Back to life...

Beautiful morning on the lake

We are just getting back from what is becoming our annual 4th of July trip to Keuka Lake out in New York.  We were fortunate enough to spend an extra long weekend with the Flickinger side of the family; water skiing, watching dirt track races, celebrating 1st and 30th birthdays, and enjoying good food, wine, and company.  Needless to say, I did not spend any extended amounts of time in front of a computer and therefore, did not update the blog.  We are back on the home front and getting caught up on everything but sleep so here are the recipes for this week: 


We'll start right off with the vegetarian meal: Grilled Farmers Market Sandwiches.  The key to these hearty, veggie filled sandwiches is the bread.  We bought a loaf of par baked ciabatta bread and baked it just before assembling the sandwiches.  Perfection.  What is par baked bread you ask?  Par baking is the process by which you bake the bread until it is done on the inside and then remove it from the oven to cool before it forms the crust on the outside.  This process allows the structure of the bread to form (it looks baked) but suspends the baking process so that it may be completed at a later time.  We bought the loaf at the grocery store, popped it in the oven for about 15 minutes, and BOOM - fresh baked bread.  It is an ingenious process and the best way to have fresh bread for dinner!

Next we had Pork Tenderloin Medallions with Balsamic Reduction (with a side of grilled peaches and wild rice salad).  We used boneless pork loin chops instead of a pork tenderloin.  The sides were really good, even though we accidentally left the "wilds" out of the wild rice salad (they were in with the spice packet which we were instructed to omit in the cooking process).  You can actually buy just the "wilds" at the grocery store - it is basically just a container of long grain black rice.  Interesting - I didn't go for it but by all means!

Flick made my plate look fancy

Delicious summer meal

Taking advantage of the summer produce, we decided to make Snapper with Zucchini and Tomato served with parsley orzo.  What a fresh, summery meal.  The zucchini and tomato "salsa" was a hit with both Flick and I.  We easily polished it all off between the 2 of us so you may want to make a bit extra if you are serving 4 and are with a bunch of veggie lovers. 

Glazed Chicken and Szechuan Noodle Salad was another recipe which pared peanut butter and noodles.  Love this combo.  The salty sweetness of the peanut butter worked really well with the grilled glaze on the chicken.  We used whole wheat spaghetti instead of the Udon noodles.  This was my first experience with whole wheat pasta and I really enjoyed it!  The flavor was indistinguishable from the white pasta (the flavorful sauce probably helped there) and even Flick, the not-so-fond-of-wheat guy, enjoyed it!

After eating wheat pasta and veggie sandwiches, we wanted to work in a little red meat.  To that end, we made up some Basic Burgers.  Not every meal is a planned out recipe in our household (though this blog may make you think otherwise).  On summer nights it is nice to make up some burgers (ground beef, a little dried rosemary and some onion and garlic powder - form into patties and grill to perfection) and pair them with Mac 'n Cheese, a beer, and a seat on the back deck.  I hope you all had a great 4th of July - bon appetite!