Martha has a gorgeous two page piece on bud vases in February Martha Stewart Living. This inspired me to get my bud vases together. Now, I have been known to exclaim, “I need another vase like I need a hole in the head,” so I was surprised to find I only had 5 bud vases. The crystal one was a gift from my aunt from a trip to Europe (Austria maybe?). The blue one was bought at a shop at Union Station in Washington, DC. The two cranberry ones were Christmas gifts – and very much appreciated (thanks Mom) since I want to expand my collection of cranberry glass. The one on the left with the clear glass collar around it may be my most favorite vase out of all that I own.

I loved Martha’s photo of vases – are they really all cranberry glass or is it just the lighting, I wonder?

I don’t use my bud vases as often as I should. I have to admit I have a hard time cutting flowers. They die so quickly and if you leave them on the plant they last for so much longer and you are able to enjoy them for longer.  It’s nice to think about flowers growing as I look out my window and see snow, snow, snow everywhere!

It’s the Superbowl today folks! Martha and I are heading into the kitchen to whip up some snacks! I’ll be posting results tomorrow and this week.

Martha has a gorgeous two page piece on bud vases in February Martha Stewart Living. This inspired me to get my bud vases together. Now, I have been known to exclaim, “I need another vase like I need a hole in the head,” so I was surprised to find I only had 5 bud vases. … Read more →

Martha made these on her show back on January 15, and it’s in the Feb issue of Martha Stewart Living, so I was ready to give Spinach-Gruyere Gateau de Crepes a try. Last night was the big night (you know you’re getting old when a “big night” is staying home and making crepes).

I started by making the crepe batter first thing in the morning and sticking it in the fridge. I started cooking around 4:45 and we didn’t eat until 6:15 so that gives you an idea of how long this takes.

Making the crepes

I was a little apprehensive about making the crepes. I’ve made them once before and wasn’t thrilled with the results. I’m happy to report that Martha’s recipe was easy and they turned out quite nicely. The recipe made more than 12 – I think I would have gotten 18 if I had kept going, but I used the leftovers to make one big thick crepe for our son to eat with powdered sugar on it.

Crepe in the pan

These are not hard to make but it is time consuming.  Now it’s time for my crepe story. When I was a kid in the 70s, I remember my parents (true gourmets in a 70s way) had an electric crepe maker. It was this convex surface with a handle that plugged in – almost like a saute pan but no edges and it was rounded on the top. It came with a special bowl. You mixed up the crepes in the bowl and then just dipped the heated surface in it to get the batter on it. Why this was necessary, I have no idea. Cooking it in a pan was pretty simple it seemed to me. Anyway, I remember it being used only once or twice when they had a crepe night. I also recall there being a dacquiri night where they made all different varieties and became completely sloshed.

Bearnaise Sauce

Moving on with Martha’s creation — while the crepes were endlessly cooking, I mixed up the bearnaise sauce – very simple. Then I cooked some spinach (I used frozen that I squeezed dry – shhhh) with garlic and added salt and pepper, nutmeg and some lemon juice. This then gets added to the bearnaise.

Once all the crepes were done (days later it seemed), I was ready to assemble. You spread bearnaise/spinach mix on each crepe and layer another crepe on top, etc. Once you reach the top, you add some plain bearnaise which you reserved (no spinach) and sprinkle cheese on top.

Ready for the Oven

Finally it was ready for the oven. I left it in the prescribed amount of time, but it needed longer. It was not piping hot all the way through.

It looked ok coming out of the oven, but some of the sauce had oozed out.  It was easy to cut into slices (I was sure it was going to be a mess!).

Fresh from the Oven

I served this with some grilled salmon and peas.  It tasted good, but I felt as though it was a little bland. We put a lot of salt and pepper on and that helped.

I actually ate  a small piece for breakfast this morning (it was similar to an omelet in my mind) and it tasted better today than it did last night.  I don’t think I would make this again, although there was nothing horrible about it. It was just a lot of work for something that didn’t really excite me.  They tried this recipe over at the  Good Things blog and their result looked a little different than mine. It was definitely fun to try (which is part of why I’m in this Martha experience).

On the Plate

Martha made these on her show back on January 15, and it’s in the Feb issue of Martha Stewart Living, so I was ready to give Spinach-Gruyere Gateau de Crepes a try. Last night was the big night (you know you’re getting old when a “big night” is staying home and making crepes). I started … Read more →

I decided to make Brown Sugar Pound Cupcakes With Brown Butter Glaze to send into school for my son’s birthday.  These cupcakes were easy to make – nothing wild and crazy about them at all. The glaze requires you to brown some butter before mixing the frosting up. Very easy.

