Thanks to Brenda at Brenda’s Canadian Kitchen for choosing today’s project, Pumpkin Muffins.

I love to bake with pumpkin in the fall and often make pumpkin bread and pumpkin cookies. The muffins sounded good. They’re made with yogurt and half whole wheat flour. I did not add the nuts since some family members don’t like them. They were simple to mix up. The recipe says it makes 12 jumbo muffins – I made 24 regular muffins with this. Mine took forever to bake. The recipe says 25 minutes for the jumbo muffins so I thought mine would be done before that, but they actually took about 10 minutes longer.

I liked them, but thought they were a bit lacking in flavor. The recipe uses pumpkin pie spice which I generally don’t like. I think you get a better flavor if you use separate measurements of regular spices. I ended up sprinkling some cinnamon and sugar on top of these to make them look nice and to jazz them up. Also – as I was tasting these I realized there was no salt in the recipe which might have been part of the problem too!

I’ll be interested to hear what everyone else thought.

Thanks to Brenda at Brenda’s Canadian Kitchen for choosing today’s project, Pumpkin Muffins. I love to bake with pumpkin in the fall and often make pumpkin bread and pumpkin cookies. The muffins sounded good. They’re made with yogurt and half whole wheat flour. I did not add the nuts since some family members don’t like … Read more →

You already know I think Lucinda Scala Quinn is a genius. I’ve got her cookbook, Mad Hungry, and I love the segments she does on Martha and the pieces she writes for Living. She’s got her own tv show now on Hallmark, called Mad Hungry. I’ve been DVRing it daily. One day she made Pork Chops with Apples and Onions and also sauteed cabbage. Both recipes are from her book and I already had them flagged as things to try, so the show gave me that nudge I needed to try them.

A couple of admissions first. I don’t have a cast iron pan. And I used boneless pork chops. So sue me.

The pork chops were very easy to make. Essentially you sear them then you cook the onions and apples, add some liquid and add the chops back in to cook until done. I love apples and pork and liked this method of cooking them. Next time I would add some thyme or some sage – it needed some herbs I think. I might also be tempted to sear the pork, then stick the whole thing in the oven. The pork was moist and the apples amazing. I liked this a lot. Very hearty and homey.

The cabbage was a little trickier. The ingredients are simple – some onion, a little tomato and then cook the cabbage until wilted. I had to cook mine a really long time to get it to be soft enough to eat (and I covered it to get it to cook faster). I don’t like it crunchy. So if you make this, just be prepared to be patient. I did like it once it was done, but thought it was a little bland. Not sure what it needs – something.  Lots of leftovers, but I used them in all sorts of things (quesadillas and fried rice).

You already know I think Lucinda Scala Quinn is a genius. I’ve got her cookbook, Mad Hungry, and I love the segments she does on Martha and the pieces she writes for Living. She’s got her own tv show now on Hallmark, called Mad Hungry. I’ve been DVRing it daily. One day she made Pork … Read more →

Today’s project, Pear and Apple Phyllo Crisp from Oct Living was chosen by Teresa at Homemade Iowa Life.

Sorry about the photo for this. It really did look pretty. This was very simple to make. I could not believe only a few sheets of phyllo were needed. I sprayed the top of my fruit with a little Pam and sprinkled them with sugar and cinnamon which make it look prettier and gave it some extra sweetness.

This was terrific the first day but quickly became mushy, so it’s really something that doesn’t keep well unfortunately. It was delicious though. The crispy phyllo combined with the soft fruit was a nice combo.

1/2 c pecans
1/2 c plain fresh breadcrumbs
1/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
6 sheets frozen phyllo dough 11 1/2 x 15 each thawed
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
2 small firm pears, such as Forelle or Seckel
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled
Preheat oven to 400 with rack in top position Combine pecans, breadcrumbs, sugar and cinnamon
Line baking sheet with parchment and top with 1 phyllo sheet. Brush phyllo with butter all over and sprinkle pecan mix over it. Repeat 4x. Top with remaining sheet and brush with all but 2 tbsp butter.
Slice pears and apples 1/8 inch thick, discard seeds. Arrange in a single layer on phyllo, leaving space between fruit and a 1/4 inch border around the edges.
Brush fruit with reserved 2 tbsp butter. Sprinkle with sugar and dust with additional cinnamon.
Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until phyllo is golden brown and fruit is soft, 28-32 min. Let cool slightly. Cut into 8 pieces.

