What’s in the cupboard?

One of the things I just love to do: At the end of the month when the budget is tight, I go into the cupboard and fridge to see what kind of a yummy concoction can be made for dinner.  Sometimes the selected ingredients work and sometimes they don't.  Today was a good day.

Try my Jalopy of Sloppy Joe mixture on toasted buns or with grilled corn bread.  My end of the month stockpile including the mish mash of ingredients listed.

JALOPY OF SLOPPY JOE

 

1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 stalks of chopped celery hearts (Don’t throw out those smaller celery bits and leaves in the center of the stalk. Just chopped them up and throw them into your favorite dish. They are good!)

1 medium shallot, sliced

1 medium red pepper, chopped

 

½ pound of ground turkey (not lean)

1 large clove of garlic, minced (I use a micro plane for this.)

A sprinkling of onion powder

One 15-ounce can of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

One jar of your favorite sloppy joe sauce (I can’t name the brand I used, but it is made in a facility in York, Maine.)

In a large skillet over medium heat, saute the celery, shallot, and red pepper in the olive oil until softened.  Add the ground turkey and cook until meat is browned and no longer pink.

Stir in the garlic and cook for one minute.  Sprinkle the mixture with the onion powder (I just give it a good dusting over the surface of the meat mixture.)

Add the cannellini beans and stir to incorporate.

Pour the sloppy joe sauce into the pan.  (Now there will be some sauce clinging to the inside of the jar.  Don’t let it get away.  Add about ¼ cup of water to the jar, screw the lid back on and give it a good shake.  Pour this into the pan of ingredients.)

Give the whole mixture a good stir and lower the heat to simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

Makes about 4 generous servings!  A side salad would be great with this!

My book Rescued Recipes and myself will be at the following locations this fall:

September 24^th at the Auburn Public Library in Auburn, Maine at 2:00 p.m.

Book discussion and signing. (Possible goody sampling.)

October 6^th at MSAD 11, Adult Education, Gardiner, Maine at 6:00 p.m. (Registration required)

Sample goodies from recipes in my book and listen to the trials and tribulations, funny stories, and endearing memories of my book writing and publishing experience.  Book signing.

November 6^th at the Stonewall Kitchen Cooking School, York, Maine at 11:30 a.m. (Reservations required)

Cooking demonstration with Patty Roche using some recipes from Rescued Recipes.  Menu planned:  Lisa’s Fish Chowder with Better with Cheddar Gems; Stacked Baked Haddock with Scotch Potatoes and Inside Out Succotash; Pecan Pie with Irish Mist Whipped Cream.  Book signing.

If you are available, I’d love to have you join me.  

Another summer has come and gone.  I can hardly believe it!  Tourists abounded in my corner of the world and it made for a very busy season at work.  Not much time to relax until this past Labor Day weekend at my mother’s cottage.  Family and furry critter enjoyed the warm sun and cool breeze among the pines and flowers.

My soul comes alive at this time of year.  Long forgotten chores magically get tackled and completed.  I start looking through my cookbooks and begin planning dinner menus for the cold weather and upcoming holidays.  I take a trip to L.L. Bean in search of a new warm and wooly sweater to spiff up my autumnal wardrobe.  Thoughts of finally using my snowshoes that I purchased in 1997 are creeping into my mind.

One of the best things about September and the ensuing months is that the vacationers have dwindled in numbers and I am finally able to visit some local businesses before they close up for the winter.

Today, I stopped by the Bread and Roses Bakery in Ogunquit, Maine.  News reports have stated that customers have waited in line all summer to partake of their delicious baked goods.  Driving home on my way back from New Hampshire, I spied an available parking space near the bakery and pulled in.  My first trip ever inside this establishment and one look at the cases filled with tarts, cookies, croissants, and cake, made me start drooling!  I finally settled on a slice of Lemon Coconut Cake which is going to be dessert tonight.  Took a sample bite until then.  Verdict:  Yum!

If you are up in Southern Maine this fall, please do stop in to Bread and Roses, but please leave me a parking space!

The next time you have company, why not dress up a brownie for dessert.

  

A friend and co-worker gave me some strawberry basil syrup that she made.  I warmed it slightly, place a pool of it on a plate, laid the brownie center stage, and surrounded it with some piped whipped cream that I had sweetened and flavored with some of the syrup.

It always seems the rage to pair chocolate and raspberry, but I think I prefer a bit of strawberry with my chocolate (think chocolate covered strawberries).

Sharing some of my favorite photos of Southern Maine.  Happy Wednesday!  I tried forever, to get the placement of these pictures right!  Finally gave up!! Hope you like them anyway.

Hamilton House, South Berwick

Kennebunk

Casco Bay 

Guess where?

Peaks Island

If July is blueberry month, then August is the time to start using up the zucchini in your garden.  This versatile veggie can be incorporated into both sweet and savory dishes.  Although one of my least favorites when it comes to cooking, zucchini is a great addition to quick breads, muffins, and other baked goods.  Try my recipe for Cinnamon Frosted Zucchini Bars. They are moist and sweet, and if you are like me, maybe you can convince yourself that one or two of these bars will meet a daily vegetable requirement!  Enjoy!

Cinnamon Frosted Zucchini Bars

½ cup of dark brown sugar

½ cup of white sugar

¾ cup of unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 ¾ cups of all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice

2 extra-large eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste

2 cups of shredded zucchini (pat dry between two towels to remove excess moisture)

½ cup of shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 15x10-inch jelly roll pan with shortening.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the sugars and butter until light, then beat in the eggs and vanilla bean paste.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and pumpkin pie spice.  Add to the creamed mixture, then stir in the zucchini and coconut.

Spread batter evenly into the pan with an off-set spatula.  Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Place the pan on a wire baking rack to cool completely, then frost with the following:

Cinnamon Frosting

3 cups of confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

3 or 4 tablespoons of milk

4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste

Add all ingredients to the bowl of an electric mixer, and beat together until light creamy. 

Note:  To make these bars easier to cut, place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

While reading a passage from an old classic last night, the main character of the book gives a brief description of what summer “is” in her little Southern town.

It got me thinking about what summer “was”, for me, in my Maine town when I was a kid.

Summer was running barefoot through puddles left by a strong rainstorm that briefly darkened my world with ominous clouds.

It was spending my ten cents allowance that I earned wiping dishes every night, on a root beer Popsicle or an orange creamsicle when the ice cream truck rolled through our neighborhood.

It was childhood games like hopscotch and double-dutch and red hot jump rope played at least once a day, every day. Summer meant staying out late at the Trefethren’s house playing One, Two, Three, Red Light until there was no light left to see.

It was climbing in the back of the family Rambler station wagon in our p.j.’s and heading to the drive-in to watch a Disney movie while resting our heads on pillows from home.  Ma would attach the speaker to the car window and light the bug repellent coil and place it on the front dashboard.  The coil worked pretty well, but we still would end up scratching one or two bites all night long and even calamine lotion would offer no relief.

It was joining my mother at her nightly perch to observe life on the corner of Cole Street and Woodlawn Avenue.  We lived in a cape and it had two second story windows on either end of the house.  One was in my brother’s room (where the watch tower was) and the other was in the room I shared with my sister.  Our window opened up to a flat deck which was the porch roof. On those clear and golden summer days, it was a great place to spy on the next door neighbors, or lay in the sun with a good Nancy Drew. 

It was potato salad, watermelon, hot dogs, and whoopie pies.  It was circulating fans that whirred hot air, watching baseball games at the American Legion field down the street, picking cockleburs out of our cat's fur, and drinking in every last dog day of summer, wishing it were June all over again.