Sounds good, doesn’t it? This recipe is from October Everyday Food. This recipe has everything a gal could want in a coffee cake – sour cream, apples, nuts, cinnamon, crumb topping. Thumbs down though. Not a winner. This would not cook all the way through no matter how hard I tried. It’s supposed to bake 60-70 minutes. I gave up after 80 because it was burning on the edges. I’m not even going to type the recipe here because I didn’t like it. It was moist, but moist to the point of mushiness. It had some spice flavor, but not enough. The crumb topping absorbed into the cake. Just not a good thing.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? This recipe is from October Everyday Food. This recipe has everything a gal could want in a coffee cake – sour cream, apples, nuts, cinnamon, crumb topping. Thumbs down though. Not a winner. This would not cook all the way through no matter how hard I tried. It’s supposed to bake … Read more →

Thanks to Ana at Sweet Almond Tree for choosing Clam Chowder for this week’s project. I totally screwed mine up though. Sigh. It was a really, really rough week here with a family member mysteriously ill, a dog also sick, and Mr. MarthaAndMe MIA due to a major work crisis. In the middle of this I had two indexes due and two big client projects to write. In between doctor visits, radiology appts, and vet visits, I could barely think straight.

I made this one night thinking it would be a nice warm comfort food that people could just reheat as necessary through the week. I have a clam chowder recipe that is very similar to this one which I got from a Nantucket cookbook and I love it. That recipe tells me how much clam meat to use and I use frozen clams. Martha’s recipe says to use 8 lbs of clams in the shell. I wasn’t about to shuck clams for this so I used frozen clams again. I wasn’t thinking about the size of the recipe though and used an entire one pound bag of frozen clams. It was WAY too clammy.

I ended up adding lots more milk and some cream to this and then I thickened it with some flour since I had to add so much more liquid. It was still too clammy. And it was kind of an unappetizing gray color. Ugh. I ate some. Mr. MarthaAndMe (who just loves clams) ate some but that was about it. I’ve got lots left but it’s really just not very good. I can’t blame Martha for this at all – if I had used maybe half that amount of clams this would have been good.

Thanks to Ana at Sweet Almond Tree for choosing Clam Chowder for this week’s project. I totally screwed mine up though. Sigh. It was a really, really rough week here with a family member mysteriously ill, a dog also sick, and Mr. MarthaAndMe MIA due to a major work crisis. In the middle of this … Read more →

I haven’t worked with broccolini a lot so I was interested to give this Oct Everyday Food recipe a shot.

Heat 2 tsp sesame seeds in a pan over medium heat until toasted. Remove. Add 2 tsp oil to the pan and 2 bunches broccolini with 2 sliced garlic cloves and thinly sliced small piece of ginger (the recipe does not specify how big). Add 1/2 cup water and cover. Cook until it is “crisp-tender” which the recipe says is about 12 minutes. Then uncover and add 2 tsp soy sauce and cook until evaporated, about 30 seconds. Top with sesame seeds and serve.

I needed to add more water to this as mine kept evaporating. The ginger and garlic gave this a nice flavor without being overpowering at all. I liked the broccolini – tasted almost exactly like broccoli to me actually, just thinner. This was a nice quick and easy veg that was something different.

I haven’t worked with broccolini a lot so I was interested to give this Oct Everyday Food recipe a shot. Heat 2 tsp sesame seeds in a pan over medium heat until toasted. Remove. Add 2 tsp oil to the pan and 2 bunches broccolini with 2 sliced garlic cloves and thinly sliced small piece … Read more →

In celebration of the two year mark for this blog, I’ve gone back through every recipe of Martha’s I’ve cooked and put together a list of the best of the best (with links!). It was quite an eye opening experience. Apparently, I am a fan of dips! I also didn’t realize quite how many Martha recipes I’ve cooked. Over 600. That’s pretty amazing. So I guess you could say I’ve really become a de facto expert. Of those 600, there were some that were simply awful. The most memorable of those for me would be that awful chocolate pudding made with avocado and the no bake brownies. Truly disgusting. A lot of things fall into the ok, but not memorable category. Some were good, but not great. What I’ve tried to do here is list the things that I think were fantastic.

I expected that the list might be more diverse than it is. The most exotic and hardest to make thing on the list is the Croquembouche. The things that were most memorable for me were the Thanksgiving turkey, perfect roast chicken, spatchcocked chicken, stuffed cabbage, rolled omelet, Baked Alaska, and rice pudding. I’d forgotten about many of these recipes until I went back through the blog, but once I saw the posts, it all came back to me.

