This week’s Martha Mondays was chosen by me. I’ve never made a dessert souffle before. I do have a recipe for a broccoli cheese souffle I make occasionally.

Martha has a recipe for lemon souffle on the back page of January Living. The recipe says it feeds six. I cut it in half and it was plenty for 4 people.

I started by mixing 1 tbsp lemon zest with 1 tbsp flour, 4 yolks and 1 tbsp sugar. I boiled 1/2 cup milk then whisked it in to the yolk mixture. Next I cooked it until it thickened, then I strained it and added 1 tbsp butter and 1/8 cup plus 1 tbsp lemon juice.  The next step was to beat 5 egg whites until foamy and add 1/4 cup and 1 tbsp sugar.  I worked at those until I had stiff peaks, then I folded it with the yolk mix. Martha says to butter and dust your ramekins with powdered sugar. I used 4 pyrex custard cups which were the perfect size. I baked at 375 for 16 minutes as directed, but they weren’t quite done, so I gave them about another 3 minutes. When they came out, I dusted the tops with more powdered sugar.

This was easier to make than I expected. My broccoli souffle recipe requires a water bath, but none was needed for this.  You always hear about souffles falling and how delicate they are, but this seemed pretty sturdy to me.

Everyone enjoyed this. Dude Martha said he wants me to make it for his birthday. I thought it was a little eggy tasting – too much like scrambled eggs. I also thought it needed more lemon flavor, so I would use more zest and juice next time. So, with some tweaking, I would make this again. And I’m no longer afraid of dessert souffles.

If you made this, post and let me know how it went!

This week’s Martha Mondays was chosen by me. I’ve never made a dessert souffle before. I do have a recipe for a broccoli cheese souffle I make occasionally. Martha has a recipe for lemon souffle on the back page of January Living. The recipe says it feeds six. I cut it in half and it … Read more →

Can I be honest here? I am not a fan of coconut. But I knew my son would enjoy this, as would Mr. MarthaandMe’s office, so I made Martha’s Coconut Cupcakes, from her cupcake book, as part of the MS Cupcake Club. The cupcake part wasn’t a problem (once I threw myself on the mercy of the grocery store customer service desk to please locate the unsweetened coconut milk – it ended up being in the Thai section but they didn’t have unsweetened so I bought “lite”), but the frosting just about killed me. How hard can frosting be? Apparently quite challenging. First of all, let me explain I was not completely together as I made this. I had just read an ultrasound report regarding an immediate family member and was waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for a call from a Dr. I thought baking would distract me. Clearly, I was not together enough to do this.

I’ve made Martha’s 7 minute frosting before without a problem, but this time I just couldn’t do it. First of all, I thought I would experiment and see if I could use white Egg Beaters (not the yellow kind that are supposed to substitute for eggs)  instead of egg whites. That was a failure, so I got out the eggs. Somehow I got yolk mixed in with the whites and had to throw it all out. So for the third batch, I had the whites in the bowl and was mixing them. The sugar was boiling and was almost to the temp I needed. Then the phone rang. I was waiting for the Dr so I turned it off and answered it. Not the Dr. I tried again, heating it up and beating the eggs and just when I reached the right temp, you guessed it, the phone rang AGAIN. And again, not the Dr. So I heated it up a third time and this time successfully got it mixed into the egg whites. No surprise, of course, that this was just a bowl of liquid glop. It never set up as frosting. I finally gave up (really, I wanted to hurl it across the kitchen but I restrained myself). I dipped the tops of the cupcakes in the frosting liquid and then pressed the tops into the coconut. I got enough frosting to at least get the coconut to stick.

They actually look pretty good I think. I did choke a bite down just to sample this. It didn’t taste much like coconut (once I scraped the flaked coconut off the top). So that is my tale of the coconut cupcakes!

Can I be honest here? I am not a fan of coconut. But I knew my son would enjoy this, as would Mr. MarthaandMe’s office, so I made Martha’s Coconut Cupcakes, from her cupcake book, as part of the MS Cupcake Club. The cupcake part wasn’t a problem (once I threw myself on the mercy … Read more →

I recently tried a potato gratin from Everyday Food, but when another one turned up in January Living, I had to give it a go. I swore just about a week or two ago that I never wanted to eat another potato after eating them at every holiday meal and gathering we went to, but apparently I’ve recovered from that.

This gratin was pretty easy. I peeled and sliced about 2 and a half pounds of white potatoes. I rubbed the baking dish with a garlic clove (although I never really taste the garlic when I do this, so I wonder if it really has any impact), and boiled 1 and a half cups of cream, 1 cup milk, 1/4 tsp nutmeg and salt together.  I mixed this with the potatoes and put them in a baking dish, smoothing the potatoes out. On top, I added 3 oz Gruyere cheese. Martha says to bake for an hour and 15 minutes. By about 50 minutes, this was looking quite brown. The rest of my dinner wasn’t ready, so I turned the oven off and let it sit. Then about 10 minutes before we were ready to eat, I turned it back on. In the time that it rested, it set up quite nicely. When I turned the oven off it was still very liquid looking. When I took it out of the oven it had just the right amount of liquid to potatoes.

