Chipotle-Maple Beans

If your household is like ours, the grill gets a regular workout throughout the summer months. A convenient grill is one of the things that changed for the better when we moved to our current cottage two years ago. It is so handy to have it on our back porch, just right outside our kitchen! Steaks, hamburgers, chicken breasts, and seafood are routinely found on our summertime dinner menus and prepared on the grill. 

So we’re always on the lookout for side dishes that are easy to fix, flavorful, and healthy. This bean recipe is a winner! In addition to serving it at family meals, this would also be a great dish to take to a covered dish party. 

Click the link below for a printable recipe. 

Chipotle-Maple Bean Recipe

We routinely keep canned beans in our pantry and stock up whenever they are on sale. Except for a can of chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, the rest of the ingredients should be part of your typical pantry stock too. (We use these chilies in other recipes, so we always have a couple of cans on hand.) I hope you give this recipe a try soon!

Chicken Piccata

Are you tired of fixing chicken the same old way? Then you should try this easy and flavorful recipe! As most of you know, Jim is the resident chef here at our cottage. Since we have fresh parsley again, he fixed this scrumptious dish last night for dinner. Oh, we were shameless with our lip-smacking at the table!

Here is a link to a printable recipe: Chicken Piccata

Tea-Infused Rub for Beef

One of the most memorable meals in my entire life was at Kendals Brasserie, a restaurant of the famed Mount Juliet, located in County Kilkenny, Ireland. We stayed at this fabulous estate on two different occasions, one as part of a tour and another as part of a special package deal with Aer Lingus. The modern-styled Kendals restaurant had the most delectable tea-infused lamb. The rich flavor from the tea-based rub has lingered in our recollections over the years. 

Now we have discovered a similar rub recipe that is perfect on roast beef or steaks! It is easy to prepare, and you probably have the basic ingredients in your cupboards. The only trick is that you need to grind the spice and tea mixture. (An old electric coffee grinder works just fine.) This past weekend, Jim prepared a standing rib roast on our Weber grill rotisserie and added this rub. The cooked beef was so tender it melted in our mouths. And we fondly remembered our special meal in Ireland! 

Here is a link for a printable recipe: 

Tea-Infused Rub for Beef

Coleslaw Chicken Salad

A review of my blog archives reveals that I haven’t posted a recipe in over a year. Well, that’s about to change! Jim is the resident chef here at Grey Havens cottage, and he has been trying out some new recipes. This salad one is definitely a keeper! It is big on taste and small on calories. 

It features precooked chicken, either grilled or baked. Once the chicken cools down, the dish takes only a few minutes to put together. The fat-free mayonnaise dressing is light but has some tang, thanks to the addition of Dijon mustard, caraway seeds, apple-cider vinegar, and pepper. A coleslaw mix and chopped tomatoes provide the healthy vegetable components. And a bit of crumbled bacon on top makes your taste buds sing! 

This one-dish meal is a great for busy cooks, weight watchers, summertime, and potluck suppers. I hope you give it a try! Here is a link for a printable recipe:

Coleslaw Chicken Salad with Peppery Dressing

Tennessee's Heavenly Ham

Question: What’s shiny, blue, and smells like smoked pork? Answer: Hubby’s car after we stopped yesterday in Madisonville, Tennessee, to buy a half of a smoked country ham! 

If you want the real deal, it can be found at Benton's Smoky Mountain Country Hams. This small business started in 1947 and is currently owned by Allan Benton. Benton’s doesn’t advertise. They’ve never gotten around to issuing a catalog either. You see, they don’t have to! When your business has been featured in the New York Times and magazines such as Southern Living and Gourmet magazine, you know you’ve hit the big time. 

Discerning, gourmet restaurants from the big cities are Benton’s regular customers. But average day folks like us swear by Benton’s country pork products too. The magic all happens in this humble, concrete block building. The meat is dry-cured the old-fashioned way and hung on wooden racks for months at a time. 

They sliced it up for us, no extra charge. Hubby unwrapped it from the butcher paper earlier this afternoon and had a vacuum sealing party in the kitchen. We now have 14 beautiful center-cut slices tucked away for future fried ham dinners. We also got a few end pieces that will be put to good use for seasoning large pots of pinto beans during the winter months ahead. Of course, we couldn’t resist having some fried up for lunch today and slapped between some biscuits. (I drizzle yellow mustard on mine.) Oh my, it is smoked pork heaven! 

Perhaps you can order one of Benton's hams as a holiday present for a serious chef or foodie friend on your gift list. While you’re at it, go on and get one for yourself too!

