Cutting to the chase? Make these. They’re ever-so easy. And oh, are they good!

A week or so ago a choir friend brought these little puppies to church, which we got to nibble on in between services/singing. I almost passed them by, as I try to eat just ONE glazed doughnut hole, an every week offering on the snack table. But somebody was raving about these. And they were cut into little tiny bite-sized pieces. Okay, I said to self, just one. And indeed, I did just have one – they all disappeared within about a minute as the choir members swarmed like bears to a honeypot.

Quickly I found out who made them and joined the parade asking Donnell for the recipe, which she brought to choir practice the following week. Oh joy! I’d gone online and looked up many, many other recipes for these. None had a maple drizzle on top so I couldn’t be sure it was the same thing.

The very next morning I was in the kitchen making these. My best friend Cherrie (the one who has breast cancer and just had surgery) and I usually do a bake-a-thon of Christmas cookies during the first week of December. That’s not happening this year as she doesn’t have much arm power or stamina yet. So I’ve been sharing some cookies with her as I’ve made any. During the 10 days or so after her surgery many friends signed up to deliver dinner to them, and I’m sure a cookie was in order after some of those meals. I made Cranberry Noels a couple of weeks ago. I gave her almost all of them. This week I gave her all but about 10 pieces of this. I think I’ll have to make these again. Soon. My GF cousin Gary is coming down for Christmas – he arrives in a few days – maybe I’ll make the crust layer with almond meal, which would likely work well! I’ll let you know.

The only thing that’s unusual in these is MAPLE EXTRACT. Not every grocery store has it. Fortunately I had just enough to make this batch, and have already purchased another bottle of it. I’m going to find some pure extract, rather than the imitation, which is all that’s available in grocery stores. I went online and read lots of reviews of maple extract. I’d have ordered some from amazon (since I have a prime account, so no extra shipping), but they don’t offer any extract that qualifies for prime. I’ll check out Whole Foods. They might have it. Meanwhile, I’ll make do with the imitation!

So, back to the bars themselves. First you make a crumbly pastry base (I used my stand mixer). It is pressed into the bottom of a greased 9×12 dish/ or pan. I recommend using a quarter sheet pan if you have one – it’s a little bit smaller (8 1/2 x 12 interior measure, not 9×13 as most rectangular cake pans measure). I thought the base layer was a little bit sparse – I had trouble getting every smidge of the pan bottom covered because I was using a rectangular cake pan. If you use the quarter sheet pan you may be able to press a bit of the pastry up the edges (a good thing).

While it baked I made the filling, which is not difficult. Fold the chopped walnuts in last, though. The filling is easily poured on top of the pastry crust and it’s baked for 20-30 minutes. Usually my ovens runs a bit hot, but at 20 minutes the filling wasn’t “set,” as the directions suggested. I put it back in for another 10 minutes. I think that was just a bit too long as the filling around the edges (where it came in contact with the metal pan) had turned to candy. So, with my oven anyway, probably 25 minutes is just about right. Be watchful of the batch as you bake it.

Once baked the pan needs to rest until it’s completely cool. Then you mix up a simple powdered sugar, maple extract and milk drizzle that gets dripped all over the mixture. Let that set and cut and serve. As I mentioned above, Donnell made her batch in a quarter sheet pan, which is what I will use next time. The filling resembles pecan pie filling, but with walnuts, not pecans. The recipe does indicate the cookies should be stored in the refrigerator.

What’s good: the delish maple flavor. We don’t eat much of anything that uses maple syrup, so it was a taste treat for me. It’s easy to make too.
What’s not: I can’t think of a single thing I didn’t like about these!

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Oh, my. Can I just tell you to make this? Do you trust me? Have you learned that when I say that, it’s something that’s sensational? Worth making? Fabulous. All those things? Yes, YES!

We have a local restaurant in Tustin, where I live, called the Tustin Roadhouse. It’s a kind of a dive, but not in a bad way. Cement floors, melamine topped tables and a few benches. They serve Que – mostly. The restaurant used to have a different name (Beach Pit BBQ) but awhile ago they branched out just a little bit, provided some optional menu items and sides. We went a month ago and ordered appetizers and a side dish – corn. We had delicious – absolutely wonderful fried calamari with a fab remoulade sauce. Then they brought the corn. Oh my gosh! It was SO good. When we went back there a couple of weeks ago, all I really cared about was ordering more of that corn. I quizzed the waitress about what was on the corn, and promptly came home and made it myself.

