I want to talk about improvisational cooking – something that I just started doing in the last year. I love to cook in large part because of the creativeness of the craft. Following recipes “to the letter” is not fun for me. I like to experiment. I hate to measure things. Besides, often I find a recipe that looks great, but I’m lacking ingredients. Since I live more than 30 minutes from the nearest decent grocery story, I don’t always have the option of popping out and picking up missing ingredients.

Wednesday night I defrosted some chicken thighs, but had no idea what I wanted to do with them. Usually I just marinate them and throw them on the grill. Good, but a bit boring. So I pulled out one of my trustworthy cookbooks: The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins. On page 415 I found a recipe called Roasted Chicken legs with Glazed Shallots. Besides the shallots and chicken legs, the recipe called for the following ingredients: olive oil, sugar, 1/2 chicken stock, 1/4 cup dry white wine, chopped fresh rosemary leaves, dried thyme, black pepper and fresh parsley.

I did not have chicken legs (but I had thighs); I did not have shallots (but I had onions); I did not have chicken stock (but I had bouillon); I had no fresh herbs; I had no dry white wine. But I wanted to make this recipe.

This is what I did…

I followed the instructions to heat the olive oil in a skillet, but instead of cooking shallots…I diced up some onions and carrots and cooked them instead. I followed the recipe to add a tablespoon of sugar to the skillet and continued cooking the vegetables until they had caramelized.

I added the caramelized vegetables to a roasting pan and put the chicken thighs on top of them (just like the recipe said to do). Then I decided I wanted to use up some fresh mushrooms I had…so I sliced them up and threw them on top of the chicken.

Next I made the sauce. Instead of chicken stock, I boiled some water and added the bouillon cubes…then I substituted a couple of splashes of balsamic vinegar for the dry white wine, eliminated the rosemary and parsley and instead just used thyme, salt and pepper to taste.

From here on out I followed the original recipe – pouring the sauce over the chicken and vegetables, roasting the combination in a 375 degree oven (covered) for 30 minutes (stirring once); removing the cover and roasting 25 more minutes, turning the chicken pieces twice more.

And you know what? It came out GREAT! The balsamic vinegar gave the sauce a more hearty flavor than just white wine would have…and I never missed the fresh herbs. Furthermore, the carrots and mushrooms added a little more flavor and complimented the dish.

Improvisation is so  much fun. If you are a little nervous about doing it yourself, I recommend two wonderful resources:

The Improvisational Cook, by Sally Schneider

AND

The Flavor Bible, by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg

Both of these books will help you deconstruct a recipe and create your own wonderful dish! Have fun!!

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I don’t diet. Ever. I hate the idea of measuring out portions, following rigid guidelines, and being limited to a specific number of calories per day. I also know all the statistics that show that diets don’t work over the long haul.

So, I was very happy to see that The Mayo Clinic Diet is not like other diets out there. The weight experts at the Mayo Clinic have put together a book which is not only colorful and easy to read, but makes losing weight more about lifestyle changes than about hard and fast dieting.

The book is separated into three distinct parts.

The first section is a two-week “jump start” program that requires little preparation but claims to help you lose 6-10 pounds in two weeks. Essentially it sets you up to add five healthy habits (including things like eating breakfast every morning, adding whole grains to your diet and eating healthy fats), getting rid of five unhealthy habits (such as not watching television while you eat and not eating in restaurants), and adopting five bonus habits (things like writing down your goals and keeping an activity log).

The second section is a healthy lifestyle section which is focused on the long-term lifestyle changes which will help you maintain your weight (or continue to lose at a slower rate). Things I liked about this part of the book included visual representations of food servings (so you don’t need to measure out serving sizes), and a list of calorie burning activities to add to your life.

The final section of the book covers things like determining YOUR healthy weight, understanding nutrition and weight control, and barriers to weight loss (including motivational issues). There are some simple recipes and menus included in this last section as well, as well as a great section on adapting recipes for healthier eating.

All sections include colorful, simple diagrams or photos, and easy to understand language. The book has an accompanying journal to track your progress and activity.

Readers who have struggled with weight loss, or who don’t want just another fad diet, will most likely find information in The Mayo Clinic Diet which will appeal to them. Some may find it almost too simplistic, but I see that as more of a strength of the book than a weakness.

