Foodie Vaca 2011: The Fruit Loop

Hood River Valley

Allison got us all set for our full day in the Hood River Valley and exploring "The Fruit Loop." She gave us a map with all of the orchards listed along the route and a description of each one's specialties, hours, etc. We made sure to find Packers Orchard and Bakery and she also gave us several other must see stops. This "loop" would have dreaming about honeycrisp apples, Star crimson pears and marionberry milkshakes for the rest of the trip!

Mt. Hood from the road

After a visit to Panorama Point to take in the lay of the land, we headed for the first few orchards on the loop. We drove through acres and acres of pear, apple and peach orchards at the peak of harvest for the apples and pears. We bought a few apples and pears at each place to try a variety of different kinds and they were all great. At one family run orchard, we were looking at some beautiful pears and the lady steered us toward a bin of the ugliest looking pears you ever did see. She sliced into one and we were in love in one bite. They were ripe, juice and calling our name, so we had to buy a few. :)

Enormous Apples!

Packer Orchard was a highlight because of our history with their cookies. Both times I had been to Oregon, we had gotten Packer's cookies at the Portland and Beaverton Farmer's Markets and they were heavenly! When I went to England, David decided that he would send me something special and he knew how much I liked Packers cookies. Well, the little stinker called them up and had a dozen cookies shipped to Illinois and then he shipped them off to England. I was in Germany when they arrived, but they were waiting for me, tasty as ever, when I returned. In a way it was a pilgrimage of sorts to be able to go to the actually bakery/orchard and get fresh cookies. Sorry no picture...they were eaten too fast!



For lunch we stopped at Apple Valley BBQ in Parkdale. I had been to Parkdale on my first visit to the Vally 5 years earlier, but didn't see much of the town. Really not much too see, but Allison was right when she said they had great BBQ. I got the lunch sampler with pulled BBQ pork and a few ribs with a choice of 2 sides. I wanted to try the baked beans, but I was curious about another side option...cornbread salad. I decided to ask the waiter what it was and he told me it was pretty much macaroni salad with cornbread instead of pasta. Sounded interesting so I gave it a whirl....BEST CHOICE EVER!!!! Wow was it good! I could have eaten a bowl of the stuff. I asked the waiter if they would share the recipe and he said he'd check with the owner who was in the kitchen. He was more than happy to share the recipe with me and even wrote it down on the back of a ticket. I'll post that recipe in the near future. David enjoyed his BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger, pear slaw...and my cornbread salad...I was nice and shared..a bit. :)

After visiting more orchards, sampling some HUGE apples (see picture) and driving a 1/2 hour to Lost Lake only to find it fogged in, cold and rainy, then driving a 1/2 hour back to the highway, we stopped at Apple Valley Country Store. We bough some of the marionberry syrup that we had for breakfast that morning and sampled some jams. On Allison's recommendation, we tried a marionberry milkshake, which David is still talking about.
Lakecliff B&B

Our foodie adventure didn't end there. After a rest at the B&B and calling back home to listen to our church's Wednesday evening service, we headed out supper at Riverside at the Hood River Best Western. Allison told us that the new chef at the restaurant was doing some great things with the menu and thought we should give it a try...she hadn't steered us wrong yet! Our meal was phenomenal! We got a window seat on the water, but could see much since it was dark, but still nice.We started our meal with some great fried calamari with some fried fennel root mixed in. David got a pan-roasted chicken with homemade gnocchi, chanterelles and spinach. When the server brought my pasta he called it, "big boy chicken alfredo" and it was just that, with papperadelle pasta, super tender chicken, peas and a great cream sauce. We were so full, we didn't get dessert, but enjoyed tea and coffee after the meal. This was probably the #2 meal we had, just behind the Streamliner Diner. It was an excellent way to cap off our stay in Hood River! Thank you Allison for all of your great suggestions!

Once again, we experienced fresh local ingredients that just make a meal so much more enjoyable and tasty!

Foodie Vaca 2011: Hood River Valley Part 1

Tuesday found us leaving the Pacific Coast for the Hood River Valley about 3 hours away, but still along the Columbia River. We were looking forward to two nights at Lakecliff Bed & Breakfast in Hood River, OR. Allison was our gracious hostess and once we had a tour of the house, she gave us a suggestion for supper. Brian's Pourhouse was a great suggestion and we really enjoyed our meal, especially after rather disappointing supper the night before.

