Pasta Salad with Tomatoes, Zucchini and Feta

I love salads in the summer time but I'm not a huge fan of pasta type anything. I know...weird. Sometimes I realize, however, that my pasta prejudice is just that because when I make myself eat some of the things I think I won't like I wind up with a pleasantly positive pasta experience!

Like this salad. Cindy and I made it for our recent girls night out with the SinG ladies. I thought it sounded good in a "if you like pasta" kind of way but then wound up loving it so much I could've eaten the whole bowl. That's saying something because this recipe seems to make enough to feed two or three Brooklyn Tabernacle Choirs, as opposed to five ladies in a women's ensemble. I think I was eating leftovers for more than a week.

Pasta Salad with Tomatoes, Zucchini, and Feta

(I'm no longer sure where we got this recipe. Might have been from the Pioneer Woman cooking site.)

Note: Cindy and I got many of the veggies, herbs, and the lemon from a local farmer's market stand. Whew...that freshness factor sure made all the ingredients pop with such a sweet taste of summer.

Ingredients:

12 ounces, weight Farfalle (bowtie) Pasta

2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 whole Lemons (more To Taste)

Salt

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

2 whole Zucchini, Cut Into Small Wedges Or Diced

10 ounces, weight Grape Tomatoes, Halved Lengthwise

1/3 cup Minced Fresh Parsley

6 ounces, weight Crumbled Feta Cheese

Directions:

Cook pasta until done. Drain and rinse in cold water until completely cool. Add olive oil and lemon juice, then add salt and pepper to taste (do not undersalt). Toss to combine. Add zucchini, tomatoes, parsley, and feta, and toss to combine. Add more of what you think it needs; I like to go heavy on the feta! Squeeze in a little more lemon juice/drizzle more olive oil if it needs more moisture.

Cover in plastic wrap for at least a couple of hours. Pasta is best when chilled for a few hours before serving.

*Note: Add grilled shrimp, grilled chicken, or grilled flank steak if you need a little protein.

Strawberry Summer Cake

I have a confession to make - I'm not sure I totally love Deb's cakes. Not Little Debbie (I love those!) but Deb from Smitten Kitchen. Making this statement is tantamount to blasphemy as the mother of a daughter who has her own cooking blog dedicated to doing everything the smitten kitchen kind of way.

It just seems that every cake I've ever made from Deb's site tends to turn out more dense than I'm used to. More notably, Martin never likes any of them - probably because, in addition to their very heavy texture, they lean toward the not very sweet side.

Cindy and I recently hosted the women in our ladies ensemble group at my house for a "reunion" of sorts. Now that we belong to three different churches, we no longer meet as a functioning singing group, although it turns out we have a gig for October...or was that November? This meeting at my house was to fellowship together, swim a bit, discuss what we'll sing, do a preliminary practice on those songs, and EAT.

We chose the cake thinking it would have a nice summery taste. When I think of summer, I think light and fruity. OK...the strawberries definitely fit the fruit requisite but the cake itself was...just as I've described....dense and not very sweet. We used some excess strawberries to make a sauce, sweetened with sugar, and put that over each piece. Add a big scoop of ice-cream and the cake got a whole lot better tasting.

It's not that this is a bad cake - not by any means. I think it makes a great morning treat to be eaten with a big ole' cup of coffee. Matter of fact, that's how most of Deb's cakes should be presented, if you ask me.

Strawberry Summer Cake

(recipe courtesy of Smitten Kitchen)

6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for pie plate

1 1/2 cups (188 grams) all-purpose flour (can swap 3/4 cup or 94 grams all-purpose flour with 3/4 cup or 75 grams of barley flour, see Note)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon table salt

1 cup (200 grams) plus 2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar

1 large egg

1/2 cup (118 ml) milk

1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract

1 pound (450 grams) strawberries, hulled and halved

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Butter a 10-inch pie pan or 9-inch deep-dish pie pan (what I used). I did not test this with a standard 9-inch pie plate but looking at the margin of space leftover in my deep-dish pan after baking the cake, I suspect you’d be safe. Updated 6/13/11: This cake does not work in a standard 9-inch pie pan; it will overflow. Big apologies to anyone who learned the hard way! This cake would work, however, in a 9- or 10-inch springform or cake pan. The 10-inch would make a thinner cake than pictured.

