Roque your meatloaf! Roguefort Meatloaf!

I can't take credit for this recipe. I have to blame it all on Madam Fromage, especially for making me Roque my meatloaf in a fur hat! Click HERE to see Madame Fromage roqueing her own fur hat with a link to the recipe. Or to go right to the turophile's mouth, this link is to learn How to Rock Rquefort.

Creamed Onions

This one has been a family favorite for years. My brother can't stand them but I get to eat his! My kids like it too. This is standard fare in every Thanksgiving and Christmas meal.

Creamed Onions
Serves 4 (easy to double, triple, quadruple etc.)

Ingredients:
I jar onions (the Holland type, in water)
1.5 Tablespoons butter
1.5 T flour
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
sprinkle nutmeg

Process:

• Rinse onions in cold water and set aside.
• For sauce melt 1.5 T butter over low heat.
  
• Slowly stir in 1.5 T flour and simmer 2 to 3 minutes as it thickens.
  
• Gradually add 1 cup milk and continue to heat and stir until thickened.
  
• Stir constantly
• Add onions, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard and 1/8 tsp white pepper.
  
• Heat an additional 5 minutes to meld tastes and thicken more.
  
• Pour into serving dish and garnish with a sprinkle of nutmeg over the top.
  

Peanut Butter Soup

This is today's mystery soup. It is an old family recipe, handed down to my mother from her mother, who wrote, "Really very good! If the children like peanut butter, they'd love this!

Ingredients
1 teaspoon minced onion
1 Tablespoon butter
3 tablespoons peanut butter
2 Tablespoons flour
3 cups scalded milk
salt and pepper to taste
Hi-Ho wrote in: Sherry and parsley to garnish

Directions
1. Begin by heating/scalding milk.
2. Cook onion in butter and peanut butter for five minutes.
3. Add flour and stir until smooth.
4. Add milk slowly, and cook for 20 minutes. (it says in double boiler but I omit)
5. Season to taste.
6. Process with immersion blender if desired.
Enjoy!

When Cheese attacks...

Rosemary, Chicken and Goat Cheese Rigatoni.

Egg Basket strikes again by tempting me with yummy super savory treats. This is what's for supper.

Mac & Cheese with Roasted Chicken

Yield: 8 servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound dried rigatoni
1 quart heavy cream
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1 clove fresh garlic, crushed
8 ounces goat cheese
2 cups shredded roasted chicken
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Place a large pot of salted water over high heat and bring to a rapid boil. Add the oil and rigatoni to the water and cook according to the directions on the package, 10-12 minutes.
2. While you are waiting for the water to boil, pour the cream into a large sauce pan over medium heat. Add the rosemary and garlic to the cream and bring it to a simmer - take care not to let it boil over. Allow the cream to reduce by about half.
3. Stir in the goat cheese and chicken and continue cooking cooking it till the cream coats the back of a spoon.
4. Thoroughly drain the pasta. Add the pasta to the sauce. Coat the pasta in the sauce and simmer over low heat for a few minutes. Serve hot.

-My Baking Addiction adapted from Live to Cook

Ground Meat Curry

Ground Meat Curry

This recipe originated with a wonderful cookbook I brought when Puckstopper was starting to more complex meals about 11 years ago. The book was called One-Recipe Three-meal Family cookbook by Sara Lewis. This curry was my favorite recipe from the book. I just passed the book on to La and knew I needed to extract this recipe from it!

Ingredients

I onion, chopped

1-pound ground meat of choice.

1 clove garlic, crushed and minced

2 teaspoons mild curry paste

2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

½ cup plain breadcrumbs

1 Tablespoon tomato paste

¼ cup raisins (or more)

1 Tablespoon mango chutney, minced

1 banana, sliced

2 eggs (or 3 eggs whites? I haven’t tried it but I am pretty sure it will work)

4 teaspoons turmeric

½ cup skim milk

4 small bay leaves

Process

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. In a frying pan over medium heat onion and meat. Cook until meat is brown.

