Taste testing is a great perk of the job.  For me, it is a fun way to try out new ideas, try new ingredients, and many other things.  This past week I had a nice evening at home grilling dinner, and thought I would share the recipes, ideas and pictures of what I did for this light and healthy meal.  The ingredients are simple and easy, making a busy weeknight dinner a snap!  When I made this it was late evening after the kids had sports, and they played outside while  I grilled.  We all enjoyed the gorgeous weather, and then a nice meal together.   The Pomegranate Gimlet I sipped while I cooked wasn’t bad either.  I hope you enjoy.

Spring Time Dinner on the Grill…

Grilled Pesto Encrusted Turkey Tenderloins

Grilled Asparagus Tips with Blistered Grape Tomatoes & Goat Cheese

Pomegranate Gimlet

Pesto Encrusted Turkey Tenderloins:

1 package of two turkey tenderloins (I tried the ones from Trader Joe’s)

1 cup homemade, or store bought, pesto

At least a day before grilling, generously rub pesto all over your turkey tenderloins.  Place in a ziploc bag and let sit, occasionally turning over.   Heat grill to 400 degrees, place tenderloins on grill, if possible not directly above the flames.  Close cover and grill ten minutes.  Open grill, and rotate tenderloins.  Continue this process about thirty minutes, depending on size of tenderloins, until meat is cooked through.  Turn gently so the pesto crust doesn’t fall off!  Let sit about 10 minutes, then slice thinly, and enjoy!  It is very similar to pork tenderloin.

Grilled Asparagus Tips with Blistered Grape Tomatoes & Goat Cheese

Take one bunch of fresh spring asparagus and wash, then trim into about 1 inch pieces.  Set aside to dry.  Rinse grape tomatoes.  Place both in a grill basket, sprinkle with salt & pepper, and grill directly over high heat until asparagus begins to show brown grill marks.  Shake grill basket to move vegetables around.  The tomatoes will begin to blister and skins will split.  Remove from grill to a serving bowl, sprinkle with goat cheese crumbles, and cover with saran wrap.  Let sit a few minutes for cheese to soften, then serve with a drizzle of olive oil over the top.

Pomegranate Gimlet…makes 1 nice drink

Juice 2-3 limes.   I like a lot of fresh lime juice, so I use about 3 juicy limes.  Add your lime juice to a cocktail glass filled with ice and your preferred portion of good gin.  (A good cocktail should be made by starting with ice, then adding your liquor over that, then your mixer.)  In small seperate bowl, place about 1 1/2 – 2 tablespoons pomegranate seeds, and, using a muddler, extract juice.  (I bought the pomegranate seeds from Trader Joe’s produce section, you can get them alreaedy seeded!)  Add pomegranate juice to cocktail and let run through, sip and enjoy while you grill!  If you need a little sweetness, you can easily and quickly make simple syrup.  I often make simple syrup and keep it on hand for lemonade, orangeade, and cocktails so it is ready!

With each new season, an excitement fills my kitchen that I find hard to describe.  I love it!  Different seasonal ingredients, new dishes, different cravings, and new ideas pour in.  For me, and many like me, it is such a joy to savor the seasonal produce and foods around us.

Year round, and especially in the spring and summer, I find a lot of joy in shopping at our area Farmers Markets.  I am lucky to say this has always been a part of my life.  Growing up, many Saturdays started with trips to the Dixie Classic Fair Farmers Market.  I truly believe this has helped ‘shape’ my interest in food and cooking.  Today, I still go there regularly, and even see some of the vendors that have been there for over 30 years!  We are so lucky to have many other markets in Winston now, such as the Krankie’s Coffee Market on Third, Old Salem Cobblestone Market, and Reynolda Village Market on Fridays, to name a few.  I hope you will get out there and support them this season.  If you find these markets daunting, let me know and I will meet you there, gladly.  I welcome this recent food boom, and all the good they do for our community, farmers, and the benefits we, as consumers, derive from the fresh, whole food!

As the markets abound with seasonal spring goodies, I will offer a Farmers Market Special over the next several months.  From pasta dishes with spring produce, soups, and seasonal favorites like my Vidalia Onion & Pimiento Cheese Pies, I look forward to perhaps introducing you to some new items.  I hope you will test your taste buds with me!  Be sure you follow my blog or like my FB page so you will know when and what is being offered.

So, water your new grass seed, get your market bag out, and get your garden space ready, it is going to be a beautiful spring!

It has been almost 6 months since I started working again in a commercial kitchen.   Wow, has the time flown by!  Starting off just before the Holidays was awesome, and kept me super busy until January when it feels like I had my first break.  If I could bottle the excitement, anticiption, and energy I felt opening I would be a billionaire! It’s a great time to say thank you to all of you who follow my blog, order dinners, or have supported me with catering jobs and special orders galore!  Without you, quite simply, it just wouldn’t be as much fun.

