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Archive for the ‘“Recipes”’ Category

Cauliflower Cake

Posted by terrepruitt on March 25, 2016

So yummy. My friend posted on Facebook that she had to explain to her child that the Cauliflower Cake she made for dinner was a savory CAKE, not like a birthday cake. She said it was a recipe from Ottolenghi. Of course I Googled it and I was intrigued. Then I noticed that a head of cauliflower was to be delivered in our produce box so I thought, ok. The challenge according to the posted recipe was finding the nigella seeds, but I think Amazon meets each and every challenge with a “pppprrrruuuuuf”. I ordered both the white sesame seeds and nigella seeds online and had them before my scheduled produce delivery. The recipe noted you can use black sesame, black cumin, or onion seeds instead of the nigella/black caraway seeds.

I altered this recipe because I used the head of cauliflower I had and did not specifically shop for a small one as the recipe called for. I also could not bring myself to use the 5 (FIVE) tablespoons of olive oil that the recipe called for. I put two in the pan and almost stopped there, but decided to go with three . . . which I think was PLENTY!

I don’t like biting into rosemary stems so I had my husband grind them. He used a mortar and pestle and he does an excellent job making them fine and powdery! I also used SHAVED cheese instead of shredded Parmesan, and it was actually a Parmesan/Romano blend. I like how there is more cheese in a bite that way . . . but I am sure either is fine. The recipe called for unsalted butter, which I bought once for a recipe a long time ago and will not be doing that again. So I used regular butter.

Since I use my blog as my recipe book I put my ideas for next time I make this in the recipe below in asterisked italics. That way I don’t have to continue to scroll down to check what I want to do different and I won’t forget because it will be right there.)

This is what I did, which is an adaptation of Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe I found on thekitchn.com

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Savory Cauliflower Cake

(Serves 4 to 6)

1 cauliflower head, cut into pieces (not small pieces, about an inch big)

1 medium red onion

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon rosemary leaves (which I had my hubby grind up for me)

7 large eggs

1/2 cup basil leaves, chopped **use more**

1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 teaspoon (heaping) ground turmeric **1/2 to 1 teaspoon**

1 1/2 cups shaved Parmesan or Parmesan/Romano

Melted butter, for brushing the sides of the pan

1 tablespoon white sesame seeds

1 teaspoon nigella seeds (also known as black caraway)

1 1/2 teaspoon salt **to 2 teaspoon**

black pepper (to taste)

9 1/2 springform pan (or a 9-inch cake pan or even an 8-inch square pan)

Preheat the oven to 450°F. (The original recipe called for 400° F, I mistakenly did it at 450° which requires less time . . . .so I think I will stick to 450° F and bake it for less time.)

Place the cauliflower florets in a saucepan and add 1 teaspoon salt. Cover with water and cook until the florets are quite soft. They should break when pressed with a fork. (But don’t break them up.) Drain and set aside while preparing the rest of the ingredients (whatever you didn’t get done while the cauliflower was cooking).

Peel the onion, then cut 3 slices, almost 1/4-inch/5-mm thick, off one end. Set the onion rings aside.

Heat up the 3 tablespoons of oil in a small pan.

Coarsely chop the remaining onion and cook it in the oil with the rosemary, stirring as necessary. Cook it until the onion is soft. When done remove from heat and set aside.

While the onion is cooking you can line the bottom and sides of the springform pan or your chosen baking dish with parchment paper. Then use the melted butter to butter the paper in the pan, the sides and the bottom. In the 9 1/2 inch springform the mixture does not go all the way up to the top so you only need to butter about halfway up. Mix the white sesame seeds and the nigella seeds together. Then sprinkle the seed mixture on the sides of the pan. **USE ALL THE SEEDS! Perhaps even putting them on the bottom of the pan.**

While your onions are cooling, break the 7 eggs into a large bowl and whisk well. Add the basil and whisk. Add the cooked onion and rosemary mixture to the eggs. Whisking and stirring. Then stir in the flour, baking powder, turmeric, 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Stir until all ingredients are mixed well. Then mix in the Parmesan. Then add the cooked cauliflower. Don’t stir too much that you break up all the flowerets into little pieces, but mix it enough so that it is all mixed together.

