A Jeanne in the Kitchen

The bald eagle is the symbol of America.  The bald eagle was chosen to represent the United States because it is unique to North America, making it ‘our’ eagle; it is strong and independent; it is a survivor. It is  majestic, bold, and faithful. It is a symbol of strength and determination.  The bald eagle represents the principals our country was founded on.  The American people ARE the bald eagle and the bald eagle is us and is the USA.  May the eagle always fly majestically, proud and free.

Happy 244th Birthday America and MANY, MANY MORE to come.

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

My blogging buddy Rory over at

is always so good about brightening up everyone’s day.  He is NEVER shy when it comes to “Gifting the Compliment” to others.  Click onto the link below to see who his latest compliments go to.  You might recognize a few names.  If not, then at the very least, you will be introduced to some new blogs and some great stuff.  I will give you a hint ….. Thank you Rory!

Gifting the Compliment

Tomorrow is the 4th of July.  This day is a BIG day for Americans.  We celebrate American Independence Day on the Fourth of July every year. We think of July 4, 1776, as a day that represents the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the United States of America as an independent nation.  The American flag is red, white and blue.  The colors were chosen to represent valor (red), liberty and purity (white), and justice and loyalty (blue).  The stripes represent the original 13 colonies that became the original 13 states.  The stars represent each state of these 50 United States we call America.  Our flag is so important that its history tells the story of America itself. It represents the freedom, dignity, and true meaning of being an American.

Sadly, this year, our big birthday bash will not be celebrated as it usually is.  But we Americans are still showing our love and support for our big day by proudly displaying our stars and stripes.  These are the flags I saw on our latest walk-about.

We proudly display our flag too.  We’ve raised “our kids” right too.  Lucie and Vinnie are proud, patriotic Americans as well.

Happy Birthday to the land I love.  Happy Birthday America.  May this beautiful flag FOREVER wave!

Stay safe and stay well Everyone.  Have a happy, safe 4th of July.  ‘Til next time.

 

 

You all know I can cook ANYTHING.  I can cook the fancy foods with flair, but I can also cook the simple foods that are fun.  In the summer, I tend to cook more fun, simple foods than fancy foods.  I want to enjoy the summer too.  Usually, I am in the pool, swimming my arms off, but not this year (all the pools are STILL closed), so I just don’t have the time or the desire to be in the kitchen all day when I would rather be outside and in the water.

We had some Italian sausages down so I thought I would dress them up a bit, and make them a little more fun.  This recipe could not be any easier to make and only requires a few simple, everyday ingredients.

As you know, I am the wine aficionado.  The Mountain Dew is all Larry’s.   I guess I didn’t do such a good job of getting it out of the picture this time.  🙂  We fried up some French fries and I made a cool green bean and tomato salad to go with our Italian sausage wraps with some marinara sauce on the side for a perfect, easy-peasy summer meal.

You can use any kind of sausage links and cheese you like, I just happened to have hot Italian sausage links down.  Larry likes cheddar and I prefer Mozzarella.

Italian Sausage Wraps

1 package ready made crescent rolls

Italian sausage links, or your choice of sausage links

cheese of your choice

marinara sauce

 

Cook your sausages first and let them cool.  Separate the crescent rolls and flatten them out with your fingers on a lightly floured surface.  Place the cooked sausage onto the wide end of the crescent and roll it up, making sure to cover as much of the sausage link as possible.

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

When the sausages are all rolled up, add the cheese on top.  Lightly press the cheese into the dough.  Place them on a baking pan sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until the dough is golden brown.

Serve these sausage wraps with your favorite side dishes and some warmed marinara sauce on the side, and sit back and relax.  Dinner is done.  Enjoy!

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

My camera and I are very close, intimate friends.  We go walking together all the time.  My camera is an extra set of eyes that often sees things I would not see.  It certainly makes me look and notice things in a completely different way.  This time, we were looking at more flowers.  There were so many brightly colored flowers to see, both common and exotic.  They all shine in their bright beautiful colors.

