At the beginning of August, my husband and I accompanied two Sea Scouts to an international sailboat race held at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.  This being my first time anywhere on the East Coast, I was excited to try some true New England fare.   Since most of our time in Connecticut was spent enjoying the scenery of Vanguard 420’s (and the occasional nuclear submarine) on the Thames river, we ate many fast food meals.  As fancy as Taco Bell and McDonald’s are, I can have those any day when I am at home in the Midwest.  Our week started out slow with trying local cuisine, but soon we were enjoying all this small state had to offer.

After a long day of traveling and checking our Scouts into Connecticut College where they would be staying for the week, we went to our hotel room to enjoy way more chicken wings than two people should ever eat.  As yummy as these wings were from the local joint, Wings ‘N’ Pies, we still knew that wings were something we could readily eat back home.  So, the next night we went decided to go in search of some truly authentic New England cuisine.  Because Connecticut lacks in size, roads and, sometimes, civilization, we got on one of the main highways and began driving.  Our search took us nearly a third of the way into the state from the coast.  At the end of those twenty miles, we were starving and decided to settle on a local pizza joint.  Our thin crust chicken enchilada pizza was delicious and definitely very different than the stuffed crust pizza we have in Chicago, but we had still not had those authentic New England flavors we were in search of.  Our minds immediately went to seafood – we knew that was the missing ingredient from this trip.

That night, my husband looked up what seafood dish we needed to try in Connecticut and determined it was a lobster roll.  With a little more searching, we decided that the best place to get one in New London was at Captain Scott’s Lobster Deck.  On our way to lunch the next day at Captain Scott’s, we were not sure what to expect.  As we drove through run down buildings and docks to get there, we became concerned with what would await us.  What did await us, however, was a quaint food stand on the water with picnic tables to enjoy our lunch in the beautiful weather.  And there were customers!  We always look for the places with lots of customers because that means there are lots of people who enjoy that restaurant.  Although we were there to try the lobster rolls, I decided to order fish and chips so we would have more Connecticut seafood to taste.  Wanting the lobster roll, my husband asked our cashier if she recommended a hot or cold roll.  For those unfamiliar with lobster rolls (as I was until recently), hot lobster rolls are just lobster meat with melted butter on a submarine-type roll and a cold roll is filled with a lobster salad similar to a chicken or tuna salad.  The cashier recommended the hot roll, so that is what he ordered.  Now it was just time to wait for our mid-day meal.

This is the part where I could try to tell how much we enjoyed our true Connecticut seafood, but I truly believe that a picture is worth a thousand words.  And yes, the fish and lobster were just as delicious as they look.  The buttery lobster melted in our mouths and the fish just fell apart as we devoured it.  After that lunch, I was very satisfied that I had gotten my authentic regional meal.

Adding a bit of lemon to the hot lobster roll.

So we continued to eat our fancy fast food meals as the week went on and we stayed busy watching our scouts race.  However, as we were heading to the airport early on Saturday morning, we knew that there was one authentic Connecticut meal that we had not yet tasted: Dunkin’ Donuts.  I know that this donut chain originated on the East coast, but I never would have thought it was such a local spot before going to Connecticut.  Upon arriving in Connecticut, we had quickly noticed that there were Dunkin’ Donuts shops literally everywhere.  There seemed to be a shop every two blocks, and that was not counting the gas stations that sold these local delicacies.  Therefore, it was only fitting that we stop at one of these restaurants on our way home.

To fulfill this mission, we decided we would stop a Dunkin’ Donuts when we stopped to fill the car with gas.  We knew it would not be hard to find these things together.  And it was not.  About half way to the airport, we stopped at a gas station next door to the Dunkin’ Donuts.  The plan was that the Scouts and myself would get donuts while my husband got gas.  My husband succeeded at his task; we miserably failed at ours.  Actually, we were intimidated by the amount of people at the shop.  There were at least ten cars in the drive-thru line and every register inside had a line of people that almost reached the door.  That is when we knew why there needed to be so many Dunkin’ Donuts shops.  Not wanting to wait in those kinds of lines, we continued on to the airport donut-less.  But we just had to drive another few miles and we were able to attempt our mission again.  This time: mission accomplished.  We enjoyed our donuts and all came to a consensus that we do not like strong East Coast coffee.  With Dunkin’ Donuts checked off our list, we were able to say that we had a successful trip to Connecticut and were able to truly enjoy some of the local cuisine.

I enjoy cooking so much that in school, in the midst of exams to study for, papers to write and homework to finish, I would bake a batch of cookies just to relax a bit. I am also the person who, on a night like tonight when I am home alone, will cook a meal for myself to have that release. Although, I also like to share kitchen creations with others. So, as I have done many times before, I am sharing tonight’s dinner with you, my reading audience.

