One of the most fun parts of party planning (for me, at least), is planning the menu. What to serve? Fancy? Basic? Old favorites? New finds? And what to put it all on? You should see the lists I go through the week before a party. Savories, sweets and drinks in 3 sections of column A. Column B is the schedule- anything that can be made ahead and stored in the fridge will be. And you must make sure all the things to be baked the day of fit in the oven! Column C is plating. I have a thing for serving dishes, fortunately it's under control now, but back in the days of my 400sq ft condo and galley kitchen, it could get a little crazy.
For our recent party, I made a nice mix of old favorites and new finds. I had a mix of make-ahead dishes and freshly-baked deliciousness. What I did not have was a large amount of desserts- merely 4 kinds of sweets (sugar cookies, white chocolate chip ginger cookies (these are SO much better with white chocolate chips instead of dark/semisweet), crack brownies (caramel in the middle!) and jam bars), but what was out was hardly touched anyway. Nearly 2 weeks later, we're still eating sugar cookies, and I just finished off the crack brownies yesterday.
I don't have any pictures, but I can guarantee all of the following recipes is delicious!
The Make-Ahead Group
Onion Dip (quarter one medium onion (experiment with different kinds) and toss it in a food processor. Process until it's pureed, then add one 8oz block of low fat cream cheese, 1t of an herb blend (I like Penzey's Mural of Flavor, thanks to mom for recommending it!) and salt and pepper to taste. Process until smooth. ***let sit in refrigerator at least one day before serving*** (because this is raw onion we're talking about!) Serve with chips (I really like the Food Should Taste Good Sweet Potato chips with this) or fresh veggies.
Fruit Compote- great with cheese!
Brie En Croute- an old staple, this appears at nearly every single party I'm involved with. Make ahead, wrap in foil/plastic wrap, and chill or freeze until it's time to bake.
The Freshly-Prepared Group
Roasted bacon-wrapped herbed chevre-stuffed pears- chevre, bacon. Could it get any better? I made half with bacon and half without. These are incredibly simple yet so delicious and elegant. They reheat beautifully! I used regular old d'Anjou pears.
Prosciutto-wrapped melon and fennel- it's exactly how it sounds. Prosciutto wrapped around spears of melon and/or fennel. I roasted the fennel at 400F for about 15 minutes before wrapping.
Other dishes on our table:
cheese platter (manchego, smoked gouda, chevre, sharp cheddar, bovine chevre, boursin)
maple-cider brined turkey breast (from Cooking Light, November 2011, but this link doesn't have the correct recipe- there should be maple syrup in the brine, not sugar)
hummus
assorted candies
spiced nuts
This party was the debut of the bacon-wrapped chevre-stuffed pears and the onion dip (cousin Rich's recipe), but you can be sure they'll appear again. Actually the pears might not even wait til a party, I might have them for dinner some random weekday night.
Showing posts with label entertaining. Show all posts
Showing posts with label entertaining. Show all posts
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Monday, August 15, 2011
A new recipe for an old favorite
I would like to share my new favorite recipe for sangria.
Add sliced peaches.
Enjoy until you start moving unpredictably.
(you might think I'm kidding, but I'm kind of not.)
Add sliced peaches.
Enjoy until you start moving unpredictably.
(you might think I'm kidding, but I'm kind of not.)
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Sugar cookies for a hot day!
Remember these cookies from last year?
Bird made them for me for my 30th birthday bash. I LOVED these cookies, they were unlike any plain ol' vanilla sugar cookie I'd ever had. Soft, purely delicious, thick and frosted. Amazing! They weren't greasy or crumbly or crunchy like so many sugar cookies can be. Well, because she is who she is, she immediately shared the recipe. It only took me 13 months, but I made some for myself!
Oh yes, and I have the same cookie cutters (thanks to my mom!), which is kind of why I absolutely had to make this recipe.
I volunteered at an Ice Cream Social and Craft Fair last weekend, and among other things, I signed up to bring goodies for the bake sale table. Last year I made some fancy cookie that didn't sell very well, so this year I decided to appeal to the kids. What kid wouldn't want a brightly colored, elephant or monkey-shaped cookie? Of course, I had to bake these during the heat wave (it was 98F and we do not have AC) so there was no way I'd frost these. I wrapped up 2 cookies in sandwich baggies and priced them at $1 each.... and only 4 baggies sold. I think this bake sale table isn't really worth it, honestly. But the palm trees were saved for our family party later that day, and were a huge hit! I guess I should go after the adults, not the kids.
Sugar Cookies
recipe from Alton Brown (the man knows what he's talking about!)
one recipe makes about 2 dozen 3 inch cookies, I recommend making 2 batches because 1. they're delicious, and 2. I've never seen a cookie keep so well- you can save these babies!
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1T milk
1t vanilla or other flavoring (if you want, not in the original recipe)
3-3.5 cups of flour
3/4t baking soda
1/4t salt
Powdered sugar, for rolling out the dough
Beat the butter and sugar together for a until minutes until nice and fluffy. Beat in the egg and milk and flavoring. Sift together 3 cups of flour with the soda and salt, and add in 2 batches to the butter/sugar mixture. If the dough is really really soft (it was for me, perhaps because it was so amazingly hot in the kitchen), add a little more flour. Add food coloring if you'd like (I use gel food coloring). Pat dough into 2 disks, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a couple hours or overnight.
Sprinkle powdered sugar generously over your rolling surface, rolling pin and the cookie dough. Roll out the dough to 1/4in, cut with Lilly Pulitzer cookie cutters (or, you know, other cookie cutters- but seriously, wouldn't you rather have palm tree cookies?) and bake in your preheated-to-375F oven for anywhere between 8 and 14 min. Alton says 7-9 min but I needed almost 15 for the big elephants. Cook until they're just starting to turn golden brown on the edges. These are still good a bit overdone, but you want them just barely done.
As I said, I made these during the heat wave. I made the dough on Thursday night, when it'd cooled down to a balmy 85F, then I planned to get up early on Friday to roll out the dough and also make sorbet when it was still relatively cool. Well, it was already nearly 90 when I got up, so I scrapped the sorbet idea (I've learned my ice cream maker is useless in 85F+ weather), and the cookie dough was very difficult to roll out! I could only roll out each disk once, then it had to go back in the fridge because the dough was too soft! But let me tell you, even though it took about 3 hours with all the re-refrigerating I had to do, it was entirely worth the effort! These are my new favorite cookies ever.
Oh and like I said, it was hot, so I didn't bother frosting them! Next time I'll take a hint from Bird and do some pretty swirly decorations with royal icing.
Bird made them for me for my 30th birthday bash. I LOVED these cookies, they were unlike any plain ol' vanilla sugar cookie I'd ever had. Soft, purely delicious, thick and frosted. Amazing! They weren't greasy or crumbly or crunchy like so many sugar cookies can be. Well, because she is who she is, she immediately shared the recipe. It only took me 13 months, but I made some for myself!
Oh yes, and I have the same cookie cutters (thanks to my mom!), which is kind of why I absolutely had to make this recipe.
I volunteered at an Ice Cream Social and Craft Fair last weekend, and among other things, I signed up to bring goodies for the bake sale table. Last year I made some fancy cookie that didn't sell very well, so this year I decided to appeal to the kids. What kid wouldn't want a brightly colored, elephant or monkey-shaped cookie? Of course, I had to bake these during the heat wave (it was 98F and we do not have AC) so there was no way I'd frost these. I wrapped up 2 cookies in sandwich baggies and priced them at $1 each.... and only 4 baggies sold. I think this bake sale table isn't really worth it, honestly. But the palm trees were saved for our family party later that day, and were a huge hit! I guess I should go after the adults, not the kids.
Sugar Cookies
recipe from Alton Brown (the man knows what he's talking about!)
one recipe makes about 2 dozen 3 inch cookies, I recommend making 2 batches because 1. they're delicious, and 2. I've never seen a cookie keep so well- you can save these babies!
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1T milk
1t vanilla or other flavoring (if you want, not in the original recipe)
3-3.5 cups of flour
3/4t baking soda
1/4t salt
Powdered sugar, for rolling out the dough
Beat the butter and sugar together for a until minutes until nice and fluffy. Beat in the egg and milk and flavoring. Sift together 3 cups of flour with the soda and salt, and add in 2 batches to the butter/sugar mixture. If the dough is really really soft (it was for me, perhaps because it was so amazingly hot in the kitchen), add a little more flour. Add food coloring if you'd like (I use gel food coloring). Pat dough into 2 disks, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a couple hours or overnight.
Sprinkle powdered sugar generously over your rolling surface, rolling pin and the cookie dough. Roll out the dough to 1/4in, cut with Lilly Pulitzer cookie cutters (or, you know, other cookie cutters- but seriously, wouldn't you rather have palm tree cookies?) and bake in your preheated-to-375F oven for anywhere between 8 and 14 min. Alton says 7-9 min but I needed almost 15 for the big elephants. Cook until they're just starting to turn golden brown on the edges. These are still good a bit overdone, but you want them just barely done.
