Cass Cooks, Too!

Thanks for the post, Nora Howe

One of my favorite shows is available on the Food Network; Chopped. Chopped is a show that challenges four chefs to a cooking challenege involving three courses of food; appetizer, main course and desert. After each round the chef who did not perform up to expectations is eliminated or ‘chopped’ from the contest. The element that makes this show so entertaining is that for each course the contestants are given a “mystery’ basket of ingredients. The basket contains elements that you might not consider going together in a course such as watermelon and trout, for example. The goal is for each chef to come up with a dish which must contain each of the ingredients in the basket, at the end of the allotted time given each dish is judged for originality, flavor and presentation by a panel of celebrity judges.

The show becomes something to behold when you watch it in HD because of the artistry the chefs demonstrate in their presentation of each dish. You become truly amazed at the skill these people possess when you see how quickly they prepare these culinary masterpieces. The sharpness of the HD picture I got after researching direct tv pricing in Florida only adds to that amazement, the colors used in each dish is something of a wonder to behold, not to mention the dexterity you notice in actions such as chopping and dicing.

I appreciate the guest post, Marian Combs

Nothing compares to the day trip for relaxing and having fun. Next to the yearly vacation, the day trip is a series of mini-vacations taken during the summer months. The day trip does not drain your wallet and can be a very simple drive and activity.

Living in Colorado and growing up in California enabled me to take numerous trips with my parents to natural wonders and exciting parks. In Colorado, my family enjoys these same things and we take advantage of the good weather to cram as much fun as we can into the summer months.

One of our favorite is the family picnic. We love the outdoors and Colorado offers an abundance of excellent picnic destinations not very far from where we live. Going up in the mountains and laying out blankets, smelling the food cooking in the barbecue, and eating a great meal is really living for my family.

Before we start on our picnic there are some things we must do before heading out. We pack the car with: food and drinks, a portable stove in case there is not one at the picnic grounds, bug spray, sunscreen, extra clothes for changing weather conditions, first-aid kit, and cell phone. The last thing we do is to set the home alarm system that we got from www.allhomesecurity.com before leaving the house.

A picnic is a great way to spend time with the family, have a great meal, and enjoy the outdoors.

Posting compliments of Susan Walsch

Learning about food on cable tv is one of my greatest passions. Getting recipes from a book is great, but they do not compare to the recipes that are shared on TV. Television shows based on food give viewers a chance to visually witness the total preparation of a meal. A book does not afford the same opportunity. Yes, it is easy to read a book and look at pictures. Unfortunately, a book does not go into fine detail when it comes to each step that is required for each recipe.

I have been able to expand my horizons when it comes to preparing a top notch dinner for myself or my family. It is incredible how one can sit down throughout the day and learn about various styles of cooking. I have also learned how to mix different styles of cooking in order to come up with an authentic dish that will taste delicious. New techniques and recipes are always being shared with each episode. I also get a golden opportunity to see how dishes in other countries are prepared.

So, for the past several days, I have been head-achy, nauseous and very, very grumpy around 5pm. I finally realized today that it is heat related. And so, I came up with a marvelous scheme, which most of you have probably figured out long ago.

I made a cup of hot coffee, just the way I like it. And then I filled a cup as full as I could get it with ice. And then I poured the hot coffee over the ice. And I declared it good.

Not a heat beater, but also very good: strong coffee, with cram and sugar to your taste, topped with spray on whipped cream and a drizzle of chocolate syrup. Taste like a ten dollar coffee and costs about twenty-five cents!

Thanks to Nita Vrabel for the helpful guest post

When I had moved into our house, I saw that the kitchen was seriously out of date. The cabinets had the dark 1970′s wood. The walls had gold, green and avocado yellow wall paper. Flooring was cracking and coming up as well. Upon looking at the counter tops, I saw that there were knife marks all across. As I started calling contractors for quotes, I discovered this was going to be very expensive if we hired someone. Some of the contractors had slipped a few secrets out to me. I was told that there was paint specifically for cabinets. My first project became the cabinets. I went to the local hardware store and purchased the materials. The cabinet paint, brushes and the plastic flooring came out to about $50. The cabinet project took a total of 6 hours between painting drying and the second coat.

Next we decided to do the walls. When I consulted a contractor company about removing the wallpaper and painting the walls, they quoted me $350. Buying paint and new brushes, I spent $45 and 8 hours painting the kitchen walls. The walls were the simplest. The only heavy duty part about painting the walls was moving the appliances to paint behind them.

The counter tops were the next to tackle. All we had to do was take the measurements for each separate partition of the counter tops. We picked out the design and had the pieces cut at the hardware store. We also bought a book on do-it-yourself remodeling HERE. The book showed us which different types of counter tops had to be uninstalled and installed in a certain way.

Deciding to do the floors last was the best decision. We didn’t want to ruin the new floor with paint, nicks and scuff marks. Knowing that the ground moves a lot in this area, we had to consult quite a few contractors. Some contractors said they could do the kitchen floor for about $2500. They had also let it slip that they would need to use a special tile grout that would expand and contract and let the floor move with the ground and concrete that moves so much. We made yet another trip to the local hardware store, bought the tile, special grout and the trough. The floor took a few days, but our kitchen is now updated and welcoming.

You know, if the kitchen is the heart of the home, the table must be a ventricle. It’s amazing what can happen to a family as they share talk and dinner, yk? Now with summer here, a lot of people are moving meals outside. I’ve always liked the look of glass top dining tables for outside use, though with small kids, I am afraid of them for inside. The one I showed you to the left is called the Coaster. I really think it would look great with some wrought iron chairs in a similar pattern, don’t you? Maybe with some cushions with a bit of red in them.

