Garlic Mushrooms

A lot of my recipe choices begin with, "I have _______ in the fridge left over from another recipe and need to use it before it goes bad."

This is how I landed on these garlic mushrooms.

The mushrooms were saved from ruin.


Ingredients:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 an onion chopped (optional) - I used it.
1 pound of mushrooms
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
4 cloves garlic minced
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Heat the butter and oil in a large pan or skillet over medium-high heat.

Sauté the onion until softened (about 3 minutes).

Add the mushrooms and cook for about 4-5 minutes until golden and crispy on the edges.

Stir through thyme, 1 tablespoon of parsley and garlic. Cook for a further 30 seconds, until fragrant.

Season generously with salt and pepper (to your taste).

Sprinkle with remaining parsley and serve warm.

Celery Soup

I had some celery that needed to be eaten, so we had celery soup last night. I did not make the whole recipe because it would take forever for us to eat it.

You could taste the potatoes better than the celery, but the cayenne pepper came through really well. (I also add extra pepper to just about everything.)

If you are looking for a recipe to use up some celery, then this is one for you.


Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
1 onion, diced
4 fat garlic cloves, rough chopped
6 cups celery, sliced thin (about 1 ¼–1 ½ pounds) 1 extra large head, save some leaves for garnish
2 cups potatoes, sliced into ½ inch thick rounds (about ¾ lb – 1 extra large russet peeled or use a few yukons, unpeeled
4 cups veggie or chicken broth (or 4 cups water + 1 tablespoon “Better than Bouillon” Vegetable Base)
1 cup water
1 bay leaf (optional) - I did not use one.
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
¼ – 1/2 teaspoon cayenne

Add:
¼ cup fresh dill (small stems ok)
½ cup fresh parsley (small stems ok)
Stir in: ½ cup (or more) of sour cream, plain yogurt, vegan sour cream, heavy cream or cashew cream

Instructions:
Heat the oil in a big pot over medium high heat, and add the onion, stirring occasionally, letting the onions get golden, about 5 minutes.

While the onions are cooking, rough chop the garlic, celery and potatoes. When the onions are golden add the garlic and stir 1-2 minutes, until fragrant. Add the celery, potatoes, broth, water, bay leaf, salt, pepper, and cayenne. The liquid should just cover the veggies. Cover, bring to a rolling boil, turn heat down and simmer gently until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.

Turn heat off, add the herbs and just wilt them. (Don’t cook herbs or you lose the vibrant color!)


Using an immersion blend until very silky smooth – OR if using a regular blender, let cool before blending in smaller batches. (If blending warm soup, fill blender no more than halfway full, cover tightly with a lid and kitchen towel, holding it down firmly, when you start the motor (on the lowest setting, working up gradually) to prevent a blender “explosion”).



Blend well, a full minute, until herbs are fully blended, creating a vibrant colored soup. For extra “green” color, add a handful of raw spinach if you like, or more fresh parsley. Place it back in the same pot over low heat. Stir in your choice of sour cream, or any of the other options.

***Gently heat, careful to not over simmer, or you may lose the lovely, vibrant color.


To make the crispy celery leaves, heat a generous amount of olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Wait until the oil is hot. Fry a “tester” celery leaf for 10-20 seconds on each side. Set on a paper towel. If it is crisp, continue on. Adding a few at a time, not overly crowding. If not crisp, fry them a little longer. You want about 3-5 leaves per serving bowl. 

Baked Brie - The Recipe You Need in Your Life Right Now

It is Halloween tonight, so I am sure you have other things to do, but tomorrow - run to the grocery store and make this. You won't regret it.  And it probably will be eaten up quickly, especially if you like brie and the mixing of flavors.

This is the perfect mix of sweet and savory.

I am a big mixer of flavors, and this has a little bit of everything.

It is from Reese Witherspoon's book that I reviewed earlier this month, and she likes to serve it as an appetizer at parties.

I like cheese plates. I like cheese. I like jam/preserves. I served this baked brie as an appetizer one night. 

I HIGHLY recommend it.

Let me know if you make it.

