Welcome to #CookoutWeek!!

I am so excited that it is finally summer, and you know what that means - picnics, BBQs, camping, pool parties, and... cookouts! This year, we've got something special to celebrate! We joined forces with around 50 of our blogging friends to bring you #CookoutWeek - an entire week filled with yummy summer recipes perfect for your next cookout, along with a fun giveaway, courtesy of some awesome sponsors. It's super easy to enter, and one lucky winner will get:

• Char-Broil American Gourmet 600 Series Charcoal Grill (see specs here!)
• Edmond Fallot Dijon Mustard, French Farm Butcher Salt Box, & Confit of Figs & Balsamic Vinegar from The French Farm
• Sauce 3-Pack (Ketchup, BBQ, Veracha) from True Made Foods
• Wimpy's BBQ Rub, Dilly Dust Seasoning, and Cheryl's Jamaican Me Hungry Seasoning from Swine Dining
• A Perfect Pickler Kit from Perfect Pickler
• A gift basket of products from Fungus Among Us
• A gift bag of products from Dr. Praeger’s Sensible Foods
• All Natural Boneless Duck Breasts, Fully Cooked Roast Half Ducks w/Orange Sauce, Duck Bacon, Duck Wing Drummettes from Maple Leaf Farms

It's pretty much everything you need to host an awesome cookout this summer. It's a prize pack worth over $300! Thank you so much to all of the wonderful sponsors listed above, who have made #CookoutWeek possible.

I am personally sharing with you a #CookoutWeek recipe each day this week, including several that contain products that I received from True Made Foods and Swine Dining.  I love creating new recipes and trying new products and I am very proud of these I will be sharing.  I am starting today with Jamaican me Hungry Muffins because not only is it #CookoutWeek but it is also #MuffinMonday.  Please make sure you stop by that post when you are done here.

I want to take a minute....this very minute....to send out a huge THANK YOU to The PinterTest Kitchen for hosting this summer blast.  These events are a lot of hard work and the gals from The PinterTest Kitchen do an excellent job each and every time they host.

Enter now!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway  

Don't forget to check back throughout the week with all of the bloggers participating to get some yummy #CookoutWeek recipes.  I was so excited when I read this list.  Not only are some of my favorites here but there are also several blogs that are new for me.  I cannot wait to get to know these bloggers and see what they are sharing with us this week.  Here's the full list of participating bloggers, with links to their home pages to make it easy for you to visit:

The PinterTest Kitchen • 2 Cookin' Mamas • A Day in the Life on the Farm • addicted 2 recipes • Aimee Broussard & Co. • Amy's Cooking Adventures • Angels Home Sweet Homestead • Bakin' and Eggcerpts • Balancing Motherhood • Body Rebooted • Cheese Curd In Paradise • Cindy's Recipes and Writings • Cook With 5 Kids • Cook. Craft. Love. • Cookaholic Wife • Cricket's Confections • Crumb: A Food Blog • Eat, Drink, Be Healthy! • Everyday Eileen • Fairyburger • Food Parsed • Get the Good Stuff! • Goodie Godmother • Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks • Home in the Finger Lakes • Jennifer Cooks • Jessie Weaver • Kate's Recipe Box • Life on Food • Little House Big Alaska • Little Scratch Kitchen • Making Miracles • Moore or Less Cooking • Rhubarb and Honey • Savvy In The Kitchen • Seduction in the Kitchen • Simple Food 365 • Style Island • Thanks for Cookin'! • The Food Hunter's Guide To Cuisine • The Hungary Buddha Eats the World • The Spiffy Cookie • The Weekday Gourmet • This is How I Cook • Tramplingrose • Vintage Kitty • West Via Midwest
Looking forward to sharing some yummy recipes with all of our readers starting with these tasty muffins!!  

Preserving Avocados for Guacamole

If you follow me on instagram, twitter or facebook you may have seen my post 2 days ago sharing a photo of some wonderful avocados sent to me by Melissa's Produce who is one of the sponsors of an upcoming event, #GuacSquad.

You know how you get a hankering for some great homemade guacamole so you go to the grocery story and all you can find are rock hard avocados that won't be ready to make guac for at least a few days?  You end up buying store bought guac instead to satisfy that itch but you really wanted to make your own?  I hate when that happens.

Well when these avocados arrived they were ripe and ready to go.  They were sent at the peak of freshness.  I was very excited.  Unfortunately, I wasn't ready to go, so I put them in the fridge hoping to find time yesterday.  I didn't and then today we flew up north to celebrate our great nephew's birthday so I didn't get to them again.   

