I usually prefer pot pie to shepherd’s pie, but I decided to try out Martha’s Shepherd’s Pie from Feb Living.

This is made with ground turkey and lots of veggies. I had to doctor this one a bit. You cook the turkey and veggies (celery, onion, carrots and peas – I also added green beans)  and add some water and cornstarch to make the gravy, but there wasn’t nearly enough of it and it wasn’t thick enough for my taste. So I added chicken broth and flour to thicken and increase volume. The top of the pie is potatoes mashed with parsnips and yogurt. I was surprised that I really liked the mash. The yogurt really worked for a creamy texture and the parsnips gave it some added flavor. This was a fun dish to make and it came together very quickly.

I usually prefer pot pie to shepherd’s pie, but I decided to try out Martha’s Shepherd’s Pie from Feb Living. This is made with ground turkey and lots of veggies. I had to doctor this one a bit. You cook the turkey and veggies (celery, onion, carrots and peas – I also added green beans)  … Read more →

Maple granola. Yum. You can thank MaryAnn at Stirrin It Up for this week’s recipe, which is on page 24 of Feb Living.

I like granola a lot, but have not been eating much of it lately since I can’t eat a lot of nuts. This only elevated my craving for this recipe. I have to admit, I was a little leery of it since it has coconut (the recipe says to use coconut chips – no idea what that is, so I just used regular coconut flakes) and raisins in it, neither of which I am a fan of. This granola has lots of yummy stuff in it – rolled oats, pecans, maple syrup, olive oil, sesame seeds, nutmeg, and brown sugar. It takes about 50 minutes to bake this slowly in the oven, but it is really worth it.  I loved it. It is delicious and amazing (once I picked the raisins out).  Everyone in the house gave this a thumbs up. Mr. MarthaAndMe groused a little, saying he expected bigger pieces of granola, but he got over it once he tasted it. I would definitely make this again.

Maple granola. Yum. You can thank MaryAnn at Stirrin It Up for this week’s recipe, which is on page 24 of Feb Living. I like granola a lot, but have not been eating much of it lately since I can’t eat a lot of nuts. This only elevated my craving for this recipe. I have … Read more →

Sunday mornings are the “big breakfast” day of the week here. We usually make pancakes, waffles, omelets or sometimes we splurge and get donuts. We used to be awakened by the kids, but nowadays, we’re up first and have breakfast made before they open their eyes.

Buckwheat pancakes are hands down my favorite big breakfast item, but the kids don’t like them.  I think one of my grandmothers used to make these when I was little and I had them again for the first time as an adult at a little restaurant on Chautauqua Lake. My  in-laws rent a cottage there for a week every summer and we sometimes go down for the night. There’s a little breakfast place we like to walk to and one day when I was pregnant with Dude Martha I ordered buckwheat pancakes. It was right at the end of my first trimester and I had just gotten my appetite back. Oh, that was possibly the best big breakfast I’ve ever had! On Sundays at home, I often make plain pancakes and put blueberries (and cinnamon) in the adults’ pancakes. Waffles do make it into the mix sometimes, but mostly they annoy me because it takes so long to make them each individually (why don’t they invent a Belgian waffle maker that has several layers of griddles so you could make 4 at a time?).

I like to make organic uncured bacon (nitrate-free) and organic apple maple chicken breakfast sausages with our big breakfasts. And of course we have real (no Aunt Jemima fake stuff!) New York state maple syrup. We once went to see maple sugar being tapped and made and it was fascinating.

Martha is excited about breakfast in the February issue of Martha Stewart Living. Her own personal column is all about different breakfast recipes (I don’t think I’ll try the salmon and avocado any time soon!). And she didn’t even mention that hideous green juice she insists on drinking every morning. I decided to try Donn’s Waffles out and see if they are better than my recipe.

The recipe says to use milk and vinegar – I had buttermilk so I used that instead. Sour cream is used which is interesting and there is also a small amount of cornmeal to add some crunch. The recipe contained no sugar, so I added a tbsp.

The waffles were pretty easy to mix up and they cooked nicely. However, when they came out of the waffle iron, they were not crisp. They were pretty mushy, despite being nicely browned. They tasted fine, if a bit soft for my tastes. The cornmeal did add some crunch, but overall they were softer than we are used to.

I prefer my recipe:

1  1/2 cups flour

1 tbsp sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs, separated

1 cup milk

4 tbsp melted butter

Mix the dry ingredients. Add yolks and milk and mix well. Add the butter.  Beat the whites until stiff, then fold into batter. Cook on a Belgian waffle maker. Makes about 8 waffles.

