Southwestern Burgers with Guacamole

All I can say is:

Wow, this dinner turned out great!

I have really been trying to make

several new dishes each week this

summer since I have the time.

This one was definately new.

I really had no plan until I started

making the Chicken Burgers and

throwing together some flavors I like.

Southwestern Chicken Burgers

1lb ground chicken

3/4 cup corn kernels

1/2 red pepper, diced

1/2 white onion, diced

1/3 cup feta cheese

1 egg

bread crumbs

1/2 tbs chilli powder

dash of cayanne pepper

Dice the red pepper and white onion finely. Rinse and dry

the corn kernels. Then mix the ground chicken, corn,

red pepper, white onion, feta cheese. Add one small egg.

Mix well. Then add the bread crumbs slowly until you have

the burger texture you like. Add the chilli powder and cayanne

pepper. Form into burgers. Cook on grill or in oven. Make

sure to cook the burger at a medium temperature so that

the inside cooks completely.

I served the Southwestern Chicken Burgers

with a little guacamole with

Avacado, cilantro, lime juice, diced onion

a little cream cheese.

This was a wonderful dinner.
I served the burgers with green beans
and smashed potatoes with rosemary.

Plum Galette

This was such an easy, delicious dessert

that I have to share it with you.

For you real bakers out there a homemade

pie crust would be great but I just used

a ready made pie crust.

Plum Galette:

3 cups pitted and sliced plums

Rinse the plums but leave on the skins.

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon rind

1/4 cup sugar plus

1 tablespoon of sugar to finish

1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

Wash, pit and slice the plums. Then mix all indgredients

together in a bowl ( except the 1 tbs of sugar). Pour

this mixture into the pie crust. Add the tbs of sugar

on top. Fold the edges of the crust over.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes.

It should be a little bubbly and the crust a little brown.

I served my Plum Galette with

a little homemade whip cream

and it was delicious!

Raspberry and Chocolate Chip Gelato

I bought some ice cream at the store,

I ate it all but wanted more...

so my wonderful husband made some more!

That is not really how the poem goes,

but it is the truth.

Raspberry and Chocolate Chip Gelato

4 cups red raspberries ( thawed if frozen)

1 cup granulated sugar

2 1/4 cups half and half, divided

6 large egg yolks

1/4 cup fat free powdered milk

1 cup heavy cream

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Place rasberries in a food processor. Process until completely pureed and smooth.

Press rasberry puree through a fine mesh sieve with wooden spoon or spatula.

Discard seeds. You should have approximately 2 cups of puree.

Place the sugar and 1 1/4 cups of the half and half in a 2 1/2 quart saucepan

with a heavy bottom. Bring to simmer over medium heat and stir to

dissolve the sugar. Keep warm over low heat. Place the egg yolks in a

medium bowl and whisk until thickened, about 2 minutes. While whisking,

add 1/2 cup of the hot half and half/ sugar mixture and whisk until blended.

Stir the egg mixture back into the saucepan and increase heat to medium.

Stir the mixture constatly with whisk or spoon until the mixture is thickened

like a custard sauce and registers 180 degrees F when checked with an instant

read thermometer. Stir in remaining half and half, powdered milk and heavey

cream. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Stir in

puree and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate 6 hours before continuing.

Turn on the ice cream machine and pour mixture into freezer bowl.

Add the chocolate chips. Let mix until thickened about 20 minutes.

The gelato will have a soft, creamy texture. Remove an place in a

freezer container for 2 hours. Serve and Enjoy.

This is quite a process but the end result is SO GOOD!!!

Basil & Pistachio Pesto

Summers in Atlanta are pretty hot

and some days I don't really feel like

cooking dinner or eating for that matter.

I have been looking for some good summer recipes.

Main dishes that can be served cold or that are light.

Tonight I tried out a pesto which is a little

lighter than my typical red sauce.

Basil & Pistachio Pesto

2 cups basil leaves

3 garlic cloves

1/2 cup Pistachio Nuts, peeled

1/2 cup oil

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

salt to taste

Put the first 3 dry ingredients in the food processor

and pulse until they are extremely fine.

Then add the oil and cheese and pulse again.

Taste ~ add salt ~ mix and taste.

This pesto can be poured over your

favorite pasta and served cold or warm.

This lovely dish is being submitted to Ruth

at Once Upon a Feast.

for her weekly Presto Pasta Nights Event.

I think this was a very good dish.

It was quite flavorful.

I hope you enjoy!

Friends, Food and Fun!

I recently posted about the dinner party

we hosted about a week ago.

One of our lovely guests, Chris, is a photographer

~ how wonderful~ for me and the blog.

He took some amazing pictures of the evening!

