During the holidays we frequently have extra turkey on hand and one of my favorite dinners is to take the leftover turkey and make a yummy Turkey Tetrazzini.

There are a thousand different recipes and variations for Turkey Tetrazzini, but it is basically:

2 cups turkey,
Can or jar of cream sauce,
1-2 cups spaghetti noodles,
1 can mushrooms
1 cup mixed vegetables for color
Cheese (sprinkled on top)

To make the cream sauce I will often use either a can of cream of chicken soup (and ¼ cup water) or a jar of Ragu Alfredo sauce (my favorite is the low fat cheesy alfredo sauce). I mix the sauce with a can of mushrooms and vegetables. I then add the diced turkey and noodles and mix it up. I sprinkle cheese on the top.

Bake in often at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until hot.

It is delicious and is a great way to use up the Turkey. Enjoy.

This is my all time favorite holiday party punch recipe. The mixture of red cranberry juice gives it a festive look and the pineapple juice lends a sweetness everyone enjoys. My mom used to make this and put it in a large bunch bowl. She would wrap a holiday garland around the base of the bowl for decoration. It was my job to add the cold ginger ale to the bowl right before the guests arrived.

Holiday Party Punch Recipe

Mix and stir the following ingredients until the sugar dissolves.

4 cups cranberry juice
4 cups pineapple juice
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon almond extract

Chill the mixture. Add 1 quart Ginger Ale right before serving. Enjoy.

Speaking of the holidays, do you need some holiday gift ideas? Read our Kitchen Gadgets as Holiday Gifts article for some gift giving inspiration.

Autumn is one of the most beautiful seasons. With the foliage turning and birds migrating there is plenty to see when your outdoors. One special activity in the fall is apple picking. This is a great way to get out with the family or your significant other and have some fun. Then if you feel inspired you can bake with those yummy apples. Who wouldn’t want some warm apple pie or apple crisp on a cool autumn night? I know I would and that’s why I’ve put two of my favorite recipes together to share with you all!

Apple Crisp

In order to make an apple crisp large enough for eight people you will need eight of your yummy freshly picked apples. So figure in an apple per person and make the recipe larger or smaller as needed. Since it is relatively simple to make and only calls for seven ingredients you shouldn’t have too much to worry about. That makes it a reasonable task when preparing dinner too!

You will need the following ingredients;
• 8 medium apples
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ cup butter or 1 stick

To get started you will want to preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and take out your cutting board and apple cutter. I find the apple cutter (wedge/corer) the easiest way to prep the apples before cutting off the skin with a small knife.

Once you take the skin off all the apples, slice each wedge into three slices and place them in a small mixing bowl.

Then take your sugars, flour and spices and mix them with a whisk in a medium mixing bowl and set aside.

Take the butter and melt it in a small saucepan. Once the butter is melted, pour over the dry ingredients and mix until it turns into a crumbly consistency.

Next take out your 2 quart baking dish (8 in x 11 in or there about) and spray with anti stick baking spray. Then evenly place all the sliced apples in the bottom of the dish and use your hands to spread the crumbly topping all over the top.

Place in the oven and bake for 35 – 40 minutes, take out and let cool 10 minutes. Then cut into 8 squares and serve alone or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Mmmm Mmmm Delicious!

Apple Pie

There is nothing like a warm slice of apple pie when the weather outside is cold a dreary. Also as a pick-me-up you can make a delicious apple pie for a friend or family member. As for the filling I’m all set but I personally struggle making pie crust and find it a lot easier to get a pack of two deep dish pie crusts at the supermarket. Either way, it is all in how much time and skill you have for setting and rolling out the dough. Don’t worry if you can’t make it yourself because those pie crusts taste delicious!

To make apple pie filling you will need the following ingredients;
• 6 medium sized apples
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup packed brown sugar
• ¼ cup flour
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 egg
• ¼ teaspoon salt

To get started making this delicious pie you will want to pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, remove your pie crust from the freezer and take out your cutting board and apple cutter. Just like in the apple crisp recipe you want to cut all your apples into wedges and then slice off the skin. Once ready, slice each wedge into three slices and place in your medium mixing bowl with the lemon juice.

In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, butter, nutmeg and cinnamon. Mix the ingredients together thoroughly. Then add the apples to the other ingredients and make sure they are evenly coated.

Once ready to bake the pie put the apple mixture into one of the deep dish pie crusts.

Take the other pie crust and turn upside down so that it lays flat on the counter/table. Gently pull it off the counter/table and place on top of the full pie crust. Use your fingers to pinch the edges together and then cut an X in the middle with a knife.

Then you’re ready to make the egg topping by cracking one egg into a small bowl and putting the salt in. Whisk well and then pour on top of the pie.

Place the pie in the oven and bake for 25 minutes with foil on and then take the foil off and bake an additional 25 minutes. Take out of the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before serving either alone or with vanilla ice cream on top. Yummy!

