posted December 01, 2001 06:54 AM           

I am so in love with this dessert, and it isn't the moon pies you get in little packets either. It's a proper dessert which I tried when I was in the South Pacific 5 yrs ago... I gotta get Moon Pie...

Love and Yellow Light around Moon Pies

posted December 02, 2001 02:11 AM         

I have to email my friend in Brooklyn who's staying at my apartment. I thought I brought the recipe up here with me

Right now......I have some Chex Mix...uh... and a 24 oz. of Pepsi......um...would you like some of that?

Yes, I do eat c**p sometimes.

posted December 02, 2001 01:39 PM         

~Princess

PS~ Ahhh yes, there are those *exceptions* tho... ........sigh

posted December 05, 2001 07:21 PM         

~Princess

posted December 05, 2001 10:03 PM         

Please, don't plan on moving for about an hour after you eat this. Read the ingredients, and you'll see why. If you're not eating dairy or fish, this ain't gonna work for you! It's my own recipie, I made it up a while ago after having a really good similar dish at a restaurant back home in Brooklyn.

Liz's Penne with Salmon and Baby Scallops in Vodka Sauce

1 box Penne
4 tbs. butter (1/2 stick) or margarine
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 or 2 cloves garlic, crushed (to taste)
2 shallots, minced
1 lb. salmon fillets (you can use more, if you'd like)
1/2 lb. (more or less) bay (baby) scallops, trimmed, washed and drained
3 tbs. olive oil
1 cup heavy cream (may substitute half and half if you'd like)
6 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup vodka
3 tbs. fresh basil, chopped in shreds (julienned)
3 tbs. fresh lime juice
Salt
Fresh ground black pepper, or cracked green peppercorns

Inspect salmon fillets to make sure all the bones are removed. Run your hand over the surface of the fillets, and if you feel any pin bones remove them with your hands, tweezers, or needle-nose pliers (clean needle-nose pliers...no rust please ).

Season salmon fillets with a small sprinkling of salt and a healthy dose of the ground/crushed pepper. Heat olive oil in a saute pan over high heat and sear salmon fillets, cooking about a minute or two on each side. (Does not have to be thoroughly cooked, since the salmon will go in the sauce). Remove salmon fillets from saute pan and cut up into bite-sized pieces, set aside. Reserve pan and oil leftover in it.

In another pan, a large pot actually, over low/medium heat saute shallots in the butter. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally until shallots are soft and translucent. Towards the end of the cooking process, add the garlic and saute for a minute or two to lightly brown. Turn off heat under pot.

In your saute pan you used to sear your salmon, remove excess grease from pan. Over low/medium heat add heavy cream, cream cheese and vodka. Stir over low/medium heat until cream cheese is incorporated and the mixture slightly thickens.

Strain cream mixture through a sieve into pot with shallots and garlic. Add crushed tomatoes, salmon pieces, some more fresh ground pepper and salt to taste. Cook for about 5 minutes over low/medium heat. Add scallops, basil and lime juice. Cook, stirring every once in a while until scallops are done.

Serve sauce over penne macaroni, cooking to the package directions.

Garnish with fresh basil leaves and grated Italian cheese, if you'd like. Serve with warm Italian bread. Pretty up the plate as much as you can, since Vodka Sauce by nature does not look very appealing. Tastes good...but doesn't look too good sometimes.

...And like I said...plan on not moving for an hour. I'm still recovering

An alternate way of doing things is to cook the salmon seperately, and pour the sauce over it. That's if you object to some of the salmon flaking apart in the sauce during the cooking process. It makes for a prettier presentation.

posted April 02, 2002 06:04 PM         

Spinach Scramble with Pita Toasts
A very simple, yet intensely savory breakfast.

1/4 cup spinach, cooked, drained, chopped, cooled
1 shallot, minced
6 Tb. finely shredded cheese, I use Jack & Colby
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. butter
1/2 tsp. olive oil
1 pita bread, toasted
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Crack eggs into a bowl, whisk with fork. Blend in spinach. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Set aside.

2. Heat skillet on medium high. Melt butter with olive oil until hot. Add minced shallot to pan, saute until fragrance is released and shallot slightly soft.

3. Whisk egg mixture again until throughly blended. Pour into skillet. As the edges become solid, with a spatula pull in the cooked egg to the center and swirl the raw egg onto the edges.

4. When about 80% of the egg has been pulled in and a little raw egg left on the surface, sprinkle on cheese. Flip outside edges of egg over cheese, like little envelopes. This keeps the cheese from leaking onto the pan and burning. Cook stiring and flipping gently until eggs are dry.

5. Serve hot spinach scramble on toasted pita bread.

posted April 02, 2002 06:10 PM         

~Princess

posted April 03, 2002 12:16 PM         

hmm, good point about shallots . . . they are a more pungent form of onion. it's probably why one shallot makes the spinach eggs so savory and intense. hehe!

princess, kudos to making eggs carpet style like me! LOL!!! at least, that's what Jacques Pepin calls it when cooking eggs this style on a skillet. the pictures of scrambled and omelet eggs in his cookbook with Julia Child looked like little raw curds . . . i'm not a fan of runny eggs

bon appetit!

posted April 04, 2002 10:13 PM         

I haven't had a chance to see much of the two cooks you mentioned, I don't have the Food Channel They were both fun to watch when I caught them.

Let's see...I used to watch a lot of PBS...still do I remember watching Julia Child as a child I also used to watch:

The Frugal Gourmet
Madeleine Cooks
Louisiana Cookin' with Justin Wilson
The Great Chefs series (which is now on the Discovery Channel in the afternoons, yay!)
Graham Kerr, I believe that's his name, he had a show called the Galloping Gourmet I think...I watched one of his later shows.
And all those Misc. shows over the years on barbecuing, French cookery (I've watched Jacques Pepin for a few years now, though is it just me...or does he get cranky with his daughter a lot on the series he had with her?)

Sadly, a lot of the shows I used to like watching aren't on anymore! I used to really like Madeleine Cooks, since she did a lot of French cooking from the Lorraine/Alsace region and Provence.

I'm going to have to get the food network, argh!