In June Martha Stewart Everyday Food there’s a cute little recipe for sesame broccoli. We eat a LOT of broccoli since it is the only vegetable both of my kids will eat. A new way to make it is always welcome.

sesame brocThis recipe has you roast the broccoli in a very hot oven. Note that mine cooked much faster than the time the recipe said. Once it comes out you put some soy sauce, lemon juice and sesame seeds on it.

It was interesting, but I wouldn’t make this again. I felt like the flavors were kind of overpowering and it was just too strong. The kids would not touch it. Not really a winner. Sorry, Martha.

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In June Martha Stewart Everyday Food there’s a cute little recipe for sesame broccoli. We eat a LOT of broccoli since it is the only vegetable both of my kids will eat. A new way to make it is always welcome. This recipe has you roast the broccoli in a very hot oven. Note that … Read more

Spanish Rice

Posted by Brette in Food

I’ve had Spanish Rice a few times at a Mexican restaurant and liked it a lot, but had never made it.  I stumbled upon it in the June issue of Martha Stewart Living and decided to give it a try.

spanish riceThis recipe is very easy. Basically you’re just cooking rice with some onion, garlic, carrot, tomato paste and chicken broth. No additional seasonings or spices.

The rice cooked easily and was moist and a beautiful orange color. I’m a big fan of this dish. It’s simple yet different enough from plain rice that it’s a nice change. The other thing I really love about it is that the rice needs no butter.  I often make rice as a side dish and we like it plain with just butter and salt, but this dish is moist and tasty without any added fat which makes it a big winner in my book!

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I’ve had Spanish Rice a few times at a Mexican restaurant and liked it a lot, but had never made it.  I stumbled upon it in the June issue of Martha Stewart Living and decided to give it a try. This recipe is very easy. Basically you’re just cooking rice with some onion, garlic, carrot, … Read more

My June issue of Martha Stewart Living has arrived. I love the cover and I love all the grilling recipes. Summer at last! I immediately dove in and picked the Honey Brine for chicken to try out.

honey brineI boiled water, honey and salt. Hmm, those ingredients seemed a little plain-Jane to me, but I gave Martha the benefit of the doubt. I brined 8 boneless chicken breasts for two hours. Trying to be clever, I thought I would make 8 and use the leftovers to make a big salad or some sandwiches another night. Someone stop me the next honey brine2time I try to be clever. We grilled the chicken after the brining.

I’m sorry to report that this chicken was inedible. It was so salty you simply could not eat it. 1/2 cup of salt in 6 cups of water is a lot, but brines do generally have a lot of salt. Maybe if there was some other flavor involved in this it might have been edible, but as it was, it jut tasted like salt and honey brine3nothing else. The honey flavor did not come through at all. This was a HUGE disappointment!

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My June issue of Martha Stewart Living has arrived. I love the cover and I love all the grilling recipes. Summer at last! I immediately dove in and picked the Honey Brine for chicken to try out. I boiled water, honey and salt. Hmm, those ingredients seemed a little plain-Jane to me, but I gave … Read more

I was looking for something simple for a busy weeknight dinner and settled on Penne with Two Tomatoes and Mozzarella from May Everyday Food. I had a box of penne, but when I pulled it out of the pantry I realized it was only 1/4 full, so I decided to use shells for this.

I boiled the pasta and then cooked up garlic, cherry tomatoes and sundried tomatoes. Super simple. You mix the pasta with the sauce and then stir in frozen cubes of mozzarella (so they stay as chunks and don’t melt) and sprinkle on some chives.

pasta tomatoI liked this dish, but it doesn’t reheat well because the cheese melts all over. Other than that, I thought it was tasty and I liked the two types of tomatoes. The chives are a nice touch and the green color looks great. I might be tempted to add some spinach to this or some other vegetable just to make it a little more interesting.

My June Living came in the mail yesterday – hooray!

