Thanks Pru at Perfecting Pru for next week’s pick: Roasted Fall Vegetable Soup. It should be a great choice as fall moves in.

Thanks Pru at Perfecting Pru for next week’s pick: Roasted Fall Vegetable Soup. It should be a great choice as fall moves in.

I just had to put up a quick little post to say I watch Martha’s season opener today on Hallmark and I also watched Everyday Food (for the first time) and Lucinda (Mad Hungry). I hope you’ll share your thoughts on these with me – I would love to hear what you think.

As for Martha, first of all, I thought she looked fantastic. “Rested,” perhaps? That segment with the MTV guys was weird. It has nothing to do with Martha and it was awkward due to the time delay. Just awful. The interview with Jennifer and Alexis was awkward. Very stilted and strange. I haven’t watched their show yet (tonight maybe I will get to it) but it looks kind of odd. Jennifer has lost a ton a weight and looks fantastic. The questions from the audience were strange and the answers worse. They couldn’t name any of their upcoming guests? What did Martha think they did to prepare for the show? They seemingly had nothing to talk about. It was all just uncomfortable to watch. Jennifer tries to please Martha. Alexis remains aloof and snotty. Very weird TV.

I skipped the pet segment. The cookie segment with Sarah Carey and John Baricelli was also a little odd. All they did was dunk cookies in sugar – not a lot of baking there! The cookies sound good though and I may have to print out the recipe. I love Lucinda, but a quesadilla with bacon, cheese and peppers? Not exciting.

Onto Lucinda’s show, Mad Hungry. I’ve GOT to make those pork chops. And the potato wedges. And the cabbage. Sigh. I’ve got her cookbook and really liked it but haven’t tried these items. I was surprised her show was an hour – it seemed like a long time. Loved her set – it was very her. I may have to allow Teen Martha a peek at her son Calder who is quite cute! This is a show I will definitely tune into, although I do have a tendency to fast forward through the boring parts.

Everyday Food. This was my first time catching this. I was surprised that each segment was a different host. I kind of liked it for quick ideas but I don’t know if it is something I would sit down and watch on a regular basis. And when did Sarah Carey have long hair? It’s been short every time I’ve ever seen her.

So those are my impressions. What were yours?

Update: I watched Whatever. Not quite sure what to think. Jennifer seemed VERY nervous, but looked fantastic. The opener was a little awkward, but as always I enjoy hearing Alexis complain about Martha. The guest segments seemed really long. Are there fewer commercials on Hallmark? Paula Abdul was fun. Partially incoherent as usual. I would have liked to know more about what her new show really is about. The dance lesson was lame.  I fast forwarded through most of the guy who has had over 100 Internet dates. I just didn’t care! I liked the third guest, about the beauty products and am going to get her book. I will continue to tape this and watch it at least for now. I don’t quite ‘get’ how this is different from other talk shows yet, but maybe it will evolve.

I just had to put up a quick little post to say I watch Martha’s season opener today on Hallmark and I also watched Everyday Food (for the first time) and Lucinda (Mad Hungry). I hope you’ll share your thoughts on these with me – I would love to hear what you think. As for … Read more →

Thanks to Sara at Sassy Suppers for today’s pick, marinated steak from Sept Living. This is a Lucinda recipe (I heart Lucinda – her new show on Hallmark starts today; I will be tuning in!). The article offered two marinades – Mediterranean or Latin. I made the Mediterranean. The idea behind this is to buy an inexpensive cut of meat (I bought flank) and marinate it to tenderize it. I love the idea of this, but have to tell you I have a bad memory of this! We had dinner with some people once years ago and the wife told me she did just this – however she marinated her steak in a wooden bowl. She showed me the bowl and it was old and worn – not even sealed with anything. Eeek. I had a few nibbles, but was terrified of food poisoning, so I didn’t eat much and whenever I think of marinating flank steak, I think of her and wonder that she is still alive.

