Terri's Table

Salmon Cakes

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Fri, 22 Aug 2014 16:47:00 +0000

I know I said I probably wouldn't be blogging until we came back from vacation, but I loved these and had to share. We will be leaving August 31st for two weeks in our used-but-new-to-us motorhome. I'm hoping I have some cool stuff to share as we travel. In the meantime, I made these fish cakes the other night. Let me rephrase that. I sort of made these the other night.

The more I looked at the recipe, the more hesitant I became because the only seasonings were salt, pepper, lemon zest and chives. Perhaps it would make the white fish it called for in the recipe sing, but I was using canned salmon instead of white fish and I needed some spices or herbs that would stand up to and compliment the strong flavor of the salmon.

What I ultimately decided to do was combine this recipe with another recipe for Crab Cakes from the cookbook, Catch by Travis Lofland of Deadliest Catch. My son made the Crab Cakes for Travis' book signing on Anna Maria Island, FL and they were by far the best I've ever tasted.

What I liked about the Bon Appetit recipe was the addition of the corn and lemon zest, so I kept those in my recipe.

I didn't take a photo of the finished product, but I did manage to take a photo of my lunch the next day.......a salmon cake slider...with the leftovers. Sorry for the horrible photo. I took it with my phone.

Anyway, I made this Roasted Red Pepper and Chive Aioli to serve with them and they were delicious. This recipe made 12 nice sized Salmon Cakes. I used an ice cream scoop to portion out the patties, which yields the same amount as a 1/4 cup measuring cup.

Salmon Cakes

Makes 12 cakes

4 - 6 ounce cans pink (skinless and boneless) salmon, well drained
2 large eggs
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Finely grated zest of one lemon
1 cup fresh or frozen, but thawed corn kernels
3 tablespoons minced chives
3 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
1 tablespoon finely minced jalapeno pepper
1/2 of a medium onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup roasted red pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1-1/4 cups Japanese (Panko) bread crumbs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons butter

Dump the salmon in a large bowl and break it up with a fork. Sprinkle the salmon with lemon zest, chives, parsley, jalapeno, onion, red pepper, corn and Parmesan cheese, gently tossing with a fork after each addition. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise and eggs until they are thoroughly combined. Whisk in the salt and pepper. Fold the mayonnaise mixture into the salmon mixture using a rubber spatula to gently combine.

Begin sprinkling the salmon mixture with the Panko bread crumbs about 1/4 cup at a time, gently folding to combine after each addition until all of the crumbs are used.

Using a 1/4 cup measure or ice cream scoop and form the patties to about a 3-inch diameter. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and refrigerate until they are firm, at least 30 minutes. You can skip this step and cook them as they are, but you run the risk of them falling apart while they cook.

Here's where I stepped away from both of the original recipes I noted above. I did not reserve any bread crumbs to cover the surface of the patties before cooking. When my son made the Crab Cakes, he also omitted that step. I just didn't want to "over-bread" the patty.

Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the patties a few at a time, being careful not to over crowd your pan. Cook the patties until they are golden brown about 3-1/2 to 4 minutes on each side. Remove to a serving platter. Enjoy!

Hello, It's Me!

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Tue, 12 Aug 2014 16:27:00 +0000

Back in February I think I said something to the effect that I was back. Now, it appears that I wasn't, but I have some reasons for that and I would like to share a few thoughts with you.

First I would like to thank those of you who routinely check in to see if I've posted anything new. I appreciate your loyalty and your interest.

It is hard to believe I started this blog over seven years ago, July 21, 2007 to be exact. I started it because I felt a need to write and I wanted to write about what I do best: cook. I wanted to share with family and friends old recipes I've collected over the years and the excitement of developing, copying and trying new ones.

As I have followed and unfollowed other blogs, I've watched the trends change dramatically to include other social media. Blogger conferences focus on marketing, monetizing and use of different ways to promote a blogger's brand on social media with innumerable tools: Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, just to name a few. That is not the direction I ever wanted to go. Sure, I have a Facebook page. I like it because I can post short pieces and photos of more casual food settings without having to commit to producing a long involved blog post with staged and edited photographs. I feel more connected to my readers on Facebook because it's a little more interactive.

I started out enjoying the process of composing a blog post. I love telling the stories related to the food that comes out of my kitchen. I love writing the specific instructions for recipe preparation, particularly for those of you who are not very confident in your skills or are afraid to try something new or challenging. I love taking photos of my food and sought out tips to take better photographs. I started out with a point-and-shoot camera and now work with a Nikon DSLR.....well, when I work nowadays. Anyway, I asked for and received a tripod one Christmas. Although my kitchen is well lit, it doesn't have tons of natural light, so I purchased two professional lights and set them up in our guest bedroom. Then something happened.

I started looking at all those other blogs that were evolving into bigger, more professional websites. Recipe content is confined to easily printable boxes. There are buttons to links to the social media site of your choice. They started promoting giveaways sponsored by great companies that provided awesome products. I started comparing my blog to all the others, my favorites, and I was falling short.....very short. And I lost my enthusiasm.

This is starting to sound negative and that's not my intention. I don't want to be a "Debbie Downer."

I'm still cooking, although there are more days than there used to be when I don't feel like it at all. But mostly I cook everyday. If I don't cook, Tom does. There's usually something going on in my kitchen. It's just getting it to my blog that's the problem.

Once I do start posting again, here's what you can expect from me. I won't be doing giveaways or promotions. I won't ever promote products or websites that I personally don't fully support and enjoy myself. I will give you recipes, instructions and, hopefully, nice photos. The photos of my food will not contain any tricks to make the food look more appetizing, although I may use garnishes, herbs and other ingredients to balance out the photo. It will be photos of the food that I have prepared to serve as or with a meal, not something I prepared to merely photograph and post on the blog.

I hope to start posting again. I don't know when that will be. In the meantime, if you'd like to check in to see what I'm doing, you can follow me on FACEBOOK. Stop by and say hello.

{Sigh}

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 15:29:00 +0000

Where do I begin? Where have I been?

Let's begin with the latter. I've been here. Just on the other side of my computer screen, but I don't seem to have much to say. I've talked about blogger burnout before, but it just seems to get worse instead of better. I'm still cooking and baking, still taking photos (although I'm not really happy with most of them), but when it comes to putting the dishes into words and recipes.... well, it just escapes me.

Maybe it's because I'm trying to do too many things at a time. I have seriously considered the idea of switching my blog from blogspot.com to its own domain. I've been reading and studying, but it is a HUGE learning curve for me. I'm not a programmer, nor do I have a desire to be one, but some of those skills are required to build a new website.

I read expert advice on how to be a better blogger. Use all the social media available, they say, but I get overwhelmed: twitter, facebook, sulia, tumblr, reddit, google+ and there's plenty more. Who has that kind of time to spend all day at the computer? I'd never have time to do what I love most. Cook and bake.

In the midst of my burnout/questioning/soul searching I've determined I am not ready to move forward quite yet. So here I am on blogspot.com. For now I think I will make myself comfortable here. I have a Facebook page and a Twitter handle. Those are plenty for me right now.

So what can you expect from me in the near future? Exactly what I have done in the past. I will cook, bake, take photos and share them with you.

I know it's already February... correction, I know February is almost gone... but let's start with herbs and other stuff.

During the spring, summer and early fall, I grow my own herbs. Basil, chives, tarragon, sage, parsley, oregano, marjoram just to name a few. Late last fall I decided to cut up and freeze the chives and tarragon in olive oil in ice cube trays (I love Pinterest!) for use during the winter. It worked out beautifully. I have used the onion chives and garlic chives for my weekly batch of Focaccia. Unfortunately, I didn't come across the freezer idea until after the first heavy frost to which the basil, sage, parsley,, oregano and marjoram succumbed.