Looking ahead is just as exciting, maybe even more so.  It is also a great time to tackle some things that I “put on the back burner”, pun intended!  One of these ideas is something I have talked and thought about doing for years, catering special parties like Low Country Oyster Roasts, Shrimp Boils, BBQ’s and more.   My husband grew up in the SC low country.   His gift to the groomsmen in our wedding was an engraved oyster knife, with an oyster roast that followed a few months later.   Here it is 14 years later, and we are still having our Oyster roasts on a now bi-annual basis.  I must say, together we make a great team and have decided it would be fun, and the time is right, to offer this and other fun ideas, to other people.   I am launching a new page on my blog called “Parties & Celebrations” that has more description of these awesome and unique events.  Check it out and feel free to spread the word- they are great ideas for engagement parties, rehearsal dinners, and any other reason to get together and celebrate with food and friends!

I’m also cooking up some great things to help you over the summer.  I will be offering a full Freezer Service, so that for weekends away and weeks at the beach you can stock up your cooler before leaving town.   No orders needed, just get it when you need it!  There will be some Favorites that will stay stocked, such as my popular Tex Mex Pie, Chicken Pie, and Chicken & Broccoli au gratin.  I will send out weekly specials, too.  Stay tuned for details on this as summer gets closer and in the meantime I will see you on Wednesdays in the kitchen!

So again, thank you for helping me enjoy the best of food and life by cooking for you, it is always my pleasure.

Some of you might remember, like I do, when the TV’s were rolled into Whitaker Elementary so everyone could watch the ACC coverage begin!  Those were the good ‘ol days, can you imagine if that happened today, we’d be on the national news.   A lot has changed since then for sure, but for some reason I still feel like a kid this week with all of the “Hoop”-la  and game excitement!  So have fun watching some hoops with your friends and family this weekend.  In between games grill some good Carolina burgers with chili & slaw,  or make your own pimiento cheese burgers the way you like them.  Good friends, good food, good times!  Enjoy the best of food and life…and may your team win!

I love being inspired to write.  Sometimes it is a beautiful day at the farmers market, a new recipe, or travel.  On Friday it was a cookbook, and not just any cookbook, so let me explain.  So… here I am at TJ Maxx, killing a few minutes looking for some catering dishes before I pick up the kids.  I meander to the cookbook section and look at a Tapas book for  new party ideas, when the book behind it caught my attention.  Five minutes later I am laughing out loud and blushing.  Yes, blushing, over a cookbook.  The title is “Fifty Shades of Chicken…a parody in a cookbook”.  I say to myself “This might be worth buying”, just as I realize people around me are looking and wondering what is wrong with me!  Honestly, I was laughing out loud!

Now I am home and I have looked at this book in its entirety.  I have truly never seen a cookbook like it, and I have a pretty good cookbook collection!  Many of you are probably familiar with the recently popular book trilogy “Fifty Shades of Grey”.  If you haven’t heard of it, maybe you have been travelling in Asia for a year, and I will let you ask a friend of yours about it.  But, for those of you who might have read it (I won’t ask names), this cookbook is absolutely a fun, hysterical parody about cooking chicken.  Not to mention, it has some great looking recipes that I am sure I will begin trying in the next few days.  It is so good it needs to be shared, but I don’t won’t to clog my blog with it, or annoy those of you who might not find it appropriate or the parodies funny.  I am going to do a few excerpts from it, recipes included, once or twice a week through a seperate e-mail.  The tag line on the book says “50 Chicken recipes Bound to be Delicious”.  I doubt we’ll go throught all fifty, but I will pick out the funnier parodies and better recipes for a couple of weeks.  If you are interested in subscribing to it, please send me an e-mail at bluemoose@triad.rr.com.

Here is a small, clean excerpt, from Chapter One, “The Novice Bird”.

“He’s clearly not into me.  I wait quietly on the counter and watch his skillful, knowing hands work.  Desire pools way down in my cavity and in spite of myself I start to daydream while he preps a radish.  He cocks an eyebrow.  “Penny for your thoughts, Miss Hen?”  He appears focused on his task, but there’s a slight glint in his eye.  I flush.  Oh, I was just imagining your hands traveling up my thighs and…”

Remember, this is about cooking a chicken, so don’t let your minds wander.  It is quite funny, but being a parody it is raunchy at times so don’t sign up if you are likely to be offended!  Some of my readers might even be parents of friends, so keep in mind I am simply sharing it, not writing it!  The recipes look great and I will share them with those who subscribe to the email, and maybe feature a few of them on a Weds dinner pick up after I have tried them.

Have a great week and I will see many of you on Weds at the kitchen!

