Meal # 43 Blueberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

To be honest I can't remember if these had chocolate chips in them or I ate some cookies Brittani made with blueberries and chocolate chips. I do remember that they were not MY personal favorite but some people liked them. I had made them for a SYTYCD night with the girls and I was surprised at how many people ate. I just don't know about mixing blueberries and chocolate chips. They both look the same in the cookie and I never know if I am about to eat a blueberry or chocolate chip when I take a bite. Those sneaky foods. Anyway...another blueberry crossed off the list...

Tiffany (wholikesherberriesseperatedfromherchocolatechips)

Meal # 42 Fried Green Tomatoes

This is a great movie as well as a great healthy snack (snicker snicker). A good friend of ours, who has a super green thumb; brought me a sack full of green tomatoes. I have always loved the scene in the movie where the two main characters are in the kitchen and the one blond is trying to make friend green tomatoes and they end up having a food fight. It looked like so much fun! Unfortunately, I did not have a partner for this food venture but I did cook them up for a bunch of our youth from church. They were all eaten and many people tried them for the first time. That shows you that these people are not from the south or they would have long since sank their teeth into this salty, sour, warm goodness. I tried a couple of different batters but like just the plain flour with a little seasoning the best. I but some Parmesan in a couple but the flavor floated away in the oil. I am not sure if I had the batter really down but they tasted good. I think you should dip them in something like ranch to enhance the flavor but these were eaten naked! I think I need to use tomatoes 30 more times. Yikes!

Tiffany from the Whistle Stop Cafe

Meal #41 Stuffed Grape Leaves

Marlena taught me how to stuff grape leaves the other day. Gabriel and I came over and she made us work for our dinner! It was fun and delicious. She did use fake meat because they are PETA people but it still tasted good. Here is how you do it. First you get some canned grape leaves from the international food market in Orlando. Then you very carefully drain the jar and pull out the leaves. Be care not to rip them! Rinse the leaves. Next you cook some rice and some meat (or fake meat) put them together and Lena adds whatever spices suit her. Yes, she is one of those non-measuring types. Here is the hard part. You have to dish a little of the meat and rice mixture into your grape leave then roll and tuck it all together. It should be about the size of your grandpap's thumb. Finally you layer them in a big pot with lemons between each layer. I think this is key. The more lemon the better. Fill the pan up with some water; enough to cover the first layer and boil for about 45 minutes or until you can't wait any longer. Serve hot with some tazhiki sauce.

A couple of weeks later I tried them on my own. I used ground turkey instead of beef and it was just as good. My cooking buddy Bri came over and I found out something she is terrible at! Rolling grape leaves. She was really bad at it. But we managed to get about 30 grape leaves rolled up and cooked by the end of the night. I really like this special dish and think I will make it a tradition. What holiday goes with grape leaves?

Tiff

Meal # 40 Apple Brown Betty

I have this really old cook book from a flea market. It has some lady's notes all in the back and a bunch of McCall's Cookery magazines in it. There are some funny names like this one but here a few other examples: Huntsman's Soup (one of the ingredients is a game meat of your choice??) Melon Snow (melon ice cream I think), Cucumber Boats (IDK about this one) and Floating Island A L'Orange (oranges floating on meringue). I had more than a few chuckles as I browsed the pages looking for something int resting to make. Betty caught my eye and looked delicious. So used my beautiful little blue dishes and whipped her up. As my husband and I ate this dessert we thought Betty was very good. A very simple recipe in which I will share today...

Serves:6
Prep Time: 15 min
Cooking Time: 30
Preheat oven to: 350

1 c. flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar
8 tbs. butter
4 slices of firm bread, crust removed
1 cup raisins (optional)
3 small apples, peeled and sliced

Butter an 8 inch square baking dish. Sift together the 5 dry ingredients. Cut the butter in small pieces and work into the flour mixture, using a fork or pastry blender. Cut the bread into cubes and combine with the raisins and apples.
Sprinkle 1/3 of the flour mixture in the baking dish. Add the apple mixture and top with the remaining flour.
Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes or until crisp. Serve hot or cold with ice cream or whipped cream.

I hope you enjoy Betty as much as we did.

Apple Brown Tiffany

Meal # 39 Steak with Mashed Cauliflower

A friend of mine went on a health kick and it really affected me. We could never swipe a dessert on the way to a movie or grab a doughnut at church. I was afraid her healthy kick would end our friendship. Now, in motivation to save our relationship I asked her what I could cook for her so that I could make her dinner. She said a 6 ounce steak and a vegetable would be great. So I choose cauliflower and marinated the steak in soy sauce. I then wanted to mash the cauliflower but without butter or milk it was...very hard to say the least. I looked like I had just took a knife and stabbed it a couple of times. However, my friend was super grateful and loved the meal so I guess that it was matters. The steak was good and I almost always struggle to get it to be tender. Here is a piece of advice. If you plan to get healthy, go away to some foreign place to do it.

