Grilled Cheese with Olive Tapenade

 

1 slice wheat bread

Jarred olive tapenade or a chopped olive condiment

1 slice Provolone cheese

Directions: Spread olive mixture on wheat bread. Top with slice of Provolone cheese. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes.

Serves 1 person

Notes: Grilled cheese variation 5

The Provencal, South of France, word for capers is tapenas. Tapenade refers to a mixture of chopped or pureed olives, olive oil and capers with additional possible ingredients or different main ingredients. 

 Learn more about tapenade here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapenade

 

Renowned Writers and Illustrators on Blogger (blogspot.com)

     Jenn Harney’s bright and colorful illustrations begin with her most recent project and continue back in time. Her words are delightfully sparse and to the point.

    Mo Willems fun blog, Mo Willems doodles! links to his many other blogs and websites. A number of these sites have games or crafts. My favorite is the link to the Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence 2020, Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems! a series of 15 videos which are great for children age 3-12. In these short videos, he teaches doodling and explains how he makes books.

    While Christian Robinson changed hosts a number of years ago, his Moss Covered Blog has colorful illustrations and museum visits.

    A number of successful writers and illustrators use the free, blog publishing service Blogger which Google purchased in 2003; the blogs are published via the subdomain blogspot.com.

Visit Jenn Harney:Jenn Harney

Visit Mo Willems: Mo Willems doodles!

Visit Mo Willems at The Kennedy Center: https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/mo-willems/lunch-doodles/

Visit Christian Robinson: Moss Covered Blog

SCBWI: The Blog: The Official Blog of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators: SCBWI: The Blog

Learn more about Google Blogger – blogspot:Blogger.com

Grilled Cheese with hummus and Gruyere

 

1 slice whole wheat bread

1 Tablespoon hummus

3 cherry tomatoes, red and yellow, sliced in half

2 thin slices Gruyere cheese, enough to cover bread

Directions: Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes or until cheese melts.

Yields: 1 open faced sandwich

Notes: Grilled cheese variation 4

Oatmeal Vanilla Biscotti

 

½ cup unsalted butter

¾ cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

2 cups flour, divided

½ cup oatmeal

Cream together butter, sugar and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, creaming after each addition. Add one cup of flour and baking powder. Cream. Add the oatmeal. Cream. Add last cup of flour and cream. Grease cookie sheet with butter wrapper. Drop dough by spoonful onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 minutes. For a dryer cookie bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes.

Yields: 2 dozen cookies

Notes: Rinse eggs with water. Dry. Crack each egg, individually into a separate bowl. Inspect. Remove any eggshells and then add to butter and sugar mixture.

Real biscotti are baked twice. In our arid Rocky Mountain climate, these cookies will dry out in 24 hours although they seldom last that long.

Gnocchi with Basil and Pecorino Romano

 

17.6 ounces gnocchi or similar size package

1 Tablespoon butter, unsalted plus an additional tablespoon in reserve

Drizzle of olive oil, approximately 1 teaspoon, plus extra olive oil in reserve

4 Tablespoons, fresh basil cut in ribbons

½ cup Pecorino Romano, cut into matchstick slivers

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1/8 teaspoon lavender salt

¼ teaspoon lavender pepper

Cook gnocchi, according to directions. Meanwhile, on low heat, melt butter in a frying pan. Add sliced garlic to butter. Turn off heat on boiling gnocchi water. Using a slotted spoon, transfer cooked gnocchi to frying pan. Add basil to gnocchi and garlic, sauté until light golden brown. Grind small amounts of lavender salt and pepper on top of gnocchi. Serve in bowls and top with Pecorino Romano.

Serves 2 people.

Notes: The gnocchi soak up the butter and olive oil while cooking to a golden brown without leaving any residual oil in the pan. If the gnocchi stick, please add a bit more butter or olive oil.

