Fresh Summer Meals...

A few more dishes have come from the kitchen and boy were they fun to make! I have been extra, preoccupied with red wine these days. No, I am not consuming it from a glass. Rather, I am giving penne pasta or tomato sauce an extra kick with a half cup or so of poised grapes! Wine and wine vinegar have been new adventures for me and it makes me feel more Italian and more experienced with each drop. The three dishes below are all inspirations from summer that have a dash of wine or red wine vinegar to zest and life.

David, Tootsie and I also recently went to Huber Farms and did some Blackberry and Blueberry picking. The day was full of fun and laughter (hear more about it on my life blog: "my life in light of grace"). The result was an orange and blackberry wine reduction sauce for my seared Pork Chops! I love the way that food allows you to mix things together to create a whole new taste. This means that creations are nearly infinite. Anything that is nearly infinite is worth discovering. So, for a peek into the world of wine cooking, berry picking, and Italian summer churading, see pictures below!

Chicken Penne Pasta with Bacon and Tomato, Basil, Feta Cheese.

Tomato/Cucumber salad (red wine vinegar), Cruton Salad with grilled Flank steak.

BLACKBERRIES!!!

Seared Pork Chops with an Orange, Blackerberry wine reduction sauce and sauted Vegitables.

Seafood Burgers...YUM!

I love burgers, who doesn't? Beef, vegies, bread, sauces,... what else could you ask for. So, when I saw this amazing recipe for shrimp burgers, I HAD to try it out!. This meal was so fun and exciting to make because I could just tell they were going to be double OO GOOD! Creating these burgers felt fresh and real. It was the first time I have felt like I was cooking for the art of it, not just to feed bellies. I don't know where this sensation came from, but I do know that it inspired me to keep on creating. I can't give myself credit for the recipe, but I can learn from it and come back to it when ever I want. Either way, these burgers were simply perfect for a warm summer day. David and I sat on our back patio, under the sun, listening to the birds, watching the sunset, and peering down at Tootsie (our Wiener dog) as she politely begged for some shrimp and tartar. I served them with a strawberry and peach fruit salad with raw honey drizzled over it. Please, I suggest you take action and make these for yourself. Put plenty of spread of them for an extra kick and remember to not feel bad about eating all that Mayo... it's shrimp for goodness sakes! You will have left over mayo spread, which I suggest using on a normal turkey sandwich or adding to some tuna...mmmm! I don't usually do this, but they are so good, I have to share them. Here is the recipe: ENJOY!

1 1/4 lb. Unpeeled, medium raw shrimp
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tbs. mayonnaise
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground pepper
3 Tbs. Finely chopped celery
2 Tbs. chopped green onion
1 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley
1 1/4 cups crushed cornbread crackers
4 Kaiser Rolls with poppy seeds ( or your favorite burger rolls)
4 Bibb lettuce leaves

1. Peel shrimp: Devein. Cut each into thirds
2. Line a 15 by 10 pan with aluminum foil. coat with cooking spray.
3. Stir together egg and next 4 ingredients until blended; stir in celery, green onion and parsley. Fold in shrimp and cracker crums (it will be very thick). Shape into 4 (1 inch thick) patties. Place patties on pan and cover and chill 1 to 24 hours. Transfer to freezer and freeze for 30 minutes.
4. Coat cold cooking grill with cooking spray. Heat to 350 to 400 degrees. Grill burgers, covered with grill lid, 4 to 5 minutes or until they lift easily from grate. Turn burgers and grill another 4-5 minutes or until shrimp is pink and they are cooked through.
5. Grill buns, cut side down. Serve with Sweet n' Spicy Tartar Sauce (below)!

Tartar Sauce:
1 Cup Mayonnaise
2 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbs. Horseradish (optional).
1 1/2 tsp. Cajun seasoning
1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. paprika
Mix all ingredients and chill for 30 minutes.

Pucker Up with Lemon...

This meal was an every day meal. Just another day in the kitchen, opened up my refridgerator and started dreaming about what to make. I had a whole chicken, vegitables, and lots of pasta. Perfect! I love lemon and rosemary together, so I rubbed down the chicken in with good old fashioned butter and salt, sprinkled it with dried rosemary, and topped it off with thinly sliced lemon rounds... all while humming a gentle tune of course. IN GOES THE BIRD.

The pasta was super easy. Cook accordingly, I like mine a bit al dente. In a separate pan I sauted onions, corn, green bell peppers and tomatos (for some extra color), in a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic. Here comes the lemon, just a squeeze, just before you serve it. What I love about pasta is all the different hings you can put in it. I could have used three very different vegitables, or even done bacon, or ANYTHING really! As long as you know what three go together :). Pasta = Endless possibilities.

So, even though not many emotions were boiling in me during this meal, there is a definite love for the simplistic and of the everyday, "have to make dinner so let's see what's in the fridge" feeling. Especially when your husband thinks it's the best meal he's ever had, though he says it about all the ones you make...haha...thanks to my loving husband, this meal was more than just simple, it was loved!

...Recipe Catch-Up...

