Light and Summery

Matt and I have been having an adverse reaction to spaghetti sauce, and really, cooked tomatoes altogether. Pizza is no longer an appealing option so it has been a fun challenge for me to find fresh tomato sauces that taste good, are comforting, and easy on the digestive system. A few weeks ago I found a large amount of dill for a great price at the farmers market. I had so much leftover that I had to go digging around on the Internet to find another recipe to use up the rest! Luckily, I found one that matched our needs and I've made it twice this week. I'd use fresh parsley and dill if you can, it makes all the difference. I think next time I'll add another clove of garlic, and maybe some cooked chicken too, right before serving. This would also taste excellent with homemade pesto and/or grilled shrimp! You could even dice the tomatoes a little more and serve on baguette slices - bruschetta!

Fresh Tomato Dill Pasta
from Cooks.com

Ingredients:
3 1/2 c. diced ripe tomatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs.)
2 tbsp. minced parsley
1 1/2 tsp. dill weed
2 tsp. finely minced shallot or green onion
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
8 oz. thin pasta noodles (such as linguine, angel hair or spaghetti), cooked

Directions:
In medium bowl, combine tomatoes, parsley, dill, shallot and garlic. Gradually stir in olive oil.

For best flavor, let sauce sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to 1 hour. When ready to serve, add salt and pepper; toss with hot cooked pasta.

Makes 2 to 4 servings (about 3 1/2 cups sauce).

Slow Cooked Goodness

There are no words to describe how much I love this recipe. The warm flavors of the sauce and the absolute tenderness of the pork, combined with sour cream, warm corn tortillas, and fresh cilantro (from the farmer's market) made for a perfect dinner last night. Add a lager beer, and voila! Dinner was a definite success and you can bet that I'll be making this recipe again. Perfect for large groups, this is a slow-cooker recipe - aka throw it in and forget about it for 7-8 hours. Now that's my style of cooking! :)

Pulled Pork Tacos

from Real Simple

Ingredients:
2 cups store-bought salsa, plus more for serving
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
kosher salt
1 2 1/2 pound boneless pork butt or shoulder, trimmed of excess fat
18 corn tortillas
1/2 cup fresh cilantro sprigs
3/4 cup sour cream
1 lime, cut into wedges

Directions:
1. In a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, combine the salsa, chili powder, oregano, cocoa, and 1 teaspoon salt. Add the pork and turn to coat.
2. Cook, covered, until the meat is tender and pulls apart easily, on high for 4 to 5 hours or on low for 7 to 8 hours.
3. Twenty minutes before serving, heat oven to 350° F.
4. Stack the tortillas, wrap them in foil, and bake until warm, about 15 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, using 2 forks, shred the pork and stir into the cooking liquid. Serve with the tortillas, cilantro, sour cream, lime, and extra salsa.

Tip: When using a slow cooker, resist the urge to lift the lid until the dish has cooked the minimum amount of time specified in the recipe. Each peek allows heat to escape and can increase cooking time by as much as a half hour.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Last Saturday night, Matt and I went to a Saint Patty's day party. The hosts asked us to bring a dessert and I was more than happy to oblige! I knew that one of the guests was pregnant and wouldn't eat anything with chocolate, so that was my biggest challenge. Finding a dessert that was light, easy, and didn't have chocolate. After much Internet research, I found something that pleased the crowd. I used apricot jam, but I think it would taste really good with raspberry or strawberry preserves as well!

CKS Note: I used quick-cooking steel oats and my bars looked nothing like the picture, but they still tasted very good!

Fruit & Oat Bars

1 c. all-purpose flour

2-1/2 c. uncooked quick oats

1 c. packed light brown sugar

2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 c. butter, softened

1-1/2 c. fruit preserves or jam, any flavor

3/4 tsp. almond extract

Preheat oven to 375F. Beat butter in a large bowl until smooth. Add the first 6 ingredients and beat until well blended and crumbly. Reserve 1/3 of the mixture for topping. Press remaining 2/3 crumb mixture onto bottom of un-greased 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Bake 15 minutes; let cool on wire rack for 5 minutes.

