Grilled Cheese Sandwiches on the Actual Grill...and Hildene!

That sandwich up there is a grilled Harvarti cheese and tomato sandwich made on the outside grill. Not fried inside in a pan, not toasted in the oven....that sandwich can proudly call itself an honest to goodness GRILLED cheese sandwich. I'm not sure why it never occurred to me before that grilled cheese sandwiches might taste pretty awesome when made on the actual grill, but I finally saw the light, and what a difference! But I will get back to that sandwich later, because what I REALLY want to talk about is the cheese inside of it.

Now, a few months ago I got a special delivery of this scrumptious goat cheese being made at a new cheese-making facility up in Manchester, Vermont. It was not even being sold yet - I got a special sneak preview. And man, was it good.

Smooth and creamy and perfect on everything from elaborate pasta dishes to plain old crackers.

I emailed this place to rave about it, and they invited me to come up and have a look at their operation the next time I was in Vermont...which is how I got the behind the scenes tour of the fabulous cheese-making area at the historic Hildene Lincoln Family residence. Hildene has been around for ages and you can tour the beautiful historic home of Robert Todd Lincoln and walk through the gorgeous gardens, but their new cheesemaking facility is brand-new.

Our first stop was inside that beautiful building, which was clean as a whistle and full of these...

That, my friends, is a Nubian goat - floppy ears, brown eyes and totally adorable. And the source of the milk that makes the cheese.

The inside was big and airy with lots of room for the goats to relax and play, and the doors opened up onto big fenced areas on the grounds where they were roaming in and out.

Hi honeybunch! Want to come home with me?

I learned very quickly that the old line about goats being willing to eat anything was actually completely true. While I was taking that picture of the sweet little black and tan goat above, her buddy was eating the hem of my shorts. They will also apparently eat metal chains...

And Silly Bands.

While I was making friends in the big building, the Southern husband took a look in this smaller barn across the path.

Now let me explain the next few pictures (and please forgive the wonky color - there was no, and I mean NO light in there. My Nikon was screaming for mercy). Anyway, there is a series of openings in the back and side walls of this barn, just big enough for the goats to stick their cute little heads in from the outside. I'm guessing it has something to do with feeding them their dinner, because when we went inside, a whole bunch of them immediately popped their heads in the openings.

Don't they look like they think a snack is on the way? They were especially interested in the teenager. When she was behind me, they looked at her. When she moved to the side, they looked at her.

I swear that they were smiling at us.

I loved their names, too. Cinnamon Bun the Goat.

And I also adored this sign. Goats-Busters!!!

Back in the big building, we took a look at the cheese-making rooms, including this little piece of heaven where the finished cheese is just sitting here waiting for me.

They still have the delicious chevre goat cheese that I remembered from before, and this time they also had a lovely havarti, all packaged up in this adorable wrapping.

By the end, the Southern husband was pondering getting a goat farm of his own. I was still wondering if I could sneak Cinnamon Bun out in my camera bag.

So next time you are in Southern Vermont, stop by beautiful Hildene - tour the house and the gardens, and make sure you stop by and say hello to the friendly goats. And whatever you do, don't leave without picking up some of their AMAZING cheese.

The end. (Except for the recipe).

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches on the Actual Grill!

• 2 slices bread - any substantial bread will do, but regular sandwich bread will be too soft
• Sliced havarti cheese
• Thinly sliced tomato
• Olive oil
• Fresh ground pepper

1. Heat grill to medium. Assemble sandwiches by layering cheese, then tomato, then another layer of cheese.

2. Brush outside of bread with olive oil and grind pepper on top.

3. Place sandwich on grill and weight down with something heavy (a brick wrapped in foil, a heavy frying pan or one of those big cans of tomatoes will all work!

4. Grill for 2-3 minutes on each side until bread is toasted and cheese is melted. Serve at once.

Click here for printable recipe

Steak Skewers with Blue Cheese Dip

This is one of those great recipes that combines super-easy-to-make with super-fun-to-eat.  I don't know about you, but for me, everything is better when it comes on a skewer.  (Corn dog, anyone?  Anyone?) This one involves threading very thin slices of flank steak onto wooden skewers.  Make sure you soak the skewers really well in water before you start assembling them.  There is nothing sadder than watching your skewer go up in flames.

