Mezze - It's What's for Dinner

The 2010 February Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Michele of Veggie Num Nums. Michele chose to challenge everyone to make mezze based on various recipes from Claudia Roden, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Dugid. This month's Daring Cook's challenge brought a whole new culture into my life. I've never eaten ANYTHING Middle Eastern before, although my sister loves it and has been telling me for months that I need to try it. I have to admit, Middle Eastern fare, never really thrilled me because when I think of that kind of food, I think of beans. *shudder* Chickpeas, lentils, black beans.. all of those lil pasty tastin' legumes. If you're new to this here lil blog, then you might not know of my strong dislike of beans. Frankly, I'd rather eat live bees. ;) But I am happy to say that I was completely wrong, which is nothing new. :P Yes, Middle Eastern food does contain beans, but there is so much of a variety of other foods - I had no idea! I wanted my Mezze to be special, so I called upon my home girls. My G's, if you will. June, Blimey & Amy - 3 of my favorite people in alla world. As per usual, they were up for it and all agreed to find a Middle Eastern recipe to bring to the party. Yay! I decided to make a cold Lebanese carrot salad, green beans (one of the few that I'll eat) Lebanese style, Kalamata olive tapenade as well as the mandatory hummus and pita bread. June brought a delicious Tabouli and Amy brought a refreshing and really delicious cucumber Raita. Unfortunately, Blimey got sick so she couldn't join us, and we missed her tremendously. We piled everything onto the kitchen table and started eating immediately. SO GOOD! My absolute favorite was the green beans Lebanese style. Holy cow, I could eat that daily. I wouldn't even share much of the left overs with the gals because I HAD. TO. HAVE. IT. the next night with a roasted chicken. Delish! I really enjoyed the small bites of everything.. and liked to combine different dishes to see what went best with what. My favorite combo was a lil Kalamata tapenade on some pita followed with a lil dab of cucumber Raita. Salty with a nice tang. *slurp* As for cooking this feast - no problems really at all. I got a lil nervous when my pita didn't balloon up like Audax's and it didn't really brown up on top. The bottoms browned up nicely though. And although parts were flat and parts were bubbly it was really good pita. June was the resident Middle Eastern connoisseur and she said the pita was excellent and she loved the other dishes as well. Score! I know it was good food because I realized afterward that we had no meat and didn't even miss it! It wasn't consciously planned that way, but since it happened, I'm going to say we dedicated our vegetarian dinner to Michele. :D Eating this way is definitely fun - true party food. Next I want to do a Tapas night and then a dim sum night.. I'm looking forward! Michele, thanks so much for turning me on to this delicious food and showing me how easy it is to make pita bread! I'll definitely be making it again! You did an excellent job hosting! Love you! Check out all the rest of the amazing Mezze feasts from our Daring Cook troops! Just seeing what they've uploaded to the forums makes me all kinds of hungry for Mezze all over again! ;) xoxo

Daring Cooks' September 2009 - Indian Dosas

Hey ya'll.. well talk about the last minute AGAIN. I kept putting this challenge off because of time restraints.. but come to find out, time wasn't even an issue. Every component was quick and simple to put together. To me this challenge was more about trying a cultural food I'd never had before. This wasn't much about learning a new technique in cooking. It was so simple that Hubbs joined in and between the two of us, we were done in less than an hour. I don't mean that he can only cook simple dishes, that's not true at all.. he's quite handy in the kitchen, bless his cotton reinforced toe tube socks. Actually he's a fantastic cook.. but he's an even better sous chef when I'm cooking. ;) Never having ate Dosas before.. hell, never having ate Indian food before, I have nothing to compare this dish to. The flavors were very good, I enjoyed that aspect of it. It was the texture that kind of put me off. Although my "pancakes" were thin, they were still pretty spongy in texture. They reminded me of the pancakes that come with Mu Shu.. which I tried once and ended up eating the filling and not the pancakes - for the very same reason. hehe The filling, although we decided to not puree the chickpeas and instead mashed most of it and left some whole or partially whole, it was still too smooshy beany texture-wise for me. The coconut-curry sauce was delicious, but neither of us tasted coconut and we used a brand new can of coconut milk. Oh I should also mention, we halved the recipe but we followed it exactly, except for two things. We used all purpose flour instead of spelt and we used coconut milk in the pancakes instead of almond, rice or soy milk. Both changes were because of having to buy a large quantity of the ingredient for just a few tablespoons and/or less than a cup needed. In these times, it's almost a sin to waste anything. Now with all of my negativity - we can definitely say that's just me. Hubbs loved it. He ate several Dosas and says he'll bring the rest for lunch tomorrow. And he doesn't do leftovers, so go figger. ;) He said that he'll forego the pancakes and just bring flour tortillas with him to wrap around the filling, which he'll mix with the sauce. This makes me happy. I'm glad he enjoyed them so much. This doesn't mean much, since this is only the second time I've cooked/baked Vegan.. but my eyes have definitely been opened. Again, without ever trying what I assume are traditional Indian Dosas made with animal products, the flavors in these Vegan Dosas were so enjoyable that I didn't miss butter (don't hate me, Paula!) or cow's milk. A great big Thank You to Debyi of The Healthy Vegan Kitchen for being a wonderful hostess and for turning many of us on to the pleasure of cooking Vegan. :) xoxo

Some Schtuff... and Shrimp Fried "Rice"