As I said, I made these during the heat wave. I made the dough on Thursday night, when it'd cooled down to a balmy 85F, then I planned to get up early on Friday to roll out the dough and also make sorbet when it was still relatively cool. Well, it was already nearly 90 when I got up, so I scrapped the sorbet idea (I've learned my ice cream maker is useless in 85F+ weather), and the cookie dough was very difficult to roll out! I could only roll out each disk once, then it had to go back in the fridge because the dough was too soft! But let me tell you, even though it took about 3 hours with all the re-refrigerating I had to do, it was entirely worth the effort! These are my new favorite cookies ever.
Oh and like I said, it was hot, so I didn't bother frosting them! Next time I'll take a hint from Bird and do some pretty swirly decorations with royal icing.
Monday, July 25, 2011
What's Baking? July: Bake Local
This month's What's Baking? theme was chosen by Lindsey, and is Bake Local- bake anything from your local area! I decided to use cherries. Tougas Farm has recently started producing cherries, so I jumped at the chance to go cherry picking! 
I've never done this before, so I was really surprised by how many cherries grow on each branch of a cherry tree! It was a perfect day for fruit picking of any sort (warm but not too hot, partly cloud, plus I was under a mesh canopy that provided a little more shade), so I went slowly and enjoyed myself.
I only got 7.8lbs of cherries- I'd have liked to pick more, but they were not cheap, so I did not want to take any chances of not using up all the cherries in time- plus the cherry field is cash-only, and the girl only has so much cash on her at a given time (birthday money, haha!)
I made many things with these cherries, including a classic cherry pie
and cherry hand pies for a picnic, 
but for the bake along I like to go with something different: cherry foccacia.
Cherry Foccacia
from Martha Stewart Living, July 2011
Martha had a big spread on sour cherries in the July issue, and she made some really different things, things you'd never think to put cherries in/on. I was using Bing cherries, not sour, but I like all cherries so I didn't care. This was my first attempt at foccacia, and while it didn't turn out exactly like bakery foccacia, it's still delicious and worth the time and effort. It's not hard, you just have several risings to deal with.
2 and 3/4 cup warm water
1t active dry yeast
1.5lbs (4.5-5cups) bread flour
1-2t salt
1/4 cup olive oil
2T fresh rosemary (I used dried)
1.5-2 cups cherries, pitted and halved
In a large bowl (say, of your stand mixer), combine the water, yeast and flour. Mix just until combined (dough will be very sticky) and let rest for about 20 min. Add the salt and mix, then knead for about 5 min. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1.5-2hrs.
On a floured board (just enough flour so it doesn't stick, and the dough might be really, really sticky), knead the dough just a bit, then flatten out into a square/rectangle-ish shape. Fold the top third down towards you, then the bottom third up away from you. Pat to get the air bubbles out, and the 2 flaps should overlap. Then do the right side third, then the left side third, and pat. Place in a floured bowl, cover and let rest for an hour. Then repeat the folding process again, and let rest for another hour.
In a rimmed 13x17 baking sheet, pour the oil and spread around. Stretch out the dough a bit and place it in the pan, working it to reach all the edges (this is tedious and can take awhile- it won't stick to the pan because the pan is oiled, of course, so you just have to coax it to stretch out).
Heat the oven to 450F, and let the dough rest for 15-20 min.
Finally, place the cherries on the top of the dough (I did some skin-side down, and some skin-side up, whatever you like), and press them in gently. Sprinkle with some coarse (kosher or sea) salt and the rosemary. Bake at 450F for 30-40 min, turning around halfway through.
Once the bread is done, let it cool in the pan for just a few minutes, then remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack. Drizzle the top of the bread with the olive oil from the pan.
Go on a picnic and bring the foccacia to share with all your friends. :)
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Pate that's not scary
People are definitely pretty leery of pate. "ew liver gross!" But my friends, I must say (as a recent convert myself), pate can be delicious. (thanks to M and R for ordering that charcuterie board at Russell Tavern in Harvard Square and showing me how delicious and not scary pate and rillettes are.)
So for those of you who still shy away from anything involving liver, here's a pate recipe. And guess what, it's vegan. Totally not scary, full of normal ingredients you probably already have in your pantry.
I found this recipe in Jane Green's newest novel, Promises to Keep. I was totally surprised when at the end of chapter one, in which this certain almond cake is mentioned over and over again, in a way that kind of seemed odd, there was a recipe for that same almond cake. Each chapter had a recipe- what a pleasant surprise!
This recipe was made by a vegan and devoured by her dog. All the characters were greatly disappointed because the pate was so delicious- so obviously I had to try it.
Mushroom and Walnut Pate
recipe provided by Jane Green
2 cups dried mushrooms, soaked for a while and water drained and discarded
1 cup fresh mushroom (I used baby bellas)
2 onions, diced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2T olive oil
3/4 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted
1/2 cup fresh parsley
1 and 3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
3T tahini
2T hoisin
3T tamari soy sauce (I used plain soy sauce, my grocery store is somewhat limited)
1t dried oregano
1/2t dried sage
In a large frying pan, saute the onions, garlic and mushrooms with the olive oil for 7-8 minutes over medium heat. Let cool slightly, then puree in a food processor, along with the parsley and walnuts.
Place in a bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Stir to combine, cover and refrigerate overnight. Season with salt and pepper as desired (I found it needed no salt, and I added a few grinds of black pepper).
Serve cool or at room temperature with plain crackers or sliced baguette.
When I brought this to our wine tasting, I made a sign- it looks suspiciously like liver pate, and I didn't want people to get scared off. Plus I thought any vegan/vegetarian guests might enjoy having something they knew would work with their diet. My pate ended up being one of the most popular dishes!
So for those of you who still shy away from anything involving liver, here's a pate recipe. And guess what, it's vegan. Totally not scary, full of normal ingredients you probably already have in your pantry.
I found this recipe in Jane Green's newest novel, Promises to Keep. I was totally surprised when at the end of chapter one, in which this certain almond cake is mentioned over and over again, in a way that kind of seemed odd, there was a recipe for that same almond cake. Each chapter had a recipe- what a pleasant surprise!
This recipe was made by a vegan and devoured by her dog. All the characters were greatly disappointed because the pate was so delicious- so obviously I had to try it.
Mushroom and Walnut Pate
recipe provided by Jane Green
2 cups dried mushrooms, soaked for a while and water drained and discarded
1 cup fresh mushroom (I used baby bellas)
2 onions, diced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2T olive oil
3/4 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted
1/2 cup fresh parsley
1 and 3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
3T tahini
2T hoisin
3T tamari soy sauce (I used plain soy sauce, my grocery store is somewhat limited)
1t dried oregano
1/2t dried sage
In a large frying pan, saute the onions, garlic and mushrooms with the olive oil for 7-8 minutes over medium heat. Let cool slightly, then puree in a food processor, along with the parsley and walnuts.
Place in a bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Stir to combine, cover and refrigerate overnight. Season with salt and pepper as desired (I found it needed no salt, and I added a few grinds of black pepper).
Serve cool or at room temperature with plain crackers or sliced baguette.
When I brought this to our wine tasting, I made a sign- it looks suspiciously like liver pate, and I didn't want people to get scared off. Plus I thought any vegan/vegetarian guests might enjoy having something they knew would work with their diet. My pate ended up being one of the most popular dishes!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
More ham!
These biscuits used to be one of my cocktail party staples. They're quick and easy, and delicious. But alas, after a while every one of my friends had had them, and while they were still popular, I wanted to branch out.
This past weekend my choir held a wine tasting and silent auction party thing as their annual fundraiser, and as usual, I volunteered to make food. Once the time came to actually make the food, I had way more on my plate than I expected (my final project for my teaching class was due the same day). And since I had all that ham, I pulled out this old favorite- there's nothing like a familiar easy recipe when you're already stretched too thin.
Ham and Cheese biscuits
adapted from Giada
2 cups flour
1T baking powder
1t baking soda
1/2 t salt
6T butter, cold and cut into cubes
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup diced ham
1/2 cup grated cheese (I used swiss, gruyere would be great)
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add in the butter and beat until the mixture resembles a coarse meal (using the food processor for these 2 steps is probably the easiest- but again, I really hate washing my food processor, so I just use my stand mixer). In a bowl (same bowl if you're using your mixer, or switch to a bowl if you've been using your food processor), add in the buttermilk, ham and cheese and mix until just combined-don't overmix!
Roll out dough to 1/2in thick and cut with a round cookie cutter (mine was about 1.5in in diameter). Bake at 425F for 10-12 min, until just golden brown. Best served warm.
So at the choir wine tasting these weren't the most popular thing.... but they were accidentally placed on the dessert table, which may have been part of the problem. I think Clint could have happily eaten the whole plate.
This past weekend my choir held a wine tasting and silent auction party thing as their annual fundraiser, and as usual, I volunteered to make food. Once the time came to actually make the food, I had way more on my plate than I expected (my final project for my teaching class was due the same day). And since I had all that ham, I pulled out this old favorite- there's nothing like a familiar easy recipe when you're already stretched too thin.
Ham and Cheese biscuits
adapted from Giada
2 cups flour
1T baking powder
1t baking soda
1/2 t salt
6T butter, cold and cut into cubes
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup diced ham
1/2 cup grated cheese (I used swiss, gruyere would be great)
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add in the butter and beat until the mixture resembles a coarse meal (using the food processor for these 2 steps is probably the easiest- but again, I really hate washing my food processor, so I just use my stand mixer). In a bowl (same bowl if you're using your mixer, or switch to a bowl if you've been using your food processor), add in the buttermilk, ham and cheese and mix until just combined-don't overmix!