Whisk flour or flours, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 1 cup sugar until pale and fluffy with an electric mixer, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg, milk and vanilla until just combined. Add dry mixture gradually, mixing until just smooth.

Pour into prepared pie plate. Arrange strawberries, cut side down, on top of batter, as closely as possible in a single layer (though I had to overlap a few to get them all in). Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.

Bake cake for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 325°F and bake cake until golden brown and a tester comes out free of wet batter, about 50 minutes to 60 minutes. (Gooey strawberries on the tester are a given.) Let cool in pan on a rack. Cut into wedges. Serve with lightly whipped cream.

Do ahead: Cake can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days, loosely covered, but good luck with that.

Easy Homemade French Fries

In the days before Brian went back to college last week, I was making every effort to whip up food that he'd like. One of my ideas was to make homemade fries. While he's not quite so gourmet as his food snob sister, my youngest kid likes the idea of mom working in the kitchen and not using prepared or instant type foods.

This recipe seemed, well...easy enough. How could it not be when the recipe title clearly touted how simple it would be to produce authentic french FRIED potatoes, as opposed to those frozen ones that come in red plastic bags and get baked in the oven. (Not that I'd ever buy or even have knowledge of that kind.)

It just happened that as I was getting my potatoes washed up to cut, Emily called. Upon hearing what I was making, she made the quick pronouncement that "french fries are hard to make." WHAT? If my cooking expert daughter considered them hard, how on earth was I going to fare in making these fries???? I think I probably, in my despair, considered chucking the potatoes right there and heading for the bag of frozen ones that just might have been residing in my freezer.

It turned out that it was too late to turn back. Brian and Alex had already caught me in the act of cutting the potatoes and were clearly fascinated at the concept of a stout, round potato going through it's handy, dandy slicer gadget and coming out in perfect french fry size strips. Now I was committed to taking those raw logs (or batons as the brown eyed baker cleverly and artistically refers to them) and making them into something that would hopefully rise above Emily's dire predictions and wind up being edible. Time and a vat of hot peanut oil would tell.

In the end, the fries turned out to be easy...and way more than edible. Brian loved them, promptly telling me I needed to make french fries every night, Emily was happily astounded at my success, and I felt on top of the world for conquering the potato.

PS - My picture is also courtesy of the brown eyed baker. Our batch got eaten up before I could take any pictures. You know how you can bake or make something in the kitchen, following a recipe and pictures, only to have yours wind up looking not nearly as photogenic as the original? Trust me, our batch of fries looked just like the ones from the brown eyed baker.

Easy Homemade French Fries

(recipe courtesy of browneyedbaker.com)

Yield: 4 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 30 minutes

2½ pounds Yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed, dried, sides squared off, and cut lengthwise into ¼-inch by ¼-inch batons

6 cups peanut oil

1. Combine the potatoes and the oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot. Cook over high heat until oil has reached a rolling boil, about 5 minutes. Continue to cook, without stirring, until potatoes are limp but exteriors are beginning to firm, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, line a baking sheet with a double layer of paper towels.

2. Using tongs, stir potatoes, gently scraping up any that stick, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until golden and crisp, 5 to 10 minutes longer. Using a skimmer or slotted spoon, transfer fries to paper towel-lined baking sheet. Season with salt (and pepper, if desired) and serve immediately.

Note: Do not use sweet potatoes or russet potatoes; the starch content won’t hold up to frying in this manner.

Chicken Pot Pie

One of Martin's favorite places to eat when the kids aren't around to complain about his taste is "The Chicken Pie Diner" in Poway. The restaurant is small and really nothing special (unless you like cheesy 50's decor) but they do serve a tasty chicken pot pie. Which is exactly what Martin orders every single time we go.

Every once in awhile I try to duplicate the Chicken Pie diner pot pie. Sometimes I'll make the smaller individual sizes like they do at the restaurant and sometimes I'll go for a big pie, based on whatever recipe happens to be striking my fancy at the time.

Tonight I tried a new recipe that I found on Pinterest. I really don't remember if the link was directly off that site or more of a "click this and see where it takes you" kind of rabbit chase. I think it was the more circuitous route.

