BLT Salad

Now that the days are getting warmer, and daylight longer, we find ourselves spending much more time outdoors in the evening.  We may be taking a walk with Harley, working in the yard, or just enjoying the yard. I love to end my evening, in one of our outdoor chairs, with a book on my iPad or doing a little cross stitching.  The scent of the flowers fill the air and watching the hummingbirds flit around never gets old for me. It's a very relaxing way to end the day!

All this time outdoors means less time in the kitchen.  We grill more and tend to eat lighter meals.  We both really enjoy salads and are very fortunate to have fresh-from-the-field produce available. We also enjoy bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches, as well as in salad form. I replaced the bread in the sandwich with farfalle (bowtie) pasta.  If you're watching your carbs, that is an easily eliminated ingredient.  The salad is refreshing, delicious and oh so easy to put together!

BLT Salad

Romaine lettuce
Cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 avocado, diced
4 slices bacon, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces
2 cups farfalle pasta
Ranch dressing (or dressing of your choice)

Cook pasta in boiling salted water.  Drain and rinse with cold water.

Combine first five ingredients; toss with dressing. 

Margaritas (by the pitcher!)

Today is Cinco de Mayo, a celebration to mark the victory of the Mexican Army over invading French forces in the 1860's.  It's celebrated more in America than it is in Mexico, in no small part due to the marketing efforts of major beer companies.  Any occasion to have chips, salsa and margaritas works for me so we always have a little celebration! Tonight I will be making chicken fajitas.

I enjoy having cocktails to serve guests but I don't enjoy having to take the time to mix one drink at a time.  I would rather spend time with my guests than playing bartender.  My solution is to make drink mixes ahead of time, so that all that needs to be done is add ice and garnish. Much easier! This margarita recipe makes a big pitcher, easily enough for 10-12 people. I wet the rim of the glass with lime juice and salt, add ice, the mix, and a splash of Grand Marnier. The fresh citrus juice in these margaritas make them so much better than bottled mixes. Yum!  It's the perfect drink for your Cinco de Mayo, or any other, celebration!

Make-Ahead Margaritas

6 cups tequila
2 1/2 cups triple sec
2 1/2 cups fresh lime juice
2 1/2 cups fresh lemon juice
2 cups simple syrup**

Mix all ingredients together in a gallon container.  Refrigerate until chilled.  When ready to serve, pour mixture into a glass (salted rim is best!) filled with ice.  Top with a splash of Grand Marnier, if desired.  Garnish with a lime wedge.  Enjoy!

**Simple syrup

Combine 2 cups sugar and 2 cups water in small saucepan.  Stir until dissolved.  Bring to a boil.  Let cool.

If you do a lot of citrus juicing, an electric juicer is the only way to go!

Strawberry Pie - Two Ways!

Grandma always made a creamy fresh strawberry pie, thickened with the addition of slightly congealed strawberry jello added to whipped cream. In the spring this pie was often on her dessert table. My son likes the strawberry pie similar to what you find in restaurants; those pies piled high with halved strawberries, in a thickened sauce. I found myself making that pie more often, to please the people who lived in my home.  I remember one Easter I made that pie.  Grandma was disappointed, told my Mom I should've made her recipe! Oops, can't please everyone!

I found myself reminiscing about Grandma's strawberry pie so set about making one.  It is no more work to make two baked pie shells than it is one, so I made two pie shells and two pies.  My son got his favorite version of strawberry pie delivered to his house. Mama still knows how to please her boy! My husband and I enjoyed the creamy strawberry pie. Both pies are good, both easy to make, the strawberry jello in both make for nice flavor and little work.  They are both a quick, easy and delicious fresh dessert!

 Grandma's Strawberry Pie

1 small box strawberry jello
1/2 cup sugar
1 pint whipping cream
1 pound fresh strawberries, chopped
1 baked 9-inch pie shell

Dissolve jello in 1 cup boiling water. Let cool until it begins to congeal.  Whip cream until thickened, but before stiff peaks form. Add sugar and beat in. Add jello mixture, beat until stiff peaks form. Fold in chopped berries.  Pour into pie shell and chill for at least 2 hours.

