Here are the tastingspoons players. I’m in the middle (Carolyn). Daughter Sara on the right, and daughter-in-law Karen on the left. I started the blog in 2007, as a way to share recipes with my family. I’m still doing 99% of the blogging and holding out hope that these two lovely and excellent cooks will participate. They both lead very busy lives, so we’ll see.
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BOOK READING (from Carolyn):
Music of Bees, Eileen Garvin. Absolutely charming book about a woman in midlife, lonely, who raises bees, also makes unlikely friends. Heart-warming and very interesting about beekeeping.
A Postcard from Paris, Alex Brown. Really cute story. Dual time line, 1940s and present day about renovating an old apartment in Paris, things discovered.
Time of the Child, Niall Williams. Oh such a good book. Very small village in Ireland, 1960s. A baby is left on the doorstep. The town all whispers and helps. I listened to an interview of the author, which made me like him and his books even more.
Sipsworth, Simon Van Booy. If you like animals you’ll swoon. An old woman who really wants to die finds a tiny mouse in her house and befriends it and finds a reason to live. Utterly charming book.
The Forger’s Spell, Edward Dolnick. True story. For seven years a no-account painter named Han van Meegeren managed to pass off his paintings as those of Johannes Vermeer.
If You Lived Here, You’d be Home by Now, Christopher Ingraham. Could hardly put it down – about a journalist who takes on a challenge to move to small town in Minnesota and write about it. He expects to hate it and the people and place, but he doesn’t. Absolutely wonderful true story.
The River We Remember, William Kent Kreuger. 1950s, Minnesota. A murder and the aftermath. Could hardly put it down. Kreuger has such a vivid imagination and writing style.
How the Lights Gets In, Joyce Maynard. An older woman returns to New Hampshire to help care for her brain-injured son. Siblings and family, lots of angst and resentments.
The Filling Station, Vanessa Miller. Every American should read this book. A novelized retelling of the Tulsa massacre in 1921. Absolutely riveting.
The Story She Left Behind, Patti Callahan Henry. Love this author. Based on a true story. A famous author simply vanishes, leaving her husband and daughter behind. She had invented a mystical language no one could translate. Present day, someone thinks he’s solved the riddle, contacts the family. Really interesting read.
The Girl from Berlin, Ronald Balson. Love anything about Tuscany. An elderly woman is being evicted from a villa there, with odd deed provenance. Two young folks go there to help unravel the mystery. Loved it.
The Island of the Colorblind, Oliver Sacks, M.D. Nonfiction. The dr is intrigued by a remote Pacific island where most of the inhabitants are colorblind. He also unravels a mystery on Guam of people born with a strange neurological problem. Medical mysteries unveiled. Very interesting.
The Bookbinder, Pip Williams. Post 1914 London. Two sisters work at a bookbindery. They’re told to not read the books. One does and one doesn’t. One has visions beyond her narrow world; the other does not. Eventually the one gets into Oxford. Lovely story.
The Paris Express, Emma Donoghue. 1895 on a train to Paris, a disaster happens. You’ll delve into the lives of many people who survived and died in the crash.
A Race to the Bottom of Crazy, Richard Grant. This is about Arizona. Author, wife and child move back to Arizona where they once lived. Part memoir, research, and reporting in a quest to understand what makes Arizona such a confounding and irresistible place.
The Scarlet Thread, Francine Rivers. A woman’s life turned upside down when she discovers the handcrafted quilt and journal of her ancestor Mary Kathryn McMurray, a young woman who was uprooted from her home only to endure harsh frontier conditions on the Oregon Trail.
A Place to Hide, Ronald Balson. 1939 Amsterdam, an ambassador has the ability to save the lives of many Jewish children. Heartwarming.
Homeseeking, Karissa Chen. Two young Chinese teens are deeply in love, but in China. Then their families are separated. Jump to current day and the two meet again in Los Angeles.
North River, Pete Hammill. He always writes such a good story. A doctor works diligently healing people from all walks of life. His wife and daughter left him years before. One day his 3-yr old grandson arrives on his doorstep.
