Sheet Pan Sausage & Veggies And Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins, Limelight Hydrangea

This beautiful shrub at our driveway entrance is a Limelight Hydrangea providing some great mid-summer blooms.

Trip To Italy Day 2 & 3 - Castellina and Cooking Class

After a good nights sleep, we were ready for our first full day in Castellina and to do a little recovering from out trip.  While researching our trip with wine tasting as a big part, my research found several listings for Tuscan Wine Regions but the consensus seems to be Chianti, Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Bolgheri, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, and Carmignano and one of my thoughts was to visit them all but I reduced it to five or six.  The Chianti, Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano regions use Sangiovese grapes, Bolgheri wines known as the Super Tuscans use international grapes more typical for French Bordeaux’s, Vernaccia di San Gimignano is known for its dry white wine made from the Vernaccia grape, and Carmignano wines are typically a blend of Sangiovese and international grapes such as cabernet.

So, to begin this day, we went to the Squarcialupi Taverne (located in the hotel) for their buffet breakfast which seemed typical of Italian breakfast and very different than American.  The restaurant is located on the main street of the old city which is closed to vehicles and it lined with touristy businesses.

Bev’s Ride, A Couple Of Dishes, and My Owie

Before we retired, we bought a 1976 red Corvette that was to be Bev’s retirement car but it mostly just sat in the garage until we sold it a few years ago.  Now, she sure looks good in this 2004 Ferrari with 30,000 miles.

Shrimp Cake Sliders

I had some frozen shrimp in the freezer that really needed to be used so I decided to turn them into a dish with lots of other flavors.  The recipe for shrimp burgers came from the “Well Plated by Erin” blog and is described – “This shrimp burger recipe has a perfect texture with no binders. Add Southern or Cajun spices for a fresh, healthy change to summer grilling!”  I followed the recipe except I peeled the shrimp and soaked them in salted milk overnight and I made them slider sized – 3oz.

Awesome Lemon, Chiffon Pie - Thank You Soldiers

HOW CAN WE POSSIBLY THANK THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES SO WE CAN LIVE AS WE DO.

Shrimp Fra Diavolo (Shrimp In Spicy Sauce)

If you missed reading any of these posts, you owe to yourself to check them out as they would all be on the menu at my gourmet restaurant : Kennedy Quiche, Braised Pork Shanks, Chicken Sorrentino, Heirloom Tomato Pie, Holsteiner Schnitzel, Eggplant Involtini, and this one.

I first saw this recipe on the “Ask Chef Dennis” blog and decided it was a dish we should try without the heat for Cindy and Pat.  Then I subscribed to Cook’s Illustrated and opted to use their recipe for Shrimp Fra Diavolo with a few changes beginning with doubling the recipe so we would have leftovers and we served it with the crushed red pepper on the side for those who wanted heat - most of our group does not.  While I’ve seen several simpler recipes for the dish, I still opted to go with the CI one because it cooked the shrimp shells in the sauce.  Cindy did a great job cooking this meal for me.

Braised Pork Shanks

I like to watch “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives” in order to discover places to eat when we travel and to get meal ideas and recipes.  During one show, a restaurant served braised pork shanks topped with salsa verde but they didn’t provide a recipe.  I searched the web and found a recipe from Food & Wine that seemed to fit the bill with some modifications and I hoped would create this.  I don't know the origin of the dish but since I've had it in German restaurants here and in Germany, somewhere in Europe is likely a good guess.

Our First Charcuterie Board and Honey Taste Test

While we have made up several antipastos over the years, we have never done a charcuterie until now.  We bought a nice looking 15"x22” walnut board from a vendor at the Lenoir City Crafts Fair for $85, which seemed like a good price. 

Cheese And Chocolate Fondue For Valentines Day

When I asked Bev what she wanted to eat on Valentine’s Day, I was expecting to hear some sort of grilled meat and most likely beef tenderloin.  But after s few days of thinking about it, she decided she would like fondues.  For dessert, she decided to just melt some Ghiradelli Chocolate Flavored Melting Wafers and for the cheese, we opted to use a copycat recipe from the Melting Pot Restaurant that I found at CopyKat Recipes  I substituted white wine for beer and changed the instructions as we don’t have a fondue pot.

Some Recent Meals & Happenings

Bev works very hard to keep her flower gardens looking good and one of them is around the rock in the middle of our driveway.

Salmon Piccata & Our First Boat Ride

We love salmon and we love crappie in lemon-butter-caper sauce so when I saw this recipe for salmon piccata and recalled that we put capers in our salmon cakes, I knew we had to try it.  I followed the recipe as written but it can be found at All Recipes by clicking on thislink.    This pic is from their site but we served it differently.

Homemade Pizza On The Grill & Strawberry Shortcake

After thinking about it for several hours, Bev decided we should do something fun for supper while Joe was here and she opted for make-your-own pizzas using stuff we had on hand.  She found a dough recipe at A Couple Cooks and made a double batch (one would have been plenty for four individual pizzas).  Rather repeat the recipe here, it can be found by clicking on the link.

