Obsessed with Martha Stewart

Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook

 

Rating (1-10): 9

The evening I made these cookies, my husband came home and gravitated to them. The first question he asked me was, "Can I have one of these?" Of course, I said yes. He is one of the big reasons that I cook. It's fun cooking for someone besides yourself. But I was confused that he seemed to like them so much. I could have sworn that he had told me that he didn't like oatmeal-raisin cookies. When I asked him about it, he told me that oatmeal-raisin is one of his favorite kinds of cookie. I was shocked. It wasn't really a big deal. He can like or dislike whatever flavor cookies and it wouldn't matter, but I couldn't believe that I had gotten that wrong. I thought I knew almost everything about my husband, especially what he likes to eat - that's what living in a small apartment in Brooklyn when you're broke will do - but I guess I don't.

If you're an oatmeal-raisin cookie fan, then you'll love this recipe. I never thought of adding coconut to oatmeal-raisin cookies until I came across this recipe in Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. It was a delightful addition. 

Shrimp in Spiced Tomato Sauce

 

Rating (1-10): 6.5

Learning how to cook new foods does either one or two things for me: encourages me to eat WAY too much or completely diminishes my appetite. Unfortunately, this one diminished my appetite. It wasn't the shrimp in the spiced sauce - that was pretty tasty - it was the couscous that was recommended to go with it. I'd never eaten couscous, but my husband had and he was not thrilled about having it again.

I only ate the shrimp and little bit of couscous before handing my plate to my husband to finish. In the middle of the night that night, I woke up with killer cramps and rushed to the bathroom. I'll spare you the gross details, but it wasn't pretty. The entire next day I had stomach issues - and so did my husband. I'm not sure if it had anything to do with the shrimp or other stuff we ate the day before. We have another batch in the freezer, and I'm not sure if I want to eat it. I definitely don't want to experience another round of running to the bathroom.

Note: Recipe came from Everyday Food March 2010 edition.

Blacksburg Belle Boutique

My mother-in-law and I have been working really hard to stock our Etsy shop, Blacksburg Belle Boutique, and we're constantly adding products. Please take a minute and stop by to see our items ranging from lovely jewelry to handmade balsa wood postcards to romantic garlands. 

 

 

  

Breaded Pork Chops and Braised Leeks

 

Rating (1-10): 8.5

Last weekend I spent a few hours making all of the dishes from the "Cook from Your Freezer" article in Everyday Food (March 2010). During the week, it was so nice to just pull something out the freezer, heat it up, and make a side dish to go along with it. I paired the pork chops with the braised leeks as suggested by Everyday Food. It was a lovely combination that my husband I both enjoyed. A simple meal with lots of flavor.

Weekend Dinner from Everyday Food

Holy cow. This dinner took me about 5 1/2 hours total to make - and everything but the salad was worth every minute. The menu included: radicchio, goat cheese, and hazelnut salad, beef bourguignon, almond torte with pears and whipped cream.

 

Rating (1-10): 5

I'm only giving the radicchio, goat cheese, and hazelnut salad {I used walnuts which the recipe says you can substitute} a 5, because my husband and mother-in-law like it. My sister-in-law and I made the same squished up face when we tasted it. Too bitter for my liking. I could only muster a few bites before I passed my salad to my husband. 

 

Rating (1-10): 10

Beef bourguignon takes about 3 and 1/2 hours, but it is the most delicious stew you will ever taste. You think you've had beef stew before....but you haven't, if you haven't had this. It was melt in your mouth delicious. There's nothing you can even compare it to. We liked it so much that four of us ate almost all eight servings. There was a little bit leftover {not even a full serving} that my husband took to to work with him the next day for lunch.

Side note: I had a really hard time pronouncing the name of this stew. Every time I said it, I sounded Chinese - not French. My husband would patiently repeat it the way that it's supposed to sound and I would butcher it again. It took me a few days of saying it over and over before I no longer said it with a Chinese accent. FYI, I'm not Chinese.