Now, with the size of my family, this Triple Acanthus is more suited to my needs. It seats 6 easily and I am thinking 8 would not be too crowded, since we can do 8 pretty easily at the one I have now. Unfortunately for me, my dining room is nowhere near large or formal enough to support those hand cast table supports. But they sure are purdy!

These days, I’m more shopping for chairs. I got four of those and two benches last fall, and the children have already managed to damage two of the chairs! How aggravating is that?

Today, I am drooling over Dessert FourPlay Sweet Quartets from a Four-Star Pastry Chef by Johnny Iuzzini and Roy Finamore. Just the cover, with it’s lucious delicacies and that handsome face could do a girl in, before she ever opened the book. Just sayin’ Dare to open it, though, and the problem just gets worse!!

So here’s the premise: instead of one large dessert, Johnny gives you recipes for four complementary desserts which are meant to be served together in smaller portions. Now, I am going to tell you straight, the play on words in this book’s title is well earned. For a foodie, looking at the array of possibilities here is gastro-orgasmic. Let me give you an example–he has a section on strawberry and rhubarb and it includes strawberry-rhubarb consomme, fromage blanc panna cotta, pink peppercorn meringues with white chocolate ice cream and rhubarb sorbet, and rhubarb flan tarts.

And, uh, did you know you can make dessert from tomatoes? Yeah, you can, combined with figs and and cherries!

The book is broken down into five chapters: one for each season and then chocolate. Each chapter contains three fourplays. In the back is an extensive section of recipes for sorbets and cakes and cookies and such, which can be served with the recipes in the fourplays, or stand alone, or be used as he suggests for garnishes and extras and such.

The thing that makes this book so very dangerous, though, is the pictures. I mean, if were just a pictureless book of recipes, I’d be safe, but the pictures, they are all so luscious looking and the presentations are so lovely that I have invited a friend over to cook with me. That could be interesting indeed!

Ok, so we made a couple of changes in the kitchen. The three teens are each taking 2 nights a week, and that leaves me with one, which was tonight and I made this:

I served it with rice, coucous, tomatoes/okra/corn and baby lima beans. It was so good to get back in the kitchen again, and also so very good to eat! I do love my own fried chicken.

Now, I don’t have a real recipe for friend chicken. I basically dip it in seasoned flour and throw it in hot grease. I vary the seasoning each time, depending on what I am in the mood for. Tonight, it was seasoned salt, garlic and a bit of thyme because I saw just a bit in the bottom of the jar and thought I might as well use it up. There ya go.

I do have three tips regarding fried chicken, though, that I can share. First and foremost, buy chicken with the skin on it. There is nothing healthy about fried chicken, and if you are gonna eat it, you might as well enjoy it. I prefer to fry thighs because they cook fairly quickly and very evenly, but I will also do breasts and drumsticks.

Second, hot grease. I use an electric skillet and I turn it to 350 and that’s where I keep it. I turn mine about 4 times, so each side cooks twice, and that gives a nice crispy skin. See above and live a little.

Third, and this is something Grandmother taught me just a few years before she died, long after she’d stopped cooking: the chicken is done when, after you turn it, the grease does not sizzle up. This is something you hear rather than see, but if the sound gets louder when you flip the meat, then you need to cook it longer. I haven’t pulled half cooked chicken out of the pan since she told me that.

You know, I really need to confess something here. And it’s kind of an embarrassing something really. I am so out of the kitchen habit that I feel mildly ashamed to even be writing a cooking blog. Or attempting to revive one anyway.

1. My entire kitchen is in disarray, it needs a total reorganization. Which I am in the middle of.

2. The darn thing is never totally clean. I am chronically behind on dishes and desperately need to get back in the habit of doing ALL of them EVERY night. Period.

3. I need to work on planning meals again. Because of added demands on my time, I have turned most of the actual cooking here over to the teens, but I also stopped the planning, and that is becoming a major FAIL.

4. So, I am going to use the impetus of this blog to help get me back on track. I can’t take pictures in a dirty kitchen and I can’t share techniques and recipes with you if I don’t cook and I can’t cook if I don’t plan.

So, here’s the weekly agenda: one post with a menu plan, one post of a recipe or technique and one post of something else more or less kitchen related. And there ya go.

So, I think I may have shared here, but maybe not, that I am not doing a whole lot of cooking these days. I mean, it’s not like I need a GPS to navigate my kitchen, but with me working now, and three other people in the house who are capable of putting a meal on the table, I have slacked off a bit. OTOH, I am still on the lookout for new recipes, because I like to learn new techniques, and also, they think Hamburger Helper is an adequate meal, which it is occasionally, but not every day. I’m thinking this book will be a big help in that regard.

First, the recipes are fairly simple. Second, they are mostly quick to prep and cook. Third, they rely on ingredients that are actually available here in BittyBurg. Robin Rescues Dinner is a clear winner in these three areas. We’ll probably be cooking our way through it, at least partially. There are lots of full color pictures, and each week of recipes begins with an optional prep session that you can do to help save even more time during the week. There are also hints on cooking a bit extra of this or that ingredient to use in other recipes for other weeks, and tips on how to use leftovers in the same way.

I just have one complaint about this book and it is relatively minor and petty. The cover says that there are over 350 recipes in the book. Being a great mathematician, when I picked it up, I expected to find seven dinners times 52 weeks. No, not so much. What we do get is three great looking main dishes, and some sides to go with them. It’s all good, just not what I expected. OTOH, I wouldn’t be as likely to actually cook my way through the book if it told me what to cook every. single. night.

All that said, you could easily use this book, and the week or so of menus in every month of Rachel Raye’s magazine to cook for a full year and never have to come up with a single idea of you own. Or eat Hamburger Helper more than once a month That’s a winner, ladies!

Cross-posted at www.cassknits.com