Delicious Chicken Broccoli Cheddar Rice Casserole – Not Your Typical Broccoli Casserole

We had made a version of this broccoli casserole several years ago but I updated it for a larger dish and a different assembly method as shown in the recipe below.  It's different than the usual holiday version of broccoli in that it contains rice.  I topped this one with cheese but the traditional crumb topping can also be used.  The original recipe calls for boiling the chicken then using the water for the rice but I hate to boil the flavor from the chicken so I baked it and added some Chicken Better Than Bullion to the rice cooking water.

Delicious Then Awesome, Unique Tomato Sandwiches

I really like eating fresh, local, summer garden vegetables and we plan many meals around them.  Bev, the pups, and I made a trip to Maryville (about 18 miles) for stops at the Coning Farm Market and another market in town to get a loaf of Tellico Grains Bakery Olive Bread.  As a result, my supper plan for the day changed to boiled corn and a unique tomato sandwich.

Mediterranean Naan Pizza and I’m An Old Wuss

Let’s deal with the second part of the title first.  We had planned a little hot dog cookout on the dock for Independence Day.  But when I saw the weather forecast predicting 96F (actual was 97F and thank heaven for A/C), I suggested we celebrate on July 5 when it would be overcast and 88F.  Even though it’s cooler down at the lake and we have great ceiling fans, I didn’t want to eat down there that bad.  So, we opted to cook a summertime meal in the air conditioned kitchen.  The highlight of the day was when friend and house cleaner, Karen, showed up to work on the holiday.

I think she has a unique outfit for about every holiday.

Blackened Grouper With Summer Veggies

Happy Birthday America

We decided for our next seafood meal that it would be blackened grouper using the Caribbean Grouper that we bought at Joe Patti’s Seafood in Pensacola.  I believe we bought eight pieces the same size as these two.

It’s Tomato Season – Biscuit BLT, Mini Pies, Kennedy Quiche, Tomato Pie

We are trying to take advantage of our ability to buy real vine ripened (not picked partially green), local tomatoes and after many, many taste tests over the years of growing tomatoes, we try to get Cherokee Purples when we can.  

Delicious Deep-Fried Seafood Platter

During Madison’s recent visit, I made a pan-fried seafood meal and I was anxious to make a deep-fried seafood platter.  I used the shrimp and scallops from our Joe Pattie Seafood haul and crappie from our normal source and our go-to breading recipe from Food Network – I made half a breading recipe shown below.

Semi-Homemade Italian Sausage and Cheese Ravioli Then Manicotti

I had been wanting to make some ravioli from wonton wrappers for a while and finally decided to take the plunge for supper with Eliza and her parents.  I looked around the web and found the recipe for Homemade Italian Sausage and Cheese Ravioli on the Ashlee Marie blog.  Since I wanted to ensure plenty of filling, I increased the filling ingredients by 50% otherwise, I followed the filling recipe.  Since I'd never done this before, I bought both wonton and egg roll wrappers to experiment with.  I made a few then Wende made the bulk of them.