We hope you enjoy your day with family and friends. Our extended family is enjoying a picnic – I’m taking gluten-free Italian pasta salad, fruit, chocolate chip cookies, and lemon glaze cookies.
We are so grateful for the many veterans who have served and those are currently serving in the military. Their self-sacrificing job protects us and makes them heroes.
We are considering adding a reader feature on Fridays! It would be a carnival and give you a chance to share a recipe, photo, kitchen success, story, or whatever food related post you would like. We would really like to know if you, the readers and cooks, are interested in this type of feature! You would link your post here to share with others. We would offer a theme sometimes but most of the time it would be your choice on the type of post. Please vote and let us know how interested you would be in this idea!
I love cookouts! They are often informal and the food is nearly always delicious! We enjoy hosting them a lot in the summer. We grill hotdogs or hamburgers or chicken or steaks and eat on the deck – drinking in the beautiful weather, enjoying the food, and sharing conversation and laughter. Since we are headed into the summer season and have a holiday weekend before us, it’s the perfect time to share a burger and a potato salad recipe. There are so many variations of these American classics and I usually keep mine pretty basic.
CLASSIC BURGER
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1 lb. ground beef
1 egg
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 c. onion, grated
4-6 slices cheese
Combine all ingredients. Shape into 4-6 patties. I make mine fairly thin and push down in the center to help prevent the burger from shrinking too much. Grill to desired doneness. Melt cheese on each patty and serve on a bun with toppings.
(We like bacon, avacado, tomato, lettuce, onions, and sauteeed mushrooms.) Enjoy!
POTATO SALAD
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10 c. red potatoes, diced
4 stalks celery, diced
1/2 c. red onion, chopped
1 Tb. dried dill (or 1/4 c. fresh)
1 c. mayo
1/2 c. plain yogurt
1/4 c. milk
1 Tb. yellow mustard
1 Tb. dijon mustard
Salt & Pepper to taste
Place the diced potates in a pot with cold water. Boil until just tender. Drain and allow to cool. Add celery and red onion, salt & pepper to potatoes. In a separate bowl, mix mayo, yogurt, dill, milk and mustards. Pour dressing over potatoes and carefully stir to combine. Refrigerate until serving - at least an hour to allow flavors to develop. This serves a lot.
Every now and then foodies need a new frontier to explore. Mine, just now, seems to be the up-and-coming world of grains beyond wheat, oats and rice. When I found Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce, I realized I had the perfect roadmap in my hand to begin my exploration.
Good to the Grain delves into the history and uses of flours such as whole-wheat, amaranth, barley, buckwheat, corn, kamut, multigrain, oat, quinoa, rye, spelt, and teff. In this book, each grain has numerous recipes with mouth-watering photos meant to tempt you into branching out beyond your comfort zone and trying some of these lesser-known grains.
Some of the recipes include: wholewheat: gingersnaps, apple graham coffee cake, drop biscuits with strawberries and cream; amaranth: molasses bran muffins, honey hazelnut cookies, flatbread; barley: coconut cookies, barley crepes, maple pecan granola; buckwheat: figgy buckwheat scones, kasha pudding, poppy seed wafers; corn: rhubarb tarts, cornmeal blueberry cookies; kamut: sand cookies, pumpkin pancakes, chocolate babka; multigrain: five-grain cream waffles, spice muffins; oat: granola bars, oatmeal pancakes; quinoa: honeyed crepes, quinoa cookies; rye: apricot boysenberry tarts, soft rye pretzels, maple danish; spelt: currant scones, huckle buckle, focaccia; teff: date nut bread, brown butter scones.
As my family can testify, cookbook after cookbook passes through this house en route to or from the library. This was one of the few books that made it to the shortlist for almost-instant purchase. I now own my own copy, thanks to Mother’s Day and my mom’s generosity. My mom was at my house the first time I made these strawberry-barley scones. Neither of us could stop raving about them, and the cookbook came with the request that I make the scones again soon. Believe me, I will!
STRAWBERRY BARLEY SCONES
(Good to the Grain)
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1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. barley flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
8 Tbsp. cold, unsalted butter
1/2 cup buttermilk (I used regular milk plus 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar)
1 egg
1/2 cup strawberry jam
1 Tbsp. melted butter
1 Tbsp. sugar
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350F. Rub a baking sheet lightly with butter. Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl, pouring back into the bowl any bits of grain or other ingredients that may remain in the sifter.
