Garden Fresh -sugar snap recipe

Well, I am behind in my recipes and in my blog because of a major problem with a computer resulting from what we eventually found out was a lighting hit that took out our surge suppressor and modem. That was after Dell had us reformat our hard drive and we still haven't recovered all of the data. Anyway, so much for our woes. We're still cooking!

The garden is happening. We have almost finished with the peas and sugar snap peas and had our second large picking of green beans. We're getting tons of cucumbers and some squash (from Mom's garden). Yesterday we picked about 1/2 gallon of raspberries and a gallon of blueberries.
Needless to say, that's our diet mainstay.

What about the entree's, you ask? Well, we've had baby back ribs, seasoned with Chinese 5 spice, smoked in grapevine wood and dipped in an orange chipotle sauce, grilled chicken, chicken fingers with parmesan, crab cakes, spaghetti and meatball and best of all, I brought back some Smithfield country ham from my parents in Virginia. We also did a stir fry with chicken, bell peppers, onions and some fresh sugar snaps that were yummy!
Last night we did a chicken sauté inspired from Julia Child's Kitchen. You individually sauté smoked pork, chicken, potatoes and onions, then return all to the same pan, season with salt, pepper, fresh tarragon, basil and thyme and cover and finish in the oven. It is pretty easy and great.

Our recipe of the week this week is Pasta with peas and smoked Gouda.
Give it a whirl! recipe of the week this week

Hopefully computer malfunctions will be limited and we'll be back sooner.

eat well, live, love, laugh!

Lucky us! Morocco and Greece and Eggs Benedict

We're having an eat-fest in NC this week with our friends Donna and Amanda visiting from out-of-state.

We started with braised pork tenderloin in a balsamic vinegar glaze (recipe available in our website recipes entree recipes link) with risotto and peas.

One night we had a Moroccan feast with Spanish appetizers. The appetizer was chorizo and cheese in puff pastry. We had three salads: Beet, Orange and Walnut Salad, Tomato, Onion and Preserved Lemon Salad, Couscous Salad with Tomatoes and Hot Peppers and Basteeya.

Last night was a Greek fest:
Tzatziki, Hummus, Eggplant Salad, Tapenade, Pita, Souvlaki and Spanikopita. Several of the recipes are on the website (Hummus, Tzatziki and Souvlaki) and the Dolmas recipe is this weeks recipe of the week! recipe of the week link

This morning we finished off with Eggs Benedict served with crab cakes instead of the traditional Canadian bacon to make sure they didn’t get hungry on the trip home.

On a closing note: we exercised every day, running and swimming in the pool, so eating wasn’t our only activity.

Until next time, eat well, live, love, laugh and give us a call if you need some food.

p

Graduation Party & Peas and New Potatoes

What's cooking in Carolina this week? Well, I would say not much, because I was out of town from Monday through Thursday. I had a small party to cater on Saturday, so I arrived back in town, went shopping, then cooked for a day and a half.

The party was a graduation party. The food was an ecletic mix of interesting flavors, something for everyone; mostly finger foods.

The Menu

Spicy Shrimp on skewers
Jerk Chicken Drummettes
Souvlaki



[This is a picture of the chicken souvlaki. It is red from the wine and vinegar marinade. Our Recipe of the Week this week is this recipe, although if you want any of the others, just send us a note and we'll be happy to provide it! for Swank Recipes click here]


Tzatziki
Spanikopita
Mini Sausage Rolls in Puff Pastry
Mushrooms stuffed with Walnuts and Sundried Tomatoes
Melon and Prosciutto
Salted Almonds
Bruschetta with Toppings: Caprese, Tapenade, Chickpeas with olives, olive oil, hot pepper and rosemary
Grilled veggies
Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce




This is not to say this is all we ate this week. We got our first picking of potatoes, peas and cucumbers from the garden this week and because it has been so cool, we are still getting lettuce. Now I can promise you that there is nothing like eating fresh from the garden! For some reason, the first picking always tastes the best too!

Salads and Seafood and Salads with Seafood

What's cooking different this week in Carolina?

Last night we had homemade pizza with low fat turkey pepperoni, a whole head of roasted garlic, mushrooms, roasted bell pepper, onions and olives. The tomato sauce was from canned tomatoes with garlic and loads of fresh basil. Really very good.

The night before we had salads: a left over lentil salad, fresh lettuce salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, feta, olives and a balsamic vinaigrette and a wonderful potato/tuna salad. It is a must try and will be our recipe of the week on the website. Swank Recipes

We also had a fresh from our garden lettuce salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, feta, olives and a balsamic vinegrette served with crab cakes that were great.

We've been in a fish mood and they had some beautiful fresh grouper on sale at whole foods, so I dipped it in flour seasoned with paprika, then in egg, and finally in panko seasoned with Old Bay and sauted it up in a small amount of butter. It was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside and quite good.

Our winderful neighbor gave us a head of broccoli from her garden and we had a chicken to roast, so instead we pressure cooked it and shredded half of it to make Chicken Divan. I like to cook thick egg noodles, butter them and line the bottom of a baking pan. Top with broccoli that's been cooked only 2-3 minutes and drained. Top that with the shredded chicken then a mornay sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan
and baken until it starts to brown. Yum!

Eat, drink, laugh, love!