Puffy Pancake for Dinner

 If you think that pancakes are just for breakfast, have I got a surprise for you. This Dutch Baby, a kind of pancake you bake in the oven, is savory and it's topped with the flavors of summer - fresh corn, tomatoes, zucchini and basil. It goes together quickly, aside from the chopping time, and makes a great supper or delightful side dish.

I made mine with all-purpose flour, but the original recipe calls for whole wheat or half and half. If you are gluten free, I would just use a gluten free all-purpose flour mixture. King Arthur Baking sells a nice one, but many stores carry others.

You could also substitute other veggies live beans or summer squash, although the trio I used is wonderful and is just the taste of summer for me. I did use a sweet white onion, but I suspect that a yellow onion, red onion, or scallions/green onions would work well, too if that is what you have on hand. Fresh corn can be replaced with frozen corn, which is what I did since I didn't have fresh corn on hand.

The recipe says to mix the flour with the salt and pepper, but I think that with all the whisking going on to make the batter for the pancake that you could just add it along with the flour, which would save a dirty bowl. Whisk the flour in slowly so that it doesn't clump up as much.

Be ready to eat this while it is hot from the oven. I had a quarter left over and reheated it in the microwave the next day for another dinner, topped with a little shredded cooked pork shoulder. That was delicious, too.

Savory Dutch Baby with Summer Veggies

Serves 2-3 as dinner, 4-6 as a side
I apologize - this recipe came from the Washington Post, or Better Homes and Gardens or Southern Living...should have written down where.

For the Veggies:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup sweet onion, diced 
3/4 cup corn kernels, cut from the cob (about 1 ear - OK to use frozen)
3/4 cup zucchini, diced 
1/8 teaspoon each salt and pepper
3/4 cup grape tomatoes, quartered
4 large basil leaves cut into chiffonade ribbons for garnish

Use a 10-inch cast iron or oven proof skillet to heat the oil to shimmering. Add the onion, stir, and sauté for 3 minutes, until slightly softened. Add the corn and the zucchini, salt and pepper, stir and sauté  for another 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, stir and sauté another minute. Place veggies in a bowl. Cover and keep warm while the Dutch Baby cooks.

For the Savory Dutch Baby:

1/2 cup flour...whole-wheat entirely, or 1/4 cup whole-wheat and 1/4 cup all-purpose, or 1/2 cup all-purpose, or 1/2 cup gluten free flour mix
3/4 cup milk (I used unsweetened oat milk)
4 large eggs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil

Wipe out the skillet used to cook the veggies. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and move the oven rack to the middle of the oven.

In a large bowl whisk the eggs to combine, then whisk in the milk until well-combined. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and a dash of pepper and then slowly whisk in the flour to fully combine. Stir in the parmesan cheese.
Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the skilled and swirl to coat the pan and sides. Place into the oven and heat for 10 minutes - you want the skillet to be good and hot. Carefully add the batter to the hot skillet and then put it into the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes. The pancake will puff up! When golden brown, remove from the oven and top the pancake, still in the skillet, with the warm veggie mixture. Garnish with the basil chiffonade ribbons. Serve at once.

A Hot Zucchini Dish

Lately we have been enjoying foggy mornings and some foggy evenings. The day of the eclipse we had fog all day, so the eclipse was a no show. I happen to love the fog, so I'm OK with that. This coming weekend might get hotter, so I am enjoying the fog we are having even more knowing it might be gone soon.

Foggy evenings mean that we are fine with a hot side dish at dinner, so, in an attempt to use up some more of the burgeoning zucchini from my garden, I put together one that Sweetie really likes.

I probably spotted this recipe a while ago in some magazine, but don't remember where, so I apologize in advance for not giving credit where it is due. It is, however, a pretty simple dish, so it's probably been around a while.

I know this tastes great hot, but it would probably be fine cold, too, especially the next day when the onions have lent their flavor.

By the way, a great way to cut corn off the cob without making a huge mess is to set the cob in the hole in the middle of a bundt or similar cake pan. The cut corn goes into the cake pan, the sides catch the juices and kernels that like to fly off during the cutting, and the cob stays upright and fairly secure. Try it!

Zucchini with Corn and Peppers
serves 4

1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium red pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped
2-3 medium zucchini, ends removed, cut in half and sliced
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme or 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
pepper to taste
garlic salt to taste (optional - I don't use it)
2-3 ears fresh corn, cut from cob or about 1 cup to 2 cups frozen corn

In a large saute pan, saute the onion in the olive oil until translucent and lightly browner, about 5 minutes, stirring often.
Add the peppers and cook another 3-5 minutes until pepper is softened.
Add the zucchini, thyme, pepper (and garlic salt if using), stir and cook two more minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the corn, stir to combine well, and cook another 3-5 minutes until mixture is piping hot, stirring often.

