Tomato ~ Basil Tart

   June 1st I left for a four week holiday to see daughters and grandchildren. We returned home Sunday evening, June 29th. By mid~morning Tuesday, everything needing laundered was done and the rest was unpacked and all put away, house was vacuumed, mopped, dusted, bathroom cleaned and kitchen surfaces and appliances wiped down, the needed mowing was done while gone and now the needed tidying in the yard was done, all of the lawn furniture has been cleaned, the mail had been gone through and a quick catching up of email was accomplished. Sigh.... then it was on to the rest of this wonderful summer. First thing was to assemble and bake a Tomato ~ Basil Tart.

   Before leaving I planted some flower seeds, flowers and herbs. When we returned home one variety of the flowers, and the basil and lavender were truly flourishing. In my last post I promised that this one would have a recipe for a savory pie I made from one of my favorite cookbooks in my personal collection by Phylliss Pellman Good, Favorite Recipes With Herbs. Here it is using some of that wonderful basil.

   Tomato ~ Basil Tart

I wish you could smell the lovely fragrance that was coming from those warm sun drenched leaves.

Simple and few ingredients. Yes, I am using a store bought pie crust. I had been gone a month, back a day and a half, ‘nuff said.

I pat the tomatoes with paper towel and then give them plenty of time to dry. You want them as dry as possible.

Basil cleaned, dried off and ready to chop with the garlic.

The cheese melts quickly and nicely in the hot crust.

Add the tomatoes.

Distribute chopped basil and garlic.

Evenly spoon and spread cheese mixture on top. 

Protect crust.... and to the oven!

Golden and Bubbly!

Can be eaten warm, but it must cool some to slice properly and not burn your mouth. I also really enjoy this cold.

 
   Please forgive me for not getting a piccie of the served tart. We were ready to eat and I did not want to hold things up grabbing my phone to snap one. I thought for sure there would be leftovers for that later. Wrong. Mental note, in the future, snap piccie then eat. This recipe is very good. For me it isn't Thanksgiving without Dad's Stuffing, Christmas without my Danish Kringle, spring without Strawberry Shortcake, or summer without this Tomato ~ Basil Tart. I hope you will try it. Please let me know if you do, I would love to know how you liked it.

This is the the cookbook I so enjoy that the recipe is in.

The recipe.

Tomato~Basil Tart

Makes 8 appetizer servings or 4 main dish servings.

9" pie crust

1  1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese

4  medium-sized tomatoes

1  cup loosely packed basil leaves (1/3 cup dried)

4  cloves garlic

1/2  cup mayonnaise

1/4  cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/8  tsp ground white pepper

Fresh basil leaves for garnish

1. Bake pie crust. Remove from oven Sprinkle with 1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese. cool on wire rack.
2. Dice tomatoes. Drain on paper towels. Arrange tomato chunks on melted cheese in baked shell.
3. Combine basil and garlic in food processor. Cover and process until chopped. Sprinkle over tomatoes.
4. Mix together remaining Mozzarella cheese, mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese and white pepper. Spoon cheese mixture over basil mixture, covering evenly.
5. Bake at 375° for 35 to 40 minutes, or until top is golden and bubbly. Garnish with fresh basil. Serve warm.

   Before I left for my wonderful time with family, I began reading the book, Crash the Chatterbox. I mentioned that here. On the first page of the Introduction, I wanted to grab my highlighter and start capturing significant points the author was making. That urge continued throughout the first chapter. I went to the library to see if an extended due date was a service they offered. It is and they extended the date to a few days past my expected arrival home. My daughter is buying books from a list of "to read books before high school" for two of her children. I wanted to check Barnes & Noble for Crash the Chatterbox, and possibly the author's book that preempted it, Greater, to purchase both if possible. She wanted new books for the kids. Barnes & Noble, and lunch at Chipotle Mexican Grill became our Sunday afternoon. There was one copy of each book I was hoping to find! I bought both. I then chose to stop reading Crash the Chatterbox and read them in order, Greater first. So far I am enjoying these books and may share more about them later.

