Tablescape Thursday ~ A tête-à-tête in the Cool Shade

Hello, and thank you for stopping by!

I have lots of pictures to share this Tablescape Thursday, so thank you for your patience if they take a moment to load.

Also... It is not too late to enter Once Upon a Plate's current Give Away.

See sidebar (or click HERE) for details.

~ *~*~*~

Fall is officially just around the corner ~ our days remain warm; 70's to 80's. Just perfect for sipping a cool drink, having a little sweet nibble and visiting on one of the garden pathways.

This is actually an elevated wooden path, it is 'hugged' on each side by mature Douglas Fir trees, fern, rhododendrons, azaleas, columbine and fragrant lilies (all have completed their bloom cycle for this year, so things look a little ragged but it is very cool and comfortable in this spot.)

Memories linger here ...

Mosaic tray ~ HomeGoods, Wine decanter ~ Pottery Barn

Quilt used as tablecloth ~ Neiman Marcus/Horchow.

(All from a year or three ago.)

Plates and Latte/Cereal Bowls ~ POSH Chicago

Silverplate flatware ~Fidelio by Christofle, Paris

3 tier wire basket ~ from a local shop a couple of years ago

Vintage French Olive Oil Bottle

And because I like to play :D ...

~ a colored pencil effect image filter

Tiny cupcake for a sweet bite.

~*~

Small pedestal, upturned, Nell Hill's

Glass domes... Oops, I forgot where they came from.

Old chippy garden chairs from the 1950's

From a local antique/collectible store ~ we purchased the chairs and a matching leaf-motive table a few years ago. This time I just placed them around a small, round, wooden Bistro table.

Vintage English Luncheon Plates, rosebud pattern ~

Wine Glasses La Rochere (a la The Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten.)

Antique Postcards

Full-Blown "Double Delight" rose

Napkins ~ Jacquard pattern by April Cornell

Waterford Crystal "Alana" Napkin Rings

The roses have nearly finished blooming for the season, the last flush is happening right now.

Cool Shade in late afternoon.

Thank you for coming by to visit ~ please come back often.

Please visit Susan's blog "Between Naps on the Porch" to see more entries for

Tablescape Thursday.

Spinach Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash, Bacon, Walnuts and Maple Vinaigrette

The usual late summer/early fall weather is upon us ~ very warm days, and cool evenings.

Butternut Squash is plentiful in the market, but it's not quite chilly enough for soups or heavier meals. Instead of a hot meal I put together this healthful (if you don't take into account the bacon) salad for dinner recently.

You can serve the salad at room temperature, but I really like it best when the squash and dressing are still warm. With each bite you'll get a taste of creamy ( roasted squash), crunchy (toasted walnuts) and crispy (salty- smoky bacon), and the sweet-tangy maple dressing brings the spinach and other ingredients together beautifully.

It's very good when accompanied with warm cornbread or toasted and buttered sourdough slices.

There are many Maple Viniagrette dressing recipes out there, but I make mine a little differently than most ~ I reduce the maple syrup by about half (in a small pan, stovetop over medium heat) before whisking it with Sherry Vinegar (you can also use apple cider vinegar, but it is generally a bit stronger so beware and adjust amount to suit your taste.) Then just whisk in a small amount of Dijon mustard, some olive or grapeseed oil and salt and pepper then taste for seasonings. When making vinaigrettes I usually use quite a bit less oil than most recipes call for, just a personal preference.

If you would like a printable copy of the recipe, you can find it on my recipe blog by clicking HERE.

This is my entry for Tuesday Twister ~ Click Logo to find out more.

Enjoy~ and thank you for stopping by, friends!

Chicken Cakes (Spicy or Not) with Sweet Chilli Drizzle

We haven't been eating beef for a few months now; so if we want burgers I look for alternatives and this is one of my favorites.


Juicy and flavorful, yet low in fat I devised this one from bits and pieces of 3 other recipes.


If you've been disappointed with chicken or turkey burgers which are dry and flavorless ~ you should give this one a try. I have a couple of tips to assure your cakes will remain appetizingly moist and juicy.



One of the secrets of these low fat and moist cakes is to chop your own meat using your food processor rather than buying already-ground chicken or turkey.Please don't let this extra step deter you; these just won't come out the same with store ground chicken, plus it's so easy!It makes all the difference in the final dish.
This way you know just what goes into the mix; there is virtually no fat and the larger chunks you can achieve by doing it at home keep the patties/cakes more juicy when cooked. I much prefer this method over ground chicken or turkey from the market for this recipe.




