Feel the Love (Chicken Salad, Lavender Green Tea, and fresh berries)

My girlfriend Shannon has a philosophy for any major purchase: "Feel the Love."

It's okay to spend $100 on a fabulous pair of jeans IF you feel $1oo worth of love. But sometimes, even if something is reduced to $20 from that original $100, and even if it fits, if you're not feeling the love worth the $20, it's not worth buying. Makes sense, doesn't it?

I do that with food. I won't pay $3 for a loaf of factory-processed sliced bread. And occasionally I feel the $4.50 worth of love for the bakery bread I have deemed "magic bread." (Giant's multigrain sandwich bread, it makes the GREATEST toast ever.)

I made a second walk around the farmers market yesterday because I thought I felt the love for the $6.25 fairly large loaf of pecan-raisin bread. It screamed "good toast," "eat me with peanut butter" and "I'm not just bread, I'm dessert." So, I bought it.

Now, remember I spent $40ish total, and this included $15 worth of rabbit. That means 1/2 of what I spent was on two items: a rabbit and a loaf of bread. The rest was produce and spices.

In the same "feel the love" philosophy, I took four organic green tea tea bags and the last two teaspoons or so of my expensive bottle of lavender honey to brew iced tea. (The tea bags were a find at the warehouse club last summer and they're individually wrapped so I don't have to worry about them aging poorly.

Meanwhile, I'm making some plain-style chicken salad to go with the fancy bread. My daughter and I already cut the fresh strawberries (and knowing her, by lunch they may be gone.) I had planned fresh apricot in my chicken salad, but I don't think my apricots are ripe. I slipped a pinch of It's a dilly seasoning, garlic pepper and curry into the cooking chicken.

I sliced and shredded about two cups of chicken, added about two teaspoons of fresh parsley from my garden and at least two, maybe more, teaspoons of fresh chives from my garden.

I lubricated it with 1/2 cup vegan light canola mayonnaise (I hate real mayo, always have. So does my dad). My recipe says 1 cup "dressing" but I thought that would be too wet for the amount of chicken I had, so I added, in addition to the canola mayo, three tablespoons Wegmans ranch yogurt dressing.

I can't wait to serve on the new bread with thin-sliced tomato and red leaf lettuce from the farmers market. I wish it were lunch time.

Brioche and American Brie

My brioche, that I used lavender honey in the sponge, came out as the fluffiest brioche ever. Incredible, delicious, but perhaps too fluffy. We served with American brie, JIF natural peanut butter, Nutelli, Smuckers grape jelly and Trappist seedless raspberry jam.

I mentioned to my friend Jessica, who bought me the French cookbook, that I take my food very seriously.

"I know," she replied. "It's one of the things I like about you."

I froze three batches of dough for more brioche. Each should make slightly more than half of what I have pictured here.

Fancy Dinner with Mark and Julie

Last night, my husband confirmed that our friends Mark and Julie would be coming for dinner... tonight. So, with 24 hours to prepare, I had a dinner party to whip up. This would mark the fourth time this week we went to the grocery store, and I believe our grocery total for the month is about $200 (and it's not even the 15th yet) and we spent $25 on eating out (pizza one night). If I try really hard, I can survive the next two weeks without hitting the store again. And be on budget...

My husband had mentioned croque monsieur to our guests, so they were interested. And I figured it was scrumptious last night so it would be yummy again. And I thought I'd get some raspberries and make some Vouvray-lavender honey sauce to complement them. And a prepackaged salad. A baguette. And voilà, simple multi-course dinner.

And the guests said they'd bring dessert.

I had enough cheesy bread left to make a couple small sandwiches. I needed a little more of everything, so I headed to Wegmans. I spent about $42, way over what I wanted to but I bought double what I intended. Ham, 1 lb., $6. Gruyère, 1/2 pound, $6. smoked gouda, $5. baguette, $2. batard, $2. The salads looked awful, so I opted for a hunk of La Chaume cheese instead ($5). If I couldn't whip up a salad, I'd serve a cheese platter. Two quarts of raspberries, $10. Maille imported French dijon mustard, $4. And my daughter insisted on petit ecolier cookies, $4. Yes, I caved. They're French and dark chocolate.

