So a whole year has passed…

Hard to believe that another year has flown by!  As I was going through my blog over the past year I have realized a few things.  I bake way too much and our eating has become rather unhealthy in the later months of the year.  One of my goals for 2010 is to change all of this.

Anyway as I was going through the past year in food I picked out some of my faves to do a short round up…hope you like!

Short Ribs cooked Low and Slow:

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls or Golumkis:

 Spanakopita:

Thyme and Rosemary Oven Roasted Beets

Tourtiere or French Canadian Pork Pie:

Pastel Azteca:

Lemon Curd and Pop Tarts

Grilled Tilapia Tacos with Pineapple Salsa:

Shrimp Burgers

Watermelon and Feta Salad

Salsa Chicken Enchiladas

Black Bean and Goat Cheese Quesadillas

Big and Bold Blueberry Muffins

Here’s to the New Year with wonderful food, family and friends!

My favorite pasta dish again...

See the chunks of olives and fresh herbs. This was a great vinaigrette for the baby herb mixture!

I have this little quirky thing about me. If I like the flavor of something I will eat it again and again and again. Just ask my family! It drives T. crazy sometimes but one of the advantages of being chief, cook and bottle washer is that they have to eat what I cook...he he he! This is one of those instances. The kids don't care they have been eating their pasta with just butter on it anyway so pretty much this is for me.

Last night though I had bought a mixed box of organic baby herbs for the salad and just made a really light dressing using olive oil, balsamic vinegar, chopped garlic, fresh basil, oregano and salt and pepper. At the last minute I tossed in some chopped kalamata olives. Turned out yummy!

I had some beautiful yellow tomatoes that got added to this delicious pasta dish!

I also made my regular favorite pasta:

Pasta With Fresh Tomato and Basil

1 head of garlic and 2 Tbsp olive oil
3 ripe plum tomatoes (I just use whatever is tasting good right them)
1/3 C fresh basil (chopped)
1 Tbsp capers
1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 box of long thin pasta (angel hair, linguine, spaghetti)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

• Peel of most of the paper from around the garlic head. Slice off the pointy top of the garlic. This should expose all of the cloves a bit. Place in an oven proof pan (I use a pie plate). Top with 2 Tbsp of olive oil and coarse salt. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for about 45 minutes. Allow to cool then remove the cloves and mash with a fork.
• Dice the tomatoes (if the have a ton of seeds squeeze them out).
• Add the garlic, basil, capers, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
• Let stand for at least 20 minutes.
• Cook pasta.
• Mix sauce with pasta and serve warm or at room temperature. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pasta with a nice slab of garlic bread...does it get much better?

T.'s contribution to all of this was a loaf of amazing garlic bread! He took an Italian baguette and split it. Made some garlic butter using paprika, fresh garlic, garlic powder, fresh parsley, fresh oregano and fresh basil. Smeared it all over the bread and used the broil setting on high in the oven and broiled it until it was nicely brown and crispy!

Perfect meal to end a perfect weekend!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

A little bit of everything!

Nothing like lounging by the pool and watching your kids and dog swim for a whole day!!

Yesterday was just a really nice day. Usually we have a huge Memorial Day BBQ but this year we decided that T. needed a break. I don't think that I have mentioned this but a couple of weeks ago T. was diagnosed with Epstein-Barr Virus which is just horrible. It actually stays with you for up to 1 1/2 years. He doesn't always feel bad but when he does all he wants to do is sleep and I just couldn't risk him getting too run down by having a big party here! We made the most of it anyway and it was really nice just hanging out with the family. We are all usually running in so many directions that we very rarely take the time we need together just hanging out.

T. made margaritas using fresh key lime, lemon and orange juice

See how nicely he crushed to ice...do you think maybe he's done this before?

Our theme this weekend was zucchini and how many we could use up before I had to start freezing them. One thing about zucchini is a little goes a long way. I barely made a dent in the box and I made Zucchini Double Chocolate Cake and Grilled Zucchini Gratin. Needless to say I have started freezing them already.

See the chunks of zucchini? This was a very light and moist cake. Even if I didn't have a case of zucchini I would love to make this again!

