Tropical Caesar Salad

1.2 cup pureed mango
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese for dressing
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
8 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp minced garlic.
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil for dressing
1/2 tsp minced anchovy for dressing
4 slices banana bread cut into cubes.

Place all ingredients for Tropical Caesar Dressing in a blender and mix until well combined.

Toast banana bread cubes in toaster oven or conventional oven set to 350 degrees until crisp.

In a large bowl, toss together lettuce and dressing.

Evenly divide salad onto 8 plates.  Top each salad with 2 Tbsp banana bread croutons and 1 Tbsp parmesan cheese.

Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm - Apple Dumplings!

Since our kids were small we've planned a trip each year to visit Eckert's Farms to pick apples in the fall.  The kids are almost all grown up now, but they still love to go and enjoy all of the activities, good food, and apple picking.  A few pictures of this year's trip follow.  It was a cold and drizzly/rainy day, but we still managed to have fun.  Christian's pig, Lindsey Loham won the first pig race, and his daddy's pig won the pig olympics for the USA.  The Presson family had a good showing in the pig races!

Now, it's time to do something with all of those apples.  Apple Dumplings are a family favorite.  It usually takes a full day to make enough to freeze for tasty treats all winter.  This is a time consuming dessert, but trust me, it's well worth the trouble.

4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder

Add milk to make a soft dough.  Roll out and cut into squares.  Fill each square with apples and cinnamon sugar.  Drop into boiling water for 20 minutes.  Remove and allow to drain.  Serve in a bowl topped with melted butter and cinnamon sugar.

If you are planning to freeze these for future use, remove them from the boiling water and allow to drain well and cool.  Place in freezer bags, and freeze for future use.

A trip to Eckert's is always full of fun for the young ones, teenagers, parents, and grandparents.  .  Christian was wide-eyed and just took everything in.  He was looking into the Parakeet Experience Cage in this picture.  There were so many of them.  There are pony rides and carnival rides too.  One of our favorites is watching the pumpkin lobber.  Go check it out for yourself.

Soup Weather Has Arrived - Pumpkin Soup in a Pumpkin

I love fall.  It's the beginning of soup weather, and I'm definitely a soup person.

I'm a big fan of pumpkin, and I found the following recipe on Saveur's website.  It sounds delicious and I'm sure it will look wonderful being served from inside a pumpkin.

1 - 7 lb Cinderella pumpkin with a 2" stem
7 Tbsp butter
Salt
1 large yellow onion (peeled and finely chopped)
1 1/2 cups fresh white bread crumbs (toasted)
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground sage
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese (I don't like Swiss, so I'll use Mozzarella)
4 cups chicken stock
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut a lid about 4" in diameter out of top of pumpkin and set lid aside.  Remove and discard seeds and strings.  Rub inside of pumpkin and lid with 1 Tbsp softened butter, season with salt and place on a baking pan.

Melt remaining 6 Tbsp butter in a skillet over medium heat.  Add onions and cook until soft, about 10 minutes.  Stir in bread crumbs and cook for 2 minutes, then add nutmeg and sage and season generously with salt and pepper.  Remove from heat, stir in cheese, then spoon mixture into pumpkin.  Pour enough stock into pumpkin to come within 1/2" of the rim.  Lay bay leaves on top, then fit lid onto pumpkin.

Bake until pumpkin begins to soften and brown on the outside and the stock bubbles on the inside, about 1 1/2 hours.  Carefully remove from oven and transfer to a serving platter.  With a long-handled spoon, scrape flesh from bottom and sides of pumpkin and, just before serving, stir in heavy cream if using.

Just as a side note:  I'm concerned that the structure of the pumpkin may collapse when the pumpkin is scraped from the inside of the pumpkin.  Make sure this is on a sturdy surface that will accommodate all of the hot liquid if the pumpkin does collapse.

I also think I might like to scoop out the pumpkin and puree it and add it back to the simmering stock inside the pumpkin, otherwise it may be too stringy.

Roasted Red Potatoes with Bacon & Cheese

1/2 cup Ranch Dressing
1/2 cup 2% Milk Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1/4 cup Oscar Mayer Real Bacon Bits
2 lbs small red potatoes (about 6) quartered
1 Tbsp copped fresh parsley

Heat oven to 350 degrees
Mix first 3 ingredients in large bowl.  Add potatoes; toss to coat.
Spoon into 13 x 9" baking dish sprayed with cooking spray; cover.
Bake 55 minutes, or until potatoes are tender, uncovering after 50 minutes.  Sprinkle with parley.

Cooking Classes at Dierbergs School of Cooking

I posted a recipe using a new product, Just Bare Chicken, a couple of days ago.  Today, I received an e-mail from a marketing company thanking me for blogging about the product and offering me a free cooking class at Dierbergs School of Cooking working with the product.  Culinary expert, Lisa Golden Schroeder, will take part in the class.

I am really excited.  I love new recipes and I'll have the chance to meet another foodie.  I'll post an update after the class.

Stay tuned!

Herbed Chicken Cutlet Saute

My weekly trip to Dierbergs provided yet another interesting way to fix chicken.  This recipe is really compliments of Just Bare Chicken.  


Chicken breast cutlets cooked in a delicate white wine and butter sauce create a simple yet stunning centerpiece for any meal.  Pounding chicken pieces - boneless breasts or thighs -- into evenly thin cutlets makes cooking much quicker (thighs will take a little longer to cook than breasts).


For the chicken --
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 package (14 oz) Just Bare Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast Fillets
1 Tbsp olive oil


For the butter sauce --
3/4 cup dry white wine or chicken broth (I prefer the chicken broth)
2 Tbsp cold butter, cut into pieces
3 Tbsp finely chopped combination of sage, Italian parsley, and rosemary  (If you don't have fresh, use 1/2 tsp each of dried sage, parsley and rosemary.)


