Friday Favorites
Friday, June 20, 2008, by Leigh Anne
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This week for Friday Favorite I am sharing two of my favorite things about June in Oregon - roses and strawberries.
Portland is the “City of Roses” and famous for its Rose Parade (the 2nd largest floral parade next to Pasadena’s), Rose Queen, the Royal Rosarians and its amazing roses. They are always at their height the first part of June. After a cool, wet spring we are now seeing a little hint of summer and the roses are magnificent.
We have about 35 rose bushes in our garden - my husband will confirm this as he is the one who prunes them each year around President’s Day.
Before I share my Friday Favorite recipe with you I want to share a few of the rose bushes that are blooming in the Wilkes Family Garden this week.
Now onto the strawberries - Oregon is berry heaven. The strawberries are the first of the many berries we will enjoy this summer. Others include raspberries, marionberries, loganberries, blueberries, blackberries and lots more!
This pretty bowl of berries is from our garden. This is what the big, bad, black crow that has taken up residence in our backyard had not eaten!
As pretty as they are in my cute little berry bowl, they were not quite enough for a pie.
Since Jim requested a strawberry pie for Father’s Day I headed down to the corner berry stand and picked up these beauties!
This particular strawberry pie has an added surprise in it - a delicious layer of cream cheese filling! This recipe is from my friend April and since she first brought it to a party at our house several years ago it has become a regularly requested pie around our house.
There are 3 steps to this pie. The crust, the glaze and the filling. I made the crust and the glaze the night before and then put it together Father’s Day morning. It does need to chill for 3 hours so plan ahead.
My pie would have looked prettier if I had strained the glaze. I have also made this pie and just used a jar/container of strawberry glaze from the store and it worked fine.
Strawberry Cream Pie
Graham Cracker Crust:
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs(this is one package of graham crackers)
1/4 cup sugar
6 Tbsp. butter, melted
Combine the above ingredients and press firmly into a 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 375 degrees for 5-8 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Cool.
Sparkling Glaze:
1 cup strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 cup water
red food coloring
Crush 1 cup strawberries. Combine 1/4 cup sugar and cornstarch in small saucepan. Add water and crushed strawberries. Cook and stir over medium heat until clear and slightly thickened. Strain through sieve(I skipped this step as I couldn’t find my sieve!) Tint with food color (this turns the glaze from pink to red). Cool.
Creamy filling:
6 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
4 cups whole strawberries
Blend cream cheese and sugar. Stir in vanilla. Fold in whipped cream. Spread evenly in cooled crust. Refrigerate
Place whole strawberries stem side down on top of creamed filling, pressing slightly. Spoon glaze over the berries. Chill for 3 hours.
Popularity: 25% [?]
Categories: Friday Favorites, Recipes
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Friday, June 13, 2008, by Leigh Anne
The baseball team of choice at our house is the Seattle Mariner’s. Well, if you have been following baseball at all lately you know that the Mariner’s aren’t doing too well - in fact they are doing terrible but we still love them! We’ve been attending Mariner’s games up in Seattle at Safeco Field for years .
O.K. - those of you who really know me know that I’m not much of a sport’s fan. In fact, the only games I like to watch are ones my children are playing in. But my boys - all three of them are HUGE sport’s fans and I mean HUGE!
I do agree to go along to the Mariner’s games once or twice a year, as long as I can take a book, - yes, I read at baseball games! I mainly agree to go because I get to go to the beautiful city of Seattle, eat Fish ‘n Chips on the pier, visit Pike Street Market and I get to eat Mariner’s Fries!
I go to baseball games for the food and for a baseball stadium Safeco Field has pretty good food. One of the first things you smell when you enter Safeco Field is the amazing aroma of garlic fries. They are so good and so garlicky!
This week’s Friday Favorite is my version of Mariner’s Fries. I made them on Memorial Day along with Oprah’s Favorite Turkey Burgers (they are so yummy!!) I made my own fries but you could easily just use frozen french fries too.
The first time I made these I didn’t put the garlic and parsley topping on all the fries thinking one of the girls might not like it, but I was wrong. They loved them and I ended up adding the reserved fries in with the rest. In fact when Cali saw me writing this blog post she said - “You need to make those again!”
