Sweet Potato Casserole aka Candy Potatoes

When my cousin was a toddler (she's now nearly eight), she called these candy potatoes, and the name just stuck. These are heavenly, and it does not need to the Thanksgiving to have sweet potato casserole. We have the same meal for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter...essentially we have Thanksgiving three times a year. Sweet potatoes have a special spot on the buffet every time.

This recipe has been heavily adapted (read: lightened up) from one of the local church cookbooks my mother has had for quite a while. It's is the only recipe we use out of that book, so you needn't look for the page. It's the only wrinkly and soiled one in the book.

While this may seem time-intensive, not necessarily labor-intensive, you will not regret the extra steps. Compared to your typical SPC, this one tastes fresh, because it is made with baked sweet potatoes (not the ones on the bottom of the grocery shelf in heavy syrup). It's also smooth and creamy, and there's a secret to that! You've got to keep reading to find out.

After each tri-annual feast, the men normally pass out on the floor and my young cousins run and jump on their full bellies. This year, the men got smart and passed out in the den and, thus, out of harm's way. We make a double (it fills TWO 9"x13" glass dishes), so if you are not feeding an army of hungry, tired-of-taking-the-family-Christmas-photo folks, make the single (below).

Casserole:
3 large sweet potatoes, baked, cooled, and skinned
1/3 - 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1/2 can evaporated milk
2 t. vanilla
1/2 stick butter, softened

To bake the sweet potatoes, wrap individually in foil and place on a foiled baking sheet. Without the foil on the cookie sheet, there will be a lot of scrubbing. Bake on 325 until a fork or knife inserts smoothly. They must be completely done. If not, you will have little lumps, even after all of the beating that goes on.

Sweet potatoes draining

Preheat oven to 300. Now that you have let the potatoes cool completely, unwrap them and peel the skin off. It should separate very easily. You may remove the foil after removing the potatoes from the oven to expedite the cooling process, just don't burn yourself. You may want to let them drain/cool in a colander, as they oftentimes give off a little liquid.

STRINGS--the enemy!!

No strings!

Place the potatoes in a large mixing bowl. Here's the trick to prevent the hairy strings harbored by sweet potatoes, and it takes maybe five extra minutes. So after you cream the potatoes with the mixer, you will see the strings get wrapped around the beaters. DO NOT knock them back into the bowl. Rinse them off and continue to cream the potatoes by themselves. Do this process (cream the potatoes, then rinse beaters) at least two more times. Each time you will collect fewer and fewer strings.

Once you have removed the strings, add sugar and eggs, one at a time. Add milk and vanilla with a spoon to prevent too many splatters. Add butter.

Pour into greased 9x13 glass baking dish.

Topping:
3/4 c brown sugar
1/3 c. flour
1/2 stick butter, softened
pinch of salt
handful of chopped pecans (totally optional, we never put these in, but for some, I know, it isn't SPC without pecans)

Mix the topping with your hands or the back of a spoon. Drop by small pieces on the casserole. They will melt a little while cooking and form a crispy, sweet topping.

Bake at 300 for 40 minutes or until the topping starts to bubble. Let set/cool for about 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy your candy potatoes!

White Bean and Arugula Salad

The birthday boy!

I have plenty of excuses for not writing in nearly four months, but I'm sure you don't care. They include things like work, family, travel, PUPPY, Thanksgiving, and life, but we'll get on the the reason you've checked out KitchenAte today. This is a post I started in September...

Meet Penny! She has been one source of my distraction this fall.

[Since, I deleted the pictures of the dish from my phone, I'll be inserting pictures from this fall for entertainment.]

Make sure you make this salad/appetizer/side when you have a crowd around. If not, you will eat the entire thing by yourself...and that may not be the best for your system. But boy, is it good. I have made this for both adventurous eaters and the discerning pallets, and I have never had leftovers.

This dish was served at my grandfather's birthday dinner, and let me tell you, it wasn't your typical seventy-seven (or according to my grandmother, se'mty-se'm) year old's party. Both of these grandparents are as spry as when they were my age and travel just as much as I do--and I travel for work! Heck, Pop even goes swimming in the ocean in the winter and finds it totally refreshing (maybe this is the fountain of youth, and we are all too cowardly to attempt such a feat).

Meet my sassy Grandmother...grating cheese for one of my other recipes.

