A Week Of Family And Food

Summer supper—pork tenderloin, orzo spinach salad, grilled corn, sautéed apples.

What a week! We had Little Lady and her mama and daddy in residence here at the farm for a whole week. We had not seen her in far too long. Last time we saw her in person, she barely had hair, she wasn't walking, and she had maybe four teeth. Now you can see the curly hair. And she walking AND talking. (Some words that you could understand, many words that we can understand.) And has too many teeth to count. 

We caught up on things that Mimi does best. Like reading books, snuggling....

...making music, singing songs (Wheels On The Bus is a fav)...

...and spending time on the porch.

Little Lady explored the farm as she waddled over every inch of the front and back yards.

And she got her first tractor ride with Daddy-O.  

That was a big hit! 

Mimi worked a little magic on the christening gown. 

Because of the pandemic, we are having a christening a year later than we planned. 

Thankfully the gown still fit—except around the neck. 

I added ribbon so that we can tie to fit instead of using the traditional gold pins.

It's going to be quiet here this week without those little feet pattering around the house. But we are thankful for the family time we enjoyed. Family time outside around the farm and family time around the table as we shared meals and stories. Here is the menu for one of those meals:

Because my friends have said they liked having recipes for an entire menu in one post, I'm adding another set. I cooked many meals—so many meals—while they were here, but this dinner was the favorite. All recipes we have used before but this combination is worth recording. We grilled the pork tenderloin and the corn, but both of those can be done in the oven. We've done it both ways.

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There are so many good ways to cook pork tenderloin. There are several recipes here on the blog. But hands down, this is our family's favorite. For us, it's one of those never-fail recipes.

BOURBON MARINATED PORK TENDERLOIN

2-1/2 lb. pork tenderloins (usually one package contains 2 tenderloins and is about this weight)
3/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup bourbon
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
4 garlic cloves, minced (I used 2 teaspoons of jarred minced garlic)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
 

Pat tenderloins dry. Combine soy sauce and remaining ingredients in a gallon ziploc plastic freezer bag or shallow dish. Add tenderloins. Seal bag or cover dish and chill 4-12 hours. Turn once or twice while they marinate. Remove pork from marinade, discarding marinade.

Grill, covered with grill lid, over high heat (400 to 500 degrees) for 30 minutes or until meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of meat reads 155 degrees, turning occasionally. Remove from heat; cover with aluminum foil and let stand 10 minutes or until thermometer reads 160 degrees.
 

It's also good cooked in the oven, if you don't have a grill, or if it's raining, 
Put tenderloins in an oven that has been preheated to 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until thermometer reaches 155-160 degrees. Let rest before serving.

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We absolutely love this dish! If there is an issue with feta in your household, you can sub crumbled goat cheese like we did this time.

ORZO SPINACH SALAD

1/2  box (16-oz) orzo, cooked according to package directions
1/2 bag (5-oz) baby spinach, roughly chopped
1/3 cup chopped red onion (use the amount that you want)
4-oz. container crumbled feta cheese (or crumbled goat cheese)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon pepper (I used a few grinds of fresh pepper)

While orzo is cooking, mix the dressing--oil, vinegar, basil, pepper. Set aside.
Drain orzo thoroughly when done. Stir in chopped onion, spinach and feta. Whisk dressing again. Pour dressing over the pasta and mix to coat thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.

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The corn was perfect with this supper.  Daddy-O started it on the grill about 15 minutes before he put on the tenderloin. It all was done at the same time.

GRILLED CORN

fresh ears of corn, shucked and cleaned

Lawry's seasoning salt (or your favorite seasoning)

black pepper

Place an ear of corn on a sheet of foil. Add a couple of pats of butter, sprinkle with seasoning salt and pepper. Roll it up tightly, twisting the ends so the butter doesn't leak out.

Put corn on medium grill, not directly over the heat, for 30 minutes. Close lid of grill. Turn corn in quarter-turns as it cooks. 