Roba Dolce Product Review!

I’m excited to do the first product review here on my blog! And I thoroughly enjoyed every minute and morsel of the product testing!

Last month, Karen of This Old House 2 put out a call to bloggers, asking them to advertise the Roba Dolce brand of Italian gelato and sorbetto and also post a product review on their blogs. I quickly signed up! As compensation, the company shipped me five 1-liter tubs and three 6-ounce cups of product to taste test. Oh, the sacrifices that I do for my blog readers! And my sweet hubby felt that it was his duty to participate in the tasting as well. See how much he cares about my friends?

Here are the different flavors that we sampled and our culinary findings:

• Blood Orange Sorbetto – Creamy and tart, with a true blood orange taste.
• Lemon Sorbetto – Exquisite lemon taste, with just the right amount of sharpness, but no bitterness. If you love lemon, you have got to try this!
• Mango Sorbetto – Our least favorite of the samples. Very mild in character. I thought it tasted more like peach than mango.
• Pistachio Gelato – Nice crunches with every spoonful because there is no skimping on the pistachio nuts. If pistachio is one of your favorite nuts, you will adore this.
• Coconut Gelato – Extra creamy with a generous amount of shredded coconut. It was so scrumptious, I added a dollop of Hershey’s chocolate on top to remind me of a Mounds candy bar.
• Dark Chocolate Chunk Gelato – Dark, decadent, and rich, with plenty of real chocolate chunks in every bite. This was my absolute favorite of the samples. If my head could have fit inside the container, I would have thoroughly cleaned it out.

We checked the web site and found the Roba Dolce brand is not available in our geographical area. However, they make it for Krogers under the Private Selections label, and we locally priced it at $4 for a large container. Will we be buying it in the future? You bet!

I really appreciate Roba Dolce and Karen of This Old House 2 for letting me participate in this fun and tasty product review! And since I already have you drooling after reading this post, check out the gorgeous country estate where Karen lives!

Raspberry–Chipotle Glaze

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We had a relaxing day and a delicious ham dinner. We decided to try out a new glaze for the ham, spooned on during the last 20 minutes of baking. We loved it! The sauce is a savory combination of raspberry preserves and chipotle peppers. It is an excellent spread on ham sandwiches too!

I have conveniently posted the Raspberry-Chipotle Glaze recipe on Google Documents for your easy reference and printing.

Tomato Mozzarella Salad

Little cherry tomatoes have recently been on sale at the grocery stores here. So my sweet baboo took one of Ina Garten’s tomato recipes and changed it up a bit. It is delicious and refreshing! Using fresh herbs really make the difference, and hopefully you grow some in pots or your garden. The smoked version of mozzarella (if you can find it) in this recipe is a defining accent. In addition to everyday meals, the salad is also a perfect dish for summer picnics and potluck dinners!

Tomato Mozzarella Salad

(printable recipe)

2 pints cherry tomatoes

3/4 cup small-diced red onion

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons olive oil

1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

3/4 pound smoked mozzarella cheese*

Cut the tomatoes in half and place in a large bowl. Add the onion, vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, basil, and parsley. Toss well. Dice the mozzarella cheese and fold it into the salad. Serve at room temperature.

Serves 6.

*May substitute with regular mozzarella cheese or feta cheese.

Back in February, Cheryl of TidyMom had a post on how to make your blog recipes printer friendly. The trick is to use the Google Doc feature after signing into your Google account. So I am trying the feature out for this recipe. Look for the link right under the recipe name. I hope that this works okay and make it a little easier for my blogging friends! If it does, I’ll go back later (after our move and unpacking activities) and add the feature to previous recipes I have shared.

Tzaziki Sauce

We haven’t visited Greece yet, but it is on our travel wish list! We certainly adore Greek food. We had chicken pitas for dinner tonight, served up with homemade tzaziki. Using Greek yogurt, this recipe makes a great authentic sauce. You can substitute with regular yogurt, but you will have to drain it for several hours (using cheese cloth or coffee filters) to remove excess liquid.

Tzaziki Sauce

2 cups plain full-fat Greek yogurt
2 teaspoons fresh garlic, pureed
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 English cucumber, seeded and grated on large holes of grater
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

In a bowl, combine the yogurt, garlic, and ½ teaspoon salt. Sprinkle the remaining ½ teaspoon salt over the grated cucumber and drain, 10 to 15 minutes, to extract excess water. Add drained cucumber to yogurt, along with pepper, and mix well. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour. Yield: 2-½ cups.

