English Muffin Cheese Toasties

One of the most addicting and delicious lunches on the face of the Earth is a grilled cheese sandwich, but these little toasts make a grilled cheese a bit fancier. I thought of them when I went to the market and saw a 'buy one-get two free' promotion for Thomas's English Muffins.

Gazpacho - Cool Relief From the Heat

Another healthy way to use the garden's bounty! This is Ina Garten's recipe with a bit of a more traditional adapting. The gazpacho is very smooth, has the addition of a piece of artisan loaf that has had the crust removed and a wee bit of cumin as well as that Kosher salt and black pepper. The garnishes resemble a pico de gallo atop the bowl of soup ... cold crisp and the perfect start to a meal with a glass of cold Pinot Grigio on the side and tortilla crisps with guacamole.

Kale Salad with Apples, Cranberries and Roasted Butternut Squash

Thoroughly 'massaged' kale ribbons, fresh Pink Lady apple chunked and soaked in lemon juice, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, roasted cubes of butternut squash, a small handful of Feta cheese  and there you have last night's dinner.

Ina Garten's Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Pasta

 Fourth of July picnic fare was all dolled up yesterday with pulled pork, burgers, hotdogs, pimento cheese and crackers, boozy coconut pineapple chunks, chips, pickles, and this pasta salad. Thank you, Ina Garten for giving me a wonderful base recipe! I used gemelli pasta instead of rotini because I like its 'bite'. I also added the pepperoni, sweet yellow peppers, and sweet white onions. You can add whatever you have in your produce drawer - perhaps red and green peppers ? In addition, I omitted the Parmesan cheese and halved the mozzarella measure, because I felt there was enough cheese in the recipe. Here's the base recipe ! Have at it !

Stewed Summertime Veg - Pisto

Summertime vegetables are starting to come into the supermarkets and soon they'll be mounded up at the local farmer's markets too! That makes this tapas dish perfect for using the best of the best fresh veg! I love the color and flavour that a bit of smoked paprika gives this particular pan of Pisto. 

Pimento Cheese and a Good Book !

Nothing smacks of Down South snackin' like a bowl of pimento cheese and a sleeve of crackers !
I thought I had posted this basic recipe in the past on The Spice Garden, but when I went looking for the recipe today in the labels, it was nowhere to be found. Hmmmmm.

Staten Island Style Cod

This is a beautiful and spicy platter of cod fillet ! Years ago, I picked up the South Beach Diet Cookbook and went through most of the recipes. This recipe, while written for Chilean Sea Bass, adapts really well to Atlantic Cod.  Silent Bob and I have been going meatless increasingly, as we age and as we read more and more how the agriculture of the meat industry is wrecking the environment and the quality of lives of  'the crop'. To boot, sea stocks are increasingly overfished and harmed by the increase in fish farming ... aargh! It seems we humans need to sit back on our heels and really think about what we eat, how we produce it, and how much we consume. That's a whole book of ranting, though.

I haven't bought fish in weeks and it is my birthday week. This platter of fish was my gift to myself. Easy, very spicy, but freshened up by the addition of chopped fresh herbs and lemon. This is how I did it.

An Easy Little Coffeecake and Comment on 'The Yankee Way'

Hazelnut Coffee Ring

The house smells divine right now - like toasted nuts and chocolate and baking pastry! While this coffee ring cools just a bit, I'll tell you about this super easy four ingredient coffee break treat!

Jazzed Beans and Rice

I loved the light on those red kidney beans when I dumped them in with the jasmine rice. What can I say? Added spices and diced vegetables to the mix and we had us a big old bowl of spicy red beans and rice the other evening. Our neighbors made shrimp tacos, margaritas, and a hot cheesy salsa dip to start things out. And then? We whiled the evening away on their deck sipping drinks and Coronas and knoshing the best Tex-Mex meal ! There is NOTHING like having good neighbors ... just sayin'.

Green Herb Quiche and Cucumber Dill Salad

Tonight's supper is a fresh green affair!