My husband is not a huge fan of pancakes or waffles, so I reserve those meals for nights like tonight when I made silver dollar pancakes with homemade peach syrup. They were quite delicious (and pretty) for a first try, as I had not made pancakes in a very long time and this was my first attempt at a homemade syrup. I could try to explain them, but I think it is true that pictures are worth a thousand words and besides, writing is not my release, cooking is. If you do not know what your release is, you just have to try things until you find the thing that excites you. Start by trying this simple recipe that I came up with and maybe you will find that cooking is your release too.

Silver dollar pancakes with homemade peach syrup

]]> http://foodsimply.wordpress.com/2010/05/13/release-me/feed/ 1 estmonroe Silver dollar pancakes with homemade peach syrup http://foodsimply.wordpress.com/2010/04/10/can-we-have-a-tour-of-the-factory/ http://foodsimply.wordpress.com/2010/04/10/can-we-have-a-tour-of-the-factory/#comments Sun, 11 Apr 2010 01:24:13 +0000 estmonroe http://foodsimply.wordpress.com/?p=297 Continue reading →]]> Easter was just recently upon us, which meant lots of spending time with friends and family and sharing meals together. In keeping with my holiday traditions, Easter also meant baking a special dessert. During this particular family gathering, my sister-in-law and I decided to make a key lime cheesecake, as she had recently tasted this dish at the Cheesecake Factory Restaurant and wanted to duplicate the delicious dessert for our Easter dinner.

Making a cheesecake that closely resembles one at this popular chain restuarant also made me think of a friend who waits tables at the Cheesecake Factory. Most of us know that this particular establishment is not a factory at all. However, according to my friend, there are still a handful of people who come into the restaurant asking for a tour of the factory. Although the Cheesecake Factory Restaurant is not a factory in the traditional sense, I think every kitchen turns into a factory whenever we start cooking or baking.

That is exactly what happened when we began our production that eventually led to a delicious key lime cheesecake. We melted butter, crushed crackers, pressed crust, softened cream cheese, zested lime peel, juiced a lime, measured sugar, cracked eggs, added lemon juice, mixed ingredients, poured batter, baked, cooled and refrigerated the concoction to produce our final product. The cheesecake we created was described as delicious, pretty and “tasting like the original” by it’s reviewers. I would say that was a successful production. I know that not everything we make in our kitchens are produced with such grace as a finished that has gone through a well-thought assembly line at a factory. However, everytime I do have such a success in the kitchen, I am encouraged to keep trying new things. I hope your successes encourage you as well.

And if you are encourged to try a new dessert soon, I would suggest this key lime cheesecake we made: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Key-Lime-Cheesecake-I/Detail.aspx

Most of the cooking I do is just for two people: my husband and me.  Over time, I have come to realize that most recipes are designed to accommodate four or more people eating a certain meal.  While we do enjoy eating leftovers, there is no physical way two people can eat all the leftovers we accumulate from cooking almost every night of the week.  Therefore, I have started cutting down recipes or freezing part of the recipe for later use.  So here are my tips for making the best use of your freezer space in order to cut down on prep time for some meals, keep food from going bad in your refrigerator and still have freshly cooked homemade meals on your table.

First, freeze extra meat.  Especially when cooking for only two people, it is often hard to buy a small enough portion of meat for the recipe it will be used in, unless buying directly from a meat counter.  Because of this, I will often buy a larger package of meat and portion it out into individual freezer bags for later use in casseroles, soups and the like.  This works especially well with ground beef and chicken breasts.  Just take one portion out of the freezer in the morning and it should be thawed by dinnertime.  However, I will warn you that fresh ground beef and chicken are often better than frozen for sandwiches such hamburgers.  I have also cut pork and beef roasts in half before cooking and then froze the other half for later use.  They frozen half normally does not even have to be thawed before cooking in the oven, but it may require a longer cook time.  One other meat I like to freeze is meatballs.  When I have a large package of ground beef and am making fresh meatballs for one recipe, I will often make all of the beef into meatballs and freeze for later use.  You can do this by putting the uncooked meatballs on a baking sheet and freezing.  Once they are frozen, transfer them to a storage container or freezer bag for later use in your favorite recipes.

Another thing that I often freeze to speed up the preparation time on some nights is “fillings” for things such as quiches, pot pies, crepes, calzones, burritos, etc.  I first started doing this when I made my first quiche and realized I had too much of the sausage and spinach mixture to fit in one pie.  So, I froze the leftover filling and got it out a few hours before I made another quiche.  I was then able to make a fresh pie crust and egg mixture so that I still had a freshly-made meal, but my prep time had been cut to almost a third.  As I started adding more recipes to my menu (especially ones that incorporated a bread component), I started either doubling the recipe for my fillings to these menu items or making less of the rest of the recipe so that I have enough left over to freeze and turn into another meal.  This is also especially helpful if I need to make an impromptu meal at the end of the week before I get to the grocery store because I almost always have the ingredients on hand to make pie crusts, crepes or pizza dough.

