February 23, 2011
February 16, 2011
NYTimes: Common Cause Asks Court About Thomas Speech
From The New York Times:
Common Cause Asks Court About Thomas Speech
Discrepancies in reports about Justice Clarence Thomas have prompted
questions to the Supreme Court.
Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting
http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes
James
February 8, 2011
Nutella-Coated Bacon and Chocolate-Infused Vodka
Vodka and chocolate? Nutella and bacon? Are these things meant to go together?
Well, take a look and decide for yourself! Also, cookies baked in a whoopie pan.
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February 4, 2011
Texas Chili
Chuck-eye roasts are notoriously fatty, so don’t be surprised if you trim off 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of fat. Avoid precut beef labeled “beef for stew” - it could be beef round or boneless shoulder roast, which will turn out dry and tough. For a milder chili, use the lower amount of chipotle; for a spicy chili, use the upper amount of chipotle. Serve with chopped fresh cilantro, minced onion, diced avocado, shredded cheddar or jack cheese, and sour cream. Serves 6 to 8.
February 3, 2011
February 2, 2011
Warm and Easy Breakfast on the Run
You want to buy whole-grain (or at least multi-grain) waffles, all-natural peanut butter (preferably low-sugar or no sugar added) and low sugar preserves (jellies tend to slip right out). Avoid sugar-free anything because manufacturers generally just replace the sugar with chemicals.
Toast the waffles, spread peanut butter on one and put preserves on the other. Voila!
You can run out the door with this breakfast and not feel guilty like you might with a greasy breakfast sandwich from that fast-food place around the corner. Plus, the protein in the peanut butter is a great way to stay full.
Best of all, the kids love it and can make it themselves - even our five-year-old.
Tip: Store Bacon Fat in Glass, Not Plastic
Have you ever stored bacon fat in a plastic container? It's next to impossible to clean the plastic when the time comes. The same thing happens when you microwave greasy leftovers in a plastic container: it becomes irreversibly marred and impossible to clean. Why?
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Tara's Italian Vegetable Soup
Italian Vegetable Soup
A quick and delicious soup that is ready in about 30 minutes. Add some bread and a salad and call it gourmet!
Check out my friend Tara's great recipes at What's on Tara's Table.
February 1, 2011
How To Soften Hard Bread
What can you do with a rock-hard loaf of bread? Besides using it as a doorstop, there are countless recipes that take advantage of stale bread — or you can use one of these simple techniques to soften it quickly... Read Full Post
Super Bowl Recipe: Chili with Pasta & Wisconsin Cheddar
They say the sense of smell is the biggest memory trigger, but I have to argue that the sense of taste is right up there. I present you with this evidence: the 1998 Super Bowl, my parent's living room, an over-sized cheese head (yes, a hat constructed of foam cheese) and a bowl of steaming chili, heaped with a generous dusting of sharp Wisconsin cheddar.
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Foodista.com - The Cooking Encyclopedia Everyone Can Edit
This looks to be an amazing website for those of us
who can't stay out of the kitchen. Something new...
Best-Ever Hot Cocoa Mix
Forget about the watery hot cocoa with dehydrated marshmallows you sipped as a kid.
Cook's Country's “instant” hot cocoa recipe is creamy, rich, and big on chocolate flavor.
Test Kitchen Discoveries
- Nonfat dry milk adds a sweet dairy flavor to the cocoa, especially if you reconstitute the mix with hot milk instead of hot water.
- Confectioners’ sugar works best in this recipe. It dissolves quickly and the cornstarch (an ingredient manufacturers add to the sugar to prevent clumping) helps thicken the cocoa.
- White chocolate provided our cocoa with a soft, creamy texture and pushes the chocolate flavor to new heights.
- 3 cups nonfat dry milk
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1 1/2 cups Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
- 1/4 teaspoon
- Salt
To make hot cocoa, stir 1/3 cup of this mix into 1 cup of hot milk. Top with whipped cream or mini marshmallows.
Dishpan Cookies
I can't recall where I found this recipe but it's been in a pile of "must make eventually" recipes that seems to get larger and larger by the week.
Anyway, I pulled it out and mixed up a batch recently just to have an excuse to use my new KitchenAid Pro 6 mixer. They are wonderfully simple, with oatmeal and corn flakes in a basic cookie dough base. The other great thing is that this recipe makes several dozen at once (or a couple dozen really large cookies).
Dishpan Cookies
- 2 cups light brown sugar
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- 2 cups butter or oil
- 4 eggs
- 4 cups flour (I like to blend whole wheat and unbleached white)
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1-1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
- 4 cups corn flakes
Cream sugars, vanilla, butter/oil, and eggs in a large bowl - about 2 minutes on low to medium speed. Add flour, soda and salt and mix until well-blended - about 3 minutes.
Drop by 1/4 cup onto ungreased cookie sheets. I prefer to do this by hand, rolling the dough into balls for nicely shaped cookies with crackled tops.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until edges are lightly browned.
This freezes well as both a dough and as a finished cookie. To freeze the dough, roll into logs and wrap with plastic wrap and then foil. The dough should keep indefinitely. You can also store the wrapped rolls inside a larger zippered freezer bag.
January 3, 2011
Heated Mattress Pads for Cozy Nights and Lower Heating Bills
Pairing your digital thermostat with a heated mattress pad for your beds is a cost-effective way to cut your heating costs and stay warmer.
When we tell friends we use heated mattress pads they immediately assume we mean electric blankets. While similar, mattress warmers differ in an important, energy-saving way – they cover the mattress, warming you from underneath with the rising heat instead of from above where most of the heat winds up in the room.