Today’s project, Pear and Apple Phyllo Crisp from Oct Living was chosen by Teresa at Homemade Iowa Life. Sorry about the photo for this. It really did look pretty. This was very simple to make. I could not believe only a few sheets of phyllo were needed. I sprayed the top of my fruit with … Read more →

Since there was virtually nothing to cook in Sept Living, I’ve had to branch out to some other sources for dinner ideas. One that struck me was chicken stuffed with feta, pine nuts, and spinach from Sept Cooking Light. Mr. MarthaAndMe could eat feta all day. I adore spinach. It sounded like a perfect match. I had to do some juggling for the kids though. Dude Martha got a plain chicken breast, breaded. Teen Martha got a chicken breast with feta and pine nuts.

I enjoyed this dish a lot, however it was somehow incredibly salty. I was using a new type of feta so that may be why, since I did not add a lot of salt.

I liked cutting a slit for the stuffing – very easy to do and no pounding and rolling required which I don’t enjoy. Thumbs up on this dish – something I will make again and again.

5 oz fresh spinach, chopped

1/2 cup feta

2 tbsp toasted pine nuts

1 tsp thyme

2 tsp lemon juice

2 garlic cloves, minced

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 chicken broth

Preheat oven to 350. Cook spinach until wilted then squeeze dry. Mix with cheese, nuts, thyme, juice and garlic. Cut a horizontal slit through the thickest part of each breast and stuff 1/4 of the stuffing in. Close with toothpicks. Season chicken with salt and pepper, then cook in the oil in a pan over medium high heat, 3 min per side, then add chicken broth to the pan. Bake at 350 for 15 min or until done. I cooked mine entirely on the stovetop and just covered the pan after I browned the chicken.

Since there was virtually nothing to cook in Sept Living, I’ve had to branch out to some other sources for dinner ideas. One that struck me was chicken stuffed with feta, pine nuts, and spinach from Sept Cooking Light. Mr. MarthaAndMe could eat feta all day. I adore spinach. It sounded like a perfect match. … Read more →

Recently a comment was posted questioning how I can afford to cook Martha. How does one afford Martha on a budget? Everyone can afford this. I think there is a perception that Martha’s recipes are extravagant and pricey. For the most part, that isn’t true. Yes, she sometimes makes over the top things, but I find most recipes to be doable for the average person. I cook dinner 7 days a week. I want food to be healthy and tasty and I love to try new things. If I’m going to be cooking anyway, why not try something new and fun? Martha’s recipes are not unapproachable in any way. In fact Everyday Food recipes are pretty easy and accessible. Here are some tips for how to afford good food on a budget:

-Make recipes that appeal to you. If it doesn’t sound good, you probably won’t eat it. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stretch yourself. I’ve been surprised many times when I’ve tried something new. But if I know that I just hate duck, I don’t make duck recipes. Look for recipes that allow you to punch up your dinner routine without going crazy with totally unfamiliar or unpalatable  food.

– Look for recipes that can replace some of your boring same old, same old recipes without a change in cost. Instead of baked potatoes, try potato au gratin, for example. Instead of spaghetti and meatballs, try a recipe for a bolognese pasta. Virtually the same ingredients and cost, but hugely different in taste. Try new veggies. Instead of peas and carrots, try Swiss chard and parsnips. Swapping one veggie for another usually ends up to be similar in price on average.

– Cook at home instead of eating out. You can buy an awful lot of food (or treat yourself to some expensive options ) for what it costs to buy a meal at a restaurant. And you can control how it tastes. I’m really off restaurant food lately. It’s never as good as I want it to be and I would rather just make my own food the way I want it.

– Choose recipes that will give you bang for your buck. I’m unlikely to try something that is filled with expensive ingredients because I can find a different recipe for something more affordable that is equally delicious. New chicken recipes are invaluable to me because I’m ALWAYS cooking chicken. If I can discover a new chicken recipe that delights me, it gets added to my repertoire.

– Buy ingredients on sale and use your freezer. Stock up on things you know you use often when there’s a sale or you have a coupon. I use a lot of chicken, so if organic chicken breasts are on sale, I buy a boat load. I buy flour in bulk because I use so much. I fill the cupboard with chicken broth when it’s on sale.

