Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

The smell of things roasting in the oven is just so inviting and welcoming to me. As soon as the roasting aromas hit you, the just say “welcome, come on in, stay for dinner”. This was certainly the case when I roasted some potatoes mixed with red onions, rosemary and yellow peppers.

It was one of our recent cooler days, so it felt kind of nice to have the oven on and to be roasting again. We were still trying to get rid of our leftovers, to clean out the fridge before we leave for our trip.

Larry’s family was in town recently and I had bought a whole bunch of brats to share with everyone, but there was a miscommunication, and they didn’t come over for lunch, which meant Larry and I had a lot of brats to eat. That also meant I needed different side dishes to serve with all these brats too. These roasted potatoes were the perfect pairing for them.

Roasted Potatoes with Peppers, Onions and Rosemary

You can use either onions or shallots with this recipe. I had some red onions that needed to be used, so that was what I used this time. But shallots are very good too. I LOVE both and use both all the time. This is a simple recipe with simple, basic ingredients we all have on hand. But don’t be fooled by the simplicity of it all. They taste so good.

Preheat the oven to 400* f or 205*C.

1 1/4 lbs small waxy or new potatoes

1 onion, sliced very thin or 12 shallots

2 yellow peppers

2-3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped

1 TBSP garlic

olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

fresh ground black pepper

Par boil the potatoes for about 5 minutes then rinse and drain. Allow them to cool for a bit then cut them in half.

Toss everything together and place on a baking sheet.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until all the vegetables are tender. Toss them a couple of times while they are cooking to make sure they cook evenly. Serve them alongside your favorite grilled meats and voila! Dinner is served.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well.

We are leaving for Spain tomorrow. You will not be hearing from me for a couple of weeks. But have no fear. I will be back before you know it, with all our fabulous Spanish experiences. So don’t touch that dial. I’ll be back soon enough. ‘Til next time.

The weather is slightly cooler than what is was earlier. Even though we had a mild summer to start with, it quickly changed, and the temperatures were soaring and became unbearable. But now, the mercury has lowered some, and it is quite comfortable outside.

The flowers are dying off and are retreating back to their dormant state. The wild grasses are in full bloom though and their plumes are dancing in the breeze. The fall colors are starting to show up and more and more. I love fall. I am ready for changing of the season.

By the time we return home, fall should be in full swing. I can hardly wait. 🙂

Our Bible study group started up once again after the summer break. Our group likes to “break bread” together and we all enjoy bringing food and eating together before the sessions start. I was assigned a main meal this week. I fed everyone some rustic Italian chicken with vegetables. In part, it was inspired by what did I have in my fridge that needs to get used before we go. And it just flowed from there. 🙂

Chicken is always a good thing to serve since a lot of people are opting out of beef these days. And you can’t go wrong with Italian food either. We all love Italian.

I started off by marinating the chicken in wine for about 2-3 hours before cooking it. I also added some onions, mushrooms, peppers, zucchini, olives, garlic, herbs and seasoning to the marinating mix.

When everything was ready, it was time to preheat the oven to 400* F or 205* C. I roasted everything for about 30 or so minutes, then added the more delicate vegetables, like the tomatoes and artichoke hearts, as well as a little provolone cheese to top the chicken pieces after I flipped them over, then put it all back in the oven again for another 20 or so minutes.

Right before I covered it to take with me, I added some chiffonade basil to the top. And Voila! Dinner was ready to go. It was yet another big hit that was enjoyed by all. AND …. I was able to use up a lot of the items in my fridge that would not make it until we return home. In my book, this is a win/win. A delicious one at that too. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

We are leaving soon, for another trip to Spain. Last time, a few years ago, we flew into Madrid and drove the southern route. We covered about 1500 miles. We fell in love with Spain. So we are going back again. This time we are going into Mallorca first, then Barcelona, with a day trip to Andorra (yes, this is how our Andorra/Dorrie got her name). That being said, I am trying my best to get through all the leftovers and food we already have without having to buy or prepare anything else so nothing will go bad while we are gone.

I had a half cucumber and some beautiful ripe, red heirloom tomatoes that I combined with some red onions and simple seasonings to make a little quick, impromptu, simple salad.

I served it as a side dish to steak, but it would also be good on top of a bed of lettuce as part of a main steak or chicken or shrimp salad too. It was cool, refreshing and a perfect summer salad.

