So many great dinners. Lori, I would love your tuna salad.

Annie, I haven't had a fondue in a long time. Now I would like one.

Sharon, your meatball dinner is beautifully plated.

Lee, I'll have to try grilling a tri tip one of these days. I like the idea of the chipotle rub too

Some of our meals this past week have been pasta, oxtails, roast chicken and hot chicken sandwiches and a favourite was a zucchini lasagna.

This blueberry upside down cake was really good too.

Ann T, the lasagna looks really good, was the zucchini in place of the pasta? I'd like that, I think, and I have zucchini. Boy, do I have zucchini!

The tri-tip sounds really good too, and roast chicken and tuna salad. Oh, but I really want some of that blueberry upside down cake.

Sigh. Can you tell it's lunch time and I haven't managed breakfast yet?

Ann T, could I have the recipe, please, for that cake?

Annie

Annie, the lasagna was soooo good even if I do say so myself. Moe and I actually ate the leftovers the next day. I used the zucchini in place of the pasta and didn't miss the pasta layer at all.

Funny, I had a couple of comments on my blog from some "expert" that wanted to debate whether this was actually a lasagna.

The one thing I will do differently next time is to either do a quick par boil of the zucchini slices or maybe just presalt them and then press to release some of the liquid. The zucchini did give off quite a bit of liquid when baked.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Zucchini Lasagna
================
2 pounds ground pork
1 onion chopped
1 stalk celery chopped
2 to 3 cloves garlic
Italian parsley
1 to 2 tablespoonsbasil
1 teaspoon oregano
salt,
pepper
2 cans tomatoes
1/2 cup cream

1 pint ricotta
1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
1 egg mixed together.

2 cups shredded mozzarella

2 medium size zucchini sliced into thin rounds

Bechamel Sauce (seasoned with a garlic clove and fresh grated Parmesan)
. Saute onions and celery in olive oil. When tender add the garlic and
the ground pork. Cook until meat starts to brown and is no longer
pink. Add the salt, pepper, basil, oregano and parsley. Add the
cream and simmer until evaporated. Add the tomatoes and simmer for at
least one hour.

Spoon meat sauce into the bottom of a deep casserole.

Place layer of zucchini over sauce. Top with 1/3 or 1/2 of the
ricotta mixture (depending on whether you are making two or three
layers). Sprinkle with mozzarella. Top with more meat sauce and
another layer of zucchini. Repeat. Finish with a layer of the meat
sauce and then top with the bechamel. Bake in a 375F oven for 45 to
60 minutes. Cover the top with foil if the lasagna starts to brown to
much.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Blueberry Upside-Down Cake
===========================
Source:

Canadian Living Magazine, August 1983

Often called gateau aux bleuets or pouding aux bleuets, this cake and its many variations are popular in Quebec. Taken warm from the oven and turned upside-down, it becomes a delicious pudding to serve with whipped cream; left in the pan to cool, it becomes a cake. Add cinnamon it you like a pleasant spiciness; omit for a plain white cake.

1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups blueberries (fresh or Frozen)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
3/4 cup milk
. In 9 inch square cake pan, combine melted butter and brown sugar;
spread evenly on bottom. Spread blueberries evenly over top. Sprinkle
with lemon juice.

Cream butter; gradually add sugar, beating until light. Beat in egg
and vanilla. Sift or mix together flour, baking powder, salt and
cinnamon if using. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk to
creamed mixture. Spread batter evenly over blueberry layer. Bake in
350°F oven for 45 to 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centre
comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes in pan, then turn out on to large
flat plate.

Nice looking chicken stew Lou!
And how I would love some of Ann's lasagna and blueberry cake.

Meals at our house have not been picture worthy because of restrictions on what I can put on a plate, although Wolf is very forgiving and as he loves vegetables, I can always fix him up with a plateful.

My birthday lunch was out at a restaurant and I had a Canary specialty which is best filet steak, cut into bite sized pieces and cooked with much minced garlic and onion.
It was fork tender. My sides were lettuce and cucumber. Wolf had his favourite ham omelette with salad.

Yesterday I baked white fish fillet from a package which comes frozen with a topping, together with baked slices of eggplant, steamed cabbage, carrot and potato.
Mine was fish, cabbage and eggplant.

Today was turkey-chicken sausages with Swiss chard and cauliflower while Wolf had a deli lasagna. Didn't take photos of that, although it was good.

Next week I can have red and green peppers and artichokes added in to my menus. Great, I'm glad it's getting more interesting!

