The oysters of my youth were huge things, briny and thick — I hated them and couldn’t see why people made such a fuss over them.
Oysters I Like
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Category Archives: recipes
A Pre-Travel Torta
(This was a draft of a post I never finished back in February 2010. I *think* its a reference to our Ashland trip)
We were going to have a lot of left-overs when we left, and I hated to let them become science experiments. So I decided to make a torta, which is a kind of baked dough-enclosed sandwich, from the same people who gave us the calzone.
It took a lot longer than I expected. (I didn’t read the recipe through before starting.)
The dough took a day (make dough, kill the processor, finish making by hand, let sit overnight). The fillings needed to be recombined and added to other ingredients, then cooled. I took spinach, sauteed it with onion and garlic, and added roasted artichoke hearts. To ricotta cheese, I added 2 eggs. The smoked ham I simply chopped fine, Provolone cheese rounded it out.
I layered the ingredients with half of the the egg mixture first, then half the provolone, half the spinach and all of the ham, then the remaining spinach, cheese, ending with the egg mixture. Cover with more dough, seal. Let sit in ‘fridge overnight. Bake at 375. Cool to eat.
This produces a dense, layered, pastry-enclosed and very tasty meal. It’s pretty rich, and wanted a salad or fruit to accompany it. But we made it into a nice meal in our room the first night we traveled.
Sunday Fun: Blueberry Jam
I like making my own gifts. Not because I’m cheap, but because I feel that something made is inherently more special than that which is mass-produced. Each summer I make a variety of food gifts — canned or preserved nummies that have been very well received by others.
This week, I made Blueberry-Lemon Jam. (Recipe is at the end.)
Sunday Fun: Stone Fruit Chutney
One of my summer delights is canning/preserving for winter yumminess (and gifts for special people!). Since this is my blog, I’m going to show you how I do it. (The recipe will be at the end.)
Three-Fruit Cobbler Recipe
J brought home very late season strawberries and they just didn’t didn’t look good enough to eat outright. But along with some grapes and blueberries in the fridge I felt like trying to make a cobbler. My camera was handy, so y’all get to see the process.
Living Frugal: A Chicken in the Pot Equals Three Meals
A whole chicken is a marvelous way to produce three (or more) meals inexpensively and with little time on your part. Here’s how we do it.
Cornbread w/ Mixed Berries
The other night I didn’t feel like cooking, but wanted to eat something based on berries. I was hungry, so I didn’t want to wait too long. Although a Dutch Baby would qualify (and yummily so), I didn’t have enough eggs. Time to be creative.
Summer on My Tongue: Corn & Crab Soup
Soup might be too strong a word, and this started out as a chowder, but I decided not to add any milk because the corn juice was so tasty (and there was a lot of it). So there is just enough broth to keep this meal juicy but not enough to slurp every spoonful. Is there a word for that kind of dish?
Heaven in a Bowl: Creamed Chicken & Grits
This was incredibly good, and the first time I’ve ever made grits to boot. Using leftovers and frozen vegetables makes this easy and fairly quick to put together.
Recipe: Crockpot Chicken & Rice
— 3/4 cups of brown rice
— 3/4 cups chicken broth
— 3/4 cups lowfat milk, divided
— 3/8 cup flour
— 1 sm onion, diced
— 4 oz sliced mushrooms— 3-4 chicken thighs
— 3 garlic cloves, diced tiny
–1/4 tsp black pepper
–1/4 tsp paprikaThe Directions.
Combine all of the chicken broth and 1/4 cup of milk in a sauce pan and heat over medium heat on the stove. In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining 1/2 cup of milk with flour. When the broth and milk have begun to boil, reduce heat, and slowly stir in the milk and flour mixture. When everything is fully incorporated, set the pot aside to cool.
Add the rice and seasonings to your crock along with the onion, garlic, and mushrooms. Stir in the broth mixture.
Lay the chicken pieces on top.
Cover and cook on high for 4 hours, or low for about 8.
When you take the lid off of the crockpot, stir the rice. If the rice is fully cooked and you have extra liquid, keep the lid off for about 15 minutes. The liquid will absorb quickly.
In my small crockpot this cooked very quickly and was not at all ‘gloopy’. This was very tasty, in fact. I might add a few herbs next time — tarragon comes to mind. And perhaps 1/2 cup of frozen peas for color.