The phone conversation went something like this:

CG: Does it have red stems and dark green leaves?b

Me: No, that’s Chard.

CG: Does it look like celery with red tips/

Me: No, that’s rhubarb.

CG: Does it have a white bottom with leaves coming out of the top?

Me: What kind of leaves?  If it has roots coming out of the bottom and goes straight up like celery, only it’s the leaves.  They’re white on the bottom and it turns green, but it’s not a leaf like a lettuce leaf – that’s leeks.

CG: What if it’s like a turnip on the bottom but red and has leaves on top ?

Me: That might be a beet.

CG: Wait – there’s something that looks like celery ?

Me: Is it ferny on top – that’s fennel (it was actually celery I think – no ferns?).

Me:  Look in the other drawer.

CG:  I think this is it, I found it.  She actually looked it up online after the phone call to make sure.

Terrific dinner.  Bok Choy sliced in half and drizzled with olive oil and roasted in the oven in a glass pan. Fingerling potatoes sliced in half drizzled with oil, sprinkled with herbs (sage, rubbed) and roasted in another glass pan and lamb flank steaks sizzled in a grill pan.  CG did a fantastic job on dinner.

CG told me that I need to label my green vegetables.  Truthfully because I get the Weekly Fresh Market Bag – I pay a monthly fee, and get bags of veggies once a week from the grocer, I have tried more vegetables this year than other years.  Most of them I have seen and tried before, but the Bok Choy was a new one for me as well, and I thank Rachel for the idea of how to cook it.  She has a nice photo also – we ate ours, so no photo.

Enjoy!!

When I get to play with Chocolate Raspberry Infused Vodka by Godiva, I am one of the luckiest people around.  This was sent to me to try out and I love it, vodka with chocolate and raspberry.  Not one of the sticky sweet liqueurs, but a clear vodka (5 times distilled) with chocolate and raspberry infused in it.  It is a little sweet, you don’t need a simple syrup to go with it, but can drink it straight on the rocks.  This would go great for a mother’s day gathering.  If my mom, my sisters and I were sitting around after dinner looking for cocktails, this would be fun to hang out and mess around with.  This vodka might be good to soak some brownies in or maybe use to make the icing.

I didn’t want a foamy or thick drink to use this infused vodka as an ingredient in.  I wanted a clearish drink, with some berries, ice and fizzy added.  I came up with a decent drink, that my husband also enjoyed.  If you are looking for something to share with mom and the women for Mother’s day – start with a little of Godiva’s  Chocolate Raspberry Infused Vodka and see what you can come up with – it should be fun.

Disclosure:  I was given a bottle of Godiva’s Chocolate Raspberry Vodka to review.  My opinions are my own, the recipe is mine.

Mother’s Day – Cobb Salad – I think they can go together really well.

Reason 1 :The ingredients in my fridge were pointing towards salad with all the greens I had accumulated.  Spring is a great time for salad greens, they thrive when it is cooler, and slow down or bolt when it’s really warm. I even had a smoked chicken in the fridge and fresh ricotta that needed to be used up. Herbs are growing in the garden.

Reason 2:  Mother’s Day isn’t really for mothers when we have to cook, Cobb salad comes together easily with cold make ahead ingredients, that can be assembled quickly.  Hard boil a couple of eggs, fry up some bacon, and chop some veggies the night before.  The next day assemble your salad.

Reason 3:  Grumpy Granny inspired me with her choice of Culinary Smackdown guidelines – May is salad month.  This may not be not be my entry, but it started me thinking about salads.

Reason 4:  It’s a really tasty salad with all of the good stuff in it, so you won’t feel guilty eating it.  When everyone brings the macaroni and potato salad, yours will be the less guilty choice. Then you can have dessert too – like a strawberry pie.

Reason 5:  It’s really pretty, and makes a great impression.  Lining the meat, veggies and cheese up in nice rows on top of the salad greens, then sprinkling with herbs, makes for a really stunning presentation especially next to potato salad.

This year peak strawberry season and Mother’s day collide.  I found some strawberries at a farm market and made the Fresh Strawberry Pie from Pat Sinclair’s Baking Basics and Beyond.  The pie was fantastically delicious, though really, I just needed a spoon to eat the strawberries and sauce out of the pot.  In fact, I wanted to lick the drippings off the stove – if I didn’t worry about burning my tongue.  I brought it to my daughter’s college house for her friends (and us) to share.  We all loved it – it’s a bit messy, but ohhhhhh soooo good.  Enjoy!!

Crust – Pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie (included in the book)

Baking Basics and Beyond was sent to me for review. ]]> http://www.cookerati.com/fresh-strawberry-pie-perfect-mothers-day-dessert/feed/ 1 http://www.cookerati.com/baking-basics-and-beyond-by-pat-sinclair/ http://www.cookerati.com/baking-basics-and-beyond-by-pat-sinclair/#comments Thu, 10 May 2012 03:19:46 +0000 Diana http://www.cookerati.com/?p=4820

When I saw the title – Baking Basics – I thought it was a tutorial type book teaching baking from the ground up – like a textbook.  I was wrong, this is more about simple and basic baking, that anyone can do.  Mostly desserts, these dishes are easy but delicious.  Most of the recipes are one or two pages, but there are a couple of longer ones.  The ingredients can be found in most pantries and are used in more than one recipe with a few surprises here and there. I received a copy of Baking Basics and Beyond by Pat Sinclair to use for a review.

