New (to Me) Blogger on the Block Thursday #24

Dinner’s ready! The surest way to see if spaghetti is done is to throw a strand on the wall. If it sticks, it’s done. Can’t get simpler than that, and it saves burning your tongue on hot pasta. Drives The Husband nuts though, since invariably, I throw it on the wall, see that it’s done, plate dinner and off to the dining room we go, of course, forgetting about the spaghetti on the wall. He usually picks it off the next day for me, when it’s all dried up, and he’s having his morning cup of coffee. Ahhh, that little quirk just makes me, me.

Dinner tonight was a little bit of crockpot cooking at its best. I made an old tried-and-true, Melt in Your Mouth Sausages, served over spaghetti. It could not be simpler to make and the sauce tastes like you slaved all day over it. Although it DOES cook all day, there’s certainly no slaving over the stove here. For a starter, I tried two new recipes, both spreads for crostini. The first one was Pear Gorgonzola Butter from Cooking Light. It was a snap to pull together and tasty, though not a WOW for either me or The Husband. The second one was from Veggie Mealsby Rachael Ray, as part of my Rediscovering My Library segment for this week.

Veggie Meals was originally published in 2001 and was her fourth cookbook. This is actually the first recipe I’ve made from this cookbook, and I definitely should be trying others in this one. Filled with 120 pages of a wide variety of recipes, it’s a perfect primer for ARF/5-A-Day Tuesdays.

And very befitting of the cookbook I chose today, this week’s New (to Me) Blogger on the Block is all about Rachael Ray as well. Everything Rachael Ray is quite simply that. Whether it’s a cookbook or recipe review, a Rachael Ray article sighting or announcement, you’ll find it all on this site. Perfect for a fan like myself.

Alright folks, that’s a wrap for tonight. Until tomorrow…

A year ago today… the Costco Restaurant.

Wild Mushroom Spread
24 crimini mushrooms (baby portobellos)
12 fresh shiitake mushrooms
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
coarse salt and black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup dry sherry
handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley

Wipe mushrooms with damp paper towel and coarsely chop. Heat a skillet over medium to medium-high heat and add butter, olive oil, garlic mushrooms, salt and pepper. Cook mushrooms for 10 minutes, until tender and dark. Add sherry and allow liquid to reduce for 1 minute. Remove from heat and transfer to a food processor. Let mushrooms cool 5-10 minutes before adding parsley and pulse grinding into a paste. Serve with bruschetta.

Pear Gorgonzola Butter
This butter is a nice staple during the holidays on crackers, baked potatoes, or muffins. Make it a few days before the party, and store in the refrigerator.

1/2 cup chopped canned pear halves, drained
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
1 tablespoon (1 ounce) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1 (8-ounce) loaf French bread baguette, cut into 12 slices and toasted

Combine all ingredients except bread in a small bowl; mash with a fork until well blended. Serve with bread.

Yield: 12 servings (serving size: 1 tablespoon butter and 1 bread slice)

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 78(22% from fat); FAT 1.9g (sat 1.3g,mono 0.5g,poly 0.0g); PROTEIN 3g; CHOLESTEROL 6mg; CALCIUM 27mg; SODIUM 186mg; FIBER 0.8g; IRON 0.6mg; CARBOHYDRATE 13g

Lorrie Hulston Corvin
Cooking Light, DECEMBER 2005