Sherry – Page 16 – Rosemary and the Goat

Avocado Bacon and Egg Pasta Salad

What’s not to like about ABE in anything?

Anything that has avocado, bacon and egg together has to be good. Can’t say why this recipe jumped off the page at me but my first thought was boy does that look like a good “potato” salad. And then after another look I thought it was tortellini pasta and then finally after looking at the recipe I realized it was a trottole (spinning top shape) pasta.

I love potato salad and I can’t tell you the last time I’ve made it. My Cauliflower Potato Salad kind of took the place of my traditional version. When I make the cauliflower version now I like to add just one potato to the recipe to give it a little more dimension in flavors. This recipe I think will be the best of both versions; potato and pasta but with more of a potato salad taste.

So, if you can’t find the trottole (Kroger sells it) I would probably use orecchiette (little ears), giggle (little flowers is beautiful), or even a rotelle (wagon wheels) to add some visual interest to the dish.

January 20, 2019 By Sherry

Soup

Potato and Leek Soup with Pancetta

Nothing better on a cold winter night.

There’s nothing better on a cold winter night than a warm bowl of soup. Curl up in a blanket and by the time you finish this soup you will feel nice and toasty. Light a fire in the fireplace and you will get there even quicker.

We’ve had some pretty cold days so far this winter in our part of Texas; (we were in the 30’s this morning) and we have not lost any of our plants to a freeze. Usually we lose maybe a fourth of our yard if we have more than 3 days of freezing temperatures in a roll. When the temperatures start to drop, and this time of the year they will go from the 70’s to the 40’s and back every few days, I start looking for a soup to make.

This soup only needs some good saltine crackers. You could do a crusty French or Italian bread; which would be wonderful. But if it is just me and my hub then I will probably throw out a sleeve of saltines and we are happy campers.

My mother use to make potato soup using Coffee Mate as the milk part of the soup. I always loved that soup but when I started making my own I wanted to use something a little healthier than the Coffee Mate. My mother always used potatoes and onions but I think the leeks have a much milder taste than an onion.

January 14, 2019 By Sherry

Cocktails/ Drinks

Chocolate Martini

A toast to everyone for 2019!

This is my first toast to the new year — “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we diet!” (Unknown author)

I’ve tried more new cocktail recipes in the last couple of months than my 9 years of doing this blog.

I happened to be one of those “cheap dates”, “lightweight”, “two pot streamers” (Australian saying) drinkers. And, after one drink, I’d say I’m a little tipsy, my eyes start blurring a little, lips get a little numb. Then if I happen to have a second drink then maybe I start getting in the category of groggy (never giddy), maybe a little pie-eyed. But after two drinks, I usually stop before I get three sheets to the wind and her never close to being hammered. That says a lot about how much I drink.

The idea of a little cocktail before dinner (or after) is more appealing to me than a glass of wine. I’ve been know to take my own set ups with me if I want something special. Not many bars have Creme de Mure or Creme de Violet. Once I asked for a Blackberry Bramble at one of our favorite local restaurants and after telling the bartender what was in it, he went to the kitchen and fished out some blackberries that were marinating for their blackberry cobbler and made me the drink. Now I call that service. (Thanks John)

January 9, 2019 By Sherry

Appetizers/ ColdApp/ Sandwiches

Roast Beef Rose Tea Sandwich

Sweet little rose sandwiches for Christmas!

I love having tea at different places and after visiting tea at the Fairmont Hotel in Victoria, Canada and then again at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island and many other places I still prefer my tea sandwiches and savories. I usually want things a little less traditional than a pimento or chicken salad sandwich or smoked salmon on pumpernickel bread and it is so much fun coming up with beautiful food for a tea party.

If you need a little appetizer over the holidays, here’s one that was a tea favorite at a friends tea we did this fall.

I love little bites of food and I think it is more fun to graze on a lot of little finger foods than to sit down with a big plate full of food. And this was the perfect little tea sandwich — a lightly toasted baguette topped with some horseradish sauce, arugula leaves and a roast beef rose. How much easier can it get.

December 22, 2018 By Sherry

Fruit Dishes/ Morning Foods/ Salads

Winter Fruit Salad & Spiced Yogurt Dressing

Just in time for a holiday meal.

We had some old friends (Jackie & Ron) visit from Colorado recently and it was so much fun catching up with each other lives. Ron said he still remembers hushpuppies I made them years ago and I told him my hushpuppies were much better these days.

For dinner one night I made some stuffed dates (dates I brought back from Israel) and my Prosciutto and Gruyere Palmiers, Redfish Imperial, Fiery Angel Hair Pasta, Grilled Asparagus and for dessert was Julia’s Mixed Berry Clafoutis.

So, how did it turn out? Well my stuffed dates were probably cooked a little too long, I put too much of the crab topping on the redfish and forgot to give it extra time under the broiler and my clafoutis which was suppose to be part custard/cake really turned out a little more solid than I wanted because I left it to warm in the oven too long. But, good friends are forgiving and they enjoyed the dinner and I kicked myself all night because my dessert wasn’t just right.

December 17, 2018 By Sherry

Entree/ Poultry

Chicken Tetrazzini

Chicken Tetrazzini, Mema’s way.

Mema was my husband’s mother (and Mema to grandkids and great grandkids) and all of us always had our favorite things we wanted her to make for us for holidays/birthdays/special occasions.

As a kid, my husband would beg for his “own” date nut roll when his mom was making them to give to friends at Christmas. My kids always liked her chex mix and there were always cans of the mix ready when we went to visit.

I remember going to GA’s house for dinner one night when we were dating back in high school and his mother had made chicken chow mein and he kept saying you are really going to like this and I did and I still make it years later.

