BBQ Beef Brisket

Last night I tried out a recipe from Allrecipes.com in preparation for our upcoming big bash on the 4th. My goal is to make something that I can prepare the day before, and this dish fits the bill.

I made a couple of changes to the recipe. First, I did not take the time to let it marinate overnight. It didn't seem to make a difference. I also cut down on the smoke flavoring in the sauce. It was suggested to double the sauce, so I did. There was more than enough! It was tangy and sweet and yummy.

After slicing the meet (after only 4 1/2 hours in the oven, my family was hungry), I put some slices back in the oven with the sauce. The kids ate their meat plain (so tender), and DB and I put our sauce on top. Very good! The meat was so tender. I highly recommend this recipe!

BBQ Beef Brisket

from Allrecipes.com

4 pounds lean beef brisket
2 tablespoons liquid smoke flavoring
1 tablespoon onion salt
1 tablespoon garlic salt

1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup ketchup
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1 tablespoon liquid smoke flavoring
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons mustard powder
salt and pepper to taste

1. Pour liquid smoke over brisket. Rub with onion salt and garlic salt. Roll brisket in foil and refrigerate overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Place brisket in a large roasting pan. Cover and bake for 5 to 6 hours. Remove from oven, cool, and then slice. Put slices back into pan.
3. In a medium saucepan, combine brown sugar, ketchup, butter, water, celery salt, liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt and pepper. Stir, and cook until boiling.

4. Pour sauce over meat slices in pan. Cover and bake for 1 more hour.

Best Banana Bread

For Mother's Day, I treated myself to the most beautiful food processor ever. After much consideration, I chose a Cuisinart.

I have been having lots of fun playing with it. Although I bought this new toy to make savory dishes (mostly hummus), I have made a few sweet treats.

When I bought the food processor, I also bought The Food Processor Bible by Norene Gilletz.

This morning I made her Best Banana Bread (for the 4th time) in my food processor. It's so quick to make! What I love about this recipe is that it only uses 1/4 cup oil. This recipe is also unique because it calls for 3 teaspoons of baking soda, and it's cooked for a very loooong time in a slow oven (275). The bread is darker than most. Because I'm a big fan of the crust, I make four small loaves instead of one large.

Best Banana Bread

from Norene Gilletz

3 medium very ripe bananas (the blacker the better)

1 cup sugar

3 tsp. baking soda

dash salt

2 eggs

1/4 cup oil

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. lemon juice plus milk to equal 1/2 cup (or 1/2 cup buttermilk)

2 Tbsp. ground flax seed or wheat germ (optional)

Using the steel blade in your food processor, process bananas until pureed (15 to 20 seconds). Measure 1 cup banana puree. Add sugar, baking soda and salt; process for 30 seconds. Add eggs and oil and process until blended, about 10 seconds. Pour flour over, then add sour milk or buttermilk. Process 8 to 10 seconds longer, until smooth. Blend in flax seed or wheat germ, if using.

Pour into greased bread pan. Bake on middle rack in preheated 275 degree F oven about 2 1/2 hours, or until loaf tests done.

* I make 4 small loaves instead of one large. I bake these smaller loaves for 1 1/2 hours and it is fine.

Sunburns Without Sun

My kids and I got sunburns yesterday. I'm so embarrassed! I feel so badly. It's their first real burns. We were at the beach for four hours with not a drop of sun the entire day. I am a manic mother when it comes to sunscreen usually. (I was wearing a sweatshirt it was so chilly!) At least we all had a ball. The kids were swimming and boogie boarding.

We brought sandwiches and the usual fare for the beach -- chips, brownies, fruit salad.

I feel like a failure. As my husband said, "Let it go." Am I the worst mother, or what?!

The Joys of Summer Food

Yesterday was a day of eating well for me. For lunch, I was inspired to eat a lunch like Oprah. On one of her shows that I caught recently, she mentioned that she eats turkey sandwiches on Wasa crisps. These crisps are curiously satisfying, crunchy, and only 60 calories each. Her sandwich also had cheese, but I chose to stick with: a couple slices of Boar's Head buffalo turkey, Romaine lettuce, tomato and horseradish mustard. It was delicious! May I recommend the "light rye" flavor of the Wasa crisps. Here's a link to Wasa's site: http://us.wasa.com/wasa/smpage.fwx?page=591&main=products.

For dinner, I steamed some of the vegetables that I bought at the farm stand the other day. Somehow the timing worked out well, and each veggie was the perfect tenderness. It also helps that the veggies were so fresh. I put about 2 inches of water in the bottom of a medium saucepan. When it came to a boil, I added the zucchini and summer squash first. On top of the squash, I layered broccoli florets and red peppers. I threw the cover on and let it boil and steam for about 8 minutes. All they needed was a little salt and pepper.

Of course I didn't just eat vegetables for dinner. I also had a sandwich with tuna on whole wheat. My husband and son had baseball practice.

Zucchini and tomatoes

My husband and I planted five veggies this summer. We planted three tomato plants and two zucchini plants. The zucchini plants are really doing well! There are tons of beautiful zucchini blossoms. The tomato plants, however, are yellow and looking crunchy...not sure why. I've given them plenty of water. Maybe too much? We'll see!

Pesto Margherita Pizza

Using my new food processor, I made pizza dough. I was amazed by how easy it was! I made a double batch of dough which makes 4 good-sized pizzas. I used a recipe that came with my KitchenAid food processor.

I made two pizzas so far. One is this Pesto Margherita Pizza, and the other one has the standard red sauce and shredded mozzarella.

For the Pesto Margherita Pizza, first I lightly baked the crust for about 5 to 10 minutes. After taking the pizza out of the oven, I spread the pesto, and then I placed sliced tomatoes and fresh mozzarella over it. I baked it at 400 on the bottom shelf of the oven until the crust was nicely browned. I used olive oil on the pan, and then I sprinkled some on top of the tomatoes before it hit the oven.

I recommend you salt your tomatoes and let them release their juices before you place them on the pizza.

Herbed Pizza Dough

1 cup water

2 T olive oil

1 package active dry yeast

Water should be 105 to 115 degrees, then stir in yeast and olive oil until dissolved. Set aside.

With dough blade in word bowl add:

3 cups flour

1 ounce freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 t sugar

3/4 t salt

1/2 t dried basil

Process about 10 seconds. With processor running, slowly add yeast mixture. Process 1 1/2 to 2 minutes; dough will form a ball.

Remove dough to greased bowl, turning dough to grease all sides. Cover; let rise in warm place until double in size, about 45 to 60 minutes.

Freshly picked strawberries and peas

Today the kids and I went to our local farmers market and picked strawberries and peas. There were strawberries everywhere! It was hard to stop picking there were so many. Looks like I need to make some strawberry shortcake. I am also tossing around an idea I saw from Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa). She sprinkled her strawberries with a bit of balsamic vinegar, sugar and black pepper. As she would say, "How bad can that be?"

I have since learned that I was supposed to pick smaller pea pods, but I am sure they will still taste good lightly steamed. I also couldn't resist buying "their own" broccoli, hot house tomatoes, zucchini and summer squash.

Don't you just love this adorable "Fresh from the Farmers Market" icon? It's free and available for your use. Check it out at the website http://kitchen-parade-veggieventure.blogspot.com/.