Restaurant Reviews

Well it was my bday yesterday (yay happy bday to me! goodbye mid 20s... hello late 20s!) so I havent really cooked since... well... thursday. Friday we went to Mortons in Hartford www.mortons.com OMG so fabulous. Best steak ever in my life! I had the lobster bisque, double cut filet with bearnaise sauce, some balsamic grilled asparagus, wild mushrooms and broc, and lava cake. All of it was fab. Alos tasted some: crab cakes, tuna tartar, bacon wrapped scallops, and NY strip. Honestly, you cant go wrong here! MmmmMmMMMMmmm. OH and one of the highlights - we were celebrating my bday and my younger brothers, and our waiter sang happy bday to us... in Italian... gorgeous voice!

Sunday we just did take out at our local Indian place, New India in Simsbury. They have GREAT Indian here, very authentic (or so I am told... I have never been to India to compare!)

Last night ryan took me out to dinner and we went to a brand new restaurant in Simsbury (where the sorely missed Finnegans used to be) called Amelia's American Bistro. They are not online yet - have only been open 2 weeks - but oh. my. gosh. SO good. Such an interesting menu, with unique sauces and combinations. I was very tempted by the homemade mac n cheese with duck confit! How interesting does THAT sound!? What we did get was: shared a plate of the Gnocchi appetizer. I am normally not a big gnocchi fan but the veggies were the main attraction for this dish. It had: local corn and tomatos, wild mushrooms, lobster, plus other veggies. WOW. So fab! I had the halibut for dinner, cooked in parchemtn with a veggie and lobster friccasse. Ryan had the open faced surf n turf - french toast briche topped with sirloin and lobster with a bearnaise sauce. MMM! For dessert I had a banana bread pudding with a berry reduction, vanilla bean ice cream and whipped cream. Ryan had a berry trifle. HIGHLY recommended!

FARM SHARE WEEK 4

This week we got: a head of iceberg (need ideas... i dont like iceberg salads... what else can I make it into?), corn, a green pepper, cantelope, peaches, weird yellow fruits - no clue what they are, yellow squash, potatos, an onion and some flowers. *note: you can see the new color in our living rm/dining rm in these two pics - Rhubarb by Benjamin Moore*

Martha, Martha, Martha Chix w/ Avocado 'Salsa'

Good ol' Martha Stewart comes through again. I spied this recipe in her July 2007 issue which I was reading while getting my nails done. I really like avocado but my husband isnt a huge fan of the texture so I dont use it much, but it seemed like this recipe had enough other stuff going on that he wouldnt be bothered. I can't locate this recipe online to link to - if I do later with mag in hand I will go back and add the pg number etc. The recipe below is what I did. I will note the majoy changes I made. Other changes are in my more imprecise measurements and I will just note what I did (ie: 1 sqeezed lemon vs 2 TB lemon juice)

4 Chicken Breasts

Marinate in juice from 1 lemon plus 1 TB EVOO for 1 - 3 hours (I only did about 15 min due to time restraints and it was fine. Next time I make it I will try marinating to longer to get a stronger lemon flavor but I really dont think we were missing anything, there are so many other flavors kickin around)

in a pan, add 1 tsp EVOO and slice the kernals from 2 ears of corn into pan on med. (im sure off season you could use the canned stuff, drained) plus 1 jalepeno pepper or other hot pepper, minced. Cook about 5 min until soft. *I did this in two pans - one with and one without the hot peppers since Ryan likes them and I dont. You can do it either way.*

Remove from heat. *note: martha's recipe called from thinly sliced fresh ginger in this step as well. I omitted it in favor of Cilantro*

Put chicken breast on a hot pan and cook till cooked through.

In the meantime, add to pan with corn: 1 can black beans drained and rinsed, 1 small red onion, diced, handful of cilantro, chopped, juice of 4 small limes. Stir well. Add: 20 cherry tomatos, quarted (martha only calls for 10 but I felt more were needed), 2 avocados peeled, pitted and diced. Stire gently to combine. Top the chicken with the Avocado Mixture.

This was indescribably good. One of the BEST meals I have tried in a while (IMO at least!) Pretty easy too - all the prep work and chopping is done while the chicken is cooking. DEFINITELY making it again.

This is so healthy too - only a TB or two of oil... low carb... loads of good for you veggies, lean protein... and avocados while high in fat, are the GOOD fat which can help raise your HDL and are a good thing to eat occassionally.

DEFINITELY worth making! Summery and flavorful and fabulous :) I can't wait to eat the leftovers for lunch :)

BLUE Banana Muffins!

I had still more bananas left wanting to be baked so I made the same recipe as this http://megpug.blogspot.com/2007/07/banana-chip-muffins.html but I made it 1.5 times as big (since i had 6 bananas) and added a pint and a half to them instead of the chips. SO good. Ryan loved them and has been devouring!

Grown Up Chix Tenders

Bad pic this week :(

My original plan for this dinner was homemade tomato soup so I wanted to Pair 'grown up' chicken fingers with it. The soup fell through but I still made the chicken. This was the inspiration http://amberskitchen.blogspot.com/2007/05/spicy-little-strips.html

I bought the little chicken tenders cut of chicken breast and dredged them in egg whites only. Then coated them well in a mixture of: 1/3 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup Panko, 1/2 cup shredded parmesan, 2 tsp of cayenne, 2 tsp parley flakes, 1 TB garlic powder.

Bake at 400 for 7 min per side, then broil for 2 min.

Mine werent nearly as pretty as the inspiration, but very yummy! And so much healthier than the typical frozen kind :)

Banana Chip Muffins

We have a bunch of bananas that were begging to be baked and usually I just make the tried and true banana bread recipe (my mom's recipe) but I decided to change it up and make that batter into muffins, adding chocolate chips. Other than the chips, they are REALLY healthy. I make them with whole wheat flour and canola oil instead of butter. And they ALWAYS get raves!

Ingredients:
4 overripe bananas
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 c flour(I use w.wheat)
1/4 c canola oil
1 tsp baking soda
1tsp salt

Mash bananas first, add the rest, mix in mixer, bake in greased loaf pan for 1 hour at 325.

I added 1 cup chocolate chips and baked for about 25 minutes for the muffins. Toothpick test works for doneness.

Non-food related

Look how gorgeous the sunflowers we got frmo our farm share are!

They last SO long too!

Tequila Lime Chicken

This is a recipe that is inspired loosely from a Rachael Ray recipe - I have changed it so much though that I relaly cant give her credit for it anymore though! Normally I make this with lemon and garlic only but felt like something different and it sure was good!

1.5 pounds chicken (I use the 'tenders' cut or you can get breasts and cut it yourself before cooking)

2-3 cloves garlic chopped

3 limes, squeezed

about 1/4 cup EVOO

about 1/2 cup tequila

Put it all in a small container with a tight lid and shake it WELL.

heat a pan big enough for the chicken to all be touching the pan to med high and place the strips on the HOT pan (not the liquid - discard it). cook about 4 min per side - it will be brown and crispy looking. Really good and I love that it imparts a nice flavor without having to marinate for a long time (i often dont have the time to do this or plan ahead enough)

Sweet Potato 'Fries'

one of our favorite dishes and so easy... and HEALTHY! Sweet potatos are such a super food, packed with beta carotene and anti-oxidants... a heavy-weight cancer-fighter in the food world!

I dont bother peeling them, just scrub well. I chuck the ends and slice it as thin as I can do easily and then cut those slices into small pieces - the smaller and thinner the quicker it cooks. I cook it in a hot pan with a tiny bit of EVOO stirring often until they are nice and browned. then turn the heat down to med low and add a little kosher salt. cook until soft through (maybe 10 min?) or until everything else is done... I have tossed wiht a pepper blend before too or other spices mighht be good too.

mmmm salad...

this salad was so pretty and yummy that I couldnt resist! Everything but the almonds and dressing was from our farm share :) Romaine, red pepper, cukes. Dressing is Good Seasons Italian made with raspberry balsamic - I like this stuff better than any homemade dressing I have had!

