Have an Hour...Have Dessert

Sunday

dinner

was

at

3pm

sharp...

it

was

1:30pm...

and

I

was

still

thumbing

through

cookbooks.

The weekend had been a busy one with no time to drop by the market. I had exactly four eggs safely tucked into the fridge and was pondering what to make for dessert at our Grandparents Sunday dinner. I had quite a bit of time to ponder as I was mopping 2000 feet of hardwood floors. I was settling on a cake as I wandered back into the kitchen to wring out the mop and was overtaken by the wonderful smell of poached eggs. Poached eggs? There goes the cake...you can't make any sort of acceptable Southern cake without eggs. Time was closing in. I pulled out more cookbooks. I was falling flat. There was no way I could arrive with something store bought- this is just not done for Sunday dinner around here. As it most always happens, the family cookbook came to the rescue. In 2007, my sister in law had painstakingly put together a published book gathering all of our family recipes. We all joke that it may very well be the last cookbook anyone could ever need. Betty Lou's Berry Cobbler was the point of inspiration. I had an hour and a couple of apples. This could work.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Peel and dice two apples (about 2 cups)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 stick melted butter

3/4 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

pinch salt

3/4 cup milk

Combine the white and brown sugars in a small bowl and set 1 cup aside.

Mix the apples in a glass bowl with the one cup of the mixed sugars and cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and vanilla. Let marinade.

Using an 8 by 8 baking dish, mix flour, the remaining 1/2 cup of mixed sugars, baking powder, salt, and milk to form a batter. Spread evenly in bottom of pan.

Pour melted butter over batter in baking dish. DO NOT STIR!

Spoon marinated apples over batter. DO NOT STIR!

Bake for 45 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown.

Serve warm in deep dish bowls with a spoonful of vanilla ice cream.

Needless to say I walked into dinner an hour later with this amazing spiced apple scent wafting everywhere. Granny had made Southern fried chicken, mashed potatoes, a squash casserole, biscuits, fresh corn on the cob, green beans from her garden, mixed fresh fruits, and a huge pitcher of iced tea. Someone else had brought an enormous layer cake. The weather that Sunday was glorious for the beginning of August. Breezy and cool and most people took their dinners to the long porch on Granny's house. Everyone was talking about gardens. We were stuffed to the gills. And then someone mentioned dessert. The cobbler was incredible, and when I went back for seconds...well, it was gone. Definitely a new family favorite, and we promptly sat at the kitchen bar and put notes in the margin of Granny's family cookbook too!

Is It That Time Already?

Don't

look

now,

but

summer

is

almost

over

for

school

children.

It hardly seems possible, but here we are just weeks before some children will be venturing back to the classroom. While some parents may be grateful for the break and glad to hear those school bells ring, others know the casual schedule that means summertime is winding down. Let's face it, mornings before school can be hair raising. We worry about being late, having all the children's things in order, and breakfast on the table- or at least in their hands as they run out the door. Breakfast is so important to young minds, all minds as a matter of fact, but for school children who must maintain concentration until lunchtime it is imperative that good nutrition start first thing in the morning. With this in mind, we want to share with you one of our favorite breakfast treats. This recipe packs a whopping 470 calories per serving with only 2.5 grams of saturated fat out 22 grams total fat. This means your young ones will have energy to burn during the class sessions which helps kids concentrate better. Ten grams of protein and 57 grams of carbohydrates (7 grams dietary fiber and 16 grams sugar) further fuel the brain with no cholesterol. There's 200 milligrams of salt which is on par with a regular bowl of cereal.

Almond Nutmeg Granola

Six Servings

Any dried fruit can be used in this delicious recipe. Dried apricots, cranberries, or raisins are especially good choices as are blueberries and apples. It is equally good eaten out of hand as a snack as it is covered in cold milk in a bowl.

Here's what you'll need:

3 cups old fashioned rolled oats

3 tablespoons oat flour or whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup slivered blanched almonds

1/2 cup pure maple syrup or honey

1/3 cup high oleic sunflower oil or canola oil

1 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 to 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Whisk together the oats, flour, and almonds in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together maple syrup or honey, oil, almond extract, nutmeg, and salt. Add to the oat mixture stirring well to coat.