A Very Typical Family, Sierra Godfrey. A very messed-up family. Three adult children are given a home in Santa Cruz, Calif, but only if the siblings meet up and live in the house together. A very untypical scenario but makes for lots of messes.
Three Days in June, Anne Tyler. The usual Anne Tyler grit. Family angst. This wasn’t one of my favorites, but it was entertaining and very short.
Saved, Benjamin Hall. Author is a veteran war reporter. Ukraine, 2022, he nearly loses his life to a Russian strike. Riveting story – he survives, barely.
Grey Wolf, Louise Penny. Another Inspector Gamache mystery in Quebec. She is such an incredible mystery writer.
All the Colors of the Dark, Chris Whitaker. A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each. Could hardly put it down.
Orbital, Samantha Harvey. Winner of 2024 Booker Prize. I don’t usually like those, but I heard the author interviewed and she hooked me. This is not a normal book with a beginning, a story and an end. It’s several chapters of the day in the life of various astronauts at the ISS (Int’l Space Station). All fictional. She’s been praised by several real astronauts for “getting it” about space station everyday life.
The Blue Hour, Paula Hawkins. An island off Scotland. Inaccessible except when the tide is out. Weird goings on. An artist. A present day mystery too.
Iron Lake, William Kent Krueger. A judge is murdered and a boy is missing. Riveting mystery.
Tell the Wolves I’m Home, Carol Ricks Brunt. 1980s. A 14-yr old girl loses her beloved uncle. Yet a new friendship arises, someone she never knew about.
Four Treasures of the Sky, Jenny Zhang. 1880s, a young girl is kidnapped in China and brought to the United States. She survives with many hurdles in the path.
The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky, Ken Dornstein. Memoir, 1988. The author’s brother died in the PanAm flight that went down in Lockerbie, Scotland. A decade later he tries to solve “the riddle of his older brother’s life.”
Worse Care Scenario, T.J. Newman. Oh my. Interesting analysis of what could/might happen if a jet crashed into a nuclear plant. Un-put-downable.
Song of the Lark, Willa Cather. Complicated weave of a story about a young woman in about 1900, who has a gifted voice (singing) and about her journey to success, not without its ups and downs.
Crow Talk, Eileen Garvin. Charming story which takes place at a remote lake in Washington State, about a few people who inhabit it, the friendships made, but also revolving around the rescue of a baby crow.
The Story Collector, Evie Woods. Sweet story about some dark secrets from an area in Ireland, a bit magical, faerie life, but solving a mystery too.
A Sea of Unspoken Things, Adrienne Young. A woman investigates her twin brother’s mysterious death. She goes to a small town in California to figure it out, to figure HIM out.
The King’s Messenger, Susanna Kearsley. 1600s England, King James. About one of his trusted “messengers,” and his relationship with a young woman also of “the court.” Lots of intrigue.
In the Shadow of the Greenbrier, Emily Matchar. Interesting mystery in/around the area of the famous resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
Isola, Allegra Goodman. Hard to describe, survival story on an island in the 1600s.
Save the Date, Allison Raskin. Rom-com, witty, LOL funny. Clever.
The Sirens, Emilia Hart. Numerous time-lines, Australia. Mysteries abound, nightmares, abandoned baby, weird allergies.
Red Clay, Charles Fancher. LOVED this book. Mostly post-Civil War story about the lives of slaves in Alabama during Reconstruction.
Stars in an Italian Sky, Jill Santopolo. Dual time line, 1946 and recent time. Love stories and a mystery.
Battle Mountain, C.J. Box. Another one of Box’s riveting mysteries. Love his descriptions of the land.
Something Beautiful Happened, Yvette Corporon. A memoir of sorts in Greece, tiny island of Erikousa, where the locals hid Jews during WWII. All elusive stories told by the author’s grandmother.
The Jackal’s Mistress, Chris Bohjalian. 1860s Virginia, about a woman who saves the life of a Union soldier. Really good story.
Song of the Magpie, Louise Mayberry. Really interesting story about Australia back in the days when it was mostly a penal colony. Gritty strength of a woman trying to thrive with her farm.
