The Message Said – Bring Cookies
(From the Dessert Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Teresa's Oatmeal Cookies
Just before I left for my very brief trip to NJ a couple of weeks ago I got a message from my brother-in-law to bring some “finger food” desserts for a family gathering. I don’t know about you but I would prefer larger desserts as they take less time and effort to make. Biting the bullet I decided on some very good brownies, chocolate macaroon jam tarts, some individual fruit tarts and at the last minute some of these cookies.
They are called Teresa’s Oatmeal Cookies, named for a friend and fellow cook, who gave me the recipe. These are without a doubt the best oatmeal cookies you will ever try. Very easy to make and the best part is they travel well; unlike my individual tarts that arrived in NJ looking more like individual tartlets. Make these, stand back and watch them disappear.
Teresa’s Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
| Complexity: | Medium |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | Dad’s in charge???? (Share-a-Meal Plans) |
| 3 | large | egg |
| 1 | cup | raisins |
| 1 | tsp | vanilla |
| 16 | Tb | butter, salted |
| 1 | cup | sugar, brown |
| 1 | cup | sugar, granulated |
| 2.5 | cup | flour, all-purpose |
| 1 | tsp | salt, table |
| 1 | tsp | cinnamon. ground |
| 2 | tsp | baking soda |
| 2 | cup | oats, old-fashioned rolled |
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine beaten eggs, raisins, and vanilla and cover with plastic wrap. Let stand for one hour. Cream together room temperature butter and both sugars. Add flour, salt, cinnamon, and soda to sugar mixture and mix well. Blend in egg-raisin mixture and oatmeal. Dough will be stiff. Drop a heaping tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned.
Delicious: Soaking of the raisins is the secret!
More of Teresa’s and my recipes at emealsforyou.com.
Recipe of the Week – Mixed Berry Tart
(From the Dessert Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Mixed Berry Tart
During a quick trip to New Jersey last week I got into a discussion about recipes and how Charlie Trotter, of Chicago fame, once said he never strives to make the same recipe exactly the same each time. The reasons for this is the ingredients might change, or if you cook like me, adverse to measuring, you may add more or less of something. The other topic that came up is “cooking like a French farmer’s wife”, this means using ingredients you have on hand. With this in mind we had a dinner party Sunday night, comfort food really: pot roast, roasted potatoes and carrots. For dessert I had some berries in the frig and decided to make a cake using them. Borrowing the basic recipe for a Cranberry Cake on the site at emealsforyou.com, I made the cake without the cranberries and used the berries. A quick dusting of finishing sugar and we had a spectacular, both visually and taste-wise, finish to a good, cold-weather meal with friends.
Mixed Berry Tart
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 1.5 | cups | sugar, granulated |
| 1 | cup | walnuts, chopped, toasted |
| 2 | large | egg, lightly beaten |
| 1 | cup | flour, all-purpose |
| 0.75 | cup | butter, salted |
| 1 | cup | mixed berries |
| 4 | Tb | apricot jam |
| 1 | spritz | PAM |
| 1 | Tb | sugar, finishing |
Place nuts in a large bowl and pour 1/3 of the sugar over the top; mix. Mix the slightly beaten eggs, the remaining sugar, the flour and the melted butter together. Pour over the nuts and mix. Spray PAM in a 9-inch springform pan and add the mixture. Bake in a pre-heated 325 degree oven for 45 minutes or until lightly browned. Melt the jam in the microwave, pour over the berries. Arrange the berries on top of cooled cake. Sprinkle the finishing sugar over the top just prior to serving.
More like this at emealsforyou.com.
Recipes for a Healthier Future – Small Rant; Big Value
(From the WoW (Watching our Waists) Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Sea Bass
Okay, so we have all decided this is the month, this is the day, this is the hour that we get healthier. Our time to change our lifestyle and make a deference is here. You don’t have to go “drastic”, you do have to change the way you eat. The whole method is to limit the amount of food you eat. Portion control is the answer. This doesn’t mean bland food and constant hunger. This means balanced meals; why shouldn’t these be great tasting meals as well.
At emealsforyou.com we offer many remedies, we take the work out of your “diet.” We have categories to make you successful in your efforts without alienating the entire family along the way. Our healthy, easy recipes and meal planning provide you with all that you will need to accomplish your goal. With categories like Diet Friendly, WOW (Watching Our Waists) and even special needs programs for Diabetic Healthy, Gluten Free and more; coupled with our automatic recipe calculator (how many people are you feeding) we make it easy to get the whole family involved. Pick the recipe / meal, determine the number you are feeding, and print a shopping list; for one meal or several weeks’ worth. As they say, ” It is what we do.” Cooking something else for the kids, we have recipes / meals that they will love.
