I have enjoyed this blog and handled it differently than my other two blogs.  I kept a distance here, I think knowing, I could not keep it up.  I did not become attached the way I am to the other blogs.

I am thinking of moving some of these posts to Bizzy Bakes and My Sweet and Savory.  I love some of the recipes, I have shared here and don’t want to lose them.  I hope, you will continue to visit me there.  I am going to move Power Foods to My Sweet and Savory.

Thanks for your support and interest in Bookcase Foodie.

To say, “See ya” with a little humor.  I am looking at the sidebar which has a place for recommended tags for this post and I see, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Shannon Donnely, Canada, Roller coaster, rice and sweet.  Perhaps, you understand why my few words have prompted these choices.

I am going to include a few of the photos, they suggest, I use.

Sweet at the height of their career in the mid-1970s. Clockwise from top left: Steve Priest, Brian Connolly, Mick Tucker, and Andy Scott. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sweet Shop (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Hackthorn Shop & Post Office A sign declares “closing down, everything must go” and today (8th May 2008) I’m reliably informed by the lady in the shop is the last day ….. fortuitous timing ! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: The York Sweet Shop Traditional sweet shop on Low Petergate (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We got a brand new, free smoker (the kind you cook in).   We have used it a few times and surprisingly the simple chicken won over the turkey and beef.  There is something to be said about smoking food although, I can only speak for poultry and beef.  The smokiness is two fold.  It makes the food delicious and it fills my house with air that makes one cough. (The smoker is outside but it comes in through the window, which gets closed, very quickly.)

I hate to admit it but I was not really tuned in to my husband.  Our conversation went like this. 

Husband: I need a marinade.

Me: Uh Huh.

H: Would you find a marinade for me?

M: Uh Huh.

H: I want to do this now so it will marinate overnight.

M: OK

H: So, will you get me a marinade?

M: (springing to action) )I remembered seeing one online using balsamic vinegar so I did a search and found the following at CD Kitchen.

Balsamic Smoked Chicken

Ingredients

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 whole chicken

DIRECTIONS:

I found this recipe on the The Lean Green Bean.  It is one of those recipes that you immediately know was put there, just for you.  No ego here….

It has so much of what I like, salmon, spinach, eggs, tomato and feta cheese.  How could I not think, it was just for me?  It is perfect and actually, after making some changes that meet my family’s needs, it was perfect.  If you have a moment go over there and see the original recipe.  I do want to make it that way but I took a shorter route which is what I mean by my family’s needs.

I presented my husband with the plate which is a colorful presentation and he happily was eating.  I wondered out loud, if I should have put the salmon on the bottom or the spinach.  His head popped up and he said, “Did you say salmon?  Is there salmon in this?”  He prodded the vegetables and sure enough, he found the salmon.  He asked, “Why did you hide the salmon?”

Hide the Salmon  (adapted)

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 red pepper, chopped

1/2 an onion, chopped

1 cup frozen spinach

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1 piece of salmon, cooked

3 – 4 eggs

4 slices tomato

1/2 cup Feta cheese

Heat  the olive oil in a large skillet over medium hear. Saute the pepper and onion  for  8 minutes.  Add the spinach (Defrosted) and cook for an additional 3 minutes.

Push the vegetables aside and drop the eggs in the free side of the pan and let them cook to your liking.  I turned ours over but either way is going to be delicious.

I, also put the cooked salmon slice in the pan to heat up.  Yes, I used a very  large skillet.

Now is the creative part but I am not creative so do as follows:

I used a square soup bowl which may work better than a round one.  These are the layers.

Salmon on the bottom

Spinach, onions and bell pepper on top of salmon

Cooked eggs on top of spinach layer

Sliced tomatoes with feta on the very top.

This is a delicious combination.  My husband commented on the many flavors.

Thanks to the Lean Green Bean.

