My Buddy Joe

One of my all-time favorite stores is Trader Joe's.

I used to shop there when I lived on Long Island. We had a store open sometime in the late 90's in Commack. When I moved to the Boston area, we had even more Trader Joe's to choose from. When we settled in Connecticut, I had to wait a while before one opened nearby in Danbury...but as soon as it did I was back in the zone!

TJ's has something for everyone, all of it a veritable bargain. We buy all of our coffee there, most of the lunches that my husband takes to work, my beloved salsa that is irreplaceable, countless vegetarian items, oatmeal, the best cornbread mix ever, and so much more.

It works when you want to eat clean and be super-healthy, and there's also plenty for when you just want to be a sloppy mess. I got blindsided this holiday season by something called Jingle Jangle.

Chocolate-covered Joe-Joe (Oreos) pieces, dark and milk chocolate covered pretzels, dark and milk chocolate covered caramel corn, dark and milk chocolate mini peanut butter cups and some crappy fake m&m-type things.

I fell face-first into this can and didn't come up for air until New Year's Day.

Yikes!

Anyway, now that I am back on the wagon I am sticking to the clean-eating options at TJ's...which brings me to cookbook #16 of 99.

I must be really getting old, because here is another book that I can't recall the details of. I think that I had read about it online. There is a website about TJ's that reviews their new products and discusses what has been discontinued there...and yes I realize I sound like a nut when I admit to following such nonsense. What can I say? I've got issues.

So, book was purchased and a few dishes were made. The premise was that all recipes included items that could be purchased at TJ's. I don't recall anything memorable, but I do know that some pretty nasty peanut noodles were consumed and Cooking With All Things Trader Joe's went to live downstairs on the shelf.

Now that my eating habits have changed significantly, I found some more options that appealed to me when I re-read the book. Particularly one called Hearts and Snaps.

This was super-easy to make, and while I did purchase the majority of the ingredients at TJ's the only one that HAS to come from there is the Goddess Dressing.

This stuff is SO good!

The rest of the ingredients can be found anywhere...

Hearts and Snaps Salad

1 cup sliced hearts of palm
1 cup chopped cucumbers
1 cup halved or quartered cherry tomatoes
1 cup sugar snap peas, chopped in thirds
1/4 chopped parsely (cilantro may be substituted - I used cilantro and it was YUM!)
1/4 cup crumbled feta (I used TJ's Reduced-Fat Feta)
1/4 cup goddess dressing

Combine it all in a bowl and toss to blend.

Serves 4, and is considered Cycle 3 on the 17DD. We all really loved this salad, and I would make it for company in a heartbeat! It's considerably more "summery" tasting than a cold-weather dish and it would make a great healthy addition to a picnic or bbq!

How many days left until summer?????

Indulging My Inner Ingalls

Ever since I can remember, I have loved Laura Ingalls and all of her adventures.

I read the books over and over again. I can still vividly recall so many of the stories that Laura told. Even as a child, my favorite passages revolved around parties, holidays and food!

In very first book, Little House in the Big Woods, Pa slaughters a pig and blows up the bladder for Mary and Laura to use as a balloon. He also puts the pig's tail on a stick and they take turn roasting it in the fire to eat.

In another, Mary and Laura go to a birthday party at nasty Nellie Oleson's where they have fancy store-bought cake for the first time in their lives.

At Christmas, Mr. Edwards crosses a deep river to bring them gifts from Santa. They include a tin cup, a shiny penny, a peppermint stick and a small heart-shaped cake.

I could go on and on, and as I type this I am seriously contemplating going downstairs to get my set of Little House books out so I can read them again!

The television show was also a favorite, but nothing will ever replace my beloved books and their simple black and white illustrations.

Back when I was living in the Boston area, we had a junk store called Building 19. 

It was just a bunch of crap that looked like it had fallen off a truck. Books, tablecloths, food, kitchenware, clothing. It was a dump.

But going there was almost like going to a casino. It was a gamble. Most of the time you lose, but once in a blue moon you hit it big.

Like the day I found the Little House on the Prairie Cookbook for three dollars!

I was over the moon upon finding this, despite the fact that the majority of the recipes are not edible in my house. Ma used "Cracklins" for everything...even her baking. Pigeon Pie wasn't happening anytime soon either. 

Still...totally worth the three bucks.

One of my favorite memories from the books was when Mary and Laura got to make Molasses Candy on Snow...and that was in the cookbook!

I held onto that book thinking that one day, I too would make Molasses Candy on Snow with my daughter.

Well, I didn't have a daughter. 

That's cool. I can still do it with a boy. No problem.

It only took me 11 years to remember to get on it!

While we didn't get the forecasted 24-36 inches that I had prepped for, we still got enough to make our candy.

