2nd Day Gourmet

Ham and Cheese Puffs

2012-01-08T17:19:00.000-05:00

It's not totally accurate to say that I made Ham and Cheese Puffs yesterday. Actually, Kati made them and I "directed". And they came out good!

I used Elise's Simply Recipe method for Cheese Puffs. But I thawed out a little less than a pound of Christmas Ham from the freezer, diced it while it was still a little bit frozen and added it in with the cheddar cheese and fresh chopped rosemary.

It seems a little labor intensive when reading the recipe, but it's really not.

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Place 1 cup of water, 1 stick of butter and 1 tsp. of salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. When it's at a boil, turn it down to medium and add 1 cup of flour, all at once, and stir like mad with a wooden spoon. It will get really thick and pull away from the side of the pot. That's fine, just keep stirring and cook for a few minutes.

Next you need to let it cool for a few minutes, stirring to make sure it cools evenly. I put it in my mixing bowl and let the mixer go on "stir" (low speed) for a few minutes. While it's still slightly warm, but not so warm that the eggs get cooked upon entry, mix in 4 eggs, 1 egg at a time. When they're in and it's looking creamy, add in 1 cup of cheddar, 1 cup of diced ham and about 1 Tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary. Stir to combine.

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Using a pastry bag or a scoop (I prefer the scoop method), dish out onto cookie sheets about an inch apart. Bake in the 425 degree oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 and bake for another 15 - 20 minutes, until nicely brown.

Cool slightly and devour!

Good job, Kati!
-J

My Hammy Mac'n'Cheese and Garden Fresh Tomato Soup

2011-12-29T20:16:00.000-05:00

Ham. Mac and Cheese. Tomato Soup.

The trifecta of yummy. They harmonize like a bunch of carolers, don't they?

I had lots of leftover Christmas ham, some elbow macaroni, milk, and lots and lots of tomatoes from the garden. Picked up a block of medium cheddar cheese, and a great 2DG experience was on the way!

Now, I need to 'fess up here. I made the Hammy Mac'n'Cheese Tuesday night using the leftover Christmas ham. I used Elise's Simply Recipes version of Macaroni and Cheese, and it calls for a really interesting way to make it. Basically, you cook the elbow macaroni in milk, using about 2 cups of milk for each cup of macaroni. Sounds odd, I know, but I brought the milk just to a boil, put in the macaroni and simmered it for about 12 minutes, and diced up about 2 cups of ham. At about the 10 minute mark, I melted about 4 Tbs of butter and then added about 2 cups of shredded cheddar and grated some nutmeg and a little pepper. When it was good and melted and gooey, I added the ham and the cheese mix to the macaroni and stirred it all together. A good sprinkle of bread crumbs on top, then into the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. It was quite tasty!

On Wednesday, I worried that the cold snap we are having here in Orlando would be bad for all the tomatoes still on the plants out in the garden, so I went out and picked any that were at least beginning to turn pink. I came in with 1.25 lbs. of Juliets and 5.50 lbs of Romas. So...the ripest ones from that batch and the ones I already had in the house became soup, to go along with the Hammy Mac'n'Cheese.

I diced a medium/large onion and about 3 cloves of garlic. Browned these in some olive oil until they were soft, added the diced tomatoes. I didn't dice all of them...maybe a few pounds. I added about a cup of chicken stock, and then dissolved about a Tbsp of cornstarch in about a half cup of stock and set it aside. I let the soup simmer for a little while, then stirred in the reserved stock/cornstarch and some chopped fresh oregano, marjoram and basil. (I saved a little basil for a garnish.) I let it simmer on low for half an hour or so, then turned it off and let it cool a little bit before carefully purreeing it with a stick blender. I thought I'd need to strain it, but I didn't, so it was a slightly thickened.

I served it garnished with some ribboned basil and diced tomatoes. And the Hammy Mac'n'Cheese, of course!

Enjoy!
-J

Fried 'Mater Sammich

2011-12-17T21:20:00.002-05:00

Tomatoes. Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes.

There are not many things on this planet I love more than fresh homegrown tomatoes. Yesterday I had a tomato sandwich for lunch. Just slices of a fresh ripe tomato on toasted whole wheat bread slathered with mayo. Mmmmm...

So tonight, it was Fried Tomatoes for dinner. Now, I know southerners use green tomatoes when they make Fried Green Tomatoes, but that's not for me. My mom used to make fried tomatoes using ripe tomatoes from our huge garden (usually about 200 tomato plants every summer, among all the other veggies), and she just dredged hers in flour seasoned with salt and pepper and fried til the outside was a little crisp.

I did that tonight, but I also took a different approach. After I dredged them in flour seasoned with salt and pepper, I dunked them in an eggwash and then coated them with panko breadcrumbs mixed with Mrs. Dash Seasoning.

Then I fried them in a hot skillet with vegetable shortening, and served them on a Martin's Potato Roll topped with shredded Mexican cheese mix. And allow me to add...Michael, who does not share my affinity for the tomato, ate his entire sammich, loved it, and said it was like a burger!

BTW...this does qualify as 2DG...the tomatoes were fresh from our garden, but the rolls were left from burger night, and the cheese from some fajitas.

Plate up and enjoy!
-J

Cheesy Biscuit Turkey Pot Pie

2011-12-02T18:15:00.000-05:00

Here's a really excellent way to use up two types of leftovers...Thanksgiving turkey and last night's Baked Potato Soup.

First off, let me just say that the turkey I used for this dish was from Thanksgiving, but Michael had frozen it on Friday. I did not use turkey that was just hangin' out in the fridge for over a week for this dish!

Secondly, this is one of those double 2DG wins! I used last night's Baked Potato Soup in the filling for this dish.

Here's how it went...
Similarly to last night's soup, I cooked some chopped carrots, onions and celery in 3 T butter for about 10 minutes to soften them. I added some chopped fresh parsley, rosemary and oregano from the garden while the veggies were cooking. Then I sprinkled about 1/4 c. flour on them and stirring constantly, cooked the mix for about 2 minutes. I gradually stirred in 2 c. chicken/turkey stock combined into a nice gravy. then I added about a cup of last night's soup, and stirred it and let it thicken up. While that was simmering, I chopped up the remaining turkey and got about 3 - 4 cups out of it. This got added to the filling, along with a few handsful of frozen peas. Let the bubble away while the oven preheats and you work on the cheese biscuits.

If you don't have buttermilk on hand, make your own "sour milk" by putting 1 Tblsp vinegar or lemon juice (I used lemon juice) to a cup, and fill the cup with milk. Stir and set aside for about 5 minutes so it can "sour". Meanwhile, combine 2 c. flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Add 1 c. shredded cheddar cheese and 1/4 c. parmesan cheese and toss to coat cheese mix with flour mix. Dice 3/4 stick of cold butter and combine with flour/cheese mix, using pastry knife or fingertips until mix is course.

Before you add the sour milk to the flour, get your filling into your baking dishes. I managed to get 3 good sized individual servings and 1 deep dish pie plate out of mine. When that's done and you're ready to put them in the oven, go back and finish the biscuit dough. I recommend this because the acid in the sour milk will activate the leavening power of the baking powder and soda, so I always wait until the last possible second to add the milk to the mix, since I don't want all the rising power of my biscuits to be used up before I even get them in the oven.

To finish the biscuit dough, add the sour milk to the flour/cheese mix and stir until just combined and a loose dough forms. Drop the dough by spoonsful (I use an ice cream scoop) onto the fillings in the dishes.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 35 - 40 minutes until the biscuits are nice and brown. I rotated mine front to back and top to bottom after 20 minutes to ensure even baking.

Mike asked me to make a few individual pies so he could give them to his grandmother and 2 friends, so I did that and also made a bigger one for the two of us. I filled all of the dishes at the same time, using a big ladle, to make sure I'd have them all relatively even. I also did all the biscuits at the same time too, to make sure they were all fairly even.

If you have any leftover cranberry relish, serve it up with this!

Enjoy!

Baked Potato Soup

2011-12-02T08:24:00.003-05:00

It's a cold night. I have potatoes, celery, carrots and onions to put to use. So...Baked Potato Soup it is!

"Bake" 4 - 6 medium potatoes,about 1 1/2 pounds, in the microwave oven (pierce them all over with a fork first).

Chop about 1/2 cup each of carrots, onion and celery. Melt 1/2 stick of butter in a large pot over medium low heat. Put in chopped veggies, cover and cook until soft but not brown, about 10 minutes.

When potatoes are cool enough to handle,reserve two, peel the remaining potatoes, or leave some peel on, as desired, add to veggies and mash with a potato masher.

Stir in 1 c. chicken stock and 1 1/2 c. milk to veggies and potatoes, salt and pepper to taste. I also added a pinch of nutmeg. Let simmer for about 20 minutes.

While soup is simmering, cook 4 or 5 pieces of bacon in the microwave, covered with a paper towel, for 1 minute per slice. When cool, drain and crumble. Add about 2/3 of the bacon to the soup, along with about a Tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary and the reserved baked potatoes, chopped. Continue to simmer until you are ready to eat, which should be fairly soon after smelling all of this! You may need to add about another 1/2 c. of milk prior to serving. (I did.)