The bottom line is why pay for a program that costs you an arm and a leg, when you only want to lose a little weight. Cooking at home can not only save you money, the food is tastier and healthier than the frozen entrees they send you. All this for a yearly subscription of $17.95, less than a dollar and a half per month; we are the best bargain around. Click here to sign Up NOW! Take control of your family’s well-being.
P.S. any firm white fish will work in the recipe below.
Entree – Sea Bass
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 2 |
| Category: | WoW (Watching our Waists) |
| Meal: | Now You Sea It (WoW (Watching our Waists)) |
| 2 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 0.5 | small | onions, chopped |
| 8 | oz | sea bass |
| 2 | cloves | garlic, chopped |
| 1 | 6 oz can | tomatoes, diced |
| 1 | tsp | capers |
| 4 | small | anchovy filets |
Heat 2 Tb of olive oil in an ovenproof pan; sear sea bass quickly on each side. Remove from pan and set aside. Place remaining oil in pan. Sauté onions, garlic, tomatoes, and capers until onions are translucent. Add anchovy filets and mash with a spoon.
Replace fish in pan, spoon sauce over the top, place in 300 degree oven for about 8-12 min. or until fish flakes.
Each serving has 342 calories, 9.2g carbs, 18.8g fat, 34.1g protein, and 2.1g fiber
Recipe of the Week – The Perfect Rib Roast
(From the Beef Entrée Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Beef Rib Roast
The diet starts on Tuesday, oh yes that would be today. Why not finish the year with something special. I have been thinking about a rib roast for a month or so. New Year’s Eve seemed that the perfect night to make the perfect rib roast. With rib roast you can either choose to cook it at a low temperature and slow or high and fast. Having used this method before it seemed like the right thing to do; cooking it in our, rather Grandmother Story’s, 100-year-old dutch oven. This time I decided to put some whole garlic cloves into the meat prior to cooking. Simply push a paring knife into the meat and then push the garlic clove into the hole. If you look closely at the photo you will see one of those cloves sneaking out.
So, before your diet starts or maybe for that special meal give this a try. I am sure you will really enjoy it. Match it with a Caesar Salad and a good bottle of wine.
Beef Rib Roast
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Beef Entrée |
| Meal: | Holiday Dinner (Celebration Meal Plans) |
| 5 | lb | beef, rib roast, bone-in |
| 1 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 1 | Tb | salt, kosher |
| 1 | Tb | pepper, fresh cracked |
| 1 | tsp | onion powder |
| 3 | cloves | garlic, chopped |
| 1 | 14 oz. can | beef consommé |
Pour the olive oil over bone-in rib roast. Sprinkle with salt, garlic, pepper and onion powder and press in with your hands. Place in a pre-heated oven pan, brown both sides. Place in pre-heated 400 degree oven, bone side down and cook for 15 minutes per pound or until a meat thermometer reads 135 degrees for medium rare. Take out of oven and remove roast. Let the roast sit for 10 minutes before carving. Pour the consommé into the pan, swirl around and serve over beef.
Try our diet friendly categories on emealsforyou.com.
Recipe of the Week – Baked Tenderloin of Beef
(From the Beef Entrée Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Baked Tenderloin of Beef
We had a request for Beef Tenderloin from one of the kids for our family Christmas dinner. With all the high energy activities around opening gifts and catching up on the latest news, I wanted a meal that was great but also one that would not require constant attention. My mother-in-law has always told me that she just bakes the whole beef tenderloin, regardless of the weight for 30 minutes at 400 degrees. This will produce a moist and medium rare roast; perfect.
Who doesn’t love a recipe that requires very little work and produces the above results, not to mention tons of compliments. Remember to allow the roast to rest for 20 minutes after cooking and before carving. We did twice baked potatoes, another do ahead and forget trick and peas. Dessert was the Cranberry Cake from our website at emealsforyou.com.
Baked Tenderloin of Beef
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Beef Entrée |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 4 | lb | beef, tenderloin, whole |
| 3 | Tb | salt, kosher |
| 3 | Tb | pepper, fresh cracked |
| 5 | cloves | garlic, chopped |
| 3 | Tb | olive oil, divided |
Remove all fat and silver skin from the tenderloin. Have at room temperature. Sprinkle the salt and pepper generously over the entire tenderloin. Spread chopped garlic on top of tenderloin. Sprinkle 2 Tb of olive oil over tenderloin. Allow to marinate for 2 hours. Remove as much of the chopped garlic as possible, discard. Heat remaining olive oil in a large oven-proof pan. Brown tenderloin on all sides. Place in a pre-heated 400 degree oven. Cook for exactly 30 minutes ( for medium rare; 120 degrees ) remove from oven and allow to rest for 20 minutes prior to slicing. The tenderloin will continue to cook to 125 – 130 degrees while resting.
