The Tim-Tastic Salad

What is The Tim-tastic Salad? Well, it’s the one salad I wait for all year; THE salad of our annual summer beach vaycay. It’s full of all good things; lettuce, cabbage, tomato, carrot, nuts, dried fruit and cheese.  And there is only one person who makes it just right - Tim.  

When I asked Tim what inspired him to make his salad he said he just loves the combination of ingredients.  Also, he can change things up if he wants to; nothing is set in stone.  Interestingly, Tim doesn’t work with measurements for this particular salad.  He considers measurement, though, by aligning all his ingredients on a cutting board.

Who knew when we arrived at our beach destination yesterday that there were thoughts of making one of my favorite salads for supper.  A super refreshing, lite and healthful way to start a beach vacation with good friends.  

Dubbed especially by Tim’s daughter, Grace, THE Tim-tastic Salad is a definitive keeper.  Here’s to it!

Ingredients

3 cups your favorite lettuce, rough chop 
1 cup red cabbage, shredded or cut into 1/4” pieces
1 cup of baby tomato, sliced lengthwise
1–2 cup(s) carrot, sliced 1/4” pieces
1/2 cup any nut of your choice
1/2 cup craisins
1/2 – 1 cup of feta cheese, crumbled

Process

Place all ingredients on a cutting board.  In a large bowl begin layering 1/2 of each ingredient on top of the other in this order: 

lettuce / cabbage / tomato / carrot / nut / craisin / feta

Repeat layering until all ingredients are in the bowl.   

Serve immediately with your favorite dressing or vinaigrette.

Tim’s Tips

*In addition to the ingredients above you can add peppers, onion etc…
*If you get tired of Feta cheese you can replace it with Parmesan cheese.
*Layering ingredients is a gentle way of incorporating ingredients.  Also it prevents the smaller & heavier ingredients dropping to the bottom once mixed.

 p.s I took the liberty of adding some measurements to help you get started.  

Mom's Forgiving Chicken Salad

Recently I lured my mother for a visit by insisting that she help me with sorting through the hundreds of platters, bowls, glasses and table accoutrements I have.  While we didn’t even come close to going through this left-over spectacle of my catering business we did get to dive into one of her recipes; Forgiving Chicken Salad.  

A little known fact about my mother is that she loves to raid her own refrigerator before she leaves for a visit to one of her daughter’s homes.  So, like many other visits she moseyed into my kitchen with the makings of her chicken salad.  She says it’s forgiving because you can add anything you’d like to the primary ingredients; in this case, dried fruit, nuts and Herbs de Provence.  

It’s always a treat for me to cook with my mom in the kitchen; she’s one of the best cooks I know. And still after all her years of planning meals, shopping and cooking for her family she still clips recipes, loves to experiment and share the outcome.  She’s a great culinary inspiration.  

Here is her recipe just for you.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 cups of rotisserie chicken, white meat
3/4 cups of celery, chopped fine
1/2 cup of sweet onion, chopped fine
1/2 cup of craisins or golden raisins
1/2 cup of dry roasted, unsalted sliced almonds
3/4–1 cup of mayonnaise
1/2 tsp Herbs de Provence
1/4 tsp salt (kosher)
1/4 tsp pepper, fresh ground

Process

Assemble your ingredients.

Chopped chicken, celery and onion into small even pieces.

Place all ingredients into a large bowl.

Stir to incorporate all ingredients. 

Use your favorite bread, some lettuce and you have a beautiful and delicious chicken sammie; either open or closed.

Tips

Any herb may be used. I like tarrogon and thyme.
If you like a little kick add a pinch of cayenne.
You can use as little or as much mayonnaise as you wish.  Just don’t make it too gloppy.
Fresh grapes can replace dried fruit. Or fruit may be omitted completely.
Any nut may replace the almonds.

Friday Food Find: Flowering Leek from Casa Pav's Gardens

Have you ever seen something as beautiful as a flowering leek?  It’s one magnificent life force; pushing it’s soft miniscule flower pods out of a silky tough skin.  

My husband, Mike (gardner extraordinaire), will be pulling these gorgeous leeks this weekend so we might use the white bottoms for a BBQ.  So this was my last chance to share the bloom with you.