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I was looking for something simple for a busy weeknight dinner and settled on Penne with Two Tomatoes and Mozzarella from May Everyday Food. I had a box of penne, but when I pulled it out of the pantry I realized it was only 1/4 full, so I decided to use shells for this. I … Read more

A Quick Salad

Posted by Brette in Food

The May issue of Everyday Food has a cute little salad, Romaine Salad with Crispy Prosciutto and White Beans. Although the salad is supposed to feed one, I made it a little bigger to feed two.

salad prosThe recipe says to rip up a roll and toss with olive oil. Put it on a baking sheet and lay out your prosciutto next to it. It does not say to spray the pan. I thought this was nuts, but thought maybe the prosciutto has enough fat in it that it won’t stick when you bake it. Wrong! Some of the prosciutto did curl up as the recipe said it would, but the rest stuck to the pan and had to be scraped, resulting in crumbs. That was disappointing.

The rest of the salad is easy to make – romaine, cannelini beans, and a basic salad dressing. I violated Martha’s principles in two ways. First I did not make the salad dressing in the bottom of the bowl as Martha directs. I dislike doing that because you can’t control the amount of dressing then. I also spiced up her salad dressing – she calls just for oil, vinegar and salt and pepper. Frankly, that’s pretty nasty. I added a little sugar and some dried Italian herbs to give it some flavor.

salad pros2This salad was tasty and different. I enjoyed the beans and prosciutto in it a lot. In fact, I’m starting to think baked prosciutto is better than bacon in some instances. This was a nice, quick salad and I think it would make a great lunch by itself. We had it as a side dish with dinner and it was great that way also.

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The May issue of Everyday Food has a cute little salad, Romaine Salad with Crispy Prosciutto and White Beans. Although the salad is supposed to feed one, I made it a little bigger to feed two. The recipe says to rip up a roll and toss with olive oil. Put it on a baking sheet … Read more

Sunday was Mother’s Day. I usually spend Mother’s Day with my mom and in the past, she has usually made dinner for her mom and we’ve celebrated there. This year my grandmother passed away a week before and my dad had retinal surgery, so my mom decided to stay home and celebrate with me another day. This left me at loose ends for Mother’s Day.

Mr. MarthaAndMe made breakfast (Dutch babies) while I lounged in bed and the kids had thoughtful gifts for me. It was a nice morning. Expecting Mr. MarthaAndMe to cook dinner though is a bit much. No one in this house has forgotten the Meatloaf Incident (in which he made meatloaf with a little meat and a LOT of ketchup). So, I made a roast chicken and mashed potatoes. But I really wanted a dessert of some kind. Martha to the rescue! I was intrigued by the recipe for Versatile Vanilla Cake (Everyday Food, May issue). The idea behind this recipe is that you can easily modify it to make chocolate or lemon cakes. I decided to make one batch, but split it in half so I could have a chocolate and a vanilla cake (since we have two camps in this family – chocolate and vanilla).

vers van1The cake was easy to make. Of course I ran out of eggs and had to send Mr.  MarthaAndMe to the store. The cakes baked up nicely. Once I had the cakes made, I made Martha’s frosting. I must admit, I was a little scared of this frosting. It’s made from egg whites, sugar, salt and water. Frosting without butter? Seemed weird.

You cook the egg whites in a double boiler until the sugar melts and you reach 150 degrees. I must say it didn’t look too appetizing at this point! But I kept at it and once it is cooked, you whip it. Now it began to resemble frosting.  It whipped up nicely and was light and fluffy. vers van2

Next, I spread it on the cakes. Because it was so light and fluffy, it went on very easily. I had just the right amount to frost two one-layer cakes. If I had made a two-layer cake like the recipe directed, there would have been enough for that.

The frosting looks really pretty on the cakes, don’t vers van3you think?

Now for the taste test. The cakes were delicious! The cake was very moist (because of the buttermilk in the recipe) and had a nice consistency (heavy but not too heavy) and a good flavor. The frosting was quite good. It was sweet and light and was not overpowering like some frosting can be. I also love that it is non-fat.