We are not the most sentimental family...and by not-the-most, I mean, we don't even like singing the birthday song, because it's too "sweet." "Oh My Darlin'" was the token anthem this year.

All of the grandchildren and Pop singing "Oh My Darlin'"

My grandfather, affectionately called Bop, Pop, or Papa depending on which grandchild you ask, is a phenomenal writer, and we have been graced with some of his words lately. Like most of my family members, he is very private, so we have not had the fortune of reading much of his work.

At his birthday, my grandmother shared one of Pop's newly-recorded stories. During which, Pop went swimming on an empty beach (it was wintertime, of course), and he washed ashore in front of a lone woman. She asked if he was her guardian angel. To which Pop responded, "Ma'am, I've been called a lot of things in my day, but 'guardian angel' hasn't been one of them."

It was a beautifully written story depicted so vividly with Pop's words that we all thought we were on the beach. His stories are always insightful, sentimental, and entertaining. We were all moved to tears. Literally. Everyone had tears in his/her eyes. We didn't know if it was because of the story itself, or the way it was written, or the fact that we were thankful for Papa writing more recently. Or maybe we had all contracted a case of the "Granny" which makes you cry at any given time for no real/describable reason. Or maybe it was the drinks...

Katie and me at dinner in Vegas for my birthday! I have great friends.

After the tears were dried and the cake eaten, the family dance party ensued. Phew, back to our old selves. So while there was a sudden lapse in our familial stoicism, we quickly returned to the fun-loving, care-free group we were just pages before.

Elle and Matt dancing.

This is a great side to serve at a picnic, topper for a crostini, or appetizer to share with your most precious loved ones. Who knows, it might even move them to tears.

I have a horrible job. I had to go to Bermuda for work.

 Recipe:

1 can great northern beans, rinsed and drained
2 - 3 large handfuls of arugula
  *if you can't find arugula, chiffonade spinach or use watercress
juice from 1 lemon
splash red wine winegar
gulp of olive oil
salt and pepper (or seasoning salt) to taste

Toss all ingredients together until well-coated. Serve as a side or salad. If you'd like to use this as a topping for crostini, slice and lightly toast slices of a baguette.

Penny says, "Enjoy!"

Roasted Tomato Sauce

 FINALLY. I have been waiting all summer for a surplus of tomatoes. What would most people do with a flat of tomatoes in the dead of summer? They'd probably make BLTs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner until the tomatoes are gone. Me? Definitely not. I cannot stand the smell, the texture, and especially the taste of a raw tomato. So when given two dozen tomatoes when it's hot as blue blazes outside, what do I do? I decide to sit around in a hot kitchen while they roast and then stand around a hot stove and watch them simmer. It takes nearly all day/night, but you can't put a price tag on the end result. You will think twice before sharing it with anyone!

I love tomato products...just not the tomatoes themselves. As a kid, I ate ketchup on many, many things--baked and fried chicken legs, collard greens, and canned green beans (oh yeah) were just a few of my favorites. Now, I don't think I could stomach that. When I order pizza, I need a little bowl of sauce in which I dip each bite. And spaghetti is more like soup, because the noodles are swimming. Salsa is a trickier topic, because sometimes it still has that raw tomato taste, but I have found a few I like.

Last year, I used roma tomatoes--read: a lot more work, because they are so small. This year, my second cousin shared her beefsteak tomatoes with me after a family vacation at her place. She has a huge garden--jalapenos, watermelon, corn, other peppers, cantaloupe, basil, rosemary, etc--and the same sentiments about tomatoes as I do.

On a side note, they live west of Williamsburg near the Chicahominy River and have a breathtaking piece of property. Half of the 400 acres is a huge pond/lake that used to be a quarry. We took the seadoo out, skiied, floated with Coronas in hand, and the guys went jug fishing. There were trails throughout that led mainly to deer stands, but they provided perfect running trails. There was so much to do on the property itself that it was like family camp! You never needed to leave. The only reason we left was to go bike riding on the trail that connects Williamsburg and Jamestown and to go out on the river. Oh, and did I mention I stayed in the cabin that used to be the scale house for the quarry...AND there was an outdoor shower. Life doesn't get any better than an outdoor shower. Okay, back to the tomatoes.

a ton of tomatoes
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T. dried oregano
1 T. sugar
fresh herbs, chopped (I used rosemary to roast and basil, oregano, and thyme in the sauce)

I had three of these huge trays.