I got past that bad memory and trusted Lucinda (and used a glass dish for mine). The marinade was very easy – 4 smashed garlic cloves, olive oil, rosemary, vinegar and salt and pepper and a tsp of sugar. That’s it. I marinated my steak for about 10 hours. Then I grilled it.It grilled quickly too since it was so thin. Lucinda said about 4 minutes a side and that was exactly right (I appreciated that direction because I am usually at the grill with a knife, trying to peek inside meat to see if it’s cooked).

This turned out perfectly. The steak was not tough and the marinade gave it a great flavor. I had leftovers, so I used them to make little philly steak sandwiches with some onions and cheese the next day. Yummy. I still love filet, but Lucinda has convinced me flank steak is doable.

Thanks to Sara at Sassy Suppers for today’s pick, marinated steak from Sept Living. This is a Lucinda recipe (I heart Lucinda – her new show on Hallmark starts today; I will be tuning in!). The article offered two marinades – Mediterranean or Latin. I made the Mediterranean. The idea behind this is to buy … Read more →

Martha's Salad

There used to be a restaurant on Canandaigua Lake that we went to every summer, called the Pan-Tree Inn. They had the best sweet rolls, chicken pot pie, and an amazing three bean salad. It closed though, and I was forced to try to replicate the bean salad and did so pretty successfully. I was willing to put Martha’s to the test (from Sept Everyday Food)to see if hers was better. I thought the addition of fresh green beans might improve it.
Martha’s recipe:
1/2 lb green beans, cut in half and blanched
1 can kidney beans
1 can garbanzo beans
2 tbsp cider vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp fresh oregano
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 tsp grainy mustard

Fail. Sorry. This was ok, but I did not like the texture of crunchy green beans with canned kidney and garbanzo. Here’s the recipe I came up with that replicated the restaurant one I loved:

Pan-Tree Inn Three Bean Salad

1  16 oz can green beans, drained

1 16 oz can yellow beans, drained

1 16 oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup thinly sliced onion rings

1 red bell pepper, chopped

2 tbsp parsley, chopped

1/3 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp salt

Mix beans, onion, red pepper and parsley. Mix vinegar, sugar, oil, salt and pepper in a saucepan and heat to a boil. Pour over bean mix. Store in the refrigerator.

There used to be a restaurant on Canandaigua Lake that we went to every summer, called the Pan-Tree Inn. They had the best sweet rolls, chicken pot pie, and an amazing three bean salad. It closed though, and I was forced to try to replicate the bean salad and did so pretty successfully. I was … Read more →

My parents had a friend named Gary with whom they had many food adventures. Gary spent a lot of time at our house after the death of his partner and then he eventually moved to New Orleans where he opened a small cafe on Royal St. We visited him there twice and one of his house specials was Cornish pasties, which he filled with meat, vegetables, and small pieces of potato. They were delicious and I can still remember the tender, flaky outer dough, combined with the warm, moist filling. Stupendous. Gary passed away from HIV/AIDS many years ago, but I still think of him and his little cafe.

With that in mind, I was ready to try Chicken and Sweet Potato Hand Pies. You can find this one in Sept Everyday Food. This was an easy recipe.  But I didn’t like it ! Use one sheet of puff pastry and roll out to 12×12. Cut into 4 square. Mix 2 cups mashed sweet potato with 2 cups cooked chicken and add1/2 cup heavy cream, 1/4 tsp cumin and 1/4 tsp coriander. Fill the pockets and fold into triangles. Brush with egg wash. Bake at 400 30 minutes.

They looked nice, but I did not like them at all. I even added in some leftover broccoli to give some color. In general I am not a fan of potato surrounded by breading and this was just all potato. I don’t like potato knishes or potato pierogi, so I guess I should have known better. This would be good with another filling, so it is just my peculiar tastes that give this one a thumbs down. It turned out nicely and if you don’t mind lots of potato in puff pastry, you would like this.

