Recipe Exchange

How About A Recipe Thread?

by TaMara| February 17, 20238:40 pm| 104 Comments

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

We haven’t had one in a while and I thought, what the heck, I’ve been cooking up a few cool things the last few weeks, I should share. This is the time of the year when I’m completely bored with the winter standards, craving fresh garden foods. I fall back on soups full of veggies, and quick meals that I don’t have to give much thought or effort toward. Not every meal has to be a masterpiece. And sometimes I just want Popeye’s spicy fish sandwich (Lent is almost here, after all).

Right now I’m eating Jicama Slaw (recipe below), one of my favorite go-tos when I need a reminder that spring and summer are not far off.

Here are a few other recipes I put together this month:

Spicy Potato soup – recipe here

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How About A Recipe Thread?Post + Comments (104)

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

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:

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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:

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.

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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Back to real time, this is an open thread…

Recipe Exchange: Twenty Years You SayPost + Comments (38)

Recipe Exchange: Holiday Sweet Treats

by TaMara| December 20, 20219:33 pm| 75 Comments

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

I know I promised a holiday treat post yesterday…but I’m just wiped. Whether it’s because of puppy or the Christmas Blues (seriously, Dean singing this makes me feel seen) – I’m just done in. Tomorrow is another day…

So instead of a full-blown recipe exchange post, I’m just going to post OpieJeanne’s Almond Tart recipe (below) and a link to all my favorite holiday treats, some of which I’m actually going to make as gifts later this week to deliver over the weekend.

Here is a link to these cookies and many more. Pictured above, clockwise: Dark chocolate chip cookies, spritz cookies and Pecan Balls.

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Opiejeanne sent me this recipe and it sounds yummy!

Almond Tart

Pastry:

1 Cup flour

1/2 Cup butter

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp water (or more, if needed)

1/2 tsp vanilla (You can omit the almond extract and double the amount of vanilla)

Mix dry ingredients, cut in butter until mixture resembles cornmeal. Work in the water and extracts. Press mixture into a 9″ tart pan, chill for one hour. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes or until golden brown. A food processor may be used for mixing but be careful not to overmix.

Filling:

1 Cup sliced almonds

3/4 Cup sugar

1 tsp almond extract (again, you may substitute same amount of vanilla for all of the almond extract)

3/4 Cup heavy cream

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp Grand Marnier (or orange Curacao, Hiram Walker Triple Sec, or another Orange flavored liqueur. World Market has airline size Grand Marnier so you don’t have to break the bank) I goofed one year and added a Tbsp, and it was very good.

Combine all filling ingredients. Let stand until sugar dissolves, at least 20 minutes. Pour into pre-baked shell*, return to oven and bake 30 to 40 minutes at 400 or until top is brown and the sugar has caramelized. Serve at room temperature.

Don’t panic if the filling leaks through the cookie crust. I highly recommend that you cut a circle of parchment paper to line the bottom of the pan, and the crust will release in one piece, as long as you are gentle. Without the parchment lining, the filling that leaks through the crust will glue it to the pan and you won’t get a clean release.

* I lick the spoon after pouring the filling into the crust, as consolation that I have to wait to have a bite of the tart.

And finally, since I feel badly about really coming up short on this post, here’s Trixie Belle’s 11-week photo from this afternoon (I tell you that, because 4 hours have passed, she’s probably bigger already)

She’s just the sweetest thing and doing so well on her training – walking on a leash like a star, crate training is coming along (Scout would really like earplugs) and potty training is doing okay, but she has seemed to regress the last couple of days, so we’ll be focused on that this week while I have some extra time with a light workload. More photos here if you need a fix.

Time to share your favorite sweet treats! Favorite pie? Are you a cake or cookie person? Chocolate or fruit desserts? Hit the comments.

Recipe Exchange: Holiday Sweet TreatsPost + Comments (75)

Holiday Recipe Exchange: Dinner Recipes

by TaMara| December 18, 20219:45 pm| 55 Comments

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

I thought it would be helpful to put together some ideas for Christmas dinner. I’ll follow that up with a compilation of holiday treats for dessert or to give as gifts.

