Jenna Lou Loves You

Dreaming of Ice Cream

All summer long I've been dreaming of homemade gellato, sorbet, and rich creamy ice cream. What can I say... this girls got a sweet tooth!! And I even put an ice cream mixer on my wish list for my last CSN giveaway. So when CSN offered for me to review a product my first thought was heck yeah.... tub of ice cream here I come. Not that my waistline had any say in the matter, but put a bowl of browny chocolate chunk in front of me and I'm a happy bumbling fool regarldless.

So I headed over to the CSN stores where you can find everything imaginable from nightstands to window treatments to ICE CREAM MIXERS... GASP. And picked out the KitchenAid mixer attachment. My first instinct was to go for the stand alone, but really I'd like my already overflowing kitchen cabinents to not explode so I figured this would take up less space.

 
And now it's just a waiting and salavating game. I've been picking out recipes I want to try by the dozens and will let you know how that goes as soon as my mixer attachemnt arrives. Until then... got any recommendations for recipes to try??

photo credit 1 , 2

My Favorite Fall Dish - Squash Casserole

This dish is really easy to make and has become my new favorite meal for fall. It's vegetarian, yummy, and warms the house on these cooler fall days. Plus it's the perfect way to use up all those squash and zucchini that are piling up. I even tested the recipe on others and they all really enjoyed it too. I put this one in the "winner" category.

• 1 medium bell pepper, cut in 1/2 in cubes
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 medium zucchini or 4 small yellow squash ( or a mix of both)
  
• 1 (16 ounce) can tomatoes
• 4 slices bread, toasted and cut in small cubes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
  
• 1/2 cup mozzarela cheese

1. Saute onions&bell pepper in margarine for 5 minutes,add squash that has been sliced and cubed.
2. Saute 5 min more,add tomatoes, (break up whole tomatoes) cook 5 more minutes.
3. Add bread cubes and seasonings.
4. Put in 2 quart casserole,sprinkle top with parmesan cheese.
5. Bake at 350 for 30 to 40 minutes.

recipe source.

Veggie Overload - Zucchini Bread

August is the month in Minnesota when you find vegetables abandoned in doorways, on unlocked backseats, in plastic grocery bags tied to your front door knob. They are left without a note or indication who they are from. Just handed over to unburden the sender.

I for one can't get enough. Already we have received 2 HUGE zucchini, 8 yellow crookneck squash, and several dozen ears of fresh corn. The corn was eaten on the spot. The yellow squash was divided up into a casserole and cut to freeze. And the zucchini was turned into bread with another 3/4th remaining which will probably end up in another casserole. 

I'm so thankful to the ingeniously resourceful woman who originally invented zucchini bread. You can only make so many salads, stir fry and casseroles before you run out of ways to use a zucchini, but a good sweet bread always hits the spot for me.

Here is my interpretation of a classic zucchini bread recipe. I should note that the key ingredient is the coconut oil. Don't skip it because it really makes this bread soft and yummy. If you are having a hard time finding it check in your health food market near the baking goods and oils.

Jenna's Zucchini Bread

2 1/4 Cups Sugar
2 Eggs
3 Tablespoons Vanilla
1 Cup Coconut Oil
2 Cups Zucchini, grated
1/4 teaspoon Salt
3 Cups Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
3 teaspoons Cinnamon

Optional: add 1 Cup Nuts or Mini Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine wet ingredients. Then add dry. Pour into two greased loaf pans. Bake for 55-65 minutes checking to know it is done when a tooth pick comes out clean.

The bread only gets better on the second day! Enjoy.

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Never tried zucchini bread? Don't be afraid even your kids will LOVE it. It is very similar to other quick sweet breads like banana, strawberry, or blueberry bread. 

I'd love to get some more tried and true recipes to use up all my zucchini and squash reserves. Any ideas??

Optimistic

My bowl is looking very full these days. In every way around it.

{ Home Grown }

Cookies Are My Cure

As I expressed before, missing Christmas at home kind of left a hole in my heart. There are so many fun traditions that we do each year and missing pretty much all of them was giving me some major winter blues. So I decided it was time to cheer up and cure myself with some cookie making. I currently have about 5 new cookie recipes that are on my "must make" list, but gingerbread had to be first. The smell of making gingerbread fills the house and gets into your pores. It's simply warming.

 

This was my first attempt at making gingerbread cookies and while I did learn a few lessons, they were pretty straight forward. The things I did learn are: 1- extra flower when rolling doesn't hurt a thing. 2- the thicker the better when you like a nice soft cookie. My first dozen turned out nice and thick, but as I went on they got thinner and thinner (probably as I rolled faster and faster). And 3- Below freezing temperatures outside are useful for some things. My cookies cooled in our unheated porch in 3 minutes flat so I could move on to frosting before I had to "sample" too many. 

 

Frosting was where I got some real self-therapy. I took my sweet time in carefully piping on the edges then thinned the icing and went back to fill in 2/3rds of the cookies which got sprinkles as the final step. The last third I simply dripped icing across. They all were pretty, they all were Delicious, I even felt a little better when there were done... and then I got to share them with family which really was the best part of all.

Gingerbread Recipe : followed precisely.
Icing Recipe : added lemon juice to thin.

Lefse With the Ladies

Today I partook in a great tradition. Lefse making. 

At our church it is a yearly practice to meet on Tuesday mornings to mix, roll, and flip. Everyone has their job and everything has it's place. These batches of lefse are then sold at a yearly bazaar where they are so sought after that they have had to put a limit on how many a person can buy. It's truly a delicious treat made even sweeter by knowing the effort and care that was put into it.

