Archive | April, 2011

Herby Bubble Bread

28 Apr

My mom makes a mouth-watering savory bubble bread for holiday meals. This herby bubble bread is my perfect storm because I love bread, butter and basil. She thinks the recipe is from Down Home with the Neelys on the Food Network, but I cannot find a link for the recipe anywhere. If anyone has a link to the author of the recipe, please share and I will update the post with the credit.

Herby Bubble Bread

2 rolls of 8 count Pillsbury Grands biscuits

3/4 C melted butter

1/4 C dried thyme

1/4 C dried basil

1/2 C grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°.  Grease bundt pan.

Cut biscuits into quarters. We used kitchen shears to make it super easy.

Set out three bowls in a row with melted butter, Parmesan and herbs. Dip each section in order in the butter, cheese and herbs.

Drop sections of dough in pan. Drizzle any leftover butter over the top. Bake for 30-40 minutes.

Herby bubble bread in the pan

Remove bread from oven, let cool slightly and flip on a pretty serving plate.

Not only is the bread delicious, it will make your house smell fantastic and creates a lovely presentation for a holiday table.

Herby bubble bread flipped and on serving tray

My mom served it for Christmas brunch and Easter dinner.  Everyone raved about the bread, but my only complaint is the lack of leftovers!

My cute mama on her birthday with the bubble bread

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Fargo Flooding Pictures – Wordless Wednesday

27 Apr

We drove through Fargo a couple of days ago and witnessed flooding from the Red River. I snapped photos with my phone as we drove past fields turned into lakes. Without shelter belts and the curvature of the earth, land in this part of North Dakota is so flat you could see across the whole state. Flat land + swollen river = flooding for miles.

My images don’t do justice to the flooding and sheer volume of water. Flood waters stretched to the horizon and flocks of gulls floated in fields that should be ready for planting.  The Red River Valley needs a permanent solution to this flooding. My heart goes out to my family, friends and everyone in Fargo/Moorhead. Stay dry everyone!

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Deviled Eggs with Bacon

26 Apr

My mom has a sneaky strategy when she doesn’t want to bring home leftovers from a party. She brings a tray of deviled eggs. They always go fast. There’s just something special about a deviled egg. Poppable. Creamy. And, possibly my favorite way to eat an egg.

She tinkers with recipes and came up with a crowd pleaser. She brought a tray of these deviled eggs to a party and they disappeared in ten minutes. Her friend, and pastor of their church, declared these to be “deep center field.”  How often has your dish been blessed by a member of the clergy?

 

Kathy’s “Deep Center Field” Deviled Eggs

6 hard-boiled eggs

1/4 C light mayo

1 T sweet pickle relish

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp Dijon mustard

2 T chopped parsley

2 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

Directions

Boil eggs and let cool. I realize not everyone knows how to boil eggs, so this is how I do it. In a medium saucepan place eggs and add enough water to cover the eggs. Set the heat to high, bring to a boil and continue to boil for a few minutes; usually between five and ten minutes is good. Turn the heat off and let sit in the pan for a while until cooled. When cooled, remove from pan and refrigerate.

Peel the eggs, slice in half, and carefully remove yolks. Place yolks, mayo, relish, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard in a medium bowl. Mash yolks and mix well. Spoon mixture into egg white halves. Top with bacon and chopped parsley to garnish. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

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Clementine Chicken Salad – Guest Post from Tara

18 Apr

Readers, we are lucky indeed. My dear friend, Tara, is sharing her recipe for clementine chicken salad and her stunning photography. I credit Tara with my inspiration to start blogging. You must visit her blogs. She has three blogs!

What She Really Wants

Tara on the Wander

Boots and Tea

You will not regret visiting her sites. I love her writing style and her photos. So, without further delay, please welcome Tara to my little blog. Live from Las Vegas, it’s Tara!

Clementine Chicken Salad from Tara

salad

When we moved to Vegas I was pregnant. Chicken, along with most anything edible, fell into the category of eew. The other night my husband requested some of the “yummy stuff” I made in Boise (i.e., before I got pregnant again.) We’ve been in a bit of a food rut here and I’d totally forgotten how much I once loved this salad. I found this recipe via Shaina of Food for my Family, a fellow Minnesotan. (I love her weekly meal plans!)

orange chicken

I double the dressing because my husband would drink it if he could.

vinagrette

 
Asian Orange Chicken Salad
3 C mixed greens
2 chicken breasts
2 fresh clementines, peeled and sectioned
4 T slivered almonds

Marinade:
1/4 C light soy sauce
1/4 C orange or clementine juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 T fresh ginger, minced

Dressing:
1 T light soy sauce
2 T orange juice
1 tsp honey
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced through garlic press
1 T rice wine vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
3 T extra virgin olive oil


Combine marinade ingredients and pour over chicken in a zip lock bag or shallow dish. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Don’t put everything away because you’ll need these ingredients for the dressing. To make dressing, mix soy sauce, orange juice, honey, ginger and rice wine vinegar. Whisk in olive oil slowly.

