Sutliff Girl's Cookspot

This month...

JULY

Farmer's Market Inspiration

Appetizer: Megan
Side Dish: Lauren
Main Dish: Mom
Dessert: Amy

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Pictures of Parmesan Corn

Here are my pics of the corn.  Yum-O!!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

June's Dessert Pics



June's Dessert


My dessert, Old Glory Cherry-Blueberry Pie, is inspired by a recipe I came across while perusing MyRecipes.com during an intense procrastination session at work trying to avoid writing a contract modification. Under the guidance of my ultimate cooking inspiration, aka Mom, I made this pie following the exact recipe offered on the website (from a July 2001 Sunset magazine) and, although beautiful, not as tasty a filling as Mom's classic fruit pie fillings. We both had never tried a fresh sweet cherry pie, and as my 60-year old Iranian esthetician said earlier this evening as she convinced me to try a full Brazilian bikini wax - "You must try everything offered to you in life at least once!" So with that said, I think Mom and I both agree, there is no need for my beloved sisters to ever hand pit a pound of fresh sweet cherries for a cherry pie. Look at Mom's injuries and juice stains in the first photo below to become a believer! So instead use 1/4 of our Blueberry filling recipe and a full Cherry filling and, of course, Mom's classic pie crust recipe to make this pie. I recommend a piece of foil to separate the sections (see the photos). This dessert is great for any Memorial Day, Independence Day, or Labor Day celebration!

Mom's Cherry Pie Filling
2 cans sour cherries
1 cup sugar
¼ cup flour

Drain cherries, reserving juice from just one of the cans (discard the other). In a small saucepan combine juice, sugar and flour. Stir until smooth and cook over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat and add cherries to pan.

Mom's Blueberry Pie Filling - Quartered
1/4 cup sugar
Dash of all-purpose flour
Dash of Salt
1/4 tsp. Cinnamon
1 cup fresh blueberries, washed
1 t. fresh lemon juice

Spoon cherry mixture over 3/4 of the pastry in pan, leaving 1 quadrant free. Spoon blueberry mixture into unfilled area. Decorate with unbaked pie crust for stars and stripes as appropriate. Bake at 400 degrees for 60-70 minutes, covering crust if it is browning too fast after 40 minutes.

Ok, I am getting SO frustrated trying to post pictures. I will just post this text and send the pics separate. How do you get them at the end of your document versus the beginning of the post? Ugh.







Thursday, July 1, 2010

June Side Dish

I am a little late posting my June side dish because my food photographer (Megan) has not sent me the pictures yet!!!!

There is a restaurant in St.Louis called Crazy Fish that had the most awesome parmesan coated corn on the cob. The first corn of the season in Virginia is in and in thinking about a good summer/beach/picnic side dish I tried to recreate this.

Parmesan Grilled Corn on the Cob

Bring 8 ears of corn to boil in a large pot of salted water.  Turn off heat and let steam a few minutes.  Then put on a hot grill just to get grill marks (could totally skip the grilling).  While the corn is hot, brush with a good quality mayonnaise, roll in shredded parmesan cheese and lightly sprinkle with chipotle chili powder. Add salt and pepper to taste at the table.

That's it!  It's amazingly DELICIOUS.

Gail 4CE

Friday, June 11, 2010

Lauren's June Dish - Quinoa Tabbouleh

So, I decided to try this as a beachy appetizer... I do think it could be a side as well... so I might post another recipe when we get back from our two vacations!

I made this today for dinner tomorrow night with 6 of us Sleesmans. We are all running and I thought quinoa would be a good source of nutrients the night before the race... it was very fun to make as it had lots of chopping.

Some modifications: I used both mint and parsley, and I cooled the quinoa on wax paper before I mixed it into the rest of the ingredients. The first picture is mis en place for the salad... except I had already chopped the tomato... the rest are just pictures along the way. Bon Appetite!

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cups water
  • 1 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 1/2 cup coarsely chopped seeded tomato
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint or parsley
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  • 1/4 cup chopped cucumber
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons chopped green onions
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons minced fresh onion
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

Combine water and quinoa in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat; fluff with a fork. Stir in tomato and remaining ingredients. Cover; let stand 1 hour. Serve chilled or at room temperature.







Our Anniversary Dinner















So I have to post this picture of our anniversary dinner at The Med in Boulder, CO... it was so yummy! We ordered 9 tapas and split a pizza... SO FULL!

Enjoy!


Lauren's May Dessert - Cut Out Sugar Cookies

So, I know it is kind of lame, but I decided to try a new sugar cookie recipe to serve Jay and Christy upon their arrival tonight for their wedding vacation.

My friend Michelle's mother-in-law made these at Michelle's baby shower and I was obsessed!  She finally gave me the recipe and I tried it out... with altitude, I found it a bit difficult to roll out the cookies to the right thickness and my oven isn't the greatest!

