MIM #13

MIM: Pickles

Yes, I know. A day late and a dollar short. Always. (and now, two days late)

When we are feeding a crowed, let's say, 30+. There are a few "go to" recipes we use to make life a bit less intense on those days. (Those days include, baptisms, bridal/baby showers ect.) Theses treasured recipes are make ahead but still need a bit of work the day of...and that's okay; because these recipes are AtotheWtotheE-SOME!! AWESOME! Yea! Yea! There're Awesome! GOOOooooOOO Team!

Now, that is what happens when you mix a sleep deprived mother and a key board. Okay, and how do I come back from that...(I was never a cheerleader. You can see why.)

Oh, Yes. Pickles and treasured make ahead recipes for a crowd. Let me pull out one of my trusty Cooks Country Magazines.

Cooks Country Magazine. Feb/March 2008

Inside is a scrumptious recipe for Chicago Style Italian Roast Beef. No, there is no pickles in this recipe, but you get to serve giardiniera on the side. YUM. We spruce up the hot giardiniera with a bit of mayonnaise. Pulse drained giardiniera (16oz bottle, reserve 1TBS brine) and 1TBS of mayo in a food processor about 15seconds. All you want is to mix the two ingredients into a paste. Put condiment into a serving container, add the brine, mix and serve with your sliced Italian Roast Beef. Oh. So. Good.

                                                    

This giardiniera is from our local grocery store. However, if you want to support St. Louis' The Hill, home to Italian-American immigrants, whom settled there in the early 19th century, visit Di Gregorio's Italian Food Market and buy some of their giardiniera. The Hill is also home to many of our favorite Italian restaurants in all of St. Louis. If you are ever in the Lou and need a place to eat... we highly recommend many of the restaurants in the link!

If you read Jessica's MIM posted, you already know the following. This is our last MIM, for now. My intent was to put it out there and see how it goes. Thank you all for participating and I hope you enjoyed playing along. Maybe I'll throw something out there for the holidays. Who knows? Right now, I need to get some sleep because sick kids equates to NO sleep for a mom. True'dat!

Anne was hosting this week, I know her mother-in-law made something wonderful with pickles or pickled...so hopefully she'll let us in on the adventure in her neck of the US. 

In other news, Anne and Mark will be visiting soon and Elise found this picture and insisted it is her Uncle Mark. Hope she won't be too disappointed. 

MIM #12

Welcome back to this weeks MI: Strawberries

Today is my youngest BIL's birthday, the big 18. To show our appreciation to this fine young lad and ALL the selfless help he gives to our family, on the regular, we will be making him the famous Strawberry Almond Pie. 

Recipe, pics and details all coming your way... After I've made it and we have consumed it, so check back with me later for all the dets. If you follow us on Instagram, I'll post some pics. #MIM 
Until then, link it up down below. I'll be inspired by your strawberry goodies while I make mine.  

Jessica and Co made a short stop here in the Lou over the weekend and though I didn't get to spend as much time with her and the family, I hope they enjoyed all the touristy adventures they sought after. Click on over to see her Strawberry goodness...she is traveling so her post may not be up til later.

Anne is hosting next weeks MIM so check in for this weeks MI.

TTFN...

MIM #11

I am still protesting desserts/baking, unless someone is in dire need of sugar. Usually, that someone is me, and that dire need...Uh, not so dire but I'm trying.

Since my favorite way to consume blueberries are via any baked good. ie. Blueberry Cobbler, Buckle, Muffins, or this Blueberry Lemon Coffee Cake, which I still have one in my freezer, we elected to make Blueberry Mojitos. Another weakness of mine, mojitos. Yes, (raising and waving my hand) I am aware of the sugar in our home made simple syrup as well as the sugar in liquor. Thank you very much. 

For some reason we have yellow limes and purple blueberry puree??? IDK

We enjoyed our Blueberry Mojitos with some of Robert's bros, a soon-to-be-SIL and friends. We like to share.

                               

The base for the Mojitos comes from our traditional Mojito Recipe. 

To that we used: 

2C Fresh Blueberries, blended, strained, then added to pitcher with the rest of the mojito ingredients

They were very refreshing, delicious and added just a bit of tart to the sweet. 

Link up with Jessica so I can see how you used blueberries, or as Marie called them as a babe. "Blue-blues"

Check in with Anne and ask how the baby bump is coming along. 

This coming weekend we will be entertained by Jessica and her crew as they are coming to STL. Woohoo! Yes, I did mean, "we will be entertained" because she always brings the party with her. Hopefully we can double up for next weeks MI: Strawberries (I couldn't let the summer go by without including the quintessential berry) 

Go Fourth and Be Inspired!!