Cut the butter into 1/2-inch pieces and add them to the dry mixture. Use your hands to rub the butter between your fingers, breaking it into smaller bits. Continue rubbing until the butter is in sizes ranging from rice grains to flattened peas. The more quickly you do this, the more the butter will stay solid, which is important for the success of this recipe.
in a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and egg until thoroughly combined. Scrape the buttermilk and egg into the dry mixture, and mix until barely combined.
Use a pastry scraper or a spatula to transfer the dough onto a well-floured surface. The dough may be too sticky to handle; if it is, dust it with flour and fold it together a few times. Divide the dough into 2 pieces. Flour your hands and pat each piece of dough into a disk about 3/4 inch thick and 7 inches in diameter.
Cover one disk with the jam. Top the spread with the other disk and press down gently so that the dough settles into the jam. Brush the dough lightly with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Use a sharp knife to slice the circle into 8 triangular wedges, like a pie. Carefully place the wedges on the baking sheet, leaving a few inches between them.
Bake the scones for 22 to 26 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through. The scones are ready when their tops are golden brown and some of the jam has bubbled over onto the pan. To keep the scones from sticking to the pan, slide a thin spatula underneath them while they’re still warm and move them to a baking rack. The scones are best eaten warm from the oven or later that same day.
Makes 8.
NOTE: I like to use parchment paper to line my baking sheet as it prevents the jam from making a mess, and it is easy to “unstick” the scones.
As long as I can remember, my mom has baked bread from scratch. It’s wonderful and the house smells amazing when it’s baking. One of my favorite memories growing up was having hot, fresh bread and homemade soup for lunch. We would devour an entire loaf with butter melted on each slice. Her recipe has changed a lot over the years but I asked her to share a basic recipe with her notes here at The Cooks Next Door.
MOM’S HONEY WHOLE WHEAT BREAD RECIPE
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2 pkgs. active dry yeast (or 4 tsp. bulk active dry yeast)
1/2 c. warm water (105-115)
1//3 c. honey
1T. salt
1/4 c. oil, butter, or shortening
3 c. unbleached all-purpose or bread flour
3-4 c. whole wheat flour
Dissolve yeast in 1/2 c. warm water in large mixing bowl. Stir in honey, salt, oil, rest of water and the white flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough whole wheat flour to make dough easy to handle.
Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead about 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Place in a large greased bowl; turn greased side of dough up. Cover with a lightweight cloth (tea towel); let rise in a warm place until double’ about and hour. (Dough is ready if an indentation remains when touched.)
Punch down dough; divide in half. Flatten each half with hands into a rectangle (9×12). Roll dough tightly starting at the 9 inch side. Pinch edge firmly to seal; fold ends under.
Place loaves seam sides down in 2 greased loaf pans, 9x5x3 or 81/2×41/2×21/2 inches. Cover again and let rise until double, about 1 hour.
Heat oven to 375. Place loaves are deep golden brown and sound hollow when tapped, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from pans; cool on wire rack.
Mom’s notes: Bread dough is pretty forgiving. You can easily adjust the amount of honey or oil according to diet needs and end up with a good product. I have made this completely by hand.
After adding the white flour to the liquids, beat with a sturdy wooden spoon for about 2 minutes, until the batter slips off the spoon in a sheet, sort of. Then add the whole wheat flour a cup at a time and beat in until the dough is easy to handle for kneading. When you knead, you will work in more of the whole wheat flour as you keep the dough from sticking to the kneading surface. Making the bread without equipment to mix or knead will build your muscles and get your heart rate up–good aerobics. 
A note about whole wheat flour: Use the freshest whole wheat flour you can. The oils in whole wheat begin to deteriorate (get rancid) when the grain is ground. Whole wheat should be stored in the refrigerator (or freezer for a longer period of time). If you have a grain mill, you can grind a mixture of several grains (millet, barley, rice, quinoa, kamut, groats, etc.) having the majority of the grain being wheat (for the gluten). This will produce a multigrain bread. Also if you prefer to use all whole wheat or multigrain to improve the nutritional quality of the bread, add about 1/3 c. gluten for some of the flour. Gluten is a necessary protein for the texture of the bread. The initial beating of the dough and the kneading both help to activate the gluten.
This bread freezes well and the batch can easily be doubled. It’s an even better workout!
Lettuce is definitely coming up in gardens and very seasonal right now. I often use mixed greens for salad and sandwiches but I really enjoy other lettuces, too. Today, I have a wedge salad and a romaine salad. Both of these recipes are easy and yet fancy enough for a nice dinner. As a side note: the tomatoes are still looking a little puny.
