Chasing Away the cool Autumn Nights

Fall is knocking at the door, a few trees have started changing colors, and the cool nights have begun. I have to say, that I am in my glory with all my warm to the tummy one-pot dishes. This has become one of my favorites, and now it is Bill's too; we just had it this past weekend.

I originally began this recipe to use up leftover Thanksgiving turkey, but now I like it all fall and winter long. I changed the recipe to use store bought rotisserie chicken, but if you want, you can oven roast a chicken yourself or substitute turkey. It's easy to make and I assure you, your family will really enjoy it. What better way to chase way the cool nights than with a warm comfort dinner.

Chicken Stew with Dumplings

For the Stew:
1 rotisserie cooked chicken - picked off the bone and chopped in bit size pieces
3 Tablespoons of butter
3 carrots, chopped (I leave the peel on, but it's your choice)
1 onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
6 cups chicken stock (if I do not have enough stock - I use 1 box of stock, plus 2 cups of water with 2 chicken bouillon cubes)
2 Tablespoon minced parsley
1 teaspoon dried poultry seasoning
1 Tablespoon Chicken Seasoning (I found this wonderful mixture at Frankenmouth, but I think you can find something like it in any grocery store)
Salt & Pepper to taste

For the Dumplings:
2 1/4 Cup Bisquick
2/3 cup Milk
3 Tablespoon fresh minced parsley

Directions:
Melt the butter in a large pot, I like to use my dutch oven. Add the onions, carrots, celery, and potatoes. Cook until the vegetables begin to soften and brown a little. Begin adding the stock - 1 cup at a time. Make sure to stir and scrap the bottom of the pan to pick up all the bits on the bottom from browning the vegetables. Continue until all the stock is added. Add seasonings. Cook on medium another 10 minutes or until vegetables are fork tender. Add chicken. Bring, stew to a soft boil.

Mix the Bisquick, milk and parsley together in a bowl. Drop the dumpling mixture by spoonfuls on to the low boiling stew - do not stir the dumplings in, allow them to sit on top of the stew. Cook uncovered for 5-8 minutes. Cover stew and dumplings and continue to cook for another 5 - 8 minutes. It is done when the dumplings feel firm to the touch (the dumplings will continue to be white) - you may see one split open a little - that is ok - they are done.

Serves 4.

Enjoy!

Art in the Eye of the Beholder

What is art? Who said it was art? Is it art? These are the words we explored today. On the last beautiful Sunday in September, Bill, his mom and sister and I explored our downtown in a whole new way than ever before.

Artprize has hit Grand Rapids, MI! The contest invited artists to our community to display their art for a chance to win the top prize of $250,000. To say it was successful is an understatement. We have the pleasure of seeing 1,262 artists whose work will be on display until October 10th. I could not believe the number of people who were wondering downtown today. The weather was absolutely beautiful for it. I was amazed at the astonishing creations we saw...some I liked, some I did not get, some I did not like....but that is what art is all about.

Not Your Mother's Pasta

Let's talk Pasta!! Cooking pasta is one of my favorite dishes. It can be both an elegant main dish to serve to company and an easy family favorite meal. Not to mention it can be a very economical dish.

It has only been in recent years that I have begun to experiment with different flavors. In the past I always just made a red meat sauce served over spaghetti and that was it with a little Lasagna thrown in here and there for good measure. But pasta does not always need a heavy meat sauce to favor it. I enjoy it tossed with oven roasted veggies, baked into a casserole and served with chicken or shrimp.

Here is one of my recent discoveries - very yummy!

Enjoy!

Pasta & Peas

1 box of linguine - cooked - reserve pasta water
3 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 - small onion - chopped
3 clove garlic - minced
2 carrots - chopped
1 cup white wine
1 - 6 oz. can tomato paste
1 tablespoon dried Italian Seasoning
1 tablespoon dried Basil
1 tablespoon dried Parsley
1 - 16 oz. Frozen Peas - thawed
1/4 cup freshly grated or shaved Parmesan cheese

Heat olive oil in the bottom of a dutch oven (or other large sauce pan). Add onion, garlic and carrots. Cook until onions are transparent and carrots begin to soften.

