Search Results for: blog the families cookbook winter 06 ch

Ask a Food Blogger: Corn Pudding

Question: Do you have any good recipes for corn pudding? I love it but can’t find a recipe I like. When you’re looking into local cuisine on a trip (or in our case in a different neighborhood) it’s good ‘street sense’ to watch where the natives go. For example, when we go into Chinatown we don’t look for a place popular with the tourists, but instead opt to follow the locals down into what seems like a little dive in a hole in the ground for some of the best egg rolls, lo mein around. If it’s good enough for … Continue reading →

Food Tips and Kitchen Hints for September

Last month, I began collecting hints and tips that I thought were great and highly useful in the kitchen. Here is my latest edition of hints, tips and tricks in the kitchen. For an elegant decoration on frosted cakes or brownies. . . Take a chocolate bar and use a vegetable peel to shave off the tip. The result will be super easy chocolate curls that make you look like you’re a pro! Chilling Beverages for a Party When I heard about this I thought it was ingenious. Unfortunately we don’t have a washing machine. . .but if you’re hosting … Continue reading →

Blueberry/Peach Walnutty Crisp

If you haven’t discovered the wonder of baking a crisp from scratch, I assure you–you’re missing something. Baking a crisp or a cobbler is great because it’s like getting the yummy pie filling without having to go through all the hassle of getting the pie crust right. Crisps are easy–no fail type dishes. If you can stir, you can make a crisp. This particular combination uses the end of summer bounty or you can use frozen fruit if you can’t find fresh in your store any longer. (Note: In season fruit is always cheaper to buy fresh but out of … Continue reading →

Ask a Food Blogger: What Are Free Range Meats?

Question: I keep seeing in my grocery store certain meats being advertised as ‘free range.’ They are much more expensive than ‘regular’ meat. Can you tell me why this meat is called ‘free range’, why it’s so much more expensive, and if it’s better for my health? This is an excellent question! Since you’ve really asked three questions. . .I’ll have to give you three answers. What Is Free Range Meat? Free range meat is a cut of meat from an animal that is allowed to roam in unrestricted pastures. Sort of. The USDA defines the term ‘free range’ such … Continue reading →

After School Brownies You Can Be Proud Of

So my kids don’t go to school, but that doesn’t mean they don’t get the 3 o’clock munchies. For the last two years, which we are now affectionately referring to as the “twin years”, I just went to the grocery store and bought the pre-packaged stuff just like everyone else. There is an equation in life, particularly when life gets very hectic, that says sometimes it’s easier to just spend the money in order to save the time. But no longer is it easier to spend the money. My old ‘cooking self’ is back again, and I am now on … Continue reading →

Is Cooking Your Chore?

I was recently talking with a sister in law who mentioned that she used to bake all the time before kids. She said she even used to bake with one kid. But with three, baking and cooking was a thing of the past. She has three little kids (in fact, we were pregnant at the same time) and although she doesn’t mind a foray into the kitchen–it doesn’t happen that often. I on the other hand, have just started getting back into the kitchen again after the birth of the twins. Yes, if you read my blogs, you know that … Continue reading →

The Sneaky Mama’s Chunky Apple Pumpkin Bread

My daughter has recently discovered the joys of pumpkin. This makes us very happy because it adds yet one more color of food to her repertoire. Now she’ll eat orange (pumpkin) and brown foods (fries and chicken nuggets). Actually, as many of you already know, I’m pretty good at sneaking stuff into my kids’ food without their knowledge so she does actually have a diet more broad than brown and orange–she just doesn’t know it. In any case, if you’re looking for back to school snacks this bread wins my vote. It’s bursting with good for you pumpkin and apples … Continue reading →

German Chocolate Brownies

I have a confession to make. These brownies really are not German chocolate brownies but they’re named this way no doubt because of the coconut and pecans that are similar to the frosting that adorns a German chocolate cake. And did you know that a German chocolate cake is actually more appropriately called German’s chocolate cake? The original German’s chocolate cake was a buttermilk chocolate cake sent in by a housewife that used German’s chocolate invented by an English man named Sam German. (Not very German at all is it?) German’s chocolate is sweeter than milk chocolate and comes in … Continue reading →

Two Utterly Useless Kitchen Gadgets

I love kitchen gadgets. Not as much as I love cookbooks, but still I have my fair share of cooking gadgets. In fact my friends know that if they need something a little odd like a spice grater or lemon zester. . .I’m the one to call. I even have a garlic press, all manner of cake and bundt pans, and an old fashioned egg beater. (Which I swear is the safest way to let kids help you cook and mix in the kitchen.) I have two crock pots and several different sizes of muffin pans. (Are you getting the … Continue reading →

Making Cheese Out of Yogurt

I am very picky about my mayonnaise. I don’t like substitutes unless they are very tasty. And to me, it is unfortunate that the thing that makes mayonnaise so tasty is that it has oodles of bad-for-you fat in it. Taking out the fat makes it less tasty. So when I first heard about making your own cheese out of yogurt and using that as an alternative to both cream cheese and mayonnaise. . .I was skeptical. It does taste different–but not bad. It has a lot fewer calories than even low-fat versions of cream cheese and mayonnaise and honestly, … Continue reading →