Sunset Zucchini Relish

This is a recipe adapted from one I'd copied from my Grandmother, and I believe she may have gotten it from Sunset Magazine… but I'm not sure… if so she got it long ago…  This relish is great on Sandwiches & Burgers…

Ingredients:
  1 1/4 pounds Zucchini, diced
  1 1/2 large Onions, diced
  2 Tbl Sea Salt
  Cold Water
  1/2 cup White Wine Vinegar
  1/4 cup Sugar
  1/4 tsp Dry Mustard
  1/2 tsp Celery Seed
  1/8 tsp Cinnamon
  1/8 tsp Nutmeg (I like fresh ground)
  1/8 tsp Ground Red Pepper
  1/2 Red Bell Pepper, diced

Combine Zucchini, Onions and Salt, place in an airtight container, add Cold Water to cover & refrigerate overnight.

Drain, rinse with Cold Water, drain.

Combine Zucchini mixture with remaining ingredients, bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.  Place cooked mixture into an airtight quart-sized container & refrigerate, it will keep in the refrigerator for an extended period of time.

Orange Moroccan Chicken

I'll admit this is an awful photo, the other photo I had was worse… but I couldn't tell until I uploaded them… it looked much better (it's not burnt) in person…

I had been wanting to try a combination of a couple things, my Lemon Chicken & a recipe I've made previously for Moroccan Roasted Chicken… with a twist (or two)…

Ingredients:
  Zest (chopped) & Juice from a small to medium sized Orange
  4 Chicken Thighs
  Moroccan Spice (follow the link)
  Spray Olive Oil

Place the Chicken Thighs in a Ziplock bag with the Zest & Juice from the Orange, let marinate 1-2 hours.

Preheat oven to 425 F, spray a small glass pan (8x8 works well) with Olive Oil.  Once the thighs have finished marinating place them in the prepared pan, skin side up, along with the marinade.  Spray the tops of the thighs with Olive Oil, sprinkle liberally with Moroccan Spice, bake for 50 minutes.

This is what it looked like when I was creating this recipe, before going in the oven:

I had used a large Orange, and it was a bit more juice than was needed, I'd also had a package of 5 thighs defrosted… it was an experiment, so there…

It comes out nice and juicy and flavorful with a crispy top to the skin, if I'd used less juice more of the skin would have been crispy… Jeff didn't stop making yummy noises the whole time he was eating it… Mmmm!!

Moroccan Spice

This is a spice blend from a recipe I'd seen for Moroccan Roasted Chicken, here's how I make it:

Ingredients:
  2 parts Cumin
  2 parts Curry, I use a sweet curry
  1 part Cinnamon, I use Penzey's Chinese Cinnamon
  3 parts Coarse Sea Salt
  5 parts Whole Peppercorns, black is fine, I use a blended variety

I use an old coffee grinder that I no longer use for coffee, I put all the ingredients in & let it grind away until it becomes a powder.

Nectarine & Clove Sorbet

I decided to try one more Sorbet, since I was kinda on a roll… this time I chose Nectarines because my local grocer had some nice almost over-ripe Nectarines.  I decided to add some ground Cloves because I've always liked the combination of Cloves with Nectarines…

Ingredients:
  3 medium Nectarines, pitted (leave peel on)
  1 cup Sugar
  2 Tbl Fresh Lemon Juice
  1/4-1/2 tsp Ground Cloves

Puree the ingredients together (I used an Immersion Blender) then place into an Ice Cream Maker… I let the time run beyond the normal time period recommended by mine - mine recommends 20-30 minutes, I went 40.  Once done place into an airtight container & place in freezer to let it firm up better (this is normal), yields about 4 cups of Sorbet.  Note: this didn't end up producing as much or being as fluffy as  my Pineapple recipe.

Cappellini Pomodoro

This is my spin on a vegetarian pasta dish, but you'll see I mention meat variations as well… though never the same twice in my house this simple recipe should point you in the right direction.

Fresh Parsley from my garden...

Start off with a large non-stick skillet & spray it with Olive Oil.


Add in:
  2 pints of Grape Tomatoes
     (or Cherry Tomatoes)
  1-2 cloves of Crushed Garlic
  1/4-1/2 cup of diced Onion
  1-2 Tbl Fresh Parsley,
     chopped
  Salt & Pepper to taste



This time I also added about 1/4 cup each of a couple types of non-spicy Peppers, you could instead add in other vegetables, we sometimes bulk it up with meat - we like cubed chicken or small shrimp (raw is better).  The idea is just to add interest & color, you want to keep it mainly tomatoes.

Fresh Basil from my garden….

In another pot, start some water to boil for the pasta, once boiling add the pasta & let it cook until al-dente.  While the water is heating start cooking the Tomato mixture on Med-High heat, stirring frequently.