Cucumber and Tomato Salad

1 English cucumber sliced thin

2-3 large tomatoes, preferably heirloom, chopped

1/4 red onion, sliced very thin

1-2 TBSP basil, chiffonade

a dash of salt

1-2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

2 TBSP olive oil

2 TBSP lemon olive oil, optional

2 TBSP Prosecco or white balsamic vinegar

2 TBSP lemon balsamic vinegar, optional

Toss everything together and chill before serving. This salad is best served cool. For best results add the dressing right before serving so the vegetables aren’t swimming in sauce.

The fresh goodness is experienced in every bite. YUM! Simple and simply good. That’s what I’m talking about. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

We get bunnies in your yard all the time, and ’tis the season to start seeing quite a few hopping all around. Yesterday morning, while we were waiting for Mike and Lauren to pick us up for our grape harvesting, The Grape Harvest I was busy taking pictures of the bunny who was visiting us in our front yard. He/she was having fun posing for the camera.

Have a “bunniful” day.

Here in Colorado, it is grape harvesting season. For wine lovers everywhere, this is a very good time of year. Grape harvesting is one of the most important procedures for grapevine producers. In many countries, the day of harvesting is so great that producers organize fiestas to celebrate the great event.

Harvesting period for grapes, generally starts 30-70 days after fruit set, by the time berries change color from green to yellow (for white varieties), or red-purple (for red varieties). During this stage, there is normally have an increase in sugars and a decrease in acids inside the fruits. In general, in the northern hemisphere, most varieties mature from August through November, while in the southern hemisphere from March to August.

When Mike, Lauren, Larry and I discovered the Blue Mountain Vineyard A New Winery a couple of weeks ago, we learned about their harvest party and we all decided we wanted to help with the event. We got up early and dressed for the occasion, in comfortable working clothes and shoes that it didn’t matter if they got muddied. And muddied they got too. The lands were caked with fresh, thick, slippery, sludgy mud. And to the harvest party we went.

In most cases, grapes are hand-harvested. Hand-harvesting is performed using knives and/or shears, either manual or electric. After whole bunches are cut, workers place them in collection baskets and transfer them to the winery (wine varieties) or to special warehouses (table grapes varieties). Table grape varieties can only be harvested by hand. They cannot be harvested mechanically, because they will be bruised. After harvested, table grapes are cooled and transferred to packaging warehouses. 

There were about 50 people from all over who joined the festivities. We all arrived at the winery around 8:00 AM and were picking Marquette grapes. Before we went picking, the Blue Mountain Vineyard gave us a little pep talk and provided a delicious array of muffins, Danishes, and croissants to help energize us. There were plenty of other varietals of grapes on the vines, but the Marquettes were the only ones were picking this time.

We even had a little help from friends.

Mike worked up an appetite and had to sample some of the grapes.

I don’t know how much each big bin holds, but between all of us, we picked enough grapes to completely fill 3 of them.

The staff was already hard at work stomping the grapes as soon as the bins were filled and brought back to the production area.

After the grapes were picked, we were all invited to enjoy a glass of wine to celebrate all our hard work. I chose to have a glass of the Marquette Blush, since those were the grapes we picked. This glass was from the harvest from a couple of years ago.

Tucker (the dog) was one of our supervisors, making sure we did everything correctly. I think he was happy with how we did everything. He gave us his stamp of approval.

Bear was one of the other supervisors. Bear said you have to mix in just the right amount of drool to perfect the wines. It’s their secret fermenting ingredient. 🙂

We all had a lot of fun and decided this is something we would definitely like to partake in again next year. I have now picked the grapes, put them through the presser, stomped them, and of course, enjoyed the nectars of the gods many times, all from different locations and wineries, at different times. I guess I am now an honorary vintner. 🙂

Put some fun into everything you do. Life is short. Enjoy it to the best of your abilities everyday. Make everyday fun and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

I love Nutella. It’s a creamy chocolate hazelnut spread that I think is super delicious. I love when I can cook with it. I am always on the lookout for new and creative ways to use it. And for the most part, you can substitute Nutella for peanut butter too. That’s exactly what I did for this cookies recipe. The Nutella took the cookies to a whole new level. YUMMY!

I could have very easily munched this whole bunch, but fortunately I didn’t. I did after all make them for others.

