Changes...like it or not!

Recently I have been reminded that change, may it be good or bad, will happen with or with out your permission. At the beginning of May my mother was diagnosed with an incurable cancer called Multiple Myeloma. It is a nasty, ugly, and unfair disease that I had never heard of, but now know more than I wish to. Since her diagnosis I have been faced with how very fragile life and relationships are and I have just not been myself. I started this blog for fun and to share positive experiences. Since I have been fairly blue I didn't think it fair to myself or you to share my lack of positivity. And, to be honest, I have not done anything even remotely interesting in the kitchen.

Now that the craziness of her diagnosis and treatment schedules have calmed down I have had time to reflect on everything and myself. I cook because it makes me happy, it relieves my stresses and it brings me the best feeling to share my food with family and friends. So, I have made a promise to myself to get back into the kitchen and stop feeling so sorry for myself! I have several recipes I want to try and with the long 4th of July weekend coming up, I think that now is a perfect time to get started. Stay tuned this weekend for some fun posts!

This Years Crop

I know....it has been about 5 weeks since I blogged. Honestly I have not been in the kitchen too much as of late. I have been busy with work, friends, family, ect. But 5 weeks is way to long to wait to do something you enjoy, so I will make a strong effort to come up with interesting topics so blog about.

Over the weekend Peter planted our 2009 vegetable, herb, and berry garden. On this years menu we have an assortment of tasty treats that I can't wait to start using!

Tomatoes, both regular & cherry. We had so many tomatoes last year, I am hoping for the same this go round.

Basil. How can you grow tomatoes and not have fresh basil to go with them, right?

Parsley & Cilantro. Peter planted a curly variety of parsley, I normally use flat leaf in my cooking but we will give this one a go.

Thyme. I use this herb a lot, having fresh on hand is going to be great.

Green peppers. I love a green pepper, but honestly don't use them that often. Any idea's for recipes?

Last but not least, a blackberry bush. This bush was a spur of the moment thing, we walked by it at Lowe's and it seemed like a good idea. We will see how we do with it.

What makes all of this even more exciting is that all of our plants are going to be organic and they are planted in our very own compost! We love composting and recently just bought our second barrel.

It is amazing, truly amazing, how much less trash you have when you start composting & recycling. We used to fill up our entire trash can every week, usually to the point where the lid didn't close. Pretty sad when it is just the two of us and the dog! Now that we compost and recycle we are usually throwing away only 2-3 bags of trash a week! It feels so good to be doing something great for the Earth and to get great soil for planting!

Dim Sum Fun

My most recent issue of Cuisine at Home arrived about 2 weeks ago. This is always a joyous event for me as it is usually doesn't disappoint. This issue the large article on Dim Sum caught my eye and I just had to try it!

Some of you may be asking yourself "what the heck is Dim Sum Emily"? They are Chinese dumplings that are filled with meats or vegetables. They are usually steamed or boiled and are right up my alley because they are like little snack foods!

After reading the article I decided that I needed to get a bamboo steamer. They did recommend a couple of other methods but for whatever reason I decided I needed to be "authentic". I check out Bed, Bath and Beyond and Target and couldn't find one. I was thinking I was going to have to hit up William Sonoma and spend a small fortune when a friend who was attending the same child's birthday party that day suggested the Cost Plus Word Market a few stores down. Am I the last person on Earth to know about this store? What a cool place! I didn't have a lot of time so I can't wait to go back but they had the steamer and some cool chop sticks for about $15.oo.

So...on to the actual food. I didn't brave making my own dough this time around, although it looks doable, instead I opted for the pre-made wonton wrappers and made all three protein dumplings in the article. Beef & scallions, shrimp, and pork potstickers. All three had a different cooking method. The beef was boiled, the shrimp steamed, and the pork fried & steamed.

The beef and pork were very good, the pork being my favorite. The shrimp was really not good at all, I found it flavorless. The dipping sauce of basically sweetened soy sauce was also very good.

Peter of course didn't care for any of them but kind of liked the pork. I do have to give him credit for trying them though.

I had a blast with this one, it had been a long time since I had taken on a challenging cooking project. A word of caution, you will need a good bit of time if you choose to try it. It took me about 3 hours from start to finish. Wrapping these little treats takes a loooooong time and it is not easy to make the cute little packages in the article pictures. They also seem to freeze very well, so that made the time worth it as well.