Serve at once!

Silver Linings

When we are struggling with terrible events like the loss of someone dear to us it is pretty hard to see any redeeming value to it. I guess there might be someone here and there who can, but when I've had those times things have seemed pretty bleak.

Years, often decades, later we can sometimes see the silver lining. When Sweetie lost a good friend to the sea, despite heroic efforts to save him, he says he thought that it should have been him. Now he can look back on his life and can see that he would have missed so much love and laughter if it had been him. Others, especially yours truly, would have never know him, and that is too awful to even contemplate.

I feel the same way about my first marriage. It was far from a good marriage, but I was blessed because a wonderful woman, my daughter, came out of it. She has brought a lot of joy to a lot of people over the years. What if she had never been? Unthinkable.

Even a great loss like losing a child has its side of light. Although I would rather have him back over anything else, the loss did teach me to appreciate the help of others, to appreciate each moment as a blessing, and to be more sympathetic in general to others. He wasn't perfect, but he was a mighty good person and changed a lot of lives for the better during his short time here.

So why these somber thoughts? I guess it's because the winter holidays draw near and that seems to be a time when those lost to us are missed more than usual. It's a reminder to me to appreciate even more, and more actively, those who shine in my life right now. Their light and love will keep the winter darkness at bay.

Something else that warms up a chilly late fall evening is a bowl of hearty soup. Last night I cooked up a seafood chowder that was a hit. I served some crusty bread with it and that filled us right up.

The method I used for this chowder was to cook the potatoes in one pot and cook the onion, carrot, mushrooms and bell pepper in a skillet. Once the potatoes cook and are drained, the milk and broth go into that same pot to heat, along with the peas, corn, and seasonings. It takes a few minutes to heat up the peas and corn, but once the liquid is back to boiling it only takes a short while for the seafood to cook. Before it is done the cooked onion mixture is added and stirred in to distribute the flavor.

This is not a thick chowder. If you prefer your chowder thicker, at the end stir in a slurry of flour and water and stir until mixture thickens.

Either way this is a great soup for cold weather.

Seafood Chowder
Elle original recipe - Serves 4-6

1 large yellow or white onion, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup carrots, chopped or sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
4-6 oz. sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup red bell pepper, diced
2 cups red potatoes, washed and cubed
1 1/2 cups milk
14 oz. chicken broth
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt (or garlic salt) and pepper to taste
1 bag Trader Joe's frozen mixed seafood (bay scallops, shrimp and calamari)

In a large skillet heat the olive oil and then saute the onion and carrots, stirring often, for 5 minutes, or until onions are translucent. Add the mushrooms and bell pepper, stir, and continue to cook, covered and on medium heat, until pepper is soft about 5 minutes.

While onion mixture is cooking, put the potatoes into a large pot and add water to cover. Boil until potatoes are tender; insert the tip of a sharp knife to test for tenderness. Drain and set aside.

Once potatoes are drained, use the same pot to heat the milk and broth to boiling. Add the frozen peas and corn and cover. Return to a boil. Remove the cover and add the chopped parsley, dried thyme, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Add the frozen mixed seafood and stir. Put cover on the pot and cook for 2 minutes. Uncover, add the onion vegetable mixture and stir. Reduce heat to medium-high and cook, uncovered, until shrimp are pink and curled slightly, stirring often.

Serve at once. Garnish with more chopped parsley if desired.

Cookbook Give-away and Two Great Recipes

It's been much longer than I intended to review the third cookbook from Thomas Nelson Publishers. It's amazing how house projects, summer visitors, the garden and work have all conspired to keep me too busy to try out new recipes. Fortunately I found some time this week to cook a couple of recipes from Second Helpings with Johnnie Gabriel.

These are true Southern recipes and also modern ones, making good use of things like packaged shredded cabbage for Coleslaw the Easy Way and packaged stuffing mix for things like the Squash Casserole and Chicken Salad Casserole. Biscuit mix and Ritz crackers and Morton's Nature's Season also find their uses, along with canned corn, peas and carrots, jarred pimento and lots of cream cheese, sour cream and whipping cream. Many of the recipes, like Sauteed Talpia with Lemon-Peppercorn Sauce would make a lovely entree for a dinner party.

