Leon’s choice

Ok, My dear husband is having way to much fun with this, so he has chosen a couple of recipes for this week....It will be interesting!!! Leon does not like raisins..... I am not telling him....lets see what happens =;)

Pork with Rhubarb Chutney page 136

cooking spray
one 1 1/4 lb pork tenderloin, trimmed of silverskin
salt and freshly black pepper to taste

Rhubarb Chutney
2 cups cored and chopped granny smith or McIntosh apples
1 cup chopped fresh or thawed frozen rhubarb stalks
2/3 cup apple juice
1/4 cup chopped shallots
1/4 cup golden or dark raisins
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 - preheat the oven to 400. coat a shallow roasting pan with cooking spray.
2 - Season the pork all over with salt and pepper. Place in the pan and roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 160 F , 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before cutting crosswise into 1/2 inch thick slices.

3 - Meanwhile, in medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the chutney ingredients, bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to medium-low, and let simmer until the apples break down and the chutney thickens, about 15 minutes. Serve the chutney over sliced pork.


Ok, Leon really likes Brussels sprouts and picked this recipe, I think that he is the only person that I know that do like them.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Sun-Dried Tomatoes page 245

cooking spray
3 cup fresh or thawed frozen Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed
1 cup diced oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes


1 - preheat the oven to 400 F. coat a large baking sheet wit cooking spray
2 - In a large bowl, combine the Brussels sprouts and sun-dried tomatoes. Toss to combine. Arrange the mixture on the prepared sheet in single layer and roast until the sprouts are tender and golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

Bom apetite

Ingrid

Ingrid's Curry and fruit Crumble

We had the Stew/Curry on Tuesday night, but I did not have time to post it until today.
Alexandro absolutely love it. I am not a big fan of Celery, to me it overpowers the other flavors and I wanted to taste more like an Asian dish, and according to my Chinese/Thai friends celery is not part of their vegetables, they only use it in America as "fillers", it is cheap and for restaurant owners that's great besides the fact that it adds great color and Americans love the taste.... Anyway I did not add celery. I only used 1 1/2 cup of chicken broth since I wanted mine to be thick, it was perfect!!!!!

I also like to saute the garlic and onion before adding anything to the pot it sure gives the food a very rich flavor.

My neighbor gave us a huge basket with eggplants I made a delicious stir fry with oyster sauce, garlic and ginger, it was the perfect accompaniment....

We got some big ripe peaches from the farmers market, it was their last day!!!! we all enjoyed it very much with some vanilla ice cream. Loved the pecans in there I decided to add a bit extra.

Nika's Fruit Crumble

I finally made the fruit crumble on Thursday night. I decided to try canned peaches since I had them on hand and they would require much less prep work. It turned out great. I had the whole thing together in about 3 minutes. I just drained the peaches in a colander over the sink while I was mixing up the topping and then assembled it. I didn't use nuts so that also saved on prep time. I didn't have any and Sterling doesn't like them (crazy, I know) so it worked out. I did serve it with some butter pecan ice cream though and it was perfect so I think next time I make it I will add pecans to the topping. I will keep this in mind for a quick dessert.

Connie and Heidi's review of the stew and crumble

We fixed the stew and crumble on Thursday evening. It was cold and rainy here in Edmond so it was perfect for dinner. We made a few adjustments to the recipe based on the previous reviews. I only put 1/2 of an white onion in since my family isn't big onion eaters. We also added a carrot. Also based on the previous reviews we only put 2 cups of the chicken broth. After we had added the coconut milk we noticed that it was still pretty runny so the cook who was been cooking longer than any of us recommended adding a cornstarch and water mixture to thicken up the sauce. It worked really well and the end result was more of a stew consistency. I also didn't add any cilantro because I forgot to put it on my list. Everyone seemed to enjoy the dish although we thought that it had more of a ginger flavor and not so much of a curry flavor. Grandma/Mom/Connie said that if she fixed this again that she might flour and salt and pepper the chicken before cooking to add more flavor to the chicken and help the sauce be thicker.
Everyone seemed to enjoy this dinner and Connor even ate most of his without holding his nose! Ashley, of course, ate all of hers and some of mine too.

