Category Archives: recipes

yes, semi-homemade

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  I know some of you think I’m like a demented Martha Stewart and I do everything from scratch and that includes churn my own  butter. But truthfully, often I do it semi-homemade. And it tastes just fine.

What you were looking at are my cheaters carrot cake cupcakes. I call them cheaters because I start with a box cake mix.

I take a French vanilla cake mix, and I add four eggs, One cup of milk instead of the one cup of water called for on the package, one stick or 1/2 cup of butter melted and cooled slightly instead of vegetable oil. 

To that I add 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon, 1 1/2 teaspoons of cardamom, 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes, and 4 finally grated medium-sized carrots.

I add the dry cake mix and beat the better according to the package directions. Today I used a Betty Crocker super moist French vanilla mix.

I cook the cupcakes according to package directions which is 350° for 17 to 20 minutes and you have to keep an eye on it.  Once they are cool, I frost them with store-bought cream cheese frosting. I mixed my manufacturers and used Pillsberry frosting today.

I love making cupcakes I think they are fun and you can go on Amazon and through Wilton bakeware you can get all sorts of cute cupcake liners. And I use aluminum cupcake pans – they were my grandmother’s actually. I do not like a lot of dark metal non stick bakeware. I don’t like the way things cook in the nonstick.

Thanks for stopping by!

new spin on summer salad staple

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 So bean salad is a summer staple. One bean, two bean, three bean and more.

I decided to change it up. I took half a bag each of Goya dried navy beans and pinto beans yesterday and put them in to soak with salt and water overnight. I then cooked them according to directions on their packaging this morning.

While the beans were cooling I minced three large cloves of garlic, chopped fine one large red onion, chopped one fresh red bell pepper, peeled and chopped one fresh cucumber, and tossed into a bowl.

To that bowl I added salt and pepper to taste, 3 tablespoons of white table sugar , a bunch of fresh dill chopped, and a third of a cup of Italian flat leaf parsley chopped.

I mixed the salt and pepper, herbs and spices, along with the vegetables and drizzled olive oil and rice wine vinegar and red wine vinegar over the top of it and stirred some more.  I always add more vinegar than oil to bean salads.

I should’ve measured exactly how much oil and vinegar but I didn’t I’m sorry- you want basically enough that your salad gets coated and sort of pickled  but not enough that it swimming in dressing.

Last but not least I tossed in the beans which I had drained and mixed everything together, as well as adjusted for salt and pepper. I will now chill the salad down until this evening but it looks beautiful and tastes terrific!

summer dinner

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  It’s been a brutally hot week and I’m having people for dinner. We will start with Mutabbal which is basically Egyptian baba ghanouj and pita.

Next to accompany a marinated roast we will be grilling we will also be grilling marinated veggie shish kebabs, lentil salad, and for dessert a simple summer trifle.

Guests may have sparkling water, ice tea, a lovely rosé wine or glass of Sancerre.

vegetables marinating for veggie shish kebab. Marinade marinade made with an Arabian spice blend known as Baharat

 

Lentil salad made witjh red and regular lentils, for grated carrots, one purple onion, one small purple bell pepper, halved grape tomatoes, Italian flat leaf parsley and fresh basil diced, a simple vinaigrette made with lemon juice lemons asked, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, cumin

 

Mutabbal- two cans drained canned chickpeas, tahini paste, olive oil, one roasted white egg plant and one roasted red pepper, half an onion, three cloves of garlic, a few dashes of Tabasco, Stonington sea salt, a little fresh parsley, juice of one large lemon and zest as well, paprika, cumin, couple dashes of Ras el Hanout. Purée and refrigerate and serve with pita.

Summer trifle made with rasberries, blueberries, lady fingers, lemon and coconut puddings

local rave: spread love

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 There is a woman in Honeybrook who makes the most amazing jams, jellies, spreads, hot sauce, mustard, pickles eat, you name it!  Her name is Shirley and she is definitely a preserving and canning goddess!

You can find her business Spread Love Jellies Jams and Condiments on Facebook and she also gives cooking lessons two individuals and groups.

Homemade deliciousness like this is a weakness and these are excellent! Among the things you should try is her tomato jam.

You can find her products at a lot of local places and can contact her through her Facebook page and via email shirlandis (at) gmail (dot) com. She says she will have a regular website soon!

easy summer entertaining

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  Entertaining in the summer is so easy and fun! Fresh fruit and vegetables and flowers are so readily available and it is easy to be casual.

I am not for the paper plates and plastic cup casual, though. I like to make things look nice for my guests.

Last night was one of those nights. We got together with some of our favorite friends from high school and we don’t get together as often as we should and I wanted it to be special. 

  I did my table in my vintage finds that were season appropriate- Fiestaware and a cool Vera tablecloth.

I served summer food with my culinary twists. Started with a real gooey traditional French Brie with fresh strawberries on the side as well as crackers. Melon wrapped in prosciutto but not just cantelope, a lucious canary melon too.  And a super fresh caprese salad with my own garden basil. 

  For dinner, sweet cornbread muffins with dill, chili powder, and cinnamon. Chuck roast I had marinated for two days and roasted (they were supposed to be for the grill but Mother Nature changed the weather up). The roast was tender and flavorful!  

  We finished with a seasonal greens salad topped with sliced thin rings of lolipop scallions, Mert’s Nuts (the salad crumbles), goat cheese crumbles and a simple mustard vinegarette. Dessert was a triple berry trifle with three layers of pudding (lemon, coconut, white chocolate) and cookies my friend brought from Isgros.

  And on a whim along with some lovely French Rosés I served prosecco. The food was fresh and simple and the table seasonally festive. I did it buffet style so my guests could mingle and eat what they chose while catching up.

   

 Best of all it was just one of those fun evenings where it all felt like it was only five minutes long! Good friends, good food, good conversation and fun! 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

mashed potato salad 

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🍜Warning: this is not a recipe per se, it’s a “how to” rescue in the kitchen.

So……have you ever wondered what to do when you boil the potatoes for a couple minutes too long when you’re making potato salad? They are a little too cooked to maintain their form as little wedges in a traditional potato salad, so why not mash them up?

Yep, you take the potatoes, mash them roughly with a hand potato masher, and add all your favorite potato salad ingredients. You don’t have to mash the rest of the ingredients just chop them a little more finely. 

Tastes like regular potato salad, only it’s mashed potato salad. Also instead of just using mayonnaise, add a little coarse brown or dijon mustard, a little sherry vinegar, and a tiny bit of olive oil and make a dressing of sorts. The taste is refreshingly different than just mayonnaise. Too that I generally add chopped fresh chives and dill and parsley.

Try it!

  

cooking gnocchi with mushrooms

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I ended up having some people over for dinner last night.  So I butterflied a big roaster chicken and roasted Julia Child style simply with fresh herbs (you can see the chicken in the photo at the bottom of the page – that was what it looked like as it went into the oven – I forgot to take its picture when it came out). 

I served with a fresh mixed green salad to which I added a simple balsamic mustard vinaigrette, and the starch was homemade gnocchi with mushrooms. Dessert in case you were wondering was sliced fresh strawberries from Kimberton Whole Foods.

I have previously given you my gnocchi recipe. So use that as your guide to rolling them out until little logs and slicing them into bite-size pieces, but the dough composition is different and here’s how I did it:

 
1 egg beaten
 
4 to 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
 
2  medium sized (not huge) potatoes roasted skins removed and smashed up
 
1 cup of ricotta strained to remove any extra liquid – whole milk is best
 
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
 
About 2 cups of flour, maybe  less – add half a cup at a time to your dough to see. You don’t want a dry dough with gnocchi, it should always feel not quite sticky but more elastic.
 
1 tablespoon of rosemary leaves dried, 1 teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon of salt.
 
Basically you mix it all together until becomes a dough but don’t overwork it. Then I throw a cloth over my bowl and allow the dough to rest for at least half an hour.
 
When your dough has rested, break off pieces of the dough and roll into little logs and slice into bite-size pieces from the log. You can roll them off the edge of the forks so they have those lines in them or you can cook them just the way they are.
 
After I make my gnocchi I lay them out on a large baking sheet on parchment paper and put it on a shelf by itself in the refrigerator till I am ready to cook.
 
 
The sauce is pretty simple:
 
Melt one stick of butter which is half a cup in a sauté pan – a large sauté pan because you will be adding the gnocchi to it later.
 
When the butter is melted and starting to bubble just a slight bit, add half a large red onion diced. Add a little salt and pepper to taste.  Add one finely grated medium sized carrot.
 