Spread the mixture on a large rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for one hour, stirring occasionally to break up clumps. Allow granola to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Everyone in your house will love this morning treat and you can feel great knowing they won't feel hungry before lunchtime.

Summer Heat

Every
now
and
then
a
cookbook
comes
along...
and makes me want to be wildly unfaithful to all the others. Martha Hall Foose has created such a cookbook with Screen Doors and Sweet Tea. Martha's credentials are impressive. She is the executive chef of the Viking Cooking School. She is a student of the famed pastry school Ecole Lenotre in France. She opened both the Bottletree Bakery and the Mockingbird Bakery in Mississippi. She was, in fact, born and raised in the Mississippi Delta. Martha Hall Foose, it can be safely said, has Southern cooking running in her blood, and she has brilliantly poured her knowledge into 248 pages of cooking bliss. When Martha spins a tale of how her Southern neighbors gather along the roadside for "mailbox happy hour" I knew I was in the company of someone special. What you find in Martha is The Real Deal- a woman comfortable enough in her Southern heritage to flip the mailbox lid down, set a pitcher of Mint Juleps on it, pass out the cups, and let the day fall where it may. Her recipes are annotated with local history and family heritage in a manner that makes you think you've pulled up a stool at her kitchen counter and you're hearing it from your Mother, or Granny, or Great Granny. The first thing I made from the cookbook was Martha's recipe for Sweet Tea. I couldn't help myself, as finding a source for authentic Sweet Tea can be like looking for the Holy Grail. Don't believe me? Try hers, and then you will understand that all Sweet Teas are not made equal.
As you flip through the book you will see titles like "Blackberry Limeade Amethyst Elixir". You will wonder if Mrs. Foose is on a quest to make you try everything in the cookbook without coming up for air. How can one resist an Amethyst Elixir? Just imagine Watermelon Salsa alongside chunky Guacamole the next time you're diving into a bag of tortilla chips. You find yourself saying the recipe titles out loud with a sense of wonder. Take, for example, Apricot Rice Salad. Apricots and rice are two ingredients that you just know will be amazing together and you wonder why you've never tasted this before. You'll still be marveling at this as you are running to the store for the ingredients to make it. You'll also be mulling about in your head the picture of the Tomato Soup, unlike any that you have seen before. One half of the bowl is chunky red, the other half chunky yellow-green. You think to yourself, I have been missing out. And you have. What this cookbook does above all else is make you think about your foods differently. It blends ingredients that you may not put together on your own, but once you learn of their compatibility, it feels like second nature. We were even a bit stunned to see the recipe for Curried Sweet Potato Soup. This is a place our Curry has not yet ventured and we cannot wait to go there. The education in Southern cooking gained from Screen Doors and Sweet Tea is difficult to measure. Take the recipe for Barq's Root Beer- Glazed Ham Amber Encasement. Sounds divine, but what you learn is this...root beer is a blend of sassafras roots and bark, dandelion, wild cherry, burdock, spruce, wintergreen, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and anise. A smokey ham encased in any one of these ingredients sounds incredible but together the ham is off the charts. Would a person ever think to make a root beer glaze for their ham? You will now. Foose has a variation of our Summer Squash Pancake we recently wrote about and like us, this recipe was developed after they had exhausted the squashes many other uses. We could go on and on about the merits of this cook book, but my copy just fell open to page 222. It reads, "Darkness on the Delta Cool Bittersweet Dessert" which Martha describes as a deep, dark-as-night fudgy dessert with bittersweet chocolate and Bourbon. So if you'll excuse me, I must go to the store NOW. It says it serves eight, but we'll just have to see about that.

