Play With Your Food!

Here's a fun idea for your holiday appetizer table. I basically made a cheese ball and shaped it to look like a Christmas tree.

Then I rolled in chopped parsley, and decorated it with toasted pine nuts and chopped dried cranberries. The "star" is grated lemon zest.

Here's my "recipe":

1 8 oz block cream cheese, softened
1 4 oz roll goat cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
salt/pepper to season
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley, toasted pine nuts, chopped dried cranberries, lemon zest

Mix till blended well. Place in refrigerator about 3 hours, till cold enough to shape like Christmas tree.

Chop parsley. Roll tree in parsley till covered. Decorate!

You could also roll into various size balls and shape like snowmen. Have fun!

Broccoli Cheese Soup On A Cold Morning

Yesterday, after my routine 6:30AM walk, I needed to finish the Christmas decorations by getting the outside lights done. It was really cold and by the time I finished most of the lights, I was in the mood to create something warm.

I had this really beautiful head of broccoli from my CSA box, and all the ingredients to make broccoli cheese soup so I got busy.

I poked around the Internet for a recipe and decided to combine ideas I had seen and then just made up my own soup.

Here's how I did it:

The ingredients: 1 head broccoli, 1 1/4 cups shredded cheese, one small onion chopped, about 1/3 stick butter:

You'll also need 3 tbsp flour, about 1 1/2 cups milk, one can chicken broth (plus more in case you need to thin out the soup later), a pinch of fresh nutmeg, and salt and pepper to season.

Start by melting the butter, and cooking the chopped onion in the butter for about 4 minutes, till soft. Then, add the flour and stir till well blended, then cook for about 2 minutes. Add the chicken broth and stir constantly. You'll now have the base of your soup, nice and thick. Add the milk and the chopped broccoli and cook till the broccoli is soft, about 15 minutes.

Add freshly grated nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.

Now, using your immersion blender that you love so much (yep), blend soup till creamy. Add shredded cheese and let melt while stirring. Done!


So good....and warm.


And most of the lights are done!

Easy, Healthy Dinner

This was dinner last night: salmon along with fresh vegetables I had on hand. My husband's response: "That was very, very, very good." Hmmmm....I'll have to remember that.

This is an easy and healthy meal that you can complete in about 30 minutes. We're all getting busy with the approaching holidays, so it helps to have quick meal ideas on hand.

To begin, pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Roast whatever fresh vegetables you have on hand by drizzling with olive oil and seasoning with salt and pepper. I had potatoes and asparagus and a zucchini.
Start cooking the vegetables in order of how long they'll need to cook; the potatoes needed about 25 minutes, the zucchini and asparagus about 8 minutes. Roasting is my absolute favorite way of cooking and eating fresh vegetables. It just brings out the sweetness of the vegetables and the roasting adds another layer of flavor.
The salmon recipe is super easy and delicious. Here's how I did it:

In a small saucepan, over med heat, combine 1/3 cup brown sugar and juice of one lemon. Bring just to boil, then keep warm.

Season two salmon filets (or however many you need) with salt and pepper. In a medium pan, heat olive oil till hot. Place salmon non-skin side down and sear till slightly browned. To pan, add sauce and about 1/4 cup soy sauce.




Finish cooking salmon in oven for 5-6 minutes, being careful not to over-cook. And voila! Delicious, healthy meal in less than 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Sharing Great Food

I got this great sticker this week....I think it says it all! Why didn't I think of that? It pretty much sums up why I love my job.

This week I also attended a cooking class at the Buford Highway Farmers Market. If you haven't tried these classes, they're really informative and so affordable....the class cost $20 and you get a $10 gift card for the market. It's such a great value.

The class I took this week was with Chef Eric Cutillo from the Buckhead Life Group Restaurant Kyma. All the food was really terrific and the recipes are ones that I'm sure I'll use. One of my favorites was the Herb Seared Tuna with Quinoa Salad.


