Mozzarella, Tomato, and Strawberry Salad

Hi all, I've been gone for a while.  I had a loss in my family and it has taken it's toll on what I considered my life.  I have started cooking again, but I started by burning myself.  That never rarely happens.  I think I'm back and I will add a few pictures of what I did make, but did not blog about, at the end of this post.

Anyway Mozzarella, Tomatoes and Strawberries.  To tell the truth, I am not a big fan of tomatoes, but I made the recipe just as it says.  It's very similar to what I make when tomatoes are in season, but I would not have thought to add the strawberries.  This is a good recipe from "around my french table"

The strawberries added sweetness and more beautiful red color to the plate.  I had to add the 15 year old balsamic.  Yum

I will make this again this summer while the strawberries and tomatoes are in season.  It makes a great light dinner.

More baking pics

Dreamsicle Tart - Baked Sunday Morning

Father's Day Cupcakes

These cupcakes were good.  From Martha Stewards  Cupcake Cookbook.

Tomato Soup Cupcakes with Marscarpone Frosting - Baked

I've read recipes that use Tomato Soup in baked goods, but never got the nerve to try one of the recipes.  But, with Baked Sunday Morning I pulled out my can of soup and started baking.  I did cut the recipe in half and made mini cupcakes.

The mini cupcakes are just the right size for nibbling.  These cupcakes turned out to be a dense cake with little pockets of air.  This was an interesting recipe because you don't just dump in a can of soup, for these cakes you place the can of soup in a bowl and sprinkle with baking soda.  This soup mixture is set aside and is added last.  They are even  reddish in color.    The cupcake is laced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and in this case cardamom.  (I need to buy allspice)

I halved all of the ingredients and made 24 little cakes. 

New container for carrying goodies to work. 
Note, need to place a little icing under the cupcake so they don't move around in transit.

The Marscapone Frosting was a wonderful addition to the spicy cupcake.  This was fun to share, the addition of Tomato Soup got a lot of raised eyebrows and happy faces after tasting.  This is a good one!



Bistrot Paul Bert Pepper Steak a.k.a. flames in the kitchen

This was so fun.  I got to play with matches.  I didn't lose my eyebrows.  All of the issues I had when trying a flaming dish.  I did have to laugh, as soon as the flames went out in my frying pan, my smoke alarm went off.  Got to love that smoke alarm. 

I love these recipes in around my french table.  I never though it could be so easy to make such great dishes with just a few good ingredients.    I have been part of French Friday's with Dorie for just a few months and this has changed the way I cook.  I have a few basic recipes that I see myself using over and over and this is one of them.

Cook the filet in butter and oil

So, used regular black peppercorns, a wonderful filet from one of the local butcher shops, the rest was easy.  I had a stand by recipe for pan frying steaks on a bed of salt, but this is not good for my sodium intake.  Now it has been replaced by this pepper steak recipe. 

The peppers, Cognac, and cream made a smooth golden sauce that went over the steak.  My taste testers at work are sad I did not bake, but intrigued that this weeks recipe is so elegant and easy.

New York-Style Crumb Cake - Baked

I have not been posting, or cooking, lately due to illness.  No one likes to cook when they are sick and it's hard to have people try your food if you cooking sick.  Anyway this Crumb Cake was a great Easter treat. I got to pull out Grandma's china and have my Crumb Cake with some fresh strawberries.  Isn't that pretty!

This was an interesting recipe to make.  I haven't make Crumb Cake from scratch, but this has the most crumb that I have seen on any Crumb Cake.  You make the crumb, which is more sold that crumb and ball it up in your fist to make the chunks of topping.  The crumb topping must be an inch and a half thick. 

This is before it went in the oven.



           And this is when it came out of the oven.

I will be taking this to work to share.  This made a 9 X 13 pan of wonderful cake. It was easy to assemble and made my Easter special.

For more details go to Baked Sunday Mornings. 

Carrots Coconut Scones with Citrus Glaze

My taste testers at work are getting worried about their waist lines, well some are. All that means is more for me!   As much as I love to bake, there are so many people who do not know how easy it is to bake. 

This is the first time I have made scones from scratch.  And they were so easy.  Check out Baked Sunday Morning for the recipe.

These turned out beautiful.

They came out of the oven, nicely browned and the smell. Yum!  As I took a few more pictures with the glaze on them and wanted to break off a piece so you could see how fluffy the inside was and once I started tasting the scone it was all over.  I know I should not be eating scones at 9:00 at night, but my will power was not to be found. 

Did I say there was carrot puree made with carrots and orange juice, some coconut and rolled oats.  These were still light and fluffy.  Delish, I will be making these again.

Garlicky Crumb-Coated Broccoli

I love broccoli.  It's so versatile.  You can eat it raw, steamed, boiled, covered in cheese, but I never thought about breadcrumbs.  Especially garilicy, buttery, breadcrumbs.

The finished dish!

Before I started to make the broccoli, I read the recipe a few times.  (Look for the recipe in around my french table on page 334.)  This recipe is made from items I have in my kitchen.  I used Panko breadcrumbs and sauteed in butter until they started to brown.  This was a little longer than the recipe.  Also, I do not use a traditional steamer, I used a microwave steamer.  I steamed this broccoli for 4 minutes and mixed the garlicky, buttery, breadcrumbs and had a great side dish in no time.

To see more comments/photos go to French Friday's with Dorie.

Quinoa, Fruit, and Nut Salad

This is right up my ally.  I am always looking for a way to make those whole grains taste great without adding a lot of fat.  I have been cooking Quinoa for years, but it's kind of bland, but satisfying.  A great protein. My favorite lunches include a bed of fresh greens and some kind of protein on top.  This fit the bill.

This super simple recipe from around my french table, went together fast.  I used ingredients I had in the pantry.  All except the herbs, those I bought the day I made the salad.  The combination of dry fruit, nuts, and chopped herbs made each bit a flavor sensation.  And it makes a lot.

  

The recipe is flexible.  I used dry cranberries, golden raisins and some of those figs.  For the nuts/seeds, I used the last of my sunflower seeds and slivered almonds.  The dressing was very subtle.  I think the next time I will add the zest of one lemon to the mixture.  For herbs I used parsley and basil. I can taste the basil, but not the parsley.  And the spoonful of plain yogurt was a nice bitter contrast to the sweetness in the dry fruit.  Again this is a great recipe from French Friday's with Dorie.