Pour the egg and cauliflower mixture into the pan. Spreading it evenly, then put the onion rings on top. **Sprinkle some seeds on top** Place in the center of the oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Bake it until golden brown. Check complete doneness by inserting a knife into the center. It is done when the knife comes out clean. Remove from the oven and serve to your liking, hot, warm, or cold.

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I ate on this for a few days. I can’t wait to make it again with my extra **tweaks. I really like it. I thought it was super yummy. You can use it as the main dish or a side and serve it with a salad and something meaty. It could be breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It is yummy!

Well, what do you think?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: altered recipe, Amazon shopping, black caraway seeds, black cumin, black sesame, breakfast cake, cake, cauliflower, dinner cake, Eggs, Facebook post, lunch cake, nigella seeds, onion seeds, Parmesan cheese, rosemary, savory cake, white sesame seeds | 6 Comments »

Baked Golden Beet “Fries”

Posted by terrepruitt on March 16, 2016

Oh, if you have read any of my food post one of them probably was about our grass-fed beef. I highly recommend getting some if you can. So yummy. Something that allow us to have hamburgers WAY more often than we ever would. I don’t know about you, but I love hamburgers WITH fries. They are served together everywhere they serve hamburgers it is no wonder that I just love the combination and kinda don’t like to have burgers without fries. I don’t actually make french fries though. I do sometimes roast potatoes and let them sub in as the french fries. But since we eat burgers WITH buns so often, I don’t do that always. Sometimes I make other kinds of fries. Once I made squash fries. Well, today I was going to roast beets. Then I was thinking I would just cut them into little sticks instead of the normal cubes. Then, of course when I was already late making dinner, I decide to bread them. What a mess that was. I don’t bread things because I can never make the crumbs stick AND it is such a waste to me. I always end up with leftover egg and bread crumbs that I have to just toss out. Wasteful. Hate it. But . . . these little guys were kinda good. My husband said, “Those beet fries . . . much better than I was expecting. You should blog about them.”

Ha. Poor guy. I usually only make things with things that we like so I figure that it will never be too bad. But he doesn’t have that kind of faith so sometimes when I tell him what we are eating he just braces himself . . . I guess. So when it turns out good he is surprised.

In order for the bread crumbs not to burn I didn’t cook the beets as long as I would have, so they ended up crunchy and slightly under cooked . . . but cooked fine. Perhaps not so much “under cooked” as not-as-cooked-as-I-normally-would-have-cooked-them.

So we had golden beets. They came in our produce box. And they were tiny. Two of them were about the size of a golf ball and one was a little bigger.

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Baked Golden Beet “Fries”

3 golden beets
egg
panko bread crumbs
season salt / your choice of seasoning
garlic salt / your choice of seasoning
coconut oil
aluminum foil

Cover your baking sheets with aluminum foil. Cover the aluminum foil with the coconut oil. Preheat the oven to 450° F. Cut the beets up so that you have little french-fry shaped pieces. I put season salt in the egg. And garlic salt in the bread crumbs.

Put the beets in the beaten egg. Then put the beets in the bread crumbs. Cover them as much as you can with the bread crumbs.

Spread the beets out on the baking sheet. Give them a lot of room. Making just rows and rows of little breaded beets.

Bake them for about 15 or 20 minutes at 450° F. Then turn the oven down to 300° F and bake for a few more minutes. Of course, that was my oven so you might want to check yours and bake accordingly. You want the crumbs to be golden brown.

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I was out of parchment paper so I used aluminum foil, but it might have actually turned out better. I think the foil might get hotter than the paper. It might help them cook. I used aluminum foil with my asparagus the other day and they turned out awesome.

Anyway . . . these were good, much better than the squash “fries”.

