Recipes- Speyer's Gnocchi

I never realized how simple it would be to make these...it's as easy as 3,2,1! Thank you to Housewife Carolyn and her son Hayden. I can't wait to make these myself.


Speyer's Gnocchi
3 lbs potatoes
2 cups of flour
1 beaten egg
a pinch of salt
Gather your ingredients
Bake or boil 3 lbs of potatoes
Put potatoes through ricer
Start boiling a pot of water (about 3/4th full)
Add flour, a pinch of salt and beaten egg. Blend until just mixed (it feels like homemade play-doh when it's done).
Roll into ropes about 3/4 inch in diameter and cut into 3/4 pieces
Lightly press and roll with fork.
Drop into boiling water and cook until the gnocchi rises to the top about 1 minute
Serve with sauce.  Carolyn's family prefer eating it with a garlic alfredo. A bolder sauce is good as the flavor of the gnocchi is mild. ENJOY!

Recipes- Baker Beef Brisket on Rolls

The PERFECT sport-watching food! If you want to take the time for REALLY.GOOD.MEAT, this is the recipe for you from the Bakers.  The rub they used was Kirkland Mesquite BBQ rub....and that's the "secret" -and only- ingredient!  After seasoning, just place on the smoker at 250 for 9-12 hrs (time may vary depending on size of brisket). Once done, slice and serve on rolls if you want. Enjoy the photo storyline and a BIG shout out to Seth since it was soooo yum.

For serving, you can eat it straight but we topped a coleslaw on top and served it on a roll.

Recipes- Stuffed Cornish Game Hens with Fall River Wild Rice

My mom Karen prepared an Anniversary Meal for some good friends of hers. Included with the Game Hens, she added her Home-made Croissants, and Cream Puffs for dessert all served with quilted place-mats that she just whipped up!

Cornish Game Hens Dinner

Serving for 6- Karen says that these are my dad's favorite so she usually leave them whole to bake (but she kind of likes them cut in half). She used to stuff the birds with the wild rice dressing but anymore, she just cooks it separate.

Game Hens

Start with 3 Game Hens

Wash hens, and cut in half, pat dry, and salt lightly. place cut side down on rack in roasting pan then baste with melted butter. Karen also used a little Aloha BBQ Sauce which has a more Polynesian flavor or you can use any flavor for your desired taste (most of the time she just leaves them plain).

Bake hens at 350 for 1 and 15-30 minutes; basting often.

For the Rice Mixture

Each step below will be done at different times so begin making them so everything is finished all at once

I cup brown rice

2 1/4 - 1/2 cups water

1/2 tsp salt

In medium sauce pan add water and salt heat on high until boiling, add rice and reduce heat to simmering, cover and cook for 1 hour.

1/4 cup Fall River Valley Wild Rice (from my home town!)

1 cup water

1/2 tsp salt

In small sauce pan, add water and salt. Heat on high until boiling. Add rice and reduce heat to simmering then cover and cook for 1 1/2 hours.

1 cup diced celery

1/2 cup diced onions

1/4 cup butter

In large frying pan, saute veggies in butter, until tender.. add  both of the rice.

Serve game hens on a bed of rice mixture. This is also great with peas and water chestnuts (sliver the water chestnuts heat them with the peas, adding a little butter and salt with lots of black pepper)

Place-mats

I think that adding these were such a nice touch! Very sweet :D

Recipes- Grape Pickers' Skillet with Chicken for FOODball Brunch

Hungry Housewife Hubby Seth made this for brunch while we were watching football playoffs.  SO good and filling!  Can't wait to taste what's cooking for Superbowl!

Grape Pickers' Skillet with Chicken

10 ounces bacon strips
2 tablespoons fresh thyme -- minced
2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes -- peeled and thinly sliced
3/4 cup Gruyere cheese -- shaved and divided
salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups chicken -- cooked and shredded
1 cup leeks -- sliced
1 tablespoon garlic -- minced

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Line an 8-inch cast-iron skillet with bacon, covering the bottom and the sides and leaving a third of each strip hanging over the sides. Sprinkle thyme over bacon.
Layer half the potatoes onto bacon and thyme, covering the entire surface. Sprinkle 1/4 cup Gruyere over potatoes; season with salt and pepper. Repeat layering with chicken and 1/4 cup Gruyere. Continue layering with leeks, garlic, remaining potato slices, salt, pepper, and remaining Gruyere.