Anyway, once your steak skewers are assembled, give them a good seasoning with balsamic vinegar, coarse salt and fresh ground pepper, and lay them on the grill.  It will take you only a few minutes to cook up these babies, depending on how rare or well-done you like them, and that's it!  The blue cheese dip comes straight out of whatever your favorite fancy refrigerated blue cheese dressing is - I like Marie's Blue Cheese dressing which is usually in the produce section of my supermarket.  Grind a little more pepper into the dressing, sprinkle some fresh parsley over the whole thing, and dinner is served.  Or lunch.  Or a really serious snack....

Steak Skewers with Blue Cheese Dip, adapted from Real Simple

• 1/2 pound flank steak
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup good quality blue cheese dressing
• Chopped parsley
• 16 wooden skewers, thoroughly soaked in water

1. Freeze steak for about 10 minutes (this makes it easier to cut).  Slice very thinly against the grain into strips and thread onto soaked skewers

2. Brush with vinegar and season with salt and pepper.

3. Grill over medium high heat until cooked through, 1-2 minutes per side.  

4. Put dressing in a small bowl and sprinkle with parsley.  Serve at once.

Click here for printable recipe

Watermelon and Cheese Bites

Once a year, we gather with some of our very best friends at their beautiful lake house. We go to the state fair, we play badminton, we watch movies, we sit around the campfire and we lounge around and talk and laugh and sing and dance.

And we eat. Oh, do we eat. A couple of weeks beforehand, we plan out the weekend menu, which is a conglomeration of traditional items that we have every year without fail (grilled pizza!) along with some new recipes that we are trying out. That's one of the great things about hanging out with old friends - you can test out brand-new things with nothing to fear...they are always up for adventure.

That is where these scrumptious little nibbles come from. You skewer mozzarella, watermelon chunks, a little bit of prosciutto and a mint leaf (do not even THINK about skipping the mint leaf. It is the part that makes this baby just perfect.) Drizzle the cheese with a little balsamic vinegar mixed with olive oil, and that's it! Until you start debating the order of ingredients on the toothpick.

And then have to go outside and photograph the dang thing all over again. Just remember, as long as the mint leaf still ends up on the top, you're golden!

Watermelon and Cheese Bites, adapted from one of my favorite blogs, Cook Eat Love

• Cubed watermelon
• Mozzarella - either the small round variety, or regular fresh mozzarella cut into cubes
• Very thin sliced prosciutto
• Small fresh mint leaves
• Olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar
• Toothpicks

1. Mix equal parts oil and vinegar - about 1/8 cup of each to start and increase depending on how many you are making.  Mix cheese and vinegar mixture until cheese is lightly coated.

2. Assemble watermelon, cheese, small folded pieces of prosciutto and mint leaves in whatever order you like.  Serve at once. 

and a mint leaf!

Click here for printable recipe

Bacon Cinnamon Rolls

I have been bad. I have been very, very bad.

I took a roll of those refrigerated cinnamon rolls - the one that pops open when you pull the paper off the roll. I unrolled each of the uncooked cinnamon rolls into a long cinnamon roll dough strip. I took a strip of bacon, laid it on top of the dough, rolled it back up, and baked it until the rolls and the bacon were all cooked together. I frosted them with the white sugar frosting that comes with the cinnamon roll dough.

And I ate one. The Southern husband ate one. (Well, three, if we are being completely accurate.) The teenager ate one. The dog ate the last bite of mine (she was sitting at my feet whimpering and looking at me with those EYES of hers).

And it was GOOD. Oh man, was it good.

I found this recipe while doing one of my favorite things to do on the computer, which is Googling the word 'bacon." Because you never know...and sure enough, I came across this site called Bacon Today. They have bacon recipes, bacon products, bacon songs, bacon videos...they are very serious about their bacon. And amid all that stuff was this recipe for bacon cinnamon rolls. I was a goner from the first second I saw it...it was really only a matter of time.

