June 30, 2009
What's For Dinner?
Today was another long day, but a fun one! Today I got a bike and we explored a bit more. Adventures are always fun! This evening after dinner Alexis and I rode together. Such fun!
Tonight we had lasagna (I had some frozen in the freezer), roasted asparagus and salad. My parents head back to Tennessee tomorrow.
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 8:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 29, 2009
What's For Dinner?
Whew what a day! We took Alexis for her 6 year check up today and then we went out and about. Grams and Pop got her a new bike for her birthday because she had gotten too tall for her old one and then we went exploring. We also ran by the orchard and picked up some fresh peaches, blueberries, peas and yellow squash. We left about 9 this morning and got back around 5:30 this afternoon. Busy, busy, busy!
For dinner we had left overs basically. We had the squash we picked up today, some green beans and new potatoes from last night, some sandwiches, salad, etc. For dessert we made some homemade peach ice cream.
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 8:25 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
June 28, 2009
Penguin Party Bash
Whew! The penguin party is over and I'm sitting down and still for the first time in days. Man do my feet hurt, but it was all worth it! Miss G had a fabulous birthday party, with family and friends and a grand old time was had by all. That's my kind of party!
Last year, the afternoon of her Tinkerbell birthday party, just after everyone had gone home, Alexis turned to me and said "Next year I want a penguin birthday party!" When I told people about this they assumed she would change her mind sometime during the year, but Alexis much like me, is all about making a decision well in advance and keeping to it, so a penguin party it was!
This year the cake was very simple. It wasn't anything difficult, but Alexis loved it and it took me next to no time to decorate. That my friends is my kind of cake!
I baked 4 - 13 X 9 inch cakes to make the ice shelf, 1 - 8 X 8 inch cake to sculpt into the hill the igloo was going to sit on and 1 cake in a heat proof round Pyrex bowl to make the igloo. I used the pieces that I shaved off the "hill" to make the terrain more "natural" and bumpy for the ice shelf. I placed the cake on a big board covered with blue cello paper to make the water.
I also cheated a bit. When I realized how many cakes I was going to have to bake to make the ice shelf and igloo and calculated that the recipe I was going to use was going to need 30 cups of cocoa powder I decided that I was going to go the cake mix route. I normally make all cakes from scratch, but you figure out how much 30 cups of cocoa is going to cost and you can see how expensive it was going to be to make this cake! I ended up using the chocolate variety from Dr. Oetker and it was really fabulous!
I also used the Wilton Buttercream icing recipe that I normally use. I used a 3/4ths to 1/4th cup ratio of shortening to butter since I'm not a fan of an overpowering butter flavor in my icing. I also use vanilla and almond flavoring in my icing. I sprinkled the top of the cake with a silvery sanding sugar to help the icing have that sparkly snow/ice look to the surface and it worked fabulously!
The penguins are all resin figures. I briefly thought about making fondant or marzipan penguins and then rapidly talked myself out of it. I treasure my sanity after all! ;oP
I made penguin sugar cookies too. These were some of the best sugar cookies I have every had! I ordered some black sprinkles and things from Fancy Flours and they included some recipe cards in my order. One of them was for a "No Fail Sugar Cookie" and let me tell you these lived up to their title!
I also made a little army of penguin appetizers! Black olives (jumbo and small), pearl mozzarella and carrots. They took bout 20 minutes to make and I got a lot of compliments about them! Someone I follow on Twitter recommended that I Google penguin appetizers and these were just too cute! I used mozzarella instead of cream cheese because Alexis isn't a fan of cream cheese. Black olives are also one of her all time favorite foods, not to mention an adoration of "white cheese" as she calls it, so it worked out nicely!
Overall it was a very nice party. The kids ran around in circles and generally did their kid things, the adults sat/stood around and chatted, ate some food and enjoyed each other's company. You can't ask for better than that.
So now I'm going to take a few days off. I'm seriously wiped out! My parents have been at my sister's house and are coming to stay with us for a few days. I'll probably post What's For Dinner between now and then but most likely I won't post a recipe until Thursday. I'm going to sit (which I haven't done in days!), relax and enjoy spending some time with my Mom.
Hope you all have a good week!
Posted by Dianne at 11:34 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
June 25, 2009
What's For Dinner On A Busy, Busy Day?
Boy has this been a busy day!
This morning Alexis and I set off for the library and to go pick up some things for her birthday party on Saturday. When we got home I realized I had forgotten to grab some lemons so while Miss G took her nap, and Jamison did his conference call downstairs, I headed to the store to grab some lemons. The good thing about living on the side of a mountain is that it's about 10 degrees cooler up here than down in the valley, the view is amazing and well what's not to like? The bad thing about living on a mountain is the nearest town that actually has a grocery store is about 12 miles away. Today when I set off in that direction a truck had had some sort of accident and was jack knifed in the middle of the two lane road, effectively shutting down the whole road. So I had to turn around, go in the other direction and go to the second closest town, which is about 18 miles away. Oh well. It happens...Nothing I could do to change anything. Not going to get upset over something out of my control.
When I got home Alexis wanted to try out her new Easy Bake Oven that she got for her birthday from Aunt Darlene. We were going to break it in yesterday, but I didn't have a 100 watt bulb so we had to get one today while we were out this morning. All I have on hand are CFLs and those wouldn't work. Once we had the light bulb in place we made a little cake with chocolate frosting. I can't wait till the cookbook for the EBO arrives tomorrow, who knows what in the blazes is in those mixes! Once I get an idea of the scale of the recipes in such a small amount then Lex and I will be able to figure out recipes on our own!
While her EBO cake was baking I baked two of the four of the 13 X 9 inch sheet cakes that I'm going to need for the ice shelf/water for Miss G's penguin cake. I also baked a batch of Blueberry muffins to have for breakfast on Saturday because I desperately needed the space in the freezer and using the blueberries gave me a bit more space! Next up I need to make a loaf of bread for the breakfast casserole that will also be part of breakfast Saturday.
I am also making a batch of pineapple chicken salad for Saturday as well. That's next on my list! Then I need to make and decorate penguin sugar cookies, penguin appetizers and bake 2 more sheet cakes and various little sized cakes to use for hills, etc. Tomorrow I'll tackle getting the cake together and decorated!
Woo! My feet hurt! ;oP
Anyway, so I've been busy and as you can see I've been a little too busy today to have time to post a recipe. I will tell you what we're having for dinner though.
Tonight is a comfort food kind of meal. I like that sort of thing when I'm tired and I'm definitely wiped out today. We're having smoked pork chops, peas, mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus.
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 3:35 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 24, 2009
What's For Dinner? Alexis' Birthday Edition! Plus Our CSA Week Six.