Here...You Look Hungry

Late
June
is
the
start
of
summer
harvest.
There are plants that seem to be freaks of nature...you know the ones, they produce more vegetables than any one household could ever hope to eat. If you have run into me on the street the last few weeks, you are just as likely to be given about a dozen beautiful radishes as you are likely to get a "Hello". Take your pick, traditional round red or white blushing into pink French radishes as long as your fingers. Most years, however, it is the yellow Summer squash that I am up to my eyebrows in abundance. While last year's crop was wiped out due to squash borer, and no organic solution in sight, this years crop is coming along beautifully. Summer squash looks so festive all stacked up in its basket on the counter. I deliver the other filled baskets to whomever will take them, because, I confess, there is only so much to be done with yellow squash. This year, all those pollinated flowers were making me ancy and I was on the hunt for the perfect squash dish. I found an inspiring, if not complete, recipe- but the basic idea was sound and thus I ran with it. So if you have Summer squash abundance in your house, or a neighboring friend presenting you with a basket, have no fear. You are going to love this recipe. And if you do not even like squash, this dish may cause you to rethink your Tastebuds.

Here's what you will need:
3 Cups grated yellow Summer squash
(work around the larger seeds and discard- use skins as they add color)

1 medium clove garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon fresh Parsley or 1 Teaspoon dried
1/2 Teaspoon salt

Dash of fresh ground pepper

3/4 Cup grated or shredded Parmesan cheese
1 large egg, beaten
1 Cup biscuit mix (even Bisquick works)
1/4 Cup milk, approximately

Combine all these ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir by hand until the batter is the consistency of cake batter. Heat up a griddle or skillet with a shallow layer of vegetable oil in the bottom, about 1/8 inch deep. No olive oil here folks, only high temperature oils will do. Drop a tiny amount of batter into the oil and see if it is sizzling hot. If it is, drop about a 1/2 cup of batter at a time into the hot pan and cook until lightly browned on both sides. Using a spatula to round the sides while the batter is initially cooking is helpful and it takes a few minutes cooking on each side to achieve the golden hue. Start with one to get the hang of the cooking, and about half way through the batch you should be able to do two or more at a time depending on the size of your pan. Cool the cakes on a plate lined with paper toweling to absorb most of the oil. Lightly salt and eat these Summer squash pancakes warm. They are unvelievably tasty and make a great dish at all three meals of the day. These pancakes would be even more colorful with a splash of small diced tomatoes added to the batter, and as soon as they are ready for harvest, they'll be making an appearance in this recipe too. If you are a really nice produce sharing friend, when you pass along your squash baskets, you'll share this recipe too. Summer squash is one of those tricky vegetables to figure out, but armed with this recipe, it will be greatly enjoyed.

What's For Dinner?

Hit
your
print
key,
you're
going
to want
to save
this one.
It's the old time worn question...
What's for dinner? We have an answer...
Chicken Parm Greg's Way.

Here's what you'll need:

Free range/air chilled boneless chicken breasts x 2
1 small bunch of organic Broccoli Rabe
small container of fresh mozzarella
1 35oz can of the best plum tomatoes you can buy (important in sauce quality)
Fresh hydro/organic Basil 4 leaves
1 cup bread crumbs seasoned
1 cup all purpose organic flour seasoned with salt & pepper
2 organic eggs whisked
1 organic carrot diced small
1 stalk organic celery diced small
1/2 white onion diced small
2 cloves garlic minced
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
1/2 lb organic pasta

To make sauce:

Heat a small sauce pot with 2 Tbsp of Olive Oil over medium heat. Add Carrot, Onion and Celery and saute until soft. Add Plum Tomatoes and Garlic. Heat through. With an immersion stick blender blend sauce to a desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. Continue to cook on low while preparing other items.

Fill a large pot to the half way point with water and place over HIGH heat. Salt water with Kosher salt. Cover with lid. This will be used to blanch the Broccoli Rabe.

To make chicken:
Fillet or pound out chicken breasts so they will cook evenly. Set up three dishes that will accommodate the size of your chicken breasts. Add the flour to the first dish, eggs to the next and bread crumbs to the third. You can make your own bread crumbs by first toasting slices of quality bread and running them through a food processor on HIGH until you have a fine consistency. Place the dishes in order of dredging (flour,eggs,bread crumbs). Place large cast iron skillet, or other large fry pan that is oven proof, over medium heat and add three Tbsp of Olive Oil to pan. Heat oven to 400 degrees with rack in center position. Dredge chicken in flour, then eggs, then bread crumbs and fry in hot oil. After about 3-4 minutes flip to other side. While second side is browning blanch Broccoli Rabe in salted water for 1 minute. Remove Broccoli Rabe from water and drain off excess water. Turn off heat to chicken and place Broccoli Rabe on top of each piece of chicken. Cover with tomato sauce reserving some sauce for pasta. Sprinkle Romano cheese over chicken. Slice Mozzarella and cover both chicken breasts. Season with Kosher salt and pepper. Place in oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

While chicken is in oven drop pasta into water and cook al dente. Drain thoroughly but do not rinse!

