Thanks to Karen at At Least Twice a Week for making this week’s pick, Spinach Frittata from Feb Everyday Food.

I haven’t eat spinach in a LONG time, since my recent bout with kidney stones, since it is on the list of foods that cause them for me.  I was ready to try spinach again (at least a small amount) so I was glad this was the pick. This recipe was in the cooking for one section of the mag. I only made one portion and Mr. MarthaAndMe shared it as part of dinner. I did not make the green salad Martha has with it.

The frittata was easy to make. Cook some shallot and wilt the spinach. Beat an egg and 2 egg whites. Add some Gruyere, mix it together and bake in a hot ovenproof bowl with more cheese on top. Simple and delicious. And also very quick. I liked it a lot.

We’re going to skip Martha Mondays next week and resume on March 1. The selection for March 1 will be up on Feb 23, so check back for that.

Thanks to Karen at At Least Twice a Week for making this week’s pick, Spinach Frittata from Feb Everyday Food. I haven’t eat spinach in a LONG time, since my recent bout with kidney stones, since it is on the list of foods that cause them for me.  I was ready to try spinach again … Read more →

The MS Cupcake Club recipe for this month is Smore Cupcakes from the Martha Stewart Cupcakes book. I’m not a big smores fan, but I knew other folks in my house would enjoy this. The recipe called for graham flour, which I could not find anywhere. So, I simply used pulverized graham crackers instead.

The cupcakes baked nicely and then I made the chocolate ganache to go on top. That was dangerous – all that warm, delicious chocolate in a bowl on my counter!

The marshmallow topping is one of Martha’s famous frosting recipes and as usual, it didn’t quite turn out as it was supposed to. I thought I got it to soft peaks, but when I went to put it on the cupcakes, it just kind of sank. I stuck the cupcakes in the oven under the broiler to the brown the tops and that worked perfectly.

They did taste like smores. Teen Martha’s boyfriend loved these. There was actual moaning, folks.

Martha Mondays will be up tomorrow!

The MS Cupcake Club recipe for this month is Smore Cupcakes from the Martha Stewart Cupcakes book. I’m not a big smores fan, but I knew other folks in my house would enjoy this. The recipe called for graham flour, which I could not find anywhere. So, I simply used pulverized graham crackers instead. The … Read more →

Bonjour. I was dying to try the Croque Monsieur from Feb Living (Martha doesn’t have a link to this particular recipe on her site, but here is one is that very similar) since I’ve never had one. I remember learning about the Croque Monsieur in my college French class. I took it pass/fail so I didn’t retain a lot of what I learned there, but I didn’t forget about the food!

Martha’s C.M. is basically a ham and cheese sandwich with a cream sauce poured over it and then baked until the sauce browns. I wasn’t wild about this. You had to eat it with a knife and fork which seems to defeat the purpose of making a sandwich. It tasted fine, but as Mr. MarthaAndMe said, it was a lot of fuss for a ham and cheese sandwich! I’m glad I got to finally taste one though, so I’ll thank Martha for getting me to make it.

Bonjour. I was dying to try the Croque Monsieur from Feb Living (Martha doesn’t have a link to this particular recipe on her site, but here is one is that very similar) since I’ve never had one. I remember learning about the Croque Monsieur in my college French class. I took it pass/fail so I … Read more →

The recipe for Caesar Salad for Two is part of the eat out at home section in Jan/Feb Living. Mr. MarthaAndMe is a huge Caesar salad fan, so I thought I would make it for him one night. As I was feeding four, I doubled the recipe. The ingredients were pretty standard for the dressing – 1/2 cup olive oil, salt and pepper, 2 garlic cloves, 4 anchovy fillets, 3 tsp Dijon mustard and 2 tbsp lemon juice. Martha says to use egg yolks or pasteurized egg yolk. I don’t like to use raw egg and did not have any pasteurized, so I did what I always do in Caesar dressing – I substituted mayo. I used about 4 tbsp. I whizzed this up in the Cuisinart and then added about 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.

I served it over romaine lettuce and used (gasp!) store bought croutons, although Martha says to make your own (and I do like to do that sometimes, but just didn’t feel like it).

Mr. MarthaAndMe loved it. Teen Martha thought the dressing was a bit strong – and it was quite garlicky. I would use less garlic next time – just one clove I think.  Other than that, this was pretty good. Just as a note, I have made Caesar dressing in the past and used anchovy paste when I didn’t have whole anchovies hanging around and it works beautifully.

The recipe for Caesar Salad for Two is part of the eat out at home section in Jan/Feb Living. Mr. MarthaAndMe is a huge Caesar salad fan, so I thought I would make it for him one night. As I was feeding four, I doubled the recipe. The ingredients were pretty standard for the dressing … Read more →

The Martha Mondays project for 2/15, chosen by Karen at At Least Twice a Week is Spinach Frittata with Green Salad from page 44 of Jan/Feb Everyday Food. If you need the recipe, let me know. Thanks to all who are participating!

The Martha Mondays project for 2/15, chosen by Karen at At Least Twice a Week is Spinach Frittata with Green Salad from page 44 of Jan/Feb Everyday Food. If you need the recipe, let me know. Thanks to all who are participating!

Teen Martha (seen here hamming it up) had a Superbowl party to go to and decided to make Martha’s Red Velvet Cupcakes to take along. Teen Martha has always been a fan of red velvet cake. I made it one year as her birthday cake.

The baking of these went well (they were even done when Martha said they would be, which never happens), although the batter did not look very red, so Teen Martha added more red food coloring and in the process got some on her ‘What Would Martha Do t-shirt, not to mention all over the counter. What a mess! I think that the next time I make these I’m just going to leave out the food coloring. It doesn’t add any flavor and I don’t have any need to eat food coloring. Anyone have hints on how to get red food coloring out of a t-shirt?!