Speaking of frost... and ice... and snow... and winter... I'm over it. Really over it. We've had a few nice mild days, you know, as a teaser. But it is supposed to get cold again and the little girl inside of me is screaming, Nooooooo!!!!! I want warm weather! I want crop pants, t-shirts and flip-flops!

Okay. Enough of my tantrum.

What I'd really like is to be able to move my tropical plants and Meyer lemon tree from the garage where it's been winterized since before the first frost in November. They are doing pretty well, but I'd like my garage back.

We pulled the plants out to the driveway during those nice few days. The tropicals are a little yellow in spots, but some good fertilizer, heavy watering and sunshine should do the trick.

I have seven Meyer lemons that continued to grow over the winter and they are almost ready to pick.

And blossoms have already started to develop for the next crop.

I went out to the back yard to dump old coffee grounds in the garden and, even though temps have been below freezing at night, my onion chives are already starting to peak through.

The garlic chives aren't as hardy, but they, too, are showing signs of life.

Shockingly, last year's Italian parsley is also peaking through. That almost never happens!

It almost gives me hope that Spring is right around the corner.

Cheddar Pecan Wafers

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Sun, 08 Dec 2013 18:34:00 +0000

Is it safe to come out of my rabbit hole? I know I've been gone a long time. I've been posting a little on my Facebook page, sharing photos of what we have been serving for dinner and such, but I haven't felt compelled to create a whole blog post simply because none of food has really been holiday related, which is what everyone seems to be looking for these last couple of months. So I've kept quiet, waiting for the pumpkin season to pass.

I have a confession. I don't care for pumpkin all that much. It's probably because boring ole pumpkin pie was pretty much the holiday dessert mainstay when I was growing up. You know how it was made: a can of pumpkin, some sugar, a couple of eggs, a can of evaporated milk and pumpkin pie spice. Meh.

Last year when my blogger friend, Desperately Seeking {gina}, invited me to do a guest post during her annual Month of Pumpkin, I was hard pressed to come up with something creative. Mostly I lean toward savory flavors, but I did finally settle on Pumpkin Walnut Baklava. That's about as creative as I get with pumpkin. When it comes to pumpkin, I have nothing to add, nothing to contribute.

But we still have one major holiday to go...Christmas! And I love to bake and give my family and friends containers of sweet and savory baked goods for Christmas.

And when I have guests, I also like to set out a nice charcuterie or salumi and cheese plate with homemade wafers. I'll even make a plate just for the two of us for dinner occasionally and these wafers are perfect for that.

The tray I made recently included dried chorizo slices with chives....

But they would be equally as tasty with salami, prosciutto or even pepperoni.

I also caramelized some apples slices with just a slight sprinkling of brown sugar and topped it off with a hint of fresh tarragon....

It was sort of like eating apple pie with a cheddar crust. Yummy!

These wafers are a wonderful by themselves or as a compliment to just about anything. Use your imagination.

Cheese Pecan Wafers

Makes about 50 wafers

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 pound butter, room temperature
1 pound bag of grated sharp cheddar cheese, cut into smaller chunks
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I used "Pecan chips". I also think these would be equally good with walnuts)

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and cayenne pepper and set aside.

In a separate bowl, using an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Turn the mixer speed to low and add the cheese in batches gradually until all of it is incorporated.

Now add the flour mixture slowly, about 1/4 cup at a time, making sure to incorporate each addition completely before adding more. The dough will be very stiff.

Place a nice sized piece of plastic wrap about 15 inches long on your counter. Spoon the dough in the center along most of the length of the plastic wrap, fold the plastic wrap tightly over the dough, gently rolling the dough into a neat cylinder that is approximately 1-1/2 inches in diameter. Twist the plastic wrap gently at both ends to seal and refrigerate the roll of dough at least 4 hours up to overnight.

Preheat your oven to 375° and prepare your cooking racks or kitchen counter by covering with parchment paper.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and gently unwrap the dough and discard the plastic wrap. Cut the dough into slices approximately 1/4-inch thick and place on an ungreased baking sheet about 1-inch apart. Bake the wafers in the preheated oven for about 7 to 10 minutes, until they are golden brown.

When the wafers are done, remove them with a spatula to your prepared counter or cooling racks. Allow to cool completely.

Focaccia ~ The Easiest Bread You'll EVER Bake!

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Sun, 22 Sep 2013 19:25:00 +0000

Well, hello there!

Yes, I'm back. Maybe not with a vengeance, but I'm back just the same. I can't really explain why I took such a long break. A little blogger burnout, a little depression or just not able to find the right words to communicate my love of cooking and food. But, now that it is somewhat behind me, I feel like I have a little more enthusiasm.

During my absence, Tom and I took a vacation to visit our youngest son, Chris, and his family in Florida. Chris is an aspiring chef/restaurant owner and he cooks up a storm. So when we arrived in the late afternoon, Chris and his wife, Kelly, met us at the house we rented for the week. When I say "met us," I mean with some very tasty goodies. Our afternoon snack consisted of crab cake morsels with an amazing dipping sauce and Focaccia bread still warm from the oven ready for dipping in olive oil and 30-year old balsamic vinegar. Chris said he got the recipe for the bread from an acquaintance who just happens to be an Italian baker.

It was, by no stretch of the imagination, the best Focaccia I'd ever tasted. And the easiest bread I've ever made. Seriously.

Now this is not a loaf of bread that you just mix up and throw in the oven. It takes time. Four separate rises worth of time. But it's easy, perfect for a beginner because there's no kneading, just a few stretches and fold-overs. Most of the time is spent waiting the 45-minutes for it to rise each time. Plenty of time to do the laundry, vacuum the living room and tune-up the car.

The basic recipe is only 5 ingredients. Bread flour, yeast, salt, water and olive oil. That's it. Nothing fancy. But, you can jazz it up any way you want. These are some of the ways I flavored the bread:

The first time I made it, I used roasted garlic mixed into the dough and sprinkled more chopped roasted garlic on top before baking.
Another time, I chopped up some olives (kalamata, green and black), some roasted garlic and some herbs (rosemary and Italian parsley) and mixed them altogether with a little olive oil (see the photo at the top) and sprinkled the mixture on top before baking.
I also experimented with adding ground rosemary (1 teaspoon) and garlic powder (2 teaspoons) when I mixed in the flour.
I added 2 teaspoons of course ground pepper ("restaurant style ground pepper") to the mixture just before mixing in the flour, then sprinkled the dough with rosemary salt just before baking.

It's tasty no matter what you use, so use your imagination.

My favorite so far is with the roasted garlic. I roast heads of garlic submerged in olive oil (how-to coming in a later post) and use the flavored olive oil along with the roasted garlic for extra flavor. It's exquisite.

This recipe does require one piece of special equipment: a stand mixer with a dough hook. If you don't have one, please invest in one. You will need it because you will make this bread often.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, pour 2 cups of barely warm (not hot) water. Add 2 teaspoons of kosher salt and stir until the salt is dissolved. Sprinkle 1 package (2¼ teaspoons)of dry yeast over the salt water and let sit for 5 minutes.

When the 5 minutes has passed, add 4 cups of bread flour (if you are adding herbs or garlic, this is where you will incorporate them into the dough; or you can choose to just sprinkle them on top of the bread just before baking). Turn the mixer on low to start incorporating the flour into the liquid. Continue mixing on low for about a minute or so, then increase the speed up one notch for another minute. If you do it any faster, you'll have flour all over the place, so go easy. When most of the flour is incorporated, increase the speed again, but no higher than medium. When all of the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, you are ready for the next step.

Remove the bowl from the stand with the dough hook still in the dough. The dough is really sticky so put a couple of drops of olive oil on your fingers and push the dough off of the dough hook. The olive oil will keep the dough from sticking to your fingers. Take 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil and drizzle it around the edges of the dough, like so....

