shrimp and cellophane noodles: French Fridays with Dorie

Shrimp and Cellophane Noodles:  sounds good....but when reading the ingredient list I almost opted out of this recipe week...2 cups of tomato sauce was the main base of the sauce...not my idea of stir fry.  But, I have learned to trust Dorie and I just went with it.  And I'm glad I did, although older daughter Stacy was much "gladder", she liked it even more than I did!

Starting place:  remember the game which one does not belong in this picture?  (yes, I would have picked the tomato sauce!)

Shrimp and veggies did great in the wok to start with....

Then, lo and behold...what kind of stir fry is this?  French, I guess....

It plated well, the cilantro brought it together.  It was good for dinner, then good for lunch the next day.

Another holiday from school, another day with Wii Dance Party...now Sadie can join in too!

Well, I'm glad I made this one.  I might make it again, but maybe not....  To see what others did with this recipe, you can visit French Fridays with Dorie.

French Apple Tart: Tuesdays with Dorie BWJ

 OK, I'm back.  It's the French Apple Tart that helped me get back on schedule with Tuesdays and Fridays with the Doristas...and it sure is a winner recipe!  I was so unsure of the "applesauce" filling, but that really made this work.

Granny Smith's ready for this tart!

I don't know why the breadcrumbs are in here, but whatever, 

the filling is so much better than just using applesauce.

I went the "chunky" route...

Into the oven, the real tart, and the little one with scraps of tart dough and extra filling and topping.

Yes, the browned edges of apple slices do look good, and I was not trying to make a perfect topping, so I think it looks better than it should have!

So to explain how well this recipe was received, 4 grandkids, one daughter and one son-in-law demolished this in less than 30 minutes!  Ok I helped too.....

And oldest grandchild Shelby says I can post her photo of her helping me cook the main course, Shepards Pie.  Potato scrubber extraordinaire!

To see what other doristas did with the French Apple Tart recipe this week, you can visit Tuesdays with Dorie.

chicken liver gateau with pickled onions: French Fridays with Dorie

This was a strange one!  In fact, I wasn't even sure that I did anything right with this recipe until it was all done...  I think it was the pink foamy liver mixture in the custard cups before they went in the oven coupled with the onion smell that permeated my house and apparently me!  I got in the car with oldest daughter Stacy and youngest grandchild (yes, lovely Sadie) right after I made the onions this morning and Stacy mentioned that Nana smelled like oniony BO.....that was the start of today.

When 3 of the main ingredients are cream, milk and liver....what can I say?

Pink foamy livery liquid.....I admit I had to peak at one of the doristas postings while 

these babies were in the oven, one benefit of cooking on THE friday......

After cooking, the color looked better.  I waited the 10 minute minimum...

Plated, with the pickled onions.  And, okay, it was good....

Fresh herbs in my breakfast room window.  I could taste them in the gateau's.

Oh, and for desert, I actually did make the long and slow apples, 

but didn't get to post in time, so here's my picture of this recipe.

So, the verdict...I actually might make this again.  I'll know more tomorrow, when I try the gateau's after they are refrigerated.  If they are more like a pate, I will be more in love with this recipe.  Warm, it was good.  I'm hoping cold is great.

To see what the other doristas did with this recipe, you can visit French Fridays with Dorie.

cheez-it-ish crackers: French Fridays with Dorie

Fresh out of the oven cheez-it-ish crackers....

and voila, I'm back!

Somewhere between Whole Wheat Loaves and these crackers...life happened...And then I found myself looking for a cauliflower soup recipe and saw that the doristas had recently tackled the one in Around My French Table.  Well, hello....and like magic I was pulled back in!

Really good butter and yummy gruyere cheese:  how could these crackers not be good?

Mixing the butter and cheese with the salt and peppers, 

curd-like appearance was a very good description.

The dough ready to go into the refrigerator for the 1 hour of chilling.

Another great recipe (especially with a glass of wine!) from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table.  

I will say that my first batch (pictured above) came out really well; my second batch cooked a few minutes too long and had a slightly bitter taste.  So note to file:  watch closely at end of baking to make sure crackers only lightly brown around edges and on part of top. 

To see what others did with this recipe this week, you can visit French Fridays with Dorie.

Happy Holidays to all!