I will be making it again. :)

Ingredients:
1 whole brie round
2 tablespoons peach preserves (or any kind of fruit preserves will work - I used strawberry rhubarb.)
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon dried apricots, chopped
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon honey
2 teaspoons whiskey
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350.

Line a baking sheet with parchment and place the round of brie on the paper.

Stir together the preserves, pepper flakes, apricots, pecans, honey, whiskey, and vinegar and spoon over the top of the cheese round.

Bake for 5 to 10 minutes, keeping an eye on the cheese as it heats. The toppings will begin to run down the sides, and the cheese itself will begin to look misshapen. The warming time will vary depending on the brand of cheese and how cold it was to begin with. It is easy for the cheese to melt completely and the topping to burn if you don't watch it carefully. Serve with an assortment of crackers, apple slices, or bread.

Goat Cheese Biscuits

I have been wanting to try this recipe for a while, but I had to wait until I had the plain yogurt on hand. They were worth the wait. I just love goat cheese. :)

These would be great for breakfast with jam. I actually paired them with the shrimp and corn chowder. (Then I ate leftovers for breakfast the next morning.) They are versatile biscuits.

I made them in Pyrex because our cast iron skillet needs to be re-seasoned at the moment. 

Note: this is Shauna Niequist's recipe from Savor that she adapted from the restaurant Table Fifty-Two.

It makes about a dozen biscuits. I cut the recipe in half when I made them. 

Ingredients:
2 cups flour - all purpose, but will give substitutions for self-rising at the end
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
1 cup plain yogurt
6 tbsp cold butter, divided
4 tbsp goat cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and place a 10-inch cast-iron pan into the oven while it is preheating.  (Do not preheat your Pyrex.)

Pour flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium-sized bowl. Cut 4 tbsp of butter into the flour mixture; then stir in goat cheese and yogurt until evenly moistened. Add an extra tablespoon of yogurt if needed.

Remove the hot skillet from the oven and place a tablespoon of butter into it. When the butter has melted, divide the batter into 12 biscuits. It will be very sticky. Make each about the size of a golf ball, and then nestle them into the pan. Generally, a ring of 9 around the outside and 3 in the middle works well.

Brush the tops of the biscuits with one tbsp of melted butter. Bake for 14-16 minutes (or 24 if using Pyrex) until browned on the top and bottom. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the grated Parmesan cheese.

Note: you can substitute the 1 cup of plain yogurt for 1 cup of buttermilk. 1 cup self rising flour = 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 and a half teaspoons baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. 

Shrimp & Corn Chowder

It has been raining here a lot lately with tornado warnings often. I am actually listening to a weather alert as I write this. Soup sounded like a nice, comforting meal for a nasty, rainy day.

I usually start my meal planning thinking about the protein. I had some shrimp in the freezer, and it had been a while since we had them. I like to keep the meat option rotating. I cook chicken way more than I like it; it is my least favorite meat. However, I do LOVE seafood.

I had most of the ingredients on hand, and there was not a ton of prep work.

It turned out delicious.

While I was cooking it, it smelled a bit like crab boil seasoning, which was nice.


Ingredients:
4 slices bacon, diced
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 cloves garlic, diced
1 onion, diced
2 teaspoons smoked paprika, or more, to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional - (I used them.)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups corn kernels, frozen, canned or roasted
1 bay leaf (I left this out.)
1/4 cup heavy cream

Directions:
Heat a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add bacon and cook until brown and crispy, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Drain excess fat, reserving 1 tablespoon.

Add shrimp to the stockpot, and cook, stirring occasionally, until pink, about 2-3 minutes; set aside.

Add garlic and onion to the stockpot, and cook, stirring frequently, until onions have become translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in paprika, oregano, basil and red pepper flakes until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Whisk in chicken stock, corn and bay leaf. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, about 12-15 minutes; discard bay leaf. Add heavy cream and puree with an immersion blender.

Serve immediately with shrimp, garnished with bacon and parsley leaves, if desired.

