by lcreekmo on February 14, 2009
My friend Busymom has a thing for toffee. I’m thinking not a week has gone by since Christmas that she hasn’t mentioned toffee. And frankly, I’m mad at her. Because that means I can’t stop thinking about toffee, either.
Well, you know the best thing to do when you have a craving is just to give in to it. Only once we’ve eaten our way through the toffee forest can we emerge safe and sound on the other side.
So when the hubs needed some treats to take to school on Friday, I thought it would be a great opportunity to make these toffee bars. [Sidenote: He forgot and left them on the counter at home, so my apologies to all the teachers at Hunters Lane. We've now eaten your toffee. On the bright side, he hadn't left enough OUT of the box for us here at home, so forgetting to take the box with him means his life is not in danger, either.]
This recipe is incredibly easy and still tastes great. It’s adapted from the toffee bar recipe in the Junior League of Nashville’s Notably Nashville cookbook. [Shameless plug: I'm in the Junior League, even though I rarely write about it here. And this is a great cookbook. Lots of easy party dishes in particular. Get your own via our website. Purchasing a cookbook supports our efforts to aid women and children in need in Nashville.]
Toffee Bars
15 graham crackers
2 sticks butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. chopped walnuts
1 c. chocolate chips
Grease a cookie sheet then arrange the crackers in a single layer. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the brown sugar and walnuts. Stir constantly. Cook til it boils for 1 min. Pour the mixture over the graham crackers and spread to the edges of them. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.
When you remove the pan from the oven, sprinkle the chocolate chips over the bars and spread the chocolate. Cool completely and then break into small pieces.
by lcreekmo on February 3, 2009
I’m a cookbook collector. I can own that. I’m also a simplicity freak [converted packrat, the worst kind] who makes fun of everyone she knows who collects, well, anything. But I can admit upfront that I have this one weakness. I’m particularly prone to getting cookbooks that fall into the “bible” category. I have The Silver Palate. The Joy of Cooking. How to Cook Everything. The Moosewood Cookbook. The Best Recipe. The New Best Recipe. A Mediterranean Feast. You get the picture.
Many years ago, I bought the Italian bible: Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. Frankly, I don’t use it as much as I should, but it’s my go-to for sauces in particular.
I’ve made Hazan’s alfredo sauce approximately a zillion times. I’m an alfredo fan, and it’s a quick sauce to make, as well. A 10-minute gourmet dinner.
But I have never in my life made that sauce as well as my 9yo did Sunday night.
The recipe itself is simple:
1 c. heavy cream
2 T. butter
Melt together over low heat until slightly thickened. Add:
2/3 c. grated Parmesan Reggiano
Stir til melted. Season with salt, pepper, a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg.
Boom. That’s it. And yet I’ve gotten this sauce wrong more often than not. After I tasted the 9yo’s version, I immediately knew why.
I love, love, love my Microplane graters. I have one for zest, nutmeg and Parmesan sorts of things, and a larger one for softer cheese. Ever since I’ve owned them, I haven’t used any other kind of grater. I used to use a Zyliss grater for Parmesan all the time. It produces a thicker grate–so the finished product is denser than it is with the Microplane.
[Yes, we're about to dive off the culinary cliff, in which I demand recipes with weights and measures.]
I had the 9yo use the Zyliss to grate her cheese, because there’s no way to slice off half your arm, like there is with the Microplane. End result? I’m guessing her sauce had 2-3 times as much Parmesan as mine usually does. And the result was to-die-for.
You could certainly achieve the same result with the Microplane, just by using lots more than 2/3 c., or by packing it down [how much??], but the best thing would be to know how much cheese we’re actually talking about. Saying 1 c. of something solid really tells you nothing. Liquids are more predictable when you’re measuring volume. This is why your cereal is measured by “weight” and not by “volume.” 12 oz. of cereal = 12 oz. of cereal, but 12 oz. of the exact same kind of cereal might be 2 c. or 3 c., depending on how it packs into the measuring cup on any given day.
So, next time we make alfredo, we’ll use the Zyliss and weigh the result. Then we’ll know exactly what we’re dealing with in the future.
by lcreekmo on January 4, 2009
We went to Florida to see the family last week. I’ve finally gotten in the habit of cleaning the kitchen before we leave town. This time, I didn’t have time to completely clean out the fridge as well, but I finished that job by dumping the last of the Christmas leftovers when we got back home Friday.
