Meet Ike

 In March of 2022, we welcomed General Eisenhower “Ike” Marmaduke Wood into our family!  He’ll be 3 1/2 in September & he’s kept me on my toes!

Baked Haddock

 I love baked haddock & the fresher the better!  I use a combination of Italian & Panko bread crumbs mixed in olive oil & sometimes a wee bit of butter!

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for 22-25 minutes & enjoy!

A side of homemade coleslaw is the perfect side dish!

Roasted Pumpkin with Cranberries & Sage

Roasted Pumpkin With Cranberries and Sage Brown-Sugar Butter Serves 6 to 8 

This was delicious!

Chef Michael Scelfo of the Russell House Tavern in Harvard Square likes this dish as a main course, or served alongside poultry or pork.

1 3-pound sugar pumpkin

4 cloves garlic, smashed

2 shallots, halved

2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half

2 bay leaves

1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

8 sage leaves, coarsely chopped

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

Set the oven to 375 degrees. Halve the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds and fibers. In a large roasting pan, pour about ½1/2 inch of water, and add the garlic, shallots, cinnamon, and bay leaves. Place the pumpkin, cut sides down, in the pan and cover tightly with foil.

Bake until the pumpkin is tender when pricked with a fork, 50 to 60 minutes. When cool enough to handle, skin the pumpkin and cut into 1 1/2- to 2-inch chunks. Place the pumpkin in a large bowl. Add the cranberries.

Increase the oven temperature to 450 degrees. In a saucepan, stir the butter, brown sugar, and sage over moderate heat. Simmer gently for 1 minute or until the sugar is dissolved. Pour the butter mixture over the pumpkin and cranberries and toss gently. Season with ½ teaspoon salt and pepper to taste.

Empty and wipe out the roasting pan, and brush with oil. Transfer the pumpkin mixture to the pan and bake until bubbling hot, 12 to 15 minutes. Serve hot or warm.

Garden Tomatoes

 Oh the recipes I can make!

Is there anything that tastes better than a tomato from your garden? 

What’s your favorite tomato recipe?

Pluot Pie

 Pluot pie (hybrid between a plum and an apricot) is ready for the oven!

Basic pie crust recipe or store bought.

About 3 lbs pluots, washed and quartered.

1/2 cup sugar or up to a cup if you like very sweet pies.

Add a 1/2 teaspoon of the following;

Cinnamon

Add a 1/8 teaspoon of the following;

Ginger, allspice, nutmeg

Bake at 375 for 50 minutes!

Happy eating!

Greek Quiche!

 

Fresh mushrooms, red onions, feta cheese, herbs & eggs of course!  It was delicious!

Just Like That She's a Medical Doctor

We are so proud of our niece Michaela who graduated from St. George’s Medical School with honors! The graduation was Sunday afternoon, June 10th! Congratulations! We love you Dr. Murphy! 🎓❤️👩🏼‍⚕️🍀

Valentine Dessert

This is a repost of my favorite dessert - ever, that I have made!  This recipe is from my Sarabeth cookbook.  Enjoy! 

The Recipe!

24 Lady Fingers (you can make them or buy them, I bought them)

Filling

5 6-once containers fresh raspberries

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

5 teaspoons unflavored gelatin powder

¼ cup cold water

1 cup superfine sugar, divided

1 2/3 cups heavy cream

Seeds from ¼ Plumped Vanilla Bean or ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Topping

5 6-ounce containers fresh raspberries

Confectioner’s sugar for garnish

Directions

1. Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper.  Place a 8 by 3-inch metal cake ring on the pan.  Insert an 8-inch cardboard round, white side up, in the bottom of the ring.  (I didn’t do any of this, I used a spring-form pan)
2. On a clean work surface, evenly line up the lady fingers next to one another with their sides touching.  Cut one rounded end from each lady finger so the cookies are 3 inches ljong, reserving the trimmings.  Stand a ladyfinger, rounded tip up, inside the ring, with the rounded side facing out and the flat side of the ladyfinger facing toward the center.  To help the lady finger stand, place one of the small cookie trimmings against the bottom end to support it, and repeat with each lady finger.  Continue with enough ladyfingers to line the sides of the pan.  Line the bottom of the pan with the remaining ladyfingers, cut to fit and the trimmings.
3. To make the filling, coarsely pure the raspberries and lemon juice in a food processor.  Rub the puree through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl.  Discard the seeds.  You should have 2 ½ cups puree.
4. Sprinkle the gelatin over the water in a small bowl and let stand until the gelatin absorbs the water, about 5 minutes.  Bring the puree and the ½ cup sugar to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring often.  Remove from the heat.  Add the softened gelatin to the hot puree and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved, about 1 minute.
5. Transfer the puree to a medium stainless steel bowl set in a larger bowl filled with ice cubes and water.  Let stand, stirring occasionally, until the puree is cold and begins to hold its shape.  Remove the bowl from the ice bath before the puree sets too much.
6. Combine the cream, the remaining ½ cup sugar, and the vanilla in the chilled bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer.  Attach the bowl to the mixer and fit with the whisk attachment.  Whip just until soft peaks form.  Stir about one-fourth of the whipped cream into the raspberry puree to lighten it, then fold in the remaining cream.  Pour the raspberry filling into the lined ring and smooth the top.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate the charlotte until it is set, at least 6 hours or overnight.
7. Remove the pan from the refrigerator.  Lift up on the ring to remove it.  Arrange some of the raspberries in a single layer on the filling, then top with the remaining berries.  Sift confectioners’ sugar over the top.  Slice the charlotte with a knife (wipe clean between slices), and serve chilled.

