Fresh Pesto from the Garden Today

Fresh Made Pesto from Today's Garden Picked Basil.

This morning I spoke with Dave Goss, my best friend Diane's husband the the official pesto maker extraordinary!! He is famous from here to Bloomington, In. where they live for the wonderful pesto he makes each summer. 

This is less than half of Diane's garden starts of Tomatoes and Basil.

Actually they gave me starts this year from their's both, Genovesi and Sweet Basil.  From these I have rooted two additional batches and have lots to cook with.  This is my version of......

Dave's Pesto:

large handful of fresh basil  rinsed and leaves removed from the large stems
3 cloves fresh garlic
juice of 1/2 lemon
handful of walnuts
2 glug, glugs extra virgin olive oil
1/2-3/4 C. Parmesan cheese or Italian cheese blend
pinch of kosher salt
pinch of black pepper

Place all of these ingredients into food processor and whirl until a loose paste like consistency is achieved.  May store in the refrigerator for a couple of days or freeze until ready for use.

Basil Rooting in a Sunny Window.

Warning, the aroma of the basil is so wonderful you may become giddy!! Not to mention the rest of these fresh ingredients!!

Zucchini & Chicken Alfredo Delicious!

Tender pan fried seasoned chicken and oven fried zucchini sits top pasta and are crowned with Alfredo Sauce.

New challenges face us all and that does make life interesting I guess.  I am rethinking what I fix for us to eat because my husband is on blood thinners which interact with vitamin K.  He is recommended not to eat nearly as much salad as we normally would.  Lettuce is down to 1 C. a day and spinach, cabbage, and green peas need to be paid attention to.  These are big items in our diet so I am going to diversify!

There were 3 small zucchini in the refrigerator from last weeks offering from Joe Engelbrecht's Orchard.  So that along with 2 tenderized chicken breasts that were thawed were the inspiration for this meal.  I also wanted to limit the mess and the amount of time I had to spend in the kitchen.  Here is what developed.

Zucchini & Chicken Alfredo:

2 tenderized chicken breasts (have the butcher run them through his tenderizer or pound well with a meat maillot)
2 1/2 C. Panko bread crumbs
1/2 C. grated Parmesan Cheese
1 envelope Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix
3 small zucchini quartered longways and made into 3-4 " lengths
1 C. buttermilk
1 pkg Knorr Alfredo sauce prepared according to package directions.
8 ounces pasta cooked Al dente (I used linguine)
3 T. oil
black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a half sheet pan with heavy duty foil.  Pour the oil onto the foil and grease the whole surface uniformly.  Set aside.

Combine the crumbs, cheese, and Ranch seasoning in a wide shallow dish (pie pan).  Dredge the chicken well on both sides and lay onto the prepared pan.  Dip the zucchini into the buttermilk, then the remaining crumbs.  Place them along side the chicken in the pan.  Sprinkle all with black pepper and bake for 30 minutes.  Then turn each piece carefully and return to the oven for 25-30 minutes more.

Meanwhile prepare the Alfredo sauce and keep it warm atop the stove.  Prepare the pasta according to package directions.  Divide the pasta between two large pasta dishes and top with the chicken and zucchini.  Drizzle desired amount of Alfredo sauce over the two dishes and serve pipping hot with a big napkin!  This was delicious, easy, and made a limited mess.  Yield 2 generous servings.

PS:  This is my new favorite way to prepare zucchini and would be just great plain or with any desired sauce.

Helpful Hint:  Set vegetable oil in a sunny window for a few hours to decrease vitamin K level for special diets.

Old Fashioned Mayonnaise Cake (EASY)

My friend Joyce called me one day this past week to let me know she has resigned from her job and is going to do a bit of traveling.  In the course of the conversation she mentioned "Mayonnaise Cake" and in fact suggested I share that recipe with you.  I remembered it was on a torn 3" x 5" card and after hunting it a good while, here it is!!  I am going to make it right now but first I will type in the recipe to share.

Don't have a clue why I haven't made it for a while.  It is easy and it is really good.  I got the recipe in 1974 from a neighbor, Connie Croyle while we lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  I remember it well as that is when and where our youngest son Joel was born.  (My baby, as I call him, is now 6' 4" grown married man.)

Mayonnaise Cake Ingredients:

1 C. sugar
4 T. cocoa or 2 squares unsweetened chocolate (I use cocoa)
1 C. cold water
1 1/2 t. baking soda
7/8 C. Miracle Whip
2 C. flour
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare a 9' x 13" pan by greasing and flouring it or use baking spray, then set aside.

Stir all of the dry ingredients together and whisk until just combined.  Add the Miracle whip and water and beat a minute or two with an electric mixer. Pour into prepared pan and bake until pick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes.  Cool completely and frost.

I had a little more than a pint of frosting left in the refrigerator from it's use as filling (option #2) in Oatmeal Whoopee Pies on 6/1/12.   I let it come to room temperature and it was just perfect for topping a 9" x 13" cake.

Note:  I have also made this and used Hellman's Mayonnaise ans it was fine.