Christmas Wishes - What to Get the Cook on Your List

I do most of my Christmas shopping online as I like to sit in my fuzzy pink robe and faux fur-lined slippers and pick out gifts for family and friends.  I could go shopping at the mall in my fuzzy pink robe, but I am sure I would get a few funny looks.  With one day left on Amazon's Free Super Saving Shipping*, I decided to put together a list of my favorite kitchen supplies, utensils and cookbooks.  If you still need the ideal present for the culinary aficionado on your list, here are a few ideas for you to choose from.  Some may not look very glamorous, but any cook would be delighted to get a gift from this list.

Just click on the picture to take you to a link to purchase any item.

A Christmas Wish List for Cooks

1.  Heavy duty mixing bowls - perfect for tossing salads, mixing up cookie batter, or whisking vinaigrette





2.  KitchenAid mixer - of the things that can be beaten, blended, and whipped with this classic mixer





3.  Heavy duty half sheet pans - nothing beats good quality sheets for baking cookies and brownies





4. A good nonstick saute pan with lid - a kitchen necessity






5.  Cookie scoop - ideal for making professional looking cookies





 
6.  Wok - Makes quick stir fry dinners a breeze to prepare





7.  Ice cream maker - whip up a chilly summer treat in no time at all





8.  Metal measuring cups - all measuring needs





9.  Metal measuring spoons - for a pinch of that or a teaspoon of this





10. America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook - my go-to cookbook





11. Classic bakeware - serve dinner with a little style


12.  A Year in Provence - all cooks love to read about food






* Note - not all items listed will qualify for Free Super Saver Shipping.

Merry Christmas to all and happy cooking!!

Book Review - Keys to Good Cooking - A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes

I don't do many product or book reviews on my blog. There are enough sites that do reviews that I can leave it to them. Everyone has their own taste when it comes to cookbooks or kitchen utensils. I occasionally read reviews or recommendations on these types of products, but typically follow my instincts when deciding if I want to purchase a particular item. But when I was asked to review Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipesby Harold McGee, I knew that it was an indispensable cooking reference guide that would be a welcome addition to any kitchen.

Some reference books are overwhelming, hard to read, so heavy that you need a forklift to carry them, and basically boring. Even with a whopping 553 pages, Keys to Good Cookingis easy to navigate and gives concise tips on kitchen topics ranging from cooking methods, getting to know your foods, and handling food safely. Every possible food is discussed from eggs to meats to vegetables to grains to breads to chocolate. It seems every cooking question one could have is answered in a straightforward manner by giving enough information in a succinct manner.

Undertaking the writing of a book of this nature seems like a daunting task. But author Harold McGee has presented the material in such an easy going way that I found myself flipping through page and page and dog-earring several sections of useful information. Typically, I place my pizza from the oven directly on a cutting board to cool resulting in a soft and slightly soggy crust. From the information I learned about keeping pizza crusts as crisp as possible, I discovered that transferring them from the oven to a cooling rack and then cutting them with kitchen shears will keep the crust crispier as crusts quickly soften when place hot against a cutting board that traps steam. This advice seems simple enough, but it never occurred to me to cool my pizza on a cooling rack.

If you are a seasoned cook or just starting out in the kitchen, Keys to Good Cookingwould be an essential kitchen reference guide.

Disclosure: I was sent a free copy of this book to review. All opinions are mine, and I was not compensated for writing this post.

Lemon Chicken with Artichokes and Sun Dried Tomatoes

Lemon Chicken with Artichokes and Sun Dried Tomatoes

Sometimes it takes a few trys until I get a dish right. That is how it is with most things in life.

I have loved to cook for as long as I can remember. Most of my jobs early in my life involved food in some sort of way. I was a busgirl at a local hamburger restaurant when I was 15. I worked at an ice cream shop and scooped until my arm was sore when I was 19. I was the weekend cook at my sorority house when I was 22. When I graduated college, the stars aligned and I took my dream job as....... a commercial real estate appraiser. Not.

I was lured by a job in the big city with a steady paycheck, a briefcase, and a train ride to and from work. My first appraisal job lead to two more appraisal jobs until 1 then 2 then 3 kids were running around our house. My appraisal life was over, and I was not sad to see it go.

Fast forward 10 years and with the kids in school full time, I was back in the kitchen and working in a small gourmet cafe. Planning menus, making sandwiches with funky names on focaccia bread, washing piles of dishing, waiting on customers; I was in my glory. It did not seem like work to me. Two years later the cafe closed its doors, and I was again looking for my next food job.

