Books That Make Us Hungry: Rachael Ray's New Cookbook

Rachael Ray falls into a similar category as Martha Stewart for a lot of people: You either love her or hate her.

I happen to be a fan so I was thrilled to get in on a group conference call last week with Ray about her new cookbook, Look + Cook, which goes live today. When I say "live," I mean that literally because the book, in addition to feature 100 "can't-miss main courses in pictures," also includes interactive 30-minute meals online where she cooks the recipes with the clock running in real time. In other words, you can follow along online or in the book by pictures and see how things really are supposed to look as you put the meals together. It's multi-media all the way, which is impressive.

In the interview, Ray said the first 100 meals "are the equivalent of a paint by numbers set." You can also, from the pictures, see if you're really interested in making this particular meal. How many pots will you really need, for instance?

Anyway, the photographs look positively yummy, and I will definitely be trying a few out and let you know what I think. In the meantime, if you want to see the videos, click here.

The Barefoot Contessa Rules

Hey Rachel: It's hard to know where to go after your post yesterday in which you basically throw down the food gauntlet with all these boasts about the food day extraordinaire you are going to have on Friday. But since it is after all in celebration of your birthday and you are married to a great cook, I will tamp down my envy (mostly) and say that I am genuinely happy you're going to have such a day of complete gourmet gluttony without having to lift a finger ... and then I'm going to post about the Barefoot Contessa, who, yes, I spoke to on my birthday... so there.

Anyway Ina Garten in person — at at least in phone person — was as nice as I imagined her to be. Just down to earth and friendly, just like her recipes in her many fabulous cookbooks. I have her new cookbook, How Easy is That? (and if you want to hear some exciting news about getting your very own copy, be sure to tune in tomorrow, readers), and tried a few of the recipes over the weekend.

They were both fantastic. Here's the roasted nuts recipe, that is absolutely killer and I guarantee will earn you kudos any time you make them. The mix of rosemary and chipotle is just brilliant. Enjoy!

Chipotle & Rosemary Roasted Nuts
Serves 8-10 (or maybe a lot less if you become as addicted as Peter and I did)

ingredients
vegetable oil
3 cups whole roasted unsalted cashews (14 ounces)
2 cups whole walnut halves (7 ounces)
2 cups whole pecan halves (7ounces)
1/2 cup whole almonds (3 ounces)
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 light brown sugar, lightly packed
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
2 teaspoons ground chipotle powder
4 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary leaves
kosher salt to taste

method
Heat oven to 350 degrees

Brush a sheet pan generously with vegetable oil. Combine all the nutes, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, maple syrup, brown sugar, organige juice and chipotle powder on the sheet pan. Toss to coat the nuts evenly. Add 2 tablespoons of rosemary and 2 teaspoons of salt and toss again.

Spread the nuts in one layer. Roast for 25 minutes, stirring twice with a large metal spatula until they are glazed and golden brown. Remove from teh oven and spring with 2 more teaspoons salt and the remaining 2 tablespoons of rosemary. Toss well and set aside at room temperature, stirring periodically to prevent sticking as they cool. (This is important to do. Otherwise, they will stick. Trust me.) Taste for seasoning. Serve warm or completely cool and store in airtight containers at room temperature (assuming there is any left over).

Marinades

Rachel here: Oh, summer. We've had an abnormally cool and grey summer here in the Bay Area with the heat finally arriving this week as we begin to consider the start of fall. This has left me and my fellow Bay Area dwellers scrambling to soak up these summery days before they disappear into the rain and fog that dominates...well...the rest of the year. Anyway, nothing is more summery than grilling and grilling is often best when done with marinaded food. Below you'll find a veggie marinade of my mom's followed by a chicken marinade of mine. What's one of your favorite marinades?


Janet here: As the part of this duo who is actually based in a part of the country where winters are, um, long and, depending on my feelings, challenging and depressing, I can say that I am not totally pumped to be even suggesingt summer is coming to an end. However, wonderful autumn, in particular fabulous October — the best month of the year — is on its way so I guess I don't have to get depressed yet.

Anyway here is a marinade I whipped up for grilling some veggies this past weekend. I did summer squash and onions, and it was mighty tasty. The key is to marinate long enough.

Veggie Marinade

ingredients
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 olive oil
1/2 cup diced tomato
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

method
Mix the marinade ingredients together. Place in a large plastic zip bag. Add whatever veggies you want to skewer on kabobs for the grill. Marinate at least one hour; the longer the better up to 24 hours. Skewer the veggies and toss the leftover marinade.

Chicken Marinade

ingredients
3 T. honey
1 T. chili powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
pinch of cayenne
salt and pepper
1/2 c. olive oil

method
Whisk ingredients together. Add 6 to 8 drumsticks (depending on size). Let marinate in refrigerator for several hours before grilling. Yum!