Enjoy!

July 4, 2016

I've tried to capture our holiday with a few collages and photos.  We had the best time.  It was great to see all my nieces, my nephew and my nephew-in-law!  There were lots of laughs, good food, cold beer, fun games, campfires and music!  Who could ask for more?  I hope you enjoy!

Potatoes Romanoff

I discovered this recipe on the Williams-Sonoma website and it is fantastic!  This has become my family's favorite holiday potato dish. It's fantastic with roast beef and ham, but it will also go well with pork or chicken too! It's become a tradition to serve this dish to my family. I've also introduced it to some friends and they enjoyed it too! I hope you do!

photo from Williams-Somoma, my photo was not good!

Ingredients:

• 3 large russet potatoes, about 2 lb. total, unpeeled and scrubbed  
• 3/4 cup minced shallots 
• 2 1/2 cups grated white cheddar cheese 
• 2 tsp. kosher salt 
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground white pepper 
• 1 1/2 cups sour cream 

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 425ºF.

Wrap each potato in aluminum foil and pierce several times with a fork. Place the potatoes directly on the oven rack and bake until tender, about 1 hour. Remove the foil and let the potatoes cool to room temperature. Place the potatoes on a plate, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Using the large holes of a box grater, grate the potatoes, including the skins. Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle the shallots, 1 3/4 cups of the cheese, the salt and white pepper on top. Using your hands, gently toss the mixture together to combine, then fold in the sour cream in 2 additions.

Transfer the potato mixture to a 1 1/2-quart gratin dish; do not compress. Sprinkle the remaining 3/4 cup cheese on top. Bake until the potatoes are hot and the cheese is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Serves 6 -8. 

Pineapple Stuffing

A delicious side dish that is perfect when serving ham. This has become a new family favorite!  I hope you enjoy it too.

Pineapple stuffing in the fore front.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup margarine 
• 1 cup white sugar 
• 4 eggs 
• 1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained 
• 5 slices white bread, cubed 

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 inch baking pan. 
• In a mixing bowl, cream margarine and sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the pineapple and bread cubes. 
• Bake in a 350 degree oven for one hour. Let sit a few minutes to firm up before serving.

Vegetable Tian

This was delicious, in fact, it was so delicious I made it twice in one week.  I'd suggest using a mandolin for quick slicing!  It will save oodles of time!

After Baking

Before Baking

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Medium Yellow Onion
• 2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium zucchini
• 1 medium yellow squash
• 1 medium potato
• 1 medium tomato
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• to taste salt & pepper
• 1 cup shredded Italian cheese

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Finely dice the onion and mince the garlic. Sautê the onion and garlic with olive oil over medium heat until the onions are soft and transparent (about 5 minutes).
2. While the onion and garlic are sautéing, thinly slice the remaining vegetables. Make sure the potatoes are very thin so that they soften quickly while in the oven.
3. Coat the inside of an 8x8" casserole dish with non-stick spray. Spread the sautéed onion and garlic in the bottom of the dish. Arrange the other sliced vegetables, stacked vertically like dominos, in an alternating pattern. Season the top of the vegetables generaously with salt, pepper, and dried thyme.
4. Cover the dish with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and top with the shredded cheese. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese is golden brown.

A Family Wedding

My beautiful niece married her handsome beau on New Year's Eve.  Here is my wish for them.

May your marriage be filled with all the right ingredients; a heap of love, a dash of humor, a touch of romance and a spoonful of understanding.  May your joy last forever.  Congratulations!

Season's Greetings

Season's Greetings friends!  This painting of Munjoy Hill in Portland, Maine, was done by our friend Bob Cohen.  Bob is an extremely talented artist who has a studio in Portland, Maine.  Wishing each of you a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.  May the world find peace in 2016!

STEM Fun . . .

For elementary education!

Hi friends, I'm going out on a limb here and I'm doing something that I've never done before, I'm posting a project that I'm trying to get funded through donorschoose.org for my students.  I would appreciate it if you could spread the word on your blog! Below is a link to my post.  Please take a moment and read our story.

Thank you and Merry Christmas!
Mary

STEM Fun for Elementary Education!

PS. Any donation, in any amount is humbly appreciated.

Thanksgiving Pie Round Up

Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving Day pie?  I'd love to know what it is!  

Coffee Chiffon 

Wild Maine Blueberry

Lemon Meringue 

Strawberry Rhubarb

Kentucky Derby Pie

Grasshopper Pie

Pie Shell

Cranberry Nut Pie

France

United we stand.

"True love can be like salt and pepper . . ."