Zucchini Double Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups AP flour
1 1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 medium zucchini, shredded (about 2 cups)
1 cup Ghirardelli semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

• Grease and flour a 13 X 9 baking pan.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add the oil, milk, butter and vanilla. Beat on low speed until combined.
  
• Add the eggs and zucchini and beat on medium high speed for 2 minutes
• Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 35 minutes and cake tester comes out clean.
• Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack. When cool sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with fresh whipped cream.

Sticking closely with the theme...

Grilled Zucchini Gratin

I didn't follow a recipe for this but here goes...I sliced enough zucchini, lengthwise, to fill a 13 X 9 casserole dish with 2 layers. Approximately 6. I seasoned them and had T. grill them. I assembled them in the pan with one layer of zucchini which I sprinkled with seasoned bread crumbs. I topped that layer with some sliced tomatoes. I sprinkled all of this with goat cheese and topped it with mozzarella. For the final layer I covered all that with some more zucchini and mozzarella cheese and cooked for about 40 minutes or until hot and bubbling.

Save these recipes just in case you somehow end up with a case of zucchini or those plants that you plant now are huge producers!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Peter's Churrasco Chicken and Francie's Rice

Sounds like I don't have any original ideas huh? I do, really but with so many great recipes that I see on other blogs every day I don't really have to come up with original things all the time! Also I am a busy Mom with 2 crazy kids in 2 different schools with laundry, errands, and the job of finding the very best local produce for this crazy family which doesn't leave a whole lot of extra time for being creative. At least not during the week! What with skating and karate eating up all the spare time!

I found the Churrasco Chicken recipe on Kalofagas-Greek Food & Beyond by Peter Minakis. I saw the recipe and loved the idea of the ground bay leaves, onions, lemons and whiskey all together. The only problem was that Peter had used a whole chicken with skin on and I had 2 boneless, skinless breasts and 4 skinless thighs! I figure it would still work okay and I was right. This was such a delicious dish I urge you to try it. I can't wait to try it again but this time with a whole chicken!!!

With the chicken I made some Arroz Verde con Poblanos. I had gotten this recipe from Francie's blog - Ramblings of a Frantic Home Cook. I had made this a couple of weeks ago and T. was asking for it every night! I thought that it would go good with this chicken and a nice fresh salad!
I was right again! This rice is fresh tasting and very quick to make. I had to use brown rice this time and it was delicious like that as well!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

What a nice relaxing weekend!

Flowers do make everything prettier!

This weekend was one of my favorites. Nothing stressful or out of the ordinary happened. My oldest daughter had a horrible hive outbreak on Thursday but it was under control come Saturday. So they went skating and then we really just relaxed and enjoyed spending time together. We played a couple of games and watched a bit of TV. And oh yeah - we ate.

Oven Roasted Chicken

Our meals were pretty much a mishmash of things. On Friday night I roasted a chicken and we had this big, beautiful salad along with it.


Basic Vinaigrette Recipe

2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup of vinegar (try different types)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup of Olive Oil
1 tsp mixed chopped fresh herbs (I used fresh Greek oregano and basil)

• Shake or whisk all ingredients together. Allow to sit for about 30 minutes to allow flavors to meld together!

On Saturday night we were going to go out but the girls decided that wanted pizza and I tried a new whole wheat crust which was incredible and so easy to work with that I think it may be my next go to pizza dough recipe!

We make 2 cookie sheet size pizza's and the girls get to choose their toppings. One won't eat sauce or pepperoni, just plain cheese, and the other one wants it all. This way we all win!

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough (The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook)

makes 2 thin 12-14-inch, one 14-inch deep-dish, four 8-inch, 6 individual crusts, or one 17-by-11-inch rectangular crust (we made 2 cookie sheet size pies)
1-1/3 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil
2-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1-1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp SAF yeast or 2-1/2 tsp bread machine yeast

• Place all the ingredients into the pan according to the manufacturer's instructions. Program for the Dough or Pizza Dough cycle and press Start.
• When the machine beeps at the end of the cycle press Stop and unplug the machine. Immediately remove the bread pan from the machine and turn onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide into the desired number of portions. Flatten each portion into a disc by kneading a few times then folding the edges to the center. Cover with a damp towel and let rest for about 30 minutes or until the dough has increased about 20 percent in size.
• Roll out and shape the dough as you desire or place the dough in plastic food storage bags and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. To use let rest for 20 minutes at room temperature before rolling out.
• The dough balls can also be frozen and used within 3 months. To use allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

Yesterday we had soup. I had the chicken bones from a couple of nights earlier so I made a nice chicken soup. I know it wasn't very Easter like but it sure hit the spot. We added quinoa to the soup and it made it nice and hearty.

