Recipe: Stewed Okra

Our community garden is doing really well. And a couple weeks ago we got a yummy delivery of okra. Of course, I was thrilled (Scott was not- as he is not an okra person) and dug into all my cookbooks to find the perfect recipe. I did not succeed in finding something in my cookbooks so I headed to the net. If I had the time or resources I would have made an okra gumbo. I came across this recipe from The Neely's.

 

A few tweaks to make it my own.

Simple and Delicious.

 

 

Here is my take on the recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 lb of chicken Andouille sausage (I get mine from Trader Joe's)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 cups sliced okra
• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 2 tsp of creole seasoning
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

In a heavy bottomed saute pan over medium-high heat, add the sausage. Add the onion and garlic and saute until tender, about 3 minutes.
Add the okra and tomatoes, making sure to add the reserved juice from the tomatoes to the saute pan. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for 15 minutes.
Cook's Note: If needed, add water or chicken stock if the pan becomes too dry.

Enjoy!

 

xoxo,

Ronita

Rosewater Infused Strawberry Sorbet

Rosewater Infused Strawberry Sorbet

Preparation time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Frozen time: 2 hours or more

Serves 4

1 lb organic strawberries

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp rosewater

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

Wash, hull and slice the strawberries. Toss them in a bowl with the lemon juice and sugar.  Place strawberries in refrigerator for 1 hour.

After that time, remove the bowl from the fridge (the bowl should be full of released strawberry juice with lime/vanilla). Add 1/3 cup of water and 1 tsp of rose water and puree the mixture in a blender until very smooth.

Following the manufacturer’s instructions, freeze in the ice cream maker. 

With a spatula, transfer the sorbet into a freeze-proof recipient and put on the freezer until ready to serve.

***

This spring I have really been into rosewater and lavender simple syrups and infusions.

Stay tuned for my lavender simple syrup recipe!

xoxo,

Ronita

{juicing is the new black}

I have been talking to Scott recently about investing in a juicer. This video from the Food Heaven Made Easy girls, Wendy and Jess, is right on time.

They provide helpful information and recipes from an easy to understand viewpoint.

Aren't they beautiful?

Have you ever juiced? What appliance do you use? What recipes have you tried?

xoxo,

Ronita

{my mushroom and crab ravioli recipe with garlic cream sauce}

Step 1: Make pasta dough

Mix in standmixer with paddle attachment

2 3/4 cup all purpose flour

3 eggs

1tbsp of olive oil

pink of salt

*I had to add about 1/8 cup of water to moisten the dry mixture*

Once incorporated switch to dough hook and knead for 6 minutes.

Cover with kitchen towel and let rest for 30 minutes.

Cut the dough into 4ths

Using my mixer, I switched to the pasta roller attachment and rolled out 4 pasta bands

Step 2: make ravioli filling

Saute in a skillet

1 cup of finely chopped shitake mushrooms

1/2 small red onion

1 cup of crab meat

sage

basil

garlic

*take off heat and let cool for 5 minutes*

In a separate bowl mix

1 egg

1 cup of ricotta cheese

salt

pepper

Mix the cheese mixture with the saute mixture

Step 3:

Spoon filling onto pasta roll and cover with another pasta roll

Step 4: I used a ravioli stamp I purchased from William Sonoma

Stamp out ravioli and place on well floured plate. Let rest for 30 minutes.

Step 5: Boil salted water and add ravioli. Boil 3-5 minutes.

While the ravioli was resting I prepared a basic cream sauce.

Step 6: Saute 1 tbsp of butter with garlic, sage, onion, basil add 1 cup of heavy cream and simmer for 5 minutes.

Plate and enjoy!

xoxo,

Ronita

{Recipe Alert: Homemade Tomato Sauce}

I had a bunch of tomatoes, green peppers and onions from our CSA box so I decided to make...

Fresh Pasta Sauce

+

(green peppers, onion and garlic)

+

(fresh herbs from my patio garden)

=
Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hour. I added salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning and sugar.

Delicioso!!

xoxo,

Ronita

{fresh food fetish}

I love FOOD and I love cooking. 

The summer makes it so easy to access and use fresh fruits and veggies in my daily recipes.

Here are some of our fresh food snapshots.

Our first CSA box of the summer season. Summer squash, green bell peppers, corn, cabbage (red and green), tomatoes, potatoes, onion.

A bowl of lemons and limes to make fresh squeezed lemon/limeade and some lemon/lime dessert bars (recipe to come).

Purple potatoes which I chopped and combined in a casserole dish with olive oil, fresh thyme, basil, sage, oregano, parsley, 2 cloves of minced garlic a pinch of salt and pepper. I baked on 350 degrees for about 25 minutes and they were so good. Even the boys enjoyed them!

What fresh produce to do enjoy during the summer? Are you looking forward to anything in the fall?

I am starting my fall seeds now and hope to plant  next week. 

xoxo,

Ronita

{Recipe Alert: bringing New Orleans to Cincy}

This past weekend was The Essence Music Fest in New Orleans. I would have loved to been there experiencing all the music acts and catching up with some of the natural hair seminars and LOVING on my family.

