A Jeanne in the Kitchen

I learned long ago, even before my many years in the restaurant business, waste not want not. This is both a way of cost cutting, but more importantly, a way of using up everything and not letting precious food go to waste. When you only have little bits of this and little bits of that, but they aren’t enough to make a meal on their own, reuse them and turn them into something else. I do this all the time. This time, I turned it all into a delicious salad that was perfect for a hot summer’s day.

Larry and I had our wires crossed for dinner plans, so at the last minute, I turned some of my little bits and pieces into a delicious summer salad. My salad bed was the last of my spinach, then I added some tomatoes, red bell pepper slices, green onions and cheese for Larry. I cooked up a few pieces of bacon then cooked some chicken in the bacon grease, and added both the bacon and the chicken to the salad. The avocado didn’t make it into the salad this time, as it had outlived its good life. I added some pepita seeds to the top of mine, then topped it all with a refreshing tomato and herb vinaigrette. Heirloom Tomato, Garlic & Herb Vinaigrette with Steak Salad Voila! A quick and easy-peasy dinner in no time at all. 🙂

With a couple of slices of some warm bread and a glass or two of wine, it was the perfect summer meal.

Life is short. Don’t stress about the small stuff. You don’t know what’s for dinner, no problem. You only have little bits of this and little bits of that, no worries. Instead of stressing about it, be creative and see what you can do with all those little bits and pieces. Who knows? You just might surprise yourself. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. Have fun. ‘Til next time.

I love seeing our American Kestrels. They are beautiful birds, with their striking colors. I don’t see them all that often, but when I do, I get so excited. Kestrels are small falcons. They are birds of prey and hunt for small rodents and small birds. It was exciting enough to see the Kestrel sitting in the tree, but then we saw him go out on the hunt. Within a minute or two after spotting his prey, we then saw him fly off with a small mouse in his beak. He was a very skilled hunter. Once the little mouse was in his sights, it didn’t stand a chance.

When cooking with Noah, usually we have between an hour or two per session. I keep him busy cooking up all kinds of things. I like to keep him busy while other dishes are cooking too. One of the desserts we made were banana egg rolls served with ice cream and a cowboy coffee sauce on top, finished with some mixed berries. Again, Noah loved every bite.

Banana Egg Rolls with Cowboy Coffee Sauce

This is a pretty easy dessert to make, using only a few ingredients. But it tastes like something magical. It is sweet and flavorful. On the outside, it is crispy and it is soft on the inside. It is a taste sensation like no other.

Banana Egg Rolls

4 bananas peeled and cut in half

1/2 tsp vanilla

8 egg roll wrappers

1 cup bran flake or Raisin Bran cereal, crushed

1 egg

1/2 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 400*F or 204*C.

Lightly crush the bran flakes and place in bowl. Combine the ginger and cinnamon together and mix together with the bran flakes.

Lightly beet the egg.

Roll one banana half in the egg, then roll in the bran flake and spice mixture, making sure to completely coat the banana. Place the coated banana in the egg roll wrapper and fold it in, making sure to grab the edges as you roll. Repeat until all the banana pieces are rolled. Seal the edges of the egg rolls by dipping your finger tip in a little water and rubbing it around the edges, then crimp and seal.

Place them on an ungreased cookie pan. bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until they are golden brown and crispy. Top with cowboy coffee sauce if you like, and either ice cream or yogurt, and some fresh berries.

Cowboy Coffee Sauce

This sauce gets its name from the many cowboys who used every bit of their coffee for many things while out on the range. Their leftover coffee was used for everything from their sauces and gravies to go over their meats to toppings for their pancakes and desserts.

3/4 cup strong coffee

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 TBSP brandy

1 tsp vanilla

Combine everything together in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes or so, or until the sauce begins to thicken a bit. Spoon over the cooked banana egg roll and top it off with ice cream or yogurt and fresh berries. Delicious!

Enjoy! Noah did, and he highly recommends this dessert to all. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

I just love our Herons. We actually have three kinds here on our lakes, but the ones we see most often are the Blue Herons. They are big, majestic birds, and just look so graceful when flying. Unless nesting or mating, usually the Herons are pretty solitary, and you only see one at a time. I love seeing the Herons though, and always get excited when they are around.

