Deanna's Daughter

Soooo good – my girlfriend told me I HAD to make this and I’m so glad I listened (thanks Auntie Jino!).  This is borrowed from Smitten Kitchen, where it was adapted from Ina Garten.  I used more bread than the recipe called for – in fact I think I just about doubled what she used in her recipe, and I thought it was great.  I used a regular ‘French’ loaf, put it into the fridge overnight to soften the crust, then trimmed the crust off and cubed it yielding about 6 cups.  I then baked it in a large 11 x 13 pan so that I could keep the bread in a single layer for everything to better crisp up.

We had this for dinner tonight with some grilled chicken breasts that were first marinated in a bit of olive oil and lemon juice, yellow beans from the market and the Peach Crisp that I said was coming soon – that recipe will follow tomorrow.

Scalloped Tomatoes and Croutons

3 T. olive oil

6 c. bread from a French loaf – trimmed of crust and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 1/2  – 3 lbs. fresh tomatoes, cut into 1/2-inch dice (I happened to use Roma)

6 cloves garlic, finely minced (about 2 tablespoons)

2 T. sugar

2 t. salt

1 t. freshly ground pepper

1/2 c. thinly slivered basil leaves, lightly packed

1 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese – and it MUST be fresh

Preheat oven to 350.  Heat the oil in a large skillet and toss the bread around to get it all toasted for 5 minutes or so.  In the meantime, prepare the tomatoes and mix them up in a large bowl with the garlic, sugar, salt and pepper.  When the bread is toasted and close to being a crouton, pour in the tomato mixture and cook it all together for another 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in the basil, then scrape everything into a large, greased, shallow casserole dish.  Top evenly with the cheese and bake for 30 – 40 minutes, depending on how crispy you’d like it to be.  Unfortunately, there were no leftovers…but Smitten Kitchen recommended having a bowl of this with a poached egg on top and we all thought that would be a great idea.  Enjoy!

This tasty find was adapted from a recipe out of Real Simple magazine.  It would make a great vegetarian dinner but we served up barbecued farmer’s sausage with it.  Also, I prefer to use pot barley (it’s supposed to be slightly better nutritionally), so I soaked mine overnight to make for a quick cooking meal.

Tomato, Spinach and Barley Risotto

olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped (or put through the food processor)

1/2 t. salt

1 t. freshly ground pepper

2 c. pot barley

1, 28 oz/796 mL can of diced tomatoes, undrained

1 c. dry white wine

2-3 c. chicken or vegetable broth

1, 10 oz. package of chopped frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of water

4 oz. – about 100 g. – Brie, rind removed and cut into small pieces

1/2 c. grated Parmesan

The Night Before (or the Morning of)

In a large bowl, combine the barley, tomatoes, wine, and 2 cups of broth, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

When You’re Ready to Cook

Heat a bit of olive oil in a large, non-stick skillet and cook the onion until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add the salt and pepper.

Add the already prepared bowl of barley mixture, bring to a boil and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring regularly, until the barley is tender.  This is when you may need to add an extra cup or so of broth.

Add the spinach, stirring to separate it, then the Brie and gently stir until it’s melted.  Finally add the Parmesan, give it a good stir and serve immediately.  Extra Parmesan sprinkled on top is also very tasty.

Brock has been working a lot this week and hadn’t seen much of the girls so he left them a ‘love note’ outside their bedroom door so that they’d see it when they woke up.  Once they discovered it and I’d explained what it was and read it to them, this was Waverly’s response, ‘Wow Mama, it’s beautiful!  Did you color it for him?’.  Poor Dad.

This is adapted from the Best of Bridge book, ‘Winners’, and is great with just about everything.

Tomato and Artichoke Casserole

1/4 c. canola or olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

3 c. FRESH bread crumbs (just put a few slices of bread through your food processor)

1/2 t. sugar

1 t. each – salt, fresh ground pepper, dried thyme, dried basil

1 can (14 oz/398 mL) artichoke hearts, drained and cut into quarters

4 good-sized tomatoes, thickly sliced

2 T. butter, melted

In a large skillet saute the onion in the oil for 5 – 10 minutes until the onion is softened, but not yet brown, then mix in the breadcrumbs, sugar, salt, pepper, thyme and basil.  Remove the skillet from the heat.

Spray a medium-sized casserole (2 L) and cover the bottom with half of the artichokes, then half of the tomato slices and then half of the breadcrumb mixture.  Proceed with a second layer of all and then drizzle the melted butter over the top.

Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes.