Inspired by Pinterest!

I'm fairly addicted to Pinterest. I find great ideas, recipes, and images there daily.  Tonight I didn't know what to cook, so I went to my Favorite Recipe board and Dessert Board.

For dinner I made this delicious pasta recipe found on Goddess of Scrumptiousness' Blog

I wasn't sure if everyone would like it, but they did--even my son who wants steak for every meal.

This recipe is a keeper and will most likely be made on a monthly basis. 









For dessert, I made Easy Apple Cake found at Recipe by Photo's Blog

It did seem to be too sweet. In the future I'd probably mix about 1 cup cake mix with some cubed butter, apple pie spice, and oats.

All in all, a good, quick and easy dinner!

Holiday Season

We didn't have a great Christmas since my mother is so ill. So I didn't get to do my usual Christmas dinner complete with beef tenderloin, lobster, gnocchi, tiramisu, and so many other great things to eat.

So we spent the holiday in Michigan and we still had a great dinner at my parents, all of the family together except my husband and one of our children - this was horrible. We had ham, potatoes, corn, cheesecake, and other traditional Ayotte family foods.

Really, food does bring people together. Food and tradition. There are so many traditions we have that center around food and family. Every holiday, religious celebrations, birthdays. They make us commune together in order to bond and enjoy.

I try to think of things that we don't celebrate around food. It's hard, really!

What traditions are your favorite in your family? What holidays do you love to celebrate the most?

I love Christmas and Thanksgiving. Birthdays can be special too.

Blueberry Pie Reward!

My daughter's Varsity soccer team won the 2012 Sectional Title for CC in our region.  The only thing she asked for was my blueberry pie.  Now how could I refuse?  So, here's my Soccer Sectional Blueberry Pie recipe~

Recipe

1 Pkg of Pillsbury Pie Crust (why make your own when theirs is so good)
3 pints  plus 1 cup of fresh blueberries
1/2 cup of shifted all purpose flour
1 cup of sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoon of butter (I use unsalted)

Egg Wash
1 egg yoke
1/2 cup of milk (if you have cream - go for it)
Pinch of sugar

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees (I put in a cookie sheet to heat up with the oven)
In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, add sugar, flour and 1 cup of blueberries.  Sometimes in the winter I use frozen blueberries for this step.  Mix until the sugar/flour coats the blueberries and the mixture melts and gets this beautiful purple color.  Some of the berries will get a little mushy at this point.  Set aside and cool for about 5 - 10 mintus.

In a pie pan, I use my favorite Martha Stewart Pie Pan that is ceramic, put one piece of crust as the bottom and take a fork and poke holes all over the crust.  Even the sides.  This will help get a crispy crust that is well cooked.  Add the rest of the blueberries that have been washed and picked through and dried.  Take the blueberry/sugar/flour mixture and pour over the berries.  Lightly fold the mixture into the berries.  Cut up the butter in small pieces and set on berries.

Cover with other pie crust, crimp edges, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with a few pinches of sugar.  The egg wash will make the crust look so nice and brown.

Bake for 50 minutes, place pie on cookie sheet. I cook for 30 minutes uncovered, then lay a piece of foil over the pie so it doesn't get brown.

Cool for 15 minutes before cutting and enjoy!

Memories

I subscribe to Bon Appetite and was so pleased they featured a Boston Brown Bread recipe.  My mother used to make BBB and we'd enjoy it hot with a side of baked beans.  What I loved about the bread (beside the delicious, rich flavor) was the fact you cook it in a coffee tin.

Since I use a Kurig and do not have coffee tins in the house, I had to ask around work to find a couple.

Right now, my house if filled with a slightly sweet (molasses and brown sugar) scent of bread baking.  A perfect day for baking bread as Hurricane Sandy (my mother's name by the way, so especially apropo to make this recipe) covers our region with buckets of rain, wind, and cold.

