I do not associate Martha with the Super Bowl, but she was there apparently, and has been there the past four years. She says she used to have parties for it before that. So, I invited Martha (ok, just her recipe) along to our little party.  I made Martha’s Seven-Layer Bean Dip (Martha Stewart Living January page 39) yesterday.

This was very simple to put together, even though 7 layers sound intimidating. You cook onions and garlic and then add beans. You smoosh the beans. That becomes your first layer. The next layers are cheese, scallions, tomato/onion, avocado/chile, sour cream and olives. I didn’t include the olives.

Martha says to make several small jars of this to place around the party. I cut the recipe in half and make just one since there was only three of us (and we have a lot leftover). I served it with nachos. I also made my regular guacamole dip that is traditional for us. And I cut up some fresh veggies.

I liked the bean dip. It was very easy to make and I liked how you just throw it together and put it on the table – no refrigerating, no heating it up. The beans are still warm when you eat it which is nice. I loved, loved, loved the crunch of the scallions and the onion taste in the tomatoes. I did think it was a little bland. It needed some more heat. That’s my only criticism. I am an avocado freak, so I loved that part of it also.  It was pretty to see the layers and it felt very festive. Nice play, Martha.

I do not associate Martha with the Super Bowl, but she was there apparently, and has been there the past four years. She says she used to have parties for it before that. So, I invited Martha (ok, just her recipe) along to our little party.  I made Martha’s Seven-Layer Bean Dip (Martha Stewart Living … Read more →

Mini-Martha is having a birthday next week. To celebrate, he had some friends over last night. I approached the cake topic cautiously. I have made lots of crazy things for my kids’ birthdays – a brownie pizza, a spaghetti and meatballs cake (for an April Fool’s Day theme), pumpkin pie, strawberry pie, a bowling pins and bowling ball shaped group of cakes, red velvet cake – you name it. I have also purchased grocery store cakes (I know! The sheer horror of it). I wasn’t sure what he wanted this time around. I suggested baked Alaska and once I showed him the photo in Martha Stewart Living (January issue) he was hooked!

I made baked Alaska once many moons ago when Mr. MarthaAndMe were dating. Clearly it convinced him to marry me. When I made it before, I am pretty sure I made one big one. Martha advocates small individual Alaskas.

Now, what kind of a fool am I to think I should make baked Alaska for a group of 10 and 11 year old boys, to be served after an excursion to Dave and Buster’s (gaming place)? A big silly one I guess.

 

 

I made the cake the day before. What a strange cake this was – you beat egg yolks with sugar then add chocolate. Separately you beat 12 egg whites with sugar till they make peaks.  Then you fold it all together. There is no flour, but you absolutely would never guess that when you taste it. You cut out circles from the cake. There is a LOT left over and you can’t really do much with it since it is scraps.

You coat small bowls with plastic wrap then layer strawberry and vanilla ice cream into them. You place a cake circle on top. The recipe does not say this, but you really have to press that cake circle down into the ice cream so it will adhere.  I had a couple where I did not press hard enough and it did not attach. You then wrap it up and freeze it. I

 

 

did all this the day before.

The night of the party (after returning from the headache inducing Dave and Busters at 9 pm) I made the meringue. You beat egg whites then add a syrup you cooked using a candy thermometer. The egg whites turn a pale caramel color once you add the syrup. The recipe says to add the syrup slowly, but I would say to be careful not to add it too slowly – I had some syrup crystallizing on the side of the

 

 

bowl and I had to pick it out.

Ok, so once the meringue is ready, you’re supposed to pop the desserts out of their molds. The recipe says to let them sit for a few minutes and then they will come right out. Yeah, right. We ended up dipping the bottoms of the molds into hot water to get them to loosen. Once we did that, they did pop right out and you could easily peel the plastic wrap off.

Then I spread the meringue over them. This is where things started to get

 

 

loony, in more ways than one. As I am frantically trying to get this together and into the oven before it melts, it is announced that one of the party guests is having an allergy attack and needs meds. I am not about to hand out Zyrtec without parental permission, so Mr. MarthaAndMe had to make the call to get clearance while I worked on dessert.

