Sunday, October 30, 2005

Jewish Penicillian


Matza Ball soup Posted by Picasa

I've been following the shmaltz thread on Egullet I knew I had the perfect use for my frozen shmaltz. For those that dont know, shmaltz is an animal fat, in this case chicken. Usually, when I make matza ball soup, I refridgerate the soup overnight and skim off the fat. However, since Robin is under the weather, I used the frozen shmaltz to make these matzaballs. I'm happy to report they came out light and fluffy.

Saturday, October 29, 2005

Breakfast in Florida........


Lox, eggs and onions

Grits

toasted scooped out onion bagel

Dr. Browns diet black cherry Posted by Picasa

Better late than never. I grew up in Plantation, Florida, a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale. My parents moved there from New York when I was 3. Being from a Jewish family, we grew up eating lots of ashkenazi jewish foods. Bagels, lox, blintzes, kasha and bows, etc. My mom cooks amazing Jewish food. Anyway, Robin and I went to Florida about 2 weeks ago and one of our favorite places to eat is Sage Deli in Hallandale Beach( near Hollywood). Sage is a Kosher restaurant. The first time we ate there, Robin was dismayed to see no bacon or sausage on the menu. Although they dont have any pork products, they do have wonderful turkey sausage. I prefer lox though.

Stupidly, a few days before we left for Florida, I had a flu shot. When we got to Florida, I came down with what I thought was a cold. I was so doped up on cold meds that I ended up ordering Nova( very salty belly lox) instead of regular lox. It was so salty, that I couldnt eat it. I explained it to the waitress and she replaced it. I also ordered grits instead of potatoes. I love grits. You can not find them here in Canada, so I mail order stone ground ones or buy them in MI. I also always order my bagel toasted and scooped. Sage's bagels are very chewy, remenisent of NY bagels. Yummy!! We even brought back 2 dozen bagels with us to Canada and we've been enjoying them a lot.

I washed down my breakfast with a diet Dr. Browns black cherry. I love Dr. Brown's, it has no diet taste at all. I think we ate at Sage 3 times this trip and a couple times we just bought a bagel to eat over at my sisters. If you're ever in the area, check it out.

Friday, October 28, 2005

Weekend Dog Blogging.......


Baby Oliver on Robin

Harley Posted by Picasa

I've missed a few of these, but here I am. Weekend Dog Blogging hosted by Sweetnicks.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Pumpkin Roulade.....


Pumpkin roll

another view Posted by Picasa

I just adore pumpkin, in all shapes and forms. I saw this on the libby's website years ago and never made it. A few days ago I was perusing egullet, and I came across a discussion about whether or not dishtowels are needed for cake roulades( apparently not)

Anyway, I made this about 2hrs ago. The recipe uses no oil which sort of confused me at first. I used apple pie spice in place of the cinnamon and cloves the recipe called for. I also used mascarpone cheese( in place of cream cheese) to gild the lily a bit. As you can see, the roll cracked and I really dont know why. Ive made roulades before. Maybe I should add a few tbls of oil. Anyone have any ideas?

Saturday, October 22, 2005

artichoke and goat cheese stuffed chicken with pasta


artichoke and goat cheese stuffed chicken with pasta Posted by Picasa

Well, we're back from Florida. I did absolutly no cooking( unless heating up baby food counts?) while we were there. Quite frankly, I needed a break from cooking. The week prior to leaving, I cooked a lot!! I've already cooked a lot since we've been back. I made a meatloaf and a quinoa salad and coleslaw for client. I have 3 more meals to make for her this week( one of them goes to her friend = new potential client). Last night I threw together some turkey burgers and I pulled a Rachel Ray and used some frozen seasoned wedge fries. Tonight I cooked Robin a real meal. I opened a can of artichoke hearts and mashed them with some goat cheese. I added some lemon peel and thyme. I slit open 4 chicken breasts and stuffed them. I sauteed them on each side, then threw them in the oven to finish. Meanwhile, I made a pan sauce. Shallots, white wine, lemon juice, thyme, rosemary, and chicken broth. I added a small amount of flour and about 1/4 cup cream. Lastly, I threw in the remainder of the filling. Yummmy. I cooked up some whole grain pasta and steamed some brocolli.

