Posts

Showing posts from 2012

Sugar Cookies or Teacakes?

Image
Hello Blog.  I've missed you! I've been suffering from a bad back for the last three weeks which has really put a damper on my Christmas shopping, baking, decorating, etc.  I am getting better daily and thanks to all of you who have checked on me!! Since my DH has been so sweet and helping me so much lately, I am making him a full blown dinner tonight complete with Christmas cookies. My sweet mom made teacakes when we were growing up.  They are a little softer I think than sugar cookies.  She made homemade chocolate syrup to pour over them and it was a fabulous dessert.  These are not fancy because I did not take the time to decorate them today.  Just a good cookie.  I discovered also today that making sugar cookies at Christmas by yourself is not nearly as much fun as it was when the kids were little and it was a half day adventure with decorating and baking! These are super easy to make and super easy dough to work with! Teacakes 4 cups self rising flour 1

Blood Typing

Recently a friend of mine blood typed me to help me know what foods, etc. are actually good for my particular blood type.  It is a very interesting theory.  I am type B  which means that my body cannot digest chicken or corn.  Only type A's can do corn.  There is a book written by Dr. Peter J. D'Amo that lists out the specific foods that are healing for you, as well as those you cannot tolerate.  Since I love chicken, that was a bit of a shock to me.  The medicinal meats on my blood type's list are lamb, goat, rabbit, venison, ostrich.  Now those are not meats that I normally eat.  On my neutral list, however, I can have beef and turkey, along with buffalo and several others.  It also talks about vegetables, dairy, juices, etc. and the specific foods that are medicinal for your body and those you should avoid completely. I am going to try this diet for a few weeks and see if it makes a difference.  I have heard wonderful things about this diet. I just thought it was

WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?

I cannot believe it has been two months since I blogged!!  I haven't lost interest in cooking or blogging.  I have just been travelling some and really busy helping with a silent auction we have coming up November 1. I miss hearing from all of you and I hope you will hang in there just a little longer as I plan to start cooking again soon!  I already have several recipes clipped to blog about.  I'll be back on Twitter again soon too I hope. I have a question for all you wonderful cooks out there.  How long can you safely keep fried chicken in your refrigerator if it is in a box and not sealed airtight?  I'm about to eat some for lunch that I bought on Wednesday.

Indian Cuisine!!

Image
Some of my favorite twitter friends and I occasionally get together and cook up an Indian dinner together on twitter.  Margaret of Scones4me, Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs, Kayte of Grandma's Kitchen Table, and Rebecca "Hobknob", and also Abby of Mixitbakeit.  A fun group for sure! We decided on Authentic South Indian Biryani with Indian Cucumber Salad.  I'm not a lover of curry and fortunately for me this one did not include any.  It was easy to prepare and so delicious.  I especially loved the fresh mint in both dishes.  I also made some Kashmir Spinach to go with (I won't be making this again though hubs liked it).  On the side, we had delicious naan bread.  I could eat naan bread every day! Here are the recipes so you can try them yourself!  Really good.  I cannot wait to eat the leftovers for my lunch today.  Let me know if you try it!! A uthentic South Indian Biryani Ingredients 2 1/2 tablespoons vegetable  oil 1 pod cardamom 1 clove 1 

Hot Chicken Salad

Image
Well here I am after a brief blog "vacation."  We have been travelling this summer so no time for cooking or baking.  Soon we will be traveling again to help my future daughter-in-law choose a wedding dress.  I'm very excited about being included in the shopping trip for that.  Of course, all the dresses are going to be beautiful. I think I have been watching too many westerns this summer.  I had a hankering to cook pioneer food this entire week and serve to my cowboy.  But after thinking about how much fried food there would probably be, I'm putting that off for a few weeks. I still intend to challenge myself and do it. Last week, I was fortunate enough to have lunch at my friend Pat's house and she served the most delicious hot chicken salad.  I have tweaked the recipe just a bit for my own tastes.  Very easy to put together if you use a rotisserie chicken like I do.  For a different variation, add a cup of cooked rice to the mix. All you really need to g

Just Things

I cannot believe it has been several weeks since I have blogged.  So much has gone on in my life that there has not been enough hours in the day to cook something special, much less blog about it!! We have been travelling quite a bit and the month of June holds more travels for us.  Some exciting, and some necessary. For those of you who are our facebook friends, you know that my brother-in-law Roger had an unexpected brain aneurysm which culminated in brain surgery a week ago.  Thanks to all of you who have been praying for him.  He is making progress, but has a long way to go.  We are so thankful for his progress this far and hope he improves every day. Wednesday we lost a dear friend of ours.  The father of our close friend Lisa.  We loved Mr. Littleton and will miss him greatly. So, life sometimes gets in the way of cooking and hobbies.  But I will be back as soon as possible.  Please keep checking back in and thank you for your steady support!! Hope everyone is having a