So, there I am with the cupcake batter mixed and the cupcake pans out and I realize I have no cupcake liners. I ripped the pantry apart – there are none. Now, when sending cupcakes to school you’ve really got to have them in wrappers, or else you need to send in paper plates, which I didn’t have either.

I was just about to go to the store, when I remembered Martha’s cupcake show and the kooky woman from Pure who lines her cupcakes with parchment paper. Now she used a beige color, but I had a roll of just plain white for lining baking sheets. So I cut it out into squares. On the show, the Pure lady said she smooshes it into the tins with a glass. Here is what happened:

I smooshed it in with the glass and thought, wow! This is cool.

But then I took the glass out and the paper just popped out! I ended up scooping the batter onto the paper and kind of pressing it down to get it sit in the tin. It’s not really a very effective or easy method. The batter got on some of the edges of the paper and I didn’t really like how that looked.

The cupcakes baked up nicely though and the batter tasted yummy. They did take a little longer than the recipe said.

Doesn’t the paper look pretty? It does make it look more exciting than just a plain cupcake, for sure.

The next challenge was the frosting. You cannot frost these in a normal way because you can’t reach the cupcake. You do need to use a pastry bag to get the frosting into the paper.

Confession time. I could not face trying to dig out my pastry bag and tips. I do have a set …….somewhere! So instead, I used the ziploc bag with a corner cut off method.

I should have doubled the frosting recipe. The Pure woman loaded the tops of her cupcakes with frosting and to make it look pretty, you really do need a lot, so you can completely cover the top of the cupcake.

They turned out ok though I think. As for the taste test, I can’t give a lot of firsthand info. I had 24 cupcakes, which needed to feed 23 kids plus a teacher, so there wasn’t even one available to sample! The batter tasted great and so did the little crumbs I managed to find. The frosting had a great taste too. The kids ate every single one and the word is they  liked them a lot – and thought they looked exciting too.

I decided to make Brown Sugar Pound Cupcakes With Brown Butter Glaze to send into school for my son’s birthday.  These cupcakes were easy to make – nothing wild and crazy about them at all. The glaze requires you to brown some butter before mixing the frosting up. Very easy. So, there I am with … Read more →

“Gentle Reminders” is at the beginning of January Martha Stewart Living and I read this section with interest. I like reading the little tidbits that are included.

Martha suggests that this is a good time to order plants and seeds.  Someday, maybe. Outdoor gardening is not a strong suit here. I love to pick out plants and watch them grow, but boy, do I hate weeding. Mr. MarthaAndMe hates it even more than I do, so our gardens aren’t the greatest. I would love to start planning my garden in January – it would give me hope that summer will come.

Wiping down windowsills or painting them is supposed to help us enjoy the sun more during these winter days. That’s a good tip, although I don’t know how you can paint just the window sill. You would end up painting the entire window. No thanks. I think cleaning the actual window might help you get more sunlight than just the sill.

Martha says this is the time to take stock of your plates and dishes. I just broke a good ceramic pie pan this week, so I need to order a new one of those. This month I also ordered some new pots. I agree with this tip.

Another section talks about how ice melting solutions can be harmful to pets. This is absolutely true. One of my parents’ dogs get a rash on his underside when he goes for walks on a road that has been treated.

Martha reminds everyone to get their credit reports. I second that! As the author of The Complete Credit Repair Kit, I can tell you this is absolutely crucial to do once a year. Most people don’t do it and you will be surprised at what you will find on your report!

I had never heard that you are supposed to keep your gas tank half full in the winter. It’s not a bad idea anyhow because if you get stuck somewhere, it would be nice not to have to worry about running out of fuel!

This section also reminds us that January is National Blood Donor Month.  None of us in this house can donate because of medications we take, but I would if I could.  I would add to this reminder to ask everyone to decide to be an organ donor – sign your driver’s license and tell your family of your wishes. My daughter is active with a school club in promoting organ donation, so it’s  a cause we think is important.

I already sent in my receipts to clear out last years FSA (flexible spending account). Now if I could just get the card to work for this year’s! There’s some glitch I need to get straightened out.

Martha warns of the dangers of serving alcohol at parties — no worries there. We don’t drink alcohol at all and don’t serve it, unless a guest brings wine.

