A Jeanne in the Kitchen

I have joined a women’s group and we meet once a week to discuss current events and whatever else tickles our fancy. At first we were meeting in a little local coffee shop, but we outgrew them, so we started meeting at each other’s houses instead. When we gather to “gossip” we always bring food as well. We make it like a potluck brunch. These last couple of weeks we have been meeting at my house. For our latest meeting, I made a “perfect pound cake”. I know, a pound cake does NOT go with the article I posted yesterday about wanting to loose weight, The Downfalls of Being a Chef but I have been very good, and have not been eating it. I love making things as much as I love eating things, so as long as other people enjoy what I make, there is a lot of satisfaction, gratification and comfort in that too. I can enjoy things vicariously through everyone else. 🙂

I had some leftover mascarpone filling from when I made my cannoli cups We All Need A Little Help From Our Friends that I added into my pound cake mixture as well. The pound cake came out so moist with hints of chocolate and pistachios as well, from what was in the mascarpone filling. The pound cake was a big hit with all the ladies in our group. Larry likes it too, especially with ice cream. (I did have a little bit, but not much. How else can I tell you how it tastes and what it is like if I don’t try it, right?!)

Perfect Pound Cake

2 1/2 cups sugar

2 cups or 4 sticks of butter, softened

8 oz softened cream cheese or mascarpone cheese

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp lemon extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

8 eggs

3 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 325* F or about 170* C.

Spray 2 loaf pans with cooking spray and dust with flour.

Mix all the dry ingredients together well.

Beat the butter and sugar together until soft and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating in between each addition. Then add the vanilla, lemon and almond extracts and the mascarpone cheese and blend until everything is incorporated well.

Add the flour, 1/2 at a time and mix at a medium speed in between. Mix just until everything is well incorporated. Do not over mix.

Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pans, spreading it evenly in the pans.

Bake for about 65-80 minutes, or until the center of the cake is springy to the touch and the cakes are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow the cakes to rest for about 15 minutes before carefully releasing them from the pans.

Once the pound cakes were cooled completely, I dusted them with powdered sugar and sliced them. I sliced one cake and served it while the other one is wrapped tightly in aluminum foil and is in the freezer waiting for another day.

Delicious! It most definitely is a perfect pound cake that will be perfect for any occasion. You can dress it up however you like and take it with you wherever you go.

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

For the most part, I can’t think of many things I love more than cooking for my family and friends. As you all know, I LOVE good food. And because I love good food, I have always struggled with my weight. I go up and down like a yo-yo. For a while, I had lost a considerable amount of weight, and kept it off for about 10 or so years. I was down to a size 4, I was fit and lean, and training and swimming hard. Then one day – POOF! The weight started coming back on, seemingly overnight. I have been trying hard to get it off ever since. Some of the weight gain is completely out of my control because my thyroid stopped working, giving me Hashimoto’s disease, and I will be on thyroid medications most probably for the rest of my life. Some of my weight gain is because I am no longer as active as I was, partially due to injuries and surgeries, and because of COVID, I have not been in the pool for either my classes that I taught or for my own personal swimming and training. But mostly, the growth of my girth is because of my love of good food.

I went from this:

to this in just a few short years.

At this point, I will try ANYTHING and EVERYTHING to help me lose weight, even though I doubt very seriously I will ever be a size 4 again. With this in mind, recently a friend of a friend of mine asked if I would be interested in being a tester for a weight loss product for 90 days. My answer to her was “YES, YES, YES!” I just started the program a few days ago, and so far, I am already beginning to feel and see some results, albeit small stepping stones only at the moment. But small steps lead into big steps, and we all have to start somewhere, right?!

The new product I am testing for the next 90 days is called ThermofightX.

I take 1 tablet at breakfast & 1 at lunch for the next 90 days in the hopes of losing up to 30 lbs. If I could loose 30 lbs, that would put me very close to where I was just a few short years ago. Even if I don’t loose all 3o lbs though, and lost any fraction of it, I would still be a happy camper. So far, I have only been taking the pills and the gummies. I have not yet done the liquid Cleanse, but I will.

