Finally - she returns!

For the handful of you who still check in to this blog - thank you. So sorry it's been a few months since I've posted anything - I ran into a few problems at the beginning of February. To make a long story short, I've been diagnosed with advanced stage breast cancer. That this has been a huge shock is an understatement - our lives have been totally turned upside down. I'm currently going through chemotherapy and am doing very well - the treatment seems to be working! I am very hopeful at this point and have received so much love and support from family and friends. Also, please forgive any glaring errors in grammar and coherency because there really is a thing called "chemo brain" (although my husband thinks it's just my new convenient excuse :-) At any rate, my life has been crazy since then, but the good news is I finally have the time and energy to blog again!

So, earlier this year, I had decided to devote this blog to healthy, diet-friendly foods. Ha - forget that now. I may eventually rejoin the Tuesdays With Dorie gang (if I even can), but for now, I'll just check in with them now and then and make some super delicious treats once in a while. One thing about being blessed with all those wonderfully caring friends and family - my family and I have been well fed. It's a well-known theory around these parts that enormous amounts of food can cure cancer. Good thing my mother bought us a freezer - we've already got enough in there to feed a small army. We won't have to worry about any kind of swine flu quarantine - we're set to eat like royalty for weeks! Needless to say, I haven't been cooking much since all this started. In the future, I think I'm going to feature some of the yummy things I've been getting.

Since yesterday was Cinco de Mayo, my sister made us her famous chicken tacos and I thought I'd start posting with that. Oh my, are they muy bueno!

Chicken Tacos

1 lb boneless chicken chicken breast

2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice

1-2 tablespoons pineapple juice

3/4 cup terryaki sauce

fresh corn tortillas

vegetable oil

condiments: chopped tomatoes, chopped onions, lettuce, cheese, guacamole (recipe below), black beans (recipe below)

Combine first six ingredients into a gallon-sized ziploc bag and marinate for at least 30 minutes or up to 4 hours.

Cook on the grill.

Meanwhile, fry the tortillas in a small amount of vegetable oil using tongs to hold the tortillas open (fry one side at a time).

You can always just use store bought corn tacos, of course (you could also use flour tortillas). When the chicken is done, slice thinly and serve with the toppings. Enjoy with a large margarita!

Guacamole

2 ripe avocados

1/4 cup freshly chopped cilantro

1/4 finely chopped onion

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

salt to taste

Mash all ingredients together and serve immediately.

Black Beans

1 can black beans, drained

1-2 teaspoons dried cumin

1/2 - 1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 - 1 teaspoon chili powder

salt and pepper to taste

Mix together and heat. All of the spices are to taste - if you like spicy stuff, you can add some red chili pepper instead of the chili powder.

Light Italian Wedding Soup

It has been cold here in the midwest - I mean really, really friggin' cold. I don't like it one bit, but I'm coping. One of the ways I try to cope is by eating and drinking lots of hot liquids - lots of tea, lots of soups. I found this recipe in the latest issue of Everyday Food, which actually had 4 soup recipes this month - and was intrigued. First, I'd never made Italian Wedding Soup before and second, it calls for escarole, a vegetable with which I was completely unaware. It looks a lot like lettuce and is actually a part of the endive family - slightly bitter when raw, cooked it mellows out and is pretty darn tasty. Thankfully, my kids are pretty adventuresome when it comes to new veggies. They've tried kale, swiss chard, broccoli rabe, and others - most of which were a hit. They really liked this soup a lot, but if your kids might balk at the escarole, you could easily substitute spinach.

I think the idea of little meatballs in the soup appealed to my kids too, so it wasn't hard to get them to try it.

This recipe was really easy and came together in about a half an hour. I only slightly deviated from the recipe, adding some oregano and additional water and it turned out to be really delicious.

Light Italian Wedding Soup

from the Everyday Food January/February 09 issue

makes 6 servings

1 pound ground dark-meat turkey (93 percent lean) I used a 1.25 lb tray of Jenny-O Turkey
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) diced tomatoes in juice
2 heads escarole (2 pounds total), cored, trimmed, and coarsely chopped
1/2 tsp dried oregano

2 cups water

Directions
In a bowl, combine turkey, garlic, egg, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Using 1 tablespoon for each, roll mixture into balls. The ideal tool for this is a small scoop - I used a teaspoon sized scoop and kind of mounded the meatball mix on the end.

