Spinach Leaf Wrap

It's been a while since I posted one of my recipes, and I thought - with the hot weather approaching (and here for some of us) - that a nice, cool finger food would be just the thing.


Kili's Spinach Wrap

1 bundle Fresh spinach (not the baby stuff, the real stuff)
1/2 pound Twaróg (any soft, creamy goat cheese will work, though)
2 tbsp heavy cream (might want more, or less - this really depends on how creamy your goat cheese starts out)
7 ounces Kalamata olives
6 sundried tomatoes
Handful of pine nuts
2 garlic cloves
1 sprig fresh dill
1 bundle of fresh rosemary (if you grow your own, a couple of sprigs will do)
6 ounces Prosciutto (thinly sliced smoked Salmon works as well)
White Wine (Pinot Grigio is my preference)
toothpicks

**my measurements here are educated guesses as I've always made this "by the seat of my pants"**

Wash the spinach thoroughly, trim, stem and pat dry. You want to be absolutely certain all the sand and grit are off of the leaves. If the leaves are very large, you may consider cutting them in half for easier use later.

In a food processor, place half of the "leaves" off the dill (if you don't have fresh, a pinch of dry will do), "leaves" off of one sprig of rosemary, the tomatoes, garlic (having peeled it first), about 7 olives (pits removed), and pine nuts^*. Blend until a paste forms. Then add the cheese and mix until well blended. At this point, begin to add the cream and just a splash of white wine. You are aiming for a mixture that is spreadable and creamy.^**

Lay a spinach leaf out flat, spread a thin layer of the cheese mix over the leaf, place a thin slice of Proscuitto/Salmon on the cheese and then roll the leaf to make a "wrap" - leaf side out. You can use a toothpick to hold the wrap closed if you desire. I generally just place it seal down on the platter.

Repeat this until one or all of your ingredients run out. I generally have enough of a snack here to make a nice, light meal. I suggest chilling this for about 30 minutes before serving so that it is nice and chilled.

Lay a sprig or two of rosemary on the side of the platter and sprinkle with chopped Kalamata olives for presentation.

Serve with the rest of the wine, good music and great company.

If you are using this as an appetizer for a dinner party, I would follow it with:

Smoked leg of lamb
Asparagus (tossed in a wok with a quality basalmic vinegar and EVOO and maybe a sprinkle of lemon salt - just long enough to warm the asparagus through, no longer)
Couscous (spiced with dill, rosemary, garlic and tarragon ...and I'm a mushroom fanatic so I'd prolly toss in some morels as well)
Rolls w/ honey butter
A nice Merlot

^* Note: I've occassionally tossed capers into this mix. If you do - be sure to reduce the number of olives or you over salt yourself big time.

^** Note: I would avoid using a red wine for this. However, if you do not wish to use wine, a nice EVOO will work as well.

^*** Note: This cheese mixture also tastes great as a spread for crackers.

Random update

So, my car finally gave up the ghost. It was going to cost me well over $6.5k to get fixed and...well...I just don't have that kind of cash sitting around.

All things considered, taking out a loan for that kind of repair on an 11 year old car with 160k miles on it just made no sense. The maintenance on it was getting worse and worse as it got older. That is only to be expected, I know. However, I felt it was time to investigate a new vehicle. Enter TJ.

I contacted a company and got a very reasonable deal on an auto loan, with zero down, 5 years and a fairly low interest rate. Then I went for a drive around town to various dealerships.

As I zipped into one, TJ caught my eye. I zero'd in on it, spotted the sticker stating it was - indeed - for sale and made a beeline for the door. Understand - this is how I shop. One of the many things about myself A saved me from when we were together.

I walk in, snag a sales guy, tell him, "I have a pre-approved loan, all the paperwork you will need and I want that Jeep. Get me out of here in under two hours." He just looked at me - I think I temporarily shut down his brain functions.

I said, "Well, I could get someone else?"

He snapped to, and only three minutes over two hours later, I walked out the door owning a 2004 Jeep Wrangler Sport...with only 10k miles on it, and only one previous owner....a man in his late 70s.

I justify my purchase (gas consumption wise) by rationalizing that I ride my motorcycle the majority of the year....well, that and my TerraPass.

I've been knitting away at a pair of Jaywalker socks (toe up) in this really sweet yarn. I am nearly done with one sock and should be starting the other in a couple of days. No picture, right now; but, I'll have one up when I finish the first sock.