I gathered the ingredients...all two of them

I got my pan of snow ready to go

I boiled the molasses and brown sugar

And then we made some awful looking squiggles on the snow. Nowhere near as dainty as Mary and Laura's...

It hardened immediately, so we got to sample the candy right away

So? Was the reality of making my Little House Molasses Candy as good as my fantasy?

Umm.....no.

That stuff is NASTY!

Poor Mary and Laura. They didn't have chocolate readily available back then. This was as good as it got. Ma couldn't whip out a bag of Nestle chips and make some cookies. They had to eat molasses and brown sugar as a snow day treat. No cocoa with marshmallows for them!

This concludes cookbook #15 of 99. I'll keep my memories, but pass the cookbook onto some younger Little House fans that I know.

The Blizzard That Wasn't

Last night and this morning, we were supposed to have a massive blizzard here.

Social media was hyped up, all of the meteorologists were calling for 24-36 inches of snow. The electric company called with recorded messages warning of power outages. Our town selectman called with emergency information. The governor imposed a travel ban on all roads. Everything shut down completely in advance of this historic storm.

School was let out absurdly early yesterday, so while I had a window of opportunity I took it. I started at Trader Joe's at 8:00 in the morning. Got provisions like coffee, olive oil, produce and whatever else I saw that added up to $100.

Then I headed to Target. They were completely out of large bottles of water. People were panicking and buying everything. I grabbed a 24 pack of Poland Spring and whatever else that added up to another $100.

After Target I thought I would hit the local grocery to see if they had any gallon-sized waters.

They did not. But I still managed to spend $25 there.

So, $225 later I went home and unpacked my groceries, feeling like I was completely prepped for the possibility of being housebound for a few days.

We had invited the neighbors over for a "blizzard" dinner. This gave me the opportunity to knock off two more cookbooks and use some of the provisions I had bought.

Here are cookbooks number 13 and 14 of 98.....

I'll tell you right now, this is NOT going to be a diet-friendly post.

We collaborated on dinner, and my neighbor brought a baked ziti and salad. I made Auntie's Parmesan Chicken, garlic bread, and Williams-Sonoma Cherry Hazelnut Biscotti. We also had some very bizarre cookies from a Target impulse buy.

I was suckered into buying this because I see Momofuku referenced all of the time in Bon Appetit magazine and other cooking blogs. It's a famous bakery in New York...and now it's apparently in my local Target as a mix. Of course, I HAD to have it. I really wanted to buy the mix that has you add crushed potato chips and pretzels to the cookies but I think the only ones who would have enjoyed that would have been me and Aunt Flo. And if you don't know what the hell I am talking about, well....go ask someone else.

So, I got the "traditional" cornflake-chocolate chip-marshmallow mix.

Umm, yeah. Save yourself the $6. These things were NOT good. That's all I have to say about that.

What WAS good?

Auntie's chicken of course!

Because I was stressing about the impending storm, and had company coming I did not photograph the cooking process. I did manage to get a shot of the finished product though!

Parmesan Chicken

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 
1 cup all-purpose flour 
1 teaspoon kosher salt 
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
2 extra-large eggs 
1 1/4 cups seasoned dry bread crumbs 
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving 
Unsalted butter 
Good olive oil 

Pound the chicken breasts until they are 1/4 inch thick. You can use either a meat mallet or a rolling pin. 

Combine the flour, salt, and pepper on a dinner plate. On a second plate, beat the eggs with 1 tablespoon of water. On a third plate, combine the bread crumbs and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese. Coat the chicken breasts on both sides with the flour mixture, then dip both sides into the egg mixture and dredge both sides in the bread-crumb mixture, pressing lightly. 

Heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large sauté pan and cook 2 or 3 chicken breasts on medium-low heat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until cooked through. Add more butter and oil and cook the rest of the chicken breasts. 

The biscotti were decidedly more "adult" friendly. Perfect with a cup of tea or coffee!

Cherry Hazelnut Biscotti

Ingredients:

• 8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room
    temperature 
• 3/4 cup sugar 
• 2 eggs 
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract 
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder 
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 
• 1/4 tsp. salt 
• 1 cup hazelnuts, toasted, skinned and coarsely
   chopped 
• 1/2 cup dried tart cherries, coarsely chopped 
• 1 tsp. grated orange zest 

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Lightly grease and flour 1 large baking sheet or line it with parchment paper. Have another ungreased baking sheet on hand.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter on high speed until fluffy and pale yellow. Add the sugar and continue beating until the mixture is no longer gritty when rubbed between your finger and thumb. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla until blended.

Over a sheet of waxed paper, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and beat on low speed or stir with a wooden spoon just until incorporated. Mix or stir in the hazelnuts, cherries and orange zest until evenly distributed. The batter should be very soft.