After we cleaned up the dishes from the stew we made the crumble. Grandma/Connie/Mom had brought fresh peaches from Utah so we used those. It probably could have cooked about 5 more minutes to get the peaches a little warmer; but it was still very tasty with some vanilla ice cream.

Jacki’s Review of the Stew and Crumble

I really enjoyed both of these recipes and they were perfect for a Fall day such as today here in Virginia.  I made a few adjustments in the recipe, thanks to the pioneers who ventured before me and made suggestions:)  I only used one can of chicken broth and then the one can of coconut milk it asked for.  I also doubled the amount of carrots and celery so it was nice and chunky.  I ended up using a little more oil to cook the veggies since there were more of them and I increased the curry by about 1 tsp for the same reason.  I think I could have added a little more curry.  I used regular white rice since I have a rice cooker and it doesn’t get much easier than that.  I think it would also be good with brown rice.  I just really liked the flavor of this dish.  The coconut milk added a smooth element to it if that makes any sense.  I used the real ginger and grated it.  I will definitely make this dish again.  Rich ate it too but he is not an adventurous eater at all and didn’t give it rave reviews although he did eat two big bowls of it.  He probably will not like most of the recipes we try in the book so I will take what he says with a grain of salt  (pun intended:)

Look at these gorgeous colors!  I felt like a real live chef in the kitchen with all the slicing and dicing!

 

Mmmmm, so chunky and flavorful!

I thought the Quick Fix Fruit Crumble was a tasty recipe too.  I used thawed frozen peach slices from the freezer section of the store and walnuts instead of pecans.  I ended up cooking the crumble for longer than it asked for since I wasn’t 100% sure the peaches were thawed all the way.  I think I would like it made with apples even more and plan to try that soon.  I served it with vanilla ice cream and you can bet I ate every drop!  Rich said he would have liked it with apples but he ate every drop of his too. 

For those of you who haven’t made the recipes yet you are in for a treat, I think.

Leslee’s Fruit Crumble

Last night I decided to give the fruit crumble a try.  We had apples on hand so I decided to use those.  It was a mixture of gala and golden delicious apples.  It took a while to do all that peeling and slicing but the rest of the recipe was very easy.  To make this gluten free so that I could enjoy it I used gluten free oats and rice flour.  Because of the flour’s purpose in this recipe it didn’t effect the recipe or taste. 

The baking dish that I used might have been a little big because it was a pretty thing layer of fruit.  I guess it cooked faster that way.

Summer and I shard a little bowl with a dollop of whipped cream on top.

Summer loved it and kept asking for more! I think she ate a good portion of the pan! Sean and I both enjoyed it too! I would like to try it again with peaches.  It was a very easy and tasty recipe!

Leslee’s Mulligatawny Stew

I was pretty excited to make this dish because we like curry things, which is why I chose it.  I had gotten some veggies for an excellent price last week so this weekend I decided to cut them up to make the meal prep a little faster.  If you ever watch Robin Miller’s shows she is all about this, so I thought she would be proud. 

I prepared the recipe as it was written except  I added more celery and carrots then it called for.   I also forgot to get the fresh ginger so I had to use powder.  I am sure the fresh ginger would have been much better. I will have to get some to keep in the freezer as Nika suggested.  My coconut milk was actually pretty runny, I thought it would be thicker.  In the end I felt like it was a little too runny and maybe next time I wouldn’t add quite so much broth.  I also did not follow her cook times exactly and just cooked each part until I felt it was done. 

 

I usually do not use instant rice but as it turned out our big bag of rice was gone so I mixed some instant brown rice with some leftover white rice from the fridge.  Sean and I both really enjoyed this dish, but wished it was just a little thicker.