   Of course lingering in the bargain books area at the front of any Barnes & Noble is my common practice. I mean after all, one has to go right through there to check out. :-) I have plenty of a variety of cookbooks, and of course the internet is a wealth of excellent recipes. I have to say, I have become very prudent and exercise tremendous self control when it comes to purchasing cookbooks.

   This gem had me the moment I saw that scrumptiously titillating Beef & Stout Pie on the cover. Dang photographer and printer... geez. This book was $9.99 and a great find at twice the price. Cookbook purchasing moratorium or not, I happily purchased it, and carried it home with glee. I just love reading the recipes, and the photos are lovely. I am very certain you will see some of the recipes I make from its pages. In fact, the Dublin Coddle on page 68 has been speaking to me. I am about to answer. :-)

  In the meantime, out at the garden, the sage and parsley are really doing well and I need to clip some of both. I am going to do just that and make the Sage Beer Bread on page 72 of the Favorite Recipes With Herbs Cookbook. Who knows? I may just make it to serve with the Dublin Coddle instead of the traditional Soda Bread.

   It is already the middle of, July. Enjoy your summer ~ it is slipping by.

Baking Basque and gardening.

Well, it's Saturday and that just seems to be the morning I bake. Weekday mornings are too rushed and with only 2 days on the weekend, early Saturday morning has just been a good time for me to bake, and for Jon and I to actually talk and catch up. He really enjoys cherry anything, and cherry almond is a flavor he really likes. So, I made the Basque Cake I referred to in my post a couple of days ago. This cake is really simple to make and would be worth it at four times the work. I think it makes the perfect coffee cake. I am also thinking it will become a permanent part of my Christmas day baking. The next time I bake this cake I am going to have Millstone Chocolate Velvet coffee. Though I am not a huge chocolate fan, I think chocolate would be the perfect compliment to this buttery, cherry, almond, tasty treat.

Guess what this picture means. It means that I am going to be baking Lavender Tea Cookies. Working on a Lavender Scone recipe. Enjoying icy cold Lavender Lemonade and Iced Tea with Lavender. I will be drying Lavender to mix with dried English Mint, Lemon Verbena and Chamomile that I dry in the fall to make a soothing homemade herbal tea blend. New for me this year (I have been waiting eagerly to try this) I am going to make Lavender Sugar. I am really excited about that. I just haven't decided if I am going to go dried or fresh, ground or sift style. I am leaning toward dried and ground. I will be making some closet and drawer sachets. And, if there is enough after all of that, I will add what is left of the dried Lavender to my thyme, rosemary, marjoram and basil at the end of the season. Throw in a little savory and bay leaf. Mmmm... maybe no bay leaf this time. Voila! Homemade Herbs de Provence.


I haven't really listed the things in my garden. Here they are:

Veggies:
Early Girl, Better Boy & Beef Master Tomatoes
Red, Yellow & Green Sweet Bell Peppers
Jalapeno Peppers
Spinach
Bibb (Butter head type) Lettuce
Gourmet Blend Lettuce (red and green loose leaf)

Herbs:
English Thyme
English Mint
Lavender
Spearmint
Lemon Verbena
Lemon Thyme
Greek Oregano
French Tarragon
Rosemary
Sweet Basil
Genovese Basil
Parsley
Cilantro
Chamomile
Marjoram
Chive
Garlic Chive
Sage
Curry Plant

Be well and blessed!