I was struck by the fact that most of these things are homey, traditional foods. There’s not a lot here that would make people gasp at a dinner party (until they tasted it and realized how good these recipes are). I don’t know if that means Martha is best when she sticks to the basics or if I’m boring and just like traditional foods (I don’t think that’s the case  though- I love to try new things). Some of the recipes are not true Martha (well, as true Martha as something can be when she employees tens of thousands of people to do everything for her), some are from Lucinda Scala Quinn and one is from Emeril, but they all appeared in Martha’s magazines or on her show, so I’ve included them.

Enjoy Martha’s greatest hits!

Soups

Cream of Broccoli Soup This is a go-to recipe for me that I’ve made over and over. It’s simple, tasty and my kids love it.

Corn and Shrimp Chowder Simple and delicious.

Roasted Fall Vegetable Soup This one is recent, but I liked it so much I’ll do it again.

Dips

Artichoke Dip with Fontina I love dip. And cheese. And artichoke.

Bean Dip I really love dip.

Caramelized Onion Dip with Fingerling Potatoes Dip plus potatoes is as good as it gets!

Seafood

Shrimp and Zucchini Tostadas I love the ease of this recipe and it’s very adaptable to whatever you have in the fridge.

Golden Crab and Papaya Salad The flavors in this were amazing and it was beautiful to serve.

Seafood Bake This one surprised me with how good it was and how much it was to make.

Mr. Jim’s Shrimp To die for! The best shrimp ever.

Poultry

Perfect Roast Chicken This is a recipe everyone needs!

Thanksgiving Turkey I’ll be using Martha’s recipe again this year, although it seems she is no longer selling turkeys.

Spatchcocked Chicken Thank you Lucinda for the amazing sauce that goes with this.

Chicken, Spinach Casserole This one is recent, but memorable. Simple and much more fab than it sounds.

Tortilla Pie with Chicken Delicious! Great flavors.

Other Entrees

Mrs. Kostyra’s Meatloaf Who knew meatloaf could be so much fun?

Emeril’s Meatloaf Apparently Emeril knew meatloaf could be fun because his is fantastic too! This is actually a turkey meatloaf.

Lamb Chops with Citrus Sauce This one is an elegant dish.

Marinated Steak Thank you Lucinda. Easy and delicious way to make inexpensive cuts of meat taste great.

Sides

Spanish Rice I need to make this again.

Green Bean Casserole Surprisingly great! But very rich!

Baked Onion Rings I forgot about this and will be making it again soon!

Tomato Hand Pies Another one I forgot about, but something to remember when I have some wonderful tomatoes to use.

Warm Potato Salad with Goat Cheese Incredible! Not a combo I expected to like, but I really did.

Potato Gratin A basic, but simply amazing.

Rolled Omelet So easy and so delicious! I was hooked on this one for weeks after I first made, making it in the toaster oven!

Irish Soda Bread I like my version a lot, but Martha’s is quite good too!

Stuffed Cabbage Something I never thought I would like!

Desserts

Double Chocolate Brownies Ah, brownies….

Croquembouche Impressive! Boy was I proud of this one.

Icebox Cake Surprisingly delish! And tres retro.

Soft Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies Dude Martha’s fave!

Mrs. Kostyra’s Spice Cake Close to my wedding cake but not quite, but still excellent!

Baked Alaska A friend of Teen Martha’s still talks about how good this was.

Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes I need to make these again – amazing.

Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies I’m going to make these for Christmas again.

Genoise Something I never thought I’d try and it was great.

Rice Pudding This is now a staple in my house and I make it often.

Now it’s your turn. What are your favorite Martha recipes that you go back to time and time again? Have you made any of the ones I’ve listed? Do these appeal to you?

In celebration of the two year mark for this blog, I’ve gone back through every recipe of Martha’s I’ve cooked and put together a list of the best of the best (with links!). It was quite an eye opening experience. Apparently, I am a fan of dips! I also didn’t realize quite how many Martha … Read more →

Once in a while I hit on a Martha recipe that just makes me swoon. This is one of them. This recipe is from Oct Everyday Food and is part of a section about rotisserie chicken. I don’t buy rotisserie chickens (not organic!) so I roasted my own chicken breasts for this one.

Preheat the oven to 450. Mix 2 cups torn up bread pieces with 1 tbsp olive oil and some salt.

In a pot, heat 1 1/2 tsp oil and cook 4 cups spinach and a little salt until wilted (I think you could totally use frozen spinach and skip this step). Squeeze the water out of the spinach and chop.

