A Jeanne in the Kitchen

Once again, I was in a Creole frame of mind. I was also craving some pasta. And I love anything with some spice and some heat to it, so some Creole pasta with a spicy cream sauce was on the menu.

Creole Pasta with Ham, Chicken and Vegetables

1-1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken

1 1/2 cups cooked ham, sliced

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1/2 red onion, sliced very thin

2-3 roasted Hatch peppers, diced fine

1 tomato, diced medium – This time I used a yellow heirloom, but any kind of tomatoes will do.

1 TBSP garlic

1 tsp red pepper flakes or to taste

olive oil for cooking

salt & pepper to taste

1/2 red bell pepper, cut into thin matchsticks

1 tsp cumin

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 TBSP fresh thyme and fresh oregano, chopped fine

In a hot skillet, add the olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for about 1 minute, or until they are nice and fragrant. Then add the onions, peppers and mushrooms. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until they are tender but still have a little crisp left to them. Stir frequently.

Add the chicken and ham and mix everything together. Then add the cream. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for about 5-7 minutes, once again, stirring frequently.

Once everything is incorporated well, add the tomatoes and fresh herbs and seasonings. I wanted the tomatoes to keep the shape, rather than break down and be a part of the sauce for this one, so i added them at the end of the cooking process.

Once everything is ready, serve it over some cooked pasta. I used spaghetti, but any kind of pasta will work just fine. Add some warmed bread and a glass or two of a cool, crisp white wine, and enjoy. If you don’t like ham, just use chicken. Or vice versa. You could also add shrimp and or crab too. This is a very versatile sauce that will lend itself to just about any kind of protein, although, I don’t think beef would be the best choice. Play with it and make it yours. Use what you like best.

Sit back and relax and let the good times roll with this spicy Creole dish. it is loaded with goodness, but it’s not to heavy, so it is a perfect meal for summer, though it is perfect anytime too.

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

We are still in the midst of sweltering heat, so I am doing my best to keep dinners as cool and as simple as I can. Dinner last night was a cool California version of the classic gyro, served side by side with some deliciously crisp French fries. I love gyros. I made this dish at home for next to nothing, however, this same meal in a restaurant would have cost us about $9+ each, plus the cost of something to drink. So not only is this cool and easy-peasy to make, but by making them at home vs. going out to a restaurant saves $$$ as well, which in these tough economic times, I think we can all appreciate.

The differences between these gyros and regular gyros are subtle. Instead of using shaved lamb or a combination of lamb and beef I just used some skirt steak that I marinated in some dried garlic and tomato herbs, a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Then my sauce was a little different as well. I used my leftover creamy lemon and garlic herb dressing instead of a regular Tsatsiki sauce Cool California Steak Salad Both gyro versions are very good and are perfect for these dog days of summer. Because I changed things ever so slightly, I still have to “technically” change the name, even though that is far less applicable because I am cooking them in my own kitchen. However if I were serving these in a restaurant, I would be legally bound to make these disclosures to the general public, so I might as well fess up to them here as well.

My gyros were still loaded with fresh diced cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions and lettuce, all wrapped in a warmed pita sandwich, just like the traditional gyros are. Larry’s had feta cheese as well. Mine did not.

Don’t these look colorfully delicious and fresh? They were too. They were also very messy, which in my books, is always a good indicator of how good they are going to taste. I have always said messy tastes better.

In these dog days of summer, do your best to avoid the heat and stay cool, stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

Yesterday I went to go visit my friend Amy. We were going to do some baking but we decided it was just way to hot, even early in the morning. So rather than turning on the oven, Amy decided to make a quick and easy no-bake key lime pie instead.

This easy-peasy pie only requires a few simple ingredients and just a few minutes of your time to make.

1 small box of lime jello

1 cup of boiling wat water

2 9-inch graham cracker pie crusts

1 tub of Cool Whip or whipped cream topping

2 -8 oz containers of lime Greek yogurt

Boil the water to a full rapid boil, then mix in the Jell-O mix. Add the yogurt and whisk it in completely.

