Elementary Chef

Ivy, since you didn’t use your raspberries in your lemonade, I dug up another fun use. Italians love their limoncello. But limoncello isn’t the only fruit-based liqueur that will wow your guests and add some zing to your after-dinner imbibing… Try this easy recipe for Raspberry Cordial!

Raspberry Cordial

2 cups granulated sugar
2 pints ripe raspberries, picked over (not molded! and avoid grit)
1 quart vodka

1. Place the sugar in a 3 quart glass jar with a lid. Add the raspberries
and the vodka, and cover. (The sugar may not dissolve completely at first.
It will eventually, however).

2. Place in a dark cool place. Each week for about 2 months open the jar
and stir the cordial.

3. Strain the finished cordial through a very fine sieve into a decanter. (This is important! Otherwise, you’ll have seeds.

Makes 1 1/2 quarts

Invite me over before drinking!

raspberry cordial, drinks, recipes, raspberries

I know it’s hard for beginning cooks to feel confident enough in their skills to experiment in the kitchen, but sometimes very simple things yield fantastic results.

This weekend, I was ready for some lemon bars. But I also had a carton of unused (and beginning to go bad) raspberries. I can’t stand to let good produce go bad, so I decided that lemons and raspberries sounded like a good combination.

Success!

Next time you try lemon bars, throw a handful of raspberries on top, before baking. (I bet blueberries would be yummy, too.) I made mine half-and-half, since my teenager isn’t a raspberry fan. It was fantastic! — an oh-so-easy!

Ever need to wow some dinner guests or maybe an office get-together with an easy, yet elegant, appetizer? One of my favorites is baked brie. Yes, you can buy “baked brie” all ready to throw in the oven at your local deli. But if you’ll go just one small step further, you’ll be rewarded with a bevy of ooh’s and aaah’s from your guests.

You need:
1 brie wedge (any size)
seedless red grapes
brown sugar

Preparation:
Cut the brie in half (lengthwise works best.) Place the brie, cut side up, on a baking sheet. Cut enough red grapes in half lengthwise to lightly cover the 2 brie halves (grapes go onto the brie cut side down.)Then, sprinkle generously with brown sugar.

Bake at 350, until the brie becomes soft and starts to melt.

Serve with french bread or crackers.

appetizer, recipe, brie, cheese, grapes, cooking, brown sugar

A friend was at our house the other day. It was an early afternoon, and I offered lemonade. Realizing I was out, I poured the last glass and said, “Hold on, I’ll make some more.” “What do you mean, you’ll make some more?” she inquired. She was unaware that people made lemonade. It does not all come from gallon jugs, and it is an incredibly simple and thoughtful concoction to offer your guests. Here, I give you three variations:

Steph’s Lemonade

This basic blend is the reason our household buys RealLemon juice in bulk.

1 C. fresh lemon juice or RealLemon
1 C. Sugar

Add both to a 2-Liter pitcher (standard size.) Fill with water. Stir. Serve over ice, and add a sprig of mint if you really want to be fancy.

Sweet Southern Lemonade Tea
Make lemonade as directed above.
Make strong tea. (6-8 teabags, one liter of water, pour over ice to melt.)
Mix together 3 parts tea to 1 part lemonade.

Memphis Rum & Lemonade

It is almost summer in the South, y’all. I had this many years ago in Memphis, strolling down Beale Street, and I’ve been a fan ever since.

Make lemonade per directions above, except, only fill to 1.5 liter mark. Pour a strong shot of rum in a glass over ice. Add lemonade to the top. Drink on your front porch.

summer, recipes, lemonade, lemons, rum, tea

I must be simply in-tune with all the citrus smiling at me in the produce section, but I have been seriously craving lemon this week. Speaking of citrus, have you all noticed how expensive orange juice has gotten? What’s with that? Back to today’s recipe… Lemon Squares… Yum.

LEMON SQUARES

2 sticks butter, softened
2 c. flour
1/2 c. confectioners’ sugar
4 eggs
2 c. sugar
6 T. lemon juice (fresh is best)
1 T. flour
1/2 t. baking powder
Additional confectioners’ sugar

Mix butter, flour, and confectioners’ sugar and press into a 10 x 14″ pan. (I prefer glass — mostly for looks, I suppose.) Bake at 325* for 15 minutes. Beat eggs slightly. Add sugar, lemon juice, flour, baking powder and pecans. Mix and pour on top of pastry. Bake at 325* for 40-50 minutes. Sprinkle with additional confectioners’ sugar.
Cool and cut into squares.

citrus, lemons, lemon squares, baking, cooking, recipes

I love spinach. LOVE it. It’s my favorite salad green, and short of buying it in a can (yuck!), I don’t think you can do it wrong. Today, I have extra to celebrate — spinach was buy 1 pack get 1 free at my local grocery! Here are a couple of favorite ways with spinach:

Spinach Salad – this is a variation on my mom’s fantastic salad
1 bag spinach, double-rinsed
2-3 boiled eggs, sliced in rings (slice the egg lengthwise)
5 scallions, chopped
6 slices of crisp bacon, crumbled
4 oz blue cheese, crumbled

Toss together. Add Russian dressing. Yummmmmmm……

Wilted Italian-style Spinach
Heat 2-3 T of olive oil in a saucepan. Add 1 t of jarred or fresh, minced garlic and saute for one minute. Lower temp to medium, and toss in spinach (1/2 to a whole pack.) Turn spinach as it wilts to keep it from burning.

