Spatulas, Corkscrews & Suitcases

BEST GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE: Easy Thanksgiving Side Dish Recipe

Thanksgiving Recipe: Classic Green Bean Casserole for holiday menus. Made with French's French Fried Onions and Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup, this is the casserole your Mom used to make for a Thanksgiving side dish alongside the Sweet Potato Casserole and Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce. With holiday side dishes like these, you can forget the roast turkey and sausage stuffing!

Green Bean Casserole Recipe

• 2 cans (14 ounce) French cut green beans, drained (frozen cut grean beans can also be used)
• 1 can (10.75 ounce) condensed Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 can (6-ounce) French's French Fried Onions
• 1/3 cup shredded cheese blend (mild cheddar, Monteray Jack and low moisture mozzarella cheese are good choices)

How To Make Green Bean Casserole

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a large 9 X 13 inch rectangular, or similar size round or oval baking dish with vegetable spray (Pyrex or Pampered Chef stoneware is good).
2. In a large bowl with a rubber spatula, mix green beans, cream of mushroom soup, sour cream, milk and Worcestershire sauce together. Fold in 3/4 cup of French's French Fried Onions, and pour into the prepared pan.
3. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, remove from oven, and sprinkle the remaining French's Onions and cheese evenly on top. Return to oven and continue baking for an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Green Bean Casserole will be piping hot right from the oven! Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
4. Serves 10-12. This Green Bean Casserole recipe can be divided in half and baked in an 8 X 8 inch pan to serve 6. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Make this easy holiday casserole even tastier by adding cooked bacon, mushrooms and red peppers. Simply cook 4-6 ounces of bacon in a small frying pan, remove and set aside, reserving 2 Tablespoons bacon fat. Slice 4-6 white button mushrooms and dice 1/2 red pepper, and saute in the reserved bacon fat until tender. Mix in and continue with the recipe as directed.

CINCO de MAYO MEXICAN SALSA: Fresh Pico de Gallo with Heirloom Tomatoes and Corn

Similar to Mexican Pico de Gallo, this sugar-free tomato salsa with some garden fresh cilantro and chilies is quick and easy to prepare using readily available market ingredients, kitchen gadgets and tools. Warm tortilla chips and guacamole are the perfect accompaniment to this awesome salsa. Super easy to make and eat right now, or follow the recipe and can the rest for later!

Heirloom Tomato Varieties

It's not summer yet in the Northeast, but you can start thinking about growing your own heirloom tomatoes, or seek out a local farmer's market for the freshest tomatoes they have. Below are some of the most popular heirloom tomatoes available from growers and seed companies. Don't worry if you can't get heirlooms now. Fleshy red-ripe tomatoes from Whole Foods Market or Trader Joe's will do the job too. 

• Brandywine tomatoes are widely recognized with red and yellow being the most popular colors.
• Jubilee tomatoes are a beautiful golden variety.
• Green Zebra is a fun tomato to use because of its striking color and stripes.
• Cherokee Purple is a deep purple, almost "black" tomato.

Adding fresh tomatoes last to the fresh salsa will not only keep their flesh intact, but their colors bright and vibrant as well. Fold the tomatoes in carefully so as not to bruise or crush them.

Ingredients: Fresh Tomato Salsa Recipe

• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large Spanish onion, chopped small
• 1 large green pepper, chopped
• 1 large red pepper, chopped
• 2 large jalapenos, finely minced
• 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes, unsalted
• 6 ounce can tomato paste, unsalted
• 1 Tablespoon lime juice, fresh squeezed
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 drops hot habeneros sauce (Bandana's Habeneros Sauce is good)
• 4 ounce can green chilies
• 1/4 cup Bragg's Liquid Aminos, tamari sauce, or low sodium soy sauce
•  2 pounds corn, fresh off the cob, or frozen (thawed)
• 3 pounds heirloom tomatoes, fleshy Italian plum tomatoes are best, chopped or halved if small
• 1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro

Directions: How To Make Fresh Tomato Salsa

1. In a large stock pot, saute onions and peppers in extra virgin olive oil until crisp tender.
2. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, lime juice, honey, chilies, habeneros sauce and Bragg's Liquid Aminos, tamari or soy sauce.
3. Cook over very low heat for 10 minutes. Remove from stove, and carefully fold in corn and tomatoes.
4. Gently add cilantro and stir.
5. Cool completely and store in refrigerator, or can in a hot water bath for 25 minutes.
6. Makes 9 pints.

