Quick Panzanella (Italian Bread Salad)

Too hot to cook?  I've got a solution for you.  Panzanella!  It's an Italian bread salad that is bursting with flavor.  Plus, its simple to put together.  Let it marinate in the fridge for a few hours and you're good to go!

Purdum's, Western Idaho's favorite vegetable stand, is finally open.  I picked up some pickling cukes there and used them in the salad.  Yum!  So happy the veggie stands are finally starting to pop up again.  So head to your local farmers market or veggie stand and get started!

Quick Panzanella
1/3 of a sourdough baguette, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 lg tomato, chopped
1/2 cucumber, peeled and chopped
2 Tbsp fresh basil, slivered
2 Tbsp Olive oil
2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar (reduced to a syrup, then measured)
salt and pepper to taste

-Combine all ingredients in a bowl, toss well, cover with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for a few hours.  Stir well again and serve.

Have you seen 'Extra Virgin' on the cooking channel?  I love it!  Actress Debi Mazar cooks with her Italian husband, Gabriele Corcos.  The two are hilarious!  She has the New York accent and he has an Italian accent.  Highly entertaining and the food looks wonderful.  They made Panzanella a bit differently by rinsing the bread in water and squeezing it out, adding onions, etc.  They also never use sourdough bread, but I like the flavor it brings to the salad.  Plus, its what I had in the house.  There you go!

Summer is in full swing and many people are camping.  A coworker brought a little creature back from the fire pit of the campground.  Someone obviously was extremely bored in the woods.  Check this out...

What is it?  A potato mouse?  Who knows.  Just watch out when you're in the woods.  There are some very strange individuals out there!

Dilly Potato Salad

Have you ever eaten at Gandalfo's?  For those of you that haven't, its a New York style deli with about a million different sandwiches.  Fun names like 'Knuckle Sandwich'!  And some HUGE dill pickles. You know me and pickles. ;-)

Gandalfo's also has a really amazing potato salad.  Its a sour cream base with fresh dill.  Here is my version.  The salad will seem very wet at first but as it cools, the potatoes will absorb some of the excess liquid. This is enough to feed 4-6 people, but the recipe can easily be doubled.

Dilly Potato Salad
2 lbs potatoes (I use redskin, whiteskin or gold skin, not russets)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp mayonnaise
1-1/2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp chopped fresh dill

1.  Chop potatoes into 1" chunks and place in a large pot with cool water.  Make sure the water level is about an inch above the potato chunks.  Bring to a boil and cook until tender, about 20 minutes.  Drain well and rinse with cool water.  Allow to drain for about 10 minutes.

2.  Mix remaining ingredients in a medium bowl.  Fold in the potatoes.  Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.  Be sure to fold in the potatoes to avoid too much breakage.

Serve with your favorite BBQ foods-- like smoked sausage and a green salad.

Don't forget to give your patio buddies some luvs!  Mocha has found a new comfy spot under the patio table.

Cheddar Jalapeno Polenta for Cinco De Mayo!

Happy Cinco De Mayo, Everyone!  Thanks for stopping by to read the blog.  I decided I wanted something a little different this year.  I was browsing the aisles in the natural food store here looking for Rye Flour, and ran across this package:

My friend Erin played with Polenta a bit while we were cooking in Arkansas.  She made the best Polenta!  It was loaded with parmesan that crisped up nicely when fried.  I thought it would be GREAT with cheddar and freshly chopped jalapeno-- boy, was I right!

This makes a wonderful snack for Cinco De Mayo.  They would also be great with a dollop of sour cream, some salsa, and a fresh sprig of cilantro.  But we didn't have any of those things in the lab.  Darn it!  Next time...