During the flight home I started worrying about those avocados.  Don't pretend like you never worry about your fruit and veggies that are turning.  I know I am not the only one... Anyway, I started worrying about the avocados which got me to thinking about what I do when  I worry about other produce I have an abundance of....what if I were lucky enough to have an avocado tree in my back yard?  What would I do with all of the avocados that need to be harvested at the same time?  I would preserve them.  

As soon as I got home, I cut open the avocados, removed them from the shells, discarded any dark spots and chopped up the flesh.

I placed the cubed flesh into a freezer bag and added the juice of 2 limes.  Tossed the avocado so that the lime was distributed, removed the air from the freezer bag and sealed it.  Into the freezer it went, now when I am ready to make my guacamole, my avocado will be all prepared and waiting to be tossed with my other ingredients.

As you can see, our tour starts on July 9th and runs through July 22nd.  Each day a new blogger will be sharing a guacamole recipe that they created especially for this event.  My recipe will be featured on July 13th.  I think this event is going to be avocadelicious!!

Ukha (Russian Fish Soup) for #FoodnFlix

Our movie this month for Food n Flix was "I am Love" chosen by my friend Evelyne of CulturEatz. You can see Evelyne's invitation post here.  Any blogger is welcome to join us in this group.

This very tragic, sad and depressing movie is set in Italy.  I watched it with English subtitles.  It is the story of the life of a very rich family whose patriarch passes away starting a landslide of tragedy, betrayal, hidden secrets and despair.  The moral of this story:  Money cannot buy happiness nor can looking for love in all the wrong places.

I wasn't crazy about the movie.  It is difficult for me to concentrate on a movie with subtitles because I feel like I am busy reading instead of watching the actors faces, mannerisms and subtleties.  I don't know that I would have liked the movie any better in English.  The movie didn't make me laugh or smile even once and I feel like there is enough sadness in the world without watching fictional sadness.

What the movie did have going for it is food.  The movie started with a feast and continued with feasts until the very end.  The first feast in the movie featured a Russian Fish Soup called Ukha, that had special meaning between the mother (who came from Russia originally) and her eldest son.  The last feast also featured this soup which resulted in the son realizing his mother's secrets.  This resulted in a tragic dispute and ended the movie on a very sad note.

The soup is very easy to prepare.  The recipes that I found all varied as to the type of fish used.  The mother, Emma, when describing the soup to her lover, said that it contained many different fish and a very clear broth.  I created my own recipe, taking bits and pieces from those I found on line, to share with you today.

My week got all topsy turvy again.  We were supposed to have this soup for dinner tonight but then we decided to take advantage of the weather and head up north to see Spencer for his birthday.  I needed to make the soup as I had defrosted the fish and couldn't refreeze it but we had dinner plans to take Frank's sister out for her birthday last night.  I made the soup and, knowing that we wouldn't have an opportunity to eat it before Sunday, decided to take it to my brother's house for them to enjoy. My brother sent me this photo with the comment "mmmm nummy keeper".  I think he liked it.

Ukha (Russian Fish Soup)

1 T. olive oil
1 leek, white and light green, washed and thinly slice into half moons
2 carrots, scraped and sliced
1 celery stalk, diced
2 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into small dice
1 qt. fish stock
1 1/2 lbs. assorted fish (I used salmon and cod) skinned and cut into cubes
2 T. fresh parsley, chopped
2 T. fresh dill, chopped
juice from half a lemon

Place the olive oil in a dutch oven or soup pot and place over med high heat.  Add the leek, carrots, celery and potatoes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the leeks are tender, 2 or 3 minutes.  Add the fish stock, bring just to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and cook until vegetables are for tender, 15-20 minutes.  Add the fish, parsley and dill.  Cook until the fish is poached, about 5-10 minutes.  Stir in lemon juice, taste and season with more salt and pepper, if needed.  Print Recipe

Yes, I know it's only Thursday

But we are flying to Traverse City tomorrow to see our family there because we weren't able to attend Spencer's birthday party last Sunday.  Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be beautiful so we are going to take advantage of it.  Both Lil and Spence are working from 11-4 so we will have time to visit with Jen and Randy before they join us for dinner and we head home.  I'm looking forward to seeing them all.

It is hard to believe he is 14 and starting High School.

Where does the time go??

That means that I needed to plan my weekly menu today instead of tomorrow.  Next week we are celebrating #CookoutWeek.  That is good news for you, my readers, because each day not only will I be sharing a new recipe with you but 50 other bloggers will be sharing their recipes all week long as well.  We have a huge giveaway to raffle off to one of our lucky readers as well so make sure you stop by on Monday to learn more about it and enter to win.

Before I post my menu, let me share our plans for the week.  On Saturday, Frank is teaching a CPL class so I will be providing muffins and coffee for breakfast and lunch for the class.  When class is over we have a graduation party to attend.