I cooked and I cooked and I cooked for my family. But there is just so much food one family can eat. I stumbled upon the notion of being a personal chef. My days are spent not only cooking for my family, but for 5 other families as well. Each family has a different set of tastes and the menus I prepare are ever changing. There is not a day that I am bored or I wish I was doing something else.

It took a few trys until I found the right job for me. You know it is the right one when it doesn't feel like work. Being a personal chef doesn't feel like work to me.

Lemon Chicken with Artichokes and Sun Dried Tomatoes was a dish that took a few trys to perfect. The pan sauteed chicken is bathed in a light lemony sauce punctuated by artichoke hearts, tart sun dried tomatoes, and gets a kick from Dijon mustard.

This dish comes together so quickly it doesn't seem like work to get dinner on the table.

Lemon Chicken with Artichokes and Sun Dried Tomatoes
serves 4

4 chicken breasts, sliced lengthwise into thin cutlets
salt
pepper
flour
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup white wine
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 (14 ounce can) artichoke hearts, quartered
8 sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and sliced in thin strips
1/2 lemon, sliced paper thin
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour.

Heat a large saute pan to medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon butter and the olive oil. Saute the chicken until golden brown and cooked through, about 3 - 4 minutes per side depending on the thickness of the chicken. Remove from pan and keep warm.

In the same pan, add the wine and bring to a boil. Whisk in the mustard and chicken stock. Add the remaining tablespoon of butter and whisk until it melts and the sauce thickens slightly. Gently stir in the artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes and lemon slices. Add the sauteed chicken and season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the parsley.

A cupcake to share

Pound Cake Cupcakes

Writing a food blog is a learning experience. I have learned many aspects about myself, my family, my friends, my online foodie friends, and my cooking. I started writing my blog for myself as a way to keep track of my recipes that I make for my family. Along this journey, I have amassed more than 200 recipes and continue to learn about myself each day.

I have discovered that if you make good food in an inviting atmosphere, they will come. People love food. People love good food. The food should be good food, not expensive and stuffy food. People are most comfortable eating a sweet and spicy pulled pork sandwich on the tailgate of your car or sitting around the picnic table with a pot of steamed clams, mussels, kielbasa, along with sourdough bread. They want to roll up their sleeves, dig in and enjoy the food, the drink and the company. Ask your guests what you served them the last time they came over, and they will most likely not remember. Not that your food wasn't good, but this is not in the forefront of their minds. They will not remember if you spent 2 days preparing the meal, and they don't want you to spend so much time preparing the food. What will remain in their memory will be whether they had a good time at you table. Did they laugh? Did they feel welcome and comfortable? People like a warm and welcoming gathering and having good, uncomplicated food is the icing on the cake.

I have discovered that there are many different types of cooks in the world. Some are fancy, smancy with a little bit of a snooty air about them. They take their title of "Chef" very seriously. Others love to bake albeit cupcakes, muffins, cakes, cookies, or brownies. Their baked goods are works of art. Some are intimated by cooking and need a nudge to try a new food or recipe. Some love to grill and barbecue. Some have found comfort in making casseroles. Some tinker with recipes and never make the same dish twice. I discovered that foodies are very friendly. Food brings people together. And when it comes right down to it, it is just food. Making food should be fun and not a chore. It isn't rocket science. Sure there are some aspects of cooking that are more difficult than others. But, it is about making good food and sharing with people that you love. That should be the most rewarding aspect of cooking.

I have discovered that no matter how unique and earth-shattering I think my most recent post is, someone has probably already made, tasted, photographed, and published my latest and greatest creation. With thousands of food blogs on the Internet, bloggers are blogging about the same recipes and cooking techniques that I am. Undoubtedly, food is a very important part of our lives. With my blog, I try not to just retype published recipes. Hopefully by following my posts, readers will try a few new recipes or learn a new cooking technique. By using fresh ingredients with simple techniques, cooking will be a joy.

Sharing food is central to my love of cooking. I offer you a recipe for Pound Cake Cupcakes. This is one of my good recipes. A basic dense, buttery cupcake. Bake a batch and share them with your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, teachers, the garbage men, or just about anyone you with which you come in contact. The world a better place if we all just shared a cupcake once in a while.

Cupcakes to share

Pound Cake Cupcakes

makes about 24
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
4 extra large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 sticks of butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cupcake pans with foil cupcake liners. Set aside.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a bowl of a standing mixer, combine the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Blend for about 4 - 5 minutes or until thoroughly combined. With the mixer on low, drizzle in the melted butter and continue mixing until combined, about 2 - 3 minutes. Add the flour mixture in 2 additions. Blend until just combined.