Once the yogurt is mixed in thoroughly, add the Cool Whip and gently fold in to the mixture.

Once everything is combined, carefully pour the mixture into the graham cracker crusts.

Then cover with plastic wrap and set it in the refrigerator to set and chill for at least 4 hours before eating. You can also add some more whipped cream to the top as well for a little more pizzazz if you like. Once it is set, all that is left to do is to slice it up and enjoy.

We had some special helpers as we were making this cool and refreshing summer dessert too. Amy’s kids and puppies were helping us in the kitchen, making sure we did everything just right.

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

I gave you all a bit of a teaser yesterday with my marinated mushrooms and artichoke hearts. Marinated Mushrooms and Artichoke Hearts I actually made those as part of the rest of this deliciously cool steak salad that I served for dinner.

As most of you know, I am originally from Southern California. We eat EVERYTHING in California. Part of the reason for the many varieties of foods is because of all the ethnic influences we have in California. But another reason is because of all the fabulous produce and foods that are grown in California.

California’s agricultural abundance includes more than 400 commodities. Over a third of the country’s vegetables and two-thirds of the country’s fruits and nuts are grown in California.  Over $47.1 billion is generated by California agriculture, which is 2 percent of the state’s economy, and was the largest amount for any state, making up 12.5 percent of the total agricultural production for all 50 states.  It also was more than $19 billion greater than the agricultural production from the second largest state (Iowa) and more than twice the amount of the state with the third greatest production (Texas).  Further perspective is provided by the fact that the agricultural production in California was greater than the total GDP of three states.  One of only five agricultural regions in the world with a Mediterranean-growing climate, California produces more than 400 animal and plant commodities annually, more than any other state, with top products including milk, almonds, grapes, beef and more. Additionally, two-thirds of the nation’s fruits and nuts and over a third of its vegetables are produced by California farms alone. So with all this fabulous produce coming out of California is it any wonder why I love my fruits and vegetables and great food in general? I grew up with nothing but the best. 🙂

I made this cool, refreshing steak salad that honored all the great California produce, using the marinated mushrooms and artichoke hearts as part of that salad too. I love adding as many fresh vegetables as I can to most dishes, and especially to salads. When I make a salad, I load it up with all kinds of fresh goodness.

Cool California Steak Salad

I combined fresh baby spinach with Romaine lettuce as the base of the salads, then added some roasted some peppers, Compari tomatoes, red onions sliced very thin, and the marinated mushrooms and artichoke hearts. Larry’s salad was topped with Mozzarella cheese. I cooked up some skirt steak and sliced it very thin to top it all off. It was all finished with a cool, creamy lemon-herb dressing and some roasted pepita seeds. Of course I was inspired by something complete different, and then went rogue, like I always do. 🙂

Creamy Lemon-Herb Dressing

1/2 cup olive oil

3 TBSP Proseco vinegar

2 TBSP fresh herbs – I used basil, oregano, thyme and lemon verbena

1 TBSP garlic

1 tsp paprika

1 cup mayonnaise

salt & pepper to taste

Put everything in the food processor and pulse for just a few seconds until it is all mixed together and creamy. Chill for at least an hour before using to let all the flavors blend together.

In no time at all, you have a cool, refreshing, healthy salad with a cool and creamy dressing. A tasty dinner in no time, and hardly any time in front of a hot stove. This is just perfect for these dog days of summer.

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

I love both mushrooms and artichoke hearts. There is something about both that just really appeals to me, especially when mixed together. They are a perfect cool combination for the hot summer days too. I made a cool, refreshing steak salad, more on that later, but I marinated these mushrooms and artichoke hearts as part of the salad. They really made the salad pop with fresh summer flavors too.

