Today is Sunday Cafe

I do not serve a lot of pasta, but this Summer Corn Fettuccine caught my eye as something a bit different to try. Everyone enjoyed it, even though I picked up a package of linguini! From Brenda's Canadian Kitchen.

 

 Brown food is not pretty, not much can be done to change that, but this was tender and garlicy good.

Simple Slow Braised Pot Roast, for those that prefer the tried and true on their plate! Simple seasoning are best here, garlic, salt and pepper. When cooked this way you can also serve "french dip" style. The natural pan gravy is beyond delicious!

 I set all the components out, and let each person construct their own sandwich, delicious!

These sandwiches must be made and shared! I commute right through Portland Oregon and along the way there are food carts and specialty outlets. For Banh Mi sandwiches, there is always long lines waiting.  Pork Meatball Banh Mi from Brenda's Canadian Kitchen.

  This fish, while not the prettiest dish, was tender and delicious!

We were given a full side fillet of Steel-head. I plan on a simple poaching liquid of onions, celery and sliced lemons in white wine. Once poached it will be served with Creamy Dill Sauce (Magic Sauce) from  Recipes by Haggis and the Herring. I am not the biggest fan of fish, but with the Magic Sauce, it went beyond my expectations!

 Crisp vegetable tray.

 This was served with vanilla ice cream.

When transferring the contents of the chest freezer to the upright, I "found" 2 bags of rhubarb from my sister's yard. That made it real easy to make Rhubarb Crisp, from Tasting Spoons.

 This caught my eye some time back, it has all the delicious flavors that everyone loves. I did leave out the crushed walnuts, as we have some non-nut eaters in the family. Peanut Butter Banana Rum Raisin Bread from 3 sides of crazy!

 Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade, inspired by Brenda's Canadian Kitchen.

As always, thanks for taking a moment to stop by.

I appreciate your time and your wonderful comments!

If you did not see my giveaway post, look here, celebrating 800 posts!

Semi unprepared, but this is my 800th post! ......and giveaway

I know, I know, how could I be so unprepared, after all I have only had 799 other posts to be ready. But this time I was actually unprepared in the kitchen, the recipe I wanted to make and share had an ingredient, and I am fresh out, until a trip to the market. So this post, a special one I believe will now head a different direction.

Here at Mom's Sunday Cafe we do a lot of stuff. But mostly it is centered around family. The family home, family table and even the family pet. There is gardening, sometimes successful, other times not so much. Being frugal with our resources, making what we can, purchasing the rest, mostly used or even bartered for. It is also about shared meals, mostly homemade, sometimes brought home. And time to spend on individual activities that are important for creative pursuit and personal well being.

What with the lacking ingredient, I thought I would use this post, take a moment to introduce you to Mom's Sunday Cafe, and all the things we do around here.

Starting out on the first Sunday of each month, we have Cook Book Sundays. Please join in, it is fun and all you need is a cookbook, or a cooking magazine/article or app. The idea is to get back to using (at lease once in a while!) your cookbooks and cooking articles. This fun hop runs first Sunday of each month through the second Sunday. So if you have busy weekends, there is time in the middle of the week to take part.

Tuesdays you can find me posting at Our Krazy Kitchen, and a part of the Hearth n Soul hop. Busy times, fun times, and I get to learn so much from the other bloggers. Learning from other bloggers and the friendships formed is such a bonus to this fun hobby!

On Wednesdays we often have a double-header, What we ARE NOT eating Wednesdays and What's going on here Wednesdays. I get to inflict upon you share what might be happening here, and what was found in a cookbook that I won't be cooking! Sharing is so nice, don't you think?

Thursdays bring us to Recipe Rewind, you know that had to happen, I mean come on this is the 800th post and you didn't even know about Mom's Sunday Cafe until a couple of months ago! Bloggers put good stuff out there even when no one reads them, so lets bring the best of it back! 

On Friday you can often find Sharing the view, a photo post with my thoughts added in. Nothing too important just some hopes or ideas of what is next in a project, how the work week went or possible a ponder or two.

Saturdays might find me Cooking with my friends, where I cook something from your blog. This is new and  has been fun. Or maybe if the cat has cooperated, we might post a little something for Weekend Cat Blogging.

And the last Sunday of the month is my very own Mom's Sunday Cafe. I cook and the kids come home for dinner. It is served cafe style with multiple entrees, sides and desserts. We are all busy, but this is one way to stay in touch and continue being the family that has been in the making for almost 38 years! And often the food served, will come from your blog. It is almost impossible to try all the different foods that you offer, but this is one way to work them in and have a great time in the process!