I will definitely make this cake and frosting combo again. It was a winner!

vers van4

vers van5

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Sunday was Mother’s Day. I usually spend Mother’s Day with my mom and in the past, she has usually made dinner for her mom and we’ve celebrated there. This year my grandmother passed away a week before and my dad had retinal surgery, so my mom decided to stay home and celebrate with me another … Read more

Sunday was Mother’s Day. I usually spend Mother’s Day with my mom and in the past, she has usually made dinner for her mom and we’ve celebrated there. This year my grandmother passed away a week before and my dad had retinal surgery, so my mom decided to stay home and celebrate with me another day. This left me at loose ends for Mother’s Day.

Mr. MarthaAndMe made breakfast (Dutch babies) while I lounged in bed and the kids had thoughtful gifts for me. It was a nice morning. Expecting Mr. MarthaAndMe to cook dinner though is a bit much. No one in this house has forgotten the Meatloaf Incident (in which he made meatloaf with a little meat and a LOT of ketchup). So, I made a roast chicken and mashed potatoes. But I really wanted a dessert of some kind. Martha to the rescue! I was intrigued by the recipe for Versatile Vanilla Cake (Everyday Food, May issue). The idea behind this recipe is that you can easily modify it to make chocolate or lemon cakes. I decided to make one batch, but split it in half so I could have a chocolate and a vanilla cake (since we have two camps in this family – chocolate and vanilla).

vers van1The cake was easy to make. Of course I ran out of eggs and had to send Mr.  MarthaAndMe to the store. The cakes baked up nicely. Once I had the cakes made, I made Martha’s frosting. I must admit, I was a little scared of this frosting. It’s made from egg whites, sugar, salt and water. Frosting without butter? Seemed weird.

You cook the egg whites in a double boiler until the sugar melts and you reach 150 degrees. I must say it didn’t look too appetizing at this point! But I kept at it and once it is cooked, you whip it. Now it began to resemble frosting.  It whipped up nicely and was light and fluffy. vers van2

Next, I spread it on the cakes. Because it was so light and fluffy, it went on very easily. I had just the right amount to frost two one-layer cakes. If I had made a two-layer cake like the recipe directed, there would have been enough for that.

The frosting looks really pretty on the cakes, don’t vers van3you think?

Now for the taste test. The cakes were delicious! The cake was very moist (because of the buttermilk in the recipe) and had a nice consistency (heavy but not too heavy) and a good flavor. The frosting was quite good. It was sweet and light and was not overpowering like some frosting can be. I also love that it is non-fat.

I will definitely make this cake and frosting combo again. It was a winner!

vers van4

vers van5

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Sunday was Mother’s Day. I usually spend Mother’s Day with my mom and in the past, she has usually made dinner for her mom and we’ve celebrated there. This year my grandmother passed away a week before and my dad had retinal surgery, so my mom decided to stay home and celebrate with me another … Read more

lemon shrimpIn the May issue of Everyday Food there is a recipe from Emeril for Grilled Lemon-Herb Shrimp.  I love shrimp because it’s so quick to cook. And I know my son will always eat breaded and pan-fried shrimp, so I can always make some of that for him separately.

This was super easy, but you do need to make it half an hour ahead so it can marinate (and half an hour really is enough time for the marinade to work). The marinade is lemon juice, olive oil, thyme, rosemary, garlic and salt and pepper. No fuss.

I let it marinate, then we grilled it. It was really tasty. All the flavors of the marinade sunk into the shrimp. The recipe says to reserve some marinade to serve over the shrimp but it did not need it at all.

This is a terrific quick way to make very flavorful shrimp. This shrimp also is fabulous cold the next day in a salad or just by itself.  Next time, I’ll make more so we have leftovers.

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In the May issue of Everyday Food there is a recipe from Emeril for Grilled Lemon-Herb Shrimp.  I love shrimp because it’s so quick to cook. And I know my son will always eat breaded and pan-fried shrimp, so I can always make some of that for him separately. This was super easy, but you … Read more

lemon shrimpIn the May issue of Everyday Food there is a recipe from Emeril for Grilled Lemon-Herb Shrimp.  I love shrimp because it’s so quick to cook. And I know my son will always eat breaded and pan-fried shrimp, so I can always make some of that for him separately.

This was super easy, but you do need to make it half an hour ahead so it can marinate (and half an hour really is enough time for the marinade to work). The marinade is lemon juice, olive oil, thyme, rosemary, garlic and salt and pepper. No fuss.

I let it marinate, then we grilled it. It was really tasty. All the flavors of the marinade sunk into the shrimp. The recipe says to reserve some marinade to serve over the shrimp but it did not need it at all.

This is a terrific quick way to make very flavorful shrimp. This shrimp also is fabulous cold the next day in a salad or just by itself.  Next time, I’ll make more so we have leftovers.

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In the May issue of Everyday Food there is a recipe from Emeril for Grilled Lemon-Herb Shrimp.  I love shrimp because it’s so quick to cook. And I know my son will always eat breaded and pan-fried shrimp, so I can always make some of that for him separately. This was super easy, but you … Read more

Martha Stewart Living has done away with the Dessert of the Month, renaming the last page of the magazine “Save Room for” (personally I liked the idea of a dessert of the month better). The May column is about Lemony Angel Food Cake. I’ve never liked angel food cake. It seemed dry and tasteless to me. Why bother with dessert if it isn’t going to be good? So, I felt some trepidation about making this. Would it taste like sawdust? Will it be bad?

I ended up making this to distract myself the day of my grandmother’s wake. It didn’t start until late afternoon and I needed something to do to keep me busy.  There was a going to be a family dinner afterwards and this seemed like it would be a nice contribution.

The first step was buying an angel food cake pan. I found one at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $14.99 (minus my 20% off coupon).

I began by whipping the egg whites – all 12 of them. Next you add lemon juice, lemon zest, cream of tartar, vanilla and salt and then you whip them to soft peaks. This went quickly. The next step is to add sugar gradually and then to sprinkle with a flour/sugar mix and fold it in.

Confession time. This was a difficult day for me and I obviously did not read the recipe carefully. The recipe calls for cake flour. I missed that part and just used regular flour. I didn’t discover this until the cake was in the oven. Yikes! Would it be too heavy? Would it fail to rise? I was a nervous wreck. Not to mention I was worried about serving this to my family if it was a disaster!

The cake came out of the oven and looked ok. I let it rest upside down and then removed it from the pan and it miraculously came right out.

Once the cake was cooled, I was ready to make the frosting. And here is where I had a conundrum. The frosting for this cake is really just whipped cream with some sugar, lemon juice, zest, salt and flour in it.  How could I put what is essentially whipped cream on a cake and then let it sit in my car for 4  1/2 hours? So I ended up making up the whipped cream and putting it in a small cooler with lots of blue ice and taking it along.

I did not make the candied lemon-peel flowers. So shoot me.

We got through the wake and then went to my grandmother’s house for a buffet-style dinner with family and friends. I put the cake on the counter and the frosting in the fridge. When I was about halfway through eating my dinner, my son came and reported that dessert had been set out and they put my cake out unfrosted. Emergency! Off I ran. I yanked the cake off the table and flew to the kitchen where I slapped the frosting on it then set it back on the table. By the time I got back with the camera to take a photo, it had been decimated. I was able to get a piece of it and that’s all I got a photo of.

lemon-angel-cakeI remained skeptical about this cake until I had my first bite. It was wonderful! It was moist, just sweet enough, very lemony, and very light. It probably would have been even lighter if I had used cake flour, but I don’t think anyone noticed. The frosting was light and creamy and smooth. It added just the right touch to the cake.

I’m now an angel food cake convert. This was a great dessert and it really was not a lot of work. And, just so you know, the last couple pieces of this sat in my fridge for a few days and the seem no worse for the wear. The whipped cream frosting did not disintegrate or soak into the cake, so this probably could be frosted in advance and kept chilled.

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Martha Stewart Living has done away with the Dessert of the Month, renaming the last page of the magazine “Save Room for” (personally I liked the idea of a dessert of the month better). The May column is about Lemony Angel Food Cake. I’ve never liked angel food cake. It seemed dry and tasteless to … Read more

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