Now take a silicone spatula, rub it with a little olive oil, and run it around the edges of the dough so that olive oil can drip down the sides and underneath the dough, like this...

Remove the spatula, cover the bowl with a clean, damp kitchen towel, set your kitchen timer for 45 minutes for the first of four rises and go do something else. Really. That's it.

In the meantime, you might want to set up your work station. I have a very large 16-1/2- by 24-inch Silpat silicone mat that I use on my counter just for this purpose and to use when kneading all my other bread doughs. It's a bit pricey, but you don't need to be that extravagant. You can use a large piece of plastic wrap. Just wipe your counter with a damp cloth and lay the plastic wrap on top of the damp counter. The plastic wrap will stay in place and you can use it throughout the whole process. Easy peasy.

Okay. Next step. After 45 minutes, pour a couple of tablespoons of oil on your work surface (the silpat or plastic wrap or countertop, whichever you're using) and rub it around with your hands, then rub your hands together to coat them with oil as well. Dump the focaccia dough onto your work surface, using the silicone spatula to scrape out any dough sticking to the bowl.

Now, stretch the dough out into a large rectangle. It doesn't have to be perfect. It just needs a good stretching.

Next you need to take about a third of that rectangle and fold it over top of the dough, like so....

And then take the rest of the dough and fold it on top of the folded third, like this....

And now you have a smaller rectangle. Flip the rectangle of dough 180 degrees and give it a good stretch...

Then fold the dough by thirds like you did before...

Take that nice little package of dough and tuck the sides underneath creating a ball of dough and put it back in the bowl, cover the bowl with the damp towel and set the timer for another 45 minutes, the second rise.

When 45 minutes has passed, you are going to repeat the stretching and folding process again, form the dough into a ball and allow it to rise again for another 45 minutes for your third rise. After the third rise, again repeat the stretching and folding process for the last time and put the dough back in the bowl for its final 45 minute rise.

While you're waiting for the last rise, preheat the oven to 425° and just before the timer goes off, prepare your baking pan. You'll need a large pan, 11½ X 17½. I bought mine at one of those big box stores (Price Club in California, which merged with Costco) but Sam's Club sells them, too.

So, to prepare your pan, I can only tell you what my son, Chris, told me: "Drizzle the pan with more olive oil than you think you will need," and this is how that looks...

When the final 45 minutes has elapsed, dump the dough out onto the oiled silpat (or plastic wrap or countertop) and stretch it into the best rectangle you can get, then pick it up and quickly drop it onto the prepared baking pan and stretch it some more.

If you are going to sprinkle the top with salt or herbs, now is the time. It should look like this...

Isn't it beautiful??

Bake it in your preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until slightly golden brown.

While your bread is baking, get out your best olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping because you will not be able to wait to eat this bread. Enjoy!

How to Cut a Head of Cauliflower into Florets

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 17:42:00 +0000

We are all creatures of habit, don't you think?

Tom and I lived on a ten acre farm from 1996 to 2006. During that time, we raised ducks, chickens, sheep and cats. Each had their own little habits.

The ducks would start wandering away from the pond about 10:00am each morning, traveling up the right side of the lane to our circular driveway and make their way around the circle from right to left, never left to right. By late afternoon, they'd continue to meander down the right side of the lane back to the pond for the night.

We'd open the door to the chicken coop every morning and out they'd come, one by one, heading for the berry bushes, pecking at the insects in the grass. They'd scratch and peck at the ground around the berries from one end of each row to another all day long, occasionally making their way through the grass along side the driveway. But as soon as one of us made a move to head for the coop, they were off and running behind us, knowing it was time for the scratch we'd throw on the ground. Even on those days when we weren't home in time for the nightly ritual, we'd arrive to find them in coop waiting for their nightly scratch.

The sheep were equally rooted in their habitual behaviors. They were enclosed in a four acre pasture by a wood and wire fence. Every day they would graze all over the pasture, making their way randomly from one end to the other, always staying close to each other. Rarely did one stray from the flock to the opposite side of the pasture. By days end, they'd always be grazing at the end of the pasture furthest from their shelter and as the sun began to set, they would make their way back to the shelter one at a time, led by one of the rams, on a path they'd worn through the middle of the pasture. They always marched, single file, on that path.

We humans do things over and over almost exactly the same way, never thinking there might be an easier, more convenient or less time consuming method. Or at least I do.

Take cauliflower, for example. I would always cut off the leaves and stem, then, one by one, cut off each floret. A time consuming job at best. Then, a while back, I saw a chef break down a whole head of cauliflower into florets in about 2 minutes. Huh?? Why didn't I know this before?

So, here, just for you, I have a tutorial on the fastest and easiest way cut a head of cauliflower into florets.

You're welcome...

There you have it. In less than five minutes, you can break down a whole head of cauliflower into beautiful florets. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever to buy frozen cauliflower florets ever again.

I cut mine into smaller pieces to make this Cauliflower Salad and steamed them for 7 minutes, no longer. For the larger florets, you would steam them about 9 minutes. That's even faster than your microwave!

Break a habit. Give this method a whirl.

Food Blogger Bake Sale

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:28:00 +0000

I've been back from my Nevada visit for a week, but I've been overwhelmed with catching up.

The accounting for Tom's business is now current. Our income taxes were submitted on time and paid. My Earthboxes are planted, as is my herb garden, and it's just a matter of time before the basil is tall enough to use in Lemon Basil Martinis.

Now it's time to plan and bake for the Arkansas Food Blogger Bake Sale which benefits No Kid Hungry.

Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance is the lead partner for all No Kid Hungry programming in Arkansas. Arkansas Women Bloggers (of which I'm a member) and the Arkansas Food Blogger Network are joining bloggers across the country on Saturday, May 4th to participate in the national Food Blogger Bake Sale benefiting the No Kid Hungry program of Share Our Strength, an organization committed to ending childhood hunger in America.

Our local event is 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at 7th and Main Streets in North Little Rock, adjacent to the Argenta Certified Arkansas Farmers’ Market. All proceeds from the sale will go to No Kid Hungry.

The Arkansas event is chaired by Christie Ison of FancyPantsFoodie.com

Food bloggers will be joined by professional cooks and bakers such as Dempsey Bakery, Sweet Love and Gigi’s Cupcakes to provide yummy items for you to purchase. Items like cakes, cupcakes, cookies, breads, caramels and cake pops. You can see the full list HERE.

So please mark your calendars now and join us.

Arkansas Food Blogger Bake Sale and national Food Blogger Bake Sale, benefiting No Kid Hungry

Saturday, May 4, 2013, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

7th and Main Streets, North Little Rock, adjacent to Argenta Certified Arkansas Farmers’ Market

If you are unable to attend, please consider donating directly to Share Our Strength, Arkansas Food Blogger Bake Sale.

Roasted Buffalo Chicken Quarters

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 20:27:00 +0000

I am obsessed with all things Buffalo Chicken. I have a confession, though. I have come to this obsession late and over a very long period of time.

When I was growing up, we didn't have restaurants devoted to the lowly chicken wing. The buffalo wings weren't even invented until some time in the 1960's and a mass market buffalo wing sauce wasn't developed until the 1980's and by that time I was on a mission to engage in as many "gourmet" experiences as possible. Chicken wings? Are you serious? I was pretty uppity.

A few years later, I started to come back to reality and open up my food horizons to foods I'd rejected out of hand previously. I felt kinda stupid after all those years of telling my kids, "You don't have to eat that, but you have to at least taste it."

I don't remember how I even came to want to taste a buffalo chicken wing. I guess it was that I wanted to experience what everyone else loved! So, several years ago, I bought a bottle of buffalo wing sauce. I don't even remember the brand. I brought the bottle of sauce home and, after I put away the rest of the groceries, I opened the bottle and took a whiff. Ugh. It smelled awful! The combination of heat and vinegar hurt my nose and the thought of eating it with blue cheese was disgusting. I closed the bottle, put it in the refrigerator and threw it out several weeks later without even tasting it.