We ate it on plates but Sean thought he might have enjoyed it even more if he had it in a bowl so he could enjoy the extra broth (his words).  We have quite a bit of leftovers and I already enjoyed some more for an early lunch!

Last night we went to Cold Stone for Sean’s free birthday ice cream so we will be trying to fruit crumble tonight!

“That curry dish”-Nika

I was feeling ambitious yesterday so I headed out to the store with the babies to get my shopping done for the week and pick up the ingredients for the stew.  I had most of the things in the pantry already, just needed the veggies.  While the kids were having their naps I made the dinner, even though it was only 3:00.  It was pretty straightforward but I think that the times she puts are a bit of a stretch.  I work pretty efficiently in the kitchen and it took me at least as long as she said.  Anyway, I had never used coconut milk before, but I had a few cans in the pantry and was pleased with the opportunity to try them in something.   I was a little suprised when I opened it and it was solid in the can!  I read the label and it said this is normal and it tasted good so I used it.  I used fresh ginger which is probably a must in this dish.  It is always better than powdered.  If you are not sure about how to use it you find it in a basket in the produce section at your grocery store.  There are usually lots of big pieces but if you look around in there you can find a little one, that’s all you really need.   When you get it home,  peel the amount you think you will need with a spoon.  Basically you are just scraping off the thin skin and then cut it off the rest of the root and chop it finely.  You can put the rest in a a baggie in the freezer and it will keep for as long as you need it to, just pull it out and chop some off when you need.  Not sure if this is the proper way to handle ginger, but that’s what I have always done.

I followed the recipe pretty closely, but used regular broth instead of reduced sodium and regular rice instead of instant.  It smelled great while it was cooking and Sterling was very interested in it when he came home.  I was wondering how he would like it since he claims to not care for curry or coconut flavor.  When he saw me taking a picture of the bowl it dawned on him that it must be “that curry dish”  I had talked about making.   He tried it and thought it was “pretty good for curry” and that it was pretty much like chicken soup.  He probably would have liked it even more if he didn’t know it was curry. 

Isabelle really liked it, of course, she takes after me.  I thought the ginger added a great layer of flavor and overall it was good and I would make it again.  I think that there is kind of a lot of broth and that you could definitely add more veggies to that amount of liquid.  It seems more soupy than stewy to me. 

P.S.  I haven’t made the dessert yet because there was a tasty blueberry pie in our fridge that my mom made that I HAD to finish first.

Heidi's Try

Better late than never!
It was the perfect day here in OK for soup and salad. Our testers were Kenton, Heidi, Connor and Ashley. In the soup I didn't use any onion and I used bacon instead of the sausage since Connor and Ashley were also testers. I also only used a 1/2 of bunch of collard greens since this was our family's first experience with them. Kenton liked the soup; but not so much on the salad. He's not a big fan of the vinegar taste. I really like both the soup and the salad and I really thought that the salad dressing was quite good. Ashley wasn't a big fan of the salad but gobbled up the soup (and 2 pieces of bread). Connor didn't like any of it (not surprised at all) and he ate the soup while holding his nose. A tactic used to eat green beans and spaghetti or anything that he doesn't like.
Thanks Jacki for picking something that I would have never tried to fix. I really enjoyed trying something new and it felt very gourmet to make my own salad dressing! :)
The finished product....

New Recipes for Oct. 5-11th

It was fun to read everyone’s reviews of this past weeks recipes.  I know a few of you were going to be cooking the soup today so we will look forward to your report.  I wanted to get these up tonight so you could get started or plan your grocery lists! It was a hard choice this week for me but I think these two look very tasty! I hope you enjoy them! -Leslee

Mulligatawny Stew over Rice pg88

2 cups instant rice

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

2 medium carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons peeled and minced fresh ginger

1 1/4 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 Tablespoon curry powder

3 1/2 cups (two 14.5 ounce cans) reduced-sodium chicken broth

one 14 ounce can unsweetened coconut milk

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cook the rice according to the package direction.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, garlic, and ginger and cook, stirring, until the veggies soften (about 3 min).  Add the chicken and cook until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes.. Add the curry powder, stir to coat, and cook for 1 minute.  Add the broth, bring to a simmer, and continue to simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes.  Add the coconut milk and simmer another 2 minutes.