It’s my Friday Food Find; and a kind of gift to you - a flowering leek.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.  

Guest Post: Baby Babas — A Polish Dessert

Just a few weeks ago I received an e-mail from a dear friends daughter, Natalie.  Natalie asked if she could submit a blog post that she and two friends, Lydia and Savannah,  had been whipping up in the kitchen. How could I refuse my first request for a recipe submission? And, oh, what a recipe it is.

It is a dessert that they are calling “baby babas”.   So, in their own words and with their own pictures, I’m super proud to share this scrumptious looking dessert with you.  I’m off to bake it myself!   

Many thanks Natalie, Lydia and Savanna!

 Here is how to make a Polish dessert known as babeczki smietankowe (ba­BECH­kee shmye­tan­KO­veh)! We prefer to call them baby babas.

First, gather your ingredients. 

For the dough: 

4 sticks butter 
2 3/4 cups all­purpose flour   
2/3 cup confectioners’ (powdered) sugar 
4 large egg yolks 
1 tsp vanilla 

For the custard:

2 large eggs  
2 large egg yolks 
2/3 cup granulated sugar 
1 tsp vanilla 
2 tbsp cornstarch 
2 cups half­ and­ half, hot 

Next, gather supplies: cooking spray, muffin tin, stand ­mixer bowl, plastic wrap, measuring cups, measuring spoons, wooden spoon, whisk, rolling pin and timer. 

Attach bowl and paddle attachment to stand­mixer. Make sure the bowl is fully clicked in.

Process

Cut in butter and flour until coarse crumbs form.  Add sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla until thoroughly mixed.

To separate the yolks, crack the egg, but leave the yolk in half of the shell. Transfer the yolk to the other half, emptying out the whites as you go.

Knead dough on cutting board, squashing any air pockets. This dough is very sticky, so use lots of flour!

Wrap dough in plastic wrap, and place in fridge for 10 minutes or so. This prevents the dough from being too sticky when you cut it later.

Beat eggs, egg yolks, and sugar for 5 minutes. Add vanilla and cornstarch. Beat more. Continue beating while adding the hot half­and­half. To heat up the half­and­half, pour into glass measuring cup designed for liquids.

Pour mixture in a non-reactive bowl and place in microwave for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes on medium high heat. Take out of microwave and pour into a medium size sauce pan (with high sides).

Cook mixture on low heat, stirring constantly until thick. Be sure you whisk at a high speed. Cool custard in refrigerator until completely cool.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness.

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Grease muffin tin. Cut circles large enough to line standard muffin tin. We just used a plastic cup to do that. Once circle is placed into tin, fill 1/3 full with custard.

Cover each filled circle with another another smaller circle of dough and crimp edges. To crimp, pinch top and bottom edges together.

Bake for 15 to ­20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let the baby babas sit and cool completely before removing them from the tin. Otherwise, the babas will fall apart. 

We recommend serving the baby babas after they have been in the fridge for a few hours. The custard tastes much better when cold.

A Very Berry & Greek Yogurt "Parfait"

I’ve been checking out the red berries, strawberry and raspberry, in the market over the last few weeks.  There is that one moment during the season where they go from “not ready” to I want to buy every container because the scent and flavor are just perfect.  Well, I think that time is here; at least in ATX. The strawberries smell so good and their fruity perfume catches you as you walk by the display.  The raspberries are plump and super sweet, not too tart; and just the way I like them.  So this “parfait” is a little ode to my red berry passion.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

2C of Greek Yogurt - Vanilla (or your favorite flavor)
1C of Raspberries
4 large strawberries, sliced in half (w/stem) + 1 large strawberry cut in circles 1/8” thick
4 - 1/2tsp of candied ginger, minced

Process

In a 3”x3” ramekin place yogurt in one half of it.  In the other half gently arrange berries so they butt up against the yogurt and side of the yogurt.  Get creative you can arrange in any way you like.
Garnish the yogurt with candied ginger.  Serve immediately.  Great for a Valentine’s day treat, snack, dessert or breakfast.
Yields 4 portions.