Tomato Basil Soup with Curried Rice

Last night, I threw together the tastiest and quickest dinner I may have ever made. Okay, short of a sandwich or reheating leftovers. I got the idea from a sale ad I saw earlier this week. I didn't love the recipe, but the idea behind it was intriguing and it did inspire me to use it as a springboard for something I would really like. This would be a good time to mention that Curries are among my favorite in the culinary world. I did not mention this when I posted a picture of part of my herb garden BUT........ I discovered something new this year. While at a nursery searching for a few herbs I would buy as plants, I detected the most heavenly scent. I was standing over cilantro and smelling CURRY! I honestly smelled Curry. IMPOSSIBLE! First of all, Curry is a spice not an herb. Second, though there is ground coriander (which comes from the same plant as cilantro) in the curry spice blend... there is no cilantro. Then I noticed a plant that looked like Rosemary or even more like Lavender, but had a silver hue to it, and it was daintier. I rubbed the needle like leaves and sniffed. CURRY! For those of you avid herb gardeners, you may think me nuts.. but I have never seen or heard of this delightful little piece of the herb plant world. I had no idea just how you cook with this culinary find, but I bought two and figured I would sort out the details later. They are both pictured here. Since buying these plants I have looked them up and found that:
"Culinary: The English especially like to use this herb, fresh in cream cheese for sandwiches, egg dishes, in salads and with chicken. Here at our farm we like to use the fresh and dried curry in egg dishes."

Although I do not remember where, I read somewhere online that you can treat snipped pieces of the plant like bay leaves. Put them in a dish that cooks in liquid and remove them just before serving. I guess I will have to think about how I would like to try that.... but for now the way that the English use it is certainly good enough for me.

Having said all of that, I will tell you now that these curry plants had nothing to do with dinner last night. I used Red Curry powder. :-) And, here is the recipe:


Tomato Basil Soup with Curried Rice

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons Curry powder
Dash of salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup uncooked Jasmine rice
2 cups water
2 10 3/4 ounce cans condensed Tomato soup
1 1/3 cans of water (use soup cans)
1/3 cup fresh chopped basil
1/4 teaspoon ground red (Cayenne) pepper
1/3 cup fresh chopped cilantro

Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add only 1 tsp. of the Curry powder, and all of the salt and black pepper. Saute the seasonings in oil and add uncooked rice. Cook the rice stirring it until it is golden... maybe 3 minutes. Add the 2 cups of water. Bring this to a boil and cover. Simmer on a lower heat until the rice is tender.... about 15 minutes.

In another saucepan heat the soup, remaining water, the other teaspoon of curry powder, basil, and red pepper. Simmer on low until the rice is done.

In the middle of a soup bowl (low and flat bowls are best here) put a mound of the rice. Have the mound higher than where you plan to put soup. Then, ladle or pour soup around the rice. Sprinkle with fresh cilantro and enjoy!

I am always looking for great recipes that use fresh herbs. This one definitely qualifies. I hope you enjoy it, too.

Blessings.......

Scones a second time.

Those of you that have read my Saturday Scones post, and the comment from Miss Eagle regarding that post, this post is primarily for you. Miss Eagle was concerned that I did not enjoy the Lemonade Scones as much as she and most people do. Now, I gotta say right off... and I did say this in that post, they were good. I was just disappointed in how they lost their lightness and flavor within a few short hours. When I initially read the recipe I was concerned about the possible lack of leavening ability it had. As far as I could tell, the self-rising flour was the only leavening agent. I did wonder if lemon had some power that I was not aware of. I noticed that Miss Eagle's lemonade in her photo of her ingredients, was from a bottle made by Schweppes's. I've seen Schweppes's Ginger Ale, Lime flavored and plain Seltzer water. Never Schweppes's carbonated lemonade. Minute Maid, Country Time..... you name it, our bottled lemonade's are non-carbonated. So, I made some lemonade and used that. After all, they were called "Lemonade Scones", and the recipe called for lemonade. My technique for scone making has been developed over years of fun making lots of scones. So, I was confident I was okay there. After Miss Eagle and I did some ingredient comparing through email, we discovered that the problem was in fact the "lemonade". In Australia, what that means is lemon flavored seltzer water. That made sense. I knew there was not enough leavening. The seltzer provides carbonation that aids the leavening process. By the time I understood that it was flavored seltzer water that I needed, I had found and purchased a bottle of carbonated lemonade. I thought the name of the Lemonade was so appropriate, "The Switch". So, I used it and made a second batch of these scones this morning. What a difference a few bubbles makes. For starters, I only used the 2 cups of self-rising flour when I used homemade lemonade. When I used the carbonated lemonade, I used nearly 3 cups of flour to get the dough to a consistency that it was not goopy and could be rolled. Miss Eagle does mention that you may have to add flour. I have to say, the dough both times was light and so easy to work with. It was like silk. The batch I made today however, rose much higher than the first batch. They had more flavor and stood the time test. These are great scones and I recommend them highly. By the way, I did add currants to half of the batch. Double yum. Yum!! Yum!! Thank you, Miss Eagle for your personal attention here. I am so glad we have met. And yes, let's stay in touch.