It wasn't until my oldest son served "hot wings" that I even considered eating a spicy chicken wing ever again. Mike's wings are delicious, but they aren't made with a Buffalo Wing Sauce. It's a recipe Mike adapted that doesn't contain any vinegar, only spices, butter and a little Tabasco. I've used his recipe for several years.

But, in 2009, I decided it was time to challenge my palate once again and prepare a hot buffalo chicken dip I found on another blog that used a bottled Buffalo Wing Sauce. I thought, "How bad can a simple dip be?" When I took it out of the oven, it looked delicious. Cheesy, bubbly goodness. I took one bite and threw the rest in the garbage. I thought it was awful. I felt doomed to never appreciate what my family and friends salivated over. When I look back on that recipe today, I know I would never make it. It wasn't the wing sauce that made it unpalatable, it was the 1-½ cups of blue cheese salad dressing that ruined it for me.

These past few years since the dip fiasco, I've started slowly inching my way to appreciate the ordinary Buffalo Wing Sauce. First by ordering Buffalo Wings from local restaurants, then bravely creating my own dishes like the Buffalo Chicken Nachos I made last month and these Roasted Buffalo Chicken Quarters.

Since the chicken quarters are quite a bit thicker and more dense than a chicken wing, I decided to marinate the chicken quarters overnight in a spicy concoction of vinegar and a few spices. About an hour before dinner, I remove the chicken quarters from the marinade and place them in a roasting pan...

Slather them with Buffalo Wing Sauce....

And roast them. It's that easy.

I served small dishes of good quality blue cheese dressing on the side for dipping.

Roasted Buffalo Chicken Quarters

2 to 4 chicken leg quarters (I use 2, but there's plenty of marinade for 4)

For The Marinade

1 cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1½ teaspoons salt
1½ teaspoons pepper
1 tablespoon Tabasco or Louisiana Hot Sauce

Bottled Buffalo Wing Sauce (I use Frank's or Louisiana Brand)

The night before, make the marinade by combining the vinegar, oil, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and Louisiana Hot Sauce. Mix well and set aside. Place the chicken quarters in a gallon sized zip lock bag and pour the marinade into the bag. Seal the bag, removing as much air as possible, and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, turn the bag over and return to the refrigerator.

When you are ready to prepare dinner, preheat oven to 350° and prepare a baking pan by spraying with cooking spray. If you are preparing 2 chicken quarters, you can use an 8x8-inch baking pan; if preparing 4 quarters, use a 9x13-inch baking pan. Remove the chicken quarters from the marinade and place in prepared baking pan. Drizzle the chicken quarters generously with the bottled Buffalo Wing Sauce.

Bake for 1 hour until internal temperature reaches 165°. Remove from oven and let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Potato Chip Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 11:30:00 +0000

Several weeks ago, during a conversation with friends, someone mentioned how much she like Potato Chip Cookies. I think I've been under a rock for a while because I'd never heard of them. Intrigued by the flavor combination, I asked my friend for the recipe and when she gave it to me early last week I was anxious to make a batch. I posted my planned baking experiment on Facebook and my daughter-in-law responded that she made some Potato Chip Cookies the week before and they were delicious. I was encouraged.

However, the ratio and the ingredients in the recipe I was given seemed a little odd; equal parts sugar and flour and a cup of oil. I don't think I'd ever made a cookie with oil. Butter or margarine, yes, but not oil and I thought it might make the dough a little greasy. But I persevered.

Once mixed together, the dough was something between a cookie dough and a cake batter. I let the dough sit as instructed in the recipe, but it didn't help. In addition, the dough WAS greasy and it started to spread a little even as I dropped the cookies on the baking sheet and when they were done and I took them out of the oven, they had spread out so much that it was almost one solid mass. I had to cut most of them apart from each other with the spatula as I lifted them from the baking sheet to a wire rack covered with paper towels. And when I lifted them off the rack to a plate after they had cooled, the paper towel was soaked with oil. Ick. This is what they looked like when they were done...

The cookies tasted greasy, too, and they had an off flavor, sort of like sweet, salty, oily flour. Epic fail.

I hit the web looking for photos of Potato Chip Cookies and none of them looked like mine. None of the photos looked like the cookies I just pulled from the oven, and none of the recipes called for oil instead of butter or margarine. Besides, my daughter-in-law has a really good palate and she wouldn't like a cookie that tasted as bad as mine. So, I pulled about a half a dozen recipes off the web and combined the best parts of them and finally produced a delicious cookie. And they even received rave reviews from the girls next door, ages 8 to 15. This is what they raved about...

Sweet, salty, nutty, buttery, tender, delicious. Exactly what I initially thought they'd taste like.

I used two sticks of butter and only 1/2 cup of sugar and beat them together until they were light and fluffy, then mixed in some vanilla, just a touch of salt, some chopped pecans, potato chips and flour and mixed everything together until it was combined. I used a small ice cream scoop that holds about a tablespoon of cookie dough, rolled each scoop into a ball and rolled each ball into more crushed potato chips before I put them on my baking sheet (I use a SilPat, but you can use a baking sheet lightly prepared with cooking spray) about 1½-inches apart. I used a flat metal spatula to slightly flatten the balls of cookie dough, then sprinkled them lightly with sugar (but next time I will use turbinado sugar instead plain granulated sugar because the granules are bigger and hold up really well during baking) and they were ready to go into a 350° oven.

Most recipes called for baking times of 15 to 18 minutes. My cookies took 17 minutes. They were perfect, just a little golden around the edges.

I have shredded the nasty, oily recipe and will use this one from now on.

Potato Chip Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter at room temperature (if you use salted butter, omit the 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt)
½ cup, plus 2 tablespoons sugar (the 2 tablespoons is for sprinkling on the cookies before baking)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup chopped pecans
2 cups finely crushed potato chips (1½ cups for the cookie dough and ½ cup for rolling)
2 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare two baking sheets by lining with a SilPat, parchment paper or spraying lightly with cooking spray.

Crush the potato chips in a plastic bag using a rolling pin until they are fairly fine crumbs to measure 2 cups. Reserve ½ cup on a small plate and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and ½ cup sugar until it's light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and kosher salt (if using unsalted butter). Mix in the pecans, 1½ cups crushed potato chips and flour until just combined.

Put the 2 tablespoons of sugar in a small dish and set aside with the reserved crushed potato chips.

Using a tablespoon or small 1½-inch ice cream scoop to measure out the dough, roll each spoonful into a ball then roll in the crushed potato chips. Place onto your prepared baking sheet about 1½-inches apart and flatten slightly with a flat metal spatula. Using your fingers, sprinkle the tops of the cookies lightly with sugar.

Bake about 15 to 18 minutes until the edges are lightly golden brown. When done, transfer to a wire rack to cool. Makes 26 to 30 cookies, depending on size.

Asian Chicken Wings

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 19:00:00 +0000

I made these on a lazy Saturday evening. It was one of those days when I forgot to take meat out of the freezer to thaw in time to make dinner. Dang! Plus I didn't really feel like cooking. But all the suggestions Tom made for take-out or delivery met with a blank, unenthusiastic stare and a barely audible "meh." Pizza? Meh. Chinese? Meh. Burgers? Meh.

I went out to the extra freezer we have in the garage to look for something quick and easy. We keep it stocked with a few frozen snacks for just these occasions. Taquitos? Meh. Egg Rolls? Meh. Tequila Lime Wings? Meh. I was sort of feeling like something Asian. Egg Rolls, maybe, but what else? Should I whip up some noodles and veggies, too? What to do, what to do. So, I just went back in to the kitchen, poured myself a glass of wine, took a sip and thought for a minute. Hmmmm.

