Today’s Martha Monday project was chosen by Lyndsey at Tiny Skillet – Quinoa Apricot Nut Clusters. I was excited about this because it was totally different from anything I have made. There were a lot of steps in this though, mostly b/c Martha wants you to roast your oats, sunflower seeds, pistachios, and quinoa all separately. Eek. I bought pre-roasted nuts and seeds, so that helped reduce the time on this. With the quinoa, you have to cook it on the stove, then roast it, which took quite a while. Finally I had all my ingredients and I mixed them together. You’re supposed to form these into a cookie shape on a baking sheet and bake them. I could not get mine to stay together very well. I got them into blobs on the baking sheet, but when I took them off, they fell apart.

So it was messy. As for taste? It was definitely different. Mr. MarthaAndMe said he thought it needed some other flavor. I think maybe adding some cinnamon might help it. I’m not a fan of the apricot pieces either. The rest of it was pretty good and Teen Martha has been munching on it in little bits. This is great because it is gluten and dairy free, so if anyone in your family has those sensitivities, this is something everyone can enjoy.

Today’s Martha Monday project was chosen by Lyndsey at Tiny Skillet – Quinoa Apricot Nut Clusters. I was excited about this because it was totally different from anything I have made. There were a lot of steps in this though, mostly b/c Martha wants you to roast your oats, sunflower seeds, pistachios, and quinoa all … Read more →

Sirloin Salad with Cilantro was chosen as this week’s project by Sarah at Mum in Bloom. First of all I have to say I do not understand why this is called a “salad!” You marinate the steak in a mix of cilantro, OJ, vinegar, and jalapeno. Then you grill it and you’re supposed to serve it with more cilantro and red onion, with additional reserved marinade as a sauce. It’s not a salad. It’s beef with garnish.

My big Cuisinart is broken (I dropped the plastic thingy you push food down with and it broke and it won’t turn on without that locked on), so I made this in my little mini food processor, which worked fine actually. Then I realized my son drank all the OJ! I squeezed the juice from some tangerines instead.

The marinade looked and tasted good. The next problem was that the grill was out of propane (even though we have an extra tank to prevent this kind of thing from happening – it was empty too!). So I grilled this on the JennAir. We were rushing to get to my son’s hockey game and the meat was just not cooking, so I threw it in the oven for a while at the end because it was completely bloody. Somehow it went from beyond rare to completely well done in minutes so that wasn’t so great. I couldn’t really taste anything different about the meat, even though this marinated more than an hour. We put more sauce on it, but it was so thin it just ran all over.  I put a little in a small bowl and dunked each bite and that worked out better. I didn’t have red onion and don’t like it, so I skipped that.

This was something I never would have made on my own and was different, but it’s probably not something I would make again.

Sirloin Salad with Cilantro was chosen as this week’s project by Sarah at Mum in Bloom. First of all I have to say I do not understand why this is called a “salad!” You marinate the steak in a mix of cilantro, OJ, vinegar, and jalapeno. Then you grill it and you’re supposed to serve … Read more →

It’s time again for the MSC Cupcake Club. This month’s recipe is Jumbo Cream Filled Chocolate Cupcakes from Martha’s cupcake book. My motto for this project is “Oh me of little faith”. These cupcakes are supposed to mimic the Hostess cupcakes I grew up adoring.

I whipped up the batter and thought it tasted pretty good. I made these as regular size cupcakes, not jumbo. When they came out of the oven, one fell apart and I sampled it. Here is where the “oh me of little faith” motto comes in. I thought it tasted not so great – dry and crumbly and not good. I was worried this was going to be a disaster.

Then I made the filling. I am NOT a fan of marshmallows, so once again I thought this was going to be a thumbs down component since it is just Fluff and butter. I didn’t really care for how the cream filling tasted.

Then I began the task of filling the cupcakes. I admit I used a ziploc bag w/ the corner cut off and did not attempt a pastry bag. I had some real trouble hollowing these out and filling, which may have been b/c I did not make jumbo size. They fell apart, the pieces I cut out fell apart, etc. And of course my ziploc was a mess. I made zigzags on the top but had to make an extra half batch of cream filling because I ran out. I had crumbs and cream all over the counter and my hands – I looked like the creature from the Black Lagoon.

After all that fuss, I was sure this was going to be a reject recipe. Surprise! I loved this when it was all together and once I had forgotten what an unholy mess they were to fill. It did taste just like the Hostess cupcakes (although it was missing the layer of chocolate on the top). For the life of me, I do not know how cupcakes that tasted dry and awful and cream filling that tasted yucky could come together to make something so divine. Some weird alchemy. Martha gets major points for this, and so does the MSC club because I would never have tried this one on my own.

