#@!Fiddleheads!#%

Well, I was upset because I thought of these unique nibbles after the fact this past week, or when the season was almost over. I often make them three or four times in the season for Hubby, he loves them! Luckily I got some to prepare in spite their time is really almost over. Hubby working long hours and traveling I have been cooking light for myself and simply had not been looking for Fiddlehead Ferns. We prefer to get them early on, but you can find them dragging into the end of May, maybe the beginning of June, but be careful. Ask the market where they came from.

The weather has been oddly cooler this month in my North Eastern area, so I was not surprised to see them in the vegetable department of Whole Foods. I have made Fiddlehead Ferns many different ways, but this is my favorite so far- Mustard Creamed Fiddlehead Ferns. I have made them with Gnocchi, and just as a side by boiling them, sauteing them, and with bacon.

I boiled them for 15 minutes, rinsed them, and began sauteing chopped onion, chopped pork fat, mustard seeds; then added 1 tablespoon of mustard, chopped garlic clove, salt and pepper, and about a 1/4 cup beef stock. After that boils about 7 minutes or so, I added 1/4 cup heavy cream and reduce for 5 more minutes. The crunch mustard seeds, cream and onion are wonderful with the flavor of Fiddlehead Ferns!

Once again I marinated some Lamb 'Blade' Chops for three hours in a house made barbeque sauce of lime, garlic, cilantro, tomato puree, vinegar, brown sugar, and grilled them medium rare to compliment these tender greens.

Slow Roasted Lamb 'Blade' Chops

In the past I have raved about 'Blade' cut lamb chops. We love lamb in any shape or form. Chops, primarily 'rib' or 'loin' are among the most popular fresh lamb cuts. Less expensive lamb chops are cut from the leg and shoulder. The blade chop is cut from the rib or back side of the blade section of the shoulder.

It is economical and flavorful and is a bit more tender than the arm chop. It is usually grilled, broiled, or pan-fried for the best results- buuuuut! and there is usually a but...if you ask for them to be cut at 1 inch or more, you can slow cook them, and they come out very tender and flavorful. Marinading them helps tenderize them by breaking down the meat, and the recipe has lime which will help with this.

I used my Chai marinade in the past on lamb, chicken and in chili- let them sit for an hour or so, then set the oven for 300 degrees and cook for 2 and half hours covered.

If you find blade chops packaged in your local market, they are usually much thinner and sold in family packs- great for the grill! Whole Foods will cut this style 'blade' lamb chop (1 inch thick or more) for you upon request, and at $6.99 a pound versus $19.99 a pound for a rack or rib chops.

Want the recipe for the Vidalia Onions and Haricot Verts? Go here

Vidalia Onion Bulbs and a Birthday Shout Out!

Did you know onions lower Cholesterol and heart disease? Did you know they grow almost anywhere you plant them? My yard in Dallas had wild garlic and onions. They came back every year. You could smell them on the breeze, and thank goodness they were way out front, or I might have had to put clothes pins on mine and the kids noses every spring.

Whole foods had these beautiful bunch of Vidalia bulbs. I love onions. I know lots of people do not like onions or garlic. Why? You either hate or love them right?

To me, they add a layer of flavor to a dish that surpasses nothing else.

Vidalia onions come from short day, Granex type onion seeds. There are long and short day onions, something I just learned about. These onion bulbs, or 'sets' as they are sold. They start off about the size of a quarter, and are torpedo shaped. They grow into round onions, but will not last as long as the long day onions grown from seeds. So you must use them almost as soon as you purchase them.

Slice these onions all the way up their stalks, like leeks or scallions. Slice and saute two of them in olive oil, and with a dab of butter. Add a dash salt. Then add some slow roasted grape tomatoes and the haricot verts. The onion flavor came through wonderfully!

This onion dish was prepared as a side to a friends sweet potato Kugal and my slow roasted 'Blade' chop- Chai marinated Lamb. Post coming...

Today is also my son's 24 birthday, and he is in Korea- as a full time student and tutor, living with his girlfriend who is a teacher. Something he has always wanted, to travel the world and work. I get to see him grow and learn about this new culture every week- from his point of view.

I am always reminded around or on Mother's Day how lucky I am to have a wonderful son. They grow up so fast... Happy Birthday Aaron!

Tandoori Shrimp and Scallop Pizza

I have to admit something...I am not as fond of pizza as I was in my youth.

Unless it has unique ingredients, and has a brick oven crisp to the crust. Thick doughy crust, tons of cheese, and so much sauce is just not my thing these days. Could it have been all the years of birthday parties at Chuck-the-Cheese (and I spelled this wrong on purpose). I know un-American of me right?

Take rolled out thin crust, add Tandoori sauce (many markets such as Whole Foods carry pre-made Tandoori in their Ethnic sections, or Asian markets sell powders) and yogurt, along with some shrimp and scallops- Heaven!

I know this is the third Tandoori post in the past months (and there are more), but I like it better than pasta sauce based dishes. Spicy flavors are number one on my favorite eats.