Add white wine to deg lase the pan. Stir in the tomato paste.

Begin ladling in the pasta water, one ladle at a time until the sauce is at the consistency you want (I used about 3 ladles).

Add seasoning and continue cooking until carrots are tender.

Add peas and pasta. Toss until pasta is coated and peas are warmed. Top with Parmesan cheese.

Being My Crafty Self

I have been a flurry of scissors, paper, ribbons, stamps and punches. I think the cats are actually afraid of me when I am in "the Zone". As many of you know, I enjoy card making - also known as paper crafting. Thanks to a dear friend who has hooked me on this fun craft, yes - I talking about you Barb...lol.

I hope you all have been blessed with my creations. But I must say, I am no where near the level as those who's blogs I have listed in the Stampers who inspire me.

This week my plan is to have my Christmas cards done - I know, it only September. I developed a design which takes a little more time than what I usually do since I have more time right now...and am hoping I will be busy with work soon.

Now....where did that adhesive go to.....

Enjoy some of my most recent creations.

Happy Birthday to Mom!
Thank yous!

Thinking of you.

Happy Birthday to my sweetie!

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

Well, not exactly the "great" pumpkin, in fact far from it...but a girl can dream can't she? I saved the seeds from a couple of the pumpkins I bought last fall to decorate our home for our House Blessing/Open House party. One was white and the other I am call heirloom - it was not the traditional jack-o-lantern style pumpkin instead it was flater with a soft orange and green coloring. I planted a hill from both seeds. Both forms of pumpkins came up. The white pumpkin produced one pumpkin, but the plant did not last and I have a pumpkin about the size of a soft ball. The heirloom pumpkin has done much better. I have two very large, aggressive vines crossing over the garden with one pumpkin each. Both pumpkins are still growing and current the size of a dinner plate.

Well, it's time to do some more cleaning out of the garden. The summer squash is ready to be taken out. I need to harvest the corn and cut down the corn stalks. I am planning on using the stalks to decorate the front of our home for fall. This is my most favorite time of the year. The trees begin to change and dance with color. The air feels cool and clean. And who does not like apple crisp....but that will be another blog posting.

Visiting the Ponte Vecchio in Florence

Close your eyes and envision a street packed with beautiful jewelry shops on both sides, with windows looking over the Arno River, and you have envisioned the Ponte Vecchio. During our visit in May, Vanessa and I were drawn to this bridge several times to shop and take pictures. Much of the jewelry was absolutely breath-taking. Vanessa found a lovely ring here. I reinforced my believe that I have very good taste - since everything I liked was way out of my price range...lol. I realized when I was pulling pictures together for this posting, we did not get a picture of one of the shops for you...guess we will need to return to Florence sometime soon to take that picture for you.

The Ponte Vecchio is the oldest bridge in Florence, built in 1345. One reason for this is because it is the only bridge not destroyed during World War II. We were told during one of our tours Hitler left it standing to celebrate that it was the bridge he crossed into Florence. Originally the bridge was full of butchers, tanners and blacksmiths. In 1593 it was changed over for workshops for the goldsmiths.

Florence Inspired Risotto

Risotto can be a little intimidating for those who had not made it before. I know that was the case for me, and I had even seen my professor make it when I was in Italy in 2005. But after watching the Food Network (I'm a huge fan! - my cats, if you don't know, are Paula and Dean - as in Paula Dean - hahaha) any way I digress. Once I tried making risotto a couple of times and got the knack of the rhythm of adding the liquid - it can be very simple. The risotto that I had at the Plazza Della Signoria in Florence this last May was very delicious and was made with a mixed vegetable, appearing to be the same blend as frozen mixed vegetables we have here at home (corn, beans, peas and carrots). After I returned home, I played with it a little and developed what I would consider very close to what I had experienced in Florence.

The risotto in Florence was made only with vegetables - no meat, but here at home I have added ham to satisfy Bill. I was telling him tonight as we ate our risotto, I think the next time I make it, I am going to try cooked chicken to see how that turns out.