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I haven’t been baking  like I used to.  I do bake when the grandkids come to visit.  Either I make cupcakes for them to frost and decorate or I make cookies.  They like some kind of chocolate cookie, either a chocolate chipper or a real chocolate cookie.  These cookies are filled with that wonderful ingredient and taste outrageously CHOCOLATE.

The parents monitor the amount the kids eat.  If you are a parent who are blessed with living parents, please let the kids indulge a bit with the grandma’s and grandpops or in our case, the Bubbys and Zaidys.  I am good and don’t say a word but these are bonding moments and memories for the little ones and they mean the world to us.

Outrageous Chocolate Cookies   From Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (adapted)

I put up the water for the noodles, cooked them, and went to drain them.  I drained them right into the soapy water.  Klutzy me.

While the pasta was cooking, I made a filling of eggplant, onion and tomatoes from the garden.  I stayed away from seasoning since we were looking for more to the bland side.  As it turned out, the tomato flavor is strong when it is a “real” tomato, just picked and ripe.  I had the filling for the spaghetti pie but no crust.  On another day, I would have very likely cooked more spaghetti but, I was grumpy, tired and hot but not hungry.  I was not in the mood to cook it again and I found a way to blame it on the good husband who wasn’t even in the room.  How do we do that?  Maybe, you don’t.  I did.

Bottom line, my filling became the main course.  We took some leftovers out of the refrigerator.  I had potato salad, Oriental spaghetti salad and a yummy egg salad.  A little bit of this and a little bit of that made for the right meal to break our fast.  That is making the best of what one has.

We had the same kind of happening on Saturday, our Sabbath.  At the last-minute, two more guests joined us for dinner.  I usually cook tons of food for the Sabbath but this week, because of the fast that began Saturday evening as the Sabbath ended, I cut way back and made just enough.  It is truly amazing, whatever food, there was, seemed to expand so that everyone had plenty to eat.  Honestly, I can’t figure it out.

I also had to feed the extra guests before the fast.  Keep in mind, we do not cook food on the Sabbath, so it had to be something ready to eat.  I don’t panic when these things happen but before a fast, I have to admit, I was concerned.  We all had to fill ourselves to get through the next 25  hours with food or drink.  Again, we had enough and I think everyone was full.

I do want to share this eggplant dish with you.  The tomato was the dominant flavor of the dish.

The Dish That Wasn’t

1/2 eggplant cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1 – 2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

1 large tomato, chopped

1/4 cup chopped cheddar

Heat olive oil in large skillet.

Put eggplant and chopped onion in skillet and keep gently mixing them around.  The eggplant browns quickly.

When onion is translucent and eggplant, slightly brown(about 6 minutes), add the chopped tomato and cheddar cheese and cook for an additional 2 minutes until tomato is hot  and cheese is melted.  If  you would like the tomato to really permeate the other ingredients, cook for another then minutes.

You could fill a taco or tortilla with this.  You could use it as a filling in a spaghetti pit.  You could use it in a sandwich.  You could use it as a sauce for rice, pasta or meat.  Feel free to spice it up.  I would have if we weren’t purposely keeping it bland….it really wasn’t.

As you can see, the photo, is not clear.  This is still in the skillet.  I apologize but I think, at least, this gives you an idea of what it looks like.

Poached Soy-Ginger Salmon

I made this recipe, a while ago and improvised my way through it.  When I completed it, I looked for the recipe online.  I had never poached salmon before and wanted to be reassured, I was doing something acceptable.  The truth is, that at the point, it didn’t matter.  We had eaten the salmon and it was delicious.  It seems lighter when it is poached.  It picked up the soy flavor but lightly.  I think, I added a little honey, one teaspoon, but I am not positive.  I know, I would add it, if I made this again.  I like a little sweetness when I use soy.

Years ago (15 ish) the school, I worked for then, bought all the administration, planners.  We got the Franklin Covey planner,  which is quite comprehensive in how you use it and what is included.  We were “requested” to do it their way and someone came to speak to us about how to do that.  My organizations skills went to work and I did it “their” way and it was the best year, for me, organizationally speaking.  I, even, recommend it to someone who wants to organize his/her life and is willing to commit.

