Corn casserole/pudding

My friend Beth makes this amazing corn pudding and swears it is absolutely no-fail. I can tell you it is absolutely yummy. Just mix everything together, pour into an 8×8 pan and bake until brown on top – at 350 that should be 45 minutes or so. Beth says she always doubles the recipe for parties and it comes out great. I know this is going on my holiday and potluck must-make list!

• One can of corn, drained
• One can of cream corn
• One regular size container sour cream
• One stick of softened butter
• One box of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix

Super Sunday Twice Baked Potatoes

• 6 large russet potatoes, scrubbed and dried
• Olive oil, for rubbing potatoes
• 3/4 pound(s) fresh chorizo sausage, removed from casings
• 1/4 cup(s) pimientos, drained
• 1/4 cup(s) whole milk
• 2 tablespoon(s) whole milk, combined with above
• 2 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter, melted
• 4 ounce(s) goat cheese
• Salt
• Freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prick top of each potato a few times with a fork and rub with olive oil.

Place potatoes directly on oven rack and bake until easily pierced with a paring knife, about 1 hour. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

Meanwhile, in a medium skillet over medium heat, cook chorizo until browned and crumbly and fat is rendered into pan, about 10 minutes. Stir in pimientos and cook for 2 more minutes. Set aside.

Using a serrated knife, halve potatoes lengthwise. Using a spoon, scoop out flesh from all 12 halves into a medium bowl, leaving about 1/4-inch border of flesh inside potato skins. Place potato-skin shells in a medium baking dish and set aside.

Mash scooped-out potato flesh with a fork. Stir in milk and butter until mixture is smooth. Crumble goat cheese into potatoes and stir until just combined. Fold in sausage mixture and season with salt and pepper.

Divide potato filling among potato-skin shells and bake until heated through and tops begin to brown, about 20 minutes.

Secret Mushrooms

Don’t tell my husband, but sometimes I like it when he works late and isn’t home for dinner. Sometimes it is really nice to curl up in front of the tv with a glass of wine and something that really should not be counted as dinner but that I really love eating. Like a whole bag of pistachios. Or these mushrooms. I love these mushrooms. Tonight is one of those nights. I miss you, honey. But a warm plate of mushrooms is going to get me through the night just fine.

(I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen – one of my favorite food blogs. Check it out.)

Garlic Butter Roasted Mushrooms
Perfect as can be from Gourmet.com

1 pound mushrooms such as cremini or white, halved lengthwise if large
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and chopped
3 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preheat oven to 450°F with rack in middle. Toss mushrooms with capers, garlic, oil, 1/8 teaspoon salt and several grinds of pepper in a 1 1/2- to 2-qt shallow baking dish. Top with butter and roast, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are tender and golden and bubbly garlic sauce forms below, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and parsley. Serve immediately, with crusty bread on the side for swiping up the juices.

The easiest, most delish tomato sauce ever

Sometimes, simple is best. And this pasta sauce couldn’t be simpler. The flavor, however, is not simple at all. Trust me on this one. If you are a stalker of food blogs, you have likely seen this recipe before – for good reason. Give it a try and you will certainly be a convert. This sauce atop a pile of homemade linguine . . . heaven.

• 1 can whole tomatoes (28 oz.)
• 1 yellow onion, peeled and cut in half
• 5T butter
• salt to taste (if you want to use it – I do not)

Dump everything in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes, occasionally stirring and using the spoon to break up the tomatoes. Remove the onion and serve on your favorite pasta. Enjoy!

 

Slow Cooker Oatmeal

It’s a new year! Out with the old and in with the new – recipes that is. I have once again gotten sooooo bored with my staple of recipes that it hardly seems worth cooking some days. But I am resolving to be better (and healthier!) about my cooking choices. First step: breakfast!

I know we all want to send our families out into the cold world with hot meal in their bellies, but between making lunches and getting everyone dressed and packed . . . too often for us it is a bowl of cold cereal and out the door. Today was different. Today we had lovely steel cut oats with maple syrup, cranberries, pecans and a sprinkling of warm spices. Don’t you feel better just thinking about a breakfast like that? And the best part? It was hot, ready and waiting on us when we woke up this morning!

• 1 cup steel cut oats
• ½ cups dried cranberries
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch ground cloves
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• 1 pinch ginger
• 4 cups water
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup

Combine all the ingredients in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 7 to 9 hours, or overnight.

Stir the oatmeal well and scoop into bowls. Serve with milk, a drizzle of maple syrup, and sprinkled with chopped pecans.

The perfect holiday bundt cake

I found variations of this recipe on a number of blogs, including  A Mingling of Tastes whose version I used. The cake was a big hit at the pre-K family Thanksgiving potluck! I left out the toasted pecans (for fear of allergies) but I’m sure they would be a wonderful addition. I only wish I had time to bake another one to take to my in-laws for Thanksgiving!