After the onion starts to turn slightly translucent, add thinly sliced baby Bella  mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms, and a handful of white mushrooms. Basically you should use one 8 ounce package of shiitake, The same size package of baby Portabella mushrooms also known as crimini, and about 4 ounces of white mushrooms.
 
Next add a handful of fresh sage leaves chopped into small-ish pieces and about a teaspoon of dried rosemary  or if you have fresh dice up a smallish twig.
 
When everything seems to be cooked together fairly well but not mushy remove from heat.
 
I do the mushroom mixture ahead of time and not at the same time I am cooking my gnocchi because there is not enough time.
 
After the mushroom mixture is cooled use a slotted spoon and remove the vegetables to their own bowl for the time being. Leave the butter and liquid from mushrooms in the bottom of the pan.
 
Boil a large pot of salted water and when everything is really boiling toss in all your gnocchi.
 
The same time you are boiling your gnocchi bring the pan with the butter and the mushroom juices back up to heat. You may have to add about another tablespoon of butter and do add a scant 1/4 cup of white wine.  (Last night I was roasting a chicken as I was making these gnocchi for a side dish so I also tossed in 2 tablespoons of pan juices. ) You need that mixture to reach almost boil but not cook off. Also toss in two or three whole sage leaves.
 
The gnocchi will cook probably in about 3 to 4 minutes – when they all are bubbling to the surface and bobbing around, use a slotted spoon to remove them.
 
Put the gnocchi immediately into the pan with butter and wine that should be really bubbling at this point. Move the gnocchi around gently to brown slightly. As you are moving the gnocchi around gently add back the mushrooms and red onion to heat again.
 
Be careful  with your gnocchi they are a slightly delicate things but once everything is browned through toss half a cup of grated Parmesan on on top and some diced flat leaf parsley if you choose. Toss one more time into a bowl and serve.
 
 

oh my easter pies!

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Savory Easter Pie

Savory Easter Pie

I was inspired by my friend Lisa DePaulo’s mom’s Easter Pizza recipe, but didn’t have everything on hand to make that recipe.  So I took my recent Ricotta Pie recipe and adapted it…to two pies in normal, not deep dish pie plates.

I ended up with a a pair of pies…and here is how I did it:

Preheat oven to 350°

Take ricotta pie recipe  and assemble the filling but ONLY add   2 tablespoons of sugar. Add the vanilla and add the lemon zest of one fresh lemon. Do not add the orange zest.

Take two piecrusts and line two regular pie plates. Put in refrigerator to keep dough chilled.

Split your ricotta mixture in half into two large bowls.

In one bowl which will be your sweet pie add the sweet ingredients (1/2 of the sugar or 1/2 a cup, lemon zest, candied citron/lemon/orange peel, cinnamon, white raisins if you want and even 1/3 cup UNSWEETENED coconut), and there you have the mixture for the sweet Easter or ricotta pie.

In the second bowl (for the savory Easter pie)  beat in one more egg, add half a cup of Parmesan and Romano cheese mixture, and a about 4 to 5 ounces of grated cheddar. I prefer a sharp and white cheddar very dry. Add a little salt and pepper to taste, and a little dill and thyme and tarragon.

In a small sauté pan sauté with 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter melted add  2/3 cup of diced ham, one onion, and eight or nine baby bella mushrooms. Sauté down and drain of any liquid. Set aside to cool slightly. Some dill, oregano, thyme, tarragon to taste. I do not add any extra salt because of the salt in the ham.

Put the meat mixture into the bottom of one of your pie crusts in the pie plates and pour the savory ricotta cheese mixture over.

Pour  your sweet ricotta pie mixture into your other prepared pie crust and plate and you can bake them together in the oven for about an hour – you’re going to have to start checking at about 55 minutes- this is my first time through doing it this way so you guys are learning with me! I took about 1 hour and 10 minutes baking both – the savory dinner pie in the end was ready before the dessert pie.

Both pies turned out ok and are honestly very tasty and disappearing fast, although I probably should have taken both pies out of the oven at the 1 hour mark.

Buona Pasqua!

Sweet Easter Pie

Sweet Easter Pie

 

guest recipe: josie’s easter  pizza

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So my sweet ricotta pies are not the only variety – there are also savory ricotta pies. I remember my great aunts making one around Easter, but I never knew how they made it.