As is the tradition at our house Miss G gets to decide what she wants for dinner on her birthday and she has chosen homemade pizza! Sounds good to me! (If you want to see my mushy tribute to my little girl hop over to Daffodil Lane and see what I had to say about her 6th birthday.)
What are you having?
Now let's talk about what we got from our CSA this week since I forgot to share yesterday!
We got more potatoes, red spring onions, asparagus, snow peas, another hard stemmed garlic and some sort of green that I'm not exactly sure what it is. I'm waiting on the newsletter to be sure!
This CSA thing is fun!
Posted by Dianne at 12:20 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Gluten Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
A few days ago I stumbled across this recipe and knew that I wanted to make something similar for Jamison. I also knew he probably wouldn't be completely thrilled and in fact he said they were "too chocolatey". Too chocolatey? As a friend of mine and I discussed on FaceBook there is no such thing!
I decided to add some peanut butter powder to the cookies to try and cut a little of the chocolate taste. I think perhaps the addition of some peanut butter chips would be good too! Or how about some buttercream in the middle? Or a marshmallow cream mixture? Or how about a peanut butter center? Or leave out the peanut butter powder and put some of Rachel's Blueberry Vanilla Frosting in the middle? However you make them though these are divine!
Now let's get to the recipe because today is Miss G's 6th birthday and I have some pancakes to fix for the birthday girl! ;oP
What You'll Need:
2 1/4 cups of powdered sugar
1/2 cup of peanut butter powder
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1 cup cocoa powder
4 egg whites
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Add dry ingredients to a glass bowl:
Add wet ingredients and stir until "dough" is shiny:
Using a measuring spoon spoon by the tablespoon onto a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet AND sprayed with non-stick spray and then place in the oven:
When you scoop it out the batter will be slightly ball like, but it will begin to spread almost immediately and will continue to do so as the cookies bake.
Bake for 8 minutes and remove the pan from the oven:
Let cool completely on the pan and then store in an airtight container.
Makes 16-18 cookies.
Notes: You could add in chocolate chips if you liked.
Posted by Dianne at 6:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 23, 2009
What's For Dinner?
I have no clue what we're having for dinner! Time will tell I suppose. Nothing really sounds good to me. It's one of those days I suppose. I guess I could always make a big salad or something....Hmmm.
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 2:06 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Blueberry Milk Chocolate Chunk Pancakes
I have a confession to make....On Saturday's I eat whatever I want. During the week I try to eat mostly healthy, and most days I do rather well, but on Saturday if something strikes my fancy then by golly I'm going to eat what I just can't get out of my head! A couple of weeks ago that was pancakes and I couldn't decide if I wanted to make chocolate chip pancakes or blueberry pancakes. What to do? What to do?
Now I've made pancakes and posted them on Dianne's Dishes before, but these were different. This took three different cravings (blueberries, chocolate and pancakes) and rolled them into one! Obviously this is not an everyday sort of food, but if you want to splurge I HIGHLY recommend looking no further!
The really neat thing about these pancakes is that you sort of get a three in one taste combination as well. In one bite you get a blueberry pancake vibe, in another you get a chocolate chip pancake feeling and then finally in some bites you get a blueberry/milk chocolate combo that just hits the spot! So if you like a little chocolate in your pancakes, or a little blueberry, just think about combining them and you're there!
What You'll Need:
2 cups of unbleached all purpose flour (Note: As always feel free to use white whole wheat flour instead.)
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/3 cup of organic cane sugar
1/8 cup of safflower oil
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups of buttermilk
Blueberries
Milk chocolate, cut into chunks (Note: You could use chocolate chips if you liked, or another version of chocolate.)
Preheat griddle or skillet over medium heat.
In a large bowl stir together flour, sea salt, baking soda, baking powder and sugar until well mixed. Add remaining ingredients and stir until thick batter forms. Set aside.
I like to line up my ingredients in a row so it's easier to get to what I need as I go:
Once your pan is heated brush it with oil or spray it with non-stick spray and ladle batter onto the pan:
Add blueberries and chocolate:
Cook until bubbles start to form an then flip quickly:
Cook for a minute or two and then I like to flip them back over just to make sure everything is cooked through:
Remove from pan and repeat until you run out of batter.
Serve with maple syrup and butter and then dig in!
Notes: You could do this with any fruit and chocolate combo that you liked.
Posted by Dianne at 7:57 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
June 22, 2009
What's For Dinner?
Tonight was a light night all around. Alexis had black beans, watermelon and cantaloupe, I had watermelon and pineapple and Jamison had a grilled turkey and swiss sandwich on gluten free bread.
What are you having? (Or did you have since I'm late getting this in today!?!?!?)
Posted by Dianne at 9:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Better Bites: Stir Fry
I like stir fry. It's a fun dish to whip up, takes very little time, yet gives a delicious, healthy result that you could easily share with others. You can include anything you like. You can make an all vegetable version or you can use chicken, shrimp, beef, etc. If you like it, you can add it to your stir fry! It's all a matter of making it to your tastes.
Today we're going to take a look at two versions...One made with shrimp and one made with chicken. The only difference between the two are the components, the "sauce" is the same. This is a very basic, very simple way to have a great stir fry in minutes! And you get two dishes that are practically the same, yet totally different too!
Stir fry is such a versatile dish. You can make it many ways, switch up the ingredients and always have something slightly different, yet similar. This dish is satisfying, healthy and delicious! Paired with some brown rice you've got the perfect healthy, yet hearty meal!
What You'll Need for the Shrimp Stir Fry:
Sesame oil (Note: You can also use extra virgin olive oil)
1 small onion, cut into strips
1 cup of snow peas (Note: I measure these by standing them up on their ends in the measuring cup.)
1 cup of mushrooms, sliced
1-2 cup of broccoli (Note: More if you're a big fan of broccoli, less if you aren't.)
1/3 cup of soy sauce (Note: You can use any type you like. I used a gluten free version.)
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 to 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (Note: Use more if you like it hot, use less if you don't.)
1 pound of shrimp, peeled and deveined (Note: You can buy them this way if you don't want to do it yourself.)
In a large skillet sauté onion, snow peas, mushrooms and broccoli until just tender. Add soy sauce and peppers, along with shrimp and stir to coat. (Note: Soy sauce is salty by itself. No need to add more salt.)
Cook until soy sauce starts to evaporate/thicken and shrimp turns pink.
Serve immediately over brown rice.
Makes roughly 2 dinner sized servings.
What You'll Need for the Chicken Stir Fry:
Sesame oil (Note: You can also use extra virgin olive oil)
1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into chunks
1 small onion, cut into strips
1 cup of snow peas (Note: See note above on measuring.)
