Tried and true

You might recall that my New Year's Resolutions were to try new recipes, make more crafts and be more frugal.

Have I become more frugal? I think so.

Have I done more crafting? Ummm...no. But I am relatively caught up on laundry, so I think it evens out.

Have I tried new recipes?  Yes!  While I've made a point to blog about the new Martha Stewart and Everyday Food recipes I've tried, I've had great experiences with meals and desserts from other bloggers and websites.  Also,  Pinterest has become a great source of new recipes for me.  I have boards for general recipes, desserts and vegetable dishes, and I am trying something new as often as possible.

Here's what I've tried, along with the links and my reviews.

Creamy Garlic Pasta by the Cheese Pusher:  OMG this stuff is amazing. I love this recipe. I've made it as a side dish and seeing how it was inhaled by my family, I made it again. The second time around, I added diced cooked chicken to make it the main course. Yum!

Cheesy Vegetable Chowder by Lulu the Baker: this is another great recipe. I foresee creating a crockpot version of this for cool fall nights.

Baked Potato Soup by Mama Loves Food: this was okay. I think I experimented a bit with the amounts of ingredients and technique here (and we all know how that usually turns out for me!) so it wasn't as tasty as I had hoped. I'll try this again in the fall, and next time I'll be sure to follow the instructions.

Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili by Reds:  this is pretty good (and a good break from regular chili), and as far as cooking/prep go, it's a breeze!  I like to combine any leftovers with rice to make my Tex Mex Chicken Casserole.

Chickpeas in Spicy Tomato Sauce by Food.com: this was okay. I didn't make the recipe as spicy as it could have been, but this was a hearty (and different!) dish. Serve with rice!

Blueberry Breakfast Cake from Alexandra's Kitchen:  this is so, so, so delicious!  It's so cake-like that I feel guilty for eating it as breakfast instead of dessert. Word to the wise, however...Alexandra mentions in the instructions that the cake might need 10 minutes or so longer in the oven...my experience is that it most definitely needs longer time in the over. Just so you know.

Baked Sweet Potato Chips (shown above) from Martha Stewart:  these are amazing. I could eat them all day long!  Keep in mind that I had a sheet of these burn, so at the halfway mark you'll want to keep a close eye on these and probably decrease the baking time.

No Bake Cookies from Lick the Bowl Good: these cookies were a favorite when I was a kid, and I still love them just as much.  I increase the amount of oats by one cup when I use this recipe.

Terribly Terrific Toffee from A Southern Grace: NOM NOM NOM  I've made this recipe three times in less than a week now, and I might do another batch or two this weekend. This toffee, based with plain old saltine crackers, is easy to make and even easier to eat. Give it a try!

In fact, give all these recipes a try! And if you have a recipe I might like, or that you'd like to see featured on The Martha Initiative, be sure to let me know. Happy cooking!

Resolute

So far, I'm sticking to my New Year's Resolution of trying new recipes...

...well, sort of.  We had lasagna on Wednesday. I've made lasagna before, but since it's not in my regular rotation (I make it once or twice a year, if even that) I'm counting it as a new recipe. It was delicious, easier to make than I remembered, and a nice change of pace for dinner.

But, I do need to branch out to truly new recipes, and I've been pouring over my cookbooks.  This is the stack on the family room end table that I peruse whenever I have a spare moment.  The tabs sticking out are marking the recipes I want to try:

And here's another shelf of cookbooks in the office:

This shelf is baking cookbooks only:

Of course, I have more cooking/baking books that don't fit on those shelves just laying around the house.  I want to go through all of them, try the recipes that sound good, and get rid of any that don't have something I can use. 

In addition to the usual cookbooks, I have years of back issues of magazines with valuable recipes.  Below are my office shelves dedicated to Martha Stewart publications (plus the Complete Chicken Cookbook which won't fit on the other cookbook shelf).  Some of the Martha Stewart books deal with crafts, organization and business, but I own a few cookbooks from her and I've kept every issue of Martha Stewart Living from 2005 on.  I've also kept every issue I've ever received of Everyday Food, which now amounts to a sizable collection of those. I need to go through each of these again and find recipes and meals that will work for my family. 

