Feast Your Eyes: I Made and Ate It!

I have a secret - I read, collect, bookmark and save recipes like a collector of fine art orrrr, dare I say it - "a hoarder."  Or maybe I should say,  "My name is Laurie, and I'm a recipeaholic."  Yup, that's me!  I like recipes!  I like to read them and save them, that doesn't mean I ever make them!

There you have it - my deep, dark secret hoarding.  The good thing about having all these recipes is that when the feeling moves me, I can always come up with something new to make.  

Recently, I made two new recipes (new to me) that I think you will enjoy as much as my dinner guests did.  You heard me correctly, I like to use my friends as guinea pigs.  You might come to dinner and get a tried and true dinner or you might get something I've never made before!

First up:

Bacon Wrapped Green Bean Bundles from Ourbestbites.com.  I have to tell you there is not much danger of cooking anything bad if you're making something from their cookbook.

I made this out of their cookbook but the recipe is also on their site (click on the picture for the link.)   I do like green beans and bacon but what really makes this delicious is the rice vinegar, garlic, & onion drizzle over the top.  This is delicious.  I also like that I could get this ready early in the day and then just pop it in the oven at dinner time.

Next:  Candy Apple Salad:

This recipe is from Allrecipes.com.  I have never made it before but it was easy and very delicious.  I exchanged the peanuts (I'm not a very big peanut fan) for pecans.  Other than that, I followed the recipe and it turned out wonderful.  




If you are a recipeaholic like me, get out those recipes and cook something new today or make these recipes.  You won't be disappointed!  

I'm not hoarding any new recipes today cause today is my baby's birthday and I'm making him his favorite meal for his birthday!  
Happy 26th, Mikey!  

~Laurie

Feast Your Eyes > Mangia Bene!

I'm pretty sure that means "eat well" in italian, if not, well I am very sorry to any people or persons that I've offended...but Eat Well!!

Fall is here and sadly that means the end is near for of all those yummy fresh goodies from the garden. I snagged these beauties from my a garden just in the nick of time:

I decided the summer needed a proper send off with some beyond amazing, fresh tomato, spaghetti sauce! I started with lots of roma tomatoes which I seeded and chopped. I didn't peel them as I have no shame in admitting that I'm a lazy chef, or as I like to say, a "smart and easy" cooking chef, or "smeazy" for short.

So Pretty!

I then sauteed fresh minced garlic, white onion, and some seeded fresno peppers in some homemade basil garlic oil (I don't even know what got into me that day!). I then added the diced romas, and some italian herbs and seasonings and let it simmer in all its goodness for around three heavenly smelling hours. It was a little chunky at the end; and there's definitely not that anything wrong about being a little chunky (!!); but I was looking for a thinner sauce this time around, so I whipped out my handy emulsion blender and pureed it a little in the pot.

**Note: Have the lid handy and remove pot from heat as you do this, or you will give yourself a hot tomato sauce facial; which may or may not be what you were expecting...Who knows, you may be a better multi tasker than me!

 

I then cooked up some whole wheat spaghetti at about half the cook time and added enough of the fabulous sauce to thoroughly coat the noodles and put it back on the burner on medium heat (I left the remainder of the sauce to hang out, and used it as a little red bed for the finished spaghetti). As it cooked I used a pasta spoon to continually lift the spaghetti, which gives the pasta a creamy volume to it. Just as it was about done, I drizzled in some of the amazing basil oil from earlier. The basil oil is also very naughty on crusty french bread. 

And then we ate. And ate. And ate.

  I'm still full.

Glossy's Fresh Roma Sauce:

2  to 3lbs - fresh roma tomatoes

1 - medium onion

3 to 4 - Fresno Peppers

2- cloves of garlic, minced

Salt and Pepper to taste

Fresh Italian herbs or 1 to 2 t. of the dried blend.

1- 16oz package of spaghetti (I used whole wheat)

Saute onion, garlic pepper until just tender in basil oil. Add diced and seeded tomatoes and simmer 3 to 4 hours. In a separate pot cook spaghetti until half done, drain, and add enough sauce to coat noodles. Return to medium heat and cook till noodles are "al dente", having asborbed the added sauce. Add a tablespoon or so of basil oil at the end to finish. Take the remaining sacue and ladle a 1/2c. or so onto a plate and top with cooked spaghetti. Finish with some shaved parmesan.

Basil Oil

1- bunch of fresh basil

2 - cloves of garlic

2 1/2c. extra virgin olive oil

Heat oil on low until warm. Add basil and garlic and heat (on low!) for 10 min. Remove from heat and steep for another 10 to 20 min. Strain out basil and garlic. Store in fridge when not in use.

Happy eating!

~Angela, aka "Chef Smeazy"

Feast Your Eyes > Summer's Goodies

I'm a garden mooch. There I said it.
Yes, I myself do not have a garden this year unlike everyone else in my family, even though I have 4 hungry man-ish boys in my house, and really should do one.
Yes, I do go around to said family member's gardens and pluck, pick, and gobble their garden's extra bounty.
Yes, I do find it lucky ducky that their little household's cannot keep up with their big garden's goodies.
Yes, I do run, not walk, over when I hear "Do you want some...", and I feel no shame about it!! It's really like veggie charity if you ask me.
So there.
Whew. I feel better getting that off my chest.
So... moving on to a great summer recipe straight from my garden, uh, a garden.

Glossy's Super Easy Salsa:

3-4 tomatoes (depending on how thin or thick you like it)
1-4 hot peppers (more peppers = more fire)

1/2 of an good sized onion

1 clove of garlic

cilantro (I used 5 sprigs)

1tsp sea salt

dash of pepper

Throw it all in the food processor or a blender

Oh. So. Good.

And please, feel free to come out of the closet you fellow Garden Moochers! Amazing recipes and salsas await you! We won't judge. :-)

~Angela
P.S. - for even yummier flavor try roasting the veggies in a cast iron pan for a couple minutes before blending.