You can also put the wrapped corn in a preheated oven, 350º-ish, for 30 minutes. It won't have the brown color that you get from grilling but it's as delicious. Jessica says that if she also is baking another dish at 375º or 400º, she slides the corn in with it at that temp.

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I just realized I've never put the directions for sautéed apples here on the blog. It's a family favorite. It was one of those things I would make these when I needed one more things on the plate. 

All of these amounts are approximate. Just used the number of apples you have. Or the number you need to feed the crowd around your table. Make the butter and sugar match. Like I said, these are more "directions" instead of a "recipe."

SAUTEED APPLES

6 apples, peeled and sliced

1-2 tablespoons butter

1-2 tablespoons brown sugar

ground cinnamon

a little water

Melt butter in skillet. Add sliced apples and stir to coat. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Add a little water. (The apples will release some liquid as they cook.) Cook over medium low heat, stirring occasionally, until apples are as tender as you like them. I turned them low and put the lid on this time, to cook a little slower. 

The butter and brown sugar cook down to make a nice glaze. I don't use very much of either, although you can make it as buttery and sugary as you want to. 

Book Club On The Porch (No Book Involved)

Old friends are the best friends. We had so much fun yesterday. My book club girls came to the lake for an afternoon visit and supper. We take turns doing supper for our regular gatherings and usually a couple of us share duties.  But I told them that for this one time, I'd do it all. They just needed to drive down. Luckily our lake house is only about 25 minutes away from town.

If you've been here long, you know that at this point in my life, I cook easy meals. I like home cooked food, but I am not looking for complicated recipes. This supper was so easy to make. But it would have been harder to transport to Linda's house because it involved two slow cookers and seven pints of ice cream. It was a good choice for a night they were coming to me.

I thought of all sorts of desserts I could make for us. But homemade dessert didn't happen. I bought seven pints of Jeni's ice cream. I had picked up a little box of tasting spoons at the grocery store a few weeks ago. And after supper we had an ice cream tasting. These good ladies had never heard of Jeni's ice cream. It's a special treat. And a major indulgence! It's not available everywhere, but I can find it at Publix and Whole Foods. That makes me happy because years ago it was nearly impossible to buy. Unless you lived in Columbus, OH.

My original thought for supper was to make these same fillings and use soft tortillas. My brilliant daughter Jessica pointed out that it would be less messy if we made "bowls." Of course, she was right. 

Miss Doris asked if I would put all of our supper recipes here in one post. They have all been on the blog before but she said she would like to have them together. Here is our menu:

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When the ladies got here, I knew we would be visiting on the porch for a while, so I fixed a tray of nibbles. Apple and pear slices, bought cheese crisps and I made a double batch of these nuts. The nuts are the easiest thing ever.

TOASTED MAPLE PECANS

1 cup pecan halves

2 tablespoons maple syrup

Salt

Pepper, optional

Preheat oven to 375º. Line a sheet pan (I used a quarter sheet pan) with parchment paper. 

Pour maple syrup over nuts in a small bowl and stir to coat. Spread in a single layer on a sheet pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper if using.

Toast nuts for 10 minutes then stir. Toast for another 2 minutes and taste them. Toast for another 2 minutes if needed. (Mine took the whole 14 minutes.) Let them cool before serving. Store in an airtight container.

Toasting pecans is a judgement call—they need to come out of the oven just before they are crisp because they will crisp up as they cool. 

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We have been making this recipes for years. I've used plain salsa. Salsa with corn and beans. It's your choice. But do choose a salsa you like. Different brands have different flavors.

SALSA CHICKEN (slow cooker)

3 or 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 jar salsa (I used a 24-oz jar of black bean & corn salsa)
2 teaspoons (I just sprinkled some over) homemade fajita seasoning 
          OR 1 packet taco seasoning

Put a thin layer of salsa into bottom of crockpot. Place chicken breasts in a plastic bag, add fajita (taco) seasoning and shake to coat breasts. Put chicken into crockpot and cover with remaining salsa. Cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours. Remove chicken and shred with two forks. Put shredded chicken back into crockpot and mix with salsa.