We started with some yummy pumpkin soup that had olive oil and freshly cracked black pepper on the top. The pumpkin was locally sourced, as was a lot of what we ate on our vacation. It's such a great way to support the local economy and have really tasty food in your restaurant, or on your own dining room table!

Anyway, our main courses were salmon and lamb stew. My Columbia River salmon was 10x better than the night before and came with green beans and a carrot sauce. David's lamb stew came with creamy polenta and was very tender.

A piece of chocolate cake was a great treat, since we really only get dessert on vacation or for special occasions.
Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of both our breakfasts at Lakecliff. However, both were heavenly! The first morning included fruit poached local pears with a cream cheese sauce, homemade local honeycrisp applesauce, French toast with marionberry syrup, and smoked bacon. The next morning included fresh fruit salad, more applesauce, hashbrowns, scrambled eggs and sausage. Allison did a fantastic job and we really appreciated all her help...she appreciated two Midwesterners who cleaned their plates! (she told us a lot of her guest are from California and the women often eat like birds :) ).

Wednesday was the bulk of our foodie adventures in the Hood River Valley!

Foodie Vaca 2011: Astoria, OR

We woke on Monday to sunny Oregon day and a wonderful smell coming from the ground level of the hotel. I was confused, because I knew that our hotel didn't have a restaurant, so we had to investigate where this wonderful smell was coming from. Little did we know, the hotel was connected to to a cafe that had a doorway into the lobby of the hotel. The breakfast menu was small, but delish! The place was called Street 14 Coffee House and their signature breakfast sandwhich was the Street 14, with grilled ham and Swiss cheese, finished off with a fried egg on top and a drizzle of maple syrup. YUM! I decided to try a breakfast panini, which was good too. It also had ham, with cheese, tomato, egg and basil. Their chai latte was wonderful and David enjoyed a cup of strong coffee while we planned out the rest of our day.

We visited Ft. Clatsop (Lewis and Clark's winter fort once they reached the Pacific), and made it to the coast. We decided that seafood was a must for lunch and Nora's in Seaside was perfect. I got clam chowder, even though it couldn't compare with Pike Place Chowder and a bacon cheeseburger. But wait! You said you wanted seafood for lunch on the coast??? Well, a burger sounded good and it had Tillamook Cheddar (made about 50 miles south of Seaside on the coast) and applewood smoked bacon on it. I'm claiming the clam chowder as my seafood. If I were to do it again, I would have gone with David's choice of salmon fish and chips. Never had battered and fried salmon before, but it was very good.

After wandering down to Cannon Beach, we headed back to Astoria and climbed the Astoria Column for wonderful, sunset vistas of the coast and mountains. Dinner was at Baked Alaska on the water front in Astoria. Less than thrilled overall with this choice, but not all bad. We tried some tempura prawns for a starter that were good (just not enough)! I got BBQ salmon with potatoes and brussel sprouts. Not impressed by the salmon, but that was righted later on in the trip. David loved his Chanterelle pasta alfredo and we both enjoyed that marionberry cobbler for dessert.

Foodie Vaca 2011: Seattle Day 2

The second day of our vacation was almost entirely devoted to food. We started with breakfast at BOKA Kitchen. I found that this restaurant uses a lot of local and organic products so we decided to try them out. Omelets seemed to be the perfect Sunday morning breakfast and boy were they good! Mine had a mix of spinach, chicken sausage & Gruyere cheese! Dave's was called the Lumberjack, with chicken sausage cheese and country gravy over the top. We shared some roasted Yukon Gold potatoes. I also really enjoyed my morning milk tea with Organic Stash English Breakfast tea.

After a relaxing in the hotel's rooftop hot tub, we ventured back downtown to meet up with our Seattle Food Tour group! If you're going to Seattle, we highly recommend this tour group for food tours of Pikes Place Market. We loved the tour and we loved our guide, Penny! We met at Vital Tea Leaf in the south end of the market. After sampling some teas we headed to DeLaurenti's Specialty Food & Wine and got to try some great cheese and a salami created by Mario Batali especially for DeLaurenti's. Both were fantastic!