“Gentle Reminders” is at the beginning of January Martha Stewart Living and I read this section with interest. I like reading the little tidbits that are included. Martha suggests that this is a good time to order plants and seeds.  Someday, maybe. Outdoor gardening is not a strong suit here. I love to pick out … Read more →

“Gentle Reminders” is at the beginning of January Martha Stewart Living and I read this section with interest. I like reading the little tidbits that are included.

Martha suggests that this is a good time to order plants and seeds.  Someday, maybe. Outdoor gardening is not a strong suit here. I love to pick out plants and watch them grow, but boy, do I hate weeding. Mr. MarthaAndMe hates it even more than I do, so our gardens aren’t the greatest. I would love to start planning my garden in January – it would give me hope that summer will come.

Wiping down windowsills or painting them is supposed to help us enjoy the sun more during these winter days. That’s a good tip, although I don’t know how you can paint just the window sill. You would end up painting the entire window. No thanks. I think cleaning the actual window might help you get more sunlight than just the sill.

Martha says this is the time to take stock of your plates and dishes. I just broke a good ceramic pie pan this week, so I need to order a new one of those. This month I also ordered some new pots. I agree with this tip.

Another section talks about how ice melting solutions can be harmful to pets. This is absolutely true. One of my parents’ dogs get a rash on his underside when he goes for walks on a road that has been treated.

Martha reminds everyone to get their credit reports. I second that! As the author of The Complete Credit Repair Kit, I can tell you this is absolutely crucial to do once a year. Most people don’t do it and you will be surprised at what you will find on your report!

I had never heard that you are supposed to keep your gas tank half full in the winter. It’s not a bad idea anyhow because if you get stuck somewhere, it would be nice not to have to worry about running out of fuel!

This section also reminds us that January is National Blood Donor Month.  None of us in this house can donate because of medications we take, but I would if I could.  I would add to this reminder to ask everyone to decide to be an organ donor – sign your driver’s license and tell your family of your wishes. My daughter is active with a school club in promoting organ donation, so it’s  a cause we think is important.

I already sent in my receipts to clear out last years FSA (flexible spending account). Now if I could just get the card to work for this year’s! There’s some glitch I need to get straightened out.

Martha warns of the dangers of serving alcohol at parties — no worries there. We don’t drink alcohol at all and don’t serve it, unless a guest brings wine.

“Gentle Reminders” is at the beginning of January Martha Stewart Living and I read this section with interest. I like reading the little tidbits that are included. Martha suggests that this is a good time to order plants and seeds.  Someday, maybe. Outdoor gardening is not a strong suit here. I love to pick out … Read more →

Martha made Moroccan-Spiced Chicken with Olive, Apricot, and Pistachio Couscous on her show, on Thursday (Jan 22). These recipes are also the February What’s for Dinner in Martha Stewart Living, along with Minted Carrots.

I’ve made Moroccan chicken in the past (slightly different) and have always served it with a yogurt sauce, so this was a slight departure. We had Moroccan chicken at Epcot and also something very similar at an Afghani restaurant in NYC (which may have been the best chicken I’ve ever eaten).

Cutting up the chicken

First of all, we cut up the chicken the way Martha did on the show. Mr. MarthaAndMe went in boldly with the kitchen shears and I have to say, Martha’s method was a lot easier than the method they showed when they did the cooking school episode about this. The shears are an easy way to go and I would definitely use this method again to cut up a whole chicken. It was not nearly as unpleasant as the other method.

Next I mixed up the spices and oil and got the oven and pan hot. I spread it over the chicken, popped it in the oven and got going with everything else.

The carrots get roasted in the oven also. I have to say that roasting vegetables is my new favorite method and this was easy to do. While that was cooking, I started the couscous. On the show, Martha made her couscous plain and added the additional ingredients after it was cooked, so I did it that way too, even though the recipe says to add the apricots to the couscous while it is cooking (mini-Martha likes his couscous plain, so I wanted to have some plain for him).

Now, as I am cooking all of this, the kitchen is filling with smoke. It is just pouring out of the closed oven. The chicken is supposed to cook at 425 for 30-35 minutes. I was at about 40 minutes and it wasn’t done, but my kitchen had become a danger zone. I had had on the exhaust fan the entire time, but it wasn’t doing the trick. I opened every single window in the kitchen, the back door and the window in the attached bath, as well as cracking the sliding glass door in the dining room. It was still horrendously smoky – and we were freezing since it was about 19 degrees outside. I was just about at the point where I was going to have to take it out no matter what when finally, it was done and I let it rest.

I turned off the oven and the smoke started to clear out, but slowly. This was seriously a pretty dangerous situation. Maybe in Martha’s test kitchens they have heavy duty exhaust fans, but I really don’t recommend cooking this at this temperature in a home.