I chose to make two recipes that sounded different and delicious...Wild Rice and Corn Salad and Mocha-Frosted Chocolate Chip Cookies.

The salad was indeed wonderful. Since this is fresh corn season I replaced the canned white shoepeg corn with 4 ears of freshly husked sweet white corn which I cut, uncooked, from the cobs.

I didn't have any water chestnuts, so I substituted 1/2 cup each thinly sliced English cucumber and uncooked fresh thin green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces. Both came directly from my garden and added a nice crisp crunch to the salad. Otherwise I followed the recipe and found it very enjoyable. Sweetie had second helpings, just like the book's title promised.

The cookies had a somewhat lackluster description in the book: "Chocolate and coffee team up in another taste treat fro Susan Johnson's collection." I wasn't expecting them to be more than 'nice'.

Imagine my surprise when I found them to be some of the best chocolate cookies I've ever made. We liked them better without the frosting, but if you like very sweet desserts, go for the frosting, too. Not only did these merit a second helping, it was difficult to resist a third or fourth helping! We gave some of them away to friends to avoid the temptation of eating them all up at once.

There are lots more recipes to try...for example Lemon Ice Cream Pie with crushed pretzels in the crust and frozen lemonade in the filling, or maybe Sweet Potato Fries that get tossed in a brown sugar and butter coating after being fried in deep fat. There's an intriguing recipe for Sweet Potato Biscuits and one for Smoky Chipotle Grilled Baby Back Ribs with both a rub and a barbecue sauce.

This isn't the best book to choose if you are cutting calories but if you are planning a party or want to make something more complicated and flavorful than tater tots you'll love this book. Many of the recipes are fairly easy and make use of convenience foods, so complicated doesn't mean difficult.

As always I want to stress that, other than use of the book, I am not receiving anything from the publisher or author of the book and am free to say just what I think about it. Although I won't often have reason to make some of the more full fat recipes with liberal use of whipping cream, I do like the book and look forward to making more recipes from it.

If you would like to win a copy of this book, just leave a comment. There will be a random drawing and the publisher will send three copies to the three lucky winners, as long as those winners either leave an e-mail address with the comment or are linked to a place where an e-mail address can be found or where I can ask for one if you are a winner.

And now for a gentle rant: The recent demise of Borders Books saddens me. Although I know how easy it would be to order this book on Amazon, please consider asking your independent bookseller to order a copy for you from Thomas Nelson Publishers. Supporting your local bookseller means that there will be bookstores for our children and grandchildren to browse in...an entirely different experience than 'browsing' online. Besides, your local bookseller usually lives in your town and often contributes to the local economy...want fewer potholes?...support your local businesses. (This may or may not be the opinion of Thomas Nelson Publishers but is absolutely my own.)

Wild Rice and Corn Salad - A really easy salad

1 cup wild rice, cooked according to package directions (Not a wild rice mix).
2 (11-oz) cans white shoepeg corn, rinsed and drained, or 4 ears fresh white corn, husked and kernels cut from the cob.
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I would use 1/3 cup next time)
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 (8-oz) can water chestnuts, drained and chopped, or 1/2 cup each uncooked fresh thin green beans cut into 1-inch pieces AND thinly sliced (and diced if large) fresh cucumber, seeds removed and discarded
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

In a medium bowl mix the cooked wild rice, uncooked corn, mayonnaise, green onions, water chestnuts (or beans and cucumbers), salt, and pepper.

Cover and chill for at least 2 hours. Keeps well in the refrigerator 2-3 days. Serves 8 - 10.



Mocha-Frosted Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cookies:
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark cocoa which makes the cookies a nice deep dark chocolate color)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, softened
2/3 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg at room temperature
2 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon instant coffee powder or granules
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips (Yes, TWO cups!)
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Make the cookies: In a medium bowl combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

In a large bowl beat the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well blended. Add the egg, eater, instant coffee, vanilla, chocolate chips, and nuts and blend well, but do not beat. Add the flour mixture and stir just until combined.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Drop dough by tablespoons 2 inches apart onto the lined cookie sheet. Bake for 13 minutes until firm. (The recipe says 'and no longer shiny' but mine were still a bit shiny...we like them soft). Cool on the sheets for 10 minutes, then move to a rack or tray to frost them.

Frosting:
Make the frosting: In a medium microwavable bowl, melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in 1-minute intervals (I use 1/2 power), stirring after each minute until the chocolate is soft and melted.

In a small bowl mix together the whipping cream and instant coffee and add to the chocolate mixture. Using an electric mixer add the butter, vanilla, and confectioners' sugar. Frost the cookies.

