The Foodie Girls Cook Together

and Make Peach-Spinach Salad

with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette

Wednesday was supposed to be Girls' Night.

As in no men allowed.

Alas it was not meant to be.

The husband emailed and said his plans had changed

and he would be coming home for dinner.

So we would just have to make another serving for dinner.

Men.

What are you gonna do?

I found a recipe in the March issue of Southern Living

that piqued my interest.

It was the Mango-Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find mangoes at my local grocery

store, so I substituted peaches.

I also forgot to get the queso fresco cheese,

so I used the fresh mozzarella I had on hand.

And since I didn't have limes, I subbed lemons.

As we intended for this to be a main course salad,

we added shrimp to the dish,

as well as Romaine lettuce (not shown).

Heh, it's not rocket science here.

So, our mise en place consists of:

spinach

4 bacon slices

1/4 medium-size red onion, thinly sliced

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons sourwood honey

2 peaches, peeled and diced

18 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

salt and pepper to taste

After allowing the shrimp to thaw in water in the fridge,

I used a paring knife to slice down the back of the shrimp,

sharp side facing out.

(Photos courtesy Foodie Daughter)

Then I peeled off the shell and pinched off the tail.

If the digestive tract was present, (i. e. filled with grit)

I pulled that out and disposed of it under cool running water.



Easy, peasy.





Meanwhile, the Foodie Daughter was busy

dicing the bacon and frying it up in a pan.

After removing it to drain on a paper towel,

she quickly cooked the shrimp in the bacon grease.

This only took a couple of minutes.


Then the onion was added to the pan and allowed to cook

for a couple of minutes.

The vinegar, lemon juice and honey were added to the pan

and this cooked for another two minutes,

while she stirred to loosen any bits from the bottom of the pan.

Then I plated the salads:

the spinach and Romaine and the diced peach

along with the shrimp went down first.

I then grated some mozzarella on top before

the Foodie daughter arranged some onion on top and

drizzled the warm vinaigrette over the salads.

Finally, the bacon pieces were sprinkled over the top.

This was a delightful and filling salad.

The Foodie Daughter and I both agreed that the only

thing that could have made this salad better

would have been the addition of sliced hard boiled eggs.

Great minds think alike.

A Weeknight Family Dinner

Well, what do you know? Wednesday evening was the first time this week we were all home together for dinner. That doesn't happen very often any more. So of course I had to take advantage of this rare opportunity and make a special dinner for my family.

That afternoon I put together a quick marinade of fresh lime juice, tequila, honey, a pinch of dried Serrano chili, salt and black pepper. This went into a plastic bag with a nice flat iron steak so that the meat could marinate for a couple of hours.

I have been wanting to try this dish for some time, and thought that this was as good a time as any. Pesto Pasta certainly sounds good, right?

Here I have linguine, freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, fresh flat leaf parsley, fresh basil and about 1/4 cup of frozen homemade pesto.

Now, would you look at what I have to work with here? Minx likes to just plop down wherever. That usually means he's right at my feet. I think he has made himself right at home.

Next we have a nice salad. I cut some beautiful lettuce leaves that are growing in a pot on my deck and I also plucked some lovely chive blossoms. Croutons made from bread scraps and freshly grated cheese compliment the sliced red onion for this salad.

The Pasta was cooked and drained and tossed with the thawed pesto. Then the grated Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley and basil were gently mixed in. In hind sight I should have added a bit of the pasta water to the pasta to help make more of a sauce, but this was still very good.

The meat was cooked to medium-rare and was tender and succulent. I realized later that a nice addition to this dish would have been some Chimichurri sauce. Perhaps next time, amigos.

Lunch at the Scottish Rite

As you may recall, my husband is quite involved with various Masonic bodies. As he currently is an officer in the local Scottish Rite Valley, that means that I also am kept busy with the Ladies' Luncheons. Despite my cold, I had to head out on the road this morning to attend a luncheon at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in Indianapolis. And I even saved you a seat...

I had heard good things about today's menu. Thomas Caterers of Distinction always does a very nice job, though.

Our salads have arrived. The menu card tells us that this is a Salad of Seasonal Greens with Apples, Black Walnuts and Goat Cheese tossed with a Dried Cherry Vinaigrette.

The entree consists of Pecan and Honey Mustard-crusted Pork Tenderloin with a Cinnamon Port Wine Demi (sauce), Vermont White Cheddar Mashed Potatoes, Sugar Snap Peas, and Rolls with Butter.

I have got to find or figure out the recipe for the pork loin and sauce. This was all kinds of good.

Ooh, dessert. Here we have Bananas Foster with Graham Cracker Crumb Base.



I found the Graham Cracker crumb base. I'd say a fair amount of brown sugar was mixed in with the Graham Crackers.

And now, on to the entertainment.





A gentleman from a local florist came to demonstrate how to arrange these beautiful roses.

I learned that the wimpy little angles I was cutting into my flower stems aren't nearly enough. Got it: go big.

We learned that linear arranging is the hot new thing, and that as the roses age, we can extend the life of the blooms by cutting the stems down and rearranging the flowers.

Afterwards, each lady was invited to come up and pick out a flower to take home. We decided that we would start with the oldest and move down to the youngest (me). After the other ladies had chosen their flowers, I went up to pick out one and the nice lady who works for the Cathedral handed me a bunch of flowers to take home. Well, I would hate for them to go to waste, so...

I put my new knowledge to work and created a nice arrangement with these beautiful blooms.

And now I think I'll rest, if you don't mind. Two hours at the luncheon and three hours on the road in heavy traffic is rather tiring, after all.

Soup and Salad

It's Monday. Monday always follows Sunday, at least in my experience. And with Monday, comes the job of figuring out the week's menus.

But first, see what I found under the melting snow? These are the skeletonized seed pods from my Stella de Oro daylily. They really are quite striking.

Midnight is checking out these strange things that his mommy brought into the house.

Yes, he is doing a bit better now. And that makes me feel better, too.

And now, on to the food. I happen to adore main course salads, so that is on the menu for tonight. The first job was to cut and fry two slices of bacon. Then I sauteed some of the frozen diced ham I had left over from Christmas in the bacon grease.

How bad can any recipe be that starts with 'fry two slices of bacon'?

I cut up the remaining French Baguette Bread from Sunday's dinner. The bread cubes then went into the bacon grease. But not to worry, as the rest of the dinner is healthful.

Some dried Herbes de Provence were sprinkled over the top. The bread cubes were carefully sauteed over medium-high heat until just browned.

I had also hard-boiled a couple of eggs for the salads. Romaine lettuce was chopped and cleaned before being plated.

Sliced red onion, grated cheese (mozzarella for the daughter and Parmigiano-Reggiano for me) and salad dressing complete the salads.




This tasted just as good as it looks.

Some left-over turkey noodle soup rounds out this delicious dinner.

Food - on Foodies Untie?

Who knew that a blog titled Foodies Untie might actually cover food once in a while. I mean, what are the odds of that happening?

But first, if you have an orchid and are unlucky enough to break off the flowering stalk, just plop the stem in water and voila, you have an instant flower arrangement. Orchids last well in water. This particular bloom has been in water for over a week now since I had knocked it off the plant.

All right, now we get to the food. After this stressful week, I have to admit that the last thing on my mind is food. But still, we have to eat, so we might as well eat well. Since the dear daughter is still on soft foods after having all of her wisdom teeth pulled this week, I only had two people to feed for dinner.

I decided that a quick salad would be good for dinner and would be good for us. I have Romaine lettuce that I had cleaned and cut the other day, red onion, celery, Memphis BBQ Rub and shrimp. In the rear are some of the ingredients for a vinaigrette: Pinot Grigio vinegar, black pepper, sea salt, bacon fat, Dijon mustard and a shallot. I later added honey to the vinaigrette to cut the tart edge.

I de-shelled the shrimp and patted them dry before sprinkling them with the rub. This went back into the refrigerator while I worked on the rest of the meal.

Once the salads had been assembled and the vinaigrette was started, I heated some bacon fat over medium-high heat in a non-stick skillet. The shrimp were then added and quickly cooked. The shrimp weren't very large so they cooked very quickly. Don't overcook your shrimp.

After removing the shrimp from the pan, I added more bacon fat to the pan along with about 2 tablespoons minced shallot. The bacon drippings and shallot were poured in with the Dijon mustard, vinegar, salt, pepper and honey. I mixed this and adjusted seasoning and sweetness to taste.

I shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese over the salads and added some homemade croutons along with the shrimp over top. The dressing was drizzled over the salads and forks were raised.

The vinaigrette had a nice bite to it and complemented the barbecue flavoring of the shrimp. The salty cheese added just the right counterpoint to the other ingredients.

Not too shabby for a frazzled, worn-out and stressed-out caregiver to a sick cat and a daughter who's recovering from having her wisdom teeth removed.

And Now, Back to the Food

We interrupt autumn for a word about food. Besides walking and driving around while admiring the beautiful fall colors, I have actually found my way into the kitchen to cook. This was last night's easy, yet satisfying dinner:

I decided that a salad with shrimp sounded good, so I got to work.

Here we have homemade French dressing, a red onion, Romaine lettuce, meat rub, shell-on shrimp (26-30 in a pound), celery and mozzarella cheese.

Assemble the salad as usual and set aside.

Bonus recipe: French Dressing

1 cup catsup

1 cup salad oil

1/2 cup white vinegar

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon celery seed

1 teaspoon dry mustard

2 teaspoon finely grated onion

Blend all ingredients together. Chill before serving. Yield: 2 ½ cups.

