Tag: cooking (page 9 of 9)

January 26, 2010 / 0 Comments

Sugar Pie

It won’t be too long before Valentine’s Day arrives and I have been busy thinking about what I can make for my Sugar Pie (also the title of one of my favorite Subdudes songs)! I won’t say too much because he does read this blog, but something handmade and embroidered might be coming his way…

I like to make heart shaped items for the day. Last year I kept it simple and baked heart shaped sugar cookies in a variety of sizes, and sprinkled them with pink and red sugar crystals. They were festive and tasted delicious with a cup of hot chocolate and heart shaped marshmallows. Hmm, can you tell I like to have a theme going here?

I was looking at the gorgeous Serena’s website today and saw her “Sweetie Pie” recipe. These look too good not to try! When I am making a pie or anything else with pastry whether it be shortcrust or puff I always use my leftovers. My Nana taught me to not be a wasteful cook!

She would roll out her left over dough into a rectangle, brush it with butter and then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, roll them up in a log and slice, like a mini cinnamon bread pastry (great with a cup of coffee). I do that or depending on my mood I will make small turnovers with whatever jam or jams we have going in the house at the moment.

So, this recipe has given me the idea of cutting out shapes the next time I have leftover dough to use, you just know they will taste that much sweeter because you are popping a little heart of love into your mouth! Click here to be linked to the Farm Chicks website and this sweet recipe.

(All Images copyright The Farm Chicks, embellished by Jennifer Michie)

January 15, 2010 / 0 Comments

Maple Snow

All this snow has made me think of “Little House in the Big Woods”. I loved reading this books as a child, it was a world I wanted to belong to.

I wanted to be in the sleigh with them as they drove through the snow to their Grandparent’s house, for the sap harvest. Once, they arrived Pa joined the men folk, trudging off into the snow to help start the sap buckets. Drilling holes into the thick bark to place a pipe that would drain the sap into the buckets below.

The women worked hard indoors for the party that would come that evening under the starlight. At the party to celebrate the winter harvest, Laura and Mary scoop fresh powdery snow into bowls and their Grandma ladles a stream of hot syrupy sap onto their dishes to make snow candy with. The sap hardened on the snow, thus making a chewy maple candy to enjoy.

“Grandma…poured hot syrup on each plate of snow. It cooled into soft candy, and as fast as it cooled they ate it. They could eat all they wanted, for maple sugar never hurt anybody.”

I always wanted to do this when I was little, I loved reading about Laura’s pioneer girl existence, I wanted to be a pioneer girl myself! I wanted to run through the fields with my hair in braids and my bonnet hanging down my back, the warm sun baking me as I brought Pa his lunch pail.

I found this recipe for “Snow Sugar” on the Laura’s Prairie House website:

I have not tried this particular recipe myself, so I will have to wait for the next snowfall and pull out my glass bottle of syrup and get to work!

{click on the recipe to be taken to a larger version}

December 21, 2009 / 0 Comments

Ice N’ Spice N’ Everything Nice

I love vintage Ads, especially Christmas ones. I have a fantastic Christmas Schweppes Ad that hangs in my kitchen and I smile every time I see it.

I found this old A&P Ad in Found in Mom’s Basement for spiced ice cubes. I am not sure what I would think of my ice tea once the cubes started to melt, with all the little bits floating around in it, but, I love the idea of these ice cubes.

It is probably because of the adorable little girl in her Eskimo coat showing us the recipe. This would be a fun thing to make for your girlfriends at a Christmas lunch or just to have in the house when Holiday visitors drop by unexpectedly.

November 19, 2009 / 0 Comments

Home for the Holidays

Unfortunately, we do not get to go “home” for Thanksgiving, but we celebrate with each other in our house. It doesn’t seem quite the same at times; no shuffling around in your pajamas, no breakfast casserole, no Macy’s Day Parade on TV and no parents in the kitchen laughing and talking while they make stuffing and get ready to roast the bird.

We make our own holiday memories here in England. I still prepare a Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings and pumpkin pie for dessert of course! Some years we have had friends round to join in with the festivities, but, this year, it will be just the two of us, a romantic Thanksgiving.

It wouldn’t be the season if I didn’t get to watch Home for the Holidays. What a movie! My family and I love this movie! There are moments you can relate to, even if you, like me, are close with your family, you can relate it to other family members.

There is a great scene after the parents pick their daughter up from the airport and as they are driving home, with the mom chatting away in the back they pass another car with a fellow “kid”; his mom is leaning over the seat going on and on, and the two “kids” just stare at each other through the car windows, in this perfect moment of understanding. So much is said with that look.

