White Barbeque Sauce

Doesn't this sound elegant!  Something you would find on a menu in one of those fancy restaurants where the waiters are dressed better than you are!

Well, yesterday was Memorial Day and I decided to have Barbeque Chicken for dinner.  One problem . . . I didn't have any barbeque sauce.  Hmmm . .. what's a person to do!  I really didn't feel like running to the store just to buy one bottle of barbeque sauce because I KNOW what will happen!!  I NEVER just buy the sauce - I always end up buying other items, too.  So, I went to my bookshelf and started combing through my cookbooks and came across this recipe in P. Allen Smith's Seasonal Recipes from the Garden.

AND I had all the ingredients!!   AND it was so easy to make!!  AND it was good!! (NOTE:  I highly recommend this book - he has some really great recipes in here - just my own personal opinion - not paid to say that - just like the book!).

White Barbeque Sauce
1 cup mayonnaise (he recommends Hellmann's - obviously I used Miracle Whip)
3 T distilled white vinegar
1 T freshly ground cracked black pepper (if you don't have it, I think regular pepper would do)

Mix together - that's it!  How much more easier can it get!

Fire up the grill.  Skin your chicken - I used chicken thighs.  Spread the sauce on the chicken and cook until ready.  Remove chicken from grill and spread remaining sauce on chicken.  Serve with some veggies - YUM!!

The World's Best Potato Salad Recipe

OK, I might be exaggerating a bit - BUT whenever I bring this potato salad to a party or a gathering, it is a huge success!! Everyone loves it!! And it is gone in seconds. So I think that is a pretty good testament on what a great recipe this is. With Memorial Day a week away, what a perfect recipe to post!!


This recipe is an adaptation from an earlier edition of the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook. The sad thing is that it is no longer included in the recent editions. Why??? Such a great recipe will now be lost to the world!! So sad!!

Anyway, here is my adaptation of the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook Recipe:

Creamy Potato Salad

6 medium potatoes (I usually use the "new" potatoes - you know the red potatoes - just pick the larger ones)
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 medium onion chopped
1 1/4 cup mayonnaise (I use Miracle Whip)
1 T vinegar
2 tsp dijon-style mustard or prepared mustard (i.e., regular mustard)
6 hard boiled eggs, coarsely chopped.

In a covered saucepan, cook potatoes in boiling water for 20 to 25 minutes, until just tender. Drain well. Let cool.
The recipe calls to peel the potatoes, but I don't - it is your choice. Chop the potatoes into small bite size pieces.
In a very large bowl, combine celery, green pepper, onion, Miracle Whip/mayonnaise, vinegar, and mustard.

Add potatoes and eggs. Toss lightly to mix.

Cover the bowl and chill the salad for 6 to 24 hours.

Makes 12 side-dish servings.

Perfect for your next picnic and outdoor gathering!! This is so good! You will never go back to store-bought potato salad again!!

"Jammin" in the country!

As many of you may know, during the Spring and Summer I sell at farmer's markets on the weekends.  One of the many advantages is that I have access to some of the best produce around!  And what is even better, I know the people who are growing the produce.

Yesterday was my lucky day!  The lady next to me was selling strawberries.  Not like the strawberries you see in the stores.  Oh my!! Big, juicy beautiful strawberries!  I was so afraid she would sell out, so I traded her a couple bars of soap for 3 quarts of strawberries.  Well, she brought a lot of strawberries and didn't sell out! She didn't want to take all those strawberries back home!!  So she made me a deal I couldn't refuse (I'm easy!!). 

So what I have I been doing today?? Jammin in the country!! Well, that is strawberry jammin!  The great thing about canning is that you will be able to enjoy these beautiful strawberries again when it is snowing and icy cold outside - isn't that great!!!  Trust me!!  Homemade strawberry jam is so much better than the stuff they call strawberry jam in the store!!  And it is so easy to make!!  Doesn't that look pretty!  Almost too pretty to eat, but I can tell you my family is going to be enjoying this next December and January!!

