Check it out

Miss J did a sweet phyllo dough pizza that sounded delish. Check it out.

Stovetop Helper

R and I were plowing through some Hamburger Helper during the move until I got really grossed out by it. He thought he'd converted me to some sort of Helper wench, but that was only a temporary phase. I'm over it now. I did, however, decide to make him a Helper-esque meal that will last a few nights, since work may be hectic. Behold the stovetop Italian-style helper!

Soften two onions. Add a bell pepper if desired. Throw in a pound of ground beef. Several garlic cloves. Some wine, any wine. Large can of tomatoes. Some pasta sauce, leftover in the fridge. Some random pesto I had in the fridge. Random Italian-esque seasonings. Pepper, salt, etc. A pound of macaroni, that I had cooked in boiling, salted water for about 5 minutes. Some grated cheese, I think grana padano, which is similar to parmigiano reggiano, the ultimate Italian cheese, smelled the same at least, v. hard, VERY hard. I also tossed in some beef broth because it was getting a bit thick with all the macaroni. Voila.

Crunchy pork

Last night's meal featured some lovely boneless pork chops, pounded flat, encrusted with some delicious pecan panko breadcrumbs from Whole Foods, courtesy of little brother (thanks!). The pecan panko mixture was delish - a mix of chopped pecans, panko breadcrumbs (lovely and crunchy, my fave), and some seasonings (not sure what, just enough to give it a bit of flavors). I just dunked the flat pork chops in a bit of egg, then in the panko, then pan fried up in a bit of butter and oil. Delish, with some roasted potatoes, applesauce, and a green salad.

Oatmeal bars

This month's Southern Living featured some oatmeal bar cookie recipes that start with a boxed yellow cake mix. I was intrigued, so I gave one a go - with chocolate and walnuts (instead of pecans). You mix yellow cake mix, melted butter, and oatmeal, and pat it into a baking dish. Then top with chocolate chips and nuts. Then more of the cake mix/oatmeal. Then bake. It couldn't have been simpler.


The results were mixed. It tasted good, which is of course important. But I think if I were to make them again, I'd either mix the chocolate chips and nuts in with the oatmeal/cake mix mixture or else make a thin topping of chocolate and nuts, because the "filling" method led to a complete lack of cohesion between the bottom and the top of the bar cookie. As you can see, they are fragile, crumbly, and don't cut very easily. Maybe it was user error. But I would recommend for a fast treat, they are v. easy, easy cleanup, and tasty.

Peanut butter good. Chicken good. Bowties good.

Time to bring up the summer food wardrobe, including various pasta salads. This week's lunches will feature a variation on the Barefoot Contessa's Chinese Chicken Salad. My changes are to add some hot sauce to the dressing and noodles to the salad. The amount of dressing ends up being insane otherwise. To the right is the dressing - peanut butter, cider vinegar, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, etc. Delish.


Finished product - farfalle noodles, asparagus, scallions, red and orange bell pepper, and chicken...yum.

Pork with more pork

For ma mere's last supper at Chez Cummiskey, I prepared some luscious stuffed pork chops. I browned some breakfast sausage (hot homemade sausage courtesy of one of my dad's outdoorsy colleagues) and added that to a package of prepared Stovetop Pork stuffing. I then partially butterflied 3 relatively thick boneless pork chops, stuffed some stuffing in, seasoned with s/p, and browned them, then baked them in a 375 degree oven until cooked through. Served with more stuffing on the side and some garlicky green beans, they were delish.

The pork chops are really easy, and the same method can be employed with chicken breasts as well. Using the stovetop stuffing means you get a lot of nice flavor with minimal effort, although they are probably saltier than need be, but I don't care, I heart the Stovetop.

Dessert. We had an abundance of desserts due to a ton of leftovers from Saturday night. Barefoot Contessa Outrageous Brownies, an Italian Cream Cake, a Key Lime Pie, and a Cherry Pie from Grandpa's Cheese Barn.

Daisy likes stew!

I made beef stew on Sunday since it is getting out of "stew" season here in central OH. I neglected it for a bit, and as a result, got a lovely ring of baked-on goodness in the bottom of the pot. When we finished said stew, I gave the pot to Daisy to help Mommy clean. She did a great job! Clean as a whistle, if you don't mind Daisy drool!