The taste is so yummy and very rich... I will learn how to attach a document as it was sent via pdf file... but here are some pictures of the action!  Bon Appetite!




Saturday, June 5, 2010

A great banana bread recipe

To me, Mom's banana bread recipe is the purest form of the popular bread, and how I think all good banana bread should taste. With that said, my mini food processor is too small to make a batch of her bread in and with no room for any additional large appliances in my small kitchen, I am left searching for banana bread recipes that do not require a Cuisinart...

Well, I think I have found a good one! It is from The Newlywed Cookbook by Robin Miller, given to us for our wedding by a couple who has worked for the Marvil family for a long time. I especially like it because it does not use any oil or butter, just an egg. I made a few modifications the first time I made it and have included those changes in the recipe below. I told Lauren about the bread and she wanted the recipe, so thought this would be the perfect place to share it!

Super Moist Banana Bread

Ingredients

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup ground walnuts (optional)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 large, over-ripe bananas
1/4 cup milk (regular or nonfat)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, walnuts, and cinnamon. Mix well with a fork and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, blend bananas until mushy. Add milk, egg, and vanilla and mix until blended. Add dry ingredients to banana mixture and mix until just blended. Pour batter into an 8-inch loaf pan that has been coated with non-stick cooking spray. Bake 1 hour (check with toothpick). Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove bread from pan and cool completely.

Catching Up - May's Main Dish

After coming down from such a relaxing and fulfilling vacation week with my family and friends, I am trying to catch up on things neglected. I had the main dish in May, and keeping with my style, wanted to post a yummy meatless meal - Asparagus and Pesto Pasta. This is a very simple, tasty and quick weeknight meal (which makes me feel bad, as Mom's appetizers looked so delicious and exotic!). I came about making this in an attempt to use up some of the delicious spring veggies I could not resist at the DuPont Circle farmers market the Sunday prior. It was my first farmer's market of the season and I left with a bag full of rhubarb, spring onions, asparagus, exotic salad greens, and "Mountain Top Blue", an aged goat blue cheese from a goat farm in Maryland's Allegheny plateau. But the yummiest item I bought was a vegan Green Garlic pesto. Green garlic is a special spring treat that looks like a green onion but tastes like the creamiest, yummiest garlic you have ever tried.

The pesto was yummy enough to eat out of the container with a spoon, but I knew Pat would rather not eat it that way! So I went onto MyRecipes and put "asparagus, pesto, pasta" into their recipe search engine and found my inspiration from the below five-star rated recipe for Gnocchi with Shrimp, Asparagus, and Pesto:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1634729

I used the green garlic pesto in lieu of their pesto recipe, but the dish would be great with any pesto, store bought or your favorite homemade recipe, and I used whole wheat linguine vice the gnocchi. I would never post a gnocchi dish on the blog, as I know mom is not a fan of its uber gummy texture, but I also think the hearty taste of the whole wheat pasta holds up better against the bold pesto flavors. I left out the shrimp because I did not have it on hand (and wanted to keep it vegetarian) although I think it would be a great and healthy addition to the recipe. No photo was taken but will definitely make a point to do so for all future monthly posts.

Asparagus and Pesto Pasta

Ingredients

2 quarts water
1 package of your favorite whole wheat pasta
4 cups (1-inch) slices asparagus (about 1 pound)
1/2 -3/4 cup of your favorite pesto
4 tablespoons shredded or grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Bring 2 quarts water to a boil in a Dutch oven. Add pasta to pan and cook according to package directions. Remove pasta from water and place in large serving bowl; toss with a splash of olive oil to prevent sticking. Add asparagus to boiling pasta water and cook 5 minutes. Drain. Add asparagus to pasta. Add pesto to asparagus pasta mixture and toss to coat. Serve immediately with a tablespoon of Parmesan sprinkled a top each serving.


Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 cups)

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Testing

Thought I'd test this and see if I can post from my gmail and see how it looks compared to the other kinds.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Second try side dish-Mushrooms with a soy sauce glaze

Just tried to post before, but somehow deleted it or something.  Made this tonight (nothing like waiting to the last minute!) and it was good, but will make with low sodium soy sauce next time.  I got it from all recipes and it was VERY highly rated. I made it with fillet and a salad and bread for Brent and I, but the mushrooms were so quick, they cooled off quite a bit so will wait until well after I put the steaks on next time.

2 Tbs. unsalted butter
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp soy sauce

1. Melt the butter in skillet over medium heat; add the mushrooms; cook and stir until the mushrooms have softened and released their liquid, about 5 minutes. 
2. Stir in the garlic; continue to cook and stir for 1 minute. 
3. Pour in the soy sauce; cook the mushrooms in the soy sauce until the liquid has evaporated, about 4 minutes.

Gotta figure out how to post a picture.

