4th of July feast

I wanted to make something pretty on the fourth of July to match the different colors of the fireworks. Tonight I roasted orange and purple cauliflower, made some fresh corn on the cob, a green salad and grilled some chicken and salmon. Delicious!

Roasted firework cauliflower:

1 head purple cauliflower
1 head orange cauliflower
Salt and pepper
Zatarains creole seasoning
Olive oil

Chop up the cauliflower and put on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt, pepper and zatarains creole seasoning. Roast in a 500 degree oven until tender, but not mushy.

Mushroom ravioli with a gorgonzola blue cheese sauce

Homemade 3 mushroom ravioli with a Gorgonzola and blue cheese sauce

Ingredients:

Ravioli:
Handful of cremini mushrooms, sliced
Handful of button mushrooms, sliced
1 small portabella mushroom, sliced
1 small onion, diced
3 or so cloves of garlic, minced (or however many you want)
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Sauce:
1 package large egg roll wrappers
2-4 Tbsp butter
4-5 cloves of garlic
2-3 Tbsp flour
2 1/2 cups milk
4 ounces (1/2 cup) cream cheese
4 ounces gorgonzola cheese
2-4 ounces blue cheese
Parsley
Salt and pepper


In a large frying pan, saute onions and garlic in olive oil until tender. Season with salt and pepper. Add mushrooms and bay leaves. Cook until mushrooms are done and mince in a food processor (or whatever else you want to use)

Cut egg roll wrappers with cookie cutter/top of glass/or anything else circle you have (I try and use a size so I can get four circles out of each sheet)

Put a little of the filling on one circle, get the edges wet on that circle and one other piece. Piece them together and seal. Set aside.

In another pan, melt butter and add garlic. Let cook, but don't over cook! Garlic is not good if it's overcooked. Add flour and whisk for 30 seconds to a minute. Add milk gradually and whisk constantly until it is mixed in and there are no lumps. Stir in the cream cheese, season with salt and pepper. Add gorgonzola, blue cheese and parsley. Stir until melted. It's okay to have a few crumbles left over, it adds a different texture to the sauce.

Boil the ravioli and top with the sauce! Yum!

Magic in the middle cookies

Magic in the middle cookies:

Chocolate Dough
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar (plus extra for dredging)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk

Peanut butter filling
3/4 cup peanut butter, crunchy or smooth, your choice
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
2. To make the dough: In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.
3. In another medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together the sugars, butter, and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and the egg, beating to combine, then stir in the dry ingredients, blending well.
5. To make the filling: In a small bowl, stir together the peanut butter and confectioners sugar until smooth.
6. With floured hands or a teaspoon scoop, roll the filling into 26 one-inch balls.
7. To shape the cookies: Scoop 1 tablespoon of the dough (a lump about the size of a walnut), make an indentation in the center with your finger and place one of the peanut butter balls into the indentation.
8. Bring the cookie dough up and over the filling, pressing the edges together cover the center; roll the cookie in the palms of your hand to smooth it out. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
10. Roll each rounded cookie in granulated sugar, and place on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between cookies.
11. Grease the bottom of a drinking glass, and use it to flatten each cookie to about 1/2-inch thick.
12. Bake the cookies for 7 to 9 minutes, or until they're set and you can smell chocolate. Remove them from the oven, and cool on a rack.

I got these from this website. Very tasty

Clam Chowder

Clam Chowder

Ingredients:
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp flour
2 (8 ounce) bottles clam juice
4 (6.5 ounce) cans minced clams, drain and reserve clam juice
1 cup water
6 russet potatoes scrubbed and diced medium
3 carrots
3 sticks celery
1/2 stick butter
3 large bay leaves
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley or 2 tsp dried parsley
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Saute onions and garlic until softened. Add flour, whisk in and let cook for about 1 minute or until lightly colored. Gradually whisk in bottled clam juice, reserved clam juice and water. Add potatoes, carrots, celery, bay leaves and thyme. Simmer until vegetables are tender. Don't overcook the potatoes or they will become mushy after adding the cream and bringing to a simmer. Add clams, cream, parsley, salt and pepper to taste. (Be careful not to oversalt!) bring to a simmer, remove from heat and serve.