The Boomerang, Robert Bailey. A thriller that will have you gripping the book. About a lot of secrets surrounding the president (fictional novel, remember) and his chief of staff and about cancer. A cure. Such a good story.
Care and Feeding, Laurie Woolever. Really interesting memoir of a woman driven to succeed in the restaurant business. She worked for Mario Batali and then Anthony Bourdain. Gritty stories.
Everything is Tuberculosis, John Green. Maybe not a book for everyone. A real deep dive into the deadly tuberculosis infection, its history. I heard the author interviewed and found the book very interesting.
The Book Lovers Library, Madeline Martin. Fascinating read about Boots’ drug stores’ lending library. And the people who worked in them.
The Arrivals, Meg Mitchell Moore. LOL funny, about a middle-aged couple whose children (and their various family members) return to the family home and the chaos that ensues.
My Life as a Silent Movie, Jesse Lee Kercheval. About grief. A big move to Paris, finding herself a new life with a new set of real blood family.
Escape, Carolyn Jessop. Another memoir about a woman really in bondage in Utah, Mormon plural marriage.
My blog's namesake - small, old and some very dented engraved silver plated tea spoons that belonged to my mother-in-law, and I use them to taste my food as I'm cooking.
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Posted in Uncategorized, on December 24th, 2008.
This little rotund guy, who stands about 9 inches high, is not well made. From China, you would know! But he’s cute, and if you don’t look too closely, you won’t notice the mistakes – the haphazard painting job, the precarious attach job on his base. His hat falls off. And he’s brand new. But cheap. He sits on my dining room table, along with a myriad of other Christmas decorations that give diners something to look at on my table. I can’t decide whether this was a wise purchase or not.
Posted in Uncategorized, on December 23rd, 2008.
I can’t believe I haven’t given all of you a list of recipes appropriate for some big holiday meals. Since I’m not doing a big dinner at my house, I just plain forgot. So here’s a partial list of dishes that would be suitable for whatever kind of big meal you’re doing this week. I don’t have time to insert links for every recipe, but if you just go to my RECIPE INDEX page you’ll find the list of nearly all my recipes and the appropriate links to the story about each recipe, and another link for the PDF recipe:
Appetizers:
Baked Brie & Apples
Crostini with Blue Cheese & Apples
Goat Cheese/Apricot Chutney
Provolone Pesto Torte
Sausage Pinwheels
Beef:
Fillet Mignon, Mushrooms, Blue Cheese
Herb Crusted Tenderloin
Tenderloin in Puff Pastry
Steak Diane Flambe
Beverages:
Hot as Haiti
Hot Buttered Rum
White Lady
Quick Breads:
Bloomin’ Sourdough
Buttermilk Scones
Goat Cheese Chive Muffins
Herbed Biscuit Ring (easy)
Brunch:
Brunch Gratinee Eggs
Breakfast Muffin Cups
Chicken/Poultry:
Kosher Turkey
Turkey Gravy (make ahead)
Desserts:
Bittersweet Mocha Roll
Chocolate Ribbon Dessert
Chocolate Steamed Pudding
Flourless Chocolate Cake/Caramel Sauce
Gingerbread Pudding Cake
Pear Crisp/Browned Butter
Pumpkin Bread Pudding
Tiramisu Angel Cake Torte
Salads:
Apple Cherry Walnut Green Salad
Spinach & Berries Salad
Spinach Salad w/Mango
Soups:
Apple Parsnip Soup
Butternut Squash/Jalapeno/Ginger
Cold Green Pea
Cream of Cashew Soup
Roasted Butternut Squash/Pancetta
Vegetables/Sides:
Asparagus w/Chile Butter
BLT Smashed Potatoes
Crumbled Asparagus
Green Beans/Garlic/Olive Oil
Green Beans/Shallots/Balsamic
Gulliver’s Creamed Corn
Mashed Potatoes/Mascarpone
Monterey Scalloped Potatoes
Orzo Carbonara/Thyme
Roasted Carrots & Parsnips
Zucchini Gratin
Zucchini Ribbons
Posted in Veggies/sides, on December 23rd, 2008.