To slice basil. Wash and pat dry. Cut leaves from stems. Stack leaves together with the largest leaves on the bottom. Fold and roll the leaves and then slice horizontally across the roll.

Thanks to Wanda for the gift of lavender salt and pepper which I have since replenished.

Visit: A Pinch of Lavender, Palisade, Colorado Nielsen Village

Honey Mustard with Salmon or Turkey and Cheese

 

1/3 cup of honey

1/3 cup of Dijon mustard

With intense honey and mustard flavors; this is great for sandwiches and leftover fish. Stir honey and mustard together in a small sauce pan at low heat until the ingredients are blended thoroughly.  

This is very nice on leftover cooked salmon fillets. The honey tends to burn quickly so it is better to line the pan with aluminum foil or use generous amounts of butter to grease the pan. Place cooked fish in pan. Drizzle the honey mustard on the fish. Cook the salmon at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 minutes. If cooking with raw fish, poultry or other, be careful not to contaminate the honey mustard with raw protein. Then any leftover honey mustard may be used for sandwiches.

Turkey and Honey Mustard Sandwiches:

Pumpernickel bread

Honey mustard

Turkey

Provolone cheese

Spread honey mustard on pumpernickel bread; top with turkey and cheese. Place open faced sandwich on greased pan and then heat for 10 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit or until cheese is melted.

Colorado Writers and Illustrators on blogspot

 Happy St. Patrick’s Day

A number of successful writers and illustrators in the Rocky Mountain Region use the free, blog publishing service Blogger which Google purchased in 2003; the blogs are published via the subdomain blogspot.com.

Dow Phumiruk posts her attractive fun and fancy portfolio of art and her books at Art by Dow.

Claudia Mills writes about writing, children’s books and time management. Her latest post describes the academic review process and revising an article on An Hour a Day.

Lynn Becker reviews A Vow so Bold by Brigid Kemmerer and other Middle Grade books in her latest post on Lynn Becker Books Blog.

Kim Tomsic’s latest post interviews Amanda Malek-Ahamdi who has written 10 Ballet Dancers and older posts include guest interviews with experts on learning and she features her books on Bookshelf Detective.

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is an excellent place to begin writing and illustrating children’s books.

Blogger provides templates to which one adds content; copy and paste works well. In the upper right-hand corner of all blospot blogs are Create and Sign In links. Simply click on Create to begin your blog. To begin you will need a Gmail address and it is best to have several possible names or variations of your proposed blog title.

Learn more at:

Dow Phumiruk: Art by Dow 

Claudia Mills: An Hour a Day

Lynn Becker: Lynn Becker Books Blog

Kim Tomsic: Bookshelf Detective

SCBWI: scbwi: The Blog

Begin a Blogger – blogspot – blog here: Blogger

From the:  Wikipedia article on Blogger

Guacamole, fast and easy, variation 2

 

1 large ripe avocado

1 small clementine or mandarin

1 ½ Tablespoons mild, diced green chiles from a 4 ounce can of mild, diced green chiles

Directions: Wash and dry the avocado. Slice open. Wash the knife. Remove the pit and scoop out the avocado into a medium serving bowl. Smash the avocado with a fork. Wash and dry the clementine. Peel with the knife, removing the white pith as well. Slice into sections, removing any remaining pith and some of the tougher membranes and any possible seeds. Slice the mandarin into small pieces and add to the avocado. Also add any juice from the clementine. Mix. Add the green chiles and stir.

Serves 6-8 people.

Notes: Canned diced green chiles are almost like a puree and therefore are more concentrated and have more heat in a tablespoon than canned chopped green chiles.

            Try to use the reserve canned chiles within a week or two.

            With the citrus juice and juice from the canned chiles, this version of guacamole will remain green longer. The contrasting orange and green colors make an appealing palate.