Whoopee for Whoopie Pies

Janet here: I'm not sure why I never made whoopie pies when our kids were little. I mean it seems like a no-brainer for someone who likes to bake, has a bit of a cupcake fetish, and who was a major Ring Ding, Yodels kind of gal as a child. But I didn't. In fact I'm not sure I even knew they existed until fairly recently.

At any rate, I've had kind of a fixation about them ever since learning about them. I even went out and bought a whoopie pie baking tin, whose holes are decidedly thinner than traditional cupcake baking tins — this from the woman who doesn't own a food processor. Maybe it's a mid-life thing.

Anyway, I'm happy to report this version is very tasty, according to the dessert eaters in our house. I did not make the more common fluff filling because it just seemed weird and I've never been that big a marshmallow fluff fan (I do, however, love s'mores). So I made a cream cheese icing instead. Anyway, hope you enjoy them. I plan to be experimenting with a whole lot of different types — carrot cake with cream cheese filling seems particularly interesting at the moment. After all, I bought the tin; now I have to justify it.

Whoopie Pies
makes 12 pies

ingredients
for the pies
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 stick softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg

for the filling
3 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
8 ounces softened cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla

method

For the pies: Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the butter, egg, vanilla and brown sugar in a mixing bowl with a beater (or whatever electric device you like to use). Add in the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. Beat until smooth. Add the buttermilk and beat until creamy. Don't overmix.

Fill each whoopie pie spot in the whoopie pan 2/3 full. These tins are thinner than cupcake cooking tins and help you automatically create the right size pie. I imagine you could use a cupcake tin too, but it would probably be harder to get the pies to be a uniform size and thickness. Bake for 11 minutes. Place on a tray to cool.

For the filling: Beat together all the ingredients and then spread between the cooled pies. Try to just eat one.

Rachel here: Ok, so we're still working our way through the dozens of mookies my mom made us when she came to visit after M was born. While I appreciate the bounty of sugary and chocolaty goodness that she left us with, I find myself looking at the mookies in my fridge and wondering why they're not whoopie pies. That tin will fit in your carry-on bag, right Ma? Because I'm feeling like it needs to accompany you out here on your next visit.

When You Have Lemons....

Janet here: It's hot, hot, hot again on the East Coast and the idea of turning on an oven is pretty much a non-starter for me. While I would like to believe everyone in my family would just eat this incredible blue cheese cole slaw for dinner (click here for recipe), in fact I do have to serve up something else. This lemon chicken, adapted from the Barefoot Contessa, is mighty tasty as well as being a good excuse to serve the cole slaw. It does require planning ahead a little bit — you have to marinate the chicken overnight — but then you can send someone else outside to grill the chicken while you stand by the fan and stay cool!

Grilled Lemon Chicken Salad
serves 4

ingredients
1 pound grilled lemon chicken, sliced (see below)
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (1 lemon)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups of whatever raw veggies you like: snap peas, red and yellow peppers, carrots snow peas all work well
1/2 lemon thinly sliced
salt and pepper to taste

Lemon Chicken
2 lemons juiced
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon thyme
1 pound boneless chicken breasts

method
Marinate the chicken overnight. Then grill and chill it. Then mix it with the rest and chill some more. Serve over lettuce.

Rachel here: Lemon, chicken and salad with chicken are some of my absolute favorite things. It hasn't been feeling very summery here as of late, though, plus M's been sick (sickness never feels summery) so I'm filing this recipe to try once it feels a little more in sync with where we are. Summer really kicks in much later here and I know that once it does I'll be trolling through my mom's recent posts for ways to navigate the hot kitchen.

It is Easy Being (Key Lime) Green

Janet here: I had never made a key lime pie before but have always loved them in restaurants. They're a great cheesecake substitute when you want something creamy but a little less dense. (Those moments are rare I admit, but when the craving is there you have to go with it — at least that's my philosophy.) Anyway, key lime pie is also a little bit of a rebel I think, the way it mixes its sweetness with a kick of tart. I love that about it.

This key lime pie is from one of my fav cooks, the Barefoot Contessa, and was ridiculously easy to make. I made it one day when my father-in-law was coming for dinner. It's a favorite of his and I thought it might cheer him up a bit after the death of his wife. Not sure the effects were long lasting but for just one little moment, he was one happy man.

Key Lime Pie
ingredients

for the crust
1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

for the filling
6 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 14-ounce sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons grated lime zest
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (4-5 limes)

for the decoration
1 cup cold heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
thin lime wedges

method
heat oven to 350 degrees.
For the crust, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter in a bowl. Press into a 9-inch pie pan, making sure the sides and bottom are an een thickness. Back for 10 minutes. Cool completely.

