A Refreshing Summer Salad

The recipe is copyrighted by Epicurious, so I won't list all that info here. I've provided a link to the page; I hope that it works for you (and for their lawyers.) 

This recipe comes from Epicurious, where it is listed as: Summer Squash and Red Quinoa Salad with Walnuts. As of this posting, 92% of the reviewers who answered the question, said they would make it again. I thought it was a bit work intensive on the front end for a side salad, but since it has protein rich quinoa and walnuts...as well as cheese, it could be served as a meal, at least at a ladies' luncheon in the heat of the summer months. My fellow likes to see some meat on the table, though. I should add that even with the front end work required, I was able to start prep for the full meal after four and had everything on the table by six.  So, I guess that just means I'm a lazy cook.

Made my quinoa first, and put in a shallow bowl
in the refrigerator to chill while I did the other
steps and rest of the meal.

As a side, it was really refreshing. There's lemon and lemon zest involved in the dressing, nice salty Parmesan for a garnish, some fresh basil leaves for another flavor boost. All in all, satisfying. Here it was well-received alongside meatballs and green beans. 

Would I make it again? Yes, I would. Did I tell them I would? No, I didn't.

Things done differently than the recipe: 

• as some online comments suggested,  prepared the quinoa according to package directions
• used tri-color quinoa, instead of red, only
• omitted walnuts

Early Passage

These dishes were my heart's dream when I was too young to have them. I must have been terribly vocal in my wishes, but Mother knew I was not old enough to handle the responsibility of breakable dishes. Of her two daughters, I was the one whose dolls were loved to pieces...literally. I was as likely to be found with my brother sprawled on the living room carpet setting up battle scenarios with his army men as I was to be playing house. Somehow, though, after the holidays, I had the dishes and the beautiful blue box with the tiny hinged silver clasp. Each cup and saucer, every plate and most especially the teapot, creamer and sugar bowl had its own ingeniously designed pink cardboard nesting spot. I was enthralled and "ready or not," I had entered a new, "big girl" world; one that included ... breakable dishes. 

And that is the inspiration for this blog's name. Original header looked like:

Small print reads: "Family dishes, some breakable, some not...Some new and some old will grace this blogspot. A pinch of remembrances may also appear. Grab a cup; pour some tea; you're welcome here."

The "About Me" section of this blog is actually one written for my quilting blog, but I don't know how to split it and have one cooking one appear here and the other there.

Gotta Wonder What a Trillionaire Would Eat

Something about October days...even those that manage to climb into the lowest of low 90's,...makes me think of hearty soups. So, I was game to try this one found on the allrecipes.com web site earlier this week: Billionaire's Franks and Beans. This turned out well for us, and it was also a test run for Oscar Myer Select hot dogs, which were on special today. (Yay!)  Now, in the original recipe the veggies included a poblano chili  and fresh cayenne peppers. Since I could find no comments about how much heat that would entail, I opted to substitute green and red bell peppers for those. Likely that was enough for recipe purists to say I didn't really try that recipe. Everything else, though, was done just as Chef John, whose recipe it is, directed. In fact, we enjoyed ours with buttered toast, as he suggested in his accompanying how-to video. This was good. It was not fabulous, but for beanie weenies....it was very good. The hubs actually dipped up a second bowlful. I'll check the bank account tomorrow to see if this had any magically positive effect there, but I imagine that title is just for fun.

So Good We Had to Celebrate SOMEthing!

Bon Appetit (?) lists this as Grilled Tenderloin with Cherry Salsa. How often do I even HAVE fresh cherries in my kitchen? Maybe every ten years, or so. Anyway, I saw this recipe after having bought about three pounds of fresh cherries. Meanwhile, at Kroger, the pork tenderloins were on special. This sealed the deal. Had to give it a try. 

Red jalepeno pepper for the Cherry Salsa was not available, so I used red pepper flakes instead. BUT, it worked. (Yum). And even though I had to wash and pit the cherries as the meat marinated, the timing was actually just as the recipe indicated... do-able.

The resulting meal was so delicious, I would have proposed to my husband, if we weren't already married.  After about my fourth bite, I told him, "Happy Anniversary", though our next one of those is months away. We thought a bit about it, though, and it actuallyWAS our 45th anniversary of the month we met! So, C-E-L-E-B-R-A-T-E-!

Plated with last night's grilled asparagus and mushrooms

    Also, we will get three meals from this one cookout. Our freezer has been notified, and looked pretty pleased, too.

Kale! Kale! The gang's all here!

Somehow I had only read about kale until recently. Introducing new foods to old menus can be tricky, but this turned out to be well received even with my pickiest eater. Hint: not me. Oh! I mean "not me" as pickiest eater. Of course, with both lemon and garlic as primary flavoring, it had a pretty good chance of making the grade.

The recipe came from AllRecipes' site: Mediterranean Kale

Three C Hummus in a PB Blend

I had always thought there could not be hummus without tahini; but because of the sesame allergy I had to look for something that would serve as a tahini stand-in. On the AllRecipes site I found Creamy Yogurt Hummus that made hummus using garbanzo beans, lemon juice and yogurt. I mixed some up, but frankly, it was not what I had hoped. I missed the authentic hummus texture rendered by that forbidden ingredient, tahini. I knew I would not be able to eat it as it was, so back to the “Ingredients” feature I ventured, this time adding peanut butter as a possible tahini substitute, and up came Falafel I .

To my previous mixture I added peanut butter, a bit more garlic, some onion, coriander, cumin and cayenne. I think the peanut butter provided the texture I had missed, and the three C’s stepped up with the missing flavor.  Of course, another C (curry powder) might have been used, but this was good, and I met my goal of salvaging the first mixture, as well as finding a way to have hummus again. The mixture was best after having been chilled a few hours, for all the flavors to meld.

Lots of protein in this snack. It could be more interesting looking had I added snipped chives or the green of a spring onion and some of the roasted red pepper I instead used for (photo-primping)  garnish. ;o) Anyway...

[[Maybe my new version should be called "Falafammus". What do you think?]]

Savory Apple Pork Chops

I had a couple of green apples looking for a good use, and also had a couple of thick-cut pork chops that I had bought for a Sunday dinner, so I did an ingredient search on All Recipes dot Com and found this "Savory Apple Pork Chops" recipe. Couldn't beat it for simple ... except to use the crock pot for cooking, which I did.  Didn't use ketchup for it, though, as recipe calls for because I had a partial can of diced tomatoes on hand. The end result was a good (but not great), extremely easy meal. May try it again if I find myself with sufficient lead time and have the ingredients on hand.

Served with broccoli, rice, and caramelized onions.