Combine preserves and almond extract; spread over crust; sprinkle evenly with reserved crumb mixture. Return to oven; bake 20 to 25 minutes or until topping is golden and filling is slightly bubbly. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Yield: 2-1/2 dozen bars

Note: If using raspberry or blackberry preserves, buy the seedless variety for a smoother filling.

Cheeeeeeeeeeeesecake

Words cannot describe how much I love desert. I think it's why I ganied so much weight after we got married and I was baking a few times a week. I especially loved baking in the winter months. There was something about making something sweet when it was cold and dark outside...I'm not sure that I can explain it!

Well after moving to CA and experiencing the 80 degree winters, I only bake maybe once or twice a month as it's not really that cold, and when I do feel that it's cold, I just make a warm dinner dish instead of cookies, cakes, etc. A little healthier and my sweet tooth is staisfied by a satsuma or glass of juice.

Tonight, however, my sweet tooth is in for a treat! Tonight is gaming night, and as we are continuing our new tradition of a potluck, I volunteered to bring dessert. I mentioned how much I missed making cheesecake to which Cindy and Katy said "ooooooooo, yummmmmmmmmm" and Jeremy (Katy's hubby) said "You guys are just trying to fatten me up, huh?" I had a great cheesecake recipe from Better Homes and Gardens but wanted to find something new. Thanks to http://www.myrecipes.com/, I found a wonderful, seasonal cheesecake that is sure to please our group.

I did not make the crust as I have no idea where to find wheatmeal biscuit crumbs and I thought my food processor was broken (thankfully it's not). I used a store-bought crust instead and had enough of the mix left over that I can probably make a few mini-cheesecakes next week. If you do make the crust, please let me know how it turns out. I also left out the topping as I also don't know where to find Sugared Rose Petals.

I can't emphasize this enough: softened cream cheese really does make all the difference! It makes the start of making a cheesecake much easier.

Tipsy Eggnog Cheesecake

You can store Sugared Rose Petals in an airtight container several months.

Ingredients:

2 cups wheatmeal biscuit crumbs
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
5 large eggs
3/4 cup canned or homemade eggnog
1/4 cup dark rum
1/4 cup brandy
Sugared Rose Petals (optional)

Directions:

Combine first 4 ingredients; stir well. Firmly press crumb mixture onto bottom and 1 1/2" up sides of a lightly greased 9" springform pan. Bake at 325° for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove to a wire rack; let cool.

Beat cream cheese at medium speed of an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add 1 cup sugar and cornstarch, beating well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Stir in eggnog, rum, and brandy. Pour batter into prepared crust.

Bake at 325° for 1 hour. (Center will be soft.) Remove from oven and gently run a knife around edge of pan to release cheesecake from sides; return to oven. Turn oven off; leave cheesecake in oven, with oven door partially opened, 30 minutes. Let cool to room temperature in pan on a wire rack. Cover and chill 8 hours.

Remove sides of pan and top cheesecake with Sugared Rose Petals, if desired.

Yield: one 9" cheesecake

Oxmoor House, JANUARY 1995

A Swedish Thursday dinner

Well, I'm going to be the very occasional contributor to Cooking Kama Sutras and don't hold your breath over that I'll post a recipe I've never tried before.

Although I do like to cook, I'm much more inclined to bake the cookies, the cakes and the breads than try to figure out what to cook for dinner. My mother laughed at me when I proclaimed as a high-schooler I would marry someone who cooked for me. Well, I did marry someone who cooks for me, albeit not as often as we would like since we have two picky toddlers to fed as well.

But one of our tried and true meals involve Swedish pancakes (or yes, they look like little crepes) and the kids love them and usually there's always milk, egg and flour at home. Make enough pancakes and you'll get full, I promise. The trick is to learn when to flip the pancakes, just when they get golden brown on the bottom and solid on the top. The trial-and-error-ones are my personal favorite when I munch while cooking ... I use a cast iron skillet for silver dollar pancakes and a thin spatula to flip the pancakes.

