Sunday Night Snack Dinner: I Love Cheese

When the hubby is home alone, he often dines on his signature "Snack Dinner".  While he's away this weekend on a baseball road trip, I decided to make my own version of a snack dinner to enjoy lounging on the couch in front of the TV. 

We were supposed to head to the Vermont Cheesemaker's Festival today, but the hubby told me the wrong dates for his trip. Just because that meant no cheese-fest, didn't mean no cheese!  I was happy that our tickets went to good use - after sending out a few tweets someone looking for tickets found me. It wasn't just anyone.  It was Dancing Cow Farmstead Cheese.  They offered to send me a wheel of Bourree cheese as thanks for sending them our tickets.  When I thought about a wheel of cheese, I was picturing a circle of brie cheese sized wheel.  Not quite:

I will be enjoying this cheese for a while.  It is a Bourree cheese, and according to their website, "Bourree is washed rind cheese with an earthy aroma, supple paste and a rich, creamy texture that melts into a beautiful smoky, meaty, lingering finish. Bourree is made from raw cow's milk, uncooled, from only a single milking."

For my snack dinner, I paired it with a crusty baguette, a few slices of monterey jack (cheese fest, after all), sliced bosc pear, cherries, carrots, cucumber, and a homemade yogurt dip.  I poured a glass of YB Wines Rose (my recent purchase from The Urban Grape).  This is a neat wine - organic, packed in a tetra pack. It's not too sweet and not too dry. Easy drinking for a warm summer night and matched well with the simple flavors of my snack dinner.

Next year we'll head to Vermont for the festival.  For now, I'll keep cutting off wedges of cheese and thinking our trip next July.  Anyone want to come over for a snack?

Homemade Yogurt Dip
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon greek seasoning blend
1 teaspoon chopped flat leaf parsley
Juice from a small wedge of lemon

Mix and enjoy!

Guest Post: Renee's Thai Basil Fried Rice

This guest post is brought to you from Renee, my fellow foodie, co-worker, and sorority sister. Thankfully we have similar taste in food. That means a lot of lunchtime leftovers are shared in our office. When we're not bringing in our culinary creations, we can often be found at the local Thai restaurant. Renee decided to try making her favorite Thai dish and this is her recap. You can follow Renee for interesting food, pop-culture, and other tweets at http://twitter.com/renh77 or check out her blog at www.icantlookback.wordpress.com. Without further delay, here she is:

I often get a craving for the amazing Thai Basil Fried Rice from our favorite local take-out joint The Green Pea Pod in Watertown, MA. I am trying to curb these cravings as my new budget means cutting down on take-out. Luckily, one of my favorite ingredients to pick up from my weekly pilgrimage to Russo & Sons is the amazing Thai Basil. I use it in everything! So, improvising I went, and came up with a very simple Thai Basil Fried Rice of my own! It was a great substitute if I do say so myself!

Renee's Thai Basil Fried Rice
3/4 lb chicken breast tenders
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
2 large cloves of thinly sliced garlic (or 4 small cloves)
1 1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1 small red bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 small green bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 small vidalia onion, sliced
1/2 cup chopped Thai basil leaves
3 tablespoons soy sauce (or to taste)
Sriracha (Thai hot sauce)
Water
Olive Oil

In a large pan, heat oil and half of the garlic
Add chicken, sprinkle one side of chicken with seasoning salt
Brown chicken and remove from pan
Add remainder of garlic, when it starts to sizzle add onions
When onions become clear, add both types of peppers
Cook on medium-high heat for about 5 minutes or until peppers are your desired firmness
Reduce heat to medium
Add basil leaves and continue to brown for 2 minutes

Add soy sauce to veggies
Stir continuously until mixture JUST begins to boil
Add Sriracha to your desired heat (NOTE: It is VERY spicy. Know what you are getting into before you dump some in!)

Optional- Chop your cooked chicken into bite size pieces
Add the cooked chicken to the vegetable mixture
Simmer for 2 minutes
Add the cooked brown rice to the mixture
Let simmer, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes
If mixture starts sticking to the bottom of your pan, add 1/8 cup of water at a time

Serve with a cold beverage and enjoy!

SGDMSHJAX8DH

Cooking American Food: Wild Rice Salad

American food was the assignment. The party theme was all-American food and music. My first instinct was to pick up one of my state-themed cookbooks (Missouri, Montana, and Ohio) and pick out an all-American side dish. But when you start reading the recipes, you realize that almost all of the recipes were inspired by non-American cuisine and include many use non-native ingredients. In community cookbooks like these, the recipes included have been passed down through families and most originated in another part of the world.

I closed up the books and starting thinking about what foods are native to this part of the world and what I could put together in a summery side dish to please a big crowd. Since the party was on a weeknight the salad had to be travel friendly (an hour to work and an hour to the party with no refrigeration). And since I didn't know all of the guests I ruled out my favorite herb, cilantro and nuts in case of allergies.

After some thinking I came up with two ingredients - wild rice and cranberries. Wild rice is native to North America - it grows in the Great Lakes region. Cranberries are a product of Massachusetts, so they were an easy choice to throw in.

I perused the cookbook library and really couldn't find a good recipe for what I was looking to make. So I used my American can-do attitude and made up my own recipe!

My weekly trip to the farmers' market yielded a vibrant green bunch of flat-leaf parsley and purple scallions. A quick trip to the grocery store provided the rest of the ingredients - wild rice and celery. Thanks to some delicious free samples, provided to me by Oh!Nuts, I had a bag of dried cranberries in the pantry. The dressing for the salad was made out of ingredients from the fridge and the pantry. As a bonus - this is a very healthy dish! The only fat comes from the oil in the dressing and all the ingredients bring something nutritious to the mix.

The salad was pretty quick to make - while the rice is cooking you can finish all of the other components. It held up well during travel and was a big hit! I lightly dressed the salad the the before the party and put out extra dressing for guests if they wanted more flavor. I will be making this again soon! The wild rice is a great base for a variety ingredients - much like quinoa, barley, or kasha. Perfect for summer lunches and potlucks!

For a recap of all the American inspired dishes and songs, visit the gracious party host's blog Doves and Figs. I forgot to take a picture of the finished product - you'll have to visit Doves and Figs to see the completed salad. Great company, food, drinks, and song!

Summer Wild Rice Salad
Serves 10+ as a side dish

Rice Salad
2 8-ounce bags Quick-cooking Wild Rice (Lundberg Family Farms brand)
1.5 cups celery stalks, washed and diced
1.5 cups dried cranberries
1 cup flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
3-4 scallions, purple (or white) and green parts chopped

Dressing
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Zest from 1 orange
Juice from one orange
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Cook rice according to the package instructions
Remove from the pot when finished and let cool completely
Toss veggies, herbs, and cranberries with the rice (I think using your hands mixes it best)

In a food processor, combine vinegar, honey, mustard, orange zest and juice
Blend, streaming in olive oil until well mixed and frothy

Pour about half the dressing over the rice mixture and toss well
Refrigerate overnight, or until ready to serve
Toss with additional dressing if desired
Garnish with fresh parsley leaves and enjoy!

Summary:
Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
Cook Time: 30-40 minutes (rice)
Pot for rice, spoons, cutting board, knife, measuring cups, food processor, serving bowl and utensils