Making your Freshly Cut Parsley and Cilantro Last!

I love fresh herbs in cooking. They are so versitile, flavorful, and the add so much for so little calories. If you live in a high rise in a town called, "The Windy City" you will learn that window boxes and wind chimes are things you can never have... no matter how much you like them.

The only thing WRONG with fresh herbs is how much I hated throwing them away after they had dyed from being smushed under a cucumber in my crisper drawer after 4 days. So, whatcha gonna do? You find a trick to keep store bought herbs fresher... LONGER.



Freshy fresh, unwashed Cilantro and its beautiful pal, Parsley.

Just like flowers, the sooner you place them in water after cutting them the better. Store bought herbs, like flowers, need water, too. The quicker you can get your herbs into water, the better... but there have definetely been times that I've thrown them in the crisper draw for a few hours while I had some tea and tried to forget going to the grocery store in the rain.

Simply get an appropriately sized glass and fill it a little under halfways with cool water and place herbs in water. Then, you gently cover it- like a tent- with a gallon-sized plastic bag. This creates a self-sustaining ecosystem that only requires you to change the water weekly.

Parsley + glass + water+ ziploc bag = mini greenhouse!

One a week, however, uncover, remove herbs from glass, remove any unsightly herbs, replace cold water, and resituate herbs in glass with plastic covering. Writing about it is taking longer than it actually takes to do this simple process which will keep fresh parsley and cilantro in your house for two weeks.



Happy, Steamy, Countertop Parsley!



Happy, Steamy, Refridgerated Cilantro!






 

One last note, the parsley thrives in room temperatures, while the cilantro loves the cooler temperatures of the fridge.

                            Thanks for reading, and good luck!~ Leigh

Baked. Brie. Bites.

 

 

Baked. Brie. Bites. Baked... Brie... Bites. I love all of these words individually, but really like when

they all come together in one thing. For just about any recipe, I like to have the end results always outweigh the amount of effort I've put in. And sometimes complicated doesn't always equal delicious.

Complicated ≠ Delicious

This recipe takes 10-15 minutes to assemble and roughly the same time to bake.. and they are always the first things to disappear on an appetizer tray.

I found this on Pinterest, of course. And the link takes you to a blog post by a food blogger called Plain Chicken. The post was a review of cheeses they'd gotten and within it was the original recipe for Baked Brie Bites. I've made this for three parties in the last year and have modified it because I will do anything to make something awesome easier, quicker, and faster.




Sometimes Basic Ingredients are the best!

Ingredients:
-Mini fillo shells
-Brie Cheese- whatever you can find, cheap/expensive, rined/unrinded
-Brown sugar
-Chopped pecans
-Honey









See how clean!

The mini fillo shells already come in this great plastic tray, so I just do all the assembly with the shells in their tray. I find it makes clean up easier as any spilled ingredients are in the tray that you are going throw away, anyways.

Now, like in all things, you have choices. This is one of those moments. You can choose to keep the rind on your brie or remove it. I'm in the removing it camp, but some people like their rind. To them, its part of their taste association. And, lets be honest, I'll eat brie anyway I can get it... but, for my preference, I de-rinded that sucker. Then you cut the brie into cubes and fill the fillo shell with as much cheese as you like. Since the cheese will melt later, it will fill in the bottom of your shell nicely.




The next few steps are just about applying your toppings The recipe suggests that you apply 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of brown sugar to each cup. Unless its new, my brown sugar is almost always hard to some degree. And in the past, I've gotten brown sugar chunks all over the place in this "application" process.

I discovered my next trick by accident. I put about a cup of brown sugar into a ramiken covered by a wet papertowel in the microwave for 45 seconds to soften it so I could distribute with a teaspoon. The moisture from the papertowel not only softened my brown sugar, but it melted it all together... which turned out to be a great thing as now I could apply the brown sugar in a more controlled way by drizzling it over the bites. Be careful with melted sugars and caramels... because, if you didn't know, they have a surface temperature hotter than the sun.

But, the clean up benefits of this step outweigh the mess of distributing sugar crystals to 32 individual cups. See the below side-by-side comparison. The left side is the melted version with the right side being dry, brown sugar.

Side by Side comparison! Boom. You've been scienced.

Next you apply the chopped pecans. I guess you could use any nut of choice but I'm a sucker for pecans. Just like the brown sugar, you just evenly distribute the chopped pecans onto your bites. I gently push them into the soft cheese so they dont fall off or move in transit. And once you apply your pecans, you just lightly drizzle the entire bite with the freshest honey you can find.

 

 

 

Before!

Then place a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and transfer shells to cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes... I try and keep an eye on these just to make sure they don't get too burney.
Then place a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and transfer shells to cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes... I try and keep an eye on these just to make sure they don't get too burney.

After they've cooked, let them cool for a minute, but these are best soon out of the oven. Dont get me wrong, they are almost as good a few hours later... but like most melty things, they are best at their peak meltiness.

Remove from the parchment paper, plate them to your liking, and watch 'em fly.





After!

 

                                                                  Thanks for reading!~ Leigh

Not So Nice- Not So Easy Caramel Icing...

Generally, you know what level of cook you are. You may be the kind of cook that struggles to boil water or you may be the kind that can make grass cuttings and gravel rocks taste great. I would say I am somewhere between the two. That being said, you should also be able to discern which recipes are out of your league and which ones are easy-peasy.

I was feeling froggy. I wanted to try a recipe just barely out of my league- after all, that's how you get better- push yourself and I had had my eye another of my Moma's recipe's from her cookbook. I wanted to try the caramel icing recipe. I mean, if done right, caramel icing is just so decadent. And I want to be a cook that can do caramel icing.

So, I took a look at the ingredients

• 4 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 (5 ounce) cans evaporated milk
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter

I had them all! It was a go! I did decide to half the recipe because I only had 2 cake layers stashed in the freezer.

The instructions say to brown the sugar over medium heat stirring until it turns a dark caramel color.

Okay, check. Then the directions say in another pot combine the other two ingredients and bring to a boil stirring constantly. This did call for a bit of ambidexterity- but, I had it going.

And then you add the caramelized sugar to this butter slash evaporated milk mixture and continue to cook for another 3 minutes stirring constantly. Then set it aside and let it cool for about 10 minutes... dum-dum-dum- this is when I found the specks of Teflon.

You can't really see them in this picture- but, I put it in the Zip Loc to throw away. I can't eat Teflon- even if it does taste like caramel icing.

It is at this point that I would like to tell a side story. When Baby Bub was born, one of my best friends came to take care of us. At one point, I asked her to cook me some mac n' cheese while I hopped in the shower. I just wanted some Kraft (in a blue box) macaroni and cheese. After scoffing at me and exclaiming she didn't know how to make that because she doesn't cook that, I told her to follow the directions on the side of the box. When I got out of the shower, she had it made... except she had used a metal fork to stir it in my Teflon coated pot and there were little Teflon flakes in it- oh Lord. I should have thrown that pot away then but, for some reason, I didn't. Fast forward to caramel icing and me using the whisk- and there you have it. First batch of caramel icing in the garbage. The moral of this story: keep metal utensils far, far, far away from non-stick, Teflon coating. 

After 60 seconds of loosing my grip, (did I mention I was on the phone the whole time with my Moma) I decided that this icing had not gotten the best of me! I had just enough of the ingredients to go at it again. So, I got back in the saddle, went through all the above steps and got to the part where you are supposed to let it cool for 10 minutes- almost there.

I let it cool longer than 10 minutes- closer to 20 minutes. And then I got out my hand mixer and mixed and mixed and mixed and mixed.

I seriously thought I had mixed enough but... not so much...

(Notice all the icing on the plate- it's supposed to be on the cake!)