You’ll find some other recipes online if you search for Mexican Street Corn. Some recipes suggest Parmesan. Most called for the cotija cheese. Some don’t have the cheese at all. Some used cayenne in the mayo. I like the depth of flavor from chipotle, so I used that. I made up my own recipe for it. I know it’s not corn season right now, but I did find corn at our local Trader Joe’s. It wasn’t the best tasting, but hey, it’s December as I write this, so I took what I could get! Those of you readers who live in the Southern Hemisphere – buy some corn right now and make this.

First you grill the corn, then while it’s sizzling hot you brush on a mixture of mayo, chipotle chile in adobo added in, and a tad of lime juice squeezed into the mix also. Then you roll the corn into crumbled cotija cheese. You don’t need much – maybe 2 T. per ear is sufficient. If you love the cotija, then add more. Cotija is a salty, aged cow’s milk Mexican cheese. It has the texture of feta, but it’s not like feta in taste, just the crumbly aspect of it. If you use Parmesan, be sure to grate it – don’t shred it. You don’t want big threads of cheese – you want crumbles. That’s IT. See? I said easy.

What’s good: the cheese, the flavor, the texture. You don’t use much mayo (the amount above – about 3 tablespoons was enough for 4 small ears) mixed with the chipotle and lime juice. Yum is all I can say.
What’s not: absolutely nothing. Do use corn holders in the end to hold the corn while you’re brushing on the mayo mixture – they’re really hot right off the grill.

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What do you do when you need something to go on top of fish, but you lack anything to make it with? Well, if you just happen to have an orange, a lemon and a lime on hand, you can whip up an easy salsa. Then what do you do when you don’t have any fresh jalapeno or serrano pepper on hand? You use some chipotle chile in adobo sauce to heat up the juices!

Going online, I saw a few recipes and the inspiration for this one came from Martha Stewart’s website. I didn’t stray too far from that online recipe, although I changed proportions and the type of heat used. I wasn’t about to make a trip to the grocery store, so I made do with what I had. The orange was almost over the hill. The lemons were fresh from our tree, and the limes were a gift from friends who have a tree. I had cilantro, fortunately. And a shallot – I almost always keep a shallot or two in a little bowl on my kitchen counter. They come in handy, and when you need them, well, you really need them.

Use all of the orange and lemon segments. First, though, zest part of the lemon and orange (using all of the zest would have been too much) and also zest a little bit of the lime, and use the juice from half of it. Add finely minced shallot, a little tiny bit of extra virgin olive oil, some salt and pepper, and a little tetch of the chipotle chile in adobo sauce. Use your own judgment about how much – it’s hot, so be careful. Add and taste, add and taste! The recipe calls for a little sugar – honey is nice, although I used a substitute so my DH wouldn’t have a problem with the carbs in it – honey or agave would be the ideal sweeteners for this. Or sugar. Finally, add cilantro, and you’re done. I let it sit for about 20-30 minutes while I finished up the salmon in the Sous Vide (20 minutes at 140°) and made some corn to go with. It was an easy dinner and very tasty. Very healthy.

Easily this could be a salsa for chicken too. I’d make more of it, that’s all. The chipotle chile adds heat, of course (you don’t have to use it, though), and it also tinted the liquid just a little bit on the brown side – you can see it in the top photo. Rice would be a good side for this as it would soak up some of those liquids that spread all over the plate. Nothing wrong with those juices, but we wasted them as they floated around on the full plate.

What’s good: it’s very easy; healthy; tasty; just a little bit spicy. Yes, I’d make it again.
What’s not: really nothing at all. I liked it.

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You really don’t need a SousVide Supreme Water Oven in order to make this salmon dish. It’s just poached salmon,  served with an easy dill sour cream-mayo sauce on top.

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You don’t need to have a friend who’s ill in order to make this delicious soup. My friend Cherrie was recovering (and still is) from major breast cancer surgery and her first day home from the hospital I took this big batch of soup. It was a cool day (for California anyway), overcast, almost foggy. A perfect day for heart-warming soup.

Knowing I wanted to make chicken noodle soup. . . well, there are just a few (ha) recipes out there by that name. If you do a google search, it comes up with 6.2 million hits. Oh my. Originally I was going to use a Tyler Florence recipe, but then I saw this one from Anne Burrell (she has the Food Network show  Secrets of a Restaurant Chef). Reading the comments from people gave me all I needed to know that I would try her recipe. What makes it different is the addition of a little bit of cinnamon and nutmeg. When I read that, I thought whoa!  Gee, cinnamon and nutmeg? Really? And she makes use of more lemon (a whole one). It adds a brightness to the flavors. It also used orzo (she suggested it as one of the possible pastas to choose). I liked that option. And the comments from people who had made it contained lots of superlatives like fantastic, awesome, fabulous. Those words speak volumes to me when I’m researching for a recipe to try. It’s nice that some of the big food websites allow people to comment.

