random amusements

(Disney image)

Porkchops

When I was a little kid, there was some book that my mom would read to me, and it was about animals in a forest or something along those lines. I have no idea what the title of the book was, or even the basic story. But, apparently, I enjoyed this book a lot, from what my mom tells me.

So I don't remember this episode, but it is one of my mom's favorite stories about me:
She's reading this book to me, and I point to a porcupine and exclaim, "look, mom, a porkchop!"

Porkchop = porcupine

Flash forward 20 years or so, and I'm dating Casey, who puts gel in his hair to make it kinda spikey on top. I'm sitting with him, playing with his hair, and I say, "your hair is all prickly like a porkchop."

This, of course, makes no sense to him until I tell him the story...

Whenever he goes a day without shaving, I affectionately call him "porkchop face."

And we're still married.

Casey has a great sense of humor, obviously.




here is another cartoon porkchop that I found online; not my original one, but probably a lot closer to it. Isn't he CUTE?!:

(Doug Jones)

Apple-Raisin Kugel

In the recent past, I had made a savory version of kugel; here is the representation of a sweet kugel.

Apple-Raisin Kugel

1 pkg. (8 oz.) egg noodles (about 4 cups cooked)
4 T. (1/2 stick) butter, softened or melted
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 T. flour
1/4 c. heavy cream
1 apple, chopped
1 c. raisins
1/2 c. sour cream
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. vanilla
Optional: 1/2 c. chopped walnuts

1. Cook the noodles according to the package directions, and drain. Toss with melted/softened butter; set aside.
2. Beat the cream cheese with sugar until well combined. Add eggs, flour and cream; mix well. Stir in sour cream, apple, raisins, vanilla and cinnamon.
3. Mix noodles into cream cheese mixture; stir well. Pour into greased 9 x 13 baking pan.
4. Bake at 375˚ for about one hour, or until center is set. Serve warm.

NOTE: Before baking, I topped it with some additional cinnamon-sugar:


It turned out delicious!!!

This is similar to a bread pudding concept, only you're using noodles rather than bread. In fact, with some maple syrup on top, this kugel would make a nice breakfast, I think!

Blackberry-Raspberry Tart

I made this tart with my friend Stuart in mind, because he loves berries, especially raspberries!

Blackberry-Raspberry Tart

1 box Jiffy pie crust mix (or your favorite pie crust recipe; single crust)
1 pkg. (16 oz.) frozen blackberries, thawed and drained
1 c. frozen raspberries, thawed and drained
1/2 c. corn starch
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar

1. Mix crust according to package instructions.
2. Roll out crust and fit into tart pan:

3. Line crust with foil and add pie weights to keep in place:

4. Put tart pan on a cookie sheet. Bake crust at 375˚ for 15 minutes or until lightly colored; remove foil and pie weights.

5. Mix berries with sugars and corn starch, gently pour into baked tart shell.
6. Bake at 375˚ for 45 minutes. Allow to cool before serving, or else it'll be sloppy.






NOTE: The little bity chicken cut-outs were made from scraps of pie crust dough, cut with a little cookie cutter that I've had since I was a kid. My grandma had bought me a children's baking set with a little rolling pin, oven mitt and the cookie cutter...still have the cookie cutter!

Useful Tools: Pie Weights

I recently baked a blackberry-raspberry tart, and needed to pre-bake the crust before adding the berry filling. How do you keep your tart crust from puffing up, you ask? Pie weights!

Useful Tools: Pie Weights

I think I just bought these at Bed, Bath & Beyond...or maybe it was at Kitchen Collection around the holidays...? Not sure now. Anyways, this was my first opportunity to make use of them.

I rolled out my pie crust, and fitted into a tart pan. Then I lined the pan with foil and put the pie weights in. Why the foil, you ask? To make it easier to remove the pie weights after baking, because they will be HOT. Get it?


Whether you use ceramic pie weights (which look like little, white, opaque, uneven marbles) or a stainless steel pie chain, it makes tart and pie shells easier to form. This keeps the dough from getting puffy, or bubbling up and making the bottom of the tart/pie uneven.

Catalogs carry this product, and while it may seem like something you don't really need, sometimes just using foil isn't enough to keep the crust in place in the pie pan. I speak from experience. No, really!

