How to Cook Without a Book

Posted by Theresa on Jul 14, 2011 in Cookbooks | 0 comments

How to Cook Without a Book is the book you can reach for when you need to get dinner on the table and want to work with the food that you have on hand, without making a trip to the supermarket.  There are separate sections for stir fries, omelettes, soups, vegetables, fish, cuts of meat, and more.  Most rely on a basic formula where you can use the protein or starch that you have. Favorites from this cookbook include steam sauteed vegetables, stir fries, lo mein and fried rice, seared cuts of meat with pan sauces, and soups.

This is one of the few cookbooks that I own where I have probably tried almost all of the recipes.  Pick any recipe from this book and you cannot go wrong.  The only adjustments that I have made is to use less fat and salt but this is my personal preference.How to Cook Without a Book is the book you can reach for when you need to get dinner on the table and want to work with the food that you have on hand, without making a trip to the supermarket.  There are separate sections for stir fries, omelettes, soups, vegetables, fish, cuts of meat, and more.  Most rely on a basic formula where you can use the protein or starch that you have. Favorites from this cookbook include steam sauteed vegetables, stir fries, lo mein and fried rice, seared cuts of meat with pan sauces, and soups.

This is one of the few cookbooks that I own where I have probably tried almost all of the recipes.  Pick any recipe from this book and you cannot go wrong.  The only adjustments that I have made is to use less fat and salt but this is my personal preference.

America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Posted by Theresa on Jul 14, 2011 in Cookbooks | 0 comments

The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook the cookbook that you can count on for everyday cooking and special occasions. One thing I really like about this cookbook is that it provides simplified versions of recipes that have been published for Cook’s Illustrated Magazine. For those unfamiliar with Cook’s Illustrated Magazine, they publish recipes that have been meticulously tested and retested. The articles are so interesting because not only do they include the recipe, but the science behind what makes the recipe work. Favorites from the cookbook include Bakesale Brownies and Chicken Marsala.

Banana Berry Yogurt Smoothie

Posted by Theresa on Jun 21, 2011 in Beverages, Breakfast | 0 comments

 I had to post this photo and recipe for a yogurt smoothie because I have started to notice that my recent food pictures have all been in shades of brown.

My girls will often beg me to make them smoothies and we decided to make pancakes and smoothies for my husband, Dan on Father’s Day.

I don’t have a strict recipe for this. I keep bags of frozen strawberries or mixed berries in the freezer for this purpose.  I also peel bananas when they start to get overripe and put this in a zip lock back in the freezer for smoothies.

Here is what I add to my blender:<p>

I take a few spoonfuls of vanilla yogurt, one chopped up frozen banana, a handful of frozen strawberries or mixed berries, a little vanilla or almond extract, a teaspoon of sugar or honey, and milk (I used 1 %).  I mix this on the ice crush setting of my blender, adding additional milk if the mixture is too thick and the frozen berries aren’t mixing easily.<p>

Note: Dairy and I are not always the best of friends so I am going to try a dairy-free version of this smoothie, substituting soy yogurt and soy milk for the vanilla yogurt and 1 % milk. My favorite brand of soy yogurt is from Whole Soy and Company. It is not carried in every supermarket but is work seeking out.  I can find it in a large Shop Rite a few towns away and in Stop and Shop. I’ll keep you posted on the results of this dairy-free version. I suspect that it will be good.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Posted by Theresa on Jun 15, 2011 in Baking & Breads, Cookies | 0 comments

Tomorrow is Natalie’s last day of school and I wanted to bake something for her teachers and bus drivers. I was thinking about making my favorite sugar cookie recipe but decided to make the easiest chocolate chip cookies from Lauren Chattman’s Mom’s Big Book of Baking.  This is one of those must-have cookbooks that includes almost any baking recipe you will ever need.  Instructions are simple and clear and all of the recipes I have tried have been really delicious.

