Wish Upon A Chef

Green bean casserole - the prerequisite for attending Thanksgiving dinner at the Boy Toy household. It’s like the “No shoes, no shirt, no service” sign posted on the door of restaurants and convenience stores. “No green bean casserole, no entry."

But the traditional version of his beloved casserole, which contains a processed can of cream of mushroom soup, goes against my real food policy and since I’m in charge of side dishes this year, I’ve decided to contribute a made-from-scratch version. Will the Boy Toy still love me after I’ve desecrated his favorite dish? Will the other dinner guest choose to go hungry instead of trying something new (as they are sometimes apt to do when my “odd” food is placed before them?)

I know what you’re thinking - it’s just one time per year and I should allow Boy Toy to have this indulgence, right? But here’s the thing – how am I ever going to get him turned on to the idea of “real” food if he isn’t exposed to it? How will he ever know that the homemade version of a favorite dish can be just as good – even better – than the original version? I’m personally striving for an unprocessed Thanksgiving this year, at least with the food items that I contribute and with the foods of others that I consume.

Unprocess your Thanksgiving with this made-from-scratch Green Bean Casserole and give thanks that it’s so delicious! You can prepare the cream of mushroom soup a few days in advance but it is best to prepare the onions just before topping the casserole.

Made-from-Scratch Green Bean Casserole
servings = 6

4 cups green beans, steamed
½ cup milk
1 teaspoon soy sauce
For the cream of mushroom soup:
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 small onion, diced
1/2 cup mushrooms, diced
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup milk
3/4 cup chicken broth
For the onions:
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 cup milk
1 cup whole wheat flour
Oil or butter for frying

For the soup: Sauté garlic, onion and mushrooms and set aside. Melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour. Cook for about 2 minutes. Add milk and broth. Add sautéed garlic, onion and mushrooms.

Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until it reaches desired consistency (about 10-15 minutes). Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To assemble the casserole: Combine green beans, ½ cup milk, soy sauce and cream of mushroom soup in a 1-1/2 quart casserole. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until mixture is hot and bubbly. Sprinkle with fried onions. Bake for 5 minutes or until the onions are golden brown.

For the onions: While the casserole is baking, soak onions in milk for 5 minutes. Dredge onions through flour to coat. Heat oil or butter in large skillet and fry onions in batches, stirring as needed to brown evenly. Drain on paper towels and season to taste.

No matter how old you get, there are times when only your Momma can make you feel better.

When you're down with a bad cold, only Momma can make chicken soup just the way you like it.

A scraped knee?  Momma will make the boo-boo all better with nothing but a kiss and a Snoopy band-aid.

When your first (second, third or twentieth) true love breaks your heart, Momma is there to help you pull yourself up by the bootstraps and make you feel loved again.

And so it is that after I've been in a blogging/cooking rut for almost a year, only Momma could get me started again.

This time last year Boy Toy and I were getting ready for vacation in Mexico and the folks were on safari in Africa.  It was the last week of "normal" as we would know it until very recently. After months, days and weeks of watching my mother struggle to get her strength back, I was very pleasantly surprised when she showed up and dropped five dozen ears of corn at my doorstep.  Things were definitely getting back to normal.


My hometown in Tennessee has long been known for fruit and produce grown by the Scott family - namely strawberries, tomatoes, and corn.  There is a world of difference between real farm-grown food and the mass-produced food in the grocery store but most people never have the chance to experience the difference. Nor have they experienced the satisfaction of "putting up" food to be enjoyed long after it's out of season.

As a child, I can vaguely remember most all of my family members sitting on the porch at some point in time stringing and snapping beans from the garden or "working" tomatoes into pints and quarts.  It was a family affair - a time to be together, talk, laugh and tell stories.  It was a joint effort to do the work and a joint effort to enjoy the bounty for the rest of the year.  It was a way of life.  Sadly, the art of canning and preserving food has been lost on alot of today's population.  Invite a bunch of friends over for a bean stringing party or a corn shucking soiree and see how many show up!  I'm still a farm girl at heart because, even after years of being removed from it,  I still love the satisfaction of "working" real food. 


The folks and I spent Friday evening shucking and plucking 60 ears of corn (some of us even clowned around) from Scott's farm and planned to prepare it on Saturday for the freezer.  Once you get past all the shucking, it's really a pretty easy thing to do.  

























Once the corn is clean of all the silks and the ends are trimmed, fill the largest pot you have with water (about halfway) and bring it to a slow simmer.  Add the corn in batches and give the water a few minutes to return to a simmer.  Cook the corn for about 4 minutes, making sure to push the corn down to the bottom a few times because it floats to the top. 


Remove the corn from the pot and put it into an ice bath to stop the cooking process.  Once the corn is cool, use a sharp knife and cut the kernels from the cob.  Bag the corn in freezer bags - it works best if you make the filled bags lay flat so you can stack them in the freezer and take up less room.  We bagged the corn in both pint and quart bags and got 10 pints for me and 9 quarts for Mom. 

When you're ready to use the corn, defrost it and cook however you please.  I like to saute it with a combination of olive oil and butter along with fresh garlic, diced red or green bell peppers.  Add fresh herbs like parsley, thyme or basil at the end of cooking and season with salt & pepper. 

With a little bit of time and effort this summer, you can enjoy fresh corn all year long!

Sweet potatoes are something that I've had to learn to like through the years.  Held in a higher regard and deemed healthier than white potatoes,* I used to only enjoy sweet potatoes when baked and slathered with mounds of butter and honey (and no Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner is complete without a sweet potato casserole piled high with melted gooey marshmallows, am I right?)  But surely all of the added fat, sweetness and calories cancels out anything remotely healthy about the tubular root. 

Up until a few weeks ago, I would've described my feelings for sweet potatoes as "Take 'em or leave 'em.  I just eat them because they say I should."  But then I started ordering organic produce from Backyard Produce and having it delivered right to my door.  I included something called garnet sweet potatoes in one of my orders and fully expected a bunch of impressive looking gourmet ruby-colored potatoes to show up on my doorstep.  Instead, they were your Average Joe regular looking sweet potatoes.  But as I sat down to enjoy my dinner that evening, I realized they were far from just an average sweet potato that had done nothing much to win my affections before. 

A garnet sweet potato, I learned after a bit of research, gets its name not because of its flesh color but instead its skin has a more reddish hue than other varieties of potatoes.  And let's just say that I was blown away by the amount of flavor packed into these spuds.  Organic foods have more flavor than non-organic or genetically modified items because they aren't pumped full of the equivalent of steroids to make their production larger and bulkier. When you interfere with the natural process, you essentially grow any flavor right out.  These potatoes had the perfect amount of  sweetness and flavor and I chose to roast them with fresh rosemary and a drizzle of olive oil which concentrated the flavors even more. 

Thank you Backyard Produce for delivering right to my door and for introducing me to how sweet sweet potato love can be!  To find out more about Backyard Produce's delivery service and see if you are in one of their many delivery zones, check out their website and get signed up today. 


Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Fresh Rosemary

Printable Recipe

Sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into medium-sized chunks
Olive oil for drizzling
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Fresh rosemary, leaves removed from stem and chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Drizzle potatoes with olive oil (about 2 or 3 tablespoons, depending on how many potatoes you use.  You just want a light coating of oil) and sprinkle generously with salt, pepper and fresh rosemary.  Toss potatoes to coat and spread them on a baking sheet in a single layer. 

Roast for about 15-20 minutes, stirring once, or until potatoes start turning golden brown.  Season with more salt and pepper, if desired. 


*When the health benefits of a sweet potato versus a white potato are studied a bit closer, it seems that both have benefits in their own right and one isn't necessarily more healthy than the other.  There is not alot of difference between the spuds nutritionally - calorie, fat and protein counts are relatively similar.  Sweet potatoes contain anti-oxidants, beta-carotene and Vitamin C whereas white potatoes contain folate and have more dietary fiber.  The glycemic index of both depend on how it's prepared for consumption.  I may not be a doctor and I've certainly never played on on TV, but I'm prescribing my theory of "all things in moderation" when it comes to incorporating either sweet or white potatoes into my diet. 

I cannot stress how much I LOVE summer produce.  Meats become pretty much non-existent in my summertime meals because I prefer to feast mainly on the bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables available from farmers markets and from my Backyard Produce delivery service. 

Eggplant Caprese may be considered just a snack or appetizer for some folks but combined with some freshly baked hearty bread, it makes an entire meal for me.  Choose the best quality ingredients you can find because the sum of this dish is only as good as its individual components.  Pull out your best EVOO, choose the ripest heirloom tomato and the freshest Mozzarella and savor the flavors of summer!

I'm sharing my quick trick for turning a not-so-expensive balsamic vinegar into an expensive tasting one and it only takes about 5 minutes of your time.  It takes this fresh combination of flavors totally over the top!



Eggplant Caprese

Printable Recipe

Ingredients: 
1 small-medium eggplant
1 large ripe tomato
1 ball of fresh Mozzarella
1 to 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
Chopped fresh basil
Balsamic vinegar*

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees (or use the "broil" setting).

Wash the eggplant and cut it into 1/2" inch thick slices.  Slice the tomato and Mozzarella in slices as well.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Season eggplant slices with salt and pepper and place the eggplant slices into the pan.  Drizzle with a little more oil, if needed.  Fry eggplant, turning once, for about 2 minutes or until golden brown, but not too soft.  Remove eggplant from the pan and place in an ovenproof dish. Top each slice with a slice of tomato and a slice of Mozzarella. Season with more salt & pepper. Place dish in the oven for about 2 minutes or until Mozzarella starts melting. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with some chopped basil and a little balsamic vinegar.

*If you're using an inexpensive balsamic vinegar and would like to turn it into a delicious and expensive tasting vinegar, just pour about 4 times as much vinegar as you're going to need into a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil and allow vinegar to simmer for about 2-4 minutes.  Allow it to reduce until it's slightly thinner than what you want because it will continue to reduce after you take it off the heat.   Drizzle over meat, fish, fruits or vegetables. 

I'm a couple of months into my real food journey and some days I feel like I'm trucking along pretty good and other days I feel like I've stalled out on the side of the road.  As I mentioned in this post, changing your eating habits to include more real food is not something you can just wake up one morning and decide to do and go at it 110%.  It takes planning and thought (both of which I'm good at doing) and patience (which I'm not so good at having) but it just cannot be done overnight and is not the easiest thing I've ever done.  Check out this article for some tips on getting yourself started in the right direction and budgeting for eating healthier and more real. 

My pantry still contains some processed food from previous shopping trips and I do still use them because I don't want to be wasteful, but as they are being depleted I am buying more suitable real food options.  Can you imagine how long it has taken/will take just one person to deplete the overloaded pantry shown above??  I no longer buy the various brands of crackers that I loved, instead opting for Triscuits since they contain whole wheat and less than five ingredients (and I've even started making my own crackers).  I've added coconut oil, whole wheat flour, and honey to my staples. I snack on nuts and seeds now instead of chips and cookies. I have only purchased one bag of sugar since early December and that was used to prepare treats for Boy Toy's kids (as I don't intend to push my eating habits/beliefs on kids who aren't my own.)



I've also started purchasing meats from Windy Hill Farm, a small family-owned farm located in New London, NC.  They focus on humanely raising animals with no antibiotics or growth hormones.  They offer a CSA program (where you basically invest in a share of the farm in exchange for receiving a share of the crops) or you can shop their products online and have them delivered to one of the three drop-off locations nearest you.  They are also available at area farmers markets (check their website for schedules and locations.)  The folks from Windy Hill were super nice when I met them for pickup and they told me that the whole chicken that I ordered had just been processed a few hours prior.  How's that for fresh??  Check out their products online and make plans to stock your refrigerator and freezer with fresh eggs and meats. 



Another service that I'm currently trying out is ordering organic and locally grown produce and having it delivered right to my door each week from Backyard Produce.  They've got a very wide delivery range including Wilmington, Triangle, Triad, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Jacksonville, Greenville,New Bern and Richmond (check to see if you are in a delivery zone.)  They offer several different levels of service and each week you shop with points that you accumulate according to your specific plan.  I get a box every other week simply because it takes me awhile to eat all of what I receive, and that's one of the great things about Backyard Produce - you can put your orders on hold any time you need to.  Their offerings change based on the season and availability.  It's not just produce either - they have North Carolina-made products like cheese, bread, salsa, granola, etc. 