Ideally, I would've waited for a crisp fall day to start making my pot pie but since I had the ingredients and since it seemed like something Martin would like, I decided that our recent cool-down from the sweltering heat wave (Southern California style..as in we got to 90 degrees) would have to do for pot pie weather.

Everything went together easily. What I really loved was when the directions said to keep stirring until the sauce thickened...and it did! Sometimes I'll get an instruction like that and feel like I've been stirring away for hours with no discernible difference in whatever mixture I'm trying to turn into a nice thickened state. How gratifying to watch tonight's sauce take on a hearty, thick form in just a few minutes.

Martin really liked this pie and for that matter, so did I. Next time I might add some potatoes but, other than that, the recipe is great just as it's written.

Chicken Pot Pie

(courtesy of http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/)

Ingredients:

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed

1 cup sliced carrots

1 cup frozen green peas

(Or use 16oz bag of frozen carrots and peas. Much easier.)

1/2 cup sliced celery

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon celery seed

32 oz. carton chicken broth for boiling (reserve 1 3/4 cups chicken broth for sauce)

2/3 cup milk

2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

Instructions:

Recipe Notes: I like to slightly bake the bottom crust before filling the pie so it isn't soggy. Just bake for 5-6 minutes at 425 degrees.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)

In a pot, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add the carton of chicken broth to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain (reserving 1 3/4 cup chicken broth for filling) and set aside.

In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and combine with the chicken, carrots, peas, and celery mixture. Here you can add more chicken broth if you like depending how runny you want your filling.

Place the chicken filling in bottom crust. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Thirty Minute Rolls

I'm always about maximum homemade type taste for minimum work and the rolls I made for dinner tonight definitely came under that dictate. Yeast rolls in thirty minutes from first mix to oven? My kind of recipe!

When I was done mixing the first batch it hit me that I'd forgotten to add sugar. Not good. I went ahead and added it to the formed dough but the final ball didn't feel or look right. For one thing it was so sticky I could barely form the balls necessary for my rolls. I'd slather butter on my hands, pick up one sticky, stucky blob, barely get it off my hands and into the pan, and then go back for another even more barely formed ball. The instructions called for the rolls to sit for about ten minutes so they could, according to the picture on the cooking blog where I got the recipe, rise a bit and make themselves ready to be baked into a perfect dinner roll. Ummmm....mine didn't get that memo. Instead of puffing up prettily, gravity took hold of my pitiful blobs, causing them to spread out and down. If I'd left them long enough, I probably would've had a fully fused strange pie crust.

I knew nothing good was going to come of that batch so I finally scrapped it entirely and started all over again. Guess what? When you put the correct ingredients into the dough, and in the correct order, you get a mixture that holds itself together and allows you to make the individual rolls with ease.

If we subtract the time for batch one, this really was a thirty minute process and it really did produce a very yeasty and tasty dinner roll.

30 Minute Rolls

(Recipe from homebasedmom.com)

1 C plus 2 Tbsp warm water

1/3 C oil

2 Tbsp yeast

1/4 C sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

3 1/2 C bread flour (seems to work better but all purpose flour will also work)

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

In your mixer bowl combine the water, oil, yeast and sugar and allow it to rest for 15 minutes. Using your dough hook, mix in the salt, egg and flour. Knead with hook until will incorporated and dough is soft and smooth. (Just a few minutes)

Form dough into 12 balls and then place in a greased 9 x 13 pan and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees or until golden brown.

M&M Cookies

I would like to be the type of person who has such a well-stocked pantry that I could, on a whim, decide to whip up any recipe desired. Nope, not me. I'm much more the kind of cook who looks up a recipe (or steals one from a friend), goes out and buys the necessary ingredients, and then cooks up something good to eat...hopefully!

Yesterday, at a very absurdly late hour of the night, Brian decided we should try making cookies. This comes on the heels of a rather strange development over the past couple of days. My consumer but not creator of food has suddenly taken to cooking and baking. I liken it to the time period when Tim got hooked on sports. Both boys went from complete disinterest and/or unawareness of a new passion to being overcome with a newfound love for sports in Tim's case and cooking in Brian's.

