Thanks to Pru at Perfecting Pru for this week’s pick. I like turkey burgers, but find that they can be dry unless you really doctor them up by putting stuff in them. I was intrigued by this recipe – sour cream and mango chutney seemed like interesting additions!

I had a hard time finding mango chutney. In England it’s pretty popular, but not here! I finally stumbled upon a lone bottle in the European foods section. The only kind my store had was “hot”.

This was easy to mix up. It also includes some ripped up bread which was sort of an interesting addition as well. I froze the burgers and then cooked them in the oven as directed. I served them on whole wheat rolls with some mayo and lettuce.

These were good and the family liked them. I wasn’t too wild about the chutney. I used only half of the amount directed because I was afraid of it being too spicy. This tasted a lot like a coronation chicken sandwich I had at a rest stop on the highway in England and I wasn’t too wild about that sandwich either! The mango chutney is a flavor that is unfamiliar to me.

I ate the leftover burger the next day and put some sliced avocado on the roll and melted some Swiss cheese on it and it was much better. Somehow I didn’t taste the chutney as much and I liked it a lot more.

I don’t think I would use mango chutney again, but the sour cream and bread were interesting additions which I will use again, so this was a good recipe since it taught me those two tricks!

Thanks to Pru at Perfecting Pru for this week’s pick. I like turkey burgers, but find that they can be dry unless you really doctor them up by putting stuff in them. I was intrigued by this recipe – sour cream and mango chutney seemed like interesting additions! I had a hard time finding mango … Read more →

I’ve decided to shake things up a bit. I’m officially calling on you (yes, you, anyone who reads this blog!) to tell me what Martha recipes you want me to make. I’d love to get reader suggestions and then I’ll do one a week or so. I’m thinking I’ll occasionally post a call for suggestions to keep the well filled. I’ll try to do one recipe every week and will post my results here for all to see. So if there’s a Martha recipe you’ve been wanting to try and wondered if it was any good, leave me a comment and I’ll test drive it for you. Simple or complicated, it doesn’t matter.

I would especially love it if you would spread the word. Here’s a tweet that could be posted:

@MarthaAndMeBlog is doing #Martha on Demand – tell her what you want her to make! http://wp.me/plYaL-17h

Or feel free to Facebook it. The more input the better.

I’ve decided to shake things up a bit. I’m officially calling on you (yes, you, anyone who reads this blog!) to tell me what Martha recipes you want me to make. I’d love to get reader suggestions and then I’ll do one a week or so. I’m thinking I’ll occasionally post a call for suggestions … Read more →

Teen Martha has recently discovered lime. She had some lime ice (like lemon ice) one night and then had a lime cooler somewhere else, so I jumped on the recipe in June Living for limeade. I like the flavor of lime in food, so I thought this would be a fun new drink.

I squeezed two pounds of limes. They seem to make more juice than lemons.  I mixed it up in the proportions in the recipe (2 1/2 cups juice – I actually had less than this since it was all my limes made, 4 cups water, 1/2 cup sugar). Holy cow it was sour! So I added more water and sugar, over and over. Eventually I had a gallon of the stuff with probably 1 1/2 to 2 cups of sugar and I just gave up.  No one liked it. It was just too sour no matter what I did to it. Maybe the problem is that this recipe is on a page of cocktails that are based on the limeade and perhaps Martha does not intend for one to drink the limeade plain? I don’t know, but it was disappointing.

Teen Martha has recently discovered lime. She had some lime ice (like lemon ice) one night and then had a lime cooler somewhere else, so I jumped on the recipe in June Living for limeade. I like the flavor of lime in food, so I thought this would be a fun new drink. I squeezed … Read more →

I’m in a quick-cooking mode as life continues to be completely crazy with games, concerts, award ceremonies, and doctor and dentist appointments – not to mention a completely packed work schedule. I’m throwing together dinners left and right here. My latest entry into the “throw together dinner” category is a salad I whipped up. Once in a while I like to make a big salad for dinner, but it has to include protein. I remembered I had a bag of shrimp, so I got it out and defrosted it (dump the frozen shrimp in a colander and put it in a sink of warm water and it will defrost in minutes). I remembered a trick I saw Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, do on her show. She was talking about how she likes to serve shrimp cocktail, but finds that if you boil shrimp it is watery and flavorless. So she roasts her shrimp with olive oil and garlic. I gave it a try – putting the peeled shrimp on a baking tray with 2 chopped cloves of garlic, sprinkling with olive oil and salt and pepper. I roasted it at 400 for about 4 minutes and the shrimp was done and lovely looking.

For the salads, I started with a bed of Boston lettuce. Then I just dug in the fridge and found a red pepper, some baby carrots, snap peas, smoked Havarti cheese, and cucumber. I added the shrimp on top. Then I took Martha’s recipe for Green Goddess dip in June Living and modified it into a dressing. I used half an avocado and 1/2 cup of buttermilk. I whizzed that up and then dumped in 1 tsp of Green Goddess seasoning I have from Penzey’s Spice House. I added 1 tsp lemon juice and 1/4 tsp sugar and some salt and pepper. I poured it on top and that was dinner. I served the Herbed Flatbread from yesterday’s post with it. I thought the dinner was fantastic. The shrimp had a wonderful flavor, so I will definitely be using this method again. I loved the Green Goddess dressing – no surprise since I love avocados. Mr. MarthaAndMe was not as much of a fan. It’s hard to get him to eat a salad in general (unless it’s loaded with Caesar dressing). He thought the lettuce was bitter. It was local lettuce, which I find tends to be a bit bitter in early summer. So he didn’t appreciate my lovely salad. Teen Martha wasn’t home and Dude Martha picked at some but didn’t really eat it. Oh well. I guess I’ll stick to making salads for lunch.