My husband agreed to stop on his way home for salad. Mark and Julie would get a cake.

Plus a bottle of wine I had on hand means I made dinner for five for $5o. Not so bad...

The recipe for fruit salad with white wine-honey sauce can be found under the "French" link and probably under "Vouvray" too. I followed those basic instructions, cut back the sugar and used only raspberries.

I prepped the sandwiches so they just needed to bake. I got 11 or 12 sandwiches. But my cheese sauce wouldn't thicken so they were a tad dry. I needed another tablespoon flour, but ran out of time.

My daughter set the table with the Royal Doulton Isabella. We got out the silver. We even went to the rose bush and picked the first buds of the spring for a centerpiece. We filled the princess house glasses with water and when the guests arrived there was Vouvray for everyone.

Two types of bread were on the table.
First course: raspberries
Second course: croque monsieur
Third course: Dole Spring Fling Salad with almonds and berry vinagrette dressing
Fourth course: International Cheese Flight of Swiss gruyère, German smoked gouda, French Chaume and New York Extra Sharp Cheddar (from Aldi no less!)
Fifth course: (here's where the courses get funky, order wise) chartreuse
Sixth course: decaf with coffee mate Parisian Almond Cream creamer and strawberry shortcake torte

Full bellies, happy bellies. Very sleepy grown ups...

Honeyed Toast

Today I indulged in pure carbohydrates for breakfast... My homemade cheesy bread toasted with lavender honey. Then we started a discussion of what need to be done today and the need for groceries (grrr... didn't we just go to Wegmans last week?) stares us boldly in the face.

While the grocery budget came in under the target last month, we ate out way more than we should have. So this month I want to maintain vigilance. I had pondered heading to Wegmans, but the reality is, I can't afford the splurges I would buy there. So then I considered Giant. But really, I know I can get a good deal of what we need at Aldi and save some bucks on the basics... so off I go. Wish me luck.

Funky French-inspired Cheesy Bread

After reading with great lust the Joie de Vivre catalog, I got inspired to make some different bread. I retrieved Patricia Well's The Paris Cookbook and opened to her Parmesan Bread. Except, as happens when I mount these expeditions, I didn't confirm I had all the ingredients before I started baking. So I embarked upon my own funky French cheesy bread...

Pain au parmesan (according to Patricia: an ode to Gruyère bread)
Ingedients:
Patricia's
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 and 1/3 cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons extra fine sea salt
3 and 3/4 cups bread flour
3/4 cup parmigiano-reggiano cheese, freshly grated
*egg wash

Mine
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (the way my family eats, it makes sense to double from the start)
1 teaspoon organic sugar
1 teaspoon lavender honey
2 and 2/3 lukewarm water
1 teaspoon idiozed sea salt
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
7.5 cups white flour
about 1/2 cup grated parmesan
about 3/4 cup finely grated extra sharp cheddar
about 3/4 cup grated ricotta salata

*egg wash

1. Combine yeast, sugar (and/or honey if using) and water. Stir to blend. (Patricia recommends using a heavy duty electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. I do everything by hand.) Let stand until foamy, about five minutes.
2. Stir in oil and sea salt.
3. Add flour and cheese all at once. Mix until all the flour has been absorbed and dough forms a ball. Knead four to five minutes until dough is satiny but still firm. The dough should spring back when indented with your finger.
4. Place dough in clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise about an hour until doubled in bulk.
5. Punch dough down and shape into a rectangle. Place in non-stick one quart bread pan. Cover with a cloth and let rise until doubled in bulk, about one hour.
6. Preheat oven to 425.
7. Brush top of dough with an egg wash. With kitchen scissors, snip the dough with tips all over to allow it to expand evenly while baking. You should snip about fifteen times. Place bread on bottom shelf of the oven. (I wonder if the water bowl would help? When cooking baquettes, one places a bowl of water in the oven with the bread. I don't think that would work with egg wash.) Bake until firm and golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. The bread should be firm and golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

NOTE: It says to use a non-stick loaf pan. This is important.