In a large pot, heat oil over medium. Cook onion, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Add broth and tomatoes (with juice) and oregano; bring to a simmer. Add meatballs; cook, without stirring, until meatballs float to surface, about 5 minutes.

Add as much escarole to pot as will fit. Cook, gradually adding remaining escarole, until wilted and meatballs are cooked through, about 5 minutes more. Thin soup with water if desired (I used 2 cups); season with salt and pepper. Serve soup sprinkled with more Parmesan.

Nutritional Info per serving

250 calories

9.8 grams fat (3g Saturated)

23.6 grams protein

19.3 grams carbs

4.8 grams fiber

WeightWatchers Point Value per serving: 5

I hope you try this soup at your house and please, let me know how you and your family liked it!

I'm Baaaack!

Hello Internet world, I'm back. I really need a new New Year's Resolution to stay on top of blogging! I'd like to say that I've been incredibly busy doing good works and just simply didn't have the time to blog. Alas, no good excuse like that for me - just lazy :-)

We had an absolutely, perfectly terrific Disney vacation. There really is no other word to describe that place but "Magical" (well, maybe "expensive" might be one too if you ask my husband). I just love Walt Disney World and have decided that the hubby and I are going to retire down there and work at Disney part time (saw lots of retirees working, especially on the transportation stuff - boats, buses and monorails). I could do that - I mean how hard could it be to deal with millions of people from all over the world trying to placate their tired and cranky kids day in and day out. He's not nearly as excited at that prospect as I am, but luckily I've got 20 years or more to convince him!

The 1/2 Marathon was a great experience (except for maybe miles 11.5 through 13 - those were pretty brutal) and I am so thankful that my Sister-in-law ran with me at my turtle speed. Thank you so much Karen - you kept me motivated and going when I so wanted to stop! She and her husband also went to the parks with us and were not only a huge help, but the kids adore them and had a wonderful time riding rides and even standing in line with them. Which reminds me - January is a great time to visit Disney, our longest wait was maybe 20 minutes or so and most were less than 5. We had to use fast pass only twice - once for Toy Story Mania and once for Soarin' (both are highly recommended and always had at least a 45minute wait). It did get pretty cool however, with highs in the low sixties and even 50's on our last day. This of course was infinitely better than the temps the folks back in the home town were experiencing - 0's and worse - yuck! So glad I missed that!

I could go on and on about how wonderful Disney World is, but I'm sure either you already know because a. you've been there before or b. you've heard from people you know who've been. I'll sum it up and say it's worth every penny!

Back to food blogging tomorrow with a great soup recipe I found in my Everyday Food magazine.

Lighter Chicken Parmesan

After I get back form Walt Disney World, I plan on really starting to watch what I eat (there's really no point while you're on vacation, right?). I've decided to use WeightWatchers.com and see how it works out. WW doesn't have any meeting places close to where I live (I'm spoiled now, living in a small town and think 25 minutes is just too far to go for a meeting, or anything else for that matter) so I'm going to track my points online. I'll try to include the points values for the recipes I post, but I can't promise I can get to every one. I'll also be tracking my weekly workouts which will hopefully be 4 runs and 2 cross trains. I've got the best of intentions don't I?!

Anyway, here's a recipe that's really easy and is a kid-pleaser too. Sorry, I don't have the points value for this dish yet, but the nutritional data is at the bottom of the recipe.

Baked Chicken Parmesan

1.5 pounds boneless chicken breasts (about 6)

1 tsp olive oil

1 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 cup low-fat mozzarella cheese

1.5 cups prepared tomato sauce (for a time-saver, I like to use Bertolli or Newman's Own)

1/2 cup egg substitute (or two eggs, beaten)

Preheat oven to 375°. Spread olive oil in the bottom of a 13x9 pan. Pat chicken breasts dry and season with salt and pepper. In a shallow bowl, mix bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Put eggs in another shallow bowl and set the bowls side by side.

Here's my assembly line:

Dredge each chicken breast in eggs, letting excess drip off, and then dredge in bread crumb mixture. Set each breast in the prepared 13x9 pan.

Bake for appx. 20 minutes until the chicken starts to get lightly browned.

Remove pan from oven. Cover the chicken with the tomato sauce and top with mozzarella cheese.

