Category Archives: 52 Week Challenge

When we were in North Carolina, we stopped at Mitchell’s Farm to pick our own vegetables for a big vegetable soup.  While there the lady says, “Don’t forget to pick some beets…they are ripe and ready.”  Well, we didn’t pick any beets and I have been asking myself why ever since.  As a kid I didn’t like them, but then again what kid does?  As an adult I haven’t really found a vegetable/root that I don’t like so I decided it was time to give them another try.  These beets we bought out at the Farmer’s Market and they have been sitting in my refrigerator for a week.  I just couldn’t decide how I wanted to cook them, so I have been looking at recipes.  I love anything roasted…so here’s the one I chose off of Big Oven….

Honey Dijon Roasted Beets

• 2 lbs fresh red beets
• 2 Tbl extra virgin olive oil
• 3 Tbl unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup of honey Dijon mustard
• 2 Tbl lemon juice
• 3 Tbl fresh mint, chopped
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat oven to 375.  Remove greens and root from beets (but don’t trim to closely).  Place beets in medium bowl, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and toss.  Transfer to roasting pan and spread beets in a single layer; roast in oven until tender, about 15 to 20 minutes for small, 45 minutes for very large.

Remove pan from oven and let beets cool.  When cool enough to handle, remove skins and quarter or cut into eighths depending of the beet size.

Melt butter in a large pan over medium high heat.  Add beets and cook, stirring often, until lightly caramelized, about 4 to 6 minutes.  Drizzle lemon juice over beets and season with salt and pepper.

Stir in mustard and continue to cook over medium heat 2 minutes.  If desired, add mint and stir to coat the beets.

Blueberry-Peach Cobbler

• 5 lbs peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced
• 2 Tbl fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 + 2 Tbl all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 cups fresh blueberries
• 2 Tbl turbinado sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Place peaches in a large bowl.  Drizzle with juice, toss.  Add 3/4 cup sugar, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons flour to peach mixture; toss to combine.  Arrange peach mixture evenly in a 13×9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
3. Combine four with the remaining salt, and baking powder in a bowl; stirring well with a whisk.  Place the remaining sugar and butter in a medium sized bowl and beat with a mixture at medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.  Stir in vanilla extract.  Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, beating just until combined.  Stir in blueberries.
4. Spread batter evenly over peach mixture, sprinkly with turbinado sugar.  Place baking dish on a foil lined baking sheet.  Bake at 375 for 1 hour or until topping is golden and filling is bubbly.  Yeild 12 servings.

Thanks for the recipe Cooking Light Magazine….

Grill Master Andy produced these beautiful delicious kebabs…

Chili Kebabs

Toss cubed beef tri-tip or sirloin and/or chicken with 3 tablespoons each brown sugar and chili powder, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon each fresh thyme and pepper; marinate.  Skewer and grill, basting with a mix of 1/4 cup each of cider vinegar and brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon chili powder.

Most of our loved ones know that we have been on a family vacation in North Carolina, what they don’t know is that we have been buying BBQ sauce from all of our favorite places and plan to have a big ‘Taste-off’ later in the summer.  Inspired by all of these Mom and Pop locations, I too had to make my own BBQ sauce…which will be entered into the Taste-off competition.

Now, I can’t give you the exact recipe because then I would be giving away all of my secrets…but what I will give you is the base recipe that I used from the July/August 2010 issue of Food Network.

This recipe is from Pat and Gina Neely, hosts of the show Down Home with the Neely’s.

Barbecue Sauce

• 2 cups of Ketchup
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp Freshly ground pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp of onion powder
• 1 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• 2 Tbl fresh lemon juice
• 2 Tbl Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 Tbl light corn syrup

Mix the ketchup, 1 cup water, both sugars, pepper, onion & mustard powders, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, and sugar in a saucepan over high heat.  Bring to a boil stirring, then reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, at least 2 hours.  Let  cool, then reheat on the grill when ready to use.