Fill each of the cupcake papers about 2/3 full with the batter. Bake for about 18 - 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan then remove and cool on a baking rack.

Peanut Butter Bread

I like being home alone in the morning. Still in my fuzzy pink robe, the only sound is the occasional barking of Shadow and Trixie as kids pass our house on the way to the bus stop.

Some mornings are filled with hustle and bustle. There is showering (the last one probably is without hot water), lunch making, feeding 2 hungry dogs after persistent nudging by cold noses, and waiting for the perfect pair of jeans du jour to finish drying in the dryer. The result is an exit of the 5 of us as we head to school and work.

On the mornings of my days off from personal cheffing, I savor a cup of hot coffee with a smidgen of sugar and a splash of of half and half with a freshly baked muffin, slice of quick bread, or chunk of coffee cake while reading the daily newspaper. I read it cover to cover. Stories about the lost dog found 50 miles away, the latest restaurant review that I tear out and put in my "Must Try" pile, the horoscopes, the trade between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians, and the impending rise in gas prices. I love the newspaper. It will be a sad, sad day for me when the inevitable happens and newspapers are only online.

I am partial to sweets that are on the less sweet side. Peanut Butter Bread is just the not-so-sweet sweet for me. Lightly toasted and slathered with butter, my 15 minutes of morning quiet makes me happy.

My morning time seems like an indulgence in our busy world. But who doesn't need a little break every once and a while.


Peanut Butter Bread

makes 1 loaf

To add piazza to your bread, top with chopped peanuts and chocolate chips before baking.

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups milk
2 1/4 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream sugar, peanut butter, and vanilla. Add eggs and milk and mix well.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt and add to the peanut butter mixture. Beat well.

Bake for 50 - 55 minutes until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan 10 minutes before unmolding.

Pardon the Interruption

I have just decided on our Valentine's Day menu for tomorrow, and I'm preparing to hit the grocery store before it is besieged with shoppers loading up on shrimp cocktails, lobster tails, and chocolate dipped strawberries. I always debate on whether I want to go to a restaurant for dinner or stay at home and cook for myself and family. Cooking at home usually wins out.

When you have 3 Kids, Valentine's Day turns into a group event. The Husband and I have been married for 18 years; we have old love. I remember our first few Valentine's Days together. Red roses, heart shaped boxes of candy, dinners out on the town. Those are still all good things.

Then our family started to grow. During my early motherhood days, I would cut giant hearts out of red and pink construction paper for my Kids Valentine's Day cards. That tradition has fallen by the wayside. This year I made big sugar cookies dipped in chocolate and piled with jimmies and sprinkles for the Kids to share with their lunch tables. With 2 middle schoolers and a high schooler, there are no longer any Valentine's Day class parties to bake for. No Thank You Boy asked why I was making cookies for him to share with his friends because no other mom does anything like that. I said it is just what I do. Some people must exercise or keep their homes immaculately clean or have a fulfilling job to be happy. I, on the other hand, NEED to bake a pound cake, chocolate chip cookies or brownies to have a satisfying day. There is just something about mixing up butter and sugar in my Kitchen Aid mixer that makes me happy. If my cake stand is empty, it is not a good day. Today it is filled with chow mein noodle haysacks. It's a good day.


Haystacks

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup peanut butter
4 - 5 cups chow mein noodles
sprinkles

Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter in a heat proof bowl over simmering water. Add chow mein noodles and stir. The noodles should be coated thoroughly. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto parchment paper and sprinkle with sprinkles. Let harden.

Tomorrow evening, The Husband has said he wants us to prepare dinner together. He is your basic Grill Man during the summer months so cooking dinner together will be a somewhat new experience. Our menu will consist of Seared Beef Tenderloin with Mushroom Au Jus, Fettuccine Alfredo, Roasted Asparagus, and Creme Brulee and Chocolate Mousse. Yes, we will be having 2 desserts. I love them both. There will be some wine and champagne too I imagine. I am expecting a few interruptions as My Oldest goes off to the movies with friends or My Middle One needs a ride to her BFF's house for a sleepover or No Thank You Boy heads to the neighbor's to play Wii.