Hello me lads!  I have had fun researching Irish food to put together a fun menu for next week, a wee bit of something for everyone.  Besides doing the actual cooking, learning about the culture and history of food is part of what makes it fun for me.  Until last night, I did not know that Cottage Pie typically is from England and uses ground beef, while Shepherd’s Pie is from Ireland and is traditionally made with lamb.  Boxtie is the Irish potato pancake.  And do you know what is in colcannon?  It is a traditional dish of potatoes mashed with cabbage and scallions.  Another fun fact unrelated to food, is that the shamrock came to be associated with Ireland because it was used by Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, as a symbol of the Holy Trinity when he was preaching.  Of course you have Irish limericks, toasts and Irish sayings, too!  There is so much to learn, but that was about all I could fit in.  If you find some other fun facts please share them with me, about Ireland or anything else!

For now, enjoy the best of food and life… and cheers to you and yours next weekend on St. Patrick’s Day!  Be sure to check out the updated dinner pick up page with some yummy Irish foods for next week, Irish whiskey and beer not included!

“There are two kinds of people, those who are Irish, and those who wish they were.” -author unknown

Family Style February was a lot of fun, and March is going to be just as much fun in the kitchen!  I hope you will join Julia’s Take Away Gourmet as we ‘march’ around the globe for some fun culinary adventures.  There will be options for everyone in your family, so grab your culinary passports and be sure to stay updated on the week’s menu so you can place your order.  This first week of March is a little different, but we will return to Wednesday Dinner Pick Ups on March 13th, with a stop in Ireland to kiss the Blarney Stone and get ready for St. Patrick’s Day!

First though, we are going through Asia to sample a couple of different flavors this Thursday.  Grab your forks and get ready, this will be a “come while it lasts” pick up with no pre-orders from 11:00-1:00!

One of the two soups I am preparing on Thursday is a Curried Carrot with Coconut Milk.  This is a vegetarian soup with carrots, fresh ginger, curry and lime.  The other soup is a Thai Chicken Noodle.  For this I will make a homeade chicken stock infused with fresh ginger root, lemongrass and cilantro, pulled chicken, rice noodles, shredded carrot and scallions.

Also on the menu will be Oriental Flatbreads.  Choose from Ginger Flank Steak with Chili Sauce or General Tsao’s Pulled Pork.  Both flatbreads will have cheese and fresh herbs to complement and go great with my Chinese Crunchy Spinach Salad.  This Spinach salad with an Asian twist includes a homemade soy vinaigrette.  If time allows I will try to sneak in a few surprises, so be sure to check on Facebook Thursday morning for the most up to date items being offered!

So…Bon Voyage until I see you in the kitchen!  Please call 725-5269, or see the details on this blog if you have any questions about ordering!

Just wanted to let my “bloggies” know that I will be eating cheeseburgers in paradise next week, and Julia’s Take Away Gourmet will be closed for a week of vacation.  I will be back in the kitchen the week of March 6th.  Thanks for all of your support, encouragement…and dinner orders!  I look forward to seeing you in March as I prepare some yummy foods representing different cuisines in the world.

Until I’m back, enjoy the best of food and life!

I’ll be enjoying cheeseburgers in paradise!

No orders needed, stop by the kitchen between 10-2 today!  This soup is a yummy blend of pulled chicken, black beans, tomatoes and a hint of pumpkin with cumin and curry- with a kick!  $10/quart, call or text 681-0675 if you’d like more info…

Today is what I call a non-kitchen day. I’m doing some work, but not cooking at the kitchen. Not really a “day off”, but  enough time to catch up on a few errands, the things that always seem neverending, and take the dogs for a walk.  For those of you who don’t know me outside the kitchen, dogs are my passion second to food.  Preferably big brown dogs, but I truly like any dog.  After all, “I like big mutts and I can not lie”!

So, this morning I’m walking two of mine, and out of the blue I take a fall just after turning off of Stratford Rd.  I’m talking… a true wipeout that came out of nowhere!  I throw my palms out just as I hit the ground and scrape them up, leashes and poo bags everywhere!  I check to make sure the dogs are ok… and of course they are just staring at me like “why did we stop?”  Just slightly stunned, I pick myself up and make sure my clothes aren’t ripped, and inspect the damage which was barely anything.

Several minutes later, as I am walking off the burning pain in my palm, an electric blue pick up truck pulls up beside me.  A young man has his window down, and as polite as could be says, ” Excuse me, I don’t mean to be nosy, but I saw you fall and I just wanted to make sure you were ok.”  I was shocked.  Tons of people probably saw this happen, and he actually acted on it.  This guy took the time and turned around, and drove back to find me.  I told him more than once how much I appreciated his thoughtfulness, and that I was ok, more of a bruised hip and ego than anything else!

It was a simple gesture from a stranger that made a difference.  As I venture out this afternoon to finish errands, I am going to “pass it on”.   We’ve all heard it before, a simple gesture or act of kindness goes a long way.  I challenge you to do the same.

Enjoy the best of food and life, and hopefully a little snow this weekend!  And so that this blog will have one tiny thing to do with food, I have posted my new dinner menu for next week at the link on the side.