The Good Plate

Archive for October, 2011

Halloween is my favorite holiday for crafts. There are so many fun projects you can do. Amber is making Zombie Dog Pumpkin for her son’s pumplin contest. I’m sure she’ll win. I decided my theme this year was going to be about dead people, as I already have some Styrofoam I am going to use to make tomb stones.

We started our Halloween project this afternoon. A few weeks ago, I found some Polyethylene Foam laying discarded on the side of the road. As I walked past it, I thought, gee, it kind of looks like a ghost. Well, I went right back, picked it up, and took it home. Then when I was helping at the school a few days later, I found some smaller sheets and took those home, too, thinking I could make smaller ghosts.

So, I thought I would make a bride and a groom, since I still have a lot of tulle left over from making Spane’s First Communion favor bags.

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Recipes In This Post

• Turkey Salad Stuffed Tomato and Avocado

Paula Deen is going to be at Barnes and Noble to do a book signing this evening at 7pm. That made me think of how lucky I am to be living here in Glendale, California. We have things here that you just don’t find everywhere else.

This morning, I went to my favorite store, Best Grocery on Maple, and got two big, red tomatoes, a fat slice of smoked turkey and an avocado. I went home and made a wonderful stuffed tomato salad.

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On September 24, 2011, I gave you the recipe for the Shabby Chic Apple Raisin Crostata, but it did not have any pictures. That crostata was so good I decided to make another one, but this time, I got a combination of raisins and dried cranberries, and instead of pie dough, I bought ready made frozen puff pasty.

This was my first time working with puff pastry, other than making Chicken Cordon Bleu a la Wellington, so this was more of an experiment that anything else. I had enough dough and filling to make a turnovers, too, but, I wasn’t paying attention, and they got a little over cooked. No problem, the others turned out fine, and the over done ones will still get eaten.

Let’s start cooking:

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Mexican Feast

Recipes in this Post

• Mexican Coleslaw
• Black Bean Dip
• White Sauce for Taquitos

This afternoon when I was at the local store, I had a taste for Mexican food. I already had frozen taquitos in my freezer (I’m too lazy to make them myself), so all I needed was avocado. Well, surprise, surprise my little store didn’t have any, so I decided to make the white sauce similar to the fish taco white sauce at Rubio’s.

I also had some cabbage in the refrigerator. I love cabbage and it’s very good with Mexican food. I picked up a can of black beans so I could make the same black bean dip I used for my Black Bean Tacos.

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There is a wonderful restaurant in Glendale, California, called Elena’s Greek Armenian Cuisine that we go to quite frequently. The rice pilaf is just the best, I could eat it every day. Dinners are usually served with a tomato and green Anaheim chili that have been grilled on the barbecue. Often, we don’t finish everything, so I wind up packing up the rice, tomato and chili pepper in a to go box.

In 2010, I threw together a dish for Teacher Appreciation Day at my son, Spane’s elementary school. I was in a rush, and when I was asked later how I made it, I didn’t even remember. In 2012, the PTA is now putting out a cookbook, and I was again asked about that recipe, so I started wracking my brain to figure out what it was.

Tonight, being a Friday, and wanting to use up left overs, but not eat meat, I remembered there was a box from Elena’s in the refrigerator. I also had some corn tortillas, some cheddar cheese, and a half full jar of green enchilada sauce. Serendipitously, while making this, I rediscovered that old recipe!

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Recipes In this Post

• Pasta Fagioli

We all remember Dean Martin singing That’s Amore, either on television if you’re old enough, or in the movie Moonstruck, if you’re not. It was raining here today in Glendale, and I had a PTA meeting to go to, so I thought that soup would be an excellent idea.

When the stars make you drool
Joost-a like pasta fazool
That’s amore
When you dance down the street
With a cloud at your feet, you’re in love
When you walk in a dream
But you know you’re not dreamin’, signore
‘Scusami, but you see
Back in old Napoli, that’s amore

I have a wonderful book, The Mafia Cookbook, where I know I can get very authentic Italian recipes. This soup can either be an appetizer, having very little meat, as it is in the book, or you can add meat like I did and have a full filling meal.

Well, lets get started.

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