The other secret is to quickly brown them for just a couple of minutes on each side on the stove top, then transfer to the oven for a few more minutes to cook through. This technique give no-fail delicious results every time.

I usually make them mini-size and serve them as an appetizer, or as a component of a salad on arugula (rocket/roquet), baby spinach leaves, or a combination of both greens. You can make them larger and serve on buns or in pita bread if you prefer.




Most often I use skinless chicken breasts, but you can use turkey, prawn meat, or fish, too.

If you're looking for a lower-fat and very flavorful alternative you might want to give this recipe a try; it may become one of your favorites ~ as it is at my house.

For a printable copy of the recipe you can find it on my recipe blog by clicking HERE.

Thank you for stopping by today ~ I would love to hear from you, please leave me a comment!. :)

Peanut-Peanut Butter Cookies with Fleur de Sel

(GIVE AWAY: Details of current Give Away is at bottom of this post and also on sidebar. Best of luck to all who enter!)

My Mom's Peanut Butter cookies were the best I have ever tasted, she and my grandmother used the same recipe for as far back as I can remember. And if your mother, aunt, or grandmother baked peanut butter cookies it is probably is the same recipe you had while growing up.

~Dirty Little Secret~

Since I live with a grown-up Cookie Monster (Mr. OUaP) I usually bake cookies every other week to keep the cookie jar ~ a fixture on the kitchen island~ filled:

Happiness is a full Cookie Jar?! Who knew?

I still make Mom's recipe for Peanut Butter cookies, except I've made them a wee bit more nutritious by subbing some of the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour, adding some non-fat dry milk to the mix, and using an old-fashioned peanut butter (non-hydrogenated.)

And I use all-butter rather than half butter & half solid shortening.

They are delicious ~ but I wanted to try something different this time.

This recipe (click) from allrecipes.com captured my attention because of the number of positive reviews it received.

I wanted to try them so I mixed up the dough according to the recipe and baked off one tray of cookies. Hmmm. To be honest, they were very good, but they didn't knock my socks off. I believe the liquid milk in the recipe slightly dulls the peanut butter flavor. However the milk is needed to achieve the proper dough consistency.

To amp up the flavor a bit I scooped the remainder of the dough onto baking sheets with a medium-size ice cream/cookie scoop, then sprinkled and pressed some chopped, lightly salted peanuts on the surface of each, flattening the cookies slightly at the same time (instead of pressing them with a fork.) I also sprinkled the very center of each cookie with a teeny bit of Fleur de Sel (flaky French sea salt.)

Ooh-la-la!!! Viva la difference! :D

Thumbs up, all the way around at my house, the slightly salty accent made the peanut flavor sing.

These probably won't replace (my slightly healthier version of) Mom's Peanut Butter cookies, but they are an interesting change. I may try Mom's recipe using the same method, I'll certainly share the results here if I do.

If you try them this way, I hope you love them.

Also ~ If you haven't entered my current Give Away it is not too late!

Click HERE for details.

Cut off for entering is Saturday, September 18th at 9PM Pacific time.

Please click logo to learn more about Foodie Friday.

Not Quite Brandade Cakes - (Salmon instead of Cod)

brandade
[brahn-DAHD]
"The famous brandade de morue of Provence is a pounded mixture of salt cod, olive oil, garlic, milk and cream. This flavorful puree is served with CROÛTES and often garnished with chopped black truffles. Other salted or smoked fish can also be used to make brandade."

© Copyright Barron's Educational Services, Inc.
1995 based on THE FOOD LOVER'S COMPANION, 2nd edition, by Sharon Tyler Herbst.

Not quite brandade because I swapped freshly poached salmon for the salt cod, added finely snipped chives and Italian parsley for extra flavor and color. Instead of chopped black truffles I garnished with caramelized sweet peppers, cherry tomatoes and garlic slivers.

Equal amounts of fish and potatoes are poached until tender in a flavorful herb infused water (garlic, bay, thyme, parsley), then drained.

The potatoes are mashed with cream, and the fish is finely flaked with two forks.

The salmon and potatoes are combined with fresh chopped parsley and snipped chives, espelette pepper or hot paprika, salt and freshly ground black pepper.

The seasoned mixture is portioned into any size cake you prefer then dredged in Panko (Japanese dried breadcrumbs) or flour, and pan-fried in grape seed oil or peanut oil over high heat until deeply browned and crispy.

After being plated up a generous spoonful of the caramelized cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers and garlic slices are spooned over ~ a delightful contrast to the crispy-creamy salmon cakes.