I love the school year, when I am pretty sure, what I will be doing at most times of the day.  I know what I can get done before and after school.  My day is organized without my planner, simply because I am employed.  I am comfortable with having a schedule.  I get more accomplished with those guideposts standing straight and tall.

This brings me to the summer, when I don’t live by regular commitments.  Sure, I may have an appointment or lunch with a friend but that does not routinize the day and certainly not the week.  In the mornings, I basically know what I want to do and I do it when it is convenient, rather than when it has to be done.  It is nice for a while but I doubt, I would be happy, doing this throughout the year.

This leads into cooking.  When my children were young, I could not have cooked, as I do today.  I have no idea how the young bloggers with children manage to make some of the fancy dishes, they present on their blogs.  I admire them for being able to accomplish so much.

Chopping and sauteing is time consuming and for me, the me with young kids, I wanted something that took little time, with few steps that was edible.  It did not have to be pretty and it did have to taste good……good not great.  Spaghetti with canned sauce (I am not sure they had bottles of sauce then), no spices, maybe some browned chopped beef was a good meal.  Shepherd’s Pie was another but it was a lot plainer than the one, I make now.  You get the idea.

You may ask, what am I talking about?  I am thinking about tonight’s dinner, Spaghetti Pie.  I made that years ago.  The recipe, I made today is from another blogger’s site.  It is probably different than the one I made years ago.  I remember using cottage cheese, not even knowing what Ricotta was.  For this pie, I did use Ricotta.  Things have changed.

Spaghetti Pie  Adapted from REC(ession)IPES

• 8 ounces gluten-free spaghetti
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with roasted onion
• 1 small onion , chopped
• 1 teaspoon oregano
•  10 ounce  package frozen spinach
• 12 ounce container part skim ricotta
• ½ cup shredded mozzarella
• Black pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put water on to boil. Lightly grease a 10 inch pie plate with olive oil or cooking spray and set aside.

Dice onion. Cook in 1 tablespoon olive oil until onions are just translucent, approx. 5-8 minutes. Add diced tomatoes with their juice, along with oregano.

Thaw spinach, then drain in colander. Place ricotta in bowl and combine with spinach by removing small clump of spinach from colander, squeezing vigorously to remove remaining moisture, and then adding to ricotta. Add a few grinds black pepper and stir to combine.

Cook spaghetti until just al dente, drain and toss in large bowl with one teaspoon olive oil. Whisk eggs with a fork in a small bowl with 1/3 cup shredded parmesan. Toss with spaghetti.

Add spaghetti to prepared pie plate. Shape into crust shape by using fingers to flatten center  and press up the sides of the plate. Add spinach-ricotta mixture to middle of crust. Top with tomato sauce and bake, uncovered, 25 minutes.

Top with shredded mozzarella and remaining shredded parmesan. Bake an additional 5 minutes, until cheese is melted. Remove from oven, let cool 10 minutes, then slice into 8 wedges and serve.

This is l inked to

Allergy Free Wednesdays     Gluten-Free Wednesdays     Cast Party Wednesdays     DJs Sugar Shack   Whatcha Whipped Up Wednesdays?

Real Food Wednesdays

There is a pizza crust to go under the toppings but the fun is in the topping.  I keep, mini pizza crusts, in my freezer, for the times, we want pizza for dinner.  The two of us eat two each with a heaping bowl of salad.  What I started doing, was making two pizzas with one type of topping and a the other two with something different.  It makes the meal more interesting and enjoyable.

Tonight, we had a more traditional pizza with tomato sauce,broccoli, onions, Parmesan and mozzarella cheese.   The other pizza had carrots, radish, spinach with ricotta, Parmesan and Cheddar.  This is a nice change from pizza as we knew it, a few years ago.