Spinach, garlic, blue cheese, salad, cooking

I’m one of those folks who believes that having a fabulous sauce or seasoning at your disposal can absolutely MAKE a meal. It’s that well-stocked kitchen philosophy. Case in point? The fabulous sauces offered by Buckhead Gourmet. I have been a loyal fan of these folks since I first met them at my neighborhood Costco a couple of years ago. Since then, I’ve used these at home, bought them for teacher gifts, and included them in wedding gift baskets. I snagged the picture of their onion relish, because my husband’s favorite dish is grilled pork chops with this relish on top!

The site has a number of recipes, but I’m a big fan of just using the grilling sauces on pork chops, chicken, and fish. And I ADORE the Thai Chile Ginger sauce as a finishing sauce for… well, anything! I even like it for chicken fingers! So, go explore! I have yet to taste a sauce I don’t like from them. They also have a fabulous array of recipes! I’ll be trying the Pork-based Southwest Chipotle Chili this week!

Cooking, Sauces, Grilling, Chipotle, Pork Chops, Recipes, Southwest

There are 3 blackening bananas in my kitchen right now that are calling to me…. Here is what we will be snacking on tomorrow!

EASY Banana Bread

3 or 4 very ripe bananas
1.5 sticks butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
1 C. sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 t. baking soda
Pinch of salt
1.5 C. flour

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Mash bananas in a large mixing bowl. Stir in melted butter, then sugar, egg, vanilla, baking soda and salt.

3. Add the flour to the mix and stir together.

4. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and pour mixture into pan.

5. Bake 1 hour.

banana bread, muffins, cooking

It took me a long time to master rice — and really, it shouldn’t be a hard task! As with many things in my life, I’m always looking for the shortest route possible. I assumed that the shortest path to cooked rice was through my microwave. Not so! Now, some of you may have a rice cooker. I LOVE those. They’re wonderful! But, in my pared down kitchen, there just isn’t room for a rice cooker. Especially, since I’ve discovered that stove-top rice preparation is just as easy.

To prepare rice on the stove-top, add 1.5 cups water for each cup of rice (white or brown). Add rice and water to pot before turning on heat. Cover pot, and heat to boiling. Turn heat down to medium — hot enough that the rice won’t boil over. Now go do something else! Make your entree! The rice will prepare itself (as long as you don’t let it boil dry!)

The other note I need to add here, is that I recently discovered the glory of organic brown rice. I buy it locally at our Fresh Market, and the taste is well worth the extra price.

Let them eat rice!

I searched high and low for the perfect blueberry muffin recipe for you, and I decided that I’d go with a favorite stand-by — Bisquick. I buy Bisquick in bulk at Costco. It’s incredible. Add cheese and ground beef for Cheeseburger Pie… Make perfect shortcakes for strawberries… Whip up super-fast pancakes… Or, add blueberries for fantastic muffins!

Let the cheapskate in me take this opportunity to point out that for baking, you’re FINE to use frozen blueberries. They’re usually cheaper, and I can’t taste the difference.

Ingredients:
2 cups Original Bisquick® mix
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 egg
3/4 cup fresh or frozen (thawed and drained) blueberries

1. Heat oven to 400ºF. Place paper baking cup in each of 12 regular-size muffin cups, or grease bottoms only of muffin cups.
2. Stir all ingredients except blueberries just until moistened. Gently stir in blueberries. Divide batter evenly among cups.
3. Bake 13 to 18 minutes or until golden brown.

Happy breakfasting!

blueberries, muffins, cooking

There may be nothing more decadent than strawberries and cream. Scratch that. Add some champagne. NOW you have decadence! Thanks to a comment asking for a cream sauce recipe, I’m going to skip blueberry muffins until tomorrow, and instead answer the request!

Berries and cream… YUM! Even though cream sauce tastes terribly decadent, it’s incredibly easy to make. Remember last week when we made whipped cream for our hot chocolate? Well, same principle, only less mixing. If you want to go a little lighter, you can use half-and-half for this recipe. But the heavy cream sure is good.

First, start with a dish of washed and stemmed berries. If you’re working with strawberries, my favorite way to stem them is to spear a fork through the stem end of the strawberry and twist 180 degrees. No more stem.

