Spinach Rice Casserole

Two reasons this recipe is not accompanied by a photo of the dish: 1) I was really hungry when I made this and we ate the casserole before I could secure photographic evidence of this dish. And 2) this dish is really, really ugly. So ugly that if I have kids, I don't think there is any way in hell that I will convince them to try this because you look at it and say "wow - this is one ugly, healthy looking dish."

Fall is in the air here in Minnesota - even if the thermometer keeps claiming that the temperatures are in the 80s. (I'm writing this on September 15th ... by the time this actually posts, it probably will be chilly out.) But the days are getting short, the nights are significantly cooler and dammit, the grill is getting ready for hibernation, it's time for me to be making casseroles!

I found this at EatBetterAmerica.com. This site is sponsored by the good folks at General Mills and while I'm not a slave to labels, General Mills is headquartered up in the Twin Cities and are also the people currently associated with the Jolly Green Giant.

My oldest nephews and I had a close encounter with the Jolly Green Giant this summer when we were on vacation. Why would a giant man wear such a short tunic? The world may never know ...

Oh yes I did ... gratuitous crotch shot of the JGG.

Now that your mind's are firmly in the garden gutter - here's the recipe.

"Healthified" Spinach & Rice Casserole
adapted from EatBetterAmerica.com

2 teaspoons olive oil
3 medium carrots, chopped (1 1/2 cups)
2/3 cup chopped celery - 3 stalks
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 3/4 cups water
1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed 98% fat-free cream of mushroom soup
2 boxes (9 oz each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed & drained
1 1/2 cups uncooked instant brown rice
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (**next time I'm going to omit, I kept getting dried rosemary stuck in my teeth - not very attractive)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup diced cooked ham
3/4 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (3 oz)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. In 3-quart saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add carrots, celery, onion and garlic; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add water and soup; heat to boiling. Add spinach, rice, Italian seasoning and pepper; return to boiling. Remove from heat; stir in ham, 1/4 cup of the Cheddar cheese and the Parmesan cheese. Spread in baking dish. Cover with foil.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese. Let stand uncovered 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

A thought - this would be good with some diced cooked chicken. Also - the recipe called for reduced fat cheese? I said screw that and used the full fat stuff ... considering how much goes in it (not a lot), I'd rather forgo the additives and fill my body with good stuff. All things in moderation, right?

Red Velvet Cake

One of the adages I remember from my days in journalism was to remember the audience to whom you are writing for. So ... I write for you guys. I write for the comments, I write for the new "friends" that I've made through this process and I write because there are days when I sincerely miss working in newspapers and blogging is the only thing I have found close to that type of immediacy of print journalism. So at the end of the day, I guess I write for me, but hell - you all are the most amazing fringe benefit to this endeavor.

When I cook, there's also an audience that I'm catering to. I've developed this very odd habit of narrating my cooking in my head, on the off chance that a camera crew might drop in sometime to my cramped (and messy) kitchen to catch me having an Ina moment. Some nights, I have an audience of one - my wonderful food critic of a husband who seems to like everything that I cook. But do you want to know who my hardest critics are? Ready? My parents. (My mother is probably reading this and is going "what the hell?")

Let me explain ... my grandmas? Amazing cooks - starting from my Grandma Sophie's Ice Cream Dessert, detouring by my Grandma Boots' Homemade Noodles and stopping somewhere near my Grandma Phyllis's Million Dollar Chocolate Cake - there is a presence of memory in my family's culinary lives. So then you have my mom - brilliant cook. You have my Aunt Sue - she's a freakin' legend ... even my cousin Trix who claims she can't cook made this grilled pork loin the other weekend that my father wanted to devour whole. So you can see why I am something of an upstart in my family. My culinary talent is simply not needed unless you want someone who can mash the hell out of potatoes.

I was in the presence of my three formidable lady relatives a few weekends back - my mom, my aunt Sue and my cousin Trix (her name really is Tracy, but my sister-in-law - another fabulous cook - is also named Tracy, hence the nickname ...). It was Suzie's birthday, so I volunteered to make a cake. Would it be Beatty's Chocolate Cake? (Chocolate ... too predictable.) Would it be Better Than Sex Cake? Nope - that wouldn't show off my culinary acumen ... too easy. Angel Food Cake? My husband hates that ... so I went to Food Network and immediately fell hard for one of Paula Deen's versions of Red Velvet Cake.

I'm a recent convert to the Red Velvet phenomenon (in fact, every time I think about red velvet cake or eat it, I think of "Steel Magnolias" and the "bleedin' armadillo groom's cake."). But I gotta say - despite the fact that the picture displayed only shows my shitty cake decorating skills, this cake is FIERCE. It definitely deserves a spot on the "last meal" roster.

