C'est Magnifique

Forget that I butchered the French Language. Today I attempted a Julia Child recipe. The Dude and I went to see the movie last night and it was so good. I wasn't sure how they were going to meld the two stories together, but it worked. Now, I say I attempted a recipe. I used hers and changed it up a little, because of personal tastes, lack of an ingredient I forgot to write down, and we were so hungry we wanted to eat now. It wasn't hard, although on the website it was listed as 'Difficult', but it did take time.

JC Beef Bourguignon, my way

3 pounds of bottom sirloin, cut into 3 inch pieces

5 slices bacon, cut into 2 inches pieces

1 jumbo onion, in half and then in thick slices

3 carrots

3 cups red wine, I couldn't find Burgundy so used Pinot

3 cups beef broth

salt and pepper

1 tsp marjoram

1 tsp thyme

1/4 cup flour, seasoned with salt and pepper

Render bacon in Dutch oven. Remove bacon from pan. Blot beef dry and brown in bacon fat. Do in batches so as to not crowd pan. Remove last of meat to plate. Add a pat or two of butter and saute onions. Remove onions and put beef back in pan. Sprinkle with flour mixture and stir to coat. Let fry to form a slight crust. Add onions back in, then rest of ingredients. Stir to make sure meat is covered with cooking liquid. Cover pot and roast in a 350 degree F. oven for 2-1,2 hours.

The original recipe also calls for pearl onions (I forgot at store) and mushrooms (no one will eat but hubs) and to reduce the liquid (we were starving at 7:45 PM). There was a loaf of crusty bread that we ripped apart with our hands and buttered. Also, since the kids apparently need more starch, I baked some spuds instead of boiling some small potatoes (again, didn't pick any up). It was so good. Lots of slurping and Dude had seconds and now I have nothing to take to work for lunch tomorrow. Sad face.

While I don't know that I will attempt more of her recipes, it was fun to try and I was excited that it turned out so well and everyone ate it-no complaints!

Bon Appetite!

The countdown is on

In 13 days we leave to bring Hermit Crab to school. She is nowhere close to ready. There are piles and piles of clothes, blankets, towels and various other stuff that she needs to bring with-and we are not sure how to fit it all in the car! I have finally convinced Dude we need to bring two cars up. Oh, have I mentioned we have not heard from the student loan people yet? Two weeks and nothing. The form only asked for our names, birthdates and SSN numbers. I used to work in the loan business-we should have had some contact by now!

Dude and I had a nice date night last night. Dinner out followed by going to see "Julie & Julia". I really enjoyed it; it was funny and touching. And I so couldn't boil a lobster or bone a duck.

Time to get the youngest up for work......

Fresh Salsa

While weeding and plucking some fresh veggies the other day, I had a handful of yellow tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, an Anaheim pepper and an onion. Hmmmm, how about a fresh salsa for Dude's lunch?

This has to be the most simple thing to throw together. And I made it up as I went. I have a recipe I use in the winter for canned ingredients, so I used the same premise to make the fresh version.

Fresh Salsa
1 yellow tomato
5 cherry tomatoes
1 pepper, your choice
1 small onion (pearl onion sized)
olive oil
fresh lemon juice

Dice up the yellow tomato. Slice the cherry tomatoes in half. Seed and dice the pepper. Dice onion into small pieces. Place all ingredients in a small bowl. Drizzle about 1 to 2 TBSP olive oil over top. Squeeze half a lemon over the top. Toss with your fingers. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

I made a small amount just for Dude to take to work with him. He ate it as a salad with his steak. He said it was mild and refreshing; not hot like the normal salsa I make.

After a day of no sleep after working last night, I'm on my way to be to watch "House Hunters" and go to sleep. Need to find a cheesecake recipe I can make in a cake pan for work. I had a request........

Popcorn Salad

I must confess. I don't like salads. Let me clarify. I like mixed lettuce in a bowl with cheese, croutons, bacon, nuts, chicken and some dressing. I do not like potato salad, fruit salad, pasta salad. To me, it is how I normally eat a type of food that it should be presented in. Potatoes should be warm, pasta should be warm, fruit shouldn't be covered in a creamy sauce. Have you noticed how odd I am? At our niece's graduation party 6 or 7 years ago, my Mother-in-law brought a salad that she learned during the winter when they go to Florida. They lived in an RV park and there was a community center on premise and they would have monthly dinners. Another woman had brought this salad and Joannie enjoyed it very much and asked for the recipe. She brought this to the grad party and asked me to try it. Hmmm. She asked nicely, so I did. Oh.My.Gosh. I could make this once a week and never get sick of it. This makes about 20 servings, but one day I brought it to work and 8 of us ate the whole bowl!

Popcorn Salad
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. vinegar
2 cups mayonnaise
2 cups finely chopped celery
2 small cans water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/2 jar Baco Bits
1 to 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
12 cups popped popcorn

Mix sugar, vinegar and mayonnaise in a large bowl. Add the celery, chestnuts, onions, bacon bits and 3/4 cup cheese. Refrigerate until time to serve. Right before serving, stir in the popcorn and top with rest of cheese.

Notes: I use Old Dutch Gourmet popcorn as I don't have to fish out old maids and it is very tender. Also, you could use real bacon; however, it won't have crunch like the Bacos and the crunch is key. The acids in the vinegar and the mayo will break down the popcorn, that is why you should stir it in right before serving. It still tastes good later, but the popcorn won't be in whole puffy pieces anymore. But then, I eat it all the first day, so there are rarely leftovers!

