Easy dessert

[Deleted]

Here is something I always do using ricota cheese.

A good size scoop of ricota in a bowl then top it with a marmelaid or berries or jam. It's real good and all protein.

[chris]

another easy dessert (fruit salad) white grapes removed from stem, about 1 #, pint of blueberries and and a small container of sour cream. Mix all together and chill overnight and eat....it looks nothing like when you mixed it. and is delish!!!!

[Deleted]

That sound good. Do I have to peel the grapes!

[chris]

;D Alan...you just take the grapes off the stems and wash the grapes and blueberries and mix with the sour cream and chill first.

[Deleted]

Chris, I am going to try this on Thursday. But what do I "chill first" the grapes or blueberries or sour cream. I thought it might be the fruit so they don't make the sour cream runny.

I was going to make this for Friday but I don't eat meat on Friday. And cream comes from cows and they are meat.

[Clipper]

Wow Alan. I didn't know that dairy was part of the Friday fast for Catholics. My grandmother was a very devout Catholic and attended mass every day. She lived across from St Francis and walked over for mass each morning. When gramp was alive and they lived on Main St in Whitesboro, she would take the bus to either St Pauls or St Joseph's. The only time she missed daily mass was when she was sick.

The idea of avoiding dairy on Friday took me aback. Is that a custom more among brothers in a monastary dictated by the church, or is it just a personal sacrifice that you yourself make as a Catholic? We had either fish or macaroni and cheese for Friday suppers for as far back as I can remember, except in hot weather when we would sometimes have macaroni salad, and both tuna salad and egg and olive salad sandwiches, piled high on a platter in the middle of the dining room table. She often made her own home made bread or rolls and that made the sandwiches even better. She made great yeast rolls and always made her awesome biscuits in a large cast iron skillet. (In winter the oven was heated with wood and coal with her wood/coal/gas combination stove.) It always seemed that stuff tasted better when she cooked with wood and coal. The breakfasts were wonderful, always cooked in cast iron. The fish dinners were sometimes haddock and sometimes fish we caught. Trout were fried in butter or bacon fat in a skillet, and other fish were deep fried in a cast iron dutch oven in Spry and lard mixture.

Sorry to ramble on. You just brought back some great memories. My grandmother and grandfather had a large house and my grandmother's brother Alex and sister Flora boarded with them year around and in winter my grandmother's other sister stayed there and in Trenton Falls in summer. They had a huge boarding house table in the dining room that seated upwards of 12 and everything was always served in two serving dishes, one for each end of the table. Eating at grandma and grandpa's was always a treat. French Canadian women really know how to cook and bake. She met my grandfather while cooking in a boarding house in Hinckley NY while my gramp and my gram's brother Alex worked for a local logger. They had all migrated from Notre Dame De LaSallette Quebec.

[Clipper]

Alan, I was browsing about earlier and saw a recipe for your kale. You make a ceasar's salad with kale as the green, sprinkled with pecan or walnut pieces and white seedless grapes, sliced in half and some crumbled feta cheese. Dress it with either a purchased or home made ceasar dressing, or the dressing of your choice.

[Clipper]

I will definitely try your recipe for ricota with berries or jam. I just finished eating a bowl of plain greek yogurt with farm fresh stawberries just sliced in half and sprinkled with sugar. The guy says that we only have a few more days that they will be picking here. We have accumulated about 20 quarts in the freezer plus what we have been eating daily. I occasionally will treat myself to a small dish of strawberries mixed with a sliced banana for breakfast. It's a great accompaniment to a bowl of hot oatmeal with brown sugar. Do you use the standard ricota such as Kathy uses in her cheesecakes and stuffed manocotti, or do you buy mascarpone? I buy the mascarpone for Kathy's cheesecakes when I see it, but it is not always available here in the South. Doesn't seem to be much of an Italian culture here. It is very difficult to find a decent Italian restaurant or any good Italian ingredients to cook with.