Grill chicken 6 minutes each side.

While chicken is grilling arrange greens, top with almonds and clementines.

Slice grilled chicken into thin strips, layer on top of salad. Top with dressing.

asian chicken salad

Lemon Spaghetti

15 Apr

Lemon spaghetti is one of my go-to summer recipes. Spring arrived (mostly) in Minnesota, so I am adding this dish back into our meal rotation. I found this recipe in the back of a Cooking Light years ago. They listed it as a side dish and served with a caesar salad and bread sticks. I make it as a main dish and sometimes add grilled chicken or shrimp for protein and variety. This is a light, zingy and fresh pasta dish suited to almost any type of pasta – spaghetti, rotini, angel hair, campanelle, ziti, etc.

Lemon Spaghetti from Cooking Light

Spaghetti noodles (approx 12 oz)

2 lemons

1/4 C olive oil

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 C chopped fresh flat leaf parley

2 oz shaved Parmesan cheese

Directions

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain. Place pasta in large bowl.

In small bowl combine 1 tsp grated lemon rind, lemon juice, olive oil, 3/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp red pepper. Whisk.

Drizzle sauce over noodles and add Parmesan cheese and parsley.

 

This recipe is very forgiving if you keep the ingredients in proportion. I usually use an entire box of pasta, the juice of 2 to 3 lemons (depending on size), an equal amount of olive oil, and a whole heckuva lot more cheese than the recipe lists. The cayenne pepper gives the dish a nice kick, but I use less when I make it for kids. For working parents, this dish is easy to prep in advance. I chop the parsley and make the sauce in the morning. When I come home from work, all I have to do is boil the noodles, drain and dump in the sauce, parsley and cheese.  I hope you all enjoy this dish as much as we do. Three cheers for spring!

Note: I lost my original copy of this recipe. I *think* it’s from the summer of 2008, but I’m not certain. I cannot find the recipe on Cooking Light’s site. If anyone can provide the source for me I will gladly update this post.

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Slowcooker Pineapple Orange Pork Chops

14 Apr

I am not a fan of pork, but my husband loves the pig. Luckily for all of us, I have an evening work event tonight and I am planning to have a yummy meal of pork chops waiting for him and our girls. Everyone wins!

I’m modifying a recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking: Orange Apricot Pork Chops.  My recipe substitutes the apricot with pineapple preserves because apricots are banned forever from our household. I had a terrible experience with canned apricots when I was 5. Lois the lunch lady, an iconic figure in a white uniform and a mustache, made me eat the two apricot halves remaining on my plate. I sat alone at a lunch table staring at the gelatinous, bitter fruit for what seemed like an eternity. I choked down one half and hid the other half in a can of crayons when Lois wasn’t looking. She caught on to me though and I had to eat the remaining half of the crayon-dusted apricot. Boo, Lois! My revenge on Lois is to never ever eat another apricot.

Pineapple Orange Pork Chops

3 boneless pork chops (on sale this week from Cub!)
1 cup pineapple preserves
3 T brown sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
2 navel oranges juiced (I plan on squeezing the orange halves and then adding the juice and the squozen? squozed? orange slices in the slow cooker.)

Directions
Add the pork chops to a 4 to 6 quart slow cooker.  Combine remaining ingredients (minus oranges) in a bowl and spoon over pork chops. Peel the oranges, squeeze the juice into the slow cooker and toss in the oranges. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.

My husband is a very bright man, but he is not a genius in the kitchen. Given his skill level I’ll prepare makings for instant mashed potatoes and steamed veggies. He should be able to manage that easily and hopefully he and the girls will have a good meal without me. I’ll ask him to comment tonight with a review.  Enjoy!

And, if you are in Rapid City, South Dakota, stop by Memorial Christian School and stick your tongue out as you drive by.

Update: Pineapple orange pork chops are a hit! My husband said the chops were zesty and tender. This recipe made it into his top 10. Let me know if you try it out.

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