– Eat leftovers. I often eat leftovers for lunch. We don’t waste any food and I have no problem figuring out what to have at noon the next day! Plus this way, the pleasure lasts for two meals.

– Plan menus. I try to take some time each weekend to pick out what I want to cook in the next week. There are lots of things I always have on hand, but if there is something particular I need for a recipe I want to buy it and have things planned out so I will use and not waste it. In the past I have been guilty of having big plans to make things and then letting life get in the way so that the particular produce or dairy item goes bad before I get to it. I try to set manageable menu goals for myself based on my schedule, so I’m not trying to make 2 hour dishes on a crazy Thursday night.

– Doctor the bad recipes. If you read my blog, you know that from time to time I encounter a Martha recipe so bad (or so badly executed by me) that I dump it. This doesn’t happen often because in the words of the lovely Tim Gunn, I try to “make it work.” I’m always tasting as I’m cooking and making adjustments. When you try something new, you can never be sure if it is going to turn out, so you’ve got to stay on top of it. I sample and I adjust flavorings or seasonings.  There have been times when I’ve completely altered the recipe to the point of it being unidentifiable, just to make the food edible. Once in a while though, something ends up in the trash. It happens and I think it happens no matter what kind of food or recipes you’re cooking.

– Substitute ingredients that fit your budget. Martha demands the best. And sometimes I cheat. I’ve been known to use store brand chocolate chips instead of fine chocolate, bacon instead of pancetta, vanilla extract instead of a vanilla bean, generic frozen spinach instead of fresh, and milk instead of cream. And I often used dried spices instead of fresh (though I can tell you there really is a big difference, so I really want to try to grow my own). I often use bottled lemon juice instead of a fresh lemon. Yes, there is a slight taste difference, but sometimes it just doesn’t make that much of a difference in the dish.

– Cut the recipe in half. If it’s something you’re not sure you’ll like (or if it is just too big), cut it in half and sample it. If it’s bad, you aren’t wasting much and you still got to sample something new.

– Accept that good food takes time. You have to be willing to spend the time to get the result. Everyday Food recipes are often quick and easy and I love them for weeknights, but I also love to make things that take more time on other nights. I enjoy making bread, even though I have to dedicate a day to watching it rise. For me, that’s fun and is better than a lot of other activities I can think of. It’s easy to buy packaged food that can be microwaved or reheated but you definitely get better food if you make it yourself.

– Make things yourself. Martha is a big believer in making your own stock, breadcrumbs, pie crust, jelly, etc. If you do this, you save lots of money. Of course it takes time. These things are almost always better tasting when you make them yourself. I admit I don’t do as much of this as I could and it’s something I’m working on.

– Cook with seasonal ingredients. Usually you get a magazine one month before the issue date, so the September Living issue arrives in August. This means there may be recipes for produce that are not yet in season when you get it. It’s tempting to want to make these delicious recipes when you get the magazine, but they will be more affordable when they’re actually in season. I also buy large quantities of seasonal ingredients (for example, I get a half bushel of apples in the fall) and cook with them a lot while they are available.

– Be critical. Yes, Martha is a doyenne of taste, however she doesn’t live in the middle class world. She often recommends kitchen tools that I think are too expensive or makes outrageous statements such as saying everyone should have 30 kinds of pasta in their pantry. Scale down what Martha does to make it possible in your world. She has fantastic ideas, but they have to be filtered and downsized. Actually I find that her magazines do a good job of doing just that – they provide recipes anyone can make for the most part.  When you watch her on her show she will say outrageous things sometimes, but that’s the fun of Martha.

– Think about how you can save money in other aspects of your life. For me, organic food is non-negotiable. But it costs more. So we make sacrifices in other areas. That means being frugal in our daily lives and evaluating how to save money.

– Make choices. We don’t drink alcohol and that’s a major expense for many people,but one I don’t have. As far as I’m concerned, this increases the money I have available for food.  I know I would rather cook good food than go to the movies every weekend, so that’s a choice I make. As far as I’m concerned, it’s about recognizing what’s important to you and making it work in your life. We can’t all live Martha’s life where she can have anything she wants, any time. Instead, it’s about prioritizing and for me, good food is at the top of the list.

