Thanks to Sara at Sassy Suppers for choosing Lemon Pudding for next Monday!

Thanks to Sara at Sassy Suppers for choosing Lemon Pudding for next Monday!

Hello everyone. Sorry to have been gone for so long. I am in the middle of a giant, short deadline project, came down with the world’s worst cold/sinus infection and in the midst of it all, went to Puerto Rico for a few days.

Red snapper

It was our first visit there. I’ll put up a post with photos of what we did later this week, but wanted to share the food now. Overall, I was not a fan (sorry PR!). A lot of the food is fried and much of it was bland. There is a lot of seafood, but I didn’t have anything that really wowed me.  The whole red snapper was probably the best thing we had. It’s cooked whole though, which I’m not a fan of. Served with fried plantains. It was moist and very fresh.

We ate lunch at a place recommended to us where we ended up sitting at a

Mofongo

counter. Like most restaurants, we had to point to what we wanted since we couldn’t pronounce the Spanish and our server didn’t understand the English. I had mofongo (mashed green plantains) stuffed with chicken. That was pretty good. It came with rice and beans of course. And some whole pieces of plantain.

Paella

Another adventure was dinner at a Spanish restaurant (Barrachina) where Teen Martha and I shared seafood paella. I enjoyed it, but there were pieces of shell throughout, making it hard to eat.

Many restaurants outside San Juan are in kiosks on the beach. We ate at two of these places with mixed results. At one of them I ordered crab stew, which is made with a land crab. I really did not care for this. The crab tasted very earthy and pungent to me – it

crab

definitely tasted like a land crab! It was served with mofongo and a little salad that was cute, but came with bottled dressing.

For breakfast one day, I had what is called a mallorca, a yellow dough with ham and cheese inside. I enjoyed this, but like everything, it was just bland. I needed something – mustard or a sauce to bring it to life.

Mallorca

One local item I wanted to try but we did not is lechon, whole roast suckling pig. We saw numerous tents on the roadside selling this, but I could not bring myself to eat at them (hygiene concerns). On our last day we asked the concierge where to go to enjoy this. She was less than helpful, first saying you would not eat it for dinner because it has been on the spit all day and gets old (which I think cannot be true since I’ve been to pig roasts and it does take all day for that pig to cook). She then recommended only 2 places that were each an hour away. So that didn’t happen.

Overall, the food was just not a hit for us. We had fun though and I’ll share what we did in a later post.

Hello everyone. Sorry to have been gone for so long. I am in the middle of a giant, short deadline project, came down with the world’s worst cold/sinus infection and in the midst of it all, went to Puerto Rico for a few days. It was our first visit there. I’ll put up a post … Read more →

Today instead of sharing a recipe with you, I thought I would share a secret I’ve learned. If you’re inspired to whip up your own no-pot dish, one problem you might face is the thinness of the sauces in the packet. Nothing evaporates (which means your food stays moist and retains all the flavor, however that means thin juices). The answer to that is to mix some cornstarch into your liquids before adding them to the packet. So if, for example, you’re adding wine, or broth, or butter, mix in a tsp or so of cornstarch before adding that to the packet. The result will be much thicker sauce!

Today instead of sharing a recipe with you, I thought I would share a secret I’ve learned. If you’re inspired to whip up your own no-pot dish, one problem you might face is the thinness of the sauces in the packet. Nothing evaporates (which means your food stays moist and retains all the flavor, however … Read more →

Hi everyone. I’m down for the count here and could not get the project done. If you made it, please post results in comments. I’m sorry! I wanted to but have been too sick to cook for two days.

Hi everyone. I’m down for the count here and could not get the project done. If you made it, please post results in comments. I’m sorry! I wanted to but have been too sick to cook for two days.

I’m tied up with a new project I should be able to tell you all about very soon, but it means my Martha cooking time is limited. So I thought I would take a moment and reflect upon a growing problem in my kitchen. I am overrun with jellies/jams and mustards.