Chop up some fresh Basil, but don't add it into the dish yet, keep it to the side.

Tomatoes crushed, chopped basil being added...

The Tomatoes have finished cooking when the onions are translucent and the tomatoes are "wrinkly", trust me you'll know what this means when you see it.  Crush the tomatoes, I use the back of the spoon I've been stirring with for this purpose.  Turn off the heat, stir in the chopped Basil, cover until the pasta is finished cooking.

Sorry such a lousy picture, it smelled delicious & I was hungry!!

Drain the cooked pasta & top with the Tomato mixture… Yum!!










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Quad-Berry Sorbet

After the success of the Pineapple Sorbet I decided to try another, this time with some fresh berries.

I will warn you, because of the particular berries I chose I did have seeds in my sorbet… if you don't like or can't handle seeds switch the types of berries.

Ingredients:
  2 cups of Berries (I used Strawberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, and Blackberries)
       cleaned, sliced as needed, and pressed down (you want a full 2 cups).
  1 cup Sugar
  2 Tbl Fresh Lemon Juice

Puree the ingredients together (I used an Immersion Blender) then place into an Ice Cream Maker… I let the time run beyond the normal time period recommended by mine - mine recommends 20-30 minutes, I went 40.  Once done place into an airtight container & place in freezer to let it firm up better (this is normal), yields about 4 cups of Sorbet.  Note: this didn't end up producing as much or being as fluffy as  my Pineapple recipe.

Beet-less Mock Borscht

Yes, Borscht can be made without Beets… I've already done a Beet version, this is the Beet-less version… if you've not read my Mock Borscht recipe you really should, you'll understand the whole concept of Borscht better & why I call mine Mock Borscht.


Ingredients (this time):
  4 cups Water
  2 tsp Better than Bouillon Beef
  2 tsp Better than Bouillon Mushroom
(instead of the 3 ingredients above you could use 4 cups of broth…)
  1/8 tsp Ground Cloves
  1-2 Tbl Red Wine Vinegar (don't go more than 2 Tbl)
  Salt & Pepper (to taste)
  2 cloves Garlic, crushed/pressed
  1 stalk Celery, diced
  2/3 medium Red Onion, diced
  3 medium Tomatoes, diced
  2 cups Shredded Cabbage (push it down & get a good solid 2 cups worth)
  1 cup diced-small Red Potato
  1 cup grated fresh Parsnip
  1 cup grated fresh Carrot
  1 cup grated fresh Turnip
  1/2 pound 95% Fat Free Ground Beef
  1 tsp Sausage Spice
  4 Tbl Fat Free Sour Cream (garnish)
  1-2 Tbl Fresh Chopped Dill (garnish)

Cook the Ground Beef with the Sausage Spice in a small non-stick skillet sprayed with Olive Oil.  Throw the cooked ground beef & all but the last 2 ingredients listed above in the Crock Pot on Low in the Morning…

And by Evening… it's Borscht!!  Or at the very least its Borscht-like :)

Serve hot or refrigerate it to be served another day (Borscht is eaten both hot & cold), just before serving garnish with Fat Free Sour Cream & Fresh Chopped Dill.

Yum, Yum!!  Hubby approved, but he has asked I wait to do more Borscht until we have cooler weather (guess who's not into eating it cold)… don't worry honey, I'll eat the leftovers ;)

Pineapple Sorbet

This Sorbet was an experiment I've been wanting to try for a while, and I mostly followed a recipe I'd found via Cooking Light for ideas… but it ended up being my own "thing" in the end…

Pineapple Sorbet, garnished with an Oblaten wedge cookie...

So simple, so easy, so tasty, so light & fluffy…  Ok, maybe "light & fluffy" isn't what you think of when you think of Sorbet, but when I was done with it that's exactly what it was… Wonderful!!


Ingredients:
  1 pound fresh Pineapple chunks
  1 cup Sugar
  2 Tbl Fresh Lemon Juice


I put the Ingredients in a sturdy bowl, then puree/blended them using an Immersion Blender until the pineapple was completely pureed.  The Immersion Blender seemed to aerate the fruity concoction a bit, this may have made a difference in the end result (I'm not sure).


I then poured it into my Ice Cream Maker* and let it run longer than the normal time suggested (I did 40 minutes), which makes sense since it wasn't a "chilled" fruit concoction at the start.  The batter didn't look like much at the beginning but ended up filling the freeze-bowl on completion - a total of 6 cups of light/fluffy Sorbet.  Then it was placed in an airtight container & put into the freezer for 3-4 hours to get it to firm just a bit more (it was more like soft-serve right out of the Ice Cream Maker).


*My Ice Cream Maker is simply the attachments & a special freeze-bowl that work with my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer.  This device suggests a processing time of 20-30 minutes, I did 40, and I'm thrilled with the results!!