A couple of notes on this one. I used the bacon straight out of the package, and after 15 minutes in the oven the rolls were nice and brown, and the bacon was cooked but not crispy. Which is fine - in our house we all happen to like our bacon on the chewy side. If you like your bacon well-done, you might want to nuke it for a couple of minutes before rolling it up into the dough. Second, don't worry if your cinnamon roll dough doesn't unroll perfectly. Mine came apart here and there, but just mush it back together and you will be just fine.

I think that is all I have to say about this one.

Bacon Cinnamon Rolls, adapted from Bacon Today

• 1 package refrigerated cinnamon rolls (the kind in the tube)
• 8 slices bacon (and if you like your bacon well done, cook it in the microwave for 1-2 minutes)

1. Preheat over to 400.

2. Separate rolls and unroll into long strips. Lay one slice of bacon on top of each strip and roll back up, pressing the dough together as needed. Place on greased cookie sheet.

3. Bake for 15 minutes or until rolls are browned and bacon is cooked.

4. Spread frosting from dough package on top of rolls while still hot.

5. Stand back out of the way. These babies are best right out of the oven!

Grilled Asparagus Ricotta Pizza

I'm still not exactly sure where summer went, because I think it was pretty much last week that I was planting my herbs and throwing all the windows in the house open...but the leaves are just starting to get that look...

...and so I am laying on the grill recipes while there is still time.  Not that the Southern husband won't go out and grill in the snow...but somehow, it's not the same.  And along with this summer's favorite grill recipe, which is Buttermilk Grilled Chicken, one of my top choices for the grill is grilled pizza.  This summer we have had the classic cheese and basil grilled pizza, a fabulous bacon and rosemary grilled pizza, and most recently that little number pictured above, which is a grilled asparagus and ricotta cheese pizza.

(Side note: I used to drive myself crazy trying to roll the pizza dough out into a perfect little circle, until one day I realized that I actually liked the abstract shapes better.  Which is why that particular pizza kind of looks like Snoopy's head, only without the ears.)

Anyway.  I used my foolproof pizza dough recipe from Cooks Illustrated, which never ever lets me down.  Roast some asparagus in the oven and get your hands on some fresh ricotta (you can buy it at the supermarket, or you can be crazy like me and make your own.  It's not hard, I promise.).  Grill up that pizza dough on your grill, slather it with ricotta, lay the asparagus on top, drizzle it with some olive oil and some grated parmesan cheese and a good grinding of black pepper.  It's almost enough to make the end of summer bearable...that and the thought of all those pumpkin recipes in our near future.

Grilled Asparagus Ricotta Pizza

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup water at room temperature
• 2 cups bread flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• One large bunch thin asparagus
• 2 cups fresh ricotta
• Olive oil for drizzling
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Fresh ground pepper

1. Mix water and oil

2. Add bread flour, sugar, salt and yeast to food processor. Pulse once or twice to mix.

3. While running, add water mixture through tube.  Process until dough forms a ball that clears the sides of the bowl.  If dough doesn't form a ball, add more flour one tablespoon at a time until it does.

4. Transfer dough to mixing bowl sprayed with olive oil.  Cover and let rise for 2 hours.

5. Right before you are going to make the pizza, roast the asparagus by tossing with a little olive oil and salt and roasting in a 425 degree oven for about 10 minutes.  Set aside.

6. Divide dough into 4 sections.  Roll into balls, dust with flour, and roll each one out to about a 6-8 inch size crust.  Don't worry if the shape isn't perfect, grilled pizza is supposed to look rustic!  Layer crusts in between wax paper.

7. Heat grill to medium high and lay crusts on grill.  Grill for about 5 minutes, lifting up to check every minute to make sure the crusts aren't cooking too fast.  Pop any big dough bubbles with a knife.  When the first side is getting brown and charred, flip over with tongs and cook on other side until done.

8. Spread crust with fresh ricotta, top with asparagus and Parmesan.  Drizzle olive oil over all and top with fresh ground pepper.

Note: you can substitute soft goat cheese for the ricotta if you like.  Yum!

