{Live Laugh Love To Cook Fun Foods}

Thursday, March 22, 2012

I have decided to share stories about my grandmother's cooking,

Towards the end of summer and going into fall, my grandmother was doing her canning of all the fruits and jams for winter to include peaches, pears, apricots, making peach marmalade, peach jam, apricot preserves, and something special that was called spiced clingstone peaches, it was made with cloves and cinnamon and it wasn't unusual to eat an evening meal of just spiced peaches and homemade bread and butter and sliced cheese.

She also made dilly beans? well the adults liked them and made things like pickled chutney, sweet pickles and bread and butter pickles and would use them for the holidays to serve with meats and other meals. My palate didn't care for them then but would sure like to try them now, if only had her recipes.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Christy Jordan - Southern Plate

I found a wonderful blog today its all about Southern Cooking with wonderfully illistrated pictures and recipe

Its all about Christy Jordan, and she has some great cook books, great experience that all moms would be interested in, so why not stop by and check it out Southern Plate is the name

BREADS

DESSERT

Fast and Fresh Strawberry Pie

3 quarts (about 3 pounds) fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled
1 cup sugar
1 Tbs. powdered pectin (Sure Jell)
Pinch salt
3 Tbs. cornstarch, dissolved in ¼ cup of water
1 Tsp. finely grated lemon zest
½ Tsp. vanilla extract
1 pre-baked pie shell

Slice 1 heaping quart of the strawberries for the filling and halve 2 heaping cups of your best-looking ones for the pie top. Halve another 2 cups of strawberries, place in a food processor and puree until smooth.

Measure out 1¼ cups of the puree and transfer to a medium saucepan along with sugar, pectin and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, whisking frequently. Continue to simmer so that mixture foams, about 1 minute longer. Remove from heat; skim foam from surface. Return saucepan to medium heat, slowly whisking in cornstarch mixture. Continue to whisk until mixture is stiff. Stir in lemon zest and vanilla.

Transfer ¼ cup of the mixture to a small bowl. Whisk in up to 2 tablespoons of water for the glaze. Transfer remaining mixture to a medium bowl, placing a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface. When mixture has cooled to room temperature, stir in sliced strawberries and turn into baked pie shell. Arrange halved strawberries over top; brush with glaze and refrigerate until ready to serve. (The pie can be made several hours ahead.)

Yield: 6 servings

Per serving: 265 calories, 44g carbohydrates, 4g protein, 9g fat (3g saturated), 0mg cholesterol, 6mg fiber, 142mg sodium

{Best Recipe Award Jarred- Dave's Carrot Cake}

This is our first Guest Post and Jared has graciously allowed us to share his famous "Dave's Carrot Cake" "Recipe, if you try it we would love to hear your comments on guest posts.

Visit his website as well.

Thank you Jarred

About Jared

My name is Jared, and I’m still not entirely sure how I ended up living in paradise.

My partner ‘Rick’ and I (he’s shy, so that’s not his real name) are two American city boys who moved to rural New Zealand in 2006. We live on 20 acres just outside the charming wine and olive village of Martinborough, at the bottom of the North Island.

It’s a little different from where I grew up, which was the suburbs outside Detroit. I used to stay out till 5am dancing at clubs downtown, where we were frisked at the door for guns and knives. Now I get up at 5am to do yoga, write, and feed the chickens. Go figure.

2 cups flour (For gluten free, replace flour with gluten free baking mix. I use Bakels.)
2 cups sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 and 1/2 cups cooking oil (I use canola.)
4 eggs
3 cups carrots, finely grated
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Sift dry ingredients together. Add oil, stirring constantly.
Add remaining ingredients and mix.
Place in two round springform pans. Bake at 350 °F / 175 °C for 45 minutes.

Frosting
1 package cream cheese (8 oz / 250 g)
1/2 cup butter
2 tsp vanilla
1 pound of icing sugar! (16 0z = 453 g)

Jared blogs at moonovermartinborough.com

Monday, March 19, 2012

Chicken Florentine with Artichokes

A Favorite Meal Chicken Florentine with Artichokes

Chicken Florentine ~
With Artichokes This is one of my husbands favorite dishes.

Ingredients

8 ounces dried bow tie pasta
1 small onion, chopped
1 tablespoon butter
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup ranch style dressing (gives a tang)
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
2 cups chopped cooked chicken (I prefer chicken breast, bone in, baked for 15 min) Then cut and prepare

2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (8 oz.)
1 14 ounce can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
1 10 ounce frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1/2 cup oil-packed dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup soft bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon butter, melted
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. In medium skillet cook onion in 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat about 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; set aside.
2.In bowl whisk together eggs, milk, ranch dressing, seasoning, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. black pepper, and crushed red pepper. Stir in chicken, Monterey Jack cheese, artichokes, spinach, tomatoes, half of the Parmesan, cooked pasta, and onion. Transfer to a 13x9x2-inch baking dish or 3-quart rectangular casserole.
3.Bake, covered, 20 minutes. In small bowl combine remaining Parmesan, bread crumbs, paprika, and melted butter. Sprinkle mixture over pasta. Bake, uncovered, 10 minutes more or until golden. Makes 6 to 8 servings.