As if this weren't enough cookbooks and magazines, I also have 10+ years worth of Taste of Home back issues, as well as 10+ special Taste of Home publications (hardback books, recipe collections, etc.).  There's also two years of back issues of Better Homes and Gardens, and several binders worth of recipes, tips and ideas I've clipped from magazines over the last 14+ years. 

With all material for new dinner and meal ideas, I might need to change my resolution from trying two new dinner recipes a month to trying a new recipe twice a day.  And working out more. That, or investing in several new pairs of sweat pants. 

I'm leaning towards new sweat pants.

Martha Monday--How to screw up a great recipe

My October/November issue of Everyday Food arrived mid-September, and immediately I was drawn to a particular recipe for it's promised flavor and ease: One-pot curried cauliflower and rice. It looked delicious and healthy--I had to make it.

I had my friend and neighbor Yogita check out the recipe before I tried it, so we didn't have a repeat of slow cooker Indian chicken stew.  Yogi declared the recipe legit, and recommended that I add a pinch of garam masala and two bay leaves. Two weeks later, cauliflower went on sale at Jewel and I had my chance. 

I began by browning the cauliflower, just as the recipe said.

Then, I took the cauliflower out and added two cups of basmati rice to the pan.  And that's where I went totally and completely wrong.  I poured 3/4 cup of basmati rice into the measuring cup and then opened up a new bag of basmati rice for the remaining 1 1/4 cup amount.  The problem was that the first bag was white basmati rice and the second bag was brown basmati rice.  See the problem? 

I added the garam masala and bay leaves per Yogi's instructions, and instead of cooking it in the oven as the recipe called for, I kept it on the stove. 

 

I didn't even realize there was a problem until the dish was supposed to be done cooking and it was quite apparent that some, not all, of the rice hadn't cooked completely. I dug through the garbage to find the empty white basmati rice bag and compared it with the brown basmati rice bag. White basmati rice = 12 minutes of cooking time. Brown basmati rice = 30 minutes of cooking time. CRAP.

Originally, when I fell into lust with the recipe and decided to share it with you, I had planned on this being a lovely story of me finding a new favorite fall dish that was easy to prepare, flavorful and healthy.

"This is great!" I thought. "It's easy to make, totally legit Indian food and healthy to boot. Everyone is going to love this!"

And then, I totally screwed it up by not paying attention to the major cooking time difference between white and brown basmati rice. Which is really, really sad, because otherwise this recipe would have turned out perfectly.


Yogi even smelled the finished product and declared it a success--it smelled like true Indian cuisine!  Then, she took a good look at the rice.  "Amanda, what the hell?" she asked. 

Just kidding. Yogita doesn't talk that way. But she did notice immediately that the rice wasn't done.  And I think she was just as disappointed as I was--she really wants me to get the hang of making Indian food, if only so I stop begging her to cook for me all the time.  

As I've stated earlier, I abhor waste so I couldn't bear to throw it out.  Instead, I ate all of the one-pot curried cauliflower and rice.  Every. Crunchy. Bite.  And truly, the crunchiness wasn't that bad, but each bite killed me because I could taste that this would have been a fantastic dish if I hadn't screwed it up.   And I think that speaks to how great this recipe is...I screwed up bigtime, but it was still tasty.

Next time, I'll get it right.  And in the meantime, if you are looking for a new favorite fall side dish, pick up the current issue of Everyday Food and give this a try.  But please, use only one kind of rice to make it.  Trust me on this.

Lemon pound cake

In the May issue of Everyday Food, there is an entire spread devoted to pound cakes.  Mmmmm...pound cake. Now I like a good pound cake, but I had never baked one for fear it was too complicated.  It turns out that pound cakes are really quite simple to make, and seeing the ingredients and directions in print was all the inspiration I needed to tackle one.

The first step is to cream the butter and sugar together for eight full minutes.  This is the reason industrial-strength mixers (in kitchen sizes!) were invented.

I took my flavor cue from the Everyday Food spread with their citrus-glazed pound cake which called for orange zest/juice and lemon zest/juice in the cake batter and the icing glaze.  I was all out of orange juice and oranges, so I used only lemon juice and zest.