The end result was so little food in the house we had to order takeout for dinner. We hardly ever do that — not even in a good economy! The longer I cook, the pickier I’ve become about eating out. I find so few restaurants actually meet my standards. If the first thought I have upon tasting restaurant food is, This would taste better if I made this at home, I mark the place off my list.
But yesterday, it was back in the kitchen for me. First up: A loaf of whole wheat bread. I’ve always loved bread-baking, and since I’ve been on a more flexible schedule the past couple of months, I’ve made all our bread. You can actually make homemade bread fairly quickly, or even in a breadmaker, but I find it tastes best, and has the best crumb, when I let it rise slowly. Next time I make some, I’ll take pictures and post the recipe.
I also made biscuits, mexican chicken lasagna and homemade mac and cheese yesterday. But today I’d like to direct you to the two wonderful spreads I made:
- Walnut-Feta Pate
- Tapenade
I’ve talked a little bit about my addiction to Walnut-Feta Pate before. [But to be truly fair to the pate, it doesn't taste exactly like deviled ham. It's more complex and interesting. It's just also nice and salty.] This delicious concoction from The Moosewood Cookbook has been my lunch for more workdays than I can count. It’s just one of many well worn pages in my Moosewood Cookbook. You know, one of those pages the book falls open to on its own? And the page is covered in spills and stains? Those are the great recipes.
Walnut-Feta Pate Recipe
from the Moosewood Cookbook
1 c. walnuts
Handful of flat-leaved parsley
1 c. crumbled feta
1/2 c. milk
1 t. paprika
2 cloves garlic
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Pinch of oregano
Drizzle of olive oil
Pulse the walnuts and parsley in the food processor til they’re nicely chopped together. Dump everything else in and whizz it around a few seconds. This is great on sandwiches, crackers or with raw veggies as a dip.
Tapenade Recipe
12 oz. great olives
1/4 c. capers
2 cloves garlic
Olive oil
First, a word about olives. “Great” olives do not come in a can. Decent olives may come in a jar, usually from another country. They will have a varietal name, and not just be called “olives.” You may also find decent olives in an olive bar at your local grocer.
Pit the olives if they aren’t pitted. Sometimes you can pit olives by hand, just pressing the pits out with your fingers. I tend to use a cherry pitter — which means I don’t buy many small olives, since they slip right through the pitter whole. But you can also find pretty good olives already pitted if you look.
Rinse and drain the olives and capers. Dump everything in the food processor except olive oil. Start with about 1/4 c. of olive oil. Mix. As soon as the olives and capers are chopped, the mixture should form a paste that lumps together. If it doesn’t, add a bit more olive oil. It shouldn’t take much more, however.
Store this in the fridge. Great on crackers with soft cheese. I’m using mine as a sandwich spread with fresh mozzarella and roasted red peppers later this week.
by lcreekmo on January 29, 2008
Hey! Guess what! It turns out there are actually several of you out there reading my blog. [Hi, Mom!] I’m always kind of stunned to discover that. I had a good question recently from one of you: I see your list of cookbooks, but which ones are your favorites? Why?
Now, if you’ve ever peeked at that cookbook list, you’ll see why she asked. I think I’m being generous to myself when I say I have "dozens" of cookbooks. They fill an entire bookcase in my house. Since I gave up my rock collection in junior high, I’ve never been one to collect anything, but I think my cookbooks are teetering dangerously close to collection status.
And yet the reader is right….you can’t use dozens of cookbooks every day. Which ones are the regulars?
First, a word about how I cook. I’ve mentioned before, I know. I’m a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants girl when I’m in the kitchen. So my most-dogeared copies are ones that offer a broad range of recipes or info about cooking that helps me in my most favorite cooking activity: Look up 5 or 6 sample recipes, mix and match, and come up with something of my own.
How to Cook Everything: Mark Bittman’s instant classic from 1998 is great. He covers every imaginable topic on basic cooking. He goes a bit into the how and why, but not so much that it would turn off a novice cook, or someone who’s just looking for a nice dish for supper. Many recipes in the book offer ideas for variations. If I could only own one cookbook, it would be this one.