Turn the batter out onto a generously floured work surface and divide in half. With well-floured hands, transfer one-half onto the greased baking sheet and shape into a log about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place on one side of the sheet. Repeat with the remaining batter, leaving at least 4 inches between the logs. (They will spread as they bake.)

Bake the logs until the edges are golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the logs cool for 10 minutes. Using a serrated knife, cut the logs, still on the pan, on the diagonal into slices 1/2 inch wide. Carefully turn the slices on their sides and return them to the oven. When you run out of room on one baking sheet, start transferring slices to the other sheet.

Bake until the edges are golden, about 10 minutes more. Let the biscotti cool completely on the pans on wire racks. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 4 dozen biscotti.

And that blizzard? 

Well, let's just say we dodged a bullet. I'm actually a little disappointed. I had a romantic notion that we would all be snuggled together for a few days, and want for nothing will all of the storm prep that we did. Oh well. In reality I would probably be stress-eating cookies and wanting to rip my hair out.

In the meantime, I've got quite a stockpile for next time!

Yo, Adrian!

I'm going to interrupt my project of working my way through my 98 cookbooks to share this recipe.

Chicken Philly Cheesesteak in a Cauliflower Wrap

Last week I just made the "insides" of the chicken cheesesteak because I was having a wicked craving. I just caramelized some onions, slivered up some chicken cutlet, and mixed with a wedge of Laughing Cow Light. Ate it just like that out of the glass measuring cup I had heated it up in. It totally hit the spot!

I had also made the BBQ Chicken Pizza with cauliflower crust last week and had a crust left over that I stuck in the fridge. It held its shape and taste for a few days and I found myself eating it as bread one day and thinking how amazing it would be as a wrap for my chicken cheesesteak.

Well, here I am on a snowy day and finding myself with all of the ingredients to make it happen. 

So I did.

I made the crusts....and a huge mess on the counter. That cauliflower gets all over the place when you pulse it in the Cuisinart!

 I sautéed the onions, sliced up the chicken and then browned it on the stove. I am sure peppers can be added to the mix to make it more authentic, but I don't like 'em! Then I tossed in a wedge of Laughing Cow and mixed it up as it melted. That goes on top of the wrap.

I added some Heinz Low Sugar ketchup.

While it doesn't rival Geno's or Pat's from Philadelphia, it surely satisfies a craving!

Chicken Philly Cheesesteak with Cauliflower Wrap

1 head of cauliflower, cut into chunks

1 egg

1/4 parmesan cheese

1/4 cup fat-free Mozzarella

1/2 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp garlic

dash of pepper

2 large chicken cutlets (boneless breasts), sliced into strips

1 T olive oil

1 onion (I prefer Vidalia...no tears!), sliced thin

1 pepper, sliced into strips

1-2 wedges of Laughing Cow Light

salt

pepper

Preheat oven to 450

Pulse cauliflower in food processor until it is the consistency of sand. Or couscous. I don't know. Just tiny granules!

Transfer to a microwave-safe container, cover with plastic wrap and cook on high for four minutes.

Dump out onto a clean, dry dishtowel. Let cool for a while or you're going to burn your hands when you squeeze out the water!

After its cool enough, squeeze the living daylights out of that cauliflower. The drier you get it, the better your results will be!

Put in a bowl and add the egg, cheeses, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix until blended. Make 2 balls out of the cauliflower. 

Put one ball between 2 pieces of wax or parchment paper. Flatten out with hands or rolling pin. Repeat with the other ball.

Bake on parchment paper for 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool if you aren't using it as a pizza crust.

Caramelize the onions and pepper in the oil. Remove from pan and add chicken. Season with salt and pepper and cook through. I like to cook until they get nice and golden. Add the Laughing Cow and stir until melted.

Put the chicken mixture on the cauliflower and add condiments. Enjoy!!!

Can You Do Me a Favor?

I have a Facebook page for the blog that lets people know when I've updated.

Right now I only have 160 likes, and while I appreciate every single one of them, like Oliver Twist I'd like some more!

Here is the link to my Facebook page:

Cooking With Auntie Ina

Could you give me a like on my page? I would be ever so grateful!

Tamale Pie...Looks like Dog Food, Tastes Much Better

My husband didn't bring too many material things into our relationship. Our first apartment had his couch, desk, computer, futon and dresser. He had his clothes and some memorabilia, and a stack of vegetarian cookbooks.

Among these books was Laurel's Kitchen. 

We've been together now for 17 years and 9 months. 

In those years, we have not made one damn thing from this book.

But...it is one that he insists we keep. The second half of the book is almost like an encyclopedia of old-school natural food ideas. Information that to me seems either outdated or accessible online. But...its his book. It isn't my decision on whether to keep it or not.