Preheat your oven to 425. Wash, dry, and core all tomatoes. Squeeze the seeds out into a bowl, and discard this later. It is okay if the skin splits or it doesn't look pretty after this step. Then, cut each tomato into roughly six equal slices. Place on the lightly greased cookie sheet. Repeat with the remainder of the tomatoes. Once all tomatoes are seeded and sliced, drizzle them lightly with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. I laid a sprig of rosemary atop the tomatoes for added flavor and discarded it after the roasting. Roast for 40 - 45 minutes. Let them cool for about 30 minutes or so.

I don't like the tomato skin, so I removed them at this point. It is much easier to do once they have been roasted. Add the meat of each tomato to a colander while you are skinning the rest. You will want to drain off all of the liquid; otherwise, you are stuck with a very watery tomato sauce. Once you have skinned the tomatoes, drop them into a blender and puree. If you have an immersion blender, you may puree them after you add them to the pot.

Blended tomatoes.

In a large pot, sweat the onion, dried oregano, and garlic in olive oil (1 T) over medium heat. I let it cook long enough for the onions to being to caramelize, but you may add the tomatoes after the onions turn translucent (4 minutes or so). After you add the tomatoes, add sugar and fresh herbs, salt, and pepper to taste. Simmer for at least 45 minutes. Serve or freeze until you are ready to use.

I froze half  in a glass jar. Make sure you leave room for it to expand, and if you use a jar, don't put a tight seal on it until it is completely frozen. I topped it with plastic wrap overnight, and put the jar top the next morning. You don't want to a) clean up glass in the freezer OR more importantly, b) waste your hard work!

Turn this into pizza sauce by adding a couple tablespoons of tomato paste to help it thicken.

Restaurant Review #6: New Orleans

I recently returned from a weekend in New Orleans; all of the food was so good, I couldn't settle on just one place. NOLA is full of restaurants and cafes...and oh yeah, they've got a few bars, too. The weather was not very forgiving, as it monsooned 80% of the time I was there, but it didn't rain on our parade.

Beer tap water fountain.

One of the great things about New Orleans is that every place serves alcohol (including bakeries and cafes) and has a (three-hour) happy hour with amazing deals (from free appetizers to half-off alcohol). The first stop on the culinary streetcar was Il Posto. This is a tiny rustic Italian cafe...picture a cafe effortlessly decorated with distressed mirrors and old dining room chairs. They have quite the selection of cheese and cured meats. Every sandwich comes with a salad tossed with a very light lemon vinaigrette. The multigrain bread contained poppy seeds which added an extra crunch--poppy seeds in loaf bread was a first for me, but I loved it.

Stop two was Sucre; the bakery at which my friend worked for a short while. It also serves alcohol and "adult" milkshakes. They have exotic chocolates (we sampled the candied violet chocolate), desserts that rival the pastries in Harrod's display cases, gelato, and macarons just like the ones I had in Paris. My friend loves the avery, a caramel-filled dark chocolate topped with sea salt. They package the individual chocolates in a tiny pink purse for safe travels. Adorable. I also had to see if the macarons were as good as France's...New Orleans is, after all, the Paris of the States. The almond one was perfect.

Dinner was a happy hour special--half-priced pizzas and beer and wine--at Domenica, an Italian restaurant in the Roosevelt Hotel in the central business district. It's a John Besh restaurant--he's a NOLA native and a James Beard winner. The ambiance was upscale, but the menus that doubled as placemats made it feel more homey. The pizza picks were the MUSHROOM (mushrooms, bacon, onion, and a broken poached egg in the middle) and CALABRESE (salami, mozzarella, capers, and olives), and we paired it with the Chianti...not for the sheer reason that is was the cheapest of the wines on the list...the pizzas were $6.50 during happy hour! What a steal. The crust was thin and crispy, and they were obviously hand tossed, as the shapes they took were rather organic. And I must say, egg and pizza are a surprisingly successful pair.

Old-school Britney...there was a little bit of everything...

We had time to kill before the Britney Spears concert--yes, I said Britney "Oops-I-Did-It-Again" Spears--so we got dessert. The peach cake with salted-caramel sauce and raspberry sorbet definitely sent us over the edge, but we were able to dance it off at Britney. Side note, I've never seen so many rompers in one place in my entire life. No lie. Not even on the racks at Forever 21.

It finally stopped raining, so we were able to sit outside.

