Hello Summer!

It may be hot enough here in the summer to fry an egg on the sidewalk, but I think the produce ALMOST makes up for it.

I sauteed these asparagus and tomato pieces in a little olive oil with some Italian seasonings, threw in some chunks of chicken, and then stirred in a creamy alfredo sauce and served it all on top of some of that flavored linguine I had (habañero this time).

Inspired by my first experience with a whole artichoke at my brother-in-law's house, I decided to try my hand at this tasty side. I served it along with some orange ruffy filet, seasoned only with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. I topped it all with a yummy homemade hollandaise sauce for dipping.

Back In The Kitchen

Between the slight nausea and pure exhaustion of early pregnancy, I am sad to say I have not cooked a real meal in probably over 2 months until tonight. Fortunately, I was presented with an opportunity to minister to a family in our church, and while it may be small consolation to this family who has been through a lot lately, it was an enormous blessing to me to have a reason to get up off my butt and do something productive! I forgot how good it feels to be in the kitchen.

I went with a classic, simple and delicious: chicken enchiladas, layered lasagna style instead of rolled. Ooey gooey goodness that simply warms the soul!

For dessert, I made these double chocolate brownies, a recipe I saw in this month's issue of Martha Stewart Living and have been dying to make. (The baby seems to have quite the sweet tooth. With Patrick I craved salty and vinegary like crazy- mustard was a biggie. This time around, I can't get enough of the sweets, especially chocolate!) However, we surely didn't need a huge tray of them all to ourselves, so this was the perfect excuse to make a batch. Any time you bake, it's always more fun to share anyways; it's sure to bring smiles to faces all around :)

Can I Get An Amen!

I don't know where in the world I've been, but I have just recently discovered the miraculous power of the crock pot! Yesterday morning, I put some seasoned ribs and onion slices in the crock pot, added some BBQ sauce about 8 hours later, let 'em cook for another hour, and there was dinner. I made these sweet potato fries to go with them. Just slice, rub a little olive oil on, sprinkle with cajun seasoning and coarse salt, and bake in the oven at 350° for about 30-40 minutes depending on desired level of done-ness.

Yum!

Just- yum!

The Pasta Theme Continues...

There is becoming a pattern in my posts. This pasta is Spinach Basil Garlic and the recipe is for Mama DeCio's Marinara. I added some ground beef to the mixture for a little added protein. The rest is a combo of crushed tomatoes, garlic, fresh basil, onions, and a tablespoon of sugar. A tasty twist on good old spaghetti.

More Pasta

On Friday, my parents came over for dinner - a sort of impromptu get together after a little shopping with my mom, since my dad was already on this side of town for work. I decided to use another one of our flavored pastas and some ingredients I had gathered for this fish recipe. The pasta is a handmade chili cilantro linguini. The recipe was supposed to be for Ceviche, which I had no clue involved soaking the fish in lime juice for over 4 hours rather than cooking it, and since our dinner plans were a bit last minute, I came up with my own recipe. I also wasn't too keen on the idea of eating cold fish, so grilling it in a pan with a little olive oil seemed much better. I sauteed the veggies first in olive oil and lime juice with a generous portion of fresh cilantro. It was a mixture of carrots, yellow bell peppers, onions, garlic, and red chilies. Once the veggies were tender, I added the halibut and cooked a little longer then served it all on top of the chili cilantro pasta with a few cilantro sprigs. Turned out pretty yummy!

Flavor of the Night

We finally went to the Scottsdale Farmers' Market this Saturday for the first time, and I think I'm going to have to go back every Saturday now to do my grocery shopping. We came home with lots of yummy fresh food. One purchase included a selection of DeCio handmade pastas. They had over a dozen or so different flavors, and we bought four of them. On their website, they have a pretty long list of recipes for all the different varieties of pasta they carry. For dinner tonight, we used the Szechuan Orange Spice linguini and combined it with the recipe for Lemon Chicken (although I substituted oranges for the lemons). It's a yummy blend of fresh orange juice, minced fresh red chilies, honey and garlic, then topped with fresh parsley and roasted oranges. Delish!

New Kitchen Stuff + Late-night Insanity = Weak-In-The-Knees-Yummy Food

There seemed to be a theme to the Christmas gifts I received this year. I got a set of vintage mixing bowls from my grandma; a new extra large skillet and another Pampered Chef spatula from Luke, something not every husband could give to their wives without getting dirty looks; a Martha Stewart cookie cookbook from Luke's brother; and this deliciously shiny green KitchenAid mixer from Luke's mom. By the end of the Christmas weekend, I was sooo ready to start cooking.

I had planned on cooking a special meal last Monday for our anniversary, but that ended up not happening, so I decided, somewhat last minute, to do it this Saturday...at 6:00 at night. Heaven help me if I ever decide to do this again any later than noon. We were finishing off dessert at midnight.

