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You are here: Home / Food & Recipes / Recipe Exchange: Twenty Years You Say

Recipe Exchange: Twenty Years You Say

by TaMara|  January 3, 202210:29 pm| 38 Comments

This post is in: Food & Recipes, Open Threads, Recipe Exchange, Recipes

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Technically, this wasn’t my first post, but it was the first post in which I had the keys to the kingdom. There was no looking back and I drifted from just recipes and pets to political rants (because isn’t that why we are all here?).

I thought I’d repost it tonight, because, while Trixie is 13 weeks and I have video of her first snowstorm, work has kept me from putting together her weekly portrait, etc. I’ll try and post that mid-week.

Here’s some Trixie to hold you over – live-action. She’s a pretty laid-back pup, other than jumping around like her feet are made of springs like Tigger’s tail, I think she’s just too busy growing to be too goofy. She does spend a great deal of time sleeping on her sister and I can’t say Scout is all that amused.

Without further ado – my very first post from September 18, 2015:

Wow. Here I am behind the curtain at Balloon-Juice. [[surveys surroundings]]  And it’s just like you’d expect, full of libruls and DFHs.

Hello.

Since Anne Laurie has somehow been shut out of the blog (harrumph) it has fallen to me to actually post my own recipe exchange. Enjoy. Play nice. Here are the recipes for tonight:

Spinach Tomato Soup

What a week we’ve had here. I retreated to the kitchen often, cooking truly reduces my stress and helps me refocus. And since everyone needs to eat, I have a perfect excuse to retreat and regroup.

Cool weather blew in today, signalling the start of soup season, a great time of year. I have quite a few soup recipes and I began the season with one of my favorites, Tomato-Spinach, pictured above and recipe here.

Next up, Pumpkin Bars, because I needed something to share with friends and this recipe makes a lot. Click here for recipe and photos.

JeffreyW went to the Farmer’s Market and made Refrigerator Pickles, there are plenty of great photos and the pickle recipe here. He went on to use the beans he purchased to make Three Bean Salad, here.

And finally, for the pet lovers, some Bixby pictures and a bit of an update.

It’s the last official weekend of summer, how will you usher it out? What’s on your plate for the weekend? We are going to head up to the mountains to take in some color, which is predicted to be a short show this year.

Sausages with Grapes

For tonight’s featured recipe, I decided to experiment with flavors I would have never thought of on my own. Facebook and blog friend Michael F, shared a recipe on Facebook from Italy, in Italian no less, and the photo intrigued me. I let google translate the recipe (which was a hoot) and went about putting my touches into it.

It was so unusual, my most reliable recipe testers politely declined my dinner invite. Totally understandable. But I will tell you I was pleasantly surprised how well this turned out. If you like pork and apples, this has a similar flavor palate. It was also quick and easy to prepare. I’m glad I decided to experiment.

All right, if you’re up for something new and different, here you go, tonight’s featured recipe.

Sausage and Grapes

  • 8 links Italian sausage (I used spicy, but you could use any style sausage you favor)
  • 1/2 sweet onion, finely diced
  • 2 tsp fennel seeds
  • 1 cup green seedless grapes, washed, dried and halved lengthwise
  • 1 cup red seedless grapes, washed, dried and halved lengthwise
  • salt and pepper to taste (I used none, didn’t need it)
  • angel hair pasta
  • freshly grated Parmesan

skillet

Slice sausage links into four pieces each, add to skillet and fry on medium high for about 10 minutes. Add onion and fennel seeds, cook another 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are translucent. Add grapes, stir until well mixed, cover and let simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes while pasta cooks.

Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Drain well.

You can toss with the sausage mixture, or serve separately. Serve with Parmesan.

The pasta was my addition. When I asked Michael what would be a good side, he suggested eggplant or roasted potatoes. Roasted zucchini spears would probably work well, too.

Here is the original recipe.

That’s it for this week. Hope I didn’t screw anything up.  Have a great weekend. – TaMara

==========================

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Reader Interactions

38Comments

  1. 1.

    Felanius Kootea

    January 3, 2022 at 10:37 pm

    Sausages and grapes? Wow – I’m trying to wrap my head around that combo.
    I’m sure it tastes great.

    OT; I just loooove the confidence of this little dude spelling (from Twitter).

  2. 2.

    planetjanet

    January 3, 2022 at 10:39 pm

    You always take such beautiful photos of the food. They are very professional. I am not fond of sausages, but I want to try your recipe just from the looks of it.

  3. 3.

    TaMara (HFG)

    January 3, 2022 at 10:39 pm

    @Felanius Kootea: It is soooo good. Spicy sausage and a combo of red and green grapes is perfect. I would not have believed it if I hadn’t tried it.

  4. 4.

    planetjanet

    January 3, 2022 at 10:42 pm

    So now reading about your pumpkin bars, I want to make my pumpkin fluff, but I am out of pumpkin. :(

  5. 5.