There was definitely not enough meringue. Double the meringue recipe for this if you make this. I had ice cream peeking out and meringue that was too thin. You really want a nice thick layer of meringue in my opinion.

The recipe says to preheat the oven to 500 degrees and put the desserts in for 2 minutes (you can also use a blow torch, but oddly enough, I just don’t have one laying around).  This oven setting was not a good idea.

 

 

Everything started to melt and the meringue was not cooking. Disaster in the making! I quickly switched over to broil and that did the trick. So, my recommendation is to broil not bake!

Despite the melting situation, these turned out pretty well. The meringue was SO good, even if it did kind of slide off some of the desserts. It was crunchy, sweet and delicious and in nice contrast to the ice cream. Most of the ice cream was intact and the cake on the bottom was good. I served this with chocolate sauce, which really added to it, so I highly

 

 

recommend that.

I mentioned to some people that I was making this and they asked if it was going to be flaming. Apparently, they serve this on cruise ships and set it on fire (they must put alcohol on it to do this, I imagine). So, no, there was nothing flaming at this party, but I think it was a hit. Everyone scraped their plates clean and I think I got points for the novelty factor. And really, you can’t go wrong with cake and ice cream, which is what this basically is.

 

 

 

 

Mini-Martha is having a birthday next week. To celebrate, he had some friends over last night. I approached the cake topic cautiously. I have made lots of crazy things for my kids’ birthdays – a brownie pizza, a spaghetti and meatballs cake (for an April Fool’s Day theme), pumpkin pie, strawberry pie, a bowling pins … Read more →

Didn’t you just love the cupcake show Martha did on Wednesday this week? OMG, cupcakes are so cute and so good. I have been to Magnolia (the famous cupcake shop in NYC Martha mentioned) and I have to be honest – I thought their cupcakes were kind of dry. They did not wow me at all.

I loved the parchment paper wrapper idea that one of the chefs showed. So cute!

In addition to bringing on two NYC cupcake chefs, Martha made Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes, which is in the February issue of Martha Stewart Living (pp. 149-150). I imagine this is also in the soon to be released cupcake book.

We were having a dinner guest last night, so I decided to give these cupcakes a shot. Prepare yourself my friends – this is another one of Martha’s all day recipes.

Things started off well enough with the batter for the cupcakes. You essentially beat the cr** out of the eggs until they are light and poufy. No problem. Martha said to fill the cupcake tins only half full. I would ignore this advice next time – I felt my cupcakes were too short.

Next I baked the cupcakes. They needed a little less time than the recipe

says. They turned out nicely – soft and spongy. They were easy to cut in half.

Next, I moved on to the vanilla cream, which is the pudding-type filling for the cupcakes.  I followed the instructions on this to the letter. I cooked it and refrigerated it, and when I took it out, I had a bowl of runny glop. It was far too thin – and it was somehow thinner than it was when I first stuck it in the fridge. I was in a total panic, because I

needed to get these assembled in time for dinner. I dumped it back in a pot and heated it up again, but it did not thicken. Finally I added some more cornstarch and it immediately came together. I refrigerated it again and when it came out, it was too thick! Aaaahhh!!! Now, in the rational light of day, I think I should have probably just whisked in a little milk to thin it, but I didn’t think of that. I used it as it was and actually, you really couldn’t tell when you ate the cupcake that it was too thick (and it had the added effect of not running out the sides at all). If you make this recipe, I would recommend doubling the amount of cream. I didn’t have enough to fill all the cupcakes (I ended up with 24 cupcakes).

The final step is to melt some chocolate with cream and corn syrup to make the ganache glaze. This was easy. It melted nicely and I spooned it over the cupcakes. It did need a little help to drip down the edges, but once I got it to run, it looked great.

These tasted great. We ate them with a fork, but you could definitely just pick them up like a regular cupcake. This is a fun twist on cupcakes, which sometimes can be sort of boring, no matter how pretty they are.