. . . a little sprinkle goes a long way. - D. Smith"

In my very humble opinion; Good fresh ground pepper, is the zest of your meal!  There is nothing like fresh ground pepper on top of a thoughtfully prepared meal.  Since my last post was on salt, I thought a natural followup should be on pepper!  I gathered some information about this delicious seed.

White pepper consists of the seed of the pepper plant alone, with the darker-coloured skin of the pepper fruit removed. This is usually accomplished by a process known as retting, where fully ripe red pepper berries are soaked in water for about a week, during which the flesh of the pepper softens and decomposes. Rubbing then removes what remains of the fruit, and the naked seed is dried. Sometimes alternative processes are used for removing the outer pepper from the seed, including removing the outer layer through mechanical, chemical or biological methods.

Ground white pepper is often used in cream sauces, Chinese and Thai cuisine, and dishes like salad, light-coloured sauces and mashed potatoes, where black pepper would visibly stand out. White pepper has a slightly different flavour from black pepper, due to the lack of certain compounds present in the outer fruit layer of the drupe, but not found in the seed. A slightly sweet version of white pepper from India is sometimes called safed golmirch (Hindi), shada golmorich (Bengali), or safed golmirch (Punjabi).

Green pepper, like black, is made from the unripe drupes. Dried green peppercorns are treated in a way that retains the green colour, such as treatment with sulphur dioxide, canning or freeze-drying. Pickled peppercorns, also green, are unripe drupes preserved in brine or vinegar. Fresh, unpreserved green pepper drupes, largely unknown in the West, are used in some Asian cuisines, particularly Thai cuisine.[8] Their flavour has been described as spicy and fresh, with a bright aroma.[9] They decay quickly if not dried or preserved.

Wild pepper grows in the Western Ghats region of India. Into the 19th century, the forests contained expansive wild pepper vines, as recorded by the Scottish physician Francis Buchanan (also a botanist and geographer) in his book A journey from Madras through the countries of Mysore, Canara and Malabar (Volume III). However, deforestation resulted in wild pepper growing in more limited forest patches from Goa to Kerala, with the wild source gradually decreasing as the quality and yield of the cultivated variety improved. No successful grafting of commercial pepper on wild pepper has been achieved to date.

Orange pepper or red pepper usually consists of ripe red pepper drupes preserved in brine and vinegar. Ripe red peppercorns can also be dried using the same colour-preserving techniques used to produce green pepper.

Pink pepper (I want to try this one) from Piper nigrum is distinct from the more-common dried "pink peppercorns", which are actually the fruits of a plant from a different family, the Peruvian pepper tree, Schinus molle, or its relative the Brazilian pepper tree, Schinus terebinthifolius. A pink peppercorn (French: baie rose, "pink berry") is a dried berry of the shrub Schinus molle, commonly known as the Peruvian peppertree. As they are members of the cashew family, they may cause allergic reactions including anaphylaxis for persons with a tree nut allergy.

Do you like pepper?  I keep a pepper-mill on my table, how about you?

Two Years Ago

(click on the title below)

Lobster Stock Seafood Risotto

"Worth Your Salt . . . "

Some fun facts about salt . . .

Did you know . . . the word "salary" was derived from the Latin term "salarium" which was the name for a soldier's pay in the army of ancient Rome. The pay included a large ration of salt, which was a spice of high value and also a medium for exchange; thus the origin of such expressions as "salt of the earth" and "worth your salt."

Most recipes that call for salt are referring to table salt, which has additives like iodine (to prevent thyroid disease) and an anti-caking agent to prevent lumping in humidity.

Many chefs prefer kosher salt (additive-free, coarse-grained) for cooking and sea salt for table use because they have a softer flavor than table salt. 

Kosher salt is made by compacting granular salt, producing large, irregularly shaped flakes which allows the salt to easily draw blood when applied to butchered meat (koshering process). The structure dissolves easily and provides flavor without oversalting because of it's large surface area. 

Hawaiian sea salts (red or black) are specialty finishing salts. The red variety has an iron taste and is used to add color. The black variety has a sulfuric aroma from the addition of purified lava. Black salt (kala namak or sanchal) is more tan than black, and has a very strong, sulfuric flavor. 

Black salt is available in Indian markets, either ground or in lumps. 

Pickling salt is free of the additives that turn pickles dark and pickling liquid cloudy. 

Sel gris is a gray salt from France, and fleur de sel is a by-product of sel gris created when sel gris is allowed to bloom into lacy flowerlike crystals in evaporation basins. 

Maldon sea salt is a British finishing salt similar to fleur de sal. It has a light delicate flavor that is obtained by boiling sea water to form delicate pyramidal crystals. 

Rock salt is used to make ice cream. Salt comes either from salt mines or from the sea. 

Most of today's salt is mined and comes from large deposits left by dried salt lakes throughout the world. Salt preserves foods by creating a hostile environment for certain microorganisms. Within foods, salt brine dehydrates bacterial cells, alters osmotic pressure and inhibits bacterial growth and subsequent spoilage. Read more: http://www.food.com/library/salt-359?oc=linkback

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie!

Want a slice?