Music meme tag...and a pretty cool food find

Aggie from Aggie's Kitchen tagged me for a music meme! Thanks, Aggie...I think it's fun to hear what everyone is listening to!

Right now you're listening to the most played songs on my Ipod!

Now I want to here what some other bloggers are listening to. Here are the rules...

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your summer (or whatever season). Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they're listening to...

Here it goes...I'm tagging:

Grace from A Southern Grace
Candy from The Courageous Cook
Emiline from Sugar Plum
Deb from Kahakai Kitchen
Allie from Finding Inspiration in Food
Sydney from Diapers and Deadlines
Robin Sue from Big Red Kitchen

Go ahead serenade me!!

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Not too long ago I won a little contest on Veggie Mom's blog Eat your Veggies. It was a box of Pop'rs...what are Pop'rs you ask?

Well...they are a fun "pop rocks" like food additive that you can sprinkle on anything to add a little snap, crackle and flavor. Think Molly McButter meets Pop Rocks. We've been having a lot of fun snap crackling our foods all week.

We've added Cinnamon Pop'rs to pancakes...
We've added Color Burst Pop'rs to mango slices...
Taco Pop'rs to popcorn, Butter Pop'rs to broccoli and green beans, Buffalo Pop'rs to our turkey sandwiches! It says on the bottles that they have vitamins added which is an extra bonus, but we (especially the kids) just liked the crackling! I don't think they are available in the supermarket yet, but I'm sure Veggie Mom will let us know when they are. Thanks for the fun treat, Veggie Mom!

Rosemary-Cheddar Potato Frittata

Not everyone has a green thumb.

Some people, and I must count myself among those people, can't grow anything. My mother (Rosemary) had a serious green thumb-we're talking Johnny Appleseed on crack green thumb; she could literally toss some seeds onto the ground and a few weeks later would have a spectacular garden. Not me. Frankly I'm just grateful we have a lawn.

Thankfully this time of year supermarkets are overflowing with the fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs that other green thumb blessed individuals have grown so that people such as myself don't have to feel so bad for our green thumb deficiencies. Today I picked up some fresh, fragrant rosemary-my favorite herb for many reasons: its pungent flavor, it's herby Christmas-tree like smell but mostly because it reminds me of my mother and her incredible green thumb.

Here are some tips for selecting fresh rosemary in the supermarket:

• Make sure the leaves are a bright green with no black leaves.
• Look for stalks that are tender and not brittle.
• Fresh rosemary should have a strong evergreen like smell.
• Fresh rosemary stalks make great skewers for grilling, just look for firm stems.
• If your supermarket doesn't have fresh rosemary and you need to substitute dried, use 1 teaspoon of dried for every tablespoon of fresh.

Rosemary-Cheddar Potato Frittata

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

2 cups 1/2-inch diced potatoes

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary

6 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup diced extra sharp cheddar cheese

Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a shallow 10-inch non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the potatoes, shallot, salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon of the rosemary. Spread the potatoes in an even layer in the pan. Cook the potatoes, stirring frequently, until tender-about 20-25 minutes.

Preheat a broiler.

Stir in the eggs, cheddar cheese and the remaining tablespoon of rosemary; reduce the heat to low and cook, covered, for 15 minutes. Remove the lid and place under the broiler for 5 minutes or until very lightly browned on top.

Run a rubber spatula around the edge of the pan to loosen, then slide the frittata onto a serving plate; cut into wedges to serve. Garnish if desired with additional rosemary.

Yield: 8 servings

Tomato, Avocado & Mozzarella Stack with Mango-Cilantro Dressing

My next door neighbor told me once (in her delightful British accent) that she hates when she makes a recipe that calls for some particular ingredient, say cilantro, and you only use a bit of it. But when you are at the supermarket you can't just buy a bit of it you need to buy the whole bunch. What are you to do with all the leftover cilantro?

My most recent recipe was for a grilled scallop salad that was drizzled with a cilantro dressing. Well, I had quite a bit of leftover cilantro and when I bought the mangoes they were 3 for $4.00 So I have one of those left as well. In the interest of not wasting food I thought I would put something together that would make good use of the leftovers.

This salad calls for fresh mozzarella. I am fortunate enough to have a (super) supermarket that makes mozzarella cheese fresh right in front of you in the store (it's quite fun to watch). When I bought it the other day it was still warm and wrapped up right in front of me...it melts in your mouth. Basically what I'm trying to say is try if you can to get fresh mozzarella cheese, the texture is just so much better than the prepackaged variety and worth the bit extra you may have to spend.