*Long Ass Ranting and Raving Post - Prepare Yourselves!* Hold on to your chairs! I don't want anyone falling off because I'm actually posting something non-Daring Kitchen-y! :D As I mentioned in my last failure to get my Daring Baker challenge done, I spent some time in the hospital last month. I'm fine now - actually I feel fantastic! But I have a long road ahead of me and frankly, I'm scared shitless. :) Without going into the gory details, and in a semi-small nutshell, I was in congestive heart failure. I was retaining water like nobody's business and it was suffocating my heart/lungs. It's been over 3 weeks and I've lost FORTY pounds in water/fluid weight. Hello? I didn't think that could be possible, but apparently it is. Jebus. So now I'm working on living a low-carb lifestyle. Which is to say, I think it would be easier to cut out oxygen in my life. Kidding? Anyhoo, I've joined Weight Watchers and so far am doing pretty well. Their online tools keep me focused and I've kind of enjoyed lurking on low-carb blogs and recipe sites. It's been quite an eye-opener to read about alternatives to white sugar and white flour. I've purchased Stevia powder, erythritol, xantham gum and coconut flour and although I about had to take a loan out to pay for these items, I am looking forward to getting back into the baking thing once in a while. I've also "met" a new friend who has been sooooooooooo helpful in giving me tips and suggestions on how to stay on track. Thanks Michele! *hugs* And if all of this wasn't enough.. yesterday I went in for a bronchoscopy to make sure my tubes were open and to take a biopsy of the lymph nodes on my lungs. It seems that they are enlarged. When they were first discovered in this state, I was told it was pretty common in pneumonia patients, so to be safe, I was scheduled for another CT-scan 3 mos. later - which was the Friday before I went into the hospital for the CHF. Unfortch, the test results showed they were more enlarged than they were before, so the next step was a biopsy. *sigh* I'm not too worried about this. I mean, I'll know for sure on Thursday - but my pulmonary doctor (who is reportedly one of the best in these parts) and the doctor that admitted me to the hospital with the CHF both feel that this isn't c-word related. So I'm very optimistic. :) But I can't just let it go at that.. I must vent on how this bronchoscopy went down yesterday. I was told numerous times that I'd be put out and wouldn't feel anything or remember anything. This was very important to me. I can deal with pain, that wasn't my concern. My concern was my delightful gag reflex. It's horrible. Touch the tip of my tongue and I start to gag sometimes. It's quite sensitive and highly embarrassing when I'm at the dentist. Boo. So this "twilight sleep" they were going to put me under was suppose to just keep me slightly conscious so that my gag reflex would work, as I guess that's important when they shove a 50 foot hose down your throat. But I won't feel a thing! I won't remember anything that happened afterwards! BULLSHIT. I felt every fucking thing and I remember most of it. Bastards. I had two nurses, both under 5' 2" and 110 pounds. One of them comes at me with these 2 lil cups of "numbing medicine" so I won't feel the scope. "Uhh.. why do I need numbing medicine if I'll be out??" She stammered some and then said, "It helps the scope go down." :Uhh.. okay?" So I gargle with this stuff that tastes like bleach and lay back down. Then the doc comes in and asks if I've got any questions.. you'd think that I might have said.. "Dude, WTF is up with the numbing medicine if I'm going to be put the fuck out??" But noooo.. I just looked up into Ohio's version of McDreamy and smiled pretty and nodded my head. Gah. Then I hear tiny nurse no. 1 ask how much medication should she give me.. and he gives her 2 numbers.. there are 2 meds they mix together.. a highly potent narcotic for pain and for putting me into that "twilight" state and another medicine that will help me not to remember anything (I think?).. and then I heard him give her the two numbers. But then tiny nurse no. 2 says, "Are you sure? She'll need at least 120 to 140" and he then said, "Okay, 120 but that's it" and tiny nurse no. 2 says, "That's not going to be enough." and he said, "Shhhh." Again, at this point, wouldn't you sit up and say "Dude, I agree with tiny nurse no. 2, 120 isn't enough GIMME MORE GODDAMMIT" But.. nooooooo.. I don't say one fakking word. Now granted, I do not feel or remember him actually putting the cable in. But I DO feel and I DO remember him pushing it past my vocal cords and I DO remember just about shooting 10 feet up in the air when I felt that. I remember trying to say, "THIS HURTS" but I had some kind of plug thing in my mouth that prevented me from biting down on the cable, so it came out more like "cough - cough - gaggggg - cough - cough - OOD! GAHAMMIT!!!" Well that must have pissed off the tiny nurses, because the next thing I know, I've got one on each side gripping my lower JAWFUCKINGBONE and pulling down on it with all of their weight. I wanted to so give them both the evil "curses" eye but they had a towel over my face. How rude is that? The rest of it went pretty quickly, I'd say the bulk of time during this test is the actual prep and the nurses trying to figure out how to get the computer to work before 'he' gets there "or 'he' will be pissed.". I didn't feel the actual biopsy being taken, thank the baby Jebus. I am also proud to say that I did not projectile vomit at any point of the procedure. All in all, it wasn't THAT horribly bad.. but it wasn't THAT horribly good either. When it was finished, my friend Cindy (who got to babysit me all day, bless her cotton socks) came in and I could hear him talking to her and then she appeared at my side and the first thing I said was, "they lied to me." and she asked how and I said, "I FELT IT" and tiny nurse no. 1 said, "you did great!" and I'm like, "I'm so Delvecchio cursing you as soon as I can get this death grip off the bed rail." She laughed. Obviously, she has no idea how powerful the Delvecchio curse is. tisk tisk for her. Recovery was quick, after all I wasn't put to sleep AS PROMISED, so I came outta the fog after 15 min. or so and was allowed to leave. Next stop was a frosty beverage to cool the burning pipes and then back to my house, where we sat and laughed over the whole thing, then we put a movie in and I FINALLY passed out. Always a day late and a dollar short. Today the mild sore throat is gone, but I'm sporting a rather large face and neck. My cheeks are swollen as if I've been foraging for nuts and my neck is swollen quite like what a bullfrog looks like when he's offering his mating call to the sexy frogette on the next lily pad. That's hott. So what lessons have I learned from this experience? NEVER trust 2 tiny nurses and ALWAYS wear barbed wire around your neck when going in for a bronchoscopy, so they can't get to your jaw bone. Also? McDreamy or not.. always be prepared to administer the Delvecchio curse and DO NOT get lost in his sexy brown eyes, for he and his minions can be evil. Oh and I did find out why I couldn't be put under completely (had to do with low blood-ox levels).. and I understand that.. but maybe a lil heads up would have been nice? :P So anyhoo.. I've vented and I feel better. Back to the low-carb goodies! I found this recipe on a new blog for me. It's Healthy Indulgences written by Lauren. Lauren has taken so many high carb/high fat/high caloric dessert recipes and turned them into delicious looking low carb/low fat/lower caloric desserts that have just astounded me. So much so that I went and bought those alternative natural sugars and flours that I mentioned above. No more white sugar or regular all purpose flour for me! But I am not ready, quite yet (soon though.. very soon! hee!), to bake a dessert. I want to stay with my fruits and sugar free pudding for a bit longer. So when I found this vegetable recipe that was suppose to taste just like shrimp fried rice, I couldn't resist! And seriously, this stuff rocks. I'm not just saying it to make myself believe that CAULIFLOWER can taste like rice - it can! Actually it was better than the last batch of carry-out fried rice we had. It was super easy and super quick to put together and it's definitely going to stay on rotation often. Give it a whirl! Recipe is below with my minor changes, basically out of necessity than anything else. Thanks so much, Lauren! I'm looking forward to this being the first of many recipes from your blog that I will be enjoying in the future - guilt free! :)       Shrimp Fried "Rice" Adapted from this recipe by Lauren at Healthy Indulgences Makes 3 servings Ingredients: 2 heapings cups of grated fresh cauliflower 2 tablespoons coconut oil (any cooking oil is fine) - I used EVOO 1/2 cup sugar snap pea pods - I omitted these and used diced zucchini instead 1/3 cup onion, chopped 4 tablespoons wheat-free tamari or soy sauce - I used low-sodium soy sauce 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil 1/2 teaspoon sea salt dash of garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 1-4 oz can of baby shrimp, or protein of choice 1/4 cup of green peas - I upped the amount to 1/2 c. since we like peas 1 cup of sliced baby portobello mushrooms since I needed to use them up! Not in original recipe 2 eggs, beaten green onion, for garnish (optional) Preparation: Grate cauliflower using a fine cheese grater. Heat up pan with 1 tablespoon of coconut oil. Mix together sesame oil, tamari, and seasonings in a bowl. Sautee onions (I also threw in the zucchini & mushrooms at this stage) for 3 minutes (I went for about 5 minutes to give the zucchini & mushrooms good coloring) over medium heat, or until translucent. Remove from pan and set aside. Sauté sugar snap peas until tender. Add more oil if necessary and all of the cauliflower, stir frying for a couple of minutes. Pour in 1/2 of the soy sauce mixture and stir fry to coat the cauliflower evenly. When the cauliflower is tender (this didn't take long at all.. maybe 4-5 min.), add cooked vegetables, shrimp, and peas along with the rest of the soy sauce mixture. Push "rice" to the side of the pan and scramble eggs on the other side, moving spatula quickly to incorporate eggs with the "rice" mixture. 7 grams net carbs xoxo

An Excellent Low-Fat Way to Use Up Some Garden Veggies AND...