Using these two services has made it much easier for me to make the change to natural, organic meats and produce because I am not tempted to shop strictly based on price for the cheaper non-organic and natural items in the grocery store.  In actuality, I don't feel that I pay any more for these conveniences than I would if I were making weekly trips to the grocery store.

Stay tuned for some fun recipes using the Backyard Produce items and Windy Hill meats. 

 
Through the combination of my Pinterest addiction making an effort to change my eating habits to be more "real" and the ever present quest of finding make-ahead, easy-to-eat-at-my-desk items for breakfast, I stumbled across a recipe for a Green Monster Spinach Smoothie from Iowa Girl Eats. Under normal circumstances, I would have totally by-passed the recipe because I would have considered it as one of those things that a "health nut" would eat. But on this particular day I was game to investigate further because of the claims that you could not taste the spinach in the smoothie.

Even though this smoothie contains a generous helping of spinach, it is true that you cannot taste it. If you were blindfolded and could not see the green color, you would NEVER know that you were consuming a healthy dose of vitamins A, B₂, B₆, C, E and K along with iron, calcium, potassium, omega-3, protein and a slew of other healthy minerals.


On a whim, I snapped a photo as I whizzed up my green smoothie for breakfast and posted it to my Facebook page. The comments were as I expected...

Yuck!
I don't like that
That's the grossest thing I've ever seen!

I realized that this smoothie is a perfect example of how we, as people who are constantly bombarded with marketing about what we should eat and what our food should look like, are conditioned to think and act in a certain manner just because of what they tell us. The grossest thing you've ever seen...really?? Thanks to spending alot of time around a 13-year old boy, I can think of things waaaaay far grosser than a green smoothie. Is it gross because of the color? Do you think guacamole looks gross because it's green? Of course not because it is supposed to be green.


How about this green drink? How many would slurp it down without giving another thought to the color? We think and accept that it should be green because they present this to us as something we naturally know as being green (lime). Would you be suprised to know that the only thing "lime" about this margarita is the garnish on the side?


Totally discounting the alcohol and assuming this is made with Jose Cuervo premade margarita mix (which is considered a top-shelf product and highly recognizable and used in alot of home bars and restaurants), let's look at the ingredients of this green drink loved by so many:


Now don't get me wrong - I love me a margarita or three and I'm not going to sit here and say shame on anyone for drinking something that is loaded with preservatives and contains absolutely nothing natural because I've done my fair share. But (there's always a but), I'm starting to think more and more about what goes into my body and educating myself on the way things REALLY should be and not just what someone said it should be. So what if the smoothie is green? Would a rose by any other color smell any differently? This tasted like any other fruit smoothie - I tasted the peanut butter and the banana.

Only one of my friends was brave enough to say that she'd like to try the recipe for her and her kids, so this is for you, Tammy, and for anyone else out there brave enough to tackle a green smoothie. Enjoy!

Popeye's Spinach Smoothie
inspired by Iowa Girl Eats

Printable Recipe

1 frozen sliced banana
1-1/2 Tablespoons peanut butter
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 Tablespoon honey
1 cup milk
4 cups baby spinach (approximately 1/2 bag)
1 Tablespoon chia seeds (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Since my quest to move toward real food, I've surprised myself with a) how many recipes I've tried with ingredients I'm not used to, and b) how many of those recipes I've actually enjoyed.  This recipe for Apple & Fennel Salad with Bleu Cheese from Eating Well magazine has appeared in my dinner rotation two times in as many weeks.  I thought it was so delish I even ate the leftovers for breakfast the next morning!  Fennel is loaded with Vitamin C, fiber and potassium and the only way I had ever eaten it before was roasted  - it pairs well with pork.  The anise/licorice is more pronounced when raw, but not overpowering. 

As my food magazine subscriptions start to run out, I'll be more selective as to which ones I renew but Eating Well will definitely be one that I'll keep.  It's loaded with alot of simple and real recipes that don't require alot of exotic ingredients.

Give this salad a try - the sweet butter lettuce with the salty, tangy bleu cheese and crisp apples and fennel tossed in vinaigrette is the perfect combination.

Apple & Fennel Salad with Bleu Cheese
Eating Well, September/October 2012

Printable Recipe

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 large crisp, sweet apple, such as Honeycrisp or Ambrosia, thinly sliced
1 medium fennel bulb, quartered and thinly sliced, fronds reserved
6 cups torn butterhead lettuce
1/3 cup crumbled bleu cheese

Whisk oil, vinegar, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add apple and fennel and toss to coat.  Chop 1/4 cup of the fennel fronds and add to the bowl along with lettuce and bleu cheese; gently toss.

I've been doing really well with my weekly real food pledges and have found them to be pretty easy so far.  I breezed through week 1 dealing with fresh fruits and vegetables (and I'm proud to say I'm still conscious of making sure I get my daily quota.)

The challenge during week 2 was to move away from sodas, drink more water and only sweeten your tea or coffee with honey or 100% maple syrup (not the Ms. Buttersworth stuff) in an effort to wean yourself away from refined sugars or artificial sweeteners.  I don't drink sodas, coffee or milk but I do need to drink more water and sweet tea is my weakness.  I've tried a few times in the past to switch completely to unsweetened tea and found it to be the equivalent of drinking dirty water, so I'm not sure I can ever make that total switch (which rolls around as the challenge in week 12.)

I had to push the week 3 challenge a little further down the list simply because of time restraints right now.  The challenge was to purchase only locally raised meats and while we certainly have that option available here in Charlotte (I plan to check out Baucom's Best), I have been in the middle of home renovations and my weekends have been tied up with other obligations and that is pretty much the only time the outlets that sell Baucom's products are open.  In an attempt to totally not ignore the pledge, I purchased some organic chicken and beef, it just wasn't local. 

The pledge for week 4 was easy too because I don't eat fast food or even eat out in a restaurant very much and I don't deep fry.  I will admit to occasionally indulging in Boy Toy's fried chicken wings, just not during the pledge week.