I hope that you enjoy your visits here, there is a lot of variety and fun! And now on to the giveaway.....

To win, just leave a comment for one entry. If you follow, come back and let me know with another comment, and if you "like" Mom's Sunday Cafe on Facebook, again come back and comment. Each comment will be a entry for the drawing.

Oh and I be using my favorite random generator to assist me in the selection. She is pretty busy, but I will book her right away!

And now let see what you could win, shall we?

 The Recipe Club, a novel about food and friendship, it has some recipes too!

Salt and Pepper grinders for your next cook-out or gathering, because it is all about sharing a meal. 

Giveaway will end, Sunday August 14, 2011, the winner announced on Monday August 15th!
note: ALL ARE WELCOME TO BE A PART OF THE FUN!

As always thanks for taking a moment to stop by.

I appreciate your time and your wonderful comments!

this post is shared with:
weekend round-up @ the life and times of the 21 century housewife

key words:  giveaway, 800 posts

Summer salad of Crumbed Tomato Slices

This is really not a recipe, and I want to make that perfectly clear, because I don't want to offend anyone with what might appear to be misleading information! A few days ago, I needed a side dish to complete our meal. I prefer at those times to try and come up with a vegetable or at least having a vegetable as part of the ingredient list. And this is what I made.......

Crumbed Tomato Slices
serves 2-3

2 large tomatoes
2 T vinaigrette
1 T mayonnaise
1/3-1/2 c croutons

Remove stem and blossom ends of the tomatoes, slice into 4 slices each, arrange on serving plate.

Combine the vinaigrette and the mayonnaise, blending until smooth. Drizzle over tomato slices.

Crush the croutons.

Sprinkle over the tomato slices, add a sprig of herb for garnish, serve!

I enjoy "recipes" like this one, they are simple, adaptable, and use what you already have on hand. For a larger crowd, just double or triple the ingredients. Enjoy!

As always, thanks for taking a moment to stop by.

I appreciate your time and your wonderful comments!

PS, my next post will be number 800, hope to see you there.

this post is shared with:

foodie friday @ designs by gollum
feed me, tweet, follow me home friday @ a moderate life

key words:  tomato salad, simple salads, use what you have

Homemade Bay Leaf Seasoning, Recipe rewind, because some things are too good to miss!

Recipe rewind, because in the beginning there is a blogger who has no readers. She still posts great food in hopes that the readers will come..........you can also view it here in the archives, Saturday March 7, 2009.

Homemade Bay Leaf Seasoning



I went to my spice drawer this morning and pulled out the empty Bay Leaf Seasoning jar. I was glad I kept it after my adventure to Penzy's brought me back home void of a new jar of the beloved seasoning blend, because the empty jar held the secret list of ingredients.

I had picked up bay leaves, hoping I could re-create the blend. Using the ingredients list I set about putting together my best guess of what should be in this herb blend. When finished I decided to take the full jar as an omen that the homemade mix will be good.

Come on now, how many times have you made something at home and it was a perfectly fit? The label lists the ingredients in order of weight, and I calculated them to be as follows:


1/2 oz bag of fresh bay leaves
2 T thyme leaves
2 T rosemary leaves
1 T basil leaves
1 T dried onion
1 T oregano
1/2 t ground pepper
2 T garlic salt
1 T plain salt

Place the bay leaves in the grinder and process until ground. Add remaining and process until powdery. It looks like the real thing, smells like the real thing, so I am hoping it will taste like the real thing. I guess it is now time to cook something with it...............................

Here are some ways you will enjoy using this herb blend,

Season potatoes when you make fried potatoes.

Mix into butter to create a compound butter for vegetables.

Use the compound butter to spread on the cut side of a loaf of french bread, sprinkle with cheese and broil.

Add to flour, when dredging meat before pan browning.
 
Vegetable Beef Soup, found here.

I am sure you will come up with your own favorites!

As always thanks for taking a moment to stop by,
I appreciate your time and your wonderful comments!

this post is shared with:
full plate thursday @ miz helen's country cottage

key words:  Penzy's Bay Leaf Seasoning, homemade herb blends

What we ARE NOT eating Wednesday..........Margarita

So it was a long day in court, as if you did not know that from the lateness of this post! A Margarita sounded real good after negotiations and a resolution was reached, but sadly when I got home, we were out of tequila - or maybe never had any to begin with!

