Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

I love seeing our magpies. They are so beautifully colored with their distinctive markings in blue, black and white. Usually we see a ton of them, but they have been pretty sparse this year. I was so excited when I came across them this time. I saw a few of them, but I only was able to photograph one. He gave me some good poses though before flying off to join his friends.

And one last one, up in the tree before he decided to fly away.

Have a great day and a great weekend. Everyone.

Next week we will be off to the Caribbean once again for more diving. We are going back to Bonaire. Bonaire is one of the Dutch ABC islands – Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao. We have dived them all. They all have their own unique personalities. These islands are very close to Venezuela and are known for their great diving. You know what I am going to be doing!!!!!!!

We are almost all ready to go. I mean it’s bathing suits, cameras and scuba gear. What more do we need right?! I am also getting us ready by cooking up some good Caribbean food too. I just prepared a delicious Caribbean stew with chicken, shrimp and black beans. I served it over rice with some warmed bread on the side and a glass or two of a cool crisp chardonnay. This is a dish we would find in one of the nicer restaurants on the island, but as you can see, I can easily prepare it here at home too. Bonaire, here we come. 🙂

As usual, I saw a recipe that caught my eye, but by the time I was finished, it was nothing at all like the original recipe, and was “Jeannified” 100%, as a my friend Gabe would say. It’s a gift. What can I say? I am an “artist” and food is my medium.

Caribbean Stew with Chicken, Shrimp and Black Beans

1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 lb chicken, cubed

2 cups cooked black beans

1 red bell pepper, diced medium

1-1 1/2 cups corn

1 onion, diced medium

1-2 jalapenos, diced fine

1 TBSP garlic

2 bay leaves

1-2 tsp cumin

1 TBSP orange zest

salt & pepper to taste

1 tsp cayenne pepper

4 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 cups orange juice

1 TBSP cornstarch

1 TBSP fresh oregano, chopped fine

cilantro, chopped fine

olive oil and orange olive oil (optional) for cooking

Get a large skillet very hot and add the oil(s). Then carefully add the shrimp and cook it until it is done. Once the shrimp is cooked, remove it from the heat and set aside.

I used cooked chicken, but if you are using raw chicken, cook it until it is completely cooked , then remove it from the heat as well.

Add the peppers, jalapenos, onions, garlic, corn, bay leaves and spices and cook for about 2-3 minutes, or until the onions are translucent.

Re-add the chicken and shrimp, as well as the orange juice, chicken broth and beans. Mix together well. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and continue to cook for about 40-45 minutes, stirring frequently.

At the last five minutes or so, mix the cornstarch with some of the liquid and add to the stew, along with the cilantro and oregano. Combine everything together well. Once again, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and continue to cook for an additional 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Serve this delicious Caribbean delight over rice with some warmed bread on the side, top it all off with a dollop of sour cream and fresh cilantro if you like, and you are off to the Caribbean, even if only for a quick little trip in the comfort of your own home.

Stay cool, stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

Rogan josh is a staple of Kashmiri cuisine and is one of the main dishes of the Kashmiri multicourse meal or the wazwan.  It is an authentic Indian lamb recipe cooked in a curry (curry just means sauce in India) or sauce. The dish was originally brought to Kashmir by the Mughals, whose cuisine was, in turn, influenced by Persian cuisine. “Rogan” means clarified butter or oil in Persian, or “red” in Hindi, and “josh” refers to passion – fiery or hot – so this dish is all about cooking in an oil-based sauce with an intense heat. Generally, rogan josh consists of lamb or goat that has been slow-cooked in oil, yogurt and a mix of many different spices. Despite its intense red hue, it is usually not a particularly spicy curry. Rogan josh remains a common dish in Northern India and is a popular menu item at Indian restaurants in North America and Europe.

I made my own version of rogan josh the other night and it was very good. I used the last of the lamb I had cooked earlier. Lamb Gyros. This lamb went a long way. I think I prepared it 5 different ways, all of which were very, very good too. I served this over a combination of lentils and rice, with some naan bread and a citrusy chardonnay. A sweeter wine, like a Riesling, would be good with this too. Sweeter wines tend to pair very well with spicy dishes.

As with any recipe, there are many, many different versions. Here is my version. I added green beans, green bell peppers and fresh tomatoes to my version, making it even better, in my humble opinion of course. 🙂

My green bell peppers and tomatoes were a delicious gift from Janet and Bob’s own garden. Bob picked them straight out of the garden and then I went home and put them to good use.