Didn’t you just love the cupcake show Martha did on Wednesday this week? OMG, cupcakes are so cute and so good. I have been to Magnolia (the famous cupcake shop in NYC Martha mentioned) and I have to be honest – I thought their cupcakes were kind of dry. They did not wow me at … Read more →

On Monday, Martha displayed dishes from the Inaugural luncheon menu (below the menu there is a link to the recipes if you want to see them), spoke with the head chef, and made the duck breast and whipped sweet potatoes on her show. I was excited about the Inauguration and decided to make some of the luncheon menu for dinner last night. It was fun to share in the festivities. I don’t know how the luncheon guests managed to eat that many courses for lunch!

I made the seafood stew, molasses whipped sweet potatoes, asparagus and apple cinnamon sponge cake. This was plenty for dinner.

However, I spent most of the day in the kitchen to get it done! First I made the apple filling for the dessert. This entailed chopping up apples, caramelizing them and then adding some water and cooking them down. Once they’ve cooked down, you add nutmeg, applesauce, sugar, salt and lemon zest. I added some cinnamon as well.  I sliced bread (I used challah) and cut it out in circles to fit the ramekins.

Then I cooked the seafood in water, removed it, added vegetables, and then cooked the remaining broth down. This took a loooong time. Once it was cooked down, I added cream and white wine and had to cook it down again.  I cut up the seafood and prepared the ramekins (which I had to go out and buy for this since I didn’t have any!).

I baked the yams (no sweet potatoes to be found at my store) and mashed them with molasses, maple syrup, butter, cumin, and salt and pepper.

I prepared the asparagus for steaming.

I had to get everything assembled before blowing out the door for hockey practice, so I assembled both the seafood and dessert dishes (which meant dipping the bread in butter for the dessert and cutting out the puff pastry circles for the seafood stew) and left detailed instructions with my teenager about when to put them in the oven.

Everything turned out really well. The seafood stew was fabulous – no doubt because it took so much time and care to make. It was really wonderful. I would have preferred the cream sauce to be just a bit thicker. I confess I did add a little Wondra to mine and next time would add more. The molasses whipped sweet potatoes were good. The asparagus was regular asparagus – no big deal there. The dessert was good, but I felt as though the slices of bread were too thick and too buttery. I would slice them thinner and use less butter and

more apple filling. The caramel sauce that went on top was delicious (as you will see if you read the recipes in the link I provided, that at least was easy to make!).

It was exciting to feel as though we were participating in this historical event in a small way, and it was a very tasty meal. Cheers to the new president!

On Monday, Martha displayed dishes from the Inaugural luncheon menu (below the menu there is a link to the recipes if you want to see them), spoke with the head chef, and made the duck breast and whipped sweet potatoes on her show. I was excited about the Inauguration and decided to make some of … Read more →

I’ve tackled another one of Martha’s Superbowl party foods, Spicy-Sweet Chicken Wings (page 38 of January Martha Stewart Living). First let me say this. I’m from Buffalo. Home of the chicken wing. When we order wings here we get them from some of the very best places in the entire world. Tough to beat.

I do occasionally make my own wings. So I was eager to give Martha’s version a try.

First you make the sauce – a mix of hoisin, orange zest, hot sauce, honey and sesame oil. I felt right away it could not possibly be enough. You marinate the wings in part of it, then bake them. Halfway through you put the rest of the sauce on them. The wings did not get as crispy as I like them and they were on the edge of burning. They had a slightly mushy texture. I like them crunchy.

The sauce had a nice taste, but there just was not enough of it. Having the dipping sauce definitely helped, but usually a dip has a different flavor, not a repeat of the same tastes.

Everyone agreed these wings were ok, but not terrific. I would recommend cooking them longer at a lower temp so that the sugars in the sauce do not burn, yet the wings have time to crisp.

I’ve tackled another one of Martha’s Superbowl party foods, Spicy-Sweet Chicken Wings (page 38 of January Martha Stewart Living). First let me say this. I’m from Buffalo. Home of the chicken wing. When we order wings here we get them from some of the very best places in the entire world. Tough to beat. I … Read more →

Can I just say, sliders do not strike me as Martha food. Can you see Martha eating them? I just can’t. Although I do understand it’s in the January issue of Martha Stewart Living as part of the Superbowl food section (does Martha have a Superbowl party? I doubt it).