With these two recipes you shouldn’t be able to waste any of those delicious hand-picked apples. Get out and have fun in the autumn with your friends or family and find an apple tree or orchard near by. Ask a neighbor if they have a tree or find a farm in the countryside. Either way it is a fun activity that gives you the perfect excuse to bake a delicious desert!

Around the Dakotas grows a thorny bush covered in little red berries. They call these tart little buggers buffalo berries. They are great for making into syrup, jam and pies. I went to the lake and harvested some recently and decided to make some syrup. It is a delicious addition on your pancakes or French toast and with the holidays approaching it can be a great gift as well. Keep reading for the recipe and directions on how to make this delicious syrup!

In order to get started you must first go and harvest some buffalo berries off the bushes. The best time of the year to get them is mid September to October when they are the sweetest. If you pick them earlier in the year they tend to be too tart. Make sure you bring out quart sized bags and fill two of them minimum.

The exact ingredients and materials you will need are;
• 2 quart sized bags full of buffalo berries (bull berries)
• 7 cups of water
• 6 cups of granulated sugar
• 4 pint sized jars with lids
• Strainer with small holes
• Large pot (5 qt minimum)
• Large wooden spoon
• Medium pot to catch juices
• Potato masher
• Metal or glass measuring cup

To begin, wash the berries thoroughly making sure to get rid of all the leaves and most of the branch that came with them. Then pour all the berries and the water into the large pot and bring to a boil. Boil for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid burning the berries.

Once the berries are mushy, pour them into the strainer with another pot underneath to catch the juice and pulp. Make sure your strainer is not allowing seeds and skin through. If it is try one with smaller holes. I personally use my steamer pot because the holes are small enough to not let the seeds through. To get all the pulp and juices through use your potato masher to mash the berries into the holes. This will get as much as you can out of the berries. Then throw away the seeds and skins and keep the juice and pulp.

Fill your sink with scalding hot water and place the jars and disk part of the lids inside. This is to ensure the glass won’t break when you add the boiling juices later.

Measure out 6 cups of the pulp and juices you just squeezed out of the berries and put them in your large pot. Bring to a rapid boil stirring occasionally. Then add the 6 cups of sugar and boil for 5 to 6 minutes. While you are adding the sugar you must stir continuously or else it can burn on the bottom.

Once you are finished boiling for 5 to 6 minutes, remove the pot from the burner and set aside. Then take your jars out of the hot water in the sink and make sure all the water is out of them. Carefully pick up the pot of juices and sugar mixture and pour evenly into all four jars.

Finally you put wipe off the rims of the glass jars to ensure a clean seal and place the lids on top. Set the jars aside in an area with consistent temperature. You will hear the lids pop as they cool which creates a seal. Then once cooled you can tie pretty ribbon on the jars or decorate with cloth and string to give away as gifts.

There is a chance that the syrup could end up as jam if you did not add enough water or used too many berries due to the natural gelling pectin in the buffalo berries. Either way you can enjoy the syrup or jam on toast or pancakes. Good luck and enjoy!

Every year my grandmother would give me these delicious bread and butter pickles. Since we moved this past spring I was unable to get any from her so I decided to ask for her recipe and try it myself.

This recipe is a really great way to use up the last bunch of cucumbers from your garden or a bag from the farmer’s market. Either way the cucumbers are wax free which is necessary to make the pickles.

I hope you enjoy making and eating these bread and butter pickles as much as I do!

So the origination of this recipe comes from a book my grandmother has used for quite some time. It is titled; Guide to Home Canning and Freezing by the Ball Corporation. Since she put her specifics together for me, I’ve decided to share this delicious recipe with you.

Jarring is not something I had ever done until this experience so don’t feel bad if you are in the same boat! All you need are the pint jars with the lids, a large pot with a lid and some old hand towels or pot holders. I’ll explain this is more detail later. First we should get the basics down of what you need and where to start.

You will need the following ingredients:
• 4 pounds of wax-free cucumbers
• 2 pounds of onions (small white ones are recommended)
• 1/3 cup kosher salt or canning salt
• 2 tablespoons of mustard seed
• 2 teaspoons of celery seed
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1 teaspoon peppercorn
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 cups apple cider vinegar
• 8 cups of ice

You will also need the following kitchen items:
• Large 10 qt (or bigger) pot with lid or jarring pot if you have one
• 7 pint size jars with lids
• Large mixing bowl
• Measuring spoons
• Tongs for getting lids out of boiling water and removing boiling jars
• Old hand towel or pot holder
• Small pan for boiling water with lids
• Slicer or sharp knife to slice cucumbers and onions
• Colander

To begin making the pickles wash and thinly slice the four pounds of cucumbers and two pounds of onions. If you have a slider grater with a slicing attachment it will go faster but using a knife works just as well.

Once you are finished slicing layer the large mixing bowl with cucumbers, onions and then sprinkle kosher salt and repeat until you run out. Then pour the ice on top and the rest of the salt and let sit for about 90 minutes. This is how the pickles get crisp.