Roll out dough to 1/2in thick and cut with a round cookie cutter (mine was about 1.5in in diameter). Bake at 425F for 10-12 min, until just golden brown. Best served warm.
So at the choir wine tasting these weren't the most popular thing.... but they were accidentally placed on the dessert table, which may have been part of the problem. I think Clint could have happily eaten the whole plate.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Oh, hi... have some cheesecake
You thought I forgot about you, right? I didn't... I've just had other things going on. Most of them are definitely not as enjoyable as blogging, but the rest of the things have been crafting, so of course they're super fun and I can't wait to get home from work each day so I can craft. Wanna see?
I made some hats
I knit the purple one first, for a swap, and I loved it so much (despite having a hell of a time getting started) that I knit the white one for myself. It fits well and is cute, but is kind of worthless on a windy evening.
I made a pair of gumdrop wreaths for the Wadsworth Tree Festival in Hartford, CT, shown ehere on either side of the large wreath.
That was fun, I made them exactly like last years, but sprayed them with 5-6 coats of acrylic sealant spray (stinky, stinky) and after the final coat, sprinkled them in white Martha Stewart glitter. I'm now making more and more- we'll hang last year's (which didn't last all that well without being sprayed, but are good enough for another month) and I have given and will give more as Christmas gifts.
I made a cheesecake. Little known fact- I hate cheesecake. Like, gag, it's nasty. This is kind of unfortunate, because I used to love it, and it's because of a sad association with an illness. However, I used to spend many, many calories on cheesecake, which I no longer do, so I'm viewing this as a positive diet change. So why did I make a cheesecake?
I have no idea. Plus, it was for a party.
Now, since it was for a party, and at this party I had no camera (this party was the post-concert reception of my choir's Boar's Head Festival, which was rather awesome), so I can't show you how pretty it was. Fortunately, the blogger I got it from has a lovely picture, so just go see hers.
Savory Cheesecake with Onion Pear Compote
taken from Josie at Pink Parsley
3 8oz packages of cream cheese, softened (I used neufchatel cheese)
8oz blue cheese, crumbled
6oz parmesean cheese, grated
4 eggs
1/4 cup cream (I used fat free 1/2&1/2)
1/4t black pepper
Beat the cheeses together until creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then the cream and pepper. Pour mixture into a greased 9inch springform pan wrapped in foil so that the water from the water bath doesn't seep in to the pan, and bake in a water bath for 45-50 minutes at 350F, until the middle is not quite set and the edges are slightly brown.
Chill overnight, then remove the sides of the springform pan and serve on the bottom of the sprinform pan, topping with the compote.
I know there are tricks to get it to not crack, but.... I wouldn't worry too much. You're going to cover it with the following compote, which will cover up any imperfections.
Onion Pear Compote
4 cups onions, chopped
2t olive oil
2 cups pears, peeled and chopped (about 2 pears)
2T vinegar (recipe says pear or raspberry vinegar, but I just used balsamic, which was good)
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/4 t salt
pinch cayenne (I omitted, not knowing the preferences of the guests at the party)
Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onions and cook over medium until softened, then reduce heat and cook until translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the pears, vinegar, sugar, salt and cayenne and cook until pears are soft (about 20 min more). Note: here the recipe says to then remove the onions and pears and reduce the liquid in the pan til it's thick, but I didn't actually have any liquid in the pan, so I skipped this.)
I tried some of this, and even though it's savory and lovely and blue cheesey, it's still cheesecake. The compote was good enough to disguise that on my second bite, but... I can't do cheesecake. Everyone else loved it, though!
I know, I know, why did I bring a dish I hate? It caught my eye, that's all I can say.
I made some hats
I knit the purple one first, for a swap, and I loved it so much (despite having a hell of a time getting started) that I knit the white one for myself. It fits well and is cute, but is kind of worthless on a windy evening.I made a pair of gumdrop wreaths for the Wadsworth Tree Festival in Hartford, CT, shown ehere on either side of the large wreath.
That was fun, I made them exactly like last years, but sprayed them with 5-6 coats of acrylic sealant spray (stinky, stinky) and after the final coat, sprinkled them in white Martha Stewart glitter. I'm now making more and more- we'll hang last year's (which didn't last all that well without being sprayed, but are good enough for another month) and I have given and will give more as Christmas gifts.I made a cheesecake. Little known fact- I hate cheesecake. Like, gag, it's nasty. This is kind of unfortunate, because I used to love it, and it's because of a sad association with an illness. However, I used to spend many, many calories on cheesecake, which I no longer do, so I'm viewing this as a positive diet change. So why did I make a cheesecake?
I have no idea. Plus, it was for a party.
Now, since it was for a party, and at this party I had no camera (this party was the post-concert reception of my choir's Boar's Head Festival, which was rather awesome), so I can't show you how pretty it was. Fortunately, the blogger I got it from has a lovely picture, so just go see hers.
Savory Cheesecake with Onion Pear Compote
taken from Josie at Pink Parsley
3 8oz packages of cream cheese, softened (I used neufchatel cheese)
8oz blue cheese, crumbled
6oz parmesean cheese, grated
4 eggs
1/4 cup cream (I used fat free 1/2&1/2)
1/4t black pepper
Beat the cheeses together until creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then the cream and pepper. Pour mixture into a greased 9inch springform pan wrapped in foil so that the water from the water bath doesn't seep in to the pan, and bake in a water bath for 45-50 minutes at 350F, until the middle is not quite set and the edges are slightly brown.
Chill overnight, then remove the sides of the springform pan and serve on the bottom of the sprinform pan, topping with the compote.
I know there are tricks to get it to not crack, but.... I wouldn't worry too much. You're going to cover it with the following compote, which will cover up any imperfections.
Onion Pear Compote
4 cups onions, chopped
2t olive oil
2 cups pears, peeled and chopped (about 2 pears)
2T vinegar (recipe says pear or raspberry vinegar, but I just used balsamic, which was good)
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/4 t salt
pinch cayenne (I omitted, not knowing the preferences of the guests at the party)
Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onions and cook over medium until softened, then reduce heat and cook until translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the pears, vinegar, sugar, salt and cayenne and cook until pears are soft (about 20 min more). Note: here the recipe says to then remove the onions and pears and reduce the liquid in the pan til it's thick, but I didn't actually have any liquid in the pan, so I skipped this.)
I tried some of this, and even though it's savory and lovely and blue cheesey, it's still cheesecake. The compote was good enough to disguise that on my second bite, but... I can't do cheesecake. Everyone else loved it, though!
I know, I know, why did I bring a dish I hate? It caught my eye, that's all I can say.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Pumpkin party: Main dishes, part 2
Part the second of our pumpkin party main dishes! This post will tell about the popular main dishes, both were found browsing tastespotting.
Pumpkin, Spinach and Leek Quiche
adapted from The Little Teochow, originally from Homestyle Vegetarian by Murdoch Books
1/2 small pumpkin pie (sugar) pumpkin
2 leeks
olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed but otherwise left whole
4 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup fat free 1/2&1/2
2/3 cup milk
1T parsley
1T cilantro
1t wholegrain mustard
6-9 sheets filo pastry, depending on how big your pie dish is
2 cups fresh spinach, blanched and drained
freshly grated parmesean cheese
Turn your oven to 350F. Slice the pumpkin into 1 inch thick slices (leave the skin on for now), and arrange on a baking sheet, along with the leeks (each leek cut into 3 or 4 pieces) and garlic. Roast for 1 hour. When they're all cool, mince (or press) the garlic, chop the leeks into small pieces, and peel the skin off the pumpkin.
Meanwhile, brush each piece of filo with olive oil, then arrange them in a greased pie dish- do the sheets one at a time (brush with oil, then lay in dish, then get the next sheet out). Arrange them so they're 6 layers deep, I had a few layers with more than one sheet in the layer, just to fit the pie dish.
Arrange the pumpkin in the pie dish, like so.
Arrange the spinach on top.
Beat the eggs, milk, 1/2&1/2, mustard and herbs together, and pour over the veggies, pressing the spinach in to get everything coated in the custard. Top with the grated parmesean, and bake at 357F for 40-45 min.
Ok, now the pizza! This pizza is really easy, and we've made it several times since the party. It's full of good, simple fall flavors, and it just tastes fresh and not heavy at all, like some pizzas can be.
Pumpkin, Apple and Ricotta Pizza
from Straight from the Farm
(picture soon, I forgot to take it off my camera)
pizza dough (your choice, I used my favorite pumpkin pizza dough, to increase the pumpkin usage for the party, and because I have a ton of it in the freezer, ready to go at a moment's notice!)
1/2-2/3 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 of a small pumpkin pie (sugar) pumpkin, peeled and sliced thinly (as thin as you can, slicing a pumpkin isn't easy)
1 apple, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch thick pieces
1T fresh sage, chopped
small handful of freshly grated parmesean
Roll out the pizza dough. Spread with ricotta cheese. Arrange apple and pumpkin slices, sprinkle with safe and parmesean. Bake at 450F for about 15-20 minutes (depending on the thickness of the dough). I sprinkled with a little kosher salt before serving.