Book Review: Kind is the New Classy

I have been a Candace Cameron (now Bure) fan for a long time, since I was a child watching Full House, which is my all time favorite television show. Now there is Fuller House and lots of Hallmark movies. I like to watch when she live tweets her Christmas movie. She gives a scarf away that she wore during the movie during the live tweeting - fun fact.

I have read some of her other books - Balancing It All, Reshaping It All, and Dancing Through Life. There are two other ones about being stylish and a kid's book that I have not gotten around to reading yet.

This book was by far the most useful one of her books, in my opinion.  It really spoke to me.  With social media and mainstream media, it seems as if people have forgotten how to treat one another. I see people writing things that (I hope at least) they would never say in real life (not that it makes it any better) on social media.  People jump at every opportunity to argue. And the thing is - I never see that arguing ever changing anyone's mind. It just puts negativity out there into the world and wastes time that could be used being more productive like serving soup at the local soup kitchen, doing a beach clean up, reading to a child, or walking dogs at the animal shelter. Stop trying to convince others that you are right and just go out there and make the world a better place.

This book's content is what the world needs more of right now.

There is so much negativity and polarization out there. I do not know when kindness went out of style. It should not have ever happened. I do not know why people stopped treating others the way they wanted to be treated.

Kindness can bring the world together.

Candace gives real-life practical examples of things you can do in your life to make it a kinder place at the end of each chapter. You can use this as a discussion guide for a great book club. It only has 10 chapters, and they go quickly.  The whole book is a quick read. Start this in January and jumpstart yourself into a kinder year in 2020.

One big takeaway here is to respond to others with GRACE.

Do not assume ill-intent.  Give people the benefit of the doubt, and just because someone is unkind to you does not mean you have to treat them the same.

Respond with kindness, and you might change the outcome. Even if you do not, you do not have all that toxicity within you.

Let's make the world KIND and CLASSY.

Beef Bourguignon/Beef Burgundy

This meal just makes me feel fancy. Is anyone a Julia Child fan? Or have you seen Julie & Julia?

That movie is kind of what I have been doing recently - working my way through recipes and writing about it.

I have not found one cookbook to fully work through, though. We have tried keto, low carb, low calorie, and intermittent fasting in the past four months, so our dietary needs have changed.

This is a Julia Child recipe with a twist. It is in a crock pot! 

This saves a lot of time and still feels just as fancy.

I made Jared this dinner because I traveled a lot this month and wanted to fix him a nice meal before he only saw me in passing for a bit because of October craziness.

It was delicious. We both liked it.  I hope you like it as well if you try it.


Ingredients:
1.5 lbs boneless beef round steak, cubed
1 oz package dry onion soup mix
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
1 small onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 cup red wine
10 .75 oz can of condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 package of egg noodles, prepared

Instructions:
In a 5-6 qt crockpot, add in your cubed steak.
Sprinkle with dry onion soup mix. And the mushrooms, onion and garlic.

Pour wine, broth and Worcestershire sauce into crockpot. Top everything with cream of mushroom soup. Cover and cook on LOW for 6-7 hours or HIGH for 4-5 hours.
Serve over egg noodles.

Frisee, Hazelnut & Goat Cheese Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette

You may notice from this picture that this is not frisėe, but I made this French salad anyway with what I could find locally. International recipes can sometimes be hard to replicate here, but I just do the best I can to review recipes for my readers. Recipes are just guidelines, anyway.

For the vinaigrette, use a mason jar with a lid to shake it up.

This is another Savor recipe.

For the salad: 

• 3 bunches frisėe, trimmed and washed
• 1 Granny Smith apple, julienned (I did not do this to my apple because I already had two cut fingers from this week.)
• 1/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted and lightly crushed (I could not find these at the supermarket, either.)
• 1/2 cup goat cheese, crumbled

For the vinaigrette:

• 1 shallot, minced
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste 

Serve immediately. 

Asparagus with Mock Hollandaise Sauce

I read Reese Witherspoon's book earlier this fall, and this was one of her recipes. Reese sure does know how to entertain and how to cook (or at least has good recipes for it).

