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 Simply Recipes A family cooking and food blog. Healthy, whole-food recipes and cooking tips for the home cook. Photographs and easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions. Lemon Mascarpone Blondies by Garrett McCord 5 Sep 2008 at 5:07am Guest author Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic brought these blondies over the other day, a variation of the blondies he made a few months ago. They were outstanding. They lasted all of 20 minutes. My father is still waiting for Garrett to bring him another batch. ~Elise This is a take on my favorite blondie recipe after one of the commentors, Darby (aka The Dessert Diva), mentioned mixing in some lemon and mascarpone cheese. I was intrigued at the idea and went ahead and gave them a try. They are, to be succinct, astoundingly good. Creamy, sweet, very soft and with a bit of zing from the lemon they're incredibly rich with a lot of flavor. A cookie that's sure to satisfy the most insatiable sweet tooth. Continue reading "Lemon Mascarpone Blondies" » Smoked Salmon Bisque by Elise 3 Sep 2008 at 6:37am A little trivia here. What makes a bisque a bisque and not a chowder? Both bisques and chowders are made with seafood and vegetables, with a cream base. Chowders tend to be more stew-like or chunky, and bisques puréed. Bisques are traditionally made with shellfish, though these days a puréed tomato, cream-based soup can be called a bisque too. We half-puréed this smoked salmon bisque, which accounts for the photograph. My father made this delicious soup the other day after being inspired by a bisque we had at a local bistro and wine bar. So creamy and good. Continue reading "Smoked Salmon Bisque" » Chicken Enchiladas Verdes by Elise 1 Sep 2008 at 8:04pm The tomatillos in my garden are all ripening at once. Have you ever cooked with tomatillos? They look like little lanterns, with their green papery husks. Sometimes people mistake them for green tomatoes (doesn't help that their Spanish name is "tomate verde"); they are related to tomatoes (same family, different genus), but the taste is quite different. They are used to make the distinctive Mexican salsa verde or green salsa. In this chicken enchiladas recipe, the sauce is made with boiled tomatillos (you could also roast them), serrano chile peppers, and sour cream. The filling is made with shredded meat from chicken thighs; the deeper flavor of the dark meat holds up much better to the chile and tomatillo sauce than chicken breasts. I made these for dinner tonight and even the kid, my young nephew, went for seconds. Not a smidgen of sauce was left on any of our plates. Continue reading "Chicken Enchiladas Verdes" » Sloppy Joes by Elise 27 Aug 2008 at 7:20am Just hearing the words "sloppy joe" from my mother used to send us kids into a tizzy. There was something wonderfully fun about getting to eat a burger/sandwich that was messy by design. I've been waiting to make this when my nephew was in town because sloppy joes really are a quintessential kid food. Well the kid is here, and after he explained to me that he didn't like tomatoes with his hamburger and he wanted his onions on top, and I explained to him that sloppy joes are made with the onions mixed in with the beef, and he eats spaghetti so what's wrong with tomatoes, anyway?, he relented. And when called to dinner he ate the whole thing (with high praise), even though he had been making and eating s'mores all day. (Wouldn't touch the coleslaw though. Kids. Lest you think we are the ones feeding him s'mores, he knows how to make them himself and sneaks into the kitchen when we aren't looking.) Continue reading "Sloppy Joes" » Bread and Butter Pickles by Elise 24 Aug 2008 at 12:29am Boxes filled with cucumbers from the farmers market, scores of mason jars, big pots, lots of activity in the kitchen, fresh homemade pickles. These are some of my memories from summers growing up. My grandmother (dad's mother) and my parents used to pickle a lot when I was a kid. My dad's favorite was spicy carrot and cauliflower pickles (I'm still waiting for the recipe); my favorite was sweet watermelon rind pickles (can't find watermelons with thick enough rinds to make these anymore). Sweet pickles like these bread and butter pickles (who came up with that name?) never lasted that long around here; we kids gobbled them up. Bread and butter pickles are easy to make, and if you are planning to make them