Archive for September, 2008
Recipe of the Week – Coq au Vin
As I have stated previously, I have to try my best to hold off on the urge to jump into Fall cooking while I am still wearing shorts and no socks. So when I turn on the TV and see several of the cooking shows beginning to cook those hearty, tasty and soul-fulfilling meals I find my resolve dissolving; just like the butter on a hot piece of crunchy French bread. Hungry yet? I absolutely love any kind of stewed chicken; that is chicken cooked slowly in a fragrant broth. Coq au Vin, chicken in wine, is probably my favorite.
There is nothing like starting a big pot of Coq au Vin and letting it cook slowly, combining all the flavors; permeating the air with such a fine perfume that I sit here writing this with my mouth watering just thinking about it. I am serious, you start with browning bacon and end with a buttery roux to thicken it… how can that be bad. Another nice thing about this recipe is that I cook it in my wife’s Grandmother Story’s 100 year old Dutch Oven. Don’t have a 100 year old pot? You can cook this in any heavy pot and finish it on the stove top or in the oven… just make sure that you try it.
Coq au Vin
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 4 |
| Category: | Chicken Entrée |
| Meal: | Welcome Home (Celebration Meal Plans) |
| 2 | slices | bacon |
| 2 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 1 | whole | chicken, whole, cut up |
| 6 | cloves | garlic, chopped |
| 8 | oz | onions, pearl frozen |
| 8 | oz | mushrooms, white button |
| 1 | 10.5 oz can | beef consommé |
| 8 | oz | wine, dry red |
| 8 | oz | chicken broth |
| 3 | Tb | tomato paste |
| 3 | medium | bay leaves, whole dried |
| 2 | Tb | butter, salted |
| 2 | Tb | flour |
| 0.5 | tsp | salt and pepper to taste |
Cut bacon into small pieces, brown bacon in large pan, add oil. Brown chicken in pan, remove chicken, add garlic and onions, sauté for 3 minutes. Add mushrooms, chicken, consommé, wine, bay leaves, tomato paste and enough of the broth to just cover chicken. Reduce heat to simmer, cook for 25 minutes, until chicken is tender. Remove chicken to platter. Add flour to some of the juice and add to gravy to thicken, add butter. Salt and pepper to taste. Spoon over chicken and serve.
Serve with crusty bread.
(You can find this recipe and others like it along with the recipe for French Bread at emealsforyou.com)
Add comment September 29, 2008
e-Mealz vs. www.emealsforyou.com
There is some confusion in the marketplace revolving around our meal planning website www.emealsforyou.com and one called e-Mealz. While both sites provide meal plans we think you should have the facts before you decide.
e-Mealz:
It is our understanding that e-mealz is a subscription service that you sign up for and download a weekly Adobe pdf file based on what that individual grocery store you picked has on sale that week. The service charge for this is $15 per quarter ($60 per year), automatically charged to your credit card until you send them a note to stop. You receive, depending on the plan, either 5 or 7 dinner meal ideas and a shopping list for these meals.
The upside is you are able to plan your meals for the week and save money as the ingredients are on sale. The downside is that you have to like the recipes they send you and use the ingredients they recommend; including many canned soups, sauces and ingredients. Meal plans fall into two categories: Family – 7 dinners for 4-6 people and Regular – 5 dinners for 2 people. e-Mealz provides only the prescribed meals per week; no substitutes, if you don’t like one or two, they tell you to simply cross those ingredients off the shopping list. More importantly if your kids won’t eat what they suggest, you are right back to where you started from: planning several meals without help. There is no opportunity to change the meal plans or to pick meals and desserts other then the dinner plans they provide. Based on the Internet comments regarding this service many become bored with the meals and feel locked in to what e-Mealz thinks they should be eating.
