Until recently, I’ve been appetizer challenged. You would never catch me volunteering to bring the appetizer to a dinner party or casual get together. If you’ve followed my blog for a while you’ve no doubt noticed a small handful of appetizers grace the pages of The Orange Bee. With the addition of this fantastically delicious goat cheese spread I’m beginning to feel phlegmatic. Someone invite me to bring the appetizers, please! Continue reading
We all have them from time to time; those worrisome events in our lives that turn life upside down or inside out. This week was upside down for me. I am a soft hearted animal lover and this week I’ve had a very sick kitty. Now I know human sickness is hard to deal with but when it’s a pet, and they cannot speak and tell you what exactly is happening or how they really feel, my heart just breaks. Marley, our orange kitty, chosen by Miss T and named by Miss T but fed, watered, taken care of and loved by moi spent the entire week in the vet clinic with kidney/bladder issues. He is home now but not completely out of the water. We’re keeping our fingers, crossed for his health to improve daily until he’s healthy enough for kitty surgery followed by a normal, healthy kitty life. I mean cats do have 9 lives – don’t they?
He’s now our million dollar cat owing to the fact that the vet bill was in the neighborhood of that. So we’ll be eatin’ beans and rice and pb&j’s for a while. Not good blog material. All kidding aside, it’s been a stressful week around The Orange Bee but I did manage to turn out some tasty, healthy banana muffins.
In my freezer I had some fresh picked blackberries that sounded like a good addition. My speculation proved to be right on. Bursting with juicy blackberries, quick, easy, moist, healthy, full of fiber and tasty these should be on your “to bake” list. When you’re not busy in your kitchen or catching up on your favorite blogs take a minute to say a little prayer for Mr. Marley, it’ll be greatly appreciated.
Enjoy!
Million Dollar Muffins
Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup mashed, ripe banana
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
6 tbsp. honey
1 cup blackberries
In a large bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Combine the eggs, banana, applesauce and honey; stir into dry ingredients, just until moistened. Fold in the blackberries.
Coat muffin cups with non-stick cooking baking spray; fill two-thirds full with batter. Bake at 375* for 14-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Yield 14 muffins.
Here’s a tip for keeping your batter from turning purple. Wash and then dry the black berries before gently folding them into the batter.
Around the Orange Bee we just can’t seem to escape from our leisurely evenings. Leisurely evenings and food blogging are not simultaneous. I know from reading other food blogs that preparing the meal, photographing it and serving it before it becomes cold or your family loads up and heads to the nearest fast food joint, is a challenge we face regularly. I don’t encounter this dilemma when I bake or make a little something simple; but when a meal is in the mix, and hungry family is lurking, the pressure is on. I attempt to not put my family through this scenario too often.
On the evening I made this scrumptious salmon it was only my man Dan and me, sipping our respective beer and wine and enjoying yet another evening on the porch, taking in the view, tossing a ball for the Border Collie, and watching the sun set. What the sun is setting??????? Oh dear, gosh, goodness, throw that fish on a plate and shoot it! It was a little frantic there for a moment, but the fish is a must try! We topped a caesar salad with our salmon. The fish is light, healthy, garlicky and fresh to the palate. We enjoyed every last bite as we watched the sun slip beyond the horizon.
Enjoy!
Grilled Rosemary Salmon
Ingredients:
Salmon filet for 2
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup canola oil
Rosemary-Garlic Paste (recipe follows)
2-3 tbsp. fresh rosemary
Rosemary-Garlic Paste
1/2 tsp. rosemary, chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 tsp. salt
Prepare paste, mixing rosemary, garlic and salt. Rub paste on salmon. Place salmon in a glass container.
Whisk together orange juice and oil and pour over salmon, be sure salmon is completely covered. Refrigerate for 2 hours turning frequently.
Heat grill to HOT. Grill salmon until meat begins to flake. I do not flip my fish when grilling. I buy fillets with the skin still on and place my fish skin side down on the grill, allowing it to cook until done. Be sure not to overcook your fish. Serve as an entrée or as a topper to Caesar salads.
