The Love of Tea

From Tea at Trianon - follow this link to plan your own afternoon tea.

The girls and I have always made time for a "cuppa" after school, sometimes with, and sometimes without a treat or two to go along...I confess I love my teatime with the girls. It's great for what I call "the daily download" of school day stories, gossip, atrocities, and even tears. Nothing like a little tea and sympathy!


A quick and easy tea sandwich recipe:

Ingredients:

*1 small, peeled cucumber, sliced very thin

*wholegrain bread ("Health Nut" or 12-grain is nice), crust removed, of course!

* Philly (or similar) spreadable cream cheese - vegetable variety

Preparation:

Easy! Spread a thin layer of flavored cream cheese on each slice of bread, add a layer of cucumber to every other slice, cover with an "un-cucumbered" slice, and cut into fingers, or quarters (triangular or square).

Serve with a variety of other 2-3 othe tea sandwiches - you can go as fancy(salmon and cream cheese on cocktail rye toast) or as simple (PBJ on white!) as you'd like. I've also been known to whip together some shredded cheddar cheese and Miracle Whip with dash of white pepper - even a little pimiento if I happen to have it on hand. Egg and tuna salad, too. The key is to mix up the sweet and the savory.

When we make our tea a fill-in for dinner, I will break out my tea and snack plate service, and serve hot soup in teacups with the sanwiches on the snack plates.

(This may horrify the tea purists out there, but hey - we're colonists!)

Basic cookbooks with great results

For my dear soon to be married Clam...

Another good one for starters, in addition to your Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook

http://www.amazon.com/Americas-Kitchen-Family-Cookbook-Revised/dp/193361501X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216680896&sr=1-1

This one is good and gets better over time, especially with kids and leftovers to contend with. You will go back to this one again and again - read it gradually, then when you are at a loss for ideas, suddenly an idea you learned from it will pop into your head. (Ok, maybe that's just me...) You can get a gently used version of this one for next to nothing on Amazon. She has several other titles (for entertaining and dieting, among other things) which I don't own, but I'd imagine are also good stuff!

http://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Without-Book-Techniques/dp/0767902793/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216729748&sr=8-1

And then there's this one - it's out of print but still available on Amazon for less than $5 (used) to $25 (new). I'm surprised a new edition hasn't been done, frankly. All those interesting-sounding recipes you find on product labels? Here they are! (Love this one!)

http://www.amazon.com/Great-American-Favorite-Cookbook-Collectors/dp/0785361804/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216730586&sr=8-3

South Beach Cookies!

Summer is here...I am still working on getting back to pre-baby form and have lost 14 lbs. so far. (Will my waistline ever fully recover at 40? I don't know, but I am trying to find out!) But now my Beloved Husband is on board and has decided to try the South Beach Diet - the new "Supercharged" book came out a month or so ago, and we bought it.

My weakness is dessert - cookies, cake, brownies, ice cream, chocolate - that little bit of sweetness in the evening...ahhhhh...so I've looked around for some SB-friendly dessert recipes. I ran across a great SB fan's blog, Kalyn's Kitchen, which I recommend if you want to search recipes as well as look at discussion and find inspiration about this particular diet.

Here's one that I have yet to try, but seems to get universally good reviews:

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

* 1 cup Peanut Butter (trans-fat/low glycemic if possible)
* 1 cup Splenda
* 1 egg

Directions

Preheat over to 350. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray. Combine peanut butter, splenda, and egg. Mix until combined. Roll dough into walnut size pieces and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. With a fork dipped in more splenda flatten cookies. Bake at 350 for 9-10 minutes. Only 2 cookies per day allowed - Phase I.

Approx. 20 servings.

Strawberry Dip

Forget the fat and calorie content...walk the dog an extra mile for this one!

Ingredients:

* 1 small tub regular or light Philly cream cheese (don't use fat free!)

* 1 small container sour cream (regular or light)

* 1 c. powdered sugar (more or less to taste and to desired consistency)

* 2 tsp. honey

* 1 tsp. vanilla extract (reserved)

* Lots of lovely fresh strawberries for dipping, washed and hulled!

Directions:

Mix above ingredients together, in order, with handblender until fully incorporated. Add vanilla last. Experiment with the proportions to suit your preferences. Chill one hour, stir, and serve!

