I’ve begun working through Martha’s new cupcake book. I made a list of things I want to make and decided to start off with the Streusel Cupcakes (p. 62). I admit they appealed to me because there is no frosting to make and decorate with (so it should be quick and easy). It also sounded to me more like a breakfast food, so I wouldn’t have to feel TOO guilty about having one.

The cupcake/muffin part of this is simple and easy. Nothing complicated. I like that it has sour cream in the dough – the dough tasted SO good. It was kind of hard to get this in the muffin tins since the batter is super heavy and thick. It did not sit nicely in the cups.

Next I made the streusel topping. I make streusel when I make blueberry muffins and I’ve found the easiest way is to make it in the Cuisinart, so that’s what I did. I wasn’t thrilled with this streusel recipe – too much flour, not enough cinnamon. But I went with it.

The recipe says to put half on the muffins/cupcakes and smoosh it down. This actually helped the cupcakes take a better shape. Then you sprinkle the rest of the topping on and bake.

These took longer to bake than the recipe said, but I always have that problem with Martha recipes. I needed another 7 minutes.

Now for the taste test. Good, but not amazing in my book. I have to say they really look scrumptious with all that streusel topping crumbled all over it. I wish the cupcake/muffin part had something in it though – it needs a ribbon of cinnamon or some nuts or something because it is just plain. The topping is good, but not great. I like to make my streusel topping with equal parts brown sugar and flour and lots of cinnamon. I found this to be a bit floury.

That being said, this is a cute way to make something for a brunch or a big gathering since it’s easy to serve.

What cupcake recipes from the book do YOU think I should make? Post and tell me and I’ll try to make them!

I’ve begun working through Martha’s new cupcake book. I made a list of things I want to make and decided to start off with the Streusel Cupcakes (p. 62). I admit they appealed to me because there is no frosting to make and decorate with (so it should be quick and easy). It also sounded … Read more →

First of all, let me say I KNOW Martha’s cupcake book comes out today, but I don’t have my copy yet. Sigh. It’s coming and I’m going to be doing a giveaway here for a copy as well, so keep your eyes peeled for that excitement.

melting the chocolate

In the meantime, let me tell you about Martha’s Brownie Cookies (Martha Stewart Everyday Food, June). These were easy to whip up and surprisingly, it feels like there is almost nothing that goes into it – only 1/4 cup of flour! Most of the batter is made up of melted chocolate (which really can only be a good thing). I always melt my chocolate in the microwave. It’s faster. The key to this is to only melt it partway, then take it out and stir it until it all melts. If you don’t, you’ll probably burn it.

I mixed it all up and it was absolutely necessary to taste the batter several

Ready for the oven

times. You can’t be too careful, really.

I got the cookies onto the baking sheets and that’s when it all went to hell in a hand basket. This batter is very soft. My baking sheets are no longer perfectly flat and I used silpats. Ergo, my cookies slid all over the place. It was a like a skating rink for cookies in that oven. Skid marks everywhere.

Despite the fact that they looked like they had been in a bad car crash, these cookies tasted very good! You’re familiar with muffin tops, right? Some bakeries only make the tops of the muffins since people say that is their favorite

Uh-oh!

part. Well, in that same vein, these are brownie tops. All that wonderful crunchy, crinkly stuff you get on the tops of the brownies consolidated into a cookie. Oh, they’re quite good. Decadent in fact. You must make them.

Yum

First of all, let me say I KNOW Martha’s cupcake book comes out today, but I don’t have my copy yet. Sigh. It’s coming and I’m going to be doing a giveaway here for a copy as well, so keep your eyes peeled for that excitement. In the meantime, let me tell you about Martha’s … Read more →

We all know that Martha is very interested in wellness – she’s just created the Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mt. Sinai – a center devoted to aging. I applaud her for that. I recently heard a Dr on a talk show that aging is one of the last frontiers in medicine. We now know how to prolong life, but we don’t have a handle on improving quality of life for the elderly. I think Martha’s center will truly do good things.