Tee Hee… Another Variation!!

I'm having way too much fun with my Yogurt Coffee Cake, and Jeff is really enjoying the results :)

Here's the latest… its a mixed berry version  - yep, just sub in mixed berries for Strawberries in my original recipe…  I'm just having too much fun with this :)

Don't Try This At Home...

I made myself a Giant Crumpet!!  Doesn't it look Yummy?!?!

Well, looks can be deceiving :(…  I had wanted Crumpets for breakfast, and I was in a "mood" & didn't want to fight with my Crumpet rings (they always stick a bit because I use very little oil), so I made one huge Crumpet in a small non-stick skillet… I also didn't feel like toasting after cooking, so I flipped it over for a couple minutes to give the top a little browning (shown below)...

What you're not seeing is the bottom, it got a bit darker than usual (actually, a lot darker)… that should have been my first clue that this wasn't going to pan out as a good idea…

I went ahead and spread Chèvre on it, added some sliced Strawberries… it was too big to pick up and eat in the usual way :(

I tried eating it with a fork, but that wasn't going so well (the bottom was a bit too tough)… I eventually picked it up and ate it taco-style (yes I folded it in half).

Remember trying to make 1 Giant Chocolate Chip cookie as a kid (you know you tried it)… that's how I felt about the results...

So kids, don't bother, it doesn't work… perhaps I need to invest the non-stick Crumpet Rings I saw on Amazon…

Until the next experiment!!

Another Bread Experiment...

I was experimenting with Bread again, this time messing around with a non-Sourdough loaf trying to see if I could come up with a nice Sandwich loaf… with mixed success… here's what I tried…

Mixed my dough in a bowl...

Stirring with a Spoonula until the dough held together...

Put the dough into a glass loaf pan lined with Parchment Paper,
showing off my horrid Origami skills...

Pushed dough into corners - note to self: use the Spoonula
rather than your fingers...

Ready to be tucked in for a nap...

Covers on & napping...

About 6-7 hours later...

After baking, beside it's sourdough cousin...

Sourdough (on left) rose during baking, plain didn't… :(

Once cut it was clear that the bread had the Sandwich
texture/airiness that I wanted… even without raising in
the oven… but its a "short" loaf...

I'll be getting it right eventually, for now we're enjoying the "failure" - it has a nice texture & tastes good after all :)

I may try not letting it rise as long, usually my traditional bread doesn't need to rise as long as my Sourdough (the yeast may have worn itself out)… the dough also seemed much more "wet" than the Sourdough after the rise - not sure what this means, may try adding a bit more flour… It could be that I need to add just a smidge of Gluten to help with the final result, but I'll only do that as a last resort, many other things to try first…

When I get it "just right" I'll share a recipe…

Pulling Together a Dinner with Hubby's Help!

Doesn't this look Yummy!!

Hubby was in the mood to Grill, I was in the mood to Experiment, so he worked on the main & I came up with two new sides (follow links to recipes for sides)…

What's for Dinner?
  Grilled Pork Tenderloin
  Balsamic Basil Green Beans
  Orzo with Garlic Parmesan Tomatoes

Here's what Jeff did with our little (just over a pound) tenderloin:

First, he marinated it in Stubs Pork Marinade - his favorite marinade for this cut of meat, in the fridge for an hour.

He heated our grill to Medium-High, and cooked the tenderloin for about 20 minutes, turning it only a couple times… let it rest for a few minutes & then sliced it up…

The combination of Jeff's Tenderloin & my 2 new sides worked out really well… Yum, Yum!!

Orzo with Garlic Parmesan Tomatoes

I wanted a side that was a "starch", but was in the mood for something new, so here's another experiment I did this week…

I love playing with Orzo, its pasta & can be treated like either Pasta or Rice in its use, which makes it a wonderful ingredient… I'd also recently purchased quite a bit of Grape/Cherry tomatoes (on sale of course) & was looking for something to do with them…  I typically keep a good quality Parmesan around, and of course I keep Garlic on hand… so I started to play!!

I decided I wanted to roast the Tomatoes, so I set the oven to 450F & made a tray out of foil (easy cleanup & so things don't stick) and put it on a cookie sheet for easy transfer in/out of the oven…

Then I halved my little Tomatoes & put them in my tray, putting a little minced Garlic on each, and grinding a little Sea Salt on them…

I grated some Parmesan on top (I should have grated then placed, lots of waste, but this was an experiment & I learned something…).  As soon as the oven was up to temp I baked these for 10 minutes & Wow it made the house smell wonderful!!

Meanwhile I cooked the Orzo until it was a nice texture, drained, added a teaspoon of good Olive Oil & sprinkled in some spicing (I used Sunny Paris) that would go well with the tomatoes…

Then I added my baked tomatoes to the pot & mixed them in… I love the way the colors work…

Here's the final product on the plate… and yes, it was a very yummy success!!