Click here for printable recipe

 

Lobster BLT Salad...and the Stonewall Kitchen Cookbook Winner!

If I ever had to make the agonizing decision between lobster and bacon, I'm not sure what I would do.  They are two of my favorite taste sensations in the entire world, and so when I read about the Lobster BLT Salad that is on the menu at the Stonewall Kitchen Cafe, I just had to take a whack at it.  Someday I am going to make it up there to Maine to try the real thing, but for now I had to be satisfied with doing my own imitation of it.  The menu description went like this:

Cafe Lobster BLT Salad - Local lobster meat, tossed lightly with mayonnaise & chopped celery served on a bed of chopped baby iceberg lettuce. Topped with crumbled cherrywood-smoked bacon, slices of vine-ripened tomatoes and housemade croutons. 

So I sent the Southern husband off to the store to pick us up a couple of steamed lobsters (because I am a complete sissy when it comes to cooking my own lobsters.  I'm sorry, but it's true.).  I had some nice farmer's market tomatoes, and of course you know I had bacon in the house already.  I used romaine instead of iceberg, although I'm sure iceberg would be perfectly fine.  A leftover hunk of French bread turned into some lovely croutons.  The restaurant menu says that their BLT salad is served with the dressing of your choice -- I found that the lobster salad provided enough "dressing" taste for the salad, but go for addition dressing if you like.  I'm sure the original is even better, but for a New Jersey version, this was pretty dang good.

Meantime, thank you to EVERYONE who commented on the giveaway post for STONEWALL KITCHEN FAVORITES, the amazing cookbook from my friends at Stonewall.  What a great group of suggestions for summer favorites!  My menu for next summer is now completely figured out!  As usual I went to Random.org to pick out the winner, since I can't bear to choose on my own, and the lucky winner of the signed-by-the-authors cookbook is Holly, who commented that marinated flank steak is one of her favorites.  YUM, me too!

Here's the recipe, and onward to fall...

Lobster BLT Salad, inspired by the Stonewall Kitchen Cafe

• Two lobsters, cooked, shelled and torn into pieces
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 2 ribs of celery, chopped
• freshly ground pepper to taste
• One head romaine lettuce, torn into bite sized pieces
• 4 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 2 large tomatoes, sliced into bite-sized pieces
• 1 cup large croutons

1. Mix lobster, mayo, celery and pepper together.
2. Place lobster mixture in large bowl with all other ingredients and toss gently until well mixed.
3. Add your choice of dressing (if desired - we didn't use any) and toss again.  Serve at once.

Click here for printable recipe

Toasted Marshmallow Shakes...and a Crush!

I have two crushes to tell you about today, and the first one is that glass of deliciousness up there. It is a Toasted Marshmallow Shake. Yes, you read that right. I know it looks like it might actually be a chocolate shake, but that delectable brown color comes from blender-ized toasted marshmallows, along with some milk and some vanilla ice cream. And when you take that first sip...it's a total toasted marshmallow in smooth, silky milkshake form.

I helped one of my sweetest friends try this recipe out over Labor Day weekend, and speaking of sweet...this shake is almost as sweet as she is. It is sweeter than this:

It is even sweeter than THIS:

Photo by Bruce Sohl

And that is pretty sweet. Here's the deal - you spread out a bag of marshmallows onto a cookie sheet. Make sure you line the cookie sheet with foil, and if you have the nonstick kind, even better. Toast them under the broiler until they are well, well, well-done. Watch those babies closely, and stir them around a little - you want them toasted as all-over as possible. Then pop them in your blender with 2 cups of vanilla ice cream, 2 cups of milk and a tablespoon of sour cream. Blend for 5 minutes. Yes, five minutes. Then park it in the fridge for a while until it is good and cold and presto - toasted marshmallow shake. Make sure you hold back one marshmallow to toast lightly and perch on the top.

That's my first crush of this post. My second one I am actually even MORE excited about, and that is a new partnership I am starting with one of my favorite blogs, the AWESOME Design Crush. I've been following this fabulous blog ever since I figured out what the word blog meant. It is written by the wonderful Kelly, who finds recipes and pictures and books and jewelry and you name it from all over the planet, and gathers them all together with links on her one gorgeous blog. One day I realized that she had linked to one of my posts, and oh, happy day! We hit it off from there, and a little while ago she invited me to do a regular post on her site. So look for my guest post on Fridays on this beautiful blog, and if you don't already have it on your reader, or blogroll, or wherever you get your blog-reading, I promise you'll have your own crush on Design Crush very, very soon.

So here's the recipe for toasted marshmallow shakes, and here's my own toast to Design Crush - come visit me there on Fridays!

Toasted Marshmallow Shake, adapted from Spike Mendelsohn's recipe

1 ten ounce package marshmallows

2 cups whole milk

2 cups vanilla ice cream

1 tablespoon sour cream

1. Preheat the broiler to high. Line a cookie sheet with foil and lay marshmallows in a single layer. Broil until very dark brown, watching constantly and stirring halfway through. Cool.

2. Add mil, ice cream, sour cream and marshmallows to blender. Blend for 5 minutes. (You may have to do this in batches, depending on the size of your blender.

3. Chill in refrigerator until very cold, about one hour. Top with lightly toasted marshmallow and serve!

Click here for printable recipe

Sesame Noodles with Cucumber Cashew Salad

I can't remember the first time I discovered soba noodles, but once I did I kinda felt like I had won the food lottery. Soba noodles are made of buckwheat, and addition to being really, really tasty, they are actually pretty good for you, as far as pasta goes. And when you pair them with a scrumptious sauce and nestle a delicious cucumber cashew salad next to them...well, it's a good day when you can say you are having a super-delicious dinner and being virtuously healthy all at the same time. Right?

This quick cold noodle salad is another one from my week-long celebration of one of my new favorite cookbooks, STONEWALL KITCHEN FAVORITES, and if you haven't yet entered the giveaway for a signed copy of this fantastic book, click here. In the meantime, here's the scoop on this salad. The sauce is a speedy combo of garlic, ginger, scallions, tahini, chili paste, soy sauce and my personal favorite kitchen ingredient, peanut butter. You thin it down a little with some hot water from the cooking pasta, toss in some cilantro if you are a cilantro person, and that's it. The salad is a simple combo of chopped cucumber and cashews tossed with sesame oil and white vinegar with a little ground pepper.

All these exotic ingredients can usually be found in any decent supermarket. If you absolutely can't find soba noodles anywhere (and I promise you that Amazon will have them!), you can sub in linguine. You just won't get to feel as completely virtuous. All of this wonderfulness is fabulous on its own, and also the perfect accompaniment to grilled steak or chicken or fish.

Here's the delish recipe, and don't forget to enter the giveaway!

Sesame Noodles with Cucumber Cashew Salad, from Stonewall Kitchen Favorites

# minced garlic cloves
3 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup tahini
2 teaspoons chili paste
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup minced cilantro
1 eight ounce package soba noodles (or linguine)
Sesame seeds for garnish

1 seedless cucumber, chopped
3/5 cup coarsely chopped cashews
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons rice or white wine vinegar
Fresh ground pepper

1. Bring large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.

2. In a large bowl, mix garlic, ginger and scallions. Mix in peanut butter and tahini. Add chili paste and soy sauce and stir well. Add 1/2 cup hot water from the pot and stir into sauce. Add cilantro.

3. Make salad by mixing cucumber, cashews, sesame oil and vinegar in a separate small bowl. Set aside.

4. Add noodles to boiling water and cook until just tender. Drain and run under cold water until cool. Drain again and toss with sauce until well-coated. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with cucumber salad on the side.

Click here for printable recipe

White Chocolate Vanilla Ice Cream...Without The Ice Cream Maker!

First of all, let me say that I DO own an ice cream maker. And as much as I love most of my kitchen appliances, from my rice cooker right on through to my popcorn popper (no microwave popcorn for me!), I just haven't been able to bond with the ice cream maker. It's a perfectly nice ice cream maker - it's just that it seems like such a production to freeze the inner liner, make the custard, put everything together the exact right way, and then say a prayer to the powers that be that it all comes out the right way.