Stay tuned...

I know I have been slack on blog posts in recent weeks. To be honest I haven't had much time to sit down and do it!!! I have a post of about the Dim Sum I made last Sunday in the works, so please stay tuned!

An ultra cool birthday gift

On Thursday, March 5th I will turn 30 and I am amused at the comments I get from people that learn I have this milestone birthday coming up soon. Most people ask me how I feel, some groan and say I on my way over the hill, and some smile and say 30 was their best year ever and life has been grand ever since.



I am warmed by those that smile and say they loved turning 30. I do not have any negative feelings about turning 30, not a one. I feel that in my short life I have accomplished a lot of things, and still have a lot to do. I feel filled up everyday with the thought of how lucky I am to have lived this life and am excited for what the future holds. I have the best family and friends, both near and far, that a girl could ever ask for. I have a loving and hilarious husband that I love a little bit more everyday, a beautiful home, a stable job and a wiener dog that is more human to me than she is K9. Life is pretty close to perfect.



As I reflect on this birthday I have been thinking a lot about the person who was there from the beginning, my mom. Sometimes I think we are nothing a like. She is quirky, spontaneous, funky, and silly (just to name a few), and I have thought for a long time that I am none of these things. I am conservative, a planner, a worrier. However, the more I think about her I am reminded what a beautiful person she is and that I really do have all of those traits as well. My mom gave me the tools to be the person that I am today, she has loved me through the angst of my teenage years, the trials of young adulthood, and the joy of marriage. She has helped me find myself, and although I am sure she was frustrated more times than not, she has loved me fiercely through it all. It has been a great 30 years of being her daughter and I look forward to many many more.

So...you maybe saying to yourself, this is all very sweet Emily but what was the cool birthday gift? It is a small gift from my mom that is making me so happy! She has many talents, cooking is one and I got that passion from her, but the other is sewing. I can not sew a stitch and I am so jealous that she can! So for my birthday she made me these two really cool kitchen aprons.




I love homemade gifts, especially those that I will really use and I especially love that they came from my mom. I am looking forward to using them soon, hopefully this afternoon.

Here's to turning 30 and being excited, and to a great mom who has taught me so many life lessons.

Dr. Tyler's Chicken Meatball & Tortellini Soup

I tried my first recipe from Tyler Florence's book Dinner at My Place over the weekend. Soup is one of my favorite things and as the cold weather is slipping away (fingers crossed) I decided I should make a big pot before the weather gets too warm.

The recipe was fun to put together. First was the meatballs. I made the bread crumbs in my miniature food processor which I have had for several months but have not yet had the opportunity to use.

Then in went ground chicken, milk, egg, parsley, and Parmigiano- Reggiano. The meat mixture is not very stiff and was hard to roll in my hands so I used a small ice cream scoop instead, made life a lot easier! The meatballs then go into a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes until golden and cooked through.

The rest of the soup is the same as a traditional chicken soup. Carrots, celery, onion, thyme and parsley are added to boxed chicken stock and simmered while the meatballs are in the oven. The cooked meatballs and the cheese tortellini are added and cook for about 7 minutes.

Very good soup. My only complaint is that the meatballs started to crumble over the next two days. I think this one may be best enjoyed the first day.

Marietta Diner

I am an Food Network junkie, and one Saturday morning I caught a quick minute of Diners, Drive In's and Dives. I had never really watched the show but I heard them talking about a place in Marietta, GA that sounded a lot like the "Greek" restaurants I miss so much from my home in Wisconsin. Don't be fooled by the word Greek. Although most of these restaurants have fantastic Greek fare, it referees to the people that own the restaurant who are normally of Greek descent.

Peter and I made the trip over to Marietta Diner last Saturday and I loved it from the moment I saw the sign!

There was a short wait so we had time to take a quick self-portrait and when we were being shown to our table we spotted the Diners Drive in's and Dives poster! Pretty cool!

I could not wait to try the Spanikopita that I had heard about on the show. Upon being seated I asked our waitress for it right away. Her response, "If it's ready." Ok.....I wasn't sure what that meant, especially when about 5 minutes later a table near us got a plate of it. I was craving that Spanikopta so much, but sadly it never arrived. Disappointing.