Of course, my husband loved it. We both loved it so much that we ate leftovers straight from the pan. (We're ridiculous that way.) My husband almost cried when I decreed that we should leave the rest of the leftovers for my father. But the best part? My dad called the Sunday after we had our weekend at home - there was about a quarter of a pan left. Now keep in mind that my father is probably only 20 pounds heavier than he was when he left high school - the man is like a trash compactor who can damn near eat anything and not gain a pound.

"Thanks for leaving that cake," Dad said. "Yup, I ate half the pan for breakfast this morning and finished the other half after church. That was good cake."

This cake is a freakin' winner. Boosh!

Red Velvet Cake
by Paula Deen

* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (recommended: White Lily)
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon cocoa
* 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 1/2 cups canola oil
* 1 teaspoon vinegar
* 1 (1-ounce) bottle red food coloring (**my entire family was freaked out by the fact that this cake takes an entire bottle of food coloring. I was wondering if you would be able to "taste" the food coloring? But you can't ... the men in my family were in awe of the cake's redness.)
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 cup buttermilk

For the cream cheese frosting: (And my God in heaven ... in Paula's recipe for this frosting she calls for MARGARINE ... what the hell, Paula? There is no margarine in MY house and no maragrine in this FROSTING. Use butter, y'all - and kiss a dairy farmer.)

* 1/2 cup BUTTER
* 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese (**I made amends and used the 1/3 fat kind ...)
* 1 box confectioners' sugar, sifted
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 cup chopped lightly toasted pecans (**I omitted because the hubby doesn't like nuts in his baking ... sigh ...)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 3 (9-inch) round layer cake pans. (**I used a 9x13 pan because I realized I'd look rather ridiculous trucking a layer cake to a campground - increase cooking time to about 30-45 minutes.)

Sift flour, baking soda and cocoa together. Beat sugar and eggs together in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl mix together oil, vinegar, food coloring, and vanilla. Add to the bowl of eggs and sugar and beat until combined.

Add the flour mixture and the buttermilk to the wet mixture by alternating the buttermilk and dry ingredients. Always start with the flour and end with the flour.

Pour batter into pans. Tap them on the table to level out the batter and release air bubbles. Bake for 25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted near the middle comes out clean but be careful not to over bake or you'll end up with a dry cake.

Let layers cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before turning out of pan. Cool completely before frosting.

For the cream cheese frosting: Let butter and cream cheese soften to room temperature. Cream well. Add sugar and beat until mixed but not so much that the frosting becomes "loose". Add vanilla and nuts. Spread between layers and on top and sides of cake.

Sorry for the shitty picture - I figured my family would think that I was a nutter if I hauled out my camera in the middle of a camp outing to snap some pictures of people eating cake. So ... another display of my mad skills as a cake decorator.

Rachael's Grilled Ratatouille

Grill baby, grill!

I will preface this post by saying two things: 1) The word "ratatouille" is damn hard to spell but 2) the challenge is what makes this so damn tasty.

I liked eggplant better this time around ... I don't know if it was grilling it (everything is better slightly charred?) or the combination with the rest of the ingredients ...

I got this recipe from Rachael Ray - she's no Ina Garten, but she's another guilty pleasure.


Grilled Ratatouille
by Rachael Ray

Ingredients:

* 3 large tomatoes, halved crosswise
* 2 bell peppers, quartered
* 2 zucchini, thickly sliced lengthwise
* 1 eggplant, thickly sliced lengthwise
* 1 onion, thickly sliced crosswise
* 1 head garlic, halved crosswise
* 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* Salt and pepper
* 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced
* 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar


Directions:

1. Preheat a grill to medium-high. On a large baking sheet, arrange the tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini, eggplant, onion and garlic in a single layer. Brush with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
2. Transfer the vegetables to the grill and cook, turning once, until just tender and slightly charred, about 5 minutes for the tomatoes, 8 minutes for the peppers, zucchini and eggplant and 10 minutes for the onions and garlic. Return to the baking sheet and let stand until cool enough to handle.
3. Chop the peppers, zucchini, eggplant and onions into ½-inch pieces and transfer to a large bowl. (Be careful not to burn the crap out of your hand like I did ...) Squeeze out the garlic cloves, finely chop and add to the bowl. Working over the bowl, slip off and discard the tomato skins and remove the cores, then crush the tomatoes with your hands and add to the bowl. Add the olives and vinegar, season with salt and pepper and toss.

Sweet Returns

The hubby and I returned tonight from a wonderful weekend with wonderful friends in Door County, Wisconsin. Well - actually, we never made it to the land of cherries and wine - we made it as far as Kewaunee County, which is just south of Door County ... well, you get the picture.

I will be posting pictures from our journey in an upcoming blog post, but had to share this one. This is from our return home ...