I wanted to try this one out. It was good, but I think I will save the hollandaise sauce for the steak. I wanted to see what it tasted like with asparagus, but I do think they both taste better separate.

Check it out for yourself, though.

Ingredients:
2 bunches thick asparagus spears, trimmed
2 tbsp kosher salt

Sauce:
1/2 stick butter
freshly grated zest of 1 lemon
1 cup mayonnaise (Hellman's and Blue Plate are my favorites.)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp salt
pinch of cayenne pepper (I used more than a pinch.)

Directions:
1. Fill a large saute pan with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the asparagus and salt and cook for 6 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and drain the asparagus. Immediately transfer the spears to a bowl of ice water to shock them and lock in the bright cool color. When cool, drain again.

2. Melt the butter and add the lemon zest. Set aside. In a food processor or blend, blend the mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, salt, and cayenne pepper. Slowly drizzle in the melted butter a little at a time to incorporate. Taste and adjust seasoning.

3. The asparagus may be served at room temperature or reheated in the saute pan filled with simmering water for 1 minute. Drain and arrange on a warm serving platter. Serve with the sauce.

Serves 6 to 8

Summer Salad

Summer may be "officially" over, but I am still cooking like it is not as long as it is a hot as it is outside and the produce is still in stock.

Note: we did get a reprieve from the hot weather last week when a tropical storm and a cold front came at the same time. It started blazing up again in the last few days, but some more thunderstorms moving through can either cool things up or just get the local bridge shut down for high winds. We will see.

Anyway, back to this salad.  It is fine to serve without a dressing. It is colorful and makes you feel good about eating your veggies. I tried to cut it down because the recipe is for 6 servings, but we still ate on it for multiple meals.

Ingredients:
6 ears of corn, cut from ears, raw
2 cucumbers, diced
4 peppers (red, yellow or orange), diced
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 bunch fresh dill, chopped
1 bunch fresh basil, chopped
8 ounces feta, crumbled
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Combine all ingredients and adjust the herbs and salt and pepper to taste. The flavors get better after a couple of hours, so you may want to let it sit for a while after preparing before serving.

This is another Savor recipe.

Lemon Dill Soup

So this did not turn out quite like a soup because I tried to cut it from 6 servings to 3. I should have left more broth in the recipe, but it was still so delicious with great flavors. I still recommend it. If you try to cut down the recipe, keep all the broth in. This did not last long at our house because it tasted so good.

When Jared came home, he thought I cooked jambalaya. I told him that no, that was not it but a good guess and I did not want to tell him what it was supposed to be until after he tried it because it does not look like it should be. He still liked it. What's cooking without kitchen mishaps, anyway?

I got this from the Savor book I read recently. Thank you, Interlibrary Loans and author Shauna Niequist.

Ingredients:
2 c. chopped onion
1 c. chopped celery
1 c. chopped carrots
olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 c. chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 c. brown rice
2 c. chicken, cooked and shredded (optional)
1/4 c. juice from fresh lemons
4 sprigs fresh dill, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Sauté the onion, celery, and carrots in olive oil until soft, then add garlic. Add broth and rice, and allow rice o cook most of the way through. Five minutes before rice is cooked through, add chicken (if using) and lemon juice and dill. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Book Review: Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve

I read this book to better understand the lives of the Chinese students I teach. I only see them in their homes at night, but there is a whole world of experiences they have not during our 25 minute classes.

My first thought was, "Wow, I do not know if I could have sent my child to a Chinese school." I am a big proponent of people having the choice to raise their children how they see fit, though, and I was intrigued.

The author does have Chinese roots. Her parents were raised there, and her husband spent his time in the Peace Corps there. So first off, it would be different for her to send her son to a Chinese school than my non-Mandarin-speaking self.

And her son, although half white, could blend a lot better than other immigrants could.

I braced myself for what I thought could be really shocking and keep me up at night. I made sure I only read it during the daylight when I had plenty of time before I went to bed in case it gave me nightmares, but it was not nearly as bad as I imagined.

The worst atrocity against the boy was being force fed eggs. Okay, some parents in America do that, too.

