Recipe

 It's Funny Friday

by Prudence 

RATATOUILLE:  the word is French and describes a stew or casserole which most frequently contains a well-seasoned combination of eggplant, zucchini, tomato, and green pepper.

1.   2 garlic cloves, minced

2.   1 onion, sliced thin

3.   ½ cup olive oil

4.   1 med. Eggplant, diced (unpeeled)

5.   3 med. Zucchinis, sliced

6.   1 *green (I use red pepper) pepper, sliced

7.   1 can 28 oz. Italian-style tomatoes

8.   1 tsp. oregano and basil

9.   Salt/Pepper to taste (I omit salt but use coarse ground pepper (about a tbs.)

Sauté’ garlic and onion in oil until clear.  Add eggplant and toss.  Add zucchini and pepper, cook for 10 mins.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer COVERED for 30 mins.  Uncover, simmer for 30 mins longer.  Serves 6

(Recipe from Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery, Vol. 10)

Happy Healthy Frappy

It's Funny Friday

without my Prudence

Hi, hope you are beginning a wonderful start to the weekend.

I am always on a quest for a healthy version of something that is really good, a little something special for an occasional treat.  Here is what I came up with:

Happy Healthy Frappy

1 cup chilled strong coffee

1/2 cup 2% milk

3 scoops reduced fat coffee ice cream

2 Tablespoons Nestles Quick

1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

1 cup ice cubes

BLEND

Garnish with "Whipped Lightcream" (Publix)

5 chocolate chips

Makes 2 servings

Movie or Recipe?

It's Funny Friday

by Prudence

Movie: Ratatouille
Recipe: Ratatouille

This is a "quite by accident" story.  First, one of our all time favorite movies is Ratatouille, we have watched it maybe 8 times.
Last week Mom wanted her Quiche recipe, which she has  bookmarked (well, a piece of paper to be honest) so she can get to the page easily.  She opened the book but for some reason it opened on the R section, and there was "Ratatouille".  I asked  what the ingredients were, reading them we decided we wanted to try the recipe, and we were not disappointed.
Here it is:
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, sliced thin (we used a Spanish onion)
1/2 cup Extra Virgin olive oil
1 medium  (peeled) eggplant, diced
3 medium (unpeeled) green zucchinis, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1can (28 ounces or 2- 24 ounce) Italian style tomatoes
1 teaspoon oregano or basil (we used basil)
Salt and pepper to taste
Saute garlic and onion in olive oil until clear (do not brown).  Add eggplant and toss.  Add zucchini and pepper, cook for 10 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.  Uncover and simmer for 30 minutes longer.  Serves 4-6

We always add our own little something to new recipes, here we used a red pepper because Mom doesn't like green bell peppers.  She served the dish with a small serving bowl of low moisture, part skim, shredded Mozzarella cheese, to sprinkle on top if desired.
Hope you enjoy as much as we did.  We call this one a really good, healthy comfort food.
Leftovers
We added sauteed lean ground turkey and served with the leftovers, over pasta.  Very good.
Heaps of Hugs
Chef Prudence ♥
Chef Vlad

2014 Already?

It's Funny Friday

by Prudence

Hi Everybear.  Happy New Year, I can't believe it's 2014, time flies.  I am all settled in and enjoying our little town.  People are so friendly here, very welcoming and just nice folks.
I live on a lane, there are 6 houses and there is a little tradition, neighbors leave little prezzies in each other's mailboxes.  It didn't take Mom long to jump in, we made Pumpkin Blondies and as soon as the mail came Dad and I jumped in Mom's SUV and delivered our goodies.  Why didn't we walk you ask?  Remember what Mom says, "a picture is worth......"

That is looking down our driveway

************
THE WELCOME CORNER

Welcome to our new friend, Miss KarenL.  Please drop in on Karen over at Facebook.
Welcome Karen and thank you for joining us.

Pumpkin Blondies 
2.5 c all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c unsalted butter melted & cooled to room temp
1 c light brown sugar
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 (15oz) can pure pumpkin puree
1 c butterscotch chips
1 c white choc. chips
1 c pecans coarsely chopped (I use walnuts) 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 pan with the non stick spray and line it with parchment paper making sure it overhangs on both sides of the pan, set aside.
In medium bowl whisk flour, pumpkin spice and salt, set aside.  In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment mix butter and sugars until smooth and no lumps remain.  Add egg and vanilla until combined.  Add pumpkin and mix until it is well incorporated.  Slowly add the flour mixture until all is full incorporated.  Add butterscotch, white choc. chips and pecans or walnuts.
Pour batter into prepared baking pan, bake 40-50 mins. or until a toothpick comes out clean, but with a little bit of crumb. The bars will be firm when done, let pan cool completely on a wire rack. To remove the bars from pan lift the bars out by the parchment paper handles and cut to desired size.  Store in airtight container up to 5 days.
Freezes well up to three weeks.
 