Think Pink-not!

Wow, I guess it has been quite awhile since I have posted last. This summer is just flying by and I must admit that I haven't cooked as much as I should or as much as the family would like. So many things going on that I can't seem to concentrate like I would like.

I had a fun night last night and had a small "Non-reunion/reunion" with a few classmates at a bar up in the Twin Cities. It was fun as most of the people that were there were not the people I hung out with in school. I come from a larger school-over 400 in my class-but I knew a lot of people, or knew of them, as I was on the yearbook staff and we covered everything from sports to music, arts to clubs, so I was at least familar with many of them. As adults, we seem to have much more in common than we did 25 years ago when we convened on one high school from 3 different junior high schools. All of those fears and prejudices were not there anymore, it was just a bunch of 40-somethings talking about work, the economy, kids, music and life. It was great.

Tonight I am just reviewing a wine. Not usually my norm, but have occasionally reviewed some. I found this bottle at a liquor store out of town while I was shopping in the 'bigger' cities. I love a nice rose, but this was way too sweet. I love a sweet wine, but this one hurt my teeth! I thought it would be fun for a picnic in it's nice aluminum bottle with screw top lid, but I really didn't enjoy it. I tried to dilute it with several ice cubes in my glass and that didn't help much. Thankfully it was only around ten bucks, so I wasn't out much money. I did pick up two new wines today that I will post later on.

I have a few food posts ready to go, or will have after tomorrow. I am having movie night with a couple of my girlfriends from the bank and am excited to see them as it has been several months, other than Hermit Crab's grad party. Coming up will be a brownie recipe, popcorn salad, and we are camping in two weeks so it will be chicken and spud hobo dinners. We had some the other night at home on the grill, but the photos were so vanilla, that I will wait until camping and take some more. Hopefully they will show up better.

Off to clean-yuck. Much rather crawl in bed with "House Hunters" and some chocolate!

Grilling out

No, we didn't grill the cat, but here is an updated photo of Tofu.I think I'm in like. We had a simple dinner on Friday night as we were heading to the races at our local track. They had trucked in dirt for dirt track racing. Don't know that I'm a fan since I got pelted with big pieces of clay/dirt. I think the one left a rather large mark on my chest. Ouch!

I picked up some nice, thick bone in pork chops and then went out and picked some veggies from the garden. We marinaded the pork chops in my favorite Lawry's marinade and put those on the grill with some Idaho bakers that I had partially cooked in the microwave. I made a foil packet for the veggies and threw in some zucchini, peas, green beans and a couple different peppers. I drizzled some EVOO over them, sprinkled on some Tuscan herb mix and some Lemon Pepper and put that on the grill for about 8 minutes. We were out the door in no time.

Here is my new car! It is a 2005 Dodge Magnum, which is a station wagon, but not what your Momma use to drive! I am super excited. The Dude was concerned since I test drove one about 5 years ago and wanted one then. I haven't driven one since and he thought that the view might be a little hard to get used to after the Caddy-the windows are a lot shorter. I sat in it when he brought it home and loved it. I have to wait a little while to drive it as he has to fix the rear end. It was a repairable he found on-line so he got it cheap. It only has 29000 miles on it. As you can tell, very excited!

I have to go shave my hubby now-he bought a clipper to shave his own head-saving $8 over a haircut you know, and he can't get around his ears or the back of his neck. Things I don't do for the man I love........

Fresh Blueberry Pie

How many of you, besides Bob have tried to type a post with a cat on your lap? How about a kitten who is possessed by magic jumping beans? He is licking my fingers as I just ate a piece of pizza. Silly Tofu!

I made a blueberry pie from scratch this past weekend as a part of my dessert trio for work. As I had mentioned in the last post, I have made many blueberry pies for Dude, as it is his favorite. I have never made one from fresh blueberries. I found a really pretty looking pie in Food Network magazine, but it called for 7 cups of blueberries, and cooking some of them, etc. Not enough time. Found one in my old Betty Crocker cookbook and one in a church cookbook. I kind of winged it with a little from this one, a little from that one, etc. I'm guessing on the measurements, other than the amount of blueberries, sugar and tapioca, as those I measured.

Fresh Blueberry Pie

dough for a 2 crust pie

2 pints blueberries, washed, stemmed and picked over for bad ones

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup instant tapioca

2-3 TBSP pure maple syrup

approximately 1/2 cup water

grated lemon peel from one lemon

juice from one lemon

1 tsp cinnamon

raw sugar

heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine all ingredients except pie crust dough. Mix with spatula to incorporate all ingredients. Stir several times over the next 20 minutes so tapioca will soften. Roll dough into bottom of pie plate. Fill with the filling, then cover with top crust. Crimp crusts together and vent top crust. Brush the crust with the cream and sprinkle with the raw (Turbanino sugar). Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. I cover the rim of my pie with a pie crust protector. If you don't have one, make a ring out of tin foil and cover edges so they don't get burnt. Remove protector after 30 minutes. Depending on the day and your oven, it will take 35 to 45 minutes to get crust golden brown and the fruit filling bubbly.

I didn't get a photo of it cut as I basically took it out of oven and put it in the carrier and left for work, so here is the pan after the savages at work got through with the pie!