3. Add garlic and curry paste and stir well cooking for a minute or two.

4. Remove from heat and stir in vinegar, breadcrumbs, tomato paste, raisins, and salt and pepper to taste.

5. Stir in the chutney and banana slices.

6. Put meat mixture into a round baking dish and press flat into an even layer with a spoon.

7. Place dish on baking sheet and cook for 20 minutes.

8. Meanwhile, blend the turmeric, milk and salt and pepper with eggs.

9. Remove baking dish from oven and lay the bay leaves on top of the meat.

10. Pour the egg mixture over the top and return baking dish to the oven.

11. Bake for 30 minutes more, or until the egg has set.

12. Serve with a side of vegetables and maybe a baked potato?

Purple Cow Smoothie

I am trying to eat breakfast. It is very difficult. I am not a fan of breakfast, but I am trying to get healthier in my eating habits and this is one important place to start. I saw this recipe when Food Network Tweeted this today and I forgot all about it until I saw grape juice in the store. So I just googled it and apparently, it's a fairly standard smoothie, but so many of them contain vanilla ice cream. This one does not so I am going to post it here for convenience.

To your health!

Ingredients
1 container Vanilla yogurt
grape juice
ice
frozen banana
optional - scoop of vanilla protein powder.

Process
Combine ingredients in a blender. Pour in glass, enjoy!

Herb and Feta Cheese Fritters by Kathy Gunst

I just saw these on 207 and can NOT wait to try them!
Here's the Video!
Yummy! I also just added her cookbook, Notes from a Maine Kitchen, to my wish list for Christmas!

Herb and Feta Corn Fritters
A simple batter is made by mixing corn kernels with egg, flour, and milk and a handful of fresh garden herbs, crumbled feta cheese, and scallions. The savory fritters are served with a lemon-herb butter and are delicious served for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. You could also add a finely chopped sweet or spicy pepper to the batter. The fritters are delicious served on top of an arugula or spicy greens salad.
Ingredients
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup milk, plus 1 tablespoon
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 cups fresh corn kernels, cut off 2 to 3 cobs
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh herbs (basil, sage, rosemary, chives, oregano)
2 tablespoons very thinly sliced scallions, white and green parts
1/2 cup finely crumbled feta cheese or goat cheese
salt and freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil, canola oil or grape seed oil, or a combination
Process
1. In a large bowl, sift the flour and baking powder.
2. Add the milk and whisk until smooth.
3. Beat in the egg and then gently mix in the corn, herbs, scallions, cheese, salt and pepper.
4. In a large skillet heat the oil over moderately high heat.
5. Drop 2 to 3 tablespoons of batter into the hot oil and cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Serve hot.
Makes about ten small fritters; serves 3 to 4.

Kale Pesto

From CT's Edible Nutmegger

Kale Chips

11 Family Friendly Casserole Recipes

Just found this Martha Stewart link to 11 Casseroles!
My favorite one is the Pastitsio

Blueberrys layered in sweetened whipped cream

This dessert was heavenly. We discovered we had some heavy cream that needed to be used or tossed, so we whipped it up and sweetened it with a touch of local honey. We layered blueberries in the bottom of a ramekin, spread whipped cream on top, and repeat. Delightful, delectable, and pretty close to healthy!

Saw this at Trader Joes...

and I smiled big time and thought of my friend Ciri!

Healthy Pizza

It doesn't look tasty, but it was a great dinner! SP made last night's pizzas on whole wheat crust. This is done using this recipe, whole wheat flour, and a little extra water. My pizza was the healthy version, topped with artichoke hearts, green pepper slices, goat cheese, mild banana peppers, light salami, and sauce. I ate about a fifth to a quarter of the pizza (we cut in rectangles) and was satisfied! I will try it again, but with even more vegetables next time!

