My girlfriend, Lorie, was recently in town from California; along with her sister, Cathy, who was in from Indiana. We had a great night out and Lorie was raving about a roasted vegetable and polenta lasagna she had ordered at a Los Angeles area restaurant called Zinc Café & Market.

Let me tell you, I am a fool for polenta and there aren’t too many things more fantastic than roasted vegetables! Since I won’t be getting to LA in the near future, I had to make my own concoction! The polenta fills in as the “noodle” layers in this healthy, gluten-free, and vegetarian lasagna. You can purchase prepared firm polenta in a tube at most grocery stores and always at Trader Joe’s. Thank you Lorie for a great night, dinner, the cute little glasses you gave me, and the idea for this scrumptious lasagna. It was a bonafide hit with Dave, me, and (believe it or not) even my Dad!

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This recipe was requested by the mother of one of my former (all grown-up now) students to be placed on the blog. We made this fresh and full-flavored bruschetta during a summer session several years ago. It thrills me when people put in requests for specific posts. Moms, you know what I mean, every night you have to think of something to feed your family, sometimes it comes to you easily and other times, you struggle. Same here!

The people who request items most often are my own two darling kids. Marissa usually asks for something specific and Connor… well Connor usually wants chocolate or bacon! So to appease him, you have the option of garnishing these tasty toasts with crumbled bacon… there you go Connor, your request was not denied! Oh, and that gorgeous yellow tomato in the picture below… from my garden…I’m just a little proud of it!

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Tonight I was shocked to discover that I have not posted my biggest “go-to” and one of my all-time favorite recipes ever! The discovery occurred when I had about twenty good friends over to support another good friend in her new business venture.  You see, my friend Ronnie is a fashion consultant and I hosted a home party for her tonight.  

I served my Caesar Dip, which I have been making and serving at parties for the past two decades. Just ask any one of the employees at my husband’s office and they will tell you that they have had Caesar Dip.  We hosted the office Christmas Party for about 10 years running and it was there on the buffet year after year.

So when a bunch of the ladies tonight were asking for the recipe, I was telling them to look here on the blog. One of them said they didn’t think it was posted – lo and behold, she was right! Honestly, I would have thought that it would have been one of, if not, the very first recipes I would have put up.

My favorite crudités to serve with the dip and the ones I think to compliment it the best are Belgian endive spears, cherry tomatoes, and new or fingerling potatoes. For the potatoes, just boil in salted water until they are easily pierced with a paring knife, drain, and while still wet, toss in Kosher or sea salt.

Usually, when a recipe is written and the list of ingredients is given, they are listed not only in the order they are added, but also in “most” to “least” order. For example, 1 cup milk, 1/2 sour cream, 1/4 cup salsa, 3 tablespoons horseradish, etc… but here I list the first 3 ingredients out of that order and instead in order of cleanest to messiest. Use a 1/2 cup dry measuring cup for all three and you won’t have to wash it in between. And, of course, I also use the little cubes of garlic from Trader Joe’s to make this even quicker and easier. So here it is, my favorite recipe ever…

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Yes, it’s true, I’m still talking about our gorgeous Sunday Valentine’s Day at the Queen Creek Olive Mill, hope you don’t mind ~ because I really love that place! I picked up a bottle of one of their new flavored balsamic kinds of vinegar. Fig Balsamic – delicious!

You too can have a bottle of balsamic or any one of their amazing olive oils… just click here and mail order.

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Sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes, are bumpy, tan-skinned root vegetable that resembles ginger root but is actually a variety of sunflower root. You can find sunchokes sold in bulk at some grocery stores or in a one-pound package from “Melissa’s” produce called Sunflower chokes. Sunchokes have a sweet nutty flavor similar to potato or jicama. Serve sunchokes raw in salads or a crudités platter, sautéed, steamed, or boiled as you would potatoes and then mashed. When purchasing sunchokes, select chokes that are firm, and avoid any that are soft or wrinkled.

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Soup and salad… the two of the most versatile parts of any meal. Or complete meals all by themselves. I’ve previously mentioned my deep admiration for soup. My husband, Dave, on the other hand, has those same feelings for salad. Given the choice, he would take salad over soup about 90% of the time. I’ll take soup over salad 99.9% of the time when it is under 100 degrees here in sunny AZ. But once the thermostat hits the century mark, I turn my back on my favorite child. I feel like a traitor. And considering that it reaches 100 degrees an average of 106 days a year here, that’s nearly a third of the year I give up on my beloved soup. So I need a backup plan!

Currently, on this blog, I have 13 soups and only 10 true salads. What do I consider a “true” salad? One that has lettuce or greens as the primary player; not just a tart on a bed of greens used to “fancy it up” or a salad with fruit only, or quinoa laying on a little bit of spinach. But a Real Salad with lettuce! So soup is currently winning the war, I mean the race! Unfortunately, salad is gaining ground with this entry, and with the dog days of summer only a couple of months away… I need to make more soup!