Store cookies in the refrigerator. Makes 3-4 dozen

Crustless Savory Veggie Delight

I'm not a party animal. Maybe its because I was super shy as a youngster, maybe its because I've always been on the heavy side, maybe its because I've never enjoyed crowds...who know why. Even so, sometimes I choose to go to a party. Recently I went to a birthday party for a lovely woman who love to do long bike rides. Guests were a fine combination of neighbors who live near where I work and J's friends from the City, including biking friends. The latter were particularly fun to talk with.

Since I knew that a lot of the guests would be health conscious I decided to bring a crust less quiche loaded with veggies. As is often the case at big parties I only spoke to one person who tried some but he gave the dish a hearty thumbs up.

Brown rice gives substance and a nice nutty flavor. I love spinach in almost anything and since I also used red pepper dice and fresh corn kernels the quiche had a nice confetti appearance with red, green, yellow and the caramelized onions golden brown. It goes together fairly quickly, too and can be served warm or cool. Maybe you'd like to try it for your next party?


Veggie Brown Rice Crust less Pie

1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon olive or safflower oil
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper (a mix of colors if possible)
1 cup frozen spinach, thawed (I like to use frozen chopped, but you can steam fresh spinach and chop it but you'll need a fair amount of fresh spinach to make 1 cup cooked)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme OR 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced
1 cup cooked AND COOLED brown rice (you can use cooked white but you lose that wonderful nutty flavor)
1 3/4 cups milk
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 cup sour cream or yogurt
1/4 teaspoon paprika
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Butter a 10 inch pie plate with butter and sprinkle with the bread crumbs. Tilt to coat the pie plate with the crumbs. Discard the excess crumbs.

In a skillet, over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil, then add the chopped onions and bell peppers and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often, to lightly brown the vegetables. Turn down the heat if they start to blacken. To the browned onions and peppers, add the spinach and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until the mixture is heated through. Stir in the corn, nutmeg and thyme. Set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix together the cooled rice and the cooled veggie mixture. Spread in the prepared pie plate. Set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together the milk, eggs, sour cream or yogurt, paprika and salt and pepper to taste. Pour this milk mixture over the veggie-rice mixture in the pie plate. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top.

When oven is at 350 degrees F, bake the pie for about 35 minutes, or until top is lightly browned and the middle is almost set. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes on a cooling rack. Cut into serving portions and serve or refrigerate and serve later at room temperature.

The Comfort of Soup

Xam, the Bread Dog, decided that Christmas wrapping tissue is actually meant to be dog toys...and he did enjoy shredding this ball of red tissue on Christmas Day.

It's been a wonderful week! Lots of quality time with our daughter, visiting from the land of drizzle for the holidays, fun with many relatives and some friends, walks along the beach and in the redwoods and at the Laguna, a mellow day for Christmas day with rain outside all day but a lit tree and gifts and good food and laughter inside. Hope that your holidays were magical!

Now things are quieter and something simple like a good comforting soup can fill the body with warmth and even some healthy ingredients...often a missing element in the delicious but rich spreads of the holidays. The great thing about soup is that besides being easy it can use up leftovers from the feasts.

Try this one which has leeks, corn, red pepper, sliced mushrooms , red potatoes and some cooked salmon (can you guess what we had for dinner one day this week?) I used canned chicken broth but if you have home made, by all means use that. I wouldn't use turkey broth because it is too strongly flavored so you will miss what the salmon contributes to the taste. Don't forget the lemon juice to taste...it sparks the salmon flavor perfectly. If you don't have any cooked salmon, canned salmon would work, just see if you can get good sized chunks from the can and leave the bones and mushy bits for some other dish.

Salmon Corn Soup

Serves 4

1 leek, split and washed well to remove grit
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup red pepper in a small dice
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup chopped carrots
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper (or more, to taste)
about 20 oz chicken or vegetable broth (1 1/2 cans)
2 cups red potatoes, scrubbed, cut in 1 inch dice and boiled just to tender, then drained
1 cup fresh, frozen or canned corn kernels
1/2 cup - 1 cup flaked cooked salmon
2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
lemon juice to taste

Cut the leek into four lengthwise and slice into thin slices, using all of the white and some of the green parts...all of which you have washed well first. Discard the thicker outer leaves.

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute' the leeks until translucent, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the red pepper, mushrooms, and carrots, stir to coat with oil, and continue to cook another two minutes.

Add the thyme, salt, pepper, broth, cooked & drained potatoes and corn to the pot. Cover and heat over medium heat until heated through. Add the salmon and parsley and continue heating for a minute. Taste, add lemon juice to taste and adjust salt and pepper.