Rogan Josh

2 lbs cubed lamb

6 tsp ground coriander

1-2 tsp cumin

1 tsp cayenne pepper

salt & black pepper to taste

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/2 cup plain yogurt

Mix all the ingredients together and marinate the lamb for at least one hour before cooking. I started with lamb that was already cooked, but I still combined all of these ingredients to use as my sauce.

1 onion, sliced very thin

olive oil or vegetable oil for cooking

1 TBSP garlic

1 TBSP ginger

1 TBSp ground poppy seeds

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup water

dash lemon juice

2 cups tomatoes, diced medium

1 green bell pepper, diced medium

2 cups fresh green beans, cut into pieces about 1-1/2 inches in size

Get the oil very hot, then add the spices and cook for about 1-2 minutes, or until they become fragrant.

Once the spices have opened up, add the onions, peppers, green beans, garlic and ginger and continue to cook for an additional 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently.

Next add the lamb, tomatoes and yogurt and cook until the lamb is completely cooked or about 2-3 minutes. Add the water and the ground poppy seeds and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for about 40-45 minutes, stirring frequently. The poppy seeds will act as a thickener for the sauce. You can also use cornstarch mixed with either water or a little bit of the sauce.

Right before serving, add the lemon juice and top with fresh cilantro.

If you like lamb and Indian food, you are going to love this dish. I really liked it with the added vegetables too. It makes it more of a complete meal in my books. 🙂

Stay cool, stay safe and stay well Everyone. Have a great weekend. ‘Til next time.

It’s International Dog Day. WHOOOO HOOOOOO!!!! Or as both of my malamutes would say WOOOOOOOO WOOOOOOO!!!!

I have always been an animal lover – cats, dogs, rabbits, horses, birds, dolphins, sharks, turtles, manatees, etc. The list goes on and on and on. In honor of the day and of the dogs I have loved, I am sharing my doggies, past and present, with you. I love them all, always and forever.

My first dog, Daisy. We had her for about 15 years. I got her when I was three and had her until I was 18. She was such a sweet girl. We were posing with my bunny Nosy too.

This is Chopstyx. She was my first of two Chow Chows. I bought her from friends of mine who had both her parents. I got to pick her out when she was just a couple of hours old, and they let me come and visit her anytime I wanted while I was waiting to bring her home with me.

Taipei was my next Chow Chow. I am with my dad and our big black lab, Holly. Both Taipei and Holly were sweethearts with hearts of gold. Sadly, we have lost everyone here, except me of course.

Our handsome gentle giant Kodiak. Larry and I have always had two dogs in the 21 years we’ve been together. When we lost our beloved Holly (Larry’s dog when we met), Taipei (Taipei was my girl) was so lost without her best friend, so that’s when we got Kodiak, aka Kodi.

Next came Lucie. Lucie was Kodi’s best friend after Taipei passed away at 15 1/2. When Kodi passed away at 10 1/2 (geriatric for the giant breeds), Vinnie came home with us. We had all three, Kodi, Lucie and Vinnie for about a month. Lucie and Vinnie were inseparable.

The two-dog tradition continues. And now we have Juneau and Vinnie. Vinnie is such a good big brother to Juneau, even though she is a PILL! Vinnie is most definitely Juneau’s favorite play toy.

We love all our doggies, and out kitties too. Our kitties deserve special mention as well. Our panther (Nicky) and our puma (Otis). They are brother and sister, from the same litter. They came to us via Larry’s sister Jean, who lives out on a farm in Kansas. They lost their mommy and all their siblings as tiny babies and were hand fed until they came home to us when they were about 6 months old. Now they are 6 years old.

And the gang of four – Juneau, Vinnie, Otis and Nicky.

We love all our fur babies, no matter what. As you can see, they are pretty destructive and mischievous at times, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. We love them with all our hearts, always and forever, or should I say furever.

Summer is winding down, evolving into fall. Most of the colorful flowers of the season are beginning to fade away, to lie dormant for awhile, until their return again next year. However, there are still a few colorful blooms left.

I just love this color contrast. Down below is my neighbor’s tomato plant that is in full bloom, with lots of fresh ripe tomatoes. Behind the tomato plant is a colorful tree displaying its beautiful fall colors.