Glazed Strawberry Pie

1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup water
3 tablespoons strawberry jello
2 pints strawberries, stemmed and halved
1 baked 9-inch pie shell

Mix the sugar, cornstarch and water in saucepan.  Stir constantly, cooking until thickened.  Remove from heat; stir in jello until dissolved. Pour over strawberry halves; mix well.  Pour into pie shell; refrigerate until set.  Top with whipped cream, if desired.

The End of an Era

We really don't understand, until we are much older, how people, events, a lifestyle, influence our future.  My Dad has always been an auto mechanic, engine builder and drag racer. From a very young age I've been following in his footsteps at the drag strip and at his shops.  Dad can be rather old-fashioned, even chauvinistic at times, so my knowledge of auto mechanics is limited, he didn't spend much time teaching me those things.  Instead, I was always tasked with the "girl" duties of bookkeeping and tending to office matters.  By the time I was in junior high I was doing much of the business' bookkeeping functions, turning over the books at the end of the month to the accountants' office. Is it any wonder that I became a CPA?

I love drag racing and rarely missed a race. We have traveled all over the country, our family vacations were spent at drag strips. Eventually, I was able to get my own race car, following in the family tradition. My son now drives, the third generation in our family to do so.

For the last almost-twenty years I have spent my Fridays at Dad's shop, doing his accounting work, ordering parts, cleaning cars, loading trailers, whatever it took to keep the race operation running smoothly. As he has aged and slowed down, so, too, has the business.  My all-day Fridays became an hour or so after my 5:30 a.m. Pilates class.  I loved my mornings at the shop, it was quiet and the smell of grease and oil are like the smells of comfort food to me.

Dad is now 84 and we recently sold the shop building. His last race car was sold a few months ago. Today I cleaned out the office, packing things away for storage and shredding. Dad's lifelong career is winding down.  My days of working in the shop are over. I'm finding the whole experience to be bittersweet.  The sale of the property has more than insured my parents' financial future but an era has ended for my family.

Tres Leches Cake with Berries

Tacos were on the menu for my first birthday party (many years ago!).  I have no recollections from that party but do know that tacos have been my birthday dinner menu ever since.  The tradition has evolved in that most birthdays, in my immediate family, are celebrated with a taco dinner. My daughter-in-love’s birthday coincided with our first free after-tax season weekend.  It was the perfect time to have the family over and have tacos with all the trimmings! They were so good! Most importantly, it was wonderful to have my family gathered in our home once more! Between grandchildren, children and my parents, we had 12 in attendance.  I loved it! Nana’s house was full once more!

I wanted to make something different for dessert and found a recipe for Tres Leches cake in Ina Garten’s latest cookbook, Make It Ahead.  How perfect was that, a Mexican-style cake after our taco dinner? Tres Leches literally means three milks.  It is a light sponge cake that is drizzled with a mixture of three milks; evaporated, sweetened condensed, and cream.  The milk mixture soaks into the cake overnight.  The cake, surprisingly, isn’t soggy but has a cream-like consistency to it. It was part pudding, part cake. I served it with fresh-from-the-patch strawberries and freshly whipped cream. It was a wonderful dessert!

 

Tres Leches Cake with Berries

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ cup whole milk
1 ¼ cups heavy cream
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
½ teaspoon almond extract
Whipped cream
5 cups sweetened berries (strawberries, or combination of strawberries, raspberries & blueberries)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x13x2-inch baking dish and set aside.

Place the room temperature eggs, sugar, and the vanilla extract in the bowl of an electric stand mixer.  Fit with the paddle attachment, and beat on medium-high speed for 10 minutes or until extra light and fluffy.

While the eggs and sugar are mixing, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a small bowl.