Continue to heat until hot enough to serve. Ladle into bowls and serve very hot.

Summers Jewels

Although some of the plants in the garden this year are from starts I bought at the nursery, most of them are either volunteers from last year or ones that I grew from seeds. It's a long haul from February or March when the seeds go into the little soil blocks and get to be cozy in the sunspace while they germinate and send up shoots and leaves, growing nice roots below soil, to late August when we are finally, finally getting ripe tomatoes. You would think that the cute brownish cherry tomatoes would ripen far earlier than the hefty Black Krim beefsteak type, but it seems they whispered at night and decided to keep me in suspense by ripening all together.

The very first was the Costuluto, ribbed like a pumpkin, bright fire engine red in color and with a true strong tomato taste. It went right into a salad. The next bunch were more Costuluto, a couple of Black Krims, a Brandywine and a handful of those cute cherry tomatoes. They were eaten by themselves, with just a touch of olive oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar and some salt and pepper to highlight their natural fresh-from-the-garden flavors.

Now we have gotten enough that I was able to make a veggie casserole the other night. Layers of zucchini, tomato, fresh corn (from the market),

mushrooms, onions, thyme and lite Swiss cheese in a small dice filled a casserole. On top I put some more Swiss cheese, some Parmesan and chopped Italian parsley.

Baked together they created a fabulous dish full of the flavors and colors of summer garden jewels. This is a delicious combination and looked far better 'in person' because I forgot to take a photo once it was on the plate until Sweetie had almost finished his second helping...the last of the yummy veggie layers.

Although I do love to blog about bread and baked goodies, I'm really happy that this post, the 500th (hard to imagine that many!) is about my garden, since it is one of my enduring enthusiasms and always gives back more than I put into it, like the true friend that it is. Hope that you have a garden or will plant one soon. If you have one, hope that it is a happy garden, full of beauty and hope.

Summer in Layers
3 small yellow summer squash or zucchini ( or mixed) sliced
4 tomatoes, sliced, then cut into wedges
1 ear corn, fresh, yellow or white
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 yellow or white onion, peeled and chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 small bell pepper, removed from core and diced
¼ teaspoon dry thyme
salt and pepper
1 cup finely diced or shredded Swiss, Emthaler or Jarlsberg cheese
½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley

Butter a deep 2 quart casserole. Make a layer using half the zucchini or yellow squash, half the tomato wedges. Use a sharp knife to cut the kernels from the cob of corn. Sprinkle the zucchini and tomatoes in the casserole with half the corn. Set aside

In a medium skillet, sauté the chopped onions, sliced mushrooms and chopped bell pepper until soft, about 5 minutes, stirring often to keep from sticking or over-browning. Sprinkle with the dried thyme and stir to combine. Spoon half of this mixture over the vegetables in the casserole and distribute evenly. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle half the Swiss, Emanthaler or Jarlsberg cheese over.

Repeat layering process in the casserole, using the remaining squash, tomato, corn and onion mixture. Season with salt and pepper (I had additional squash slices, so I put on another layer and seasoned it.)Sprinkle on the remaining cheese. Sprinkle with all the Parmesan cheese and then the chopped parsley.

Bake uncovered in a preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until cheese melts and/or browns lightly. Serve hot. Serves 2-4 unless you dislike veggies...then maybe 6.

Summer Simple Soup

When it was lunchtime today nothing sounded right until I thought of soup. It wasn't really cold enough for the warmth of soup but somehow I just wanted the softness and variety of a good vegetable soup. I also found a can of cannellini white beans in the pantry to throw in. Combined with the corn and the chicken broth there was plenty of protein and flavor, too.

This time of year is so wonderful for having a variety of veggies to use in dishes. Sweetie bought some local red onions from the fellow who sells the amazing strawberries so I started with red onions. I have small sweet carrots, fresh corn, just picked garden zucchini squash and some red peppers from the market. Our tomatoes have suffered from the long cool spring and unseasonable summer and are still hard and green, but the market had some nice vine ripened ones from southern California, so I add some diced fresh tomatoes.

This soup goes together quickly and you can adjust the amounts to suit your taste. You can add different or additional fresh herbs...some fresh basil would be great with this soup! Wish I'd had some available but the basil I planted was done in by the cold and wet spring weather.

