Daily Thoughts · Vegetables

Spinach, Catalan-style

Chocolate Castles2 Comments

Hope each of you are having a great weekend, Randy and I have worked outside and am getting things looking pretty spiffy around the courtyard. Flowers are blooming and everywhere we turn, we find another weed to pull, but…….it feels so good to be working outside, enjoying the breezes and afterward, sitting out and enjoying the beauty that lies around us. What a perfect setting to be reminded of all the blessings God has granted to all of us, no matter our circumstances. This week, Randy met a friend of ours from California, Morgan. They enjoyed an evening of dinner and conversation, remembering our trip out to California, when, Morgan and his wife treated us to a tapas bar………what an experience for us all. It was my first time to enjoy the wonderful flavors of so many different foods, one of which was chocolate shrimp. Now, this was indeed one of the most unusual dishes I had tasted, the shrimp coated in a chocolate sauce which truly came alive in our mouths. I was so amazed by the taste, that I came home telling everyone that I had gone to a tapas bar and had garlic shrimp. Well, I received several notes from “well-meaning” friends who told me in no uncertain terms that I had no business going to a topless bar and that they were so disappointed in me. So to clarify my actions, it was a tapas, not topless, bar, where they serve small portions of different dishes to be shared with your table of friends. Because we got such a laugh out of this, Morgan brought me my very own “tapas” cookbook. So will share one of the dishes that I am preparing……the spinach…this is such a great way to spur the conversation with your friends and a wonderful way to be able to taste several different dishes all at once..so let me encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and find a tapas grill. It will be an evening to remember.

2 tables olive oil

1 golden delicious apple, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4 ” cubes

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/4 cup seedless dark raisins ( I like to use the golden raisins, just a little more smooth)

1/2 teas salt, plus more to taste

10 ounces baby spinach, washed

Heat the olive oil over a high flame in large pot. When the oil is hot, add the apple cubes and cook utnil they are a little browned, less than 1 min. Add the pine nuts and cook until they are brown, about 20 seconds. Keep the pot moving so the nuts don’t burn. Add the raisins and the salt and stir together. Add spinach, mix and saute very fast until it starts to wilt. Then remove the pot form the heat; the spinach will continue to wilt off the heat. Add salt to taste and serve immediately. Great side with shrimp or any kind of fish, or stuffed pork tenderloin. Try a tapas grill and see how exciting meal time can be….thanks Morgan and Christie for introducing us to this wonderful new adventure of food. We have such fun memory of you guys taking us that night.

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appetizers

Fried Green Tomatoes

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Good Saturday Morning to you all. As I said the other day, I have been looking for a recipe for Fried Green Tomatoes that sounded like the ones we had for lunch the other day and here it is. I have added sliced green onions to the batter because the ones we had, had just a touch of the onion greens in them that just made them pop…….so try them, they are just the best.

Ingredients

3 medium, firm green tomatoes
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup milk
2 beaten eggs

1 green onion top chopped very fine (just the top of the onion)
2/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs or cornmeal
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Method

1 Cut unpeeled tomatoes into 1/2 inch slices. Sprinkle slices with salt and pepper. Let tomato slices stand for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, place flour, milk, eggs with onion tops, and bread crumbs in separate shallow dishes.

2 Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a skillet on medium heat. Dip tomato slices in milk, then flour, then eggs, then bread crumbs. In the skillet, fry half of the coated tomato slices at a time, for 4-6 minutes on each side or until brown. As you cook the rest of the tomatoes, add olive oil as needed. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Salads

Memorial Day Picnic Potato Salad

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Ok, this week, you will be shopping for your Memorial Day cook-out, right? Well, you simply cannot have a cook-out without some potato salad. Southern Living has several recipes for this and the one that caught my eye is the one which I always cook up anytime we are having bar-b-que or fried chicken or simply because I get hungry for it. It is easy and it will quickly become a family favorite.

4 lb Yukon potatoes

3 hard cooked eggs, peeled and grated

1 cup mayo (if you decide to use miracle whip, it will sweeten the flavor of the salad)

1/3 cup finely chopped onion and if desired 1/3 cup finely chopped celery (I usually do not put celery in mine)

1/3 cup sweet pickle relish

1 tables mustard

1 teas salt and pepper

1/2 teas celery salt and 1/2 teas dried dill

Peel potatoes and cut into 1 to 1 1/2 ” chunks and cook until tender. Drain and cool. Combine potatoes and eggs. Stir together mayo  and rest of ingredients. Gently stir with potatoes until well mixed. Cover and chill before serving.

Meats

BBQ Shrimp

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In keeping with our Memorial Day Picnic Theme, I know you must be wondering if all I ever cook is desserts. Most of the time, I actually do have meat and veggies, but dessert is just where my passion for cooking lies. Usually it is me that always offers to bring the cakes or pies, because they are just so much fun to make. But these shrimp are so great and a great dish to take to a picnic or eat out on the patio. Just be sure to carry them to a picnic in a good ice chest.

To make cleanup easier, bake in a disposable foil pan. This recipe is from another Southern Living magazine, July 2006

4 lbs unpeeled large fresh shrimp

2 lemons, cut into wedges

2 bay leaves

1 cup butter, melted

1 cup ketchup

1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce

4 garlic cloves, chopped

3 tables Old Bay seasoning

1 teas dried rosemary

1 teas dried thyme

French Bread

Place shrimp in a 13×9 pan; top with lemon wedges and bay leaves.

Stir together the butter and next 6 ingredients. Pour over shrimp

Bake uncovered at 400 for 35 min or until shrimp are pink, stirring every 10 minutes. Discard bay leaves. Serve with the French bread. So simple but oh so good.

Desserts

Hot Fudge Sauce & Homemade Ice Cream

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Since Memorial Day is right around the corner, I think that this next week, I will concentrate on recipes which you could use for your Memorial Day picnic. Flipping through my old 1970’s spiral notebook which I had written down so many favorite recipes from my Italian neighbor, Cam, I saw this recipe that we used so many times over brownies, homemade icecream or trifles. It is delicious and makes a great gift if you put it in a mason jar and tie a ribbon around the lid.

1 pkg (6 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup butter

1 1/3 cup evaporated milk

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 teas vanilla

Melt chips and butter over low heat, stirring occastionally. Add sugar and milk, blending well. Bring to a boil and cook about 8 min over low heat, stirring constantly. Add vanilla. Serve warm. Store unused portion in fridge and reheat when needed. Makes 2 2/3 cup sauce.

Homemade Ice Cream

4 eggs beaten

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 can pet milk

1 tables vanilla.

Mix all ingredients.  Pour into freezer can and then  fill up the ice cream freezer to the fill line with milk.  (Most of the time, I use half and half or part whipping cream.) Remember the more whipping cream and half and half you use instead of just milk, the creamier the ice cream. Freeze according to directions on freezer. Makes 4 qts.

Daily Thoughts

Son-in-law Devours Spaghetti

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Last night, Jodi calls and asks if she and the kids can come spend a couple of hours here since their house was being shown twice between 3-6 p.m. When I said of course, she immediately asked what I was planning for dinner. I had taken out some spaghetti sauce out of the freezer to fix for Randy and I, so I just added more sauce, bell pepper, onion and a little “spinach mixture” that I had in the fridge that I stuff mushrooms with. That was a great addition, by the way to the sauce. Anyway, when Eric got off work, he headed over here and by that time, Jodi had left the kids here and headed off to a meeting, so it was Randy, I, Eric and the kids. As soon as Jodi returned, she ate and left with Caleb to head home to give him a bath and put him to bed, leaving Eric here with Jaden. It was just so nice that Eric was here and we enjoyed visiting with him and Jaden. I was sitting there thinking about that and how we don’t have many opportunities to just visit with our son-in-law. What a blessing it is to have him feel comfortable to be here without Jodi and to sit and just visit. We get to hear from him (now Jodi, this is not saying that you monopolize the conversation) and he and Randy just had a nice time talking about work and children and it made me realize that when Jodi and I are here at the same time, we do overpower the topics of conversation and they always are kind enough to just let us dominate the table. So Eric…….thank you for coming over, thank you for taking the time to just sit and visit and share with us your interests and questions concerning work. What a nice memory it created for us all. We love you and thank you for your friendship…..it was a very nice evening! (and now, I don’t have leftover spaghetti to try to use up over the next couple of days).HA

Meats

Super Sweet & Sour Sauce

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This is one of the sauces that I have used for 35 years and it is so easy. You can pour it over chicken or pork and if you are in a real hurry, buy Tyson’s breaded chicken nuggets (just follow the directions on the box as to how to bake them before adding to this sauce)  or buy some at either WallMart deli (which I have to tell you is delcious) or Chicken Express and go home and cup up and serve with this sauce with rice and you have yourself a great and quick Chinese meal.

1 tsp inst coffee

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tables cornstarch

1/4 teas salt and dash of pepper

1/2 cup vinegar

2 tables catsup

1 ( 8 3/4 oz can) of undrained pineapple chuncks

1 medium tomato, cut in chunks

1 bell pepper 1/2 onion, sliced in pieces

1 tables salad oil

In large skillet cook bell pepper and onion in hot salad oil. When veggies are slightly tender (but not limp) transfer to plate and set aside. In skillet, mix remaining ingredients except the pineapple together with a wisk so that the cornstarch is dissolved. Then add the pineapple and tomato, bell pepper and onion. Pour over chicken or pork over rice.

