… of food blogging. This one is hosted by Andrea’s Recipes - thanks, Andrea! The topic is “Grow Your Own,” as in, make a dish with at least one ingredient from your own garden, or from a friend’s garden if you don’t have your own. Dan and I have planted a veggie garden for most of the 15 years we’ve lived in this house, and I have a fairly large herb garden as well.

Last summer, some neighbors had their annual Porch Party potluck (they have a huge, wraparound porch); I wanted to make something different, and we had planted something different this year, and boy was it prolific. We planted three tomatillo plants and had so many tomatillos I gave bags of them away, mostly to Liz and Walter, who moved here from Colorado a few years ago. I still have some in the freezer. Among other things, we also grew onions and jalapenos this year, so I had those on hand, too.

The round-up of all the entries is here.

So I made a few batches of salsa verde (green salsa) from Tyler Florence’s recipe and decided to make sort of an enchilada casserole for the potluck. It was a big hit

Tyler Florence’s Salsa Verde

12 tomatillos, husked and rinsed
2 jalapeno peppers, stemmed
1 onion, quartered
Splash white vinegar
Water
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped
2 limes, juiced
Salt

Put the tomatillos, jalapenos, and onion in a saucepan with the vinegar and water to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and poach until the tomatillos are soft, about 10 minutes. Drain. Put the vegetables in a blender, add the cumin, and puree. Add the cilantro, lime juice, and salt, and pulse to combine.

Enchilada Casserole

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 bay leaves

3 tbsp. corn oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 each red, green and yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 large yellow or white onion, thinly sliced
3 tbsp. chopped fresh oregano

About 15 corn tortillas

2 cups salsa verde
2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Put chicken breasts in a small saucepan and cover with water; add bay leaves. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain chicken, discarding bay leaves, and let cool for a few minutes. Using fingers or two forks, shred chicken and set aside.

Heat corn oil in a large, heavy-bottomed skillet or saute pan. Add garlic, stir for 30 seconds, then add onions and peppers. Cook over medium heat, stirring, till softened, about 6-7 minutes. Stir in oregano, turn off heat and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut tortillas into half-inch wide strips. Spray a large baking dish with cooking spray. Spread about 1/2 cup of salsa verde on the bottom of the baking dish; top with half of the tortilla strips, then half the pepper mixture, half of the shredded chicken, and about 3/4 cup of salsa verde. Add the rest of the tortilla strips, pepper mixture, chicken, and salsa, in that order. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro. Top with cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes, till cheese is melted and bubbly.

I celebrated the first really cool day of fall with one of our favorite cold-weather meals: meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy. I was also inspired by the food blogging event “National Meatloaf Appreciation Day.”

My meatloaf is a pretty traditional one - it’s from the Betty Crocker cookbook I was given by my mom when I got my first apartment in college. The only change I made is that I use 1 lb. of ground beef and 1/2 lb. of ground pork instead of 1-1/2 lbs. of ground beef.

This time, I put chili sauce on top instead of catsup. I still put catsup on my meatloaf after it’s sliced; Dan likes his with the gravy. We love it as is and since there are only two of us, we usually get to enjoy it for several days

I was sure I had all the ingredients I needed, but sure enough, one was missing - bread crumbs. Yeah, I could make my own, but it has to bake for an hour and a half already, so Dan went to the little store up the street. We almost ended up with Italian-flavored bread crumbs - would have been an interesting twist, I guess - but then he found the plain ones (shopping by cell phone, don’tcha know), so we used those. (When I want Italian-flavored bread crumbs, I want to season them myself with my own herbs from the garden.)

Anyway, it came out just a fabulous as we remembered - moist but firm and just delicious. I also made mashed potatoes and green beans with diced tomatoes and garlic - a real stick-to-your-ribs dinner.

Betty Crocker Meatloaf

1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
1 cup milk
1 cup bread crumbs
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage leaves or 1/4 teaspoon dried sage leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 garlic clove, finely chopped or 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 egg
3 slices bread, torn into small pieces
1 small onion, chopped (1/4 cup)
1/2 cup catsup, chili sauce or barbecue sauce

Heat oven to 350°F. Mix all ingredients except ketchup. Spread mixture in ungreased loaf pan, 8 1/2×4 1/2×2 1/2 or 9×5x3 inches, or shape into 9×5-inch loaf in ungreased rectangular pan, 13×9x2 inches. Spread catsup over top. Bake uncovered 1 1/2 hours.

