I love how on my Twitter feed, I’m all about “Go Fall! Summer’s overrated. See ya summer…don’t let the fall solstice hit ya on your way out…”
But yet, here I am, blogging about a summer salad.
I never claimed to much make sense.
Cherry Tomato Salad with Buttermilk & Basil Dressing
Recipe from Food Network Magazine — June 2012
Ingredients:
6 cups red & yellow cherry tomatoes (halved if larger)
Kosher salt & pepper
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup light sour cream
3 tablespoons thinly sliced basil leaves
1 shallot, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
Instructions:
Place the red & yellow cherry tomatoes into a large bowl. Season tomatoes with salt & pepper; toss. Set bowl aside.
In another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, light sour cream, basil, shallot, and garlic. Season with pepper.
Add the prepared dressed to the tomatoes and toss.
Enjoy!
The tomato salad makes a nice side dish or an accompaniment to a green salad or a steak. Ooooh yes, now I’m craving steak and this tomato salad! Back to the kitchen!
Happy Valentine’s Day!!!
To celebrate, I made….Brussels sprouts! I know, totally weird, right? It’s because I really care about you and the gift of health is the best gift.
That and it’s really cold outside and I didn’t want to go to the grocery store.
But mostly because I want you to eat your vegetables.
Make these tonight! Or no, do your V-day lovebirds things tonight. Make these tomorrow.
Brown Butter Brussels Sprouts with Pecans
Recipe from How Sweet It Is
Ingredients:
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound raw Brussels sprouts, cut in half
2 shallots, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Instructions:
Over low heat, toast your chopped pecans in a small skillet. Toast for 5-7 minutes. Shake the pan gingerly every minute or so to avoid burning the pecans. Turn off heat.
In a large skillet, heat your olive oil over medium-high heat. Add shallots and garlic to the skillet. Saute for 1-2 minutes. Add Brussels sprouts and salt & pepper to skillet. Cook for 8-10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
In the meantime, heat a small saucepan over medium heat. Add butter. Whisk continuously until butter browns. Remove from heat immediately.
Place cooked Brussels sprouts in serving dish. Sprinkle toasted pecans on top. Drizzle brown butter over top. Serve.
My Mom & I were at Target a few weeks ago. She was saying that it’s too bad that stores skip straight from Halloween to Christmas. She was in search of some new Thanksgiving home decor and was coming up empty. All we could find was this paper mache turkey in the party supply aisle.
I jumped on the bandwagon with her. People shouldn’t turn on Christmas lights until Thanksgiving night at the earliest!! No Christmas tree to be put up until Thanksgiving night at the earliest!! No Christmas shopping until Black Friday!! I was passionate about it.
And then I remembered that I’ve been listening to Michael Buble’s new Christmas CD for weeks.
There’s always an exception to the rule.
I’m making an exception to the rule for Thanksgiving. We always have Stove Top stuffing for Thanksgiving. Now, Stove Top is freaking delicious! Don’t get me wrong!! But when I saw the recipe for Emeril’s spicy sausage stuffing, I was sold!! I’m sure my Dad isn’t too pleased with my decision. He probably has a back-up box of Stove Top waiting in the cupboard just in case.
If you like Stove Top, plus meat, plus that Emeril BAM kick….you’ll heart this stuffing!!!
Spicy Sausage Stuffing
Recipe from Emeril Lagasse
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons EVOO
4 cups milk
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 eggs
12 cups cubes day old white bread
1 pound hot Italian sausage, casings removed
1/4 pound ground beef
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup chopped parsley
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish with EVOO. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together milk, chicken broth, and eggs. Add cubes of bread, mix well. Set aside until mix is absorbed, about 15 minutes.
In the meantime, in a large skillet on medium-high heat, cook sausage and ground beef. Break meat apart with a spoon until browned, about 10 minutes. Add garlic, celery, green bell pepper, onion, salt, red pepper, and black pepper. Cook and stir occasionally until tender and golden brown, about 15 minutes.
Transfer meat mixture to your bowl with the bread. Add parsley. Stir to combine.
Transfer to your prepared baking dish. Spread out evenly. Bake until golden brown on top, about an hour.
Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
A week ago, I was having drinks with a friend and his co-workers. They informed me that they had to do a mandatory earthquake drill at work that day. We all had a good laugh. Ha! Earthquake drill?! In Wichita, KS?!
Cut to this morning when it was all over Facebook about the earthquake in Oklahoma felt all the way up through Wichita and beyond. (Who needs to watch the news nowadays with Facebook to keep me informed?)
No major damage was done by the earthquake. The most “damage” was that I slept right through it! I’m grateful that no damage was done, but I feel like I’m not “in” on the action now. It’s my own fault for living the life of an 80 year old lady and going to sleep at 10 pm on a Saturday night.
Before I drifted off into sleeping bliss, I made you a casserole. If you need a new way to showcase sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving, give this dish a whirl!
This dish is even better the next day reheated, which as we know….leftovers are the best part about Thanksgiving.
Sweet Potato and Apple Gratin
Recipe from Wolfgang Puck
Ingredients:
6 tablespoons butter, divided
3 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cut into slices
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into rounds
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with butter and set it aside.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt 3 tablespoons of butter. Add your peeled sliced apples to the skillet and cook. Stir occasionally until carmalized for about 10 minutes.
In the meantime, mix your sweet potatoes with heavy cream, nutmeg, kosher salt, cinnamon, and black pepper in a large bowl.
Add half of the sweet potato mixture to your 9 x 13 inch dish. Cover with apples.
Add the second half of the sweet potato mixture over the apples. Pour any remaining cream over the top.
Cover with foil and bake for about 45 minutes.
After 45 minutes, increase the oven temperature to 500 degrees. Remove foil from dish. Scatter bread crumbs over the top of the dish. Dot with the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter. Bake for about 8 minutes more. Keep an eye on it to make sure the bread crumbs do not burn.
Serve immediately.