Finally, keeping frozen vegetables on hand can cut down on prep time of fresh vegetables and can be added to any number of casseroles and soups to make a new recipe or just to makeover an old recipe.  This works especially well frozen broccoli, cauliflower, green beans and spinach.  Sometimes, the vegetables do need to be thawed before using, but other times, they can just be tossed into whatever dish you are cooking and will cook with the rest of the dish.  Be adventurous: pair frozen vegetables with the meat in your freezer and other items from your pantry to make a new family favorite.

Tonight I am diving into my freezer to make a new, and what I anticipate delicious, meal for my family.  I am making a version of chicken and biscuits that uses the filling from my chicken pot pie (starting with frozen chicken and vegetables) topped with biscuits from frozen homemade dough.  So do not think of this kitchen appliance as a wasteland, go exploring and discover all that your freezer can do to save you time and money.

Only eat appetizers for dinner?  This may seem like a crazy idea, yet that is often the meal served (maybe without realizing) on these special days or on other days when the big game occurs over the dinner hour.  Appetizers are often simple to make or at least no more complicated than something else we would regularly make for dinner.  So why then do we only make appetizers when we are going to a party, a family gathering or some other special occasion?  I like to make appetizers just as a meal because it’s a fun way to spice up any dinner.  Besides, practicing cooking your favorite appetizers more often may mean a perfected dish by the time you are invited to your next New Year’s Eve party.

I think my enjoyment of appetizers for dinner came from what is now one of my family’s Christmas traditions.  Many years ago, a dear family friend started sending my family a Figi’s meat and cheese tray at Christmastime.

Holiday Feast meat and cheese tray.

This picture is very similar to the meat and cheese tray that we would often receive.  This particular one is called the “Holiday Feast” tray, and a feast it was with all of the different types of hard sausages and cheeses, not to mention the delicious tortes to round out the goodies.  Having this great gift from such a special friend meant that my family needed a special time to enjoy it.  My family normally spends Christmas Eve together to open presents and then spends Christmas day at my grandparents’ house for the big “Christmas dinner.”  So eating the meats and cheeses from our “Holiday Feast” was just something obvious to add to our Christmas Eve traditions.  Over the years, this tradition has become my family making various appetizers, a pot of soup and Christmas candies for our Christmas Eve dinner meal.

This past year, my husband’s and my contribution to the Christmas Eve meal was bruschetta and spinach and artichoke dip.  My husband and I knew that we really liked bruschetta, as a few weeks earlier we had enjoyed our own appetizer dinner that included bruschetta from a pre-made tomato topping.  Most people think of bruschetta as a slice of bread topped with chopped tomatoes and basil, but really bruschetta just means a slices of bread, toasted on each side and moistened with olive oil.  So really, bruschetta can have any number of savory toppings, but the topping we made for our bruschetta was tomato-based.  This was our first attempt at making our own topping, but it was simple and gave us a fresh, vibrant finger food to share.

My other contribution to this meal was spinach and artichoke dip.  It was my first time trying this classic party dip, but this also turned out great.  How can it not be when it is loaded with so much cheese?  As delicious as it was, it still seem to be missing something.  We were just invited to a friend’s house for a potluck Super Bowl party where everyone was asked to bring, you guessed it, an appetizer.  I decided to try the spinach and artichoke dip again.  But this time, I added some real kick to it, as one friend put it.  Adding some canned jalapenos and dice green chilies was just what my recipe needed to make it fantastic.

I don’t just enjoy appetizer dinners when I am at home or at someone else’s house, I also occasionally enjoy ordering an appetizer as my main course at a restaurant.  One of my favorites is the Southwest eggrolls at Chili’s.  A couple of months ago, I found a recipe and decided to make my own Southwest eggrolls at home.  The filling to this recipe was great, but the flour tortillas in the original recipe did not fry quite as expected and took away from the delicious filling.  I had saved and frozen half of the filling from my initial attempt, so I decided to try to make these eggrolls again for my husband’s and my appetizer dinner on New Year’s Eve.  I picked up some wonton wrappers at the grocery store, like would be used in more traditional eggrolls.  We had never used these before, but after the filling was thawed, my husband figured out how to roll and fry our Southwest eggrolls.  This was exactly what we needed to make this become another favorite appetizer and appetizer dinner item in our household.

So go ahead and pull out your favorite appetizer recipes or try new ones.  Make mini “appetizer” desserts and open a bottle of sparkling grape juice because you can make it a party night, even if you have no other reason to celebrate than enjoying your family.