A Christmas to Dye For

Sometimes the holidays call for a dye job. It started with Mea's red velvet birthday cake which requires an entire bottle of food coloring. It was delicious, so then I wondered if you could make green velvet, and made a sheet cake version for our piano teacher. From there I digressed to sugar cookies, making Red Hot Hearts, Lemon Yellow Stars, Blue Almond Snowflakes, Green Peppermint Christmas Trees, the other flavors got their coloring from ingredients (Gingerbread Men, Chocolate Bears, and Vanilla Snowmen). Anyone have ideas for other flavors and colors?
Finally, it was time for my first Christmas Velvet Cake. I wanted something Dr. Seussian, so instead of splitting the layers I stacked four whole layers, alternating red and green. It was as delicious as it was cheerful. If you decide to try it use the America's Test Kitchen recipe.

Moving On Up

Nicole Hill always had that sparkle of a woman to watch, even back in the day when we met and she was preparing for marriage. Seven children later, she's managed to bring her family through the daunting task of getting her husband Matthew through college with style and obvious grace. She's sharing that knowledge on a great blog, particularly if you like make-a-head meals. Give it a look. The recipes and home-won wisdom will repay your glance.Climbing Hills

One Meal at a Time

We have finally eaten at least one of every kind of meal I put in the freezer, so I'm ready to review. The meals came from three sources, family favorites I always make, Fix, Freeze, Feast, and Cook's Illustrated Make Ahead Meals cookbook.
Our family favorites are pretty ordinary, meatloaf, lasagna, taco meat, etc. We do have a standout, Mexican Chicken Lasagna which came from a book titled Fresh Ways with Pasta. I'm not going to review these, because they are the kind of dishes about which everyone has their preferences. Instead I'm going to focus on what I did from the two new cookbooks beginning with the Cook's Illustrated book. We made both versions of the Chicken and Rice Casserole. My personal preference is the spicy black bean and corn version, but the peas and carrots were equally comforting and delicious. These recipes were much more labor than the other recipes, but the reward was excellent flavor. These recipes were worth the extra work.
Moving on to Fix, Freeze, Feast, the labor to produce these meals was very low. Many of the recipes were so simple that all we did was measure ingredients into a freezer bag and label it appropriately. The work once you pull it out of the freezer is generally just as minimal. I highly recommend this cookbook for anyone who is short on time.
Now for the reviews
Apple Cranberry Pork Loin. Nice, but not a knockout. We all enjoyed this dish, but I don't think any of us will be saying, "Man, do you remember that pork loin. We have to have that again."
Beef and Barley Soup This got mixed reviews. Soup lovers thought it was wonderful. Non-soup fans thought it was OK. I liked it, and will fix it again. I think I'll add more barley to it though.
Spanish Rice My mom used to make this, so it was a nostalgic moment. The kids like the gooey cheddar on top.
Sausage Hamburgers. I don't think I found the right sausage, and I didn't think to run it through the food processor. The hamburgers are tasty, but next time I'll use whatever sausage appeals to me instead of trying to replicate the recipe.
Honey Glazed Chicken Thighs. Interesting. The chicken comes out almost black, but nevertheless very tasty. It's also good because you cook it from frozen. Quite a help when you forget, or the meal you planned on isn't properly defrosted.
Cherry Skillet Chicken. I don't like cherries, but my family loves them. The family gave this a six thumbs up.
Tequila Lime Chicken. Very good. We all liked the flavor.
Chicken Broccoli Bake. This replaced a Campbell's Soup recipe, and did so very nicely. This is one of my favorites.
Blackjack Steak. A little too sweet. We like our beef to be salty and savory, and the marinade almost turns the flank steak into candy. We probably won't do this again.
Mustard Oregano Pork Chops. Nice but not memorable.
Salisbury Meatballs. New family favorite. The sauce is great and if you buy the meatballs ready-made there is nothing easier. We all look forward to pulling one of these out of the freezer.
Pecan Roasted Chicken Strips. Worth the price of the book. These are absolutely phenomenal. Everyone loves them. The honey and pecan coating is simple, and delicious. Everyone from the youngest kid to the the grandparents who have been over to help out loves this meal.
Rice Pilaf. This is a pretty good side dish and it cooks from frozen. I'd add a little more salt than the recipe calls for, or you could cook it in stock
Wild Rice and Nut Bake. I had high hopes for this one because it's so like Redwall fare. Alas, we are not as healthy in our habits as The Abbey dwellers are. It was good, but it needed some Tabasco or something to perk it up.
Apples and Cheddar. I should have splurged on the cheese since it's such a main ingredient, but I didn't and the dish was a bit of a failure.
Garlic Mashed Potatoes. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. These are so good. I think I will incorporated them into our holiday meals. All I have to do to have really excellent potatoes is pull them out of the freezer. It could be a lifesaver.

