TwD:BwJ: Popovers

Still running late, but better late than never! These were really good and super easy! I decided to use them as the bread for chicken salad and they worked perfectly. Mine didn't pop up really big, but that might have been due to the 1% milk, but they tasted good and went really well with chicken salad! I also had some issues with them sticking and I really buttered them.

Buttered they heck out of them and they still stuck (oh well)

Too cute!

So yummy!

Great recipe, very adaptable and fun! Thanks to our awesome hosts this week: Paula and Amy!  Can't wait to look at everyone's posts, it is supposed to rain all weekend, so perfect to catch up on blogging!

TwD:BwJ: Happy 100th Julia!

Happy 100th Birthday Julia! I first got really interested in Julia Child when I read Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. I had heard of her before and even watched a couple shows, but after I read that book, I wanted to cook my way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volumes I and II... that didn't happen (yet), but I have enjoyed several recipes since then.

On a side note, it was been a pretty rough week at work, so it was very therapeutic to cook today. In celebration, I broke out my favorite awesome Le Creuset Dutch oven and I made Leek and Potato soup for lunch (so amazing and soul-soothing) and Moules Mariniere for dinner. Both were just what I needed today and was a great way to start a couple days off! I also started her Country Buttermilk Rye Bread and will finish that tomorrow.

Lunch:

Beautiful leeks and potatoes

Grilled cheese and soup!

Dinner:

Yum... Mussels

Perfect, mussels, peas and wine!

Berry Galette:

I totally flaked on posting this last week, so I am adding it into this post! This was perfect, I used the leftover dough from the Blueberry Nectarine pie and threw in some peaches and strawberries.

Fruit, dough, and butter!

Gorgeous!

My hubby and I loved this! We ate some of it for dessert and then finished it as a late-night snack!

FFwD: Tomato-Cheese Tartlets

Woohoo, I am actually posting on Friday! This weekend will be catch up on everyone's blogs weekend, can't wait to see what sort of yummies everyone has cooked/ baked! But onto these tarts, they were so good! I made a few changes, I added some squash, roasted both the squash and tomatoes, and made one big tart. I used a kalmata and garlic tampenade (I was going to make my own, but ran out of time). Wow, this was definitely a repeat, both hubby and I thought it was awesome! Can't wait to make it again!

My pretty slices all ready to roast!

Pricked the heck out of the puff pastry

Ready to be warmed up, so diagonal!

All cut up and ready to eat!

So yummy!

TwD:BwJ: Blueberry Nectarine Pie

I love pie! Especially fruit pies, and this one was awesome! The crust was a definite keeper recipe, I plan on using it from now on, so flaky and good. I ended up only using the bottom crust and folding the edges around the top. The addition of the lemon zest and lemon juice really complimented the flavors and didn't let the pie get too sweet. It worked out really good!

Heating up the fruit

My darling helper, rolling out pie crust!

Dotted with butter, brushed with egg wash, sprinkled with sugar!

Fresh out of the oven!

I served this with some vanilla ice cream and it was perfect, even perfect a couple days later!

Lots of thanks to our hosts this week: Liz and Hillary, they made some beautiful pies!

FFwD: Lemon Barley Pilaf

I had not used barley before for anything other than beef and barley stew, so I was excited to try this. It turned out really good, I had a good amount of liquid, so I decided to treat it like risotto and add in some Parmesan cheese, it added a great taste and thickened it up nicely!

I will definitely use barley like this again, such a quick and versatile recipe!

TwD:BwJ: Semolina Bread

Other than running a bit late on posting, this recipe turned out really good! I had a lot of other stuff to do that day, so the multiple rises worked out fine. The Semolina flour gave the bread an interesting flavor. I cut the salt down a little bit, but not much, and I didn't use a razor blade, just a paring knife and that worked. Both my hubby and I really liked this and I will be making some again soon!

Before rise #3 (I think)

My lovely slashes!

Wonderful with some butter!

Big thanks to this week's hosts, Anna and Renee!

FFwD: Make up Roundup

Well, it has been a couple of weeks, and they have been some crazy weeks! We are finally moved, the weekend we moved, it was the hottest yet and we lost electricity for over 2 days. Yeah, we felt like we were going to spontaneously combust! I have been cooking, but havent' gotten to blog, so today is a make-up day. First up is the Seaweed Sables... they were OK. My husband was not a fan. There was a definite seaweed aftertaste, I think if you like sushi, then these might be for you!

lots of seaweed!

Mixed together

Fresh out of the oven

The next recipe is corn pancakes, not these were really good! Super easy (I had a little helper!) and quick. I also made a squash version also that was also great!

My little angel and his funny face!

Sizzling away in the pan

All kinds of yummy corn goodness!

My final recipe for today was the crunchy ginger cucumbers. One of my coworkers gave me some beautiful cukes from his garden and they worked perfectly! I knew I would like this, but I didn't realize how much, the cukes and just perfect with the ginger, vinegar, and a touch of red pepper. Really refreshing!

Yummy homegrown cukes!

Lovely!

Well that is it for today, I plan on making this weeks recipe this weekend, so hopefully I will link that in a couple days! So happy to be back, hope everyone is doing good, I have missed the blogging and interaction with everyone!