The icing on the cake!

My how time does fly. Today marks the six month anniversary of this blog. When I started, I never dreamed I would become so wrapped up in this project and that anyone would even be interested in what I was up to. I have been proven to be terribly wrong on both counts. Only those fellow bloggers can understand how immersed in your blog you can become.

You wake up in the middle of the night thinking about the perfect entry for the Joust this month, or how you can improve upon the recipe you made last night that flopped. You make your family, or significant other, wait to touch their plate so you can get the perfect photo (sorry B about all the cold meals, and thanks for your patience). You curse every time you realize you have forgotten to bring along your camera when dining out or hitting a roadside market. You swoon over some new, exotic item at the grocery store. You pour your thoughts out through the keyboard of your computer wondering if anyone will even give a damn that you have made your first batch of ice cream. You hold your breath to see if any of the food porn sites will find your photos worthy of posting. Then, you stare at amazement at your stat counters as you see how many readers you attract. You feel as if you have made many close "foodie" friends, even though you will most likely never meet them. You post on your six month anniversary to say "Thank You " to them for taking the time to leave a comment, and support your blog addiction.

The photo above is one from my first post back in February. The food was so good and the post is so boring! I had no idea what I was doing, how to get started, how to take, and then add a photo. That was then, this is now.

This week I had the best surprise. Last month I entered a photo in the "Does My Blog Look Good In This" contest, only for the second time. When I saw the gallery of photos entered, I was blown away, and expected nothing. This week I received an email from Scott, at Real Epicurean, announcing that the winners of the July DMBLGIT contest had been posted. When I clicked on the link (you can go there by hitting the RE link) and read the post, my jaw dropped. I received the overall winner FIRST PLACE! Wow, and Thanks!
If you go to Scott's site, you can review the rules, view the gallery and see the winning photos. My thanks to all the judges and to Scott for hosting the event. Here is my winning photo, so different from the ones in my first post!






Andreea at Glorious food and wine will be hosting the August event, so stop by and give it a look, or better yet, post an entry!

Thanks again to all of you who take the time to read, comment and support what I do. Here's to another six months or more!

Ina's Panzanella

It's Barefoot Blogger Thursday again. Wow, the weeks are really flying by. I fear the end of summer is coming soon. Not that I love the hot weather, but this summer has really been great, not the typical hot and humid. As I wrote in the last post, we are being treated to fall like temps in the 70's. Last night we ate on the patio in front of the burning chimnea. So this year it will be sad to see the summer end.

We have a few great recipes to make this month. As you may know, the
Barefoot Bloggers are a group dedicated to recreating the recipes of Ina Garten twice a month. If you are curious as to what lies ahead or would like to read over the musings of the BB's, check out the site. This week's recipe, Panzanella, was chosen by Melissa of It's Melissa's Kitchen, from the book, "Barefoot Contessa Parties!", pg 102. As with most of her recipes, this one is a winner! Easy and delicious and full of great vegetables to celebrate the summer bounty of produce. I only made a few changes. I used white wine vinegar (could not find any champagne vinegar), multi grain french bread, Blushing Beauty Peppers from my garden and two types of heirloom tomatoes from the garden (see tomato soup post ). The bread really takes on a great nutty flavor when toasted and stands up well in the salad.


We had a little get together with the neighbors last weekend. There was a local Ribfest going on just around the corner from us. So, we all trekked down and purchased a slab of ribs from each vendor, then retreated back to the hosts home where we had all deposited our contributions to the potluck dinner. There we all sampled each of the ribs from the separate vendors, had some amazing potato salad, local corn on the cob, my panzanella along with a few adult beverages and veggie nibbles. The only snag was Mother Nature. She decided to end our near drought situation half way through dinner. We retreated to the house, plates and glasses in hand just in time for a really soaker of a storm. Inside we continued to chow and chat.

For dessert we had a real treat. Mounded into little cups we had to-die-for rich chocolate brownies and chocolate chip cookie bars (always a fave) atop a scoop of my vanilla bean ice cream. Yum! Believe me, when they were handed out, no one hesitated to grab their share. We ate it up so quickly that I never got a picture of the finished product!

So, here is Ina's recipe with my few changes, and a few pics from the Ribfest. I will post the recipe for the ice cream later. I may make another batch so I have final result photos.

Ina's Panzanella
12 servings

3 tablespoons good olive oil
1/2 loaf multi grain French bread, cut into 1-inch cubes(6 cups)
1 teaspoon kosher flake salt
1 large Black Krim tomato, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 Mr Stripey tomatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and sliced 1/2-inch thick
2 blush beauty bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes 1/2 red onion, cut in
1 small red onion thinly sliced
20 large basil leaves, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons capers, drained

For the vinaigrette:

1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/2 cup good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher flake salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large saute pan. Add the bread and salt; cook over low to medium heat, tossing frequently, for 10 minutes, or until nicely browned. Add more oil as needed.

For the vinaigrette, whisk all the ingredients together.

In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, yellow pepper, red onion, basil, and capers. Add the bread cubes and toss with the vinaigrette. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Serve, or allow the salad to sit for about half an hour for the flavors to blend.

