Grilled Fennel Salad and A Book Review #LitHappens

Slices of fresh fennel bulb grilled to tender, sweet perfection, tossed in a lemon vinaigrette, and topped with the fennel fronds.  A gorgeous and delicious salad.

I was inspired to make this salad after reading the memoir Fireproof by Chef Curtis Duffy......

Q is for Quesadilla

This quick and easy dinner is colorful and delicious.  Perfect for a busy weeknight or for a Fish Friday gathering to celebrate the weekend.  Flour Tortillas, stuffed with assorted colors of bell pepper, sweet onion, plump, juicy shrimp, held together with shredded Mexican blend cheese.

Q is for Quesadilla......

Preserved Lemon Scones and a Book Review #BreadBakers

These flaky, slightly sweet but more savory scones come together quickly using a food processor.  They have a deep tartness from the preserved lemons.  

 The Bread Bakers are sharing Scone recipes today......

Ražnjići (Montenegrin Meat Skewers) #EattheWorld

Almost every culture serves meat cooked on skewers.  They come by many different names.  In Montenegro, they are called Ražnjići and can be made with many proteins.  I used pork in my version.  They were scrumptious.

Please join us as we travel to Montenegro this month in our quest to Eat the World.....

Bean and Kielbasa Stew #SundayFunday

 Ready in less than half an hour, this stew is hearty, delicious, and best of all, it only uses one pot.  

The Sunday Funday Bloggers are sharing One-Pot Meals today..................

A Culinary Visit to Umbria before my Actual Visit to Umbria #ItalianFWT

We are leaving next month on a long-anticipated trip to Italy.  We are flying into Naples, spending time on the Amalfi Coast, and spending a few days in Rome before heading to Umbria and Tuscany.  We will spend a day in Florence before catching our flight home.

Camping Life-Trip #3-Frankenmuth, Michigan

Day 1: The morning began with the disappointing news that my Little Miss M had been up all night with a fever and vomiting, so she was unable to join us on this trip.  

The Angel Face decided to direct and produce a video documenting our trip. She’s very talented and much more computer savvy at 10 than I am at this ripe old age!  I'm excited to share it with you.

This means, however, that she had control of my phone, so I have very few photos to share.

Grilled Vegetable Platter and the Weekly Menu #FarmersMarketWeek

Make the most of all the fresh vegetables available now at your local Farmer's Market and create a colorful, nutritious Grilled Vegetable platter.

Today is the final day of Farmers Market Week.  I hope you have enjoyed it and have come up with some great ideas on ways to enjoy all the bounty available this time of year....

Indian Cucumber Salad #Farmer'sMarketWeek

 This cucumber salad gets a makeover by adding the warm, fragrant flavors of India.  You will love it!!

We are celebrating Farmers Markets all week long......

Camping Life-Prepping the RV for Trip #3

Tomorrow we are packing up the Angel Face and Little Miss M and heading to Frankenmuth, a fun, little, German town about 2 hours north of us.

Grilled Cabbage #Farmer'sMarketWeek

If you are a cabbage lover, you will love this quick and easy preparation.  Perfect as a side dish, all grilling season long.

We're hitting the Farmer's Markets this week......

Peach Salsa #SundayFunday

This quick and easy fresh salsa will last for a week in the refrigerator, on the off chance that there is any left.  Fresh Peaches, Tomatoes, Onions, Jalapenos, and Bell Peppers combine and meld into a delicious dip for your Tortilla Chips or as a topping for grilled chicken or fish.

The Sunday Funday Bloggers are celebrating National Peach Month......

Hawaiian Shredded Chicken and the Weekly Menu

I had 2 leftover chicken breasts and 6 hungry mouths to feed.  This delicious crockpot meal provided enough to feed all of us.  

This chicken is slow-cooked in a sweet and tangy sauce until it is fall-apart tender.  It makes delicious sandwiches, add a side salad or some chips, and dinner is served.