We are leaving next week to go on vacation, so the goal this week is to clean out the fridge.  I hate to waste good food so I thought that this salad would be a perfect addition to some grilled chicken.  It is light, healthy, and delicious!

I also love flavored vinegar and oils.  One of my favorite places to pick up some is Florida Olive Oil located down in Sarasota at St. Armand’s Circle.  I love to learn of new places….so do share…

Tomato-Peach Salad

• 1 pound beefsteak tomato
• 1 pound of peaches
• Shaved Asiago Cheese
• toasted sliced almonds
• 2 Tbl olive oil
• Strawberry Balsamic Vinegar
• salt and pepper

Peel peaches and cut both peaches and tomatoes into wedges or slices.  Top with 2 ounces of shaved Asiago and salt and pepper.  Toast 2 tablespoons of almonds in 2 tablespoons of olive oil over low heat.  Top almonds over the salad.  When ready to serve drizzle with strawberry balsamic vinegar.

So after a fun day at Honeymoon Island beach with the boys, I was pondering what I should cook for dinner when Davy asks, “Can I watch The Princess and the Frog?”  Humm…New Orleans/Cajun flavored food….and the lightbulb goes off….Jambalaya.  A one pot dish!  Most of the ingredients I had, but I still needed to make a quick trip to the grocery store, so this worked out perfect.

I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com so I must give credit where credit is due (thank you Bubba), but if you know me…I gave it some “love sauce”…and added garlic bread on the side.

• 6 slices bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 pound cubed cooked ham
• 1/2 pound cubed cooked chicken
• 1/2 pound cubed smoked sausage
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes, with liquid
• 2 cups beef broth
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning (I used Luzianne)
• 2 cups uncooked white rice (I used 1 cup white, 1 cup brown)
• 1/2 pound peeled/deveined shrimp

1. Heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Add bacon, and cook until crisp. Remove bacon pieces with a slotted spoon, and set aside. Add celery, bell pepper, and onion to the bacon drippings, and cook until tender.
2. Add the ham, chicken and sausage to the pot, and pour in the tomatoes, beef broth and chicken broth. Season with thyme and Cajun seasoning. Bring to a boil, and add the rice. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the rice is tender.
3. Stir in the shrimp and bacon just before serving, and heat through. If you use uncooked shrimp, let it cook for about 5 minutes before serving.

My favorite food in the whole world is PIZZA!!!!  So, it is fitting that I am on a mission to make my very own with a signature flavor.  This was a great foundation to start with, and I know over the years it will just get better and better.

We love to have family pizza night and the thinner the crust, the better.  Most of the time we will use a large tortilla shell; this way everyone gets to make their own and it significantly lowers the calories.  But tonight, I felt adventurous and made my own.

Dough:

• 3 3/4 cups of flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbl sugar
• 1 active yeast packet
• 3 Tbl olive oil
• 1 1/3 cup of warm water

Whisk flour and salt.  Make a well in the middle and add sugar, yeast packet, and warm water.  Knead until smooth and then add 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Form a ball and then brush the rest of the olive oil over it.  Cover the bowl and place in a warm spot.  We live in Florida, so I just set the bowl outside.  Let the bowl sit for about an hour and a half or until it has doubled its size.  This dough can be divided into 2, 3. or 4 smaller balls for individual or thinner pizzas.  Pre-heat oven to 450.  Stretch and roll out the dough being  used.  Place on a pizza stone or an inverted baking sheet on the lowest rack in the oven.  Bake until golden.  In my oven that is 7 minutes, but it may be 15 in yours.  Pull out the dough, top it with your favorite toppings (Andy’s is spicy sausage, sweet onion, and mozzarella) and place the pizza back in the oven until cheese bubbles, 7-15 mins.

Sauce:

• 1 cup crushed tomatoes
• 1 1/2 Tbl dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Mix and allow the flavors to blend for at least an hour.