Label The Stuff in the Fridge, Please
May 16, 2012 | by DianaThis post goes out to my daughter – CG (College Girl). She’s visiting for the week, and she and her brother have been taking turns cooking dinner. Tonight, I asked her to roast some potatoes in olive oil and then inspired by Rachel’s post at Hounds in the Kitchen, I asked her to roast the Bok choy, I had in the fridge. I said the bottom was almost a bulb, but had leaves coming out of the top and it wasn’t ferny like fennel.
The phone conversation went something like this:
CG: Does it have red stems and dark green leaves?b
Me: No, that’s Chard.
CG: Does it look like celery with red tips/
Me: No, that’s rhubarb.
CG: Does it have a white bottom with leaves coming out of the top?
Me: What kind of leaves? If it has roots coming out of the bottom and goes straight up like celery, only it’s the leaves. They’re white on the bottom and it turns green, but it’s not a leaf like a lettuce leaf – that’s leeks.
Happy Mother’s Day 2012
May 13, 2012 | by DianaMy husband gave me the gift of time alone today – so here’s a quick wish for a Happy Mother’s Day to all of our Cookerati moms and mom-like people.
Enjoy!!
Chocolate Raspberry Vodka Cocktail – Friday Unwind
May 11, 2012 | by Diana
When I get to play with Chocolate Raspberry Infused Vodka by Godiva, I am one of the luckiest people around. This was sent to me to try out and I love it, vodka with chocolate and raspberry. Not one of the sticky sweet liqueurs, but a clear vodka (5 times distilled) with chocolate and raspberry infused in it. It is a little sweet, you don’t need a simple syrup to go with it, but can drink it straight on the rocks. This would go great for a mother’s day gathering. If my mom, my sisters and I were sitting around after dinner looking for cocktails, this would be fun to hang out and mess around with. This vodka might be good to soak some brownies in or maybe use to make the icing.
I didn’t want a foamy or thick drink to use this infused vodka as an ingredient in. I wanted a clearish drink, with some berries, ice and fizzy added. I came up …
Cobb Salad and Mother’s Day – They Go Together
May 10, 2012 | by Diana
Mother’s Day – Cobb Salad – I think they can go together really well.
Reason 1 :The ingredients in my fridge were pointing towards salad with all the greens I had accumulated. Spring is a great time for salad greens, they thrive when it is cooler, and slow down or bolt when it’s really warm. I even had a smoked chicken in the fridge and fresh ricotta that needed to be used up. Herbs are growing in the garden.
Reason 2: Mother’s Day isn’t really for mothers when we have to cook, Cobb salad comes together easily with cold make ahead ingredients, that can be assembled quickly. Hard boil a couple of eggs, fry up some bacon, and chop some veggies the night before. The next day assemble your salad.
Reason 3: Grumpy Granny inspired me with her choice of Culinary Smackdown guidelines – May is salad month. This may not be not be my entry, but it started me thinking about salads.
Reason 4: It’s a really tasty salad with all of the good stuff in it, so you won’t feel guilty eating …
Fresh Strawberry Pie – Perfect Mother’s Day Dessert
May 9, 2012 | by Diana
This year peak strawberry season and Mother’s day collide. I found some strawberries at a farm market and made the Fresh Strawberry Pie from Pat Sinclair’s Baking Basics and Beyond. The pie was fantastically delicious, though really, I just needed a spoon to eat the strawberries and sauce out of the pot. In fact, I wanted to lick the drippings off the stove – if I didn’t worry about burning my tongue. I brought it to my daughter’s college house for her friends (and us) to share. We all loved it – it’s a bit messy, but ohhhhhh soooo good. Enjoy!!
Crust – Pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie (included in the book)
Fresh Strawberry Pie – Perfect Mother’s Day Dessert
Recipe type: Dessert
Author: Pat Sinclair
Prep time: 40 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Total time: 1 hour
Serves: 8
Fresh Strawberry Pie – delicious sweet strawberries in a …
Baking Basics and Beyond by Pat Sinclair
May 9, 2012 | by Diana
When I saw the title – Baking Basics – I thought it was a tutorial type book teaching baking from the ground up – like a textbook. I was wrong, this is more about simple and basic baking, that anyone can do. Mostly desserts, these dishes are easy but delicious. Most of the recipes are one or two pages, but there are a couple of longer ones. The ingredients can be found in most pantries and are used in more than one recipe with a few surprises here and there. I received a copy of Baking Basics and Beyond by Pat Sinclair to use for a review.
