New 5-Day Weekly Meal Plans at www.emealsforyou.com
To see the post regarding the new 5-day Weekly Meal Plans click here!
Add comment November 5, 2009
You Don’t Have To Be Martha Stewart, Series 3 – A Helpful Rant
(From the Bread Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Sticky Buns
Okay, so now that you have your homemade Kahlua and Lemmoncello “maturing” in your dark closet we need to move on to other ideas for holiday gifts you can make and the recipient will love. Next in my mind, on the easy but really appreciated homemade gifts list are sticky buns. I give these year-round when I think they would be an ideal surprise for breakfast. Delivered hot and sticky on a holiday morning or just to be nice, they fill the house with that sweet smell you remember from visits to the corner bakery when you were growing up. You may also package them in a nice basket unbaked to be baked later. Frozen they last forever and when defrosted offer the perfect touch for a special morning.
The great part about these sticky buns is that they are very easy to make. Make the recipe for yourself and you will still have some leftover to share.
Sticky Buns
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 12 |
| Category: | Breads |
| Meal: | Company for Breakfast (Share-a-Meal Plans) |
| 2.5 | cup | flour, all-purpose |
| 0.25 | cup | sugar, brown |
| 1 | package | yeast, dried |
| 0.5 | tsp | salt, table |
| 0.75 | cup | water, hot |
| 4 | Tb | butter, unsalted |
| 1 | large | egg |
| 0.5 | tsp | cinnamon. ground |
| 8 | Tb | butter, unsalted |
| 0.75 | cup | sugar, brown |
| 1 | Tb | cinnamon. ground |
| 1 | cup | walnuts, chopped |
| 0.75 | cup | sugar, brown |
| 4 | Tb | butter, unsalted |
| 0.25 | cup | corn syrup, dark |
| 1 | cup | walnuts, halved |
(Makes enough for about 3 8 X 8 pans)
Dough- Mix flour, 1/4 cup sugar, yeast, salt, water, melted butter, egg and cinnamon in food processor, remove from processor, add enough flour to make a soft dough, let rise for 45 minutes.
Filling- Mix 1/2 cup softened butter, 3/4 sugar, cinnamon and chopped nuts together.
Roll dough to 15” X 24”. Spread filling on dough. Roll up and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Topping- Put remaining 3/4-cup sugar, 1/2-cup butter, and karo syrup in pan, bring to a boil. Remove from heat, add nuts and pour into baking tray or pan.
Cut rolled dough into 3/4” pieces and place on top of topping in pan. Can be frozen or refrigerated at this point. When ready to bake, let rise for 30 minutes and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Invert over plate and serve.
Note: When scaling this recipe be sure to adjust the ingredient proportions in this method section.
Add comment November 5, 2009
Recipe of the Week – Roasted Beet and Pear Salad
(From the Salad Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Roasted Beet and Pear Salad
This weekend was a “soup” weekend. The weather is changing and as Fall arrives I start to think about soups. Once I get into this mode I usually don’t stop until I either run out of room in the freezer or run out of containers to put the soup in. So on Saturday we had our choice of Chicken Noodle, Leek and Potato or French Onion soup. The chicken noddle is especially good to make and have in the freezer during this flu season. Nothing says neighborly like a container of chicken soup delivered to a neighbor who is down with the sniffles.
I needed a few things to put a large pot of vegetable soup simmering on the stove so off we went on Sunday to the market. Long story short we got what I needed for the soup and at the same time I picked up some beets and pears. I had this thought rolling around in my head, and yes I know this is strange, about putting roasted beets, pears and watercress together for a wonderfully attractive and deliciously light salad. The beets take awhile to roast so you have to think about this in advance but it was well worth the effort. The secret is to slice both the beets and the pears as thinly as you can, I use a cheap mandolin, but if you take your time, a very sharp knife will work just as well. Don’t tell the kids that the pretty “fruit” in the salad are beets and you just may slip this one by them.
Roasted Beet and Pear Salad
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 4 |
| Category: | Salad |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 2 | medium | beets |
| 1 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 1 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
| 1 | bunch | watercress |
| 2 | medium | pears, fresh |
| 0.5 | recipe | French vinaigrette dressing |
| 1 | Tb | honey |
Peel beets and drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Bake in a 350 oven for 1 hour, or until tender. Slice beets and pears as thinly as possible. Place on serving plate in an overlapping circle, alternating pears and beets. Add honey to vinaigrette and toss watercress in vinaigrette. Place on top of beets and pears. Drizzle any leftover dressing on top.
French Vinaigrette Dressing
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Misc |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 2 | Tb | vinegar, red wine |
| 1 | Tb | mustard, dijon |
| 0.5 | cup | oil, olive |
| 1 | small | shallots, sliced |
| 0.75 | tsp | salt, kosher |
| 1 | dash | pepper, fresh cracked |
Whisk vinegar,shallot and mustard together in a small glass bowl. Slowly drizzle in the oil, whisking constantly. Add salt and pepper to taste. Allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
1 comment November 2, 2009
Defining Your Cooking Style – A Non-Rant
Trattoria ? Bistro ? French Peasant ? Old-fashioned Home Cooking ?