Once the 90 minutes are up put the cucumbers and onions in the colander to rinse off the salt. Try and get most of the water drained off so you don’t add it to the pot later.

**This is when you should start the dishwasher with your jars in it if you have one or start soaking your jars in really hot water in the sink (not the lids). The method behind the madness deals with putting the boiling hot cucumbers and onions in cold jars isn’t a good idea. The glass can break and hurt you!

Next combine the vinegar, sugar and spices in the large pot and put the disks of your lids in the small pot with water. Put both pots on medium heat and bring to a boil.

Once your vinegar broth is boiling add the cucumbers and onions and stir. Bring back to a boil. (You will notice the color of the cucumbers changing to a lighter green color.) Once they have boiled for about 2 minutes (or turned lighter green) shut off the heat and get your jars out to be filled.

Use tongs to grab the cucumbers and onions and shove them into the hot jars. Fill up to ¼ inch from the rim and then fill the rest with juice from the pot. Once all your jars are filled, wipe off the rims very well and use the tongs to grab the boiling disk part of your lids and place them on the jars. Then you can screw on the rings.

Once your jars are all sealed up you are ready to give them a hot water bath. This is how you seal them for storage. You can use the same pot you made the pickles in by just rinceing it out well real fast and filling it with hot tap water. Make sure the water is hot because the jars are and it can bust the glass changing temperatures too quickly.

Next you will want to put your old hand towel or pot holders on the bottom of the pot with hot water to make a barrier between the burner and the jars. Once the pot is on the stove, arrange the jars so they are not touching each other (they can touch the sides of the pot). Make sure when you put them in that the water is up to the lids. Bring the pot to a boil on medium heat for 10 minutes.

Then you will have to carefully remove the jars out of the boiling water to cool. I used my huge tongs for barbequing that can handle the weight of the full jars. Be extremely careful because you can really burn yourself doing this.

Cool the jars overnight in a place without drafts and then put one in the refrigerator for yourself! Don’t be alarmed as you will hear the lids popping as they seal.

These pickles are great on sandwiches or as a snack. Also they make great gifts! I hope you enjoy them as much and I do!

“What the heck am I going to do with all these vegetables?”

“How on Earth did I forget to celebrate “National Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbor’s Porch” night?”

If you missed the opportunity to celebrate on August 8th - or have neighbors who take a dim view of trespassing, here’s a tasty alternative.

Use your extra squash, zucchini, and peppers and whip up a batch of “Late Summer Refrigerator Pickles.” After one taste of these sweet treats, your neighbors will be begging for more.

These fresh packed pickles taste more like marinated vegetables than traditional brined and canned pickles. Fresh packing has several advantages over traditional pickling:

· Lower in salt
· Crisper taste
· No boiling water bath required!

The downside is that they must be kept refrigerated and only keep for a couple of months. Of course, ours never last longer than a week or so. They make a great snack or side dish on a hot summer day.

The recipe is really flexible.
Basically, you need about 10 cups of your favorite vegetables. For this batch, I used the morning’s garden harvest of squash, zucchini, and peppers – which is pictured here. I also tossed in some sweet onions for flavor and a carrot for color.

Earlier in the summer when we had lots of cucumbers, but less squash and peppers, I substituted some cukes for zukes. And sometimes, I slice some hot peppers and toss them in to make a good, spicy mixture.

Late Summer Refrigerator Pickles
Makes approximately 2 quarts
(adapted from a recipe in “The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest” by Carol W. Costenbader)

2 cups sugar
1 cup cider vinegar (you can use white, but the cider gives the marinade a better flavor)

6 cups squash and zucchini, sliced very thin (use a mandolin or food processor if available)
3 cups bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
1 cup onion, sliced into thin strips
1 large carrot, sliced into thin rings
1 very thin-sliced jalapeno (optional)
1 tablespoon pickling salt
1 teaspoon dill seeds

1. 1. Pour the sugar and cider vinegar into a saucepan and heat gently until sugar is dissolved. Turn off heat; don’t let the mixture boil.
2. 2. Place vegetables in a large bowl, sprinkle with pickling salt and dill. Mix well. Set aside for about ½ hour.
3. 3. Gently pack vegetables into clean glass jars. Pour sugar/cider mixture into each jar to completely cover vegetables.
4. 4. Cap tightly and refrigerate for 1-2 days before eating.

These keep for several months in the refrigerator. The original recipe said they keep 2 months, but they’ve never lasted that long in our house!

Note that you don’t have to use traditional canning-type jars. Because these don’t go through a water bath or pressure canner, any tight-fitting lid will do. I save small jars throughout the year and use them in the summer for refrigerator pickles. They make great gifts for friends and neighbors and are welcome at all potluck dinners!

Finally, if you’re looking for more ways to preserve your summer bounty, the book I referenced earlier, “The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest,” is an excellent resource. It has chapters that explain how to can, dry, or freeze foods, make jams and jellies, pickling, and even hints on packing food as gifts. Every chapter contains recipes and safety tips.