I took a break from knitting for a while when life was rather insane. Just buried myself in other and sundry things and ignored the world around me. Happens from time to time, but I'm back now. Watch out. *grins*

Gloria's shawl is still a WIP^*, and I can honestly say I have no idea when I will finish it...though it is lovely. It just takes so much attention; and, I'm seriously lacking that, right now, since I'm knitting in rush hour traffic and while laying dead in my game waiting for the fight to end so I can come back alive and kick some more cartoon butt. Yeah, phear me.

I was in Aliso Viejo last week for work (I really do dig my current job). So, I hooked up with a friend while I was out there and we went to this restaurant called Claim Jumper. When we arrived, there was a fairly significant wait, but we were in no rush and just kicked back and chit chatted.

A while later we were taken to our table and ordered fire roasted artichokes. My first experience with this particular food, and I have to say that while it was not a bad experience...I can't make myself rave over it. It was tasty, but nothing to "write home about".

We ordered our main course and noshed more on our appetizer, not paying a lick of attention to the time ticking by.

The next thing we know, someone is coming up to our table and apologizing profusely. It was the restaurant manager. It seemed our meals were just then being prepared and they were just horribly contrite over the length of time it was taking to get our food to us.

We were startled, to be honest. We had not realized much time had passed and we still had more than half our appetizer left. We told them not to worry about it, and went back to our conversation.

We wound up with two people checking up on us from then until we were ready to leave - the meals themselves were tasty and very filling. I wouldn't have kept the name of the restaurant in mind, though, had it not been for how very solicitous they were and how excellent the service was...and...this is the kicker.

As we were preparing to leave, we asked for the bill and got informed that the restaurant was absorbing the cost. **blinks** We had run up at $120 bill...and they were covering it. Neither of us felt comfortable leaving without paying something since we'd enjoyed ourselves and experienced absolutely no discomfort whatsoever from the "unexcusable delay" in receiving our main course.

As a matter of fact, our main course arrived perfectly timed in our opinion, as we had just finished our appetizer when they arrived at our table. We left a significant tip and agreed that the restaurant deserved a visit again the next time we were in town.

Saturday, I went to see Shrek the Third. Oh my goodness! I want a plushy Dronkey. They are soooooo cute!!

It was an adorable movie, though there are aspects of it that I find myself wishing had been not so "moral of the story" oriented. But, as usual, Shrek had me laughing and enjoying myself throughout.

It doesn't hurt that I'd watched the "making of" a few weeks prior and so was spending a huge amount of time eyeing the movie and picking out various aspects that had been mentioned. It isn't a bad thing that I had some very nice company for the movie, either.

Overall, life is going well. I love my job, love my hobbies, love my friends and am comfortable in my skin (for the most part - need to tweak the whole workout thing again). It's a good place to be.

Maybe that's why I can't sleep - I keep waiting for the bottom to fall out from under me. *laughs* There's something wrong with a person when they panic when things are going well, and sleep like a baby when all hell is breaking loose.

Oh! By the way. I'm considering various ways of decreasing the inflow:outflow ratio of my finances (buying a car, no matter how well priced is expensive) and have cut a lot of things out of my budget. If it doesn't help alleviate the differential as much as I'd like, I may have to consider a roommate (per my landlord's approval and my ability to reduce my clutter at home). Any suggestions or such on how to go about finding a reliable, tolerable individual to share my space with would be greatly appreciated. *grins*


_{* WIP = Work in Progress}

Pet Food - Real Food

Food recalls suck. Particularly ones that affect those you love. In this case, I am worried about my puppies. I fed them Nutro. Nutro dry is not one of the foods being recalled; however, it has just spurred me on to break away from the whole dog food thing. I've never been a huge fan anyway.

So, at least I will start eating right, again.

How do those two go together? Well, I'm really bad about getting to the grocery store to feed just myself. I tend to just grab something quick and not worry about it. This, of course, means I don't eat correctly...not like I do when I have someone to cook for. I love to cook for others, for myself I tend to be really blah about the whole cooking thing. I just don't eat enough to make it worthwhile.

However, now that I'm going to be shopping for the boys and cooking for them anyway...well, you see how that works.

So, what will I be putting in their "custom" meals? Ground meat, veggies (carrots, peas, potato), cottage cheese, rice and sardines. Yup - talk about not something I'd want to eat. However, it's healthy and nutritious for them.

And, since I'll get the meat from a local butcher who only carries meat from local people and the veggies from the local fresh market...I'm pretty content that it will be healthy for them...and what do you know, it will wind up being healthy for me too.

Next Stop - The Twilight Zone

I sent dad one of my recipes earlier via email.

He'd asked for a copy of it...my Grand Mariner Cheesecake recipe.

