Strawberries and Bananas

Our neighbors went to Canada recently and brought us back the Canadian version of Nutella (Finetti). I had some Saturday night with cut up strawberries and bananas:


The Finetti wasn't quite the same as Nutella (less chocolate flavor) but it still hit the spot.

Quesadilla

On Saturday I used ground beef to make taco filling, but I ultimately felt like eating a gooey, cheesy quesadilla so I put the meat and cheese inside the two tortillas and fried them up:


I served it with a dollop of sour cream, a handful of chopped romaine, a sprinkling of chopped cilantro, some taco sauce and grape tomatoes from my garden.

Red Beauties

Things are moving along nicely in the garden. In addition to the beautiful herbs a lot of my tomatoes are beginning to ripen. The grape tomatoes have been the first:



... which is no surprise. I've been watching this plum for awhile:


I took this picture on Saturday afternoon and by Monday evening it was finally ready to be picked. This big boy is from my patio tomato plant:


I've been watching him and these other two for awhile now:


He was the biggest tomato I've grown so far. I picked all the ripe ones Monday night to have with our dinner. So far all the varieties have been fantastic, but the Better Boys are taking the longest to ripen so we haven't tried them yet.

Pizza Friday

On Friday we had mushroom and olive pizza:


... that was almost perfect. I'm really loving the pizzas I've been making lately.

Crab and Corn Chowda Mac

I saw Rachael Ray make Crab and Corn Chowda Mac last week and it looked and sounded good so I thought I'd give it a shot. The resulting dish certainly looked tasty:


... but the flavors were all wrong. The crab completely overwhelmed the dish (something I'd read in the reviews on FoodNetwork.com, but since we like crab I didn't think it would be an issue). In the description of the recipe in the cookbook she says she wanted to combine mac & cheese and crab and corn soup into one dish. The problem was, the resulting dish was a combination of the two...exactly what she was going for, but it simply did not work. I wish I could explain it better, but all I can say is I would avoid this dish. It was most certainly NOT a keeper.

Belated Fourth of July Cookout

On Sunday we had SP's mother over for a belated Fourth of July cookout. We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, I made my potato salad and my mother-in-law brought antipasto.


I love this antipasto with its mix of lettuce, meat and cheese, pepperoni, olives, spicy peppers, onions, tomato and mozzarella:


I made my All-American potato salad:


The burgers were outstanding. After our success with the steaks from the Amish butcher we went back for the ground beef. The price was actually comparable to the supermarket but the quality was way better. You could actual taste a beefy flavor that, when mixed with the char from the grill, made for an amazingly good burger.


I had mine with cheddar cheese, sliced red onion, tomato and lettuce with a little ketchup and mayo.

UPDATE: Here's the recipe for the potato salad.

All- American Potato Salad
Cook's Country Magazine

2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into ¾-inch cubes
1½ tsp salt, divided
3 Tbs dill pickle juice, plus ¼ cup finely chopped dill pickles, divided
1 Tbs yellow mustard
¼ tsp pepper
½ tsp celery seed
½ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup sour cream
½ small red onion, chopped finely
1 rib celery, chopped finely
2 large hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut into ¼-inch dice (optional)

Place potatoes in large saucepan with cold water to cover by 1-inch. Bring to boil over high heat, add 1 tsp. salt, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until potatoes are tender, 10- to 15 minutes.

Drain potatoes thoroughly, then spread out on rimmed baking sheet. Mix 2 Tbs. pickle juice and mustard together in small bowl, drizzle pickle juice mixture over potatoes, and toss until evenly coated. Refrigerate until cooled, about 30 minutes.

Mix remaining tablespoon pickle juice, chopped pickles, remaining ½ tsp. salt, pepper, celery seed, mayo, sour cream, red onion and celery in a large bowl. Toss in cooled potatoes, cover, and refrigerate until well chilled, about 30 minutes. Gently stir in eggs, if using, just before serving.

Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

On Sunday I made chocolate chip cookies using a bag of peanut butter and chocolate chips I bought recently.


I got this recipe from a cooking board I frequent. I've been meaning to make these for awhile now and they were really good, but not as chewy as I'd hoped. I like a more cakey cookie and these were almost flat.

Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie
Source: Allrecipes

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips


1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.

4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Sunday Breakfast

On Sunday we had another egg breakfast, this time with bacon for both of us and some fresh bagels SP picked up that morning. SP's breakfast with scrambled eggs, bacon, half an egg bagel and some more tomatoes from the garden:


My breakfast:


... two fried eggs, bacon, tomatoes and half a sesame bagel.

Pizza

This week we had our pizza on Saturday because of the holiday. It's been awhile since we had pepperoni so I did a pepperoni and black olive pizza:


I ended up overcooking it slightly, but that just made it more tasty.

Breakfast

On Saturday I made us a quick breakfast. SP had steak and eggs with the leftover piece of steak from our cookout the night before:


I made him an omelet with cheddar cheese. My omelet had a mixture of fresh herbs from my garden (thyme, rosemary and chives) as well as parsley and garlic. I had bacon with my meal:


The tomatoes in both photos are the ones I harvested from my garden. I seasoned them with salt and pepper and they were fantastic, with really vibrant tomato flavor. Now I can't wait for the rest of the tomatoes to ripen.

First Harvest

This weekend I went outside to water my plants and I noticed some red near the base of one of the tomato plants. When I turned the pot around I saw these tomatoes growing almost on top of the soil:


I didn't even know they were there until they ripened! How funny.

Fourth of July

We had a quiet Fourth of July this year, which is pretty typical of most years. My parents are always in Maine this time of year, my mother-in-law was at another son's house, no one we knew was throwing a party...even our neighbors are out of town. We did a little shopping, rode our bikes around the neighborhood and then went to the farmer's market in town to get ingredients for dinner.

We started with a mozzarella, tomato and basil platter:


I wish I could say this was a tomato from my garden, but mine aren't nearly ripe enough yet. But it was grown locally and was very flavorful, especially with the milky, creamy mozzarella and the basil (which was from my garden). While I was getting the platter assembled and microwaving the baked potatoes, SP was grilling up some steaks we got from the Amish butcher:


The steaks are hormone-free and very flavorful, and the same price (if not cheaper) then what we saw at the grocery store. I served the steaks with a rosemary butter and chopped fresh chives for our baked potatoes.

Happy Fourth of July!!

Thai Green Curry Chicken

I recently bought a Thai cookbook that has inspired me. Last weekend I got a few pantry staples like coconut milk, fish sauce and curry paste (red and green) so on Thursday I decided to make a Thai Green Curry Chicken dish over basmati rice:


Since we were doing a pantry clean out last week, I had to make the curry using things we had on hand. I found some boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the freezer, along with some frozen peas, carrots, potatoes, bamboo shoots, onion and basil from my garden. It all came together well, but there wasn't nearly enough sauce. We both like very saucy Thai food, so next time I'll double the sauce, but for a first attempt it wasn't too bad.

Pasta with Creamy Marinara

SP asked me to make a creamy marinara sauce for dinner, but I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do, so when I got home I just started cooking on autopilot. The result was sensational, hands-down one of the best pasta sauces I've ever made.


To make the sauce I finely chopped one small onion and grated two large cloves of garlic. Those went into a pot with some oil, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and oregano to cook down. I processed the whole tomatoes until they were smooth and added them to the pot once the onions had softened. I adjusted the seasonings and then let the whole thing simmer for awhile. SP was late getting home so I ended up turning it off since I didn't want it to get too thick. Right before we ate I added the cream (maybe 1/2 cup, I didn't measure) just to warm through.