Interruptions are the norm in our lives at this time. I have been thinking about the day when The Husband and I will no longer spend Friday nights watching No Thank You Boy play lacrosse, or pack a day's worth of food for a softball tournament early on a Sunday morning, or make countless trips to the movie theater, mall, and friends' houses all over town. Our lives will be more quiet then. But on the other hand, I'm sure we will find some interesting adventures to fill our days. I think we will get away on one of those adventures this weekend.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The 12 Dinners of Christmas

The holiday season is a busy time for most people. In between neighborhood open houses, middle school choral and band concerts, dining out at the food court while shopping at the mall, feeding peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to the junior athletes while dashing off to lacrosse practice, and attending The Husband's office Christmas party, making dinner at home seems like a herculean task.

My Christmas gift to you this holiday season is 12 easy and delicious dinner recipes that take less than an hour to prepare - actually most recipes take less than 30 minutes to put on the table, and contain about 10 ingredients. Most ingredients you will have on hand. You will need to only pick up a couple items at the grocery store to make dinner time a breeze at your house.

So load your printer with paper and get ready to print out the recipes and even shopping lists to go with them. Hopefully, I'll help make your holiday dinner time a little more bright.

** The first dinner will be using all that leftover turkey in your refrigerator. Do you really think you needed 2 24-pound turkeys to serve 15 guests on Thanksgiving?!

Blogging on The Martha Stewart Show

Martha! Martha! Martha!

Yesterday, I spent the morning as an audience member of The Martha Stewart Show. The audience was full of bloggers looking like geeks with their computers on their laps. Me included. Even Martha has a blog.

Here is the set of the show. It looks just like it does on television.

The taping of the show ran very smoothly. Each segment is planned out and filmed followed by wild audience clapping. It takes an army of people to put on a television show. Martha looks like she has a talented group of people running her show.

Here is Martha and her stage manager conferring between taping segments.

I was most interested in the segments that were about food. But I did find Perez Hilton quite amusing. He gave some tips on how to have a wildly successful, popular and money-making blog. He has people. People to help with advertising, writing, and gathering information. I am going out today to find those people for myself.

During the cooking segment, Matt over at mattbites.com made some tasty looking cookies. I really wish we got to taste the tasty looking cookies. Note to self. When Martha has me on her show, bring cookies for all the audience members.

The next few segments were on crafting with flea market finds, gardening, and politics. I found myself looking around the set at this point and wondering what they were making in the kitchen. They were getting ready to tape a segment on Hotdog Tasting which is airing on September 23rd. Martha was to taste about 27 different hotdogs (toppings included) from restaurants across New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.

Here are a few of the hotdogs Martha tried.

I have a new found respect for Martha. She ate, and ate, and ate her way through all 27 hotdogs. She could be a real contender at the Coney Island Hotdog Eating Contest.

There is a job that I will be applying for on the set of the show. One person is in charge of the lint roller. This person's responsibility is to make sure there is no lint on Martha. I think I could handle that job.

I wish I had gotten a chance to be seen on television during the show. I was seated directly to the right of the audience members who had their brush with fame and were shown blogging away on their laptops. If it had not taken me 2 and 1/2 hours to drive to New York City (it usually takes about 1 and 1/2 hours) and had I not been the last person let in the door before it was closed behind me, I would have gotten a better be-on-tv type of seat. I can't complain, though. That was the back of my head you saw in the bottom left hand corner of your tv screen right after the last commercial break. Since you didn't see me, here is the sweater I wore. We were told to wear something bright and colorful, but not too busy. I thought Martha would approve of argyle. I saw about 5 other people in argyle sweaters. I guess I was not the only one with the idea.

After spending the morning with Martha and her people, it was back in my car and my life as mom and personal chef. Guess what we had for dinner last night? Leftover Grown Up Tuna Noodle Casserole. I wonder what Martha had for dinner last night?

Pumpkin Cookies

Pumpkin Cookies

My Mom passed away about 16 years ago. She was a great mom. One of those moms that would do anything for you. She would always make french toast for breakfast. She would send my siblings and I off to school with lovingly made, brown paper bag lunches. Some were better than others. You knew it was close to grocery shopping day when you would pull out a cream cheese and jelly sandwich on stale raisin bread. Or one made of slices of American cheese and butter chunks. Sure she forgot to pick me up from basketball practice a few times, but who hasn't done that? How can anyone keep track of the schedules of 6 kids? Her kitchen counter always had a baked good of some sort albeit cookies, brownies, or Great Aunt Rose's Pound Cake to snack on after school.

What I regret most about my Mom not being with us today is that she never met my kids. I would have liked them to have been able to visit "MeMe," sit at her kitchen table and eat one of her baked goods while they chatted. The best I can do for my kids is make some of my Mom's favorite treats.

