Riding With No Hands

Try something new this Thanksgiving!

I mentioned in a previous post how you should take a chance and try a new recipe this Thanksgiving. Well, I’ve done the dirty work for you! Here are a few for you to try. Some are traditional favorites, others have a unique twist. Even if you’re not much of a cook, click on the links anyway. They are all wonderful blogs!

SOUP

  • Chrissy shares a recipe for a hearty Roasted Vegetable soup on her blog, Storm of Thoughts. The veggies can easily be chopped and roasted ahead of time!

MAIN DISH

  • Melissa, from Your Fun Family blog, makes turkey several times a year, and offers up a simple recipe, including tips on how to roast it and make more flavorful drippings.
  • Some people don’t like turkey, right? Jessica, from MomFuse, provides an alternative with her family’s recipe for Cranberry Meatloaf.

SIDES

  • Jenn, at Frugal Upstate, shares a recipe for Mushroom Stuffing that one of her readers submitted for her Frugal Thanksgiving Mini Series. Great for mushroom lovers!
  • Skip the canned stuff, and try this fresh Orange Cranberry Sauce from Feels Like Home.
  • For something a little different, take a look at Linda’s Crock Pot Calico Beans recipe. You probably already have all the ingredients you need in your pantry.
  • Kristie shares her grandmother’s recipe for Baked Corn on her blog, Karene’s Kitchen. She’ll be posting new recipes everyday up until Thanksgiving, so check back often!
  • Sweet potatoes are a must-have on my Thanksgiving menu. Caryn, from Cooking and Eating Through Texas, shares her Sweet Potato Casserole with Praline Topping.
  • My mom always makes an apple salad for family get-togethers. This is an easy recipe for Apple Waldorf Salad, also from Caryn.

DESSERT

  • Tara, from Feels Like Home, posts some incredible recipes every week. She’s making three pies for her Thanksgiving dinner, and is generous enough to share all three: her favorite Pecan Pie, gourmet Pumpkin Pie with pecan topping, and her incredibly easy Cherry Pie.
  • Janine, from Twofer the Price of One, shares her grandmother’s famous Apple Pie recipe.
  • Lori (aka, A Cowboy’s Wife) shares some interesting information about pears and a delicious recipe for Red Anjou Pie on her food blog, A Wooden Spoon.
  • And just for fun, why don’t you try Jenni’s recipe for brownies? It’s the Jiggety Family Recipe. With the step-by-step directions and photos she provides, there’s no way you can mess these up!

If this isn’t enough inspiration for creating your Thanksgiving menu, check out Tara and Caryn’s full menus, and Jenn’s Frugal Thanksgiving Mini Series, for even MORE ideas!

November 21, 2008 | Mom Tips, Recipes | 5 Comments 

One (of many) reasons I love Twitter

How cool is it that I can chat with Everyday Food Magazine’s editor-in-chief Deb Puchalla on Twitter? And she read my blog. A while back I also talked to assistant food editor Emma Feigenbaum about a little incident she had with her iPhone - accidentally baking it while testing a recipe.

I guess you can say I’m a little star-struck!

I remember reading the very first issue of Everyday Food way back in early 2003. I’ve been a loyal reader ever since, except for maybe 1-2 years when Marsy was a baby and I had no time (or motivation) to cook much.

One of the recipes from that first issue is still in our regular rotation - the mustard-glazed salmon. It’s my hubby’s absolute favorite dish. I’ve tried preparing it other ways, but ultimately we always revert back to that.

I subscribe to a lot of magazines, but Everyday Food is dearest to me. I love the compactness of it. I used to just tear out recipes I liked, but now I save all the issues and pull out the ones pertaining to the current season when I’m in need of inspiration. The regular features are excellent. “Have You Tried?” has encouraged me to try new foods, with “Wine Basics” I can impress my husband my pairing the perfect wine with dinner, “Kitchen Tips” are always valuable, and “In Season” reminds me of what I should look for at the grocery store.

I’ve gifted Everyday Food to family and friends several times, and it’s always a hit! An affordable one, at that. Just on my street, there are 3 of us that subscribe, which is great because we can share our experiences - “Have you tried making the apple crisp from so-and-so issue?” for example.

The Everyday Food show on PBS is my preferred cooking show on TV at the moment. It doesn’t have any of the pretense of the programming on other channels. No gimmicks, just good food. I watch it every Sunday morning along with Marsy and always look forward to a new episode. If you’ve never seen it, check your local PBS listings.

Do you have a favorite cooking magazine?

October 25, 2008 | Contemplation, Recipes | 6 Comments 

Menu Plan Monday - 10/20/08

It’s only the second week I do this, therefore I almost forgot! But then I thought of what Justine said last week, so I had to do it.

We ate out two nights this past week so I’m taking two meals and adding them to this week’s menu.