It opened my eyes up to a school system quite different from my own experience in American public schools.

Instead of individuality and innovation, conformity and blending in are valued in this system.

If you think our testing is intense, read this book and see how competition and testing rule these children's lives in China.

I had read about Tiger Moms in Asia, but if you put it in context of the sheer magnitude of the mountain these students have to climb to get into good schools and universities to acquire good jobs, it makes more sense. Plus, if you only have one child, which this has changed in time some, you have more time/attention/money to invest in that one child. Of course you would want your one child to be the best. Then, if you and your spouse are both only children with a filial piety society, you  might have both set of grandparents in the house with you - so SIX adults are investing in this child to make it great. I have to admit the whole grandparents being right there thing is something I do admire because I grew up next door to my grandmother with my other grandparents just a few streets away. It is nice to have that intergenerational relationship.

There is bribery and corruption, which I was not expecting, because I try not to assume ill intent with others.

The government is working hard to reform education and make it more Western in some ways. Changes can be slow, but the author did find that some of the aspects of this education system were beneficial. And it makes sense with the sheer magnitude of students in some classes for things to be different in China.

The author interviews educators and teenagers going through the big testing phase in their lives. I personally liked the part that talked more about her son in preschool/early elementary years than when she went off on her field trips. I think those parts could have used more character development to draw the reader in because they were just brief snippets.

The reader does get a real sense of the struggle and race to achieve when the stakes are high. It did make me grateful that my own personal race to achieve was more internal than external.

Do you ever think about who you would be in another time/culture? I could not vividly see myself immersed in this system because it seemed so foreign to me. I reflected on the American educational system, and nothing is perfect. But as always, I believe that everything that is wrong with America can be fixed by what is right with America.

I now more fully understand the educational system in China, and the teacher/student relationship. I appreciate learning more about my Chinese students' lives.

Let me know if you read it.

hot dip

Chips and dips are my favorite snack foods. Sometimes I like the dip more than the chip, and I like to load up a chip with dip. Scoop chips are great for that. This is a quick dip you can throw together from stuff you might have already in your fridge. I had the ingredients already so I tried it out this weekend.

Ingredients:
1 c. mayonnaise
5 tbsp margarine (melted)
2 c. shredded cheddar Jack cheese
1/2 chopped onion
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/3 c. jalapeno peppers, chopped (Use fresh ones instead of pickled ones. I did that once, and it tasted too much like pickled relish was in the dip.)
Cajun seasoning to taste (I used the Hot Slap Ya Mama.)

Directions:
Mix mayonnaise and margarine until smooth. Add onions, celery, peppers, cheese, and Hot Slap Ya Mama Cajun Seasoning to taste. Refrigerate for one hour. Serve with crackers or chips. Enjoy!

Cassoulet

We tend to eat pretty international around our house, and the past week had a French theme. A cassoulet is this soupy casserole dish named after the pot that it is usually made in. It contains white beans and pork. Its origin is in Southern France.

It was unique from what seasonings/flavors we typically use, but it was hearty and good.  I made it for about 3 servings instead of 6.  The recipe below is for 6 servings. 

I also could not find parsnips in this town, so I skipped them. Let me know if you can find them when you make this. I am now interested in tracking them down.

I got this recipe from the Savor book I read recently.


Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb turkey Italian sausage, casings removed (I used hot sausage.)
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 onion, thinly sliced
3 carrots, diced
3 parsnips, diced
1 tomato, chopped, or one 8-ounce can whole tomatoes, drained and chopped
3 15-ounce cans cannellini beans, drained
5 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 tbsp butter, melted


Instructions:
1. In a skillet or frying pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Cook the sausage until well browned, breaking it up with a wooden spoon. Remove and drain on paper towels; set aside. 

2. In a stock pot or dutch oven over medium-low heat, combine the chicken broth vegetables, beans, thyme, salt, pepper, one-third of the garlic, and the sausage. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally for about 1 hour, until thickened and the vegetables are tender. 

