Tarragon Corn on the Cob

So, it's been a few weeks since I posted last. I had my family visiting for awhile, and as I get closer to the start of the semester I tend to get busier and busier. I love it....not really. I really enjoy lazy days. Some people say they'd go crazy without work or something to do. I'm not so sure I'm that person. 

In any case, I hope you all have been enjoying your summer and keeping busy. I know I have. 

Yet, I'm already becoming depressed in the fact that summer is almost over. So, I'm making it a priority to enjoy the weeks of august by spending every moment I can outside. Sooner than later the weather will be crummy and it will be months before I can go outside without wearing layers again. 

With the end of summer comes the abundance of sweet corn or corn on the cob. It is probably one of my favorite summer treats. I could eat it every day. Every day, I tell you.

So, I bring to you this recipe. Over the 4th of July I made this corn to take to our annual 4th of July picnic. I was a little leery. I was not sure how tarragon and soy sauce would go over with my traditional food eating family. Nonetheless, there were no left overs. So, there ya go. Never underestimate the palate of your family. 

The recipe for this corn was originally found on Taste of Home. It called for the corn to be wrapped in foil and grilled individually. No way was I wrapping 24 ears of corn in foil and grilling it before our picnic. I improvised, and it turned out pretty well. I promise that rarely happens for me. This recipe is for 4 ears of corn. I did not increase the recipe by six fold. I also improvised the amounts as well.

Tarragon Corn on the Cob

24 large ears sweet corn, husks removed

8 large springs tarragon, plus 2 tblsp minced

1 stick butter, melted

1/2 c soy sauce

1/4 c chicken broth

Prepare ears of corn by husking and removing silk. I cut them each in half and placed them in a foil lined roasting pan. Mix together the minced tarragon, melted butter, soy sauce and chicken broth. Pour this over the corn evenly. Randomly place tarragon sprigs on top of the corn and then cover corn tightly with foil. Bake at 350 degrees F for roughly 30 minutes. Just check it after 20 minutes to see if it is steamed to softness. 

I don't have a picture of this corn finished. I was in a rush that morning and didn't get a chance to take too many photos. Enjoy the recipe and let me know what you think!

Fish Fish Fish and more Fish

I am not a seafood person. I'm sure I've discussed this before. I think though, it was only because I did not have good experiences with it in the past.  I ate shrimp twice (I wont mention names but at a very popular seafood chain restaurant), and both times I got very ill. I mean throwing up in the middle of the night, and not being able to control my bowels ill.  What were the chances that I'd get food poisoning both times? Plus, other people ate the same shrimp (granted not in the same amount as I) and had no signs of it. So, I started to believe I was allergic to shellfish. 

I also hate fish that taste like fish. I really dislike a strong fish taste, and every fish I ever ate had that same taste. Before not too long ago every type of sushi I ever ventured to taste was chewy and so gummy that I couldn't get it off the roof of my mouth. 

Eventually I gave up. I stopped trying. 

Until recently and things are starting to look up for my seafood fairing appetite. I decided to give fresh water fish and seafood another try for it's health benefits. Since then, I've had some amazing sushi and pretty tasty fish. I've realized it depends on a lot of things. For one, the species of fish and for two, how it's prepared. So, don't eat at a particular restaurant, don't eat sushi from the chinese buffet and make sure the fish doesn't smell life...fish!

The other day my family and I went fishing. And I was lucky enough to catch a decent size perch. I had no intention of keeping it. However, it died in the process and I am certainly not one to waste. No life will ever go in vain. Even if it is a fish. So, we brought it home. I was taught how to fillet it, which seems like the most difficult part.

I then came up with this recipe. It's got a lil' kick, but as you know I love a little kick in my palate. I'd also like to say it taste nothing like fish. In fact, it's probably the best tasting fish I've ever had. Maybe it was because I caught it myself and there is just something gratifying about catching/ growing your own food. 

Pepper Encrusted Perch

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp italian seasoning

1 tsp beef granules

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 lemon

2 fresh perch fillets

2 tablespoons lemon grapeseed oil

1 tblsp fresh parsley, chopped

1/4 red onion, chopped

Mix the first 7 ingredients to create a spice mixture. Dab perch fillets with a dry paper towel to rid it of any moisture; so it gets crusty. Coat the fillets in the spice mixture.

