I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
I am backtracking a bit on this, since I made this right after we got back from Cozumel. But we have been very busy every since our return home, and I was busy sharing our trip and and our adventures with our friends. Now, it is back to my own cooking again for awhile. I’ll start off with some easy stuff. 🙂
I love sausages of all kinds and we love sausage & peppers too. This time though, I did it a little differently, and made it Creole style. By that I mean I made it with Andouille sausage and some spicy Creole sauce. Before we left, I had made some chicken and vegetable kebabs, and I still had some of the marinated vegetables that needed to be used, and used quickly before going bad. So I turned them into sausage and peppers.
This dish was very easy to make and very tasty, which is my kind of meal.
I added the rest of my marinated peppers and onions, along with some mushrooms, garlic and a jalapeno to my Andouille sausage. I also had a little of my herbed-tomato vinaigrette along with some Creole seasonings that I used for my sauce.
Then I let it all cook down for a bit and served it all over some mini farfelle pasta with a little Mozarella cheese added on top and some warmed ciabatta, and voila! Dinner was done.
I love it when I can creatively use up my leftovers to come up with something totally new and different. I also love it when it is easy-peasy to make too.
Enjoy your day, stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.
The other day I mentioned that Julia and Bruce dropped off a ton of grapes Lots and Lots of Grapes.
Besides the grape and olive oil cake I made I also made some grape jelly, and I still have more grapes to use. I have not yet perfected my jelly-making procedures, but I am working on it. I am most definitely a work in progress on this one. Believe it or not, this is the first time I have ever even attempted to make jelly.
I followed two different recipes and I am still not completely happy with my jelly. I took bits and pieces from both. They were very similar, but one said to use pectin and the other did not. Even I knew, as the novice, that you needed to use pectin to make it set. But I did like adding the lemon juice to cut down on the sweetness from that recipe. After two attempts though, using both dry and liquid pectin, my jelly still did not set completely. So back to the kettle, to boil it down yet again, adding even more pectin, in hopes of my jelly jellying. So I am just tweaking the process, but the rest I think I have figured out. The flavor is really good though. I am giving you the combined recipe. I hope you have better luck than I did. And if you do, please share your methods. I love to learn new things.
Homemade Grape Jelly
3 1/2 lbs grapes, stems removed
1 cup water
3/4 cup of sugar per each 1/2 lb of grapes or about 7 cups of sugar
2 TBSP lemon juice
1 tsp course salt
4-6 oz pectin, dry or liquid
In a large kettle or cooking pot, cook the grapes with the water over high heat and bring to a rapid boil. Then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for 10 minutes. Gently mash with a potato masher a few times.
Remove from the heat and and strain in either cheesecloth or in a double strainer with a very thin mesh. Let the grapes drain overnight to get all the juice out. When done, throw away the seeds and skins.
Once you have your juice, add the sugar, a pinch of course salt, and lemon juice and bring to a rapid boil.
Add the pectin and bring back up to a rapid boil and continue to boil for about 1-2 minutes. Skim the foam off the top and discard. I tried both the liquid and the dry pectin. I preferred the dry pectin. It is like working with cornstarch. Let it come to a rapid boil before pouring it into the jars.
When the liquid is ready, pour it into sterile jars and place the jars in a bain marie or a water bath of boiling hot water and let set for 5 minutes. Then place the lids on the jellies and seal tightly. Your jelly should set up nicely and will be ready to use after it sets completely.
Because I had never made jelly before, I followed these recipes exactly, and my jelly never completely set, although it is much better after the second boiling. I am going to have to go through the boiling and pectin process yet again. But at least now I know what I have to do. My moral of the story, don’t follow the rules. Make them up as you go. 🙂
Chef Jeanne has been busy with a new cooking class once again. I put on my professional gear once more and taught another cooking class to a new student, Noah.
Noah wanted to learn how to make steak burritos, with salsa and guacamole. OK. Easy-peasy. That’s exactly what we did too. I brought all the ingredients over to Noah’s parents’ house, and we went down to his little studio apartment and made some steak fajita burritos.
We marinated the steak, peppers and onions in lime juice, salt, pepper and cumin first. While the steak was marinating, we then made out pico de gallo.
Noah is a very quick study. I showed how how to properly use his knife and how to cut all the ingredients, and off he went.
We did a quick and easy version for everything. We were on the clock and time was limited. Noah had a piano lesson directly after our cooking class, and he wanted to taste his creations before his next lesson.
