Squeeze and freeze

Got citrus? I don't always think to grab lemons and limes when I'm at the store so having  juice in the freezer has come in handy on more than one occasion. Since I'm also thrifty, I never turn down gracious friends who share citrus fruit from their trees; one of the benefits of living in California. But citrus will parish so right now as I'm being given fresh Meyers lemons, I'm juicing and freezing. 

Another option, my sister's cousin freezes her lemons whole and than mircowaves to defrost them, then juices them. Take your pick, it's all juicy.

Spring Salad Dressing

Whether you're a fan of Martha Stewart or not, I think she deserves credit for making food from scratch with fresh ingredients. I know it's easy to purchase salad dressing, but I think it tastes so much better homemade. And it really is easy. 

One of my new favorite creations uses:

1/2 lemon (Meyers if you have one)

1/4 cup good olive oil (Cecchetti)

1 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon dried Tarragon

1 Tablespoon Sierra Nevada Stout & Stoneground Mustard

1 garlic clove

1/4-1/2 teaspoon Omnivore salt

Place in glass Kerr mason jar and using  a Cuisinart Smart Stick whip until smooth and garlic is minced fine or place in blender for same effect. Serves on washed greens with a handful of fresh berries or an orange. Bon appetite!

Hippity Hop...Easter is on its way....

Goodness! This bunny isn't ready for April and Easter. I don't consider myself very crafty, but I do love coloring eggs for Easter - and deviled eggs and egg salad.

Here's what you'll need to do these stenciled eggs inspired by Spring:

• Pantyhose and/or knee highs. Fishnets are awesome and make a beautiful pattern
• Rubber bands
• Leaves, flowers from the yard, onion skins
• Blueberries
• Turmeric
• cranberries, beets
• Tea bags and coffee grinds
• Assorted food color for egg dies - by adding you'll get better color intensity
• White vinegar
• 1-2 dozen white shelled eggs
• 3-4 cooking pots 

Wrap each uncooked egg with some leaves and/or flowers or onion skins directly on the shell with pantyhose and make sure hose are tight/firmly around egg and secured with rubber band. Use one or two bands depending on how you've cut up the pantyhose.

It is especially fun to send kids into the yard to find plant material to use - be specific in your directions. No non-edible or poisonous plant material. Geraniums, nasturtiums, roses, etc. all work well and are edible.

Each pot is for a separate color - put 1-2 tablespoons turmeric in one pot for yellow eggs, coffee and tea bags in another for brown, mashed blueberries in another pot for blue, cranberries and beets for red. Add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to each pot plus uncooked, pantyhose covered eggs and enough water to cover the eggs. Slowly bring to a boil, Simmer the eggs in the pot until they have reached the desired color. I error on overcooking since I will be eating the eggs later. 

Let the eggs cool in the pot to intensify the color plus I add a few drops of food coloring to help mother nature.

Gently unwrap eggs and continue to cool in egg container. And enjoy the beauty! Look what you've created! 

The beauties in these photos are thanks to my niece, Gabi, and nephew, Alex. It was a team endeavor.

Wine, words & crudite

My book club met on Sunday. It's wine and words thanks to our founder, April, and her brilliant idea to make this a ladies night/day out quarterly event. We also have food to go along with our discussion and everyone brings either wine or something to nosh to help the hostess. 

We read The Language of Flowers this time and started our discussion at Filoli Gardens nearby. We concluded at my house for afternoon tea and champagne. I made a Barefoot Contessa vegi dip that I've made some modifications to.

Here's what you'll need:

• Food Processor
• 1-2 cleaned cloves of garlic
• 8 ounces of cream cheese at room temp
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 3-5 washed green onion with ends trimmed
• 1/2 bunch cilantro or flat leaf parsley
• 1 Tablespoon fresh dill or 1-2 teaspoons dried dill
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (or I use Omnivore salt with organic spices. It's worth it!)
• 1/4-1/2 ground pepper

Place garlic cloves in food processor and puree using steel blade. Add remaining ingredients and puree until smooth. This can be refrigerated for up to 1-2 weeks. I've even added water to it to use as salad dressing.

Serve with:

• watermelon radishes
• carrots
• sugar snap peas
• red bell peppers
• jicama

Think lots of color when you choose your veggies for dipping

Bon Appetite!

Use that roasted chicken good

I'm at the tail end of fighting a cold and felt brain fried while shopping at the Farmers Market last Saturday - no list or meals planned for the week. But, it was Saturday and my day to food shop for the week. And I have a fairly long commute to and from work during the week so if it doesn't get done on the weekends, it usually doesn't get purchased. 

Here's a great soup for dinner and leftovers for lunch. Tip: I froze individual servings in glass jars.


Buy a roasted chicken. 
Use that bird for a couple of meals including chicken salad. I deboned my chicken and used the meat for this soup. Too fatty otherwise for my taste.