Do you like beets? Do you like golden beets? Do you like fries with your hamburger?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: baked beets, baked fries, baked vegetables, golden beets, grass-fed beef, hamburger and fried, yummy veggies | 2 Comments »

Light Ginger Marinade

Posted by terrepruitt on March 14, 2016

Unfortunately I don’t always measure when I am cooking or making a marinade. I actually hear a lot of people say that. When you are cooking you just pour and sprinkle and shake, right? It makes it very difficult to share recipes. Normally I don’t even remember what I put in a marinade and every once in a while I wish I had. This one was a little different from my normal marinades and I really liked it. I liked it so much that in the middle of eating I jumped up and wrote down what was in it. Then later that same week I made it again. The first time I used it with boneless pork chops. It was really good. Then second time I used it with boneless chicken breasts . . . just as good. I have not used it with beef so I don’t know if it will be as good with that as it was with pork and chicken. I’m calling it Light Ginger Marinade.

I put in:

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Light Ginger Marinade

sherry (1 1/2 cup)
teriyaki (1 tbsp)
soy sauce (1 tbsp)
worcestershire sauce (1 tbsp)
garlic powder (1 tsp)
ginger (powder) (2 tsp)
dry mustard (this is a powder) (1 tsp)
ground thyme (1 tsp)
and chopped onions (1/4 to 1/2 of a medium sized one)

Put it all in the dish you (or even a zip lock bag) are going to marinate the meat in and let it set for at least an hour. I like mine to marinate at long as possible.

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I have guesstimated the measurements because, as I said, I didn’t measure. But I really liked it. Ha, as I look at it I realized it really is not all that different from my normal, but it is — in my opinion — really good. And that is really all that matters when I am cooking to eat it, right? I need to think it is really good. Ok, well, yes, my husband has to at least like it or why would I make it again, but I am the one that needs to think it is good. But I still felt I needed to type that.

I think the difference is that instead of using a lot of the teriyaki, soy sauce and worcestershire sauce I only used a tablespoon of each. Usually I use a lot more of all of those. Or I make the base the teriyaki. But this time I was trying to just add those flavors a little bit. That is why I am calling it “light” because it is not as dark as the other marinades.

I am going to use this recipe the next time my hubby makes a Costco run. We can do some of the chicken AND some of the pork in this.

Of course, when you make it, adjust it all to your liking . . . and to the amount of meat you are trying to juice. Perhaps adding some salt and pepper? For me, everything needs salt, but not pepper.

I bet it would be really awesome with fresh ginger!

Do you have a “go to” marinade you always make?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: chicken marinade, ginger, marinade, pork marinade, soy sauce, teriyaki, Worcestershire Sauce | Leave a Comment »

Beef, It’s What’s For Dinner

Posted by terrepruitt on January 20, 2016

I have mentioned that we have purchased a portion of a cow. It is grass-fed beef from a ranch in Petaluma, CA (for those of you that don’t know and are curious, that is north of where I am, past San Francisco). It is very good meat. My favorite is the ground beef, hamburger meat. The family that allows us to go in on the cow with them generously alloted us a large portion of it. But we don’t get JUST hamburger meat, we get other cuts, too. And again, the family generously worked with me and my loathing of bones and they gave us a lot of cuts without bones. But some cuts are going to have bones. But I really don’t work well with bones. I really don’t work well with a lot of these cuts because I just don’t know what they are and I don’t know what to do with them. The last two portions of meat I cooked were bad. Bad as in, I didn’t cook them properly so I couldn’t eat them. They were to tough or stringy or whatever, they were just not good. My husband gnawed his way through them, and he won’t say anything bad about beef for fear of not getting any. So he said they were ok, but, for me, they were not. Often I just don’t bother because I don’t know what to do with it (the cut of meat). But that means we have a few pieces left over from the last cow and now we have a new one, so I need to just cook it. The other day I took some steaks out and texted my friend with this picture and a “How can I cook these, Chef?” And she said, “Like you would ribeye steaks. Grill high 2-3 min per side :)” Made me laugh because I don’t know how to cook ribeye. I don’t “grill”, so I decided to use my grill pan.