Pumpkin, Spinach and Leek Quicheadapted from The Little Teochow, originally from Homestyle Vegetarian by Murdoch Books
1/2 small pumpkin pie (sugar) pumpkin
2 leeks
olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed but otherwise left whole
4 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup fat free 1/2&1/2
2/3 cup milk
1T parsley
1T cilantro
1t wholegrain mustard
6-9 sheets filo pastry, depending on how big your pie dish is
2 cups fresh spinach, blanched and drained
freshly grated parmesean cheese
Turn your oven to 350F. Slice the pumpkin into 1 inch thick slices (leave the skin on for now), and arrange on a baking sheet, along with the leeks (each leek cut into 3 or 4 pieces) and garlic. Roast for 1 hour. When they're all cool, mince (or press) the garlic, chop the leeks into small pieces, and peel the skin off the pumpkin.
Meanwhile, brush each piece of filo with olive oil, then arrange them in a greased pie dish- do the sheets one at a time (brush with oil, then lay in dish, then get the next sheet out). Arrange them so they're 6 layers deep, I had a few layers with more than one sheet in the layer, just to fit the pie dish.
Arrange the pumpkin in the pie dish, like so.
Arrange the spinach on top.Beat the eggs, milk, 1/2&1/2, mustard and herbs together, and pour over the veggies, pressing the spinach in to get everything coated in the custard. Top with the grated parmesean, and bake at 357F for 40-45 min.Ok, now the pizza! This pizza is really easy, and we've made it several times since the party. It's full of good, simple fall flavors, and it just tastes fresh and not heavy at all, like some pizzas can be.
Pumpkin, Apple and Ricotta Pizza
from Straight from the Farm
(picture soon, I forgot to take it off my camera)
pizza dough (your choice, I used my favorite pumpkin pizza dough, to increase the pumpkin usage for the party, and because I have a ton of it in the freezer, ready to go at a moment's notice!)
1/2-2/3 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 of a small pumpkin pie (sugar) pumpkin, peeled and sliced thinly (as thin as you can, slicing a pumpkin isn't easy)
1 apple, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch thick pieces
1T fresh sage, chopped
small handful of freshly grated parmesean
Roll out the pizza dough. Spread with ricotta cheese. Arrange apple and pumpkin slices, sprinkle with safe and parmesean. Bake at 450F for about 15-20 minutes (depending on the thickness of the dough). I sprinkled with a little kosher salt before serving.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Pumpkin Party: appetizers part 1
Finally, the recipes from the Pumpkin Party.
We'll start small- wamozart12 is forgetful and overwhelmed, and can't seem to track down all the pictures.
First. let me present the shining pumpkin star of the pumpkin party,
Pumpkin Garlic Knots.
This is the same basic recipe I used on the beet pizza dough I made a while ago, but they use pumpkin puree (canned, in this case) instead of beet puree. I also used honey instead of agave nectar. The recipe is from (never)home maker. I actually doubled it to make 1.5 recipes of garlic knots, and used the remaining dough for the pizza I'll tell you about in the next post.
Pumpkin Garlic Knots,
from (never)home maker
Ingredients:
1 cup warm water (not hot! I'd recommend 100F or less, despite what some cookbooks say- but I am the Yeast Whisperer (so says my husband) and that's what I say.
1T active dry yeast
1-2T honey
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1T olive oil
1t kosher salt
3.5-4 cups AP flour
In the bowl of your KA mixer, combine the water, yeast, and some of the honey. Mix around, let sit for 10 minutes, until the yeast wakes up and makes it frothy.
Stir in the remaining honey, pumpkin, olive oil and salt. Then add the flour, 2 cups at first and mix to combine, then add a cup at a time and stir with your bread hook (or by hand) until the dough is the right consistency- it comes together, and is still a little sticky, but not horribly sticky. Even if it is sticky, you can add a little more flour as you form the knots, after rising.
Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place, at least 2 hours.
Punch down the dough and start to form the knots. Alternatively, divide in 2 or 3 pieces and use for pizza dough. At this point, you can wrap the dough in plastic wrap and store in the fridge or freezer.
Knots: take a small bit of dough, about 2T. Roll into a snake, then tie into a regular old square knot. This won't be neat, the dough will probably stick itself- but messy is fine! You're just going to eat it later, anyway.
Preheat your oven to 425F, place the rolls on a parchment-lined cookie sheet or on your pizza stone, and bake for 10-20 minutes, depending on how large your rolls are. They're done when they're beginning to brown.
Once the rolls have cooled a bit, you can eat them as is, or make them into garlic knots. I combine 4-5 garlic cloves, finely minced, 1t kosher salt (sea salt is even better) and about 1/4-1/3 cup olive oil in a bowl (or for easy cleanup, a zip top bag). Then I threw the rolls in and mixed them around, til they were coated in the garlic, salt and olive oil. Best served a little warm. If you don't eat them all at once (what?!), they'll get a little soggy after a few days, from the olive oil.
We'll start small- wamozart12 is forgetful and overwhelmed, and can't seem to track down all the pictures.
First. let me present the shining pumpkin star of the pumpkin party,
Pumpkin Garlic Knots.This is the same basic recipe I used on the beet pizza dough I made a while ago, but they use pumpkin puree (canned, in this case) instead of beet puree. I also used honey instead of agave nectar. The recipe is from (never)home maker. I actually doubled it to make 1.5 recipes of garlic knots, and used the remaining dough for the pizza I'll tell you about in the next post.
Pumpkin Garlic Knots,
from (never)home maker
Ingredients:
1 cup warm water (not hot! I'd recommend 100F or less, despite what some cookbooks say- but I am the Yeast Whisperer (so says my husband) and that's what I say.
1T active dry yeast
1-2T honey
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1T olive oil
1t kosher salt
3.5-4 cups AP flour
In the bowl of your KA mixer, combine the water, yeast, and some of the honey. Mix around, let sit for 10 minutes, until the yeast wakes up and makes it frothy.
Stir in the remaining honey, pumpkin, olive oil and salt. Then add the flour, 2 cups at first and mix to combine, then add a cup at a time and stir with your bread hook (or by hand) until the dough is the right consistency- it comes together, and is still a little sticky, but not horribly sticky. Even if it is sticky, you can add a little more flour as you form the knots, after rising.
Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place, at least 2 hours.
Punch down the dough and start to form the knots. Alternatively, divide in 2 or 3 pieces and use for pizza dough. At this point, you can wrap the dough in plastic wrap and store in the fridge or freezer.
Knots: take a small bit of dough, about 2T. Roll into a snake, then tie into a regular old square knot. This won't be neat, the dough will probably stick itself- but messy is fine! You're just going to eat it later, anyway.
Preheat your oven to 425F, place the rolls on a parchment-lined cookie sheet or on your pizza stone, and bake for 10-20 minutes, depending on how large your rolls are. They're done when they're beginning to brown.
Once the rolls have cooled a bit, you can eat them as is, or make them into garlic knots. I combine 4-5 garlic cloves, finely minced, 1t kosher salt (sea salt is even better) and about 1/4-1/3 cup olive oil in a bowl (or for easy cleanup, a zip top bag). Then I threw the rolls in and mixed them around, til they were coated in the garlic, salt and olive oil. Best served a little warm. If you don't eat them all at once (what?!), they'll get a little soggy after a few days, from the olive oil.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Pumpkin Party!
Clint and I have a Halloween party each year, it's our annual thing. This was our second year doing it- so yes, we're still trying to establish it as a "thing". It'll come.
Last year it was Halloween party. This year it was a pumpkin party. This is because I'm crazy and love Iron Chef (original or America, but I like the dishes on America better).
Many of the dishes I made for our pumpkin party were delicious. Some were not so great. I am going to tell you about all of them.
Appetizers and sides
Pumpkin hummus
Pumpkin cream cheese dip
Pumpkin olive tapenade
Pumpkin challah
Cheese (colby jack and jalapeno jack, cut into pumpkin shapes)
Pumpkin garlic knots (by far the favorite of the night)
Salad with pumpkin vinaigrette and pumpkin croutons
Entrees
Pumpkin, leek and spinach quiche
Pumpkin, apple, ricotta pizza on pumpkin pizza dough
Pumpkin turkey chili
Pumpkin cornbread
Pumpkin gnocchi with cinnamon walnut cream sauce
Desserts/sweets
Caramel fondue with pumpkin and apple
Pumpkin apple walnut muffins
Pumpkin raisin healthy cookies
Drinks
pumpkin beer: Smuttynose, Dogfish Head and (one more I've forgotten)
pumpkin spice lattes (I was the only one who didn't love these)
wine (all non-pumpkin wine)
elderberry schnapps (not pumpkin, but we got it out anyway)
Pumpkin martinis, which we actually forgot to serve, so had the following night (our guests weren't missing much).
Over the next few days, I'll link to all these recipes. Even though some of the dishes were not successful, I more or less know why, and how to fix that. The one exception was the pumpkin gnocchi, which did have a delicious cream sauce, but was really bland. Next time I will try a different recipe. But with the exception of the gnocchi and the martinis, I recommended making any or all of these dishes.
Last year it was Halloween party. This year it was a pumpkin party. This is because I'm crazy and love Iron Chef (original or America, but I like the dishes on America better).
