Summer Corn -- New Smyrna Beach, FL

I know I just said it… but I mean it. Yall. I’m loving this weather. It’s sheer inspiration!! So I pulled another one out of the ol’ Lauren’s Summer Recipes Pocket.

It’s incredibly simple and yet amazing! So quick and easy too!

Check this one out:

Summer Corn

Source: Can’t remember? Too old and simple

Ingredients:

Corn on the cob

1 onion

1 red pepper

Basil

Oregano

Cut corn off the cob, place in a skillet

Heat olive oil in the skillet, on stovetop

Add chopped onions, red pepper, basil and oregano

Let simmer

Add salt and pepper

Voila!

I know I just said it… but I mean it. Yall. I’m loving this weather. It’s sheer inspiration!! So I pulled another one out of the ol’ Lauren’s Summer Recipes Pocket.

It’s incredibly simple and yet amazing! So quick and easy too!

Check this one out:

Summer Corn

Source: Can’t remember? Too old and simple

Ingredients:

Corn on the cob

1 onion

1 red pepper

Basil

Oregano

Cut corn off the cob, place in a skillet

Heat olive oil in the skillet, on stovetop

Add chopped onions, red pepper, basil and oregano

Let simmer

Add salt and pepper

Voila!

Summer Squash Casserole - Clemson, SC

Can you believe it! It's actually getting to be that time. After what I have concluded may have been the longest winter in the history of, oh, history ...it's warm!

And in my book, warmth calls for scrumptious summer recipes. How I can taste the fresh produce now.  One of my favorites though is comes from the cook book of one of my very best friends, Stahler McKinney. I've known him since we were kids, but as luck would have it we both ended up at Clemson. Sadly, he's a year older, so I had to go all of senior year without my partner in crime, but as luck would have it he loves me enough to lend his Squash Casserole recipe. Though, I guess this means there's no more of my faking not knowing how to cook, just so he'll do all the work. Had to make this little guy all on my own. 

I can say though... it's worth every bite!

SQUASH CASSEROLE:

Source: Stahler McKinney (a good friend and great cook)

SUMMER SQUASH CASSEROLE

Ingredients

• 6 cups large diced yellow squash
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 eggs
• ½ t. basil
• ½ t. oregano
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• Buttered bread crumbs for topping

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Boil the squash in water over medium heat until it has completely broken down, about 15 to 20 minutes. Place the cooked squash in a colander. Squeeze excess moisture from the squash. Set aside.

In a medium size skillet, saute the onion in butter for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and mix all ingredients together except cracker crumbs. Pour mixture into a buttered casserole dish and top with bread crumbs. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Tiger Chili - Clemson, SC

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m so ungodly tired of this cold weather that I’m about to just be sick. It’s exhausting. The layers. The boots. The feeling like if you fall over you may become a not as cute, unintentional impersonation of the little brother in A Christmas Story.

Well, I have something to mildly cheer you up. I’m addicted.

At the USC v. Clemson game, Fall 2012 (yes this past season), I did everything possible to deny that it would be my last home game as a student. Needless to say that by half time I was reluctant to find some food for my small frame. A good friend’s mom is the Clemson Tailgating Mom. I swear Death Valley’s rain-run-off flows through her veins, and I certainly can’t imagine that this Charleston mom has ever missed a game.

But that night, whether it was the influence of some… uh… hot cider, before the game, or just the fact that I hadn’t eaten since lunch – her Chili had never tasted better.

Or so I thought.

The good news, was, I was wrong! And she was sweet enough to leave the recipe here for you and me. It’s easy, and it’s AMAZING.

Novella’s Tiger Tailgate Chili:

Source: Novella Prince

Feeds 8-10

2 pounds ground chuck

1 can kidney beans

1 can pinto beans

1 can black beans

2 cans shoepeg corn (I like to put 3, this is what makes it!)

1 can petite diced tomatoes

1 can rotel tomatoes

2 cups water

2 packages taco seasoning

2 packages dry ranch dressing

Brown meat and drain.

Add all other ingredients and allow to simmer together.

Serve when warm!

Snickerdoodles - Atlantic Beach, NC

Snickerdoodles -- The cold day treat.
Source: Deb Pearleman 
www.smittenkitchen.com

Sorry to the rest of you cookies, but, I pick favorites.... 

and not the 'eeny-meany-miny-mo' way either. No just in the straight up, my mother told me to pick the very best one and you are it way. (Okay so maybe the eeny meany way afterall...)