Freezing and Thawing

The weather here in Michigan has been unbelievably harsh. As a transplanted Marylander, I've been enjoying the moderating affects of global warming, but this winter has been full on Michigan frozen wonderland. For a few days we couldn't even do laundry because the temperatures were so low the dryer failed to dry things in less than three runs. Vacationing from doing laundry is pleasant until you're vacationing from clean underwear. Thankfully we're back out of the single digits.
My sister has always been one of my favorite human beings. From the first time I spotted her alive and breathing in the hospital nursery I was a big fan. However, we are separated by five and a half years, and that always made relating difficult when we were children. Adulthood has brought us much closer, but there are still times when I wonder if we'll ever really understand each other.
One of my big rituals when preparing to give birth is to stock the freezer with at least a month's worth of dishes--me being me I get carried away and the "month" is actually three months, but this time we have a much smaller freezer. In order to store Christmas provisions, we eat the freezer empty the month before. I was really stuck as to how I was going to get the maximum out of such a minimal space. The usual cook until you drop approach would only have resulted in a chaotic overflow of food we'd have had to eat right then. That's when my sister stepped in.
When my niece was on the way, Karen was finally close enough for me to run down and cook until her freezer was groaning. The entire day was great, and I loved knowing that I'd made her first month with my niece a little simpler. Now that I'm the one expecting, Karen decided to repay the favor, only not with cooking, but with a freezer. It was one of those moments where you feel completely understood and loved. My beautiful freezer is sitting out in the garage waiting for me to get busy.
In honor of such a grand space--that baby has 9 cubic feet--I bought two new cookbooks. Fix, Freeze and Feast has turned out to be surprisingly well done for those of us who are familiar with the pitfalls and pleasures of once-a-month cooking. The authors have dishes that are as easy as measuring ingredients into freezer bags and then thaw and heat. They look delicious. I'll let you know which ones turn out to be better than the lack of effort suggests. The other book, Cook's Illustrated Make Ahead Meals, reflects my desire to upgrade our culinary efforts. I figure a few of their more complex meals will round out the line-up of old favorites and new speedy recipes. All that remains is to make up the shopping lists and get cooking. I love cooking.

Cook's Illustrated February Magazine Recipe Review

Normally I reserve fancy cooking for Christmas. I love to cook, but with all that we do getting dinner on the table becomes more about speed and quantity than excellence most of the time. We also do most of our food shopping at Sam's Club which is great because it saves us tons of money, but not great in that the food offerings are pretty stable and pretty basic. Food had become a boring necessity, and I decided we needed to do something to shake things up.
I've mentioned my appreciation of Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen several times, but now it was time to subscribe. I am now committed to cooking every recipe in the magazine at least once, which has really livened up dinner and food in general. We've had a great month and now it's time to fill you in on the results.

Slow-roasted Beef--Superb! Beef is limited in our home because of its high fat content, so to find a recipe that used such a lean cut of beef and made it fabulous was a highly acclaimed feast. Definitely worth the extra fuss.

French Chicken in a Pot--OK. It may have been our oven which has its finicky moments, but it took much longer than specified to cook. No one was particularly overwhelmed by this rather good chicken recipe. We probably won't make it again, but it was tasty.

Crunchy Baked Pork Chops--Fabulous! This was a tremendous amount of work. If I ever make it for company, which I will, I'll follow the make-ahead instructions and just pop them in the oven. The work was most certainly worth it. We loved this recipe.

Best French Onion Soup--Unbelievably Wonderful! Two things, one this is a different recipe than the one in the The New Best Recipes Cookbook. Two, I hate onions. I only made this soup because I'd committed to making every recipe in the magazine. I'm so glad I suffered through cutting up all those onions. Perhaps it's because you get to torture the onions for several hours and through two or three deglazings, but whatever it is, this soup is to die for. We served it in Panera bread bowls which we warmed in the oven and covered all over with Gruyere cheese. Everyone was in love, even the kids. You must try this soup.

