Deanna's Daughter

Waverly actually talked to her dinner, it was that good.  To be fair though, it was all about the main ingredient.  ‘Ohhh, I love you bacon, everyone loves bacon – be nice to your bacon!’.

We really don’t have bacon that often, but when we do it’s mostly done on the BBQ.  The key is to buy think-sliced, cook it on low and take it off before you think it’s done – that way it won’t get over crisp.  But enough said, here’s our favorite sandwich.

My Favorite Sandwich

bacon – thick-sliced, cooked on the BBQ

old cheddar

garden tomatoes

avocado

a bit of Miracle Whip or mayonnaise

fresh multi-grain bread – toasted, or not

Assemble as you see fit!

We had these sandwiches for dinner along with corn that was cooked on the cob, sliced off, and tossed with a bit of butter and salt and pepper – no wonder Waver talked to her dinner!

Even though I love to bake, I don’t do it very often because then we eat it, all, by ourselves.  So for the last couple of years, as long as the girls have been paying attention anyway, we have fruit for dessert, and they get very excited about it.  Last night it was pineapple.  Marlow got so revved up she excitedly started to list off what everyone liked, ‘…and Wavey likes pineapple and Mom likes pineapple and I like pineapple and Mom likes water and I like milk and Dad likes beer!’.

I love Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food Magazine.  I’ve discovered countless great recipes reading it and because of it’s small, neat size, I usually have one in my purse in the event that I ever have a moment of peace while waiting for the girls at one of their classes.  This recipe is almost directly from Everyday Food, I just made mine a little smaller since the puff pastry that I buy comes in a box with 2, 10 x 10 inch sheets.

Asparagus Gruyere Tart

1 sheet frozen puff pastry – I used 1 sheet that was 10 x 10 inches

1 ½ c. grated Gruyere cheese

about 1 lb. medium or thick asparagus, bottoms trimmed, washed and dried well

Olive oil spray

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400. On a floured surface, roll the puff pastry into a rectangle – Igot mine to about 13 x 10.  Place pastry on a baking sheet (I used parchment paper underneath).

With a sharp knife, lightly score pastry dough 1 inch in from the edges to mark an ‘inner’ rectangle. Using a fork, pierce the dough inside the markings at 1/2-inch intervals. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes.

Remove the pastry shell from oven, and sprinkle the inner rectangle with Gruyere.  Arrange the asparagus in a single layer over Gruyere crosswise, alternating ends and tips – some overlapping is good as the asparagus shrinks when cooked and you want the tart full.

Spray the filled tart lightly with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and bake until the spears are tender.  Check the tart at 10 – 15 minutes, but depending on the thickness of the asparagus, it could take 20 – 25 minutes.

Everyone agreed that this was very tasty.  We had it for dinner with steak, garden potatoes and sauteed yellow squash but I think it would also be great as a brunch item.

This morning as I was making breakfast in the kitchen, the girls came in and while still in their jams with bed hair sticking up all over, very solemnly christened me, ‘Mama Special Agent’.  ‘Cool! What does that mean?’, I asked.  They both kind of frowned at me and Marlow explained, ‘it means you’re Mom…and you’re a Special Agent’.  Roger that.

Yet another recipe borrowed from here, and I have to admit, I really didn’t change anything.  The original recipe was apparently made with apples (the only thing different in that recipe is maybe a bit more sugar and some lemon juice for the apples), but I had peaches because I had every intention of making a peach pie.  The day was so nice though that we had to go outside again, and since I have an uncanny ability to recollect recipes and somehow track them down, I re-found this.  Perfect, it’s with peaches – it’s even in a pie plate! but it takes a quarter of the time (especially if you don’t have pie crust already made and waiting for you in the fridge).  Yum – I will definitely be trying every other fruit version possible.

Browned Butter Bliss – with peaches

4 large peaches – thickly sliced, I peeled them but you don’t really have to

1/2 – 3/4 c. + 3 T. sugar

pinch cinnamon

1/2 c. butter

2 large eggs

1 c. all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a pie plate.

Cut the peaches into the pie plate with 2 T. sugar and sprinkle with cinnamon. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and keep cooking it, swirling the pan occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until it turns golden – and you’ll know when it changes color.

Stir in 1/2 cup of sugar (use 3/4 if the fruit you use is especially tart) into the butter, then the eggs, then the flour – work quickly (I had everything measured out), because you don’t want to cook the eggs.  Pour the mixture over the peaches and sprinkle the top with the last tablespoon of sugar.

Bake for about 45 minutes, until golden and crusty, and the juices ooze from around the edges.  Because it’s so juicy, I think that in this case, cooking it longer is better.  I also put the pie plate on a cookie sheet covered with parchment, and was glad that I did as it ran over a little bit.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or thick vanilla yogurt.