***UPDATE BELOW*** A WEDDING! :) But first - the veggies. ;) Last Monday I wrote an article on FoodieView regarding more recipes using fresh from the garden or farmer's market produce. I highlighted some amazing recipes, so go check it out and click on the links - you won't be disappointed. :) I also made mention of this Antipasto Salsa that I made from a Cooking Light recipe. I subbed our garden cucumbers for the zucchini as Hubbs won't eat raw zucchini (such a wus!) and hearts of palm for the artichokes.. but the rest of the recipe I stayed true. It was fabulous and I've made it 3 times since, each time it's eaten quickly. The last time I made it, I added some corn that I bought from a roadside stand and roasted on the grill - it was a terrific addition to the recipe. I urge ya'll to try this - even if you aren't a big salsa fan, this recipe could be used as a chop salad side dish as it's not very liquid-y as many salsas are. Speaking of vegetables.. I'm getting married! squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! :D (okay so my getting married has nothing to do with vegetables but I couldn't think of a good segue.) :P After almost 9 years, and my belief of why fix what's not broken? Hubbs and I have decided to make it legal. :) Why now? Because, yeah, after all this time he and I ARE married.. we don't have a piece of paper saying it's legit, but I can guarantee this is a marriage for sure. We're an old married couple actually. The honeymoon has been over for YEARS. hahahahaaa! I guess the best answer I can give is that when I hit 40 - which I had always believed was just a number and nothing else - things did change for me, to my surprise. My way of thinking, mainly. Lots of "life's too short" popping into my thoughts these days. When he asked me to marry him 3 years ago, I happily accepted, but we didn't push the issue.. we had already made a commitment to each other and we're happy so that's all that mattered, yes? Yeah, 40. Wow.. So I've been thinking about it and decided that HOLY SHIT I DO want to get married. I want that band around my finger.. I want our commitment to each other to be shared by God and the rest of the world. Damn.. I want a big party afterwards too. heeee! He was at his brother's cabin a couple Sundays ago.. their mother had just passed so they were spending a quiet weekend together reminiscing and working through their grief. You know, the way men grieve.. by fishing and drinking beer? :) However they go about dealing with it doesn't matter, what mattered is that they WERE dealing with it and I was proud of him for it.. sometimes he bottles things up and I don't like that. He's not a screamer like I am. :P That same day my mom came over and we sat and talked for hours - something we haven't done in a long time, it felt great. Somehow the subject of marriage came up and she says to me, "Lisa, why don't you two just do it for crissakes?? I know he loves you. I know you love him. You've been together for years and will be together for the rest of your years, so why don't you just do it??" I told her I'd think about it. I do love him, very much. I can't imagine life without him next to me - he truly is my best friend - so yeah, I'd definitely think about it (as if I hadn't been already). Mom left about 30 minutes later. It took me about 5 minutes after she left for me to call him and say, "So.. I've been thinking.. wanna get married?" hahahahaaaaaa! He didn't miss a beat when he said, "Yeah, for 3 years now" So how is that for romantic? I'm sittin' on our sofa in my pajamas, he's got a fishing pole in one hand and his cell phone in the other hand as we decide to finally get married. :) Nope, no one can accuse me of being a traditional kinda gal! November 7th and 8th are the days. Days? 'kay well, neither of us are very religious so a church wedding isn't a priority for us. We want to get married by the Justice of the Peace and then throw a huge bash afterwards in celebration. We're all about the party, yanno! ;) The original plan was to get married the morning of the 8th and then throw the reception that evening (which, btw, I will be catering myself - well with the help of some very special friends that is).. but as fate would have it - our J of P is taking classes this semester and is UNAVAILABLE on Saturday! HAHAHAHAHAAAA! So he asked if we minded having the ceremony Friday night instead. My first reaction was, "Screw you butthead. We'll find someone else." but then I got to thinking and realized that by actually getting married Friday night, I'd have all day Saturday to put this bash on, instead of getting up early and getting all prettied up for the ceremony, then dashing home afterwards to get unpretty and start cooking.. now I can even sleep in a bit on Saturday (as if my dogs would let me) and not have to worry about anything other than crankin' this thing out. Ahhh yes.. fate. Sometimes you just have to love it. :D So a nice ceremony Friday evening, followed by a nice dinner out. This will be attended by some of the most important people in my life. Although we are going to have the ceremony performed by the J of P, I am still having a bridal party.. not so much because I wanted a lil tradition in my marriage, but because I wanted these people to be standing next to me when I say "I do!" I've been blessed to have my mom with me and both a Matron of Honor (one of my oldest and dearest friends, Kim), a Maid of Honor (my sister, Sam) and two bridesmaids (well, one of them doesn't know yet as she's off galavanting in the old country, so shhhh) Ivonne is back from Italy, so I finally got to ask her and she has agreed to be my bridesmaid! YAY!! Hubbs has asked his brother to stand up with him, and that just tickles me pink - I love him as if he were my own brother. Oh and that first bridesmaid I mentioned.. you might be familiar with.. she writes a lil blog about her phenomenal baking but much more importantly she is MY baking guru. :) Helene of Tartelette. AND if that wasn't blessing enough.. Helene is also going to bake and design our wedding cake!! Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! How fakkin lucky am I?? :D And if all of that wasn't amazing enough, the hall will be decorated by two incredibly special men in my life. They've both got impeccable taste and I know the hall will be stunning. I CANNOT wait! So that's my news, kids - as if I needed another excuse to neglect this here lil blog o'mine.. I can guarantee you won't be hearing much from me for another 3 months as I've 12 fakkin short weeks to make a party for 100 or so guests come together. Leave it to me, to wait 9 years to finally make the leap, and then schedule said leap RIGHT NOW. har! xoxo

101 Calorie Springrolls with a side of 3908 Calorie Fried Zucchini :)

I figured the goodness of the springrolls would certainly outweigh or equal out the badness of the fried zucchini. Yes? No? Too bad.. both were equally delicious :D We're on vacation this week! WOO HOO! We've done absolutely NOTHING! Not so woo hoo. We've had plans.. and then things have popped up totally destroying our plans.. we ended up doggie babysitting for 2 days, killing our plans to head out to some fresh air markets we've never been to. The weather has not cooperated, squashing our desire to get out on the lake.. BUT there has been no work so therefore, we are happy campers. heee! One thing we discussed at the beginning of our vacation was that we had been straying from our Cooking Light recipe list the past couple weeks and that we wanted to get back on schedule again. So I've picked 5 recipes for our dining pleasure this week and being Wednesday, we finally tried the first one. Gah. Okay so being on vacation kinda takes away the desire to prepare dinner every night. Who knew? Anyhoo, we did try one tonight and it was another winner from Cooking Light. Please try to contain your jealousy over my hot pink styrofoam plates :P Fresh Spring Rolls with Dipping Sauce was easy to prepare, I got to work with rice paper spring roll wrappers - something I've never done before, and they were incredibly good. Add to it, only 101 calories, 0.8 grams of fat and 16.8 grams of carbs for TWO rolls PLUS 2 teaspoons of the dipping sauce and I'd say this recipe is a keeper for sure! Following the measurements exactly, this recipe does not make 6 spring rolls as stated. I have no idea how they came up with that number, because I got 12 HUGE spring rolls and still threw the left over ingredients into a salad. Not to mention, they called it "6 appetizer servings" - at the size they ended up being, using 3 strips of this and that and 4 slices of halved shrimp, they turned out to be as big as your average eggroll from many Asian restaurants. I could not even finish ONE of them. Hubbs had 2. We had 9 left over. Thank goodness we had some unexpected company show up.. they took the 9 home with them. :) Crispedy carrots, cukes, bell peppers and bean sprouts.. I added a couple strips of spring onion as well.. decided against the lettuce and went with a small handful of baby spinach instead and 2 (size 26-31) shrimp sliced in half were piled into the middle of the spring roll wrapper that had been softened in warm water - then wrapped around the contents snugly. The dipping sauce was super easy as well.. a matter of juicing a lime and whisking in a few other ingredients. Once I got the hang of dealing with the sticky rice paper, the rolling went quickly and I had a dozen spring rolls in less than 30 minutes. Delish! As a side dish.. heh heh.. we took advantage of the first harvest of zucchini from our garden. Most gals living a lifestyle change, would steam or grill the zucchini. Thank GAWD I'm not most gals. Oh hells no. I dredged each zuke coin into an egg, then flour, salt and pepper.. then I dropped those beauties into a skillet containing sizzling hot canola oil and fried 'em up to golden brown perfection! teee! C'mon.. you can't fault me for that can you? I know Hubbs didn't.. if we weren't already an old married couple, I'd bet my last dollar that he would have proposed tonight by the look on his face when he ate the first fried slice of zucchini heaven. :) I've got 4 more recipes to go.. with 3 days left (can't count Saturday- we're headed out to my hometown for a slumber party at my soul sistah's house - I will not be held accountable for anything that passes these lips that night as I can guarantee after 3/4 of a bottle of vodka it will be a free for all) ***crickets*** Wait. That didn't sound right. Uhmm.. 'kay never mind. Anyhoo.. 4 recipes left - ya'll might see another post here again this month before the Daring Baker challenge. I KNOW! I'll be shocked too! heheee xoxo

