I can not begin to tell you how difficult I find it is to even think about decorating this house for fall. It is still in the high 90’s during the day. Even attempting to place a real pumpkin outside would be asking for disaster.

At least the mornings and late evenings are finally cooling off to the low 70’s. That helps a little.

Plus, one of my favorite areas to decorate for the season is the front entry.

Last year it looked like this…

Today, it looks like this.

Hmm, at least the “caution” cones are a bright pumpkin orange. That might be all the entry decorating we get this year.

No matter ~ I vow to dig out the fall and Halloween decorations today and then do something with them.

The morning and evening cooler temps did instill in me the urge to make a double batch of yummy fresh corn chowder. A double batch because I wanted to share with my very generous neighbor, Cheryl.

You see…..

A few days ago, Cheryl anonymously dropped off culinary treasures at my front door (yes, she tromped through the dirt to get there). I don’t know for sure if she meant for the gift to be anonymous, but I wasn’t home and she left it with Connor.

Not surprisingly, Connor had no idea who Cheryl was, all he said when I ask who dropped it off was, “I don’t know, she was thin and pretty.”

Oh, thanks to Connor, that describes all my neighbors!

After a little detective work on my part, Cheryl fessed up.

This is Cheryl at the Christmas Crafts Class back in December 2012. On that note – watch for info tomorrow about my upcoming Fall Crafts & Decor Class …

So what was the culinary treasure that Cheryl gifted me with?

Homemade Croissants!

There were three of them!
Connor was home … so coincidentally there were three of us.
I ate one, and immediately hid the other two – eventually eating all three.
Connor did not know what was wrapped in the towel he had accepted.
Dave never knew they even existed.
They were mine. All mine. And they were delicious!
Thank you, Cheryl!

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It’s HOT. Here is a cold refreshing salad to help cool you down. Throw in some rotisserie chicken if you want to make it a main course.

Now go sit under a fan or jump in the pool.

Enough said.

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Galette is a French term that refers to a variety of flat round cakes, usually made with flaky pastry dough.

Galettes can be sweet or savory. Although it is most common for galettes to be filled with fruits or chocolate and served for dessert, savory galettes are a satisfying meal on their own.

When making this galette, it is important to have the filling ingredients chilled or at room temperature. A hot filling will melt the butter in the dough before it hits the oven, preventing the crust from becoming flaky and crispy.

One of the filling ingredients in this galette is an onion jam. I link you to that recipe in the list of ingredients.

I made a simpler version for this galette by eliminating the vinegar and raisins in that original onion jam recipe and instead of adding a couple of teaspoons of fresh thyme leaves. Either version will work wonderfully here.

Joanne Weir made a Mushroom and Blue Cheese Galette in cooking class at Les Gourmettes last week. It was fabulous! I was the lucky recipient of an extra round of dough for the crust. It is an outstanding dough. It is flaky and crispy and delicious. The recipe below is for Joanne’s dough and my filling.

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A few weeks before Easter, Connor informed me that he and Patrick didn’t need all the silly things I always put in their big elaborate Easter baskets. Oh really? Fine, go ahead a suck the fun out of my basket shopping!

As a result, instead of the usual big basket of goodies, they each received a little strawberry basket that only had Harkins Theater gift cards and a couple of tubes of bubbles. How’s that for no silly things?

It looks like they had fun with the silly bubbles, to me! I’ll check back with him next spring and see if he might like to go back to the big baskets!

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Saying, “Eat Your Kale” is so 2012, but that doesn’t mean Kale is not still King in 2013.

Why?
Because…

• One cup of kale still has only 36 calories, 5 grams of fiber, and 0 grams of fat.
• Per calorie, kale has more iron than beef.
• Kale is high in Vitamin K. Eating a diet high in Vitamin K can help protect against various cancers.
• It is high in antioxidants, such as carotenoids and flavonoids, which also help protect against various cancers.
• Kale is great anti-inflammatory food. One cup of kale is filled with 10% of the recommended daily allowance of omega-3 fatty acids, which help fight against arthritis, asthma, and autoimmune disorders.
• Eating more kale can help lower cholesterol levels.
• It is high in Vitamin A, which is great for your vision, and your skin, as well as helping to prevent lung and oral cavity cancers.
• Kale is high in Vitamin C, high in calcium, and kale is still a great detox food. If you’re someone who really likes to take the time to watch what they eat for the purposes of detoxing in order to maintain or improve their health, perhaps these tips for detoxing your liver will be of interest.

To summarize – Eat Your Kale!

This quick and easy pasta recipe should help get it on your table on any busy weeknight, especially if you use the meat from a rotisserie chicken, as I did.

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On the second day after Christmas, we had no food left in the house.  OK, we had food, but nothing much to make for dinner. All I could scrounge up was the ham bone from HoneyBaked left from Christmas Eve. It had less than a cup of meat left on it.