(If serving at a party/buffet, place a whole strawberry in the bowl for identification purposes...or suffer the errant chip or veggie faux pas!)

YUMMY!

Tuscan bread (Pane Toscana)

Easiest, no-knead bread you'll ever make - quite versatile and tasty, too - just a lot of rising time, so plan to start it the day before:

INGREDIENTS

* 3 c. unbleached flour
* 1/4 tsp. instant dry yeast
* 1-1/4 tsp. salt
* extra flour (any kind) for dusting and for work surface, dash of cornmeal for baking surface

* 1-1/2 c. lukewarm water - a bit more if needed


DIRECTIONS

1. Use a fork to whisk together dry ingredients in large, stainless-steel bowl, then add water.

2. Stir mixture well, until flour is mostly incorporated - some will stick to sides of bowl. This is a very sticky, shaggy-looking dough. (NB: I use my KitchenAid stand mixer with dough hook and stainless steel bowl attachment, and a fork to quickly scrape at the sides rather than a spatula)

3. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest and rise for 18 hours - yes - 18 hours. Dough surface will appear fairly bubbly when ready.

4. Turn dough out onto floured work surface and fold it over on itself 2-3 times, sprinkling lightly with extra flour. (Be sure to flour your fingers, too - the dough will be sticky and stringy as it comes out of the bowl.) Cover loosely with plastic again and let rest for 15 minutes.

5. Flour a cotton towel (not terry cloth - linty!) and set it on a flat surface, then take the dough, quickly shape it into a ball and place it, seam side down, on floured towel. Sprinkle top surface of dough with flour and cover with another towel, let rise for 2 more hours. (I swear by the nice, cheap flour sack towels from IKEA for this, but any thin, non-terry cotton towel will do). I place the towels into a round proofing basket, but it is ok to leave on the counter, too.

6. Preheat oven to 450* placing a large, covered 6-8 qt. cooking pot - cast iron, enamel, ceramic, or (my favorite) stoneware in to preheat at the same time - about 15 min. before 2nd rising is done.

7. After 2nd rising, dough should double in size and keep its shape when poked gently with a finger. Carefully take cooking pot out and set it on stovetop or insulated surface. Sprinkle in some cornmeal to lightly coat surface of pot. Uncover dough, and quickly invert into cooking pot - shake the pot a bit to center the dough if needed, but don't sweat it, even if it looks bad or a bit uneven, it will look fine after it bakes.

8. Cover pot and bake 20 minutes, then uncover and bake another 20 miuntes until it is a nice, deep golden brown. Bread, when done, will sound hollow if you knock on it. Slice and serve warm with your favorite meal.

This is a great, rustic bread! It is dense and chewy, with large "pores." It is fine on its own, with butter or oil & herbs, and compliments your fave soups, stews, salads, etc. You can slice it thin for panini and broiled/grilled mini pizzas or garlic bread. Any leftovers can be used for croutons OR for Tuscan Bread Soup. (I'll post that one in the Fall).

Buon Apetito - and enjoy!

P.S. About the stoneware - I use a covered "cloche" (bell-shaped) pan. It makes a flatter, disc-shaped loaf. You can get one for about $40 from any number of manufacturers, mine's from Sassafrass - it's versatile (you can bake bread, casseroles, pizza, etc. in it) and IMHO, nothing works better for bread baking. Except maybe a bread machine, but Wiley bit the cord off that a few years back...

Sweet Potato Casserole

We celebrated the baby's first birthday this past week by having Thanksgiving dinner - here's one of our favorites:

Ingredients:

6 med. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces
1 stick butter - melted
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/3 c. orange juice
1/4 c. brandy (optional, but I strongly recommend it - substitute more oj if you prefer)
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1-1/2 tsp. each dried lemon and dried orange peel
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. each ground cloves and ground nutmeg

Directions:

* Steam sweet potatoes until soft & falling apart when tested with with fork.
(You may also bake or microwave them in the skin and then peel them,
just make sure they're thoroughly cooked)

* While sweet potatoes are cooking, toss all dry ingredients into a
small bowl and mix together with fork

* Mash sweet potatoes (or process) and allow to cool slightly

* Add melted butter, beat together at slow speed

* Blend in eggs gradually

* Blend in orange juice and brandy

* Blend in brown sugar, then spices, then vanilla

Pour mixture into buttered 13x9 pan, bake 45 min. at 350* or until edges are slightly browned and pulling away from edges.

