Cheese-filled Shells with Sauce

Filling: Home made fresh cheese, two eggs, chopped spinach (thawed, squeezed dry), chopped fresh basil, grated onion, nutmeg, s & p.
Sauce: Brown hamburger, remove, pour off oil. Add some olive oil, saute diced onion and red pepper. Return browned hamburger to pan, add smoked paprika, oregano, red chili flakes, fennel seed. Continue to saute, then add beef stock/broth, simmer until reduced. Add one can of canned spaghetti sauce (the kind on the bottom shelf, 4 cheese).
Fill: can use this to fill and bake giant shells, cherry tomatoes, manicotti, lasagne roll-ups. Put some sauce in the bottom of the pan, put in the filled pasta/tomatoes, add more sauce (dollop here and there), top with shredded mozzarella, bake. I baked it at 350 degrees, for about an hour. Because of the egg, one wants to make sure the filling in the middle of the pan is cooked.
We served this with garlic toasts and a green salad.

Farmer's Market

The bounty from Farmer's Market...

More Pizza... My Margherita

I picked up some lovely fresh basil and tomatoes at Farmer's Market Saturday. Stan picked up a couple of crusts and cheese for Sunday night's dinner, pizza. I like to make crusts, but as we were going to be gone most of the day, he didn't want me to have to come home and toil over crusts... anyways, I digress. I used a thin, crispy-style pre-made crust. Drizzled with olive oil, lay out sliced tomatoes (salted with sea salt, drained a bit of moisture off), minced garlic, sliced onion, basil (torn into pieces), fresh mozzarella, pepper. bake in a hot oven until cheese starts to get some brown spots and is bubbly.

Berries

Saturday's Farmer's Market brought berries from Oregon. I purchased a few, I couldn't resist! The strawberries were red all the way through, very juicy and sweet. We ate most of them as is, just washed. We took some in a cooler out on the sail boat later that day. They were a scrumptious treat out on the middle of the lake on a warm day. Yesterday, I took the rest of the strawberries and the raspberries and made a sauce, sweetened with sugar and honey. We had it over ice cream and home made pound cake.
I'll be making a blueberry/yogurt smoothie for breakfast this morning: plain yogurt, blueberries, honey, ice.

Oven Fried Chicken Tenders

Thaw chicken tenders, dip in flour/cornstarch, melted butter, crumb mixture: bread crumbs, Club cracker crumbs, Lays potato chips (the kind that stack), pepper, thyme. Lay on a rack on a broiler pan, bake until golden (350-400 degrees).
Served with pickled beets, bread & butter pickles, boiled potatoes, cream gravy, fried corn: cut corn off cob, saute in butter with onions, used broth from simmering cobs to cook like a risotto until corn is tender and liquid is evaporated. Then add breading from chicken (had been set aside at the beginning), and fry until crisp.

Fried Green Tomatoes

Mmmmmmmmmm.... Standard breading procedure (flour, egg, crumb), the crumbs consisting of bread crumbs, semolina, and club crackers. Served with a basic tartar sauce: Miracle Whip, grated onion, diced dill pickled, minced capers, pepper. Minced chive garnish.

Starbuck Chocolate Cake

This recipe is in an old church cookbook from Starbuck, MN. It was submitted by Mrs. Nels Martinson. It was back in the day when a married woman went by her husband's name, not just the last name, but the first name as well. In this cookbook, recipes were submitted by many a "Mrs. First Last" name of the husband. There are several that were submitted by women using their own names, but without "Mrs." It is dated 1950.
On to the cake...
I followed the directions, but used a pyrex cake pan 9 x 13. I also remembered that I was out of vanilla, so used Grand Marnier instead. During baking, I checked it at 30 minutes, and without thinking, pulled the rack out of the oven to get a better look. The whole center of the cake was still quite liquid. I knew immediately that it would fall. It did. But, it makes for a nice brownie-like center to the cake. It is very chocolate-y!

Rhubarb and Raspberries

I went to the farmers market this morning and picked up some rhubarb and raspberries. I cooked them together with some cranberry/pomegranate juice, cane sugar, corn syrup and a bit of honey. I didn't have any pectin on hand so am simmering it slowly. It sure is good on biscuits!

Fried Chicken Dinner

Cut up chicken, put it in a bowl, covered with buttermilk. I added pepper, thyme, Tabasco, salt to the buttermilk. Refrigerated for several hours. I took it out of the buttermilk, let it drip off, then rolled in a combination of flour and cornstarch. I let it sit for a few minutes. In a cast iron chicken fryer (extra high sides, but not as big as a dutch oven), I put a combination of vegetable oil and lard. When hot, I put the chicken in. Of course, I didn't follow real directions and overcrowded the pan, but I didn't really care and neither did the chicken. After it became golden, I transferred it to a rack on a cookie sheet (with low sides, catches the oil), and put it in the oven while I finished up the gravy, mashed potatoes and vegetables. For the gravy, I took some of the oil and "stuff" (bits of browned flour) from the chicken fryer, put it into a different pan, added leftover flour/cornstarch from the coating, making a roux. I added half-n-half, milk, and chicken stock (from simmering the back and neck with an onion all afternoon). I added thyme, sage, and more salt and pepper; let it cook until thickened and all the flour taste/texture cooked out.

Trout

We floated the North Platte yesterday, and came home with trout. I had fresh basil and green chilies from last week's Farmers market, added a sliced onion, OJ concentrate, vinegar, salt and pepper; stuffed the fish, put it in a basket on the grill. It was served with brown/wild rice pilaf, and mixed vegetables.

Tequila Taco Chicken

I went to the Farmers Market yesterday and brought home some tomatoes, and a selection of chili peppers, some hot, some mild. So....
Chicken tenders are marinating with: tequila, oil, cumin, onion, garlic powders, oregano; will grill it on skewers.
Sauce: pureed in a blender tomatoes (peeled and seeded), diced onion, peppers, garlic, cumin seed, oregano, vinegar, oil; simmering in a slow cooker, thickened it with a cornstarch slurry.
Beans: can of pinto, can of black, sauteed mild green chili pepper, onion, chicken stock; will mash it slightly with a potato masher.
Rice: sauteed mild green chili, garlic. Added brown rice, paprika, cumin seed. When it starts to color, add water.
Will serve with fried corn and flour shells, shredded lettuce and cheese.