LATEST FROM THE KITCHEN 


Sunday October 31, 2021

Savory brunch this morning. Used half a loaf of Italian round bread, 16 ounces of mushrooms and working my way through heavy whipping cream. I doubled the recipe so I would have leftovers and made the following ingredient changes: White Wine Vinegar for the vermouth; Thyme for the Marjoram; heavy whipping cream; and left out the pepper and salt (I just prefer to let the eater do their own seasoning). Easy to pull together and very flavorful. Hint, hint: This would be a great Thanksgiving breakfast, brunch, lunch or snack for this busy time of year. The Savory Mushroom Bread Pudding recipe link is here.
                 Sunday September 15, 2019

Currently harvesting 'Chicago Hardy' figs at the rate of 3 lbs every other day so we have our jam on or in this case preserves. Bourbon Fig Preserves. The recipe link is as follows https://carolinagirlcooks.com/bourbon-fig-preserves/. We opted to freeze in Ball canning jars. Made two batches. Can't wait for the holidays!
Pesto Pasta with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Roasted Asparagus
Roasted Butternut Squash Creamy Goat Cheese Pasta
Friday May 10 and Saturday May 11, 2019

This is dinner from May 10th and 11th with the 10th served without the eggs and the 11th with the eggs. Much better with the eggs!! I just used what dried pasta was on hand and can I say we have fallen hard for Delverde brand. I also sprung for the Classico Riserva Basil pesto with Romano cheese and walnuts and raided the pantry for Jeff's Naturals Sun-Ripened Dried Tomatoes in olive oil. Asparagus season is over for us but we are still working through a few quarts of Asparagus harvested and stored in the fridge in a quart size Ball canning jar and water. Pesto Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes and Roasted Asparagus. The recipe link is here 
https://damndelicious.net/2012/07/21/pesto-pasta-with-sun-dried-tomatoes-and-roasted/ . Using prepared products really makes preparation a breeze. I roasted the asparagus in a 400 degree oven with EVOO and Kosher salt for 20 minutes. Can't wait till next spring!












Sunday March 17, 2019

We are still working our way through our Kikuza winter squash and white onions so the Roasted Butternut Squash Creamy goat Cheese Pasta looked intriguing so I made it for lunch today. If you are interested in more information regarding the Kikuza squash follow the link here https://www.seedsavers.org/kikuza-squash. I cooked the squash as per recipe which was to long since you can barely see any chunks remaining in the finished dish so lesson learned. I have white onions sothat is what I used. I keep pecans in the freezer and goat cheese in the refrigerator as staples so I know I have them when it is a last minute recipe selection which is pretty much most of the time. I skipped the sage since I just really don't use it much and opted for a mushroom sage infused olive oil which added the needed flavor. I skipped the salt and pepper and left it up to the eater. Wow, easy and delicious! OK, it takes time to cut the squash without cutting your hand off but you can see the tools I used, serrated bread knife and a very sharp chefs knife did the trick but the squash is pretty soft. I never grow, cook with or purchase butternut squash so I can't advise but it is so worth it to seek out heirloom squash varieties since they have so much flavor to offer versus what is commercially available. The recipe link is here https://www.joyfulhealthyeats.com/roasted-butternut-squash-creamy-goat-cheese-pasta/ Make it with or without bacon, it's up to you.
Cozy Autumn Wild Rice Soup
     Roasted Pumpkin Spinach and Feta Slice
           Monday December 03, 2018

December is the month for soup in our house. Craig Belling is working swing shift so 9:00 pm dinner is soup du jour so I planned the week out with all new recipes. Monday night it was Cozy autumn wild Rice Soup. I have learned to develop flavors so I cook the ingredients in my cast iron skillet before adding to the stock pot. In this case I really should have roasted the sweet potatoes since they were still a bit underdone after the 45 minute simmer in addition to the wild rice needing more time. This was
a terrible year for us growing since there was no spring and we spent a few weeks traveling so our only grown ingredients were the bay leaf, garlic and onions. Instead of Old Bay I opted for Italian Seasoning and went full fat with heavy whipping cream instead of milk for the cream sauce. This takes time to put together but is so worth it. This is a meal in a bowl. I used 2 heads of garlic, nixed the celery, 1 lb sweet potatoes, 2 c onions, 
2 c carrots and adjusted the butter for sauteing. This is a keeper!
               Tuesday March 20, 2018

The calendar may say SPRING but the weather is decidedly winter so I decided to make Roasted Pumpkin Spinach and Feta Slice for dinner last night since I am still working through our 2017 harvest of Lakota squash. This is very easy to put together and I was surprised by the developed flavor since there are no herbs or spices other than salt that I used and at that I let the eater add their own salt. This gorgeous Lakota squash is much more than a decoration. A superior baking variety, it has fine-grained flesh with an enticing, sweet, nutty flavor. Once a staple variety of the Lakota Sioux people, it has not been widely available until recently. This widely-adaptable winter squash stores well. I have the squash stored in our root cellar where I monitor both the temperature and humidity and they are still in excellent eating quality. This squash has a thin rind so I leave it on for roasting. If you haven't tried preparing your squash this way it makes prepping easier and it really is quite delicious. I followed the recipe; however when I poured the egg mixture into my 17" x 11 1/2" baking sheet it fell quite short so I essentially doubled the egg mixture for a total of 16 eggs and 1 cup of heavy whipping cream and all was well. The recipe link http://www.foodtolove.com.au/recipes/roasted-pumpkin-spinach-and-feta-slice-16343
       Cajun Shrimp and Corn Chowder
Saturday February 3, 2018

Since the weather is staying decidedly on the cold side soup is on so I made Cajun Shrimp and Corn Chowder last night for dinner and I had to stop myself at one serving whereas DH happily made it through two. This is easy to put together and the following are my notes: I usually keep Wild Caught Key West Pink shrimp raw and shell on in the freezer for a go to meal and just put them in a colander with cool water running while I peel them; I used two peppers versus one and a rather large sweet onion and how could I resist but to use two heads of garlic (sorry, but I gave up celery years ago so I left that out). The best corn I have found is Butter Kernel SuperSweet Corn Harvest Select in a can and two cans were drained and added. We grow Ozette potatoes which are a great heirloom fingerling so I used a pound and experience has taught me to cook the potatoes first so I boiled them until done before adding them to the soup. https://www.slowfoodusa.org/…/a-potato-with-a-past-the-maka… In regards to spices I had no thyme to be had so I used a total of 3 teaspoons Cajun seasoning, 1 teaspoon on the shrimp and two for the soup itself and it had the perfect amount of heat. Finally, I am not a pepper person so I don't use it and I never add salt to the soup instead opting for individual bowl addition to the eaters preference. This is a keeper and really hit the spot on a cold February night. The recipe link is here https://spicysouthernkitchen.com/cajun-shrimp-and-corn-cho…/

 How to Chiffonade Basil or Any Leafy Herb