Category: COOKBOOKS

ELVIS COOKIES ala DUFF GOLDMAN

Duff says that the King deserves a cookie. And you know what, he’s absolutely right, and I for one am so glad Duff created a cookie for him! Elvis was known for some odd eating combos and this cookie showcases them all – bananas, peanut butter, garlic, bacon, pretzels… YEP I said garlic. I always make a recipe as written the first time and then adjust from there. I did include the garlic, but I WILL omit it next time. Hubby couldn’t taste it, but I could.

ELVIS COOKIES ala DUFF GOLDMAN yields 30 cookies
3 cups sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter, smooth or crunchy
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon PURE vanilla extract
BIG pinch of baking powder*
1 garlic clove, minced **(optional)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3 VERY ripe bananas
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups chocolate chips
3/4 cup pretzel crumbs (about 5 ounces hard pretzels smashed)
10 bacon strips, cooked crisp and chopped FINE

  • Preheat oven to 350°.
  • Spray baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.
  • In a large bowl combine the butter, peanut butter, molasses, sugar, baking powder, garlic and salt, mixing until all one color.
  • Add the bananas, mixing until all the same consistency.
  • Add flour and gently mix until incorporated with no lumps.
  • Fold in the chocolate chips, pretzel pieces and bacon.
  • This is my little addition – chill the entire batch of dough for 1 hour before using.
  • Place large walnut sized spoon fulls onto prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart.
  • Chill baking sheets 10 minutes.
  • Bake for 12 minutes or until golden on the outside and gooey in the middle.
  • Cool on wire rack.

*NOTE: Duff qualifies this by saying yes, he said a BIG pinch of baking powder and to get over it 😀

**NOTE: Duff claims that the garlic isn’t weird and that there is actually a long standing tradition of putting garlic in chocolate chip cookies. I have to admit t does sound weird, but in reality no weirder than the bacon 😀 But like I said hubby couldn’t taste it, but I could so I will omit it next time and leave it up to you.

KENTUCKY HOT BROWN

Tonight we tried the HOT BROWN from THE BROWN HOTEL from OFF THE EATEN PATH by Morgan Murphy from Southern Living.  I did have to make a couple of small substitutions but we loved it and cannot even think about changing the substitution back.
THE HOT BROWN serves 4

1/4 cup butter

1/3 cup flour

4 cups heavy cream 

10 tablespoons Pecorino Romano cheese, divided**

salt and pepper, to taste

1 pound thinly sliced turkey (I used Costco sliced and it was perfect)

4 Texas toast slices (I used thick Sourdough)

4 plum tomatoes, sliced lengthwise (I used grape tomatoes halved and scattered)

1/4 teaspoon paprika

8 cooked bacon slices

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

  • Preheat broiler with rack 4 inches from heat.
  • Melt butter in a heavy 2 quart saucepan over medium low heat.
  • Whisk in the flour until smooth and golden.
  • Gradually whisk in cream over medium heat, whisking constantly until thick and bubbly.
  • Stir in 1/2 cup cheese, salt and pepper, stirring to blend.
  • Place toast slice in the bottom of a lightly greased casserole dish.
  • Top with turkey slices.
  • Top with tomatoes.
  • Spoon cheese sauce over tomatoes.
  • Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
  • Broil 5 minutes or until cheese begins to brown.
  • Sprinkle with paprika.
  • Top with bacon pieces.
  • Sprinkle with parsley.
  • Enjoy.

**I didn’t realize I was out, but I was, so I substituted sharp cheddar and it was lick the plate clean good.

SNAPPER WRAPPERS

SNAPPER PATRICK from PAT’S FISHERMAN’S WHARF was a fantastic choice!!  I will make this again and again, but next time I will go simpler and make it more of a casserole bake.

SNAPPER WRAPPERS
1 pound lump crabmeat, drained (I used chopped flaked Krab)
4 skinned red snapper fillets (any white fish would work)
1 teaspoon salt (we felt this was too much-next time I’ll use 1/4 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon garlic powder (we felt this was too much-next time I’ll use 1/2 teaspoon or fresh)
1 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons water
lemon wedges (I used lemon slices under each roll up while cooking)

  • Preheat oven to 400˚.
  • Pick crabmeat, removing any bits of shell.
  • Cut snapper fillets in half lengthwise.
  • Top each fillet with about 1/3 cup crabmeat.
  • Roll up fillets and secure with wooden toothpicks.
  • Blend together the salt, garlic powder and red pepper.
  • Combine melted butter and water in the bottom of your baking dish, blending well.
  • Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of seasoning mix over top of the butter  mixture.
  • Arrange roll ups in baking dish.
  • Sprinkle roll ups with remaining seasoning mixture.
  • Bake uncovered for 16-18 minutes or fish flakes when tested with a fork.
  • Plate roll ups. 
  • Spoon pan drippings over roll ups before serving.
  • Serve with lemon wedges.