Remove from the heat, stir in the cilantro and season with salt and pepper. Spoon the rice into bowls and top with the mulligatawny stew. 

Quick Fix Fruit Crumble pg. 296

Feel free to choose the fruit and toppings to fit your taste! You may substitute cored and sliced apples or pears or mixed berries for the peaches.  When using frozen berries, there is no need to thaw them before using. 

4 cups pitted and sliced fresh peaches or thawed frozen peaches

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup rolled oats

2 to 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil

2 Tablespoon light brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 400 F. 

Arrange the peaches in the bottom of a shallow 7x11 inch baking dish.

In a small bowl, combining the flour, oats, 2 T of oil, the brown sugar, and cinnamon. Stir with a fork until the mixture is crumbly, adding more oil if necessary.  Fold in the nuts, Sprinkle the topping over the peaches and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Ingrid's soup

OK, today was a very typical fall day in Salem, Oregon..... rain, rain, rain.....I did not want to go to the store but I wanted to make the soup.....So after looking in my pantry and refrigerator I decided to attempt the recipe with what I found....I am happy to say it was a big hit.






Well I had gone to Portland last week and purchased some goodies from Trader Joe's and a couple other of my favorite stores. Among the groceries I had some dried cannelini beans and fresh escarole; both of which I had intended to use in different dishes.
I cooked the beans in a pressure cooker with one bay leaf in it.
For people who enjoy using endive in various dishes, escarole is a form of endive that is both versatile and tasty. Sometimes referred to as broad chicory or common chicory.
To my surprise I did have some andouille sausage, but I only had half the amount asked for in the recipe so I added 3 slices of cooked bacon to the soup since I had no other sausage available.
For the salad I had to improvise with arugula and herb salad mix, The boys asked me to add some red onion and apple to it and it was delicious!!!
I only added 1/2 the amount of honey since Leslee mentioned that it was a bit too sweet. I have to say that the boys still found it too sweet, I think that next time I will only add half the maple syrup as well. I am not a big fan of sweet salad dressing but this one is pretty good. The recipe sure makes a lot I only added half to our salad and saved the rest in the refrigerator.














I like to add the leafy veggies at the end to keep that nice fresh taste and to let people add as much or as little according to their taste, I also love fresh green onion sprinkled on top.
We had some delicious fresh backed french bread that Leon grabbed at the bakery on the way home and........... voila.........














I would definitely make this soup again, The salad too but with less honey and maple syrup.

Nika and Jacki’s review of Soup and Salad

 

We absolutely loved these two dishes and would make them both again.  Our tasters consisted of Me, Nika, Sterling and Isabelle.    We made the soup with the andouille sausage which gave it a nice spicy bite.  The collard greens really added a healthy flavor.   I was afraid I might have mashed the beans a little too much but it turned out just right.  It was very easy to prepare and I didn’t have any problems following the directions.  

We really liked the salad dressing and I don’t usually ever buy red leaf lettuce so that was a nice change too.  I went all out and splurged on the real maple syrup at $6.99 a bottle but it will be used again I am sure.  I think I should have chopped up the thyme a bit more but I have not really used herbs before so now I know.  The salad would also be good with tomatoes and other vegetables added.  I chose to make the soup and salad together but I think in the future I would serve the soup with maybe a fruit salad since there are so many collard greens in the soup already. 

Nika tried out a new recipe she had for Lion House Rolls that we served with the soup and salad and they were really, really good too.  If anyone is interested in that recipe just let her know.

