Strawberries in my Polish Pottery Berry Bowl

Locally grown strawberry goodness.  There are so many possibilities.  I am a big believer that everyone should be eating fresh whole berries of some kind at least once every day. Sorry, strawberry ice cream and blueberry muffins don’t count.
When you decide to buy strawberries, keep in mind that they do not continue to ripen once they are picked so choose ones with the deepest red color, that are plump looking without any sign of deterioration. They will only keep about 2 days in the refrigerator so buy them within a day of using them. There are times during the year when they are not in season and you might find that you have to resort to frozen strawberries to complete a recipe. The frozen variety does not even compare to fresh when it comes to nutrient value, much of that is lost in the freezing process. So try and buy fresh if you can.  Strawberries are high in vitamin C and have those much needed antioxidant. They are also a good source of fiber.
I like strawberries in my salad and I can also just eat them plain, I love them no matter how they are prepared. My children really enjoy smoothies as an evening treat and strawberries, paired with some banana and vanilla non fat yogurt are the perfect combination. These are simple to make. Just add the following to a blender and blend until smooth.
6-8 strawberries washed and sliced
1 banana
1 cup ice
1 cup milk
1 cup vanilla non fat yogurt
1or 2 packets of Splenda
Nutritional guidelines suggest we are supposed to be consuming five or six servings of fruits a day. This is not an easy task but there are ways to squeeze some in. A serving really is not that big, so adding some to your cereal or oatmeal, noshing on a small bowl of cherries, or even making a smoothie is a great way to pad your diet with some nutrient rich berries. Don’t be afraid to serve some fruit as a side dish to your dinner either. Fruit makes a great partner to many things and often I will give my kids a side of peaches or pears with their chicken, they love it!

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I have two teenagers and it is not always easy to get them to eat the way I think they should eat. Salads? Hardly. Fresh fruit? Only once in a while. Vegetables? Only if I’m lucky. I try though and this is one of those things we make that get them motivated to eat the rest of dinner so I can sneak a few vegetables in there and they eat it right along with the chicken. We have one of those Cuisinart mini deep fryers. I am not a big fan of fried food but once in a while we have fun with it. You can also cook this in a pan, just turn until they are brown to your liking and they cook quickly. This is a three step process but it does not have to be a messy thing. You will need a shallow bowl, a large Ziploc bag and a large plate/platter.

Add the following things to your Ziploc bag and put aside:
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 teaspoon all purpose seasoning like Lawry’s.

In the Shallow bowl beat 2 eggs and stir in 1/2 cup milk

On the large plate or platter you will mix the following:
1 cup flour
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
1 cup shredded aged cheese, we use Parmesan and Asiago.

We use 2 whole chicken breasts for this recipe, boneless and skinless of course. Cut them into think strips or even small chunks if you want nuggets. The first thing you want to do is add your chicken strips to the Ziploc of flour and spices. Shake and coat well and put aside. Then, one by one you want to dip them in the egg mixture and coat well and put them immediately in the cheese mixture to coat. Once that is coated well with the cheese mixture place in the deep fryer or in the pan, the oil should be ready to go at about 350 degrees. These do not take long to cook if you keep the strips thin. My kids eat them just as they are and often they don’t even make it to the dinner table. They grab them as they come out. I love them on my salad with a little goat cheese and honey mustard dressing.

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I am not a big fan of salad. The primary reason is that they lack creativity and are boring. How many times have I gone out to eat only to find that the only salad offered is some cold iceberg lettuce thrown together with cheese, egg and maybe some tomato if you are lucky. When I find a good salad though, you have me for life. This is my current salad of choice and it is a mix of sweet and savory. When you put a salad together like this it is important to find the right balance of ingredients.

Field greens or baby greens, but please please please don’t use iceberg or romaine
Pecans- resist the urge to use candy pecans, the fruit give it enough of a sweet vibe
Chopped strawberry- only a few, start with 2 strawberries cut down to small size
Dried Cranberries- these give a little bit of tart to the mix, don’t exclude them!
Goat Cheese- plain, no flavor added, crumble in what you like. I tend to like more rather than less
Honey Mustard Dressing- I like the kind made with yogurt, low in calories and fat and great flavor

Simple toss the above ingredients to your liking. Keep in mind that the salad should only have a hint of sweetness so go easy on the strawberries. Everything should be in even amounts so they balance well. If you want, adding chicken to the mix is a good thing and makes a great meal. Enjoy!

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Chips and salsa. Who could resist. This is such an easy and delightfully wonderful dish to make, that it will be the first thing to disappear. You could spend hours blanching tomatoes or slow roasting them, but why bother when the truth is, the canned variety is just as good and has all the nutriets and flavor you need? Not to mention it keeps the cost down. This was originally given to me by my sister in law and it has been worth it’s weight in gold.  It has a few simple ingredients. One large can of whole tomatoes. No spices, no special flavors, just whole tomoatoes. Then one can of rotel. We use mild but you can use any variety that suits you. Add in one teaspoon sugar, one teaspoon garlic salta and one very large handful of fresh cilantro. Chop in a blender and enjoy. We use this with not only chips but our empanadas as well. It is fresh and full of flavor. From what I understand, the difference between Colombian salsa (this kind) and say, Mexican salsa is not only the heat, but how chunky it is. This is smooth and will work well with many dishes.

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So I like peanut butter. But every peanut butter cookie disappoints me in some fundamental way. I gave up for a while, until I came across these little babies. I have changed them around a bit but the sugar coating is key. It gives them a mix of soft in the middle and a bit of crunch on the outside. Here is what you will need:

3/4 cup creamy HONEY peanut butter
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Colored sugar for rolling
Dark Chocolate Chips

Start by using a mixer to blend the peanut butter and butter well. Add both type of sugar and mix until well blended again. Add your wet ingredients, the egg, vanilla and milk. Mix again. Finally in small batches add the dry ingredients.

At this point, cover and put in the refrigerator overnight. Because you will be rolling small size cookies, the dough gets too soft and it is best when it can harden. Roll out small cookies about 1/2″ wide. Roll in the colored sugar and cook for 5 minutes. I would use parchment paper. Cook at 350. Press a chocolate chip in the top as soon as they come out of the oven. Let cool and then devour!

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Locally Grown Vine Ripe Tomatoes

And now a few words about tomatoes. The poor tomato has had to endure many trials to get the respect it still fights for today. Although the history of the tomato begins in South America, it eventually worked it way across the ocean and into Europe where long ago, they were believed to be poisonous and not consumed (Italy!) It was famine and hunger that eventually brought them around and they discovered how wonderful they were. We are fortunate in today’s world to be able to enjoy the wide variety that this fruit has to offer. This is one particular food that is worth the extra money to buy organic and local or even better, grow your own. When you pick up a big tomato in the store, most people think they that a prime tomato is big, super firm and bright red. ….. WRONG. Those big beefsteak tomatoes that you think are the prize, really are not even ripe. They were picked green and messed with to become the red that you see. The flavor is muted and bland. If you have to buy in the grocery store, pay for the vine ripened ones, the flavor is so much better and they even smell more like a tomato should. I would compare it to eating a green bell pepper versus a red bell pepper. There is simply no similarity between flavors. You should still look for a firm tomato, just not one that would hurt someone if you threw it at them. So what should you take away from this? Buy local if you can, use within 48 hours of purchase and remember, the refrigerator is not a tomatoes friend.

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So it’s probably no secret that I am not much of a dog person. I suppose I could be if they only stayed puppies but they are too needy for my personality. I am a cat person. I personally own too many cats and do not need to add to the brood but I have been wanting to foster them for a while. If you are interested, call your local shelter or SPCA and ask if they have a foster program. Most of these animals spend alot of time in cages and need people to love on them, even if only temporary until they find a home. So with that said we have some temporary kitties in our home. One is leaving for a new permanent home tomorrow and I will miss him terribly. They have been such a great source of laughter and just an over all mood booster. I highly recommend it. They eat and play and kitties are have a natural instinct to use the litter box. No potty training required. So foster a pet today!

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Do you do alot of baking, cooking, entertaining or just experimenting in the kitchen? If you are like me, then your kitchen is the most popular area in the house. I was not always that way. Cooking was fun for me, but I hated the clean up and the problems that came with it, like uneven cooking, food that stuck to the pans, and cookware that was just not very pretty so that if you were entertaining you would have to transfer it from the dish you cooked it in to the dish you served it in. Something that you weren’t embarrassed for your guests to see. Polish pottery changed all that. Case in point, have you ever cooked a dish that you love but you literally have to soak it for hours, then use something sharp to scrape off the sides and even then you still have to use something abrasive to finish cleaning it? For me it was scalloped potatoes. I love them and so does my family but it meant a long and tedious cleaning process. When I started using polish pottery, all I had to do was run water in it and what didn’t lift away on it’s own, took one simple wipe down with a sponge. Literally 2 minutes to clean. My life has new purpose!
I know what some of you are thinking. It’s too pretty to use, it can’t possibly be used in the oven. Not only can it be used in the oven, but the microwave, dishwasher and I have even used mine on our grill. The only thing you want to be careful of are sudden extreme temperature changes. Don’t take a dish from the freezer and put it into a 500 degree oven. This is something you can’t do with Pyrex or corning ware either so that is not surprise. The pottery holds heat in a way that it cooks everything evenly. Gone are the days of having to transfer your dishes into something that is party worthy. Just cook and serve. Try it out for yourself, you won’t be disappointed AND you will be able to pass them down to your children. Ever piece is heirloom quality.

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Let me start off by saying, I really do not like carrots. I have tried them all different ways growing up and nothing appealed to me. So in an effort to get my kids to eat them, I continued to try different things. This is what I found and my kids not only love them, but I do too. The slow cooking time brings out the natural sweetness. Start with a 5 pound bag of carrots and peel them. After cutting off both tips (throw those out or add them to your compost bin) cut the carrots into large chunks. Put them in a large pan, really polish pottery works best for this because they won’t stick and the oil you will add will allow for even cooking. If you don’t have that, use a 13 x 9 inch pan. Dribble olive oil over them and mix to coat well.  The next step is to generously coat with freshly ground black pepper and rock salt if you have it. Regular salt will do if you have to. Slow roast them for 2 hours at 300, and mix them around every 1/2 hour or so. After that boost the temp up to 400 for the last 45 minutes and they should be done. They will shrink in size. These make a great dish to bring to family dinners, no one expects to like carrots but these will go quickly. Enjoy!

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