We’ve visited a lovely and lively farmers market that is close by a few times this summer. Always leaving with lots of fresh, local veggies, fruits and homemade breads. With our weather finally cooling off a bit it seemed perfect to hit the market again. Today we decided to check out a different one that turned out to be a complete flop. This place had so much potential but no care given to the upkeep of the “place” nor the market itself. The only two vendors selling their goods were a bakery and a coffee roaster. I did buy a yummy loaf of lemon bread and a bottle of flavored olive oil, since it was less expensive than I’ve seen in the stores. The market touted itself as one where there would be local vegetable and fruit vendors as well as meat, poultry, eggs, milk, yogurt and cheese tables. Ok, sounds great! Feeling pumped about having a passel of veggies for the week and maybe some farm fresh eggs to boot, we loaded up Miss T and her friend and headed out.
The site was about 20 minutes away from us. We turned in at a farm-house drive with barns and lots of acreage behind the house. We quickly realized there weren’t many farmers with tables full of the promised goods but decided to check it out anyway. When I inquired about the brown bags sporting veggies the owner responded, “those are for our CSA members”, “Oh, cool”, I said. Then I asked about the boxes with assorted squash, clearly fresh picked from a garden, “are those for sale?” The response from the owner of this organic farm/market was, “well, I hadn’t planned on having any extras, I don’t even know what to sell them for.” She stuttered on about this for a few minutes until I finally said, “ok, no problem, we’ll be on our way, thanks!”. We left with me scratching my head saying, “well, if you don’t check them out you never know!” and wondering what we’d be having for dinner now that we were basically leaving empty-handed.
Since todays market visit was a wash I went back in my photo archives and found these shots of fresh picked okra from the other market where they really did have vegetables and fruit for sale. My man Dan won’t eat okra unless it has been fried and on this day I’d bought a bag full of okra with many small, tender pods just begging to be battered and fried whole. This is such an easy task, especially when I set up the skillet on the grill burner outside. No greasy smells or messy stove tops to clean in my kitchen. The verdict is still out on what I’ll serve for dinner this evening. I’ll start with a glass of chilled vino and see what sounds good after a few sips.
I can’t leave without mentioning my bee girls. Everyone is doing great and bringing in bookoos of pollen and making honey with the sugar syrup I am supplying. Over at the Helmsley Palace bee yard things are going well too. Queen Leona and Queen Fiona have remained quite elusive, until today when I finally spotted Queen Leona while setting up a feeder on her hive. She is solid black and very interesting, unlike any other queen in my colonies. I didn’t try to take her photo today but closed her hive thrilled to have observed her. Queen Fiona remains in hiding, if indeed a queen resides in that hive, which I suspect she does. Further inspections will determine if in fact she is there or not, stay tuned for the rest of the story.
Enjoy!
Fried Okra
Ingredients:
1 egg
batch of okra
splash of buttermilk
cornmeal
salt and pepper
vegetable oil
Whisk together the egg with a generous splash of buttermilk. Pour enough cornmeal into a shallow dish to coat all of your okra, stir in salt and pepper to suit your taste. If you have small tender pods they can be fried whole, otherwise wash and slice okra. DIp okra into egg wash then roll in cornmeal mixture to coat. Fry in a skillet with 2 inches of oil that is hot. Oil is hot enough when a drop of batter sizzles upon contact. Fry in batches, leaving plenty of space between okra. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
Lately adoring hubby and I are experiencing the pre-empty nester syndrome. With Miss T in her senior year of high school and being employed by the ever popular Starbucks, we don’t see much of her, especially at dinner time. Dinnertime has always been a family affair at our house. Everyone sitting down at the same time sharing a meal, laughter and conversation about the days activities. Some of the most memorable dialogs arise around our family table. We carry on this tradition on the nights Miss T is home for dinner and even on nights when she’s “out” my man Dan and I have dinner together. When it’s just “us” we eat at the bar or if the weather allows, we dine al fresco. All of this to say, “when she was home for dinner one night this week I grilled shish-kabobs”. She is my little carnivore and I knew beef and chicken on the same plate would please her. We’ve been trying to incorporate more veggies into her diet and grilled veggies seemed like a good place to start.
The meal was a success as she gulped down not only the sirloin and chicken, but the tomatoes and the zucchini. Eating the zucchini was a first for my picky girl. She declared it ,”not too bad”! Happy mama, me. My man Dan and I soaked up the time we had with her and sighed happily, as she headed back to her drawing table to work on her latest piece, a very cool painting of a mushroom!