LiveSTRONG Day - May 13th, 2008

As mentioned in my last post, April and May bring two very important foodie events to me. Cooking to Combat Cancer was the first, and LiveSTRONG Day is the 2nd. LiveSTRONG is the motto behind Lance Armstrong's Foundation about cancer awareness, surviving cancer and living with cancer YOUR way. I think this is an amazing and unique organization and it's refreshing to know it's not all about money.. Lance's foundation truly helps those who are battling cancer. Last year, Barbara of Winos and Foodies hosted the first annual LiveSTRONG with a Taste of Yellow and an amazing 149 bloggers participated.. This year she is holding the 2nd annual LiveSTRONG with a Taste of Yellow 2008 and the deadline for participation is April 27th - I hope we all unify to surpass last year's number, especially since she's moved the participation dead line from April 19th. :) I'm quite happy about the extension as my last post kinda left me with nothing afterwards. Not to mention, I wanted to blog about an amazing dish in tribute to Lance AND Barbara and although I had two "yellow" dishes all ready to go, they weren't very special to me. So I decided to hang up my written post and think about what kind of dish I really wanted to submit. Well here in NE Ohio, I think it is safe to assume (am knockin on wood all over the place) that Spring has sprung! We've had lovely weather, not too rainy.. just the right temps - high 60's lower 70's and because we live right on the lake, there is a wonderful breeze coming off it each afternoon. There are Daffodils, Crocuses, Hyanciths, Irises and lots of other beautiful flowers popping up everywhere. The trees have started to bud and the smaller flowering trees are completely covered in their gorgeous blooms.. one cannot help but to think about new beginnings, fresh starts, and awakenings after a gloomy winter has passed by. Now, flowers and trees certainly do scream Spring! to me, but so do fresh vegetables.. for now is the time to start thinking about that garden you'll be planting in a few short weeks. Some of us already have our seedlings growing steady just waiting to be transplanted to their warm summer homes (San Marzanos! Thanks to my beautiful Creampuff! squeeeee!). The hubbs and I have been talking incessantly about what perennials we're going to plant this year and arguing over where the zucchini plants will go in the garden. hehe Last year we found the perfect spot and I had so many zucchini that I didn't know what to do with (thank God for neighbors, co-workers, friends, family and the occasional stranger off the street) and they pretty much took over the middle part of the garden. hee! So I knew I wanted this dish to represent Spring and all of the renewal it brings. Hope, if you will. A startling realization that after the gloom, there is sun. The corn from down south is starting to arrive in our supermarkets and I couldn't resist buying some this past weekend. I wanted to make something light that allowed the corn's sweetness to shine through and I think I did a damn good job of doing just that. :D I roasted 4 ears of corn on our grill until I could no longer stand the amazing fragrance coming from them. I let them cool for a bit and while I left them to do that, I thinly sliced up 4 green onions, diced half of a yellow bell pepper and 1/2 of an avocado. Once the corn was cool enough to handle, I cut the sweet kernals from their cobs and threw about 1/2 of them in with the onions, peppers and avocado. I dressed this mixture simply with a little lime zest, the juice of 1/2 a lime, a sprinkling of sea salt and a splash of good quality olive oil. I mixed gently and let all sit together for a while so that their flavors could meld. Next up was simple grilled, boneless pork chops with nothing but garlic, salt & pepper for seasoning. Once the chops were just cooked through, I topped each with 2 huge spoonfuls of the roasted corn relish. OHMYGOD. I can't tell you how shocked I was at how good this turned out! The bitterness of the lime with the sweetness of the corn and a background zing of the fresh spring onion.. all with the creaminess that the avocado lent.. my, my, my, my and my. I don't think I could have come up with a better tribute to Spring, the new hope it brings, and Barbara and Lance for all they do to keep spirits high. Thank you both for giving so many people the hope and awareness it takes to not look at living with cancer as a death sentence, because it's not. I firmly believe that mind over matter is very, very important. With a better outlook that can be obtained by knowledge, unity and strength the better the chances of kicking cancer's ass until it runs home screaming like a sissy girl to it's mommie. ;) xoxo