For two mini pizzas……

Pizza 1

1/4 cup Marinara sauce for each of the two pizzas

1 teaspoon chopped onion for each

sprinkle of Parmesan for each

1/4 cup chopped broccoli for each

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

Lay out the mini crusts.  Pour marinara sauce on two of the crusts.  Cover with vegetables and cheese.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and bake completed pizza for 10 – 12 minutes or until cheese is browned.

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Pizza 2

1/3 cup Ricotta cheese for each of the two

1/4 cup thin sliced carrots for each

1/4 cup spinach

1/8 cup yellow tomato

few thin sliced pieces of radish

1 teaspoon of Parmesan

1/4 cup of cheddar cheese

Cover crust with Ricotta leaving a small space at the edge that is plain crust.

Spoon spinach on Ricotta.  Top with carrots, tomato and radish.

Sprinkle Parmesan and grated cheddar cheese.  I grate right onto the pizza.

Bake in the same manner as above.

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We had our crockpot  overnight with what would have been a delicious stew type meal, called chulent.  It had beef, sausage, potatoes, kasha, brown rice, a delicious sauce and beans.  It would have been a  warming and filling for lunch on the Shabbos (Sabbath) but —- dum de dum dum.  

My husband got to the kitchen first and saw that the clock was dark.  Then, he noted the microwave was also dark.  Then, he quietly panicked and touched the crockpot which was cool.  He poked his finger into the mixture in the pot and it was cold, stone cold.  There went lunch.

Since, we do not cook on Shabbos, I put together a lunch of leftovers which did not compare to the chulent.  They were cold and while tasty, they just did not fulfill hubby’s longing for a bubbling stew.

After Shabbos……… The conversation went like this.  I am not kidding.

Me: You must be hungry, not having your chulent today.

Hubby:  I am starving.

Me:  I know.  What would you like.  Name it and I will make it.

H:  I don’t care.  Anything will do.  I am starving.

Me:  No, I want you to tell me and I will make it.

H: Anything.  I am starving.

Me: Tell me.

H:  OK, pancakes.  I am starving.

Me: Great.  You got them.

He went on  his way and I went to the kitchen to make pancakes but I did not want pancakes.  Sweet was not for me, tonight, only savory.  How could I not make the pancakes?

Continued conversation:

Me: Do you really want pancakes?

H: I don’t care. I am starving.

Me: How do potatoes sounds?

H: Fine, I don’t really like pancakes.

me: Huh?  OK, potatoes it is.

I  did make the potatoes, nice and creamy and loaded with cheddar cheese.  I did this in the microwave to cut the time.  After all, the poor man was starving or have you missed that point?

Creamy Cheddar Potatoes

Ingredients:

3 large Yukon Gold potatoes (peeled and diced)

1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

1/4 cup low fat sour cream

1/2 cup low fat milk

salt to taste

Method:

In a medium sized mixing bowl, place potato pieces and water to cover.  Cook on high for 6 minutes or until potatoes are completely cooked.

Drain potatoes and place back in bowl.  

Add milk and sour cream to potatoes and mix well.

Top with cheddar and return to microwave.  Microwave for 2 minutes.

Remove and mix well so that potatoes are coated with the cheese and cream.

This is pure comfort food.   The man is not starving.

See Ya in the Gumbo    Mop it Up Mondays        Made From Scratch Monday      Inspire Me Monday         Veggie Mama’s Meatless Monday     Mealtime Monday    My Meatless Monday        Marvelous Mondays

I wish my one individual daikon was as clean looking and graceful as the above.

Roasted Daikon Radish

1 daikon radish

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Peel the daikon radish and then slice into several pieces.  They pieces should be about 1/4 inch thick.

Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.  Spray with olive oil.

Place slices of daikon on cookie sheet.  Bale at 450 degrees for 35 minutes.  The daikon  should be browning.  If it is not, leave in longer until it is cooked and brown.

Remove from oven and take a taste.  I think it is delicious.  I would like to use these in salads.

This is linked to Grocery Cart Challenge