Summer foods

You may not have heard from me a lot this summer but I have found my way around the kitchen a few times. In fact, the cooler temps have led to more baking than usual.  Below are some favorites from my kitchen this summer.

• Grilled peaches - The produce co-op I use often gives me peaches. They are not my favorite fruit, but when you slice them in half, fill the pit hole with brown sugar and throw them on the grill as you bring the meet inside, DELICIOUS.
• Homemade pizza - This has been a nearly weekly occasion. I was able to make my own batch of pizza dough once, but I have not mastered it at all. However, the local Italian grocery store, Glorioso's is homemade (just not in my home) and there is always Trader Joe's for a decent crust. We generally make two types, with one always the margarita with tomato, mozzarella and basil. While our tomatoes are slowly readying themselves for harvest in our garden, the basil has been keeping us happy all summer.
  
  

  

  The first tomato

• Strawberry muffins - During one glorious lunch hour, I was able to meet Stephen and attend the West town Farmer's Market here in Milwaukee. It was right at the end of peak strawberry season and I stocked up. And then I made some yummy strawberry muffins. I used whole wheat flour and added a few chocolate chips to make them a bit sweeter. They are dense and they kept me full for a few hours.

Strawberry muffin

• Chocolate swirl buns - I love Annie's Eats for inspiration. She makes amazing food but also has 2 kids and a career, so I don't get intimidated when I read more complex recipes. If she has time to cook, then I can take the time. The dough for these buns did not go well and I almost threw them out. And they definitely didn't look as pretty as they did here but they were yummy!

Tonight I am anticipating baking some zucchini bread and cookies and as I plan for the weeks ahead, I am hoping for oodles of salsa, BLT's, caprese salads and even a little homemade tomato sauce canned for the first time ever!

Bon Voyage and Welcome Home (Citrus) Food

In my last post I mentioned a citrus salsa I made for dinner, so here are the details. I made the citrus salsa salmon dish as part of a nice send-off dinner for Stephen. My husband went to New York City last week to cheer on Marquette at the Big East Basketball tournament. He also took in the sights and sounds including the Today show and Philip Seymour Hoffman on Broadway in The Death of a Salesman. (Oh yes, I am a a little bit jealous, but he had a great time! Even better, he is home now.).

Anyway, the recipe. By way of a disclaimer, let me say I am not the biggest fan of fruit (except when it is in a smoothie or in its simplest, most segregated form). I don't like to mix fruits in salads a lot nor add them into main entrees. Don't ask me why, that's just how I interact with fruit. My point is, however, that something about this citrus salsa appealed to me and it turned how delicious...so that should say a lot about the flavors and the recipe.

You can visit the recipe online from the Food Network and it includes directions for preparing the salmon. I will lay out the ingredients here for ease:

• 2 large oranges
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 scallions, finely sliced
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
• 2 tablespoons capers, rinsed, drained and coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons orange zest
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 

Basically, mix all of that together and you have a citrus salsa to accompany the salmon. You can play with plating it (piling it on top of the salmon, etc.) for fun. I will also let you know that I forgot to get fresh parsley, so I can only imagine how much better it could take with fresh, not dried, parsley flavors. Also, I am rarely a fan of capers, so we left those out. My favorite part of the recipe was the red pepper flakes, it added a little bit of spice that really brought together the citrus flavors with the salmon. I can't wait to make it again!

Yesterday, before racing off the airport to pick up my love, I made a Raspberry Lemon Bread. My husband and I have been struggling at breakfast time for a bit, and the recipe seemed simple, nutritious (well, there is fruit here), and the perfect trick to make the house smell all yummy and homey when Stephen came home.

I found the recipe on Pinterest: 

Source: sweetpeaskitchen.com via Meghan on Pinterest

It was a very simple recipe and one of the first breads I have made from scratch. Baking is not my favorite thing in the world, but there was not much more to this than mixing the few ingredients. I didn't need to use a mixer, just a whisk. I did use frozen raspberries because the $ value and the flavor is a lot better this time of year when raspberries are scarce. All of the lemon flavor comes from lemon zest, but was not too overpowering.

We had our first slices this morning. It was delicious and filing. It is 10:30 and I am still satisfied and not yearning for lunch...yet. The recipe includes directions for a glaze and a topping. I did neither...I went for less mess. Aside from remembering to pick up buttermilk at the store, the ingredients are simple and I will be making this again!

Recent Recipes

I have been meaning to blog about some recent recipes that I have tried and since it is a Friday night and it is snowing inches upon inches, I have found a window of time. I have pinned my pins and now here I go...

Recipe #1: Clam, Chard, and Bacon Pizza

Source: Uploaded by user via Meghan on Pinterest

A week or so ago Stephen and I took a night off from the gym and made a fun dinner. I was flipping through a Bon Appetit and found this recipe for clam, chard, and bacon pizza. I love clams, so I was hooked. Of course, when I was at the grocery store trying buy all the ingredients, store #1 did not have Swiss chard and I had to go to grocery store #2. Additionally, I had a little bit of anxiety about cooking and eating Swiss chard--I never had done either. The Swiss chard cooked down like spinach and tasted perfect. In fact, I might need to make more foods with Swiss chard. The only other snafu I encountered was not having a cast-iron skillet (which I have since inherited). I simply put my pizza dough on a cookie sheet and half-baked it before the toppings. It was delicious and I am looking forward to making it again. Next time I can use my new skillet and maybe even make my own pizza dough. I will keep you posted. Either way, I recommend this recipe, it is simple and easy to follow.

Recipe #2 Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

Source: Uploaded by user via Meghan on Pinterest

My mom and I made these cupcakes last weekend when we were visiting my parents in Edgerton. I have not done a lot of baking so I was excited to have a co-chef as I tried my hand a new recipe. Plus, my mom has a Kitchenaid Mixer that makes cake batter and frosting nice and easy. These cupcakes have an Oreo cookie on the bottom, several Oreo cookies in the batter, and then the crumbles you see in the cream cheese frosting on the top of the cupcake. Needless to say, these are rich. I think it took more than a whole package of Oreos for one batch of 24 cupcakes.

The recipe is very easy to follow and I am even thinking of following the Annie-Eats blog. I am glad I got to bake these with my mom and I am thankful we were able to leave half the batch 60 miles away so I didn't eat them all. Also, thank you to the Fritz household for their supply of powdered sugar--one should always check all the ingredients before beginning to bake.

Now I am off to have someone else fry my some fish..yum!