Theresa's Vegetable Risotto

1 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil (I know all the recipes say "good olive oil" but it's what your budget can handle)

1 1/2 Tablespoons butter (yes, I use butter and not margarine - makes all the difference in the world)

1 1/2 cups Arborio rice (or risotto rice - they are the same thing - you just can not use regular white rice)

1 cup of white wine (use what you drink - don't feel like you have to buy some snooty expensive wine - unless you drink snooty expensive wines...lol)

5 cups of chicken stock (warmed)

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 Tablespoons of herbs to taste

1 - 16 oz. bag of frozen mixed vegetables - thawed

1/2 cup cubed ham

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Heat the olive oil and butter in a skillet until the butter is melted. Add the rice and simmer over low heat until the rice slightly browns - continually stirring. Add the wine all at once. Stir until most of the wine is absorbed. Now here is where you need to develop a rhythm - and do not leave your risotto alone. Begin ladling in the warmed chicken stock - one ladle at a time, stirring until most of the stock is absorbed before adding another ladle. You continue this until all the stock has been ladled into the rice, this process could take around 25 to 30 minutes. Do not rush the process or your will end up with hard, undercooked rice. Add the herbs of your choice (in this picture I only used parsley) about half way through.

Once the last of the stock has been added and almost completely absorbed, add the thawed vegetables and ham. Continue stirring until the vegetables are warmed. Take off the heat, add the Parmesan cheese - stir until the cheese is melted.

Now, sit back and enjoy with a nice glass of the white wine. Once you try it, I am sure you will be make risotto like a pro!

The party is over for the Tomatoes!

The blight that has been plaguing West Michigan gardens has come to mine. Because of our cool nights and amount of rain this past season (we did not even need to water our yard or garden at all in August) a blight has developed attacking tomato plants in the area. Over night all of my tomato plants died. On Wednesday I spent an hour in the garden cleaning out the dead plants (did you know it just as much, if not more, work to clean out the garden as it is to plant - great exercise - at least that is what I keep telling myself as I struggled to get out of bed this morning...lol). I made sure all of the plant material went into the garden waste container instead into the compost bin so I don't carry it over into the next growing season.

I have to say, I can not complain about how well the tomatoes produced this year. I even picked a bushel on Wednesday as I took the plants down. Most are still green, but will ripen within a few days and I can do one more canning.

What did I lean this gardening season about tomatoes?

1. Tomatoes and peppers don't mix within a raised bed. When I planted the raised bed, it looked like there was plenty of room for the tomatoes and peppers, but the tomatoes have over shadowed the peppers. I have picked a few peppers, but they could have done much better if they would not have been so crowded.

2. Don't go cheap on the tomato cages...I bought the cheapest tomato cages I could find last spring and during the summer the tomato plants bended them right over.

3. The "Pear Tomato" is a cute tomato (it is small, yellow and the shape of a pear) and nice for salads, but it is a very aggressive plant (I even trimmed it several times over the summer) and produces way more than what I wanted for a few summer salads.

4. Good soil leads to great tomatoes. We invested in good gardening soil when we were filling the raised beds this last spring and the proof was in the size of our tomato plants and tomatoes them selves.

Summertime Cocktail

I came across a wonderful daiquiri recipe recently...did a few modifications and served it this past weekend to family. They just loved it. I know it's the end of summer, but I think this cocktail could be served any time. Enjoy!

Peach Mango Daiquiris

1 - 12 oz. bag of frozen mango
1/2 - 12 oz. bag of frozen peaches
1/2 cup lime juice
1/2 cup simple syrup (see note below)
1/2 cup dark rum

(You may have to do this in batches depending on the size of your blender). Place the mango and peaches with lime juice into your blender and process until it is smooth. Add the simple syrup and rum. Add 1 - 2 cups of ice (if your mango and peaches are frozen when you begin - you will use less ice than if they are thawed) and continue to process until smooth and thick. I made a double batch which fit nicely in a glass pitcher.

Note: to make simple syrup - combine 1 cup of water with 1 cup of sugar in a small saucepan. Heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Cool to room temperature.

To make this "Family friendly" skip the rum. And to make it even better, instead of ice add vanilla ice cream - how great is that!!