Since I sensitivity to wheat, the crust is gluten free; it comes out so thin, and I solve the taste problem (gluten free breads and crust are not so tasty) by brushing the crust in the beginning with homemade roasted garlic olive oil.

Now all I need is too build a brick oven in the back yard and I am all set!

Sloppy Joe Thyme

I have been playing around with fresh herbs the past few weeks in some of my recipes. The sign of spring comes and we all want to plant herbs and flowers right? Then as always I wanted to plant a big summer sammie right into my lips way...

Keri @ S365 puts some good 'Sandwich' food and their history in our path, so I offered to do a few posts for her. One thing I have not had since childhood is a Sloppy Joe. My mom made them from the can with ground beef.

Come over and see what she has to offer 'Sloppy Joes'

Oh! BTW Keri if you read this...you are the winner of the Mavea Water Pitcher!

What To Do With Leftover Cereal

Gosh I cannot believe I have not posted this yet. I was telling a friend Bill about how I came up with ways to use the last crumbs of cereal in the box, and how they are keeping hubby from the candy machines at work.

I could not believe hubby told me when during late afternoon hunger moments he was getting junk food out of the machines in the break room. He never does that! Never! He feels why waste calories on bad chocolate or chips. If you cannot eat the good stuff don't bother with the rest.

So I have been taking the left over cereal in the bottom of our boxes, dumping them in a container, or freezer bag and once every two weeks combing them with either fresh or frozen fruit to make this recipe below. This particular recipe has some left over whole grain pancake mix added, so this batch came out a bit like cake.

Here is the recipe I found, but below is how I changed things...

Cereal Bars

1 cup white sugar
1 cup light corn syrup (sugar is sugar)
1-1/2 cups peanut butter
7 cups high protein crisp rice and wheat cereal
1 cup peanut butter chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

You are suppose to heat up the sugar and peanut butter, then pour it over the cereal in a greased pan. I figure why dirty another pan!

My version...

1/2 cup honey (or half/half corn syrup, or half brown sugar)
4 melted tablespoons butter
1 cup peanut butter (also used almond or cashew butter, but also left it out)
3 cups left over cereal (now most have some kind of sugar and it sinks to bottom of boxes, but if yours is sugar free you will have to add the above, but cut sugar by 1/2 above)
3 cups rice krispy style cereal or granola (you can substitute 1/2 with whole grain pancake mix)
1 cup frozen or fresh fruit (I have found frozen release moisture into mix and they turn out better)
1 cup white chocolate or regular chocolate chips
3 ounces chopped nuts of your choice

Mix cereal well in bowl; add fruit, chocolate, butter and peanut butter, and choice of sweetner above. Press down FIRMLY into oiled pan, and bake in 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes (depends on thickness of mixture). Do not over cook or it will be too hard to cut. Cool and then turn onto a cutting board to slice.

I have played with many cereals and ingredients in making this recipe, and the have all turned out fine. I cut them into squares and wrap for freezer. Hubby said they are great frozen, or you can take a few out that morning.

Do not forget to comment on my facebook page if you want to receive a free filter water pitcher!

Inspired Water?

Because I am losing weight, fighting high blood pressure and kidney stones requires me to drink lots, lots, lots, lots, and lots of water. So much so we keep bottles upstairs. Then I thought about how many water bottles, even after we recycle, they still end up in waste sites. We bought a large counter top water filtering system. We once used tap filters, but after spending so much on new ones, because they are not one size fit all as we have moved from Texas to Saint Louis, then to New Jersey, we decided to go the counter top route.

What!!! Did I just post about filtering water? Oh yes I did. Okay I said there would be no more corporate shilling on here, but I could not help it. I discontinued answering the dozens of request CookAppeal gets for "Your time and efforts will be appreciated and well compensated"...yeah right!

Well a company contacted me about testing out a sleek new water filtering system. This is one thing we do in my house. We use a large ten gallon system that sits on my counter. If you have seen my galley kitchen, well counter space is vastly over used, because I have none! Their verbage and description of 'Sleek' got my attention, and the fact we could use another one upstairs and for traveling. Outside of designing hamster bottles for the wall, this was the next best thing.

So, I said yes to the 'MAVEA', the North-American division of Brita Germany, just came out with a sleek, new design for a premium water filtration pitcher called the Elemaris'. I saw they retail for about $30 or so on-line.

We followed the directions and voila! I know have a nice water picture sitting upstairs, actually you can carry it all around. Spring is here, so I imagine it will end up on the patio with me and friends! *hint hint* I can see Velva @ Tomatoes on the Vine or Greg @ Sippity Sup using the fresh filtered water for one of their cocktail recipes! Want one for yourself? Let me know on facebook you are interested and we will see what we can do!

Winners will be announced May 2nd! You can find them on facebook 'Inspired Water', comment on my facebook page 'CookAppeal', if you want to enter to win your own pitcher!

Come on, do your part in helping the planet and try a water filtering system...yeah! I am water shilling...