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Posts Tagged ‘recipes’

Silken chocolate mousse

Posted in Dessert, Recipes, tagged , , , , on June 4, 2014| Leave a Comment »

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Don’t even bother with the words, “vegan” and “tofu.” Just let “silken chocolate mousse” roll off the tongue. It’s as creamy and delicious as it sounds.

I haven’t been too successful cooking with tofu at home. It’s just not that appealing to me in texture even though I know its benefits as a protein in meatless dishes. In order to make the golden tofu that I enjoy so much in Thai restaurants it takes some skill with corn starch and patience to brown it just right in cooking oil. I haven’t mastered that well enough to do it for the low-level midweek cooking I prefer.

But use silken tofu to make chocolate mousse in a blender? That I can handle.

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Warm up your Olympic watching with hot borscht

Posted in Soup, tagged , , , on February 10, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Borscht

Amid the medal count predictions, fears of terrorist attacks, and complaints of no hot water (or even finished rooms) from the media hotels, you may have missed this fact from Sochi: Olympic officials estimated that 70,000 gallons of borscht (beet soup) will be served during the 2014 Winter Games.

The Monitor’s reporter at the Games, Mark Sappenfield, asked me via Twitter if I was planning to do a Russia-inspired food blog post. (Go follow Mark, @sappenfieldm, you’ll get his honest impressions from Sochi as he reports on his seventh Olympics and encounters things like a $100 laundry fee for a load that would fill half a basket.)

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Swedish apple pie

Posted in Dessert, tagged , , on October 6, 2013| 1 Comment »

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Apple picking is one of those seasonal markers in New England.  With four seasons to pack in over 12 months it’s easy to sometimes forget to participate in annual rituals such as filling a plastic sack with MacIntosh, Macoun, and Empire apples or picking out a perfect pumpkin. This weekend, some friends and I managed to squeeze in a visit to a local orchard to harvest the fruit and pick up some cider doughnuts.

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Tailgating recipe challenge and cookbook giveaway

Posted in Appetizers, Cookbook reviews, tagged , , , , on September 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »

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Do you have a favorite game day appetizer, casserole, or crowd-pleaser recipe? If so, head on over to Stir It Up! to enter a fun recipe challenge. If your entry is chosen as the winner you will receive a signed copy of ESPN‘s cookbook “Taste of the Town” by Todd Blacklege, a former quarterback for Penn State and the Kansas City Chiefs, and current college football analyst.

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Orange, date, and cinnamon muffins

Posted in Baked goods, tagged , , on August 1, 2013| Leave a Comment »

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In the spirit of the Stir It Up! muffin mix-off, I was inspired to mix together a batch of these wonderful orange, date, and cinnamon muffins from “Sun Bread & Sticky Toffee: Date desserts from everywhere” by Sarah al-Hamad, just out this month from Interlink Books (July 2013).

I had found some dates in my cupboard that needed to be used up. Their sugars were crystalizing on their skin so including them in a baked good was really the best option. I first tried a recipe for date muffins I found on my box of bulger wheat, and while they were certainly tasty and served as a perfect pre-swim treat before swimming across Walden Pond last Saturday morning, they were somehow laking in their small, pale shapes. That’s when I remembered I had a copy of “Sun Bread & Sticky Toffee” sitting on my desk at work.

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Cookbook giveaway and muffin recipe contest

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on July 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »

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Do you have a favorite muffin recipe? Use that delicious muffin to win a signed copy of “Flour, Too,” the second cookbook by Boston chef Joanne Chang that features recipes for the savory fare that have made her four cafés Boston’s favorite stops for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

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Cookbook review: Vegetable Literacy

Posted in Cookbook reviews, tagged , , , on March 18, 2013| 2 Comments »

VegetableLiteracy

The phrase, “eat your vegetables,” has long been used by stern-looking parents desperate to make their offspring eat something besides pasta and chicken fingers. To children everywhere, “vegetables” has meant mushy, bland tasting things that stand in the way of dessert. Unfortunately, many people carry the disdain for leafy, root-y edibles far into adulthood.

Vegetable Literacy by Deborah Madison may be the cookbook to change all of that.

“Vegetable Literacy,” breaks new ground because it focuses on the relationships between the veggies that grow in your garden. Madison’s theory is that if you understand these relationships, you’ll find new freedom in the kitchen to mix and match flavors in away that allows zucchini, peas, squash, and so much more to harmonize their flavors instead of being tolerated like unwanted guests on your dinner plate.

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Frosted brownies

Posted in Dessert, tagged , , , , on February 10, 2013| 4 Comments »

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When the word came that Nemo was heading our direction blowing 65 m.p.h. winds and bringing at least 2 feet of snow, my friends Nathan and Emily, who live a few blocks away, extended the invitation for homemade chicken pot pie. I was in charge of bringing brownies.

I knew immediately that I wanted to bring The Pastry Chef’s Baking Frosted Brownies, since these are so decadent and delicious I definitely did not want to be left in the house alone with a pan. I have very little self-control around chocolate. Bringing them to a group dinner was the perfect solution!

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Super Bowl party menu ideas

Posted in Appetizers, tagged , on February 1, 2013| 1 Comment »

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If you are hosting a crowd to watch the game this Sunday, here are a few ideas from my recipe list to consider for your spread. You’ll need some good snacking items to last the game and one dish meals like chili, chowder, or lasagna will make for easy handling in front of the TV. Same goes for dessert, keep it simple and sweet so the focus can stay on the gridiron and not whether you are making a mess!

May the best team win…

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A Mayan dinner party for 12.21.12

Posted in Taza Chocolate Tour, Travel, tagged , , , on December 19, 2012| 2 Comments »

Matt Armendariz/McNab Publishing, Ltd

Matt Armendariz/McNab Publishing, Ltd

There is a lot of talk about the Mayan calendar rolling over to Dec. 21, 2012 and simply coming to end, which has been translated by some as, that’s it, folks. No more time, no more us. I can’t say that I agree, since I’ve already received my 2013 work calendar and everything there seems to be in order just fine. For a more reasoned, scientific explanation, you might want to check out NPR‘s report, “A Guarantee: The world will not end on Friday.”

My first brush with Mayan culture was when I hopped off a cruise ship in Cozumel in 2006 and explored the Chacchoben Mayan ruins. That’s where I found a rather modest exhibit sign next to one of the many-stepped pyramid temples indicating that the Mayan calendar would finish up in six years. It tried to be reassuring that while some people interpreted this to mean the end of time, it could also be seen as a restart. A clean slate for all of us.

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I’d like to suggest that you give both theories a rest and instead actually learn something about Mayan culture. A good place to start would be with Flavors of Belize: The cookbook created by Tanya McNab and Shelley Bowen Stonesifer. First of all, the Mayans haven’t vanished. There are by some estimates some 7 million Mayans alive and well living throughout Guatemala, southern Mexico and the Yucatán Peninsula, Belize, El Salvador, and western Honduras. (more…)

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