– Change how you think about food. I would rather have a delicious healthy dinner than all the potato chips in the world. So our house is mostly devoid of packaged food. If we want dessert, we make it. If we want a snack, we make popcorn or have cheese or fruit. Food is something you *make,* not something you take out of a package, in my opinion. Yes, sometimes it is expensive to buy goat cheese and organic eggs, but I don’t spend any money on packaged food so I think I come out ahead in terms of cost.

– Splurge when it’s worth it. Last year I ordered my Thanksgiving turkey from Martha. It was organic, free range, and pasture raised. It cost an arm and a leg. But it was the best turkey I have ever had in my entire life. It was worth every dime. Choose special things like this to spend your money on and the joy will carry over as you’re being creative with inexpensive meals at other times.

– Don’t just throw dinner together if you can avoid it. Enjoy what you’re making and eating. It makes me a happier person to eat something that I’ve anticipated for a few hours and which has new, interesting, or delicious flavors. Eat consciously and allow the money you spend on food to translate to real satisfaction.

Do you have any tips to share about how you afford to cook Martha? I would love to hear them.

Recently a comment was posted questioning how I can afford to cook Martha. How does one afford Martha on a budget? Everyone can afford this. I think there is a perception that Martha’s recipes are extravagant and pricey. For the most part, that isn’t true. Yes, she sometimes makes over the top things, but I … Read more →

We eat a lot of fish, but I often find our choices pretty limited. Trout is almost always available and I enjoy the texture and flavor. Mostly I just grill fish or pan sear it. I get tired of that sometimes. One variation I’ve created is Stuffed Trout.

I mix up stuffing using some hunks of old bread (about 5 slices of bread), ripped up into small pieces. I cook 1/4 of an onion and add it to the bread. Then I dump in some herbs. I usually add dill, salt, pepper and sometimes I will use thyme or oregano. Fresh parsley is a must. I get the stuffing wet with chicken broth – wet enough that you can squish it up. It needs to be nice and moist.

I use 2 trout – essentially the whole fish, but with head, tail and all the nasty stuff gone. I place the stuffing between the two sides of the trout and fold the top piece over. I bake it at 350 for about 35 minutes.

I serve with a basic hollandaise sauce, but sometimes I add dill to the sauce or some reduced orange juice. This is a very satisfying dish – you feel like you’re having turkey and stuffing, but it’s a light fish dish (assuming you don’t use too much hollandaise!).

We eat a lot of fish, but I often find our choices pretty limited. Trout is almost always available and I enjoy the texture and flavor. Mostly I just grill fish or pan sear it. I get tired of that sometimes. One variation I’ve created is Stuffed Trout. I mix up stuffing using some hunks … Read more →

When I started this project, my family didn’t really get it. Now that I’ve been at it for a few weeks, it’s starting to sink in. Whenever I cook something now, the kids ask, “Is this a Martha thing?” I think they are enjoying all the new foods. I’m not sure if they appreciate the other things  – crafts, home organization, etc.

I’ve been caught a few times talking to Martha as I work on a project (mostly muttering under my breath at her as I work through directions) and I feel like a small child with an imaginary friend. My 10 year old son wanted to know if I have arguments with Martha (I explained that mostly it just helps me to talk to her while I’m doing something hard).

All of my Martha work must be rubbing off though. This same son, who has a creative streak, has always liked to make messes in the kitchen. From the time he was a toddler standing on a chair, he has liked to “cook” in my sink – mixing together everything he can get his hands on. He’s come up with some pretty gross concoctions. Well, his technique has apparently become more refined lately. The pumpkin he and Mr. MarthaandMe carved for Halloween has been sitting on the kitchen table. My son, mini-Martha, decided to carve away at the back side of it. This left him with a pile of pumpkin. I left him alone in the kitchen and came back to discover this, all neatly plated:

It is a truly gross mix of pumpkin that he mashed and many other items in my fridge and cupboards. What struck me was the beautiful plating technique. Clearly Martha is rubbing off on all of us.

Although he has a creative streak, he also has an organizational streak. Halloween evening, he came home, sorted his candy into neat piles on my table and then asked for a plastic storage box. He proceeded to neatly stack the candy up inside the box. This same child can pack a suitcase in a way that would make Martha beam.