Martha now has a monthly feature in Living about health and wellness. I love that she includes this now. What good is it to eat wonderful food or live in beautiful surroundings if you are essentially unwell when it comes to health.

In the June issue is a topic I am familiar with – skin cancer. As a fair-skinned, blue-eyed person who had several bad sunburns as a child, I am at high risk for skin cancer. Add to that the fact that my father has had a melanoma and my risk goes through the ceiling. Because of this, I see my dermatologist yearly and this year I had a basal cell carcinoma removed. Not fun (and no, sorry, no photos!).

In our house, I am the sunscreen Nazi. No one goes out into the sun without it on. Ever. I hope that you read and take to heart the advice in this column. Checking your skin and seeing your Dr with any abnormalities is a small “Martha” thing you can do for yourself every day.

We all know that Martha is very interested in wellness – she’s just created the Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mt. Sinai – a center devoted to aging. I applaud her for that. I recently heard a Dr on a talk show that aging is one of the last frontiers in medicine. We now … Read more →

Last weekend we planted the seedlings I had been growing in the house for over a month. And immediately we had a serious frost. Almost everything died.  I know Martha has all sorts of frost-prevention items – little paper hats she puts over things, etc. If I had known it was going to have  a frost I would have at least tossed a blanket over the garden, but I had no idea.

So, yesterday we were at Walmart and I grabbed a few replacement plants so we could try again. I have to say this gardening thing is already quite discouraging!

It’s definitely much easier to buy the plants already started than to do it yourself from seeds – sorry Martha!

Last weekend we planted the seedlings I had been growing in the house for over a month. And immediately we had a serious frost. Almost everything died.  I know Martha has all sorts of frost-prevention items – little paper hats she puts over things, etc. If I had known it was going to have  a … Read more →

Yesterday my daughter went to the junior prom.  Although it was her prom, I spent the day getting ready since her limo of friends were coming back here afterwards.

In the afternoon I had to redo my daughter’s hairstyle – she wasn’t happy with how the hair stylist did it.

I spent a lot of time trying to get the house ready – setting out hand towels and extra toilet paper rolls, moving around chairs, and finding serving bowls.

I managed to take a photo of the table before I put out the food – I made a centerpiece of lilacs and what I think is a honeysuckle tree.  I didn’t get any actual food photos since the kids did not arrive until 2:30 am and it was all I could to do to dump it all on the table and sit in a stupor on the couch.

I did try to make things as Martha-like as possible. I made a cookie cake and decorated it with pink rosettes and wrote “Prom ’09” in the center. I used my good serving bowls for the snacks, fruit, dip, cheese and cake. This morning I had donut holes, muffins and juice available, which they picked at as they stumbled out the door.

Yesterday my daughter went to the junior prom.  Although it was her prom, I spent the day getting ready since her limo of friends were coming back here afterwards. In the afternoon I had to redo my daughter’s hairstyle – she wasn’t happy with how the hair stylist did it. I spent a lot of … Read more →

The May issue of Everyday Food has a cute little salad, Romaine Salad with Crispy Prosciutto and White Beans. Although the salad is supposed to feed one, I made it a little bigger to feed two.

The recipe says to rip up a roll and toss with olive oil. Put it on a baking sheet and lay out your prosciutto next to it. It does not say to spray the pan. I thought this was nuts, but thought maybe the prosciutto has enough fat in it that it won’t stick when you bake it. Wrong! Some of the prosciutto did curl up as the recipe said it would, but the rest stuck to the pan and had to be scraped, resulting in crumbs. That was disappointing.

The rest of the salad is easy to make – romaine, cannelini beans, and a basic salad dressing. I violated Martha’s principles in two ways. First I did not make the salad dressing in the bottom of the bowl as Martha directs. I dislike doing that because you can’t control the amount of dressing then. I also spiced up her salad dressing – she calls just for oil, vinegar and salt and pepper. Frankly, that’s pretty nasty. I added a little sugar and some dried Italian herbs to give it some flavor.

