Mozzarella, Basil, & Grilled Cherry Tomatoes

Jan and I got a “come on over for dinner” call from our good friends Mary Alice and Bob. We had been working in the yard, and it was the perfect thing to look forward to for the evening. I love spur of the moment get togethers. There is no pressure to put on the perfect party; it is just good friends having a great time together.
 
I picked basil and cherry tomatoes out of my garden for the appetizer I decided to bring. I had purchased a baguette to go with our dinner I had planned for that night, but I still had to send Jan to the store to pick up some fresh mozzarella. I made crostini by slicing the baguette and brushing both sides of the slices with olive oil and sprinkled them with garlic salt. I placed them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and put them into a 425 degree preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes until they were crisp and golden brown. Meanwhile, I put the cherry tomatoes into a grilling basket in a single layer. If you are doing a lot of tomatoes, do more than one batch you because you want them to carmelize, not steam. Grill them over a hot fire until they burst and are blackened on the outside. Don’t worry about the juices leaking onto the fire- what remains of the tomato will be delicious! Slice the mozzarella and place on a platter with tomatoes and whole basil leaves.  Serve with a basket of crostini. 
 
Mary Alice served perfect martinis and made a wonderful pork tenderloin dinner. After dinner, we discussed what were our biggest “nigglies”. Nigglies are, you know, those things that are really of no importance, but still really bug you. Just be careful that your niggly isn’t something that the person sitting next to you does all the time! Or worse yet, that their niggly is something you do all the time. Oh well, when it comes to friends, the nigglies just aren’t nigglies anymore. We had such a great time!

It’s a warm summer evening here in Oregon, and there is nothing better for dinner on these nights than some fresh grilled vegetables! Here’s another recipe submission from last year’s food blogger contest from Laura at Real Mom Kitchen. It’s simple, yet delicious. And it’s what I will be munching on tonight for dinner…along with some grilled chicken! You can see Laura’s original recipe on her own blog as well…check it out! 

Ingredients:

2 medium sized zucchini
1/4 cup Saucy Mama Parmesan Garlic Marinade
Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Wash zucchini. Then cut in half lengthwise and crosswise. Marinade zucchini in Saucy Mama Parmesan Garlic Marinade for 2 hours. You can do it for less if desired, but the longer the better. Grill on outdoor grill approximately 5 minutes on each side until browned. Serve sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

The other day while I was roaming about the wonderful world of Twitter, I came across a post asking what my favorite green salad was. I thought it would be an easy question to answer, but not so much, because I realized I love all salads! If I had to narrow it down though, I really do enjoy salads with an Asian twist. Lately I have been using Saucy Mama’s Sesame Ginger Dressing on everything- chicken, pork, and yes, even salads (imagine that!). That dressing can spice up any simple salad; last week I just drizzled some over sliced baby cucumbers and sweet grape tomatoes…delicious!

Anyways, I looked through our recipe submissions from last year’s food blogger contest to see if there were some other recipes using the Sesame Ginger Dressing, and voila! I found another simple, easy, and healthy recipe from Em at Kitchen M. Check it out below, and make sure to visit Em’s site also!

Ingredients:

1 lb pork loin, sliced paper thin
1/2 medium onion, sliced paper thin*
1 bag spring mix salad lettuce
Saucy Mama’s ® Sesame Ginger Dressing
Cracked pepper to taste

Directions:

Fill a small bowl with cold water, soak sliced onions and set a side.

In a medium sized pot, bring water to boil, and quickly cook the sliced pork (it will only take a minute). Turn off the heat, drain water and rinse it with cold water.

Drain water from the onion bowl.

Assemble salad lettuce, onions and pork on serving plate(s). Drizzle dressing and sprinkle cracked pepper on top to finish. 

*You can substitute the yellow onion with red onion.

The 4^th of July just kind of snuck up on me. I got back from New York and the Fancy Food show on the 1^st and had not planned a thing. Mike and Chris had gone camping with their families at the coast, so Jan and I were on our own. We quickly found others that had no family around for the holiday, and all of a sudden, there was a party at our house!

Anyways, this salad is perfect and light for summer. Sometimes, we even eat it as a main dish. Plus, it’s easy. If you are really pressed for time, you can simply substitute the bread with large croutons. To fill up the menu, our other guests brought some delicious stuff, and we were definitely well fed.