Once the pico de gallo was made, we used some of that in our guacamole as well. I do that all the time. We just added it to our smashed avocados and mixed it all together. After all, they are the same basic ingredients. We also added some more lime juice and green onions to the guacamole. You can use either lime or lemon juice, but I prefer lime juice.
When the pico do gallo and the guacamole were finished, it was time to grill our meat and peppers. We had to grill them in small batches because we were cooking everything on a tiny George Forman grill. This was a new concept for me, but everything turned out great and Noah was very happy with the end results. And that is really all that matters. It is all about “customer satisfaction”. 🙂
Noah did a great job. He was having a lot of fun. He also had enough leftovers to enjoy the fruits of his labors for a least a couple more burritos later on too.
I found out later that Noah was wearing his Karate outfit to look more like a chef. I love his enthusiasm and his sense of humor.
It doesn’t take much to put a smile on someone’s face, and once you do, it is a priceless gift. Enjoy your days and help others to enjoy their days too. Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.
I never want to inundate you all with post after post after post, but it is so hard for me not to share things with you all, especially when I have so many good things I want to present.
I love Fall. It is my favorite season of the year. I love the changing of the colors and the cool crisp air. And now, it is here. It is finally Fall! Our trees are beginning to change their colors, but so far this year, our colors are more subtle and are not as vibrant as they usually are. That’s OK. Everything is still beautiful. We have a lot of golds and yellows, but not so much of the oranges and reds this year.
Not only are the colors of the trees changing, but I have noticed a changing of the birds as well, though, so far, they have been rather elusive and hard to capture with my camera. The geese are out in droves again, as they usually are.
I even saw another slippery little fellow, that I would have much preferred NOT to see. It is late in the season for snakes, yet this is the second one I have seen in just a week’s time. The first one was a tiny baby snake, most probably a bull snake, though it had a rectangular head and could have very easily have been a rattler too. We do have plenty of them in our open space. I did not get a picture of him. I did however get a picture of this garter snake slithering across the pavement. I quickly changed directions, and headed the other way. I DO NOT like snakes of any kind!!!!!!
The other day, Julia, from https://retirementrvdream.com/ dropped off a TON of grapes from her garden. We estimated there were about 13 lbs of grapes, and that was only 1 portion of them. What am going to do with all these grapes??????
I am actually putting them to very good use. I made some grape jelly with a whole bunch of them, but more on that later. I also made a grape and olive oil cake that I took with me to my Thursday night meeting. It was a huge hit, and the plate came home empty. That’s just the way I like it too.
I didn’t realize the grapes had seeds in them, and just put them into the cake batter, seeds and all. When I realized it, I told everyone to watch out for them, but we all decided they weren’t so bad, and they added a bit of texture to the cake, just like chopped nuts would do. Live and learn I guess.
Olive oil is the one thing in my kitchen I could NEVER be without. I use it for everything, including cakes and desserts. The olive oil cake is a typical dessert of the Spanish confectionery. The origin of the olive oil cakes is unknown but the pastry studies point to Arab, Jewish or Mozarabic recipes from the southern half of the Iberian peninsula, and from there it traveled into the rest of the Mediterranean countries as well. This particular cake I made was an Italian recipe. Like most of my favorite recipes, it is made from simple, everyday items that we all keep on hand at all times.
ItalianGrape and Olive Oil Cake
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
2/3 cup + 1 TPSP sugar
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 TBSP melted butter
2 tsp orange or lemon zest
1 tsp orange or lemon extract
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups seeded grapes
powdered sugar for dusting
The technique for making this cake is just how you would make any other cake. Mix all the dry ingredients together first and set aside, them mix in the eggs, sugar, butter and oil, then combine it all together and mix just until everything is incorporated together. You do not want to over mix or the cake will be tough.
Mix the eggs with the sugar and blend until light and fluffy. Then add the milk, olive oil, butter and lemon or orange extracts and zest. I used orange this time around. You can also use both if your prefer, to give your cake a real citrusy flavor.
Spray a 9 inch cake pan with cooking spray and lightly flour the sides.
Preheat the oven to 350* F or 180* C.
Once your batter is made, gently fold in the grapes, then evenly spread the batter into the prepared cake pan.
Bake for about 50-60 minutes, or until the cake is lightly golden in color and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle.
Allow the cake to cool completely before dusting it with powdered sugar, and then it is time to enjoy! !Buon Appetito! This is a great light dessert or just something to serve with a gathering of friends or family. It is not overly sweet, but just sweet enough to satisfy that sweet tooth and those sweet cravings. Because it has so many grapes and olive oil, it is also a healthier version of cake to eat as well.
Always make room for dessert, especially when you are with friends or family.
A Jeanne in the Kitchen 