He wrote back telling me if I didn't want to share that was fine - but stop teasing the man with the weak heart....

I'd left out the ingredients and just sent the instructions.

Yeah...it's been one of those weeks.

Somebody save the girl.

I'm begging you.

Kili's Stuffed Beef Tenderloin

Kili's Stuffed Beef Tenderloin
Servings vary depending on tenderloin size

1 whole beef tenderloin
1 cup feta
20 ounces fresh, chopped spinach
3 sundried tomatoes in oil
1 handful of black, Greek olives
1 handful morel mushrooms
Basil
Thyme
Rosemary
Toothpicks

Crust:
1 egg
Italian bread crumbs

Marinade:
1 cup merlot
1 diced yellow onion
3 crushed garlic cloves
crushed Black pepper

Garnish:
A sprig of rosemary
chopped black olives


Directions:

MARINADE: Combine merlot, onion, garlic, black pepper. Slice tenderloin lengthwise in a spiral cut to lay open. Place in container and cover with marinade. Let stand for 1 hour in refridgerator. Turn over, let stand another hour.

FILLING: Crumble feta into medium bowl. Add spinach. Dice the sundried tomatoes, olives and morels. Mix in with the feta. Add one pinch basil, thyme and rosemary.

In a small bowl, whisk egg.

Take tenderloin from the marinade and lay on a broiler safe baking sheet. Place filling along the center of the tenderloin, lengthwise. You are going to roll the tenderloin closed and "pin" the edges together with the toothpicks. I, personally, use a long, metal sheeskabob skewer just for safety's sake since this is going in a broiler.

Coat tenderloin in egg and roll in the bread crumbs. Place tenderloin on the baking sheet and place in broiler. After two minutes, turn tenderloin over and let broil another 3 minutes.

This gives you a medium rare tenderloin...at least in my oven. Oven broilers vary, and you may need to cook slightly longer depending on your range.

Remove from broiler, carefully remove toothpicks/skewer and place on serving plate with sealed side down.

Place a sprig of fresh rosemary to the side and sprinkle chopped olives over the top.

Serve immediately.

Cheesecake recipe

Please excuse the crappy photo. Still don't have a real camera.

Crust:

1 C flour
1/4 C Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa
1/4 C sugar
1 t lemon zest
1 t mandarin zest
1/2 t Villa Vanilla pure vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
1/3 C Irish unsalted sweet cream butter (softened)

Filling:

5 pkgs (8oz) cream cheese
1 3/4 C sugar
5 T all purpose flour
1 1/2 t lemon zest
1 1/2 t mandarin zest
1/4 t Villa Vanilla pure vanilla extract
5 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/4 C vanilla yogurt
1 shot Grand Mariner
Juice from two mandarin oranges

Topping:

½ bar Ghirardelli dark chocolate (grated)
1 Terry’s Chocolate Orange

....Additional items....

9.5 inch (24.13 cm) spring pan
Rolling pin
Extra flour


Instructions - crust bottom:

Preheat oven to 400° F (204.5° C).

In a small bowl mix all crust ingredients with finger tips until it forms a smooth round ball. Wrap in wax paper and chill for ~30 min. Break off one third of the dough and place the remaining back into the chiller. I always have issues getting my dough from the table top to the bottom of the pan, so I use the following method.

Lightly flour the working surface and the rolling pin. Flatten the dough and lightly roll until about 1/4" ( .635 cm). Place the dough onto the bottom of the spring pan and slightly coat the rolling pin again with flour. Roll out the dough on the bottom of the pan until it is even with the lip. Then, using your fingers, lightly stretch the dough until it completely covers the bottom of the spring pan.

Place in the preheated oven and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the crust is slightly crisp.

Remove and place on cooling racks. Let cool completely.

Instructions - Filling:

Preheat the oven to 500° F (260° C)

In a large bowl alternate mixing the creamed cheese, the eggs and egg yolks, the flour and the sugar. Somewhere in the process add in the zests, mandarin juice and Grand Marnier. Once the mixture is thoroughly mixed (but with a few lumps) add the vanilla and yogurt.


Instructions - construction:

Now that the bottom sections are completely cooled, place the spring form on the bottom of the pan and lock down.

Take the remaining dough and roll out fairly thin. Cut into 2 1/2" (6.35 cm) strips and fit to the sides of the spring form, sealing the sides to the bottom. Pour in the filling and place in the center of the oven.

After 10 minutes reduce the temperature to 250° F (121° C) and bake for an hour, or until the center just jiggles. Remove to a cooling rack for several hours and chill thoroughly.

