April 19, 2010

Hop Over And Say Hello!

I'm posting over at The Greenists today so stop by and say hello!

Recipes to come here later int he week!

Posted by Dianne at 12:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 14, 2010

Grown Up Tuna Casserole

I have to admit I didn't grow up with tuna casserole. My mom wasn't a fan, so we skipped over that version of culinary "delight" but many of my friends complained about their mother's subjecting them to the horror that was tuna casserole.

I never actually encountered a tuna casserole until the last full year I lived in Knoxville, Tennessee, which would have been 1996. I worked at this really horrible, hole in the wall sort of preschool/daycare. It was a definite step down from the preschool/daycare I had worked at before, but this place actually had a cook on staff. Most of what she made was very good, but I dreaded, as did the children, the days that tuna casserole would make an appearance on the menu. It was a sloppy, icky mess, and even back then my mind went in to gear and I thought there had to be a better way to make a tuna casserole that was actually good.

Years passed, and that little thought was filed away into the "I'll do that someday!" file and I never got around to getting back to the idea. Recently I decided it might be time to pull out that little thought, dust it off and see if I couldn't come up with something a little more sophisticated than the standard tuna casserole fare. And you know what? It worked! If you want a tuna casserole that is a little more grown up and not a big old sloppy mess, this is the casserole for you!

What You'll Need:
4 cups of uncooked egg noodles, cooked according to package directions
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Finely ground black pepper
1 large tuna steak
1/2 a large red onion, chopped
6-8 Crimini mushrooms, chopped
1/2 - 16 ounce package of frozen peas
1/2 cup of half and half
1/3 cup of light sour cream
1 cup of Parmesan
Harvati cheese, shredded
Panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Cook egg noodles, drain and set aside:

In skillet add a little extra virgin olive oil and place your tuna steak in the heated pan sprinkling it with some sea salt and a little finely ground black pepper:

Cook tuna steak until it is browned on both sides and mostly done through:

Once tuna steak is cooked use a fork and flake the steak into pieces:

In the same pan that you cooked your tuna steak add a little bit more olive oil and saute your mushrooms and onions with a little sea salt and some finely ground black pepper until tender:

Next stir in peas and cook for 2-3 minutes until mostly thawed:

Stir flaked tuna in to the vegetable mixture:

Next mix tuna/vegetable mixture with noodles and stir to mix. Add sour cream, half and half and Parmesan and stir to incorporate:

Pour mixture into a baking dish that has been brushed with olive oil:

Sprinkle with Harvati cheese:

Then sprinkle with Panko bread crumbs:

Bake for 25-30 minutes until slightly browned:

Serve immediately.

Note: You could add other vegetables if you liked. This method could be used with a salmon steak too, but I'd add in some dill if you were using salmon.

Posted by Dianne at 11:03 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

April 12, 2010

Did You Know You Could Make Your Own Vanilla Extract?

Did you know you can make your own vanilla extract? Not only is it ridiculously simple, it's also some of the best vanilla you'll ever taste at a fraction of the cost of what you pay for a bottle of vanilla at your local grocery store. A couple of years ago I made vanilla extract to give as Christmas presents and I haven't bought vanilla extract since!

Have you made your own? No? Curious how it works? Let's get started!

What You'll Need:
Vodka
Vanilla beans, cut in half
A canning jar with a lid

First off you'll need to decide what size jar you want to use. When I'm making it for myself (or close friends/family) I go with the quart sized jar. For gifts the pint sized jar works too. Rule of thumb, a liter of vodka will pretty much fill a quart sized jar.

Next you want some vodka. I like to use Irish vodka?

Why? Well I have this fascination with all things Irish, but you can use whatever kind of vodka you like.

Next let's talk vanilla beans!

You're going to need 6-8 vanilla beans. First off do NOT go to the store and buy those stupid vanilla beans that are one in the jar for like $10 or something, because then you're going to have one pricey bottle of vanilla extract! That defeats the purpose of making your own and saving yourself some money.

You want to get online either on EBay or Amazon.com and do a search for vanilla beans. I like to buy the organic version, but you've heard my ideas on organic before. You can get a large number of vanilla beans for next to nothing! I bought some a couple of years ago and paid like $14 for 100! I still have them in my pantry and they are just as good as they were the day I bought them.

Trust me, go forth and search. I'll wait....

Did you search? See I told you! Now order yourself some vanilla beans already! ;oP

Now where were we?

Cut each vanilla bean in half:

Place the split beans in a jar and cover with vodka:

Be sure and put the lid on tight.

Now comes the waiting part. This process does take a few weeks, about 6 to be exact, until it's ready to use. All you need to do is sit it in your pantry, or on your counter out of direct sun light, and give the jar a little shake now and then. It will start to turn a beautiful brown color and you'll know it's ready to go. Once it's done you use it just like you use the vanilla extract you buy at the store.

Below is a picture of the extract at various stages:

The clear jar is the one I just put together. The jar in the middle is one I put together in December of 2009 and the jar that is almost empty is the one I've been using since December of 2007. Neat hunh?

Not only is this sinfully easy, it's also quick! The entire process of getting it in to the jar takes less than 5 minutes. A little forethought is needed so that you have it ready to go when you need it since it needs to "steep" for 6 weeks or so, but shaking it here and there is neither difficult nor time consuming. When you're done you've got a fabulous vanilla extract that just can't be beat!

Notes: I did a little experiment when I made my first batch and used several different types of alcohol as an experiment. For the record bourbon and rum work OK too, though vodka is my favorite medium. The tequila? Well that one didn't turn out too great. You can't win them all! ;oP

Posted by Dianne at 4:33 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

April 6, 2010

Dilly Deviled Eggs

So I'm going to ease back in to this blogging thing today with a really simple recipe. I have a few more coming up over the next few days to share. I'm not sure when I'll post though....

Let's jump right in, shall we?

After Easter many of us have a bunch of boiled eggs sitting around, but what do you do with them? We color eggs, but we actually hide plastic eggs. I wouldn't recommend doing ANYTHING with eggs that have actually made it out to an Easter eggs hunt, especially in warm weather, there is just too much room for food poisoning issues, but if you're like me and just color eggs to let your little tea cup enjoy the process, then read on!

Egg salad is always a good choice, but so are deviled eggs! Deviled eggs can come in many forms and variations. For a while now I've thought it would be fun to add dill to the a basic deviled egg to kick it up a notch, so on Sunday for Easter dinner I thought I'd give it a whirl and they were perfect! If you're a fan of dill then this is the deviled egg for you!

What You'll Need:
12 boiled eggs, cut in half yolks removed
1/4 cup of light mayonnaise
1/4 cup of light sour cream
2 heaping tablespoons of yellow mustard
2 tablespoons of white vinegar
1-2 tablespoons of dried dill
A pinch of sea salt
A pinch of black pepper

First up let's talk about the perfect boiled egg....

Place your eggs in a large pot and cover with warm water. Generously salt the water and bring to a quick boil. Turn off heat and let sit for 10 minutes. Remove eggs from the pot and let cool. That is how you make the perfect boiled egg with none of those icky, green centers!

Crack and peel cooled eggs and slice in half. Lay egg white halves on a plate or platter and place egg yolks in the bowl of your food processor or in a large glass bowl along with mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, vinegar, dill, salt and black pepper and process or mash/stir until smooth.

Place a dollop of egg mixture onto each egg white half. Serve immediately or chill until ready to eat.

How simple is that?

Notes: No notes for this one.

Posted by Dianne at 9:39 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack