Blue Cheese Compound Butter

I went through a phase for a while where I made a lot of different compound butters and kept them in the freezer. Then for some reason, I stopped. This is my favorite, because I love blue cheese. I love to slice this on top of a steak that just came off the grill or added to grilled corn on the cob.

I start with 1 cup of softened butter, 2 tablespoons of chives, 1 tablespoon of parsley, 2-3 teaspoons of coarse ground pepper and 4 oz of crumbled cheese.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. 

After everything has been mixed, pour the mixture onto a sheet of waxed paper.

Using the wax paper, I work the butter mixture into a log and then place it in the freezer for about 15-20 minutes. After it starts to harden, I pull it back out and wrap a little more wax paper around it and then place it in a freezer bag, rolled to get out as much air as possible,

This also makes a great topper for a Blue Cheese Burger!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

BBQ Chicken Pizza happens to be one of my husband's favorite dishes. At first I really only made it for him, but it has really grown on me too. When we got married, a friend of mine gave me a gift card to Books a Million. She knew I loved cook books and she didn't want to even guess at a cookbook that I might not have. I found a book from The California Pizza Kitchen and knew it would be perfect since it had many of the recipes that Kip already loved. 

I started this recipe the day before I was going to make the pizza because I like to make my BBQ sauce ahead of time. I do make and can the BBQ sauce I use the most often, but the one that we like on this pizza is a little sweeter than the one I have canned.

(I also love that most of my condiments in the fridge are in mason jars!)

The next step is to cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces, cook until just done and then coat with BBQ sauce and let it chill in the fridge for a couple of hours.

To assemble the pizza, roll out the pizza dough to the desired thickness. Spread about 3/4-1 cup of the BBQ sauce over the surface of the crust. Top with 1/2 cup of shredded  smoked Gouda cheese and 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese. Arrange chicken pieces and red onion pieces over the dough. Bake at 475 degrees for 12-14 minutes. When the pizza comes out of the oven sprinkle with chopped cilantro. 

We were hungry and I forgot to take a picture of the pizza cooked and after adding the cilantro. Here is is right before going in the oven.

BBQ SAUCE

2 cups water

3/4 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup tomato paste

1/2 cup vinegar

3 tablespoons molasses

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon liquid smoke

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Combine all ingredients in medium sauce pan over medium high heat and whisk till smooth.

bring mixture to a boil the reduce heat and simmer for 45 to 60 minutes until thick.

cool then store in air tight container in refrigerator.

Bountiful Basket and Weekly Menu

This is my basket that I got this week. In addition to the basic basket I also gout and Italian pack. This is pretty much all the produce I will use for the week, I love the variety, just enough of everything to make a meal and not so much that we end up eating the same thing for a week straight.

As soon as I get home with my basket, I make my meal plan for the coming week to incorporate everything so that nothing gets forgotten and wasted. I typically plan five dinners for each week, and that leaves room for a leftover night, eating out or at a friend's, or an I-am-going-to-eat-popcorn-for dinner-because-Kip-is-working-late. I also have pantry staples that I can whip up a quick meal if I need another meal. Most weeks, I also plan one dessert.

This week's menu includes:

Salmon Patties, mashed potatoes, salad

Mushroom and Swiss burgers, grilled veggie kabobs, homemade potato chips

Ginger pork, rice, broccoli

Tuscan soup, rosemary bread

Grilled steak, baked potato, salad, green beans

Since yesterday was Father's Day I cooked dinner for Kip's family, making some of his Dad's favorite dishes. We had BBQ pork sandwiches topped with hot slaw, macaroni salad, baked beans, corn on the cob and jalapeno cornbread. For dessert I made banana pudding. He was one happy Dad!

Salad Bar at Home

I love going to a good salad bar. There are so many things that you can add, and I love all the variety that they offer. There aren't that many places around me that have one, and since we don't eat out as much as we used to I decided to make one at home. No real rules here, I just chop up whatever veggies I have on hand and set them all out. It is a great way to use up left over veggies or meats too. 

