PAPA CANNIZZARO STRING BEANS

Posted by Suzan Petersen
1)  A bunch of Roma String Beans (they need to be big and flat as shown in the photo below*) 
2)  Three garlic pods smashed
3)  Salt
4)  Olive Oil
5)  Red Wine Vinegar

String Bean preparation:  Cut the ends off and throw out.  Rinse the beans clean.
Take a pot of water adding a pinch or two of salt.  Add smashed garlic and beans.  Bring to a boil; boiling them till the beans are a deep green color.  Remove from stove and drain water out.  Drizzle some olive oil on the bottom of a platter then dump beans along with garlic over.  Add more olive oil to the top.  Stir beans to coat well with the olive oil.  Let set for awhile.  When cooled down to a warm temperature add red wine vinegar (to taste), salt & pepper.  May need to add a little more olive oil.  Red Wine Vinegar should be a light taste.  Serve 
Enjoy ♥
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BENTO BOX LIVING!

Posted by Suzan Petersen
So I was surfing the internet trying to find food storage with separations.  Then I found this site: Laptop Lunches.  What I like about this idea is it's a Bento Box with separate containers so you can bring all your food together and microwave only the items that need to be heated by pulling out the dish.

Now I think that these prices are quite high on this site; but the concept is there.  If you can find a plastic box and fit a number of separate lidded containers within, then you shall have your own homemade Bento Box.

For School
    

For Work
Designer Lunch Date  Casual Lunch Date
Did you know that people collect Bento Boxes.  Check out the group called "Bento Boxes" listed on Flickr for a whole lot of creativity.

Well I'm adding to this blog that I came across another blog that had a whole lot of sites for Bento Box shopping and it's bags to carry them in.  Great info.  I'm heading to the City here in the very near future!
READ

Bento shopping in San Francisco Japantown

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WHAT IS BLURB? Pass on your family recipes with a Blurb Book.

Posted by Suzan Petersen

  So many people do not realize how important it is to pass along those recipes that have been kept over family generations.  I know I've had a few of my mother's recipes that were my favorite that I never learned.  She has since passed on and I will never know or share that memory of comfort food that she shared with us so often.  With that, I want to share with all of you how you can keep those recipes alive throughout your families generations.  
A Blurb Book!  

What is Blurb?
Blurb is a company and community that believes passionately in the joy of books - reading them, making them, sharing them and selling them.

Holding a finished book with your name on the cover is a truly amazing feeling; it's one of those experiences everyone should have. As software people, designers, and publishing professionals at the top of our game, we realized something both incredible and obvious: there's no good reason why it should take tons of time, technical skills, big bucks, or friends in high places to publish a book.  Or a zillion books, for that matter.

So we put our minds together, and developed a creative publishing service simple and smart enough to make anyone an author - every blogger, cook, photographer, parent, traveler, poet, pet owner, marketer, everyone (this means you.)

a lot of us write blogs; I have a few that I write and am just now starting a blog on family favorite recipes.  I figured by the end of the year, what a wonderful gift this will be to pass generations of family recipes on to my family.  So with that said, did you know that Blurb has a way to import your blog within a book?  If not, learn how here:


If you've already discovered Blurb and have created one of your very own recipe books, share yours here within comments.  

Have fun creating!

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Chile Releno Casserole

Posted by Suzan Petersen

So this isn't authentic but it's easy, fast and inexpensive.  For a family of 4 you can easily feed them on this dish for $2.50 each with possibly having leftovers.  I've made this dish for potlucks before and have asked to bring it back on many occasions.  

INGREDIENTS

Non-stick spray
1 Lg can of whole green chilies
Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
1C BisquickÒ
1 Egg
1 16oz Can of stewed tomatoes
1 16oz can Condensed Beef Barley Soup
A Pinch of Paprika to taste

BOTTOM LAYER
1.      Spray a casserole dish with a thin layer of a non-stick spray.  
2.      Take one of the whole green Chile and split it in half cleaning it of its seeds.  Make one layer on the bottom of the dish until you can no longer see the dishes bottom.
3.      Take a handful of cheese and evenly spread over the chilies.  Make sure it’s a very thin layer or you are going to taste more cheese then chile. 
REPEAT this until all the chilies are gone.

TOP LAYER
Blend BisquickÒ, egg and milk until a thin sauce-like consistency. 
Pour a VERY THIN layer over the bottom layer. 
IMPORTANT NOTE:  This top layer will thicken so make sure that your bottom layers are much greater than the sauce you pour on top.  I’ve made it before to where the top layer ran into the bottom layer and it made it a bread consistency and you don’t want that.  You want a casserole consistency with a bread-like topping.SAUCE
1.      Blend together the stewed tomatoes and condensed beef barley soup. 
2.      Add a dash of Paprika.
3.      Put in a sauce pan and heat up prior to serving the Chile Releno Casserole.

Cook casserole for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.   Spoon onto a plate and serve with sauce on top.  

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Wilton's Valentine Cookie Design Pan

Posted by Suzan Petersen



Just in time for Valentines Day and for those that want to get creative, check out Wilton's 6 cavity non-stick heart cookie pan.


Make perfectly-shaped Valentine heart cookies every time! Just press dough into shaped cavities and bake. Each cavity has a fun Valentine design that will appear on your baked cookies! The slick, non-stick surface of this pan provides easy release, so you can give your sweetheart a perfect, sweet treat. Six cavities, each approximately 4 x 3.75 x .25 in. deep.


Only $11.99 and....
Availability: Ships within 1 to 2 business days 
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Take Them A Meal (.com) Incredible Tool - Brilliant Invention

Posted by Suzan Petersen

A friend (thanks Grace) of mine from my gym saw my meal gathering for the passing of my BFF's father and told me about this site.  I checked out Take Them A Meal's website and the first thing I thought was "Whoever invented this site is brilliant!"

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TakeThemAMeal.com is a free online tool for coordinating the delivery of meals to someone in need.  

A meal coordinator is able to create a customized online sign up sheet that makes it easy for friends and family to bring meals. In just a few minutes, phone numbers, driving directions, food allergies, and any other helpful details can be communicated to everyone involved.

TakeThemAMeal.com began when our community came together to meet real needs of a local family. Our desire is to share this tool so others may be helped as well.

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Papa Cannizzaro's Fried Bell Peppers

Posted by Suzan Petersen


I went to the store today and saw that green bell peppers were on sale.  So I bought six large beautiful green peppers.  One of my favorite recipes my father made when I was growing up was his Fried Bell Peppers.  


If you make this dish, comment your review.
Very easy recipe:

  • 6 Green Bell Peppers or as many bellpeppers as you like.  (Remember they shrink as you cook them.  This was perfect for feeding the four of us.)
  • Olive Oil
  • Chopped Garlic (I used three wedges from the bulb)
  • Red Wine Vinegar
  • Salt to taste
  1. Wash and discard all the seeds from the Pepper.
  2. Cut the pepper in one inch pieces (see photo) .
  3. Add Olive Oil to a pan (coating the bottom).  Make sure it's a large pan that you can spread the peppers evenly across the bottom for even cooking.
  4. Add chopped garlic and bell peppers... stirring around.
  5. Add Red Wine Vinegar.  I do it by taste and throughout the cooking.  So I throw some on all round the peppers and stir.  I repeat this probably two more times.
  6. Add salt
  7. Cook this until the peppers are almost charred (see photo).  
Cooking time is about 20-30 minutes depending on how many peppers you have in the pan.  Key is that they are charred and look as they do in the photo.
Enjoy 

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