Shrimp & Grits Casserole

March 28, 2011
Shrimp & grits is a southern-tradition dish with which I was absolutely not familiar until I moved to North Carolina.  And, I'll admit, I was afraid to try it at first.  I mean, what was a grit, anyway??  Well, I've gotten past my fear - and I'm so glad I did.  I now love shrimp & grits.  This is a creamy-comfort food version to make easily at home.  A lot of shrimp & grit dishes are spicy - this one certainly is not.  It's a very mild-flavored, cheesy, shrimpy grits casserole-style dish.

I like my shrimp & grits with limas
The original recipe for this is from Cooking Light magazine, one of my favorite reads, but I think I've tweaked it to put back in all the bad things they worked so hard to take out.  Oh well. 

Start by cooking up your grits.  I've learned from my southern friends, who've grown up cooking grits, that the secret to good grits is to add the grits to the liquid mixture very slooooooowly.  Whisk them constantly while you're adding the grits, and cook them until they're very thick.

Get the grits good and thick ... like this
Then put in stuff that makes the grits even yummier ... Parmesan cheese, cream cheese, and butter!
Mmmmmmmmmm
Then you'll add in chives and shrimp, and bake it until it's set and getting golden around the edges.
All baked and ready to gobble up
Once it's out of the oven, dig in!  I like it just the way it is, but you can add a dash of hot sauce on the top if you like.  Enjoy the comforting creaminess!

Shrimp & Grits Casserole
Adapted from Cooking Light magazine
(Printable recipe)
Ingredients
2 c. milk
3/4 c. chicken broth
1 c. quick-cooking grits
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. shredded Parmesan cheese
2 T. butter
4 oz. cream cheese
1 or 2 T. chopped fresh chives (you can also use dried)
3 T. fresh parsley or 1 T. dried parsley
1 T. lemon juice
1 egg
1 lb. peeled shrimp, roughly chopped

Directions
Bring milk and chicken broth to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Gradually add grits and salt to pan, stirring constantly with a whisk.  Cook 5 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly.  Remove grits from heat.  Stir in Parmesan, butter, and cream cheese until melted; then stir in remaining ingredients.

Spoon grits mixture into a 11x7" baking dish generously coated with cooking spray.  Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes, or until set and the top is just starting to get some golden brown areas. 

Enjoy!

5

Strawberry & Greens Salad with Honey Vinaigrette

March 25, 2011
Strawberry & Greens Salad with Honey Vinaigrette is a simple, flavorful, and beautifully eye-catching salad starring Spring's little red beauties.

Strawberry & Greens Salad with Honey Vinaigrette


It's almost strawberry season! Nice-looking fresh strawberries are starting to make their appearance in grocery stores here, and I'm really excited about it!

Here's a really simple, very flavorful, and beautifully eye-catching salad starring those little red beauties. 

Strawberry & Greens Salad with Honey Vinaigrette

And I love, that on top of all that, it's "different" than just your basic tossed salad. Not that I have anything against your basic tossed salad - eat it all the time - but, sometimes you just want something a little bit different.

Dressed with a Honey Vinaigrette that pairs wonderfully with the sweetness of the strawberries, something deliciously  different is certainly what this salad delivers up.

Strawberry & Greens Salad with Honey Vinaigrette

This salad is so tasty and pretty, I often make it when I have guests for dinner.  Or, when I'm bringing a dinner to someone.  

One word of "warning," though - the vinegar in the dressing begins to take its toll on the strawberries pretty quickly.  I recommend dressing the salad right before serving.  You can certainly keep the leftovers overnight, but the strawberries will be faded and puny the next day!

Strawberry & Greens Salad with Honey Vinaigrette
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strawberry salad, strawberry salad recipe, salads with strawberries, honey vinaigrette recipe, honey salad dressing recipe
Salads
American
Yield: about 6 servings
Author:

Strawberry & Greens Salad with Honey Vinaigrette

Strawberry & Greens Salad with Honey Vinaigrette

Strawberry & Greens Salad with Honey Vinaigrette is a simple, flavorful, and beautifully eye-catching salad starring Spring's little red beauties.
Prep time: 15 MCook time: Total time: 15 M

Ingredients:

Dressing:
  • 3 T. white wine vinegar
  • 3 T. water
  • 1 T. honey
  • 2 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/8 tsp. salt
  • 1/8 tsp. pepper
Salad:
  • About 6 c. salad greens {mesculin greens or spring mix}
  • 3 c. sliced strawberries
  • 2 T. pine nuts {or slivered almonds}

Instructions:

  1. Combine all dressing ingredients in a small bowl; whisk until well combined. {Or, place in a jar and shake until well mixed.}
  2. Combine strawberries and greens in a large bowl. 
  3. Add dressing and toss to coat. Sprinkle with pine nuts. 
  4. Serve immediately.
Created using The Recipes Generator
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6

Whole Wheat Waffles & Pure Vermont Maple Syrup

March 22, 2011
With these Whole Wheat Waffles' delicious hint of cinnamon and vanilla, you'll want waffles for breakfast {or dinner} every day!

Whole Wheat Waffles
Every now and then, you just gotta have breakfast for dinner.  At least I do.  My favorites? ~ French toast ... and these delicious whole wheat waffles (smothered with pure Vermont maple syrup, of course.  We'll talk detail about syrup later). 

But just one little syrup note before we move on -- usually, maple syrup would be flowing all over my plate when I have waffles.  A terrible thing happened while I was preparing the plate above, though - I ran out of maple syrup!!!  Totally unbelievable in my household.  So, I had to place an emergency order to have some shipped in from Vermont.  Fortunately, it arrived today.  And rest assured, future waffles will be appropriately syrup-bathed.

I absolutely adore these whole wheat waffles ~ the batter has just a touch of cinnamon and vanilla that give a fabulous flavor to the finished waffle.

When the batter is mixed up, I think it's totally cool how the leavener starts to work right away - and you can actually see the batter getting "puffy" right in the bowl.  Like, immediately.


Toss some of that beautiful batter into a preheated waffle maker.  I use a Belgium waffle maker so I get really big-and-thick waffles.  I like 'em that way.

Whole Wheat Waffles

And then cook until the waffle maker sounds it's alarm.  Now, why can't our ovens have alarms that let us know when baked goods are done?  It would be so much easier that way.  But I digress ...

Whole Wheat Waffles

Serve up your whole wheat waffles with a generous ... very very generous, if you're me ... slathering of maple syrup.  Or butter.   Or honey.  Or strawberries.  Whatever you prefer.  I'm a maple syrup girl, myself.  And growing up in Vermont, I'm absolutely a maple syrup snob.  So let's talk syrup for a minute.

Vermont is the largest producer of pure maple syrup in the United States, and it's some amazingly fabulous stuff.  Being a syrup snob, I only eat pure maple syrup ... and preferably only pure maple syrup made in Vermont.  None ... absolutely none ... of that fake stuff for me.

Some syup details ... Maple syrup comes in several grades, ranging from fancy to grade C.  Maple trees naturally produce lighter colored maple syrup early in the season that gradually deepens in color and flavor toward the end of the sugaring season.  Fancy is the lightest in color, followed by Grade A Medium Amber and Grade A Dark Amber.  Then ... late in the season ... you get really dark, bold-flavored Grade B.  That's what I love!  The last grade, Grade C, typically is produced at the very very end of the season, and is sold in bulk to industrial producers of maple flavored products rather than packaged for retail sale.


What grade you prefer is purely a personal choice.  As for me, I'm a Vermont Grade B girl, all the way!

For me, there's just simply no other way to enjoy my waffles.

Whole Wheat Waffles
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homemade waffle recipe, whole wheat waffles recipe, breakfast recipes
Breads
Yield: about 12 waffles
Author:

Whole Wheat Waffles

With these Whole Wheat Waffles' delicious hint of cinnamon and vanilla, you'll want waffles for breakfast {or dinner} every day!
prep time: 10 Mcook time: 15 Mtotal time: 25 M

ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 c. granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 3 T. baking powder
  • 3/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 1/2 c. milk
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

instructions:

How to cook Whole Wheat Waffles

  1. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add wet ingredients; stir until just combined.
  2. Cook in waffle maker according to manufacturer’s directions (I use a Belgium waffle maker for big, thick waffles).
  3. Serve with warm pure maple syrup.
Created using The Recipes Generator


Enjoy these other delicious waffle and pancake treats from The Kitchen is My Playground ...