Now, in a mixing bowl, combine cream and powdered sugar to the desired flavor of sweetness. Beat with an electric mixer until you reach the desired consistency for cream sauce — think very thick potato soup. Some folks like to add a little brandy or champagne at this point. If you are adding alcohol, whip the cream just a little more than you think you should, and fold in the alcohol (about a tablespoon per serving.) To fold in, do NOT use the electric mixer. Use a spoon, gently turning the cream as you pour the liquid in. The trick is to not unsettle the sauce with heavy mixing. (Now, lick the spoon. It’s WRONG to let this stuff go to waste!)

Pour the cream sauce over the berries, and to be extra fancy, garnish with a sprig of mint.

It’s berry good!

berries, cream, cooking,

brandy

I love reader requests. Today’s request has to do with blueberries. It seems that there is a lot of buzz about blueberries — and why wouldn’ there be? The newest super-food…. Tons of antioxidants…. And they’re berries. What can be wrong with that? So I said I’d share some of my favorite ways to eat blueberries.

Way 1: Wash them. Pop them in your mouth. I’m not sure there’s anything I can tell you to do with blueberries that beats that, but here’s a try…

Blueberry Smoothie
serves 2

1 ripe medium banana
1 pint fresh blueberries (you can use frozen, too)
8 oz. yogurt (plain)
1 C. orange juice (or you can use milk)
1/2 cup crushed ice

Combine all of the ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.

If you get tired of blueberries, this also does well with stawberries, raspberries, and really, any mixture of berries. For a creamier smoothie, omit the ice.

Come back tomorrow for my favorite blueberry muffin recipe… Happy cooking!

smoothie, blueberries, cooking

I don’t know about you, but the produce section at my grocery store almost depresses me this time of year. The tomatoes are pink. Cucumbers are tasteless. Nothing is right. So what’s a girl to do? Give up on salads this time of year? On the contrary, it’s time to get more creative.

For starters, consider some variations on the base theme. Try spinach only. Or an arugula/romaine blend. Or if lettuce isn’t your bag, skip it altogether!

Now for the toppings, if you’re like me and can’t stomach those pink tomatoes, try a pack of grape tomatoes. These tiny gems somehow maintain their somewhat tart flavor — even in February! Or if the tart is too much for you, sundried tomatoes are always a great option.

Other flavor-packed favorites of mine include: any kind of olive, hearts of palm (buy these in a jar), marinated artichokes, and ANY kind of cheese. And for another unexpected twist, top your salad with a handful of cooked pasta to really bring it all together. (The pasta works best with oil-based dressings.) In fact while we’re on the topic, now is a great time to try a new salad dressing. While I’m a big fan of saving money at the grocery, salad dressing is worth the splurge. The refrigerated dressings in the produce section really are worth the extra cash. My personal fave? Marie’s Blue Cheese Vinaigrette!

Happy tossing!

salad, heart of palm, cooking

Cooking the perfect egg is something EVERY elementary chef should master. Whether you like yours poached, scrambled, or fried, eggs are nowhere near as intimidating as many rookie cooks imagine.

Frying scares many because, well, the timing seems so crucial. You have to get that yolk just runny enough — or not runny at all. While timing the egg will require some trial an error, there are a few easy steps that will at least get you to the timing part more easily.
1) Do not try to fry an egg over high heat. Eggs do best over medium heat (or a low flame on your gas stovetop.)
2) Do use a non-stick skillet and a tablespoon of olive oil or butter/margarine.
3) Use fresh eggs. If those eggs have been in your fridge for 6 months, they’re going to turn rubbery — no matter how perfectly you cook them.
When you’re frying eggs, you need to crack them extra carefully, to avoid scrambling the yolks. Then slide them into the already hot (but not too hot!) oil, and salt and pepper while cooking. Turn the eggs gently with a spatula, unless you’re going for true Sunny Side Up, which are not turned. (Over easy are.)

For your info, and in case you’re cooking eggs to order for a crowd, common ways to prepare fried eggs include:

Sunny Side Up — the egg is only cooked on one side, the yolk is 100% runny, and the top white is also runny. Because of salmonella risk, some states will not allow diners to serve eggs this way!
Over Easy — the egg is turned, but the yolk is kept runny. The white should cook all the way through (thereby destroying the salmonella risk.)
Over Medium — the egg is turned, the yolk is relatively firm but still loose, the white is fully cooked.
Over Hard — the egg is fried to a uniform, firm consistency. The yolk is completely cooked.

If you want to be extra fancy, add a little marjoram or chervil — especially if you can find some fresh!

eggs, cooking, sunny side up

Two things I love! Olives and freebies! California Olives is once again offering free recipe postcards to anyone (US residents only, sorry!) who fills out a request on their website at http://www.calolive.org/postcards/index.html?ref=HC200702COI

I requested and received this packet last go-round, and it’s darling. (It did take a long time to get to me, but, hey, that just made it a surprise when it came!)

While you’re at their website, check out the fabulous recipe links, too! There’s one with avocadoes that I just HAVE to try!

olives, cooking, free recipes