Happy Hour At The Manse: August 2011

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Pizza and Candlelight, A Welcome Departure

"Pizza and candlelight?" Bill asked as he sat down at the small intimate living room table where we often eat casual meals.

"Sure, why not?" I responded with the beam of my best smile. "I'm a candlelight kind of girl."

"I tend to think of pizza as knee food." He continued.

"Knee food?"

"Food, you eat propped up on your knee."

"Oh, I see."

Sometimes pizza is a welcome departure! Even though I'm a professional caterer, food writer and passionate about extraordinary food, there are many times when I'm not being paid to create culinary nirvana, I opt for something super simple. And I mean super simple! It doesn't get much simpler than sliding a frozen pizza onto a hot pizza stone in the hearth and setting the timer for 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, it doesn't take too much effort or artistry to set a pretty table. Vintage gingham check place mats with coordinating cloth napkins, a casual candelabra with fiesta colored votives and some black plates set the stage for a casually elegant Tuesday night supper of pizza by candlelight.

Lately, I've been thinking quite a bit about pizza and that a favorite brand of frozen pizza baked, then cut in bite size pieces would make a fabulous appetizer for a party! I'm going to do just that this fall at one of little soirees at the manse. It will be interesting to watch and see if anyone notices that it's pizza!

Photos, Recipe and Writing are the property of Happy Hour at the Manse

A Summer Lunch with Fresh Fruit and Maine Lobster Salad

Fresh Strawberries, Red Grapes and Blueberries

Cashew Almond Bites

Maine Lobster Salad Spread on Rosemary Flat Bread

Brown Sugar Pound Cake

Spring Water

Photos, Recipe and Writing are the property of Happy Hour at the Manse

Monday, August 29, 2011

A Pub Luncheon with My Sweetie

I love Mondays at the Manse!

Bill tries to maintain Monday as his day off but it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes there's folks in the hospital to visit or dead people to bury. Then there's always ministry to be done, regardless of the time or day and if the ministry work should happen to fall on a Monday, well that's just the way it goes. But when life is quiet and all is going well, my husband's Monday is akin to other folk's Saturday's.

As the crock pot meal, that I wrote about in my last post went to work creating it's slow cookin' magic for tonight's dinner, I turned my attention to what to prepare for lunch.

After a quick scan of the refrigerator, I came up with what Bill would later dub, "A Pub Lunch of Sorts".

This is so simple! It's simply fresh strawberries, red grapes and blueberries with a rustic chunk of bread, a couple slices of sharp cheddar cheese and a little herb spiked olive oil for dunking the bread. Our beverage was straight from the tap, the water tap that is. :) I suppose if it were a true pub luncheon, it might come with a pitcher of Guiness.

Don't you just love my luncheon set? I do! It's such a happy little set! The hand painted red cherry and black and white polka dot lunch sets with matching pitcher and glasses came from Kellum's, one of the wonderful quaint antique shops in Havana - "Florida's Friendliest Town!"

Photos, Recipe and Writing are the property of Happy Hour at the Manse

Slow Cookin' at the Manse

Today my mouth is watering in anticipation of a rustic cassoulet for supper. Oh yum!

Ok, I know what you're thinking... yes, you're absolutely right on the money, too! The mistress of the manse is pushing the season a bit. Shoot, let's just shift the blame for all this to those capricious culinary muses.

Light summery dinners are nice, but on this day I'm chomping at the bit to sink my teeth into something decadently meaty. The great thing about being the chief yum officer here is that I get to choose what we eat. If I'm in the mood to flavor jaunt and crisscross the globe or stick close to home, the choice is mine to make.

Around 11:00 AM, I dusted off the crock pot, grabbed a couple chunks of meat from the freezer and a bag of frozen onions and leeks.

I scattered the bottom of the pot with the leeks and onions, added 1 small chunk of frozen raw stewing beef. The beef didn't look like a whole lot, so I grabbed a small bag of raw lamb that I'd frozen a few months ago after using what I needed for a catering job. (Remind me to share that recipe with you sometime!)

Next, I drizzled about a tablespoon or two of red wine vinegar over the frozen meat, sprinkled a generous shaking of Lawry's Seasoning Salt, my favorite salt free blend, garlic and herb seasoning and some special meat seasoning.

Next it was time to add a can of tomatoes, a big splash of red wine (I used about half a bottle), a can of mushrooms, and about two tablespoons of butter. Did I mention that tonight's dinner is really easy on the pantry? Canned goods are playing a supportive role in tonight's cookery. In my catering business, I'm all about fresh. But when I'm cooking as the pastor's wife and not the caterer, I don't mind utilizing the convenience and practicality of shelf staples that don't perish as fresh ones do. I didn't have to toss out too many fresh mushrooms before I realized maybe it was time to keep a stash of canned 'shrooms on hand.

So now it's time for the ole' slow cooker to create it's magic. Later, if time allows, the stew will be turned into a French Cassoulet. Stay tuned.

As it would turn out, right at the precise moment of perfection, we had to sprint away for a site inspection for my catering business. So here we were with dinner in the crockpot, ready and waiting for us to return while we scouted out legal non-booster tailgate tent spots for the upcoming Florida State-Oklahoma game. More on that later, don't let me forget!

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When we finally returned home at almost 9:30 PM, I quick roasted some Kielbasa Sausage, then tossed them into the pot with a drained can of Garbanzo Beans, allowing the new additions to sit briefly before ladling out two half mugs. By this time of night we just were no longer all that hungry. The cassoulet with the wonderful garlic topping didn't happen, at least not yet! But the stew hit the spot.

We use stoneware mugs often at the manse for small meal time vessels. I love using mugs for stews and chowders and even for one of our absolute favorite foods here at the manse, Ice Cream! Which somehow we saved room for tonight. A mug of mint chocolate chip in front of the telly with my sweetie, it just doesn't get much better than that!

Photos, Recipe and Writing are the property of Happy Hour at the Manse

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Summer Tea at the Manse

This year marked the Ninth Annual Summer Tea at the Manse for Bill and the church, but only the third tea celebration for me. (More on that later.) The first thing that I noticed about this sweet little event with some of the ladies from our church was that even though it has always been referred to as "The Tea" it really isn't a tea at all! You might not believe this, but hot tea isn't even on the menu! Last year I tried to infuse tea into the menu by brewing a tea punch with a fruity flavor, it was nice, a little different, but rather nice. This year we didn't do any tea at all, unless you count the sweet little teapots that lined the walkway. One of our church members, a little elderly Scottish lassie from the isle of Ayre, cooked these up for us in her ceramics class. Cute huh?

Punch this year was a frozen ice cream and coffee cappuccino creation. I'll add the recipe later in this post.

One of the things I like about this event is that everyone pitches in and helps by bringing a tea time snack to share, but I still get to dress the table!