For the filling, beat the egg yolks and sugar on high speed in a bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment for 5 minutes, until thick. With the mixer on medium speed, add the condensed milk, lime zest and lime juice. Pour into the baked pie shell and freeze.

For the decoration: beat the heavy cream on high speed in the bowl until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until firm. Spoon or pipe decoratively onto the pie and decorate with lime. Freeze for several hours or overnight.

Rachel here: Because of the egg yolks this was a food I couldn't eat when I was pregnant. I am officially adding it to my list of foods to eat now that M is out and about. I'd always assumed it would be really difficult to make, but after reading this recipe it's seeming pretty doable. Such a summery food, too!

Food for Thought Thursdays: Great Camps and Great Food

Janet here: While it may not seem as if a Great Camp in the Adirondacks is about food, for our family it is. That's because we have spent two weeks there just about every summer for most of the last 20 years. Only a trip to London, out West, a wedding and the birth of our grandchild has held us back.

I know we've been lucky as a family to make this happen for so long. I was sure that our children would begin to reject this rustic retreat on the shores of Upper Saranac Lake as they reached the teenage years and entering a technology-free zone for two weeks would become decidedly uncool. (Full disclosure: our rental cabin did get cable TV a few years ago, but the only way to get cell phone service is to stand on a picnic table by the dock and even then it's dicey.) Instead, I have been thrilled that they've continued to love it and that they've been clambering to return and worked to make sure their summer jobs allowed them at least one week with us in this very special place.

But on to the food: Since it's a vacation for me too, this is not a place for fancy food or elaborate dinners. Instead I whip up — and Rachel has jumped in as she's gotten older — dinners I can create from memory. It's a place where some of our usual healthier eating goes on vacation, too. I remember the excitement of our children when they were younger and were allowed to pick any kind of cereal they wanted. The fact that it was the color of the rainbow and had enough sugar to guarantee they would be hanging off the ceiling shortly thereafter didn't matter at all. And this was before the many nights of s'mores around the communal campfire and multiple visits to Donnelly's soft serve ice cream (one flavor a day: enjoy it or don't have any).

The kind of food didn't really matter. It was just the idea of eating together every night without an agenda or schedule that helped to make the food memorable. It's a memory we are hoping to bring to the next generation of Reynolds, hopefully starting next summer with the divine Miss M. And our children, now 25, 23 and 18, have already decided that some day, down the road, they will gather together with their spouses and children and share time together in the Adirondacks. I'll bring the cereal.

Rachel here: My mom completed this post without my input because I was having some internet drama. It was resolved, though, and so I just wanted to say that I love what she wrote. Our summers in the Adirondacks are one of my favorite things about my entire life and I cannot WAIT to bring M (and John! He's never been...tragic!) into the scene as soon as possible (it feels important that this start next summer). S'mores and cereal are just the beginning of the great food-oriented memories. There have been dinners of fish caught fresh from the lake, a 50th birthday celebration for my dad, G's first foray into the kitchen and a more general luxuriating around the table that is never quite mustered throughout the rest of the year. It's a great tradition my parents gave us (continued on from my dad's family...when M goes she will be the 6th generation of Reynolds to arrive in the mountains), the kind that has sated my brothers and me through and through.

Holy Guacamole!

Rachel here: There are few things better than good avocados, I think. I've always loved them, but once I became pregnant with M I became kind of obsessed because they're a superfood of sorts. A superfood that is easy to eat? Sold. At some point during my pregnancy I began eating avocados sprinkled with a dash of salt nearly everyday. Anyway, fast forward to last night and we're not only in the peak of avocado season but M was in the midst of a hearty evening nap.


The stars rarely align so nicely. Anyway, John and I tiptoed away from our sleeping baby into the kitchen and I sliced into the avocados I'd bought earlier that day. One taste and I knew that I'd be forgoing a more involved guacamole in favor of the simplest version possible. These were the creamiest, most perfect avocados around.


I made a little side salsa with the ingredients I'd bought on the chance that the avocados weren't so wonderful. We popped open a bag of corn chips and a couple of beers and stood in the kitchen relishing the quiet and each other's company as the evening settled in around us. It was so simple and so wonderful.


ingredients
4 extra large avocados
1 medium white onion, diced
4 medium roma tomatoes, diced
1 small lime
1/2 a medium lemon
3/4 tspn. salt, divided

method
Scoop avocado into a medium bowl and squeeze the juice from one lime over it. Add 1/2 tspn. salt and mash with a fork (I like mine chunky). In a separate bowl (or the same one if the avocados aren't great), combine tomatoes, onion, juice from the half lemon and the remaining 1/4 tspn. salt. Mix and serve with the guacamole and chips. Enjoy!