1 cup of mushrooms, sliced
1 small bunch of asparagus, chopped
1/3 cup of soy sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 to 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (Note: Use more if you like it hot, use less if you don't.)
Sauté chicken in a little sesame oil until slightly browned and done through. Remove from skillet and set aside.
Sauté onion, snow peas, mushrooms and asparagus until tender. Add a little more sesame oil before sautéing if needed.
Once vegetables are tender place chicken back to the pan, along with soy sauce and peppers and stir to coat. Cook until soy sauce is absorbed and serve immediately over brown rice.
Makes 2 dinner sized servings.
Notes: You could easily leave the meat out of either of these and add in other vegetables and/or tofu. Shredded carrot would be great or how about some bamboo shoots or water chestnuts. You could even do all three!
Posted by Dianne at 9:06 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
June 19, 2009
Friday Link Love
Alexis and I are on the way into DC this morning to meet some friends from Tennessee, so let's get this party started because we have a train to catch! ;oP
Kristen at Dine Dish posted an Eggadilla recipe that caught my eye. I would never thought of making one, but it looks brilliant!
Anh from Food Lover's Journey posted a gorgeous looking Wasabi-Pea Flavored Sushi "Cake" with Salmon, Avocado and Cucumber. How fabulous is that? Now I'm craving sushi!
Susan at She's Becoming DoughMessTic posted a simple, yet neat cookie dough cupcake recipe that looks great!
Pound Cake...What's not to like? Go check out the version on Dinner and Dessert...It looks wonderful!
If you've been around Dianne's Dishes for a while you know that I have an ongoing love affair with goat cheese. This week over at Ice Cream Ireland Kieran shared an ice cream made out of goat cheese. Sounds fabulous to me! Now if someone would make a blue cheese ice cream and an Old Bay ice cream and I think I'd be set!
Speaking of blue cheese...Kalyn over at Kalyn's Kitchen shared her Blue Cheese Coleslaw. I'll definitely be making this soon!
I'm a big fan of quesadillas. Why not make a pie out of them? That's just what Elise at Simply Recipes did!
And last but not least Smitten Kitchen shared some Strawberry Dumplings...She had me at dumpling!
What caught your eye this week?
Now if you'll excuse me Miss G and I are off to hop on the Metro to catch up with some old friends and also to see the ruby slippers! How much fun is that?
Posted by Dianne at 6:53 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 18, 2009
What's For Dinner? Plus What We Picked Up At The Farmer's Market!
Today was the first day of our local Farmer's Market so Alexis and I ventured over to see what we could find. I had hoped they would have some peas, but alas we didn't find any. We did however find several other things! We got some eggs though next week I'm going to see if I can find someone that is selling them in paper cartons instead of Styrofoam since I can't recycle that here. I finally found some rosemary plants and picked up some more thyme just because. Alexis picked out a loaf of brioche from a local bakery that had a stall. I also got some more garlic scapes...I just love garlic scapes! And last but not least Alexis wanted to try some blue potatoes so we got a couple to try! If she likes them we'll get more next week. I really like the blue variety. I just love the Farmer's Market!
Now let's get down to What's For Dinner!
Tonight Jamison is having steak and rice. Alexis and I are having black beans, some left over corn and sliced tomatoes.
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 4:14 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Parmesan and Onion Potatoes
If you've been around Dianne's Dishes a while you've heard me talk about how picky Jamison is when it comes to what he will eat. Honestly I get bored for him. So sometimes I go out on a limb and make something that he normally eats (such as potatoes) and kick them up a bit. He of course tolerates this, though he gives me that look as if to say "Really? Again?" and then digs in and eats around my additions.
Never changes. Have I mentioned lately how much I love him? ;oP
Anyway, this was an attempt to unbore his food. He ate it, though as I said above ate around most of the additions, but at least it made me a little less bored for him for the evening. While Jamison would just prefer his potatoes plain, I really enjoy this version and will definitely be making it again...Just maybe not for Jamison! ;oP
What You'll Need:
6-8 potatoes, cut into chunks
1 onion, chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
Extra virgin olive oil
Coarse sea salt (Note: I like Celtic Sea Salt.)
Freshly ground black pepper
Grated Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Brush a baking dish with olive oil or spray with non-stick spray. Set aside
Cut potatoes into chunks and add to the bottom of your baking dish. Add chopped onion and garlic over the top of the potatoes evenly. Next drizzle the potato mixture with extra virgin olive oil (1-2 tablespoons) and stir to coat.
Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and then top generously with grated Parmesan cheese:
Bake for 40-50 minutes until golden brown and potatoes are tender:
Serve immediately.
Notes: You could use any type of onion that you wanted for this dish. Leeks would also be a nice addition.
Posted by Dianne at 8:49 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
June 17, 2009
What's For Dinner?
Tonight is another slow cooker night! It's currently 59 degrees outside. No...You didn't read that wrong...It's 59...In the middle of June! Sadly in a week and a half when I'd like for it to be cool so we can have Miss G's party outside it will be 108 degrees with 1000% humidity....Welcome to Maryland! ;oP I'm crossing my fingers that it will go back to the 70's and stay there until after her party on the 27th. We'll see how it goes.
Anyway......
I have two Cajun pork chops in the slow cooker right now doing their thing. Alexis isn't a fan of spicy so she's going to have some left over chicken. I'll make some rice as a side dish for Jamison while Alexis and I are going to have some corn on the cob and a squash/zucchini dish as our sides.
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 1:14 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Strawberry Muffins
I've really been enjoying the strawberries we've gotten from our CSA. I miss my little strawberry patch that I planted at our old house. (Though I'll readily admit there isn't much else I miss from there! ;oP) When strawberries are in season my first task is eating them all by their little selves. Once that thrill wears off, which is about a week or so, I start doing other things with them. I have frozen some for later, I've made salads, I've made jam, ice cream is always a good idea and then I decided it was time to do some baking!
But what to bake? You can always make strawberry shortcake...I mean who doesn't like that classic? Or you could make another classic...Cobbler! And then there are always muffins! Blueberry muffins are usually the norm around here when muffins are made, but this time around I wanted to make some strawberry muffins because I've always wanted to try them!
Jamison works from home a lot. I like it when he works from home. It's nice to have him in the house even though he's working anyway. But when he goes in, from time to time, I like to send in treats with him to work. It let's me try something and have a little of it, without having to worry about eating it all myself! This way I got to have my muffin and eat it too so to speak! ;oP
For the past two weeks Jamison has had to go in each day because he's teaching a class, so last week I decided that it was high time to make a batch of strawberry muffins and send them in with him. I liked how these turned out...The strawberry flavor was just right, while the muffin itself was very moist and tender. I'll definitely be making these again. If you like strawberries then this is the muffin for you!