Serve topped with a little more crumbled bacon and shredded cheddar.

Enjoy!
-J

Caprese Pasta - Italian Mac n Cheese

2011-11-26T22:09:00.000-05:00

I'm taking a break from my Thanksgiving turkey leftovers to use up some fresh tomatoes and basil from our garden and some mozzarella that's been hanging out in the fridge for a while.

The result...Caprese Pasta! I like to think of it as Italian Mac n Cheese.

Put a pot of water on to boil for the whole wheat penne. While that's heating up, lightly brown some garlic in some olive oil. Chop up some tomatoes (I used our Juliets) and toss them in and let them sizzle a while. Sprinkle a little bit of sugar in just to cut any acidity from the tomatoes, and sprinkle a little flour in to serve as a thickener. Stir occasionally and let that go while the pasta cooks. Cut some fresh basil into ribbons (chiffonade) and toss some in, reserving some for the final plate.

When the pasta is finished cooking, reserve a cup of the pasta water before draining the pasta. Then toss the drained pasta into the sauce and work it all together. Put in a little water, a little at a time, until the sauce gets to your desired thickness. Then mix in some cubed fresh mozzarella and mix that in to melt.

Plate, toss on some more fresh basil ribbons for garnish and salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

-J

MMMM Pie!

2011-09-11T18:14:00.002-04:00

I had some leftover egg whites in the fridge, some leftover Nilla Wafers from some banana pudding, a mango and cantaloupe from my Orlando Organics delivery, and I wanted to use them up for a pot luck dinner tonight...so I pondered...and then I thought MMMM Pie!

So here it is...Mango Melon Mint Meringue Pie!

Mango Melon Mint Meringue Pie

Cookie Crust:
4 cups finely crumbled vanilla wafers
3/4 cup white sugar
14 tablespoons butter, melted
1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Crush cookies in zip top bag. Divide between 2 10” pie plates. Add half of the melted butter, sugar and cinnamon to each plate. Mix by hand and press into pie plates. Bake in 350 degree oven, 7 minutes. Set aside.

Filling:
1 mango diced
1 cantaloupe, diced
1 T chopped fresh mint
½ c orange juice
2 T lemon juice
lemon zest from half a lemon
6 oz Greek yogurt
1/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 eggs, beaten

Puree fruit with juice and zest. Blend in Greek yogurt. In separate bowl, mix flour, sugar and cinnamon. Add to puree and blend until well mixed. Blend in eggs. Pour into prebaked cookie crust. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Meringue:

6 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
12 tablespoons sugar

Mix egg whites and cream of tartar on low for 1 minute. Add sugar one spoonful at a time and beat on high until stiff peaks form. Don’t over beat!

Top pies with meringue and bake for 15 additional minutes until brown.

Cream of Celery Soup

2011-07-20T19:36:00.002-04:00

I have a surplus of celery. Really. In the fridge, I had almost a full bunch and another completely full bunch. Then today, in our Orlando Organics delivery, I got another full bunch.

So what could I do with bunches of celery? Cream of Celery Soup!

I rough chopped the nearly full bunch and sliced a medium onion and sauted these in about 2 Tbsp. butter. I let them go for about 10 minutes because of the large amount of celery.

To that, I added about 3 cups of a combination of chicken stock and veggie stock. (I had these in the freezer. I made them some time ago.) Let them simmer for about 15 minutes or so.

After straining the broth, I put it back in the now clean pot and added 2 cups of milk, and another half cup of milk in which I had dissolved about 2 Tbsp of cornstarch. I let this simmer for another few minutes, and voila!

Cream of Celery Soup.

In the picture I garnished it with some fresh ground nutmeg and parsley flakes. Whatever doesn't get eaten will be frozen to be used later in sauces, soups, casseroles, whatever. The perfect 2DG dish!

Enjoy!
-J

Steak MonaVie

2011-07-15T21:08:00.002-04:00

Well, 2DG has spent the last few months settling into our beautiful new kitchen and saying goodbye to the old one. I've been too busy with everything to let you know what's going on! Well today, I tried a meal based on Beef Burgundy, but using a top sirloin steak and MonaVie Essential. I figured since it's fruit based, I could use it in place of the burgundy wine.

First I cubed 1 pound of boneless top sirloin steak and marinated it in 2 oz. of MonaVie Essential juice for about an hour. While that was sitting, I sliced a medium onion, 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks and minced 1 large garlic clove and put that aside with some sliced baby portabella mushrooms.

Next I browned the steak cubes in about 2 T of butter just to sear them on all sides, reserving the marinade, and put them in a casserole dish. Then all the veggies went into the skillet to soften for about 5 minutes, then they went into the casserole dish. Now I deglazed the pan with the reserved marinade and another 2 oz. of MVE. After that bubbled a little bit, I sprinkled in 2 or 3 Tablespoons of flour and stirred til it thickened. Slooowly I added about 2 cups of beef stock, stirring to thicken. Then into the casserole dish with the sauce. The covered casserole dish went into a 350 degree oven for an hour. Then I put in another 2 - 3 oz of MVE and put the dish back into the oven for another hour, uncovered this time.

Served on a bed of mashed potatoes, it was very tasty and the steak was nicely cooked and tender. I was afraid it would be over cooked and dried out, but that wasn't the case at all.

I will be incorporating more MonaVie juice into my meals from time to time, and will let you know how it turns out.

Enjoy!
-J

p.s....now I can hardly wait for some homemade peach/plum pie!

Tamale Pie

2011-03-20T10:36:00.000-04:00

2DG is preparing to move to a new home, so my mission for the past few weeks is to use stuff up rather than move it, so I've been trying to clear out the pantry and the freezer. My philosophy is "I'm gonna carry this stuff one way or the other, so I may as well enjoy it!"

I've had a bag of masa harina in the pantry since I made enchaladas a while back, so this time I'm going to use it to make a dough for something similar to a deep dish pizza. I also used the remaining chicken sausage, ham and sliced portabella mushrooms I got to make Chicken and Wild Rice soup on Friday. I'm sure there's a better name for it, but I'm calling it a Tamale Pie.

To make the dough, I took 2 cups of masa harina, mixed it with 1/2 cup of all purpose flour, 2 tsp. Adobo seasoning and 2 tsp. baking powder. I added 2 Tbsp of olive oil, and slowly worked in almost a cup of water to form a dough. Once it held together, I tried to knead it a little bit, but it wasn't really cooperating, so I put it back in the bowl to rest while I prepped the rest of the ingredients.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Heat about a Tbsp of olive oil in a skillet. Crumble the sausage in a skillet without the casing and let it brown. Be sure to tend it and stir it occasionally to prevent it sticking. Chop half a green bell pepper and a small onion. When the sausage is nearly browned all the way, put about half a cup of sliced mushrooms, half the chopped pepper and onion in with it to brown, reserving the rest to go in the pie au natural. Chop about half of a medium tomato and set it aside. When the sausage and veggie mix is pretty well cooked, I put about a cup of diced ham in just to warm it up a bit. Once that's done, turn off the heat and let the mixture hang out and wait til you're ready for it.

Lightly oil a deep dish pie pan, and sprinkle with some masa harina and/or some cornmeal. I tried to roll the dough out, but it wasn't really roll-able, so I put it in the pie pan and pushed it with my fingers to shape it.

I put about half a can of enchilada sause down next, and then put in the sausage/veggie/ham mixture. Now it's time for the remaining chopped veggies. Put in the rest of the sauce and now it's oven ready!

Let it bake for about 15 minutes, then pull it out and top it off with a mix of Mexican cheeses, and put it back in for another 10 minutes or until the cheese is all nicely melted.

Pull it out when the cheese is melted and the crust is brown. Let it rest for 10 - 15 minutes, then dig in!

Enjoy!

Grilled Shrimp Salad

2011-02-18T14:41:00.001-05:00

For Valentine's Day, Michael made Shrimp Fra Diavolo and a Ceasar Salad for dinner. It was delicious!However, he didn't grill all the shrimp he got for it, so that meant that lunch today was all about 2DG!

He put them in some really good Citrus Sesame dressing to marinade, so they were already very nicely seasoned. All I had to do was heat up the cast iron grill pan, put in some olive oil, and then put in about half the shrimp. After about 2 - 3 minutes, I turned them and let them go another 2 minutes or so.

Next, I put some of the leftover romaine lettuce, chopped, and some of our homegrown tomatoes, sliced, some leftover onion and sliced black olives in a bowl. Topped it off with the grilled shrimp, salt and pepper, and then added a little catalina salad dressing to mimic cocktail sauce a little bit.

Yum! Lunch!