However, this makes absolutely no sense to me because I had to go to the store for the lemon. Why didn't I pick up an orange while I was there?  Sometimes, I have no idea what is going on in my own life.  Sigh.

Along with being the first time I baked a pound cake, it was also the first time I ever zested anything. Obviously, this was a big day for me.

The massive amount of butter in the cake makes it really moist. In fact, it kept bubbling around the perimeter.  This made me think that the cake wasn't done, and I ended up over baking it. 

Note to self: the next time you bake a pound cake, ignore the butter bubbles and take the cake out after 65 minutes. 

This was a really great, and easy, dessert.  Make the lemon version, or check out the May issue of Everyday Food to see more variations.  Enjoy!

Gift ideas for Mother's Day

Is your mom a Martha fan?  If so, there are some great deals to be had on Martha Stewart publications in time for Mother's Day. 

Get one year of Martha Stewart Living for $19.95.

Get ten issues of Whole Living for $10.00.

Get ten issues of Everyday Food for $10.00.

And to get this adorable front-page style coloring sheet, click here.

But don't stop the gift-giving with a magazine subscription. Seriously.

Is your Mom a fan of smelling awesome? Or a fan of gorgeous earrings?  Then compliment that magazine subscription gift with some lovely baubles and scents from Darling Clandestine.  Evonne sent me two new fragrances (Carny Wedding and Pyrotechnik) and I was blown away.

I am now the proud owner of eight fragrances in the Calliope Crash line. Before these arrived, I had them all arranged by my order of preference, which was an already difficult job. When Carny Wedding and Pyrotechnik got here, that comfortable and well-established order was totally disrupted. In fact, these two might have marched right into places #2 and #3.  That's how awesome they are.

So, if you were wondering to get Mom, or yourself, for Mother's Day, then I'm happy I could point you in the right direction:  a MS magazine subscription and fragrances from Darling Clandestine will thrill her for the entire year.  Have fun shopping!

Super Souper

Something in the January/February issue of Everyday Food caught my eye:  in New Mexico, the Road Runner Food Bank holds an annual event called the Souper Bowl, where area chefs compete for the title of Best Soup, and all proceeds benefit the food bank.  Isn't that an awesome idea?

I was so smitten with the idea that I immediately told The Big Guy that I wanted us to have a similar event.  He's big on football, and I'm big on food, and there you have it:  our very own First Annual Super Souper Bowl Party was born.

We've invited a bunch of friends over to watch the Super Bowl.  Those who are feeling adventurous have been invited to bring their best soup, stew or chili, and everyone will vote on who gets the title of "Titan of the Tureen."  Or "King/Queen of the Crockpot."  Or "Chili Champion."  Or "Soup Superhero!" 

Obviously, we're still working on some of the details.  I'll be making simple appetizers and a few desserts, but no soup entry for me.  I"m so excited about what everyone is going to bring!  Stay tuned!

Martha Monday--pastry puffs

In the December issue of Everyday Food, there's a step-by-step tutorial for making pastry puffs along with several ideas for embellishment (chocolate-glazed raspberry cream puffs, for example).  With only five ingredients and several pictures of the puff-making process, I decided to tackle this recipe and make the puff and eclair versions.   

While the recipe warned that it would make a lot of puffs, I really didn't comprehend just how many.  I had puffs up to my ears!  The recipe also urged me to tap down the stiff peaks of the dough on the small puffs, but I was in a hurry and ignored this advice.  Shame on me.  Instead of having nice round puffs, my small puffs resembled Hershey's kisses.  Which is fine, but just not the look I was going for. 

The recipe did not warn me that baking pastry puffs stinks.  Literally.  My kitchen was filled with that "cooking eggs" smell.  Now, if you like eggs, then this won't bother you in the least.  But if you only eat eggs once or twice a year and believe that their main reason for being is to contribute to cakes, cookies, muffins, etc.  then this might bother you a bit.  Guess which category I belong to? 

To put a TMI twist on Everyday Food's pastry puffs, I filled them with peppermint buttercream.  To do this, just poke holes in the eclairs first, then squeeze in the frosting (or whatever filling you prefer) into the puff with a regular frosting bag fitted with a small tip.  I used size 4.

