Rosemary, Sage & Orange Turkey For Thanksgiving
November 26, 2010 - Written by DianaToday we roasted a small turkey – about 12 lbs for a small family gathering. I turned to my Best of Clean Eating recipe book for their Rosemary Sage & Orange Turkey recipe. We usually dine with just the immediate family, plus another brother in law, his girlfriend and my mother in law. We had a couple missing, plus a new person this year, so it unexpectedly ended up even smaller than usual. We will be at the big family gathering this weekend to visit with all of the relatives.
The Best of Clean Eating
They said they built the chapters around the things their readers said they wanted to see most. These chapters include:
- Quick and Easy Family Dinners
- 20 Minute Meals
- Budget Friendly Suppers
- Five Ingredient Creations
- Seasonal Recipes
- Low-Fat Snacks
- Recipes …
The Earthbound Cook & Butternut, White Bean and Chard Soup
October 15, 2010 - Written by Diana
I was lucky enough to receive a copy of The Earthbound Cook – 250 Recipes for Delicious Food and a Healthy Planet by Myra Goodman. There’s a contest going on currently (ends tomorrow) where Earthbound Farm Organics is giving away free copies of this book and my recommendation is that you try to get on that list of people getting a copy of this book. Myra Goodman is one of the founders of Earthbound Farms, and has taken the things she has learned using fresh organic farm grown ingredients and compiled them into a great recipe book. You would expect that every recipe would start with one head of Earthbound Organic Lettuce or a big bunch of Earthbound Organic Chard, or cup of Earthbound Organic baby carrots, but the truth is that there are no labels on any of the ingredients used in the recipes. There is a short narrative in the front of the book that tells you how Earthbound Farms came to be and their family, but the book isn’t about …
Put ‘em Up by Sherri Brooks Vinton & Canned Whole Tomatoes
October 5, 2010 - Written by Diana
Put ‘em Up! – A Comprehensive Home Preserving Guide for the Creative Cook from Drying and Freezing to Canning and Pickling by Sherri Brooks Vinton. I have been vocal about my favorite Blue Book of Canning. It’s the standard by which I judge canning books. Sherri’s book – Put ‘em Up gets my seal of approval. The explanations are good, and the illustrations are clear enough for anyone to follow. The first part of the book starts with equipment and then follows with different ways to put food up – different food preparations and preservations. Sherri discusses blanching, jams and jellies, pickling, salsas, chutneys, relishes, butters, sauces and ketchups as well as freezing, infusing, drying, fruit leathers and steam canning. She has a quick, but necessary little section on botulism and identifying what is bad from what looks bad but isn’t.
If I were to suggest a start to putting something up, I always say start with applesauce. It’s a pretty good no fail, low cost canning project, though, if you have a food mill or strainer like I have it will go faster. My first …
National Book Month, plus October plans.
October 5, 2010 - Written by DianaOctober is National Book Month – and I’m here to encourage you to take some time and peruse some reading material. A book doesn’t have to be a novel to be interesting, it can be non-fiction, or even a recipe book. One of my favorite things to do while relaxing in front of the tube is to browse cookbooks and think about what to plant next year in order to follow some of the great recipes in those books. Every person has their favorite reading material and it should all be encouraged; my niece learned to read with cookboooks and now she’s a chef – we’re proud of her. This month we’re going to get through my book review pile along with all of the other Cookerati stuff we’ve got planned.
This week we’ll start with some books that focus on how to put your garden harvest to good use. You may think that time is over, and I’m here to tell you it isn’t.I’ve had a few books to review relating to recipes using your own garden harvest, or even the goods you can find at a local farm market. It’s pretty fun to use fresh vegetables, and locally raised …
Substituting Ingredients – The A to Z Kitchen Reference
June 19, 2010 - Written by Diana
This book by Becky Sue Epstein is small in size, but so far I haven’t stumped it. It’s bigger than a pocket book, but much smaller than a big cook book or recipe book. It doesn’t really contain many recipes, or photos, but it does fit the handy dandy good to have category. If you have a missing ingredient, or need to figure out conversions between measurements this would be the go to book.Becky Sue Epstein says that after dealing with not always having the proper ingredients on hand, or knowing what it was when given a recipe, she started keeping her own lists. This list grew into a collection, then a project. Let’s be thankful for Becky Sue’s lists, because I don’t have to be that organized now. Usually I hit up a bunch of different cookbooks in order to find the right combination of conversions and substitutions. Here they are in one book.