Below is a recipe which I have permission to reprint here on my blog:

Morning Glory Muffins
By the weight-loss experts at Mayo Clinic and Donald Hensrud, M.D., M.P.H.
Authors of The Mayo Clinic Diet: Eat well. Enjoy life. Lose weight.

15 MINUTES PREPARATION TIME + 35 MINUTES COOKING TIME + MAKES 18 SMALL MUFFINS

1 c. all-purpose (plain) flour
1 c. whole-wheat flour
¾ c. sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. salt
¾ c. egg substitute
½ c. vegetable oil
½ c. unsweetened applesauce
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. chopped apples, unpeeled
½ c. raisins
¾ c. grated carrots
2 tbsp. chopped pecans

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

2. Line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners.

3. In a bowl, combine the flours, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Whisk to blend evenly.

4. In a separate bowl, add egg substitute, oil, applesauce and vanilla. Stir in apples, raisins and carrots. Add to the flour mixture and blend just until moistened but still slightly lumpy.

5. Spoon the batter into muffin cups, filling each cup about 2/3 full. Sprinkle with chopped pecans and bake until springy to the touch, about 35 minutes.

6. Let cool for 5 minutes, then transfer the muffins to a wire rack and let cool completely. Serve.

The above is an excerpt from the book The Mayo Clinic Diet: Eat well. Enjoy life. Lose weight., by the weight-loss experts at Mayo Clinic and Donald Hensrud, M.D., M.P.H. The above excerpt is a digitally scanned reproduction of text from print. Although this excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.

Reprinted from The Mayo Clinic Diet, © 2010 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published by Good Books (www.GoodBooks.com). Used by permission. All rights reserved.

About Donald Hensrud, M.D.

Donald Hensrud, M.D., M.P.H., is chair of the Division of Preventive, Occupational, and Aerospace Medicine and a consultant in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. He is also an associate professor of preventive medicine and nutrition at the College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic. A specialist in nutrition and weight management, Dr. Hensrud advises individuals on how to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. He conducts research in weight management, and he writes and lectures widely on nutrition-related topics. He helped publish two award-winning Mayo Clinic cookbooks.

About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy that the needs of the patient come first. Over 3,600 physicians and scientists and 50,000 allied staff work at Mayo, which has sites in Rochester, Minn.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. Collectively, Mayo Clinic treats more than 500,000 patients a year.

For more than 100 years, millions of people from all walks of life have found answers at Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic works with many insurance companies, does not require a physician referral in most cases and is an in-network provider for millions of people.For more information, please visit www.goodbooks.com/mayoclinicdiet.

FTC Disclosure: This book was sent to me for review by the publisher.

Many thanks to TLC Book Tours for inviting me to tour Paula Butturini’s new memoir: Keeping the Feast (read my review). I love books that center around food in foreign countries, and Butturini’s story of illness and recovery in Italy reminds us how the ritual of food is a symbol of survival.

About Paula Butturini:

Paula Butturini has worked in overseas bureaus in London, Madrid, Rome, and Warsaw for United Press International and the Chicago Tribune. She is now a writer based in Paris. To learn more about Buttuirini and her work, visit the author’s website. Listen to the author’s podcasts here. Read Buttuini’s Keeping the Feast blog.

About Keeping The Feast:

Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover
Publication Date: 2/18/2010
Pages: 272

A remarkable story, gorgeously told. We reflect, relish, grieve, and heal our way with Paula Butturini, who is wise about so many things – family and place; depression, religion, and love; the disastrous long-term fallout of a single bullet fired at a loved one; and the immediate restorative pleasures of an Italian meal. This book evokes life at its most serious and dire, and at its most mysterious and delectable. Read it, and be deepened and refreshed. – Krista Tippett, host of the public radio program Speaking of Faith -

I was really happy when Paula agreed to write a guest post for me. What follows is one of Paula’s childhood memories of her Hungarian neighbor and the amazing garden which produced the homegrown ingredients for stuffed peppers. Enjoy!

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Until I was nine, my family rented the sunny, ground-floor flat of a two-family house in a neighborhood of Fairfield, Connecticut, that had lots of Hungarian immigrants. Our Hungarian-born landlady, Grace Madaras, lived upstairs from us until she and her husband had a little house built next door at the front of their enormous vegetable garden.