My parents had a friend named Gary with whom they had many food adventures. Gary spent a lot of time at our house after the death of his partner and then he eventually moved to New Orleans where he opened a small cafe on Royal St. We visited him there twice and one of his … Read more →

This is the hibiscus that grows next to my deck. There’s quite a story behind it. When my great-grandmother, Rose Osborne, passed away, some seeds were found in an envelope in her bible. No one knew what they were or where they came from. So my great-uncle Bill planted them in his garden.Uncle Bill and Aunt Erma had a small city backyard, yet Uncle Bill kept it meticulously groomed. He grew tomatoes and roses and other plants and even had a putting cup in the center of the yard. The seeds grew into a beautiful hibiscus plant. Uncle Bill nurtured it for years and then dug a portion up and gave it to my father, who grew it on the side of his garage, where the plants grow to be six feet high each year. When we moved here and I tried in my lame way to do some landscaping, my father dug a portion up and gave it to me. Every year I think it’s done for and every year it comes back. It fools me because nothing much happens with it until late June or July when it finally begins coming up again. Every August, I have beautiful flowers, which remind me of Rose, the great-grandmother I never met.

This is the hibiscus that grows next to my deck. There’s quite a story behind it. When my great-grandmother, Rose Osborne, passed away, some seeds were found in an envelope in her bible. No one knew what they were or where they came from. So my great-uncle Bill planted them in his garden.Uncle Bill and … Read more →

When I started MarthaAndMe, I was doing Martha’s crafts. For the first year, I did quite a few crafts. Once the year was over though, I stopped doing as many. I’m not very crafty at all and I learned that forcing myself to be something I wasn’t just made me cranky. I may not be crafty, but I am creative, and every once in a while I have a fit of creativity. It usually isn’t neat and it often doesn’t turn out as I’d hoped, but it’s almost always fun when it’s something I really want to do.

I’ve had this one in my head for quite a while. Several years ago I caught some unknown show on HGTV and one thing they did was wallpaper a basement staircase with maps. Well, that got me thinking. I have a fascination with maps. It all started in my grandparents’ basement. Gai and Papa traveled to every continent except Antartica and tracked their journeys on a map in their basement, next to the pool table. They did these journeys before I was born, or at least before I can remember, although Gai often talked about them. She’s the one who gave me the travel bug.

I used to spend special time in that basement, playing pool with Papa and gazing at that map. When Gai passed away (several years after Papa) last year, one of the many things I inherited was that map. It now hangs on our basement staircase, and it inspired me to frame my own map, which Mr. MarthaAndMe and I put thumbtacks in to mark where we’ve gone on our trips.

I love that map, but I still am map crazy and I’ve never been able to get that HGTV episode out of my head. Some of the doors in our house have these huge combination locks in them. The previous owner was worried about his own son stealing things, so he installed them on three doors in the house. One of them is the basement door. Now these locks are quite old and operate with numbers you push. One day one of the kids was horsing around with the one on the basement door and got it locked shut (said child was fortunately not in the basement, but on the upstairs side of the door) and it became stuck with the deadbolt in the frame and the combination part just frozen. Mr. MarthaAndMe tried everything, but finally decided the best solution was just to get the lock out of the door. This left two round holes – one about a 3 inch diameter and the other a one inch.

I considered patching the holes, but we’ve never been able to adequately match the paint color on our interior doors, so that was a whole ball of wax I didn’t want to get into. Then it hit me – I could cover the door with maps!

I never let go of this idea and finally, this past weekend, I did it! Mr. MarthaAndMe shoved some wood in the holes to fill them pretty much. Then I went to work. I went to AAA and got free maps of all the places we’ve been. I also had some maps around here and I printed some small maps online. I attached the maps with Mod Podge. Now, it didn’t go perfectly. There are some lumps, creases and bumps, but early in the process I decided I just didn’t care. I layered and collaged the maps and covered one side of the door (I’ll do the other side after we’ve traveled some more!). Then I did another coat of Mod Podge on top. Once this is all completely dry, I’m going to put a coat of polyurethane over it all to completely seal it.

