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I love everything about food, especially cooking for my family and friends. When I have the time, I quilt! My favorite thing....spending time with our Granddaughter Jayla! Please feel free to leave comments, ask questions and let me know how you like the recipe!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Easter is Coming!

Wow!  The past couple of weeks have been trying and a true test for us here.  The good news is that the daughter is on the mend.  We definitely have a long road ahead, but considering what she has been through she is doing darn good!  That being said it is time to get back to the world and start living each day with more than just trips to the hospital.

The hospital food isn't too terrific (down right nasty to hear her tell it) so we have been bringing her some treats every day.  Dad even made her a spice blend to add to her food to make it at least palatable.  And since Easter is upon us shortly I have been thinking about things to make that she would love.  With all that has been going on I wasn't even going there, but my brother said that I should make some of her faves and bring them to her.  I'm thinking that even though she won't be here for dinner Stuffed Artichokes are a must, maybe Pizza Rustica (an Italian Cold Cut and Cheese Pie for Pat) along with her favorite Easter dessert, Grain Pie (Easter morning tradition in our house starts with a slice of Grain Pie and a hard boiled egg) .  Now for those of you not familiar with this pie, it's something that is out of this world!  There is one big difference in the way Mom made the Grain (Wheat) Pie versus the standard recipe......Anisette!  Yup, you read that correctly.  The traditional recipe calls for Orange Blossom Water but Mommy always used Anisette.  So as I said, don't mess with tradition!

Another Easter dessert standard in our house was Chocolate Rice Pie (a personal favorite of mine).  This is a very unusual pie and not one you find in many Italian-American households.  It's rich and more of a bitter sweet chocolate flavor, but absolutely amazing with an ice cold glass of milk or Espresso!  Maybe I'll make just one of those for me!  We will see.  So for now I am in the planning stages and will be off to the market for supplies.

I'll posting some of these recipes over the next couple of days, so please check back tomorrow for more updates!

Friday, April 8, 2011

For Janis - Hummus

A quick and short post this morning.  For those who know us, thank you for your prayers and good wishes.  For those who don't, our dear daughter was seriously injured when crossing the street for work the other day.  So I'm a little too busy to post let alone do much cooking.  For now it's fast food, hospital fare and food people bring to us.  Thank you all of you for being there. 

A little about this recipe.  I saw this on Food Network a while ago and made it Sunday before all of this happened.  I love Alton Brown's method for cooking the chick peas in the my slow cooker.  The hummus came out creamy and very garlicky (I used 2 large cloves) with just the right amount of lemon.  Makes a large batch because the recipe calls for 1lb. of dry chick peas.  To me it was well worth the long cooking process (8 hours in the slow cooker).  I hope you will give this a try it is delish!

Ingredients

  • 1 pound Slow Cooker Chickpeas, cooled, recipe follows
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 5 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/3 cup tahini, stirred well
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for serving
  • Powdered sumac, optional

Directions

Place the chickpeas, garlic, and kosher salt in the bowl of a food processor. Process for 15 to 20 seconds. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and process for another 15 to 20 seconds. Add the lemon juice and water. Process for 20 seconds. Add the tahini. Process for 20 seconds, then scrape down the sides of the bowl. With the processor running, drizzle in the olive oil.

To serve, transfer the hummus to a bowl and drizzle with additional olive oil and sprinkle with sumac, to taste, if desired.

Slow Cooker Chickpeas:

  • 7 cups water
  • 1 pound dry chickpeas, sorted and rinsed
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • Special equipment: a 2 1/2-quart slow cooker
Place the water, chickpeas, and baking soda in a 2 1/2-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on high heat for 4 hours, or on low heat for 8 to 9 hours, or until tender. Drain and serve immediately, or use in desired dish.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Another Example of Foods I didn't Care for as a Kid!

In yesterday's post I mentioned a few foods that I didn't enjoy as a kid. Beets where one of them. Now to be honest, Mom never made fresh beets. She always used the ones that came either in a can or jar, pickled or Harvard. I did eat them, but they weren't exactly a favorite.

Then a couple of weeks ago while perusing the aisles of Fresh Market, I saw some nice looking fresh beets (without the stems) and decided to try them. I did make them several years ago, but for reason just never went back to making them again. I also found some beautiful ripe Blood Oranges and thought about a vinaigrette for the beets. They came out so good and delicious I just had to make them again this week.

Beets are full of wonderful nutrients like magnesium, potassium and Vitamin C and the color of red beets is just wonderful and brightens the plate beautifully. They are easy to prepare and can be used in a variety of ways including the leafy portion which means that if you buy them with the stem on you can a get a second vegetable out of one purchase.  If you are going to be using them in a salad, I recommend you roast them the day before so that they have time chill before using them.  Below is the recipe for Red Beet Salad with Blood Orange Vinaigrette that I served with last night's Grilled Chicken Breasts.

Roasted Red Beets - 3-4 servings

Ingredients:

4 red beets, stems and leaves removed, washed
Vegetable or Canola oil
salt

Prepartion:

Pre-heat oven to 400F.  Trim beets leaving a small amount of stem in tact (aids in keeping beet juice in) and wash well to remove and dirt or grit.  

Place a sheet of aluminum foil large enough to wrap the beets in on a cookie sheet.  Coat beets in a small amount of oil (vegetable or canola) and a sprinkle of sea salt.  Wrap foil tightly around beets and bake for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes (baking time will vary based on size and age of the beets) until fork tender.  Allow the beets to cool until they can be handled.