I loved their garden in every season but winter, and when I was really young, I liked hiding among the plants where I wasn’t supposed to be playing in the first place. The garden produced all sorts of herbs and vegetables — like fresh, feathery dill and rows of red and white cranberry beans, whose foliage was big and lush enough to hide me if I crouched down low – that my own grandparents never grew in their Italian-style gardens. Every once in a while, greed would get the better of me and I would split open one of those enormous red and white cranberry pods while hiding among its leaves. I wasn’t interested in eating the beans; l just liked to look at them, in all their perfection, lined up cozily inside their pod. For some reason, they made me feel safe.

When our landlords moved next door into their new little house, it meant we no longer got to smell the wonderful aromas — so different from my mother’s Italian cooking — that would waft down the stairs when Grace was preparing the dishes her family used to cook back in Hungary. At some point though, Grace gave my mother her recipe for Hungarian stuffed peppers, sweet, green bell peppers from her garden that were filled with meat, rice, and onion, then simmered in a mild, glorious sauce made from tomato juice enriched with sour cream and fresh dill, straight from the garden.

To this day, I can still smell and taste this dish, and writing about it now, nearly fifty years later, makes my mouth start to water at the thought of it. I think the dill plant I have in a corner of my herb garden today stands there more in memory of Grace and my childhood than it does to flavor any of the dishes I use it for today. I wrote Grace’s recipe down on a file card when I set up my own household, and though I rarely make it, just seeing it in my recipe box makes me feel safe, like seeing those beans in their pod so long ago.

Grace Madaras’s Hungarian Stuffed Peppers

• 8-12 green bell peppers, depending on size
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 1 cup uncooked rice, cooked as package directs
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced and sauteed until soft in 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 eggs
• Salt, pepper
• Tomato juice
• Fresh dill
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup sour cream

Wash peppers and place them standing up in a deep kettle. Pour enough boiling water into the kettle to thoroughly cover the peppers, then let stand, covered and off flame, for 40 minutes. Drain pot, then using a sharp knife, cut a circle out of the very top of the pepper to remove the stem and a circle of pepper flesh surrounding it. Scoop out seeds, and drain well.

In a large mixing bowl, combine beef, pork, cooked rice, sauteed onion, eggs, two teaspoons salt, and freshly ground pepper to taste. Mix well, then stuff drained peppers with meat mixture. Placed the stuffed peppers upright in a deep pot. Pour enough tomato juice into pot to come 3/4 of the way up the stuffed peppers. Add a handful of fresh dill. Bring to a simmer and cook, simmering, for one hour. Toward the end of the cooking remove 1/2 cup of tomato juice and let cool. Thicken this cooled tomato juice by whisking in the flour and sour cream. Pour this mixture back into pot and mix well. Heat through but do not let it boil.

We always ate this dish — real comfort food — with mashed potatoes; I don’t know how it was served in Grace’s kitchen.

Contributed by Paula Butturini, whose book Keeping the Feast will be published by Riverhead/Penguin on Feb. 18.

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To see all the blog tours of Butturini and her book, visit TLC Book Tours for links.

I have been in New Hampshire since January 7th – spending time with family, especially my older sister who was recently diagnosed with colon cancer and had surgery right before Christmas (she is doing REALLY well and has an excellent prognosis for full recovery). I knew I wanted to make some good food for her and a recipe in the February edition of Every Day with Rachael Ray caught my eye.

What tastes better than homemade soup when you aren’t feeling 100%? And is there anything more yummy than than a combination of chicken, lots of vegetables and pasta? Rachael Ray’s Toasted Orzo Chicken Soup (page 89 in the February 2010 print edition) fit the bill. Although there is a bit of prep time involved, this was a quick and easy soup which uses toasted orzo, finely chopped zucchini, carrots, red bell pepper, onion and garlic, fresh lemon and parsley, and of course chicken to make a delicious, rich soup. We had ours with a loaf of garlic rosemary bread, and we also topped the hot soup with freshly shredded Parmesan cheese (an edition to the original recipe) that added some saltiness. I doubled the recipe so we had leftovers…which were actually more tasty than the first day.

I just started getting Rachael Ray’s magazine which my sister gave me as a gift – and I have to say, I’m impressed so far with the number of recipes I want to try. She also has a great website, and if you are interested in soups which warm body and soul…check out this page on the website that includes numerous 30 minute soup meals.

Do you like to make homemade soups at this time of year? What are some of your favorites? Do you subscribe to a cooking magazine that you absolutely love? Please share in the comments!