Janet here: I don't make guacamole often for one simple reason: I would eat the whole damn bowl. Yup, I love it, especially guacamole that's got a little zing to it. Sadly in the Northeast, buying ripe avocados is virtually impossible so you have to plan ahead if you want to get your guacamole fix to give them time to ripen. (Another example of California's food superiority.)

Anyway if you want an avocado fix, this salad adapted from the Barefoot Contessa at Home does the trick quite nicely. It's easy to whip up and makes a nice side salad on a hot summer night when turning on the oven is the last thing on your to-do list.


Guacamole Salad
serves 4

ingredients
1/2 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced into 1/2 inch pieces, seeded
7 oz black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup diced red onion
1 tablespoon minced jalapeno peppers
1/4 teaspoon lime zest
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 ripe avocados, seeded and peels, 1/2 inch diced


method
Place the tomatoes, pepper, black beans, red onions, peppers and lime zest in a large bowl. Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and cayenne pepper and pour over the vegetables. Toss well.

Just before you're ready to serve, fold in the avocados. Check the seasoning and serve at room temperature.

When Slumping is Good

Rachel here: I have never made slump, though it seems like something I will make now that it's on my radar. Who doesn't love simplified cooking? Plus, it comes up in Little Women, one of my favorite books growing up (Oh! I just considered that M will read it someday and I got really excited...). I loved it for the reasons so many girls did, but also on two sentimental counts: my copy of the book was beautiful and a special gift from my dad and it was the movie I picked during the weekend G and S and I spent watching movies with our mom (one of the best. weekends. ever.). Anyway, it is most likely for these reasons that slump will appear on our table soon.

Janet here: I remember vividly our family watching Little Women, the one with Susan Sarandon and Winona Ryder before she went all crazy. Peter was away and I had decided we were all going to eat whatever we wanted for the weekend, watch as many videos as we wanted and stay in our pajamas all weekend if that's what we wanted. I can't remember the other movies Rachel, G and S picked, but I remember so well the festive feeling and feeling as if we were getting away with something. It was winter I believe and it so cozy in our home. We picnicked on the family room floor and ate ice cream and other silly food. It really is one of my favorite family memories, made even more special because Rachel began calling me Marmy after that. Whenever she's written it in a note or email, I've always felt so loved.

But on to the slump. Some people call slump the lazy cook's cobbler. I say it's an easy way to have a fabulous fresh fruit dessert without turning on your oven in the heat of summer.

Plus I love the history of it. Slump, according to the Oxford Companion to Food, got its name because "the preparation has no recognizable form and slumps on the plate." It originated in New England when clever early colonists didn't have brick ovens so they made this in a pot over the fire. It apparently also goes by the name grunt because of the sound of the bubbling fruit. And, to tie this back to Little Women, it was immortalized by Louisa May Alcott, who called her home in Concord, Mass., Apple Slump and recorded a recipe for the dish.

Summer Fruit Slump
serves 6-8

ingredients
2-3 pounds fruit of your choice, cut into wedges. I used peaches but nectarines, apples, and berries would likely work
3/4 cup sugar
1 heaping tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon lemon juice

dumplings
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 heaping tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon each baking soda, salt, cinnamon
1 cup cold butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup cold buttermilk

method
Slice the fruit over a bowl so the juice collects in it. Combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt with the fruit. Coat well. Gently stir in the lemon juice. Pour fruit and juices into a 10-12-inch skillet with a tight lid. Let stand 15 minutes. Then heat the fruit on a low simmer, gently stirring occasionally to prevent the fruit from sticking to the pan. Simmer a few minutes until slightly thickened. Remove from heat.

For the dumplings, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Add the butter and toss until evenly coated. Cut the butter with your fingers or a pastry blender until it's the size of peas. Add the buttermillk and stire until the mixture just comes together and forms a wet dough.

Place the dough in 6 portions over the fruit, distributing the dumplings evenly. Heat to a low simmer. Cover and simer until the dumplings are puffy and cooked through, about 25 minutes. Remove cover and cool 15 minutes before serving

Food for Thought Thursdays: The Family Cookbook Project

Janet here: We started Life Told in Recipes because we love cooking and we love serving the people we love good food. (It was also an excuse to talk on the phone every day.)

But the idea behind the blog was also to get other people talking about food and remembering their happiest moments sharing food with the people they love. With that in mind, we want to let you know about the Family Cookbook Project. Basically it's an online company that helps you organize all those family recipes into a printable product that you can then share with everyone in your family. They've got templates and timelines and suggestions for how to corral your family into this project. Yes, there's a fee, but it's reasonable, especially since what you have at the end is a piece of family history that will last forever.

I got interested in our family food history after my mother died and I discovered all the notes she had written in her cookbooks. They were an abbreviated diary of her life and while wonderful to have, I was left feeling incomplete. Why hadn't we talked about these recipes while she was alive?

The Family Cookbook Project is one way to make sure that doesn't happen in your family. Check it out. You won't be sorry.

