Cashew Chicken

What do I do when there's almost 2 feet of snow on the ground ?

Other than spend my time in the kitchen cooking Cashew Chicken?

I watch my dogs play in the snow, of course.  Notice how I didn't say play together. 

Gus runs, Clyde tries to keep up until he gives up.

He then decides to lie down on the warm, cozy bed of snow. And occupy himself with the old standby, a stick to chew on.  

Until I chime in and say, "Clyde!  That's soooo not good for you!"

"Hmmph??  You wanna try and catch me so that you can take it away from me?"

"Didn't think so, hehe."

Today's recipe, Cashew Chicken, is really fast and easy to make.  Like, 15 minutes from start to finish fast.

Unless you're cooking it with kids, that is, which is what I did last night when we taped an episode of the cooking show.  In that case, it was fun and easy.  But I'll save that post for another day.

Baked French Toast

When I woke up this morning, I was relieved to see that it had finally stopped snowing.  

7 a.m. this morning, Clyde the party animal was his usual "Yee-Haw!" self.  Gus was like, "It's too early, kid."

Strange, isn't it, how easily I embrace imaginary dog conversations now that my kids aren't around?

They don't even look like they're part of the same conversation in this picture.  Gus looks like he's had enough of the cold and Clyde looks like he's still ready for his close-up.

I decided to make today's recipe, Baked French Toast, because I wanted to use up a package of rolls that I had in my freezer.  It's a perfect breakfast for a snowy day!

Italian Wedding Soup

We finally got some snow this weekend.

Yay!!

And now the forecasters are predicting another another 2 to 3 feet is on the way, starting this afternoon.

I hope they're wrong!

Clyde has no idea what we're in for.

It's going to be hard to wag that tail, buddy, when it's buried in snow.

Today's recipe is a PERFECT soup for a snowy day!  Meatballs, cheese, escarole--a wedding of flavors that go together so well.

Pizza Cooking Show

We filmed another episode of the cooking show last week.

Pizza!

My friend,  Jay, cooked with me.

I had all sorts of toppings & cheeses ready, and we prepared fresh pesto and a simple red sauce.

For the simple red sauce: 

Sauté 1 small chopped onion and 2 cloves of crushed garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat until soft and just beginning to caramelize.  

Add one 14-oz can of tomato sauce (your choice, I prefer a thin, runny sauce--which thickens up as the sauce simmers--but if you like a thick or chunky pizza sauce use canned diced tomatoes or tomato puree).  

When the sauce comes to a boil, reduce the heat and allow the sauce to simmer and thicken while you prepare your pizza dough.

We made two types of pizza dough.  

A quick dough which requires no yeast (and thus no rise time).  Mix it, knead it, bake it.  

Jay declared it "a game changer."

Here's the pizza he made with the quick dough.  He called it a "Grilled Cheese and Tomato" pizza, very simply topped with shredded mozzarella and diced plum tomatoes.

The rest of our pizzas were made with my favorite homemade pizza dough.

I put together a Chicken/Pesto pizza with mushrooms.  I spread some pesto on the crust, then added some chicken.  I covered it all with shredded fontina and a little bit of Parmesan.  And mushrooms.

My favorite corner, with the mushrooms.

Jay created a Meatlover's Pizza, topped with pepperoni and sliced meatballs.

I decided to go half and half with this pizza:  pepperoni and shredded mozzarella on one half, and sliced fresh mozzarella on the other half.

Jay also made a "little bit of everything" pizza which I neglected to get a close-up picture of.  I think it had chicken and chopped tomatoes on one half and meatballs and fresh mozzarella on the other half.  And shredded mozzarella, fontina and Parmesan sprinkled on top.

You can click on the highlighted links above for the pesto and quick crust recipes, and here is the recipe for my favorite pizza dough:

Southwestern Chicken Soup

I was looking for some cooking inspiration, so I decided to check out a listing of national food holidays.  Did you know that just about every day of the year is a specific food holiday?

As it turns out, today (January 13) is National Peach Melba Day.

Huh.  No offense, peach melba lovers, but I don't exactly feel inspired.

However, while I was on the national food holidays website, I did notice that January is National Soup Month.  This is something I can work with.

After all, I had some leftover Chicken Tortellini Soup for lunch today.

There's a pot of lentil soup simmering on my stove top as I type this, and my daughters have both requested (ahem, begged) me to PLEASE make some broccoli cheddar soup ASAP.

Recipes for all of the above-mentioned soups can be found by clicking on the links.

If there is a such a thing as a go-to soup, the recipe I am going to give you today, Southwestern Chicken Soup, is my go-to soup.  Don't be afraid to change things up, if you don't like sweet potatoes use a white potato or rice or noodles or pasta.  

Don't omit the cumin, lime or cilantro, however!  It's what makes it Southwestern!  And the chopped avocado & Monterey Jack sprinkled on top takes it over the top, in my opinion.