I thought of this after I ate the salad, but it would have been really good with thin slices of the mango added. The mango in the dressing really made this salad pop-I hope you think so too.

Tomato, Avocado & Mozzarella Stack with Mango-Cilantro Dressing

1 avocado, peeled and thinly sliced

2 Large tomatoes, thinly sliced

8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped

Coarse salt, such as French Grey salt or sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Dressing:

1/4 cup diced mango

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1 tablespoon cilantro

salt and pepper to taste

Fan 4 slices of avocado on each of four salad plates. Layer the tomato and mozzarella cheese (you can add a bit of dressing between each layer if you would like) on top of the avocado, evenly dividing and ending with tomato. Fan 2 small slices of avocado on top of the tomato. Sprinkle each salad with the cilantro and drizzle with a generous amount of the dressing. Season each with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

For the dressing: combine the mango, lime juice, olive oil, shallot, cilantro, salt and pepper in a blender container or small food processor; blend until smooth.

Yield: 4 stacks

Mango Ginger Scallop Salad

One of the highlights of summer for me is taking a ride down to the Connecticut shoreline for Lobster Rolls at Abbotts Lobster in the Rough. It's a quaint, casual restaurant serving all kinds of seafood delights with nothing fried...gobs of melted butter, but nothing fried. We took a ride down there this weekend and enjoyed spicy shrimp corn chowder, crab cakes with some kind of special sauce and the best tasting Lobster Rolls-period.

The weekend put me in a seafood mood so when I went to the supermarket yesterday I was immediately lured over to the seafood case where I selected a pound of plump, white scallops. As I was wheeling my cart away I clumsily dropped my purse on the floor, when I leaned over to pick it up something interesting caught my eye: Callison's Seasoned Skewers. They were tucked on some crazy little shelf at the end of a meat case at about the eye level of a crawling infant.

(Note to supermarket staff: if you want to sell your seasoned skewers how about putting them where someone old enough to operate a grill can see them?).

I crawled over and tossed a package of ginger-mango up into my cart.

I first became familiar with the skewers from Lisa at Jersey Girl Cooks who not long ago whipped up some tasty chicken and zucchini skewers and I've been looking for them ever since...Lisa didn't tell me I would have to crawl around my supermarket to find them.

I anxiously skewered my scallops and allowed them to "season" on the skewer as directed for 15 minutes. Sadly when I lit the grill I realized we were out of gas but my cast iron grill pan made an exceptional fill in. The skewers were fabulous. They imparted a subtle mango-ginger flavor to the scallops which was just right. They served as the centerpiece for a Mango Ginger Scallop Salad with a Mango Cilantro dressing. You can substitute regular skewers if you can't find the seasoned ones...hopefully your supermarket will have them on a high shelf.

Mango Ginger Scallop Salad

1 pound scallops, patted dry and seasoned lightly with salt and pepper

cooking spray

seasoned skewers

6 cups shredded Romaine lettuce

1 large mango peeled and thinly sliced

1 avocado, peeled and thinly sliced

Dressing:

1/4 cup diced mango

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1 tablespoon cilantro

salt and pepper to taste

Thread the scallops onto skewers and let season for 15 minutes.

Preheat a grill or grill pan to medium high heat. Lightly spray grill rack or pan with cooking spray. Grill scallops for 4 minutes then turn over and grill an additional 4-5 minutes.

Divide lettuce between salad plates and fan mango and avocado over. Place a scallop skewer on each salad. Drizzle with the dressing.

To prepare the dressing: in a small food processor combine the mango, lime juice, olive oil, shallot, cilantro, salt and pepper; process until smooth.

Go ahead poke your fork in

The Clean Plate Club

Barefoot Bloggers: Smoked Salmon Dip with a Tasty Glitch

It's barefoot Thursday!

Today is the day when Barefoot Bloggers around the blogosphere prepare a recipe from The Barefoot Contessa Ina Garten. Today's recipe was selected by Ashley of The Spicy Skillet . Ashley chose Smoked Salmon Dip.

Well, I shopped late last night at Whole Foods Market right after my son's night time baseball game under the lights. It was 9:45 and the store was closing so I rushed around like a mad woman to gather my ingredients. No surprise here, but when I went to make the dip I realized that I forgot the cream cheese...only the base of whole dip!

After a quick scan of the fridge I spied a package of Boursin Pepper Gournay Cheese-close enough! So with a couple of adjustments we were in business for the dip! My little glitch I thought turned our rather tasty.