These recipes and more at emealsforyou.com.
Recipe of the Week – Microwave Peanut Brittle
(From the Misc Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Peanut Brittle
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about Hazelnut Toffee and homemade Holiday gifts. I went a little overboard this year and made about 6 different candies to package in special tins to distribute to our neighbors and friends. I gave you the recipe for the toffee but neglected to provide the easy recipe for this Microwave Peanut Brittle. Weather you make the toffee or the brittle or any one of the other great and easy recipes found on our website, emealsforyou.com, the important thing is to begin a family tradition that harkens back to when homemade treats provided a sense of community.
Think beyond the typical fudge recipes. This recipe takes less than 15 minutes to make and the gift recipients will remember it long after the tin is empty.
Microwave Peanut Brittle
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 12 |
| Category: | Misc |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 0.5 | cup | corn syrup, light |
| 1 | cup | sugar, granulated |
| 1 | cup | nuts, roasted and salted |
| 1 | Tb | butter, salted |
| 1 | tsp | vanilla |
CAUTION: This recipe is very hot and extreme caution should be used to avoid burns!
Combine the corn syrup and sugar in a 1 ½ quart microwave proof baking dish. Stir until blended. Microwave 4 minutes. Stir in the nuts, Microwave for 4 minutes until light brown. Stir in butter and vanilla. Microwave 2 minutes. Quickly pour onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Allow to cool and break into pieces and store in an air-tight container.
Makes about 1 pound.
Get the gift idea recipes at emealsforyou.com
Recipe of the Week – Ed’s Breakfast Pizza
(From the Misc Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Ed's Breakfast Pizza
With the holidays coming one struggle is to find new and different dishes to serve. On a recent trip to NJ we made a side stop at a cousin’s house for a much needed relaxing brunch. Pat and Ed served this wonderful breakfast pizza. Beyond the great presentation, this pizza is overflowing with flavor.
The next time you are looking for something a little outside of the box to serve give this special pizza a try.
Ed’s Breakfast Pizza
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 4 |
| Category: | Misc |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 1 | large | pizza crust, pre-baked |
| 3 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 1 | large | onions, sliced |
| 2 | medium | tomatoes, fresh |
| 1 | medium | zucchini |
| 1 | cup | cheese, mozzarella, shredded |
| 4 | large | egg |
| 0.5 | cup | bacon |
| 1 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
Thinly slice the onions, zucchini and tomatoes. Cut the bacon in 1/2 inch pieces, lightly brown, set aside. Heat oil in a pan, reserving 1 Tb, add the onions and zucchini, saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Spread the tomatoes, zucchini and onions evenly over the pre-baked pizza crust, leaving 1/2 inch border. Top with the mozzarella, spread the bacon evenly on top. Make 4 pockets in the toppings, break eggs into the pockets. Drizzle with the remaining 1 Tb of oil, bake at 350 degrees for 10 – 15 minutes until the eggs are done. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Note: Great addition to a brunch.
More breakfast ideas at emealsforyou.com.
Recipe of the Week – Hazelnut Toffee
(From the Misc Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Hazelnut Toffee
With Thanksgiving behind us we turn our attention to Christmas. This year we will make several homemade treats as gift packages for friends and family. We have opted for Spicy Pecans, Cashew Brittle, Cranberry Biscotti and jars of homemade Hot Fudge Sauce. These will be paired with the Hazelnut Toffee to make attractive and very edible gifts.
Be sure to make enough of each as it mystically disappears from the kitchen when no one is looking.
Hazelnut Toffee
| Complexity: | Medium |
| Serves: | 12 |
| Category: | Misc |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 30 | Tb | butter, salted |
| 1.5 | cup | sugar, granulated |
| 0.5 | cup | sugar, brown |
| 3 | Tb | honey |
| 0.5 | cup | water |
| 1.5 | cup | hazelnuts, toasted |
| 20 | oz | chocolate, semi-sweet bits |
| 0.5 | cup | hazelnuts, ground |
Toast nuts in a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes, remove immediately, cool and roll in a towel to remove husk. Place in plastic bag and hit with a flat pan to crush.