A photo I made of Canary Puchero (Stew) is being published by the Canadian Council for the Blind in a cookbook coming out in October, all proceeds to the Blind Council.
I donated use of the photo when they asked for it and now it seems it will also appear on the book cover. (I'm not involved in book sales.)
Here's the original photo which will go with an Argentine puchero recipe inside the book and here's a part of the front cover:

SharonCb

Now I just realized.....I cooked that dish and staged the photo twice, the second in a higher resolution for printing...the newer version is in the book, slightly different from the earlier version of that stew at left above.

Congratulations Sharon. How exciting that they wanted the recipe for the cookbook but to have it on the cover is really special.

Ann

Lou, I had thought about chicken stew last night, then decided it was too much trouble! Yours looks delicious.

That is one good looking blueberry upside-down cake, Ann. I am going to make one for Howard later this week. He is very fond of blueberry anything so I am sure he will devour it with no problem at all!

Sharon, you have the BEST looking meals of anyone I know!

Last night we had a large chicken breast split down the middle and then rolled in almond meal/herbes de provence.

Everything looks Great:

Sharon :
You have to go off your diet ,one Day a week .
That will keep the marbles clicking in Sync.

Marigene:
I'll take the Breasts over the Chicken Stew.
I bit the one on the right, near the top.
Lou

Ann that blueberry upside down cake would make a perfect breakfast! Marigene, that chicken looks fabulous!

I've been cooking more lately, which is nice. Tonight I just had leftovers. Two days ago, I baked a BBQed whole chicken and made mashed potatoes (gravy from the chicken grease), and homemade biscuits. It was pretty darn good. Of course I stayed up until 4 AM cooking it. I'm used to cooking for Aaron and he usually cleans the kitchen but this time I was alone and had to clean myself. I think I forgot how to work a sponge. I finished the event off rather neatly by dropping a full pitcher of sweet tea. It landed upright, but much of it bounced out. I think there is still some on the fluorescent light in the kitchen, though I was "lucky" as most of it landed in my open canister of sugar.

I'm thinking of making crab cakes soon. What's a good side to go with them?

Ann I wonder how your lasagna would be made with egg plant?
I think it would be great, what's your opinion? I'm going to have an abundance of egg plant this year, and there's not to many ways to preserve it, so I'm going to need lots of ideas for cooking! I wonder if this lasagna would freeze well made with either zucchini or egg plant? Any thoughts on this?
Thanks
Sally

Sally it would be great made with eggplant. I love eggplant lasagna. Normally when I make it with eggplant I bread them first but that isn't necessary. I would probably fry the eggplant first though. Like I do when I make Moussaka.

Ann

{{gwi:1558006}}

I'm still trying to get used to photobucket, and I think I may try a different service for hosting photos, but this is a picture of the migas I made last week-end. They are more photogenic when I have red bell pepper to put in them, as well as a side of guacamole. I was going to make Crab Louis tonight, but I put the crab leg into the freezer instead and will wait until I have more time and energy. I also plan to make Okra Parmigiana this week-end, but I'll have to start that early as well. Kevin bought some good okra at the Farmers' Market in Culver City, and Parmigiana is one of my favorite things to make with it, short of frying it, which make a different kind of mess. The okra is basically a substitute for eggplant, and I like both equally well.

Lars

Some amazing looking food going on here! Lots of new ideas for dinners I can't wait to try.

I had a stuffed artichoke for dinner tonight. It's one of my favorite foods, though I don't make it as often as I would like:

Lori

Lars I've never made Migas. I know it is something that Moe would really like for breakfast.

Bobby, that is a dinner I would love to have.

Lori, I just saw your stuffed artichoke on your blog. Looks delicious. I can't wait to try it. It will be on the menu here soon.

Presalted a thick rib eye and rubbed it with lots of fresh garlic, fresh rosemary and sage, coarsely ground black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Grilled, sliced and served with mushrooms, fresh beans out of our garden and a baked potato.

Just wanted to say YUM to all the recipes and pics posted the last month or more. Busy here with work but I do still check in here for the pics and ideas. Try to post from work but it just doesn't work out for the most part.

Congrats to you Sharon on the pic and recipe! I think Ann had one featured somewhere years ago too. So many here sure do have a good eye with the camera. I'm just the point and shoot type when I remember or even plan it...lol!

BLT here tonight with some chips....one of the very few tomatoes I managed to get from my plants this year.

David

Lars, is your recipe for migas at Moe's? That looks really good.

