Tuesdays Video Blog on Thursday

I did not have commentary.  In fact,  I forgot to take the final image.  So sorry!  Also,  sorry about the other random images and dialogue.  

Wordless Wed.

Ravioli and Carrots

Ravioli and carrots??  Does this mean we get to eat ravioli stuffed with carrots??? Um...no. Sorry,  that does sound good,  hmmm.. now I am craving some squash stuffed ravioli, but that is beside the point.  The point is,  I made this dish last week with my friend.  Now before you get further disappointed,  I have run out of time tonight to make my video,  but I will make it Thursday.  Tonight you get a post that should have been posted last week,  but I took the week off from blogging.  Not cooking,  but blogging.  Which means,  I have an arsenal of photos, well, one photo from each meal,  but I should have story to go with that photo... so story away..................

    For the past few months, my friend and I have been trying to get together and make pasta.  She asked me to show her how,  and I was excited to teach.  I love to teach!  So last week we finally got together.  I realized later,  she wanted to learn how to make ravioli.   I had never made ravioli,  so I figured,  lets get to the dough part (which I knew how to make) and then we could figure out the rest. 

   I showed her how to make dough the way my great-grandmother from Italy would have made it,  with your hands on a surface! (I'll have pictures in the video on Thursday,  I did that very same process tonight).  
   Now, when I visit someones home on a weeknight,  I bring my cookbook Vegetables Every Day and the ingredients needed to their home.  That is what I did and made these wonderful carrots "Maple Glazed Carrots (pp. 83).    Nothing thrilling happened while making these except all of our children getting quite dirty (that is expected of children,  my boys seem to find dirt all the time).

  Some news: #1  This is my 96th post.  Next Monday is my 100th post... what should I do to celebrate?
#2 I now have a few blog posts in reserve!  But I guess if I were posting last week,  I would have crossed the 100th post by now.  Oh well!

The Carrots and you can see the ravioli to the left.

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Mushrooms and Corn

    Thanks for bearing with me on my mini "not blogging" vacation.  I almost got one of my websites done.  The reason it did not get finished is because the company I was working with changed their system,  and we are still working out all the bugs.  Sigh.  Anyways...
  New blog post for a new week.  Mushrooms and Corn! 
   Last Saturday I purchased some Shitaki mushrooms from the farmers market.  I am really excited about the mushroom farmer there because I can buy this block thingy for $20 and grow my own shitaki mushrooms!  Anyways....

The boys enjoyed looking at the mushrooms.  I let them play and look at them for a few minuets.  You would have thought that would have helped them want to eat their mushrooms later, but alas, they are more fun to hold than to eat.  Oh well,  it was worth the try.

The final results of the dish were delicious.  I still have some left over and I am looking forward to eating them for lunch tomorrow.  Speaking of lunch,  I have to go run and get my oats and barley soaking!   Corn and Mushroom Saute pp. 120.

Missing Monday???

Yup,  actually,  I am going to not post for the rest of the week,  but I am going to cook and store up a whole bunch of posts.  I need to fix up some of my old sites and get my new business web site up and running.  Managing a few blogs and a website is fun to do! (Plus being a wife and mother on top of all that).  So, starting next Monday... more blogging!  More recipes! And, hopefully the kids helping out more... we'll see.

See ya next week!

Duxelle

I love mushrooms.  I really, really do.  I was craving some and I noticed that Mr. Bishop had a meal (not a side dish) made... with mushrooms.  Super coolness.  This one was called "Roasted Chicken Breasts with Duxelles (pp. 219)".

Yay for aluminum foil!

   Now what was really cool was,  I saw the final episode of Masterchef and David Miller was talking about making a Duxelle,  I was so excited because I was going to make some today! If a Masterchef is going to make some,  then I was going to truly make something advanced.
   Now, I had some problems with the dish.  I  did not have the right kind of chicken breasts. So I had to improvise. In came "aluminum foil".  I figured since I did not have any split chicken breasts,  that if I wrapped it tightly in aluminum foil it might produce the same results.  I pounded the chicken flat with a tenderizer,  then put some butter on the chicken and then the Duxelles.   I then wrapped the chicken up like sushi and then put the aluminum foil tightly around that.   The results were not as flavorful as I had expected.  I wonder if I cooked my mushrooms at too high of a temperature or something.  I lost some flavor along the way.  But the aromas were great.  I think I still have lots to learn about Duxelles as a flavor enhancer,  but I am so willing to try this again.

