The Good Plate – Adrienne Boswell

Last night we went to a Star Party. No, I don’t think there were any celebrities there, just amateur astronomers with their telescopes on the lawn at the Griffith Park Observatory letting the public have a chance to see the rings of Saturn, and the moon up close and personal. If you have not had a chance to go to the Griffith Observatory, I highly recommend it.

The last time we went to a Star Party, it was Spane’s 6th birthday, and my blog post Happy Sixth Birthday Spane has recipes and pictures. The great thing about that visit was the big red moon. This time, the surprise was being able to see Saturn, with its rings. You have never had your heart quicken more than seeing Saturn’s rings, right before your eyes. Those Public Star Parties at Griffith Park Observatory are just the best fun. This trip started with one of Amber’s children saying how much fun it was last time, and wouldn’t it be great if we could go again? I looked it up on the computer, and sure enough there was a Star Party on Saturday, August 14, 2010.

We decided that it would be great fun for everyone if had a picnic in Griffith Park, and then went to the Observatory. I couldn’t think of a better picnic sandwich than my modified BLT. Because it has some adult flavors, and Amber’s children don’t like certain things, it quickly became known as the “Adult Sandwich”, and the children at the other sandwich which was just bacon, lettuce and mayonnaise on french bread, no tomato.

Here’s the recipe, of course it’s available to download for the Big Oven software as well.

Star Party Submarine

Ingredients

• 1 French bread loaf Unsliced (Important)
• 1 lb Thick bacon
• 1 Ripe tomato
• 1 Ripe Avocado
• 1 bunch Fresh Basil Leaves about 10
• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
• 8 oz Philadelphia Cream Cheese at room temperature

Preparation

Take a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan and place the bacon slice by slice into it. Place in a cold oven and turn the heat up to 350. Check the bacon at 10 minutes, and it should be done in about 15. Remove from the oven, and place bacon on paper towels to absorb grease. Set aside.

With a good serrated knife, slice the bread crosswise to have a top and bottom.

Put the basil leaves in a small food processor with the mayonnaise. Process until all the basin and mayonnaise have mixed together, best if the mayonnaise is pale green, but you may be flecks of basil. Set aside.

Slice the tomato into relatively thick slices, about a quarter of an inch. Set aside.

Peel and remove the seed from the avocado, then slice it as well. Set aside.

Spread half of the mayonnaise mixture on one half of the bread. Put the tomatoes in a neat line on the bread. Put the bacon on top of the tomatoes. Put the avocados on top of the bacon.

Take the cream cheese out of the box, and gently knead it still in its wrapper. Cut one end of the wrapper off. Slowly and carefully, from the bottom, squeeze the cream cheese over the sandwich, spread it slightly with a knife so it goes from end of end.

Place the remaining mayonnaise mixture on the other piece of bread, and put that bread on top to close the sandwich.

Get a large roll of cellophane wrap and wrap the sandwich well in it, then cut it into sandwiches, and wrap each sandwich separately. Wrapping submarine sandwich in plastic first will help keep it together when you want to cut it into individual sandwiches.

Accompaniments

The sandwiches went great with a salad, watermelon, and perfectly barbecued ribs that Amber’s husband Stevie had made. We had Red Velvet cupcakes bought at the store for dessert – yes, sometimes I actually buy ready made thing – sheesh!

This afternoon, when I went to the grocery store on a hunt for something good for dinner, I was walking down the tuna oil and a man was perusing the various cans of tuna. I made a remark that the Tonno Genova Tuna packed in olive oil had better taste, and was better for you, too. After I picked up my two cans, he put some in his basket as well.

There are some really good things about tuna packed in olive oil. First, because the tuna has more flavor, less mayonnaise is required, so according to [http://chickenofthesea.com/e_health_omega.aspx]

“It has been shown that tuna packed in oil mixed with 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise is actually lower in fat than tuna packed in spring water and mixed with 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise. Starting with tuna packed in oil allows people to use less mayonnaise to achieve the desired consistency and taste, thereby cutting down on fat and calories and providing a better tasting salad.”

In addition, olive oil is good for you http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_oil#Nutrition_and_health_effects:

“Olive oil contains the monounsaturated fatty acid oleic acid, antioxidants such as vitamin E and carotenoids, and oleuropein, a chemical that prevents the oxidation of LDL particles. It is these properties that are thought to contribute to the health benefits of olive oil”.