As a food consultant and recipe editor, Pat Sinclair knows how to put together great recipes. The book starts out with basic baking instruction, that is used throughout.  Sprinkled here and there all through the book are tips and tricks.  This is all in addition to great recipes.  The recipes include biscuits and breads, coffee cakes, brownies, crisps , custards, cheesecakes, cakes, pies and yeast breads.

There are nice photos, though not a photo for every single recipe but for quite a few. The pages are glossy, with easy to read print – which I find is very necessary these days.  The measurements are shown two ways – one is the metric conversion in case you need it.

All of the recipes are really good for the novice baker or someone who just enjoys baking tasty desserts.  I recommend this for a college kid, someone starting out, a homemaker who would like to bake for the family and anyone who would like to do some basic baking.

I tried out some recipes, in my next post, I’m going to share  Fresh Strawberry pie – the perfect Mother’s Day dessert this year since strawberries are at their peak right now.

• Midwest Fair Trade Fest – May 12, 2012  10 am to 5 pm at The Ohio State University’s new 4H center: 2201 Fred Taylor Dr., Columbus, OH. Midwest Fair Trade Fest 2012 features world crafts, music, dance, and food.

• Prevention.com Announces Winners of 2012 Healthiest Food Awards.  That is the packaged foods healthiest food awards.

No more than 400 calories per (realistic) serving
- Less than 500 mg of sodium per serving
- No more than 10 g of added sugar
- Significant amounts of fiber, protein, and essential vitamins
- Free of genetically modified ingredients
- And, for the first time this year, Prevention.com added non-GMO to the list.

• California is the first state to get first state to gather enough signatures (971,126) to put the labeling of genetically engineered foods on its statewide ballot this fall. You can read about it on JustLabelIt.org

• Natural vs Organic by The Cornucopia Institute – A good read on whether your cereal is truly organic and how some brands are undermining the organic labeling.

We got all of our food to go, and brought it home to share with our son.  I want to tell you that the stall clerk who sold us the food was helpful with  letting us know what foods to pair together, and how to serve it, as well as describing what it was we were looking at, and whether it was spicy or not.  She was very pleasant and patient while we asked questions. We went home with containers of food, we bought more than a normal share, but we wanted to try a bunch of different foods.  I have to say we opened the food containers, dished it out onto our plates and then started gobbling – really gobbling.

We were blown away by the red cabbage slaw.  It almost had a floral quality to it.  My husband felt the same way, amazed at how sweet, and flowery it tasted.  The mashed potatoes are the best I’ve ever had.  I like mashed potatoes and though I think anyone can do an adequate job, these were way above average.  The roasted chicken was delicious also.  My husband is a roasted chicken and mashed potato fan and he was in heaven.

As much as he loves chicken and roast potatoes, he’s not a big fan of onions.  The shish kebabs were our least favorite.  I wasn’t impressed with the thin spicy chicken surrounded by onion, with a few other vegetables.  It was suggested that we use ketchup and mustard with the shish kebabs, but I like mine meatier and juicier.  For the piece d’resistance -mielone with leczo sauce.  It’s a chicken croquette - and includes veggies and cheese inside along with ground chicken and then breaded and fried. We just asked for the croquettes, but the stall clerk suggested the leczo sauce, which was perfect over top.  It reminded me of goulash from my growing up days.

I asked about pierogies, which they were out of, but they did have a sign up about blueberry pierogies and we took a bunch of those home.  I forgot about them, and when we came home from our trip my son let us know that it was like eating blueberry pancakes – with all of the blueberries inside.  There were a few leftover that my husband and I tried and they make a tasty dessert pierogie.

I recommend Hubert’s Polish Kitchen – Get the mashed potatoes!!! This is not a paid review, this is my own opinion, and I will go there again.

The Lanesborough will present acclaimed fashion house, Rena Lange 2012 collection together with 2010 ‘Bright Young Gems’ award winner Victoria Tryon’s glamorous jewelry range, on Friday May 18^th. Celebrate your love for fashion while enjoying afternoon tea in the hotel’s famed restaurant, Apsleys. The Lanesborough, Rena Lange and Victoria Tryon Afternoon Tea is on Friday 18^th May, from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM and is priced at £38.00 per person (£48.00 per person for Champagne afternoon tea) plus 12.5% Service Charge. For reservations, please call +44 (0)207 333 7254 or visit www.lanesborough.com.

Goldwater’s Foods of Arizona has paired with Sprouts Farmer’s Market’s in Arizona to distribute their all natural, gluten free, fat free products. They have launched their new web site (www.goldwaters.com), which will make their all natural, gluten free, fat free products available nationwide and any new wholesalers are welcome.

Conversation at dinner with my husband:

Me:   The croquettes are really good.

The Man:   The what?

Me:   The croquettes.

The Man:   The what?

Me:   The chicken balls.

The Man:   Oh I didn’t know what you were talking about.

According to the online dictionary:

cro·quette:

[kroh-ket] noun -

a small cake or ball of minced meat, poultry, or fish, or of rice, potato, or other food, often coated with beaten egg and bread crumbs, and fried in deep fat.

Not to be confused with……

cro·quet:

[kroh-key; Brit. kroh-key, -kee]-

a game played by knocking wooden balls through metal wickets with mallets.