Now for FRIDAY LINKY LOVE!
1) I bought some Asian Pears at the farmers market.  I want to grow my own trees... it's easy!
2) Masterchef casting call!  I am not going to do it... but you might be interested!
3)  Duxelle video #1
4) Duxelle video #2


Have you ever made a Duxelle? Leave a comment and let me know what your experience was like!

Purple Hulled Peas

So last Saturday a farmer gave us (gave mind you) a grocery bag full of purple hulled peas.   I kind of sat there wondering... what in the world am I going to do with these?   Sadly,  Mr. Bishop had no recipes,  so I had to turn to the Internet.  Being a northern gal,  I was completely new to these legumes so this was a fun adventure.

The first step was to hull the beans.  Chef Turbo only helped with a few and then grew tired of the project.  That was alright with me.  I found it a bit relaxing to just stand there and hull peas.  Thankfully there were not too many.   I found this recipe,  I think a great starter recipe for someone like me.  I mostly followed it and the peas came out great.  I love the creamy texture they have.  They are also sweet!  I think I will invest in these beans/peas more often when they are in season.

So what things pair well with these beans (or peas, they look more like beans to me!)?  I tried looking online to find a resource to share with you all,  but alas,  you'll have to go look on Google.  It's kind of entertaining.  But one thing I see often,  bacon grease,  garlic, onion, and Tony's Seasoning.  These peas are a southern thing,  so think... southern cooking, a tough thing for a northern gal like me to do.  But I am getting there with my Cajun neighbors help.

Wordless Wednesday #9 Braised Radishes

First... the video blog I was to tired to work on last night (sorry about that!)



Second wordless wendsday... shhh no talking :D Wait I take that back,  leave a comment,  I cannot talk,  I'm supposed to be wordless.  I hope you all get my imagery here--->

A farmers market find.

So finally on Saturday, I found some arugula.  I've been waiting months for some and a farmer had it on his stand.  They were in bad shape, I guess he had them in the sun so long that they wilted.  I was still willing to purchase them because I have been searching for these for so long (although I keep forgetting to check out Whole Foods for them...).  You can tell they were organic because they had little worms on the leaves.  But that did not bother me,  I just did not put those leaves in my salad.
    Included in this salad was some 'fresh' aged goat cheese.  I thought that goat cheese came in one form,  but I have recently discovered a whole new world of goat cheese.  It's super good and exciting to fine.  But it is rather expensive.

  The flavors of this salad were good.  I wonder what they would have been like with really fresh arugula leaves?

Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese and Walnuts pp.11

For snack... carrot salad and some linky love!

I was supposed to roast some peppers on my grill today,  but it was so hot and stuff,  I just didn't feel like it.  So I grabbed a few carrots and made this dish,  Bistro Carrot Salad pp. __

     It was good,  but it did not sound as good as the recipes I was researching outside of Mr. Bishops cookbook.  They were all talking about adding Dijon Mustard.  Oh,  how I would have traded the mustard for the lemon,  it sounds so good!  Anyways.  The dish was still tasty,  I enjoyed it.

Now for some LINKY LOVE!

1) Speaking of carrots... I ran across this site.  It's about a carrot museum.   That's right,  a museum dedicated to carrots.

2) Two sites about being a Nutella Freak.  I am one,  I love Nutella!  I eat it by the spoonful,  well I did till I went on a "diet" last week. Site one and  Site Two.

3) This pizza sounds so good!  I cannot wait till my diet allows grains again so I can eat it!

4) Not only does she briefly cover what's bad in today's overly processed foods… she goes to my favorite shopping store, MEIJER!  I miss that store so much!  I knew it was Meijer by looking at the shelves (so weird) and then I confirmed it when I saw the sales stickers :D.  I'm such a Meijer geek.








Now to end your reading of this blog post with an Irish Proverb...

More Peas Please

 

So I am doing something new.  Instead of making these dishes for dinner,  I am making them for lunch so that I have better light to work with and my mind is not tired from a long day of being wife and mom.  

     Today's dish was Peas with Onions and Mushrooms (pp.247).  Yes,  there are onions,  and yes I did eat them.  Sad thing is, I burnt the onions a bit.  The other sad thing is,  the normal housewife would think they caramelized the onions,  but the truth is,  they were burnt.  Anything to get away from that onion flavor.   I love mushrooms,  so I knew that is would have to be a great dish.  With the mushrooms,  do you think it would become a wee bit like a 'pealaf'?  Haha!