We'll see.  Oh!  I did it!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

May Appetizer #2

Apparently watching Julie & Julia way too many times, made me over achiever.  I just made another ground chicken recipe from the May issue of Cooking Light.  It was delicious!  Just be careful handling the habanero pepper!  It's a little labor-intensive, but worth it. - Mom

Haitian Chicken Pate Puffs  Haitian Chicken Pâté Puffs


Rather than a more traditional pâté, a chicken picadillo is first made and then whirred up for a filling in these little first-course puff-pastry packets. The filling is then sealed in the dough and baked. It's highly spiced for sure, but also very aromatic, a nice start to any meal.

Ingredients

  • 1  habanero pepper
  • Cooking spray
  • 1/4  cup  chopped yellow onion
  • 2  teaspoons  minced garlic
  • 1/2  pound  ground chicken breast
  • 1/4  cup  shredded carrot
  • 2  teaspoons  no-salt-added tomato paste
  • 2  teaspoons  fresh lime juice
  • 1  teaspoon  cider vinegar
  • 1  tablespoon  chopped green onions
  • 1  tablespoon  chopped fresh parsley
  • 1  teaspoon  chopped fresh thyme
  • 1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4  teaspoon  salt
  • 1/8  teaspoon  ground cloves
  • 1/8  teaspoon  grated whole nutmeg
  • 1  (14-ounce) package frozen puff pastry, thawed
  • 1  large egg
  • 1  tablespoon  water

Preparation

1. Cut habanero in half. Seed one half of pepper, and leave seeds in other half. Mince both pepper halves. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add minced habanero, onion, and garlic to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Add chicken; cook 5 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Add carrot; cook 2 minutes. Add tomato paste; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add lime juice and vinegar, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add green onions and next 6 ingredients (through nutmeg); stir well. Remove from heat; cool mixture to room temperature.
2. Place cooled chicken mixture in a food processor; process until almost smooth (mixture will begin to clump).
3. Preheat oven to 400°.
4. Roll puff pastry into a 15 x 12–inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Cut puff pastry into 20 (3-inch) squares. Combine egg and water, stirring with a whisk. Brush egg mixture along edges of pastry squares; spoon about 1 scant tablespoon filling in center of each pastry square. Fold each pastry square in half; press edges closed with tines of a fork. Brush top with egg wash; arrange 1 inch apart on a baking sheet. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

May Appetizer - Larb

It's appropriate since I had the appetizer that I am the first post for this month!!  I just made the following recipe for Larb.  It is a Thai appetizer that I had with Megan, Pat and Nick at a wonderful Thai restaurant in San Clemente.  This is from Cooking Light which called for ground turkey since it is more lean.  However, I wanted to stay with a more traditional Thai version so used ground chicken.  I made it exactly as below.  My only change next time would to make it a little spicier - more serrano chile and red pepper flakes.  It's very South Beach diet friendly!! - Mom

LARB

Yield: 2 servings (serving size: about 2/3 cup larb and 1 cabbage wedge)

Ingredients

  • 2  teaspoons  grated lime rind
  • 1  teaspoon  grated lemon rind
  • 1/4  cup  fresh lime juice
  • 1  tablespoon  fresh lemon juice
  • 1  tablespoon  fish sauce
  • 2  teaspoons  brown sugar
  • 1/2  teaspoon  finely chopped serrano chile
  • 1/4  teaspoon  crushed red pepper
  • 1  teaspoon  vegetable oil
  • 12  ounces  ground chicken breast
  • 1  tablespoon  chopped shallots
  • 1/2  cup  coarsely chopped fresh mint
  • 1/2  head green cabbage, cored and halved

Preparation

Combine first 8 ingredients, stirring with a whisk until sugar dissolves.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add turkey and shallots; sauté 5 minutes or until done, stirring to crumble. Drizzle with juice mixture, stirring to coat. Sprinkle with mint. Serve in a cabbage leaf.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Let there be ABSTRACT!

So NOT food related because I have spent the last two days on the boat being very dirty and eating the banana bread I baked on Friday night (sorry, Laur, no cookies...) and the fruit and sandwiches I packed for the weekend... (yes, mom, I made a peanut butter and butter for me - still my favorite!). So, tonight, I just wanted to practice posting and share with you one of my favorite paintings from the museum Paddy and I visited tonight.  It was the last night of their Georgia O'Keefe abstract exhibit so they were open till 10pm.  We arrived just after 8 and had a nice time wandering through the art.  I love how Pat can go from dirty boat captain to dashing urban gentlemen in the time it takes to shower!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

So here is my first attempt at a post with an "artsy" picture!

Practicing with Pictures


Hey! So I want to try out pictures with posts... here we go:

I think it worked, and it was very easy... I just selected the little icon with a landscape picture in it and then uploaded an image... this will be nice when we post pictures of our food!

So, now it is your turn to try out a post!


Welcome to our Blog!

Thanks to Amy, we got our project up and running. During the month of May, we are assigned different courses to cook, and then post and talk about them.

This month, here is the schedule:
Mom - appetizer
Amy - side dish/veggies
Megan - main dish
Lauren - dessert

Happy Cooking!