A Beautiful Day for Bluegrass! 8/13

Real BBQ Chicken 8/9

The amazing grill-top again at work! The best kept chicken secret is the boneless, skinless chicken thigh. (This is not health food!) They are inexpensive, always tender and juicy and make some really yummy BBQ chicken!

The zucchini plants did well this summer, as you can see. There is nothing better than smoky grilled vegetables fresh from Dad's house on a summer evening. We have been talking about having a winter BBQ - maybe so!

Tofu Stir Fry

Minus the wok!

Blueberry Milk Shake 8/7

Here is a taste of summer... 7/31/11

It is snow, changing over to sleet outside and I am baking as much as I can during this cozy snow day! Since I am refilling the camera with new photos - I realized that it is time to bite the bullet and catch up on this blogging. Unfortunately I am really late and so the food that I am posting will make you long for a warm evening in July or August. Sorry about that!

This past Sunday, I bought our "Christmas tree" and it is sitting on the table in front of me. Trader Joe's did it again! They easily delivered Christmas to this little apartment when there was never a hope for holiday decorations.

It is an amazing little Rosemary tree! I LOVE IT! It smells great, tastes great and you can plant it outside in the spring or you can keep it in the house. It came with a little booklet of care instructions and the history and lore. I learned that Rosemary is latin for "Dew of the Sea." It has a strong association with lovers fidelity and memory, so it was used in wedding ceremonies. (That is what the booklet said.)

Anyway - back on topic! Dad's zucchini and Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate. I don't have to say anything else. When these muffins bake, they usually rise very little. I should adjust the soda or powder, but in a way, it makes the muffin a little more cake-like.

The batter is creamy and smooth. With the bitter chocolate, you feel like you are eating dessert. This is an amazing feat for this particular batter.

Eggs, olive oil, honey, vanilla, flour, wheat germ, wheat bran and zucchini. Sounds to me like health food! Another great thing about this recipe is that you can substitute just about any "mix-ins" that you can dream up.

Brian's Spicy Thai Sweet Potato Pile 7/26/11

Bacon...again...sweet potato fries from the freezer section, homemade thai chili sauce, fresh cilantro and green onion. I grabbed my fork and crammed as many as I could fit, into my mouth.

Delightfully tasty, tangy, salty, sour, sweet, spicy, crunchy, chewy, warm and mushy! Everything possible all on one plate - made by Brian!!!!

My First Carbonara

Sounds pretty fancy doesn't it? Also creamy and buttery too right? Somehow NO! This is the lactose-intolerant-girl's creamy pasta recipe dream. We started with some pancetta and green onion - just as Rachel Ray recommends.

The sauce is amazing - lemon juice, egg yolks, olive oil, white wine and spices. It is quite rich and tasty but doesn't take much time to prepare.

It is tangy and creamy - also, since you add the hard cheese at the end, you can make pretend it is Alfredo sauce...

To finish off the dish, we added italian sausage and broccoli. It is truly necessary to eat 2 pork products in one meal sometimes. It makes sense that when you are making a sauce with egg yolks, you kind of need to add pancetta and sausage. Adding the broccoli must balance the fat content...I think!

Totally Delicious Stuffed French Toast Day

7/17/11

We must have woken up that morning feeling HUNGRY! We had a loaf of Standard Baking Co.'s English Muffin bread in the apartment and that means you need to be eating it! Extra ripe bananas - what are they good for? Stuffed french toast! Roasted almonds and warm maple syrup and the SBC bread - heavenly!

Brian had the savory french toast - sauteed onions, broccoli and jalapeno with Hunter's Cheddar. (VT farmers - you know what you're doin'!) His was pretty great too - and somehow, he wasn't jealous of mine!

Weekend Cookout

All summer long, we cooked on the fire pit. One day when we really wanted some BBQ - we bought a grill top for the fire pit and the rest was history!

The potato salad was a combination of a salt & vinegar potato salad - and German potato salad. You pickle the red onion in cider vinegar for an hour, then add vinegar, oil and Old Bay. We figured it needed bacon, since everything is better with bacon.

The onions softened a little more from the warmth of the potatoes. This was really easy, very few ingredients, cheap and TOTALLY YUMMY! It was great served cold the next day too.

The burgers were fully loaded. Morse's Pickles, fresh tomato, raw red onion and bleu cheese crumbles. You should come over for a burger sometime. We have some tasty dinners on the grill!

That is one MONSTER burger! Grilled whole wheat buns too!

7/16/2011

Terribly Delicious Dogs

A Nebraska Red-Hot, a White Sox Sausage BOMB, and a Classic Chicago Dog!

A little corn... OK - a LOT of CORN!

Have you ever seen SO much corn? Welcome to Minden, NE.

We traveled to Nebraska for a visit with Lucy & Austin - Brian's grandparents. While we were there, we had the opportunity to take a "tour" with a farmer who helps Lucy & Austin care for their corn. This intimate look into agriculture was surprisingly interesting and exciting!

This truck won the demolition derby! We climbed a giant tower and had a really cool view. Who would have known that I would be too scared on my farming adventure! I couldn't climb to the top. Look how little the people below seem!

After our tour - we had a chance to go to Pioneer Village. Brian was pouting because he didn't get any ice cream.

June 24th...