A couple of years ago I posted my absolute FAVORITE Christmas cookie recipe here. But since most of you probably saw that one, I decided to choose something different this time.

Once again, I raided my Grandmother’s beautiful recipe cards to find two cookie recipes which I remember as a child.

TRADITIONAL:

Molasses Gingersnaps (makes 8 dozen)

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup shortnening
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 3.5 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1.25 tsp cinnamon

In a large bowl cream together sugar and shortening (using an electric mixer) until light and fluffy. Add eggs and molasses and beat well. Stir together dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture a small amount at a time, beating well after each addition. Form 1″ balls, roll in sugar and place on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2″ apart. Bake in 350 degree oven for 15 minutes or until browned on bottom.

CHOCOLATE COOKIES:

Chocolate Chip Meringues

• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup chocolate cips
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• dash salt

Add vanilla and salt to egg whites. Beat until frothy. Gradually add sugar beating until stiff peaks are formed and sugar is dissolved. Carefully fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by teaspoonful onto a well greased cookie sheet and place in preheated 350 degree oven. Close door and turn off the oven. Do not open for 4 or 5 hours. May be left in oven over night. Butterscotch chips can be used in place of chocolate chips if desired.

To see other recipes, check out Mr. Linky at Kathy’s blog for traditional cookies, and Mr. Linky at Julie’s blog for candy or chocolate cookies.

I am hopelessly addicted to collecting cookbooks and food related books…and then not reading them. I don’t know why they sit unread on my shelves, but they do. I do know why I buy them…I love food, I love thinking of food, I love cooking.

My cooking skills have evolved over the years and I am happy to say I no longer religiously follow recipes. I like to take a recipe and improvise it, substitute in (or out) ingredients, and make the dish my own (which is probably one reason I am also hopelessly addicted to watching Top Chef every week…I am simply amazed at what they create, especially during the Quick Fire challenges).

I digress…back to the subject at hand.

Really what I want to share with you today are some of the fantastic food related books I’ve bought in the last year or so…and which I am determined to read before the end of 2010.

Fiction/Novels:

• Bread Alone, by Judith Ryan Hendricks – Emotionally devastated thirty one year old Wynter Morrison heals from a failed marriage by baking bread.
• The Baker’s Apprentice, by Judith Ryan Hendricks – Wynter Morrison faces more challenges in Seattle.

Memoirs:

• I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti, by Giulia Melucci – A woman looking everywhere for love, and finding it on the stove.
• Julie and Julia, by Julie Powell – 365 days of cooking with Julia Child
• Tender at the Bone, by Ruth Reichl – The coming of age of a culinary sensation
• A Thousand Days in Tuscany: A Bittersweet Adventure, by Marlena De Blasi – An American chef and food writer takes the reader to Tuscany…and the world’s best food.

Non Fiction:

• American Artisanal: Finding the Country’s Best Real Food from Cheese to Chocolate, by Rebecca Gray – Discover how and where food is being made the right way.

Cookbooks:

• The Improvisational Cook, by Sally Schneider – Declare your independence from recipes and a set list of ingredients
• The Art of Simple Food, by Alice Waters – Eat locally and sustainably, eat seasonally, cook simply…

Have any of you read these books? They look great, don’t they?

I don’t know about the rest of you, but about two weeks before Thanksgiving I start craving stuffing, roasted poultry, squash, yams and pie. I think it is just  thinking of Thanksgiving that starts my mouth watering.

Yesterday I decided to kick off the Thanksgiving season with some pre-Thanksgiving fare. I stuffed a 5.5 pound chicken and roasted it; made a bit of acorn squash and gave the plate a bit of green with steamed broccoli.

My very first cookbook I ever owned was Betty Crocker’s Cookbook which my mother gave me. For many years this was my sole inspiration and reference to cooking…until I became more adventuresome. But I still use this cookbook – primarily for reference. And so when I roasted my chicken yesterday, I dragged my dog-eared, food splattered copy of Betty Crocker’s Cookbook off the shelf and looked up the time-frame for roasting a chicken. What I love is that any basic food information you could want can be found inside this simple cookbook (their pie crust recipe comes out perfectly). I looked up chicken, and referenced the roasting schedule (which is conveniently divided up into the SIZE poultry and whether it is stuffed or not). For my chicken, I planned on 2.5 hours of roasting time at 325 degrees.

