Thought some of you might need a place to start, you can change/add herbs, sage, sausages, chestnuts, etc.
1 c. chopped onion
1 c. chopped celery
1 cube butter
melt butter in sauté pan, add above chopped ingredients and sauté a minute until onions get transparent
1 box herbed bread cubes -put in large bowl, pour sautéed ingredients over bread cubes
season with:
approx. 3/4 c. chicken broth
1/4 c. chopped parsley
lots of salt and pepper
Enough for 12 lb. turkey
Family holiday gatherings, the smells of Christmas dinner, and the rich, luxurious taste of eggnogs are high on my list of favorite childhood memories. I attribute the peacefulness of the gatherings to eggnog which was always homemade and served hot, Uncle Bob never slugged Uncle Burney although there could be some loud discussions in by the tree. My daughter was visiting this Christmas and was thirsting for this beverage which we tried to find in our local stores, but the whole valley was “out of eggnog” due to high demand! I realized that we had never written down this recipe and after looking though old cookbooks, searching on the web, I came up empty handed. I called my sister, we struggled to remember but only came up with a guess, I decided to do the best I could, as I proceeded, the smells stimulated all the memories and low and behold, “The Eggnog”!
I offer it to you with this note of warning. Upon awakening this morning, I was given this question by my confused sweetheart, “ Why are there black panties draped across the bananas?”
1 egg
1 tablespoon sugar
¾ cup milk
Fresh grated nutmeg
Spirits such as Whiskey or Brandy
Plan on 1 egg per serving. Separate whites and yolks, beat sugar and some nutmeg into yolks, whip egg whites into peaks. Gently add yolk mixture to whipped whites. Heat milk to simmering. Fill cup ½ full of egg mixture, pour in hot milk to fill cup, add spirits to taste, top with a dash of nutmeg.
Our bell pepper plants only made one large pepper this summer, so we had to do something special with it. This is what Jesse came up with. Delicious. 
Measurements depend on how much you want to make, completely flexible.
Tomatillo salsa
7 tomatillos
3 Serranos
2 Jalapenos
2 cloves garlic (roughly chopped)
¼ cup white vinegar
salt (to taste)
1 ½ cups water
Cut tomatillos into quarters. Cut peppers into quarters length-wise. Simmer all ingredients in a saucepan until the bright green of the peppers begins to dull and the tomatillos have softened enough that a fork easily passes through their skin. When cool enough, place all in blender and blend to desired consistency.
Green bell pepper rings
eggs
garlic
Serrano pepper (if you like spicy food)
grape seed oil (or other vegetable oil)
Cut the bell pepper in to rings, 1 to 1 ½ inches wide. Remove the seeds, leaving the rings hollow. Mince the garlic, Serrano and some of the left over bell pepper for toppings.
Heat oil in a cast iron frying pan on low heat; use enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan in a generous layer. Place pepper rings into the pan and break an egg into each ring. In the same pan, off to one side, sauté the minced toppings. Cover pan with a lid. Cook until the whites of the eggs are solid. Occasionally stir the toppings, but do not move the pepper rings until they are done.
Place the pepper rings on a plate and top each with some minced garlic and peppers, sprinkle with salt, and pour the tomatillo salsa over the top (you may want to warm the salsa if it has been in the fridge).
I’ve been wanting to make wheat-free potato gnocchi for years and I finally did it! Turned out to be easier than I expected. I adapted a recipe for normal gnocchi by substituting white spelt flour and used the delicious new potatoes we have been enjoying from local farms.
Measurements are approximate; I had to adjust the amounts as I went to get the dough right.
2 lbs potatoes
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 ½ cup white spelt flour
½ tsp salt
Bake potatoes until they are tender, but not too soft. When they are cool enough, scoop them from their skins and pass them through the fine side of a grater. Add the other ingredients and mix with hands. Adjust until the dough is the right consistency; you may need to add more flour if it is too wet or a little water if it won’t hold together. You want it just sticky enough that you can roll it into snakes, but not too sticky. Do not over mix; no kneading necessary.
On a floured surface, gently roll the dough with your hands into snakes about ¾ inch in diameter. Cut the snakes into 1 inch lengths, then press an indentation into each piece with you finger tip.
At this point, you can freeze any extra gnocchi by spreading it out on a cookie sheet in the freezer. Once frozen you can consolidate into a bag. When you want to cook it, just drop it into boiling water as described below (I did this, but haven’t tried cooking the frozen stuff yet, so not sure how well it works).
To cook the pasta fresh, bring a large pot of water to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and drop the gnocchi in a few at a time. When they float up to the surface the gnocchi are done (this will only take a couple of minutes), take them out and put in the next batch until all are cooked.
I topped them off with fresh pesto from our garden, but you can use whatever sauce you like. Enjoy!
We are in the dog days o
f summer and everything is ripe and ready to eat. It is far too hot to cook indoors and as the evenings are getting cool it is a reminder to spend as much time outdoors as possible because the famous Oregon rain will be here soon.
This meal came out of a long day followed by bad news. I found myself standing with the fridge door open wondering what was inside. I have always loved caprese salad when the tomatoes are ripe and since I can’t leave well enough alone, I riffed on the theme. Feel free to add whatever you have on hand.
Traditional Ingredients:
What we added:
Preparation:
Traditionally the tomatoes are cut into slices like you’d put on a sandwich. We elected to cut them into ‘segments’ (not sure what to call them – see photos). The mozzarella that we had was the large buffalo type – the 2 balls in the container were the size of a decent sized tomato (although any size would do). The cheese was cut the same way as the tomato. These were arranged around the side of the platter leaving a hole in the middle.
In the hole we piled the roasted corn. Then the handful of basil was thrown on. We had some extra mozzarella that didn’t fit with the display below – it was added on top. The sweet pepper was sprinkled around.
Add anything you’ve got ripe in the garden or attracting fruit flies on your counter. Maybe peas, or grilled zucchini, cherry tomatoes, new potatoes, olives, artichoke hearts, green beans? This starts heading toward a salad nicoise but that is my favorite meal on this earth – so I can’t fault you there.
A healthy amount of olive oil was poured over. Sprinkle salt and crack pepper over the top.
The bread was toasted & rubbed down with a raw garlic clove on one side. Drizzle a little olive oil on the bread. The bread is great to soaking up the olive oil and tomato juice collecting on the bottom of the serving plate.
Open the bottle of white wine. If its cheap like ours add a few ice cubes and enjoy!
a sit-down dinner 