Next was some yummy mini donuts from a little stand in the main section of the market...we had to come back and get a 1/2 dozen of these hot, sugary, little guys. We also sampled some dried fruit from a stand that does a lot of different dried fruits like cantaloupe and honey crisp apples. Penny took us to see the "gum wall," which was, in a word, disgusting.

All was made right with a trip to Bottega Italiana for some beautiful gelato. I've never had gelato in Italy, but I'm guessing this stuff is close. I tried the pumpkin gelato, while David had pineapple. Both were delish!

Next was The Crumpet Shop, where we had homemade English crumpets with butter and honey. This was the one place I had been to before, but not actually tried one of their crumpets...wonderful!

The next stop was very unique. A Filipino family runs a small lunch stand and shop in one of the corridors of the market. Penny knows the family quite well (it's an all woman show) and asked what she had cooking for the employees that we could try. It was a very basic fish and rice soup, but it was amazing! I really wanted to go back for more!

A stop for some honey crisp apples and smoked salmon came next, followed by our favorite food of the tour...Clam chowder! Pike Place Chowder has award winning clam chowder, as well as other seafood soups and chowders. We have never had clam chowder that was that good, but this was fantastic!

Our last stop was the Steelhead Diner, which had some good homemade ginger beer and we sampled some cheese with a kumquat compote. This was our least favorite, but we were still on a food high, so we didn't mind. We had to got back for more chowder and also tried a crab roll. I still have dreams about that chowder. :)

Quite food and happy, we made our way back to the airport to get a rental car, so we could head down to Oregon. It was about a three hour drive to Astoria, Oregon and we were only hungry again at about 9:30 at night. Since it was so late on a Sunday, we settled for pizza and relaxed in our room. Not sure on the calorie-count for the day, but we try not to think about it. :)

Foodie Vaca 2011: Seattle Day1

A few weeks ago my husband and I returned from a wonderful 10 day vacation in the Pacific Northwest. Inevitably, when we go on vacation, it becomes a chance to enjoy some really good food everywhere we go. I'm going to be giving you a peek into some of the yummy food that we had over the next few posts. While you are drooling over you keyboards, my hubby and I are trying to figure out how to shed the excess weight acquired from all this fantastic food! :)

Seattle

Uli's Famous Sausage

This was are first meal of our vacation. We found this sausage shop at Pikes Place Market in Seattle. We tried a sampler of 3 different sausages: Nurenburger, Bacon sausage and a Hungarian sausage. It came with some delicious potato salad, pretty good slaw and a piece of baguette. Good first impression of great things to come at the market!




While walking up to the Seattle Space Needle, we found Yellow Leaf Cupcake Co.
They had a lot of really interesting flavors. On the left is a Canadian Maple Butter cream and to the right is a Cafe Orange Cinnamon. Both were delicious!


Saturday night we took a ferry to Bainbridge Island-only a 30 minute ride from downtown Seattle. The ferry ride was breathtaking at sunset and stunning coming back with the city all lit! We ate at the Streamliner Diner on the island. This was by far our favorite restaurant! We got to sit at the counter and watch the chefs prepare our meal (above)! It was so much fun and they chef was really nice! And the food you might ask? Oh, the food...

Linguine with a beautiful roasted garlic tomato sauce and chicken

David's fall-off-the-bone (and fall-off-your-chair good!), braised pork shank with polenta, onion, and sage hash...it was so good!!

And that was just Day 1.

:)

Chicken Fajitas

What's for supper tonight? How about Fajitas?! This is a super quick supper that we just love! Unless you grow your own colored bell peppers, they can be kind of expensive in the store. I always shop at Meijer and a few times a year have 10 for 10 on colored red, yellow and orange peppers, so I stock up! Often bell peppers are grown outside of the U.S., which I try to avoid, but it's just too good of a deal to pass up! I usually will by 10 at a time, cut them into strips and freeze them in a tri-colored mix especially for fajitas. That way I have my own frozen fajita mix that I can just throw into a hot pan and saute with onions and fajita seasoning. You could even add the onion before you freeze to make it for an even quicker prep time. Add some tortillas, black refried beans, cheese and salsa and you have a great, fast weeknight meal. Here is a breakdown of what I typically use:

• 3-4 bell peppers (I like to use each kind-red, yellow, orange, and green--or you can kick it up a notch with a poblano thrown in for some kick)
• 1 large onion
• 1 lb chicken breast meat, cut into chunks or sliced thin
  
• 1 can black refried beans
• sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• salsa
• whole grain, fajita-size torillas
• any fajita seasoning ( I like Frontera brand fajita skillet sauce or Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle seasoning)--you could always just use taco seasoning if that's what you have on hand
• I like things spicy so I like Chipotle Tabasco sauce on mine too :)

I saute the chicken, peppers, and onions together over medium-high heat until they start to get a bit brown and the chicken is cooked through. Add the seasoning and you are ready to fill your tortillas.