MIM #10

Mystery Ingredient Monday: Leek Addition

I love all things in the Amaryllidaceae family, or so I thought. Red, yellow, white, and green onions are oh so delicious. I don't even want to think about a dish that could not be made better by adding garlic, for that would be a dish not worth eating. So when Anne choose Leeks... I was all like. Sure, why not? And. Why haven't we cooked with leeks before? 
Then I ate our leek recipe and well, maybe it's because I don't really like them. Or, Maybe it's because these "leeks" are really just glorified-but-not-as-good-onions??? Either way. I figured out why we don't cook with leeks. 

So, what dish has me disliking leeks? 

Last week I informed you all of my husbands love for the French cuisine and Jacques Pepin. The love grew this week and he is now the proud owner of Pepin's cookbook: Essential Pepin. No more day dreaming on the couch while he watches Pepin cook 2 main dishes in less than 30 min. My chef can now do it all too... ;)  Yes, Pepin and his French cookbook came in handy for our leek recipe. We used Pepin's Leek Gratin. (You can tell my husband was in charge of photography this week.)

                 

Leek Gratin

4 Lg leeks (1 3/4 LB) trimmed, split, washed

3 slices firm white bread

3 Lg garlic cloves

1 4oz piece Gruyere cheese

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

1 1/2 tsp olive oil

2 TBS unsalted butter      

• Bring 1C water to boil in large skillet. Add Leeks, boil over high heat, then cover, reduce the hear to med-high, cook about 20 min until leeks are tender and most water is evaporated. If any water is remaining. Boil, uncovered about a min. to eliminate it. Remove leeks from skillet and place on cutting board.
• Preheat oven. 475.     Butter a 4-5 Cup gratin dish. When leeks are cool, cut them into 3 inch lengths. Arrange the pieces, alternating white and green pieces, in one layer in the gratin dish.
• Process the bread, garlic, cheese, salt, and pepper in food processor until the mixture is finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl, add the oil, and mix gently with your hands to lightly coat the bread mixture with oil.
• Spread mixture on top of the leeks. Cut the butter into small pieces and dot the top of the gratin with the butter.
• Place in oven. Cook for 7-8 min, or until top is nicely browned.
• serve

So, there you have it. Leeks Gratin with butter, garlic, bread and cheese, and all I can give you is a. "Eehh!" with a shoulder shrug. 

Now, the Coq Au Vin Chicken that was served with the leeks gratin was pretty tasty. 

I know Anne is busy with school, so keep checking her blog for the link up. Jessica is still vacaing in Michigan but has next weeks MI all ready to go because she's all kinds of organized like that. Check'm both.

On a side note. I've had a few emails about peeps wanting to play along but not having a blog. NO PROBLEM! Tag us in a facebook post, #mysteryingredient on instagram or comment on one of our blogs with what you came up with. No blog necessary to play.

Go Fourth and be inspired.  

 

                                                 

                                                       

MIM #9

Oak Glenn Winery (photos from our 2006 visit)

Wine. Whine. Grapes. Red. White. Vineyard. Drank. Ate. Purchased. Cooked. Baked. Thought of.

However you used or interpreted last weeks MI, wine, I hope it was F to the UN! 

I have been SO spoiled by visiting Missouri's beautiful *rolling hills* that bare fruit made for fermenting, that I've been pining for days of old. Where folks weren't slaves to time and landscapes were painted on the daily to achieve perfection in complex view points such as these. All while sipping on wine produced in their very own vineyard.

Stone Hill Winery ('06 visit)

Oak Glenn, tell me those photos don't make you want to go back in time

My BBF, myself and Robert IV at Sugar Creek Winery

Last weekend, the weekend of July 21st 2013, we celebrated my BFF's 30th birthday at Sugar Creek. This celebration in conjuntion with the previous weekends' endevour to our favorite winery, Adam Puchta , is what inspired my MI choice of wine. From the photos above, how could I not be inspired! Throw in my husbands new fond love for Jacques Pepin's French cuisine and well... you have all the inspiration this Clan needed to make a dish fit for a Lord. 

Robert found a Provencal Braised Beef  recipe and we made it together. It was right up my alley. Not. Time. Sensitive. We preped and marinated the meat on Saturday, it took no time at all because everything was quarterd. On Sunday, early afternoon, we made up the gravy which was the most time consuming aspect of the dish. We then placed the meat and gravy into the oven and let it cook for a few hours. The aroma filled the house with scents of fall and though warm weather is my favorite, there's nothing more cozy then the smells and feelings of fall with out the cold! This was my Utopia! 

We served the sish with a side of roasted carrots and potatoes along with our famous Margaret's Rolls. 

base for marinade

meat scored and fat salt prepped

alcohol used 

Entire bottle of wine from above photo went in

Making the rue for the gravy then meat went back into dutch oven

Our Gravy/Fat Separator was hard at work

finished beef provencal and wine served with dinner

I could tell you we didn't drink or celebrate our way through this weekend but that would be False. 
Date night Thursday, Poker night Friday, Meat & Potatoes Saturday @the in-laws for a going back to collage shindig and More Meat & Potatoes for Sundays family dinner with some close friends. Total Blast. If only my babe slept better I wouldn't feel so exhausted. 

I don't know if Jessica will be participating this week since she is in Michigan but Anne is choosing next weeks MI. Check'm!

Link up below, tag us on facebook or #mysteryingredient on the gram. 
Go fourth and be inspired.

Mystery Ingredient Monday #9

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Mystery Ingredient Monday #8

Welcome back to MIM. Jessica's MI was Mustard. So, I hope you all fancy it as much as we O'Briens' do. 

If there's one thing I've learned since marrying into the O'Brien family is that they are ALL wicked competitive! You will NeVer! see me play a game of Monopoly with any of them. There was a first and it was my last.

The O'Briens are quick, ruthless and enjoy annihilation far too much. So, when Jessica threw down a dessert challenge, Robert was all over it.  

First, let's point out the challenge was called upon me, directly, by name. "Tasha" not to be confused with "Robert". No? You don't see how that could be confusing either? Goooood. Because apparently when two become one in the Holy Spirt, my husband takes that as "in all areas of everything". Or so I'm guessing, because he sure suited up and took charge of the conquest before I could even finish saying my name. With in minutes, he found a recipe, was making a grocery list, and checkin' it twice.
This was the only dessert I allowed this week. I just couldn't mustard muster any more sugar. 

Chocolate Stout Pretzel Toffee Bars

Their images are much better looking!

The stout we used then consumed 

toffee/ contains 1TBS of mustard

Multi Layers under there.

The recipe was good. Extremely rich and definitely not low cal.

Remember a few weeks ago I made the outlandish claim that we have an entire refrigerator shelf dedicated to mustards?                    

 Behold the shelf.

The Inglehoffer Sweet Hot Mustartd with Honey is what we used in the recipe

How did I participate this week? 

I used these mustards on sandwiches, pork apple sausages, deli meats, and burgers.
We also made my favorite twice baked potato recipe that calls for powdered mustard.

Check out what Anne whipped up in her kitchen and don't for get to add your link to Jessica's Blog.
As always; (If you want to play along but don't have a blog, instagram or tweet it #mysteryingredient, or tag us in a facebook post about your dish so we can marvel your creativity.) 

I'm feeling a bit spunky this weekend and I have been totally spoiled by the fruits of Missouri's vineyards the past two weekends, I thought would could all unite for next weeks MI=Wine! 

Source

Remember, no rules so anything goes. 

Go Fourth and be inspired.

Link up with me next week. 
TTFN. 

Mystery Ingredient Monday #6

Last week I choose Peaches as the MI and ever since I have not been able to get the lyrics to Peaches by the band Presidents of the USA out of my head. I keep singing... Millions of Peaches, Peaches for me, Millions of Peaches, Peaches for free...and I won't bore you with the rest of the lyrics floating in my head, BUT I know them ALL. For Real! Please tell me I'm not the only one.

So Robert and I had a *"come to Jesus"* (yes, those are jazz hands)  conversation about MIM. While he is very enthusiastic about MIM and supportive; he had crossed into crazy train territory and needed to be DeRailed.  By last Wednesday, he had already picked out two recipes, executed one and was peeling peaches for the next recipe when he got "the look". Yes, I dare say, I give the look. It's kinda like this.

4th of July. Many failed attempts at a photo were everyone looked at the camera.                                          

He smiled ever so politely and said "What? You claimed you weren't going to do this recipe so I am. Would you like to finish it?"
Me: "No, I would not. I would like to go take a nap." (after two weeks of the babe not sleeping well, I NEEDED my nap)
Then when my lioness was calmly placed back in her cage, I expressed that MIM is something I wanted us to do together. Not, something he dictated to me...Hello female emotions. It was decided that I would like to have some say in picking a recipe and deciding when to make it. All inspiration is welcome. With that, I won't bore you yet again with the rest of this enlightenment.

We were ever so lucky to have the opportunity to celebrate Robert's grandfathers' birthday.

Robert's grandparents. Don't they look amazing and joyful!

Which is a big deal because my husband is one out of like 130 first cousins. No joke. When his sister, Jessica, proclaims (and I quote) "cousin to hundreds" from her bio on her blog. She means literally.