Roasted Feta Tomatos

Again, my husband isnt such a fan of the tomato but he likes them cooked sometimes and since I love them I am always trying to find ways to incorporate them so he will like them. This was born from some leftover feta I wanted to use up, some tomatos that were ready to be eaten, and needing something QUICK for a side.

I sliced the tomatos (the vine kind so smallish) in half and set them on a pan cut side up. I topped with crumbled feta, a sprinkle of pine nuts and a small drizzle of EVOO. This is what they looked like pre-oven:

Then I put them in the oven that was preheated to 450. I immediately turned it down to 350 and they were done after 5-10 min (just watch them - should be brown on top)

Finished product:

Lemon Pepper Tuna Steak

Ryan looooove tuna steaks - just seared, rare. Usually I just make them with sesame seeds and pepper but I did something different this time and he really liked it.

on a small plate, combine the zest from 1 lemon, a healthy amt of ground black pepper and a little kosher salt. brush both sides of a piece of tuna with evoo and then press into the plate, both sides. Meanwhile, heat a pan to HIGH. Put the tuna on the pan when it is hot and sear each side (including edges - food safety for a rare piece of fish!). Sadly my camera battery died so I couldt take a pic of the inside but suffice to say it is RED in the center.

Lemon Asparagus

My fav asparagus is the roated recipe I posted previously but Ryan really likes this one too so I amke it sometimes.

Wash a bunch of asparagus and snap off the ends. Put it in a large pan and add a little walter - maybe 1/2 cup at the most. Squeeze 2 lemons on top and toss the rinds in the pan. cook on high for about 5 minutes until asparagus is bright green and just tender.

move asparagus to a plate and squeeze the rinds out with tongs (they will be hot!) and sprinkle with parmesan and toss.

Summer Squash and Onions

Such an easy veggie dish and I love it! We have been getting alot of summer squash from our farm share and this is my fav way to prepare it.

Chop up some squash (i cut into rounds then cut those in half) and an onion (1 med to large onion to 2 squash) and put it in a hot pan with a little bit of oil (I have been using garlic oil and its so yummy but EVOO is good too or any other flavored oil). I cook it all on high stirring often so it gets brown around the edges but not burned. They I turn it to low until Im ready to serve. Right before serving I sprinkly with parmesan and turn it over so the cheese melts. really really good!

PLATINUM CHEF take 3

I am really late in posting this, but I DID make the meal within the time allotted - Im just really bad about uploading my pics ;) This challenge's ingredients were: seafood, honey, onion, wine, and peanut butter. Part one of my meal came out great... part two was a flop. Ah well!

Honey Shrimp Skewers

2 pounds of Shrimp (The jumbo size I wanted was out so instead of going down a size I went up... it was pricey but YUM!)

1 red pepper, chopped

1 yellow pepper, chopped

1 bag of cherry tomatos

about 1/2 a fresh pineapple, cut into chunks

1 vidalia onion, chopped into large pieces

Marinade:

(amts are approximate)

1/2 cup EVOO

2 cups pineapple juice

a few TBL ground ginger

2 cups of white wine (I used the Luna di luna pinot/char blend I had leftover)

I amde sure that there was enough to cover all the shrimp and veggies and pineapple in a LARGE sealed bowl in the fridge. Marinated it for about 6 hours (do less for smaller shrimp).

Skewered the shimp and veggies and pineapple and cooked it on a flat pan on high heat basting with a mixture of: 3/4 cup honey plus 1/4 cup melted butter frequently. (note: this would have been WAY easier with a working grill... lol)

Rice: I made jasmine rice - 1 cup rice cooked in 3/4 cup coconut milk (no sugar added) and 1/4 cup water. I think for 30 min - directions were on the bag for cook time. Serve veggies, pineapple and shrimp over the rice. Voila! It was really yummy but made a MESS in the kitchen!

The Flop: Honey PB Fudge

My idea was to made a fudge that was a layer of PB Fudge and a Layer of Honey Fundge (editing a recipe for Maple fudge). Wellll my honey fudge recipe was a bad one... Im not gonna bother posting the recipes but you can see form the pic.... plus it was just too sickeningly sweet. Oh well - better luck next time!