Not Your Ordinary Tuna Salad

Ingredients

– Salad –

• 1 can (5 oz) Tuna packed in olive oil
• 1 package Fresh cheese ravioli
• 2 Roasted red peppers sliced
• 1 cup Broccoli Florets

– Dressing –

• 1 can (5 oz) Tuna packed in olive oil
• 2 tablespoon Mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon Lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Anchovy paste
• 1 tablespoon Parmesan

– Bruchetta –

• 1 baguette French bread
• 2 tablespoon Olive oil
• 1 teaspoon Balsamic Vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon Sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Freshly ground pepper

Preparation

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta, and put a steamer basket on top of the pot with the broccoli in it. Boil until the broccoli is just done, the pasta should also be finished cooking. Immediately plung both into ice water to stop the cooking. Drain and refrigerate.

To make the dressing, drain one of the cans of tuna and put it into a small food processor with the remaining ingredients and process. Adjust for seasoning if necessary.

To assemble the salad, drain the remaining can of tuna and set aside. Put the pasta and broccoli in a bowl. Add the red peppers. Flake the tuna in large chunks into the bowl. Put the dressing on, and toss, coating everything completely. Transfer to a nice serving bowl and refrigerate until time to serve.

To make the bruchetta, slice the bread on the diagnol in about 1 inch slices. Combine the olive oil, vinegar and seasoning. Brush both sides of the bread slices with the mixture. Heat a griddle and toast the bread on both sides. Put on a nice plate and serve with the salad.

One of the funniest bits of all time is the story of Bill Cosby’s wife finding out that Bill had given the kids chocolate cake for breakfast. Well, if Bill’s wife had tasted the chocolate cake I made yesterday, maybe she would not have had a conniption. If you have never seen or heard that bit, read the transcript of Bill Cosby Gives the Children Chocolate Cake for Breakfast or see the video below. I promise, you will laugh until your sides hurt.

Yesterday morning, I decided that I wanted to make a chocolate cake, and I found a great recipe for it on the Hershey web site. It promised to be easy to make and delicious. There was also a recipe for the frosting.

The recipe said the pans should be greased and floured. Next time I make this cake, because it was delicious, I am going to line it with parchment paper, and grease and flour that as well. The cake is so moist that I had trouble getting it out of the pans, and some of it stuck. So my cake is a little lopsided. Oh, well.

I decided that I did not want to use the recommended chocolate frosting, so I whipped up a nice mocha frosting instead, and it was dead easy. Because I had some areas “missing”, I used chocolate sprinkles on the sides to “hide” the missing areas.

Chocolate Cake with Mocha Frosting

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
• 1 tsp instant coffee
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease two 9 inch cake pans, line with parchment paper, then grease and flour that as well. In a pinch, you can use wax paper.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.

Mocha Frosting

Ingredients

• 1 stick Unsalted Butter
• 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1 tsp Instant Coffee
• 1 box Powered Sugar
• 1/4 cup or less whole milk
• 1 tsp Unsweetened Hershey’s Cocoa

Directions

1. Beat the butter until it is soft and fluffy.
2. Add the vanilla and coffee and continue to beat.
3. Slowly start adding the powdered sugar a little at a time.
4. When you notice that the frosting has begun to ball up like a dough, it is time to add the milk. Do not add it all at once, just a little at a time until you have the right consistency.
5. Add the cocoa and continue to beat until the cocoa is completely incorporated.

I have placed the video here from YouTube. Please enjoy… and it’s okay to have chocolate cake for breakfast, once in a while.

In Act 5, Scene 1, of Shakespear’s The Tempest, King Alonso asks his jester, Trinculo, “How camest thou in this pickle?” And the drunk Trinculo – who has indeed gotten into trouble – responds “I have been in such a pickle since I saw you last …”

Well, I’m not in that sort of pickle. I made watermelon pickles. Let me tell you, that was quite the journey.

Four great things about watermelons:
1. The meat tastes great on a summer day. The redder the better, I say!
2. The black seeds can be salted and baked in the oven for about 10 minutes to make something very similar to sunflower seeds, only you eat the whole thing. You cannot get the black seeds in a seedless watermelon, however, so you may have to go to an organic or farmer’s market to find them.
3. The juice of the watermelon makes a fine drink when filtered through a very fine mesh. Pantyhose work very well for this, clean of course!
4. The rinds make delicious pickles, so you can have watermelon with your roast pork in the winter time when summer is only a warm memory. The best rinds are from the larger melons, usually the ones with seeds, so if you want good pickles, you might want to get melon with seeds.

