Cooking with the kiddos Barefoot Contessa Style

We often bake together as a family, but we don't cook together as much. That all changed with this cookbook book report they were assigned at school. They had to choose a cookbook, read through it and choose some dishes to make. Have I mentioned HOW AMAZING their school is?!

 My daughter had to choose 3 dishes while my son, who is older, had to make 3 balanced meals.  It was an amazing experience for them and they loved being in charge of the menu. And the best part- they tried everything!!

They chose Barefoot Contessa cookbooks to work from. Ina Garten's cookbooks offer beautiful photos, clear directions and is approachable, even for the under 10 set! This was fitting, as Barefoot Contessa was truly the first show my son really watched. He wanted to be a chef at 3 1/2 and even dressed as Mario Batali for Halloween that year, orange crocs and all. And yes, people knew who he was!

My daughter used her newer book, Barefoot Contessa: How Easy is That? My daughter loves to try new things, so she loved the creative items in the book.

 She choose couscous salad, which she liked, but we'll make next time with fewer onions.

Wild rice salad: which has oranges and grapes and pecans in it. Isn't it pretty?

BUT HER FAVORITE was the smoked salmon deviled eggs with caviar. Yes. This was her choice to make and her favorite, by far! But that's not the most impressive part...

 Just look at the photo she composed with my husband of her favorite dish. Looks like something you would see in a magazine, no? SO impressive. You can tell from the other bland pics that I took those. Ah well, food styling is not in my future…

My son used her Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, which I think is the first one. He wanted to make breakfast, lunch and dinner, which sounded great to me!

His dinner he made first and it was a doozy! Homemade applesauce,  fingerling potatoes, roasted carrots and meatloaf! It was all delicious!

For his lunch, he made roasted tomato basil soup and it was completely restaurant worthy! Gotta love a boy who can work a food mill right?

His breakfast was granola and though it was not technically difficult at all, he never eats dried fruits or nuts, so I let him have at it. And he ate it! It wasn't his favorite, but he ate it. Not to worry, we found someone else who enjoyed it very much, so it was all eaten!

I LOVED this project and so did they and I know we are going to keep it going. Just yesterday, after all this was complete, my daughter wanted to make cupcakes, so we did. Ina's red velvet cupcakes, although, we had to sub purple food coloring, so they were purple velvet. And we made them dairy free, but they were still delicious though! 

Thank you Ina Garten, for all the fabulous food memories! If you ever need some helpers for your show, we are close by (and we have some friends in common, which is kind of fun!)  

When Your Farm Share Gives You Peaches....

This year I joined a Farm Share (also called a CSA- Community Sponsored Agriculture) where you pay before the season begins for a share in the harvest. I had always wanted to try one, but always missed the deadline, but luckily this year, my friend Kate was looking for someone to split a vegetable share. We were in! And we signed up for a fruit share too! Whee! Let the yumminess begin!  (we are doing Golden Earthworm for those of you local people that might want to get a piece of the action. All yummy organic produce straight from the farm while supporting Long Island Farmers at the same time!) ! 

Every week, you go and pick up a box of the week's harvest. Everyone gets the same thing. And sometimes you've never seen or eaten it before. It's like a vegetable lottery! What will it be this week! Which is great for the adventurous palates in my house. Plus, the amazing Golden Earthworm farmers have a great blog that lets you know what is coming, how to store it and some recipes to cook with the items! They are AMAZING

I had grand plans of photographing each week's box and documenting what we made. Um. Sorry friends. Maybe next year. BUT....I was totally impressed with what I pulled off last night, so here goes.

We had a peck of peaches, some of which were eaten, but we had 4 really good peaches left plus another four or five that were getting a little squishy but still good eats. I remembered a recipe I had seen in Martha's American Food Cookbook (I am afraid to put the pic on the book up here since it's copyright, but since I am writing a glowing review, maybe I'll risk it and if Martha doesn't like it, I'll take it down?) Seriously Martha- this is a great book! I have quite a few of your books, but I think this is my favorite one yet! So many amazing things to try AND lots of great basics too!

I found this at our local library (the best library ever if I say so and I do, so there - heehee!) I was amazed at the photography and all the yummy recipes that focused on local ingredients. I stopped when   I saw a recipe for spicy peach barbecue chicken with grilled peaches. 

Yeah, I wanted some of that! And I HAD the peaches! 

But the recipe called for peach jam, so I took my squishy peaches and made my own with some water, a little cane sugar and some brown sugar. MMMMM. Made the entire house smell fantastic (and to prompt my son to follow his nose to the kitchen and pronounce me the best mom ever. Thank you Martha!)

So I used my on the fly peach jam and mixed it all up and prepped everything for my master BBQ chef, my hubby. He did an amazing job slow cooking the chicken until it was perfect and those peaches. MMM! 

Now, I should have taken the time to artfully arrange everything, but let me tell you, I couldn't stop myself from eating this. I am surprised I took these shots. Seriously good food.