I have so many entries in my head that I need to write. I took pictures of some of our meals in Florida. Hopefully, I'll get to that this week.

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Sole Meuinere


sole meuinere Posted by Picasa

I've wanted to prepare fish this way for some time. This recipe comes from Cook's Illustrated and its very simple. I used fresh sole. I lightly dusted the sole with flour, salt and pepper. Next, I put a knob of butter and a dash of evoo in a non-stick pan. Cook the fish without moving for 5 min, flip and cook another 5 min. Transfer to a pan and put in the oven for about 5 more min. To the pan, add the juice of one lemon and a handful of sliced almonds and 4tbls more butter. Cook until the butter is brown and foamy. Pour this over the fish. I served with a pine nut couscous and steamed brocolli.

Saturday we had our thanksgiving. I forgot to bring my camera to my MIL's house, but suffice it to say you didnt miss much. A very basic Canadian Thanksgiving.

We;re off to Florida tomorrow for a week. Expect lots of posts about our food when we get back.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Blogging by Mail 2


Blogging by Mail 2 package Posted by Picasa

Yay, look at all my goodies. Since I missed blogging by mail 1 hosted by Nic at baking sheet, I was thrilled to bits when I could participate in Blogging by Mail 2, hosted by Samantha.

Christine and I drove to Port Huron yesterday to mail off our packages( sorry we are so late), and I hoping that my box would be at my post office box( I have a po box at the UPS store in MI). No such luck though. I had totally forgotten that I gave my Canadian address for my package. I think I thought that if the person sent something homeade, it would sit in MI because I only pick up my mail a couple times a month. So, I was really surprised this morning when I went to the mail here. I could hardly wait to open the package( oh, and I feel so bad that it cost 19 dollars to mail here). I called Robin and she asked me to wait till she got home, so we could open it together. Soooooo, time ticked on and finally she came home and I opened it. My package came from Grommie aka fabulous cheesebabe . She enclosed a really nice notebook that explained what everything is. Robin was thrilled with the chips. I think she thought they were crab flavored chips. LOL. She munched on those, while I ate a few of the sesame candies. I just love those candies. Those candies were a permanent fixture growing up in a jewish household. She also sent some of her homeade sugar free jam( rasberry mango) and some cherry butter( I love cherry, cant wait to try that). An eggbaker from annapolis pottery and a small pottery cow to hold a recipe card were a few other goodies cheesebabe included. Im really excited about the Old Bay seasoning. I had bought some generic old bay at the bulk store, but nothing is as good as real old bay. I have a great big tin of pasturized crabmeat from Trader Joes that is just waiting for a healthy dose of Old Bay. I cant wait to give my niece the poprocks, she's going to love those. Last but not least, cheesebabe included some cow tails, yummy caramels.

This was a great package and I see some waffles in my future( for all those yummy fruit spreads). Thanks a lot cheesebabe.

Monday, October 03, 2005

Dinner and small batch dessert


Shrimp with brocoli and mushrooms on lemon angel hair

small batch baking peanut butter tart Posted by Picasa

My poor Robbie is home with a bad ear infection so, when she asked me to make a dessert that she would enjoy, I didnt think twice about indulging her. I handed her the small batch baking book and she picked peanut butter tart. I was a bit skeptical because the filling was nothing more than sugar, 1 egg, 2tbls sour cream and peanut butter( vanilla too, but I forgot to add it). Crust was choc. sandwich cookies) I used a low fat kind that I had here) and 1tbls of butter. These were supposed to be made in small tart pans, but I only have the trusty heart shaped springforms. The topping was once again supposed to be a ganach calling for heavy cream( 1tbls). I didnt have any, nor did I want to buy some since we're going away next week, so I improvised with skim milk and a bar of some type of belgian choc. with praline filling. The topping was a tad thin, but still tasty. This was by far the best recipe from the cookbook.

