In the Kitchen

[Ginafish]

Let's see, no hearts of palm, tomatoes, olives, chives, or cranberries in the fridge. And I just got back from the store! Guess I'll have to go again!

Sometimes, I wish I lived closer to fresh markets so I could do a daily run to the store like they do in so many parts of the world.

[KitKat]

  lol  Gina, it was funny that I had all those items in my pantry and freezer.
I keep the dried cranberries, sliced almonds and sliced black olives in my freezer.
The chives came from my porch small garden contained. Ha,my chives came up while I was away.  I was surprised I came up with so much for this salad. 
I didn't have the Italian Dressing, but htat easy to make from scratch.

[Ginafish]

I just read an interesting recipe with red onion and orange slices with a vinaigrette that sound good. It made me wonder about substituting your cranberries with mandarin oranges, but maybe the cranberries are best because of the chewiness factor. Hmm...

[KitKat]

  I think the mandarin orange slices would be delicious in this salad! 
You can buy canned mandarin oranges.

[Ginafish]

That salad does sound good, ZeroG. But I just can't do the moldy cheese. :p I like cheese, just not moldy.

[thartley]

Today, I am making salmon patties, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. 

Kitkat- I'm wondering if that salad you posted above can be a "make a day ahead type of thing" or is it better enjoyed right when its made?  Sounds yummy and I never got around to making it before.

[thartley]

Kitkat, that recipe is AMAZING!!!!  I thought it would go as a nice side to my salmon patties, but I'm afraid the serving I just dished up for myself is going to push the salmon patties right out of the limelight!!!  I have not even made them yet... and I got so excited at the taste test of the pasta that I completely forgot to add the parsley.  I'll go back and add that to the rest of the dish.  I used a box of mini penne for the pasta, and I had never had hearts of palm before.  I didnt get the marinated ones, but these have quite a great taste to them, salty.

It has the perfect balance between sweet and salty and tangy, familiar and exotic, soft and crunchy!  (I also forgot the baby carrots)

I have a strong feeling I will be making this all summer long.  Thank you very much for sharing it.  (I cant wait for the next potluck at work!)   

[Ginafish]

Are you going to leave to left overs to see how it is tomorrow? ROFL!!

[thartley]

Are you going to leave to left overs to see how it is tomorrow? ROFL!!

I'm trying!!  I bet its gonna be even more delicious, though, if that's possible.

[Ginafish]

I'm thinking you'll finish it today between snack time, dinner, and the dessert!

[thartley]

No way!  I made an entire dutch oven of it!  I will be taking it to work this coming week.

Its a good thing its yummy.  There is a woman at work who makes what I call "fruity salads" for lunch quite often.  Field greens, strawberries, nuts, and some kind of vinagrette.  I bet she would like KitKat's recipe, too.  I'm writing it out for her before Monday.

[thartley]

I dont know how anything so gross-looking:




Can turn out SOOOOO yummy! (that's KitKat's salad on the plate!)

[PK]

Ha! Check out the Blueman Garnish.   Thanks, thartley!

I am so impressed with all of you who can cook. Seriously. Cooking is one thing I really wish I could do. But until my body rejects penut butter & jelly sandwiches there's just no point in learning. lol

[KitKat]

  Your dinner looks yummy. Nice touch blueman.
I'm still not clear what the canned meat/salmon is in the bowl?

I hope your friend likes my salad recipe. Thanks for reminding me, we'll have it for supper again this week. Hum...let's see where is that recipe? 

[thartley]

Your dinner looks yummy. Nice touch blueman.
I'm still not clear what the canned meat/salmon is in the bowl?

That nasty looking salmon in the bowl is how my salmon patties in the second pic started out looking. blech!  I cringe when I open the can, but I sure enjoy the resulting patties.

[KitKat]

Ok, I thought that looked familiar. I make salmon croquetts with canned salmon and you're right, it's looks aweful and I hate picking out the bones and skin.

That was a very healthy dinner you prepared.

[Ginafish]

I'm so glad someone brought up the canned food item...I've never bought canned Salmon or hearts of palm, so I didn't know which one it was!

T - loved your staging of the plate! Top Notch!

[thartley]

Sunday is usually my creative cooking day (sometimes, my ONLY cooking day) and this was what I made today.  Its a pepper jack sandwich and I served it with Birds Eye steamed vegetables and some orange juice mixed with seltzer water over crushed ice.

The original sanwich recipe I used can be found here (it was a contest winner for Sara Lee):http://www.wjactv.com/saralee/6154866/related.html

I use whatever bread I have, spread spicy brown mustard on one slice and make a grilled cheese sandwich using pepper jack cheese, sliced sweet roasted red pepper, cut-up pieces of marinated artichoke hearts, and two slices of turkey bacon.  I dont use the jalepenos because the pepper jack cheese is spicy enough for me.

I have something in mind for a dessert for later.  If I make it, and it lasts long enough to photograph, I'll post it later. 

[KitKat]

Wow! thartley, that's pic has really made me hungry.

I'd better hurry up and finish dinner. We're having fish filets, peas and mashed potatoes. I worked today so dinner has to be quick. And for dessert, we're having Sara Lee Peach Cobbler with cool whip topping. Yummmm!

[Soulessaint]

Thartley, the meal you prepared, looks so good. I need to go into the kitchen and start making food for Memorial Day. Take care. Gbya

[thartley]

I am ashamed to say that I burned a frozen cheese pizza today.  How lame...   

In other news, here is my dessert.  Its frozen vanilla yogurt with fresh sliced strawberries.  Nothing fancy, but its pretty, and red, white, and blue on this Memorial Day.   

[thartley]

This weekend, my meal choice will be consisting of three things I've never made before.  Indian rice, stuffed zucchini, and gingered carrots.  Seems simple enough. 

[thartley]

Alrighty, here is today's meal.  It was the best-smelling time in the kitchen.  My hands smell like fresh parsley, ginger, oranges and grapefruit.  They would have a stench of onions except I cheated and bought onions and celery that were already chopped up. LOL!

Its out there getting cold on the table, so I'm posting this quick and going to enjoy it.  Indian Rice, stuffed zucchini (that's the biggest zuch I've ever seen!), honey gingered carrots, and chilled sugared red grapefruit on the side back there for a sort of dessert.  I bought some grapefruit hoping they were sweet and they were almost like biting into a lemon...thus the sugar on them.   

[Ginafish]

That is a big zucchini! It's getting to be yellow squash season here, which makes me happy!

Last night, I ate at a potluck and had a new dish: purple hull peas with jalepenos! I wasn't expecting the spicy so it was a new dish for me! I thought the green slivers were green beans!

[thartley]

Now that I am done eating, here's a review.  The rice was fantastic.  The toasted almond slivers on top really sealed the deal on that bit.  The carrots, hmmm, not my favorite on the plate.  I started with pre-sliced crinkled cut carrots and they themselves werent very flavorful to begin with.  If I added butter to them just before serving, they could be redeemed. The combination of ginger, orange and honey was very good! Now for the zucchini...yummy.  They are stuffed with sauteed chopped onion, celery, tomato, garlic, fresh parsley, and the flesh of the squash itself, then topped with bread crumbs and baked.  As an afterthought, I sprinkled a bit of parmesean cheese over it when I ate.  Pretty good and healthy overall.  I could not eat even half of what was on my plate, though!  Its going to be lunch tomorrow.

I think I need to re-shape the little blue man.  His head is looking pretty bad these days. haha!