Sunday mornings are the “big breakfast” day of the week here. We usually make pancakes, waffles, omelets or sometimes we splurge and get donuts. We used to be awakened by the kids, but nowadays, we’re up first and have breakfast made before they open their eyes. Buckwheat pancakes are hands down my favorite big breakfast … Read more →

Sunday mornings are the “big breakfast” day of the week here. We usually make pancakes, waffles, omelets or sometimes we splurge and get donuts. We used to be awakened by the kids, but nowadays, we’re up first and have breakfast made before they open their eyes.

Buckwheat pancakes are hands down my favorite big breakfast item, but the kids don’t like them.  I think one of my grandmothers used to make these when I was little and I had them again for the first time as an adult at a little restaurant on Chautauqua Lake. My  in-laws rent a cottage there for a week every summer and we sometimes go down for the night. There’s a little breakfast place we like to walk to and one day when I was pregnant with Dude Martha I ordered buckwheat pancakes. It was right at the end of my first trimester and I had just gotten my appetite back. Oh, that was possibly the best big breakfast I’ve ever had! On Sundays at home, I often make plain pancakes and put blueberries (and cinnamon) in the adults’ pancakes. Waffles do make it into the mix sometimes, but mostly they annoy me because it takes so long to make them each individually (why don’t they invent a Belgian waffle maker that has several layers of griddles so you could make 4 at a time?).

I like to make organic uncured bacon (nitrate-free) and organic apple maple chicken breakfast sausages with our big breakfasts. And of course we have real (no Aunt Jemima fake stuff!) New York state maple syrup. We once went to see maple sugar being tapped and made and it was fascinating.

Martha is excited about breakfast in the February issue of Martha Stewart Living. Her own personal column is all about different breakfast recipes (I don’t think I’ll try the salmon and avocado any time soon!). And she didn’t even mention that hideous green juice she insists on drinking every morning. I decided to try Donn’s Waffles out and see if they are better than my recipe.

The recipe says to use milk and vinegar – I had buttermilk so I used that instead. Sour cream is used which is interesting and there is also a small amount of cornmeal to add some crunch. The recipe contained no sugar, so I added a tbsp.

The waffles were pretty easy to mix up and they cooked nicely. However, when they came out of the waffle iron, they were not crisp. They were pretty mushy, despite being nicely browned. They tasted fine, if a bit soft for my tastes. The cornmeal did add some crunch, but overall they were softer than we are used to.

I prefer my recipe:

1  1/2 cups flour

1 tbsp sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs, separated

1 cup milk

4 tbsp melted butter

Mix the dry ingredients. Add yolks and milk and mix well. Add the butter.  Beat the whites until stiff, then fold into batter. Cook on a Belgian waffle maker. Makes about 8 waffles.

Sunday mornings are the “big breakfast” day of the week here. We usually make pancakes, waffles, omelets or sometimes we splurge and get donuts. We used to be awakened by the kids, but nowadays, we’re up first and have breakfast made before they open their eyes. Buckwheat pancakes are hands down my favorite big breakfast … Read more →

Spray on glue

Woot-woot! I did a Martha craft and it went really well!! Ok, here’s the scoop. In March Living, Martha suggests embellishing roses with glitter. She shows two methods. In method one, you mix 3 oz of water with 4-5 squirts of craft glue. Mix it up and spray it on a rose from 8 inches away. Sprinkle glitter over the rose and shake it off. This went well for me. The only tip I would offer is to use roses are not tightly closed. It’s hard to get glitter down in it if it is.

Method number two involves using glue that has an applicator tip. You’re supposed to trace glue around the edges of the petals. Well, I didn’t have an

Directly applied glue

applicator tip. My glue had a brush in it (just like the rubber cement we used to in art class – that took me back!) so I brushed it on gently and then sprinkled the glitter.

It really worked! I was tickled pink (get it?). Now, the question is would I really ever do this? Um, no, probably not. I think roses are beautiful by themselves and adding glitter is sort of tacky. I did say to Mr. MarthaAndMe that this might be something sort of fun to do for a centerpiece for a party if you wanted something a little glitzy and exciting, so I can see doing it in that setting. Maybe white roses with silver glitter for New Year’s Eve.

You can see I used pink roses. That’s a rule in our house. I don’t do red. Period. So Mr. MarthaAndMe has been trained to only bring home pink roses for Valentine’s Day.