Bake an additional 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and is starting to brown.

Nutritional Information (by Nutritiondata.com)

6 Servings

219 Calories

8g Total fat

4g Saturated Fat

26mg Cholesterol

369mg Sodium

18g Total Carbs

2g Dietary Fiber

17g Protein

I like to serve this with a side of pasta and I really like the Barilla Plus line (extra fiber and protein) - but if you're watching carbs, just serve it with loads of veggies!

Enjoy!

TWD: Tall and Creamy Cheesecake and an announcement

Hi everyone, I'm back! Sorry for the unannounced (and unanticipated) blogging vacation. I sure hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas - we sure did. It wasn't exactly peaceful (that's an impossibility with four children) but it certainly was joyful.

I have made my fair share of cheesecakes and even made some to sell this holiday season - and that's what I did with this one. A friend ordered a cheesecake for her family Christmas celebration this past Saturday, which was perfect timing for this week's TWD post. I have a couple of very good recipes from epicurious.com that I most frequently use. In fact, I used the topping from this one to create the cheesecake I made for my friend - Cranberry Orange Cheesecake with a Chocolate Crust.

Dorie's recipe comes together very easily, like most cheesecakes. I'm not sure why people find the prospect of making a cheesecake daunting, because, really it's pretty easy - the trickiest part is the water bath and I'm going to tell you the secret right now. When you're wrapping your springform pan in foil to go into the water bath, you must use the large heavy duty foil (18 inches wide). If you use anything smaller, the water will seep into the pan and turn your crust into mush (I speak from experience here). Wrap the pan at least twice, making sure to mold each foil layer upwards towards the top of the pan (not folding it sideways) - you may have to roll the top of the foil around the top edge.

Another tip: when you fill your roasting pan, make sure to put the pan in first, then fill it with hot water (no more than halfway up the side of the pan).

To make a chocolate crust, I just used 1 3/4 cups of crushed oreos (stuff removed - this is much to the delight of my children who make super stuffed oreos).

You can buy plain chocolate wafer cookies - Meijer doesn't carry them here though and they're usually more expensive than oreos (plus, no stuff). Anyway, I omitted the additional sugar and just stirred in the melted butter.

The only other change I made to the original recipe was to add 2 tsp. grated orange zest to the batter and add the topping. Here's that recipe:

1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
2 cups fresh cranberries
1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel

Stir sugar and water in medium saucepan over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium; add cornstarch mixture and bring to simmer. Add cranberries; cook until beginning to pop, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Stir in orange peel. Cool completely. Cover and chill overnight. (Cheesecake and cranberry mixture can be made 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated.)

Run knife around top edge of cheesecake to loosen. Release pan sides. Top cheesecake with cranberry mixture. Chill until set, about 1 hour.

My announcement is sort of a sad one to make - this will be my last Tuesdays with Dorie post. Unfortunately, Dorie's baked goods aren't calorie free and I really want to focus on losing 30 pounds next year. I thought that training for a half marathon would do the trick, but alas, no. At least I didn't gain any weight! I have had such a great time since I joined and I am so thankful for all my new blogging friends I met through TWD.

In 2009 I am going to try to post healthy recipes which will be lower in fat and sugar, but every once in a while, I'm going to have to sneak in something truly decadent (and there's really not many better sources out there than Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie). Thanks to all my TWD buddies for all your support and I'll be sure to check in with you each Tuesday!

Have a happy and safe New Year!

UPDATE: It's been too long since I last posted a TWD - I completely forgot to link to the wonderful blogger who choose this week's recipe. Please visit Anne of Annestrawberry for the recipe and to check out a truly fantastic blog!

TWD: Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar Cookies

Please accept my apologies for the light blogging lately. Like all of you, we are busy, busy, busy right now and blogging has sort of taken a back seat. So, sorry - I am hoping that I'll be able to get back into the swing of things after the holidays (and then after a short break for the Disney half marathon and vacation in January).

These cookies are a snap to make and are a good all-around sugar cookie. They are a little on the crisp side, but if you watch them really carefully and take them out just before they start to brown, you can have them a little crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside (which seems to be just the right texture to me). I have to admit that they don't quite measure up to my all-time favorite sugar cookie recipe though - Cream Cheese Icebox Cookies from the Joy of Cooking. These are simply outstanding - the dough is great to work with and the addition of the cream cheese just makes them taste fantastic. I also usually use the Quick White Icing II recipe from the same book and it's always a hit (watch this very carefully as it heats - don't overheat it or it'll crystallize on you). Since this was the kids' chance to get in touch with their inner artist (and taste isn't a huge factor), I went with Betty Crocker's icing bags this time.