Look closely.  Do you see the bee?

Roses on the run.

Lilies and exotics in all shades of orange and red.

Life is colorful.  Enjoy all the colors of life.  Stay safe and stay well Everyone.  ‘Til next time.

 

The other day when I made my strawberry jalapeno salad/salsa, Strawberry Jalapeno Salad I enjoyed it so much as a side dish, that I decided to have it again.  This time, however, I made it as the main attraction.  It was so cool and refreshing, especially with a cool, crisp white blend on the side.

To transform the salad into a main meal, I added fresh spinach, red onion slices, cucumber slices and red bell pepper slices, then topped it all with sliced chicken breast.  It’s cool, easy and very refreshing, especially with a lime vinaigrette.

 

Lime Vinaigrette

1-2 TBSP honey

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/3 cup lime juice

1/2 cup olive oil

1-2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

 

Combine everything together and mix well.  Top or toss your strawberry chicken salad with it right before serving.

For the finishing touches, I added some toasted almond slivers and sliced green onions on top of the sliced chicken breast.

This quick and easy salad is definitely a delicious way to cool down on those days when the temperatures are really soaring.

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

Sadly, we are not doing our walks as much as we were before.  It has been too hot during the day time, and then we have been getting thunder and rain in the evenings.  Mother Nature has not been cooperating for us to do our walks lately.  Vinnie has been missing his walks, and so have I, but Mother nature gave us a perfect evening this time, so we were able to take a walk again last night.  It wasn’t quite sunset, but close enough to sunset to call this a sunset stroll.  We all enjoyed it, and we all needed it.

We saw gatherings of geese.  And yes, the “babies” are mixed in here too.  It is hard to tell the babies apart from the grown-ups now.  You have to really look closely to tell them apart.

We saw the ducks out for a swim as well.  Yep, these are the “babies” too.  Once again, they are almost all grown up.

Then resting after.

We saw a couple of egrets, but I had a hard time getting good shots of them today.  This is the best I could get this time.

And we also saw a bunny hiding in the grass.  He was afraid of the “big bad wolf” who was walking along the path.  That big bad wolf was Vinnie, our happy, go-lucky big goofball.

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

 

Most of us are very familiar with shrimp scampi.  It is a well known and well loved Italian-American dish made with lots of garlic and olive oil, both of which are staples in ANY Italian kitchen, as well as my own kitchen (and I am not Italian).  In America, we often use shrimp instead of the tiny langoustine, as they are known in Italian or langostino in Spanish.  Scampi is Italian for langoustine which are small, tiny lobsters that are more closely related to porcelain and hermit crabs than either shrimp or lobsters though.  They are the most important commercial crustacean in Europe.

Scampi is traditionally cooked with the small langoustines, although here in America, we often use shrimp of all sizes too.  But what do you do when either you do not have shrimp or langoustines or do not have enough?  Make it with chicken.  Chicken scampi is just as delicious and just as flavorful as shrimp scampi.  Or, you can make it with both chicken AND shrimp, like I did, and enjoy the best of both.  I used some left over chicken and only had a few shrimp left.  Neither would have been enough for a meal on their own, but by combining them together, we had plenty, AND I created a new dish.  As I always say, be creative and work with what you have.  When cooking in my kitchen, you never know what is going to happen.  You just have to go with the flow. We enjoyed our chicken and shrimp scampi with some garlic-herb cheese bread and a delicious, crisp white blend.

Lemony Chicken and Shrimp Scampi

1 lb chicken, sliced

1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 eggs

salt & pepper to taste

3/4 cup flour, divided

6 TBSP olive oil

2 TBSP garlic

1 red bell pepper, sliced thin

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 cup dry white wine

1 TBSP lemon pepper

1 tsp red pepper flakes, optional

1 TBSP mixed herbs – lemon verbena, thyme, basil, chopped fine or 2 tsp dried herbs, optional

4 TBSP butter

 

Mix the flour, salt and pepper together, then coat the chicken with it.  Beat the eggs together and dip the chicken in it.   Heat 2 TBSP of the olive oil then carefully place the chicken strips into the oil and cook for about 3 minutes per side, or until golden brown.  Remove the chicken and set aside.  Because I used chicken that was already cooked, I skipped this part.

