The Best Ever Veggie Cream Cheese

I hate when you order out or purchase from the store Veggie cream cheese that looks and tastes like it has been polvorized (do not know if that is spelled correctly) but you get the idea. This recipe has great texture. The radishes really make it special!!

Recipe to follow:
16 ounces of cream cheese
2 tbls minced scallions
2 tbls finely chopped carrots
2 tbls finely chopped celery
2 tbls finely chopped radish
2 to 3 pinches kosher salt
1 pinch fresh ground pepper

Blend with a mixer on low speed until just combined!

Enjoy!!!

The Easiest Sticky Buns

These are so so good!!! A Barefoot Contessa Recipe from her latest cookbook.

It is a combination of butter, brown sugar, pecans, cinnamon and raisins all rolled in a sheet of puff pastry. Cut in to 12 rolls and put in a muffin tin and you have perfect sticky buns!! I am sure the recipe is on her website or foodtv.com. It is worth looking up. Great to have around for a early morning visitor.

Enjoy!!!

Don's Original Popcorn

My Husband actually came up with this combination. So healthy and tasty. You could use a variety of topping depending on your mood.
Recipe to follow:

1 bag microwavable popcorn (your preference) we used a fat free organic
Paramasan Cheese to taste
Tons of fresh cracked black pepper
Salt to taste
Combine while popcorn is still warm

I recently made a batch for a trip to the beach. I packaged it up in small zip lock bags and we snacked on it all weekend. Healthy and fun!!

Enjoy

Southwest Vegetarian Bake

Just to remind myself and the few people who actually read this blog. My purpose for writing is to share ideas all about cooking. Be it a recipe, cooking gagets, restraunts etc.
So this is a recipe I got from a Taste of Home magazine. Again I have altered it to my own taste. I prepared the recipe exactly as written but I did not drain the tomatoes and I added 2 cups of cooked rice to the mixture. It really turned out nice. Even though its vegetarian my Husband loved it anyway, which says alot. So if you are interested go to TASTEOFHOME.Com for the recipe. It is healthy and filling and worth looking up.

Enjoy!!!

Shrimp and Rice Salad

This is also from Paula Deene's eary years. It is amazing. I adapted this dish to my own taste. So if you come across Paula's original recipe it will be alittle different. My Husband and I both loved it. You can eat it warm or cold. I prefer cold so not to re-heat the shrimp. (They would then be over cooked)
The secret to this recipe is cooking the rice in the same water that you use to cook the shrimp. What a difference. It gives the rice a real depth of flavor.
Recipe Follows:
3 cups water
1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning
Bring to a boil add medium shrimp or your personal preference
Cook about 4 minutes
DO NOT OVER COOK!!!
Remove shrimp and add 1 1/2 cups long grain rice
Simmer covered for 17 minutes
Remove add to shrimp
Add 3/4 cup mayo (Or to taste)
Add 3/4 chopped green olives
Add 1 small onion minced
Combine add salt and pepper to taste
Serve with a nice cracker
This gets even tastier the next day!!

Enjoy!!!

Sour Cream Muffins

This is from Paula Deene's early years when She owned a small lunch delivery business. These muffins are so wonderful and stupid simple.

2 cups self rising flour (Must be self rising or this recipe will not work)
1 cup sour cream
2 sticks unsalted butter

Mix together drop in either a mini muffin tin or regular size. You don't have to grease the tin because of the butter in the mix. Bake at 350 degrees. For the mini bake about 18 minutes and the regular 30-35 minutes.

I like the mini myself. They go with everything!!!

Enjoy!!!

Jonnycakes

What a revelation!!! This Rhode Island tradition is wonderful. A corn cake made of corn meal, hot water, salt, and sugar. It resembles a cross between a pancake and polenta. What a great comfort dish. Serve this instead of pancakes and see what you think. Best served with butter and warm maple syrup.

Recipe:
1 1/2 cups stone-ground corn meal
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
Combine
Add 2 1/4 boiling water
Let stand ten minutes
Cook in a very hot buttered skillet
1/4 cup batter per cake
Cook 6 minutes per side over medium flame for a perfect cake
Serve hot

Enjoy!!!

Omelettes

I recently have gotten into perfecting "The Omelette". I have done some initial research which includes watching the master herself Julia Child in the French Chef. What a great treat to seen her French Chef episodes on DVD. Although many developments have ocurred in the culinary world in the last 40 plus years, there are still alot of relevant information. Her omelette preparation is classic.
Julia perpares an omelette in 20 seconds, using a incredibly hot non stick pan, with the perfect wrist action to keep the omelette moving so not to brown. If you have the opportunity and want to see the beginning of food tv you need to rent or purchase her French Chef Series not only educational it is also a combination of comic relief as well as seeing first hand why all of America loved Julia Child so, so much!!!
I have also discovered the difference between the American omelette and the French version. The American tends to be filled with more ingredients and has more fluff. The French tends to have less filling and is rolled in a more classic form.
Omelettes were recently featured on a Throwdown episode on the Food Network. The Squeeze Cafe located in Calfornia was featured. Although they lost the competition they had a great omelette. I think they lost because they over cooked it!! The key to a fabulous omelette is it should have no color from cooking.
Their recipe was a four egg omelette with a filling of crisp bacon, sauteed avacado and mushrooms in a white wine sauce and jack cheese. I tried it and what an allsome combination. I pulled up their cafe menu and they have an endless amount of other great combination ideas as well.
I plan to continue to research The Pefect Omelette. I look forward to having a omelette party very soon to practice all my recent discoveries.

Enjoy!!!

It has been a while but I am back!!!

I tried two new recipes last night that I feel are note worthy.
First, a appetizer that was featured on Everyday Italian on the Food Network. The second a pasta entree on Barefoot Contessa.

The appetizer Brushetta with Fontina and Greens. In true typical Italian form so simply but absolutely delicious. The key, rub the warm bread with split garlic immediately from the oven. Not only is this a great simple recipe you can also make it ahead to run under the broiler right before you need it.

The entree is from the restraunt Nick and Toni's in East Hampton, New York. The dish Penne alla Vecchia Bettola is amazing. So simply to prepare key ingredients, good vodka and San Marzano tomatoes make this dish special.

Both of these recipes can be downloaded from the Food Network website.

Enjoy!!!