This will convert you into loving Brussels Sprouts!

I am feeling a little guilty about having a Trader Joe's 1/2 mile from my house. When we lived in Rancho Santa Margarita CA I went to TJs at least once a week ...if not more. Ralphs and Albertsons and Pavillions just couldn't compete!  For the seven years we lived in KFalls, I went to Trader Joe's on my way back and forth to the OC...with a cooler. If I had a road trip to Bend, I brought a cooler..and filled it with Trader Joe's products. I know, I'm spoiled.
This week I bought an unusual product that has resulted in tasty food- 'dried' Thai Chili Paste and bagged Brussels Sprouts.
We grew Brussels Sprouts in Klamath Falls for a few years- I think I posted pictures a few years ago of Brussels Sprouts stalks growing in the snow...yes, we had them for Thanksgiving a few times! I love Brussels Sprouts- Kevin, not so much. He thinks they taste like cabbage..well, yah, they sort of do but they are so much better! Sigh.
The 'dried' Thai Chili Paste is pretty good- I sprinkled it on top of some thin cut rib eye steaks last night for the BBQ and they were pretty good- very mild and not hot flavor. I also added them to the scrambled eggs this morning and it was tasty!
The Brussels Sprouts needed some more attention.

Oh, did I mention that it's shrimp night, too?
I cut the core out and halved the brussels sprouts and soaked them in salted water for an hour...and I defrosted the frozen shrimp in a little Johnny's Garlic Spread (thanks, Costco!) and white wine.
Then I found this fabulous recipe for roasted Brussels Sprouts in Sherry Cream Mushroom Sauce....holy God this was fantastic!  Kevin even said it was "OK". That is high praise, indeed!
Of course, I added my own touches...so here it is!

Core and half 1/2 lb. of fresh Brussels Sprouts
Soak the Brussels Sprouts in  a bowl of 1 tablespoon of salt with enough water to cover the Brussels Sprouts . Add 1/2 package of dried Trader Joes' mixed mushrooms and soak for an hour.

Drain well and save the liquid!
Toss the Brussels Sprouts with 2 tablespoons of oil and 1/2 tsp. of freshly ground pepper. Pour into a single layer on a roasting tray and set aside.
Drain the mushrooms and set aside for a bit. Save the liquid!
Fry up 4 strips of Turkey bacon in 1 tsp. of oil (you can use real bacon if you want) and render the fat.

Remove the strips and chop. Save the fat and add 1 chopped clove of garlic.
Add the drained mushrooms and fry for about 10 minutes, then add 1 cup of the mushroom liquid and let it boil!

When it is almost dry, add 1/4 cup of Sherry and 1/2 cup of half and half.

Continue cooking the sauce while you put the Brussels Sprouts in the oven and roast at 400 for 15 minutes until brown and crisp on the outside and tender on the inside!
Toss the cooked Brussels Sprouts with the mushroom-cream-sherry mixture and heat until boiling, then turn the heat down very low.

Add the chopped bacon, and serve.
Seriously, this will get you rave reviews! It is absolutely delicious!

Alton Brown's English Muffins = Amazing Kitchen Smells

This "being retired thing" is pretty cool...I can get all kinds of projects done and still take Bridget for a brisk walk every day...among other things!
We are still settling into the rental house. Slowly but surely, we are finding a place for everything. I just finished sanding, priming, painting and waxing a cool vintage dresser for the guest room. Kevin complained that it doesn't match anything else in the room, but I do love it! The color is called, "Chocolate silk" and it is very pretty!