I really liked this and would make it again. It’s simple and somehow has more flavor than it should, given there are hardly any ingredients.

I recently tried a potato gratin from Everyday Food, but when another one turned up in January Living, I had to give it a go. I swore just about a week or two ago that I never wanted to eat another potato after eating them at every holiday meal and gathering we went to, but … Read more →

Parchment again? Yup. I got a lot of comments when I made salmon in parchment. I was so happy with it, that I was excited to try Chicken, Ginger and Mango in Parchment from Jan/Feb Everyday Food.

I think I am in love with parchment paper cooking. This was so easy. You cut up a mango, cut chicken breasts in half (so they are thinner) and use one cutlet per packet, make matchsticks from an inch of peeled ginger, toss in some cilantro, salt and pepper and a dash of olive oil and wrap it all in parchment (just fold it over and twist the ends) and stick it in the oven for 20 minutes at 375. Done! You serve 4 people. No baking dish to clean up, so saute pan. Truly magnificent.

And this was so flavorful! We squeezed lime on it when eating. It was tropical and bright and was a wonderful bright dish to have on a cold winter night. I am a huge fan of this dish and am going to make it again and again. I served it with some rice and another vegetable. Truly fabulous.

Parchment again? Yup. I got a lot of comments when I made salmon in parchment. I was so happy with it, that I was excited to try Chicken, Ginger and Mango in Parchment from Jan/Feb Everyday Food. I think I am in love with parchment paper cooking. This was so easy. You cut up a … Read more →

Although I had hoped that 2010 would be a drama-less year for us, we’ve already started out with a few medical issues hanging over our head. Hopefully everything will turn out to be minor, but I would appreciate your good thoughts until we get some answers from upcoming tests. I had a hard day after learning about the latest possible medical complication and after allowing myself time to stew and worry, I pulled myself up by my bootstraps and decided keeping busy was the best plan. Fortunately, there was lots to keep me busy. First we put away all the Christmas decorations (and considering it usually takes an entire weekend to get them up, getting them down in a day was an accomplishment). Once that ginormous task was done, I piddled around the house doing laundry and other household tasks. Mr. MarthaAndMe turned on the tv and my favorite movie of all time (Same Time Next Year with Ellen Burstyn and Alan Alda) was on.  We watched the last half of it and I had a good cry, which I always do with that movie,but which was especially cathartic that day.

Then it was time to make some dinner. I felt unmotivated, but knew I had some sliced top round in the freezer, which I bought to make Martha’s Beef Rolls with Spring Salad. So I got them out and got to work. I was leery of this recipe because I was afraid the beef was going to be tough. I also had to get a little creative. Mr. MarthaAndMe and I had the beef rolls as described in the recipe (sans salad – I made a pasta with broccoli in it instead), but Dude Martha doesn’t like cheese, so I left that out of his. Teen Martha doesn’t like peppers, so I made hers with just cheese.

These took forever to cook. Finally I ended up covering it to get it cook quicker, but it was still almost too pink inside for my tastes.

Yes, I just dumped these on a plate and did not make it look pretty – some days just getting food on the table is an accomplishment.

As for taste, it was ok. I thought the beef was a little tough, especially at the edges. I liked the peppers and onion and cheese. It was kind of like a cheesesteak in a way. It’s hard to make these without the cheese oozing out all over the place, unfortunately. It was fine, but I wasn’t wild about it. I probably wouldn’t make this again.

Although I had hoped that 2010 would be a drama-less year for us, we’ve already started out with a few medical issues hanging over our head. Hopefully everything will turn out to be minor, but I would appreciate your good thoughts until we get some answers from upcoming tests. I had a hard day after … Read more →

Today’s scheduled Martha Mondays selector has gone AWOL, so I’m making the pick this week.  Let’s make Lemon Souffles from the last page of January Martha Stewart Living. If you need the recipe, let me know.

Today’s scheduled Martha Mondays selector has gone AWOL, so I’m making the pick this week.  Let’s make Lemon Souffles from the last page of January Martha Stewart Living. If you need the recipe, let me know.

Last night, I found myself with a fridge full of leftovers. Paging through Everyday Food, I hit upon the Black Bean and Brown Rice Cakes. Ah-ha, I thought! A solution for some of the brown rice that’s been staring me down from the second shelf in the fridge. This recipe appealed to me because over the weekend I caught a few minutes of Aaron McCargo on Food Network making black bean burgers that looked soooo good.

