RAMPS, Y'all!!!

It's that time of year again. We just harvested our first batch of ramps on Sunday. We have a hillside full of them. For those who know and love ramps, no, I'm not telling you where I live. We're greedy and selfish folks. Unless we like you. And you're brave. And you like to be a little stinky. This post will be continued, with photos and a recipe or two (or ten). But, I needed to get started with the post as I lose my train of thought a lot these days (Since bringing our daughter Sophia home from Guatemala late last month, we now have two kids under the age of two in the house). Go forth, click these links, and learn about ramps. Appalachian brain food. Read about "The Feast of the Ramson".

Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing

because as my husband say, "Everything is better with BACON!". Undo all that healthy, vegetable goodness.


Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing


Salad:
1 bag baby spinach
1 small red onion, sliced into very thin rings
sliced, hard-boiled eggs
cherry/grape tomatoes
sliced mushrooms
walnuts (toasted in a dry skillet, if you wish)


Dressing:
(I found this recipe on Allrecipes and it is the best and easiest that I have tried at this point--and it doesn't call for using bacon grease)
8 slices cooked bacon, drained and chopped
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt (I omitted this)
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup white vinegar


Place chopped bacon in skillet over medium heat, and allow to reheat and start to sizzle. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch and salt. Slowly pour in water and vinegar, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture into the skillet with the heated bacon and stir constantly, until mixture heats and thickens. Dress salads and serve immediately.

I Love Bread and Dipping Oils.

What could be better than bread? Bread and butter? Mmm...sometimes, I guess, but this is even better than that. BREAD AND DIPPING OIL! You know the stuff...you go to that little Italian place and here comes your server, arms laden with a cutting board of crusty bread and a bottle of olive-oil-y goodness tucked in the crook of his/her arm. It's coming to your table, and barring your dedication to to some low-carb eating plan, you'd better eat it. Not only should you eat it, you should make your own at home when the spirit moves you. It's easy!!! I have a basic throw-together recipe that I use. We'll call it my 'winter version', because in the summer I always add bits and pieces of fresh herbs from my garden. You can start with this basic grouping of ingredients and add most anything you want, depending on your meal or just what you have a taste for in general.

Dipping Oil

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (use the good stuff, it really makes a huge difference in taste...stronger extra virgin olive oils will have a definite green hue to them)

4 cloves fresh garlic, peeled and crushed

pinch of salt

pinch of hot pepper flakes

dash of balsalmic vinegar (maybe 1/2 teaspoon)

Whisk it all together and break bread! Recipe is easily doubled, tripled, etc. It can be stored, but I prefer to make it fresh when we're going to eat it. It's nice to let the flavors meld for an hour or so before serving, but not necessary.

This is where I'll admit that I'm not really a baker of bread. I prefer to pick up a loaf or two of whatever artisan bread is fresh at the grocery that day. If you baked your own bread, well, people would probably love you even more. I will just have to live with less love coming in due to my lack of love for baking.

Fettucini with Italian Sausage and Peppers

There is nothing revolutionary about this dish, but it's easy, quick and good. Here is the way I do it...

Fettucini with Italian Sausage and Peppers

2 tbsp. + 1/4-1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 lb. Italian sausage--loose pack if you can find it, otherwise sliced or removed from link casings and crumbled (hot or mild)

4 Cubanelle or Hungarian Wax peppers, cut into small pieces (depending on the level of 'heat' you'd like; the Cubanelles are a little milder in my opinion)

1 lb. fettucini

salt and pepper to taste

Parmesan or Romano cheese to sprinkle after cooking

Boil a pot of water and cook pasta as directed. As the water boils/pasta cooks, heat 2 tbsp. olive oil and garlic over medium-high heat. Allow garlic to just start to brown, and add sausage. Cook until done. Add pepper chunksand stir together. Saute until peppers are JUST done (don't let it all get mushy and colorless). Add enough olive oil to skillet to make this into a good 'sauce' for your pasta. Add salt and pepper to taste. Drain pasta and toss with sauce. Add cheese to taste and serve!

**my dad likes to add crushed red pepper flakes to this recipe

Convenience Food RAVE!!!