But my favorite tip is this nugget from the West Indies:

“Spicy foods make you perspire more, which cools the body. Spices also help stop foods from spoiling as quickly, and give you an endorphin rush that feels good in any temperature.”

Wow! Who can say no to food that cools you off, tastes great, improves your mood, and also may help you avoid Alzheimer’s?

It’s time to whip up a bowl of fresh, homemade salsa.

This is absolutely the best time of year to get fresh ingredients (at least it is if you live north of the equator). Vegetable gardens and farmers’ markets are overflowing with fresh tomatoes, onions, and peppers. You can make quite a respectable salsa using with just those ingredients, but here’s a recipe that’s slightly more complicated.

The addition of some citrus really brings out the flavor of the other ingredients. You get a sweet-hot taste that’s absolutely delicious. Here’s how to turn this plateful of ingredients into yummy salsa.

We use a food processor and fresh ingredients from the garden. Canned tomatoes make perfectly good salsa. They have a better taste than the tomatoes from the grocery store in the winter. But I like to take advantage of the fresh ones during the summer.

Remember that salsa is a forgiving recipe. You can add more of ingredients you like and make substitutions if you need to.

Spicy Citrus Tomato Salsa

2 jalapeno peppers
1 cayenne or other hot pepper (the one shown in the photo is a variety that’s aptly named “Hotter than Hell”)
1 bell pepper
1 small sweet onion (about 3 inches in size)
2 ½ cups (approximately) tomatoes (in the photo, there are sweet cherry tomatoes and a small variety of Roma)
1/3 cup Jose Cuervo Margarita Mix (if you don’t have any, substitute lime juice, water, and sugar)
salt to taste

1. Cut the bell pepper in chunks and remove stem and seeds. Cut the stems off the jalapenos and cayenne and slice into small pieces. Seed them as well if you want a milder tasting salsa.

2. Peel the onion and slice into chunks.

3. Cut tomatoes in half (or smaller pieces if you’re using larger tomatoes than shown)

4. Place the hot peppers, onion, and margarita mix into food processor and dice into tiny pieces. Add bell pepper chunks and chop just for a few seconds.

5. Add tomatoes to pepper and onion mixture and chop until the desires consistency is reached. Less for chunky salsa, longer for smoother salsa.

6. Salt to taste.

Let the salsa sit for a few minutes to let the flavors meld together before serving. This keeps several days in the refrigerator, but there’s usually not any left in our house!

Basil pesto is delicious, but the price of prepared pesto is alarming: expect to pay $5 or more for as little as half a cup! It’s amazing how something so expensive is so easy to make.

Fresh basil is easy to grow in the garden or on your windowsill. Take a pile of leaves, add some garlic, olive oil, and turn a cup of homemade pesto into three delicious meals - some left over to freeze for later. If you grow your own basil, ingredients for all three meals won’t cost much more than that measly little jar of pesto from the supermarket.

Growing and Harvesting Your Own Basil
Growing basil is easy! The term “herb” denotes a plant that’s valued for its taste or medicinal properties. Remember though, that another name for “herb” is “weed” as in “grows like a.” Just ask any gardener who once planted “just a little” mint only to have it take over the garden in a single season.

The good news is that basil is a form of mint, but not nearly as invasive as its cousins peppermint and spearmint. Grow it from seed in pots or transplant seedlings into your garden once the weather is warm. Or, if you’ve bought some fresh-cut basil, take one of the stems (with leaves still attached) and keep it in a glass of water until the stem begins to root. Then, transplant it into a pot and it will grow into a whole new plant.

Harvest basil when the leaves are young and tender because they taste better – a lot better! Beginning gardeners often hesitate to cut much off the plant, but cutting the leaves makes the plant grow new ones. If you don’t keep the plant cut back, it will start to bloom and put more energy into flowering than making leaves. Also, the leaves from a blooming plant will have a sharper flavor that’s not as good.

Be ruthless when you harvest. The plant signals that it’s getting ready to bloom by forming this four-leaf arrangement at the top of the stem. Before the flowers start to form, pinch it back 2-3 inches or more to keep the plant producing leaves.

Three Meals from One Cup of Pesto
Each recipe contains two common ingredients: pesto and cherry tomatoes. Sweet cherry tomatoes are about the only supermarket tomato that’s reliably fit to eat all year round. They taste even better in the summer, straight out of your garden or the local farmer’s market.

You can always substitute other tomato varieties too. Just make sure to use fresh tomatoes, not canned.

Easy Basil Walnut Pesto Recipe Makes about 1 cup
This recipe uses walnuts instead of pine nuts. Walnuts cost less, are lower in fat, and also contain heart-healthy Omega-3 fatty acids. If you prefer the taste of pine nuts, just substitute an equal amount for the walnuts. You can further reduce the fat and calories – and make the recipe vegan - by leaving out the Parmesan cheese.