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Another easy, much used recipe. I made this on the stovetop, then put it in a smaller crockpot to keep warn until we ate. I quibbled about how much to make for six of us and ended up doubling the recipe. Needless to say, I'll be eating beans and rice the rest of the week. I think I could have used 3 cans of beans and the appropriate amounts of everything else and it would have been just right.

CUBAN BLACK BEANS

2 teaspoons olive oil
1-1/2  cup chopped red onion
1 red bell pepper, diced
1-1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 (15-oz) cans black beans
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/4 cup chopped red onion for serving
I lime, cut into wedges
cooked brown rice

Heat oil in a large nonstick skilled over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 6-7 minutes. Add garlic, cumin and oregano, stirring to mix. Cook another 30 seconds. Stir in beans (with their liquid) and water. Simmer for 5-10 minutes to let flavors blend. Remove from heat and stir in vinegar.

To serve, spoon beans over brown rice and sprinkle with chopped onion. Squeeze a lime wedge over each serving.

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I will be forever grateful to Al Roker from The Today Show. I started following him on Instagram during the pandemic and discovered he posts what he cooks for dinner most days. And those meals very often include "pasta cooked brown rice." Just a hash tag. I finally thought I'd see if I could find out what he meant. Google was all I needed. And I have not cooked brown rice another way since then.

PASTA COOKED BROWN RICE

brown rice (amount isn't critical, but I typically use 1-1/2 cups)

water

Bring a big pot of water to a boil.

Rinse uncooked brown rice. 

Stir rice into boiling water. 

Let boil 30-35 minutes. Drain into colander. (Make sure the holes are small enough to not lose the rice.) Put the rice back into the empty hot pot. Put a lid on it, pull off the heat, and let it stand for 10 minutes to steam. 

To finish the menu, I had chopped red onion, diced tomatoes, sliced avocado, and lime wedges for toppings. And we opened a bag of blue corn chips. If you count WW points (purple plan,) that is nearly a 0 point meal if you skip the avocado. And I am certainly not talking about the Jeni's ice cream!!!

If anyone is curious, our seven ice cream flavors were 

• Lemon & Blueberries Parfait
• Boston Cream Pie
• Blackout Chocolate
• Savannah Buttercream Mint
• Gooey Butter Cake
• Brambleberry Crisp
• Sweet Cream Biscuits & Peach Jam

Which was the favorite? Hands down, it was which ever one we were had in our mouth. They are all that good.

FYI, you can order Jeni's and have it shipped to you. Mommy and J-Daddy have done this and she says it arrived frozen. But it's way cheaper to buy it at the store!

 

Crab Cakes For Two (With Leftovers For Lunch)

Crab cakes

Yesterday was Mother's Day. It's that day when all the social media is flooded with pictures of family gatherings. Well, our family is too far apart for a one day get together so there were no big family pictures for us. I did enjoy FaceTime visits with the daughters and granddaughters. Thank goodness for technology.

But we decided to have a celebration for two. There are many ways to make a day special. I finally tried a recipe that I've had printed out for ages. We normally think of crab cakes as a restaurant treat but I thought I'd try making them at home. And while these are not as good as the ones at Pawleys Island Tavern (theirs are THE best,) they were very good. Good enough that I'm posting this recipe here so I won't lose it.

Another big plus for this recipe is that it can be assembled early in the day and refrigerated until it's time to cook and then the cooking is quick. And most of the kitchen clean up was done in the morning.