Oh yes, this is yummy. I needed to prepare a carb side dish to take to a family gathering the other night. Since I’ll be making mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes for a huge family dinner on Christmas Eve, I opted for rice. My cousin is visiting and he’s wheat intolerant (a form of celiac), so while he’s here I’ll be preparing lots of non-wheat items.
The recipe came out of a recent Bon Appetit – they were doing a retrospective of favorite recipes over the history of the magazine, and this one won for 1989. It’s just so good you might be tempted to sit down with just a bowl of this in front of you and not eat anything else. Not quite, but close. I made this to serve 12, and there was just about a cup left. There were 7 adults, so either that tells you it was exceptionally good (yes), or they have the proportions wrong (maybe). Several people returned to the dish for seconds.
There’s nothing too unusual in this (unless you think poblano/pasilla chiles are unusual), and it’s not hard to make. It’s rice, corn (canned, even), the poblanos, sour cream, cheddar and some cilantro. The best part – I could make it ahead – even a day ahead. I didn’t but could have. It bakes in the oven, and I put it in a new thermal serveware “thing” I have that keeps food hot for up to 4 hours. Perfect for us, since we were going to a church Christmas concert that evening and didn’t want to go back home before continuing to our son’s home.
The poblanos must be broiled (to easily remove the skin), but everything else is just so easy. It took me about 25 minutes to make it altogether. Another 25 minutes to bake and it was done. The poblanos this time were hotter than usual (you never know when you buy them whether they’ll be hot or not), so it was definitely for an adult palate. But make this you must.
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Recipe: in a recent Bon Appetit issue, as a winner of old recipes from August, 1989
Servings: 8 (maybe less)
2 whole poblano chilies (if large size, use 1 1/2)
2 cups water
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup rice
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 whole garlic clove — minced
3/4 cup canned corn — drained
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup cilantro — chopped, fresh
9 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded — (about 2 1/4 cups)
1. Char chilies over gas flame or in broiler until blackened on all sides (I broiled them for about 3-4 minutes per side). Wrap in paper bag and let stand 10 minutes to steam. Peel and seed. Rinse if necessary; pat dry. Chop chilies.
2. Bring water to boil in heavy medium saucepan. Add butter and salt. Mix in rice. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook until rice is tender, about 16 minutes. Transfer rice to large bowl and cool, fluffing occasionally with fork. Butter 8-cup shallow baking dish.
3. Heat vegetable oil in heavy medium skillet over medium heat. Add 1/4 cup onion and saute until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute for one minute. Add chopped chilies and saute 1 minute. Mix chili mixture and corn into rice.
4. Combine sour cream, cilantro and remaining 2 T onion in small bowl. Add to rice and mix well. Stir in cheese.
5. Transfer rice mixture to prepared dish. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Refrigerate. Let stand 1 hour at room temperature before continuing.) Preheat oven to 325’F. Bake rice until sides are light brown and mixture is heated through, about 25 minutes.
Per Serving: 306 Calories; 18g Fat (51.9% calories from fat); 11g Protein; 26g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 46mg Cholesterol; 1062mg Sodium.
Posted in Brunch, on December 22nd, 2008.
When I first saw this eggy breakfast dish over at A Year at Oak Cottage (a blog I read regularly, written by Marie, a professional chef who lives out in the English countryside with her husband and dog), I knew I wanted to try this. It looked relatively easy (it is) and quick (well, it still takes about 25 minutes baking time). I had no idea how it would taste, but it sure sounded delicious (it is). Here are the four easy steps, but don’t be discouraged because there ARE four steps – they’re really quite simple:
First step: wrap a piece of bacon (streaky bacon they call it in Merry Olde England) around the inside of a muffin cup.
Second step: roll out a tender piece of white bread (after removing crusts), apply butter to one side and push it (butter side out) into the muffin cup as best you can. Once wedged in, you bake it for 10 minutes, until the bread has just begun to brown up a bit.
Third step: break a whole egg into each bread cup and return it to the oven for 10 minutes.
