Thanks to Megan at Megan’s Cookin’ for choosing Artichoke Parmesan Crostini for next week’s project. Oh yum!

And if you want to plan ahead, the project for 1/31 is on page 56 of Feb Living – the chocolate cups, to be filled with whatever you want (let me know if you need the recipe for that one).

Feb 7 will be Beef Bourguignon

Thanks to Megan at Megan’s Cookin’ for choosing Artichoke Parmesan Crostini for next week’s project. Oh yum! And if you want to plan ahead, the project for 1/31 is on page 56 of Feb Living – the chocolate cups, to be filled with whatever you want (let me know if you need the recipe for … Read more →

Chili with no tomatoes and no beans? Really? Yup. That’s what the real deal chili recipe is, the project chosen for today’s Martha Mondays by Steak and Potato Kinda Gurl.

I seriously contemplated dumping some tomatoes or kidney beans into this because I was worried it wasn’t going to be any good. It has paprika, cayenne, cumin, and oregano in it (no chilis you’ll notice). But after I got it going, I tasted it and it was pretty good. Plus DudeMartha is not a fan of tomatoes or beans and when I described it to him he was excited. So we went with it. It was good. I put cheese and sour cream on mine. DudeMartha added Tabasco. Mr. MarthaAndMe had just cheese. They gave it the thumbs up. I thought it was good, but it’s not the kind of thing I get nutty over.  How did everyone else make out?

Chili with no tomatoes and no beans? Really? Yup. That’s what the real deal chili recipe is, the project chosen for today’s Martha Mondays by Steak and Potato Kinda Gurl. I seriously contemplated dumping some tomatoes or kidney beans into this because I was worried it wasn’t going to be any good. It has paprika, … Read more →

Steak and Potato Kinda Gurl has chosen chili for Monday’s project. I’m currently froze, so hopefully this will warm me up!

Steak and Potato Kinda Gurl has chosen chili for Monday’s project. I’m currently froze, so hopefully this will warm me up!

I ate a lot of artichokes as a kid, back when none of my friends knew what they were, so I’m quite fond of them. They’re not the easiest thing to cook though – you have boil them for a long time and then your house smells like artichokes. I came up with a solution for an easier artichoke dish that mimics delicious stuffed artichokes:

12 ounces frozen artichoke hearts quarters
4 tbsp butter (cut into small pieces)
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, with 2 tbsp reserved
1/4 cup chopped parsley (I actually don’t chop this, but rip off little pieces with my hands)
salt and pepper

Place all ingredients on parchment. Lightly toss together. Fold up (see instructions on the “technique” page of this blog for details) and bake at 400 for 30 min. Then open the parchment, sprinkle with remaining cheese and return to the oven (leaving the packet open) for about 12 minutes.

The result? a satisfying, full-flavored dish that is is incredibly easy and requires no clean up. This is my new favorite way to make artichokes!

*Reader favorite: this appears in The Parchment Paper Cookbook

I ate a lot of artichokes as a kid, back when none of my friends knew what they were, so I’m quite fond of them. They’re not the easiest thing to cook though – you have boil them for a long time and then your house smells like artichokes. I came up with a solution … Read more →

Someone recently said to me that she had never had fried apples. I could have caught flies, my mouth gaped so much. It never occurred to me that this would be something unusual. I make fried apples a lot, often in the fall, and often to go with pork. My mom and grandma made them often when I was a kid too. They’re just as good as baked apples, but quicker. And sometimes when you feel like your head might explode if you have to come up with another vegetable your kids will eat for dinner, this is an excellent solution.

It is incredibly easy. For the apples in this photo, I used two apples. I cored them, then cut them into thirds (to make rings). I put some olive oil and butter in the pan (maybe 1 tbsp butter with a swirl of olive oil). Sprinkle the apples with a  tablespoon or two brown sugar and a 1/2 tsp or so cinnamon. Add a sprinkle of salt on top. Cover and cook over medium heat. Once the apples are browning on the bottom, flip them over and cover again. Sometimes I will flip a third time to get all that cinnamon-y goodness all over both sides. They’re done when the white part of the apple is soft and getting mushy.