Teen Martha frosted them with the cream cheese frosting given in the recipe but made some gold with chopped chocolate on top and the others blue and white (team colors for the Superbowl teams). She was very proud of her creativity.

These cupcakes were great, but as always with red velvet cake, it’s the frosting that really makes it worth eating!

Teen Martha (seen here hamming it up) had a Superbowl party to go to and decided to make Martha’s Red Velvet Cupcakes to take along. Teen Martha has always been a fan of red velvet cake. I made it one year as her birthday cake. The baking of these went well (they were even done … Read more →

The recipe for this is on the back page of Jan/Feb Everyday Food. I was dying to make them since they looked so cute, and had healthy ingredients like rolled oats and whole wheat flour in them!

I mixed up the dough and refrigerated it. When I went to roll it out, it was kind of a mess. It was very crumbly. I gave up on the rolling pin and just used my hands since it was the only way I could get to stick together somewhat. I ended up with a thicker dough than Martha said – I just could not get it thinner without crumbling.

Even though I mumbled and grumbled under my breath as I was making this one, it did turn out reasonably well. The cookies are crunchy and hearty. They are filled with Nutella, which my kids are simply nuts about. My cookies are a bit bigger than Martha’s suggested size – I didn’t have a 2 inch heart cookie cutter and had to use a bigger one. Even with all of those bumps in the road, these were good, and quite cute too! This is a cute cookie for Valentine’s Day.

The recipe for this is on the back page of Jan/Feb Everyday Food. I was dying to make them since they looked so cute, and had healthy ingredients like rolled oats and whole wheat flour in them! I mixed up the dough and refrigerated it. When I went to roll it out, it was kind … Read more →

Dude Martha (my son who just turned 12) is now in middle school. This quarter he is taking Home and Careers. I have fond memories of Home and Careers, or Home Ec as we called it then (which I took at the very same middle school, only then it was junior high!). We baked and cooked lots of things and I still have the recipes for many of them. We also sewed a quilted cover for a bread basket – in the shape of a chicken. My mother still has it, actually.

Home and Careers is a little more varied these days. They make them take career assessments and try to focus on other home related chores outside the kitchen as well, but they do still get to cook and bake and they also have to sew a little pillow this year.

Dude Martha has always had some talent in the kitchen, so this class should be a breeze for him. The teacher is giving them extra credit if they bring in a note from home saying they baked or cooked something themselves. Although the quarter just started a week ago, Dude Martha is all over the chance for extra credit and asked if he could make cookies. We got out the Martha Stewart Cookies book and he chose Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies. Now, if it had been me, I would have obviously chosen something with chocolate! He went to the kitchen and got to work. I was called in a few times for questions (“it says coarse salt – what do I do?” and “is this butter soft enough?”) but other than he did the whole thing himself.

I did help a little when he was mixing and the dough would not come together. Even though he softened the butter, there were still some hard chunks and the dough was very sandy and not holding together. I performed a magic trick I’ve recently started doing, which I want to share with you. Somehow in this cold winter weather, my butter seems to do this a lot. So I just stick the mixing bowl in the preheating oven for a minute or two. When I pull it out, the butter has softened completely and it all comes together nicely.

These cookies were really, really good. They are crunchy, chewy, and sweet with just a hint of lemon. They are quickly disappearing. Thumbs up on the cookies and for Dude Martha!

Dude Martha (my son who just turned 12) is now in middle school. This quarter he is taking Home and Careers. I have fond memories of Home and Careers, or Home Ec as we called it then (which I took at the very same middle school, only then it was junior high!). We baked and … Read more →

I’m really into this cooking in parchment paper concept. My latest foray is veggies in parchment, which is in Jan/Feb Everyday Food. This could not be simpler! Put asparagus, broccoli and snap peas on a piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle olive oil over it. Fold the paper over it and twist the ends. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes and you have lovely veggies, with no mess to clean up.

I’m really into this cooking in parchment paper concept. My latest foray is veggies in parchment, which is in Jan/Feb Everyday Food. This could not be simpler! Put asparagus, broccoli and snap peas on a piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle olive oil over it. Fold the paper over it and twist the ends. Bake at … Read more →

Martha wrote her personal column in Feb Living about her favorite breakfast dishes. One that caught my eye was breakfast quinoa. Quinoa is a grain that is similar to barley or Israeli couscous.  I’ve experimented with it a few times as a side dish, but never would have considered it for breakfast. So, one morning, I decided to try it. The recipe has you cook the quinoa in milk and it says it should take 23 minutes total. You add brown sugar and cinnamon for flavor.

I cooked mine for 30 minutes and it was as hard as pebbles. I had to abort since I had to get going, so I just covered it and turned the stove off. When I got back home an hour or so later, I added more milk and turned it on again for about 15 minutes. Still too hard. I put it in the fridge and got it out the next morning. This time I added a lot more milk  – all in all I would say I at least had to double the amount of milk this called for – and cooked it for another half hour. Finally, finally, it was soft enough to eat.

It tasted a lot like steel cut oatmeal, especially with the cinnamon and sugar, which is how I make oatmeal. It was something different, but I would probably rather have oatmeal.

Martha wrote her personal column in Feb Living about her favorite breakfast dishes. One that caught my eye was breakfast quinoa. Quinoa is a grain that is similar to barley or Israeli couscous.  I’ve experimented with it a few times as a side dish, but never would have considered it for breakfast. So, one morning, … Read more →