I must say they came out really, really good. So good that hamburger might not be my favorite any longer. So good that I decided to cook them again . . . the next night. Ok, not really, I mean, really, but not. I decided to cook them again the next night because we have nothing but beef in our freezer. I thought we had something else, but we do not. So I was going to cook them two nights in a row, but they didn’t defrost in time. So . . . I am cooking them tonight. And they were so good I decided to post about them.

The first time I cooked them, I didn’t marinade them long, but what I used was:

Red wine
soy sauce
Worchestire sauce
Teriyaki sauce
Garlic teriyaki sauce

I just poured into the dish, but guessing I would say about a cup of red wine, three tablespoons of soy sauce, two tablespoons of Worchestire sauce, and just a little of both of the teriyaki (because I didn’t have that much).

I used the same “recipe” for tonight’s meat, but I was able to let it soak longer.

Then for MY steak, which I like cooked a little more than my husband, I turned the stove on right below medium and buttered it the pan. I put the steak in the pan . . . . you will see that all the fat and bone are cut off my piece. I cooked it for a few minutes, with butter on top and some rosemary rub. Then I flipped it and cooked it a few more minutes. Then I turned up the heat a little bit – to medium, then I flipped it again and cooked it a few more minutes. Then I turned up the heat so that the pan would get really hot. I put my husband’s pieces in. I didn’t leave mine on that long on the high heat, only as long as it took me to put hubby’s steak in and butter on it. I cooked them both for a few minutes each side.

They came out perfect. But remember, grass-fed meat does not look the same as commercial grain-fed beef, so it looks raw, but it is not.

I served it with potatoes and salad!

What did you have for dinner?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: cooking beef on a grill pan, grass-fed cow, grassfed beef, Petaluma farm, steak | 2 Comments »

Persimmon Chicken

Posted by terrepruitt on December 3, 2015

Tis the season for persimmons. A few weeks ago one of my Nia students came into class with persimmons. Many of us ooohed and ahhhed at the beautiful fruit, but most people did not take them because we don’t know what to do with them. The last time I received persimmons in my organic produce box I looked up recipes that use them and most of them call for a puree and then they are baked into something. One of my students said she had a pudding recipe. I think she said it was like a bread pudding, so she was happy to take them. I didn’t know what to do with them, but I took one. Then the next day the woman who brought them in had more and even less people took them so there was a lot left and she was going out of town so I took a few. The student with the bread pudding recipe said they wouldn’t be ripe until about Christmas. So I put them in my fruit bowl and didn’t check them often because I thought they would be ready closer to Christmas. In the mean time my husband brought home some persimmons. So I had quite a few persimmons and I didn’t know what to do with them.

The ones that my student brought in were from her neighbor’s tree and they were the Hachiya kind. I had never had those. The bread pudding student said they were ready to eat when they were soft. Well, it turns out the ripened a lot faster than I was expecting and unfortunately a couple ended up casualties. The kind my husband got from his co-worker were the Fuyu. Those are the ones I had received before. Those are to be eaten when they are more like an apple. So one, the Hachiyas, need to be soft, the other, firm, but not hard.

The only thing I knew to do with them was to make my Fancy Toast. And that is with the Fuyus. I know there was a time when I was eating that every day it seems, but I just wasn’t that into it this batch of persimmons. So there they sat.

Then one day I looked at them and realized that I was going to have more casualties if I didn’t use some of them. So I just decided to throw them on my chicken. When I met my husband one of the things he liked to cook was apricot chicken. He would get some apricot preserves and put it on the chicken. I thought that persimmons wouldn’t be too different. So I tried it. I liked it so much I am making it again to use up the remain persimmons. It was easy and tasty. Here is what I did.

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Persimmon Chicken

2 large chicken breast
2 Hachiya persimmons
2 Fuyu persimmons
cinnamon
nutmeg
salt
(pepper, if you like it)

I would salt both sides of the chicken put the chicken in a baking dish. I smashed the two Hachiya persimmons and spread them on top of the chicken. I sliced up the two Fuyu persimmons and put them on top of the chicken and on the sides. Then I sprinkled a little more salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon on top of everything in the dish.

