kitchenofdazz

Tomato and Onion Tart

This tomato tart is easy and delicious. It works great on a buffet table for a brunch item or can be served as a side dish with dinner.

2 large onions, sliced thin
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 Pillsbury, rolled and ready made pie crust, found in the Dairy section
1 cup of shredded Gruyere cheese
1 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese
4 plum tomatos, cut into ½ inch wedges
4 medium yellow tomatos, cut into ½ inch wedges
¼ cup of Kalamata olives

1. In a heavy skillet, cook onions in oil, until softened about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until golden. Remove from heat and let cool.
2. Preheat oven 375 degrees.
3. On a lightly floured board with a floured rolling pin, roll out dough into a 14-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Fold the round in half and then transfer to a 12-inch tart pan with a removeable bottom, or a 12-inch quiche dish. Unfold the dough and put into the tart pan or quiche dish, leaving a ¾ inch overhang. Press dough into sides and bottom of dish. Spread onion mixture over dough and top with the cheese. Arrange tomato wedges in cocentric circles over cheese, you can alternate between the red tomatos and yellow or put one row of each. Arrange olives on top of tomatos and season with salt and pepper.
4. Bake tart in middle of the over for an hour or until pastry is golden. Cool on rack and remove the rim of the tart pan.
5. The tart can be served warm or at room temperature.
Serves 10-12.

img_2162-1

It’s strawberry and tomato season in Miami! Stay tuned for some great recipes.

Flaming Cheese Ball

It just isn’t party if there isn’t a flaming cheese ball! This is one of the most requested recipes. My sister Tracey has been making this for years and it is always a hit that is super-easy to make.

(1) Loaf of round bread, usually found in the Bakery Dept. at your local grocery store

(1) 8 ounce bag of Shredded Italian Cheese, the 6-cheese blend works best

(1) 8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened

1 cup of mayonnaise

Blend together the shredded cheese, cream cheese and mayonnaise in a medium sized bowl and mix well until are ingredients are combined.
Cut a large hole in the top of the bread, being careful not to cut through to the bottom of the bread. Cut the large piece of the bread that was cut out of the bread bowl into 1 inch pieces.
Spoon the cream cheese mixture into the bread.
Put onto a cookie sheet with the bread pieces.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until the cheese mixture is lightly brown.

The entire bread bowl can be eaten, making for an easy clean-up.

Vanilla Walnuts

Each year around Christmastime I make these vanilla walnuts to have on hand to give as gifts, eat plain or to use in a salad or on top of ice cream. They are super easy to make. My friend Janis gave me the recipe years ago and I always call her when I am making them.

2 pounds of walnuts, shelled in halves, not pieces

1 cup of sugar

2/3 cup of coconut oil

2 tablespoons of vanilla

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of pepper

1/2 teaspoon of coriander

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon of allspice

Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Blanch the walnuts for one minute in the water after it starts to boil. Drain the walnuts and spread them evenly on the cookie sheets. Mix the coconut oil and sugar in a bowl and spread it evenly on the blanched walnuts. Mix the walnuts on the cookie sheets so they are covered with the vanilla and sugar mixture. Let them stand for 10 minutes so the oil can saturate into the walnuts.

Put walnuts into the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes, rotating the cookie sheets and stirring the walnuts every 10 minutes until they are light brown in color. Mix all of the spices together into a small bowl. Take walnuts out of oven and sprinkle spice mixture evenly over the walnuts. Enjoy!

Tortellini Soup

Tired of Thanksgiving leftovers but you have some turkey that you want to use up? This tortellini soup is perfect for that. It’s quick and easy and makes a great weeknight meal. You can also make it without the turkey or chicken if you would like, and use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth if you want to make it a vegetarian meal.

3 Tbsp. Olive Oil

1 medium onion, chopped into small 1″ pieces

3 cloves of garlic, minced fine

2 large carrots, peeled and sliced into small rounds

1 48-ounce box of chicken broth, you can use unsalted if you would like

3 cups of water

1 cup of cooked, shredded turkey or chicken, this is optional

1 14.5 ounce of canned, diced tomatoes

1 tsp. sugar

1/4 tsp pepper

1 9 ounce package of fresh three cheese tortellini, found in the refrigerated section, I like the Buitoni brand

3 cups of fresh spinach, chopped into small pieces, they will shrink when they are added to the soup

3 Tbsps. shredded parmesan cheese

Heat olive oil in a large soup pot and add the chopped onions, garlic and carrots, cook until the onion is tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add the chicken broth and water and bring to a boil, add the chicken or turkey, tomatoes, sugar, pepper and spinach leaves and tortellini and bring the pot back to a boil again. Add the parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

Makes 6 servings.