Spanish Style Garlic Shrimp--OK. I couldn't get the dried peppers which may have made a difference, and I think I forgot the sherry vinegar which most certainly made a difference. In any case, we enjoyed the shrimp, but it didn't blow us away. It was just nice.

Almost No-Knead Bread--YUMMY! I bought my first bottle of beer for this bread. It was so worth it. Being me, to justify the expense of the beer I made four loaves and we were all so glad I did, though cooking the bread assembly style did create some problems with the way I was supposed to adjust the oven temperature and such. They all turned out though and they didn't last very long. We especially enjoyed this bread with chili. The crust is just the way I've always wanted crust to be and couldn't get. Very, very good. I'll be trying the variations and maybe I'll even get crazy and make a true sourdough now that I know how to get a good crust.

Roasted Broccoli--Worth fighting over! When you have children ages 3-12 fighting over the last broccoli spear you know a recipe is really good. You must try this!

Thin and Crispy Oatmeal Cookies--No Opinion. I didn't make them. I'm trying to get over being such a perfectionist and when I read the directions they would have taken forever and none of us like oatmeal cookies that much. Sorry.

Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting--It grows on you. I've already made it twice. The first time I just thought it was nice, but the taste haunted me. I had leftover ginger root and a Superbowl party to go to, so I made it again. The second cake cemented my addiction. It will make a nice alternative to my favorite carrot cake recipe. Very moist.

Tramontina Dutch Oven--They said that this would be almost as good as LeCreuset, and since I don't have 230 dollars to spend on a pot I bought one. It really is an excellent pot and performed quite well when I made the chicken, the bread and the soup in it. I'm glad I acquired it. We needed a medium size soup pot. Bonus, it's only 40.oo bucks at Wal-mart.

Vi's Everything but the Kitchen Sink Potato Salad

5 lbs. small redskin potatoes that have been quarter or eigthed depending on the size of the potatoes then boiled until they are soft.
A large bag of matchstick carrots
one head of cauliflower chopped
one bunch of broccoli chopped
one can wax beans
one can green beans
1/2 of a small jar of sweet gherkins
8 or 9 Heinz dill pickles (They aren't much for an eating pickle, but they have the right texture for salads.)
9 boiled eggs, chopped
2 cups mayo
1-2 TBSP ketchup
1-2 TBSP mustard
1-2 TBSP of a good brown mustard with coarse grains

Use a gigantic bowl to mix this up. I use a Tupperware cake keeper turned upside down.
Enjoy.

Bulk Cooking

My sister is cooking up a new little niece for me, so the least I could do was fill her freezer with easy prep or no prep meals. We had a great day working in the kitchen, and I remembered the joy of bulk cooking
Bulk cooking, also know as once-a-month cooking, is a handy way to reduce your work load at times of high stress like the first month or two of a baby's life. You take one day and cook everything, throw it all in the freezer and voila, you are set. I was introduced to the concept by my beloved sister-in-law who knows that a cookbook is always a good gift idea for me. She gave me a copy of Once-A-Month Cooking by Mary-Beth Lagorborg and Mimi Wilson. While that got me started I've found that everyone is much happier eating food they know and love, so I adapted the idea to meet our family's tastes.
Here's the basics. Choose two or three meats that you'll use for the bulk of your recipes. We chose turkey, ham and ground beef. It's also a good idea to make a vat of spaghetti sauce. Using those meat selections as a guide, select recipes containing those ingredients. We made Lasagna, Mexican Chicken/Turkey Lasagna, Turkey Tetrazini, Saucy Chicken/Turkey and Bow Tie Pasta, To Be Baked Ziti, Turkey Burrito Meat, Taco Meat, Ham and Macaroni and Cheese, Ham and Fettucini Alfredo with Peas, and a vat of chili. There was left-over spaghetti sauce which we froze in bags that will be used with purchased meatballs and ravioli.
She's set. We used purchased disposable 9x13 pans and lots of freezer bags, but you can also line your glass 9x13 pans with plastic wrap and freeze the food in place. You need to grease the pan with Pam, but after the meal is frozen just pop it out and wrap it with aluminum foil or use 2 gallon freezer bags to store it. When you make the homemade spaghetti sauce it is likely that you'll have a giant can that was full of the tomatoes from the bulk food club. Rinse the can out and put your freezer bags over the can to make filling simple and neat.
Enjoy. This is a great gift to give anyone you know who is having a baby soon.

