This week’s Martha Monday’s assignment is something a little different. The person who was up to choose this week asked me to choose instead. I thought for a change of pace, maybe we would try a simple organizing project. This one is really simple, but I think it’s one that could be very useful. Creating a Donation Bag was an Organizing Tip of the Day from Martha not long ago. I think this is a great idea. The tip says to do it for clothing and housewares, but I want to create one in my pantry as well for the food bank.

I’ll post my result  next week and you can post a link to your blog or just add a comment to say how it went. And as always, anyone is invited to join in. If you would like to be added to the Martha Mondays blogroll, just let me know.

This week’s Martha Monday’s assignment is something a little different. The person who was up to choose this week asked me to choose instead. I thought for a change of pace, maybe we would try a simple organizing project. This one is really simple, but I think it’s one that could be very useful. Creating … Read more →

I’m posting my Martha Mondays results a day early this week since I’ve got something that has to go up tomorrow. This week’s assignment was Molasses Spice Cake. (This is also in Martha’s Halloween special edition magazine that’s on stands now). A very fall-like selection by Pru Singer of Pru Singer: My Life. On first glance, this looked to be like gingerbread. Further reading revealed it to be much more.

The cake batter is interesting – the usual butter, brown sugar, flour and eggs (4 eggs – quite a few) but also sour cream, mace (which I have never used and had to go buy), cinnamon, lemon zest and fresh ginger (not dried, which I found to be a very interesting idea).

I didn’t soften my butter enough and ended up with some very small lumps. I just closed my eyes and ignored that! This cake baked in exactly the time Martha said (a first for me I think).

The next step was the frosting – cream cheese frosting. Although this was more cream cheese with a tiny bit of powdered sugar thrown in, as well as some sour cream.

That’s not all folks. Martha then wants you to do a glaze. I have to say this glaze, which was butter, sugar, cream and vanilla, tasted like a very decadent and wonderful caramel sauce. I forced myself to put the pot and rubber scraper in the sink and turn the water on so I wouldn’t keep sampling it!

Around here we say that someday I will open The Butt Ugly Bakery: Where Everything Looks Like Crud But Tastes Great. I’m really not into the finer points of cake decorating. I’ve spent too many hours crying over crumbs in my frosting and frosting smeared around the edge of my cake plate. Life is too short to cry over imperfect frosting. If I am making something for a special occasion, I will exert some Martha effort and try very hard to make it look good. But for every day, if it tastes good, I’m not too concerned with how it looks. Thus, my photo of this cake. A bit messy. And yes, I put the cake on a dinner plate that is concave, so the center of my cake is lower than the edges, meaning my glaze puddled in the middle.

I liked the cake – it was very moist and dense with a complex flavor. The edges were crunchy, which was really interesting. I did not care for the cream cheese frosting at all. It was almost sour (since it had very little sugar). If it was real cream cheese frosting, it would have been good, but very sweet. The glaze was good and the only thing that saved the frosting at all in my opinion. I would love try this with a lemon sauce.  Mr. MarthaandMe is Mad About Gingerbread so he gave this a major thumbs up. Teen Martha did not like it, but doesn’t like spice cakes in general.

I’m posting my Martha Mondays results a day early this week since I’ve got something that has to go up tomorrow. This week’s assignment was Molasses Spice Cake. (This is also in Martha’s Halloween special edition magazine that’s on stands now). A very fall-like selection by Pru Singer of Pru Singer: My Life. On first … Read more →

The week of Martha’s pre-prepped dinners has come to a close at last. If you read my posts from the last 5 days, you’ll see that in the Sept issue of Martha Stewart Everyday Food, the “Sunday Strategy” article details how to shop and prep in advance for 5 weekday meals. It sounded like a fun experiment.

Last night was the final meal and let me tell you I am a little tired of these pre-prepped ingredients at this point! Dinner was Pizza 2 Ways. You buy 2 pizza dough balls (I bought whole wheat) and on your prep day, you press them into rectangular baking sheets and freeze them. Let me tell you, It was a huge pain having those two baking sheets in the freezer all week. It was also a huge pain having those two baking sheets in use all week.

On cooking night, you spread olive oil on the crusts. On one pizza you spread some chopped up roasted tomatoes (pre-prepped) then plop some ricotta cheese around, sprinkle with Parmesan and salt and pepper. On the other pizza you’re supposed to thinly slice your pre-prepped potatoes and spread them. Sprinkle with rosemary and salt and pepper.