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• Ina Garten's Panzanella Salad Recipe
• Easy Tri-Colored Coleslaw Recipe
• Cobb Salad - An Edible Landscape!

SPINACH ARTICHOKE DIP - Superbowl Sunday Recipe

                                        

SUPERBOWL SUNDAY APPETIZER
Guess what my most requested recipe is right now? It's for my Spinach Artichoke Dip. My Suite101 recipe is going gangbusters with record hits! You have guests coming over, a house full of hungry guys perhaps? You're looking for the perfect appetizer for your SUPERBOWL party right? Well, look no further! This dip will knock your socks off, and your guests will be asking for the recipe long after the SUPERBOWL is over!  Heck! Now I'm hungry and thinking of making it for Sunday's game!

Spinach Artichoke Dip Recipe
This recipe was one of the biggest hits for many years when we were catering for the Strong House Inn in Vermont. It's still my favorite hot dip of all time! It tastes so  close to the Olive Garden and TGIF's Spinach Artichoke Dip Recipes, it'll be hard to tell the difference. The only difference is the price you had to pay for it!

The Spinach Artichoke Dip is  also SUPER easy to put together. If you don't like artichokes, leave them out. It won't taste quite the same, but it'll still be one of the best tasting hor d'oeuvres on your SUPERBOWL buffet table! Let it cool down or about 15 minutes before serving, it's HOT right out of the oven! Serve it with crackers or with baguette slices.

Soooo, Where Do You Get The Spinach Artichoke Dip Recipe?
Here's what you do...Click here for my Spinach Artichoke Dip Recipe. It'll bring you right to my Suite101 article page. You can print it off to use in the kitchen, email it to a friend, or bookmark it for later. The buttons are all down at the bottom of the recipe. Enjoy the game, but most of all, enjoy the Spinach Artichoke Dip! I know I will! If you like this recipe, you might want to try my Vegetarian or Hamburger Chili Recipe!

 

CORN CHOWDER RECIPE ~ Quick & Easy, Thick & Chunky

                                             

Corn Chowder ~ The Ultimate Comfort Food
Winter is right around the corner, and what better way to ward off the cold weather than with a bowl of homemade Chunky Corn Chowder? It's the ultimate comfort food! Our family loves thick and chunky soups and chowders. They're usually a quick & easy meal to prepare. Prep some veggies, throw them in a pot, let them simmer and viola! Hot and steamy soup or chowder!

                                                                      

Quick & Easy, Thick & Chunky Corn Chowder
It took a while to get this recipe just the way my family likes it. They ate all the flops and rejects. It was either that, or they went hungry for the night! In the beginning, I started off by making a flour and butter roux. It made the corn chowder too thick and pasty. So, I fooled around with corn starch and that seemed to do the trick. Nice and thick without the paste! Make sure to mix the cornstarch in cold water before you add it to the hot chowder. Cornstarch doesn't work by mixing it into hot chowder. You'll have a lumpy mess by taking that short cut. This CHUNKY CORN CHOWDER RECIPE makes a big batch. Use at least an 8 quart stock pot. It keeps for a few days in the fridge and even seems to get better with age!

                                                      


Vegetarian, Vegan & Low-Fat Options
This recipe is easy to adapt to vegetarian, vegan or low-fat corn chowder. Just substitute the offending ingredients - bacon, milk or cream and chicken broth. Instead, use Fakin' Bacon, soy milk and vegetarian bouillon. If you don't like red peppers, use green peppers or diced carrots. For "real" corn chowder use roasted corn OFF the cob!

                                                                    

Corn Chowder Serving Suggestions
Cut up a big loaf of crusty French or Italian bread and dunk! Serve with oyster crackers (why do they call them oyster crackers? They have nothing to do with oysters!) or Ritz Crackers. Make some fresh croutons and garnish with a few on top. Make a loaf of beer bread and slather it with butter and enjoy! Click here for the best CHUNKY CORN CHOWDER RECIPE. Your family will love you for it! 

                                                         

Heirloom Tomatoes ~ The Season's Finest

                                              

                                               

Summer's Finest ~ Heirloom Tomatoes
There's no doubt about it - the dog days of summer are here in all their glory! The farmers' markets are bursting at the seams with all sorts of wonderful, ripe produce. Even though I love corn on the cob, zucchini and fresh fuzzy peaches, I wait all year for the heirloom tomatoes to come to market. From almost white to the darkest purple and every hue in between, the color variations of heirloom tomatoes are truly amazing!