Pumpkin Pie Dip

If you are a fan of pumpkin pie, you will love this appetizer. It’s perfect for an appetizer for your Thanksgiving feast and travels well. To keep the apples from turning brown, mix 2 tbsp of honey into a cup of water. Put apples in honey water for 1 minute and then take out. Arrange the apples and gingersnaps around the dip.

1 – 8 ounce pkg. of cream cheese
2 cups of powdered sugar
1- 15 ounce can of pumpkin
1 tsp of ground cinnamon
½ tsp of ground ginger
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Put cream cheese and sugar into mixing bowl. Beat at medium speed with a mixer until smooth. Add pumpkin, cinnamon and ginger, cloves and nutmeg. Pour into a pie dish and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight.

Serve with gingersnaps and sliced apples.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. What could be bad about a holiday where you can eat all day and not worry about calories? When I was young I would love to wake up to the smell of the cooking turkey and the Macy’s Day Parade on the television. When my parents moved to Melbourne Beach, Florida, I hosted Thanksgiving each year. It did get hectic a few times, especially the year when the septic tank backed up, the kids were sick and a few guests were added on at the last minute. My mom and I got smarter each year by hiring a cleaning lady, ordering pizza the night before and having the septic tank cleaned out more often . We always managed to have a great time and inevitably my dad would say, “Good job,” to my mom and I. Our feet were always in pain by the end of the night so to this day when our feet are really tired we say we have “Thanksgiving Feet”! Now we head up to Melbourne Beach and my sister Mary does the hosting. There’s always plenty to go around, even for my brother-in-law, Andy who falls asleep within five minutes of leaving the table.

To make Thanksgiving a little easier, here’s a recipe for mashed potatoes that you can make a day or two ahead of time and then heat them up in the oven. They are not for the calorie counting, but they are delicious and really, who wants to count calories on Thanksgiving? My friend, Jennifer requested them so everyone is not in the kitchen helping with the potatoes at the last minute and they get to the table piping hot.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

These mashed potatoes are delicious, especially since they can be made ahead, perfect for your Thanksgiving dinner feast.

5 pounds of white potatoes
12 cloves of garlic, optional – leave out if you want plain potatoes
16 oz. softened cream cheese
8 oz. sour cream
2 sticks of salted butter, total of 1 cup or 16 tbsps.,
1 large white onion
Salt and pepper

Peel and cube potatoes and put into large pot with enough water to cover them. Add garlic cloves. Bring to boil until potatoes are tender and cooked through, about 20-3o minutes. Be sure they are soft enough to mash.

While you are boiling the potatoes, chop the white onion and saute in one stick of butter (8 tbps.) over medium heat until onions get soft and translucent.

Drain potatoes and garlic, put back into the pot and add the sour cream, the remaining stick of butter and onion mixture. Mash thoroughly until there are no lumps.

Taste and add salt and pepper, if needed. Put into large pyrex dish.

Serves 12.

*Can be made ahead. Put pyrex into oven, cover with aluminum foil and heat at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

Tropical Pumpkin Bread

This pumpkin bread is easy and a great hostess gift for Thanksgiving dinner. It actually gets better after a day or two so it’s great to make ahead of time and the walnuts and coconut are a big hit in Miami. It makes enough for two loaves so you can keep one and give the other one away.

Makes 2 , 8”x 4” loaves

3 cups all purpose white flour
1 Tbsp, plus 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice
2 tsps. of baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups granulated white sugar
1 (15-oz) can of Pure Pumpkin Puree
4 large eggs
½ cup of coconut oil
½ cup of orange juice
1 cup of shredded coconut
1 cup of walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat over to 350 degrees, grease and flour two 8” x 4” loaf pans.
Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Set this aside..
Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil, vanilla and juice in large bowl and beat until blended. Add the flour mixture, then shredded coconut and nuts into batter. Gently mix together and then pour into loaf pans. Bake 50-60 minutes. Test to make sure batter is fully cooked in the middle with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean, the bread is done. If the toothpick has uncooked batter, then cook for another 5-10 minutes, watching it carefully. It should be a beautiful rich, orange brown color.

Food Issues

“You have food issues”, my mother always says. And you know what, she’s right! I do have food issues but they are good food issues and that’s exactly why I set up this food blog. It took me a while to get it going. The fear of not setting it up right consumed me. I finally realized that my whole point of setting it up and getting it going was to document the good food I eat, the recipes I want to share and my food experiences when traveling or dining out. Many times someone will call me and ask for a recipe that I made and sometimes I forget what I have made so this blog is my personal food journey. I dedicate this blog to my family and friends who finally pushed me to do it. I welcome your comments about my “food issues”. Enjoy!!

Author: kitchenofdazz