One of the more unusual things about this recipe is cooking the pasta separately. I really like this little tidbit of advice. I didn’t do that step when I made it, but I will in the future – for just that reason – orzo is tiny and it gets lost in the soup. When I served myself there wasn’t any orzo left – I mean, it was still good, but I’d have liked a few little pieces at least! The other nice thing is that if you put the pasta IN the soup, it may get very over cooked.

As usual, I did make a few minor changes: (1) I used chicken breasts and thighs (no legs); (2) I added peas and carrots to the soup; (3) I added in about a quart of gelatinous turkey stock I had left over from our Thanksgiving turkey as well as a little plop of Penzey’s chicken soup base (and I would absolutely guarantee you that if you made this soup – one with the Penzey’s soup base and one without, well, you’d for sure know the one with it tastes better – if you don’t have any turkey stock, that’s fine – I had it and wanted to use it up, that’s all – it was super-flavorful); (4) no white beans were added – didn’t think it needed it; and (5) I halved the amount of orzo (or pasta) indicated. I wanted it to be more about the chicken, veggies and the broth, rather than the carbs.

The report I got back was that the soup was wonderful. Actually I scooped out just enough for us to have a dinner with it, and I concur – it was really delicious. You can’t TASTE the cinnamon or nutmeg – there isn’t enough of it in there – but I’m certain it adds something.

What’s good: the overall good-ness of it – great flavored broth – and all the simple vegetables in it. I also really loved the lemon in it – add more in at the end even – it truly does just brighten the flavors. It’s not hard to make, and it will definitely keep for a few days in the refrigerator. Or freeze it for a later date.
What’s not: really nothing at all. It was altogether delicious.

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See those little meatballs in that soup? Oh gosh were they good! Enhanced with poblano chiles, they gave the meatballs SO much flavor. I love poblano chiles (also known as pasilla), and these were broiled in the oven, then I removed the skins. The soup itself is just a background, although it’s good. But the stars of the show are the meatballs.

If you don’t live in a part of the world where Mexican food is an everyday staple, you might not have heard of albondigas (all-bon-dee-gahs). Usually albondigas is a broth, a few veggies (usually carrots and onions, maybe green pepper) and meatballs. This, however, is a much more high class version. I changed the recipe around just a little bit because I wanted more substance to the soup part. The original recipe came from Bon Appetit, back in 2010. I wanted a soup type dinner to serve to our families who were driving out to Palm Desert to stay with us for the Thanksgiving weekend. They were coming from different directions and at different times, so I thought I should have a soup that could be just heated up and served. I made it a couple of days before since I knew I’d be crazy-busy working on side dishes for Thanksgiving that day.

The original recipe used ground beef (all albondigas does), but I lightened it up by combining equal parts ground turkey and ground beef. The meatballs also contain some grated zucchini (which also gives the meatballs a lighter texture) and then the roasted poblano chiles. And some Mexican type seasoning. I baked them in the oven rather than cooking them in the soup (so I could drain off any fat and because I was transporting the soup and thought it would be easier that way).

The broth/soup part was fairly bland according to many commenters at epicurious, so that’s why I decided to make some changes to the soup. I added more beefy flavor by using penzey’s soup base. Because the soup contains Ancho Chili Powder (and you DO need that if you want this soup to taste really good), the color was very brown (see photo). So, I changed around the recipe some so you don’t add the ancho chile powder until the very last. That way all the veggies in the soup (the rice, the corn and zucchini) all stay bright colored. Once those veggies dwell in the soup for awhile, everything turns a brown color because the fine dust of the chile powder nestles in all the crevices of the corn and zucchini particularly (not at all appetizing). If you cook the rice in this broth it also turns brown. But the ancho chile powder is very flavorful and a needed component. I also took some hints from a similar recipe by Rachel Ray and added corn and more toppings. They add wonderful texture and crunch. Also needed.

We ate nearly all of it at that one meal (I doubled the recipe) and left the remainder in the freezer at our desert house, so we’ll have more of it next time we visit. I’m looking forward to those meatballs – they have really great flavor.

What’s good: particularly the poblano-enhanced meatballs – they’re definitely the highlight. The soup part is good too – hearty and with lots of textures.
What’s not: there is a lot of sous-chef stuff to do (chopping, roasting, mincing) but it’s worth it. I’d definitely make it again, but if you’re making it ahead I recommend you keep the ancho chile out until just before serving – that way it won’t discolor all the veggies.

