Cherry and Butter Lettuce Salad

You'll have to excuse the picture, I took this to work today and had adapted this picture to be vegetarian, but took no picture.  For now you have to pretend the chicken is not in the picture.  I love the flavors of the dill and dijon in the dressing, and thought it might work....so I tried it for a pot luck today on the first day back at work.  When I found the picture I (listen to the gasp) realized I forgot the radishes, that's what happens when you try to cook at 6:30 a.m.!  I guess that means the radishes aren't that important, although I found them to be a tasty addition.  When fresh cherries aren't available I plan to try with dried.

Dressing Ingredients:

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

3 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard

3 Tablespoons chopped fresh dill

2 Tablespoons honey  

1 garlic clove, minced 

1/4 cup olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Put  first 5 ingredients in jar, add oil, shake.  Season with salt and pepper. 

Salad Ingredients:

5 ounces of Goat Cheese, crumbled

1/3 cup of candied pecans (Trader Joe's) broken into pieces

4 thick slices of rustic bread, torn (or cut) into 3/4 inch pieces

1 pound fresh cherries, stemmed, pitted and lightly crushed (I used about 1 1/2 cups)

2 bags of butter lettuce, cored and torn into pieces 

4 radishes 

2 tablespoons of chives

Directions:

Spray bread with Pam and toast in oven to make croutons.

Remove chicken skin and bone, tear into pieces.  Place cherries, lettuce, radishes,  pecans, and goat cheese in bowl.  Drizzle with vinaigrette and toss.  Sprinkle with croutons and chives.  

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Spicy Lime Grilled Shrimp

 I hope that once school starts I can be better about keeping this blog up!  Trying to get caught up on the garden, making sure all was going well with Jane and planning for the school year has left me less time to keep posting my new recipes.  The picture we took the first time we had this have been sitting on my desktop for weeks, and I had to go back and search to find the recipe again, which defeats the purpose of the blog!

This is about the easiest recipe for shrimp found.  The original recipe called for a lot more Cajun seasoning, so someone with spicier taste could up the amount.  I cut the recipe in half to serve just the two of us.  In our house shrimp is easy fast food!  Tomorrow I'll post the salad I made, which could be meal itself.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound of shrimp

1/2 of a Tablespoon of Cajun seasoning

Juice of of a 1/2 lime

1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions:

Mix together shrimp, Cajun season and lime juice and marinate in refrigerator while grill heats.  (I place on skewer.)

Lightly grill grate, grill  2  minutes per side.

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Adapted from  All Recipes

S'mores Cheesecake Bars

 I really wanted to make homemade marshmallows and make the s'mores in the August issue of Sunset.  Ease of preparation got the best of me and I made these instead.  I also used semi-sweet chocolate chips for all the chocolate called for and piped the melted chocolate on the top in a sandwich baggy whose corner I snipped. 

Ingredients:
For the crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tbsp. sugar
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake:
4 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
¼ cup sour cream
½ cup marshmallow cream
2 tsp. cocoa powder
¾ tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs

For the topping:
1½ cups mini marshmallows

chocolate chips, melted (optional)

Directions:
To make the crust, preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line an 8×8″ baking pan with foil; spray lightly with cooking spray.  Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter in a small bowl.  Stir together with a fork until well combined.  Press the mixture in an even layer into the bottom of the prepared baking pan.  Bake 10 minutes; transfer to a wire rack while you prepare the filling.  Reduce the oven temperature to 325˚ F.

To make the filling, place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.  Heat until melted and smooth, stirring occasionally.  Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese, sour cream and marshmallow cream.  Beat on medium-high speed until smooth and well combined, 1-2 minutes.  Blend in the cocoa powder, vanilla extract and eggs until incorporated.  Stir in the melted chocolate until well blended.  Pour the filling over the graham cracker crust and smooth the top with a spatula.  Bake about 30 minutes, or until the center is just set (does not jiggle when shaken gently.)  Remove from the oven.

Evenly top the cheesecake layer with the mini marshmallows.  Return to the oven for 2-3 minutes, just long enough so the marshmallows begin to melt into each other.  Transfer to a wire cooling rack.  Using a kitchen torch, lightly brown the tops of the marshmallows.  (Alternatively, this can be done underneath the broiler with a very watchful eye.) Once the cheesecake has cooled to room temperature, drizzle with melted chocolate if desired.  Transfer to the refrigerator and chill 2-3 hours before slicing and serving.

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Source: Annie's Eats

Butter Lettuce, Chicken and Cherry Salad

This has become my go to salad this summer.  My wonderful friend Candace made it for us for lunch we we were finally able to visit her new home while visiting Orange County earlier this summer.  She is so much better than me about reading a new recipe in a magazine and then making it!  It was so yummy I dug out the magazine and bought the ingredients at our local produce market and made it the night we arrived home.  I can imagine it in the winter with dried cherries and without the chicken with goat cheese as a side salad, the dressing really helps make this tasty.

