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!