As a food consultant and recipe editor, Pat Sinclair knows how to put together great recipes. The book starts out with basic baking instruction, that is used throughout. Sprinkled here and there all through the book are tips and tricks. This is all in addition to great recipes. The recipes include biscuits and breads, coffee cakes, brownies, crisps , custards, cheesecakes, cakes, pies and yeast breads.
There are nice photos, though not a photo for every single …
Food News – May 6, 2012
May 6, 2012 | by DianaWhether you enjoyed Cinco De Mayo, or the Kentucky Derby – I hope you had an absolutely gorgeous weekend just like we did – once we got past the gloomy, moving my college daughter from one house to another on Friday in the pouring rain.
- Midwest Fair Trade Fest – May 12, 2012 10 am to 5 pm at The Ohio State University’s new 4H center: 2201 Fred Taylor Dr., Columbus, OH. Midwest Fair Trade Fest 2012 features world crafts, music, dance, and food.
- Prevention.com Announces Winners of 2012 Healthiest Food Awards. That is the packaged foods healthiest food awards.
No more than 400 calories per (realistic) serving
- Less than 500 mg of sodium per serving
- No more than 10 g of added sugar
- Significant amounts of fiber, protein, and essential vitamins
- Free of genetically modified ingredients
- And, for the first time this year, Prevention.com added non-GMO to the list.
- California is the first state to get first state to gather enough signatures (971,126) to put the labeling of genetically engineered foods on its statewide ballot this fall. You can read about it on JustLabelIt.org
- Natural vs Organic …
Hubert’s Polish Kitchen
May 2, 2012 | by DianaLast week my husband and I were at the North Market, and decided to pick up dinner. We were leaving town for a family function and thought we’d get enough for leftovers, that way my son would have dinner for a few nights. Hubert’s Polish Kitchen was a new for us place to try. It’s right across from the Greek Stall we normally go to. I wanted something different, to change it up, so we went to the Polish Kitchen.
We got all of our food to go, and brought it home to share with our son. I want to tell you that the stall clerk who sold us the food was helpful with letting us know what foods to pair together, and how to serve it, as well as describing what it was we were looking at, and whether it was spicy or not. She was very pleasant and patient while we asked questions. We went home with containers of food, we bought more than a normal share, but we wanted to try a bunch of different foods. I have to say we opened the food containers, dished it out onto our plates and then started gobbling – …
Food News – April 29, 2012
April 29, 2012 | by DianaAuntie Annies – Pretzel lovers from across the country submitted sweet and savory recipes for Auntie Anne’s first-ever At-Home Baking Kit Recipe Challenge, but just one pretzel-based recipe took home the $1,000 grand prize. Putting her unique twist on a common dessert, Chaelyn [Shay-lin] Consaul of New York, won the judges’ top vote with her Strawberry Cheesecake Dessert Pizza.
The Lanesborough will present acclaimed fashion house, Rena Lange 2012 collection together with 2010 ‘Bright Young Gems’ award winner Victoria Tryon’s glamorous jewelry range, on Friday May 18th. Celebrate your love for fashion while enjoying afternoon tea in the hotel’s famed restaurant, Apsleys. The Lanesborough, Rena Lange and Victoria Tryon Afternoon Tea is on Friday 18th May, from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM and is priced at £38.00 per person (£48.00 per person for Champagne afternoon tea) plus 12.5% Service Charge. For reservations, please call +44 (0)207 333 7254 or visit www.lanesborough.com.
Goldwater’s Foods of Arizona has paired with Sprouts Farmer’s Market’s in Arizona to distribute their all natural, gluten free, fat free products. They have launched their new web site (www.goldwaters.com), which will make their all natural, gluten free, fat free products available nationwide and any new …
Small Bytes – Croquettes
April 28, 2012 | by DianaThis is a repeat of a conversation with my husband and inspired today’s post…
Conversation at dinner with my husband:
Me: The croquettes are really good.
The Man: The what?
Me: The croquettes.
The Man: The what?
Me: The chicken balls.
The Man: Oh I didn’t know what you were talking about.
According to the online dictionary:
cro·quette:
[kroh-ket] noun -a small cake or ball of minced meat, poultry, or fish, or of rice, potato, or other food, often coated with beaten egg and bread crumbs, and fried in deep fat.
Not to be confused with……
cro·quet:
[kroh-key; Brit. kroh-key, -kee]-a game played by knocking wooden balls through metal wickets with mallets.