Sticking to my rule of making one recipe from each of my 99 cookbooks, I chose something that used up quite a few items from my pantry....Tamale Pie.

This was going to be one for the husband, as this doesn't fit in with my diet. There's no way the kid would eat any of it. Texturally it's very squishy and visually? Well....it sorta looked like dog food while I was cooking it.

Fortunately, looks aren't everything! Throwing a layer of cheese on top covered some of the ugly, and apparently it was pretty darn tasty! WHEW!

I'll share the recipe, despite the fact that I've made this sound incredibly unappetizing.

Tamale Pie from Laurel's Kitchen

• Filling:
• 1 onion,chopped
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 2 c kidney beans
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 c whole ripe olives
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1/2 c chopped celery
• Crust:
• 3 c boiling water
• 1 c polenta cornmeal
• 1 tsp
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 to 1/2 c grated cheddar cheese

• Directions

  • 1
    SAUTE onion and garlic in oil. When nearly soft, add chili powder,cumin and crushed garlic. Continue to cook and stir til spices are fragrant. Meanwhile, slightly mash the beans and mix them with the tomato paste, onion mix and other filling ingredients. When hot, adjust seasoning and set aside.
  • 2
    STIR cornmeal into boiling water. Cook and stir until thick. Add salt and chilic powder when mix comes to a boil. (Polenta can also be prepared according to pkg instructions, using a bit extra cornmeal fot thickness.)
  • 3
    GREASE 8 X 8 pan and spread 2/3 of the cornmeal mixture over the bottom and sides; then pour bean mixture onto this cornmeal crust. Drop and spread remaining 1/3 cornmeal on the top. (Don’t worry if it won’t cover completely). Sprinkle top crust with grated cheddar cheese to suit your taste. Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes.
    
    So, for cookbook 12 of 99...Laurel's Kitchen I will have to defer to the husband. If it were up to me I would toss this one, but it belongs to him and he wants to keep it. Maybe in another 17 years and 9 months we'll open it up again?
    
    

Oh, KALE Yeah!

I went to my favorite Whole Foods today to pick up some salmon.

Somehow I ended up with way more than salmon in my cart, but that’s not really a surprise. I tend to get carried away in that store. Not irresponsibly. I won’t pay $6 for a container of strawberries or $8 for a bar of soap, but not everything at Whole Foods is a fortune. They actually have some great sales AND they take coupons, so I do pretty well there.

My one splurge today was a bunch of Dinosaur Kale. It goes by other names as well, like Lacinato Kale or Tuscan Kale. It is bigger and flatter than the typical Curly Kale. It also is supposed to have a more delicate flavor.

There is a recipe in Auntie’s newest cookbook, Make it Ahead, for Parmesan Kale Chips that calls for Dinosaur Kale. 

This will bring us to cookbook #11 of 98.

Let’s give it a go, shall we?

Here’s the kale before I hacked it up:

And here it is when it is all laid out on parchment paper. 

And here’s the finished product:

I can’t say enough good things about this recipe.

All three of us scarfed down the entire batch. It is far superior to the typical kale that I’ve been eating. 

Consider us hooked. Auntie does it again!

Parmesan Kale Chips
Serves 6 

Kale is a delicious vegetable that seems to be everywhere now. If you can find flat kale—sometimes labeled cavalo nero, Dinosaur kale, or lacinato—it can be roasted for the perfect light bite to serve with drinks. It’s simply kale, olive oil, and salt, and it roasts in 15 minutes. Of course, freshly grated Parmesan cheese makes everything taste better. 

1 large bunch flat-leaf kale
Good olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.

With a sharp knife, remove and discard the hard rib from the center of each leaf, leaving the leaves as intact as possible. Place them on the sheet pans, drizzle or brush them with olive oil, and toss to coat lightly. Sprinkle generously with salt and bake for 10 minutes, until crispy. Sprinkle lightly with Parmesan cheese and bake for another 5 minutes. Cool and serve. 

MAKE IT AHEAD: Prepare and cool to room temperature. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Reprinted from Make it Ahead. Copyright © 2014 by Ina Garten. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC.

BBQ Chicken Pizza Redux

Let's move onto cookbook #10 of 98....

I bought this book sometime around the beginning of the show in 2006. I was easily swayed by the magic that happened on the ranch back then....before I knew that they worked the contestants like animals and that losing that much weight that quickly was a recipe for disaster. 

The Biggest Loser was and still is a big proponent of product placement. Big companies pay a ton of money to have the show pimp their product. Most of these products are full of chemicals, like sugar-free Jello, yogurts with aspartame, Subway, and Extra Sugar-Free Gum. No thanks.

But...the cookbook does have some pretty good ideas. 

I made turkey sausage and it was really good...no funky ingredients.

Then I saw a recipe for Thin-and-Crispy BBQ-Chicken Pizza Snack Wedges.