So that brings me to the week 5 challenge which was to try at least 2 new whole foods that you've never tried before. I chose kale and quinoa.  To me, as a former caterer, kale is something that is used to garnish dinner plates or line serving platters and not something that you would actually eat.  It seems that kale chips have been all the rage for several years now and I guess I've been living under a rock because I'd never heard of such a thing until I started researching what in the world to do with garnish kale. I haven't tried the quinoa yet but I'm so glad I gave these kale chips a try because I was very surprised at how much I liked them.  It was a bit like eating crunchy fall leaves, but they were addictive and I couldn't stop eating! 

Check out this link for more ways to enjoy kale and here's a video of my girl crush Hilah Johnson making garlic sesame kale, which is next on my list of ways to try it.


Kale Chips

1 bunch fresh kale, washed and thoroughly dried
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Strip the kale leaves from the "rib" and roughly tear them into pieces.  In a bowl, combine kale with olive oil and salt and toss to completely coat the leaves.

Place leaves in a single layer on a baking sheet and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 10-15 minutes or until the edges of the leaves turn brown, shaking the pan once during cooking to redistribute the leaves and prevent them from burning (not all of the leaves will turn brown and crisp, so don't try to get them all to look the same.)

These are best when eaten the day of baking.  I had a few left over and they were a bit chewy the next day. 

Last week I announced my plan to move toward more real food and away from processed ingredients. Real food can be defined as a "product of nature more so than a product of industry." It is whole fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds. It is organic and humanely raised meats and wild-caught seafood.  Whole dairy products are also in this category. It is the way our predecessors ate before the rise of manufacturing, industry and government took over our food production. You can think of real food as something that comes from the ground or from a plant or tree or as something that has a mother.

Real food does not contain preservatives and ingredients that you cannot pronounce. It is not artificially colored, flavored or sweetened. It does not have the shelf-life of a millennium. Real food is not dispensed from a drive-thru window.

Most times when you make a decision to change, the first impulse is to discard everything that has to do with the old habit and make a complete and immediate 100% change in every aspect.  Quite frankly, this is nothing but a set up for failure.  Making a lifestyle change is something that takes time and should be a gradual change so that it is not so much of a shock to your system.  Kitchen Stewardship sums it up best by equating your real food journey to learning to read and write.  As a child you didn't just one day pick up a pencil or book and start to read and write.  You learned to recognize letters.  Learned what sound they made.  Learned how to write them.  Learned to put letters together to form words.  And before you knew it, you were reading and writing for the rest of your life!  Although we are far from being little kids now, the fundamentals are still the same:  take small steps and learn as you go.  I won't be immediately clearing out all processed food ingredients from my pantry and refrigerator and completely changing my diet right away - I plan to use up what I have and replace it with more suitable items as I progress. 

100 Days of Real Food has done an excellent job of taking the overall move to real food and breaking it down into smaller, easy to follow steps.  I'm currently working my way through the 14 weeks of mini-pledges.  The week 1 pledge asks that you incorporate at least two different fruits/vegetables with each meal.  I was always under the assumption that I ate alot of fresh fruits and veggies, but do I meet the quota of at least two per meal? No. This pledge made me mindful of doing so.  Lunch and dinner aren't so much of a problem for me, but breakfast is tough because I'm not a big fan of breakfast and a piece of raw fruit will sometimes upset my stomach. It is also hard to continuously think of healthy and easy things to eat when you are a desk-jockey limited to a toaster and a microwave. I do try to throw in a few extra pieces of fruit during the day as a snack, so I think it all balances out in the end. 

Fresh vegetables are so easy to incorporate into your meals - they can take mere seconds to prep and only minutes to cook.  I wanted to share a few of my favorites with you although there is no actual recipe for any of them.  I roast alot of my veggies and I could literally eat an entire pound of roasted asparagus myself.  Snap the tough woody ends from the stalks (about 1 or 2-inches from the bottom), wash and dry them well.  Arrange the stalks in a single layer on a baking sheet and drizzle them with olive oil  (1 to 2 teaspoons), sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast for about 8-10 minutes at 400 degrees.  Give the pan a good shake at least once to make sure the asparagus isn't sticking or getting too done in one spot.  Once it comes out of the oven, grate some fresh lemon zest over the top and if I'm feeling all fancy schmancy, I'll crumble some creamy tangy goat cheese on top.  Yum!


I use the same technique for cauliflower, broccoli and whole cloves of garlic except they need to roast just a little bit longer, maybe more like 12 to 15 minutes.  If you have some baby carrots, throw those in as well.  They are pretty much the same density and take about the same amount of time to roast.  When you put them into the serving bowl, make sure you get all of the olive oil from the baking pan as well.  I usually finish this off with a sprinkle of sea salt.
 

I love this medley of vegetables that I call "farmstand saute."  You can adapt it to use pretty much any combination of fresh veggies that you have on hand.  I usually have squash, zucchini, bell peppers, onions and cherry tomatoes.  Add about 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a non-stick skillet (sometimes I add just a bit of butter too) and bring to medium-high heat.  Add your veggies along with some salt and pepper and any seasonings that you'd like.  If you use dried herbs, you can add them now but if you use fresh ones, wait until the last minute or so of cooking.  I use either dried Italian seasoning or fresh dill that grows rampant in my yard and flower beds.  Saute for about 8 to 10 minutes or until the veggies are crisp-tender (if you are using cherry tomatoes, add them about when there's only about 5 minutes left to cook as you don't want to overcook them).  Now here's the best part....

During the last minute of cooking, add a splash of vinegar - my favorite is rice wine vinegar, but you can use any kind of flavored vinegar that you'd like.  It adds a bit of unexpected freshness to your veggies.  I get rave reviews every time I prepare it. 


See?  It's as easy as that to add real food to your diet.  Don't be afraid to try different techniques of preparing vegetables - roasting, sauteing, or steaming - as each method brings out different flavors in whatever you are cooking.  Go forth and experiment and have some real food!

When I was a kid, my grandparents would come to our house every Christmas morning to see the mountain of gifts that Santa had brought to me (I was always a very good girl) and my mother would prepare brunch for everyone.  Menu items were usually the same every year and for most things it was the only time of year they appeared on our table, so it became tradition to always have these special items.