 

Rating (1-10): 10

The almond torte with pears and whipped cream was one of the best desserts I've ever had, and I'm a dessert person. Most of the time {unless I'm eating pasta}, I'd rather just skip the entrée and go straight to the dessert. The pop of lemon and vanilla in the torte was like a party in my mouth, and the pears included hints of cinnamon and lemon. Yum, yum, yum. I can't put into words how amazingly tasty this was.   

If you want to try this meal, you can find it in the March 2010 edition of Everyday Food.

Cinnamon-Raisin French Toast

 

Rating (1-10): 7.5

When I found a recipe for cinnamon-raisin french toast which combines two of my favorite things,french toast and cinnamon-raisin bread, I knew I had to add it to my list of things I have to try cooking. The recipe comes from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The New Classics - page 594 if you really want to know.

After I find a recipe I want to fix, I look at how many servings it makes and usually cut the recipe in half, because most recipes are for 4 or more people, and I'm usually cooking for two. This recipe stated that it made enough for 6, so I cut the ingredient list by half. One of things it called for was thick cinnamon-raisin bread which my grocery doesn't {or didn't on that particular day} carry, so we had to settle for thin cinnamon-raisin bread. When I went to make it on Sunday morning, I realize that the recipe serves 6, but each person only gets one slice of french toast. Come on, Martha. Who the heck only eats one slice of french toast? 

Good thing I really had enough to make it for "6" and my husband and I each got 3 slices of the french toast. It would have been much better if the bread had been more stale and thicker, but overall, it was nice treat for a Sunday morning.

Chicken Cutlets with White Wine and Garlic and Wild Rice with Mushrooms

 

Rating (1-10): 8

In the March 2010 edition of Everyday Food, there is an article titled, "Cook from Your Freezer" which includes 4 recipes that I'm going to try. This past weekend my husband and I bought the ingredients for each of these meals. The brilliant part is that you can freeze them ahead time in perfect portion sizes and then take them out as you need to throughout the week.

The first one that we tried was the chicken cutlets with white wine and garlic and we paired it with the wild rice with mushrooms and parsley. Knowing that parsley and I are not friends, I decided to leave this ingredient out of the recipe. The chicken was moist and yummy and the rice with mushrooms was delightful. I'm really starting to like mushrooms. We got enough chicken breasts, so I could freeze three more meals. I enjoy cooking some weeknights, but on others I just wish I had something that was already prepared. Everday Food answered my wish.

Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Cauliflower

 

Rating (1-10): 8.5

Martha would probably have a stroke if she read this, but in all honesty, my husband and I had fast food for dinner Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights of the past week. I was sick and didn't feel like cooking even though I had the ingredients for this chicken with sweet potatoes and cauliflower meal from the March 2010 Everyday Food. I told my husband on Wednesday after we decided to get Chik-fil-A for dinner, that we had to cook this recipe on Thursday - no excuses.

Thursday rolled around the last thing I wanted to do was spend an hour cooking dinner. My tonsils were still covered with patches that looked like mold, it was next to impossible to swallow, the puppies smelled like fishy dog poop, and they had peed inside four times that day. I was done and wanted to fall into bed. When I told my husband this after he got off work, he immediately volunteered to take over the cooking and make this meal.

It's exactly what I needed. Until I took a bite of the sweet, roasted cauliflower, I had forgotten how much I loved it when it was cooked that way. This was a simple meal - even though I didn't fix it - I watched my husband as he did, and it was absolutely delicious. Plus, it felt good to eat healthy foods for once that week. I would definitely recommend this meal to anyone looking for a healthy, tasty option that is simple enough to make after a long day of work. We'll be making this one again and again at our house.

Brown-Sugar and Pecan Sticky Buns

 

Rating (1-10): 8

Grab a glass of wine, sit back, and relax, because this is a whopper of a story. As most of you already know, I've been suffering from tonsilitis since last Thursday. Saturday evening my husband and I invited his mother and sister over for dinner. Because I'm Martha obsessed I decided I would also make dough to make the brown-sugar and pecan sticky buns from the March 2010 edition of Everyday Food even though I felt like crap. I wanted to have them over for breakfast the next morning, and I was determined to make the sticky buns.