Of course you could use nearly any cooked fish in lieu of the salmon; and the caramelized tomatoes and peppers would take good-old tuna cakes up a notch.

Make the cakes even smaller for appetizer-size portions ~ YUM!

If you would like a printable copy of the recipe, please visit my recipe blog (HERE.)

Healthy Summer Harvest Salad plus a GIVE AWAY!

I am so happy to share this delicious recipe for a salad that I devised on the spur of the moment a couple of years ago from ingredients on hand.
It is particularly suitable for end of summer because it uses some seasonal ingredients; tiny tomatoes, corn, avocados, basil plus arugula or baby spinach and fresh mozzarella.




Although I usually serve this salad with a homemade red wine & herb vinaigrette, I have found a shortcut which is really welcome on a hot summer day or any day when time you are pressed for time.



This time for the dressing, I substituted Nakano Seasoned vinegar instead of the Herb Vinaigrette I normally use. I tried Nakano Italian Herb Vinegar for this recipe. We liked it very much.

In all there are 7 flavored vinegars in this line of products which can be used in an endless number of ways. All are low calorie, all natural, they are fat and gluten free, with no preservatives and contain 50% less sodium than similar vinegars on the market.


We found the vinegar to be very well flavored, nicely balanced~~ not overly sharp or strong. And I can say that in all honesty as there is a person in my family who is VERY sensitive to the acidity in vinegar, this vinegar didn't evoke the usual facial wince that usually comes with anything acidic.

Just a note to those avoiding excess fat/oil in their diet--- I skipped the oil altogether and just sprinkled the Nakano seasoned vinegar right over the salad, it's mild yet flavorful enough to stand on it's own.


I would love to offer my followers a gift to try the seasoned vinegars--- so in conjunction with Once Upon a Plate, Nakano is generously sponsoring a GIVE AWAY.

The winner of this drawing will receive:

• A full size bottle of Nakano Seasoned Vinegar

• A $ 25.00 American Express Gift Card

plus

• A Nakano recipe coupon/recipe booklet with ideas of how to use the vinegar

Rules for entry:
1.) You must be a follower of Once Upon a Plate (see side bar).
And do at least ONE of the following:

A. Sign up for the NAKANO SPLASH Recipe Club to receive a free monthly e-newletter featuring great recipes and tip.
B. Visit the NAKANO website then come back and comment on your favorite Splash tip.
C. Post a link in comments here on my blog as to your favorite NAKANO recipe from their site.
D. Sorry, this time the contest is limited to the continental U.S. only.



BONUS:
Double your chances ~
Sign up to be a follower of Once Upon a Plate on FACEBOOK ( see side bar)
And mention in your comment here that you have joined OUaP on Facebook.
Entries will be accepted until Saturday, September 18th at 9PM Pacific time.
Winner will be chosen by random drawing and announced on September 19th.
The prizes will be sent to our winner by the folks at Nakano.
If you would like a printable copy of my Healthy Late-Summer Harvest salad recipe visit
"Once Upon a Plate Recipes" ~ click HERE.

Full disclosure ~ The folks at Nakano supplied me with a full size bottle of the Italian Herb Seasoned Vinegar and a generous gift card for giving an honest evaluation of their product and agreeing to host this giveaway.





Click to visit Tuesday Twister.

Fig, Blue Cheese & Walnut Crostini

It must be the upcoming Labor Day holiday here in the U.S. --the last blast of summer --that has turned my mind to appetizers lately.

And this one could not be easier to put together with things you might already have in your pantry and fridge.

Fig jam or preserves, an excellent local Blue Cheese, and toasted walnuts. I like to combine these toppings on pizza, too with the addition of crispy crumbled bacon, or thin slices of prosciutto -- and you can substitute another kind of cheese if you like; Brie, Gorgonzola, Goat Cheese, or even cream cheese for example.

This time I used St. Dalfour 100% fruit spread, but you can use any fig jam or fig preserves that you happen to like.

I cut a multi-grain baguette into slices about 1/2-inch thick, then grilled them.

You don't have to warm the fig spread/jam before spreading it on the baguette, but I always do--and I toast the walnuts in the oven until golden; it brings out the flavor in both.

Just spread the warm jam on the grilled baguette slices then sprinkle with the crumbled cheese and walnuts (and crisp bacon, or a thin ribbon of prosciutto if desired) and enjoy!

This is my choice for this weeks' Foodie Friday. Click logo to learn more.

Have a wonderful, long weekend Friends!