Enjoy...
-J

Pasta Primavera with Chicken Sausage

2011-02-04T15:00:00.006-05:00

Tuesday I was jonesing for some pasta. I've cut back on carbs since the beginning of the year. Not totally doing the Atkins thing, but cut way back on 'em. So since we were getting another produce delivery from Orlando Organics on Wednesday, I decided to use up all the remnants of our produce and use a half box of whole wheat penne on the shelf. For the first time in as long as I can remember, I went to the grocery store and actually only bought TWO things! I got some of Publix's Greenwise Mild Chicken Italian Sausage and a grated cheese blend with Romano, Parmesan and Asiago.
First, I browned the sausage on all sides in a cast iron skillet. When that was done, I took it out and using the same skillet, browned some chopped onion, garlic, bell pepper, all sprinkled with salt, in olive oil. Put in some chopped carrot and parsnips. When they were somewhat cooked, I sprinkled about a tablespoon of flour over the whole thing and mixed it in to make a little bit of a roux. Then in went some frozen chicken stock. I sliced the cooled sausage, which was mostly cooked, but not quite thoroughly, and put that back in the skillet with the veggies and stock.
While the sausage was cooling, I put on a pot of water for the penne. Salted it. When it boiled, I put in the half box of penne and cooked it for a minute less than the box said. When it's done, save some of the pasta water. You can use it to add a little juice to the sauce if necessary. Drain the pasta and put it back in the pot.
Dump the veggie/sausage/sauce in with the pasta, and toss. Add some of the pasta water if it's too dry. Sprinke on some of the grated cheese blend, salt and pepper to taste, and serve!
Enjoy!
-J

Hall of Shame: Kiwifruit Jellies

2011-01-23T09:53:00.000-05:00

I have to admit that not all of the things we try here at 2DG are raging successes. I have had my share of culinary disasters. All the way back in the mid-80s, when I was but a mere child (well it seems that way now!), the first, and for a very long time ONLY cake I ever made was an Oreo Cake, from scratch of course. The recipe called for about a cup of crushed Oreos, as I recall. Well to my way of thinking, if a cup is good, a POUND is BETTER! So in went way more crushed Oreos than it called for, and into the oven went my cake. What came out later was not a nice fluffy tasty Oreo cake. Nope. I got crumbs. Lots and lots of crumbs. Evidently all those crushed cookies soaked up every drop of moisture. Oh well, live and learn.

Years later, I made one of those "impossible pies" for dinner, using canned salmon. I also used fish stock. And probably one other fishy ingredient. What I got was "impossible", all right...impossible to eat! But Mike, being the wonderful and smart man that he is, while I was grousing and scraping my plate down the disposal, was saying "No, Honey, it tastes good!" What a guy.

Well my most recent less than successful endeavor was a few weeks ago, when I was trying to use up about 8 or so kiwifruits that had accumulated in the fridge from our produce deliveries. I found a recipe for something called Kiwifruit Jellies, that sounded like they'd come out like those Spearmint Leaves or Orange Slice candies. The puree gels and you can cut it into whatever shapes you want. Sounds great!

I also read that kiwi fruit contain an enzyme that will prevent gelatin from setting up unless the kiwi puree is cooked to a certain temp, but that shouldn't be an issue here, since this was a recipe for jellies, and it called for cooking the puree for several minutes. Sooo...off I go.

I prepared the kiwifruit, pureed and cooked it as directed. I poured it into an 8 inch square pan, lined with wax paper, as instructed. I chilled it in the fridge for the prescribed amount of time. It looked like it was nicely set. With great anticipation, I picked up the wax paper edges to move it onto a cuting board and...instead of nice little wiggly jellies, it was still runny! So I put it back in the fridge for a while and tested it. No good. OK. So I transferred it to a sheet pan and put it in the freezer overnight.
The next morning, nope now I had slush.

I let is sit in there for a while longer, then I was tired of playing this game, and I rolled it up and wrapped it in plastic, and if I need some sort of sweet jelly/paste fruit type thing, I'll slice some off and put it in.

But at least I got a 2DG post out of it!

Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing, Poached Egg and Clam Chowder

2011-01-22T10:40:00.005-05:00

The title says it all. Mmmmm!Along with nearly everyone else, I've resolved to drop some pounds this year. I've found that carbs, while they pretend to be my friend because they taste soooo good, are actually the thing that makes me heavier than I want to be. So we're trying to live a reduced carb lifestyle. One of the benefits of that is that we get to use things like bacon! I don't know about you, but I think it's a pretty fair tradeoff...less bread or potatoes or pasta, more bacon! I also love spinach, so I'm sure you see where this is heading.
Mike wanted a nice soup to go with our spinach salad with hot bacon dressing, so he made a delicious red clam chowder. It's not exactly Manhattan Clam Chowder, but it sure is good. He started with cooking some bacon, which we'd use in both dishes. When that was done, he reserved some of the browned bacon and some of the fat for me for the hot bacon dressing, and then he put in some chopped carrot, parsnip to cook them down some. He browned some onion, celery, and green pepper in the same pot. Later he added tomatoes (from our garden!) and his spice blend of thyme, fennel, and all kinds of assorted goodies that he won't tell me and let them simmer for an hour or so in 2 cups of our homemade chicken stock and 2 cups of water. He did reserve some extra chopped carrot, parsnip and tomato to add later so that there would be some "less cooked" veggies in there too. Then he put in 2 cans of whole clams and 1 can of chopped clams and the liquid, reserving a tiny bit for the cats who'd become his best friends when he opened the cans. That all simmered for a while longer, then I added the rest of the chopped veggies about a half hour before we were ready to eat.
After putting the rest of the veggies in, I started on the Spinach Salad. After thoroughly cleaning the beautiful fresh spinach we got in our Orlando Organics delivery, I took some of the leftover bacon drippings, 2 T or so, and heated that in the top of my double boiler. (You don't have to do it in a double boiler, but Mike mentioned that's how the restaurant he worked in had heated up their dressing, so I thought I'd give it a try, and it worked well.)
While that was heating, I mixed together 1 T of flour and 2 T of sugar, and separately mixed together 1/4 c. cider vinegar and 1 c. water. Then I added the flour mixture to the hot bacon fat and whisked it for a minute to make a light roux. Still whisking, very slowly add the water/cider mix in small batches, only adding more when it looked like it was thickening up nicely. Next time, I think I'll add the vinegar and water separately so I can control the thickness and amount of each a little better, but this time it still tasted great.
While that was keeping warm, I put a small skillet with about 1 1/2 inches of water on the burner and added about 1 T of white vinegar to it. While that was heating, I tore up some spinach and put it in salad bowls. Then I thinnly sliced some red onion and added them and some chopped pecans to each salad, along with the remaining crumbled bacon.
Now the water was about to boil, so I turned it down a little to just about a simmer. Break each egg into a small bowl and then carefully add it to the simmering water. Do this one at a time! One egg in the bowl at a time, into the water. Let them simmer for 3 minutes, slightly less for a softer egg, longer for a harder cooked egg. While they're cooking, spoon some of the dressing on the spinach salad and toss to coat. Add a little more as you go if you'd like. When the eggs are done to your liking, fish them out with a slotted spoon and let them drain off all the water for a few seconds, or hold them over a towel for a few seconds. Place them on the salad, and season with a little pepper.
Serve along with the clam chowder and enjoy a reduced carb dinner!
-J

Spinach Sausage Mushroom Frittata

2010-12-31T09:23:00.002-05:00

Ah, now THIS is what 2DG's all about!

This Spinach Sausage Mushroom Frittata was made from the leftover Spinach/Sausage/Mushroom mix I had leftover from the Deep Dish Pizza I made two nights ago. I just warmed the leftover mixture in a small skillet, beat 3 eggs with a little bit of milk, salt and pepper and poured that over the warmed filling. Be sure to lift the filling some to allow the beaten egg to get underneath. Let that cook for a few minutes til the eggs are set, then sprinkle on some leftover mozzarella cheese, and put the whole thing under the broiler for a minute or two.

Enjoy with your morning coffee...or drink of choice...

Success be yours in the New Year!

-J

Deep Dish Pizza

2010-12-30T16:57:00.001-05:00

Man o man, where has the time gone?? No posts since the beginning of December and here it is the end of the year! My new year's resolution will be...to be more dedicated to 2nddaygourmet!

So...I was cleaning out the fridge, again, and came up with this little beauty...

I picked up a multi-grain pizza dough at Publix bakery. It's the same dough they use for their multi-grain Italian bread, and it's yummy! Oh another resolution...I will make my own pizza dough in 2011.

I got some plain breakfast sausage, some mozzerella and provolone cheese and used stuff from the fridge for the rest of the fillings. I browned the sausage and doctored it with some of Mike's seasoning mix that he makes, added some fennel seeds and some garlic to the sausage as it browns. Then I added the remenants of an onion, some spring onions and some leftover sliced portabella mushrooms to the skillet. Finally I added, a little at a time, a bag of fresh spinach that was in the fridge and let that cook down.

After the dough had risen for an hour or so, I put it in the 10 inch deep dish pie plate that I had coated with olive oil and sprinkled with cornmeal. Then I added provolone slices and mozerrella on top of the dough. The point is to build a pizza backwards from what you would normally do, so you're adding stuff in the reverse order of what you would typically do for a pizza. Next I put in the sausage/spinach/mushroom/onion combo. You can add these one at a time in layers if you want. I found the last time that cooking the sausage and spinach together worked really well, so I add the rest of the stuff this time too.

