Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

I might have mentioned this a while ago, but another idea I have been thinking a lot about lately, is to take “A Jeanne in the Kitchen” out on the road to teach cooking lessons.  My friend Toni just asked me if I would like to teach her kids, whom she homeschools, cooking lessons.  I am all over this idea.  I think it would be loads of fun, and is a valuable skill everyone needs to learn.  Toni asked me to make up flyers so she could spread the word around to her fellow homeschoolers.  How much should I charge?  Toni and her kids are free, because I have known Toni and her husband Shane for a long time, and she would be doing me a huge favor by spreading the word.  I am also open to teaching others how to cook as well.  I am not limited to just working with kids.

 Please let me know your thoughts and ideas.

Stay safe and stay well Everyone.  ‘Til Next time.

I have to admit I have a huge sweet tooth, and I am really trying my best NOT to give in to it as much as I would like.  But when I have company over, then that’s a completely different story.  When Tim and Leslie were visiting, and I made a delicious Colorado themed dinner with tender elk steaks, I just had to have  the perfect dessert to go along with the dinner too.  Colorado in the Kitchen  Sticking with my Colorado theme, I had to have a Colorado dessert as well.  I made a chocolate pecan tart, which made for a perfect ending to a perfect evening with friends who are really family.

Chocolate Pecan Tart

You can use either pecans or walnuts for this tart.  I prefer pecans to walnuts any day, but both are just fine to use.  This tart, is super easy to make and only requires a few simple, basic ingredients.  Because I had a lot of my chocolate pecan caramels leftover, I melted those down and used them for my chocolate.  The Tradition Continues The caramel filling was so rich and full of flavor.

The Crust

1 1/2 cups flour

6 TBSP cold butter, cubed

2-3 TBSP powdered sugar

1 tsp salt

1 egg

5-6 TBSP heavy whipping cream

This is my basic pate sucre dough.  Blend the flour, butter, salt and powdered sugar in a food processor until in resembles a fine sand.  If you saw my latest video, I made reference to this dough.  Video #6 – Making Empanadas from Leftovers  Then add the egg and the cream and continue to blend until the dough forms into a ball.  Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before rolling out.

Preheat the oven to 375* F or about 190* C

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough and place into a 10 inch tart pan.  Firmly press the dough into the pan and remove the excess dough.

The Filling

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 1/3 cups sugar

1/3 cup water

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 stick butter

2 cups pecans, divided

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate

Chop about 1 2/3 cups of the pecans and line the bottom of the tart with the nuts.

Mix the cream, sugar, butter, water and chocolate into a sauce pan and melt completely while stirring constantly over a medium high heat.

Bring to a rapid boil and boil until the temperature reaches about 230*F or about 115-120* C.  Let cool for a few minutes before adding the egg mixture.

Combine the egg, egg yolk and vanilla together, then add to caramel mixture.

Pour the egg and caramel mixture evenly over the nuts.  If you like, you can add some of the whole nuts around the edges of the tart too.  I like doing this because it finishes the tart and makes for a prettier presentation.  Carefully place the tart into the hot oven to bake.

Bake the tart uncovered for about 45-60 minutes, or until the filling is set and the dough is browned.  If the dough is browning too much, but the tart still needs more time, cover with aluminum foil and continue to bake until the center is firm.  Remove from the oven and cool completely before removing the tart from the pan and cutting.  I usually go around the edges with a butter knife after the tart has cooled, just to unstick the dough from the edges.

You can eat this as is or warmed up and topped with some ice cream.  Either way, I guarantee you’re going to love it.

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

Biscuits, as we in America know them, came to the New world and to North America around the late 16th and early 17th century.  They are kissing cousins to the British scones.  Biscuits in the UK and its British counterparts around the world, are what we as Americans call cookies.  Biscuits were a major food staple to sailors and soldiers for centuries, because originally, they were hard flat cakes that could easily travel and lasted for a fairly long time.  They were packed in tins and then were later removed and reheated before being eaten.  This is how they get their name too.  The word biscuit is a combination of two French words, bis meaning twice and cuit meaning cooked.  Put the two words together and they mean twice baked.  In the days of Louis XIV, biscuits were also known as stone breads.