Wipe out pot and cook 1 1/2 tsp oil with 1 chopped up onion and 1 garlic clove, chopped. Cook 8 min until soft.

Add 1/4 cup white wine and cook until almost evaporated, 5 min. Add 2 tbsp flour and cook for 30 seconds. Whisk in 1 1/2 cups half and half and 1/2 tsp lemon juice. Bring to a boil.

Add 1 cup shredded cooked chicken and spinach to cream mixture and pour into 2 quart baking dish. Cover with bread. Bake 8-10 minutes.

OMG. This dish was insanely good. And I really did not expect it to be that fantastic. The sauce is velvety and smooth and rich with lots of flavor. This knocked my socks off and I’ll be making this one again and again and again.

Once in a while I hit on a Martha recipe that just makes me swoon. This is one of them. This recipe is from Oct Everyday Food and is part of a section about rotisserie chicken. I don’t buy rotisserie chickens (not organic!) so I roasted my own chicken breasts for this one. Preheat the … Read more →

This recipe is from Oct Everyday Food. Popcorn, caramel and pretzels sounded like an excellent combo. I wasn’t sure about the chewy part though.

You start with 12 cups popped corn and 4 cups coarsely chopped pretzels, mixed in a big, big bowl. Spray a 9×13 baking dish.

In a pan, mix 2 cups sugar, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 cup water to a boil then boil undisturbed for 8-12 minutes. The recipe says the longer you go, the darker it gets. I went a good 12 minutes because I like it dark, but as you can see it really wasn’t all that dark.  Remove from heat and mix in 2/3 cup heavy cream and 2 cups mini marshmallows. Pour over popcorn and pretzels and press into pan. Sprinkle with salt on top.

This was a gooey mess to make. It actually tasted great, but it was a bit too gooey for me. You couldn’t really get a piece from it – there were long strings of caramel all over the place when you tried to cut a piece. You ended up with kind of a pile of glop – not a square. I would have like the caramel to be a bit harder. I think this also really needed nuts to give it some additional flavor. It tasted great, but was just a mess.

This recipe is from Oct Everyday Food. Popcorn, caramel and pretzels sounded like an excellent combo. I wasn’t sure about the chewy part though. You start with 12 cups popped corn and 4 cups coarsely chopped pretzels, mixed in a big, big bowl. Spray a 9×13 baking dish. In a pan, mix 2 cups sugar, … Read more →

Thanks to Tiny Skillet for today’s project, Molasses Ginger Cookies. I am a big fan of molasses cookies and was interested to give Martha’s version a try. I made one change in the recipe – I did not add white pepper, since I do not like pepper in my cookies!

These turned out nicely – all crinkly on top and they smelled divine. There was too much ginger in these for me. They had too much bite to them. Other family members liked them though, so they have not gone to waste. I’ll be interested to hear what others think!

Thanks to Tiny Skillet for today’s project, Molasses Ginger Cookies. I am a big fan of molasses cookies and was interested to give Martha’s version a try. I made one change in the recipe – I did not add white pepper, since I do not like pepper in my cookies! These turned out nicely – … Read more →

Martha was on Oprah yesterday. It’s not often that you get to see Martha interviewed, so I was anxious to watch. Oprah had a lot of questions about prison. And that’s about it. It seemed like such an interesting opportunity – the two women who have made some of the biggest changes in how we think about our lives together, chatting. I would have loved some talk about how Martha built her empire, if she ever dreamed it would be so big, what she thinks about public perception of her, what it’s like to be so dang rich and powerful, and so much more. The prison talk was interesting of course – any time you get to hear Martha reflect on things and give real (meaning not pre-packaged) answers to questions, I am interested. I enjoyed the video of her Maine home, but I’ve seen most of it before, so there wasn’t a lot that was new there.

The grilled cheese recipes are from Everyday Food this month I think. I still can’t fold a fitted sheet. And I didn’t quite understand the instructions. Having a swap out was cheating – I really wanted to see her do it and I don’t feel like I did. The crafting was a chance for her to hawk her products.

So I enjoyed the show but was hoping for just a little more of an in depth interview.

Did anyone else catch it?

Martha was on Oprah yesterday. It’s not often that you get to see Martha interviewed, so I was anxious to watch. Oprah had a lot of questions about prison. And that’s about it. It seemed like such an interesting opportunity – the two women who have made some of the biggest changes in how we … Read more →

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 →

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 →