We had a storm blow through this afternoon. Had to jockey cars to put them all under cover. There were reports of baseball-sized hail. But none made it here. For dinner tonight we dug through the fridge and made pasta with whatever looked like it would be good: onions, garlic, mushrooms, asparagus, leftover grilled chicken, some white wine, broth and parmesan cheese. We used Buitoni fresh linguini for the noodles.
Delicious!
Oh man, I love roasted red peppers. I made up a batch for dinner tonight.
I blacken them whole right on top of the gas burner.
Sweat them in a ziploc bag to allow the skin to separate while they cool to the touch.
Cut them open to remove the stem and seeds. Then scrape off the burnt skin leaving the sweet roasted meat.
I warmed them again in a 200 degree oven before filling them
For the filling I stirred up about an ounce of soft goat cheese per pepper, one minced clove of garlic and about a tablespoon of plain Greek yogurt and spread it on the insides of the peppers. Then folded them back up.
The presentation here isn’t great, but they were delicious!!
When I was growing up, my mom would make Chex party mix every year around Christmas time. I spent many a New Year’s Eve playing board games with my family – and there was always a big bowl of party mix on the table.
Though I rarely make it, it’s something I identify with the holidays. Today mom and I made a batch.
Here’s the recipe that’s made the rounds in our family:
Party Mix
1 small box (~14 oz) each: Wheat Chex, Rice Chex, Corn Chex, Cheerios
1 bag pretzel sticks
2 lbs mixed nuts
1 1/2 lbs butter, melted
3-4 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce
Garlic salt
Mix ingredients in big brown paper grocery bag. Melt butter on low heat on stovetop and stir in worchestershire sauce. Place dry ingredients in shallow pans. Pour melted mixture evenly over dry ingredients.
Bake at 250 degrees for 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes. Sprinkle with garlic salt between stirrings, to taste.
We hit the grocery store early today with our Thanksgiving shopping list: turkey: check….potatoes: check…green beans: check. Then I spied this spire and couldn’t pass it up. So we’ll have 2 green veggies on the table this year. 🙂 I love brussels sprouts and found this recipe from smittenkitchen.com earlier this year. I tried it once…with pork chops i think, and it was delicious.
Dijon-Braised Brussels Sprouts
Serves 4
1 lb brussels sprouts
1 T unsalted butter
1 T olive oil
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup broth (chicken or vegetable)
2 to 3 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
2 T heavy cream
1 T dijon mustard (or more to taste)
Peel several of outer leaves off each sprout and halve lengthwise. In a large, heavy 12-inch skillet heat butter and oil over moderate heat. Place sprouts in skillet, cut sides down, in one layer. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook sprouts, without turning, until undersides are golden brown, about 5 minutes. If sprouts don’t fit in one layer, brown them in batches, then add them all back to the pan, spreading them as flat as possible, before continuing with the shallots, wine, etc.
Add shallots, wine and stock. Once simmering, reduce the heat to medium-low (for a gentle simmer), cover the pot and cook the sprouts until they are tender can be pierced easily with the tip of a paring knife, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Remove the lid, and scoop out sprouts (leaving the sauce behind). Add cream and simmer for two to three minutes, until slightly thickened. Whisk in mustard. Taste for seasoning, and adjust as necessary with more salt, pepper or Dijon. Drizzle sauce over brussels sprouts and serve immediately.
We’re back home from the lake. We had a great time last night visiting with our raftup buddies. Tonight we’re enjoying fresh squeezed ruby red grapefruit juice with a little vodka over ice. I guess Fall is officially here!
Between October and May the Texas Rio Grande valley produces luscious, red, sweet, juicy grapefruit for all the world to enjoy. Go get some!
Check out this link for recipe ideas for Texas Ruby Red grapefruit.
Monte whipped up a batch of his pizza doughs this afternoon. Instead of our usual thin, thin crust in the oven on the pizza stone, he wanted to give it a try on the grill this time. We’ve tried grilled pizza before… once we put a pizza stone on top of the grate in a Weber charcoal grill and tried, unsuccessfully, to cook a loaded pizza dough on top. After that experiment, we ended up with 3 or 4 inedible pizzas that were black on the bottom and raw on top. And, the pizza stone eventually broke in 2 from the heat.
This time, he had something else in mind. We have a charcoal hibachi grill out back as well. This time he put one of our cast iron grill plates on the hibachi, and put the pizza dough on top of that. After turning it the dough once, he put sauce and cheese on top while the other side was grilling. It only took a few minutes per side – and it turned out great.
Viva la pizza!
One last post for tonight. We made 3 pizza doughs. A margerita, a proscuitto-mozzarella-blackolive and this delicious one with red pepper and goat cheese. Yum-mee. 2+ pizzas are in the fridge for leftovers this week.
Great weekend!
