Homemade Cherry Pie is a Real Treat

Fresh cherry pie filling

In July I made a trip home to Pennsylvania for my graduating class 50th Birthday party (a whole other story) and also to visit my brothers. While visiting my brother Michael and his wife Michele and their two beautiful children (yikes…now teens!) I baked a family favorite – cherry pie. My brother Michael LOVES cherry pie but he only knows cherry pie from the canned pie filling…I thought he/we all deserved a treat. I had made a stop at a fruit stand outside of State College, PA (Port Matilda to be exact)  – Way Fruit Farm and purchased some beautiful fresh cherries.  I was going to be really selfish and take them home for myself but part of being a foodie is the incredible overwhelming desire to share what you have with others and enjoy their food experience.  I think Mike enjoyed his!   There is nothing that can compare to a fresh fruit pie with fresh homemade crust.

 

Italian Wedding Soup

Italian Wedding Soup

It was a rainy day in New England (actually two really crappy rainy days but I guess April showers bring May flowers?)  So, after baking the rosemary pine nut shortbreads and making some delicious chicken stock I made a batch of mini meatballs, stashed them in the fridge and ran off to the gym.  After I came home, dinner was easy.   Add some pasta, add the pre-cooked meatballs and some spinach – let it all simmer slowly make hubby’s martini,  shower and – dinner was ready!   This is the second time I have used this recipe, it is Ina Garten’s Italian Wedding Soup recipes and I think – it’s the best.  I will post on the recipe section of the blog…make it….enjoy it.  Bread would have really tasted great with this but I am determined to cut down on the bread.

 

On a rainy New England day the house smelled sooo good!

It has been raining all day and something comes over me on rainy days and I get the urge to bake or make soup – maybe today will be both!  I had some fresh rosemary left over from a dish I made for a client on Monday and I had a craving for shortbread – why not combine the two.  There are plenty of savory shortbreads that incorporate fresh herbs. 

Shortbread dough in the process

 

 

Friday Night Dinner

My husband and I love Friday nights.  The two young adult children are at work (both work in local restaurants) and we have the house to ourselves.  We always have a night dinner in front of the fire, a bottle of wine and our favorite music.  We have something special for dinner – something fresh or a new recipe.  This past Friday night we had an amazing seafood dish with shrimp, mussels, little necks and scallops over pasta and some pesto bread.  We opened one of our Long Island wines – Wolffer Estates, 2005 Estate Selection Chardonnay. Yummy!

 

Have a heart…potato shaped heart!

I love this potato!  A friend from BNI gave me this great potato.  This potato will not see itself in a scalloped potato dish.  It will sit on my counter until it sprouts multiple tentacles!

Not meant for scalloped potatoes!

 

Aerogarden – herbs at your fingertips

After just a couple weeks the plants are looking good!

Although I have only met my brother-in-laws one time (hint…hint you should come and visit in RI)
Dallas is way too hot anyhow! We have talked many times on the phone I have come to conclusion that my husband’s family is just a REALLY nice family. The men (dad and three sons) are kind, ethical full of character and integrity and I got to marry one these great guys. And their mom, Peg – well she has to be something special to have raised these amazing sons. So, brother in law Ken recalled that I like to garden and obviously cook and every gardener and chef knows the importance of having fresh herbs on hand. After the post holiday hoopla and doldrums of January set in this year a packaged arrived in the mail and – wow- it was an Aerogarden from brother-in-law Ken and his family. I seriously almost cried – this is something that I have always wanted and suppose it was one of those items that I placed in the “luxury” column of items that I wanted/needed. The Aerogarden is a very cool thing to have in your kitchen. The plants grow right before your eyes and very quickly. I do this with all seedlings – plant them and watch them everyday for the first signs of life. I often quietly cheer them on and give them a little silent round of applause each day that look at them. The Aerogarden came with a seed kit that contained – parsley, basil, purple basil, mint, thyme, dill and chives. It takes about 5-6 weeks for the plants to be at a stage where you can harvest some of them. After some research on the Aerogarden web site I discovered that AG makes a seedling starter insert that will allow 66 seedlings to started and transferred to the outdoors. YEAH! Bring on Spring!

