Jammin'

Okay, so this entry is not in the cookbook, but I just had to share the results anyway.  I spent a beautiful week cooking with my Alaskan daughter and grandchildren.  We ventured into the wild and picked blueberries by the 33-gallon kitchen trash bag full.

While one old-school picker hand-picked blueberries on one side of the field,we picked using our handy-dandy berry pickers (no, not the children, but the red thingamabob), raking in multiple berries, while leaving behind the leaves.  So easy a kid could do it.  

At home, quality control took over, extracting the little worms that inhabit all berries, along with the errant leaves looking for adventure outside the blueberry patch.

Once cleaned and cleared for use, we turned these sumptuous morsels into a yummy blueberry pie.

For future cookbook purposes, watch for my comparison to Seth's Blueberry Pie.  It'll be hard to beat my granddaughter's piemaking abilities (makes me miss the underrated TV show Pushing Daisies).  

Funny, after 33+ years of cooking, you'd think I'd know the proper measurement techniques, NOT!  When I measured dry ingredients using a liquid measure, my daughter was aghast that I did not know that dry vs. liquid measurements are actually different.  I didn't believe her, so I repeatedly poured one cup of flour into a dry measure, then poured that into the liquid measure, which measured a little over 3/4 cup.  I repeated this several times like any good scientist and every time it was the same:  one cup of sugar in a liquid measure is more than one in a dry.... I don't know why, but they are!  All these years I've been feeding my kids too much sugar by using a liquid measure to measure sugar!  Sorry gang.

We also made umpteen number jars of exquisite blueberry-lime jam (image left) and, not content to stop there, turned Costco's big box of plums into jars of fabulous ginger-plum jam (image center)....if you're wondering why the jars on the right contain roots, they're not jam....duh.  It's my affinity for rooting anything that will do so. 

After taste-testing the ginger-plum jam, we decided it would make a delicious baste for fresh salmon, which my son-in-law just so happened to land my last day in Alaska.  What an adventure for another story.

CHICKEN PIE ...p56

"Exquisite"
"Tastes like chicken with cookies on top"
"This is delicious!"
and subsequent midnight raids on the refrigerator to savor what little was left.

And whoever said "less is more" hit it on the mark with this recipe.  With just six everyday ingredients, we enjoyed one of the most commented on meals of the book.  The dish was so simple to make that I thought it would be a flop - but it wasn't - everyone loved it.  The critic asked how I made the gravy - very impressive.  When I responded with Campbell's Cream of Celery soup, she was surprised, thinking it was far more complex. 

Let's face it, everyone loves the smell of chicken stewing in a pot.  Therein lies the most labor of the recipe - deboning the chicken - having accomplished that, the rest is easy.  But I made it a little more challenging by throwing the picked-over bones deep into the woods, hoping that I, like Linda, might attract a chupacabra.  Seems Linda has one lurking in her woods - sighted by both her husband and her separately....  Before she even knew about the legend, she described this eerie, frightening creature they saw devouring chicken bones she had put out at the woodline for her cats.  The description prompted a "that's a chupacabra" from my daughter.  Sure enough, looking at the internet picture confirmed the identification. I'll let you know if one shows up in our yard.

Hardy Appetit!

RASPBERRY TOPPED LEMON PIE ...p90

The closest comparison I can make to this pie might be Sour Skittles - a candy known to cause excessive salivation.  At first bite, I puckered my mouth at its tangy-ness (is that a word?), but then settled in to its sweet aftertaste.  The frozen raspberries completely broke up in the cooking and I think fresh ones might hold up better, or, perhaps after spreading the whipped cream, a colorful scattering of fresh raspberries on top would be nice.  All liked the rich pie well enough, but truth be told, I'd prefer cheesecake....

Hardy Appetit!

