A Tribute to Grandmama Rose

This post is a tribute to Grandmama Rose (my mother) and all the exceptional cooks we have in our family. A person doesn't realize the infuence they have on their kids and successive generations as they go about their daily duties. My mother, born Barbara Jean Viola, whom we affectionately call Grandmama Rose, is a wonderful cook. She was raised in an Italian family and community in Scranton, PA and worked in her father's bar & grill called The Mayflower. My parents had six children and my mom was always in the kitchen cooking up something good when I was a kid. It was my self-assigned job to "stir the pot" which I still love to do. Rose now has 11 grandchildren and 4 greats. She's produced many good cooks!

Honorable mention goes to my three sisters: Pati, who has always enjoyed "creating" something good out of her imagination; Liz, who has a knack for spotting a great recipe and producing something tasty; and Mary Catherine who can literally do anything she sets her mind to and grows and raises much of what she cooks. When the four of us cook a meal, there's not much talking around the table but a whole lot of shoveling!

In the next generation, honorable mention goes to my son Josh who learned to delight the girls in college with his culinary skills; my niece Emily who works in a bakery decorating cakes; my nephew Kyle who bakes his own bread and pizza; and my niece April who has just recently discovered her own talent at the stove. Maybe someone from this generation will open a Mayflower, hmm?

My husband bought me this KitchenAid for Christmas (no doubt to nudge me back into baking) so we are now enjoying a variety of sweets and breads. Here's a recipe that Rose used to make years ago - a fond childhood memory and one of the best chocolate cakes you'll ever bake!

Sour Cream Chocolate Pound Cake

• 1 C. butter
• 2 C. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 4 TBS cocoa
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 C. sour cream
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 1/2 C. flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1C. boiling water

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Stir in cocoa & vanilla. Mix sour cream & soda; add to mixture. Sift together flour and salt; add to mixture. Add boiling water. Pour into a bundt pan that has been greased and dusted with cocoa. Bake 1 hour 30 min. at 325 degrees.

Icing

• 2 TBS butter
• 3 TBS cocoa
• 2 C. powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• milk as needed

Melt butter and cocoa in a saucepan on the stove. Add vanilla. Add powdered sugar. Add enough milk to make the right consistency. Drizzle over the cake.

Comfort Food

It's a rainy Sunday in Tallahassee so here are a couple good recipes for comfort food. Enjoy!

Magnificent Meatloaf

2 pc sour dough bread
1 egg
¼ c. milk
Olive oil
½ med. Bell pepper, finely chopped (yellow, red or orange)
½ med. Onion, finely chopped
4 mushrooms, chopped in pieces
2 cloves fresh garlic
2 lbs. ground beef (preferably organic)
Salt to taste
Lemon pepper to taste
1 tsp. Dried parsley
¼ c. Parmesan cheese
½ c. Katsup

Preheat oven to 350°. Pour milk over sour dough bread. Beat egg and pour over the bread and milk; let soak.

On low heat, sauté peppers, onion and mushrooms in olive oil. Add garlic.

In a large bowl, mix hamburger, bread mixture, sautéed pepper mixture, salt, pepper, parsley and parmesan cheese. Shape into meatloaf and place in a pan coated with olive oil. Cook for 30-40 min. uncovered. Remove from oven and coat meatloaf with katsup. Cook for 20 more minutes uncovered.


Gourmet Tuna Casserole

1 sm. Onion, chopped
2 sticks of celery with leafy tops, sliced
4 mushrooms, cut in pieces
1-2 fresh garlic cloves
Splash of white wine
Fresh herbs – parsley, oregano and thyme (1 TBS of each)
1 can cream of celery soup
1 cup lite sour cream
2 cans of white chunk tuna, drained
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 c. Parmesan cheese
2/3 c. Fresh bread crumbs
1 pkg. wide egg noodles

Preheat oven to 400° for the casserole and put a pot of water on the stove to boil for the egg noodles. Partially cook the egg noodles while you prepare the tuna casserole.

