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 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.

This 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.

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 →

I am a big fan of paint techniques. Martha has a feature on them in the May issue of Martha Stewart Living and she also demonstrated some on her tv show recently. I absolutely am desperate to try the “raw-silk wall” treatment. The problem is finding a room to do it in! I already have several paint techniques throughout the house.

This is the first paint technique I tried. It’s sponge-painted. It looks very yellow in this photo, but it is more subtle in person.

This is Venetian plaster – and it almost caused us both to be committed. It was a LOT of work. We did this in our entryway, up the stairs and in the upstairs hall. I actually love the way the color turned out, but we did a really crappy job on the corners.

This is in our bedroom. I used a rag for both the top and bottom. On the bottom, I first tried to use a whisk broom,but couldn’t get the look I wanted. I wanted the room to look like a meadow – with tall grass on the bottom and blue sky above.

I am a big fan of paint techniques. Martha has a feature on them in the May issue of Martha Stewart Living and she also demonstrated some on her tv show recently. I absolutely am desperate to try the “raw-silk wall” treatment. The problem is finding a room to do it in! I already have … 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).

The 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.

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 you 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!

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).

The 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.

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 you 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!

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 →

I’ve committed to spending more time on the gardens this year – flower and vegetable. Here is a before photo of a horrible disaster of a flower garden that has become overrun with weeds. It was just out of control. Now, I am sure Martha would be able to give me exact instructions about how to take control of it. Instead, we did what Martha most likely does – pay someone to do it for us!

Our lawn/garden guy came with a rototiller and tilled it and raked out the weeds, after we dug out the  plants we wanted to save. He mulched it and then we went and replanted the plants and bought a few more. I’m hopeful that it will look decent the rest of the year.

As for the vegetable garden, I started my seeds indoors about a month ago and this weekend we moved the plants outside. We dug up a small part of the yard, covered it with a biodegradable paper and put a fence around it (we have aggressive deer and rabbits).  We’ll see how it does. Part of our problem in the past has been that we take very good care of it but then go on vacation at the end of July/beginning of August and it all goes to hell.

I’ve committed to spending more time on the gardens this year – flower and vegetable. Here is a before photo of a horrible disaster of a flower garden that has become overrun with weeds. It was just out of control. Now, I am sure Martha would be able to give me exact instructions about how … Read more →

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms reading this. On Martha’s show Friday, she made an arrangement of lilacs using a bowl and a vase together (this is also in May Living, page 50). Our lilacs are just in bloom, so I decided to give this a try. Of course, it was complicated by several factors. First of all, I don’t have a pedestal bowl and a vase that matches it. I do not have floral tape. I am also not a very talented flower arranger. I tend to prefer to leave my flowers growing outside, where they last longer. If I do pick them, I tend to just stuff a few in a vase.

I used an actual snipper thing to cut them with instead of wrestling with scissors. I found a pink bowl and pink vase to use, but the bowl has no pedestal and the vase is not very tall, so it didn’t come out looking like Martha’s.

The best tip I picked up from Martha’s demo was that you are supposed to smash the ends of the flower stalk so it will last longer. I never knew that and in the past, my lilacs have never lasted more than a day or two. It will be interesting to see if they last longer this time.

I’m not really wild about my arrangement. It’s ok. I love the lilacs and will enjoy looking at them and smelling them though. While I was cutting them, I was thinking of my grandmother, who just passed away. I remember helping her cut them behind her house, and seeing her arrangement on her dining room table.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms reading this. On Martha’s show Friday, she made an arrangement of lilacs using a bowl and a vase together (this is also in May Living, page 50). Our lilacs are just in bloom, so I decided to give this a try. Of course, it was complicated by several … Read more →

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 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.

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 →

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 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.

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 →

I have to say I wasn’t wild about the idea of Martha including fashion in each issue of Living, but I liked the handbag feature. The issue arrived just as I was searching for a new spring purse, so I read it with excitement. I am extremely picky about purses. I have a few hard and fast rules:
1. There must be a cell phone pocket.
2. There must be a pocket for keys
3. There must be a zippered area for chapstick and lipstick
4. The handles must fit comfortably over my shoulder with a coat on
5. There must be enough room to fit all my stuff
6. The purse must zip or snap closed so things don’t fall out.
7. The purse must be cute.

Now those requirements do not seem to be outrageous to me, but since it took me weeks and weeks to find the right purse, maybe they are!

I ended up with this fabulous Liz Claiborne madras (I am mad about madras) purse, which I got at TJ Maxx for $29.99 . I love how it has an outside pocket so I can stick receipts in it without opening up the whole purse. The straps are long enough to fit over my shoulder. I prefer a purse with one strap, not two, but I can make do with two (it seems as though if you have two,  one is always falling off your shoulder).

This is the main section of the purse which has a cell phone pocket, a keys pocket and an extra pocket where I keep all my store reward cards. It also, as an added bonus, has a cute little zippered section that is for a pen (it’s the oblong brown section on the bottom part of the photo). That is mighty handy, since pens always get lots in the bottom of a bag.

This section has the zippered pocket for lipstick, etc. Don’t you just love the fab pink polka dot interior?

This section of the purse has some built-in features I don’t use. I don’t know why you would put your credit cards, money, license, etc directly in the purse. Not only is it hard to find things, but if you want to switch purses it is much more difficult to take it all out than it is to just remove a wallet. In this photo you’ll see two wallet type things in the bag. The brown one is my medical wallet – I have bandages, Advil, Tylenol, etc in that. The striped one is my coupon/punch card wallet.

Did you catch Martha’s show yesterday where she showed the purse her mom inscribed to her? I thought it was a bit odd in a way. Can you imagine having so many bags that your staff just opens them up and puts them away somewhere without even showing you?

What are your handbag requirements?

I have to say I wasn’t wild about the idea of Martha including fashion in each issue of Living, but I liked the handbag feature. The issue arrived just as I was searching for a new spring purse, so I read it with excitement. I am extremely picky about purses. I have a few hard … 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.

I 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.

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 →