I love me some BBQ Chicken Pizza!

The best I have ever had is in Moorestown, NJ near my mother-in-law. It comes from Passariello's.

Hello gorgeous!

Well, that's not happening anytime soon.

The Biggest Loser recipe reminded me just how much I love the combination of the barbecue sauce, chicken, cheese, onion and cilantro...and had me wondering how I could make it work.

The base of the "pizza" was a tortilla in the original recipe. I subbed a cauliflower crust. My favorite recipe for that can be found here.

The chicken, onion, and fat-free cheddar were all totally 17 DD compliant. The cilantro is technically not allowed until Cycle 3...but I was going to be a rebel and eat that one teaspoon of it anyway!

Barbecue Sauce...notorious for sugar. What I didn't realize was that there are ZILLIONS of different sauces out there. I wasn't going to go for a sugar-free one because, well, ick. The dietician agreed with me in the Biggest Loser Cookbook and suggested to find a sauce with less than 7 grams of carbs per serving.

So, after squatting all over the condiment aisle at the store, I found this guy:

If you can see the label, there are six carbs and four grams of sugar in two tablespoons. Not bad.

I only used one tablespoon. Even better!

So while this may not be technically compliant, I think it's close enough. Plus, I can understand all of the ingredients.

Once the crust is made, it's super easy to throw together. The chicken can be pulled from an already cooked breast, or you can do what I did and thinly slice a chicken cutlet and cook with salt and pepper.

I made a bunch, so I can add some to other recipes or salad:

I spread the one tablespoon of barbecue sauce on the crust, added the fat-free cheddar, the chicken, the red onion and cilantro:

Threw it in the oven at 350 for 5 minutes and done!

I would have photographed it on a nice white plate, but it was stuck to the damn foil. Guess I should have used some PAM?

Regardless, it was SO GOOD! Totally hit the spot for me.

Despite my bad feelings about The Biggest Loser show, I am keeping this book. There were quite a few recipes that may not be great as they are written, but gave me some wonderful ideas.

Here's my take on the recipe:

BBQ Chicken Pizza with Cauliflower Crust

1 cauliflower crust (about the size of a large tortilla)
1 Tablespoon Stubbs BBQ Sauce
1/4 cup fat-free shredded cheddar
handful of grilled or shredded chicken
1 teaspoon of chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons slivered red onion

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray before putting crust on it. Spread BBQ sauce on, then cheese, chicken, onion and cilantro. Heat for 5 minutes. Enjoy!

Yoo-hoo! Mrs. Goldberg!

For Chanukah this year I got yet another Jewish cookbook.

I don't know why, but I seem to have a real attachment to these books. I think that I most identify with my religion through cooking. I am not a traditionally observant Jew at all. I don't go to synagogue. I don't observe Shabbat. I don't fast on Yom Kippur.

But when Rosh Hashanah rolls around, I bake challah. When it's Passover, I can lay out a Seder like nobody's business. Come Chanukah time, I make latkes. Good ones. Purim? Hamentaschen.

So maybe the kitchen is my synagogue? I bond with my ancestors there. I have my great-grandmother's rolling pin. I have my grandmother's hand-written recipes. I have my mom's copy of Elegant Essen, a cookbook put together by a local synagogue that she always brought out when company was coming for the holidays.

I also have way too many other Jewish cookery books, including my latest...

If you are under the age of 65, you may not know who Molly Goldberg is. All I knew of her was that she had a television show in the 1950's that my mother had loved. The opening line on each of her shows was "Yoo-hoo! Mrs. Goldberg!"

Oy, is that some big challah!

Actually, before I even knew that she was a celebrity, I thought she was a friend or relative of my grandmother's. In her hand-written recipe collection she had something called Molly Goldberg's Pickled Peppers. I had no clue that she was a groundbreaking icon!

Molly Goldberg's real name was Gertrude Berg.  She was one of the first women to create, write, produce and star in a long-running hit show....The Goldbergs. She won an Emmy and a Tony award. She was a song writer that was recorded by Patsy Cline, and she also had a very famous cookbook!

Amazingly, they are still printing copies of it. It came out in 1955 and was the bible of Ashkenazi Jewish cookery. It has everything from bagels and knishes to brisket and rugelach.

Sticking with my diet, I chose to make Cabbage Soup. Molly had some interesting ideas on how to make this classic....very different from how I've been doing it. I gave her the benefit of the doubt and followed as closely as I could with the exception of rye bread and beef bones. I also subbed a different cut of meat because I wanted to use something leaner and something I cut cut into bite size pieces.

Also, I halved the recipe. Additionally, I had to make a guess with the tomatoes, as I was unsure what the heck a can of #2 1/2 tomatoes would be.

