Bad Bad Wife

I had a beautiful shrimp tray in the fridge - but nothing to serve with it.

So - I started thinking cold salad - I mean it's been hot in Seattle this week.

Channon suggested a Three Bean Salad - but I vetoed that - JB doesn't like 3 Bean Salad.

Then I started thinking Cucumber Salad or maybe Couscous Salad. 

I rememberd JB didn't like either of those.

So - what's a bad wife to do?  Yep - went searching for a recipe that had both cucumbers and couscous!

There you have it a lovely cold Couscous, Tomato & Cucumber Salad.

Instant Oatmeal

Instant Oatmeal

::3 cups quick oats

::1/2 cup packed brown sugar

::1/4 cup banachips

::1/4 raisins (but I used cherries)

cinnamon

Dump everything together in a bowl

mix well.

Put in a closed container.

Take 1/2 cup put in a microwave safe dish.

Just cover with water.

Cook for 30 seconds, stir, cook an additional 25 seconds.

Enjoy.

I was thrilled when I found a recipe for making my own instant oatmeal.

It's not all that exciting, but since I'll eat oatmeal for breakfast most days it's a huge savings.

and I can put whatever dried fruit I wish in.

If you make your own - let me know what flavors you enjoy.

Addictive

This is what's left of a bag of Almond Joy Pieces

They are dangerously addictive

Luckily - I had help eating them

If you like coconut - go get some

Yummmm!

Broccoli Woccoli

We grew broccoli this year. First time ever! Apparently it really loved the very wet Spring that Seattle experienced. However, it's a touchy veggie. One day it had a lovely tight crown and the next - little yellow flowers. Being the heathen that I am - I still chopped it down, pulled the little yellow flowers off, sauteed it with garlic on night and roasted it the next. It was tasty.

BanaCoCo Bread

Using Marjie's method of naming food based on the ingredients included and then being lazy - I've shortened the name of this bread from Banana Coconut. The recipe comes from a book called Company's Coming by Jean Pare. I've had this book for a long time because there are notes that I first made this bread for Christmas 1995 and then again in 97. Back then I made mini loafs of bread and fresh jam as gifts for the family. Back then I even grew the berries to make the jam. Now my family is lucky to get bread. This bread is super easy and quick. Here you go: 2 eggs 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup melted butter 1 cup mashed ripe bananas 1/2 tsp. almond flavoring (I used vanilla) 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1/2 cup medium coconut (this time I used flaked coconut - more like 3/4 cup) 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (we used about 3/4 cup) 1/2 chopped maraschino cherries - left them out. Break eggs in mixing bowl. Beat until light and frothy. Add sugar and melted butter. Beat well. Stir in mashed banana and almond flavoring. Measure remaining ingredients into another bowl. Stir until well mixed. Pour over batter. Stir just to combine. Spoon into greased loaf pan. Bake in 350* over for 1 hour until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Let cool before cutting - like that's going to happen! Enjoy.

Pumpkin French Toast

Last weekend I was reading a trashy romance novel and the main character owned a "greasy spoon." One of her breakfast specialties was Pumpkin French Toast - of course she just happened to mention that she made it with pumpkin bread. Before I had even read that - my mouth was watering. Then I started thinking that I had a box of pumpkin bread mix in the pantry and there was no reason I couldn't have Pumpkin French Toast. So Friday night while I was cooking dinner - I made a loaf of pumpkin bread. Then Saturday morning - I made french toast with pumpkin bread. Irish Girlie Knits has an easy recipe here. I started with a flat shallow bowl, eggs, vanilla, milk, cinnamon & nutmeg - although it occurs to me that this would be the perfect time to use pumpkin pie spice. Mix up the eggs, milk, vanilla and spices. Slice your bread about 1/2" thick and let soak in the egg mixture. Meanwhile heat your skillet or griddle. Cook the soaked pumpkin bread over med-low heat (I like to make sure my egg mixture is really cooked) until golden brown turning once. Serve while warm with real maple syrup that conned out of Mr VeeDogKnits by asking if got the email asking for more maple syrup! This was very yummy.

What I Did on Vacation

Bread! I finally made bread. Both of the loaves here are from the first basic recipe in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Easy as pie and just as good! It took me about 15 minutes to mix the basic dough. JB was a doubter. He said it didn't look like any bread his grandma ever made. On baking day (the dough will keep in the fridge for up to 14 day) you whack off a lump of dough, shape it and let it rest for 40 minutes. Preheat the oven and then it only bakes for 35 minutes. The traditional loaf shape needs to rest for longer than 40 minutes. But it still only bakes for 35. I don't have any non-stick bread pans so I baked this in a glass pan. It did stick a little bit on the bottom. Sunday night I might a chicken and wild rice soup from our left over T-day dinner (I made Cornish game hens) and served it with the bread. There's less than a third of the loaf left. I'm quite enjoying this.

Day Late -- Dollar Short

Well - here's my entry for Channon's Pizza Party. I've been talking about making this ever since she posted about the pizza party. Well - I finally did. It was as good as I remembered although I punted through it this time - I couldn't find boboli pizza crust when we were grocery shopping so I used pita bread and made individual pizzas - worked great. Carmelized Onion & Sausage Pizza 2t olive oil 3 onions thinly sliced (I used 1) 1T sugar 1t dried oregano 1/4t salt 1 red bell pepper, seeded & thinly sliced (used green) 1/4 pound sweet Italian sausage (I used bulk sausage) 1 prebaked whole-wheat pizza crust 1C fat-free ricotta cheese 1/2C shredded fat-free mozzarella cheese 2T grated Parmesan cheese (skipped it this time) 2T sliced black olives Brown sausage. In another pan, heat oil, add the onions, sugar, oregano & salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions soften, add the bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally. Place the pizza crust on a baking sheet (I assembled mine on the cutting board and the placed them on a pre-heated baking stone). Spread the crust with the ricotta cheese, leaving a border. Top with the onion mixture, mozzarella cheese, sausage and Parmesan. Bake in a 450* oven until cheese is melted and bubbly, 10-12 minutes. Sprinkle with the olives and cut into 6 wedges.

What's a Girl To Do?

Last Saturday was poker at our house - again. Being a loving wife - I made BBQ Beef sandwiches for JB. He loves them - I can't stand my house smelling like them. See how nice I am? Anyway - what do you do with the left over dogfood BBQ Beef? Well - I put it in muffin tins that I have sprayed with non-stitch spray. Then I toss it in the freezer. As soon as they are frozen - I dump them into a zip-log baggie. They are perfectly portioned for lunch. When packing JB's lunch, I toss one frozen portion of dogfood BBQ Beef into a container and toss a bun into his lunchbox. Perfect!

More Granola

Due to a very unfortunate event, Miss Melly is sleeping in my guest room and driving my Jeep this week. I'm glad to be able to have a guest room and an extra vehicle to loan her.

When we got home from the airport last night, she saw the canister of granola on the counter. (I keep it there so we remember to eat it.) Melly asked about the granola which reminded JB that we still had some and this morning he finished the last batch off.

This is CoffeeYarn's granola recipe and it's super easy. Last time I didn't get clumps. This time I stirred less often during the baking and left it on cookies sheets until it was cool. Then I added raisins and dates. Pecans were the nuts of choice and I still used honey and vanilla. Yummy!

Ruby Red & Blue

anyone who's ever been to my house can attest to the fact that the first thing you hear when you drive up is the hounds and the first thing you see is the Strawberry patch. It's right there next to the driveway. For some reason, the strawberries produce really well every other year. This is the over production year. We have already filled and eaten the colander once with ripe berries. We had sliced berries on pancakes and strawberry rhubarb crumb.

Well it was time to harvest them again. Last Thursday when the VeeDogKnits Couple was here, Miss VDK walked through the patch looking for the perfect strawberries. JB and Mr. VDK pointed out 100s of ripe berries, but she wanted to find her own and she finally did. She said it was worth the trip through the berries. Today I picked berries and filled a huge wooden bowl as well as my large tupperware colander. That was more berries than JB and I could eat before they want bad. So, I washed and cleaned about 2/3 of the berried and stuck them into the freezer. They will be eaten later - as muffins or smoothies. Tonight I'll slice some on spinach and toss it with candied walnuts for dinner.