Happy Birthday to Me!

After an EXTREMELY long absence, I have returned with what I hope it is a small bang at least, the Barefoot Contessa Beatty's Chocolate Cake. It is tres good - mainly because the cake itself is so v. v. luscious. I think the whole bit of adding hot coffee to the batter right before baking does something to it. It makes an extremely runny, but moist batter. I think Nigella did a similar cake with that trick as well. It was DELISH! Also, notice the cookbook behind the cake open to the recipe for the cake. Tres artistique, non?

Holy Cheesy Poof!

Those who know me know that few foods can soothe me in the way that a good cheesy poof can. So you can understand the gravity of this statement - these are the BEST CHEESE SNACK FOODS I HAVE EVER TASTED IN MY LIFE. TGI Friday's brand Mozzarella sticks. Fabulous. Delicious. A must try.

You're my heart....

Long live the mock TV dinner

I apologize for my absence. What with the brain crisis and the home buying and what not, it's been a dull food month. However, I made a TV dinner tribute last night - Salisbury steak with mashed potatoes and peapods. R demurred on the peapods, as they are green and, therefore, evil.

I relied on an Emeril recipe. You basically make little meat patties full of beef, pork, onions, bacon, and lovely flavorings like Worcestershire, Dijon mustard, garlic, etc. You make a mushroom gravy. You make luscious mashed potatoes. And then you eat it.

I must admit, I wasn't wild on the Salisbury steak itself. It was a bit too burgery - a little tough. If I were to make something like this again, I'd make it more like a meatloaf - a little more egg, add some breadcrumbs, lighten it up a bit, so the gravy can actually permeate the meat. Now, the gravy - that I did enjoy. It was a bit too mushroomy at first, but with some additional beef broth and a dash of Worcestershire, it was delish.

Chicken braid

Thanks to Miss Elle for the lovely chicken braid recipe. I am sure she can school me in the future on "braid" construction, as you can see, it looks a bit odd, but it tasted VERY good.

For the braid, remove two cans of crescent rolls from their tubes - press the seams together and form two rectangles of dough - press the two rectangles together and roll into one long rectangle. I found it easier to fold the place one rectangle on top of the other, and then roll them out together into one long one.

For the filling, mix 2 c cooked chicken, 1/2 c shredded cheese (I used more like a cup), 1/2 c mayo, 1 small chopped red pepper, 1/2 small chopped onion, 1 finely minced clove garlic, 1 tsp dill, salt, and pepper together.*

Place the filling down the middle of the crescent roll rectangle. Cut strips about an inch wide on the sides of the rectangle, and brain them across the filling. Brush with egg wash.

Bake at 350 deg. for 25-30 min until golden.

When I get my master class on braid construction, I will update.

*The original recipe calls for broccoli and no onion. R's deep personal hatred of broccoli led to the substitution.

New Year's toast

Miss M and I toasted in our new year at a fab fun party, crowned with lovely prosecco and mango sorbet drinks. Thanks for the suggestion, Nigella!

Mmm...chicken beast

I have only few pics, but Miss M and I also prepared a lovely roasted chicken with sides of steamed broccoli and welsh rarebit sauce (thank you Stouffer's!) and the Barefoot Contessa's roasted mustard potatoes.

For the chicken, we got a 4.5 lb roaster and shoved 1/2 an onion, some garlic, and half a lemon in its unmentionables, salted/peppered the outside, then brushed with olive oil and roasted for about 1 1/2 hours in my janky 425 deg. oven, occasionally brushing with butter. The chicken rested on a bed of the other 1/2 onion and lemon and more garlic. It produced an insane amount of juicy goodness, so we made gravy with the dripping. Very moist and tasty.

For the potatoes, we cubed about 3 lbs of Yukon gold potatoes, then tossed with 2-3 tbsp olive oil, 3 tbsp whole grain mustard, salt, and pepper. They roasted at the same temp as the chicken for probably 65 minutes or so. Again, my oven is janky.

The broccoli was steamed and doused with cheesy goodness. Mmm.