  • Monday: Stovetop chicken bake
  • Tuesday: Apricot-glazed chicken and green beans
  • Wednesday: Pique Macho (a Bolivian dish)
  • Thursday: Homemade chicken noodle soup and garlic bread
  • Friday: Mustard-glazed salmon and baby spinach
  • Saturday: Baking some banana bread/eating dinner at in-laws
  • Sunday: Eating out

I have a ton of chicken in the freezer that I’ve found on sale so that’s the reason for so much of it this week. Otherwise I usually try to balance it out - 2 nights chicken, 2 nights meat, 1 night fish, 1 night pork, or something like that. Hubby would eat a big juicy steak every night if it were up to him!

Chicken & biscuitsAmber requested the recipe for last Monday’s chicken & biscuits. I got it from Kraft’s Food & Family Magazine. It’s mailed out 5 times a year and has some really great ideas for convenient dinners, desserts, and snacks. The best part is that most are kid-friendly! You can sign up for a free subscription here. I’ve been getting it for years now.

You can print the original recipe off of the website; I change it up just a little bit to make it more figure-friendly.

Ingredients

  • 1 can low-fat condensed cream of chicken soup
  • 3/4 cup  low-fat sour cream
  • 2-3 cups cooked chicken, seasoned with S&P, thyme, whatever you have on hand (I like to shred it)
  • 1 package  (16 oz) frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
  • 1 cup reduced-fat cheddar cheese, shredded(the sharper, the better)
  • 3 Tbsp. low-fat milk or Half-and-Half
  • 1 cup all-purpose baking mix (I use Bisquick - great coupon in last Sunday’s ads)
  1. Pre-heat oven to 375ºF. Mix soup and 1/2 cup sour cream in a big baking dish (I use a 2-quart). Stir in chicken, vegetables and cheese.
  2. Stir milk and remaining sour cream into baking mix. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls into 6 mounds on top of chicken mixture. Make sure to not make the dollops of the biscuit mixture too big or they won’t cook through. If you use a regular tablespoon they come out just right.
  3. Bake 30 - 35 minutes, or until biscuits are golden brown.

Enjoy!!

October 20, 2008 | Frugality, Menu plan Monday, Recipes | 3 Comments 

I scream for ice cream cone cupcakes

and voila! Ice cream cone cupcakesHave you ever had one of these? I got the idea from the Betty Crocker website, and was happily surprised by how easy and fast they are to make. I did it all two hours before Marsy’s birthday party, but I’m sure making them the night before would work just as well. They were a big hit with the kids and the parents, and fun for me to make.

Why did I choose cones over traditional cake or cupcakes?

  • I had never done it before and novelty is always good.
  • Each cone uses only a little batter, so I got more cones than I would’ve regular cupcakes.
  • No messy hands or faces (for the most part).
  • You can eat the whole thing! No just eating the top of the cupcake and wasting the rest.
  • No cupcake wrappers strewn all over the ground in the party area.

You just need a few ingredients: a box of your favorite cake mix, water, oil, eggs, 30-36 regular ice cream cones (the ones I found were 99 cents for a 24-pack), and frosting and sprinkles to decorate the cones.

Now here’s the hard part -
Prepare the cake mix according to the directions on the box. Fill each cone to about a 1/2 inch from the top. Bake as directed, 20-25 minutes, and that’s it! Use a muffin pan when baking, so if one falls over it won’t be a big deal. I managed to get 31 cones filled, but could have done 36 if I would’ve put less batter in the first batch of 12.

Fill cones with cake batter
Let cool, and frost with your favorite store-bought or homemade frosting. Applying sprinkles is so easy if you just pour them in a bowl and dip the cone in evenly.

To transport, I stretched a piece of aluminum paper around a baking pan, and cut slits in it for each cone. I placed the baking pan in a box, but just covering the top with more foil would be fine. They were packed in there pretty tightly so none fell over.

Next time I’ll leave them without decoration and set out sprinkles, candy, fruit, etc, and let the kids do it themselves.

Just as fun as an ice cream party but without any melting!

October 9, 2008 | Kids, Mom Tips, Recipes | 14 Comments 

Tarte Tatin

gala appleI hosted an Oscar-viewing party at my house last February and invited a bunch of ladies in the neighborhood. Everyone brought a dish inspired by one of the Oscar-nominated films.

It’s now almost 6 months later and I’ve forgotten what all those dishes were, except for one - Tarte Tatin, inspired by the biopic La Vie en Rose, about Edith Piaf. If you haven’t seen it, you need to! Rush to Blockbuster or add it to your Netflix queue. The actress that portrayed Edith won Best Actress for that role, by the way. But I digress! If you don’t know what tart tatin is, it’s a French apple tart. The neighbor that made it is from France, so it was genuine French fare. Simply saying it was delicious is an understatement. I asked her for the recipe, and she emailed it to me a few days later. Like so many other items in my inbox, it got filed away in a random folder and I forgot about it, until that weekend that I had no Internet. That’s why I’m just getting around to sharing the recipe.

