You've Got To Taste This
Delicious discoveries, tasty new products, must-cook recipes, and fun food finds
The Fourth of July is almost here and I can't wait! I love any holiday that allows for ample time in the kitchen and July 4th is certainly one of those holidays, only better because you can use the grill.
This year, I'm heading up to the lake with my husband and his family for three days of lake-floating and dock-sitting, plus a little reading on the side (any suggestions?). His Mom is taking care of the big-ticket items, so I volunteered to bring desserts. Now, I have so many options, I hardly know what to make!
My Grandma used to make a favorite dessert of mine called Strawberry Pizza. We have to rename it to Mary Sue's Strawberry Salvation or something of the like because, I assure you, you will be thanking God for this amazing dessert. It's light, creamy, and fresh all rolled into one, and one of those desserts that makes you keep sneaking bites as you walk by the fridge. I guarantee your sink will be filled with dirty spoons! It's only three steps, so get started:
Mary Sue's Strawberry Salvation (Pizza)
Step One: Crust-- Mix together two cups flour, two sticks melted margarine, and one cup chopped nuts. Press into a pizza or jelly roll pan. Bake 10-15 minutes at 350. Cool completely.
Step Two: Combine eight-ounces softened cream cheese with three cups confectioners sugar and one 12-ounce container of cool whip. Spread on top of crust, leaving a raised edge.
Step Three: Spread one quart sliced strawberries over cream cheese mixture then top with one container of strawberry glaze. Chill before serving.
If you're not ready for strawberry pizza, then check out a few of our other star-spangled desserts, like this yummy recipe for sundaes (pictured). Enjoy!
My husband loves to fish, and after a recent trip to the Gulf, he returned with enough red snapper to feed a village! So to make the most of his fresh catch, we had to be smart about freezing the fillets, and we wanted to come up with some fun ways to fix a feast. Here are some quick tips that we picked up!
For those of us in the Northeast, farmer's market season is finally upon us, and I love it. Like garage sale season, only better. While catching up with friends recently, I heard about a new farmer's market that happened to have their opening day this past weekend. I packed the kids up and away we went.
Even though the spelling mistake on the sign in this picture pains me, I loved the selection of greens that the farmers had available. I toted home quite a bit, including collard greens. Even though I'm the only one in the family who will eat collard greens, that's fine by me.
One of the things I love most about the farmer's market is discovering something new. Something I've never heard of. Or tasted. Or experienced. But then, what to do? It's simple really. I jump in with both feet and buy it. Once home, I head to MyRecipes and do a recipe search by ingredient and figure out what to do with it. It's simply the best way to discover a new love, right from the roots. Now go on now, go celebrate your own farmer's market and discover something new.
Hot summer days sure make us long for cool, no-cook suppers, don't they? One of our family favorites is Coconut Crab and Shrimp Salad from Cooking Light. It comes together quickly (45 minutes or less) and is oh so tasty, especially for seafood lovers! We enjoyed this salad on Father's Day with a side of buttered garlic toast and easy peach cobbler made with Splenda.
Despite leaving off the coconut topping (so as not to have a full bag of shredded coconut that wouldn't get used) and having to thaw avocado slices intended for the baby since the local grocery was all out of them, it was delicious! To save money, substitute imitation crab for the lump crabmeat. To save time, buy pre-cooked, shelled, and deveined shrimp (it usually comes frozen in a bag) and simply thaw in warm water for a few minutes before chopping.
Over the past few years, I've flirted with gardening. Some years I do a ton of flower beds. Other times it's all about vegetables. I've done it half-heartedly, mostly because I am a total gardening novice without a very green thumb. But this year, I was determined it would be different. Between the economic benefits of growing your own herbs and vegetables, the therapeutic aspects of getting your hands in the soil and the lessons it can teach my almost-seven-year-old son as we work side-by-side in the garden, it was really a no brainer. It was just a matter of digging in. Figuratively and literally.
We started with the easy things ... herbs. Nothing beats the smell of fresh basil. Well, maybe cilantro. But it's right up there at the top with one of the best smells that signal Springtime. Our basil has been growing by leaps and bounds, and my son and I have been working in the kitchen to put it to use. It just tickles me to see him go out on the deck and snip the basil we need, wash it off and get ready to work on making a recipe with me. I love that he can identify the herbs by their leaves and that he takes such pride in watering them and checking on their progress daily. So many good lessons there for him.
One of our favorite ways to use up basil, particularly in the warm weather, is in a Panzanella. An Italian bread salad, it's a bowlful of Springtime celebrations that gets the thumbs-up from the whole family, baby included. My favorite recipe for Panzanella over the years has been Tyler Florence's version from his Eat This Book cookbook. Toasted bread, fresh basil, juicy tomates ... you just can't go wrong. Go on and celebrate everything that Spring has to offer ... and tuck into a fabulous Panzanella.
I have a confession to make: Unless you count watching my Mom flip burgers, I've never used a grill. At 25 years of age, I should've mastered this art long ago, but I lived in a dorm in college and have been settled into apartment (read: no grill) life since graduation. So it was with my trepidation, fear, and excitement that I fired up my first gas grill this week.