I let the kids go to town with the frosting and sprinkles. Isn't it amazing how children have the ability to cover almost every square millimeter of the top of the cookie with stuff - that my friends, is pure kid talent. This is my three year old's creation:

For Dorie's recipe, check out the Küchenlatein blog (I think it's German, but she's got a translator function) - thanks Ulrike for choosing this week's recipe and giving my kids the opportunity to make a pretty good sized mess and get a nice sugar rush all in the span on 15 minutes :-) As usual, you can check out all the other supremely talented TWD bloggers here.

TWD: Linzer Sables

It's the most wonderful time of the year again folks! Welcome to the Christmas season - well, actually according to Catholic tradition, it's only Advent, and Christmas is from Dec. 25th through Jan. 5th, but I digress.... Anyway, Tuesdays with Dorie starts off the season with, what else, cookies! They're beautiful cookies too - or they could be if you remember to make a cutout in the center of the cookie (making a window into the delightful raspberry jam filling). As you can see, I completely forgot to do this, but I still think they're pretty. And feel free to judge this book by it's cover - they're delicious!

The recipe is very easy - don't be intimidated by rolling out the dough. It rolled out like a dream and, since you roll it between two sheets of plastic wrap, clean up is a cinch. I only made one change to this recipe and that's to substitute 1 can of almond paste for the ground almonds and sugar. I thought I had plenty of almonds stored away in the freezer and only at the last minute realized I didn't have any. Thankfully, I had bought a can of the almond paste a couple of months ago intending to make another batch of almond horns (still intending to do that - maybe later this month). This substitution worked great, but I had to rearrange the directions a little to compensate, so I'm reprinting the recipe with my changes.

Linzer Sables

adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

1 8 oz. can Almond Paste

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsps ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

scant 1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 large egg 2 tsp water

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup raspberry jam

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, blend almond paste and butter together until smooth, maybe 3 minutes at medium-low speed, scraping down the sides as needed. Reduce speed to low and add in the ground cinnamon, cloves and salt. Add in the egg and water, beat another 2 minutes. Add the flour, mixing only until just combined - don't over mix.

Divide the dough in half. Working with one half at a time, put the dough between two large sheets of plastic wrap. Using your hands, flatten the dough into a disk, then grab a rolling pin and roll out the dough, turning it over frequently so the paper doesn't cut into it (I did not do this and it wasn't a problem - I used plastic wrap though) until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Leave the dough in the paper and repeat with the second half of the dough. Transfer wrapped dough to a baking sheet and refrigerate or freeze until it is very firm, about 2 hours in the fridge or about 45 minutes in the freezer. The rolled-out dough can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. Just thaw the dough enough to cut out the cookies and go on from there.

Getting Ready to Bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 375°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Peel off the top sheet of wax paper or plastic wrap from one piece of dough and, using a 2-inch round cookie cutter - a scalloped cutter is nice for these - cut out as many cookies as you can. If you want a peekaboo cutout, use the end of a piping tip to cut out a very small circle from the centers of half the cookies. Transfer the rounds to the baking sheets, leaving a little space between the cookies. Repeat with second disk of dough. Set the scarps aside - you can combine them with the scraps from the second disk and roll and cut more cookies (refrigerate the rolled out disk as before).

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time (I didn't - I put them both in the oven and switched them halfway through baking and they came out great) for 11 to 13 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly golden, dry and just firm to the touch. Transfer to a rack to cool to room temperature.

To make sandwich cookies, spread jam on one side of the cookies and top with another cookie. Dorie's recipe is a little different her in that she melts the jam with some water and boils it slightly, but again, mine came out fine just using the straight jam. One final note, the recipe says it makes 50 cookies (or 25 sandwich cookies) - I didn't even come close to that as I only got about 16, but I don't think I rolled out my dough as thin as a quarter of an inch either.