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For whatever reason, it seems that most kids really like pineapple on their pizza, so let’s give them what they want! An easy thin-crust pizza with fresh pineapple, barbeque sauce, mozzarella, and bits of bacon.

If you make pizza (or bake frozen pizza) often at home, it would be wise to invest in a pizza stone.  The stones are available at all kitchen stores and produce the best “restaurant quality” crisp, thin or thick crust pizza. Without a stone, just bake on a pizza pan or cookie sheet, sprinkled with a little cornmeal to prevent the pizza from sticking.

When using a stone be sure to preheat your oven, with the stone inside, at the highest temperature your oven can be set at for at 30 minutes. I made one with and another without the bacon, delicious both ways, so go vegetarian, if you choose. Buon appetito or (E ‘ai ka-kou, in Hawaiian)!

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Lately, I’ve had a seriously strong craving for spicy food. I finished off the chipotle mayo that was used for the Jamaican sliders from the neighborhood Progressive, eating just a little each day for lunch, and now that it is gone… I want more! So I Googled “What does it mean when you crave spicy food?” and found this;

“…people crave it in part because it releases endorphins in the body. When capsaicin, the element of chili peppers that cause the “spicy” sensation, comes into contact with the tongue, the body is tricked into believing that it is in pain and releases the pain-relieving endorphins. This explains why, like anything that releases endorphins, spicy food can become somewhat addictive. People may crave it and build tolerance levels.”

and then there was this;

“When people have trouble cooling down they may crave spicy foods to make them perspire. Some research also suggests that people can become addicted to the rush of spicy food that is associated with spiked blood pressure, accelerated heart rate, and rapid breathing says Tammy Shames, R.D.  People that crave spicy food are perfectionists. They love order, hate wasting time, and pay attention to all the details.”

OK, now every little bit of that makes sense to me; I naturally have low blood pressure, I do like order and details, etc.  And just like Kathleen Turner’s character, Matty Walker, in the 1981 movie Body Heat, “My temperature runs a couple of degrees high.” Plus if I can get my endorphins from food instead of from the so-called “runner’s high” and actually having to run… Bring It On!

If you want to tone down the spiciness, just leave out the chipotle pepper.

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The second of February! How is that even possible? I still have not gotten used to writing 2010! Honestly, sometimes I still write 19—when putting down the date on something. I guess that’s because we still do have to put 19—on so many things; for instance; when you have to fill in your date of birth, your kids’ birthdays, the year you graduated from high school… it all starts with 19, not 20….so I guess it’s understandable, but really, how can it already be February 2010?

Since this is so confounding to me, how about something I totally understand, appreciate, love, and might be just a little wee bit obsessive about? Trader Joe’s! I adore Trader Joe’s! Of course, I’m not the only one – for proof of that GO TO THIS LINK and be one of the more than 528,000 people who have already viewed this little ode to Trader Joe’s.”  As I watched this video; I smiled, I laughed out loud, and I shook my head in complete agreement.  After you watch, please share your thoughts and comments with me, and I’ll randomly pick one winner from all the comments. That person will receive a bag, full of some of “My Favorite –Must Have” items from TJ’s.

Trader Joe’s items for this soup

In that same vein, every single ingredient for today’s and tomorrow’s recipes is from my neighborhood TJ’s. And to prove my devotion to them and to you, I even went there on a Sunday to purchase it all!  As a rule, I do not visit TJ’s on a weekend day, but for you…I made the sacrifice. xoxo

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I have a confession…I love Campbell’s condensed tomato soup. I mean, I really love it! I don’t know if it’s a childhood thing, or a sick little kid thing, but sometimes I just have to have a bowl of it. It is the only condensed soup in my pantry at all times, I feel a bit anxious when I use the last can. It must be made mixed with a can of milk, not water -eww! And if I’m sick and there isn’t a can in the house… someone (who is not me!) is getting in the car and going to the store to get me some, and I mean now!

Whenever my brothers, sister, or I were sick; we were served a bowl of tomato soup with Saltines. No chicken noodle soup for ailing people in our house.  Or when we’d walk home from school in the rain and be drenched to the bone; out came the saucepan (this was pre-microwave, kids!), the milk carton, the familiar red and white can, and a sleeve of Saltines – all better!

I found the Campbell’s sign, pictured above, at a flea market years ago and didn’t even look at the price, it was mine! I would have fought off anyone who tried to get to it before me, not that anyone did, but I was ready for a fight! For today’s recipe, I’m not going to give you the directions to make my beloved soup, those are on the back of the can. Instead a sophisticated tomato – Bloody Mary Soup.  If you’re making it for minors, just leave out the vodka – Virgin Mary Soup for them. This is not a gazpacho, a portion of some of the vegetables is sautéed and the whole thing is pureed to a smooth mixture. It is wonderful served hot, cold, or at room temperature. I’m giving you various ways to serve it with a variety of garnishes. As always, these are just suggestions, mix them up or dream up your own toppings and report back to me.  Tomorrow’s post will use a can of Campbell’s tomato, so come back and check it out, until then…

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