Ingredients:
4 cups fresh basil leaves
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1/3 cup walnuts
4-6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ cup fresh grated parmesan cheese (optional)
½ teaspoon lemon juice
salt to taste

1. 1. In food processor, blend 1 cup basil leaves, garlic, walnuts, and olive oil, until everything is well-chopped. This pulverizes the garlic so it blends evenly into the pesto mix.
2. 2. Add remaining basil, Parmesan, and chop until mixture forms a paste. Add additional olive oil if needed to reach the desired texture.
3. 3. Add lemon juice and salt to taste. The lemon juice helps preserve the bright green color that otherwise fades quickly (within minutes) to a dull brown.

Note: traditionally, in Italy, pesto is prepared by hand. That’s certainly an option, but it’s a lot of chopping!

Pasta with Pesto and Cherry Tomatoes Serves 2
This is an easy pasta dish that looks pretty and makes ample portions for two people. Double it – or triple it – for additional guests. There shouldn’t be many leftovers, but just in case, the dish is also good served cold or reheated.

Ingredients:
½ pound dried pasta
2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half
3-4 tablespoons pesto (to taste)
4-6 fresh basil leaves for garnish

1. 1. Cook pasta according to package directions and drain.
2. 2. Add pesto to the hot pasta and stir to coat evenly.
3. 3. Top with cherry tomatoes and fresh basil leaves.

Pesto Focaccia Pizza
Focaccia is a flat, chewy Italian bread that tastes wonderful on its own or with added herbs and toppings. In this recipe, the focaccia serves as a thick, chewy pizza dough. Because you top it with fresh tomatoes and bake only until the cheese melts, the tomatoes retain their fresh flavor. It’s delicious and serves for 2-3 people as a main course or 4-6 as an appetizer.

Instructions for baking your own focaccia are below. But if you’re pressed for time, go the easy route and buy a prepared loaf for this recipe.

Ingredients:
1 prepared focaccia loaf (be prepared to pay $3 or more per loaf)
2 cups sliced fresh tomatoes (sweet cherry tomatoes complement the pesto perfectly)
2-3 tablespoons pesto (to taste)
½ to 2/3 cup shredded Mozzarella and Provolone cheese

1. 1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. 2. Mix pesto and tomatoes together in bowl until tomatoes are evenly coated with pesto.
3. 3. Top focaccia with tomato/pesto mixture and sprinkle cheese evenly over the top.
4. 4. Bake approximately 10 minutes until cheese is melted. Don’t bake too long or the focaccia will burn!

Although you can use a bakery focaccia, it’s such an easy and quick bread to make, why not give it a try? Note that to make the focaccia pizza with homemade focaccia, you bake the bread halfway, remove from the oven, add the toppings, and finish baking. Pay close attention to that step; it keeps the bread from getting wet and mushy from the tomatoes.

Easy Homemade Focaccia with Rosemary and Italian Seasoning
Even the basic focaccia recipe is tasty, but this recipe gives a layer of added flavor because you mix dried herbs in with the bread dough. Focaccia is one of the easiest yeast breads; it only rises once and the dough is easy to shape. Focaccia is supposed to be freeform and irregular. The shape adds interest and shouts: “I’m homemade!” to your family and guests.

Mix the ingredients using a large stand mixer with a dough hook. If you don’t have one, it’s ok to mix/knead by hand, but it will take longer.

Ingredients:
2 cups + 2 tablespoons bread flour
2 1/12 teaspoons dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
½ cup hot water (110 to 115 degrees)
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried, minced garlic
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
¼ teaspoon salt

1. 1. Optional: If you have a baking stone, get it out and pour hot water over the top. Let it stand and absorb the water until the dough is ready to bak. This gives the bread a better, moister texture because the stone doesn’t pull moisture out of the dough as the bread bakes.
2. 2. Mix yeast, sugar, and water in a small bowl and let it sit until mixture foams (about 10 minutes)
3. 3. Place 2 cups flour, olive oil, and yeast mixture in mixing bowl and use the dough hook to blend – about 2 minutes.
4. 4. Add salt, garlic and Italian seasoning.
5. 5. Add additional water 1 tablespoon at a time if dough is too dry. The dough should look smooth and not feel sticky to the touch. If you accidentally add too much water, mix in a little additional flour – again 1 tablespoon at a time – until the dough feels right. There’s no exact measurement to this final step. Dough changes according to the type of flour you use and even the humidity. Don’t be afraid to feel it and adjust the flour/water measurements as needed.
6. 6. Place dough in large, oiled glass bowl (to keep dough from sticking to the bowl as it rises). Cover with either a wet towel or plastic wrap (neither should touch the dough!) and let it rise in a warm (80 degrees or so) place. If your kitchen is chilly, heat a cup of water in the microwave until the water boils. Then, place the dough inside the microwave. The yeast will love the warmth and humidity.
7. 7. Let dough rise until it doubles in size (about half an hour).
8. 8. When dough is almost finished rising, preheat oven to 450 degrees.
9. 9. wipe excess water off the baking stone and evenly spread 2-3 tablespoons cornmeal over the top or grease a 9×12 insulated baking pan.
10. 10. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons flour on a cutting board.
11. 11. Punch down the dough, remove it from the bowl, and knead it lightly on the cutting board. Flatten the dough and spread it out until it’s about 1 ½ inch thick.
12. 12. Transfer the flattened dough to the baking stone (or baking sheet). Use a small brush and lightly brush cold water over the top of the dough.
13. 13. Bake focaccia for 15-20 minutes, until lightly browned on top.
14. 14. Serve warm!