Whole Wheat Loaves: Tuesdays with Dorie

Okay, I wasn't going to make this recipe.  I don't like whole wheat bread from the store.  But I read some blogs this morning on Tuesdays with Dorie and they were raving, yes RAVING about this recipe...so I put the pedal to the metal...(the KA metal!).  Mine didn't get too tall, but I used a slightly larger bread pan...it's okay, they taste GREAT!  (I think I'm raving).

After first rise.  I used fresh ground whole wheat.  Had wheat berries in the freezer and ground them up in the VitaMix.  It worked great, I think it helped with the GREAT taste. (I am raving again, aren't I?)

I just hand flattened out each half of the dough to get it into shape for the bread pans.

Rise 2:  it took a little longer than the hour, but by then I was so invested in getting this recipe done.

This was my wake up call this morning.  Guinea hens in the neighborhood looking for bug food in my backyard.  Not the smartest animals out there, but certainly very loud.  Little Sadie came looking for them later in the morning....she calls them "Click-Clacks"...that's what they sound like to her.  It was a Click-Clack morning, and a RAVING whole wheat loaves afternoon!

While I am trying to do Clean Eating right now, I decided that half white flour was better than all white flour, so I jumped into the recipe at the last minute.  I was glad I did.  This bread is nothing like the store bought whole wheat bread that I won't eat.  THIS I will eat!!!  To see what others did with this recipe this week, you can visit Tuesdays with Dorie.

minted zucchini tagliatelle with cucumbers and lemon: French Fridays with Dorie

I feel like the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland....I'm late, I'm late, you know?  

It was such an innocent change to my home computing...so I thought.  HA!  I changed out my wireless router.  There, such a simple thing.  That took 6 hours (not the 10 minutes all the commenters on Amazon quoted), and the end result, my quirky 3 year old pc laptop was kaput.  SCREAM!!!  I admit to not being a techie, but I can usually figure stuff out.  

SO....The happy ending to the story:  New wireless router works great, new wireless camera in dog room works great (so cool!), and my NEW iMac (yes, I am through with PCs and windows) works great too.  A quick trip to the apple store, and life is good again!  

That was the long version of why this blog is being published and linked one day late.  So, onto the recipe:

I do like my de Buyer mandolin.  I forget I have it until recipes like this one pops up in the rotation, since I put it far away from grandkids' reach.  I used very fresh zucchini, which sliced up nicely.  I then tried to use an older cucumber I had in the refrigerator...yuck, it was bitter.  So I pitched that one, and used the fresh one I just got from the farmers market....much better!

I had to use dried mint leaves.  It's another sad story for another day.  Hint:  Crazy Raspberry Ants in the garden.  I'm sure it would be much better to use fresh mint, sigh.

After the hour wait it plates like it is supposed to.  It tastes okay in general, but when I factor in the ingredient zucchini, I rate it higher.  I do not care for zucchini much, so if I find a zucchini recipe I will eat, then I give it extra stars.

Oh, and that camera in the dog room?  Here's my beagle-mix, Maddie, on her couch, tucked back behind an extra blanket.  She was napping as I blogged this and I took this picture from my iPhone app that allows me to view the dog room from wherever I am.   Now I know who's naughty and who's nice!!

Yes, another keeper recipe from Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.  To see what others did this week with this recipe you can visit French Fridays with Dorie.

Popovers: Tuesdays with Dorie

Well, it doesn't get much easier than this.  (I think I hear Ina Garten speaking in my head!)  I haven't made popovers in years.  I used to make them all the time when my girls (aka "the mommies" to the grandkids) were little.  Big decision...the food processor or the blender....food processor won!

I got rid of my popover pan because it was teflon coated....so I used an old aluminum muffin tin (medium size popovers) and a newer stainless steel one (large size popovers).  Very interesting that the old aluminum one didn't have any "sticking" problems.  The popovers popped right out.  With the stainless steel, the muffins puffed up big, but they stuck, some pretty bad.

Ahhh, but the beauty of a popover is hard to beat.  This is a large one, which I had to prop up with a knife, because part of the bottom on the back stuck to the pan...still tasted great.

And, had the right insides!  Even better filled with melted butter and pomegranate jelly!

So easy and so good.  I will be making these again.  Another great recipe from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan.  To see what our other bakers did with this recipe this week, you can visit Tuesdays with Dorie.