Serves 4

Dressing Ingredients:

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

3 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard

3 Tablespoons chopped fresh dill

2 Tablespoons honey  

1 garlic clove, minced 

1/4 cup olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Whisk first 5 ingredients together, gradually whisk in oil.  Season with salt and pepper.

Salad Ingredients:  ( I halved these, using one head of lettuce and about 1 cup of cherries for two of us)

4 chicken thighs, grilled

4 thick slices of rustic bread, torn (or cut) into 3/4 inch pieces

1 pound fresh cherries, stemmed, pitted and lightly crushed

3 heads of butter lettuce, cored and torn into pieces 

4 radishes 

1 tablespoon chives

Directions:

Spray bread with Pam and toast in oven to make croutons.

Remove chicken skin and bone, tear into pieces.  Place chicken in large bowl and cherries, lettuce, radishes and chives.  Drizzle with vinaigrette and toss.  Sprinkle with croutons and chives.  

Printable Recipe

This recipe is adapted with fat reduced from Epicurious

The gardens survivors and victims of vacation

Before leaving on vacation for two and a half weeks I had spent my days getting my garden in order so that everything would, hopefully, be in good shape when I arrived home.  Some things flourished while others became victims of predators.  These photos were shot by me with my trusty iphone...see if you can tell!

Eggplant are doing better than they were at about this time last year.

Cucumber has tiny babies coming on!  The cosmos are weeds, soon to be removed...

 

Basil is chugging along, waiting for the tomatoes.

Pumpkin looks happy.  Thank you, Candace!

Tomatoes obviously had plenty of water.  They loved getting watered every other day.

They even have fruit!

The crook neck squash is doing well, as are the weeds in the foreground.

But then there were...

The one edamame still standing, the others look like the one in the bottom, center if they can be found at all.

Saddest of all is the green beans, all that's left are the stems.  

The slugs and snails were all fed bait tonight after I replanted green bean starts. 

Fish Tacos

Home from 17 days of not cooking and having a difficult time thinking about what to cook, the first thing that appealed to me was fish tacos.  We ate a multitude of fish, but none as tacos.  I would have cooked the fish on the grill, but the weather is so cool in the evening that I didn't mind heating up the oven.  I  find it hard to believe that the photographer stuck toothpicks into my tacos!

 Click for printable recipe

Ingredients:

Crema:

1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

3 tablespoons fat-free mayonnaise

3 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream

1 teaspoon grated lime rind

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lime juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 garlic clove, minced

Tacos:

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1 1/2 pounds red snapper fillets

Cooking spray

8 (6-inch) corn tortillas

2 cups shredded cabbage

Directions:

 Preheat oven to 425°.

To prepare crema, combine the first 8 ingredients in a small bowl; set aside.
To prepare tacos, combine cumin and next 5 ingredients (through garlic powder) in a small bowl; sprinkle spice mixture evenly over both sides of fish. Place fish on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 425° for 9 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. Place fish in a bowl; break into pieces with a fork. Heat tortillas according to package directions. Divide fish evenly among tortillas; top each with 1/4 cup cabbage and 1 tablespoon crema.

From Cooking Light 

Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

I know that Mark shouldn't be eating these, I did use low fat cream cheese though.   I decided to try for a Father's Day treat and send the bulk of the leftovers home with Kaci, good solution!  I don't usually make bar cookies that only make a 8 X 8 pan, but these are so rich that that was plenty!  I didn't want to run to the grocery store, so I bought organic graham crackers at Andy's Market,  I was surprised at how much less sweetness that they had than those in those I usually purchase at the grocery store.  Something similar is probably available at Whole Foods.

Crust:

1 1/2 cups of graham crackers crumbs 

5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough:

5 tbsp unsalted butter, softened 

1/3 cup of brown sugar, packed 

3 tbsp white sugar 

1/4 tsp salt 

1 tsp vanilla 

3/4 cup of flour 

1 cup of chocolate chips

Cheesecake Filling:

10 oz cream cheese, room temperature (I used low fat, and tasted good to us)

1/4 cup of white sugar 

1 large egg, room temperature 

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper, allowing a little overhang, then spray the paper and dish with cooking spray.

Combine the graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter until mixed thoroughly. Firmly press the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Place into the oven and bake for 6 minutes. Remove pan and set aside to cool. DO NOT TURN YOUR OVEN OFF.

While the crust is cooling, prepare the chocolate chip cookie dough. Beat the butter, brown sugar, white sugar, salt, and vanilla together using a mixer until creamy and smooth. Add the flour to the butter mixture until just combined then add the chocolate chips and mix. Set aside.

For the cheesecake filling, place the cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla together into a bowl then beat, using a mixer, until creamy and smooth. Carefully spread the cheesecake batter onto the prepared crust.

Using your hand to form clumps (I made clumps of about 1 tsp), distribute the cookie dough evenly in clumps on the top of the cheesecake batter until you use all of the dough.
Place into the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until the top (cookie dough) feels dry and firm and the entire pan looks set if given a gentle shake. Move bars to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely. Lift bars out by the overhang; slice and store in the refrigerator. Serve cold or at room temperature. 

Pintable Recipe
From For the Love of Cooking