Anywho, I turned to my Julia Child cookbook for inspiration. I made Fricassée de Poulet à L'ancienne [Old-fashioned Chicken Fricassee with Wine-flavored Cream Sauce, Onions, and Mushrooms]. This sauce is so absolutely, decadently creamy. Had I not known better, I would have sworn it was made with cheese. Oh my word, let me tell you, butter is the magical mystical ingredient that makes everything turn to heavenly bliss.

Each of the ingredients are prepped and cooked separately, using parsley, thyme, and a bay leaf, which gave the braised onions (I used the little tiny ones) the flavor of French onion soup.

For dessert, I made this Reine de Saba [Chocolate and Almond Cake] with Glaçage au Chocolat [Chocolate-butter Icing]. Aside from the decorative sliced almonds around the edge, the cake itself is made with a bit of almond extract and a generous addition of pulverized almonds. Since my little food processor decided to stop working, I found that Bob's Redmill Almond Meal works just great; in fact, it is much finer than I probably would have been able to get the crushed almonds, making the cake that much smoother, which is a plus for me since I'm not a huge nut fan to begin with. The icing is simply melted chocolate and butter.

AND, the secret ingredient that makes this cake beyond heavenly... both the cake batter and the icing call for a couple tablespoons of fresh coffee.

Who else is gettin' weak in the knees people??

All The Trimmings

One of my favorite things to do is throw a party. What could be better than opening up your home, fellowshipping with friends, and filling everyone's bellies with lots of good food?

So, we spruced up the house - I sincerely hope no one tried to open any of the closets...

...put up some festive decorations...

...filled the house with beautiful flowers...

...covered the countertop with plates of scrumptious food...

...and of course, lots and lots of cookies.

It was a very happy home indeed.

The Only Man

That's what Luke was at our brunch this morning. Unfortunately, Alex's husband was unable to join us, leaving Luke alone with me and my three former college roommates. Somehow, with all of this delicious food about, I don't think he really noticed or minded. Here's the lineup: We started with some very yummy virgin mimosas - sparkling white grape juice and orange juice.

A tasty selection of teas.

Got milk? We did!

A bowl of apples, bananas, and my favorite - California cuties.

The main course - A Provençal tart made with a thin layer of dijon mustard on the bottom of the crust, a layer of shredded Gruyere cheese, sliced roma tomatoes, a custard filling of eggs and cream, topped with sautéed spinach (which the recipe actually did not call for, but I thought sounded good), and sprinkled with a mixture of Herbs de Provence (which I sort of improvised since I didn't have this specific French blend - I used Marjoram, Thyme, Basil, and Rosemary). Simply heavenly!

A 'lil meat on the side. Yummy bacon and little smokies.

And for a sweet bite these orange chocolate scones with chocolate chips - flavored with fresh orange zest and juice and orange marmalade.

Eventually, the testosterone at our little gathering increased slightly when young master Patrick joined us at the head of the table. All in all, a wonderful morning fellowshipping with three precious friends over a quite tasty meal.

A Tart Pan From Luke

When I got home from my doctor's appointment today, I walked into the kitchen and found a gift bag on the counter and a smiling husband. When I asked what it was for, he said, "Just because." Inside was a new tart pan. I have been just baking these tarts in a regular pie plate, which works fine, but he knew I was wanting a real tart pan with a removable bottom.

Well, we just had to test it out tonight, so I made this sautéed spinach and mushroom tart with ricotta and parmesan cheese, another recipe from the Once Upon A Tart book. The recipe calls for a double crust portion so that you can make a lattice pattern on top. And here it is, successfully transferred out of the tart pan and remarkably still in tact!

Luke's Birthday Dinner

I told Luke he could have anything he wanted for dinner and dessert tonight, and his choice was chili and cornbread with brownies for dessert.

I used my good old Betty Crocker cookbook for the chili and cornbread recipes.

And the recipe for the brownies came from that new "Once Upon A Tart" cookbook from the chapter Once Upon A Cookie. They are called Fudgy Brownies, and these are definitely fudgy.

Rise and Shine...

...for a bright and early birthday breakfast. I sent him off to work this morning with a tummy full of pumpkin cranberry pancakes (using up those leftover scone ingredients) and bacon.

Had to throw these in here too, because they're just too cute to keep to myself.

Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you!

A Little O' This, a Little O' That

The scones that I made this morning called for buttermilk, which for some odd reason seems to only come in a pretty large container, despite the fact that most recipes only take a small amount and then you're stuck with a big ol' bottle of buttermilk that you can't use for anything else. Well, it just so happens that in the parenting magazine I subscribe to which arrived just yesterday, there was an entire page dedicated to ways to use leftover buttermilk! One of those recipes was for a buttermilk crab pie. Now, I also just happened to have a can of crab meat in the pantry as well, so I made another pie crust (de ja vu), and put this little pie together for dinner. It's made with a layer of cheese on the bottom of the crust, then topped with the crab meat (sautéed first with onions), and then filled with a mixture of eggs, flour, and... BUTTERMILK. Bake at 350° for about 35 minutes, and voilà!