Oven Roasted Fries
Non stick vegetable oil spray
2 pounds unpeeled russet potatoes, scrubbed, cut lengthwise into wedges
2 Tbsp. canola oil
Preheat oven to 450 degrees Spray large rimmed baking sheet with nonstick spray. Toss potato wedges with canola oil in large bowl. Sprinkle potato wedges generously with salt and pepper; spread in single layer on prepared baking sheet. Roast potato wedges until tender and brown in spots, turning occasionally, about 45 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and add Garlic and Parsley Topping
Garlic and Parsley Topping
2 Tbsp. canola oil
1/2 cup garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh Italian Parsley
Heat oil in heavy small skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic, saute until golden and beginning to crisp, about 1 minute. Using slotted spoon, transfer garlic to small bowl, cool. Mix in parsley. Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.
Popularity: 38% [?]
Categories: Friday Favorites, Nourish, Recipes
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Friday, May 2, 2008, by Leigh Anne
“Feeding the people we love”
On Fridays I share a favorite recipe from the previous week’s meal plan - well this week we had no meal plan. After being on vacation last week I have had a hard time getting back into the meal planning/cooking mode.
The only meal I made this week, (grilled cheese and tomato soup doesn’t count) that would have been blog worthy - I burned. Although I am known to set off the smoke detector frequently I don’t usually burn things to where they are inedible very often - in fact, I can only think of one other instance where I burned dinner so badly it couldn’t be eaten, charred might be a better description.
It was the summer we were married, we were living in an apartment and I put dinner in the oven to cook while we were at church. Well, it cooked, and cooked and cooked so much that when we got home from church it literally had turned to rock, hard charcoal!!
So today I will share a “Family Favorite” from a few weeks ago.
Recently I have been having fun making different types of homemade pizza for dinner. When we go out for pizza we usually order the ordinary, boring - cheese, pepperoni or Hawaiian. But lately we have had fun experimenting with different pizza toppings.
A few weeks ago we tried Rosemary Chicken Pizza, a recipe I had found on Sisters Cafe food blog. A fun blog where a group of sisters share favorite recipes.
The combination of lemon grilled chicken, sun-dried tomatoes and rosemary was yummy!
So next time you are in the mood for pizza, don’t reach for the phone - try Rosemary Chicken Pizza instead.
LA Notes: I used my Pampered Chef pizza stone and heated it in the oven before putting the pizza on it. I also sprinkled the pizza stone with cornmeal. During tomato season you can use fresh tomatoes instead of sun-dried if you want, just add a tablespoon or two of olive oil.
1 large lemon grilled chicken breast, thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped (or 1 Tbsp. dried)
1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped (for 1 tsp. dried)
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
1/4 tsp. ground pepper
A batch of your favorite pizza dough
Toss all ingredients together with 1 1/2 cup cheese. Spread mixture over dough and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Bake at 400 for approximately 20 minutes until golden brown. let rest for several minutes then cut into wedges and serve!
Lemon Grilled Chicken
2 chicken breasts
juice of one lemon
1 Tbsp. oil
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. oregano
Marinate chicken overnight or for several hours. Grill. Yum! This is perfect for salads too.
Popularity: 53% [?]
Categories: Friday Favorites, Recipes
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Friday, April 25, 2008, by Leigh Anne
“Feeding the people we love”
This Friday’s Favorite was not on the original meal plan for the week but when I received the phone call that our friends, The Kangs, had just had their SIXTH baby girl and asked if I could take dinner in - I knew what I would make.
This is my favorite meal to make when I am asked to take dinner into someone; first, because it is so good and second, because it makes a TON - and I mean a TON!!
I halved the recipe and had enough to fill two 9 x 13’s!! One for us and one for them.
LA Notes: When precooking the pasta be sure and cook it “al dente” so that it doesn’t get too soft after baking the dish in the oven. Don’t let the amount of cream used scare you too much (this is not a low calorie dish) - remember it makes a TON!
The Kangs loved it and asked for the recipe so I thought I’d share it with all of you.