My son loves sliders and orders them in restaurants every time they are on the menu, so I decided to make this for dinner. Really there’s nothing to this – all you do is make small hamburgers and serve them on dinner rolls. I didn’t make the shallot butter in the recipe because my family is very specific about what can and cannot go on a hamburger or slider. My son will not eat cheese. My husband likes mustard and ketchup. My daughter likes just ketchup. I require ketchup and relish. So I skipped the shallot butter and left several without cheese. I, of course, used organic, grass fed hamburger, which is something I am rigid about.

I did cook these under the broiler as Martha directs, even though I normally would have made them on the Jenn-Air grill. This was easy to make. I just wish I could have found whole wheat or multigrain dinner rolls, but I had to use white. I cannot tell you how long it has been since I’ve tasted regular white bread.  A real indulgence in this house.

The sliders were good. There’s something fun about cute little hamburgers like this. They’re easy to pick up and eat. This would be a nice thing to serve at a casual party, so it’s definitely something that would work for SuperBowl.

I’m going to be making more of the SuperBowl items from this issue in the coming weeks.

Can I just say, sliders do not strike me as Martha food. Can you see Martha eating them? I just can’t. Although I do understand it’s in the January issue of Martha Stewart Living as part of the Superbowl food section (does Martha have a Superbowl party? I doubt it). My son loves sliders and … Read more →

I know the holidays are over for most people, but in my family we are still struggling through it! I was assigned to bring dessert for 12 to a family holiday party last night. I decided to make Martha’s Triple Chocolate Peppermint Trifle from Season’s Eatings, page 114.

I decided I wanted to make it in 12 individual bowls rather than one big trifle bowl. A big trifle bowl looks pretty, but when you serve it, it looks like a pile of mush (which in my opinion is not all that appetizing). So I needed 12 bowls. I have a set of 12 pink goblets that was perfect, but Mr. MarthaandMe felt that there was no way we could safely transport those. I have a set of 8 cute little glass dessert bowls, but I need 12. Off we went to Bed, Bath and Beyond where I bought 12 individual trifle bowls for $30 (the things I do for Martha).

I started cooking this yesterday afternoon. First I made the cake, which was pretty simple. Next I made the syrup. Martha says to mix water and sugar and add chocolate liqueur. I don’t have any liqueur so I cheated and mixed cocoa powder and some cocoa mix with water till it was dark and thick.

Next I made the mousse. You cook cream and melt white chocolate in it.

Then you cool it in an ice bath. Next you fold in whipped cream. At the end you add crushed candy canes.

After that I made the pudding, which was pretty basic, but also requires an ice bath (just call me the ice queen).

All of this needed to chill for at least 4 hours.  This was New Year’s Day and I was tired to the bone from our New Year’s Eve

extravaganza. By the time everything was chilled, I was so tired I almost could not keep my eyes open to fill the bowls.

First I had to wash the bowls. And of course I managed to chip one. Sigh.

This dessert has a back breaking 9 layers:

– mousse

– cake

– syrup

– pudding

-mousse

– cake

– syrup

-pudding

-mousse

It all fit perfectly in the little trifle bowls, although it took a long time to assemble. If you made this in one

big bowl, it would go much more quickly.

Once it’s in the bowls, it needs to set for at least 12 hours.

Transporting this to our destination was a challenge. Mr. MarthaAndMe put them all in a big cardboard box with bubble wrap between the bowls and we got them there without incident.

Before serving, I made whipped cream and put that on top and then

sprinkled with more crushed peppermint. I put the trifle bowls on a dessert plate and stuck one of my Chocolate Peppermint cookies (Dec. Living Cookie of the Month – had exactly 12 left so that worked out perfectly) on the top. They looked very pretty.

As for the taste test? Well, this was a very rich dessert and most people at the table did not finish it. It needs a lot more peppermint than it had. I think I might add some peppermint extract to the cake or the mousse. It just tasted like a mouthful of chocolate and cream and was a bit overwhelming I thought.

I don’t think I would make this dessert again. It was very time-consuming. It’s festive and pretty, but I’d rather eat something else.