Crazy for Cookies

Janet here: A few weeks ago, I made — or more accurately, tried to make my mother-in-law's molasses sugar cookies. We were coming up to the anniversary of her death and my husband asked me to make them. I thought it would be a nice way to remember her.

But then I looked at the recipe and it called for Crisco instead of butter and I just couldn't wrap my baking head around using Crisco for anything other than part of pie crust (and my father would roll in his grave if he knew I used anything but pure butter for all of it) so I substituted butter and they were good but not quite the real thing. (Not that I'm sure anything would have really been the real thing anyway because my mother-in-law wasn't making them, and I mean that in all the best ways.)

So when we decided to make cookies this week, I decided to try to redeem myself and make another molasses recipe, this one the Barefoot Contessa's ultimate ginger cookie from her At Home cookbook. It included the all-important molasses ingredient of my mother-in-law's tasty cookies but also included bits of crystallized ginger (a particular favorite of my husband). Although I was nervous while working with the dough — it was much drier than most cookie batter — I'm happy to report it was a success. While not a substitute for his mother's cookies — nor should they be — Peter proclaimed them tasty.

Ultimate Ginger Cookies
makes about 16 cookies

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup dark brown sguar, lightly packed (I only had light brown and it was fine)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup unsulfured molasses
1 large egg at room temperature
1 1/4 cups chopped crystallized ginger (6 ounces)
granulated sugar for rolling the cookies

Method
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger and salt and then combine the mixture with your hands. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or if you're like me, just in a bowl where you're going to mix everything with a trusty old fork), beat the brown sugar, oil and molasses on medium speed for 5 minutes. Turn the mixer to low speed, add the egg and beat for 1 minutes. Scrape the bowl and beat for one more minuted.

With the mixer still on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add the crystallized ginger and mix until combined.

Scoop the dough with 2 spoons or a small ice cream scoop. With your hands, roll each cookier into a 1 3/4-inch ball and then flatten slightly with your fingers. Press both sides of each cookie in granulated sugar and place on the cookie sheets.

Bake exactly 13 minutes. The cookies will be crackled on the top and soft on the inside. Let cool on the sheets for a minute or two. Then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Try not to eat a half dozen.

Rachel here: Without planning on it, or much discussing it, it seems my mom and I both baked cookies with other people in mind this week. Aren't we good people to know? Anyway, one of my dearest friends in the world is coming to visit for a few short days this weekend and I am immersed in an insanely chaotic couple of weeks right now so, to prepare for her visit I made cookie dough ahead of time this past weekend. Since it's a recipe I'd never used before, though, I figured it would only be wise to bake off a quick dozen to make sure they're edible. This has actually been my approach to cookie baking for the last year or so, and I have to say I highly recommend it. I make the full dough recipe and then usually just bake a dozen, either refrigerating or freezing the rest of the dough depending on when I think I'll be wanting more cookies. This way, fresh cookies are never more than ten minutes away in my house and, let's be honest here, there's nothing like a cookie warm from the oven. Plus, it's a great way to get a chunk of baking out of the way in advance when you have a busy week with an event looming at the end of it.

Anyway, the recipe I used I modified from one I found on epicurious that was featured in the July 2003 Bon Appetit. The texture is perfect, I think (and my co-taster, John, agrees). In a completely spacey pregnant moment, I forgot to put in all of the spices and nearly (like, very very nearly) forgot to put in the oats. I remembered the oats in the nick of time (like, right before I was about to put the cookies in the oven) and, at that moment, realized my complete neglect of the spices. I didn't want to over-mix the dough, though, so I sprinkled the spices on top. I imagine these cookies are a little bit better with the spices mixed into the dough and I suspect you can go a little heavier on the spices than the recipe calls for. Even with all of my errors, though, these cookies are seriously delicious. Now I just have to try to forget how much dough I have in the fridge until closer to my friend's arrival...

Oatmeal Cookies with Raisins, Cranberries, Walnuts and Chocolate Chips

Ingredients

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 tspn. baking powder

1/2 tspn. baking soda

3/4 tspn. salt

1 1/2 tspn. cinnamon

1/2 tspn. nutmeg

3/4 c. butter, room temperature

1/4 c. vegetable shortening, room temperature

1/2 c. white granulated sugar

3/4 c. brown sugar (I used dark)

2 large eggs

1/4 c. honey (for ease, 1/4 c.=4 T...easier to measure in this case, I think)

1 T. vanilla

1 c. raisins and cranberries

1 c. walnuts, broken

1 c. chocolate chips (I used bittersweet...sooooo good)

3 c. rolled oats

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine first six ingredients (flour through nutmeg) in a small bowl and set aside. In your mixer, beat the butter, shortening and sugars until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, honey and vanilla. Mix in the flour mixture. Stir in the last four ingredients (raisins/cranberries through oats). Spoon batter onto cookie sheet (I used a heaping tablespoon) and bake for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown. Let sit on sheet a minute or so before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Yum!