Next I added a grated carrot and a half zucchini that I'd cubed, and salted and peppered everything. At this point I'd use a can of crushed tomatoes, but I had a bunch of grape tomatoes and some roma tomatoes (Romas from our GARDEN!) so I chopped them up and put them on and sort of crushed them with my hands when adding them. Then I sprinkled some chopped fresh oregano, marjoram, parsley, thyme and basil on top of the tomatoes, and some more salt and pepper.

Finally I sprinkled some grated parmesan cheese and put it in a 450 degree oven for 20 minutes. I added a little more mozerrella after 20 mins and put it back in for 3 - 5 minutes til it got all nicely melted and gooey.

After sitting for a while, this is what a slice looked like...

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Enjoy!

-J

Turkey Mushroom Veggie Risotto

2010-12-04T12:56:00.004-05:00

I actually made this earlier in the week, Tuesday, I think, but haven't had time to post this. The base for this was on Simply Recipes, but I added some more stuff to it. Oh, about the rice...I picked up a short grained rice at the grocery store for about 77 cents. I compared this to the special "risotto rice" that I saw that was priced much much higher, and it looked the same to me! It works just fine for risotto. And you need to know, risotto is a very "mindful" dish! You will need to give it almost constant attention, and I use the time to "meditate" a little bit! Hee hee...

I used: Turkey Broth I made from our Thanksgiving turkey, veggie stock I had in the freezer, a chopped onion, and sage I had on hand, leftover sliced portabello mushrooms, a zucchini I had in the fridge that I needed to use, chopped, some leftover creamed spinach that I made for a pot luck dinner on Monday, most of the remaining turkey in the fridge, and some grated parmesan cheese.

I mixed 2 c of Turkey Broth, 1 c. of veggie broth, and 2 c. of water and heated this to a boil. Turn this down and keep it at a simmer. You want the liquid to be hot when you add it to the rice.

Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a big skillet until it stops foaming a litte. Add onion and about a cup of sliced mushrooms to the butter. Salt them a little and let them sweat until the onions are translucent. Add 3 cloves of garlic, minced, about a Tbsp of fresh sage, and 1 1/2 cups of short grained rice. Stir it a few times and let it cook for about 2 - 3 minutes.

You will now add the stock slowly, a little at a time. I use a ladle that holds a half a cup, so I know how much I'm putting in. First add a cup of the hot stock. Stir it with a wooden spoon until most of the liquid is absorbed. Get used to doing this. You'll be doing it for quite a while!

When most of that liquid has been absorbed, add another half cup of hot stock. Stir again until the rice absorbs most of the stock. The short grained rice will release starch as it cooks, and this will make the dish nice and thick and creamy. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

When you get about halfway thru the 5 cups of stock, you can start adding some of the additional veggies you have on hand. At this point, I added the chopped zuchini. Stir stir stir, again until most of the liquid is absorbed. Add another ladle of stock and stir some more. When you've got about a cup of stock left, add the chopped turkey and a half cup of stock. Stir until it's mostly absorbed. I added the last 1/2 c. of stock and stirred that until it was absorbed. Then I added the rest of the creamed spinach, about a cup, and stirred that in until it was heated thru. This thickens it up a lot!

Toss in a good sprinkle of grated parmesan cheese, and if you want, about a Tblsp. of butter, but that's not really necessary for this risotto, even though I think finishing with butter is a LAW of risotto making! Stir it in and marvel at the creaminess.

Serve and enjoy!
-J

ps...no pix of this one, sorry! And be sure to sample this when you're almost out of stock. You want to check the rice to make sure it's cooked enough. If you run out of stock and feel you need more, heat up some water before adding it a ladle full at a time.

Crab Wings

2010-11-29T09:02:00.000-05:00

I'm making my "soon-to-be-famous Crab Wings" for a pot luck dinner tonight. Yesterday I put two big packs of wings in two zip top bags to marinade in some vegetable oil, apple cider vinegar, Old Bay Seasoning, parsley flakes and black pepper.

This morning I made the CrabWing Sauce. Two sticks of butter, two bottles of Frank's Hot Sauce, a dash of apple cider vinegar, and a good healthy dose of Old Bay in a pot on the stove. Put in the Old Bay to taste. I go by color! When the sauce is "almost brown" that's usually enough Old Bay...but sample it often to check. Use crackers, tortilla chips, anything, to sample the sauce.

When it's time to make the wings, I use my Showtime Jr. Rotisserie. (Remember "Just set it...and forget it!"? I tell you, I love this thing! I even made our Thanksgiving turkey in it.) I put the wings in the rotisserie basket and let it spin for about 45 minutes. The really cool thing is...I use the whole wings, tips and all, so when they get brown and are kinda sticking out of the basket...they look a little bit like crab claws. :-)

When they're done, I toss them with the wing sauce and serve with more sauce on the side and some celery sticks and ranch dressing.

Mmmmmmm....Crab Wings....

Enjoy!
-J

Ratatouille and Brunswick Stew

2010-11-19T08:55:00.001-05:00

This seems like an odd combination, but I have to do a double post today. Mike and I recently took a trip up to Charleston SC and Savannah GA, so when we got home we needed to clear out the fridge and took some inspiration from the trip...

Ratatouille - not the movie

This is one of my favorite ways to use eggplant and squash. I made some variation of it several times before I learned it really was ratatouille!

Brown some eggplant (sliced or cubed) and place in a casserole dish. Layer on the other veggies...zuchinni, yellow squash, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes. Cover with parmesan cheese and bake at 400 degrees for 40 - 45 mins.

I like it served with some cheesy bread that's been toasted under the broiler. Mmmm!

Brunswick Stew

Mike made Brunswick Stew, named after Brunswick Georgia.

He smoked a chicken out on the patio, and while that was going, made the stew from chicken stock, lima beans, peas, corn. While that was stewing, he made the red sauce from crushed tomatoes, a little hot sauce, onions.
Several hours later, mix them all together and serve!

All Greek to me

2010-10-17T23:26:00.002-04:00

I love Greek food. I especially love pita bread and tziziki sauce. And rotisserie chicken. And roasted veggies...and potatoes...

I found a great recipe for pita bread and tried it for the first time a few months ago. That time, they came out good, but not knowing what I was doing, I over baked them a little bit. Not so this time...they came out perfect!

I made the dough by hand by hand mixing 1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour with 1 1/2 c. unbleached all purpose flour, 1 pkt. rapid rise yeast, 1 T. honey, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 2T olive oil and about 1 1/4 c. lukewarm water. Mixed that by hand until it came together, then kneaded it by hand for 10 minutes. It's possible to do this in a stand mixer, but I did it by hand. After 10 minutes, it was nice and smooth, and I put it in an oiled bowl, covered it with a towel and let it rise for 90 minutes.

After it was nicely risen, I took it out, and cut it in 8 equal portions. Next I rolled these into little balls by sort of cupping my hands over them and rolling them lightly on the board. These got covered with a towel and allowed to rest for 20 minutes. You can see how much they rose in just 20 mintues!

While they were resting I put a cooking sheet upside down on the middle rack of the oven and heated the oven to 400 degrees. Then the pitas were rolled out to about 1/8 in. thick. When they were all rolled out it was time to bake them. I did them two at a time right on the inverted cookie sheet. About 30 seconds before I put each pair in to bake, I spritzed the oven and the sheet with a few sprays of water. Not exactly sure why, but the recipe said to do it, so I did. I put two of them on the inverted cookie sheet and baked them for 3 minutes.

It amazes me how much they puff up in only 3 minutes! If you want them crispy you can flip them over and let them bake another 2 or 3 minutes. As I said, I did that last time, and they were good, but I like a soft pita so I prefer to take them out after 3 minutes.

These got served with rotisserie chicken, homemade tziziki sauce, roasted fingerling potatoes and veggies, and homemade herb butter.

Mmmmmm.....enjoy!
-J

Chicken stock

2010-10-10T17:28:00.006-04:00

If it's Sunday, and I don't have a million other things to do or places to go, and we happen to be out of stock, I love making stock! We've used up all the chicken stock we had in the freezer, and it's a beautiful fall day in central Florida (highs in the low-mid 80s), and I don't have to be anywhere at all, so there is stock on the stove. It makes my little 2nd day gourmetish heart smile to use this stuff up!

OK, I admit. We use a LOT of stock. I make chicken, vegetable and beef stock. We use it in gravies, sauces, casseroles, rice, prima vera, even egg drop soup! In fact, we're out of veggie stock too, so I'll be making more of that fairly soon too.

Whenever we have chicken, whether it's fried, wings, rotisserie, whatever, I always throw the bones and the "extra bits" in a freezer bag and put them in the freezer. When we're out of frozen stock or I have 1 or 2 full bags of bits, it's time to make more.

Get your biggest pot and a collander. I put the goods in the collander so that when it's time to remove the bits from the stock, it's really easy. No fishing required! Put the collander in your stock pot. Dump most of your chicken bits in the collander. Grab some leftover raw onion and toss that in on top of the chicken. Get those inner stalks of celery you weren't going to use for anything else. Also get the leafy tops or the big tough bottoms you weren't going to use either. Put them in with the chicken and onion. Got baby carrots or regular carrots taking up space in the produce drawer? In they go. Now put in the rest of the chicken bits. Add some salt and pepper.