Nutty Chocolate Nutella Cookies

I used pecans for this recipe. Pecans are some of my favorite nuts. But you can use any kind of nuts you like.

Preheat oven to 350* F or 180* C.

1 cup Nutella

1 cup shortening

2 cups sugar + more for rolling the cookies in

2 eggs

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup chopped nuts of your choice – I used pecans

1 cup chocolate chips

Combine all the dry ingredeints together and set aside.

Mix the Nutella, shortening, sugar and eggs together. Mix in the flour, 1/2 at a time, and mix until everything is well incorporated.

Fold in the nuts and the chocolate chips. Then drop about 1 TBSP of dough onto the baking sheet about 2 inches apart.

Roll the dough into a ball then roll into sugar and press with the bottom of a glass to flatten out and make even.

Bake for about 12-15 minutes or until the cookies are set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. After a few minutes, place the cookies on a baking rack and allow to cool completely.

These deliciously scrumptious cookies are very hard to resist. Once you start, it’s hard to stop. They just melt in your mouth. Oh so yummy!

Allow your cookie monster to come out every now and then. It’s OK. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Our flower season is coming to an end. Soon we will be switching over from summer to fall. The leaves are already beginning to turn and the flowers are dying off for the season. But every season has its charm and beauty. As much as I love summer and all the beautiful flowers, I am looking forward to the changing of the seasons. Fall really is my absolute favorite season too. But for now, I will give you some more of our colorful flowers of summer.

And here come the colors of fall.

Every season in life has its own beauty and charm. Embrace all your seasons.

As you all know, one of my favorite things to do is to find fun and creative ways of reusing things I already have. It has become a fun, challenging culinary game to me. I had quite a few grapes left that need to be used, especially since I will be leaving to go on vacation to Spain next week. A good way of using a lot of these grapes was to turn them into a moist and delicious cake.

I know Europeans use grapes for cakes and desserts, as well as many other things, much more than we Americans do, but I am doing my best to change that. A friend of mine told me years and years ago that “I was more European than American”, and I take that as a very nice compliment indeed, especially when it comes to food and wine. 🙂

Grapes have been cultivated in the Middle East for at least about 8000 years. Today, many different variety of grapes are grown all over the world. The three primary uses for grapes are for wine, dried fruit (raisins) and fresh table grapes. The varieties of ways in which grapes can be used coupled with the number of countries in grapes can be grown accounts for the fact the world produces about 72 million tons of grapes annually. That’s a whole lot of grapes.

Grape Crumble Cake

You can use any kind of grapes you like for this moist and delicious cake, but I had both red and green grapes, so that is what I used this time.

Preheat the oven to 350* F or 180*C.

Spray a 9″ cakepan with cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.

The Filling

2 cups grapes, cut in half

2/3 cup sugar

6 TBSP water, divided

1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

3 TBSP cornstarch

1 tsp lemon extract, optional

Mix the grapes, 2 TBSP of water, the sugar and the lemon juice together in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Mix the cornstarch with the remaining water and add to the grape mixture, along with the lemon extract if using. Bring to a boil once again, and let boil for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and cool.

The Streusel

1/3 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup butter cubed

Mix everything together until it resembles sand and set aside.

The Cake

3/4 cup softened butter

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp lemon extract

3 eggs

1 1/3 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Combine all the dry ingredients together and set aside.

Mix the butter and eggs together, adding the eggs one at a time and mixing in between each addition. Add the vanilla then add the flour mixture 1/2 at a time, mixing in between. Mix until everything is well incorporated together.

Fold in the grape mixture.

Evenly spread the batter into the prepared cake pan. Add the streusel topping on top and bake for about 50-60 minutes, or until the cake is set in the middle and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted.

Allow the cake to cool completely before removing from the pan and slicing it up. I have only tested and tasted the little crumbs that have fallen away, but I can already tell you this cake is a definite winner. It was so moist and flavorful. if I can get this much out of just little crumbs, imagine what you will get when you can enjoy a whole slice, or two. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

My squirrels are out and about and are very playful indeed. They are curious and active. They are also busy gathering nuts to store up for later. They know fall is in the air and it won’t be much longer before cooler/colder weather and snow come our way.

This guy is having fun spying on something below.

Oh no. She caught me. What do I do now? I know. I’ll look innocent and she’ll never know.

Where can I hide these so no one else will find them?

Here’s lookin’ at you kid.