Other favorites were her pimento cheese, pecan rolls, white beans and cornbread. Everyone had their favorites and she would gladly make them for their special day. And, at Thanksgiving she always wanted the same thing – cranberry relish, cornbread dressing (of course cornbread), giblet gravy (who doesn’t like giblet gravy) and sweet potato casserole. My family now is divided on whether to put marshmallows on top of the sweet potatoes. I’m sure Mema used the marshmallows.

December 11, 2018 By Sherry

Beverages/ Cocktails/ Dessert/ Drinks

Amaretto Date Shakes

Shake it up for Christmas with this date shake.

When we were in Israel it took me a while to realize that the row after row, field after field of palm trees were date palms and produced the Medjool date.

I never realized there was more than one kind of date on the market; some others are Barhi, Deglet Noor, Halawy, Khdraw, Medjool, Thoory and Zahidi. In fact there are over 1,500 varieties of dates grown in the world. The Medjool date is know as the Cadillac of dates and originated in Morocco and I love the size of these dates, just big enough for two good bites.

Did you know that dates are a fresh fruit not a dried fruit? I didn’t. The white stuff you sometimes see on the outside of a date is the natural sugar crystallizing and perfectly fine to eat, so don’t throw away your dates if they are white.

December 5, 2018 By Sherry

Appetizers/ HotApp

Baked Goat Cheese with Tomatoes and Pesto

Sailing, Sailing Over the Bounding Main!

Sailing, sailing we did back in August on a visit to our son’s house. We loaded the kids up and lots of yummy food and headed for the marina in Chicago. A long ride and it proved to be a good ride for grandson Oliver since he usually gets sick. His mom did give him something so he wouldn’t get sick on the boat. See pictures below and what happened.

My daughter-in-law, Missy and I decided to try a cold version of a goat cheese appetizer we had at dinner one night at The Greenwood American Kitchen in Highwood –goat cheese mixed with pesto and baked until hot and bubbly and then topped with some heirloom tomatoes chopped and mixed with some more pesto and then sprinkled with some pine nuts. I like the hot version better because there is nothing better than hot goat cheese or any kind of bubbly hot cheese smeared on a piece of fresh bread or toasted baguette.

November 29, 2018 By Sherry

Appetizers/ ColdApp

Potato Cakes & Smoked Salmon

You either like it or you don’t.

You either love it or hate it. I’m talking about smoked salmon and I’m thinking if you reading this post then you are a fan of the smokey flavored fish.

Smoked salmon in those little 5 oz. packages next to where the fresh fish are sold is one of the easiest, quickest things you can pick up for an appetizer.

There have been quite a few salmon recipes here for you to try. Remember the smoked salmon on a potato chip? Well this is a little more refined than that recipe. Or, how about the smoked salmon stack appetizer; now that one is pretty easy too. And this smoked salmon with boursin cheese recipe is as quick as cutting a cucumber, rolling up the salmon and putting it on top of some cheese.

November 23, 2018 By Sherry

Salads/ Side dish

Brussel Sprout and Date Salad

My Israeli dates made a wonderful salad.

I didn’t expect to see so much agriculture in Israel but we saw field after field of dates, olives, pomergrantes, and limes. All of their fields have drip irrigation; I guess that explains growing in the dessert.

Our first day of our tour (or I guess third if you count the two days getting there), we had rain the night before. It was their first rain in seven months and the morning ride on the bus still had us being sprinkled on — what did we see? The most beautiful, vivid rainbow I have ever seen. It was from end to end and you could see the lines of color so clearly and what happened next took us all by surprise — another rainbow appear on top of the first rainbow. What a way to start our trip.

November 16, 2018 By Sherry

Appetizers/ Bread/ ColdApp

Rosemary Lafa Bread and Hummus

Homemade Lafa to go with my homemade hummus!

So, one day while touring Tiberius, Israel we stopped at Pagoda restaurant for lunch; and it turned out to be our St. Peter’s fish meal. The lunch that I had been warned about by several people to “not eat the St. Peter’s fish”. However, we found it delicious. The waiters first brought out (family style) platters of hummus (with the hummus swoosh), fresh warm bread, big blocks of onion rings, bowls of slaw and after that came the platters of the St. Peter’s fish (heads and fins on) and chicken schnitzel for those who did not want fish.

While we were eating the owner came out to talk to us. She told us how much the Israeli people love America and what we do to support them and then she sang us a song which definitely brought tears to my eyes. It was the most memorable lunch; one I will long remember.

One of the first things I wanted to make when I returned home was hummus and bread. I chose to make lafa bread to go with my homemade hummus. Lafa bread is a Middle Eastern flatbread; and known in other countries as pita/Greece/Middle East; Roti/India; Tortilla/Mexico; Pizza/Italy; Naan/Iran, India; Lefse/Norway, and Goraasa/Sudan just to name a few.

November 10, 2018 By Sherry

Appetizers/ HotApp

Classic Falafel with Tzatziki Sauce

Falafel is not a hushpuppy!

After 12 hours on a plane and a 3 hour layover and then another flight to Tel Aviv we made it to your hotel in Israel. What a trip that was and were we ever exhausted.

For months now I have been watching different YouTube videos on the places we would be touring in Israel and have been really excited about the places we are going to be visiting.

I was pretty anxious about the kinds of food we would be eating. Was it all going to be the same — hummus, falafel, tahini, kanafeh, baba ganoush and kebabs (of course) just to name a few. We like everything so I didn’t think I would not be turning my nose up at anything except maybe the falafel. Ya know I do have this thing about chickpeas!

The food ended up not being my favorite part of the trip. But that was ok because I knew this trip was not “all about the food”.

November 4, 2018 By Sherry

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