Kate's Food Notebook

Small Town Cooking

2010-08-05T12:28:00.001-07:00

We've moved to a much smaller town. Valley City, North Dakota is home to less than 7ooo residents. The University is quite small compared to Old Dominion University. We like it. It is homey and nice.

We are not enjoying the lack of great restaurants. We've found a few in the state. Fargo is home to Juano's and Santa Lucia. Bismarck give us The Walrus. And the best is in Minot, 10 North Main. All offer delicious food when we are on the go. But, as for home, we have been cooking much more often. We purchased a small grill, have hit up the local farmer's market and Roger has even caught some fish for eating. So, this blog is my way to keep track of the delicious food I, or Roger, makes.

My goal is to keep this up to date. Fingers crossed it will work out.

Enjoy reading about my Small Town Cooking.

Sloppy Joe Pizza with Cornbread Crust

2010-08-04T18:43:00.000-07:00

Preheat oven to 450.

2 cups stone-ground cornmeal
4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 Eggs
2 Cups Buttermilk (I use regular milk often)

Beat egg and milk. Add dry ingredients. Beat well.

Put 2 tablespoons of melted butter in the bottom of a 9x13 cake pan. Add batter. Bake for 15 minutes (or until cornbread is done).

While the cornbread is baking.
In skillet, heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Add 1/2 onion (I use red) chopped fine. Brown for a few minutes. Add 1 pound of ground meat (I use turkey). Cook until browned. Add 1/2 cup barbecue sauce and a few squirts of ketchup. Add a little water and cook until it looks like sloppy joes. Remove from heat and add 1 cup frozen or canned corn.

When cornbread is done baking, remove from oven. Cover with sloppy joe mixture. Cover with shredded cheddar cheese and chopped green onions (if you have them). Return to the oven for 5-10 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Let rest for a couple minutes before serving. If I have cilantro, I add that after it comes out of the oven.

*Note--I think you can use 2 boxes of Jiffy cornbread mixes as directed. I can't do that because Roger is gluten intolerant. We love this dish and make it often.

Creamy Parmesan Polenta

2010-08-04T18:36:00.000-07:00

Makes about 4 cups; serves 4

3 cups water (sometimes I use 2 cups of broth and 1 cup of water)
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup polenta (not quick-cooking) or yellow cornmeal (not stone-ground)
1 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (grated parmesan works well--and I only use about 1/2 cup)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring water and salt to a boil in 2-quart heavy nonstick saucepan. Add polenta in a thin stream, whisking constatnly. Cook over moderate heat, whisking, for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer, stirring for 1 minute after every 10 minutes of cooking, until very thick, about 45 minutes total.

Remove polenta from heat and stir in cheese, butter, and salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

*Note--I served this topped with roasted vegetables (peppers, garlic, cauliflower, zucchini, squash, tomatoes, eggplant, onions-whatever you like) and additional Parmesan cheese. It was delicious!

A Return to Cooking--and Blogging

2009-11-22T04:43:00.000-08:00

This past year has been stressful, making it difficult to cook much and quite difficult to find the time to blog about what I have cooked. That should change now. I am managing my 5 public speaking classes quite well and am finding the adventure and joy in the kitchen again.

Yesterday, I made my famous white pizza, with roasted garlic, peppers, red onions, tomatoes and chicken, and of course, fresh basil and fresh mozzarella. I have found a pretty good gluten free pizza crust mix so Roger can enjoy the fruits of my labor. He enjoyed it so much, he ate the pizza before I could take a picture!

I'm hosting a small cocktail party in a couple days and am planning a menu that will be casual but delicious. I can't wait to make the cupcakes! This time, Roger can't share in everything I make, but I hope my guests enjoy.

Hopefully, I'll be on here more with recipes and pictures. I love to cook!

February...Really?

2009-06-16T06:25:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I haven't posted anything here since February. I need to get back into the swing of this. I've been cooking and it's been good. I'll start sharing some recipes later this week. I'm excited to start saving and sharing all the good food stories I have.