Here's what you'll need to make this soup:


1 1/2 Tablespoons Cecchetti lemon oil or regular good olive oil
3 carrots peeled and sliced
1 fennel bulb washed including stocks and sliced
Saute for 15-20 minutes together in large pot or soup pot. In a cotton spice bag, add:


2 bay leaves
6 juniper berries
10 peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon Fenugreek seeds
Add to soup pot along with 16 cups water. I use filtered water from my Brita. Plus:


5-6 small washed and chopped baby potatoes

deboned chicken meat from your roasted chicken. You can add the whole circus if you want. Again, I did't this time.

Cook at least 2 hours on medium heat until potatoes are tender. 

Optional: Top with chopped cilantro or parsley. I didn't have any but thought it would have been a good addition.

Bon appetite!

Savings $ but still with some fancy

OK, I'm thrifty, but I still like fancy, nice products. And while I have a dishwasher, I'm the dishwasher. If you like to cook, that include pots and pans, knifes, etc that need to be cleaned by hand. 

I really like Mrs. Meyer's dish soap, but can't afford it for the amount of dishes I wash daily. My solution to the dish soap challenge? Use 3/4 Costco Kirkland environmentally responsible dish soap with 1/3 Mrs. Meyers. I'm hooked on the radish right now, but also love using the Basil.

And if you order it via Amazon Smile, please select my foundation, The Purrfect Catch, and Amazon will donate 5% of your purchase to help me spay/neuter, vaccinate and feed homeless cats here in Northern California.

Happy cooking, creating, and problem solving in the kitchen! Cheers!

Cowgirl Caviar

You can serve this as a salad or a dip with taco chips.

Here's what you'll need:

1-2 avocados, peeled and cubed/diced

1 can black eyed peas, drain and rinse

fresh corn cut from the cob and blanched in boiling salt water or 1 bag frozen corn, rinsed

2/3 cup cilantro, chopped

1 bunch green onion, washed and chopped/sliced

1/2 cup tomato, diced

Dressing:

1/4 cup good olive oil (Cechette)

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

4 cloves garlic, minced

kosher salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp. cumin

dash red pepper flakes

Add avocado right before serving.

;-) And this was originally called Cowboy Caviar but I've only ever seen Cowgirls making it! Bon appetite.

The Art of Artichokes

Ideally, the smaller the artichoke the better for this recipe and you can eat your heart out - as well as the artichokes.

You'll need:

Good Olive Oil (try basil or a citrus flavored)

dried chili pepper flakes

5-6 small artichokes

water 

Mayo, lemon, and garlic for dipping

Wash artichokes well, folding back the leaves like flower metals to remove any trapped dirt. Than cut them in half and place them cut side down in large pan or cooking pot. Add approximately enough water to to fill the pan about 1/4 inch. You don't need a lot of water. Also add 2-3 Tablespoons of olive oils and 1-2 teaspoons of chili flakes. Cover and steam for 10-20 minutes. They should be tender but you don't need to cook the small artichokes very long.

Drain and serve with a little dish of mayo. You can get fancy and add a bit of lemon zest and chopped garlic to dip in.

Bon Appetite. These go great as a side for chicken or beef. Happy Summer!

Pink

Need a dip to take to a picnic or potluck? This radish dip is easy and fun because few people can guess the vegetable causing it's pink hue.

Raw Radish Dip
• 1 large clove garlic or 2-3 small cloves
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice (use fresh Meyers if you can)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 bunch radishes thoroughly washed with ends trimmed
• 1/4 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon dill weed (I prefer a lot)
Fresh ground pepper

If you don't have a food processor,  chop garlic and radishes finely and blend remaining ingredients well in a bowl.

Or, toss in food processor radishes and garlic until minced. Add remaining ingredients until well blended.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Serve with tortilla chips.

I love pink! Cheers.

Just add chicken soup..

Mixing it up doesn't always go as planned for me. My friend, Chelsea, at work shared with me her dad's matzo ball recipe. We were talking about chicken soup and a version of matzo balls my great-grandma used to make.

Here's her dad's recipe

• 1 muffin tin
• 2-3 eggs
• salt & pepper
• dried onion or onion granules
• Olive Oil or chicken fat
• 1 cup matzo farfel

Soak matzo farfel in warm water for approximately 20 seconds, then drain thoroughly in a sieve. Add 2-3 eggs and season with salt, pepper and onion powder. Add more soaked farfel if needed; it should be consistency a bit thicker than pancake batter. 

Put a few drops of oil in each cupcake tin; fill 3/4 full with matzo mixture. Bake at 375 until golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. The outside of the cupcakes should be slightly crispy and the inside soft.

Tip: place a cookie sheet on the rack just below the muffin tin to prevent oil from spilling over onto oven 'floor.'