FOFF - Thursdays with Carla Vavala

Image
On Thursdays, my friend Joanne of Applecrumbles and I have been trying to cook our way through Carla Vavala's book Fusion of Food and Friends .  These recipes are heart healthy folks!!  And I have yet to make one of her recipes that was not tasty.  Check out Joanne's webpage to see what she has been cooking. Broccoli would not be my first vegetable of choice, but neither would it be my last.  Preparing it this way, however, was a new and delicious taste to a familiar vegetable.  Very simple and quick to make as well. Cut fresh broccoli florets.  Microwave them for 4 minutes.  Preheat oven to 400.  Splash broccoli with olive oil, salt and pepper, garlic powder and cook for about 12 minutes in the oven.  Then sprinkle with lemon juice. Enjoy!!!!

Sweet Potato Fries

Image
Have you ever tried sweet potato fries?  I have lately become addicted to these.  And heart healthy to boot!! For a little something different as a side dish, try making these instead of regular fries.  You will not be sorry you did.  You back them in the oven on a cookie sheet for about 25 minutes.  Add a little brown sugar to them if you like. Delicious!!!

CEiMB - Zucchini and Potato Cakes

Image
I chose this week's CEiMB's pick for the Ellie Krieger group.  I thought these potato cakes looked crispy and delicious.  To be completely honest, I guess I prefer fried potato cakes even though they are not the best for you.  These are certainly more healthy.  Maybe it was the mix of zucchini in them or just that they lacked a bit of flavor.  These were good though especially if you are watching your fried foods!  I'm curious to hear what you thought as we all have different likes and dislikes. The recipe is found in Ellie's new cookbook Comfort Food Fix.  Ellie has lots of great recipes that are good for you and they are all pretty easy to prepare.  I will share the recipe with you here: Crispy Baked Zucchini Potato Pancakes Page 236 of Comfort Food Fix - Krieger Olive oil cooking spray 2 tsp. olive oil 1 small onion, thinly sliced 1 medium russet potato unpeeled 1 medium zucchini unpeeled, ends removed 2 large eggs 2 large egg whites 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

Craving Chocolate? how about a PIE!!!

Image
I needed a quick dessert for Friday night.  Chan is not a huge fan of chocolate, but I remembered my mom's "water" pie she made so often.  I have never made a  chocolate pie - believe it or not!  I could not find my mom's recipe, but I took a recipe I had and changed it to make it my own.  It got rave reviews and was so easy to prepare! I used a purchased pie crust and cooked the specified time in the oven.  Let cool. Stir together 2/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup cornstarch and 1/2 tsp. salt.     Using a whisk, beat 4 egg yolks with 2 cups of milk and one cup of heavy cream.  Gradually blend milk mixture in with dry ingredients in a glass bowl.  Cook in microwave (this is how I cook all my cream pies) and stir every minute and a half with the wire whisk until mixture has thickened.  (Usually takes about 8-10 minutes depending on your microwave).  Add 1 T. vanilla extract, 2 T. butter and 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli's semi-sweet).  Stir until chips are

Carla Vavalos FOFF

Image
Well I finally got around to cooking something this week. . .. . Had a dental appointment this morning - how I have grown to hate going to the dentist.  Just the thought of it gives me goosebumps.  I used to love getting my teeth cleaned but now it is painful.  And something new every time I go.  This time my dentist was on leave so I saw Dr. Marta.  No one can pronounce her last name so we call her Dr. Marta. In Carla Vavalas book Fusion of Food and Friends  I made the roasted asparagus.  What's so special about that you might ask?  Well the fresh asparagus roasted is great of course, but Carla tops her off with a delicious sauce made of butter, balsamic vinegar and soy sauce.  It was so delicious that we had grilled chicken with it and the sauce was wonderful making its way across the plate and bumping into the chicken!  Loved it. Buy her book on Amazon for just $10 or email me for the recipe.  So easy and delicious.

Back from my trip!