[kit]

Alan,
Don't peel the grapes... just wash them. Mix the fruit with the sour cream, then put it in the refrigerator overnight. (It's also very good if you mix in a couple of tablespoons of wheat germ)

[Deleted]

Jun 17, 2013 18:32:17 GMT -5 Clipper said:

Wow Alan. I didn't know that dairy was part of the Friday fast for Catholics. My grandmother was a very devout Catholic and attended mass every day. She lived across from St Francis and walked over for mass each morning. When gramp was alive and they lived on Main St in Whitesboro, she would take the bus to either St Pauls or St Joseph's. The only time she missed daily mass was when she was sick.

The idea of avoiding dairy on Friday took me aback. Is that a custom more among brothers in a monastary dictated by the church, or is it just a personal sacrifice that you yourself make as a Catholic? We had either fish or macaroni and cheese for Friday suppers for as far back as I can remember, except in hot weather when we would sometimes have macaroni salad, and both tuna salad and egg and olive salad sandwiches, piled high on a platter in the middle of the dining room table. She often made her own home made bread or rolls and that made the sandwiches even better. She made great yeast rolls and always made her awesome biscuits in a large cast iron skillet. (In winter the oven was heated with wood and coal with her wood/coal/gas combination stove.) It always seemed that stuff tasted better when she cooked with wood and coal. The breakfasts were wonderful, always cooked in cast iron. The fish dinners were sometimes haddock and sometimes fish we caught. Trout were fried in butter or bacon fat in a skillet, and other fish were deep fried in a cast iron dutch oven in Spry and lard mixture.

Sorry to ramble on. You just brought back some great memories. My grandmother and grandfather had a large house and my grandmother's brother Alex and sister Flora boarded with them year around and in winter my grandmother's other sister stayed there and in Trenton Falls in summer. They had a huge boarding house table in the dining room that seated upwards of 12 and everything was always served in two serving dishes, one for each end of the table. Eating at grandma and grandpa's was always a treat. French Canadian women really know how to cook and bake. She met my grandfather while cooking in a boarding house in Hinckley NY while my gramp and my gram's brother Alex worked for a local logger. They had all migrated from Notre Dame De LaSallette Quebec.

Haha Clipper. The no meat or milk on Friday has absolutely no religious significance for me. There is this health movement I have heard about to have people eat more fish so they came up with meatless Monday. I figured since I eat fish on Friday I would just stay with that. Even my Doctor keeps pushing less use of meat. Actually I mentioned before I don't eat meat generally. I only like tuna once in a ahile, salmon I love and halibot. As for milk I never drank much of that either. I use powered creamer faster and easier to carry than milk.

When I was in the Brotherhood there was no meat on Fridays or Wednesdays. During lent we only ate water and cornbread on Wednesdays and Fridays and all days during Holy Week.

[Deleted]

Jun 17, 2013 21:52:19 GMT -5 Clipper said:

Alan, I was browsing about earlier and saw a recipe for your kale. You make a ceasar's salad with kale as the green, sprinkled with pecan or walnut pieces and white seedless grapes, sliced in half and some crumbled feta cheese. Dress it with either a purchased or home made ceasar dressing, or the dressing of your choice.

Sounds great but I can afford to buy nuts; way to expensive.

[Deleted]

Jun 17, 2013 22:02:11 GMT -5 Clipper said:

I will definitely try your recipe for ricota with berries or jam. I just finished eating a bowl of plain greek yogurt with farm fresh stawberries just sliced in half and sprinkled with sugar. The guy says that we only have a few more days that they will be picking here. We have accumulated about 20 quarts in the freezer plus what we have been eating daily. I occasionally will treat myself to a small dish of strawberries mixed with a sliced banana for breakfast. It's a great accompaniment to a bowl of hot oatmeal with brown sugar. Do you use the standard ricota such as Kathy uses in her cheesecakes and stuffed manocotti, or do you buy mascarpone? I buy the mascarpone for Kathy's cheesecakes when I see it, but it is not always available here in the South. Doesn't seem to be much of an Italian culture here. It is very difficult to find a decent Italian restaurant or any good Italian ingredients to cook with.