Coat bottom of skillet with grapeseed oil. Wait until it gets hot enough to create a good sear. Sear fillets ~2 minutes on each side (depending on size of fillet). Remove from skillet, squeeze a bit of fresh lemon juice over the fillets and top with chopped onion and parsley.

Oh Brussel Sprouts How I Adore You, Oh and You Too Bacon

I bet you never heard that before. How many of you actually adore brussel sprouts? Well if you do, fantastic! We have something in common. If you don't, I'm about to blow your mind (maybe not, but here's to hoping). 

You know what's great about brussel sprouts? They're like baby cabbages, and I like anything that's baby. Kittens, puppies, children. All those things are cuter and dare I say better than their larger counterparts. 

I wont go as far as to say that brussel sprouts are cute, but they do have a lot to offer. Studies have shown that they can lower your cholesterol, protect your DNA, and sometimes even help thyroid function. And they contain glucosinolate! So, eat up folks!

You can cook them anyway you like really but here are two ways that I prefer.

Garlic Roasted Brussel Sprouts

1 package brussel sprouts (about 12 oz)

2 tblsp extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

salt & pepper

Prepare brussel sprouts by pulling off any loose leaves. If they're large half or quarter them. Toss them in a bowl with olive oil, garlic, and salt and pepper. Lay in a single layer on a foil covered cookie sheet or pizza pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until starting to look crispy.

Do not over cook because they will start to become bitter. 

Bacon Brussel Sprouts

1 package brussel sprouts (about 12 oz)

1 lb bacon

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tblsp extra virgin olive oil

water

salt and pepper

Bake bacon in oven until crispy. I usually put it on the broiler pan so that the fat can drain through. While the bacon is baking steam brussel sprouts. Just take a skillet, put about of inch of water in the bottom, add brussel sprouts and cover. Let on stove stop on medium heat for 10 minutes or until water has evaporated and the brussel sprouts are tender. If any water remains remove it. Add extra virgin olive oil and let brussel sprouts fry a little to brown. Crisp in bacon and add red pepper flakes and salt and pepper to taste. 

Salad Revamped...with More Hunger Quenching Capabilities

Salad, it's whats for dinner. At least it should be, right? A nice hunger quenching, mouth watering salad.  I'll bet though that most of you have never defined a salad has hunger quenching or mouth watering. Lets face it, most salads don't hit the spot. After all, most lettuce is 95% water. So, even if it did fill you up at the time, that feeling is not going to last long.

That means it's all in the toppings. Just like in an ice cream sundae. I mean ice cream sundaes just aren't the same without the perfect amount of nuts, syrup or whatever your heart desires. So, you have to pay just as much attention to your salad toppings as you would your ice cream sundae. And realistically this salad offers a lot more...as far as nutrition goes. Unless you're feeding a broken heart or a neglected soul. Then stick to the sundae. Yeah, definitely eat the sundae.

Black Bean and Corn Salad

1 head iceberg lettuce, chopped

1 c corn

1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed

1 red pepper, chopped,

1 green pepper, chopped

1 c pepperjack cheese, grated

4 green onions, chopped

8 hard boiled eggs, peeled and halved

That great thing about salad is that they're easy to make. Just throw all ingredients into a bowl and toss. Unless you have a family like mine, who thinks eating beans in a salad is heresy. Then you separate them as shown in the picture below, so they themselves can pick their own toppings.

You can pair this salad with pretty much any dressing, but I'd choose something tangy. For instance this goes well with a homemade cilantro lime dressing like this one:

Cilantro Lime Dressing

1 cup plain greek yogurt

a handful of cilantro

juice of one lime

salt and pepper

Throw all ingredients in a blender and blend blend blend. If the dressing is a little tight, just add some lemon grapeseed oil or extra virgin olive oil to your dressing until it reaches your desired consistency.