And since you can't waste a hot grill, S'mores were in order! Have you ever tried a S'more with some Chocolove dark chocolate with chili and dried cherry? If not, you REALLY should. Wild By Nature carries Chocolove. Just saying.

I will say the marinade could have used a little more salt and a little more sweet, but I think that was from me substituting the jam for my fresh stuff. Next time I know.

And BELIEVE ME, there WILL be a next time. Soon!

Come on farm share....bring me some peaches this week!

More soon! In the meantime, Grill on!

Want to Make Your Food Taste Better?

Many years back, I was at my dear friend Meg's house and I thought she was making chicken soup. But she corrected me and told me that it was stock she was making.

I questioned this- why make your own? Meg gave me a quick lesson and gave me some in a container to take home.

That was that. I was hooked.

Yes, it makes that much of a difference.

I know what you are thinking, WHY make it when they sell it in the store? That's what I thought, but  there is NO comparison!

And, my economically minded friends, it is MUCH more cost effective to make it, then buy. 

You need to save chicken bones. This is where some of the savings starts. Nature's Promise Whole Chickens are $1.89 a lb (even cheaper when on sale) So you can get a 5 lb chicken for the price of  1&1/4 lbs of chicken breast. I have learned it is quite easy to chop up a whole chicken, but if you are not into this, ask your butcher or even the nice guys at the supermarket to cut it for you. They will, for no charge.When you see legs or wings on sale, grab those too. Freeze them if you don't use them right away. 

So when I make the chicken breast for my kiddos, I take them off the bone & then the bones go into the freezer or fridge if I am making stock the next day. Sometimes I even make stock when I am making chicken. 

In a big stockpot (mine is 12 quarts I believe):
put your raw chicken carcasses - if your carcasses do not have much meat on them, add a 4 pack of wings, thighs or drumsticks to the pot. (You want to use parts of the chicken that have lots of bone in them. The bones give the yummy flavor!)
2 medium-large onions (peel them- onion skins can give a bad taste to stock!)
4 carrots
4 stalks celery (leaves too- I usually save the insides of the celery for this)
5-10 cloves garlic (peel them)
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 tablespoon fresh ground pepper
10 or so whole peppercorns
cover with COLD water
Optional- I sometimes add a parsnip or tops of fennel bulbs to the stock. Adds a yummy taste & saves on waste!

Bring to boil & then cook low & slow about 4-6 hours covered. Add water if need be. All the ingredients in the stockpot should be covered in water. You can use a strainer or something else to hold down the ingredients so they are submerged.

Here's our stockpot with a strainer used to hold everything down.

Skim off the fat as needed. This was a pre-skim shot. You can see the fat and skin there, just skim it away.

When it is done, you will have golden, luscious stock. Strain and put into containers. Will keep 1week in fridge but will keep a long time frozen. Highly recommend using the take out soup containers to keep separate quarts in freezer. Take it out as you need!

Once you make stock you will see how very simple it is and how much better everything tastes! We makes soups and risotto all the time with it. We use it to make gravy, add some to cook rice, to mashed potatoes...

I could go on and on....

but now I am hungry and I am going to eat lunch! ; )

Cook on!

Happy Earth Day and a Quick Yummy Recipe

Spent a lot of time this weekend outdoors taking care of our space. Weeding, tending our flower beds and prepping the garden beds. No pictures of all that fun! 

BUT...

with lots of fruits coming into season just around the corner, I thought it was the perfect time to share a little recipe I make when we have some fruit that is bursting with flavor but not at it's most pretty. Make some compote!

A compote is a recipe consisting of some sort of fruit that has been stewed in a syrup of sugar and some other flavorings added.

I made my first compote when we evacuated to my in-laws house during hurricane Irene. I had quite a bit of fruit and was afraid it would spoil if we lost power and didn't eat it fast enough. So I decided to cook it while we still had power.

I had a half pint of blue berries, a quart of strawberries and a pint of raspberries. I put them in a saucepan, added some water (a cup maybe) and a little sugar. Threw in a few lemon peels. Let it simmer on low.

Stir Occasionally. You cannot walk away from this. If it boils over or burns, you will not be happy! But it is a very quick cook!

Cook it down until it reaches the stage you like. If you like chunky, cook it less, if you like it less chunky, mush it up and cook it longer!

The result is a yummy, fresh fruit deliciousness! YUM!! It keeps very well refrigerated. Can't say exactly how long it keeps, as it tends to disappear in less than a week in my house. 

My daughter loves this on pancakes, french toast, or just by the spoon! My son likes it on corn muffins, which was the way he got it first during Irene. He protested easting it at first but then was slathering it on after I made him take a "thank you" bite! You can swirl it on yogurt, add to ice cream, endless uses!!

A "thank you" bite, is a Thank You to mommy for making it. I don't force him to eat more, just to try it. It has worked and has expanded his diet quite a bit...just in case you fellow mom's have a "challenging" eater too (I hate the word picky....)