I am only a guinea pig or a tester at the moment, so we will see how it all goes at the end of the 90-day test period. So far though, it seems to be working. Fingers are crossed. 🙂

Janelle is still looking for testers. If anyone is interested in testing the ThermofightX products, Janelle would be more than happy to help you out. Her contact information is: Janelle Mory: 916-812-4634 . She also said to Text- “Join Jeanne” for discount products!

It has been quite awhile since our last Guest Chef. No one has been sending anything in, and I miss that. I love seeing what’s cooking in your kitchens. But all that has changed, and now, we have a new Guest Chef, my friend, Dolly Aizenman.

You all might know Dolly from her blog, Kool Kosher Kitchen at https://koolkosherkitchen.wordpress.com/. Dolly always cooks with love. All her recipes look and sound amazing. Not only does she cook with love, but she also gives you a great history lesson with just about all of her recipes as well, which I love. Here is a little bit about this amazing lady in her own words.

Dolly submitted a recipe, and its history lesson, for chicken pastrami, which apparently, according to both history and legend, is the secret of happiness. I am not going to give you Dolly’s history behind chicken pastrami because I could never write it and present it like she does. So, you will have to learn more about it by going to Dolly’s website koolkosherkitchen.wordpress.com instead. I will, however, give you her recipe for chicken pastrami or pastromo as it is also called.

Dolly’s Chicken Pastrami or Pastromo

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1 cup dry red wine

1 TBSP mustard seeds

3-4 bay leaves

3-4 fresh sage leaves

4-5 garlic cloves, diced fine

1 tsp black peppercorn

2 TBSP Agave syrup or honey

1 TBSP paprika

1 TBSP sea salt

Mix everything together as a marinade and place the chicken breasts into the mixture, cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.

When you are ready to cook the chicken, preheat the oven to 480* F.

Drain the chicken breasts and pat them dry with a paper towel to remove all the excess liquid. Place the chicken breasts on top of each other and tie firmly with cooking twine.

Place the chicken onto a lightly oiled baking sheet and bake uncovered for 25 minutes. Turn the oven off and keep the chicken in the oven for an additional hour.

Remove the chicken from the oven and slice thinly. You can eat this either warm or cold.

Dolly is quite an amazing lady and lives her life to the fullest. She has a real zest for life and it shows in everything she does, and in her beautiful smile. You can see she is thoroughly enjoying this mojito.

Though Dolly and I have never actually met face to face, I feel as though I have known her for years. We met through the fun and fabulous world of blogging. We are kindred spirits and have so much in common. We have shared many glasses of “virtual” chardonnay together and we are both looking forward to being able to share a real glass or two or three with each other one day.

I am raising a glass of chilled chardonnay to you Dolly. I look forward to sharing our chardonnays together. Cheers!!!!

I love getting to know all of you better and sharing your pictures and recipes. It is always an open invitation to all of you chefs out there in the blogospehere and beyond. Please, send me you pictures and your stories so we can all get to know you better and so we can see what’s cookin’ in your kitchens. Send them to my email address at ljbjej@q.com.

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

Fusion cooking is always fun. I get to mix and match all kinds of things and that opens up a lot of new and interesting possibilities. As you would imagine, a traditional pesto is Italian, and is traditionally made with fresh basil and roasted pine nuts. But today, anything goes, and it is up to your imagination. Shrimp is the most popular seafood used in Chinese cooking, although shrimp is universal. I made my Asian pesto with macadamia nuts, which are often associated with Hawai’i, instead of using the pine nuts and spiced it up with some Asian flavors to give it a whole new perspective. So in this one dish, I combined some Italian, Chinese and Hawaiian influences to make a uniquely delicious meal of Shrimp with an Asian pesto sauce. I served it over lemon rice, which has Indian influences, as well as my green vegetable salad and pita bread and red pepper hummus, that are Middle Eastern. It’s All About Being Green, A Taste of Morocco This one dish had many international influences, which in a way makes it very American too.

Macadamia nuts are known as the “king of nuts” because they are labor intensive and costly to produce. But they are worth every penny spent on them. If you have never eaten a macadamia nut, you really need to. You are in for a real treat! They are soft, crunchy and buttery all at the same time. No other nut compares. Originally, macadamia nuts hailed from Australia, and were introduced to Hawai’i in the early 19th century, but today they are grown in high rainfall, subtropical regions around the world from Australia, Hawai’i, and South and East Africa.

Part of what makes macadamia nuts so expensive is that it takes roughly seven months for the nuts to mature enough to dry and process. Then they are harvested by hand once they fall to the ground from the trees and are dried before they are ready to go to market. The drying process takes about three weeks. When the nuts are first harvested, they have a moisture content of about 30%. When they are fully dried the kernel shrinks away from the inside of the shell, which allows the shell to be cracked in a way that does not damage the kernel. When the drying process is complete, the moisture content is now at 1.5%, which gives the nuts a light and crunchy texture. Once you start munching on them, it is very hard to stop at just one.

Asian Pesto Sauce

3/4 cup roasted macadamia nuts or peanuts if you prefer

2 jalapenos, seeded

1 red chili, seeded

1 1/2-2 TBSP garlic

1 TBSP ginger

2 TBSP lime juice

2 TBSP Sambal sauce

1 TBSP sugar

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

1/4 cup fresh mint leaves or about 1 TBSP dried mint

salt & pepper to taste

1/2 cup olive or peanut oil

Roast the nuts first until they are lightly browned and fragrant. Then combine everything together in a food processor and blend together until you have a liquidy sauce.

I used some of my fleur de sel that I got for my birthday. You only need a little bit. Another Birthday Surprise

Once the sauce is made, peel the shrimp and mix into the sauce. Let the shrimp marinate for about 3o-45 minutes before skewering them up and grilling, so they get nice and flavorful. Reserve some of the sauce for later.

When the shrimp are cooked, it is time to dish them up and serve them with your favorite side dishes. Top the shrimp with more of the sauce. A dry white wine is the best wine to go with this dish to really bring out the flavors of the sauce. This dish is Ono brah!

You can use this same sauce for either chicken or pork too, or if you would like to try it with tofu, that would work as well.

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

In case you haven’t already noticed, my favorite things to cook are things that are pretty easy-peasy to make, with basic, everyday ingredients. The other day, I was supposed to get together with my friend Janet for afternoon wine and nibblies. I asked her what she wanted me to bring, and she said chicken salad. Great! Easy-peasy. Our plans changed, which actually worked out for the better because the boys could join us too, and we had an early dinner instead. So the chicken salad I made for the day has already been eaten. I will make just have to another batch of chicken salad for another day.

There are endless possibilities on how to make chicken salad. This is just one of an infinite amount of ways to make it. I based it on the Sprouts Market version, which I have to say, I eat quite a bit. I love their chicken salad and especially on sandwiches made with their multi-grain bread.

Quick and Easy-Peasy Chicken Salad

As you can see, I only a used a few basic ingredients. I didn’t even cook my own chicken this time. I started off by using 2 cans of Costco chunked chicken.

2 cans of cooked, chunked chicken, drained and chopped

2-3 celery ribs, diced fine

1/2 red bell pepper, diced fine

1 carrot, peeled and shredded

3-4 green onions, sliced very thin

1 cup mayonnaise

salt & white pepper to taste

Mix everything together and chill in the refrigerator until ready to eat. That’s it. Quick and easy-peasy, simple and delicious. It goes great in sandwiches or as an appetizer with crackers. You can easily buy chicken salad that is already made, but if you can and if have about 10 minutes, fresh is always best, and better for you too.

Things don’t always have to complicated in order to taste good. Often times, the good, old fashioned, easy-peasy comfort food is the best. We all get busy and life happens to all of us, so why stress yourself out in the kitchen if you don’t have to, especially when life gets crazy and hectic. Follow the K.I.S.S. rule and keep it simple, especially when time is of the essence and life keeps you busy.

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

The weather is beginning to warm up, which means our meals are beginning to lighten up and are not nearly as heavy as they are in the colder weather. This also means more salads and veggies. Here is a salad that is also mostly green vegetables that will knock your socks off. It just looked so yummy and sounded so fresh, I just had to make it. We loved it. If you like a wide variety of “green” vegetables, you will love it too. It will definitely make it onto our regular to-do list and would be perfect for both Spring and Summer. I already have it on the menu once again for the very something I am planning for the very near future.

Green Veggie Salad

8 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

1 lb Brussels sprouts, cut in half and cooked

1 lb asparagus, blanched

1 lb green beans, ends trimmed and blanched

1/4 cup red onions or shallots sliced very thin

1 cup roasted pecan or walnut halves, cut into pieces

The Dressing

1/4 cup champagne vinegar

2 tsp Dijon mustard

salt & pepper to taste

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tsp sugar

Combine all the ingredients for the dressing and whisk together thoroughly. Set aside until ready to use. I actually used some of my exotic peppercorns that I got for my birthday. Another Birthday Surprise I thought the Brazilian Pink peppercorns would go very well with this dressing, so those are what I used this time.

Because my pepper grinders broke and got thrown away, I crushed my peppercorns the old fashioned way, by crushing them with a heavy skillet. Believe it or not, I was actually taught to crush them this way in culinary school.

Cook the bacon completely, then once it has cooled, crumble it. You do not have to use bacon at all if you do not want to, but I love bacon in salads, so for me, it was a must.

Blanche the green beans and the asparagus in boiling water for about 5-7 m minutes then cool immediately in a cold ice bath, so they do not continue to cook. Once they are cooled, cut them into pieces about 1 inch in size.

Cut the Brussels sprouts in half and cook them in the bacon grease, along with the red onions or shallots, for about 5-7 minutes as well.

Combine all the veggies, nuts and bacon together, then toss in just enough dressing to coat the vegetables thoroughly.

Eat immediately after tossing in the dressing and enjoy. This salad is crisp and crunchy and is full of zesty, tangy flavors. You’re going to love it. I promise!

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

When I made my marinara sauce, Making Marinara I had no idea I was going to get so much use out of one batch. But I did. I made quite a few good meals and dishes from just one round of marinara sauce. I made a small pizza with it; I used it for my caramelized onion tart Olive and Caramelized Onion Tart; I used it with my gnocchis Channeling the Italian Nonnas when I made my herbed Italian pork chops Herbed Italian Pork Chops; and last but not least, I just finished it off and made some sausage pasta with it. See how versatile one sauce can be? This versatility with food is one of things that makes cooking so much fun for me. That’s why I always say “Be creative and play with your food”. You just never know what you can do with it, and if you use enough imagination and creativity, you just never know what you will come up with. 🙂

I used the rest of my marinara sauce, and added some more tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic and olive oil, as well as some red wine.

I cooked the sausage cooked completely, then I removed it from the pan to allow it to cool for a bit, before slicing it.

I deglazed the pan with the wine I added to the skillet and scraped all the bottom drippings left from the sausage. Next I added the mushrooms, garlic and tomatoes and sauteed them in some olive oil for about 5-7 minutes.

I added the rest of the marinara sauce and the sausage and allowed it all to continue to cook for an additional 7-10 minutes, stirring frequently, to make it nice and saucy.

When everything was done, I served it over some leftover angel hair pasta and topped it all off with some fresh basil and served it with my garlic cheese bread, and of course, more red wine.

The results … !Deliziosa! See what happens when you play with your food? Play with it. Have fun. But most of all, ENJOY!