I use the standard ricotta. Here is a web site I found that tells how to make ricotta.

www.italianfoodforever.com/

[Clipper]

Thank you very much for THAT link Alan. I will go there often. I never got to the ricotta recipe, but I will find it later. There are over 101 pages of recipes and I went wandering and browsing. We love Italian food and as I said before, it is not readily available here so making it at home is a necessity.

It is quite funny that I assumed that your meatless Fridays were a result of a religious fast of sorts. I too love my fish and seafood, but I am also a highly carnivorous beef and pork eater. My favorite meal is a 1 inch thick ribeye, rubbed, put in the fridge over night, and then marinated for 4 or 5 hours in a store bought lime and chipotle pepper marinade with a teaspoon of crushed garlic and some orange juice added because the bottled marinade is a little on the spicy side. I reserve a 1/2 cup of the marinade to use as a basting sauce while grilling the steak.

I recently bought a basket to contain fish while grilling so it doesn't break up when I grill it. We did use it once so far to grill mahi mahi filets with a ginger glaze. Recipe below:


Original recipe makes 4 servings Change Servings

3 tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root

1 clove garlic, crushed or to taste

2 teaspoons olive oil

4 (6 ounce) mahi mahi fillets

salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

In a shallow glass dish, stir together the honey, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, ginger, garlic and olive oil. Season fish fillets with salt and pepper, and place them into the dish. If the fillets have skin on them, place them skin side down. Cover, and refrigerate for 20 minutes to marinate.
Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove fish from the dish, and reserve marinade. Fry fish for 4 to 6 minutes on each side, turning only once, until fish flakes easily with a fork. Remove fillets to a serving platter and keep warm.
Pour reserved marinade into the skillet, and heat over medium heat until the mixture reduces to a glaze consistently. Spoon glaze over fish, and serve immediately.

It was delicious marinated, grilled over the charcoal,and drizzled with the glaze, but it would also be great fried in a skillet I am sure.

Kathy's favorite is a scampi made with both shrimp and scallops, served over pasta. We use ocean scallops because they are less expensive than bay scallops and hold up to cooking a little better. They cook in the same amount of time that the shrimp does without over cooking and getting tough.

It sounds as though you eat quite healthy Alan. I try to eat balanced, but I DO tend to eat too much meat. I love my sausage with breakfast at least two or three times a week, and roast pork is a staple in this house. Bone-in roasts with a fat cap to keep them juicy and flavorful. I hear my arteries screaming just talking about it.

With beef prices rising, we DO eat more fish and poultry. Cornish hens are an easy way to get a decent portion and individual servings, no muss, no fuss. Simply rub them with oil or shove a little butter under the skin, and add a little spice rub if you like, and put them in the oven.

The nice part about eating fish and other seafood is that the cooking time is short and you can have a very delicious meal in a very short time. Does Utica still have a decent fish market? I know that West End closed, and that was my favorite. I used to have Shirley Scialdo and her mom as passengers on bus charters to the shrines in Canada quite often when I drove for Central NY Coach Lines so I always shopped for my seafood there. Is there still a fish market on Kossuth?

[Deleted]

Jun 18, 2013 13:33:05 GMT -5 Clipper said:

Thank you very much for THAT link Alan. I will go there often. I never got to the ricotta recipe, but I will find it later. There are over 101 pages of recipes and I went wandering and browsing. We love Italian food and as I said before, it is not readily available here so making it at home is a necessity.

It is quite funny that I assumed that your meatless Fridays were a result of a religious fast of sorts. I too love my fish and seafood, but I am also a highly carnivorous beef and pork eater. My favorite meal is a 1 inch thick ribeye, rubbed, put in the fridge over night, and then marinated for 4 or 5 hours in a store bought lime and chipotle pepper marinade with a teaspoon of crushed garlic and some orange juice added because the bottled marinade is a little on the spicy side. I reserve a 1/2 cup of the marinade to use as a basting sauce while grilling the steak.

