tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48028161446384752442024-02-01T21:13:44.432-08:00Real World FoodieLThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17647320873274443107noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4802816144638475244.post-53186331788953438292013-05-22T06:49:00.000-07:002013-05-22T06:50:08.008-07:00The Return of the RWF
A quick note to say hey! After a two-year hiatus, I'm back and bringing a friend. We're looking forward to sharing our experiences as we run our kitchens like they are a ring in the circus. A very hungry ring.
LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17647320873274443107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4802816144638475244.post-41471815248890983842011-02-04T04:30:00.000-08:002011-02-04T04:30:49.927-08:00Whirligigs
This cookie is new to me. The Whirligig. I found the hand-written list of ingredients and instructions on an index card among my grandmother's recipes, no original source listed. It's a pastry-like peanut butter dough, covered in melted chocolate, handled like a jelly roll, briefly chilled, sliced, and then baked.
Messy? Sure, in the first stage. Surprisingly, once chilled, they did not drip or LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17647320873274443107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4802816144638475244.post-73503004306228452372011-02-02T14:30:00.000-08:002011-02-02T14:30:21.743-08:00Slow ovenWhile perusing Grandma's cookbooks and recipes, I noticed that oven temperatures are often not given. Instead, the recipes instruct the cook to bake in a slow, moderate, or hot oven. Here's how one might have done that with a gas oven. How amazed would my grandmother have been to see a machine that not only regulates temperature while it bakes my bread, but kneads and proofs the dough as well.
LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17647320873274443107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4802816144638475244.post-62478726102299513132011-02-01T08:10:00.000-08:002011-02-01T08:10:19.144-08:00Grand CookeryThis winter I accepted a treasure.
One of my aunts gave me a box full of recipes and cookbooks, many once belonging to my grandmother. I skimmed through the contents a while back, but with the pending Snowpocalypse*, I feel inspired to dig.
*or 'pending Snowmaggedon'.**
**Or 'pending attack by Snowzilla'.***
***Or replace 'Snowzilla' with 'Mega-Blizzard'.****
****I want to give the thing LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17647320873274443107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4802816144638475244.post-851128656533291092010-11-01T21:55:00.000-07:002010-11-01T21:57:42.090-07:00Quick and Easy German FlavorsEdited from an original post at Shindigs, your site for party moxie.
"Germans love their pork," agreed my vegetarian friend. "When I was there, pork was everywhere, but I never saw a pig. Not one."
"Do they keep 'em in the basement?" I wondered.
She made the 'it's a mystery wrapped in bacon' face.
We were talking about Oktoberfest for vegetarians. It's tough to include them in a LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17647320873274443107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4802816144638475244.post-90489214632671442672010-10-14T07:20:00.000-07:002010-10-14T07:20:00.985-07:00Real World Party
If you are looking for party moxie (menus, recipes, plans and schemes), please swing by Shindigs. This recipe is from the Oktoberfest menu:
Aunt Wannie's Potato Salad
3 stalks celery, washed, trimmed, and finely diced
2 medium radishes, washed, trimmed, and finely diced
1/4 cup minced onion
3/4 cup finely diced sweet pickles
3 hard-boiled eggs, shelled and diced
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17647320873274443107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4802816144638475244.post-18223149905768123122010-08-28T08:32:00.000-07:002010-08-28T08:32:39.968-07:00Back to School Lunch Dinner NightI've always wanted to do a Back to School Lunch Dinner Night. We did it yesterday and it was a blast. I let the kids pick out a new sandwich to try, and then we made a sample of everyone's picks as our Friday night supper.
The clear winner, with the entire house agreeing 'I'd eat that', was a variation of the peanut butter berry-wich:
Two slices whole-grain bread
1 Tablespoon almond butterLThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17647320873274443107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4802816144638475244.post-42205890856711041052010-08-26T08:34:00.000-07:002010-08-26T08:34:45.908-07:00Zucchini MuffinsI love zucchini, but by August, it is the summer equivalent of fruitcake: passed around, handed out, abandoned on porches accompanied by the sound of spinning tires.
This recipe is for those of you so blessed. It's spicy and sweet and makes good use of whole wheat, as well as brown rice flour. But the best endorsement? Boys will walk away from Battlefront to find the source of the smell.
LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17647320873274443107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4802816144638475244.post-63540767678103372492010-03-31T17:30:00.000-07:002010-03-31T17:30:56.589-07:00Quick Tip - Greek WeekThe weather here in my little town has turned and this means that the grill is calling out to us. As such, I'm reaching for the crazy versatile Greek seasoning from Penzey's. Awesome on chicken sautéed in olive oil, delectable on broccoli, and essential on venison steaks. Essential. I'm not kidding. It's transformational. Brush the venison steaks with olive oil, sprinkle on the Greek seasoning, LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17647320873274443107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4802816144638475244.post-66800956035585722452010-03-23T05:48:00.000-07:002010-03-23T05:48:21.493-07:00Brining pork and poultryBrine. That's a cooking word that used to intimidate me. Once I tried brining, I realized why. It's magic, and magic is a little scary.