One year my mother decided that she wanted to change up the menu and believe me when I say there was mutiny on the bounty!  I revolted.  Huffed.  Puffed.  Whined.  Until she agreed to at least keep most of my favorites (so maybe I wasn't a very good girl all of the time), including this hashbrown casserole which can NEVER. EVER. be removed from the menu. 

Reminiscent of Cracker Barrel's version, this is the warmest, cheesiest, creamiest, most delish thing you will ever put into your mouth.  This year, I was in charge of Christmas brunch with Boy Toy and his family and you know hashbrown casserole was on the menu.  The entire 9x13 dish was scarfed down in the blink of an eye - what you can't see in this photo is someone's hand on the spoon waiting to dig in so I barely got a chance to snap the photo before it disappeared. 

If you are making this for a brunch, you can prepare it the night before and bake it off the morning of, but the best thing is that you don't have to wait until Christmas to try it!

Cheesy Hashbrown Bake
Serves 12

32 oz. frozen shredded hashbrown potatoes, thawed
21-1/2 oz. condensed cream of potato soup (I've also used cream of celery or mushroom)
16 oz. sour cream
16 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup minced dried onion
salt and pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients, stirring well.  Spoon into a greased 13x9 baking dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 40 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown on top. 

Years ago when I first started my catering business, I was so excited to share the same foods that I loved with my clients.  It took me a few times of developing menus for potential parties to learn that not everyone likes what I like and I remember one client commenting that I must also own a goat farm because her menu was so laden with dishes containing my beloved goat cheese.  To this day I'll never understand anyone who doesn't like that stuff. 

One summer, I picked up a lucrative contract to provide box lunches for several weeks to school teachers who were attending training seminars.  We did several varieties of the boxes but they all included the standard fare you see in those types of meals:  sandwich, side salad, and dessert.  I prepared this lovely recipe from Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa for roasted vegetables with orzo as a side dish for one round of the box lunches.   When the call came to place the next order, the person followed up by saying, "Please don't send any more of that orzo stuff."   I immediately went into panic mode thinking something had been wrong with the food and when I asked why, she simply said, "They were afraid of it."

Afraid. 

Of pasta. 

I was in such disbelief I couldn't even laugh at the ridiculousness of that statement.  But I giggle now every time I make this dish because I can't help but remember that conversation. 

So consider yourself warned, faint-of-heart readers, because here's the recipe for Orzo with Roasted Vegetables.  I promise it's nothing to be afraid of and it's very simple to make.  Choose a good olive oil because it is really the star ingredient of the dish.  Most times I leave the pine nuts out because my grocery store insists on hiding them from me.  And I've heard rumors that goat cheese works well in place of the feta.  


Orzo with Roasted Vegetables
Recipe courtesy of Ina Garten as published in Barefoot Contessa Parties!

1 small eggplant, peeled and 3/4-inch diced
1 red bell pepper, 1-inch diced
1 yellow bell pepper, 1-inch diced
1 red onion, peeled and 1-inch diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup good olive oil
1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound orzo or rice-shaped pasta

For the Dressing:
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/3 cup good olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 scallions, minced (white and green parts)
1/4 cup pignolis (pine nuts), toasted
3/4 pound good feta, 1/2-inch diced (not crumbled)
15 fresh basil leaves, cut into julienne

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Toss the eggplant, bell peppers, onion, and garlic with the olive oil, salt, and pepper on a large sheet pan. Roast for 40 minutes, until browned, turning once with a spatula.

Meanwhile, cook the orzo in boiling salted water for 7 to 9 minutes, until tender. Drain and transfer to a large serving bowl. Add the roasted vegetables to the pasta, scraping all the liquid and seasonings from the roasting pan into the pasta bowl.

For the dressing, combine the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper and pour on the pasta and vegetables. Let cool to room temperature, then add the scallions, pignolis, feta, and basil. Check the seasonings, and serve at room temperature.

I've never eaten so much yellow squash in my entire life as I have this summer, thanks to my garden.  I'm sure by now you are as tired of reading posts and recipes about it here as I am of eating it!  It appears that I'm nearing the end of the Summer Squash Diet because the plants have nearly (finally) exhausted themselves, but over the weekend I was faced with what to do with the 20+ little yellow buggers laying on my kitchen counter. Having already sauteed, fried and Parmesan'd the hell out of them, the only thing left to do was pickle them.  I scrounged around in the garage until I uncovered my grandmother's water bath canner, cleaned it up and also dusted off my mother's Ball Blue Book canning guide.  Believe it or not, I even found a dozen canning jars under a few inches of dust!

The act of making the pickles themselves wasn't bad at all because slicing up the squash, onions, and bell peppers and making the sweet and sour brine didn't take very long ~ the worst part about all of it was waiting for the water in the canner to boil.  Not only does a watched pot never boil, but one left on the stove for nearly 2 hours doesn't either!  So a word to the wise....start your water to boil long before you even think about making the pickles.

The texture of a pickled squash is a bit different than a cucumber pickle because squash have a more spongy texture.  Slice them as thin as you can and the difference in texture won't be as noticeable.  After they are processed in the canner, give them at least a few days to soak up the tasty brine before you pop a top and enjoy.  Use them straight from the jar, on a sandwich, served as a side with barbecue, as part of an antipasta platter or even garnish a garden salad with them. 

Squash Pickles
Courtesy of about.com

Ingredients:

•8 cups yellow summer squash, sliced
•2 cups sliced sweet onion
•1 tablespoon non-iodized salt
•1 cup diced green bell pepper
•1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
•2 cups cider vinegar
•3 1/2 cups sugar
•1 teaspoon celery seeds*
•1 teaspoon mustard seed*

*I used 2 teaspoons pickling spice instead because it's what I had on hand, left over from another project.


Preparation:

Combine squash and onion slices in a large enamel kettle; sprinkle with salt. Let stand 1 hour. Add green pepper, vinegar, sugar, celery seeds and mustard seeds and bring to a boil. Pack in sterilized canning jars (I ended up with 3 quarts loosely using the measurements of this recipe). Bring water to a boil in a boiling water-bath canner. Place hot filled jars in rack and into the water. Starting timer when water returns to a boil with jars in it; process for 5 minutes, or 10 minutes for altitudes of 1,001 to 6,000 feet. Over 6,000 feet, process for 15 minutes.
 
