It Can't Be Zucchini

Well, today is a lovely day in mid-Missouri. The sun is shining, it's a just-right-day with a warm 74 degrees outside, and it's the start to a wonderful new week.

I have got a recipe that will make anyone say, "that can't possibly be zucchini."

My mother-in-law passed this one on to me a couple of months ago and swore you would think that is was apples. She said it would fool anyone. And she was right!

My husband is not an apple eater and he wouldn't even try a piece because he swore it smelled and looked like apples. I finally talked him in to trying the dessert by saying it was zucchini....but when he ate it he said "NO! Those are apples."

I still think he believes this was really apples and not one of my favorite veggies...

Until next time.

Mock Apple Squares

8 c. Zucchini, seeded and sliced like apples
2/3 c. lemon juice
1 c. sugar
½ tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. cinnamon

Crust mixture:
3 sticks margarine or butter
4 c. flour
2 c. sugar

Cook the zucchini and lemon juice in medium hot pan, cook till tender. Add sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Stir, cover and cook for 4 minutes. Take off heat and add ½ c. crust mixture to the pan top thicken the zucchini mixture. Let cool.

Mix crust mixture as for pie crust. Put ½ of crust mixture on bottom of a 12x9 pan and pat down to cover. Cook for 10 minutes at 350 degrees or until lightly browned. Spread filling on top of cooked crust. With remaining crust mix, add 1 tsp. cinnamon. Take remaining crust mixture and sprinkle on top of filling.

Bake 30-40 minutes at 375 degrees and nicely browned on top.

Chives Make Any Food Better

Here are my chive and basil plants. I will be planting the chives this weekend, the basil will have to wait another two weeks though, to be out of danger of frost.

Chives are the most wonderful herb to use. I love the smell of them when and they make a beautiful flower centerpiece. Sometimes I think using natural to decorate the house in the spring and summer makes any gloomy room or day bright and cheerful, and it's cheap.

Chives taste like a sweeter, milder version of an onion, true, but that doesn't make them boring, that makes them versatile! And, although we usually just eat the leaves, all the parts of chives are edible: the bulbs the leaves spring from, the leaves themselves--even the flowers! Toss them on salads for added color and crunch or use them to garnish plates.

Chives grow best in full sun in a fairly rich, moist soil, which is high in organic matter, and has a pH of 6 to 8. Chives will, however, tolerate partial shade and most soil types. Chives should be fertilized several times during the growing season with a balanced commercial fertilizer or bone meal and manure. Although specific recommendations are not available for chives, a general recommendation is to incorporate 50 to 75 pounds each of nitrogen, phosphate, and potash per acre at planting. Sidedress with an additional 10 to 15 pounds of nitrogen two times during the growing season. Chives should be kept well watered and weeded.

Planting and Culture
Chive seed germinate easily, but slowly. Sow seed about 1/2 inch deep in flats containing a peat-based soilless mix. Maintain constant moisture and a soil temperature of 60 to 70 F. In four to six weeks, the young plants can be planted outdoors, preferably after all danger of frost is past. Chives can also be direct seeded outside when the soil is warm, but then few if any leaves should be harvested that first year. Chives may be propagated by simply dividing large clumps into smaller clumps of about 5 bulbs each at any time during the growing season. All plantings should be divided every two to three years to prevent over-crowding. Space plants 4 to 15 inches apart in rows 20 or more inches apart, depending on the width of the cultivator that will be used. Chives are bothered by few disease or insect pests.

Harvesting
Leaves can be harvested after established plants are 6 inches tall. To harvest, simply cut the leaves 2 inches above the ground. Usually, in home gardens or small herb operations, all the leaves of a clump of plants are not cut off at one time. This allows that same clump of plants to be cut over and over again throughout the growing season. In larger operations where this approach is unpractical, the entire clump of plants is cut 2 inches above the ground, but then it takes several weeks before that clump can be recut again. The new growth, however, will be very tender. All plants should be cut regularly to encourage new bulblets to develop, to prevent leaves from becoming tough, and to prevent flower formation.

It's time for planting soon

As I promised I'm posting photos of a few of my seedlings. I start chives, parsley, basil, peppers plants and a few specialty flowers indoors first. I'm a true believer in using fresh herbs in my meals, not saying that I never use dried store bought ones though.

This photo is of my baby pepper plants. I will transplanting them in about two weeks to the garden, which already has four varieties of lettuce and scallions growing.

Stay tuned for new recipes...

Dressing Up Dinner Rolls

Savory Cobblestone Bread

7 oz. Parmesan cheese
2 tsp. Italian seasonings mix
6 tbl. Butter, melted
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 cans (11 oz each) refrigerated dinner rolls

Preheat oven 375 degrees. Place cheese and Italian mix in bowl and mix well. Melt butter and press garlic into butter. Separate dough into 16 rolls. But each roll into squares and dip rolls in butter mixture, toss into cheese mixture and then place coated pieces in a single layer over the bottom of a greased baking dish.

Bake at 25-30 minutes.