Classic Chicken Salad

Since this post is about chicken salad, I decided to feature a recent photo of mine that captures the theme! Isn’t this a handsome rooster? He is an example of the rare Dominique breed at Colonial Williamsburg.

Are you tired of serving hot food during the summer months? For a cool lunch or dinner menu, we like to have a classic chicken salad. This recipe includes grapes and walnuts, two ingredients that pump up the texture. As an added bonus, this is a low calorie recipe, with only 277 calories per serving. For a richer flavor (and a few more calories), we use traditional Greek yogurt in the dressing.

Chicken Salad with Grapes and Walnuts

1/2 cup plain fat-free yogurt
2 Tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon apple-cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
1-1/2 cups seedless green grapes, halved
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Combine the yogurt, mayonnaise, honey, vinegar, mustard, nutmeg, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add the chicken, grapes, and walnuts; toss to coat evenly. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 8 hours. Serves 4.

Homemade Vanilla Extract - Part 2

It seems that I flung a craving on several folks to make some homemade vanilla extract in late April. If you missed that post, you’ll want to go back and learn how easy it is! We ordered 30 Mexican vanilla beans from Boston Vanilla Bean Company and started some new batches last month. Have you remembered to shake your bottles regularly? Yes, we’ve been shaking ours, and it is almost fully steeped! Yum!

I did some calculations, based on the number of beans that we bought and the vodka we purchased. Making two batches and using the same beans for a second batch, I estimate that our homemade vanilla extract costs about 56 cents per ounce. At the grocery store, I noticed that commercial extracts are selling between $4 and $3.50 per ounce. So a homemade version will provide you considerable cost savings!

While you patiently wait for your vanilla to be ready, I thought I would give you some ideas on how to use vanilla beyond its traditional addition in your baked goods.

• Aromatherapy – Instead of grabbing the can of air freshener, get out your vanilla bottle. Add a couple of drops on top of a cold light bulb, then turn on the light. The warm bulb will soon release the scent throughout the room. Medical facilities such as Sloan-Kettering use vanilla aroma to calm patients undergoing MRI and CAT scans.
  
• Freshen Up the Microwave – Do you have a lingering odor in your microwave from the last time that you cooked something really smelly? Pour a little vanilla in a bowl and microwave it on high for one minute. The offending odor will be gone.
  
• Freshen Up the Refrigerator – The next time you clean the fridge, wipe it down with some vanilla. If you want a lingering vanilla scent, soak a cotton ball with vanilla and leave it in the fridge.
  
• Calm the Stomach – To settle a nervous stomach, add vanilla to mineral water or apple juice. To soothe cranky, teething, or sick children, add a few drops of vanilla to their milk or juice.
  
• Cool the Burn – If you burn your tongue on pizza or other hot food, put a few drops of vanilla on your tongue to ease the pain and soothe the burn. If you get a minor skin burn in the kitchen, dab some vanilla on the burn to immediately cool it.
  
• Take the Stink Out of Paint – If you hate the smell of paint, you can neutralize the smell by adding 1 teaspoon of vanilla to a gallon of paint.
  
• Perfume in a Jiffy – Are you out of your favorite perfume? Put a dab of vanilla on each wrist. The scent is relaxing and you’ll smell delicious! To create a body mist, combine 6 tablespoons of extract, 2 cups of distilled water, and 1-1/3 tablespoons of isopropyl rubbing alcohol. Place mixture in a spray bottle. This spray can also be used as an air freshener and makes a great homemade gift.
  
• Shoo the Bugs – How about a natural alternative to the application of oily pesticides on your skin? Dilute 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract with 1 cup of water, and wipe the mixture on your exposed skin. This will discourage mosquitoes, blackflies, and ticks.
  
• Additional Kitchen Duty – Add a few drops to pineapple, fruit salads, or sauces containing citrus to soften the sharpness and give it some extra sweetening. A dash of vanilla in tomato sauces and chilies also neutralizes the acidity.

Homemade Vanilla Extract

Aren’t these old bourbon bottles pretty? Hubby decanted our homemade vanilla into these recycled bottles today. I won’t confide about what exactly happened to the original contents of the bottles, LOL. But I will share some information on how to make your own vanilla extract!

Please, don’t ever resort to buying and using synthetic vanilla. First of all, it is fake and vile. Ick. Second, if you are going through the trouble of baking, it is worth using quality ingredients. Third, you can make vanilla extract for a fraction of the cost for commercial products.

We learned about making the extract from an issue of Southern Living magazine in the 1980s, and we have been making it ever since. It can be made with vodka, rum, or bourbon. The batch pictured above was made with inexpensive vodka. For recipes and tips, there are several internet resources available, include the popular Tipnut site.

