A Girl's Gotta Eat!

Enjoy with a glass of the wine you used .  I know, I've been on quite an Ina kick recently, but I promise this will be the last from her for at least a couple posts. Variety is the spice of life, right? The thing is, Becky bought me Back to Basics for Christmas, and I've been dying to try so many of the recipes. You're sure to see Bay Scallop Gratins and Mustard-Roasted Fish soon, but this for my debut recipe from this book, it was Roasted Potato Leek Soup all the way. I was finally starting to feel almost normal after coming down with a sinus infection a few days before Christmas, and it's hard to beat a nice, hot bowl of soup when you're feeling crummy, especially soup as comforting as potato. Normally when a recipe calls for crème fraîche, I grab sour cream and don't even bother looking in the store, but I decided that in order to do the recipe justice, I needed to follow directions as much as possible. I found crème fraîche at Publix in the section wit

Christmas morning tradition involves all of us heading to my parents' house to open presents and eat breakfast, which usually takes us well into the afternoon. Typically we have breakfast casserole, sticky buns, and curried fruit. This year I contributed Cheddar Dill Scones, something I thought would be good for breakfast as well as sandwiches later that afternoon. I've never attempted scones before, but I have thought about it often. Making these made me even more grateful for my KitchenAid mixer...I don't know that a regular mixer could stand up to the thick dough. I was also a bit nervous about the kneading process. I've only ever made quick breads. My mom and granny make fantastic breads, but it always seems like I'm watching art as they knead the dough. I decided to go for it, anyway. It was past time to learn... I did all as directed in the recipe, except for the eggs. I always buy large eggs, so used 5 to compensate for their slightly smaller size. Ina G

For as long as I can remember, we have served green bean/corn casserole at every Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve meal. After I made it a few weeks back for Thanksgiving (and subsequently brought half the dish home), I decided to try a new vegetable dish for the family's Christmas dinner. As luck would have it, Mike and I were watching Barefoot Contessa last Sunday while getting ready for church as we usually do, and she made a Cauliflower Gratin that we both thought looked delicious. Even better, she was featuring recipes that could be made in the day before and cooked when needed. This proved to be even more important when I was knocked out with a sinus infection and didn't have the energy to be in the kitchen for hours getting stuff ready. I was leary as to how the family would react to this foreign veggie at our Christmas dinner, but I was pleasantly surprised at their acceptance. I've even been asked to make it again, so I consider it a success. Ina Garten's Cauli

Last night was our Christmas celebration with Mike's family. His mom and brother make two pots of chili (one spicy, one not so spicy), and we have snacks and something sweet to round out the celebration. This year I made Tiramisu Layer Cake. I first made it for his mom's birthday a year or so ago, and it was a HUGE hit. It's not terribly hard to make, but it does take a little extra time and isn't something I'm whipping up every weekend. In the spirit of giving and the holidays, I went for it. I especially like this recipe because it starts with a cake mix, but transforms into something much more decadent. Instead of retyping the recipe, here's a link: Tiramisu Layer Cake . Enjoy! I didn't even out the layers before stacking, but you can so it will sit straighter. There's always more than enough whipped cream to frost the whole thing. I usually pile up the extra on top.  Yumm...

Let me preface this by saying we really do work in my office, not just eat. Having said that, today was our cookie swap! We've never done one before, but the pie potluck last month was a huge hit, so we decided to give it a try. I'll share others' recipes once I get them (I may scan in the recipe cards one at time.), but below is mine. I read it in the Junior League of Galveston County's Beachside to Boardwalk . I typically choose chewy cookies, but the salty/sweet combo of these immediately enticed me. I had trouble finding flaky sea salt, so I used coarse sea salt instead and was perfectly pleased with the results. I also made my cookies slightly smaller ( 1½ tablespoons instead of 2) so they would more easily fit in the baggies I was using .  This recipe is definitely a keeper! Crispy Salted Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies 1 cup all-purpose ¾ teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda ¼ teaspoon salt ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons salted butter, slightly softened 1 c

Ok, so the second recipe I made for the potluck was new to me: Broccoli Salad. A good friend brought a broccoli salad to our house a few months back. I'm not a huge fan of raw broccoli, but decided I would be an adult and try it. Very tasty! She couldn't find the exact recipe she used, but I gound this one in You're Invited Back   [50% off at Cookbook Marketplace!] from Junior League of Raleigh. It was easy to mix up. I kept the dressing separate, mixing it in about an hour before we were supposed to eat. Broccoli and Cranberry Salad 6 cups (1-inch) broccoli florets 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese 1 cup crumbled crisp-cooked bacon 1 cup dried cranberries 1/2 cup chopped red onion 1 cup mayonnaise 2 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper Combine the broccoli, cheese, bacon, cranberries and onion in a large bowl and mix well. Combine the mayonnaise, sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper in a small bowl and whis