Pour enough water over the bits and pieces in the collander to come about halfway up the stock pot. You can pick up the collander to see how much water you've got in there. I tend to over fill the pot and then when it comes to a boil it runs over a bit. If that happens to you, no big deal, just wipe it up as best you can and clean it up later.

Turn the burner to high heat until it comes to a boil, then turn it down and simmer for about an hour. I like to stir things around once in a while, turning things up from the bottom just to make sure everybody gets some time in the spa. Enjoy that lovely smell wafting thru the house!!!

We have some great herbs growing in pots out on the patio, so while the stock is cooking, I'm going shopping in our own herb garden! Whoo! I cut some parsley, some thyme, some sage and some rosemary. After giving them a good wash, I tie them together with some kitchen string, making a "bouquet garni" and set them aside. Don't put them in yet!!

After about an hour, remove the collander and place it to drain in a small bowl or pie pan. After it's drained, you can add the stock in the bowl back to the pot. At this point, I like to turn up the heat and vigorously boil the stock for a while to let it cook down and condense some. Use your judgement as to how much you want it to cook down. The longer you let it go, the stronger and richer the flavor but you may need to use some extra water later when you use the stock in your recipes.

When you're satisfied with how condensed your stock is, turn off the heat. Now drop in your bundle of herbs and let the stock sit for a while. You don't want to put the herbs in while you're cooking the stock at high boil or the poor little guys will be destroyed and the flavor won't have a chance to develop. Just let the whole thing cool. The residual heat will be enough for the herbs.

Once it's cool, take out the bouquet garni and set it aside. Strain your stock into a medium sized bowl. Now put your little herb bundle back in and place a paper towel over the top. Put the bowl in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight to really let everything blend together and devlop flavor. When you're ready to use or freeze the stock, remove the paper towel, which will help you to remove the chicken fat that has risen to the top of the stock.

Use the stock as you'd like, either now or put it in the freezer for later. I like to freeze my stock in plastic ice trays so that they're easy to use later. Ladle the stock into your ice trays and put them in the freezer overnight. Label a freezer bag with Chicken Stock the date,put in the frozen stock cubes and stash in the freezer for another day. In this pic, I'm using 2 cups of the stock in the brown rice we're having for dinner. The rest is freezer-bound.

Enjoy!

-J

Kiwi Bread

2010-10-08T11:20:00.003-04:00

Every other week, we get a produce delivery from a great company, "Orlando Organics". It's great because they deliver right to your door, and they have a number of options for you to choose from. The really great thing, in my opinion, is that they very often include things either I like and don't get a lot, like kiwi, or things I've never even seen before, like persimmons. This week we got about 4 kiwis in our delivery and we still had one in the fridge from last time. Now, I like kiwi as much as the next person, and I've made my share of kiwi smoothies, strawberry kiwi jam and used kiwi in salads, but I needed to find a diferent way to use up these kiwis.

So a web search turned up this recipe for Kiwi Bread. I made just a few changes along the way.

I peeled 5 kiwi fruits, and using my hand blender, pureed them. Recipe called for a cup, and I got about a cup and a half out of them.

In my stand mixer, I combined 1/3 c. vegetable oil, 1/4 c. honey and 1 egg. Then I added 1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour with which I had sifted 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. baking powder, about 1/4 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg instead of cloves called for in the recipe, and 1/4 tsp. salt.

At this point, the batter was looking pretty dry, but that's ok. To that, I added the kiwi puree, 1 c. of chopped pecans (a replacement for the walnuts in the recipe. I hate walnuts too.) Since I had added more kiwi, it was now a little on the wet side, so I added about 3/4 c. of rolled oats to the mix.

All this went into a 9 in. loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray. Again, the recipe called for an 8" pan, but I'd added enough stuff that I thought I should use the bigger pan. Then I sprinkled some oats on top and put it in a 350 degree oven. Checked it at 45 minutes, but it wasn't quite done yet, so I put it back in for another 10 minutes.

Pulled it out and let it cool for a few minutes. Couldn't resist trying a slice with my last cup of coffee...

Not bad!

Enjoy...

-J

Proscuitto and Provolone Wrapped Pears and Asparagus

2010-10-07T20:54:00.003-04:00

Ever since I made the Provolone and Proscuitto Wrapped Figs and Pears, I've had it in mind to do it again with a few different ingredients. Thanks to the Beef Wellington, I had some proscuitto in the fridge, so why not now? In addition to the leftover proscuitto, I also used leftover asparagus.

Here it's plated with a leftover stuffed chicken breast from Stefanos, my favorite restaurant.

I steamed some of the asparagus in the microwave oven for about 3 minutes.

Take two ripe pears (a pair of pears if you will), halve them and remove the core with a spoon.

Spread a slice of proscuitto and place half a pear on it. Top that with some asparagus. Lightly salt and pepper the stack. Go easy on the salt...the proscuitto is salty already. I used ths really excellent oak smoked pepper I got at the Tea and Spice Shop in Winter Park.

Wrap the proscuitto over the asparagus and pears. Place a slice of provolone over the proscuitto wrapped pear and put them in a shallow baking pan.

Put the pan under the broiler for about 3 or 4 minutes until the cheese is melty and brown.

Enjoy!

-J

Simply Beef Wellington

2010-10-03T11:49:00.011-04:00

I am a big fan of the Simply Recipes blog. One of my favorite meals is Beef Wellington, and Elise's recipe for it gave me the inspiration and courage to try it for myself. Instead of one big Wellington using beef tenderloin, I've had great results using top sirloin filets at a fraction of the price to make individual Wellingtons. I don't know if Gordon Ramsay would like it (Beef Wellington is one of his favorites and he's famous for his version) but we sure do!

Remember Mike's empanadas earlier in the week? Turns out he bought pie crust for it, and there was still one crust in the fridge from it...so...Wellies it is!

1. Chop a pound of mushrooms (this time I just used white mushrooms...last time I used baby portabellas. Use what you have or what's on sale or what you like.) Then process them in a food processor and put them in a saute pan over medium high heat until most of the water cooks out. They'll cook down to about half their volume. Put them aside to cool.

2. Sear your sirloin filets over medium high heat for about 2 - 3 minutes a side. Let them get a good sear on them until they're nicely browned and carmelized. Put them aside to cool. When cool, spread some dijon mustard on all sides.

3. Spread out some plastic wrap and place a few slices of proscuitto on it, overlapping slightly. Spread the mushrooms on the proscuitto and place one of the filets on the mushrooms. Using the plastic wrap, roll the mushrooms and proscuitto around the filet, getting it as tight as you can. Twist the ends to seal. Place the rolls in the fridge for 20 minutes.

4. Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

5. Roll out the pastry dough or pie dough so it's big enough to wrap around the filets. (If you're making one big Wellington to slice, use the whole crust. If you're making individual Wellies like I am, cut the crust into two pieces.) Place the unwrapped filet roll on the crust. Brush some egg wash (beat an egg with a little bit of water) around the edges, and wrap the dough around the filet roll, sealing the edges. Put the wrapped filets in the fridge, seam side down, for about 10 minutes.

6. Place them on a baking sheet, seam side down, and brush the exposed surfaces with the remaining egg wash. Score the top of the crusts with a sharp knife, but try not to cut all the way thru. If you do, don't worry about it. It will be fine! You're just making a few vents for the steam to escape. Bake in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes for medium rare, longer for more done.The crust will be nice and golden brown from that egg wash. Take them out and let them rest for 10 minutes. Carry over heat will cook them a bit more.

7. Plate and enjoy!

-J

Jambalaya, Me-0, My-0

2010-09-30T20:15:00.002-04:00

When I got home from work yesterday, Mike was channeling Hank Williams. He'd started out to make Crawfish Pie and Jambalaya, but the bugs were scarce and so he changed his mind and made a Seafood Empanada and some Seafood Stew with just a great roux for a base. So you know I couldn't let that rest. Today's entry is about the Jambalya I'm making from his stew.

My refrigerator inventory included the leftover stew and some remants of a green bell pepper, celery and a tomato. The pantry yielded some onions and some brown rice. So all I really needed to get at the store was a can of red beans and some andouille sausage.

Once I got home with the loot, I chopped most of the remaining green pepper, half an onion, about a stalk and a half of celery and a good sized garlic clove and put them in some olive oil to sweat. A few minutes later, I put in 2 chopped andouille sausages and let them mingle. Then I added a chopped tomato to the mix. When they were all nicely mixed, I put in the remaining stew and stirred them all together. Then I drained the can of red beans and put that in. They're over there getting cozy even as I type this.

I'm also making some brown rice, so I have a lot of time to kill before I can combine everything and dig in.
See?

Homemade Pasta Carbonara

2010-09-27T20:12:00.000-04:00

So the cake I made on Friday used 6 egg whites...which meant I had 6 egg yolks just sitting there in the fridge looking for meaning in their lives. Their collective destiny was fulfilled in a marvelous way on Sunday. I used them in the homemade pasta I was making to use in Pasta Carbonara.

