I am really enjoying my summer. It started with a beautiful wedding in Louisville, Kentucky and last week a couple of days at the lake with my good friends. When I came home from the lake GI Joe said, ” Well what did ya’ll do?” And I said, “Talked and ate a lot of good food.” Men just don’t get it when women get together that we love to talk. My husband will get together with some of his buddies and when he comes home I will ask about one of their wives. And it is always the same. “We don’t talk about stuff like that!” They just don’t discuss personal or emotional things like women do. Why is that? Anyway I am loving my summer. Getting a little “me” time before I have to start giving a lot of it to my students again.
Monthly Archives: June 2010
Creole Shrimp Saute
Truffle Brownies
My book club is having a three-day extravaganza at the lake. I’m excited to spend three days with some very good friends, great food, sitting by the lake. You get the idea relaxing by the water with people you love. What fun! Our book this month was one of my favorites Water for Elephants. Oh My Gosh! It was a fantastic read. At first I didn’t like it. Then after the first one hundred pages I could not put it down. I highly recommend it. I love the author’s style of writing which makes for an easy read. Anyway you will love this book!
There are nine of us going to the lake and we all have stuff to bring. I am responsible for cookies. I have made two that I am taking and will share one with you now. The other will come later. These are Truffle Brownies from Bon Appetit this month. They are absolutely fabulous is all I am going to allow myself to say. Easy! Ok, enough. You will love these. Trust me. Just one more thing the chocolate ganache is over the top!
Gotta run so here is the recipe. I followed it to a T. Enjoy because we sure have.
Happy Cooking,
The Teacher Cooks
Filed under Bar Cookies, Desserts
Southwest Spaghetti Pie
Usually on Thursday night I plan my menus for the week and then do my grocery shopping on Friday. I can spend hours pouring through my food magazines or my collection of cookbooks and really confuse myself with all the choices. Or I can just pull out my collections of menus planned from a year ago or two years ago to make it easier. Some of you are saying “What is she talking about?”. The best way to save money, time, and eat healthier is to take the time to plan your menus for the week. I have done this my entire life. I cannot just go to the store and start pulling things off the shelf and have dinner for a week. I challenge you to give this a try. You will be surprised at how much more organized your life will be. This way you are less likely to pick up fast food or pack up the family and go out for dinner.
Here is one of my favorite go to meals that is quick, good and for us has leftovers for the next day and then some to freeze. It is a new twist on an old favorite spaghetti. Just add a green salad and you have a perfect week night meal. Some steps can be done ahead saving you even more time when you are rushed to get dinner on the table. Peppers can be diced, cheese grated, or just go ahead and make the sauce.
So here you go a little spaghetti south of the border.
Filed under Main dish
Skirt Steak with Green Beans, Corn, and Pesto
There is nothing that I love better than a good steak. When I was perusing through my Gourmet Magazines last weekend I found this one that caught my eye. I was not only interested in trying it because reading the recipe made me drool, but it is a 10 minute main dish. Really? It is quick, but 10 minutes I don’t think so. The side dish also was different. Pesto sauce can add a good flavor and I was interested to see what it would do to two of my favorite vegetables corn and beans. The original recipe calls for haricots verts, but my CSA box provided me with just plain green beans which were larger than haricots verts.
Skirt steak is new to me. When shopping I had a good discussion with the butcher about how to cook it as well as cut it. Gourmet did not say to marinate it and when mentioning this to the butcher he raised his eyebrow and looked puzzled. He said, ” Mam, I really don’t think you should cook this without marinating.” I went with his advice. It was a very good idea. He suggested using salsa or an Italian dressing. I decided to use Cile’s Marinade that I use for flank steak. Skirt steak is similar to flank steak, but much thinner and longer. Marinades only penetrate about 1/4 inch or so of the meat making skirt steak perfect for the marinade. Cut the steak across the grain which will break up the connective tissue making it easier to chew. Cost wise it is about $2.50 a serving which is not too bad. Another good thing about this steak is that it can be prepared in a skillet.
Mandarin Orange Cake
I will be the first to tell you that cake made from scratch is the best, but there are times that using a cake mix is a good thing. This orange cake is perfect for the summer. It is cool, light, easy to make, beautiful to look at and very good! What more could you ask for? Make this and everyone will be asking for the recipe.
Delicious Brownies
I really don’t know why these are called brownies. They are more like blonde brownies than the normal chocolate brownies. And not even those for heaven sake. They are full of butterscotch and marshmallows. But you will never know the marshmallows are there. Enough about the name. I know you don’t really care about that. It is the taste that you care about and you are going to love this little bar cookie. It is just the perfect size to indulge in without feeling guilty unless you are like some I know and just keep indulging until half the pan is gone. They are easy to make. In fact they are too easy. Trying to use up the bag of marshmallows in my pantry I have made them 5 times. Yes that is correct 5 times. I love the recipe because you can whip them together in one pan in 10 minutes. Bake them for 20 minutes. Then comes the hard part. Cooling. You need a couple of hours for this. They are really soft when they come out of the oven. You could just eat them right out of the pan with a spoon but try to restrain yourself because they are more attractive cut into little bars.
Filed under Bar Cookies, chocolate chip, Cookies from scratch, Desserts
Blueberry Muffins with a hint of Lemon
Today is the first day of my summer vacation. It is a gorgeous day here in Atlanta. There is not a cloud in the sky and the humidity is almost nonexistent. Now this is not going to stay, but I am enjoying it while it is here. To celebrate my new unfilled time I just had to make these blueberry muffins with the first blueberries I have received this season. These were shipped here from Baxley, Georgia. When I saw the address I was flooded with childhood memories of the beach. Baxley is about an hour south of McRae which is my hometown. Driving through Baxley meant that we just had to travel through Jesup and we would arrive at our destination St. Simons. Then my sister and I would have all the pool time and beach time we wanted.
The Teacher Cooks 