Anyway, I know this technically isn't a recipe, BUT it is very handy to have in your pocket.

I have read Americans throw out upward of 20% of the food they buy, which is horrible considering cost of food and how many people are food insecure in this nation and the world. So we are trying to reduce the amount we waste and this is a VERY tasty way to do it. :)

I keep frozen berries in the fridge for when my fresh fruit is ready but I don't have enough of it for a full batch. Just add it in. Helpful tip: Use less water with frozen fruit as they will release more water as they defrost and cook!

You can get fancy and used dried fruits and liquors and add fancier flavorings like vanilla, cinnamon and cloves. 

As an added benefit, your house will smell scrumptious! 

Cook on!

Let's put the FUN in Funnel Cake

I have mentioned previously how awesome my hubby is. Well, he took that up another notch Saturday night. 

It was the first "Full Day" of spring break vacation and he had made a yummy meal including some hand-cut french fries (that he soaked in hot water first to remove the starches and then dried in our salad spinner prior to frying- so worth those steps!!) After frying them quickly, they made a delicious complement to the rest of our healthy meal. 

After making the fries, we had the oil left over, which we normally would skim and save for next time. But MCP had another idea.

"Who wants to make funnel cake?"

My son ran for the cookbooks, we soon found a recipe and amended it to be dairy free, and off we went. 

We had never made funnel cake before, although my hubby did throw zeppoli's  (fried balls of dough tossed in powdered sugar) at an Italian Fair many, many years ago, so he had some experience frying dough. 

The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:
3 large eggs
2 cups plain almond milk (you can use regular milk if you like)
1/4 cup granulated sugar  (this is what is recommended- we are going to make them a little sweeter next time, they needed it...)
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
vegetable oil for deep frying
confectioners sugar for dusting on top when they are nice & hot! 

Special equipment:
funnel with approx 1/2" opening  (we didn't have a funnel, so we improvised)
candy thermometer (or instant read)
8" heavy frypan with straight sides 
Tongs
Drain/strainer if you have it (drain on paper towels on a plate if you don't)
sifter

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs. Add almond milk and granulated sugar and beat until combined.

Have the kids measure and sift the flour, baking powder and salt. 

Slowly add dry ingredients to the wet a little at a time and mix until batter is smooth. Add more flour or almond milk as needed to achieve the consistency of the batter being able to flow through the funnel.   

Poor oil in pan until it reaches a depth of 1" or so. Oil must be at 375 degrees. Be super careful of spatters! 

Put your finger over the hole of the funnel, add between 1/2 - 3/4 cup of batter in funnel. Hold funnel over hot oil and remove your finger, and carefully pour the batter in the center of the pan, spiraling it around. 

Cook the funnel cake until golden, about 2-3 minutes. Flip carefully and cool on other side for another minute or so. 

Remove and drain.

Sprinkle (or sift) confectioners sugar on top of hot funnel cake.

Share and enjoy with the ones you love!

VERY important : Only make as many as you are going to eat at that moment. You can't save funnel cake. It gets really greasy. Not good eats.

If you have batter left over, you can save it and use it for pancakes the next day. Waste not, want not! :)

Let me know how your funnel cakes turn out! 

Tortillas + Tuna = Terrific!

Not a typical St. Patty's blog post, but we had a great meal last night and I had to share!

My husband, (we'll call him MCP), loves to cook. Lucky me! And he is very good at it. Luckier still! MCP does tend to use a lot of pots and utensils, which leaves a pile of dishes at the end, but honestly, I don't care, because what we eat at home is better than what we get when we go out to eat at most restaurants! Last night, he whipped up an amazing meal that we devoured! 

There are no measurement in his recipes. Sometimes he will start with a recipe, but by the time he is done with it, it bears little resemblance to the original. But they are always incredible. If I don't ask him immediately what he has done and write it down, we may never have that recipe again. He's on to the next version of it. 

Well, he decided to make flour tortillas from scratch to make a Tuna wrap. mmm. so yummy.

Make the tortilla dough first. It needs to set for 30 minutes before you cut it up & roll them out. The recipe used for this was from cooks.com (we fried them in a well seasoned cast iron skillet and they came our great!) 

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,2357,154176-235203,00.html

While the dough is setting, sauté the veggies with a little curry spice (we like the William Sonoma african curry blend) and Bragg's Liquid Aminos (like soy sauce). There are asparagus, shitake mushrooms, baby bok-choy and garlic in here. 

Cook the tuna (It's wild caught Tuna from Trader Joe's- we love Trader Joe's!) in a pan with peanut satay sauce. (we like a Taste of Thai brand) 

Assemble, wrap up burrito style and enjoy. Finish off with a little Sriracha sauce (a thai hot sauce condiment.)

Little Miss O loved them too (minus the sriracha)! We put the flour tortillas to good use and made an awesome refried bean quesadilla for MAP, so all were happy. 

Go Thai one on!  ;)