Prepping the chocolate- Place chocolate bits in a small food processor and chop into small pieces.
In a medium size, heavy pot place the butter, sugar, water and honey, heat over high heat about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches 290-300 degrees on a candy thermometer. Immediately add the crushed nuts, remove from heat, and stir. Pour on a greased cookie sheet (11 X 17), spread out evenly and sprinkle the chocolate on top, when the chocolate melts sprinkle the ground nuts on top. Cool and store in airtight containers.
CAUTION: This is not a project you make with your kids. The sugar reaches 300 degrees and is very dangerous if handled improperly.
Find the easily made and wonderful homemade treats at emealsforyou.com.
Recipe of the Week – Sour Cream Coffee Cake
(From the Bread Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Thanksgiving is over. Time to turn our thoughts to Christmas. This wonderful coffee cake recipe comes by way of our neighbor, Mark. Mark is from New England and has some really great recipes for baked goods. Most, like this one are easy to put together and use a minimum of ingredients. We made this to fill in at our breakfasts during the holiday and most certainly will make it again for our guests at Christmas.
With or without coffee this cake is special.
Sour Cream Coffee Cake
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 12 |
| Category: | Breads |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 1 | cup | sugar, granulated |
| 0.5 | cup | sugar, brown |
| 0.5 | cup | butter, unsalted |
| 1 | tsp | vanilla |
| 2 | large | egg |
| 1 | cup | sour cream |
| 2 | cups | flour, all-purpose |
| 0.25 | tsp | salt, kosher |
| 1 | tsp | baking powder |
| 1 | tsp | baking soda |
| 0.5 | cup | sugar, brown |
| 2 | tsp | cinnamon. ground |
Have the butter at room temperature. Cream the sugar, brown sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla together. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together. With the mixer on slow, alternately add the sour cream and the dry mixture to the wet mixture until smooth. Mix the second brown sugar and cinnamon together. Spoon half the batter into a greased bundtl cake pan. Spoon half the cinnamon mixture on top and then put the remaining cake batter on top, followed by the remaining cinnamon mixture.
Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 45 -55 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Try Mark”s blueberry muffins at emealsforyou.com.
Recipe of the Week – Meatball Sandwiches
(From the Cooking for the Kids Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Meatball Sandwich
Okay, so you know you are making turkey with all the fixings but what about the other meals for your extended family weekend. We are having the full Thanksgiving dinner here. One son and family is coming from Chicago and another is living down here. The turkey is the easy part, now what do I serve when they get here and what about the rest of the weekend. As of this writing we still don’t know what time the Chicago group is scheduled to arrive. As meal planners we like to anticipate and plan meals; our guests on the other hand, wing it. We thought about the meatball sandwiches for the night of their arrival as it is something you can keep warm in the oven and serve at a moment’s notice accompanied by a salad; besides the kids will eat it.
The 22 lb turkey awaits its turn as the main act in the frig until Thursday. I’m not much for leftover turkey so Friday’s meal looks like ribs.
Meatball Sandwiches
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Cooking for the Kids |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 3 | Tb | olive oil, divided |
| 1 | medium | onion, minced |
| 1.5 | lb | beef, ground |
| 0.75 | lb | pork, ground |
| 2 | Tb | garlic powder |
| 1 | tsp | oregano, dried |
| 1 | Tb | salt, kosher |
| 1 | tsp | pepper, fresh ground |
| 1 | slices | bread, day-old |
| 0.25 | cup | milk, 2 % |
| 32 | oz | tomato sauce |
| 1 | medium | bread, Italian |
| 2 | Tb | cheese, Romano, grated |
Heat 1/3 of the oil in a sauté pan, add onions and sauté until slightly golden. Remove and cool. In a large bowl mix the ground beef and pork, adding in the garlic powder, oregano, salt and pepper. In a separate bowl place the day old bread and the milk. Allow to sit for 3 minutes. Squeeze the bread of excess milk, break into small pieces and add to the meat. Add in the onions and mix thoroughly to combine. Using a 1/8th cup ice cream scoop form the meatballs. Heat the remaining oil in the pan and add just enough meatballs to allow movement. Sauté until brown and remove to an oven-proof pan. Repeat until all the meatballs are browned. Add the tomato sauce to the oven-proof pan and place in 350 degree oven for 1 hour. Cut bread lengthwise and place meatballs on bread, cover with sauce and sprinkle the Romano on top and serve.
Note: Sprinkle 2/3 cup of grated mozzarella on top; place in broiler, open-faced, until cheese melts for a special treat.
More Cooking for the Kids at emealsforyou.com
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