Here's the original recipe, I will note my substitutions:

Cabbage Soup

3 pounds of beef (plate flank, breast flank, or brisket) - I used something called Petite Beef Tender Chuck Filet Steak
Beef Bones (didn't use this)
2 1/2 quarts water
1 can #2 1/2 tomatoes
2 onions, chopped
4 pounds of cabbage, coarsely shredded
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup lemon juice
4 T sugar (I used 1 packet of Truvia)
1/2 pound sauerkraut, drained (optional...but I tried it!)
2 slices rye bread, trimmed (I left these out too)

Combine the beef, beef bones, water, tomatoes and onion in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Skim the top. Cover and cook over medium heat for one hour.  Add the cabbage, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat for one hour. Add the lemon juice, sugar, and sauerkraut. Cook for 15 minutes.

Soak the bread in water for 5 minutes. Drain and add to the soup. Correct seasoning. The soup should have a more sour than sweet taste. Cook for 15 minutes longer or until the meat is tender.

Serve the soup and the meat at the same time. This makes a complete meal in one dish.

While this didn't knock my socks off, I did like the unexpected addition of the sauerkraut. I think I may stick to my basic cabbage soup recipe with the beef broth and add some of Molly's sauerkraut to the mix.

I'll be keeping cookbook #9 of 99 for sure. I mean, I already thought Molly Goldberg was a relative of my grandmother's anyway...I might as well have her stick around!

Cooking with Kids (The PG-13 Edition)

If you give a kid some carrots, and tell him to peel them...he'll want to chat while doing so.

He'll ask lots of questions.

Among them?

"Hey, Mom?" "What's that called when a word or sentence is spelled the same forward and backwards?" "Is it a mammogram?"

Then you'll have to explain that its actually called a palindrome, and a mammogram is a special x-ray for boobs that helps to detect cancer.

Then you'll have to explain how they do a mammogram.

Then you'll have to explain how there is no test like that for a penis, so stop worrying about it.

Then you'll realize that the recipe you were working on has taken a wrong turn.

While the kiddo was peeling, I was onto my next recipe from cookbook number 8 of 99....

Back to the Table by Art Smith.

Art was Oprah's personal chef. I must have seen him on her show at some point and liked what he was making. I don't remember it at all, but something must have made me want to buy his cookbook.

It is a beautiful book full of fabulous looking recipes. Only problem is, I don't recall ever making any! I think I have some sort of problem. Is there a 12-step program for cookbook addicts?

Anyway....

I chose Herb Roasted Chicken, another recipe that fits into the 17 Day Diet.

It is a fairly simple recipe, but when you have a child peppering you with questions about anatomy and medical procedures, its easy to mess it up.

Things started off well. I had enough sense to gather my ingredients and take a photo:

There was a lot of chopping involved. This recipe called for a mixture of fresh herbs, so I was getting some practice with my new knife, fielding questions from the kid, feeling like a rock star in the kitchen. I got the herb paste all ready to go, showed the kiddo the raw chicken and all of the nastiness I pulled out from inside of it,  and then proceeded to follow the recipe and rub all of that herby goodness underneath the skin and all over the chicken. It was looking fabulous.

Until I realized that the bird was upside down.

And I had rubbed all of the good stuff on the underside of the chicken. Not the breast.

Oops.

Looks good here, right?

You do NOT want to see what it looked like when I turned it over to carve it. Ick. So much ick.

The good news is that it tasted great! I would imagine it is even more delicious with all of those herbs in the right place instead of the wrong one. But that's what you get when you're explaining mammograms to a pre-teen boy.

Here is the recipe. Hopefully you won't be as distracted as I was if you choose to make it!

Herb Roasted Chicken
Back to the Table by Art Smith

One 4 pound chicken
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon of fresh tarragon, chopped
1 tablespoon of fresh basil, chopped
1 tablespoon of fresh marjoram, chopped
1 tablespoon of fresh thyme, chopped
1 tablespoon of oregano, chopped
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 lemon
1 carrot, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 cup chicken broth

Preheat oven to 400

Position a rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 400°. Clean chicken inside and out with cold water and pat dry. Arrange on rack in a roasting pan.

Chop garlic, then mash with salt to make a paste. Transfer to small bowl. Add oil, tarragon, basil, thyme, marjoram, oregano and pepper, and mix. Slip your fingers under the skin of each breast to loosen; rub as much herb paste as you can under skin. Rub remaining paste in body cavity, then place a lemon half inside. If desired, tie chicken legs together with kitchen twine.

Place chicken, breast side up, on rack in a roasting pan. Roast 30 minutes, basting twice. Scatter onions, carrots and celery in pan. Roast about 20 to 30 minutes longer, basting once or twice, or until a meat thermometer inserted in thickest part of thigh, without touching a bone, reads 180°.