Pesto Focaccia Pizza with Homemade Focaccia

1. 1. Mix tomatoes and pesto as noted above. Have the grated cheese ready.
2. 2. Follow steps 1 – 12 for homemade focaccia.
3. 3. Bake focaccia 7-10 minutes, until crust starts to form on the top.
4. 4. Remove bread from the oven and top with tomato/pesto mixture and cheese.
5. 5. Return focaccia to oven and cook for an additional 7-10 minutes.
6. 6. Slice and serve hot from the oven.

Roasted Vegetables and Pesto Pasta Serves 2
Roasting the vegetables adds to their sweetness and introduces extra levels of flavor into a very simple main dish.

Ingredients:
½ pound dry pasta
1 ½ cups cherry tomatoes
1 large bell pepper, sliced into 2 inch chunks
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
dash of salt and black pepper
3-4 tablespoons pesto (to taste)
6-8 fresh basil leaves

1. 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. 2. Place tomatoes and bell pepper chunks into a small bowl. Add olive oil and Italian seasoning. Stir until vegetables are evenly covered with oil and herbs. Pour the mixture into a small baking dish (use one with sides so you can stir during cooking without making a mess) and place in the oven. Roast for approximately 15 minutes – until peppers have softened, but not charred. Stir several times.
3. 3. While the vegetables roast, cook pasta according to the package directions.
4. 4. Drain pasta and stir in pesto. The hot pasta makes it easier to evenly distribute the pesto.
5. 5. Place pasta on two dinner plates and top with roasted tomatoes and peppers. Garnish with several fresh basil leaves. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Freezing Pesto For Later
Pesto doesn’t can well, but it freezes beautifully! It also keeps for quite a while in the refrigerator if you keep tightly covered. However, basil made in June and refrigerated won’t be very tasty in December. Freeze the excess and enjoy that green taste of summer during the dark winter months.

As you’ve seen from these recipes, a little bit of pesto packs a powerful wallop of flavor. Mini-muffin tins (the kind that hold about ¼ cup of batter) are ideal for freezing a single serving of pesto that can be quickly defrosted and added to sauces or used alone.

1. 1. Spray muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. This makes it easy to remove the pesto after it freezes.
2. 2. Spoon pesto into muffin tin and freeze.
3. 3. Remove frozen pesto by prying it out with a small spoon. If it doesn’t want to release from the tin, quickly run a bit of hot water over the bottom of the tin; the pesto “muffins” should pop right out.
4. 4. Immediately place frozen pesto servings into a freezer bag.

If you’re using it in a sauce or soup, you don’t even have to defrost before using. Just add the frozen pesto to the hot liquid. Be very careful about defrosting in the microwave! Pesto has a lot of oil and heats quickly. In just a few seconds, you could end up with a slimy boiled mess. It’s better to let it defrost on the counter. Sit it close to the warm stove and the small serving will defrost pretty quickly with no loss in quality.

The frozen pesto will keep at least 4-6 months. Maybe longer, but we always eat ours pretty quickly!

However you eat it, asparagus is a tasty powerhouse of amino acids, phytochemicals, fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and more. Oh, and it’s also fat and cholesterol-free.

History of Asparagus
Asparagus is a perennial plant and member of the lily family. It grows wild on many continents and has been cultivated for over two thousand years. Ancient Egyptians offered it to their gods. Greeks and Romans revered it as well; Roman farmers were among the first to cultivate the wild plants and grow them commercially. King Louis XIV of France so loved asparagus that he had special greenhouses constructed to allow it to be grown and harvested year round. He’s credited with naming it the “king of vegetables.”

American Indians ate asparagus and also used it for its medicinal properties. Cooks in Africa and Asia revered it for its flavor, medicinal uses, and as an aphrodisiac. In China, people enjoy eating candied asparagus as a special treat.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, asparagus became wildly popular in Europe. Colonists took seeds with them, and spread asparagus cultivation to Australia and other new lands.

Nutritional benefits of Asparagus
Asparagus has grown in popularity during the past decade as we rediscover the health benefits and medicinal properties that our ancestors noticed thousands of years ago.

