2007 September | Three Angels Gourmet Co. - Gourmet Food, Recipes and Podcast

Welcome to the Three Angels Gourmet Co.

Hello,

We're Ireland Reynolds, Daisy Benson, and Delphine Gray, the "virtual" three angels who run the Three Angels Gourmet Co. here online. That's us, pictured at right.

We live in the fictional town of Seven Cedars, Florida, and sell REAL gourmet mixes from this website.

To learn more about the "actual" Three Angels Gourmet Co. click on the About Us page.

We hope you'll visit us here often and try many of our delicious heavenly gourmet mixes.

Sincerely,

Ireland Reynolds, Daisy Benson, and Delphine Gray

Drying Herbs

By admin at 7:06 am on September 29, 2007 | 234 Comments

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Are you ready for winter cooking?

An indoor herb garden makes it easy to garnish a hearty winter stew with a sprig of fresh rosemary, or decorate a special soup with a fresh basil leaf, even if the weather outside is below zero on a snowy afternoon in January.

But since fresh herbs tend to lose their flavor when cooked for long periods of time, dried herbs are best for seasoning those soups and stews that bubble on the back burner all day in a warm, cozy kitchen.

mint Different herbs dry best at different times of the year, of course. But, if you have an outdoor herb garden, it’s not too late to harvest some of your summer herbs and dry them for use during the cold winter months ahead.

Find out about harvesting and drying fresh herbs here and here.

Learn other ways to preserve and and dry herbs.

Dry some summer herbs and get your indoor herb garden started. Soon you’ll be ready to cook up plenty of tasty dishes for family and friends this winter.

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Another Fabulous Food Tip from Delphine Gray

Filed under: Food Tips, Delphine Gray — 234 Comments »

A Dilly of a Cheese Ball!

By admin at 1:13 am on September 23, 2007 | 152 Comments

With just a few simple ingredients, and a package of Divine Dill Dip Mix from the Three Angels Gourmet Co., you can make this Dilly of a Cheese Ball that’s sure to impress and delight your family and guests.

A DILLY OF A CHEESE BALL

12 oz. cream cheese
1 c. drained, crushed pineapple
1 pkg. Three Angels Divine Dill Mix

Mix pineapple and Three Angels Divine Dill Mix into softened cream cheese. Shape into a ball and roll in chopped nuts and parsley. Dillicious!

Variation: If you don’t want to shape the cheese mixture into a ball just spoon it into an attractive bowl and serve with bagel chips or crackers.

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Another Fabulous Recipe from Ireland Reynolds

Filed under: A Dilly of a Cheese Ball — 152 Comments »

Presto! It’s Pesto!

By admin at 1:35 am on September 20, 2007 | 71 Comments

Pasta with a basic pesto sauce is a casual dinner to enjoy any time. But it’s particularly nice eaten outside on a warm summer evening (and fall doesn’t officially begin until September 23rd). The beauty of pesto is you don’t have to cook it. Just pop a few ingredients into your blender or food processor and - Presto! It’s pesto!

For a delicious pasta and pesto dinner, simply cook some of your favorite pasta and drain it (but save some of the water for making the pesto – see recipe, below). Make the pesto, then pour some of it onto the pasta and mix the two items together. Grate a little extra Parmesan onto the pasta, if desired. Serve with a green salad, crusty bread, and a glass of your favorite wine.

Here’s a recipe for traditional Basil Pesto, taken from the cookbook, EVERYDAY ITALIAN, by Giada De Laurentiis.

BASIL PESTO

2 c. (packed) fresh basil leaves
1/4 c. toasted pine nuts
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp. salt, plus more to taste
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper, plus more to taste
About 2/3 c. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

In a blender, pulse the basil, pine nuts, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper until finely chopped. With the blender still running, gradually add enough oil to form a smooth and thick consistency. Transfer the pesto to a medium bowl and stir in the cheese. Season the pesto with more salt and pepper to taste.

The pesto can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.

And here’s the SECRET to making pesto into a great pasta dressing. “Mix in just enough of the pasta cooking liquid to get the pesto to coat the pasta, but not so much that you’ve created pesto soup,” says De Laurentiis. She also says that while traditional pesto is a green sauce made with pounded basil and pine nuts, “these days any uncooked sauce that’s easy, quick, and pureed can be called a pesto.”

Look for additional pesto recipes in her cookbook.

Another Favorite Recipe from Ireland Reynolds

Filed under: easy recipes, Ireland Reynolds, Pesto, Everyday Italian, Giada De Laurentiis — 71 Comments »

Chocolate-Cinnamon Toast - The Ultimate Comfort Food!

By admin at 7:21 am on September 16, 2007 | 606 Comments

Some mornings you wake up and charge out of bed, ready to save the world. Other mornings you want to pull the covers over your head and tell the world (including your family) to go away.

On those “undercover” days, try this Chocolate-Cinnamon Toast. There’s nothing quite as comforting as cinnamon and chocolate mixed together. This toast is the ultimate comfort food. It’ll give you a good reason to throw off those covers and charge out of bed on even the gloomiest day.