Sunday Scramble

We are on a new food regime in this house. This is a photo of the kids breakfast plates. This morning we are having, with a side of grapefruit, farm fresh eggs scrambled with spinach, beet greens, and last nights left over sweet potato fries! Time for breakfast on the back porch!

Friday's Fantastic Feast

I'm feeling alliterative, it wasn't really a feast but it was fantastic. Isn't that a pretty dinner?

Better yet it was chocked full of protein, and the dipping sauce was a left over Chipotle dressing I made as an improvement upon the leftover sauce from a Jillian Michael's Chipotle Beef recipe.

We butterflied boneless skinless chicken breast, filled it with spinach, lite salami, and shredded strips of carrot. The were rolled up, skewered with toothpicks, and oven baked. In the last few minutes they were topped with freshly shredded Parmesan. You can see the yummy bundles below, being delicately plated by SP's sexy hands. :D xo

A Real Simple Blueberry Jam

I made these three jars of simple jam from two pints of local high bush blueberries. Yum. Three cans begin my canning season and I take that as a very good sign.
I found the recipe in Real Simple's July 2011 edition. You can find the recipe here. It truly is really simple.

Creamy Peanut Butter Pie for Mikey

I am making this today.
I can't say much else because it will make me cry.
For Mikey, Jennie, and their two daughters.

For Mikey

Breakfast Smoothies a la Egg Basket

Egg Basket posted another link on Facebook yesterday that I deem worthy of sharing. Serendipitously, while dropping Puckstopper off at Logan yesterday, I had a smoothie at a burrito place. It was AWESOME. It even eclipsed my burrito which I ate later in the car ride home. I might be the latest convert into the smoothie craze!

here's the link

Top Five Filling Raw Smoothies for Breakfast

Madame Fromage: Consider the Cheese Mite, Or What I Learned at ACS

Madame Fromage: Consider the Cheese Mite, Or What I Learned at ACS

Baked Eggs with Basil Mint Pesto

This was amazing! I made it for dinner. Two nights in a row. I made it for breakfast, with only one egg, for Daughter and Baby. They loved it. They demolished it.

The unique pesto, made from mint and basil in the garden, spread on top of goat cheese, is so wonderfully aromatic and flavorful. It was also a wonderful use of baguette remnants from the weekend. I think the best part was using the last of the beautiful Windy Hill Farm eggs we bought at the New Gloucester Village Store on the way home from SP's office.

The caught my eye immediately in this book that my mother-in-law gave me for my birthday! I adore it.

Oh my gosh! Janice Cole has a blog! Yea! I am too excited to learn more about her now, so I am NOT taking time to put up this recipe!

LOVE!

Janice Cole's Three Swingin' Chicks!

Green Bean Salad with Goat Cheese Dressing

I found this recipe on the bulletin board at Whole Foods. We had it for supper last night and it was delicious. We used fresh local beans (and corn) from Gillespie Farms. We had a nice personal connection to our food last night as one of our house guests for this my birthday weekend has Gillespie as a maiden name! It was her husband Andy who had the idea of serving this dish with a nice piece of fish over it. Maybe we can try it with some local Striper, if we ever catch one! :D

This isn't a very good photo, but I just realized we had some leftovers and wanted to include a visual of this yummyness!

Avocado Tomato Salsa

This salsa is the topping for the Corn Cilantro Pancakes.

Ingredients
1 avocado
4 tomatoes
1 scallion
1/4 red onion chopped
1/4 cup diced cilantro
1 lime (juiced)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbs oil
salt and pepper to taste

Process

1. Cut avocado in half lengthwise, remove pit, remove skin, and chop the meat.
   
2. Coarsely chop next four ingredients.
   
3. Combine above ingredients in a bowl and mix with minced garlic, lime juice, oil and salt and pepper.
   
4. The consistency can be altered by further mashing or chopping the ingredients. Taste and adjust as you may wish for more lime or garlic, etc.
   