I couldn't make it so instead I brought New Orleans, at least the food, to me!

fresh picked okra from our garden box

my okra battered and fried

Fried Okra Recipe: wash and cut fresh okra into 1/2" pieces. Soak okra in a 1/3 cup buttermilk for 10 minutes. Drain okra and toss in a premixed bowl of flour, cornmeal, cayenne, garlic powder, salt, pepper, thyme, basil--and any other seasoning you prefer. Preheat 1/2 cup of canola oil in a cast iron skillet. Drop floured okra in hot oil and cook until brown. Pull out with slotted spoon and rest on paper towels.

Sprinkle with a little salt.

Serve warm.

Shrimp Creole

This is such an easy meal.

Shrimp Creole Recipe: chop 1 large onion and 1/2 bunch of celery. Place in dutch oven and cover with 1/4 cup of olive oil. Saute covered for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Add 24 oz an of chopped tomatoes, 3 Tbsp of tomato paste, 3 ozs of tomato sauce, and 2 tbsp of creole seasoning of your choice. Add some 3 cloves of chopped garlic,  fresh parsley, thyme and a pinch of oregano. I like to add a splash of white wine and a pinch of sugar to tame the acidity of the tomatoes. Simmer for 40 minutes adding 1-2lbs of peeled and devined shrimp the last 10 minutes.

Serve over rice (we prefer brown).

To give it some extra heat but not to increase the heat in the whole pot I add a couple splashes of hot sauce per bowl and topped off with a parsley spring.

If you try these recipes let me know how they turn out!

ENJOY!

xoxo,

Ronita

{Recipe: Ina Garten's Italian Wedding Soup}

Last week I wanted to try a "warm weather" soup that was delicious and nutritious. The Barefoot Contessa's Italian Wedding Soup recipe is just that. With lean meat, organic chicken broth, spinach and other veggies, it was a crowd pleaser. I plan on making some big batches during the fall and freezing for a perfect sick day soup.

I found the recipe here, on Recipe Girl's blog.

I would make these meatballs by themselves. So good and perfect right out of the oven.

This is going to be a perfect dish for our 3rd anniversary dinner party.

07.02.12

xoxo,

Ronita

Easter Weekend recap

We had a very fun filled Easter weekend.

Saturday, my brother and his wife had the ultimate Easter egg hunt followed by a delicious lunch!

He loves the special effects.

Setting up the smoke screen with smoke bombs!!!

Getting ready to dye our eggs

Sunday, we went to church, had a little brunch at our house and then headed to our family's house for dinner and another hunt.

Sunday morning after church

Our Easter brunch

 

I made an Easter Pie, a broccoli and cheese quiche, turkey bacon, pork bacon and breakfast sausage.

For dessert, we had fruit and granola parfaits and a beautiful fruit custard that I scored from Whole Foods.

What a great weekend. Of course, it went by way too fast but we sure did enjoy it.

xoxo,

Ronita

Pasta from scratch

paddle together eggs, salt and flour

add spinach and knead with dough hook

let dough rest for 30 minutes and cut into 4s

pass through pasta roller and then pasta cutter

VIOLA!!!

I made pasta from scratch this weekend! What a fun process!

I followed the recipe from Bell'alimento.

Four simple ingredients to make about 8 servings!!

I can't wait to experiment with different flavors.

HAPPY COOKING,

Ronita

Recipe: Chocolate Goodness

As I mentioned in a prior post, I have a new favorite food blog. Recently, I tried one of her recipes and goodness this dessert is decadent. It's a chocolate amaretto semifreddo and it is...well... you will just have to try it. Take a look at the recipe on her wonderful blog, bell'alimento.

xoxo,

Ronita

Weekend Cooking

Think I will be trying some of the recipes off my new favorite food blog bell'alimento this weekend.

Can't wait to get in my kitchen and sip on a cold glass of wine.

Here's to the weekend.

xoxo,

Ronita

Thanksgiving Libations: Gina's Red Carpet Cocktail

via

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups vodka, chilled

1 1/2 cups pomegranate juice, chilled

1/2 cup lime juice

1 bottle Champagne or other sparkling white wine

Chilled maraschino cherries, for garnish

Directions

Add 1 1/2 ounces of the vodka to each champagne flute. Top with 1 1/2 ounces of the pomegranate juice and 1 tablespoon of the lime juice. Add the Champagne or sparkling wine and a cherry to each flute for a sweet garnish.

Ronita's Mixtress Notes: To make it a bit more in season...I will probably use processco instead of champagne, spiced cranberry cider,  and then garnish with cranberries and pomegranate seeds instead of the cherries.

Just in case a few friends stop by I plan to have a stocked bar.... ready to make this delicious cocktail!

***

You know, I may need to test it out tonight...just to make sure it's as good as they say (wink).

xoxo,

Ronita

Meeting The Neelys!!!

Oh we had a ball!!! Tre' was just as amazed to meet them as I was. Tre' loves to cook and be in the kitchen with me so we always joke that he is Pat and I'm Gina. He makes sure I know when they are coming on so I don't miss the show! These two were just as sweet and genuine as what you see on TV. I know you can just as easily print off recipes online, or get them on your iPad...but nothing beats a book that you can feel, see the beautiful pictures and read the family stories!!!

One day I'll have to get to Memphis to try their food!!!

Just a little snippet of them signing my book and me letting her know how much we love her red velvet recipe!!!

In the new cookbook it looks like there are some amazing recipes to celebrate everyday life!

I can't wait to try them all!!

First Up: Memphis Style Popcorn....for a relaxing movie night tonight with my boys. It's been a long week. Time to relax and unwind.

xoxo,

Ronita