Roasted potatos

Thes are really very simple and Im sure everyone knows about making potatos this way but i feel the urge to blog about them since they were in my farm share. We got some small red baby potatos and I chopped them up and sautees them with a tiny bit of EVOO and rosemary, oregano, basil, thyme... basically any green spice i could get my hands on! yummy!

I made these a second time, this time instead of the various green spices (haha) I added a ton of garlic powder. I dont normally use garlic powder but I wanted them to have more of a crusty effect than what would be achieved with regular garlic. Ther turned out really well and I LOVED how the garlic powder gave the potatos a nice crusty finish. I added a little parmesan to top them with when serving.

Twist on Tom Mozz Salad

I adore tomatos and especially tomato mozz salad with fresh basil. Sadly... Ryan does not. He is a strange breed who actually DOESNT.LIKE.FRESH.TOMATOES! he can eat them cooked.... but mmm somehting about a farm fresh super ripe acidic flavorful tomato... mmmm... but I digress.

I decided to cook up a chicken dish based on that salad. Basically... I heated up some EVOO, garlic, and onion. Then I added chicken chunks and about 1/2 the tomato I was going to use and cooked it till the chicken was basically done. I then added the rest of the tomato and chopped fresh basil (YUM). Right before serving I added fresh mozz (NOT the shredded kind) and turned it once to let the mozz start to soften/melt. Yummy, and my anti-tomato hubby liked it too!

Weekly Farm Share

So I have realized that the hardest part about blogging for me is finding the time to upload pics. It doesnt take long... but doesnt seem to happen! So hopefully tonight I will upload and have piles to blog about... but until then, last weeks farm share!

6 ears of butter and sugar corn - they have their own hydrid super sweet corn (solid yellow kernals) in now so Im hoping that is what we get next week! We didnt have the last of it until Sat night - a long time to wait to eat corn from wed, but it was STILL so good and sweet - gotta love good local corn :)

4 huge sweet potatos - have cooked one for Ryan a few days ago (trying to lose weight so no taters for me!) the rest will last a long time!

4 summer squash - I think ill put one into Ryans pasta tonight (Im being super nice and making salmon for me and spaget. for him!) and saute or roast one for myself

2 peaches - yummy

piles of grapes (no me gusta but luckily Ryan loves them!)

Sunflowers - I only JUST threw the ones away from the previous week too - they last forever!

Lettuce (yumm!)

Cukes

Ummm I think that was it... nothin too fancy or crazy but plenty of goodies for us to work our way through! I bought some local tomatos too, and some basil that is in a little bouquet by the sink - not only is it yummy but its pretty and makes the kitchen smell fantastic!

Cant wait to see what we get next week!

Egg Muffins

I am doing South Beach (well sorta... I eat fruit too) right now and I always struggle with breakfast - its hard enough to get out the door on time as it is, let alone making eggs. This is a recipe from the South Beach Diet cookbook that I bought years ago. Ive made them a few times and may have deviated some from the recipe.

12 eggs (or more if you do egg whites only or egg whites/some full eggs. A good rule of thumb is 2 egg whites = 1 whole egg)

splash of milk

3 Scallions chopped finely

1 cup of cheese (I used a shredded cheddar blend) Reserve a little.

12 slices of pre-cooked bacon ripped into pieces

spray a muffin pan with butter spray. Put 1 slice of bacon, ripped up into each and some cheese. In a large bowl (I have a huge bowl/liquid measure with a spout that works perfect) beat the eggs, milk and scallions. Pour the egg mixture into each muffin pan - OK to fill to the brim, but be careful of overfilling - its messy! With a fork, turn the bacon and cheese in each pan over to mix it up. Top each with a sprinkle of cheese.

Bake in an oven at 350 for 20 min then watch. Can take anywhere from 20-30 min, depepnding on your oven. When they are puffy and slightly brown on top they are done. Careful not to overcook or they will be rubbery. Many pop right out of the pan for me, or if they stick at all run a knife along the edge. When they are cooler, bag them by 2s in baggies. Can be refridgerated for a few days or they freeze well. To reheat, stick in the plastic bag (open) and cook for 1:30 in the microwave. You can add any kinda of cheese, meat, veggies you like :) And you cant beat the convenience! These ones have bacon, scallions, cheddar and I used 6 egg whites and 9 whole eggs.

