In My Garden

I love this time of year. Everything is starting to bloom. Last Spring while staying at the Sonoma Mission Inn, both Tim and I fell in love with their snake grass around the pool. We asked our landscaper friend Lynn where to find it. He suggested the Elkhorn River bottoms. One Sunday, Tim and Mike went in search of snake grass. We'd heard it was notorious for spreading, so we decided against planting it in the ground. During the wet periods of the summer, it grew well. As the summer grew hotter and dryer, it began to dry up and wilt. At the end of the summer, Tim put the pot in our outside storage area. The snake grass spent our long, cold winter outside. This Spring, as the plants began to sprout, so did our snake grass.

More pictures from our garden...

One Year Ago Sunday Morning Frittata.

Chocolate Spice Bread - Modern Baker Challenge

How many blogs do you follow? Not sure the number I follow but it’s quite a few. There’s so many great bloggers out there, it's so hard to choose. One blog I particularly enjoy is Sweet and Savory. Chaya is amazing. She blogs almost every day, sometimes more than once a day and belongs to an endless number of groups. A few weeks ago, Chaya’s post was about The Modern Baker Challenge, a new group she’d joined. She and I exchanged emails about the group and the cookbook. She suggested this group would help me with My 50. I emailed Phyl, the organizer of the group, who was so welcoming and excited to have me join. It’s a small group and there aren’t a lot of rules. The group is baking through the cookbook, one section at a time. Each section will be available for baking for 90 days. You can bake as much or as little as you want. I did some reading about the author, Nick Malgieri . I really like his style of writing and baking. What's one more group? I ordered the book.

This cookbook could easily be one of those coffee table books we all love. It’s a large, beautiful hardback. The recipes are concise and easy to follow. Nick gives some hints and extra tips for each recipe. I can read a cookbook like a novel. I sat down one night, thumbed through the first section and used those great little post it note tabs to mark the recipes I wanted to try. Being the total chocolate lover, the first recipe had to be the Chocolate Spice Bread.

I am not sure why but I don’t own any metal bread pans. I think they were old and didn’t make the move from KC to Omaha. I used a glass baking pan of approximately the same size. Because I was baking in glass, I set the oven at 325. Nick cautions in this recipe not to bake it too long or it will be dry. I checked the bread at 25 minutes and it was still very wet. I checked it every five minutes and at 45 minutes it was done. Unfortunately, I think it was overdone. Maybe I need to start pulling my breads out when they’re ALMOST done? The flavor of this bread is delicious. My concern was the spice flavor would be too heavy but it’s not. The chocolate blends nicely with the spices. This bread, like a lot of quick breads, is best eaten on the day it is made. It dries out quickly. Since mine was a little too dry to begin with, it was really dry on day three. I froze the leftovers, thinking maybe I will add it to the next batch of cake pops? I hate to throw things away!!! This bread has lots of possibilities. You could add nuts, chocolate chips, raisins, sunflower seeds. I will be making this one again!

Stop by The Modern Baker Challenge to see the other bakers thoughts on this bread.

Butterscotch Pralines - SMS

I've never made pralines before, probably because I've always found them too sweet. Making these was one of those frustrating kitchen experiences. I didn't feel great to begin with, either the 24 hour bug or a touch of food poisining. Then as I was gathering all of the ingredients, my candy thermometer rolls on to the floor. It didn't really break but it chipped on the bottom, so I was pretty sure I shouldn't use it. Off to the store to get another one.

Once I got back with the thermometer and gathered the ingredients, the recipe went together easily. I think my mixture was too thick. I went ahead and spooned them out onto the parchment paper. I don't really think they look like pralines. Tim said they're good but needed a few more nuts.



This week's SMS was chosen by Tess of Cooking Chemist. Check out her blog, she has some great recipe ideas. You can find the links to the other SMS gals here.

Happy Pink Saturday!!

This is one of the beautiful pink lilies my son sent me for Mother's Day. Happy Pink Saturday!

I am linking this to Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound.

Cedric's Ranch Wings - Foodie Friday

I love to thumb though magazines for recipes, hints, ideas and stories. I have file folders and accordian folders of those clippings. Those folders inspired me to begin blogging. Not sure I've shared as many of these as I'd planned. I keep buying cookbooks and subscribing to new magazines. Have you seen all of the magazine deals lately? Tim was thumbing through my Food Network Magazine and found this recipe. We always have wings in the freezer, so we decided to give these a try. These are a nice change from traditional spicy chicken wings.

Cedric's Ranch Wings
Recipe Courtesy of Food Network Magazine

2 pounds chicken Wings
3 1 ounce packets ranch dressing mix
1 1/3 cup flour
Freshly ground pepper
3 large eggs
Vegetable Oil for frying
1/4 cup hot sauce (Frank's is my favorite)
1/4 cup honey

Toss the wings with 1 packet dressing mix in a large bowl and refrigerate at least one hour or up to four hours.

Whisk the flour, 1 teaspoon pepper and 1 packet dressing mix in a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, 2 tablespoons water and the remaining packet dressing mix. Dredge the wings a few at a time in the seasoned flour, then dip into the egg mixture and return to the flour mixture, turning to coat. Transfer to a rack.

Heat 1/2 inch vegetable oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat until a deep fry thermometer registers 350. (I used a deep fryer.)Fry the wings in batches until crisp and golden brown 5 -6minutes per side. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Whisk the hot sauce and honey in a bowl. Serve with the wings.

I am linking this to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.

In My Garden

This is the second year for my Ville de Lyon Clematis. I love their beautiful vibrant color!

Sesame Grilled Asparagus

You've probably noticed we eat a lot of asparagus at our house. Besides the warmer weather, it's one of my favorite things about Spring. My go to recipe for asparagus is either grilled or roasted in the oven. Either way it's so simple to prepare, just olive oil, salt and pepper. This Sesame Grilled Asparagus takes my go to recipe to the next level. The sesame oil and soy sauce are a wonderful compliment to an already delicious vegetable.

Sesame Grilled Asparagus
Recipe Courtesy of Steven Raichlen

Wooden toothpicks or bamboo skewers
1 pound asparagus
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
Salt and black pepper
Directions
In a shallow pan, soak skewers in cold water for 1 hour, then drain and set aside.

Preheat grill to high. Snap off the woody bases of the asparagus and discard. Skewer 4 or 5 asparagus spears together, using the toothpicks or 2 bamboo skewers, forming a raft shape.

In a small bowl, combine the sesame oil, soy sauce, and garlic and stir with a fork to mix. Brush this mixture on the asparagus rafts on both sides. Season the asparagus with a little salt and lots of pepper.

When ready to cook, place the asparagus rafts on the hot grate and grill until nicely browned on both sides, 2 to 4 minutes. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds as they grill. You can serve the asparagus as rafts or unskewered.

I am linking this to I am linking this to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed With Grace, Tuesday's at the Table at All the Small Stuff and Tasty Tuesday's at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.