Margarita
not made from:  drinks, never mind the peanuts
wont serve:  me!

the intro:  none

50 ml tequila
30 ml Cointrrau
60 ml fresh lime (juice)

Shake and strain into salt-rimmed glass.

Tip:  Try Maldon salt for a spectacular effect. Because it's made of salt flakes the rim looks like it's topped with shards of glass.

And now since we won't be drinking, lets see what we could be eating!

How about some Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade?
http://www.brendascanadiankitchen.com/2011/07/sparkling-strawberry-lemonade-and.html

If you have berries coming off, and you like spicy jelly, oh and want to put away some homemade goodies for gifts, then take a look here.
http://mizhelenscountrycottage.blogspot.com/2011/07/christmas-canning-in-july.html

This chicken dish is calling my name, I love black bean sauce!
http://mycookinggallery.blogspot.com/2011/07/chicken-braised-with-onions-and.html

Another homemade salad dressing.
http://discoveringcandace.blogspot.com/2011/07/homemade-catalina-dressing-other-stuff.html

This whole meal looks wonderful.
http://hunwhatsfordinner.blogspot.com/2011/07/sticky-glazed-grilled-chicken-with.html

Roasted salsa, bring on the chips!
http://wvfrugal-wvsaver.blogspot.com/2011/07/everyday-food-classic-roasted-salsa.html

As always, thanks for taking a moment to drop by.
I appreciate your time and your wonderful comments!

What is going on here...Wednesdays

A lot goes on here, not just cooking Sunday dinner! These posts on Wednesdays are fun for me, they give me the opportunity to bore you share with  you, what we are doing. Sometimes it is a lot of fun like when granddaughter had a raffle with her friends, or possible I get to show off a spied  treasure for the kitchen.

But folks, hold on to your chairs, this is exciting!

Now you might be asking yourself, what all the excitement is over a simple key, or maybe you have already moved on! But the real excitement is over what it opens........

Yes, we got an upright freezer! 

Now I get to start the organization of this. 

I tried everything to keep this baby organized, bins for storage, things well marked, you know the standard ways that one keeps their chest freezer in order so that food does not get lost. Yet food does get lost in a chest freezer, not lost as in never to be seen again, lost as in, lost to ruin. 

You see as it turns out, one of us is a top loader. While another one of us is rotates food stock, so far guess which one has put away the frozen food?

Now I will turn the chest freezer into a long term storage unit for large purchases, to keep them fresher longer. Like large bags of brown rice, flour, large roasts or maybe now we can get a quarter of beef, from the organic butcher.......a girl can dream you know!

Stay tuned this evening for What we ARE NOT eating  Wednesdays, yep it is another double header at Mom's Sunday Cafe. 

As always, thanks for taking a moment to stop by.

I appreciate your time and your wonderful comments!

key words:  upright freezer, chest freezer, organic beef, long term food storage

Garden Tuesday, the rhubarb IS GROWING!!!

This rhubarb is soooo tired of moving from bed to bed where it was not happy, but it seems that maybe, just maybe it is happy.

Or at least growing in self defense, so I won't uproot it again,

I only have this to say about that, it is about time already!

The new bed, right after transplanting. The lone plant left with any showing growth, was placed in the middle of the bed. The other smaller rhizomes were placed on each side. 

New growth on the center plant.

But look here, new growth coming up on the left!

New growth to the far right!

Lots of new growth coming up, center right!  ( Just follow the rocks to find the new shoots!) 

The only spot in the planter that is not showing signs of new growth, is the far left side of the planter. That is the smallest root/rhizome, maybe it is napping. If I don't see anything next year, I will replace it. But for now.........

We shall call this a success!

As always, thanks for taking the time to stop by.

I appreciate your time and your wonderful comments!

this post is being shared with:

garden tuesday @ sidewalk shoes

tuesday garden party @ an oregon cottage
cottage flora thursday @ fishtail cottage

Motor Oil Chicken

We have been busy here, getting the garage re-organized to bring in an upright freezer. I am happier about this than you might imagine. No more lost food. I know it seems silly, but someone in this household can only place new food on top of old food. And then the food is lost, not like lost in space, but lost to ruin. The small chest freezer can now be used to store large purchased items like, rice, flour etc until it is opened and put into the pantry.

Tonight for dinner, we had marinated chicken thighs. With a funny name, they sure tasted good though! This comes from The Friday Friends, and we will make this again. I also think this would be great for ribs too.
You can make the sauce up and "mop" your meat with it and serve some on the side. Or reduce the vinegar and marinade your meat of choice until dinner time and then get grilling!