What You'll Need:
2 cups of unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup of organic cane sugar
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 cup of vanilla Greek yogurt (Note: I like Oikos.)
2 eggs
1/8 cup of safflower oil
2/3 cups of buttermilk
2 cups of strawberries, chopped
Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a large bowl stir together flour, sugar, salt and baking powder until well mixed. Add yogurt, eggs, oil and buttermilk and stir until completely incorporated and thick batter forms. (Note: Flours is a finicky thing. You might need to add a little more buttermilk. You want the batter to be thick enough to sort of hold up the strawberries, but still be able to be stirred without strain.)
Once batter is mixed slowly stir in strawberries and stir until just mixed:
Line a muffin pan with muffin liners. (Note: If I'm making muffins for us I use silicone cupcake liners instead of paper. You can use them over and over and they cut down on waste! When I'm making something to send out I use the traditional paper liner.)
Fill each cup 3/4ths of the way full:
Bake for 18-20 minutes until muffins are golden and stick done.
Serve immediately or let cool and store in an airtight container.
Notes: You could add half strawberry and half rhubarb if you wanted to shake things up a little bit. Or how about half strawberry and half blueberry?
Posted by Dianne at 8:23 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
June 16, 2009
What's For Dinner? Plus Week Five Of Our CSA!
First let's start with this week's CSA bundle!
We got more strawberries, carrots, red skinned potatoes (my favorite!), shell peas and something that is either a leek or onion! Not exactly sure. At first I thought it was hard necked garlic, but I don't think so now. I'm waiting for this week's newsletter to know for sure! It has a stiff neck and is a bit strong for a leek, but I'm just not sure! Either way it's good though!
Update: 6:01 PM: It was garlic when I cut into it! It went well with the roasted potatoes!
Now let's move on to what's for dinner!
I have some beef stew meat in the slow cooker and am cooking it like I do pot roast. We are also going to have roasted red skinned potatoes and a spinach salad for Lex and Me. (Note: Several of you have asked me what a spinach salad is. Nine times out of ten when I make a tossed salad I use spinach as the base. Alexis and I are big fans of spinach!)
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 1:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Roasted Asparagus with Garlic Scapes and the Importance of Eating Local
As I mentioned yesterday I'm going to be contributing over at Allie's Answers about green food and cooking once a month or so. Today is the day! So stop over and say hello and see what else is going on over there!
No matter where you look these days you can find someone talking about eating locally. Some eat local all year round, and I think that's easier to do when you live in areas of California and Florida that have local produce year round, and others just focus on eating local as much as possible. I fall in the latter category and focus on eating local whenever the opportunity is available.
There are several ways to eat local and it's especially easy during the summer months! You can eat as local as you can possibly get and grow your own, you can visit a local farmer's market or you can join a CSA. You can also do a little research and find out what is actually produced in your area and try to buy exclusively from them whenever possible. You can find a local dairy farm or a local mill, etc. You'd be amazed what might be around that you don't know about before! But what are the real benefits?
First and most obvious what you are getting is fresher and comes to you from a much shorter distance. This makes it possible to have tomatoes right off the vine, strawberries ripe from the field, etc. Those items are normally picked green and then shipped to ripen as they travel. And anyone knows who has had a fresh ripe tomato or strawberry, versus ones that were shipped over great distances while still green, that there is just no comparison! Fresher also means more nutrients because they haven't been around longer and started degrading and they also haven't had to be waxed or otherwise preserved to last longer. Fresh, unmodified and healthier is always a plus!
Second, and as I mentioned above, your food isn't being shipped over great distances, making the carbon footprint much smaller! If you grow it yourself you're just walking out your own back door! That's about as local as you can possibly get. If you are part of a local CSA or attend a local Farmer's Market the items are coming from your local area, instead of being driven, flown or shipped by boat over great distances, hundreds, maybe thousands of miles, and sometimes from other countries! This makes your eating much greener over all and saves a whole lot of pollution from being added to environment. It also helps put money back in your local economy and we all know how important that is these days.
Third (and I have to admit this might be my favorite) you know where your food has come from. You get to meet even the farmer in many cases! A lot of farm have festivals and things that invite you come see what they do and where. For instance I get my milk from South Mountain Creamery. I've been over the farm to their festivals and I've even met some of the family! Also with our CSA Farmer Rick has an e-mail address and has always answered promptly whenever I've had a question. The farm even puts out a weekly newsletter keeping you up to date with what is going on with the crops and how they are faring. I've even met Farmer Rick briefly as well too! It's nice to see where your food is coming from and have a connection to the people who bring that to you.
So what am I doing this year?
As I just mentioned we joined our CSA this summer (my sister is a member of a CSA too) and on top of what I'm planting myself since I knew we weren't having a big garden this year, I wanted to be able to have locally grown, organic produce to enjoy all summer long. I've been keeping track of our CSA packages and have been very pleased so far! Jamison picks up our share on his way home from work and it makes Monday a lot of fun because I can't wait to see what surprise I am going to get once he arrives! Farmer Rick normally gives an idea of what is going to be in the "box" each week, but that newsletter usually comes out after we've gotten our share. I like the surprise!
It's also a good way to try new things. I have wanted to try garlic scapes for years, but never could find them anywhere. We got some a couple of weeks ago and I loved them! It's fun to try new things and it's a good experience for Alexis to see new things as well!
So now what? Want to find a CSA in your area (though in reality you've probably missed the boat for this year on that avenue) you can go to Local Harvest and use their CSA finder. Local Harvest also has a tool to help you find Farmer's Markets in your area. It's not hard to find these local avenues and you'll be so happy you did!
Now I'm going to share with you a recipe with ingredients from my CSA! This is for those asparagus lovers (like me!) out there. By pairing the asparagus with the garlic scapes you take a "normal" dish and make it that much better! It's also healthy, so what's not to like about that?
What You'll Need:
1 bunch of asparagus
3-4 garlic scapes, chopped
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Wash and trim the end of the asparagus. Place in a glass dish and sprinkle with garlic scapes, olive oil, sea salt and black pepper.
Ok now here's the fun part...you can cook this several different ways! You can cook this in a preheated 400 F oven for 25-30 minutes until tender (or in the toaster oven which I like to do when it's hot outside so as not to heat up the house!) or you can pan "fry" it over medium heat until tender or you can place in a foil packet or grill pan and grill for 10-15 minutes until tender. How's that for versatile?
Notes: If you can't find garlic scapes then you could use chopped garlic or onions instead.
Cross posted at Allie's Answers.
Posted by Dianne at 8:22 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 15, 2009
What's For Dinner?