Minted Carrots

Now for the results. The carrots were great. They are just roasted with some olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. When you dish them up, you add some thinly sliced mint.  Total thumbs up on this dish. I loved the mint.

Next up, the couscous. I am a fan of couscous, so I was excited about this. I did not add the olives, since no one in my house

Couscous

will eat them. I did like the apricots and pistachios in the dish. I felt the pistachios were not a very strong flavor though and hard to detect. Like an idiot, I forgot to add the lemon juice to this and that would have really given it a little kick which it needed, because it was kind of dry and flavorless.

Moroccan Chicken

Now for the chicken. It came out of the oven looking great, don’t you think? Very brown and lovely. I threw lemons on the baking sheet with it and they cooked up well too. As for taste – sigh. It didn’t wow me. Here’s the thing – I do not like fatty, mushy chicken skin. I love chicken skin if it is crisp and does not have nasty fat all over the back of it, so I removed the skin from my piece since it wasn’t anything resembling crisp. The chicken underneath tasted like, well like chicken. Not a lot of flavor there. I was taking my bite size pieces of chicken and rubbing them over the skin to pick up the spices, and also rubbing them over the roasted lemons to get some flavor. That did help and the spice combination was a nice one, as was the lemon flavor. The best way to eat this is with chicken and couscous on your fork together. I think I should have followed my first instinct, which was to use boneless, skinless breasts and cover them with the seasoning and cook them in the oven. Less smoke, more flavor and just easier.

If I made this again, I would marinate the chicken in the oil and spices for quite a while – maybe overnight. The flavors did not soak into the chicken at all and it really needed to. If they had, this might have been fantastic.

Martha made Moroccan-Spiced Chicken with Olive, Apricot, and Pistachio Couscous on her show, on Thursday (Jan 22). These recipes are also the February What’s for Dinner in Martha Stewart Living, along with Minted Carrots. I’ve made Moroccan chicken in the past (slightly different) and have always served it with a yogurt sauce, so this was … Read more →

Martha has a beautiful two page spread in January Martha Stewart Living (pp. 26-27) about organizers. I cannot live without my calendar. I remember when I a student, I had one of those checkbook sized calendars that showed a month at a time. I really liked being able to see an entire month spread out before me. Then I became an attorney and had a giant calendar that showed only day per page. This made me totally nuts. I couldn’t see ahead to what the rest of the week or month held.

Today I use a weekly engagement calendar and though I still miss seeing a whole month at a time, it’s nice to take things week by week. Every year I start the search for a new calendar in November. I’m pretty picky. For a while I went with Impressionism calendars, but lately I’ve been buying this Inspiration calendar that has photos of gorgeous landscape scenes.

I am not one to use electronic calendars or organizers. I keep all my work deadlines and payment information in a blue spiral notebook. I like to be able to page through it and make quick notes. Mr. MarthaAndMe loves anything electronic and so he keeps his calendar that way. Because he can’t easily see ahead to the next day or week, he never seems to know what is happening when. I also always think that if your device crashes, you lose the entire thing.

I would be lost without my calendar and notebook. Sometimes I feel as though they contain my entire life!

Martha has a beautiful two page spread in January Martha Stewart Living (pp. 26-27) about organizers. I cannot live without my calendar. I remember when I a student, I had one of those checkbook sized calendars that showed a month at a time. I really liked being able to see an entire month spread out … Read more →

Pizza is a big favorite in our house, so I was excited to give Martha’s pizza crust a try (Everyday Food, January issue). The magazine touts it as an easy pizza crust.

It was easy to throw together, but what pizza crust isn’t? It’s essentially flour, water, yeast, oil, sugar and salt. Not so complicated. Her recipe uses half wheat and half white flour, which gets the thumbs up from me.

The dough

I made this dough in my breadmaker – something that really makes it easy to make.

I wasn’t so thrilled when I took the dough out. The recipe says it makes enough for 2 large pizzas. You can get 2 large pizzas from this if you like your crust very, very thin. I’m from Buffalo – between NYC and Chicago and our pizza crusts are also between NY style and Chicago deep dish. Not thin, but not deep dish either.  This was too thin for me.

The Crusts

I made one large pizza and two smalls. Pizza is incredibly complicated in this house. The kids like it with just cheese. One likes a lot of cheese and one likes a little cheese and a lot of sauce, so I made the large pizza with a lot of cheese on one half and not much on the other.