Many might relate to a busy schedule. I am one of those who has a schedule that is highly demanding. This can make cooking difficult and brings on several short cuts and improvisations. Over the past several weeks, since the chocolate cake, I am cooked several other recipes from Southern Livings 40 Best. In other words, I have been busy and need to catch up on my entries. Here are a few of the things I've made recently:

Cherry, Walnut, Pork Fillets- This is not a picture of my actual loins that I made, I keep forgetting to take pictures before I eat. These are a bit frustrating to make because I didn't have cherries or walnuts, nor did I have time to get to the store for a purchase. What I did have was Apricots and chopped Hazelnuts. I still tried to put all the effort and love into them that they, and my husband, deserve. The process of preparing them taught me about why we wrap meat with string (to keep juices locked in tight) and why it is good to sear the meat in a pan before cooking it in the oven (again, to lock in juices). This recipe challenged my thinking because I had to play dress up and improvise. Luckily, it still tasted good. Next time, I think I will follow the recipe with cherries and walnuts and I believe I will like the taste much better.

Roasted Potato Salad- To accompany the Pork, I roasted red potato quarters in a lemon, herb, sauce. I Added the bacon, but left the spinach out of the scene and served it hot! it was a great salty company to the sweet pork. I was unsure about the lemon herb sauce it called for, but I think I would make it again...just add less mustard. Either way, these potatoes tasted good, but had me a bit un-easy the whole time I made them and ate them.

On another Occasion I made Italian burgers. These were very different from your McDonald's Big Mac and probably twice as good. They are chalked full of Parmesan cheese, parsley, garlic and Italian bread crumbs. What made them fun and unique to make was the tomato sauce, provolone cheese and toasted English muffins to put them all together. They sounded weird, but tasted scrumptious! I felt like a true Italian cook, expressing and discovering some new form of Italian cooking. I do not have a picture of them, but trust me, a picture would do no justice to their taste.

Overall, the past few weeks have been ups and downs, but I am still trekking through this, so far good, cook book. My hope is that I become more able to branch out on creativity of food and in my entries. There is much to this blogging world that I do not understand :) For now...keep dining and explore the world of southern cooking!

...Wisking Up Purpose...

I was recently challenged by my neighbor to come up with a goal or purpose for my entries. It’s a good question: why are you cooking through a book and what do you hope for it to lead to?

Well…I don’t expect much from people reading this blog, I’ve always written for myself as kind of a therapeutic outlet. I do want my children to read all my old journals so they know who I am, where I have come from and what I care about most. This kind of blog is different than that though. It’s not about how many people will read, respond, or try cooking. What it MIGHT be is an attempt to express how cooking is tied to emotions, at least for me.

When I make a chocolate cake, I don’t just make a chocolate cake. I make it for some one or some thing. I make the cake one pain-saking, ingredient at a time. Careful to put much effort, precision and love into everything I make, I hope to give that cake, or that roast, or those yummy hamburgers to someone that will love it as much as I loved making it. After I cook, I can’t eat right away because of the differing emotions that were all fluttering around while I skillfully spread the frosting. I can’t eat until someone else has had a bite and is satisfied with the taste. I get nervous cooking for other people. I get excited as they reach for the first bite. I get humble if they tell me how good it is. Then…I get relief when I get to try a bite for myself…which usually comes with a comment of my own critique shortly after (we are our worst critics after all).

So…my hope is that some will read about my cooking, but that others will pick up on the emotions behind cooking. Yet, while others will endeavor to take up cooking for themselves and see what emotions they too can muster up while brazing a turkey!

...5 Way Wonder...

...2/17/10...
So here I am standing in my kitchen, cooking of course! I love to cook. I am admitting at the gate that I am not a great cook (though my husband, as sweet as he is, thinks I am the best), but my passion keeps me striving to be better and better with each whirl of the wisk and measure of the spoon. I have yet to choose a cookbook that I want to begin working through. It proves more difficult to get people to log on and vote which book they think I should work from; and since I am horrible at making decisions, I am still waiting to find that perfect book to begin my endeavor. So, if you are out there...please vote!

On another note, my latest escape revolved around a decadent 5-type chocolate cake with strawberries and Ganache. The recepie comes from taste of home magazine, which my wonderful mother-in-law brilliantly gave me this last Christmas. I made this "Chocolate Strawberry Celebration Cake" for my handsome husband on our first Valentine's Day as a married couple.

The cake turned out beautifully, but beware: it takes several hourse to prep, cook and create this beauty. The taste is beyond anything and the hard work is worth it, but I would say, I am going to keep this one as a special occasion cake, because of the ingredients and the time it takes.

The key to serving this cake lays in the fact that the cake itself has melted chocolate in it. That means when you store/refrigerate the frosted and finished cake, the choclate inside gets hard, making it SEEM dry. Nothing is more frustrating than slaving over a dessert to have it come out dry. I couldn't figure out what went wrong, until last night, we were finishing the last slices and I decided to heat my in the microwave for about 15 seconds... well...the cake was perfectly moist after that!

Overall, it was the perfect treat to share with my sweet AND it made for a great gift for a couple that invited us over for dinner.