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

The other day my neighbor, who is originally from Lebanon, brought over some fresh, homemade red pepper hummus. She gave us so much that there was no way we could eat it all at once. So I made a dinner that would go with and accompany Hanaa’s delicious hummus. I poured through all my Middle Eastern cookbooks and decided upon Moroccan chicken and veggies. I made enough Moroccan chicken that I returned the favor, and gave some to Hanaa and Aziz, her husband, as well. Hanaa called me the next day and was so excited. She couldn’t believe I could cook Middle Eastern foods too. She said “When did you start cooking like this? It was so good and the house smelled so wonderful”. I think that means I did a pretty good job. 🙂

Morocco is known for all of its fabulous spices from around the world. Morocco was on the route between Europe, the Middle East and Asia and so acquired a number of spices as Portuguese and Spanish enclaves and ports were established along the Moroccan coast. Arab traders controlled the spice trade between Europe and the East, like China, Indonesia, India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka, my third stop), for almost 5,000 years until Europeans started looking for a new route to the Far East. Spices were so important because they helped mask the flavor of not-so-fresh food. Spices were prized goods in the Middle Ages and the quest for spices saw the development of an early model of globalization. Desired for their culinary, medicinal and cosmetic properties, spices fueled European colonial empires to create political, military and commercial networks to capitalize on the trade. Spices are still valued in today’s world as well, though today, they are much more easily attained than they were back in the days of the ancient spice traders.

Moroccan Chicken and Vegetables

1 1/2-2 lbs chicken pieces

salt & pepper to taste for the chicken

4 TBSP olive oil, divided

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 TBSP garlic

2-3 large carrots, cut into large chunks

1 onion, cut into large chunks

1 can garbanzo beans or chick peas, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup olives, sliced

1 1/2 cups mushrooms, quartered

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 450* F or 230* C.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Rub the chicken with salt, pepper and olive oil and place it on the foil.

Combine all the ingredients together and toss together adding the rest of the olive oil and more salt & pepper as needed. Once everything is coated with the spices and olive oil, place it on the foil along with the chicken.

Bake for about 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to about 400* F or 200* C and continue to cook until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165* F or about 90* C. The house will smell so good with the combination of all the spices.

When the chicken is cooked and at temperature and the vegetables are tender, it is done. I served this over couscous, but you can also serve it over rice as well. I also added some warmed pitas and Hanaa’s red pepper hummus, completing the meal with a dry pinot gris on the side. It was so good and full of bold, zesty flavors. It was a very warm and comforting meal from the inside out.

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

What a beautiful day. Technically, it is still winter, but not for too much longer. Most of the snow has melted and the ice is thawing. The skies are blue, the sun is shining brightly, and the temperature was just perfect. I couldn’t ask for a more beautiful day. The lakes are still quiet, but it won’t be to long and they will once again be full of life and full of activity.

The geese were out, but then they always are.

There were a few ducks, both mallards and a few common goldeneyes. It won’t be too long and we should start seeing some “duckalings” as our friend’s daughter used to call them.

There was one lone bunny just chilling out in the grass.

and a squirrel playing hide and seek in the tree.

Make the most out of each and every day. Carpe diem!

Larry is a Kansas boy, and Kansas is beef country. In fact we have some cattle farmers in the family. One of Larry’s sisters and her husband and their sons, our nephews, raise cattle. I think Larry could eat beef, and particularly steak, everyday if I would let him. But I make him eat a wide variety of foods all the time. He doesn’t really complain though. In fact, he knows he gets fed real well all the time. Anyway, it was yet another steak night. I had a lot more of my caramelized onions leftover from when I made my caramelized onion tart Olive and Caramelized Onion Tart so I put them to good use as a steak topper.

I added mushrooms, red and orange bell peppers and garlic, then I just sauteed them up and added them to the onions.

I have always liked stuff on my stuff. Why just have steak when I can have steak with pizzazz, right????? Besides, by mixing all these vegetables together, I make sure we get enough vegetables in our diet too. I topped both the steak and my green beans with this delicious vegetable medley. So we had 1) onions, 2) mushrooms, 3) red and orange belle peppers and 4) green beans, 5) garlic + the roasted potatoes I served on the side all in one meal. And of course I served red wine on the side, so do the grapes used in the wine count as my fruit intake too? I think so. I think we met our fruit and vegetable requirements for the day. 🙂

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