It was a collective effort between Mike and me. I made the pasta in the afternoon, very similarly to how I made the Peanut Butter Pasta, but without the peanut butter. I used the rest of the whole wheat flour I had on hand. It rolled out beautifully, and I hung them to dry on the tented cooling racks as before.

Michael browned some pancetta perfectly, and then added some mushrooms and onions to the same pan after removing the pancetta. When they were softened and yummy looking, he added some halved baby carrots and let them blend. I heated up some frozen homemade chicken stock, and added some herbage to the pot. While that was warming, I beat the remaining egg yolks and set them aside.

Mike boiled a big pot of water and added some salt. I tossed in the dry noodles. At the same time, I put some chopped tomatoes in with the veggies in the pan. Five quick minutes later, the pasta was happily floating on the top of the water, so I checked, and it was done. After reserving some of the cooking water, I drained it.

Just because I didn't feel like dragging out my enourmous pasta serving bowl, I put the veggies in the now empty pasta pot over low heat. The noodles went in next and I tossed them to combine. I whisked some of the hot stock into the beaten eggs to temper them, then tossed them in with the noodles. Tossing them about 2 or 3 minutes made sure the noodles were well coated and the eggs were cooked. I added the rest of the stock, a little bit at a time, tossing and turning the pasta with tongs the whole time. They soaked up the sauce and got really well coated. I tossed in the pancetta, and sprinkled on some Parmasan cheese.

This got placed in some serving bowls and that's it!

Success!

Blood Orange Soda Cake

2010-09-24T20:39:00.003-04:00

There was an article and recipe in the Orlando Sentinel a few weeks ago that has just been intriguing me. The article dealt with the new "grown up" sodas that have come on the market recently, and how they could be used in traditional recipes to give them a modern twist. This one for a Blood Orange Cake just grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go, so I decided to make it today. This is one of those rare times when there are NO LEFTOVERS involved!

Cake baking, or more accurately, cake decorating is definitely not my forte! But this one did come out kinda pretty, don'tcha think?

I can't wait for Michael to get home so I can cut it...and taste it!
I'll add a pic of what the slice looks like later...

It's later...here's the pic. (It tasted good!)

-J

Ever want your own mint?

2010-08-31T16:46:00.000-04:00

Everybody dreams of having a mint of their own, don't they? I'm not sure this is what they have in mind...

I have two varieties of mint that are absolutely overtaking our garden. Now, way back, the idea of growing my own mint really sounded good, even fun! These days, I am trying every thing I can think of to use this stuff in and keep it reasonably contained.

We're growing Lime Mint, and Chocolate Mint.

To date, I've done this:

Chocolate mint	Lime mint
Hot cocoa Choc Mint syrup Chocolate sauce	Tea (hot and iced) Lime mint syrup Watermelon sorbet

Over the weekend, I went out armed with kitchen shears to tame the beasts, and ended up pulling about 2/3 of it out with my two gloved hands. I cut off all the roots and leggy stems, and carried about 2 enormous armloads into the kitchen. I filled both sides of the sink with cold water and separated the varieties. Take it from me, they don't mix well together when you taste them. At least, I don't like the result, so I am very careful to use them individually.

I had a good amount of the lime mint, which I soaked in cold water and got any loose dirt off, then santized it in my way cool sanitizer. Then I put ALL OF IT into a gallon pitcher and filled it with boiling water and let it steep for Mint Tea. When it was ready, I put some ice in a tall glass and squirted some of my lime mint syrup into it and poured on the tea. It was very refreshing!

Now for the chocolate mint beast. I had crammed the right side of the sink completely full of chocolate mint. After I took the lime mint out of the left side, I split the chocolate between the two, and still had two full sinks of the stuff.

My goal for the chocolate mint?
Chocolate gelato
Mint cream frosting for brownies

For the gelato, I put about 6 cups of fat free half and half (ha! that always makes me laugh!) into a big pot and put it on to simmer. Then I put as much of the cleaned/sanitized chocolate mint in as I could get in there. Believe it or not, I got about an entire sinkful into that pot! I turned off the heat and let it sit there, with a pie plate and weight on it, so it could steep for about an hour.

Then I removed the mint and strained the half and half. I put it in my big strong blender with about 2 cups of sugar and about 2 tsp of vanilla and let 'er rip. Then I put in about half a bag of mini chocolate chips and blended again. They were instantly melted. I poured all of this into two large sealable plastic containers, added the rest of the mini chocolate chips and shook them like crazy and put them in the freezer. Since I don't have an ice cream machine, I do what I can to mix this and keep it kinda airy. Every so often, I took them out of the freezer and shook them like mad, and turned them upside down for a while. If you do this, please be sure your container's lid will provide a good enough seal! You don't want to try to clean up a sticky frozen mess later. After freezing overnight, I found it to be tasty, even if it's less creamy than ice cream. I usually use homemade gellato to make ice cream sandwiches, so there's a lot of other stuff to focus on rather than a slightly different mouth feel than ice cream. This batch was good.

For the chocolate mint brownies, I have to admit I had a box of brownie mix in the pantry to use up...see? It DOES qualify for 2nd Day Gourmet!

First though I steeped some more chocolate mint in about a cup of heavy cream that I heated to simmer. Just as above, I let it steep for about an hour. During that time, I made the brownies so they could cool a little bit. After removing the mint from the heated cream, I put some powdered sugar and vanilla in there and beat it to thicken. It never got quite to whipped cream stage, so I put in more sugar and made it more like a frosting, but still rather thin. I colored it green with some cake decorating icing coloring, and chilled it a bit to let it thicken up.
Then I spread it on the brownies, and put it in the fridge to set up while we ate dinner. Finally, I took the small squeeze pack of fudge frosting that came with the brownie mix and poured it over the mint cream, hoping to have 2 distinct layers, but there wasn't quite enough of the fudge, so I swirled it. Let me tell you, these things are delicious!

I wonder what I'll do next with this mint...

Proscuitto and provolone wrapped pear and figs

2010-08-24T15:42:00.003-04:00

I'm always up for a cooking and/or eating adventure. I'd never eaten or used fresh figs before, so when the grocery store had them on their Buy One, Get One special, I couldn't resist. (That's another thing I'm a complete sucker for...the BOGO!)

They had 3 different varieties, none of which were familiar to me, so I picked two interesting looking ones..."Black Mission" and "Brown Turkey" figs. The Missions are a little bit smaller than the Brown Turkeys, just an fyi. I also picked up two Bosc pairs.

I used some of the figs with some mango I had in the fridge that I needed to use up. I made a zabayon sauce and poured it over the sliced figs and diced mango, put some granulated sugar on the top and put them under the broiler to brown for a few mins. This attempt was OK, and was a nice follow up to the Seafood Bisque, but didn't pack the punch I wanted when I ate some of the extra the following day.

Anyhow...on to the topic at hand...

Lay a thin slice of proscuitto on the counter or plate and place about an 1/8 - 1/4 of a pear on it. Place one piece of each type of fig up against the pear. Carefully wrap the proscuitto around the fruit and fasten with toothpick(s) if necessary to hold them together. Gently place a half slice of Provolone cheese over the roll and place it in a shallow baking dish. Repeat this as many times as you like, or until you fill your baking dish.

Place the baking dish under the broiler for 3 - 6 minutes. Keep an eye on them. When the cheese gets melty and a little brown, take them out. I drizzled a little bit of my lime mint syrup over them, but honey would work great too.

These were a great side to our spaghetti dinner and salad. I also took one to work the next day for lunch.

Enjoy!

Seafood bisque

2010-08-23T11:53:00.005-04:00

I finally got around to using up the assorted shellfish shells I'd frozen over the past several months. I had shells from shrimp, crabs, clams and mussels tucked away and intended to make bisque when I had the time. I must say, this did take most of the afternoon, but man was it worth it! And the aroma! I got hungrier and hungrier as the afternoon went on, just smelling the stock! And that was only the first part...

Thanks to Elise at SimplyRecipes, I had a great shellfish stock from which to build the bisque. In fact, this seafood bisque is based on her Crab Bisque recipe with some slight modifications.

I put the shells into a pot and covered them with about another inch of cold water. Gently heat them to just below a boil, then let them not quite simmer for about an hour. I turned it down and let it keep warm until I was ready to continue.

Add some onion, celery, carrot, parsley, thyme and bay leaf, white wine vinegar, about 2 Tbsp. tomato paste and some smoked peppercorns. Let that go for 30 - 45 mins. Let this cool for quite a while. Strain and set aside.

Brown about a third cup of shallots and some garlic and mushrooms in 2 Tbsp butter in the stockpot. When translucent, work in 2T tomato paste and 1/4 cup white rice. Let the rice brown for a minute or two. Add some white wine vinegar and the reserved 4 cups of seafood stock from earlier. Stir. Let this go for about 25 - 30 mins.

Add a can of minced clams with the juice. Stir to combine. Gently put in a pound of fresh mussels. Be sure to check them first to make sure they're all closed up tight. Almost as soon as you put them in, they'll start to open up. Let them simmer for about 5 - 6 minutes, then when they seem to be just about all opened up, remove the soup from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes.