Lucky for me I have an amazing guest recipe today to share. This recipe comes to me from my friend, writer Lisa DePaulo!  I am very excited to share this with you and this was her mother’s recipe. (and if you want to check out a little of what Lisa  has been working on at her new home at Bloomberg News, click HERE and HERE.)

Without further ado:

Hi, honey. So this is my Mom’s Easter Pizza recipe, aka Pizza Rustica, aka ricotta pie. Funny aside: She had the recipe scribbled down on a yellowed piece of paper that was passed on from her mother and probably her grandmother from Naples. Then one day, it was in the Sunday New York Times—the exact same recipe! It is amazing. And the sweet crust with the savory fillings is divine. Also, super easy to make. Particularly the crust. xoxo 

Josie’s Easter Pizza

The following is for a 10-inch square or 9 x 13 (or whatever!) ceramic or glass baking dish. 

Crust: 
2 cups flour 
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 stick margarine (yes, margarine)
2 eggs


Mix flour, sugar and baking powder together in large bowl. Work in the margarine with your fingers. Make a well in the center. Drop in the eggs. Knead from sides to center. Let dough stand under a bowl for at least 10 minutes while making your filling. 

Filling:
2+ pounds ricotta (if I have a 3 lb container, I add a little more than 2 lbs)
4 eggs
1/4 pound prosciutto, chopped
1/2 to 3/4 pound sweet Italian sausage, baked (about 20 mins), skinned and chopped 
1/2 pound mozzarella, diced
1/2 cup grated parmesan or locatelli
A heaping 1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped

Beat ricotta and eggs (I just use a whisk). Add the rest of the ingredients and mix it all together. 

Divide the dough into quarters. You’ll want 3/4 of it for the bottom and sides crust and the other 1/4 to cover the pie. Roll out the bigger portion, using a bit more flour to roll it out. Dough should be the consistency of Play-doh, and the sides can be pieced together with your fingers. (Really, you can’t mess it up. I always piece most of it together.) 


Do not grease the baking pan.


Put your bottom and sides crust down in the pan. Then add the filling. Then the top crust, rolled out. 
Prick top of pie with fork. 


Bake at 400-degrees for 15 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 325 for another 45-55 minutes. You will know it is done when a knife comes out wet but clean and top is beautifully browned. 

Do NOT overcook (it will set more as it cools). 

When it is totally cool, cover with foil or saran and put in the fridge. It tastes better after a day or so. Serve it cold or room temperature, sliced in little rectangular wedges. Or whatever. Yes, cold or room temperature. Do NOT heat it up. Mangia!

good morning coffee cake

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I also call this cheater’s coffee cake because it is made with Bisquick a pre-made baking mix. So it is also semi-homemade but without Sandra Lee’s coordinating kitchen scape, table scape, and so on. You can also use a generic baking mix that is like Bisquick.

The base for this recipe used to be on the Bisquick box. I don’t see it there anymore. But over the years I have tweaked it and this is my favorite version. It mixes up quickly and is a delicious treat on weekends!


    Batter
    2 cups Bisquick (or comparable generic baking mix that is like it)
    2/3 cup milk (NOT skim – 1% or 2% or even buttermilk)
    1/2 cup frozen or fresh blueberries
    1 egg
    1/3 cup sugar
    1/2 teaspoon  cardamom 
    1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
      Topping
      2/3 cup Bisquick
      2/3 cup brown sugar
      1 teaspoon cinnamon 
      4 tablespoons butter
    Preheat oven to 400°

    Grease with either butter or Crisco  a large deep dish  pie plate.
    Mix batter ingredients – everything except the blueberries. Fold them in when everything else is mixed thoroughly.  (NOTE: You can also use dried cranberries or white seedless raisins instead of the blueberries. If you use dried fruit like that you’re going to bake on the lower end of the time estimation, or about 20 minutes.)

    In  a separate bowl mix topping ingredients together with either two forks or a pastry blender until crumbly crumbs are formed.

    Take a large deep dish pie plate and grease it.

    Pour batter into pie plate. Evenly distribute crumbly topping on top and cut crisscross well across top a few  times with a knife. 

    Bake in 400° oven for approximately 25 – 30 minutes

    Allow to cool for a little bit (at least 20 to 25 minutes) before serving but tastes best serve warm.