I served mine with dinner rolls. Yum!

Mushroom Risotto

I really like risotto but it's a bit of a pain to make, and very easy to mess up. A lot of people, even professional chefs add too much broth and end up making the rice mushy. I am proud of the way mine turned out and it was not mushy! It was very very good and I will definitely be making it again. I served mine with Kacean's new favorite chicken, my spicy chicken.

3 mushroom risotto:

Ingredients:
2 cups Arborio rice
Handful of button mushrooms
Handful of cremini mushrooms
Handful of shitaki mushrooms
1/2 an onion
4 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
8 cups water
6 bouillon cubes (I used vegetarian)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

In a saucepan bring 8 cups of water and 6 bouillon cubes to boil. Keep at a simmer the entire time. In a large skillet or frying pan with tall sides saute 1/2 the onion (so 1/4 of an entire onion) with all the mushrooms sliced up, 2 garlic cloves and salt and pepper in 1-2 Tbsps oil until the mushrooms are cooked the way you want them) When they are finished, set aside.


When the mushrooms are finished, saute remaining onion and garlic in oil until tender. Add rice and stir for about a minute. Add bay leaves and the process begins.


The annoying part about risotto is you have to stir it the entire time or it doesn't work out correctly. You need to add about 1 ladle full of hot broth to the rice at a time stirring until the rice absorbs it all. Once it is all absorbed add another ladle until rice is cooked, but not mushy. About halfway through cooking add the mushrooms so the rice can incorporate the mushroom flavor. Season with pepper and salt if needed. Usually the broth is salty enough.



Partway through the cooking process:

I was getting really hot sitting in front of the stove and was getting a little bored of stirring. :) It was worth it though!

Just about finished!

Finished product! When the rice if finished, pull out the bay leaves and toss. Enjoy!

More chicken

I know, I know..here's yet another grilled chicken. I only know how to cook meat a couple ways, and grilling is my favorite. Plus, it keeps my house cooler in the summer to cook outside.


Spicy grilled chicken:

Chicken legs/thighs
Salt and pepper
Season salt
Mrs. Dash southwest chipotle seasoning
Olive oil

Toss chicken in a ziplock bag with olive oil to coat. It will help the seasonings stick to the chicken. Add salt and pepper and a good amount of both season salt and mrs. dash to coat. Grill on low until juicy.



Spinach, asparagus and romaine Italian grilled salad:

Romaine hearts
Fresh spinach
Asparagus
Italian dressing (I like to make mine fresh)

Cut romaine hearts in half and pour a good Italian dressing on one side. Grill on low until the edges start to get black but the inside is warm but still crunchy. Throw spinach and asparagus on a grill pan inside (or outside if you can figure out a way) and dump a little Italian dressing and salt and pepper. Cook until spinach starts to wilt and asparagus is tender. Cut asparagus into chunks, cut romaine hearts into chunks and toss. If it needs a little more dressing, salt or pepper add to taste.

Yum!

Garlic Herb Chicken

Here is yet another take on ... grilled chicken.

Garlic Herb Chicken:

Chicken legs and thighs (or whichever your prefer)
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Garlic Powder
Italian Seasoning

Drizzle oil over chicken just enough to coat it so seasoning will stick. Salt and pepper all the way around the chicken. Coat well with garlic powder and italian seasoning. Grill on low until juicy.




Spicy Fries:

Potatoes
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Tonys
Chili powder
Garlic pepper
Lemon pepper

Cut potatoes into fries. Toss in oil and seasonings. Bake at 425, 20 minutes on one side and then flip the potatoes over and cook another 20 minutes on the other side. They will be brown and crispy.


Broccoli and Carrots: (Also cauliflower, but I didn't have any)

Broccoli
Carrots
Cauliflower
Salt and pepper
Butter

Steam veggies until tender. Put 1-2 tablespoons butter over veggies and cut with fork and knife until mixed well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.