This is my last offiicial holiday 2008 post! Tomorrow we’re moving on to January Living. It feels like a breath of fresh air after all the candies, decorations, and desserts December was filled with. I can hardly wait to focus on weight loss, healthy eating, home organizing and simplification. I am soooo holiday’ed out at this point – but we have one more party tonight to get through!

I know the holidays are over for most people, but in my family we are still struggling through it! I was assigned to bring dessert for 12 to a family holiday party last night. I decided to make Martha’s Triple Chocolate Peppermint Trifle from Season’s Eatings, page 114. I decided I wanted to make it … Read more →

It is a tradition at our house to have fondue on New Year’s Eve. It used to be just us and the kids, but over the years, more and more people have joined us. Our dining room table was at capacity this year and the two fondue pots I had going were barely enough. Next year, I think we’ll have to expand to another room and add a pot.

First, the table.  New Year’s started out as a simple thing and has gradually become more complicated. This year we ended up with 9 people (one unexpectedly showed up at the last minute and we had to scramble to add a seat). It’s hard to see in the photo, but I took curling ribbon, curled it,  and ran it the length of the table. Then I made shorter strands and laid them the opposite way along it. In between each place setting, I put another squiggle of curled ribbon. We also have some crazy new year hats and crowns that the guests amuse themselves with before dinner.

This year I used Martha’s fondue recipes. First, the cheese fondue. Let me say here that cheese fondue and I have a long and troubled history. The first few years it went beautifully. Then we entered a period where the fondue did not combine well for a few years – it would be stringy or separate. Last year I cheated and bought some already made, which I just heated. This year I put my trust in Martha. It was touch and go. I had the wine heated and started slowly adding cheese. All it did was clump up in the bottom of the pan. I kept stirring and stirring and slowly adding cheese, with no change. After half an hour, I reached the panic stage and Mr. MarthaAndMe was sent to look online for help while I called my mother. No help from either place. I kept stirring and finally added the cornstarch and lemon juice and POOF it suddenly came together. Miraculous.

With the cheese fondue I served:

– squares of ham

– slices of Italian chicken sausage

-cherry tomatoes

– slices of pear

– chunks of French bread

– chunks of pumpernickel rye bread

– pieces of hot pretzels (a total hit with the guests)

– broccoli

– cauliflower

– zucchini

I also served a honey mustard sauce and a creamy dill sauce. Also on the table was the carmelized onion dip (see yesterday’s post). Martha’s fondue was excellent. It had a nice mix of cheeses which gave it a nice depth of flavor. As always, you’ve got to keep an eye on you fondue pots. If it gets too hot, it starts to overcook. If you cool it too much, it gets clumpy.

Next up was the chocolate fondue. This is easy to make since you just melt chocolate in cream. I used a mix of dark and semi-sweet chocolate. It was fabulous. I also used the same recipe and substituted some white chocolate to make a white chocolate fondue.

With the fondue I served:

– strawberries

– pineapple

– marshmallows

– chocolate chip cookies

– fortune cookies

– chunks of rice krispie treats

– blueberries

– raspberries

– banana

– biscotti

– pound cake

I also served a bowl of chopped peanuts and a bowl of flake coconut (to roll things in after they are dipped in the chocolate). The chocolate fondue is always a big hit and so delicious.

We had a great time, but this party just about kills me every year! It takes so long to chop and prepare the many foods in advance and then there are so many plates, forks, and serving dishes to wash afterwards! Our party is dinner only – guests go elsewhere for the ball drop, so we were in bed by 10:30 and sound asleep from exhaustion.

It is a tradition at our house to have fondue on New Year’s Eve. It used to be just us and the kids, but over the years, more and more people have joined us. Our dining room table was at capacity this year and the two fondue pots I had going were barely enough. Next … Read more →

It is a tradition at our house to have fondue on New Year’s Eve. It used to be just us and the kids, but over the years, more and more people have joined us. Our dining room table was at capacity this year and the two fondue pots I had going were barely enough. Next year, I think we’ll have to expand to another room and add a pot.