Chef Roger

2009-02-11T07:27:00.000-08:00

Since I have been so busy with my thesis work and other homework, Roger has really stepped up and done most of the cooking lately. Last week he made the most delicious garlic shrimp. I loved it. I can't wait to have that again. This week has not been so gourmet, kind of. We had blue cheese and bacon burgers with oven roasted sweet potato fries a couple nights ago. Last night we had rice pasta macaroni and cheese and kielbasa with onions...yummy. I am lucky to have a husband who is not only willing to do the cooking, but is quite talented at cooking. Just one more of the million reasons I have to love him. I think we are hitting Dog N Burger tonight in Ghent. We need a break from the house, so a walk around town and a cheap, greasy dinner will hit the spot.

Pulled Pork and Leftovers

2009-02-08T05:21:00.000-08:00

The end of the week found tired out Roger and Kate. We ended up eating leftovers and bringing home a pizza (from Cogan's with spicy red sauce, yum!) after the opera. Yesterday, I cooked a 5 pound pork butt in the crock pot with a little chicken broth all afternoon. When it was done cooking, I drained the meat, shredded it with forks and added barbecue sauce and a little of the broth and cooked it for about 30 minutes. Roger had been at Pete and Jennie's learning how to home brew beer. I brought the meat and a dip over and Jennie and I put together a tasty little supper. The meat was delicious. I had mine on a roll with some Tobasco sauce. Roger and Ian had Inferno sauce, which was HOT!!! The chips and dip and salad were all good, too. For dessert, Jennie had a plate of dark chocolate (organic) and some Moro blood oranges and some blackberries...all quite good. A few beers for the boys (one for me) and Roger and Jack played a little Rock Band 2. It was a good evening. The food was tasty.

Ribs and Beer Cheese Soup

2009-02-03T07:05:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I made some quite tasty beer cheese soup from a recipe out of a Maine cookbook. It was delicious. Not quite as good as The Grainary made it in Fargo, but since that restaurant is no more, this will have to do. I should have made popcorn to go with it, that was my favorite way to eat it. Last night I warmed up the leftovers for our appetizer soup. It was still yummy.

I baked some spare ribs on Sunday, with plans to eat them that day. But, I didn't feel well and we ate leftovers instead...fun SuperBowl menu, I know. But I baked the ribs by heating the oven to 500 and dousing the ribs in lemon juice and salt and pepper. When I put them in the oven, I turned the temperature down to 300 and let them bake for about 2 hours (I only prepared half a rack). Last night I mixed some bottled barbeque sauce (the kind with NO high fructose corn syrup which I believe is evil) with some chopped onion and jalepeno. I put my new grill pan on high, seared the ribs, added the sauce and cooked it all up. It was so good. I am not the biggest rib fan, but they are good the way I make them. We had a salad with pears, pecans and blue cheese dressing along side. All in all, a pretty good dinner which only took about 20 minutes to put together. Impressive. Roger and I prepared dinner together, which is my FAVORITE way to make dinner, with love!

I'm roasting veggies today to make an Italian dinner. I hope it works out. I have eggplant...yeah!

Sunday Brunch

2009-02-01T07:29:00.000-08:00

For brunch today, I made french toast. I use cinnamon and vanilla for flavor. I had some heavy cream so I added a drop of that. I made the toast with brown rice bread (the best is from Trader Joe's) and it turned out well.

I often make a breakfast dish that I call a mess. It is potatoes and onions browned slightly and then I add sausage until it is all browned. Sometimes I add cheese and eggs for a scrambled mess. Sometimes I serve over easy eggs on top. It just depends on our mood that day. It is always different, yet always delicious.

I didn't have any orange juice, so I will have a half a grapefruit later. I love Sunday brunch.

New Creation

2009-02-01T07:20:00.000-08:00

This is my new creation. I always want to write about the food I cook and the restaurants I love. I don't want to do it in my main blog, so I will start this new blog. Luckily, I have a husband who will voraciously eat anything I prepare (except creamed corn)! I probably should not be dedicating time to this right now, but I will anyway.

Enjoy my new creation.