Potato Dill Soup

It's Funny Friday

by Prudence

Hi Everybear, today I am Chef Prudence and wanted to share Mom's soup recipe with you.

2 T. butter or margarine
4 cups peeled, diced potatoes(russets)
1 large onion chopped
1.5 cups water
2 cups milk (I use 2%)
1 T chopped fresh dill (I use double)
2 T all purpose flour
1 cup sour cream (reduced fat)
***
Using 2 quart saucepan, melt butter/margarine.  Stir in onions, cook 2 minutes, stirring until soft (do not brown).  Stir in potatoes, cook 2 minutes but do not brown.  Add water and bring to boil, cover pan and simmer 15minutes until you can mash potatoes leaving small pieces.  Add milk, dill and bring to a boil.  Stir flour into sour cream, blend into soup with WOODEN SPOON.  Remove from heat, let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

*I also add a pinch of dried oregano and a pinch of garlic when I remove from heat.
I serve with freshly made garlic bread.

Heaps of Hugs
Prudence

("Hey LuLu, she's wearin' the Sebastian pin."
"Yeah, I see it, lets hide behind the door." )

A bouquet of....

It's Funny Friday

by Prudence

ASPARAGUS?
Hi Everybear,  Happy Friday.

Now you may be wondering what the bear I can tell you about asparagus. Well, for one thing, it's good for you and it tastes good too.  But I have to tell you, we eat the stuff like some people drink water.  When I open the refrigerator this is what I always see...

a "bouquet" of asparagus.  When M&D lived in Hackettstown, NJ there was (is) a family owned produce farm where they bought all their veggies, Best's Fruit Farm,  Mrs. Best is an excellent cook and she told Mom to keep the asparagus in a glass of water in the fridge.  I think it helps keep it hydrated, and we can keep it like that for a whole week or more.  Mom just reaches in and grabs a handful, sometimes that is my job.

Recipe 

fresh asparagus
fresh garlic
extra virgin oil
Parmesan/Romano cheese
 Saute asparagus in olive oil, tossing gently until desired tenderness, add chopped garlic, keep tossing so garlic does not burn.  Remove from heat, sprinkle with Parmesan/Romano cheese.  Enjoy.
(Using fresh spinach instead is also very good.  Just make sure the spinach leaves are dry before putting them into the olive oil.)

Heaps of Hugs
Prudence  ♥

"Okay, Mom, I'm gettin' the asparagus out of the 'fridge!"
"Mom?"
"Yes, Prudence?"
"I think we're turnin' green!"
Giggle
 


 

Recipe

It's Funny Friday

by Prudence

My "kitchen-aide"

Hi Everybear, sure hope you are having a wonderful week.  It's almost St. Patrick's Day and I would like to share Mom's recipe with you.  I think the original tradition was to make corned beef & cabbage, but we tweaked it a little (we are good at doing that, ha ha).  It's really a boiled New England dinner, but as I said, it's tweaked.  Don't you just love that word?  Tweak.  Tweaked.  To be tweaked.

"Prudence...sweetheart I think they have had enough of that...."

"Okay, Mom."

Here goes:
8 cups water
1 cup salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 bay leaf
6 peppercorns
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon whole mixed pickling spices
5 - 6 pound beef brisket (I use lean rump roast)
 Serves 6 - more or less
Mix all ingredients except meat in a crock or stock pot.  Add meat, cover with a plate and put a heavy weight on top of plate (to make sure roast is submerged).  Let meat soak in brine in refrigerator for 36 hours.
Rinse roast, put into a fresh pot of water and boil till almost done.  10 minutes before roast is done place wedges of green cabbage in pot, steam till tender.  (Now, for the New England version, I add potato wedges and carrots (cut into chunks, and the cabbage.)
Save the water from the roast/veggies water and use as stock for homemade split pea soup, I dilute it by 50% and freeze for a later time.

Heaps of Hugs
Prudence ♥