Family Time - Three Cheese, Tomato and Basil Panini

Besides Cooking School the past week, we have shared a lot of family time. One meal we didn't cook was an early Father's Day get together with Daddy at the Shelby Cafe. Breakfast is a favorite meal and we all like to go to the Cafe, so Libby sent out an email that anyone who could work it out could meet at the Cafe at 8:30 Tuesday morning. Tuesday morning at 8:30 about 14 of us came to breakfast. It was relaxing to not be cooking. And it was a joy to be together.

And talk about joy. We also shared family time with Quinn and Mary Katherine during the last week. The boys dashed out for a float for MK and I shared some quality floating time with her one day. Actually, she liked being held in the pool better than sitting in the float and I think I liked it better too. She is sweet and independent and curious and she notices everything. Watching her notice things is mesmerizing.

There were a lot of birds in the backyard and since Mary Katherine couldn't tell me not to, I started singing about birds. It was one of the songs that we used to sing in Lattimore. We had a Mitch Miller record with the words to every song printed on the album cover. We learned all the words to Mitch's songs and it's amazing how you can remember words to songs years later. So I started singing:

"When the red red robin comes bob bob bobbing along -- ALONG!
There'll be no more sobbing when he starts throbbing his own -- sweet SONG!
WAKE up WAKE up you sleepy head, GET up Get up Get outta bed
Cheer up Cheer Up the sun is red
LIVE LOVE LAUGH AND BE HAPPY!

What if I am blue, still I'm walking through fields -- of FLOWERS!
I'm just a kid again, doing what I did again
For HOURS and HOURS!
I'm just a kid again, doing what I did again
SING-ING a Song....
When the red red robin comes Bob bob Bobbing along!"

I really was just a kid again. There are places in the song when you use a lot of GUSTO and Mary Katherine was all in on those parts. No surprise that she understands drama. It was so fun having MK in town. It was amazing to just observe as she explored everywhere and noticed everything around her then made eye contact and grinned.

Quinn, Amanda, Mary Katherine and I spent some quality floating time later on and enjoyed fresh peaches. Inside and outside of the pool. I didn't know that peaches will float. Or that a peach can make a really great pool toy. I also didn't know that Webb's has over 30 varieties of peaches. The ones coming in now are amazingly sweet and I was glad Amanda brought some to share.

Since we stayed outside so long, I decided to fix Paninis for lunch. Paninis are a big part of our Lunchtime Cooking School. You can put just about anything on just about any kind of bread and in 3-5 minutes you will have an awesome sandwich. We got a panini press and a recipe book for Christmas and have loved using it. The boys have gotten into it as well and they have designed some real masterpieces.

But when Quinn, Amanda and MK were here I wanted to make a Three Cheese, Tomato and Fresh Basil Panini on Sourdough Bread. So I layered a little Monterey Jack Cheese with Jalapeno, Mozzarella and Saga Blue with Brie on the bread. Then I added Fresh Tomato Slices and Lots of Fresh Basil. I brushed the bread with Tuscan Flavored Olive Oil and loaded it into the pannini press. In less than 5 minutes we were enjoying a crusty, fresh panini. And enjoying family time.

Tuesday Night Cooking School - John and Jessica's Baked Salmon

For Tuesday night Cooking School we decided to see what else besides chicken was on sale. Lucky for us we found NY Strips and Fresh Salmon. It was just the right time to try John and Jessica's Baked Salmon with Jalapenos. John and Jessica had mentioned this recipe recently and I had wanted to try it ever since. It is healthy, quick, easy and really delicious. If you can find salmon on sale it's just about perfect. And I like that it is baked in aluminum foil which makes clean up really easy.

John and Jessica said the salmon is great with rice, but since we had cooked rice dishes for the last two nights, we decided on Sis's Scallopped Potatoes. (recipe on Feb 20, 2011 blogpost)

Peeling the potatoes and slicing thin turned out to be the biggest challenge for Sis' recipe. But the Cooking School students took turns and persevered.

Lucky for us, Jesse had come over to take part in Cooking School and dug right in. She gave us some tips on tenderizing and seasoning steak and then made a delicious dipping sauce.

They also made Carol's Fantastic French Dressing and were amazed at how quick and easy that is. And, as Carol says, you just about always have all the ingredients on hand. (recipe on August 21, 2010 blogpost) We had plenty of cherry tomatoes and cucumbers in the garden for a fresh chopped salad.

