Bacon Drippings

Bacon is a wonderful ingredient. I use it in several recipes, especially soups! Recently, I made a homemade split pea soup and bacon was my first ingredient. However, when I cook bacon sometimes there is too much fat rendered to leave in the soup. I wouldn't want greasy peas! Whenever this happens I pour the excess fat into my Cuisinart and use it for a salad dressing. I also add a garlic clove, some Dijon mustard, some mayonnaise, lemon juice, honey and a little pepper. This dressing is fantastic on lettuce and spinach. It also tastes great with a wilted, warm spinach salad or my warm cabbage salad. Maybe it is fattening, but the flavor is amazing and I am not wasting lovely bacon drippings!

Steak for my birthday

I went to the local Amish Market to inquire about where their beef and pork came from. After seeing Food Inc. I am a little more careful about buying meat. The woman at the counter assured me that they were selling grass-fed animals from Lancaster County in Pennsylvania. So, I bought a few things including some nice looking New York Strip Steaks.

I made a nice marinade a couple of hours before cooking them. It included red wine, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, garlic, pepper and thyme. When I cooked the steaks I let the marinade cook in a separate sauce pan to reduce by half. I removed it from the heat when the steaks were done and added a couple of pats of butter. It was flavorful and delicious! As were the steaks.

Meatballs!

Meatballs are a really fun way to get kids involved in cooking. My girls just added ingredients like bread crumbs, salt, pepper, garlic powder and ketchup to the ground beef without measuring (I kept an eye) and then helped me roll all these little balls. My only rule was no hands in the mouth! I really didn't want them to get sick from raw meat. They listened and did a great job.

The sauce I made was easy! I just used cranberry jelly and chili sauce to make a sweet and sour mix. Click here for the recipe!

These were fun and delicious!

Curry Potato Salad

Here is the recipe for a potato salad I recently made. I borrowed from Bobby Flay and my friend Laura to create a delicious side dish!

Boil potatoes for about 20-30 minutes until tender. Cut into bite sized pieces once cooled.

Dice half a red onion and one whole bell pepper and add to large bowl with potatoes.

Sauce:

2 cups mayonnaise
1 shallot or 1/2 red onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/4 cup water
3 tsp. curry powder (yellow)
lemon or lime juice from 1 fruit

Saute the shallot and garlic for 3-4 minutes in olive oil over medium heat. Add the curry powder and cook it for another 2-3 minutes. Add 1/4 cup of water to loosen mixture. Set aside to cool. In a blender add citrus juice and mayonnaise. Add curry mixture to blender. Blend until mixed and smooth. More lime or lemon juice may be necessary to help blend the sauce.

Pour over potatoes, pepper and onion in a large bowl. Stir. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

Layered Dip

Seven, six, five...layers! I usually call this seven-layer dip out of habit, but after I make it and tally the layers it can be another number. It is delicious and a crowd pleaser:

In a glass baking dish (8x8, 9x9, 9x13...)

Layer 1: one can of refried beans
Layer 2: salsa (I use Pace Mild Salsa or the sauce packets from those taco dinner kits)
Layer 3: guacamole (3 avocados, juice from half a lemon or lime, garlic salt to taste, mash and stir in a bowl before layering)
Layer 4: sour cream
Layer 5: grated cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
Layer 6: thinly sliced scallions
Layer 7: sliced olives

Serve with tortilla chips. Tostitos scoop chips or Garden of Eatin' Blue Corn Tortilla Chips are excellent!

Strawberry Tart

I saw this in a cooking magazine, but never wrote down the recipe. It looked easy and beautiful, so I thought I would make it as an impromptu dessert. I mixed my strawberries with some sugar, corn starch and lemon zest. It balanced really well with some vanilla whipped cream I made. I would definitely make this again because it is so pretty and also because it tasted great!

crêpes

A great sweet or savory meal is crêpes. Crêpes are made from a batter similar to pancake batter, but they are extremely thin. They are loaded with goodies and folded to make a warm meal. They are easy, inexpenisve and taste great.

I keep buckwheat flour in my freezer for my savory crêpes. And, I always have flour, butter, milk and eggs to make sweet crêpes. In this picture I have ingredients to make sweet crêpes for dessert. I grated lemon zest for lemon, sugar and rum crêpes. After I cook the crêpe I sprinkle sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice onto the crêpe. Then, after a few minutes the sugar melts and I add some rum. I carefully ignite the rum which creates a neat blue flame! When the flame dies I fold the crêpe and present it to its lucky recipient. In this picture I also have blueberry jam and a chocolate ganache for other dessert crêpes.

When I make savory crêpes I have tried many combinations: turkey, spinach and cheese. turkey, sun-dried tomato and cheese, mushroom, ham and cheese... but my favorite at home and in France is always ham and cheese. It is simple, salty and a perfect combination.

Crêpes are from Bretagne, the north-west region of France. My husband's parents live here and have taken us to local crêperies. It is traditional to drink hard cider with crêpes. It is hard to beat crêpes from that region and I am lucky to go back soon. I hope anyone reading this can either try a recipe at home or travel to try the real thing.