Here is the current list:

Jelly/Jam

strawberry jam

wild blueberry jam

apricot jam

orange marmalade

lingonberry jam

grape jelly

fireweed jelly

strawberry rhubarb jam

salmonberry jelly

apple pie jam

strawberry vanilla jam

passion fruit jelly

guava strawberry jelly

peach jam

damson plum jelly

rhubarb jam

blackberry jelly

Mustards

store brand yellow

Grey Pouopn country style Dijon

honey mustard

sharp hot

sharp and creamy

sweet hot

Rayes (a Martha’s Pick I haven’t used up)

Weber’s (a  local horseradish mustard)

Gulden’s brown

stone ground

sweet apple mustard

Clearly this is out of control, but the thing is we do use all of it.  Admittedly, I have a problem because I like to buy jelly on trips (damson plum from Cape Cod, guava, passion fruit from Hawaii) but people also give me inordinate amounts. Everyone in this house has an individual mustard preference, some requiring different mustards for different things, but I also tend to end up receiving a lot of mustards in gift baskets. And I just can’t bring myself to throw any out.

What is your kitchen overrun with?

I’m tied up with a new project I should be able to tell you all about very soon, but it means my Martha cooking time is limited. So I thought I would take a moment and reflect upon a growing problem in my kitchen. I am overrun with jellies/jams and mustards. Here is the current … Read more →

This recipe is from March Everyday Food.

1 tbsp olive oil

7 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch pieces

salt and pepper

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2 garlic cloves

2 c heavy cream

1 lb pappardelle

Cook chicken with oil after seasoning with salt and pepper. Cook for 7 minutes. Add onion and cook 6 min. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds. Add cream and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook about 15 minutes until it coats the back of a spoon. Season with salt and pepper.

Boil pappardelle. Reserve 1 cup cooking water. Add to sauce and toss pasta with sauce.

Ok, so that is Martha’s recipe. I used chicken breasts and substituted broccoli for half. I also added Parmesan cheese because pasta without cheese is like air without oxygen. This was good. I haven’t used pappardelle in a long time and I do like it. It definitely needed cheese though!

This recipe is from March Everyday Food. 1 tbsp olive oil 7 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch pieces salt and pepper 1 medium yellow onion, diced 2 garlic cloves 2 c heavy cream 1 lb pappardelle Cook chicken with oil after seasoning with salt and pepper. Cook for 7 minutes. Add onion … Read more →

Megan and Megan’s Cookin has chosen Irish Beef Hand Pies for next Monday.

Megan and Megan’s Cookin has chosen Irish Beef Hand Pies for next Monday.

Thanks to Steak and Potato Kinda Gurl for choosing today’s recipe. We actually ate this hot, but it would lovely chilled in the summer. I’ve never made a sauce with mayo and mustard like this and liked it. Very easy and flavorful.

Thanks to Steak and Potato Kinda Gurl for choosing today’s recipe. We actually ate this hot, but it would lovely chilled in the summer. I’ve never made a sauce with mayo and mustard like this and liked it. Very easy and flavorful.

There are articles about parchment paper packet cooking in the March issues of Cooking Light, Everyday Food, and Martha Stewart Living. If you’ve tried any of them, I would love to hear what you thought. I haven’t had time to test them out myself–too busy with my own recipes!

There are articles about parchment paper packet cooking in the March issues of Cooking Light, Everyday Food, and Martha Stewart Living. If you’ve tried any of them, I would love to hear what you thought. I haven’t had time to test them out myself–too busy with my own recipes!

This recipe is in March Everyday food. Like a lot of you, I’m looking for a good veggie burger to make at home. This recipe caught my eye because it has some beef in it, but also has barley and chickpeas. I thought maybe this would be a good compromise. Sorry, Martha. This one was a loser. It was completely flavorless, even though it had fresh mint in it. I was really disappointed. It needed garlic I think. I don’t even know if that could save it though. A total thumbs down.

2 oz feta

1/4 c plain yogurt

salt and pepper

1/4 c bulgur

15.5 oz can chickpeas rinsed

1/2 lb ground chuck

1/3 c roughly chopped mint leaves

4 buns

1 small cucumber

1 large tomato

Mash feta, stir in yogurt and salt and pepper. Set aside.

Combine bulgur with 1/2 c boiling water. Cover with plastic wrap for 10 min. Pulse chickpeas in food processor, mix with beef and mint. Drain bulgur and add to mixture. Mix with your hands until combined. Divide into 4 1 inch thick patties and season with salt and pepper. Spray a pan with cooking spray, heat over medium high. Add patties and cook 8-10 min, flipping once. Serve on buns with cucumber, tomato and yogurt sauce.

This recipe is in March Everyday food. Like a lot of you, I’m looking for a good veggie burger to make at home. This recipe caught my eye because it has some beef in it, but also has barley and chickpeas. I thought maybe this would be a good compromise. Sorry, Martha. This one was … Read more →