Chicken Fricassee and Dumplings ...p58

Does any of my generation remember Grandma Alma's Chicken Fricassee and Dumplings dish?  I remember as a child, disdaining the chicken left on the bones and having to pick it apart while I ate.  Now, of course, I love this bit of authenticity - this extra flavor to the stew.  This Hungarian dish made me realize the dull flavor of my customary chicken and dumplings recipes that use only boneless white meat, and reverted me back to the days of my youth where there was a whole chicken in every pot, skin, bones and all.

Jon thought the dumplings were the best he'd ever tasted and I dare say, the critic concurred.

Hardy Appetit!

Bread Pudding ...p85

I'm slacking a bit on the photos here, forgetting to shoot this fabulous bread pudding ensemble.  I truly don't know why I don't make this more often - it is so easy to assemble and absolutely delicious.  I used a stale sourdough baguette this time (admittedly hard to "saw" into pieces!) and let it sit for two days in the frig before cooking it, fearing the bread wouldn't absorb enough milk overnight.  Superb.  Everyone loved it.  It's even delicious served cold the next morning.

In the cookbook, butter is not listed as an ingredient and, after letting the pudding sit for a spell, I almost forgot to put it on top.  I recommend you add it to your ingredients list as butter adds a richness you wouldn't want to skip! 

Again, the critic lost out on this one, critiquing instead food choices at the Methodist Hospital.  Her reaction to their food?  Surprisingly, very positive.

In fact, we decided it is very important to make people aware of their hospital choices and hold some accountable, hence the following mention here in Gene-E Recipes!  Perhaps it will help them improve.  After an execrable stay at East Houston Regional Medical Center months back, Methodist acted professionally, compassionately, reasonably and all accomplished with superb meals and clean rooms.  Conversely, EHRMC showed none of those characteristics.  Hopefully our complaints helped the administration become aware of its problems and afforded them the opportunity to correct them.  

Hardy Appetit!

SPINACH TORTELLINI ...p76

I just love the versatility of tortellini.  You can add just about anything to it and it will taste great.  Here spinach, tomatoes and onions combine with cheese tortellini to make a great hot pasta entree.  The critic wasn't really wild about all the spinach, would have preferred it as a side dish.  Truth be told, if it looks like greens, I better leave it out, as she has a real distaste for collards, mustard, or anything akin to "greens."




Hardy Appetit!

ROASTED PEPPER TENDERLOIN ...p50

Katie's recipe does for pork what Bob's recipe did a few months back for fish - pops it to the #1 favorite spot in our household.  If you're looking for a tender, tasty company dish, try serving this tenderloin with some mashed potatoes or rice, along with a baguette for sopping up the sauce.  The meat was so tender, it was hard to keep fingers away from tasting the entire roast away before serving. 
I began with a pork loin roast (I'm sorry, I couldn't find any unseasoned pork tenderloins at our local grocery store!), also forgot to buy jars of roasted bell peppers, but since I had lots of red peppers in the fridge, I roasted them myself.  Easy to do - pop them in a very hot oven (400-450°) on lowest rack for about 20-30 min. allowing the entire pepper to blister, turning as the bottom chars.  Then drop them into a ziplock bag, seal and allow the steam to loosen the skin.  When cooled (approx. 10-15 min.), peel the skin off, scrape out the seeds, and voila!  roasted peppers.  

If you by some miracle have leftovers, the pork would be delicious shredded in fajitas or burritos.

And hey, I'm sorry I didn't snap a picture of this yummy roast, but it'll happen next time.  Just like next time I'll have the authentic critic's opinion - right now, you'll have to just trust my sidekick THE VEGGIE LADY!

Till the next time,  enjoy this youtube.

Hardy Appetit!

CABBAGE CASSEROLE ...p66

If you're not one to fool with assembling cabbage rolls, make this easy mixed-up variation of the theme.  The critic enjoyed it, but suggested diced up tomatoes would make it more flavorful.  Jon modified his serving with lots of ketchup, but we others enjoyed it with nothing added but more pepper.  Accompany with something zingy like pickled beets or cucumbers and sour cream. 

I used brown rice which gave it a slightly nuttier taste.

Hardy Appetit!