Now I know that if I end this blog like this I’m going to be in big trouble. My 16 year old daughter will be insulted that she wasn’t mentioned. Let me pacify her by mentioning here she has the baking gene (My grandmother was raised a Mennonite. If you know anything about Mennonites, you know they can bake. We always joke that I got the Mennonite gene since I love to bake).

How is the Martha project affecting Mr. MarthaandMe? He’s been doing a lot of dishes, I’ll say that! He’s happy to taste test. Although he grumbled a bit during the linen closet makeover, he seemed to appreciate the results.

When I started this project, my family didn’t really get it. Now that I’ve been at it for a few weeks, it’s starting to sink in. Whenever I cook something now, the kids ask, “Is this a Martha thing?” I think they are enjoying all the new foods. I’m not sure if they appreciate the … Read more →

Martha’s second cooking school segment was about chicken.  She and Sarah Carey showed how to cut up a whole chicken. They emphasized how much cheaper it is to buy a whole chicken and cut it up yourself, rather than buying parts. This is absolutely true, but it’s nothing I would ever have done myself. I have been buying organic meat exclusively for about the last six months and my grocery store only has whole chickens or breasts. I have been wishing they carried other combos and parts, but I never did think about actually cutting up a whole chicken myself.

Chicken Fingers

I must confess, I really, really, really hate to touch raw chicken. The idea of cutting up a whole chicken was just about more than I could handle. We do eat meat, but I can’t think too much about it to be honest. I search out free range and pasture fed animals that have been well cared for and we eat less meat than we used to.

Mr. MarthaandMe is the one who carves chickens and turkeys in this family and agreed to be on standby in case I totally freaked out or cut off a thumb. I am proud to report to you though that I did it with no mishaps!

Cuts Like a Knife

I got out a plastic board, my big chef knife and a towel I designated “the chicken towel”. I opened up Cooking School next to me so I could follow along.

On the show, Sarah Carey cut it the way it is described in the book. I have no idea what the hell Martha was doing during this episode. She was totally showing off, hacking through her chicken with a pair of scissors, leaping steps ahead of Sarah so we could all see that she knew what she was doing. Geesh! Sarah’s steps were really pretty clear. The description and photos in the book were not as good as the episode when you could see Sarah actually pulling the joints apart. I wish I had had it on while I was doing it so I could see her do it, pause it, then do it myself.

So I started in. First was the leg. I cut through the skin then had to cut down to the joint. I did that then had to pull to pop it out. Ew. This was not pleasant and I might have gotten a little

squeamish. I did manage to do it though. The trick is pulling it apart enough so you can see where the joint is, and then cutting between the joint and the body of the chicken. Then I cut the leg and thigh apart. Next I got the wings off – these were easy compared to the legs.

Hacking the breast from the back was not for the faint of heart. Mr. MarthaandMe encouraged me from the sidelines as I looked up in panic a few

times. Somehow I managed to hack through it and got it apart. This was about just using sheer force – it was not easy, I was not enjoying it and I just kept going. I have no idea if I cut it where I was supposed to since I was just hacking through bone. Separating the breasts was harder than it looked too. The book said to use the heel of your knife to crack the backbone. No clue what that means.  Finally I just snapped it with my hands.I had to trim the breasts a bit – there was some big nasty skin hanging off

from them. Once I did that, I had a nice tray of chicken though.

My Reaction

I was really intimidated by this, having never cut up a chicken in my life. It was not fun and I admit I washed my hands 6 times throughout the process (OCD, anyone?). However, being able to have

organic chicken in the pieces I want it in is a pretty powerful motivator. Martha’s right about this being a way to save money. I would rather buy it already cut up (and pay more to avoid having to do this), but since that’s not an option, I guess I would consider doing this again. Or maybe I’ll just delegate this job to Mr. MarthaandMe!

The Recipe

Now that I had my chicken cut up, I had to do something with it for dinner. I decided to go with Martha’s buttermilk fried chicken recipe from the Cooking School book. Let me say here that we vacationed in Hilton Head, SC

a couple of summers ago and we had the pleasure of dining at Paula Deen’s The Lady and Sons in Savannagh where I had the most perfect fried chicken known to man. After that trip, I spent months trying to perfect fried chicken and settled on Paula’s recipe with some minor modifications. Paula says you have to use self-rising flour. I agree. I discovered fried chicken turns out best if you double dip it (egg, flour, egg, then flour). I usually use a mix of peanut oil and Crisco (yes, I know you’re not supposed to mix oils). Mr. MarthaandMe got me a deep fryer for Mother’s Day this year and now I use that. I learned to cook the heck out of it or it will be bloody inside and brown on the outside. I also learned it tastes better if you let it rest before eating it. It’s also excellent the next day.