Those frozen Tequila Lime Wings are pretty nondescript.

They're preseasoned, precooked, then frozen and ready to just pop in the oven for about 20 or 30 minutes. The flavor is a little on the peppery side with barely a hint of lime and without any discernible tequila flavor. They really require a flavorful dipping sauce to finish them off. But faux Mexican didn't sound appetizing. So I decided to transform them into Asian Chicken Wings.

I put together an Asian inspired glaze with hoisin, soy and Thai sweet chili sauces, ketchup, sugar, ginger, garlic and sherry. I doused the frozen chicken wings in the mixture and baked them for about 10 minutes longer than instructed. It worked! The glaze was sticky and on the sweet side. We couldn't tell the wings started out as Tequila Lime anything.

I didn't use all the glaze. I put a cup of it in a small pan and kept it warm while the wings baked. The first time we made these, I took the wings out of the oven and tossed them in a large bowl with the remaining sauce before serving. When we made them last night, I served the remaining sauce on the side for dipping. Either way, they are pretty darn good and incredibly easy. No marinating. No frying. Just douse, mix and bake. With an egg roll on the side, which baked in the oven with the wings on a separate baking sheet, it was plenty for a meal or awesome as an appetizer.

Asian Chicken Wings

25 to 30 Frozen, precooked Tyson Tequila Lime Wings (we buy the 64-ounce bag and use about half of it, but Tyson makes a 28-ounce bag, too)
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup Thai sweet chili sauce
1/4 cup dry sherry
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 rounded tablespoon fresh grated ginger
1 clove garlic, finely minced
Sesame seeds and 2 or 3 green onions thinly sliced for garnish

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil and spray very generously with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, ketchup, Thai sweet chili sauce, sherry, brown sugar, ginger and garlic and mix well. Remove about a cup of the sauce and set aside.

Place the frozen wings in a large bowl, pour the remaining sauce over the wings and mix well until all of the wings are evenly coated. Spread the wings on the baking sheet in a single layer. Place the wings in the preheated oven and bake 25 to 30 minutes until they appear to be nicely glazed.

While the wings are baking, transfer the reserved sauce to a small saucepan and keep warm over low heat until the wings are done.

Transfer the cooked wings to a serving platter and sprinkle lightly with sesame seeds and green onions and serve the remaining sauce on the side.

Tater Tot Nachos ~ For Real

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 20:34:00 +0000

Back in January, I was perusing BuzzFeed.com and came across a video of Chef Dale Talde preparing his Fully Load Tater Tots.
{UDATE: Unfortunately, the video has been removed from the source I used to post it here.}

Of course, Chef Dale makes his own nacho cheese sauce, chili, pulled pork and pickled Jalapeños, but when we made these for Super Bowl Sunday in February, we opted for an easier way.

First of all, we didn't fry our tater tots. We probably should have. They would have held up better to the chili and cheese sauce, but they tasted just fine. And since we didn't fry our tater tots, we didn't use the bacon either.

I made my own nacho cheese sauce, a cheesy queso sauce my son, Chris, developed when he worked at a Mexican restaurant in Colorado. It's made with homemade salsa and it's delicious. I'll post the recipe for that at another time.

We didn't make our own chili. We used Hormel chili without beans, only because that's our preference. You can make your own chili or used canned, with or without beans.

We opted out of the pulled pork altogether.

We added a simple guacamole, some chopped cilantro and I also used my own candied Jalapeños.

We topped it off with sour cream flavored lightly with lime juice.

This is how we put it together.

First get your nacho cheese sauce ready. You can use the velveeta and Rotel type or make your own. Keep it warm.

Chop up some tomato, onion and cilantro and set them aside. Drain the Jalapeños and set them aside in a small bowl.

Put the canned chili in a pot, get it hot and keep it warm.

If you're going to use guacamole or chopped avocado, make that and set aside.

Pull out a bag of grated cheddar cheese or grate your own.

Finally, whisk together about 1/2 cup of sour cream (or Greek yogurt is good, too) with the juice of a half of a lime and set aside.

Now you'll be ready when your tater tots come out of the oven.

To prepare the tater tots, preheat your oven according to package directions. This where we deviate from the instructions on the package. First put the frozen tater tots in large bowl and drizzle them with about 1/4 cup of oil. This will help make them crispier than normal, although not quite as crispy as frying. Mix the tater tots and oil up with your hands or a large spoon and make sure they are all covered. Now spread them out in a single layer on a baking sheet bake according to package directions, however, add about 10 minutes extra to the baking time to make sure they were good and crispy.

When you take the tater tots out of the oven, you can leave them on the baking sheet as we did, or transfer them to a large platter. While the tater tots are hot, put the nachos together.

Sprinkle the tater tots with a generous amount of grated cheddar cheese.

Spoon hot nacho cheese sauce evenly over the cheese and tots.

Now, spoon the chili evenly over the cheese sauce.

Sprinkle the tomatoes, onions, cilantro and jalapeños over the chili.

Drop spoons of guacamole over all.

Now drizzle on the lime flavored sour cream.

Voilà!! You have March Madness Munchies!

Pinterest Envy

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 21:27:00 +0000

I don't spend a lot of time on Pinterest. I try to limit myself to about an hour or two a week. It's hard to do.

As you can imagine, most of my pins are food related, but not all. I have yet to attempt all the recipes or completed all the projects or purchased all of the products I've pinned.

Here are just a few things that caught my eye this week.

It's not food related, but I love this idea.

Source: Domesticated Nomad

I have a pergola in my backyard that is covered with wisteria vines. This would be beautiful underneath the pergola and as border around my garden. And, it's almost spring and I have cabin fever so I've been dreaming of gardening {sigh}.

Speaking of food, doesn't this look yummy?

Source: Oh She Glows
It's called a Roasted Buddha Bowl. Roasted cauliflower, broccoli and chickpeas with a cashew tahini dressing. I'm definitely trying this recipe soon.

My new favorite gadget-of-sorts is the Recipe Rock. I bought two of them. One green and one red.

Source: Cooking.com
I used to print all of my recipes and store them in binders. I stopped after I filled two 3-inch binders. So now I keep all of my recipes stored on my computer. I just print the recipe I want and slip it onto the Recipe Rock. It holds the recipe upright, which makes it so much easier to read. When I'm done with the recipe, I put the printed page in the recycle bin.

Tom and I are big fish and seafood lovers, from sushi to Cedar Plank Smoked Salmon, so this dish made me salivate.

Source: Jam Hands
The lattice puff pastry top is baked separately and placed on top of the baked seafood casserole. Doesn't it look delicious??!!

What have you been pinning this week?

Buffalo Chicken Nachos

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 21:08:00 +0000

First of all, let me apologize in advance for the not-so-great photo. I didn't plan on posting this so I took the photo with my phone, and this is the best of the three photos I took.

Like I said, I didn't plan on posting this, but these turned out so darn tasty that I had to share.

These morsels really don't require a recipe. We sort of slapped them together by the seat of our pants, using the flavors we love with Buffalo anything.

Buffalo Chicken Nachos

1 roasted deli chicken, picked from the bones and shredded
1/2 to 1 cup Buffalo wing sauce (we used Frank's)
2 - 4 tablespoons of butter
about 1/2 of a bag of tortilla chips
1 bag of grated cheese (we used Kraft Mexican 4-cheese)
1 tomato, seeded and diced
1/2 onion, diced
shredded lettuce (we used finely sliced romaine)
chunky blue cheese salad dressing (you could use ranch dressing, if that's your preference)

Preheat oven to 425°

Be sure to have all your ingredients ready to go. This goes fast.

In a saucepan large enough to hold all the chicken, add the wing sauce and butter and heat until it's boiling and the butter is melted. Add the chicken and keep warm.