Half a cup of raw asparagus contains just 12 calories, but is a nutritional powerhouse full of:

• Folic acid: helps prevent birth defects, liver disease, heard disease, and colon cancer.
• Gluthathione: a phytochemical and important antioxidant that regulates other antioxidants in the body. It also helps build immune cells and fight the growth of cancer cells.
• Rutin: this bioflavonoid helps increase the blood’s oxygen-carrying capacity and also helps the body recover from injuries.

It’s also a fat-free, cholesterol-free source of Vitamins A, C, and E, as well as a good source of fiber. Asparagus contains small amounts of iron and calcium.

It’s like having a little vitamin tablet tucked inside each tender, green spear.

How to buy and store asparagus
First, consider growing asparagus if you have any backyard space. The taste of fresh-cut asparagus is truly sublime. It’s easy to grow and, if weather and climate conditions cooperate, you can often get a small fall crop in addition to spring asparagus.

Fresh asparagus should look fresh! Only buy spears that are firm, bright green, and have tightly formed heads (the leaves at the top of the spear). Thin spears tend to have a better taste and texture than thicker ones.

Eat it as soon as possible after purchase. Remember that harvest, packing, and transportation take time. The spears in your local grocery store could have been harvested a week or more before you bring them home. Asparagus is quite perishable, so try to buy from farmers markets or as close to the growing source as possible.

If you have to store your asparagus for a few days, keep it moist, covered, and cold. Wrap the bottom stems in a wet paper towel and store in a moisture-proof container in the refrigerator for several days. When you get ready to cook, check the spears for firmness. If they seem a little limp, snip off the bottom few inches and place upright in a cup or bowl with a few inches of cold water for 10-15 minutes. That may help rehydrate them.

Tips for cooking and serving asparagus
Asparagus cooks quickly. Very quickly. This fact has been known for centuries. Asparagus-lover and Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, had his own phrase for quickly completing a task: “quicker than you can cook asparagus”.

Overcooked asparagus is a terrible, limp reminder of your time in the elementary school cafeteria line. “Mystery meat” was bad enough, but overcooked asparagus is a “mystery vegetable.” The mystery being why anyone would even think about eating it!

Asparagus is easy to cook and adapts well to multiple techniques. Before you cook asparagus, snap off the white, bottom part of the spears.

Steamed: Some people have special, tall pots for cooking asparagus, and others use a vegetable steamer. Neither is necessary; even if you don’t have any special cooking equipment, you can still enjoy steamed asparagus!

Take a large frying pan and put about ½ inch of water in it. Bring water to a boil, add the asparagus and cook only until it turns a bright green – usually less than 2 minutes! The idea isn’t to boil it, but to heat it up and steam it a bit.

Serve topped with a spritz of fresh lemon juice or melted butter. Very fresh, tender asparagus doesn’t need any topping at all.

Grilled: Asparagus tastes delicious grilled. Brush it with olive oil or a marinade and grill for 4-6 minutes, depending on the temperature of your grill and the amount of “crunch” you want in your asparagus.

Stir-fried: Asparagus is a tasty addition to any stir-fried dish. It mixes well with other vegetables or stands out as the star of the dish. Chop the spears into small pieces (about 1-inch) before cooking.

Stir-frying doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to serve asparagus in a Chinese-style dish. Use your imagination, because it combines with a number of flavors and cuisines. Asparagus is tasty, versatile, and nutritious.

Pasta and Asparagus with Fresh Oregano
Serves 2 as a main dish
This is adapted from one of Rachel Ray’s five-ingredient main dish recipes. In this 8-ingredient version, the onions and peppers are soft, but the asparagus remains a little crunchy. It’s a nice texture contrast.

Ingredients:
1/2 pound pasta (spaghetti, linguine, etc)
4T olive oil
1/2 onion, thinly sliced (you’ll want about half a cup of sliced onion)
3-4 garlic cloves, crushed (depending on size & your love for garlic)
1/2 - 2/3 cup thinly sliced red and green bell pepper (you can use just the green, but red pepper adds a nice color contrast)
10-12 stalks Asparagus, cut into 1-2 inch slices
3T minced fresh Oregano (you can also use dried, but the fresh packs a lot more bright flavor)
Salt to taste

1. Heat water for pasta according to directions on package. While the water heats & pasta cooks, prepare the rest of the dish.

2. Heat olive oil and add onions & bell peppers. Cook over LOW heat until onions are clear.

3. Add garlic and cook about 5 minutes more. The slow cooking process sweetens the onions a lot.

4. Cook the Asparagus 30 seconds to 1 minute in the microwave. You just want to warm it up and soften it a bit.

5. When the pasta is almost ready (within a 2-3 minutes), add the asparagus and oregano to onion/garlic/pepper mixture and raise the heat to medium. You MAY want to drizzle a bit more olive oil over it right before you add the pasta.

