Category Archives: Salads

Weather – Please Make up Your Mind I’ve Got Things to Do

And pick up your toys and dirty socks from the family room! Oh, no, wait, that’s the boys, not the weather.

Do you have tomatoes that are not up to par on the summer tomato bliss meter? No problem, just slow roast them. Yep, that’s right, I went right from pictures of dirty socks to food. No time for segues.

And add them to my new favorite Summer Pasta Salad just as Smitten Kitchen predicted it would be. She never steers me wrong. Do not fear the oregano amount. She’s right, she’s always right. I used white wine vinegar for a lighter taste and ricotta sallata as I sometimes find feta overwhelming.

Also did Garlic Roasted Potatoes from Ina Garten. With two luminaries of cookbooks like that, it can’t go wrong. And since we were straddling between spring and summer over the weekend, we grilled steaks but then sautéed some asparagus.

Asparagus with Pancetta

WHAT YOU NEED
1 tsp olive oil
1 lb asparagus, sliced on diagonal in 1 inch pieces
1/4 lb pancetta sliced thick and then diced

WHAT YOU DO
Heat olive oil in pan. Add pancetta and stir until crisp. Remove pancetta to a paper towel lined plate. Add asparagus to the oil in pan. Stir about 4 minutes. Add 1 Tablespoon of water, stir and cover loosely and steam for about 3-5 minutes or until asparagus is bright green and tender.

Remove from pan with slotted spoon and sprinkle crispy pancetta over the asparagus.

What’s up for dessert. How about giant Pretzel M&M Cookies from Two Peas and Their Pod via What’s Gaby Cooking? I really flattened them and thought that was better than when they puffed up. But to each their own.

Now it is June so hopefully we’ll see some solid summer grilling weather. I made some teacher gifts of candle holders with 150 sharpened pencils and tucked in Gerber daisies in their own test tube vials.

Fake Sister had her very last day at grade school.

So after today, she and Drummer Boy will no longer be in school together. Hang on, this computer keeps getting dust in my eyes. *misty*

Happy Last Day of School everyone!

Volleyball, Spiderman and the Twilight Zone

I introduce these recipes without meaning any offense to the first two. The first two were delicious. Had we made only these two, the post-volleyball tournament, post-re-doing her son’s room, post-Religious-Ed mass with the dead grandmother movie (Grandma’s Bread – look it up) crowd would have been very pleased.

But then came the green beans.

First the Korean Style Bulgogi Steak, inspired by thekitchn. Thekitchn tells you how to make your own gochujang sauce but requires gochujang paste. Neither Jewel nor Whole Foods sought fit to provide me with this, but Jewel had pre-made gochujang sweet and spicy sauce.

So I looked at the ingredients, added what seemed to be missing (a little rice wine vinegar and neutral oil) and used it as a marinade for the steak and drizzled some extra on top. Wonderful.

Then, having only one usable avocado, I made Smitten Kitchen’s Obsessively Good Avocado and Cucumber Salad. It was, as advertised, obsessively good. So much so, we didn’t take a picture, so here’s one of Guitar Boy before the oral report he had to give on Spiderman creator Stan Lee.**

Presented for your consideration. A humble pound of green beans. Trimmed. Fresh. But what happens next can only be explained in..the Delicious Zone.

These Roasted Ginger Sesame Green Beans from Foodie with Family come from another planet. A planet where everyone finishes their green beans. Where children (not mine!) willingly take them from their father’s plate. Fantastic. Thanks Foodie with Family.

** Our excellent friend Jeremy Manier commented on Facebook that if Guitar Boy wanted to make his Stan Lee oral report authentic, he should make brief cameos in other kids oral reports. Genius.

What Worked Well – Valentine Edition

So what did everyone make for Valentine’s Day? Did you go with fancy (something with scallops perhaps) or a nice steak? I went with comfort food and a joint Valentine’s Day with my sister’s family. The more the merrier!

The Slow Braised Beef from Smitten Kitchen was easy-peasy lemon squeezy. 3 ingredients. That’s it. 4 hours. It’s done. Did I take a picture? No, I didn’t.

For dessert, I made How Sweet Eats Chocolate Cream Pie. Continue reading →

Duxbury 2014

Thanks to the Duxbury Guilfoiles for hosting yet another family reunion (less Tommy, but a hermit crab was named in his honor, so it was practically like he was there). Here’s a picture of hermit crab Tommy fighting with hermit crab Joe – so yeah, just like he was there.