Bon Appetit!

After seeing Julie and Julia, I invited Bethany (and baby Mordecai) over and in homage to Julia Child I made Boeuf Bourguignon! It was trés manifique, if I do say so myself. It took forever. Literally, if a light year was in fact a measure of time it would have take around that long (a light year is a measure of distance, it's a common misconception.)
Well worth it, though! To accompany said main course I prepared heirloom tomato bruschetta, spinach artichoke dip with mozzarella, and lots of crusty French Bread. The best part was the braised onions! I could eat these as a side dish all on their own!The finished product after four and a half hours in the kitchen!
Spinach dip, so gooey and fabulous!
Heirloom Tomato Bruschetta, although here it looks like some sort of fruit salad...
I just love this picture! I stopped by Ever'Man and picked up some organic fennel, artichokes, and these beautiful jewel toned heirloom tomatoes. Gorgeous!
This, my friends, is a pumpkin scone. Not just for breakfast anymore, these tasty little triangles are a genius way to end a meal, paired with a cup of spiced chai tea. Go make one, and then eat it. Not very French, but who cares? Neither is Bruschetta.

Here are some more pictures of Maggie being adorable, because I'm sure you aren't sick of them yet.
P.S. Ricky's '67 Mustang, Gloria, is finally here. He picked her up from New Orleans today, which was as close as the Air Force could get her. This is her in the rear view mirror on the drive back.

Black Widows, Diabetic Cupcakes, Presents, and Puppies

This is Natasha, she lives in our garage. I think Ricky re-located her to the backyard, though.

Tonight I finally made those sugar free chocolate cupcakes for Ricky's co-worker. Better than I expected, though a little dry. Ah well, they're cute.

There is a woman who works in the hospital that has been so nice to me ever since I started at the coffee shop there. She loves dragonflies, so I got her this really cute tea mug with an infuser that has a dragonfly print on it and wrapped it up! I love wrapping gifts, I think this one turned out really well.

And here are some gratuitous cute dog pictures. Enjoy!

Is there anything better than pie? Really?

This is my very first attempt at peach pie. I used local peaches from a farmer's market, and they were so delicious! I almost didn't want to bake them into a pie, but I'm glad I did. Tasty tasty.

This was dessert after a simple quick dinner of grilled Ahi tuna with couscous and roasted carrots. I love meals that can come together in less than 25 minutes! Especially before a pie that takes 90!

Sunday Bloody Sunday

It's actually shaping up to be a lovely Sunday.

This morning (I use that word loosely) I made brunch for Ricky and I. Eggs scrambled with cream and parsley, smoked salmon, pan roasted tomatoes with thyme, pumpernickel toast, and coffee.
Today I have to go out to work in Pensacola to pick up pastries for tomorrow and get milk. Then Ricky and I are going to Ever'Man, since he's never been. Then we're off to the beach this afternoon! We haven't been in some time and so I'm excited. I love throwing the football with my husband next to the Gulf of Mexico! Then later tonight we're going to see Julie and Julia with my friend Bethany. Hooray! I love that the girl in the movie is named Julie Powell!

Enjoy your Sunday, and just to make sure that you do, here are adorable puppy pictures.Boogie Boogie Maggie!

Never set a toy in between them...

Salmon!

Today was a relatively unproductive day, save for a few menial house chores and making dinner.

Oh, how I love making dinner.
Tonight I made salmon with roasted vegetables (onions and red bell peppers.) I had wanted to use fennel instead of onions, but I didn't have any, so I seasoned the vegetables with fennel seed and herb de Provence, which is one of my favorites. I roasted the vegetables at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes, after which I nestled the salmon in there with them and cooked for an additional 16. I served it on hot cooked long grain rice, with broccoli and a quick vinaigrette made from olive oil, red wine vinegar, chopped capers, minced garlic, parsley, and salt and pepper.
C'est Manifique!I would also like to say that living in a subdivision is awful. Why pay an association fee just to have some moron with no taste tell you what you cannot and have to do with your own home? We got a letter today saying that our garbage can had to be kept out of sight. It isn't in the front, it's around the side of our house, and our garbage went out yesterday! Seriously? A letter? Someone couldn't just come to my door? I hate this sort of thing. The people running Hidden Shores in Gulf Breeze are stupid. I'd like some of my $281 fee to go to the addition of sidewalks, so that I don't have to be in the street or in other yards when I walk my dogs. What are you spending all that money on, anyway? Electricity for the 5 street lamps? Postage for unnecessary letters?