Mix flour and salt and pepper in shallow dish.


Place chicken breasts between two sheets of waxed paper.  Gently pound the chicken with a rolling pin or meat mallet until evenly flattened to about 1/4" thick.


Dredge chicken pieces in seasoned flour.  Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.  Use a super hot skillet and don't overcrowd the pan, so the chicken get beautifully browned.  


Cook chicken in hot skillet for 4 - 5 minutes, turning once, until crisp and golden, and chicken is fork-tender with no hint of pink in the meat.  Remove to plate; keep warm.


Then make the sauce in the same pan -- efficiency at its finest!  Add broth or wine to skillet and boil for about 5 minutes or until reduced by half.  Remove from heat and whisk in butter and herbs.  Serve chicken with herbed butter sauce.  

Football Food - I love this time of year

I had the opportunity to introduce my grandson, Christian, to Football Sunday at Grammy's house today.  What a pleasure.  Poor boy, didn't know what hit him.

First, I taught him to throw his arms in the air and yell. Christian just yelled, but Grammy yelled "Go Rams"!  We'll keep working on that one.  He thought it was lots of fun anyway.  And . . . he liked the food prep. He helped me taste test everything.


Pulled Pork

Place two pork tenderloins (about 2 lbs each)
Sprinkle heavily with Smoky BBQ Seasoning
2/3 cup vinegar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce

Cook in slow crock pot for four hours.  Remove meat and shred.
Return shredded meat the crock pot and add 1 1/2 cups BBQ Sauce.  Cook over low heat for 1/2 hour.

I served this with coleslaw with Aunt Irene's Coleslaw Dressing and Butternut Squash with Maple



Maple - Butternut Squash


2 medium butternut squash (about 6 lbs)
6 Tbsp unsalted butter
6 Tbsp pure maple syrup, Grade B for strongest flavor
3 tsp coarse kosher salt, plus more to taste


Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours covered by foil.  Scrape all into bowl and mix well.  Sprinkle with salt.  Smash squash with maple and butter to serve.  Yummy!

Red Potato Salad

There are so many potato salad recipes.  Some I like and some I don't like.  I found this recipe on the Kraft website.  .  It's quick and easy, and . . . it tastes good.

2 lbs red potatoes (5 - 6 large) peeled and cubed
1 tsp salt
3 hard-cooked eggs (divided)
1/2 cup Miracle Whip
2 ribs celery, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 small onion (finely chopped)
3 Tbsp sweet pickle relish
3 Tbsp yellow mustard
1 Tbsp sugar
Dash of Paprika

Cook potatoes in boiling salted water in large saucepan 10 - 15 minutes or just until tender; drain.  Cool.

Meanwhile, chop 2 eggs; slice remaining egg.  Mix Miracle Whip, celery, onions, chopped eggs, relish, mustard and sugar in large bowl.  Gently stir in potatoes.

Top with sliced egg and paprika.

Roast Chicken with Sage & Garlic

1 - 4 lb chicken
1 lemon
1 tsp sage
3 cloves garlic (minced)
6 Tbsp butter (at room temp)
Kosher salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
Ground black pepper, to taste
2 tsp dried parsley
2 small onions (quartered)
2 carrots (cut into 2" pieces

Heat oven to 475 degrees.  Rinse and dry chicken.

Peel lemon.  Finely chop lemon peel, and combine with sage and minced garlic.  Place in a bowl.  Add butter and 1 tsp salt.  Stir to combine.  Quarter the peeled lemon and set aside.

Loosen the skin of the chicken from the breasts and thighs.  Slip butter mixture between skin and flesh, spreading it evenly.  Rub skin with oil; season skin and cavity with salt and pepper to taste.  Stuff with quartered lemon, parsley and 1 quartered onion.  Tie legs together with kitchen twine, if you like.

Put remaining quartered onion and carrots into center of roasting pan and place chicken on top of them.  Roast for 20 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees.  Continue roasting for about one more hour.  Transfer chicken to a platter; sprinkle with salt and let rest for 10 minutes before carving.

I Needed a Quick Dinner Tonight, But Wanted Something Yummy & Healthy

Tonight was a rare night.  No one was working late.  Everyone was home by 8:00.  That's almost unheard of anymore.  Hmmm . . . one hour to fix dinner.

I defrosted three beef petite shoulder medallions (1/2 lb each).  I let them sit on a cutting board sprinkled with McCormick's Grill Mates Smokehouse Maple seasoning on both sides for 1/2 hour.  This was the first time I had used this seasoning.  The label suggested using it on chicken, salmon, or pork; I thought it would be an interesting flavor on beef.  It was - it's smoky, it's sweet, and it's delicious.  The medallions were grilled in the grill pan, six minutes on each side, and then turned one more time and allowed to sit under the press with the burner turned off.    You'll be surprised how tender, juicy, and flavorful these are. (You can find the petite medallions at Dierbergs in the butcher's case.)

We had baked sweet potato fries.  I found them in the freezer case at the grocery store.  I sprinkled them with Lawry's Seasoning Salt and put them in the oven for 20 minutes while the steaks cooked.   They were so good.  Even the kids couldn't get enough of them.

Lastly, we had steamed green beans.  I had a pound and a half of fresh green beans in the fridge.  Once they were snipped and sliced, I put them into a Ziploc Veggie Steamer bag with a little bit of salt, two crushed chicken bullion cubes dissolved in 1/4 cup water, and 3 Tbsp butter.  The bag went into the microwave on high power for 7 minutes.  The beans were so good!  (If you don't have time to snip fresh beans, use frozen.  The results shouldn't be too different.)

Maybe I was just hungry tonight, but dinner was good.  I'll definitely be planning a repeat in the near future.