It was a great night with friends

laughing and eating good food.

All the food was wonderful:

Thanks to everyone for their contributions

to this superb meal!

From the stuffed mushrooms and

the pear and goat cheese for appetizers.

The we moved to dinner:

Glazed Salmon over fennel and oranges,

Orange Rice and Strawberry, Cucumber

Salad with homemade dressing.

Dessert was Classic Crème Caramel with blueberries

which I posted about earlier but I had to add this

great photo of the dessert.

Thanks everyone for such a great night!

Classic Crème Caramel

Last weekend we had a wonderful

dinner party with some of our good friends.

It is very enjoyable to have friends over

and share good times and eat good food.

I made Salmon over fennel and oranges

which I will post about a little later.

My husband tried to out cook me and

he made this wonderful dessert.

Classic Creme Caramel

by Cooking Light

Ingredients
1/3 cup sugar

3 tablespoons water

Cooking spray

3 large eggs

1 large egg white

2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

Fresh raspberries or blueberries

PreparationPreheat oven to 325°.
Combine 1/3 cup sugar and 3 tablespoons water

in a small, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat;

cook until sugar dissolves, stirring frequently.

Continue cooking an additional 4 minutes or until golden.

Immediately pour into 6 (6-ounce) ramekins or

custard cups coated with cooking spray,

tilting each cup quickly until caramelized sugar

coats bottom of cup. Set aside.

Beat eggs and egg white in a medium

bowl with a whisk.

Stir in milk, vanilla, 2/3 cup sugar, and salt.

Divide the mixture evenly among

prepared custard cups.

Place cups in a 13 x 9-inch baking pan,

and add hot water to pan to a depth of 1 inch.

Bake at 325° for 50 minutes or

until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Remove cups from pan.

Cover and chill at least 4 hours.
Loosen edges of custards with a knife

or rubber spatula.

Place a dessert plate, upside down, on top of each cup;

invert onto plates.

Drizzle any remaining caramelized syrup over custards.

Garnish with raspberries, if desired.

Fantastic!! What a wonderful dessert!

It was light and creamy.

Chicken Saltimbocca

I received a few new cookbooks from

my colleagues at work recently

~Thank You ~

and so my husband and I selected

a few new recipes to make this week

for dinner.

His selection was:

Chicken Saltimbocca

¼ cup all-purpose flour
Coarse salt and ground pepper
16 fresh whole sage leaves
4 (6 to 8 ounces each) chicken cutlets
4 -6 slices (3 ounces) thinly-sliced proscuitto
1 tbs olive oil

1 tbs butter

5 ounces baby portabello mushrooms, sliced

2 cloves garlic, smashed

1/2 cup Marsala wine
3 tbs water

1/3 cup creme fraiche

2 tbs chopped fresh parsley

kosher salt

Cooking Instructions:

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees
In a shallow bowl, stir together flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt

and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Set aside.
Lay 3 sage leaves on each cutlet, then wrap a prosciutto slice

around middle of each cutlet, encasing sage.

Dredge cutlets in seasoned flour; tap off excess.
In a large nonstick skillet heat oil and butter.

Place chicken in pan with the prosciutto

seam side down and cook turning once,

until lightly brown on each side about 5 minutes.

Transfer chicken to a roasting pan and bake,

uncovered, for about 10 minutes.

Turn the heat under skillet to high

add the mushrooms and garlic

Cook for about 4 minutes stirring constantly.

Add the Marsala and remaining 4 sage leaves

Bring to a boil, cooking until most of the liquid is gone.

Add the water, take pan off heat and add the creme fraiche

and parsley. Season with salt and pepper.

Place chicken on plate and spoon a little of the

mushroom mixture on top of the chicken.

I give this recipe five stars (out of five)

because the chicken was so tender

and the sage and prociutto were

a wonderful combination.

It is because of the wonderful herb sage in this

recipe that I have decided to submit it to Kalyn's

Weekend Herb Blogging Event that is being hosted by

Maninas from Maninas: Food Matters this week.

Potato Salad

This is one of my favorite dishes to bring

as a side dish to a barbecue.

It is a lot of chopping but it is really worth it!

The recipe, with no measurements,

was given to me from Tyleen, my husband's mother.

Don't measure - just taste and you'll figure

it out.

Potato Salad

8-10 small red potatoes

mayonnaise

spicy mustard

garlic salt

Lawry's Seasoning

one medium red onion, chopped

3-4 stalks of celery, chopped

4 boiled eggs, peeled and chopped,

using only the outer part ~ white part

2 dill pickles, chopped

Add the spices slowly and taste until

it is flavored the way you like it.

I promise that it is the BEST potato salad!

This is mmm, mmm, good!