Print Page

Chickpea Salad with Lemon, Parmesan, and Fresh Herbs

I ran across this recipe in the recent Bon Appetit and liked the variations mentioned in the article, so be sure to check that out in the link also.

Chickpeas are a canned item I like to have in the pantry since it is a good quick addition to pasta for a meal. Combine chickpeas with lemon juice and noodles and Parmesan or feta....yum!

I threw together this salad the other morning just to have something in the fridge for a snack. I used the ever present (right now anyway) arugula instead of basil and parsley.

Print Page

Yogurt Parfaits

Elizabeth's 12/22 post on Garrett Weber-Gale's granola...one of our favorites. Since she shared this recipe this has become a pantry staple in our house. I usually take a small bag of it to work and have it on my yogurt mid-morning.

Last year Eleanor and I stopped at Kwik Trip to fill the car with gasoline before swim practice. There was an advertisement on the pump for a granola parfait. We didn't get it for a couple reasons....probably she couldn't have it with her nut allergy and it probably wasn't going to taste as good as it looked. We did, however, decide to make our own with some fresh fruit and the GWG granola and yogurt. Eleanor likes a squirt or two of chocolate sauce on hers. The yogurt parfait idea has lived on and become a staple in our house.

Notice the fancy parfait glass. It was a free gift from the local restaurant supply store, Boelter's, when I bought a large plastic container to store flour. I guess it was a Christmas bonus that year. Boelter's is the ONLY store where I kinda like shopping!

Tastes like summer to me!

Print Page

Chicken Caesar Pasta

The first time I made this is for this post. I came across the recipe while posting about the Cafe Latte chicken chili and knew that this would be a good dinner idea when the weather got a bit warmer and we were in the mood for a non-hot dinner. Although spring has been a long (very long) time in coming to Wisconsin, it may finally be here...and we appreciate it.

I prepped this a bit on my day off. I made the dressing, cooked the noodles, and chopped the romaine, onion, and mushrooms. I even thought ahead a bit and had Paul grill the chicken on Sunday when he was grilling our dinner. I combined the chopped chicken, pasta and dressing and kept that in a bowl in the refrigerator. I chopped the onion, lettuce, and mushrooms and kept those in a separate bowl.

I have never had this salad at Cafe Latte restaurant, so I'm not sure what kind of wide noodles are used by the cooks there. I used malfaldine noodles and broke them into thirds or so before adding to the boiling water. I was glad to have the recipe prepped, so it came together very quickly after swim practice.

To say this makes A LOT is an understatement. We'll be eating this for lunches this week....and that's a positive.

Print Page

Coeur ala Creme

This recipe is somewhat (maybe even exactly) like one I have somewhere in my possession. I had taken some cooking classes at various restaurants in Minnesota and received this from Palomino Restaurant. What I liked about this (besides its yummy taste) is that it isn't the coeur de creme that needs to be molded but rather a delicious topping for berries. I'm pretty certain I'll find my copy...but this one will do for now. The flavor is similar to what I remember (and I really think I made it just last summer)....in the meantime I'll make this one hoping my "original" is in a cookbook between pages.

Instead of the sour cream called for in the recipe I used Greek yogurt...non-fat. I did not add the whipping cream at the end this time so it was a bit thicker.

Eleanor recommends putting the cream and berries and sliced peaches on bread and toasting in the panini maker.

Print Page

Artichoke and Olive Sauce with Conchiglioni

(picture taken before the pasta was added)

I have this recipe clipped from the Milwaukee paper and taped to a card, so I know that we deemed it cardworthy at some point in time. I searched for the original recipe and came up with the link listed above. Yep, it's the same recipe.

I really wasn't thinking the weekend before I made this since I was at the Italian grocery store, Glorioso's, the weekend before I made this. I'm quite sure that I have never made this with conchiglioni shaped pasta ever before and even had to do some research to find out what shape that is. Not surprisingly, it's shell shaped.....it's all in the first five letters of the word, I guess.

I omitted the walnuts due allergy. I used roasted peppers, and I used an entire can of black olives. I used a can of artichokes rather than marinated artichokes. But, other than the basil mentioned below I made it just like the recipe. HAHA.

Not only did I miss out on the pasta shape, but I missed out on using fresh basil. It did look good, but I had made a note on my recipe card that dried was OK so I went with that while awaiting the basil in my garden to grow. My parents were at the store with us and even asked if we wanted to split the bag of basil being sold.

Glorioso's is a fun place to shop and is even better now that there is a seating area. Panini sandwiches, pizza, gelato....yum. I just love looking at the stocked shelves. I had a full refrigerator when I was there, so I didn't feel like I needed to get anything on Sunday. But next time......

Print Page

Spiced Tea

(SOME of the tea from Asia pictured left)
I really like chai tea but often find it too be a bit too sweet for me when ordered at a coffee shop. The answer is to make my own. I found this recipe in a cookbook I already owned, Sundays at the Moosewood Restaurant. I had visions a few years ago of learning about a country every week and serving food from that country on a Sunday. I thought it would be a great way for Eleanor to learn about the world. The problem with that idea is that by the time she was old enough to understand it, she was so busy that lazy Sunday afternoons looking at maps and cooking native dishes wasn't going to happen. I suppose I could make it work if it were a priority...guess it isn't for me. I do try to vary our meals, as you know, so maybe I have achieved part of that goal...just in a way that is a bit different from the original plan. Hey, that pretty much sums up parenthood!

Too often Sundays are filled with swim meets and errands and getting ready for the week....and that's OK. Maybe I can page through this book and come up with a few things to try on a less scheduled basis. Weekly just won't happen in this household. I am going to browse through this cookbook and see what I can find. There is a lot in here that I have never tried.

Eleanor does enjoy this. So on a cool spring day recently (we have had a lot of those), she requested that I put ginger root on my grocery list so we could make spiced tea (as it is called in this book). We have a lot of tea...both loose tea and bagged tea due to Paul's frequent travels to Asia and to England. We made this version with black tea and even had some whipped cream from a can to top of the mug of tea.

In a saucepan in 4 c water add:
3" stick cinnamon
in a tea infuser add (1/2t cloves and 1 t coriander seeds)
1" piece ginger sliced into 4 slices
the original recipe also called for 1/2 t cardamom seeds and 1/2 t black peppercorns)
Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
Add 4 tea bags and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Remove tea bags.

Use this mixture by pouring some of this mixture in a mug. Add some warm milk and serve. Sugar could be added to this mixture but we like it unsweetened.

I have made a larger batch of this and kept it in the refrigerator in a pitcher(without the milk) so we have it ready to go. I didn't do that on this round because I am hoping to be done with hot tea weather soon.

Print Page