When I asked Chelsea for her dad's permission to post his recipe here, it resulted in their having a conversion on their family history of making these. Her dad learned to make matzo farfel cupcakes from his Aunt Mary. However, he is guessing that since Mary wasn't Jewish (she was a nice Oklahoma farm girl), Mary probably learned how to make them from her mother-in-law (her father's grandmother). So the woman who likely brought the recipe to America was Chelsea's great-grandmother, Tillie. She was from the Ukraine or possibly Poland which was all Russia at the time. Tillie taught Chelsea's dad how to make chicken soup and then dip the cupcakes in.

Chelsea said her dad used to use rendered chicken fat to make these. When he was younger and made chicken soup, he would render the fat and use it in various recipes throughout the year, including the cupcakes. In her family, they call the rendered fat "schmaltz." It's a Yiddish word.

This recipe is so easy, I baked these before work. Warning: make sure you have your coffee 1st. I soaked the matzo farfel for 20 minutes instead of 20 seconds and mistakenly added oil to the mixture insted of just the muffin tins so my matzo balls looked more like matzo cookies - but they tasted delicious! I will definitely make these again and can't imagine my chicken soup without them now.

And I love that both of our matzo ball recipes came from great-grandmothers who grew-up in Russia! Bon Appetite.

Share the Love

Happy Valentine's Day!

I know a lot of people see today as a 'Hallmark' holiday, but I don't see anything wrong with being reminded to tell those you love that you love them. Cards, chocolate and flowers are all optional.

I baked homemade peanut butter cookies and shaped them into hearts for my family as a special treat today. I also sprinkled a few Ghirardelli chocolate chips on some of them. The plain ones are for my parent's dog, Angus, who has a real sweet tooth. He's a sweety too.

This recipe is from Baked Alaska: Recipes for Sweet Comforts from the North Country by Sarah Eppenbach (and one of my favorite cookbooks!)

Peanut Butter Cookies

Preheat oven at 350 degrees.

• 1 1/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup peanut butter, preferably crunchy
• 1/2 cup butter or vegetable shortening, room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg

• 1/2 cup oat bran - optional for a nuttier, crisper cookie
• Chocolate chips - optional to sprinkle on top

Cream the peanut butter, butter or shortening, sugars, and salt until well mixed and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Sift and stir in flour with baking soda and baking powder. (Stir in oat flour if you also decide to include it.)

Using a large spoon, scoop out and make balls about the size of a walnut - approximate 1 inch balls. Space them apart of an ungreased baking sheet. (I line my baking sheets with parchment paper and then place cookie dough balls about 1-2 inches apart on the cookie sheets.) 

Flatten the cookies with a fork making a crosshatch pattern. If you want to add chocolate chips, sprinkle a few in the center of the cookies before baking.

Bake 10-20 minutes until lightly brown - 10 minutes for a chewier cookie and 15-20 for a crisper cookie.

Cool and munch saving some to share with family and friends. Bon appetite!

Just doing what grandma told me

My grandmother, Thelma, was a child of the Great Depression and in the Great Depression you didn't throw much away.

She taught me many practical lessons including how to repurpose toilet and paper towel rolls to use for your electrical cords on your small electrical devices. You can make 2 cardboard bands per toilet paper roll if you use scissors to cut the cardboard into a 1-2 inch band; or 3 bands if you use a knife.

And these are easy to replace!

I want some meat on those bones

I'm talking about Prime Rib. This recipe has become a New Year's Eve tradition for me to feed my friends. I got the recipe from my mom and I believe it was passed along to her by a dear family friend, Lee Pattison. I knew her as Mrs. Pattison. She was my high school History teacher and an AMAZING woman.

Prime Rib

• Buy 1/2 pound of prime rib per person. Costco and Whole Foods both offer choice cuts
• Kosher salt and pepper (I like to use a fancy truffle salt that I purchase at the Fungi Store in the San Francisco Ferry Building. Williams Sonoma also carries it.)

Preheat oven. Roasted prime rib at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

Reduce heat to 325 degrees and cook for 1 hour.

Remove from oven and cover with foil for 15-20 minutes to let the beef 'rest.' Do not overcook. The beef will continue to cook while it's 'resting.'

Yorkshire Pudding

• 1-2 muffin tins
• 2 eggs room temperature
• 1 cup half and half room temperature
• 1 cup all purpose flour

Spoon fat from cooked meat into the bottom of each muffin cup. 3 teaspoons - 1 tablespoon each. If there isn't enough meat juice, add some olive oil.

Whisk eggs, milk and flour together and fill muffin cup 1/3 - 1/2 full. (I put a cookie sheet on the rack below the muffin tins in the stove to prevent oven fires from the oil spilling over.) Bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes.

Serve with a green or spinach salad and a bottle - or several - of great red wine to celebrate to beginning of a new year.

Happy Chinese New Year of the horse. Wishing you good fortune and health in the year ahead.