Paula does not recommend soaking in buttermilk. Martha does – then wants you to let the chicken sit out and dry a bit. Paula uses egg wash, Martha doesn’t. Martha adds cornmeal to her coating, Paula does not.

To be true to my Martha experiment, I cooked the chicken according to Martha’s instructions. This chicken cooked very quickly, and turned very brown. I don’t know if that had to do with the coating or maybe because I was using an organic chicken which was also a bit small.

The crust was tasty. I liked the crunch the cornmeal added. However, the skin didn’t really cook and was all mushy and fatty underneath the coating in some places. I didn’t feel as though the buttermilk marinade made much of a difference. I’m definitely going back to Paula’s recipe. Sorry Martha, but you’re not a Southern gal. It was fun to experiment with a different recipe, but Paula really knows her stuff!

Martha’s second cooking school segment was about chicken.  She and Sarah Carey showed how to cut up a whole chicken. They emphasized how much cheaper it is to buy a whole chicken and cut it up yourself, rather than buying parts. This is absolutely true, but it’s nothing I would ever have done myself. I … Read more →

Martha is plugging her new cooking school book in a hot and heavy way. The magazine has a lesson from it and each week on her show there is going to be an on-air lesson. Being a good little disciple, I have gone out and captured a copy (oddly enough in my local B&N it wasn’t in the cookbook section, but on a separate table in the middle of the store, which struck me as very odd). My plan is to follow along with the lessons on the show and post here each week so you can see how it goes.

Do I Need Cooking School?

Am I a little resentful that Martha thinks we all need to go to cooking school? Yes, maybe a little. After all, as she has admitted, she’s never gone. I think most of us who do cook have learned it on our own, or from our mothers. I’m lucky in that I had two grandmothers who loved to cook, as well as two parents who participated in a monthly “gourmet club” (if that sounds totally 70s, it’s because it was) and threw a Martha style Christmas party every year. So I’m not too shabby in the kitchen.

What I’m learning from Martha though is that there are so many things I really don’t know about cooking. While it totally ticked me off to have to have Martha and Sarah Carey (editor of Everyday Food and clearly the one who wrote most of this Cooking School tome) lecture me on how to chop an onion, I must admit I’ve already picked up some things.

The Knives

Martha and Sarah, in the first cooking school on-air lesson, went over the kinds of knives we should have.  Here is a photo of my entire knife collection, next to the photo in the book of what you should have. The first knife on the left on the book is serrated and I bought this knife before Mr. MarthaandMe got married – almost 20 years ago – and it’s still great. The next one is a chef’s knife I bought after seeing Rachel Ray use it! The rest are a hodgepodge that have landed in my knife block over the year. The one with the white handle was bought from a cousin who was selling Cutco knives. I don’t have a cleaver, but other than that, I think I can say I pass this cooking school lesson with a good grade.

Onions

Also in the first tv lesson, Sarah Carey showed how to cut an onion  – sliced, diced, finely chopped and minced. I used to always dump my onions in my small food processor to chop, but (and this is the height of laziness) I hate how the stupid bowl never seems to fit in the dishwasher and it just seemed easier to hack it up myself. I knew what slicing meant. Diced, minced and chopped all sort of meant the same thing to me. So here is where Martha has taught me something.

Here’s the results of the lesson. From left to right you can see minced, finely chopped, diced and sliced and up at the top is the page in the book with the same thing. Once I learned which was what, this was easy.

I also must admit I did not know the correct way to hold a chef’s knife until Sarah Carey showed me on the show. I have always held on to the handle and sometimes put the other palm on top of it for added pressure. Sarah explained how to hold the knife so your finger and thumb are touching the blade and this really gave me more control. Wow! I didn’t know Martha had so many things to teach me about the basics!

Making Stock

The other segment of the on-air lesson was chicken stock. Martha says we should all make our own. I do make my own when I am making soup or something like chicken and biscuits or chicken and dumplings. Other than that, I buy the cartons of stock and use that. I’m going to make stock when I do the next lesson, which will require me to hack up a chicken.