I’m actually pretty proud of this. It’s in an out of the way place in the house (in the laundry room and you can’t see it unless you stand right in front of it), so it’s not a huge glaring thing, but is instead kind of a quirky little surprise I think. I am really happy with how it turned out. It’s right by the door to the dog yard, so while we are standing there waiting for our slow poke dogs, we have something to look at. I’ll probably kick myself in 30 years when we try to sell the house, but for now I’m thrilled with it!

When I started MarthaAndMe, I was doing Martha’s crafts. For the first year, I did quite a few crafts. Once the year was over though, I stopped doing as many. I’m not very crafty at all and I learned that forcing myself to be something I wasn’t just made me cranky. I may not be … Read more →

Thanks to Sara at Sassy Suppers for our next project – the steak marinades on page 76 and 78 of Sept Living. There are two to pick from – Mediterranean and Latin so you can choose which you’d like to try. And if you need the recipe, let me know (leave a comment or email me).

Thanks to Sara at Sassy Suppers for our next project – the steak marinades on page 76 and 78 of Sept Living. There are two to pick from – Mediterranean and Latin so you can choose which you’d like to try. And if you need the recipe, let me know (leave a comment or email … Read more →

I’ve never made panna cotta before, so thanks Megan at Megan’s Cookin’ for picking this week’s choice!

This was surprisingly easy to make. Essentially you’re just heating up milk and cream and softening the gelatin, then mixing together. It really was amazingly easy. The sauce was simple too. The only tricky part was getting them to come out of the molds, which took a lot of dunking in hot water. But they all did eventually come out and they looked cute.

It tastes kind of like a pudding. I wasn’t a big fan, but I’m not big on plain vanilla things. Mr. MarthaAndMe and Teen Martha really liked this a lot. Dude Martha did not care for it – he doesn’t like gelatin-y things. I would call this a success. Simple, tasty and pretty. Very nice! I can’t wait to hear how others made out with this one.

I’ve never made panna cotta before, so thanks Megan at Megan’s Cookin’ for picking this week’s choice! This was surprisingly easy to make. Essentially you’re just heating up milk and cream and softening the gelatin, then mixing together. It really was amazingly easy. The sauce was simple too. The only tricky part was getting them … Read more →

I love Pepperidge Farm Mint Milano cookies. They are soft and sandy, with a lovely chocolate mint center. They are heaven if kept in the freezer. I had to try Martha’s version, which is called Mint-Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, in the Sept issue of Everyday Food.

I’m still heartbroken over this one. The trouble started with the dough (1 1/4 c flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 stick butter, 2/3 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 egg). You’re supposed to use a pastry bag to get it on the sheets. I actually got mine out this time and loaded it (usually I am a pastry bag-phobe). It didn’t work. The dough was so crumbly and dense, that it just sat in there like cement. I tried a baggie (the alternate method) and this blew a hole out the side of the bag. I gave up and rolled this into balls and flattened it on the sheets. I knew then I was in trouble – there was no chance it would have the right texture. Chill the dough, check. Bake for 15 min. Not quite! Mine took much longer.

Then make the filling. Melt 4 oz semisweet chocolate in one bowl. In another mix 3/4 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp peppermint extract, and 4 tsp water. Cool the cookies and put one filling on one half and the other on the other half and stick it together. Mine proceeded to slide apart. So I let the two halves sit a while until the fillings firmed up, then stuck them together. It worked.

These, however, were horrible. Hockey puck tough. The mint was so minty and strong it gave me heartburn. Into the trash they went. Total, unmitigated disaster. And now I’ll have to buy a bag of Mint Milanos to console myself. Well, things could be worse I suppose:)

I love Pepperidge Farm Mint Milano cookies. They are soft and sandy, with a lovely chocolate mint center. They are heaven if kept in the freezer. I had to try Martha’s version, which is called Mint-Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, in the Sept issue of Everyday Food. I’m still heartbroken over this one. The trouble started with … Read more →