Flash Back Friday #10: Plantain Chips

I'm having several issues with the inLinkz--sorry about that! Hopefully I'll get ti fixed soon!


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FLASH BACK FRIDAY #10

PLANTAIN CHIPS

Click on image to see post from 3/14/2011

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My favorite from this past week was from GirliChef!

SAGE & CHEDDAR BEER BREAD

Yes, you read that right! YUMMMM!

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A big thanks for everyone who linked up!

    

 

BEYER BEWARE

THE KITCHEN IS MY PLAYGROUND

COOKING WITH K

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Follow Cookin' for my Captain and Cookin Mimi  on GFC [Google Friend Connect] and then Link away!

• Use your permalink which is the link in your browser’s address bar.
• Link back to Cookin’ for My Captain, Cookin’ Mimi or both if you’d like.
• Please only 1 or 2 entries.
• Visit and comment on the other entries. Spread some comment love.
• By entering your link on one blog it will show up on both.
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Winner, winner, chicken dinner!!

I usually have the worst luck with giveaways, so I'm so excited to share this one I recently entered. I had a whole post for it (click HERE to view). And I'm excited to share with ya'll now!

Thanks to Susan, and "The Old White Barn"

She has so many of little trinkets like that, so go check out her store! The spoons I got were called "Tin Woodsman" spoons. I'm in love with them already!

Thanks again, Susan!

Don't forget to enter your name DAILY in my giveaway! Link is below.

Sweet Corn Cakes with Creole Shrimp

These are a great appetizer dish! My kids even loved them.

SWEET CORN CAKES WITH CREOLE SHRIMP

Click HERE for printable recipe

SAUCE & CORN CAKES
1/4 cup light mayonnaise
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp Creole Rub **
3 cups canned corn, drained, divided
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 large egg, beaten
3/4 tsp baking powder
2 green onions with tops, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
SHRIMP & SALAD
8 oz large, uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 Tblsp canola oil, divided
2 tsp Creole Rub
1 tsp lemon zest
3 1/2 Tblsp fresh lemon juice
6 cups loosely packed arugula


Directions:
For sauce, combine mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice and rub in small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

For cakes, place 1 cup of the corn in food processor and pulse until coarse paste forms. Combine flour, buttermilk, egg and baking powder in a medium bowl; whisk until smooth. Add corn paste, remaining 2 cups corn, green onions and black pepper to corn paste mix and mix well.

In large saute pan, spray with canola oil and heat over medium heat 1-3 minutes, or until shimmering. Scoop corn batter onto pan for a total of 12 cakes, lightly pressing down with back of scoop. Cook 4 to 5 minutes on each side or until cakes are golden brown. Remove cakes and keep warm.

For shrimp, combine shrimp, 1 tsp oil, rub and zest in medium bowl; toss to coat. Arrange shrimp on pan and cook over medium-high heat for 1 1/2 -2 minutes on each side or until opaque.

For salad, whisk together remaining 2 tsp oil and lemon juice in small bowl. Combine arugula and lemon juice mixture in medium bowl; toss gently.

To serve, divide arugula among serving plates' top with corn cakes and shrimp. Drizzle with sauce.

Creole Rub:
1 1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp dried oregano

Click HERE for printable recipe

Recipe adapted from Pampered Chef "Make it Fresh, Make it Healthy" Cookbook

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W/W & Daring Bakers Challenge: Fresh Frasiers

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Just another tea-party picture

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Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to make Fresh Frasiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.

FRESH FRASIERS

Click HERE for the full printable recipe.

  

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Blog Hops....

   

  

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EXTRA ENTRY FOR GIVEAWAY!

Scan this code with a QR reader and follow instructions it gives you!

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Turkey Burgers with Avocado Sauce

This is a very simple recipe and every bite is delicious! I used Kaiser rolls for the buns, and I wish I made the patties a little bigger. So take into mind what size your buns are to the size of the patties. (that sounds really funny!)