All-In-One Holiday Bundt Cake
Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan
This cake contains just about every traditional holiday flavor, so that is where the names comes from. To toast the pecans, spread them on a baking sheet and put them in a 350 degree oven for about 8 minutes, shaking and turning them over halfway through, until fragrant and starting to take on some additional color. Watch them carefully to avoid burning.

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. minced fresh ginger
1 1/4 sticks (10 tbs.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup canned, unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 large apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup pecans, toasted (see headnote) and chopped
2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
5 to 6 tbs. maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place a rack in the center position. Butter a 9- to 10-inch (12-cup) bundt pan well, using waxed paper or a pastry brush to spread the butter into every nook.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Using a stand mixer or a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter and both sugars together at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the pumpkin, ginger and chopped apple. At this point the mixture will probably looked curdled, but that’s okay.

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture slowly, beating just until it is incorporated (over mixing flour results in a tough texture in the finished cake). Using a rubber spatula, stir in the cranberries and pecans. Scrape the batter into the prepared bundt pan.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a thin paring knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean (you might get some streaks if you hit a cranberry). Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for ten minutes in the pan. Unmold the cake and cool to room temperature on the rack.

Transfer cooled cake to a cake stand or serving platter. Sift the confectioners’ sugar into a bowl. Add 5 tablespoons of maple syrup and stir until you have a smooth, thick mixture that coats the back of the spoon and runs off enough to drizzle over the cake. Add additional syrup to thin icing if necessary (or if you need to thicken it, just add more sugar). Drizzle icing off the back of the spoon over the top of the cake so it runs down the sides. Let the icing set for at least an hour before serving.

A love affair with a dishtowel

Actually, I suppose it would be more accurate to say with many dishtowels. You see, I’m a bit obsessed.

I think it started with a beauty my mother brought me from the V&A Museum in London.

And continued with the discovery of BlueQ’s witty collection.

It wasn’t much of a leap from there to where we are now – paper free and loving it. I haven’t bought paper towels for well over a year now. Instead, I dry dishes, wipe counter tops and clean spills with an ever growing collection of incredible towels that make me smile every time I pull one from the drawer.

 

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

I made these muffins this afternoon for Lola’s pre-K pumpkin party tomorrow. The kids and I snuck one to taste test, and they were really yummy – and seriously chocolatey!

1 3/4 cup (1 15 oz. can) pureed pumpkin
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
3 eggs
3-4 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350.

Combine the pumpkin, brown sugar, butter, and eggs and mix until creamy. In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients except the chocolate chips. Mix dry ingredients into  wet ingredients. Add the chocolate chips and stir in.

Pour or spoon the batter into greased muffin tins. Bake on the center rack until a toothpick poked into the center comes out dry, about 20 and 25 minutes.

snack time!

Once a month, each child in my daughter’s pre-K class brings in snack for the entire class to share. And I have to tell you, my sweet girl puts a lot of importance on snack time. It is arguably her favorite part of the day. (She is my daughter, after all.) But it’s hard to compete for pre-K snack bragging rights when too often the “healthy snack” turns out to be bags of chips.

Thank goodness for Martha Stewart! Last month I used her cheddar-carrot ball recipe, and while I worried the kids would turn up their noses at carrots, they seemed to be a hit. This month, another Martha recipe that has actually become a lunchbox staple for us this year: grape juice gelatin with fruit.

Happy snacking!

Carrot-Cheddar Balls
Serves 4

• 4 ounces cold cream cheese (1/2 bar)
• 2 ounces yellow cheddar cheese, finely grated (1 cup loosely packed)
• 1 carrot, finely grated (1/2 cup)

In a medium bowl, with a wooden spoon, combine cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and carrot. With moistened hands, gently form 12 balls, each equal to 1 level tablespoon of mixture. Serve or refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap, up to 2 days.

 

Grape Gelatin with Blueberries
Serves 4

• 1 envelope (1/4 ounce) unflavored gelatin
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1 cup white grape juice
• 2 cups fresh blueberries, picked over and rinsed (We have also used grapes, raspberries and strawberries!)

1. In a large bowl, sprinkle 1 envelope unflavored gelatin over cold water; let stand until softened, about 5 minutes.
2. In a small saucepan, bring 1/4 cup water to a boil over medium-high. Pour over gelatin mixture; stir in grape juice.
3. Divide blueberries evenly among four 6-ounce serving glasses; pour in gelatin mixture, pressing blueberries to submerge them completely.
4. Refrigerate until set, at least 1 hour (and up to 5 days, covered).

The miracle of a can of paint

When we moved into our house three years ago, we were full of plans. But, as often happens, those plans sometimes get put on hold. Sometimes for a loooong time. Our butler’s pantry is a prime example of that. We put off replacing the ugly laminate counter tops for so long, I finally had to accept it was just not going to happen. Acceptance can be a beautiful thing – a thing that sends you to the hardware store in search of a cheap solution and sends you home with 2 cans of paint and a plan. And before long . . . freshly painted woodwork, freshly painted counter tops and a fresh start for an underused space! I’m thinking about getting some bar furniture so the kids can sit and do their homework without covering up the kitchen table. . . . I wish I had done this years ago!