Summer Berry Salad

This could also be called "Blogging Mishaps"

I typed up the Summer Berry Salad entry.  Thought of something to change in my lasagna post and somehow the whole lasagna post replaced my salad post.  WTH??  

So, here we go again:

When Nicole and I sat down to plan out our cookbook, we noticed our "Soups and Salads" section was not very big.  So we went searching for some salad recipes (Pinterest, anyone?)  This is what we came up with and it's our most requested recipe right now.

Summer Berry Salad

Fresh baby spinach 

Blue Cheese crumbles

Sliced Strawberries

Candied Pecans (recipe to follow)
Berry Vinaigrette (recipe to follow)

1. Mix first four ingredients in large bowl.  Amounts vary due to your liking.  Want a large salad to feed 20 at a BBQ like we did?  Or maybe you just want a single serving.  Use whatever amounts you like. 
2. Add vinaigrette just before serving.  

Candied Pecans

10 oz bag of pecan halves
2 tbsp water
1/2 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (foil will work also).
3. Place pecans in medium sized bowl.
4. Stir in water until all pecans are coated.
5. Add sugar, vanilla and cinnamon, stir completely.
6. Pour pecan mixture onto prepared cooking sheet...make sure pecans are flat and in one layer.
7. Bake for 1 hour.
8. Turn heat to 350 degrees and bake for 15 more minutes - be sure to watch carefully so you don't burn them.
9. Remove from heat and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Berry Vinaigrette

3 tbsp red onion, chopped

3 tbsp raspberry jam (or strawberry, mixed berry, boysenberry…any berry jam will do...we used our homemade triple berry jam with strawberries, raspberries and blackberries)

1/4 c sugar

1/2 c + 2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp honey mustard

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c vegetable oil

1 tbsp poppy seeds 

1. Chop red onion into fine dices. Place 3 tablespoons worth into a blender, or if you have an immersion blender toss them into a tall jar. 
2. Add 3 tablespoons jam, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon honey mustard and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Blend it until it’s well combined. 
3. Add 1/2 cup oil to the mixture, just a little bit at a time, blending after each portion is added. If you add all of the oil at once the dressing will be really thin and runny. Just add about 2 tablespoons at a time and all will be well. 
4. Add 1 tablespoon of poppy seeds to the dressing and stir it in with a spoon. Don’t blend the poppy seeds in, just give them a nice stir.  
5. Store leftovers in the refrigerator. 

A big thank you to my sweetie, Travis, for thinking of using candied pecans.  Beyond delicious!!

Quote Of The Whenever

“This is my invariable advice to people: Learn how to cook- try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!” 

― Julia Child, My Life in France

Garfield Would Be Jealous Of This Lasagne

Our lasagna is so good, it gets eaten for breakfast!

I hope my friend doesn't mind that I exploit the story, but I made my go-to recipe (you know the one...you have it memorized, have most of the ingredients in your kitchen, have made it 1000 times!) for her family while they're going through a health scare.  

It's easy, you don't cook the noodles ahead of time and it refrigerates over night.  Who doesn't want to reap the rewards of yesterday's work.

She decided to cook it that next morning to take to her hubby in the hospital for lunch.  It was so tempting that lasagna for breakfast it was!

Another tip:  It's just as easy to make two batches as it is to make one.  It freezes well, either before cooking, or after.

Lazy Lasagna

1 lb. ground beef (or whatever critter you have, we have hunters in our lives so you never know what's in the freezer!)

1 jar spaghetti sauce (I use 24 oz jar of Ragu Chunky Garden Style – Garden Combo)

4 oz tomato sauce 

1 c water

1 - 15 oz container ricotta cheese*

1 tsp chopped chive (dried)**

1 tsp oregano**

1 egg

8 oz box of uncooked lasagna noodles (we use the whole grain – it’s WAY better)

3 - 6 oz packages of sliced mozzarella cheese or 2 packages of 10 slices of mozzarella

Shredded parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large sauce pan, brown meat.  Drain.  Return meat to sauce pan.  Add spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce and water.  Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer.  This will be extremely runny!
3. In a small bowl, combine ricotta or cottage cheese, spices and egg.
4. In 9"x 13” glass pan:
1. Layer 1:  1 ½ cup meat sauce, spread evenly
2. Layer 2:  ½ noodles
3. Layer 3:  ½ cheese mix (spread over noodles – it won’t be perfect)
4. Layer 4:  ½ mozzarella cheese slices
5. Repeat Layers 2, 3, 4
5. Top with remaining meat sauce.  
6. Sprinkle top with Parmesan cheese.  
7. Cover and refrigerate overnight, or put in the freezer for next time.
8. Thaw completely.
9. Remove cover and bake at 350 degrees for 60 min.

*Update on 10/26/17.  We now use cottage cheese.  Which I normally don't like, but it melts into this cheesy goodness.  This is not the consensus in our family.  If you like the texture of gritty ricotta cheese, go with that.  Taste isn't much different, it's definitely a texture thing.

**Or you can use 2 tsp of Italian Seasoning

What is your favorite "go to" recipe?  Leave below in the comments!