Cheddar Jalapeno Polenta
6 cups water
2 tsp salt
2 cups Polenta (aka grits)
2 jalapenos, chopped (I left the seeds and ribs in one half of one of the jalapenos.  Didn't want it to be too spicy!)
3 Tbsp butter
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chipotle powder

1.  Bring the water and salt to a boil in a LARGE pot.  Slowly stir in polenta (so it doesn't lump) and then stir in the jalapenos.  Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.  It will get very very thick.

2.  Add the butter, cheese, cumin and chipotle powder.  Stir well until it is all incorporated.

3.  Pour the polenta into a 9"x13".  You could serve it warm at this point and it would be good, but taking the extra time to let it cool and then fry makes it even better!

4.  Place the pan in the fridge for a couple of hours.  Then cut into 20 squares.

5.  Remove a square, form it into a ball, then press it flat into a patty.

6.  Fry the patties in canola oil or vegetable oil until crisp and golden brown on each side (about 3 to 4 minutes per side.

7.  Remove to paper towels to drain and serve warm.

Enjoy!

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Since that Artisan Bread makes the CUTEST bread bowl for soup, I thought I'd include a really really good soup recipe.

Broccoli Cheese Soup sounds simple enough, but its really not.  It can easily come out as a glop of cheese swimming in a sea of curdled milk.  Oh yes, it happened.  Not this time-- this time was much better!

It all began with my Bountiful Basket.  Don't know what a Bountiful Basket is?  Go here: http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/ and check it out.  The week before last, we got a ton of Broccoli.  A TON!!  six small heads of the stuff.  Broccoli is great, but you can have it steamed only so many days in a row.  Then you start crinkling your nose and uttering things like 'Broccoli AGAIN?!'.  Until you make this soup.  Then you'll be hoarding it away in little plastic containers in your fridge-- with labels for each day of the week.  Yes, that happened too!  But don't worry.  I shared with the people at work!

Here is my lovely recipe for Broccoli Cheese Soup (adapted from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Excellent-Broccoli-Cheese-Soup/Detail.aspx).

Broccoli Cheese Soup
1/2 medium onion, chopped fine
3/4 cup butter (the REAL stuff)
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 quarts chicken stock
1/2 gallon 2% milk
1 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp white pepper
6 cups chopped broccoli*
2 carrots, peeled and shredded
1-1/2 lbs Velveeta, cut into little cubes
3 cups Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

1.  Melt butter in the bottom of a very large pot.  Add onion.  Saute until onion is soft and translucent, but not browned (about 5 minutes).

2.  Sprinkle in the flour and whisk.  Cook about 2 minutes to get the raw flour taste out.  Keep it moving so it doesn't burn. 

3.  While constantly stirring, slowly add in the chicken stock.  Keep it moving and add it slow-- this will prevent any lumps from forming.  Once the chicken stock is in, stir in the milk, salt and pepper.  Bring this mixture barely to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes.  Be sure to stir every few minutes to prevent the milk from burning on the bottom.

4.  Meanwhile, place the broccoli and shredded carrot in a large pot with a few inches of water.  Cook until crisp-tender, 5 to 7 minutes.  Drain well and set aside.

5.  Gradually add the Velveeta chunks, a few at a time with stirring, to the milk mixture.  Once all the Velveeta is mixed in, slowly sprinkle in the Sharp Cheddar cheese, stirring constantly.  Stir in the Worcestershire sauce.  Add the drained vegetables to the pot and stir well.  Cook another 5-10 minutes, or until vegetables are warmed through and the soup is hot!

To serve in a bread bowl:
Trim off the top 1/3 of the Artisan Bread Loaf.  Carefully hollow out the bottom of the loaf using a spoon-- be sure to leave at least an inch or so of bread all around.  Ladle in the soup and enjoy!

*I used fresh broccoli here.  I trimmed off the florets, then peeled and chopped the stalk.  You could also use a big bag of frozen chopped broccoli.

Lili's Fresh Flour Tortillas

Friday was a great day!  We had a Superbowl party at work.  Our HQ is in Pittsburgh, so there were several Steelers fans on location-- along with a few Packers fans.  We decided to serve taco salads, tacos, nachos, refried beans, and chicken wings.  We also made everything from scratch (except for the corn tortillas).