Mr. Stipey and Black Krim on the cutting board.

A cute little red onion from the farmers' market.

Just before to final toss.



Pictures from the Ribfest, enjoy ....

This Friday will mark my 6 month blogging anniversary and I have a wonderful surprise, so, stay tuned and thanks for reading!

Banana Bread Muffins-WWW

Banana Bread Muffins are on the menu this week for Weight Watcher Wednesday. That is the beautiful thing about bananas, they never have to go to waste when they over ripen. Just mash them up with a fork and bake away! I found this recipe in a Weight Watchers Magazine book titled," Two's Company". Its a great little cookbook filled with 2 portion recipes. This is actually a recipe for Banana Bread, but I split the batter up into a regular muffin tin. I will give the baking instructions for both. I also added a pinch of cardamom and cinnamon, and a bit of vanilla sugar on top to give some crunch. Don't forget to check out Em's Weight Watcher Wednesday blog every week for new ideas!

Banana Bread Muffins
6 servings
points value 2

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 tbl sugar, I used my vanilla sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
a pinch of cardamom
a pinch of cinnamon
dash of salt
1/4 cup 0% fat Greek yogurt (the recipe calls for 30% less fat sour cream)
1/4 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1/2 a banana)
1 tsp canola oil (the recipe calls for vegetable oil)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
cooking spray
vanilla sugar for sprinkling on the tops

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine first 7 ingredients in a medium bowl: make a well in the center of mixture.





Combine yogurt and next 4 ingredients; stir well. Add to the flour mixture, stirring until just moist.






Spoon batter into 1 regular muffin tin which has been coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with a bit of the vanilla sugar. Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool in the pan about 10 minutes, then remove and finish cooling on a wire rack, unless you want to eat them warm. If you are baking a loaf, use a 6 x 3 x 2 inch pan coated with cooking spray and the baking time will be about 35 minutes. Finish cooling the same as the muffins.

Fresh Heirloom Tomato Soup with Rosemary Croutons

I would like to introduce the three on the right to you. They are, from left to right, Roma, Black Krim and Mr. Stripey. Fresh picked from my garden this morning and ready for the kitchen. The Roma probably looks pretty familiar to most of you, but the other two make not look so familiar. Both are Heirloom Tomatoes, and according to Wikipedia, an Heirloom Tomato can described many different ways. One point that is agreed upon is that they are not genetically modified, and are open pollinated. What I know is that since I began growing heirlooms and not hybrids a few years ago, my tomato plants are healthier and produce tastier, more "tomatoey" fruit. I only purchased 2 of each plant, which will give us more than enough to eat and share. I have several vining tomatoes, grape and yellow pear as well as a few mystery plants that have reseeded from last year. Still waiting to see what they will become.





The Black Krim is a Russian Heirloom. The fruits are rather large and misshapen. This one would not win any beauty contests. But the flavor! Nice and rich, a bit smokey even. Great just as they are off the vine or cooked up, as in this soup.


Mr. Stripey is a more brightly, bi-colored English Heirloom. The fruit is smaller and very mild. A great addition to any salad and a nice balance with the Black Krim.

I added a few Romas to the soup to give it a great body and a bit of thickness.

This fresh soup is a cinch to make. You can serve it at room temperature, cold from the fridge or hot like I did. The recipe is a great starter with lots of options. You can add a bit of heavy cream or half and half for a creamier version, spice it up with corn, black beans and chili powder, top it with a dab of diced cucumbers or even cook it down for a light pasta sauce.

Here is my recipe for a quick fresh, light tomato soup. The croutons give it a bit of crunch with a kick of rosemary which blends well with the basil and tomatoes.

Fresh Heirloom Tomato Soup with Rosemary Croutons
makes 4-6 servings

4 1/2 pounds of assorted Heirloom Tomatoes
2 tbl good olive oil
sea salt and fresh ground pepper
1/3 cup of finely sliced red onion
splash of balsamic vinegar
5 slices of whole grain french bread
1/3 cup or so of fresh basil,thinly sliced
1 small sprig of rosemary,finely chopped

For the soup:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Slice the tomatoes in half and place, cut side up, in a high sided baking pan, like a lasagna pan. Drizzle with the tomatoes with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then lay the onions all around and roast in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the tomatoes soften.

Prepped for the oven......
After 30 minutes, soft and juicy....

When the tomatoes have cooled enough to handle, run them through a food mill. Turn the heat on the oven to 350 and toast 2 of the slices of bread, reserving the other 3 slices for the croutons. When the bread has cooled, break into chunks and chop up in a food processor (I used my small food processor). Add the bread to the pureed tomatoes and stir well. The bread will disintegrate and thicken the soup.

At this point, add a splash of balsamic vinegar and s& p to the soup to taste. Now you can chill and serve later either cold or heated, which is what I did. Top with the croutons and some finely sliced fresh basil.

For the croutons:

Cut the remaining 3 slices of bread into cubes. Heat a bit of olive oil over moderately high heat in a small pan. Add the bread, some salt and finely chopped rosemary and toss till bread is golden brown .

Back from vacation, and an award to pass on!