emealsforyou.com is a subscription meal planning service; providing a variety of recipes and meal plans (hundreds to choose from) along with shopping lists based on your choice of recipes and meal plans. All of our recipes and meal plans are scalable (just pick the number of people you are feeding 1,2,4,6,8,10,12) and we will automatically scale the recipes and ingredients for you. If you are having more or less people for the meal; simply scale that meal to suit your needs. Put the meal plans or recipes in your Favorite Box and you can save them and also create shopping lists unique to your choices. We have hundreds of recipes and meal plans to choose from, with no additives or preservatives, and also have a very easy method to create you own meal plans and print a shopping list, with unlimited downloads. Our members have reported savings of 10-20% on their groceries when they shop using a shopping list. With www.emealsforyou.com you are not limited to dinners but have everything from appetizers through desserts; plus special categories for special needs and no limit on the number of meal and recipes your choose..
emealsforyou.com has recipes and meal plans covering a large selection of health and happiness conditions. You simply choose the ones that work for you. While e-Mealz provides 7 or 5 recipes you have signed up for; we allow you to choose recipes and meal plans that you like. Why let someone else tell you what to feed your family? We offer you the choice of over 500 great and easy recipes and meal plans, down-loadable anytime and as many times as you wish. Choose, size and print your shopping list. Our cost is $36 for a full year, $24 less expensive then e-Mealz; with no automatic plan continuation hitting your credit card. emealsforyou.com brings you an easily downloadable Weekly Meal Planner with a 5-day meal plan complete with recipes and shopping list; thus giving you the option of a 5-day suggested meal plan and the ability to choose your meals and create a shopping list. Our Quick Meals Planner/Weekly Meal Planner provides 20 easy and complete 5-day meal plans. Pick the meal plan, scale it to the number in your family, print the shopping list, now that’s easy!
If you would like to see the Recipe and Meal Plan categories on emealsforyou.com click here .
To use your local grocery stores’ sales fliers to save money at the grocery stores while using emealsforyou.com follow these easy steps:
Get the sale fliers from the groceries in your area. Go through them and see what food appeals to you. Log on to www.emealsforyou.com and go to Recipe Finder. Choose those foods that appealed to you and see the recipes associated with them; i. e. choosing chicken breasts showed over 50 recipes including many healthy and low fat/carb recipes. Choose those recipes, send them to your Favorites Box, scale them, and using our easy shopping list function, print the list. This allows much more freedom of choice; why limit yourself to only one grocery store. Our members report shopping with a list has saved them 10-20% on their grocery bill; easing their mind and saving them money, plus they have a happy family.
For those of you who choose to have e-Mealz select the meals for you and become bored and want to switch to the emealsforyou service simply send us an email to obtain an additional discount.
Save Money! Save Time! Save $5.00! Enter EMEALS-24 when you register for emealsforyou.com and receive $5 off the subscription price. That’s 1 FULL YEAR of meal planning for only $31.00.
Add comment September 23, 2008
Cultural Differences – People vs Food – A Rant
This rant will get different reactions from different folk; seriously, that is the main intention here. We all like ethnic food. For a while Chinese takeout was hot. Then Authentic Mexican restaurants made an entrance on the scene (btw- if you have to say it is authentic, is it really?) Let’s go out for some Thai food, or maybe Greek gyros would hit the spot. Pizza has been around FOREVER; and deli, who doesn’t like a thick corn beef on rye. The point is why do we like the food of people different then us but find reasons to dislike the people.
As we are learning rapidly; it is a world-wide economy we are living in. News flashes appear within moments of real-time on our TV’s from every corner of the world. Yet for some unknown reason we fail to recognize that we are no different they anyone else inhabiting this planet. Maybe, just maybe, if we all were more tolerant of other cultures we could solve some of the global problems facing ALL of us. Fortunately, our kids are better at this then us. May their kids be better still. Anyway, that is what I think and I’m sticking to it.
Add comment September 23, 2008
Recipe of the Week – Peach Cobbler with Gingered Maple Cream
(from the Dessert Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Peach Cobbler with Gingered Maple Cream
Yesterday was the first day of Fall. Time to use up all the fruits of Summer and enjoy the last wonderful fresh tastes. I went to the local farmers’ market yesterday to buy tomatoes, local grown but really small, and found some peaches. This recipe comes again from Chef Teresa and is full of flavor and will add lots of comfort to the finish of any meal.
