Rustic Savory Tarts

This was "leftovers night" and also included "whatever can be found in the pantry." I used a pizza crust mix, a can of salmon, and some leftovers that were in the fridge...

Savory Tarts (because Casey wouldn't let me call them "Pizza")

1 box Jiffy pizza crust mix
leftover chunky-style mushroom spaghetti sauce
leftover spinach dip
1/2 can salmon, drained and cleaned
ricotta
a bunch of cheese slices (not sure if it was brick, mozarella, or Monterrey Jack...?)

1. Heat oven to 400°.
2. Prepare pizza dough. Roll out dough into 2 rectangles; place side by side on cookie sheet. Pre-bake 5 minutes; remove from oven.
   
3. Spread one with the spaghetti sauce; spread the other with spinach dip.
   
4. Add ricotta to the spaghetti sauce; top the spinach dip with salmon.
   
5. Layer cheese slices over both 'not-pizzas.'
   
6. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until cheese is melted and browned to your liking.
   

Bacon-Wrapped Sausage Appetizers

I made these a while ago, but just didn't get around to posting the recipe...

Bacon-Wrapped Snausages

1 pkg. (1 lb.) Lit'l Smokies
1 pkg. (1 lb.) bacon
brown sugar
toothpicks

1. Slice bacon in half; separate individual slices.
   
2. Wrap a snausage in half of the bacon slice.
3. Secure with toothpick. Sprinkle with brown sugar.
   
4. Place on foil-lined baking sheet. Do not over crowd them; use two sheets.
5. Heat oven to 350°.
6. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn them over. Bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes until bacon is browned and no longer looks chewy.
7. Put in a crockpot on "low" and sprinkle with more brown sugar.
   

NOTES:
Nobody makes these better than Amy's mom. It's like magic. I've made them a couple of times now, and Amy's mom's are still better.

In the photos above, you see that mine got a little dark, and that's because I didn't take the time to flip them over or stir them around at all. There was a lot going on that day—it was the day of the plant swap—and I just wasn't watching them, so they look kinda burnt, but they tasted fine! They disappeared quickly!

You will want to double the recipe and work in batches if you have a large crowd coming over.

Gripe Of The Day

Try not to get boiling hot stuff on your hand.

It hurts!!!

"NOT Chicken Parmesan"

I don't have photos from the chicken-coating process because my hands were full of goop and I didn't want to mess up the camera...sorry...I purposely called this "NOT Chicken Parmesan" when I served it.

Parmesan Chicken "Fingers" w/ Mushroom-Tomato Sauce

2 or 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into pieces
1/4 c. buckwheat flour
salt and pepper
1/2 c. Parmesan
1/4 c. soy flour
2 T. Bob's Red Mill Oat Bran Hot Cereal
1 egg, beaten with 2 T. half and half

1. Heat oven to 350°. Spray a cookie sheet or jellyroll pan with non-stick cooking spray.
   
2. Place buckwheat flour, salt and pepper in a bowl; add chicken pieces (in batches, if necessary) and toss to coat lightly.
   
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg with the half and half.
   
4. In a wide, shallow dish, mix the Parmesan, soy flour, and oat bran cereal.
5. One at a time, dip the flour-coated chicken pieces in the egg mixture, then dredge in the Parmesan mixture to coat. Place chicken pieces on baking sheet; continue until you have all of your chicken coated.
   
6. Bake for 20 minutes until done. Smaller pieces will cook faster, so don't over-cook them.

Now...on to the pasta and the mushroom sauce...

1/2 lb. your favorite pasta
1 lb. fresh mushrooms (do NOT use canned!)
1/2 medium onion, coarse chop
1 T. butter
1 can diced tomatoes*
1 can tomato sauce*
generous sprinkling of garlic powder

1. Set your pasta water to boil. Add salt!!!
2. Saute the onion until translucent; add mushrooms and cook down.
3. Add diced tomatoes.
4. Add tomato sauce; allow to simmer while you finish with the pasta.
5. Serve pasta topped with sauce and the chicken fingers.
   