Now, on to our journey. Of course, Spane and I cannot eat watermelon fast enough without a lot of it going bad. So, I asked friends to save their rinds for me. Amber, whose children to go school with Spane, was nice enough to do this, and I put the rinds into Spane’s backpack. On the way home, we stopped at our favorite Armenian store, and the proprietor had just finished a half a watermelon (one of the small ones), and I asked her if I could have the rind. Luckily, there was an English speaking woman there who explained what I wanted, and I was given that rind as well. When we got home, I put the rinds from the store into the refrigerator, completely forgetting about the ones Spane’s backpack! The next morning, when I went to put something in there, I found them, they were fine, so I put them in the refrigerator, too.

Sundays I have an appointment at 2pm. When I woke up, I thought it would be a good day to make pickles, but in order to do so, I needed mason jars. No problem, I thought, just go to Ralphs and pick some up. I don’t have a car (I’ll post about that another time), so this meant a trip on the bus. When I got to Ralphs, I discovered that they did not have them, and the manager told me “Well, they don’t sell very well, so we don’t carry them anymore.” Vons is close to me as well, so I thought I would call them and find out if they had them before I went there (again on the bus). It took 20 minutes to get someone from Starbucks to get a manager, who said that they did have them. I got on the next bus and went to Vons. I guess they don’t sell very well at Von’s either, because that manager said the same thing, albeit in a much more cavalier way. My friend’s husband works at Virgils Hardware and I knew they would have them. I called him and asked if he could pick me some up and drop them off on the way home. He said he would be happy to.

The kicker is, yesterday when I went to Barnes and Noble’s cooking section, they were featuring what kind of book? Canning books! Guess the people who want to can are going to have to go to their hardware store, or Amazon.

Monday was Memorial Day, so I got up and had a cooking frenzy! I had also had two espressos. First I made White Chocolate Cherry and Almond Cookies, then I made Brown Derby Salad Dressing, and finally, started making the pickles.

The night before, since I had my jars, I had peeled my watermelon peels, and put them in a brine solution in the refrigerator. Then in the morning, I drained them and boiled them in salted water until they were soft. Then I made the pickling solution, put the peels in, and boiled them until they turned clear. In the meantime, I had boiled the jars and rings in my pasta cooker, and they were sitting there, waiting for the pickles. When the pickles were ready, I removed the hot jars from the pot, filled them, put the seal and ring on, sealed them and put them back into the pasta pot. Then I put them on the boil, and boiled them until I heard popping noises, which indicated that they were indeed sealed. I let them cool in the pot, then took them out and put them on the counter. There they sit, lovely jewels, ready to be eaten.

I had pickling juice left over, so today, when I made beets, I took the sliced beets and put them in the left over juice. They were delicious with my fried chicken and potato salad.

Watermelon Pickle

Ingredients

• 1 Watermelon
• 1 quart Water
• 3 tablespoons Salt
• 2 cups Cider Vinegar
• 6 cups Sugar
• 1 tablespoon Cloves whole
• 3 Cinnamon sticks
• 1 tablespoon Cinnamon ground
• 1 teaspoon Cloves ground
• 1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg ground
• 1/2 teaspoon Mace ground

Preparation

Peel and cut watermelon rind. Rinse in water.

Bring a quart of water and 1/2 cup of salt to a boil. Remove from the heat, and put in a plastic with the rinds. Place in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Drain rinds well. Boil for 10 minutes in another quart of water. Drain and set aside. Put spices into a tea ball. If you don””””t have a teaball, clean pantyhose will work just fine.

Bring a quart of water to the boil and add vinagar, sugar and spices. Boil until sugar is disolved, about 5 minutes. Add rind and cook for about 45 minutes or until the rind is clear. Remove spices. Put in quart mason jars, then pour liquid to about a half an inch from the top. Seal and process in a hot water bath for 30 minutes, or until you hear the jars pop.

To process, first put the jars and rings in to a pot so they are not touching the bottom. A pasta pot with an insert works fine for this if you do not have a canner. Put water in the jars so they do not float around. Bring them to a boil, and let them sit in the hot water until you are ready to fill them. Remove them from the water, fill, and put back in the pot, in the same hot water. You will know when they are ready when you have heard all the jars “pop”. Remove from the heat, and let them sit in the water until they are cool enough to touch. You can store them at this point. They must be refrigerated once they are open. You may reuse the jar and ring, but not the seal.

