Peach Crostata

This is such a great an easy recipe to make with fresh fruit in the summer.

Making the crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 pound butter
2 tablespoons ice water

Place the flour, and sugar in a food processor. Pulse it a couple of time to combine. Add the butter (in diced pieces) and pulse 12 to 15 times, until the butter is the size of peas. Add the ice water and continue to hit the pulse button until the dough is almost combined. Before the dough becomes a solid ball, place it onto a well-floured board and form into a disk. With a rolling pin, roll the dough out into an 11-12inch circle.


Making the filling:

3-4 large peaches
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar

In a large bowl mix the peaches, flour and sugar together and place onto the dough leaving a 2 inch border around the edges. Fold the edges over the peaches. Beat 1 egg and lightly brush it onto the folded edges and sprinkle with cinnomon sugar.

Bake the crostata for 20 to 25 minutes, until the crust is golden and the peaches are tender. This Dessert takes GREATTTT warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

This is for Boo

So today Boo kindly brought to my attention that I haven't updated my blog in a while now. It is not because I haven't been cooking, though I have been lazy and cooking a little less, I have not been posting anything I have made. So here's another update of what has been going on in my kitchen...

Kyle's 21st Birthday was August 26th so I made him a chocolate Oriole's cake to go along with the Oriole's tickets I got him as a gift. I can't share the recipe for the cake though because it is a family secret. Maybe one day you will be lucky enough to taste it if you haven't already :)


For Kyle's birthday he was given a bushel of crabs. Some we ate with friends, the left overs we cleaned and made crab dip with. Had I known the dip would be so good I would have taken a picture before I ate some of it :) I don't remember exactly how I made it but here is what I think I did.





Crab Dip Ingredients

2 8oz packages of cream cheese
16oz of crab meat
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
2tsp mustard
1 T Old Bay
A couple of drops of Hot sauce (I like Frank's)
1/2 cup Shredded Cheddar cheese
2 T lemon juice
Paprika

Mix all the ingredients together except for the paprika. Transfer mixture into a 9X9inch pan and sprinkle the top with the paprika. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 15-20minutes.

Crab Cakes

In search of a Summery dinner I decided to make crab cakes. Having never made them though I found this recipe online, I found them to be pretty delicious. The only thing I would changed next time I make this recipe is to add some kind of creamy sauce to top the cakes. I meant to make sweet potato fries along with the dinner but I forgot so we just had coleslaw and broccoli with the crab cakes.






Servings 5-6 cakes

Ingredients
1 pound crab meat
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs (see Note)
1/4 cup light mayonnaise
2 tablespoons minced chives
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
4 dashes hot sauce, such as Tabasco, or to taste
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons unsalted butter

Directions:
1. Mix crab, egg, breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, chives, mustard, lemon juice, celery seed, onion powder, pepper and hotsauce in a large bowl. Form into 6 patties.
2. Heat oil and butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until the butter stops foaming. Cook the patties until golden brown, about 4 minutes per side.

Note: Panko breadcrumbs, also known as Japanese breadcrumbs or bread flakes, are coarser in texture than other dried breadcrumbs. They produce a crispy crust and are less likely to become soggy than finely ground breadcrumbs.Look for panko in the Asian food section of large supermarkets and in specialty Asian markets.


*** Last night my mom and I re-made this recipe. What we did differently was we added about a tablespoon of Old Bay to the mix and we also made the cakes without breadcrumbs. However, after the cakes were formed we covered them in breadcrumbs. To cook them we put them in a sizzling hot frying pan with a little bit of olive oil and butter until each side was browned (about 2 mins each side) and then we put them in the oven in a pan for 10-15minutes on 300F. We also put the crab cakes on rolls with coleslaw once they were out of the oven I liked this recipe a lot more But both tasted very good.

Back in action.

I just got back from Australia a week ago and had the time of my life! I tried a lot of different food while I was over there, such as Kangaroo, camel emu and crocodile. But none were really worth photographing. Since we were on a $15 a meal budget, the places we were eating at were just ok and nothing any of us were really wild about, so my Australian food experience was dissappointing. One meal I really enjoyed was a burger with beats,tomato,avacado.."the likes" as they called it. Some burgers also came with a fried egg on top! Another great meal I had was pumpkin quesadilla. I don't know if it was the time of year or just a normal thing for them but pumpkin was on a lot of menus. The only time i got the opportunity to cook while I was there was one of our lasts night after we went fishing and I grilled up the Snappers with the limited supplies we had.
Burger


Pumpkin Quesadilla in Canberra


Kangaroo Tails!



Grilled fish in Darwin (1)



Fish (2)

Fish (3)








Before I left I made some food I forgot to post on here..and because I forgot to post them, I forgot how I made them! So some dishes I am hoping to recreate and put up here within the next month or so are pulled pork sandwhich with coleslaw, Shrimp fettucini alfredo, and buffalo chicken wrap. I hope SOMEONE, ANYONE out there is looking forward to the dishes coming and I hope people will start truely following me and cooking some of the recipies I make. I have no idea if these recipies work, I made them as I went along and have guessed on all the mesurements, so I would really appreciate it if people tried the recipies and let me know how they turn out.

