The kids had early release from school on Tuesday due to the impending snowstorm. Snowstorms ALWAYS make me feel like baking! So there was homemade fudge, which I haven't made in a few years. Not sure why I stopped but I'm glad I made it this year. Also, there were snickerdoodles and coconut macaroons. I'm the snickerdoodle fan in the house, and Brian adores the macaroons. My parents are huge fans of coconut macaroons as well, so I got them done before they came over for my birthday on Thursday. I sent a half-dozen home as "medicine" with them, as my Dad has a bad back right now.
This year I'm going back on something that I've said before, and I've embraced box mix. I was searching for cream of tartar in the grocery store, when I passed the prepackaged bags of Betty Crocker snickerdoodle mix. It got me to thinking....the only thing that I use cream of tartar for is to make snickerdoodles, and though I love them, I really only make them at Christmas. So I brought home two of them and didn't look back. And today? A tube of ready-made gingerbread cookie dough came home with me from the grocery store. It doesn't make them any less homemade, and the snickerdoodles tasted good. Plus they took a lot less time. I'm happy about it, I wish I could've convinced my purist Cookie Self years ago that this is OK!
Friday, December 20, 2013
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Holiday Baking: Day One
Today's Baking:
Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies
I've used Alton Brown's recipe for these cookies for years, it's truly the best based on both taste and technique. This is a really good episode of "Good Eats and worth catching.
I made up the dough yesterday and put it in the fridge for the obligatory "2-4 hour chill." And to be honest....I forgot about them. Until I was walking around Target this afternoon, trying to finish up the last of the Christmas shopping. No matter, the cookie dough just needed to be worked a little before getting rolled out and cut with holiday cookie cutters.
Decorating never happens same-day, as these need to cool. Next up.....snickerdoodles or coconut macaroons.....but not today! My mood will decide which one we'll be making.
Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies
I've used Alton Brown's recipe for these cookies for years, it's truly the best based on both taste and technique. This is a really good episode of "Good Eats and worth catching.
I made up the dough yesterday and put it in the fridge for the obligatory "2-4 hour chill." And to be honest....I forgot about them. Until I was walking around Target this afternoon, trying to finish up the last of the Christmas shopping. No matter, the cookie dough just needed to be worked a little before getting rolled out and cut with holiday cookie cutters.
Decorating never happens same-day, as these need to cool. Next up.....snickerdoodles or coconut macaroons.....but not today! My mood will decide which one we'll be making.
Hello, Coffeecake
I poked around on Pinterest and was not disappointed with how many recipes came up for blueberry coffeecake. Most of them required sour cream or greek yogurt. Although I like these kinds of coffeecakes better, I only had a smidge of sour cream in the house and the greek yogurt that I had on hand was black cherry. I discovered a recipe using vegetable oil instead, which we also have a hearty amount of in our kitchen.
I was really glad that I read the recipe through, because it listed sugar as an ingredient, but didn't incorporate it in the instructions! Luckily this isn't my first rodeo though....I knew that sugar is a WET ingredient and added it to the milk, oil and eggs. I also tinkered with it a little....instead of 1.5 cups of blueberries, I added a cup of blueberries and a cup of sweetened, dried coconut. Hubby ADORES coconut.
The end result was satisfying and used up some blueberries. All in all, a win.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner
Thanksgiving weekend is wrapping up... we head home from Philly tomorrow morning.
But I didn't want to wait to write about the night before's Dinner!!
I came home from work and decided to start dinner. I had every intention to make what we'd written on the menu, some sort of glazed chicken and quinoa. But then I saw the plethora of vegetable oil in the lazy susan (Hubby sometimes forgets we already have some and brings home more from the grocery store) and I wanted fried chicken. So guess what......we had fried chicken!
One problem....no bread crumbs. It wasn't a problem for long:
That, my friend, is crushed Ritz crackers. And in my opinion, is one of the BEST chicken coatings ever!!!! Ev en the leftovers were fantastic. I would certainly do this again.
But I didn't want to wait to write about the night before's Dinner!!
I came home from work and decided to start dinner. I had every intention to make what we'd written on the menu, some sort of glazed chicken and quinoa. But then I saw the plethora of vegetable oil in the lazy susan (Hubby sometimes forgets we already have some and brings home more from the grocery store) and I wanted fried chicken. So guess what......we had fried chicken!
One problem....no bread crumbs. It wasn't a problem for long:
That, my friend, is crushed Ritz crackers. And in my opinion, is one of the BEST chicken coatings ever!!!! Ev en the leftovers were fantastic. I would certainly do this again.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Lemon Pork Medallions
Dinner the other night: Pork Medallions with Lemon and Parsley. Recipe courtesy of Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything" cookbook.
OK. I love pork. I love lemon. Pork and lemon go well together. However, this was very.....lemon-y. Almost pucker-y which I'm not crazy about. The recipe called for quite a bit of lemon juice, I don't remember exact measurements because I wasn't the one cooking. It also said to slice a lemon, for passing around at the table. Let me tell you....there was no "passing lemon at the table" because not only would it be redundant, it would've possibly made the meal inedible. While there is no such thing as too much garlic, there is such a thing as too much lemon!
