Pesto Pasta Salad- no mayo!

I don't care for mayo so I decided to come up with a pasta salad that didn't include mayo. I love pesto so I decided to make an Italian inspired pasta salad with homemade pesto. Another big hit at the cookout. This recipe makes a lot so you could cut the recipe down if you'd like.

• 2 zucchini, cut into small dices
• 1 large or 2 medium size tomatoes, cut into small dices
• 1 box of mini penne pasta or your favorite shape of pasta
• 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, shredded
• 1/2-1 cup pesto (see recipe below)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add pasta. Cook for about 5 minutes then add the diced zucchini pieces and cook for another 3-5 minutes (will depend on the pasta you use). Drain pasta and zucchini, rinse with cold water until pasta is cool. In a large bowl combine tomatoes with pasta, zucchini, cheese and pesto. Toss to coat pasta with pesto. Chill and serve! Simple and tasty!

Pesto

2 cups garden basil
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup pine nuts (or walnuts)
course sea salt & fresh cracked pepper

In a blender or food processor combine all ingredients together to make a paste. ( I use a hand or immersion blender in a cup or bowl and it works very well)

Another recipe to try! Enjoy!
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"Best BBQ Baked Beans on the Planet"

This recipe is from Barbecue University. They truly are the best bbq beans I've ever had and they were a hit at the cookout. I always play with the recipes so I didn't use meat, liquid smoke mustard or jalapenos and they were still delicious. I did use 3 poblanos instead of 1. We did do them on the grill without smoking them, but you could just as easily do them in the oven and add the liquid smoke. Probably 350 degrees for a hour or so. I just copied and pasted the recipe from the website.

Serves: 12 to 16

• 1 pound smoked brisket or bacon cut into 1/4-inch slivers
• 1 can (15 ounces) black beans
• 1 can (15 ounces) dark red kidney beans
• 3 cans (each 15 ounces) baked beans or pork and beans
• 1 large sweet onion, finely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and finely chopped
• 1 poblano pepper or green bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 to 6 jalapeño peppers, seeded and diced (for hotter beans, leave the seeds in)
• 2 cups sweet red barbecue sauce (your favorite commercial brand)
• 1-1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar, or more to taste
• 1/2 cup Dijon mustard, or more to taste
• 2 teaspoons liquid smoke (optional; see Note)
• Coarse salt (kosher or sea) and freshly ground black pepper

You'll also need:
1 large (turkey-size) or 2 medium-size aluminum foil pans; 2 cups wood chips or chunks (preferably pecan or hickory) soaked for 1 hour in hot water to cover, then drained.

1. If using bacon instead of brisket, place it in a large skillet over medium heat and fry until crisp and golden brown, about 5 minutes. Pour off all the bacon fat, saving a few tablespoons for the beans, if desired.

2. Empty the cans of black and kidney beans into a colander and drain. Rinse the beans under cold running water and drain again. Place all the beans (including the baked beans or pork and beans) in a large nonreactive mixing bowl and add the onion, bell and poblano peppers, garlic, and jalapenos and stir to mix. Add the barbecue sauce, brown sugar, mustard, liquid smoke, if using, and brisket or fried bacon and stir to mix. Taste for seasoning, adding more brown sugar and/or mustard as necessary, and salt and black pepper to taste; the beans should be very flavorful. Transfer the bean mixture to the aluminum foil pan or pans. (If you used bacon, you can drizzle a few tablespoons of bacon fat over the beans for extra flavor.)

3. Set up the grill for indirect grilling and preheat to medium-low. If using a gas grill, place all of the wood chips or chunks in the smoker box or in a smoker pouch and run the grill on high until you see smoke, then reduce the heat to medium-low. If using a charcoal grill, preheat it to medium-low, then toss all of the wood chips or chunks on the coals.

4. When ready to cook, place the pan of beans in the center of the hot grate, away from the heat, and cover the grill. Cook the beans until they are thick and richly flavored, about 1 hour. If the beans start to dry out, cover them loosely with aluminum foil. Remove the beans from the grill and let them rest for 15 minutes, then serve.

Note: If you cook the beans in a gas grill, you probably won't be able to generate enough smoke for a strong wood flavor. Add the liquid smoke in this case.

Enjoy!

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Cookout

What an exhausting, but fun day! Church, parade and cookout all in less than 12 hours. Good thing we started out with a hearty breakfast this morning to keep us going until we stuffed ourselves with BBQ! Our pipeband, Prairie Thistle Pipes and Drums marched in the Danvers Days parade this afternoon. We invited the band to our house after for a cookout. David manned the grill excellently with the BBQ chicken and brats. I worked in the kitchen to produce the following:

• Campfire potatoes
• "The Best BBQ Baked Beans on the Planet" (sans meat)
• fruit salad
• pesto pasta salad

We are grateful to some of our fellow band members for providing cookies and pies for dessert, even though most of us were too stuffed from supper for any dessert. All in all a wonderful night. Beautiful weather, great friends and good food. I do love cooking for a crowd, even if it's a lot of work. Thanks everyone who made it such a fun night!

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Veggie Chili

This is a really easy chili recipe that I have sort of played around with. You can add more veggies or even ground meat to it for more protein-if you have to have your meat fix.

• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic
  
• 2 bell peppers, chopped (I tend to use green and colored peppers together)
• 2 medium sized carrots or a handful of baby carrots, chopped or diced
  
• 1 can kidney beans
• 1 can red beans (really any bean you have around, sometimes I use black instead)
• 1 can of tomato sauce
• 1 can of petite diced tomatoes (or more if you like tomatoes)
• chili powder
• salt & pepper
  

To a large soup pot, add onion, celery, peppers, carrots and garlic and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add beans, tomatoes and sauce. Add one can of water and chili powder. Bring to a boil then turn down heat to simmer for about 1/2 hour (the longer the better). You may have to add more water the longer you cook it. I always serve it with shredded sharp cheddar cheese. Enjoy!

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Manic Monday Menu

Just finished up dinner tonight. The weather today as been fantastic and a bit reminiscent of fall (although it did still hit 80 today...still...). I've been craving chili, but just couldn't justify making it last week when it was so hot. I added several peppers from our garden to the chili and we had some leftover bread and cheese from this weekend in New Glarus. We found a 5 year aged cheddar made from Brown Swiss cow milk and it is incredible. So sharp and creamy! YUM! Here's the menu for this week and I'll include my veggie chili recipe in a separate post.

Monday: Veggie Chili; bread; cheese

Tuesday: Stir fried veggies with shrimp; egg rolls; fruit

Wednesday: Loaded baked potatoes, sweet corn

Thursday: Paninis (trying out a new 5 grain flax flat bread I found at Meijer); sweet corn; baked beans

Friday: Gnocchi with zucchini

Saturday breakfast (since we'll actually be home in the morning): fried eggs, turkey bacon, hashbrowns, toast

A few repeats from the last time, but sometime we get stuck on things and eat them often. We are hopefully having a cookout on Sunday with some of the pipeband after we play a parade in the next town south of here. I also had a party with some friends last week and hope to blog about the food. Well, off to go find a cure for some violent hiccups! :) Hope everyone has a safe and blessed week!

Enjoy!
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Foodie Weekend Get-Away!

Well, since we spent part of our summer on our honeymoon in Northern Ireland this year, we're pretty much left with weekend get-aways. A few weeks ago we went to St. Louis and tonight we're leaving for my grandparents in Polo, IL. Tomorrow we will be in New Glarus, WI. We have made New Glarus a yearly trip in August right before school starts up again. We cannot get enough of this cute little Swiss colony. I have been going to New Glarus for many years with my parents, but now we have made it a traditional vaca spot at a couple. The area was settled by Swiss immigrants from the Glarus canton of Switzerland. There are lots of Swiss shops...most of them revolving around food. Here are a few of my favorites:

New Glarus Bakery
We absolutely love this traditional bakery that makes wonderful pastries and hearty breads. You can really never go wrong with any of their products. I love their morning buns because they remind me of the Chelsea buns I used to get in England.

Ruef's Meat Market
Ok so I'm a vegetarian, but that doesn't stop me from loving this awesome, old time butcher shop. My family has been buying Landjaeger sausages (homemade, cured sausage-way better than a Slim Jim) from Ruef's for years. Although I can no longer eat it, I like introducing it to people who haven't tried it before. They also have an awesome selection of homemade brats in all sorts of flavors.

Maple Leaf Cheese & Chocolate Haus
This has long been on of my favorite shops in New Glarus, mainly because of the big cow out front. However, there is another cheese shop in Monroe, WI (just south of New Glarus) who I think has better cheese, but they are part of a bigger company. Maple Leaf is more local. Still we always have to go for some cheese and chocolate. We actually met another customer last year that was from Bloomington!

Speaking of Monroe, WI, we have two favorite stops there too!

Alp & Del Cheese Store

They have a HUGE selection of cheese and cheese products. They are the only other place I've been to other than Ropp's in Normal where I used to work that sets fresh cheese curds out at room temp. They stay really squeeky! Their 2 year aged cheddar is my mom's favorite.

Brennan's Market

A must when planning a picnic or getting fresh produce. Their store has gotten bigger over the years, but is still great. Sometimes their produce is sort of pricey, but really good. Especially their peaches!

Well, this gives you sort of an idea of how we go on vacation. It all revolves around food! Usually we visit each place, pack a cooler with a knife, cups and paper towels and make a picnic from all the yummy food we've acquired. Also, we are sure to get wonderful home cooking from Grandma when we're there. Hopefully the rain in the forcast stays away and it isn't too hot!

Have a great weekend everyone! Enjoy the last few days of summer!

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Happy Birthday Momma!

In honor of my mom's 50th birthday yesterday, I've made her a poppy seed cake-at her request! The recipe has been passed onto me from my Grandma Kuchenmeister who made it for my grandpa every year for his birthday. I've made this cake only one other time and it turned out pretty good. It calls for cream cheese frosting, but my husband and I both have an aversion to cream cheese. :)
Poppy Seed Cake

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 3/4 cup butter

• 1/2 cup poppy seeds

• 3/4 cup milk

• 2 cups flour

• 2 tsp. baking powder

• 4 egg whites, stiffly beaten (save the yolks for the filling)

Soak poppy seeds in milk for 2 hours prior to baking. Cream sugar and butter. Sift dry ingredients and add alternately with milk. Fold in egg whites. Butter and flour two cake pans. Pour batter evenly between the two pans. Bake at 375 degrees for about 25-30 minutes or until done in center.

Filling

• 2 cups milk

• 3/4 cups sugar

• yolks of 4 eggs

• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch

Cook until thick in heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently.
Lemon Glaze (if you don't like cream cheese either)

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• 2 Tbsp lemon extract

Cool cakes on a cooling rack and cool filling. Place filling on one half of cake and cover (upside down) with other cake. Top with lemon glaze.

Enjoy! Love ya Ma!

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