I never meant to take a blogging break - honestly I did not!  But it has been a couple of weeks since I posted.  Things have been crazy here in Alabama.  My husband had a very special birthday last week and it seems we celebrated the entire week!  Ending the week with a fabulous trip to Dallas to visit my son, daughter-in-law and sweet grandbaby for Easter.  We had a wonderful time and ate wonderful food while we were there.  Took a trip to the Dallas Zoo and saw all the beautiful animals and rode the monorail.  Ate at Patrizio's for Chandler's birthday.  He loves anything Italian and it was really really good.  Thank you Cameron and Meredith for treating us! I'm ready to start cooking again so stick around for new recipes coming!  Have a wonderful week.  I'm so happy spring is here (although it is chilly today).

BWJ - Irish Soda Bread

Image
This week in Baking with Julia we made Irish Soda Bread.  It came at a great time for St. Patty's week.  I watched an old video of Julia Child making this and it gave me what I thought were helpful insights on the preparation. The dough was very easy to mix up and it was a nice soft dough to work with.  It said not to "overknead" or the bread would be chewy.  I did not mix in any add-ins as I wanted the traditional irish bread. I cut the traditional crosses in the top of the bread before baking.  The cuts were supposed to be about 1 1/2 inches deep. Apparently, my cuts went haywire in the oven because my dough spread so much when it was done it almost looked like it was in four sections.  This was one 'section' of it. We enjoyed the bread.  It seemed to me to be like a giant biscuit. For the recipe, buy the book Baking with Julia, or check out our hostesses' webpage Carla and Cathleen . Also check out the other bakers in the club TuesdayswithDorie

TWITTER AVATAR FUN!

Image
This month was my month to choose a chef for twitter avatar fun!  We have one chef each month and use a photo of the recipe from that chef as our avatar on twitter.  I chose Sunny Anderson. I really like watching her show and she has some fun recipes to share. I chose her "Meatloaf is the way to my heart as long as it has kick and potatoes around it."  We love meatloaf at our house and this one was really good.  It has a mixture of ground turkey and ground beef so it is a little more healthy than just a ground beef one.  Loved the sauce.  Mine took a little more than an hour to cook.  I'm beginning to think my oven may not be as hot as it should be since this happens a lot. Try it!!  You can get the recipe here. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sunny-anderson/meatloaf-is-the-way-to-my-heart-as-long-as-it-has-kick-and-potatoes-are-around-recipe/index.html

FOFF - Asian Salad

Image
If you check out Joanne's version of this you will see two totally different versions.   I'd put my money that her version is the better one! The recipe called for beef flavored Japanese noodles.  I assumed it was Ramen, but when I got to the store, there were all sorts of noodles in the asian section but they were out of ramen unless you wanted a 12 pack size.  So I thought, "hmm. . .salad. . these crunchy ones would be good!"  I added some thin spaghetti as well. Check this one out.  Easy to make and healthy to boot!  Full of healthy stuff.  Zucchini, water chestnuts, a semi-hot dressing over the top. . . Chan is going to love this! 1 pkg steamed edamame 1 can of whole water chestnuts (I used sliced) 1 package beef flavored Japanese noodles 1 small onion, chopped 1 garlic clove, minced 1 small fresh zucchini chopped small 1/2 cup cashews (I left these off because I do not care for cashews) 1/2 package fresh broccoli slaw Dressing: 1 T crushed red p

Thursdays with FOFF - Carla Vavalas = Portuguese Soup

Image
I love soup.  Mostly I love vegetable soup or beef stew.  Or even a good chili or taco soup. I'm not much on creamed soups like cream of potato, or pumpkin soup.  For those of you who are, this soup may be right up your alley!  And it is healthy to boot! It was very simple to prepare.  Just cut up vegetables and cook in a chicken based broth for 1 1/2 hours, then use your immersion blender to mix together and serve.  Carla says you can add small pasta to this if you like. Two T. olive oil One onion chopped 4 cloves garlic three potatoes cut in cubes one sweet potato cut in cubes two carrots cut up 2 celery stalks chopped 2 T. fresh parsley 1 chicken bouillon cube salt and pepper to taste In a large stockpot, add olive oil, onion and garlic.  Cook until translucent.  Add the rest of the ingredients and cover with water about one inch above vegetables..  Cook about 1 1/2 hours until vegetables are tender.  Using a hand held blender puree (after removing from burner o