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Although it’s post-Thanksgiving, and very few of you will be even slightly interested in a recipe for cranberry sauce/jelly, I didn’t really want to let it sit in my holding pen (drafts) until next year, so I’d best post it anyway! It’s SO simple – it contains nothing but fresh cranberries, port wine, sugar, juniper berries, and black pepper. It stews briefly, then you let it cool and sieve it to remove all the skins and the spices. It doesn’t catch all the seeds unless you have a really good sieve.

Cranberries have a lot of natural pectin in them. That was news to me – more food chemistry to keep in mind – not that I’ll ever need to know that again! When you make this cranberry gelée (that’s French for jelly and it’s pronounced like zhe-LEH), you know that it doesn’t have to be reduced down or any kind of thickening agent added because it just naturally “gels.”  You can see how thick it is by looking at what’s stuck to the side of the bowl in the photo above.

In our family I always make an adaptation of my mother’s old recipe for a raw cranberry relish that contains fresh cranberries, a fresh orange, an apple, sugar and powdered ginger. But we DO have a couple of family members who prefer the old-fashioned stuff – they’d probably prefer it straight out of the can – but they eat 2 T. of it and what in the world do I do with the remaining 2 cups of it? Most years it is poured down the garbage disposal once it’s languished in the refrigerator long enough to grow green stuff on it. So I just thought I’d make it this year. It’s really good. I truly liked it – most people at our Thanksgiving dinner table took some of both, and everyone seemed to like them equally. The port wine used in this isn’t so prominent that it tastes boozy. Not at all. But you can taste it.

Actually I don’t own any of the Canal House Cookbooks. I’ve read about them, though. This recipe was at Food52, which I read several times during the 2 weeks leading up to Thanksgiving in case there were some nuggets of new recipes. Under the heading of “genius recipes” I found this recipe. It looked easy enough (it was) and it sounded like it would have some really good flavor (it did). I may even make it again next year. Meanwhile, it was used in turkey sandwiches numerous days after Thanksgiving.

What’s good: the port wine-y flavor – I think I liked that the best, yet it doesn’t overwhelm it. Also how easy it was to make. Truly. Good flavor. If you go to the Food52 site (link above) you can read about all the variations people did to the recipe (like, no juniper berries? use cloves or rosemary).
What’s not: really nothing. But, it is just cranberry jelly/sauce!

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I’ve gone on and on about this stuff before. I hate to beat a dead horse, but as I was making a soup the other night I was just reminded how MUCH I use these soup bases. The chicken one the most. If I had to hone down a bunch of advice to all of you cooks out there, young, old, experienced or not, I’d tell you that after having a really good set of knives, THIS product above would be #2. They’re not that expensive, and I’m telling you true – they’re worth their weight in gold. I go through about 3 of the chicken ones a year. I just opened my last one, so I’ll be due to visit the new Penzey’s store that’s opened in San Diego this  year to buy a new stash. Or I could order online (shipping applies, obviously), but I need other things from there too.

This product ISN’T just for soups, although that’s what they call it. It’s like buying bouillon cubes, or the jars of dried stuff at the grocery store. You’ll use it so often – in sauces, stews – you won’t have to fill your pantry with those quart boxes anymore. Just use this and add water. The grocery store types don’t hold a candle to the flavor in the Penzey’s brand. Here’s the LINK – just go do it, would you? You’ll be doing yourself a big favor. As I write this, they’re $10.85 each. I’d order the chicken and beef for sure. The ham one I have but rarely use. The seafood one is also such a time saver when making fish soups or sauces for fish. These do contain sodium, but not nearly as much as the other brands. Do it, would ya?

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After Thanksgiving, for many years, too many to count, I made Turkey Tetrazzini. I switched off between it and Turkey a la King served in puff pastry cups. Nothing all that complicated about either of those. And then Tetrazzini fell out of favor. And so did Turkey a la King too. So for a couple of decades – maybe even 3 decades – I didn’t make either of them. Tetrazzini has made a comeback – I even saw it on a restaurant menu recently. I didn’t order it because I was sure it wouldn’t be as good as home made. I’d have liked to try a bite.

So when I read about it at Pioneer Woman’s website, that it’s one of her favorite ways of using up left over turkey, well, I decided then and there, that I’d make it this year.