Kids had the same meal, minus the lemon-parsley sauce. Unfortunately, the only thing that went over well was the pasta. Scratch that....Will loves pasta and Sean is going through a phase (a really LONG phase) where he cries before even trying anything in front of him. We went through this with Will though, so I know that there's a light at end of that tunnel. Will is game to try anything nowadays, and has even gotten to be polite about saying that he doesn't like something. And the rule in our house is that if someone tries something and doesn't like it, there are alternates. Let's just say....the kids eat a lot of peanut butter and jelly, or Cheerios and milk. But we keep trying!!
OK. I love pork. I love lemon. Pork and lemon go well together. However, this was very.....lemon-y. Almost pucker-y which I'm not crazy about. The recipe called for quite a bit of lemon juice, I don't remember exact measurements because I wasn't the one cooking. It also said to slice a lemon, for passing around at the table. Let me tell you....there was no "passing lemon at the table" because not only would it be redundant, it would've possibly made the meal inedible. While there is no such thing as too much garlic, there is such a thing as too much lemon!
Kids had the same meal, minus the lemon-parsley sauce. Unfortunately, the only thing that went over well was the pasta. Scratch that....Will loves pasta and Sean is going through a phase (a really LONG phase) where he cries before even trying anything in front of him. We went through this with Will though, so I know that there's a light at end of that tunnel. Will is game to try anything nowadays, and has even gotten to be polite about saying that he doesn't like something. And the rule in our house is that if someone tries something and doesn't like it, there are alternates. Let's just say....the kids eat a lot of peanut butter and jelly, or Cheerios and milk. But we keep trying!!
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Un-Stuffed Chicken Breasts
This is a beauty from America's Test Kitchen. And by "beauty" I mean that it was so good and I'm looking forward to lunch tomorrow! Ham, swiss cheese, crushed Ritz crackers, some heavy cream.....all wonderful things went into this dish. :)
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Evolution of Taste
I've always said that I like most food, that there is a very short list of things that I won't eat. A few of those things that have made the list: chickpeas, olives, lima beans, mint, lamb, conch fish, venison, beer and cilantro.
As I grow older, things change. For example, I may not like chickpeas whole, but if it's garlic or red pepper hummus, I dip chips and veggies like there's no tomorrow. It turns out that I don't care for dried cilantro, but fresh is delicious in a homemade salsa. And I even appreciate a cold beer on occasion.
I can stand the occasional black olive in a salad or on a pizza. Not much else though, I adore Greek salads on Wednesday nights at knit night at the local Panera but I always pick out the olives. (Because I never, ever remember that I can order the salad without them!) Last month however, Brian made a chicken dish from "50 Shades of Chicken that featured garlic and kalamata olives. I thought I'd hate it, but I didn't. Turns out I like the FLAVOR of olives, but not whole and the having to pit them. And if they're canned.....blech. As a side note, the "50 Shades of Chicken" is a parody cookbook of the E.L. James "50 Shades of Grey" book series. I don't believe that it was well-received, as Brian found it on the bargain bookshelf at Barnes and Noble when it first came out. Which is a travesty....every recipe in there is a hit so far!
Even Brian has to admit that his tastes have changed. The man that insists that he hates Mexican food suggested making enchiladas this past weekend. Enchiladas! I love Mexican food, so this sounded great to me! A friend of ours used to make them but they were vegetarian, using refried beans as the protein source. No wonder Brian didn't like them....but I thought they were OK. Anyway....his enchiladas came out fantastically on Sunday night! He took a recipe from ATK's "Simple Dishes" cookbook that called for ground turkey and subbed ground beef and mushrooms. Not only were they delectable, they made scads of leftovers for this week. It also turns out that, like lasagna, the leftovers taste even better!
As I grow older, things change. For example, I may not like chickpeas whole, but if it's garlic or red pepper hummus, I dip chips and veggies like there's no tomorrow. It turns out that I don't care for dried cilantro, but fresh is delicious in a homemade salsa. And I even appreciate a cold beer on occasion.
I can stand the occasional black olive in a salad or on a pizza. Not much else though, I adore Greek salads on Wednesday nights at knit night at the local Panera but I always pick out the olives. (Because I never, ever remember that I can order the salad without them!) Last month however, Brian made a chicken dish from "50 Shades of Chicken that featured garlic and kalamata olives. I thought I'd hate it, but I didn't. Turns out I like the FLAVOR of olives, but not whole and the having to pit them. And if they're canned.....blech. As a side note, the "50 Shades of Chicken" is a parody cookbook of the E.L. James "50 Shades of Grey" book series. I don't believe that it was well-received, as Brian found it on the bargain bookshelf at Barnes and Noble when it first came out. Which is a travesty....every recipe in there is a hit so far!
Even Brian has to admit that his tastes have changed. The man that insists that he hates Mexican food suggested making enchiladas this past weekend. Enchiladas! I love Mexican food, so this sounded great to me! A friend of ours used to make them but they were vegetarian, using refried beans as the protein source. No wonder Brian didn't like them....but I thought they were OK. Anyway....his enchiladas came out fantastically on Sunday night! He took a recipe from ATK's "Simple Dishes" cookbook that called for ground turkey and subbed ground beef and mushrooms. Not only were they delectable, they made scads of leftovers for this week. It also turns out that, like lasagna, the leftovers taste even better!
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