BWJ - Chocolate Truffles Tart

Image
Sometimes our days just don't go as we plan.  Last week I took my car in to have new brakes and rotors installed, oil change, and tires rotated. The next day, I noticed my front tires looked a little low, but I drove on them anyway. The next day, I headed out the door to leave for work and both my front tires appeared to be almost flat.  To top it off, it was raining cats and dogs and I was running late. I stopped at a tire dealership to get them checked.  The nice guy checked and all four tires were nearly flat.  After paying him to put air in them, I was on the road again.  But not before calling my husband to ask him to call the dealership that rotated my tires and inform them that they should have checked the air in them before letting me drive off the lot! Now remembering it was my boss's birthday, I made a stop to pick up Krispy Kreme doughnuts to take for him, making me later than ever. Got to work with doughnuts and realized there were three more birthdays going

Valentine's Day Dinner with my Sweetheart

Image
He got an invitation to come to a candlelit dinner at his own home on Valentine's Day.  He was to be home at 5:30 sharp.  My husband, my lover, my best friend, and my sweetheart walked in the door and was escorted to the den on the arm of his wife where he found a warm fire blazing and a table set for two complete with red tablecloth, roses for the centerpiece, and a single candle burning.  Soft classical music played in the background.  A Valentine card was there at his place. The dinner started with a cherry tomato salad, made with soft green lettuce, mozzarella cheese, cherry tomatoes, and all drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  A bottle of non-alcoholic grape juice was the drink of the evening.  And yes, even without alcohol, it was intoxicating. The main course consisted of brown and wild rice and creole chicken patties with creole sauce. Dessert was chocolate bread pudding baked in separate ramekins and topped with a dollop of whipped cream.  It was without a

Twitter Group - Delia Smith for February

Image
I believe Nancy chose Delia Smith for our chef for the month of February.  I was unfamiliar with Delia's recipes but the internet was helpful in choosing something to make.  We choose a different chef each month and then use the photo from our completed dish as our avatar on twitter.  It's a lot of fun. I chose Delia's Oriental Chicken.  I left off the hot pepper on top because my stomach doesn't like hot peppers!  You can find the recipe here: http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/main-ingredient/poultry-and-game/chicken/oriental-chicken.html The chicken was delicious. Tonight, I have invited my husband to a candlelit dinner at my house for just the two of us.  He was very excited to get the invitation and he says he cannot wait to come home and see what I have cooked for him.  I will blog about it later in the week!  Happy Valentine's Day to all of you lovers and friends out there!

Baking with Julia - White Loaves - First Post!

Image
And so it begins. . . a new year. . .  a new book ..  . a new group of friends interested in baking together! This week's challenge from the Baking with Julia group was white loaves hosted by our fearless leaders, Jules and Laurie.  I have not made bread in about twenty years, so the task seemed a bit daunting at first.  But once my loaves started to rise, I got very excited.   And my house smelled delicious all day!! My camera is not working right and therefore the photos are a bit yellow.  My autofocus is messed up so I will have to send my camera to Nikon to get it fixed I am told. The bread had to rise twice.  Once in a bowl, then once in the loaf pans.  Did I mention how wonderful they smelled while they were rising and baking?  Nothing like fresh bread baking. I had a great time making this and the results were fantastic.  I definitely have renewed interest in bread baking now!  My loaves were perfect and so tasty!  I froze one loaf so I am excited

Strawberry Salad with Pretzel Crust

Image
Last weekend our supper club met and the hostess asked that I bring a red salad to match her Valentine inspired table.  I decided on this strawberry congealed salad.  Not only is it pretty, but it has a pretzel crust which gives it a little salty and crunchy pop.  The middle layer is cream cheese and cool whip.  I made a 9 x 13 size and the eight at dinner devoured it!  It is very important to let each layer cool completely before adding the next one.  Maybe try it for your upcoming "Valentine." Also, for those of you who knew we were building out our attic, we finally finished it right before the holidays.  Here is a photo of our "work" in progress.  It took us almost a year of hard labor, but we are very happy with the finished product. Here is the recipe for the strawberry salad: Ingredients 2 cups crushed  pretzels 3/4 cup melted butter 3 tablespoons sugar, plus 3/4 cup sugar 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese 1 (8-ounce) container whipped topping 2 (3-o

Ready for Superbowl? Carla Vavalas Hot Wings

Image
This week my friend Joanne of Applecrumbles and I made Carla Vavalas' hot wings.  This recipe is perfect this week since Superbowl Sunday is coming up!!  I will definitely be making these again!  They are very easy, inexpensive, and quick.  Not to mention delicious! Joanne had warned me that they were a bit on the hot side, so I knew to cut back on the hot sauce.  My only problem was the recipe made 48 hot wings which were way too many for the two of us.  So I tried to accurately measure how much sauce I would need for the 12 wings I made for us, but I did not make quite enough sauce.  And the sauce was GREAT so I was a tad disappointed that all my wings were not completely covered in it.  I think I might have even liked to have had some extra to dip something in - bread, whatever!! If you want the recipe, just email me!   Try these!!