Earlier this month, in celebration of a new blog design, my Twitter friend and fellow foodie Katie at Salt and Chocolate hosted a giveaway and I was the lucky winner of a gift basket. It was waiting for Ryan and I upon our return home and wow ... if this is winning, I'm going to be entering contests like a fool. Amongst the contents were a handful of spices from Penzeys, Katie's handcrafted bourbon vanilla, organic chocolate syrup from Holykakow and homemade nut mixes ... pizza flavored almonds, fall spice mixed nuts and a Mexican chocolate mix.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Katie ...

Giada's Orzo Salad

Have I told you that I think I am obsessed with orzo? I can't help myself - rice is one of my favorite grains and being the carb freak that I am, I cannot get enough of pasta - since orzo is a rice-shaped pasta, it's like heaven in a bowl.

We had company over a bit ago and this was the salad that I made for our company. A couple of notes - the mint made a jarring note to this salad. It could be because my knife skills are lacking, but I wasn't overly fond of the mint. Also? If you're planning on serving this salad to guests, make sure to make it a day ahead. My beloved husband/photographer who will eat damn near anything made a suggestion that we might want to have a Plan B once he tried the salad right after I made it. The vinegar had quite an initial kick to it.

Orzo Salad
by Giada De Laurentis

* 4 cups chicken broth
* 1 1/2 cups orzo
* 1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
* 1 1/2 cups red and yellow teardrop tomatoes or grape tomatoes, halved
* 3/4 cup finely chopped red onion
* 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
* About 3/4 cup Red Wine Vinaigrette, recipe follows
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Pour the broth into a heavy large saucepan. Cover the pan and bring the broth to a boil over high heat. Stir in the orzo. Cover partially and cook until the orzo is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring frequently, about 7 minutes. Drain the orzo through a strainer. Transfer the orzo to a large wide bowl and toss until the orzo cools slightly. Set aside to cool completely.

Toss the orzo with the beans, tomatoes, onion, basil, mint, and enough vinaigrette to coat. Season the salad, to taste, with salt and pepper, and serve at room temperature.

Red Wine Vinaigrette

1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Mix the vinegar, lemon juice, honey, salt, and pepper in a blender. With the machine running, gradually blend in the oil. Season the vinaigrette, to taste, with more salt and pepper, if desired.

Yield: 1 3/4 cups

Get out and vote

The wonderful folks at Ile de France sent me cheese and I sent them a picture of the cheese platter that's now been entered in a contest. Please vote for my cheeseplate (and my husband's awesome photography skills), to vote, go here.

You don't even need to register or anything - just click on the stars.

Pickles!

OK - I'm getting pretty late to be posting this, but on the off hand that your garden is bass-ackwards like mine was (I blame the late tomatoes on the cool temperatures ...), there might be the off chance that you might have some cucumbers to pickle? No? Well, then can 'em next year or come over to try a jar of mine!

After my moderate success with the Bread and Butter Pickles (my mama loved 'em ... that's about all the praise that I need), I got all cocky and decided that although I go through about a jar of dill pickles every two years or so (more if I'm making Bloody Mary's), I needed to try and can some dill pickles.

I ended up making two batches of dill pickles - the canned variety and some refrigerator pickles (my kitchen was a disaster area and I was running out of jars.). Here's both ...

I found my canning recipe from AllRecipes.com. This recipe was submitted from a woman who got it from some farmer's wife. If you ask me, that's a sure sign of a winner.

Dill Pickles
from AllRecipes.com

* 8 pounds 3 to 4 inch long pickling cucumbers
* 4 cups white vinegar
* 12 cups water
* 2/3 cup pickling salt
* 16 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
* 8 sprigs fresh dill weed
* 8 heads fresh dill weed

DIRECTIONS

1. Wash cucumbers, and place in the sink ( I use the bathtub!) with cold water and lots of ice cubes. Soak in ice water for at least 2 hours but no more than 8 hours. Refresh ice as required. Sterilize 8 (1 quart ) canning jars and lids in boiling water for at least 10 minutes.
2. In a large pot over medium-high heat, combine the vinegar, water, and pickling salt. Bring the brine to a rapid boil.
3. In each jar, place 2 half-cloves of garlic, one head of dill, then enough cucumbers to fill the jar (about 1 pound). Then add 2 more garlic halves, and 1 sprig of dill. Fill jars with hot brine. Seal jars, making sure you have cleaned the jar's rims of any residue.
4. Process sealed jars in a boiling water bath. Process quart jars for 15 minutes.
5. Store pickles for a minimum of 8 weeks before eating. Refrigerate after opening. Pickles will keep for up to 2 years if stored in a cool dry place.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The second recipe I tried was called "Dan Koshansky's Refrigerator Pickles." This one was my kind of recipe, once I got over my fear that I had to leave the jars out for a couple days for the cukes and the brine to "sour." I have sampled these delectable little babies and I gotta be honest - I fear no vampires and I think that I could eat an entire jar in one sitting - thereby ensuring that my husband wouldn't approach me either. These are pretty damn special.