I work with some great people. One of those people is a lady named Lili.  Lili's heart is bigger than anyone I've ever known.  She works very hard, likes to laugh, and makes tortillas for breakfast every morning.  This is Lili's recipe for Homemade Fresh Flour Tortillas.

This is the second time I've made tortillas with Lili.  She makes the masa (the dough) and I roll it out.  Here is the recipe and the technique.  I hope you try these at home.  They're surprisingly easy!  Lili says you can make the masa on the weekend, keep it in the fridge, and use it to make fresh tortillas every day!

This recipe will make quite a few fresh 6" tortillas.  You can also freeze the tortillas once cooked and cooled.  Just thaw on the counter before use.

Lili's Fresh Flour Tortillas

2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder

-Place the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix together with your hands until completely blended.  As you can see, Lili is quick with her hands!

Add 1/2 cup crisco.  Break it into pea sized pieces and roll them in the flour with your hands or use a pastry blender.  The mixture should resemble coarse meal-- like when you're making pie dough.

Next, mix in hot water-- as hot as you can stand it.  The hotter the water, the softer the tortilla will be.  If you use cool water, Lili says the tortilla will break and fracture when you try to bend it.  Start with 1 cup of water, and gradually add more by the tablespoon if needed to help the dough form a ball. 

Knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes. The dough ball will look a bit shaggy. Let it rest on the counter for 20 to 30 minutes with a towel over the top of the bowl.


 

Using your hands, break off golf-ball sized amounts of dough and use your hands to roll them into a ball while folding the dough under to form a dimple.  Like this:

Here's what all the dough balls looked like on the rolling mat.

Cover the dough balls with a towel while you roll them out into a tortilla.  Take a ball of dough and dip the bottom in all purpose flour.  Place it on the mat, and roll in an up and down motion.  Pick it up, turn it by a quarter turn, and roll again.  Lightly flour the rolling pin if needed, but keep picking it up and rotating it to be sure it doesn't stick.  Lili likes to use a rolling pin where the handles have been broken off.  She says it gives you a better idea of how much pressure you're using on the dough.

Preheat a skillet over medium low heat.  Lili uses a flat cast iron skillet.  Lay the rolled tortilla on the skillet and cook it for 2-3 minutes per side.  It will puff up-- use a clean potholder or folded up towel to gently press on the tortilla and express the air if it puffs too much. 

Here, you can see the little bubbles forming as the tortilla cooks.

You know the tortilla is done when both sides look like the picture above.  Keep warm between layers of clean towels and serve.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did.  Thanks, Lili!!

Marinara Sauce and how to cook Brown Rice

This weekend was nice and relaxing! Friday night, I took Ham Fried Rice using brown rice over to Tamra's for dinner with her family. It's always fun to see Alan, Peyton and Amelie. Amelie always has stories to tell! I making this recipe, I found a new way to prepare brown rice that will make it perfect every time! Sorry, but no photos. You'll just have to take my word that it looks and tastes great!

Saturday, I went to Tamra's for lunch and spent the afternoon shopping with Tamra and Amelie. I picked up some cute Halloween decorations at Target. I just couldn't help it! I've been going through withdrawls. After that, I went to dinner with my neighbor Corby, then got some things done around the house.

Sunday, I went to the Home & Garden Show at the Idaho Center in Nampa. The one in Idaho Falls is better in my opinion. After that, I came home and made marinara sauce from scratch. I had to do something with all the donated tomatoes I've been getting!

Hope you all had a great weekend as well. Until next time.... Cheers!