I drove into San Francisco with several colleagues for dinner tonight. I had fresh Dungeness crab, and after dinner we ordered a round of legendary Irish Coffees at The Buena Vista.
Deeee-licious!
The restaurant’s website has instructions on how to make one, if you want to try to make one yourself:
| Buena Vista Irish Coffee | ||
 Fill glass with very hot water to pre-heat, then empty. |
 Pour hot coffee into hot glass until it is about three-quarters full. Drop in two cocktail sugar cubes. |
 Stir until the sugar is thoroughly dissolved. |
 Add full jigger of Irish Whiskey for proper taste and body. |
 Top with a collar of lightly whipped whipping cream by pouring gently over a spoon. |
 Enjoy it while piping hot. |
It’s Sunday night, and the end of another great weekend. Yesterday my cousin Devitt and Aunt Joanne came over for a breakfast visit with Monte, Julie and I. Monte made french omelettes, Julia Child style. And we tried our hand at a potato recipe that we got from Devitt:
Browned Breakfast Potatoes
Large cast iron skillet
8 oz bacon, cut into 1-2″ pieces
3 large potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2″ cubes
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Salt & pepper
Cook bacon, onions and garlic in large cast iron skillet until browned. Discard bacon fat from pan. Add potatoes, salt & pepper. Cook another 10 minutes or so over medium heat on the stovetop. Then place skillet, uncovered, in 425 degree oven for 20 minutes. Lower temperature to 350 and cook for another 10 minutes.
Serve and savor!
Afterwards, Julie headed home to study up for the last final exam of Summer session (good luck!), and we packed for the lake.
We planned to raft-up with friends overnight to watch the Perseids meteor shower. We made it to the cove by about 5pm and set our first anchor on the new boat. It was a good set. We were soon joined by Joe on Prelude, Rory & Greg on Sapphire, Nick, Laurene & Morgan on Kalliopi, and Kurt & Kevin on Dancer. Everyone was tied up by the time the golden hour was upon us. The shot above is of the 5 boats, stern to the sunset. Nirvana is in the middle.
After dinner and stories from the day, everyone grabbed a cushion and laid on the bow of their boats to watch for meteors. It wasn’t a knock-out show, but we did get to see some good ones. The night was peppered with random shouts of “There’s one!” every 10 or 15 minutes.
This morning everyone floated for a while and then people started peeling off at about noon. I’m pleased to report that we got the anchor up with little problem. I am loving the electric windlass to bring up the chain and anchor!
Monte and I sailed ALL afternoon. The breezes started out sluggish but filled in to some great wind that we haven’t seen in a long time on the lake. At about 3:30 we dropped sail and picked up Devitt at Arky cove to take him out for a sail. He did great, taking the helm as Monte and I worked the lines. We dropped him off back at the park around 5:30 and headed back to the marina.
By the time we got home several hours later we were pleasantly exhausted.
I can’t wait to get out there again. Friday soon come!
We’ve been anxiously awaiting some, *any*, rain at our house for the last 72 hours or so. In between weather radar checks, I cooked dinner tonight. And as we were finishing, the rain started falling — yeah!!
Pasta, Proscuitto & Peas
6 oz fresh pasta (I used linguine)
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
1 shallot, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely diced
2 oz sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced
4 oz prosciutto, sliced into long thin strips (I trim off fat to throw it in while sauteing the shallots and garlic)
1/2 c white wine
6 oz green peas (i used frozen, you can also use fresh)
1/2 cup heavy cream
6 oz parmesan cheese, finely shredded
Boil pasta in salted water. Over medium heat, saute onions, garlic and sun-dried tomatoes til soft in butter, olive oil and trimmed fat from prosciutto. After a minute or two, add sliced prosciutto. Stir for 2-3 minutes. Add wine to de-glaze pan, stir and reduce by 1/2. Add peas and cream. Stir again for 2-3 mins.
When pasta is done, strain (saving 1 cup pasta water in case sauce needs thinning). Remove sauce from heat and place strained pasta in cream sauce. Toss pasta in sauce. Add pasta water if needed to thin sauce.
Stir in cheese. Serve!
Jacques Pépin‘s biggest fan may very well live under our roof. Monte follows his show regularly. Every once in a while we’ll try one his recipes out.
This is a soda bread recipe that I’ve tried, two ways. Jacques says it can be made either with regular milk and baking powder, or with buttermilk and baking soda (the more traditional, I suppose).
Last week I made it with milk & baking powder. Yesterday, (pic above) I made it with buttermilk and baking soda. Both were good. I think this last loaf cooked a little too long, though. Either that or the fat in the buttermilk caused it to get more yellow than white inside.
You can watch the episode (link here), if you like. Or, here’s the recipe, below. If you want to try it w/ the milk and baking powder combo, just swap out the buttermilk and baking soda in equal quantities.