It’s time again for the MSC Cupcake Club. This month’s recipe is Jumbo Cream Filled Chocolate Cupcakes from Martha’s cupcake book. My motto for this project is “Oh me of little faith”. These cupcakes are supposed to mimic the Hostess cupcakes I grew up adoring. I whipped up the batter and thought it tasted pretty … Read more →

I usually post the assignment for Martha Mondays on Tuesdays, however, the past two weeks the people assigned to choose have never answered my emails reminding them (I did post a schedule so everyone should have been aware of their scheduled date). If you don’t want to choose, I would really appreciate it if you could at least let me know instead of just radio silence. If you no longer want to participate, I will take your name off the blogroll.

Since once again the choice is left up to me, I’m choosing One Bowl Chocolate Cake from April Living for Monday 4/19. If you need the recipe, let me know.

There will be no Martha Mondays for April 26 and we’ll pick it up again for 5/3 – the person choosing for that date is Mum in Bloom. And here is the schedule from that point on. IF YOU DON”T WANT TO BE ON THE SCHEDULE, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

5/3 Mum in Bloom

5/10 Tiny Skillet

5/17 At Least Twice a Week

5/24 City Interlude (Hannah I have tried to contact you but got no response. Please confirm you want to be on this list)

5/31 Megan’s Cookin’

6/7 Sassy Suppers

6/14 Perfecting Pru

6/21 Homemade Iowa Life

6/28 Brenda’s Canadian Kitchen

7/5 Stirrin It Up (Mary Ann I did not hear from you for your last scheduled pick – please contact me if you’d like to remain on the list)

I usually post the assignment for Martha Mondays on Tuesdays, however, the past two weeks the people assigned to choose have never answered my emails reminding them (I did post a schedule so everyone should have been aware of their scheduled date). If you don’t want to choose, I would really appreciate it if you … Read more →

I am not a Southerner, but I admit a lot of Southern food really hits the spot for me. I remember seeing some celebrity make chess pie on a daytime talk show a hundred years ago and I could not believe it could be any good. There was almost nothing in it but egg, sugar, and butter. I’ve not really seen chess pie recipes around, until I came upon the Chess Tart in April Living. I had to make it and chose it for this week’s Martha Mondays.

This is spectacularly easy to make. The crust is 45 vanilla wafers, crushed, with 5 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp sugar and 1/4 tsp salt. You bake it then fill it with 3 eggs, 1 yolk, a stick of butter, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1 tbsp cornmeal, and 1/2 c brown sugar. Bake it at 350 for 35-40 minutes and then refrigerate it.

This is a giant mouthful of sugar for sure, but it is really an interesting dessert. The filling kind of soaks into the crust and it is almost like butterscotch. Mr. MarthaAndMe LOVED this. It was really too sweet for me, so I ate the crust and that was about it. The kids liked it too, so it was a real hit here. How did yours turn out?

I am not a Southerner, but I admit a lot of Southern food really hits the spot for me. I remember seeing some celebrity make chess pie on a daytime talk show a hundred years ago and I could not believe it could be any good. There was almost nothing in it but egg, sugar, … Read more →

This week’s Martha Mondays was chosen by yours truly. I picked Pane Integrale, the no knead bread in April Living. I’ve never made no knead bread, but I’ve read a lot about it. My mom got the Jim Lahey cookbook that is about this for Christmas and I’ve looked through it. I’ve always been deterred by a few things. First of all, the bread always looks so dark, almost burnt, that it never appealed to me. Secondly, the timing is hard to manage. The bread has to rise about 14-20 hours total which means you can’t quite start it at dinner time one day, you’ve got to start it late at night if you want it to be ready for dinner the next day.

The recipe in April Living was pretty simple. You mix the ingredients together (nothing unusual here) and you put it in a bowl and let it sit out for 12-18 hours. It’s supposed to double. Mine did not double but it got bigger. Then you knead it once, let it sit in a towel for a couple more hours, then dump it in a preheated Dutch oven and put it in your preheated oven.

I admit I fudged the timing a bit and mine sat for longer than it was supposed to at the different stages, but that was the only way I could get it done (I had a hellacious week last week – a kidney stone AND a burst ovarian cyst in one week – more than anyone can handle really, so it is simply a miracle I made this at all).

