Spring Mix with Dried Cranberries and Candied Pecans

Thank God I didn't buy the bagged spinach! "I'll have the spinach salad, with a sprinkling of E coli. 157."

This actually was a bagged spring mix salad, but so far so good on the intestinal health.
When I was at Trader Joe's last week I bought a large bag of pecans. I didn't really know what to put on them to make them candied, so I melted some butter with a little brown sugar, tossed the pecans in that, then put them in the toaster oven for a few minutes. It seemed to work well, except next time I will also add a little honey to the mixture. My little sister who was here for the day also suggested adding a little cinnamon and nutmeg to the mix, which I think is a fabulous idea.

My Kind of Town; Chicago Is

Cheeseburger Cheeseburger Pepsi No Coke.
I'm off to the land of deep dish pizza, the cubbies, home of the tootsie roll. That's right the windy City.

See you on the opposite side of the weekend.

JB

Pasta and Haddock Bake

This weekend was a truly fabulous weekend in Boston. It was sunny and crisp and warm. It was also the first weekend in oh, I don't know 87 weekends that I didn't have to fly somewhere for work, or drive somewhere, or go see family or any other malarkey. It was the first weekend where I could finally go to the tailor and get my spring pants hemmed (yes, I realize spring is over, but at least they will be ready for next year), peruse the Trader Joe's grocery store, and go to my favorite bookstore in the whole wide world, Brookline Booksmith, which just happened to be having a big sale. When I first moved to Boston and didn't have a job, I would get up in the morning and walk to Brookline Booksmith and sit among the books for hours. I honestly believe that bookstore is the one reason why I fell in love with reading, and ever since then, my thirst for reading has been insatiable. I ended up leaving with four books which came to a grand total of $22. Don't you just love a bargain!

One of the books I bought was a little $5 book titled 101 Simple Suppers. You know what, they ain't kidding, the book is chocked full of really tasty and simple recipes. Do yourself a favor, try the one I just made, the Pasta and Haddock Bake, the original recipe called for Cod, but I couldn't get it in my fish markt that day, so I settled for haddock. The picture may not scream sexy, but this dish made me come back for seconds, which I never do, I pretty much have a one plate rule, lest we forget the promise I made to myself to never have to wear elastic waist pants.

• 12oz pasta shells
• 6 thick slices bacon cut into strips
• 12 oz tomato sauce; zest of one lemon
• 1lb cod fillets cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
• 4 tbsp creme fraiche
• 3tbs chopped fresh parsley
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2oz freshly grated cheddar or parmesan.

1. Cook pasta in slated boiling water for 10-12 minutes
2. Cook bacon for 5 minutes, until crisp (drain grease). Add the tomato sause and stir well until it starts to bubble. Stir in lemon zest and add codd (haddock). Cover and cook for four mintes
3. Preheat broiler. Drain pasta and stir into the sauce with the creme fraiche and parsely. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon into shallow heatproof dish. Sprinkle the cheese on top and broil until cheese is melted and golden.

You can substitute shrimp for the bacon, and use dill instead of parsley. Eat It. Stuff Your Face. Enjoy!

Honey Cinnamon Scones

Growing up the only time I generally ingested honey was when it was mixed with a little whiskey and lemon. It was Nana's fool proof cough syrup. I never really understood why she would always give it to us even if we didn't seem to have a cough, nor why I would pass out for hours on end in the middle of the day, but I guess that conversation is for another time, possibly when I'm laying horizontally on a psychiatrists couch.

Moving right along. I love honey, I eat it almost every day, and generally I drizzle it over fresh berries and yogurt. When in VT this past weekend I stopped off at the farmers market for the last time this season and picked up about 7 pounds of honey; dark fall honey, and light summer honey, they were all out of the orange blossom honey.

Realizing that I now have four jugs (tee hee, I said jugs) of honey I decided to put some of it to good use. It's been a while since I baked, so Ta Da. Honey Cinnamon Scones. These really are fabulous. Try them.

Recipe:
2 C flour
1/4 C sugar
1 tsp B. Powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 C cream
2-3 tbs honey (you decide how honey flavored you like it)
1 egg

Sift dry ingredients together and cut in butter until crumbly. (Is crumbly a word) Mix milk, egg and honey together then add to crumble mixture. Knead briefly on floured surface about 8-12 times. Pat into a 9 inch circle and cut into 8 equal wedges. Bake on greased cookie sheet for 12-15 minutes in a 400 degree oven. When finished brush the top with more honey, it will melt into the top and be awesome.

Nana's Corn Chowda

I can't be certain, but I think that this recipe probably comes from the depression era. This is my 82 year old Nana's corn chowder recipe. This is from the woman who looks at a moldy piece of bread, cuts off the moldy part, and then proceeds to eat the rest. She doesn't reserve this activity for just bread though, anything that is covered in mold, but retains a mold free area is game for the "cut and reserve" just cut off the mold and reserve the unaffected part; bread, cheese, fruit. Whatever. That is the depression era mentality. Although my Nana hasn't had to deal with the likes of a bread line for over 60 years, she still has a basement full of canned goods and frozen meat large enough to feed the neighborhood for a few months should the need arise to use her house as a fall out shelter. Anyway, this is the chowder recipe that I grew up on, there's nothing flashy here, no addition of herbs or vegetables, its strict depression era corn chowder.

Recipe:
5-6 potatoes cut in cubes or sliced
1 small onion sliced
1 can cream style corn
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can evaporated milk
dash regular milk
1 tbl butter
salt and pepper to taste.

Cover the potatoes and onion with enough water to cover and boil until fork tender. Add both types of corn and evaporated and regular milk, add butter. Simmer until ready to eat, add salt and pepper to taste.

Nothing fancy, but it still tastes good.

Kitchen Update

So, here's where we are in the remodeling.

Yep, she's starting to look purty. Although not functional, at least she doesn't look like this anymore.

I'm actually hoping to get some cooking done this weekend at a different kichen. Let's hope, because I'm so GD sick of take out and eating out. EP and JP were nice enough to have us over to their house last night for our first home cooked meal in over two weeks. I love EP and JP.

On to the long weekend, and hopefully some home cookin'.