Asparagus Gratin

I'm sorry for the delay in announcing the winner of the Pillsbury Sweet Moments Giveaway. Random.org picked lucky #45 which was.......

sweetpea08 said...
#2 I follow your blog on Google Friend Connect
rachel_demille at yahoo dot com

I hope you enjoy your prize pack!!! I'll have another giveaway starting soon so check back for more fun prizes.

This is a simple yet tasty dish we made this past weekend with some ribs my hubby smoked.

Asparagus Gratin
(Adapted from Italy The Country And It’s Cuisine)

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2 1/4 pounds green asparagus
1 pinch sugar
3 1/2 ounces fontina cheese, sliced
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
7 tablespoons heavy cream
salt
freshly ground pepper
butter for greasing

Preheat the oven to 480 degrees F. and grease a baking dish with butter.

Wash the asparagus and cut off the woody ends. Bring a pot of salted water t a boil, add a pinch of sugar, and cook the asparagus for about 15 minutes, until it is just barely firm to the bite.

Drain the asparagus and lay it in the baking dish.

Cover with sliced fontina, sprinkle with the Parmesan, and pour the cream over the top.

Bake for about 8 minutes. Sprinkle with some freshly ground pepper before serving.

Flavored Olive Oils

I'm so excited about today's post because it involves a vacation flash back. I also have a big winner or the 250 labels/stickers from uprinting.com. Our winner is Barbara from Traveling Aprons!!! Congrats and I hope you enjoy them!!!

On our trip to Europe on of my favorite things I came across was flavored olive oils. I didn't realize how versatile it really was. It's not just used to pour in the pan and saute some meat or use it to only dip bread in. You can drizzle this stuff on anything!

Our lunch in Tuscany at Tenuta Torciano is where I fell IN LOVE with truffle olive oil. OMG I could pour this stuff straight in my mouth and drink it all. If you want to spoil yourself get some HERE. It'll change your life!! Drizzling it on some homemade lasagna is pure heaven!

In Naples we had to have pizza since it was born there. They had this red pepper olive oil on the table that was delish!

So of course I had to try making a few of my own. I started out with a lavender olive oil. I can't wait to try this with some home made bread. I made some lavender pasta for a friend of mine and decided to make her a little something extra so I made one for both of us.

I've been growing some herbs, more like trying to not let them die in the heat. I mixed up a batch of rosemary olive oil.

My last one was red pepper olive oil, because we like things with a little heat!

I used some old balsamic vinegar bottles I saved and now I have to wait 2 weeks to test out the flavors. Save your money and try making your own flavors.

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Blackberry-Peach Coffee Cake

Happy Wednesday! Well, it's been a busy week so far, but I get to have lunch with my hubby today so I'm excited about that. I've also got to start working on my rice recipes for the 2 rice festivals coming up it'll be here before you know it and I need to start printing up some pictures for photo contest. I swear there's always something that needs to be done around here.

Here's a recipe we really enjoyed to get your day started. The cake part was really good the only thing is I wish I added a little more fruit in there instead of doing a single layer. It works as a dessert too, so you can snack on it all day long I won't tell anyone. :)

Have you voted for my dad in I in the Whataburger contest? We're both in the top 20 so THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU, but keep voting because it doesn't end until next week. If I win one of the prizes I'll be sure to share my winnings with ya'll of course!

Blackberry-Peach Coffee Cake
(Adapted from Southern Living)

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Streusel Topping (recipe below)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups peeled and sliced fresh firm, ripe peaches (about 2 large peaches, 7 oz. each)
1 cup fresh blackberries
Powdered sugar
Garnishes: fresh blackberries, sliced peaches

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare Streusel Topping.

2. Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add granulated sugar, beating well.

Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition.

3. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition.

Stir in vanilla.

Pour batter into a greased and floured 9-inch springform pan; top with sliced peaches and blackberries.

Pinch off 1-inch pieces of Streusel Topping, and drop over fruit.

4. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 10 minutes to 1 hour and 20 minutes or until center of cake is set. (A wooden pick inserted in center will not come out clean.) Cool completely on a wire rack (about 1 1/2 hours). Dust with powdered sugar. Garnish, if desired.

Note: We found that using a shiny or light-colored pan gave us the best results. If you have a dark pan, wrap the outside of the pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil to get a similar result.
Peach Coffee Cake: Omit blackberries. Increase peaches to 3 cups sliced (about 3 large peaches, 7 oz. each). Proceed with recipe as directed.

Streusel Topping

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1. Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add granulated sugar and brown sugar, beating well. Add flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg; beat just until blended.

Cauliflower Puree

Many of you know we know we have our weekly steak night on Sunday's so I wanted to try something I've had my eye on for a while. Every time I watch Top Chef someone is making a puree of some sort. I've seen it in restaurants and always wondered how easy it is to make since everyone is doing it. Well this week I took the plunge and gave it a try. I thought it was delish, my hubby said it was so so. All I would recommend is a sprinkle of Tony's on top to give it some more flavor. It's a great sub for mashed potatoes and it's good for you so give it a try, oh did I mention.....it's super easy to make! I made this as well as a request from the hubby for Mac and Cheese. It bothers me that the colors don't all balance out and there's a lot of white on the plate, but oh well it tasted so good!! We also grilled up a few shrimp I set aside from another dish I'll be posting next week so it was the perfect Sunday surf and turf meal!

Thanks for helping vote and keep my dad in the running for Whataburger's contest! Keep it up daily until August 30th. Also don't forget about the current giveaway going on right now. Click the Giveaways tab at the top for details!

Cauliflower Puree

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1 head cauliflower, stem and tough stalks trimmed, florets roughly chopped
1 cup chicken stock
2 to 3 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Combine cauliflower and chicken stock in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat.

Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until cauliflower is tender, about 10 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer cauliflower to the bowl of a food processor.

Process until smooth, adding 2-3 tablespoons cooking liquid. Add sour cream and butter, process until blended. Season with salt and pepper, server hot.

As a garnish I just tossed a couple of the slices in olive oil and pan fried them until they had a nice golden color and where tender.