While salmon was on sale, I bought two more pieces so we could make this dish again. Thanks John and Jessica! It's a keeper.


John and Jessica's Baked Salmon

Salmon
Olive Oil
Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder
Lemon Slices
Fresh Jalapeno Slices

We added fresh dill because it goes great with salmon and also because we had a lot in the garden.

Put salmon on foil and sprinkle lightly with olive oil and spices. Place lemon and jalapeno slices on top. Add fresh dill if you want. Fold up the aluminum foil to make it airtight. Bake at 450 degrees for about 20 minutes. When you open up the foil you will be hit with a wonderful aroma of salmon, spices, lemon and jalapeno.
Quick, easy, healthy and really good.

Cooking School - California Chicken

One day last week Jay and David started talking about learning to cook some of their favorite meals. So we decided to turn supper time into Cooking School.

Chicken was on sale so it was a good time to learn how to make Grilled Chicken and California Chicken.

On Sunday night we marinated several pieces of chicken in Zesty Italian Dressing and grilled them over charcoal. We renamed this old favorite District 12 Chicken in honor of the coal district portrayed in the recent movie uptown.

For a side the boys made our version of Weasy's Rice. I call it Weasy's rice because years ago I got the recipe from Jane who got it from Weasy. I'm sure the recipe has changed over time and actually we make it with several variations. On Sunday night, the boys mixed 1 cup of rice with 2 cans of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup. For extra flavor, they sauteed a little celery and onion in butter and mixed that in too. Then they baked it for about about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

While the rice was baking, the grilling session of Cooking School began. David was in charge of the grilling and you know they learned from the master. They grilled the chicken and then grilled buttered toast which turned out great. District 12 Chicken, Weasy's Rice and Grilled Toast is a winner.

Monday night we had more chicken. One of the boys first Cooking School requests was California Chicken - based on Mrs. Smith's recipe in the first Charity League cookbook. This recipe is a go-to stand by for us because it is so good and so easy.

It's really quick to put together and then it goes in the oven for 1 1/2 hours. Quick and Easy couldn't have been a better choice for Monday Night Cooking School because we had the unexpected pleasure of a visit from Mary Katherine.

The boys assembled California Chicken and put it in the oven. Mary Katherine and I played and rocked on the front porch. What could possibly be more fun?


California Chicken

Grease a 9 x 13 pyrex dish with butter
Layer One envelope of Dry Onion Soup Mix
Layer uncooked rice (regular, not minute rice)
*The recipe calls for 1 cup rice but we use about 1 1/2 cups and add a little extra water halfway through the baking if it looks dry
Layer Chicken - we like to use boneless breasts and thighs but you can use with bones. The amount of chicken depends on the size of the pieces. We put as much chicken as we can fit into the dish. You can cut the boneless breasts in half.

Mix together 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup with a can of water and pour over chicken
Dot with butter and sprinkle a little black pepper

Bake at 325 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Check about halfway through and if the rice looks dry you can add a little more water.

On Monday night, we had California Chicken with a salad and cold, juicy watermelon. It was delicious, easy to put together and gave us lots of time to play with MK!

What month is this? And Who is Jake Wade? - Jake Wade's Blue Cheese Dressing

It was hard to tell where May ended and June started. And with the extreme heat the last few weeks felt like July anyway. In fact it kinda feels like we have packed three months worth of activity into the last few weeks.

My USTA tennis team wound up play on a steamy hot night. Our season started out with some great wins but as the weather heated up so did our opponents. We finished in the middle of our league which was better than last place last year so we celebrated the seasons end with some team time together at Joe's for dinner. Several teammates are playing summer leagues but I'm looking forward to playing early morning beat the heat tennis for a while just for the fun.

The hydrangea bush that I planted several years ago has grown huge with the most beautiful light blue flowers. Beth, Carol or I have clipped flowers almost daily for interesting arrangements. My most unusual mix was to put fluffy blue hydrangea blooms with lacey white flowers from an overgrown cilantro plant. This turned out so pretty and reminded me of wedding flowers. And speaking of weddings, the boys attended a fun wedding recently. It was the first wedding of the newly graduated college crowd and I am sure there will be many more to follow. Weddings are such a happy time and the boys really enjoyed themselves at this one.