I'm sharing below the Quinoa recipe because it was so great. It was served with seared tuna (fabulous!) but it would make a tasty and healthy side dish to include in almost any meal.


2 cups quinoa, cooked
1 tsp preserved lemon, diced fine
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/4 cup tomato petal, diced fine
1/4 cup scallion, sliced thin
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/8 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
salt/white pepper


Combine all ingredients, adjusting salt, pepper and lemon seasoning as needed. Enjoy!

Summer Parties, Beach Time

I've been quite busy this summer cooking for regular clients and I've also had several parties and bridal showers. Recently, I was hired to prepare food for a 50th birthday party. The client wanted an old-fashioned cookout, so the menu included potato salad, hot dogs, hamburgers, and some extras.

I made this platter of fruit skewers....this is always a hit, especially with kids. It was great for the hot summer day.

I also grilled two kinds of chicken, tequila lime chicken and barbecued wings. They were both good. And, hot dogs and hamburgers and trays that included all the toppings necessary for both.


Tomorrow we're driving to North Carolina for a friend's wedding and Sunday I'm headed to the beach for a much-needed week of doing nothing.....nothing but reading, knitting, eating fresh seafood, and walking on the beach!

Penzey's Spices - I Like It!

Last week I had some errands to do that took me to Sandy Springs. A few of my chef colleagues had been saying how much they loved Penzey's Spices and had mentioned there would be a store opening soon in Atlanta....and, in the shopping center where I had an errand, was the new store!

So I had to go in. Now, I was prepared to not be swayed from buying my spices at either the DeKalb Farmers Market or the Buford Highway Farmers market. But I am very impressed by two things with Penzey's Spices:
(1) The fresh taste and smell of the spices and (2) The small size containers available. Most of the spices and rubs are available in sizes 1 oz or less.

Make that three things: the prices.

The small size jars are around $1.00 and some change each. And, the small sizes are perfect to me because ideally you should replace your spices every year since after that time, they start losing their flavor.

The selection was really good. And, I don't know if it was because the store has just opened, but they were giving a box of (4) free small jars with every purchase. And inside was a coupon worth $5.00....I'll definitely go back and use that! I spent about $8.00 and came home with seven different spices and some salt. Not bad!

Last night's dinner was an assortment of roasted vegetables (cleaning out what we had in the refrigerator) and roasted turkey. I used the French blend on the turkey and it was really delicious.


Think about it: You can buy a jar in the spice section of the grocery store and spend anywhere from $4 to $6. Or, make the trip to Penzey's Spices on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs. It's in the shopping center with Trader Joe's.

I think you'll like it! I do.

This Week's Vegetable Challenge

We have a new Saturday farmer's market in Brookhaven and I checked it out this past weekend. Loved it! It was small, about 15 vendors, but there was an abundance of fresh vegetables, a couple of bakers, an ice cream vendor, and more. And I love

having the market in our neighborhood....another reason I love living in Brookhaven. The market is on Dresden Drive in the parking lot behind Haven.


I came home with quite a load and we've been enjoying lots of tomatoes all week.


Yesterday, I got my weekly CSA box from Moore Farms and I'm presented with a couple of challenges. One item included was "ground cherries". They're the ones that look like a small, yellow tomatillo, on the right in the picture below. The taste is sweet but also nutty so I'm thinking of coming up with a sauce for pasta, maybe along the consistency of pesto. Should be interesting....can't wait to try it!


I also have a squash challenge on my hands. I have all these lovely squashes that are crying out to me to be prepared in some yummy way but my husband doesn't like squash! Maybe I'll find a neighbor to share with. A friend also gave us some fresh corn from a garden in North Georgia. I wish you could smell this corn! It is so fresh, and the best we've had this summer...so delicious, can't say enough about how good it is.

We have so many vegetables in the house! Tonight's dinner is definitely going to be a vegetable plate with fresh made cornbread...can't wait!