5. When pancakes are ready, spoon salsa over the top and enjoy.
   

Cilantro Corn Pancakes

Bumping this post because it's that day of the year again! Thanks Mom!

I first ate a version of this recipe at Diner, in Williamsburg Brooklyn, on the Sunday morning before 9/11. The meal, and the wonderful morning spent with friends, will be forever etched in my mind. With my birth day only a few days away, this recipe is timely since it is one of the meals we eat most often on or around my birthday. Fresh corn is coming into season, the tomatoes are ripening on the vine, and this light and refreshing meal is perfect on a hot summer evening. These pancakes are served with a heap of Avocado Tomato Salsa and are best with a freshly muddled Mojito!

Ingredients
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup corn meal
1 egg (or 2 egg whites)
1 cup buttermilk (or yogurt)
2 Tbs oil
1.5 cups fresh corn, cooked
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1/4 cup chopped scallions

Process

1. In large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt.
2. Stir in the corn meal.
3. In another bowl, lightly beat eggs. Add buttermilk, oil, corn, cilantro and scallions. Add these ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until combined.
4. Heat a large griddle over medium high heat. We have even put the griddle on the grill outside to stay cooler on a hot summer day.
5. When hot, brush with oil.
6. Drop batter by large spoonfuls onto griddle.
7. Cook until holes form on pancakes and then flip.
8. When browned on both sides, remove from grill.
9. Serve on plates, topping each pancake with Avocado Tomato Salsa, with a dollop of sour cream on the side.
10. Enjoy with a cold, freshly muddled Mojito! (and wish me a Happy Birthday! :D)

Last Night's Dinner Salad

What a yummy dinner it was! Served with a fresh baguette, this modification of Tasty Kitchen's Deviled Eggs in a Nest of Butter Lettuce made a perfect summer dinner for 6. I was able to use butter and romaine lettuce from the garden, but also bought a head of butter lettuce at Hannaford's. I added the first of our Sweet 100 and Sungold tomatoes to the salad. I also added shaved steak, left over from Monday's steak dinner, cooked a la our friend Brucepedia.













The biggest change I made was the salad ingredients and the deviled eggs. I used 8 eggs, and the funny part is that not knowing SP ate a broken half, no explanation of even numbers and multiples of two kept Daughter from counting 15 eggs. We love lots of laughter in our kitchen!

I doubled the dressing (recipe below) and it was perfection - I will be using it again! So that any left overs would save well, I let everyone dress their own. The serving tray was picked clean in the end but we do have leftover dressing - hooray!

In making the deviled eggs, I added fresh tarragon from the front garden bed. I did find that the amount of dressing added made them rather watery and messy, so next time I will use less of the dressing. In an attempt to dry it up a bit I added some white pepper, ground sage, and mustard powder. They were super yummy!

Dressing Ingredients

• ½ cups Light Mayonnaise
• 3 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
• 2 Tablespoons Honey
• 4 teaspoons Rice Wine Vinegar

Dressing Preparation Instructions

1. Whisk mayonnaise, mustard, honey, and vinegar in a small bowl.

* this is a great honey Dijon recipe!

2. * Mash 5 tablespoons of the dressing into the yolks to make a smooth filling.

*Next time I will use less of the dressing. I like my deviled egg stuffing to be stiffer. I hope to return to this recipe and rewrite my version.

(Dressing, filling, and eggs can be covered and refrigerated overnight.)

Chef Jef's Veggie Burgers

These are my favorite veggie burgers in the whole wide world!

I have been in possession of this top secret recipe for about six years. It was given to me by Chef Jef (chef, drummer, friend, now father - yea - all around awesome guy) whom I had the pleasure of working with at Freedom Cafe. Having been a vegetarian, I have an interest and appreciation for veggie burgers and these babies were the first thing I ordered off the menu for my staff meal. The moment I had one of these for a staff dinner I fell in love. Jef finally divulged the recipe to me months later. SP distinctly recalls us "putting our heads together" to turn the restaurant kitchen recipe into a more family sized recipe.