Options:

You can toss 1 c. mini marshmallows on top during the last 10 minutes (the kids like it this way) but it is sweet enough without them, and reheats better without them, too.

Adjust spices to taste - I always round up.

Be generous with the brandy!!! ;-)

Puffy sugar cookies

This recipe comes from my husband's mother - the cookies are soft and fluffy, and they do puff up, so use with simple cookie cutters (outlines) as opposed to patterned ones.

1/2 cup Crisco
1 1/2 cups sugar

Cream those together

Add 1 tsp. vanilla and 2 eggs

Sift together 3 cups flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp.baking powder and 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Add alternately with 1 cup sour cream

Roll out 1/4 inch thick.

375 degrees for 8 minutes.

The recipe does not say so, but I chill an hour or so before rolling out

New Invention

Two of my friends recently opened their own club - a cut WAY above the local-yokel bars around here, let me tell ya...

They're hosting a fundraiser for the local cancer treatment center, so we were coming up with a drink menu, and whipped up a new martini (well, new to us, anyway)


Kit's Butterscotch Martini:

2 shots Absolut Vanilla vodka

1 shot Hiram Walker Buttershots

.

Rim 2 chilled glasses with powdered sugar

Shake mixture with ice, strain, and serve.

(Very smooth and sweet...be careful!)

I do seem to be on a bit of a virtual bender with these last 2 posts, but never fear, back to regular recipes next time!

Easy Friday Recipe

Tequila.Lime. Salt.

For those who need further instructions:

POUR tequila into glass[es] of choice

RUB lime wedge on edge of hand (above thumb works best)

DASH salt on lime trail

LICK lime-salt mixture

CHUG tequila

SUCK lime wedge

REPEAT until...

(It's been one of those weeks)

Chicken-Spinach-Rice Salad

This is another simple meal or side dish - great in the summertime, easy-to-multiply recipe, always a hit at parties. My beloved likes it better the second day, my brother-in-law actually heats up the leftovers (if you have any) in the microwave.

INGREDIENTS:

*1 bottle Italian dressing (non-creamy), with 1 cup reserved (a bit more is ok)

*12-16 boneless, skinless chicken tenderloin pieces (or the equivalent in breasts, but the tenderloin pieces are quicker)

* 1 bunch fresh spinach, well rinsed and allowed to dry, rolled and chopped in long strips (ok to cheat and use a bag of prepared salad-style, too)

* 2-3 medium celery stalks, thinly sliced

* 2 cups cooked rice (use any kind you like, the original recipe calls for plain white, but I was out once and used a box of Uncle Ben's Long Grain & Wild instead - MUCH tastier!)

* 1 Tb. sugar

*1.5 Tb. soy sauce

Optional add-ins: 3-4 slices crumbled bacon, 1-2 thinly chopped green onions, crumbly bleu or feta on top

PREPARATION:

After reserving dressing, pour the rest over chicken and bake, covered, in 9x13 pan until done (30 min. or so at 375*F if fresh, 40 min. if frozen).

While chicken is baking, prepare rice, set aside in a large salad or mixing bowl, and allow to cool to room temperature (or at least not nuclear-hot, anyway). Then chop up spinach (long, thin strips look best) and celery (and green onion/bacon if you so desire) and set aside.

When chicken is done and cool enough to handle, drain off excess dressing and slice into bite-size strips

Pour sugar and soy sauce into reserved dressing and stir briskly with fork. When well-mixed, stir into rice. You should have enough dressing to make rice appear rather shiny and sticky, but not at all runny or soupy.

Fold in remaining ingredients in order: chicken - drippings/a little extra dressing is fine, celery and optional ingredients, then spinach.*

Mix well, cover loosely, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to ensure it is well-chilled. Easily serves 4 as a meal, 8 as a side. Top with crumbly bleu, feta, bacon crumbles if desired.

*Depending on your preference when it comes to the spinach, you may also wait to fold in the spinach until just before serving. We like it a bit wilted, which the warm rice does nicely, so I do it all at once.

Enjoy!