 The guest room is the only room sort of 'done' in the house. you can see Great-Grandma's mirror on the wall; my antique dresser with cute casters; the two antique sewing tables and the antique glass lamps; my recent garage sale find of a luggage rack for guests; Great-grandma's artwork on the walls and the newly painted dresser. I think I'm going to move the dried arrangement to the new dresser- it's filled with dried blackberry lily branches and feather grass from the backyard in a beautiful golden glass vase that Eleni (Chris's fiancee) gave us for Christmas. It's very striking and the dresser needs something besides the electric blanket controller!
I have several other projects going on right now- I am chalk painting a (FREE!) REALLY crappy 90's dresser; I am sanding and refinishing some (FREE!) oak kitchen cabinets for the garage and I am picking up a (FREE!) storm door tomorrow for the front door. Our entry way is covered and it's REALLY dark- we don't have any windows on the front of the house in the main living area, so we thought a storm door would let in some much-needed light and maybe a cross-breeze in nice weather. Thanks, Craigslist!
Anyhow, I was thinking about making something different for breakfast this week. We have had the boring usual suspects that I have rotated through my breakfast repertoire since I retired; bacon and eggs, waffles, BLTs, omlets, fruit salad, eggs in a biscuit, cereal, pancakes, smoothies, french toast, chicken fried steak, biscuits and gravy, etc.
I was watching Diners, Drive -Ins and Dives and saw a place that featured homemade English muffins. That got me thinking...how hard could it be? I know I could go to the store and BUY English muffins, but now that I have the time and inclination???
Anyhow, I found a very well recommended recipe by...ALTON BROWN! Yep, my ol' faithful cooking buddy has an amazing recipe that sounded easy enough...Alton Brown's English Muffins
I read up a little more and found some tweaks to make the perfect English muffins- you know, full of nooks and crannies to get every last bit of delicious butter or hollandaise sauce? That kind of English muffin.
I found a site that recommended adding some yogurt to the 'wet' mix and some baking soda to the dry mix, and to let it 'proof' overnight in the fridge. Which I did...in my trusty wooden bowl (used for pizza dough proofing-usually)

I also didn't have any English muffin rings, but I discovered that I could use clean, greased and floured wide mouth canning rings. Well, I have a zillion of those around!

After slowly crisping the top and bottom in my skillet, I finished them in the oven...and OH MY!! They turned out heavenly!

I 'forked' them open (Kevin taught me the right way to open an English muffin when I first met him, working at the Plankhouse in Cypress during brunch- he was the chef and I was the 'hostess with the mostess') and toasted them and filled them with butter, Canadian Bacon and cheddar cheese. YUM. I can't tell you how amazingly good they were! You should try this recipe- it takes a little time, but it's well worth it in the end!
Sorry, no pictures of the finished product- we ate them too fast :) Maybe Eggs Benedict tomorrow- I also make a delicious home made hollandaise sauce...

Fresh Vietnamese StyleSpring Rolls and Football

We woke up to very chilly rain this Sunday morning- but one look out the window at the mountains made me smile! LOTS of snow in Tahoe! It's countdown time for ski season...anyhow, I decided to make my favorite snack for lunch today while watching football...Vietnamese - style Fresh Spring Rolls.

These are vegetarian, although I love making them with cooked shrimp in them, too! 

First, I made the dip. I mix together 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, 2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon of sambal olek (chili garlic paste). It's my own invention and is it ever tasty! 

Next, I prepare all the ingredients...peeled and julienne carrots and cucumber, fresh basil, chopped radish, chopped green onion, and cooked rice vermicelli noodles. I made the noodles on Tuesday, but I didn't use them all. You can store them after they are cooked in the fridge in a little water. Just rinse them with warm water to make them pliable and drain well! 

Next, get a bowl of very warm water ready, and a dinner plate next to the bowl. Open the package of rice paper wrappers-NOT won-top wrappers! These look like opaque round pieces of thin plastic! I use the size that are 9" in diameter.

Place a rice paper wrapper in the bowl of warm water and quickly rotate it all the way through the water...about 5 seconds. Don't wait until it's totally pliable or it will tear and be impossible to roll! You just want to dip it in all the way and lay it quickly on the place. Don't worry, it will get a little more pliable while on the plate absorbing the water. 