I admit it was pretty easy to make. I took it out of the oven before it got as brown as the photos in the magazine.

It was hard to slice because the crust was really hard. I thought it looked nice, but honestly I wasn’t wowed by this. It tasted like bread. That’s it. Nothing exciting. Now maybe if I borrowed my mom’s cookbook and explored some of the interesting variations there I would be more excited, but this was not worth the effort as far as I was concerned. I’m glad I got to try it because I’ve always wanted to make this, so Martha gets points for including it.

If you made it, how did it turn out for you?

This week’s Martha Mondays was chosen by yours truly. I picked Pane Integrale, the no knead bread in April Living. I’ve never made no knead bread, but I’ve read a lot about it. My mom got the Jim Lahey cookbook that is about this for Christmas and I’ve looked through it. I’ve always been deterred … Read more →

The next Martha Mondays pick is mine. I haven’t chosen one in a while, so I gave this some serious thought! For 4/5 let’s make Pane Integrale, the no-knead bread in April Living. The recipe is not online yet, so if you need it, just let me know and I’ll send it along.

If you would like to join Martha Mondays, you are welcome to! Anyone can play along and if you would like your name added to the official list and would like a turn choosing a project, drop me an email or just leave a comment.

The next Martha Mondays pick is mine. I haven’t chosen one in a while, so I gave this some serious thought! For 4/5 let’s make Pane Integrale, the no-knead bread in April Living. The recipe is not online yet, so if you need it, just let me know and I’ll send it along. If you … Read more →

Next week’s Martha Mondays is Easter eggs, chosen by Teresa at Homemade Iowa Life. Very seasonal! Teresa wanted to do the silk dyed eggs. I did these last year and it is a really great project. Since I already made it, we decided to just make the assignment any Easter eggs you want. Martha has a lot of choices on this page, so it will be interesting to see what everyone tries.

Next week’s Martha Mondays is Easter eggs, chosen by Teresa at Homemade Iowa Life. Very seasonal! Teresa wanted to do the silk dyed eggs. I did these last year and it is a really great project. Since I already made it, we decided to just make the assignment any Easter eggs you want. Martha has … Read more →

This week’s project was chosen by Pru at Perfecting Pru. Maple Bacon Quiche sounded good,

Maple Quiche

but I am fan of quiche in general. Maple and bacon can also do no wrong in my book.

I started making this much later than I should have, but I put the oven on convection and we were able to eat dinnerbefore it was time to go to bed:) First up was the pate brisee.  This made a lot of pie crust. In fact, it uses twice as much butter and almost twice as much flour as my usual recipe for pate brisee. I’m not sure why Martha wanted the crust so thick and so big. You make the crust and then bake it separately. Then you cook bacon, and cook some onion in a little bacon grease, adding maple syrup. That all gets mixed with egg, cream and thyme and goes into the pie shell.

Maple Quiche

I thought it was very good. Mr. MarthaAndMe thought it had too strong of a maple flavor. I also thought it seemed very rich – it’s mostly egg, cream and bacon! I’m used to quiche that has vegetables in it, so this was a heavier version. It looked pretty with the bacon sprinkled on top.

This week’s project was chosen by Pru at Perfecting Pru. Maple Bacon Quiche sounded good, but I am fan of quiche in general. Maple and bacon can also do no wrong in my book. I started making this much later than I should have, but I put the oven on convection and we were able … Read more →

The MSC Cupcake Club pick for this month is Lemon Meringue Cupcakes from Martha Stewart’s Cupcake book. I must confess I cheated on this one. I made a cake instead of cupcakes, but it was exactly the same components – cake batter, lemon curd, and 7 minute frosting.  I had people for dinner and really wanted to serve a cake, not cupcakes.

I thought the lemon curd was easier to make than I expected. I made the cake and curd the day before and assembled them and covered it then made the frosting the next day. As you can see, the curd turned slightly brown overnight. The frosting actually worked for me this time (a first!) and it was really, really good. I added some lemon extract to it to pump up the lemon flavor and the frosting was to die for! I thought the cake was pretty good. It was pretty and everyone enjoyed it.

If you’re looking for Martha Mondays, scroll down to the next post. MSC and Martha Mondays keep falling on the same day!

The MSC Cupcake Club pick for this month is Lemon Meringue Cupcakes from Martha Stewart’s Cupcake book. I must confess I cheated on this one. I made a cake instead of cupcakes, but it was exactly the same components – cake batter, lemon curd, and 7 minute frosting.  I had people for dinner and really … Read more →