What to do?

I dug around and found a package of diced pancetta with an expiration date of 12/29/12. Score!

I had a few potatoes, a bell pepper, a chunk of cheddar cheese, and some leftover mushrooms that would soon be going south. Hey, this might constitute a meal, after all!

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As you may recall, I belong to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) from which I receive a bounty of farm-fresh produce each week. Last week there was something new and very strange in my bag that I did not recognize. It is called purslane. Upon research, meaning a Google search, I found that purslane is an edible weed. The leaves, stems, flowers, and seeds are all edible. It is harvested in the summer and it now turns up at farmers’ markets in the late summer months.

You can use it raw in salads; toss it into soups; boil it, or saute it. Purslane is best used fresh. But, if you must store it, wrap it in a moist paper towel and place it in a plastic bag in the vegetable bin of your refrigerator. Purslane may be substituted for spinach in any dish that calls for spinach, raw or cooked. And in fact, cooked purslane tastes exactly like cooked spinach. I doubt that even the most advanced palate would be able to taste the difference between the two.

As I said, purslane is a weed. It is the bane of many gardeners. And now that I know what it is… add me to the list of gardeners who curse it.  It has been taking over my flower garden for the past couple of summers now, and until I found it in my CSA bag, I had no idea what that damned weed was.  When I figured out that the greens in my bag were the same thing as the weeds in my backyard, I was so disgusted that I nearly tossed the bundle from my CSA into the trash! I HATE purslane!!! Just look at it in the photo above, it has choked out every flower that was near it. I can’t get rid of it. Google revealed that purslane is an especially hearty weed – NO kidding!

Anyhow, I finally took control of my emotions and packed the stuff into the ice chest I was taking over to Coronado. On the last day, we were there, I finally had the courage to cook with the weed.

Yes, I’m glad I did. I made a potato gratin with purslane, and it was delicious and it would have been a waste to throw it in the trash. I guess I’ll get out in the yard this weekend, dig out the purslane in my flower garden, look at it as a blessing instead of a curse, and serve it up.

Most importantly, I want to send a huge shout-out and many thanks to Sheila for a wonderful long weekend at her absolutely gorgeous cottage on Coronado! It was a joy to share such relaxing girlfriend time with you there. xoxo

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Earlier this week, Marissa sent me an email at 12:05 PM, asking me to make a pumpkin and lentil chili recipe for the blog.

By 1:17 PM, a mere 1 hour and 12 minutes later, I was sending her a text with a photo of the chili cooking away. Yep, that’s how I roll.

This pumpkin chili goes together quickly and there are very few dishes to wash – a chef’s knife, 1 measuring cup, 1 set of measuring spoons, a strainer, a spoon or spatula to stir with, and the pot it cooks in… not bad for 16 delicious and super healthy servings… for a crowd, a party, or a big family dinner. Plus, if it’s for a little family dinner, no fear, it freezes great!

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I recently purchased this cool “entertaining set” and have been itching to use it. My first thought was that I’d make my “world-famous” cucumber martinis for one side and a chilled gazpacho for the other – like a Friday night happy hour for Dave and myself. But Fridays kept filling up with other things.  Opportunity knocked last Sunday when my dad came over for dinner and Connor came home for the weekend.

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Marissa told me about a dish she and Jeff had at Hard Knox Cafe in San Francisco. Fried Chicken Pot Pie! OH MY, yes, please. I chose to not look up their version before coming up with a take on it myself.  As an added bonus, Connor asked if he could help me make dinner that night… What? Of course!

After Connor and I did our magic and we devoured the fruits of our labor, I Googled the Hard Knox menu and found that their recipe consists of boneless fried chicken, roasted pearl onions, potatoes, carrots, and herb gravy topped with a homemade puff pastry.  Sounded good, but I just know that ours was better! Our crust was out-of-this-world-amazing! Plus we did not have the carrots (Yay, no carrots!)  So amazing, in fact, that Connor wanted to make it again the very next night. Which I am a tiny bit embarrassed to tell you – we did! The second time around I added some roasted hot peppers to the filling for added color (OK, the only color) plus a bit of heat. Wonderful both ways!

You may notice from the photos that I made it in a pie dish. While creating the recipe, I’d planned on using a deep-dish pie pan, but could not find it when the time came to fill the pie. The dish I used was not deep enough and only held 1 quart. You need at least a 2-quart pan, so use an 8×8-inch square Pyrex pan if you too can’t fit or don’t have a deep-dish pie pan. You know how it goes… do as I say, not as I do.

This is rich, as you would expect, so serve with a big green salad. Trust me, it’s worth every ounce of guilt you may feel!  Plus we’ll make up for it on the upcoming Wednesday post with a super YUMMY and super healthy dish I created after hearing about some things we all should be eating according to Today Show Nutrition & Health Expert, Joy Bauer.

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