You can add some leftover cubes chicken or turkey. I topped my bowl with about a tablespoon of chopped prosciutto that I had crisped in a frying pan. (Then I went looking for my camera and Sweetie asked me to come look at some trim in the bathroom first, so by the time I took the picture the crispness was all gone...the joys of remodeling!) There are lots of ways to make this your personal simple summertime soup. It makes just enough for two, so share it with your Sweetie (or save for another lunch).

Simple Summertime Soup for Two

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 red onion, peeled and chopped
2-3 small carrots, peeled, halved and chopped
1/4 cup diced red pepper
1/2 cup sliced quartered zucchini
kernels from one ear of corn or 1/2 can of canned corn
1/2 fresh tomato in small dice, including the juices
1 can cannellini beans, well rinsed and drained
1 can (about 2 cups) chicken broth
1/8 teaspoon ground sage
1 teaspoon minced fresh Italian parsley
salt and pepper to taste

In a saucepan saute' the red onion, carrots and red pepper in the olive oil until soft, about 3-5 minutes. Add the zucchini, corn and tomato and cook another 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the cannellini beans, chicken broth, sage, parsley and salt and pepper, stir to combine and heat the soup through. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve at once.

Can be garnished with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, some diced ham, chicken or turkey, or cooked bacon, pancetta or prosciutto and/or more parsley.

Serves 2.

More Black Beans

So you get a phone call from a friend who is looking for a dish for a luncheon and it has to be something that a non-cook can make. It would be nice if it is also vegan and not too expensive. Even better would be something that doesn’t need to be re-heated or even refrigerated. Oh, yes, can it also be delicious?

If you get that kind of phone call I have just the thing for you. We served it to our scholarship group yesterday and it was a hit! We had a four person committee and three of them were non-cooks, but they did a great job with this salad. Parkay made a great chairwoman! We served it on lettuce leaves accompanied by a gorgeous big strawberry that had been fanned out, plus fresh blueberries and some bakery rolls. Delish!

Black beans and corn work together here to make a complete protein, plus they taste great together and look colorful, too. Add tomatoes, red pepper and Italian parsley (the flat leaf kind), plus some red onion and you have a very jazzy looking salad. A red wine and olive oil based dressing ties it all together and a hint of cayenne makes it sing. Since it uses frozen corn and canned beans and tomatoes, the only cooking is some chopping of peppers, onions and parsley.

Even if you are a proficient cook, this is a great meal to have in your repertoire, especially if you keep some of the ingredients on hand. You can pull it together at a moment’s notice when you have unexpected guests or are just too tired to do ‘real’ cooking. Just remember, the best reason to make this salad is that it tastes great!

Black Bean, Corn and Tomato Salad

1 (16 oz.) bag frozen corn, thawed
½ - 1 cup fresh tomatoes, diced, plus any juices that collect (you can remove the skin and seeds or not, as you prefer) OR 1 (14 to 15 oz ) can diced tomatoes and their juice
½ cup red pepper, cored and diced
½ medium red onion, diced
½ cup fresh parsley, finely minced – flat leaf gives a stronger flavor than curly leaf
1 14 to 15 oz ) can black beans, rinsed and drained
Dressing
¼ cup red wine vinegar
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
(OR ½ cup red wine vinegar and NO balsamic vinegar)
½ cup olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (or more to taste)

Place thawed corn, tomatoes, diced pepper, red onion, parsley and beans into a bowl.

Shake the dressing ingredients together in a small jar with tightly fitting lid. Pour dressing over salad and stir to mix ingredients thoroughly.

Cover salad and chill for at least an hour and up to 12 hours until thoroughly chilled.

Serves 6-8.

Note: Sometimes you can find frozen corn that has red pepper bits already in it. If you do, you can skip dicing the fresh red pepper…just use the frozen corn with red peppers.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme

Today I had a surpise visit from someone I became friends with when I lived in the open ward looney bin that was the City of Berkeley. By now it might be a very sane place. Back then there were mentally ill people wandering the streets, having been released to the community by then Governor Ronald Reagan (before he became President) who felt that mental health was a 'neighborhood problem', which is what it became in time. The politics were a bit nutty, too. Good news is I learned to think crazy which has come in handy in later life more often than one might expect.

It took guts and good will for this friend from long ago to drive up the highway and show up. We have been on the outs for a few years. This is an exceedingly rare thing for me so I've probably behaved badly in the process. Hugs were exchanged and we talked and laughed. I'm glad she came. Sometimes doors you thought you have shut spring open again unexpectedly.