Biscuits are part of the American culture, particularly in certain regions of the country.  They are many variations but the basic biscuit dough is pretty much the same everywhere you go.  The keys to making good, fluffy biscuits is to use COLD butter that is cubed, chill the biscuits for at least a 1/2 hour before putting them into a HOT oven to bake, and not to over work the dough.  If you follow these simple rules, your biscuits will come out light and fluffy every time.

Biscuits are a part of the Colorado tradition as well.  I made some Parmagiano sesame biscuits when I made my Colorado meal for our friends Tim and Leslie.  Colorado in the Kitchen  They were a big, delicious hit.  We had them for dinner, and then reheated them for breakfast the next morning.

Parmagiano Sesame Biscuits

2 cups flour

1 TBSP baking powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 TBSP cold butter, cubed

1 1 /2 cups grated Parmagiano cheese

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1 TBSP sesame seeds, black or natural colored

Preheat the oven to 425* F or about 200* C.

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.

Mix the flour, cayenne pepper, baking powder, butter and cheese together either by hand or in a food processor until it resembles fine sand.

Add the buttermilk and mix gently into the dough.  Knead the dough a few times on a lightly floured surface then roll out to about 1/2  inch in thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter.

Once the biscuits are cut and placed on the baking sheet, top them with sesame seeds.  I used black sesame seeds, but you can use regular sesame seeds too.  Press the sesame seeds lightly into the dough and bake for about 15 minutes or until they are are lightly browned.

Serve them warm with wither butter or honey butter.  They are           D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!  We liked them so much we had them for breakfast again the next morning.

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

Our lakes have been pretty quiet recently.  I guess all our visitors we had earlier this year have ventured off to other places.  We did, however, have a surprise visitor, whom we haven’t seen much of this year.  We had a blue heron playing and thoroughly enjoying himself by the water’s edge.  I actually got some really good shots of him this time.

The evening was filled with surprises.  I was very happy about my heron and finally being able to get some great shots of him, but just as we were finishing our walk, we had another beautiful surprise.  Sadly, this beautiful sunset is the result of all the raging fires, but beauty comes to us in many forms, from many sources, even through sadness and times of darkness.

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

“A Jeanne in the Kitchen” has a new video out.  This one was inspired by my alter ego, “The Queen of Leftovers”.  This time I made some empanadas and cookies, using, you guessed it ….. leftovers.  The empanadas were made with some of my leftover wild rice with chorizo, Colorado in the Kitchen that I served with my peach salsa Palisade Peach Salsa.  I served it with corn salad, that is one of our summertime favorites.  I thought I had made a post about my corn and tomato salad, but apparently, I didn’t.  It is super easy and simple to make.  Here is the recipe for it.

Corn and Tomato Salad

1 package frozen corn, thawed and drained

1-1 1/2 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half

1/4 red onion, sliced very thin

2 TBSP fresh basil, chiffonade

2 TBSP fresh lemon verbena, chiffonade, optional

2-3 TBSP balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

1-2 tsp black pepper

a dash of salt

Toss everything together and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.

And here is my latest video.  If you like it, please, subscribe to my YouTube page and share it with your friends and family.

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

You all know how we love to go for our little day trips all over the place.  We love discovering all the hidden gems our beautiful state has to offer, but what makes it even better is when we can share these hidden gems with our friends and family when they come to visit.  Because Tim and Leslie are doing a big driving RV vacation, the last thing they wanted to do was to spend another long day in the car for sightseeing.  Fortunately, Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs are only about 1 1/2 hours south of us, and there is plenty of things to see and do while in the area.

Our first stop was The Cave of the Winds.  As early legends of over a thousand years ago tell, the Jicarilla Apaches told of a cave near Manitou Springs where the Great Spirit of the Wind resided.  Approximately 4 – 7 million years ago, the limestone fell below the water table. … As more limestone dissolved over many thousands of years, pockets grew into passageways. Passageways grew into rooms, rooms grew into caverns, and the caves were slowly formed.  The name Wind Cave comes from the wind that naturally blows out (and in) of the small natural entrance to the cave. … Wind Cave is most known for its delicate calcite formations called “boxwork”. The vast majority of the world’s discovered boxwork, 95%, is found in Wind Cave.