I don’t reference a cookbook for making stuffing because I mostly improvise when it comes to that. Stuffing is one of my favorite foodie things to make at this time of year and yesterday I pretty much used what I had on hand to create it. Here it is just in case you want to give it a try (sorry about the lack of exact measurements for some ingredients…I tend to just add a little of this and a little of that as I go):

To stuff a 4-5 pound chicken…

• 4 cups of dried, cubed bread
• diced up celery (at least 1/2 cup)
• diced up sweet onion (at least 1/2 cup)
• diced up fresh mushrooms (I used about 5 large ones)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup to 1 cup of liquid (I use canned chicken broth…but you can use water or homemade chicken broth instead)
• pepper to taste
• currants or dried cranberries to taste
• pecans – crumbled into bite sized pieces to taste
• chopped up fresh parsley to taste

Melt the butter in a fry pan, add the vegetables and saute until the celery and onions are clear or just tender. Dump the butter and vegetables into a large bowl and add the bread cubes, currants (or dried cranberries), pecans, pepper, and parsley. Mix well. Add in the liquid a little at a time until you have the right level of moisture (this is completely up to you…some people like very moist stuffing, other people like their stuffing a bit drier). Taste and adjust seasonings or ingredients as needed. Then stuff that bird and pop it in the oven. The left over stuffing I add to a buttered casserole dish and bake it for about an hour at 350 degrees or until the top of the stuffing is brown and crunchy.

To make acorn squash:

Chop your squash into halves and scoop out the seeds. Place the squash upside down in a casserole dish and then add water until it comes about 1/2 way up the sides of the squash halves. Bake in a 400 degree oven until the squash are easily pierced with a fork (about 45 minutes depending on the size of your squash). Remove from the oven; drain the water and flip the squash right side up (be careful..they are very hot!). Add a dollop of butter and brown sugar into the squash halves and place under a broiler (set on high) until the sugar and butter are bubbling (they actually begin to caramelize a bit). Remove from the oven and cut into serving sized pieces. Serve hot. These also taste great leftover – just heat them up in the microwave.

Today Kip and I are enjoying leftovers. Yum!!!

What are you making this weekend? Are you already anticipating a Thanksgiving feast? Do you have a favorite cookbook for reference or basic recipes?

To read more Weekend Cooking posts, visit Beth’s blog today and check out Mr. Linky!

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend.

I always feel especially creative in the kitchen at this time of the year and I tried a new recipe last night I thought I would share with all of you. This came from one of my favorite cookbooks: The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook by Julie Rosso and Sheila Lukins (I also have the equally good New Basics Cookbook by the same two authors). Anyway, I had thawed out four boneless chicken breasts yesterday and wanted to do something more imaginative than throw them the grill. On page 278 of The Silver Palate Cookbook, I found a terrific seasonal recipe called Baked Chicken With Cider and Apples. And it was simple. Simply marinate the chicken breasts in some apple cider for an hour (I used Odwalla’s Cider with Caramel), then dredge the breasts in flour with some ground ginger, cinnamon, pepper and salt. Bake in a shallow dish for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from the oven and pour reserved cider and sliced apples over the top of the chicken; return to the oven for 25 minutes…and you’re done. The recipe also called for Applejack (which I had to look up because I’d never heard of it…apparently it is a liquor) which I did not have…I left it out and the meal came out great, so I guess it wasn’t needed. Besides this easy dish, I also used a left over baked yam to make sweet potato pancakes with roasted pecans. Yummy.

Do you have some favorite seasonal recipes for this time of the year? I also love to make soups and stews with a loaf of homemade bread. I better stop now, my stomach is growling!

Americans are known throughout the modern world for their love of new technology in the mechanical and electronic realms. Any piece of equipment or tool that can do the job better and faster is immediately embraced and touted. So who could have predicted the success of a kitchen appliance that does the job more slowly? -From Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbook, page 1-

I decided to live life in the slow lane this weekend, cooking from Beth Hensperger’s wonderful cookbook – Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbook. I became an instant fan of Hensperger when I began using her Bread Machine Cookbook: The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook. I have yet to find a bread recipe there which isn’t delicious…and my copy of the cookbook has worn edges, food dripped pages, and sprawling notations throughout.