6

Sausage & Balsamic-Caramelized Onion Pizza - & a homemade whole wheat crust recipe

March 20, 2011
Sausage & Balsamic-Caramelized Onion Pizza is one unique and fabulously tasty pizza flavor combination!  It's our family's favorite pizza, especially with a homemade whole wheat crust.

Sausage & Balsamic-Caramelized Onion Pizza Image
15

How to Bake Classic Pound Cake - I did it!

March 11, 2011
Classic vanilla pound cake is the quintessential Southern dessert ~ and this version from my mother-in-law is pure Southern perfection.

Classic Vanilla Pound Cake image



I finally did it!  I baked my first pound cake!!  Can you believe I had never made a pound cake before this?  

In my defense, pound cake is decidedly a southern thing.  Growing up in Vermont, we just didn't bake pound cakes.  The only pound cake I had been exposed to prior to moving south was the Sara Lee loaf kind you buy in the freezer section at the grocery store.  

Now that I live in North Carolina, classic pound cake is everywhere, and in so many wonderful flavors. Oh, homemade is sooooo much better than that frozen stuff!

I'll admit I was very nervous, possibly even a little bit scared, to make my first pound cake.  

As I said before, I have absolutely zero background in baking this kind of cake.  Add to that the fact that my mother-in-law is pretty much a pound cake baking goddess.  You can be almost guaranteed that when you walk into her house, there's a pound cake in the cake cupboard.  Yep, she makes it so much there's a cake cupboard where it's kept.  Now if that's not intimidating, I don't know what is.

And there you have it - fear.  Fear of the pound cake.  But I desperately wanted to overcome this fear.

Classic Vanilla Pound Cake photo

So, after eight years of knowing my husband and eating his mother's wonderfully amazing pound cake, I decided to give her recipe a whirl myself.  

Trying to recall all the tips and tricks she told me, I set out on my journey.  Doubts still ran through my head - What if I don't get the batter mixed just right?  What if it gets a sad streak in it? (I've learned that this is when it doesn't bake evenly, creating basically an unbaked "streak" through the cake.)  What if ... and apparently this is one of the worst and most frequent pound cake mishaps ... it won't come out of the pan?  What if it bakes up ugly??  But I pressed on ... 

After combining all my ingredients and beating them for the full 15 minutes called for in the recipe, I poured my beautiful pale yellow, smooth, creamy batter into my pan.  I'm a sucker for batter, so of course I tasted it at this point.  Already yummy!

Making Classic Vanilla Pound Cake image

But when my pound cake came out of the oven, one of my fears had come to be - the top of the cake baked up ugly, and one part of it was slumped down a little.

Fortunately, the pound cake settled down a tiny bit as it cooled - but it still certainly wasn't the prettiest cake around.  This made me very worried to cut into it.

Making Classic Vanilla Pound Cake photo

When it finally came time to cut, Mark and I did it together.

After all, he grew up with this pound cake and would for-sure know if it was up-to-snuff!  Because of the slumped side, he was positive there was going to be a sad streak in it.

When we cut, I was extremely glad and relieved to find no streak!

Southern Pound Cake image

Now came the ultimate test ... the Mark taste-test.  I'm happy to report that my pound cake passed with flying colors, ugly top and all!

The Mark quote:  "I think you've done it."

That's very high praise from my particular husband of few words.

As I do with most of my baked goods, I gave the majority of the cake away.  As I was packaging up my little pound cake care packages, I asked Mark if he wanted me to save him a few slices.  He said no - so I asked, "Are you sure?"  He said, "Yes, I'm sure."

I admit, I was surprised.  So, I decided to save just one slice for me to have the next day.

Here it is - all by itself on the cake plate:


Here's what the cake plate looked like the next morning when I came down for breakfast:


Guess what Mark had for breakfast...

Compliments of my mother-in-law, here is the recipe for this classic pound cake.  Eat it plain, or with berries or whipped cream (or both!) on top.

Even if it bakes up ugly or with a sad streak, rest assured it will still taste delicious.