Best Brown Rice
2-1/2 cups water
1 Tbl butter
1-1/2 cups brown rice (the slow cooking kind)
1 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring the water and butter to a boil on the stovetop. Place the rice and salt in a heat-proof 2.5 Qt casserole.
2. Pour the water/butter over the rice and stir briefly. Cover tightly, and bake for 50 minutes.
3. Remove from oven and let stand for 5-10 minutes.
4. Fluff with a fork and serve!

Ham Fried Brown Rice
1 Tbl butter
2 Tbl soy sauce
2 stalks celery
4 oz. mushrooms, chopped
8 oz. lean ham, cubed
1 small can bamboo shoots, drained and rinsed
4-5 cups cooked brown rice
3 scallions, chopped
2 eggs, scrambled and chopped up
Sesame oil (optional)
Soy Sauce (optional)

1. Heat butter and soy sauce in a LARGE skillet over medium heat. I used my deep 12-inch skillet. Add the celery and mushrooms. Cook until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.
2. Add ham and cook until the ham is very warm. Add the rice and bamboo shoots, cook another 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Fold in the scallions and eggs. Cook another 5 minutes or until heated through. I stirred in another couple Tbl of soy sauce and a couple Tbl of sesame oil at the end. Serve with soy sauce on the side.

Home-Made Marinara

5 lbs tomatoes, washed
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dried basil
4oz. can tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Fill one half of your sink with cold water and some ice cubes.
2. Cut a shallow 'x' in the bottom of each tomato. Drop the tomatoes into the pot of boiling water and let it cook for about 1 minute. Remove the tomatoes and immediately immerse them in the cold water bath. This should make the skins very easy to peel off. I did half my tomatoes at a time. When they are in the cold water bath, they should look like this:


Peel the skins off. They should come off very easily and the tomatoes should look like this:



3. Cut each tomato horizontally in half (be careful because they are slippery) and de-seed them over a 'garbage bowl' or over the sink. This is what you should be left with:

4. Chop the seeded tomatoes up.

5. In a large pot, heat a few Tbl of good olive oil. Add in the onions and garlic. Cook for a few minutes until the onions are soft and the garlic is fragrant.

6. Add the salt, sugar, basil and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and cook for about an hour. After an hour, it should look like this:

7. Use a stick blender to blend the veggies up to the desired consistency. I like mine pretty smooth. Add the tomato paste and stir until completely dissolved. Cook another 10 minutes or so. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Trust me-- you will need to add salt.

8. It's ready! Use it as a sauce over pasta with some meatballs (that was dinner tonight).

I have a lot of sauce left over-- about 5-1/2 cups. I'm going to freeze a pint, give a pint away, and use the rest as pizza sauce later on in the week. If you're in the mood for a really good soup, take a pint of sauce and add a can (14.5 oz.) of chicken or vegetable broth. Stir in some Parmesan cheese and a Tbl or two of cream and serve with garlic bread. Yum!

Feeling Ambitious-- Refried Beans, Applesauce, and Zucchini Bread!

Tyson came for the long weekend (Labor Day Weekend). We had tons of fun! On Saturday, we looked at houses in Star, ID-- and decided we still like Middleton. That night, we had the neighbor over for a BBQ (grilled chicken, corn on the cob, etc.).

Sunday, we drove up to McCall. It was a busy little town! We stopped at My Father's Place for hamburgers and fries (OMG!!) and ate at the lake watching the sailboats. Once we were done eating, we drove to Ponderosa State Park. It was great! They have a lot of hiking and biking trails there. We took the pups on a 90 minute hike. After the hike, we headed back to Payette. The pups were pooped!

Monday, Tyson left at 11am to go home. I went to Purdums (produce stand) and got inspired. When I got home, I made Refried Beans in the big crock pot, applesauce in the little crock pot, and Zucchini Bread. They all turned out great! The Refried Beans recipe is from Sherelle Christensen. I went to high school with her and she has one of my favorite blogs-- with really yummy recipes! The Zucchini Bread recipe was from my neighbor Aimee Hughes. I tweaked it a bit. The applesauce recipe was just one I made up and it turned out great! The recipes are below. Hope y'all have a great week!