Balsamic Salmon with Onions

If I was on Hell's Kitchen and needed to make a signature dish, this would be it. One of my all-time fav meals (tied with a good steak!) and I like it so much that I never order salmon in a restaurant anymore - its never as good! I cook salmon on the stove in a skillet because I find that by searing it, I can keep the salmon nice and moist where it has a tendancy to dry out in the oven. I have cooked the same basic method usuing different flaovers (like lemon) with great success too. But this one is the best ;) I apologize - I cook this my rote so I dont have exact measurements.

2 salmon pieces, skin removed. We love it so usually about 1/2 pound each.

small amt EVOO

generous amt Balsamic Vinegar

1 medium onion (I usually use vidalia) chopped

Add enough EVOO to coat the pan - non-stick is best (a TBL or 2 I would estimate) and a generous amt of blas vinegar (maybe 3-4 TB worth). heat to med high. When its hot, add the salmon (careful the oil may spit at you!!). Let it cook on each side 1-2 min so it is seared. Turn the heat down to med low and cover. Let it cook until done - about 10-15 min. Flip it a few times throughout so it browns evenly. Each time I flip I add some more Balsamic Vinegar to the top of it to give it a really strong flavor.

In a separate pan (you can do it all in one pan but i find the salmon comes out better when they are cooked separate) add a small amt of EVOO (about 1 TB) and turn to high. Add the onion. Cook stirring frequently until onion is getting brown around the edges - this happens quick and be sure not to let it burn. When it gets to this point, turn down to med low. I add some balsamic vinegar to the onions too (be careful, it will smoke out a bit at you on a hot pan). it workes to deglaze the pan a bit too. Let the onions chill on the warm stove for about 5-10 min (or until everything else is ready) they will start to turn mushy looking - that is when you know they are done :) Staying longer in the warm pan wont hurt them though.

Serve the salmon topped with the onions.

Roasted Carrots

I am quickly learning that I love any veggie roasted! They also photograph so well - the colors! So pretty :) Last night I washed and peeled the carrots we got in our farm and chopped them lengthwise and widthwise. Put them on a baking sheet with a little EVOO and kosher salt and tossed. Cooked at 450 for about 20 min turning halfway. YUMMY

Chicken with Wax Beans and Soy

We got Wax Beans in our first Farm Share (I forgot to list that and the cherries in my last post! Oops!) And I knew we were eating out all wknd so I wanted to integrate them into our entree since we were already having the beets and beet greens as sides and I didnt want to give Ryan veggie overload! Plus... Im not a huge fan of plain green beans and figured the same would hold true for the wax kind (Note: I steamed the 2nd half for dinner the other day and they werent my fav plain but not NEARLY as gross as green beans ;) ). SO I tried to think of what dishes normally have green beans in them that I could do and Chinese food - chicken with beans - came to mind. I have never made chinese food and know that I was eons away from authentic... but this was the inspiration. And it turned out REALLY good! Ryan said it had a chinese flair to it and I liked it WAY better than chinese (which I am lukewarm on) plus it was healthier :)

1.5 pounds of thin sliced chicken breasts, cut into bit size pieces

4-5 clove garlic, minced

about 6 green onions (scallions) green part only chopped into approx 1 inch long pieces

approx 1/2 to 1 pound wax beans washed and chopped into 1/2s and 1/3s.

low sodium soy sauce (enough to cover)

Put all the ingredients into a large ziplock freezer bag and top wiht the soy sauce (enough to marinate in). Let sit about 30 min (longer would be fine Im sure but I didnt have time!)

Dump into a hot pan and stir often until chicken is done through. Serve!

FARM SHARE: week 1 and 2

Figured I would record what we got each week with our farm share, just so i remember!