I'm craving Mexican so tonight we're going to do something spicy! I'm not quite sure what yet, but I've got some left over pinto beans and chicken so I'll most likely make something with those for Alexis and me. Jamison is having a pork chop and baked potato.
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 3:46 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
Better Bites: Balsamic Mushrooms
First off let me say again (as you can see!) things are a little different around here this morning! I finally got around to the redesign. I'm very happy with everything so far and things seem to be going smoothly!
Also I'm still in search of Maryland food bloggers. As you can see I've added a section on my blog roll to compile a list of those of us here in Maryland that blog about food. So if you are a Maryland food blogger or know one let me know! Also if you see something a little wonky around the site let me know that too!
On a totally different note I will be doing a cross post entry for Allie's Answers tomorrow about the importance of eating local when possible with a great recipe with ingredients straight from my CSA! I'll be joining Allie and Courtney once a month or so to blog a little green food so stay tunned....You won't want to miss that!
Now let's talk some mushrooms!
As I've mentioned before I like to substitute mushrooms for meat. They are a hearty, yet healthy alternative that are fun to play around with. This version pairs the mushrooms with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and onions to give you a savory combination that is just perfect when you want something satisfying, yet want to give the meat a rest.
What You'll Need:
2-3 large portobello mushroom caps, cut into slices
Extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Dried onions
Coarse sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Brush a baking dish with a little olive oil or spray with non-stick spray. Place mushrooms in baking dish and drizzle with olive oil (roughly 1-2 tablespoons) and balsamic vinegar (about 2-3 tablespoons). Next sprinkle with onions, sea salt and black pepper.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until mushrooms are tender. Serve immediately.
Notes: Leftover mushrooms make a great topping for baked potatoes, rice or pasta. You could use fresh chopped onion if you liked, but I had some dried onions I wanted to try.
Posted by Dianne at 9:13 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
June 14, 2009
Tada!
As you can see the changes are now up and running! There may be a few quirks to work out here or there, but hopefully we'll iron things out over the next few days. If you think something looks wonky let me know!
Also my blog roll has been updated and now has it's own page. I'm also trying to compile a list of Maryland food blogs so if you are reading this and that is you let me know, or if you know someone who isn't on the list let me know that too! The archives also have their own page now listed by month. And in case you didn't know Jamison made me a recipe index a while back. The recipes are listed by category alphabetically.
So things aren't drastically different, but different none the less. The design is slightly different, the header is new, new pages etc. I'm happy with it so far!
Hope you're all having a good weekend! I'll be back tomorrow with Better Bites!
Posted by Dianne at 6:01 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
June 13, 2009
Change Is On The Way!
I can just hear Sam Harris singing that as I type!
As I mentioned earlier this year I've been planning to redesign Dianne's Dishes for a while now. This weekend (it would appear) is the time! I'm hoping that you'll see this design, followed by the new design, all with no glitches, but we'll see how that goes.
Some time between now and hopefully tomorrow evening things will be different. Fingers crossed it will flow over perfectly, but if something seems wonky you'll know why. Don't worry though everything will be fixed and as good as new soon!
Fingers crossed everyone!
Posted by Dianne at 12:26 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
June 12, 2009
Friday Link Love
Let's jump right in today shall we?
Sam from Antics of a Cycling Cook posted a Creamy Seafood Tagliatelle with Asparagus that had me from the title, not to mention the picture! Looks fabulous!
Anne from Anne's Food blogged about Boeuf Bourguignon that looked delicious!
Last week Jamison and I were discussing gluten free angle food cake and how I need to see if I could come up with a version. Fruit Tart posted an adaptation of Alton Brown's angel food cake and it's gluten free! Her version looks really great!
Have rhubarb and strawberries and not sure what to do with them? Tartlette posted Strawberry and Rhubarb Pate De Fruit which are fruit paste candies. Yum!
Last week might have been Ice Cream week here at Dianne's Dishes, but that didn't stop me from finding an ice cream link that I found interesting. Amanda from What We're Eating posted Lemon Cheesecake Ice Cream. I'm going to have to try that one!
My blog daughter Teri posted Smashed-Down Potatoes with Bacon and Cheese. How great does that look? "Mom's" coming over for dinner! ;oP
Chaos in the kitchen posted a BLT Salad with Avocado and Blue Cheese Dressing. I'm going to try this soon!
Grown in Frederick posted an Asparagus Bacon Pizza that is making me hungry! What a great way to use the fresh asparagus that is coming in right now!
And finally check out Culinary Chick's "Dear John" letter to bread...So funny! She literally had me laughing out loud!
What caught your eye this week?
Posted by Dianne at 7:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 11, 2009
What's For Dinner?
Tonight Jamison is having a steak with roasted potatoes. Alexis and I are having Tilapia in some form as yet to be decided, roasted sweet potatoes and some sort of asparagus also to be decided.
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 2:05 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Chicken Meatloaf
As I've mentioned in the past, lately I'm starting to grow an aversion to ground beef, especially in it's raw form. I don't like to look at it, touch it, or even smell ground beef! I tolerate it for Jamison's sake by holding my breath and grinning and bearing it because I hate to take away one of the few things he can still eat, but it's seriously becoming really not my thing! Once in a blue moon I'll get a craving for something made with ground beef, but those cravings are becoming fewer and far between.
For some reason ground chicken and turkey don't really bother me that much though, so I've started substituting them (and mushrooms when I want something without meat) in place of ground beef for things that I am going to eat and I really like the results! This meatloaf is the prime example.
Now if I could just convince Jamison that ground chicken/turkey is the way to go.... ;oP
What You'll Need:
1 pound of ground chicken
1/2 of a large onion, chopped
1/2 of a bell pepper, chopped
2-4 garlic scapes, chopped (Note: If you don't have, or can't find garlic scapes, you could use a couple of cloves of minced garlic.)
1/2 cup of sun dried tomatoes
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup of oatmeal
2 eggs
1 cup of ketchup, divided (Note: I always used an organic brand because they don't have high fructose corn syrup in them.)
Preheat oven to 400 F.
In a large bowl squish together ground chicken through eggs and 1/2 cup of ketchup. If you want you can do this in the bowl of your mixer or with a spoon, but really the best way to do it is just get your hands in there and mix! Keep mixing, stirring or squishing until the ingredients are completely blended.
Once everything is mixed, press the mixture into a loaf pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of ketchup to the top and spread out to cover the top.
Bake for 35-45 minutes or until chicken is done through.
Makes 6 servings.
Notes: You could use ground turkey instead if you liked.
Posted by Dianne at 12:03 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
June 10, 2009
What's For Dinner?
Tonight is a chicken night! I've got some boneless, skinless breasts that need to be used. Not exactly sure what I am going to do with them yet. We'll also have some corn on the cob, spinach and strawberry salad. I'll make Jamison either a potato dish or some rice depending on what he decides he wants.