An Everyday Food Note

Although I know Martha is not knee-deep and hands-on (that’s an image isn’t it?) in the production of Everyday Food magazine, I have been turning to it often. The recipes in Living are great, but on a weekday when I’ve got hockey or lessons to drive kids around to in the afternoon, I just don’t have time to say, braise a pork shoulder for approximately half a day.

Finding myself in a bind one night this week, I turned to Everyday Food’s November issue for inspiration and made Rigatoni with Spiced Meat Sauce (p. 92). Holy cow guys – this was gross. Really, really yucky. Who makes a pasta sauce out of tomato paste, vinegar, cinnamon, and cayenne??? This was so bad I could not serve it as it was. I had to do some serious doctoring of this recipe to be able to put it on my table. First of all, I used ground turkey instead of ground lamb (I like ground lamb when I make Greek food but really no other time) or ground beef. I have been substituting this a lot – in meatballs, meatloaf, tacos, etc and am loving it.

To do something with the nasty sauce, I dumped in a can of stewed tomatoes and ton of Italian herb mix. I added more garlic (the recipe did call for some as well as onion). I also added some parmesan cheese. By the time I did all of that and cooked it for about half an hour, it was edible and the MarthaandMe family ate it happily.

Martha – please do something about Everyday Food. I absolutely know this recipe is not something you would put on your table! NOT a good thing!

Sneak Peek

I’ve got plans afoot for upcoming posts. I’m going to tackle more crafts from the November issue of Living. I’m going to make the big cake from the issue also. We’re going to do a Martha Thanksgiving here. And Martha is going to help me do some organizational things around the house. Currently she is very displeased about the state of my closet and is itching to get her hands on it.

I’m also continuing my search for ways to bring “good things” into my life. This week, I folded the fitted sheet to the bed and instead of just balling it up, I made an effort to fold it nicely (not easy to do at all) and place it on the shelf. It took more time, but I’m finding that if I tell myself I deserve to be surrounded by good things, I feel privileged and pampered somehow. Taking the time to fold something so that it looked nice did give me some satisfaction. I also reminded myself I was “homekeeping” and not just doing the laundry which made the whole experience much more pleasant!

Martha is plugging her new cooking school book in a hot and heavy way. The magazine has a lesson from it and each week on her show there is going to be an on-air lesson. Being a good little disciple, I have gone out and captured a copy (oddly enough in my local B&N it … Read more →

Today my 16 year old daughter passed her driver road test, so I have a new driver (and higher insurance premiums!) in my house. To celebrate her success, Martha and I thought we would whip up a little something.

Over the weekend, Martha sent me a Halloween email of the day with the recipe for Pumpkin Swirl Brownies. I had all the ingredients (ok, mostly – I may have cheated and used chocolate chips instead of bittersweet baking chocolate), so it seemed like a quick little midweek snack to make.

I started with melting the chocolate. Martha wanted me to melt it with the butter over a bowl of hot water. Sigh. Sorry Martha – I just popped it in the microwave for about a minute and 15 seconds and then stirred and I was all set.

Martha then had me make the batter base. I confess I did not whisk the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. I just dumped them into the wet ones. If I had whisked them first, I would already have been up to 3 bowls – 4 if you count the one she wanted hot water in.

Ok, so next I separated the batter so that I ended up with a pumpkin mixture and a chocolate mixture. I cheated again.

I did not put the batter in yet another bowl (making that bowl #5) and add the chocolate to it. I dumped the batter into the chocolate and stirred.

The layering of the batters was not easy. They never smooth over each other very well for me. The swirling part is fun. I didn’t add nuts since my son doesn’t like them.

Now for the taste test results. Ready? I didn’t like this! It did not taste like chocolate and it did not taste like pumpkin, so I’m not sure what exactly it tasted like. It was also very moist – disturbingly so.

It was done though – the bottom was getting dark and so was the top. It was moist in the way a pumpkin pie is moist, but that just seemed weird in a brownie.

Sorry Martha – not a good thing.

Today my 16 year old daughter passed her driver road test, so I have a new driver (and higher insurance premiums!) in my house. To celebrate her success, Martha and I thought we would whip up a little something. Over the weekend, Martha sent me a Halloween email of the day with the recipe for … Read more →