Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Food & Dining

Saturday Burger BBQ

I can’t believe I ate the whole thing – so say some of the 1970’s Alka Seltzer commercials.

At the behest of a celebrity chef on TV, Damsel and I set about grinding up some beef brisket today and made these huge cheeseburgers. She got about half of hers down, but I trooped on and consumed the entire meal. My burger was topped with lettuce, tomato, avocado, sauteed mushrooms, onion, mustard and mayonnaise. On the side was a rather healthy serving of butternut squash.

Now this was a whopper – that mess they crank out at Booger King can’t hold a candle to the meal we had today.

burger-bbq

Construction of a real whopper: grill, melt the Irish cheddar, stack and serve.

31 May 2008 by Food & Dining

Summer Garden Preview

We expect to have a pretty good crop of vegetables in our garden this summer. There are several kinds of squash growing (pumpkin, crookneck, zucchini), our usual green beans, hot peppers and several varieties of tomatoes including these heirloom tomatoes. The heirlooms are especially flavorful in salads or slices in sandwiches.

heirloom tomatoes

30 Apr 2008 by Food & Dining Home & Garden

Hula Chicken

hula chickenToday’s gourmet dinner consists of Hula Chicken with Pineapple Barbecue Sauce, roasted acorn squash and blended wild and long-grain rice. The chicken is prepared with boneless, skinless chicken breasts butterflied, pounded and rolled with prosciutto and Havarti cheese. These are then floured and pan fried in extra-virgin olive oil.

The pineapple BBQ sauce was the big hit here. The ingredients for the sauce are fresh chopped pineapple, chopped red onion, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, tamari sauce, tomato sauce and dried Bing cherries.

The dish is served with portions of rice, squash and the rolled chicken topped with a generous helping of the sauce. It was just wonderful. It just might qualify to compete with some of the gourmet meals that our Hawaiian friend Kini has on his site.

Damsel modified the Hula Chicken recipe from one that Rachael Ray had on her show last week. Click on the thumbnail for a bigger image.

27 Apr 2008 by Food & Dining

Weekend Breakfast Treat

Damsel made me this great looking and great tasting omelet for my Easter morning breakfast. I had the second half of this along with a couple of sausage and some shredded potatoes for breakfast this morning. Monday morning comfort food . . .

veg-omelet

24 Mar 2008 by Food & Dining

Stir Fry Chicken

Today’s heart-healthy meal is stir-fry chicken. Broccoli, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, water chestnuts, spinach, coriander, savoy cabbage and zucchini with chicken medallions topped with scallions. This was very tasty. Not seen in the photo, but enjoyed very much is a TsingTao on the side.

stir fry

21 Mar 2008 by Food & Dining

Tuscan Blue Rosemary

beeThe popular herb Rosemary is also commonly used as a decorative shrub and as topiary. It is native to the Mediterranean but also does well in Southern California. The Rosemary name has nothing to do with Rose or Mary – it comes from the Latin name for the shrub which literally means ‘dew of the sea.’ Rosemary has a reputation as a remedy for various ailments and is said to improve memory.

We have several bushes in the back yard which give us a year-round supply of the herb for the kitchen and other culinary uses – we use the thicker woody stems as skewers for shish-kebabs. Sometimes we will throw some Rosemary stems in the barbecue to add flavor to grilled chicken, pork or beef.

If you look closely at the little blue flowers, you will see a very pretty pattern that resembles an iris or similar flower. Of course, the bees are attracted to the flowers too as seen in the image above.

Click on the image below for a very big picture.

blue tuscan

Camera: Canon EOS 400D Rebel XTi, EF-S 18-55mm, f3.5-5.6 zoom lens.

18 Mar 2008 by Food & Dining Home & Garden Photography

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