Another food blogging event. This one is about meatless barbecue recipes. I made up this one several months ago and it turned out so well, I served it when we went “camping” in May with some friends, one of whom is quite an accomplished cook. I didn’t have time to make it over the last couple of weeks; I hope that doesn’t keep it out of the roundup. Anyway, here it is:

Couscous with Grilled Vegetables and Vinaigrette

1/2 cup couscous
1 cup chicken broth
2 cloves garlic — minced (divided use)
1 onion — peeled and quartered
1 red bell pepper — cored, seeded, and quartered
1 green bell pepper — cored, seeded and quartered
1 yellow bell pepper — cored, seeded and quartered

Dressing
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh thyme — minced
1 tablespoon fresh parsley — minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Chop one quarter of the onion. In a saucepan, heat one tablespoon of olive oil and saute one clove minced garlic (reserve other clove for dressing) and the chopped onion. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Stir in couscous; turn off heat.

Toss remaining onion and peppers with olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill 8-10 minutes or until tender. Dice into 1/4-inch pieces.

In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, olive oil, thyme, parsley, salt, pepper and reserved minced garlic. Combine couscous with grilled vegetables; drizzle with dressing and toss to combine.

Leftover Tuesdays is a food blogging event where you make a dish and make sure you have extra to make a new dish with the leftovers. This is my first entry, and it’s also an idea I’ve had for a while but I never actually made it before - the salad, I mean. It turned out really well.

So one day I made salmon poached in water and white wine with tarragon sauce. Then I used the leftover tarragon sauce and salmon to make salmon salad.

Poached Salmon
2 cups white wine
2 cups water
1-1/2 pounds salmon

Bring water and wine to a simmer in a large skillet. Season salmon with salt and pepper and poach gently, skin side down, for 8-9 minutes, until just cooked through. To serve, spoon some Tarragon Sauce onto dinner plates and place a serving of salmon on top. Pass remaining sauce at the table, reserving some for the salad.

Tarragon Sauce
1/2 cup fresh tarragon, chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 large shallot, coarsely chopped
1 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup white wine vinegar

Put all ingredients in the food processor and process until the sauce is smooth. Season with salt and pepper. May be made one day ahead and chilled.

Salmon Salad with Tarragon Sauce
2 cups leftover poached salmon, flaked
1/4 cup leftover Tarragon Sauce, or to taste
1 stalk celery, finely chopped

Mix celery with tarragon sauce, then gently mix flaked salmon with the sauce. Serve on crackers as an appetizer or on bread or rolls for sandwiches.

I haven’t had time yet to enter this food blogging event, but I want to keep track of the roundups from Leftover Tuesdays, so when I have leftovers, I can find something to make with them. So here they are so far:

• Round-up #1: Cooking Chat
• Round-up #2: Rachel’s Bite
• Round-up #3: What’s Cooking
• Round-up #4: ceres & bacchus
• Round-up #5: Project Foodie
• Round-up #6: Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity
• Round-up #7: Project Foodie
• Round-up #8: Dispensing Happiness
• Round-up #9: Project Foodie
• Round-up #10: Project Foodie
• Round-up #11: Project Foodie
• Round-up #12: Project Foodie

Hey, there, I’m back, again. March 2007 was a pretty bad month for me, so rather than dwell on that, on to more fun blogging topics

My friends know I love to cook, but I don’t bake much. But a couple of months ago, this recipe for - love the name - “Man-Catcher Brownies” was printed in the local paper, so I decided to make them, even though I already have a man (Hi, sweetie!) I got great compliments on them from people who should know - my husband, my mother, and Paulie! I thought they were a tad gooey in the middle - actually, quite a bit - but everyone loved them anyway, because the chocolate flavor was so intense.

Then today, I went to Is My Blog Burning?, the central site for foodie blogging events, and there’s an event this month by browniebabe to blog brownies! And I just made the brownies again today! This time, I used a bigger pan, so they could spread out a bit more, and maybe cooked through this time. I’ll be cutting them later when they’re completely cool, but in the meantime, here’s a pic of my luscious brownies:

And here’s the recipe:

Man-Catcher Brownies

3 sticks unsalted butter
2 cups cocoa powder, sifted (natural or Dutch process)
6 eggs
2 cups white sugar
2 cups light brown sugar
2 tbsp. vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 tsp. kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9″x13″ pan with nonstick cooking spray. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat and add cocoa powder, stirring to combine. Let cool slightly. Whisk eggs together, then add sugars and vanilla extract, stirring to combine. Add the cooled butter-chocolate mixture, then fold in the flour and salt until just combined; do not overmix. Spread evenly in the pan to the corners.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a crust forms on the surface and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean. Transfer pan to a wire rack; cool completely before cutting.

