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Rutabaga Au Gratin with Leeks and Sage – Battle Spherical

March 28, 2012 - Written by Diana

So many spherical things, what to do, what to do, spherical ingredient, or spherical dish?… I had to decide quickly because the month was winding down for this month’s Culinary Smackdown – Battle Spherical. Rutabaga, mango, oranges. Are oranges too round to be spherical? Is a lime more spherical? Looking up sphere – it has to be perfectly round, well, then mango isn’t spherical, or lime, but the rutabaga was pretty darn round (Drat – now I remember that I forgot a photo of a rutabaga before so that you could see how round it was.

My son’s friend was over and asked what I was peeling and I told him it was a rutabaga – similar in taste to a turnip. It is a swede turnip, or a yellow turnip and a cross between a turnip and cabbage. The skin is thin, but difficult to peel because it’s so big and round. I just used a big knife to skin it. Then I sliced it thinly and cut the slices into pieces. Since this is a play on another …

Friday Unwind – Yummy Citrusy Spring Fever

March 23, 2012 - Written by Diana

Tonight’s drink brought to you by Ketel One Citroen Flavored Vodka – a lemony, limey floral tasting vodka. I liked this one a lot, not sweet, but has a dry crisp citrus flavor. This is not lemonade in a bottle, it doesn’t have a sugar or saccharin finish, but finishes with a lemon/lime floral note. My husband and I both liked the sip plain and then we tried Spring Fever and loved that too. I think you could have it for breakfast, it’s so yummy.

My photo looks pinkish because I used a blood orange – and don’t you think it’s a very pretty drink with that blood orange. Makes you think of cherry or apple tree blossoms.

Friday Unwind – Yummy Citrusy Spring Fever

Recipe type: Cocktail

Author: Diana

Prep time: 3 mins

Total time: 3 mins

Serves: 1

Spring Fever is a delicious refreshing citrusy cocktail made with citrus fruits, lemon/lime flavored vodka, simple syrup and lemon …

Borscht – Winter Stew

March 20, 2012 - Written by Diana

Borscht, a winter stew, has a long tradition in Russia and Ukraine. This recipe is from Cook Wild: Year-Round Cooking on an Open Fire by Susanne Fischer-Rizzi. I made this dish for dinner, and it was very delicious. It is vegetable dense, with lots of red beets turning everything a bright red, and very pretty. This stew has a lot of steps to it, so you will be close to the fire cooking for a good amount of time to prepare, but it’s worth the time you put into it. Though it serves 6 – 8, there are only 3 of us, so we had it for two meals, Yay for leftovers!

Borscht – Winter Stew

Recipe type: Main – Stew

Author: Susanne Fischer-Rizzi

Prep time: 1 hour

Cook time: 2 hours 30 mins

Total time: 3 hours 30 mins

Serves: …

St. Patrick’s Cocktails

March 17, 2012 - Written by Diana

I’m starting early, cause it’s Friday and I’ve had a long day – a really good amazing day at work because things went well, but I worked a couple of hours over, so I needed a drink or two. Since St. Patrick’s Day is tomorrow, then you can go ahead and drink for the whole weekend – um, if you plan to stay in. Just make sure to stock up on all of the good stuff ahead of time. Here are a few cocktail recipes for you to try out and if you want a nice sub for Bailey’s (it will take a few minutes longer to get to that cocktail) try Homemade Irish Cream by Wine Me Dine Me in Cincinatti.

Pot O’Gold

Ingredients:

1 1/2 ounces Baileys with a hint of Caramel
1 ounce Ketel One Vodka
1 ounce Espresso

Swirl caramel around the inside of a martini glass and put to side.
Pour Baileys with a hint of Caramel, Ketel One, ice and espresso into
a shaker and shake until very frothy.
Strain into Caramel swirled mar tini glass, making sure that the foam
is on top to make it look like a cappuccino.
…

Swiss Chard, Spaghetti Squash, Chicken and Mushrooms in a Maple Basalmic Vinaigrette

March 14, 2012 - Written by Diana

Yeah, Yeah, I know, the name is too darn long, but what should I leave out? Look at the photo, the whole thing is pretty and leaving anyone of those things out would make a not so interesting meal – visually and tastefully (flavorfully?). I still have spaghetti squash in my cold basement, but I fear it won’t last long since it’s been so warm and we need to work it in to our recipes since winter is quickly coming to an end. Chard has been regularly showing up in our Weekly Market Bag along with mushrooms less frequently. I thought this meal, stacked and then drizzled with a maple basalmic vinaigrette would be really delicious, and it was. The maple sweetness took the bite off the vinaigrette and the vinegar cut the sweetness a little.