Watermelon Pickled Beets

Ingredients

• 3 Beets
• 1/2 cup Watermelon Pickle Juice

Instructions

Remove the leaves from the beets, but leave the roots and an inch of stem. Put the beets in water to cover and bring to a boil. Boil for 25 minute or until the beets are tender. Remove from the water, and let cool until cool enough to handle. Use your hands to slip off the peel, and cut of the stem and roots. Slice the beets, then put them in a non-reactive bowl, and cover them with the left over watermelon pickle juice. Refrigerate until nicely chilled.

Potato Salad with Red Onions

Ingredients

• 4 Russet potatoes peeled
• 2 tablespoon Sea salt
• 1 Red onion chopped
• 1 bunch Flat leaf parsley chopped
• 3/4 cup Mayonnaise

Preparation

Cut the potato into one inch dice, and put in pot of water. Drain water, then refill and add salt. Bring to a boil and boil until potatoes are fork tender. Remove from heat and drain. Put in refrigerator and chill. About a hour before serving time, combine with onion, parsley and mayonnaise. Chill until ready to serve.

May 12, 2010 was Spane’s last day in Catechism for the year. It was also the May Crowning at our parish.

Maria had asked me weeks ago if we were going to have anything special for the children, like we did for Christmas. Last week when I saw Sandra, and she mentioned that she was going to BUY cookies for a gathering after class. I told her to not buy cookies, that I would happily make cookies and bring them. Since I knew it would be the May Crowning, I thought that flowers would be appropriate.

I am obviously a glutton for punishment, but I really do enjoy baking, and my good friend Amber loves to bake and decorate as well. Plus, I had the new “toy” to play with, the Wilton Cookie Press that I had used when I went crackers. Both of us remembered working with an old style metal cookie press that was just a disaster. I assured her that this was a really good one, and she agreed to come over and help me.

We made two kinds of cookies, Spritz cookies and Roll-Out cookies. I thought that Amber was going to fly through the roof when she saw how easy the new cookie press was.

Amber had told me that it one could make one’s own colored sugar, and I had looked at recipes on the Internet, but I still didn’t get it. So, when I told Amber that I needed yellow sugar, she simply put some sugar in a bowl, added some food coloring, and started to mix it. I grabbed it from her, went to the little food processor, put the sugar in it, and whirred it. It made yellow sugar in the blink of an eye. Then I decided that I needed Marian Blue, I decided to try using the blue pastel gel from Wilton instead of liquid food color. It worked like a charm! Now I can make any color I want. Yes! Thank you, Amber, again and again!

Amber had brought part of her collection of cookie cutters. That’s the thing, once you start collecting them, you don’t stop! I probably have about 30 cookie cutters, she has many, many more. Heck, she even has a Noah’s ark cookie cutter!

Since the theme was flowers, I made spritz flowers, and discovered that pressing them out in a hot room is not a good idea. Putting the dough in the freezer to cool it off made pressing that much easier. Amber rolled out all her cookies, and baked them, then it was time for decorating.

Amber has the best eye for decorating. Anything she does is stunning. Her cookies are always get eaten first, and I love that!

Oh, wait a minute, we had to go and pick up our children at school, so we left the cookies out to cool. One of our friends was treating his daughter and friends to MacDonald’s because she had done well on her test. So, there was the issue of trying to get Spane to leave for Catechism. Finally, Amber just picked him up like a sack of potatoes, put him in the car, and I brought the shoes he refused to put back on his feet.

We drove back to the house, got the cookies, and Amber was nice enough to help me bring in the cookies. Sandra had brought in ice cream, so with the help of another mother and a great student, we served one cookie with one scoop of ice cream per child.

For those of you who would like to make these cookies, here you go. Good luck and good baking!

Spritz Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400? F. Thoroughly cream butter and sugar. Add egg, milk, vanilla and almond extract; beat well. Stir together flour and baking powder; gradually add to creamed mixture, mixing to make a smooth dough. Do not chill.

Place dough into Wilton Spritz Cookie Press and press cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet. You can sprinkle with colored sugar, or other small decorations at this time if desired.