Toss the cooked pasta with the remaining tomato sauce and arrange on either side of the cooked chicken. Presenting this meal in the iron skillet works well as the black sets off the colors of this dish beautifully. Be sure to place the hot dish on a thick cutting board wherever you choose to serve it from. Serve Chicken Parma Greg's Way with a crusty bread and glass of Tuscan Chianti and you have a dinner you'll be sure to repeat frequently. Enjoy!

Here Comes the Weekend!

If we had

a nickel for

every time

we heard the

words "TGIF"

the past few

months...

well, we

would be

filthy rich!

There is no denying times are tough out there. Listening to media news offers little consolation. There is an enormous increase in the number of people who are using Facebook and Blogs as a form of keeping connected with events in the lives of people we care about. A common theme we are seeing is a return to the ways our grandparents and great grandparents lived. Now if you ask me, this isn't all bad. Actually, it's pretty all good. Families are returning to the home garden, the home table gathered up with friends and family, and rediscovering the things that used to make life in the mid 20Th century quite heartwarming. Board games, classic books, picnics, and nature are having strong pulls on the American heart. With this in mind, there is no time like the present to bring back a family tradition of Sunday brunch. We recently made a mouth watering quiche that would be a perfect main course. Now don't panic- you're going to make the crust from scratch- and you won't believe how it will open up worlds of possibilities in your baking.

Start with a glass or metal bowl. You can use an old fashioned pastry mixer or your standard blender if you have a pastry attachment. If all else fails, you can do this even with a long tined fork! Take 1 1/4 cups flour and blend it with a 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Add to this 1/3 cup of shortening. Blend these together with your mixer or fork until the shortening resembles little peas in the flour. Add 1 tablespoon of cold water and lightly blend with a fork until the area is moist, doing this with 5 tablespoons total and moistening the entire mixture. Roll lightly into a ball and pat it somewhat flat onto a lightly floured board or counter top. Roll until the dough is about 12 inches in diameter. Don't worry if it is flaky and somewhat difficult to roll out. If possible roll the dough onto your roller and place it into a 9 inch round pie pan. Work the dough up the sides and use any overlap to fix bare areas at the rim. Line your dough with foil and bake at 450 degrees for 8 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 5 to 6 minutes until the crust is lightly browned. While the crust is baking you can prepare the filling. On a paper towel lined plate, place 6 slices uncooked bacon and about a half cup of diced onion. Lay another paper towel over the bacon and onion and place in a microwave for about 2 minutes. Check for tenderness in the onion and browning of the bacon. You can cook this for 1 more minute if the bacon appears not quite cooked. What you want is brown but not crisp- and most of the oils should catch in the toweling. Tear the bacon into small bits and set the mixture aside. In a glass bowl, lightly beat 8 eggs. Add to the eggs 1/2 cup of sour cream and 1/2 cup of milk. Season with 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/8 teaspoon of pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg. Lightly mix in about 2 to 3 cups cooked spinach. The organic frozen spinach packages work perfectly for this as long as it is thawed. At this point, if you have a mixer out, lightly froth this mixture because it helps to incorporate the eggs thoroughly into everything else. Finally, add 2/3 cup of cheese of your choice like a mozzarella or light cheddar and 1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese. Blend carefully and pour this filling into your cooling crust. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes until a knife inserted at center comes out clean. The quiche has the best texture if it can stand for about 10 to 15 minutes before serving. Use this time to dole out bowls of fresh fruit and cups of steaming hot coffee to accompany your quiche. Mouths will be watering from the aromas wafting from the oven and seconds are a sure thing. Count your blessings and know that you have served a breakfast that would make your grand parents proud!