The base for this recipe, I think, would lend itself well to anything you wanted to add in the place of the last four ingredients (though, personally, I'd keep the oats). The original recipe called for way more sugar, too, so if these aren't sweet enough for you, then feel free to increase both of the sugars to 1 cup.

Muffin Ma'am

Janet here: We're kicking off this week's blogs with, appropriately, a breakfast item. If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, why not make it something just a little special? I've been eating yogurt — usually Dannon's coffee flavor, although Stoneyfield's organic non-fat yogurt has been a staple since I did Weight Watchers — for decades. My husband and son S, meanwhile, are cereal eaters. All kinds of boring, don't you think? And that's the joy of muffins. Bake up a batch on the weekend, and you have instantly made breakfast a cheerier meal for the rest of the week.

Muffins' ability to bring cheer hit home with me last year after my mother-in-law died. My father-in-law was understandably bereft losing his help and soul mate after 56 years of marriage. She was also a good cook so the loss was a double whammy for a man who enjoys a good meal. So I started making these muffins. I made them week after week after week — so regularly, in fact, that he started calling me the Muffin Queen. We all got just a bit tired of them, but he didn't and so I kept baking, bringing just a bit of sunshine to a life that was all shades of gray.

This particular recipe is from one of my favorite culinary ladies, Ina Garten aka the Barefoot Contessa. I have five of her cookbooks and I refer to them all the time. (Indeed there will be another recipe of hers featured later this week; stay tuned.) This one for triple berry muffins is from The Barefoot Contessa at Home. I amended it to just use blueberries and raspberries; I'm pretty sure Ina would approve. I also make my muffins in large tins rather than the regular size. Why scrimp when muffins are so special?

Triple Berry Muffins

Ingredients
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon (the ingredient that really gives these pizazz I think)
1 1/4 cups milk
2 extra large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
1/2 cup diced fresh strawberries
1 1/2 cups sugar

Method
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line muffin pan with liners.
Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in large bowl. (FYI, I don't sift. Ever.)Stir with your hand to make sure ingredients are combined. In another bowl combine milk, eggs and butter. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, pour wet ingredients into the well and stir until just combined. There will be some lumps; don't overmix the batter. Add the fruit and sugar and combine gently.
Use a 2 1/4 ice cream scoop to spoon the batter into the liners. Bake 20-25 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean and the tops are brown.


Rachel here: So, my partner and I are in the process of moving. We have the good fortune of having two apartments this month and, with that luck, the accompanying difficulty of remembering what is where at any given moment. Seriously, the only thing I own whose location I am positive of these days is my bed. Anyway, needless to say, this created some err....fun...baking escapades this morning.

The plan was to spend the day at the new apartment, unpacking what we could and generally getting things going in the new space. So, after our coffee this morning, I dutifully packed up my cookbook, butter, a spatula, and other muffin making necessities, checking items off of the list I'd developed in my head. No sooner had I preheated the oven (oh, and what an oven it is...it's an O'Keefe and Merrit a la photo number 6) then I realized I had brought no measuring spoons NOR did I have a single spoon in the house, I had fewer muffin/cupcake paper wrappers than I needed AND I had neglected to bring the paddle to my KitchenAid mixer. Grrr...

My partner was adamant I could still pull these muffins off. This optimism irritated me until I decided that, if not, it would at least make a good story and, most likely, a pretty yummy mess. And so, instead of creaming my butter and sugar into a wonderfully fluffy goo, I threw them in my Cuisinart (which, of course, I only had the sharp metal blade with me for) and turned them (along with the eggs, banana and yogurt...which I also didn't bring enough of) into an unpromising liquid. At this point I had strayed so far from the recipe's orders that I was convinced there was no way in hell these muffins wouldn't come out like little boulders. Instead, in some freak incident I'm sure (because if not following the rules always works this well than my entire world will be turned upside down), my muffins came out just fine. WEIRD. OK, they're not wonderful, but they are completely edible and definitely still better than their store-bought counterparts. Could they be fluffier? Absolutely. Will they all be eaten? Without a doubt.

The moral of my story is, I suppose, twofold: First, just because your partner thinks something can still work out doesn't mean he is trying to ruin your life with his optimism or that your general propensity toward skepticism need be re-evaluated; second, evidently muffins (and baking in general?!?) might not be the finicky princesses I had figured they were beforehand. Anyway, follow this recipe from The Best Recipe (I added some strawberries to the banana walnut variation) or just mix all of these ingredients together and cross your fingers. Either way, I'm pretty sure your breakfast tomorrow morning will be a little bit brighter.