The reason I chose the pie weights is because I also have some mini tart shell pans, which I could divide the pie weights into, had I thought of it when I made these tart shells:




Yeah, I'll have to do that over again, using the pie weights, and taking photos of the finished product, which I also forgot to do in this case! LOL!

IN STORES:
Bed, Bath & Beyond

ONLINE:
Chef's Catalog
Bed, Bath & Beyond
Sur La Table
Williams-Sonoma
The Home Marketplace - pie chain

random amusements

This really is just for my own amusement...I got some cute little dishes at clearance prices from Crate & Barrel...

They'll be nice for dipping, or sides, or something...







Crate & Barrel
Sale > Sale Dining and Entertaining

Pork Roast with Barley Stuffing

I used barley for stuffing rather than bread or rice because I thought it would be a nice change. It worked out very well!

Pork Roast with Barley, Apple & Cranberry Stuffing

1 (3 lb.) pork loin
1 bag (1 lb.) baby carrots
1/2 large onion, chopped

Stuffing:
1 c. barley (medium pearl)
2 c. water
1 (16 oz.) can whole cranberry sauce
1 apple, diced (I used Braeburn)
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. lemon peel
1/4 t. chili powder
1 T. orange juice concentrate

Cook barley in water for 50 minutes in a rice steamer; or, follow the microwave/stovetop directions on the box.

Drain any excess water from barley...


...and stir in the rest of the stuffing ingredients...



Filet the pork loin to open into thirds, or have your butcher cut it for you when you buy it.

Don't forget to get your twine out and ready before you get your hands 'dirty'.

Place the stuffing along the center of the opened pork loin.
Fold the meat over to enclose the stuffing—it'll be a little gooey—and wrap with cooking twine, trussing it up to hold in the stuffing.

Place carrots and onions in a baking dish or casserole; put stuffed pork loin on top.

Put any leftover stuffing into another baking dish covered with foil, and bake at the same time as the roast.

Bake at 350˚ for about 25 minutes per pound; or about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 1/2 hours.



I served it with some sautéed mushrooms:

random amusements

Food Network magazine...a quick review

This is like food porn for me! LOL! I really like the magazine, and they did a nice job of including a large variety of recipes.

There's a sort of photo index, to help give you a concise visual representation of the dishes:


Of course, they had to put bacon on the front cover...instantly, I was hooked.


All in all, I think the recipes are practical and a lot of things I will probably try. There's a little pull-out booklet of egg recipes that's cool, but I hope I don't misplace it...that'd be the only drawback on that particular feature.

Some of the recipes inside which caught my eye:
Buffalo-Chicken Mac-N-Cheese
Smoked Salmon Scramble
French Toast (ideas and flavored butter options)
BBQ Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp
Risotto w/ Asparagus
Marmalade Cake
Avocado BLTs


LINK:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/magazine




FYI: I do not work for, nor am I associated with Food Network in any way, shape, or form. I am not being paid for this review, and my magazine subscription was not free. This is an honest evaluation.

Gripe Of The Day

Blogger.com is having issues with the images on blog posts, so if you see broken links, that is the reason.

I'd like to post a roasted chicken recipe that I had used this weekend, but I don't want to do double work, and/or have to keep checking back on the status of the blogger.com error.

As soon as I can, I will start posting again.

Thanks for your patience!

~Goldie

random amusements

HA! I found it!!!

This is the recipe I was looking for since the other day.

Last night, as I was lying in bed trying to get to sleep, it occurred to me that maybe it wasn't cream cheese, but rather ricotta cheese, and I had been searching for the wrong ingredients...ricotta made me think of Italian food, and I had not looked in any of those cookbooks.

Today, after battling a headache for most of the day so far, I looked in the booklet section of my cookbook collection, and didn't find any Italian ricotta cheesecake recipes...then I noticed a "PIES" section...picked up a book...and there it was!!!

YAY!!!!

So I like the salmon and dill part, but I will no doubt tinker with the recipe to make it what I want it to be. I had also, in my massive searching effort, come across a tart/pie thing with a hashbrown crust that was made in a springform pan. Doesn't that sound awesome?! Maybe I'll combine the two ideas...if I can relocate that recipe now...ugh...maybe I'll just make something up.

Roasted Potatoes

I made these for dinner the other night, to go with the "Giant Omelet From Heaven".