Sunday, my friend, Vicki, and her daughter, Torie, are hosting a wedding shower here at our house. Frank and I are meeting Tingting and Melody at church down by their house.  After Mass we are going to the Farmer's Market nearby and then we will be bringing Mel home with us for the day. The rest of the week is pretty quiet but I am sure we will find things to keep us busy.  This month has 5 Wednesdays so I will be at the food pantry this week.

Here is what I am planning to make each day.....always subject to change as you well know.


Saturday-CPL Class
Muffins and Coffee
Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Cole Slaw
Pasta Salad
Cupcakes

Sunday
Pizza on the Grill

Meatless Monday
Poached Eggs on Toast
Fresh Fruit

Tuesday
Hot Dogs
Leftover Salads from Saturday

Wednesday
Out for dinner after Food Pantry

Thursday
Chicken and Lemon Pasta with Summer Vegetables

Fish Friday
Sesame  Crusted Salmon
Asian Noodle Salad

An Early Harvest results in a fabulous Sour Cherry Strudel

Yesterday, Frank went over to help our son in law install some light fixtures.  He came home with a gallon bag of sour cherries that Pierre had gotten from their tree in the backyard.

They were beautiful and we spent a good while pitting them all.  I then used 5 c. for a Cherry Strudel that I will be sharing with you today and froze 5 c. that I will be using to make jam in the near future.

I was surprised to get these gorgeous cherries because, as you can see, my cherries won't be ready for a while yet.  What a difference 25 miles makes.

I have never made a strudel before.  I started out by cooking the cherries with sugar and cornstarch to sweeten, thicken and soften them.  They are now like canned cherry pie filling.  I placed them in the refrigerator overnight along with a package of frozen phyllo dough to thaw.

Once you have the cherries done the only other things you need are some panko bread crumbs, phyllo dough and melted butter.  With this recipe I was able to get 3 large and 2 small strudels.  You can make 4 large or 8 small  or any combination that floats your boat.  The amounts listed in the instructions are for the large strudels

You start by layering the phyllo dough buttering between each layer, using 5 sheets of dough. Sprinkle with the bread crumbs, place the cherries in the center, leaving a border at the sides and ends.

Fold it up like an envelope, brushing with additional butter to seal the seams.  Place it on a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment or covered with a silicone mat and bake in a preheated 400* oven for 20 minutes or until flaky and golden brown.

Remove from pan onto a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely before drizzling with glaze.

 Frank and I each enjoyed a slice for breakfast.  I wrapped this strudel up and sent it with Frank back to Nicole and Pierre's house.  

These tart cherries with a hint of almond and sweet glaze turned out more perfectly than I could even imagine.  This was my first attempt at strudel and all I can say is OH MY YUM!!!

Sour Cherry Strudel

5 c. pitted tart cherries

3/4 c. sugar

3 T. cornstarch

1 t. pure almond extract

1 roll (1/2 package)  frozen phyllo dough, thawed

1 stick butter, melted

1 c. panko bread crumbs

1 c. powdered sugar

1 1/2 T. half and half

Place cherries, sugar, cornstarch and almond extract  in a large heavy sauce pan over med high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.  Reduce heat and simmer for 2 or 3 minutes, stirring often, until thickened. Remove to a bowl and set aside to cool completely. (Can be refrigerated overnight if desired)

Unroll the phyllo dough and lay on a flat work surface covering with plastic wrap.  Remove one sheet of dough and brush with melted butter, keeping the remaining dough covered with the plastic. Remove another sheet, lay on top of first sheet, brush with melted butter.  Repeat until you have layered 5 sheets of dough.  Sprinkle 1/4 of the breadcrumbs over the layered sheets.  Place a rounded 1/2 cup of the cherries in the center of the sheets, leaving a 2" border around all sides.  Starting with the long side, flip the layers over the cherries, fold in the short side like an envelope, flip over the second long side to cover and brush with melted  butter to seal seams. Use a sharp knife to cut 4 or 5 slices along the top to allow the steam to vent.  Repeat this process 4 times.

Place strudels, seam side down, on baking sheets that have been covered with parchment or a silicone mat. Bake in a preheated 400* oven for 20 minutes, until flaky and golden brown.  Remove from pan to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

While strudel is cooling, combine the powdered sugar and half and half, adjusting ingredients if necessary to achieve desired consistency.  Drizzle over cooled strudels.  Print Recipe

Taco Casserole

I had chicken tacos on the menu for today but then Father's Day happened and I was left with some leftover ground beef so I needed to use that up.  I also had leftover lettuce and tomato that we used to dress our burgers.  I started nosing around my pantry and pulled out a can of black beans and some homemade salsa that I had put up last season.  I had about 1/2 package of taco shells, a can of green chiles and in the refrigerator I found some shredded Mexican blend cheese.

