Molasses cookies
1 stick butter +1/4 C. canola oil
1/4 C. light molasses
1 C. sugar
1 large egg
2 C. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cloves

Melt butter and oil over low heat. Remove from heat and beat in molasses and 1 c. sugar until blended. Whisk in egg. With spoon, stir in flour and remaining ingredients. Transfer dough to medium bowl and freeze 15 minutes until firm. roll into ball and roll in sugar. Cook 10 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet at 375. 

Chicken Picatta

Chicken Picatta
This is a fairly simple dish, delicious, and nice for company or something special. Very good over buttered angel hair pasta!

2 large lemons
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, split in half horizontally, creating 8 thin breasts
salt and pepper
1/4 cup flour
4 tbs. oil
1 small shallot, minced, or 1 small garlic clove, minced
1 Cup chicken stock or canned broth
2 tbs. drained small capers
3 tbs unsalted butter
2 tbs. minced fresh parsley leaves.

Halve one lemon pole to pole. Trim ends from one half and cut crosswise into thin slices; set aside. Juice remaining half and whole lemon to obtains 1/4 C. juice; reserve.

Sprinkle both sides of cutlets with salt and pepper. Coat with flour.

Heat pan over medium high heat until hot; add 2 Tbs. oil. Saute half of the cutlets, without moving them, until lightly browned on first side, 2-3 minutes. Turned cutlets and saute other side. Remove and transfer to warm oven (200 degrees). Repeat with remaining 2 Tbs. oil and cutlets.

Add shallot or garlic to now empty skillet and return to medium heat. Saute for a few seconds until fragrant. Add stock, heat to high, and scrape bottom of skillet for the brown bits. Simmer until liquid reduces to about 1/3 cup, about 4 minutes. Add lemon juice, lemon slices and capers and simmer about 1 minutes. Remove pan from heat and swirl in butter until it melts and thickens sauce (mmmmm); swirl in parsley. Spoon sauce over chicken and serve immediately. Serves 4-6. 

Bruschetta

 Bruschetta. 
This is probably my #1 favorite food! It's so simple: 
small loaf good baguette bread
soft butter
fresh tomatoes, preferably a mixture, even more preferably heirloom tomatoes
fresh basil--small to medium handful
1-2 garlic cloves
Parmesan cheese

Slice, butter, and lightly toast bread.
finely chop tomatoes (1-2 large, or mixture of several smaller), drain juices and seeds
chop basil finely
add finely chopped garlic
mix in Parmesan cheese
top onto bread and toast or broil again. 

I could eat this every day!

Rolled pasta with mushroom sauce

Rolled pasta with mushroom sauce

This was a delicious dish I made the other week. It's from The Culinary Institute of America One Dish Meals. 

Mushroom Sauce:
1/4 C. olive oil
3/4 C. minced onion
4 cups sliced white mushrooms
1 C. dry red wine (I think i substituted some chicken broth with a dash of vinegar)
2 C. diced plum tomatoes (fresh)
2 Tbs. mince marjoram leaves (hmm, I left this out too)
1 tsp. minced thyme leaves
salt, pepper

16 dry lasagna noodles
2 C. whole or part skim ricotta cheese
1 C. grated Parmesan cheese
2 C. grated Fontina
1/2 lb thinly sliced proscuitto

1. To make mushroom sauce: heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute, stirring frequently, until the onion is translucent and tender. Add the mushrooms and continue to saute, stirring frequently, until mushrooms are tender. Add the wineand cook over high heat until the wine is reduced by half. Add the tomatoes and herbs, reduce the heat slightly, and simmer until the sauce has a good consistency, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
2. While the sauce is simmering, cook the lasagna noddles in boiling salted water until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain the noodles thoroughly and rinse in cold water. Drain again.
3. Preheat the oven to 400 degree F.
4. Combine the ricotta and Parmesan cheese, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Lay one noodle flat on a work surface and spread thenoodle with 2 Tbs. of the ricotta mixtures. Scatter about a tablespoon ofthe Fontina over the ricotta and top with a slice of prosciutto. Roll up the pasta and lay it seam-side down in a baking dish. Repeat until all of the noodles are filled and rolled.
5. Ladle the mushroom sauce over the noodles and bake the pasta until very hot and bubbly, about 30 minutes. Let the past rolls rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Makes 8 servings.

