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Dutch Puff Pancake – My Momma’s Recipe

May 11, 2012

My First Love.

Look at that gorgeous kid… and the baby isn’t bad either! That woman in the pic still makes the best dutch puff pancake in the Western Hemisphere.

The first love of my life: my Mom. As little girls, we often play “house” and pretend to be Mommies to our baby dolls and try to emulate our own mothers. As teenagers, we are less inclined to compare ourselves to our Moms. As adults we come full circle, realizing that “Mom” is a person just like we are who had worries and struggles, peacefulness and triumphs . Mine, like most, had to balance job and kids, errands, our activities, laundry, blah, blah, blah… and yet still found time to take us to movies or little excursions. We didn’t have much, but we didn’t know it. She made the most of what we did have and rarely did we feel like we had “gone without”.

One of my all-time favorite memories, which my Mom & I still giggle about to this day… Ok, this is going to date me a little, but you regular readers already know I turned 40 recently, so here we go:

Do you remember that show from the ’80’s, “V”?! It was about alien-lizards disguised as humans living on Earth. We LOVED this show. It sounds ridiculous, but it was the early ’80’s…
Well, one night we were in our Chevrolet Chevette hatchback (yes, a Chevette hatchback… named “Skeeter”, btw) and there were radio and television towers with flashing red lights on the road. They looked like they were so high up in the sky to me as a little kid… like they could have been lights on an alien spacecraft!

All of a sudden, my Mom hunches down over the steering wheel and starts saying “Oh no, they’re gonna get us!” Well, you can imagine our reaction! My brother & I started screeching & laughing like crazy and she just kept egging us on…

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Homemade Mini Corn Dogs

April 28, 2012

Battered, deep-fried meat on a stick. It is so many kinds of wrong, but I love corndogs.

Watching the hot dog get immersed in thick batter and then plunged into the hot oil as the sweet smell of the cornbread batter turning a deep golden brown fills the air. Pure bliss.
My mouth started to salivate the second I smelled the batter hit the hot oil.

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Cheaper than Therapy…

April 25, 2012

Songwriters often say that they do their best work when they are going through something difficult in their lives. They channel those feelings and pour them into lyrics that move us to our very core.
I don’t write music… I sequester myself to the confines of my kitchen.

Being in the kitchen is cathartic for me, it always has been. Looking back, I’ve realized that it is one of the reasons I love baking.

It brings me comfort in times of sadness, calms me when I’m stressed or anxious, reassures me when I’ve had a particularly rough day.

Baking is my therapy and let’s face it… it’s cheaper than $150 dollars an hour and much tastier.

I find solace in the kitchen, the familiar smells and sounds, the warmth of the oven… being able to “shut off” my brain and do things on autopilot also brings a certain sense of comfort.

Once again, I find myself puttering about in the kitchen late at night when the rest of world is fast asleep.

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Homemade Herb Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

April 20, 2012

Homemade herb vinaigrette is one of the easiest things to make. If you are not confident in the kitchen, this is a great place to start getting your feet wet. A handful of ingredients and 5 minutes is all it takes to make something delicious.

Now that Spring is in full swing and the Farmer’s Markets are replete with the good stuff, it’s time to start putting those veggies back into the rotation.

Some people tend to look at salads as the obligatory precursor to the main event. Granted, if someone serves you a bowl of pre-cut lettuce and gloppy dressing, it is barely even that. However, with a little creativity and a blender you can make something that is beautiful, delicious, good for you and even those that tend to resist eating “rabbit food” may even get on board.

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My Lost Shaker of Salt…

March 20, 2012

Vacation. Just the word alone makes us feel lighter, happier and less stressed. Why is it that we allow ourselves things on vacation we rarely would otherwise?

We indulge in foods we normally deprive ourselves of, we sleep late, we are a little more laid back and allow ourselves a few adult beverages with colorful umbrellas peeking out of them or in my case, a salted rim.

Coming back to reality from vacation is rarely a pleasure, but what I’m trying to learn is how to have a “vacation” frame of mind even when I can’t get away.

Not that I’ll be quitting my job and spending my days on a beach, as lovely as that sounds, but trying to allow myself a bit more leeway when it comes to certain things.

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Lemon Tart with Torched Meringue

February 27, 2012

Lemon Tart has always been one of my favorite desserts. Not too sweet, not too tart. Easy, homemade lemon curd fills this from scratch pastry shell. A few peaks of torched meringue finish it off for a perfectly lovely dessert.

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And the award goes to…

February 19, 2012

Picture it… Ohio, early 1980’s. A girl and her Momma, glued to the television watching movie stars walk the red carpet. We used to watch the Oscars as if it were a runway show during fashion week. I feigned interest in the actual awards part of the show, but to be perfectly honest I didn’t really care who won “Best Picture”. My Mom was letting me stay up past my bedtime and that was award enough for me.

I have friends who host elaborate Oscar parties and I must admit the thought of it has crossed my mind on more than a few occasions, but considering the size of my shoebox apartment it doesn’t seem to be an option this year.

However, just because I won’t be hosting a gathering doesn’t mean I can’t make some good party food…

I tried to keep it fairly simple, with options that could be served warm or at room temperature. These can also be transported fairly easily if you are a guest bringing a little something to the festivities.

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Choucroute Garni {For the Love of Pork}

January 29, 2012

It may not be 100% authentic Alsatian, but how can you go wrong with three kinds of pork, sauerkraut, apples and a bottle of beer poured over the whole mess?!

Traditionally, Choucroute Garni is made with white wine. However, being the good Midwestern girl that I am, beer seemed the natural way to go. These flavors are more familiar to me… cooking with beer is not exactly a foreign concept. The smell of bratwurst & onions simmering in beer is something that greeted me as I came in the kitchen door of my parents house after school on many afternoons.

This is the kind of meal that you gear up for, like Thanksgiving dinner. I’m in no way suggesting that you make this every week. Like Thanksgiving, this is reserved for once in a while when you need a good stick-to-your-ribs kind of meal.

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Doing My Part to Prevent Scurvy…

January 23, 2012

Every now and then I buy random things and hope I can make something good with the various items that have found their way into my cart. Once in a while I’ll stumble upon something magnificent, on (thankfully rare) occasions it’s been a disaster, in which case the pizzeria is on speed dial and more often than not it’s pretty good, although I’m in no way getting sassy about it…
One of the ingredients that found their way home with me were finger limes.

They are rather interesting… inside the lime are little pearls that resemble caviar. It’s a great garnish for fish, drinks, hors d’oeuvres or even desserts.

A beautiful piece of wild grouper had also found its way home with me in my ever-present quest for eating healthier, so this was my jumping off point. A couple of years ago, on a trip to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic I had grouper grilled on the beach and that is where my love for this fish was born.

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Catching Snowflakes On My Tongue…

January 14, 2012

As I write this, I’m looking through my living room window watching the snowflakes swirl about in the gray sky.
Normally, this would elicit a groan from me but I feel I cannot begrudge Mother Nature a few flakes… it IS January after all and we’ve had more than our fair share of unseasonably warm temperatures.

Catching snowflakes on your tongue is something we all did as kids, but THIS kind of snowflake is much tastier.

A few years ago, I was trying to come up with an idea for a drink that tasted more like dessert than a cocktail. I did, and it was dubbed “The Snowflake” but then… marshmallow vodka came on the scene and I became obsessed with somehow incorporating this into the drink. So, I’ve slightly modified it from it’s original version and made it more of a cocktail.

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