(Initial recipe from Ina Garten with my own twist)

INGREDIENTS:
• 6 whole (12 split) Chicken Breasts, roasted with salt, pepper, and olive oil (Roasted for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Cut into 1 inch pieces after cooled.)
• 2 cups of celery, chopped
• 2 cups of fennel, chopped
• ½ cup of currants (put into a bowl of hot water for 15 minutes, then drain)
• 5 tablespoons of chopped tarragon
• 1-1/3 cup of mayonnaise (I use Hellman’s)
• 2 cups of grapes, sliced in half
• Salt & pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:
• Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.

• You can make one day ahead and put in the fridge.

I have made many corn bread recipes and although I love corn bread I have never liked the way the bread falls apart.  This recipe has amazing taste and perfect consistency.  It is sweet and spicy, warm and buttery.  It makes a perfect side dish to anything… if you can keep your family from eating it all before dinner.  I have made this in mini muffin tins and regular muffin tins, but if you can find the pans that shape your bread into mini corn loaves it makes a great presentation. Again this recipe comes from Mitchell Rosenthal’s Cooking my way Back Home.  There are so many more recipes to try from this wonderful cookbook.

INGREDIENTS:
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ⅔ cup sugar
• ½ cup cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ¼ cups whole milk
• 2 large eggs
• ⅓ cup canola oil
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 3 jalapeño chiles, seeded and finely diced
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, mixed with 2 tablespoons honey

DIRECTIONS:
• Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Grease 12 standard muffin cups with butter or line the cups with paper liners.

• In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt.

• In a medium bowl, stir together the milk, eggs, oil, and butter until well blended.

• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well to combine.

• Finally, add the chiles and mix again until well combined.

• Distribute the batter evenly among the 12 prepared muffin cups.

• Bake for about 20 minutes, or until light golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a corn bread comes out dry.

• When done, immediately brush the tops of the hot breads with the butter-honey mixture and then let rest in the pan on a wire rack for a few minutes.

Serve hot.

I always keep a bowl of hard boiled eggs in the fridge.  So when I saw this recipe from Cooking my way Back Home, I knew it was a perfect compliment to the red potatoes I had just picked up at the farmers market.  Potato salad was a common side in the summer at my house, crunchy, creamy, and spicy.  Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 pounds small red potatoes

• 6 large eggs

• 1 cup mayonnaise

• ⅓ cup finely diced celery

• ⅓ cup finely diced red onion

• 1 bunch green onions (including tender green parts), thinly sliced

• 1 ½ tablespoons horseradish mustard

• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

• 1 tablespoon Town Hall Spice Mixture

• 1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce

• 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

• Salt and freshly ground pepper

DIRECTIONS:

• In a saucepan, combine the potatoes with salted water to cover by 2 inches, bring to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat to medium, and cook for about 20 minutes, or until fork-tender. Remove from the heat, drain, and spread out in a single layer on a sheet pan to cool and dry.

• While the potatoes are cooking, you can hard-boil, peel, and chop the eggs into small pieces.

• In a bowl, combine the mayonnaise, celery, red onion, green onions, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, spice mixture, Tabasco sauce, and vinegar and mix well.  Fold in the eggs and season with salt & pepper.

• When the potatoes are cool, quarter them lengthwise and place in a large bowl. Add the mayonnaise mixture and stir to coat the potatoes evenly. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then serve.

Quinoa is one of those super foods… and the best part is it’s delicious.  I like to mix it with bulgar, a wheat grain, and this time I added rosemary spiced walnuts and dried cranberries.  This can be a side dish or served over greens as a lunch salad.

INGREDIENTS:

• ½ cup of black or red quinoa

• ⅓ cup of bulgar grain #2

• 1 tbsp of olive oil

• 2 cups of low salt chicken broth

• ⅓ cup of walnuts, spiced with rosemary and thyme

• ⅓ cup of dried cranberries

DIRECTIONS:

• Saute quinoa and bulgar in oil for 1 minute.

• Add chicken broth and bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce till all liquid is gone.

• Stir in walnuts and cranberries and serve.  You can serve this hot or cold.