Fold hanging pieces of bacon strips to the center of skillet, covering entire top. Transfer skillet to stove top and cook over medium heat, 10 minutes.

Cover skillet with foil, transfer to oven, and roast 30 minutes. Remove foil and roast until bacon is crisp and potatoes are fork-tender, 30 minutes more. Let meal rest 10 minutes, then drain drippings and loosen edges to serve.  Add salt to taste.
(Note: Length of time - (1 hour in a cast iron skillet) - works perfectly) 

Recipes- for Football Playoffs (or is that FOODball?): Wings, Skins and more

Though I'm not that much into Football (adore those pants, though), OF COURSE I'm going to root for our Seahawks when they are in the playoffs ...and it was a GREAT game!!  Our friends the Bakers were gracious enough to offer their home, provide some YUMmy food, and Dawn even took most of these pics!  Thank you- can't wait for Sunday's game!

Chicken Wings

Purchase frozen chicken wings from Costco, and Franks Hot Wing Sauce (recipe is also on back of bottle).  Some of these were made in the crockpot (Dawn says she doesn't recommend- makes it more soggy and not as flavorful).  You can also bake in the oven but they tasted AMAZING in the deep fryer!  They also cooked some just plain.  You can serve with Blue Cheese Dressing or Ranch.

Seth's Potato Skins
Lightly oil clean potatoes with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.  Bake until done.  Once cooled, slice lengthwise and scoop out the middle (can use insides for another day).

Add a dab of butter, crispy bacon (REAL BACON ONLY) that was cooked earlier, green onions and pepper-jack cheese.

Place in back over until warm and cheese is melted.  Dip in sour cream.  These were some of THE. BEST. skins I've had!

Our friend Moira and Seth both had the good idea to bring the pork with hot mustard.  That mustard was soooo hot- it was wonderful!  Moira's was from QFC (all nice and presliced) and Seth got his from Costco (you have to cut yourself).  Either way it's good!

We also had a veggie platter (I bought one from Costco but we didn't open it so saved it for a brunch a few days later).  Nothing beats FRESH vegetables, though- washed all nice and hand cut ;)

Chips and Dips are always yummy- they used Miss Grass Onion Soup mixed with sour cream (yum).  Also bought from Costco was their Spinach Dip to serve over crackers.  This is one of the best dips they have there!

And what's a Football Game without BEER?  Course Dawn shared the wine we purchased at Sip City Wines this past week (such a good friend!).  Dessert was Linda's Organic Cacoa Coconut Balls, Tari brought Carolyn's Won-Ton Chips, and Linda also made a Verde Chip Sauce (recipes to come soon...can't get EVERYthing in here!).

Dinner and A Movie- Italian Night with Letters To Juliet

We thought it would be fun to host a Dinner/Movie night so we threw one together at the last minute on Friday.  For our first movie, we picked Letters To Juliet (see our review at Friday Flick- Letters To Juliet) and since it's about being in Italy, we picked Italian menu items of course.  

Our Italian Menu

• Hostess Dawn served Brushetta, coffee, and a Caesar salad
• Stephanie made Florentine Ravioli
• Alisa and her mom Pat did an Italian Wedding Soup from the crock-pot
• Moira brought a bottle of 14 Hands Hot To Trot (yeah- another cork for my collection!)
• Laura had some lemon/liquor drinks but since I already had a few glasses of wine, I'm not sure what they were LOL

Since we did last minute, a couple of gals couldn't come so you could add: Italian Sodas, Caprese and Tiramusu

Brushetta with Tomato and Basil 

6 or 7 ripe plum tomatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

6-8 fresh basil leaves, chopped.