Bake at 375° F. Halfway through cooking, I took the dish out of the oven and flipped the chicken. I arranged the persimmons back on top and around the chicken, sprinkled a little more salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon on top of everything, then baked it until done.**

**This time around I am using a tiny bit of soy sauce. I put a little on the chicken before baking. Not soaking in it, just a little on both sides of the chicken. I should have used salt. I sprinkled a little tiny bit of cinnamon and nutmeg on it THEN add the persimmons (this time I only have one Hachiya). Then I sprinkled the salt, the nutmeg, and the cinnamon on top of everything in the dish.

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The chicken still needed a little bit more flavor to me. It was GREAT as long as I got a piece of persimmon with the meat, but not having salted it before (as I say to do in the recipe) left it kind bland. Because I did the soy I didn’t salt it, but I will next time.

So . . . there you have it. If you want to use your persimmons you might want to try this. If you have a recipe you already use for your persimmons, please let us know.

What do you do with persimmons?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: baking with persimmons, beautiful fruit, Fuyu Persimmon, Hachiya persimmon, Nia class, Nia students, persimmon chicken, persimmons | 6 Comments »

Meat Topped Polenta Rounds

Posted by terrepruitt on November 14, 2015

So I had an idea to make another dinner with polenta but it was kinda like the last thing I made with polenta, but I was hoping it would be different enough I could add it to the list of things to make. But it actually turned out to be almost exactly like the Turkey And Polenta Bake I had made. The polenta I buy is in a tube, like a roll of sausage, But it is hard, not mushy. I was still thinking I could roll it out so that I could put the rolled out rounds of polenta in muffin pans then fill ’em. But the polenta did not flatten when I tried to roll it out, it just started breaking up. So, I ended up just putting the sliced rounds in the bottom of the muffin cups.

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Meat Topped Polenta Rounds

Olive oil
1 leek
9 mushrooms
1 tsp garlic
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cardamom
3/4 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp thyme
1 tube of polenta
1 lb beef
2 cups shredded cheese
(green onions and sour cream)

Chop the leek and slice the mushrooms, then cook the leek for a few minutes in the olive oil over medium heat. Then add the sliced mushrooms to the pan, add half the garlic and half the salt – reserving the rest for later (when you add the meat). Continue to cook and stir, then add the rest of the spices.

While the mushrooms and leek are cooking, preheat the oven to 425° F. Then slice the polenta. I sliced mine so I would have enough to fit into both my pans. One isn’t even a muffin pan. Grease the muffin pan. Then put a polenta round into each muffin well. Brush some olive oil on each round. Bake the polenta for 15 to 20 minutes. Check on them. I wanted mine to have cooked to where the edges were getting crispy.

Back to the mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms until they are almost done – you decide how done you want them – then add the meat to the pan. Cook the meat a bit, then add the rest of the garlic and salt. Cook the meat until it is pretty much done, but don’t overcook it because it has to be in the oven a bit still.

Once the meat is cooked to your satisfaction, put a tiny bit of cheese on the polenta, then fill the muffin cups (on top of the polenta) with the meat veggie mixture. Top each meat filled cup with cheese, then bake for 10 to 20 minutes.

After the cheese is melted and everything is cooked to your satisfaction, just pop the meat topped polenta rounds onto a plate to serve. (I forgot to take a picture of this part.)

You can top them with sour cream and green onions. I forgot to buy one (sour cream) and I forgot to use the other (green onions).

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This was good, but it was not what I had planned and it was so much like my other dish I almost didn’t post about it. I liked it better though because the polenta was “crispy” and that is what I had wanted in the other recipe. This one was also good because it was different flavors than “taco flavor”.

My plan – aside from rolling out the polenta, was to use corn and peppers, but we received two leeks in our produce box and I need to start using the produce right away, so I decided to use the leek instead. I didn’t think there would be enough room in the muffins cups to hold meat, mushrooms, leek, corn, and peppers. Perhaps next time I’ll do the corn and peppers sans leeks.