A Roundup of Recipes inspired by A Bakery in Paris for #CooktheBooks

I was pleased to be invited to host this session of CTB Club. I chose the historical novel A Bakery in Paris by Aimie Runyan (August 2023) 

Thank you to all who joined me, and thank you to our administrators for allowing me to host this month.

Debra of Eliot's Eats was the first to submit this delicious Blackberry Clafouti with berries she picked herself.

Debra enjoyed the history in this novel, but had a little difficulty with some of the characters, and sometimes found the narration and plot to be rambling 

She was inspired to make this delicious classic French Pastry by the section of the book where "Laurent, Micheline’s fellow culinary student, makes a blackberry clafouti for Noémie, the younger sister."

Deb of Readerbuzz was next to post, and I'm so glad she joined us.  This was my first visit to her blog, but it won't be my last.

Deb, very bravely, tried to follow one of the recipes written in the novel by Lisette.  Here is what she had to say....

I used the recipe (above) from the 1871 portion of this book, and I might have needed a little more guidance about temperature than "a medium oven," especially as I imagine this might have been a wood stove of some sort. There was a lot (a lake, if I am being completely honest) of melted butter halfway through the bake. They may not be beautiful, but they do have great flavor (as you might expect, with 3/4 lb. of butter in the recipe).

I would gladly enjoy some of those croissants with you Deb, while we talk about all the books we are dying to read.

Marg of The Intrepid Reader & Baker had been wanting to read a novel by this author and was happy to report that she was not disappointed.  She enjoyed the fact that both timelines were historical and that each character in the timelines operated a bakery.

Marg made this gorgeous Raspberry Clafoutis saying....

When it came to choosing a recipe to make I struggled a little bit as there were almost too many options.

and

In the end I decided to try and make a clafoutis which is a traditional dish, originally from the Limousin region of France.

Thanks so much for joining us Marg.  This recipe sounds amazing. 

Amy of Amy's Cooking Adventures wrote: "This was an enjoyable historical read following strong female bakers generations apart."

Amy shared this incredible-looking brioche, having found a brioche pan at a garage sale for $0.25 while she was reading this novel.  What a steal!!!

Simone of Briciole made a beautiful Fruity Chard recipe inspired by the protagonist, Lisette's fiancé's residence being in Provence.

After her husband, Théo, dies fighting with the Communards, Lisette, pregnant, is expected to marry her first fiancé and go to Provence (Provenza) with him until after giving birth. She ends up not going and not marrying him (again), but I decided to stay there for inspiration.

 

 Tarte aux blettes is a Provençal dessert made with Swiss chard. While I was not interested in replicating it (we don't eat dessert), I played with the idea of adding a sweet note to a vegetable I like and eat regularly.

I love Swiss Chard.  I am definitely printing out this recipe and picking up the ingredients on my next trip to the Farmer's Market.

Claudia of Honey from Rock was also able to join in this month.   I am so happy that she enjoyed the novel and shared this lovely recipe for Naan with us.

I was inspired by all the bread, how necessary, how central It became, especially for those people in line to get a loaf in difficult times, and often unable to get any. Since I usually have sourdough on hand I made a very easy flatbread, called naan.

I am always happy for another recipe to help me use my sourdough discard.  Thanks Claudia.

I was inspired to make Madeleines au Citron.  I wasn't brave enough to try the recipe from the novel, but these little cakes were scrumptious and would have been a huge hit with Micheline's sisters.

I would like to end this post with an invitation for you to join us for the August/September edition of Cook The Books hosted by Claudia of Honey From Rock.  She has chosen Coming to My Senses by Alice Waters.  You can learn how to join by visiting the Guidelines page.  

 

Toscana Recipe Round-up

I watched the Netflix film, Toscana, and enjoyed it, so I invited my Movies and Munchies crew to watch it and get inspired into the kitchen this month.