What I love about this recipe is that you can just melt the butter, no electric mixer or elbow grease is needed. This makes it a fun recipe to use with the kids but I just have to watch because my kids love to eat spoonfuls of the sugar and brown sugar while I’m not looking. I decided to get a little lazy and just pour the batter into a 13 x 9 inch pan so I didn’t have to bother with separate cookies and cookie sheets. I made a double batch since we will eat some, I can freeze some, and my husband’s co-worker’s always appreciate my baking.

To cook this dough in a 13 x 9 inch pan, cook at 350 degrees for 30 – 35 minutes.

Basic Chocolate Chip Cookies

Notes: An offset spatula makes the job of spreading the batter in the pan much easier. Otherwise, it can take a long time getting the batter spread evenly.

Easy Apple Snack Cake

Posted by Theresa on May 28, 2011 in Baking & Breads, Desserts | 0 comments

Dan took the girls to his parents’ house in the Poconos and I was home yesterday because I have to work today. Although I am always craving time to myself, I found myself missing everyone yesterday afternoon. I decided to take advantage of the empty house and purge clutter without anyone begging me not to throw anything out. While going through some of my papers, I came across apple recipes that I had put aside, probably last fall after we had gone apple picking. I never got around to trying any of those new recipes then so I chose one to bake yesterday. Better late than never.

Easy Apple Snack Cake from Cook’s Country sounded really tasty. The cake was fairly easy, but peeling, coring, and chopping two apples and zesting a lemon did take a little time. The results were well worth it. After it came out of the oven, I kept slicing off little pieces to decide if I really liked it or not. Then I realized that if I kept on eating it like this, that it must be good. The cake has a nice blend of spices and I like the fresh flavor that the apples and lemon zest provide. This recipe is going into my keeper file.  Maybe I will remember to pull it out after we pick apples next fall.

Easy Apple Snack Cake

I will stick with my tried and true brownies

Posted by Theresa on May 18, 2011 in Baking & Breads, Desserts | 0 comments

I am always on the lookout for a great new recipe and I can usually count on America’s Test Kitchen for one that is delicious and reliable. My current favorite brownies are Bake sale Brownies from America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. They are easy to whip up and I can make them with my two little girls without getting too confused with complicated directions.

I decided to try a recipe from a recent issue of Cook’s Illustrated magazine that promised to have the texture of boxed brownies with the chocolatey taste of homemade. These brownies required many more steps than my favorite and the results were….. disgusting!! The texture was really weird- a mushy, gooey mess. I love to bake and my husband said this is the first time that I made something that he didn’t have any interest in eating. I was hugely disappointed because I was really looking forward to eating them. I went out today to buy more unsweetened chocolate and just baked a double batch of my favorite Bake Sale Brownies – I was still craving brownies and also felt that I needed to redeem myself. They are cooling on the counter right now and I will try to be disciplined and have a little dinner before digging in. I can’t wait.

Here is the recipe for Bake Sale Brownies – try them, they are delicious!

Hot Garlicky Shrimp With Lemon and Asparagus

Posted by Theresa on Mar 5, 2011 in Fish & Seafood, Main Dishes, Pasta | 0 comments

I have not renewed my Fine Cooking magazine subscription, partly because I have kept all of my back issues and several special issues for baking, cookies, grilling and more. One issue that I keep looking at has a delicious pasta dish on the cover with sauteed shrimp and asparagus. I decided to try it last night and was pretty pleased with the results.

The fresh lemon juice, lemon peel, crushed red pepper, and sliced garlic really made the dish pop. Natalie said that it looked like we were eating in a restaurant.

The recipe called for a total of 6 TB of olive oil and I reduced that to 2. It made the dish less saucy than the original recipe but I was still happy. I may add a little more lemon juice and chicken broth to compensate next time. My husband and younger daughter Emily enjoyed this. I know better than to make my older daughter Natalie eat shrimp so she enjoyed a can of soup- her loss.

Here is the recipe from Fine Cooking, May 2007 No. 85:

Hot Garlicky Shrimp With Lemon and Asparagus