Pomegranate cosmos

Lovely Miss M from Buffalo came to visit over the weekend and we had a very brief flurry of cooking. To buck us up for cooking ('cause we're Buckeyes!), Miss M prepared some lovely pomegranate cosmopolitan drinks. She'll have to verify the recipe, but I know that they included vodka, pomegranate juice, some OJ, and lime juice. They were delish. Pomegranate juice is VERY sour without some sort of sweetener, which is why we used orange juice.

Note the random items in the pic - whole grain mustard, s/p, sponge, etc. We keep a tidy kitchen.

Curry in not so much of a hurry

Nigella inspired me to make a chicken curry for dinner for R, myself, and little brother last night. For my version of the dish, I first browned about 2 1/2 lbs of chicken breasts in a bit of oil. Once brown, they were set aside on a plate. In the remaining oil, I sauteed two finely chopped onions until soft. I then added about 1 tsp of red pepper flakes, 2 tsp cumin, 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander, 1 1/2 tsp ground cardomon, salt, pepper, and 5 minced garlic cloves. I let the spices toast a bit, then put in about 1 1/2 c Greek yogurt, 1/2 c heavy cream, 1 c chicken stock, a cinnamon stick, 1 1/2 tsp garam masala, a tiny bit of sugar, and more salt/pepper. I added the chicken back in and cooked at a low bubble until the chicken was cooked through.

Meanwhile, I sauteed another small onion, finely chopped, in a few tbsp of butter in a medium saucepan with some salt and pepper. I then added 3 c uncooked basmati rice (this was to last several meals) and let that toast for a bit. I then added about 4 c water and 1 1/2 c chicken stock and cooked the rice for about 20 min, then let it sit in its pan off the heat, covered, until we were ready to eat. Delish.

Serve topped with some sliced almonds and you're off.

Christmas baking time

Here are some cookies. From the top left: almond bars, jam thumbprints, peanut butter chocolate biscotti, shortbread thumbelinas, and of course, cream cheese sugar cookies with royal icing (flavored with almond, not lemon).

Mmm...roast beast....

So, I purchased a giant eye of round roast over the weekend. Half went into the freezer and the other half was gently roasted in the oven and made part of a delicious Sunday roast, with potatoes, gravy, and roasted asparagus. And knotted yeast rolls, which I purchased from the fab Fresh Market and are not in the picture sadly.

For the roast, I smashed four cloves of garlic and quartered (did not peel) an onion. I spread a tiny bit of butter on the roast, sprinkled liberally with salt and pepper, and rested it on top of the onions and garlic. It was placed in a 325 deg oven for about 2 1/2 hours. We generally like our roast beast at medium and I accidently let it go to 156 deg before I removed it from the oven, so by the time it had rested and I had made gravy, it had gone beyond the desired medium doneness at 160 deg. Oh well. Live and learn. While it rested, I boiled up the smashed potatoes and roasted the asparagus. Delish.

Crockpot Stroganoff

As Rachael would say, we took the express train to eastern Europe with this passport meal. For said crockpot goodness, I cut 2 lbs of chuck into 1 1/2 inch cubes and mixed 2 thinly sliced medium onions, 8 oz. of sliced buttom mushrooms, 1 can of cream of onion soup, 1 can of cream of mushroom soup, salt, pepper, and about 1/2 c of water in the crockpot. Cook on low for 8-10 hours until the meat is lovely and tender. Cube one 8 oz package of cream cheese and add to the meat mixture, stirring until melted. Meanwhile, prepare 6 c of egg noodles or rice to serve under the meat. Once the cream cheese is melted, add 8 oz. sour cream and serve over the noodles or rice. DELISH for a winter's night.

Thanks to Miss M at work for the recipe!

Cookies!

I generally bake a LOT of cookies at the holiday time, and here is one of my faves, almond bars.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cream together 1 stick of butter with 1 c of sugar until fluffy. Add one egg and 1/2 tsp almond extract. Sift together 1 3/4 c flour, 2 tsp baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt. Gradually add to butter mixture and mix until combined. Turn out on a lightly floured surface and form the mixture into two 12x13 inch logs. Place the logs on a lightly greased cookie sheet, brush with milk, and top with sliced almonds. Bake for 9-12 minutes, then turn the pan, and bake another 9-12, until the ends are rather browned and the middle is turning brown. Slice, while warm, on an angle, allow to cool a few minutes on the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack. Then slam.