Many of the dishes I made for our pumpkin party were delicious. Some were not so great. I am going to tell you about all of them.
Appetizers and sides
Pumpkin hummus
Pumpkin cream cheese dip
Pumpkin olive tapenade
Pumpkin challah
Cheese (colby jack and jalapeno jack, cut into pumpkin shapes)
Pumpkin garlic knots (by far the favorite of the night)
Salad with pumpkin vinaigrette and pumpkin croutons
Entrees
Pumpkin, leek and spinach quiche
Pumpkin, apple, ricotta pizza on pumpkin pizza dough
Pumpkin turkey chili
Pumpkin cornbread
Pumpkin gnocchi with cinnamon walnut cream sauce
Desserts/sweets
Caramel fondue with pumpkin and apple
Pumpkin apple walnut muffins
Pumpkin raisin healthy cookies
Drinks
pumpkin beer: Smuttynose, Dogfish Head and (one more I've forgotten)
pumpkin spice lattes (I was the only one who didn't love these)
wine (all non-pumpkin wine)
elderberry schnapps (not pumpkin, but we got it out anyway)
Pumpkin martinis, which we actually forgot to serve, so had the following night (our guests weren't missing much).
Over the next few days, I'll link to all these recipes. Even though some of the dishes were not successful, I more or less know why, and how to fix that. The one exception was the pumpkin gnocchi, which did have a delicious cream sauce, but was really bland. Next time I will try a different recipe. But with the exception of the gnocchi and the martinis, I recommended making any or all of these dishes.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Birthdaybirthday!
I recently turned 30. To celebrate/mourn the occasion, I threw a standard Catherine-style posh cocktail party, with a few modifications over the standard hors d'ouerves and finger foods menu.
For one, I converted the pitcher of cosmos concept from a beverage into a cupcake. I also served meat, now that I'm no longer afraid of cooking it. And finally, I came close to providing an appropriate amount of food for the number of guests (the only thing we had unreasonable amounts of leftovers of were the fruit tartlets and old bay biscuits).
Pictured above, clockwise from the veggie platter:
veggies and onion dip
Stacey's naked pita chips
Asparagus tart (using refrigerated crescent rolls instead of puff pastry)
Hummus
Maple kettle corn (I'm not pleased with the recipe- I'm not sure if I should give it to you until I've perfected it)
Fennel and melon wrapped in prosciutto (Giada's idea)
Avocado muffins (blocked by the flowers) (and note: you know how avocados always go bad before you eat them? Make this your my-avocados-need-to-get-used-NOW go-to recipe)
Spinach quiches (also blocked by the flowers)
Old bay cheese biscuits (recipe needs work before I share, but it was based on this recipe)
Caramelized onion tart (using cream cheese instead of ricotta)
Tomato tart (again with crescent rolls instead of puff pastry)
Here are the avocado muffins, quiches and old bay biscuits
the onion tart, tomato tart, skewers, and the veggies again,
Not pictured: honey cumin chipotle pork tenderloin and peanut teriyaki chicken skewers (taken off the skewers)(fat free 1/2&1/2 instead of heavy cream, please). Both were cooked later, when I was too busy hostessing to photograph.
The dessert table was in the corner
My famous coconut macaroons (ok, Martha's, but I probably make them more)
Cosmo cupcakes (with 1 change: I used the Magnolia Bakery frosting recipe (the one with the cupcakes scared me by the huge butter:sugar ratio, I was worried it made that greasy frosting I hate) and instead of 1/2cup milk, I used a mix of cranberry and lime juices (about 5T cranberry and 3T lime).
Peach raspberry tartlets (crust was Martha's pate sucree recipe, filling was a bunch of peaches diced, a handful of frozen raspberries, a little flour, a little sugar. I followed Smitten Kitchen's construction here, and froze the tartlets a week before baking about an hour at 400F)
And that was just in the dining room!
In the living room were the cheeses.
I bought (from BJ's):
lemon stilton, Cabot extra sharp cheddar, smoked gouda, iberico (like manchego, delicious) and from Big Y, a small wheel of camembert.
I also served a baguette, some crackers, more spicy nuts, pickled grapes, storebought olive tapenade, homemade olive pistachio tapenade (heavily modified from Anne Burrell, via Smitten Kitchen) and the fabled apricot preserves (delicious with the camembert on a baguette).
The bar was in the kitchen.
Now, minor oopsie on this one- I don't drink beer, only wine, so I wasn't considering what beer we had on hand. I assumed we had some. My husband assumed I was on top of everything (I thought I was). We... had no beer. Like, none. We had sufficient quantities of wine, seltzer, coke and diet coke (which was a feat for us), and the sangria that will go down in family history (2 weeks later, I've made 5 batches of it, that's how popular it is).
Sangria: modified from here. I used the simple syrup left over from the epic candied orange peels (later I used honey). I'd suggest increasing the simple syrup or honey 1.5-2 times over the sugar, especially since I used plain seltzer instead of lemon lime soda (I'd rather have sugar than HFCS).
The best part of the bar was using all the beautiful Simon Pearce pitchers I've bought my husband over the years. He has a real thing for pitchers, but he never used them, and I usually only put flowers in them.
There were 2 items on the table I did not make, both of which were delicious. A made a delicious baked brie (totally rivals mine, hers had the added bonus of not being greasy and messy like mine is), and Bird brought me these adorable and delicious cookies. (I ate the last one on National Wear Lilly Day- is that appropriate or what?)
Monday, May 31, 2010
On growing up...
When I moved into my first very own apartment (after college), I felt very grown up. About a month after I moved in, I decided something to cement my grown up-ness: I threw my first dinner party. This first dinner party was a potluck and involved 6 people. I have no idea what we served, and I only really keep in touch with one of the guests (sadly), but it was kind of a defining moment in my early adult life. I've been thinking a lot about my early grown up life, especially since my 30th birthday is now only 12 days away (I'm sorry, but that's just bizarre and wrong. I don't mind growing older, I'm simply confused as to where my 20s went. Same with, how have I been married nearly 9 months?)
Yesterday I had another defining moment: my first cookout and dinner party for my family. In some discussions and recaps with my mom afterwards, it seems we have some misconceptions. I used this party to try out some recipes for my big 30th birthday bash, the guest list for which currently hovers around 45 people, by far the largest party I'll have hosted. My mother asked for the theme and other ideas I had for my party, and I said, "it's going to be the typical Catherine-style posh cocktail party," she said, "yes, but what's the theme? What will it be like?" "Mom, it'll be the same as all the other parties I've thrown. You haven't been to a Catherine posh cocktail party yet, but don't worry, it's already thought about and settled on." Mom: " of course I've been to one of your cocktail parties!" "no... you haven't." This isn't to say I throw raucous parties with lots of booze and loud music, dear me, no. My parties are the kind of evening where you dress up a bit and walk around with a fruity drink in a martini glass and spill not a drop, and eat delicious finger food that you can't 1. exactly identify, and 2. believe wasn't catered. That is a Catherine-style posh cocktail party.
Anyway, back to the point. Yesterday's party was about family. It was not a posh cocktail party, it was a casual affair with burgers and dogs instead of prosciutto-wrapped fennel and mini quiches, but it still had dishes (yes, plural) that people couldn't identify. And isn't that the goal, to confuse people culinarily? (side note: I'm making name cards for all the dishes at my birthday party).
Because I fed 10 people yesterday (and had another adventure that I'll share after the food), and my extended family doesn't realize the primary use for my camera, aside from taking snapshots of my cat, is for photographing food and I didn't want to endure any teasing, I took very few photos, and those that I took are probably of worse quality than usual. However! I'm going to give you all the recipes, and trust me, that's the prize.
The Family Cookout Menu.
Appetizers:
tomato tart (recipe shared previously, this time I used 2 pints of small heirloom tomatoes from BJ's, and a reduced fat Italian cheese blend)
low fat healthy onion dip (from June 2010 Martha Stewart Living, recipe at end)
olive tapenade (Hannah's brand)
hummus (Sabra brand)
fresh veggies to dip
Cabot sharp cheddar and crackers
Classic shrimp cocktail (Big Y brand cocktail sauce with extra horseradish)
Sweet n' spicy shrimp cocktail (Sarah's recipe, and boy, every recipe I've gotten from her blog has been great). I chilled this overnight instead of for a few hours, and it was a huge hit, second only to the tomato tart.
(photographed before I added the avocado- oops)
Dinner:
hamburgers (plain ground meat, but I should learn to make better burgers- the ones I made should have been called sliders, they were so small!)
Nathan's hot dogs (I'm not usually a hot dog fan, but yummmm...)
chicken tequila burgers (gasp... I never blogged about these! I made them at least a month ago and we loved them)
Arugula salad, inspired by an arugula and chocolate salad from Orangette's book. Mine was half arugula, half green leaf lettuce, a handful of baby heirloom tomatoes, a handful of dried cranberries, and some grated bittersweet chocolate on top
Fennel and apple salad, also inrpised by Orangette's book. 1 fennel bulb and 2 peeled and cored apples, both sliced on a mandoline, and tossed in 1/4cup fresh lemon juice.