Just before serving, grate the dark chocolate bar over the top of the chessecake and then place slices of the Terry's Orange around the center.

This recipe should comfortably serve 12.

Clafoutis

My plan for what next to make for the boys at work.

Two Berry Clafoutis
Serves 6.

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries
1 1/2 cups fresh blackberries
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 ounces whole, blanched almonds
1 ounce whole macadamia nuts
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon light rum
Confectioner's sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease an 8-inch-square baking dish with one tablespoon of the butter. Melt the remaining butter and set aside.

Mix the flour, macadamia nuts and almonds together and place in a food processor until finely ground. Add the sugar and cornstarch (a pinch of salt if desired) and mix again. Mix in the eggs one by one, being sure to mix thoroughly after each addition. Pour in the liquid ingredients (including the melted butter from earlier), and mix again until well blended. The mixture will be thin, like crepe batter.

Cut the berries into bite sized bits, and arrange in a single layer in the prepared dish. Drizzle the batter over the berries. Put the dish in the oven to bake for 40 minutes, until puffy and set.

Transfer dish to a rack, and let cool to room temperature.

Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar, and serve directly from the baking dish.

---

Knitting oriented, I've made a wee bit of progress on the Kiri and the socks and the garter stitch shawl is flying along. The Ark is just something I can't seem to get my heart into, right now. I think because the weather has been in the 90's recently, and working with that wool is making my hands sweat.

I had a great time out at Borders with the LSSK gals the other night and look forward to the weekend visit on the 21st down in Buda.

Chicken Florentine:

INGREDIENTS:

20 ounces fresh, chopped spinach
1/4 cup butter
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
Basil (to taste)
Thyme (to taste)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup and 3/4 cup half-and-half or whipping cream
5 cups cooked chicken, sliced
3/4 cup chicken broth
Pepper (to taste)
Fresh, grated Parmesan cheese
Pasta of choice

PREPARATION:

Cook spinach (if using frozen instead of fresh, follow package instructions), drain well.

In a skillet, melt 1 tablespoon butter; add minced garlic, basil, and thyme. Mix in 2 tbsp flour. Cook over medium low heat, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes. Add 1/3 cup half-and-half and the spinach; simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Cook chicken and cut into slices and add into sauce pan with spinach.

Over medium low heat, melt remaining butter and blend in remaining flour, stirring until smooth. Gradually stir in 3/4 cup half-and-half and 3/4 cup chicken broth; continue cooking and stirring until thickened. Season with pepper.

Add to the sauce pan with the chicken and spinach. Simmer for 10 min while cooking pasta.

Serve over pasta with garlic bread and top with freshly grated paremssan.

Kilsharion's Apple Streusel Cobbler

Ingredients:

Filling:
5 tart/mixed apples
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 lemon

Batter:
2 eggs
1 can (14 oz.) Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:
3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. granulated sugar
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tbsp. butter

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375°F.

For Filling: Peel, core and slice the apples. Put a tsp of fresh squeezed lemon juice in enough water to cover the apples and let them rest there until ready to put into the baking dish. Make the slices a decent size or the apples will desentigrate while cooking. Place in the bottom of a 9 inch square baking dish. Mix sugar, flour and cinnamon together and put over the apples. The apples will supply enough juice from the baking process to turn this into a nice filling. You can add some butter to this filling, if you wish. I wouldn't go over 2 tbsp, though.

For Batter: Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix together liquid ingredients in a small bowl and slowly mix into the dry mixture. Beat until smooth. Pour into baking dish over the apples and sugar mixture.

For Streusel Topping: Combine 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon in small bowl. Cut in 2 tablespoons butter with pastry blender or two knives until mixture is crumbly. Set aside in the refrigerator.

Bake about 30 minutes at 375°F or until apples are soft and the batter is starting to brown very slightly. Sprinkle the Streusel topping over the hot cobbler and bake for 10 more minutes.

NOTE: This recipe calls for Condensed milk, NOT evaporated milk.