Woot-woot! I did a Martha craft and it went really well!! Ok, here’s the scoop. In March Living, Martha suggests embellishing roses with glitter. She shows two methods. In method one, you mix 3 oz of water with 4-5 squirts of craft glue. Mix it up and spray it on a rose from 8 inches … Read more →

Spray on glue

Woot-woot! I did a Martha craft and it went really well!! Ok, here’s the scoop. In March Living, Martha suggests embellishing roses with glitter. She shows two methods. In method one, you mix 3 oz of water with 4-5 squirts of craft glue. Mix it up and spray it on a rose from 8 inches away. Sprinkle glitter over the rose and shake it off. This went well for me. The only tip I would offer is to use roses are not tightly closed. It’s hard to get glitter down in it if it is.

Method number two involves using glue that has an applicator tip. You’re supposed to trace glue around the edges of the petals. Well, I didn’t have an

Directly applied glue

applicator tip. My glue had a brush in it (just like the rubber cement we used to in art class – that took me back!) so I brushed it on gently and then sprinkled the glitter.

It really worked! I was tickled pink (get it?). Now, the question is would I really ever do this? Um, no, probably not. I think roses are beautiful by themselves and adding glitter is sort of tacky. I did say to Mr. MarthaAndMe that this might be something sort of fun to do for a centerpiece for a party if you wanted something a little glitzy and exciting, so I can see doing it in that setting. Maybe white roses with silver glitter for New Year’s Eve.

You can see I used pink roses. That’s a rule in our house. I don’t do red. Period. So Mr. MarthaAndMe has been trained to only bring home pink roses for Valentine’s Day.

Woot-woot! I did a Martha craft and it went really well!! Ok, here’s the scoop. In March Living, Martha suggests embellishing roses with glitter. She shows two methods. In method one, you mix 3 oz of water with 4-5 squirts of craft glue. Mix it up and spray it on a rose from 8 inches … Read more →

I’m loving the February issue of Living. There is a terrific section about healthy comfort foods. I dog eared every single page of that section! My first test drive was with chicken parm. This isn’t something I make often, but I do like it.

The first thing I like about the recipe is Martha says to use chicken breast halves. I’ve decided I am going halve my chicken breasts (length-wise, so you cut the thickness in half) all the time from now on. A whole breast is too much for one person, plus they take forever to cook because they are so thick. So, thanks Martha, for making me realize this.

The breading for the chicken is made from Triscuits, which struck me as very non-Martha! I dutifully went out and bought a box though, which made Mr. MarthaAndMe extremely  happy. One of his most favorite snacks in the whole world is Triscuits with American cheese and pepperoni, heated in the toaster oven. This always strikes me as such a 70s suburbia snack! Maybe I should have bought him some Tang to go with it.

You pulverize the crackers in the Cuisinart with parsley, oregano and salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in egg white, then in the cracker mix. Martha says this recipe makes 6 chicken breast halves. My cracker mix was barely enough to coat 4 halves. Fortunately, I was only feeding 4 people, so I poached the rest of my chicken and saved it for lunchtime salads later in the week.

Martha has you make your own tomato sauce for this – canned diced tomatoes, onion, garlic and salt whizzed in the Cuisinart. Brown the chicken in the oven for 10 min at 425 then pour the sauce over it and sprinkle mozzarella cheese and bake for 20 min. The recipe worked perfectly (other than the glitch with the crackers). The chicken was perfectly cooked. The sauce tasted ok. I served whole wheat spaghetti with this and fortunately I had the foresight to open and heat a can of jarred spaghetti sauce because there wasn’t enough for the pasta. I prefer the jarred sauce. I do like to make my own spaghetti sauce in the summer when my dad brings me a bushel of his tomatoes. It’s a lot of work and you end up with such a small amount, but it tastes wonderful. Martha’s sauce didn’t compare to that summertime sauce or to the jarred kind. That being said, this is a nice, pretty quick, healthy recipe for chicken parm, but I would probably just use jarred sauce next time.

I’m loving the February issue of Living. There is a terrific section about healthy comfort foods. I dog eared every single page of that section! My first test drive was with chicken parm. This isn’t something I make often, but I do like it. The first thing I like about the recipe is Martha says … Read more →

This week’s Martha Mondays was chosen by me. I’ve never made a dessert souffle before. I do have a recipe for a broccoli cheese souffle I make occasionally.

Martha has a recipe for lemon souffle on the back page of January Living. The recipe says it feeds six. I cut it in half and it was plenty for 4 people.