2014, COOKBOOKS, MENUS and A PLAN FOR SIMPLIFYING

Every year I receive a new cookbook from my brother as a gift for either my birthday or Christmas.  I sit and devour these books as I read them like a novel tagging every “MUST TRY” recipe.  Besides those cook books I’ve been collecting recipes from magazines, newspapers and blogs.  I recently scanned in all those little pieces of paper which took up and entire 18 gallon tote.  I also vowed to hubby not to cut out any more, well at least for awhile.

This year I’ve decided to work on the basics – my working theory that once you have a good foundation the rest is all icing.  I’m particularly fond of tutorial style with color pictures and/or historical based cookbooks.  So all the scanned little recipes will wait (by the way, there were over 5000 recipes in that tote) and I’m going to concentrate on these 3 cookbooks this year.
I’ve always believed that no recipe is the same depending on who is making it and their techniques – whether the techniques are passed down through the generations, are school learned or experience learned through trial and error.  Once you get your basics down pat, variations based on your likes and dislikes become fun and easy to experiment with and then the rest is all gravy.
So I sat down with these cookbooks and read from cover to cover, tagging each recipe that caught my eye (and tummy too) to try or technique I wanted to learn and then made a list by categories.
Like Julie cooking her way through Julia Child’s cookbook, I will work my way through these books before buying another cookbook or touching my stash of recipes. My biggest drawback will be that I’m only cooking for 2 so need to alter or adapt almost every recipe. Spices and seasonings will become my best friends to make these recipes my own.  It’s all about your choice of ingredients, spices, seasonings and ALSO about HOW you put them together.
Our palates know flavors and based on our genetics we all crave different flavors, flavor combinations and have our individual cravings and comfort foods.  Cooking healthy can be done from scratch easily with enough preparation and organization.
My ultimate goal is to cook my way through 2014 using absolutely no pre-prepared ingredients while learning new techniques and trying tried and true recipes.
Here is my basic thoughts on menu planning and what should be in a basic pantry from earlier posts:

There is more to menu planning than just deciding what to make for dinner, at least for the average family. We’re a military family used to getting paid once a month and trying to make it last. So for me, menu planning also encompasses recipe scouring, coupon clipping (we love to read the Sunday papers and have coffee. One of the things I always go for first is the coupons to see what I can save for us – hubby always laughs when I get excited at a large coupon for something already on the list – LOL), sale ad reading and logical common sense planning. I do participate in Menu Plan Monday, but I actually prepare my menu for the entire month all at once and then just break it up for posting.

I start the last week of the previous month with checking out what I already have in the freezer inventory and then the ads for my local markets for the upcoming week. I see what meats will be going on sale and then scour my recipe file for recipes to match. One of the biggest things I do to help not only with cost of ingredients, but also waste is to make sure to back up recipes to each other that use similar ingredients that I can buy in bulk. For example if a recipe calls for 1/2 an onion for Monday night’s recipe, I make sure Tuesday night’s recipe uses the other 1/2. I also know which meals we’ll probably have leftovers for so I plan to either freeze part of it for a future meal or plan a CORN (clean out refrigerator night) within my plan if there is only going to be a little of this and that leftover. I write my list and then I match up the coupons for whatever staples (flour, sugar, eggs, butter, etc…) I need and then the luxuries if there is room within the budget. If there is a really good sale I buy in super bulk for the following month also. Now I know this sounds like a lot of work, but the whole process takes less than an hour and then it’s done for the month.

I have every scrap of a recipe I ever saved as well as many of my grandma’s too. It’s like an obsession with me. If a recipe sounds good in a magazine, I figure I can make it better based on my family’s likes and dislikes and tuck it away to try and manipulate at a later date. I recently decided it was time to clean-up this mess.

I found an old metal LP file box at a garage sale for 50 cents and dressed it up a bit so it didn’t look like a trash bin on my kitchen counter. (it was a beat up lime green with stickers everywhere). I have written 2 family reunion cook books in the past which helped some with eliminating the scraps of paper and I’m also in the midst of writing a Tastebook to use as family Christmas gifts that is helping to clean up this mess on a permanent basis.

I have a perpetual list on the counter and every time we use something or run out of something, everyone is trained (finally) to list whatever they used or ran out of on an ongoing basis.

