Jun 14, 2012

summer berries…mmmmmmm

You know summer is truly underway when summer berries are out!  I just love berries—eaten plain right off of the vine or in pies and scones!  I always think of them as nature’s sweet treats.

summerberriesFrom my instagram @vampygirl13

As I’ve said before, DH is the green thumb in our home (except for roses, which I seem to grow very well!).  He has a nice garden that gives us great stuff, except for when the groundhog seems to think it’s HIS garden.  Ugh.  Anyway, his raspberries bushes have started to produce mounds of gorgeous berries.  So many that we have taken to freezing them!  I have started taking them to work with me as a great afternoon snack (see above).  They are so sweet and yummy and help to keep you full for a good while. 

With all of these berries coming up, I was in need of some new recipes to utilize them in a new way.  Enter Martha Stewart.  The day after DH’s berries started arriving by the huge bowlful, Martha’s new issue of Living showed up and guess what was on the cover? Martha’s favorite berry recipes!  Kismet!

I flipped right through to the berries section and found some great recipes.  You can also get a whole bunch more recipes by clicking HERE where you will find all kinds of great berry recipes.  Here are some of the ones I pinned and bookmarked for my use: (pics are from Martha Stewart’s site and there is a link to each one)

Raspberry Cobbler—this one would be great for a crowd. 

Chocolate Raspberry Tart—I haven’t attempted to make a tart yet but it can’t be too much harder than pie right?

Meme’s Blackberry Cobbler—I love that this is made and served in a cast iron skillet!

I also did some searching on Pinterest and found: (links to original sources/pics)

Raspberry Lemon bars—YUM!

Raspberry Chocolate Scones--I’ve made regular raspberry scones, but not any with chocolate yet!

Raspberry Sorbet—I’ve made this before and I have a version printed out at home (VERY old recipe) that has wine it.  How can you go wrong with raspberries and wine?

And the one I am going to make for Father’s Day this Sunday---Raspberry Torte.  This looks sooo good and I cannot wait to try it out.  I will take pics of course to let you know how it turned out.

The weather here has been so beautiful with no humidity.  I have a feeling that will end soon and just in time for Father’s Day!   Since my dad died before I was born, I always make a point to celebrate with my grandfather and will be going to a brunch for himself and all of the other dads in our family.   It’s so hard to buy a gift for him, so I usually just bake chocolate chip cookies with walnuts since he likes them so much.  

Have a wonderful Father’s Day weekend and be on the lookout for pics of the torte!  I will post something, even if it turned out terrible!

 

 

 

 

Jun 4, 2012

This weekend was cookin….

Monday shows up again so quickly doesn’t it?  The weekends seem to just fly by!

I got to make 2 great recipes this weekend that I want to share with you!

raspberry pie

The first is a much loved dessert in our home—raspberry pie.  DH has been growing raspberries in his garden in this home for a few years, but this was the first year he really got a good amount for me to make some pie.  He would rather have pie over any other dessert!  

After picking all of the sweet raspberries, I had to measure to make sure I had enough for a pie.  The recipe I use calls for 4 cups of raspberries.  We had more than enough!  :)

Though I have a link to the recipe, I am going to post it here as well.  I found it at All Recipes.com, one of my all time fave places to find good things to make. I have used this site for over 10 years and have found some recipes I’ll be making forever!  Below is the recipe taken from their site:

Raspberry Pie III (from All Recipes.com)
Ingredients
  • 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (I normally make my own crust but used Michelina’s since I was short on time)
  • 4 cups raspberries
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons tapioca
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 4 teaspoons butter
  • 1 tablespoon half-and-half cream
Directions
  1. Mix together the raspberries, sugar, tapioca, lemon juice, cinnamon and salt until raspberries are well covered.
  2. Pour into 9 or 10-inch pastry shell. Dot with butter, top with crust.
  3. Make slits in the top crust and brush with cream. Bake in a preheated 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) oven for 15 minutes, then at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 25 minutes.

Some notes on this.  I definitely used 4 cups (and maybe a teeny bit more) of raspberries.  The only thing I deviated from was that I used milk instead of cream to brush the top of my crust when baking.  I normally do not have any cream in the house and was told by a pastry chef that milk was an acceptable substitute.   The tapioca is important as it helps to thicken up your pie filling so it’s not too runny.

