I saw on "Confessions of a Foodie" this morning that my favorite candy is 75 this year. Kevin and I celebrated accordingly (we really only ate a few apiece -- but the whole package looked pretty good spread out on this plate!).
I couldn't confirm an actual date of invention, but Twizzlers definitely came to be in 1929. Yay!!! Within his post, Tom asked "what's your favorite flavor?" He listed eight, four of which I'd never heard of. And as far as I'm concerned, if it's not strawberry, it's not a Twizzler.
Lasagna. Who doesn't like it? And who doesn't like it even more when someone else makes it for them? I decided to cook supper for Kevin, my parents, and my nephew (who's visiting from San Diego) tonight. My mother was thrilled to hear that news, and even more thrilled that I was thinking about making lasagna. Kevin even stayed home an extra day for it! =)
Here's my recipe for "Impress Your Friends and Family Lasagna:"
1. Buy a box of Barilla no-boil lasagna noodles.
2. Follow the recipe on the box, but leave out the ground beef and substitute lots of chopped veggies.
3. Bask in the glory of the compliments you receive when others eat it.
When I make lasagna for Kevin and me, I usually use shredded carrots, diced celery, diced onion, and diced bell peppers (red, green, both, neither... whatever suits my fancy that day). I chop them, mix them up in a bowl, and put a couple handfuls in with each cheese layer. My dad, however, is a Celery Hater. He won't go near anything with celery, celery seeds, or celery salt. Bearing that in mind, can you believe that when he built our house circa 1973, he painted my bedroom walls CELERY green? That's actually what it was called! And yes, it was as hideous as it sounds. I finally talked him into repainting about ten years later. Anyway... to compensate for not being able to use celery in tonight's meal, I used the following veggies: carrots, red onion, green bell pepper, orange bell pepper, and tomato. The tomato was a new twist for me. I figured, I like it on pizza, so why not in lasagna? It all worked out very well. Everyone was duly impressed. Even Kyle complimented me! How many 7-year-olds do you know who comment on someone's cooking? He's such a good kid. =) Here he is, posing for the camera:
He's quite a ham.
That's the only picture you get tonight. The lasagna, as tasty as it is, is just not photogenic. I won't tell you exactly what the picture I took looked like, but Kevin said it looked like something out of those driver's ed movies they show you about wearing your seat belt and such.
I feel like I should apologize for my sporadic posting as of late. Maine's been caught up in a stretch of what local meteorologists like to call the "icky stickies." It's been in the low 80s with very high humidity since about last Saturday. I know, some of you around the country would love to get some of this weather, but frankly, it just brings me down. And yes, it does get hotter here sometimes. I HATE the 90s. 80s are bad enough. This weather completely saps me of any trace of energy, and it messes with my allergies and asthma. It's too hot to cook, and almost too hot to even eat. I'm eating a lot of convenience-type foods -- healthy ones, of course! =) Organic cheese and crackers, lots of fruit, pb&j sandwiches, smoothies, and I even tried a Linda McCartney frozen pizza the other night -- "spicy thai-style vegetable." It was pretty good, but the crust left something to be desired. Instead of tomato sauce it has peanut sauce, and is topped with lots of colored bell peppers, mushooms, onions, and something that closely resembled cilantro, but didn't tase much of it (thank God!). I also have a package of her butternut-squash ravioli in the freezer.
Yesterday was smoothie day. I had a container full of pineapple in the freezer -- the leftovers from Sunday's grilled fruit kabobs. Into the blender it went, along with soy milk, a frozen banana, and a golden kiwi that desperately needed to be used. It was an excellent smoothie, I have to say -- icy from the frozen pineapple, and very refreshing. I'd post a picture, but it really doesn't look any different from the smoothie I wrote about here. On a bit of a side note -- did you know that insulated travel mugs make great smoothie containers for hot summer days? Put a straw in the hole you're supposed to drink from and you're on your way. The smoothie stays nice and cold for at least as long as necessary!
Yesterday was also pool day. My aunt and uncle, who live about a mile away from me, have a gorgeous pool in their gorgeous backyard, and my aunt is about the only one who ever uses it, now that my cousins have moved away. She practically begs us to come over, and we feel we must oblige. =) Yesterday she and I got into a long discussion about food and recipes and such, which reminded me I wanted to get her recipe for strawberry bread. I usually don't like my fresh strawberries to be messed with -- I especially don't want them to be cooked -- but this bread is fantastic. Moist and spicy and fruity. It's supposed to cool down a bit this weekend, so I'll probably bake a batch and post about it soon. I still have a refrigerator full of berries from Saturday's excursion.
Anne (my aunt) also told me about a book she's reading: "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. Anne is a smart, smart woman, but described this book as "strange" and "hard to get your head around." I love, LOVE, LOVE Jack Finney's "Time and Again," and this sounds kind of similar. It could be pretty good... unless it's trying too hard to rip off Finney, in which case it could suck ass (pardon my French!). By the way -- the sequel to "Time and Again," called "From Time to Time," is not nearly as good as its predecessor, but is still worth reading for the "I read the whole series" factor...