Light, fluffy, buttery biscuits!

I also found a really easy and good biscuit recipe. No hand work and they were ready to go in the oven within minutes!

Buttermilk Biscuits (How to Cook Everything-Mark Bittman)

2 cups all-purpose or cake flour, plus more as needed (I didn't need anymore but to flour the board)
1 scant tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2-5 Tbsp cold butter (more is better - imagine that?)
7/8 cups plain yogurt or buttermilk

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees
• Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl or a food processor (i used the food processor and would now not use anything else!). Cut the butter into small chunks and cut into the dry ingredients or wizz in the food processor. All the butter must be thoroughly blended before moving on.
• Use a large spoon to stir in the yogurt or buttermilk, just until the mixture forms a ball. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead it 10 times; no more. If it is very sticky, add a little flour, but very little. Don't worry if it sticks a bit to your hands.
• Press into a 3/4-inch-thick rectangle and cut into 2 inch rounds. Place the rounds on an ungreased baking sheet. Repeat this with the remaining dough. It should make 10-14 biscuits.
• Bake 7-9 minutes (something must be wrong with my oven-I had to bake them for about 11 minutes.
  
• Serve within 15 minutes for them to be their best!

Okay so their you have my food weekend in a nutshell! Hope yours was shared with friends and family!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Oh, do I ever love a great cookie!!!

I have been trying out a bunch of different cookie and muffin recipes lately and while they have all been very good I think I need to go back to my favorite ones. I absolutely love the taste of homemade Raisin Oatmeal Cookies! The taste combination is great. Cinnamon for a spicy taste, raisins for the sweet and the great texture of oats! I was checking out some healthier recipes and I came across a cookbook made by Sun-Maid (the raisin company). I am going to try their recipe for "Really Good Low-Fat Raisin Oatmeal Cookies"

Click here to download or order the Sun-Maid Fruit & Sunshine Recipe Book

Maybe I can take some of these cookies to the Halloween Party on Saturday night?

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Another crazy weekend!

I woke up yesterday just like every other morning, a little stiff, a little achy (we were in a serious car accident about 3 years ago and are still being treated so this is normal). Little did I know that within an hour I would hardly be able to move my head!!! I somehow ended up with a huge knot in my neck as have pain halfway down my back, through my chest and head!!! Not nearly as much fun as it sounds. Oh well...life still goes on and I still have things to do!

I am in the midst of preparing for my Partylite Candle party which is gong to be on Thursday night. I am pretty excited. I have a bunch of new recipes that I can't wait to try out. I can't wait to give you the recipes and have pictures to show you as well!

Partylite Party Menu

Wild Mushroom Dip
Spinach Veggie Sandwiches
Make Ahead Marinated Shrimp
Cream Cheese Lollipops
Brownies

I am kinda stumped on a drink to make. If anyone has any ideas that would help me greatly! I would like something that I can make a big batch of and have in pitchers to serve during the party. I should have about 15 or so people. Any ideas????

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Tony Made Dinner - Yummm!

Yes, even though it is Sunday and football is on Tony made us dinner! I guess he felt badly that I had to go to a 3 hour birthday party for the kids and it was outside. Now if we lived in the north that wouldn't be such a bad thing but it is in Florida which even at the beginning of October we are still weeks and weeks away from some cool weather! We were pretty lucky though there was a really nice breeze blowing and it was only about 89.

Anyway dinner was great he made what he is calling Buffalo Stroganoff Casserole.