Here's the recipe from Bon Appetite November 2012 issue http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2012/11/boston-brown-bread

Boston Brown Bread 

Recipe 10 servings Active: 20 minutes Total: 3 1/2 hours (includes baking and cooling time)

Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter plus more for serving, room temperature
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup mild-flavored (light) molasses
1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup rye flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup raisins (optional-I do not add)

Special Equipment Two empty, clean 11-13-ounce coffee cans Ingredient Info Rye flour is available at natural foods stores and some supermarkets. Preparation Preheat oven to 350°. Cut two 6-inch squares of foil. Coat insides of cans and one side of foil squares with 1 tablespoon butter. Stir milk and next 3 ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves and mixture is just warmed (do not boil). Whisk whole wheat flour and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Add milk mixture; whisk until smooth. Fold in raisins, if using. Divide batter between cans. Smooth tops. Cover cans with foil, butter side down. Secure foil with kitchen twine. Place cans foil side up in a deep roasting pan or a heavy shallow pot. Transfer pan to oven. Pour very hot water into pan to come about 3-inch up sides of cans. Bake until a skewer inserted through foil into the center of each loaf comes out clean, about 1 1/2 hours. Transfer to a wire rack. Let cool for 10 minutes. Run a thin knife around edges of cans. Invert to release loaves onto rack. Let cool completely. DO AHEAD Bread can be made 3 days ahead. Wrap tightly in plastic; store at room temperature. Slice bread. Serve with soft butter.

Fall Cooking

Today I made a pumpkin soup that we loving call Harvest Time Soup. This is a family favorite and really takes advantage of fall veggies. You can purchase a cooking pumpkin, bake and remove the flesh to add to the soup. I've done this before, but the cooking pumpkins are not always available. So, to create the texture of pumpkin, I mix in butternut squash with canned pure, pumpkin puree. The soup can be rich and if you want to reduce the calories, you can saute the shallots in olive or vegetable oil, use evaporated milk instead of cream, and use turkey bacon (not a fav of the family). So tonight we will sit down to a hearty soup (perfect for this time of year), with a crusty Italian bread and salad. Yummmmm!

Bouquet of Wooden Spoons

I did some baking this weekend-banana bread, squash casserole, and tomorrow an apple pie. As I was mashing really ripe bananas with a wooden fork, but couldn't help but look at my bouquet of wooden spoons.  I love wooden utensils.  There is something about the touch of the wood beneath my fingers and how they do not burn you when you are cooking over a hot stove.  I keep them in a Peruvian water picture that is a family piece and makes a great holder for all of the spoons. 

Every where I go that has a home section, I look for wooden spoons.  I have bamboo, olive tree, cherry, and oak.  They come from all over, the latest (the honey dipper) is from the country of Greece and is made from an olive tree.  Every once in a while I take the time to oil them so they don't split and become brittle, but I do admit to throwing them into the dishwasher when I'm pressed for time.

What's your favorite cooking tool? 

Easy Breakfast!

So, I knew we had a soccer game on Saturday night at 7pm -- in Hornell (about 1 1/2 hours from the homestead). I also know that we like a nice, sit down Sunday breakfast.  I started searching for something that I could make ahead of time, like a strata or something. I have both of Pioneer Woman's cookbooks and had just watched her Saturday morning show, and had seen something of hers on Pinterest that looked delish, so I went to her website.

I settled on baked French toast. I love recipes you can make a head of time and just forget until you need to pop it into the oven.  Plus another reason to use my homemade vanilla!  You can adapt this recipe as well if you like pecans, walnuts, or even craisins in your French toast. (Pictures are from me, not Pioneer Woman-just to explain why they are so poorly done!)