Check out these other super-tasty cake recipes:
Southern Pound Cake photo
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pound cake, pound cake recipe, Southern pound cake recipe, vanilla pound cake recipe
Desserts
Yield: 12-16 servings

Classic Pound Cake

Classic vanilla pound cake is the quintessential Southern dessert. And this version is true Southern perfection.
prep time: 25 Mcook time: 1 H & 30 Mtotal time: 1 H & 55 M

ingredients:

  • 3 c. granulated sugar
  • 1/2 lb. (2 sticks) unsalted butter
  • 2 T. Crisco shortening
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 3 c. all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 c. milk (my mother-in-law and I use 2% milk)

instructions:

How to cook Classic Pound Cake

  1. Cream the sugar, butter, and Crisco with an electric mixer, about 3-4 minutes.
  2. Add eggs and vanilla; beat with an electric mixer about 10-15 minutes. Be sure to beat for the full time.
  3. Combine the flour and baking powder. With the mixer on low, add flour mixture and milk, alternately, to the creamed sugar and eggs mixture. Mix after each addition until just combined.
  4. Pour batter into a tube pan that has been generously sprayed with non-stick baking spray {or buttered & floured}. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until a toothpick inserted in the top comes out clean.
  5. Cool about a 1/2 an hour in the pan; remove cake from pan.
Created using The Recipes Generator

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Classic Vanilla Pound Cake ~ Bake up the quintessential Southern dessert!  This classic vanilla pound cake recipe is pure Southern perfection.  www.thekitchenismyplayground.com


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28

My Favorite Children's Literature ... food-related, of course!

March 8, 2011
Now, why would I be writing a post about children's literature on a cooking blog?  Because I realized on my drive to school the other day (I'm a first grade teacher) that three of my favorite children's books have to do with food!  So as soon as I got to my classroom that morning, I grabbed these three favorite books off my bookshelf so I could take them home, snap some pictures of them, and share them with you.  If you have little ones in your life (or, if you're simply a lover of children's books), I highly recommend these stories.

First up is a very sweet little book brought to my attention by my friend Andrea (she has a blog, too - you can check it out by clicking here.  Or, click here to read a post she did about me - thanks, Andrea!). 



Cupcake ... How appropriate for me!!  See, I love to bake cupcakes, as you can read in Andrea's post.  They're fun.  And they make you feel less guilty about eating them than eating a big ol' slice of cake does ... even though, in reality, you probably end up eating more because you usually eat more than one.  Well, at least I end up eating more than one.

The plain vanilla cupcake in this story feels very, well, plain compared to her fancy brothers and sisters who have lots of decorations.  She feels even worse about her herself when she's left sitting all alone on the plate when all the others have been chosen already.  Poor plain vanilla!  I would choose you!  After trying to spruce herself up with lots of funny things, she ends up realizing she's special just the way she is.  Ahhhh, how sweet!

I read this story with my first grade class the week we were learning about compound words ... since cupcake is a compound word ... get it?  Cup + cake = cupcake!  Then we decorated cupcakes and ate them.  Plain vanilla cupcakes, of course.  Though my kids could choose chocolate OR vanilla frosting, or a little of each ... which they all thought was very cool.  First graders really are so easy to please.

Next up is one of my all-time favorite storybooks - Marsupial Sue Presents the Runaway Pancake by John Lithgow.  Yes, the John Lithgow - the absolutely hysterically funny and great actor.  The book itself read by anyone is funny enough.  But what makes it even funnier is that it comes with a CD of John Lithgow reading and singing the story - and he is hilarious!  I soooooo love this book.  It's just good ol' fun, and you can't help but laugh and sing along with John as the pancake desperately tries to get away without being eaten.



I play this book for my class probably about 3-4 times a year, they love it so much.

Finally, I have an old classic - On Top of Spaghetti.  It goes right along with that song we all know ... sing along, you know you want to! 

On top of spaaaaagheeeeettiii, all covered with cheese - I lost my poor meattttttball when somebody sneezed.  It rolled ooooofffff the table, and onto the floor.  And then my poor meatttttball rolled out of the door...

The week we learn the short o sound, I read this book and we learn the song.  The book quickly becomes one of the students' favorites during their independent reading time - so much so that my first copy is about falling apart after only three years in the classroom!  I asked for a second copy this past Christmas, and was very happy that Santa obliged.  Now I have an intact copy to read aloud.  But, knowing me, I'll probably put that one out in the classroom library, too, next year and both copies will end up "loved" (that sounds so much better than worn out!).  But, I guess it's a small price to pay to be able to witness the beautiful joy of little ones enjoying a book they love.


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