However, I recovered and enjoyed my Gyro. YUMMMMM!!!!! This is one of my favorite sandwiches ever and it was great. The Tzatziki sauce that came with it was one of the best I have tasted and I used it on my Greek salad and french fries. I couldn't get enough!

Peter had an awesome Bacon Cheese Burger (sans bacon, thank you again stellar waitress) that I wanted to eat most of as well but resisted and had only one bite.

The desserts lure you in as you are shown to your table. Huge cakes and pies call your name!

Peter enjoyed a massive slice of carrot cake and I had the chocolate cream pie. Both were scrumptious but the portions were way too big and sadly we could not finish them.

I highly recommend checking out the Marietta Diner (hopefully you get a better waitress). They are open 24 hours a day and the menu was fantastic! It really was hard to decide what to eat. The breakfast plates that went by our table looked especially good, I think I will try that next time we go back.

Boiled Eggs

They should be easy, right? Not so. I find that I either over cook them or the shells are difficult to peel and I end up with a mutilated egg! At last I think I have found the solution thanks to my Martha Stewart Cooking School cook book, and by catching about 5 minutes of Paula's Home Cooking on the Food Network.

Here is my new method.

Place eggs in cold water with 2 teaspoons of salt (the salt is what I learned from Paula).
Cover and bring to a boil (the rest is what I learned from Martha).
Keep covered, turn off heat and let rest for 13 minutes.
Run under cold water to stop cooking.
Peel and eat.

Perfect every time.....or at least the 3 times I have tried this method!

Two blog posts for the price of one

This past weekend I made two blog worthy recipes. Both were delicious and very different types of fare.

The first I made for Saturday lunch, Teriyaki Chicken Lo Mein. Lo Mein is one of my favorite things to order when going out for Chinese food so I thought I would give this one a try. Very easy and quick recipe, it took about 30 minutes to come together. My only complaint was that it was a little too sweet even after cutting down on the sugar. Next time I will cut it down to maybe 2 tablespoons.

3/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar

1 1/2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

3 1/2 cups water

4 (3-oz.) packages ramen noodles, broken into large pieces, seasoning packets discarded

1 (16-oz) bag coleslaw mix

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Simmer soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, sugar, and cornstarch in large saucepan over medium-high heat, whisking often, until thickened, 2-3 minutes. Transfer half of soy sauce mixture to large bowl and reserve. Add water to sauce pan with remaining soy sauce mixture and return to boil. Add ramen and cook, stirring occasionally until tender, about 4 minutes. Off heat stir in cole slaw mix. Cover and keep warm.

Pat chicken dry with paper towels. heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add chicken and cook until no longer pink. Transfer chicken to bowl with reserved soy sauce mixture and toss to coat. Transfer noodles to platter, top with chicken and serve.

The second recipe was for Super Bowl Sunday. We went to the Gilbertson's to enjoy the big game. Everyone brought a dish to accompany the delicious ribs and pork shoulder that Jeremy cooked up. My contribution was a potato salad from Tyler Florence.

What I liked about this recipe was the dill. Lots of dill and dill pickles!! Dill is one of my favorite flavors and unfortunately I don't get to use it very often. The salad was good on Sunday evening, but it was GREAT for lunch this afternoon. The flavors really married together over night. I can't wait for summer cook outs to make this one again!

Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are some of my favorite. I am on the hunt for the best recipe, any suggestions? Earlier this week I made the traditional recipe on the back of the chip bag, they were good right out of the oven, but got crispy after they cooled. I prefer a chewy cookie so I was a bit disappointed.






2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks, 1/2 pound) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated [white] sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups (12-ounce package) NESTLE TOLL HOUSE Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup chopped nuts


COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large mixer bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.


BAKE in preheated 375-degrees oven for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Sunday Brunch with the Ladies

Yesterday some of my girlfriends and I had brunch at Traci's house. It was a great way to start the morning. We all brought something to share and I made a Steusel Topped Blueberry Lemon Coffee Cake from ATK Family Cookbook (pg. 489).

An interesting tip given for this recipe. Have you ever noticed that when you add frozen berries to a cake they dye the entire cake their color. The recipe suggests that you run the frozen berries under cold water until the water runs clear to prevent this. Nice tip, worked like a charm.