as refrigerator pickles (storing them in the cold fridge, to be eaten within weeks), you can skip a lot of the canning steps. This is a basic recipe which we happen to love, cobbled together from various editions of the Joy of Cooking plus some online research. The ice helps keep the cucumbers crispy, as does cooking them just a short time. You can experiment with the pickling spices, and the pickling vegetables for that matter. A friend recently told me about an idea for bread and butter jalapeño pickles that sound too good not to try to make. Do you have a favorite bread and butter pickle recipe? If so, please tell us about it in the comments. Continue reading "Bread and Butter Pickles" » Mom's Warm Potato Salad by Elise 23 Aug 2008 at 12:53am I don't know about you, but summer around here has us making potato salads more often than in other seasons. This is the latest one my mother put together; my father has made her make it several times since, and my brothers have devoured it with raves for mom. No mayo, just a simple rice vinegar olive oil dressing. Continue reading "Mom's Warm Potato Salad" » Shrimp Fried Rice by Jaden Hair 21 Aug 2008 at 3:41am Please welcome guest author Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen who is doing a series of Chinese American food recipes for us here on Simply Recipes. ~Elise The first time I attempted to cook fried rice on my own, I was 15 and my parents and little brother were in Europe on vacation. I stayed home to attend summer school and to enjoy a little freedom living on my own for a couple of weeks. It was a total disaster. Mushy, soggy and goopy. Back to Top Ramen for another 10 days. Continue reading "Shrimp Fried Rice" » Welcome Jaden! by Elise 20 Aug 2008 at 3:50pm The first time I stumbled upon Jaden Hair's Steamy Kitchen food blog I had major blog envy. Who was this hilarious and irreverent woman? And how was it that she could make food look that good? I was hooked, an early convert to Jaden's humor, playfulness, and drop-dead delicious Asian food. (Actually, not only Asian food, take a look at this post on cooking steak, and her fresh ginger tips.) Well, with the eyes of the world on Beijing this week, I'm delighted to let you know that Jaden will be guest authoring a series on Simply Recipes, focusing on classic Chinese American food recipes. In her first post Jaden shares her mom's secrets to perfect fried rice. Welcome to Simply Recipes, Jaden! Peach Cobbler by Elise 19 Aug 2008 at 1:46am Updated, from the recipe archive. My friends know me well. They know if they invite me over and I see that they have bushels of fresh-picked peaches just waiting for a home that I will offer my own kitchen counter space to take some of those gorgeous peaches off their hands. Such sacrifice, yes, I know. ;-) (Thanks Suzanne!) Peaches, nectarines, and all manner of stone fruit are glorious in summer. Here is a simple and delicious peach cobbler recipe that we've used for several years. Feel free to experiment with the ratios and the fruit. You can easily add in some blueberries or nectarines. If your peaches aren't perfectly sweet to begin with, you may need to add more sugar to the filling. Continue reading "Peach Cobbler" » Grits with Corn and Onion Greens by Elise 13 Aug 2008 at 3:17pm A dear friend of mine from Alabama called me recently and demanded to know, "why aren't there any grits on your site?!" Uh, because I'm not Southern and I don't know what the heck I'm talking about when it comes to grits and I can't even try to fake it with our readers? Well, not knowing what we are doing has never stopped us in the past, and my dear ole dad found a recipe for grits he couldn't pass up. This was so good I made him make it twice. What I have learned in researching grits is that people who grew up eating them are passionate about how they like them - white corn, hominy grits, with syrup for breakfast, etc. So, if you have a particular way that you like your grits, please let us know about it in the comments. By the way, according to NBC, Michael Phelps eats grits for breakfast, along with several fried egg sandwiches, an omelet, three slices of French toast, and a stack of chocolate chip pancakes. Breakfast of champions. Continue reading "Grits with Corn and Onion Greens" » Homemade Tomato Juice by Elise 11 Aug 2008 at 6:49am For those of us who garden and grow tomatoes, there often comes a point in the summer tomato growing season in which the bounty greatly