Hensperger collaborated with Julie Kaufmann to write her Slow Cooker Cookbook: ‘We found the slow cooker style of cooking is designed to complement the way we live- it is time conscious, economical, energy conscious, and reliable. We cooked from scratch with fresh ingredients, and we could cook the same dishes as easily for a dinner party as for a family supper.‘ The authors begin by giving a history of the slow cooker – noting that the Rival company developed this new appliance in 1971, marketing it as a tool for the working woman who wanted to serve her family homemade food despite her long hours away from the home. Slow cooking actually has its roots many years before Rival made it appealing to busy women – the technique of putting many root vegetables and tough meats in a burning fire pit (sometimes for up to 24 hours) to tenderize and meld their flavors was used by indigenous people in prehistoric times. Slow cooking is moist-heat cooking – cooking foods in a closed environment to utilize hot liquid in breaking down plants with lots of fiber, or meats with lots of connective tissue.

Among other things Hensperger and Kaufman provide information on shapes and sizes of slow cookers, temperature settings, high altitude cooking, and guidelines for adapting conventional recipes to slow cooking. All the information is organized for quick reference. The cookbook is broken up into sections including porridges to soups to rices and grains to main courses (by type) to desserts, jams, butters and compotes. Each recipe specifies the size of cooker best suited to the recipe as well as setting and cook time to be used.

I decided to cook from several sections of the cookbook: From the Porridge Pot; The Slow Cooker Soup Pot; Poultry, Game Birds, and Rabbit; and Slow Cooker Puddings, Cakes, and Breads. For all the dishes (except the oatmeal and tapioca pudding) I used Rival’s large Smart Pot (model #3850) which allows the cook to chose high or low setting and set a timer. It also has a warming feature.

Thursday Evening

Orange Hoisin Chicken (page 271) combines orange juice concentrate, honey, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, fresh ginger, garlic, sesame oil and frozen boneless chicken breasts to create a delicious meal. The ginger and garlic meld together for a subtle, yet delectable flavor. The recipe indicates that sprinkling toasted sesame seeds on top of the chicken is optional – but I would strongly suggest following this step as it adds a wonderful nutty flavor to the dish. Toasting sesame seeds takes only a few minutes in a dry fry pan, and is well worth the effort. I paired the dish with American Basmati and Wild Rice (Safeway Select brand) which complimented the dish without overpowering it. I also whipped up a simple, baby green salad with Italian dressing. This is a dish I would make again.

Friday Afternoon

Friday was a cold, breezy day in Northern California – the perfect weather for soup and a loaf of hot, homemade bread. Minestrone Soup (page 63) uses a good amount of fresh vegetables: yellow onion, carrots, celery, zucchini, and Swiss Chard. It also requires canned red kidney beans, frozen baby lima beans, fresh parsley, a can of whole tomatoes, canned (or homemade) chicken broth, some type of macaroni or shell pasta (I used cappelletti), and a dry red wine. It gently cooks for about 8 hours (times may vary according to your machine) and fills the house with a mouthwatering smell. This recipe required the vegetables (except for the Swiss Chard) to be sauteed before being added to the pot. The result was a delicious, flavorful soup. I accompanied it with one of my favorite recipes from Hensperger’s bread machine cookbook: Sour Cream Rye (page 139). This bread is very moist and is a perfect addition to any vegetable based soup. This meal was delicious with a glass of BV Pinot Noir (which was also the wine I used in the recipe).

Saturday Morning

My husband and I woke to hot Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal (page 28) on Saturday morning. I prepared the recipe the evening before and let the cooker cook all night. This was my first experience with my small Rival slow cooker (model #3215) which does not have a choice of settings nor a timer. I wasn’t sure at what temperature I was cooking – and as it turned out, the cooker got very hot causing the oatmeal to stick to the bottom. The porridge was just okay – a little too bland for my taste. If I were to make it again, I would first spray the cooker with nonstick, butter flavored spray and add more cinnamon.

For dinner, I prepared Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken with Potatoes and Mushrooms (page 285) which is cooked on a high setting using a 4 pound broiler chicken, lemon, paprika, parsley, onion, garlic, soy sauce, Yukon Gold potatoes and fresh mushrooms. This recipe had a mistake in it (maybe two mistakes) in that it failed to tell me when to add the mushrooms. I decided to add them on the top along with the potatoes. It also did not indicate that the potatoes should be halved or quartered…and since they were small, I simply put them in whole. This turned out to be a mistake as they did not cook through. At 3.5 hours, I removed them, halved them and returned them to the pot. Even still, they were a bit undercooked at 5 hours (a half hour PAST the estimated cook time). Despite this, the meal was actually very flavorful and the chicken was done perfectly. The onion and lemon flavors melded beautifully and gave the dish an elegant taste. I would make this dish again, but would quarter the potatoes before adding them to the pot.