I recently bought a basket to contain fish while grilling so it doesn't break up when I grill it. We did use it once so far to grill mahi mahi filets with a ginger glaze. Recipe below:


Original recipe makes 4 servings Change Servings

3 tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root

1 clove garlic, crushed or to taste

2 teaspoons olive oil

4 (6 ounce) mahi mahi fillets

salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

In a shallow glass dish, stir together the honey, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, ginger, garlic and olive oil. Season fish fillets with salt and pepper, and place them into the dish. If the fillets have skin on them, place them skin side down. Cover, and refrigerate for 20 minutes to marinate.
Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove fish from the dish, and reserve marinade. Fry fish for 4 to 6 minutes on each side, turning only once, until fish flakes easily with a fork. Remove fillets to a serving platter and keep warm.
Pour reserved marinade into the skillet, and heat over medium heat until the mixture reduces to a glaze consistently. Spoon glaze over fish, and serve immediately.

It was delicious marinated, grilled over the charcoal,and drizzled with the glaze, but it would also be great fried in a skillet I am sure.

Kathy's favorite is a scampi made with both shrimp and scallops, served over pasta. We use ocean scallops because they are less expensive than bay scallops and hold up to cooking a little better. They cook in the same amount of time that the shrimp does without over cooking and getting tough.

It sounds as though you eat quite healthy Alan. I try to eat balanced, but I DO tend to eat too much meat. I love my sausage with breakfast at least two or three times a week, and roast pork is a staple in this house. Bone-in roasts with a fat cap to keep them juicy and flavorful. I hear my arteries screaming just talking about it.

With beef prices rising, we DO eat more fish and poultry. Cornish hens are an easy way to get a decent portion and individual servings, no muss, no fuss. Simply rub them with oil or shove a little butter under the skin, and add a little spice rub if you like, and put them in the oven.

The nice part about eating fish and other seafood is that the cooking time is short and you can have a very delicious meal in a very short time. Does Utica still have a decent fish market? I know that West End closed, and that was my favorite. I used to have Shirley Scialdo and her mom as passengers on bus charters to the shrines in Canada quite often when I drove for Central NY Coach Lines so I always shopped for my seafood there. Is there still a fish market on Kossuth?

Your welcome. I found that link just a few weeks ago. I was looking for something different for supper that night. WHen I found that web site it was around 4PM and it was so interesting to read that before I realized it the time flew by and it was nearly 10PM. So I had a ham sandwich.

I am not sure if Kossuth market is still open. I always loved their fishfry and so did my Mom. I really like scampi and now realize I need to make it again soon. I like your ginger glase and think it would work very well with salmon.

[Clipper]

Although salmon is not one of my favorite fishes, I have had salmon with a similar ginger glaze at a local chinese buffet once. It WAS quite good. I like to cook stir fries and other wok cooked recipes now and then, so we keep ginger root around. I keep both ginger and horseradish roots in the freezer and grate what I need off the root with a grater plate inserted in the food processor or with a microplane. It keeps for months in the freezer. I love horseradish with keilbasa or ham, and also mixed into brown mustard to be used on cold cut sandwiches. I never use enough of it to have the jarred variety stay fresh. It ends up tasting like pickled turnip with no pazzazz after a short time in the fridge, even stored upside down to keep the air out. lol

I have made a ginger glaze somewhat like that, but it was simply grated ginger, honey and soy sauce. No garlic or balsamic vinegar. I added it to stir fried thinly sliced beef with water chestnuts, green pepper strips and onion. I stir fried the beef, removed it from the wok, stir fried the veggies, and while the veggies cooked I added just a miniscule pinch of red pepper flakes to the wok. When the veggies are done, toss the beef back into the wok and quickly stir in the glaze. Toss it around for a few seconds to coat everything and serve it up. Served over steamed white rice it is a delicious supper dish.

PS: I am through with dinner and jeopardy is over, so I will now resume my quest to find the home made ricotta recipe on that website. I also may spend the rest of the evening reading from there. I looks like one that I will use often. That sort of thing interests me. I love to experiment with such things. I once dated an Italian girl from Canastota whose parents were making their own mozzarella one night when I was there. They made a pizza with some of it, and it was to die for. I wish I could remember how they made it. I am sure that I can find a recipe for that too. Maybe even on the same website you gave me.