I cheated and took one pizza crust made a regular cheese pizza so that the family would not complain. On the other, I made half with the tomato/ricotta, 1/4 with the potato and 1/4 with some fresh tomatoes, broccoli and mozzarella just to have some veggies. I also cooked up tri-colored Swiss chard I bought at the farmer’s market and served that with a little butter and balsamic vinegar to have some more veggies.

Both of Martha’s pizzas got a thumbs down. Let’s start with the potato one. It’s just pizza dough, oil, potato, rosemary and salt and pepper. Blech. That’s not a pizza. In my opinion, potato does NOT belong on pizza. It was just yucky. The tomato/ricotta one was also not good. There just wasn’t enough topping. Ricotta has very little flavor, so this was just bland. The veggie pizza I made was ok – at least it had cheese. If I had added some garlic it would have been great. The plain cheese pizza was good, so at least there was no revolt.

I would say overall, I did not find this week to be a success. Only one night was a stand out winner – the salmon. The spaghetti night was pretty good too. The other nights are not worth bothering with. By the time this last dinner rolled around I was so sick of roasted tomatoes and baby red potatoes that I may never want to see them again! While pre-prepping does save some time, I would rather take the extra 15 minutes each night so that I can make what want fresh. I’m glad I tried the experiment, but I have to say that’s definitely not something Martha herself would ever do.

The week of Martha’s pre-prepped dinners has come to a close at last. If you read my posts from the last 5 days, you’ll see that in the Sept issue of Martha Stewart Everyday Food, the “Sunday Strategy” article details how to shop and prep in advance for 5 weekday meals. It sounded like a … Read more →

I’ve never had fritatta before. It never appealed to me. It’s somewhere between a quiche and an omelet. But, continuing through my week of Martha’s pre-prepped dinners (“Sunday Strategy” in Martha Stewart Everyday Food Sept issue – read my earlier posts this week to learn more about it) I was faced with a fritatta.

This was another quick dinner to throw together. You fry some bacon pieces, add the potatoes you boiled on your prep day, then add some spinach and wilt it. Pour over all of this a mix of eggs, ricotta, parmesan, salt and pepper and stick it in the oven. Martha says to serve this with a green salad with her usual tasteless dressing made only of oil, vinegar and salt and pepper. The only item pre-prepped for this meal was the potatoes. I was supposed to wash my spinach and greens on the prep day but I didn’t, I confess.

A fritatta and a salad do not a meal make in this house. I heated up a loaf of whole grain Italian bread too. The kids wanted no part of this and found their own food.

The fritatta wasn’t bad, but I just don’t like potatoes in it. I don’t understand why they’re there. Leave them out, and it would be a decent omelet. I felt that this needed more cheese. I didn’t taste any cheese at all. So this wasn’t a winner at all.  I wasn’t very impressed with this ‘meal’. One more day of this week of dinners to go!

P.S. This gave me heartburn.

P.P.S. We’re off to a big farmer’s market today and I’m excited!

I’ve never had fritatta before. It never appealed to me. It’s somewhere between a quiche and an omelet. But, continuing through my week of Martha’s pre-prepped dinners (“Sunday Strategy” in Martha Stewart Everyday Food Sept issue – read my earlier posts this week to learn more about it) I was faced with a fritatta. This … Read more →

Last night was day three in my week of dinners based on one shopping trip and a day of prep –  the “Sunday Strategy” article in Martha Stewart Everyday Food September issue. Last night’s recipe was Pasta with Roasted Tomato Sauce. This relies on plum tomatoes that were roasted on prep day. I boiled my pasta (whole wheat) and then added 10 halved plum tomatoes (roasted), lemon juice, capers, oil, salt, pepper and some fresh basil. The recipe doesn’t really suggest doing anything with these ingredients other than just adding them to the pasta. Instead, I dumped them in my pot and heated them up a bit before mixing with the pasta, which did create more of a sauce effect. I think if you dumped these in at room temperature, you would end up with a not so hot pasta dish. This was a tasty dish though and I enjoyed having a fresh sauce. I actually liked the capers and lemon juice in it and I didn’t think I would.

However, this was nothing close to a full meal. First of all, I had to make some pasta separate for the kids and heat up some jarred sauce because neither one will touch a whole tomato. Then I steamed some green beans. I would have added some bread, but I’m trying to cut down on carbs. I set a bowl of grapes on the table. We also grated some Parmesan cheese over the pasta – it really needed it (or maybe I just really wanted it!).

I liked the idea of this and I enjoyed the taste, but it didn’t really make dinner that much easier for me.