Weird Vegetable Night

I decided recently that our family has too small a vocabulary when it comes to vegetables. We needed to get out there and try something new, so I instituted "Weird Vegetable Night." I've been playing it safe so far, asparagus, brussel sprouts, zucchini, but this week it's Swiss Chard. My husband remembers it fondly from his childhood. I'd never encountered it before I joined the family, and even then, my encounters have been of the watch him eat it at his mother's house variety. Anything tastes good with garlic, right? I'll let you know how it goes.

My favorite cookbooks

I've been enjoying cooking and baking lately. As a result my collection of recipe books has been brushed off. Here's a selection of my favorites.

America's Test Kitchen-- The recipes in this book are generally no-fail, and they are delicious. I'm particularly fond of the Crab Imperial Recipe. The vegetable recipes are marvelous. My sister and I decided that we have to get Mother a copy because she actually ate her vegetables this last Christmas.

Cookwise--This book helped me begin to start making up my own recipes. The book is more about the science of cooking than it is a collection of recipes. It really boosted my confidence to know why recipes work and what each technique is trying to accomplish.

Bread Alone--My sister-in-law gave me this book for Christmas. The author's love affair with every aspect of bread baking is inspiring. I tried organic flour as a direct result of reading this book, and you most certainly can taste the difference. I don't bake my bread according to his system because he really is coming at it from a professional perspective, but I find it inspiring.

Cooking from Quilt Country--My mother discovered Marcia Adams and the fact that Amish Cooking is very similar to the cooking we grew up with in Western Maryland. Perhaps it is the influence of the Pennsylvania Dutch and the strong Amish/Mennonite communities in the area. In any case this book has lots of stained pages. I love the Baking Powder Biscuits, the Orange-Glazed PorkLoin and the Amish Apple Pie. The recipes have never failed me.

Mexican Cookery--I received this book as a gift from my friend Aurora. She is Mexican and after tasting my attempt at a Mexican pizza she felt I needed some help. Boy, was she right. The recipes in this book were so new to my palette. I loved the Enchiladas de Polo, and the Uxmal Carrots. I pull this one out whenever I'm hungry for something new and earthy.

The Great American Baking Book--Sam's Club carries lots of interesting recipe books, and this is one of them. The extensive pictures are quite helpful, and the Corn Bread is divine.

Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook: 1953 Classic Edition--My mother's Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook was one of my favorite reads as a child. I loved trying to talk her into trying new things. This is a reproduction of the 1953 version, but it still has the same feeling as looking at Mother's. The recipes may be oldies, but they're still goodies.

The Joy of Cooking--Believe it or not, I just purchased this recently. I'm really enjoying how thorough it is. No matter what I decide I want to cook this book has relevant information.

The French Chef--My copy is an old paperback I picked up at an estate sale. I wanted it because it shows Julia's Buche Noel. I watched her bake that on PBS, absolutely enthralled. The way she recreated an object from nature with food stimulated my creativity in all kinds of ways. Julia was one of my childhood heroines.

Music, Menus and Magnolias--Regional cuisine is always interesting. My family has been vacationing in Charleston for generations. My father once tripped over an astronaut on the Isle of Palms. This recipe book has great seafood recipes as you'd expect, and a killer turtle brownie recipe. Yum.

Cooking for Fifty--Sometimes I like to think big. My husband gave me this cookbook for Christmas one year. The recipes are very good, and it's fun to cook this much food every once-in-a-while.

Desperation Entertaining--I read this book more for technique and party ideas than the recipes. I don't doubt that the recipes are good, but I just haven't tried many of them. The ideas for putting together low maintenance parties are terrific.

Saving Dinner--This book is a great palette stretcher. We all fall into ruts, and following the pre-planned menus with the ready made shopping lists is a great way to break out of those ruts. Drawing on a wide variety of cuisines the author keeps it interesting without being so out there that the ingredients are impossible to find or the kids won't even think about trying it. This is a great resource for mixing it up.

Vegetarian Lasagna for Susan

I'm so glad you enjoyed the lasagna. I hope others will like it as well.