Orange-Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

Sexy little orange beasts!

I made six candied orange slices and six candied lemon slices. I must have cooked the lemons too long, because they got a little bitter. Instead of using them, I just mounded the butter cream on half of the cupcakes and topped them with a blackberry. Sweet ♥

These weren't too difficult. Several bowls and quite a few ingredients, but well worth it. The most difficult part was the Swiss Meringue Butter Cream. The candied orange slices are to die for, they remind Ricky and I of those sugared orange slice candies, you know the ones I'm talking about?Like these, only better and tastier and real fruit!

There is something so damn satisfying about cooking an entire meal and dessert from scratch. I adore making cupcakes. Ricky adores eating said cupcakes. We're a pretty great team.

Polenta may be my new favorite thing

Tonight I wanted to try something different. I cook all sorts of things, don't get me wrong, but when it comes to starches I'm usually at a bit of a loss. Pasta? Or potatoes? Maybe rice tonight? It rotates that way throughout the week, usually steering more in the potato direction. Tonight I noticed that I had a package of regular polenta in my pantry that I must have picked up on a whim when I was in the aisle with the San Marzano tomatoes on it.

Goodness gracious, is this stuff amazing. I cooked it in chicken broth, not water, and added salt, pepper, half a tablespoon of butter and some grated Parmesan. It was so good! It sopped up all the juices and sauce from the chicken I made. This was probably one of my favorite meals to date.

Chicken breasts cooked with crushed tomatoes, capers, crushed red pepper and herbs, served on a bed of Parmesan polenta, with fresh green beans that were dressed with olive oil and freshly grated nutmeg.
I also heated up some nice chewy bread and made a quick bread dip:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sea Salt and fresh Black Pepper
Red Pepper Flakes
Italian Seasoning

I'm waiting on some Orange-Vanilla Bean Cupcakes to cool, and will upload pictures of them soon! They're so pretty, I'm really excited.

Sablés Au Citron

Lemon Butter Cookies, that is.
Tonight I made this magnificent little two-bite lovelies.
They took practically no time to whip up, and they only have 7 ingredients! In the words of Ina Garten, "Now how easy is that?"




1 Organic Lemon (I love my co-op!)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon fleur de sel
7 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into pieces
1 large egg yolk
1 cup confectioners sugar
-Zest the lemon, reserve fruit for juice. Combine flour, sugar, salt, and zest. I decided to combine lavender flowers with my sugar in a food processor and then add it to the flour, but that's just me.) Add the butter and combine it with your fingers. Add the yolk and stir with a fork until blended, then knead the dough into a ball. If it is too dry, add some ice-cold water, a little at a time.
Roll the dough into a log (or two) and wrap in plastic. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes. Preheat oven while the dough chills, to 350 degrees.
Remove dough, unwrap, and slice into quarter inch rounds. Place half an inch apart on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes until edges are golden. Let cool completely.
Whisk lemon juice and confectioners sugar together. Drizzle or spread over cookies, allow to set for about an hour.
This recipe is from Chocolate and Zucchini, by Clotilde Dusoulier. Glorious little book, I highly recommend it.

Another thing that made me smile today:

Fresh flowers on my coffee table and a lemon Perrier from Ever'Man, which is the only place I've found it here. Oh, and a very clean house.
Joy.

Kari!

Did you know that the word "curry" comes from the Dravidian word "kari" which means "sauce" or "gravy?"
I thought that was pretty interesting.
Tonight I made a Thai Vegetable Curry. Ricky and I like to eat vegetarian meals a few nights a week, and I'm always looking for more ways to incorporate more fresh produce into our diet. I used those locally grown eggplant and some cauliflower that I also bought at Ever'Man, along with white onion and some fresh green beans. The sauce is red curry paste (also organic) and coconut milk. I seasoned everything up with turmeric, soy sauce, cumin, and garlic. I really miss the Thai restaurants that Germany had to offer, but my oh my was this tasty. Ricky really enjoyed it, and he doesn't even care for eggplant!
I served it up on Jasmine Rice, naturally.

For dessert, I whipped up a true homage to the Thai restaurants I love with some grilled bananas. I sprinkled sliced bananas with cinnamon and sugar and grilled them for about thirty seconds on each side in a buttered grill pan. I drizzled them with lavender flower honey and dusted them with cardamom. I know, I know, there's nothing Thai about lavender, but it's just so good!