Julia would say - Bon appetite!

Roasted Pork with Black-Eyed-Pea Salad

Roasted Pork with Black-Eyed-Pea Salad
Everyday Food: Great Food Fast by Martha Stewart Living Magazine p. 137

I actually followed these recipes exactly. Amazing, I know. :p Both the pork and the salad were AWESOME! I didn't think the teens would like the black-eyed pea salad, but both girls loved it. Flower Child even had it for lunch today.

I tossed the asparagus in olive oil and sprinkled it with parmesan cheese, then roasted it under the broiler for about 12 minutes.  This is also from the Martha Stewart cookbook, but I don't know the page number.  We've been roasting our asparagus for years, but the parmesan made it oh-so-much more yummy!

This one is definitely a keeper!

New cookbook!

Everyday Food:  Great Food Fast by Martha Stewart Living Magazine

I really wanted a new Rachael Ray, but when faced with the rack of her books I couldn't remember which ones I already own.  I'm all about FAST so I decided to pick this one up and flip through it while I was killing time.  I swear I did not intend to leave that store with a cookbook!

Now I'm supercharged excited to start cooking again.  LOVE this cookbook.  Not your everyday food, really, but every recipe is so simple to make and most don't require odd ingredients I don't keep in my pantry.  I liked it in the store, I love it now that I've had time at home to sit and page through it.  And I'm only through spring and summer!

Oh yea!   The book is divided into sections by season rather than type of dish.  In each section are soup, main dish, sides, and desserts that are perfect for that season, taking into account the type of cooking we do in that season and the produce that's available seasonally.  For example, many of the summer recipes are for grilling and are lighter fare than the fall and winter dishes.

I've decided to cook my way through this cookbook.  This is something I've never done before and have been thinking about for the last couple of weeks.  I would have started sooner but I couldn't decide which cookbook to use.  This one dropped into my lap (right off the shelf ;)) just in the nick of time!

Greek-Style Garlic Shrimp over Rice

I modified this from the Greek-Style Garlic Shrimp and Orzo in Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats -- A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners; It is #149 on page 133. I didn't have orzo or enough cherry tomatoes to make the recipe as written, so I improvised with GREAT success.


1 lb shrimp, deveined and peeled, tails removed.
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1 small onion, chopped finely
1 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)
6 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
1 Tbs dried oregano or 2 Tbs fresh, chopped
8 oz feta cheese, crumbled
Cooked rice

Add the 1/4 cup EVOO, onions, garlic, and red pepper flakes to your skillet.  Turn on the heat to medium high and cook until the onions are translucent. 
And the shrimp to the skillet and cook for a minute or so - make sure you stir and coat the shrimp with the mixture.
Add the can of diced tomatoes, olives, and oregano to the skillet.  Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.  Cook until the shrimp are firm and pink, then turn off the heat.

Serve over cooked rice (I started with about 2 cups of dry rice) and sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese.

This was INCREDIBLE!  And so easy.  I think it's good enough to make without the shrimp.  I think I would let it cook longer, though, to give the juices some time to reduce.

Bento obsession...

Today's lame attempt at bento for dinner.  I see progress, though.  Notice the star-shaped peanut butter sandwich?

I'm not sure if this is going to be enough for her to eat after practice, but I'm thinking we might eat out afterwards and this will be enough to tide her over until we get there.  Or if we have Mexican, it will be her dinner and she'll have dessert while we eat.