Fourth step: sprinkle some salt and pepper on top, some grated cheese (I used cheddar, but you could vary it easily enough with different cheeses – maybe even Brie, Fontina, or an herby goat cheese), then a few Italian herbs. You return it to the oven, bake an additional 4-6 minutes until the egg is just barely set. Let it sit for a minute or two, then gently remove from the muffin tin and serve. It’s a full breakfast in one little package. It was just delicious. Worth making for sure. My photo at top shows that some of the egg white oozed over the edge and down the side. I used large eggs, so that’s likely the reason. Maybe doesn’t look quite as nice, but didn’t make a whit of difference in the great flavor.
I served this with schnecken, (a semi-sweet yeast roll) and spiced peaches. And just because I had made two casseroles of it a few days ago, I also served some noodle kugel too. Not exactly a breakfast dish, but it went with it just fine. So, thank you, Marie, for this great recipe. If you haven’t ever followed Marie’s blog, I suggest you go check it out. She’s a woman of faith, loves to blog in the early mornings in her pajamas, paints, unabashedly adores her husband Todd, and her dog Jess, and writes up the most fun and interesting stories about her life and her cooking.
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Recipe: Marie at A Year at Oak Cottage blog
Servings: 6
6 medium eggs
6 slices bread — soft, plain white [I used sandwich bread]
6 slices bacon
2 ounces grated cheddar cheese — or other variety, your choice
1 tablespoon softened butter
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
1. Pre-heat oven to 350*F. Grease a six-cup muffin tin and set aside while you prepare the ingredients. [I used a nonstick muffin tin, so no greasing required.]
2. Cut the crusts off the bread. It doesn’t really matter which type of bread you use here, but inexpensive white bread works best – a really sturdy bread won’t work as well as a nice soft spongy one. Roll the slices out to about ¼ inch thickness with a rolling pin, and then butter on one side with the softened butter. Line the muffin holes in the pan with the bacon, then press the bread (butter side out) carefully down into them as well, pressing the bread firmly against the sides so the bread sticks (otherwise you won’t be able to get the egg in the middle when it’s time).
3. Bake for about 10 minutes until the bacon starts to sizzle and the bread starts to brown a bit. Remove from the oven and crack an egg into each hollow and then place the muffin tin carefully back into the heated oven. Try not to tilt the pan so the whites drizzle over the bread edges.
4. Bake for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the tops with just a little salt and pepper, then the grated cheese and the herbs.
5. Return to the oven and bake until the cheese is all melted and starting to brown and the eggs are done (about 5-6 minutes). Jiggle the pan – you want the tops to be just barely moving. Remove from the oven. cover loosely with foil and let sit for a few minutes before you remove them from the pan. Just run a knife carefully around and they should pop out quite easily. Serve immediately.
Per Serving: 216 Calories; 12g Fat (51.5% calories from fat); 13g Protein; 13g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 228mg Cholesterol; 364mg Sodium.
Posted in Uncategorized, on December 21st, 2008.
My friend Kathy gave me this little Santa a couple of years ago. He’s made by some very well known company – who produce a line of exquisite Christmas ornaments. I can’t remember the name. His feet swing free, and his sturdy body sits precariously on a shelf here in my family room. He’s very well painted and outfitted and carries a wand with a star. This guy is a treasure.
Just a few nights ago I attended my book group’s Christmas potluck dinner. We always have such fun at this annual event. Everyone brings something, the hostess provides wine, soft drinks and coffee. After we’ve stuffed ourselves with all the good food, we sit around in a circle and share something about the holidays – a funny personal story, a poem perhaps, or a very short (published) story.
One of our members, Nancy K, brought a soup this year. Not a very easy thing to take to a potluck, but it survived without spilling in her car. We’re ever so glad she did because it was just wonderful. I couldn’t believe it when she told us what was in it. Canned soups. Amazing. This could be my new fix-and-eat-in-a-hurry dinner, providing I’ve got the ingredients. Notes to self: buy some of those canned soups to keep on hand plus the frozen seafood mixture at Trader Joe’s. The recipe is below.
