Leftover Puff Pastry

I had a sheet of puff pastry in my freezer left over from making these:

These would be "bite size" cream horns.

Yum. 

But, there was puff pastry calling me from

the frozen tundra and a package of 

mini heirloom tomatoes sitting on my counter. 

I had goat cheese in the fridge from my latest appetizer craze:

That's a dried apricot with a smudge of goat cheese, 

an almond and a drizzle of honey on top. 

Thanks to Sandy at Reluctant Entertainer.

http://reluctantentertainer.com/2011/06/day-13-keeping-fruits-nuts-and-cheeses-on-hand-for-apricot-and-goat-cheese-bites-recipe/

And inspiration struck!

Ina Garten has a recipe for 

Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts

in her Back to Basics book. 

I had a lot of the ingredients on hand, some "almost" ingredients

and a couple, not so much.

But the one thing I have learned over these years

is that recipes are mostly suggestions.

These were lovely.

Dinner!

Oh, and those are the leftover purple asparagus from the other night.

Only the steak is new. 

Not bad for a "clean out your fridge" dinner,

huh?

Love it when that happens :O)

Chicken Avocado Salad

For a girl who worked today, I sure did get in some 

tasty cooking :o)

I didn't go in till noon so I left one 

Ahhhmazing sandwich

on the table for my Honey's lunch.

That's a chicken salad made with avocado.

But the thing is, the avocado isn't diced up in it, 

it's smashed up in it so it actually becomes part of the

dressing. 

I did about 1 tablespoon of mayo and 1 tablespoon of sour cream. 

Turns out sour cream has way less sodium than mayo.

Who knew?

That along with 1 avocado makes enough saucy stuff

to create a creamy base for the salad. 

I threw in some celery and red onion for crunch

and then some cilantro and red pepper. 

Oh, and a hit of lime juice just to keep the avocado from

turning funky colors on me. 

I got this brainstorm from an episode of

Diner, Drive ins and Dives.

Cable has earned its keep once again. 

Michael Had An Idea

And it was good.

It wasn't exactly an original idea. 

He adapted it from some crazy food website.

I can't even begin to describe the premiss of this site.

Or the reason for it's existence.

It appears to be a bunch of guys doing crazy things with food. 

One of their extravaganzas involved

 90 McDonalds breakfast sandwiches. 

It defies description. 

They did create something where they lined

a muffin tin with bacon and filled them 

with I can't remember what. 

I thought there was actually potential there

and did a bit of brainstorming with Michael. 

This is what we came up with

 These are mini muffins lined with one slice of bacon

cut in half and crisscrossed to line the cups. 

Then mini red potatoes that I par-boiled and thinly sliced, 

a bit of shredded cheese and topped with one more

slice of potato. And then all tucked in.

I baked them 450 degrees for 25 minutes. 

They were pretty good.
But then, what isn't good all wrapped up in bacon?

If They Grow It, I Will Eat It

Purple food, that is.

I have had purple carrots, purple peppers,

purple cauliflower, purple potatoes 

and now,

Purple Asparagus! 

I didn't go looking for it.

It was just there waiting for me to find it. 

There is a line from a song I am reminded of;

Sometimes finding you is just like trying to

smell the color nine.

(Chris Rice)

Well, I am here to tell you purple does 

NOT have a flavor. 

All of the aforementioned items taste no different

from their more ordinarily hued counterparts. 

But I will say this, do NOT mash purple potatoes. 

They turn gray and it's just bad. 

Here's what I did with the asparagus

I wrapped the spears with a slice of cheese and then a slice of ham

and had Mike grill them. These are really 

supposed to be wrapped with prosciutto but the sodium

 count on that was off the charts so I went with  

canadian style deli ham slices. 

I served them with a great salad and some

Naan bread warmed on the grill. 

Perfect little hot weather dinner! 

Oh, and I do peal my asparagus.

I don't know if it's been proven but I don't have 

"woody" asparagus when I do. 

So there.

Two Things I Never Knew I Needed

But I'm so happy I have them now.

I'm talking about the funnels.

I have been puttering about in a kitchen for roughly 35 years. 

There are a multitude ways to rig funnel contraptions. 

I have employed them all and I am here to tell you;

nothing beats a real funnel!

That wide mouth one is for canning but it's also

great for getting chunky Sangria into slim mouthed pitchers. 

The skinny funnel was purchased specifically 

to get the used grease from deep frying back into the 

container it came in for disposal but it's

also great for getting the flavored oil I mixed together

back into the bottle it came from. 

I publish this post as a public service. 

Ditch the parchment paper, aluminum foil and old shoe box. 

Save yourself 35 years. 

Make the investment. 

That is all. 

Nicole-Taylor's Pasta & Market

Don't you love it when you stumble upon 

something and then actually take the time to investigate?

We found this little gem while visiting Shanna.

We almost walked by, we weren't looking for pasta :o)

How glad am I that we took the time.

We got to visit with the pasta artist, Rosa.

She was so friendly and fun to talk to. 

Making pasta was her hobby and she has managed to make 

it a business. How much happier would the world be 

if we could all spend our time doing what we love

instead of earning money?

Well, and still earn money...

This shop was so unique. 

Those cases where you would typically see rows

of pastries or cuts of meat, 

here they are filled with different fresh pastas.

It was so hard to decide on just a few. 

Shanna and Shawn get the chipotle pasta, 

Mike and I got one "nest" of 

Chive-Parmesan and one of Roasted Red Pepper pastas. 

We took a little side stop to a Fresh Market and grabbed 

some fresh salsa for the Chipotle pasta, some fresh 

olive oil and parm for the other pastas and then 

bread and wine for each of us. 

Rosa had suggested very simple dressing of the 

pasta so as to let the flavors shine through. 

She was spot on. 

We managed to keep ours cool enough for the ride home. 

I had a cooked chicken breast in the fridge and 

after three minutes of boiling, we had dinner!

Shanna said their dinner was the easiest gourmet

tasting dinner she has ever made. 

I am sad that I can't become a regular customer

but something tells me Rosa may be seeing Shanna 

a bit more than I do......

http://www.nicoletaylorspasta.com/

Our New Hobby

Or, at least what we would like to be

our new hobby.

We are big fans of the Food Network show

Diners, Drive Ins and Dives.

Known as Triple D to those of us in the know.

There has been more that one occasion when

we have had to run out to get us a good greasy food fix

after watching this show.

We have rather passively been trying some of the

DDD's featured on the show.

Hackney's has been on.

Really didn't need to try hard to get there. 

It's already one of my favorite places.

We also made it to 

The Depot American Diner

in Chicago.

http://www.depotamericandiner.com/html/on_tv.html

That was a fun little road trip. 

But it wasn't till we hit Zest in Indianapolis

that we decided to get our picture taken with

Guy's stamp that he leaves behind at all the 

places he visits.

We wished we had paid attention to what specific dishes

Guy had highlighted, it would have made navigating the menu

so much easier. 

Next time!