I'm Baaack!

The last time I posted was April. Three months later I am finally posting again. Three months with no post but don't worry even though there was no posting going on there was still was cooking going on. And definitely eating going on!

 First the soups. Strawberry soup- YUM! I have made similar versions of fruit soup as the one in the cookbook in the past, but this one uses mandarin oranges - which I had never thought to use. I have since made it multiple times - making it the first recipe from the book that I have done more than one time. I also experiment and change up the ingredients. This type of fruit soup will always remind me of my Chicago friend S.S. Its a Keeper!
Next soup is Zucchini Soup. I always can tell if a recipe is successful if my children's friends eat it up and ask for seconds. When D's friend asked for a second bowl, I knew it was a good one. We liked this soup with a little extra pepper.

Next course was salads. Avocado and Hearts of Palm salad. It was so easy and good. I also made a vinaigrette salad dressing. Also good, and I have been using it all week on my salads. Last salad was a barley salad. This was a perfect side dish on a hot Saturday afternoon.

So far so good as we head to the main course. Delicious Balsamic chicken. Now this one was prepared by my Sous Chef, R. I will still count it as I picked it, got all the ingredients and directed R. on how to prepare. You did a great job R, at least the first time. That's how I know that my directions were crucial, is that when R. tried to prepare it again another week without my direct supervision something didn't go quite right. I know there are some out there who would not consider it "made by me" but I count it!

No desserts this time around, but overall a fantastic three months.

Pass on the Passover brownies

Hello out there - some of you may think I had given up on my goal. Admitted my defeat. Procrastinated till another time. Maybe even happy with accomplishing the task of being able to cook something for my family even if its not a new recipe. But , wait, what's that - I am still working at? You got it. It will just take me a lot longer to get through the cookbook. Slow and steady wins the race. I guess I am taking on the role of the tortoise. Good thing that's not in the cookbook.

A pattern has emerged. It seems that the time I am most able to try out new things have been around the holiday time. I guess when you know you will be having lots of family meals its good to have variety.

Passover had arrived a few weeks ago - and there is something so sentimental to me about baking for Passover. I have great memories of baking and preparing with my grandmother, mother and sister for the holidays. It is something I like to share now with my children. We poured, measured, mixed and folded together. I even found an old fashioned manual hand mixer. D got a big kick out of using that to mix the batter, but that only lasted a few minutes before he complained of his hand getting tired then it was back to the Kitchen Aid.

This year we were visiting family the whole time, so what to bring when you show up on the doorstep about an hour before the holiday starts? Desserts!
I made the "I cant believe they are pesach" brownies. Easy enough to make but when they look like a pesach brownie , and smell like a pesach brownie - they probably taste like a pesach brownie. These barely got eaten. We will definitely pass on those.

Another dessert that I made was Mock Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. This happens to be a family recipe that I have made many times over the years. They went over well. I even heard one person comment "There must be something addictive in here - because I cant seem to stop eating them! "

The last dessert I made was not actually from this cookbook. It was a chocolate mousse cake. It came out amazing. The S family were licking the pan clean. There were some similar recipes in the Temptations cookbook that I will for sure try now.

Looking forward to the next holiday where we eat mostly dairy foods. That will give me a chance to work on some sections of the book that I have barely looked at yet.
Fish and Pasta here I come!

Family Fued

I recently moved to a new house and the kitchen is not quite unpacked. As is typical for me I tend to undertake a lot at once- so between moving, unpacking, busy season at work with a long commute, planning A.'s birthday party, and all the regular tasks that come along with managing a household, I volunteer to cook something for the Purim holiday meal we are eating at my sister's house since I can't pass up an opportunity to check off another recipe. I decided to make the Sweet and Sour Brisket, on request from my niece E., and cook it at my parents house. This recipe was pretty straight forward and didn't require too many unusual ingredients that I didn't have so it was a good choice. Time was limited so I went over to prepare the roast on Wednesday night. With my busy schedule I could not go over to my parents house to start until about 10:00 PM. I knew I wasn't going to be able to prepare it, cook it and let it cool all that night, so my mom, graciously volunteered to put it in the oven the next morning - if I prepared it all the night before. As I was slicing and dicing all the vegetables needed, both my parents were keeping me company. Now if you thought back seat baker was bad- wait until you meet the parents. "Be careful with the knife, why are you using that pan?, you should use a different knife..." But can't blame them too much, I was using their kitchen and utensils. Thanks guys- hope I didn't leave too many dirty dishes for you.
At the end the results were great. Brisket was soft and tasty. Some reviews:
Uncle S. - mmm, juicy
Aunt N. - The wine adds a good flavor
Niece E. - its good - I am already thinking of my next request

Results Show

So the results are in - batch number 1 - hamentashen with apricot filling - soft, tasty and eaten up pretty quickly
batch number 2 - delicious chocolate filling (baking chocolate melted ) but slightly over baked- really good inside, but being kept in the oven for about 45 seconds to long, made for quite a crunchy cookie

and the winner is.... some sort of combo of both? Overall the hamentashen were good but had to be super careful not to over bake and to make sure they were stored tightly so they wouldn't get stale. Overall I prefer a really soft hamentashen.

Our next contestant was the Chocolate Mousse Cake. Looked so good in the picture in the cookbook that we must have messed up. I guess that can happen when your sous chefs are 9 yro and 2 yro. Our Mousse cake did not look the same and it didn't taste so good either. I will not accept failure on this one.

I am going to grant this contestant immunity and give it another shot at success.