Just had to share a picture of the darling Kang girls with my two girls - this was taken before Baby Lilly was born but you will know exactly what Lilly looks like when you look at her sisters - DARLING!
I found the recipe on the food blog Pimp My Dinner - remember I halved the recipe!
Ingredients:
12 oz. grilled chicken breast (marinate in olive oil and garlic salt overnight, then grill on barbecue for best flavor)
½ pack thick bacon
48 oz. (3 boxes) penne pasta
2 large red bell peppers- diced
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
½ tsp paprika
Gratinata Sauce:
2 tsp butter
2 tsp chopped garlic
1 cup marsala wine OR 1/3 cup apple juice + 2 tbsp red wine vinegar +enough chicken broth to equal 1 cup
1 tsp dijon or dry mustard
1 tsp salt1 tsp chopped rosemary
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
8 cups heavy cream
Directions:
Sauté garlic in butter in large pan. Add marsala wine, mustard, salt, rosemary, cayenne pepper, and heavy cream.Cook pasta according to directions. Cook bacon. Slice chicken into medium-bite size pieces.Combine sauce, cooked pasta, diced chicken, cooked bacon, bell peppers, parmesan cheese, and paprika and mix thoroughly. Spread in pans. Top with chopped rosemary and mozzarella cheese.
Bake @ 475 for 10 minutes. If frozen, thaw in refrigerator the day of. Cover with foil and bake @ 375 for 1 hour. Remove foil during the last 15 minutes.
Number Of Servings: Yields one 8×8 and two 9×13 casserole dishes.
Preparation Time: More than an hour
Popularity: 53% [?]
Categories: Copycat Recipes, Friday Favorites, Nourish, Recipes
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Friday, April 18, 2008, by Leigh Anne
“Feeding the people we love”
Last week I mentioned that on Sunday evenings I am posting the Wilkes Weekly Dinner Plan on my family blog. I am doing this for purely selfish reasons - it helps me be more organized with my grocery shopping! Instead of making daily trips to the store now I can go at least go every other day! So if you want to see what we are having for dinner each week along with the recipes pay us a visit.
On Fridays I will share with you our favorite recipe from the week. Last week it was Garlic Knots (which would be great served with this week’s favorite) and this week it is Pasta Chicken Salad with Sun-dried Tomatoes, Spinach and Bacon - now that’s a mouthful! I found it at one of my favorite food blogs - My Kitchen Cafe.
This week Jim was out of town for three days so last night I decided to try a recipe that I consider more “girlfriend” or “luncheon” type food although this dish is definitely filling enough for dinner. The girls and I, and sweet high school senior daughter’s “friend” Jameson, enjoyed it. It makes lots and we sent most of the leftovers home with Jameson for the rest of his family and saved one container full for our lunch the next day.
The flavor is wonderful. I loved the combination of the balsamic vinegar, sun-dried tomatoes and bacon. It calls for Cellentani pasta. I don’t think that is what I used though - it was a pasta that starts with a “C” but I can’t remember the name and the box has already gone out with the recycling. You just want to use a small tubular shape pasta.
This dish would be perfect for a luncheon, a potluck or a regular family dinner! It is fast and easy to make and is a great way to use leftover chicken. We will definitely be making this one again.
Pasta Chicken Salad with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Spinach and Bacon
5 strips bacon, fried and chopped into bite-sized pieces
3-4 green onions, chopped
1 lb tube pasta (Cellentani), cooked, drained and cooled to room temperature
1 lb chicken, cooked and shredded (I used 2 chicken breasts)
4 cups fresh spinach leaves, torn into bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (I used oil-packed, if using dry, plump them in hot water before using)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Place the mayonnaise and balsamic vinegar in a small bowl. Whisk well. In a large bowl, combine pasta, bacon, green onions, shredded chicken, spinach leaves and sun-dried tomatoes. Toss lightly. Add about ½ to ¾ of the mayonnaise and vinegar mixture. Toss to combine. Add more dressing if the salad seems dry.
Popularity: 35% [?]
Categories: Friday Favorites, Nourish, Recipes
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