Julia Would Be Proud!

If you have not seen the movie Julie and Julia please do yourself a favor and watch it (perhaps on one of these lazy, snowy days we’ve been having). It’s the delightful saga of Julie Powell’s 365-day, 564 recipe journey through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook. Meryl Streep – who was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance – transports us right back to the 60’s with her spot-on performance of Julia Child that Rolling Stone reviewer Peter Travers described as “Streep at her brilliant, beguiling best…” and Amy Adams is charming and genuine as Ms. Powell.

Our Tuesday dinners resumed last night (hooray!) and it was Foodie’s turn to cook. She made Boeuf Bourguignon from Julia Child’s cookbook. This recipe blends beef, onions, carrots, bacon, spices and a whole bottle of good red wine into the most delectable stew that you will instinctively and immediately want to devour but will force yourself to eat slowly to appreciate the absolute goodness and complexity of the dish! I posted the recipe on the "Recipes" page.

As the recipe suggests on page 315 of my food-stained copy of the book…this dish can be “prepared completely ahead, even a day in advance, and it only gains in flavor when reheated.” Foodie made this over the weekend (it takes a good five hours to prepare properly) and served it over noodles….pure heaven. We also had a fig, goat cheese and spring green salad in the lovely traveling salad bowl and just a few pieces of dark chocolate for dessert.

It was snowing when we left Foodie’s house feeling utterly satisfied…I could not help but to take a picture of the sister Mini Coopers. Enjoy the snow….be safe!

“I Don’t Have Much of Anything in the Frig” Frittata.

As you know from past posts, dear readers, I am trying not to be wasteful. I can’t tell you how many times in the past few weeks I saw an adorable item and told myself that I just didn’t need it….except for shoes…it is still very difficult for me to walk away from shoes (notice the pun…I hope you chuckled) but I am getting better!

So considering that little soliloquy, I opened my refrigerator door this afternoon and pondered what to have for dinner….there wasn’t much of anything to work with (I am working on an event to be held this weekend and food shopping was not on the program – another pun – the past couple of days). Anyway, I made a “I don’t have much of anything in the frig” Frittata.

What I had on hand….about 8 cherry tomatoes, 1 ½ cups of arugula, a cup of mozzarella, one cup of leftover pasta (plain or with a sauce, it doesn’t matter), and two eggs. So, here’s what I did…

I sautéed the tomatoes in garlic and red pepper flakes, added the arugula and sautéed until wilted.

I placed the pasta, eggs and cheese in a bowl and added the tomato mixture.

After I incorporated the ingredients, I fried it in the same pan as the tomato mixture until the top was set and the sides were slightly brown. Then, in that very same oven-safe frying pan, I baked it for 10 minutes at 350°.

To serve, flip it onto a dish and enjoy! Quick, easy, delicious and best of all, no food wasted!

There has been some lovely knitted items donated for the auction….I will post some photos.

Happy MMXI

I thought it might be a good idea – and helpful – to post some common cures for a hangover for those of us you who were a little too anxious to welcome 2011. Not that I did some research at 8:30 in the morning because I needed the information….as you know, this is a loosely informative blog and I’m just trying to be as obliging as possible to my dear readers.

I never did understand how sleeping with one leg hanging over the bed was effective…perhaps a good head start to a now very popular destination besides your bed? Regardless of that logic, there are some things that really do help the morning after an evening of debauchery:

• Libations dehydrate the body so drinking plenty of water is essential. Alcohol is a diuretic and your body is doing what it thinks you want it to do, to filter more water out of your blood, so it’s important to replace those fluids. Another explanation for the leg over the bed technique. Do you think it matters which leg?

• The minerals in electrolytes, found in drinks like Gatorade, are useful because they help to keep the body’s chemistry in balance and regulate body fluids. Don’t mix with gin, vodka, or rum, etc… to manage your hangover by “biting the dog that bit you” because this will only delay the inevitable.

• Sleep..no explanation required. You probably won’t feel like doing much of
anything anyway.

• Phran Novelli of KYW1060 suggests making a “tea out of various things from your garden: peppermint leaves soothe your stomach, as does ginger root, which people also use for motion sickness – maybe it’ll help the room stop spinning. Add fennel seeds to calm your insides…boil water, steep the herbs, then add honey to replace some sugars you’ve lost and lemon to refresh your system and make it all taste better.”