There is something so fascinating to me about learning a skill like this. It's something that will stay with me forever. Not just the physical skill itself, but the memories of those who made it before me... those who labored with love to make things by hand and those who took the time to cherish it, preserve it, and know the value of passing it along.

Pumpkin Seeds For You and Me

Ops. Sorry to leave you hanging with that pumpkin post. My internet has been on the fritz and no matter how much I shake my fist at the computer, things are still on the down. 

So after you roasted your pumpkin I hope you didn't throw away all those gooey seeds. Clean them up and roast them too. You'll be thanking me as you much away on those crunchy, delicious and healthy snacks.

Here is how you do it. Wash or brush off seeds. Most people say don't wash them, but I've found you can as long as you let them dry for a while before roasting. Mix in a teaspoon or two of olive oil and your favorite salt or seasoning. We like pure sea salt, but ranch seasoning has been popular too. Roast for about 45 minutes in a 300 degree oven.

I like to eat them when they are still warm and toasty from the oven... preferably next to the fireplace, under a blanket watching the world turn white around me. Snow in October is still a novelty so I'm going to enjoy it the best way I know how.

PS. Because things have turned so cold around here I thought it was time to warm up the blog too. Do you like the new look??

Pumpkin Puree for the Soul

As news of the seasons first snowfall is whispered across the state my mind turns to the kitchen. It's a seasonal awakening to foods that are forgotten in the heat of summer. Chili, soup, stroganouff, pie, pastry, pudding. Things that warm the soul and give us a reason to turn on the stove.

This week I was inspired by Pam to try my hand at making homemade pumpkin puree. We already had an extra sugar pumpkin from our CSA and instead of letting it go to rot on our front porch I wanted to make use of it.

So I cut it in half, seeded it, and placed it cut side down for 1 hour in a 350 degree oven. Easy as pie, as Pam would say. And now I'm trying to decide what to do with all my puree. Pie, bars, loaves, cookies even... What's your favorite pumpkin recipe?

And don't forget to save this gooey mess. I'll show to a yummy way to make use of those too!

Tabel for 4 and a Focaccia Bread Recipe

Last night I got to set the table for 4. We had my parents over for supper just to catch up and enjoy an evening of fresh food and local wine. The wine was from Scenic Valley Winery which my parents picked up on a recent horse camping trip. We had cranberry. It was so good with just the right amount of tartness and might now be considered my favorite wine. We are going to make it a point to take a trip down to Lanesboro before this summer is gone so we can pick up a few more bottles and spend some time on the trails.

The menu consisted of my favorite salmon, steamed broccoli, camp potatoes, and possibly everyone's favorite: homemade focaccia bread.

Do you remember the "bread in 5 minutes a day"? Well my friend I thought that was easy bread, until I made focaccia. This recipe takes about 1 hour TOTAL. No waiting overnight on this little piece of heaven. I made this first loaf pretty much as written in the directions. I did wait until the last 5 minutes to add the cheeses, and my only addition was a bit of fresh basil from our CSA share sprinkled on top to add some color. It was truly delicious as is, but I think next time I'll try adding some thinly sliced onions and sun dried tomatoes just to experiment a bit. John said he would like me to build an entire pizza on top of this loaf, but that sounded like a little too much for me.

Hope you all are having a great week. You know it's July when you thought yesterday was Monday on a Thursday!

Chipotle Southwestern Sauce On my Favorite Sandwich

From time to time John and I stop to get one of those 5 dollar foot longs, and we always get about the same thing. Some of the elements change around like sometimes we are daring and add bacon, other times it's tomato.... but one thing never changes. We love the Chiopotle Southwestern Sauce... it really makes the sandwich. And so this week I got to wondering if I could find a recipe to make it myself so we could enjoy the flavor at home and save a few dollars along the way.

Sure enough it took me no time at all to find a recipe that sounded right and we had everything at home sans one ingredient: the chipotle chilies in adobo. So we hopped in the car and made our way to the Spanish/Mexican section of our grocer. I was a little worried I'd have to spend hours scowering the store to find this elusive item (like the first time I had to find hoisin sauce for the salmon), but right next to the other canned chilies and peppers we found the missing link and several brands to choose from even.

I mixed it up while the other groceries were still unpacked ( too darn excited to wait ) and was delightfully surprised with the acuracy in flavor. This stuff really does make any deli sandwich amazing. Send it to lunch with your man and he'll greet you with kisses after work. Not lieing... this really happened!

And so by now you must be praying that I'll just shut my trap and share the recipe. Ok ok... I'll get on with it.

My Favorite Sandwich (at least for now)

Onion specialty bun.

Meat. I used roasted chicken breast from the deli this time. Any chicken or turkey is always good and I think beef would be great too!

Cheddar cheese ( you got to get the good stuff )

Lettuce finely chopped. Here is one of my all time favorite kitchen tricks. Lay the lettuce flat in a layer of 3 or 4. Beginning on one end, role it up tightly. Hold in place and slice from one end. You'll get these nice little ribbons. How neat is that? And it's faster than trying to finely chop just by running your knife through over and over again.

Chipotle Southwest Sauce:
Tip: 1 ounce = 2 Tablespoons

1 C. Mayonnaise
1/2 Ounce Dijon mustard
1/2 Ounce Lime Juice
1 Ounce Chipotle Chili in Adobo (pureed before you measure)
1/4 Ounce Garlic, minced
Salt to taste

Combine and add salt to taste. Smother sandwich. Refridgerate remaining. Repeat.

Warning: Do not be like me and taste the Chilis unless you have a high tollerance for heat. I thought it smelled pretty sweet, but boy was I wrong... this stuff it hot which is why you don't need much.

Onion chopped.

And that it. Enjoy!

Mouth watering.