Of course this can easily be made vegetarian by leaving out the chicken. It's just as yummy that way too!

Enjoy!

Emmy

German Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Another salute to summer...zucchini! I meant to get this recipe out a long time ago when zucchini was more abundant, but alas, time marches on. Both the coconut cream pie and this cake were inspired by my hubby who loves coconut. It's a good thing that I like it too! The zucchini cake recipe has been in my family for a while and I decided to add my own twist with the German Chocolate frosting. The frosting recipe came from allrecipes.com-a site I often turn to when I need a quick recipe that I don't already have in a cookbook, or can't find. The zucchini makes this cake super moist and delicious...you may want to leave the zucchini part out when telling picky eaters about this cake...once they try it, they won't even know it's in there!

German Chocolate Zucchini Cake

For the cake:

• 1/2 cup margarine or butter
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1-3/4 cup sugar
• 2-1/2 cup flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
  
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk
• 4 Tbsp baking cocoa
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients except chocolate chips together. Pour batter into cake pans or jelly roll pan to make cake bars. Sprinkle top with chocolate chips. Bake at 325 degrees F:40-45 minutes for cake, 20 minutes for bars. Allow cakes to cool. Top with frosting

For frosting-

• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 egg yolk, beaten with 1 teaspoon water
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup flaked coconut

Combine evaporated milk, sugar, egg yolks, margarine and vanilla in a saucepan. Cook over low to medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until thick. Remove from heat and stir in pecans and coconut. Spread on cake while frosting is still warm.

Enjoy!
e

Coconut Cream Pie

With this Indian summer upon us, at least for another few days, I started thinking back this summer and it got me thinking about two desserts that I made for a summertime pool party with family a few months back. The coconut cream pie was a hit in the heat even though it had to stay in the cooler most of the afternoon...until someone discovered it. :) It's a super easy recipe and I hope you enjoy it!

Coconut Cream Pie

For filling-

• 1 box of instant coconut cream pudding mix

Prepare pudding according to directions for making pie filling. It should use less milk and less beating time.

For crust-

• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose or pastry flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup butter flavored shortening
• 4-5 Tbsp ice water

Stir together flour and salt. Cut in shortening with pastry blender. Sprinkle ice water over mixture, one Tbsp at a time. Flour should be moistened, but dough should not be too sticky. Form into a ball and roll out into a 12 in circle. Place into ungreased pie pan and crimp edges or press crust with a fork.

Once pie filling is set, pour into pie crust and smooth out until mostly level. Chill in the fridge while you prepare whipped cream.

For vanilla whipped cream (from Food Network.com)-

1 cup heaving whipping cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp powdered sugar

Chill a metal bowl, if you have one, in freezer for 5 minutes. Beat cream and vanilla with electric mixer (hand or stand) until it just begins to form peaks. Sift powdered sugar over cream and beat for another 20 to 30 seconds, but DO NOT over beat or it will begin to get clotted. Gently spoon onto pie filling. Chill.

For toasted coconut topping-
Place 1/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut on a microwave save plate. Microwave for 15 seconds, stir, then 15 seconds again or until it just beings to brown, but watch it carefully or it will burn. Top pie with toasted coconut.

Devour! :)
& Enjoy!

e

Canning Salsa

Going back to the the heat of the summer for a bit...especially since it topped out at 85 on this October day. We had an abundance of tomatoes this year! I canned quarts of whole and crushed tomatoes and when they were still coming in droves, I made salsa! It turned out WAY better than the salsa I tried 2 years ago. I once again used my Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, which I highly recommend to anyone getting into canning. I'm actually pondering the idea of giving canning lessons next year to those interesting. Just a thought right now, but we'll see if it goes anywhere. On to the recipe...

