Had a Long break and I am Back!

 

 

I have taken a break from blogging ,but I am back!

I have been canning Jams,

  relishes and green beans.

I canned 15 pints and 7 quarts of green beans and that was just the first picking.

The corn is looking good this year and the tomatoes are almost ripe. That means the salsa making and sauces will be coming up! The cilantro is going crazy I have frozen 30 bunches of it and there is more to be harvested. I am going to try my hand at drying my oregano and basil this year, since  my darling daughter and son-in-law got me a dehydrator for my birthday.

We have kept our grandsons for 2 weeks this summer and had a blast!  Always have a good time with them.

Our grandson Ryan reached another milestone of  turning 3 !!!! He has Lissencephaly,http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/lissencephaly/lissencephaly.htm ,So for him to turn three is quite an accomplishment!

He is such a joy, I love that little boy!

My family jokes that we  run a Bed and Breakfast,so this week we have my sister staying at Nana Nita’s B&B. Tonight for dinner I fixed Greek Bistro chicken and Greek orzo salad and for dessert Raspberry cream cheese Crostata ! Yummy I had some pastry in the freezer and some left over raspberries for jam making and I just had this moment of inspiration ! It turned out wonderful.

 

Greek Bistro Chicken

 

4 chicken thighs

juice of one lemon

1 tsp chopped fresh oregano

1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

1 clove of garlic grated

salt & pepper

2 Tblsp  olive oil

Put everything in a galloon sized ziplock bag and let the air out then squeeze all ingredients to coat the chicken well. Let marinate for 3 hours.

Now, I put the chicken in my rotisserie basket and cooked it for approximately 1 hour. If you don’t have a rotisserie then you could grill it or bake it in the oven until crispy.

 

 

 

Greek orzo Salad

 

 

1/2 cup red onion chopped fine

1 small cucumber chopped fine

1/2 cup black olives chopped fine

1 small clove garlic grated

1/2 cup crumbled Feta cheese

1 Tblsp chopped fresh oregano

1 tsp rosemary chopped

salt & pepper

Juice of lemon and the zest of half of it

olive oil

 

Cook about 1 1/2 cups of orzo according to directions   then drain.

In bowl put in the lemon juice and zest, stir in olive oil to make dressing ,just enough to make an emulsion.

Add remaining ingredients and stir and the taste for salt .

You may add tomatoes if you like but I don’t like to because it will not keep as long . It will get  a little soggy.

 

 

 

Raspberry Cream cheese Crostata

 

Pastry for one pie (recipe for pastry at the end)

1 8 oz cream cheese softened

whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla or almond extract

2 cups raspberries (fresh or frozen) If frozen thaw and drain,If fresh mash and drain

1/2 cup strawberries chopped

1/3 cup almonds sliced

sugar

1 egg white beaten

preheat oven to 425*

Roll crust out in a circle and place on  parchment covered cookie sheet

( here is my trick on how to get pastry from counter to pie plate or cookie sheet)

 

Place rolling pin at the top of rolled pastry,

Then roll pastry up on to rolling pin,

after you get the pastry rolled onto the pin you then can pick up the pin and move it to where you need it.

In stand mixer whip cream cheese and slowly add cream until you get a (not runny) creamy texture , add flavoring of your choice,add sugar until you get it to your desired sweetness.

In small bowl put drained raspberries and strawberries and taste for sweetness add sugar accordingly .

In the center of the pastry spread out the cream cheese mixture and leave a 2 inch ring on the outside edge.

On top of cream cheese spread the fruit and then sprinkle with some of the almonds. Fold crust up an over fruit and cream cheese,you may have to kind of pleat it around to have it be a circle around it. Brush crust with egg white and sprinkle with sugar and remaining almonds. Bake in preheated oven  for 25 minutes or until bubbly .

This was divine!!!!

You could substitute blueberries or any other berries and it would be just as good!

 

Pie crust recipe (makes for a two crust pie)

12 Tblsp (1 1/2 ) sticks very cold butter(cubed)

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp kosher salt

1 Tblsp sugar

1/3 cup very cold shortening

6 to 8 Tblsp ice water

 

Put flour,salt sugar in bowl of large food processor and pulse to mix. Add cubed butter and shortening and pulse until it resembles peas. With machine running slowly pour in water in the tube until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on floured surface and roll in to a ball and cut in half. Flatten both out to disks and wrap separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. You may freeze at this point and use as needed.