Dinner was cooking without a recipe. I sauted some shrimp with mushrooms, brocoli and wine. I threw in the juice of half a lemon and some penzey's greek seasoning. I added a dash of crushed red pepper flakes to the mix. This was served over Giada's lemon spagetti( angel hair here). Yummy, a nice light dinner.

Tomorrow, Christine and I are heading off to the big( NOT) town of Port Huron. We're going to mail off our blogging by mail packages and do a little shopping( and of course eat out some lunch and dinner). No cooking tomorrow thank gawd. I love it, but something I do get sick of it( shhhhh, dont tell anyone

Saturday, October 01, 2005

Date nut pudding with vanilla sauce(CL)


date nut pudding with vanilla sauce(CL) Posted by Picasa

OK, last one for today. Since we were eating kinda trashy for lunch/dinner, I wanted to make a semi healthy dessert. I went to CL and this was on the front page. I had everything in the fridge. Cake was straightforward and I really like the vanilla sauce. I used a whole bean instead of the extract. This will be my new go to light creme anglaise in the future. I also didnt have 1%, I had some 2% so I used that. Chelsea really loved the dessert( what doesnt the kid love?) and even Robin who doesnt like fruit desserts, liked it. It certainly wasnt sticky toffee pudding, but it wasnt bad for a light dessert. Oh, I also cut the sugar in the topping and it the cake. I used 1/4 cup of splenda instead in place of 1/4 cup of the sugar in the cake. I cut the brown sugar topping in half. Still, it was plenty sweet.

I'm so done cooking for the weekend. My MIL will be taking us out to dinner tomorrow night. I cooked a lot this week, for work and for us. I need a break.

Tater Tot Hot Dish........


Tater Tot Hot Dish Posted by Picasa

Plated Posted by Picasa

Here is my second kid friendly dish of the day. Im actually quite proud of this one. The original recipe came from my ex's mother. She used to make it with ground beef and corn and velvetta. It was loaded with fat and it was rather bland. I entered this recipe in a contest in neighboring town's turkey factory store and I won first place.

First, you brown off 2lbs of ground turkey. Because I only like 100% breast meat, one half contains that kind, the other half contains dark turkey. Next, you sautee some onions and mushrooms. Put that on top of turkey. Then, take some ketchup and mustard and squirt it up and down the casserole. Also, use some seasonings of your choice. Next, cover the top with mixed veggies. I used green giant frozen. First defrost them and over that layer, cover with some shreeded cheese. I used Kroger casserole blend. Cover the whole thing with tater tots. Now, mix two cans of soup. I prefer half fat mushroom and celery, or half fat mushroom with chicken gumbo( this was the original soup in the original recipe). Spread that over the top and bake at 350 for about 35 min. I used two cream soups and they didnt melt that well. Normally, you cant see the soups as they melt into the tots and casserole.

One again, Chels loved it and I can send some home with her. Id rather her eat this than Kraft Dinner( Mac and Cheese in the states).

Ham Brocolli ring...


Ham Brocolli filling Posted by Picasa

folded over Posted by Picasa

baked off Posted by Picasa



Please excuse this meal and the next. I dont normally cook this way. I normally dont rely on convenience foods, but today was an all out convenience day. Chelsea is here and I have to make some kid friendly items. She requested Hot Dish for dinner and I had all the filling ingredients for this. This ham brocoli ring is a riff on a pampered chef recipe. Excuse the browness of our pizza stone. Its well worn.

So, here we have two tubes of cresent rolls with a filling of chopped up deli ham, a bunch of chopped up, blanched brocoli, light mayo, jack cheese, green onion, a sprinkle of penzeys buttermilk ranch seasoning and some dijon mustard. Chelsea loved it. I looked for the new multigrain crescents, but couldnt find them yet in our town. Its a simple dish, but believe it or not, its tasty.