    Benw

    January 3, 2022 at 10:43 pm

    Trixie rules and so do your posts!

  6. 6.

    zhena gogolia

    January 3, 2022 at 10:55 pm

    Always love to see your posts! Trixie and Maru have a lot in common.

  7. 7.

    TaMara (HFG)

    January 3, 2022 at 10:59 pm

    @Benw:

    @zhena gogolia:

    thank you! It’s appreciated.

  8. 8.

    laura

    January 3, 2022 at 11:01 pm

    Ooh, sausages and grapes baked until the grapes pop and then drizzled with balsamic vinegar and baked until sticky (insert homer simpson drooling gif). Spouse and I met a beautiful gentleman Dane on New Years Day at an outside beer garden. He was elegant as can be and confident as benefitted a handsome black & white Dane can be. I thought of Trixie when spouse referred to the extra large mitts.

    I made the King Arthur Baking gingerbread last night. The top is as sticky as a dive bar floor. I added white pepper, grated ginger squeez’ns and chopped crystal ginger. Had some with tea at bed time and had a tums a few hours later when it burned through my gut. And yet, it’s so good.

  9. 9.

    ExpatDan

    January 3, 2022 at 11:51 pm

    Nam Jim Talay – นำ้จิ้มซีฟู้ด​ (Thai Seafood Sauce)
    Yield : Makes ⅓ cup
    Ingredients
    2-5 Thai chilies
    4 cloves garlic
    5-6 cilantro stems, chopped
    2T fish sauce
    3T lime juice
    2t finely chopped palm sugar

    How to:
    In a mortar and pestle, pound garlic and chilies to a paste. Add palm sugar and pound until dissolved. Add cilantro roots and pound to a paste. Add fish sauce and lime juice; stir to mix. Store in the fridge in a tightly sealed container.

  10. 10.

    ExpatDan

    January 3, 2022 at 11:57 pm

    Even better, arguably, than the seafood sauce? With a nice sliced mid-rare tenderloin: Nam Jim Jaew – น้ำจิ้มแจ่ว  Preparation : 15 mins

    Cooking : 10 mins

    Total : 25 mins

    Yield : ½ cup

    Ingredients: 1 tablespoon ground toasted rice

    ¼ cup tamarind paste

    2 tablespoons fish sauce

    ½ disk palm sugar (about 1T)

    1 medium shallot, thinly sliced

    1 spring onion, thinly sliced

    3-4 sprigs cilantro, chopped

    1 tablespoon lime juice

    1 tablespoon crushed red pepper (to taste)

     

    Recipe : Toast the rice in a dry plan over medium heat until golden brown and starts smelling like popcorn. Grind using a mortar or a spice grinder until it’s a coarse powder.  Strain tamarind paste using a strainer. Add it to a small sauce pan or pot, medium low heat. Add fish sauce and palm sugar. Cook until the palm sugar is dissolved.  Pour the sauce carefully into a small bowl. Add toasted rice, crushed red pepper, shallot and cilantro. Mix everything together. Serve with any meat, especially with rare cut beef…

  11. 11.

    ExpatDan

    January 4, 2022 at 12:00 am

    @ExpatDan: Wife (and I) *loves* this sauce with seafood, duh. But grilled lamb? She discovered this and hells yeah…its a thing!

  12. 12.

    NotMax

    January 4, 2022 at 12:18 am

    Someplace have a recipe for Cornish game hen with grapes, which is cooked in the microwave and then finished (browned) in the oven.

    Speaking of unusual pairings, appleroni anyone? Oh those zany Swiss.

  13. 13.

    eclare

    January 4, 2022 at 12:25 am

    The cardboard box was inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame in 2005!

    As always, love any Trixie news/video.

  14. 14.

    LeftCoastYankee

    January 4, 2022 at 12:39 am

    TaMara, I saw that sausage and grapes recipe on your site some time in the last year and have tried it several times, and it rocks.

    Didn’t realize it was in your first BJ post.

  15. 15.

    Jay

    January 4, 2022 at 12:54 am

    Gotta love snowflakes,

    Each one is a unique crystalline  structure,

    Each with its own beauty,

    They reflect and almost create a unique light,

    And they are ephemeral, quickly becoming lumps of ice and air, shortly after landing in most cases, and they do not last,

     

    And when they invite 20 billion of their friends to the party, they can shut down an entire $&(€/“& city.

  16. 16.

    Yutsano

    January 4, 2022 at 12:59 am

    I don’t care if this is true or not. I choose to believe this happened.

    Vicki Lawrence texted Carol Burnett re: Betty White – “This just sucks. I hate this. It’s just horrible to see the people you love so much go away.”Carol responded, ‘I know, I know. I spoke to Betty’s assistant … and she said the very last word out of her mouth was ‘Allen.’” https://t.co/mIeyNuHqxd— Rex Chapman?? (@RexChapman) January 3, 2022

  17. 17.

