Sunday, August 27, 2017

Baked Figs with Bacon, Cheese, and Roasted Nuts - MAKE THIS!

This is NOT a recipe blog.  I think that is quite apparent in that, of the 445 entries I have written here, there are only a couple of recipes that appear…  But guys, I have one that I have to share!  You are going to thank me for it (if you make the dish that is).
  
The baked FIGS in the foreground is what you need to make!
But first, a little bit of background.

I like to call David and I “Urban Farmers”.  We live in an urban area, but have a coveted corner lot, meaning YARD SPACE!!  We choose to fill that yard space with STUFF TO EAT – that is, growing fruit and veggies.  We grow these items at our Virginia home:

·         Pears

Pear "in the wild" on our tree!
      ·         Peaches (on a tree named Peachy, naturally!)
Sometimes it is temping to eat peaches right off the tree, but it is best to wait until they are full grown and ripe...
·         Blueberries (this is not true anymore, because we let the bushes get taken over by weeds and strangled, but we WILL grow blueberries again, I swear…)
Don't tell the neighbors, but one year I picked the 1st blueberries of the season on my
birthday before I even had a shower and got dressed!
·         Strawberries (in an old pallet I turned into a strawberry patch!)
This was taken the first year I put in the "strawberry pallet garden" - it is more lush now
·         Figs (on a tree given to us by a stranger who came to our yard sale one year and complimented our peach tree, then went home and came back with the gift of a small fig tree he grew!  We have named it Pudding and it is thriving in our yard!)
PUDDING!  She is loaded with figs this year.  They turn brown when they are ripe.
·         Tomatoes
This is the tomato we had for dinner the night we made the fig recipe, deeelicious
·         Eggplant (pretty striped ones this year, from a plant gifted to us by a kind neighbor)
Produce from the garden, including an eggplant, from last year.  I don't have a
picture of the pretty striped one yet!
·         Hot Peppers
·         Green peppers
·         Lettuce
·         Basil (which did not make it this year…  We were not in town to tend the garden, and the automatic watering system we set up took care of a great crop of WEEDS where it should have been nurturing basil…)
Our annual PESTO MAKING DAY a few years ago - loads and loads of basil!  
·         Parsley (which, sadly, suffered the same fate as the aforementioned basil)

And at our “get-away” beach house in Florida, we grow:
·         Myer Lemons*
·         Persian Limes*
·         Tangerines*
·         Honeybells*
·         Grapefruit*
Farmer Dave with TRIXIE, the magical fruit cocktail tree
·         Papaya (The tree, named Shania, was grown from a SEED!  Our neighbor Carol sprouted several and gave us one.  It has grown really well, but sadly, hers all died…  Awkward…)
Farmer Dave with Shania
Papayas on the tree



















·         Bananas (these are actually on a tree that is between our house and our neighbor’s.  We didn’t plant it, but I am not sure they did either…  It maybe just magically sprung up.  And the house is  rental, and just got rehabbed and flipped, so let’s face it, whoever ends up renting it is not gonna know if those bananas are theirs or ours, so I think it is fair that we try and eat a few, don’t you?)

Don't bananas on the tree look BIZARRE??
*All the tropical fruits listed above with an *ASTERISK* grow on ONE TREE – a magical tree we have named Trixie the Fruit Cocktail Tree!  She is a “hybrid”, growers grafted branches of different fruit trees onto one trunk.  The end results is, voila, TRIXIE!!!

The reason I have given you all of this background on our “farms” comes down to this:  FOOD TASTES BETTER WHEN YOU GROW IT YOURSELF!!!  No lie.  That’s not “fake news”, it is true, man!!!  An heirloom tomato picked, washed, sliced, and gobbled up is the best part of summer really.

So now that we are back in Virginia and settling back into “real life”, we are reaping what we sowed.  And boy is it yummy!!!  So, for dinner the other night, we cooked:  couscous (we did not grow this…) topped with mushrooms and garlic (we also did not grow those), eggplant (from the garden, sliced and cooked in the George Foreman grill), an amazing tomato (from the garden of course) sliced and served with salt, baby broccoli (broccolini) (from Trader Joe’s – reviewed here: Baby Broccoli Review and cooked with olive oil, juice from a Meyer Lemon from our tree, and TJ's Umami Sauce (not yet reviewed) ) and an AMAZING FIG RECIPE David found online!  And that finally brings me to the point of this piece:  YOU NEED TO MAKE THIS RECIPE!