We keep a pretty concise calendar with everyone’s activities, appointments, meetings and such on it. I also write what we will be eating on each day so they’ll know what to expect. For the planning purposes here I’ll show you the rest of the month so you can see the pattern(s). If for some reason we have to cancel a night I will rearrange the week so that the meal actually canceled is one using something from the freezer, not the fresh ingredients I’ve already purchased. When I do the shopping I buy in bulk to cut the cost and since I have my menu plan ahead of time, I break down the bulk package into meal appropriate sizes before freezing when I get home.  Then I wrap each meat package with a color coded band to help keep the freezer organized.  Red for beef, green for fish, blue for chicken and yellow for pork.  

Here is a sample month of menu planing with links to current recipes.  With each meal we also incorporate a small salad or 4 ounces of Green Goddess.

MONDAY ~ Meatloaf & Scalloped Potatoes 
TUESDAY ~ Stuffed Shells & Salad 
WEDNESDAY ~ Seafood Salad & Parmesan Rolls 
THURSDAY ~ Chicken Cacciatore & Salad 
FRIDAY ~ Chicken Carbonara & Salad 
SATURDAY ~ Lemon Lime Pepper Chicken & Rice Pilaf 
SUNDAY ~ Hot Wings and Home made bleu cheese dressing

MONDAY ~ Out  
TUESDAY ~ Mexican Baja Casserole 
WEDNESDAY ~ Spaghetti Bolegnese & Salad 
THURSDAY ~ Sauteed Garlic Shrimp & Salad 
FRIDAY ~ Meatloaf Muffins & Garlic Smashers 
SATURDAY ~ Chicken and Onions in White Cream Sauce 
SUNDAY ~ Beef Stew & Cheddar rolls

MONDAY ~ Taco Ring Salad 
TUESDAY ~ Chicken Cordon Bleu & Applesauce 
WEDNESDAY ~ Orange Honey Chicken & Fried Rice 
THURSDAY ~ Grandma’s Chicken and Noodles – I’m working on a written recipe for this – I’ve made it from scratch for so long – it’s hard to write it down – LOL 
FRIDAY ~ Chili and Beer Bread 
SATURDAY ~ Chicken Enchiladas & Refried Beans 
SUNDAY ~ Stuffed Pork Chops & Salad

MONDAY ~ PEANUT PORK NOODLE SALAD
TUESDAY ~ HOBO FOIL STEW
WEDNESDAY ~ CHICKEN SAUSAGE GUMBO
THURSDAY ~ HOT CHICKEN SALAD
FRIDAY ~ CROQUE MADAME
SATURDAY ~ HOT WING SOUP
SUNDAY ~ TWISTED PEPPER STEAK IN GRAVY

As you can see the theme for this month is chicken with a bit of pork and hamburger thrown in. 

~ Tools, Condiments and Seasonings ~

I’ve been thinking about this category a lot and no matter how you look at it, it is subjective. I mean if I cooked a lot of oriental food I’m sure I’d find a WOK an essential tool, but I don’t so we’ll approach this through logic and I’ll list ‘my’ essentials and then you can interpret any way necessary for your household and the meals you prepare.


As for essential tools I have many that I consider truly essential! But, in reality we can truly get by with very few. I consider a good set of cutting boards, a set of great sharp knives, my cast iron skillet, quality stainless steel pans, spoons, spatulas and tongs a necessity. I try to stay away from most plastics as they do wear quicker and tend to harbor bacteria. I’m still using the same stainless steel tools and cookie sheets I spent a small fortune on 20 years ago, so that expenditure has paid off. The cast iron skillet has been passed down through my hubby’s parents and grandparents and it too is still going strong. I did purchase new heavy gauge stainless steel pots and pans about 10 years ago and they look brand new as stainless cleans so well. I also stay away from all non-stick surfaces as they do wear eventually and I just don’t want that in our food. I do change my cutting boards and rubber spatulas every couple of years just to be on the safe side despite always running them through the dishwasher.


As much as I like all my pampered chef toys, they could all be eliminated by using just what I have listed above. Personally I cannot live without my essential Kitchen Aid stand mixer & hand mixer and my Cuisinart mini food chopper. I have a blender, but only use it to make my home made Creamy Tomato Basil soup. I don’t even own an electric can opener. I do love my slow cooker too and my Magnalite stock pots and roaster, but they too could be substituted with other pots and pans.


Now for seasonings, this too is subjective based on the foods you prepare, but honestly if that recipe you cut out of a magazine calls for Herbs de Provence don’t run out and buy it for a one time recipe. It is a combination of herbs you probably already have on hand. It usually contains rosemary, marjoram, basil, bay leaf and thyme. So you can adjust what you have with your own likes. What I consider essential in the spice cabinet around here is kosher salt, sea salt, white & black pepper, celery salt, garlic salt/powder, basil, thyme, oregano, marjoram, parsley, paprika, cinnamon, apple pie spice, pumpkin pie spice, PURE vanilla, maple sugar, orange rind, bourbon extract, rum extract and vanilla powder.