3. Heat oven to 400°. Pour cassoulet into an ovenproof dish. In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs, parsley, butter, and remain garlic. Sprinkle evenly over the cassoulet, and place in the oven. Bake, uncovered, until the crust is golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes.

4. To make ahead and freeze, prepare without the bread crumb topping. Cover and freeze up to 4 months. When ready to cook, uncover the cassoulet, sprinkle with the bread crumb mixture and bake, unthawed, 45 minutes to 1 hour at 400°.

Maque Choux

This is a Creole dish that has many variations. It can be sweet like a dessert or very spicy or even a blend of both. I kind of did a blend of both flavors because I am a mixer.

I got inspired by a Zatarain's Instagram post earlier this week and the fact that I had these ingredients in the house and needed a new side dish for some leftovers.

This is how I made mine, but you can mix up yours and do it another way.

1 medium onion
2 stalks of celery
1 clove garlic, minced
4 ears of corn, cut from the cob
1/2 pound sausage (I recommend andouille. I used hot Italian turkey sausage because I had it leftover from a previous recipe this week.)
1 can Rotel, drained
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
Creole (or Cajun) seasoning to taste



In a large skillet cook sausage over medium heat. Remove from pan and set aside, but keep the grease. Add the onion and celery and cook until they are tender (about 5 minutes). Add the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, for 1 minute.

Add the corn, Rotel, and heavy cream and stir to combine. Add the salt & sausage and reduce the heat to a low simmer. Sprinkle in sugar if you want it to be of the sweeter variety. Cook, uncovered, for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the corn is cooked through and most of the liquid has evaporated.

Adjust seasoning to taste, adding Creole or Cajun seasoning, if desired. Allow to rest about 5 minutes to allow the mixture to thicken before serving.

Serves 6

Fregolotta (Italian Jam Tart)

This tart is delightful and so easy to make. It is a good way to use up jam that we have hanging out around the house. It goes well with vanilla ice cream.

This is one of my favorite author's recipes (Shauna Niequist) from her Savor book.

• Ingredients:

• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

• 1/2 cup  sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract (I used vanilla instead.)

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 cup  jam (I used strawberry rhubarb.)

• 1/3 cup sliced natural almonds

• 
  

• Directions:

• Heat the oven to 350. 

• Mix the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Beat on medium speed until the mixture is light in color (about 3 or 4 minutes). Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the side of the bowl. Add the extract and blend well (about 30 seconds).

• In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Add these to the butter mixture and combine on a low speed until thoroughly combined (about 30-40 seconds).

• Measure out 1/2 cup of the dough and set it aside on a small plate. Put the plate in the freezer. (This makes it easier to crumble later). 

• Press the remaining dough into a 9 or 9 1/2 inch tart pan in an even later. The edges can be a little higher than the rest, but make sure that the center is not the thickest part. (If the dough is too sticky, chill it briefly.)

Use the back of a spoon to spread the jam in a thin, even later over the surface of the dough, leaving a border of about 1 inch around the edges.


Remove the reserved dough from the freezer and crumble it into small pieces over the layer of the jam, allowing some of the jam to peek through. Sprinkle the sliced almonds evenly over the top of the tart.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until the topping is a beautiful golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

You can also serve this with whipped cream.

Serves 6

delightful dates

Try this one for your next dinner party. I made it for kind of an appetizer when I knew dinner would be a bit later than normal. I got this one from Bread and Wine.

It is super easy with few ingredients, and I knew from the mix of flavors, I would love them. I did.

I normally only eat dates when I am at my Muslim friends' houses, but this recipe makes me want to eat them more.

Ingredients:
1 8 oz. package pitted dates
4 oz. goat cheese
1 16 oz. package bacon

Instructions:
My dates were already sliced on one side, so I could open them like little books, but if yours are not, slice along one side of each date. Fill the dates with a small amount of goat cheese, and then close each one.

Cut the whole package of bacon in half. (I did mine into thirds because I thought half a slice would be too much bacon for the date.) Wrap a 1/2 or 1/3 slice of bacon around the outside of each date.