My perfect cherry tomatoes

Bread Salad with grilled Cherry Tomatoes

 Ingredients:

• 8 oz loaf Italian bread, cubed
• 2 lbs cherry tomatoes
• 1 lb fresh mozzarella, cubed
• ¾ cup Basil, roughly chopped
• ½ bottle Food and Wine Balsamic Basil Vinaigrette

 Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Place bread cubes on a rimmed baking sheet and spread into a single layer.  Bake until lightly toasted, about 20 to 25 minutes.  Allow to cool.

Place the cherry tomatoes in a large grilling basket that has been sprayed with non stick spray, and grill over hot coals or a gas grill on high until slightly blackened on the outside. Shake the basket to make sure the tomatoes char evenly.  Toss all ingredients together and serve. Quick, easy, and delicious!

Now that the weather has turned colder I am turning to one pan dinners made in the oven. Not only do they bring on a personal warm and cozy feeling, the house also smells great while they are cooking.  Roast chicken is a favorite at our house and the recipe submitted by Megan at www.imperrfections.blogspot.com just fits the bill.  Jan will love it.

And since I’ve been offline for a bit, I think it’s time to shake things up with a giveaway!  Please leave me a comment below telling me about your favorite condiment flavor right now, and I’ll select three people at random who will receive a six-pack sampling of Saucy Mama condiments, including the Chipotle Mustard used in this recipe! Talk to me!

Ingredients:

4 russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 carrots, chopped
1 1/2 onions, cut into large chunks
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp Saucy Mama Chipotle Mustard

1 tsp salt

Fresh ground black pepper (10 grinds)

1 (3 lb) whole chicken, neck and giblets removed
2 Tbsp butter, softened
1/4 C Saucy Mama Chipotle Mustard
1 tsp salt
Fresh ground black pepper (10 grinds)
2 celery stalk, chopped
1 Tbsp butter
splash of white wine (I use Sutter Home Sauvignon Blanc)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix oil, mustard, salt, and pepper from the first list of ingredients in small bowl. Place potatoes, carrots, and onions in a 9×13 baking dish and pour the mustard/oil mixture over vegetables. Toss to make sure everything is coated evenly.

In another small bowl, mix together the butter, mustard, salt and pepper from the second group of ingredients. Thoroughly rinse chicken inside and out, pat dry with paper towels, and use a sharp knife to create a pocket under the skin for the rub. Use 1/2 – 3/4 of the butter/mustard rub underneath the skin of the chicken breast and drumsticks and use the last bit to rub on the top and bottom of the outside of the skin.

Stuff the cavity with 1 Tbsp butter and celery pieces. Place chicken on top of the vegetables in the baking dish and pour a few splashes of wine over all of it.

Bake for 1 1/2 hours or until the chickens internal temperature reaches 180 degrees. Halfway through baking, add a few more splashes of wine. When the chicken is done, remove from the baking pan and set aside on a serving platter. Test the vegetables and if they’re not finished yet, stick back in the oven for 20-30 more minutes while you allow the chicken to rest.
Now serve it all up on a platter and dig in!

Yippee!!  ‘Beyond the Bull’ The Round-Up Centennial Cookbook is finally finished and hot off the presses.  We got the books just in time for Round-up, our annual rodeo here in Pendleton www.pendletonroundup.com and the sales are going great.  We were even able to get Reba McEntire to do our forward.  I and my good friends and fellow cookbook planners Mary Alice and Raphael were able to present Reba with a cookbook at the Oregon State Fair.
We had so much fun meeting her.  She is very charming and just plain gorgeous in person.  If anyone out there would like to order a cookbook they can contact me and I will make sure they get one.  I do believe we really captured the flavor and personality of The Pendleton Round-up.  The price is
$28.95 plus $6.05 shipping and handling.  All the proceeds go to renovating the plaza and entrance to our historic rodeo in time for it’s 100th year.

This is a hugely exciting week for us, because our first major contest is live and underway.  A little less than a month ago, we posted a few Tweets and sent out a few emails asking food bloggers to enter our contest - to test out our new Saucy Mama collection, and to post their recipes online.  Well, the packages went out and most of our 25 fabulous contestants are now working furiously to showcase their cooking skills.

At stake: an Amazon Kindle, Amazon gift cards, some AudioVox under-counter DVD players, plus bragging rights with the winning recipe to appear on Saucy Mama packages!

Make sure to follow our blog, as we’ll be linking to many of these great recipes.  Such as THIS one, from Andrea at www.BellaEats.com …

Don’t forget – if you like the recipes you see and want to re-create them for yourself, Saucy Mama products can be purchased directly through the Barhyte Specialty Foods web site anytime!

Stay tuned (or better yet, sign up for our FeedBurner delivery, so you don’t miss one great recipe) and we’ll share more with you as the contest rolls on!

