Starring Juicy Summer Tomatoes!

Avocado BLT's and Charred Summer Salad

It's that time of year when nothing beats sinking your teeth into a ripe juicy tomato!  Thus was the inspiration for dinner last night.  We wanted something simple that would take advantage of our fresh tomatoes and the flavors of the season. 

It doesnt get much easier than a BLT!  I stacked whole grain bread with Australian bacon (which is VERY different from American bacon), fresh tomatoes, ripe avocado, cob lettuce, and spread each with a mixture of mayo/dijon mustard.  I like to add salt and pepper on top of the tomato layer.  The combination of crisp, smoky bacon and fresh, juicy tomato accented by the creamy avocado is unbeatable!

 

Yummmmmm.....

 

It was a bit too hot to be grilling outside so I charred up some eggplant, red pepper, and onion on the stovetop grill.  Steam and peel the pepper for that sweet roasted flavor.

I chopped the veggies, served over spring mix, and threw in a few quartered cherry tomatoes and sliced fresh basil from my recently acquired herb garden.

Dress this salad with a nice homeade herb vinaigrette and it's the perfect side to go with your BLT's!

A WARM welcome back to Melbourne!

After many flights over the holiday season - Australia to Chicago to South Carolina to Richmond to Chicago to Grand Cayman to Chicago and back to Australia (phew!), my feet are firmly planted on the ground here in sunny, HOT Melbourne!

We left 10 inches of snow in Chicago to land to a balmy 43 degrees C (108 degrees F), typical early summer weather right?  Probably not the best weather to start an herb garden... but I can be quite stubborn when I have my mind set on something!  Since moving into this house and finally having a backyard, I've been dying to have some fresh herbs, but knew it didn't make sense before our trip home.  After a bit of sweat and tears, I made it happen... and don't worry, it really cooled off today at 34 degrees C (94 degrees F)!

Since we don't own the property, I thought it best restrict my planting to pots... this is just a start, looking forward to picking up the tomato plants that I ordered today!

Can't wait to start using my new fresh herbs!  So far I have basil, oregano, thai chilis (not an herb, yes I know), thyme, tarragon, more chilis!, sage, parsely and chives!  Stay tuned!

Happy New Year!

If anyone has noticed, I have been on a hiatus from blogging.  We just got back from an amazing trip ringing in the New Year on Seven Mile Beach in the Cayman Islands thanks to the hospitality of our good friends!  Not only is Grand Cayman incredibly beautifuly, but it is also known as the 'culinary capital of the caribbean.'  Does it get any better?

After dining at a few amazing restaurants, we know exactly where the reputation comes from!  The fresh seafood was to die for and every restaurant that we had the pleasure of dining at had it's own unique style and take on the Caribbean fare.

We started off the trip with a New Year's Eve celebration at the Ritz.  After throwing off our shoes before a champagne toast, we started our culinary journey - conch ceviche, goat cheese caprese salad, tuna sashimi, shrimp and crab claw cocktail, lobster with sweet corn mash, grilled wahoo, duck fois gras, venison over red wine orzo risotto, beef tenderloin... to name a few.  All of the dishes were small plates which we loved so we got to try nearly everything!  After polishing off a great bottle of wine, we hit the dessert and cheese tables.  Good thing we had a few hours of dancing in the sand to work off some of that dinner!  It was expensive, but well worth it!  We were having a bit too much fun to worry about pictures, but here are few shots of the buffet stations in the background.

 

This meal was incredible, but the the rest of trip did not disappoint!  If anyone is heading down there anytime soon, some of our favorite were Calypso Grille, The Lobster Pot, Agua, and you can't go wrong with the award winning restaurants at the Ritz!

 Looking forward to an exciting 2010!

Happy New Year!

Good things come to those that wait

And that's exactly what I did... for what felt like ALL DAY!  But it was well worth it!  There was a huge crowd to feed so I decided to contribute a very large Christmas ham.