Valentine's Luau Dinner

For Valentine's dinner I made my family a Hawaii themed party.  We listened to our music that have from our trip to Hawaii. That I think makes it feel the most Hawaiian.  I also had a few decorations and leis for everyone (just cheapie ones from the party store--how fun would it be to have real ones).  Here's what we had:

Dessert:
Vanilla bean cheesecake with mango puree

The mango puree was made in my Vitamix.  It's 3 cups of partially defrosted fruit (or fresh is fine), 3/4 cup sugar or to taste (I used about a half cup for this recipe) and 1 tsp lemon juice.  Blend on the hot soups program.  We have made this with frozen mixed berries one time and blueberries another time and it always makes a delicious sauce, which thickens up later in the fridge.

I made the cheesecake from scratch of course, using a recipe for New York Cheesecake.

The feast:  Lobster tail with butter, coconut shrimp, luau pork and rice (from Rumbi grill) and pina coladas.

I've only bought lobster tails a few times and I never remember how to make them, so I had to search the internet on how to deal with them.  I finally found a basic you tube video that explained how to lift the meat out of the shell and bake it on top of the shell.  It was really easy.


The shrimp was the most time consuming, but it was pretty easy.  I used this recipe.

My helper with the shrimp

My best salmon ever (Pecan Crusted)

"Mom this is your best job of salmon ever!"
That is what Nathan told me last night at dinner. This recipe is one of our favorites.

Large Filet Salmon

salt and pepper

2 Tbs. Dijon mustard

2 Tbs. butter, melted

1 1/2 Tbs. honey

1/4 cup soft breadcrumbs

1/4 cup finely chopped pecans (or any nut--last night we used walnuts because that's what we had)

1 Tbs. fresh chopped parsley

lemon slices

Sprinkle salmon with salt and pepper.  Place on greased baking sheet or dish.  I would suggest lining with tinfoil or parchment.  

Combine mustard, butter, and honey.  Pour over salmon.  Combine breadcrumbs, pecans, and parsley.  Spoon on top.  Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, depending on the thickness of the filet.  My filet was probably 1 and 1/3 pounds, and we had plenty of the sauce and bread crumb topping.  

The lemon juiced over it adds the perfect tang.  This salmon is rich and delicious.  

Serves about 4. 

(Recipe adapted from Southern Living Easy Weeknight Favorites)

We love salmon!

I try to serve salmon once a week.  I prefer wild salmon for health and taste, but most of the time we buy farmed as that is what is more readily available.  If it is very fresh, it is still so delicious!  I do salmon really simple, usually baked at 350 for 20-30 minutes depending on how thick it is.  I like to put Penzy's Northwoods seasoning on it, or just salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemon juice.  I have other salmon recipes which I will try to share in the future but those are my go to ones.  My kids gobble it up!

This meal was perfect!! I love this potato recipe and I followed this recipe for coleslaw and it was delicious!

Ugh I can't figure out how to rotate this!!

Here's my version of the potato recipe

• 1 pound potatoes (I used Yukon gold)
• 2 pound sweet potatoes (or more)
• 1 large onion, cut into 8 wedges
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 8 cloves garlic, whole
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
• Pepper
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts (I didn't add this but it sounds good if I had them!)

Directions:

1. 1

   Preheat oven to 450ºF.

2. 2

   Peel and coarsely chop the potatoes and sweet potatoes. Combine potatoes, sweet potatoes, onion, butter, and olive oil in a large bowl and mix well.

3. 3

   Spoon mixture into a 15 × 10-inch roasting pan. Sprinkle with salt. Place on bottom rack of oven.

4. 4

   Roast mixture, stirring twice, for 25 minutes.  Add garlic half way through. 

5. 5

   Add hazelnuts to potato mixture and mix well. Roast, stirring twice, until potatoes are tender and lightly browned, about 10 to 15 minutes.
   
   
   I didn't follow the exact times; just roasted until some bits were brown and toasty and almost burnt, but not quite.  I used my big turkey roaster pan and it worked great.