Making Ina’s homemade granola bars – delish!

I highly recommend!

Jenn : )

For this week’s Two Spoonfuls post I’m setting Alton and his chapter on water aside.  Instead, I’m going to share a delicious dessert that Josh and I have been enjoying all summer.  It’s for Roasted Fresh Fruit.  Yeah, I know what you’re thinking:  “Roasted?? What, it’s not hot enough for you in Seattle, Jenn?!?” I know.  We are having record temperatures here in the Northwest.  But that just shows you how good this recipe is – I’m actually willing to turn on the oven in the midst of this heat.  So if I can do it here – then you can certainly make this where you are*!

(*Residents of Death Valley excepted.)

I’m using a modified recipe from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast.  I really like this cookbook.  Normally I don’t mind recipes that have loads of ingredients and take a while to make.  But sometimes you just don’t have half a day to cook, and you just want something good, fast.

There are many recipes on the internet for roasting fruit, and all are open to tweeking by the home cook.  Don’t like peaches?  Then don’t roast them.  Want to see what a pluot tastes like?  Throw it in!  You can modify this basic recipe to include many of your favorite summer fruits.

Here I’ve used: Peaches, Red Plums, Black Plums, Nectarines and Pluots.

(Note:  This is a great recipe for salvaging bruised fruit or fruit that’s gone a little soft.  Don’t throw it out – roast it!)

I use fresh rosemary from our yard.  The recipe calls for 2 sprigs of rosemary.  I take the leaves off of the stems (just run your fingers down the length of the stem from top to bottom and they’ll fall right off) and mix them right into the fruit.

The recipe calls for 2T. unsalted butter and 2-3T. sugar.  The last time I made this recipe I forgot to add the sugar – and Josh said he liked it even better!  So you can play around with how much sweetness you add to this dish, another plus.

Also add 1T. fresh lime juice. Did you know that if you gently roll a lemon or lime against your counter top (press down just a little as you roll), it will give more juice?  I’ve also read that you can microwave lemons and limes briefly and they’ll produce more juice as well.

Mix everything together in a roasting pan and roast in a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes until the fruit is tender and there is lots of juice in the pan.  I usually give the fruit a stir about half way through.

Let cool for a bit and serve over your favorite frozen yogurt or icecream.

Usually I use 1 of each fruit and that makes just enough for Josh and I.  This time, I made a bigger batch.  I’m going to try keeping it in the fridge and warming it slightly in the microwave for desserts over the weekend.

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Here are some other Roasted Fruit variations:

1.) From Ina

2.) From Rachael Ray

3.) From Giada De Laurentiis

Hope you’re all enjoying the fruits of summer!

Now what’s that other Spoonful been up to?

Jenn : )

It’s that time again – another Two Spoonfuls post!

This time we’re sautéing along with Alton in

Chapter 4 of I’m Just Here For The Food.

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Alton’s tips for a perfect sauté:

1. Prepare all foods: cut, chop, etc…

(Chopped carrots and zucchini.)

2. Add cooking oil after the pan is hot.

3. Add aromatics (onion, celery, ginger, etc..) and toss for 30 seconds.

(Minced fresh ginger.)

4. Add firm vegetables or meats and toss until half cooked.

(Carrots.)

Then add high moisture ingredients like tomatoes, etc..

(Zucchini, salt and pepper.)

5. Add final flavors: ie citrus juice or vinegar.

6. Toss with salt and pepper.

7. Top with grated cheese, nuts, bread crumbs, herbs, etc…

(Toasted sesame seeds.)

(Done and delicious!)

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Alton’s sauté recipes can be done with a handy non-stick pan, and I was very tempted to do just that.  The reason?  Lets just say that over the years I’ve made several attempts to try this technique using a real, authentic metal sauté pan.  It’s so disappointing to prep a beautiful piece of food and gently placed it into a pan, only to have half of it stick there and fall apart.  And lets not even talk about the amount of elbow grease it takes to scrub that pan clean after the food and pan have fused into one entity.

But this time I decided to be brave, dust off my metal sauté pan and give it a go.

And, following Alton’s steps…. look!

When I was finished, that sauté pan was clean as a whistle.

: )

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Here are some fun sauté recipes that you could try:

Alton Brown’s Glazed Carrots,

Emeril’s Quick Vegetable Sauté,

Alton’s Fungal Sauté (Yum!).

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Now, how ’bout we see what’s been

happening over in Ginny’s kitchen?

Jenn : )

Appetizers, Hors D’oeuvres, nibbles…. whatever you choose to call them, tasty little bite-sized foods are fun, easy to make and perfect to take along to holiday get-togethers.

This week I’ve made two little bites, the first being Cherubs on Horseback.