New Cook Book, New Recipes

My dear friend, Michele, from church gave me this wonderful new cookbook, "Once Upon A Tart." It is full of so many delicious recipes, and I had a hard time deciding where to begin. I finally chose two for tonight's dinner and dessert.

For dinner, I made this Roasted-Eggplant-and-Tomato Tart with Basil. The crust is simply flour, butter, and margarine. I cut the flour and butter together the old fashioned way with two butter knives, as I am unequipped with all those newfangled fancy schmancy gadgets that do it for you, but it really isn't that difficult. In fact, if you have never made a pie crust from scratch, I challenge you to try. It's not nearly as daunting a task as it may seem. This was not my first, and the more you do it, the easier it gets. The bottom of the crust is covered with a layer of puréed basil and parmesan cheese, then topped with the slices of tomato and garlic-roasted eggplant. The filling is made of cream and eggs, though I don't think I made quite enough because it didn't seem to fill the dish as much as it should have. The tart then bakes for a little over an hour. So delicious!

For dessert, I used another recipe from this book: Crunchy Dried Cranberry-Chocolate Chip Cookies. This cookie is made with oats and wheat germ, though I substituted bran flakes, in addition to the flour. The bran flakes, as I am sure the wheat germ would have done, gives these cookies a very light, crispy texture that just crumbles in your mouth. The combination of the sweet chocolate chips with the tart cranberries completes the yumminess that is this cookie. Oh so good!

Thanks Michele for the wonderful gift! I can't wait to try more recipes.

New Measuring Cups

This is another one of my Sur La Table finds. My old set of measuring cups were plastic and a couple of them had broken. I love the fun colors. I'll be honest. I think this was the true inspiration for the baking of the cookies.

My other find was a citrus press. I bought the lemon size, thinking it would work pretty well for most lemons, oranges, and limes, rather than buying one of each. I'll let you know how it goes as soon as I get to test it out.

It's Not DiGiorno

I think we missed a week in there somewhere on the new recipe exploration with being gone so much, but last night we tried two new recipes... so I think we're back on track :)

We had pizza from scratch, which I have actually made before, so I'm not sure it qualifies as a totally new recipe, although the recipe for the crust was different, so I'm counting it. It is Bianco's Pizza Dough, the recipe of pizzaiolo Chris Bianco, whose pizzeria happens to be here in Phoenix. How I have never been there is a mystery to me but soon to be remedied. You can find this recipe in Martha Stewart's May '09 issue or on her website. I have to say that this recipe really made an enormous difference in the texture of the crust. My old recipe is going out with the garbage, because this can't be beat. And, I am excited to try it again sometime when I have more time to devote to it. It was pretty late when I started dinner and our tummies were grumbling, so I cut quite a few corners and didn't let it rise for nearly as long as I was supposed to. It still came out delicious though, and I'm sure if I followed the recipe to a T, it would just be heavenly. I topped it off with our usual toppings. I'm a die-hard fan of Classico's Tomato and Basil pasta sauce. I also used fresh mozzarella, which let me say, after buying the cheapest one, you really can taste the difference. I didn't think it would matter, but the texture was much more rubbery with this generic one than with the more expensive one I usually buy. For a rare occasion, it is worth it to spend a little extra to get the quality, especially if you're going to all the trouble to make good pizza dough. I then just topped off the pizza with sliced tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, dried oregano and rosemary. So delicious!

As a starter, while we were waiting for the pizza to bake, we had fried zucchini, which was actually the inspiration for the dinner theme last night. At church yesterday morning, I was chatting with the lovely Miss Madison, who was so kind as to share in great detail how she made fried zucchini with her grandmother. Let me tell you that this is one little lady who is on her way to being a great chef when she grows up. Thanks for the recipe missy! It was delicious.

Tilapia and Roasted Carrots

Tonight's dish is tilapia filets with a lime sauce and roasted carrots and shallots. The carrots are sliced and tossed in olive oil with minced shallots and roasted in the oven for about 35 minutes. The fish filets are seasoned with salt, pepper, and cajun seasoning, then sautéed in olive oil. The sauce is simply 1/4 cup lime juice and 1/4 cup water added to the pan after fish is removed and simmered down.

More Squash

Zucchini and yellow squash are in season, so I've been doing quite a bit of cooking with them. I made this veggie dish to take to the ladies' potluck at church tonight. It's a very simple recipe. Just sauté the thinly sliced veggies for a few minutes in a pan with olive oil, minced garlic, chopped fresh oregano, and balsamic vinaigrette until veggies are browned and tender, waiting until the end to add the vinaigrette. Garnish with a couple sprigs of fresh oregano.