I'm not a big fan of convenience foods. They don't taste good, they're terribly unhealthy and the overabundance of packaging fills up my garbage can and our landfills far too quickly. However, our friends at Kroger strategically placed the display of this wonderful product next to the milk cooler in the natural foods section, so I decided to give it a try. The product is Annie Chun's Noodle Bowls (comes in various flavors). No artificial ingredients, it really is delicious and cooks up quickly in the microwave, and...the packaging is not only biodegradable, but it's compostable! Take that, petroleum giants! Good for me, and my planet. Cool. Note too, that it requires no refrigeration, so you can keep it in your pantry or even your desk at work.

I had the Pad Thai flavor today and topped it with leftover flank steak and pickled veggies from the Banh Mi sandwiches we had last night. Absolutely delicious!

Open-Faced Cream Cheese Crockpot Chicken Sandwiches

Say that really fast six times. Anyway, a fellow mom and internet friend posted this recipe and I decided to make it for dinner last night. The original recipe can be found here. I used Jenn's changes and made a couple of my own. Thanks again, Jenn!!!


Cream Cheese Crockpot Chicken


4 chicken breasts
Olive oil
1 can chicken broth (divided in half)
½ cup white wine
1 package of dry Italian dressing/seasoning mix
1 small package sliced mushrooms
Handful chopped celery
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 8 oz brick of cream cheese, cut up in cubes
1 large onion, minced
crushed garlic to taste

Brush chicken with olive oil and sprinkle with the dry Italian seasoning mix. Add ½ can chicken broth and wine to crockpot and place chicken breasts in the wine/broth. Cover and cook on low for about 4 hours.

About 45 minutes before done, brown the onion in the butter over medium heat in a saucepan. Add the cream cheese, soup, and chicken broth to the pan (and a splash more wine if you wish). Add the crushed garlic and whisk all ingredients in saucepan until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pour sauce mixture over chicken in crockpot and cook an additional 30-45 minutes. Remove chicken to platter and stir sauce before serving.

I served the chicken and gravy atop slices of whole-grain bread, as you would an open-faced turkey sandwich.

Banh Mi - Vietnamese Steak Sandwich

This recipe is from the August 2004 issue of Real Simple magazine. It's a favorite in our house. My only real deviation from this recipe is to marinate the flank steak overnight or from morning until cooking at dinnertime. Don't be afraid of the mayo, it broils off in the oven and serves only to soften the bread surface. You cannot taste it and the recipe just isn't the same without it. Being weird about mayo, I have made it both ways. Enjoy (Michelle, I know you've been waiting for this)! Also, I double or triple the marinade to make more meat and also use an entire bottle of rice vinegar and make a lot more pickled veggies so there are lunchtime leftovers for Jon.

Vietnamese Steak Sandwiches (Banh Mi)

1/2 lb. piece of flank steak, about 1 inch thick

1 TEAspoon sriracha chili sauce (found in the international aisle of most supermarkets...heck, I can even find it here in Wheeling!)

4 TEAspoons sugar

1 1/2 TABLEspoons nuoc nam (fish sauce...once again, head for the international foods aisle)

1 TEAspoon minced garlic

1 cup rice wine vinegar

3 radishes thinly sliced (daikon if you can find them, but regular radishes are just fine)

1 medium carrot, cut into matchsticks

1/2 medium bell pepper, cut into thin rings

4 TABLEspoons mayonnaise (don't even think of using Miracle Whip)

1 small loaf (appx. 8") baguette or french bread, halved and cut horizontally

6 sprigs fresh cilantro

Place chili sauce, sugar, fish sauce and garlic into a gallon ziploc bag. Mix together and add meat to marinate. Heat oven (or toaster oven) to 450 degrees. Heat an outdoor grill or stovetop grill pan to medium-hot. Place vinegar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Toss the radishes, carrots and pepper into the vinegar. Remove from heat, cover and set aside. Place the marinated steak on the grill and cook to medium, 4-6 minutes per side and allow to rest before cutting into thin slices. Meanwhile, spread mayo on the baguette. Heat the open baguette, mayo-side up until the mayo melts and the bread begins to get crispy. Fill the baguette with the vegetables and steak, and top with cilantro.

serves 2