Note: the Everyday Food instructions call for making the holes on the bottom of the puff/eclair, but since I wanted the holes to be fully hidden, I made them on top.  After filling the puffs, I dipped the tops in melted Wilton candy melts. 

Then I rolled the tops in crushed candy canes.  To crush the candy canes, place them in a sturdy ziploc bag and hand them to your brother.  He'll take them to the basement, crush them with a hammer, and bring them up to you in the kitchen for use.  Isn't that easy? 

Here's my finished product:

The pastry puffs turned out great and the peppermint flavor really worked well with such a delicate shell.  I like the step-by-step tutorial in the magazine--the pictures and corresponding instructions were a huge help.  If I can learn to ignore the egg smell while they're cooking, then this might become a solid recipe for my dessert repertoire.  Maybe.

The gift of Martha

As a self-proclaimed and semi-certified (and maybe certifiable!) Martha Stewart wanna-be, my Martha card would be revoked if I did not share this deal with you:  now through Sunday, MSLO is offering full-year subscriptions to Living, Whole Living and Everyday Food for only $20.00. 

Plus, they are even throwing in a free tote bag!  This is a tremendous deal, and would make the perfect gift for yourself or anyone in your life who is interested in all good things for their home and their life. 

This offer expires on December 5, so act now (wow, don't I totally sound like an infomercial?  Scary!) before the deal is gone. 

Seriously, I love all of her publications, and I know that this is one gift the recipient will not want to return.  Happy shopping!

Martha Monday--Pumpkin doughnut muffins

Is it a doughnut? Is it a muffin?  Either way, these pumpkin doughnut muffins are absolutely delicious.   This recipe is from the November issue of Everyday Food, and it is beyond.  Beyond!

Here's what you need to make the doughnut muffins:  all ingredients are pantry staples, except for the canned pumpkin and buttermilk. But, being as Thanksgiving is right around the corner, I had those on hand anyways.

The recipe says it makes 12, so I doubled it.  Instead of 24 muffins, I got 36!  There's something wrong either with Everyday Food math, or my muffin batter portions, and I'm not sure which it is.  No problem, though, because I am happy to have plenty of these on hand. 

The instructions say to brush melted butter on the muffin with a pastry brush and then cover it in cinnamon-sugar.  I couldn't find a pastry brush (though the Big Guy helped me look and I swear I have one somewhere!) so I simply dipped the tops in melted butter and dipped them in the cinnamon-sugar.  It worked out just fine.

Ultimately, I think simplifying that step decreased the messiness, which is always a good thing. Plus, the coating of butter/sugar/cinnamon on top was just the right amount of sweetness need to get this muffin into doughnut territory.

The muffin itself is delicious.  It is so moist and tender without being overly sweet.

 

Note to Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts and whoever else tries to foist some kind of "pumpkin muffin/doughnut" on the public this time of year:  what you sell is not cutting it.  Give this recipe a try, and get rid of that cloyingly sweet crap you call "pumpkin".  This is what people want and deserve! Martha's pumpkin doughnut muffins for everyone!

The Little Guy had one right away.  I told him I was making them for my coworkers, and he was quite adamant that I "don't take these to work. These are for our house!"  Three-year-olds can be so demanding!

Thank goodness doubling the recipe actually tripled it.  I'll have enough for a yummy breakfast for myself and the Little Guy, and plenty left to share with the folks at work. 

Give this recipe a try! These pumpkin doughnut muffins are amazing!



Butternut squash risotto

Several weeks ago, I was exploring Martha's recipe selections for butternut squash, and I came across butternut squash risotto.  It looked delicious, but since I've never tackled risotto before and cooking risotto takes a lot of time, I put the recipe aside.  It stayed with me though, and finally I just had to make it.

And I'm so, so, so glad I did.  This dish is now among my top comfort foods, and it's a must for the chilly fall season.

Start with a bunch of butternut squash cut into pieces larger than dice.

The recipe calls for a whole butternut squash. I thought that seemed like a bit much, so I only used half.  This was wrong of me--in retrospect, I wish I had added the entire squash.  Oh well. Live and learn, am I right?