I bought those containers at the Dollar General a couple of summers ago and I love them. Each of the sections come out so that I can condense them as they empty. In the summer, I eat salads for lunch most days and I can keep veggies chopped and ready for a quick lunch. I am hoping they have these again this summer because I would love to have a couple of more for fruits.

I know I eat more veggies if I don't have to take the time to cut them for every meal. 

A couple of times a month, I try and plan a night of assemble your own meals. I still do all the prep, but then whoever is here can make their dinner to suite their own taste. I do Taco night, sandwich night, build a pizza night, a potato bar, and a nacho bar. I would love more ideas if you do this sort of thing at your house!

Bountiful Basket and Meal Plan

Yippee, it is a Bountiful Basket week! This week in addition the the regular basket, I also got a picnic pack. When I get home each week, I take the time to sit down and plan my meals for the coming week. I find that if I do that, I make sure that every thing gets used and I don't find any unused food that gets forgotten and ends up in the compost bin. 

Here is how I will be using my basket this week:

Romaine and iceberg lettuce will both be used in salads and on sandwiches.

Asparagus will be steamed and served as a side dish.

Celery will be frozen for use in stock.

Bananas, apples, grapes and some of the berries will be eaten as is or in smoothies or mixed in yogurt.

Tomatoes will be used in salads and on sandwiches,

Squash will be in grilled veggie burritos.

Orange bell peppers will be in the veggie burritos, salads and some sliced for snacking.

Broccoli will be chopped for salads and steamed as a side.

Onions are used in cooking throughout the week.

Red Potatoes will be a potato dill salad on burger night.

Red Onion will be in salads and on BBQ Chicken Pizza.

Cabbage will be some type of slaw.

Watermelon will be sliced and devoured!

Beef and Broccoli

This is another favorite dish of mine at the Chinese restaurants. Well it used to be anyway. Then it seemed that most places replaced their delicious sauces with something not so great. I had a friend give me his recipe for Beef with Broccoli and with a couple of personal tweaks, I found a new recipe!

I gathered my ingredients, I had fresh broccoli on hand, but you can also use frozen if that is what you have. I prefer it when I make it with the fresh because I like the crunch, but it is still pretty delicious.

After mixing the sauce, it is pretty important to let the meat marinate for at least 30 minutes.

I love cooking with garlic and ginger.

By using fresh broccoli, I can retain some of the crispness which I really like.

Since the meat is cut into small pieces, it cooks in just a few minutes. After it is cooked, the broccoli goes back in the pan to be tossed with the beef and the sauce.

Add some rice and dinner is served!

Beef and Broccoli

2/3 cup oyster sauce

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

2/3 cup cooking sherry

2 teaspoons tamari (or soy sauce)

2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 lb round steak cut into thin strips

2-3 tablespoons of oil

1 teaspoon fresh, minced ginger

2 cloves of minced garlic

1 lb broccoli cut into florets

Whisk together the oyster sauce, sesame oil. sherry, tamari,sugar and cornstarch in a bowl and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add meat to the mixture, make sure all pieces are coated and marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat and stir in the garlic and ginger. Let them cook for just about a minute, then add the broccoli florets. Toss and stir until the broccoli is bright green and starts to get tender. Remove the broccoli.

Add a little more oil to the pan if needed and add the beef and the liquid it has been marinated in, cook until meat is no longer pink and the sauce is starting to thicken. Return the broccoli to the pan and mix with the beef and the sauce, cook only until broccoli is heated. 

Serve with rice.

Future Food

I have had so much fun getting ready for gardening season. Starting with looking at all the seed catalogs, deciding what to plant and ordering seeds. As soon as they arrived, I started many of the seeds so I would have healthy seedlings to plant. Then I built my two new raised beds and a new flower bed. Babying all those little seeds as they became seedlings made waiting for warmer weather a little more bearable. Finally the time came to transfer all those little seedlings and to plant the things that grow from seed.

I decided to expand my planting this year. In addition to the extra space, I am growing many things that I have never grown before. In the past I have grown mostly tomatoes, some herbs, cucumbers, carrots, peas and beans. 

