Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category
Mushroom stroganoff (and retro pink)
Posted in Main dish, tagged food, home rennovations, mushrooms, recipes on January 19, 2012| 11 Comments »
Cherry Winks Christmas cookies
Posted in Baked goods, Dessert, Holiday dishes, tagged Christmas cookies, food, holidays, recipes on December 21, 2011| 5 Comments »
In the middle of the rush to get ready for the holidays, Rebecca stopped by armed with two shopping bags full of ingredients. As I wrapped presents she worked on these Cherry Winks for her colleagues at the private school on Beacon Hill where she teaches.
Cherry Winks aren’t a part of my Christmas memory index, but they do bring to mind Christmases of times past when our family Christmas tree was festooned with wildly blinking colored lights. (I’m partial to the calmer, classic white lights now.) The unnaturally bright red and green of the maraschino cherry toppers fit right in with all that sparkles and glows this season.
A reader of Stir It Up! shared an interesting history of Cherry Winks with me: “That recipe has a long history. Ruth Derousseau of Rice Lake, Wisconsin, entered it into the Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest of 1950 as Cherry Winks and won the Junior First Prize. I think pecans and dates were actually part of the original recipe.”
When I finally stretched out in a chair Cricket climbed into my lap and started purring loudly as if to say, “Stay here for awhile.”
Faster than a wink of an eye, Rebecca handed me a mug of peppermint tea and a plate of warm cherry blinks. She changed things up a bit from the traditional recipe, using pecans and dried dates. Crunchy and sweet with their festive cherries, these would make a delicious addition to any Christmas cookie platter.
Revolutionary gingerbread cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting
Posted in Baked goods, Dessert, Holiday dishes, tagged cream cheese frosting, cupcakes, food, gingerbread, Holiday recipes, peppermint frosting on December 16, 2011| 9 Comments »
Things are definitely looking cheery and sparkly and sugary these days. Thanksgiving may be all about gratitude and huge, heaping platefuls of food, but food traditions around Christmas tend to have more ethereal qualities like imagination and hope and wonder.
Roasted Brussels sprouts with walnuts and figs
Posted in Holiday dishes, Recipes, Side dish, tagged Brussels sprouts, food, recipes, side dish recipes, Thanksgiving recipes on November 21, 2011| 17 Comments »
For some reason Brussels sprouts is a vegetable capable of releasing passion. Like this:
I love Brussels sprouts!
or
I hate Brussels sprouts!
Very rarely do you hear, “Brussels sprouts? Meh. I could take them or leave them.”
It’s sad really, because in the much-loved, much-hated division we are all overlooking an important point: Brussels sprouts are cute.
Green bean casserole
Posted in Holiday dishes, Side dish, tagged Brussels sprouts, cookbook, food, recipe, side dishes, Thanksgiving recipes on November 21, 2011| 2 Comments »
From last year’s archives, I thought I’d dig it out this annual favorite for Thanksgiving 2012!
Every Thanksgiving I brace myself for the inevitable: green bean casserole.
Pumpkin raisin muffins
Posted in Baked goods, tagged baked goods, food, pumpkin raisin muffins, pumpkin recipes, recipes on November 6, 2011| 1 Comment »
Stuffed spaghetti squash
Posted in Eating in season, Main dish, tagged dinner, food, Parmesan cheese, recipe, spaghetti squash on October 28, 2011| 8 Comments »
Sometimes squash can be intimidating. They are weird looking, require a huge knife to hack them open, and then take hours in the oven to roast and soften. Spaghetti squash are the smoothest of the squash family. Their flesh, when cooked, breaks apart in strings not unlike angel hair pasta. But don’t be fooled. It is still a squash.
I just learned a great squash trick. You can soften a squash in 8 minutes in the microwave. Yes. Just halve it, scoop out the seeds, cover it in plastic wrap and nuke for 8 minutes. You’ll want to let it rest a bit so you don’t scald your fingers when you remove the plastic wrap.
Mushroom broccoli risotto
Posted in Main dish, Side dish, tagged food, Grana Padano, recipes, risotto, salad dressing on September 30, 2011| 4 Comments »
I wish I had a picture of risotto to share with you. If I had a picture you’d see soft pillowy mounds of arborio rice, with flecks of green broccoli, and earthy mushrooms held together with Grana Padano cheese but I don’t. Because I ate it before I could take a picture. All of it. It was that good.
So here is an autumn Valentine for you instead.
It’s almost as good, right?
I felt like I had gotten a Valentine the night my friends came over to eat risotto in heaping bowlfuls. My friends are all single urbanites, charging in a million different directions. I wan’t sure who would show up at the dinner table. In the end, there were five of us – just kind of “coming home” together after a week of hectic schedules, new jobs, and surviving the ordinary. (more…)
Zucchini walnut bread @ The Boston Food Swap
Posted in Baked goods, Eating in season, tagged Boston Food Swap, chocolate chips, food, local food, recipes, zucchini bread on September 18, 2011| 2 Comments »
Sometime in August my friend Monica forwarded me an e-mail with the note: “Why haven’t we heard about this?”
It was an invitation to the Boston Food Swap. Essentially, it’s a silent bidding auction where you bring something you made or grew and use it to bid on items from other people. It’s low-key, fun, and a nice way to meet other people who are interested in making and sharing their own food.
Ginger peach compote on oatmeal pancakes
Posted in Breakfast, Sauces, tagged breakfast, compte, cycling, food, pancakes, peaches, recipe on September 15, 2011| 9 Comments »
I started riding my bike again this summer. The last time I really rode my bike was in the summer of 2006. I was training for the Chicago Triathlon. I was supposed to race with my dad, but he passed away that winter. So I prepared for the starting line in Chicago anyway, as a kind of tribute to him. I trained really hard and finished strong. When I found out I placed 7th in my age group, I wept. And then I stopped riding my bike. Until now.
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