When she arrived I had just begun to make a chicken dish for dinner. This is the kind of dish you can usually make with ingredients that your have on hand in your pantry and freezer. Veggies from your garden or from the market or farmer's market work well in this stew. For seasoning not only did I saute' lots of onions and some celery and chopped carrots, but I added flat leaf parsley, dried sage, rosemary and thyme, plus some pepper. Brought back the old song and that seemed appropriate somehow.

This made a nice stew with lots of veggies, some of which cooked with the chicken and some were added toward the end of cooking. I like my stew with a thickened broth, but you could serve it as is, although it might be more of a stew or chowder that way. With a few slices of the chunky zucchini bread we had a fine, easy meal.

Hope you had a great weekend! My your surprises be as welcome as mine was.

Scarborough Fair Chicken Stew

Serves 4

1 large onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped carrots
2 ribs celery, chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf or Italian parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cups chicken broth
4 boneless skiness chicken breasts, cut in large dice (bite sized pieces)
1 large or 2 medium Idaho type potatoes, cut in cubes about 1/2 inch across, peeled if you like
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup fresh or frozen corn off the cob
1 cup fresh or frozen green beans, in bite sized pieces
1 cup fresh or frozen green peas
enough flour and water in a slurry to thicken the broth, as desired

Saute' the onions, carrots and celery in the olive oil until the onions are transluscent, about 5 minutes, stirring every so often.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, chicken broth, pieces of chicken, cubes of potatoes and broth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and let cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender when pierced with the point of a sharp knife.

Add the corn, beans, and peas and stir to combine well. Cover and continue to cook another 2-3 minutes, until the beans are almost tender.

If you are thickening your stew, add the slurry and stir well to combine, then keep stirring until the broth thickens and begins to bubble. Serve hot.

You can use more and different vegetables to reflect what you have on hand or in the garden or from the farmer's market, but this combo was very tasty!

Here is the song from the title:

Are you goin to Scarborough fair? parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme

Remember me to one who lives there, she once was a true love of mine

Tell her to make me a cambric shirt, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme

Without no seams nor needlework, then she'll be a true love of mine

Tell her to find me an acre of land, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme

Between the salt water and the sea strand, then she'll be a true love of mine

Tell her to reap it in a sickle of leather, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme

And to gather it all in a bunch of heather, then she'll be a true love of mine

Are you goin to Scarborough fair? parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme

Remember me to one who lives there, she once was a true love of mine

I'm As Corn-y As...

...as you can be in the summer.


Corn and summer go together like sunscreen and the beach or sunny days and baseball. Fresh corn at very reasonable prices can be had easily now at the market. I grew my own years ago when I had a big garden plot, but now it would take up too much room. I like the white kind and check on the freshness by slitting one of the kernels. If the juices spurt out then they haven't turned to starch, so the corn will generally be sweet and juicy to eat.

On rare occassions we buy too much and there is an ear of corn left over. That's happened twice in the last couple of weeks. Each time I used that single ear the next day, first in a salad and night before last in a baked side dish that I dreamed up while driving home from work. Iknew I had all the ingredients in the pantry, fridge and garden. Don't 'ya just love it when that happens?

The salad is our usual mixed greens, tomato chunks, cucumbers, sliced carrots and chunked avacodo one, but the addition of fresh corn kernels sliced from the cob completely changes the character of the salad. There is an even better sense of veggie and a summer tang and that juicy crunch of corn kernels.

Usually I use an Italian dressing or Raspberry one on green salads but for this salad I used a nice creamy Ranch dressing. It somehow plays up the farm fresh nature of corn and crispy greens. No recipe...jsut add fresh corn kernels to your favorite green salad.

The second recipe is for a cornbread based side dish. Fresh corn is folded into corn muffin batter and then the batter is partially baked in a wide, shallow baking pan. While it bakes a veggie topping and a cottage cheese based custard topping are made. Both go on top of the cornbread, the top is sprinkled with feta cheese and pine nuts and the dish is baked until golden. The mellowness of the cornbread is enlivened by the fresh corn kernels.

Summer squash (theres that zucchini again!) and spinach meld with red onion and cradeled in the custard for a savory flavor constrast to the sweet corn, then feta and pine nuts add Mediterranean flavors and additional zestiness and crunch. All in all it's a delightful side dish, although it can also be the main dish with, perhaps, a plate of sliced summer tomatoes on the side, dusted with threads of basil chiffonade.

The key to the corn and veggie bread is partially cooking the cornbread before adding the toppings. The bread gets cooked just enough this way, but the toppings also can sink into the batter just a bit and not slide off the top. The measurements are approximate. Next time I'm going to add more greens. BTW, this dish smells wonderful, even when cold. I reheated some for lunch.