This recipe yields about 6 patties and feeds our family for dinner - one burger each with the 6th split between SP and Puckstopper. You can happily double it, prep-cook and freeze, and save for later use. This recipe is perfect for the summer as it makes use of the garden vegetables and squash overload :D Thank you Jef, congrats on your son, and we love and miss you!

Ingredients
1 small zucchini, grated
1 small summer squash, grated
1/2 yellow onion, minced
1/2 red bell pepper, minced
2 Tablespoons chopped garlic
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon granulated onion
1 jar wheat germ
4 eggs
1 and 1/4 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese


Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Combine all ingredients, but don't over mix.
3. Portion out into 6 parts, and shape into patties.
4. Lightly grease a baking dish .
5. Bake patties in oven for 10 minutes. Flip and then bake for 10 minutes more.
6. Cool and freeze.
7. Remove from freezer and throw them on the grill! :D

I took a total of three pictures before I froze them. Only the top photo came out ok, but here are the rest of the blurry iPhone photos I took before they went into our bellies. And the freezer.

Zucchini Recipes a la Egg Basket

It's that time of year again. My Zucchini cup runneth over. They are longer than my foot and wider than my calf. I needed some innovative recipes, and voila! My friend Egg Basket posted this link on Facebook this morning. Paula Deen to the rescue!

Here is a collection of her best Zucchini recipes!


Top Zucchini Recipes by Paula Dean

Deviled Eggs on Butter Lettuce with Honey Mustard Dressing

Before I lose this recipe for the third time, I am blogging it! This is another wonderful looking recipe from Tasty Kitchen.
I am making a version of this for dinner tonight, except I will be adding some shaved steak that is left over from yesterdays lunch. I will take pictures and add later.




Deviled Eggs on a Nest of Butter Lettuce with Honey Mustard Dressing

SORBET!!!

We are churning out multiple batches of Sorbet this weekend.

Strawberry. Locally grown at Gillespie Farms.
Blueberry. Frozen last fall from MOFGA and the Common Ground Country Fair.
Blackberry. Raspberry. Grown outside right in front of my house.
Any combination of the above flavors.
Here is a blueberry sorbet, individually portion, and deeply frozen in our upright freezer.















I do so love our ice cream maker. It is so handy.

Here it is wearing its fruit fly repellent hat.



























Today's flavor: Cherry Peach. YUM!





















We are using a modified version of the Strawberry Sorbet Recipe from the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Book.
The recipe makes about a dozen 3 ounce cups, even if one is just a partial for the cook (bottom center).












Ingredients
1/2 pound frozen fruit, or fresh berries refrigerated, hulled/sliced/mashed (we throw it in the food processor)
1/2 cup sugar
Juice of a lemon
1/4 honey (or corn syrup)
2 cups cold water

Directions
1. Combine fruit, sugar, honey and lemon juice in food processor and blend.
2. Pour contents into the frozen drum of your ice cream maker and follow the makers instructions.
3. When finished, pour into 3 ounce cups, and deep freeze in a freezer.

Yield = about 1 dozen 3 ounce servings.

Merrymeeting Farm Letter Head

Bakers Onion Soup

This recipe comes to you as is - on the Merry Meeting Farm letter head and in my great grandmother Baba's handwriting!

Chicken Ceasar Salad

Simple and scrumptious.
Ingredients
Boneless skinless chicken breasts
Lemon pepper
Heads of Romaine lettuce
and the ingredients for the dressing, recipe here

Process
1. Coat boneless skinless chicken breasts in lemon pepper and grill until finished.















2. Chop into pieces.
3. Chop up a few heads of Romaine lettuce.















4. Make the Faux Ceasar Dressing which is pictured below.
5. Toss and serve with sprinkled with shaved Parmesan
(preferably fresh not pictured below).
Yum!