Cherubs on Horseback are so ridiculously easy to make, that you could ask one of your kids to make them while you’re in the kitchen. They only require two ingredients: dried apricots and bacon. After these have been baked you’ll be treated to a delicious mix of salty and sweet.

There are many recipes for this treat on the internet and they are all very much the same, so I’ll share a basic recipe here:

20 dried apricots, briefly soaked in warm water

10 slices of bacon

20 wooden toothpicks, presoaked in cold water

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut the bacon in half crosswise. Run the back of a knife over the bacon to stretch it out a little (this will keep it from shrinking while it bakes). Wrap each apricot with one piece of bacon and secure with a toothpick. Place on a baking pan and bake until bacon is crisp, 10-15 minutes. Serve hot or warm.

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The second recipe I tried was from my favorite hors d’oeuvres recipe book, simply titled:

Hors D’oeuvres, by Eric Treuille and Victoria Blashford-Snell.

I made Mini Cherry Tomato and Basil Pesto Galettes, which is just a fancy way of saying tomato and pesto on a puff pastry round. These were delicous, and wonderfully bite sized. Perfect for a quick, tasty bite.

You begin the recipe by creating fresh pesto, and since pesto recipes can also be found in abundance online,

I’ll share one with you here:

Simply take 1/2 cup fresh basil, 2 tablespoons pine nuts (I get mine in the bulk section of my grocery store. Pine nuts freeze well and thaw quickly.), 1 tablespoon olive oil and 4 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese; combine in a food processor or blender and pulse until the ingredients become a thick paste.

Done. You’ve just made pesto!

(Home made pesto – it’s easy!)

(I used a basic 2″ biscuit cutter. A fluted one would be even prettier.)

(I made galettes with pesto under the tomatoes and then some with the pesto on top. Putting the pesto under the tomatoes is the best way to go.)

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* Jenn’s Notes *

The Cherubs on Horseback can be wrapped in advance and popped into the oven at the last minute. They are best served hot or warm, but you can reheat them in a warm oven if you have leftovers.

You can make as many Cherubs at a time as you’d like – these work as both a nice snack for two or an hors d’oeuvre for a large group.

I once made celery sticks stuffed with a cheesy filling for a party I was having. When I went to plate them, since the celery is rounded, they all wanted to roll over on the plate. What to do? I had to think of a way to prevent them from rolling, so I looked through my cupboards, found a bag of lentils, covered the bottom of the plate with them and ta-da!, the celery stayed upright.

Plating your little bites is easy and fun. You probably already have things in your pantry that you could use. Just look at the things that you have in a new way. Lentils are really great because they are pretty, come in a variety of colors and can be cheaply purchased at your grocery’s bulk section. Split peas work well. Rice and beans can be used, too.

Make sure that what you’re serving isn’t too sticky, or you’ll have little pieces of rice/lentils stuck to the bottom.

Here I’ve used plain rice in one dish and a combination of lentils and rice in the other:

It’s party time!

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Let’s see what Ginny’s been up to over in her * Two Spoonfuls * kitchen!

Best,

Jenn : )

Have a great weekend!

Jenn : )

Hello -

Josh and I have had a fun Saturday so far. We slept in (ummmmm) and then took a trip to Uwajimaya this morning. Uwajimaya is an Asian market located in downtown Seattle in the international district.

As we drove into the parking lot we noticed that the market validates parking for up to two hours. “Ha!” I laughed, “We won’t be here anywhere near two hours.”

As we left – the parking attendant was kind enough to overlook the fact that we had been there for 2 hours and 3 minutes…

I can’t help it – when I go there I just want to look at every single thing in the store. And before you know it – 2 hours have flown by. The front of the market is a grocery store – filled with beautiful produce and meats and seafoods, etc. Then there are shelves of non-perishables, a bakery, a bookstore, a Hello Kitty section and more. Then there is the sushi counter and the food court. We had a tasty lunch of chicken and rice and a little salad.

I wish I had taken my camera with me. I don’t have any photos of the market itself – but I can show you some of the goodies that I brought home:

I bought three new sewing/embroidery books and these two little pads of cute paper.

This book is filled with plush animal projects and is titled “The Cute Book“. Now, how could I pass that up?!? (This book is the only one that I bought that is in English – the other two are in Japanese.)

These are some of the foods that we brought home – some Pocky, bread and papaya cakes. I also found these little plastic containers that I’ll use in my studio. I can always use containers for buttons and little bits and doodads.

And this is a gift for my brother. Each April (when we remember to do it) we send each other something that we think will make the other person laugh. This package is filled with dried little fish and shrimp – heads, eyes and all, and it says “Let’s Party” on the package. It will go nicely with the belly-dancing instruction tape I got him a couple years ago.

Have a great weekend everyone!

: ) Jenn