Balsamic Basil Green Beans

I had some Green Beans & Red Onions from the Farmer's Market, and some fresh Basil from my garden, so I decided to "play" and come up with something new…

I keep a good quality Balsamic Vinegar out on my kitchen counter, and I guessed that it would work well in combination with these other ingredients… so here's what I did:

I sprayed a non-stick skillet with Olive Oil, ground in a little Sea Salt (I have a salt grinder - see my Toys tab or the first picture in this post), put in some cleaned up green beans & chopped up red onion…

I sautéd these until the onion was translucent & the green beans slightly colored… then I turned the heat to low, added the chopped Basil & just enough water to cover the bottom of the skillet, put a lid on the skillet & let things steam (I checked a couple times & added a bit more water when needed) until the beans were cooked slightly-firm…

Then I removed the lid, drizzled with just a bit of Balsamic (its very flavorful, a little goes a long way), and turned up the heat to caramelize the Balsamic onto the beans (just a minute or two)…

They ended up being a very yummy side dish for our dinner… an experiment gone right!!

Variations on a Theme...

I'm an amateur musician, have played the piano since I was a child, and enjoy some of Beethoven's Variations On A Theme pieces where he takes someone else's melody & plays with it several different ways…


In many ways my cooking is like that, sometimes what I come up with comes out of thin air, sometimes its a variation on something I or someone else has already done… this is a variation of something experimental that I came up with a couple weeks ago, my Strawberry Yogurt Coffee Cake.


I'm not going to re-write the recipe here (that's just too tedious) so follow the link… but here's what happens when you substitute Blueberries (yes, you need to cut them up) for Strawberries… Yum!!

Jeff prefers this to the Strawberry version, I prefer the Strawberry… so depending on your berry preference you'll like one better than the other… we both agree they're both very tasty!!

Mock Borsht

I came up with this recipe because I had some wonderful yummy Borscht while on a Mission Trip in Ukraine this May.  Saying you're making Borscht is kinda like saying you're making Soup, in more ways than one... it basically is a soup, and there are as many Borscht recipes as there are cooks (or maybe more recipes than cooks)… anyhoo… I decided to try my hand at it, and in true good-cook fashion simply used what I already had on hand (why run to the store if you don't need to)… So while most Borscht recipes I looked at had cabbage & potatoes this one doesn't, I simply didn't have them on hand… I think my sister-cooks in Ukraine would have done the same thing...

Celery Flakes, available at Penzeys

I had celery, but didn't want to bother to chop it up fine, so I used Celery Flakes instead…

Messy but effective - grating root vegetables...

My grater got a workout… ok, in truth I got a workout with my grater… sheesh!!  The only caution I would give is this: be careful with the Beets, they can stain… nice pretty bright pink… no, I didn't stain anything (this time)…


Ingredients (this time):
  4 cups Water
  2 tsp Better than Bouillon Beef
  2 tsp Better than Bouillon Mushroom
(instead of the 3 ingredients above you could use 4 cups of broth…)
  1 Tbl Celery Flakes (or 1 stalk Celery chopped up fine)
  1/8 tsp Ground Cloves
  1-2 Tbl Red Wine Vinegar (don't go more than 2 Tbl)
  2 cloves Garlic, crushed/pressed
  Salt & Pepper (to taste)
  2/3 medium Red Onion, diced
  2 1/2 cups grated fresh Beets
  1 cup grated fresh Parsnip
  1 cup grated fresh Carrot
  1 cup grated fresh Turnip
  1 cup grated fresh Sweet Potato (peel before grating)
  1 cup diced Tomato
  2 Aidells Chicken & Apple Sausage, chopped up
  4 Tbl Fat Free Sour Cream
  1-2 Tbl Fresh Chopped Dill


Throw all but the last 2 ingredients in the Crock Pot on Low in the Morning…

And by Evening… it's Borscht!!  Or at the very least its Borscht-like :)

Serve hot or refrigerate it to be served another day (Borscht is eaten both hot & cold), just before serving garnish with Fat Free Sour Cream & Fresh Chopped Dill.

This is leftovers, heated up for lunch a couple days later… Yum!

More about Borscht… what seems to make it Borscht is the predominance of Root Vegetables, which are more available in the colder months (can be stored for longer periods of time), chopped or grated finely… Beets aren't necessary (I've had non-beet Borscht)… in the recipes I've seen they all seem to have the Red Wine Vinegar, and that adds a particular flavor… and when in Ukraine it was always served with Sour Cream and fresh chopped Dill…


That said have fun, play with the vegetables, play with the meat (I may try Lamb Sausages next time)… and enjoy!!


Want to make it Vegetarian?  Try adding some of my Sausage Spice & omitting the meat…