Let’s start with this year’s Christmas Eve menu:

Spinach Lasagna
Collard Greens with Bacon
Garlic Cheese Bread
Ice Cream Sundae Bar

All those recipes can be found here

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Next up, the more traditional turkey dinner, with my new favorite cooking technique, wrapping the spatchcocked turkey in a bourbon, maple syrup, and butter-soaked cheesecloth:

Spatchcock Roasted Turkey with Bourbon and Maple Syrup (recipe here)

Garlic Mashed Potatoes (recipe here)

Christmas dinner here will be a standing rib roast:

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Recipe Exchange: Chicken and Buttermilk Biscuit Pie

by TaMara| March 15, 20217:50 pm| 47 Comments

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

I made this for dinner tonight and wrote up a post on it, so I thought I’d share here, since we haven’t had a recipe post in a while.

We ended up with about 24 inches of snow, not counting the impressive drifts. Everything was closed again today while we clean up. As it’s Colorado, it’s already melting and the sidewalks, driveways and patio are already dry. The four-foot drifts/snow piles from shoveling will take a bit more time. But it will be in the sixties by the end of the week.

In less than good news, two of my plum trees lost huge branches, and my 10-15 foot bushes’ health is still to be determined. Most will probably survive.

The big ducks demanded access to the yard, so I shoveled a path and they hung out on the patio, quickly understanding that those snow walls were unscalable. Although Maddie gave it a good try. That duck is small enough to fly short distances and uses it to scale any obstacle I put in her way. She gave me two eggs this morning, so spring can’t be far away.

Anyway, the weather just cried out for comfort food. So tonight it’s chicken and biscuits.

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Chicken and Buttermilk Biscuit Pot Pie

2 boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
Salt & pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoons butter
1/2 small onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 cups sliced carrots (frozen ok)
2 tsp crushed garlic
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth
2 large Yukon Gold Potatoes, scrubbed and diced
1 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 cup peas (frozen ok)

Set a 10-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat

In a large bowl, combine the chicken with salt, pepper and olive oil. Sear chicken in pan, stirring occasionally until the chicken begins to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the chicken and set aside in a separate bowl. Add butter to the pan and, when melted, add the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic, stirring occasionally, until lightly caramelized, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add the stock, browned chicken, potatoes, and spices.

Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce heat so that the sauce just simmers, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken and potatoes are tender…about 25-35 minutes.

While it simmers, prepare Buttermilk Biscuits, below.

Just before adding biscuits, fold peas into chicken mixture and then remove the pan from the heat.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Place the biscuits on top of the chicken and gravy, with 6 biscuits around the edge of the pan and the remaining 4 biscuits in the center (if you have a leftover biscuit or two, bake on a separate baking sheet). Be sure the biscuits do not touch, so they cook thoroughly. Brush the tops of the biscuits with the melted butter and bake until the biscuits are golden brown and flaky…14 to 15 minutes. Allow the pot pie to cool briefly before serving. Makes 4-6 servings.

Buttermilk Biscuits:

2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
1/3 cup shortening
¾ cup milk
4 tbsp powdered buttermilk
2 tbsp melted butter to brush on formed biscuits

Mix dry ingredients, make a center hole in the dry ingredients and add in shortening and milk. Blend together, then knead 10-12 strokes on a floured surface, roll out to ½” thick, cut into 8-10 biscuits.

What’s on your plate tonight? I’m going to try and get some actual work done, since today seemed to be about recovering from shoveling, time change and accessing yard damage.

Open thread

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Holiday Recipes and Pets

by TaMara| December 23, 20209:29 pm| 41 Comments

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

The week, which I was hoping was going to be quiet, has been ridiculously busy. So this will be a brief post, but cute puppehs to make up for it:

This was last year, in front of my half-decorated tree, LOL. There just hasn’t been time this year. How is that possible? The days are years long, but I guess so is my list of things to do.