10.5 cups tomatoes, diced
2 cups chopped onion
3 cups green pepper, diced
4 jalapeños, minced
4.5 cloves minced garlic
1.5 small cans of tomato paste
1-1/8 cup white vinegar
3/4 cup cilantro, chopped
3/4 tsp ground cumin

In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine all ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently, until thickened, about 30 minutes.

Prepare canner, jars and lids. * Note: See post on apple butter for canning instructions

Ladle hot salsa into hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary by adding hot salsa. Wipe rim and center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process both 8 oz and pint jars for 20 minutes. Remover canner lid and wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

Make about 7-1/2 pints

Once again, great gift idea! You can even make your own gift basket of canned and baked goodies! Make things even more cost effective by asking to have the jars returned...promising to fill them again next year of course! :)

Enjoy!
e

Sweet Apple Cider Butter

We'll I'm actually back now and hopefully this blogging kick will last. Honestly, I have been very busy with work and things around home. I've also been diving into some interesting books lately as a way to get me away from my iPad and laptop. :)

I have been in a canning/freezing frenzy also with over a bushel of apples taking over my kitchen. A little over a month ago we had 4 generations of Steffen women picking apples at my husband's grandma's house. Between my 3 year old niece, my sister-in-law, a second cousin of my husband's and his grandmother we picked about 6 bushes of Golden Delicious apples. While my applesauce/butter making has just finished, my sister-in-law is just getting started with the help of Grandma.

I've also been working at the Tea Room at the Depot in Mackinaw, IL and things have been busy...thus I have been busy too! I really enjoy the work and I highly recommend stopping by sometime for lunch Tuesday-Saturday, but please call to make a reservation first before stopping by...we highly appreciate and recommend it. :)

Anyway, onto more important matters....apple butter! This recipe comes from Ball's Complete Book of Home Preserving. I never follow recipes to the T when cooking, but I definitely do when canning as you can mess up the acidity and cause the food to lose their shelf-life. I did modify how I prepared apples to be made into butter. This was my first time doing apple butter and it turned out great. I loved using the apple cider, because it's fresh and local this time of year. It does add another layer of flavor and it is super sweet with all the sugar, but oh so good!

Makes about eight 8oz jars or four pint jars

6 lbs apples, cored and quartered
2 cups sweet apple cider
3 cups sugar
1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves

In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine apples and apple cider. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat and boil gentle, stirring occasionally, until apples are soft.-time will depend on the firmness of the apples you used. Mine took only about 10-15 min!

Working in batches, transfer apple mixture to a food grinder or processor (I used a Victoro food grinder so I didn't need to peel the apples. You'll need to peel the apples if you use anything else). Grind or blend apples until a uniform consistency is reached. DO NOT liquify.

In a clean large stainless steel saucepan, combine apple puree, sugar, cinnamon and cloves. Stir until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens.*Note: To test thickness, place a small spoonful of butter on a chilled plate. If the mixture holds it's shape with just a small ring of liquid around the butter, it's ready.

Prepare canner, jars, and lids. *Note:Use a Ball or Kerr canning guide or this website

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/uga/using_bw_canners.html

Ladle hot apple butter into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace/ Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding more hot apple butter. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store. You should hear the beautiful "pop" of the lids popping down to seal. If a jar does not seal properly, then you will be able to push the lid down. If this happens you can either re-can using a new lid or store that one in the fridge and eat it within a few weeks.


Canning things like apple butter makes great homemade holiday gifts or housewarming gifts. Homemade gifts are fun, unique and usually pretty cost effective. Just like the Soup Jars I gave last Christmas that were super fun to make! I bought some Avery labels and used their free downloadable templates to make more interesting labels than just white. I also need to send out a thank you to my grandmother who gave me the pretty quilted jars and fun plaid lids. Stocking stuffer? :)

Enjoy!
e

Apologies

I feel like I should apologize to all of you who read my blog regularly and may, or may not have been checking the site over the past 2 months for a new recipe. I must say I have just gotten lazy about posting. I do enjoy it, but when life is busy, my blog seems to see some neglect. I'm hoping to get back on board next week with some more posts and hopefully regain some consistency in posting. I HAVE been cooking...quite a lot actually. I usually forget to take pictures though, so then I think, "well I have to wait to post that one until I get a picture." Then I forget again the next time I make it. It's a vicious cycle I tell ya! :) Anyway, I hope to be getting some new recipes and features up, including:

• Canned Sweet Apple Cider Butter
• Canning Salsa
  
• Chicken Paprikas
• Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal with walnuts
• Turkey Meatballs
• German Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Forgive me for my laziness and I hope to be blogging again!