I definitely recommend this cookie and think it'll look great in your holiday assortment, especially if you use a Christmas themed cookie cutter. I tried using my star-shaped cutter, but the tips kept breaking off so, in order to keep my stress level down and avoid that Mommy's-really-irritated-so-don't-mess-with-her atmosphere in the kitchen, I went with the scalloped edge cutter. (My kids know first hand that expression "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy" and have started to recognize the warning signs)

Many thanks to noskos of Living the Life for selecting a cookie that's as beautiful as it is tasty (you can find the original recipe there)! Like I said, I don't know if I'd classify my Linzer Sables as beautiful, but not bad. Dorie's are in the book and I'm sure plenty of other TWD bakers' have gorgeous cookies - so check 'em out!

Coming up next Tuesday: Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar Cookies (we'll be breaking out the Christmas sprinkles for sure!)

Barefoot Bloggers - Mexican Chicken Soup

I have to be honest - I wasn't all that crazy about making this soup and then having to post it on Thanksgiving of all days, but actually I really liked it. Judy from Judy’s Gross Eats selected this week's recipe and I thankful she did because I probably would have never tried it on my own (a common theme with my Barefoot Bloggers experience so far). The kids didn't really think it was all that great, but this really isn't the kind of soup that's going to please the under 12 crowd anyway. But, if you're in any age group above that, you should give this soup a try - I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised!

Here are my changes:

• I took a major shortcut and used a roasted chicken from Sams and just shredded it - worked great and only cost me $4.88!
• Used store bought chicken stock
• Omitted the jalepenos - kiddos don't like anything even remotely spicy
• Omitted the ground coriander seeds and just used 1/2 cup of cilantro

Mexican Chicken Soup

from Barefoot Contessa at Home

yield 6 - 8 servings

4 split (2 whole) chicken breasts, bone in, skin on

Good olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cups chopped onions (2 onions)

1 cup chopped celery (2 stalks)

2 cups chopped carrots (4 carrots)

4 large cloves garlic, chopped

2 1/2 quarts chicken stock, preferably homemade

1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes in puree, crushed

2 to 4 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander seed

1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves, optional

6 (6-inch) fresh white corn tortillas
For serving: sliced avocado, sour cream, grated Cheddar cheese, and tortilla chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chicken breasts skin side up on a sheet pan. Rub with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until done. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, discard the skin and bones, and shred the meat. Cover and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the onions, celery, and carrots and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, or until the onions start to brown.

Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the chicken stock, tomatoes with their puree, jalapenos, cumin, coriander, 1 tablespoon salt (depending on the saltiness of the chicken stock), 1 teaspoon pepper, and the cilantro, if using. Cut the tortillas in 1/2, then cut them crosswise into 1/2-inch strips and add to the soup. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes. Add the shredded chicken and season to taste.

Serve the soup hot topped with sliced avocado, a dollop of sour cream, grated Cheddar cheese, and broken tortilla chips.

You can find the list of all the other Barefoot Bloggers here.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!

TWD: Thanksgiving Twofer Pie

If you're short on time this Thanksgiving (and really, who isn't), this pie may be just the thing for you - two pies for the price of one! This week's recipe was selected by Vibi of La casserole carrée (another French-Canadian blog! Don't worry about trying to read it with your high-school-French-class-only-level French language abilities, she's got Google Translate) - thanks for choosing such a perfect recipe for this week Vibi!

It's very easy to put together, especially if you buy a Pillsbury ready to use pie crust. Yep, that's right - I pulled a Sandra Lee and I used a store-bought pie crusts to make my "semi-homemade" twofer pies. For those of you who know me, you know what a monumental announcement this is - I never, ever, under almost any circumstance use refrigerated pie dough. You see, I am a bit particular when it comes to pie crusts because they are my favorite part of the pie. My husband calls me a food snob, whatever. I prefer to think of myself as highly selective - I just know what I like, and homemade pie crust is, IMHO the only way to go. With a single exception - time. Or, more specifically, the lack there of. I don't mean to keep harping on this, because I know everyone is busy, but (as usual) I have over-committed and have just simply started to run out of time. I think I have the word "sucker" tattooed across my forehead, so please do me a favor and don't ask me to sign up to help with anything because I am just incapable of saying no.

At any rate, I ended up making two of these twofer pies for my church bake sale a week or so ago. Unfortunately, this meant that I personally don't know how they tasted, but I was told that they sold right away and the Women's Club earned some money for them, so I'm happy with that. I sure hope whoever bought them enjoyed them!