Gobs...Part 1

I'm sure anyone outside of my little area of west central Pennsylvania calls these delicious bits whoopie pies, but here we call them gobs. I'm not sure where the word originated, or why it hasn't caught on. It's a perfect word, wouldn't ya say?

Maybe it came from the fact that a slang word for mouth is 'gob' and you can just stuff these into your gob..... one right after the other. I'm pretty sure I've seen male members of my family eat them like they're going out of style.

Anyway, a traditional gob here is of the chocolate variation, but you can get them of all sorts. For instance, pumpkin, peanut butter and jelly, lemon cream, and the list goes on.  So, while browsing the internet one day I came across a different kind. Strawberry milk! I've never had them before so I decided to give them a go. For one, I love strawberry milk. For two, they're different but easy.

I came across this recipe here: Sprinkle Bake

I'm going to tell you right now, mine are not nearly as pretty as the ones on Sprinkle Bake. It was my first go at this recipe and I'm hoping the more I try this and tweak the recipe the better they look for me. Even when I make chocolate gobs (which I have done 100 times) they do not always turn out the exact same every time, because of humidity and other environmental factors that I can not control.  The strawberry milk gobs however were just as tasty as imagined.

Strawberry Milk Gobs

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

8 tbsp white vegetable shortening

3/4 cup powdered strawberry milk mix

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 whole egg

1 egg white

1 cup heavy cream

2 tbsp milk

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp white vinegar

Gob Filling

10 tbsp flour

2 c milk

2 c powdered sugar

1 c crisco

1 c butter

1 tsp vanilla

Note: the gob filling instructions are at the end, but I suggest making it first. 

In a mixer, mix together the vegetable shortening, strawberry milk mix and brown sugar. It should be slightly crumbly. While that is mixing, stir the flour, baking powder and salt (set this aside until the end). Add the egg and egg white to the strawberry milk mixture and beat well. Then add the heavy cream and beat until the mixture is smooth.

Now make sour milk by whisking the baking soda and vinegar in with the milk. Whisk until bubbly. Add this mixture to the strawberry milk mixture. Continue mixing. Now slowly add the flour mixture you made earlier. Continue mixing on low speed until thoroughly combined. The mixture will be thick and should look like the picture above.

Use a cookie scoop and place on cookie sheet as shown on the right. Bake at 375 degrees F for 7-10 minutes. On the day I baked them it took exactly 9 minutes. Bake them just until the edges turn golden brown and they are spongy to the touch. If you over bake them they will look more orange in color than pink. Also, they spread very little, so you can probably put them about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet. However, this will vary depending on the weather. So, I'd bake the first cookie sheet and see how much the spread for you. 

Make the filling in advance, because the milk and flour mixture needs to cool completely. I use the same gob filling recipe for almost all gobs. Why? Because I hate overly sweet icings and fillings. This one is perfect. It comes from a very old recipe book that my mom got from a church years and years ago. The pages are literally held together by a rubber band, that's how often we use it. 

Mix together the flour and milk until there are no lumps. Cook on stove top over medium heat while whisking until thick. Let this cool completely. Cream together powdered sugar, vegetable shortening, butter and vanilla. Once combined beat in the cooled milk mixture until combined. Then it is ready to spread between two gob halves. Put as much or as little filing as you like.

I don't normally put initials on all my gobs, these were for a bridal shower. Let me know if you give these a try or if you have a favorite gob combination!

Not Your Normal Turkey Burgers

Today is/was a beautiful day. It was warm. There was a breeze. I got to spend my time outside mowing grass. Perfect day if you ask me.

However, I did stupidly wear a bright fuscia sports bra under my white shirt today. And after an hour of sweating the shirt looks tie-dyed perfectly around the boob area. Perfectly.

I really hope it comes out. I really liked that white shirt.

So, I'm not really a huge red meat fan. I'll chose something else, anything else, over it any day. But sometimes you just want a big juicy burger, because there is nothing like bitting into a burger. At least during the grilling season. I solve my dilemma of hating red meat, but liking burgers by substituting the red meat for turkey or chicken. This recipe is the result of it.