Inside the Caves.

After leaving The Cave of the Winds, while still in the area, we could not leave without stopping at The Garden of the Gods.   Garden of the Gods Park is a registered National Natural Landmark that includes 480 acres of dramatic views of 300′ towering sandstone rock formations against a backdrop of snow-capped Pikes Peak and brilliant blue skies.  Back in 1859, when a surveyor named Rufus Cable first saw the towering fins of rock jutting over 300 feet into the air near Pikes Peak, he enthusiastically declared that it was “a fit place for the gods to assemble!” From this excited outburst came the name Garden of the Gods.  The Garden of the Gods is one of my favorite places to visit here in Colorado.  It is both spiritual and magical, and is truly a breathtaking miracle to behold.

Pictures are great, but they just don’t give it the full justice it deserves.

Sharing the magic and hiking the trails.

I hope you enjoyed the tour.  I never get tired of sharing my beautiful state of Colorado.

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

Colorado, like California, is pretty versatile when it comes to food.  We have many different influences that shape and mold our dishes to make them unique to our state.  When our friends Tim and Leslie came out to visit, I wanted to make dishes that were completely from Colorado, so I went to my Colorado cookbooks for ideas and inspiration.  I knew I was going to make the elk steaks.  I just needed the perfect side dishes to compliment the elk. When Friends Come Together

All I did for the elk was to use the rub I bought from Wally’s that is specifically for big game.  I let it chill in the refrigerator all day before grilling it to perfection, which is a beautiful medium rare.  Wally’s Quality Meats  Elk is very lean and is rich in protein, which makes it very healthy.

Because we were having wild game, I needed something bold and “wild” to accompany it.  I chose to make wild rice with chorizo and vegetables as one of the side dishes.

Wild Rice with Chorizo

1 1/2 cups wild rice

1 lb ground chorizo

1 red bell pepper, diced fine

1/2 onion, diced fine

1-1 1/2 TBSP garlic

2 roasted Anaheim peppers, peeled, seeded and diced

salt & pepper to taste

2 cans chicken broth

olive oil for cooking

Cook the chorizo, then add the vegetables and garlic and olive oil and cook until the vegetables are tender.

Add the rice and saute it for about 1-2 minutes.

Add the chicken broth and seasonings.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 45 minutes, or until the rice is cooked and the liquid has evaporated.

For vegetables, I just cooked some green beans and then sauteed mushrooms, garlic, onions and peppers to add.  It was like putting pieces of a puzzle together.  Everything “fit” together just perfectly.

I have a lot of chorizo rice lift over, so I am pretty sure you will be seeing it again in the very near future, only packaged differently.  🙂

Stay safe and stay well everyone.  ‘Til next time.

Our friends Tim and Leslie have already come and gone.   I fixed us a completely Colorado meal on the first night they were here.  Saturday, we took them down to Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs and did The Cave of the Winds and  Gardens of the Gods, and then to InVINtions  A Toast to InVINtions! for some Colorado wine tasting.  Sure they taste plenty of great wines in California, where they live, but we have plenty of great wines from here too, that have their own Colorado personalities.  Tim and Leslie were only here for the weekend, and the weekend flew by quickly.  They left this morning, and I miss them already.  We had a great time.

The first night they were here, I fixed a very Colorado dinner that included elk steaks Wally’s Quality Meats, cooked to a perfect medium rare and topped with my peach salsa, Palisade Peach Salsa, wild rice with chorizo, green beans with vegetables, Parmagiano sesame biscuits and some Colorado wine from Grand River Cab Franc, from our own Colorado vineyards out in Grand Junction that Tim and Leslie picked up along the way.

I wanted to make a special meal since Tim and Leslie do not make it to Colorado that often.   It was just the four of us for dinner, and then Priscilla and Jonathon joined us later for dessert, which was a chocolate pecan tart and some port from once again, InVINtions.