CRAB CAKES

2 large eggs

1 celery stalk, finely diced (about 1/4 cup)

1/4 cup finely diced onion

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

1-lb fresh jumbo crabmeat, well drained and picked over

1 cup panko breadcrumbs 

1/4 cup canola oil

In a large bowl, mix eggs, celery, onion, parsley, mayonnaise, mustard, Worcestershire and Old Bay until combined well. Fold in crabmeat and panko crumbs. Shape into 12 small patties, about 1/4 cup each, and place on a tray lined with parchment. Cover tray and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 8 hours. (I think refrigerating most of the day helped the patties stay together.)

Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium. Add 6 crab cakes and cook until golden brown, about 2-4 minutes per side. Move cooked crab cakes to a baking sheet lined with paper towels and put in warming drawer (or oven warmed to 250º and turned off) while the last 6 are cooked. 

Serve immediately with Remoulade (or tartar sauce) and lemon wedges.

I used another crab cake recipe months ago and figured out that for me, it worked better to break up the big solid lumps of crabmeat a little. I know that might be sacrilegious to do that after paying a premium for the lump meat. But that's how I like it. I still leave big pieces, just not huge ones.

After dinner last night I looked up the price of fresh lump crabmeat at Whole Foods. It was $45 per pound. This won't be a meal we have often, but it certainly could be a celebration meal for 6. The price would be comparable to serving steaks. I think these would make an excellent luncheon dish for you and your 5 closest friends. Serve the crab cakes on a nice salad of mixed greens instead of with dinner sides.

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To keep you (and me) from digging back through the recipes here to find the recipe for the remoulade sauce, here it is again.

REMOULADE SAUCE 

1 cup mayonnaise 

2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning 

1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped 

1 tablespoon horseradish sauce 

1 tablespoon whole grain mustard (I used German mustard) 

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce 

1 teaspoon Texas Pete hot sauce (or to taste) 

1 teaspoon lemon juice 

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Mix all ingredients and store in refrigerator.

 

Strawberry Drop Biscuits (Almost A Scone)

Strawberry season is pretty short. But they are still growing here (yours may not be in season for weeks yet) and it's good to have some quick options for using the berries. It's hard to beat just eating them fresh or slicing them up on ice cream. But there are times when you want more. 

I don't make jam (although I have) and I don't freeze them. For me those two things are easy to buy. But there is no substitute for the strawberry ice cream recipe I shared last blog post. And today's recipe is another quick one. Equally delicious.

It's kind of like the strawberry ice cream recipe in that it only makes a little, so there is a limit in how much you can indulge. Oldest granddaughter, Big Sister, spent last summer helping take care of youngest granddaughter, Little Lady. And while she was staying at their house, she made these drop biscuits many times. Trust me. They are delicious. If you are still waiting on strawberries, feel free to use another berry, such as raspberries , blueberries, or diced stone fruits.  It's all good.

STRAWBERRY DROP BISCUITS

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

6 tablespoons salted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

4 medium strawberries, cut into 1/4 to 1/2-inch pieces (about 2/3 cup)

6 tablespoons heavy cream, divided (plus more if needed)

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup unsifted powdered sugar (for icing)

Preheat oven to 425º. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk flour, sugar and baking powder together in a large bowl. Toss pieces of butter into the flour mixture to coat. Cut butter into flour (or use fingers and work it in) until mixture is mealy and small pieces, the size of a pea, remain.

Add berries and toss with a fork to combine. Make a well in center and add 4 tablespoons of cream and 1/4 cup water. Continue tossing with fork until mixture is shaggy and evenly damp. Do not overwork. Add 1 to 3 teaspoons more water as needed if the dough is too dry to work with.

Drop 6 mounds of dough (generous 1/3 cup) onto baking sheet. Leave at least 1-1/2 inches between each biscuit. Gently pat any stray bits back into place. Lightly brush tops with 1 tablespoon heavy cream. Bake until deep golden brown and cooked through, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and move biscuits to a cooling rack. Cool 5 minutes.

While biscuits are cooling, whisk together 1/4 cup powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon heavy cream. Add a little more cream if needed to make thick icing just thin enough to drizzle. Spoon over warm biscuits. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Cousin love last summer