This year at my group gathering, I shared a short chapter in Caroline Kennedy’s book A Family Christmas (published in 2007), a compendium of Christmas stories, lore, etc. The one I read was about NORAD. I know, what’s NORAD got to do with Christmas, you ask? Perhaps some of you know about this already, but I’d never heard that NORAD (and the comparable military group in Canada) track Santa on Christmas Eve, and you can read all about it on the internet at NORADSanta. You see, Rudolph’s nose is infrared, so the sensors in NORAD’s high-powered system can track exactly where Rudolph is at all times because of that glowing nose! They carefully monitor when Rudolph leaves the North Pole, and shortly after you can watch Santa’s progress (starting about 3 pm on Christmas Eve) around the world. Sometimes fighter jets get a sighting of Santa, and some planes are equipped with “Santa Cams” that also get occasional shots of Santa in different locations. Those photos are uploaded to the website so you and your children can see them. Anyway, the story I read aloud was all about how NORAD ended up even doing this project (because a newspaper misprinted a phone number for a Santa hotline, and the calls ended up going to a communications chief at NORAD. A quick-thinker that guy was – he decided his staff needed to pitch in and help, and the NORAD Santa project was born.)
Another book club member shared a joke – a very cute one. It’s the story about why Santa is a woman. If you’re interested, you can check it out at Christmas Jokes. There’s also some rebuttals out there about why Santa couldn’t possibly be a woman. All good for a laugh.
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Recipe: Nancy K, a friend in my book group
Servings: 8
1 bunch green onions — chopped
4 ounces unsalted butter
1 can tomato soup, condensed (10 3/4 ounces)
2 cans cream of mushroom soup, condensed (10 3/4 ounces each)
2 cups half and half
1/4 cup cream sherry — doubling to 1/2 cup is even better
1 pound shrimp, bay scallops, crab mixture — or shellfish of your choice
1. Saute onions in butter until softened.
2. Add the two soups, half and half and sherry. Bring up to a boil, then add the mixed fish/seafood. Simmer for 30 minutes and serve.
Per Serving: 357 Calories; 27g Fat (66.1% calories from fat); 15g Protein; 15g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 141mg Cholesterol; 935mg Sodium.
Posted in Desserts, Veggies/sides, on December 19th, 2008.
Kugel. It’s a Yiddish word. But the food dish is German in origin, as I discovered when I was reading up on kugel at Wikipedia. However, Wiki’s site does say that there is very little documentation about kugel (and they invite people to contribute sources, if known, other than word of mouth). Kugels come both savory and sweet and are Jewish side dishes or desserts. Originally they were only savory, but over the centuries they’ve evolved to sweet-ish side dishes (mine) and much more sweet ones that incorporate fruit, raisins, etc. eggs, custard, etc. which are desserts.
The first time I was served this kugel was in the 1960’s. I used to be in a women’s gourmet group way back then (yes, they DID have such things back in the cave age of the 1960’s). The group met monthly for a weekday lunch at someone’s home. One of the ladies that I didn’t know very well, Alberta, brought this and it was served as part of the buffet lunch (we all brought something, hence it was a gourmet potluck). Having never had it before, I was enchanted. Certainly I noticed how sweet it was, and wondered why it was part of the lunch. But oh well, Alberta brought it, said it was part of her family heritage, and she put it out with lunch, not with the row of the desserts.
Now, though, I know from reading about kugels, this one is actually a dessert type. Why Alberta served it as part of lunch, I don’t know. Consequently, I have served it a few times as a side dish, but I make it less sweet. It’s great with ham, for instance, or a pork roast. Pork seems to lend itself well to sweeter sides. I make it less fat laden too. I was astounded the first time I made this to discover how much butter is in it. A lot. So I’ve cut it down some.
It’s a pineapple kugel – with cottage cheese and a crispy topping of cornflake crumbs and brown sugar. However you serve it, it’s delicious as long as you’re not planning to eat low carb or low calorie, because it certainly is NOT. So splurge and enjoy it.