As long as summer is here, we might as well enjoy it's fresh produce and these are both great ways to do that.

Elle's Zesty Veggie Cornbread Bake

½ recipe corn muffin batter (6 muffins worth) – your favorite
kernels cut from 1 ear of corn (about 1 cup)
1/3 – ½ cup chopped red onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 large handfuls baby spinach, chopped, about 4 cups
(you can substitute for all or part of the spinach with Swiss chard,
baby kale, baby collards or similar dark leafy greens)
1 medium zucchini squash, quartered lengthwise, then sliced – about 2 cups
½ cup cottage cheese
1/3 cup milk
2 eggs, slightly beaten
Salt & pepper to taste
1/3 cup feta cheese, crumbled
2 tablespoons pine nuts

Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Stir the corn kernels into the corn muffin batter, then spread batter into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 6 minutes.

While cornbread is baking, saute’ the red onions in the olive oil over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Add the leafy greens, stir and cook another minute until wilted. Remove greens from pan, return pan to heat and add the zucchini slices. Stir and cook over high heat another 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While zucchini is cooking, use a blender or immersion blender to blend the cottage cheese and milk until smooth. Add the eggs and mix just until blended. Add salt and pepper to taste. (You can also add Tabasco sauce or cayenne to tasteif you like a more spicy flavored bread).

Distribute the cooked zucchini slices evenly over the partially cooked corn bread. Distribute the cooked greens mixture evenly over the zucchini and cornbread. Pour the cottage cheese mixture evenly over the veggies. Sprinkle the feta cheese evenly over the cheese mixture & sprinkle with the pine nuts.

Return the baking pan to the oven and bake another 15 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. Cool for 5 minutes, then serve in large squares.

Serves 4-6.

As you can see, the measurements are approximate so feel free to adapt this to what you have coming out of the garden.

Mellow Yellow

I usually use boxed corn muffin mix when I make corn bread. Sad, but true. It's not that I don't have recipes, but the boxed stuff goes together so quickly and with little mess. Even so, there are so many interesting corn bread recipes that when I read about the Taste of Yellow for LIVESTRONG event, hosted by Barbara at Winos and Foodies, I decided that my yellow food would be corn bread. Not just any cornbread, of course, but Very Corny Corn Bread. As you can see from the photo, it finishes up a very mellow yellow inside, with extra zip from the corn kernels.

LIVESTRONG Day is the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s (LAF) grassroots advocacy initiative to unify people affected by cancer and to raise awareness about cancer survivorship issues on a national level and in local communities across the country. LIVESTRONG Day 2007 will occur on Wednesday, May 16.

My mom is a cancer survivor, more than 5 years after being diagnosed with lung cancer. Her doctor, a very uptight fellow, danced when she survived 3 years. His lung cancer patients don't usually survive that long. I also have two people in my family/friends circle going through diagnosis procedures right now to see if they have cancer, or how extensive it is. This terrible disease affects so many. I am blogging for the event to raise awareness of cancer. However if you wish to make a donation you can do so by visiting the Lance Armstrong Foundation donation page.

This cornbread is almost like a spoonbread. The corn meal is stone ground whole meal so it has a nice rough texture, but since the recipe also uses creamed corn, butter, honey, egg substitute, and buttermilk, this bread has moisture to spare. The crust is crisp and the interior is soft and tender with whole kernels of corn. It was hard to not eat the whole pan of corn bread at one sitting.

I based this recipe on one in the book Bake Sale Cooking by Sally Sampson. I substituted buttermilk for a cup of the milk, added a little baking soda, and whisked the butter and honey together, but otherwise followed her recipe, without the cheese. The recipe below is how I made it. Hope you find time to make this, too, in honor of cancer survivors like my mom.

Very Corny Corn Bread

Serves 9

1 1/4 cups stone-ground yellow cornmeal

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons honey

1/4 cup (1/2 stick or 4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup low fat milk

1 cup creamed corn (canned)

2 eggs, at room temperature or 1/2 cup egg substitute

Preheat the ovent to 375 degrees F.

Lightly butter and flour an 8 inch x 8 inch pan.

Place the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt ina medium sized mixing bowl.

In another bowl, place the honey, then whisk in the melted butter until it is fully incorporated.Add the buttermilk, milk, creamed corn, and eggs or egg substitute. Mix well.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and blend quickly using as few strokes as possible. Immediately pour into the prepared pan and place in the preheated oven.

Bake until firm to the touch and light gold on the edges, about 30 minutes. Cut into squares and serve while still warm.