Kids in the Kitchen

Posted on August 2, 2012 by phyllis

Honestly, I have tried to teach my child how to cook many times over the years. When he was young we included him in preparing meals. When he was 12 or 13 I insisted that he help prepare a dinner meal once a week. Of course none of this happened without a lot of grumbling and “why do I have to do this”. Now at age 19 and on his way to college he has decided that he needs to know how to cook.

True to his generation’s comfort with electronics he searched the internet for recipes that looked good. His choice of websites was allrecipes.com. Allrecipes.com has over 40000 recipes, menus, meal ideas and tips submitted by home cooks. You can search recipes by meal, ingredient or lifestyle. If you want to watch someone make the recipe there are videos to watch. What I like about this site is that you can change the number of servings needed and calculate the amount of ingredients needed. You can print the recipe, save it to your previously created recipe box or create a shopping list.

The recipe of choice for this young cook was Simple Chicken Parmesan. It received two thumbs up from his proud mom.

Servings

Original Recipe Yield 4 servings

Ingredients

2 medium garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes (quality varies dramatically; I prefer Redpack, Progresso and Muir Glen brands)
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon sugar
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts (6 to 8 ounces each), halved crosswise
1 large egg
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
8 ounces spaghetti or linguine
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for passing at the table

Directions

In a large saucepan, heat garlic and 2 Tbs. oil over medium-high heat until garlic starts to sizzle. Stir in tomatoes, basil, oregano, sugar, a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Bring to a simmer; simmer until sauce thickens a bit and flavors meld, 10 to 12 minutes. Cover and keep warm. (Remember, this makes twice the amount of sauce you need, so put aside half for another meal.)
Put chicken pieces between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound, using your fists or a heavy pan, until the cutlets are about 1/4-inch thick.
Bring 2 quarts of salted water to a boil in a large soup kettle.
In a pie pan, beat egg until well-blended. In another pie pan, mix bread crumbs and more black pepper. Preheat broiler.
Working one cutlet at a time, dip both sides of each in beaten egg, then in bread crumbs. Put cutlets on a wire rack set over a cookie sheet (this step helps breading stay put).
Heat remaining 1/4 cup oil over medium-high heat in a 12-inch skillet. When oil starts to shimmer, add cutlets and saute until golden brown on each side, about 5 minutes total. Wash and dry the wire rack and return to cookie sheet. As the cutlets saute, cook pasta in boiling water according to package directions.
Transfer cutlets to clean wire rack over cookie sheet. Top each with a portion of the cheeses. Broil cutlets, 4 to 5 inches from heat source, until cheese melts and is spotty brown.
Drain pasta. Put a cutlet and a portion of pasta on each of 4 plates. Spoon 2 or 3 tablespoons of sauce over part of each cutlet, then sauce the pasta as desired. Serve with extra Parmesan.

Be sure to check out CCPL’s catalog for cookbooks for kids.

Nutty Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Posted on July 17, 2012 by Cindy

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream

FILLING:
2 packages (3 ounces each) cream cheese
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice

CINNAMON-NUT TOPPING:
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, beating well after each addition. Set aside.
In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Spoon half of the batter into a greased and floured 10-in. tube pan. Top with filling and remaining batter. Combine topping ingredients; sprinkle over batter.
Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Yield: 12 serving

Happy National Ice Cream Day!

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Cindy

This summer, get the scoop on National Ice Cream Day!

It’s the one day set aside to honor everything cool, sweet and creamy, and celebrated every year in July.

It was President Ronald Reagan who in 1984 officially declared July as National Ice Cream Month, and established National Ice Cream Day as the third Sunday in July.

This year, join millions of American who will be celebrating National Ice Cream Day on Sunday, July 15, 2012 — in honor of the popular dessert that’s guaranteed to lift you up and cool you down on any hot summer day ….

Ice cream fun facts

Fact is, the U.S. nationally enjoys a whopping 48 pints of ice cream per person every year on average, making Americans the No. 1 ice cream consumers worldwide. Coming in No. 2? New Zealand.