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 2:22 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Minty Strawberry "Sauce"
I've already told you how much I enjoy fresh strawberries, so I won't go there again, but when we got more strawberries this week from our CSA, along with some mint, I was thrilled! I knew immediately that I wanted to do something with them together.
We had a few slices of pound cake left over from our dinner last week (I froze most of it for use later) and I decided to make some Minty Strawberry Sauce to top that and of course it was just perfect! If you've never had mint and strawberries together before try it...It really is fabulous!
What You'll Need:
1 pint of strawberries
1/4 cup of mint leaves, chopped
1/4 cup of organic cane sugar
In a glass bowl or container chop strawberries to desired size:
Stir in mint leaves and sugar until mixed:
Cover and place in the fridge for at least 4 hours or until "sauce" forms. Perfect as an ice cream topping for vanilla or vanilla white chocolate ice cream or as a topping on angel food cake or pound cake.
Notes: This goes together quickly, is easy, yet provides a bit of bang in terms of wow factor. This mixture also can be used to make an ice cream similar to this one.
Posted by Dianne at 1:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 9, 2009
What's For Dinner? Plus Week Four Of Our CSA!
First off let's look at what we got from the CSA yesterday! More strawberries, asparagus, lettuce, spring onions and mint! Jamison amused me when he got home because he told me something in the bag "reeked" and he had had to drive home with his windows down. I assumed there was garlic or onions or something and chalked it up to his overly sensitive nose, but his idea of "reeking" was the mint! That amused me given fresh mint is one of my favorite smells! Silly Jamison! ;oP
You'll see a recipe up tomorrow using the strawberries and mint. It's simple, but so delicious!
Now Let's talk about dinner!
Tonight we're having pizza! Jamison will get a gluten free crust with pepperoni and ground beef. Alexis will get a whole grain crust with cheese and black olives. And for me...I'm going to play around with another Portobello Mushroom pizza! If it's any good I'm sure you'll see it soon!
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 1:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Roasted Carrots and Fennel
I'll readily admit that fennel has always sort of scared me. The phrase "sort of tastes like licorice" turned me right off from actually trying it, but last week I decided it was time to bite the bullet so to speak and just try it. One of my biggest pets peeves in the entire world is when some says "I hate X!" and then in the next breath "Of course I've never tried it, but I hate it anyway!"
You. Can. NOT. Hate. Something. You. Have. NEVER. Tried!
Jamison and I have this discussion often. ;oP
Anyway, so if I say I "hate" something I've tried it at least once, if not a few times. You might try something you think you don't like and end up liking it later. That is how I was with brussels sprouts after all! So when we had company last week for dinner I decided to play around with fennel!
I decided I would pair the fennel with something I knew I liked, that way if push came to shove I could just eat around it, but I actually enjoyed it just fine! I wouldn't say it tasted like licorice, but it did have a savory sort of burst that was similar. Overall I was very pleased and I think I'd even like it on its own!
What You'll Need:
6-8 carrots, cut into chunks
1 bulb of fennel, top remove and chopped
1/4-1/3 cup of fresh dill, chopped
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Chop carrots and fennel and place in a glass baking dish that has been brushed with olive oil or sprayed with non-stick spray. Sprinkle with dill, sea salt and some freshly ground black pepper and then drizzle with olive oil.
Bake for 45 minutes to an hour until carrots are tender and dish is slightly browned.
Let rest for 5 minutes and then serve.
Notes: You could leave out the dill and use rosemary and thyme instead if you prefer, but dill really goes fabulously with carrots!
Posted by Dianne at 12:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Garden Update Two 2009: Things Are Moving Along!
I've been meaning to do a garden update for weeks now, but haven't gotten around to it, so today you're just lucky! ;oP
As I mentioned in my first update I'm doing a strictly container garden situation this year. Last year I planted the big garden and due to unforeseen circumstances it got completely out of control! So this year we joined the CSA and I decided to plant a container garden as well.
This is the basic set up:
Herbs, tomatoes, peas, spinach, potatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, peppers, flowers, oh my!
First up let's talk some potatoes! I have never tried to grow potatoes in pots before, but when I purchased my tomato "pots" I came across these potato "pots". They are made of a felt like material. You fill them up with dirt, plant your potatoes and it claims you can get up to 20 pounds of potatoes from one pot. We'll see if that actually comes to bear, but for now I'm really impressed with the progress!
This is the pot with the regular potatoes:
I purchased organic seed potatoes to try. I can't remember the exact variety I purchased, but I believe it was Yukon gold. If this works out I'll be saving a couple of potatoes for seeding next year!
I also started a pot with sweet potatoes:
As you can see the sweet potatoes aren't going as fast. I couldn't find seed potatoes for sweet potatoes so I'm trying it on my own. These may not actually make anything but pretty green leaves, but we'll see!
This pot has two green zebra tomatoes sprouting:
I'll move one of them if the little one makes it. Right now he's not showing signs of doing anything but sprouting.
Lots of tomato blooms too!:
Some little tomatoes too, but I didn't get a good shot of them...I so miss my DSLR!
I have four hanging bags with things in them right now. Here are three of them:
As you can see they are moving right along. Two of the hanging bags have various types of tomatoes, one has various types of peppers:
And one has cucumbers and eggplant:
The other bag will be planted with green beans, squash and cucumbers that are still in their sprouting containers:
I plan to get these planted in the next day or so. By the way, yogurt containers make fabulous sprouting vessels!
The spinach is growing, growing, growing!:
I'll be harvesting this today.
The peas are blooming away:
One pot has shell peas and the other has snow peas.
I also planted some black chick peas and Big Mama Lima beans:
These are two of Alexis' all time favorite foods!
The herbs are herbing:
As you can see I've got a couple of squash plants tucked in there too! I've been using some fresh herbs too. I just love being able to walk out and snip a little of this and that!
The roses are blooming:
Funnily enough I don't really care for store bought roses, but I do love the home grown variety! How can you not love this?:
I didn't actually plant these...They "came with the house"! But I'm enjoying them all the same!
And now the petunias!
I have several pots of petunias, this is just one of them, but I love them none the less! I normally plant purple, white, red and a purple/white hybrid, but this year I couldn't find the red variety or the purple/white hybrid, so it's just white and purple.
I also ended up with lavender in pots on either side of the front door:
This was a complete accident! I had meant to get rosemary, and that's what I normally plant next to the front door, but I happened to grab two lavender plants instead, which were sitting right next to the rosemary. Oh well. Lavender doesn't normally do anything the first year. I doubt they will make it through the winter in pots, but we'll see.