Enjoy!!

French Apple Tart

Last weekend I went to see the movie Julia & Julie with Vanessa. What a great movie! The movie is about Julie who decided to cook her way through Julia Child's French Cooking cookbook and keep a blog on her progress (sound like someone you may know...lol). Her goal was to cook the 500+ recipes in 1 year (365 days). The movie also told the story of how Julia Child, while in France, found her passion for cooking and teaching food, attended the famous Cordon Blu and wrote the cookbook with 2 other friends.

I was so inspired by the story of these two ladies, which by the way are both true, to start trying some new recipes that I usually shy away from because I perceive they may be difficult. Tonight we have some wonderful friends come over for dinner, with my new found courage I decided to try Ina Garten's French Apple Tart for our dessert. I opted to use the puffed pastry, as she suggested I could, instead of make my own pastry. I have to say it was pretty easy. And what do you think of the results? Good enough to eat?

Stewed Tomatoes

I tried something new and made homemade stewed tomatoes. When I went to the farmers market on Wednesday, I found a half bushel of tomatoes (man, do you know how many tomatoes that is!) along with green peppers. I picked up everything else I needed from Meijers.

I found a recipe which uses a quart of tomatoes. Since I had 10 pint jars, I tried to adapted the recipe (which would be equal to 5 quarts of tomatoes). It worked out ok for how I use stewed tomatoes (in soups and sauces), but it was too much celery, green peppers and onions to eat as a traditional stewed tomatoes. I also learned to have more jars ready than what I think I will need. I ended up with 10 pint jars and 1 quart (because I did not have 2 more pint jars ready) plus a little that I could use right away. For lunch I had tomato soup with 3 heaping tablespoons of stewed tomatoes in it...yummmmm.

Here is the recipe as it is for 1 quart of tomatoes:

Stewed Tomato Ingredients:
1 quart peeled and cut up tomatoes
1 green pepper, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
One small onion, peeled and lightly chopped.
1 clove of garlic, peeled and lightly chopped.
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Sprig of parsley
Salt or celery salt to taste
Black pepper to taste

Preparation Directions:
Put cut up tomatoes into a 2 quart sauce pan.
Add diced green pepper and celery.
Add chopped onion and garlic.
Add the sugar.
Chop parsley leaves and add to the pan.
Cook on low heat.
Cook until celery has softened.
Serve with salt or celery salt, and black pepper to taste.

Well, now I still have a ton of tomatoes left, so I will be doing more canning.

Cabbage

Here is an example of too much rain, and me not picking in time. I lost two of my four cabbages. With all the water we have had in August and I trying to get bigger cabbage by letting the cabbage grow too much, they split right open and the bugs started working on them. I am so disappointed. I also lost my beans to too much rain. My beans were standing in water a little too much, they became water logged, turned yellow and now dead. I will be adding them to my compost bin latter this week.

I'm making a note of the problems so I can work to correct them for next year. I think we are going to keep the area we have for the beans and corn, I am just going to add more dirt and peat and compost to lift it up and aid in drainage.

I also want to build another raised bed to the front of the garden so I can add more items to the garden. I've hinted to Bill that I want to expand the garden - not sure if he it totally grasping my vision yet. I'm sure once I lay it out, he will see what I'm trying to do. I keep joking that eventually I want to take over the entire back yard - haha!

I found this year my peppers should not be in the same raised bed as the tomatoes. They have completely been over grown by the tomatoes - they are struggling to produce (I did pick a couple of peppers yesterday), but I think if they have had more room they would do better. I would also like to grow some beets and onions.

I canned 5 more quarts of tomatoes yesterday, and now my tomato bushes are all stripped of red tomatoes - there are still a ton of green tomatoes, but it will be a week before I have more to can. So, I'm off today to the farmer's market to see if I can find a bushel of tomatoes and ingredients to make stewed tomatoes for canning. I love stewed tomatoes (they always take me back to my Catholic school days where we had mac and cheese with stewed tomatoes every Friday - they did sneak in fish sticks once in a while...lol), but I also like to add stewed tomatoes to my chili and soups.