So. Lucky us indeed!

Robert made a wonderful dinner that even the two Picky-Everything is Spicy- I won't touch it with a ten foot pole eaters could not complain about. Consider their plates licked clean and awarded this dessert. Peach Puzzle: Cooks Country Magazine- April/May 2007 (email or comment if you want this recipe. It was intense to make)

The other recipe Robert made was also from a Cooks Country Magazine- June/July 2008

Rustic Peach Cake

Peaches

1/4 C granulated sugar

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

2 med. peaches (peeled,pitted, cut into 8 wedges)

Cake

1 C all-purp flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 C granulated sugar

1/4 C packed light brown sugar

8 TBS unsalted butter, softened

2 Lg eggs

2 TBS sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 C dried peaches or apricots (chopped fine) 

Directions

1. For the peaches: oven rack-middle position. Heat: 350. 

    Grease 9-inch springform pan. Combine sugar and cinnamon in Med. bowl; reserve 2 TBS sugar      

    mixture. Add peaches to bowl with remaining sugar mixture and coat. 

2. For the cake: Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in bowl. With electric mixer on Med-High speed,  

    beat sugars and butter until light and fluffy. (2 min)

    Beat in eggs, sour cream and vanilla until incorporated. Reduce speed to Med-Low. Slowly add flour   

    mixture and mix until just combined. (30 sec) Scrape batter into prepared pan. Scatter dried  

    peaches/apricots over batter, then arrange sugared peaches in circular pattern over top.  Sprinkle 

    reserved sugar mixture over peaches.

3. Bake until cake is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean., 35-45 min. Cool  

    at least one hour.

Robert's desserts were fabulous, as always, but, if I had to choose a winner from his line up, I would have to go with the Rustic Peach Cake. He used the dried apricots in the RPC recipe and it was Um, Um, UMMM! So good. 

I prefer a crisp to a crumble or cobbler, that's not to say I won't eat and enjoy the latter. 

                                           

With that in mind, I picked this Peach Crisp recipe.

I substituted lime zest for the lemon zest because that's what I had on hand. I also used 4 inch ramekins, not 6 inch, because that's what we have. Besides, I figure the more the merrier! That's what I was taught. 

These were served up with some vanilla bean ice cream. Snuggling on the couch with my love and a little show called Lark Rise to Candleford. Love. IT!

Now you might have caught a blurb or two in reference to Peach Bombs under my comment section last Monday. There is a family story that goes with Peach Bombs but I feel Jessica should share it. So, here's to hoping she makes them and shares their special sentiment. I will however leave you with the darnedest thing about Peach Bombs.

A few years ago Robert and our family of one child, Marie, tagged along with his family to the BIG EASY. We went to visit one of his brothers and his fiancé (at the time) and meet her family. It was a blast! One evening we ate dinner with the future in-laws and for dessert we were served...wait for it... Peach Bombs... From a blog called Pots and Peter Pans, the recipe was submitted by none other than... Wait for it... Our very own housewifespice, sister, sister-in-law, "cousin of hundreds, friend to thousands".  Now, we all sing in harmony: It's a small world after all. 

 Anne is choosing this weeks MI. If I were her, with morning sickness, I would probably choose macaroni and use it in arts and crafts so I wouldn't be scarred for life if said MI increased my morning sickness to the level of regurgitation.  

Check for Bombs on Jessica's blog and link up below. As always; (If you want to play along but don't have a blog, instagram or tweet it #mysteryingredient, or tag us in a facebook post about your dish so we can marvel your creativity.) 

And, yes, you can now find our Clan on Instagram. Thanks inquiring minds...you know who you are. Cari 

Go fourth and be inspired! 

Mystery Ingredient Monday #5

When Jessica announced Beets as her MI, I thought of the thrills this place can bring to one in need of a B&B.  It has beds and serves breakfast. 

Yes, Dwight Schrute, The Beet Farm and and his BBBG:

Bears.

Beets.

Battlestar Galatica.

Always a good time. While hunting for the image above I found this Trip Advisory page for all you Office fans. Enjoy.

Moving on to Beets of the roasted and tossed into a salad with asparagus, spinach and basalmic vinagare. Yum! 

Thank goodness my husband likes to cook and saved my rump on this one. All I was able to do this weekend was nurse, change and hold the 25LB sack of potatoes baby who wanted no one but me.
Robert made Bietole al Forno. We substituted the frisee salad for fresh spinach. It was delicious and can be served hot or cold. We ate it both ways and it was wonderful. 