There are many things to love about a Christmas ham; to name a few - it tastes great, doesn’t require many ingredients or much attention while cooking, and looks absolutely picturesque on your table.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Rinse your ham and pat dry.  Place on a rack in roasting pan. Insert meat thermometer reaching thickest point without touching the bone. Cover with foil.

Cooking times vary greatly depending on size so use a meat thermometer and cook until you have reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees F. You can take the ham out of the oven at 155 degrees F and it will continue to cook.

My future mother-in-law gave me a great meat thermometer as an early Christmas gift.  I highly recommend it!  It's a remote thermometer with a clip-on portable receiver to alert you when the meat is done.  Very convenient if you are trying get other things done.

You can score the ham before starting to cook or up until you add the glaze, about 30 minutes before it is done.  To score, slice ham through the fat layer only diagonally about an inch apart. Slice diagonally in the opposite direction creating diamonds and stud each one with a whole clove.

I made a glaze by reducing maple syrup, brown sugar, whole grain mustard, ground cinnamon, and grated nutmeg.

When the ham has about 30 minutes left, glaze and leave uncovered for the remainder of the cooking time.

When ham has reached 155 degrees F, remove from oven and let stand for 30 min to 2 hours before serving.

Do this ham justice and garnish a nice platter for serving.

 
Leftovers make great ham sandwiches or chop up and throw in an omelette for breakfast!

On the 12th Day of Christmas, the Recipe Diva made for me...

Crab & Asparagus Puffs

Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday!  It's been entertaining around here, gas lines accidentally turned off, no heat or hot water... etc.  Good times!  Everything is all fixed up now and the Christmas ham has about 15 degrees to go!  Can't wait to dig in!

Because I knew we'd be grazing on appetizers and treats all day, I wanted to make a nice Christmas breakfast but keep it light.  I saw a recipe a while back for some cheesy crab and artichoke breakfast puffs.  I decided to do my own spin - less cheese, more crab, asparagus, and few other additions.

Exactly what we needed to start the day!  They were light, fluffy, and the flavors worked perfectly together.  Can't wait to double, triple, or quadruple this recipe for a brunch with friends!

Ingredients

5 beaten eggs

1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

8 oz. cottage cheese

5 oz. crab meat - use the good stuff, it really pays off!

4 spears asparagus

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

S&P

Directions

1. Cook asparagus in boiling water until crisp tender.  Plunge in cold water and thinly slice

2. Combine all ingredients and pour into 6 buttered ramekins.  Bake 30 minute at 350 degrees F until golden. 

Like I said, we wanted to keep it light but these would be great served with hollandaise sauce.  They are very easy but taste quite gourmet.  Perfect for special occasions and entertaining when you want results without investing a lot of time! 

On the 11th Day of Christmas, the Recipe Diva made for me...

Gingerbread Men!

What is more festive than these cute little gingerbread men?!

Knowing that the pantry is pretty empty here and most cooking supplies last forever, I decided to stock up on all the basics.  I knew that I wanted to make a classic recipe like gingerbread men so I used Allrecipes's convenient Ingredient Search to find a recipe based on the ingredients that I did and did not have and found this highly rated recipe for Gingerbread Men.  

They were perfect, soft and flavorful!  I did not even have my usual urge to leave them in the oven too long!  Maybe I've rid myself of the bad habit!  I followed the recipe exactly and here are some tips that I think may be helpful!!

My sister gave me some prep bowls as an early christmas gift and they are GREAT!  You can get all of your ingredients measured out beforehand and whip your recipes up in no time!  None of that mid-step measuring, cleaning, etc.

Make sure to scrape the bowl with a spatula throughout preparation to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.

Flatten dough into a disk, wrap with saran wrap, and store in fridge atleast 4 hours so dough will lose stickiness making it easier to work with when cutting out your gingerbread men.

I purchased a nonstick mat but still found the dough easier to work with when I added a little bit of flour to the mat.  Make sure to flour the rolling pin as well. 

These nonstick cookie sheets are AWESOME!  The cookies just slide right off. 

If you are adding icing, make sure to wait until gingerbread have men have cooled so it doesn't melt and run.

Share with friends and family!

Merry Christmas!