Some of you reading this have most likely experienced the pre-empty nester syndrome as well as the empty nester syndrome. Others may be at the beginning of parenthood, changing diapers and oohing and aahing over every twitch of the nose or wiggle of the toes. Every stage of parenthood should be filled with joy and wonder at these little people who are born of us and who are our responsibility, challenging and rewarding all at the same time. I’m told that no matter the age of our kids, “they will always be our babies”. I relish that concept as it eases the sting of watching them grow up and away. (Tear rolls down cheek)
Now, you need to know about the kabobs. I made a rub that would be tasty on both chicken and beef. Using chipotle chile powder gave a nice smoky flavor to the meats. I tossed the veggies in a little olive oil with a touch of salt and pepper, threaded them on skewers and fired up the grill. I’ll be making a jar of this rub to keep on hand as it was the perfect mix of smoke, spice and sweet.
Enjoy!
Very cool mushroom
Smoky Chicken and Steak Kabobs
Ingredients:
Smoky Rub
1 lb. skinned, boneless chicken breast
1 lb. top sirloin
1/2 large onion, cut into fourths and separated
1 pt. cherry tomatoes
1 large zucchini, halved and sliced
Skewers
Cut chicken and steak into 1″cubes. Place chicken and beef in separate bowls, sprinkle half of rub over the chicken, sprinkle remaining half over beef, toss meats with rub. Thread chicken and veggies on half of the skewers thread remaining veggies and beef on the other half, leaving a little room between pieces. Grill kabobs covered over medium high heat until cooked through, turning skewers occasionally.
Smoky Rub
Stir together:
2 tbsp. brown sugar, packed
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. chipotle chile powder
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. ground oregano
She says, "just a little taste, please".
As I was looking through the lens of my camera, while photographing this applesauce, I heard a soft little “bzzzzz”. I pulled my eye away from the camera to discover a sweet little bee stopping by for a sample of homemade applesauce. Now she is one smart bee! The hives are not near where I was shooting but she must have been out foraging and “smelled” the applesauce. I couldn’t help but let her savor a few bites before shooing her away and putting the lid back on the open jar of sauce, at which time she moved to the spoon and continued her feast.
After making this batch of homemade applesauce I promise you I won’t buy it at the grocery store ever again. Why would I? This is so easy and when eaten warm right off of the stove it’s scrumptious. Such plain fare yet so incredibly delicious. It gives rise to the phrase an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Only 4 ingredients are needed to make this healthy treat. Knowing that apple season is about to be upon us I will be experimenting with variations of this basic recipe.
Mixing the types of apples yielded excellent texture as well as sweet and tart flavors. I used Gala, Granny Smith, and Pink Lady apples. I’m sure any mixture of colors and types will be pleasing to your taste buds.
Enjoy!
Fresh Applesauce
Fresh Applesauce
Ingredients:
12 large apples, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp. Honey
1 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
Bring all ingredients to a slight boil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring often, 25-30 minutes or until apples are tender and juices thicken. Remove from heat. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks.
Bee girl sampling applesauce for the first time.
Salty, slippery goodness. Check out Road Food – Apalachicola – East Point Oyster Bar.
Honey-Jalapeno Glaze
This week I acquired 2 more bee hives. My man Dan and I removed 2 hives from 2 water shut off boxes, both in the same yard, just a few feet from each other. The entire removal and set up took us about 5 hours. Luckily it was a bit cloudy and cooler on the day we removed the hives. The house where they lived is on a road called Helms Trail. I discovered my man Dan’s favorite part of removing and keeping bees is naming them. What? That was my idea, but he is so clever I let him name one of these hives. After we’d finished placing the second hive into a box to travel home and were about to load up he announced, “well, I think it’s time to name these girls! I think we should name them Helmsley – you know since we’re on Helms Trail and all!” I died laughing, “Ok,” I said, “we’ll call it Helmsley Hive and the queen is Leona. We laughed and later had to explain to Miss T exactly who Leona Helmsley is! If you are too young to know – google her! The other queen has yet to be given a name – stay tuned. Following the recipe below are a few photos from our adventure.
