Kitchen Theater

Anthony Bourdain's contest entry

Still proud of this. I was ranked #32 out of 1949 entries.

I have some very faithful friends who voted me up there...  :-)                                  

White Veggie soup

I had cauliflower to use up, and my son wasn't feeling well and neither were Rich and I so I made a potato-onion-leek-cauliflower-carrot-rosemary-parsley soup. It was delicious.

I followed basic recipe for potato-leek, then add extras:

In large pot:
1. Saute' leeks (I had just two slim ones from my garden, so I added 1/2 cup chopped onion), cauliflower (about a half big head), celery (1 stalk), 1 TB chopped parsley, and 1/2 TB chopped rosemary in butter. Salt and pepper to taste.
2. When veggies are cooked through (onions and leeks will be soft), Add 2-3 potatoes and enough chicken broth to almost cover (you can use water and bullion paste or veggie broth too).
3. Bring to boil and then turn heat down and simmer for 25-30 minutes (potatoes should be really soft)
4. Turn off heat and mash soup manually until everything is chopped, add milk to your taste (I use 1% and add about 1/4-1/2 cup, you don't need much... and stir well (you could add heavy cream or 1/2 and 1/2 for a creamier soup).
5. Eat and enjoy, or use Immersion blender to really mix and thicken.

This was very soothing, and a great way to get a bunch of minerals and vitamins.

Best Oatmeal Ever

I do like to make regular, long-cooking oatmeal in the microwave. It's almost as fast as "instant" without all that extra crap like preservatives and fake flavors.

The whole "instant" thing is a con. Really. We should eat real food if we can...it isn't all that hard.

Anyway, here is my latest:

In a good sized microwavable bowl, put:

1 cup oats
2-3 TB dark brown sugar
2 TB raisins
1 TB mixed dried berries
small packet of pumpkin seed flax granola
1/4 cup walnuts or pecans
pinch salt (optional)
cinnamon (to taste, I like a strong hard shake:-)

Mix all dry ingredients together well, then add

1 and 3/4 cup water.
Stir together and microwave for 3-3.5 minutes.
Makes two large servings.

If you like oatmeal with a lot of stuff in it, this is for you.

My chunky granola oatmeal

Blue Velvet Cake:-)

paula's cake
I should have taken a picture (dang!) but Brendan asked for Red Velvet cake for his birthday but asked if it could be blue. Actually blue-green is his very favorite color, so that is what I did! It came out great (I was afraid maybe the grey-brown of the cocoa in the cake might not bend to the blue-green dye's will but it did).

In fact, it was very pretty. It looked a lot like the one pictured above (Paula Deen's cake) but mine was more vibrant, more "turquoise".

That was for the "kid" party. Eight boys counting Brendan at our house. They LOVED the cake (it isn't that different from the one I make each year for birthdays, my buttermilk white cake --from Better Homes and Garden cookbook). For our "family" party, I made the classic Red Velvet cake. Most everyone loved it.

Buttermilk makes cakes extra tender. And the Red Velvet recipe calls for a small amount of cocoa and vinegar-baking soda which fizzes when you mix it...I think it gives the batter an oomph and causes the baking cake to rise a little more and be lighter, so you get a higher more tender cake. I have heard it is added to enhance the 'redness' of the cake too.

Anyway, there is nothing like the homemade red (or blue) velvet cake. And I make the real frosting too, which is a classic white sauce added to butter and sugar (oh MAMA). Some people use cream cheese, and that is fine, but not really authentic. Plus, it's almost too much with the sweet, light cake. The thing about the 'roux' frosting is it is not thick and it is very creamy.

Unfortunately, I have become famous for this cake and must make it often for people's birthdays:-). I actually love to delight people with it because most people only have it "out".

Once you make it a few times, it is easy-peasy if you are a baker. It comes out very well as long as you don't let it bake too long (it's a delicate cake and will be overdone in like 2 minutes). I take it out when it is almost a little bit underdone and let it sit on a warm stove with a kitchen towel over it to keep the heat in. This lets it cook a bit, gently, and keeps it moist.

I have used a couple different recipes, but I like this one from allrecipes.com very much (it has the real icing and the classic cake):

Red Velvet recipe

A fun bit of cake history:
History of Red Velvet Cake

OMG, someone put them together and made a red, white, and blue velvet cake!

patriotic velvet cake

Roasted Cauliflower and Veggies

Be still my heart (added Banana Peppers from our garden)

1/4-to-1/2 head of cauliflower chopped into chunks (2in or so)
3-4 colors of peppers chopped into chunks (red, yellow, green, orange)=total equals 1 pepper...so about 1/4 cup of each color
1/4 c chopped onion (not too small)
fresh herbs (small small handful, perhaps 2-3 TB)...I used fresh thyme and a bit of fresh oregano)
chopped garlic to taste
2-4 TB olive oil
cracked black pepper
coarse salt
2-3 small potatos chopped into chunks
2 nice sized tomatoes chopped into chunks
(optional: 4 turkey sausage sliced into chunks, Sweet Italian)


Toss everything together and roast at 375 degrees F for 45-65 min.
Stir once during cooking.
If not brown enough or potatoes aren't tender, do last 10-15 min 425 degrees F.

Garden State Corn, Tomatoes, and Peaches

I know, your state has the best peaches, you over there have the best tomatoes...but I gotta tell you, we have the best corn. At least in the NorthEast (I don't know about Iowa or anything).

Maybe it's because our state is so tiny, the local corn gets here faster? Even the stuff in the grocery store is to die for. Sweet, tender and needing no butter. It tastes like someone picked it like that day.

I love corn so much, fresh corn on the cob, esp in July and August. I grew up with a small cornfield in our backyard. We had a farmer for a neighbor and he graciously offered on the way back from planting his cornfield to run a few rows for us. We said yes that year and for the next many years we had ourselves our very own 4-row cornfield. There was nothing like picking our own corn. One year we added the traditional pumpkin plants between the rows. My brother and I were suburban kids, before we moved out to the country at ages 10 and 8. We were amazed that you could have corn and pumpkins in your own backyard...

Our tomatoes are not ripe yet, believe it or not. Our little garden is full of them, green on the bushes, ready to redden. Soon, soon.

In our first house we owned, we had put up a stockade fence and ended up growing tomatoes in our garden close to the back of the yard, right along the fence. That part of the yard got really good sun and it almost like a micro-climate against the fence, it kept the heat in. We had tomatoes until October that year.

Local peaches are here too, and they are wonderful (if you buy local local, like up the street:-). I feel a cobbler coming on.

And I know that I will love our little garden's tomatoes when they finally ripen...but nothing quite compares with that first fresh local cob of sweet delightful corn.

This French Toast sounds delicious

I was researching breakfast casseroles (which I love)...and found this:

Blueberry Pecan French Toast Bake!
It sure sounds yummy, I love pecans, and I love blueberries. Love French toast too.

I think the recipe means 12 *pieces* or slices of day-old bread, not 12-day old bread:-)

anyway, here it is:


French Toast Bake

Can't wait to try it!