In April, it will be two years since we remodeled our backyard and this winter has, literally, shown the fruits of our labor. We added a blood orange, Meyer lemon, and Mexican lime tree to our existing navel orange, Lisbon lemon, and pink grapefruit – for a true citrus grove!  Last year did not produce any of the new fruits, but this year, the proof is in the colorful picture above and I am one happy girl! The Meyer lemon has been the most prolific of the three new trees. These cookies are delicious with regular lemon zest too, so don’t discount them if you can’t find Meyer lemons.

The almond meal can be found at most grocery stores under the Bob’s Red Mill brand and at Trader Joe’s, or you can make your own almond meal. For about 1 1/3 cups almond meal, place 2 cups whole, unbalanced almonds in a food processor, pulse several times until a medium-fine textured meal forms. Do Not over-process or you will end up with almond butter! Put the ground almond meal in a clean flour sifter, sift and place any large almond particles back into processor and pulse again, sift. That’s all it takes!

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When I wrote about how we were out at the Queen Creek Olive Mill on Valentine’s Day, I failed to mention that we made a stop at The Pork Shop, which is just down the road. You wouldn’t think that a little shop that sells only pork products would be packed on Valentine’s Day at 1PM, but there was barely room to turn around- or as my dad says, “It was so crowded, you didn’t have room to change your mind.” So, of course we were caught up in the frenzy, and bought just tons of stuff; brown sugar cured bacon, pepper cured bacon (both sliced to order), brats, maple syrup sausage, jalapeno-cream cheese summer sausage, and these huge pork chops! During the summer, I mentioned The Pork Shop in a post, but at that time they did not have a website, now they do, so please be sure to check it out HERE.

I went back through the “tags” on the site to see if I had ever talked about celery root, also known as celeriac, and was shocked to find that I haven’t! Shocked, because I adore celery root and use it often. It actually is a type of celery, but is grown as a root vegetable rather than for its stalks and leaves. Unlike most other root vegetables, celery root is relatively low in starch. And unlike potatoes, which are stored at room temperature, celery root needs to be refrigerated and loosely wrapped in plastic where it will last for a couple of weeks. It is used raw (shredded or julienned in a classic Celery Root Salad), braised, boiled, baked, roasted, or even grilled.

As you can see, the outer surface is ugly and knarly and should be thinly sliced off with a knife instead of a vegetable peeler. It is fantastic added along with potato chunks for mashed potatoes or thinly sliced and added in for a potato-celery root gratin. I once enjoyed the hollow stalk of the plant used as a straw in Bloody Mary at a high-end resort brunch, but I have no idea where to purchase the stalks.

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To celebrate Valentine’s Day, Dave and I went out to the Queen Creek Olive Mill for their special “Olive Affair” lunch in the olive grove. The Mill offered three different packages, we chose their “Ciao Bella” (Antipasto), which included roasted vegetables, sausage, roasted garlic, artichoke and sun-dried tomato tapenades, a French baguette, tuxedo strawberries, candied pistachios, pistachio bark, a bottle of Chianti and more. It all came beautifully packed in a lovely “Olive You” bag with a corkscrew, high quality clear plastic stemless wine glasses and plates plus a cute red-heart tablecloth. They had live music, it was a gorgeous day outside, and the place was packed! I highly recommend you treat yourself and your loved one next year. Until then, I’ll treat you to recipes for candied pistachios and pistachio bark. I decided to use the candied pistachios in the bark, but plain pistachios may be used instead.

The candied pistachios call for an ingredient you may not be familiar with, Turbinado sugar. The first pressing of the sugar cane yields Turbinado sugar, which is considered to be healthier since it receives less processing than granulated sugar. One teaspoon of Turbinado sugar contains 11 calories, while granulated sugar contains 16 calories. Because of it’s higher levels of moister, it should be stored like brown sugar, in an airtight container. One of the most popular and easy to find brands of Turbinado sugar  is “Sugar In The Raw.” A fabulous use for Turbinado sugar is on crème brûlée because it melts and caramelizes easier than granulated sugar.