Working quickly, add the vegetables, sort of like you are making a burrito...layer the basil, noodles, carrot, cucumber, onion and radish across the bottom third of the wrapper, but leave a little room (about 1/2") on each side. 

Bring the bottom of the wrapper up and over the filling, sucking it in tightly to make a little roll. Wrap tightly once away from you, and then, tuck both sides into the wrapper.

after tucking in the sides, continue to roll the wrapper away from you, keeping it nice and tight.

The wrapper will stick to itself!
You can cut it in half if you like! It's easier to pour a teaspoon of the sauce into half at a time...

Three of these make a delicious lunch for one person!
Hope you try these- they are so good! Of course, you can add any vegetables or even cooked meat or seafood or fish as a filler- just don't over stuff it. The rice paper wrappers will tear if you make them too full!

By the way, all of these ingredients can be found at your local grocery store...no specialty stores needed!

Fall, Finally!

It's getting chilly here in Carson City. It feels like Fall. We have had a couple of very chilly nights and the trees are starting to turn colors...

Bridget and I are going for a walk every day! We get to see some great scenery and watch the colors change daily...

And even though we have some wonderfully warm days right now and to come for the next 10 days- I am loving this FALL weather! 

Fall makes me think about...stew. And...stuffed squash. And...soup. My favorite time of year also happens to feature my favorite kind of cooking! 

It's not easy having a Trader Joe's about 1 mile from the house....I keep finding great Fall food- like, Acorn Squash. 

We had stew earlier this week-and I do make an amazing stew! I use tomato paste instead of flour on the meat to offer a dark and delicious broth. Anyhow, onto the topic at hand...stuffed squash!

Last night I decided to half an acorn squash after a thorough scrubbing. I seeded it and cut the bottom and the stem. 

I steamed it in the microwave in a little water for 8 minutes. 

Then, I started to cook! 

I took 2 slices of sourdough bread and cut it into small chunks. I tossed the chunks with a little olive oil, sweet smoked paprika, garlic powder, kosher salt and pepper. I spread them out on a cookie sheet. I tossed this in the oven at 300 for about 5 minutes.

Next, I chopped 1/4 onion, 2 stalks of celery, 2 garlic cloves, 2 small jalepenos (seeded and stemmed) and 4 crimini mushrooms (cleaned and stemmed) 

I chopped into large chunks 2 sweer Italian sausage links from Trader Joe's. Yum! The veggies and sausage went into our cast iron skillet to saute until the mushrooms gave up their liquid. 

This was tossed in with the now browned seasoned sourdough and a little chicken stock was added for some moisture. 

I stuff it into the now-softened acorn squash halves and shredded some mozzarella and parmesan cheese on the top. 

You are gonna hate me, but we ate it all for dinner and I forgot to take a picture of the beautifully browned cheese-veggie-crouton stuffing! 

It was SO DELICIOUS!!! 

Sorry about that missing photo....

Summer in a Bowl

We moved last week to Carson City, Nevada. Moving is always stressful but we tried to do it in easy stages. I started packing up as much as possible about 3 months ago when we decided that we were going to move by October 1. Each week I bought some boxes, washed and dusted everything and packed by seasons.

This is one of the reasons we moved...can you see the snow on the Sierras in the background? 

Anyhow, the move is the main reason I've neglected my blog- although I have been harvesting a ton of beautiful vegetables from our Klamath Falls garden and cooking up a storm! 

When we moved, I knew there would be a hard freeze shortly after the move and I didn't want to sacrifice all of the beautiful tomatoes that were just about to ripen...so I picked all the green tomatoes I could gently pack between newspaper in a couple of huge boxes and stuffed them into some space in my car. 

Needless to say, I now have an overabundance of ripe beautiful tomatoes...and I already have pints of canned tomatoes! So, I decided to go to a tried and trusted recipe for dinner tonight....Ina Garten's Fresh Cream of Tomato Soup

It's very easy to make, delicious and perfect on a cool Fall night! 