Saute the shrimp, garlic and bell pepper in the oil and about 1/2 of the butter for about 5 minutes, or until the shrimp is completely cooked and is a nice shade of coral-pink.

Add the wine and let cook for about for about 1 minute.

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together well.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for about 5-7 minutes.

When the sauce thickens to your liking, it is ready to serve.  I served it over angel hair pasta, but you can eat it on it’s own or serve it over rice too.  If you like, top it with some Parmigiano cheese and mangia!

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

Sometimes life happens and I do not have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen.  I love it when life happens.  That is exactly how it is supposed to be.  Even though I may not be the one in the kitchen on these days, I am still listening to those who are gathering in their kitchens, and talking about food and talking about life.  Life and food go hand in hand.   You can’t have one without the other.  Friendships through food are celebrated all over the world.  Food is life, no matter where you are.  So live your life and enjoy all the food and friendships along the way.

 

“Those who are at one regarding food are at one in life”.

~ Malawian Proverb~

 

“Warm food, warm friendships.”

~ Czech Probverb ~

 

Food is our common ground, a universal experience.”

~ James Beard, Cookbook Author ~

 

“Good food and a warm kitchen are what make a house a home.”

~ Rachel Ray, Cookbook Author and TV Host ~

 

“You can’t just eat good food.  You’ve got to talk about it too.  And you’ve got tot talk about it to somebody who understands that kind of food.”

~ Kurt Vonnegut, American Author ~

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mojo is a type of sauce or marinade used in a lot of Cuban cooking, and all throughout the Spanish Caribbean world. It is believed to have originated in the Canary Islands because this was the first place where all the ingredients came together; chili peppers from South America, pimentón and olive oil from Spain, and cumin from North Africa.  The name mojo comes from the Portuguese word mohlo, meaning sauce.  Many of the first residents in the Canary Islands came from Portugal and settled there because of the sugar cane industry.  Later, the Spanish came and took over.  Both the Portuguese and the Spanish left their marks and their influences on the cultures and the cooking of the Caribbean Islands and other territories they conquered and settled.  Variations of mojo sauces are common all over Cuba, Puerto Rico and other Spanish-Caribbean islands. Mojo is also believed to have influenced the sauces, marinades and barbeque of Deep South cuisine in the USA.  Mojo sauces can be mild or spicy, red or green.  They are  like a supercharged citrus vinaigrette made from the juice of sour oranges or other citrus juices, garlic, spices and olive oil.  Mojos are used to cook and marinate just about everything, but are really used a lot for chicken, pork and potatoes and are known to be the cornerstone of Cuban and Caribbean cooking.

As you all know, I love all kinds of foods, and I love to play with and experiment with many different ethnic foods.   I am always on the lookout for new ways of preparing foods, or at least new ways to me.  When I came across this recipe for mojo chicken it sounded just perfect for a hot summer’s day, and believe me, it was too.

Grilled Mojo Chicken

1/3 cup olive oil

1-2 TBSP garlic

1/2 cup citrus fruit juice – orange, lemon, lime, pineapple, or a combination thereof

2 tsp grated of either orange zest, lime zest or lemon zest, or 1 tsp of each

1 1/4 tsp cumin

1 tsp oregano

salt and pepper to taste

2 TBSP chopped cilantro

1 jalapeno, diced fine

1/4 red onion, sliced fine

2 lbs chicken

 

Mix all the ingredients together well and pour over the chicken.  Completely cover the chicken and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before grilling it.  With all the citric acid in the marinade, do not marinate for more than 4 hours though, or it will make the chicken very mushy.  You can also use this for pork.

When you are ready, fire up the grill and grill to your heart’s content.  When it is done, serve with your favorite side dishes and enjoy.  !Desfruitas!

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