This salad was tasty and different. I enjoyed the beans and prosciutto in it a lot. In fact, I’m starting to think baked prosciutto is better than bacon in some instances. This was a nice, quick salad and I think it would make a great lunch by itself. We had it as a side dish with dinner and it was great that way also.

The May issue of Everyday Food has a cute little salad, Romaine Salad with Crispy Prosciutto and White Beans. Although the salad is supposed to feed one, I made it a little bigger to feed two. The recipe says to rip up a roll and toss with olive oil. Put it on a baking sheet … Read more →

I am a big fan of paint techniques. Martha has a feature on them in the May issue of Martha Stewart Living and she also demonstrated some on her tv show recently. I absolutely am desperate to try the “raw-silk wall” treatment. The problem is finding a room to do it in! I already have several paint techniques throughout the house.

This is the first paint technique I tried. It’s sponge-painted. It looks very yellow in this photo, but it is more subtle in person.

This is Venetian plaster – and it almost caused us both to be committed. It was a LOT of work. We did this in our entryway, up the stairs and in the upstairs hall. I actually love the way the color turned out, but we did a really crappy job on the corners.

This is in our bedroom. I used a rag for both the top and bottom. On the bottom, I first tried to use a whisk broom,but couldn’t get the look I wanted. I wanted the room to look like a meadow – with tall grass on the bottom and blue sky above.

I am a big fan of paint techniques. Martha has a feature on them in the May issue of Martha Stewart Living and she also demonstrated some on her tv show recently. I absolutely am desperate to try the “raw-silk wall” treatment. The problem is finding a room to do it in! I already have … Read more →

Sunday was Mother’s Day. I usually spend Mother’s Day with my mom and in the past, she has usually made dinner for her mom and we’ve celebrated there. This year my grandmother passed away a week before and my dad had retinal surgery, so my mom decided to stay home and celebrate with me another day. This left me at loose ends for Mother’s Day.

Mr. MarthaAndMe made breakfast (Dutch babies) while I lounged in bed and the kids had thoughtful gifts for me. It was a nice morning. Expecting Mr. MarthaAndMe to cook dinner though is a bit much. No one in this house has forgotten the Meatloaf Incident (in which he made meatloaf with a little meat and a LOT of ketchup). So, I made a roast chicken and mashed potatoes. But I really wanted a dessert of some kind. Martha to the rescue! I was intrigued by the recipe for Versatile Vanilla Cake (Everyday Food, May issue). The idea behind this recipe is that you can easily modify it to make chocolate or lemon cakes. I decided to make one batch, but split it in half so I could have a chocolate and a vanilla cake (since we have two camps in this family – chocolate and vanilla).

The cake was easy to make. Of course I ran out of eggs and had to send Mr.  MarthaAndMe to the store. The cakes baked up nicely. Once I had the cakes made, I made Martha’s frosting. I must admit, I was a little scared of this frosting. It’s made from egg whites, sugar, salt and water. Frosting without butter? Seemed weird.

You cook the egg whites in a double boiler until the sugar melts and you reach 150 degrees. I must say it didn’t look too appetizing at this point! But I kept at it and once it is cooked, you whip it. Now it began to resemble frosting.  It whipped up nicely and was light and fluffy.

Next, I spread it on the cakes. Because it was so light and fluffy, it went on very easily. I had just the right amount to frost two one-layer cakes. If I had made a two-layer cake like the recipe directed, there would have been enough for that.

The frosting looks really pretty on the cakes, don’t you think?

Now for the taste test. The cakes were delicious! The cake was very moist (because of the buttermilk in the recipe) and had a nice consistency (heavy but not too heavy) and a good flavor. The frosting was quite good. It was sweet and light and was not overpowering like some frosting can be. I also love that it is non-fat.