Turkey Burgers

1 lb ground turkey

2 chipotle in adobo sauce, chopped (plus a tblsp of the sauce)

1/2 large red onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 c feta cheese

1 package frozen spinach, thawed

2 tblsp your favorite grill seasoning

Sauce

1 c greek yogurt

2 tbslp adobo sauce

It couldn't be easier. Just mix all ingredients together until everything is evenly through the meat. You don't want to overwork your meat, so only mix as much as necessary to make sure every bite has all ingredients.

Form into patty size of your choice. But remember they shrink and swell. So, I tend to make small patties but make an indent in the middle so they cook into flat burgers.

Grill 4-5 minutes on high heat to get the grill marks we all know and love. I generally then move mine to lower heat to finish cooking. It will probably take another 5 minutes, depending on patty size.

While the burgers are grilling, mix the greek yogurt and adobo sauce. Let chill until ready to serve.

Let your burger rest a few minutes before serving. Once ready top with yogurt sauce and serve on a toasted bun of your choice. Let me know what you think and what have you substituted for red meat?

Fruit Filled Waffle Cups

This past weekend was super busy. I like being busy, but sometimes it makes time go way too fast. I suppose if it was a horrible time then that would be okay, but we all know that is usually not the case. 

The weekend was filled with lots of great things and some bad. I'm not going to go into details, but I got to share a special day with a good friend, enjoy good company and bake. Nonetheless, we also found out that our uncle had a heart attack and that someone else also put a bid on my dream house. 

Our uncle is okay, thankfully.

But the dream house is now probably in someone else's hands. 

But as my philosophy has always been, what will be will be. Que sera sera. 

Anyway (do I say 'anyway' a lot? I feel like I do.), I've seen pictures of fruit salad in waffle cones floating around for awhile on pinterest. And I've always thought, what an ingenious idea! Some people are just so clever! 

I envy you clever people!

I am in a wedding and for the bridal shower I decided to make these fruit filled waffle cones. I changed them up a little. And this is what I came up with.

You should know that this recipe was to make 50 waffle cones. However, it would be totally easy to slim it down to make whatever you need. You should also know that there was not one left over. All totally gone. So, yes, they are as good as they look. 

Plus, they look pretty fancy without all the fancy work. And we all know how much I love that. 

The actual fruit salad recipe is from Taste of Home. I changed it up a little to fit what I had and to use less sugar.

Fruit Filled Waffle Cups

4 cups blueberries

4 cups grapes, sliced in half

4 cups pineapple, chunks

4 cups watermelon, chunks

4 cups strawberries, quartered

4 cups blackberries

10 oz pina colada alcoholic mix

1/4 c sugar

1/4 tsp almond extract

1/8 tsp coconut extract

50 waffle cups

2-12 oz bags of milk chocolate

Mix the pina colada mix, sugar, almond and coconut extracts. Make the fruit salad by combining the first 6 ingredients in a large container and pouring the pina colada mixture over top. Mix everything well and let sit over night. If the salad seems dry the next day make more of the pina colada mixture and add to the fruit. My fruit was excessively juicy, so I had a lot of liquid the next morning. I actually drained some of it. 

First, I decided to use mostly waffle cups instead of cones. I just thought they would be easier to eat at the bridal shower and looked more delicate. I did use some waffle cones though, because I bought up all the cups they had at the store and still needed more. Second, I was very worried about the waffle cups/cones getting soggy, since I had to do this in advance. So, to solve that problem I melted one bag of chocolate and painted the bottom of the cups and cones with it. You can literally just drop a tblsp in the bottom and then use a brush to spread it. I let the chocolate set for 15 mins.

I then filled the cups to the brim with the fruit salad made the night before. I used a slotted spoon to drain excess liquid from the fruit salad. Then, I melted the second bag of chocolate, put it in a squeeze bottle and drizzled it over the fruit and cups. And since we have mint by the billions growing outside, I picked some leaves, rinsed them and placed them on the side to add a little pop of color.

Just a little side note. The waffle cones still ended up getting soggy since they laid on their side and I did not paint the chocolate up the entire side of the cone. If I was to do this again, I would paint the entire inside of the waffle cones with chocolate. This was not the case with the waffle cups. They stayed pretty firm.