The top five ice cream flavors enjoyed by Americans? That would be vanilla at 27.8%, followed by chocolate (14.3%), strawberry (3.3%), chocolate chip (3.3%) and butter pecan (2.8%).

Here are more ice-cream facts!

• It wasn’t until Italian explorer Marco Polo returned from the Far East (with a recipe that mostly resembled sherbet) that Europeans got their first taste of what we now know as ice cream.

• From Italy, ice cream made its way across Europe and, eventually, to colonial America where official records show that President George Washington allocated a total of $200 on ice cream purchases during the hot summer of 1790.

• In the late 19th century, America’s soda shops bowed to pressure from local churches who demanded that the newly-popular “ice cream soda” not be served on Sundays. The simple solution? Remove the soda from the recipe which led to a new invention called (you guessed it) the ice cream sundae.

• During the St. Louis World Fair in 1904, a vendor ran out of ice cream cups to serve visitors. He quickly enlisted the help of a neighboring vendor who provided rolled-up waffle cones in which to serve the sweet treat ….and the ice cream cone was born!

Below is my favorite vanilla home-made ice cream recipe: I make it often using the ice cream attachment on my mixer. Philadelphia Style homemade ice cream contains no eggs.

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream, Philadelphia-Style

3 cups heavy cream, or 2 cups heavy cream and 1 cup whole milk-add 1 Cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 TBL pure vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl, and then freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Delicious Homemade ice cream sandwiches

Chocolate Supermoist cake mix

You Will Need: 1-1/3 cups water, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, and 3 eggs.

Heat up your waffle iron and mix the Chocolate cake mix according the directions.
Pour the cake mix batter onto the waffle iron. Check your manual for amounts and times. Mine used about 1/4 cup of batter per waffle and cooked for about 3 minutes.
Put the finished waffles onto a cooling rack to cool, add vanilla ice-cream to the top of one waffle then top with additional waffle and enjoy.

Avocado-Bean Wraps

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Pat S

In my quest to healthy eating I came across a recipe for Avocado-Bean Wraps. I love avocados and wraps so I had to try it. This wrap is easy to make and delicious. I will definitely be making this again.

Avocado-Bean Wrap Recipe

Directions

2 ripe avocados
1 cup fresh or jarred salsa
2 tsp oil
1 red pepper, chopped
1 cup shredded carrots
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 can (15 oz) low-sodium black beans, rinsed
1/3cup chopped cilantro
4 whole-wheat wraps
4 cups coarsely chopped or shredded romaine lettuce

Serve with: lime wedges

Recipe Preparation

Remove pit and peel avocados. Coarsely chop 1 avocado; mash the other avocado in a small bowl and stir in 1/4 cup salsa until blended. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.

Heat oil in medium skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté pepper and carrots 3 minutes. Add cumin and cook 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add beans and remaining 3/4 cup salsa; heat through. Stir in the chopped avocado and cilantro; mix well.

Spread about 3 Tbsp mashed avocado-salsa mixture on each wrap and top with 1 cup lettuce. Spoon 1 cup bean mixture over bottom third of wrap. Starting at bottom, roll up tightly. Place seam side down on serving platter. Serve with lime wedges.

Nutrition Facts
Yield 4 servings
Amount Per Serving

Calories 424
Total Fat 14g
Saturated Fat 2g
Cholesterol 0
Sodium 503mg
Total Carbohydrates 74g
Dietary Fiber 20g
Protein 15g

National Pickle Month

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Pat S

July is National Pickle Month

I can remember years ago helping my friend Jan make homemade pickles. On this particular day we made bread and butter pickles, garlic dills, pickled beets and garden relish. After everything was put up, we sat at her kitchen table and took a jar of each and did our sampling. One sample led to another till the jars were almost empty. That was a good pickle making year.

Jan’s Bread and Butter Pickles

Sterilize jars and lids and keep hot till ready.