Transfer chicken to a platter. Pour pan juices into a small glass measuring cup. (Discard vegetables in roasting pan.) Let juices stand 5 minutes, then skim off any fat from surface. Place pan over high heat on stove. When pan is sizzling, pour in degreased juices and broth. Bring to a boil, stirring up browned bits on bottom of pan with a wooden spoon. Strain into a sauceboat. Carve chicken and serve with pan juices.

A Little Bit of Summer in Winter

There's snow on the ground, it was 16 degrees today, and we are all wearing thermal underwear.

I am dreaming of warm weather.

I complain in the Summer when its too hot, I complain in the Winter when its too cold. I can't help it.

Despite the freezing cold, I made a very "Summery" dinner.

Ina Garten's Salmon Salad.

This comes from the original 1999 Barefoot Contessa cookbook, and has always been a favorite of mine. Luckily, it fits in nicely to the 17 Day Diet.

I started with two pounds of fresh salmon. I've become pretty good at cooking salmon ever since I got the skillet that goes into the oven. I start it on top of the stove to sear, flip it over and then finish it off in the stove at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

After it cooked, I let it rest for a bit before I broke it up into pieces. It was really hard not to pop bits in my mouth as I was doing this. It was so good! All I did was drizzle a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper before searing. Yum.

After cooking the salmon, the rest is a cinch. Just dicing up the celery and onion, and chopping the dill. Other than that its a few tablespoons and teaspoons of this and that.

Miraculously, we all ate the same thing for dinner! Even the picky kiddo ate it, and went above and beyond expectations by thanking me for making it.

I'll have to thank Auntie for creating it. Another satisfied customer!

Oh, Auntie. You've Led Me Astray!

There was a time when I whole-heartedly believed in anything that Auntie Ina had to say. Her word was golden. I needed to have the brands that she suggested, I wanted to have her fabulous cookware and kitchen, and I absolutely had to make a pilgrimage to the Hamptons to visit the original Barefoot Contessa store.

Granted, I was all of 26 and still impressionable at the time.

But....if Auntie said it was faaaaabulous? I wanted it.

Until I got the Loaves and Fishes Cookbook.

Loaves and Fishes is a food shop in Sagaponack that opened in 1980 and is apparently a favorite of Auntie. She references their cookbook ALL of the time, and even has visited the store numerous times on her show. Of course, if Auntie loves it so much it HAS to be amazing. Right?

Interestingly, the book was not easy to find. Eventually I was able to get a hold of a copy on Amazon and I was very excited to see what all of the fuss was about. I imagined it would be like a gift from my fairy godmother...because Auntie Ina is the epitome of fabulous.

So, umm. Yeah.

Not so much.

Most of the recipes call for either butter, mayonnaise or sour cream. Even the meats! And it wasn't decadent sounding stuff, it just sounds gross. It's very 1980's and not in a good way.

Lamb, Mint and Spinach Salad. Cheese Chowder. Scallops with Tomato, Garlic and Cream. Calve's Liver with Tarragon Butter Sauce. Sausage and Duck Casserole.

Eww.

It became clear that there was nothing that was going to fit in with the 17 Day Diet in this book. When this happens, my boys are the lucky ones.

They're getting baked goods.

In the Loaves and Fishes book, even the sweets were fairly unappetizing. Yeesh.

I chose something basic...Oatmeal Cookies. Supposedly it is one of Loaves and Fishes most popular items, and it happens to be one of my husband's favorite cookies.

Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups old fashioned oatmeal (instant will not work)
3/4 cups walnuts, chopped
3/4 cups raisins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cream butters, sugars, vanilla and egg until the mixture becomes light in color.  In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and oatmeal. Add to the butter mixture and blend well. Add the walnuts and raisins, folding them into the mixture to incorporate them evenly. Drop tablespoons of batter onto greased or parchment-covered cookie sheet 2 inches apart.  Flatten slightly. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

According to my husband, the cookies are good. Not the greatest, but good. All I can vouch for is the smell. They smelled SO good.

The best thing about this book is that it is worth a lot of money. For some reason, this $15 book is now going for $50 or more online. I'm going to cash in, because there is no way we are going to be eating these retro, fat-laden monstrosities. Bye-bye, cookbook #6 of 98. Auntie may think you're the bee's knees, but I'm still queasy from just reading your recipes!

The Tides Have Turned

Cookbook #5 of 98....

A little bit of Auntie herself.

Interestingly enough, this is a recipe that I have tried before, but I have NO recollection of making it. I did not recognize the name of the recipe, even when checking the ingredients. I didn't even see the notation I made at the bottom of the recipe:

When it came time to make it, I looked more closely at the page and noticed my very descriptive and potential Pulitzer-Prize winning notation:

Can you see it over there in the bottom right corner?

No? 