The first week, we got a bunch of flowers, 4 ears of corn, 3 tomatos, a pint of blues, 3 nectarines, 2 peppers, 1 cuke, a bunch of beets

here is what we got this week: LOCAL corn (yay!) 8 ears, 3 tomatos, 4 red potatos, 4 summer squash, 3 nectarines, blueberries, a red and a yellow pepper, and a bunch of carrots. Yummy! :) has some corn last night and that will last us 2-3 more nights, basically we have veggies for most of if not all of the week :) Carrots will be roasted, I ate the peppers in my lunch (with hummus yum) squash sauteed with onions, red potatos cooked with herbs... i got some over-ripe bananas for 19 cents a pound too, might try to turn my banana bread recipe into banana blueberry muffins. mmmmmmm...

Now I just need to figure out the protein to go with it all!

BEETS!?!?!

Ryan and I joined a local Farmshare with Rosedales Farm in Simsbury. I used to work at this farm (yep, I worked corn) and they have truly amazing produce. The super sweet corn is second to none! I was really excited they were doing a farm share this year and last wed we got our first basket. Cherries, corn, peppers, tomatos, wax beans, cantelope, BEETS. I have never in my memory had beets and they kinda scare me. But one of the great things about doing a farm share is trying new stuff you wouldnt normally get.

ROASTED BEETS

I figured that I adore roasted veggies and that maybe beets would be good that way too.

I cut off the bulbs and scrubbed the dirt off them. Sliced them thin and tossed with a little EVOO and kosher salt on my trusts baking sheet with the raised edge. I roasted them at 450 degrees... and I think it took about 30 min (I dd 15 then kept checking). They were So. Good. Even DH liked them enough to suggest adding them to the rotation! This is the man who told me he didnt like beets and that I should make them when he isnt around! Luckily, I refused :)

WILTED BEET GREENS

I looked at the bunch of beets and there were these huge fluttery greens and I thought hmmmm maybe those would be good too. Why not try? I knew that Ryan has said that Bacon makes anything good so I thought that might mkae them more palatable. I pulled them off and cut them off at the stem. Cleaned them well and broke of the really stiff spines.

In a small saute pan I put about 4 pieces of bacon ripped into approx 1/4s. I cooked it until it was done and left the fat in the pan, I added the greens. I tossed them and tossed them until the greens were sufficiently wilted and then served. They looked great, the bacon was yummy (of course!) but the greens... were eh. I think maybe we are just not fans of wilted greens in general because it was more the texture in general. They had a nice mild taste and my first couple bites were yummy.

Fantabulous Roasted Asparagus

This is truly one of my favorite dishes. Never thought I would say that about ASPARAGUS but omg its good. Its to me, a good substitution for fries! I got the recipe orignially from a nestie (who are you???) and it was a martha recipe http://tinyurl.com/32b6v5 which I make by rote now. I prefer to use thin asparagus nstead of thick as martha recommends. It gets crispier that way!

1 bunch of asparagus - thin (note: it does cook down and I can eat one whole bunch myself... but then i REALLY luff this stuff)

EVOO

Kosher Salt

Sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 450. Rinse asparagus and snap off tough ends. Snap spears into 1/2s or 1/3s and put on a cookie pan with raised edge. Drizzle with a little EVOO and a little kosher salt (err on the side of less, it can always be added. I tend to oversalt and you cant take it away) and toss with tongs so the asparagus is well-coated and spread around the pan evenly and thinly.

Cook for 5 min, take out and toss. Cook 5 more min. Take out and sprinkly with sesame seeds and toss. Cook 5 more minutes. Asparagus should be crispy looking and brown in spots. YUMMM.

Chicken with Feta and Tomatos

This was my 2nd time making this dish and it was not quote as amazingly yummilicious as the first time. I think I know where I messed up though!

Approx 1.5 pounds chicken breast

3 large tomatos, chopped into bite size pieces

handful or two of baby spinach

EVOO

small handful of pine nuts

4 cloves garlic, diced

1 small red onion diced

1 block of feta cheese (I used about 2/3 of a block but I loooove feta)

saute the EVOO, garlic and red onion in a pan until slightly brown. Add chicken break to hot pan and brown each side. lower temp to medium and add about 2/3 of the tomatos. Cover pan and let cook until chicken is almost done, about 10 min (depending on thickness). Add remaining tomatos, spinach, pine nuts and 2/3 of the feta. Recover and let finish cooking. Add remaining tomatos and mix together. On the plate, top the chicken breast with the tomato mixture from the pan then crumble some of the leftover feta on top. YUM

(What I did wrong this time: Added the tomatos and feta way too early)

crepe-a-licious!