I get asked all the time what type of food do I cook? What is my favorite meal? These are all fair questions as my website, emealsforyou.com is virtually a rather large cookbook, interactive and full of bells and whistles but a cookbook none the less. I usually answer, “Whatever people want to eat” but that really doesn’t give you a real feel for what we do.
We strive to provide recipes and meal plans that are easy to prepare, use common ingredients and will WOW your dining companions, whether they are your kids or your boss. Recipes that won’t break the bank but are worthy of taking to the finest neighborhood potluck dinner club or a wine tasting gathering, yet comfortable enough to serve on Friday night in front of the fireplace for movie night with your family.
Just about every nationality has similar dishes. We embrace the ethnic meals. Whether you chose Chicken Cacciatore, Chicken Paprikash or Island Chicken, your house will be filled with wonderful aromas and you probably won’t have to call everyone more than once to the table. Pick homemade pizza or slow-roasted ribs and your family will start calling you chef.
Add comment October 29, 2009
New 5-Day Weekly Meal Plans at www.emealsforyou.com
(From the Recipe Collections at emealsforyou.com)
Because you asked for it we now will post a 5-day weekly meal planner with shopping list on our website at emealsforyou.com. The planner will contain complete meals for 5 days. Two options will be available: serving 4 and serving 2. Unlike some other sites, if you don’t like or your kids won’t eat the recipes we provide on the 5-day planner you may simply check out all the recipes on our site and choose a substitute. So you have the benefit of a full week’s planner and still use our site to pick other recipes or meal plans for special occasions or additional needs. We have also created a new recipes category, Weekly Meal Planner. Here you will find 5-day meal plans that you can choose the number of servings and create the shopping lists automatically.
This is available only to subscription members of emealsforyou.com. Once you sign up and logon to your account you simply choose the weekly meal plan that offers the number of servings you wish. Click on the link and print the downloaded file, it’s as easy as that. Having a special meal; just go right to our recipes and meal plans to make your own choice.; automatically scalable for 1,2,4,6,8,10,12 servings. It’s never been easier to feed your family good, nutritious meals. Save time, save money , save your sanity by planning your meals using emealsforyou.com.
1 comment October 26, 2009
Recipe of the Week – Creamy Scalloped Potatoes
(From the Starch Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Creamy Scalloped Potatoes
First of all let me say that my wife insists, maybe that is too strong a word, my wife suggests that scalloped potatoes don’t have any cheese in them. All well and good for normal scalloped potatoes; in fact we have a couple of different “cheesy” potatoes on our website, emealsforyou.com. These all bring to mind au gratin potatoes, wonderful just cooked potatoes dripping in gooey cheese sauce, almost a meal unto themselves.
Our Creamy Scalloped Potatoes are just that, creamy, deliciously creamy, with just a hint of cheese. They appear out of the oven gorgeously golden and unresistable. Melt in your mouth potatoes with just enough crunch and a hint of thyme. The best part is they are very simple and quick to make. Watch these disappear from your family’s plates. By the way, I didn’t hear anything further on the “no cheese in scalloped potatoes” theme from my wife once she tried these.
P.S. We paired these with slow-roasted ribs, corn relish and finished up with some Bourbon Gelato to welcome in the Fall season.
Creamy Scalloped Potatoes
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Starch |
| Meal: | Welcome Fall (Picnic Meal Plans) |
| 5 | large | potatoes |
| 1.5 | cup | cream, heavy |
| 1 | cup | cheese, parmesan, grated |
| 1 | tsp | thyme, fresh |
| 1 | tsp | salt, kosher |
| 0.5 | tsp | pepper, fresh cracked |
Slice potatoes as thinly as you can. Place in a large bowl. Add cream, cheese, fresh thyme, salt and pepper; mix thoroughly. Pour into an oven-proof casserole and bake at 250 degrees for 50- 60 minutes, until lightly browned.
Add comment October 26, 2009
You Don’t Have To Be Martha Stewart, Part Deux- A Helpful Rant
(From the Misc Collection at emealsforyou.com)
start with these
Today’s suggestion for homemade liqueur is Lemoncello. This is a wonderfully smooth, lemony nectar that can be used in many ways. Besides serving as an after dinner drink it offers a unique flavor to sautéed garlic shrimp, (See Lemoncello Shrimp at emealsforyou.com) may be poured over cake or served with fresh fruit. Start this now and you will be all set to wow your friends at Thanksgiving dinner.
Creating gifts for the holidays for our friends and family requires a little foresight. Besides allowing for the time it will take for the homemade liqueur to mature you should be looking for interesting bottles to hold the finished product. Craft stores have numerous containers and bottles to choose from and you may be able to find interesting bottles in small antique and gift shops. Remember we taste first with our eyes so take the time to dress up your gift to make it special.