Carla Vavalas - Food Fusion and Friends - Quiche

Image
This week I made a quiche from Carla's book FFOF.  I personally cannot eat quiche, but my husband likes it and likes to take it for his lunch.  This was a spinach quiche and I added proscuitto, mushrooms, onions and cheese to it. If you want the recipe, you can buy Carla's book on Amazon for only $10 or you can email me.  Very easy recipe.  Check out Joanne's page to see what she made this week.

30 Minute Thursdays - Hazan's Tagliatelle with Quick and Simple Meat Sauce

Image
In working my way through Guiliano Hazan's 30 Minute Pasta Book, this is about my fifth recipe.  All have been excellent.  My twitter friends Margaret and Kayte also participate in the 30 Minute Thursday group so check out their webpages and see if they cooked with Guiliano this week! This one was really easy to put together, but for my taste in pasta, I felt it needed a few more ingredients.  If you like a sauce with a lot of meat and not much sauce, then this is for you!!  Chandler loved it as he loves all pasta. If you want the recipe, email me.  Or purchase the book.  It called for tagliatelle or rigatoni.  I could not find tagliatelle so it was rigatoni for me.  The sauce is a simple mixure of ground round, onions, fresh tomatoes and grated parmesan. Hope all you in bloggerville have a wonderful weekend.  It is a little chilly for me here in the sunny south!

FOFF - Irish "Stout" Beef Stew

Image
My friend Joanne and I are cooking our way through Carla Vavalas' book, Fusion of Food + Friends .  You can buy the book on Amazon for a mere $10.  I have yet to cook anything from it that was not tasty.  I am a day early posting this as Joanne likes to post on Thursdays.  Check out her webpage tomorrow to see what delicious something she has cooked up! I chose Carla's Irish "Stout" stew this week because it has been cold and rainy here for a few days.  The recipe calls for a stout beer and red wine, or just a regular beer.  Since my husband's favorite beer is Guinness, that is what I wanted to use, but we were out.  I opted for another beer that was dark. I did add just a half cup of white wine (instead of the suggested red) because that is what I had open in my refrigerator. It was delicious served with some fresh french bread.  I cooked it in the crockpot since the recipe said it needed to simmer for a while to get the bitter taste of the stout out.  Th

Hazan's Thirty Minute Thursdays - Pasta!!!!

Image
This week I decided for my Thirty Minute Thursdays group to make Hazan's Spinach and Ricotta Penne.  This is my third recipe from Hazan's book Thirty Minute Pasta.  Loved the first two and loved this one as well. As the spinach was cooking, I kept "sampling" it and I am surprised there was enough sauce left to mix in with the pasta when I finished cooking it! It is very easy to make.  Chandler could eat pasta every day of the week so I cannot go wrong making it for him.  He was not too happy last night, however, when I fed him an egg sandwich because I had spent my evening cutting out stars and painting a crescent moon for an upcoming banquet! My twitter friends Margaret and Kayte also make Thursday pastas so be sure to check out their websites and see what they made this week.  Buy the book and try this recipe.  You'll love it.  Guiliano Hazan's 30 Minute Pastas.  It truly is one of the most delicious and useful cookbooks I own.

Donna Hay's Chicken and Bacon Burger

Image
I have a lovely group of twitter friends and we are choosing one chef per month to spotlight.  We can make anything from that chef's collection of recipes so I chose Donna Hay's Chicken and Bacon Burger.  This is my first time cooking with this group!  The photo of my finished product will become my twitter avatar for the month! I cannot say enough good about this "burger."  It is healthy, tasty, just enough spice to it, and very filling.  I cut one chicken breast in half to make two sandwiches.  The avocado and bacon added so much flavor, but I loved the spicey mayonnaise dressing.  I used french rolls but might try a different bun next time.  You can find the recipe by googling Donna Hay online.

Saturday morning pancakes!

Image
I made some "easy" pancakes for Chandler and me last Saturday as a special treat.  Usually we have frozen waffles and whipped cream.  I took the recipe from the Bisquick box for pancakes, and added one mashed banana and one tablespoon of cinnamon.  Delicious and quick and easy!