I guess that's why I missed it upon first glance. 

If you can't manage to make it out, it says....."ICK."

Apparently I did not like this recipe when I made it. I don't remember it very well. The book came out in October 2008.

My, how things have changed!

Since changing my eating habits with the 17 Day Diet over a year ago, my palate has certainly evolved. Foods I wouldn't dream of touching before are now some of my favorites!

I guess I can count broccolini among them now?

This recipe was quick and easy, although prepared differently from how I typically do my vegetables. Auntie wanted me to boil the broccolini. I have some issues with boiled vegetables. Mainly stemming from my mother-in-law annually murdering a poor head of cauliflower or broccoli at Christmas dinner by boiling the life out of it and plopping it into a bowl.

I know now that boiling for the correct amount of time does not suck the life out of the vegetable. This was a quick two minutes in boiling, salted water. Thanks, Auntie.

After that, its just whisking up a few things in a measuring cup and pouring over the broccolini. 

It was fast, easy and tasted so good hot or cold! 

Action shot:

Keeping the balsamic theme going, I ate mine with my favorite chicken:

Here is the recipe for Broccolini and Balsamic Vinaigrette. I halved the recipe because I didn't want to be stuck with a huge batch. Half made plenty! Enjoy!

Hidden Gem

Cookbook number 4 of 98 just knocked my socks off!

I pulled it off the shelf and figured that this would be one that ended up in the discard pile at the end of this experiment.

Another relic from the late 1990's and the beginning of my relationship with my husband:

The White Dog Cafe Cookbook.

When I was first dating my husband, we were living in New York. He had grown up just outside of Philadelphia and I had never been there before. Being the crazy kids that we were, we decided to get in the car and drive to Philly so he could take me to the White Dog where we would eat nachos and drink Leg Lifter Lager. We literally drove to Philadelphia, looked at the house where he grew up (not telling his parents that we were driving right by) and then went into the city to sightsee and eat.

Ahh, young love. You can stay up all night and do impulsive things and it never seems to take a toll on you. After being married for 15 years I can barely make it until 10:00 before I start falling asleep!

The following year we went back to the White Dog Cafe with my husband's family for Christmas Eve dinner. It was not as good as the beer and nachos night.

As one of our gifts, my future mother-in-law gave us the White Dog Cookbook. I don't recall ever using it. I'm sure I paged through it at the time but it must not have spoken to me, so it sat on the shelf untouched.

Imagine my surprise when I took it out and found myself putting flags on multiple recipes! I guess I needed to grow into the book to appreciate it?

I chose a soup recipe because it is FREEZING here. Literally. It's going to be 0 degrees tonight. Brr.
Making this soup was a bit of a project, but fortunately it was well worth it!

Ratatouille Bisque

This soup was AMAZING. Well worth the effort. It wasn't hard to make, but it was what we call in Yiddish a "patchke." That means it was a bit of a mess. There are multiple roasting pans involved, lots of chopping, using the blender or food processor, etc. This doesn't bother me but I know some people don't care for too many steps and a bunch of pans to wash! Regardless, I think this soup is worthy of the time and mess. It was that good!

I did adapt the recipe just a bit to fit into the 17 Day Diet. I also cut it in half because I didn't want to be stuck with a huge pot of soup that no one liked if it wasn't very good. I'll post my version of the recipe here and just let you know that it can be doubled to make more.

Ratatouille Bisque

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

1 small head of garlic, roasted (easy to do...cut off top, pour on a bit of olive oil, wrap in foil and bake for 30 minutes at 375 in the oven. I threw mine in the toaster oven.)
1 large red bell pepper, chopped and seeded
1 large yellow pepper, chopped and seeded
1 sweet onion, peeled and chopped
1 bulb fennel, fronds removed and core cut out, chopped
1 eggplant, sliced lengthwise
6 large, ripe plum tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups tomato juice
1 1/2 cups water
1 T Balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 packet of Truvia (recipe called for 1 tsp sugar)

Toss peppers, onion and fennel in a bowl with half of the olive oil.
Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast until lightly charred for 45 minutes

Toss the tomatoes with 1 T of the oil and spread on another baking sheet and roast until charred, about 30 minutes.

Rub the eggplant halves with the remaining oil and put them cut side down on baking sheet. Roast until soft, about 20 minutes.

When the vegetables are done, remove and let cool to room temperature.
Remove the eggplant pulp from the skin by scraping out with a large spoon. Discard skins. Squeeze garlic cloves out of their skin.

Puree all of the roasted vegetables in blender or food processor in batches.
In a large, non-reactive saucepan combine vegetables with the remaining ingredients. Taste for seasonings and add more tomato juice or water to thin if needed.

Depending on who is eating it, you can serve with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese or some crusty bread.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what other treasures this cookbook has in store!