I will definitely make this cake and frosting combo again. It was a winner!

Sunday was Mother’s Day. I usually spend Mother’s Day with my mom and in the past, she has usually made dinner for her mom and we’ve celebrated there. This year my grandmother passed away a week before and my dad had retinal surgery, so my mom decided to stay home and celebrate with me another … Read more →

Sunday was Mother’s Day. I usually spend Mother’s Day with my mom and in the past, she has usually made dinner for her mom and we’ve celebrated there. This year my grandmother passed away a week before and my dad had retinal surgery, so my mom decided to stay home and celebrate with me another day. This left me at loose ends for Mother’s Day.

Mr. MarthaAndMe made breakfast (Dutch babies) while I lounged in bed and the kids had thoughtful gifts for me. It was a nice morning. Expecting Mr. MarthaAndMe to cook dinner though is a bit much. No one in this house has forgotten the Meatloaf Incident (in which he made meatloaf with a little meat and a LOT of ketchup). So, I made a roast chicken and mashed potatoes. But I really wanted a dessert of some kind. Martha to the rescue! I was intrigued by the recipe for Versatile Vanilla Cake (Everyday Food, May issue). The idea behind this recipe is that you can easily modify it to make chocolate or lemon cakes. I decided to make one batch, but split it in half so I could have a chocolate and a vanilla cake (since we have two camps in this family – chocolate and vanilla).

The cake was easy to make. Of course I ran out of eggs and had to send Mr.  MarthaAndMe to the store. The cakes baked up nicely. Once I had the cakes made, I made Martha’s frosting. I must admit, I was a little scared of this frosting. It’s made from egg whites, sugar, salt and water. Frosting without butter? Seemed weird.

You cook the egg whites in a double boiler until the sugar melts and you reach 150 degrees. I must say it didn’t look too appetizing at this point! But I kept at it and once it is cooked, you whip it. Now it began to resemble frosting.  It whipped up nicely and was light and fluffy.

Next, I spread it on the cakes. Because it was so light and fluffy, it went on very easily. I had just the right amount to frost two one-layer cakes. If I had made a two-layer cake like the recipe directed, there would have been enough for that.

The frosting looks really pretty on the cakes, don’t you think?

Now for the taste test. The cakes were delicious! The cake was very moist (because of the buttermilk in the recipe) and had a nice consistency (heavy but not too heavy) and a good flavor. The frosting was quite good. It was sweet and light and was not overpowering like some frosting can be. I also love that it is non-fat.

I will definitely make this cake and frosting combo again. It was a winner!

Sunday was Mother’s Day. I usually spend Mother’s Day with my mom and in the past, she has usually made dinner for her mom and we’ve celebrated there. This year my grandmother passed away a week before and my dad had retinal surgery, so my mom decided to stay home and celebrate with me another … Read more →

I’ve committed to spending more time on the gardens this year – flower and vegetable. Here is a before photo of a horrible disaster of a flower garden that has become overrun with weeds. It was just out of control. Now, I am sure Martha would be able to give me exact instructions about how to take control of it. Instead, we did what Martha most likely does – pay someone to do it for us!

Our lawn/garden guy came with a rototiller and tilled it and raked out the weeds, after we dug out the  plants we wanted to save. He mulched it and then we went and replanted the plants and bought a few more. I’m hopeful that it will look decent the rest of the year.

As for the vegetable garden, I started my seeds indoors about a month ago and this weekend we moved the plants outside. We dug up a small part of the yard, covered it with a biodegradable paper and put a fence around it (we have aggressive deer and rabbits).  We’ll see how it does. Part of our problem in the past has been that we take very good care of it but then go on vacation at the end of July/beginning of August and it all goes to hell.

I’ve committed to spending more time on the gardens this year – flower and vegetable. Here is a before photo of a horrible disaster of a flower garden that has become overrun with weeds. It was just out of control. Now, I am sure Martha would be able to give me exact instructions about how … Read more →