I also have some marigolds sprouting:
I'll most likely transplant some of these to the flower bed. These remind me of grandfather, though I couldn't tell you why.
So who else is gardening this year? Who isn't, but wants to be? Do you have a traditional garden or are you doing something a bit unconventional? I'm curious....
Posted by Dianne at 10:56 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
June 8, 2009
What's For Dinner?
Tonight is burger night, which may or may not be bunless depending on if I decide to make buns or not! Jamison is having a regular burger, Alexis and I will have chicken burgers. I'll also makes some oven fries and we'll have a side salad for Lex and me.
Update: 7:19 PM: I ended up making meat loaves instead. I made a plain meat loaf for Jamison and took the ground chicken and made a meat loaf with that for me. Lex had some left over chicken. I also made some Parmesan roasted potatoes and some strawberries with mint for dessert.
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 1:14 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Better Bites: Spicy Chard with Garlic Scapes
As I mentioned last week I was really excited to see garlic scapes in our CSA package last week. I had always wanted to try them, but could never find them anywhere. This was my first taste and I have to say...I'm hooked! They are garlicky, with just the right punch!
We also got some chard in our things last week and I decided it would be interesting to combine the two. They really went well together! This makes a fabulous side dish, or even a main dish if you're in the mood for something a little different. Either way it's delicious!
What You'll Need:
Extra virgin olive oil
8-10 chard leaves, cut into strips
2 garlic scapes, chopped
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2-1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (Note: If you don't like things spicy, use less, if you like it spicy, use more. You can leave this out all together if you want.)
Wash chard and lay leaves flat, one on top of the other, and cut into long strips:
Next chop garlic scapes:
Heat a skillet over medium heat with a little olive oil. Add chard, garlic scapes, a pinch of sea salt, some freshly ground black pepper, red pepper flakes and give a little shake or stir to mix:
Sauté until scapes are just tender and chard is wilted (about 4-6 minutes):
Serve immediately.
Makes 2 side servings or 1 main course serving.
Notes: You could add some chopped onions to the mix if you liked, or possibly some chopped mushrooms too.
Posted by Dianne at 9:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 5, 2009
Ice Cream Week: Strawberry Buttermilk Ice Cream
First up let me say that I had hoped to have 6 or 7 ice cream recipes for this week, but a few of the versions I'm working on are still in the working on stage and I wanted to go ahead and share the ones that I had finished that worked since the weather is starting to warm up (despite being in the 50's and rainy here in Maryland today!) and people are starting to think about ice cream. You'll most likely see those other versions later in the summer, including one that uses Snicker's Bars, a plum/ginger creation, another that utilizes tomatoes and even an avocado version!
Now let's talk some strawberries!
We already had Strawberry Frozen yogurt this week and if you were around Dianne's Dishes last year you got a Strawberry Chocolate Mint version. One of my all time favorite versions of ice cream involves strawberry so I'm always experimenting with different versions! Besides since they are in season this is the perfect time to play around with strawberries!
A few years ago someone told me about buttermilk ice cream and how wonderful it was. I've played around with straight up buttermilk versions and honestly have never really liked it that much. I finally decided it would be fun to try and mix fruit with the buttermilk to let the sweetness of the fruit and the tanginess of the buttermilk play off of one another and it really worked! Another thing that was great about this ice cream is that I utilized a lot of fresh, local ingredients and that is always good!
This ice cream is the perfect blend of tangy/sweet. The strawberries and buttermilk blend well with one another! If you like a fruity bite, coupled with a zest of tang then look no further...This is the ice cream for you!
Note: This recipe is designed to fit this ice cream maker
What You'll Need:
1 pint of strawberries (Note: From our CSA)
1 cup of organic cane sugar
1 - 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
1 cup of heavy cream (Note: From South Mountain Creamery)
2 cups of buttermilk (Note: Also from SMC)
Chop your strawberries and place in a glass container:
I like to use my blender. This comes in handy especially if you want to blend them smooth later.
Add sugar:
Cover and place in the fridge for at least 4 hours to overnight to let juices form. Once the juices are there you can use them as is, or if you prefer smoother ice cream you can blend or process until smooth. I like bits of frozen strawberry, so I would just go from here. Go with what you prefer
In a large glass bowl mix together strawberry/sugar mixture with sweetened condensed milk, buttermilk and heavy cream. Pour into the bowl of your ice cream mixer and freeze according to your model's instructions.
Once the mixture hits the soft serve stage place in an airtight container and store in the freezer.
Notes: You could try this with any sort of fruit. Peaches and blueberries immediately come to mind as good options to try.
Posted by Dianne at 9:43 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
June 4, 2009
What's For Dinner?
First before we get started I have gotten several e-mails asking what CSA stands for. Wikipedia has a nice little break down, but it stands for "Community Supported Agriculture". Basically you buy a "share" of crops at a local farm and you get to pick up (or some deliver) a share each week. It's a fun way to have fresh fruits/vegetables as the season progresses!
The other thing that several of you seem to be curious about is which CSA we are a part of this year. We joined (for lack of a better word) Summer Creek Farm in Frederick county, up in Thurmont this year. I liked their philosophies and if you've been around Dianne's Dishes for a while you know I'm all about organic whenever possible!
Now let's get down to dinner!
Tonight is more of a left over night! Jamison is going to have left over pork chops and mashed potatoes. Alexis and I are going to have left over chicken, the last of the carrots/fennel and some fresh strawberries from the CSA.
Update 5:55 PM: I ended up taking the left overs and making chicken soup for Lex and I. It's in the 50's here today and rainy. It just felt like a soupy kind of day!
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 12:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Ice Cream Week: Tropical Vegan Ice Cream
The idea of a non-dairy ice cream has always intrigued me. Most of us these days know someone that has dairy allergies, or perhaps someone who has a vegan diet. This ice cream gives you a non-dairy, fruity alternative to share with those that might not be able to eat dairy, or as a fruity alternative to the norm. Either way you've got a fabulous little dessert that really hits the spot on those warm summer days!
Note: This recipe is designed to fit this ice cream maker
What You'll Need:
1 - 32 ounce carton of Sweetened MimicCreme (Note: I discovered this at My Organic Market a while back. It's a non-dairy cream substitute that has no soy, is gluten free and vegan.)
1 cup of toasted coconut
1 - 12 ounce container of frozen pineapple juice, thawed but still chilled (Note: Look for a version with no high fructose corn syrup.)
2 bananas, mashed
In a large glass bowl mix together MimicCreme, coconut, pineapple juice and bananas. (Note: if you want to chill the mixture before freezing don't add the bananas until just before you plan to make the ice cream.) Pour the mixture into your ice cream freezer and freeze according to you machine's instructions.
Once the mixture meets the soft serve stage you can serve immediately, or you can place in an airtight container in the freezer.
Notes: You could add pieces/mashed fruits of any variety. Mango would be good, or perhaps some strawberries. It's completely up to you.
Posted by Dianne at 8:52 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 3, 2009
What's For Dinner?
I'm going to roast a chicken to go along with some left overs from last night. Then I'll have left over chicken to do other things with too. I just love that about roasted chicken! I haven't decided yet whether I'll go the Old Bay route or something with thyme and rosemary....
Jamison will have left over mashed potatoes and Alexis and I are going to have some of the left over carrots/fennel dish that I made. I forgot about playing around with the chard/garlic scapes last night so I'm going to do that tonight as well. We also have some left over spinach salad.
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 1:34 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Ice Cream Week: Apple Pie à la Mode (Or Where Apple Pie Meets Ice Cream)
Apple pie and ice cream go hand in hand, so why not combine the flavors into one? For a while now I've wanted to try something like this and since it is Ice Cream Week after all what better time than now? Some might think apples in ice cream are a little weird, but this really turned out great! So if you're a fan of a little ice cream with your apple pie, then this is the ice cream for you!
Note: This recipe is designed to fit this ice cream maker
What You'll Need:
1 pint of heavy cream
1 - 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
2 cups of cooked apples (Note: You want to cook them until they are completely soft and thick.)
1/2 cup of maple syrup
First cook you apples and let cool completely. I did this the night before and let it cool in the fridge over night.
In a large glass bowl mix together all the ingredients and add to the bowl of your ice cream freezer. Freeze according to your manufacturers instructions.
Once the ice cream hits soft serve stage you can serve or place in an airtight container in the fridge until it hardens further.
Notes: No notes on this one!
Posted by Dianne at 9:48 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
June 2, 2009
What's For Dinner? Plus Week Three Of Our CSA!
First let's take a look what we got from our CSA this week!
More strawberries (Have I mentioned how much I LOVE strawberry season??), garlic scapes, chard, asparagus (Also a favorite!) and radishes! I just love Mondays...It's like a little surprise waiting for me at the end of the day each week!
Now let's get down to What's For Dinner?!?!!
Tonight we are having company so things are a bit more fancy that usual....
For dinner I've got a pork loin I'm going to cut into chops. We're going to have mashed potatoes, a carrot/fennel dish and I'm going to play around with the chard/garlic scapes. I also plan to have a tossed salad with a choice of either Ranch of Blue Cheese dressing.
For dessert we are having strawberries, peaches and blueberries, on top of Paula Deen's Pound Cake with some whipped cream. I'm going to make some gluten free peanut butter cookies for Jamison, since he obviously can't have the cake.
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 1:32 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
Ice Cream Week: Almost Rocky Road
I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of Rocky Road. I like the components, and I even like the components together in another form, but in ice cream it just isn't my thing. So I set out to make a Rocky Road type ice cream, all while switching things up a bit and I was very pleased with the result!
The main change to this is cashews in place of almonds. I also deviated from your standard marshmallow, to something a little more adventurous. The end result is a chocolately, marshmallowy, cashewy bite of goodness! Sometimes it's fun to switch things up!
Note: This recipe is designed to fit this ice cream maker
What You'll Need:
1 - 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
1 pint of heavy cream
1 cup of cocoa
1/2 cup of organic cane sugar
1 cup of cashews, chopped fine (Note: You can use raw, dry roasted, etc. What ever you have on hand works. I used some that were roasted with sea salt.)
1 - 10 ounce container of Suzanne's Ricemellow Creme (Note: This stuff is AMAZING! If you can't find this you can use regular marshmallow cream. I was looking for something without high fructose corn syrup when I came across this alternative.)
In a large bowl whisk together sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream, cocoa and sugar until smooth. Once mixed stir in cashews. Add mixture to the bowl of your ice cream freezer and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.
When the ice cream reaches the soft serve stage drop 1/4th of the container of Ricemellow Creme into the freezer as it turns. It should mix fully into the ice cream.
Once the Creme is fully mixed in remove ice cream to a plastic container and place dollops of Ricemellow Creme on the top of the mixture:
Swirl the dollops into the ice cream with a spoon until nice little trails of Ricemellow Creme are throughout the entire mixture:
Serve immediately or store in the freezer until ready to serve.
Notes: This didn't really harden up to be a really firm ice cream. The consistency was sort of that of a giant marshmallow. It was fabulous though!
Posted by Dianne at 1:03 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 1, 2009
What's For Dinner?
It's a mixed bag for us tonight. Tonight Jamison is having a hamburger steak with oven fries. I'm having roasted portobello mushrooms with onion and balsamic vinegar, some asparagus and sweet potato oven fries. Alexis is having sweet potato fries, some turkey and asparagus.
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 1:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Ice Cream Week Meets Better Bites: Strawberry Frozen Yogurt
I've always wanted to make some frozen yogurt, but I never had. I don't know why...The process couldn't be simpler, yet something always kept me from actually making a batch. When I decided to have another ice cream week since last year was so much fun, I decided I would finally try to make some frozen yogurt. Then I just had to decide what kind I wanted to make.
Some of the versions that flitted through my head included peach, blueberry and just your basic vanilla, but I finally decided that strawberry was the way I wanted to go. Frozen yogurt is a bit healthier than your standard ice cream, but it's enjoyable none the less. You can utilize fresh, local fruit and make a healthier, cool treat that really hits the spot!
Note: This recipe is designed to fit this ice cream maker
What You'll Need:
2 - 16 ounce containers of plain fat free Greek Yogurt (Note: I like Oikos.)
2 cups of strawberries, chopped (Note: I like chunks of frozen fruit in my ice cream/frozen yogurt. If you prefer you can mash the berries for a smoother consistency.)
2/3 cup of organic cane sugar
The day before you plan to make your frozen yogurt chop (or mash) your strawberries and pour sugar over them. Place in an airtight container (I like to use a canning jar) and place in the fridge overnight to let juice form:
Once juice has formed combine strawberry sugar mixture with yogurt in a large bowl and stir until mostly mixed:
Don't worry about getting it completely mixed unless you just want to. The ice cream freezer will do part of the mixing for you as it turns.
Place mixture in the bowl of ice cream maker and freeze according to your machine's directions. Once the mixture hits the soft serve stage you can serve immediately or place in the freezer in an airtight container to harden fully.
Once you put this mixture in the freezer it gets quite hard, so you'll have to let it sit on the counter for a bit to be soft enough to serve.
Notes: You could use a Greek yogurt with a higher fat content if you wanted. You could also do this with any fruit that you liked.
Posted by Dianne at 8:33 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