Cheers :)

Rachel

Yummy yummy yummy I got food in my tummy :)

When I first get an idea to cook something I usually call my mom. I have not had a lot of experience in the kitchen, I haven't even been cooking a year, so I never really know if the ingredients I'm using will even work together. That's where my mom comes in...and every time she tells me what I'm planning sounds good.
Here and there she will make suggestions but she never leads me astray. Between the two of us I think we make a pretty good team. It is too bad I can't convince her to go into a business with me. I know if it were not for my mom always cooking every meal I would consider cooking as sticking two pieces of bread in the toaster with a slice of cheese in between. I'm more than certain she got her gift of cooking from her mother, my grandmother. Without their gifted minds and hands I could have never made this blog and shared, what I consider my talent, with the rest you you.

Here are some things I have been making recently. The pictures aren't as good as they look in person so you will just have to make them and find out for yourself :)

TACO SALAD
preheat oven to 350F
Serves 3-4



Taco Meat:
Ingredients:
1/3 Cup taco seasoning
1/4 Cup water
1lb ground turkey

In a frying pan brown ground turkey. Once browned, drain the grease from the pan and add the taco seasoning and water. stir until mixed with the meat and let cook on low for 15 minutes.

Tortilla crisps:
Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 (or small) flour tortilla
salt

While the meat is cooking, slice tortilla into strips and toss in a bowl with olive oil and salt. Place them on a baking sheet lined with foil and bake in the oven for a few minutes. Keep an eye on them to make sure they don't burn.

Salad Assembling:

lettuce
Salsa
Tortilla strips
Taco meat
Pepper Jack and Cheddar cheese

There are a couple of ways you can assemble the salad. The way I did it for this picture was by layering lettuce on a plate with the taco meat, salsa, cheese and tortilla strips on top. You can also make this meal by mixing all the ingredients together so that the lettuce is coated with everything. I mixed it all together after I took the picture which is what I'm guessing most people would probably do.


TOMATO, SPINACH ROTINI
Makes 1-2 servings

I just made this for myself for dinner tonight, it hit the spot.

Ingredients:
3T Extra virgin olive oil
1 cup Spinach
1 Tomato
1 garlic clove
1tsp dried basil or 1T fresh basil
salt & pepper
1 cup Parmesan cheese
Rotini Multi grain pasta (or your favorite kind)

In a frying pan, on low, heat 2T olive oil and add the spinach. Dice the tomato and chop garlic. Mix into the pan with the spinach. Add the basil with some salt and pepper for flavor. Once that is started, begin cooking the rotini. When the rotini is finished cooking, turn stove off and coat noodles with olive oil. Add the tomato spinach sauce to the noodles until covered and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :)

(plate compliments of Pansy and Stanley Stolar. Thanks Grandma and Pop!)

(healthying) some comfort food

Living alone is not as bad as one might believe. Especially when you have a cat like mine that will sit across the table during meals.

This next dish is one i made a couple of weeks ago. I really wanted chicken fingers for dinner but I decided to turn it into a salad to (healthen) it up and get in my greens :)


Preheat oven 350
Ingredients:

lettuce/ bag of salad
honey mustard salad dressing
chicken tenders
1 egg (or 1 cup of buttermilk)
crackers
pepper
1/2-1 cup shreeded parmasan cheese
sliced almonds


To make the chicken fingers...
I took a couple of handfulls of crackers (such as ritz or natures promise) and crushed them up in a food processor. You could also place them in a zip lock bag and roll the bag over with a rolling pin the crush them. Mix in parmasan cheese and season with ground pepper.

In a small mixing bowl beat one egg.
Dip chicken tenders in the egg and cover with cracker mixture. You can do this by placing the tenders in the ziplock bag and shacking it until tenders are completely covered.

Lay chicken tenders on greased baking sheet about 1 inch apart and bake for about 15 minutes.

When ready, slice tenders into strips and layer on top of salad. You can add almonds to this too and drizzle with honey mustard dressing.

A lot of time to make up for...

new kitchen :)


With all that has been going on in this last month I had gone and forgotten my password and user name to sign into this account. But now I'm back, I'm ready to catch my 2 followers and my mom up on what I've been cooking. Living in a new apartment, with a great kitchen, the juices have been flowin' and inspiration has hit. I'll start by sharing what I cooked for dinner tonight:

Scrumptious Island Chicken Quesadilla
Since the first time I made this recipe I have made some changes that I have added down below.

Servings-2
preheat oven 350

1-2 Chicken breasts
Salt & pepper
1 cup shredded Pepper Jack cheese

1 mango diced
1 cup of diced pineapple
1/2 avocado diced
1/4 red onion chopped
1/2 jalapeno chopped
1 lemon wedge

2 flour tortillas

In boiling pot filled half way with water, poach the chicken breasts for about 20 minutes.
Add salt for taste.
When chicken is fully cooked, remove from heat and add pepper jack cheese until mixed in with the chicken.
Layer chicken/cheese mix on tortilla and cover with another tortilla
Place quesadilla on baking sheet and place on the middle rack of the oven for 15-20minutes or golden.

While the quesadilla is in the oven dice the pineapple, mango, avocado,jalapeno and red onion. This is your salsa. Place in a bowl and drizzle with lemon wedge.