Last night was day three in my week of dinners based on one shopping trip and a day of prep –  the “Sunday Strategy” article in Martha Stewart Everyday Food September issue. Last night’s recipe was Pasta with Roasted Tomato Sauce. This relies on plum tomatoes that were roasted on prep day. I boiled my … Read more →

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m following the “Sunday Strategy” in Martha Stewart Everyday Food where you shop and prep for a week of cooking and then have quick meals to make each night.

Last night was Seared Fish with Crispy Potatoes and Green Sauce (and a side of tomatoes). This meal had a lot of prep done in advance. I roasted the tomatoes, made the green sauce, and boiled the potatoes in advance. All I had to do to make dinner was cook my fish and stick the potatoes in the oven to crisp. I was a little confused with the “green sauce”. First of all, it’s not really a sauce, more of a pesto, since it is thick and not liquid at all. The recipe did not say to warm it, so I served it room temp.

I grilled my fish (instead of pan frying) and mine was skinless, which is fine with me since I don’t like fish skin very much. This dinner was simple and easy. The potatoes crisped nicely in the oven and were delicious. The salmon tasted terrific with the green sauce – it really gave it some zing. The previously roasted tomatoes were to be served room temp. I wasn’t wild about these, but they were ok. I also steamed some broccoli to go with this meal. It was very satisfying and I enjoyed having the sauce for the fish (it’s made of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, basil and mint, ground up in the Cuisinart). This felt like a full meal to me (unlike the dinner from the night before).

Boiling the potatoes in advance made crisping them very easy to do – I’ll remember this trick and use it again. And I’ll definitely be making the green sauce, or a version thereof again in the future. Points for this one – a quick and tasty meal.

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m following the “Sunday Strategy” in Martha Stewart Everyday Food where you shop and prep for a week of cooking and then have quick meals to make each night. Last night was Seared Fish with Crispy Potatoes and Green Sauce (and a side of tomatoes). This meal had a lot of … Read more →

In the September issue of Martha Stewart Everyday Food, there’s an interesting section called Sunday Strategy. The idea is you shop for the whole week, do some cooking prep work on Sunday and then you can make quick and easy dinners every week night through the week based on the prep. I’ve seen this concept elsewhere – there are entire books about this for people interested.

I decided to dive in and give it a try – and what better week than the first week of school when things are nuts in general and some fast meals are just the ticket. I’m a little off schedule though. You’re supposed to prep on Sunday and make the first meal on Monday. With the Labor Day weekend, everything got pushed back a day, so I prepped on Monday and cooked the first meal on Tuesday.

My grocery bill for the entire week was $38.77 – however I had many things in my pantry/freezer (and from my dad’s garden) already: chicken breasts, spaghetti, salmon, lettuce, some tomatoes, onions, garlic, oil, sugar, cumin, vinegar, Parmesan cheese, and bacon – these are the pricey items, so I think you can add another $25 for that at least, so we’re looking at about $65 for the week, or a little over $11 per night. Keep in mind that you’re making really only one dish per night with this, and for my family, that doesn’t cut it, so I’ve got to add extra veggies or bread to go along with it most nights.

cucumber salad

The first dinner was Marinated Chicken with Cucumber-Mint Salad. You marinate the chicken (tenders) on your prep day in olive oil, lemon juice, cumin, garlic and salt and pepper. On your cooking day, you mix sliced cucumber with Greek yogurt, lemon juice, salt, pepper and fresh mint. You heat pitas in the toaster oven (first time I’ve seen Martha reference a toaster oven!). You cook some onion in oil then add in the chicken pieces and cook those.

This was very easy to pull together. It didn’t feel like much of a meal to us though. We ate it with the chicken and cucumber salad in the pita, so it was

on the pita

basically just a pita for dinner. I supplemented with some honey dill carrots and watermelon.

The chicken did have a nice flavor. That is one of the big benefits of this weekly meal plan – things have time to marinate and really soak up flavors. If I’m rushing around at 5:30 on a weekday there isn’t time for something to marinate properly. The chicken was tender and the cumin added some nice flavor. I loved the cucumber/yogurt/mint salad, which gave a nice fresh taste. I used whole wheat pitas and it all tasted good together.

In the September issue of Martha Stewart Everyday Food, there’s an interesting section called Sunday Strategy. The idea is you shop for the whole week, do some cooking prep work on Sunday and then you can make quick and easy dinners every week night through the week based on the prep. I’ve seen this concept … Read more →

The Martha Mondays project for Sept 14 was chosen by Pru Singer at My Life: Pru Singer. Thanks Pru! Pru has chosen Molasses Spice Cake. I’m looking forward to baking it!