Remove the mussels from the soup. Set them aside.
CAREFULLY add the soup to a blender (do this in batches if necessary) and blend until smooth. You can also use a stick blender for this but be careful with the hot liquid. When smooth, put back in the soup pot. Slowly add about a cup and a half of half and half or cream, whisking as you pour it in.

Taste and season as needed. I used a tiny bit of Old Bay Seasoning in mine. A touch of nutmeg would be a good alternative.

Remove the meat from about half of the mussels. (Be sure to DISCARD any that do not open up.) Put some of the meat in the serving bowls and ladle bisque over it, or put it in the soup pot with the bisque. Either way, after the bisque is in the bowl, add some of the whole mussels in the shell to each serving. Garnish with croutons.

Just in case we wanted to add it, I put some Old Bay and some hot sauce out on the table when we were ready to eat. I am proud to say that neither of us added a thing to this delicious bisque!

Enjoy!

Fried Mac'n'cheesecakes

2010-08-18T15:36:00.004-04:00

Michael made some really good mac'n'cheese the other day. There was a little left, so we tried making FRIED Mac'n'cheesecakes with it. They turned out really good!

1. Beat an egg with a small amount of milk in a shallow bowl to make an eggwash. Add a tiny touch of tobasco sauce and some salt and pepper.

2. Put some breadcrumbs in a second shallow bowl. (I used panko, but I'm sure regular will work just fine.) Season the breadcrumbs with salt and pepper or some seasoned salt.

3. Portion the cold mac 'n cheese into small balls, about the size of golf balls. Roll them in the breadcrumbs, then in the eggwash, then in the breadcrumbs a second time.

4. Gently flatten the mac 'n cheese balls slightly with your hand, so they're about the size of a hamburger.

5. Put some vegetable shortening or vegetable oil in a skillet, cast-iron if you have one, over medium - high heat. While the oil is heating, put a few unpopped kernels of popcorn in the skillet. You'll know the oil is hot enough for your mac 'n cheese cakes when the corn pops!

6. Remove the popped popcorn from the skillet, if it has not already ejected itself like mine did. Carefully place the mac'n'cheesecakes in the skillet and let them fry for 2 or 3 minutes until they are nice and golden brown. Carefully flip them over and let them go for another few minutes.

7. Remove the mac'n'cheesecakes to a small plate lined with paper towels. If not eating right away, cover with another paper towel. Since you're using really hot oil, they won't absorb a lot of oil, so you won't absorb a lot of oil, but it's still nice to blot up any extra with the towels.

8. We served ours with grilled meatloaf, hashbrowns (two more 2DG creations) and peas. Enjoy!

My Thai?

2010-08-05T16:10:00.012-04:00

This entry isn't about using up leftovers, really, but I just had to write about it. I mean, all those leftovers have to start from some first creation, don't they? Here's the story of one...

I don't know how I came to be so obsessed with the idea of Peanut Butter Pasta, but I did. I did some web research but didn't see anything from anyone about actually making pasta with peanut butter in the dough. I found lots of recipes for noodles in peanut sauce, which sounds good, but not what I was after. I've had several varieties of flavored pasta from Papardelle's, so I thought if anyone has done it, they would've...but no, they only sold some peanut sauce, no PB pasta. So I became even more intrigued, and I decided I HAD to try it. The way I saw it, there were only two possible outcomes...

1) It would be really good and I'd finally have my own truly unique food creation...

or, more likely...

2) It would be so heinous that it would be completely inedible and I would deny ever even THINKING of it, and would try to erase it from my consciousness.

So last Saturday, I decided to try it. I consulted my Italian cooking book, and came up with a plan of attack. Then I got to work. I'll detail the specifics below, but I don't want to keep you in suspense. Which way do YOU think it went???

Hmm?
Hmm?

Huh?
Want me to tell you?

Ok.

IT WAS FANTASTIC!

Here's how it went.

1. Beat 2 eggs with 2 Tbsp. of homemade peanut butter. Add to mixing bowl.

2. In separate bowl, combine 1 c. of unbleached all purpose flour with 1 c. whole wheat flour.

3. Slowly add the flour to the egg/pb mixture. I didn't add quite all of the flour. Probably had about 10% left in the bowl when the dough looked to have enough.

Right about here, I decided it was too dry and I added one more egg mixed with one more Tbsp. of peanut butter. It still seemed a little dry, but I didn't want to add any more than that.

4. Put dough hook on mixer and mix away.

5. Check dough. Let it mix some more.

6. Check dough again. Fret that it's resembling PB cookie dough. See if patting dough together by hand helps. It does. Draw encouragement from that and try dough hook again.

7. Heave one large, dramatic sigh.

8. Turn off mixer, take dough out of bowl and release on lightly floured counter.

9. Knead dough by hand for a few minutes. Fret more that it resembles cookie dough. Try not to dwell. Add a teeny tiny bit of peanut oil to the dough and resume kneading. All told, I kneaded it for about 8 minutes.

10. Form the dough into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and let rest on counter for about 45 - 60 mins. Let it go. Try not to worry what will happen next.

11. Unwrap and pat out a bit on lightly floured counter.

12. Grab rolling pin, dust with flour and apply elbow grease. To my great surprise, it rolled out beautifully!

Keep in mind, I usually have problems rolling out pie dough and cookie dough. They tend to stick no matter what I do. This time, though, I was able to roll, turn, flip, rotate, stretch, whatever, and it just kept responding remarkably.

13. Once I got it thin enough, almost see thru, but not quite, it was time to cut the noodles. I had read somewhere about rolling the dough up and cutting into the desired width, but thought that it'd just stick to itself, so instead, I doubled it over on itself. Then, armed only with a ruler (for a straightedge) and a pizza cutter, I went to work. I wanted them to be about the width of fettucini noodles, so I eyeballed the width to be about 3/8 - 1/2" wide and ran the pizza cutter along side the ruler. Then I carefully picked them up in case they got compressed from the ruler. I did get a little bit of breakage from where I was pressing on the ruler, but nothing too bad.

14. Now...drying. How am I gonna dry these beauties? I propped up two cooling racks long-wise, so they looked a little like a pup tent. Then I draped the long noodles over them so they could get lots of air circulation on both sides.

That's it! Now all I had to do was let them dry until I wanted to cook them up and make a Sesame Shrimp Sauce. (I took inspiration from Pad Thai to create this dish.)

15. After marinading some 16 - 20 count shrimp in Drew's Sesame Orange Marinade for an hour or so, I stir fried them in a mix of a small amount of sesame oil and a bit more peanut oil. When they were pink, I removed them from the skillet and added some sliced scallions and matchstick carrots. Stir fried them for a few mins and then covered them to let them steam a little bit. Then I added some bean sprouts and stir fried them for a few mins. Next it was time for the shrimp to get back in the mix. I added them back to the pan. Next I threw in a few handsful of rough chopped peanuts and about half of an anaheim pepper that I'd chopped. (I removed about half of the seeds.)

16. While all that was going on, I put the dried noodles in some boiling salted water and let them go for about 5 - 6 mins.

17. When all the noodles were floating on the top, I tasted one to see if it was cooked enough. It was, so I drained them in a collander. I added about a Tbsp of peanut oil to the same pot and put the pasta back in there just to give it a touch more peanut flavor.

18. Now I dumped the noodles in a big pasta serving bowl, and put the sauce on top. After tossing with tongs, I added some uncooked peanuts, a little more chopped pepper and grated some lime zest over the whole bowl.

19. To serve, I put some in each pasta bowl, with some bean sprouts to one side, and a wedge of lime.

I can't tell you how shocked and excited I was when I tasted it and it really was good! I was especially happy with the raw peanuts in the dish, and for some reason found that surprising. I can easily see doing this same thing with chicken or almost any type of protein.

20. Next time you think you can't do something just because you don't think anyone else has...forget that! Do it anyway!

-Enjoy!

Pita Pizza

2010-07-20T14:43:00.004-04:00

Well, he's done it again! In an amazing flurry of creativity, Michael took some leftover homemade pita bread that I made for a home-cooked Greek-fest on Sunday (I made pitas, tziziki, gyro loaf and roasted yellow squash) and turned them into fabulous Pita Pizzas!

They were thin and crispy, with really tasty pizza sauce that we collaborated on, although I have to say, I was more the prep chef than anything, chopping our fresh picked oregano, basil, thyme, home grown tomatoes and leftover red onion and mushrooms. He built the pizzas, using the pitas, sauce, leftover mozzerella and pepperoni and above mentioned items, and put them under the broiler for a few minutes. They were fantastic!

He got the idea Sunday night, when he saw the pitas I made. Each one was about 9" or so in diameter, and on the crisp side, so he thought they'd make great pizza dough and that next time, we should just make one BIG pita instead of 8 regular sized ones. (Well, OK, maybe it'd have to be 2 big pitas!) So to test his theory he went ahead and made individual pizzas on Monday. I have to admit, he was right!