Pickled grapes
Mom's bread and butter pickles (next year, will be mom's and my bread and butter pickles, I'm returning to pickle-making after a long hiatus, caused by grad school and a honeymoon)
Caramelized onions (leftover from the onion dip)
Avocado pound cake muffins
Grapenut bread and banana bread, contributed by my kind aunts.
Dessert:
Ice cream sandwiches
Simon Pearce Restaurant's Lemon Cake with Strawberry Sauce (conveniently included in last week's enewsletter)
Healthy Onion Dip recipe
3lbs (4 medium-large) vidalia onions, chopped
1T olive oil
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat and add onions. Stir often, cooking onions until caramelized- 45 min to an hour.
Add
3T water
to deglaze the pan, continue cooking for 2-3 minutes.
Transfer onions to a bowl to cool (if desired, pull out some to use as a hot dog/hamburger topping)
To onions, add
1 16oz package nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
2T lemon juice
a dash to 1t salt, as desired
dash of chipotle powder (Martha said cayenne pepper, either way)
Stir to combine. Refrigerate at least one hour, or overnight, before serving. Serve with fresh veggies (healthy!)
My Other Adventure.
My husband, parents and I were all in the screen porch at the back of our house, breakfasting. I went into the kitchen for more coffee, and I could see through the dining room windows that 2 men I didn't know were standing near some furniture that had been mysteriously set at the curb. I alerted the fam, and they all got up to peer out the windows. Mom noticed that there were 2 cardboard signs, which none of us could read, so she got out her binoculars (we have good birds in our backyard, she was using them during breakfast) and announced the signs said "FREE". oooh.
We're now the proud owners of this somewhat scratched (but entirely fixable!) buffet
(see, we put it to use immediately!)
4 somewhat beat-up dining room chairs, now screen porch chairs (we bring them in at night) and a very large fancy bureau with enormous mirror, in good condition. For free. So many minutes of cooking time was taken up by moving our new furniture. And I think our dining room looks pretty fancy now, and I'm thrilled for more storage space for our dishes, which we sorely needed. Plus, getting this furniture was pretty exciting and serendipitous: since we're across the street, we got out there immediately, and by the time other people starting popping up to look, we'd already staked a claim. We left 2 non-matching dining chairs for another neighbor to snatch up.
Yesterday I had another defining moment: my first cookout and dinner party for my family. In some discussions and recaps with my mom afterwards, it seems we have some misconceptions. I used this party to try out some recipes for my big 30th birthday bash, the guest list for which currently hovers around 45 people, by far the largest party I'll have hosted. My mother asked for the theme and other ideas I had for my party, and I said, "it's going to be the typical Catherine-style posh cocktail party," she said, "yes, but what's the theme? What will it be like?" "Mom, it'll be the same as all the other parties I've thrown. You haven't been to a Catherine posh cocktail party yet, but don't worry, it's already thought about and settled on." Mom: " of course I've been to one of your cocktail parties!" "no... you haven't." This isn't to say I throw raucous parties with lots of booze and loud music, dear me, no. My parties are the kind of evening where you dress up a bit and walk around with a fruity drink in a martini glass and spill not a drop, and eat delicious finger food that you can't 1. exactly identify, and 2. believe wasn't catered. That is a Catherine-style posh cocktail party.
Anyway, back to the point. Yesterday's party was about family. It was not a posh cocktail party, it was a casual affair with burgers and dogs instead of prosciutto-wrapped fennel and mini quiches, but it still had dishes (yes, plural) that people couldn't identify. And isn't that the goal, to confuse people culinarily? (side note: I'm making name cards for all the dishes at my birthday party).
Because I fed 10 people yesterday (and had another adventure that I'll share after the food), and my extended family doesn't realize the primary use for my camera, aside from taking snapshots of my cat, is for photographing food and I didn't want to endure any teasing, I took very few photos, and those that I took are probably of worse quality than usual. However! I'm going to give you all the recipes, and trust me, that's the prize.
The Family Cookout Menu.
Appetizers:
tomato tart (recipe shared previously, this time I used 2 pints of small heirloom tomatoes from BJ's, and a reduced fat Italian cheese blend)
low fat healthy onion dip (from June 2010 Martha Stewart Living, recipe at end)
olive tapenade (Hannah's brand)
hummus (Sabra brand)
fresh veggies to dip
Cabot sharp cheddar and crackers
Classic shrimp cocktail (Big Y brand cocktail sauce with extra horseradish)
Sweet n' spicy shrimp cocktail (Sarah's recipe, and boy, every recipe I've gotten from her blog has been great). I chilled this overnight instead of for a few hours, and it was a huge hit, second only to the tomato tart.
(photographed before I added the avocado- oops)Dinner:
hamburgers (plain ground meat, but I should learn to make better burgers- the ones I made should have been called sliders, they were so small!)
Nathan's hot dogs (I'm not usually a hot dog fan, but yummmm...)
chicken tequila burgers (gasp... I never blogged about these! I made them at least a month ago and we loved them)
Arugula salad, inspired by an arugula and chocolate salad from Orangette's book. Mine was half arugula, half green leaf lettuce, a handful of baby heirloom tomatoes, a handful of dried cranberries, and some grated bittersweet chocolate on top
Fennel and apple salad, also inrpised by Orangette's book. 1 fennel bulb and 2 peeled and cored apples, both sliced on a mandoline, and tossed in 1/4cup fresh lemon juice.
Pickled grapes
Mom's bread and butter pickles (next year, will be mom's and my bread and butter pickles, I'm returning to pickle-making after a long hiatus, caused by grad school and a honeymoon)
Caramelized onions (leftover from the onion dip)
Avocado pound cake muffins
Grapenut bread and banana bread, contributed by my kind aunts.
Dessert:
Ice cream sandwiches
Simon Pearce Restaurant's Lemon Cake with Strawberry Sauce (conveniently included in last week's enewsletter)
Healthy Onion Dip recipe
3lbs (4 medium-large) vidalia onions, chopped
1T olive oil
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat and add onions. Stir often, cooking onions until caramelized- 45 min to an hour.
Add
3T water
to deglaze the pan, continue cooking for 2-3 minutes.
Transfer onions to a bowl to cool (if desired, pull out some to use as a hot dog/hamburger topping)
To onions, add
1 16oz package nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
2T lemon juice
a dash to 1t salt, as desired
dash of chipotle powder (Martha said cayenne pepper, either way)
Stir to combine. Refrigerate at least one hour, or overnight, before serving. Serve with fresh veggies (healthy!)
My Other Adventure.
My husband, parents and I were all in the screen porch at the back of our house, breakfasting. I went into the kitchen for more coffee, and I could see through the dining room windows that 2 men I didn't know were standing near some furniture that had been mysteriously set at the curb. I alerted the fam, and they all got up to peer out the windows. Mom noticed that there were 2 cardboard signs, which none of us could read, so she got out her binoculars (we have good birds in our backyard, she was using them during breakfast) and announced the signs said "FREE". oooh.
We're now the proud owners of this somewhat scratched (but entirely fixable!) buffet
(see, we put it to use immediately!)4 somewhat beat-up dining room chairs, now screen porch chairs (we bring them in at night) and a very large fancy bureau with enormous mirror, in good condition. For free. So many minutes of cooking time was taken up by moving our new furniture. And I think our dining room looks pretty fancy now, and I'm thrilled for more storage space for our dishes, which we sorely needed. Plus, getting this furniture was pretty exciting and serendipitous: since we're across the street, we got out there immediately, and by the time other people starting popping up to look, we'd already staked a claim. We left 2 non-matching dining chairs for another neighbor to snatch up.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
A weekend of cooking
I think I alluded to the massive amounts of cooking I did this past weekend. Let's just recap.
Sunday:
waffles
maple gelato
6 layer chocolate fudge cake
chicken roulades
veggie galette
scallops
king cake cupcakes
Monday:
rye bread
lemon frosting for cupcakes
caramel fondue
chicken orange concoction in a crockpot
coconut macaroons
It was a lot. Fortunately, I've always preferred to clean as I go along, so the dirty dishes weren't horrifying, but the stack was pretty bad. Since then, I haven't cooked anything- I've reheated plenty, but haven't made anything new. I'm kind of cooked out.
(not for long)
Today I want to share 3 recipes.
Caramel Fondue (I keep forgetting to photograph this, because once it's ready, it's just too delicious to stop eating). This is a half recipe, which is plenty for a party of 8 people, with additional goodies to nibble on. If you have leftovers or want to make the full batch (just double everything), put it in a bowl in the fridge, and save it- it reheats perfectly.
In a saucepan over medium heat, combine
12oz soft caramel candies- the kind you buy in the clear plastic wraps, or that same brand also has cooking caramel, little balls of the same stuff, ready to dump in a saucepan.
3oz apple cider (3/8 cup, just eyeball it)
Cook until the caramels are melted, about 10 min.
Add 1/4 cup cream or half&half (I used fat free half&half, and I can't imagine it could be improved with full-fat cream)
a dash of dark rum (or brandy, but I prefer dark rum- and a serious dash ;) )
1 cinnamon stick
dash of nutmeg
3 whole cloves
and continue to cook over medium heat for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally, and it'll bubble.
Transfer to a fondue pot on low heat or just a bowl (and be prepared to nuke the bowl for a few seconds every so often), and dip apple wedges in it. Delicious!
