Tag Archives: vegetable

Roasted Cauliflower Steaks with Lemon and Garlic

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This recipe is quickly becoming my favorite way to prepare cauliflower. Whenever I make “Roasted Cauliflower Steaks with Lemon and Garlic,” my husband and I eat the entire cauliflower head in one sitting. And the last time, my husband ate the entire dish himself, leaving me with nothing. Well, I did say, “help yourself,” but I didn’t intend for him to eat the cauliflower in it’s entirety. My favorite Lebanese restaurant, Serops, offers a menu item which I absolutely love, “Fried Cauliflower.” It has has a subtle lemon and garlic flavor. I have been trying to figure out how they make the dish. These “Cauliflower Steaks,” surprisingly, have the same flavor and taste. I think I’ve got it. This dish is delicious — and very healthy!

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Family Favorites: Old-Fashioned Scalloped Potatoes

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Mrs. Grossnickle made the best recipe of “Scalloped Potatoes” that I can ever remember. The dish was probably loaded with cream and butter. Not healthy by today’s standards, but very tasty. When I was growing up, the Grossnickles lived across a cow pasture which we could see from where we lived on a small hill. “Scalloped Potatoes” was served at almost every Sunday dinner after church and especially at holidays such as Easter. I am guessing that we were invited to the Grossnickle’s home for some of these meals and this is where I ate the “best” dish of “Scalloped Potatoes.” I consider this to be an old-fashioned “comfort food” and still like the dish after all these years; although with slightly less cream. For nostalgia, I’m making this dish again on Easter Sunday.

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“Oven-Fried Okra Poppers” in the Wintertime

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Here is a way to enjoy “Southern Fried Okra” all year long. “Oven-Fried Okra Poppers” is an adaptation of a recipe which I posted in the summer for traditional fried okra. That recipe uses fresh okra which is available in the summer months. We love fried okra and so I adapted the recipe as a way to enjoy home cooked okra in the wintertime, too. Plus, this okra is baked in the oven rather than frying cutting down on the calories and fat.

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Oven-Fried Cauliflower Bites with Ranch Dipping Sauce

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Cauliflower happens to be one of my most favorite vegetables. Of course, I have many “most favorite vegetables.” But cauliflower has a unique flavor and, when properly prepared, it loses all of the obnoxious sulfur tones. It is a vegetable which grows on you — the more you eat it the more you like it. I learned to like cauliflower when fried cauliflower was served on the cafeteria lime at the hospital where I worked at in Flint, Michigan. That was in the heydays of the auto unions and Flint was the ultimate “auto town.” Autumn and winter are the seasons for cauliflower when you can pick up some really nice ones. I decided to see if I could make an oven-fried variation of the fried cauliflower bites that I used to like so much using this really nice cauliflower which I purchased recently.

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Zucchini Lasagna

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This might be my best zucchini recipe of the summer, “Zucchini Lasagna.” When I queried my family on suggestions for using the giant, one-pound zucchini growing in my backyard garden, my son mentioned this recipe. And it is wonderful! Thin slices of the huge zucchini replace the lasagna noodles. Layer on a rich tomato sauce with the zucchini slices and mozzarella cheese and the result is a vegetarian “meal-in-one.” Plus, a layer of ricotta cheese, eggs and Parmesan cheese add a creamy filling — sort of a “surprise” in the recipe. 

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Saucy Brussels Sprouts

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Thanksgiving is quickly approaching and it is time to bring out favorite and traditional family recipes. Brussels spouts is a vegetable which matures in the autumn and is often featured in Thanksgiving menus spreads of food magazines. My recipe for “Saucy Brussels Sprouts” is a family favorite which we have served for years. The recipe originated in the Parade Magazine of the Washington Post newspaper. It is very easy to prepare and includes boiled Brussels sprouts served with a creamy sauce.

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Sweet Potato “Fries”

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When the very nutritious vegetable, the sweet potato, is cooked perfectly, it is tender yet still a little crisp with a wonderful sweet flavor. I have decided that it is actually a little tricky to cook sweet potatoes properly.  But I think I found the prefect sweet potato fry in a restaurant in Breckenridge, Colorado, of all places. We recently visited this very upscale restaurant with a James Beard Chef winner on the staff. The sweet potatoes were cooked and served immaculately. I came home to try to duplicate their recipe.

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The Secret to Southern Fried Okra

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Let’s cook fresh okra. It’s time to take advantage of this vegetable which is plentiful the summertime in the South and is easily grown in a garden here. I’ve discovered several delicious ways to fix okra since moving to Louisiana. “Southern Fried Okra” is one of those iconic recipes. My recipe is easy — using common household ingredients. It is crunchy and perfectly seasoned. The breading actually sticks to the okra for the most part. You may not want to purchase commercially breaded okra after eating this recipe. Give it a try!

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Creamed Sweet Peas and Bits of Trivia with My Stories

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I really can’t remember a Sunday dinner meal when I was growing up without creamed sweet peas especially during the summer months. It was truly a farm to table dish because the peas were picked from my parent’s very large garden that morning and served at the noon meal. Fresh creamed sweet peas have a delicious flavor that can’t be described. You have to shell and cook some yourself to get the idea. When I found sweet peas at the Shenandoah Valley farmers market in June, I had to purchase some to cook.

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Roast Eggplant with Garlic and Zahtar

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Here’s an easy recipe for a small batch of eggplant — “Roast Eggplant with Garlic and Zahtar.” Eggplant grows well in a Louisiana garden and I needed ideas to cook a few at a time as they ripened in the hot summer heat. One of my favorite eggplant dishes is served at a local Lebanese and Greek cafe. It consists of sauteed eggplant which is doused in lemon juice and garlic. The soft eggplant pulp blends with the spices perfectly and it is another “melt in your mouth” eggplant recipe. Thought I’d try to make a variation with my garden eggplant.

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