These I took from my back deck as he was just wading through the water.

These were on one of our other lakes and I took them while out walk-about.

I even got lucky and got some shots of him in flight. They are not the greatest, but it’s hard to get good shots when they are in flight. They fly away so fast. You just have to aim, click, and hope for the best.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Noah and I are cooking up all kinds of good things. I try to have him make two or three things at time. One, we are making a meal, and two, I am keeping him busy while our foods are cooking. A phrase I learned many moons ago, that was posted on the walls of every restaurant I ever worked in, “Time to lean, time to clean”. I have Noah cleaning too. He’s got to learn, right?!

One day he wanted to make gourmet hamburgers. No problem. We did and they came out great. But I also had him make a healthy salad as well, along with some spicy onion rings to go with his burger. Red Chili Onion Rings We made an orange jicama salad. I don’t think Noah had ever had jicama before, but now he has, and he likes it.

Jicama is a round, turnip shaped tuber shaped vegetable popular in Mexican, Central American and Southwestern foods. Jicama—also called Chinese yam, yam bean root, Mexican potato, fon goot, or sicama. It’s often described as a cross between a potato and an apple. It’s low in carbs and calories, making it a healthy alternative to potatoes. Rich in fiber, vitamin C, and antioxidants, it offers numerous health benefits, such as aiding digestion, boosting the immune system, and supporting heart health.

In the garden, the jicama grows on a vine up to 20 feet tall, but the only edible part of the plant is the bulbous root underground, which can be as small as a Gala apple or grow as big as two fists together. This plant thrives in areas where it’s hot all year round, such as Mexico and South America. Harvested for centuries in those regions, jicama is now grown in parts of Asia and the Philippines.

Because the flesh is so porous, jicama picks up flavors well. Marinate it with citrus and your favorite spices or add chunks to a salad. Or make it the main component and use a tangy dressing to give it flair. Jicama goes great with greens, olives, avocado, hummus, lime, grilled fish, and roasted pork. It can be sliced thinly and added to a sandwich for some crunch; it can also be used in place of a corn tortilla for tacos. I have only eaten jicama raw. I never knew you could actually cook it, but apparently you can.

Cooking jicama proves tasty, too, though it needs a gentle touch when it comes to heat. Instead, pan fry over medium-low heat, steam lightly, or roast until just tender. Add it to the end of the cooking process if you’re making something like chili or a Mexican-style soup. Jicama is similar in texture to an apple and you can keep that famous crunch as long as you don’t overcook it.

Jicama and Orange Salad

2 cups jicama, peeled and sliced into thin strips

1 red bell pepper, sliced into thin matchsticks

4 green onions, chopped

1 TBSP lime juice

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1 TBSP garlic

2 TBSP olive oil

2 TBSP orange olive oil, optional;

2 TBSP orange balsamic vinegar, optional or white balsamic vinegar

1 orange, peeled and cut into sections

1-2 TBSP honey

1 avocado, cut into chunks

Combine the oils(s), vinegar, salt, pepper, garlic, red pepper flakes and honey together and mix together well. Set aside.

Toss the jicama, oranges, cilantro and red pepper. Gently fold in the avocado. Add just enough of the dressing to coat the vegetables, and gently toss. You do not want to mush up the avocado. Chill until ready to eat.

This cool and refreshing salad is perfect for the dog days of summer. It will definitely help bring down the mercury a bit. Enjoy.

Have a great day and make every day great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

It has been miserably HOT, HOT, HOT here lately. Sadly, that means it is way too hot to go out for walks too. But it is finally cooling down a little, meaning not only can I go out again, but the animals are back out again too. One of my finds was a very curious Killdeer. He was up on the ridge over one of our lakes. We see them often, but not all the time. I always get excited about seeing them when I do. 🙂

As you know, we eat just about everything. We kind of have a rotation of sorts, and it was time for some fish. We had some beautiful, thick cod portions that were just begging me to cook them in a delicious way. How could I refuse? Of course, I had to oblige. I decided to cook the fish in a Thai style with vegetables and potatoes, and served it with some potstickers on the side.