I had plenty of spaghetti squash leftover, as well as chicken and chard (that I hadn’t covered in vinaigrette). My second meal of the week I added pasta and pesto and my third meal of the week …

Easy Eggs Over Spinach

March 6, 2012 - Written by Diana

This egg dish is fast, easy and delicious – perfect for Sunday brunch – or a breakfast for dinner meal. Sundays used to be real family time for us before the kids were out of high school. My husband and I still have breakfast together, but some days we go out to a restaurant on our way to do something else like pick up stuff for some project or another. This weekend my son was home, and he is a lover of family sit down meals. He took care of the animals while we were out of town, so I wanted to put together a meal he would really enjoy for Sunday breakfast.

I had some fresh spinach to use up as well as some local eggs, so here’s a really easy way to combine them into a tasty meal. I sauteed the spinach along with a small onion and a red pepper in a small pan drizzled with olive oil. I then cracked eggs over top and while the whites were cooking, I would use my fork to poke holes in the white causing the …

Roasted Vegetable Salad with Orange, Feta, and Walnuts

March 3, 2012 - Written by Diana

Since we spent a decadent food filled couple of nights away, tonight’s dinner is vegetable laden and light. The golden beets are so pretty, especially after roasting. I also roasted carrots and fennel in olive oil, and sprinkling it with the juice of a blood orange, slicing all the veggies with a mandolin for use in the salad. I used three different greens – Romaine, red oak leaf lettuce, and my son’s recent favorite – arugula. Then I sliced in some blood orange pulp, plus sprinkled feta, fennel fronds and walnuts over top. The dressing was a simple squeeze of blood orange juice over top with some thyme olive oil. A simple salad – not overly crunchy since the veggies were roasted, but with a little caramelized soft sweetness. Very yummy salad, and just what I needed after a couple of nights away. It’s tough to find the fennel in the photo of the salad, but it was there with great licoricey bites every so often.

Roasted Vegetable Salad with Orange, …

Lamb Cabbage Rolls – Battle Cabbage

February 29, 2012 - Written by Diana

I met some really cool foodbloggers in Cicinnati at the #5B conference – and a couple of them intorduced me to Culinary Smackdown. It’s a challenge where you try to create a recipe using a particular ingredient chosen by the winner of the previous smackdown. February’s smackdown ingredient is cabbage – one of my favorite ingredients. I had cabbage from my market bag, so it was a no brainer. I was determined to use other ingredients I had already on hand – so I made cabbage rolls using ground lamb, but I added baby potatoes, onions, sweet red peppers and carrots, along with a few herbs and fresh sage. I made the dish really sagey – chopped sage inside the cabbage rolls, but also i threw more on top.

We each ate three cabbage rolls – and I stopped my husband from eating more, though he wanted too. My son was supposed to put the cabbage rolls in the oven, but forgot, so he only had a sandwich before leaving for work. I saved his …

Chicken, Kale and Potatoes

February 25, 2012 - Written by Diana

Cooking from what you have on hand can sometimes feel like a chore because we can’t always make what we have a taste for and instead have to make our tastes fit our refridgerator and pantry. Lots of greens in the fridge right now – which means I need to make sure to get them into our dinners and lunches. We receive a bag of groceries each week that have local, and non-local seasonal produce and artisan goods that are also mostly organic. I wondered if I would be able to keep up with the produce – and the greens have started to pile up because my husband and son don’t throw it in as often as I do. So while I was on a trip to Vermont, the greens weren’t used – except for arugula, my son loves that on his sandwiches. Today I used my dutch oven to use some of the produce I received in my Weekly Fresh Market Bag.