1 Box Barrilla No-Boil lasagna noodles
1 Jar good vegetarian spaghetti sauce
1 container Ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 box chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 Tablespoon dried basil
1/2 cup or so of freshly grated Parmesan
2 Tablespoons or so of Olive Oil
3 large Portabello mushroom caps
1 can Artichoke hearts
3 cups Mozzerella cheese

1. Drizzle olive oil over the portabello mushroom caps and sprinkle with salt and pepper. If desired insert garlic slivers into the gills. Broil until browned and shriveled.
2. Combine ricotta, egg, spinach, basil and parmesan. Divide in thirds.
3. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and smear with spaghetti sauce.
4. Layer in 4 noodles.
5. Top with 1/3 ricotta mixture
6. Sprinkle 1 chopped Portabello and 1/3 of artichoke chunks over ricotta mixture.
7. Spread 1/3 jar of sauce over all.
8. Sprinkle with 1 cup mozzerella.
9. Repeat until all ingredients are used. You may add more grated Parmesan to the top it adds a nice salty note.
10. Bake 350 degree oven, covered for 30-45 minutes. The lasagna should be bubblings and the cheese melted. Uncover and let it brown slightly for about five more minutes. Let stand five minutes to solidify. Serve and enjoy!

Perfect Summer Sunday

I love event planning. I love planning period. This is my plan for at least one Sunday this summer. I find it like writing a living short story. Maybe you'd like to live one of my little stories. Here's the plan

Motto: Perfection starts the day before

Saturday: gather ingredients and prep food.

measure out the ingredients for Jody Smith's Banana Bread

1 and 1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 bananas
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 egg

purchase, gather

sandwich croissants or rolls
mixed cheese cubes
Sparkling Cider
lemonade
Ingredients for Broccoli slaw
1 pkg of Broccoli slaw-
1 pkg of ramen noodles any flavor.
~1/3 cup of slivered almonds
~1/3 cup of sunflower seeds
1/2 cup canola/vegetable/olive oil
1/4 cup sugar
ramen noodle package( the powder)
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

marshmallows
chocolate bars
graham crackers

Prepare: Toll House Cookie Bars and Chunky Chicken Salad

Bake Toll House Bars according to directions on the back of the chocolate chip bag

Combine ingredients for Chunky Chicken Salad

6 cups cooked chicken in bite-size chunks
1 cup celery, fine dice
1 cup red bell pepper, fine dice
1 cup sweet pickle cubes or relish
1 cup chopped granny smith apple
1 cup lite mayo
1/2 cup slivered almonds
2 Tablespoons tarragon

Cheat!:

purchase take it and bake it pizza (We love Sam's Club's pizza)


SUNDAY

1. Rise an hour earlier than everyone else.
2. Make up banana bread and put in the oven to bake.
3. Shower and get dressed.
4. Enjoy some quiet time with God.
5. Wake everyone with fresh banana bread and milk.
6. Get them dressed and out the door for church.
7. Come home and change into casual clothes.
8. Pack cooler with Chunky Chicken Salad, croissants, broccoli slaw ingredients, sparkling cider, lemonade, toll house cookie bars and cheese cubes.
9. Go to beach or park for kite flying, swimming.
10. Tidy up a bit.
11. Head to an open air concert.
12. Set up feast and enjoy the concert.
13. Linger in the fresh air and gab with friends after the concert.
14. Invite friends home for pizza and s'mores.
15. Gab and gnosh for the rest of the evening.

Divine Asparagus

I've been thinking food is a big part of my life that's under-represented here, so here's a recipe I threw together and that I love.

Ingredients

1 bunch Asparagus, prepped and cut into bite size pieces
3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 large or 6 small cloves of garlic
a sprinkle of pepper flakes to taste
salt and pepper to taste
Half a lemon
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
(12 cherry tomatoes)optional
(1/2 lb fettucini)optional

Instructions

1. Blanch Asparagus pieces in boiling water for 2 minutes.
2. Heat Olive Oil in pan and add minced garlic cloves and pepper flakes.
3. Add in the blanched Asparagus. Cook until warmed and appropriately tender. (Add halved cherry tomatoes and cooked fettucine at this point if you're adding them).
4. Remove from heat. Spritz with Lemon. Sprinkle with Cheese.
5. Try not to eat it all before your guests get some. :)