Makes approximately 6 pints or 3 quarts.

One of my most favorite summertime side dishes to prepare is this fresh Farmstand Saute, not only because it's easy and versatile and compliments everything but because it uses the over-abundant vegetables from my garden.  Feel free to use whatever combination of veggies and herbs you have on hand (I even use a sprinkle of dried Italian seasoning in the rare instances where I don't have fresh herbs on hand), but don't leave out the "secret" ingredient ~ the splash of vinegar at the end of cooking.  Vinegar elevates the flavor of the veggies and adds just a bit of Oomph!

This recipe is just a guideline so let your imagination run wild and use fresh corn cut from the cob or maybe even green beans.

Farmstand Saute
Serves 4

2 teaspoons olive oil
2 medium yellow squash, sliced on the bias
2 medium zucchini, sliced on the bias
1/2 cup onion, vertically sliced
1 bell pepper (any color), sliced
1-1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped & seeded (if you use cherry tomatoes, just slice them in half)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil or parsley
salt & pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons white wine or rice wine vinegar

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add squash, zucchini, onion and bell pepper and a saute approximately 7 minutes.  Add tomatoes and season veggies with salt and pepper.  Saute approximately 2-3 minutes more or just until tomatoes are heated through.  During the last minute of cooking, add vinegar and stir well.  Remove from heat and add fresh herbs.  Taste for seasonings.

This year, I planted a vegetable garden for the first time in many years. A few years of living in a condo with no space for a garden coupled with spending several years married to someone who stroked out at the mere thought of someone walking on his precious grass, let alone striking a shovel into the ground pretty much put my green thumb on the back burner.
But now I have my own yard and I can stomp on the grass if I want or I can dig up a corner of the back yard and plant a garden if I damn well please. And that is exactly what I did. My dear friend Chris spent an afternoon helping me till up the rock-hard ground and putting together a 4x4 raised garden bed that I bought from Home Depot ~ well, actually he did all the work and I watched because he had just
given me a lecture some friendly advice about needing to appear more vulnerable and alot less stubborn and independent. When all was said and done, I acted so pitiful and helpless that he ended up using some scrap lumber and maxing out my garden space. Is he awesome or what??

When I bought my plants back in the spring, I'll admit to being overly excited because it had been so long since I'd planned a garden. In hindsight, I'm thinking 5 eggplant plants were about 4 too many and now that I'm afraid that I'll be strangled in the middle of the night by one of my rogue yellow squash plants, I'll scale back to only one plant next year. I have serious thoughts of tossing squash into the car windows of passers-by just to get rid of them! Some of the veggies did exceptionally well while some weren't as plentiful as I had hoped and I grew broccoli for the first time ever. I'm looking so forward to researching things for a winter garden as I've never done that either. In the meantime, enjoy some quick and easy recipes that show off your garden bounty, starting with Panzanella. Panzanella is also an excellent way to use up leftover bread that may be lingering on your kitchen counter or taking up precious space in your freezer!


Panzanella Bread Salad Recipe
from Simplyrecipes.com

As you cut the tomatoes, remove some of the seeds and liquid. Your panzanella will be juicy enough. Leave the crusts on the bread chunks; they will stay chewier and give the panzanella more substance.

Ingredients:
4 cups tomatoes, cut into large chunks
4 cups day old (somewhat dry and hard) crusty bread (Italian or French loaf), cut into chunks the same size as the tomatoes*
1 cucumber, skinned and seeded, cut into large chunks
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 bunch fresh basil, torn into little pieces
1/4 to 1/2 cup good olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
* If you don't have hard old bread sitting around, you can take fresh crusty bread, cut it into big cubes, lay the cubes out on a baking sheet, and put in a 300°F oven for 5-10 minutes, until the outer edges have dried out a bit (not toasted, just dried). If you use fresh bread without doing this, the bread may disintegrate into mush in the salad.

Method:
Mix everything together and let marinate, covered, at room temperature for at least 30 minutes, up to 12 hours. Do not refrigerate or you will destroy the texture of the tomatoes.

Serve at room temperature.

Yield: Serves 6-8.

...and creamed corn.

When I was younger, I had a bit of a bad temper. My friends would always joke that it was typical of a fiery redhead to be so temperamental, but in retrospect I think my frequent flare ups were mostly due to immaturity and the inability to understand that this too shall pass. I've always been taught to "kill people with kindness" but sometimes that philosophy is hard to follow. There once was a period in my life where I spent a good part of my time being constantly angry at someone and one day I woke up {metaphorically speaking} and decided that I would no longer waste my time and energy on such negative feelings and I attempted to control my anger and work on the kindness part. Through the years, my hair has gotten gray darker, I've learned not to sweat the small stuff, and my temper has mellowed just a bit. But only a bit......

Instead of stewing in anger and misery for days on end and cradling my grief, my modus operandi these days is to blow up like a 50 cent firecracker, walk off and be done with it while everyone in my path is dealing with the fallout. I yell. And I do it thoroughly. And then I move on. Such was the case this week when someone, who shall remain nameless {but if you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you'll know exactly who I'm referring to} and his new friend, stirred up a hornet's nest. I reacted in typical fashion by going straight for their jugular veins and showed no mercy until I'd said my peace. And then, I put a smile on my face, picked up the phone and invited my friend S. over for dinner.

My friend S. used to live in the general area of my hometown and we were talking about our favorite restaurants around town when S. happened to mention he liked a now defunct restaurant called Skoby's. They were best known for their 21 foot salad bar and their creamed corn, and when they decided to close their doors they were kind enough to publish the recipe for the corn in the local newspaper because they'd had so many requests for it. During its time, it was THE place to eat for a special occasion or if you were SOMEBODY you ate there on a regular basis. I only ate there once many years ago - I had gotten a nice promotion at work and my then-boyfriend took me there to celebrate.