Roll Out Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter softened
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon no-color almond extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400F. In mixing bowl, cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extracts. Mix flour, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Do not chill dough. Divide dough into 2 balls. On a floured surface, roll each ball into a circle approximately 12 in. wide and 1/8 in. thick. Dip cookie cutter in flour before each use. Bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheet 6-7 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.

I asked my six year old what he wanted for dinner, and he said “Armenian”. That sounded good to me, because it always means the freshest ingredients. I had forgotten that it was Cinco De Mayo, but this sounded so good, we are shelving that for another day.

We like Lula Kabob Burgers, yogurt salad, and herb rice. The yogurt salad always seems like a lot, but it goes very quickly.

You can get Lula Kebob, otherwise known as ground meat kebob at Middle Eastern or Armenian butcher stores. There are also spice packets available at those stores, and recipes on the Internet. I have found that my butcher has a very good recipe, so I just buy his ground spiced meat. Form the meat into patties, and cook as you would a regular hamburger. You can serve them with Lavash and Secret Garlic Sauce.

When you go to get the ingredients for the yogurt salad, it is advisable to go to the market early in the morning to get the freshest vegetables and herbs. This is a very easy to make salad.

Yogurt Salad

Ingredients

• Three Persian cucumbers or pickling cucumbers if Persian are not available
• 1 tomato
• 1 bunch mint
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 2 scallions or green onions
• 1 cup plain yogurt

Directions

Peel the cucumbers and dice them into 1/2 inch dice. There is no need to seed them since this kind of cucumber has small, soft seeds. Dice the tomato into 1/2 dice as well. Slice the green onions into small pieces. Put all into a bowl.

Take the bunch of cilantro and cut off about two inches off the top. Do the same with the mint, then mince together finely, until you cannot tell which herb is which. You should have about a quarter of a cup of minced herbs. Save the remaining cilantro and mint for another use. Add the herbs to the bowl.

Add the yogurt and toss until all the vegetables and herbs are thoroughly mixed.

Refrigerate until ready to serve, then transfer to a nice serving bowl.

I got this recipe from a chef friend, John Farion, who was Chef at Birds in Hollywood. This dipping goes great with everything, even your finger! It is perfect with rotisserie chicken, crab, lula kabob burgers, and yes, your finger. Just try not to “taste” too much, you won’t have any left for your guests!

If you do not have a small food processor, you could use a garlic press, but you would want to reduce the garlic a bit. The smaller the piece of garlic, the milder it is. If you do not have white pepper, omit the pepper completely.

Secret Garlic Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 Garlic Clove
• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
• 1/4 teaspoon White Pepper

Preparation

Put garlic, pepper and mayonnaise in small food processor and process.

I am ashamed. With 105 teachers getting their pink slips from GUSD, and K through 3rd grade class sizes increasing, I was one of only 4 parents of children from our school who showed up at the walk to GUSD this afternoon, May 4, 2010. There were more teachers at the walk than parents, and that’s a shame.

Our children need their teachers, especially the young ones. Classrooms are already splitting at the seams, and yet, five more children are to be added to each class this September. Right now, my child has 22 children – with an additional 5, that will be 27.

In 1996, the California legislature passed SB 1777, a reform measure aimed at cutting class size in the early school grades from what had been an average of 29 students to a maximum of 20. As a result, our students have had higher test scores, and more students are graduating high school to go on to college. Glendale is doing better than LAUSD, and better than statewide – see Standardized Achievement Test Performance.

Well, maybe the $16.8M GUSD received can go to building bigger classrooms, or failing that, the kids can be stacked on “bunk chairs”.

I realize that a lot of parents work. The event was not publicized very much, but there were parents out in front of our school passing out flyers. I was one of them, and I know I got commitments from at least 10 parents.

I say to you that could have come and helped support our teachers, don’t come whining when little Johnny can’t read. If you want things to change, you have to take action.

Sorry, no recipe today – we had In & Out because we felt it was more important to support the teachers, and ultimately, the community.

Spane had a new haircut and I had a package of mild Italian sausages in my freezer on Saturday. In a moment of inspiration, I decided that I would make my girl friend Biba’s Mom’s recipe for Biscuits and Gravy. John, always here on Sunday morning with Maria, Spane and I, also suggested eggs.