Buffalo Stroganoff Casserole

Ingredients:

1 pound ground buffalo meat ( we can get it at Publix now)

4-6 cloves garlic (minced)

1 tsp Kosher Salt

1/2 tsp white pepper

1/8 tsp white pepper

1 tsp olive oil (or vegetable)

1 pound sliced mushrooms (baby bellas if you can)

1 lrg onion (diced)

1/4 cup dry vermouth

16 oz sour cream

1 /12 tbsp course ground dijon mustard

4 cups cooked egg noodles (whole wheat are what he used)

2 tsp "Better Than Bouillon" Beef base (or 2 cubes beef bouillon)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 13X9-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

Place buffalo meat in a large skillet; season with salt and pepper. Brown the meat until it is no longer pink. Drain any fat from the meat (buffalo will have very little) and set aside.

Heat the oil in the same skillet until hot. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir until onion is tender. Add the Vermouth and the beef base or bouillon. Cook for about 2 minutes and add the mushrooms. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream and mustard until well combined. Stir in the buffalo meat.

Put the noodles in the greased casserole dish. Pour the meat mixture over the noodles and stir until well coated. Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes or until heated through.

***This should easily feed about 6 people. Regular ground beef can be substitute for the buffalo meat but the buffalo is very nice and lean.

Try this for a quick meal during the week. He made it between football games!!!

Happy Entertaining!

Judy

http://www.nofearentertaining.com/

Do you have friends that are vegetarians?

Do you have any friends that are vegetarians? We sure do. I found this kind of amazing but on Labor Day at our home we had about 30 people here and can you believe that we had 2 vegetarians here??? When you figure that as a percentage it is almost 10%. To me that seems like a whole lot. Does that mean that in the real world close to 10 in every 100 people are vegetarians? It certainly is starting to seem that way. Now...don't get me wrong. I could not be a vegetarian. I love meat and I also like nice leather purses, shoes etc. Anyway you get the point. But when we invite people to our home for a meal I think it is very important to be able to accommodate peoples religious and personal preferences so we always prepare a special something for them. On Labor Day Tony outdid himself. Everyone was hoping for a little taste of what they were eating!

Here's how you can duplicate this. This is not just for our vegetarian friends!

****Tony helped me out and wrote out this recipe. He is a true foodie and his recipes always sound complicated when he writes them. This one is not. Do yourself a favor and try it out. If you have any questions about it or anything that you need clarified please email me at info@nofearentertaining.com .

Boursin Cheese Stuffed Portabella Musrooms (serves 2 but can be doubled or tripled)

4 large portabella mushroom (with stems removed)
2 small blocks of flavored boursin cheese (found in your specialty cheese section)
olive oil
1 shallot (Green onion) minced
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup Port Wine
1/2 cup Red wine (whatever you have)
salt
pepper

Do ahead of time:
Red wine and Port reduction
over medium heat flash sear (heat quickly) shallots stirring constantly 1 minute
add garlic and saute additional minute it will toast or brown and that's a good thing
add Port wine watch for flame up (keep your head back) scrape down pan
add Red wine ( I use Cabernet but any decent red will work)
reduce to thickness that will cover the back of a spoon (syrupy)
salt and pepper to taste
You can hold his for days in the refrigerator. Congrats you just made a sauce to die for

Mushrooms
Brush all sides with olive oil
Put Boursin in a freezer bag and warm to room temp
season mushrooms with salt and pepper thoroughly
and grill over medium heat bottom side first for 3-4 minutes
flip mushrooms grill 2-3 minutes
cut the corner of Boursin bag and pipe Boursin onto mushroom caps evenly
put the Mushrooms up on the warming rack of the grill and close lid 4 minutes
Remove mushrooms and plate 2 to a plate
Warm your Port Reduction in the Microwave and drizzle over mushrooms.
Serve and wait for the pats on the back
Your vegetarian friends never eat this well at a gathering they will Thank You.

****Tony wrote this recipe and it is not nearly as complicated a it sounds. He is a real foodie and loves what he does (so does everyone else!!!). If you need any further info on this email me at info@nofearentertaining.com . It really is worth the work!!!!!

Happy Entertaining!!!!

Judy
http://www.nofearentertaining.com/

Grey cloudy day in sunny South West FL!

It is turning out to be a very blah looking weather day today. Not very normal here in SW FL where the weather is either sunny or stormy with sun following but today even getting up was hard as it was pretty gloomy even at 7 AM! Makes me think comfort food! Dinner tonight is going to be Fried Chicken!

This set of breading pans are indispensable when you are making fried chicken or anything else that need to be breaded. Breading Pans - 3 pc. Set.

Fried Chicken:

Ingredients

Whole chicken cut up (or just pieces of your favorite parts)
1 carton of Buttermilk
Peanut or Canola Oil
5 cups of flour (I use whole wheat)
2 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp cayenne
2 Tbsp onion salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 Tbsp ground pepper
1 Tbsp garlic salt

Directions:

In a pan or bowl soak the chicken in enough Buttermilk to cover for about 15 - 20 minutes (or longer if you have more time). Heat a cast iron skillet (Lodge Logic 3-Quart Pre-Seasoned Chicken Fryer) with about 1/2 to 3/4 inch peanut or canola oil. It is hot enough when you drop a small piece of food in and it bobs right to the surface your oil is hot enough to fry. Now if you have thermometer (Taylor Candy-Jelley-Deep Fry Thermometer) you can just place that in the oil and heat until the oil reaches 365 degrees.

• Mix together all of the dry ingredients and take the chicken piece from the buttermilk and place it in the flour to cover. Remove the chicken from the flour and remove any excess flour and place in another bowl or pan and allow to sit until the oil is up to the right temperature.
• Place each piece of chicken in the oil gently turn only when the chicken is a golden brown. Turn and cook the other side. You can test the chicken the old fashioned way (by cutting into it) or you can use a meat thermometer to check and ensure that it has reached 170 degrees. Allow to drain on a rack for several minutes and then serve immediately!

This recipe can be increased by doubling the ingredients to serve larger crowds.

Enjoy and...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy

http://www.nofearentertaining.com/

Almost Done!!!

I am almost done my 1st newsletter!!! It will be going out to all my subscribers the first week of September. If you haven't checked out my website yet at www.nofearentertaining.com go there now and be sure to sign up for my FREE newsletter. It has a menu, recipes, shopping list, hints, tips and much, much more! Don't miss the 1st issue! www.nofearentertaining.com

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Can you see the fear in my eyes???

So we have about 4 days until our party on Sunday. Am I afraid? Can you see fear in my eyes? Not a chance! We have decided on a menu. Started shopping and gathering all of the supplies we will need. It is nice to have this head start. Sometimes we decide to do this just a couple of days before and we don't get all of this extra time!

We will be serving Smoked Pork Butt, Baked BBQ Lima Beans, Dirty Rice, Italian Salad and Golden Margaritas (and Beer) as the beverage. For the children we will have PB & J roll ups and juice. Sounds pretty good huh? Almost all of these items can be made ahead so we aren't having to cook while everyone is here. We have over 30 people (children are included) coming. I ordered some extra chairs from our local party rental company. You can get these for about $1.50 a piece and I figured seeing as we are in SW Florida and the temperature is about 100 degrees come late afternoon I needed to give people a spot to plop their bottoms. We have a water slide and a bounce house as well as the pool to keep the kids going. It should be a good time for everyone! I will be featuring these recipes in my October Newsletter. Sign up now at www.nofearentertaining.com.

Check back for new posts to see how we are doing as we get closer and closer to party day!

Happy Entertaining!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Yeah, I found it!!!

I am pretty excited today. I have been looking for a while now for this cookbook. I owned it once before and it became my Cookbook Bible (I know you have one of your own). We lost our house to Hurricane Charley about 3 years ago and I lost a bunch of cookbooks and am slowly replacing the ones that I loved. This one is so handy because it has easy to use recipes and can actually help you feed yor family the "dreaded chicken meal" one more time. To buy it now click on the link below and it will take you right to it. That step is almost as easy as some of the recipes. Be sure to check out the Crunchy Garlic Drumsticks. This one is a family favorite.


Betty Crocker's Best Chicken Cookbook

Happy Entertaining,

Judy (http://www.nofearentertaining.com/)

Deciding on a Menu

We have pretty much decided what we are going to serve for our Labor Day party. Now we have to figure out where to get the items from. I have found some really good online sources for some of our menu. I have put some of those links on my website at http://www.nofearentertaining.com/ on Our Favorite Links page. Check them out!