Tiff

Meal # 38 I totally Cheated with this Avocado

My husband is allergic to avocado. But Amanda felt the need to put it on my list 26 times. To bad she isn't my husband because I don't even buy this, this, vegetable? What the heck is an avocado anyway? Fruit? I feel like fruit has a big seed in the middle. So I am guessing it is fruit... Wikipedia says "The name "avocado" also refers to the fruit (technically a large berry that contains a large seed[2]) of the tree, which may be egg-shaped or spherical." I was right! Any who, Brittani went out of town and had a couple that might go bad so she gave them to me. I was going to make this caviar avocado mousse but just made this cheese platter instead. I mean, that makes it sound kinda fancy and it was really just a joke. But I am counting it Amanda. Oh, yes I am. 25 more uses of avocado. A breeze.

Tiff

Meal # 37 Blueberry Lemon Bars

I don't know what is up with all these desserts but I must be trying to refine my baking skills which are pretty low. The best bakers that I know are Jen Strahl and Lisa Gilbert. Whenever I have a cooking dilemma I call one of these two ladies. Take Jen for instance at this party last night I spotted the cake she made a mile away. Fancy but simple, smooth and to die for butter cream frosting which she claims is just butter and powdered sugar. Jen inspires me because she is a teacher, chemist, weather vane and a delicious cook. I mean, I can be that too! Well I can try! Then we have Lisa. Lisa has made some of the most mouthwatering desserts including a bridal shower cake with beautiful flowers on it. I will never forget how everyone loved that cake. Another think I like about Lisa is that she does these taste test on things. I would love to be at her house as she tries out different frosting or ingredients to find what tastes the best. I just hear the other day she made some beer bread and told her son to bring the bread to a neighbor and ask which one she like best. Plus she has 5 kids and is involved in a bunch of stuff at church. When does she even have time to tickle my taste buds? So that brings me back to why I am baking so much. This was a definite winner. With my last lemon bars falling up short, I added a ingredient (Lisa would be proud) to make them a little bit tastier. It totally worked. They were scrumptious. So there might be a chance I can live up to these two ladies and one day we will have our own baking show. I can be the test taster...

For Jacki
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
About 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup (1/2 lb.) butter or margarine
4 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh and rinsed or frozen
Preparation
1. In a food processor or a bowl, whirl or stir flour and 1/2 cup powdered sugar until blended. Add butter and whirl or rub in with your fingers until dough holds together when squeezed. Press evenly over the bottom of a 9- by 13-inch pan.

2. Bake in a 350° regular or convection oven until crust is golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in a bowl with a mixer on medium speed or a whisk, beat eggs to blend with granulated sugar, lemon peel, lemon juice, baking powder, and salt. Stir in blueberries.

4. Pour egg mixture into pan over warm crust. Return to oven and bake until filling no longer jiggles when pan is gently shaken, 20 to 25 minutes. Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar and let cool at least 15 minutes. Serve warm or cool. If making up to 1 day ahead, wrap airtight when cool and chill. Cut into about 2-inch squares and lift out with a spatula


Tiffany

Meal # 36 Sugar Cookies and Lemon Bars

For a Homegroup leader's meeting the other day, I was suppose to bring dessert so I opened up my cookbooks and choose these two items. I wanted them to be kinda fancy as to impress the other church ladies. (haha) But pride cometh before a fall. I really didn't like either of these items. I hate hard cookies and my were very hard. I dressed them up with drizzled chocolate but you would need a cup of coffee for dipping in my opinion. I think they got eaten but it was because they fooled everyone with their decoration. As for the lemon bars I thought they tasted really eggy and that. is. gross. However, I did get one fan as Jamis wanted me to make her another batch. I did but used a different recipe. I think I just did something wrong but I am coming to find out that 50% of all recipes...well...suck. I am a recipe follower to the T. Unless life happens and I am in a rush or don't have the right ingrediants or don't want to do something it tells me. That's only about 45% of the time. Some recipes I don't think people even try out before they type it up! Geez. Do your job people. Or hire me to.

Tiff

Meal # 36 Blueberry Crumble Pie

Yesterday at school I was giving the spelling test and I was about to start calling out the words when I suddenly thought about pie. I really like pie and I have this Sweety Pie book from the library that had the best pie recipes in it. So here I was with 18 kids waiting for me to call out words and I am thinking about making a pie. So to suffice my craving, I called out every word and gave a sentence about....PIE! It was hilarious. The first word was THIS, so I said, THIS. THIS is what I want, some pie. The second word was WENT so I said, WENT. I WENT to get some yummy pie. The third word was SHUT, so I said, SHUT. I would never SHUT a pie in a closet. By the last word we were all cracking up and each one of us was thinking about pie. A great way to give the spelling test. The kids were finishing my sentences with the word pie and I couldn't hold the giggling in a bit longer. I even got some pictures of pies later on. "To help you get through the day Mrs. Forsyth." one little girl told me. So that's my story on pie and here is another great pie. Blueberry! Served with some ice cream and gone by the end of the night. Just like pie should be.

Mrs. Forsyth