The New Moosewood Cookbook: I bought this long before I became a vegetarian — the first time. [I'm now on my second turn with the herbivore life. More on that soon.] It’s a great, solid cookbook for healthy, tasty food.
The Best Recipe: Cook’s Illustrated books and magazines are the best teaching tools I’ve found for cooking. This cookbook doesn’t have as many recipes as a regular book its size, because each recipe comes with a page or more of info on how they created the recipe, including trials, and errors.
Soup and Bread: This is one of several Crescent Dragonwagon cookbooks I own. I don’t know if she intended for it to be a teaching book, but Dragonwagon talks a lot about how and where she gets her recipes. I’ve learned a lot from her.
Now honestly, the cookbook I use the most is a green 3-ring binder. I use clear plastic sleeves for pages. The notebook is stuffed to overflowing with notecards, printed emails and clippings from newspapers and magazines. I used to add recipes I wanted to try, but it’s gotten so full that I’ll now only allow myself to add recipes I’ve tried and liked.
by lcreekmo on December 24, 2006
So I found a recipe for a yummy frozen dessert and decided to make it for Dec. 26. It called for ladyfingers; have you tried to find ladyfingers in a grocery store in December? Let me stop you before you waste your time. So I decided to substitute something I made, instead of just buying an angel food cake or shortcakes. Silly me.
I found a recipe for a sponge cake, in a cookbook I have always loved: How to Cook Everything. This is one of those great, comprehensive cookbooks that you can count on to teach you how to cook any obscure vegetable, or to give you any number of chicken recipes when you’ve run out of ideas.
So I found a sponge cake recipe in this great cookbook. And maybe this was all my fault, because I chose that instead of the angel food in the cookbook, solely on the basis of the sponge cake called for five eggs instead of eight. I have a lot of cooking to do between now and Tuesday, so I don’t want to run out before I can get back to a store. [I'm like Shanon; if there is a store open on Christmas Day, I certainly don't want to be shopping there.]
I followed the directions for the alternate version — again, it’s all my fault. I was really suspicious that it was going to work without separating the eggs. But I was just trying to save time. So silly.
I wish I’d taken a picture for you, but it was so depressed. The cake came out totally flat and dense. Ugh. Fortunately, for the dessert I was making, it worked out OK — I just needed chopped up bits of cake, and since this cake still tasted fine, I could use it. But thank goodness I didn’t want to serve it as a cake.
My point: much as I love them — my collection is quite large – cookbooks and recipes only get you so far in this world. Instinct is more important in the kitchen.
by lcreekmo on November 1, 2006
So the NYT today reviews the new Joy of Cooking. This really is worth reading — the review, that is. I’m not sure if the new cookbook is worth your $$ or not. You’ll have to peruse the review to see.
I have the 1997 version. And it’s OK. But as far as I can tell, the review has confirmed my suspicions — what I really want is the 1975 book, and probably, the new one too.
Sigh.
by lcreekmo on August 7, 2006
My 1yo will be baptized this weekend at East End United Methodist. What a marvelous occasion. And we are so blessed that many friends and family are coming to join us for the weekend to help celebrate. What started out as a one-hour church service, of course, has morphed into a four-day extravaganza/hysteria.
- There are the children to entertain/prevent from having tantrums, of course.
- There are the relatives to feed/nuture their psychological issues.
- There’s me to enjoy the festivities/try not to have a breakdown in the midst of the chaos/family fun.
Actually we are all looking forward to the time together. With relatives flung across the Eastern United States, it takes a major holiday or an event like this to bring us together. And I have an Excel spreadsheet that outlines where 30 people are going to be on Sunday and where my family is eating and sleeping the end of this week. I may not be a "planner," at least according to my sisters and mother, but I was raised by one. (Mom, this is where I’d link to your blog, if you had one.)