Cooking to Combat Cancer 2

April and May bring two very important events that mean a lot to me. Two events that will bring awareness to many people. These two events are part of the effort to kick cancer's ass. Because seriously? Cancer's ass deserves to be kicked. Thoroughly. This first post is for Cooking to Combat Cancer 2 - an annual event held by one of the most beautiful souls I've ever met.. Chris. She's the author of Mele Cotte, a wonderful friend, and a cancer survivor. Thank you for doing this every year, sweetie.. your contribution to helping us to never forget is so very important. Love you!! In November of 2005 I was diagnosed with cervical cancer.. one radical hysterectomy later, and I was cancer free without much physical fuss. Meaning, I did not get sick. Mentally, there was fuss.. lots of it. When you've always taken for granted that you'd have kids one day.. and then are told it ain't gonna happen.. yeah, that kind of messes you up some. But, as I've said a million times over, I'm alive. I'm (relatively) healthy. I'm lucky. And I'm grateful for the chance I've been given. Six years before my own brush with cancer, I was introduced to it's devastation when my great uncle was diagnosed with lung cancer. Coming from a large Italian family, I had many, many aunts and uncles. My father was 1 of 14. Yes, you read that right.. my dad had 13 brothers and sisters. And although I did love my paternal aunts and uncles very, very much.. it was my mom's great aunt and great uncle, who I was closest to. My Auntie Ann and Uncle Sol. My Auntie was and still is my mom's best friend. They are only 10 years apart, and they grew up together more like sisters than an aunt and her niece. So we spent a lot of time with them. I consider my Auntie as my second mom.. for it was easier for me to talk to her than my own mother sometimes. And my uncle.. well.. he tortured me. har! My uncle never passed up the chance to pick on me, to annoy me, or to embarrass me. But this predicament I was in wasn't such a bad thing. No, for all of his fun had at my expense, the only thing that I took from all of it was how much attention he lavished on me. As I'm told often, I was the first girl in a family of boys. My uncle adored me. And I adored him. When such an amazing man was taken away from us so abruptly, it felt like a betrayal. How could this be?? This was a man who loved his family so much, he was loved by everyone he met and he was such a wonderful uncle to my sisters and I. Actually, he was known to my youngest sister as her grandpa.. as both sets of grandparents had passed years before she was born, he and my auntie took on the role. I rarely ever told my uncle how much I loved him. I assumed he always knew. As a matter of fact, the only time I can remember actually saying to him how much I loved him was right after he had the surgery to remove part of his lung.. he cried. I'd never seen him cry before. And he told me he loved me back. This was our first and only spoken exchange of our feelings for each other. He passed a couple days later. To say I was devastated is an understatement. I was wrecked. I still am.. several years have passed and the pain isn't as constant as it was before, but I still can't control the tears and the hurt inside when I think about him. Oh how I wish that I would have told him how much I loved him until he was sick of hearing it! How I hate that I just assumed he knew. Although he didn't say the words to me either, and even though I knew from earliest memory that he loved me very much.. I still wish that I would have said the words out loud to him more than once. Just as I always knew his unspoken feelings for me, I can only pray that he knew my unspoken feelings for him. The recipe I am about to share doesn't really remind me much of my Uncle Sol.. no, we were more of the pizza, soft pretzel, Twix bars kinda eaters. hee! But this recipe contains a few ingredients known to help cancer stay away, so I find it very fitting. I also find it very delicious and I'm glad we finally tried it. It's a simple recipe for Salad Niçoise, which comes to us from Nice, France. This is a salad made up of seared tuna, blanched green beans, tomatoes, steamed red potatoes, boiled eggs and of course, Niçoise olives. Everything but the tuna is tossed with a simple vinaigrette which adds just the perfect tang. And the tuna is usually seared quickly on each side, then placed on the salad in thin slices. Never being one to follow a recipe to the T (Other than Daring Baker challenges!!!), I decided to coat my tuna in toasted sesame seeds first. We fell in love with this salad immediately and it will become a common quick dinner in my repertoire. The tuna is rich in Omega 3 fatty acids, which are good for a healthy heart. The green beans have been shown to prevent or slow genetic damage to cells. The garlic and scallions in the vinaigrette contain a number of compounds believed to slow or stop the growth of tumors. And the tomatoes contain lycopene, which has been shown to be especially potent in combating prostate cancer. So all in all, this salad is not only delicious and quick, but very good for your body. Salad Niçoise Makes 2 generous servings, or 4 small servings 8 oz. fresh Ahi Tuna or Albacore - (try to find sushi grade - you won't be sorry) 1 TBS olive oil or cooking spray (recipe for sesame seared tuna below) 1/4 pound green beans, trimmed and blanched - (I suggest salting the boiling water) 3/4 pound of new red potatoes, quartered and steamed until fork tender - (My trick here is to put 2 crushed garlic cloves on the bottom of the steamer basket.. it gives the potatoes a light garlicy flavor that's delicious) 1/4 c. red onion, either thinly sliced or minced 1/4 c. pitted Niçoise olives 1/2 c. cherry tomatoes, halved 1-2 eggs, hard boiled, peeled and quartered Vinaigrette 2 TBS. Champagne vinegar - (I used Trader Joe's Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar) 1 TBS. fresh tarragon, chopped 1 tsp. Dijon mustard 1 small shallot, minced 3/4 c. olive oil sea salt, to taste ground black pepper, to taste Arrange salad ingredients in separate piles on a large serving platter. Drizzle the vinaigrette over the salad and then lay thinly sliced tuna on top. OR you can go non-traditional and put all ingredients in a large bowl with the vinaigrette and lightly toss (which is what we did). Serve alone, or with garlic toast. If you want to use the same tuna that we did the recipe is as follows (I cut the recipe in half for one 8 oz. tuna steak): Sesame Seared Tuna Courtesy of Allrecipes.com 1/8 c. soy sauce - (I used reduced sodium) 1.5 tsp. mirin (Japanese sweet wine) - (We omitted this because we didn't have any) 1.5 tsp. honey 1 TBS. sesame oil - (Sesame oil is VERY strong.. I cut this down to 1 tsp.) 1.5 tsp. rice wine vinegar 4 (6 oz.) tuna steaks 1/4 c. sesame seeds 1 TBS. olive oil In a small bowl, whisk together the soy, mirin, honey, sesame oil & the rice wine vinegar. Spread the seeds out on a plate or shallow bowl. Dip the tuna into the soy mixture, making sure the whole steak is coated and then press the tuna steak into the sesame seeds - coating both sides well. Heat the olive oil in a cast iron or other heavy skillet over high heat until it's VERY hot. Place tuna steaks in pan and sear for 30 seconds to 1 minute on each side. You can go longer, but you chance the possibility of burning the seeds and over cooking the fish. Slice thinly and place warm tuna over Salad Niçoise. And hey.. if the opportunity to share a Twix bar with someone you love arises afterwards.. why not take it? :) xoxo

What Makes our Toes Curl?

The Kitchen of Love in this household is open 24/7.. 99% of the time the foods both myself and Hubbs prepare are foods that the other loves, and we're thinking about each other when we cook. True story. (awwwwwww) I keep him pretty informed of the goings on in my blogging life, because he likes to help out when he can and he loves to give suggestions on what I should make for certain events. He also enjoys mocking me when it comes to the food I want to highlight on my blog. For instance, he's just tickled - to the point of giggling - when he cooks something, uhmm.. mundane. You know.. a pb&j sammich, a bowl of cereal, or when he opens up a can of his favorite corned beef hash - he'll plate it up and then ask where my camera is so he can take pictures. He'll search through the veggie crisper of the fridge until he finds the perfect twig of parsley to lay on top of his peanut butter & blueberry jam sammich. And then to top the mockery off.. after he's finished eating his "creation" he'll jump up and exclaim, "I need to go blog about this!" Yeah I know.. you'd think I fell in love with a stand up comedian, eh? (this is where I'm rolling my eyes) But mostly he's very supportive of my blogging and really does love to get involved. So when I told him about "Peaches'" aphrodisiac-ally wonderful event called Kitchen of Love he decided to do a lil research to find some foods labeled as aphrodisiacs so he could choose which tripped his trigger, so to speak. Ohh if you're wondering who Peaches is - well that's the simply gorgeous and incredibly sweet Chris of Mele Cotte. She's known as Peaches in this house due to the fact that she came to my aid a few months ago when I was craving a good peach and sent me a big box of the most delicious peaches I've ever had. So Hubbs dubbed her "Peaches". :) Anyhoo.. when he came to me with the foods he thought we should make, I wasn't surprised to see he chose vegetables. The man loves his veggies. He chose sweet potatoes and asparagus - which just happen to be two of my most favorite veggies as well, so this worked out nicely. Since he's a "meat and potatoes" kinda guy, we decided to pan fry a couple beef tenderloin steaks while we roasted the veggies. There is no recipe in this post, kids. It's a pretty simple preparation - and in my opinion simple preparations for veggies are always so much better than long, involved recipes. Here's what you do.. pick a nice bunch of asparagus - try to buy the thinnest you can find. Seriously. There is nothing better IN THIS WORLD than roasted thin asparagus - it gets crunchy and nutty.. it's like eating the best "good for you" French fries in alla world. If asparagus wasn't so expensive throughout most of the year, we'd probably eat it more than potatoes. It's that good. Okay so you've got your bunch of asparagus. Trim off the woody ends, although you don't need to trim a lot off for roasting because they will get really tender. Now arrange them on a cookie sheet in a single layer and then drizzle some good olive oil over them. Add a generous sprinkling of either kosher or sea salt (we love sea salt) over them and then give them a lil shuzz to coat them well and pop 'em into a preheated 425º F oven for about 18 minutes. When the timer goes off, flip 'em over and roast for another 10-15 minutes. *swoon* The stalks get melt in your mouth tender and the tips crunch up.. OH MY GOD they are SO GOOD - and from the reaction that he and I have every time we eat our asparagus this way, completely defines why this vegetable is known as an aphrodisiac. 'kay well not in the way it was meant to be defined.. but we get all melty, shuddery, toe curling-ly happy when we get to indulge in these babies. ;) Now the sweet potatoes.. same prep exactly although they don't need quite as long in the oven - you can give these a flip after about 10-15 minutes and then take them out after an additional 5 to 10. I guess it really depends on how big you chunk them. Less time in the oven for the smaller chunks. He eats his plain, but the lily gilder over here likes to drizzle a little honey over her sweet spuds and sometimes a sprinkle of Vietnamese cinnamon knocks her socks off too. ;) The steaks were prepared simply as well. Seasoned with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper only, they were pan fried in a little olive oil and butter combo until they were a buttery tender medium rare. We could almost cut these steaks with our forks.. and talk about flavorful. A good tenderloin, with a nice marble of fat throughout, was just the perfect accompaniment to our roasted veggies. After dinner last night there was definitely some purring going on in our living room.. we were both very happy campers to say the very least. ;) And by happy campers, I mean we both passed out in a fuzzy fog of satisfaction about 20 minutes after we ate.. what the hell were you expecting? We're an old married couple. :P What a great idea for a foodie event, Chris - thank you so much for hosting, my love! And I apologize for being late, but am very happy you agreed to sneak me in. You rock, Peaches! :D xoxo

WCC #10 - Neglected Gadgets

Once Sara announced the theme that this month's guest host, Mary of The Sour Dough chose for WCC #10, I knew exactly which gadget I'd be using. My foodmill! I watch shows on HGTV and FoodTV where chefs use their foodmills quite often, but I only use mine when I am making my beef vegetable soup. Specifically, for the tomatoes I add to the soup. I usually make vegetable soup once a year - at the beginning of Autumn when I start my many months of craving homemade soup. Hubbs is the main soup chef of the house, his chicken soup is to die for.. but I'm in charge of the beef vegetable variety. Although this recipe was passed to me by my loverly Mommie and not found in a neglected cookbook, I could not pass up the opportunity to contribute this recipe for WCC #10 just because of the foodmill, which usually sits on a shelf in my pantry collecting dust, poor thing. I make my soup at this time of year because it's the perfect time to use up the last of the garden tomatoes. I boil them for just a few seconds, and then throw them into the food mill and give them a quick grind. I like them to stay a little chunky so I only turn the handle maybe 2-3 times. Just enough to pass them through, shedding their skin. The milled fresh tomatoes adds a richness to this soup that brings it over the top IMHO. Although I have nothing against throwing in canned and frozen veggies in soup, I prefer to make my beef veggie soup with all fresh ingredients, right down to the fresh bay leaves (and yeah, I will spend the $2.95 for a package of fresh bay leaves, just to use two in this recipe. I'm ca-racy when it comes to this favorite soup of mine.) Not only does this soup have a wonderful deep beefy flavor, but it makes quite a bit and freezes well, so that you can enjoy it all through the winter months - or whenever you feel like a bowl of homemade soup! Warm from the oven breadsticks or just a handful of crackers along with a nice salad of baby greens, shaved fennel and parmigiano is all that's needed to make this soup the highlight of a cozy, comforting dinner. I hope you try it.. it's fantastic! :D Beef Vegetable Soup 1 1/2 - 2 lb. sirloin steak, cut into chunks 2 TBS. olive oil 1 medium vidalia onion, chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced 5 carrots, peeled and sliced 4 celery stalks, wiped clean and sliced 4 garden tomatoes, boiled then ran through food mill 2-3 ears of corn, kernels sliced off cob 1 (8 oz.) carton of button mushrooms, these can be left whole or sliced thick 1 red bell pepper, chopped 1 lb. fresh green beans, snipped and cut into 1" pieces 1 med. zucchini, sliced in coins and then quartered 5 c. beef stock (I use the stock you buy in the cartons when I don't have fresh stock on hand. I do not use beef broth, it's just not flavorful enough) 2 c. water 1/3 c. soy sauce 2 TBS. Worcestershire sauce 2 fresh bay leaves salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste 1/2 c. barley (optional) In a large stock pot, brown the steak in the olive oil, then transfer to a bowl and cover with foil to keep warm. Add the onion, garlic, carrots and celery and saute until just softened. Add the next 11 ingredients and the reserved steak and bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer for at least 1 hour. Taste for seasoning, add the salt and pepper and the barley if using it, then simmer for an additional 30 to 45 minutes, or until the barley has softened and swelled. If the barley soaks up too much of the stock, add a little more water. You can cut the cooking time by quite a bit if you use quick cooking barley.

My kitchen missed me almost as much as I missed her :)

Awwww.. I got to spend time with her tonight. No planting.. No grilling.. just glorious one on one time with my dear friend, Kitchen. I have not cooked anything new since, what? The night Hubbs came home? That was a week ago today! I've cooked for him every night since then, but everything I've made were things I tried while he was gone - therefore, blogged about! Anyhoo, I made a promise to myself that I was going to try to slowly get into this "heat" thing that seems to be all the rage with the rest of the free world. After asking a few people which dish I should make to ease into this adventure, I was told a curry would be a good way to make something where I could really control the spice. I found two recipes that looked outstanding (how could they not.. created by two outstanding people!) and perfect for my first curry dish. Now which one to make first? Well I ended up going with Marianne's recipe for Creamy Roasted Vegetable Curry because I did not grocery shop this week and didn't have the coconut milk to make Kevin's Chicken with Coconut Curry Sauce. But now that I've had my first curry.. oh yes.. I will be purchasing that coconut milk for my second variation of such a tasty lil spice dish! The Creamy Roasted Vegetable Curry was absolutely delicious. It was tangy and robust, and there was just a hint of sweetness from the roasted carrots and orange bell pepper. The rice was a perfect compliment and Hubbs agreed. My only disappointment was that there was no heat whatsoever. This is not the recipe or recipe author's fault, it was mine. I used a heaping teaspoon of curry powder and tasted the sauce. I thought I detected a slight burn, so I added another heaping teaspoon full and tasted again. My lips and mouth did not immediately turn into a firery inferno as I had expected, but now I was in a quandry. Do I add even more curry? Am I pushing this too far? Will yet another heaping teaspoonful push the heat level over the edge where I won't be able to eat dinner tonight? When I pour the sauce over the chicken and veggies and heat it all through, will the flavors develop then and wake up the heat? It was a scary proposition - I was starving! So I opted to just leave it alone at 2 heaping teaspoonfuls. I should have went for more. There was no heat, but the flavor of this dish was just spectacular. I will make this again and I will start with a tablespoon of curry and then go from there. When I imagined cooking this dish for Hubbs, I thought I'd be able to get to the farmer's market on the West side where there is a nice spice store to buy my curry powder. Unfortunately, I never made it out there so I picked up some McCormick curry powder. It is yellow in color. Did I buy a sweet curry powder? Wouldn't it have said "sweet" on the label? Or really, does it take a large amount of the stuff to bring on the heat? Or maybe McCormick just has crappy spices. I need opinions and advice, please! :D Please keep in mind, regular everyday black pepper causes my lips to go numb and my nose to run.. so it's not like I'm immune to spices lol Creamy Roasted Vegetable Curry Recipe written by Marianne as found on The Unemployed Cook 1 boneless chicken breast, cubed* (I used 3 small breasts) 2 medium carrots, chopped* 1 red or orange pepper, chopped* 1 medium leek (white and light green part), sliced* 2 cloves garlic, grated or minced 4 oz. sliced bamboo shoots 4 oz. sliced water chestnuts 4 oz. mushrooms, sliced and sauteed 1 medium Yukon Gold potato, cubed* .5 cup reduced fat sour cream (I doubled the sauce so I used 1 c.) 1 Tbsp oyster-flavored sauce (I used 2 TBS.) 1 Tbsp soy sauce (Again, 2 TBS.) curry powder (or paste), to taste (I used 2 heaping tsps. of the powder only) olive oil sea salt freshly ground pepper 1 cup cooked rice, any variety *I chopped all of these into about the same smallish bite-size. I wanted to be sure that you could get several flavors into each bite, and it worked really well. If you chop into a larger dice, you will need to adjust cook times. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Toss the potato chunks in a little olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and place them in a baking dish. Roast them for 10 minutes, since they take a little longer to cook than the other vegetables. Toss the pepper, carrot, and leek in a bit more olive oil and salt, and add them to the pan with the par-roasted potatoes. Roast for 30 minutes more, until tender and just beginning to brown around the edges. The leeks might get a little more brown than everything else, but they are crispy and wonderful. I kind of want to eat roasted leeks every day now. I agree with Marianne, the crispedy leaks were delish! :) Back on track, set aside your roasted vegetables. Season your chicken with a little salt and pepper. In a large nonstick skillet, heat up a splash or two of olive oil over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken chunks on all sides, then reduce heat to medium. Add the garlic, shoots, and water chestnuts, saute for about 1 minute, until warmed through and fragrant. Be careful to not burn the garlic. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and curry paste/powder (Marianne used a combination of the two). Adjust curry seasonings to desire spice level, and add a splash of water to thin. Pour over the chicken mixture, toss well to combine. Add mushrooms and roasted vegetables to the pan, toss several times to coat in the sauce. Cook for about 2 minutes more, until everything is warmed through and the sauce has thickened slightly. Serve over rice.