I know this look. My husband and I have been with some people where that look between us gets used a lot. This movie sums up all the craziness of this one day. Days, that some people use not to be thankful for, or to see the blessings in, but as a forum for themselves to just act as nutty as a fruitcake.

So to everyone, who loves going home (I do!) and for those who are ready for Thanksgiving to be over with already and back in their own homes away from their families, this movie is for you!

October 19, 2009 / 0 Comments

Pumpkin Patch Love

I love the festive look of these Pumpkin Patch cupcakes from Martha Stewart. We went pumpkin hunting this weekend and I came back with another pumpkin to add to my collection. He is small with a cute curl of a stem, and has lots of personality!

I haven’t seen any teeny pumpkins yet this year, I love the little munchkin pumpkins! I thought these cupcakes would be perfect with a glass of cold apple cider to wash away those hungry pumpkin hunting appetites. They also would taste just as yummy if you cheated and used a gingerbread cake recipe instead of a pumpkin one, you decide.

Happy Hunting!

Get the Recipe

(Image used copyright Martha Stewart Living)

September 21, 2009 / 0 Comments

It Happened Again…

We couldn’t help ourselves, still ooohing and ahhing over Saturday night’s dinner, we did it again and this time it was even better than before, if that is possible? My husband pan fried the bread to perfection!

We dove in as soon as they were ready and with olive oil and tomato juices running down our chins we toasted the last pink light of sunset.

Darkness is coming more quickly now, no more natural light till 9pm, soon it will be hot chocolate, hats & scarfs, and cozy candles lit everywhere weather. Autumn is here.

The pumpkins are out at the market and yesterday while picking up more tomato salad supplies, I spied a gorgeous fat pumpkin with a perfect squat little stem. As I walked by he just so happened to leap into my arms and come home with me. He is now adorning my hearth. My first Fall treasure.

September 19, 2009 / 1 Comment

Julie & Julia

My husband surprised me and took me to the movies on this cloudy fall day we are having here. We saw “Julie & Julia” and we laughed, cried, and left feeling the great need to run for the station and get on the first Eurostar to Paris, so we could be eating in on of our favorite hangouts before midnight.

Alas, we have settled for delicious pan fried bread overflowing with a fresh tomato and basil salad we came home and whipped up, all inspired by this sumptuous movie! If you have not seen it, you must, what an absolute treat! Meryl Streep has Julia Child pegged!

I have always been a fan of Julia Child, her humor and passion for food was a delight to see onscreen. I used to watch her cooking show with Jacques Pepin when I was in College, that was the highlight of my Saturday morning.

She inspired so many people and in cooking with her you seem to aspire to great things as well, Paris comes alive in your kitchen and before you know it you can imagine bustling down the Rue Mouffetard and stuffing your basket with bread and vegetables, inhaling the scent of chickens roasting and the scrumptious potatoes underneath them being cooked in the dripping chicken fat. In France it is so easy to live off the markets, you hardly ever need to step inside a grocery store.

The markets are so tangible and alive the best of Paris at your feet and fingertips. I must stop talking of food as I am getting hungry again for the taste of baguettes and warm oozing Brie with apricots spilling over the top, a candlelit table, a glass of good wine and more importantly, good company, what more could you want? Bon Appetit!

To see Julie Powell’s original Blog click below:
http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/2002/08/25.html

August 5, 2009 / 0 Comments

Scrumpious Shortcakes for Weekend Guests!

My in-laws came to visit us this weekend and after a day walking around the gorgeous Cliveden Estate, we headed back to our house for a cozy chicken potpie with mashed potatoes for dinner. It was a perfect meal for such a cold dreary day, but even so it is still Summer and I was determined to have something summery for dessert.

I have made them Southern Shortcakes in the past and they have really enjoyed them. This time however, I decided I would try something different since I had some eggs that needed to be used. So, i discovered this recipe on Betty Crocker’s website. I am fortunate to get some American items at the grocery store here for those moments of homesickness and Bisquick is one of them.

I made this dessert for the weekend, but with slight variations. I made two round cakes and after cooling them, I roughly iced the middle and top and let it chill in the fridge. I made a huge bowl of ripe strawberries with orange zest, and a sprinkling of sugar and another bowl filled with juicy peaches, lemon zest and a hint of sugar, they didn’t need much, the “gorgeous ladies” from France.

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it, my mother-in-law even asked for seconds and had a piece before they headed home on Sunday! Even though the recipe states that it can be iced and stored for up to 6 hours, it lasted just fine in the fridge for longer than that. Thank goodness there was some left over, it was a delicious Sunday morning breakfast with a cup of tea! Since, it was deemed such a success and the strawberries are juicier than ever, I have made another one to take to a friend’s house for dessert tonight. I have included the recipe below, so I hope you enjoy!