The only thing I did NOT like about my pie when it was finished was that the bottom layer of crust was slightly dough-y.  I am guessing this is because I baked it on the convection baking setting in my oven rather then regular bake. This was the first time since we got this new oven that I have tried this and I was annoyed how it that turned out.  I think I’ll either bake on regular bake or will read my oven manual on how to adjust.  Normally, you just lessen the bake time when using the convection setting but maybe I missed something?  Oh well.  DH said the rest of the pie was fantastic and the top layer of crust was done perfectly!

I posted the above pic on Facebook and people wanted to know about the bird in the middle It’s called a pie bird and is used to help release steam from the pie while baking.  This prevents the pie from bubbling over.  I got mine at Giant Eagle locally, but I’m sure you can pick these up anywhere!  They have been used since the 16th century!

The next recipe was a long lost but then magically found one.  You know how you are reading a magazine and something looks good so you rip it out?  I did this a few years ago with this recipe.  Made it and DH and I both liked it.  Then is disappeared in to the abyss of my stacks of paper.  DH asked me about it and I thought I had found it but it was a different one.  Lo and behold, a few months ago I was going through a bunch of papers in my room to throw out old stuff and I came across it!  It’s from People magazine in 2010!  Chicken Marbella, which Matt Lauer loves.  DH said “I knew it was in that room somewhere!” Gee thanks.  So I made it on Sunday.   Now that I know the title of the recipe, I was able to find it at msnbc.com! Below is my original scan:

mattlauerchicken

Here is a link to a readable version: Matt Lauer’s Chicken Marbella.

Here is the entire recipe:

Chicken Marbella (from People Magazine 2010)

Ingredients
  • 4 chickens, 2 1/2 lbs. each, quartered
  • 1 head of garlic, peeled and finely pureed
  • 1/4 cup dried oregano
  • Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1 cup pitted prunes
  • 1/2 cup pitted Spanish green olives
  • 1/2 cup capers with a bit of juice
  • 6 bay leaves
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup white wine
  • 1/4 cup Italian parsley or fresh coriander (cilantro), finely chopped
Preparation

1. In a large bowl combine chicken quarters, garlic, oregano, pepper and coarse salt to taste, vinegar, olive oil, prunes, olives, capers and juice, and bay leaves. Cover and let marinate, refrigerated, overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Arrange chicken in a single layer in one or two large, shallow baking pans and spoon marinade over it evenly. Sprinkle chicken pieces with brown sugar and pour white wine around them.

4. Bake for 50 minutes to one hour, basting frequently with pan juices. Chicken is done when thigh pieces, pricked with a fork at their thickest, yield clear yellow (rather than pink) juice.

5. With a slotted spoon transfer chicken, prunes, olives and capers to a serving platter. Moisten with a few spoonfuls of pan juices and sprinkle generously with parsley or cilantro. Pass remaining juices in a sauceboat.

6. To serve Chicken Marbella cold, cool to room temperature in cooking juices before transferring to a serving platter. If chicken has been covered and refrigerated, allow it to return to room temperature before serving. Spoon some of the reserved juice over chicken.

The only thing I left out in this recipe were the prunes.  I hate them and DH isn’t crazy about them.  But you don’t really miss them or anything.  I also used a 'pick of the chicken’ pack from our grocery store that was just under 4lbs.  The pieces fit perfectly in my glass pan and turned out very tasty and juicy.  And I did not marinate mine overnight, just a few hours.  Still tasted very good.  Don’t forget the sprinkling of brown sugar as it makes a tasty little crust on top.  I baked my chicken for 60 minutes and it was perfect.  Wish I had a pic of how mine turned out but DH put it right on his plate so I couldn’t take a pic!  Here’ a pic from the Today show below:

Doesn’t it look yummy? 

DH will happily take this to work for leftovers.  You can also serve the chicken cold as well but I prefer it hot. 

Do you have any long lost recipes or randomly found recipes that became a part of your go-to dishes?  If so, I’d love to hear them and how you found them!  Whenever I see a good one, I rip it out, Pin it or print it so I have it to try out.  I used to have folder and folders of paper until I got some binders and organized them a bit.   Now I only have one folder of looser paper around.

Random note—I am FINALLY going back to the gym today.  I was supposed to go last week on Thursday and Friday but I was working late and then had to shop with DH for a TV (that he wants to put outside).   No excuses today for me!  I am going to take it slow and work my way back up but I am still going no matter what!

Have a wonderful start to your week!  I’ll be back later to show you some of my finds!