Fall is the time to gather family and friends for long, slow meals. I look forward each year, when the weather turns cool in the mornings and evenings, to lingering over a cobbler, crisp or pie with a hot mug of coffee. What better way to ease into the “almost” holiday season. Which reminds me, anyone else out there troubled by Christmas items in the stores even before October? Take the time from your busy schedule to surprise your family with this wonderful treat.
Peach Cobbler with Gingered Maple Cream
| Complexity: | Medium |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | Sunday Night Supper (Celebration Meal Plans) |
| 3 | cup | peaches, sliced |
| 0.5 | cup | sugar, white |
| 1 | Tb | cornstarch |
| 0.25 | cup | sugar, brown |
| 0.5 | cup | water, cold |
| 1 | Tb | butter, salted |
| 1 | Tb | lemon, juice of |
| 1 | cup | flour |
| 0.5 | cup | sugar, white |
| 1.5 | tsp | baking powder |
| 0.5 | tsp | salt, table |
| 0.5 | cup | milk, whole |
| 0.25 | cup | butter, salted |
| 1.5 | cup | cream, heavy |
| 0.33 | cup | maple syrup |
| 3 | Tb | corn syrup, light |
| 1 | pinch | salt, table |
| 0.25 | tsp | ginger, ground |
Combine the sliced peaches and white sugar in large saucepan and mix gently. Add cornstarch, brown sugar, and water. Cook and stir over medium heat until thick. Add butter and lemon juice. Pour into a greased 12 by 7 inch baking dish. Set aside while you prepare the crust.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift the dry ingredients into large mixer bowl. Add the milk and softened butter all at once and beat just until smooth. Drop the batter by heaping tablespoons over the peach mixture and bake for 30 minutes. Serve with gingered maple cream
For Gingered Maple Cream: Combine cream, maple syrup, corn syrup, ginger, and dash of salt. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until thickened and reduced. Chill
1 comment September 23, 2008
Change of Seasons – Change of Meal Planning
Change of Season
I can always tell when it is time to begin to leave Summer behind and move on to Fall. Suddenly mums appear into front of the fireplace; signaling the changeover from the hot, sticky weather to more comfortable sweater weather. My wife buys some mums for outside but just happens to bring a few inside to look at… as we won’t light the fireplace for a while yet, they are the perfect way to segue and add some color at the same time.
Fall is my favorite time to cook. While Spring signifies a new beginning each year, Fall brings back all the old favorites. The smells of stews, sauces and long-cooking meals permeates the air. It is during Fall that we mix old favorites and new recipes. Time seems to move just a little slower, maybe the kids appear out of nowhere to see what’s for dinner. I highly recommend you take advantage of the change of seasons to change your eating habits… more importantly your meal planning habits. Why not use this period to establish a family night at home policy. Start with one night a week and you will see that soon it will become more than a single night to gather with your family. Who knows, you may find the cooking slow and easy and the family payback huge.
Add comment September 18, 2008
Recipe of the Week – Salisbury Steak
Salisbury Steak Dinner
(from the Beef Entrée at emealsforyou.com)
I have a love-hate relationship with this time of year. One side of me wants to hold on to the sunshine, light meals and warm weather. The other side looks forward to the seasonal change, cooler nights and mornings and heartier meals. Harvest time gives us the last remaining summer veggies while sitting just off-stage are the more substantial veggies, the root vegetables that require a little more cooking but give us more flavor and a deeper sense of warmth. While everything is a little rushed in the Summer; the Fall gives us a better sense of stability. A more defined sense of well-being.
I can’t wait to cook the meals that, while taking a little more time to make, send their fragrant essence throughout the house. This is the time for those stews, sauces and braised meals that force us to sit a little longer at the table, eat a little slower and enjoy our family meals a little more… Take the time to prepare some of the harvest of the season and gather your family a little closer around the table.
