GROUNDHOG DAY

Yesterday was "Groundhog" day and just like many people I tuned into my radio while having my breakfast. A critter similar to this one was going to predict the weather. I'm not kidding there are thousands of people who will take time to go to witness this event. One of our close friend and his wife travel to  Gobbler's Knob,  near Pittsburgh  Pennsylvania  every year to experience this event. They spend the night there and  wake up wee hours in the morning to witness this little critters prediction. It's such a big event that organizer's  wear tuxedos and top hats. To think that this whole celebration started with a superstition is amazing. According to the legend if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on "Candlemas"  Holiday (it falls on February 2 in Christian calendar) there will be six weeks of  winter. With the mild weather we're having here I 'm afraid that "Phil's" predictions are not very accurate for us  but from what I read and see is that it has been a harsh winter in Europe so far. 
  Apparently this tradition started here in the United States in 1887 and it has never stopped but received more recognition after Bill Murray's "The Ground Hog Day" ( reporter who relived the day) just like our friends who went to Pennsylvania multiple times and watched that movie multiple times....   From what I understand other States hold similar ceremonies and every State has a big name for these critters. He is called Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania, in New York he is Staten Island Chuck,  in West Virginia  he is French Creek Freddie, in Georgia he is General Beauregard Lee, in Michigan he is Woody the Woodchuck, in  Ohio he is  Buckeye Chuck.  In Ontario Canada  he is known as Wiarton Willie or in Nova Scotia  he is Shubenacadie Sam.  

Honestly, I will not travel anywhere to observe these critters' events.  I have a whole family of woodchucks  living under my tool shed and I call him "Chucky the Pestfamily".  They eat all my vegetables and flowers and procreate so that we're never out of a family of woodchucks in the neighborhood.  I'm considering whether or not to  hold a "shadow watching" meeting behind my shed next year and if so, you're all invited to show up at 5:00 AM behind my shed at the "Holey Hill"

ONE SAUCE TWO WAYS

I saw these fresh blueberries at the local vegetable market. My husband likes them a lot (I'm not very fond of them).  He'll eat them fresh or in pies, cereals and cakes.  I know they're very nutritious,  good for your health and filled with antioxidants etc..  but I still can do without them. Anyway, I made a blueberry syrupy compote to top our pancakes for our Sunday brunch which we both enjoyed. I saved the rest for later as a desert.

Here's recipe #1:

1 Cup blueberries

1/4 Cup water

1/2 Cup sugar

2 tbsp of rum (or lemon juice ) to retain color

Place everything in a medium pan and boil until blueberries are soft  and you're done.

Omelet with Vienna sausage was my favorite

Recipe #2

For  desert, I crumbled corn flakes and placed them on the bottom of the parfait cup. I  topped it with blueberry syrup, blueberry yogurt and more corn flakes. I guess I gave him enough blueberry health for one day. 

CAULIFLOWER SOUP

I'm a soup person. What about you? Maybe you're like me. When the weather is cold outside I love to have a hot bowl of soup with a thick hardy bread slathered with butter.   Yesterday I made this nutritious,  aromatic belly warmer of a soup which my husband rated it 10+ on his scale!!!  (his scale is always favorable on my side). You'll try and let me know where your scale will be ( this soup is very easy to make).

1 Medium head of cauliflower;

2 Tbsp of olive oil;

1 Large clove of garlic whole;

1 Medium onion coarsely chopped;

1/4 Tsp Curry powder;

5-6 Cups of water (add more if needed)

*Salt and Pepper

Chopped parsley and paprika to sprinkle on top

Core the center stem and remove the green outer leaves of  cauliflower.
Place all ingredients in a large pot filling enough water to cover over top of the cauliflower. Boil until all vegetables are fork  tender. Turn of heat. Once its cooled, blend with a hand infuser or blender until smooth. Transfer back to a large pot (if using blender) to warm, sprinkle with paprika and parsley. Close your eyes and savor the smooth taste.

PIGEON PEA SOUP

I first ate pigeon peas at a vegetarian friend's house. She had made rice with pigeon peas. It was delicious.  She is also a dietitian and told me that they were very nutritious and high in protein.  So next time when I went shopping  I bought a bag of  these legumes. They're brownish and  mottled rounds and are very tiny. Once I cooked them in meat stew. It was good but it gave us indigestion afterwords. This time I wanted to try to make soup with them without the discomfort,  so I  used a little cook's trick and boiled them with one tablespoon of baking soda for ten minutes prior to cooking.  After they cooled of  I  painstakingly separated the skins from seeds (ugh..!) and revealed the beautiful yellow peas underneath.  Anyhow,  my efforts paid off and my soup was delicious. Instead of split pea soup it was pigeon pea soup in pork stock. I had prepared the stock from the pork bone that I've saved  from our pork dinner on Sunday.