I started by mixing 1 tbsp lemon zest with 1 tbsp flour, 4 yolks and 1 tbsp sugar. I boiled 1/2 cup milk then whisked it in to the yolk mixture. Next I cooked it until it thickened, then I strained it and added 1 tbsp butter and 1/8 cup plus 1 tbsp lemon juice.  The next step was to beat 5 egg whites until foamy and add 1/4 cup and 1 tbsp sugar.  I worked at those until I had stiff peaks, then I folded it with the yolk mix. Martha says to butter and dust your ramekins with powdered sugar. I used 4 pyrex custard cups which were the perfect size. I baked at 375 for 16 minutes as directed, but they weren’t quite done, so I gave them about another 3 minutes. When they came out, I dusted the tops with more powdered sugar.

This was easier to make than I expected. My broccoli souffle recipe requires a water bath, but none was needed for this.  You always hear about souffles falling and how delicate they are, but this seemed pretty sturdy to me.

Everyone enjoyed this. Dude Martha said he wants me to make it for his birthday. I thought it was a little eggy tasting – too much like scrambled eggs. I also thought it needed more lemon flavor, so I would use more zest and juice next time. So, with some tweaking, I would make this again. And I’m no longer afraid of dessert souffles.

If you made this, post and let me know how it went!

This week’s Martha Mondays was chosen by me. I’ve never made a dessert souffle before. I do have a recipe for a broccoli cheese souffle I make occasionally. Martha has a recipe for lemon souffle on the back page of January Living. The recipe says it feeds six. I cut it in half and it … Read more →

I recently tried a potato gratin from Everyday Food, but when another one turned up in January Living, I had to give it a go. I swore just about a week or two ago that I never wanted to eat another potato after eating them at every holiday meal and gathering we went to, but apparently I’ve recovered from that.

This gratin was pretty easy. I peeled and sliced about 2 and a half pounds of white potatoes. I rubbed the baking dish with a garlic clove (although I never really taste the garlic when I do this, so I wonder if it really has any impact), and boiled 1 and a half cups of cream, 1 cup milk, 1/4 tsp nutmeg and salt together.  I mixed this with the potatoes and put them in a baking dish, smoothing the potatoes out. On top, I added 3 oz Gruyere cheese. Martha says to bake for an hour and 15 minutes. By about 50 minutes, this was looking quite brown. The rest of my dinner wasn’t ready, so I turned the oven off and let it sit. Then about 10 minutes before we were ready to eat, I turned it back on. In the time that it rested, it set up quite nicely. When I turned the oven off it was still very liquid looking. When I took it out of the oven it had just the right amount of liquid to potatoes.

I really liked this and would make it again. It’s simple and somehow has more flavor than it should, given there are hardly any ingredients.

I recently tried a potato gratin from Everyday Food, but when another one turned up in January Living, I had to give it a go. I swore just about a week or two ago that I never wanted to eat another potato after eating them at every holiday meal and gathering we went to, but … Read more →

Today’s Martha Mondays project was chosen by Teresa at Homemade Iowa Life. The project is homemade mercury glass, from page of January Martha Stewart Living.

I love mercury glass, so this was exciting. Martha makes it sounds very simple (of course! It’s all simple to Martha). The first hurdle was buying what I needed. I bought a very inexpensive glass vase for $1.99. Finding the mirror paint was a problem. Martha references Krylon.com, however there wasn’t time to order this. I scoured local craft and home improvement stores. None of them had Krylon mirror paint (or looking glass paint, as it seems to say on the bottle in the photo in the magazine). I ended up buying chrome paint, which is close, but obviously not the same thing. Sigh. I paid $3.99 for a small size can of this.

Mr. MarthaAndMe assisted with this project as always. We wrapped paper around the vase and taped it. Then we sprayed the inside with water and next with the spray paint. We let it sit upside down on a drying rack overnight.

I removed the paper the next morning. It did do what it was supposed to, which is mostly cover the inside but not completely. However, I could definitely tell this was chrome, not mirror paint. If I had had mirror paint, I think the results would have been great. As it is, it’s just ok. So I’ll give this project a thumbs up, providing you can find the correct paint!

Today’s Martha Mondays project was chosen by Teresa at Homemade Iowa Life. The project is homemade mercury glass, from page of January Martha Stewart Living. I love mercury glass, so this was exciting. Martha makes it sounds very simple (of course! It’s all simple to Martha). The first hurdle was buying what I needed. I … Read more →