So when I came across this recipe on the Cooks Country site, and read that it required exactly NO ice cream maker, I thought I better give it a try. And as it turns out, it was AMAZING ice cream. A gorgeously creamy consistency, a little hit of white chocolate taste, and all you need is your mixer and your microwave.

I thought it was feeling too good to be true, so I put it to the ultimate test, otherwise known as the teenager and her best friend. They loved it, and then told me that in return for their taste-testing services they were expecting to see their picture in this post. So here they are.

I love them dearly, but they don't usually look like this, just for the record. Nor did they actually go to the prom together, also for the record. But that's the most current picture I have of them, so there you go.

Back to the ice cream. You melt some condensed milk and a tiny amount of white chocolate chips in the microwave, and let it cool. Then you whip up some heavy cream in your mixer. Back to the melted chocolate chips: stir in some sour cream and some vanilla. Then you fold the whole thing together, freeze it for at least 6 hours (we let ours freeze overnight), and then you are ALMOST ready to dig in.I say almost because this fabulous ice cream is made completely perfect by adding some of this to the top of it.

Otherwise known as the best chocolate sauce on Planet Earth. (And by the way, if you haven't entered into my giveaway for a signed copy of STONEWALL KITCHEN FAVORITES, the completely fabulous cookbook from my friends at Stonewall Kitchen, then please click here without delay!)

So there you have it -- scrumptious ice cream, no ice cream maker, and with this amazing chocolate sauce...well, life doesn't get much better.

White Chocolate Vanilla Ice Cream, adapted from Cooks Country

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 ounce white chocolate chips
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Pinch salt
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/4 cups cold heavy cream

1. Microwave condensed milk and chocolate chips in 30 second increments until chips are melted and smooth, stirring after each 30 seconds. Let cool, and then stir in vanilla, salt and sour cream.

2. Whip heavy cream on medium high speed until soft peaks form, 1-2 minutes. Whisk 1/3 cream into white chocolate mixture. Fold remaining cream in until well mixed and smooth.

3. Place in airtight container and freeze for at least 6 hours or up to 2 weeks.

Click here for printable recipe

Lobster Rolls and a Cookbook Contest!

Yes, that is a good old-fashioned lobster roll in front of you, and it come from one of my new favorite cookbooks, STONEWALL KITCHEN FAVORITES. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I would basically like to move into the Stonewall Kitchen and live there for the rest of my life. Click here for just a few of the many, many, many reasons why. At any rate, the folks at Stonewall Kitchen heard about my adoration and were nice enough to send me a copy of their amazing cookbook. First of all, the food photography made me both deliriously happy AND think I better practice a little more with my own Nikon. It's just glorious. And the recipes...every bit as wonderful as I hoped they would be.

And happily, I have one more of these fabulous cookbooks to give away!



More info on how to enter for the giveaway at the bottom of this post...but first we must discuss the lobster roll, which (of course) came from this fabulous cookbook.

Among the many, many other talented things that the Southern husband does is keep an eye on all the various supermarkets in the area for when lobster goes on sale. We just LOVE lobster in this house (who doesn't?), but it does make me squirm a little when the price of cooking dinner starts rivaling the mortgage payment. So whenever he spots it on sale he makes sure to pick up a few of those babies, and to have have supermarket steam them up so they are cooked and ready for action. I have a few recipes that I go back to again and again that call for cooked lobster, but some days there is nothing like a good old-fashioned lobster roll.

Enter the Stonewall Kitchen Favorites, which has a lobster roll recipe that has now become my favorite lobster roll recipe of all time. It's light and creamy and classic and perfect. And EASY. You take a couple of lobsters-worth of lobster meat, tear it into bite-sized pieces, and mix it up with lime zest, lime juice, fresh ginger, chopped scallion and just the teeny-tiny-est bit of mayo.

Then lightly toast a few hot dog rolls. In an ideal world, you will have top-split hot dog rolls (which are sometimes called New England-style. Why? I have no idea.). Butter them lightly, and then spoon the lobster salad into the rolls.

You have now pretty much achieved Lobster Roll Nirvana. It just doesn't get any better than this.