Sautee onion and celery on low heat. Add mushrooms and garlic cloves. When veggies are soft, throw in a splash of wine. Add fresh herbs. Turn heat off. Add cream of celery soup, tuna, cheese and sour cream, mix together. Fold in partially cooked egg noodles. Put tuna mixture in a casserole dish greased with olive oil. In a food processor, make fresh bread crumbs (pumpernickel-rye is a good choice). Add parmesan to the bread crumbs and sprinkle over the tuna casserole. Bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes until breadcrumbs are crispy and casserole is bubbling.

Live Simple, Eat Simple

So friends, it's been a long time since I've blogged. 2009 was a stressful year for me but I have since then simplified my life and things are much better now. I will try to blog more often. This picture is Tom's grandparents at their 75th wedding anniversary this past December. Mary Lou and Marvin are our role models for simple living. Now in their 90's, they work long days growing all of their own vegetables and raising their own beef. They got married when he was 16 and she was 15 and as the story goes, after they were married, it took Marvin three years to sell enough collard greens to buy Mary Lou's wedding ring...true story! Mary Lou went to New Orleans on a recent girl's trip and Marvin was in trouble with his daughters for going out dancing twice on the weekend without Mary Lou. (Now, that just ain't right!)

Tom and I are getting the garden ready to plant (I supervise and he does the work). It's always tempting to plant too soon because you get anxious when the weather warms up. Be warned...it WILL freeze again so don't plant yet! We have really gone out on a limb lately by buying all of our vegetables, meats and dairy organic. No pesticides, additives, preservatives, hormones or antibiotics, whew! It is much more expensive but it's just the two of us and it is so much better for you! My sister who lives in NY stayed with me recently and she thought I was trying to detox her. There was no sugar, soda, additives, preservatives, etc. in the house and we live far enough out in the country that you don't just jump in the car and run to the store when you want a treat. I thought she would have a breakdown if I didn't get her a diet coke. Not in this house, baby!!

Anyway, today's blog is inspired by the fact that many of the most delicious dishes that I cook are so simple and good for you. Here's a fish recipe that is ALL THAT!

Grilled Salmon with Roasted Vegetables
(I made this for dinner tonight and it was awesome.)

Start by preparing your roasted vegetables. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the vegetables in large bite size chunks. Put the first 4 veggies and the fresh garlic in a roasting pan and douse it with extra virgin olive oil. Season with kosher salt, lemon pepper and dried oregano. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes. After 30 min., add the tomatoes, pineapple, mushrooms and fresh cilanto. Return to the oven for 15 minutes more or until vegetables are tender.

zuccini
onion
red bell peppers
sweet potatoe
fresh garlic cloves cut in small pieces
mushrooms
cherry tomatoes
pineapple
fresh cilantro

Once you put the vegetables in the oven, start your charcoaler. We use real charcoal, not gas. To prepare your salmon, season with kosher salt, lemon pepper, seafood seasoning and garlic. Use a disposable tin pan and pour about 2 tbls of olive oil in the bottom. Put the salmon in flesh side down. When the grill is ready, cook the fish on this side for about 2 minutes then flip it to the skin side down. Cook with lid down until the salmon is barely cooked all the way. Check it often and do not overcook! When you take the salmon out of the pan, the skin will stick to the bottom so just lift the salmon off of the skin to remove. Then you can throw away the pan.

Serve the salmon with the roasted vegetables and a glass of white wine. Perfectly simple!

TIP: Buy wild-caught, Alaskan salmon. It is on the list of sustainable fish. Most farmed salmon (which includes ALL Atlantic salmon) are raised in tightly packed, open-net pens often having parasites and diseases that threaten the wild salmon trying to swim by to their ancestral spawning waters. Farmed salmon are fed fishmeal, antibiotics and have high levels of PCBs. Yuck!