Saturday, we had later lunch and that turned into a pub crawl. I was told I had to go to two places in NOLA, and Pat O'Briens, lovingly called Patty-O's, was a must. This, luckily, was stop number one on the pub crawl. I couldn't just go and take in the ambiance with any old drink...I had to order a Hurricane--all 28 ounces of it. So here's photo documentation for all of you who hounded me about getting a hurricane at Pat O'Briens.

Oh, I forgot, one of the other things about NOLA is that some restaurants are BYOB. GLORIOUS. We went to Lebanon's for dinner on Saturday. It was authentically decorated and served traditional Middle Eastern food. The hummus...oh the hummus...it was like velvet. I got the chicken tecka that came with a salad and hummus and pita. I couldn't attempt to eat one-third of it, but it was so delicious and full of garlic. fortunately, everyone's dish was equally as potent...at least I'm hoping I was in good company. And the chicken was cooked so slowly that it was fork tender. The red wine we brought was a perfect pairing--who knew!

Sunday began with brunch at Satsuma in the Metarie--a sort-of alternative, crunchy, grungy district of New Orleans. It is populated with "shotgun houses" (one-story, narrow, and long) painted with any combinations of colors you can imagine, and we drove down Desire Street, but sadly, there's no longer a Streetcar Named Desire. Satsuma is decorated with local art and serves as many local ingredients as they can source. Brunch hit the spot. I snagged a bite of the peaches and cream pancake; all I have to say is buttery deliciousness. I had the Green Breakfast Sandwich which was whole wheat bread housing avocado mash, arugula, and a scrambled egg. The also squeeze their own juice concoctions, so of course, I got the watermelon one--watermelon lemonade!

My wonderful host made dinner on Sunday before we went to see Woody Allen's newest, Midnight in Paris, at a swanky movie theatre. We had sauteed onions, spinach, and white beans over whole wheat pasta. After the movie, we walked past Jackson Square to Cafe du Monde (second and final stop on my unanimous must-see NOLA list).

We got beignets--the french doughnut drowning in powdered sugar. It. Was. So. Good. I said it was like a funnel cake, but I was corrected. I still stand by the fact that it tastes a bit like that, but a little more doughy, because less of the surface area is fried. It still has a similar flavor. They also have famous a famous cafe au lait, but it was already 10:00 at that time. Had I ordered a cup, I would have been up until I needed to leave for the airport at 4:45. After the beignets had been devoured (mostly by me...hey, I'm only in New Orleans once in a blue moon), we all felt like we had powdered sugar from ear to ear, yet somehow we managed to leave unscathed.

Here ends my culinary tour of New Orleans, and I am sure I only saw one-hundredth (or less) of what the city has to offer! There were adorable cafes on every corner--literally. There are so many phenomenal and unique restaurants from which to choose that you rarely have to wait for a table unless you're going to one of the notable New Orleans stops. If you ever get a chance to go, please do so. It is a lively city, and I'm pretty sure it could give New York a run for it's money for the title "The City the Never Sleeps." Everyone is so laid back, too. So much spirit lies within the people and the place itself that you can't help but enjoy yourself, even when it is constantly vacillating between torrential downpour and overcast. It also helps when you have a great host who knows exactly what you like and who has lived in the city long enough to know where the hidden gems (and tourist spots) are located. I know I would not have had the same experience had I seen the city through anyone else's eyes. Everyone start planning your trip to NOLA. No matter who you are--history buff, bar hopper, food lover--you will find plenty of ways to pass the time in the Big Easy.

Blueberry and/or Peach Pie

It seems everywhere I turn, there are gluten-free people in my life. I admire then, but I don't envy them one ounce. And yes, people, manufacturers, and restaurants are doing magnificent things with rice flour, xanthum gum, chickpea flour, but no matter how hard they try, it just isn't the same. There's nothing like a crusty french loaf, a gooey chocolate chip cookie, or a fresh pot of pasta. This is one thing, however, that rivals it's gluten-ridden equivalent.

There was a gluten free guest at the lake this weekend, and I decided to test a recipe I found. Of course, I tweaked a bit. We had a make-your-own pizza night complete with a GF pizza--crust made entirely of cheese! We followed our pizza pies with a fruit pie.

