Easy Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookies and Christmas! There are millions of sugar cookie recipes out there, all basically the same, with small tweaks here and there.  I tried this recipe out from The Food Network with great success, with much help from the readers comments who mention how hard and crumbly the dough becomes after resting in the fridge, making it nearly impossible to roll out and work with.  So after I made the dough, I went ahead and rolled it out, cut my shapes and then put them on the sheet pans which went into the fridge for about an hour.  Once I removed them from the fridge, they were firm and solid.  Brilliant!  They baked evenly and did not spread.  This is the way to go.

Orange and Ginger Spiced Cranberry Sauce

 Here we are!  Only one day left to roll out all that food!  Get your engines running and grab those elastic - wasted pants and let the holidays officially begin.  I've got a million things to do and little time so I'm just going to blast this one out before hitting the road dutifully armed with some capers, Brussles Sprouts and this cranberry sauce.
I had a last minute thought last night as I had was cleaning out the fridge and noticed some organic cranberries just staring back at me.  (Random grocery purchase by the husband?).  Anyway, I just started tossing a little bit of this and a little bit of that into the pan and I'll be, it's pretty darn good!  I love it when that happens!  Give it a try if you are feeling adventurous.
Here's to a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!  Cheers!

Thomas Keller's AMAZING Roasted Chicken

The plan was to have an excellent picture of my perfectly golden chicken, in all it's crispy-skinned glory.  But with the daylight being what it is these days, I can't get my act together in time to cook and have any light available for a decent photo.  So, here's all that's left as any evidence that a spectacular meal was had here last night.
In my past chicken - roasting life, before I discovered this life-changing recipe, I would shove various complex compound butters under the skin, stuff the cavity with onions or lemons and garlic, or all 3.  Then I'd season the bird lightly and place on a roasting pan, carefully lined with tin foil.  In the end, I did have a delicious chicken, no doubt.  I mean, it was really good.  But now, after roasting the bird Thomas Keller's way, (hello, it's Thomas Keller!), I can not believe I got away with the old way.  It's unbelievable how. much. better. this is and it's SO MUCH EASIER.  Do I have your attention?

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Butter, Lemon, Dijon and Capers

Brussels Sprouts might be most under-appreciated and most detested vegetable on the planet.  It's a sad and unfortunate truth!  I think I know why these poor little cruciferae suffer from such misguided hate.  It started a long time ago... In a kitchen near you...  a pile of pale green, boiled to death, mushy mini cabbages sitting lifelessly on a plate with a weird cabbage-y bitter smell filling the kitchen, cutting through whatever else was cooking that made you instantly un-hungry for dinner.  Dinner hopes dashed, appetite gone.  This, I believe, is how most of us were served our Brussels sprouts back in the day.  And it wasn't good.  Or pretty.

Now, let's start over.  Close your eyes and imagine beautifully roasted, slightly caramelized and glistening, beautiful baby Brussels sprouts rolling around in a delightful, aromatic combination of garlic, Dijon mustard, lemon juice and capers, oh, and butter.  Roasted first, then left to steam so that each bite is perfectly al dente.  Not squishy mushy and not hard and under cooked, but just right.  Welcome to the new millennium of The. Brussels. Sprout.

Lemon Ginger Tea

Clayton Junior Illustration

Sometimes life is too funny!  Last night I made my favorite night-time elixir, and this morning, as I was checking out my favorite blog, I came across this illustration featuring my 3 ingredient love.  Pure coincidence!
This serendipitous happening makes me inclined to share with you a lovely tea, great for sore throats,  upset stomach, or simply winding down for the night.  It's as easy as boiling water and squeezing a lemon.  Simply divine.

Lemon Ginger Tea with Honey

All these measurements are rough and can be adjusted to your liking.  The more ginger root, the more zingy your tea and the more honey, the sweeter.  It may take a few rounds to get to your tastes.  I buy a lot of ginger to have on hand, and I always have lemons in the fridge.

Ginger root - about 3 inches, cleaned and skin removed
About 3 cups filtered water
2-3 TBLS raw honey (I use Tupelo)

Boil water with ginger for about 5 minutes.
Strain into a heat-proof pitcher and add honey while still hot.
Enjoy this either hot or cold.

BOO!