Every fall, you could count on a plate of Pumpkin Cookies at our house. My Mom got the recipe from a small gourmet shop in the town where I grew up. I am lucky enough to have her original recipe in my collection. Don't tell my sisters. They will want to steal it from me.


My Mom would write comments and notes on her recipes.

They must be good. Check out her comment.


My Notes - I follow my Mom's handwritten notes and bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. I also substitute the following frosting recipe.

Frosting for Pumpkin Cookies

4 tablespoons of butter, softened
3 cups of powdered sugar
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
4 - 5 tablespoons of milk

Beat butter in a large bowl. With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar slowly. Add the lemon juice and 3 tablespoons of the milk. Add additional milk if the frosting is too thick to spread on the cookies. Make sure the cookies are completely cool before frosting.


My kids will be having a plate of Pumpkin Cookies as their snack today. Thanks for the recipe Mom.

Adventures in the Big Apple

A night off from cooking dinner for me while The Family spent a day in New York City. We all had differing ideas on how to explore the Big Apple. Museums, shopping, and dining at new restaurants all made the list. Our final selections were ESPN Zone for lunch, Madame Tussard's Wax Museum, and Shake Shack for dinner. As you can see I counted my votes twice and included more eating than any other activity in our days' events.

Our first stop was ESPN Zone in Times Square. This choice was for No Thank You Boy, and he was decked out in his finest Chicago Bears apparel. Having 2 older sisters, he is usually saddled with days filled with shopping when he has to tag along with us.

We ate a plate of cheese fries with bacon (I don't think it was real bacon), a cheeseburger, shrimp Caesar salad, a dry Italian beef sandwich, an oddly orange-colored Buffalo chicken sandwich, and an unspectacular grilled chicken sandwich. Nothing to write home about as far as the food at ESPN Zone is concerned. It is a place that is filled with tourists and the food is tourist food. The entrees were not bad; they just weren't very good. I would compare it to any sit down chain restaurant.

Off to Madame Tussard's Wax Museum for My Oldest, My Middle One and myself. The Husband and No Thank You Boy opted out of our adventure to partake in the many games at ESPN Zone. The Wax Museum was a hoot to say the least. We paid way too much ($69 for the 3 of us and that was with an $18 off coupon) to have our pictures taken with wax replicas of famous people. I do have to say that the place had a steady stream of guests so they must be be doing something right.

Highlights for me --


chatting with my new best friend "Rachael Ray"


and sipping bubbly with "Wolfgang Puck." Hey! Watch that left hand Wolfgang!

After catching up with the boys after their ESPN Zone escapades, we did some shopping with the other 250,000 tourists in Times Square. We hit the M&M store, the Hersey store, the MTV store, the Billabong store, and a few street vendors to pick up some ultra cool $10 sunglasses. After a couple hours battling the crowds, we had enough. Off to our next stop, the Shake Shake.

I had read about the Shake Shack somewhere online - a benefit of spending too many hours reading about food on the world wide web. After scoring a parking spot on the street, we entered Madison Square Park at Madison Avenue and 23rd Street.

Even with the perfect Spring evening for eating outside, grumblings were heard from the peanut gallery as we descended on a line of about 30 people waiting to place their orders. We secured a table for the kids and began our 20 minute wait in line. "I hear these are some of the best burgers in NYC," I informed The Husband as the line inched ever so slightly forward. As soon as he spotted the sign for the "Spring Special" - $3 draft beers, his demeanor greatly improved. We eventually placed our order - 3 Shake Shack burgers, a Shake-cago Dog, 3 orders of fries, 1 Black and White shake, 1 chocolate shake, 3 beers and a Coke.

Another wait for the food, but thankfully with our beers, was about 10 minutes. With a 75 degree Spring day, the wait was well worth our time. The food did not disappoint; it was much better than our lunch.


The burgers were just the right size and cooked to perfection. No Thank You Boy wanted another naked Shake-cago dog. We told him he could get in line again - it had swelled to about 100 people by the time we got our food. He declined and just sucked his shake down. Nicely crisped fries, cold beer, and thick shakes along with our burgers made for an enjoyable meal. And for about 40 bucks our wallet still had some cash left in it.


I would highly recommend the Shake Shack to anyone venturing into New York City. There was a majority of native New Yorkers eating there so it must be more than a tourist trap.

Back to our car to collect our $55 parking ticket, and we were headed home. Just enough of the city life for us. We had a fun time be New Yorkers for a day.