As always, anyone is welcome to join in. Make the project/recipe/craft and post results on your blog or comment to my post about my result here. I make my projects on Mondays and post results on Tuesdays (you’re free to make yours whenever).  If you want to become an official member, let me know and I’ll add you to the Martha Mondays blogroll. Members get to take turns selecting projects.

The Martha Mondays project for Sept 14 was chosen by Pru Singer at My Life: Pru Singer. Thanks Pru! Pru has chosen Molasses Spice Cake. I’m looking forward to baking it! As always, anyone is welcome to join in. Make the project/recipe/craft and post results on your blog or comment to my post about my … Read more →

I love challah. There’s a bakery near us that makes wonderful challah and I’ve been known to buy three loaves at a time so I can freeze some. I have a challah recipe of my own from a friend, but it’s never quite as good as bakery challah.

I was excited to learn that this week’s Martha Monday was Apple Honey Challah, from Sept Martha Stewart Living. If you’re going to make this recipe, you need to plan to spend the day at home. This thing rises three separate times! It took me about 6 hours from start to finish.

ready to rise

It wasn’t hard to make – your basic bread ingredients mostly. The biggest challenge I encountered was the apples. The recipe says to use apples that are sliced 1/4 inch thick. Slices do not work! I spent a long time, kneading away, trying to keep the apple slices in the bread. They fell out, landed on the floor, or simply would not incorporate. Finally, I pulled as many out as I

with apple pieces

could find and chopped them up. Then they easily mixed into the dough.

This recipe did what it was supposed to otherwise – rose when it was supposed to and rolled out nicely and fit in the pan well.

Before you put it in the oven, you brush it with honey and butter and then brush it again once it comes out. This definitely enhances the natural sweetness of the bread.

I baked mine about 10  minutes longer than the recipe says because it just

Done

was not brown enough on the outside. I made this earlier in the day and ended up putting it back in the oven to warm it for dinner, so it had some extra baking time.

This was wonderful bread. The honey makes it very sweet. It’s tender and soft and smells heavenly. The apples were not very noticeable and if I made this again, I would just skip them since I didn’t feel it added much. I did have one problem – the center of my bread was not cooked! I had raw dough at the very center.

Everyone enjoyed this and all but the raw dough disappeared at dinner. I plan to heat the remains up in the oven and try to finish baking them. Other than that, this went very well and I was so proud of the way it looked! This was just as good as bakery challah!

I love challah. There’s a bakery near us that makes wonderful challah and I’ve been known to buy three loaves at a time so I can freeze some. I have a challah recipe of my own from a friend, but it’s never quite as good as bakery challah. I was excited to learn that this … Read more →

First:  a programming note for all of you loyal followers. I had this post and the two below it all set up to automatically publish one each day over the weekend and they didn’t. No idea why. WordPress had some kind of hiccup I think because I doublechecked my saved settings before we left. So, if you’re a loyal follower, you’ll have lots to read today – keep scrolling to see everything that should have gone up over the weekend! Now back to your regularly scheduled programming!

I’m no stranger to turkey meatloaf. In fact, I use ground turkey almost exclusively in place of ground beef in many dishes. I have a turkey and rice meatloaf with a cheese sauce that is a family favorite. I wanted to try Martha’s Turkey Meatloaf with Fontina and Mushrooms from Martha Stewart Everyday Food September issue.  You cook your mushrooms, then cook garlic and leaks. Mix it up with turkey, bread cubes, fontina, egg, sage (I didn’t have fresh, so I used dried), salt and pepper. I baked mine in a loaf pan instead of on parchment paper.

The meatloaf looked nice on the plate. However, I found it to be a bit bland. Fontina cheese has a very mild taste and even with the garlic and sage, it had little flavor.  No one was too fond of this. However, the next day, I ate some cold for lunch and it was wonderful that way. The garlic flavor really came out and I loved it. I picked at for lunch for several days until it was gone. I don’t know if the flavors just need time to meld together or if this is not good hot. I wouldn’t make it for dinner again, but I enjoyed it for lunch.

First:  a programming note for all of you loyal followers. I had this post and the two below it all set up to automatically publish one each day over the weekend and they didn’t. No idea why. WordPress had some kind of hiccup I think because I doublechecked my saved settings before we left. So, … Read more →