Fresh Applesauce

6-8 apples (I used 4 pink lady and 2 granny smith apples)

1 Tbl brown sugar

1-2 tsp cinnamon

1. Core, peel and chop the apples. Place in the crock pot.

2. Sprinkle cinnamon and brown sugar on top. Stir well.

3. Cook on low for 8-9 hours, stirring occasionally.

4. Use a potato masher to mash the apples to the desired consistency. Taste, and add more cinnamon and/or brown sugar if needed.

Refried Beans

5 cups dried pinto beans, picked through and rinsed well

5 slices bacon, halved

1 small onion, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalepeno, cut in half lengthwise

1 Tbl seasoning salt

1 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. dried garlic

2 Tbl. cumin

1 Tbl. chili powder

1. Place beans in a large pot and add water to cover them by one inch. Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat, cover, and let stand for 1 hour.

2. Put the bacon, onion, and jalepeno in the crock pot. Add the beans and the rest of the ingredients. Add enought water to just cover. Stir well.

3. Cover and cook on high for 8 hours or until beans are tender, stirring occasionally. Check the water level every couple of hours and add water as necessary. After 6 hours or so, remove bacon and jalepeno.

4. Let beans cool, then refry them!

5. To refry, put about a Tbl. of corn oil or vegetable oil in a pot. Add about 2 cups of drained beans and mash with a potato masher until desired consistency. The cooking liquid from the beans can be added to thin out the mixture. Taste for seasoning, and cook on low, stirring often, until bubbly.

Zucchini Bread

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

3 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ginger

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

2-1/4 cups white sugar

3 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup sliced almonds

1. Grease and flour 2 8x4 inch loaf pans. Preheat oven to 325°F.

2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and spices together in a bowl.

3. Beat eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until creamy. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture and beat well. Stir in Zucchini and nuts until well combined. Divide batter between the two prepared pans.

4. Bake for 60 minutes. Cool on a rack for 20 minutes, then remove from the pan and let cool completely.

The bread will freeze well and keeps in the refrigerator for weeks. Enjoy!!

Caprese and Roasted Veggies (purple cauliflower)

It's officially September! I can't believe how fast this year is going by. We only have another few weeks of farm stand goodness, so I've been cooking veggies like crazy! Last night, the neighbors and I decided to have a veggie dinner. We started off with Caprese, my favorite summer salad. We also had grilled sweet corn, marinated cukes, cantaloupe and Parmesan zucchini crisps. It was wonderful!

Earlier this week, I turned on the oven and roasted the veggies I had lying around. I tossed a sweet onion, yellow summer squash, purple bell pepper and purple cauliflower in olive oil. I then spread it out on a pan and baked it at 350°F for 30 minutes. Then I cut up a golden tomato and threw that on top with some garlic and herb seasoning. Returned it to the oven at 400°F for about 20 minutes and it was HEAVEN! This really isn't the best picture in the world, but you get the idea.

Caprese:

Fresh Mozzarella Cheese, sliced

1-2 Tomatoes, sliced thick

Fresh Basil

Balsamic Vinegar

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

1. Put the balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan and reduce by at least half to make a sweet syrup. Set aside to cool.

2. Layer cheese, tomatoes and basil on a platter or plate.

3. Drizzle with balsamic and olive oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Done!

Marinated Cucumbers:

Peel and slice a cucumber. Place in a bowl with enough seasoned rice vinegar to just cover. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Let stand about 10 minutes and serve. Sometimes I also like to add a bit of sweet onion or fresh dill. Yum!

Parmesan Zucchini Crisps (Ellie Krieger, Food Network): Look it up! For some reason, it won't let me cut and paste anything into Blogger. :(

Soup is on the horizon, but not for a few weeks. We'll be in the 90's this Labor Day weekend and that's just too hot for soup! :)