Add more (or less) sugar and cinnamon depending on how sweet you like things. You can’t fit much more than 2 apples per skillet, so you need to do batches or cook with two pans to do more.

Someone recently said to me that she had never had fried apples. I could have caught flies, my mouth gaped so much. It never occurred to me that this would be something unusual. I make fried apples a lot, often in the fall, and often to go with pork. My mom and grandma made them … Read more →

I really love to cook, but coming up with two vegetables a night gets to be a drag. Sometimes I just feel burned out by vegetables. Giving myself permission to come up with different no pot vegetables has made it all more interesting lately though. Last night I put together this bright and tasty veggie dish that we loved:

1 small zucchini, thinly sliced
1/2 cup bean sprouts
1 tbsp chopped parsley
7 drops sesame oil
3/4 tbsp tamari or soy sauce

Five ingredients in an easy no mess parchment paper packet! I put it all on the parchment then tossed with my hands. I folded it up and baked at 400 for about 15 minutes. It had tons of great flavor and was something completely different (no more carrots and peas, please!). This was enough for two adults. Mr. NoPot even had seconds (which you don’t see him doing with veggies – ever!).

I really love to cook, but coming up with two vegetables a night gets to be a drag. Sometimes I just feel burned out by vegetables. Giving myself permission to come up with different no pot vegetables has made it all more interesting lately though. Last night I put together this bright and tasty veggie … Read more →

I am a sucker for crispy potatoes. I admit I didn’t really give the roast chicken recipes in Jan Living much of a second glance until Sarah Carey came on the show and made them. The potatoes in the Crispy Skinned Chicken recipe hooked me. I was also interested to try putting butter and cornstarch on the chicken skin.

I used Yukon Gold potatoes because that’s what I had and I also didn’t have fresh rosemary. It turned out really well. This is an open-kitchen-window recipe though – any time I cook chicken at a high temp like this it smokes up the house. The chicken cooked nicely and was quite crisp (so I will use this method again). The potatoes fell apart a bit when I tossed them in the pan and I did have to put them back in the oven once the chicken was out to get them a little browner, but they were good.

I used dried rosemary, so that may be the problem, but I just kind of wanted the whole thing to have a little more flavor overall. Other than that, it was excellent!

I am a sucker for crispy potatoes. I admit I didn’t really give the roast chicken recipes in Jan Living much of a second glance until Sarah Carey came on the show and made them. The potatoes in the Crispy Skinned Chicken recipe hooked me. I was also interested to try putting butter and cornstarch … Read more →

I chose Hearty Onion Soup Gratin from Jan Living to get us back into Martha Mondays. It’s basically a French onion soup with turnips and carrots added in. I am a lover of French onion soup and have been making it a lot recently (I had one batch where I didn’t stir my onions enough and a tiny bit burned and turned the whole soup bad).

This recipe was fairly simple:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
2 tsp fresh thyme
salt and pepper
4 cups beef stock
4 small carrots, halved lengthwise
3 baby turnips, peeled and cut into wedges or chunks
4 small dried bay leaves
4 large slices of bread
8 slices Gruyere

Heat oil over medium heat in skillet. Cook onions until translucent, about 8 min. Reduce to low and add thyme and cook until golden 35-40 min. Season with salt and pepper

Preheat broiler. Bring stock to boil in pot. Add carrots and turnips and simmer until almost tender, about 5 min.

Divide vegetables among 4 bowls, add onions. Add bay leaf to each. Pour in stock. Place a slice of bread on each and 2 slices cheese. Broil until bubbly.

So now that you’ve seen Martha’s instructions I’ll confess what I did. First of all, I forgot the bay leaves entirely. I didn’t have enough fresh thyme so I used dried. I actually ended up roasting my veggies (and I used baby carrots cut into chunks) in the oven. I added the onions and veggies to the stock (I had about 6 cups of it) and let it simmer for a while so the flavors would combine. I like to make my bread separately on a roasting pan and if we’re eating at home alone, I cut my cheese covered bread into chunks before adding it to my soup to make it easier to eat!