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 baguette French bread or similar Italian bread

1/4 cup olive oil

1. Prepare the tomatoes first. Parboil the tomatoes for one minute in boiling water that has just been removed from the burner. Drain. Using a sharp small knife, remove the skins of the tomatoes. (If the tomatoes are too hot, you can protect your finger tips by rubbing them with an ice cube between tomatoes.) Once the tomatoes are peeled, cut them in halves or quarters and remove the seeds and juice from their centers. Also cut out and discard the stem area. Why use plum tomatoes instead of regular tomatoes? The skins are much thicker and there are fewer seeds and less juice.
2. Make sure there is a top rack in place in your oven. Turn on the oven to 450°F to preheat.
3. While the oven is heating, chop up the tomatoes finely. Put tomatoes, garlic, 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, vinegar in a bowl and mix. Add the chopped basil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Slice the baguette on a diagonal about 1/2 inch thick slices. Coat one side of each slice with olive oil using a pastry brush. Place on a cooking sheet, olive oil side down. You will want to toast them in the top rack in your oven, so you may need to do these in batches depending on the size of your oven. Once the oven has reached 450°F, place a tray of bread slices in the oven on the top rack. Toast for 5-6 minutes, until the bread just begins to turn golden brown.  Alternatively, you can toast the bread without coating it in olive oil first. Toast on a griddle for 1 minute on each side. Take a sharp knife and score each slice 3 times. Rub some garlic in the slices and drizzle half a teaspoon of olive oil on each slice. This is the more traditional method of making bruschetta.
5. Align the bread on a serving platter, olive oil side up. Either place the tomato topping in a bowl separately with a spoon for people to serve themselves over the bread, or place some topping on each slice of bread and serve. If you top each slice with the tomatoes, do it right before serving or the bread may get soggy.

Makes 24 small slices. Serves 6-10 as an appetizer. Or 3-4 for lunch (delicious served with cottage cheese on the side.)

Casear Salad

Romaine lettuce

Maria Calender's Caesar Dressing

Fresh Parmesan cheese

Lemon 

Toss the salad with the dressing and then let your guests sprinkle the cheese and squeeze their lemon.  The lemon was a nice touch- I actually went back for seconds and that is HUGE for me (not the getting seconds part but that it was for SALAD!)

Florentine Ravioli 

2-3 TBS Extra Virgin Oil

4 cloves of garlic chopped (saute for about 40 seconds until "aromatic")

1/4-1/2 chopped red onion

2 handfuls of spinach

2 chopped Roma tomatoes 

1 can of sauce- we used Constandina Alfredo from the refrigerated section at Safeway

Opt- grilled chicken

1. Start your water to boiling (this goes fast) and follow the directions for your pasta.
2. Saute your garlic in about 2-3 TBS EVO for about 40 seconds until it's "aromatic.  ADD the red onion and spinach- stir a couple of times until the spinach is wilted.
3. In the meanwhile, saute a container of chopped fresh mushrooms with 1 TBS butter then add the mushrooms and tomatoes to the spinach mixture.
4. Warm up the sauce and add all the completed pasta.  Sprinkle generously with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and viola! Opt:  you can add grilled chicken to the top

Italian Wedding Soup (crock pot)

1 pound small meatballs
6 cups chicken broth
1 cup cooked chicken, chopped (slightly under cook this to avoid over-drying)
1 cup carrots, diced or cut into matchsticks
1 cup celery, diced
1 head escarole, chopped OR 1 package (8 oz. size) chopped spinach (I did Endive cause Safeway didn't have Escarole and I didn't want to do spinach since Steph had it in her dish)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup acini di pepe pasta (or other tiny pasta)

1/4 cup romano cheese (had a hard time finding this- can sub Parmesan) 

To save time in the morning, we pre-cut everything and put in the fridge overnight

1. Saute meatballs until browned.  If using larger pre-made meatballs you can quarter them.   We bought pre-cooked ones so skipped this step and then cut the meatballs smaller after it was cooked.
2. Combine all ingredients except pasta & cheese in crockpot and cook for 8-10 hours on low. 
3. Add the pasta during the last hour of cooking.
4. Top with cheese when serving.

Looks a little green in the pic but it WAS yummy!

We had a wonderful evening visiting, eating, and watching the movie together.  Thank you Dawn for hosting and to everybody who was able to come!  Can't wait for the next one...