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 →

I always found Valentine’s Day vaguely disappointing as a kid. Sure, there was a party at school and the little classroom cards (which were disappointing in and of themselves!), but it was always somehow lacking. Some years my grandmother would send me a gift in the mail and that always added some fun.

Once I had kids, I tried to think of ways to make Valentine’s Day fun for them. This evolved into a family tradition we call the Valentine’s Day Mystery Hunt. I buy the kids some small gifts for Valentine’s Day and hide them. Then I write rhyming clues on the backs of extra classroom Valentine cards, which lead them from place to place. They they pick up a new clue at each location and end up going all over the house to find them. The last clue leads them to their gifts. The clues are easy to hide since they are small pieces of paper, so they can be hidden in drawers, under cushions, and even inside cups or socks.  The kids take turns reading each clue out loud and collaborate together to try to decipher where it is sending them next. I always make the clues rhyme, just to make it more fun (and to make them harder to write too I guess!).

Last year I was very busy with work and thought that since they were then 16 and 11 maybe they didn’t want to do it, so I didn’t put together the rhymes and just gave them their gifts. You should have heard the complaining! I guess it’s something they’re quite attached to! So this Valentine’s Day, my kids will be following the rhyming clues again.

I always found Valentine’s Day vaguely disappointing as a kid. Sure, there was a party at school and the little classroom cards (which were disappointing in and of themselves!), but it was always somehow lacking. Some years my grandmother would send me a gift in the mail and that always added some fun. Once 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 →

Today’s Martha Monday’s project was chosen by Lyndsey at Tiny Skillet. The project is crayon hearts and it’s perfect for a Valentine’s Day craft to do with your kids.

You take a piece of waxed paper and fold it in half lengthwise, then open it up and place crayon shavings on half of it. Making all those crayon shavings took forever! They kept jamming up the pencil sharpener I was using. I tried using a vegetable peeler but that didn’t make the nice curly shavings.

Once you have enough, you fold the paper back up, and fold the edges to hold it in. Iron it between sheets of craft paper (I used parchment). Let it cool, then cut out heart shapes from it. Martha says to hang them using thread, but we just used tiny dabs of museum gel to stick them to the kitchen windows. They really are pretty and look like suncatchers. The key is to use lots of different shades of pink and red crayons. Spread the shavings out in a very thin layer. In places where mine were thick, the hearts did not cut out well, and the waxed paper peeled off a little.

This is easy and very family-friendly and is a cute project to make for Valentine’s Day.

Today’s Martha Monday’s project was chosen by Lyndsey at Tiny Skillet. The project is crayon hearts and it’s perfect for a Valentine’s Day craft to do with your kids. You take a piece of waxed paper and fold it in half lengthwise, then open it up and place crayon shavings on half of it. Making … 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 →

I think we can now unquestionably say I have a black thumb. Mr. MarthaAndMe got me one of those hydroponic self-contained little gardens for Christmas and I am attempting to grow herbs. One month after we got it started, I have one little pot that did not do anything, 3 that are slumped over and dead and one that grew (basil). Mr. MarthaAndMe took it apart and determined the pump is broken, so we’re ordering a new one. I’ve transplanted the basil (the only survivor) into a little pot in my kitchen. I’m clearly cursed.

I think we can now unquestionably say I have a black thumb. Mr. MarthaAndMe got me one of those hydroponic self-contained little gardens for Christmas and I am attempting to grow herbs. One month after we got it started, I have one little pot that did not do anything, 3 that are slumped over and … 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 →