Mint Pesto & 3rd Quarter Comebacks

How fitting that the pesto I mentioned in my last post turned out so green!

Perfect to snack on while cheering for the Celtics in Game 4.

And what a game it was! Celts overcame a 24-point deficit to beat the Lakers....in L.A.!!!

Was inSANE and exciting. That is, until last night when the Lakers came back to make the series 3-2. No worries, the final two games will be in Boston.

This recipe made a decent amount of pesto, so we might still have some to snack on for Game 5. The golden raisins and cream cheese made this pesto really sweet - definitely interesting. We decided it would make a wonderful spread on a whole wheat cracker, topped by a little smoked salmon to off-set the sweetness. Also would be great to use as a spread or mayo substitute on a grilled chicken sandwich. Again, I think any sort of smoky meat would be intensely complimentary to the sweet spread.

Yum.

Oh, and I did use fat-free cream cheese, and the consistency was just fine, indeed!

Thursdays

My mom always liked Thursdays.

I think Thursdays were commemorative of the hard-earned work week, sort of the point of near-completion, right before the sweet freedom that Friday afternoon brought, and then the busy activities of the weekend.

Naturally, Thursdays have always been my favorite day of the week too.

My grandmother always liked teams from Boston.

A die-hard sports fans, she rooted for the Red Sox and the Celtics as if she'd grown up in Southie.

I inherited these obsessions as well. Having grown up idolizing Larry Bird and rooting against Magic Johnson or pretty much any California team (we were in Oregon, after all, so any Cali team was an instant rival worth ardently rooting against), it's a dead given that I'm loving the NBA Finals this year, and pulling for the Celtics.

So it's a beautiful day, being Thursday, and tonight being Game 4 of a Celtics vs. Lakers Finals Tournament. I've poured over the cookbook we did with the JL of Boston, Boston Uncommon, searching for a nice treat to enjoy during the game tonight.

This cookbook epitomizes why community cookbooks are really special. It's a well-researched guide to the city's history, geographical layout, neighborhoods and districts, and offers up great factoids, like that the navy bean is the official vegetable of Massachusetts and the original bean of Boston Baked Beans, and that Fenway Park has one of the last hand-operated scoreboard in MLB.

There are quite a few recipes I need to try too, although I couldn't find any from Larry Bird himself. Regardless, I think this Mint Pesto sounds amazing and a perfect treat to snack on during tonight's game!

Go Celts!!!!

Mint Pesto - A tasty recipe that's a great way to use extra mint from your herb garden.

ingredients

- 1/2 cup golden raisins

- 2 small shallots

- 2 cups firmly packed fresh mint leaves

- 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts

- 6 tablespoons whipped cream cheese (I'm sooo using fat-free here...)

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- pita bread wedges

directions

- Combine the raisins and shallots in a food processor and process until coarsely chopped. Add the mint and walnuts and pulse until the mint is coarsely chopped.

- Add the cream cheese and olive oil and pulse until well mixed.

- Serve with plain or lightly toasted pita bread wedges.

Serves 6 to 8.

Lovin' Some Community Cookbooks

There's another blog called "The World on a Plate: My Journey through Community Cookbooks".
This blogger does book reports, of sorts, on community cookbooks that she encounters and reviews.
She has cited several FRP books and recipes from them as well.
Her latest post, however, says she's 'relocating', to "A Recipe a Day," where she'll review one recipe at a time - sort of what I sporadically do....except her kitchen is a little shinier than mine, and I'd say she clearly has more experience up her oven mitt!
Either way - check her out too!

Easy Pork for the Weekend

There's something wonderful about a handsome man who can cook!

I've been on a pork-kick for quite a while.

I'll never get burnt out on chicken, but it's a good 'other white meat,' and I think it's relatively healthy too.

They have good marketing, regardless.

Which is all that matters, right?

So "we" (I bought the big hunk of meat at Kroger, so I get to say "we") whipped up this delicious little marinade and pork tenderloin, per the Junior League of Tampa's book, Everyday Feasts.

They actually have a whole trio of community cookbooks, the other titles being Savor the Seasons and Life of the Party (my fave!).

mmmm.....meaty!

nice slice.













Grilled Honey-Bourbon Pork Tenderloin
ingredients
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 1/2 cup bourbon
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
- 4 to 5 fresh garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 (12-ounce) pork tenderloins, trimmed (we just bought a big old tenderloin....)
- 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper

directions
- Combine onion, lemon juice, bourbon, honey, soy sauce, ginger root, garlic and olive oil in a bowl and mix well.
- Place the pork in a large resealable plastic bag. Add the marinade and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 to 12 hours. The longer the pork marinates, the more flavorful. Remove the pork, reserving the marinade
- Sprinkle the pork with the salt and pepper. Grill over high heat until a meat thermometer inserted in the middle of the pork registers 150 degrees, turning once and basting occasionally with the reserved marinade.

Makes 8 to 10 servings!

Success!

Over the weekend, I made that corn and cilantro salad I talked about in my last post.


Not only was it super easy, it was super tasty too - and not particularly because of any of my own efforts, but mainly because it's an easy, no-fail recipes. All the better if you're able to use fresh ingredients as I was.









This is the dressing for the salad (see previous post for ingredients). I used fresh-squeezed lime juice and cilantro straight from the garden. This would be a great marinade for chicken, on cous cous or rice, or on a spinach salad. Was pretty too!















The only work that this recipe requires is chopping the peppers and onion. The recipe permits you to use frozen corn - super easy. I recently learned that you can simply bake corn straight in the oven, husks and all, for about 30 minutes, and then cut the corn from the cobs for delicious and easy roasted corn. It's not nearly as messy as hulling the corn and then boiling it (those white hairs come off super easy!)


Of course, the cute boy in my pics showed me that. :) So I 'baked' 4 ears for this recipe - 5 might have been better...

....but it was still pretty tasty!