Meats

Faidley’s Crab Cakes

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One of my most favorite things to order when we go out is crab cakes. Some are just so rich and flavorful that you just want to savor each bite. The following recipe was in a Southern Living back in 2001 and is such an easy and delicious crab cake. If you prefer a spicier crab cake, add some finely chopped bell pepper, onion and Old Bay seasoning to your taste.

1/2 cup mayo

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 tables dijon mustard

1 tables worcestershire sauce

1/2 teas hot sauce

1 lb fresh lump crabmeat, drained

1 cup crushed saltines (that’s about 20 crackers)

1 qt vegetable oil

Stir together first 5 ingredients; fold in crabmeat and saltines. Let stand 3 mins. Shape mixture into 8 patties. Place on a wax paper lined baking sheet; cover and chill 1 hour.

Fry crab cakes, in batches, in hot oil in large skillet over medium-high heat 3 to 4 min on each side or until golden. Drain on paper towels. Serve with tartar sauce.

Note: To saute crab cakes, cook iin 3 tables butter or oil in a large nonstick skillet 3 to 4 min on each side or until golden instead of frying in oil.

*FYI Crab Cake Rules

Start with absolutely fresh crab. Add an egg or some mayo to moisten the meat; season to taste. Use your hands to gently add in just enough breadcrumbs or cracker crumbs to bind the mixture together; form into cakes.

Daily Thoughts · Meats

So Much to Say, So Little Time

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FIrst and foremost, we found out last night that our daughter is having a baby girl! Wow, I can actually go to the store and look at pink frilly dresses and not just have to pass them up on the way to the t-shirt department. I can actually stand there and buy one…So we are thrilled. Randy and I thought and thought last night about names, and we have decided that Trudilena Randette sounded just precious, what do you think? We will have to get back with you on that one, when we hear what the “new parents” think of that one. Anyway, had a fabulous day yesterday with 3 great friends. We went to downtown Dallas and ate at the “Screen Door” and had the best fried green tomatoes I have ever had, ever. When I find a recipe that sounds close to what we had, will share that with you.  I do have to share something with you. I decided at the last minute before leaving that I would put on a little extra jewelry trying to look “hip” since I am turning the big 60 this summer, am trying very hard not to show that. Well, I put on my magnetic bracelet, the one that I bought to try to keep my “body in balance with the universe” (as the pamplet has assured me it will). Well, as I am talking at the table while eatting my wonderful fried green tomatoes, my magnetic bracelet caught hold of my knife and proceeded to throw it acoss the floor, over to the next table. That started our meal off very nicely. People were continually watching me to see what else I was going to be throwing, so my “friends” decided that I should probably take off the bracelet and put it in my purse. So my balance with nature has been a little off ever since and I am craving chocolate like never before. So, I talked them into stopping for dessert on the way home, where we enjoyed a huge piece of eclair pie. Now, that’s what I call “getting in touch with nature. We sat out on the patio and ate and ate until we remembered that we all were suppose to go home and cook for our hubbies. Needless to say, after talking to the wives today, Peggy’s husband was the only one that got a real dinner. (Yes, she was the one one thought ahead and baked the brisket.) Two hubbies got sandwiches and haven’t heard from the other one. From now on, when we head out to have a girls afternoon, I’m making Randy’s bologna sandwich and leaving it in the fridge, so I don’t have to cook when I am so full.  We were celebrating Dena’s birthday, the young one of our group. We laughed all day and just had the best time. Thank you sweet friends for the laughter you bring to my life. It is just a joy to know that on those days when maybe we have the droll drums and we are in a rut, you are there to brighten up my life. It made coming home to empty the dishwasher fun, as I put away plates, I replayed to Randy all the laughter that took place in our car up and down the tollway. Peggy shared a cooking idea of hers. It is listed below. She said that it was just delicious and she was going home to eat it last night. So as we were out laughing, eatting and sharing with Dena the “fun” of getting older, her brisket was at home cooking and waiting for her. So here it is:

1 brisket (2 to 3 lbs)

1/2 cup water

1 cooking bag

1 can of green chiles

1 package of taco seasoning

1 packette of dry french onion soup

Put the taco seasoning, french onion soup mix and green chiles in the bottom of the bag along with the water. Place your brisket on top and secure the bag with the twistie. Place in shallow pan and bake at 300 for 2 to 3 hours, depending upon the size of the brisket. When done, take out and shred with fork. Serve with flour tortillas, or corn or just eat as your meat dish with mexican rice and beans….or potato salad and baked beans…whichever taste you are hungry for…