Neal Meal 1: The beginning

Hello! Leann here! How exciting...this is my first blog ever! I am now officially a "blogger." I don't know if I would have ever started this blog with my mother had it not been for the fact that I am now one of the 80% of college graduates living at home in light of the economy (collegegrad.com). Kind of depressing, but ya know, I"m actually having a good time working things out; I'm trying to figure out what to do with my life.

ANYway, one thing led to another. I graduated college, moved home, got a job at a bakery, went to the beach with my mom, saw the movie Julie and Julia, got inspired, and am now blogging about food. Haha! Truth of the matter is we had actually planned on making one new dish, or Neal Meal, a week for the year that I was home. It's fun being in the kitchen with mom and she enjoys me too. Seeing the movie where Julie blogs about Mastering the Art French Cooking in a year was just the icing on the cake. Why not start a blog about us cooking new food? Everyone else in the world has a blog, so why not us? We might not be professionals but we love food and we love to cook! I think many can relate.

So you've probably guessed that the pictures above are of our first Neal Meal. We wanted to re-create the salads we recently had on our beach trip at a restaurant called The Village Grill. I know you are thinking, "salads?" but OMG they were amazing. The first picture is of the salad I had- Goat Cheese and Walnut Salad with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette. Let me just say that I think Goat Cheese can do no wrong. I love everything about it. If you've never tried it, you are missing out my friend. I never knew, however, how good goat cheese could be paired with a dry cherry and walnuts! Holy moly! I don't think I'm praising this salad too much. It's that good. Here's the recipe:

*Spring Mix
*Dried Cherries
*Goat Cheese ( found in the specialty section of cheeses)
*Walnuts

Now, I tried making the dressing like the one at the restaurant. Problem was that I didn't have the recipe. So I got one off of RachelRay.com and it was terrible! I was very disappointed, but everything I make can't be great and I can accept that. Here's the recipe if ya want to try, but it's bad. Real bad. And I usually love blue cheese dressings...

BLUE CHEESE VINAIGRETTE
*1 clove garlic, chopped
*1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves
*2 tsp sugar
*2 Tbs red wine vinegar
*1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
*1/4 pound blue cheese crumbles, in speciality cheese section of your market
*salt and pepper
** Mix oregano, sugar, red wine vinegar together. Then slowly mix in olive oil and blue cheese.

Now I realize that I really didn't "cook" this salad. What I love about it, though, is that if you're anything like me it's different from the salad you usually eat at home, and that makes you feel like you've done something big! :)
-L

Hello! Ellen here! I must say our first meal was somewhat of a disappointment because I was so excited to re-create my Asparagus Salad with Balsamic Fig Venegarette dressing and it didn't turn out that great. Let me say this: the salad with the roasted asparagus was just as good- if not better- as what I had at the restaurant. The dressing, however, was HORRIBLE! How horribe could it be, you ask? Well, just turn up the basalmic vinegar bottle and drink it and that is exactly how horrible it is! Oh well. We will be baking this weekend and I know we will have some better recipes to share with you... :)

As for having my daughter home for a year, as I tell all of my friends, I have enjoyed every stage of my children's growth. I consider this just another chapter in our lives and am trying my best to make the most of it. So far, so good! We love cooking together and we hope that you will enjoy this year of cooking Neal Meals right along with us. So try my salad! It's not that difficult to put together and it's delicious!
-E

Roasted Asparagus Salad:
*Spring Mix Salad
*Boiled eggs, chopped
*Mushrooms, thinly sliced
*Roasted Asparagus
*Red onion, optional

Roasted Asparagus:
*1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed
*1/8 teaspoon gr. black pepper
*1 T. olive oil
*3 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese
**Preheat oven to 450F. Place asparagus in a 2 quart baking dish. Sprinkle with pepper. Drizzle with olive oil. Toss lightly to coat. Roast, uncovered, for about 15 min. or until crisp-tender, lightly tossing twice during roasting. Sprinkle with cheese. Makes 4 servings.

Balsamic Fig Vinegarette Dressing (Try at your own risk!)
*1 1b. fig (fresh)
*1 cup water
*2 ounces shallots (very thinly sliced)
*3 Tbls. olive oil
*1 tsp. sugar
*1 1/2 cups balsamic vinegar

**Simmer figs in water until very soft. Puree with had held wand. Keep on low heat. Sweat shallots over med. heat in olive oil, and cook until tender ( about 15 min.) Add sugar and cook another 5 minutes. Add to fig mix and puree again. Add vinegar. Bottle and refrigerate.


French Bread:

*Warm bread in oven till soft.


Olive Oil Dip:

*Olive Oil
*Classico Traditional Basil Pesto
*Delallo Jumbo Calamata Whole Olives
*Shredded Parmesan Cheese

**Mix Olive oil and Pesto together ( This can be mixed to your taste) Mash olives and add to oil
mixture, sprinkle with parmesan cheese.