Here's my little 3 year old helping with the pumpkin pie part of the recipe (as a side note - don't you love all that stuff all over the counter - I'm surprised I found room for the dang food processor!).

The recipe calls for mixing the ingredients for the pecan pie filling together, then spinkling the pecans on the pumpkin layer already in the pie pan and then pouring the filling on last. I messed up and mixed the pecans in with the filling and just spread it over the pumkin - turned out just fine.

The final product:

Can't wait to hear how the other TWD bakers liked this pie - you can check them out here.

Lots and lots of cookies are scheduled for next month, including Linzer Sables which are on tap for next Tuesday!

TWD: Arborio Rice Pudding, Black, White (or both)

I chose the "both option" since I knew I was going to have to double the recipe anyway to satisfy my family of sweet-tooths. I was eagerly anticipating this recipe because I haven't ever made rice pudding, and hadn't even eaten it since I was oh, about twelve years old. My Mom made it for us occasionally when we were growing up, but I haven't had the opportunity to have it since. On the surface, this recipe looks extremely easy, with only a handful of ingredients even if you include the chocolate. But, as I'm sure you are aware, looks can be deceiving.

I made one change from the recipe because I wanted to and another change because I had to. For the first, I decided that I would make the "white" part white chocolate as opposed to just a simple vanilla. I was frankly surprised that this wasn't what Dorie had originally in mind when she wrote this recipe (just seemed to make sense in that the "black" part was to be chocolate). As for the necessary change, read on.

When I read over the recipe, the thought of only using a measly 1/4 cup of rice to 3 1/4 cups of milk was unsettling. I wondered if it might be a misprint, but I went ahead and trusted that Dorie knew what she was talking about. I wish I had read the comments over at the Tuesdays with Dorie site first (I will remember to do that from now on as it is always full of great advice). Suffice to say, my pudding didn't quite come out right.

The recipe says to parboil the rice for 10 minutes and then cook it in the milk and sugar mixture for 30 minutes until 80-90% of the milk had been absorbed. After 30 minutes of simmering, it tasted delicious but looked nothing like rice pudding and everything like rice soup. The rice was tender and I just thought there was no way it was going to soak up that much milk. I added white chocolate to half and bittersweet to the other half and covered them with the skin-preventing plastic wrap. By this point, it was getting late so just I threw it in the fridge for an overnight stint and hoped fervently that things would set up. Alas, this was not the case. In the morning I simply had cold rice soup.

By now, you'd think that I would have remembered to go to the TWD site to figure out what was going on, but no, I didn't. My necessary recipe change was to put each batch back into a pot and add some cornstarch (2 tbsp per pot) to thicken them (bring to a boil and cook for an additional minute). This worked like a charm but kind of diluted the flavor. Of course, it was after this additional step that I consulted my fellow TWD bakers and discovered what I did wrong. Although the recipe calls for 30 minutes of simmering, many others found that if allowed to simmer another 15 to 30 minutes more, the pudding thickened nicely.

All in all, I have to say that this rice pudding was pretty tasty, despite my doctoring with the cornstarch. The white chocolate was far and away my favorite of the two and I'll definitely be making it again and next time, I'll try to be more patient. Thanks Isabelle of Les gourmandises d’Isa (a French food blog - oh, la, la tres magnific!) for choosing this delicious recipe. Check out the other TWD bakers here.

Be sure to check in next week for Thanksgiving Twofer Pie!

Barefoot Bloggers - Herb Roasted Onions

Bless you Kelly (of Baking with the Boys) for selecting such a delicious and, most importantly, easy recipe for us today! I don't know about the rest of you, but I am just flying by the seat of my pants right now because time is moving at light speed (I know, I know - scientifically, that makes no sense, but you know what I mean). So, of course, I just prepared this dish last night at 8 pm knowing full well I wasn't going to really enjoy them until the next day. But, enjoy them I will. The husband is coming home tonight from a business trip and will be here by dinner - I am planning on preparing a wonderful steak and serving these roasted onions on the side. I can hardly wait, the aroma these made while roasting was just amazing and the small sample I tried right after they were done was really delicious.

I halved this recipe and only made one substitution - I used dried thyme instead of fresh (the selection at Meijer was terrible!)