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About 10 years ago I was completely intimidated by, even the thought of, canning. It had never occurred in my house while growing up and the process of sterilizing the jars seemed like rocket science to me! Then something happened so that I could no longer avoid it. We had a peach tree in our yard and branches were breaking off the tree on a daily basis from the weight of so many ripe and juicy peaches. And guess what? I discovered that not only was canning no big deal or some painstaking process, it was actually fun!

This sauce is wonderful when eaten either savory or sweet.  I use it as a glaze and accompaniment for baked ham during the holidays. When heating the sauce to glaze the ham, just stir in one finely minced jalapeno pepper to spice it up a bit.

It is unbelievably delicious and decadent when warmed and spooned over grilled bananas, along with a little warm caramel sauce!

Or use it room temperature or cold spooned over ice cream or stirred into plain or vanilla Greek yogurt.

The darling little canning jars make cute name “place cards” or party gifts to hand out to your guests as they are leaving your home after a special dinner or holiday meal. Happy canning!

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Two of the most “frequently asked questions” I get when I’m entertaining or teaching a cooking class, “Do you eat like this every night!?”… and… “What kind of things do you make for weeknight dinners?”  The answers: “No, I only eat like this when I’m entertaining or teaching a class.” and “The sort of things I make for weeknight dinners are dishes that come together without having to make a special trip to the grocery store!”

This pasta is exactly that sort of dish. If you were to drop by my house and look in my fridge, you’d always find things like fresh spinach, romaine or mixed greens, basil, citrus, and bell peppers. And my freezer is never without IQF (individually quick frozen) shrimp, scallops, and chicken breasts. The pantry is stocked to the brim; a variety of pastas, jars of olives, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, and the list goes on. When your kitchen is stocked in this way, the possibilities are endless and you’re always able to make a meal without the trip to the store.

I know exactly what you’re saying to yourself now…”Sure, the possibilities are endless… for you, because you can just ‘make up a recipe’ without a cookbook.” And that is true, but I’m going to turn you on to a website where you can just plug in the one or the ten ingredients you have on hand and magically dozens of recipes will appear so that you can make with what you have!  In fact, I went there and put in all the ingredients from this pasta recipe and it came up with 88 different recipes for me!  Sounds awesome, doesn’t it!?! CLICK HERE for that link. Next, be ready to cook that way, by going to my Basic Pantry  (just CLICK HERE) and stock up, so you can create something new “at the drop of a dime” too.

P.S. This pasta is a great vegetarian dish, just leave out the shrimp!

P.S.S. The live TV shoot yesterday went swimmingly, if you would like to view it, go to the “In The News” page up at the top-left of this page and choose the Valley Dish - Ravioli Lasagna post.

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Different fats and oils have different uses. Each performs best within a certain range of temperature. Some are made for high heat cooking, while others have intense flavors that are best enjoyed only lightly heated or uncooked and straight from the bottle drizzled on food or used in vinaigrettes.

As with many Asian recipes, today’s calls for peanut oil. Especially in stir-fry, peanut oil is the fat of choice. It has a higher smoke point than many other oils and lends a light peanut flavor which compliments so many Asian inspired dishes. The smoke point of an oil or fat is the temperature at which it gives off smoke when heated.

Other important considerations are food allergies and the type of fat the oil contains; saturated, polyunsaturated or monounsaturated. Here are the differences, straight from the American Heart Association.

“Saturated fat:  Saturated fat is the main dietary cause of high blood cholesterol. Saturated fat is found mostly in foods from animals and some plants. Foods from animals include beef, beef fat, veal, lamb, pork, lard, poultry fat, butter, cream, milk, cheeses and other dairy products made from whole and 2 percent milk. All of these foods also contain dietary cholesterol. Foods from plants that contain saturated fat include coconut, coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil, and cocoa butter.

Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats: Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are the two unsaturated fats. They’re found in many fish, seeds, nuts and oils from plants. Some examples of foods that contain these fats include salmon, trout, herring, avocados, olives, walnuts and liquid vegetable oils such as soybean, corn, safflower, canola, olive and sunflower.”
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Today I’m driving up to Flagstaff to deliver Connor back to NAU to finish his freshman year. I can not begin to believe it is already half over! So last night, the four of us had what will be our last family dinner all together for quite a few months. Dave had been craving ribs and since we haven’t had anything but traditional “American” or southwest foods recently, regular old barbecue was out of the question, Asian flavors fit the bill.