Our dinner plate - the figs were the STARS!
David found the recipe on a website called whiteonricecouple.com

Baked Figs with Bacon, Blue Cheese, Roasted Nuts
Serves 4   Total time 30 minutes

Ingredients:
·         About 8 fresh figs, cut lengthwise in half (ours were from our fig tree, of course!)
·         4 slices cooked bacon, cut into small pieces (3 slices was enough for us, and we used the world’s most amazing bacon, from TJ’s of course, reviewed here: Black Forest Ham Review  )
·         3 – 4 ounces blue cheese or goat cheese, softened and crumbled (we used our favorite feta we have found outside of Greece, TJ’s feta in brine, reviewed here:  Feta in Brine Review )
·         2 Tablespoons finely chopped roasted nuts (pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, etc) (we used some amazing praline pecan bit we scored at “Peach World” in Georgia recently)
·         2 Tablespoons honey

Directions:
·         Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
·         Place cut figs on the lined sheet pan.  If any of the figs do not sit level, make a small flat cut across the bottom of the fit so that it sits flat when you add the toppings. 
·         Top the figs with the crumbled cheese and bacon.  Press the nuts into the cheese to help keep them from falling off.  (Note from Chef David – also try pressing the BACON into the cheese to keep it from falling off.)
·         Bake the figs for 10 -15 minutes or until they are soft, or to your desired texture, and the cheese is melted.  After removing from the oven, drizzle with honey.
·         Enjoy the figs warm or at room temperature.  Serve as an appetizer or spread them on toasted bread.  Serve with your favorite glass of wine (we served them with a lovely Trader Joe’s white wine, Monique (not yet reviewed).

You guys – MAKE THIS.  It is fast and simple, but amazing!!  So delicious!!!  It tastes (and looks) like something you would pay $40 for at some fancy schmancy restaurant, only you make it in your own kitchen and then watch crap reality tv while eating it!!  Perfect!

Enjoy these last few days of summer.  The seasons are changing far too quickly for my liking, but I will keep eating garden tomatoes and pretending it is still summer for as long as I can. 

TO SUMMER!!!



Saturday, August 19, 2017

50 YEAR CELEBRATION!!!

Get.  Out.

You guys - TRADER JOE'S IS 50 YEARS OLD!!!!!!!

Celebration sign at our local Trader Joe's (they also had balloons!)
Honestly, we had no idea.  I am just so thrilled to be back in the land of TJ's (home in Virginia after a long time away), so we went to the store closest to home, in Clarendon, VA.  Look what we saw before we even got on the elevator in the parking garage:

Party at Trader Joe's??  That elevator couldn't come fast enough!!!
PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I tell you, Trader Joe's Clarendon knows how to party!  For starters, they have a guy named GARY who works there who is a musician and he performs!  Like, IN THE STORE!!!  We were lucky enough to see him singing one other time and it was great.  Sadly, today we were there at the wrong time, but he was setting up as we left and he gave us a sneak peek at his set list:  all songs from 1967!!!  (Get it??  50 year anniversary, songs from 50 years ago...  Gary is clever that way!!) We are going to try and go back tomorrow and see him play.

They also are having a drawing where we miiiight win a great give bag full of TJ's merch or a gift card (fingers crossed...).

Also super cool, the employees all had 50 year TJ's t-shirts.  But ULTRA COOL was Kara, who went out of her way to totally bedazzle the hell out of her shirt!

Each letter is BEDAZZELED!  Seriously, I love it.  Adorable!

She even blinged up the BACK!






































Seriously, the shininess of the shirt helped with the party vibe!!!

















And guess what??  There are items on sale for .50 cents!!!  I mean, wowsa!!!

2 days only - 50 cent stuff!

 
For .50 cents each we got:

A baguette (which we are taking with us for a pre-show picnic when we see the remarkable David Sedaris perform tonight!).