Nika’s comments:  I really liked this meal.  It was like something you would get in a restaurant, lots of layers of flavors, and someone made it for me, hahaha.  Sterling and Isabelle liked it too, even though Sterling was a bit wary of the collard greens at first and Isabelle was trying to use the handle of her fork to cool her mouth off from the heat of the sausage.   I would really recommend trying this recipe.

Nika honing her baking skills and making homemade rolls.  Isabelle also helped her.

     

Adding the collard greens to the simmering soup.

Preparing the Thyme to add to the salad dressing.

Me (Jacki) mixing up the salad dressing (vinaigrette)

Adding the salad dressing to the chopped red lettuce leaves.

The finished soup – yuuuuuuumeee!

The final meal presentation of salad, roll and soup.

I hope you all enjoy these recipes as much as we did!

Leslee's Soup and Salad

The soup was a big hit at our house. I made it with a Kielbasa Sausage but it would have been good with something spicier. Very tasty and filling!

The Maple in the Vinaigrette made it a little too sweet for us but I enjoyed trying it. Instead of Red Lettuce I used Green Leaf Lettuce.
Excellent choices! I can't wait to see how everyone's turns out.

- Leslee

Soup and Salad for Week of Sept 27 - Oct 3

Hello fellow Sharpest Knives/Cooks, What better way to welcome in Fall than a hearty soup and simple salad. Pair it with a crusty loaf of French bread and you will have quite the meal!
Cook on!! - Jacki

White Bean Soup with Andouille and Collard Greens (pg 22)
(can experiment with different types of sausage)

1 Tblsp olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion
12 oz andouille or chorizo sausage, diced
4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
two 15 oz cans cannellini or other white beans, drained
1 bunch fresh collard greens, washed well, tough stems removed, and chopped, or two 10 oz pkg
frozen chopped collard greens, thawed
1 Tblsp sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until
softened, about 3 minutes. Add the sausage and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the broth and
bring to a simmer.

2. Using a fork, slightly mash most of the white beans and add to the pan. Simmer for 5 minutes,
then add the collard greens and simmer until wilted, about 3 minutes. Stir in the vinegar, season with salt and pepper, and serve.

Red Lettuce with Honey-Maple Vinaigrette (pg 282)

1/4 cup honey
2 Tblsp maple syrup
2 Tblsp olive oil
2 Tblsp white wine vinegar
1 Tblsp chopped fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

4-6 cups chopped red lettuce leaves, or any lettuce variety

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients.
2. Arrange the lettuce on individual salad plates and spoon the dressing over the top just before
serving.

Up and Running

We will be getting started this coming week with two recipes chosen by Jacki. If you haven't gotten your books yet, she will be posting the recipe in its entirety. Below is a schedule of who picks the recipes which weeks. I started put the dates of the Monday of that week so maybe try and have the recipe up Sunday or Monday so we can all get cooking! Let us know if your week doesn't work well for you and we can switch it around, I just chose them randomly. We can take off the week of Thanksgiving since most people will be traveling or busy and then when this cycle runs out we can start over. If we get any new members we will just add them in at the end. We currently have 11 members, they are all family members of ours but not all of you are related so I will give a quick introduction of everyone.

Leslee Sitton

Jacki Davidson

Nika Dibb

Jacque Kirk (my aunt)

NaDee Davidson (my grandma)

Connie Burrows (grandma/ Jacki's mom)

Heidi Owens (aunt/Jacki's sister)

Ingrid Burrows (aunt)

Audrey Rutter (Jacki's Sister)

Kelly Sitton (my mother-in-law)

Chelsea Sargent (my sister-in-law)

Recipe Selection Schedule
Sept 28th- Jacki
Oct 5th: Leslee
Oct 12th: Ingrid
Oct 19th: Nika
Oct 26th: Chelsea
Nov 2nd: Heidi
Nov 9th: Jacque
Nov 16th: NaDee
Thanksgiving Week Off
Nov 30th: Kelly
Dec 7th: Audrey
Dec 14th: Connie