I have a few pics on my camera I have yet to upload so in the meantime I wanted to RAVE about a restaurant Ryan and I went to with another couple on Saturday (pre-live free or die hard lol). Its called RuBab's and is in the Canton Shopping Center (CT) www.rubabs.com They have some "real' food but the majority of the dishes were CREPES! The weather was gorgeous so we sat outside. I had a greek chicken crepe - with spinach, chicken, jack cheese, and feta... yum! Came with a Harvest salad that had apple, sunflower seeds in it - way better than the typical generic garden salad that comes with meals. Ryan wasnt as impressed with his Reuben crepe, but thinks it was just too much thou island dressing. We will DEFINITELY be going back! The dessert crepes were good too, but shockingly I think I liked the dinner one better! I had a dessert crepe with peaches, blueberries and chocolate mmm. Ryans was strawberries and ice cream, and Kate had Nutella on hers (so I got my first ever taste of nutella yum!). Oh and the Chardonnay... yum! But I am ALWAYS happy with Char :)

So if you are in the Canton CT area and looking for something different to try - Rubabs! Bill for 4 adults, with a bottle of wine and 3 desserts was about $100... so not too bad!

Berry Crumble

We had a whole bunch of cherries and blueberries and I knew the cherries (local pinka nd white ones and huge sweet red ones) wouldnt kepe much longer, especially since today we pick up our first farm share. So Monday night I made a crumble, and this is Moira-safe too (it has gluten in the topping but no flour, cooked berries)







I pitted the cherries and added all of them plus about 1/2 pint of blueberries to a small loaf pan and mixed them up. For the topping, I cut about 1/2 stick of butter into about 3/4 cup of oats, plus a tsp of cinnamon and a couple TB of brown sugar. Baked about 30 min at 350 until top was starting to brown. YUM!

Platinum Chef Challenge!

I decided to participate in the Platinum Chef Challenge on a cooking board I visit. This month, there were 5 ingredients that need to be incorporated into 1-2 dishes. The ingredients really sounded like something I could have fun with: corn, hot pepper, cheese, blueberries, and citrus. I made 3 dishes (mainly because I did my two main dishes as a side and entree and I really wanted to do a simple yummy dessert too!) Pics arent too great... I need to get handle on photographing food! plus, this is a case of food that looks better than it tastes ;)

Corn on the Cob with Jalapeno parmesan infused butter

The name speaks for itself... the corn is the first local corn of the summer from a fab local farm (Rosedales in Simsbury CT) which was just boiled for about 5 min.

Butter: 1/2 stick of regular butter, softened. 1.2 Jalapeno pepper, diced. approx 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese. Add all 3 to a mixer and beat until fluffy and combined. Put in a small dish, wrap in plastic and refridgerate until hard.

Orange Salmon with Blueberries

Doesnt look pretty but so yummy! I wanted to do something savory with the lemon and blueberry and thought that they would go really well with salmon!

Marinade:

2 large navel oranges, juiced.

1 TB Spicy brown Mustard

2 TB Balsamic vinegar

2 Cloves Garlic, smashed

Marinade salmon for about an hour.

Reserve the Marinade, place salmon on a pan at medium high, sear both sides (cook about 5 min total). drop the heat to med low and add the marinade to the pan along with about a cup of fresh blueberries. cook until Salmon is cooked through, about 10 minutes or until center flakes with a fork. Take Salmon off pan and turn the heat to high stirring frequently until the sauce has thickened considerably. Spoon on top of salmon to serve.

Fresh Berries with Lemon Whipped Cream

Add heavy whipping cream to kitchenaid. Whip on high. When starting to froth, add a splash of vanilla extract. When the whipped cream is whipped to your liking - stiff peaks - add the zest from 1/2 lemon and stir in.

Serve on top of farm fresh berried (we had raspberries, blueberries and strawberries).

So fresh and summery!