Homemade Strawberry Jam

5 cups chopped strawberries
7 cups sugar (yep, I said 7 cups of sugar!!)
1 box of fruit pectin (like Sure-Jel)

Makes about 7 half-pint jars of jam.

Prepare a hot water bath for your jars and lids.

Wash and remove the stems of the strawberries.  Chop them into small pieces and mash them (I use a potato masher - works good for me).
Put the mashed strawberries in a large sauce pan.  Add the pectin and a small sliver of butter (this helps to reduce the foam).
Bring to a boil, while stirring constantly.
Add the sugar.  Again bring to a boil and boil for one minute - still stirring constantly.
Remove pan from stove top.
Handle very carefully because this is HOT and the jam will stick to your skin and burn!!

Ladle the hot jam into the hot jars, seal and put into hot water bath.

Process for 10 minutes.

YUM!!  This is also great on ice cream!!

If you have a farmer's market near you, make every effort to stop by because the strawberries won't last much longer!!

Lemon Balm Squares

Lemon Balm is a lemon scented member of the mint family. It is one of my favorite herbs. Like most members of the mint family, it has a tendency to GROW EVERYWHERE!!


So what do you do when you are over-run with too much lemon balm . . . hmmmmm?   Make lemonade??  NO!!!  You make lemon balm bars, of course!!  And, as it would happen, I have the PERFECT recipe for such a creation (though I didn't know it at the time!!).

I don't know where I found this recipe. This is one of those recipes from the "famous" Internet file folder - you know that folder - you print off recipes that you hope someday to make, most of the time, you don't, BUT every once in a while you do take a peek in the folder and find some really fantastic recipe!

Before I start with the recipe, let me tell that my husband who is not a huge LEMON fan, loved these bars! So that says a lot!! Ok, now to the recipe.

Lemon Balm Bars

Preheat to 350 degrees.

Crust

1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

Stir flour and sugar. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or pulse in a food processor (do not overprocess) until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press evenly into an 8 inch square baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes


Topping

1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup (packed) whole lemon balm leaves
2 T all purpose flour
1/2 t baking powder
3 T lemon juice
2 eggs

In a food processor, whiz sugar and lemon balm leaves until leaves are finely ground - makes sugar look a pretty green and smells wonderful!! Transfer to a bowl and whisk in flour and baking powder. Add lemon juice and eggs and blend.

As soon as the crust is baked, pour the topping over the crust and return to the oven. Bake an additional 20 to 25 minutes until the top feels barely firm. Cool on wire rack. Dust with confectioner's sugar before cutting. Store in airtight container.


VERDICT

My husband loved this. If you are looking for a "lemon square" bar (i.e, strong lemony taste), you will be disappointed. It does have a light lemony taste, not overpowering. I was very surprised by this recipe - it is really good. This is definitely a keeper recipe.

Fresh Apple Coffee Cake

Today's adventure comes from Beth Hensperger's The Bread Bible.  I found this cookbook on Half.com a couple of years.  I was thrilled to find it because it is now out-of-print and I've read such good things about this book.  I completely forgot that I had the book and "stumbled" upon it as I was straightening up my cookbooks.  Low and behold, there is was!!  Like a volt of lightening!  The Baking Gods were speaking to me - "bake something out of this book, Diane", they whispered (yeah, I know I need to get a life!!).

I had several recipes bookmarked and this was one of them.  As fate would have it, I was in luck because I had all the ingredients EVEN one orange for the orange zest and way, way back in my freezer a can of frozen orange juice - see it was meant to be!!

Here is the recipe:

Fresh Apple Coffee Cake

Ingredients

4 cups peeled, cored and coarsely chopped cooking apples (roughly 4 or 5 medium sized apples) - I used golden delicious
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 T ground cinnamon
3 cups all purpose flour (it called for unbleached which I didn't have-don't think this will make any difference)
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 T baking powder
grated zest of 1 orange
4 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup fresh or frozen orange juice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan or bundt pan (yeah!! I finally get to use my fancy bundt pan!!)
In a small bowl, combine the apples, brown sugar and the cinnamon - set aside

In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, white sugar, baking powder and orange zest (your house is going to smell wonderful with all that orange and cinnamon!!). 
In a large bowl, using a mixer beat the 4 eggs and the vegetable oil until thick and creamy - roughly about 2 minutes on high speed.

Now add the flour mixture to the egg mixture, blend thoroughly just enough to moistened.  Do not overmix, but there should be no lumps or dry spots.

Spoon one third of the batter into your bundt pan.  Cover evenly with half of the apple mixture.



Cover the apples with another one third of the batter.  Use a spatula to smooth the batter evenly over the apples.  Repeat with the remaining apples and batter - ending with a smooth layer of batter.

Place the pan on a rack in the center of the oven and bake for 60 minutes.  Cover loosely with a piece of aluminum foil and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Remove the pan from the oven and let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for about an hour.  Invert on a rack to cool completely before serving. 

I sprinkled the cake with powdered sugar, just to make it look pretty.  The recipe doesn't call for it.  I think next time I might drizzle some icing on it - you know powdered sugar with milk added to make it semi-runny (that's a technical term!!)

Enjoy!!

VERDICT

We have a winner!!  My husband loved it!!  The cake is very moist - nice flavor.  Next time I might add chopped pecans to the apples.  My husband ate several pieces last night and he made me promise to put at least 3 pieces in his lunch today.  SUCCESS!!

Baked Pasta Dinner

Had the best dinner last night, as I pat myself on the back!  It turned out better than I thought it would - don't you just love it, particularly when you have to improvise!!  This is another one of those recipes from the "famous" internet file folder.  It is called Baked Zita.  Well, I didn't have any zita pasta and really didn't feel like running up to the grocery store just to buy a box of pasta.  Then I noticed I didn't have any ricotta cheese either.  OK, I am being really lazy today and I am not in the mood for grocery stores either.  So what to do . . .  

I got out my handy-dandy pasta maker and food processor and made a batch of egg noodles (so easy - 2 1/3 cups all purpose flour, 3 eggs, 1 T olive oil, 1 T water, a dash of salt - throw in a food processor and whirl away!!).  If you don't have a pasta maker, you can use a pizza wheel cutter and a ruler - little more time consuming, but works just the same.

For the ricotta cheese, I just made my own using my goat's milk.  This only works if you have access to WHOLE milk - the pasteurized milk in the stores won't work. 

As you can see, we ate pretty much of it!! It was really good.  It is sort of a lasagna casserole!  I did improvise and added ground beef and onions to the spaghetti sauce.

Baked Zita (or Baked Pasta in my case)

16 oz. zita pasta (any type pasta will work)
1 large egg
15 oz. ricotta cheese
1/2 t garlic powder
1/4 cup chopped basil (optional)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 jar spaghetti sauce (see note about ground beef)
grated parmesan cheese

OPTIONAL
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Prepare pasta according to directions on box.  Drain
In a large bowl, beat egg.  Add ricotta cheese, garlic powder, basil and 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.  Mix well.
** Brown ground beef and onions.  Add to spaghetti sauce (optional)
Add cooked pasta and 2 cups of spaghetti sauce to cheese mixture.
Pour 1 cup of spaghetti sauce in 9 x 13 pan.
Put the ziti/cheese mixture into the pan.  Top with any remaining sauce.  Sprinkle with remaining mozzeralla cheese and parmesan cheese.
Cover with aluminium foil.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes until it is bubbly and golden!

Add a salad and some french or italian bread  - your family will be applauding you (well , maybe not!), but at least, they will be eating good!

Enjoy!!

Back Again!

Don't you just love "modern technology"!  For some reason, my computer won't let me log on to either Google or Blogger for the last several months.  I must have done something to upset the computer war lords!  But, today, I find that I must have been "forgiven", because here I am.  It seems like a miracle!!  Hopefully, one that will last and not just a fleeting moment!

So, keep your fingers crossed.  Hopefully, I will be posting more recipes and stories of my mis-adventures in my kitchen soon!