Speaking of spirits, we had a delightful New Year’s Eve gathering at the Architect’s house with her parents and some other friends. We enjoyed a drink northern Italians call Prosecco Sporco, which means “Dirty Prosecco.” It is made by mixing Prosecco – a dry, lemony Italian sparkling wine – with a small slug of Campari. The result is a lovely bejeweled red…very tasty and refreshing. We also had the most delicious roasted lamb and a variety of side dishes including sautéed swiss chard…very good.

Foodie made her version of Tiramisu with Mascarpone cheese and HOME-MADE lady fingers (I just opened a package of lady fingers for my version because, as you know, I am good at that). Architect’s mom decorated her lovely chandelier and I just had to take a photo!

Happy New Year all!


Prosecco photo from google images.

French Toast Casserole

You probably think all I do is eat....not true…I take pictures of what I make and eat too! For Christmas, my daughter gave me Photo Shop Elements (can’t imagine how she knew I wanted this…perhaps it was the subtle “If you don’t have my gift yet, I’d like Photo Shop Elements” hint) and I am anxious to learn how to enhance the photos I take so that they are as visually appealing as possible.

I also knit.

Really.

On Christmas morning, I traditionally prepare a breakfast casserole...sometimes I make a panettone bread pudding or a frittata, but this year I made a French Bread Casserole and the photos do not do this beautiful blend of bread, eggs, cream, nuts and spices justice. Definitely not low calorie, but CRAZY good…I served it with fruit to neutralize the artery clogging consequences. It would also make a fabulous brunch dish or pot-luck contribution.

French Toast Casserole

“Night Before” Ingredients
1 French Banquette
8 eggs
1 cup milk
2 Tbls sugar
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
Dash of salt

Praline Topping Ingredients
2 sticks of butter, room temperature
1 cup of light brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
2 Tbls light corn syrup
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg

Slice bread and place the pieces in rows in a large, buttered casserole dish. Mix the other “night before” ingredients and beat until blended, but not bubbly. Pour over the bread slices, cover and refrigerate overnight. The next day, preheat the oven to 350°. Combine the praline ingredients and spread them evenly over the soaked bread. Bake for 40 minutes until puffed and golden. Serve with syrup, jam, or honey.

This is delectable and it will be hard to resist a second helping.

You've been appropriately warned.

I got this recipe years ago so I don’t know the source. I apologize in advance for not attributing credit.

I’m Dreaming of a White Boxing Day and Tiramisu

Well the chaos is over and now we can relax, knit, and enjoy a perfectly lovely snowy day… until you have to shovel the crap or drive in it.

During the holidays, I like orchestrating get-togethers….every year, I hostess a party called the “Ornament Exchange” played like a yankee swap but with ornaments. The sillier (and maybe even naughty) the ornament the better. This year, there was a merman soldier (complete with chest hair and tattoos - photo coming!), a gun toting hunter alligator, and a weight lifting gorilla….it was a lot of fun and, as usual, very competitive (to ensure walking away with a coveted prize!). I make most of the food every year and the Cauliflower Au Gratin was a big hit…the recipe is posted on the Recipe page.

Elegant doesn't need to be complicated (good thing, because if elegant were complicated, I’d have a predicament). I made a quick and easy Tiramisu for Christmas dessert to demonstrate this point and, I have to stay, it was better than some I’ve had in fancy restaurants (like I go to fancy restaurants all the time). I got this recipe on the Kraft.com website (yes, Kraft.com) and I substituted some of the specific products they required requested I use.

Quick and Easy Tiramisu

Ingredients
2 packages (3 oz each) ladyfingers, divided (these are found in the frozen food section
2 Tbsp. of instant coffee (I was instructed to use Maxwell House but I used instant espresso)
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup of boiling water
2 packages (8 oz each) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened (I used 1/3 fat)
2 Tbsp of Brandy (optional....for some)
½ cup sugar
2 cups thawed Cool Whip Lite Whipped Topping
Grated dark chocolate (again, I was instructed to use cocoa powder but I thought the grated chocolate would not only add more flavor, but would present nicely)


Arrange 1 package of ladyfingers on the bottom of a baking dish.

Combine coffee granules and 1 Tbsp. sugar and dissolve in boiling water. Brush ½ cup onto the ladyfinger in dish.

Beat cream cheese in a large bowl with mixer until creamy. Add ½ cup of sugar and brandy and mix well. Whisk in Cool Whip.

Spread half the cream cheese mixture over ladyfingers in dish, top with remaining ladyfingers and brush with remaining coffee mixture. Cover with remaining cream cheese mixture

Grate dark chocolate on top. Refrigerate for four hours.

This is the BEST Tiramisu I have ever had…seriously.