An couple ingredients you may or may not be familiar with are Chinese five-spice powder and Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce. Chinese five-spice is a mixture of ground spices (cassia cinnamon, cloves, star anise, Szechwan peppercorns, and either ginger or fennel) that combine the five primary flavors of Chinese cuisine: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and spicy (or pungent). This follows along with the Chinese philosophy of balancing the yin and yang in food. Works perfectly with my philosophy in food too; that it tastes great!

Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce (also known as “Rooster Sauce”) is a must have for your pantry and is one of your best friends in the kitchen. There is really no need for me to wax poetic about it’s attributes and qualities, since there is a fabulous article in this month’s issue of Bon Appétit, which will inform you more than you may ever need to know about “Rooster Sauce”. Click this LINK to read the article and see a bottle, so you know what to look for at the grocery store.

Plus this recipe works into our “easy-breezy” category, just be sure to plan ahead, 12 to 24 hours ahead, to allow the ribs to marinate and soak up all the great Asian flavors.

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My various citrus trees are producing pounds upon pounds of citrus. The oranges, lemons, and grapefruit are being picked and eaten or used in cooking daily. The limes, blood oranges, and Meyer lemons aren’t quite ready yet, and I’m grateful for that, I can’t keep up as it is! So don’t be surprised to see citrus popping up in just about every post here on out, for months to come.

To kick it off, here is a quick and light salad using another couple favorites; avocado and fennel. The fennel bulb, fronds (leaves), and seeds are used in cooking. The bulb is a crisp, root vegetable and may be sauteed, roasted, stewed, braised, grilled, or eaten raw.  The fronds are delicately flavored and look very similar in shape to dill. The seeds are used either fresh or can be found dried in the spice aisle. The hollow stems are tough and stringy and are usually discarded or used in making vegetable stock. Fennel pollen is actually the most potent form of fennel, but is very expensive and difficult to find. Fennel grows like a weed, so be sure to cultivate the pollen yourself, if you grow fennel in your garden, it is amazing! For this salad, we’re using the bulb and a few of the fronds, as garnish. If you can not find, or do not want to pay the price for, blood oranges or Meyer lemons, use regular oranges and lemons instead.

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Ahh, to be able to eat and to live a vegetarian lifestyle! It is something I often think about, but in the middle of the thought process, the answer is always, “Yeah, I don’t think so!”  I’m Irish, I’m a meat and potatoes girl, a carnivore at heart. There aren’t many meats I haven’t or wouldn’t eat. My daughter, Marissa, was vegetarian for a couple years, back in high school, and what a pain it was, for me – the mom, the cook! But in reality, I would love to give it a try – so to that end, my goal this year is to eat “vegetarian” at least one meal a day (not that hard, when you count in breakfast!) and to make dinner, that one meal a day, at least twice a week. To that end, a new “Vegetarian” category has been added to the The Recipe Index on the left.

On the Tip Index, at left, there is already a listing and link for “roasting peppers” plus there are additional pictures here. So if you need a refresher on the process, check out the previous listing on the Tip Index.
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Isn’t it strange how sometimes you go out for dinner and you are drawn to order the same thing at one restaurant and then another.  Recently, that item for me has been candied pecans. I use candied pecans often at home as well, but there is always something a little different about the ones I get while eating out. I finally asked a chef friend, what the difference was. He informed me that restaurants often first candy the nuts and then fry them. That makes sense, since I often wondered how their pecans were so much more “toasted” than mine. If you would rather not fry the nuts, just go to this previous post for candied almonds, and substitute pecans for the almonds.

You may be able to find balsamic glaze at the grocery store, I know that Trader Joe’s carried it at one time, not sure if they still do, but it is easy to make at home and easy to store extra for use again later.  I served this salad to three men last night, and in their honor, since they are “manly men”, this is a now referred to as a “manly man” salad!
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