There is beauty in every season. Color your world beautiful in as many ways as you can.

Cooking in small batches or small amounts is not something I have ever mastered. I always cook like I am cooking for a large crowd. Maybe it is all those years working in restaurants, I don’t know. But because I always prepare large amounts of whatever I cook, I always have leftovers too. Maybe this is how I learned how to be so creative with my leftovers. Whatever the reason(s) behind it, reusing and recreating from leftovers is truly I gift I have mastered over the years.

Of course I had leftovers from the other day, when I made my lamb gyros Lamb Gyros . Well I couldn’t make lamb gyros again, especially so soon after we had just eaten them. But I also had to find a way to reuse the leftovers I had too. Once again my alter ego, The Queen of Leftovers, paid me a visit. This time her inspiration was following the Greek theme from the meal we enjoyed before. I went from gyros to a Greek shrimp salad in no time at all.

The tzatziki sauce was transformed into my salad dressing, by adding a tomato, fresh herbs, more garlic, olive oil, pepper and lemon balsamic vinegar. I just threw it all in the food processor and mixed it all up to make a creamy, zesty dressing, which was also my marinade for the shrimp.

I let the shrimp marinade for about 30 minutes to an hour, then skewered them up to grill.

I made some croutons by cubing some bread, tossing it olive oil seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and parsley. Since I was just making a small batch ( yes, sometimes I can do it, but not often), I just pan fried it all until the croutons were golden brown and crunchy.

I used Romaine lettuce for the salad base, though any kind of lettuce works just fine. Next I added my remaining chopped cucumbers, tomatoes and red onions and feta cheese for Larry. I also sliced some of the olives I had leftover and added those as well. The croutons and sliced hard boiled eggs were next.

Once the shrimp was grilled and cooked to perfection, I added them to the salad then topped it all with the creamy tomato-herb dressing.

I served it all with some cool, crisp chardonnay and warmed pita bread on the side. It was quick, easy-peasy AND I got to use up most of my leftovers. All my favorite categories were combined to make this summer time feast of a salad.

With food prices and shortages being what they are, we all have to make sure we use up all those leftovers as best we can and never let anything go to waste. Don’t be afraid to “play with your food”. You’ll be amazed at what you make and where your imagination and/or muse takes you on your culinary adventures. Get creative and have fun. That’s what I always do. 🙂

Stay cool, stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

We have two kinds of turtles that are residents of our ponds; Red-Eared Sliders and Snapping Turtles. Sometimes we only see one kind and not the other. But this time, they were both out, sunning themselves and enjoying their day.

The Red-Eared Slider. Sometimes we only see their heads popping up above the water’s surface. But sometimes they come completely out too. The Red-Eared Sliders are not big turtles. They usually range about 6-8 inches in diameter. They have a distinctive red stripe that goes down from their ears and down their necks, hence their name. They tend to be a little more shy than the bigger Snapping Turtles.

The Snapping Turtles. These turtles get pretty big and rumor has it some are over 100+ years old. The bigger they get, the older they are. They look like ancient prehistoric dinosaurs. They too can be a bit elusive, but they also like to make their presence known.

Every day our lakes are different. You just never know who is going to stop by for a visit. Everyday is an adventure. I love living around our lakes.

Have a great day and take it all in. Today is a gift and tomorrow is unknown.

Southern Italy loves its cherries. They also love making their delectable pastries and tarts, many of which use these cherries to highlight their pastries. Often times, cherries are used to make a frangipane tart. I had a ton of cherries, and anything custard is going to be a winner in my books, so I used them both and made a cherry frangipane or a cherry almond tart. It was a huge hit and disappeared immediately. Everyone was asking for me to make this again. SOON!

There was an Italian nobleman living in Paris in the 16th century, named Marquis Muzio Frangipani, who invented a bitter-almond perfume for gloves. Apparently this perfume had a magical scent and was the muse for French pastry chefs to create an almond flavored pastry called frangipane, named after the Marquis.

Frangipane is a pastry cream made with ground almonds, butter, sugar, eggs and a small amount of flour. It can be flavored with almond extract, rum or vanilla. Frangipane can also be adapted and made with other nuts instead of almonds, such as pistachios or hazelnuts. Frangipane is used in many classic pastries like pithivier, galette des rois, and as a filling for croissants.