I made the basic pizza dough {which the recipe calls for} - it was actually pretty fun. I was really proud of myself for thinking ahead. The next morning I would only have to make the sugar mixture, sprinkle it on the dough, roll it up, and cut 12 pieces. When I got to the point where I needed to refrigerate the dough for 1 hour or up to 1 one day - I was choosing to refrigerate for 1 day, I told my husband that I somehow needed to transfer the dough from the parchment paper which I rolled it out on onto a baking sheet. 

He took one look at it and said, "Just leave it on the parchment paper and put it on the baking sheet."

In response, I said, "I think I have to take it off of the parchment paper. It says to put it directly on the baking sheet."

He said, "Believe me. It's not going to matter. It'll be fine on the parchment paper."

I said, "Are you sure?"

He reassured me. The end.

Well, until the morning at least. You can probably guess how this story is going to end, right? If you can't, keep reading. 

I got out of bed to make these sticky buns for breakfast. Even though I didn't feel good, I was excited about making something new for breakfast. I preheated the oven, made the sugar mixture, sprinkled it on the dough and then I tried to roll the dough up like a jelly roll. Not so fast. It was completely stuck to the parchment paper. My husband and I both tried pulling it free. It would have made for good reality television. We're both trying to roll the dough while the parchment paper is tearing into little bits and sticking to the dough. It's a complete disaster. I told him to call his mother and sister and tell them that sticky buns aren't happening, and I instructed him to make sure that they understand that the sticky bun fiasco was his fault - not mine.

Then I continued to have a major temper tantrum complete with foot stomping, yelling and cursing. I'm talking worse than a five year old who just spilled his ice cream on the ground. I basically tell my husband that it's not safe to be around me right now, so he takes our dog for a quick walk. During that time, I tediously pull off as much of the parchment paper as possible. I try to finagle the individual sticky buns, so that they still look like sticky buns. It wasn't a pretty sight.

I put what was left of the sticky buns in the oven and told my husband to call his mom and sister back and let them know that they can come over for breakfast at their own risk. I warned them that they would probably consume pieces of parchment paper, but they still wanted to try them. His mother said, "It's just a little extra fiber." 

My husband said to me, "You take two that don't have very much parchment paper on them. You don't need any more fiber. You're already regular enough." He's lucky his mom and sister were there after that comment. 

I don't know if they were just being nice, because I was obviously grouchy or if they didn't find very much parchment paper on their sticky buns, but they seemed to like them. I really loved the taste of the sticky buns, but I couldn't get past the tiny bits of parchment paper I kept pulling out of my mouth. Gross!

Lesson learned. Don't listen to my husband when I know I'm right.

Dinner and Movie

 

Artichoke dip with fontina - Rating (1-10): 7.5

Sticky chicken wings - Rating (1-10): 8.5 

My husband's sister is in town for the week, and she's staying with their mom. She's about 14 months younger than he is {I think I got that right}, so we all get along really well - it's like having a really good girl friend as your sister-in-law {I know, I'm lucky}. It's fun having her visit. We usually have game nights, eat dinner together a few times and hang out when she's in town. However, I have tonsilitis, so I'm not much fun to be around right now. 

Even though I was sick this past weekend, I was determined to have his sister and mom over for dinner and a movie. I wasn't up for game night, but I figured that I could relax and watch a movie with them. Instead of planning something simple, which most people would probably do when they're sick, I decided to fix the artichoke dip with fontina and the sticky chicken wings from the March 2010 Everyday Food. Of course, my husband did a lot of cooking, because he felt sorry for me. 

I didn't eat much of the wings or dip {and artichoke dip is my favorite} but that might have been due to the fact that it felt like I was being stabbed with hundreds of needles every time I swallowed. The artichoke dip was decent - I have a Paula Deen recipe that I like a lot better {sorry Martha, it's true}. Plus, fontina cheese is REALLY expensive and not worth it when other cheeses taste just as good - or better - in my opinion. My husband loved the wings, and he's a wing expert. I trusted his opinion, even though I wouldn't want to make them for myself again. I want to try the recipe again with pork ribs. I think I'd like that a little better.

Side Note: I have to thank my sister-in-law for bringing me flowers and soothing throat tea on Tuesday. So thoughtful! Again, I'm pretty lucky :-)