Cheers!
e

• 
  

Grilled Garlic Chicken, Paprika Potatoes , & Simple Green Beans

As some of you may know, I've started eating meat again! After 6 years my body has finally decided meat is good, not bad... This also reminds me I should update my "about me" for this blog as I no longer can consider myself a vegetarian. I'm sticking with mostly poultry for now, but plan on expanding in due time. Anyway, enough about that-on to the meal!

Grilled Garlic Chicken

• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves, minced
• 4 chicken cutlets (or 4 boneless chicken breasts split/butterflied)

Combine first 4 ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine. In a large dish or Ziploc bag, add marinade and chicken. Marinate for about 10-15 minutes. Grill on a medium high grill about 6-7 minutes per side.

Paprika Potatoes

• 5-6 small to medium red potatoes, quartered
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp paprika (I use Penzey's Smoked Paprika)
• sea salt & pepper to taste

Toss potatoes in oil and paprika. Add salt and pepper to taste. Fold a 4 foot sheet of aluminum foil in half to make a double layer of foil and place the potatoes in the middle of the sheet. Make a packet with the foil around the potatoes and crimp the edges of the foil. Place on hot grill for about 25-30 min until potatoes are tender.

Simply Sauteed Green Beans

• green beans, trimmed
• olive oil or butter
  
• minced garlic
• salt & pepper

Heat oil/butter in a large skillet. Add green beans and saute for about 10 minutes turning frequently until tender crisp and season with salt and pepper. I could eat this like french fries...actually...I do! :)

Enjoy!

Curried Shrimp

I made this recipe last week with some frozen raw shrimp I had in the freezer. I made a few modifications to it, but I'm still going to just link to the recipe on Martha Stewart's website. This recipe came from my Fresh Flavors Fast cookbook from Everyday Food. The Everyday Food cookbooks are by far my favorites. The recipes are easy, fast and are always a hit.

Here's the link to the recipe:
Curried Shrimp

Here are a few modifications I made to the recipe:

• I used a handful of grape tomatoes instead of plum, but I would suggest using what the recipe calls for
• I cut a orange bell pepper into big chunks instead of the jalapeno pepper
• I used plain Greek style yogurt instead of whole milk yogurt
• For the curry powder, all I had was sweet curry powder, which was fine, but I would add another tsp or two to up the curry flavor next time
• For the rice, I used brown jasmine rice, but the basmati would be more authentic (I think you can buy brown basmati if you're like me and try to stay away from the white)

Overall this was a very tasty dinner for a hot, steamy night. We could sort of pretend we were in India! I paired this with watermelon for a sweet, refreshing side and some limeade for a great summer meal!

Enjoy!

Garden 2011 Update

Well it is down right steamy around here, but the sweet corn and tomatoes are loving it! For that reason and the fact that my husband's aunt has a swimming pool 5 minutes away can I tolerate temps in the 90s with 70-80% humidity.

I thought it was high time that I post an update on my garden. As you can see from the pictures it is bursting with greenery. No, most of it isn't weeds, but that doesn't mean we haven't been battling the grass. Ah that trials of a somewhat newly established garden.
Cubanelle Peppers (notice the haze...it's HOT!)

Lettuce was great this year, as was the spinach-although it got a bit weedy, making it hard to harvest without grass/weeds mixed in. Basil has be bountiful and I've been making pesto about once a week for a few weeks. I'm pretty disappointed in my peppers, as many of the plants appear to be lacking any peppers! The Cubanelle plant has quite a few that will be ready in a few days, but other than that I seem to have a bell pepper blight of some kind. Maybe they'll come around a bit late. I was excited to pick my first cherry tomatoes this week..even if there have only been 5 or 6 so far-the plant is loaded with green ones though! The potato plants are huge and I'm hoping that is a foreshadowing of what's to come when we dig them up. The onions are doing pretty good, although they aren't nearly as big as the ones my husband's grandmother planted at her house. I'm looking forward to harvesting some of my kale to make colcannon potatoes and when I do I'll be posting the recipe for this Irish treat!