Annie

Once again, I find myself wanting to lick my monitor. Lou, Lou, chicken stew! (YUM!) Ann T.--mouthwatering photos, all! Love the pix. Sharon, my tummy is growling! Marijean, don't ya just love the versatility of chicken breasts? Ohhh, vacuumfreak (whose real name I have spazzed!), love love love chicken, gravy & biscuits! Lars, will you share your Crab Louis "dressing" with us all? Love the guacamole--I have 4 large ripe avocados to use up! Lorijean, that stuffed artichoke looks fabulous!

Here's what we had last night--nice big salad (mixed lettuces, haricort verts & sugar snap peas lightly steamed, hearts of palm, whole baby artichokes, shrimp, sweet onion slices, tomatoes from the garden, in a white balsamic vinaigrette) served with Lemon Scented Olive Oil muffins (recipe posted by lpinkmountain). Not sure what I'm cooking tonight.

Oh, and Sharon, congratulations on the picture, I'm not at all surprised, your photographs are always beautiful. I'm trying, with your tutorials on the Gallery but they still are not right....

OK, I'll go load pictures now so you can all see what I had, LOL.

Annie

I'm back! Here's what I was doing last night, it'll be for supper sometime this summer. These are "my" Royal Burgundy beans, I canned 6 quarts of them:

these are the southern pink half runner beans. They're pretty but a PIA, they are old fashioned string beans and so need the strings on each side of the pod removed. If they get too big, they just get shelled and the pods thrown away:

I canned 4 quarts of those which took me about 3 times as long to snap as the others, so I didn't get supper to speak of, I finished canning about 2 am.

Tonight I had chili, kind of. I put some beans in the crockpot, put a small chuck roast on top of them, added onions, celery, diced tomato and some of the Dallas Dynamite chili powder that Brenda gave me, then ate it with tortilla chips:

I don't know what was missing, but it just wasn't "right", or at least not what I thought it was going to be. I made up for it with a couple of molasses cookies:

Annie

Thanks all for kind comments on the pic in the cookbook!
Everyone's food and photos are just great but I can't look too closely because it will make me hungry.
Annie your photos look fine and I love those beans from your garden.

I'm still limited to what I can eat but red peppers were introduced today, so I did stuffed bubangos again, with a stuffing of chicken-turkey mixture with the bubango flesh, herbs, parmesan, and a dash of cooking cream and red pepper strips on top. Wolf had his with mixed, steamed veg and potatoes, and I had mine just with cauliflower and Swiss chard.
His dish is on the left. I don't even miss potatoes now.

Oh good, it's Friday again tomorrow! The month is fast disappearing. Have a good weekend everyone.

SharonCb

Wonderful looking food here....as usual. Great photos too! Along with David, I had a BLT last night for dinner with fresh corn on the cob as a side. Best kind of summer dinner I can think of. Tonight??? Maybe something to pick up or another tomato sandwich - which is what I had for lunch today and yesterday and the day before that and.....

Well everyone's food looks so good as usual!!!
Tonight we had chicken thighs breaded with spices, sweet potatoes and cottage cheese and Roma tomatoes. Just a fast simple meal.

Teresa, I'd be happy with a tomato sandwich every day. I picked a couple of Black Krim tomatoes from my garden this morning and had toast and tomatoes for breakfast. The Black Krim is a heirloom tomato, dark red and sweet.

Congratulations on the picture, Sharon. Great meals here. Too hot here to cook much.

Lars, I have a ton of okra, with only 5 bush plants of it. I'd love your recipe for Okra parmigiana.

Linda your fast dinner looks good and I'd love some of your sweet potatoes!

Teresa I haven't had a BLT for ages but I do love them as well as tomato sandwiches. One anecdote...some years ago we met a German baker online when Wolf ordered a Christmas stollen from his online bakery in east Germany. He came to visit us when he came for a holiday in Tenerife. After he'd heard how beautiful it was on Vancouver Island, he made his first trip there at the same time as we were having our Canadian holiday. He travelled all around the island by car and when he discovered BLT's he thought they were the best thing since the invention of bread. I think he ate them every day while he was there. He went back to Germany and now sells them successfully in his little cafeteria adjoining his bakery.

He also took a recipe for bagels and made them but they didn't go over well and so he had to discontinue the production.

Ann that looks like one beautiful tomato and I would also have one for breakfast just the way you've prepared it.

Yesterday I made baked salmon and asparagus but didn't bother making another baked salmon photo, (since it looked just like the last one) lol.
We dined outside on the patio although it's very humid still.

Today our favourite little Austrian restaurant reopened after 2 months holiday. So we went over there and Wolf had breaded fish fillet with German potato salad and I had a small fillet steak with a green salad, which I forgot to photograph. Water instead of wine while Wolf had a beer and two little espressos afterwards.
The scales continue to go down every day without my feeling hungry. Glad it's working so well and worth the sacrifice. I do miss pasta though.

SharonCb

Back over from page 2. Well not much cooking going on with us lately is there.
Nor at my house since my hot water is broken in the kitchen end of the house. So I made a salad and got a take away deli chicken with Canary potatoes and green mojo sauce for Wolf.

My dish had fewer items but it was still good! Here's his dinner:

Have some men in the kitchen working to fix the instant water heater. We'll see what I can put together today, or else we have to go out for dinner.

SharonCb

Ann your heirloom tomato look so good!! I love tomato sandwiches. Sharonb, The fish, the potato salad and your steak, yummy!!!!
Sharon, your pics are so great, love the salad and chicken & potatoes.
Yesterday we had turkey sammys & black bean soup for lunch.

Sharon, I applaud your will power. I'd be digging in to Wolf's chicken and potatoes.

Linda, everything looks delicious but it is that bowl of black bean soup I'm craving.

A few of our meals this past week:

Ribs with a Caprese Salad. The tomatoes came from our garden.

Grilled Greek Chicken legs served with little tiny new potatoes and a Greek Salad

Quiche with tomatoes and broccoli. Again tomatoes from our garden. Broccoli and green onions from the farmers market.

Butter Tart with toasted walnuts.

Pizza topped with fresh mozzarella and sauted mushrooms. Crust was made from a dough that had a 36 hour fermentation.

New York Style - thin crust with a slightly thicker outer crust.

And Peach Shortcakes.

Linda, you have been doing lots of delicious looking healthy meals for awhile now! Yum and great pics!

Ann, I am cursing you...I wanted to make pizza tonight and can you believe, Will said he wanted a big salad????? Oh maaaaaan, what I would give for your pizza!!!!!!!

Dinner tonight was Prawn Cocktails with Salsa Fresca and Avocado.

Oh my, it's 9:45 and I want peach shortcake. Or that walnut tart. Sigh.

I'll have a side of Sharon's salted Canary Island potatoes AND some of those sweet potato fries of Lyndalou's too, please.

You might remember my adventure with ducks. They finally, after 8 weeks, were ready for the freezer. We had 27, and 4 of them never made it to the freezer, Elery put them right into the smoker and we had smoked duck with Sherry and Roger. They looked like this 8 weeks ago, LOL:

{{gwi:1558041}}

Now they look like this!

Elery made a gratin of potatoes with Dubliner cheese from Trader Joe's and some sweet peppers and green beans with tomatoes, both from the garden:

Marilyn's lemon brownies for dessert:

As long as the smoker was running, Elery also put in a pastrami that I'd brined for 3 days:

So what's for dinner today? Darned if I know, but I have beef stock simmering in the kitchen, I'm going to can that. Have to clean out the freezer, I have a pig coming!

Annie

Linda how I would love some of your salmon and sweet potato fries.
They really give me a craving as it's now nearly two months since I've tasted potato, yam or sugar in any form.
And Ann's Caprese salad, quiche, prawns not to mention butter tart! And Annie's lemon brownies ummm!

Well I'll just have another glass of water and forgetaboutit. :-)

But we were out yesterday to a restaurant where Wolf could enjoy some Austrian cooking and I had grilled chicken breast and salad, and today I made chicken tenders (more chicken) in sauteed garlic pieces and roasted red pepper strips with steamed cauliflower and broccoli. The Spanish red peppers were preserved in olive oil and herbs and were delicious.
I'll buy them again when I need a quick garnish to a meal, as they're also required eating for me.

Happy Sunday...or what's left of it!

SharonCb

Really delicious looking food everyone has been enjoying.

This week we have had a couple decent meals, veal Marsala over papardelle, spaghetti/meat sauce, blt's with our own tomatoes and now we will be eating any leftovers so there will be nothing in the fridge to turn green and fuzzy while we are on vacation!

Tonight my boys came for dinner and I made a new recipe - Patti LaBelle's Say-My-Name Smothered Chicken and Gravy. This is supposed to be a Southern diner staple and I don't think I've ever had it or made it. It is really, really good - and actually a very simple recipe. I used skinless bone-in chicken thighs and served the gravy over cooked rice. We also had fresh sliced tomatoes, steamed fresh broccoli and some homemade bread with butter. A 'two-thumbs-up' dinner!