Okay, so here is the recipe off of Miss Eagle's blog. (also on link above)

LEMONADE SCONES
2 cups SR flour
pinch salt
1 dessertspoon sugar
2/3 cup lemonade
1 cup cream.

Note: Miss Eagle had to add a little extra flour. This could be to do with the absorbency of the flour. As Miss Eagle has mentioned before, flour varies in its rates of absorbency.


There were no instructions with this recipe, but there is a link to Miss Eagle's Buttermilk scones where directions can be found.

Now, let me tell you how I actually ended up making them:

• Use a cold bowl and utensils. I freeze them for a few minutes.
• Measure cream in a cup and set in freezer for 5 minutes.
• Sift all dry ingredients together. A dessert spoon is the equivalent of 2 teaspoon. I used 1 TBSP.
• Add cream, gently stir.
• Add room temperature carbonated lemonade, mix well but do so quickly.
• Spray butter flavored cooking spray on baking surface.
• On a floured surface knead with palms as little as possible.
• 2" biscuit cutter.. cut scones.
• Brush the top of each scone with cream and sprinkle lightly with granulated sugar.
• 425 degree oven
• 13 minutes
• Place on cooling rack immediately so that moisture from the scone does not cause the bottom to go soggy.

A little clotted cream or whipped cream cheese, some jam............... Eat and Enjoy!

While you are cleaning up..... drink the rest of that lemonade, cold. Ummmmm good stuff! Oh, there really is not a detectable lemon flavor or essence in these scones. I will work on a recipe for that. But these are great scones just the same.

Okay, so when I moved the butter dish off of the counter and set it on the stove top to knead the scones, I knew I should have moved it away from the heat. But............. and so the half stick of butter melted completely to liquid. I had just used whipped cream cheese and I knew I only had a few good spoonfuls of it left as well. So, I poured the melted butter into the whipped cream cheese container and mixed them up. I then went out to the herb garden on my deck and snipped some Lemon Thyme, English Thyme and Sweet Basil. I gently crushed them to release their flavor and stirred them into the cream cheese butter mixture. Then, I added just a little bit of dry white wine and whipped it all up nicely. I put the container in the refrigerator and will take it out 10 minutes before dinner tonight to soften. I will have a loaf of bread and this will be the butter. What a treat. I don't usually do the butter thing. Oh, and I NEVER do the margarine thing... don't even own any. Haven't for ye..... a couple of decades.

Also, I don't use "cooking wine". "Cooking Wine" starts out as poorly made wine. Then, by law, has to be made undrinkable. The "must" of wine is the mixture of fermenting grape juice, skins, pips, etc. To make "cooking wine" undrinkable, the makers add salt, and/or MSG to the must. Usually, other ingredients are used as well. So, take a poorly made wine and add salt and other nasties to it, and you have, "cooking wine". Guess what a salty poorly made wine will do to your marinating chicken breast or beef stew. Nothing doing. I try to use the best ingredients I can..... and "cooking wine" is not one of them. Since I am not a dry red or dry white wine drinker, and these are the two most common wines needed for cooking.... I keep little 1 cup?? bottles on hand. If I opened a regular bottle of dry red or white wine, it would go bad before I used it all. So.........