Anyways.  The dish was similar in the sense it used the same herbs as the last pea dish.  Parsley, Basil, and Tarragon.  Funny thing is,  because of the burnt onions and mushrooms,  the "outdoors" flavors turned more earthy and melodious.  It was very smooth tasting and wow,  so good.  I ate the whole bowl.

Wordless Wednesday #7 Roasted Pepper Dip

Roasted  Red Pepper Spread with Goat Cheese and Herbs pp. 253

Tuesday-Video Blog Braised Celery

My first attempt at slow motion photography.  Please bear with me as I experiment at your expense. 
The dish was "Braised Celery with Butter, Shallots, and Parsley pp.94"

A Sad, sad post.

What could possibly make this post sad?  I lost my professional camera (The link is a dramatic song with a cute pug to make my story more emotional),  I now I am stuck with my pocket camera that takes horrible pictures.  So far, I think the last time I took pictures was on Thursday.   Not sure where I put it down.  I only have three spots in the house where I leave my camera,  so I has to be around there somewhere!!!

Anyways.

Tonight I made Grilled Eggplant with Garlic, Lemon, and Oregano.  They tasted like burnt marshmallows.  I could not stop eating them,  it make me think of burning marshmallows.  I wonder if they would work between two graham crackers with chocolate??  Eggplant smores anyone? 

Looks like I was by a foggy ocean... let's use our imagination...

So depressing.  I want my good camera back!

Linky Love Friday #8 and Trip pictures

Since I did not cook dinner (My Dad is still here and I am trying to show him some awesome places to eat around town...) I am just going to show you all a slide show of two places I ate at on my trip.  Nothing thrilling,  just something to keep you busy while you visit my site till I can get back to my normal schedule next Monday.




Now for LINKY LOVE FRIDAY!!

Now, I have been watching "Masterchef" and I love that show (except for all the crying that goes on,  that drive me crazy!).  I have been challenged in my abilities to cook just from watching this show.  After the chili episode,  I wanted to know... How do you make chili without chili pepper?!?  I grew up thinking that that is what made chili-- chili.  So I did some research.  Talk about history lesson peeps!  Chili originated in Texas, and they do not use chili powder in that recipe.  That is why they were so shocked that the lady (forgot her name already) made that mistake... enjoy this link and learn :D

http://www.texasescapes.com/CFEckhardt/National-Dish-of-Texas-Chili-Con-Carne-Recipe.htm

I was making cookies today and I did not have brown sugar.  Rushing online to find a subsutuew I thought it would be awesome to have a list inside my door so I do not have to always use the internet.  I have a few links that you all might find useful and maybe you will want to print one of these out and tape it in a place for reference.

1. http://www.recipetips.com/print-tips/t--200/food-substitutions.asp?ProcessPrint=true&Print/Category=knowledge&Print/Id=200&Print/ZoneId=0&Print/Template=http://www.recipetips.com/print-tips/t--200/food-substitutions.asp
2. http://allrecipes.com//HowTo/common-ingredient-substitutions/Detail.aspx
3. members.core.com/~mmj1123/cooks/substituteingredients.pdf  (takes you to a PDF)

"It tastes like the outdoors"

Herbs from my garden.

Well,  I am back.  I went to Louisville, KY to serve my sister who had a baby.  We had many other fun adventures,  including going to Beale St. in Memphis, TN to eat some ribs.  I will post some pictures of that tomorrow.  It's nice to have some time off, but I feel horrible when I up and leave you, my dearest readers.  I am hoping to find some guest bloggers to post when I need a break or some other circumstances.  Anyways....

Turbo helping

Frozen Peas

     I thought I would do an easy recipe to ease back into cooking through this book.  It was an herbed pea recipe.  I did not have any chives or mint,  but I put Basil, Tarragon, and Parsley in the mixture.  Turbo helped by dumping the butter and herbs into the pot.  Then with great excitement,  he stirred them.  A few peas were lost in the adventure,  but we still had a great dish in the end.



The dish was great!  My dad (who is visiting right now) said it tasted like the outdoors (I am pretty sure in a good way).  He inhaled the whole dish before I had a bite!  I really enjoyed it,  but I think mostly because I am in love with Tarragon right now.  I never knew that basil and tarragon could dance so well together!  Buttered Peas with Fresh Herbs -pp. 247:

Finished dish with Gumbo.