For dessert, I cooked Tapioca Pudding (page 432), an old favorite from childhood. Once again I used my small slow cooker, but this time (as advised in the recipe) I sprayed the inside of it with non stick vegetable spray first. The pudding was absolutely delicious topped with whipped cream. It made four small servings, which my husband and I consumed all in one sitting!

Concluding Notes

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed cooking from this cookbook. There are many recipes I did not try, but which I marked to make at a future date. A sampling includes: Corn Chowder (page 70), Cream of Artichoke Soup (page 73), Lazy Day Braised Pot Roast (page 316), Roast Pork With Apples (page 359), Fresh Raspberry Bread Pudding (page 437), and Chocolate Bread Pudding (page 438).

As with Hensperger’s bread machine cookbook, this is one I can highly recommend.

*NOTE: Clicking on the photos will enlarge them.

Wise divides this cookbook up into ten sections: Starters, Salads, Soups, Pasta Aplenty, Main Dishes, Vegetable Sides, Sauces/Salsa/and Pestos, Pantry Perks, The Bakery, and Sweets. She not only includes a recipe index, but also a contributor’s index for those cooks who want to try a specific chef’s recipe. Interspersed throughout the book are interesting facts about food, technique, and tools of the trade. The recipes are easy to read and follow and include a short blurb by each contributing cook.

I chose to create two dishes for Saturday evening: Artichoke Supreme (page 277 – from Vegetable Sides), and Grilled Chicken Salad with Roasted Red Bell Pepper Dressing (page 79 – from Salads).

Artichoke Supreme requires some time to prepare – including about 40 minutes for boiling the artichokes. During that time, I prepared the stuffing using sweet onion, 2 medium tomatoes, chopped fresh basil, and bread crumbs from a loaf of good, day old bread. This is a dish which can be served hot or cold – my husband and I ate it hot on Saturday, and ate the leftovers cold for lunch on Sunday. I liked it better cold. I also thought it would have been tastier with melted butter dripped over it before adding the stuffing. But, regardless, it was a satisfying dish with plenty of flavor.

The grilled chicken salad was a disappointment since I used salad greens which were too tender to hold up to the hot chicken. The recipe called for hearty greens (arugula, watercress or frisee), but my supermarket didn’t carry those, so I substituted baby lettuce to the recipe’s detriment. On the plus side, the roasted red pepper dressing (made with roasted red bell pepper, roasted garlic, basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar) was outstanding – flavorful and not overpowering, but rich enough to stand up to the chicken. I think this would also taste wonderful over steak.

This evening’s menu utilized some leftovers from Saturday to which I added Rosemary-Roasted Walnuts (page 3 – from Starters), Deviled New Potatoes (page 5-6 – from Starters), and Spinach and Strawberry Salad (page 50 – from Salads).

None of these dishes was difficult, but the Deviled New Potatoes is a bit fussy and takes some time to prepare. It is well worth the effort, however. Delicate, creamy and with a bit of crunch from the diced celery, carrots, sweet pickles, and scallion…it makes a luscious side dish with left over chicken drizzled with roasted bell pepper dressing. The spinach and strawberry salad with Kentucky salad dressing (made with olive oil, cider vinegar, sugar, minced onion, poppy seeds, sesame seeds and a dash of Worcestershire sauce) provides the bit of sweet to this meal. The roasted walnuts would have made a nice addition to the salad, but my husband and I ate them by the handful instead. This meal, served with a cold glass of Hayes Ranch Chardonnay (Central Coast-California), was satisfying and filling. My husband’s favorite dish was the spinach salad, with the deviled new potatoes coming in a close second.

As an aside – I would recommend purchasing an immersion blender if you don’t have one. It made preparing the dressings for these dishes a snap. I love mine and don’t know what I did before I got it.

I’m really happy I joined this cooking challenge as I’ve had this fantastic cookbook on my shelf now for more than a year without having made a single recipe until this weekend! This is a cookbook I can recommend, especially if you are looking for a special recipe to serve to friends fresh out of the garden.

*NOTE: Please click on the photos above to view them in a larger size.