Monthly Archives: December 2010
my top ten posts of 2010
It’s been quite a year. A little exposure over at marthastewart.com, and things really took off. I thought that I’d recap the last year with a summary of my top ten visited posts. Click on the links to be taken back to the original posts.
I can’t thank you enough for taking a few minutes out of your day to stop by my little food blog. Your comments have been wonderful, and I love all of the interaction over on our facebook page.
Additional thanks to all the other great bloggers who inspire me everyday. Many of them are listed here on my blog in the column on the right.
Finally, I could not produce this blog without the unending support of my partner Greg. I can’t count the number of times that he’s had to wait an extra few minutes while I snap some additional photos of dinner. He’s my biggest fan, and makes life a great deal more fun.
See you in 2011! And now on to the top 10 of 2010:
1. Everyday Food Challenge Begins – Tomato and Olive Penne
2. Slow-Cooker Bacon Jam – Everyday Food Challenge
3. Mini Deep-Dish Pizzas – Everyday Food Challenge
5. Cappuccino Brownies – Everyday Food Challenge
6. Italian Pot Roast – Everyday Food Challenge
7. Oven-Baked Risotto – Everyday Food Challenge
8. Peach Buckle – Everyday Food Challenge
9. Strata with Sausage and Sun-Dried Tomatoes – Everyday Food Challenge
pomegranate-glazed chicken – everyday food challenge
About a month or so ago, I received an email from POM Wonderful, asking if I’d like to sample their 100% pomegranate juice. At the same time I remembered that Everyday Food magazine had featured this amazing juice back in its December 2006 issue in the “Have You Tried?” section. That’s were I found the recipe for Pomegranate-Glazed Chicken. I served the chicken for our 10th anniversary dinner last night. The chicken was amazing, but the real star of the dish was that deliciously sweet and tart glaze. T0 make the glaze I reduced two cups of pomegranate juice and one cup of orange juice with 3 smashed cloves of garlic, a teaspoon of dried rosemary and a pinch each of salt and pepper. It takes a little over 15 minutes on high heat to reduce to about half a cup. After straining the reduced glaze you add two teaspoons of red-wine vinegar.
While the chicken breasts are baking in the oven, you glaze with the sauce about every five minutes. The final result is a very moist chicken with a crisp flavorful skin. I reserved about half of the sauce to serve on the side with chicken. I know that I’ll be making this pomegranate glaze again. I think that it might make an excellent glaze on broiled salmon.
Disclaimer – POM Wonderful provided me with POM Wonderful juice. The review and opinions expressed are all my own.
birthday waffles
I awoke this morning to the sweet scent of waffles made by Greg. What a great way to start the first day of my 38th year. Did I accomplish all that I’d wanted from my 37 Things list? Not even close. But I intend to continue to knock out what’s left on the list and to add one more item, New York City!
white chocolate snowflakes
And here we are, the final few days before Christmas. I don’t know about you, but the list of things that I need to do keeps getting longer. These are times when a quick and simple recipe is really important. I ran across this three-ingredient holiday treat on Food52.com. My dear friends, may I introduce you to the White Chocolate Snowflake? Please click the link for the recipe, it’s as simple as melting the white chocolate, then stirring in Rice Krispies and roasted peanuts. I found using a small ice cream scoop made dividing the mixture into equal portions a breeze. You don’t need to use the decorative paper cups. The recipe calls for just dropping the mixture on to waxed paper. In about twenty minutes from start to finish, You’ll have a great treat for holiday nibbling.
chocolate peppermint cookies
Oh the snow…the weather around these here parts has been pretty frightful the last couple of days. On Sunday, I decided it would be best to use my shut-in time to bake some cookies for the holidays. I made dad’s ginger cookies that I wrote about previously. I also baked white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies and the those candy cane topped chocolate peppermint cookies pictured above. I came across the recipe for them just last week on the outstanding blog, One Ordinary Day.
They were pretty easy to make. And the peppermint marshmallow cream is amazing. Really it is. I think next time I’m going to use the mexican hot-chocolate cookie recipe, add a little instant espresso to the batter, and omit the chili powder from the coating. Then take two cookies and sandwich them around the peppermint marshmallow cream for a bit of a peppermint mocha inspired cookie. (This was actually Greg’s idea.) Who’s with me? What are you baking for the holidays?
random act of culture
This little random act of culture made coming to work on a cold Saturday morning a real treat. Enjoy.
The Knight Foundation is helping produce 1,000 of these Random Acts of Culture over the next three years, bringing classical artists out of the performance halls, into the streets – and our everyday lives. Performances are taking place through a variety of partners in Akron, Ohio; Charlotte, N.C.; Detroit, Mich.; Macon, Ga.; Miami, Fla.; Philadelphia, Pa.; San Jose, Calif.; and St. Paul, Minn.
hey good lookin’ whatcha got cooking?
I had a delightfully snowy day off work on Monday. I used a good portion of that time to update the Recipes Seen Here page of the blog. I think I’ve got a link to every recipe on there. If you notice anything missing, do let me know. Now go pick a recipe and get cooking! And let me know how it turns out.
5 days of sweets – pumpkin doughnut muffins
Sugar and spice and everything nice. That’s one way to describe these doughnuts disguised as muffins disguised again as doughnuts. I don’t think there’s a better way to end 5 Days of Sweets than with a baked treat bathed in butter then rolled in cinnamon sugar. So there you have it, the Pumpkin Doughnut Muffin from Everyday Food magazine.
You can’t really tell from the photo, but these are big. My friend Nancy, said she used a mini muffin pan when she tried out the recipe. I think that’s a pretty great idea. One caution about the recipe. It calls for 1 1/4 cups pure pumpkin puree (from a 15-ounce can). You will not use all of the puree from the can. If you do, I’m sure your baking ratios will be off, and you’ll not have the perfectly domed muffins seen here. Special thanks to Greg for taking a few moments away from the Browns game to take those over-the-shoulder action shots.
These Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins are perfect with a hot cup of coffee on a cold snowy day. At least that’s how I’m enjoying one on this very snowy Monday morning in Ohio. What’s your favorite treat to enjoy with a hot cup of java?