On a large baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray, lay the tortilla chips in a single layer. Sprinkle the chips with 2 or 3 handfuls of cheese. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 3 minutes until the cheese is just barely melted. Remove from oven.

Drop the chicken as evenly as possible over the chips and cheese. Be sure to use all of the chicken. Top with another 2 or 3 handfuls of cheese and return it to the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven.

Sprinkle the tomato, onions and shredded lettuce over the cheesy chicken, drizzle with salad dressing (as much or as little as you like) and serve.

That's it. The most time consuming part of this is breaking down and shredding the chicken, which can be done a few hours or even the day before and refrigerated until ready to use.

Fettuccini and Shrimp Rosé

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 21:24:00 +0000

I think I was Italian in another life. I just wish I could remember living in Italy. It was probably pretty awesome, but the memories escape me.

But seriously, even though I'm part Norwegian, part Russian Jew, part German and a smattering of American Indian, I'm partial to Italian food, particularly pasta.

Tom is generally the pasta chef in our house. Sometime in the early 1980's he acquired this cookbook, which he's nearly worn out...

It's chock-full of wonderful, authentic Italian pasta recipes from classic red sauce to carbonara to puttanesca. There are really 99 recipes in the book, but even though Tom has used the cookbook for over 30 years, we have yet to try every single one.

This particular recipe isn't in the book, probably because combining Parmesan cheese and shrimp (or any kind of fish, for that matter) is supposed to be taboo in authentic Italian cooking. However, I've been known to break tradition now and then.

If you are craving a hearty dish that's quick and easy, here it is. The whole dish takes about 30 minutes from stove top to table. Warm a loaf of French bread in the oven and you've got a meal for a family of four to six people, depending on appetites.

I use smallish frozen shrimp, 31-40 count. They're bite sized, yet big in flavor.

Feel free to use any other kind of pasta ~ spaghetti, linguini, angel hair ~ whatever you have on hand.

Fettucini and Shrimp Rosé

4 tablespoons butter (divided)
1 tablespoon olive oil
20 to 25 medium-sized raw shrimp (31-40 count), peeled and deveined
1 - 1 pound package fettuccine, linguine or spaghetti
1 small onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes
1 - 14.5 ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup fresh or frozen sweet peas
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

Over medium high heat, melt two tablespoons of butter with the olive oil in a large skillet (it should be large enough to hold all the pasta and sauce at the end). Add the onions and sauté until slightly browned (about 6 or 7 minutes). Add the garlic and cook another minute.

Add the tomatoes, chili flakes, salt, pepper and brown sugar and bring the mixture to a boil.

Add the white wine and peas to the pan and bring to a full boil. Add the cream and Parmesan cheese and again bring the mixture to a full boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat so that the mixture is barely simmering and prepare the pasta according to package directions.

While pasta is cooking, quickly sauté the shrimp in the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and set aside.

To serve, drain the pasta and add it and the cooked shrimp to the simmering sauce.

Enjoy!

Jalapeño Popper Crescents

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Super Bowl is coming February 3rd. It's time to start thinking about what yummy nibbles I can whip up quickly and pop into my mouth in between plays.

Okay, you caught me in a lie. I probably won't watch the Super Bowl. I'm just not a football fan. I know. I'm a bit of an outlier.

But that doesn't mean I can't help you figure out what to make. These little morsels could easily fit the bill. A buttery crescent roll slathered with creaminess from the cheeses, some heat from the jalapeño and a dash of sugar to balance it all out. Yes, I said sugar. Just a little though, and you won't be sorry.

There are tons of recipes for these out on the internet, but this is my version.

Jalapeño Popper Crescents

1 tube crescent rolls
1 - 4 ounce can of diced jalapeños
1 - 8 ounce package cream cheese, room temperature (I use "lite" but full fat works fine, too)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup finely grated cheddar cheese, sharp or mild

Preheat your oven to 375˚F.

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the cream cheese and sugar. Add the cheddar cheese and stir to completely combine. To add the jalapeños, start with half of the can. Stir to combine and taste for heat. If you like more heat, add more jalapeños. Set aside.

Open the tube of crescent rolls and gently unroll the contents into 4 rectangles. Place two rectangles end to end and gently pinch the perforated seams together. It should look like this...

With a rubber or silicone spatula, spread half of the cheese mixture evenly over the crescent roll rectangle, like this...

Starting with the long side, begin to gently roll the rectangle into a fairly tight log...

...until it looks like this...

Cut the log into 16 equal pieces, beginning by cutting the log in half, then cutting the two halves in half and so on. Place the pieces, cut side down, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and sprayed with cooking spray or a Silpat.

Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, or until golden brown.

While the first roll is baking, make the second roll. (Note: My baking sheets are industrial size, so they hold the pieces for more than one roll.)

When each batch is done, remove them immediately from the baking sheet and serve.

What's For Dinner??

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 17:52:00 +0000

I have some energy today. I mean that I have more energy and enthusiasm for blogging than I have for a very long time. And I'm glad to be back.

I've never been one to write a weekly menu. I can't ever stick to it. No matter what I plan and commit to paper for any one day, my palate often rejects because it just doesn't sound appetizing at the time or, on rare occasions, I simply don't feel like cooking.

But to mitigate the stress of the times when I don't even want to think about what to make for dinner, while my mind is clear, I write down a list of dishes to choose from. It's more flexible and that's what I like about it. I hang the list of meals with the heading "What's for Dinner??" on the side of the refrigerator, along with the printed recipes. I can change it up or modify it if I desire to do so.

So this is what we are tentatively having for dinner this week:

Fish Tacos with Mexican Rice and Refried Beans

Beef Bourguignon with Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Beets & Greens

Taco Tater Tot Bake with a Salad and Avocado Dressing

Chicken Saltimbocca with Angel Hair Pasta and Sautéed Zucchini & Onions

Cuban Chorizo Sweet Potato Stew with Crusty Bread

Pork Banh Mi Burgers with Vietnamese Slaw

Garlic Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Honey Glazed Carrots

I may, at some point during the week, opt to make some changes, but this is a good start, don't you think?

So, do you make menus? What are you having this week?

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 18:53:00 +0000

It's New Years Eve. Tomorrow we begin 2013. It has whizzed by.

I've been mentally going through this past year and smiling as I recall our visits to Florida, California and Nevada, as well as family house guests from Nevada and South Carolina. It was a busy ~ and wonderful ~ year.

But, although I spent countless hours in the kitchen, my blog ended up with a measly 29 posts for the entire year. I struggled with direction and blogger burnout and my blog suffered for it.

Thank you all for sticking with me.

I am hoping that this coming year I am able to shake this fog and share more of the wonderful food and fun from my kitchen.

Anyway, the last couple of weeks I've been on a wonderful Christmas vacation, first to South Carolina where I visited my niece and nephew and their families, then to Florida for Christmas with my son Chris and his family.

Christmas Eve day, we did a little last minute shopping and stopped for lunch at our favorite place, Star Fish Company, a fish market and restaurant just off Anna Maria Island, where we were staying.

This was our table...

And this was our entertainment...

...as we dined on Shrimp Po' Boy with Spicy Remoulade Sauce...

and Fried Calamari...

That evening, after dinner, we enjoyed a Christmas Eve walk taking in this view:

And after our walk on the beach, as we settled in for the evening, our neighbor emailed us this photo of what was transpiring at home:

The first EVER blizzard warning in central Arkansas! The next day, he sent us two more photos:

We're home now. There's still a little snow on the ground, but it's melting slowly but surely.

We won't be going out for dinner. I'm making this Roast Lemon Chicken and we'll have a nice salad with it. I can guarantee I'll be in bed before midnight and ready to begin 2013 first thing in the morning.

I simply want to wish everyone a very happy and safe New Year's Eve and a wonderful, prosperous, healthy New Year.