I started with a chopped red onion, 3 chopped and peeled cloves of garlic and 2 peeled and chopped carrots in a little olive oil in my beautiful red Lodge Dutch Oven...

 After 10 minutes, I added 5 German Giant tomatoes from my garden, chopped, 1 tablespoon of tomato paste, 1/5 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of salt, 1/4 cup of packed fresh basil leaves and 1 teaspoonful of black pepper. 

I let this cook for a few minutes, and added 2 cups of chicken stock...

I brought this to a boil, then turned it to a simmer; I covered it and cooked it for about 30 minutes. 

I blended it with a stick blender and added 3/4 cup of heavy cream and re-heated the soup. 

Then, the best part: I made a grilled cheese sandwich with parmesan and cheddar cheese on sourdough, cut it into crispy 'croutons' and topped the soup with the grilled cheese croutons and some chiffonade fresh basil. 

Summer in a bowl! 

Reno and Bridget the Yorkie

We made a trip to the Reno area this past week. We usually board the dogs, but since we are now down to one dog, Bridget the Yorkie, we decided to find a pet-friendly casino/hotel so we could bring her with us on this trip. She's only 3 lbs. and she is portable! She is so perfect when we take her camping in the trailer and is a real trooper- how could a casino/hotel be different?? We found a terrific deal on hotels.com for the Grand Sierra in Reno. It's a pet-friendly hotel with a small pet fee and if you book on hotels.com (or Expedia) you get some nice perks like $25 worth of food and drink credits at the Grand Sierra Restaurants or $25 in play credit in the casino. You also get an amazing rate, compared to the Grand Sierra rates.
Bridget loved the room.

As a matter of fact, she loved all the attention she got from EVERYONE in the hotel- security, guests, drunk Burners, (more on that later) housekeepers...everyone wanted to pet her, hold her, give her olives (drunk Burners) tell her what a cute puppy she is...(she's 10 for God's sake!) And they always wanted to stop me when I was enroute to take her out for an emergency potty break. Awesome. She pee'd on the carpet and floor twice in the casino, but everyone thought it was sooo cute (she would have made it outside if you hadn't insisted on stopping me in my pajamas to tell me how cute she is at 11PM or 6AM, you idiot!) but the staff didn't seem to mind, even though I was embarrassed as all hell. Oh, well.
We did learn a couple of things on this trip.
I don't care how AWESOME the Burning Man thingee is, I will probably NEVER go. The Burners (Burning Man attendees are called 'burners') who decided to hang around for the whole week -after Burning Man ended- in the Grand Sierra Resort STILL refused to bathe, even while staying in a nice hotel, and STILL insisted on acting like they were on the playa in the dust...playing bongos all hours of the day and night in the bar, begging for change in the pool area, asking EVERYONE if they could give them a ride to Denver, Colorado and wearing the strangest combination of clothing (or lack thereof) I've ever seen. Sorry, It's not any kind of ART that I've ever appreciated....and that's a stretch.  Escher or Warhol would have been uncomfortable with the drugged and drunk, black skirt and squirrel-coat top hat with pink flower dangling earring wearing, silver spangled high heel wearing old dude(probably about 70) with half shaved head, half long dyed pink pony tail that tried to give Bridget a green olive from his martini  at 6AM (I so wish I had my camera)  with his equally fully tattooed nearly naked probably just turned 21 green shaved headed female companion who was wearing a bathing suit top with a black thong and black fishnet stockings and doc marten boots....oh yah, still covered in DUST on Thursday. (Burning Man ended on Monday) And, they both smelled like they hadn't bathed in a couple of weeks. Or the guy dressed like a pirate in the bar....covered in dust for three days running...ARGH.
The other thing we learned is that Bridget the Yorkie prefers the fresh burger patties from In N Out instead of the frozen and cooked burger patties from McDonald's or Burger King. She also really likes filet mignon cooked medium rare....but well done is not to her taste.
Another thing we learned is that we need to leave Bridget the Yorkie at the Double C Spa when we go to Reno. She was a total pain when we wanted to go down stairs to get a drink, or to gamble or to EAT DINNER at Charlie Palmer's Steakhouse on our 33rd Anniversary! She yelped and cried LOUDLY if we tried to leave the room, so we had to cancel those plans....hence the reason we know all about fast food burgers and her preference.
At least we were able to have a couple of very lovely meals from Room Service...sigh.
Anyhow, I did send Kevin downstairs with our $25 coupon and he won $40....so at least we didn't lose gambling...and we are pretty sure we have found a nice place to stay for the Fall/Winter in Carson Valley to see if we really like it. Hopefully it will work out- it's 20 minutes away from Heavenly Ski Area. I can't wait for lots of SNOW!!!
We spent a lovely afternoon touring the Mormon Station in Genoa (It's pronounced Gen OH AH) which was the first settlement in Nevada back in the 1850s and they had an antique car/motorcycle parade going on...