Weeelllll, you win some and you loose some. Although the 2nd time was not the charm, I will certainly come back to this not so easy caramel icing. I will master it- someday.

Best and Easiest Feta Cheese Dip: Everythings Betta with Feta!... assuming you like Feta cheese, that is... ~Leigh

I found a pin on Pinterest that was titled, "Feta Dip" with "Everyone begs for the recipe" in the descriptor section. Everyone has different tastes, and Feta (like cilantro) is polarizing. I, personally, really like it and am always looking for a super easy something to whip up to take to knitting night, or any gathering. It doesn't get much easier than this, folks... especially if you have a food processor. The pin took me to a site called Sweet Paul Blog. You literally just dump all the ingredients into a blender or food processor and adjust to taste.



Through 'em all in and go!

From Sweet Paul Blog:
Lemon and feta dip
Serves 4
8oz feta cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 clove garlic, chopped
6 tablespoons olive oil+ extra for serving
fresh thyme

Place feta, lemon zest and juice, garlic and olive oil in a blender and blend until smooth.
Spoon into a bowl and drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with thyme.
Serve with grilled tomatoes and grilled pita bread drizzled with olive oil, salt and thyme.

We have a policy in our house to pretty much double the garlic in any recipe and I used a little bit extra olive oil than the recipe calls for... so, again... this can be modified to suit YOUR tastes. I also didn't have any fresh thyme, though I bet that would be wonderful. I also didnt serve with grilled tomatoes... but I did serve it with pita chips. It was a super hit. And, yes... people asked for my recipe.

One quick note though... make sure to remove any lemon seeds that may have made their way in there during the squeezing process. I'm sure thats a no-brainer, but I'm just throwing that out there. If you have even a passing fondness for Feta, you should definetely check this out!

Thanks for reading!~ Leigh

Soups On- Southwestern Beef Style!

Baby, it's cold outside! And when it's cold outside, it's the perfect time to make soup. Living on the Gulf Coast, I have to take advantage of what cold weather we have to make cold weather fare. Seeing the weather report last week calling for lows in the 30s got me thinking about soup- I love soup. I love my Moma's soups in particular. This is my Moma's recipe for Southwesten Beef Soup and I have had it many times but this is the first time I have made it. It is super easy and super delish! (It is in her cookbook).

You begin by collecting all your ingredients.

• 2 pounds of ground beef (I use 93/7- trim the fat where ever you can- you do not miss it in this recipe)
• 1 packet of ranch dressing mix
• 2 (29oz) cans of diced tomatoes
• 1 (16 oz) can black beans (I didn't rinse nor did I drain)
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1 packet of taco seasoning (I make my own)
• 1 (16 oz) can of whole kernel corn (I used fresh frozen from my freezer)
• 1 (4oz) can of green chilies
• 1 (16 oz) can beef broth

After you have gotten everything together, you need to brown your ground beef and then drain it. I usually brown it on medium to medium-high heat. (My Moma sometimes uses chicken instead of beef and it is equally as tasty.)

And while you meat is browning, go ahead and open all those cans and empty them into your soup pot.

Chop your onion and I had to cut the corn off the cob.

I kept my eyes on the meat and by the time I got all the other ingredients opened, chopped and off the cob, it was ready.

 What is that in that little tin-foil lined bowl you ask. It is a little trick I use to deal with grease. The grease cannot be poured down the drain or out in the yard, so- I put it in a tin-foil lined bowl and let it cool and when it is cooled and solidified, I pull the tin-foil with the grease out of the bowl and throw it away in the trash- grease conundrum solved.

Add the beef to the soup pot and let it all come to a boil and then turn it down and let it simmer for an hour and call it a day.

It's ready! And oh so good. I have it on first hand knowledge that it is delightful with cornbread... or saltines... or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich... or a grilled cheese... or anything else you can think of! This soup is very user-friendly and very hard to mess up. Supper was great tonight and I am so looking forward to lunch tomorrow and the day after!