I’m not generally a fan of iceberg lettuce but this recipe showcases this crisp lettuce with a wonderful blue cheese dressing. This would be delicous with a little bacon!
WEDGE SALAD
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Dressing:
1/3 c. crumbled blue cheese
2 Tb. c. plain yogurt
3 Tb. buttermilk
1/4 c. mayonnaise
2 Tb. red wine vinegar
2 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp. white sugar
1 small clove garlic, minced
ground black pepper
Salad:
1/2 head iceberg lettuce, cut into 4 wedges
1 tomato, diced
1/4 c. red onion, small diced
crumbled blue cheese
Combine blue cheese, yogurt, buttermilk, mayonnaise, vinegar, olive oil, sugar, garlic, and pepper in a bowl; whisk together; chill until serving.
Build the salad by placing 1 lettuce wedge on each of 4 plates. Drizzle equal amounts of dressing over each wedge. Scatter tomatoes, onion, and blue cheese over each salad. Serves 4.
This dressing is fresh and delicious and really enhances the romaine lettuce. The recipe is adapted from Rachael Ray.
ROMAINE SALAD w/LEMON CHIVE DRESSING
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1/2 a lemon, juiced
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
Pinch sugar, honey, or agave nectar
10 blades chives, chopped or snipped
1/3-1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil (depending on how much juice the lemon has)
Salt and pepper
2 hearts romaine lettuce
1 c. grape tomatoes, halved or any other tomato, diced
Whisk lemon juice, mustard, and sugar together in a bowl. Add chives and whisk in oil in a slow stream. Season dressing with salt and pepper.
Quarter each heart of romaine lengthwise. Trim core at ends. Place 2 quarters on each salad plate. They’re served whole, covered with dressing. Halve a few grape tomatoes and place at plates’ edge for garnish. Drizzle salads liberally with vinaigrette and serve. Serves 4.
I was contemplating what to share with you for this edition of weekend fare and remembered that I had some lovely salmon fillets in the freezer. We haven’t shared much in the way of seafood here. Honestly, my family doesn’t eat enough fish. It’s so good for you, it’s a quick meal, and it’s delicious but it’s one of those proteins I don’t think to make very often.
This beautiful salmon was very red – it’s wild caught alaskan salmon. I was a bit disappointed that I overbaked it a little so it wasn’t as moist as I would have liked but we really liked the glaze on these fillets. I served the salmon with roasted potatoes and almond green beans which we really enjoyed!
4 (6 ounce) salmon fillets
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tb. white wine
1 Tb. honey
1/3 c. balsamic vinegar
4 tsp. Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tb. chopped fresh oregano (I had to use dried – fresh would be SO much better!)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
Coat a small saucepan with non-stick cooking spray. Over medium heat, cook and stir garlic until soft, about 3 minutes. Mix in white wine, honey, balsamic vinegar, mustard, and salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, for about 3 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Divide in half.
Arrange salmon fillets on the greased, foil-lined baking sheet. Brush fillets with half of the balsamic glaze, and sprinkle with oregano.
Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 14 minutes, or until flesh flakes easily with a fork. Brush fillets with remaining glaze, and season with salt and pepper. Use a spatula to transfer fillets to serving platter, leaving the skin behind on the foil.
Don’t we all love picnics! There are many occasions that come to mind when I think back over the picnics I have enjoyed: the hobo sacks on a stick my mother packed for us as children, the doll tea parties under the lilac bush in spring, eating al fresco beside the Nile River, sitting on the sidewalk in the middle of Paris eating bread and cheese, and celebrating my sister’s birthday every year with tea and cake on the lawn of our local Art Museum.
Picnics by Hilary Heminway and Alex Heminway is just the book to inspire you to creating some memorable picnics of your own this summer. The book is filled with beautiful photographs, picnic quotes, and delicious recipes.
Some of the picnic ideas include: sunrise picnic, at your desk, lakeside picnic, in bed, snowshoe picnic, wilderness backpack, riverside barbecue, african picnic, high tea, children’s picnics, and rain date.
Alongside of menu ideas, pictures, and how-to’s, there are many delicious recipes, including: Wheat Montana 7-Grain Cookies, Biker Bread Salad, Curried Egg Salad Sandwiches, Stuffed Italian Chicken with Oven-Roasted Tomatoes, and Chocolate Scat Cookies (which have been a favorite gluten-free recipe for some time in our house).
While this book may not have enough practical recipes to make it a must-have for your cookbook shelf, it is a must-request from your library for summer perusal.