Time for our annual Christmas potluck at work. This year we veered from the usual ham and are having barbecue. I made two easy recipes, so I'll leave two short posts to share them with you. Recipe #1 was Bobby Flay's Easy Coleslaw. I didn't even like coleslaw until I tried this, and now I would argue it's a must have for barbecue sandwiches and burgers and barbecue sauce. Instead of shredded fresh cabbage and carrots, I use 1 bag of coleslaw salad mix. ¾ cup mayonnaise ½ grated white onion 2 tablespoons sugar 2 teaspoons celery seeds 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar salt and pepper to taste  1 small head cabbage , shredded 1 carrot, shredded Whisk the mayonnaise, onion, sugar, celery seeds, vinegar, salt and pepper together in a medium bowl. Add the cabbage and carrot (or coleslaw salad mix) and stir or toss to coat. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

After picking up new herbs at the Nashville Farmers' Market over the summer, our breakfast nook is now full of basil, chives, and rosemary. The basil isn’t a problem for us to use; we often throw it in when we’re making some sort of pasta dish (which is fairly frequently) or when we’re making a dip or appetizer (also a frequent occurrence). This is not quite the case with the rosemary. We do like rosemary (otherwise we wouldn’t have bought it), but we have found ourselves with quite a bit and are unsure how to use it all. We don’t often think about cooking pork dishes at home, and I’ve seen dozens of recipes that combine it with rosemary. And so, here’s the recipe we used, found both in Recipes Worth Sharing (a compilation of many cookbooks) and Tables of Content (see reference in previous post). [Both books can be purchased at HALF PRICE until the end of December.] The recipe was really easy, and while I made it over the weekend, I think it would be a great weekday meal as we

Cookbook Marketplace (a source for many of my favorite cookbooks) is offering 50% off all titles from now until the end of the year! I've already mentioned several titles here in previous posts that you should definitely check out (Holly Clegg, Betty Sims), and I'm happy to offer any assistance in looking at other titles if you have questions (I love Tables of Content from Birmingham). This is a great time to stock your own shelf as well as pick up some great gifts! I'm already adding titles to my wishlist...

I don’t know about your family, but Thanksgiving with my family is an all-day affair filled with preparing pies, turkey, and trimmings, watching some football, and getting everything ready for that moment when we all sit down at the table and eat until our pants begin to feel perhaps a little uncomfortable. All that prep work makes us hungry long before that button thingy on the turkey pops (even if all we’re doing is watching someone else)! And so, usually I bring some sort of appetizer to tide us over until the big event. This year, not knowing when exactly we were eating, I opted to try 2 new recipes: Greek Layered Dip and Beer Cheese Spread. And here I will toot my own horn (Toot, toot!) because I think they were both quite delicious. The layered dip was like your traditional Mexican 7-layer dip that has guacamole, beans, cheese, what have you, but instead has hummus, tzatziki sauce, ground lamb, feta and some tasty veggies. The Beer Cheese Spread was easy to whip up, made plenty

And by Guinea pigs, I mean friends who are ever so nice as to let me experiment and try out a new recipe on them. (Thanks again, by the way.) Tonight’s menu was Greek Shrimp Linguini, salad, rolls, and a very tasty chocolate/banana/peanut butter pie that I’ll need to get the recipe for. I spotted the pasta recipe several months ago and decided it was high time to finally try it. Plus, I figure with it being Thanksgiving week, we’re going to be dining on plenty of poultry, and seafood would be a nice change of pace.   I thought it was quite scrumptious and not difficult at all. We used Barefoot Pinot Grigio for the white wine, and I may have sprinkled in just a little extra dry mustard. The recipe only calls for 8 ounces of linguini, but that seemed like it wouldn’t be nearly enough for the 2 pounds of shrimp, so I went ahead and cooked the entire 16-ounce package of pasta. Then I tossed just a little over half with the shrimp to serve, and packed up the unused noodles with the leftov