I've been blessed enough to have learned a valuable lesson early:

When in doubt, turn to Smitten Kitchen.

What's that you say? You haven't heard of Smitten Kitchen?! It's literally the best thing that ever happened to your world. www.smittenkitchen.com is an absolutely brilliant food blog, and I've never found a recipe that I didn't fall for. Deb Pearleman is the author. She takes some of her favorite recipes and tries them repetitively, tweaking one ingredient at a time until she feels it has the perfect soft center, crispy edge, or light consistency. And I mean it when I say she's brilliant.

So my compliments to Deb on this one (and everything else you do, you're my cooking idol.) 

Directions:

Makes three dozen 3 to 4-inch cookies. Your mileage will vary by the size scoop you use.

Ingredients: 

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons (2 stick or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, plus more if needed
2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 400°, with one rack in top third and one rack in bottom third of oven. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper; set aside.

Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs, and beat to combine. Add dry ingredients, and beat to combine. At this point, I chilled the dough for an hour (or you can overnight) before scooping it, because I otherwise found it too difficult to scoop into balls and roll but the original recipe doesn’t find this step neccessary.

Once dough has chilled, in a small bowl, combine remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the ground cinnamon. Use a small ice-cream scoop* to form balls of the dough, and roll in cinnamon sugar. Place about two inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are set in center and begin to crack (they will not brown), about 10 minutes, rotating the baking sheets after five minutes. Transfer the sheets to a wire rack to cool about five minutes before transferring the cookies to the rack. In theory, they can be stored in an airtight container up to one week, but I say good luck wtih that.

* Martha recommends a size 30 (1 1/4 ounce) ice cream scoop but I used a size 40 (3/4 ounce) and they came out 3 to 4 inches across, or plenty huge.

Delicious? Disaster?

...what do you think?

Delicious as always. 

NOE Panini - Florence, Italy (...kinda)

Italy.

My favorite place in the world. (...other than home of course). I've always had a fascination with Italy, why, I couldn't say. But two summers ago, after a bad break up, I was out of here. I decided exactly one day short of a month before leaving that I was going to travel to Italy for 7 weeks, and sail around Greece afterward with a friend who was interning in London. I traveled for a week.5, Au Paired for 6 weeks, and then caught a flight to Athens to meet up with Rebecca.

But in the midst of AuPairing (possibly being one of the hardest challenges I've ever faced), or isolating myself from everything I knew for a prolonged period of time (while carrying a broken heart), something amazing happened.

I fell in love.

And not with a person, thank god. But with a feeling. Independence, happiness, faith. Smiles, pizza ...words that end in -ini. Trains that don't leave on time, or some days at all for that matter. Children complaining in a language I didn't understand. Hand gestures that were intimidating by no rhyme, nor reason.

It was the most amazing time of my life, and I was captivated. I wasn't home long before I was on the first flight back that I could get. And so it began. Italy, part II. Except this time, I was there to study. And not just for 7 weeks, but for 5 months.

It wasn't long before I began exploring the culinary scene in Florence. Grabbing every carb and conjugation I could get. But a few weeks into the semester I found the most incredible panini ever created, at a restaurant called "NOE".

It's a hole in the wall, not big enough to fit 3 people, but they make the most incredible paninis in all of Italy (and therefore, all of the world). None of the sandwiches had names, just numbers written on a piece of parchment, taped to the wall, that looked like it had been there since Machiavelli himself.

Lucca, the owner, and I became fast friends. Frequent visit's'll getcha. I asked many many times, but he refused to tell me the secret sauce on the #9. It was a red paste sauce, spicy as hell, but subtle with a huge kick. "Cayenne?" I'd ask. "Noooo, Loren." "Tomato with jalepeno heat?" "Nooo, Loren."

So in May of 2012 I ate my final #9 and left defeated. Craving. Until a few weeks ago something miraculous happened! My mom called and barely said "hello" before she could spit out "you won't believe this, but I think I figured out the #9 Sauce."

Sure enough, mother knows best. Sriracha!
I made it last night, and though it wasn't Lucca's original, it was pretty damn close. And perfect for this college girl's kitchen.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.

Ingredients:
1 Sub Roll
1 Red Onion
Brie
Turkey (deli meat)

Toast Sub roll until golden brown.
Caramelize onions in pan on stove.
Combine all.

ENJOY!