 

Food Photo Shoot

Everything in its place for cooking

Alexandria Mauck in action

Fun…fun! What a great experience. Through my BNI group I have met and come to know Alexandria Mauck who is the Photographer in our group. She is EXTREMELY talented and on top of all that talent is one of the most positive people I have met. She is always upbeat and cheerful and full of great energy and ideas. Her photography specialty has been in weddings and family portraits but she is expanding her professional services to include product photography. The pairing was perfect…I had food and wanted food photos and she had the cameras and needed some food photos for her portfolio. In addition we know an interior designer who had been a food stylist in a previous career. Together we made the perfect team – I cooked the food and plated it, Ellen assisted in plating and then did her styling and arranging and Ali photographed the dishes and made them look even more amazing. I couldn’t believe this was MY food! We worked for about 5 hours total from set up to tear down and spent approximately one hour photographing each dish. Ali was amazing to watch as she set up each shot and Ellen was an artist with arranging food on the plates. A group of artists working together to come up with a great product!

 

Valentines Dinner

Valentines Dinner Menu – Cocoa Scallops with Vanilla Bean and Saffron Beurre Blanc on a bed of micro green

My husband and I had the best Valentine’s Day  – it started with a trip to the Providence Winter Farmer’s Market where we picked up some amazing scallops – Bomster Scallops from Stonington CT.   The scallops are harvested and flash frozen right on the boat shortly after being shucked, they are not rinsed with fresh water or treated in any way – to read more here is a link to an article that ran in RI Monthly.- Bomster Scallops.   These scallops are the best, about the size of a half dollar, fresh and dry packed.  Also on our trip I picked up micro greens from Ledge Farms and of course some cheese from Narragansett Creamery and Blue Corn Meal from Kenyon Mills (not sure what I will be making with this…I will keep you posted).    After our market trip we were off to Federal Hill for a little lunch at Zooma and I can’t go to Federal Hill without a stop in at Venda Ravioli.  The check out line wove through the store and I am not exaggerating when I say there must have been 40 people in line if not more.  We bypassed that line and went for a Cappucino and a almond cookie and headed back home with our treasures to prepare dinner.  On the Valentine’s Dinner menu….

Cocoa  Scallops with a Vanilla Bean and Saffron Beurre Blanc on a bed of micro greens with crispy and spicy sweet potato rounds served with a side of roasted asparagus.  We served it with a Kim Crawford Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.  For dessert homemade truffles made by Chef Patti of Anastasia’s Table.   Thanks Patti!  Happy Valentines Day!

 

Thai Chicken Pizza

In an effort to get my husband back on track with eating a little more healthy I had to bribe him with a little decadence. I promised last Sunday that I would prepare his favorite Thai Chicken Pizza if on Monday he would be back to his more healthy eating plan. He agreed and I made the pizza. Don’t get me wrong…we all really like this pizza – he is not alone. The recipe is based on the California Kitchen Thai chicken pizza recipe with a few little changes. There were leftovers and to the best of my knowledge he didn’t eat them, they were missing from the refrigerator but I believe the teenager and young adult in the household ate them during a late night move and feeding frenzy. Husband kept his word and went back on the healthy eating plan on Monday morning….the power of good food!

 

Pamela’s Cupcakes

In the fall I attended the Gluten Free Summit in Providence and a representative from Pamela’s Gluten Free products was promoting their products and giving out some yummy samples.  The Green Grocer in Portsmouth sells several of Pamela’s GF products so last week we focused on their vanilla cake mix and I prepared delicious! GF coconut cupcakes – one was prepared with a dairy free frosting and one with lots of butter – certainly not dairy free!