I decided to pay no more mind to the foolishness that happened earlier in the day and bestow kindness upon my friend S. by designing a menu around the beloved creamed corn. I'm not sure if it was as good as he remembered but since he nearly licked the plate clean, I'm thinking I evoked some mighty fine memories!


* Exported from MasterCook *

Skoby's Corn

Recipe By :Skoby's Restaurant
Serving Size : 4
Categories : Vegetables and Side Dishes

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/8 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups half and half
16 ounces whole kernel corn, frozen
2 tablespoons butter

Thaw corn. Melt butter in a small saute pan. Add flour and mix well to make a smooth consistency. Heat half and half in a 2-quart saucepan. Add pepper, salt, and sugar. Bring to a boil; gradually whisk in the flour mixture. Stir continuously until a sauce consistency is achieved. Stir in corn until evenly distributed. Portion into individual ramekins or a casserole dish. Top with seasoned breadcrumbs and brown under the broiler.

My little casa is coming along quite nicely as far as unpacking, arranging and finding things is concerned and after sniffing alot of cleaning chemicals and nearly throwing my shoulder out of socket from scrubbing, I've finally deemed the kitchen open for business. Having never really cooked alot with a gas oven and stove, I wasn't sure how, if any, differently I would need to adjust my recipes and cooking times so I've been preparing a few test meals for myself this past week. I didn't want to suffer the horror and shame of inviting someone over for dinner and serving Entree' a la Flambe because I didn't know how to operate that thing in my kitchen called a stove (and to think I used to call myself a caterer!). So far, there doesn't seem to be much of a difference except maybe shorting the cooking/baking times by just a bit to account for the more intense, even heat that gas provides. So, after having passed the test, I decided to have my friend T. over as my first dinner guest.

I've had a hankering for chicken enchiladas for the last few days, so it was decided that the the menu would definitely have a Mexican flair with margaritas, chips, salsa and guacamole, chicken enchiladas, black beans, and chocolate flan for dessert.

The Martha Stewart side of me wanted to play bartender with homemade margaritas whizzing in my blender garnished with artfully carved lime wedges and multi-colored salts and sugars, but I'm getting older, folks, and I can't be bothered with trying to pretend that I'm somebody that I'm not. When I retired from the catering business, I swore I'd never be stressed over entertaining again. So, I did what I do best and left the rest to convenience. Pre-mixed margaritas and salsa and guacamole from the deli left me to focus on the parts of the meal that I wanted to have fun with.

Holy sombrero! Based on the looks of this nearly empty 2 liter bottle of pre-mixed margaritas that I found on my counter the next morning, it was some party! Was there a pinata involved somewhere????

My chicken enchiladas are muy bien, but I can't take full credit for the recipe. It is one of the many recipes that I use from my personal chef days and was created by Candy Wallace, who pioneered the whole personal chef concept. I love the sour cream based sauce and the fact that is incorporates my favorite combination of spices - cumin and coriander. Here are my little amigos before they went into the oven. Actually, I mocked these up for the photo because I felt silly having someone new over and snapping photos of his food from various angles. Might be misconstrued as a little weird, no?

I served these alongside a generous helping of Art Smith's recipe for black beans. Again, the combination of cumin and coriander makes it a no-brainer side dish for anything Mexican or Southwestern. Art Smith used to work as Oprah's personal chef and his cookbook, Back To The Table, has quite a few good recipes in it. He actually pairs these black beans with a pork roast.


There aren't many Mexican inspired desserts that I'm fond of, but this chocolate flan fits the bill for the finishing touch on a great dinner. I've actually blogged about this particular recipe before,but doesn't this make you want to have a mucho grande bite right now??

Enjoy the recipes mi amigas!!













Enchiladas de Pollo y Queso

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
5 tablespoons butter -- divided
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup large bell peppers -- chopped
2 cups cooked chicken -- chopped
4 ounces green chili peppers -- chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups Monterey jack cheese -- shredded
12 6 inch tortillas

Melt two tablespoons butter and cook onions and green pepper in it until softened. Remove to a bowl. Stir chopped chicken and green chilis into onion-pepper mixture. Melt remaining 3 tablespoons of butter. Blend in flour, chili powder, cumin, & coriander. Whisk in chicken broth. Cook, stirring, until sauce boils. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream and 1/2 cup cheese. Stir 1/2 cup sauce into chicken mixture.
Spoon enough sauce into bottom of pan to cover. Spoon chicken mixture into center of tortilla. Roll up and arrange in 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan; repeat with all tortillas (heat tortillas in microwave for about 15 seconds to make them easier to roll). Pour remaining sauce over tortillas. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake uncovered at 350degrees for about 25 minutes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Black Beans


Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup Chicken Broth or canned low-sodium broth
3 Roma or plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped into 1/2-inch dice
3 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the cumin, oregano and garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the broth and tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the black beans and cook until the flavors are combined, about 10 minutes more. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

Source:
"from Tropical Pork Roast with Black Beans/Back to the Table"
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As a person who spends copious amounts of time alone, eating alone is something that I've grown accustomed to doing. Most people will tell you they detest sitting alone in a restaurant while other patrons are partnered up, eating and enjoying the company and conversation of another. People who dine alone at home often say that they don't even bother with preparing an actual meal, opting to just snack instead, because it's too much trouble for just one person. I'd venture to say that most don't even bother sitting down to eat. I like to cook and I like to eat. So much so, that I wouldn't dream of denying myself the pleasure of a good meal just because there isn't another person around. I usually keep a magazine or book in my car to occupy myself with when I'm alone in a restaurant. And as far as dining alone at home, that never happens because I always have the company of my taste testers. And I bet if I looked closely enough, I could find a few others who are willing to share my table. Only today I found these lovelys willing to keep me company.....

my bounty before it went into the oven

Roasted Vegetables with Greek Feta

1 large eggplant, cut into 1" cubes
4 large Roma tomatoes, cored, quartered lengthwise
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into strips
5 or 6 whole cloves of garlic, peeled
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 cup sherry vinegar
3 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (I used the one with Greek herbs)

Preheat oven to 450. Place parchment paper on roasting pan and toss veggies together with oil, vinegar, oregano, salt and pepper. Roast for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Sprinkle with feta cheese. Serve over couscous with a garden salad and enjoy the company of others, no matter who they are!