Deep Dish Eggplant Parmesan Pizza

Still on my eggplant & zucchini kick over here.. These two veggies alone make it easy for me to see how some people go vegetarian. Seriously. I haven't missed beef very much these past couple weeks, which is way weird for me. heee! I sat down with my Cuisine at Home magazines again and picked out 3 or 4 recipes that I've got slated to try this week and next. My first was this Deep Dish Eggplant Parmesan Pizza. Unfortunately, it didn't thrill me. Although this is my fault, I kinda burned the crust. oops. I was shocked to see that this normally excellent publication that always shows you step by step instructions in making their recipes, including pictures, did not explain how long to blind bake the crust. Something I've never done before. It just said to bake it until it's golden.. well.. the damn dough is golden to start with and I didn't see much of a different goldeny difference after 10 minutes, so I went for another 5. It still didn't look much different from when I originally put it in the oven but I figured, jeezzzusssss it's gotta be done, right? Well it was.. probably too done, as after it baked the allotted time with the eggplant filling in it, the crust came out a dark brown.. like burnt dark brown. *sigh* The other not so great thing about this pizza was that there was no sauce used. You simply slather crushed tomatoes over your layers of cheese and eggplant. So the taste was closer to blah than anything else. I even salted between layers, figuring the crushed tomatoes weren't going to give much taste. Hmm.. So, I firmly believe, had I not overbaked the crust and had I used my marinara or my Aunt's simple pizza sauce, this would have been a fabulous new recipe for me. The good thing was, the 2 lbs. of eggplant called for was wayyyy wayyyy too much for my 10" cast iron skillet - so with the remaining eggplant and cheese, I layered in an 8" x 8" glass Pyrex dish with my marinara and THAT turned out fabulous. lol I will make this pizza again and I will make those changes, because the idea of this deep dish pizza is fabulous. They also give another version called Deep Dish Supreme pizza, which I might try as well. =) Deep Dish Eggplant Parmesan Pizza For the Crust: 3/4 c. warm water (105º-115ºF) 1 TBS. sugar 1 pkg. (1/4 oz.) active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsps.) 2 TBS. olive oil Combine water, yeast and sugar. Proof until foamy, about 5 minutes, then add oil. 2 c. all-purpose flour 1/3 c. yellow cornmeal 2 tsp. kosher salt Mix flour, cornmeal and salt in the bowl of a standard mixer fitted with a dough hook; add yeast mixture. Knead on low speed for 10 minutes, or until smooth. (If kneading by hand, knead for the same amount of time) Form dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl, turning to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about one hour. Punch dough down and re-shape into a ball. Return to oiled bowl, cover and let rise again, about one hour. Preheat oven to 450ºF. with the rack on the bottom; coat a 9" cast iron skillet with 1-2 teaspoons oil. Divide dough in half; wrap one half in plastic and freeze for later use. Roll out remaining ball, line the prepared skillet, dock the sides to prevent puffing and blind bake. "Since the fillings are so dense, the crust must be prebaked or it will be raw and doughy on the bottom. So you need to "blind bake" the crust, like pie dough sometimes is. First, line the dough with foil, keeping the edges exposed, then fill the dough with dried beans. This will help keep the sides from collapsing during the first bake. After baking briefly, lift out the foil and beans. At this point, the sides will be set, but bake the crust again to cook the bottom. (If you have a pizza stone, be sure to use it here - it helps crisp the bottom crust even more.)" You see? It doesn't say how long.. so may the force be with you :D For the filling: 2 lb. eggplant 2 c. all-purpose flour 6 eggs, beaten with 3 TBS milk Vegetable oil, about 1" deep for frying Salt to taste 6 oz. fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced 2/3 c. Parmesan cheese, grated 1 c. canned crushed tomatoes *Note: This recipe does not call for you to salt the uncooked planks of eggplant, let sit for 30 min. then rinse, to bring out some moisture and to tone down the bitterness of the vegetable. I don't know if it's necessary or not, but I took this extra step because I didn't want to take a chance of bitterness. It's optional though. =) Peel eggplant and slice lengthwise into 1/4" thick planks. (I didn't peel mine and it came out just fine) Place flour and egg mixture into separate shallow dishes; line a baking sheet with paper towels. Heat oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Dredge eggplant in flour, then dip into egg mixture. Fry eggplant in oil for about 15 seconds per side, or until golden brown. Drain on the baking sheet and season with salt. Layer the eggplant, both cheeses and tomatoes 4 or 5 times into the crust, dividing items evenly among the layers. I only got about 3 layers.. quite possibly my eggplant and cheese slices were too thick? Finish top layer with mozzarella and Parmesan. Bake pizza 25-30 minutes, or until cheese is brown and bubbly. Let rest 5 minutes so the cheese can set, before slicing. They suggest serving this pizza with a Roasted Tomato Sauce spooned on top of each slice. Unfortunately, the day I made this pizza was the day my IP decided to take a crap on me and I couldn't get online to get the recipe, so I can not vouch for it's taste but I am including the recipe in case anyone would like to try it. =) Roasted Tomato Sauce 8 cups (4 lb.) Roma tomatoes, quartered 1 cup onion, chopped 4 cloves garlic, whole 2 t. kosher salt 1 t. red pepper flakes 1 t. sugar Toss with: 1/2 cup olive oil Stir in: 1/2 cup fresh basil, chiffonade Preheat oven to 450°. Combine first 6 ingredients in a large casserole dish. Toss with olive oil and roast 35-40 minutes, or until tomatoes have softened. Remove from oven and mash with a potato masher, keeping tomatoes a bit chunky. Stir in basil. As if this post wasn't long enough *cough* *cough* I had a boatload of eggplant and cheese left over after overstuffing my pizza. So I made a mini pan of Eggplant Parmesan, layering the eggplant and cheeses like I did with the pizza, but instead of using the crushed tomatoes I used my marinara. I baked it at the 450º F for 30 minutes and like I said wayyyyyy up there.. it was fabulous :D