I've been meaning to make these little guys for 2 years now and I finally remembered to do it before Halloween!  I am DYING over their cuteness and the simplicity of this recipe.  It's an ideally spooky kitchen activity for you and your little chefs OR for the little trick - or - treater inside all of us.
If you can spare 2 egg whites, some powdered sugar, cream of tartar, and a few hours of waiting for these ghosts to emerge out of a barely - on oven, then this is for you - get started!  Halloween is ALMOST here!!!
Do yourself a favor and read the post from 101cookbooks about this recipe, Heidi goes into this with fine detail and great cooking tips. Also, amazingly CUTE photos!

Fig Jam with Lavender and Vanilla

This recipe caught my eye mostly because it mentions lavender and since I bought a 1 lb bag of dried lavender flowers, I would like to find a way to use them in the culinary world.  Being that figs are just now in season and also that the author of this recipe recommends accompanying this jam with goat cheese, I was happy to give it a shot...  Not to mention, all the ingredients called for sound like they were hand-picked by Jane Austin...

Hot Toddy Pudding Cake with Tupelo Honey

Gourmet Magazine (RIP) is/was a huge source of inspiration for me and every so often, I flip through an old issue until something interesting jumps out at me, then it's off to the market, with a mission.  There's not much to this recipe, and you might actually already have all the ingredients in your pantry. (I did, right down to the Scotch).  And what's even better than not having to make a special trip to the grocery store is that this is really, really good.  It comes out of the oven and takes your breath away - simply gorgeous.  Perfect for a winter night, (I know, but it's summer!).  I happened to have a top-shelf, fancy Scotch in the liquor cabinet (Glen Rothes - husband b-day gift), and it definitely added to the depth of this dessert, its fruity and spicy undertones were very noticeable and appreciated.

Parmesan Crisps

The best thing about cheese is that it loves to be in close proximity to wine and since I love both of these things dearly, eating cheese and drinking wine puts me in a very happy place. Pairing the right wines with cheese can put you over the edge with delight and, though I am no sommelier, I know that Parmesan and a bold red wine (Zin), OR a crisp white (Sav Blanc) even can be a very lovely match.
This is an easy and different cheesy, noshy "cracker" that will make your guests think you are the most amazing host who does everything, like even make your own crackers, just because.  Or maybe you want to garnish your scrumptious farmer's market salad (or Caesar), with one or two of these crispy little buggers...  The hardest part of this is making sure you don't burn the cheese.  Seriously, as soon as you see the cheese start to bubble and brown, you are seconds from the end and you really don't want to burn beautiful, (expensive), Parmesan!

Yea!

A happy day!  My first tomatoes have been plucked!  Just thought I'd share my joy with you and hopefully my plants yield many more beautiful tomatoes for the next few months...

***UPDATE :  Delicious!  Juicy and so sweet : )

Mac 'n Cheese

You know that age-old, slightly morose question... What would your last meal be?  I've never had a problem answering that, no matter what new and amazing foods I eat and no matter where I may travel, I will always go back to this none-to-classy... Mac 'n Cheese, PLEASE!!!
The surprising element to this is that I NEVER make it for myself.  I'm perfectly happy with a few choice frozen "entrees".  (Amy's is good and Trader Joes' is AMAZING).  It's all too easy to pop in the oven and sit back wait for the oozing gooey cheesy one million calorie mess of deliciousness.  (Served with an enormous side of sauteed kale some how makes me feel healthy and almost guilt-free.)

HAPPY BDAY, NK!

In celebration of my husband's birthday, I made - per his request - angel food cake with chocolate frosting.  He told me his grandmother used to make it for him, Awwww!  Since I wasn't there to ever taste his nana's cake, I can pretty much say with certainty, her cake was better - it always is - however, this came out just fine.  (Maybe it's me, I'm not a lover of angel food cake to begin with, oh the things we do for love...) Anyway, the chocolate frosting is every bit as good as you'd expect with butter as the main ingredient, it's a stand-up frosting recipe to keep on file.

I usually only feature food on this site which reflects my personal eating and cooking style, that being, local, seasonal and organic.  The only way that this cake fits into that type of classification is that it is seasonal in so far as it is a birthday cake and we celebrated a birthday. (OK, the ingredients were all organic, too).  Other than that, this one is the anomaly for this blog and I am posting it with love and the fact that we all deserve a little b-day cake every now and then!