And I am excited about all of that. I have been thinking for several days about what to serve for different meals. You have to know this one thing about me. If company’s coming, I’m not making something I’ve ever made before. It’s like a sickness I have. (I say that about a lot of things, don’t I?) But really, it’s true. It’s not even like I think about it consciously anymore. When I started thinking about what to make for this coming Friday night’s dinner, I just naturally pulled out a cookbook I’ve never cracked before. That was automatically the right one. And I think I’ve found something that my father (really, it’s better with meat in it), NYC sister (no red meat, no white grains, healthy fare only please), Nashvegas sister (must have meat!) will all enjoy. I don’t have to plan around my mother or the kids. (7yo eats yogurt and chicken; how can you plan around that?….1yo eats everything, bless him.)
Saturday night for some reason had me screwed up from the start. My 7yo wanted to grill out. Fine. Yesterday my mom said, "Your dad and I will bring steaks." I thought that was a great idea. The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that was only half the entree. We had a vegetarian joining us. And some kids probably wouldn’t eat steak. So add hot dogs and veggie burgers. Then NYC sister calls. And I realized the other problem. NYC sister hasn’t eaten red meat or hot dogs in years. Years, people. I said, "You can eat a veggie burger, right?"
NYC sister: "Well…"
I then proceeded to lose it. This did not fit on the spreadsheet. This is why spreadsheets and planning are bad. This is why I do not plan. Plans don’t work out. It’s better to see who’s at your house at 5 p.m. and see what’s in the freezer. It’s worked for me up til now.
I think NYC sister is still speaking to me.
Today, I told Nashvegas sister about our conversation and explained the good news: The vegetarian is not coming. (It’s not really good news, party wise. I am sad about that family’s not coming. But it was simplifying dinner.) And about how I had been getting fairly irrational over the grill issues with NYC sister.
Here’s the best news: Nashvegas sister left me a voice mail tonight. She and my mother have appointed themselves in charge of dinner Saturday night. Hmmm. What else can I have a panic attack about?
:) Thanks, y’all!!
by lcreekmo on June 24, 2006
Fool me twice, people.
I have been making mashed potatoes since I was 12 years old. Let’s not do the math but suffice to say, that’s plenty long enough to know how. Lately I have been looking up recipes for this very very basic dish because mine are not coming out close enough to the ones I grew up with.
Now, I’ll start by saying, I already know what’s wrong with the way I make them. [This is not the fool me twice part. Please be more patient.] Back where I come from, to steal a phrase, we did not make our mashed potatoes with 1% milk. And we used more butter. So my goal here is, make them so as they won’t kill me, but still taste awesome. I know this is possible. I just know it.
So, I have been doing that which I NEVER do, and I have been actually FOLLOWING recipes. And both times, it has bitten me in the butt. Last time, they were so soupy, I literally made them into potato soup [7yo refused to touch] because they were unredeemable as mashed potatoes.
This time around, I knew the instant I poured the milk in that it had happened again [different recipe, same result], though a tad less soup-like. You just couldn’t quite see the potatoes for all that milk. I was able to cook the milk down and return them to mashed potatoes, albeit really soupy ones. Cooking the milk out of your mashed potatoes is not where you want to be, in case you’re wondering.
Next time? Screw the cookbooks. I think I’ll buy some whole milk and use my regular fbtsomp* recipe.
*Fly by the seat of my pants
by lcreekmo on April 23, 2006
So I love Publix. I know I have mentioned this before. I could change my blog’s name to the "I love Publix" blog and I would feel completely OK with that. I discovered about three weeks ago that unbeknownst to me, at some point in the past few months, this blessed chain opened a store in Brentwood, a mere 14 miles from my house.
I haven’t yet counted the grocery stores I drive past to get to the Publix (substantial number, I feel sure), but I am not feeling bad about that.
So strolling through the Publix the other day, I discovered this great little product from the Lundberg rice folks. If you haven’t ponied up for Lundberg rice yet, please do. It is worth every penny. And the Lundberg Jubilee rice is so pretty that I described it to my sister as looking like "a party in a bag." At which point she says we have different understandings of the word party.
Nonetheless, I determined that we must do something special with this beautiful rice. So we found this awesome recipe from Crescent Dragonwagon’s Passionate Vegetarian cookbook…combined brown rice, mushrooms, corn, carrots, onions, garlic, sundried tomatoes and her dragon salt. You bake in the oven. Wow!!! We’ve decided that, all due respect to CD, we’ll probably unfortunately end up calling this dish "party in a bag" forever.