My spin on Eggplant Rollatini

Last week while perusing my favorite foodie blogs, I visited Weekly Dish and started drooling over this dish of Grilled Eggplant and Portabello Salad yum! So I went out and got myself some beautiful looking portabellos and a big shiny eggplant with every intention of making this delicious sounding salad this week. Alas, my big shiny eggplant was looking a lil worse for wear when I pulled it out last night to chop it up and marinate it overnight for tonight's dinner. So I decided I had better use it up right then and there to be safe. I'll put another eggplant on my list for this week so I can make the salad next week. Doesn't it always work out that way? *sigh* I was craving some kind of meat as well last night, since I've been doing the vegetable and pasta thing this week. I've been making Giada's lasagna rolls for ages now and wondered if she had done anything similar with eggplant, so I consulted the mammary book. I found her recipe for Eggplant Rollatini and I gave it a quick look and got the gist of it, but decided I wanted to combine the way I make her lasagna rolls with my eggplant. Keeper! Total keeper! The eggplant was so tender after grilling it and with the stuffing of beef and italian sausage and oohhhh the cheese, the melty ooey gooey cheese - I thought maybe I might have over powered the taste of the eggplant, but it was very present and ohhh so good =) I'm especially delighted with the way this recipe turned out as my mom is a total eggplant parmesan freak, but she's never cooked with eggplant herself and she's only found one restaurant in all of northeast Ohio that actually cooks the eggplant so that it's tender enough for her to chew. That's a good thing, that she found a restaurant, but it's kind of a bummer as well, because if we go anywhere else.. she can't have one of her favorite dishes. Well now, although it's not eggplant parmesan, I've got a dish I can make her that I know she'll thoroughly enjoy and that she can have more often. That makes me very, very happy! =) So here's my take on Eggplant Rollatini.. enjoy! Lisa & Giada's Eggplant Rollatini 1 large eggplant 1/2 lb. ground sirloin 1/2 lb. sweet italian sausage (or use hot if you want a spicy kick) 1 (15 oz.) tub of ricotta cheese 1 (1 lb.) bag of fresh baby spinach (or a 10 oz. box of frozen, chopped spinach - thawed & squeezed until dry) 2 cups of your favorite marinara sauce sliced Provolone cheese (or mozzarella or any good melting italian cheese) Pecorino Romano cheese olive oil salt & pepper to taste Preheat the oven to 375º F. Slice the eggplant length wise about 1/8 inch thick. Place your slices on a cookie rack that's been placed over a jelly roll sheet and sprinkle both sides generously with kosher salt. Let sit for about a 1/2 hour so the salt can bring out some of the water in the eggplant and reduce the bitterness of it. While you are waiting for that, brown your sirloin and sausage and chop the spinach. (By all means, you can use frozen, chopped spinach - just thaw it out and make sure you've squeezed all the water from it - I usually place the thawed spinach in a clean kitchen towel, wrap it up tightly and squeeze all the water out that way) Once the meat has browned, combine it in a large bowl with the spinach, ricotta, romano (wanna know how much? Hmm.. how much do you like cheese? Use as much or as little as you'd like - I like! So I probably used a good two handfuls), salt and pepper, set aside. Heat a grillpan or your broiler. When the eggplant is done sitting in the salt, rinse it really well and place on paper towels, blotting excess water from them. Drizzle olive oil on the side of eggplant that you'll be putting down on the pan and then drizzle the tops with a little more olive oil. Grill each side for approximately 3 to 4 minutes, or until they are tender. Now it's time to assemble your rollatini. I took my eggplant off the heat and placed them on a cookie sheet and then spread about 2 TBS of the beef/cheese/spinach mixture of them and rolled them up. It was kind of messy but kind of fun as well =) Place 1 1/2 c. of your marinara in a 9" x 13" baking dish and then put the rolls on top. Spoon the remaining 1/2 c. of your marinara over each rollatini and then place a slice of the provolone on each. Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Take the foil off and either bake for another 5 minutes to brown the cheese or if you just can't wait another 5 minutes (like me!) turn on the broiler to brown it quicker :D I served this with a simple salad of leaf lettuce, grape tomatoes and yellow bell peppers dressed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and about a tsp. of good garlic salt. Yum! *Note: I only got 7 rollatini from my eggplant and had about a good 2 c. of beef mixture left over, so if you have a large family, use 2 eggplants. I didn't want to waste the beef mixture, so while my rollatini was baking, I boiled 4 lasagna noodles until they were al dente and then made 4 lasagne rolls, which I froze for another time.

Spring Zucchini

Although you can easily get your hands on zucchini year round, I don't cook with it often until spring arrives. Glorious spring and all the wonderful veggies it promises to bring throughout the next few months.. happy happy! One of my most favorite dishes in all the world is fried zucchini.. introduced to me as a child from my father. He was a vegetable FREAK! lol Thank God, or I'd probably not like my veggies as much as I do now. Dad would cook for us mostly on Sunday mornings and afternoons.. he was the king of breakfasts and snacks.. although he did have many recipes up his sleeve, my mother was the main cook in our family. I admit there are many things my father made that made me turn my nose up.. pickled pigs feet, head cheese sandwiches, neckbone soup, etc.. hehe But when he made his simple vegetable dishes I was always standing behind him just waiting for my plate. Oh.. and his fried dough with sugar & cinnamon sprinkled on it.. yeah, I was practically perched upon his shoulders waiting for those treats to be ready to be inhaled. He was never a fussy cook.. not many ingredients went into his dishes and they rarely were cooking for hours upon hours (except for the sauce), so it wasn't a long wait to enjoy what he had concocted. His fried zucchini are a perfect example. He simply cut the zucchini into thin slices, dipped them in a couple beaten eggs and then dredged them into a flour, salt & pepper mixture before frying them to a golden brown. They are crispy on the outside and so tender and juicy on the inside. We'd eat these alone, never as a side dish. Fried Zucchini 1 or 2 medium sized zucchini, washed and cut into thin slices (coins) 2 eggs, beaten 1 c. all purpose flour 1 TBS. salt 1 TBS. freshly ground black pepper 1/2 c. vegetable or canola oil for frying Put oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Combine the flour, salt and pepper thoroughly in a large shallow bowl. Dip your zucchini coins in the eggs and then dredge them in the flour mixture turning over to coat the coin completely, laying each coated coin on a tray or rack. Once the oil is hot (can be tested by dropping a small amount of the eggs in the oil, if they sizzle it's ready) carefully place the zucchini slices in a single layer but don't crowd them. Fry each side for roughly 3 to 4 minutes (until they are golden brown), drain on either paper towels or a brown paper bag. Lightly sprinkle with a little more salt if you think it's needed.. eat immediately if not sooner =)

Sadness

My first disappointment with a recipe from Cuisine at Home. Normally I wouldn't write about a bad recipe, although I lurve reading comments and am amazed that anyone would even take the time to make a comment, this blog really is a way to organize all my sucessfull attempts at recipes, new and old. So writing about something I will never make again probably doesn't make much sense. BUT - I guess I can not be a true critic to this recipe as there are a couple components of it that I've never had before - so I don't know if the recipe is bad or if it's just my palate. So I'm posting it and if anyone does give it a try, maybe let me know.. is it me or is it a yucky recipe? heehee I've never had polenta before. I've seen it and I've heard about it, but I've never tried it. The flavor was very good, I'll give it that. But the texture of this soft polenta didn't bode well with me. I've got other recipes where the polenta is more "solid" for total lack of a better word, and I'm definitely going to try them now just for the taste factor. Hopefully one later this week as a matter of fact. I'd also never had shiitake mushrooms before. They are delish, but the recipe did not say to not use the stems and wooo baby are they tough and fibrous. Ick. I'll definitely use them again in other recipes, but will throw the stems out for sure. Another ingredient was dry sherry. I cook with wine all the time and always enjoy the concentrated flavor in the background of the recipes but the sherry paired with the balsamic in this recipe seemed to cancel out every other ingredient. Not so good. But again.. maybe this is just me. =) Mushroom Ragù With Soft Polenta For the Ragù 1/4 c. shallots, sliced 1 lb. assorted mushrooms, sliced or quartered (4 cups) *Recipe suggested a mix of crimini, shiitake and button mushrooms so that's what I used. It also suggested not to use Portobellos as they turn the sauce black. 3/4 c. tomatoes, diced *I used canned fire roasted diced tomatoes 1/2 c. vegetable broth *I used chicken broth, didn't have vegetable broth. 1/4 c. dry sherry or Madeira 2 TBS. balsamic vinegar 1 TBS. tomato paste 1 TBS. chopped, fresh parsley 1 tsp. minced fresh thyme Salt and pepper to taste For the Polenta 1 c. vegetable broth *Again, I used chicken broth 1 c. heavy cream 1/2 tsp. kosher salt 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg Pinch of white pepper 1/2 c. yellow cornmeal 2 TBS. cream cheese, cubed (1 oz.) 2 TBS. Parmesan cheese, grated For the Ragù: Saute shallots in 1 TBS. oil in a large saute pan over medium heat until soft. Increase heat to high, add half the mushrooms, and saute until browned; remove from pan. Add additional TBS. of oil to the pan and saute remaining mushrooms, then return the reserved mushrooms to the pan. Add tomatoes, broth, sherry, vinegar and tomato paste. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Finish with herbs and seasonings. For the Polenta: Bring broth, cream and seasonings to a boil in a sauce pan. Whisk in cornmeal; reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes, stirring often. Fold in cheeses before serving. Serve Ragù over Polenta.