Deogratias

Virtual Kitchen

We woke up to our first frost this morning, so ready or not, fall is here!

Check out all the great fall recipes at the THE VIRTUAL KITCHEN.  You'll find my New England Clam Chowder and Mile High Strawberry Dessert recipes there, as well as many others!  There are soups, main courses, side dishes and desserts.   

I can't wait to get into the kitchen.  I've already printed out the following recipes:  Mom's Pumkin Spice Cake, Pumkin Chocolate Chip Cookies and Pumpkin Muffins!  Yum!

I'll have to wait till we get back from Target though, because we were boo-ed last night, so we have to pass it on to two more neighbors.  This year I'm ready for the holiday fun!

In Honor of Game 1 of the World Series

Baseball fans that we are, the menu for Wednesday will be:

UPDATE:   We had these dishes tonight (Wednesday) and they were wonderful!  My anti-seafood husband took one look at the clam chowder and said "I'm not eating that!"  He ended up going back for seconds! 

NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER:

• 5 cups bottled clam juice
• 1 stick of margarine
• 1 cup finely diced celery
• 1 cup finely diced onion
• 1/2 cup cooked bacon, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup flour
• 3 1 1/2 oz cans choppped clams
• 2 boiled potatoes
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup light cream
• 1 tsp salt
• black pepper, to taste
• oyster crackers

1. In a large, thick-bottomed pan, heat the clam juice
2. In a separate pan, melt margarine over medium-high heat.  Add celery and onions and saute until they appear translucent (about 3 minutes)
3. Add bacon and flour and stir continuously for another 5 minutes.  This mixture is your roux.
4. Increase heat on juice to medium-high, and with a wire whisk, add roux mixture to liquid.  Stir constantly, and make sure to break up any lumps that may form.
5. Add clams (and the liquid that they are packed in) to chowder and stir.
6. Chop potatoes coarsly and add to chowder.
7. Add milk and light cream and stir.  Add salt.
8. Decrease heat to medium-low.  Simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring very frequently
9. Serve piping hot with black pepper and oyster crackers

My friend Pame suggested that we soak the clams in milk during preparation to take out the "fishy" taste. It worked!

MILE-HIGH STRAWBERRY DESSERT

• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts
• 1/2 cup melted butter

1. Mix all ingredients; spread evenly in 9 inch shallow baking pan
2. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes
3. Let cool and sprinkle 2/3 of crumb mixture in a 1 quart square dish

• 2 egg whites
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup whipping cream, whipped
• 2 T lemon juice
• 2 cups sliced fresh strawberries

1. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, gradually adding sugar.
2. Fold in the whipped cream and remaining ingredients
3. Spoon this over the first mixture of crumbs and smooth out
4. Top with the remainder of the crumb mixture
5. Freeze for 6 hours or overnight

This is from the book Eat Your Way Through the USA by Loree Pettit

UPDATE:  Yum Yum!

Summer Squash

Fresh from the garden to the kitchen.   Add a little butter,  fresh garlic and chives and grill! 

Prepare some hamburgers, and don't forget the cold beer.    My mouth is watering already!  (Sorry I can't seem to figure out how to get the pictures and the captions to line up properly)