Thanks go to Debinhawaii over at Kahakai Kitchen for passing on the El Premio Arte y Pico Award to yours truly. Please visit her blog when you can to get a glimpse of her cooking and her life in Hawaii. This award is passed on by fellow bloggers and recognizes creativity and design. I am very honored to have received this, and technically should pick 5 others to spotlight. At the moment I really have 4 blogs that I love to read that I don't think have had this passed on to them. The others that came to mind have already received the honor, so here are my 4:

Ever been to a Blog Party? Well then you must check them out at Dispensing Happiness, by the Happy Sorceress. She hosts these great parties, throws down some awesome cooking and by the look of her bookshelf, loves to read! I really have fun with the retro feel of her blog and the Blog Party posts. Maybe they will inspire you to throw a Block Party of your own.

Jennie at Straight From the Farm has the most appetizing recipes and photos. You can just jump right into the screen. She is all about fresh, local ingredients. I love the stories and the unique recipes. Oh, if there were only a few more hours in the day.

Another beautiful blogger is Helen with Tartlette. The page is clean, the photos pristine and the food divine! She inspires me to stretch my baking imagination. Helen's background information is also very interesting. Just beware, if you have a wicked sweet tooth, her site is oh, so addicting!

Living and eating in a healthy, organic manner never looked better than at Parker's Vanilla Bean Cafe. She cooks a wide array of tantalizing recipes that look effortless. Parker is involved with the health industry which is reflected in her cooking. Looking for something new for dinner, you won't go wrong at the Cafe.

So, again, my thanks to Debinhawaii. I hope you will visit those listed above and enjoy them as much as I do. Pop them into your reader so you never miss a post!

Well, I am back from a week off. We had a very nice, restful break. I have no "vacation" stories or photos to share, we stayed right at home and enjoyed our house, garden, critters and each other. That's the best type of vacay in my book, lots of R&R! I will be posting with a fury these next few weeks, so much to catch up on. The garden is throwing out a bounty of beautiful tomatoes of assorted varieties, pole beans, peppers and lemon cucumbers, what fun!

The best thing to report on today is the weather! It has been in the low 70's the past few days with a great north breeze. If you could close your eyes when you walk to the lake you would swear it was the end of September. I think I see some fresh, warm tomato soup in my future...............

Cucumber Salad with Yogurt Dressing WWW

I am sneaking in a quick post. This is our week of vacation so I am off the computer (well most of the time). I did want to get a recipe in for Em's Weight Watcher Wednesday blog. I hope I get this to her in time. Check out the other posts she has there every week, she really gets some nice recipes entered.

So, here is a quick, summer salad that has zero points! Refreshing, cool, crisp but with a bit of a bite. We paired it up with a wasabi tuna burger and an ice cold beer!

Cucumber Salad with Yogurt Dressing

makes 4 servings

1 medium English cucumber, cut into bite-size pieces
1 cup scallions, chopped
1 cup radish, cut into bite-size pieces
4 oz plain fat-free Greek yogurt
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp fresh mint, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh dill, chopped
¾ tsp table salt
¾ tsp cumin seeds (optional)

In a medium bowl, combine cucumber, scallions and radish. In a small bowl, mix together yogurt, lemon juice, mint, dill, salt and cumin seeds; spoon over cucumber mixture and toss to mix and coat.

Yields about 1 cup per serving.

POINTS® value 0 per serving

Original recipe found here.

Vanilla Poundcake Strawberry Peach Trifle

Remember the Poundcakes from the last Weight Watcher Wednesday post that stuck to the paper? Well, I promised a Trifle recipe using them and here it is. Now, technically I believe a trifle is made up of custard or pudding, fruit and sponge cake. I wanted to keep the calories down, and also, I was fresh out of custard and too lazy to make any so figured that yogurt would work in a pinch, and it did! Funny what you can come up with when you start playing around in the kitchen. I previously froze the Poundcakes, so after letting them thaw, and peeling off the paper, I went ahead with the rest of the recipe. You can vary the fruit and let it macerate as long as you need. I let mine sit out on the counter about 1 hour. Make these ahead of time in a pretty glass and let them sit in the fridge, covered with cling film, at least all day. The longer the better since the cake soaks up the fruity goodness. Enjoy!




Vanilla Poundcake Strawberry Peach Trifle
serves 2

1 tbl of orange juice
1 tbl cognac
1 large fresh peach, chopped
2-3 large strawberries, chopped
1 tbl demerara cane sugar
2/3 cup lowfat organic vanilla yogurt
2 Vanilla Poundcakes, sliced into small pieces
2 nice large strawberries for garnish

In a small bowl, stir together the oj, cognac, peach, strawberries and sugar until the fruit is nicely coated. Let sit on the counter to macerate at least 1 hour.

After the fruit has been allowed to sit, gather nice drinking glasses, the yogurt and sliced up Poundcakes. You are now ready to assemble.

You will layer as follows into each glass, so eyeball the quantities: cake, fruit, yogurt, cake, fruit yogurt. See, easy, peasy! Cover with cling film and place in the fridge for several hours. When you are ready to serve, decoratively slice a strawberry for the top, delicious!