First, the table.  New Year’s started out as a simple thing and has gradually become more complicated. This year we ended up with 9 people (one unexpectedly showed up at the last minute and we had to scramble to add a seat). It’s hard to see in the photo, but I took curling ribbon, curled it,  and ran it the length of the table. Then I made shorter strands and laid them the opposite way along it. In between each place setting, I put another squiggle of curled ribbon. We also have some crazy new year hats and crowns that the guests amuse themselves with before dinner.

This year I used Martha’s fondue recipes. First, the cheese fondue. Let me say here that cheese fondue and I have a long and troubled history. The first few years it went beautifully. Then we entered a period where the fondue did not combine well for a few years – it would be stringy or separate. Last year I cheated and bought some already made, which I just heated. This year I put my trust in Martha. It was touch and go. I had the wine heated and started slowly adding cheese. All it did was clump up in the bottom of the pan. I kept stirring and stirring and slowly adding cheese, with no change. After half an hour, I reached the panic stage and Mr. MarthaAndMe was sent to look online for help while I called my mother. No help from either place. I kept stirring and finally added the cornstarch and lemon juice and POOF it suddenly came together. Miraculous.

With the cheese fondue I served:

– squares of ham

– slices of Italian chicken sausage

-cherry tomatoes

– slices of pear

– chunks of French bread

– chunks of pumpernickel rye bread

– pieces of hot pretzels (a total hit with the guests)

– broccoli

– cauliflower

– zucchini

I also served a honey mustard sauce and a creamy dill sauce. Also on the table was the carmelized onion dip (see yesterday’s post). Martha’s fondue was excellent. It had a nice mix of cheeses which gave it a nice depth of flavor. As always, you’ve got to keep an eye on you fondue pots. If it gets too hot, it starts to overcook. If you cool it too much, it gets clumpy.

Next up was the chocolate fondue. This is easy to make since you just melt chocolate in cream. I used a mix of dark and semi-sweet chocolate. It was fabulous. I also used the same recipe and substituted some white chocolate to make a white chocolate fondue.

With the fondue I served:

– strawberries

– pineapple

– marshmallows

– chocolate chip cookies

– fortune cookies

– chunks of rice krispie treats

– blueberries

– raspberries

– banana

– biscotti

– pound cake

I also served a bowl of chopped peanuts and a bowl of flake coconut (to roll things in after they are dipped in the chocolate). The chocolate fondue is always a big hit and so delicious.

We had a great time, but this party just about kills me every year! It takes so long to chop and prepare the many foods in advance and then there are so many plates, forks, and serving dishes to wash afterwards! Our party is dinner only – guests go elsewhere for the ball drop, so we were in bed by 10:30 and sound asleep from exhaustion.

It is a tradition at our house to have fondue on New Year’s Eve. It used to be just us and the kids, but over the years, more and more people have joined us. Our dining room table was at capacity this year and the two fondue pots I had going were barely enough. Next … Read more →

Martha has a two-page spread on napkin folding in the December Living (p. 12). She shows 4 different folds and I decided to try my hand at them with my Christmas napkins.

Starting at the top left, is the envelope fold. This one is tres cute I think! I would love to do this one and slip a scratch off lottery ticket in it or a small candy bar. This was really simple to make.

At the top right is the menu fold. This doesn’t look so great with a napkin with a pattern on one side. Maybe with a plain napkin and one that wasn’t so uneven at the edges it would look better. I’m not too enamored with this one.

Bottom left is the modern fold. I think this would work better with a really large napkin. The rolls at the center won’t stay together for me and I think if it was bigger, it would.

Last is the bottom right, the lotus fold. Well, I must admit I was scratching my head over the directions for this one. I still don’t think I got it right – it looks nothing like the picture.  Too complicated for me to attempt. I am spatially challenged and this one is beyond my abilities!

The result here is I would do the envelope fold for a table setting but probably not the others. I resolve to fold my napkins in this fold for Christmas morning breakfast!

Martha has a two-page spread on napkin folding in the December Living (p. 12). She shows 4 different folds and I decided to try my hand at them with my Christmas napkins. Starting at the top left, is the envelope fold. This one is tres cute I think! I would love to do this one … Read more →