Cherry Tomatoes Extravaganza

My neighbor has a fabulous garden and he is always willing to share his tomatoes. Right now, I have a lot of his cherry tomatoes. So, I found this recipe on Kalyn's Kitchen Blog Spot and it was easy, simple and good!

Spicy Cherry Tomato Sauce for Pasta

2-3 hot Turkey Italian Sausage links or one roll of Bob Evans Sausage

3-4 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1-2 T. minced fresh garlic (you can use minced garlic from a jar with good results)

1 tsp. or less dried red pepper flakes(the kind you sprinkle on pizza)

1 - 2 tsp. dried oregano (or 2-3 tsp. fresh) - (I used the fresh stuff.)

3 T. chopped fresh parsley (or more)

3 T. chopped fresh basil (or more) (I used closer to 4T. of basil...LOVE IT. )

4 - 5 T. extra virgin olive oilFresh grated parmesan for serving
Squeeze sausage out of casing and cook in small amount of olive oil until slightly browned. Remove sausage from pan. Add olive oil, red pepper flakes, garlic, oregano, and cherry tomatoes. Cook 3-4 minutes, until tomatoes are starting to soften. Add sausage, basil and parsley and cook 3-4 minutes more. Serve over hot linguini or spagetti with lots of fresh parmesan.

Jen's Pumpkin Pie

Awesome Jen provides me with dessert inspiration (lemon bomb cake...). Anyway, I had pumpkin pie at her house the other day and I just had to give it a go myself. YUM!

Jen ...I mean Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie
1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (our pumpkin pie spice in place of all spices)

2 large eggs

1 can (15 oz.) LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin

1 can (12 fl. oz.) Evaporated Milk

Preheat oven to 425° F. Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F.; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. (Do not freeze as this will cause the crust to separate from the filling.)

Tyler Florence Pot Roast

It's college football season which translates to pot roast season too!

I really like this recipe having seen Tyler cook it on the Food Network.

1 (3 to 4 pound) piece beef chuck roast, trimmed of excess fat

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 cup water or maybe a little wine :)

2 yellow onion, halved

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 bunch baby carrots (or just plain old carrots)

2 celery stalks, sliced

1 cup button mushrooms, stems removed and sliced in half

2 sprigs fresh rosemary (80/20 substitued some basil and oregano from the herb garden)

4 sprigs fresh thyme

2 bay leaves
Season all sides of the beef with a fair amount of salt and pepper. In a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot that has a tight cover; heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over moderately high heat. Brown the meat on all sides, taking the time to get a nice crust on the outside. Pour in the tomatoes and the water. Scatter the vegetables and herbs around the pot roast, season with salt and pepper; and drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of oil. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. Braise for about 3 hours, basting every 30 minutes with the pan juices, until the beef is fork tender.
Slice the pot roast and arrange on platter surrounded by the vegetables. Serve with the pot juices.

Beef Picadillo compliments of Rachael

Here's a good and very easy Rachael Ray Recipe...

If you like green olives especially!
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 small red bell pepper, finely chopped (I am NOT a red pepper fan, so I used the 80/20 rule here.)
8 large pimiento-stuffed olives, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 pound ground beef sirloin
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup frozen peas and carrots
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper
1. In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the onion, bell pepper, olives and garlic and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Crumble in the ground beef, using a wooden spoon to break up any large clumps. Increase the heat and cook until the liquid is reduced.2. Stir the tomato paste into the meat mixture and simmer over medium-low heat, stirring, for 2 minutes. Stir in 2 to 3 tablespoons water to loosen the sauce. Stir in the peas and carrots, cover and cook until just cooked through, 4 minutes. Stir in the cilantro; season with salt and pepper.

Spicy Thai Peanut Dip

Thank goodness I am back on line after our "Dry Ohio Hurricane"! Cooking in the dark is hard enough, but not having the internet to look things up is also troublesome!!!

Spicy Thai Peanut Dip

Made this for a birthday gathering.
Goes great with vegetables...carrots, peppers, snow peas.
Ingredients (compliments of All Recipes)
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Stir together peanut butter, garlic, brown sugar, mayonnaise, soy sauce, and lemon juice until smooth. Refrigerate 2 hours before serving.

Asparagus Pate

I made this for a dinner party the other night. If you like asparagus, I'd say it was quite good.

Ingredients
16 oz. cream cheese
2 cans asparagus or one bunch - boil for about 5 minutes...should be extra limp! Chop into 1 inch pieces when cool.
one bunch of scallions, chopped
3 tbsp. horseradish sauce (80/20...didn't have this, so I added Janes's Crazy Mixed Up Salt. Horseradish probably would have improved it.)
6 slices bacon (You could skip this if looking for a veggie dish.)
pinch salt
1. Cook bacon. Let cool and break up into tiny small pieces. (Save a few pieces for the top of the dip.)
2. Place all ingredients into food processor or blender. Mix well.
3. Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.
4. Serve with vegetables, breads or crackers

Sweet Basil! I loved this book.

So, I do a lot of presentations at work and I am always looking for ways to insert a little humor..tasteful of course... Anyway, I found this book through Dan Roam's Blog.

Tom also has a great website.

Marvelous Melon

Marvelous Melon Salad
1 cup strawberries
1 cup blueberries
1 honeydew (or cantelope)
1/3 cup of honey
handful chopped mint
1/2 tsp. grated ginger (80/20...no ginger this time and it was still very good.)
Cut melon in half, remove the seeds and, using a melon baller, scoop out balls of flesh into a large bowl using a melon baller. Quarter the strawberries and simply wash the blueberries. Toss and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours.
Top with 1/3 cup of honey, a 1/2 tbsp of finely grated ginger
Finish with chopped mint.