Soda Bread
1/2 tsp canola oil
3 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 c buttermilk (room-temperature if possible)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut sheet of parchment paper to cover baking sheet. Coat parchment paper with canola oil.
Hold 1 Tbsp flour aside to dust loaf before placing in oven. Sift the rest of the flour together with salt and baking soda in a large bowl.
Add buttermilk to dry mixture and stir til combined. You want to make sure to add the buttermilk right before you’re ready to put it in the oven. Don’t let it sit. Turn dough out onto parchment paper. It will be a bit sticky. Cover with saran wrap and form into a round dough, about 7″ in diameter. Remove saran wrap. Dust with previously set aside flour, and cut a shallow x in the top of the loaf.
Cover with an upside down stainless steel bowl. Cook in oven for 30 mins covered. Then remove bowl and cook for another 30 mins.
Remove and place on rack to cool before enjoying.
I recently browsed back through my blog posts for the last month or so. I guess it’s been a long time since I’ve posted any “photographic” or artistic images — more posts about what I’m doing from day to day. I do love looking for beautiful things to photograph. But, I suppose that I’ve been less focused on that lately. That’s ok – my life is full of both the beautiful and the mundane 🙂 so, you get a little of both here on sheila365.
Speaking of the mundane… I thought I’d share something that I enjoy with you. A few years ago my sister, Noreen, introduced me to a really easy to make smoothie. And I think it’s delicious. I have been making myself one every morning for the last several weeks. Try it, you’ll like it 🙂
Sheila365 Smoothie
1 cup (8 oz) V8 V-Fusion juice
1/2 to 1 cup frozen fruit
Pick the juice flavor and fruit you like best. Pour juice in blender, add frozen fruit and blend til smooth. That’s it. The first time you make it, you’ll have to play around a bit to find the fruit-to-juice ratio that works best with your blender. I find that it works perfect if I put in only enough fruit to stay below the level of the liquid… but if you add too much fruit, and your blender gets a bit bogged down, just add a little bit more liquid.
I avoid any diet drinks with aspartame, but found that I do prefer the V8 V-fusion Light version of the juice. The regular version is just too sweet for me. The Light version contains sucralose, though, so if you don’t want any of that, stick with the regular.
An added bonus: 8 oz of V8 V-fusion juice contains 1 serving of vegetable and 1 serving of fruit.
The cedar pollen is high in Central Texas. Which means I’ll be avoiding going outside for extended periods of time. Unfortunately, that means I can’t lend a hand with the yardwork. I used to go outside regardless, and dig in the dirt, trim brush and help with picking up leaves. But then I would be pretty much a sneezing, coughing, itching mess, clinging to a box of kleenex all week. So I’m hanging indoors this weekend. Monte cleared the front yard of leaves yesterday, and it looks great.
Today he is cutting down several very tall cedars along the back fenceline that have died from the last couple of droughts.
So, since I’m not out there helping, i’ll feed him instead 🙂
Spring rolls are not your typical lumberjack meal… but that’s what he got for lunch today anyway. The shot above is of what went into them (minus the noodles and rice paper wrap), and the shot below is of how they turned out. Hopefully they’ll tide him over til dinner.
You don’t so much need a recipe as you do a shopping list.
Spring Rolls
– Rice paper wrappers (soak in warm water for about 5 seconds right before preparing the spring roll to soften)
– Rice vermicelli (boiled up beforehand, I use a small amount on each one)
– Veggies of choice sliced very thin (I like cucumbers, carrots, lettuce)
– Cilantro (fresh, chopped up)
– Shrimp (cook it beforehand, you can also use chicken or beef or whatever you like)
– Peanut sauce (for dipping)
Cut everything up ahead of time, cook your meat, boil the noodles. Soften a rice paper wrapper (one at a time). Put a little of each in the center of the circular wrapper. Fold down the top edge and fold up the bottom edge, and roll as snugly as you can. Repeat until you can’t eat anymore.
Enjoy!
With cooler weather in town, it’s time to make soup! One of my favorites is lentil soup. As I made this tonight I flashed back to 2 years ago when the kitchen remodel was finally over, this was the first thing I made on the awesome new gas range.
Here’s the recipe I mostly stick to each time:
Lentil Soup
1 lb dry lentil beans
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrot
2 cloves garlic minced
1 14 oz can petite diced tomates
1 Tbsp tomato paste
8 cups chicken broth
4 oz diced lean ham
Rinse lentils well in colander. Heat large sauce pan to medium high. Saute onions and carrots in olive oil, add salt & pepper. Add garlic a little later to prevent it from burning. After about 5 minutes, add diced tomatoes & juice and tomato paste. Stir for a few minutes and then add broth, lentils and ham. Bring to a boil, and then lower heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for about an hour.
Serve with grated parmesan cheese on top. Makes 6-8 servings.
Sheila365 