My plan was also to start cooking earlier and take pictures of every thing, ingredients, and each step, but I started late and was on the phone while I was cooking so I almost forgot about the pictures.

So what would you put on your polenta rounds?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: baked dinner, beef, cardamom, crispy polenta, cumin, easy dinner, polenta rounds | Leave a Comment »

Turkey And Polenta Bake

Posted by terrepruitt on September 24, 2015

On one of the hottest days of the year, I decided to turn on the oven. Not only that, but I had to turn on the stove first. Sometimes whatever I am making requires one or the other, but this time, I needed both. And it was soooo hot. But this turned out to be pretty good. I can see myself making it again. I liked it.

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Turkey and Polenta Bake

1/4 onion
olive oil, about 1 tablespoon
1 lb ground turkey
1 package taco seasoning*
1 package polenta
large handful of cherry tomatoes
3 cups shredded cheese

Heat the oven to 350° F.

Heat the olive oil in a pan on the stove. Then cook the onion. Then put the turkey in the pan. Let the turkey cook a bit, then add the taco seasoning. You can follow the directions on the package or just sprinkle it all around and cook the meat like that. That is what I do. I don’t add water and all that. Remember that the meat is going to get some additional cooking time in the oven so you might want to under cook it just a tad. But you do what makes you feel comfortable.

While the meat is cooking brush some olive oil in a baking dish. Slice the polenta into rounds. About 1/4 of an inch thick or so. Line the bottom of your baking dish with the polenta rounds. Put the pan in the oven to get the polenta cooking. You can cook it about 10 or 15 minutes or just as long as it takes for the meat to cook.

Slice the tomatoes in half.

When the turkey is ready to your liking, spread it evenly over the polenta rounds in the baking dish. Top the meat with the tomatoes. Just spread them out a bit. Then sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top. Bake until the cheese bubbles, for between 20 and 30 minutes.

I used a really heavy pan when I did this so my cooking times were a bit different and all over the place, but next time I am going to use a less heavy pan and hopefully the polenta will get a little more cooked.

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This is one of those recipes (well, I guess all recipes are, but this one especially) that you can play with. You could use ground beef. You could put in green or red peppers. Maybe some corn or salsa? Anything goes, I think. I am going to add some bell peppers the next time I cook it.

This last picture is to somewhat show you the layer of sliced polenta.

So, I don’t really care for the ingredients in the package seasoning. And the day after I made this (using a package) a fellow blogger posted a recipe for DYI Taco Seasoning. I have not tried it yet, but can’t imagine why it would be good. So, if you don’t want to use the package and you want to try making your own, perhaps give Crafty Coin’s recipes a try. I was so excited to see a “homemade” taco seasoning I totally didn’t see the “spicy” part. Of course, you know I will be leaving out the “spicy”.

What do you think? Do you like polenta? What do you usually make with it?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: Crafty Coin, DYI Taco Seasoning, easy recipe, ground beef, ground turkey, homemade taco seasoning, polenta | 2 Comments »

Cheese Filled Celery

Posted by terrepruitt on September 8, 2015

I had planned to go to a party last Saturday and I was looking for appetizers to bring. I save recipes to my computer all the time, but I never think to look on my computer when I want to figure out what to make. This time, though, I remembered. I did a search for “appetizers” and a list of appetizers came up. It was a document I saved with a list of different things, I don’t know why I saved it because most of them were fish appetizers. I clicked on the link that led me to The Little Kitchen’s recipe for cheese filled celery. I don’t like celery, but the name of the recipe was Greek Salad Celery — and I happened to be going to a party in honor of two newlyweds moving to Greece. So I decided to try it. Now, what have I said about doing never-before-made-recipes when I am on my way out? YIKES!!! I swear, I thought these things would be quick and easy, but . . . . they are messy to make. At least for me. But most people who like celery like cream cheese filled celery, so I might do them again.