Chicken Soup for the Soul

As I was preparing for a big meeting a couple weeks ago...consumed with details (day and night) my son had an unfortunate incident. Someone broke into his house, turned it upside down and stole his car. To make matters worse, he did not have comprehensive insurance...a total loss. The police were zero help. We dealt with matters over the phone but I never got to see him face-to-face before I left town. By the time I returned from a week-long trip, he was laid up in bed with a fever and bronchitis. As parents, we want to protect our kids from this world (no matter how old they are). But in reality, no adversity...no growth. I know that's true but I don't like it. My lame offering upon returning home was a pot of chicken soup. Comfort food for the hurting soul.

In my small world of family and friends, I'm known affectionately as the "Soup Nazi". No soup for you! (Well, maybe if you're in need.) Here's my recipe so you can spread the love.

Chicken Noodle Soup
Put a whole chicken in your biggest pot and fill it with water. (Don't forget to take the guts out of the chicken first!) Boil the chicken for about 1 1/2 hours, until it is falling off the bones. Add 2-3 chicken bullions while the water is boiling (I like to use Knorr brand). While your chicken is boiling, cut up your veggies. You can use what ever you have in your frig that might taste good but this is what I used in my last pot of soup: lots of celery, chopped up including the leafy part; 1 med. onion; yellow squash; zucchini; shreaded carrots; green onions; fresh garlic. Saute the veggies and garlic in a separate pan in olive oil and set aside. When your chicken is done, scoop out all the chicken pieces and let them cool enough to handle them. Skim most of the chicken fat off of the broth. Bring the broth to a boil again and add the veggies. Also add salt, lemon pepper, lots of fresh herbs (parsley, cilantro, oregano and thyme), and some dried herbs. Debone the chicken and add it to the soup. Throw away the skin and bones. (If you use a large chicken, you can save most of the chicken breast to make chicken salad.) Cook a small pot of flat egg noodles in a separate pot. When they are done, drain and add to the soup. Chicken soup is good the first day you make it but it's even better after sitting in the frig over night. Mmmm, I think I'll go heat some up!

Garlic's Ready!

Hey Ya'll, garlic's ready...come and get it! We only harvested half of the crop we have plenty more to dig up. It's drying out right now but you're welcome to it.

I've had some requests for recipes so I'm going to start posting your requests...

Pasta Salad

I like to use two different kinds of macaroni - Penne, Corkscrews and Mini Bowties are some good ones. Also, the tri-color pastas are nice for pasta salad.
1/2 small onion
3-4 plum tomatoes, chopped
6 stalks of asparagus, lightly steamed, cut in 2" pieces
1 can whole artichoke hearts (packed in water - Virgo), cut in quarters
1 can black olives or calamata olives
2 cloves fresh garlic, crushed
1 big handful of fresh spinach, chopped
6 sprigs of fresh herbs, chopped (I always use cilantro but parsley, basil and oregano are good too...you can use all four if you want!)
Salt
Lemon pepper
Italian dressing (olive oil and balsalmic vinegar based)
1 small pkg Feta cheese (The basil and sun dried tomato feta is also good to use.)

Cook the different pastas separately because they all have different cook-times. Drain, cool and transfer to a large bowl. Chop all your veggies and add to pasta. Salt and pepper to taste. Add enough Italian dressing to coat but don't drench it. Add entire package of feta cheese. Mix and put in the frig for at least 3 hours before serving. If the pasta dries out, you can add more dressing.

Black Bean Salsa

Does anyone need garlic? This is a picture of my garlic plants, taken yesterday. When the flower dies back, the garlic will be ready to pull but will need to dry out for a while. The flower actually smells like garlic. As you can see, we have a ton of it so "come and get it"!

I made my black bean salsa tonight so I thought I would post my recipe. People always ask for this recipe when I make it...it's a real crowd pleaser! We usually just eat this salsa with the "scoop" tortilla chips but you could also put it on chicken or fish. It's addictive when eaten with chips!

Mix these ingredients in a medium bowl and refrigerate for a few hours before eating. It will keep in the frig for about a week.