It wasn't suppose to happen. My husband, Brian, was working a little late, so I called to ask how to light the grill so I could get dinner going. Over the phone, he walked me through step by step, starting with removing the grill cover, turning the dial to "start," and pressing the ignition switch. That last part got me worried. "What's it going to do?" I asked him. "Ignite!" he said. "I know," I replied, "but like scary ignite or just normal ignite." Ladies, nothing will make your husband hurry home like the knowledge that you're manning the flame!
I got the fire going, tossed on the meat (lamb, in this instance), and was amazed at how easy it was. The meal turned out great. My family always used charcoal-- you can't beat the taste!--but this busy weeknight I really appreciated taking dinner from fridge to table in about the same amount of time it would've taken to heat a charcoal grill.
Ladies, get grilling. If I can do it, so can you! Now I'm off to try that grilled pound cake recipe I saw earlier...
My husband and I are trying to eat more fish, especially fish that's high in omega-3 fats, and I've found my new "go-to" recipe for fresh tuna. It's Sesame Tuna and it takes less than 10 minutes from start to finish. Aside from the tuna, I had all the other ingredients on hand, so this was easy to pull together.
I made a couple of changes in this recipe, but not many. Instead of low-sodium soy sauce, I used Ponzu, which is basically a citrus soy sauce. For some reason, I have just discovered this sauce and want to put it on everything. It was fantastic! I sprinkled just a little less salt on the tuna since I was not using low-sodium soy sauce, and it was fine. Also, I only cooked the tuna about 1 minute on each side because I like it rare. I wouldn't go much longer than 2 minutes on each side or the tuna will be too dry. It really doesn't need to flake easily with a fork. For me, that stage is too done.
This is one recipe you can't beat for an easy, healthy weeknight meal. With only 6 ingredients and less than 10 minutes to prepare, this is my kind of dinner. Let me just get on my soapbox one more time and let people know that eating healthy is just not that hard. Check out 15-Minute Fish Dinners if you're trying to eat more fish.
I love, love, love, triple love Indian food, but I don't make it at home nearly often enough. One of my favorite Indian main courses is Chicken Makhani (also called Butter Chicken). Since I've been going to the same Indian restaurant for some 10 years now, I'm friendly enough with the owner to ask about our favorite recipes. Just the onions alone in their Chicken Makhani dish is a three-day affair. It's no wonder I don't make Indian food more often at home!
When I spied this recipe for Chicken Biryani recently on MyRecipes (and in the January 2009 issue of Cooking Light magazine), I was drawn to the Indian flavoring. The recipe features several traditonal Indian ingredients, including garam masala, cilantro and cumin, and the fact that it was nearly a one-pot meal put the recipe on the top of the list.
I had hoped that I could slide this one past my six-year-old-on-a-current-taco-kick son, but no dice. No matter, there's always a standby in the fridge for those nights he's feeling less than adventurous, although I did get him to pick out some chicken from the dish. This was perfect for a night that we had soccer practice and a Cub Scout meeting back-to-back ... healthy, quick to table and an easy to satisfy my Indian craving without a run to the restaurant. Enjoy!
A few weekends ago my boyfriend and I packed up and headed off on an adventure for our anniversary. Let’s just call it a team-building excursion. Our destination wasn’t a quant romantic bed and breakfast tucked away in the mountains like I had envisioned.
We opted for a 20-mile Smoky Mountain back-country hike and 7 miles of this trip was calf-burning, steep incline. We'd never done something like this, and I will say that it was worth the labor. The view from the top of Gregory Bald was breathtaking and we saw some amazing wildlife like a black bear climbing a tree (pictured right)!
Of course I was chosen to get the camp food together for this venturesome weekend. Keep in mind I was going for light on packing the lbs but still satisfying. The best meal was planned for our first day.
Red Beans and Rice Camp Chow
1 box of Tony's Red Beans and Rice
Kielbasa (I froze it the night before so it would thaw but not go bad)
1 Corn on the cob
Tortillas
Hot sauce (a mini bottle optional)
1. Cook the beans and rice according to the package instructions.
2. Mix in sliced kielbasa and let it simmer while you cut the corn off the cob. Then mix in the corn.
3. Wrap a few tortillas in aluminum foil and toast them at the edge of the camp fire. Scoop your beans and rice combo into a warm toasty tortilla and chow down.
It was delicious and easy cleanup! We brought a couple of mini bottles of champagne to toast our success.
What are some of your favorite camping foods?
(photography by Abbi Masters)
Since I've been pregnant, my cravings can be summed up in 3 words: beef, cheese, and chocolate. The latter of the 3 is pretty much a necessity each day, so when my brother-in-law picked up this curious little tin while my husband and I were vacationing with the family, I had to try it out.
What lied inside was truly fabulous! Upon further investigation, I learned that Sin in a Tin (visit http://sininatin.org/), as it was cleverly named by its creator, Chef William Guthrie, can be served by itself, with fresh fruit, or spread on cookies. It's also gluten-free and makes a GREAT gift! But I had to know, would others love this treat as much as I did?
About the Blog