Although with all recipes, I make and learn. Even though this recipes says to pulse the feta, I didn’t do it enough. They were crumbs but not small enough . . . . so . . . 1) PULSE feta MORE. Then, perhaps 2) buying the celery in bags already cut and cleaned is a better idea. Perhaps those celery stalks are more uniform and easier to fill. I bought a bunch and some of those stalks are just so narrow. The were not wide enough for the tomato or olive to sit on! That is how narrow they were. 3) Also cut smaller. The recipe said bite size, I was just cutting to the size of the tomato and olive.

Anyway, do check out The Little Kitchen’s recipe for nice pictures as I was making such a mess filling this puppies I only took a picture of the “slivering” and the finished product.

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Greek Salad Celery Appetizer Recipe

originally from The Little Kitchen

the below is my experience and what I did

Yield: about 44 appetizers
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients:
–3 oz, roughly, crumbled feta cheese, room temperature
–8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
–9 or so celery sticks
–22 sliced Kalamata olives
–22 cherry tomatoes
–pepper

Directions:
Put the room temperature feta in your blender or food processor and pulse. Pulse until all the big chunks are out. You want small crumbs. Add the room temperature cream cheese and blend until smooth and creamy. Then put in fridge.

Cut the sliced halves of the olives in half. Cut the tomatoes in half.

If you wash your celery remember to dry it before filling. The water will make the cheese mixture get a bit runny. Use a veggie peeler to slice off a thin sliver lengthwise from each celery stalk, from the part that will be the “bottom” sitting on the serving tray. Then fill the celery with the cheese mixture. Top with a tomato half and an olive quarter, making a pattern down the stalk. Tomato, olive, blank space. Tomato, olive, blank space. Then cut the stalk at the blank spaces. Sprinkle pepper. Serve.

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The Little Kitchen cut the olives and tomatoes smaller. She also drizzled olive oil on the top of the appetizer. I didn’t want that extra added mess.

I did tie little bows with the strip of celery that I peeled off the back.

I think this makes a great appetizer. Unfortunately, due to the strong flavor of feta and the olives, I don’t think this would be a good snack for kids. But, perhaps your kids like the strong flavor of feta and kalamata olives.

Do you like Greek Salad? Have you ever been to Greece?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: appetizers, feta cheese, Greece, Greek Salad, Hors d'oeuvre, kalamata olives, potlucks, stuffed celery, The Little Kitchen | 4 Comments »

Roasted Green Beans

Posted by terrepruitt on July 28, 2015

You know how I love to roast veggies, right? Well this is such a super easy one. I usually don’t roast my green beans because they are not my husband’s favorite vegetable so when I cook them I like to do Green Beans, Onions, and Walnuts because I just love that. Since my hubby is not that fond of green beans, I don’t cook them that often and I save my cooking of them for that recipe. But recently I just wanted something to throw in the oven. Like I normally do. Wash it, season it, throw it in the oven, and walk away. That is one reason why I love to roast veggies. Well, we just happen to have received green beans in our produce box . . . so that is what I ended up roasting.

You know I always love easy, and easy right now is what I need because we are having to spend so much time just sitting in the room with the cats. I mean we don’t HAVE to, but we do. I have found in talking to people who don’t have cats, that it is a common misconception that cats don’t like company. People think cats are super independent. While they might be more independent than dogs, they still like their people’s company. They might not want you to even pay attention to them, but they like you to be in the room with them. Especially when they are locked in a room and they can hear you out in the house, then they really want to be out there with you. Cats like to be WITH you. These girls have been in three different places since June 1 so we want to let them know that they are part of a family now, so my hubby and I spend a lot of time in the room.

Often I try to go into the room to work, because they are quarantined in my office, but usually once I go in they want to play. Anyway . . . with the extra time I am spending in my office, it is nice to have an easy time with dinner. And you know roasting veggies is my “go to!”

This isn’t so much about the recipe (because it is so easy) as the idea of roasting green beans. It could be that someone hasn’t thought about doing it yet.

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Roasted Green Beans

1.5 pounds of green beans
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt
garlic
pepper

Preheat the oven to 450° F

Wash and trim the green beans. Line a cook sheet with parchment paper. Put your beans on the pan. Then drizzle the oil over the beans. Toss the beans so the oil gets on all the beans. Spread the beans out so they are one layer on the sheet. Sprinkle the beans with salt, garlic, and the pepper.