Peace

 

Pasta with Mozzarella and Olives

 

2 + cups dry bow tie pasta

½ pound mozzarella, sliced into small cubes

16 – 20 green olives, Castelvetrano, pitted and sliced in half or quarters

2 Tablespoons red onion, diced

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 Tablespoon orange juice

1/16 teaspoon lavender salt

1/8 teaspoon lavender pepper

Directions: In a small sauce pan sauté diced onions in olive oil; this is way too much olive oil for the amount of onions but fear not as this becomes the dressing. Stir until limp and translucent, a tiny amount of salt may be added; then add the tablespoon of orange juice and continue to stir and then remove from heat. Meanwhile cook the pasta al dente. Using a slotted spoon carefully move hot, al dente pasta to a heat proof casserole dish or bowl. A tiny amount of salt may be added to the pasta. Pour onion, olive oil, orange juice mixture over pasta and toss. Add mozzarella and toss and then and slice olives and toss. Dress with lavender pepper.

Notes: This is a nice dish to serve warm on a cold winter day. The onion slivers will adhere to the al dente bowtie pasta. Do continue to toss occasionally to prevent the cheese from settling to the bottom of the bowl and to help the mozzarella slightly melt onto more pasta. This is fast, easy and delicious.

Serves several people as a side dish; 4 people as a main dish.

Book Review: "Smelly" Kelly and His Super Senses

 

 

Beth Anderson writes a delightful story about an immigrant with an unusual talent and an even more unusual career in “Smelly” Kelly and His Super Senses: How James Kelly’s Nose Saved the New York City Subway published by Calkins Creek. Danger, coupled with an extraordinary amount of exercise, abounds in Kelly’s life. Ms. Anderson describes the NYC subway system of the first half of the 20th century which is ancient history to a child. Illustrator, Jenn Harney, evokes the New York City subway system darkness, smells and noises with bright colors against dark blue and gray backgrounds. Bile colored swirls waft through the pages leading the reader on an interesting path. As always Ms. Anderson includes a collection of facts and primary and secondary sources in the end papers. 

 

Visit author Beth Anderson:  https://bethandersonwriter.com 

Visit illustrator Jenn Harney:  http://jkharney.blogspot.com/

Boulder Book Store:  https://www.boulderbookstore.net/book/9781684373994

Previous posts about Beth Anderson:  http://bethsbiblio.blogspot.com/2020/05/book-review-inconvenient-alphabet.html

Cherries in phyllo pastry

 

16 ounces frozen dark sweet cherries, slightly more than 3 cups

8 ounces phyllo sheets (1/2 of a box of phyllo)

1 Tablespoon olive oil, to be divided

2 Tablespoons butter, to be divided

Sprinkle of nutmeg, less than 1/16 of a teaspoon

It is best to have all the ingredients out on the counter before opening the phyllo.

Generously grease a 9 1/2 inch pie pan. Layer 2 to 6 sheets of phyllo pastry in the pan, edges will hang over. With your fingers, gently and rapidly spread olive oil over the top sheet of phyllo. In the opposite direction layer another 2 to 6 sheets of phyllo and spread olive oil over the top sheet. Continue until all 8 ounces of phyllo sheets are in the pan. Do not add olive oil to the top layer. Add all the cherries; dot the cherries with slivers of butter. Carefully fold the excess phyllo over the cherries. The cherries will be visible in the middle. Dot the folded over phyllo with slivers of butter. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 minutes. Remove from heat; cool for 5 to 10 minutes and then serve.

Serves 6 people.

Notes: Very good and a fast, easy way to eat warm fruit at breakfast on chilly mornings. Serve in bowls and spoon the excess juices over the baked phyllo pastry.

Individual Quesadillas

 

6 white corn tortillas, small

6 yellow tomatoes, smallish

6 slices provolone cheese

Grease baking sheet. Lay out the corn tortillas. Slice tomatoes and place on tortillas. Top each tortilla with a slice of provolone cheese. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes.

Serves 2-6 people.

Notes: Grilled cheese variation 2