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!

 

Food is back as header photo

The snowy beach photo was depressing and dismal so I went back to something more pleasant…food!

 

Superbowl Gumbo

Every Superbowl we have plan a great “football-tailgating” dish to dine on during half time. This has been a tradition for at least seven years and we had some fun foods like ribs on the grill, wings, chili, brats and sauerkraut to this years Gumbo. We just can’t find really good gumbo here in NE. My husband who has spend time in New Orleans on business trips misses having gumbo so this year it was gumbo! Terrible to say this but I don’t have a recipe that I would trust posting – I will have to work on that. I started with a basic recipe but by the end of the dish it didn’t resemble what I had started with. The gumbo was absolutely amazing with the right balance of spice and heat and we threw in shrimp, crayfish, chicken and andouille. It was served over a little white rice and if you ever make gumbo as good as it is the day you make the next day will be even better. If I can work through my notes and recipe I will post – but here is the picture at least.

 

Winter Dinner Party – Herbs are the theme!

It may be winter here in NE but the fresh herbs were abundant at our home on Saturday as we hosted a great dinner party with friends. The plan is this is the first of many to come in 2009 – a New Years resolution that we could actually keep – to make new friends, get to know the friends we have and spend more surrounded by good people. I really need to put someone in charge of taking pictures. It is really had to serve dinner and take photos. A few pics I took before the dinner and manage to sneak a pic of the salad just before everyone sat down. Here is our men and here are some photos. Many thanks to Rich, Colleen, Jen, Philip, Michelle and Shannon for being our guests. We loved your company!!

Menu

Appetizers served with Prosecco

Roasted Cherry Tomato Crostini with Ricotta, Fresh Basil and Buckwheat Honey drizzle

Cheddar and Thyme Gougeres

Entree and Side Dishes

Roasted Asparagus Salad w/micro greens, lemon vinaigrette, fried sage leaves and Parmigiana-Reggiano cheese

Herb Roasted Leg of Lamb – leg of lamb roasted with lavender, rosemary and garlic

Herb Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

Apple Cider Glazed Delicata Squash with Rosemary and Sage

Dessert

Apple Galette with Almond Cream served with Cinnamon Basil Ice Cream

Chocolate Layer Cake served with Lavender Vanilla Ice Cream

Roasted Asparagus Salad

Chocolate Cake which was served with Lavender Vanilla Ice Cream

Apple Galette with Almond Cream served with Cinnamon Basil Ice Cream

 

Crostini with Roasted Tomato and Narragansett Creamery Riccotta Cheese

I keep trying to take good photos but some days my amatuer photography skills are even worse! This photo isn’t the best but it is better than the others and I really liked this tasty appetizer and uses local ingredients and that makes it even better – not the tomatoes – those are coming from outside of New England. I can’t take credit for this recipe, my personal chef friend Christine Todaro (Fusion Personal Chef Services) told me she makes this appetizer and her clients love it. It’s quite simple – french bread sliced and spread with a little olive oil and rubbed with a garlic clove, spread a layer (not too thick) of ricotta cheese (I used Narragansett Creamery) over the bread and top with some fresh basil and roasted cherry tomatoes (I roasted the tomatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper and fresh thyme sprigs) the final step is a drizzle of buckwheat honey. Buckwheat honey is dark in color and has a pungent malty flavor. When I tasted it I immediately thought of Buckwheat honey being the Guiness of honey!

 

Snowy Pictures of Newport

My new banner photo has nothing to do with food and more about the beautiful area we live in.  This photo was taken at Second Beach looking up over the dunes that head to the beach no one had walked up the path yet and snow continues to fall as I take the picture.  Below the lifeguard chairs lay snow covered and waiting for the summer.