Risotto does take a substantial amount of time to make.  Add some liquid, stir the risotto until all the liquid is absorbed, add more liquid, stir the risotto...you get the idea.  In all, you can expect to stir this dish for 40-60 minutes before it is ready.

My stirring time was constantly interrupted with the needs of my children, so I stepped away several times to wipe a nose or find a special toy.  This had me worried about the quality of the final product, but the risotto turned out fine.

It was my first time making risotto, and I am hooked. The time commitment is large, but it is worth it.  I can see this dish impressing dinner guests or just being a nice, comforting family meal for a chilly fall evening. 

Give this one a try soon, and let me know how it goes. Enjoy!

Martha Monday--Any leftover candy?

It's the day after Halloween...for those of you who have any candy left, Martha has a fun solution.  I found the recipe for shortbread candy bars in the October issue of Everyday Food.

Here's my crew for Halloween...after all the indecision about costumes, my Little Guy finally decided to be a rock star to go along with Baby Girl's lobster.  My dear readers, I give you...ROCK LOBSTER!

We might go on tour soon, if we can work out the details about nap times and sippy cups.  Rock stars can be so demanding!

I hope everyone had a very happy Halloween! Now, let's start thinking about Thanksgiving...

Martha Monday--Butternut squash

One thing I've noticed through MarthaStewart.com and Everyday Food is the focus on one ingredient as a base for an entire meal.  They pick a vegetable, explain the different varieties and then present 12+ ways to prepare it in a dish.  In the September issue of Everyday Food, the "In Season" feature is tomatoes.  On MarthaStewart.com, a current focus is butternut squash, pumpkins and apples.

I had gotten some yummy butternut squash from my uncle (shout out to Uncle Rich!) but I had no idea how to cook it or what to do with it.  I simply steamed the first squash and added butter, which was fine. But true to my Martha-in-training objectives, I really wanted to take this veggie out for a spin.  So I consulted Martha...her butternut squash gallery gave me to great possibilities:

#1 Butternut squash with sage

#2 Butternut squash with brown butter

In the end, I couldn't decide so I came up with a combination of both recipes.  I simmered/steamed the chunks in butter and a bit of water, and when they were almost fork-tender, I added brown sugar. Once it was done cooking, I topped it with a small amount of sage.

It was so good! I wish I had some more so I could try the mac&cheese and risotto recipes with butternut squash.  This veggie will definitely have a place in my garden, whenever I manage to get one started.

Happy Monday, everyone!

Oatmeal Cream Pies

Does anyone remember those Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies? In high school, I was addicted to those.  I forgot about them for several years until I went on a binge during my first pregnancy.  Halfway through the box, I realized that they were nowhere near as good as I had remembered them to be.  Had product quality declined?  I doubt it. Rather, they were probably never that good to begin with, and now that my palate had grown way beyond the manufactured delights of Little Debbie treats I was just now noticing.

Anyhoo...my September issue of Everyday Food arrived in the mail, and what did I see on page 109?

Real Oatmeal Cream Pies! And just in time for a friend's 50th birthday party. 

The recipe makes only 13 pies, so naturally I doubled it.  The original recipe calls for regular oats and NOT the quick-cooking variety, but since that's all I had, I went with it.   It seemed to work out just fine.

Because these cookies must be made into sandwiches, it's important to get the cookie size quite uniform for easy cookie assembly later on.  Many of my cookies were different sizes, but because I had doubled the recipe, it was easy to find a match for each one. And easy to eat the odd one out.

The cream cheese frosting filling made me pause...cream cheese?  In an oatmeal cream pie?  I was a bit skeptical and almost made my regular buttercream icing instead.  But since I already had cream cheese frosting from another project, I gave it a try.

Nom nom nom nom nom.  Deeeeeeeeeeeelicious.

I think I ate a few cookies this way, then remembered that I needed to be making sandwiches, and the majority of the sandwiches needed to make it to a birthday party.  Without my teeth marks in them.

In the end, the oatmeal cream pies turned out beautifully, and there were plenty left for the party.

Now these, my dears, are true oatmeal cream pies.  As they should be.  Make some today.  Nom.