The cake was delicious (as was everything else). Very moist and quick to put together. I am a sucker for steusel toppings and this did not disappoint.

Traci and Presley set a beautiful table complete with a full menu!

Waffle House Lattes made by Barrister Traci.

Vanilla Banana Shots & Fresh Squeezed Citrus Juice

Poppyseed Fruity Salad

Sausage Pinwheels

PMS Potato Casserole (the crowd favorite made by my sister in law Lindsey)

Drunken Ham Casserole

We all had such a great morning. It was fun to catch up with everyone and to see our friend Amber, it had been far too long!

New take on Lemon Spaghetti

Last night I put together a quick and delicious pasta for dinner. Again, using things I had one hand I added to the Lemon Spaghetti recipe I posted about I think last spring.

This one had:

Chicken

Parsley

Chives

Peas

Garlic

Parmesan

White wine

Lemon

Butter (just a touch for richness)

I loved all the green in the pasta, it tasted light and fresh. Really good after having a had a big brunch (see next post) earlier in the day.

I have a real problem.....

I love cookbooks! I really, really LOVE cookbooks! And honestly, I have way too many and I really don't use them all. There is just something about them, I can't get enough. My favorite are those that have lots of photos, they help inspire me to make my meals look just a beautiful!

Here are the books I currently have in rotation (I am too embarrassed to post the instead of the cookbook cupboard). I leave them on the shelf over the kitchen sink to remind myself to actually look through them and use them rather than only using my latest one which I have been known to do.

Yesterday, I feel off the wagon so to speak and picked up yet another one! Tyler Florence's, Dinner at My Place. There I was killing time at Barnes & Noble before an appointment and it called to me. I just had to have it. Not only because I really enjoy Tyler's shows on Food Network and have made (and really enjoyed) several of his recipes, but also because this man it sexy as all get out! I just love him! :-)

Does anyone else have this addiction or is it only me? I wonder if there is a Cookbook Buyers Anonymous group in the Atlanta area.....

The Clean Out Continues

I am getting bored and am really wanting to do some serious cooking. However, I have set a goal and I will not allow myself to fail! My freezer and pantry are almost empty, I think by Monday I will be ready to hit the stores to restock!

This week the cupboards did allow me to make two meals that we both enjoyed. The first came from Cook's Country Magazine which I recently received a free trial issue from. Here is the recipe exactly how it is printed in the magazine, I made several adjustments which I will detail, but in case you wanted to make the real deal, here it is.

Cheesy Broccoli & Rice Casserole

Serves 8 to 10

2 slices hearty white sandwich bread, torn into pieces

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

4 tbls. unsalted butter, melted; plus 2 tablespoons, chilled

1 garlic clove, minced

2 pounds broccoli, florets cut into 1-inch pieces, stems peeled & chopped

1 onion, chopped fine

1 1/4 cup long grain white rice

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 1/4 cup half-and-half

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1. Prepare Topping: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 13x9 baking dish. Pulse bread, 1/4 cup Parmesan, and melted butter in food processor until coarsely ground. Add garlic.

2. Make Filling: Microwave broccoli florets, covered, in large bowl until bright green and tender, set aside. Melt remaining butter in Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook onion and broccoli stems until softened, 8 to 10 minutes. Add rice and cook, stirring constantly, until rice is translucent, about 1 minutes. Stir in broth, half-and-half, and salt and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring often, until rice is tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Off heat, stir in cheddar, cayenne, remaining Parmesan, and broccoli florets.

3. Top and Bake: Pour mixture into prepared baking dish and top with bread crumb mixture. Bake until sauce is bubbling around edges and top is golden brown, about 15 minutes. Cool 5 minutes. Serve.

So, what did I change? I added chicken. I think I have mentioned this before, but Peter does not believe you are having a meal unless there is some kind of meat. I disagree, however I was trying to make us both happy with this meal. I just cooked up 2 chicken breasts seasoned with salt and pepper. Nothing fancy.

Second, I cut down on a lot of the fat and dairy! I sprayed the dutch oven with PAM cooking spray and only used 1 tbls. of butter to cook the onion. I also left out the bread topping. Not only because I didn't have any bread in the house, but also because it really didn't appeal to me. So I threw the garlic in with the onions. I didn't have the cheddar cheese but I had about a half bag of shredded Mexican blend cheese so I used that and about 1/2 cup of fresh Parmesan. And I used frozen broccoli florets because that is what I had on hand.