Fresh Apple Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:00:00 +0000

As I've said many times before, I'm not really a dessert person. Given a choice of types of food, my preference is always savory. I do, however, like making desserts.

I love the ooooh's and awwww's and Oh My Gawd's when I present a luscious looking dessert like the stunning Oreo Cookie Cake or the decadent Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie or the inviting Strawberry Cake. I know. I admit it's a little egotistical.

This cake is not like that. It's not fancy. It's not decadent. In fact, it's plain, simple and while satisfying to a palate yearning for something sweet, it is less so than other desserts I've made. That's why I loved it.

You could definitely sweeten it up some with a sugary glaze or salted caramel drizzle if you so desire. I didn't. I covered it with a light dusting of powdered sugar and thought it was perfect.

I found this cake at Food52.com, one of my favorite food sites. I followed the recipe exactly, except for one minor detail. I left out the raisins. Why, you ask? I live with a Raisin Squirrel, who is also a Nut Squirrel, a Chip Squirrel, a Pretzel Squirrel...are you getting the picture? It's my husband, Tom. He's the consummate nosher, nibbler, snacker and raisins are one of his favorite little morsels. When he walks through the pantry to the garage, or from the garage through the pantry to the den, he grabs a handful of whatever morsels are stored there, pops them into his cheek and nibbles away at them, one by one. He also is not immune to grabbing a bowl and creating a custom morsel mix for himself to nosh on while he watches a movie.

So, yes, I adapted this recipe slightly. It would probably be a little sweeter with the addition of the raisins, but I didn't miss them. It was still moist and tender and quite luscious.

Fresh Apple Cake
Adapted slightly from Food52.com

Butter for greasing pan (I use my own Easy Release Pan Coating)
3 cups flour, plus more for dusting pan (see above)
1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups peeled, cored, and thickly sliced tart apples like Honeycrisp or Granny Smith (I used a large dice)
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup raisins (I omitted)
Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Butter and flour a 9-inch tube pan (or use a pastry brush to apply the Easy Pan Release.

Beat the oil and sugar together for 5 minutes in a stand mixer (fitted with a paddle attachment). While the mixer is working, assemble the remaining ingredients. After about 5 minutes, add the eggs and beat until the mixture is creamy.

Sift together 3 cups of flour, the salt, cinnamon and baking soda. Stir into the batter. Add the vanilla, apples, walnuts and raisins and stir until combined. The batter will be very thick.

The batter will be thick, so you'll need to drop it into the prepared pan by the spoonful. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven to a rack and cool in the pan before lifting out.

Serve at room temperature with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, if desired.

The Morning After The Morning After....

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 17:43:00 +0000

Yesterday was our Thanksgiving. Sort of.

Thanksgiving day we joined my father-in-law for a turkey-and-all-the-trimmings brunch in the dining room at the retirement community where he lives.

The brunch was served buffet style on long tables lined with commercial chafing dishes. Sliced turkey; sliced ham pieces (floating in some sort of liquid); stuffing (cornbread type, I think, though it was hard to discern); instant mashed potatoes; gravy (also from a can); green beans with limp, soggy bacon (swimming in the brine in which they were canned); mashed sweet potato casserole; cranberry sauce (again, from a can) and rolls. This kind of meal is what we have come to expect from the head 'chef' (I use that term quite loosely).

But, we love turkey dinner leftovers, so we decided to roast our own turkey on Saturday.

We prepared our dinner for just the two of because we wanted to make just a few items that we love and experiment with a new, highly seasoned stuffing that wouldn't necessarily appeal to our usual dinner guests.

I found the stuffing recipe, Ciabatta Stuffing with Chorizo, Sweet Potatoes and Mushrooms, at Food52.com and I'm glad I did. It was amazing. Instead of using cured chorizo, Tom used a half of a 10-ounce tube of Mexican chorizo. The result was a little spicier than what the cured chorizo would have been, but it perfectly complimented the sweetness of the potatoes and the earthiness of the mushrooms (combination of shitaki and crimini).

Rather than bake the stuffing in a pan, Tom stuffed the bird with it and then with what stuffing wouldn't fit in the cavity of the bird he cooked a small bowlful in a frying pan and ate it for breakfast topped with a fried egg over easy.

Tom made the mashed potatoes. I made the gravy from the stock that I had simmering on the stove all day.

One of our favorite holiday side dishes is Marie's Parmesan Roasted Onions. Onions roasted in a wine and cream sauce until they're just barely soft and oh so sweet.

Then, of course, we needed cranberry sauce.

Several years ago, I saw filmmaker, David Hahn, on a cooking show (I can't remember which one) talking about a new product he developed called Cranberry Fool. A cranberry sauce of sorts: whole fresh cranberries enhanced with dried cherries, currants and raisins with a splash of vanilla. I decided to make my own Cranberry Fool Sauce. It's much better than canned cranberry sauce and what's so awesome is that you can add some chopped candied jalapeños to the sauce and spoon it over cream cheese or bake it with brie for a special appetizer.

The last side dish, which didn't turn out so well, was the Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Bacon, Onions and Balsamic. I just roasted them too long. We ate them anyway.

It was a fairly simple Thanksgiving dinner...

We have lots of leftovers, most of which are vacuum sealed and stored in the freezer. I kept out some turkey to make soup this afternoon.

I hope your Thanksgiving was filled with the warmth of family and friends.

Next stop.... Christmas.

Chili Verde

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 20:12:00 +0000

Where've I been? Fighting blogger burnout. I've had brain drain.

I've been trying to attend a session on Blogger Burnout on Google+ but every time it's scheduled, I already have something in the time slot. Grrrr. But, this morning I found the video of the session I wanted to attend and got some real good pointers. I have little self-examination to do, but I might just have started my creative engine again.

I'm not sure I'm in full go mode, but I'm trying. We'll see how it goes.

So, on to the Chili Verde. Has the weather turned cold where you are? Yeah, here, too.

Cold is not my favorite time of year. The older I get, the more I get like Joe, our mostly-Maltese. When the weather turns cool, you are more than likely to find him curled up under a quilt. Me, too.

Autumn is the time of year for soups, stews, chowders and chili. I love a bowl of something hot and scrumptious with a crusty baguette, cornbread muffin, biscuit or warm tortilla. I like all kinds of anything served up piping hot in a bowl, but rich and hearty is my first choice, whether it's fish, beef, pork, lamb, thick, creamy or brothy. I like them all and luckily I have created quite a collection. I just recently add this one to my repertoire.

This recipe is for the day when you have a few hours to let it cook on the stove top in a big pot and enjoy the wonderful aroma from the kitchen while you clean the house, return emails, or write your own blog post.

Verde translated means "green". The sauce consists of green ingredients: tomatillos, chilies and cilantro. And I like that this recipe uses mostly fresh ingredients, except for one small can of diced green chilies. No cans of beans. No enchilada sauce. No canned tomatoes. And the flavor sings because of it.

Chili Verde

2 pounds tomatillos, husks removed, rinsed well and cut in half
2 onions, quartered
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 Poblano peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded and diced
1 bunch cilantro, leaves picked and roughly chopped
4 lbs (approximately) pork shoulder (pork butt), excess fat trimmed and cut into 2-inch cubes
1-1/2 cups frozen (thawed) or fresh corn
1 - 4-ounce can diced green chilies
4 cups chicken stock
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon ancho chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
salt and pepper
olive oil

Preheat oven to 425˚

Put the halved tomatillos and quartered onions into a large bowl. Drizzle with a little olive oil, sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and stir to coat evenly.

Spread the mixture on a large baking sheet and roast in the oven until the tomatillos and onions are slightly browned, about 1 hour.

Remove the tomatillos and onions from the oven and set aside to cool slightly. Do not pour off the liquid. You will add that to the pot later.