This was the original way I made them, with the gooey results. I used a 10″x15″ pan today.

And here’s a shot of a single brownie:

Portsmouth has changed a lot since we first moved here in 1992. The downtown area in particular has become a popular destination for food and shopping - not just for locals, but busloads of antique hounds come to town to check out the shops.

So here’s my entry for the Is My Blog Burning? site’s Be Rachael Ray for a Day blog contest mimicking Rachael Ray’s TV program where she finds places for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, all for $40.

Breakfast

For the last year or so, we’ve been going to Waffle World on Western Branch Blvd. frequently; it’s actually in neighboring Chesapeake, but it’s our favorite, so here it is. Interestingly, the current owner of Waffle World used to operate a diner in the location now occupied by our lunch location, below

This is our exchange student for the year 2004-2005, Hannah Gutdeutsch, after her last breakfast at Waffle World before returning home to Germany in June:

Waffle World is one of those great local places with good food, great service, and reasonable prices, so it’s quite popular. There are lots of choices, such as egg combos, French toast with a variety of toppings, and frittatas, as well as lunch staples like BLTs, tuna or chicken salad, melts, etc.

I like to get the Denver omelet, toast included, $4.95, with a cup of coffee, $1. So there’s $5.95 for breakfast.

Lunch

My friends and former neighbors Shannon and Tim Woodland own The Daily Grind of Portsmouth, a great coffee house on Portsmouth’s main drag, High Street. They renovated this historic building and live in the three floors above the coffee house.

For lunch, I’d recommend one of the wrap combos for $7.25, which comes with a bag of gourmet chips. A couple of the options are:

• Roman Turkey - spinach wrap with seasoned turkey, prosciutto, mango chutney, provolone cheese, lettuce, and Italian dressing.
• Greek Isles - Spinach wrap with hummus, feta cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, Greek olives, and tzatziki sauce.

Add a cup of coffee for $1.40 and you’re set - lunch for $8.65. If you want to splurge on a specialty coffee, you’ll still have plenty left for dinner, so go for it - $3.60 for a mocha cafe. Now you’ve spent $10.85 for lunch, for a total of $16.80.

Dinner

I’m going to give you a couple of options for dinner, depending on how you want to spend your evening.

You can go to Roger Brown’s Restaurant and Sports Bar, owned by former professional football player Roger Brown, who played for the Detroit Lions and the Los Angeles Rams in the ’60s. With its huge menu and variety of seating options, everyone will find something pleasing. You can sit at a sidewalk table if it’s nice outside, or in a cozy dining room with a fireplace. Or you can sit at one of the hundred or so seats around the 90-foot bar, or at a booth facing the four large screens showing various sporting events, each with its own sound box.

A couple of choices for a great dinner at Roger Brown’s are the Home-Style Fried Chicken, with garlic mashed potatoes, bourbon gravy, and braised greens or sauteed vegetables, for $10.95, or the Barbecued Chicken, topped with Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheeses, bacon, tomatoes, and scallions, with mashed potatoes and greens or veggies, also $10.95. Add a glass of wine for $3.50 and you’ve got dinner for $14.45. Add that to the $16.80 you spent for lunch and you’ve eaten well for $31.25. So splurge and have dessert and coffee. You’re in the South, so try the Sweet Southern Bread Pudding for $4.95. With coffee at $1.50, you’re now up to $37.70.

Or you can catch a movie along with dinner at the Commodore Theater, a restored 1940 Art Deco-style movie house. Adult admission is $6 for a dining floor seat at a table equipped with a phone you use to order dinner (balcony seating is also available, but you can only order snacks such as popcorn and candy there). You can also use it to call your babysitter, or another table, since they’re all numbered

I like to start off with a small salad for $2.75, then savor the fish n’ chips - two large pieces of expertly fried cod with a generous portion of crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside potato wedges on the side, for $6.75. Add a glass of blush (yes, I like pink wine ) for $3.15 and you’ve spent $12.65; add $6 for your admission and you’re up to $18.65 for dinner and a movie - a total of $35.45 for the day. Hey! You’ve got just enough left to get the absolutely decadent hot cinnamon loaf with raisins and icing for dessert. Yum! It’s $3.75, so you’ve spent all but 80 cents of your $40. Cool!

There’s a contest mentioned on the Is My Blog Burning? site: Be Rachael Ray for a Day. The objective is to mimic her $40 a Day TV show by finding meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner in your own town that add up to $40, by Aug. 22, and then blog the results. I have a few ideas in mind - I’ll get back to you.