Here’s what we do:
- Cut lengthwise 5 or 6 good quality vanilla beans.
- Add the beans to a 750-ml bottle of vodka.
- Store the bottle in a cool, dark location (e.g., pantry).
- Shake every couple of days for 6-8 weeks.
- Strain and transfer to clean, sterilized bottles.
- Add more vodka to the beans to make another batch.

How easy is that? Pour the extract into canning jars or recycled decorative bottles, and you have great homemade gifts, in addition to a personal stash!

Quality vanilla beans can be purchased via the internet if you don’t have a local source. Here are a couple of internet resources: Boston Vanilla Bean Company and Penzys Spices. We used Madagascar beans for the latest batch and will use Mexican beans for the next one.

I hope that you give this a try sometime!

Homemade Bread

My sweet hubby is a wonderful cook, and he's always on the lookout for new and tasty recipes. A month or so ago, he bought a fresh batch of cookbooks, and one of them was Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Oh my, the man has been on a mission ever since!

He had to initially purchase a few essential items from King Arthur Four and our local Williams-Sonoma store for his baking quest (e.g., pizza stone, bakers peel, oven thermometer, dough rising bucket). Now he is routinely baking us yummy bread! With the high cost of artisan breads these days at the grocery store, we will quickly recoup our investment in a few baking tools. Best of all, the taste is FRESH!

This is rosemary/thyme flavored dough ready to be baked. The dough was first shaped and put on the bakers peel with a scattering of blue cornmeal. After rising, it was then scored and dusted with flour before being transferred to the hot pizza stone in the oven.

And here is the final result! Mmmmmm…

Would you like us to put out another place setting at the dinner table for you?

Spirited Pork Recipe

Souvenirs from our journey last month included an assortment of fine Kentucky bourbons. It was time to restock the pantry, LOL! To commemorate the lovely trip to our neighbor state, we tried a new pork recipe for Christmas dinner. The recipe comes from Woodford Reserve. We thoroughly enjoyed the distillery’s special holiday lunch buffet during our visit, which featured a similar recipe. So we knew that this one should be tasty as well. We were right! The pork was so tender, we could cut it with a fork. Don’t forget to pour a little bourbon in a glass for sipping while dinner is cooking!


Woodford Pork

6 boneless loin pork chops, cut 1-¼ inches thick
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
6 shallots, finely chopped
½ cup fresh, sweet cherries, pitted
1/3 cup Woodford Reserve Bourbon Whiskey
6 Tablespoons butter
¼ cup chicken stock
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper

Melt one tablespoon of butter in a large heavy sauté pan; add pork chops and season with salt and pepper. Sauté over medium high heat until well browned (about 5 minutes); remove.

Add two tablespoons of butter to pan, and sauté shallots for two minutes. Add apples and cherries, stirring until fruit is just warmed through.

Return chops to pan of fruit, and add Woodford Reserve, taking care, as the alcohol will ignite. Cook until liquid is reduced to one tablespoon.

Add chicken stock and cook until there is one tablespoon of liquid remaining in the pan. Swirl remaining three tablespoons of butter in the pan with chops and fruit.

Place chops on a heated platter and spoon fruit and pan juices on top.

Serves four to six.

Winter Squash Soup

Winter squash is plentiful at the farmers’ markets this time of year. We stopped at a gorgeous little farm stand outside of Smithville a couple of weeks ago to get some fresh apples, and we couldn’t resist also purchasing some beautiful butternut squash. We love the taste of this versatile vegetable, so we are always on the lookout for new recipes. As luck would have it, we discovered a fantastic soup recipe when we visited Hancock Shaker Village in the fall of 2006. Hubby just fixed up a batch of this tasty soup last night, and I wanted to share it with all of you. I hope you enjoy it too!

Butternut Squash, Carrot, and Ginger Soup

2 Tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
6 cups chicken stock
3 pounds peeled, seeded butternut squash, cut into large chunks
2 medium carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 piece of ginger (approx. 2½ inches long and ¾ inches thick), chopped
¾ cup heavy cream
3 Tablespoons dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon nutmeg
2½ teaspoons salt (or to taste)
1 teaspoon pepper
Garnish: fresh chives (optional)

Heat butter in large Dutch oven and saute onion until it is just golden, about 5 minutes. Add chicken stock, squash, carrots, and ginger. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover pot, and simmer until vegetables are very tender, about 45 minutes.