Recipe is below, but first the giveaway: I have one glorious copy of Stonewall Kitchen Favorites to give away to a lucky winner, and get this: it is also signed by the authors. All those spectacular recipes, and signed by the authors as well...it's almost as good as that lobster roll! Just leave me a comment on this post telling me your favorite summer recipe, and next Sunday I will pick one lucky, lucky recipient of this amazing cookbook. My beloved email subscribers, you can enter by clicking the post title, which will take you to the website where you can comment.

But first...lobster roll!

Lobster Rolls, adapted from Stonewall Kitchen Favorites

1 1/2 cups cooked lobster meat

1 teaspoon grated lime zest

1 teaspoon fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon grated, peeled fresh ginger

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

1 scallion, white and green parts, chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Two hit dog buns, toasted and buttered

1. Mix together the lobster, lime zest and juice, ginger, mayonnaise and scallion in a small bowl until well combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

2. Serve in a lightly toasted and buttered hot dog bun.

Click here for printable recipe

Pasta with Garlic, Blue Cheese and Tomatoes

A few days ago I posted a recipe that included some reminiscing about our recent Vermont vacation, and while you may have thought you were done looking at my vacation pictures...guess what. I held back a few, because I wanted to have enough time to go over a couple of little treasures that I found while we were up there. I promise that this will be at least marginally related to that plate of pasta up there.

One of things we love to do is go exploring around the rambling unpaved roads, because you never know what you are going to find around the next turn. We found a couple of fabulous spots in Castleton, Vermont.The first was Wright Choice Alpacas. Have you ever met an alpaca before? I never had, and how adorable is this?

They are like life-size, walking, talking (they were very talkative) versions of your favorite stuffed animal, and we spent some fun time with Deb who introduced us to the alpacas and then showed us her gorgeous array of things created from their wool. (I'm not sure that is the technical term, so bear with me here. ) I picked out a soft, beautiful green gaiter, which Deb had knitted herself. I love the whole concept of a gaiter. My lovely assistant will demonstrate...

It's open at the top, but it has a little drawstring. So you can leave it open and wear it around your neck, which is probably what I will do most days. My neck gets chilly.

OR, you can pull that drawstring closed, tie it in a bow, and wear it as a hat. Isn't that the best??

When I was able to tear myelf away from the alpacas (I really, really wanted to take one with me), we drove into town to visit the spectacular Farrow Gallery and Studios, which features the glorious sculpture artwork of the late Patrick Farrow and Susan Farrow. Susan was there and gave us a lovely tour of the place, which included everything from giant sculptures to her own framed piece of art made from found Vermont iron, to an amazing display of sculpted jewelry. I knew exactly what I wanted as soon as I saw it.

It is a small pendant shaped into, yes, a clove of garlic. As the card says, among other things, I will now be safe forever from vampires. And of course it got me to thinking...garlic, garlic...which (finally!) brings me to that plate of pasta up there. This is a dish from the Pioneer Woman's website that features three cloves of minced garlic, along with a load of other things near and dear to my heart, such as blue cheese, spinach, tomatoes and a whole lot of pasta. It's a quick and easy recipe that cooks all in one pot (well two, if you count boiling the pasta), and the combo of the blue cheese, the tomato and the spinach is just heaven. Not to mention all that GARLIC.

See, I told you I would string this whole thing together! Here's the recipe.

Pasta with Garlic Blue Cheese and Tomatoes, from The Pioneer Woman

• 1-½ pound Pasta (angel Hair Or Thin Spaghetti), cooked
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 whole 28-ounce Can Diced Tomatoes, Drained
• Dash Of Sugar
• Salt And Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste
• Crushed Red Pepper Flakes, To Taste
• ¾ cups Crumbled Blue Cheese
• ¾ cups Heavy Cream
• 4 cups Baby Spinach
• Half-and-Half, for thinning
• Extra Blue Cheese Crumbles, For Garnish

Add olive oil to a large skillet and heat over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for a minute. Pour in drained tomatoes. Add sugar, pepper and crushed red pepper to taste. Coor for 10 - 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Reduce heat to low. Stir in crumbled blue cheese. Add cream and stir, then a little splash of half-and-half if sauce is too thick. Cook for a minute or two, tasting and adding more seasonings as needed.