There comes a time when you have to let go of things....the ratty old sweatshirt that you pull out of the closet every time you need "comfort clothes", the love letters from a long lost sweetheart that take up space in your underwear drawer, the warm, balmy weather of summer.....

Being an overly sentimental person, it's hard for me to let go of things that have meant so much to me in the past. As I fold my favorite sweatshirt and lovingly place it in the charity bag, I remember all the chilly evenings that it kept me warm. As I read for the last time and toss the tattered love letters into the garbage, I remember how seeing my high school sweetheart in the hallway before class would make my heart skip a beat. And as the first frost of the season lays on the ground, I long for the garden fresh produce and simple meals of summer days gone by....

But wait.....frost? winter? what? where? Are we stuck in a global warming time warp? It's freaking November for heaven sakes and temperatures are still hovering in the low 70s. Being a cold weather wimp, I'm not really looking forward to the the Artic blast, however I'm trying to keep a positive attitude and assimilate myself to the climate change. I've tried rotating hearty soups and stews into my menus. I've pulled out the sweaters, coats, and flannel jammies... I'm trying to get over summer days gone by and move on! But nooooo......

So finally, I just gave up the ghost. It's no longer a fashion disaster to wear white after Labor Day, so who says we can't throw together a quick and easy summer inspired meal in mid-November?? You just go right ahead and report me to the FoodNetwork police.....

Couscous. It's an odd little thing, isn't it? Say that out loud to someone who isn't familiar with it and the next thing you know, they're saying, "bless you!" because they think you just sneezed or something. Prepare it straight out of the box and it's bland and unexciting. But throw in nearly any fruit, vegetable, meat, seafood, herb or spice you can imagine and you have a versatile quick and easy meal. So, here on the brink of bygone summer days, I'm sharing my favorite way to prepare couscous as well as telling you about a great product that I stumbled across over a year ago but am just now getting around to trying....

I was given a sample of Seasoned Skewers at the 2006 Fancy Food Show. They've been in my kitchen drawer all this time and I figured since I was already pressing my luck with the out-of-season-food-preparation, I'd go ahead and break them out for a trial run. They're wooden skewers that are seasoned with various flavors - mine were Coconut Curry with Lime - and they infuse the flavors into whatever you skewer and cook without any additional seasonings. Whoever heard of such a thing? Probably the same person who's never heard of couscous or wearing a tank top and shorts in November! I used 16-20 count peeled shrimp with no additional seasonings, let them sit for about 10 minutes to absorb the flavors and cooked them on a grill pan. By golly it worked! A lovely mild coconut curry flavor resonated throughout my shrimp and paired with my vegetable couscous it was quick...easy....perfect. Just like these warm November days....


Vegetable Couscous

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 each carrot -- diced
1/2 cup celery -- diced
1 each onion -- diced
1/4 cup sweet yellow pepper -- diced
1/4 cup sweet red pepper -- diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 each zucchini -- diced
1/4 cup fresh basil -- minced or 4 tsp dried
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 dash hot pepper sauce
1 cup couscous
1 1/2 cups chicken broth

In a large skillet, saute the carrots, celery, onion, and peppers in oil for 5-6 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add the next five ingredients; mix well. Stir in the couscous. Add broth, bring to a boil. Cover and remove from the heat; let stand for 5-8 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve immediately.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I could be a vegetarian. One of the nicest things about the arrival of summer is the availability of all sorts of tasty garden-grown vegetables. Who needs a huge hunk of meat when you have heirloom tomatoes, colorful bells, squash, zucchini, green beans, cukes...the list could go on and on. And while veggies are most definitely one of the great things about summer, one of the worst things can be the sweltering heat. Who in their right mind wants to be in a towering inferno kitchen? Grab a cold brew my friends, step outside to my patio, and enjoy some of my veggie delights! Grill 'em or eat 'em raw but best of all it's easy, easy, easy!!! So easy a caveman can do it...oh wait, that slogan is already taken. Dang!

No real recipes here folks - well, except for my green beans almondine which does, in fact, require you to be the kitchen but I think you can tough it out for the length of time that it takes the beans to cook.

Slice up some zucchini, squash, vidalia onion, and eggplant and grill for about 2-3 minutes per side. I like to let them marinate in some Italian Dressing for a few minutes before grilling. Put the veggies on a platter with a couple of colorful roasted bell peppers. Sprinkle with some feta cheese and Yum-O!

I'm not a huge fan of raw tomatoes - grape tomatoes are okay in my salad but don't be trying to sneak no grocery store grown tomato on my sandwich, burger, or anything else for that matter. Insalta Caprese is a different matter, though. It don't get no better than sliced heirloom tomatoes layered with fresh mozzarella cheese and fresh basil. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt just before serving. I like to cheat and drizzle some balsamic vinegar also. I'm sure there are some people from the Old Country who would roll over in their grave at the thought of that.


Being a southern girl, I do love me some green beans cooked with fatback but every great blue moon, I have to stray from my southern roots and saute some beans for green beans almondine. Quick to make, I love to serve these room temp but I have a habit of munching on them while they're sitting out on the counter and before you know it, there's none left for dinner! Even on the worse of hot and humid summer days, this dish is worth battling the heat of the kitchen.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Green Beans Almondine

Serving Size : 4
Categories : Vegetables and Side Dishes

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 pound green beans
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon dried oregano
fresh ground pepper -- to taste
1/2 cup onion -- small dice
2 tablespoons sliced almonds
sea salt -- to taste

Trim ends from green beans. In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add green beans and onions and sauté 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly so beans cook evenly. Add broth, oregano, and pepper; sauté for 20 to 30 seconds. Continue to cook, covered, over medium-low heat for 5 to 7 minutes, or until beans are tender-crisp. Meanwhile, in a small nonstick pan over medium heat, dry-roast almonds, stirring occasionally, for 2 to 3 minutes. Sprinkle almonds and sea salt over cooked beans.

Source:
"Wish Upon A Chef Catering & Gourmet Market"
Copyright:
"2007"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

NOTES : Best if served room temp.

And speaking of eating veggies, I noticed Bugs Bunny in my back yard the same night that I was out grilling my bounty.