Not to overcrowd my bee yard, I called a friend with a lovely little farm, down the road and asked her if she’d like them placed on her property. Once before, this cheerful woman, a New Zealander, had told me if I ever wanted to put hives at her place she’d love it, after all her grandfather had kept bees. Her farm has miniature donkeys, peacocks, sheep and an assortment of dogs, cats, chickens, etc. We placed them on a levee above her biggest tank (pond) with wind block and access to all her lovely gardens. She names gardening as her number one hobby and it shows in her beautiful yard. Wildflowers, lilies, mint, zinnias, bulbs of all kinds, always a beautiful flower to see when passing by. A wonderful new home for my bees complete with a wealth of honey producing sources.
2 New Hives
Speaking of honey…In my ongoing effort to offer healthy food for my family I chose salmon as a main course one night this week. I was a little short on time and needed a quick seasoning trick for the fish. I thought about the rich flavor of salmon and wanted something different. My go to is a soy sauce, lemon juice, ginger mix that is delicious but I aspired for something different. Always looking for ways to use honey I thought, “hmmmm honey and…..(still thinking) something peppery, a sweet-hot combo” Here is what I came up with; “Honey-Jalapeno Glaze”. This ranks as the easiest salmon I’ve ever made. The sweet and spicy glaze is the perfect derail for salmon’s richness.
I tossed a few split, seeded jalapenos on the grill alongside the salmon and they were the perfect accompaniment to the glaze, which is not too sweet nor too hot. No my friends, it is perfection brushed on a beautiful piece of deep pink-orange salmon. Remember the health benefits of salmon, which is full of Omega 3 fatty acids. It’s good for your heart, your eyes, your brain and nerves. Salmon is also rich in some essential minerals such as iron, calcium, selenium, phosphorus and vitamins like A and D. Among allergy sufferers there is a widespread belief that locally produced honey can alleviate symptoms. It’s said that a spoonful a day can help build immunity to local allergens. No matter the reason you may be eating salmon or honey the following recipe delivers a delicious meal.
Enjoy!
Honey Jalapeno Glazed Grilled Salmon
Honey-Jalapeno Glazed Salmon
Ingredients:
4 salmon fillets
3 tbsp. honey
2 tsp. finely chopped, seeded jalapenos
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
4 jalapenos (to grill on the side)
Brush grill rack with a little oil. Lay salmon on grill racks, over medium high heat, skin side down. As salmon begins to cook spread a little glaze on each fillet. Continue brushing fish with glaze until salmon is opaque and cooked through. ( I do not flip my fish when grilling) . Toss on a few seeded and split jalapenos on the side, grill until charred and serve with the fish.
Dan wielding the "bee vac". This is a useful tool in removing the stragglers.
Foam is placed in the bottom of the vacuüm tub to give the girls a soft landing. Shaking them off in front of a hive box.
Bees at the entrance of the hive that will transport them to their new home.
The Bee-Mobile
That's moi setting up the new hives. Leaving chunks of leftover comb for the bees to clean up and carry into their new home.
Bees love sugar syrup. I like to pour out a small amount and watch them find it and devour it.
I am a stickler when it comes to salad dressings. I can be seen using olive oil and vinegar with a few turns of fresh grated pepper before you’ll catch me pouring dressing from a bottle that came from a shelf in the grocery. I prefer whisking together my own ingredients and often the dressing is based on what’s in the frig and pantry. If I’m too lazy to perform the task of making fresh, homemade salad dressing I’d still rather go with simple oil and vinegar, sometimes just vinegar. I love that seasoned rice vinegar sprinkled on any salad, it’s so refreshing. Sweet and tangy all at the same time.
Today I’m sharing a recipe for Green Goddess dressing. I’ll admit now that I didn’t have anchovy paste in the pantry so my dressing is sans anchovies. I imagine the salt content might be overload for me had I used anchovy paste anyway. The fragrant herbs used in the dressing filled the kitchen with notes of licorice from the tarragon and that sweet but peppery fragrance of oregano. The dressing is creamy, aromatic and addictive. It would also make a heathy dip for veggies or crackers.