* I think it was a large can of diced tomatoes and a small can of tomato sauce, but I made this a while ago, didn't write anything down, and measured nothing. All of my ingredients are approximate measurements. Sorry, but that's just how I work. A lot of the time I'm better about making notes, but I think I was just in a hurry to get dinner done on this particular night, and I didn't take the time for too many photos or writing stuff down.

Asian Catfish

I made this kinda spur of the moment...it turned out well...

Asian Catfish

2 catfish fillets (I didn't weigh them; I'd guess they are about 3-4 oz. each?)
soy sauce
paprika
onion powder

1. Marinate thawed fish in soy sauce; add seasonings.
2. Then we just cooked them on the George Foreman Grill at 350˚ for about 6-8 minutes. They don't need to go for very long at all—you don't want to overcook them, either.

I served this with some homemade egg bread and I think we had steamed green beans on the side, although they are not on my plate there...

Espresso Brownie Pie

This was beyond "rich" and extremely delicious!

Espresso Brownie Pie

1 prepared graham cracker crust (or you can use a regular prepared pie crust, if you prefer)
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 stick of butter
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 c. biscuit baking mix (Bisquick)
1 T. espresso powder
2 large eggs
1 t. vanilla extract

1. Heat oven to 325°.
2. Melt chocolate and butter in small saucepan over low heat; stir in sweetened condensed milk.
3. Remove from heat and add espresso powder, biscuit mix, eggs and vanilla.
4. Whisk until smooth (it will be thick!); pour into pie crust.
   
5. Bake at 325° for 40 to 45 minutes or until center is set. Cool at least 1 hour before you try to cut and serve it.
   

Option: top with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. (I recommend this!)

random amusements

Work has been keeping me busy over the past two weeks and I have not had time to post any of the food photos I've taken recently. Plus, after working in front of a computer screen all day, the last thing I want to do is sit here any longer...

Then there's all of the outside stuff that we want to accomplish, like starting a garden. My uncle made us these raised beds out of cedar, and we need to set and level them still...

We had to turn the sprinkler system on to see where to place them...

I'm anxious to get this started, but the weather has been so cool, and none of my little seed trays are even sprouting yet. :(

I will probably end up going out to buy plants if I don't see something happening soon...but, then again, since the beds are not ready yet, I guess I'm in no hurry.

It's funny that as of May 1st we've been in the house for 3 years now, and I still have lots of stuff we have never unpacked. I had bought Casey some art for the office, but we didn't put it up, and he seems to have a resistance to making nail holes in the walls. Oh, sure, we can get those sticky-tape 3M things, but I've witnessed them being unreliable, so I don't really want to go that route.

A lot of things go unfinished, even with all of the good intentions we have, and the business ends up making it seem like there are not enough hours in the day. Know what I mean?

Well, it's 11:15pm, and I need to go get on the exercise bike...

I titled this "random amusements" but this has turned out sounding more like a "Gripe Of The Day"! LOL!



Thanks for your continued patience...

~Goldie

Gripe Of The Day

those are my garden shoes/clogs...whatever you want to call them...

My feet hurt!

We were working out in the yard (Sunday) for quite a while, and my feet hurt.

That's it.

That's my gripe. Sore feet.

Gifts from Casey...

This is what my charming husband got me for my birthday.

I was planning on making a stacked crepe cake, like the Martha Stewart recipe, but we'll see whether or not I'm gonna be that ambitious today....I'm thinking, "no."

Just plan to grill some ribeye steaks and maybe watch some movies later.

Keepin' it low-key, the way I like it.



FYI: here's a picture of the crepe cake:

BLTC

BLTC = Bacon Lettuce Tomato Chicken sandwich

I just made a BLT with some deli chicken on it, and it was so fabulous, I took a picture!!! LOL!!

Raspberry Rolls

This is just going to be a pictorial...follow the photos for the steps in the recipe...

Raspberry Rolls

1 pkg. Hot Roll mix
1 can raspberry filling
1/2 pkg. (about 1 cup, I think) frozen raspberries, thawed and drained
1/2 c. sugar
2 T. butter, melted





















Make some ganache using chocolate and whipping cream; serve rolls with ganache poured over them...



Messy...but good!