Suzie’s Salisbury Steak
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Beef Entrée |
| Meal: | Other (General) |
| 1.5 | lb | beef, ground |
| 0.25 | cup | water |
| 0.5 | cup | breadcrumbs ,dried white |
| 0.25 | cup | onions, diced |
| 1 | large | egg |
| 0.75 | Tb | salt, table |
| 1 | 10.5 oz can | soup, beefy mushroom |
Mix ground beef with breadcrumbs, chopped onion, egg, salt, and 1/4 cup beefy mushroom soup. Form mixture into patties. Lightly brown on both sides in vegetable oil in large heavy skillet. While patties are browning, mix 1/4 cup water with remaining soup. Pour over beef patties, cover and simmer over low heat for fifteen minutes or until beef is cooked thoroughly.
Shown here with garlic mashed potatoes and green bean almondine.
Add comment September 16, 2008
Are We Creating Poor Eating Habits in Our Kids? – A Rant
We establish many habits and traits while we are very young. Some are taught to us, some we pick up along the way and some nature has a hand in. What this means is that as parents, aunts and uncles and friends we have a duty to make the most of the few “training” years we have with the next generation.
I know people, and I am sure you do as well, who state “If I didn’t eat it by the time I was 5 I won’t eat it now.” While this is a rather rigid attitude it does enforce the fact that we have so very few years to develop good eating habits in our kids. So where do we go wrong? If you think about it; in the infant years we chose the food for our kids. We make our decisions based on what is good for the child, not what we like or want. We start with cereal and then on to mushed up veggies and finally some meat or fish. Gerbers, or am I dating myself here, made all the nutritional choices for us and in turn for our kids.
My belief is that we begin down the path to “bad eating” by allowing our schedules to dictate what, when and where we feed our kids. Sure it is easier to pop those chicken nuggets into our families then it is to make sure we have the time to eat properly. Today many kids grow up without knowing that meals do come without french fries. Try to make it a goal to sit down to an organized meal at least once a week. Look, not everyone likes green beans or carrots or whatever, but if you start early enough making sure that your kids try different things they just may learn to like some of them. An added benefit to feeding your kids better is that you will be feeding yourself better and we all can benefit from this.
Add comment September 11, 2008
Recipe of the Week – Cuban Paninis
Cuban Paninis
Football is back; the weather is getting cooler and the corn is almost gone for another year. Chef Teresa has put together this great combination to help celebrate great food geared to the yearly practice of being a couch potato. We welcomed the baseball season with the Recipe of the Week Hot Dogs . It is only fitting to begin the new sports season with a delicious new sandwich.
Here is a note to those of you who like the idea of Pininis but don’t have the pan or press to make them. Don’t let marketing ploys sell you yet another electric gadget that only does one thing. Use a grill pan, and you should have one of these for all kinds of foods, with another heavy pot or pan placed on top. Flip the sandwich over halfway through the cooking cycle and you will get the same results. This is precisely the way Chef Teresa made this sandwich… see you couldn’t tell the difference. This method works really well on those grilled cheese sandwiches the kids love and they will love you for the new look and increased flavor. GO BEARS!!!
Cuban Paninis
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 4 |
| Category: | Easy Recipes I Can Cook |
| Meal: | Sunday Night Supper (Celebration Meal Plans) |
| 8 | slices | bread, french |
| 0.75 | lb | ham, shaved |
| 0.75 | lb | roast pork |
| 0.75 | lb | cheese, provolone |
| 1 | Tb | mustard, yellow |
| 4 | Tb | butter, salted |
| 8 | medium | dill pickle slices |
Layer thinly sliced pork roast, ham, cheese slices,and dill pickle slices on four pieces of bread. Spread other pieces of bread with mustard. Butter both sides of sandwich and cook on panini grill until cheese is hot and melted.
Note: no panini grill; use a grill pan with a heavy pan on top to hold the panini down.
Add comment September 9, 2008
Even Meal Planners Get Stumped – Another Semi-rant
Chicken Piccata
Even people who actually plan meals for a living hit the wall sometimes. I say this not to justify my current brain freeze but to say, “It’s all right to not be able to decide on what to make for dinner.” After several weeks… seems like months… of planning special meals for friends and family I find myself all “cooked out”. This is not to say we didn’t enjoy the company; just that we are no different from anyone else… the dreaded Planning Fatigue has set in.
