Easter at the Dancing Dog Ranch

05.02.11

This week, I’m going to try something entirely different. I’m going to share one of my favorite recipes with you. If it goes okay, I’ll keep sharing recipes occasionally. But first, let’s find out while I feel the need to attempt a food blog at all.

Easter Dinner

I had a lovely Easter with some friends that came over for dinner. As you can tell, we ate like a bunch of kings. William and Katherine wish they had it so good. Overall, it was a pretty healthy dinner with a couple of things fresh out of the garden.

Roasted Asparagus

The large stalks are from the grocery store. The small ones are from Dearly Demented Mom’s VA nurse’s garden. I haven’t grown asparagus yet, but after tasting those, I think I shall try it next year.

The way I cook most of my vegetables is by roasting them. Drizzle Extra Virgin Olive Oil on them, toss and sprinkle with salt and fresh cracked pepper. Roast asparagus on 400 for 5 to 7 minutes. They’ll be crunchy and great. With most other vegetables I roast, it usually takes 15 to 20 minutes.

A lovely dish provided by one of the guests

So why do we eat Deviled Eggs on Easter? Just wondering…

Is there anything better than homemade rolls?

Ok, well maybe this wasn’t a very dietetic part of the dinner, but man those rolls were fabulous. Also brought by a guest as, even though my last name is Baker, I am not a whiz at bread making. Excuse me, rock making. Luckily, she is great at it.

Spaghetti Squash and Chard Gratin

This was my dish and it’s always a great hit, so I’m going to blog on it tomorrow. I got the recipe off of Kalyn’s Kitchen and she has given me permission to use it, but I have to use my own photos and write it up my own way. No problemo. You know I just love to write about anything. This is also a South Beach friendly recipe and I used Swiss Chard fresh from my garden.

Here’s some of my Swiss Chard

I have red, yellow and white Swiss Chard and it’s growing great, though I’m still fighting the Harlequin bugs. The only way to deal with them is to hand-pick them off and drop them in water to drown them or (gag) squish them with your hands.

Look! It’s a Spaghetti Squash growing in The Funny Farm!

I love this recipe so much, I decided to grow Spaghetti Squash, too. This one’s about 6 inches long and is looking good so far. Never grown it before, so we’ll see. But back to Easter dinner.

 

One of the “Tester” Chocolate Pound Cakes fresh from the freezer

Hey, it worked in a pinch. I only have one oven and couldn’t quite manage getting a fresh dessert cooked too. Well, actually I could have if I’d gotten up at the crack of dawn. But I usually reserve the crack of dawn for blogging.

Tune in tomorrow for the step-by-step instructions complete with photos on how to make Spaghetti Squash and Chard Gratin.

Spreading laughter throughout the world…one chuckle at a time.

Mikie Baker
www.mikiebaker.com

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