From The Pioneer Woman - slightly adapted

Ingredients

• FRENCH TOAST
• Butter, For Greasing
• 1 loaf Crusty Sourdough (I used Pepperidge Farm)
• 8 whole Eggs
• 2 cups Whole Milk
• ½ cups Heavy Cream
• 3/4 cups Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract
• Topping
• ½ cups Flour
• ½ cups Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• Freshly Grated Nutmeg, Optional (I usually have, but didn't have)
• 1 stick Cold Butter, Cut Into Pieces
• Warm Syrup, For Serving
• Butter, For Serving
• 1 cup Fresh Blueberries, For Serving

Preparation Instructions

For the French toast: Grease the baking pan with butter. Tear the bread into chunks, or cut into cubes, and evenly distribute in the pan. Crack the eggs in a big bowl. Whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Pour evenly over the bread. Cover the pan tightly and store in the fridge until needed (overnight preferably). Or you can make it and bake it right away—delicious no matter what! For the topping: Mix the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and some nutmeg in a separate bowl. Stir together using a fork. Add the butter and with a pastry cutter, and mix it all together until the mixture resembles fine pebbles. Store in a plastic bag in the fridge.
When you’re ready to bake the casserole, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the casserole from the fridge and sprinkle the topping over the top. Bake for 45 minutes for a softer, more bread pudding texture or for 1 hour-plus or more for a firmer, crisper texture.
Scoop out individual portions. Top with butter and drizzle with warm pancake syrup and sprinkle with blueberries.

Family Recipes

This weekend I made a recipe that paid homage to my husband Hispanic background. And I called my mom for some of my grandmother's recipes I remember from when I was young. Nearly every Sunday we'd eat dinner at my grandparents and there would be a ton of
food.

I can still taste the Wilted Leaf Lettuce and Sour Cream Cucumbers. There was also what we call Grandma's jello, her ham with pineapple and cherries, and something with those little hotdogs and Catalina salad dressing.

My mother found the recipes and they were from Better Homes & Garden's New Cookbook. The one I have used to be my mothers and is a three-ringed binder with the red and white checkerboard cover, copyright 1976. We all know what happens to paper in three-ringed binders - they tear. So there are a lot of floating pages that are stuffed in the wrong recipe category, but I still love this cookbook.

 Flan is a wonderful Spanish, Mexican, Hispanic custard that is refreshing, creamy, and delicious.  Some people refer to it as Flan de Leche. Just as France has creme brulee, the Spanish have Flan. Sometimes I make a cream cheese flan that is awesome.  I'll let you know how they turned out.

Sunday Dinner

I've mentioned before how we have a large Sunday dinner around 3pm. Well, today after watching a DVR'd episode of Pioneer Woman, my husband and I headed to Wegmans to grab the ingredients for dinner. We used her recipe for Bruschetta and Pasta with Pancetta and Leeks.


What was on the menu?

 Bruschetta - this is a great recipe and different than what Italians usually do since the bread was fried in butter. I usually grill the bread after brushing it with olive oil. Note, i didn't use grape tomatoes, but vine ripened plum tomatoes. Rich, but oh, so good.

Skirt Steak - on sale so be purchased several packages for my carnivore son and husband. My son doesn't consider it a meal unless there is meat. We grilled the meat in a very hot cast iron pan with a grill like bottom using Montana Steak Seasoning (Our grill happened to be out of gas)

Pasta with Pancetta and Leeks - Oh my goodness. This recipe is so, so good. I followed the recipe to a tee and it turned out great. I added a tossed salad made from greens picked fresh from our garden and we had a wonderful Sunday dinner.

Fried Pickles

Okay, I'm a little scattered going from fresh mozzarella cheese to fried pickles a decidedly southern treat, but what the hell.

I've eaten fried pickles in restaurants, but have never tried to make them. Until this week. My daughter wanted to try them, so off I went to the grocery store to pick up pickles.  I followed a recipe I found online at Moore Babies Blog

They tasted great - there was a salty, sour and spicy mix that was great with the dipping sauce.  I also like how they were oven baked instead of fried.

A few things I would do differently - use larger dill pickles, mine were too small. Also, since the recipe calls for Panko bread crumbs, I would grind then a little finer. Some people use corn meal which works nicely, as well.

Overall, those who were adventurous enough to try them, liked them!