Put the beans in the oven for anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes. How long you cook your veggies is up to you. You can check on them and decide how well done you like them. Sometimes I like them not so done and sometimes I like them well done. When roasting I am ok with them well done. With other methods I like them less done.

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Of course you can season them with whatever you would like. Salt, garlic, and pepper is simple seasoning. And sometimes that is nice.

Do you like green beans? Do you like them roasted? How do you cook green beans?

Posted in "Recipes", Food, Vegetables | Tagged: adopted cats, green beans, olive oil, parchment paper, roasted vegetables | 12 Comments »

Squash Sticks – Breaded And Baked

Posted by terrepruitt on June 18, 2015

I like fries with my burgers, do you? I like fries with my beef sandwiches, do you? I don’t fry things. I don’t want to deal with the mess and all that oil and . . . just, no. I have a friend who can make french fries that are not fried, but really can fool you. But she is a chef and I am not going to go through all that trouble because I can just eat a potato and be happy. But I was thinking I didn’t want to have a potato AND a bun, but I wanted “fries”. I also remembered that I had squash in the refrigerator that we needed to eat. So I thought why not make squash fries. Or breaded squash sticks to be more accurate. So I had bread (for my sandwich) and bread (on the squash). 🙂

I cannot bread things. The crumbs never stay on. I usually end up putting the food item on the pan than putting the bread crumbs on top and pressing down. Then I hope that the crumbs will stay on as it bakes in the oven. Sometimes they do, but they rarely survive a flipping. Ha. So I don’t know why I think I can make breaded squash sticks.

First of all, I made WAY TOO much by way of bread crumbs (I adjusted the recipe so you wouldn’t). Then I got the idea to let the squash dry a bit before I breaded it, but then at the last minute decided to salt it to sweat some of the moisture out. (Eyes rolling.)

Whatever. What I ended up with tasted good. And didn’t even really look THAT bad in person (the picture – meh, not so much) . . . but it tasted good, if you like bread and squash. And I do, so – yay!

Anyway . . . here is what I did:

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Squash Sticks – Breaded And Baked

2 small squash
3 small slices of cracked sourdough bread
olive oil
salt
garlic powder

Oven at 425° F for a total of (roughly) 30 minutes.

I cut the squash into big match stick, between a batonnet (I looked it up on Wiki) and a julienne. Cut them a head of time so that they can dry out a bit. Salt them at this time so they will sweat. Make the bread crumbs with your blender or food processor. When you are ready to make the “fries” pat the cut squash dry with a paper towel. Then toss them with the bread crumbs that were seasoned with salt and garlic powder and a little bit of olive oil (perhaps about 1/2 teaspoon). Put them on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, that has been sprinkled with olive oil.

Put the pan of squash fries in the oven. After 15 minutes check on them. If you want flip them over or stir them up. For me, I needed to move the bread around so it would not burn. Bake for about 15 more minutes. As usual, I recommend baking to your liking. Ovens are different, tastes are different, so cook them to how you like them.

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I had spread them out as much as possible. While I was placing them on the cookie sheet a lot of crumbs came with them . . . that was ok. The squash didn’t hold the breading so well, but the breading on the cookie sheet baked and held the squash. So it turned out, instead of having individual fries, they were like little bread crumb patties with squash. (As you can see.) It was pretty good.

Do you bread and bake any veggies? What is your favorite? Do you egg-dip the veggies to help the bread crumbs stay? How do you get your bread crumbs to stay?

Posted in "Recipes", Food, Vegetables | Tagged: baked fries, French Fries, fried vegetables, veggie fries, veggie sticks | 2 Comments »

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Terre Pruitt's Blog

In the realm of health, wellness, fitness, and the like, or whatever inspires me.

I teach yoga, Nia, and stretch online!

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Archive for the ‘“Recipes”’ Category

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Roasted Green Beans

Squash Sticks – Breaded And Baked