                                                                             

Ugly Tomatoes
Then there's the shapes! Some people call the Brandywine an "ugly" tomato. It really is one of the homeliest tomatoes I've ever seen! With its lumps and bumps and ugly spots, these are tomatoes only a mother could love! It's also one of the sweetest and tastiest tomatoes on earth! When I go to the market, I look for the real homely ones. The tomatoes I can make faces with. Silly, I know, but consider how many people stare at clouds, searching to find a face or bunny in them.

                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                         
                                                                       

Zebra's in all Colors!

The Green Zebras were especially wild. The color is almost the color of a lime except with stripes. Did you know they're green inside? There's a red variety also, (I think they call it a Speckled Roman) looking like a red zebra! I bought a few red Brandywines, a Paul Robeson, an Orange Blossom, a Cherokee Purple and a Bull's Heart. I just couldn't bring myself to buy a Persimmon, they were way too ugly! I kept seeing toothless old men with scrunched up faces in the tomatoes!

                                                                        

How Much are Heirloom Tomatoes?
I found out the hard way that heirloom tomatoes aren't cheap either. I don't know how much they are where you live, but here in Rhode Island they're selling for $4.50 a pound! Not really thinking too much about it, I brought my tomatoes to the girl behind the table. She weighed them up and announced the price - $9.75! YIKES! For Tomatoes??? I tucked my tail between my legs and dragged my purchase back to the car determined to make something delicious with them.

                                                                  

Heirloom Tomato Galette
And that's how the Savory Heirloom Tomato Galette with Red Onion Jam came to be. Read my last post and my recipe for my newest galette!

                                                                 

GRILLED CALIFORNIA PIZZAS ~ Ina Garten & Barefoot Bloggers

                                                                        

Ina Garten's Grilled California Pizzas
This weeks Barefoot Bloggers selection was an Ina Garten favorite - Grilled California Pizzas. The recipe was chosen by Rebecca from Ezra Pound Cake and can be found at The Food Network.

Pizza On The Grill
As most of you know, I've had an obsession with my own Grilled Pizzas lately! I've made so many of them already and the ideas for more are just oozing from what's left of my brain! Because of this, I didn't follow Ina's recipe. I know, I know. Isn't this supposed to be an Ina Garten's special Caliornia Grilled Pizza post? To tell you the truth, apart from making my own dough - or not - most of my own pizzas don't look much different than Ina's. In fact, I just made one last week that could be hers!

                                                                     

So, with that in mind, I submit my own photos of a pizza that could have been an Ina Garten Pizza! Mine has onions, tomatoes, basil, fresh mozzarella, red peppers, garlic and prosciutto on it just like hers! Maybe not all in that combination at the same time, but at one time or another, all the pizzas eventually have the same things on them.

Don't take my word for it, go and try Ina's pizza too. I hear it's really good!

GRILLED PIZZA PESTO STYLE! & Hahn Estates Syrah

                                               
Pizza, Pizza and More Grilled Pizza!
I've been experimenting with all types of Grilled Pizzas over the past few months. Half of our dockmates have been invited to try our grilled pizza. If they haven't been invited up to the grill yet, they will be before the summer is over!

                                                                      

Dockside Pizzaria?
Maybe I should start selling them. Hey! That's not a bad idea! Can't tell John though. He'll say NO of course, so I'll just have too suck him in when he's not paying attention! He'll ask me,

• John: "Why are there 10 crusts here? Are we having a party you didn't tell me about?" 
• Me: "No, I have 10 Pizza orders for $10.00 each!" And then he'll be amazed and beam with pride that his wife is such the little entrepreneur! HA! What he'll probably say is,
• John: "WHAT? What did you just do? You've got me standing here making pizzas for the whole dock?" But then I'll say
• Me: "Yes, but we'll be rich beyond imagination and next year we'll be able to buy a 50 foot boat and put a commercial kitchen in it! Then I can have a take-out window...I mean port and sell creamies too!"
  
• John: "Silly dreams!".....or are they?

Roasted Red Pepper and Basil Pesto
I've been making my own pesto lately too. It's so much cheaper than buying prepared pesto, and better! This time I threw a few roasted red peppers in with the basil. I've done this before but it's been quite some time since my homemade pesto days. Here's the link to my Pesto Recipe. Just add a roasted red pepper or two in oil to the basil in the food processor.