We ate strawberries with whipped cream, with chocolate sauce, with ice cream, with angle food cake and just on their own.

This needed to be documented because it was a B&B concoction - looks innocent? It wasn't! There is a freshly baked, still warm, chocolate chip cookie underneath that mountain of berries, Death by Chocolate and whipped cream! (I know...YIKES!)

Never fail salmon

Easy, fast, and the 2 ingredients are usually around the house. (Not the best photo - but we need to talk about this salmon!)

Chop some nuts. I have used almonds, walnuts and here I used pecans. Get out the real maple syrup. Drizzle, sprinkle, bake. Really!! It is that easy, and it is so juicy and delicious every time I make it this way. We did have some creamy roasted garlic smashed potatoes on the side, and that never hurts!

When you can't decide - buy asparagus!

In the past I have used the food processor to chop the nuts a little more, used them like breading, and that works very well too. The oil from the nuts helps the fish retain its juices even if you (umm... this never happens) overcook the salmon.

There is always time for a dance party!!!

Take a break and BOOGY DOWN with Marco!

The Weekend Before the Trek... R&R in Brooklin

With a view like this - the food just has to be great! Every time we head north to Brooklin, we do everything we can to ensure that we will enjoy yummy food for every meal. We load up the cooler, stop at the grocery store and sometimes find a few surprises left in the refrigerator when we arrive. Even though it is just a weekend getaway, we treat it like a mini vacation.

Stuffed chicken wrapped in prosciutto with roasted zucchini, brussel sprouts, and fingerling potatoes!!!!

"Pain Killers" or a yummy tropical drink! Rum, OJ, Pineapple, cream of coconut - shake - sprinkle with nutmeg and you have a special drink - you'd find on a cruise ship.

Breakfast sandwich on a Tradewinds cheese knot!! Thick cut bacon, egg, cheese and avocado. Beth's winning combination! (The true secret to breakfast in Brooklin is the electric skillet!)

This is what we cooked, but it doesn't include our always delicious lunch at the Riverside Cafe in Ellsworth. (Just a reminder - GO THERE!)

A quick stop at Sandy Point Beach off of Rt. 3 on our way home. A little gray - but a beautiful ocean view is always worth the detour.

(Leftover Chili) Taco Salad!

With a little spicy Chipotle Ranch Dressing, this was a leftover winner!

Brian, Beth and Martha's Spicy Red Chili

As I have mentioned before, I often ask Martha if I have a food question. She usually has great advice! We looked in the cook books and found a recipe, but looked online and with a little love from Martha, we mixed up a yummy batch of chili! It happens to me on a regular basis: I look at many recipes and have a planning discussion with Brian, then off we go.

GUTS:

Olive Oil 1 small can Tomato Paste 1 can Black Beans

3 Onions 3 cans Diced Tomatoes 1 can Kidney Beans

2 Peppers 2 Tbs. Chipotles in Adobo 1 Simpler Times Lager

6 Cloves Garlic 1 lb. Ground Beef handful 100% Cocao Bits

1 GIANT Jalapeno 1 lb. Ground Pork

SPICES:

2 Tbs. Cumin 1 tsp. Oregano 1 1/2 tsp. Salt

2 tsp. Coriander 1/4 tsp. Cinnamon 1/2 tsp. Pepper

Saute the vegetables, add spices and tomato paste, brown the meat, deglaze the pan with

beer, add beans and simmer until you feel like eating!

I know, there are a lot of ingredients in this chili! Definitely decide to either pre-measure

before, or decide not to measure and dump as you go. We ended up running into a timing

issue when the tomato paste burnt onto the bottom of the pan, as we should have been

adding the beer. Oh well, a quick change of pots and we were back in the game.

As you can probably see by the hefty ingredient list that this made a rather large batch of

chili. We both had a bowl, and there are 6 Tupperware bowls in the refrigerator!! We

will share some and freeze the rest. But we do have plans to eat this again, chili nachos

coming soon.

You should know that we also had cheddar jalapeno biscuits. Smitten Kitchen served these

with her chili and I just couldn't help myself. Click below to see these yummy biscuits.

They were incredibly fast and easy and perfect with our spicy chili.

http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/09/beef-chili-sour-cream-and-cheddar-biscuits/

Mt. Katahdin Pizza Bubble

Portland Pie Co. is now selling pizza dough at our Yarmouth Hannaford! YEAH PIZZA NIGHT!

http://www.portlandpie.com/about-2/the-dough/

Check out the website - read about the dough and drool all that you like! We've have used this dough twice now and both times, very bubbly!

Tempeh Taco Tuesday!

Definitely shared this idea with you before, but never actually taken photos! We eat this at least twice a month, and sometimes twice a week! Low in fat, high in protein, Tempeh is made from slightly fermented soy beans, then squished into a cake. Sounds delicious right?

It is nutty, firm, a little crunch, and a lot of YUMMY! We just chop it up and treat it like ground beef. (We did add peppers, broccoli, onion and carrots to the mix! Added texture, flavor and yummy vitamins!)

We love our fillings when it comes to tacos - chunky red salsa, salsa verde, jalapenos, fresh greens, cheese and sour cream. This time, soft, whole grain tortillas. TRY THIS AT HOME! It tastes bad for you!

Just fold it up and eat it!