Process the soup in batches in a blender (never fill more than half full when processing hot liquids).* Add cream, brown sugar, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Mix well. Garnish with fresh chives and serve. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

* You can puree the soup directly in the pot with a hand-held immersion blender. It’s much easier!

Chipotle-Lime Shrimp

A new grocery store in our area had a great sale on shrimp last week. So we splurged and got some. We also tried out a new recipe and loved it! Since this is a Weight Watcher’s recipe, we didn’t feel too guilty to eat a piggy-size portion of it, LOL. As an added bonus, it is quick to fix.

Chipotle-Lime Shrimp

4 teaspoons olive oil
2 Teaspoons grated lime zest
1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon minced canned chipotles en adobo
2 garlic cloves, mined
¼ teaspoon salt
1 pound jumbo shrimp, peeled
Lime wedges

Spray the broiler rack with nonstick spray. Preheat the broiler. Combine the oil, lime zest and juice, chipotles en adobo, garlic, and salt in a large bowl. Add the shrimp and toss to coat. Arrange the shrimp on the broiler rack. Broil 5 inches from the heat until just opaque in the center, about 4 minutes on each side. Serve with lime wedges.

4 servings. 116 calories per serving; points value: 3

Note: Chipotle chiles en adobo are smoked jalapeno peppers that have been canned in a sauce of ground chiles, herbs, and vinegar. Look for them in the Mexican food section of well-stocked supermarkets. If you can’t find chipotles en adobo, substitute the same amount of chipotle pepper sauce.

Okra Recipe

We usually grow okra in our garden, and this year we have the purple variety. The pods are purple when they are raw, but turn green when they are cooked. The plants and leaves are gorgeous!

If you don't have okra in your garden, it should now be available at your local farmers' market. We really like this recipe. It gives you the taste of fried okra, without all the fat.

OVEN FRIED OKRA

½ cup egg substitute
½ pound okra, cut into 1” lengths
½ cup panko bread crumbs
½ cup Italian bread crumbs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Pour egg substitute into a medium bowl. Add okra and toss to combine. In a large resealable plastic bag, combine both types of bread crumbs, salt, and pepper. Shake to combine well. Add the okra and egg substitute mixture to the bag and shake until coated. Place a wire rack on top of a cookie sheet. Arrange okra on rack and bake until crisp, about 10 minutes. Makes 4 servings.

Note: If you can’t find panko bread crumbs at your grocery, use all Italian bread crumbs. For another variation, use corn meal instead of bread crumbs.

Summer Squash Recipe

We have a lot of produce coming in now from the garden. Look at this overflowing basket! We can’t eat it fast enough.

Farmer Jim wants to show you the size of the baby eggplant. Isn’t it cute?

In case you are getting tired of eating fresh summer squash the same old way, here is a different way to fix it.

OVEN FRIED SUMMER SQUASH

2 medium yellow summer squash and/or zucchini, cut crosswise into 3/8-inch thick slices
2 Tablespoons bottled Italian salad dressing
¼ cup grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
3 Tablespoons seasoned fine dry bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly coat a 15” x 10” x 1” baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside. Place squash in a self-sealing bag with salad dressing. Seal and gently shake. Add cheese and bread crumbs. Seal bag and toss lightly to coat. Arrange breaded squash slices in a single layer in prepared pan. Bake in a 450 degree oven for 5 to 6 minutes or until golden brown. Makes about 10 servings.

Fresh Basil Pesto

Our pot of basil is growing wonderfully, so hubby decided to whip up some fresh pesto. Here is a nice recipe for creating this tasty Italian sauce.

FRESH BASIL PESTO

2 cups (packed) fresh basil leaves

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

1 clove garlic

1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground blackpepper, plus more to taste

~2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Bake the pine nuts on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. (Watch to make sure they don’t burn!) Cool.

In a blender or food processor, pulse the basil, pine nuts, garlic, ½ teaspoon of salt, and ¼ teaspoon of pepper until finely chopped. With the blender still running, slowly and gradually add enough oil to form a smooth and thick consistency.

Transfer the pesto to a medium bowl and stir in the cheese. Season the pesto with more salt and pepper to taste. Before adding the pesto to cooked pasta, add just a little pasta cooking liquid to help the pesto coat the pasta.

Notes: Fresh pesto will last 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator, stored airtight. Store pine nuts in the freezer to prevent them from going rancid.

Summer on a Plate

Fresh tomatoes (grown in a local county) + Fresh mozzarella cheese + Fresh basil (plucked right outside your door) + Fresh green onions + Basil vinaigrette sprinkled at the dinner table = Summer on a Plate

Absolutely divine!