The Schell Cafe has been turned upside down with excitement this week. We have three special visitors from Uganda staying with us. Jackson and Christopher are members of the African Children's Choir and are in town to perform this evening at our church. I'm having a hard time processing the magnitude of the blessings we are experiencing, so for now I'll share with you snapshots of our time so far with Jackson, Christopher and ...
Archives for January 2009
Bison Chili
Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam... I couldn't resist. And, now you'll be singing Home on the Range all day too. Sorry. One of my New Year's Hopefuls (I don't do resolutions) is to buy a side of beef. Is that normal? I would love to have an assortment of cuts of local, grass-fed beef stashed away in the deep freezer. Only we don't own a deep freezer which is a technicality of sorts. I actually thought about giving this ...
Homemade Croutons
What do you do with the heel at the ends of the bread loaf? Honestly? Do you reach right past secretly hoping someone else will use it? Do you try to conceal it from your children by placing it out of sight on the bottom of the sandwich? Or do you simply toss it? I don't know about your household, but around The Schell Cafe no one will voluntarily eat the heel of the bread. Husband will on occasion, but only as an act of frugality ...
Haricots Verts in a Roasted Shallot & Sherry Vinaigrette
I've had several requests lately to share some of my favorite side dishes, specifically vegetables. I immediately thought of these yummy haricots verts I made last week. I served them with grilled amberjack and it was a perfect combination. Make the roasted shallot & sherry vinaigrette in advance and keep it stashed in the fridge for up to a week. You'll find other uses for it once these delicious green beans are eaten ...
Nana’s Olive Balls
I love family recipes that have precious memories. My Nana passed away when I was two, so I cherish stories like this that Mia passed along to me. I've nibbled on these olive balls all of my life and at some point along the way added the martinis too. I think Nana would be thrilled to know her great granddaughters enjoy making her delicious olive balls. And, for the record the Littles have not had martinis yet. From Mia: Mother ...
The Soup Peddler
I've been testing my social networking skills for the last few months by goofing off learning my way around Facebook and Twitter. Facebook came first and started with a group of high school friends just trying to keep up with each other. Needless to say, I dove in head first and have a slight full-on addiction to checking status updates, photos and musings of friends. Facebook has remained personal for me. I know everyone I've ...
Gulf Red Snapper En Papillote
Husband is a fisherman. He truly loves to fish. In fact he's spent the majority of his life either fishing or wishing he was fishing. So I love it when I am able to make him dinner featuring fish that awes him. When we scored the best looking red snapper straight from the gulf coast at Farmer's Market, I knew I had to come up with something special for this fisherman of mine. I've cooked en papillote before and thought it would be ...
To Market! To Market! To Buy a Fat Pig!
So we didn't buy a pig today at Farmer's Market. Although there was a feral hog for sale but for some reason I wasn't creative enough to go out on that limb this cold Saturday morning. After our luck with the Gulf Red Snapper last week, we headed straight to Roberto at San Miguel Seafood. He loaded us up with Amberjack and Yellow Edge Grouper. Fresh from the gulf and caught on Thursday, I'm going to toss a coin to see which fish ...
Simple Homemade Granola
How about starting your day with this simple homemade granola?! The Littles sure did enjoy it this morning. We found the recipe in Chef Bobo's Good Food Cookbook and followed the simple instructions. The Littles love it plain with flavors of maple and vanilla starring front and center. Of course, I've already dreamed up several variations for the next few batches. Why buy over processed cereal when you can make this simple granola? ...
Romesco…the new pesto
As you know, I'm quite fond of making pesto. I've tried dozens of variations depending on what nuts and herbs I have on hand. Naturally one of my first thoughts to give our Gulf Red Snapper a boost was to whip up a yummy pesto. Boring. And so 2008. When I heard the LA Times declared romesco the new pesto I knew I had to be on the bandwagon. What is romesco, you ask? Spain's version of Italy's pesto. Typically made with almonds or ...