The blue? Oh, remember last year when I only had three blueberries? (scroll down, it's in there) This is what I've got going on this year. Look at that plant - it's just loaded down with berries.

Oh - Indiana Girls? There will be no kiwi. The plant is male and all they produce is pretty flowers. Apparently only the female make fruit and ours isn't big enough to make flowers yet, much less fruit. If she doesn't shape up soon, we'll be planting another female in her territory.

Comfort for Chan

Chinese Spaghetti and Meatballs is a Rachael Ray recipe. I love Rachael Ray, I think she has some good ideas. Some of them need work. This was a good idea that needed work. Put a pot onto boil for whole wheat spaghetti. While the spaghetti is cooking, heat a large skillet and coat the bottom with vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, drop in sliced snow peas, red bell pepper, scallions, ginger & garlic (I added asparagus and water chestnuts). Stir-fry about 2 minutes, then add spinach. When wilted add soy sauce, sesame oil and cooked pasta (having reserved some of the pasta water). Toss around to heat through, adding pasta water to make a sauce as desired. Serve with toasted sesame seeds. The original recipe has baked chicken meatballs. Personally, I think she makes them too big, I think they should be tiny and bite sized. I did add the meatballs, but I did not photograph them to save Miss D. Please see the original recipe (linked above) for amounts and real directions. This is a fairly quick meal to cook, easy and good. Personally I think there needs to be more veggies than pasta - but adding the asparagus and water chestnuts were a good idea.

Lemon Chicken

I love Marjie's food posts. While I rarely vary from my normal menu, I'm always inspired by her food. This is a recipe that JB has been cooking for years. He learned to make it in Grade 11 Foods Class (yep, he's Canadian). It's super easy, really good and we often use it as a company meal. First, take boneless, skinless chicken. The original recipe only used thighs, but we mix breasts and thighs now. Then bread it in flour. Usually I just rinse it off, pat it dry and then toss it in seasoned flour. Whatever seasoning you desire. Last night I used garlic, salt and pepper and Herbs d'Province. Brown the chicken in a frying pan, electric skillet or I suppose you could modify this to broil it :) While the chicken in browning, heat up chicken broth (or make your own) about 3 cups worth. Once the chicken has browned on both sides, pour the hot broth over the chicken and add about a cup of lemon juice (this is going to depend on how lemony and tart you like things). Loosen all the flour bits in the bottom of the pan, turn the heat down and put a lid, letting it simmer while you cook rice. Occasionally you want to check on the chicken and stir the sauce. Making sure there are no stuck bits. The flour will cause the broth to thicken.

When the rice is done and the chicken is cooked through, put a bed of rice on the plate, top with a piece of chicken or 3 and pour the thickened lemon gravy over the top. I served with a simple green salad last night. But any green veggie would work. Enjoy :)

Fall Foods

The final weekly topic of the Amazing Autumn Coffee Swap is all about fall foods. I love anything with pumpkin - sweet or savory. I've made some really good pumpkin pancakes and the newly named punkies (Easy Pumpkin Brownie), pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pasta and pumpkin stuffed shells. I love pumpkin ravioli. However, JB doesn't love the pumpkin like I do - so the good ol' Fall standbys are - in no particular order: *Beef Barley Soup *Turkey Shepherd's Pie *Lasagna *JB's Spaghetti Unfortunately, there really aren't easily sharable recipes.

Have You Ever

Seen a Green Grapefruit? Me either - but that's what it is. I had to purchase one and try it. I'm not a huge fan of grapefruit, but everyone once in awhile I'll get one. I like to peal and eat grapefruit just like an orange. This one had a really thin skin, but the pith was really thick and hard to get off - now I know why most people eat them with a spoon. The inside was a little bit whiter than most grapefruit and not as sour.