Add spinach to pan. Immediately toss in the cooked and drained pasta. Serve immediately!

Click here for printable recipe

Tomato and Bacon Sandwiches with Bacon Basil Mayo

Now, being the card-carrying lifetime member of the Bacon Appreciation Club that I am, I do love a good old bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich.  For some reason I always forget that 99% of the time I have the makings for one of these in my kitchen, and then one day I am casting around for something to make for lunch and it dawns on me...a BLT!  And it always makes me ridiculously happy.

This particular sandwich is not the classic BLT, but it's a prettz jazzy spin on it.  For one thing, there is no L in it.  There certainly could be, I just didn't happen to have any in my fridge because we were just back from vacation.  What I did have was some thick cut bacon, and some Vermont heirloom tomatoes, and a loaf of country bread, and some good old fashioned mayo, and a whopping big barrel of fresh basil in the back yard.

This one is all about the mayo.  You cook up the bacon however you usually do, but make 1 extra slice of it.  Take that cooked slice and mix it up with about a quarter cup of mayo, a good handful of chopped basil and a nice grinding of black pepper.  Spread your bread (toasted or not, your choice, I like it not) with this bacon basil mayo.  Layer on the tomato and the bacon.  Put some lettuce on if you want to.  Top with another piece of bread.  Aren't you happy?

:-)

Tomato and Bacon Sandwiches with Bacon Basil Mayo, adapted from Taste of the South

8 slices bread

2-3 heirloom tomatoes, sliced

5 slices bacon, cooked

salt and pepper

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2-3 tablespoons chopped basil

1. Combine mayo, basil and one slice of bacon that has been chopped into small pieces

2. Cut the remaining bacon slices in half.  Spread the bread slices with the mayo mixture.

3. Lay two slices of tomato on bread.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place two bacon slices on top.  Cover with another later of bread.  Serve at once.

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Molasses Chocolate Chunk Cookies, And My Summer Vacation!

You know when you get together with friends, and you are glad to see them and are looking forward to getting down to talking about whatever it is you want to talk to them about, but first you have to suffer through their vacation pictures?  Think of this as the blog version of that.  I have a wicked good molasses chocolate chip cookie recipe to tell you about, but first....

My vacation.  :)

Every year we go to my favorite, favorite place in the world, which is the beautiful green mountains of Vermont.  If you really want to know how much I love this place, you can click here, or here.  If you don't, just take a look at this picture to see why.

I love both the gorgeous blue-green mountains AND the cows with equal amounts of love.  Which is good, because Vermont has a ton of both.  Here's our little piece of paradise, otherwise known as the cabin.  Where there is no cell phone service.  Or paved roads.  Nothing but corn and cows and quiet.

And this spectacular view from the south window, which makes me cry when I get there and cry when I leave.

Did I mention the cows?

This was breakfast.  Still warm off the vine.  Nothing else needed.

And here are my favorite chairs in the entire world, facing that view.



Anyway, going to Vermont always reminds me of my grandmother, and her amazing molasses cookies, and so when I found this recipe for molasses cookies with chocolate chunks on the fabulous Joy The Baker site RIGHT before I headed up there, I knew I had to make 'em.  And while my grandma's will always be my favorite recipe, these were pretty wonderful too!

Did I mention there were cows?

Here's the recipe.  :)

Molasses Chocolate Chunk Cookies, adapted slightly from Joy The Baker, who adapted it from Alton Brown.

2 sticks unsalted butter
2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon dark molasses, not blackstrap
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips or chunks
sea salt for sprinkling on top of cookies just before baking

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, mix the granulated sugar and molasses until no large molasses clumps remain. 

Pour the melted butter in the mixer’s work bowl. Add the homemade brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugar on medium speed for about 3 minutes. Add the egg, yolk, and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Chill the dough for about 20 minutes, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets.  Lightly sprinkle each dough ball with a few flecks of sea salt.  

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

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