I'd also like to try this caramel fondue as an ice cream topping, but it's so good with tart apples that I can't bear to take any away.
Cupcakes.
I finally used my cupcake tree! I've only had it for 14 months.
I used King Arthur Flour's King Cake Cupcakes, which makes a dense, tasty cupcake, almost like a pound cake. (and btw, this recipe uses a very different order of mixing than I'd ever seen before, but it makes it really easy. Go check it out, it's worth trying) Instead of their cream cheese lemony frosting, I tried Coconut & Lime's Ethereal Lemon Frosting, which caught my eye because it's FAT FREE. I've been told this is just a take on 7 minute frosting, but I'd never made that before. Anyway, this lemon frosting is basically like eating a lemonade marshmallow- really, really tasty, and I look forward to playing around with it (apple cider frosting, anyone?). In a nutshell, you beat egg whites until they form soft peaks, and cook sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice until it reaches the soft ball stage (about 230 on a candy thermometer) and then stir the hot sugar into the eggs, which cooks the eggs and forms a meringue- like substance- which is actually pretty much how one makes marshmallows- only marshmallows use gelatin and not egg whites. And btw, the recipe I've linked is enough frosting for at least 2 dozen cupcakes, unless you're making high hat cupcakes (which... I should have done, that would have been really fun!)
Finally...
Rye bread!
My love of/obsession with baking bread continues. I might just go through my King Arthur Flour cookbook, page by page soon.
This is another relatively simple bread. I don't have the step-by-step photos for this batch, but it's basically like the cheese bread- without the cheese, of course. My timing was exactly the same.
Step 1: combine 2cups of warm water (or milk, or a combination) and 1/4cup brown sugar (or molasses) in a bowl, then add 1T yeast. Let sit for a while (during which time I had breakfast).
Step 2: stir in 1cup of rye flour (available at the Coop foodstores or King Arthur Flour, and honestly, I have no idea where to get it outside of the upper valley- I'm sure Whole Foods would have it, and possibly regular grocery stores). Stir in 1/4 cup of caraway seeds and 1T salt. Stir in 2T softened butter. Stir in 3 cups of whole wheat, one cup at a time, and somewhere in here, transfer to your stand mixer- whenever you get tired of stirring. Then stir in 1.5 cups of all-purpose flour. Knead until elastic- and this dough's a little stickier than other bread doughs. I'm not sure why, but the recipe said it should be.
Step 3: place kneaded dough in greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place, about 2-3 hours, until doubled. (Again with the rising on the radiator- apparently everyone's using this trick now) I worked a half day during this rising- very convenient!
Step 4: shape into 2 loaves, place in 2 greased loaf pans. Let rise another hour or 2.
Step 5: place in cold oven (not pre-heated), turn temp up to 400, then 15 minutes later, turn down to 350 and bake 25-30 minutes.
And voila, rye bread. Delicious toasted with strawberry jelly.
Now I have to think what bread to bake next. I'm out of whole wheat flour, so it'll have to be a 100% all purpose flour bread. I have a ton of nuts and dried fruits- any ideas? I'll have to shop around.
Sunday:
waffles
maple gelato
6 layer chocolate fudge cake
chicken roulades
veggie galette
scallops
king cake cupcakes
Monday:
rye bread
lemon frosting for cupcakes
caramel fondue
chicken orange concoction in a crockpot
coconut macaroons
It was a lot. Fortunately, I've always preferred to clean as I go along, so the dirty dishes weren't horrifying, but the stack was pretty bad. Since then, I haven't cooked anything- I've reheated plenty, but haven't made anything new. I'm kind of cooked out.
(not for long)
Today I want to share 3 recipes.
Caramel Fondue (I keep forgetting to photograph this, because once it's ready, it's just too delicious to stop eating). This is a half recipe, which is plenty for a party of 8 people, with additional goodies to nibble on. If you have leftovers or want to make the full batch (just double everything), put it in a bowl in the fridge, and save it- it reheats perfectly.
In a saucepan over medium heat, combine
12oz soft caramel candies- the kind you buy in the clear plastic wraps, or that same brand also has cooking caramel, little balls of the same stuff, ready to dump in a saucepan.
3oz apple cider (3/8 cup, just eyeball it)
Cook until the caramels are melted, about 10 min.
Add 1/4 cup cream or half&half (I used fat free half&half, and I can't imagine it could be improved with full-fat cream)
a dash of dark rum (or brandy, but I prefer dark rum- and a serious dash ;) )
1 cinnamon stick
dash of nutmeg
3 whole cloves
and continue to cook over medium heat for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally, and it'll bubble.
Transfer to a fondue pot on low heat or just a bowl (and be prepared to nuke the bowl for a few seconds every so often), and dip apple wedges in it. Delicious!
I'd also like to try this caramel fondue as an ice cream topping, but it's so good with tart apples that I can't bear to take any away.
Cupcakes.
I finally used my cupcake tree! I've only had it for 14 months.I used King Arthur Flour's King Cake Cupcakes, which makes a dense, tasty cupcake, almost like a pound cake. (and btw, this recipe uses a very different order of mixing than I'd ever seen before, but it makes it really easy. Go check it out, it's worth trying) Instead of their cream cheese lemony frosting, I tried Coconut & Lime's Ethereal Lemon Frosting, which caught my eye because it's FAT FREE. I've been told this is just a take on 7 minute frosting, but I'd never made that before. Anyway, this lemon frosting is basically like eating a lemonade marshmallow- really, really tasty, and I look forward to playing around with it (apple cider frosting, anyone?). In a nutshell, you beat egg whites until they form soft peaks, and cook sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice until it reaches the soft ball stage (about 230 on a candy thermometer) and then stir the hot sugar into the eggs, which cooks the eggs and forms a meringue- like substance- which is actually pretty much how one makes marshmallows- only marshmallows use gelatin and not egg whites. And btw, the recipe I've linked is enough frosting for at least 2 dozen cupcakes, unless you're making high hat cupcakes (which... I should have done, that would have been really fun!)
Finally...
Rye bread!
My love of/obsession with baking bread continues. I might just go through my King Arthur Flour cookbook, page by page soon.
This is another relatively simple bread. I don't have the step-by-step photos for this batch, but it's basically like the cheese bread- without the cheese, of course. My timing was exactly the same.
Step 1: combine 2cups of warm water (or milk, or a combination) and 1/4cup brown sugar (or molasses) in a bowl, then add 1T yeast. Let sit for a while (during which time I had breakfast).
Step 2: stir in 1cup of rye flour (available at the Coop foodstores or King Arthur Flour, and honestly, I have no idea where to get it outside of the upper valley- I'm sure Whole Foods would have it, and possibly regular grocery stores). Stir in 1/4 cup of caraway seeds and 1T salt. Stir in 2T softened butter. Stir in 3 cups of whole wheat, one cup at a time, and somewhere in here, transfer to your stand mixer- whenever you get tired of stirring. Then stir in 1.5 cups of all-purpose flour. Knead until elastic- and this dough's a little stickier than other bread doughs. I'm not sure why, but the recipe said it should be.
Step 3: place kneaded dough in greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place, about 2-3 hours, until doubled. (Again with the rising on the radiator- apparently everyone's using this trick now) I worked a half day during this rising- very convenient!
Step 4: shape into 2 loaves, place in 2 greased loaf pans. Let rise another hour or 2.
Step 5: place in cold oven (not pre-heated), turn temp up to 400, then 15 minutes later, turn down to 350 and bake 25-30 minutes.
And voila, rye bread. Delicious toasted with strawberry jelly.
Now I have to think what bread to bake next. I'm out of whole wheat flour, so it'll have to be a 100% all purpose flour bread. I have a ton of nuts and dried fruits- any ideas? I'll have to shop around.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Valentine's Day
After Sunday's detailed tutorial post, today's post will look really paltry- I'm only linking to the recipes and showing you photos of the finished dishes. But, all of the dishes were good, and I'd recommend clicking on the links and printing out a copy of your own.
For our first married Valentine's Day, since we went out to dinner with my parents the night before, and the Olympics were on, we opted to stay in. I cooked. We also cleaned the house to prepare for a small party I hosted yesterday, so we took some care into setting the table for dinner. We opened 2 bottles of wine from Canadian wineries (in honor of the Vancouver Olympics), and used our new silver, a recent gift from my parents.
Scallops and Leeks, an appetizer (note: I, um, burned the shallots- the men's moguls were on, I was distracted. This dish shouldn't look this dark)
Squash, apple, onion gallette (my favorite dish of the evening, I'm eating it as we speak)
(I used asiago instead of stilton)
Chicken roulades, with radicchio, shallot and shiitake mushrooms (I skipped the cippolini onions and the chicken liver)
The photo includes a piece of the galette. And note: cooking with marsala wine makes your house smell rather tasty. Also, the stuffing for the chicken roulades was enough for 3 chicken breasts, and I think would work for 4. We got 4 meals out of the chicken.