Best, Laura

POP! Canned Cherries

That is one of the greatest sounds to me.  When a jar seals:  POP!

I canned for the first time since college in Sept 2011 when my friend Sandy and I canned spicy pickles.  I have been hooked ever since!

So when it's cherry season in your world, you can some.

Here is the recipe I got from my mom - who got it from my Grandma Lena.

Right.

Better than some I have, I must say.  But, I used my Google skills and researched "canning cherries" before tackling.  I found some of the greatest resources and combined my new found knowledge, my learned canning knowledge from Sandy and VOILA!  

Canned Cherries

3 pounds* cherries, washed, stems removed and pitted**
2 c sugar
4 c water
10 1/2 pint jars, lids and rings
Canning supplies (large stock pot, oven mits, Canning Tongs, Canning Funnel, Canning Lid Lifter - or whatever gadgets you like.  I got mine from Williams Sonoma.)

Three ingredients and supplies.  Can you believe it?

1. Put a large stock pot onto boil (for the water bath is step #7).
2. Wash and pit** your cherries. You can use a cherry pitter (I used the one from Pampered Chef) or simply cut the cherries in half to remove the pit. Do this over a large bowl to capture any juices. 
3. In another large pot, boil the lids and rings. Keep in pot until ready to seal jars.
4. Combine the water and sugar in a large saucepan. Stir constantly and bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar. Keep hot (but not boiling) while you prep your jars.
5. Ensure your jars are clean, sterilized, and warm. (Adding hot syrup to a cold jar may cause the jar to shatter!) With clean hands, stuff as many cherries as you can into each jar. How many you get in each jar will depend on the size of the jar and cherry. I put 15 Flathead cherries in each 1/2 pint jar. Fill to 2 cm below the rim.
6. Using a funnel, fill each jar with the hot syrup, stopping 1 cm from the rim of the jar. With a clean, hot, wet cloth, wipe the rims of the jars and then place the sealers and lids on top. Tighten with your hands...just until they are sealed...not too tight.  [Side note:  From the tragic hand burn of 2000 - lesson learned from making suckers - PLEASE be careful with the hot syrup.  I used a huge ladle, the funnel is a must, and worked focused and patiently but swiftly to ensure I don't burn myself again and the syrup didn't become suckers!  LOL] 
7. Process in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes.
8. Remove from the water bath, let cool, and listen for the pops. To let the full flavors develop let the jars rest a few weeks before digging in. If they all don't seal (when you press on the middle of the jar lid, it won't give) then refrigerate any jars that do not seal and enjoy immediately.  

I grew up on these little gems being a constant on the pantry shelf.   I only did a small batch to try them out, but since they look and smell exactly how I remember, I see a larger batch in my future.

And even though it's a little time consuming, it's SUPER easy.

Best, Laura

*After stems removed and pitted, this will yield 2 pounds.  If you don't pit them, just get 2 pounds.

** My grandma didn't pit the cherries.  I thought it would be a nice touch and I had the pitter.  But you don't have to if you don't want to.

Welcome!

We are Nicole Corey and Laura Jones, sisters and best friends, and we have been cooking together for the last 6 years.  It all started when Nicole wanted to fix breakfast for our dad.  He wanted to go out, but she insisted.  She was so excited to cook one of his favorites - biscuits and gravy.  Long story short, the gravy was a disaster and they ended up at IHOP anyway.

For the next couple of years, Nicole received cook books in the mail (Dad was trying to help, LOL) and tried other recipes.  In the holiday season of 2007, she decided to make our family holiday cookie recipe. The cookies turned out great (after she discovered using old Crisco makes them taste like soap), but the frosting was another story.  Like many recipes handed down, there are only ingredients (butter, milk, powdered sugar, vanilla) but no measurements.  She tried that frosting several times before getting it right.

Then in 2008, we decided it was time to learn the traditional turkey dinner that our mother had always prepared.  It's mostly the recipes our mom learned as a child, with a few from our dad's family mixed in.  Mom didn't really have recipes (again) so Nicole spent two days following her around the kitchen writing down the ingredients, the steps, and all of the details.

In 2009, it was the first holiday dinner we prepared by ourselves, for just us and our hubbies - in case it didn't turn out we had a pizza in the fridge, ready to be cooked.   We learned about the necessity of the "big ass bowl" (story and recipes to follow) and the threat from Laura's husband not to "eff up his pumpkin pie" - which we did.

New traditions started that year.  To keep the holiday dinner in tact, but to add one new recipe to try each year.

Then we got brave and invited more people to holiday dinner.  And then decided it was time to have a place for all of the family recipes to come together.  And the cookbook idea was born.  Along the way, we have learned so many lessons that will benefit many.  It's a good thing we have our humor due to the many recipes that have been epic mishaps.  We are just amateurs who LOVE to cook and want to share that with all of you.

This blog will have stories, recipes (of course), inspiration and other yummy goodness.  To tide you all over until our cookbook is ready.

Thanks for joining us and please...share with all of your friends.  The more the merrier - but not in our kitchen.

Best, Laura & Nicole