Ooooh lala - a cheap baguette!
Get it while you can!
A mango.

Now that's CHEAP!
Spaghetti.

You HAVE to have spaghetti in the cupboard at all times, right?
Get some while it is on sale!
3 avocados (.50 cents each) which David was so psyched about that he juggled them.

Wheeeee!  AVOCADOS!
Corn.

And, get this, we got a dozen eggs, normally $1.29, BUT TODAY AND TOMORROW FIFTY CENTS!

Looks like we were not the only ones grabbing eggs
BARGAIN!
Now, I can't promise you that YOUR Trader Joe's will have these same items on sale.  Apparently each store is having special deals on different things.

And I certainly can't promise you the dulcet tones of Gary (cuz there is only one Gary...) or the blingy shirt of Kara (again, only one Kara...).  But I still say - YOU NEED TO GO TO YOUR TRADER JOE'S TONIGHT OR TOMORROW (August 19th and 20th, 2017) TO CELEBRATE 50 YEARS OF JOE.

Cuz you know as well as I do, that deserves a party.


Sunday, August 6, 2017

Organic Roasted and Salted Valencia Peanuts

I like peanuts, but not like DAVID likes peanuts.  I mean, David pretty much adores peanuts.  I am not sure what it is about them, but his eyes light up when he sees them in the store 😊 .  And that is why I am letting HIM review these nuts and not me.  Cuz he is the PEANUT EXPERT in our household.  I mean, just LOOK at that smile on his face the day we bought these Valencia Peanuts – he is in love and he hasn’t even opened the package yet!!

David, lovingly holding a bag of peanuts he has never tried before

 Alas, the love was not to last.  Here is his review:

Valencia Peanuts
“Well, these may be organic, and they may say they are ‘roasted and salted’, but my opinion is they are not roasted or salted enough.  So, I would say: these are tasty enough if you like kind of raw-ish peanuts.  I am gonna go ahead and roast ‘em a bit more.” 

(Susan here:  well having to roast them yourself seems like a boatload of extra work for peanuts you buy to just eat out of the bag while you are drinking Pepsi and watching engrossing tv such as, “Undercover Boss” (please note the sarcasm intended in using the phrase “engrossing tv” with this show…), which, by the way, has totally jumped the shark and had a ridiculous episode on last night!  Did you see it?   The head of a company we had never heard of, Armando Montelongo, was on, and his “disguise” was hilarious!!!  He looked like he was wearing a really cheap Halloween costume from the Dollar Store!  But I digress…  Let’s get back to David’s review.)

THIS was his "disguise".  You tell me ANY employee would be tricked by this.
I mean, I think the guy next to him on the subway would know it was a costume!!  I sure would.
David:  “I will either roast and salt them myself, which does sound like a lot of work, or I might just keep eatin’ them…”

Susan:  I notice that these have the red skins on them like the ones you love, Spanish peanuts, in the blue can made by Planters.

David:  “I DO like the skins, but these are not as tasty as the canned Planter’s red skin nuts.  Maybe I will throw these in some dish where I fry them up in a stir fry or something.  I would like these, but they are not roasted and salted enough.  I will give these a 3.5.”

Indeed, left to his own resources, David would most certainly just "keep eatin' " these peanuts.
Susan:  I must point out a hilarious thing about the packaging for these Valencia Peanuts.  Look at the note by the nutritional label:

A bag of peanuts "CONTAINS PEANUT".  You don't say....
What???  They have to write, in bold letters, “CONTAINS PEANUT”.  Look, I am not one to say that the world is too “politically correct”.  I, in fact, do my best to conform to the currently preferred terminology for stuff and wouldn't be surprised if behind my back folks call me a "snowflake".  But do they REALLY need to write that a package of PEANUTS, a SEE-THROUGH bag of PEANUTS, contains PEANUTS???  I guess it could be worse, it could say, “May contain peanuts”.  I would just hope that if someone is allergic to peanuts, they would know to steer clear of a product named “Valencia Peanuts” without having to check the packaging to see if it “contains peanuts”.   I’m just sayin’…

Not expensive, but also not roasted or salted enough.
Price: $2.99

Rating:  3.5