    ExpatDan

    January 4, 2022 at 12:59 am

    Grapes, you say? We had this at a vineyard in Hua Hin Thailand…Yam Neua Yang/Spicy Steak Salad/ยำเนื้อย่าง​​- what’s​interesting/non-traditional is the pickled red grapes

    1 lb beef sirloin steak, medium rare, cut into thin strios
    1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
    1-1.5 tablespoon fish sauce
    2 tablespoons lime juice
    1 teaspoon palm sugar
    1 tablespoon green onion, chopped
    2 tablespoons kaffir lime leaves, cut into fine strips
    1/4 cup mint leaf
    2 shallots, thinly sliced
    2 teaspoons galangal, finely chopped
    2 teaspoons lemongrass, sliced very thin
    1/2 cup red grapes, sliced in half, lighty pickled

    Directions

    Place the steak in a dish and rub both sides with 1 teaspoon of the fish sauce, and marinate for 10 minutes. On a medium/high charcoal grill, grill to medium rare. Slice, Combine Crushed Red Pepper, leftover Fish Sauce marinade, LimeJuices, Palm Sugar, Green Onions, Kafffir Lime Leaves, Mint, Shallots, Galangal, LemonGrass, and Red Grapes. Adjust for taste. Serve.

  18. 18.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 4, 2022 at 12:59 am

    @Jay: Your Betty White tribute? (at 6:30 or so)

  19. 19.

    Jay

    January 4, 2022 at 1:20 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=opEigpvhJRE

    Great Herring War, apparently ad lib,

  20. 20.

    HumboldtBlue

    January 4, 2022 at 1:21 am

    Twenty years it is.

  21. 21.

    NotMax

    January 4, 2022 at 1:56 am

    @HumboldtBlue

    Tirivia: “pull” in Portuguese is spelled puxar but sounds to native English speakers like push, pronounced more or less as pushe-ar

  22. 22.

    eclare

    January 4, 2022 at 1:56 am

    @HumboldtBlue:  A classic

  23. 23.

    Amir Khalid

    January 4, 2022 at 2:16 am

    Off topic: I’m going to be admitted to hospital for a few days, so you all might not hear from me for a few days.

  24. 24.

    James E Powell

    January 4, 2022 at 2:23 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    Dude, I was just thinking I hadn’t seen your name for a bit. I hope whatever it is works out and you are back learning new songs and working on your chops very soon.

  25. 25.

    ExpatDan

    January 4, 2022 at 2:23 am

    @Amir Khalid: ​
      Dan selamat, T’Amir…

  26. 26.

    trollhattan

    January 4, 2022 at 2:27 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    Best wishes. I’d say luck but you know, competent doctors and full recovery sound better.

    As to Liverpool, I dunno man, saw that Chelsea match and think Man City will pull clear.

  27. 27.

    eclare

    January 4, 2022 at 2:29 am

    @Amir Khalid:   Oh gosh!  I hope you feel better soon.  We’ll miss you!

  28. 28.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 4, 2022 at 2:52 am

    @Amir Khalid: Hope it’s nothing too serious.  (Yeah, it’s a weird thing to say about a hospital admission.)

  29. 29.

    Tony Jay

    January 4, 2022 at 3:13 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    May the Klopp watch over you, chum.

  30. 30.

    Jay

    January 4, 2022 at 4:09 am

    @Amir Khalid:
    semoga tuhan merahmati kamu

  31. 31.

    Winston

    January 4, 2022 at 5:49 am

    As much as I enjoy the front pager’s here who lead the comments, who are unpaid slaves to the blog father (plantation owner) I have to say, demand your freedom.

  32. 32.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    January 4, 2022 at 6:05 am

    @Amir Khalid: ​
      Jello!

  33. 33.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    January 4, 2022 at 6:06 am

    @Tony Jay: ​
      klopp came down with a case of the clap

  34. 34.

    Elizabelle

    January 4, 2022 at 6:32 am

    @Amir Khalid: 

    All the best to you. Short stay that sends you home healthier, please. Wish you could take a guitar along for comfort.

    But, which one???

  35. 35.

    debbie

    January 4, 2022 at 7:06 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    Best wishes and hopes that you’ll be back with us very soon!

  36. 36.

    Baud

    January 4, 2022 at 7:16 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    Come back soon.

  37. 37.

    WaterGirl

    January 4, 2022 at 9:15 am

    @Amir Khalid:  I was thinking of you in this past holiday week, wondering if soon you might be ready for another cat to come live with you.

    I hope your hospital stay is short and successful and that you are hope soon, better than when you left!

  38. 38.

    Miss Bianca

    January 4, 2022 at 9:38 am

    @Jay: Oh, I’ve never seen that before – wasn’t a Golden Girls watcher. That is so amazing!

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