Happy Days!!

We have to admit that it’s always great to see a recipe in which the author says, “This is one of those recipes where it’s almost insulting how good it is when it was made with so little effort.”  Yet that is exactly the kind of quick, easy and delicious recipe we were looking for when we sent a call out for our Saucy Mama’s Extraordinary Condiment Contest. If you’re looking for a simple and quick side dish for supper tonight, this tangy offering is a fantastic solution.  Thanks to Coconut & Lime for offering up such a beautiful creation.

More to follow later this week!  Enjoy!

Parmesan-Caper Potato Salad

1 1/2 lb red skin potatoes, diced

for the dressing
1/3 cup Saucy Mama Parmesan Garlic Marinade
1/3 cup diced green onion
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan
1 1/2 tablespoons nonpareil capers
salt
pepper

Directions:
In a large pot, boil the potatoes until fork-tender. Drain. Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Drizzle dressing over still slightly warm potatoes, toss to coat.

My good friend Jo Simpson had our monthly Bunco night at her house out in the country last night. Cheryl Doyle, another very good friend and I were co-hostesses.  Jo ordered a Mediterranean Chicken light crust pizza from our local Papa Murphy’s www.papamurphys.com so she could just slip it into the oven after we all arrived.  I made an asparagus salad using Saucy Mama Sesame Ginger Dressing.  For dessert Cheryl brought raspberry sherbet and butter cookies.  It all made for a very tasty very easy meal with no stress and lots of fun.  It was great to sit out on her deck watching the evening colors change on our beautiful Blue Mountains, catching up on each others lives and doing a whole bunch of laughing.

This salad is easy to make and travels well.

Asparagus Orange Salad with Glazed Almonds

Serves 8

1/2 cup whole almonds
3 tablespoons Saucy Mama Sesame Ginger Dressing
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

4 bunches asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces
2 large oranges
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 large avocado cubed
1/3 cup Saucy Mama Sesame Ginger Dressing
2/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves

Place almonds in a heavy skillet set over medium heat.  I use my trusty old cast iron skillet.  Stir until almonds are lightly toasted, about 5 minutes.
Increase heat to medium high and add dressing and soy sauce.  Stir until the liquid has evaporated and the almonds are coated.  About 1 minute.  Transfer the almonds to a cutting board and coarsely chop as soon as they are cool enough to handle.

Cook asparagus in a large pot of rapidly boiling water for about 2 minutes until bright green and just tender.  Immediately plunge the asparagus into ice water to stop the cooking.  Drain well.

Use a sharp knife to remove the peel and pith from the oranges and divide the orange sections removing the membrane.

Toss the asparagus, oranges, onions, avocado and dressing together.

Place into a pretty serving dish and top with cilantro and almonds.

I have been emptying out my kitchen at home to prepare for the big remodel.

Demolition starts today. Jan and Mike are in charge of that. Mike is never happier than when tearing something apart. Now that I think of it the same is true about Chris. They haven’t changed much from when they were five.

Thankfully Jan will keep Mike from going into total house remodel mode. I am now kitchenless for the next two months. I’m thinking lots of crock pot recipes are in my future.

Today I have to bring a salad to a meeting and when I was emptying my cupboards I found way in the back a package of beautiful Italian Pasta labeled Fusilloni 6 Colori that we received in a Christmas basket. I have some terrific Reggiano Parmigiano that I buy from an Italian grocery in Walla Walla, WA., and from my cupboards I have marinated artichoke hearts, Kalamata olives, and sun dried tomatoes. I think I have the makings for a pretty good salad.

Italian Pasta Salad

1 lb pasta such as rotini (if you can find the multi colored it is really pretty for this salad) cooked to tender and drained under cold water

1/2 lb Italian dry salami sliced into 1/8th inch slices and then cut into 1/8th inch strips. (if you can have your meat market slice the salami into the slices it is faster).

1/2 lb Parmigiano Reggiano or other hard Italian Cheese cut into 1/8th inch slices and then into 1/8th X 1/2 inch strips (If I was in a real hurry I would use grated parmesan or for a Greek twist crumbled feta)

13 oz bottle pitted Kalamata Olives (drained) it should say 6.7 oz dry weight on the bottle

8.5 oz jar sun dried julienne cut tomatoes packed in olive oil (drained)

3/4 to 1 bottle Willamette Valley Mustard Balsamic & Basil Vinaigrette

Mix all the ingredients. Serve at room temperature. If you make this salad a day ahead you will probably need to add more vinaigrette because the pasta absorbs so much moisture.