Asparagus Frittata

Asparagus Frittata made for an easy and really pretty pillow of eggs and vegetables for my Mother's Day brunch. Sprout Sara came out of Boston for the afternoon, bearing a beautiful Austrian Rose wine and beauty products for her Mom. After cups of hot coffee and chatter over making frittata and crusty toast, we sat for a late breakfast and chatted it up. So relaxing! Thanks Sara for making my day!

Three Bean Chili and a Snow Day ...

Here's a basic chili recipe to pass on to your friends (or kids) who are just learning to cook. It's an easy recipe for kids to cook (with supervision, of course) and it was perfect for a warm up the house project today. This weather would be fun and exciting if it were not April 4th ... but it IS April 4th and this snow has crushed all the crocus and the first daffodils and frozen the little wood hyacinths solid. And that's all I will say on this snow day ... except that the chili is darn good for lunch! I had mine with oyster crackers to crunch with each bite. Gnashing of teeth here ... 

Spicy Pimento Macaroni & Cheese !

Ask any of my old friends, ask any of my family members and they will have to nod in agreement when I tell you that I LOVE macaroni & cheese. I LOVE IT! Like so many of us, it's been the comfort food choice for years. When I'm strapped to find a dinner menu I want to make, I fall back on a mac&cheese casserole. When it's midnight and I'm having the 'drank booze have the munchie blues', I whip up a pan of stove top mac&cheese. When my kids were young and worshiped the ' Kraft blue box' mac&cheese, I indulged them. Over the years, I've gotten a neat list of good macaroni & cheese recipes that have everything from lobster to cauliflower to bacon added to zing the casserole up a bit!

Semolina Gnocchi ... A Perfect Pasta Palette

So ... the last time I made gnocchi I made small spinach and ricotta gnocchi. They were small, loose cheesy pasta dumplings the size of a walnut. These semolina gnocchi are each quarter cup sized pillows that are fluffy and light. Infinitely easier to make, this gnocchi recipe is a keeper.

Tangy Chinese Plum Sauce

... a bumper crop of plums ...

I know traditional plum sauce is made with red plums, but I have an Italian prune plum tree in my back yard. It was the saddest little tree when we first moved to the grey cottage, leaning pathetically  and constantly attacked by the Japanese beetles during the summer. Eight years later, it still leans slightly, but we've placed a cable around the trunk and 'trained it' to stand up straighter.

Campanelle and Pesto Pasta Bowl

The other day, a Facebook friend posted a funny comment about this being zucchini season and that everyone should begin locking their cars ... yeah, it's zucchini season all right ! My counter is starting to become cluttered with zucchini and cucumbers. By next week, I'll be threatening SB with death if he brings any zucchini into the house that is larger than a  ... you know! Sorry, but THAT is the perfect size for cooking. What can I say?

Pain Ordinaire - French Bread

Winter returned to the grey cottage over the weekend. We had snow, sleet, freezing rain and then a gusty freezing polar vortex swept in to freeze everything rock solid. One hears the cold crunch of the ice on the road as the neighbors head out to work. The wind makes the icy coating of the branches clatter, when it gusts around the house corners. It's colder than a witch's left hind roopy-too, as my Dad liked to say!

Summer Berry Crumble ... and A Story

Picking berries has always been one of the best of summertime pleasures. I remember long summer days when my ten year old friends and I would run the woods that bordered our neighborhood housing development. We'd ram back and forth along the pounded down paths playing hide and seek, having honeysuckle berry and acorn fights, and spending long hours building woodland forts, climbing trees, and looking for the next place to attempt the best ever Swiss Family Robinson tree fort. When banana bikes became the rage, we'd ride the paths and build 'jumps'. I was the builder and sometimes borrower of a friend's bike, as my family could never afford the latest craze. I never had my own bike until I was twelve, and then it was a traditional Schwinn. But who cared when I had a raft of friends with the latest, a thirty acre woodland to play in, and plentiful summertime berries ?!?

Creamy Polenta with Broccoli and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

We're getting really beautiful broccoli from the garden right now! The other day, we picked a head that was as large as a bridal bouquet ... so lovely with nice tight florets and brilliant green stems with that lovely velvety look. Golly, I love the summertime produce!