We both really loved this dish! It was very comforting and gave the "feeling" of being really bad for you, but was only mildly as the creaminess of the dish came from the starch in the rice and not too much actual cream or dairy. YUM! I am sure I will make this again before winter is over.

The second meal that we like this week was a version of my slow cooker chili.....have I ever blogged about the real version.....I don't think I have....I will do that soon, it is YUM.

Anyhoo, I didn't have everything I needed so I just whipped up what I did have. I had some chunky stew meat, onion, carrots (not in the original recipe), diced tomatoes, Carroll Shelby Chili Seasoning (great stuff, I have been using it for years and always have it on hand), kidney beans, black beans and tomato sauce. I put it all on to cook and headed out to the office for the day.

When I came home we topped it with just a bit of shredded cheese and low-fat (really not as good as full fat) sour cream and enjoyed. We are just about done eating when Peter turns to me and says "Babe, this taste awesome." Me, "Thanks, I am happy you liked it I just threw it together." Peter, "But I have to say, don't get mad, that it kind of looks like Alpo". I about died!!! He was so right, hilarious! So although it wasn't very pleasing to the eye it really was delicious and helped to clean out a large amount of food in the kitchen!

Cleaning out the cabinets

A goal that I set for 2009 that I didn't list in my previous post is to use up what food we have in the house before going to buy more. I find that my freezer and pantry end up full of things that basically become out of site out of mind. So this week I made two recipes using ingredients that I already had in the house (with the exception of fresh produce). Both recipes came from my cookbook of the moment, The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.

The first dish I made was Skillet Ziti with Chicken and broccoli. Basically the recipe gave me more of an idea of what I wanted to make, but I made several adjustment to the recipe to make it a bit lighter and healthier.

The two major changes I made were instead of using the 3 tablespoons of butter that the recipe called for I only used one and instead of heavy cream, I used skim milk. I also used whole wheat ziti and added cauliflower and carrots. I am a sucker for pasta and this one was really good, I will make it again for sure.

The second recipe I made was Slow Cooker Chicken with Sausage and Corn. Again, I made just a couple of adjustments to boost the health factor. Instead of bone in skin-on chicken breasts I used boneless skinless breast and thighs. Also, instead of pork of beef kielbasa I used turkey kielbasa.

I love the convenience of my slow cooker(s) and this recipe was easy and sounded comforting. The addition of fresh corn was appealing as well. The dish was good served over rice, but it didn't knock my socks off. I found it to be a little bit bland. Peter added hot sauce which he said helped.

I still have plenty of things to use up in this house, I am looking forward to finding creative uses for all of it!

Too Much Chocolate Cake

I know, there's no such thing! :-)

I was looking for a decedent, but easy chocolate cake recipe to make for Christmas dinner at my father in laws and ran in this one, which I loved because it allowed me to cheat a little bit and use a boxed cake mix! Shh....that's a secret!

Everything about the recipe made me think it would be rich, moist and decedent which is exactly what I wanted in a Christmas dessert so I also decided to make miniature cakes for some of my co-workers. There was one left over that Peter and I tried, which was good but not as moist as I had hoped it would be. I figured that making the larger version would make for a moister cake and I was right. This cake is fantastic and will become one of my go to cakes when I am in a hurry! The other great thing, you don't have to make frosting!!

Out with the Old & In with the New- Welcoming 2009

I find myself feeling very reflective this dreary Friday afternoon. As the new year begins and the old one moves out I am excited for new adventures.

2008 was my best year yet. Not because any major event took place, although many did, but because I think I got to know myself better, worried less and generally had more fun. Because of this I am welcoming 2009 with open and excited arms!

This year I resolve to do the following.

1. Become more healthy. Eat cleaner, exercise more, and spend more time outdoors.

2. Find a culinary challenge that really inspires me (suggestions welcome)!

3. To be more green! In 2008 we started composting and grew some of the best tomatoes ever! I also started using canvas grocery bags religiously! In 2009 we will recycle more, cut down on our electricity and water use and walk more!

4. Slow down enough to enjoy the things that I really like to do, even if others don't.

5. Travel

I hope that you all are as excited about the coming year as I am! I think it will only prove to be better and more delicious than the last!