I like my pizza loaded with veggies – spinach, mushroom, broccoli, and tomato. Mr. MarthaAndMe will eat a veggie pizza if forced, but much prefers meat – anchovies, sausage, and pepperoni.

The 3 Bears of Pizzas

Therefore, I make several pizzas to keep everyone happy (God help us if we order pizza for takeout – it is very difficult to place the order!)! The crust had a nice taste to it. If I made this again, I would have to probably double the recipe to get the thickness we like. Other than though, I thought it was good.

Pizza is a big favorite in our house, so I was excited to give Martha’s pizza crust a try (Everyday Food, January issue). The magazine touts it as an easy pizza crust. It was easy to throw together, but what pizza crust isn’t? It’s essentially flour, water, yeast, oil, sugar and salt. Not so complicated. … Read more →

Martha has a gorgeous feature about closet organization starting on page 74 of Martha Stewart Living (Jan. issue). I read this eagerly because our bedroom closet was stuffed to the gills.

The biggest problem with closets, in my opinion is the amount of stuff you have in them! If you look at Martha’s photos, you’ll see there are just a few things hanging or stacked on the drawers. I don’t know about you, but I’ve got more clothes than that!

Ok, so maybe it’s a tad disorganized in this photo. When we moved in, we redid this closet and installedwire drawers, shelves and three different heights of rods.

I also bought a shoe cube, which really helped. There is also a shoe rack on the inside of the closet door, which holds a lot of shoes as well.

And this big plastic drawer unit holds all my jewelry and scarves.

Despite those organizational systems already in place, you can see we needed some help.

So I sat down with the magazine and read Martha’s advice.  I have to say a lot of it was not very useful. Installing custom made wooden drawers and pull out shoe racks is really beyond what I can afford at this point. There isn’t a speck of wall space in this closet to hand belts or scarves, let along a message station!

I did like the idea of folding tshirts and standing them up. It didn’t really work out for me, so instead I tried rolling them and standing them on end and I’m pleased with that result. It makes it so much easier to find things because you can see them all.

In this after picture you can see how much neater it all looks. I did get rid of a pretty big pile. I also discovered I had about 20 turtlenecks which I never ever wear anymore (but can’t help thinking I might want someday), so I took those out and stuck them in a drawer somewhere else.

The biggest challenge for me is always keeping the closet neat. I have trouble with the stacks of sweaters and shirts – they always end up jumbled and messy. Now that I have some more space though, maybe I can manage!

I liked the tips about putting things in garment bags. I have some suits that I really need to do that with, so I’ll buy some of those when I go out.

Getting rid of the tangle of extra hangers made a big difference in this section. I kept some and tried to organize them so I could actually remove them one at a time.

SIDE NOTE: Tonight I’m going to be cooking part of the Inaugural Luncheon menu for dinner. Martha showed all of the dishes on her show yesterday, made one, and spoke with the head chef. I’m excited to be making some of the menu myself and will be posting it tomorrow. Happy Inauguration everyone!

Martha has a gorgeous feature about closet organization starting on page 74 of Martha Stewart Living (Jan. issue). I read this eagerly because our bedroom closet was stuffed to the gills. The biggest problem with closets, in my opinion is the amount of stuff you have in them! If you look at Martha’s photos, you’ll … Read more →

I’ve tackled another one of Martha’s Superbowl party foods, Spicy-Sweet Chicken Wings (page 38 of January Martha Stewart Living). First let me say this. I’m from Buffalo. Home of the chicken wing. When we order wings here we get them from some of the very best places in the entire world. Tough to beat.

I do occasionally make my own wings. So I was eager to give Martha’s version a try.

First you make the sauce – a mix of hoisin, orange zest, hot sauce, honey and sesame oil. I felt right away it could not possibly be enough. You marinate the wings in part of it, then bake them. Halfway through you put the rest of the sauce on them. The wings did not get as crispy as I like them and they were on the edge of burning. They had a slightly mushy texture. I like them crunchy.

The sauce had a nice taste, but there just was not enough of it. Having the dipping sauce definitely helped, but usually a dip has a different flavor, not a repeat of the same tastes.

Everyone agreed these wings were ok, but not terrific. I would recommend cooking them longer at a lower temp so that the sugars in the sauce do not burn, yet the wings have time to crisp.

I’ve tackled another one of Martha’s Superbowl party foods, Spicy-Sweet Chicken Wings (page 38 of January Martha Stewart Living). First let me say this. I’m from Buffalo. Home of the chicken wing. When we order wings here we get them from some of the very best places in the entire world. Tough to beat. I … Read more →