Now that I had an idea for the leftover rice, I felt inspired to tackle some of the other leftovers. I pulled out the few veggie spring rolls we had left from New Year’s Eve and decided to heat those up. Then I happened upon a container of roasted root vegetables from a holiday dinner over the weekend and decided to heat those up. But what to do with the container of broccoli and cauliflower? I had already heated it up once to eat just plain (this was leftover from New Year’s Eve fondue and it was very al dente, which lent itself to being reheated several times without getting mushy). I didn’t want to waste it, but I knew no one was going to be happy seeing it come back to the table again.  I sought out my inner Martha and decided to play with it a little. First I heated it up (I had about 1 1/2 cups mixed broccoli and cauliflower)  so it was soft, then I dumped it in the Cuisinart and pulverized it. I added a tablespoon of butter, 3 tbsp cream, salt and pepper, 1/4 cup grated Gruyere (also leftover from New Year’s Eve) and whizzed that. Then I added one egg and dumped it in a small baking pan and baked it at 400 for about 20 minutes. It was similar to a broccoli souffle I make, but not nearly as time intensive and fussy. I liked this a lot – kind of a crust-less very light quiche. I cut it into small squares for serving.

Now for the burgers. Martha says her recipe feeds 4, but I cut this in half and got 4 good-sized burgers so I don’t what race of giants she is feeding. I used one can of black beans, rinsed and drained, 1/2 cup leftover brown rice, 1 large scallion (leftover from the turkey lettuce wraps the night before), 1 tbsp canned chili (also from the night before), salt, pepper, and 1/8 tsp cumin. I mixed this up and made 4 patties. I baked them at 400 for about 12 minutes. Martha says to top this with a mix of yogurt, cilantro and lime juice.

The burgers were good, especially with the yogurt sauce. The lime and cilantro really woke it up. No one else cared for this though. The kids picked at it and Mr. MarthaAndMe ate it because he was hungry, but it’s not his type of food at all. It was a little dry and had that crunchy-granola-hemp feel about it. I enjoyed it because it was something different and I get tired of always running through chicken, turkey and fish menu options.

Last night, I found myself with a fridge full of leftovers. Paging through Everyday Food, I hit upon the Black Bean and Brown Rice Cakes. Ah-ha, I thought! A solution for some of the brown rice that’s been staring me down from the second shelf in the fridge. This recipe appealed to me because over … Read more →

the turkey

I am fooded out after the holidays. I think I could exist solely on salads and fruit for a couple of weeks, however that won’t feed the family. Jan/Feb Everyday Food has lots of light meal ideas, and I am SO appreciating them right now.

Last night I made Stir-Fried Turkey in Lettuce Wraps. This reminded me of the lettuce wraps dish you can get at PF Changs. It was pretty simple to throw together. Chop up garlic, shallot and grate some ginger. I used some canned chilis (the recipe says to use a fresh one). Cook it all quickly

the wrap

then add ground turkey. Once it’s almost cooked, add in a mix of soy sauce, fish sauce (which smells so bad I almost hate to use it, but it does work) and sugar. Serve with lettuce leaves (I used Boston) and some sliced scallions and carrots and some lime to squeeze.

Hold on to your hats here, but everyone in the family ate this. I almost fell off my chair. I knew Teen Martha would at least try it, but she really liked it. Dude Martha ate huge quantities of the turkey plain and said he liked it. I thought it was delicious. I loved wrapping it in lettuce (I felt so noble using lettuce instead of tortillas!). It drips a little when you eat it but not too bad. Mr. MarthaAndMe needs some lessons in how to roll up the lettuce, but other than that, he enjoyed it too.

This will be something I make again and again I think – very quick and very healthy and no one will whine.

I am fooded out after the holidays. I think I could exist solely on salads and fruit for a couple of weeks, however that won’t feed the family. Jan/Feb Everyday Food has lots of light meal ideas, and I am SO appreciating them right now. Last night I made Stir-Fried Turkey in Lettuce Wraps. This … Read more →

One of the only Martha goals I had for this holiday season was to make the croquembouche in December Living. To me, the croquembouche is somehow quintessential Martha. I think I must have seen her make it years ago on her tv show and it stuck in my brain as the most Martha thing, ever. It is pretty over the top.

I had planned to make it for Christmas Eve, but was waylayed by a terrible abdominal muscle pull that made it impossible to do anything. Any movement was torture. I’m actually still working through the tail end of it, but am pushing through it to do the things I want to get done.

We had two remaining holiday parties this past weekend and I decided the croquembouche was definitely going to go to one of them. I decided to make it for my in-laws, since she asked me to bring dessert.