A Tartlet for a Spring Afternoon

Another beautiful day in Missouri. I love to wake up and walk outside (to take the pups out) and feel 57 degree weather at 6:00 am.

Yes, spring is upon us and that means it's time for BBQ parties and family gathering...

Try serving these wonderful tartlets at your next party.



Really Raspberry Tartlets

Makes 10--May Be Doubled

Pastry:
1 cup flour
4 ounces (1/2 package) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (one stick) butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon salt

Using an electric mixer, mix together flour, cream cheese, butter, and salt until a dough forms. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate at least 30 minutes (or up to 24 hours). If chilled longer than 1 hour, let the dough warm up at room temperature for about 20 minutes. If you are in a hurry, you can place the dough in the freezer to chill for 15-20 minutes.
Divide the dough into 10 balls and place them in a standard size muffin pan. Press each dough ball into the bottom and up the sides of the muffin cup to form a shell. Bake at 350 degrees until nicely browned, about 20-25 minutes. Carefully invert the pan to the remove baked shells, and cool on a wire rack. (Note: the pastry shells can be made a day in advance or even frozen).

Cream Cheese Filling:
8 ounces (one package) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Approximately 2-1/2 cups fresh raspberries (you can also use blackberries or blueberries)
1/2 cup red currant jelly (optional)

With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese with the powdered sugar until smooth. Beat in the lemon juice. (May be made a day ahead; chill until ready to use.) Spread a heaping tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture on the bottom of each cooled pastry shell. Arrange the berries on top.

For a more formal presentation, just before serving, heat 1/2 cup red currant jelly in a small saucepan and use a pastry brush to glaze berries with the warm jelly.

Refrigerate until ready to serve. The tartlets will keep for several days in the refrigerator (though they will not look quite as pretty as when first made). The cream cheese filling will soften and almost melt into the pastry shell, giving them a different (but very nice) taste and texture.

Oh Spring, How I Missed You

These lovely flowers mean one thing...

It's spring finally here in the Midwest...I have been waiting for the weather to warm up, the sun to begin to shine bright and to get my gardens ready.

In a few weeks I will be posting some photos of my herb and vegetable gardens. I have rosemary, parsley, lettuce and onions already growing. Plus, I have cabbage, chives, a few special flowers, more parsely, three types of peppers and basil that I have started in my house that are growing well and I will be transplanting in a few weeks, after the threat of frost is gone.

I'll be posting recipes that require some of these fresh from the garden goodies, so be watching for that.

Now, this special cheesecake (which is one of my favorite desserts) is from a farmer's wife in Indiana that bakes and sells all her goodies for extra spending money for herself. We all need some extra spending money to use on ourselves from time to time...

Citrus Cheesecake

1 c. graham cracker crumbs
¼ c. sugar
¼ c. butter, melted
3 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 (14 oz.) can of sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs
2 tsp. grated lemon rind
2 tsp. grated orange rind
2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Combine graham crackers crumbs, sugar, and butter; pres firmly on bottom on 9 inch springform pan.

In large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. On low speed add milk; mix until smooth.

Add eggs, lemon and orange rinds, and vanilla; mix until blended. Pour filling into pan.

Bake 50 -55 minutes or until center is set. Cool. Chill Garnish as desired. I like to use lemon or orange slices and mint.

ROAST CHICKEN WITH CILANTRO AND LIME

Here is a great recipe from Kalya. Roast Chicken is a great meal for anyone on the South Beach Diet, or any kind of low glycemic or low carb eating plan. This looked so delicious that I started cutting it up before I realized I hadn't taken a photo, so the photo may not do it justice!

This marinade produced delicious, tender, juicy chicken with just a slight overtone of lime and cilantro. You could pour the marinade over and marinate it all day while you are at work, then roast the chicken when you get home for an easy dinner. I ate mine with some brown rice cooked with chile powder and a green salad. You could use the cooked chicken for chicken tacos in low carb flour tortillas. Leftover chicken would also be great on a salad for lunch the next day.

I used dried cilantro in this recipe, which I think is fine in something like this where it is mixed in a marinade. I got the dried cilantro and the Chipotle chile powder. If you have access to fresh cilantro, by all means use it. I buy bags of limes and when they are starting to go bad I squeeze the juice out and freeze the juice for recipes like this.

ROAST CHICKEN WITH CILANTRO AND LIME
1 whole chicken, 4-5 pounds
Marinade:
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 T minced garlic
2 tsp. onion powder or 1 T grated onion
2 T dried cilantro
1/2 tsp. ground Chipotle chile powder

Remove giblets from inside chicken and discard. Rinse chicken inside and out with warm water. Tie chicken with kitchen string if you will be cooking it on the rotisserie.

Mix marinade ingredients. Put chicken in large ziploc bag and pour marinade over chicken. Marinate 6-8 hours in refrigerator.

If cooking in oven, preheat oven to 450. Remove chicken from marinade and rinse with warm water. (Optional, but I like to rinse off the cilantro so it doesn't burn.) Roast or rotisserie cook about 15-20 minutes per pound. Use instant read meat thermometer to tell when chicken is done. Minimum temperature should be 185.Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.