One of my favorite summertime activities is to head up to my old stompin’ grounds of New Salisbury, Indiana (just north of Corydon) and pick blueberries at Bryant’s Blueberries!

Family Run, Locally Grown and CHEAP!
It’s a family-run, u-pick sort of affair, and the prices are low, low, low compared to what you’ll pay in the supermarket. Their pricing varies according to their crop, but last year Kelly and I picked 30 pounds last year and I think the bill was $60!

Blueberry season is short and tempermental, so go early!
The picking season lasts from early June to mid-to-late July. Bryant’s has a number of varities that peak at different times, so choose accordingly. They are also open sporadically due to picking demand, ripeness level and weather. I highly suggest signing up for their email list, so you’ll be in-the-know.

And when you go, pick lots of berries! It seems like every few years Bryant’s crop is decimated by drought (2002), pestilence (2005) or a late frost (2007), so pick enough to save.

Things to bring:
1. Hat

2. Sunscreen

3. Comfy, ok-to-be-wet shoes.
It’s pretty grassy and not a far walk, but if they are watering or it’s rainy, it’s a little soggy.

4. Your own pickin’ bucket. They provide some, but you can’t take ‘em home.
Blueberries don’t like sacks, so I suggest big “Tupperware” containers, or even a cooler.

5. Kids if ya got ‘em. Very kid friendly!

FYI: Blueberries freeze very well and are so tasty on winter waffles and in pies.

Cornmeal Waffles with Blueberries!

I don’t know when Kelly and I decided to start baking bread, but I think it was while watching the splendid Stranger than Fiction in which Maggie Gyllenhall plays a baker to Will Ferrell’s IRS agent. We discussed it later, and figured that, you know – it’s just water and flour and some yeast. How hard could it be? It’s not, really. Chatting with Mom during her annual New Year’s Day Black-Eyed-Pea Party, she told me that she used to bake all the bread we ate as kids, so I hit her up for some bread recipes, which I promptly left at her house…

Later: Kelly made some delicious, if dense, whole wheat bread that we ate with a red sauce I made from scratch (thanks, Mario Batali) with onions and carrots as a base and healthy dose of thyme. Later, while Kelly was off doing god knows what, I cooked up an Indian-inspired dish of shrimp and chicken in a simmering sauce (bought at Target… shut up, it was delicious). I also took advantage of the wonderful Southeast Asian cookbook I was gifted by my Malay boss (and fellow food nerd) in that I made some naan (Indian leavened flatbread). It was delightful. Also delightful – having the time during these long hard days of winter to spend the time to make your own food!

Last night, Kelly and I did another little dinner tango – she made Butternut Squash and Apple soup and I went to town on some Rosemary bread. They both turned out great!

Bread is a simple thing, and perhaps that’s why I’ve enjoyed it so much – it’s a little like making your own beer. There is a bit of simple cooking, a bit of waiting and then a couple hours later (or weeks, in the case of beer) you might have screwed the whole thing up. But, like homebrewed beer, the first loaf will be the best you’ve ever made.

The Rosemary bread I made turned out to be pretty delicious – though there are a few things I’d like to do better. I need to slice the top of it to make sure it doesn’t “mushroom” in the oven, and I’d like to find a way to get a thicker crust. Cracking that oven open to see the golden, brown and delicious (GBD) loaf is worth it all! Also, bread is just pretty sometimes:

Acorn Squash with Spiced Pecan Butter BBQ Recipe

Acorn Squash with Spiced Pecan ButterOn cool autumn nights, a sweet, buttery glaze over tender acorn squash is about as comforting as food gets. If you like, substitute butternut squash for equally good results.

For the butter:

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup chopped toasted pecans

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

To make the butter: In a small bowl, combine the butter, pecans, maple syrup, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and pepper. Mix well with a fork.

For the squash:

2 acorn squashes, 1-1/2 to 2 pounds each

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

To prepare the squash: With a large, heavy knife cut the squash in half lengthways. Remove the seeds with a spoon. Lightly brush the exposed flesh with the oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Put the squash halves, cut sides down, on the cooking grate and grill over indirect high heat until grill marks are clearly visible, about 30 minutes. Turn the squash halves cut sides up. Spread the exposed flesh with the pecan butter. Continue grilling until the flesh is tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Serve warm.

Makes 4 servings.