Mock Crab Soup

2010-07-15T15:29:00.007-04:00

Being from Maryland, blue crabs and crab soup have a special place in my heart, as does Old Bay Seasoning. I've been making "Crab Wings" for years, chicken wings that I season with Old Bay. I also make a wing sauce with lots of Old Bay in it to go with them.

Here's the 2nd Day Gourmet part...

After we're done with the wings, I take any leftover wings and any bones that we have and make a soup, just the same way my mother used to make crab soup after we had steamed crabs. I usually add some chicken thighs to up the meat content a bit, too.

Here's how...

The leftover wings, bones and thighs go in a soup pot with water. I add tomatoes, onions, and whatever fresh or frozen veggies I have on hand, usually peas, corn, carrots, celery, green beans, in any combination I happen to have them. (This time I didn't have any frozen veggies, so it was just tomatoes, onions, peas and carrots, but it was still very tasty! I think it was the best ever this time!)

Then I put some of the leftover wing sauce in there and add Old Bay as needed. Let it go for an hour or so, then remove all the chicken and bones and them them cool. After they've thoroughly cooled, carefully pick all the meat from all the bones and put the meat back in the pot with the soup. Discard the bones, they've served you well at this point!

Enjoy, Hon!

Snack mix

2010-06-29T17:23:00.004-04:00

Wednesday is a very LOOOONG day for Michael and me. In addition to our busy days, we have a 3-hour committment in the evenings, from 6 - 9 pm. Last week I was absolutely STARVING by the time we got home. So...this week, I vow, will be different! I wanted to come up with something I could throw in the car on the way to work in the morning and would still be edible (and tasty!) by the time I left the office at night.

This is what I came up with...

Monday night (since I won't have time to do it Tuesday night either, due to another committment) I made a batch of snack mix that I put together out of stuff we had in the pantry, most of which was nearing the end of its shelf-life.

Mini shredded wheat cereal - 2 cups
Cinnamon cereal - 2 cups
The remnants of a can of old fashioned oatmeal - probably about half a cup
The remnants of a can of cashew bits and pieces - probably about 1/4 of a cup
About half a can of toasted almonds - probably about 1/3 of a cup
Homemade peanut butter - About 4 Tbsp
Vegetable oil - About 4 Tbsp
Orange blossom honey - About 4 Tbsp
A bag of dried cherries
Kosher salt

After heating the oven to 250, I mixed the peanut butter, oil and honey in the bottom of a glass baking dish and put it in the oven until melted. Meanwhile, I put the "dry ingredients" into a big popcorn bowl and mixed them all together by hand. Then I took the melted mix out of the oven and added the dry mix to it and mixed it all up with some tongs that I had oiled. Put it back in the oven for about an hour, mixing every 15 mins.

Let it cool and this was the result!
YUM!

This Just In...Our FIRST Ear of Corn!!

2010-06-22T11:58:00.001-04:00

Whooo hooo!!!

I am unbelievably excited about this!!! Yesterday Michael picked the first ear of Silver Queen corn from the corn he planted in our small garden!

Behold...

Now, I know...it may not look like much to YOU...but to us, it was a thing of beauty! Yes, it's a little less than completely filled out at the top end...but he picked it in an effort to save it from a cornworm that was trying to set up camp. No problem...we just cut off that end anyhow. After steaming it in some boiling water for about 8 minutes, I cut if off the cob so we could share it, and slathered it with some butter and salt.

MMMMMMM!!!

I've always been extremely partial to Silver Queen corn, since we grew it when I was a kid, and it was the best tasting corn ever. Mike was always a little dubious of that claim, but after tasting it he had to admit it was pretty darn good. "Sweet!" was his exact word...

Shepherd's Pie

2010-06-19T13:55:00.005-04:00

First off, I need to say that technically, what you're about to see is Cottage Pie since it's made with beef, and not Shepherd's Pie, which is made with lamb. That said, I think "Shehperd's Pie" is a more well known name here in the U.S., so that's what I'm calling it.

This has to be one of the greatest "clean out the fridge" dishes you'll ever find. This particular incarnation began its life as Salisbury Steak with mushroom and onion gravy, served along with mashed parsnips/potatoes. Up to this point, I'd always made Shepherd's Pie out of left over meatloaf and mashed potatoes, so using Salisbury Steak seemed like a natural progression.

Here's the finished dish...isn't it pretty? I like to make "individual pies" for each person (and believe me, neither of us ever finishes one at one sitting, so they make great lunches the next day too!), so I use my stoneware bowls, since they are oven-safe.

Now, how'd it go together?

First...I chopped the leftover salisbury steak paddy into cubes and distributed it in the bottom of the bowl. I've found that using one whole piece of meatloaf, or in this case, one whole steak paddy meant that the first few bites around the edge of the bowl may not have much, if any, meat in them.This way fixes that problem!

Next I put some chopped fresh carrots, green beans and leftover mushrooms on top of the steak. Usually I use frozen mixed veggies, but since I had fresh stuff on hand, I used them instead. This meant it had to bake a little longer in the oven, but that's ok.

Now for the mushroom and onion gravy from the salisbury steak meal. I wish this came across better in a picture, but it is what it is!

I had never had parsnips before, and wanted to try them, so I added them in with the potatoes when I made mashed potatoes to go along with the salisbury steak. They were very tasty! I will be using them again in the future. But for now, I took the leftover mashed parsnips and potatoes, and generously spread them on top of the pies. I feel it's important to get a good "seal", so be sure to get the pototoes all the way to the edge of the bowls!

One thing I do differently than most Shepherd Pie creators is top the potatoes with some cheddar cheese. I mean, how can adding cheese to meat, veggies and potatoes be a bad thing??

And here it is again, after being baked at 350 degrees for about a half an hour. After that, I turned the broiler on over them to brown the cheese and potatoes a little bit. KEEP AN EYE ON THEM WHILE THEY'RE UNDER THE BROILER!!! You want them slightly browned, not charred!

And in case you're wondering, here are two pictures of the Salisbury Steaks from which this 2nd Day Gourmet meal originated.

Garden Goodies

2010-06-17T17:08:00.005-04:00

One of the things that makes turning leftovers into gourmet meals so easy and "fun" is the availability of fresh herbs and vegetables that we are able to grow in our "Square Foot Garden" just outside of our townhouse. Trust me, it's quite a feat to be able to grow veggies in a space that I always considered too small to even hold a small table and two chairs! But Mike worked his magic, building two 4 ft. x 4 ft. beds, and we've been able to get an amazing amount of produce from this small space!

These pix were taken on Sunday, and I've already picked most of the red tomatoes shown.

These next pictures really are a source of pride. I was thrilled to see our corn growing as well as it was, especially since I regard all of our gardening, and a lot of my cooking, as a "Great Experiment". Believe me, my pride-filled ego isn't hurt any by remembering that when we mentioned to a professional gardener that we planted corn in our small garden in central Florida, she laughed and said "Good luck with that!".

And just to show you I'm not kidding about this being a small space, and right next to the house...look at our AC unit next to our garden!

Mahi Mahi Burrito

2010-06-12T11:54:00.001-04:00

Thursday evening, Michael surprised me with a beautiful dinner when I got home from work. He had prepared Mahi Mahi served on a bed of wild rice with a fantastic compote/slaw made of mandarin oranges, pineapples, corn and tomatoes. It was delicious!

So, thought I on Friday...this could be the first entry on 2nd Day Gourmet! Looking in the fridge, I found tortillas left from some meal in the past, tomatoes and onion left from making guacamole, lettuce from various salads, some sharp cheddar cheese, the compote and of course the mahi and wild rice.

Here are the players:

So I decided I would make a Mahi Mahi Burrito, taking inspiration from the fish taco.

1. First I prepped each of the players. Here's my mise en place, with all my little soldiers ready to step up.

2. Next I placed some of the wild rice in a small skillet to gently heat up over medium heat, and when it was warm, I added the chopped mahi mahi to the pan to slightly warm it.

3. I covered the pan and turned my attention to the rest of my players. I lined them all up with a tortilla on each plate, ready for the build.

4. And now the build:

First...the wild rice and mahi mahi.

Next, the cheddar

Now for the tomatoes, and onions. Sorry, the lettuce covered everything up, so I decided to leave that picture out.

And now, finally, the finished plate...the Mahi Mahi Burrito topped with fruit compote, with a side of macque shoux.

Thanks for looking in on my creation. Let me know what beauties you are creating from your lovely leftovers!

-J

Welcome, friends and foodists!

2010-06-02T15:57:00.000-04:00

Hello!

Allow me to introduce myself...my name is Jackie and I will be blogging the creative ways my fiance, Michael, and I find to refashion our leftovers so that they are just as appealing and tasty, if not moreso, on the second day as they were when they first came to the plate.

I hate to waste food, even leftovers. We all have them, but let's face it...with some rare exceptions, nobody really gets too excited about the prospect of eating leftovers.

We fancy ourselves "foodists", and we each know our way around the kitchen. But I have to say, Michael has a gift for turning our leftovers into gourmet delights. So much so that I have long called him "The Second Day Gourmet".

Join us for a trip down the kitchen counter...

-J