Posts from — July 2013

On this, the third day of “Stone Fruit” Week, we’ll use both fresh and dried cherries and apricots, along with plum, a peach, and a pear – tossed in for good measure.

I also threw in some of the delicious Trader Joe’s Golden Berry Blend; a wonderful mix of golden raisins, dried cranberries, cherries, and blueberries. If you don’t have the blend, use the same amount of golden raisins in its place.

This compote is the perfect complement to chicken and pork.

It also makes a tasty treat served at room temperature over Greek yogurt, ice cream, or frozen yogurt.

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“Stone Week” continues with this main course recipe using both fresh and dried cherries.

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This is stone fruit season. Are you ready for a week’s worth of stone fruit recipes? Yes? OK, let’s get to it.

According to the Cook’s Thesaurus –

“The family of stone fruits includes cherries, plums, apricots, nectarines, and peaches.   They all arrive in the summer, though you can sometimes find pricey imports during the off-season.  Stone fruits don’t become sweeter after they’re picked, but growers often harvest them while they’re still a bit underripe so that they won’t bruise during transit.  At the market, select specimens that have the color, if not the softness, of fully ripened fruit, then take them home and let them soften at room temperature for a few days.”

How about we start off with a cool refreshing drink on this hot summer day?

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They’re back…

Yep!

Friends and family – preferably Frog’s Leap!

Afraid this also applies.

This can actually be a life advantage!

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After not seeing each other for more than three weeks, Peggy and I just had to get together and go out for lunch this past Monday. That’s a long time to not see your BFF!

The day before, I called her to make our lunch plans. Coincidentally, she was having lunch at Pita Jungle, enjoying Coconut Curried Soup w/ Chickpeas, with her daughter, Natalie.

Peggy said, “Linda, I LOVE this soup! You have to taste it, figure out how to make it, and give me the recipe!”  I told her that if she didn’t mind going back to Pita Jungle the next day – I’d do my best.

Problem is, that the Coconut Curried Soup with Chickpeas is not on the printed or online menus at Pita Jungle. This means there is no description of the soup for me to take any of my cues from.

I’ve deciphered restaurant recipes many times before but there’s always been some sort of guide or reference, you know, a description of the dish – besides just the food itself. This was going to be more challenging than I had originally thought.

Monday, I ordered the soup. I ordered nothing else, I wanted all my focus to be on the flavors of that soup.  I tasted it and knew some of the ingredients for certain; obviously coconut milk, probably full fat. I’m going to use lite coconut milk for my recipe, feel free to use full fat if you’d rather.

There was most certainly red curry paste, garlic, ginger … and possibly jalapeño as well.

Next, I spread the vegetables out on the rim of the bowl to see what I could see; I snapped this photo of it – let’s see… red bell pepper, tomato, poblano pepper, parsley, chickpeas, onion, and either orange bell pepper or carrot.  The orange-colored pieces were so small that neither Peggy nor I could decide which it was – so I’m going with orange bell pepper since I don’t care for carrots. I’m also adding diced mushrooms, just ’cause I want to.

I’m posting the recipe this morning but I may come back and tweak it after Peggy gets over here and tries it.

Get over here, girl!

If tweaking is done, I’ll put any additions or changes in red print… stay tuned.

Peggy never did make it over to try the soup, but my boys and I decided it was too thick. Add another can of coconut milk or vegetable broth to thin it out to your liking. I used more coconut milk and then needed to add more curry paste as well.  I’ve made those changes in the recipe below.

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Jen made these tasty olive crostini for us when we were at the Log Mansion. Hopefully, I won’t be embarrassing her when I tell you that I had two and Dave didn’t get a single one before her two youngest sons ate the entire batch!

Yes, they are that good – 10 and 15-year-old boys may gobble them up before you know what happened.  Enjoy.

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I know, I know – it would be nice if I’d post a recipe today since I missed posting so many days this month due to vacation. So sorry, but we ate the second foil packet for dinner last night, so I got nothing for you today … recipe-wise.

I have something WAY better!

Via

My vintage finds from this month’s sale at Sweet Salvage! I was pretty bummed when I realized that I was going to be out of town for the 3rd Thursday of the month. I’m usually there, standing in line with the other Sweet devotees when the doors open at 10:00.

Even though I’ve gone on Fridays, Saturdays, and even Sundays in the past, I feared that all the “good stuff” would be gone by the time I got there this past Sunday afternoon.

Not so! In fact, I couldn’t even buy all that I wanted. I had to really edit myself and use every ounce of my limited self-control to not spend four times more than I spent.

Via

For instance, I did not buy that fabulous vintage “Log Cabin Bread” display stand at the top of the page. Oh, I wanted that so bad! And I did not buy the wonderful cabinet pictured above, although I went back and forth on “where I would put it” – I just couldn’t justify spending the money, so it was left behind.

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It’s hard to get back into the groove of making dinner after a 3-week trip away from home. This all-in-one meal was the perfect “ease into it” dinner to get me up and going again.

I had planned on cooking the chicken and vegetable foil packets outside on the grill, but we had torrential downpours all day long. Not that I’m complaining! We LOVE rain in AZ and using the oven worked just as well.

Yes, we love rain in the desert, even when it floods our backyards and patios – as it did at my neighbor, Carol’s, house. Carol posted this on her Facebook page yesterday and graciously allowed me to use it.

I was out driving around in the flooded streets, determined to get to Sweet Salvage this month. More on that tomorrow.

I not only love rain, but I also LOVE coming home, no matter how wonderful a trip we’ve had. I try to get the window seat on the plane because it brings me complete joy to look at my beloved Arizona and my hometown when we fly over it. Yep, it may be cliche, but there really is no place like home.

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… from Illinois and Wisconsin.

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We are currently enjoying the good life at the Log Mansion in Wisconsin with Jeff, Jen, and their boys. Prior to arriving here, we went from Toronto, Canada to Niagara Falls, New York to Rockton, Illinois.

Neither Dave nor I had been to the Falls before. We were blown away by their power and beauty!

This is a recipe my mother-in-law and I made while we were visiting her in Illinois. She’d found it in Ladies Home Journal. I’ve made a couple of changes to the original by using both green and yellow summer squash instead of just zucchini and by adding tomatoes, otherwise, it is pretty much as written.

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