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Recipe: From an acquaintance I knew in the 1960’s
Servings: 16
NOODLES:
1 pound egg noodles — wide
8 ounces unsalted butter — room temp
16 ounces cottage cheese — small curd
3 ounces cream cheese — softened
6 large eggs — lightly beaten
2 tablespoons vanilla
6 tablespoons sugar
16 ounces crushed pineapple in juice — (do not drain)
1/2 cup milk
TOPPING:
1/2 cup brown sugar — or more, if desired
1 1/2 cups cornflake crumbs
Additional pats of butter on top, if desired
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Prepare noodles as directed (undercook, since they’ll be baked for a long time), and chunk up butter into the hot noodles. Stir until butter is melted. Set aside to cool while continuing with remainder of recipe. (Save butter wrappers for greasing the baking dish.)
3. In a large bowl mash the cream cheese to make sure it’s soft, then add cottage cheese. Then add the canned pineapple, vanilla and sugar, eggs and milk. Stir to combine. Add the cooled noodles and stir to mix well. Grease a large, flat baking dish (Pyrex, 8×13 approx.) and pour noodle mixture into it. Smooth with a spoon.
4. Topping: sprinkle brown sugar over the top of the noodles, then sprinkle corn flake crumbs on top. Original recipe called for dotting the top with an additional cube of butter. I omit that step, but it’s up to you!
5. Cover with foil and bake for one hour covered, then remove foil and continue baking for another 30 minutes. Remove and cool.
6. Slice the kugel into blocky pieces (kind of like sliced zucchini bread in shape), ideally about 3 1/2 inches wide and 2+ inches high, about 1 inch wide pieces. Allow to cool completely and serve. Depending on how you cut this, it may serve as many as 20, or as few as about 12.
7. Can be made ahead (baked) and frozen, but cut the slices before reheating. May also be served hot, if preferred.
Per Serving: 373 Calories; 17g Fat (41.6% calories from fat); 12g Protein; 43g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 147mg Cholesterol; 258mg Sodium.
Posted in Brunch, easy, Miscellaneous sides, on December 18th, 2008.
It’s a good thing I enjoy reading, because I get to do a lot of it keeping up with just some of the food blogs out there. And I keep adding more, and very rarely deleting any. More and more people have discovered the fun of writing food blogs, so there are more and more of them. I can’t keep up with them every day, so I work at it every few days, trying to read as many as I can.
One such blog that is very prolific is Al Dente (an Amazon.com sponsored food blog showcasing recipes from foodie authors). In this case it was Nigella Lawson. I used to watch her show on the Food Network (but I don’t think she has a show anymore; at least I haven’t seen one). This recipe came from one of her cookbooks (not the one I own). She was recommending the spiced peaches as a hot side for a Christmas ham. Sounded good, but I had a different use in mind. I wanted to serve them as a breakfast side dish.
I have one recipe that I’ve used for years for spiced fruit. But it makes a rather large quantity (since it utilizes cans of different fruit), so when I spotted this recipe that used just one large can of peach halves, aha! It’s got many of the usual ingredients in spiced fruit (cinnamon, cloves and a bit of vinegar) but also some more unusual things (sliced fresh ginger, chile flakes and rice wine vinegar instead of regular). The best part? It was EASY. QUICK. Took about 5 minutes total start to finish. I highly recommend it. To accompany holiday breakfasts, or as a side for ham (served hot).
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Recipe: Nigella Lawson, Nigella Express
Servings: 8
28 ounces peach halves in syrup
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar — or white wine vinegar
2 short cinnamon sticks
1 1/2 inch piece ginger, peeled, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon dried chili flakes — crushed [maybe less if you don’t like plenty of warmth]
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon whole black peppercorn [I happened to use grains of paradise]
3 whole cloves
1. Empty the cans of peaches into a saucepan with their syrup.
2. Add the vinegar, cinnamon, sliced ginger, chiles, salt, whole peppercorns, and cloves.
3. Bring the pan to a boil, and let it boil for a minute or so, then turn off the heat and leave in the pan to keep warm.
4. Serve the peaches with a hot ham, letting people take a peach half each and some of the spiced juice. Or serve it as part of a brunch, as I did. Any leftovers can (and should) be stored in a jar and then eaten cold with cold ham.
Per Serving: 91 Calories; 1g Fat (5.9% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 24g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 130mg Sodium.