                                                        

                                                       

My one of my sisters made a Roaster Root Medley at Christmas time. We didn't make it this week but have made it in the past. It is awesome and a great dish for fall/winter.

Roaster Root Medley: Serving size 4 so, make more

1 Med. sized Yam-washed and cut into 1 inch chunks

2 Lag. carrot, washed and cut into 1 inch chunks 

2 Lag. beet, washed and cut into 1 inch chunks

1 yellow onion, peeled and cut into large wedges

4 tsp. EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

salt to taste

Preheat oven to 400. 

In bowl, toss all ingredients together. Spread on a cookie sheet and bake for 40 to 50 min. or until tender, turning over once or twice to prevent burning. 

Looking forward to seeing what you all came up with. Go link up with Jessica and visit Anne. (If you want to play along but don't have a blog, instagram or tweet it #mysteryingredient, or tag us in a facebook post about your dish so we can marvel your creativity.) 

Next weeks MI

Peaches

Hope you all have a fun and safe Fourth of July. Now, Go Fourth and be inspired. See you next week here on my blog. 

Mystery Ingredient Monday #4

Last week Anne's MI was: Jalapenos   

Now, we always have a jar of jalapenos in the fridge along with a bottle of Franks' Red Hot and a shelf dedicated to an assortment of cheeses and another just for an assortment of mustards. Why do you ask? Because it was placed in our verbal Nuptial agreement. And because Robert likes all things SPIIIICCCCYYYY and tangy and interesting. That's why he married me. The rest of The Clan are not spicy food eaters and the girls think anything they don't like is called spicy. So we hear A. Lot. Of. "This is spicy". Code for: "I don't like it an I'm not gonna eat it". In short, I was perplexed. What was I going to make that wouldn't go to waste?

Behold: 

The Ultimate Steakhouse Burger (adapted. cuz that's how we haf'da roll)

Cooks Country June/July 2005

We like this burger recipe because it eliminates the dry-crumbliness from a home grilled burger and replaces it with a juicy cohesive burger. What helps make this burger so much better than just meat thrown on a grill is bacon grease (of course!), bread, and milk...surprise. OH, and Jalapenos, but only in a few burgers.  

Finished: Jalapeno burger

Ultimate Steakhouse burger Ingredients:

8 Strips of bacon

3 TBS bacon fat

1-2 slices white sandwich bread, crust removed and discarded, remaining bread cut into 1/2 inch pieces (about 1C)

1/4 C milk

1 1/2 LBS ground beef (you want 85-90% lean with the added fat from the bacon, 80% will be too greasy)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

*(recipe calls for 2 large garlic gloves mined, we don't add- the favor didn't jive well for us. Feel free to do what you want)

** (Our additions) 1 Jalapenos diced 

(We have added chunks of cheddar in the past. You can be creative and add different cheeses)

Directions:

1. Fry bacon in large skillet until crisp, place on paper towel lined plate,  Spoon 3TBS of fat into bowl and reserve

2. Place bread in small bowl (we divided these ingredients into 2 bowls so one was spice and the other was plain) add milk and let mixture sit until saturated, about 5 min. Using fork, mash bread and milk until it forms a smooth paste. Break up beef into. Season with salt and pepper (here is where you add garlic if you want) and reserved bacon fat. Using hands, lightly knead together so that ingredients are well incorporated. Divide meat and make patties. 

3. Oil cooking grates and grill burgers over very hot flame. 

We have found lining a bowl with foil is easier and less messy clean up and disregard of grease once its congealed 

Mommy's helper

Fry up some chopped Jalapenos

Added all the ingredients to bowl for mixing

We couldn't allow the extra Jalapeño to go to waste, so Robert made these fine dishes:

Green Chili Sourdough Omelet

(From the cookbook: At Home with the Range Cafe)

Breakfast for a crowd of O'Brien brothers!

Chimichurri Sauce

Flat Iron steak with Chimichurri sauce, cheese rissoto, and green beens

Looking forward to seeing what you all cooked up with your Jalapenos or as one of my BIL's would say; (Ja - lap - enos) because say'n it out loud like that helps him remember how to spell it. - The little things. (If you want to play along but don't have a blog, instagram or tweet it #mysteryingredient, or tag us in a facebook post about your dish so we can marvel your creativity.) 

Head over to Jessica to see how Jalapenos spiced up her life and look for this weeks Mystery Ingredient.

I hope Anne was able to stomach her Jalapeno choice. Let's go see. While you are there, join me and Congratulate  her and Mark on their fantastic news. Spread their story, it's triumphant!
As Alway, Go forth and be inspired!
See you next week.
Email or comment if you would like the Chimichurri sauce or the breakfast omelet recipes.