Herb Roasted Onions
from Barefoot Contessa at Home
2 red onions
1 yellow onion
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup good olive oil
1/2 tablespoon minced fresh parsley leaves

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Remove the stem end of each onion and carefully slice off the brown part of the root end, leaving the root intact. Peel the onion. Stand each onion root end up on a cutting board and cut the onion in wedges through the root. Place the wedges in a bowl.

For the dressing, combine the lemon juice, mustard, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil. Pour the dressing over the onions and toss well.
With a slotted spoon, transfer the onions to a sheet pan, reserving the vinaigrette that remains in the bowl. Bake the onions for 30 to 45 minutes, until tender and browned. Toss the onions once during cooking. Remove from the oven, and drizzle with the reserved dressing. Sprinkle with parsley, season to taste and serve warm or at room temperature.


Again, great choice Kelly! Be sure to check out the other Barefoot Bloggers here.

Coming up for November 27th is Mexican Chicken Soup. Yep, Mexican soup on Thanksgiving - go figure (and no, of course I won't be serving it that day - I'll be making it well before then and just posting it that day).

Back to food blogging! TWD: Kugelhopf

I was intrigued when I first read that Kugelhopf would be our recipe this week - sounds really different, doesn't it? Really, it's just a kind of brioche (egg and butter, mildly sweet bread) and, well, to be totally honest, I didn't really think a whole lot of it after the taste test. It was good, but nothing to write home about, especially for all the steps involved in making it. Boy, I feel terrible writing that. It makes me wonder if I didn't do something right - which, after looking at it once it came out of the oven, makes that possibility more likely (note the concave bottom of those slices).

Anyway, here's how it came together:

The dough after the first addition of liquid (warm milk and yeast).

Yeah, that's exactly what I thought: "Huh? What the heck is that?" Dorie describes this look of the dough "shaggy". I've made quite a bit of bread but that was a new one for me, but that's a pretty accurate description.

After the addition of the eggs and butter however, the dough got very smooth and was actually pretty wet.

The boys had fun helping me out with this recipe (well eyeing the potential goodness, anyway), especially my littlest one - he really enjoyed watching my not-so-sturdy old Kitchen Aid work so hard to mix the dough.

Here he is helping to hold that crazy thing down! At any speed above 3, it really starts to wobble and kinda inches its way all over the counter.

My blogging friend Cathy over at The Tortefeasor is asking for kitchen goodies from Santa, I think I need to hop on that bandwagon too! Surely the big guy reads blogs - right Cathy?

I went looking for a Kugelhopf pan at our kitchen store in the mall and they didn't have one. So, not wanting to drag a tired 15 month old over to Bed Bath and Beyond, I just used the standby bundt pan (don't read anything into that Santa - just the new mixer would be great!).

After refrigerating the dough overnight, it actually rose faster than I expected - only two hours, but that was in a slightly warmed oven.

And, ta da - here's how it looked fresh out of the oven. Yeah, not quite right. Not sure what I did wrong, but Dorie says that the dough might rise up over the top of the pan once in the oven, but obviously, that wasn't a problem for my little Kugelhopf.

It looked much better unmolded with a fine dusting of powdered sugar:

So bottom line, if I were to make this again, which is doubtful, I would skip a lot of those middle rises and just do one rise overnight in the fridge, cook it in the morning and serve it at a brunch. You can find the recipe over at The All-Purpose Girl (thanks, Yolanda - I hope yours turned out better than mine!) and you can check out all the other fabulous Tuesdays with Dorie bakers here.

Next week's recipe sounds equally intriguing, but I'm hoping for better results: Black, White (or both) Arborio Rice Pudding

Twilight Mania

Okay, will this Twilight madness ever end? It's everywhere! Once I started reading the first book, I just couldn't stop. And now I'm reading them again to get ready for the movie. My husband thinks I'm just a little too gaga over Edward. What he just doesn't seem to understand is that he is my Edward - love you dear {{{kiss}}}}

I just found this at Real Mom Kitchen and immediately had to find out which character I was (though I knew I wasn't going to be Bella):


Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!


So I'm Esme and I'm happy with that (I'm definitely the mother hen type). Have fun finding out who you are. And for those of you who haven't read the books, for your families' sakes, please don't until maybe after Christmas. The mania that ensues is inescapable.