Peach Hand Pies

I am still trying recipes out of the July/August edition of Food Network Magazine.  This will be the 5th recipe I've made from this edition, which is pretty amazing.  My usual goal is to make one thing so as to make my investment worthwhile.

Last night I made Peach Hand Pies.  The original recipe calls for Cherries, but since they weren't available, I switched to peaches.  (The peaches lately have been wonderful.)

Here's my version:

They were very yummy and perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Considering these little pies are fried, they were surprisingly light.

You can find the recipe here: Cherry Hand Pies

Have a great Monday.

BLT Pasta

I got a free edition of a cooking magazine called Cuisine at Home.  I've never heard of it before, but I took a good look at it yesterday.  It doesn't have any advertising in it, kind of like Cook's Illustrated.  So it's just page after page of what seem to be very doable home-cooking style recipes.  I'm going to test out a few, before I decide to subscribe.  I will let you know how this turns out.

The first one I decided to try was a BLT Pasta. I chose this one because I happened to have most of the ingredients.  Here is the finished product:

It was really delicious and very quick and easy.  Great week-night dinner.

I did make some changes as it called for leeks and I didn't have any, so I used onion.  It also called for one tsp of red wine vinegar.  For those of you who know me well, you know I don't do vinegar.  I know it's may sound crazy...but we all have things we don't like.  My two biggies are vinegar and rice.

Here is the recipe WITH my changes.  Feel free to add 1 tsp of red wine vinegar when you add the broth.  But, please don't tell me about it.

BLT Pasta
4 strips of bacon, diced
1 cup halved grape tomatoes
1/2 tsp sugar
1 med. onion, diced
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
6 oz. pasta of choice
1 cup fresh spinach leaves
1/4 tsp minced fresh thyme
1/4 cup grated parmesan plus extra for topping

Garlic Bread Crumbs
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 tsp olive oil
Salt to taste

Bring a pot of salted water to boil for pasta. Cook pasta per package directions and drain.

Mince garlic and process in food processor with bread cubes or bread crumbs to mix well.  Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add crumbs and toast until nicely browned.  About 5 minutes.  Salt to taste.

Cook bacon until crisp.  Remove with slotted spoon onto paper towel to drain.  Pour off all but 1 Tbsp drippings.  Caramelize tomatoes and sugar in drippings over medium heat.  Cook until tomatoes begin to brown.  About 5 minutes.  Add onions until soft.

Deglaze skillet with wine.  Simmer until liquid is almost evaporated.  Add broth and red pepper flakes. Reduce by one third.

Add the spinach, thyme and cooked bacon to tomato mixture.  Stir well.  Add the cooked pasta and grated parmesan, toss to coat.  Divide pasta among plates and sprinkle with bread crumbs and grated parmesan to taste.

Smile

Seriously now...just try and not smile when you look at this guy.

Can't do it can you?  He just brightens everyone's day.

End of Summer

With my container garden quickly fading, I was surprised to see this when I looked out this morning.  One little strawberry.

Add caption

I haven't had any strawberries for at least a month or so.  Hi little guy.  

Blog Issues

Have any other fellow Blogger bloggers been having problems opening up their blogs over the week-end?

Well I could not open my blog all week-end.  I could get to my dashboard to access posts, comments and settings.  But every time I tried to open my blog, it told me the server was not available.

From what I can tell from the Blogger Forum, where I've been hanging out a lot, one of Blogger's servers was down and that server was the one my blog was pointed to.  Duh.

Why their down server became my problem I don't know, but after a shifting through a lot of unnecessary links and more tech speak than I ever care to read again, I finally figured out how to add all four Blogger servers IP addresses to my DNS.  (Just typing this made want to buy a pocket protector.)

Small pain in the arse, but things are all better now.

Ode to the Tomato

O' the lovely tomato.

Thank you for making me think I am a gardener.  Thank you for granting me a couple beefsteak tomatoes from a container garden.

You are so simple and pure and you give summer it's distinctive taste.

And thank you so much for transforming the ordinary turkey sandwich into a taste explosion.

I am so sad to see my final tomatoes slowly ripening as it means the end of deliciousness right outside my door.  I will miss you my friend.

A Week-End of Tennis

We are very lucky to live only 4 hours away from Cincinnati where they hold what is now called the Western and Southern Open.  It used to be the Cincinnati Open, but it has grown and is now a significant event on the ATP Tennis circuit.

The best thing about this tournament is that it is held at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.  It was built just for tennis and there isn't a bad seat in the house.  It feels amazingly intimate for a sports venue.  I was able to get to court side for photos during warm up.

Here are some of the highlights:

Roger Federer

You can't really appreciate how brilliant he is until you see if play live.  There is just no comparison.  It doesn't heard that he is truly beautiful as completely supported by the group of women sitting behind us.  They came from North Carolina and are admitted "Roger stalkers".

Serena Williams

Venus Williams

Novak Djokovic

And here was the closest I was able to get to Rafa Nadal.  It's not much...but it's something.

And Breslyn was the biggest trouper of all considering we sat in unrelenting sun for hours.

You go Bres!!

Using My Tomatoes

I had about 25 Early Girl tomatoes sitting on my counter. There's no way I can make enough BLTs or burgers to use them up quickly.  So I decided to make a pasta sauce using tomatoes, basil and parsley...all from my garden.

I blanched the tomatoes to remove the skin.  I then diced them up and sautéed them in olive oil with onions and garlic. After they had soften, I added dried oregano, fresh basil, parsley and seasoned with salt, pepper and a little sugar (I always add sugar to my red sauce to cut the bite of the tomatoes).  I then let it simmer on the stove for a while with a few parmesan rinds.  This is a neat little trick I learned somewhere.  Probably on Food Network since I watch it so much.  Save your parmesan rinds and then just toss them into any red sauce.  Gives it a nice cheesy flavor and leaves nothing to waste.

Finally, I poured the sauce into a jar and popped it in the fridge as I won't be using it for a few days.

This is a beautiful thing.

And thanks to PW for the tutorial on how to do a skim shot.  It's where you shoot at the same level to include background information.  It makes for a much more interesting photo.