Sounds great, doesn’t it?

plucked from here…

Lately, I’ve been more into cooking and eating fish than I ever have before, and it being prime grilling season, I have ventured to make some tasty fish dishes for my lady.

While looking on teh intarweb for tasty ways to cook salmon, I noticed a recipe for “Maple-Balsamic Glazed Salmon”. Oh daaaaaang that sounds good. I had some tasty Vermont straight-0utta-the-tree maple syrup in the freezer, and some really tasty Balsamic vinegar, so I set out to try it. The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients

• 2 salmon filets (approx. 6-8oz each)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (you can substitute the sugar-free stuff)
• 1 tsp crushed garlic
• optional: 1 tbsp coarse mustard

Directions

• 1. Whisk together the ingredients well. If you are going to bake this, it’s perfectly acceptable to cook this sauce down to a glaze.
• 2. Use half of the sauce to marinade the two salmon filets in a shallow bowl. Anywhere from 1/2 hour to a few hours would be nice. Keep the other half for basting.
• 3. Over a medium-hot oiled grill, place the salmon flesh-down and cook for 4 minutes
• 4. Flip onto the skin-side, baste, and cook for 3 minutes.
• 5. Baste again, flip onto the flesh-side and cook for 3 minutes.
• 6. Remove from grill, and apply the other 1/2 of the sauce.

I’ve made this twice in the last month, and both times it has turned out wondefully. I still need to get a feel for grilling fish, but the sauce has turned out very nice. Give it a shot!

What it is, cats and kittens! I know I’m posting late for Fat Tuesday, but I made this hell-of-tasty Chicken Sauce Piquant dish for work’s Mardi Gras luncheon last night, and I had to make sure it was a winner before I went public with it.

ben’s chicken sauce piquant

ingredients

• 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup + 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 2 chopped green bell peppers
• 2 tablespoons minced jalapenos (more or less to your taste)
• 4 regular cans of diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons of minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons thyme
• 2 tablespoons oregano
• 6 bay leaves
• 2 quarts of chicken stock (either from liquid stock or bouillion cubes)
• salt
• creole seasoning to taste
• crushed red pepper to taste
• fresh ground pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons parsley

Step one: Make the chicken

Put the 4-6 chicken breasts, 2 quarts of chicken stock, 1tbsp thyme, 1tbsp garlic, 1tbsp oregano and 3 bay leaves into a large pot.
Bring to a boil, and then simmer over low heat for an hour, or until chicken juices run clear.
After the chicken is done, remove the breasts from the stock, and shred roughly with a fork.

Step two: Make the sauce piquant

In a sautee pan, heat the 4 tbsps of olive oil over high heat.
Add the onions, green pepper, jalapenos, garlic, thyme and oregano.
Season with salt and pepper to taste (I prefer the pepper).
Saute for two minutes, or at least until the onions turn clear.
Stir in tomatoes, bay leaves, Creole seasoning to taste, pinch of crushed red pepper and 1 quart of the remaining stock.
Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes.
Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove from heat and transfer this mixture to a blender and drizzle the 1/2 cup of oil into the mix while it’s running.
Transfer to crock-pot or whatever vessel you choose and stir in parsley and chicken.

Voila!

I loosely based this on an Emeril recipe for sauce piquant, but despite my loathing for that guy, I did think in my head “BLAM!” as I threw in the jalapenos. Note: yes, I know he says BAM, but BLAM is much more awesome.

Holly brought over some tasty Vegan Chili last night — it was scrum-diddly-umptious!

I Can’t Believe this is Vegan Chili

from Holly B.

Ingredients:
2 cans of beans (I used one can black, one can chili)
2 cans of diced tomatoes (one can was seasoned with garlic and green peppers)
1 can of sweet corn
Do not drain any of the cans
Half/package of veggie grillers (you can do it with less, but I wouldn’t add more–too gassy!) :)
1/4 of an onion (non-sweet)
3 dashes of salt
dried, crushed basil to taste
4 dashes garlic powder
one packet chili seasoning (I used vegetarian chili seasoning, found it at Wild Oats)
2 dashes cracked pepper
2 dashes lemon pepper
2 dashes ground pepper

Combine everything in a pot and cook on medium high heat, until hot
Reduce heat to medium and let simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally
Remove from heat
Add 1/2 cup of Minute Rice, or already cooked rice. Minute Rice must sit in chili for about 10 minutes before being edible.
Add water if Rice absorbs too much liquid. Heat as needed.
Serve and enjoy! :)