CHOCOLATE-CINNAMON TOAST

For the chocolate-cinnamon mixture, combine 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder, 3 tablespoons sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon in a small bowl. This will be enough for about 8 slices of toast, so once it’s mixed together put it in a small jar with a lid and store what you don’t use right away in the jar (tightly sealed) in a cool cupboard.

For each piece of chocolate-cinnamon toast, butter a slice of bread and put it on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle a rounded teaspoon of the chocolate mixture over each slice of buttered bread and spread it out evenly with a knife.

Pop the cookie sheet into the broiler or a toaster oven, a few inches from the heat source. But watch the toast VERY carefully. It only takes a minute or so for the butter and sugar and cocoa to melt and the top of the bread to toast slightly. Turn the cookie sheet around if the bread isn’t toasting evenly. But don’t let the chocolate mixture burn.

EXTRA TIP: Some cooks suggest toasting the bread BEFORE buttering it, then adding the chocolate mixture to the toast and broiling it. You might want to try it that way. But I prefer the bread to be crispy and slightly toasted on the top, and soft and untoasted on the bottom.

Another Favorite Recipe from Ireland Reynolds

Craving some old-fashioned comfort foods? Then read our Best Comfort Foods list and let us know YOUR favorite comfort foods.

Filed under: easy recipes, Ireland Reynolds, comfort foods — 606 Comments »

Quick and Easy Fudge Pie

By admin at 11:15 am on September 15, 2007 | 370 Comments

When is a brownie not just a brownie? When it’s a Quick and Easy Fudge Pie, of course!

I love brownies and most other people do, too. But sometimes I want something a little more “fudgy” than a regular brownie, so I make this Quick and Easy Fudge Pie, which is a cross between a regular brownie and creamy chocolate fudge.

QUICK AND EASY FUDGE PIE

1 c. sugar

1/4 c. flour

4 heaping Tbsp. cocoa or 2 sq. chocolate, melted (I just use cocoa)

Blend above ingredients, then add:

1/2 c. melted butter

2 whole eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

Pour into greased 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool. Place in refrigerator before serving. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

NOTE: Dress up each serving of pie with a topping of ice cream or whipped cream and a fresh berry or a few chocolate chips for garnish. Make swirls of chocolate syrup on each plate and lightly dust the whole serving with a little sifted cocoa powder.

Wow! Now you’ve got a dessert that is definitely “not just a brownie.” Now you’ve got an impressive Fudge Pie that’s perfect for even your most important dinner guests (you don’t have to tell them it was Quick and Easy).

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Another Favorite Recipe from Ireland Reynolds

Filed under: easy recipes, Ireland Reynolds — 370 Comments »

Serve Divine Dill Dip with Grilled Salmon!

By admin at 8:43 am on September 4, 2007 | No comments

For a quick gourmet dinner, grill some salmon tonight then serve it with a yummy dill sauce made from our Divine Dill Dip Mix and sour cream (directions are on the package).

M-m-m…serve the remaining dill sauce with fresh veggies or chips.

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Another Fabulous Food Tip from Delphine Gray

Filed under: easy recipes, Divine Dill Dip Mix, Food Tips, Delphine Gray — Leave A Comment »

Try This Easy Meatless Main Dish

By admin at 9:11 am on September 3, 2007 | No comments

Chicken, pork chops, steaks, burgers, and hot dogs – all foods we love to grill (and eat) in the summer! But summer is also a good time to try a meatless main dish once in awhile, when fresh vegetables are so readily available.

This eggplant lasagne is a delicious (and low fat) way to serve vegetables as a main dish for dinner. Try it some evening when you’re tired of grilled meats.

EGGPLANT LASAGNE (Serves

1/2 c. fat-free chicken broth

3 c. sliced mushrooms

1 c. chopped onion

1 medium red bell pepper, chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 1/2 c. fat-free ricotta cheese

2 egg whites

1 medium (1 1/2 lbs.) eggplant

8 uncooked lasagne noodles

2 c. low-fat spaghetti sauce

1/2 c. shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13×9x2 inch pan with nonstick cooking spray. Heat broth to boiling in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Cook mushrooms, onion, bell pepper, and garlic in broth for 5 to 8 minutes, stirring frequently, until onion and bell pepper are tender. Stir in salt and pepper.

Mix ricotta cheese and egg whites in a medium bowl. Slice off the top and bottom of eggplant and discard. Cut eggplant lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices.

Spread half of the spaghetti sauce in bottom of pan. Top with half of the eggplant strips, half of the mushroom mixture, and 4 uncooked noodles. Spread with ricotta cheese mixture. Repeat with remaining eggplant, mushroom mixture and noodles. Spread with remaining spaghetti sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.

Cover and bake 45 minutes. Uncover and bake about 15 minutes more, or until bubbly and light brown. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting.

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Another Favorite Recipe from Ireland Reynolds

Filed under: easy recipes, Ireland Reynolds — Leave A Comment »