I went hunting for my recipe, but could not find it. Oh well, there are plenty of them out there. So I did use Ree Drummond’s version. And now that I’ve made that one, I’ve also made a few little alterations to her recipe too. You can do that with a casserole. Put your own spin on things (I added peas for one thing). I also think it could have handled even more than 1 1/2 pounds of mushrooms. Yes, really. We added more turkey than hers called for anyway, and I think it could have done with yet more of that too. And just a little less pasta – I want more meat and veggies in proportion to pasta, but that’s just me! Her recipe calls for 1 1/2 pounds of pasta. I’ve changed the recipe to 1 1/4 pounds – not a whole lot. So my recipe below is my adaptation of her recipe.

I liked all the mushrooms – they were quartered, not sliced. That gave this casserole some additional texture. I also liked the panko crumbs on top. I do love panko crumbs. I use them all the time, don’t you?

If your family doesn’t like peas, well, take ‘em out. Add carrots. Or green onion. Or chopped green beans. It’s nice to give it some green color from something. Don’t use green pepper – that would ruin it for me. But green beans are fairly neutral tasting so they’d work. This version also has bacon in it – just a bit of added richness and pork flavor.

You can’t quite tell from the photo, but the Tetrazzini was almost too dry. So I’ve altered the recipe a bit to make sure that doesn’t happen to you. The mixture needs to be almost like creamy soup when you roll it into the casserole dish – it needs LOTS of brothy liquid to soak into those noodles.

My daughter Sara and daughter-in-law Karen both helped make this. We all took on different tasks to get the casserole made and while it baked, a salad was composed using up most of the produce we had left from the weekend of eating.

What’s good: it’s as simple as can be – spaghetti (or some kind of pasta), turkey, some veggies, and a rich, tasty soupy sauce, plus cheese. It’s comfort food. Don’t expect it to be highly seasoned – there’s no heat in it. And very few herbs, either. Sometimes plain pasta is “just right.” Do season it well with salt and pepper – it needs it.
What’s not: perhaps I’d have to say this isn’t a “wow” dinner entrée. It’s good for family, and it was delicious after a weekend of plenty of eating at every meal.

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Last week, before Thanksgiving, I turned on the Food Network and watched a little of  the 3-hour Thanksgiving show, whatever it was called, with about 7-8 of the Network show’s stars. Pioneer Woman mentioned it on her blog, so I recorded it and watched about 15 minutes of it. I actually wasn’t all that intrigued. Not necessarily because of the stars themselves, but with the silliness of the way they were not acting in the beginning. It was too ad lib, and it says to me that the Food Network chefs/stars don’t know how to do that. Seemed to me like it was mostly the stars teasing one another, with a few suggestions thrown in now and then about turkey hints or side dishes, etc.

I did stick with it long enough, though, to watch Alton Brown make this cocktail. I went online to find it – nothing there that day anyway – so I had to go back on my recorded show to scribble down notes about it. Alton didn’t even give it a name, so I’ve made one up. He explained that in his house he needs to serve a “cocktail” that can do double duty – for adults and children, so he came up with this drink that can be mixed with sparkling wine (I used Prosecco) or with club soda. The young ‘uns in our household weren’t all that excited about it – I think it was the color (kind of brown) rather than the taste, but that’s just my take.

You start with a quart of grape juice. A disclaimer here – I bought light grape juice – and I’m sure it was a mistake. To make a syrup you need the sugar. So buy the real sugar-loaded type. He said to add an 8-inch sprig of fresh rosemary and a 3-inch piece of crystallized ginger. I didn’t have the right kind of ginger, so I used fresh ginger – about 4 inches worth. I cut it up into large chunks (don’t do small as it needs to be strained out later). You bring that mixture to a boil and reduce it by half. It might help if you did this in the microwave, actually, in a big glass measuring cup so you could see how much it’s reduced. I did it on the stovetop and had a hard time measuring the darned thing – it almost burned at the end! Strain out the herbs and ginger. Then add a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, and continue reducing it again by half. Cool and chill. You should end up with about 1 cup of syrup. That would make about 16 servings if you used a tablespoon per person.

To make the cocktail, pour about a tablespoon of the syrup into a glass and add either sparkling wine or prosecco. Or the club soda for a non-alcoholic version. You may want to test the proportions. We started with using less than a tablespoon and found that adding more provided a much better flavor.

Just be sure to not boil down the juice too low – because then it will begin to taste like raisins, not grapes. It was different. Almost unusual. I liked it, but only if it was mixed in the right proportion. And I didn’t measure it, otherwise I would tell you exactly. It’s definitely grape juice – so if you’re not a grape juice fan, you might want to give this a pass. Will I make it again? Uhm. Maybe. Maybe not. It wasn’t a wow, but then it was supposed to be something we could use for both the kids and adults. It did fit that bill.

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