Sherry Trifle

This is a trifle my sister and I created in 2008, for a dinner party in Brooklyn at the house of the Waterfront Alehouse chef.

It had amontillado sherry in it and homemade shortbread.

Some interesting dishes from down sowth

We had to travel down to Mississippi earlier in June for a family emergency.  While there, we made the most of it, food wise; I had some extraordinary meals there, here is a montage of them.

 Abeba - Ethiopian restaurant in Jackson, MS - I got the vegetarian sampler plate, seen here.  Had never had Ethiopian before - I found it akin to Indian food in its spice and scope.  I would like to try it again.

Steak and potato at the Lone Star, with my in-laws; fantastic people, fantastic dinner.  I don't eat steaks very often, but sometimes, you know the time is right.

At Bravo's in Jackson, MS - I had a pizza with goat cheese, prosciutto and arugula on top - this was for Father's Day with my father-in-law; we had such a lovely time.  This scrumptious pizza was top notch - and they made it for me with whole wheat pizza dough.

This frothy margarita was at El Potrillo in Flowood, MS.  I wanted to just dive right in.  It was apertif, refreshment and dessert all in one.

My veggie sandwich with caesar salad at the outstanding Broad Street Bakery in Jackson, MS.  Just the perfect sized lunch, and everything was fresh.  Outstanding.

My father-in-law's cappuccino brownie dessert for Father's Day.  I should've gotten that.  He kindly let me mooch a few spoons of this; next time I will insist on a special trip to Bravo's JUST for this rich fudgey treat. 

My Chez B's omelette at Another Broken Egg in Ridgeland, MS.  This is how to do a big brunch.  We are trying to make this place a goal every time we're in the area now.  This had feta cheese and a basil chiffonade; the waiter didn't know how to describe it, but it was basically chopped basil strewn over and within the omelette; it was one of those meals where you say, "I'm going to do this when I get home".

I have more pictures to post, will do so soon.

Just some delicious dishes I've had recently...

Rigatoni with butternut squash, capers, olives, scallions, and ricotta....couldn't believe how great this was!!!  At Shawnee Inn in Marshalls Creek, PA.

 Chocolate chocolate cake for my Mother-in-law's birthday, created at a Publix, in Nashville, TN. Just decadent.  And we almost finished the whole cake!!!

Grits and toast and eggs at a Waffle House, Nashville, TN.  I am now a big fan of Waffle House.

My step-father-in-law ordered this at a wonderful Japanese restaurant in Nashville.  He had a lot of fun eating it.  All cooked on a hot rock.

Chocolate easter bunny, at Milleridge Inn, Jericho, NY.

Exquisite popover at Milleridge Inn, Jericho, NY. (Thanks Mom!)

Baked Alaska at Oceannaire, Washington, D.C....hubby and I couldn't speak for several minutes as we devoured this like wolverines (or pick an animal that eats like a wolverine).

Creamed corn - at Oceannaire - was real cream - and nutmeg I think.  And I was happy with the stuff out of a can!  But this is the real deal.

Cauliflower mac-n-cheese

I got the recipe for this out of Sunday's newspaper.  It combined two things I like, cheese and cauliflower, and in a unique but insanely obvious way - through the medium of mac -n-cheese!  I've had cauliflower smothered in cheese in England, and my friend Pete had said that it is a regular dish over there - in fact he was aghast that me and my sister had never had it at home!  We had it and LOVED it! 
Here is my take on the dish - it involves swiss cheese, white sharp cheddar cheese, and ricotta cheese.

Yes Virginia, there is a low sugar healthy guiltless chocolate cake

My sister helped me find the recipes for a chocolate cake that uses canola oil and agave syrup - the "natural" sugar that doesn't cause a spike in insulin, as well as a very rich chocolate icing that also uses agave. We served these up to my Mom and Aunt on Saturday; they are usually suspicious of what healthy alternative tricks we have pulled on them in our cooking; we joke that they don't eat anything unless it has at LEAST a stick of butter in it.  We held our breaths; and wham-o, they gobbled this up!!!! 

I had some strawberries at the ready, and they added nicely to the deep chocolate taste of the cake.

French toast the healthy way

I've been trying to find ways to reduce sugar in my life, and I've learned that agave syrup or nectar is a natural sugar product, that does not cause the insulin to spike in your blood the way that table sugar and other sweetners will.  So I've been trying to cook more with that.  Last weekend, we had french toast, and the syrup I put on my toasts was agave.  Loved it!  Wasn't much different (in fact I didn't taste a difference at all) than maple on the french toast.

These are whole wheat bread slices, dredged in 2 eggs and a dollop of milk and sprinklings of cinnamon.

Eggplant meatballs....or ....polpettine di melanzane

A couple of days ago, I wanted spaghetti and meatballs...but I wanted to go vegetarian.  So, I went through my recipe file, and pulled out one of my old favorites - eggplant meatballs!  I happened to have all the main ingredients in my house - eggplant, fresh parsley, breadcrumbs and garlic!  So I went to work!
These take about an hour to make total; you can either fry them or bake them, I chose to bake them this time (I usually fry them - trying to be healthy). 
These are dense and have substance to them; my husband normally doesn't like eggplant, but he gobbled these up! 
My sister and I love eggplant; I think it is one of those unfairly maligned vegetables, possibly because of its unfortunate name in American English; I think it might get better press if we called it by its Brit term, "aubergine", or by the Italian "melanzane". 

I used whole wheat fettucine with these; I think next time I will go with half-wheat fettucine, the 100% whole wheat made the pasta taste a tiny bit cardboardy.

The green you see there is some broccoli florets I added to the sauce to veggie it up!  There's a whole wheat roll there on the side - Stop N Shop has these wonderful frozen whole wheat rolls - you bake them for about 10 minutes - warm and crispy and perfect!