It was a huge hit...it also took a huge hit. We had about half of it the first night and decided not to have seconds, so that we could have some the next day. Well, the lake refrigerator is small, VERY small. It's not a college-size fridge, but it's certainly not a standard-size fridge, so objects get precariously stacked and shifted. I was moving things around to get to something that was stored behind and under everything, and well, it slid off the butter that was balanced on the grapes that was sitting on the blueberries and smashed on the floor. I even cut my foot on the glass from the antique pie plate. I was bummed that the pie plate shattered; I was bummed that I cut my foot, but I was the most bummed the pie was gone!

Since several didn't get to try the pie, I knew I had to make another one for the second lake weekend. The farm stand had freshly picked peaches, so we went with that. I honestly liked the peach a bit better. The crust is made of almonds and honey, and the filling has fruit, more honey, lemon juice, a shot of alcohol, and corn starch. That's pretty much it! There are so few ingredients, you can eat this for breakfast without feeling guilty--if you hold the whipped cream.

Crust:
2 cups almond flour (MYO: take blanched or raw almond slivers and pulse in the food processor until it is finely ground)
1/3 c honey

Mix the honey and almond flour. Press into a greased pie dish.

Filling:
4 cups fresh fruit of your choice (blueberries, peaches, strawberries, etc.)
1/2 cup honey
1/4 t salt
4 T cornstarch
1/4 c water
2 t lemon juice
1 shot amaretto, peach brandy (optional)

Place the prepared (washed and sliced, if necessary) fruit in a medium-size pot along with the honey and salt. While that is starting to simmer, mix the cornstarch and water. Pour that into the pot with the fruit; add amaretto and lemon juice.

It will begin to thicken after a few minutes. Once the juices begin to solidify, remove from heat and cool for a little. Once it had cooled for about 30 minutes, pour into the pie crust.

Whipped cream:
2 cups whipping cream
1/3 cup honey
pinch salt
dash vanilla

Whip the cream just a little in a clean, dry metal or glass bowl. Once it starts to take form, add the honey, salt, and vanilla. Whip to your desired stiffness. You may top the pie with it now, or store in a metal container and top it as you slice it--that's what we did.

This pie is so good--glutens and non-glutens alike loved it. Make it and let me know what you think...just don't waste it on the floor, and store it (safely) in the fridge.

Lemon Meringue Pie Bars

The past two weekends, I have been at the lake--cooking, eating, playing spades, skiing, boating, and floating. The cabin was FULL, and the kitchen is SMALL. Needless to say, it wasn't the best set up to pictures of the five dishes I was simultaneously cooking for each meal. Had I remembered to take pictures, all you would have seen was a huge mess. This post, therefore, will be minimalist. I only have one picture of these bars, and it's of my plate after I had already taken a bite out of it. Hey, it's better than no post at all!

My mom and another of the house guests are huge lemon fans. Last weekend, my mom made her famous lemon bars, and of course, they didn't last until this weekend. After the second weekend at the lake, we were able to convince one of the guests--the lemon lover--to stay just one more night with us in town. We went to town (first unpacking and doing laundry) cooking. They started with chicken fettuccine alfredo (with a hint of pesto!), and we just had to bake something. My partner in crime wanted something lemon, clearly, and while we found a lemon meringue pie recipe, we didn't have the stamina left after skiing to stand over a double boiler.

After finding a box of graham crackers in the cabinet, we decided to use that for a crust that would be topped with the filling from Mom's lemon bars...followed by meringue. Voila! Everything we wanted in one.

Crust:
10 graham crackers/one sleeve, crushed (tip: toss them in a gallon bag and smash them with a rolling pin or wine bottle)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted (I know...just do an extra crunch or two before you go to bed)

Toss crumbs and sugar. Add melted butter. Press firmly into the bottom of a greased  9" x 13" pan..

Filling:
12 oz. cream cheese, softened (1.5 packs)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 eggs
zest and juice from one lemon
pinch salt

Beat the cream cheese before adding any ingredients so that it is easier to work with. Add the powdered sugar in tow batches so it doesn't snow all over the kitchen. Add eggs one at a time. Add lemon zest, juice, and salt. Place on top of the unbaked crust and bake for about 25 minutes or until the filling is set. Cool to room temperature. You may even put them in the refrigerator until the next day if you don't have time to make the meringue then.