I’m not sure that the household cleaning formulas belong in a substitution book, but it’s here also. There are recipes for ketchup and garam marsala and garlic butter and some marinades. You get the more …
Pan-Seared Salmon with Chipotle Honey-Lime Bourbon Glaze
June 9, 2010 - Written by DianaThis recipe was from The Kentucky Bourbon Cookbook by Albert W. A. Schmid. My family loves Salmon, though we usually have our dill dijonaise sauce on it instead of a glaze. This glaze was so tasty on the salmon, though a little on the sweet side but that was all the salmon needed. The recipe called for four fillets, but the glaze could easily have covered two or four more fillets. We served it with a side of veggies sauteed in olive oil, the perfect accompaniment.
Pan-Seared Salmon with Chipotle Honey-Lime GlazeThis recipe comes from Chef Jeremy Ryan, formerly of Kentucky, who has returned to his native Mississippi and works at the MGM Mirage at the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi. He suggests using bourbon in a glaze for pan-seared salmon.
Ingredients:
- Salt and pepper
- 4 salmon fillets
- 3 tbs butter
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/3 cup Kentucky bourbon
- 1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder
- 1 tsp lime juice
- Candied lime zest
Salt and pepper the salmon. Melt the butter in a skillet. Place the salmon in the skillet skin-side-up and sear for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove it from the skillet …
The Kentucky Bourbon Cookbook
June 9, 2010 - Written by Diana
Here’s a suggestion for Father’s Day – The Kentucky Bourbon Cookbook, by Albert W. A. Schmid, that is if your husband/father likes to cook and likes Kentucky Bourbon. I’m the whiskey drinker in my house, so this is the perfect fit for me. Be forewarned, this is not a book for diabetics, or people on diets.
You know it’s good when a recipe book based on alcohol starts out with a chapter on drinks. Some of the recipes come with explanations, like the Grog recipe. Yes, there really is a grog recipe, and sailors really drank grog, to help keep away scurvy. Classic bourbon drinks such as the Mint Julep, and twists on whiskey drinks such as the Kentucky Whiskey(Bourbon) Toddy and the Old Fashioned are right there for you. The rest of the book is divided up by seasons. I was disappointed in the way it was presented, because if you are going to do it by seasons, then it should be representative of all the major areas. Breakfast is only in Winter – what we skip …
CanolaInfo.Org & The Heart Smart Diabetes Kitchen – Great Heart Healthy Cooking Oil Recipes
May 20, 2010 - Written by Diana
Canola Oil is on the list of oils that is good for cooking and preparing your recipes. The two oils I use most prevalently are Olive Oil and Canola Oil. Canola Oil though, has a higher heat tolerance and smoke point. I usually use Canola Oil in my cakes because it won’t change the flavor or take over the cake while being a healthier alternative to some of the other vegetable oils. Canola is great for sautéing, or in dressings, and in most recipes.CanolaInfo.Org is a great website owned by the Canola Council of Canada. There is plenty of information about Canola, from what the plant is, to how it’s processed, how it’s used and recipes using Canola Oil. Canola Oil has the least amount of saturated fat of all the vegetable oils, which makes it a great culinary ingredient.
CanolaInfo.Org joined together with the American Diabetes Association to come up with The Heart Smart Diabetes Kitchen Recipe Book. These recipes all use canola oil, but they’re all very healthy, and delicious sounding. All of the proceeds from the sale of this book go to …
Sauces by Michael Roux
March 29, 2010 - Written by Diana
If you are like me, not a trained chef and know only the basics about preparing a sauce, this book is for you. It is a fantastic book for giving you the basics and then helping you build using those basic sauces to create something more complex. The book starts out with broths and easier sauces and then builds. Some of these sauces will take hours to make building on one primary sauce to make a more in depth sauce. I made the veloute, which came out velvety, just as described and then the next week went to a college visit that served the same sauce only with a lemony take over chicken. Before making it myself, I wouldn’t have been able to identify the sauce never mind know that I could actually do it. It isn’t a quick and easy book. Some of these sauces start out based on a broth, or another sauce that takes hours to cook down or thicken. Also, it can take ingredients that aren’t on your pantry shelf or in the fridge, so …
Legends in the Kitchen – Compiled by Mrs. Howard Keel and Linda F. Radke
March 22, 2010 - Written by Diana
Legends in the Kitchen, Celebrity Recipes For A Cause – Compiled by Mrs. Howard Keel and Linda F. Radke with a forward by Stephanie Powers. Legends in the Kitchen is a book that is raising money for charity. The charity is the Motion Picture and Television Fund – a non- profit organization that serves the people in the entertainment industry. (Visit mptvfund.org for more info on the non-profit.) Recipes in the book are provided by friends of the Keels that are in the entertainment industry. Quite a few are part of Judy Keel’s own family recipes, then there are recipes provided by the stars we know, and those who are new to us, but not to the industry. Recipes have been provided by James Arness, Stephanie Powers, John Hart and many of the Dallas (television show) Clan. Most have a little passage telling us where the recipe came from or what inspired it. Peppered through out are appropriate quotes from some famous people like Erma Bombeck (“I come from a family where …