I read and re-read the instructions several times, gearing up for what felt like my Martha Olympic event. There were three components – the round cream puffs, the caramel cream to fill them with, and the caramel sugar to glue them together with and to use as spun sugar (not part of the recipe, but I’ve seen Martha do it before). I made the caramel cream the day before and kept it refrigerated. That went quite smoothly.

The cream puffs were pretty basic to make – the same as other cream puffs I’ve made in the past. I didn’t find Martha’s instructions too helpful. She said to make them the size of quarters, but didn’t indicate how tall. It took some experimenting to get that right. Whenever I’ve made cream puffs before, I’ve just used a spoon, but this required a pastry bag. Eek. I hate pastry bags. Not only do I have a mental block about where to put the plastic cuff and the tip, but they always squirt out the back or explode out the side. Mr. MarthaAndMe has no pastry bag fear though, so he stepped in and manned this one quite well.

Once those were made and baked, I finished the caramel cream by folding in the whipped cream. Mr. MarthaAndMe filled the puffs using the pastry bag. He got the job done, but it was a huge mess. Cream was spurting out the end of the bag and all over the place. It was dripping off his hands and he ended up standing over the sink to fill the cream puffs since it was like a creature from the black lagoon.

Next, I made the caramel used to stick them together. Mr. MarthaAndMe almost immediately burned himself dipping the puffs in the caramel. From that point on we used tongs. The caramel was a little hard to work with. I had to keep heating it back up. There might have been a little cursing throughout this process.

Putting the actual tree together was a challenge. Again, I found Martha’s instructions lacking. I didn’t know how many puffs to use to form the base and was worried about running out or having too many leftover. Some more detail about this part would have been helpful. At one point it looked like a bush (croquem-bush as I called it) but Mr. MarthaAndMe kept adding more and showing me where to put more and we got it to come out resembling a tree, albeit a kind of lopsided tree.

I didn’t make the sugar cookies to attach, and instead spun some sugar around it (I just used the caramel and used a fork to sort of whip it around the tree). I have to say that spinning sugar like this made me feel like a total Martha.

I think it turned out pretty nicely. We put it directly on a plate, even though Martha says to put it on parchment. We cut this recipe in half and it sounded like it should be enough – it says the full recipe feeds 30 people.

I held this on my lap for a treacherous half hour drive through snow to my in-laws’ house. It made it safely. Whew. I did keep this refrigerated at home and once we arrived, even though Martha says to keep at room temp. The caramel cream was a bit thin and I was worried about it running.

Everyone enjoyed this – it tasted great. The cream puffs were light and the caramel cream was deep and rich. The caramel used to stick it together and which I spun the sugar out of was a deep brown and really good.  It was a bit challenging to remove cream puffs to eat. They stuck together and broke when you tried to remove them. I’m not sure what Martha thinks you’re supposed to do. I think the cream puffs should have been a bit larger – they were kind of small and didn’t hold a lot of cream. We served this with a tray of cookies and some ice cream, but by itself it would not have been enough for the 6 people we had for dinner.

Now that I know how to make this, I wouldn’t be afraid to try it again.  The most challenging part was controlling the pastry bag and using the caramel sauce without serious injury. I wish I had the skills to make the tree form correctly, but I’m just not talented when it comes to spatial things! My little lopsided tree doesn’t really compare to what Martha produces. Yes, she has food designers, but I’ve seen her construct this with her own hands on tv and she can make it turn out perfectly shaped. Sigh. I know I’ll never be Martha, but sometimes it is frustrating! I am, however, proud that I accomplished this, something I’ve always wanted to try!

One of the only Martha goals I had for this holiday season was to make the croquembouche in December Living. To me, the croquembouche is somehow quintessential Martha. I think I must have seen her make it years ago on her tv show and it stuck in my brain as the most Martha thing, ever. … Read more →

I hope everyone survived the holidays! After a short break, we’re back to Martha Mondays. Today’s recipe was Silver Dollar Pear Pancakes, chosen by Pru at Perfecting Pru. We had these for breakfast on Sunday. It’s Martha’s basic buttermilk pancake recipe (which is almost the same as my recipe, except she uses more buttermilk), but you start by placing thin slices of pear that have been dipped in maple syrup and cinnamon on the griddle and letting them cook for a minute. Then you put the batter over them.

I liked these. The pear is an interesting flavor. It was kind of a sticky mess on the griddle, but they did taste good. It was nice to try something different for breakfast.

If you made this, please post a link to your results or a comment saying what you thought. Visit the other members’ blogs.

I hope everyone survived the holidays! After a short break, we’re back to Martha Mondays. Today’s recipe was Silver Dollar Pear Pancakes, chosen by Pru at Perfecting Pru. We had these for breakfast on Sunday. It’s Martha’s basic buttermilk pancake recipe (which is almost the same as my recipe, except she uses more buttermilk), but … Read more →