© 2001

Kilsharion's Fruit Tart

Ingredients:

Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour/wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar (or Splenda)
1/2 cup butter (or Veggie butter)
1 egg (or egg substitute)
powdered sugar

Filling:
12 ounces cream cheese (or Veggie cream cheese)
1/3 cup sour cream (or Veggie sour cream)
1/2 cup sugar (or Splenda)
1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange rind
3 tablespoons orange juice

Puree*:
2.5 cups mixed berries (this batch has strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries) or other fruit preference
7 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons orange juice
1 1/2 tablespoons arrowroot
1 1/2 tablespoons water

Garnish:
Whole berries or diced fruit, amount to personal taste

Directions:

1. For crust: In large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, egg and butter. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often until mixture is well combined. This should take 7 or 8 minutes. Mixture will be very sticky. Use the powdered sugar to coat hands and take pieces of the dough and press to 1/4" thickness on bottom and sides of 10" tart pan with removable bottom. It works best if you sprinkle the powdered sugar over it as you press it out, too. This will help keep you from getting stuck to your dough. Chill for 1 hour. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool. You may have some raised areas, where the dough has lifted a little. If this happens, simply press down on the cooked dough and it will reconform to the shape desired.

2. For filling: Beat together softened cream cheese with sour cream. Add sugar, grated rind and juice and beat until smooth. Spread evenly over prepared crust and refrigerate.

3. For puree: Rinse processor. Place berries in bowl and process until pureed. Place in saucepan and cook on medium heat 2 to 3 minutes. Add sugar and continue to cook another 5 minutes. Gradually add arrowroot mixture to thicken. Cool.

4. Pour cooled puree over filling. Garnish by placing fresh or partially thawed individual berries/diced fruit over top. Refrigerate at least two hours or until serving time.

Just before serving, remove sides of pan. Best when served within 24 hours.

Serves 8-10

_{* For a more colorful approach, try using different color fruit purees. Cover half the filling with berry puree and other half with peach puree. Garnish with fresh or partially thawed berries, diced peaches and sliced or diced kiwi in a decorative line where the two colors meet.}

© 1998

Kilsharion's Mediterranean Chicken/Tofu

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts/extra firm tofu
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
8 oz Feta
3 oz Sundried tomatoes
Basil
Oregano
Sage
Black Pepper (if you have it on hand, a mix of black, white, green and pink pepper works wonderfully)
Water
2 cups Fresh/refrigerated Tortellini (not dried, if you used dried, figure in a longer
cooking time for the tortellini. Personally, I prefer to make my own so I control what's in them)
1 cup white Wine (Pinot Grigio is what I use)
1 cup White wine Worchester sauce (also known as Worchester sauce for chicken)

Directions:

DO NOT ADD SALT TO THIS RECIPE. Sorry for the caps, but if you do, you will be inundated with salt. The worchester sauce is very salty; and, after reducing while melting/dissolving the feta, it gets even more so. Not to mention the salt in the feta itself.

In a medium sauce pan combine white wine, white whine worchester (also labeled as worchester for chicken, now days). Place over medium heat and bring to a soft boil. Crumble the Feta into the liquid. Chop the sundried tomatoes, basil, oregano, and sage and set aside to add later. You can use dried herbs, if you do just add them when told - later in the process.

Put on your water to begin to boil for tortellini.

Take a skillet and pour a small amount of extra virgin olive oil. Once heated, add the boneless, skinless chicken breasts. If using extra firm tofu, cube the tofu into 1/2 inch (or bite size for you) pieces and then add to the pan.

(if you want garlic bread, preheat the oven, now)

Keep an eye on the sauce. Stir it every few minutes and once the feta begins to dissolve, reduce the heat to keep it at a very soft simmer.

Once the chicken is completed cooking through, take off the skillet and cube into 1/2 inch (or bite size for you) pieces. If working with tofu, just take the skillet off the heat.

(if you want garlic bread, put it in the oven, now)

Once the sauce has dissolved most of the feta and there are just small bits of the cheese left, add the chicken/tofu and sundried tomatoes. Allow to cook for another 10 minutes so that the flavor permeates the chicken/tofu.

Add the tortellini to the boiling water.

Now add the chopped herbs and fresh ground pepper to taste.

Remove tortellini from boiling water.

Remove sauce from heat.

Serve over tortellini immediately.

Enjoy!!

_{Recipe for two.}

Note: If you make this, please let me know what you think. I'd love feedback.

© 1995

Kilsharion's Onion Bread

Ingredients:

2 pkgs active yeast
6 cups 12 grain flour
2 pkgs onion soup mix
salt
water

Directions:

Mix active yeast and 1 1/2 cups warm water. Put 4 cups of flour in large mixing bowl, blend in active yeast liquid with paddle attachment. Add 1/4 cup water and salt (to taste). Add in 2 cups flour and the onion soup mix and beat with bread hook for 10 minutes.

Cover and let rise to three times its size. Punch down. Repeat. Punch down. Repeat. (you can only do this two time instead of three if you prefer)

Bake in 325 degree F oven for 40 to 45 minutes.

Note: this is a very heavy bread.
© 2005