Frangipane is a classic pairing with stone fruits, like peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines or cherries. Almonds aren’t actually nuts, they’re drupes: a fleshy fruit with thin skin and a stone in the center containing the seed. When almonds are growing on the tree, they look like small green peaches. As they ripen, their hulls split open revealing the stone. An almond is the seed inside the stone. This is one of the reasons almonds and stone fruits pair so well, because almonds are also stone fruits.

Cherry Almond Tart

The Dough

1 1/2 sticks softened butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

2 cups flour

Dash of heavy whipping cream, optional

Process everything together in a food processor or mix by hand until it forms into a stiff dough ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least for at least 1/2 hour to 1 hour before using.

The Cherry Frangipane

1 stick plus 6 TBSP softened butter

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups almond flour or ground almonds

2 TBSP flour

1 1/2 cups cherries, cut in half and pitted

3/4 cup almond slivers

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

Mix everything together except the cherries and the almond slivers.

Roll our the dough on a lightly floured surface, then firmly press into a 10-inch tart pan.

Fill the dough with the frangipane custard filling. then place the cherries face down all around the filling.

Sprinkle the almond slivers on top of the cherries and bake for about 45 minutes or until the center is set and the crust is lightly golden brown.

Let the tart cool completely before slicing it and savoring the flavor. Cherry and almonds pair perfectly together and their flavors just melt in your mouth. You cannot go wrong with this delectable combination.

Stay cool, stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

We have a lot of different birds all around us, though some we see all the time, while others only on occasion. The Belted Kingfisher is one of those birds we only see on rare occasions, at least in my neck of the woods. I always get real excited when I see birds I don’t often see, although to be fair, I also love seeing all my regular feathered friends too.

These pictures aren’t the best, but he was far away and I zoomed in as best I could. But I saw him, and I got him. I didn’t get an opportunity to take a lot of pictures because he was gone in a flash.

Have a great day Everyone.

Traditional gyros are Greek sandwiches usually made with slices of meat, mostly lamb, but often a combination of lamb and beef, or even turkey or chicken. They have been eaten in Greece since around the early 1900’s. They are very similar to the döner kebabs of Turkey and shawarma of the Middle East. Though the roots of the gyro date back 100 years, the modern day gyro as we now know it, is a fairly new creation, most probably created in New York, around the 1970’s.

The name gyro comes from the Greek γύρος (gyros, ‘circle’ or ‘turn’), and is a calque of the Turkish word döner, from dönmek, also meaning “turn”.

When I made my batch of lamb last week, It’s Ok, I’ll Make Lamb I only used half of the lamb I purchased. So the next batch became gyros. I made them with all the traditional Greek toppings and fixins’. Gyro meat is traditionally stuffed into a warm pita with tomato, red onion, a few French fries, and a healthy dose of tzatziki served on the side. Once again, it was a combined meal. I made all the gyros and Lauren brought some corn chowder, a delicious salad, and some cantaloupe. We all enjoyed a very tasty Mediterranean meal out on the deck before heading off to our next adventures for the day.

I started off by marinating the lamb for about 6 hours in just a basic herb and garlic marinade.

Then I made the tzatziki sauce and chopped up the tomatoes, red onions and cucumbers. As you all know, I love all different kinds of ethnic foods, and I try to keep them as authentic as I can when I make them, though there are always plenty of recipes from which to choose. There is never just one way to make something.

Tzatziki Sauce

This sauce is very easy to make and takes no time at all, and it is so cool and refreshing.

1 1/2 cups plain yogurt

1 heaping TBSP garlic

2 TBSP lemon juice

1 tsp paprika

1-2 tsp black pepper

1/4 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced medium-fine

2-3 TBSP red onion, diced fine

Mix everything together and combine well. Chill until ready to use.

We cooked the lamb and heated up the pitas on the grill, and then it was time to wrap up the gyros and enjoy them out on the deck.

I also plated up a variety of olives for us to enjoy along with some French fries, making the meal even more authentically Mediterranean and Greek.

It was a perfect summer meal that was made even better while sharing it with our good friends Mike and Lauren.

It all looks Greek to me and that is A-OK. Even simple everyday things can be turned into a celebration of life and all that is good. Make the most out of everything. Enjoy all your days. Everyday is always a better day when shared with good friends, loved ones and family.

Stay cool, stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.