TURKEY BURGERS WITH AVOCADO SAUCE

Click HERE for printable recipe

1 cup canned corn, drained
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 small sweet red pepper, chopped
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
1 lb ground turkey
Sauce:
1 medium ripe avocado, peeled
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
2 teaspoons lime juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1/8 teaspoon salt
Serving:
4 whole wheat hamburger buns, split
shredded lettuce
sliced tomato and red onion, optional

Directions:
In a large skillet, saute the corn, onion and peppers in oil until crisp-tender. Stir in the lime juice, garlic, salt, cumin, chili powder and oregano; cook 1 minutes longer. Transfer to a large bowl and cool slightly. Crumble turkey over mixture and mix well. Shape into 4 burgers. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

For sauce, in a small bowl, mash avocado with the sour cream, cilantro, lime juice, garlic and salt. refrigerate until serving.

Lightly oil grill pan and heat on medium-high heat. Cook on each side 5 to 7 minutes, or when juices run clear and meat thermometer reaches 165 degrees F.

Place on buns; top with 1/4 cup sauce. Serve with lettuce, tomato and onion if desired.

Click HERE for printable recipe

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Eggplant Parmesan

My in-laws also brought with them big, fresh, gorgeous eggplants! I didn't really know what to do with them, so they suggested making the traditional "eggplant Parmesan." I was pretty skeptical about it, but I tried it. And I was SO glad I did. Sorry the pictures aren't that great, it was a rainy day so I had no natural light for it..don't let that scare ya away =D

EGGPLANT PARMESAN
Click HERE for printable recipe

Ingredients:
2 large eggplants
kosher salt
28 oz whole peeled tomatoes (I used the ones we just canned--eggggggcellent!)
1 garlic clove, minced
olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup fine dry breadcrumbs (*I made my own, and so glad I did! See note below)
4 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 lbs of fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced to 1/4 inch rounds
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 packed cup fresh basil leaves (these were from  my garden as well)

Directions:
Prepare tomato sauce. Combine tomatoes, garlic and 1/3 cup olive oil in a food processor. Season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

Cut eggplant lengthwise into 1/4 in slices.

In a wide shallow bowl, combine flour and breadcrumbs. Mix well. Pour beaten eggs into another wide shallow bowl.

Place a large deep skillet over medium heat, and pour in a half inch of olive oil. When oil is shimmering, dredge the eggplant into hot oil and fry until golden brown on both sides, turning once. Drain on paper towels.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bottom of a 9x13-inch glass baking dish, spread 1 cup of tomato sauce. Top with 1/3 of the eggplant slices. Top eggplant with half of the mozzarella slices. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the Parmesan and half the basil leaves.

Make a second layer of eggplant slices, topped by 1 cup of sauce, remaining mozzarella, half the remaining Parmesan  and all the remaining basil. Add remaining egg plant and top with the remaining tomato sauce and Parmesan.

Bake until cheese has melted and the top is slightly brown, about 30 minutes. Allow to rest at room temp for about 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 8.

**for fresh breadcrumbs, put a few slices of white bread in your food processor and pulse until its at the consistency you'd like. If you plan ahead enough, toast and let them cool first.

close-up picture of the cooked eggplant

recipe adapted from Simply Recipes http://simplyrecipes.com

Click HERE for printable recipe

Other Eggplant Parmesan recipes from blogs I like and follow
Skinny on a Dime Allrecipes.com Cooking with Libby Cooking light

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300 Follower Giveaway!

Its GIVEAWAY TIME! 

I've reached 300 followers so I'd like to show my appreciation by giving away some of my treats. There will be 2 WINNERS! Each winner will get the choice between the 4 jars:

Blueberry Jam, Strawberry Jam, Squash Relish & Kosher Pickles

Good luck! Don't forget to enter your name DAILY! Also, look for a special way to enter your name (for several entries) on Wednesday!

Flash Back Friday #9: Grilled Shrimp Pitas

FLASH BACK FRIDAY #

GRILLED SHRIMP PITAS WITH BASIL AIOLI

Click on image to see post from 4/19/2011

Thank you everyone for linking up last friday--we had 12 entries! Love it! Lets try to get 15 this week, I know many more of you have old posts you'd love to link up....and remember you can link up TWO!


My favorite one from last week is from GirliChef with her Sesame Seed Toffee Snaps. These look so unusual, and fantastic!!

Stop by and check out her great blog! Make sure you tell her that I sent you. =)
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And a big thanks (again!) for everyone else for linking up. I appreciate each entry and the support for this hop. 
    