Roasted Potatoes

6 to 8 potatoes (I used medium-sized russet)
olive oil
seasonings: salt, oregano, parsley flakes, paprika

1. Heat oven to 400˚. Line a low-rim baking pan (like a jelly roll pan) with quick-release foil, or generously coat a cookie sheet with olive oil.
2. Peel and dice potatoes.
3. Toss potato chunks in the olive oil on the pan.

Sprinkle with seasonings, and toss s'more.

4. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove from oven & turn/toss with a spatula, return to oven for 10-15 minutes, or until potatoes are browned to your liking.




NOTE:

you can leave a few pieces with the skin still on, if you'd like; they seem to get crispier than without...



p.s.
Again, I'm sorry, Amy!!! This is NOT a low carb recipe!!! LOL!!! But we ARE working out, I promise! Wait 'til you see me...!

random amusements

Okay, this was driving me nuts all day yesterday, but I'm looking for a particular recipe, and I CAN'T FIND IT!!!!!

I was looking everywhere...searched through cookbook after cookbook, to no avail. Plus, I can't find all of my Taste Of Home magazines, and I now fear that I may have gotten rid of them when we moved....but I don't think I'd do that....I'm not sure where they are.... *sniffle*

What was I trying to find, you ask? It was some sort of savory cheesecake appetizer thing. I want to say it had salmon and dill in it, and either cream cheese or goat cheese, or maybe both. I'd tell you for certain if I could find the damn recipe!!!!

LOL....so, that's my story. If you have a savory cheesecake recipe, please post a message, or send me an email with the recipe or a link to one.

I've already done considerable online searches, but I know it is in a cookbook that I own, and I'm just gonna have to find it, eventually.

Gripe Of The Day

Getty Images

Scrambled Defense

So, as you all know, of course, the Hawks are leading the Western Conference standings in the NHL as of now; but, that could all change later tonight. Once again, they are facing a Phoenix Coyotes team who fought their way back into a game on Saturday, took it into overtime, and then beat the Hawks.

What will happen tonight at the United Center? Your guess is as good as mine. But, I can tell you what to watch for.

One problem I have noticed time and time again is a lack of awareness in the defensive zone. Or something. I'm not sure if the guys are playing like a "zone defense" as you'd see in a basketball game, or what they are doing. Apparently, they don't know, either.

A lack of physical play can be blamed, but more than that, I think it is just guys not being aware of what their job is supposed to be when they are defending their net. If they don't know what their assignment it, then things aren't going to go well.

I see the defensemen moving out of positing to cover someone in the corner, and no one coming back to cover the side of the net, nor covering an opponent. The forwards have to be much more aware of what's going on in their zone and stop STANDING AROUND!

Really, I see them waiting at the blueline for the greatly anticipated breakout pass...that's not coming, oh, and guess why?! It's already in your net!!!

Move your feet. Cover someone. You know enough to fill in for the D when they pinch in the offensive zone, so...hey, here's a novel idea: cover for them by the net, or in the slot, when they check an opponent in the corner in your zone.

Yeah, I know the Hawks are in first place now, and I know they can score. But they have to learn to defend their zone a little better, and stop letting the goalies take all the heat for losses.

Favorite TV Chef Poll Results

And the winner is....Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa!

I'm not surprised; she's one of my favorites. There's a simple roasted chicken recipe of hers that I've been intending to try, where you stuff an onion and a halved lemon inside the cavity of a whole chicken and bake it like that. She says it is fantastic. It looks almost too simple, yet if it makes a nice lemon chicken, hey, I'm sold on the idea!

Second place is a tie between Bobby Flay and Guy Fieri. While Bobby can get on some people's nerves (several have said this to me), who doesn't like to watch Guy bite into luscious bad-for-you food on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives?! LOL!

Another tie for third place between Paula Deen and Gordon Ramsay. While 'ol Gordie is outwardly abrasive, you might have suspicions about what the ever-funny-and-sentimental Paula is really like when the cameras are off!

All in all, I think this was a fair representation of what people like. You need to have good recipes, but there is also an entertainment factor, as well as a likability quota. Ina has a genuine, mellow character and the structure of her show makes you wonder how each cooking adventure is going to turn out. It seems more real-life than a lot of the other shows, in my opinion.



LINKS:
Food Network tv schedule