1 Cup Pigeon peas (see above preparation)
2 Tbsp of olive oil
1 Large onion roughly chopped
1 Large carrot diced
1 Large celery stalk chopped
1 Clove garlic
1 Tsp sage powder
1 Tsp curry powder
5-6 Cups of stock/broth (mine was pork)
1 Cup of shredded pork from the bone 
* salt & pepper to taste

Saute onion with oil in a large pot and stir in all the other ingredients and boil until vegetables softened. Once cool put through the blender until smooth. Return soup to pot and cook for five minutes more. Plate and serve with croutans on top. (I use one day old Italian bread cut into cubes and then fry in melted butter).   It is smooth, silky and a great belly warmer and no discomfort.   Enjoy.

LASAGNA ANYONE???

Last evening I decided to make lasagna for supper. However, I found out that I had used the noodles for another experiment and the box was half empty.  Not enough to make lasagna. Then I said to myself "Self! make something with what you have.." Well, my wheels turned and I came up with individual  pieces of noodles rolled up and cooked just like lasagna. I had eight and a half pieces left in the box , so that's all I used.

                                                       

Lasagna noodles

Bechamel sauce (see last recipe)

2 Cups Marinara sauce (mine was ready made)

1 Clove of garlic chopped

1 Cup of fresh Broccoli Fleurette separated

1/2 Cup Mozzarella Cheese cut into strips 

Boil lasagna noodles until half cooked and leave them in the hot water in the pot. At this stage we want to keep them semi firm.  Make Bechamel sauce.Set aside. Blanch broccoli,  strain and saute in chopped garlic. In a bowl mix, cheese, Bechamel sauce and broccoli. 

Carefully remove one noodle at a time from the pot and fill one corner with this mixture and roll.

EASY PEASY TUNA CASSEROLE

 I was thinking of what to make for dinner I remembered my mom's casserole. When we were kids (a very loooong time ago) she made this frequently. I called up mom and asked if she remembered her tuna casserole recipe. After jogging her memory she remembered. She also told me that she made them with fresh peas and carrots (not frozen). As she was trying to remember how she made the biscuits I  told her she needen't to worry about that,  I will be using store bought dough. She laughed and said that she also made them from scratch... I apologized to my mom and told her that I was not as patient as she is. Well,  it is true I'm not known for my patience. You might have gathered by now that I'm also a very practical person. I cook the same way. I usually don't like to follow rules unless they are essential to the result.  My version of cooking  is fast, simple, easy and tasty.  

For the casserole:

2  6 1/2 oz. can of tuna fish in water; drained

2  Cups of frozen peas and carrots, thawed

1/2 cup of water                                                                         

2 tbsp of butter

1 medium size shallot, diced

1/2 package of uncooked pasta (elbows, little shells, etc. )

5-6 Refrigerated biscuits      

                                                         

Saute shallot with butter in a pan. Add peas, carrots and water and cook for 5 minutes. Drain any water and add tuna fish. Set aside.  

Cook pasta according to package directions, drain.

For the Bechamel sauce (white sauce):

1/4 cup of flour

2 tbsp of butter

2 Cups (or more) milk

Melt butter in a pan and add flour while stirring gradually and add the milk. Keep stirring until it reaches a flowy pudding consistency (add salt and pepper to taste).

Mix pasta, vegetables, tuna and Bechamel sauce thoroughly and place it in a oiled oven proof dish. Top with the biscuits and bake it in 350 degrees oven for 20-25 minutes or until the to is golden.

I guess my husband liked it a lot....

QUICK LUNCH

Yesterday was a very cold day.  I postponed my grocery shopping to another day and decided to clean my house instead. After a long strectch of cleaning I felt my stomach grumbling,  reminding me that it was time to have lunch. We usually don't have lunch on Sundays due to having a late brunch. However, working up a sweat and cleaning the house  I realized I needed a break. I opened the fridge and oops! I was out of sandwich fixings. However, I spotted a tub of left over rice, a jug of tomato juice and brie cheese. My lunch menu was formed. I poured the tomato juice in the pot and added the rice with a pad of butter. I buttered opposite sides of my wheat bread and placed a slab of brie cheese in the middle and made grilled cheese sandwich. Once the tomato soup was done I sprinkled it with dried basil. It was a belly warmer for sure. Getting up from the table and going back to house chores was quite difficult.