After 10 minutes of beating time, reduce the speed to low, and add half of the flour mixture. Then, add the whole milk, and finally the rest of the flour mixture. Stir with a rubber spatula to make sure that the batter is mixed completely, and pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Smooth out the top and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the cake springs back from the center when touched a cake tester comes out clean.

Place on a wire rack to cool in the pan for 30 minutes.

While the cake cools, whisk together the heavy cream, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and almond extract.

Poke the cake all over with a bamboo skewer, and then slowly pour the cream mixture over the cake, allowing it to soak in before continuing to pour more of the mixture.  Cover the cake and refrigerate for at least 6 hours and up to 5 days before serving.

To serve, cut the cake into slices and top with the sugared berries and whipped cream.

I was beginning to doubt myself at this step, it seemed like so much milk mixture, but the cake absorbed it quite nicely!

 

Garlic & Herb Roasted Shrimp

I’m almost embarrassed to say this, but I only cooked one dinner last week. We either grabbed a quick bite on the way home from work, had pizza with our son and his family, or munched on cheese and crackers. I am so anxious to get back in the kitchen again. Only a few more days of tax season left!

A few days ago I was bound and determined to cook a nice dinner.  I knew it had to be something quick and easy as our life is so hectic right now.  I turned to my favorite cookbook author, Ina Garten, and her most recent book Make It Ahead and her Garlic & Herb Roasted Shrimp.

I first began roasting shrimp when I made Ina’s roasted shrimp appetizer.  Roasting the shrimp is so easy.  With this method of cooking, the shrimp has a very nice flavor.  I find sautéing shrimp often makes “rubbery” shrimp.  This is not the case when you roast them!

A good thing about this recipe is the ability to make part of it ahead of time. I prepped everything in the morning and refrigerated until I got home. All I had to do for dinner was throw the pan in the oven and make the side dishes. 

The sauce is very flavorful, with lots of lemon.  I served it with steamed broccoli and angel hair pasta, both of which were enhanced with a little of the lemony butter sauce.  We also had a few slices of sourdough baguette which we dipped in the butter. It was a great dinner!

Garlic & Herb Roasted Shrimp

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons good olive oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic (6 cloves)
2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary leaves
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large lemons
2 pounds (8-10-count) shrimp, peeled with the tails on
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Melt the butter over low heat in a medium sauté pan.  Add the olive oil, garlic, rosemary, red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and ½ teaspoon black pepper and cook over low heat for one minute.  Off the heat, zest one of the lemons directly onto the butter mixture.

Meanwhile, arrange the shrimp snugly in one layer in a large (12-inch) round ovenproof sauté pan (or 10x13-inch baking dish) with only the tails overlapping. Pour the butter mixture over the shrimp.  Sprinkle with the sea salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper.  Slice the ends off the zested lemon, cut five (1/4-inch-thick) slices, and tuck them among the shrimp.  Roast for 12 to 15 minutes, just until the shrimp are firm, pink, and cooked through.  Cut the remaining lemon in half and squeeze the juice onto the shrimp. 

Serve hot with toasted bread for dipping into the garlic butter.

 

 

Spring Has Sprung!

After a fairly wet March, we have rolled into April with sunshine, clear blue skies and the signs of spring all around us. Every morning I take a walk through our yard and enjoy the latest changes.  The roses are blooming.  The vines, once frost-bitten over the winter, are showing signs of new growth. Seeds planted in the days before Thanksgiving are now sweet peas with their fragrant flowers. Bees and butterflies are making their annual appearance.  I think Spring is my favorite season.  After a dull winter, with everything dead and brown, it's such a delight to see color again!

Each year I think my old bench won't survive the winter, but I think we'll have this for another season!

A geranium in Grandma McGee's old pot.

The mint plant, also known as the Mojito plant, is ready for another year of refreshing drinks!

The espalier apple tree in bloom.

The tiger lilies are almost ready to open!

Fragrant sweet peas!

The lavender plant attracts many bees!

A very fragrant jasmine vine!

My favorite rose bush, nothing compares to the fragrance of these red roses!

A clematis reaching for the sky (and daffodils done for another year).