Bev made six dough balls and after an hour of proofing, she made a station for each of us to make ours – she did hers by hand and I used a rolling pin for mine.  

Pork Ribs On The Weber & Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

I had previously cooked a pork butt on my Weber Grill with a smoke box for the Thursday meal for our friends and today it was time to give ribs a try.  I cooked two slabs, cut in half, with 1½ for them and a 7-bone half for us.  For my rub, I used my old standard of a mixture of Billy Bones Competition and XXX Cherry put on both sides as thick as would stick.

BLT At The Dock and Strawberry Pie

Now that we have the dock cleaned and open for the season and the temps have moved into the mid to high 80’s, we have moved our happy hour to the lake where the still-cold-water makes the air temp noticeably cooler and we have a great view.

The Best Tuna Casserole & Apple Pie

For this weeks meal for our friends and ourselves, we chose tuna casserole using a recipe I found on the web from Trish at her  Mom on Timeout blog.  Titled The Best Tuna Casserole, it had five stars and sounded very good to me.  The recipe below is doubled for the two casseroles and I added mushrooms but you can click on the link for the original recipe and more pics like this one.

Christmas Dinner With Our Friends – Desserts and Presents

My pretty wife sported her elf outfit for Christmas day - rather than making me a gift, I'd just take I'd take her home as my gift any time.

Impromptu Supper and Apple Pie

While we were at our Crossville Rally week before last, we drove an hour south to visit Wooden’s Apple House where we picked up some Granny Smith apples to go with the Rome’s we already had and Bev decided to whip up an apple pie using a recipe from All Recipes.

While it was baking, the neighbors called to see if they could watch the Tennessee-South Carolina football game with us – they only get local channels and it was on the SEC Network.  While watching the first half of the game, they mentioned they were cooking pinto beans and planning to make corn muffins and suggested they just bring it all down to our place.  It was all good and I really like these impromptu meals.

Bev used a mixture of the two apple varieties and about twice as many as the recipe calls for due to piling them high in her extra big pie dish – it measures 10”x 2½”.  For the extra apples, she doubled the sugar and I thought the pie was just a little sweeter than a sweet apple which is the way I like my pie.  Below is the original recipe, except for the crusts.

Apple Pie by Grandma Ople – Adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients:

2 Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts (Bev’s change)

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.

2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly (or a lot for Bev). 3. 3. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.

4. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

The warm pie was a big hit with everyone and some had theirs ala mode.

And another good part of the day was that UT beat SC (who just beat 3^rd ranked Georgia a couple of weeks ago) by the impressive score of 41-21.  This is three good games in a row for UT (even though they lost to Alabama) and they played much of the second half with the third string quarterback, who did very well.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

10/26/19 event date

Pasta And Cupcakes – Some Good Grub

The daughter of a good friend (also a good friend) recently received her PhD from Purdue and while home for a break, Bev invited her down to do one of her favorite things – make pasta.  They made it using the same recipe and method as a couple of years ago and once again, it turned out very well.

Two Delicious Banana Desserts

You know how it is with intentions, we usually have the best of them and so it was with a recent trip to the store.  Daughter, Kathy, and I were in the store to pick up a few items from a list but she kept walking around picking up items and saying “my girls love this.”  One of these items was a bunch of bananas and to my knowledge they were never touched at home and were soon in a need-to-be-used state.

Bev went searching for recipes and found one at King Arthur for Double Chocolate Banana Bread, which she made into muffins as follows:

Ingredients:

1 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons King Arthur All-Purpose Baking Cocoa, or Dutch-process cocoa

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) soft unsalted butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup mashed banana (about 2 medium bananas)

1/2 cup cold sour cream

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, chocolate mini chips preferred

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two 3 1/4" x 5 3/4" mini loaf pans, or one 9" x 5" loaf pan (Bev made ??” muffins).

2. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa.

3. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy.

4. Beat in the egg, then stir in the vanilla, banana, and sour cream.

5. Gently mix in the dry ingredients and chocolate chips until well incorporated.

6. Pour the batter into the pan(s) and bake for 45 to 60 minutes (bake for the shorter time for two mini loaves or muffins and the longer time for the larger loaf), until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

7. Remove the bread(s) from the oven, and allow to rest in the pan(s) for 10 minutes then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

A Taste Of East Tennessee for our Wine Club - Part 1

We hosted the September meeting of our wine club and selected a theme of “Food and Wine From East Tennessee” so each couple was asked to bring a bottle of wine from our area for tasting and a small plate dish from this area or the southern mountains.  The photos are courtesy of Big Daddy Dave and should give you a sense of the evening.

We began with appetizers of pickled watermelon rinds, pickled beets, and Bev's pimento cheese stuffed celery washed down with some wine and margaritas.