Meringue:
5 egg whites
1 t cream of tartar
3/4 cup sugar

Once the bars have cooled, start your meringue. Separate the eggs. Place the whites in a CLEAN, DRY, METAL, or GLASS bowl. NOTE: egg whites (and cream) do not whip in plastic bowls or bowls that haven't been thoroughly washed and dried. Beat the whites and cream of tarter on medium-high until they are frothy. Add the sugar one tablespoon at a time with the beater on high speed. They are finished once stiff peaks form.

Spread this over the completed bars. Broil it just until the meringue starts to brown. That's it! Cut and eat immediately. Store in the refrigerator.

Preacher Cookies

Obviously, something is taking up a lot of my time, and it's not cooking. It is wedding season. I have been to my fourth wedding so far this year, and last three were within the past week. As exhausted as I am, I am still on cloud nine from reuniting with friends over the past two weekends. I see friends one or two at a time fairly regularly, but nothing compares to having everyone in one place. These have also been excuses to get dressed up--a far cry from my uniform of athletic shorts and t-shirts--and ditch the messy bun. It's a tough, tough life, but someone has to go...eat great food...dance to the oldies...and spend a little time on the lake recuperating from all of the dancing, eating, and socializing. It's truly, truly agonizing.

It's so hard to believe that we have been out of college for two years. Whenever my friends and I get together, no matter how infrequently, we seem to have just as much fun as we did in college, so that's proof that we have all changed at the same rate...or we are still equally as immature as we were before we had real responsibilities. I certainly don't feel any older than I did when I graduated college, and I don't act any older, that's for sure, other than the fact that I now pay for insurance. (BOO). 

One of the girls I lived with second year got married the weekend before last. There wasn't a detail that went untouched--from the band, to the food, to the transportation, to the favors (family recipe snicker doodles of which I think I had three bags and pickles from the groom's side). No one was surprised that everything was perfectly planned, because she was the extremely responsible, organized roommate who always knew what was going on and kept us on track. When I saw the timeline for the weekend down to the minute, I remembered who was getting married and realized I should have expected that!

This girl is also the friend that would be there for you no matter the time or situation. She's so selfless that when I asked her what type of wedding dress she wanted, she said, "I've never thought about that. When I think about my wedding day, I was always looking out at everyone and everything...not down at myself and what I was wearing." I guess she finally 'looked down' and figured out what she wanted, because she looked absolutely beautiful.

A couple of months ago--see how good of a friend I am in return--she requested the recipe for these cookies and suggested I make them for the blog. I didn't have the time then to make them, but I did send her the recipe, so cut me a little slack. I made them when we lived together; everyone in that apartment--all six of us--loves peanut butter. Like many things I make, they are embarrassingly easy. Here I am, two months later, finally getting around to fulfilling her request.

I am sure you have had these before, but they are great to make when you don't have much time, when your oven is broken, when you don't have eggs, and/or when someone is gluten intolerant (just make sure your oats are certified gluten free). I'm not sure why they are called preacher cookies, but if I were a preacher's wife (I'm sure she's likely to do the baking for the shut-ins, the sick, the friendless, and the needy), I'd make these all of the time for the above reasons.

Pesto

Summer is here--well not according to the calendar, but according to the thermometer...

The community garden is alive and well...for now--I'm supposed to be keeping an eye on it for the summer, so it's only a matter of time before things go south. The basil crop is out of control; I cut a gallon bag of basil and didn't even make a dent. I left with about $15 of basil while it only cost $5 to buy into the garden. Now, that's an investment!

I lived in the sorority house during my third year, and the catering service would make a creamy pesto and pea pasta salad--pesto mixed with mayonnaise, whole wheat penne, and peas. Everyone went crazy over it. There were always girls crowded around the bowl of pasta, and in the rare event that there was anything left from lunch, it got devoured as a late-night snack circa 2:30 am.

Pesto is a simple, fresh way to add a ton of flavor to anything--use as a spread on a sandwich, toss with pasta, add to your pizza (mix with the regular pizza sauce or add to a white pizza), add to your spaghetti, spread on a crostini and top with parmesan, or brush on chicken before baking and wrap with bacon and top with crumbled feta. Toss it with tortellini, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and broccoli for a crowd-pleasing pasta salad. It will be the hit at any cookout you go to this summer, and you don't have to worry about a dairy-based pasta salad spoiling.

I tossed this batch with brown rice--I needed something gluten-free--and served it room temperature as a side--not too shabby. With the leftovers, I tossed in steamed peas and sliced grilled chicken.