In the pantry I have:
  • flours ~ all purpose, bread and cake flour, self rising flour
  • sugars ~ fine sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar
  • coconut
  • golden raisins
  • cornstarch
  • baking soda 
  • baking powder
  • rices ~ white rice, brown rice…
  • barley
  • split peas
  • tapioca
  • various pastas.
In the way of liquid essentials I have: 
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • soy sauce
  • honey
  • apple cider vinegar
  • red wine vinegar
  • avocado oil
  • olive oil
  • canola oil
  • balsamic vinegar and several flavored rice wine vinegars.

In the refrigerator I have:
  • mayonnaise
  • ketchup (both homemade when I have the time)
  • mustard (despite my severe allergy everyone else LOVES it)
  • sun dried tomato pesto
  • Better than Bouillon chicken and beef bases
  • fresh lemons & limes
  • chili sauce.
The real key here is to have what YOU need on hand at all times without a lot of effort.

I’m dreaming about books again, cookbooks that is!

Check these books out at Amazon
from the reviews I want to cook it all!
 
Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics is the essential Ina Garten cookbook, focusing on the techniques behind her elegant food and easy entertaining style, and offering nearly a hundred brand-new recipes that will become trusted favorites. 
Marjorie Druker is passionate about soups. She fell in love with soups when she first heard the story Stone Soup. After attending Johnston & Whales, Marjorie created the menu for the popular Boston Market restaurant chain, and soups were always her favorite. “My niche is taking what people like to eat and turning it into a soup,” she says.  
 

Over time, twin enterprises Cook’s Illustrated magazine and America’s Test Kitchen have published many books dedicated to providing exhaustively tested recipes–“best” versions of traditional dishes plus definitive takes on kitchen equipment and ingredients. Some series readers have complained of endlessly recycled or rejiggered recipes; others take each book at face value, finding the formulas and cooking insights good and helpful. America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, which calls itself a cookbook, cooking school, and kitchen reference in one, offers over 1,200 approachable recipes for a very wide range of dishes–from “weekday” fare like Creamy Rice Casserole, Cheesy Nachos with Spicy Beef, and Skillet Lasagna, to dressier recipes, including Pan-Seared Lamb Chops with Red Wine Rosemary Sauce, Roasted Trout Stuffed with Bacon and Spinach, and Chocolate Marshmallow Mousse. There are “specialty” chapters devoted to sandwiches, drinks, and slow cooker and pressure cooker dishes; a grilling section is a tutorial in itself. 

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Release the CookBooks

Laura of I’m an Organizing Junkie ran a post last week about Releasing the Cook Books that met with a bit of adversity, quite a bit actually. I’ve thought about this all week and read the comments pro and con and then finally decided to put my 2 cents in.

My brother gives me a specialty cookbook ever year for my birthday and Christmas. I also have the all the generational family hand me downs as well as my impulse buys from bookstores and all the cookbooklets from the different manufacturers over the years that I have collected from antique stores, etc… you get the picture, I have a ton of cook books. Anyway, the first thing I do when I get a new cookbook is sit down, read it from cover to cover and use one of those little 3M tabs to mark the ones I want to try and/or modify (I have a color code system that also includes the category “MUST TRY YESTERDAY” because it is so alluring). Once I have tried and or modified a recipe and decided if it is a keeper or not I then either post it to my blog or into my computer cookbook. I then ‘recycle’ the cookbook through a pay it forward or VFW rummage sale. I do have those pretty ones that are wonderful references that will never leave my bookshelf, which is vast, but you CAN’T keep them all and why would you want to if you don’t use them?? So, after that long wind, I agree with you Laura! I’m extremely organized and one of the best ways of accomplishing that is to simplify! I am saying it with you, Laura RELEASE THE COOKBOOKS!

final blog signature. ♥

~*~My little Cookbook Corner of the World~*~

Let’s face it, there is no one cookbook for anyone. If you’re like me, you have at least 6 or maybe 60, oh let’s be honest I quit counting a long time ago. I can’t resist browsing through the old books at antique stores. I especially love old church or organization cook books. Some of my favorite recipes originally came from one of those. Many of the pages are dogeared and lots of notes are written in the margins, mostly by me, but the used books sometimes have 2 or 3 people’s writings.

Now the other thing we all do is MODIFY those recipes to our family and their personal preferences. Did you know that all you have to do is make 2 major changes and you can call the recipe your own? or so I’m told.