exceeds one's ability to consume it, in its regular tomato form. If you find yourself in this position, and you love tomato juice, V8, Bloody or Virgin Marys, I highly recommend making your own tomato juice. My dad announced the other day that he was going to make some tomato juice and I thought nothing of it. But after one taste, wow. This is how V8 should taste. Continue reading "Homemade Tomato Juice" » As-You-Like-It Breakfast Casserole by Elise 8 Aug 2008 at 11:11pm On vacation, 5 o'clock pm, having too much fun to realize that nothing has been planned for dinner, fridge mostly empty, remembering that uh oh, I'm the one in charge of feeding my friend's children that night. Oops! Open the refrigerator door, see half a dozen eggs, half a carton of milk, some cheddar cheese, leftover sausage from biscuits and gravy the day before, a little broccoli, a leftover ear of corn (cooked). Open the freezer and see half a loaf of sliced bread. Saved. Whew. The kids will not have boxed Mac-n-cheese for dinner. Have you ever made a breakfast casserole? The basic ingredients are eggs, cheese, milk, and bread. It's the easiest thing in the world to put together. We have a sausage breakfast casserole on the site that is one of my favorites. The great thing about a breakfast casserole is that you can add almost anything you want to the base. Italian sausage is my all time favorite, but bacon or ham will do too. Or make it veggie, with zucchini, broccoli, basil and onions. The first time I served this to the kids they insisted that it had to go on the website. The name they picked was "Open Fridge Breakfast Bake" because basically that's what I did - opened the fridge, put everything I could find into a casserole dish, and baked it. A few days later we cooked it again (this time Reilly, the 11-year old helped) so we could get some photos. Do you have a favorite breakfast casserole combo? If so, let us know about it in the comments. Continue reading "As-You-Like-It Breakfast Casserole" » Coconut Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting by Garrett McCord 11 Aug 2008 at 12:32am Please welcome guest author Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic who shares his recipe for some of the best cupcakes we've ever had. ~Elise Most coconut cupcakes are often a bit too dense and flavorless in my opinion, often presenting bland cake with a avalanche of coconut plopped on top. Tired of coconut cupcake posers, I decided to develop a recipe that would really rally in the flavor of coconut in a cupcake. This one uses coconut milk in place of milk, and butter instead of oil, and has shredded coconut through and through giving it a divine taste that puts other coconut cupcakes to shame. In light of that, the cupcake itself is surprisingly light in texture compared to other coconut cupcakes. The coconut cream cheese frosting enhances the cupcake so each bite is just sweet and exotic, leaving whispers of flavor behind. It is, in my opinion, the ultimate coconut cupcake recipe. Continue reading "Coconut Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting" » Potato Salad with Apples and Bacon by Elise 1 Aug 2008 at 3:40am Summer is the season for cookouts and potato salad, isn't it? Our standard usually includes pickle juice and hard boiled eggs. Here's a completely different take on a summer potato salad, seasoned with mustard, bacon, and the taste that makes you smile with surprise when you bite into it, chunks of apple. My friend Heidi H made this potato salad for a group of us this week; it's based on a recipe she found recently in the Boston Globe. Everyone who ate it loved the apple, bacon, mustard, potato combo. Continue reading "Potato Salad with Apples and Bacon" » Zucchini Bread by Elise 14 Aug 2008 at 8:38pm I still remember the first time I encountered zucchini bread as a teenager. I had a hard time getting my mind around the concept. At the time, zucchini was something my mom made me eat, and not anything you would bake into something sweet. Fortunately, the pathway into my naturally resistant-to-new-foods teenage mind had already been cut with carrot cake. Heck, if you could get something that good out of carrots, why not zucchini? After one bite, I was sold forever. Grated zucchini, mixed into the batter, brings moisture and tender texture to what is essentially a spice cake. Continue reading "Zucchini Bread" » Newsfeed display by CaRP |
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