The magic of brine is that it adds moisture and flavor to lean cuts of meat. It's a very easy technique to master. This version is perfect for 6-8 servings of smaller cuts of meat: halved, boneless chicken breasts or pork chops.
Quick Brine Recipe
1/3 cup LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17647320873274443107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4802816144638475244.post-88792416911069865852010-03-19T08:22:00.000-07:002010-03-19T08:22:15.570-07:00Quick Tips - Homemade pizza crustOver the years, I've tried to compete with the local pizza places for the stomach and hearts of my family. For a very long time, I have lost to even the average chains, let alone the local mom & pop joints.
I usually cheat and buy the sauce, and everyone likes it just fine. We wouldn't know a gourmet pepperoni from a Hormel, so there's no trouble there. The problem seemed to center on the LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17647320873274443107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4802816144638475244.post-16386422519908838502010-03-16T08:43:00.000-07:002010-03-16T08:43:08.977-07:00Corned beefIf you're looking for a celebratory St. Patty's Day meal, you probably have to consider corned beef and cabbage.
Corned beef is a hunk of brisket that's been sitting around in a brine-y bath of seasonings, usually with, but sometimes without, nitrates. It is a traditional part of a kind of 'boiled dinner': meat, carrots and cabbage. It's pretty simple, as this epicurious.com recipe reveals.
I LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17647320873274443107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4802816144638475244.post-9635836966760418352010-03-08T20:40:00.000-08:002010-03-08T20:40:24.659-08:00Boneless Western-Style Pork RibsIt seems like you can find boneless, western-style pork ribs on sale every other week for around a dollar a pound. Last week I picked up a family pack and made two dishes.
Chinese Barbecued Boneless Pork is great to cook and freeze. The boneless ribs are an excellent substitute for the strips of pork butt or shoulder. We slice it thin and toss into fried brown rice or reheat it in barbecue LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17647320873274443107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4802816144638475244.post-83177357389338505612010-03-06T21:19:00.000-08:002010-03-06T21:19:21.664-08:00Slow Cooker - Boneless Chuck Roast
My personal tastes run toward the ridiculously expensive. Take my relationship to beef. I wait until I have a few extra bucks and splurge on ribeyes, our favorite cut. This means I sometimes forget about the simple beef roast. But when I give it a chance, I'm always pleased.
I grew up on chuck roast, and I still enjoy that cut and flavor: satisfyingly beefy. It was on sale this week, andLThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17647320873274443107noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4802816144638475244.post-52418415812479600462010-03-05T13:01:00.000-08:002010-03-05T13:01:09.420-08:00Quick Tip - Chicken broth and stockGrocery labels are often one part deceptive: the front part. Great example–yesterday at Meijer, I needed low-sodium chicken stock. I'm always looking for the best value for my family, and it looked like the Meijer 'blue can' reduced sodium broth would be the clear winner. The Meijer Naturals brand was a teeny bit cheaper, but I prefer a low-sodium product.
I decided to take a look at the LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17647320873274443107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4802816144638475244.post-1874048652587497362010-03-03T14:54:00.000-08:002010-03-03T14:54:54.222-08:00Grandma's Oatmeal Cookie MixI've got some great cookbooks on my shelves, some beautiful, some practical. But in amongst Chez Panisse: Fruits and Cook's Illustrated hides the treasure of my collection: a stained paperback with a plastic brown binder. It's Family Recipes: Sharing Our Roots from a 1990 family reunion at Maplewoods Farms.
It's fun to skim and sample the offerings of my aunts and uncles and cousins, LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17647320873274443107noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4802816144638475244.post-78267010480597298932010-03-01T02:09:00.000-08:002010-03-01T02:12:37.238-08:00Kitchen Table Budgeting
Money's tight everywhere. What resources do you use to maximize your grocery money?
If you live in the Mitten, Smart Shoppers of Michigan (yahoo group, also on facebook) is a great resource.
SSM founders teach classes in the southeast portion of the lower peninsula, with their next two-part class at 10 a.m. on March 14th and 21st at Hillside Bible Church. You'll walk away more LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17647320873274443107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4802816144638475244.post-28148396558573147112010-02-27T15:31:00.000-08:002010-02-27T15:31:15.575-08:00Quick Tip - CeleryIf you enjoy making soups, stews and other savory dishes, you probably see celery on your list of ingredients. Typically, you only need a stalk or two at the most. It's tempting to skip it, or try to substitute ground celery seed or freeze-dried stalks. I like those options, but sometimes I splurge and buy it fresh. What do you do with the rest?
What I used to do was first pretend like I was LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17647320873274443107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4802816144638475244.post-24611314229475139622010-02-25T19:00:00.000-08:002010-02-25T19:00:28.570-08:00Flash in the Pan - Pork SteakPork steak with two side dishes: whole wheat pasta tossed in garlic olive oil with parmesan, and sautéed broccoli with onions.
Most of us love pork steak at my house. It’s flavorful and cooks quickly. Prep is fast too - no marinade required. You can often catch it on sale (around here, ‘on sale’ means $.99-$1.29 per pound), and this week I found it for a good price at the local IGA store.
LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17647320873274443107noreply@blogger.com0