I became curious about where this dressing with this fabulous name came from. Green Goddess – sounds so exotic. Reminds me of Absinthe, but you won’t go crazy or cut off your ear if you have a little dressing. I’ve posted a short bio along with the original recipe below so you too will know how it came to be. The Palace Hotel is in San Francisco.
The History of the Green Goddess Dressing
The Green Goddess Dressing was created at the Palace Hotel in 1923 by
Executive Chef Phillip Roemer. Chef Roemer created the dressing for a
banquet held at the Palace. The event was honoring actor George Arliss
who was the lead in William Archer’s hit play “The Green Goddess”.
Original Palace Hotel Green Goddess Dressing
Makes 2 cups
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1/4 cup snipped fresh chives or minced scallions
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh tarragon
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
3 anchovy fillets, rinsed, patted dry, and minced
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Stir all the ingredients together in a small bowl until well blended (or if you prefer your dressing creamier, throw it all into a food processor or blender and pulse for 30 seconds.) Taste and adjust the seasonings. Use immediately or cover and refrigerate.
I served the dressing over a salad of leaf lettuce, with toasted pine nuts, and thinly sliced ricotta salata. Ricotta Salata being a pressed, salted, aged and dried variety of the Italian ricotta cheese. Ricotta salata is of a consistency perfect for shaving or grating, unlike its moist, creamy cousin, which most of us are familiar with.
Below is my version of Green Goddess Dressing. Enjoy!
Green Goddess Dressing
Ingredients:
4 tbsp. low-fat plain yogurt
2 tbsp. light sour cream of Mexican crema (I used the later)
1 tsp. white wine vinegar
1 tbsp. chopped fresh tarragon
1 tbsp. chopped fresh oregano
2 scallions, green part only, thinly sliced
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor; purée until smooth.
The heat has returned to North Texas. It seems as though we might break that record after all for # of days with temps reaching 100 or higher. After all those wicked hot days we’ve had I said, “why not tack on a couple of more just to break the all time record!” Fall is just around the corner – right? I don’t know if I’ve ever looked more forward to cooler weather than I do right now!
In my anticipation of fall I baked a Peach & Banana Loaf. I had about half a bag of peaches left over from the Upside Down Cake https://theorangebee.wordpress.com/2011/09/10/hatch-is-history-and-peach-upside-down-cake/ and decided to toss them into the banana bread. It is a delightful, moist, full of flavor quick bread. The peaches add just the right sweetness and with the wheat flour there is a health benefit as well. If you or your family don’t eat this up within a couple of days, be sure and store it in the refrigerator to keep it fresh.
Now for a little bee news. I am currently feeding all but two hives and am waiting on Dan my man to cut a hole for one more feeder to place on Queen April’s hive. Last week they looked to have plenty of honey stored up but when I checked today they showed signs of needing some help in the pantry. Hives, Queen Rita and Queen Heidi devoured a quart each in 24 hours, so once again my hunch was right that they will need food for the rest of the summer and possibly into early fall. I enjoy going out to the apiary to refill feeders as the bees seem pleased to see me show up with buckets of syrup.
The greatest news is, an acquaintance approached me today after gym class and asked if I would teach her how to become a bee keeper. Lucky for her I was feeding today and invited her out to observe. Besides feeding, I opened two hives to show her what it looks like down inside those pretty boxes and she is the luckiest, as we saw both Queen April and Queen Elena. Mr. F told me that my pay back to him for teaching me all he has would be to do the same if anyone ever asked me to. I’d have never guessed it would happen so soon but I am happy to teach and help establish a new beekeeper. Any more takers?
Enjoy!
Peach & Banana Loaf
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups white flour
1 cup wheat flour
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. Salt
2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 cup fresh peaches, mashed
Preheat oven to 350*. Grease a medium loaf pan, I use my stone loaf pan.
In a mixing bowl mix the flours, brown sugar, soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Whsiky until thoroughly mixed,
In a smaller bowl beat the eggs. Add the lemon juice, milk and mashed banana. Drain the peaches in a colander, reserving juice.
Slowly mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. If the mixture seems to dry add a little of the peach juice at a time. Be careful not to add too much. (I didn’t need to add any) Stir in the mashed peaches and nuts.
Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf pan and bake in the middle of the oven for about an hour. Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the loaf. when the toothpick comes out clean the loaf is done. Cool for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to complete cooling.
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