I decided to try the Tanzania Tomato Soup on our first picnic of the season. It was easy to put together and many of the ingredients are easy to keep on hand.
TANZANIA TOMATO SOUP
(Picnics)
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4 cups V8 juice
2 cups tomato juice
juice of one lemon
1 tsp. lemon zest
3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. Tabasco sauce
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1/3 cup chopped fresh mint
2 cups plain yogurt
In a food processor, combine all ingredients and blend well. Serve chilled.
This past week marked the opening of my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). I was so excited to go and pick up the first produce of the season. Here’s what we received: one bag of mixed greens, one bunch of asparagus, kale, two heads of lettuce, radishes, eggs, chives, tarragon, spearmint and peppermint.
And here is what we’ve done with this delicious food:
asparagus — steamed with butter, salt and pepper
radishes — although I wanted to make this salad again, I’ve just been putting these into regular green salads
mixed greens and lettuce — salad; the first salad I made needed to be quick and consisted of the greens plus snipped chives, including the chive blossoms. Salad dressing also needed to be quick and so I used cream, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. A perfect combination!
chives — the chives have appeared in salads and our egg supper, and I’m thinking of trying to dry some to use in the winter. I’ll have to let you know how that goes.
tarragon — I’m envisioning turning this into a lemon-tarragon sauce for chicken
kale — I browned a bit of garlic in some olive oil and then threw in the washed and chopped kale to cook until it was tender. Balsamic vinegar finished it off as a delicious side dish to our pasta dinner.
eggs — we often have eggs on Saturday night since I plan for a large meal on Sunday. Most frequently I mix five eggs with 3/4 cup milk and 3/4 cup grated cheese, salt and pepper and bake it in a greased pie plate. This week I added snipped chives.
spearmint and peppermint — my favorite way to enjoy these herbs is in my tea. I drink Trader Joe’s Irish Breakfast Decaf and add a sprig of mint to my mug when brewing the tea (or make a large pot with several teabags and a few sprigs of mint). I drink this hot with milk, but it’s also excellent chilled. Some of the mint found its way into the cucumber and sugar snap pea salad that I made again this week.
We enjoyed a delicious meal for Mother’s Day, cooked for us by my sister. She made hamburgers on the grill with various toppings such as lettuce, tomato, onion, blue cheese, avocado, and bacon. Side dishes included oven fries, rice salad, and Israeli salad.
Of course the most exciting thing happening in our kitchen right now is the presence of our baby girl — Laura Elizabeth — who arrived on April 27th.
And, since Laura’s arrival, our family has been enjoying the cooking of many friends who have kindly provided meals for us. We’ve all enjoyed the variety and I think the kids are sorry to see the meals coming to an end.
Snow peas are such a delicious, healthy, and wonderful vegetable. They are great raw on a veggie tray with or without dip and they are an excellent addition to stir-frys. Today I’m sharing three recipes for crunchy, yummy snow peas. They are all adapted from foodnetwork.com and they are all vegetarian and gluten-free. We really liked all three! Hope you enjoy!
SNOW PEA & AVOCADO SLAW
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10 oz. snow peas
2 ribs celery
1/3 c. toasted walnuts, roughly chopped
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 Avocado, thinly sliced
1 Tb. fresh chives, chopped
Thinly slice snow peas lengthwise. Toss with thinly sliced celery ribs (add
the leaves, too) and toasted walnuts. Dress with olive oil and lemon juice to taste (I used equal parts of both), and
season with salt and pepper. Gently stir in a thinly sliced avocado and minced chives.
ORZO W/MUSHROOM, SNOW PEAS, & PINE NUTS
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2 tsp. olive oil
2 shallots minced
1 lb. assorted fresh mushrooms, sliced thinly
1/2 lb. of fresh snow peas, julienned
3/4 c. toasted pine nuts
1 lb. orzo, cooked according to box directions
1 Tb. of butter, optional
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat olive oil in a saute pan. Add shallots and saute. Add mushrooms and saute until brown. Add snow peas and cook for 1 minute. Add pine nuts. Add mixture to the orzo. Butter may be added, to taste. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
GLAZED SNOW PEAS
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2 Tb. butter
8 oz. snow peas
1 bunch scallions, chopped
pinch of sugar
1/4 c. water
salt to taste
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add snow peas, chopped scallions, a pinch of sugar and water. Cover and simmer 2 minutes, then uncover and boil until the water evaporates, 2 more minutes. Season with salt to taste.