And dessert: 6 layer chocolate fudge cake, an abbreviated/for 2 (or 6) version of Alma Etheridge Wilson's 16 layer chocolate fudge cake from June 2001 Martha Stewart Living. I halved the recipe, baked in 8 and 10 inch cake pans (1/2cup and 3/4cup batter, respectively) or a jelly roll pan (1.5cups batter) at 350 until they were done (even the 8in cake took twice as long as the recipe said- 16 min instead of 8-10, the 10in pan was more like 20 min, adn the jelly roll pan was 35-40 min- I kept an eye on the baking cakes the entire time). Then I cut the layers with my 4 inch heart cookie cutter, got 12 hearts and a ton of tasty scraps, and assembled.
The cake was a success, as this recipe always is.
Ok side note: I can't find this recipe online anywhere. I have it in my 2002 annual recipes (a collection of all the MSL 2001 magazine recipes), and it's a seriously long recipe, so I won't type it in here.
Other recent foods include lemon king cake cupcakes, rye bread and caramel fondue- pictures and recipes coming soon! I also made a really easy and unfortunately bland chicken thighs with orange, potato, onion and butternut squash in the crock pot. it's kind of like how chicken soup always used to be- pointless. I didn't bother with a picture.
Recipe:
8 chicken thighs, skin removed. Season with salt and pepper.
Combine in a crockpot:
the chicken
1 orange, sliced in 1/4inch thick rounds
1lb potatoes, cut in big chunks
1 medium sized butternut squash, peeled and cut into big chucks
2 onions, cut into wedges (8 wedges per onion)
12 cloves garlic, peeled
1T honey
2 cups chicken stock, plus enough water to cover all the food
1T dried thyme
Cook on high for 2.5-3hrs, til the chicken is done. And... you're ready for dinner. It's ridiculously easy, but I think it needs some tweaking to actually be tasty. I was so disappointed by the blandness.
For our first married Valentine's Day, since we went out to dinner with my parents the night before, and the Olympics were on, we opted to stay in. I cooked. We also cleaned the house to prepare for a small party I hosted yesterday, so we took some care into setting the table for dinner. We opened 2 bottles of wine from Canadian wineries (in honor of the Vancouver Olympics), and used our new silver, a recent gift from my parents.
Scallops and Leeks, an appetizer (note: I, um, burned the shallots- the men's moguls were on, I was distracted. This dish shouldn't look this dark)
Squash, apple, onion gallette (my favorite dish of the evening, I'm eating it as we speak)(I used asiago instead of stilton)Chicken roulades, with radicchio, shallot and shiitake mushrooms (I skipped the cippolini onions and the chicken liver)
The photo includes a piece of the galette. And note: cooking with marsala wine makes your house smell rather tasty. Also, the stuffing for the chicken roulades was enough for 3 chicken breasts, and I think would work for 4. We got 4 meals out of the chicken.And dessert: 6 layer chocolate fudge cake, an abbreviated/for 2 (or 6) version of Alma Etheridge Wilson's 16 layer chocolate fudge cake from June 2001 Martha Stewart Living. I halved the recipe, baked in 8 and 10 inch cake pans (1/2cup and 3/4cup batter, respectively) or a jelly roll pan (1.5cups batter) at 350 until they were done (even the 8in cake took twice as long as the recipe said- 16 min instead of 8-10, the 10in pan was more like 20 min, adn the jelly roll pan was 35-40 min- I kept an eye on the baking cakes the entire time). Then I cut the layers with my 4 inch heart cookie cutter, got 12 hearts and a ton of tasty scraps, and assembled.
The cake was a success, as this recipe always is.
Ok side note: I can't find this recipe online anywhere. I have it in my 2002 annual recipes (a collection of all the MSL 2001 magazine recipes), and it's a seriously long recipe, so I won't type it in here.
Other recent foods include lemon king cake cupcakes, rye bread and caramel fondue- pictures and recipes coming soon! I also made a really easy and unfortunately bland chicken thighs with orange, potato, onion and butternut squash in the crock pot. it's kind of like how chicken soup always used to be- pointless. I didn't bother with a picture.
Recipe:
8 chicken thighs, skin removed. Season with salt and pepper.
Combine in a crockpot:
the chicken
1 orange, sliced in 1/4inch thick rounds
1lb potatoes, cut in big chunks
1 medium sized butternut squash, peeled and cut into big chucks
2 onions, cut into wedges (8 wedges per onion)
12 cloves garlic, peeled
1T honey
2 cups chicken stock, plus enough water to cover all the food
1T dried thyme
Cook on high for 2.5-3hrs, til the chicken is done. And... you're ready for dinner. It's ridiculously easy, but I think it needs some tweaking to actually be tasty. I was so disappointed by the blandness.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Happy Valentine's Day!
I really love Valentine's Day, even when technically I hated it (i.e., being single and surrounded by couples), deep down, I still liked it. I mostly love Valentine's Day for the crafting and decorating that surrounds it. And like I said in an earlier post, it's almost like a crafting last hurrah after the Christmas season is over. hence, the glitter ball garland I made a while ago.
Today's craft was made as a gift, and a practice one to keep.
I got the idea and instructions from (who else?) Martha. And note, the hardest part of this project was finding all the ingredients.
I got the square glass vases from the candle section at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $5.99 each (also suitable vases can be found at Michael's, but were more expensive), glass round drinking glasses at BB&B for $1.99. I used nearly 2 8oz bags of conversation hearts, 3 7oz bags of red hots, and for the pink arrangement, 1 10 stem bouquet of short stem roses for $14.99, 1 bouquet of spray roses for $7.99, and the red arrangement was 2 bouquets of the $7.99 each spray roses.
1. hot glue the bottom of the drinking glass to the square vase, just to hold it. (Pansy likes to help)
2. Fill the area between the glass and vase with candy.
Note: I found it very easy to pour in the red hots, but then I discovered each bag has a lot of shards, which show up pretty clearly, so I ended up pouring the candy into a big bowl, and transferring it by small handful to the vase.
3. Make the bouquets:
I cut each stem to a bit longer than I'd need,
and arranged them in a circle from the center, with longer stems in the center, shorter stems on the edge. 
I wrapped the bouquets with a rubber band to hold the flowers in place,
and cut the stems to give the bouquet a wide, flat bottom that could kind of stand up.
4. Add water to glass of vase (don't get the candy wet!) and add flowers.
Voila! Not too hard- and I have very little experience in flower arranging.
I also had one nutella recipe that I made after Nutella Day- sugar cookie nutella buttercream sandwiches. I used Martha's sugar cookie recipe (from her cookie cookbook), which is a really easy recipe. I had run out of vanilla when making the nutella cupcakes, so I used almond extract. I also used my fondant decorating mat when rolling these out, to give them a pretty design- I'd planned to make them into sandwich cookies, so I wouldn't decorate them with frosting, but I still wanted them to be pretty. I got the idea from Martha's cardamom cookies, which she featured on her Christmas cookie episode this year- and which I watched last Saturday (thank you, DVR!)
I discovered these cookies are really good with coffee, so many mornings this past week (after mailing 3/4 of the batch to other people), I had the "should I eat a cookie with breakfast?" debate. I have no qualms about eating cookies for breakfast, unlike most people. My only issue is the calories of such a cookie. So the big question each day was, "is this cookie worth the calories?"
Yes, it is.
Today's craft was made as a gift, and a practice one to keep.
I got the idea and instructions from (who else?) Martha. And note, the hardest part of this project was finding all the ingredients.
I got the square glass vases from the candle section at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $5.99 each (also suitable vases can be found at Michael's, but were more expensive), glass round drinking glasses at BB&B for $1.99. I used nearly 2 8oz bags of conversation hearts, 3 7oz bags of red hots, and for the pink arrangement, 1 10 stem bouquet of short stem roses for $14.99, 1 bouquet of spray roses for $7.99, and the red arrangement was 2 bouquets of the $7.99 each spray roses.1. hot glue the bottom of the drinking glass to the square vase, just to hold it. (Pansy likes to help)
2. Fill the area between the glass and vase with candy.
Note: I found it very easy to pour in the red hots, but then I discovered each bag has a lot of shards, which show up pretty clearly, so I ended up pouring the candy into a big bowl, and transferring it by small handful to the vase.3. Make the bouquets:
I cut each stem to a bit longer than I'd need,and arranged them in a circle from the center, with longer stems in the center, shorter stems on the edge. I wrapped the bouquets with a rubber band to hold the flowers in place, and cut the stems to give the bouquet a wide, flat bottom that could kind of stand up.4. Add water to glass of vase (don't get the candy wet!) and add flowers.
Voila! Not too hard- and I have very little experience in flower arranging.
I also had one nutella recipe that I made after Nutella Day- sugar cookie nutella buttercream sandwiches. I used Martha's sugar cookie recipe (from her cookie cookbook), which is a really easy recipe. I had run out of vanilla when making the nutella cupcakes, so I used almond extract. I also used my fondant decorating mat when rolling these out, to give them a pretty design- I'd planned to make them into sandwich cookies, so I wouldn't decorate them with frosting, but I still wanted them to be pretty. I got the idea from Martha's cardamom cookies, which she featured on her Christmas cookie episode this year- and which I watched last Saturday (thank you, DVR!)
I discovered these cookies are really good with coffee, so many mornings this past week (after mailing 3/4 of the batch to other people), I had the "should I eat a cookie with breakfast?" debate. I have no qualms about eating cookies for breakfast, unlike most people. My only issue is the calories of such a cookie. So the big question each day was, "is this cookie worth the calories?"
Yes, it is.
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