When cooled it's now very easy to remove the skin and stems (I highly recommend wearing gloves).  Just rub gently and the skins will come off.  At this point you can use them in your favorite recipe or refrigerate to chill for use in salad.


Roasted Red Beet Salad with Blood Orange Vinaigrette
Blood Orange Vinaigrette                                                                                            

Ingredients:
3/4 cup blood orange juice (about 3 blood oranges)
1 shallot, minced or 2 tablespoons red onion, minced
thinly sliced red onion (to taste)
zest of one orange
3 tbsp. red wine vinegar
3/4 cup olive oil
salt
black pepper
1-2 tbsp. beet juice
Preparation:
In a blender or non-reactive bowl blend orange juice, shallot or onion, beet juice, salt, and pepper.   Whisking continuously add oil in a thin stream until thoroughly blended. Season with more salt and freshly ground black pepper as needed.



Serve on a bed of salad greens with thinly sliced red onion and drizzled with vinaigrette.





 

Blood Orange


Red Beets

Monday, April 4, 2011

Childhood Favorites

I was thinking about different dishes from my childhood and hoping that they become favorites of our Grand baby Jayla.  I know she is only a year old, but we have already introduced her to Oxtails in sauce with macaroni, calamari, one of Janis' and my favorites Pork Chops and Macaroni.  She loves all of those and don't even think about eating shrimp in front of her or you might lose a finger!  She seems to be a pretty adventurous eater and we are happy about that.  She even likes most veggies you give her (except green beans).

Mom raised us to eat what was put in front of you.  There was no such thing as cooking different foods for someone who didn't really like what you were cooking that night.  "Eat what I cook or don't eat", that was her mantra.  I followed that rule with Janis as well and it worked.  She loves good food and will try just about anything.

There are just so many different foods that I love and have passed on that love for Mom's recipes to family and friends.  I love how eating something just brings memories flooding back, be it a holiday, special occasion or just sitting around the table with your family and discussing the days event.  I remember sitting at the kitchen table and Mom making me sit there until I ate my Lima Beans (still don't like them)!  I would love someone to send me a recipe to try that I might just like.  Remember Liver and Onions?  Couldn't handle it as a kid and but now enjoy it!  All of those tastes and now my own version of old family favorites are being passed on to a new generation in my great nieces and nephews and now a Grand Daughter! 

Now Mom made some terrific meals, but there where times when she took shortcuts too.  After all she was a working woman for most of her life and after my Dad died (I was all of 7 at the time) was the single Mother of a teenage son and young daughter.  She used frozen vegetables and frozen fries, but most of what I remember her cooking was from scratch.  There was no such thing as TV Dinners in our house!  Yes we went out to eat occasionally, but fast food just wasn't what it is today.  For us eating out meant a great Jewish Deli, a good Pizzeria or a Diner!  Mostly we ate at home both because of the cost and simply because it tasted better.  Family was what it was all about and we were encouraged to invite our friends over for lunch and dinner often.  It was her way of staying connected with us and gave her a better idea of what was going on in our lives.

So what is the point of this post you ask?  To encourage you to share, share your heritage, your stories and your recipes.  Be daring, try something new and make it yourself.  It's not difficult.  Sit at the table for dinner with your family and encourage your children to invite their friends to dinner.  La Famiglia is the most important thing in this world.  Pass on the traditions that were passed down to you and keep them alive!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Blackberry Swirl Cream Cheese Pound Cake

It's Friday again, and we are looking forward to a very relaxing and quiet weekend.  The weather here is once again turning to Spring beginning tomorrow, or so the weather people say.  Pat is feeling better and is looking for something other than soup to eat and his sweet tooth is back!  I know he's feeling better when he starts looking for sweets.

I have been wanting to try some of the other Pound Cake recipes I found last month's issue of Southern Living.  The Lemon Coconut Pound Cake I posted in a previous post was delicious and I'm hoping this one is even better.  The recipe in the magazine is for a "Strawberry Swirl Cream Cheese Pound Cake", but I happen to have some beautiful Blackberries in the freezer from last season that need to be used, so I am making a home made Blackberry Glaze.  Just for us and just for you!  Have a great weekend everyone!

Ingredients

1 1/2  cups  butter, softened
3  cups  sugar
1  (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
6  large eggs
3  cups  all-purpose flour
1  teaspoon  almond extract
1/2  teaspoon  vanilla extract
2/3  cup  blackberry glaze
1  (6-inch) wooden skewer

2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsps. Luxardo or Apple Juice
1/4 tsp. corn starch

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350°. Beat butter at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add cream cheese, beating until creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.
Gradually add flour to butter mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition, stopping to scrape bowl as needed. Stir in almond and vanilla extracts. Pour one-third of batter into a greased and floured 10-inch (14-cup) tube pan (about 2 2/3 cups batter). Dollop 8 rounded teaspoonfuls strawberry glaze over batter, and swirl with wooden skewer. Repeat procedure once, and top with remaining third of batter.
Bake at 350° for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 to 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack, and cool completely (about 1 hour).

To make Blackberry Glaze:
In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the blackberries, sugar, and salt. When the berries break down to mostly juice, strain the seeds out and return the strained juice back to the pan. Let it reduce over medium heat until it becomes a thick glaze. Stir together the Luxardo or Apple Juice and cornstarch and then add them to the juice. Simmer for about 20 minutes more, until the juice coats the back of a spoon; set it aside to cool.