Homemade Lemoncello
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 12 |
| Category: | Misc |
| Meal: | N/A |
| 7 | medium | lemon zest, finely chopped |
| 1 | qt | vodka |
| 2 | cup | sugar, white |
| 2.5 | cup | water |
Wash lemons, zest lemons and place the zest in a large bottle or container with a lid. Pour vodka on top and close lid. Place in a closet and let stand at least 2 weeks, the longer the better. After this period combine water and sugar in a pan to form a simple syrup. Allow syrup to cool, add to lemon zest and vodka mixture and reseal and let sit for another 2 weeks. Strain liqueur to remove zest. Bottle Lemoncello, may be frozen until used.
Add comment October 21, 2009
Recipe of the Week – Chicken with Black Beans and Garlic
(From the Chicken Entrée Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Chicken with Black Beans and Garlic
I haven’t cooked Chinese food for quite a while. We used to do it on a regular basis but somehow got out of the habit. So when I saw a cooking show highlighting Chinese food I thought I should go back to one of my standards. Chinese takeout is so iffy, you never know what you will get. Sometimes it is so good and other times, even from the same restaurant , it is undercooked or just plain bad. It is for these very reasons we began to make our favorites at home.
When people ask me how to get their significant other more involved in the food preparation at home I tell them to start with making Chinese food. This usually appeals to even the staunches “I can’t cook, I don’t know anything about cooking” individual. Basically it starts with chopping food up; what man doesn’t like to show off his knife skills? Then it plays in line with his usual impatience. Heat the wok, add oil and whatever you are cooking, usually at once, and stir for 2 minutes. Voila, or whatever voila is in Mandarin, and you have it, a meal for an emperor.
So, to get someone interested in making a meal, start out easy, cook something fast and build up from there.
Add comment October 19, 2009
You Don’t Have To Be Martha Stewart – A Helpful Rant
(From the Misc Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Homemade Kahlua
In the next few weeks we will be posting ideas for making your own seasonal gifts for friends and family. These are fairly easy and inexpensive food and drink ideas that you will be proud to give and the recipient will be happy to receive.
Today’s gift idea is homemade Kahlua. Who doesn’t enjoy this great coffee flavored liqueur? It’s great in coffee, fantastic with a little cream added as an after dinner cordial and makes our Tiramisu a very special holiday dessert. We started with this recipe as it takes about 5-6 weeks to develop it’s deep, rich flavor. Spend 10 minutes mixing the recipe, hide it in a closet for 6 weeks , pour into a decorative bottle and then deliver it at the holidays.
A quick word of caution should you decide to consume this yourself. Regular Kahlua is 20% alcohol by volume, depending on the Vodka you use, this may exceed the 20% by a bunch. We made half a recipe which makes a quart of homemade Kahlua. We put ours in a container that can be used to store coffee after the Kahlua is gone.
Homemade Kahlua
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 12 |
| Category: | Misc |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 3.75 | cup | sugar, white |
| 1 | cup | water |
| 6 | Tb | coffee, instant |
| 1 | cup | water |
| 1 | medium | vanilla bean |
| 1 | qt | vodka |
| 1 | tsp | glycerin |
Dissolve sugar in boiling water. Cool. Dissolve instant coffee in boiling water. Place vanilla bean, broken into 3 pieces in coffee mixture for 3 minutes or use 1 tsp of good vanilla extract. Place all in large jug, add vodka and glycerin. Let stand in a dark place for 6 weeks.
Add comment October 14, 2009
Recipe of the Week – Roasted Seckel Pears with Goat Cheese
(From the Appetizer Collection at emealsforyou.com)
In line with a recent post Why We Cook – A Rant I wanted to add surprise to the equation. Sometimes it’s fun to add something to the meal that is unexpected, something that appears to be one thing and winds up being a totally unexpected treat. One night in New Jersey I made seckel pears. These are small pears that are only available in the early fall, roasted with goat cheese, black pepper and honey as an appetizer for a group of macho cops, EMT’s and RN’s. The unexpected taste of the tart pears with the smooth goat cheese and sweet honey was a huge hit. The fresh cracked pepper added to the visual. These are similar to the full size pears I make for dessert but the small size makes them ideal as a quick and unexpected appetizer.
Another visual trick is my watermelon salad. Served in a large bowl with other various salads on a buffet, the guest assume that it is a tomato salad. Watching the look on their faces as they popped the watermelon into their mouths was very satisfying. The combination of crisp sweet watermelon with the salty feta cheese, pinenuts and red onion makes a wonderful surprise addition to any meal. Now that watermelon is available all year long; this is not just a summer treat. Once the word got around about the watermelon salad it completely disappeared in a matter of minutes.
So, mix it up a little, try something different and surprise your guest.
Roasted Seckel Pears with Goat Cheese
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Appetizer |
| Meal: | N/A |
| 16 | medium | seckel pears |
| 3 | oz | cheese, goat |
| 2 | Tb | honey |
| 0.5 | tsp | pepper, fresh ground |
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut pears in half, scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon. Place cut side down on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Place in oven for 6 -8 minutes, until the pears are tender. Remove to a serving platter, cut side up, spoon a dollop of goat cheese in the center, dust with fresh cracked black pepper and drizzle with honey.
Add comment October 12, 2009