So what's a girl to do but to make a Taco Casserole? Now just on a side note.....it is hot here today.  I am lucky enough to have an oven in my basement and an oven in my grill.  I used the one outside today for this dinner.  If you are not that lucky save this recipe for day when you aren't going to die of heat prostration if you turn on the oven.

It only takes a half hour in the oven.  Just long enough to heat through the layers, melt the cheese and crisp the shells on top of the casserole.

This casserole will feed 3-4 people or 2 for dinner with leftovers for lunch the next day.  Garnish with lettuce and tomatoes and serve.  A dollop of sour cream would be nice too but I didn't have any.

You absolutely are going to want to try this!!!  It contains just the right amount of heat and is ready in less than an hour which makes it the perfect weeknight meal.  Serve this up with one of Frank's Fantastic Margaritas and you will cool right down and start your evening off right.

Taco Casserole

1 lb. ground beef (or meat of choice)

1/4 c. taco seasoning

3/4 c. water

1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (4.5 oz) can green chiles

3/4 c. salsa

6 hard corn taco shells

1/2 c. shredded Mexican blend cheese

1 c. lettuce of your choice, in bite size pieces

1 large tomato, seeded and diced

Brown ground meat in a skillet over med heat.  Add taco seasoning and water.  Bring to a boil, stir in beans and cook until liquid is absorbed.  Crush up 3 of the taco shells and place in the bottom of an 8" casserole.  Place the meat and bean mixture on top of the crushed shells.  Combine the salsa and chiles and lay over the meat mixture.  Crush the remaining taco shells and combine with the shredded cheese.  Lay over the top.  Bake in a preheated 350* oven for 25-35minutes.  Garnish with Lettuce and Tomatoes.  Print Recipe

Poached Cod on Wilted Spinach with Blueberry Vinaigrette for #CrazyIngredientChallenge

Well the votes have been tallied and the Crazy Ingredients in this month's challenge are....drum roll please.....Spinach and Blueberries.   Wowza....can't get any crazier than that LOL.

Well, okay, not very crazy unless you are talking about crazy good and then they are the perfect ingredients!

I considered taking the easy way out and doing a smoothie, but my blender is packed.  Then I thought about taking an even easier way out and making a spinach salad that contained blueberries...well, I kinda did that....but I felt guilty about it so I decided to try to amp it up a bit.

I had picked up a gorgeous bag of spinach when I was at the Farmer's Market over the weekend.  It is not blueberry season here yet in Michigan but the produce market was filled with some wonderful looking blueberries so I picked some up.  

I had bought some cod that was on sale to serve on Fish Friday and thought the Spinach and Blueberries would be a great foil for the fish. I decided to poach the fish in white wine flavored with jalapenos, salt and limes.  

I cooked down some of the blueberries with white wine, balsamic vinegar, a little brown sugar, and some minced jalapeno pepper.

When the blueberries were softened and bursting open, I strained them through a fine mesh, pressing to release all the inner goodness into the bowl.

I whisked in some extra virgin olive oil and while the vinaigrette was still warm I tossed it with the spinach and fresh blueberries to wilt it without cooking it.

I plated the wilted salad on a plate, topped it with the poached cod and drizzled on some extra vinaigrette.  It was very tasty.  The buttery goodness of the cod played off very nicely to the sweetness of the salad.  I paired this with a Domaine Daulny Sancerre from the central Loire Valley in France.  You can read about the pairing here.

I hope you enjoy my spinach and blueberry concoction.  You will find the other posts featuring blueberries and spinach following the recipe.  

Poached Cod on Wilted Spinach with Blueberry Vinaigrette

2 (6 oz) portions cod fillet

1 c. dry white wine

1 lime cut into chunks

salt to taste

1 jalapeno pepper, halved (remove seeds and membrane according to taste)

1 large bunch spinach, washed and dried

2 c. blueberries, divided

1/4 c. dry white wine

1/2 T. brown sugar

1 jalapeno, minced

1 T. balsamic vinegar

2 T. extra virgin olive oil

Place wine, lime, salt and jalapeno in a med skillet over med high heat.  Cover and bring to a boil. Add the cod, lower heat to low and simmer until flaky, about 7-10 minutes.

Place spinach and 3/4 c. blueberries into a large bowl.

Place 1 1/4 c. blueberries in a small sauce pan with the 1/4 c. wine, brown sugar, vinegar and jalapeno.  Bring to a boil and cook until liquid is reduced and berries are softened and bursting. Strain into a small bowl through fine mesh, pressing on solids.  Whisk in the olive oil.  While still warm add desired amount to the spinach and blueberries, tossing to wilt the spinach.

Divide the spinach between 2 plates, top with the poached cod and drizzle with additional vinaigrette if desired.  Print Recipe

More Spinach and Blueberry Combinations.

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