I’m in a quick-cooking mode as life continues to be completely crazy with games, concerts, award ceremonies, and doctor and dentist appointments – not to mention a completely packed work schedule. I’m throwing together dinners left and right here. My latest entry into the “throw together dinner” category is a salad I whipped up. Once … Read more →

Pru of Perfecting Pru has chosen Turkey Burgers for next week’s project. Thanks Pru!

Pru of Perfecting Pru has chosen Turkey Burgers for next week’s project. Thanks Pru!

Today’s project was chosen by Sara at Sassy Suppers – Herbed Flatbread from the June issue of Living. I’ve never made anything like this before. The dough was very simple – get 1/4 tsp yeast foamy in 1 cup of warm water, then add flour and oil and salt and knead till smooth. Let it rise for an hour and then divide into 16 pieces and roll them out to a 10×4 size. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sea salt and herbs and bake. That’s it. Given that there is very little in them, they were surprisingly flavorful. Everyone enjoyed them. Dude Martha said they tasted like garlic bread sticks. I froze the rest and plan to use them again. Maybe I’ll sprinkle a little cheese on them before heating them up for something different.  I can see lots of different ways to use these. You could make little pizzas on them. They would be great with smoked salmon. Or they’re nice just plain with soup or a salad.

Today’s project was chosen by Sara at Sassy Suppers – Herbed Flatbread from the June issue of Living. I’ve never made anything like this before. The dough was very simple – get 1/4 tsp yeast foamy in 1 cup of warm water, then add flour and oil and salt and knead till smooth. Let it … Read more →

Today is Teen Martha’s Senior Prom. I thought I would share one of my fave pix taken before they headed out for the big night. You’ll notice that the shoes were an important part of the outfit!

Today is Teen Martha’s Senior Prom. I thought I would share one of my fave pix taken before they headed out for the big night. You’ll notice that the shoes were an important part of the outfit!

On p. 174 of June Living, Martha has a recipe for buttermilk chicken. It sounded simple (always a bonus!) and easy. I didn’t use the same amount of chicken (Martha said to use 3 whole chickens!). I used 3 boneless breasts. I marinated them in enough buttermilk to cover them mixed with 3 chopped cloves of garlic and 1 tsp of rosemary, plus salt and pepper. I grilled them and they stuck to the grill, shredding and making a giant mess. They tasted ok though. I know this recipe was meant for chicken with skin and that would have added to the flavor I think. I thought it was sort of plain though overall. It was nice and moist which I appreciated, but not a real winner in terms of flavor. Garlicky, yes, but just sort of plain. Not a winner.

On p. 174 of June Living, Martha has a recipe for buttermilk chicken. It sounded simple (always a bonus!) and easy. I didn’t use the same amount of chicken (Martha said to use 3 whole chickens!). I used 3 boneless breasts. I marinated them in enough buttermilk to cover them mixed with 3 chopped cloves … Read more →

Yesterday I posted about my easy potato casserole. It always makes leftovers, which is great. I decided to kick up my leftovers a bit. I used 3 cups of leftover casserole. I warmed it up so it was easy to stir. I added 2 tbsp sour cream, 1 chopped scallion, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, and 3 tbsp melted butter (I actually had some garlic butter leftover that I used, so this added more flavor). I foolishly first thought about frying these up as potato pancakes, but they have nothing to hold them together (egg, etc), so that was a bust. Instead, I put them in muffin tins and baked them at 350 for half an hour. My muffin tins are silicone, so I could just pop them out. If you’re using metal muffin tins, I think you might need to bake longer to get the outside firmer so they are easier to lift out.

Anyway, they were delicious. Teen Martha said they tasted like twice baked potatoes, which in a way they were.

Yesterday I posted about my easy potato casserole. It always makes leftovers, which is great. I decided to kick up my leftovers a bit. I used 3 cups of leftover casserole. I warmed it up so it was easy to stir. I added 2 tbsp sour cream, 1 chopped scallion, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, and … Read more →

I’ve been writing a lot lately about my quick dinners. One trick I keep up my sleeve is my Easy Potato Casserole. It’s easy because all you do is dump things in a bowl then bake. This is great for a family dinner, with leftovers, or to take to an event. The potatoes are soft, but it gets crunchy around the edges and nice and brown on top. I have lots of variations on this, which I’ll share after I give you the basics.

1 bag frozen hash brown potatoes

8-12 oz shredded cheddar cheese (depending on how cheesy you like things!)

1 tbsp dried minced onion

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

1 container light sour cream

1 can cream of potato soup

1 cup milk or cream

salt and pepper to taste

Cook in an 8×14 greased pan, covered with foil for 1  hour in a 375 degree oven. Then uncover and cook for half an hour more, until brown.

Now that you’ve got the basics, let’s talk about the variations. First of all, if I think of it in advance, I take the potatoes out of the freezer and stick them in the fridge. This cooks faster if they are unfrozen, although you can definitely make it from frozen. Sometimes I add chopped scallions instead of dried onion. I often vary the types of cheese. It’s really good with some smoked cheese mixed in. You could sprinkle cheese on the top if you like it that way. I  sometimes substitute plain yogurt for part of the sour cream. The last time I made this, I forgot to add the milk, so I just poured it on top before I put it in the oven and it worked perfectly. If you wanted to, you could add some chopped ham or bacon. Fresh herbs would certainly liven it up as well.  What I like about this is if I have a bag of potatoes and a can of soup, I can whip it up with whatever I have around for the other ingredients, so it’s very flexible.

I’ve been writing a lot lately about my quick dinners. One trick I keep up my sleeve is my Easy Potato Casserole. It’s easy because all you do is dump things in a bowl then bake. This is great for a family dinner, with leftovers, or to take to an event. The potatoes are soft, … Read more →