Work has been fun and exciting lately too. Hollywood came to Shelby for filming parts of a movie and that made for some new experiences around town for a lot of people. The thing that struck me the most was just how team oriented the movie business is. There are location people scouting for space, set designers, casting people, set builders, then prop people, art people, lighting people, actors, extras, directors, producers and a bunch of other people to house, feed, clothe, and otherwise support the production. It's even more team oriented than that in that first there were the three great books and whatever it takes to get a book to a script. Then after the 78 days of filming there will be editing and special effects and who knows what else before the movie is released next March. Needless to say you begin to understand why movies take so long and have such big budgets.

But the main thing I noticed in observing a fraction of this movie project was just how calm and courteous and professional everyone seemed. Even when it was way too hot and when there were a ton of different things going on. No doubt it takes a lot of discipline and patience to be involved with making a movie. One veteran told me that they are kind of like ducks on the water. On the surface the cast and crew seem serene and graceful and calm, but underneath they are paddling like crazy. Mostly, they all seemed to enjoy what they are doing and they seemed to enjoy working together. Definitely they were a joy for us and it was also good for the local economy.

We cooled off at the Lake a couple of times recently and enjoyed Music on the Martin Deck with Jackson and his Calm and Collective friends. Their Fusion Reggae with a Sax sounded great and while we missed some songs and friends from the old days it is fun to see and hear a new generation of Music on the Martin Deck. Here's to more music this summer and maybe a chance to fuse some "I Can't Stop Loving You" with some Beatles and Willie and CCR and The Honk into the mix. You never really can predict what might happen with Music on the Deck. But you can almost always predict that somewhere along the way there will be Dancing on the Deck.

While we were at the Lake I made our first BLTs and Fried Squash of the summer. It's hard to beat a BLT and fried squash and no doubt that will be on the menu again as the fresh squash starts coming in. (Fried Squash recipe on July 7, 2010 blogpost)

And speaking of the garden, we picked our first cherry tomatoes, jalapenos, sweet peppers and cucumbers this week. David IV had weeded the garden but I asked him to leave the volunteer zinnias because I love them. So now we have a strange mix of vegetable garden and zinnias growing together. Mama Crowder most likely would not approve of this. I ran into Dickie the other day and mentioned it to him. He reminded me that if you plant marigolds in the garden it will act as an insect repellent. We laughed wondering if maybe the same holds true of the zinnias. As a matter of fact I haven't noticed alot of critters on the vegetables so far.

Last night, I wanted to use the fresh cherry tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers from the garden for a cool refreshing salad. So I chopped some crispy cold iceberg lettuce and mixed in the fresh garden veggies. I added crispy bacon and sauteed chicken strips and topped it off with homemade Blue Cheese Dressing.

I have had a recipe called Jake Wade's Blue Cheese dressing for many years. The funny thing is I thought I had gotten this recipe from my neighbor, Mrs. Sarazen. The Sarazen's have travelled all over the world and tasted wonderful flavors from many places. I was certain that Jake Wade's Dressing came from an exotic restaurant somewhere that the Sarazens liked and I had always tried to picture Jake Wade. So I called Libby and Mrs. Sarazen to ask about Jake. Neither of them had heard of him. And they use a completely different blue cheese dressing recipe.

So now I have no idea where I got Jake Wade's recipe but I love it. Thanks Jake whoever you are.

Jake Wade's Blue Cheese Dressing

3 oz Roquefort Cheese*
4 oz Blue Cheese*
*I use all blue cheese but not the already crumbled kind. Buy a block and crumble it yourself.
2 Cups Mayo** (Hellmans for me)
**This dressing is really thick. To make it thinner, sometimes I use 1 1/2 cups mayo with 1/2 cup buttermilk. Or use 2 cups mayo and thin with regular milk.

2 TBSP vinegar (I used cider vinegar, but the recipe calls for wine vinegar)
2 TBSP olive oil (or less)
5-6 shakes celery salt
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp msg (I always omit this)
Dash Parsley flakes or fresh if you have it
Juice of one lemon (or one capful of bottled juice)

Combine everything except cheese and lemon juice and blend well. Then add lemon juice and cheese and blend. This is also a great dressing for chicken wings or for a vegetable dip with carrot and celery sticks. It keeps well in the refrigerator and gets better as the flavors mingle.