Ingredients
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 T. baking powder
1/2 tspn. baking soda
1/2 tspn. salt (*Note: I always lean towards the generous side with salt during baking. I swear it brings out flavors.)
1/2 tspn. nutmeg
10 T. unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 c. plain low-fat yogurt
1 c. light brown sugar
1 1/2 c. finely diced banana
1/2 c. strawberries
3/4 c. walnuts

Method
Preheat oven to 375 degrees with rack in middle position. Whisk flour, baking powder, soda, salt and nutmeg in bowl and set aside. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each one. Add half of dry ingredients and incorporate. Beat in 1/3 of the yogurt. Continue alternating dries and yogurt until everything is incorporated. Fold in bananas, strawberries and walnuts.

Now, according to the official recipe you should scoop your batter into greased muffin tins. I used little cupcake paper wrappers, though, to cut down on clean-up (on account of the move). While the sides don't get quite as well cooked, I personally feel like there's nothing wrong with this approach. If I were making them for an event I wouldn't use the paper wrappers, but when it's just for home, the time I save on clean-up is worth the compromise to me! Anyway, enjoy!

Variations on a Theme: Brownie Bake-Off

Rachel here: There is a book in my kitchen that I turn to in times of need. It is the first cookbook I ever bought and, all of these years later (ok, I'll be honest, all of these five years later...yes, I'm a youngin') it remains my steadfast kitchen companion (besides my partner, but more on him another time). It is the cookbook whose recipes I will try for the first time and bring the end result to a party untasted (I live in the Bay Area or, the Land of Food, and so this is no small statement, particularly since my partner and a disproportionate number of our friends make their livings in kitchens); the cookbook that has literally never let me down (although it has not always blown my mind). Anyway, when we decided to do this great brownie bake-off of ours, I didn't hesitate before pulling this book from its trusty place near my stove. In fact, I didn't even look at another recipe. And now, a drumroll please, for The Best Recipe (compiled by the editors of Cook's Illustrated) and their basic brownie recipe. With a scrumptiously fudgy center and perfectly crisp top, I promise you won't be disappointed.

Ingredients
8 T. (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
2/3 c. cake flour
1/2 tspn. baking powder
1/4 tspn. salt
1 c. sugar
2 large eggs
1 tspn. vanilla extract
1/2 c. chopped nuts (the recipe says these are optional, but barring an allergy I wholeheartedly disagree and I usually use toasted walnuts)

Method
Preheat over to 350 degrees. In a heatproof bowl placed over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter until smooth. Set aside to cool.
Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl. Set aside.
Whisk sugar into cooled chocolate mixture. Whisk in eggs and vanilla. Fold in flour mixture and nuts until just combined.
Pour batter into a greased 8-inch metal baking dish (or, in a pinch, you can use a 9-inch metal pie plate) and place in oven. After 20 minutes, insert a toothpick into the center. When it comes out with a few crumbs on it, the brownies are done. Place on wire rack to cool. To preserve moistness, only cut when ready to eat if possible.

Pour yourself a glass of milk and enjoy!




Janet here: So the brownie gauntlet was obviously thrown when Rachel decided — without telling me! — to use that damn Best Recipe cookbook that she knows I don't own. Seems a little devious don't you think? Well, I turned to a different kind of "best", the Beat This Cookbook by Ann Hodgman, a cookbook whose subhead proclaims it provides "the very best recipe" for everything from apple pie and brownies to crab cakes and guacamole. Pretty gutsy, don't you think? I have no idea if this is the "best" brownie recipe but I was intrigued so here it is. I will also say that I was dubious about actually following this recipe to a T; I mean is it really necessary to mix the sugar, eggs and pinch of salt for a full 15 minutes? I decided, though, for the sake of experimentation to do exactly what Ann said, and I am happy to report these are very very very creamy brownies. If you like cakier brownies, you won't like these, but if you like your brownies almost custardy inside, this recipe could be exactly what the doctor ordered.


Ingredients
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature (I actually did this for the firs time; tip: soak them in lukewarm water for 1/2 hour to take the chill off if you don't plan ahead)
pinch of salt (I use kosher as much as possible)
5 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate
3 ounces best-quality unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup miniature chocolate chips

Method
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8-inch pan.

In a large bowl beat sugar, eggs and salt for 15 minutes. If you have to use a hand mixer (as I do since I don't own a stand-up mixer, she suggests having a book to pass the time). Meanwhile, melt the semisweet and unsweetened chocolates and butter in a double boiler over a very low flame. When the chocolate concoction is 3/4 melted, take it off the flame and stir until smooth. Cool to lukewarm (don't rush this!) and fold gently into the sugar-egg mixture. Fold in flour, vanilla and finally the chips.

Spread the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes if you like your brownies custardy or 30 if you like them drier. I did 25 and got a nice mix between the two.