Mix together:

1 gallon of medium cucumbers, thinly sliced

8 medium sided onions, thinly sliced

6 large sweet green peppers, thinly sliced

Add to top:

½ cup coarse pickling salt

1 quart of cracked ice

Drain thoroughly and put into a big pot.

Combine in a pan:

1 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric

½ teaspoon of whole cloves

2 teaspoons white mustard

5 cups of sugar

5 cups of cider vinegar

1 teaspoon of celery seed

Bring to a boil. Pour the spice mix over the drained vegetables and heat up to just boiling. Pack vegetables into sterilized jars, pour excess juice over top and seal with lids.

Additional cookbooks:

Complete Book of Home Preserving

The Joy of Pickling by Linda Ziedrich

Preserving Summer’s Bounty

Well-Preserved by Eugenia Bone

The Everything Canning & Preserving Book by Patricia Telesco

Canning & Preserving for Dummies by Amelia Jeanroy

Pickle Fun Facts

The mighty pickle is over 4,000 years old.
The pickle was brought to the New World by Christopher Columbus
Like pickles? So did George Washington, John Adams and Dolly Madison. Cleopatra claimed pickles contributed to her beauty.
Americans eat about nine pounds of pickles a year.
Dill pickles are the most popular.
Pickles are mentioned at least twice in the Bible.
If all of the pickles consumed each year were placed end to end, they would reach the moon and back 8.25 times.

Caesar Salad

Posted on June 30, 2012 by Pat S

When you think of July 4^th what comes to mind, fireworks, picnics, Independence Day, red, white and blue? Well, how about Caesar Salad? NO? Don’t feel bad. It wasn’t until I came across a website for the JNA Culinary Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that I learned that July 4^th is also Caesar Salad Day.

This recipe is very close to the original version created in 1924 by Caesar Cardini, an Italian restaurateur in Tijuana, Mexico. That’s right; the salad is named after its creator, a Chef, not Julius Caesar of the famed Roman Empire.

Serving Size: 4
Preparation Time: 0:20

Ingredients
1 large head romaine lettuce
1 cup olive oil
3 cups French bread
2 large cloves garlic
8 anchovy filets
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 tablespoon lemon juice (fresh is best)
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon coarse ground salt
2 egg yolks for large eggs — at room temperature*
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese — shredded or shaved

Preparation:
Trim the romaine lettuce of bruised or browned leaves, then cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces. Wash and drain the lettuce, pat it dry and refrigerate for 30 minutes to crisp the leaves.
To make the croutons, cut the bread into cubes, heat the 1/2 cup olive oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Fry the bread cubes in the oil, tossing frequently, until they’re crisp and golden. Drain the croutons on a paper towel until ready to use.
Peel the garlic cloves then put in a large wooden salad bowl. Mash the cloves against the sides of the bowl with the back of a wooden spoon. Rub the pieces against the bowl until they begin to disintegrate. Remove most of the mashed garlic from the bowl and discard (oil from the garlic will remain in the bowl and flavor the salad). Add the anchovies and repeat the procedure you used with the garlic, but leave the anchovy pieces in the bowl. Now add the dry mustard, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, black pepper, and egg yolks and blend well. Slowly drizzle in the remaining olive oil mixing with a wire whisk until a creamy mayonnaise type dressing forms. Add the lettuce, croutons, Parmesan cheese and salt. Toss everything together and serve directly from the salad bowl!

*Note: The original recipe may have called for coddled whole eggs (warmed to 120F degrees, to coddle simmer in water 1 minute and cool in cold water) so they are soft and runny. Some chefs who make this salad today use the whole egg at room temperature.

**Sautéed or steamed vegetables, chicken and shrimp may be added if you like! Simply cook them in a separate pan and add them to the top of the salad. This will create more of a lunch or dinner portion entree.

Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Pat S

cheesecake bible

I love cheesecake! What’s not to love? It’s rich, creamy, and delicious. When I have dessert out at a restaurant, nine times out of ten I will choose cheesecake with fruit drizzled on top. YUM! In honor of National Cheesecake Day on July 31^st it might be fun to try your hand at making your own cheesecake at home. I found this simple cheesecake recipe in The Cheesecake Bible by George Geary.

Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake

Preheat oven to 325⁰F

6 inch cheesecake pan, ungreased, or springform pan with 3 inch sides, greased

CRUST

¾ cup graham crackers

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

FILLING

2 packages (each 8 oz) cream cheese, softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1/3 cup strawberry preserves or jam

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Crust: In a bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press into bottom of cheesecake pan and freeze.
Filling: In a mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and sugar on medium-high speed until very smooth, for 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Swirl in strawberry preserves.
Pour over frozen crust, smoothing out to sides of pan. Bake in preheated oven until top is light brown and center has a slight jiggle to it, 30 – 40 minute. Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 2 hours. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours before serving.

Cheesecake related mysteries to read while you are waiting for your masterpiece to bake and cool:

Throw Darts at a Cheesecake by Denise Dietz

Cherry Cheesecake Murder by Joanne Fluke

Attack of the Killer Zucchini

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Pat S

classic zucchini cookbook Ok, so you planted one too many zucchini plants and now you have an overabundant supply. Short of doing the drop and run, depositing baskets filled on neighbor’s doorsteps, what do you do with the excess? There are only so many ways of fixing zucchini. Well, that is what I thought until I read the book, The Classic Zucchini Cookbook: 225 Recipes for All kinds of Squash by Nancy C Ralston. The author has creatively figured out how to incorporate zucchini and other squash into all your meals. One of my favorite ways to use zucchini is to sneak it into spaghetti sauce. Adding zucchini is a great way to add extra nutrients into your meal without affecting the taste.

Spaghetti with Zucchini – Meat Sauce

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1½ pounds sweet or hot Italian sausage, removed from its casing

2 green bell peppers, minced

1 cup minced onion

1 clove of garlic, minced

3 medium sized zucchini, grated

2 cups seeded and chopped tomatoes

¼ – ½ cup jalapenos

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste

Salt

1 pound spaghetti

½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Begin heating a large pot of salted water for the pasta.
In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, heat the oil over medium- high heat. Add the sausage, bell peppers, onion, and garlic. Saute until the meat is well browned, about 10 minutes. Drain the mixture to remove the excess fat.
Add the zucchini, tomatoes, and jalapenos. Taste and add the lemon juice, crushed red pepper flakes, and salt. Simmer 30 minutes.
While the sauce simmers, cook the spaghetti in the boiling water until just al dente. Drain briefly.
Transfer the pasta to a large serving bowl. Add the sauce and toss. Add the cheese and toss again. Serve hot.

Serves 6

This is the recipe that got me started with adding zucchini to my spaghetti sauce. I have personalized it for my family’s taste, adjusting the jalapenos and red peppers, and also adding mushrooms. There are many possibilities.

What’s New, Cupcake?

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Pat S

what's new cupcake Cupcake bakeries are popping up everywhere and charging a pretty penny for just one cupcake. If you have an imagination you can create some pretty unique cupcakes to WOW your friends. How about having Karaoke cupcakes at your next Karaoke party or a Formula one cupcake for the next NASCAR race? What’s New, Cupcake? By Karen Tack provides ingeniously simple designs for every occasion that you may have. If you are not into baking, the cookbook itself is pure fun for just browsing.

Additional Cupcake books

Cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans

Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes by Martha Stewart

Wedding Cupcakes by Joanna Farrow

Crazy About Cupcakes by Krystina CastellaCu

If cookbooks are not your thing, try some of the libraries cupcake themed fiction:

Sweet Stuff by Donna Kauffman

Buttercream Bump Off by Jenn McKinlay

How to Eat a Cupcake : a novel by Meg Donohue

Wedding Foods

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Pat S

practical wedding June is the month of weddings and with weddings comes the planning. One of the biggest expenses of weddings is the reception. If you are on a budget, you might want to cater the wedding yourself. Family members and friends are free labor; you just need to come up with the menu. The first step is setting the budget; then deciding on what to eat. If you have hit a brick wall and the creative juices are not flowing, the books listed below might help.