A Shingle with a Shimmy and a Shake

The second Barefoot Blogger recipe this month is Greek Panzanella Salad.  This Barefoot Contessa Recipe can be found on the Food Network website.  The nice thing about this recipe is that is uses fresh veggies that are currently in season. Red and yellow bell peppers, seedless cukes, cherry tomatos and onion.  The vinaigrette is easy to pull together (what’s better or easier than oil and vinegar?).  I found a nice fresh french loaf at the grocery store and it made nice big toasty croutons.

This was light, fresh and very tasty.  Joe liked it a lot (had seconds!).  His one comment was less bread.  Or no bread.  I told him the bread is what makes in panzanella!  We had the same discussion about baccala the other day.  You need to use salt cod for baccala – or it’s not baccala.  It’s just cod.   Oh well.  I thought the bread was very tasty and a nice contrast to the veggies.  I would definitely make this again.  I did use crumbled feta – I think the recipe actually called for chunks of feta.  I thought the crumbles mixed very nicely with the salad and gave every bite a nice tasty finish.

For July, the Barefoot Bloggers are making Ina’s Blueberry Coffee Cake  Muffins (Barefoot Contessa Family Style page 174 ) and Greek Panzanella Salad.  Unlike in June, I actually got these recipes made before the deadline!!  (a round applause for me!!)   Both were very good and are on the list to make again.  The muffins would be a great breakfast dish when you have company.  Especially with fresh blueberries.  Although they seem to have “fallen” a bit (see the picture) they are still scrumptuous.  The recipe said it made 16, but I got 24!!  All muffin cups were filled to the brim and then some.  I still have a bunch left over, and may bring them into the office tomorrow.  We’ll see how with it I am tomorrow morning!!  I need to save one for Nick who is at camp this week!

I love blueberries in June and July.  So plump and sweet!  The best.  Actually I love all fruit (except papaya).  But I like fruit plain – not a big pie or muffin or cobbler person.   I can make an exception for these however, because they are delicious!

Recognize the Frosty Palace reference?  It’s the diner in the movie “Grease” where all the cool kids hang out after school!  And on the weekends.  And on school nights.  Where all the waitresses know your name (wait . . . that’s another show!).

Last night we did “dinner and a movie” at my house.  We started with a typical diner dinner:  cheeseburgers, fries and coca-cola!  Yum.  No fancy burgers, just meat and cheese please!  American cheese at that.  And cokes in the old time bottles.  Close your eyes and you could be in the back booth at the Frosty Palace!  Minus Frankie Avalon magically appearing to sing to you that is.

Kallie and Thomas had never seen Grease, so it was time to right that wrong.  Nicki and I sang along with all the songs.  It had been a long time since I’d seen the movie.  You never forget the classic songs of your youth.  My sisters and I wore out that sound track.  We all decided that in the event of a remake in which we would star, Nicki would play Rizzo.  Nicholas knew, without any prompting, that Marty is the role for me.  I love Marty!   

We took short intermission right after the drive in scene (“Stranded at the drive in . . . . branded a fool . . . ”) and I made chocolate milk shakes.  Found a recipe on the Food Network site – just wanted to make sure I had the proportions right (or close anyway).  They were so YUMMO!! 

So a fun night overall.

My blogging and my cooking seem to be on vacation these days.  I have made a couple of yummy sweet treats this summer though.

In early June I made this delicious cake!  My first experiment with ganache.  Once I put in the right amount of chocolate, it came out very well.  The recipe was in Bon Appetit.  So ganache is ganache, right?  Always amazing.  The cake itself was so delicious!!  Very moist.  Awesome.  I made this for a birthday in the office.  As you can see, it’s a bit lopsided.  But, still delicious!!  There is a thin layer of raspberry preserves between the layers and on top under the frosting.  I am looking forward to making this again!  The birthday girl took the rest home to share with her family – and it got rave reviews all around!

What to do with an abundance of blueberries?  Make a pie of course!  This pie was a bit experimental.  I used a Trader Joe’s pie crust on this one — one of those already make deals.  Well, it didn’t turn out very well.  The bottom crust really should have been pre-baked.  I’ve never done that before, so I didn’t think to do it this time.  Lesson learned.  The filling was really yummy though!!

It looks lovely though.