I had a lot of potatoes that needed to be used, so that was kind of my inspiration for this dish. Plus, it was something a little different. And I am all about different. 🙂 I also love adding all kinds of vegetables to my dishes as well. This recipe was loaded with green beans, carrots, peppers, onions and tomatoes. It was a one-pot dish.

4-5 large potatoes, peeled and diced

1 green and/or red bell pepper, diced

1 jalapeno, diced fine

2-3 carrots, sliced

1/2 onion, sliced very thin

2 cups green beans, par cooked, cut into pieces about 1/2 inch in size

1 cup baby teardrop tomatoes

1 TBSP garlic

1 TBSP ginger

1 can coconut milk

3-4 cod pieces

red pepper flakes to taste

salt to taste

1-2 TBSP curry paste

1-2 tsp curry powder

green onions, sliced Asian style

lemon verbena and/or basil or purple basil, chopped

canola or vegetable oil and lime olive olive (optional) oil for cooking

Boil the potatoes for about 10 minutes, then drain. Get a large pan or pot very hot and add the oils, then add the potatoes, and continue to cook for about 10 minutes, or until they begin to brown, stirring frequently.

Combine the coconut milk and spices.

Add the vegetables to the potatoes after about 7 minutes, and saute for an additional 5 or so minutes, or until they soften and the onions are translucent.

Add the coconut mixture and mix together thoroughly. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Add the tomatoes and most of the lemon verbena. You can also use basil or purple basil too if you prefer.

Cut the fish into smaller portions, and gently place on top of the sauce. Cover and poach for about 5-7 minutes, or until the fish is cooked. You will know when it is done, because the fish will be white and opaque.

This is kind of a fish stew, so I thought serving it in bowls was probably the best idea. You can also use this same delicious recipe for chicken and/or shrimp or tofu too. The sauce is a versatile sauce. It’s got just the right amount of heat too, but not too much. This dish is definitely a winner.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Yes, I have plenty of my own recipes and dishes I have been cooking to share, but I came across something I found very interesting, and don’t know much about it all, so I thought I would share it with all of you as well. I hope find it interesting too.

I admit, up until fairly recently, I hadn’t cooked much with rose water at all. I knew it was used for Middle Eastern desserts, but that was about it, really. I tend to buy my Middle Eastern desserts much more so than I make them, because, in all honestly, I am not quite that adept at making them, and it is much cheaper, easier and better for me to purchase them already made by the experts. However, by no means does that mean I won’t make them or that I don’t want to learn how. Au contraire. I love learning new things and experimenting with new ideas.

Rose water has been used for thousands of years for medicinal, culinary, and perfumery purposes. Concentrates and oils have been made from rose hips since about 2630 BC. In fact, rosewater has a long and illustrious culinary history. Made by distilling rose petals with steam, it was first created by chemists of the Islamic world in the Middle Ages. Rose water is a byproduct of the process of steam-distilling rose petals to make rose oil, also known as attar of roses. It’s made from water and rose petals, and contains 10–50% rose oil. Rose water has a sweet scent and is used in many beauty products, including toners, creams, makeup, and hair care. It’s also a key ingredient in Middle Eastern, Asian, and Mediterranean cuisines.

the use of rosewater became firmly ensconced in the cooking of the Middle East, northern Africa, and northern India, all cuisines in which the floral and the aromatic are highly prized. It is believed the Persians are amongst the first to use rosewater in their cooking by infusing it into mutton fat and marzipan. Rose water is known as gulāb in Persia, which comes from the words gul (rose) and ab (water). The earliest written records of using rosewater in food come from the Arab Empire, from the 8th-11th centuries A.D. Crusaders introduced rose water to Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, where it became a luxury item for the aristocracy. It was used as a remedy for depression, in baths, and for rinsing hands. It was widely used in the United States in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and is referenced in Amelia Simmons’ 1796 cookbook American Cookery. Before 1841, when vanilla became widely available (after a 12-year-old slave became the first person to figure out how to hand-pollinate the vanilla orchid so it could be commercially produced outside its native Mexico, but that’s another story), rose water was also a primary flavoring in a wide range of desserts and pastries in Europe and even the United States.

As I am finding out through more research, rosewater is used for a lot more than just pastries and desserts. It is also used in a lot of savory dishes too.