This is so simple and delicious!  Take a whole head of cauliflower and slice rounds as flat as possible.  Some will fall off in small pieces, use this too as it all tastes good.  Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil.  Bake at 400 degrees until cauliflower is crisp and slightly browned on edges (You should turn vegetables to cook evenly.).  When done add ¼ cup of freshly chopped chives, 1 tablespoon of chopped thyme, kosher salt to taste, and ½ cup of grated sharp cheddar cheese.  Put in oven for 2-3 minutes more and serve.  This is an excellent easy side dish.  Enjoy!

I know this isn’t a new idea and many of us may cook a version of these luscious potatoes.  The basic recipe is as follows:

INGREDIENTS:
• 12 small red boiling potatoes
• Kosher salt
• Good olive oil
• Optional: Lemon, Parmesan, and/or fresh herbs

DIRECTIONS:
• Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 400 degrees.

• Boil potatoes to cook then drain.

• Take two dishtowels and lay one down on counter placing cooked potatoes on towel separating them like mounds of cookie dough.

• Now place the other towel over the potatoes and using the flat base of your hand smash each potato.

• Transfer with a spatula the potatoes to the parchment lined sheet pan.

• Drizzle with olive oil and kosher salt.

• You can add fresh herbs such as parsley, thyme, dill, or just leave them plain.

• Cook till the edges of the potatoes are crispy about 20-25 minutes.

• You can squeeze lemon juice or sprinkle with Parmesan, but I love them just plain, crispy with a dash of salt.

Another great day at the market and I had to pick up the beautiful yellow squash blossoms.  There are so many ways to enjoy the treat but I just love them in a beer batter fried in Canola oil.  You can stuff them with cheese and bake, or just roast with a bit of olive oil and sea salt.

INGREDIENTS:
• 1 bunch (12-14) squash blossoms
• 1 ¼ cups of flour
• 1 bottle of beer (your choice) add less beer if you want batter to be thicker
• Dash of chili powder, salt, and pepper
• Canola oil (¾ inch in frying pan

DIRECTIONS:

• Heat oil in frying pan.

• Mix flour and beer with spices.

• Coat blossoms and fry in oil.

• Place finished blossoms on paper towel to soak up any excess oil.

• To keep warm and crisp put on a sheet pan and keep warm in oven.

You may want to double this recipe as they disappear faster than you can make them!

Roasting veggies with fresh herbs and olive oil is ways good!  We added feta cheese but you can add Parmesan.  This is a great way to enjoy summer veggies.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees; prepare veggies of your assortment, dress with oil, herbs, and cheese.  Then cook for approximately 20 minutes.

After a perfect morning of farmers market shopping I took the great items I had bought and made the potatoes, mushrooms, fresh thyme, and green garlic.  I also found the lemon oil at the market… it’s a great addition to pasta, veggies, and fish or chicken.  There is nothing better for cooking inspiration than a trip to the market.

Most American dinner tables accompany a meal with a starch… usually potatoes of some kind.  The staple side dish in our home was pilaf.  We had pilaf with our “lamb burgers” not fries!  It is quick, easy and delicious.  I always have these ingredients in my pantry for a side dish.  The bread is an Armenian flat bread.  My grandmother would make this, stacking flat rounds of bread a foot high each in the pantry.  I purchase the bread from “Valley Bakery” in Fresno, CA.  They call the bread Valley Lahvosh, original Armenian Sesame Seed Cracker Bread.  This is the closest bread I have found to my Grandmother’s.  You wet the bread with a spray of water and then wrap it in a clean dish towel.  As kids we had our sandwiches on this softened bread.  I was always slightly embarrassed by my Persian cucumbers and nontraditional sandwich bread, but it was so good.  It also comes in a whole wheat version.  You can order a case and it lasts a while… but in my house it doesn’t last too long!

RECIPE: Armenian Pilaf

INGREDIENTS:
• 1 cup of egg noodles
• 6 tablespoons of butter
• Dash of kosher salt
• 2 cups of Uncle Bens white rice.
• 4 cups of chicken broth

DIRECTIONS:
• In a medium sauce pan Sauté egg noodles in butter till brown.

• Then add the chicken broth and rice… bring to a boil then turn to low heat and cook until     rice is fluffy approx. 25 minutes.  Keep a close watch.  When you lower the heat keep         pan covered.