Most of the current models come with variable zones that heat your feet a little more than your torso and don't heat your head at all.
Set your digital thermostat low at night when you go to bed. It won't matter how cold the house gets, you'll be warm and toasty. Then have the heat kick on about 30 minutes to an hour before you rise in the morning to a nice warm house.
Twin-size warmers come with a single control and you can get full-size warmers with single or dual. Queen sizes and up include two controls so each of you can stay as warm or as cool as you like.
You can buy heated mattress pads anywhere from Wal-Mart to Macy's and the cost varies with the thread-count like most bedding. However, since these will be hidden under your sheets you're the only person who'll ever see them.
December 22, 2010
Cheese Straws
Gourmet | January 2008
Lillian Chou
Don't let the delicate look of these hors d'oeuvres fool you. A touch of cayenne gives them a hint of heat that makes them a tasty accompaniment to a pre-dinner cocktail—or even a cold beer.
Yield: Makes about 2 dozen hors d'oeuvres
Active Time: 20 min
Total Time: 1 hr (includes cooling)
1/4 pound coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar (1 1/2 cups)
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
1/2 teaspoon salt
Rounded 1/8 teaspoon cayenne or garlic powder
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
Preheat oven to 350°F with racks in upper and lower thirds.
Pulse cheese, flour, butter, salt, and cayenne in a food processor until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk and pulse until dough forms a ball.
Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 12- by 10-inch rectangle (1/8 inch thick). Cut dough with a lightly floured pizza wheel or lightly floured sharp knife into 1/3-inch-wide strips. Carefully transfer to 2 ungreased baking sheets, arranging strips 1/4 inch apart. (If strips tear, pinch back together.)
Bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until pale golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Cool completely on baking sheets on racks, about 15 minutes.
Cooks' note:
Cheese straws can be made 2 day ahead and kept in an airtight container at room temperature.
Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/printerfriendly/Cheese-Straws-241167#ixzz18rtbjGMx
Grilled Meatballs with Indian-Spiced Yogurt Sauce
Epicurious | June 2009
by Abigail Kirsch and Susan M. Greenberg
The Bride & Groom's Menu Cookbook
Yield: 24 Hors d'Oeuvres
Meatballs
2 pounds ground beef round
1 large red onion, minced
2 large cloves garlic
3 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
Indian Spiced Yogurt Sauce
1 pint yogurt
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Garnish
2 tablespoons minced curly parsley
Meatballs
1. Combine the ground beef, onion, garlic, soy sauce, eggs, ginger, salt, and pepper in the bowl. Mix the ingredients with your hands until they are well blended and hold together well.
2. Preheat the broiler.
3. Brush the baking sheet with 2 teaspoons of the oil. With your hands, form the meat mixture into 24 round balls and place them 1 1/2 inches apart on the baking sheet. (Each ball should weigh about 1/2 ounce.) Lightly moisten your hands before forming each ball to facilitate rolling. Brush the meatballs with the remaining oil and broil them, 4 inches from the heating element, 6 to 8 minutes, turning them once, until they are cooked through.
Place the meatballs in a shallow bowl with the Indian-Spiced Yogurt Sauce on the side, or cut off the top of a small round loaf of bread, remove the insides, and spoon the meatballs into the bread. Dust with chopped parsley for color.
Indian Spiced Yogurt Sauce
1. Line the strainer with the cheesecloth. Place it over a bowl and spoon the yogurt into the strainer. Allow the yogurt to drain in the refrigerator for 3 hours.
2. Transfer the drained yogurt from the cheesecloth to the other bowl and blend in the garlic, lemon juice, oil, cumin, turmeric, and cayenne. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.
Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/printerfriendly/Grilled-Meatballs-with-Indian-Spiced-Yogurt-Sauce-355974#ixzz18rsG7Qd3
December 5, 2010
December 4, 2010
Dutch ovens and why every kitchen should have one.
I was pretty clueless regarding Dutch ovens (also called French ovens by the Le Creuset crowd) until I became a huge fan of Cook's Illustrated magazine, website and America's Test Kitchen on PBS.
Since then I have learned that if there is one piece of cookware EVERY serious cook should have it is a good piece of enameled cast iron. I own a 7 1/4 quart Le Creuset oven in the cherry tomato color, but Lodge also makes an excellent Dutch oven at a fraction of the price and Tramontina makes a best-buy rated oven that can be picked up at Wal-Mart for about $40.
Now, the big question, why should I have a Dutch oven? Very simply because it is one of the most versatile pieces of cookware, useful for frying, baking, roasting, steaming, browning and sauteing. Per Cook's Illustrated, "They're heavier and thicker than stockpots, allowing them to retain and conduct heat more effectively, and deeper than a skillet, so they can handle large cuts of meat and cooking liquid. These qualities make Dutch ovens the best choice for braises, pot roasts, and stews, especially as they can go on the stovetop to sear foods and then into the oven to finish cooking. Their tall sides make them useful for deep-frying, and many cooks press Dutch ovens into service for jobs like boiling pasta."
I can honestly say that when I head into the kitchen to cook my Dutch oven is more than likely the first thing I grab from the cabinet, followed by my ingredients.
- Dutch Oven Cobbler (hikingbackpacking.suite101.com)
- Chicken & Dumplings, Dutch Ovens, and Campfire Cake Most popular posts published October 22-28, 2010 (thekitchn.com)
- Colorful Kitchen Classics: 10 Sources (thekitchn.com)
- The Essential Set of Pots and Pans (friendseat.com)
November 22, 2010
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