I am getting so hungry looking at all these fabulous ideas. I think I need to start experimenting more with rosewater. 🙂

Learn something new everyday. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

There are several types of couscous available for purchase, the most common being: Moroccan couscous, Golden Couscous, Pearl Couscous and Lebanese couscous. The main difference between pearl or Jerusalem couscous and Moroccan couscous is the size. The grains of Moroccan couscous are much smaller, compared to the pea-size granules in the pearl variety (made memorable by their namesake, but not really a type of couscous). This, of course, affects the preparation and cooking time of each grain. I love couscous and eat it quite often. I use both the pearl and the Moroccan versions and like them both, though I actually have a slight preference for the pearl or Jerusalem couscous. I switch them around depending on what dish I am making. For instance, if I am making tabbouleh, I will use the smaller, Moroccan couscous. For my recipe of couscous with vegetables, I used the pearl couscous.

Couscous with Vegetables

Couscous with seven vegetables is a classic Moroccan dish. It is a celebration of flavors and textures, embodying the warmth and hospitality of Moroccan cuisine. Of course I changed mine up a bit. Would you expect anything different from me???? 🙂

1/2 onion, diced fine

1 TBSP garlic

2 tomatoes, diced fine

1/2 zucchini, diced fine

1/2 yellow squash or crookneck diced fine

1/2 red bell pepper, diced fine

1/2 green bell pepper, diced fine

2-3 carrots, diced fine

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 cups pearl couscous

salt & pepper to taste

red pepper flakes to taste

2 tsp paprika

1 TBSP Za’atar

chopped parsley

olive oil

Cook the couscous according to the package directions.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil, then add all the vegetables except the tomatoes and parsley. Add the seasonings and cook for about 5-7 minutes, or until tender.

Then add the tomatoes, chickpeas and parsley and mix together well. Cook just long enough to heat everything up.

Add the cooked couscous, and thoroughly integrate in with the vegetables.

This dish goes well with anything, but is best with either lamb or chicken. I served it with lamb, pita bread and hummus, to make for a delicious Moroccan meal. Since I cooked lamb, known as the other red meat, I served it all with a delicious red blend too.

I marinated my lamb in a delicious apricot vinaigrette for about 5 hours before grilling it up, so it was full of flavor and very tender.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

We went a-wining once again, but this time, rather than bringing nibblies to InVINtions, I decided to have everyone come back to my house for dinner instead. There were dishes I was just hungry to make, and it was better to do it as dinner than transportable nibblies.

I had lamb skewers, chicken skewers, shrimp skewers, a couscous and vegetable salad, roasted beets, Moroccan carrot salad, and crositini with lemon hummus and roasted tomatoes. For desserts, just in case I didn’t already have enough, I had fruit and a couple of different kinds of baklava. Everything got rave reviews.

The crostini with roasted tomatoes and lemon hummus was what I had been dying to try ever since I discovered the lemon hummus in the store. I was very curious about it, and ended up LOVING IT! I love hummus anyway, all kinds of hummus, but this might just be my new favorite version of hummus. This recipe for the Crostini with Roasted Tomatoes and Lemon Hummus is a “Jeanne’s” original.

Sorry for the graininess of this photo. My guests were hungry and I was trying to get the right shot, without delaying the meal any longer. What came out was NOT my best photo. But the crostini was DELICIOUS!

Crostini with Roasted Tomatoes and Lemon Hummus

The crostini is just a baguette sliced thin, coated with olive oil on both sides, and baked at 375* F or 191*C for about 20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. I roasted the tomatoes for about 10 minutes longer, but had them both in the oven at the same time.

I used multi-colored cherry tomatoes. I think using different colored tomatoes made the dish even prettier.

1 pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half

2 TBSP olive oil

coarse salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

2-3 TBPS Za’atar or to taste

Toss everything together and place on a baking pan lined with parchment paper and roast. That’s it. It doesn’t get much easier than this. 🙂

I’ve heard it said many times, by many professionals. I’ve said it many times myself. Simple is often the best. Fancy is fun, but simple is best.

Have a great day and make everyday great. And remember the K.I.S.S. rule – keep it simple (stupid). Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.