Also, I got four loaves from my doubled recipe. One of which I added garlic pepper and crushed red pepper flakes. I intended that one for myself. I ate a couple slices and my husband finished it.

I served it for lunch with the leftover port salut and cheddar, plus my husband had brought home a chunk of medium brie and a chunck of soft blue from his work wine and cheese party.

Chicken Nuggets with Broccoli

I made a special lunch today since I plan on running away to a special French dinner tonight, so hubby and daughter will have nachos for dinner (a great option when it's 90 degrees).

So, we had some leftover chicken tenders (four) so I cut them into thirds and cooked them in some canola oil, butter and sprinkled on some of my organic rainbow peppercorns. I added two thin slices of garlic. While they cooked, I took some of my homemade breadcrumbs, added the rainbow pepper, garlic powder and my pizza and pasta seasoning. Then I rolled the hot chicken in it. I fried the chicken again. (Yeah, this isn't low-fat.)

Then I sauteed some broccoli in a little oil with about a teaspoon of butter and sprinkled garlic powder on it (I was too tired and hungry to slice fresh). Then, I served with a side of ranch dressing (my ranch was spiked with Frank's Red Hot Sauce) and a dollop of lavender honey in another side. That was fabulous on the chicken.

But I also served some leftover peanut butter and graham crackers leftover from my lunch Friday (which also tasted incredible with the honey.)

And for dessert... a watermelon.

Fruit salad with honey-wine dressing

Today I get to make my fruit salad with honey-Vouvray sauce. I probably spent $35 on this fruit salad, so it is not cheap. $5 worth of strawberrys, $5 worth of raspberries, $2 worth of pears, $2 worth of lemons, $1.69 can of peaches packed in juice, $12 bottle of Vouvray, and $8 bottle of honey.

Okay, so the Vouvray is leftover from an earlier day, and technically the recipe calls for dry white wine. But I like Vouvray.

And the honey was a total splurge, but I had to try it, just once... and this French dinner tonight is a special occasion (which I will be fed a multi-course meal for free).

And hopefully, there will be some fruit leftover for the family...

The recipe comes from the internet. I've never tried it. I think it's from one of the "about" sites. I discovered it last year when I went looking for something for one character to make in one of my novels... And this sounded perfect. And the lavender honey is my addition, since the character at hand is a chef, and he's working in a well-stocked kitchen of someone who loves food.

Fruit with honey-wine sauce
http://frenchfood.about.com/od/salads/r/bastillefruit.htm
The web site recommends this for all your "Bastille Day picnics." Yeah. Alright, well, the exact quote is: "Accompany this luscious fruit salad with a baguette, assorted cheese, and a spicy-sweet sparkling dessert wine for a lovely Bastille Day picnic." Ironically, I tracked the original recipe to double-check the fractions and it added a kiwi. A kiwi isn't very French now, n'est-ce pas?

1/2 cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons plus two teaspoons honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 pint strawberries, hulled
2 pears, cored
2 peaches, pitted
3/4 cup sweet cherries, pitted
1 kiwi (optional)

1. Process the first five ingredients in a blender until smooth. Chill for twenty minutes.
2.Cut fruit and toss with desired amount of dressing.

Now, I bought canned peaches because it is not the right time of year for peaches. For the same reason, I substituted raspberries for cherries. And I am not putting kiwi in a French fruit salad. I already mentioned that I have Vouvray and lavender honey... One review of this recipe suggested that the combination of honey and sugar made it way too sweet, and in light of the fact that I'm also using a sweet wine I will cut back on the honey. Maybe start with two tablespoons plus a teaspoon. But if I add sugar, I'm going to use organic sugar because it seems to have a better flavor. Okay, and my last comment is, am I the only person terrified to attempt "lemon zest?" I always skip it. I don't have a zester, though I do have a mini-grater... Maybe today I'll attempt it.