Posted in Uncategorized, on December 17th, 2008.
It is good to be children sometimes,
and never better than at Christmas.
–Charles Dickens
I don’t know about you, but I’m behind. The faster I go, the behinder I get. Isn’t that the phrase? Everything in preparation for Christmas will likely come together in the next 6 days or so, but right now, right this minute, I’m feeling the usual crush of too many things to do. Too many places to go. Too much pressure!
Here in Southern California it’s 6:30 am as I write this. It’s 47 degrees outside and raining. Now 47 to some of you is likely laughable. You’d think that’s shorts and t-shirt weather, right? To us, with thin California sunshine skin, it’s cold. Brrrr kind of cold. It’s bone-chilling cold to me. But I’m safely tucked into my house, the heater is cranking away, I fired up the gas logs in the fireplace and made myself a coffee latte and now I’ll start my big day of cooking. I’m taking a casserole to my book group’s annual Christmas potluck tonight, so that will likely be the recipe I’ll post tomorrow. I’m planning to make noodle kugel. Some people eat this as dessert, but my recipe is a semi-sorta sweet side dish made with pineapple and cottage cheese.
Then, tomorrow morning I’ll be entertaining a group of girlfriends of mine. We’ve been meeting for breakfast for decades, and once a year in December we meet at someone’s home for a gift exchange and a nice home made breakfast. I volunteered to have it this year. I’m going to make an eggy muffin thing that I’ve never prepared before, some spiced peaches I read about from Nigella Lawson, and schnecken rolls. The latter I’ve posted before, but didn’t have a photo, so now – I hope – I will, and will post about those in a few days.
So off I go – to catch up. To grocery shop, to cook, clean, set my dining table. And try, though it all, to remember that the reason for it all is to celebrate Christ’s birth, and that it isn’t about the shopping and the eating, but about remembering that Jesus was born long ago in tiny town. That a saviour was born. I don’t use this blog as a podium for my Christianity, but today I felt the need to remind myself that the season is all about Jesus. On Sunday evening my husband and I went to St. Andrew’s Presbyterian church in Newport Beach (not our own church) to hear a wonderful, absolutely wonderful Christmas music concert. Through an occasional drama skit, soloists, their 107-voice choir and 20-piece orchestra we heard the Christmas story. Very moving. This coming Sunday we’ll go to our own church’s music concert, with our 100-voice choir, and probably a 15+ piece orchestra. God and the Holy Spirit speak to me through music. Always have. It’s the words, but more so it’s the glorious music. It stirs my soul. Won’t you treat yourselves to a concert where you live? Go to a Christmas Eve service somewhere. Listen to the words, the lilting voices, and hear the amazing story. Believe.
Posted in Cookies, on December 16th, 2008.
The original name of these cookies was White Chocolate Chip Cookies. But to most of us, that’s misleading – it’s not made with white chocolate. It’s a white batter (meaning no brown sugar like traditional CC cookies). So I took the liberty of renaming this one. Guess I could have called it White Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies, but I like my name better. The other thing that’s unusual about these cookies is that they’re made with powdered sugar only. No granulated at all. Lots of people really-really like these cookies – and maybe prefer them to their regular cousins, Nestle’s chocolate chip cookies. I like the brown sugar in mine, but you might just like these better. Give ’em a try. The recipe comes from my friend Cherrie’s sister, Laurie. Thanks, Laurie. There are also no nuts in this recipe (I almost always put nuts in my CC cookies).
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Recipe: From my friend Cherrie’s sister Laurie M.
Serving: 36
1/2 pound unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
6 ounces chocolate chips
1. Cream together butter and powdered sugar. Beat in salt, vanilla and flour, mixing until blended. Mixture will be stiff. Stir in chocolate chips. Roll into 1-inch balls, flatten with glass on ungreased cookie (shiny) cookie sheets.
2. Bake in pre-heated 350 oven for 15 minutes. Check first batch to not overbake. They should be white, not brown.
Per Serving: 110 Calories; 7g Fat (52.6% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 12g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 14mg Cholesterol; 16mg Sodium.
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