Tarte Tatin

  1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Pour half a stick of melted butter in your pie dish.
  3. Cover with sugar in an even layer.
  4. Add your favorite flavoring or spice (vanilla, cinnamon…)
  5. Place apple slices on top of this butter/sugar layer. Make sure that the first layer is nicely presented since it’s the one will end up on top. As for the thickness of the slices: not too thin otherwise the apples will caramelize with the sugar and will stick to the dish, but not too thick either because then they won’t fully cook. Make sure you leave a gap of about 1/2″ all around the dish so you can tuck the pastry in.
  6. Cover the apples with the pastry. You can go all out and make the dough yourself, or do what I do and use the ready-made kind found in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. I use the Pepperidge Farm brand.
  7. Cut off any extra dough that hangs over the edge of the pie dish, and tuck the pastry in all around the gap you left when laying the apple slices. It’s easy to do it with the prongs of a fork.
  8. Puncture the pastry so that steam can escape (you don’t want it to swell up during baking).
  9. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes (when you poke the tart, the apples should be soft).
  10. Let cool for a few minutes, then place your presentation platter on top of the pie dish and flip it over so the apples end up face up.

It’s such an easy dish to make and so, so yummy! Experiment with different spices and apple varieties. I always have Gala apples on hand, but those aren’t the best to use because they tend to get too soft. Golden Delicious and Granny Smith work well, particularly the latter if you don’t want your tart too sweet.

Let me know if you try this recipe; I’d love to hear how it turns out!

September 18, 2008 | Recipes | 2 Comments 

Aching for Risotto

You may recall my post last month about attending a luncheon sponsored by the grocery store Giant. It took place at Chef Geoff’s in downtown Washington, D.C. The restaurant’s owner and namesake, Chef Geoff Tracy, was there as a special guest, and was kind enough to share his recipe for risotto with the group.SIL & Chef Geoff

It started with Chef Geoff posing the question - “Who is terrified of the kitchen?” My sister-in-law, sitting next to me, mumbled “Me” under her breath. I don’t think she meant to say it out loud, but Chef Geoff heard her nonetheless, and she was promptly designated as sous-chef for the remainder of the cooking demonstration, the main idea of which was to teach us how easy it is to make risotto. I listened intently because MilkDud has been searching for some good risotto FOREVER. I was one of those people intimidated by the thought of making it myself. How awesome would it be to be able to make it at home instead of going to some stuffy restaurant?

This was our appetizer at the luncheon, that I hoped to recreate at home:

Chef Geoff's risotto

“You don’t have to be a slave to the stove for 20 minutes,” Chef Geoff said. That wasn’t exactly the case when I took a stab at making this dish at home a few weeks back.

Following his recipe to a T, I added sauteed mushrooms, blanched asparagus, a drizzle of white truffle oil, and a drizzle of balsamic reduction, as well as scallops to really make it a main dish.

And this is what I came up with:
my stab at making risotto

My Carpel Tunnel started acting up due to the constant stirring of the rice. I overcooked it a bit, because it wasn’t as “al dente” as I would’ve liked. It was gooey. And kind of tasteless. It was my first time making scallops. They came out chewy; also overcooked. I’m thinking they weren’t good quality, but that’s not an excuse for cooking them too long. I always seem to have that problem with fish. Anyhow, the scallops that Chef Geoff used were absolutely gorgeous, as you can see in the photo above. I know practice makes perfect, so I’m not giving up on risotto altogether. It just won’t be on our weekly menu that often.

You hear the words “balsamic reduction” and think that equals complicated, but that wasn’t the case at all! Chef Geoff enlightened the group by showing us that in fact, all it is is balsamic vinager, well - reduced! You pour a few ounces of it in a pan, and let it reduce over medium heat until it develops into a syrup. I loved the balsamic reduction. There was enough left over to have with chicken the next day.

There was also a ton of leftover risotto. I remember Chef Geoff mentioning something about risotto cakes, so I pulled out my Everyday Italian cookbook (Giada De Laurentiis) for ideas and found a wonderful recipe for risotto balls. So easy! All I did was mix the leftover risotto with a couple of eggs, bread crumbs and parmesan cheese (all items I already had in my fridge and pantry). Then I scooped up a small amount of that mixture and shaped it around a small piece of cheese (I used fontinella), rolled it into a ball in the palm of my hand (like making a meatball) and then rolled that in more bread crumbs. I popped each risotto ball into a frying pan drizzled with olive oil, and fried them until they were golden brown throughout.
Risotto balls
All I can say is: De-LISH! You couldn’t even tell it was risotto. Each little ball just melted in my mouth. Marsy thought they were chicken nuggets and baby must’ve eaten half of the batch herself. You can find the full recipe on the Food Network website.

September 17, 2008 | Recipes | 1 Comment