If the shrimp is frozen, place in a bowl with cold water. After a few minutes the shrimp will begin to thaw enough to easily de-shell. I opted to remove not only the shell, but also the tails before cooking. The shells and tails were then put into a freezer bag so I can make a shrimp stock later.

Pat the shrimp dry.

Sprinkle some of the meat rub on the shrimp and toss to coat.

You can use any meat rub or barbecue rub that has both a bit of heat (from chilies) and sweetness (from brown sugar) in it.

Briefly saute the shrimp in a bit of oil over medium-high heat. The shrimp only need to cook a couple of minutes on each side. Do not overcook!



And dinner is served. Truthfully, the most labor intensive part of this entire meal was in cutting and cleaning the lettuce. Now, how hard can that be?

The spicy/sweet shrimp paired with the cool, crisp lettuce, the bite of the red onion, the creamy mozzarella and the tangy French dressing make for one delicious meal.

Salad Days - Every Day

I have to admit that I love salads. Perhaps it is the idea that they are a healthy meal, or perhaps it is the idea that they should be a healthy meal, if you catch my drift. For while the salad itself may be quite healthy, the dressing will kill ya, literally.

Anyway, here is another of my favorite salads.

We start with romaine lettuce, sugar snap peas, celery, carrot and red onion.

Now for tonight's surprise player: wonton wraps.

The wonton wraps are sliced into 1/2 inch slices and are quickly deep fried in hot oil.

After draining, the wonton strips are ready for serving.

Meanwhile, I sear thinly sliced beef steak in hot oil.

Plated and ready to serve. Oh, this is delicious. And I'm very sorry that you can't taste this. No, really, I am...

Marilyn Learns to Mango

After having this poor mango on hand for two weeks, with nary a clue of how to actually use it, I finally found a decent recipe for a mango-red onion salad.

Wow, success on the very first try! Oh, didn't I tell you that I had never dealt with mango before?

I followed the directions given: cut cross hatches into the flesh, but avoid cutting through the skin (or too much, at least). I felt it was best for the safety and well-being of my left hand (I'm very attached to it, you see) to set the fruit on the cutting board before slicing and dicing.

Now the fun part: turn the fruit 'inside out' to make it easier to pop off the cubes.

Next, I sliced a bit of red onion to add to the salad.

And now we have the salad. I did add a splash of soy sauce for depth of flavor. The juxtaposition of sweet and tangy made for a satisfying dish.

Hopefully, the next time I will have the suggested mint growing in my garden so that I can add that to the dish.

While the Mice are Away, the Cat Will Play

My family left me on my own today, as my daughter and her friend decided to go shopping in Downtown Indianapolis this morning before heading over to watch the second session of the Big 10 Tournament. Luckily for them, they will get to watch one of their friends play for Purdue University before settling in to see Indiana University in action.

In a strange twist of fate, my husband also managed to procure tickets to that same session, so he headed up this afternoon with a couple of his co-workers. They plan on eating out before the game.

So, where does this leave little ole' me? Home alone, of course! Too bad my husband 'borrowed' my car, it rained most of the day and I had laundry to do. However, I did decide to play to my palate for dinner tonight. I absolutely adore main course salads. In fact, I'd say that only a really great sandwich could eclipse my love of entree salads.

I pulled out a rib eye steak and played with a new salad dressing. Meanwhile, I cut and chopped the ingredients for a fabulous salad and hard boiled an egg. Just as always, whenever I need to hard boil one egg, I do more so that I can then have them on hand for other dishes or just a snack. There are many different suggestions for how to get the perfectly cooked egg. This is my version and it never lets me down: place egg(s) in a pot, add water till it almost covers the egg(s). Set the timer to 9 minutes, 20 seconds. Bring to a boil and immediately turn down the heat to a simmer. Turn the timer on. Put ice and cold water in a bowl that is large enough to hold the eggs. When the timer goes off, place the eggs in the ice water and add more ice if necessary, to completely cover the eggs. Once the eggs have cooled, remove them from the ice water and store in a dry container in the refrigerator until needed.

Now onto the rest of the meal...

The starting line-up for my Asian-inspired salad dressing. Here we have reduced sodium soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, rice vinegar, canola oil, honey, garlic and ground ginger. Unfortunately for you, I did not follow a recipe, but simply added and tasted and adjusted until I was happy with the results.

And the final plating. I chopped romaine lettuce, julienned a carrot, sliced some cucumber, celery, roma tomato, red onion and a crimini mushroom, and added a few sugar snap peas. I seared the steak and allowed it to rest before slicing about half of it for my salad. I then added a sliced hard boiled egg and topped with shredded smoked gouda cheese. A drizzle of my Asian dressing finished the dish.

And it was good. I am full and happy. And I don't have to fight to get the remote from anyone. Maybe the mice should go out more often.

Post script: Starting with the previous post, you can now click on my pictures to enlarge them. I must tell you that I have to go through some extra steps in order to get them to cooperate, but you are all worth it.