Leslie, Priscilla and I have all known each other since 7th grade, and we have remained close friends through the years.  Please DO NOT do the math.  It is way too many years, but like a good wine, we are just getting better and better with age; well at least Priscilla and Leslie are.  Me, not so much.  🙂

Old friends are the best friends.  They are the family that you choose.  Love you both lots and lots.

I will give the recipes for our Colorado meal later.

Stay safe and stay well Everyone.  ‘Til next time

Elizabeth and I always have so much fun together, despite the large age gap between us.  She is always up for any adventure and whatever she does, she does with gusto.  She has a real knack and passion for cooking, like I do, and has a very long and extended “bucket list” of things she wants to learn how to cook.  Shrimp scampi was one of those bucket list items.  Don’t Skimp on the Scampi  Yesterday, she learned how to make it.  She did a fantastic job.  On to the next item on the list.  One down, a bazillion more to go.  Elizabeth is my STAR student.  🙂

Elizabeth is cutting her vegetables.  She always has that big beautiful smile, no matter what she is doing.

Cooking the peppers, mushrooms and garlic.  Lots of garlic!

Cooking the shrimp to perfection.

Getting a few pointers and tips from the pro.

Putting it all together.

And voila!  The piece de resistance!  We served it with some pesto foccaccia and a cool, crisp fume blanc.

Toasting to a job well done!

Life is short.  Have fun and enjoy.  Never take it for granted.  It’s the little things that matter most.

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

We have company coming in from California tomorrow, and I have been busy baking up some treats for all of us to enjoy.  My friend Leslie, whom I have also know since 7th grade is like family, and her husband Tim, are coming to stay with us while en route to their final destination of Yellowstone.  I have a special dinner planned for tomorrow, but I am getting other things prepared too, such as some apple and peach crumb squares.   We are going to take Leslie and Tim to the Cave of the Winds, down in Manitou Springs, on Saturday, and I figured we needed some goodies that could travel along with us as well, just in case we get hungry along the way.

Larry does not like peaches, otherwise, I would have only made a batch of peach squares.  So I divided my squares.  Half are peach and half are apple.  I LOVE peaches, and our Palisade peaches are the BEST.  Palisade Peach Salsa  Hopefully everyone will be happy.

These squares are layered.  First there is the crust, then the filling and then they are finished with the streussel crumb topping.

Preheat the oven to 375* F.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, then spray the foil with cooking spray.

The Crust

3 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 sticks cold butter, cubed

You can either make the crust by hand or in a food processor.  Mix everything together until it resembles a fine sand.  Then firmly press onto the foil, making sure to spread it out evenly and covering the whole pan.  Bake the crust for about 25-30 minutes or until lightly golden.  It may crack a bit.  That’s OK.

The Filling

You can use any kind of fruit you like.  I made 1/2 apple and 1/2 peach this time.  I am only going to give you the full recipe for one type of fruit, but if you split them like I did, just divide the portions in 1/2 and evenly divide them.

4 lbs peaches or apples, peeled and diced

4 TBSP butter

1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1 tsp cinnamon if using apples and 1 tsp ground ginger if using peaches

1 TBSP cornstarch

3 TBSP lemon juice

Mix the cornstarch and lemon juice together and set aside.  Then mix the rest of the ingredients together and place them in a skillet to cook over a medium heat for about 25 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated and the fruit is soft.  Stir occasionally.

Add the cornstarch mixture and mix in thoroughly, stirring constantly until it thickens.

Evenly spread the filling mixture out on top of the cooked crust.

While the filling is cooking, make your streussel topping.

Streussel Topping

1 cup flour

1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped coarse

1/2 cup soft butter

1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1 TBSP vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

Mix everything together by hand until it forms into a ball.

Scatter the topping evenly over the fruit filling and bake again for about 40-45 minutes or until the topping browns.

Once the topping browns up and forms a light crust, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before cutting into squares.  You should get 24 squares.  You can refrigerate the squares for about 1 week or you can freeze them for about 3 months.  Personally, I don’t think they are going to be around long enough to freeze.  They will disappear very quickly, especially when you serve them with ice cream, as Larry likes to eat them.  You can have them for breakfast or dessert or a perfect anytime snack without the ice cream too.

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