Actually, I am not a white wine drinker at all. I will say though, when traveling through Missouri once, I discovered St. James Winery. Their Velvet White has to be considered an exception to the white wines. It is sweet and not dry, but it is a white wine. Much to my surprise... I liked it.

My herb garden is not huge this year, and this is not the entire garden. But, this much of it is right outside of my kitchen door and so it is where I get most of my herbs when I am in the kitchen and want to grab an herb or two.











I have some left over angel hair pasta in the refrigerator. Just enough Parmesan cheese for one meal. And, there is a can of Muir Glen diced Fire Roasted Tomatoes in the cupboard. I think I will saute some olive oil, a couple of cloves of garlic and crushed red pepper together. Throw in the tomatoes. Snip some more basil and toss it in. Then add the left over angel hair. That should be great with the bread and herb butter. Grab the cottage cheese (again, just enough for us one meal) and put the pineapple that's in the refrigerator on top of the cottage cheese. Sounds like dinner to me. Don't even bother taking the chicken out to thaw. YES!!! I love to clean out the fridge just before the weekend.

You know, this is what I call a Geranium day. When I was in early elementary school, I had several books that were called, Read-Aloud books. I really loved those books. I am hoping to find them when I clean out mom's attic. One of them had a story called, I believe, The Geranium. It was about a lady that was not feeling happy. Her friend brought a potted Geranium to her and set it on her dining room table. The act of kindness and the beautiful flowers made her feel better. She got up and started to straighten and clean because the house seemed to look even worse with the beautiful and bright flowers sitting in the middle of it. Start the scones.... butter melts... make herb butter... clean out fridge....... great dinner........ and scones for tea later. A Geranium day. I would love to know if anyone has ANY clue were I could find the old, Read-Aloud books. I should email Kelli. Bet she'd know.

Bake some scones, make some tea, relax.... but mostly,
Be blessed...........

God then garden! and #5... Caught Up!

How To Worship When You Are Wounded

The word our Pastor had for us today was important to our overall walk with the Lord, and given in a way that makes it easy to apply the principles of God to our lives personally.

First, he gave four examples of types of worship:


Ignorant worship: Acts 17:22-31
Vain worship: Matthew 15:7-9
Will worship: Colossians 2:23
True worship: John 4:23-24

Then, he talked a little about how it comes easier to worship God when our heart is busting with joy, than it is when it is breaking from pain. There are four emotions we feel when we are wounded; anger, shock, grief, and fear. If we don't talk about these feelings with God, they will manifest someway... somewhere. (I thought this would be a good time to talk about how we often bring stress/emotion related health conditions on ourselves when we don't go to God with our hurts, and though he did mention it... he was headed somewhere else and had a limited amount of time to get there.) So, if we are going to go to God with the negative stuff that happens in life we will need to be... and want to be:
...honest with God. Believe Him enough to confide in Him.
...honoring God. Praise God in spite of our circumstances. Find things to thank Him for.
...keying in on the strength and wisdom of God. Going elsewhere won't give us the real help and answers we need.
... keeping on. Never stop believing God for your help.

With those principles in mind he brought his message back full circle. Unless we are truly worshipping God, not worshipping a God we don't even know, or just giving lip service without giving our heart, or doing it in our own strength, we won't be able to successfully be honest with God, honor Him, key in on His strength and wisdom, and therefore we won't have the perseverance for victory.

So, this week I am focusing on what true worship is. Of one thing I am certain.. if it is real, authentic, true worship, it's going to be a lifestyle.

After church, we went out to eat. That was a treat. And then, it was on to Menard's for lumber, small border fence (otherwise Baxter will confuse the garden for a digging playground), peat moss and top soil. The result of that little trip is pictured above. The picture was taken the following morning because we finished about 15 minutes after the sun went down. But... nonetheless... it is now a 5'X20' deep bed for my garden this year. 100 beautiful square feet of perfectly prepared dirt just waiting for the last threat of frost so that I can infuse it with veggie life!!!