                                                                   

                                                       

Grilled Pesto Pizza
These pizzas were done on whole wheat dough purchased from the store. They come in 1 pound balls and I stretched them out and patted them into rectangles...well, almost! They're never perfectly shaped and I think that's what makes them so unique! I sprinkled the sheet with cornmeal and olied them with basil oil on both sides. I always pat the dough out on a piece of foil to make it easier to flip it upside down on the grill. Less messy that way.

                                                             

                                                          

                                                             

I sauteed some asparagus in basil oil and I still had some Garlic Scapes left over from the farmers' market, so I threw those on top too! I used a Microplane rasp (cheese grater and citrus zester) to do my parmesan and cheddar cheeses. Some red pepper strips for color and I sprinkled a little Mrs Dash on top of it all for a flavor boost. Man, that pizza came out tasty! I'm convinced it's the pesto that makes it. If you've never done Pizza on the Grill before, you need to try it! Click here for an earlier post and more complete directions.

                                                                       

Pepperoni, Olive and Tomato Pizza
The next Grilled Pizza was a mish-mash of left over odds-and-ends. Red sauce, imported green olives, tomatoes, onions, pepperoni, fresh basil leaves, mozzarella, cheddar and parmesan. Again, I sprinkled the top with Mrs Dash Garlic & Herb seasoning.

                                                               

Hahn Estates 2005 Central Coast Syrah
We always bring a bottle of wine to the grill with us. It makes the whole Grilled Pizza experience more enjoyable. Combine a couple of good friends, a few Grilled Pizzas and a great bottle of wine and we have an instant dock party! This time we picked out Hahn Estates 2005 Central Coast Syrah. Good choice for Pizza on the Grill! It's a bold wine but the tannins were soft and well balanced. I detected jammy fruits and it was a little peppery, but just enough to be spicy. I swished it around and the dark fruit flavor exploded in my mouth! I left a little in my mouth and took a bite of the pizza and WOW! didn't that make a difference! I've had this wine before but never with Grilled Pizza. This label is a new favorite for me. I think we paid around $11.50 for the bottle, but then again, we bought a mixed case of 12, so it could have been a little higher. Even still, it was worth it! Check out the Hahn website for more info on this amazing Hahn Estates 2005 Central Coast Syrah.

                                                              

Pizza of the Week
So that's it for the two pizzas of the week! Join me next time for "As the Pizza Grills...We Drink Wine!"

                                                                        

HOW TO COOK WITH SNOW PEAS on startcooking.com

                            
SNOW PEAS
Here's my second startcooking.com article - How To Cook With Snow Peas. It's been a lot of fun writing these How-To articles for startcooking.com. Started by former Home Ec teacher Kathy Maister, the site targets new cooks just starting out and busy cooks that never had the time to learn how to cook. In this post, I explain what snow peas are, how to choose snow peas, how to prepare snow peas and finally, I give 10 plus links to more recipes and ways to use snow peas. Did I mention this article was about snow peas?

There are links to recipes for:

• Butterhead Lettuce with Spring Radishes and Peas
• Sun Dried Tomato Hummus with Snow Peas
• Spaghetti with a Twist
• Spicy Chicken and Snow Peas
• Asian Beef with Snow Peas
• Videos by the Minamalist Mark Bittman, Fried Rice by the owner of startcooking.com Kathy Maister and others, and much, much more!
• Click here to see what my friend Liliana from My Cookbook Addiction made with her snow peas. Her photo is so luscious and lifelike, you'll want to eat it right off the screen!
  

I'll bet you didn't know there were so many ways to prepare Snow Peas!
                                               

Don't miss my first article on 10 Meal Salads. With links to recipes like:

• Grilled Scallops over Mixed Greens and Herb Salad
• Salad Nicoise
• Grilled Steak Salad
• Chicken Caesar Salad
• Cobb Salad
• Taco Salad
• And my very own, Red Bliss Potato Salad. Some cold, others can be made ahead like the 7 Layer Salad. Lots more salads too, and just in time for the summer season!

There's always something new and exciting going on at startcooking.com. For example, Kathy just posted a step-by-step how-to on Fiddleheads! That's right! Everything you never knew about Fiddleheads and ways to prepare them!

Take a look around and tell me what you think. And please leave a comment at the end of the How to Cook With Snow Peas article. They'll love that and it'll make me look real good too!

(photos of snow peas by amarelo and kris b from sxc.)