Biscuits have always been an issue for me – they would turn out more like crackers than fluffy biscuits, but I finally found a recipe that worked. I had tried using my fingers, but the fat always melted. When I made Fresh Blueberry Muffin Breakfast Cake I learned that I did not have to laborously use a fork to mix the fat and dry ingredients, I could use a food processor instead. Wow! Who knew? So, when I saw the recipe and it said to quickly mix the fat and flour with your fingers, so quick that the fats would not melt, I thought doing this in the processor was the way to go. I was right, the dough was great, the biscuits were tall and fluffy!

Buttermilk Substitute

A word of warning. The original recipe calls for buttermilk, but I very rarely have that on hand. I do, however, usually have yogurt on hand, and white vinegar. I get whole milk plain yogurt from Mountain High – it is very creamy tasting, not too sour as some yogurts are. It can easily substitute for sour cream. If you are going to substitute yogurt for buttermilk, it’s really important to use a good brand, that is naturally cultured and does not have any fillers or other nasty things in it.

Biscuits

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 1/2 cup plain good yogurt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 drops white vinegar

Preparation

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In the food processor bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Process until the mixture looks like crumbs. Remove to a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.

Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. (Biscuits from the second pass will not be quite as light as those from the first, but hey, that’s life.)

Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes.

Biscuits and Gravy

Ingredients

• 6 Italian sausage mild
• 2 tablespoons Flour
• 2 cups Milk
• 1/2 teaspoon Lemon Pepper
• 6 dash Tabasco sauce

Preparation

Remove the skins from the sausages. Place the sausages in a cold iron skillet. Turn on the heat and break them up, until they are in medium pieces. Do not drain off the fat. Add the flour and stir to coat all the meat. Add the milk, and cook, stirring occasionally until the sauce has thickened nicely. Remove from the heat, and serve over biscuits.



Italian Scrambled Eggs

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
• 2 tbsp Parmesan Cheese, grated
• 2 tbsp milk
• 2 tbsp butter

Preparation

Mix the eggs together with the herbs, cheese and milk. Heat a skillet and melt the butter, swirling the butter all round so the sides are covered. Add the egg mixture, and stir until the eggs are cooked and fluffy.

This morning, our friends Barney and Charlie came by because we were going to UCLA to see the baseball game against the Oregon Ducks. Spane’s first grade class (Mrs. Francisco) was chosen by number 33 Eric Goeddel to come to the game at UCLA today.

Maria was with us as she is on all Sunday mornings. I love Maria Torres so much! She is so much fun, and when she tells those headline jokes, it’s just too much!

Anyway, you’re here to hear about the food, right? Well, when I had asked Bonnie to come from breakfast, and what she liked, she had said pancakes. Hmmm, I thought to myself last night – that’s a lot of pancakes to stand there and make (and this is right after making Cheddar Cheese Spritz Crackers last night). I vaguely remembered hearing about a baked pancake, so I Googled and found Dutch Babies, and there was a recipe right on my favorite recipe site, BigOven.

I served the pancake with fresh strawberries and sweetened sour cream. “Jailhouse” bacon was also on the menu. It was truly a hit!

Oven Pancake or Dutch Babies

Ingredients

• 3 Eggs
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1/2 cup Flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 tablespoon Butter
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 teaspoon Sugar
• Shortening
• 8 inch Iron skillet

Preparation

In a medium bowl, beat eggs until thick and lemon colored. Add milk, flour and salt, vanilla and sugar. Carefully mix in the butter. Grease the iron skillet with a little shortening. Pour batter into the pan of melted butter. Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Cut in fourths.

“Jailhouse” Bacon

If you want really perfect bacon every time, then line a cookie sheet (one with sides) with foil. Lay the slices of bacon on the foil, and put into a preheated oven for about 10 minutes, or until it gets to your liking. This method of preparing bacon was given to me by a friend who had unwittingly spent a little time, and it is also used in the military.

Tonight a red car came down the driveway to the parking lot in the back of our building. For a split second I thought it was Marissa, but it could not have been her, after all she died on April 16, 2007. I miss her a great deal! Spane still calls her Nana. He misses her, too.

I have been thinking about Marissa a lot lately, and the other day I shared a recipe for a drink that an old acquaintance of ours, Kenny Greene, had made for us. Kenny was from New York, so this must be a New York thing, as Marissa and I had never heard of it. Either way, although it sounds terrible, it’s quite tasty.

Hop, Skip and Go Naked

Ingredients

1 can frozen lemonade (hop)
1 can beer (skip)
1 can vodka (go naked)

Directions

Mix all in a blender, and pour into tall glasses. Enjoy!