A Foodie's Farewell

As a few of you may have noticed, I haven't been posting a lot lately. Ok, I haven't posted anything since May. No great reason except I've been busy. I think I'm blogged out for now. I am still cooking up a storm and have had some fun summer food experiences. I just haven't taken the time to take photos and write.

I can't thank you enough for reading and responding to posts over the almost three years I've been writing. It has been such a fun outlet for me to share all of these food related experiences as I continue to learn.

I got a Vitamix for my birthday which has opened up a whole new world of smoothies and sauces. It's so much fun.

I missed berry season for canning but have made up for it with peaches. I've canned rosemary peach jam and peach rum sauce. Then I canned some chipotle salsa.

My latest obsession is padron peppers. We had them at a tapas restaurant, then I found them at the farmers market. I sauteed them in a little olive oil, until they blistered, then sprinkled them with smoked sea salt (from Trader Joes). Amazing.

Thanks again and if you want to e-mail me one of your favorite recipes, I would love it!

My food journey will always continue!
Scott
(scott@climbingrose.com)

Men Who Cook

My Mark doesn't cook a lot, but our good friend Marc does. Their wives were spending 12 hours on a field trip to Jamestown with fifth graders so the husbands got together to make us dinner. I have a weakness for men who can cook. Someone coined the phrase gastrosexuals for men (or women) who learn to cook to impress or entice the opposite sex.

The gastrosexuals Marc and Mark did a wonderful job. Mark made us grapefruit martinis and there was liver pate to start.
The first course was snails in puff pastry.

Marc made a wonderful flavorful broth with butter and garlic and then served them on the puff pastry.
Our girls had never tried snails before and 2 out of 3 approved.

The main course was pan fried turkey cutlets

with braised collard greens.

For dessert, daughter Madison used the leftover puff pastry and sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar and they served vanilla ice cream over them.

It felt so nice to be served such a lovely dinner in my own home!
A big thank you to the Marc(k)s.
You have an open invitation to cook dinner at my house anytime.

Meat

How much do you think about the amount of meat you eat? (If you eat meat) I'm still ok with eating meat, but am trying to make better choices with how the meat I buy is farmed. I also think even those of us who eat meat could eat a lot less of it and add more fresh produce to our diets. I'm still trying to follow the meatless mondays movement and continue to see lots of references to it in the media. Check out their website which even gives recipes.
I teach yoga on Monday nights, so to honor that I usually end up making an Indian vegetarian dish. With Indian food, I don't even miss the meat.
Some people make a difference by eating vegetarian during the day, and then having meat with dinner. Any way you can find to cut back on your meat consumption will benefit your health and the environment.

What do you make when you have nothing planned for dinner? Do you have some fall back standards?
Like when you get home from vacation and not much is in the house. We've been known to have pancakes.
Some other favorites are omelets, quiches, grilled cheese and soup, spaghetti with olive oil and garlic and a wonderful stand by, spaghetti carbonara. I made some tonight!
It is so easy, and authentic Italian carbonara has no cream.

Just saute some cut up bacon in a pan. After awhile, add two whole garlic cloves, then a T. of butter.

In serving bowl, whisk two eggs and cracked pepper.

Boil a lb. of spaghetti , toss into eggs, then mix in bacon (taking out the garlic cloves)
Add lots of parmesan cheese.

You can't go wrong with this!

Sandwich Inspiration

My good friend Ellen made me this amazing grilled portabello and goat cheese sandwich recently. The recipe was in Fine Cooking magazine. You can sign up here to get daily recipe ideas from them via their e-letter. I recreated it at home and had to make it a couple of days in a row (because it's so yummy).
First I make the pesto ahead of time then,  grill the portabellos on a grill or pan.

 Assemble the sandwich with the pesto, goat cheese and portabellos.

Brush the bread with olive oil and grill on the stove top or panini grill. The goat cheese melts down on to the mushrooms!

There's another grilled sandwich I make occasionally that this reminds me of. It's a Barefoot Contessa recipe with pesto, mozzerella and tomato. Pesto is good on most sandwiches. My girls love a little smear on grilled cheese or turkey.
I used some leftover pesto for a St. Patrick's Day appetizer, crackers with goat cheese and pesto. It was the only green food item I served this year. I tried to keep my green influences to the decor. After last year's (green martinis!)

I bought a nitrate free corned beef this year from Whole Foods. Not as strong a flavor, but I  liked it and it was a lot less salty. Almost more like a plain brisket.