Arrange seam side down in a baking dish or baking sheet with sides to catch any grease.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, or until well browned and crispy. Drain on a paper towel covered plate, and serve warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy!

Homemade Toffee

This is another Bread and Wine recipe. It is super easy with few ingredients, which makes the minimalist in me happy. It does take a bit of planning to get it ready in time for dinner. I started it before I made the entree for dinner tonight, and both of them finished about the same time.

It was really good, and I especially liked the sweet and salty combination.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 cups sugar
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Directions:
Combine butter and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Over medium-high heat, keep stirring until it turns a deep amber color (about 8-9 minutes in).

Remove from heat and pour into a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes, or until cool and solid to the touch.

Melt chocolate chips in a glass bowl over a pot of gently boiling water. When the chocolate is smooth, pour it over the toffee and spread with a spatula. Sprinkle sea salt, and then refrigerate until cooled and solid.  Break into irregular pieces.

Enjoy!

Book Review: Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Ever since the movie came out, all I heard was how hilarious this was. I got excited when I saw it in the library looking for my next Tallahassee trip book on CD.

Like I have said before, I enjoy the multi-tasking that listening to a book allows. It makes drives seem more quick. The stories accompany while I cook.  The voices in the reading of the book offer a different experience from reading it and hearing the story in your head in your own voice.

I have not seen the movie yet. I am not sure I want to see it after reading the book. I tend to like the book versions better, but this book was not what I expected.

Instead of comedy, I found this very dramatic. And what's worse - it is family drama.  Real life has enough of that, and I am not sure I want it when I want to escape to someone else's world. 

I am fascinated by foreign things, and I am trying to immerse myself in Asian culture as much as possible lately, especially Chinese things, since I teach Chinese students. I am not sure if this portrayal of Chinese families is really accurate, but most families tend to have "those" people in it. Wealth only complicates it in this family.

One phrase that is used a lot in this book is "a la muck." I have looked around to try to figure out what exactly it means. The closest I have found is garbage or poop. If any of my Chinese friends wants to enlighten me, I would love to find out what this phrase truly means.

A glimpse into another culture was nice, especially since I hope to visit some of my students in China in the next few years.

If you want family drama in a book, check this one out. If you are looking for comedy, I would pick another one.  It was not a bad story, though, with a few plot twists sprinkled here and there.

Enchilada Casserole

I am not the biggest fan of Mexican food at the moment, although I still love chips and salsa.  Jared really likes it though, so I tried this one out.

It is from the Bread and Wine book that I recently read and will write a review for soon.

Jared said that he would add fresh jalapenos to it but otherwise really liked it. I thought it was pretty good too.

I had a hard time finding the 28 oz can of enchilada sauce, so I got smaller ones to make into the correct size. Monterey Jack cheese was also not found at the local grocery store, so I used a mix that had some in it.

Because the tortillas are not rolled, this casserole has been described as an enchilada lasagna. I used small tortillas, but if you like more coverage/separation between layers, use the big ones.

Ingredients:
1 c. sour cream
1 28 oz. can green enchilada sauce
2 4 oz. small cans green chilies, diced
3 c. cooked chicken, shredded or diced
2 c. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
12 corn tortillas
1 c. chicken broth
cilantro

Instructions:
Mix green sauce with chilies and sour cream. Smooth 1 spoonful of the sauce mixture around the bottom of a 9 by 13 pan.

Simmer the chicken broth in a skillet, and before placing each tortilla in the 9 by 13 pan, use tongs to pass the tortilla through the broth for a few seconds. If you leave the tortillas in the broth for too long, they will fall apart, so just dip each one in for a few seconds to soften it before putting it in the enchilada pan.

Lay 4 tortillas over the first layer of the sauce.

After tortillas, add half the chicken, then one-third of the sauce, then one-third of the cheese.

Repeat so that there are 2 full layers.

Finish with a layer of 4 more tortillas, the remaining third of the sauce, and the remaining third of the cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees until warmed through and the cheese is melted, about 30 to 35 minutes.

Let sit at least 15 minutes before cutting. Top with chopped cilantro.

Serves 6