Let us know what you think? Which one did you prefer? Do you have a favorite brownie recipe?

Mookie Madness

Rachel here: So, I have to start by saying that my mother bakes cookies entirely incorrectly. I am a fastidious follower of rules and, generally, this holds true as well when it comes to baking. Cooking is one thing, an arena in which I will sample and experiment until I find the right flavor combination. Baking, however, is an entirely different beast and one in which I adamantly adhere to precise measurements and steps in the name of producing perfectly textured and flavored food. Having worked in a restaurant for the last several years, my understanding of cooking as experimental and baking as a precise art has only been reinforced time and again. However...my mother bakes a mean mookie. In case you didn't figure this out for yourself from the photo, a mookie is a cookie baked in a muffin tin, this one with a peanut butter cup in the center. I have never made them for myself, preferring to indulge in mookie eating contests with G and S when I'm visiting, but when I do I can assure you I will follow my cookie recipe precisely (as opposed to my mother's preferred version of throwing in a little salt, a little baking soda or what have you) and, sadly, I doubt that my mookies will be nearly as good. Anyway, I'll let my mom take it from here since she's the mookie master.

Janet here: I cannot claim to be the inventor of mookies. That honor belongs to a former colleague of my husband. However, the name mookie is a Reynolds original. You take a cookie and a muffin and you get...a mookie. Cuffin just didn't cut it obviously. Anyway the mookies here are traditional Toll House chocolate chip cookies. You make the cookies (aside here: I actually just mix all these ingredients into a bowl together, not separately as the recipe calls for, and come up with a general chocolate chip cookie dough...unlike Rachel) and then instead of putting them on a cookie sheet, you put them in a muffin baking tin and stuff a peanut butter cup in the middle and voila! Mookie!
I have also made these with Reese's Peanut Butter Chip Chocolate Cookies with a peanut butter cup in the middle. Delicious!
The possibilities for mookies are endless I think and I plan to explore lots of possibilities down the road....What do you think might be some good combinations?

Cream Cheese Anyone?

Janet here: I'm going solo today because Rachel is out bonding with her brothers. She's only home for a short visit so their time together is premium. Anyway, G and S are both lads with voracious appetites and since they're on break — one from college and one from high school — there's been some serious requesting for specialty goodies, even though the holiday baked goods are still fairly abundant. As a fan of baking, it's hard to say no, so while they're out, I agreed to make Philadelphia Cream Cheese's Cheesecake Bars. They're not cheesecake, but they'll do in a pinch and they're much faster to make. If you want a cheesecake fix without the hassle, these are the way to go. I'm always looking for cheesecake substitutes so if any of you have some to share, bring 'em on! Here's the recipe.



Philly 3-Step Cheesecake Bars
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Baking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
3 8 oz packages Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup butter melted (they say you can use margarine too but I say what is the point?)

Method
Mix crumbs, butter and 3 tablespoons sugar. Press into 13 X 9 inch baking pan

Mix cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, and mix until blended.

Pour batter over crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the center is almost set. Refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Cut into bars. Makes 24.

Tip:
Line pan with foil for easy removal of bars.

The Beginning

After months (okay maybe years) of talking about starting a blog on food and cooking, we are finally doing it. We both love cooking and sharing recipes we've discovered and fallen in love with (and every so often hate). Beyond that, though, we both see food as a point of togetherness and sharing, with coming together for a meal as a time not only for nurturing ourselves and our families literally, but also as a time in which we pause and mark our lives.

Janet here: We got the name for the blog from an essay I wrote about my mother's cookbooks. When my mother died a decade ago, I discovered that she had written commentary in her cookbooks. "Bob [my father] really loved this," read the one next to the recipe for horseradish meatballs in her coverless, stained McCall's Cookbook. "Janet and Kellee [my sister] did NOT like this," read the comment by tomato aspic. I realized as I leafed through them that these were more than simply recipes; these were my mother's journals, her way of recording our lives together.
So Rachel and I started talking about this idea and realized that sharing recipes was one of the ways that we've remained connected even though we're now living 3,000 miles apart. It made our lives still seem somehow connected, and we thought if this is happening to us, it's probably happening to other people too.

Rachel here: When I first moved across the country from my family at the age of 19, one of the ways in which I navigated my homesickness was by making food that my mom made for my brothers and me when we were growing up. Now that I have a partner and we are growing a family of our own, one of the ways I bridge the two parts of my family is through food. As my mom and I have discovered our shared love of cooking (alright, let's be real here--we're pretty fond of the eating component, too), though our kitchens are thousands of miles apart, our exploits in them have become a shared space space of sorts.
Anyway, we hope you enjoy our blog and would love to hear your own tales of culinary trials and errors, as well as about the ways in which food functions in your life.