As I believe I mentioned in my first garden post, I actually have two gardens this year. I need to take a picture of the one at grandma's because it's huge! My sister-in-law got 4 buckets of green beans last week and there are more to come, even after I picked a bunch on Monday. The cucumbers are exploding, but sadly many have gotten too big for pickles, but once again, there are more coming. The tomatoes are HUGE, but no red ones yet. I picked 6 acorn squash this week, but haven't tried them yet since it's been so hot and I didn't feel like turning on the oven to roast them. Maybe I'll try grilling them???

The sweet corn patch is looking great. We've gotten about 5-7 dozen so far and I froze 3 quarts today. There is so much more that isn't quite ready yet, but they'll be coming quick.

The bounty is just beginning for this year and I'll be buried in corn, tomatoes and beans in no time! Loving the summer's harvest and God's beautiful creation!

~Emmy

Monday Menu

Time for another Monday Menu. This week it's about the grill since I do not want the temp of the kitchen to match the outside temp. 95 degrees today and humid...yuck. Only good weather for pool time. To bad that won't happen for me until Thursday. I actually had an interview today for a teaching position, which went well! We'll see what God has planned. Ok, on to the menu...

Monday-Curried Shrimp with rice; watermelon
Tuesday- Grilled Salmon with ratatoulle; rice; melon
Wednesday-Garlic marinated chicken (yes, chicken); grilled potatoes; corn-maybe beans if they're ready by then; peaches....can you tell we're having company this night??? :)
Thursday-Gnocchi with pesto; garden salad; homemade garlic bread
Friday-Barbecue sandwiches (with ground chicken instead of hamburger); peaches; corn

You might have noticed the addition of more chicken to the menu. Well, after six years of being a vegetarian, I re-introduced myself to meat. I had avoided it since I got very sick in high school, but decided last week to take the plunge. I started off with ground turkey (in the form of turkey burgers..delish!). Things have gone well since, but I'm still staying with just poultry for now. Oh the new possibilities! :)

Enjoy!

Asian Inspired Supper Menu

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I haven't quite caught up with summer yet...it's flying by! At the end of June we had an Asian Inspired Supper with couple from our church, my brother-in-law and my sister who agreed to be adventurous eaters. We had a blast and I enjoyed making all the food, except dessert, which was provided by Jenny. I'll have to get her recipe for pineapple-lime "sorbet" and post it sometime. It was fantastic! I even had to have fun with the dishes by adding chopsticks. Only a few of us were brave enough to use them throughout the meal. Well, here was the menu line-up and I'll be posting the recipe for the Pad Thai .

The Menu

• Sushi (from The Fresh Market)
• Fresh Pineapple
• Bok Choy, Apple and Carrot Salad
• Veggie Spring Rolls
• Basil-Wrapped Beef Rolls
• Shrimp Pad Thai
• Pineapple-Lime Sorbet

Shrimp Pad Thai

Ingredients:

• 14-16 oz rice stick noodles
• 1 jar Pad Thai sauce (this is the easy way...you can find recipes to make homemade sauce, but I didn't want to buy a whole jar of anchovy paste just for this recipe... :))
• vegetable oil
• 4 clove garlic, minced
  
• 2 lbs peel, deveined medium shrimp, raw
• 4 cups bean sprouts
• 4 carrots, grated or julienned
• 8-10 green onions (scallions), cut in 1-2 inch pieces
• 2 eggs

Garnishes:

• dry roasted peanuts, chopped
• lime wedges
• cilantro, chopped
• red pepper flakes
• bean sprouts
• carrot

Directions:

Cook rice stick noodles as per package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water until noodles are cool. In a large skillet, heat oil on high heat, but watch it carefully. Reduce heat and add garlic, making sure you stir it quickly so it doesn't burn. Add shrimp and cook for until shrimp begins to turn pink. Remove shrimp from pan to a plate and set aside. Add more oil to pan with noodles and sauce. Toss the noodles to coat, then add bean sprouts, carrots, green onion and cook for a few minutes. Make a small hole in the noodles so you can see the bottom of the pan and add the two beaten eggs and stir (the heat should still be on medium-high). Serve immediately, or the noodles will start to get sticky and break easily. If noodles become sticky before you add them with the sauce, just run them under cold water again. This dish calls for high-heat cooking, so be careful...especially with the hot oil. But it is oh so good! :)

Enjoy!