Very Domestic

JB is a classic over-achiever when it comes to gardening. Planting food is no exception. With that logic in mind, he planted 6 different pepper plants, 2 jalapenos, and 2 other varieties of peppers. Of course, the peppers have been coming in for awhile. Now, there are more than we can possibly use. Anyone have a good, easy recipe for stuffed jalapenos? A little dogpile search told me that I could either pickle the peppers or freeze them. So freezing it is! Also in that photo is the bowl of tomatoes, and 2 straight neck squash.

This is a photo of some pureed, baked squmpkin. The other night I picked another one. One half got baked squash side up filled with pecans, maple syrup, vanilla and nutmeg. The other side got baked squash side down and then pureed with thyme. I have put this in the freeze but plan to use it for some stuffed pasta shells soon.

I'm not sure what's up with all the domesticity. I don't enjoy cooking, although I do it regularly. I'm already thinking that next year we should have way more tomatoes so I can make tomato sauce and homemade ketchup.

Harvest

Red, Yellow & Green tomatoes - from our yard.

Hot peppers too.

Can Anyone Identify This?

JB planted straight neck squash, butternut squash, and pumpkins. This is what we found growing in the squash mound. It's obviously a squash of some sort - but what sort? It's definitely not a pumpkin, although it has ridges and seeds like a pumpkin. But the top and the 'guts' are nothing pumpkin like at all. Also, it started out yellow and pumpkins begin life green.

This is what the innards look like. You can see the fibrous goo in the center is dry, but the seeds are large and pumpkin like. Also, there's not much flesh to this little squash. Is that because we let it get too big?

I cleaned it and baked it and we had it with dinner. It had a mildly squash like flavor, but nothing I could put my finger on. Nobody got sick - so I guess it's all good.

Did we get some sort of weird squmpkin? Does anyone know what this is? I've got more if you want to cook up your own.

edited to give credit where credit is due. I had been discussing this weird growth with Miss D when I met her to knit last Friday, and then we were emailing about it earlier on Monday. This is the reply I got from her after describing it: "Maybe it's a squmpkin?" Phrase coined by Miss D.

Charity Knitting

So, after hearing the siren's call of the new yarn, I turned my back on it and finished my second charity bear. These bears are donated through Great Yarns! to Camp Erin. This is the third year that I have helped dress bears. This little girl was dressed in a summer dress made from Tahki Wool Tweed in lavender and a coordinating creamy Borocco yarn. I ran out of the lavender just after I made all the pleats in the skirt. I made the bodice out of the cream and then added a little 'underskirt' in the cream so it looked deliberate. Her little headband is 5 stitches, worked in seed stitch until it was long enough and then sewn to create a bow. We are asked to make a shirt and a hat for each bear that we create. I have 2 more bears and 3 weeks left to get them done. So - no new socks just yet - more bear clothing. This last photo is for Marji. She is the queen of all things baked. The only difference is she bakes from scratch. She also makes dessert for her family most nights of the week. I try to make dessert on Sundays. Because there are only two of us, this little loaf will last JB the rest of the week. So, I bought a box mix for lemon poppy seed muffins. I wanted some sort of lemon cake because I had just purchased a flat of blueberries. After baking the muffins in a loaf pan, I poured a lemon glaze over the top (lemon juice with powdered sugar dissolved in it), then sliced it and served it with fresh blueberries and dollop of whipped cream. You think this might have anything to do with why after a week of working out I'm up 4#??

I've Never Been an Earthy Girl

Earthy colors, yes. But working in the earth - no.

However, this year having a garden and growing food I'm just loving hanging out in the yard. I love the fact that I'm able to harvest food - right from my own yard.

These peas, for instance - when I saw the first one on the vine - I squealed. Really. Now, I just snap one off every couple of days when I walk by and eat the yummy little gem.

I'm really enjoying this. I can't wait for new foods to be ready. We have planted our second go round of both radishes and spinach. I fixed the last of the first spinach in a ham frittata last night and it was yummy. We eat lettuce from the yard most every night and soon we will have corn, squash, carrots, and beets - it's all good.