Swedish Pancakes

1 1/8 cups of flour (2 1/2 dl)
2 1/2 cups of milk (6 dl)
3 eggs
4 oz of margarine (30-50 g)

Mix the flour and half the milk to an even batter with a wire whisk in a large mixing bowl. Add rest of milk, then stir in the eggs.

Melt the margarine in the pancake skillet, pour the melted butter into the pancake batter and have a paper towel handy to wipe off the melted butter from the side of the pan. (By pouring melted butter into the batter, there's no need to re-grease the pan between each pouring of batter.)

Keep the heat from med-high to medium, pour about a tablespoon per silver dollar pancake (otherwise about half cup of batter for a big pancake).

When the surface is solid (light brown), turn over and brown the other side.

Whisk the batter between each round to prevent the flour from sinking to the bottom.

Keep warm by placing under a paper towel until there's enough to serve, or if you are the mom, keep feeding the kid(s) as soon as the pancakes leave the skillet.

Enjoy with favorite jam (lingonberries, raspberries, blueberry) or applesauce or whatever strikes your fancy.

Keep any leftovers in refrigerator covered under plastic wrap. Leftovers can be reheated for 20-30 seconds in microwave or eaten cold. Excellent to pack in sack-lunches.


Part of the traditional Swedish Thursday menu is split pea soup followed by pancakes. I've yet to convince my family that this combination is a great meal, but I do enjoy my pea soup which I always make during the holiday season when there's leftover ham.

Swedish-style Yellow Pea Soup

2 cups dried yellow peas
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
3 tsp salt
1 tsp marjoram or thyme
Optional: 1 lb pork ribs or ham (cubed)

Rinse peas in a colander, pick out any peas that looked damaged, and then soak overnight in 5 cups of water a big stock pot. Discard water.

Pour 2 quarts of water over peas. Cook together with onion, salt, marjoram or thyme and ham on low heat for about 1 1/2 hours or until shells of peas split.

Serve warm, garnish with sweet mustard if so desired. Then eat your pancakes.

The soup freezes well, so the extras can always be the emergency lunch or dinner when you don't feel like more planning than thawing out a package of soup in the fridge overnight.


(Of course, I buy my peas 'Lars Own Yellow Peas' at IKEA in the food section where you can also find Swedish style mustard.)

Recipes from Vår Kokbok (pancakes) and the packaging of Lars Own Yellow Peas (soup).

Gamer Food

Thursday is gaming night and we have so much fun! I enjoy my character and picking new spells, but I must say it's spending time with my friends and spending 4-5 hours laughing and telling stories that makes the night special. We regulary congregate over at Cindy and Don's place each Thursday night for a night of gaming.

Well now, it's also a night of food. Husbands, be prepared! Cindy, Katy, and I have turned Thursdays into a weekly potluck where each week, one is responsible for the main dish and the other two prepare sides, like dessert and salad. Tomorrow is our first try at this new tradition and I asked to be the first to bring a main dish. Considering that I have to work all day, I decided to make a lasagna that could be made ahead of time. Thanks to Google and www.cooks.com, I found an appetizing recipe that's sure to fill the ladies' curious appetites and the guys' growling bellies.

EASY MAKE - AHEAD LASAGNA

1/2 lb. bulk Italian sausage or ground turkey
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 can (28 oz.) chopped Italian style tomatoes
14-16 oz. spaghetti sauce
2 tsp. Italian seasoning
9 lasagna noodles, uncooked
1 container (15 oz.) ricotta cheese
3 c. (12 oz.) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese

1. In medium skillet, brown sausage and onion; drain.

2. Stir in tomatoes, spaghetti sauce and Italian seasoning.

3. In lightly greased 12 x 8 inch baking dish; layer 1/3 each of the lasagna noodles, ricotta cheese, meat mixture, mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese; repeat layers 2 more times. Cover.

4. Refrigerate at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours.

5. When ready to bake, remove cover, place in cold oven. Turn oven onto 350 degrees. Bake 45-50 minutes or until bubbly and cheese is lightly browned. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Cooking KS note: I used a 9x13 pan and could only layer it twice, but still used all my ricotta cheese and meat mixture. Also used 4 noodles across and there was enough room to lay one across the top too.