2 cans black beans, drained
1 can white shoepeg corn (11 oz can), drained
1/2 small onion chopped fine
1/4 red bell pepper, chopped
2 garlic cloves chopped fine
1 plum tomato, chopped
1 can Rotel (original), well drained
You can substitute 1/2 jalapino pepper (chopped very fine) and two additional plum tomatoes for the can of Rotel if you want.
5 sprigs of fresh cilantro (it's easiest to cut up your herbs with scissors instead of a knife)
Salt to taste
Lemon pepper
2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. chili powder
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsalmic vinegar
Squeeze juice of 1/2 lime

If I happen to have a ripe avacado, I like to chop one up and put in here also. It's good, but optional.

Shop Smart, Eat Well

This is the Easter cake my sister Pati made...I just ate the last piece! It's amazing how well cake freezes! Mmmm, it was another good Pati-cake!

I've barely had time to cook lately, let alone write about it! But I'm glad to be blogging again. I want to talk about grocery shopping because if you don't have the right stuff in the house to cook with, you'll get discouraged. I've become an expert at keeping the "right stuff" in my house because I live 25 minutes from the nearest grocery store so I can't just run out to buy an ingredient. I have to make due with what I have...it makes you creative!

I'm going to give you a list of things that I keep in my house at all times. These are items that I cook with often. One thing that I learned from reading the South Beach Diet and have stuck with, is that you should shop the perimeter of the grocery store. That's where all the fresh items are...produce, meat and dairy. When you go up and down the aisles, think twice about what you put in your basket. That's where all the processed foods are. Also, I try to buy everything "lite" but never fat-free. It's good to cut down on the fat content but fat-free items lack taste and aren't even good for you.

Before I start, let me tell you that I shop at Publix, where shopping is a pleasure! I would even pay more money if I had to. Publix is clean, has wide aisles, good customer service and best of all, I know where everything is. I even go out of my way to go to "my" Publix because I know where everything is! Heaven forbid they should move something. I also like the "buy one - get one free" sales and stock up on lots of my canned goods that way.

I do shop at the Fresh Market occasionally even though they're expensive. I've found that they sell a handful of items that are actually cheaper than the grocery store so I'll share that secret with you: spices (sold in baggies), the mixed greens (salad) that are sold by the pound, ground breakfast sausage sold in the meat case, "Anything Goes" sauce...it's a great barbaque sauce, and they have a really nice selection of cheap wines. I stock up on these items when I shop there but buy other items sparingly.

Here are some items I like to keep on-hand (I'm sure I've missed some!)

Olive oil, extra virgin (take advantage of the buy one, get one free) I even cook eggs in olive oil!
Fresh garlic
Fresh mushrooms
Sweet onions
Red and/or yellow peppers
Avacados
Fresh ginger root
Olives (black, green, calamata)
Artichoke hearts (I buy Virgo, whole in water)
Balsalmic vinegar
Fresh spinach
Real butter (never margarin! but use this sparingly)
Lemons and limes
Cheese (all kinds, whatever you like best...mozerella, provalone, feta, goat)
Tomato paste
Rotel (Original)...these are canned tomatoes with a kick...I use these a lot!
I try to can enough of my own garden tomatoes so I don't have to buy regular canned tomatoes in the grocery store but if I need to buy them, I buy "crushed tomatoes"
Light sour cream
Cheap wine (red and white) I never pay over $8 or $9 for a bottle of wine since there are lots of good cheap wines...that's another blog subject!
Chicken & beef broth
Soy sauce

Spices you should have: (assuming you are growing your own herbs such as basil, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, etc.)
Cumin
Garlic (always good to have garlic powder on hand in addition to fresh)
Lemon pepper (I use this on everything!)
Pepper corns (for grinder)
Goya Adobo Seasoning (good for latin food)
Parsley
Oregano
Thyme
Basil (I keep dried herbs on hand even though I grow fresh)
Chili powder
Paprika
Cayenne pepper
Cinnamon
Ginger

I'll leave you with one recipe. Here is Emeril's Essence...

2 1/2 Tbs paprika
2 Tbs salt
2 Tbs garlic powder
1 Tbs freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbs onion powder
1 Tbs cayenne pepper
1 Tbs dried oregano
1 Tbs dried thyme

BAM!