6. Mix the drained pasta with the asparagus mixture and serve. ]]> http://www.culinarymusings.com/2008/05/celebrate-spring-with-asparagus/feed/ http://www.culinarymusings.com/2007/12/get-even-give-fruitcake/ http://www.culinarymusings.com/2007/12/get-even-give-fruitcake/#comments Fri, 14 Dec 2007 21:49:14 +0000 admin http://www.culinarymusings.com/get-even-give-fruitcake/ The Rich History of a Modern Holiday Treat - Fruitcake

Can you imagine a world without fruitcake? One where it’s actually illegal for Great-aunt Gladys to drag out the family fruitcake recipe and bestow her traditional, indigestible gift on all the nieces and nephews?

It could happen. It has before.

As much as we laugh at fruitcakes now, they were once considered delicacies so rich, so tempting, that eating them was akin to a near occasion of sin. Step back in time and learn what all the fuss was about.

A European Tradition
Fruitcakes date at least as far back as the Roman Empire. Historical documents mention recipes that include raisins, barley, spices, preserved fruits, and pomegranates. They were heavy cakes that traveled well and packed a lot of energy into a small package – the perfect treat for soldiers on the march. Crusaders also ate fruitcake on the march across the continent to the Middle East and brought new fruits and spices back home with them.

Fruitcake recipes changed over the years as trade increased and made different ingredients readily available. The average Middle Ages cake was a light bread with fruit sprinkled throughout, but the recipes steadily became more elaborate. By the 1700’s, the British celebrated every nut harvest with a fruitcake. They baked the cake with the current year’s harvest and saved it to eat the next year, hoping to ensure a successful harvest.

Eventually, the fruitcake evolved into a rich dessert reserved for special occasions like weddings and major holidays. By the 1800’s, laws actually restricted fruitcake to these particular celebrations because fruitcakes were considered to be too “sinfully” rich for everyday consumption.

Fruitcake and the New World
If you ask the average resident of the United States to describe a fruitcake, you’ll probably hear some version of this: a dark, sticky loaf loaded with a variety of garishly-colored candied fruit. You know; something that looks like a cook burned a loaf of bread after dropping a bag of gummy candies in the dough.

We have only ourselves to blame. Traditional fruitcakes were tasty, relatively healthy cakes made with nuts and dried fruits. But excess sugar production in North American colonies made candied fruit so cheap and plentiful that it became a standard ingredient in fruitcakes. The more pedestrian version flavored with dried dates, raisins, and chopped nuts was replaced by cakes laden with sticky candied cherries, plums, and citrus.

Give the original version a try, and savor the “sinful” mixture of raisins, dates, pecans, honey, and rum. You’ll never look at candied fruit again.

Yo Ho Ho and a Slice of Fruitcake
A good fruitcake requires advance planning. It’s probably the only baked good that tastes better after sitting for several months – or even a year. How does the “maturing” process enhance the flavor? Well, it’s soaking up rum, for one thing. Not only does the rum (or liqueur) add flavor, it retards mold as well. Yum!

No, really. A traditional fruitcake is absolutely delicious. Try this recipe for yourself. It’s a variation of another great traditional recipe called “Christmas Fruitcake” that can be found at AllRecipes.com. As the author notes: “It’s a shame that fruitcake as a species gets such a bad rap. With its two key ingredients - rum and butter - it ought to be a hit.”

Three Month Fruitcake
This recipe is substitution-friendly. You can mix and match the dried fruit based on your favorites, although bananas don’t work well. The nuts are optional; if you leave them out, add extra dried fruit. Also, some family members use brandy instead of rum. It’s cook’s choice!

Ingredients• 1 cup dried fruit – figs, raisins, dates, cherries, and cranberries work well.
• ½ cup chopped pecans (walnuts also work)
• 1/3 cup rum (dark rum adds more flavor)
• ½ cup butter
• ¼ cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup cake flour
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking spice
• ¼ cup raw honey (orange blossom adds a great flavor)
• 2 tablespoons milk
• ¼ cup dark rum

Preparation
1. Soak the dried fruit and nuts in 1/3 cup rum for 24 hours in tightly covered container.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a small (6 inch) cake pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper.
3. In small bowl, sift flour, baking soda, salt, and baking spice. Set aside.
4. Cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg.
5. Slowly, by hand, stir in flour mixture, alternating with milk and honey. Don’t use the mixer.
6. Add rum-soaked fruit and nuts (and rum if there’s any left!)
7. Pour batter into cake pan and bake 40 minutes.
8. After cake cools, pour 2-3 tablespoons rum over the top and let it soak in.
9. Cut a piece of parchment paper that’s large enough to wrap around the cake completely. Place the parchment in an airtight tin. Place cake in tin and sprinkle with the remaining rum. Wrap parchment tightly around the cake and cover the tin.

You can eat the cake after a week or so, but it tastes better if it sits for several months. Check the cake every six weeks or so. If it seems to be drying out, add a few teaspoons of rum.

With all the rum, this fruitcake recipe isn’t exactly the most family-friendly recipe available, but it is delicious.

If fruitcake won’t do the trick, check out our kitchen gadgets as holiday gifts article for some gift giving ideas.