I served the pasta with my new favorite pasta shape - cavatappi. Whenever I see it on sale I buy a few boxes. A grating of Pecorino cheese and some chopped fresh basil completed the plate. The flavors were outstanding. There was a nice kick from the red pepper flakes, but the cream tamed it. The tomatoes had a fantastic flavor and the fresh basil really brought it all together. We could have eaten the whole pot in one sitting, but we restrained ourselves.

Flounder and Potatoes with Peas

This week we're trying to do a fridge and pantry clean-out. That means we won't be going grocery shopping, so I made the menu for the week using ingredients we have on hand. We had two flounder filets in the freezer, so I paired it with my usual potatoes and peas for dinner last night:


It was good, but I think we're done with frying for awhile. It was just too heavy. We're trying to eat lighter these days. And I'm not sure what was going on with the potatoes, but they didn't have much flavor.

Dinner with Friends

Our friends C & D came over for dinner on Sunday. I tried a new Ina Garten recipe - Caesar Club Sandwich:


It came together and photographed beautifully. But first let's talk about the antipasto platter our friends made:


... complete with lettuce, grape tomatoes, marinated artichokes, olives, cauliflower, rolled meat and cheese, roasted peppers and a tangy dressing. It was hard not to fill up on all the yummy vegetables. After the somewhat healthy antipasto we gorged on chicken wings:


This is only one of two plates of wings (one per couple). I just used Frank's for the sauce and cut up some celery for dipping in the blue cheese dressing. After all that food we were stuffed, so we watched a movie before digging into the sandwich. That's what I love about sandwiches - they can keep so if you aren't hungry yet, it's OK.


I made a few slight modifications to the sandwich - used boneless, skinless chicken breasts because that's what I had on hand, as well as regular bacon instead of the pancetta. And I left out the sundried tomatoes because I didn't think they really went with the sandwich. It was a great sandwich. Not too heavy or complicated, but the flavors really came together nicely. And it was easy.

After all that food we took a long walk, but we still didn't have room for dessert, which was a bummer since SP and I had gone back to Velvet Sky Bakery for more outrageous cupcakes:


This time we got three Peanut Butter Cup, two chocolate with colored sprinkles, one Peppermint Oreo and a Milk Chocolate. We gave one Peanut Butter Cup and one chocolate with sprinkles to my parents and we sent C & D home with the other chocolate with colored sprinkles and the Peppermint Oreo to enjoy later.

Cat: A Pictorial

On Sunday I was watching cooking shows with our cat. He's been quite the lovebug these days, so I decided to take some pictures of him.


I can't get over how young he looks in these photos. It's like seeing a flashback to his kittenhood. It always amazes me how different he can look from one day to the next depending on the lighting and his mood.


He was being very patient with me, which is rare. He really wanted me to just put the camera down and pet him.


He fell asleep after awhile and was having the most animated dreams, complete with leg and facial twitches. Then he stretched into this position:


Such a goofball. I love this little guy so much.

Breakfast Sandwich

Sunday morning I made myself a breakfast sandwich:


I cooked two pieces of bacon, toasted an English muffin and used two eggs and some cheddar cheese to make a small omelet. I think one egg would have been more than enough for this sandwich. I always forget how small English muffins can be. But it was still darn tasty.

Sushi

On Friday we went to my parent's house for dinner. We brought food in, but they wanted BBQ, which I've had too much of lately, so I got sushi instead.


I got three rolls - the spicy rock roll (along the left edge in the photo above), spicy tuna roll:


... and a tuna and avocado roll:


All of them were fantastic, with buttery soft avocado, spicy chunks of tuna and all the flavors melding beautifully. I wish sushi wasn't so expensive so I could eat it more often. We also got two orders of eel sushi for SP and my stepfather to share:

Pizza

We went to my parent's for dinner on Friday so I decided to make pizza on Thursday instead. We had a few mushrooms in the fridge and a can of olives in the pantry so I did a mushroom and olive pizza:


This wasn't my best effort (I made the pizza too large and we had a small mishap in the oven), but it certainly tasted good.