Brian debated between two recipes last night - Michelle Obama's "Mama Kaye's White and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies" or Ann Romney's "M&M Cookies". Ann won out, simply because Brian was a bit concerned about the Obama recipe needing two whole sticks of butter. The Romney version had half that amount which made Brian feel downright virtuous about choosing the "healthy" cookie.

Surprisingly, I could pull up every one of the ingredients necessary, though I was a bit short on the oatmeal, especially after spilling a big portion on the floor and then having to frantically sweep it up before our 11 pound dog ate every morsel and exploded.

The cookies remind me of ranger cookies I ate as a child. They also kind of remind me of those Pinterest recipes that take one cookie and throw in every ingredient in the kitchen, presumably to make sure everyone is happy with some aspect of the finished product. Either that or no one is.

The peanut butter means Martin will not eat these cookies but we'll take them to a friend's house tonight for our Fourth of July fireworks viewing and I'm sure a few will be eaten there.

M&M's Cookies

Ann Romney (from Family Circle magazine)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups crunchy peanut butter

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

2 teaspoons baking soda

6 oz. chocolate chips

2/3 cups M&M candies

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, cream sugars, butter, peanut butter and corn syrup on high speed until well combined. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in vanilla extract.

2. In a separate bowl, mix together oats and baking soda. Stir into peanut butter mixture until combined. Mix in chocolate chips and M&M's.

3. Using a standard size ice-cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets (about 9 per sheet). Bake 325 for 18 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool two minutes then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

All-American Potato Salad

We had a church picnic this weekend to celebrate the fourth of July. I know - it was a bit early but living in a bedroom community where this holiday is routinely celebrated on a day that is not the fourth, I'm able to handle this kind of shake-up. When your six year old son makes a big colorful poster (complete with his depiction of exploding fireworks) that proudly proclaims "Happy Third of July" you know you're living in a neighborhood that has screwed up the holiday dates one time too many.

Ok, back to this years first of July celebration. The sign-up sheet for the event was a little more specific than is the norm at our church. In fact, we usually don't even bother with advance notice of who's bringing what, opting instead for the surprise system of waiting to see who shows up with what. But not this time - not only were we encouraged (cajoled, begged, coerced) to sign up, we were only given three options of what to bring! The church would provide hamburgers, hot dogs, and all the fixins, plus drinks. Our part was to provide 1) potato salad 2) baked beans and 3) dessert. In a church of such racial diversity this list seemed a bit limited but, being my usual compliant and non-racially diverse self, I decided to obediently show up with a potato salad.

This one tasted pretty good and got good reviews from folks at the picnic. At least those who ate my version, as opposed to the other 15 potato salads!

I'll say one more thing about potato salad, before writing out the recipe. My mom had her own version that was widely loved by anyone who ever ate it. And no wonder. She spent a lot of time whipping up a sauce that was kind of tangy sweet and made you want to eat gallons of the stuff. That's the potato salad I grew up eating so when I tasted my first non-sweetish version I was surprised and probably a bit aghast at how anyone could possibly think I or anyone one else would want to eat such a watered down, bland version. I've changed my mind over the years, mostly because Martin doesn't like the sweeter versions. Which is not to say I wouldn't kill for a big-bowlful of my mom's best ever potato salad. Sigh....

All-American Potato Salad

modified from AllRecipes

(yes, Cindy - I did MODIFY this recipe by taste!)

5 potatoes

3 eggs

1 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped onion (I used chives to add color)

1/2 cup sweet pickle relish (I used dill pickles cut up into small pieces)

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

1/4 teaspoon celery salt

1 tablespoon prepared mustard

ground black pepper to taste

1/4 cup mayonnaise (I added a bit more mayo because it seemed dry. And it's saying something when I add mayo as I'm not a huge lover of wet mayonaisey type mixes.)

Black olives (I didn't put these in because Martin won't eat them but I love olives in potato salad.)

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain, cool, peel and chop.

Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil; cover, remove from heat, and let eggs stand in hot water for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from hot water, cool, peel and chop.

In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, eggs, celery, onion, relish, garlic salt, celery salt, mustard, pepper and mayonnaise. Mix together well and refrigerate until chilled.