Smoked Salmon Dip (desperately) adapted from The Barefoot Contessa

1 (5.2 ounce) package Boursin Pepper Gournay Cheese

1/3 cup sour cream

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 teaspoons fresh dill

1/2 teaspoon fresh horseradish

3 ounces smoked salmon, minced

Place the cheese, sour cream, lemon juice, dill and horse radish in the bowl of a food processor; process until smooth. Add the salmon and pulse until combined. Serve with crudites or crackers.

Sugar Rush

I have a sweet tooth. I'm not ashamed to admit it. And quite honestly I'm not too particular about what kind of sweet. I love candy. I enjoy cakes, cupcakes, cookies. I like natural sugar sources like fruits and fruit juices (not nearly as much as candy and cakes, but hey I'm trying).

When I was emptying my cabinets for my recent kitchen makeover I found an enormous amount (ok maybe not enormous, but a lot) of sugar buried in the back of my once very inefficient kitchen cabinets. I promptly removed sugar from my supermarket shopping list and started baking.

I still have a 2 bags of confectioner's sugar and one bag of brown sugar. Any ideas of what else I can make to use them up??

Black and White Blondies

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 1/4 cups dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 large eggs

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 9x13 inch baking pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat together the butter, cream cheese and the sugar for 3 minutes; scrape down the bowl as needed.

Add the vanilla and the eggs and beat for an additional minute.

Whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 35-30 minutes or until the edges are lightly golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the blondies to cool before cutting into 16 squares. Prepare the icing.

White Icing

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

1/2 teaspoon corn syrup

1/8 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

2-3 teaspoons milk

Black Icing

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

1/2 teaspoon corn syrup

1/8 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

3 teaspoons cocoa powder

3-4 teaspoons milk

In two separate bowls combine the icing ingredients. Spread a thin layer of each icing on one half of each blondie. Let harden before serving.

Bagels , Pizza Dip and Whine

No one makes pizza and bagels like they do in New York.

I have heard it has to do with the water, but who knows? Can water really make that much of a difference? All I know is that, as a former New Yorker, the two things I always find myself longing for are New York bagels: slightly chewy with a slight (very slight) crisp outside and New York pizza: tender crisp crust with the perfect ratio of cheese to sauce.

When it comes to pizza, most people I ask around here in Connecticut seem to prefer thick crust pizza with lots of sauce and cheese-it's fork and knife pizza and frankly I don't want any part of that. If you can't fold it and eat it on the run, what's the point? So for decent pizza, a trip to New York is pretty much required. (Although a recently opened Pepe's Pizza in Manchester, CT -originating on Wooster St. in New Haven- has shown great promise.)

On the bagel front, It's possible to get a fairly decent substitute for New York style bagels in our local supermarket or Whole Foods Market. Not the same mind you, but a fairly good stand in. Just be sure to give the bagels a little squeeze (please use the tissue paper or tongs for goodness sake though) just to make sure they are fresh. I often dream that one day some "city tired" bagel maker or pizza man will wander up Interstate 91 and make a new home for himself in Connecticut. (While they're coming if they could bring along an authentic Greek Queens diner owner that would be great too).

Our book group recently had a movie night to which I brought a pizza dip (technically a New England style pizza without the crust-lots of sauce and cheese). I love this recipe because it covers my two most frequent cravings with one appetizer. The dip is pretty common and there are countless variations-I can't say for sure where it originated I have just always made it.

When I first started making the dip I would use French bread as the dipper; but I have since found that bagels, because they are a bit sturdier, hold up best with the thick cheese and pepperoni in the dip. Try to find Italian seasoned, Asiago cheese or Parmesan cheese bagels for best results. Better yet, if you can journey to New York-since their bagels are perfect-then any flavor bagel will do.

Pizza Dip with Bagels

12 ounces (1 1/2 packages) cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup sour cream

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/2 cup pizza sauce or favorite tomato sauce

1 cup small diced pepperoni

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

2-3 large bagels, cut into 1/4 inch thick circles or slices

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium sized bowl combine the cream cheese, sour cream and Italian seasoning. Spread into the bottom of a small pie plate or shallow baking dish.

Spread the sauce in an even layer over the cheese. Top the sauce with the pepperoni, basil and the mozzarella cheese. Bake in the center of the oven for 15-20 minutes or until brown and bubbly. Allow dip to cool slightly before serving; serve with the bagel slices.

Note: there are countless pizza toppings you can substitute or add to the pepperoni-that's just our favorite-experiment and enjoy!