If you are fortunate enough to have a ton of basil on your hands, make the pesto, and freeze it for times when you don't have such fresh ingredients on your hands. It will add nice, springy flair to a winter evening when only a comforting bowl of pasta will do. Such nights seem far, far away as we are hitting record temperatures all over the nation this week...

3 cups fresh basil leaves, washed and removed from stems
1/3 cup toasted pecans (or pine nuts (the traditional choice) or walnuts)
1/3 parmesan, shredded or grated (I left this out)
juice from one lemon (I had to cheat, because I didn't have a fresh lemon on hand)
olive oil, enough to bring it together
2 cloves of garlic (next time I will try roasted garlic for a more mellow flavor), sliced
salt and pepper to taste

Add all ingredients, reserving the oil, to a food processor and pulse. Add the oil through the spout of the food processor with the motor running. This will help everything some together and keep from separating.

Serve as you desire!

Grilled Romaine Salad

Hey, it's Memorial Day--the official beginning of summer, in my book at least. And what do you do in the summer? You grill? What do you do to ring in the first day of summer? You grill EVERYTHING. Even your salad.

I have eaten grilled romaine in restaurants, but I haven't been brave enough to try it at home and my grill has been out of propane since mid-August. Those two factors were working against me in my romaine-grilling endeavors.

This past weekend, my uncle brought, quite possibly, the largest head of romaine I have ever seen. He plucked it right out of his garden on his way to my house. He also came bearing red and green onions and cabbage. Did I mention I love summer and fresh produce?

After removing and cleaning the majority of the leaves, I was left with a better-than-store-bought romaine heart. I looked up to see if anyone had noticed how perfect it was. Right then, my aunt said, "You better hide that!" Immediately, it was whisked into a bag and put in the back of the produce drawer.

I knew I wanted to grill the heart to see if I could do it as well as the restaurants. Grilling the lettuce a very simple way to dress up a salad. It only takes a few minutes and has drastic results. If I had a delicious caesar dressing, I would have made a caesar salad, but I only had the homemade balsamic on hand at the time. You could a) chop the lettuce and toss it with dressing, b) drizzle dressing over the lettuce (as I did), or leave it in tact and lightly brush the dressing between the layers of lettuce.

The end result is a lettuce that is very tender--there is very little crunch factor--and flavored with a hint of grill...mmm. Who says lettuce tastes like nothing?!

head of romaine, halved
grill
dressing and toppings of your choice

Warm the grill to about medium heat. Once the grill is toasty, place the romaine halves on the grill. Flip after two minutes. Once the second side has finished cooking...you are finished. See, it's that easy!

If your lettuce turns black or catches fire, either the grill is too hot or you forgot to watch the time.

Fresh! Local! Broccoli!

My small town has an event every month once it gets warm called "Friday Night Jams" where vendors (anything from soap, to concessions, to food, to jewelry, to wine) gather and musicians perform. Last Friday night was the event for May. Mom and I walked downtown--stopping along the way for calamari, softshell crab, and crab cakes...oh, and a martini--to see the happenings.

My aunt, uncle, and cousin were there. It was great to see them, and my uncle had gotten into some of the local wine--POTENT. By the end of the night, he befriended the drummer and, I'm pretty sure, helped pack up the equipment all the while trying to convince the band to play just one more song. My cousin, had we not been outside, would have been hiding in the corner; he had to settle for pretending like he didn't know his father.

There wasn't much produce at the farmer's tables, because it's not quite time yet, but the produce that was in, looked great. The onions looked fake, and the broccoli was huge! I got the ginormous head of broccoli (pictured below) for $2. The farmer was precious. He tried to get me to buy one of everything (an then some) that he was selling, but the broccoli was calling my name. At the end of the evening, Mom and I walked home broccoli in tow.

Right now, my pantry, I'll admit, is pretty bare. I haven't been too inspired recently, but that will change once everything is in season--I promise. Anyway, I didn't have too much to work with, but I had a jar of sundried tomatoes in oil. Those are basically the two ingredients in this dish. Easy as that.

Spring Hash

The Sunday before last was Mothers Day, and I hope y'all remembered that. Remembering constitutes a call, card, gift, and/or hug. I woke up on Sunday morning to the sound of my mother walking down the hall; if I were a better daughter, I would have set my alarm and greeted Mom in bed with breakfast, but since I'm the only daughter, I'm already the best daughter. I ran to the kitchen and started to prepare breakfast; fortunately, I had already decided on something to make the night before, so I could begin delegating tasks to dad.

We made asparagus hash, because what's better than something terribly springy on a beautiful May day? The local farm stand had the most picturesque asparagus. I swear they picked it the day we bought it. I could eat it every other day--yeah, probably not every day--and never get sick of it. My dad, on the other hand, sees having it once a week as an overdose. It was time to get creative; roasted asparagus just wasn't going to cut it any longer.

I also needed to use asparagus in a breakfast dish...other than a quiche. This hash is very simple; it took about 40 minutes from dicing the first potato to topping it with the fried egg and parmesan. It was a great brunch dish and would have been enjoyed even more had we not gone straight from brunch to a huge lunch at my grandparents' to a nap to dinner. At dinner, we were all still full from brunch, yet somehow, we managed to keep eating.

This recipe could have used a little more bacon, because a) Dad snacked on it the whole time we were cooking the potatoes, and b) life can use more bacon. I'm not a huge fan of meat, but I L.O.V.E. bacon. Remember these? As I've said before, bacon alone is enough reason not to be vegetarian. If you are vegetarian, I guess you could leave the bacon out of the recipe.

30-Minute Chocolate Cake

This is a cake that you can make without going to the grocery...I'm betting that you have everything in your pantry--that is, if you keep a well-stocked pantry. If you don't have the basic baking ingredients on hand, you might have to pay a visit to the store.


This recipe has been in our family for as long as I can remember. It lives on a laminated yellow index card that is housed in an old, rusty tin with, what appears to be, hay bales on the front of it. That is where all of the recipes from my childhood are...the chocolate pie, the lemon meringue pie, any casseroles you can imagine--everything is circa the 70s and is, thus, fairly retro. This cake, however, is timeless. It's like that little black dress that's always in style, no matter the occasion or the decade. It's a keeper.


As I have said before, I am not a big fan of cake, and on the spectrum of cake, chocolate cake is my last choice. This cake, however, is so moist and fudge-y that I have a hard time putting it in the cake category. It's a cake in name only.


I made this cake for my aunt's birthday, and she was kind enough to share it with everyone. Maybe the kegs had something to do with her generosity...Yes, this was at our Easter Sunday gathering.


Her cake was nearly gone by the time we left the cookout, and I have a feeling she was regretting letting everyone partake. There was even a marriage proposal made over the cake, but I decided to see if any other offers arise in the next lifetime or so...if not, I might have to reevaluate the offer.


This cake is called a 30-minute cake, because if you bake it in a 9" x 13" pan, it only bakes for 20 minutes, and the prep is about 10 minutes. I used a bundt pan for presentation sake, and it took longer since it was much thicker. So when (not if, because it's only a matter of time before you're going to want to try this cake) you make this, just check back after 20 minutes, and when a toothpick inserted comes out clean, it's done.

For the cake:

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

1 cup butter

1 cup water

3 T cocoa powder

2 eggs

1 t soda

½ cup buttermilk (or make your own...1/2 cup milk, less 2 t, and add 2 t white vinegar)

1 t vanilla

Preheat the oven to 400. Grease and flour your chosen pan with Baker's Joy...or the old fashioned way. Mix the sugar and flour together. 

In a medium saucepan, bring butter, water, and cocoa to a point. Be sure to whisk out any cocoa lumps. Pour over the flour and sugar. Mix. Add eggs, one at a time. Add soda, buttermilk, and vanilla. 

Once everything is combined, pour into your pan. Bake for 20 minutes if using a 9" x 13" pan, but if not, you will need to check it until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 

Make the icing when the cake comes out of the oven. As soon as you finish the icing, pour it over the hot cake. The cake will absorb some of the goodness. With the bundt cake, since the icing is so runny, it was used more as a glaze than a true icing, because it rolls down the sides. Let the cake cool, and the icing will harden. Slice and devour. 

** Note (this is probably self-explanatory, but just covering all of my bases...): If you are not serving the cake out of the pan, turn it onto the serving platter before pouring the icing over it.  

For the icing:

1/2 cup butter

6 T milk

3 T cocoa

1 t Vanilla

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, optional

4 cups confectioners sugar

Bring butter, milk, and cocoa to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat, add vanilla and sugar. Stir until the lumps are gone. You may not need this entire amount.