It is precisely for these occasional timeouts that I try to keep some of the basics around: chicken breast in the freezer, along with some homemade soups and sauces; salads in the frig and of course I can always turn towards my endless supply of frozen desserts to make an ordinary meal better. And yes, we do burgers, we are not effete snobs who always have special meals. That said there is no excuse to give up on a meal and just throw it on the plate. Try to have a couple of comfort and comfortable meals in your repertoire that you can turn to when the “freeze” hits. Sorry, I don’t count Mac and Cheese as a staple.
So here is my GO TO meal, it is quick, easy, cheap, make that not expensive, restaurant-quality and your family will love it.
Chicken Piccata
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 4 |
| Category: | Chicken Entrée |
| Meal: | We’re Talking Chicken (Celebration Meal Plans) |
| 4 | medium | chicken breasts, boneless, skinless |
| 4 | Tb | rice flour |
| 1 | pinch | salt, kosher |
| 2 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 1 | Tb | lemon zest, finely chopped |
| 2 | oz | mushrooms, sliced |
| 1 | medium | lemon, juice of |
| 1 | 15 oz can | chicken broth |
| 1 | Tb | cornstarch |
| 1 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
Pound chicken breasts in zip-lock baggie to 1/2” thickness, add flour and salt, shake to coat. Heat oil in pan, brown chicken; add zest, mushrooms, and lemon juice. Cook for 3 minutes, add chicken broth, reserving 2 oz. Cook for about 7 minutes, until chicken is done. Add remaining chicken stock to corn starch, add to pan, stir. Salt and pepper to taste.
(from the Chicken Entrée Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Add comment September 5, 2008
Recipe of the Week – Ada’s Butterscotch Pie
Ada's Butterscotch Pie
For those of you who wonder where and why I get my recipes you have to understand I “run” with a tough crowd…eating-wise that is. No one is shy at my table to make a comment, suggestion or correction and weirdly enough I like it that way. The other day we had my mother-in-law and brother-in-law (not the rocket scientist for those of you who have been following along) in town for a visit. We gathered around the table for our usual communal meal, 10 of us, and after a boisterous meal I passed around a dessert menu. You see… I made the Mary’s Chocolate Chocolate Cake on Thursday and now it was Sunday so I had to have a different dessert. I always freeze any leftover desserts so that at times I will have a pretty good variety in the freezer. There were 9 separate desserts listed for their dining pleasure. The Rexman asked about one that I had forgotten, a Tan Buick, as we call it. You understand he did this just to bust on me, got a good laugh from all and he settled on the Croissant Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce, extra sauce please.
Sitting around after the desserts my mother-in-law suggested that I should have her mother’s (Ada) Butterscotch Pie on our website and also give it to my readers here on the blog. We dug the recipe out of our file cards and I made it this morning. So here by special request…Ada’s Butterscotch Pie.
Ada’s Butterscotch Pie
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | N/A |
| 0.33 | recipe | Never Fail Pie Crust |
| 3 | large | egg, yolks |
| 1 | cup | milk, whole |
| 2 | Tb | flour |
| 1 | cup | sugar, brown |
| 5 | Tb | butter, salted |
| 1 | tsp | vanilla |
| 3 | large | egg, whites |
| 0.25 | tsp | vanilla |
| 1 | Tb | sugar, white |
Make 1/3rd recipe of Never Fail Pie Crust ( Dessert); bake until light brown. Allow to cool.
Separate eggs, place whites aside and whisk yolks until light yellow. In a separate bowl mix milk, flour and brown sugar until well blended. Place small sauce pan on medium heat; add milk mixture and continue to stir until just below boil, slowly add milk mixture to the egg yolks, return to sauce pan over medium heat; continue to stir until thickened. (large bubbles appear) approximately 5 minutes. Stir in butter and 1 tsp vanilla. Place in frig and allow to cool.
Whip egg whites until foamy; add 1 Tb sugar and ¼ tsp vanilla. Continue to whip until soft peaks form. Evenly spread butterscotch filling into the baked pie shell. Spread meringue evenly over butterscotch pie. Heat in 400 degree oven until lightly browned. ( about 8 minutes). Serve at room temperature
Add comment September 1, 2008