Cookies!

Well, this month has been a happy blur.  Anytime we are all under the same roof is a happy time!

Despite their somber expressions in this photo, Gus and Clyde have also enjoyed having the kids home for the holidays.

We also filmed another episode of the cooking show.  It was cookie-themed, but not necessarily Christmas-themed, because by the time it finishes airing it will be past the holiday season...and we didn't want to be pushing Christmas in January!

So we baked a bunch of cookies that were Christmas-festive, yet plain enough that they can be enjoyed year-round!

Printable recipe

Click here to be taken to the blogpost with the step-by-step instructions.

And before you begin to think that maybe I got the gift of mad photography skills for Christmas, I need to confess that the pretty photo above was taken by my daughter, Caitie.

Now that I've hooked you with a pretty photo, I'm going to pull the old bait & switch.  Continue on for the usual lackluster photos.

Almond Cookies

Most definitely my go-to cookie recipe.  Switch out the red & green sugar for ocean hues in the summer, add in some funfetti, or just bake 'em plain.  Click on the above link for step-by-step instructions or use the printable.

Sea Salt Caramel Rice Krispy Treats

My personal favorite!  Sea salt & caramel is a match made in heaven, and I simply won't make these unless I can bring them somewhere...because if I keep them here I will eat every last one of them!  Printable Recipe

Hope you are enjoying this final day of 2014.

Happy New Year!!

Lobster Macaroni & Cheese

I made this lobster mac & cheese on my last cooking show.  The theme of the show was cooking new dishes/developing recipes, and this recipe fit in with the theme because I had never tried to make lobster mac & cheese before.

And the reason why I chose this specific dish?  My friend, Trish, was cooking with me and I knew that lobster mac & cheese was one of her favorite foods.  

I didn't come up with this recipe on my own; my brother is a really good cook and he has a lobster recipe for everything so I simply asked him how to prepare lobster mac & cheese.  I only tweaked his recipe a little, using less black pepper (actually, I didn't use any, only white pepper) and adding a bit of milk to thin down the cheese sauce.  

I wish I had thought to record all of the comments that my friends made when we sat down to eat after we had finished taping.  I definitely remember one of them saying, "I just want to sit here and eat this for the rest of my life," and another one saying, "This tastes like something I would order at the best restaurant I ever went to."

If you make this recipe, I hope you like it as much as my lobster-loving friends do!

Cooking Show--Trying Out New Recipes!!

Warning!  Long, rambling post right here!  But if you work your way through to the end, there will be recipes for Lemon Drop Martinis, Caesar Salad Dressing, Lobster Macaroni & Cheese, and Churros Poppers!

I promise that all of these recipes will eventually be posted with the usual step-by-step photos!  However, I have been receiving a lot of emails from viewers of the cooking show who would like to have the recipes that I prepared on the last show.  Please be warned that I'm still developing some of these recipes, and my notes will reflect some tweaks that I'm planning for the next time I prepare them!

We filmed another cooking show a couple of weeks ago.

The best way I can describe the theme would be "Attempting to prepare or develop recipes that I've never made before."

We happened upon this theme in a roundabout way.  I went out to dinner with my friend, Trish.  She ordered the house donuts for dessert, and our conversation went something like this:

Trish: Can you cook donuts?

Me: I never have, but I guess I could.  I don't deep-fry anything...it's one thing to eat them when you go somewhere and they're already prepared, but to pour all that oil into a deep-fryer...yikes.  I may as well just get a syringe and inject it directly into my thighs.

Trish: Do you have a deep fryer?

Me: Yes, I've never used it, it's sitting in my basement, unopened.

Trish: You should do a deep-frying cooking show!

Me: Only if you'll cook with me!

During the past year, I've asked her a couple of times if she would cook with me on the show, and she always said no.  I'm guessing that on this particular night, her defenses were lowered by the lemon-drop martinis that we had with dinner.  Lower defenses + joy at the thought of more deep-fried donuts in her future = YES!  If only I had figured out sooner that plying her with donuts was the key to getting her on camera.

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Every time I use my crockpot, I can't help but wonder why don't I use this more often?

Is there anything better than doing a little bit of prep work in the morning, throwing it all into the slow cooker and having it ready at dinner time?

This recipe is a bit of a riff on the Maple-Mustard Pork Chops that I've made in the past.  I like the combo of sweet maple syrup and the savoriness of dijon mustard, and I couldn't help but wonder how it would work with a pot roast.

I'm happy to say that it worked out just fine!

White Lasagna (with Chicken, Mushrooms, Spinach and Rosemary)

Last month, I had to pick my daughter up from school because she had a doctor's appointment the next day.  She's an ice cream fiend, so I had some ice cream from her favorite local ice cream shop in our freezer.

It was almost midnight by the time we got home.  She was hungry and I told her that I had some of her favorite ice cream in the freezer.

She opted to have leftover white lasagna instead.

It really is that good!