Ok, so the recipe title is actually Strawberry-Almond Thumbprint Cookies, but I thought they were delightful, and I substituted cherry preserves for the strawberry (an excellent decision on my part, if I say so myself.) Other than the one substitution, the recipe is pretty straight forward. I will give you a heads-up, though. I refrigerated the dough after mixing it up because it looked sort of "crumbly." I wouldn't advise doing so...the butter re-hardens and makes it quite a bit more difficult to roll into balls. I made them for my Thursday night book club after I was late last month due to birthday brownies for Mike. I'll even share a few tomorrow with my co-workers since I had some left over. Keep an eye out for Junior League of Wilmington's new book, which is where I found this recipe, at Cookbook Marketplace . It's definitely a must-have. There a twelve chapters/menus-one for each month of the year! Strawberry-Almond Thumbprint Cookies Cookies 1 cup

You may have noticed a theme on recent food magazine covers: Thanksgiving is near, and pie recipes are abundant! All the pie photography gave one of my co-workers an idea. Why not have a pie potluck, with everyone bringing something different. We even decided for some people to bring savory pies so we could have an entire lunch of pies! For my part, I decided to try a new recipe out of one of the magazines that inspired us in the first place: Martha Stewart Living . It was my first-ever Martha recipe, but her recipe for Apple Crostata with Cheddar Crust called my name from the beginning. Having never made a Martha Stewart recipe before this, I wasn't sure what to expect. I was expecting something that tasty, but a headache to make. I am happy to report I was pleasantly surprised. The recipe was simple enough; the part I usually consider the hardest part of homemade pie (the crust) was made in the food processor, and you don't have to worry about a lattice top or pretty crus

Mike’s been in the mood for salmon of some kind, and as luck would have it, I recently ran across a new way to prepare salmon that I was eager to try. It initially appealed to me for several reasons, mainly because · it has feta cheese, so it must be delicious; · it was a low-calorie meal that seemed like it would still be filling; and · it seemed easy to make. I am happy to report that all my expectations were exceeded. I was a little concerned with cutting the salmon in half to stuff, as we have tried cutting our own salmon portions before and mostly succeeded in mangling them, but the fantastic meat counter girl at Kroger offered to not only cut my 2 bigger fillets into 4 portions, but also to slice them for stuffing. She actually cut little pockets in each, which isn’t exactly what the recipe calls for (see my pic below), but it was a nice start and did help when Mike finished cutting them at home. The only things I did different from the recipe was to use shallots instead of red

Okay, so technically this isn't a new recipe, because Mike and I make it all the time. It's still new to you (hopefully), and Emily's been wanting to try it, so we invited the fam over for Halloween dinner and trick-or-treatings. I made this Cream of Poblano Soup and a favorite stand-by: Potato Soup. The Cream of Poblano recipe can be found in Dallas Dish (check it out at Cookbook Marketplace ). Before puréeing .. Here's one recipe we make just as-is, no need for any tweaks or changes. I take that back...we don't stir the cilantro into the entire pot of soup, opting instead to sprinkle into our individual bowls. Some people are predisposed to dislike cilantro, so serving it this way would be a safer bet for a crowd, anyway. Make sure you pick out really good, blemish-free chiles. Bruises and dark spots can make the entire pot not-so-great. The spice really varies per batch...we've had some that weren't spicy at all, one that was too spicy for me that

Due to a birthday wish that was lovingly fulfilled, Mike (and I) are the proud new owners of a brand new slow cooker. We’ve always had one, but Mike decided we need one larger than our current 3.5 quarts. His mom bought him a 6-quart, programmable Crock-Pot for his birthday, and we finally broke it in yesterday with Sandra Lee’s recipe for Zesty Turkey . Both he and I were pleased with the results, and there is something so very satisfying about coming home after working all day and being welcomed by the smells of a tasty dinner that’s already cooked and ready to eat. And let me tell you, this did smell delicious! The recipe didn’t say how to serve this, and we thought about making rice, but it ended up being very tasty all on its own. We served it in bowls, as is. A few recipe notes: *We could only find frozen turkey breasts, which we subsequently forgot to thaw the night before. This ended up working out just fine, because the recipe calls for cooking on Low for 4 to 5 hours, and

I've been wanting to try this one for a while, and when I had bananas turning brown as Mike and I were packing for a weekend camping trip, I decided it was time to put said fruit to good use. Into the freezer the ailing bananas went, and out came the recipe for Anne's Breakfast Banana Bars . The recipe was easy to stir together and smelled divine while baking. I'm holding off trying them until breakfast tomorrow, but I really don't see how they could be bad, and it seemed a slightly more nutritious option than making Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (which still sound tasty, but I'm trying to exert a little self control here, and they wouldn't help with the banana situation anyway). I used blueberry Craisins for the dried cranberries and almonds instead of walnuts or pecans. Also, I lined my baking pan with foil, then coated with nonstick spray so the bars would be really easy to remove from the pan. UPDATE: Very tasty indeed. If you cut the entire pan into 12 equal p