    
There were several more blogs that linked up, but I couldn't find a button/badge for the page. If I missed it, please let me know so I can add it.
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Follow Cookin' for my Captain and Cookin Mimi  on GFC [Google Friend Connect] and then Link away!

• Use your permalink which is the link in your browser’s address bar.
• Link back to Cookin’ for My Captain, Cookin’ Mimi or both if you’d like.
• Please only 1 or 2 entries.
• Visit and comment on the other entries. Spread some comment love.
• By entering your link on one blog it will show up on both.

Canning: Blueberry Jam

Jam has got to be my favorite thing to eat....like EVER. Click for my Strawberry Jam, Orange Jam, and Squash Relish recipe, and linked up with images below. This one is very similar (same concept).

BLUEBERRY JAM

Click HERE for printable recipe

7 cups white sugar
6 cups blueberries
2 packages of pectin (3 oz each)
6 pint-size jars
[I doubled mine and got 13 pint jars made. Have 1 or 2 extra jars ready just in case.]
Boil a large pot of water with jars, lids and rims inside. If you don't want to put jars in the boiling water, sterilize through the dishwasher and then pour boiling water inside them to keep hot for next step.

Measure out 7 cups white sugar, set aside.
Measure out 6 cups of blueberries and pour them into large sauce pan. Start mushing them immediately [it gets harder with more liquid in it]. That's a technical word, right? Slowly stir in sugar and bring to a boil and stir until sugar has been dissolved.

Add pectin, boil hard for 1 minute, then let sit for 10 minutes off heat.
Dump water out of jars, and fill them with blueberry mixture, using a ladle. Wipe the threads clean and twist on lids and rims really tight. Turn the jars upside down for 5 minutes. [just enough time to clean the mess up]

The flip the jars back right-side-up and let cool for several hours. The lids will "pop" and you will know its sealed.


Click HERE for printable recipe


click HERE for printable canning tips

Wordless Wednesday

WORDLESS(FUL) WEDNESDAY

Had my "big girls tea party" this weekend, been planning this for few months now. What a great time we had!

The amazing food (if I must say so myself--hehe)

Wanted to show the canning job as a whole that we did...recipes all week!

Some of the finished product

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Blog Hops....

   

  

The Old White Barn: Giveaway

I came across this giveaway from The Old White Barn....

Click image to go to giveaway

All I can say is that I Must. Have. Those. Spoons. I'm in love! So stop by and check out the totally adorable store and blog. But don't enter too many times, I'm planning on winning these spoons. LOL just kidding--good luck!

Giveaway ends on the 21st of this month, so don't miss out on a chance to win!

Canning: Kosher & Bread-n-Butter Pickles

We made all these at once, while we were slicing and cutting up pickles, might as well! They just use 2 different recipes to pour in the jars.

KOSHER & BREAD-N-BUTTER PICKLES

For 2 quarts of pickles, you need about 14 small to medium sized pickling cucumbers. We ended up making 18 quarts of pickles...that will give you an idea of how many pickles my in-laws brought from their garden!

For the "seasoning," we used the "Ball" brand Kosher Dill Pickle Mix, and the Bread and Butter Pickle Mix.
Instructions are very simple, and we just followed the directions on the mix container.

First things first. Cut and slice the pickles!

We sliced the pickles in 2 different ways to differentiate the 2 flavors. You don't have to do that, but after the 11th jar, you might start getting cross-eyed. Or you could label them. Either way, its all about how you prefer to eat them!

Then stuff them REALLY tight into the jars. When you think you've filled them to the top, add at least one more. =) In other words, PACK them in. Its really just an aesthetic look for me. Once you had the seasoning liquid mix, the pickles will "shrink" up just a tad are create a space. I like keeping that space as small as possible.

Directions: (for every 2 quarts)
1. Combine 2 cups water, 1 cup vinegar, and 1/4 cup pickle mix in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil.
2. Pour hot liquid over pickles in the jar, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe threads clean and screw lids and tops on.
3. Process for 15 minutes.

For best flavor, let pickles stand from 4o to 6 weeks. We always break into them after standing 24 hours and they are awesome. If you have the patience, you can try waiting. But that's something we don't have.