How does life get so hectic? My nephew has been in town almost a week now, and I've barely seen him. It's not like I'm right out straight with work and such, but somehow time just gets away from me. I work from 4 am to noon, go home, go grocery shopping or something, and suddenly it's bed time (which comes way too early). Kyle will be here another two weeks, though. I may have to steal him away from my parents some afternoon to get some quality time with him!
Kevin's been home since last Friday, which has been great. He's been filling in so much at the radio station that he's only been home for three or four days at a time over the past few weeks. Unfortunately, he's leaving this weekend and will probably be gone for a week and a half. =( This will be a rough stretch for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that the DNC will be in full swing next week. Have you seen the reports on the national news about the huge security measures being implemented? Should I really be afraid of a terrorist attack happening in Boston next week? I work in TV news and I don't even know what they're trying to tell us! There are just a few too many mentions of the Madrid train bombing for my liking.
This has turned into more of a "general musings" kind of post than a food kind of post... but I think I mentioned in myfirst entrythat this might happen from time to time. Writing is great therapy for me. Who needs a shrink? =) Thanks for your patience. I really will get back into a food mood soon. I've also been reading a few new (to me, anyway) blogs lately, and will post links to them very soon. Look for them on the left-hand column of this page!
Sorry -- I'm a day later than I promised I'd be! These aren't exactly recipes, by the way... more like "suggestions." Here goes!
Bruschetta Kabobs (or, "Greek Salad on a Stick")
My original thought was to do bruschetta on the grill -- toast up some nice bread over the coals, rub it with fresh garlic, and top it with olive tapenade. One day last week, lying by the pool, I contemplated this idea and was suddenly struck with... an epiphany! I wondered what would happen if I toasted chunks of bread, olives, and onions on skewers. I am happy to report that the results were great. This was my favorite dish of the day. I bought a nice multi-grain batard and cut it into approx. 1" chunks. I threaded the bread cubes, kalamata olives, red onion slices, and pepperoncinis on my skewers, misted them with olive oil, and let them go. They only took a minute or so on each side. I got exactly the effect I wanted -- crusty, toasty bread that was still chewy on the inside, and lots of flavor from the olives, onions, and peppers. I had originally tried putting cubes of feta cheese on the skewers, too, but they just crumbled as I threaded them. Live and learn. The kabobs were still excellent. I will definitely try this one again!
Eggplant Parmesan Mini Pizzas This one is based on a recipe I recently saw in my mom's "Woman's Day" magazine.
Firtst, I cut an eggplant into 1/2" slices. I misted the slices with olive oil and put them on the grill. For this step, I used a couple handfuls of mesquite wood chips on top of the charcoal for extra smokiness. I certainly got it! When the eggplant was nice and browned, with pretty grill marks, I took it off the grill and cut it into bite-size pieces.
I got out my leftover "fiesta pizza" dough from a couple of weeks ago and made mini crusts. I grilled them on one side for about five minutes, until they were brown and, well, crusty! I took them off the grill, flipped them so the cooked side was up, and layered on the following toppings: pizza sauce, fresh mozzarella, small dollops of ricotta, eggplant chunks, dried basil and oregano (they didn't have any fresh at the grocery store!), and freshly grated parmesan. Back onto the grill, covered, for maybe ten minutes (I so rarely time anything!) until the bottoms of the crusts were brown and the cheese was all gooey and melty.
The pizzas, unfortunately, were still a little bland. We sprinkled on some crushed red pepper, which kicked them up a bit. Next time I make this, I will probably season the eggplant before I grill it, and try harder to find some fresh herbs. The smokiness of the eggplant was nice, though. And the pizzas were actually even better the next day!
Fruit Kabobs with Ginger Dip
This is painfully easy -- I put white nectarine chunks, (canned) pineapple chunks, and star fruit slices on skewers, and grilled them. Unfortunately, the coals were burning pretty low by this point, so I didn't get as much caramelization as I'd hoped I would, but they still came out OK. If you've never had grilled pineapple, you're missing out! The nectarines and star fruit were nice, too. =) The dip, which I got the recipe for at the grocery store, is also very easy -- one cup vanilla yogurt, eight ounces cream cheese, 1/4 cup honey, and two teaspoons freshly grated ginger. Mix until smooth, chill one hour, and serve with slices of your favorite fruit. I have to confess, I didn't measure the ginger -- I just grated some in until it looked like there was a lot of it, then put in a little more. It was much more gingery than the sample I had in the store (and much better)! I don't think I used as much honey as it wanted, either... but I didn't exactly measure it.
Considering how little I've actually grilled in my life, I'm very happy with the way everything turned out. This was a great way to get myself into the grilling groove. I can't wait to try it again!