While the tomatillos are cooling, season the pork cubes with salt and pepper. Heat a little olive oil in a large pot on medium high heat and working in batches of a few at a time brown the pork cubes on all sides. Remove each batch from the pot and continue until all the pork cubes are browned.

Add the garlic to the pot and cook on medium heat until it is fragrant. Do not allow it to brown or it will turn bitter. Remove the pan from the heat.

In a food processor, again working in batches, add a few of the roasted tomatillos and onions, some of the cilantro and the roasted Poblanos and pulse until pureed. Pour the mixture into the pot with the garlic. Continue until all of the tomatillos, onions, cilantro and Poblano peppers are pureed and added to the pot.

Add the browned pork cubes back into the pot with the tomatillo sauce. Now, add the reserved liquid from the roasted tomatillos, the chicken stock, the can of diced green chilies, oregano, cumin, ancho chili powder, cinnamon and cloves and mix well. Season very lightly with salt and pepper. You can correct the seasoning later.

Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and gently simmer the chili for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally, then add the corn. Return the chili to a simmer and continue cooking until the pork is fork tender, approximately one more hour, for a total of 3 hours. Correct the seasoning if necessary, adding a little salt and pepper.

Serve hot with cornbread or warm tortillas.

Pumpkin Walnut Baklava and a Guest Post

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 13:06:00 +0000

This is what the finished product looks like...

Every October, Gina of Desperately Seeing {Gina} puts together a Month of Pumpkin. This year she invited other food and craft bloggers to be guest posters and I was honored to be invited to post a recipe. If you'd like to see how it's made and get the recipe, hop on over to Desperately Seeking {Gina} for a look at Pumpkin Walnut Baklava ...

Fajita Seasoning Mix & Grilled Fish Soft Tacos

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 19:14:00 +0000

I don't always cook complicated meals. Just like you, I like to get dinner on the table in a hurry and be done with it.

One way I accomplish a quick meal is to keep things on hand that help me do that. But I don't particularly like packaged prepared foods, sauces or seasonings, with a few exceptions. I try whenever possible to make my own. I like being able to control the salt content and eliminate MSG and preservatives.

I mix all the herbs and spices for each type of seasoning in a bowl and store them in jars. I put labels on the jars as well as necessary measurement instructions using my handy dandy label maker. Easy peasy.

I used the Fajita Seasoning for the 'Grilled' Fish Tacos.

For a quick meal, I also like to keep items in my freezer that thaw quickly, like this bag of individually packaged tilapia fillets.

Granted, these packaged fillets are small and thin. They're not the most ideal size for frying, baking or grilling as an entree in and of themselves. Honestly, the only thing they are really good for is for fish tacos, chowders, stuffings or ceviche. But that's fine by me because I make those types of dishes quite often.

I like these bags of fillets because I can take out as many individual packs as I need, toss the packs of fillets in a large bowl of lukewarm water and in 5 or 10 minutes, they are thawed and ready to cook. And that is exactly what I did for the fish tacos.

Once I had the packs of fillets in the bowl of water, I wrapped corn tortillas in some foil and put them in a 300 degree oven to warm up. I didn't want to take the time to make a taco sauce, so I poured some ranch dressing that I'd made a few days earlier into a small bowl and added a heaping teaspoon of Tone's Southwest Chipotle Seasoning and mixed it well. Then I chopped up some onion, tomato and cilantro and set them aside in separate bowls. By the time I finished that, the fillets were thawed. I removed each of them from the bags and seasoned them with a good sprinkling of the Fajita Seasoning on both sides and set them aside on a plate.

With just about everything else ready to go, I heated my frying pan and added about 1/2 tablespoon of oil and cooked the fish a couple of minutes on each side. Done!

All that was left to do was add some shredded lettuce or cabbage and some shredded cheese, maybe even some avocado if you have it. If you prefer, you could instead make a grilled fish salad, adding some canned pinto or black beans.

Dinner is on the table in 15 or 20 minutes, from start to finish. And delicious!

Fajita Seasoning

2 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon white pepper
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon Tone’s Southwest Chipotle seasoning
1 teaspoon salt

Mix spices together and use for seasoning chicken, shrimp and beef fajitas, as well as seasoning onions and bell peppers before grilling or sauteing.

Spicy Mexican Chocolate Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 20:29:00 +0000

Over a year ago, Tom and I went out to dinner with a few members of his family. As most folks sat eating their desserts, my nephew's wife pulled a chocolate bar out of her purse, opened it up and asked if anyone wanted a piece.

"What kind is it?" I asked.

"Chocolate Chili," she said.

It was the first time I'd tasted sweet chocolate and heat together. I loved it.

Fast forward. I decided to try the combination in a chocolate cookie, attempting to emulate the flavors in Mexican hot chocolate, but with a little kick. I took my best chocolate cookie recipe, added cinnamon, vanilla extract, Ancho chili powder and cayenne. The result was a cookie that is chewy, sweet and chocolatey at first bite, but once it begins to melt in your mouth, the flavor of the Ancho chili emerges and you feel the heat of the cayenne. They were, in a word: delicious. They were so good, in fact, that I didn't really want to share them, but I had to or we would have eaten every single one of them.

Who would have thought a cookie would be unpopular? Not me.

Color me shocked when I took a bag of these cookies into the Clothes Closet where I volunteer and came home with a bag still full of cookies minus maybe half a dozen tops. The feedback was too spicy, except for the volunteer in his 80's who smacked his lips, held up his second cookie and said with a twinkle in his eye, "these are good!"

Well, Tom and I thought so too. We happily ate the remaining cookies!

I had toyed with the idea of using a chocolate cookie recipe and adding bacon, but I sort of already did that with the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bacon Cookies. And I wasn't all that sure about adding bacon to something with such a delicate balance of spices, so this time I left out the bacon.

I know. I know. Some of you will chastise me for the omission. But trust me, you won't miss it.

If you must have bacon, fry up 3 or 4 pieces, drain them well, chop them up and add them at the same time you add the chocolate chips. I won't be offended.

Spicy Mexican Chocolate Cookies

1 cup, plus 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon Ancho chili powder
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
1 - 12-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

With a hand or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla and mix well.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, chili powder, cayenne and espresso powder. Make sure all ingredients are mixed well.

Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture a cup at a time, mixing gently on low speed after each addition until all the ingredients are just combined. Do not over mix. Use a silicone spatula to stir in the chocolate chips (and chopped bacon, if you are adding it).

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. Drop nice rounded teaspoonfuls of dough on to the cookie sheet about 2-inches apart. I have a small 1-1/2-inch inexpensive ice cream scoop I use strictly for scooping cookie dough. It measures the dough perfectly and the cookies come out uniform.

Bake for 12 to 14-minutes. Cool on a wire rack covered with paper towels.

I dare you to eat just one.

Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh My!

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 16:12:00 +0000

Or, I'm back from vacation...

Emptying suitcases. Mounds of laundry. Grocery shopping to fill up the empty refrigerator AND trying to decide what to make for dinner. Picking up Joe from the {wink, wink} Doggie Spa, where he also received a much needed bath and haircut.

Tom has meetings with clients and contractors all day up through 6:00 tonight. They obviously missed him.

Back to life as we know it. More to come.

AWOL

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 17:10:00 +0000

It's been awhile. But I have a good excuse. I've had a houseful of guests for the last couple of weeks.

First, my favorite niece and her three adorable kiddos stayed with us for a week. What fun!

Then we were fortunate to have our oldest son, Mike, his wife, Kathy, and my two granddaughters, Lily (age 9) and Zoey (age 8) visit for a week. Great times! Sadly, toward the end of their visit a came down with a summer chest cold, which I have not been able to shake since they left last Tuesday.

But we've still been cooking. Hey, we gotta eat!

I'll be back soon. Stay tuned....