Motor Oil Chicken
adapted from: The Friday Friends

1/2 cup white vinegar - I used cider vinegar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup water

4 cloves garlic--crushed

3 Tbsp packed brown sugar

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp hot sauce -  I will increase this in future batches

1/2 tsp ground mustard seed

salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1-2 lbs chicken

Combine all marinade ingredients, add chicken (or ribs!) and marinade until  dinner time, about 4-6 hours. You may let the meat marinade longer, however the longer it is in the marinade the stronger the vinegar taste will be. 

Remove meat from marinade, broil or gill until done. 

 (it is not pretty, but this is where the flavor is!)

Serves 4-6

As always, thanks for taking a moment to stop by.

I appreciate your time and your wonderful comments!

this post will be shared with:

hearth n soul @ Moms Sunday Cafe

Hearth and Soul Hop! #58

Hello and once again it is time for the Hearth n Soul blog hop. With the current heat wave sweeping parts of our country I hope your family is finding some shady comfort and some frosty beverages! We have been busy here, replanting the garden (yes the rhubarb, again!) and this time the rhubarb seems to be pulling through. Yesterday I harvested blueberries and soon I will need to bring in the currents!

Thanks for joining us and sharing your ideas and recipes, philosophy and wonderful new discoveries. I continue to learn each week and I look forward to seeing what you have been up to, creating and enjoying this week. If you are new, please read the Hearth and Soul mission statement page which includes the rules for linking up.

If you have any questions, just drop me a line at MomsSundayCafe@gmail.com.

Here are a few links that caught my eye from last weeks hop.

Herbed Potato Salad
http://plusothergoodstuff.blogspot.com/2011/07/herbed-potato-salad.html

Perfect blueberry pie
http://www.everydaytastes.com/2010/07/29/the-perfect-blueberry-pie/

How about saving some seeds, an old practice, returning to gardens everywhere.
http://goodlookingcook.blogspot.com/2011/07/saving-seeds.html

Green beans and toasted bread crumbs
http://elsascookingdiary.blogspot.com/2011/07/green-beans-with-toasted-breadcrumbs.html

Homemade rice, just like a mix, only better.
http://www.lovingmydomesticlife.com/2011/07/lemon-parsley-rice.html

And now, on behalf of all the hosts, welcome to the hop!


Alex at A Moderate Life

Jason at Alternative Health and Nutrition

Alea at Premeditated Leftovers

April of 21st Century Housewife

Kankana at Sunshine and Smile

Swathi at Zesty South Indian Kitchen

and me, 

Melynda at Mom's Sunday Cafe

So come on, what are you sharing this week?

I will be sharing a delicious marinade for chicken, called Motor Oil Chicken. It is delicious and easy to adapt to your family's preferences.

Nova Scotia Cream Cake

Blueberry goodness and rich sour cream in every bite!

When I first spotted this dessert, I knew right away I wanted to make it! Right now we are using up last years  blueberries, getting ready to put away this year's crop. Although the recipe calls for fresh, I thought I would simply use what I had and adapt.

When I visited Concetta's Cafe I felt right at home, but then she specializes in comfort. Comfort in the meal served, the visit and with making you feel special. Thanks for the visit, and now lets move on to the kitchen, shall we?

Nova Scotia Cream Cake
adapted from: Concetta's cafe
375 degrees

Crust ingredients:
1 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 cube (1/2 c) butter, sliced

1 t vanilla
1 egg

Combine sugar, flour, baking powder and butter in food processor, process until "crumbly". In a medium large bowl, beat egg and vanilla, stir in the crumb mixture. Mix lightly until larger crumbs form. Place mixture into prepared 9 inch spring form pan.  Press gently.

4 c fresh blueberries (I used IQF blueberries)

Spread blueberries evenly over the top of the crumb mixture.

Topping: 

2 c sour cream
1 egg
1 t vanilla
1/2 c sugar

Beat egg, vanilla and sugar until smooth. Stir in the sour cream. Pour mixture over blueberries.

Spread to cover evenly. Bake 45 minutes, check to make sure top is not over browning. Bake additional 15 - 20 minutes. If using frozen berries, at 45 minutes, reduce heat to 350 and make up to 45 minutes more. Top will be firm and the edges will be golden brown.

Enjoy, and stop by for a nice visit with Concetta, she will make you feel right at home. Now the hard part is waiting for this co cool, so we can have a slice!

As always, thanks for taking a moment to stop by.
I appreciate your time and your wonderful comments!

key words:  blueberries, sour cream, cake, dessert