These couldn’t be any easier to make. I could easily just pop in either a mushroom or artichoke heart and eat them one at a time until they are all gone too. I made a much smaller portion since it was just for the two of us and I was using it as only part of a salad, but you can make as many or as little of these as you like.

Marinated Mushrooms and Artichoke Hearts

I package baby portabella mushrooms, rinsed and stemmed, keep whole

1 can artichoke hearts, drained and rinsed, cut in half

1-2 TBSP Peruvian peppers, optional

1 shallot, sliced very thin

1 TBSP garlic

1-2 TBSP fresh herbs, chopped fine – this time I used thyme, basil and lemon verbena from my garden

salt & pepper to taste

1/3 cup olive oil

2 TBSP lemon juice

2-3 TBSP lemon balsamic vinegar, optional

Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, shallot and herbs and seasonings together and set aside.

Combine the mushrooms, artichoke hearts and Peruvian peppers together. Then gently fold in the olive oil mixture and chill for at least one hour before serving.

You can serve these as an appetizer or part of an antipasto tray, or as a side dish, or as part of a salad like I did. Or you can just enjoy them completely on their own, eating them one at a time, like I often do. Either way, you are going to really love these easy-peasy treats. They are just perfect for these dog days of summer. They are so cool and refreshing, very tasty, healthy and low in fat. these are definitely a win/win for everyone. Enjoy!

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

I love Cajun and Creole cooking. Sometimes the main reason why it is so much fun is because if you are cooking in true Cajun/Creole style, anything goes. You cook with what you have on hand, which means every time you cook a particular dish, it will always be slightly different. The rebel in me LOVES this way of cooking. Everything is always going to be a little unexpected and unpredictable, just like me.

As I have mentioned many times, I have Cajun and Creole in my blood, so I go back to this way of rebellious, anything goes way of cooking quite often. My latest Cajun/Creole delicacy was some Creole pork loin with a Creole sauce that was made from little bits of this and little bits of that.

I started off by searing a pork loin that I covered in a dry Creole/Cajun rub. The trick to a perfect sear is to get the skillet VERY, VERY hot, then add the oil and butter. This method works for just about any kind of meat. The time of the sear depends on the thickness of the meat, but a good rule of thumb is to sear the meat for about 3 minutes per side in order to get a nice crust. Don’t be afraid to use the timer. Once the meat is seared to perfection, then finish cooking it either on the grill at a lower heat or in the oven until it reaches the desired internal temperature. For pork, you want the internal temperature to be about 165* F.

Once I put the pork loin on the grill, it was time to make the sauce. I just used the same skillet, with the remaining butter and oil already in the skillet, and then added everything else.

As I mentioned above, recipes like this are going to be different every time, and I LOVE IT!!!!!!

I had a little heavy whipping cream, a little Dijon mustard, just a smidge of my heirloom tomato vinaigrette left Heirloom Tomato, Garlic & Herb Vinaigrette with Steak Salad and a little tiny bit of some mystery sauce. I combined everything together, added a dash of cayenne pepper, and voila, my sauce was done.

When the pork loin was ready, I added it to a bed of cooked wild rice and then topped it with my special sauce. I added some corn on the cob on the side, and a delicious buttery chardonnay and we had a scrumptious Creole dinner in no time. This meal was created in true Cajun/Creole form; nothing fancy and little bits of this and that, and that is what makes it so fun and delicious.

Life is short. Make the most of it while you can. Laissez le bontemps roulez!

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

With the Car Show yesterday, The 2022 Car Show it was a very full day, and we came home absolutely spent, but I still needed something else for the coffee cart this morning. I always like to offer some variety of goodies, but a lot of times, what I make depends on how much time I have too. So I made something easy-peasy and delicious to go along with my cherry almond scones. Cherry Almond Scones

There is nothing wrong with making things from a box, especially if the brand you use is reputable. I made brownies, from Ghirardelli, and just added some fun stuff on top. And everybody loves brownies right, so it is a win/win for everyone.

I started off with a the brownie mix and followed the directions for those, but also added a little mint extract to the mix, 2 tsp, and then some crumbled mint Oreo-styled cookies on top. That was it. Nothing fancy today, but definitely still very tasty.

I placed a whole bunch of mint cookies in a plastic bag and hit them with my meat tenderizer to crumble them up.

Once they were all crumbled up, I just spread them on top of the brownies and baked them for about 1 hour, then let them cool completely before cutting them into slices.

They were cool, refreshing, easy-peasy, and definitely delicious.

No one says you have to be a slave to the kitchen in order to make things tasty or fun. We all lead very busy lives, especially in the summer, so go easy on yourselves and have some fun too. Live life.

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

We had a full day at the 2022 Car Show at our church. This is an annual event. It was super hot and there were other car shows going on at the same time, but it was still a successful day. Everyone had a good time and I took a ton of photos to prove it. I was the official photographer today. Usually I am just the assistant photographer, though I still take a ton of pictures all the time. I know, you’re all shocked. I will NOT share all the photos I took, since I took about 350. But I will show you some of the highlights.

My favorite car, the old classic Jaguar won first place.

I thought the 2nd place winner and the 3rd place winners were amazing too. The best part is that they work together and are both firefighters. It was a family affair.

2nd Place

3rd Place

All the cars that were there were amazing and the owners took such great pride in their beautiful cars. They were busy polishing them and proudly displaying all the past awards their cars have earned.

This was a family affair complete with hot dogs and all kinds of fun and games for the kids. There were muscle cars, fun cars, classics, bikes, tractors, kids cars and jet skis. There was even 1 horse too.

There were tons of hot dogs and chips and plenty of cold sodas and cold water. Believe me, we really needed those.

It was a ton of fun, but it was also a ton of work. We are all glad we did it, and that it was a success, but we are also very glad it is over for this year too. There is still plenty more fun to come though. This is just one of many fun events we do every year.

I wasn’t cooking in the kitchen today, but we were definitely cooking outside. Stay cool, stay safe and stay well Everyone. Til next time.

It is the end of the week once again, which means it is time to start prepping all my goodies for the church coffee cart. So far, all I have made is some cherry almond scones with a lemon glaze. But I have something else I am going to start working on in just a bit too. 🙂

I had cherries and almonds and lemon glaze, so I thought combining them all together would be a great idea, and yep, it sure was too. Of course, I had to sample one. I doubled the recipe and made them much smaller, so they will go a longer way.

Cherry Almond Scones

2 cups flour

2 TBSP + 2 tsp sugar

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup or 1 stick of cold butter, cubed

2/3 cup milk

1 egg

1 cup cherries, pitted and diced

1/4 cup almond slivers

1/2 cup lemon glaze, optional

2 TBSP turbinado sugar

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

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder and cold butter together and mix until it resembles coarse sand. Add the cherries and gently fold in.

Beat the egg slightly and add to the flour mixture, along with the milk.

Gently fold everything together, trying not to damage the cherries. You can use any kind of sturdier fruit you like, such as berries too.

I lightly toasted the almonds, but not to much, since they will brown in the oven while baking as well. The almond slivers are only on top of the scones, so if you do not want to add them, you do not need to.

Combine everything together and mix just until everything is blended together. DO NOT over mix. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and form into a large round ball. Cut the dough with pastry cutters or cut into triangles with a knife.

Place the triangles on a cookie sheet but do not over crowd.

Sprinkle a few slivered almonds on top of each scone and then add a little turbinado sugar to help with the browning. Bake for about 25 minutes or until just lightly browned around the edges. Remove and let cool completely before adding the glaze if you are going to.

When the scones are completely cooled, drizzle the lemon glaze on top and enjoy.

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

Most of my squirrels are busy in the trees, but every now and then they like to run around and play on the ground. And sometimes, they even like to have their picture taken too.

It’s OK to be squirrely every now and then. 🙂