This year's planting also included corn:

Melons, pumpkins, squash, zucchini, and a wider variety of herbs.

I bought the greenhouse a couple of months ago. So far it is still standing! It really gave me a lot more room to work with all the seed starters.

I order most all of my seeds from the following places:

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

My Patriot Supply

Mountain Rose Herbs

Hot and Sour Soup

I love a good bowl of Hot and Sour Soup. I used to work at a place beside a Chinese restaurant that had the best soups. At least 2-3 times a week I would go there and eat soup for lunch. Then they changed owners and the soup was never the same. I still ordered it at other restaurants but it was either bland or so hot that all could could taste was the pepper. All that pepper would do was mask the other flavors in the soup and make my nose start running.

I have been looking for a recipe that I like for quite a while. I attempted a bunch of different recipes that I found online and they were all pretty much good, but not what I was looking for to recreate my favorite version of it. After many, many pots of soup, I finally came up with this recipe that I really like a lot.  

Hot and Sour Soup

8 cups of chicken broth (or veggie broth)

1/3 cup  soy sauce

1 cup mushrooms, sliced

2-3 tablespoons garlic chili sauce

1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper(start with the 1/2 tsp, but for extra heat add 1/4 tsp at a time--I will usually wait until the end of cooking before adding more)

1/2-3/4 cup white vinegar (again to taste)

1/2 cup canned bamboo shoots, julienned

 1/2 block of tofu, cut into 1/4 inch dice

4 tablespoons cornstarch and 4 tablespoons cold water

2 eggs, beaten

3 green onion stalks, diced (including tops)

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Bring chicken broth to a simmer in a 2-quart saucepan.

. Add soy sauce, mushrooms and garlic red chili paste, simmer 5 minutes

 Add white pepper, white vinegar, bamboo shoots, tofu, simmer 5 minutes

 Combine two tablespoons of cornstarch with two tablespoons of cold water in a cup. Stir until mixture is smooth. Add cornstarch mixture to soup and stir well.

 Simmer for five minutes until soup is thickened.

 Beat egg in a cup until yolk and white are combined. Pour beaten egg slowly, in a fine stream into soup. Stir soup several times.

 Wait 30 seconds.

 Add green onions and sesame oil to soup. Stir well. Remove from heat.

NOTES:

***This makes a pretty good size pot of soup, but it can easily be halved. I like the extras for our lunches.

(If you want to add some shredded chicken or pork, add the cooked meat at the same time as the tofu. I prefer it without the meat)

YUM!!

This Week's Bountiful Basket

Saturday was my Bountiful Basket pick up day. I missed the last one due to being out of town so I was even more excited to see this week's basket. As always, I was happy with my selection of produce. 

Here is what I will do with each item in my basket:

Lettuce: salads and on sandwiches

Asparagus: One bunch will be steamed and eaten as a side dish and the other will be in a stir fry

Bananas, watermelon, and grapefruit: will be eaten as is

Mangoes: will probably go in smoothies or I might attempt a sorbet

Zucchini: will go in a stir fry

Corn: will be grilled, which is my favorite way to eat corn on the cob

Green onions: will go in a pot of hot and sour soup and in the stir fry

Purple Potatoes: will be roasted with a little olive oil and sea salt

Endive: Not sure on this yet, several people at the pick up site mentioned roasting this as well, I might give that a go

Radishes: I am not a huge fan or radishes, but I saw someone on one of the cooking shows that had pickled radishes; I think I will attempt to do that

Veggie Stir Fry

I try to do meatless meals at least a couple of times a week. Toward the end of the week, before going to the grocery store again, I usually have a little of this and a little of that left in the fridge. I will pull out all the leftover veggies and cut them in bite size pieces and toss them in my large skillet. There is usually some type of cooked rice or pasta in there too, and I will toss that in at the end. It is a perfect way for me to use all the leftovers and not waste anything. I also love that using the leftovers this way takes care of the leftovers, but feels like a new meal.

This particular version was onion, carrots, snow peas, asparagus, zucchini, and mushrooms along with some bow tie pasta. I had a little balsamic vinaigrette left over and added that to the mix too.