With all that being said, I enjoyed this very much. Really, you’d have to really do something horrible to make me reject a bowl of French onion soup! I enjoyed having more veggies in it and have been eating leftovers for lunch.

Here’s the schedule moving forward for the coming weeks. If this doesn’t work for you, let me know. If you’d like to join up, let me know and I’ll add you.

1/17 Steak and Potatoes Kinda Gurl

1/24 Megan’s Cookin’

1/31 Sassy Suppers

2/7 Perfecting Pru

2/14 Tiny Skillet

2/21 Sweet Almond Tree

2/28 MarthaAndMe

I chose Hearty Onion Soup Gratin from Jan Living to get us back into Martha Mondays. It’s basically a French onion soup with turnips and carrots added in. I am a lover of French onion soup and have been making it a lot recently (I had one batch where I didn’t stir my onions enough … Read more →

I’m still trying to get back on schedule after the holidays. The daily grind, exercising more, and trying to get back to healthy eating is always a challenge at this time of year! However, I still have holiday foods hanging around. For a recent party, I made a spinach artichoke dip. It was delicious, but there was lots left. I don’t think it will freeze well due to the cheese and cream, so I decided to have one last hurrah with it before dumping it. I used it as a sauce for chicken. This is the easiest recipe in the entire world. Put one chicken breast on parchment. Spread 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup spinach artichoke dip on top. Fold it up, bake for 20 min at 400 and enjoy. Spinach artichoke dip is readily available pre-made in the freezer section of the grocery store, or you might have brought some home as leftovers from your favorite restaurant (I did that recently too).

I’m still trying to get back on schedule after the holidays. The daily grind, exercising more, and trying to get back to healthy eating is always a challenge at this time of year! However, I still have holiday foods hanging around. For a recent party, I made a spinach artichoke dip. It was delicious, but … Read more →

I’ve tried to make gnocchi in the past with disastrous results. Another kitchen gadget I got for Christmas is a potato ricer, which apparently is absolutely essential in making gnocchi (all the recipes I’ve tried in the past have made it sound optional). So, with my ricer in hand, I was ready to dive back into gnocchi making. This recipe has been hanging around my recipe notebook for a long, long time and I was thrilled to finally give it a try.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Fried Sage

1 1/4 lbs baking potatoes

1 (1/4 lb) sweet potato

1 egg

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/3 cup Parmesan

1 1/2 to 2 cups flour

1/3 cup olive oil

1 cup sage leaves

1 tbsp butter

Bake potatoes at 450 for 45 min to an hour until tender (I tried microwaving the potatoes in the past and it just doesn’t work – you have to bake them). Allow to cool, then peel and force through ricer onto a baking sheet. Spread into an even layer and allow to cool (I set mine outside and they cooled quickly). Mix egg, nutmeg, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper in a small bowl.

Gather potatoes in a mound on the baking sheet, making a well in the middle. Pour the egg mixture into the center and knead. Knead in cheese and 1 1/2 flour. Add more flour if needed and knead until it is smooth but slightly sticky.

Cut dough into 6 pieces. Roll each out into a rope about 1/2 inch thick, on a lightly floured surface. Cut into 1/2 inch pieces.  Boil a large pot of salted water and add half the gnocchi, cooking until it rises to the top, then cook the other half. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a skillet until shimmery, then add the sage, frying until they turn a shade lighter and crisp. Drain on paper towels.

Remove the sage and add the butter to the oil, cooking until it browns. Add cooked gnocchi to the butter and cook a few minutes, tossing. Serve with sage leaves and extra Parmesan cheese.

The gnocchi turned out really, really well. I didn’t do anything other than cut it into pieces (no fussing with marks from a fork). I really loved the flavor of it – the sweet potato gave it a nice taste. It was light and not gummy (unlike my previous attempts). I didn’t get any flavor from the fried sage though, so that was disappointing. I want to try a butternut squash gnocchi next.

I’ve tried to make gnocchi in the past with disastrous results. Another kitchen gadget I got for Christmas is a potato ricer, which apparently is absolutely essential in making gnocchi (all the recipes I’ve tried in the past have made it sound optional). So, with my ricer in hand, I was ready to dive back … Read more →