and today, on our way home, we saw the beginning of a beautiful hot air balloon festival in Reno...

I think we are going to really enjoy this area!!

Chrome....book & out of control garden produce!

You all probably know that Trace Adkins is one of my favorite musical artists...and I love his song, "Chrome." Yah, look up the lyrics. If you know me, it's all about me...' hell, I wanna drive'. Ha ha! I do love pure country music...

So I recently faced the decision to replace my laptop since it was...old....slow...and painfully frustrating to use. Kevin was sick of listening to me complain about its limitations- well, it was a 6 year old emachine...so I kind of expected to get a newer one during the past couple of years, but I kept using it and waiting until I HAD to switch.

Anyhow, back to 'Chrome'. So, I decided that a cool new laptop/tablet would be the perfect thing for me. I researched the Surface and finally bought one...and I hated it. Fortunately, I had a 14 day return policy (thanks, Staples!) and traded it after MORE research for a Chromebook. And I still love 'Chrome'.

It is very easy to use; has all the features I need; and best of all, is totally a Google product! So- Drive, Calendar, Gmail, Google + and Blogger all work wonderfully well with it!

So, I've been loading all of my pictures from my iphone into the Google+ photo feature....I'm still figuring it out, but I am sure I'll get the hang of it eventually.

Our garden has been EXPLODING lately. I've been donating 25-35 lbs. of produce a week (well, mostly zucchini, yellow squash and pattypan squash) since July but now it's really taking off!

I'm keeping all the corn, green beans, pickling cucumbers, jalepenos and cayenne peppers since we eat every bit of those veggies and we are also keeping all of the large tomatoes for canning and just slicing and making a meal out of them...like this dinner last night...

but today, I started my favorite type of cooking of all time...

CANNING!!!
I can't tell you how much I love to can home grown produce!
Today, I canned 4 pints of Kosher Dill pickles and 5 pints of crushed tomatoes. Today, I used the Cherokee Purple tomatoes (nice and meaty and beautifully purple-y color) but I still have a stock pile for this weekend.

I know you are all jealous. I'll use these tomatoes for soups, stews, spaghetti sauce, maque choux sauce, Mexican dishes, Italian dishes, Moroccan dishes and more throughout the winter! Pat & Melissa gave me a pressure canner for my birthday and boy, did it get a workout today! I am anticipating using it at least twice a week for the next few weeks!

I'm thinking that I'll be canning spicy green beans this weekend....to use as a crunchy spicy stir stick in a Bloody Mary...along with some cayenne peppers in there!

Raspberries and Cherry tomatoes (sweet one millions) are also bursting at the seams- we have been eating raspberry sauce on homemade waffles and cherry tomatoes...pretty much every day at most meals!