Thai Ginger Chicken Soup

Posted on July 30, 2013

Quick and easy Thai Ginger Chicken Soup!

Ingredients:  

1/2 lb of boneless chicken breast

3 cups coconut milk

2 cups water

1 inch section of ginger thinly sliced

1 to 3 tablespoons of fish sauce

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons of sliced green onions

1 tablespoon of chopped parsley

Prep:  

1.  Cut chicken into thin strips

2.  Bring coconut milk and water to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium low

3.  Add chicken and cook for 3 minutes

4.  Stir in Ginger, fish sauce and lime juice

5.  Sprinkle with green onion and parsley

Summer In Rain

"Rain In Summer"

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

How beautiful is the rain!
After the dust and heat,
In the broad and fiery street,
In the narrow lane,
How beautiful is the rain!
How it clatters along the roofs,
Like the tramp of hoofs!

How it gushes and struggles out
From the throat of the over-flowing spout!
Across the window pane
It pours and pours;
And swift and side,
With a muddy tide,
Like a river down the gutter roars
The rain, the welcome rain!

Summer Eggplant Salad

From Ciao Italia

SERVES 4
The flavor of this eggplant and sun dried tomato salad only gets more intense as it marinates at room temperature and it is best made several hours before serving.

Use small eggplant which have less seeds. Served with crusty bread, this is a perfect and easy summertime dish.

INGREDIENTS
4 small eggplant (each about 5 inches long)
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, cut into small pieces, and oil reserved
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons finely minced parsley
1 tablespoon finely minced mint
Salt to taste
Grinding black pepper to taste
1/2 cup cubed Ricotta Salata cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Lightly oil 2 baking sheets.
3. Trim the stem end of the eggplant and discard. Cut the eggplant into rounds that are 1/4-inch thick and place them in a single layer on the baking sheets. 
4. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes or until the slices are soft and lightly browned. 
5. Transfer the slices immediately with a metal spatula to a cutting board and let cool. Then cut the slices crosswise into 2-inch pieces and transfer them to a medium size bowl.
6. Add the tomatoes and 1/4 cup of the reserved oil to the bowl with the eggplant. Mix to combine, then stir in the vinegar, garlic, parsley, mint, salt and pepper. Mix well. If the eggplant seems dry, add a couple more tablespoons of olive oil.
7. Transfer the mixture to a platter and sprinkle the cheese over the top.
8. Cover and allow the salad to marinate several hours before serving.

A Summer Toast

Love is to the heart what the summer is to the farmer's year -- it brings to harvest all the loveliest flowers of the soul.  Anonymous

Best Baked Beans - Simple Recipe

We had neighbors over for dinner last night and had a great meal.  The neighbors brought deviled eggs, coleslaw and a nice bottle of wine.  My husband made beef brisket on the grill (cooked slow through day) and we had the baked beans below.   Dessert was vanilla ice cream with fresh sliced peaches.   Yum!

Ingredients:

2  28-ounce cans of Bush's Original Baked Beans

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup of ketchup
1 small onion chopped
1 tablespoon of prepared mustard
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire Sauce
1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
2 slices of bacon

Prep: 

Mix all ingredients together except for bacon and place in 9 X 11 baking dish
Cut each piece of uncooked bacon into 3 pieces and place on top of other ingredients
Cook in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour

Best Biscuits

We try to eat healthy at our house most of the time, but when the tomatoes come in,  we treat ourselves to homemade biscuits.   My Mom passed down her recipe.  She would fix them for the kids routinely when we were growing up and we ate them at breakfast with eggs or with her canned blackberries, heated and poured on top.  

Ingredients:  

4 Tbsp of vegetable shortening
2 cups of self-rising flour
3/4 cup of milk (butter milk is good also)

Prep:  

1.  Cut the shortening into the flour with a fork until it resembles coarse meal
2. Pour the milk into the mixture and use fork or clean hands to work the flour in (Do not over mix...just enough to make a soft dough)
3.  Knead on a floured surface 3-4 times until dough is smooth and manageable. I like to use wax paper as surface; this also makes it easy to clean up afterward.
4.  With your hands or rolling pin, flatten dough to abut 1/2 inch and use a floured glass or biscuit cutter to cut biscuits.
5.  Cook in preheated oven at 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes.