Swedish Meatballs for the Holidays

If you can believe it, my friend Debbie and I started cooking and freezing hors d’oeuvres for the holidays and the clock hadn’t yet struck December. We usually make crab cakes, caramelized onion squares and lamb meatballs but this year we wanted to change things up a bit. So we consulted Cooks Illustrated for their Swedish Meatball recipe and gave it a go!

My poor Kitchen Aid mixer, which had never before worked its charms on anything non-sweet, gave a good beating to a pork and beef mixture. Using a paddle to mix meatballs was a first, but we trust Cooks Illustrated which suggested it as an ingenious way to distribute the fat in the pork and beef mixture. So, we introduced my mixer to raw meat and made a classic Swedish meatball filling. I have to confess I was a bit skeeved when I used it for chocolate chip batter the next day. It was hard to erase the raw meat image from my memory.

With well moistened hands and a bowl of water close by, we sat across from one another and chatted away at my saran wrap covered kitchen table rolling cocktail sized balls. I took note that Debbie’s meatballs weren’t quite as uniform as mine which caused my art teacher friend to get a bit defensive suggesting that it’s the imperfections which add character to our work. I forgot who she was quoting but I got the gist. It’s just that mine are never as pretty as hers and I felt a little satisfaction in my perfect little meatballs. And she just laughed so all was ok.

I left her at the kitchen table to begin the frying process, which took some attention so as not to splatter grease all about my kitchen. She continued to roll while I fried and we talked about our respective holiday plans. Once we were done, she created the rich sauce using the pan drippings, chicken stock and cream. We evenly split the bounty and ended up with 80 or so meatballs each. When my 8th grader came home from school, he scarfed 8 down before I had a chance to hide them in the freezer. From the look on his face, I think we have a darn good appetizer for our holiday.
What’s next? Today we’re making crab cakes, maybe a southwestern one this year instead of our usual Asian flavors. The two-bite empanadas are also on our list. If you have any suggestions, send them our way.

I found a link for the recipe online. It’s not mine, but it’s a good one, so make sure you take a look:

Lobster Empanadas with a Smokey Lime Dip and an Amazing Giveaway Opportunity

I’ve been asked by Macy’s to help them with their Mblog recipe showcase. Check out their Facebook page for details:, where Macy’s fans can submit their favorite holiday recipes for a chance to win a dinner with a renowned Macy’s Culinary Council chef, including Emeril Lagasse, Wolfgang Puck, Cat Cora or Todd English. Although I am not being compensated, my recipe and story have a chance to be featured in Macy’s new Mblog . Since I love the Macy’s Day Thanksgiving Parade and always get to see it in person, I wanted to show some support.

There’s also something in it for you if you are the lucky winner! Tell me what your favorite holiday dish is by commenting on my blog on the CWFC website and you will have the chance to win this beautiful 15" Stainless Steel Martha Stewart Collection Roaster, with Roasting Rack: http://tinyurl.com/6onqzgf

It’s Christmas Day at my friend Debbie’s house, an extravagant food-filled event with family and friends. The hors d’oeuvres start early in the day, with delectable nibbles served one after the other, preceding an elegant sit down feast. My friend is dressed to the nines and unruffled as she proudly heats and presents an assortment of lovely homemade appetizers to her guests. You may wonder how she does it! The answer is simple: “With a little help from her friends.”

It’s been years that we’ve been cooking together for our holidays and often our friend Jackie will join our fun tradition as well. We’ve made Asian crab cakes, spiced lamb meatballs, lobster and corn empanadas, pork and bok choy dumplings, cheese crackers, caramelized blue cheese squares, blue cheese stuffed dates, Swedish butter cookies, chocolate truffles – you name it! We carve out several dates in December to start cooking, baking and freezing together.

There’s a lot of laughter in our kitchens as we splatter, sizzle and mix in large quantities together all while sharing stories and keeping in touch with each other’s lives. While the outside world bustles about in shopping malls and traffic jams, it may be messy, but all’s calm and quiet in our kitchens together. Last year, Debbie was so dreamy talking to us that she accidentally put an extra three cups of flour in her cookies. We were hysterical, adding more eggs, sugar and vanilla to get the consistency right! Alas, we did and the cookies -- many of them -- tasted as good as usual. We ended up having more fun as a result of our merry little mishap. There’s no holiday stress in our time together; just the simple enjoyment preparing for our respective gatherings.

As we serve our food to guests, each and every course we present is infused with meaning and the fond thoughts of cooking together.

Lobster Empanadas
Makes 24

These two-bite empanadas make an extraordinary appetizer for a holiday cocktail party. Puff pastry dough is a fine substitute for flaky empanada dough. They can be made ahead of time and frozen.

2 dozen mini empanada dough rounds (or 3 inch circles cut out of puff pastry)
2 tablespoons butter
2 shallots, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
1 2 ½ pound steamed lobster, meat removed and cut into small chunks
1 cup sweet corn kernels, blanched slightly
1 cup béchamel sauce (see recipe below)
1/8 cup cilantro, chopped finely (If you don’t like cilantro, use can parsley.)
1 egg, plus a bit of water for egg wash

In a medium sized skillet, melt the butter on a medium-low heat. Add the shallots and cook for five minutes until tender. Season with salt and pepper. Add the corn, lobster, béchamel sauce and cilantro. Stir well and set aside to cool.

To assemble the empanadas, spoon a small amount (1 teaspoon) of filling into the center of each empanada wrapper. Fold the dough in half over the filling and crimp the edges together by using a fork or your fingers and twisting like a rope. Repeat until all the filling is used.

To cook, pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Brush the tops of each with egg wash. Bake on a cookie sheet until golden for approximately 20 minutes.

Béchamel Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup hot milk
Pinch of nutmeg (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a saucepan and stir in flour. Whisk together and stir for several minutes. Gradually add the hot milk. Stir constantly until the sauce thickens. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg if desired.

Smokey Lime Dip

Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl and serve with the empanadas.

1/8 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 tablespoon chives, chopped
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
Juice from ½ of a lime

Cooking Ahead with an Expecting Friend

I am so thrilled that one of my closest friends in the whole world is expecting her fifth child in just a few weeks. I am truly elated to have a new baby to hold, hug and love. Having been through this before, my dear friend knows it’s going to be a busy summer and she’s smart enough to be thinking ahead. You see, she’s determined to feed her family healthy and homemade foods, but knows that it may be tough to accomplish this with a new baby. That’s why we’ve decided to cook and freeze meals ahead of time; delicious dinners she’ll be able to simply re-heat at the end of a long hot day. Last week, we got together an in just two hours made several pounds of chicken tenders and five lasagnas, kid tested dishes guaranteed to please her family. We figure she’ll be able to build a dozen or so dinners around these basics.

While time ticks away, two challenges await us in the next few weeks:
Will she resist the temptation to use those dinners before the baby comes? (No biggy if she doesn’t since they are helpful no matter what and we can make a big batch to replenish.) And will we be able to carve out more time in the next few crazy busy weeks to make more meals together? (If not, it’s ok since my friend Christina and I are planning to make more meals for her. Shhh. . .don’t tell!)

It’s all good: cooking with my wonderful friend for an exciting time ahead. Food is a fulfilling gift, and making it with a friend adds a meaningful dimension.

Golden Chicken Tenders
Makes 48 chicken tenders

It’s the simplicity of this recipe that makes it so enticing. Well, that plus knowing that our families will do everything short of licking their plates clean after a meal of these crispy, succulent tenders! They freeze and reheat well, making them a sure bet for kids’ weekday meals and a healthy alternative to fast food. To shake things up and introduce new flavors to otherwise picky eaters, pair them with fun dipping sauces, or add a bit of your favorite spice to the flour, such as a curry powder or Cajun seasoning. Other options are to use the chicken tenders as a topping on a pesto pizza, as the base for Chicken Parmesan or on top of a salad.
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (more if needed)
6 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup olive oil (or enough to generously coat the bottom of a large skillet)
Kosher salt

Prepare your workspace: place plastic wrap over the counters near the stove (this helps make cleanup easier), and line a plate with paper towels. Place a chicken breast on your work surface. Hold your hand flat on top of the breast and, using a sharp knife, slice horizontally through the middle of the breast to make two thin cutlets. Slice the cutlets crosswise into thirds. (You should get 6 strips per chicken breast.)
Set two shallow bowls next to the stovetop. In the one closest to the stove, add the flour and in the other, whisk together the eggs.
Heat the oil in the skillet over medium-high heat. Coat a few pieces of chicken with flour, tapping off the excess, then dip in the egg to coat, and then dredge through the flour, tapping off the extra. When the oil is hot, add the chicken pieces (enough to comfortably fit in the pan without overcrowding and cooling the oil) and cook until browned and crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and turn the chicken pieces over, cooking the other side until browned and crisp, another 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to paper towels and repeat with the remaining chicken tenders. (Add more paper towels if the first layer gets too soaked with oil.) To freeze, lay chicken tenders on a baking sheet and place uncovered in the freezer until tenders harden, from 30-60 minutes. Transfer to gallon sized freezer bags.

Chronicles of a Postage Stamp Gardener -- Peas are coming!

Many of you have been asking, “So how’s your garden growing?” Well, thanks for asking! Since I’ve set aside my normal blog for the USA Dry Pea and Lentil contest, I haven’t been updating you as frequently. (If you haven’t done so already, you can still vote by posting a comment on my recipe on the previous blog entry through June 5th.)

We’ve been eating a ton of salads, chock full of Bibb lettuce and mesculin, with a handful of crunchy radishes. My husband commented that we must be saving a ton of money on lettuce! The more I cut, the more my lettuces regenerate, which is exactly what’s supposed to happen. There’s one potential problem in the garden though—my beet leaves are yellowing. I’m not sure if that’s from the excess rain or the intense heat we’ve just experienced --maybe both! Would love to know!

Aside from the gutter cleaners dumping a few mounds of soggy pollen in my garden and making the washing process more involved, I’ve been having a great time harvesting. I even made a delicious filo appetizer using my baby spinach.

What’s next? That delicate white flower in the photo above is my first sign of peas. My pea vines are climbing so high that I had to add a few feet to their climbing trellises. I’ve also got petit yellow flowers sprouting on the cucumber and tomato plants. So I guess you could say that things are growing quite well in my garden. How about yours?

If you’d like to make the spinach filo cups, I’ve just added them to the recipe section (with photo):

http://www.cookingwithfriendsclub.com/index.php?/recipes/detail/spinach-filo-cups/

Another Soup for Another Rainy Day

This rainy weather is really putting me in the mood for soup. The colorful bags of dried peas and lentils sitting on my kitchen counter (courtesy of the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council) are begging to be made into soup. This rainy weather is just plain miserable and who doesn’t crave a bowl of soup to brighten the mood? Today’s Sweet & Spicy Lentil Soup is completely different than yesterday’s yellow pea soup and embraces the whole lentil bean instead of a puree. It resembles a mulligatawny soup, with the lentils and shitake mushrooms creating a hearty meatless soup. My 13-year old son gives it a high approval rating and wants it to be my pick at the end of the month for the contest. It’s a really easy soup to throw together, especially if you have the lentils cooked ahead of time. It goes really well with a piece of garlic Naan, which I happened to have in the freezer from Trader Joe’s. You should have seen my son sopping up every last drop of his soup with it! I hope you enjoy my second recipe.

Sweet & Spicy Lentil Soup
Makes almost 2 quarts

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 pieces celery, thinly sliced
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced into rounds
3.5 ounces shitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
32 ounces chicken broth
5.46 ounces coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste
3-4 teaspoons madras curry powder (or another kind)
2 cups cooked brown lentils
2 cups baby spinach, washed

In a soup pot, sauté the onions, celery, carrots and mushrooms until tender for approximately 10 minutes. Season with curry powder, salt and pepper. Add the chicken stock and coconut milk. Bring to a slow boil and add the spinach leaves until just wilted. Add the cooked lentils. Turn the heat off and serve immediately with Naan bread.

Recipe Development Contest

I love lentils and peas. Healthy, tasty, protein rich and satisfying, my friends and I often include them in our salad and soup making dates. Lately, we’ve been savoring various soups such as the coconut curried red lentil soup. So when I was contacted on behalf of the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council to participate in a recipe development contest involving dry peas and lentils, I accepted the challenge.

I liked their targeted approach to finding a voice for their contest and I appreciated that there was something in it for you, my loyal readers – free giveaways! You see, there are many blog entries and recipes on my website that include lentils or peas, so it must have been obvious to the organizers that I’m a genuine fan. I agreed to be a contestant (if you should call it that) in an effort to raise awareness of the health benefits of dry peas and lentils. Honestly, prior to this, I didn’t know there was an entire non-profit council devoted to “promote and protect the interests of growers, processors, warehousemen and sellers of dry peas, lentils and chickpeas in the United States.” And it’s been around for more than forty years. That’s awesome!

I often get opportunities to help promote products or gadgets, but I usually turn them down simply because I won’t promote what I don’t love. But dried peas and lentils? You got me! That’s like asking a steak lover to review a dry-aged porterhouse. I’m in.

I developed some yummy, gluten free recipes for this contest and expect to have few nifty giveaways, thanks to our contest organizer. I hope this endeavor will be fun and useful for you too. So tune in over the next two weeks. Tomorrow, I’ll post a new family favorite soup recipe, and after that, a spicy dip perfect for your summer entertaining and then, a delicious heart healthy salad. You’ll have the chance to “vote” at the end of the contest (on May 31st) by commenting on my blog and just for doing so, the US Dry Pea and Lentil Council will send you (the first 500 people) a generous assortment of dried peas and lentils. They tell me that one lucky winner will even receive a cool new baking product (which I won’t disclose until later but I can assure you is awesome).

So thanks for reading and make sure to check out the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council website. There’s a lot of useful information. Did you know that legumes are otherwise known as “pulses?” Well I didn’t either and found out when I visited their informational website: http://www.pea-lentil.com/.

Carrot Muffins, Biscotti and a Good Old Fashioned Lunch

Sometimes it’s hard to see friends. Busy lives and lots of work often interfere with good intentions. That’s why I set aside several hours last Wednesday morning for my friend Jackie. We started with a jog around the park, exercising together while planning what we’d bake later. Jackie had a delicious salad and soup planned for lunch, so maybe something sweet for dessert. Since I just received several pounds of early carrots from my CSA, we decided it would have to be something carroty. And because I also needed to test the chocolate biscotti recipe I had created, I decided to get some “work” done as well.

Jackie peeled the carrots, saving all the scraps for my compost, while I got the biscotti ready to bake. I joked about how happy I was that she performed the carrot peeling job, and she reminded me that’s why we cook with friends. And it sure is! I was dreading peeling those darn carrots, testimony to why they’d been sitting in my refrigerator for a few weeks. Even though they are quite tasty, they weren’t the big easy-to-peel ones, but rather small and thin ones, probably why I had gotten so many for “free” from my CSA farmer. But that’s what friends (or at least cooking with friends) are for!

And, payment for carrot peeling would be half of my biscotti. Not a bad deal! I grated the carrots and we created some delicious muffins together. The only question left? What to top them with! Jackie suggested a cream cheese frosting, which I snuck some cardamom into.

In the midst of baking, our friend Debbie stopped by to say hello. As we were chatting with her, we put her to work on the frosting. As you can see, our cupcakes benefited from the art teacher in her with squiggles and swirls. Voila! A delicious and festive carrot cake muffin with cardamom frosting was created by three friends. And then we sat down to a delicious al fresco lunch in Jackie’s backyard on a beautiful spring day.

Here’s our recipe.

Carrot Muffins with Cardamom Frosting
Makes 12

¼ cup canola oil
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup unbleached white flour
¾ cups white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 cups shredded carrots
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon

Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a 12 muffin tin, spraying well with baking spray. Set aside.

Beat together the oil and butter. Add the sugar, vanilla and eggs, one at a time. Mix in the flour, baking powder and baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Fold in the carrots. Divide the mixture evenly among the tin, filling ¾ of the way. Bake in the oven for approximately 20-22 minutes until firm to the touch. Cool and frost if desired.

Frosting:
1 cup cream cheese
½ cup powdered sugar
1 ½ teaspoons ground cardamom
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Whip all ingredients together until creamy. Place in a sandwich bag, cut a small hole in one corner and frost as you wish!

Cooking Caponata (with friends)

“You know Alison, this took us only one hour to make. It usually takes me three!” Lou Palma

Lou’s words were music to my ears as we concluded a very efficient caponata making date couple Thursdays ago. (Caponata is a Sicilian cooked vegetable salad, kind of like ratatouille. You can find it ready made in jars near the olives and tapenade in most grocery stores.) Our unsurpassable success making five quarts in an hour surprised even Lou, a communal cooking maven who relishes preparing and savoring meals with family and friends. As I was helping Lou crimp empanadas with my friend Christina last Wednesday, I caught wind of his plans to make the traditional eggplant, caper and olive crostini appetizer he serves to his vegetarian relatives on Easter.

He kindly delayed his cooking intentions for that afternoon, and agreed to make the dish with me (and our friend Debbie) the following day. Like me, Lou gets pleasure out of teaching eager cooks how to make something for the first time. He’ll also rarely turn down an offer of help. I think my wide eyed enthusiasm guaranteed it would be worth the delay for him.

Lou did all the shopping ahead of time (what a champ!) and had everything laid out and ready to go when Debbie and I got there. All I had to do was remember to bring the onions. And with a reminder e-mail from him just before I had to leave, I couldn’t fail! Lou ran our caponata making like a 5 star chef runs a restaurant kitchen. He had us dicing, slicing and sautéing while he directed us around his kitchen from drawers to cabinets. In no time, caponata was simmering and we had time to show Debbie Lou’s garden, his “pride and joy.”

We left Lou with clean dishes, sparkling counters, a pot simmering on the stove and a promise to come back to help pack up. As I left, we counted all the foods we’ve made together – tortellini, ravioli, mozzarella, empanadas and now caponata – and we wondered what would be next. I know whatever it will be is sure to be delicious and full of fun making it together.

PS
I happened to taste test Whole Foods caponata yesterday in their prepared food section. Two things to note: it’s not nearly as good as ours and it’s a whole lot more expensive! Since it sells for $7.99 a pound, it would cost $80.00 to buy the amount we made. Lou and I spent $13.00 each (about $26.00 total) on our ingredients.

Caponata
Makes 5 quarts
Lou’s Recipe By: Leslie Ficaro

Olive oil
4 pounds eggplant, cubed
3 large onions, thinly sliced
8 ribs celery, thinly sliced
1 quart large green olives, pitted (we used olives marinated in garlic)
1 cup small capers, rinsed
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 large can whole tomatoes, chopped
1 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup golden raisins, whole
Slivered almonds, toasted for serving

Sautee eggplant in batches until browned. Drain in a colander. Sautee onions and celery until tender do not brown. Add tomatoes olives, capers, tomato paste vinegar, sugar and raisin. Stir in eggplant and cook for one half hour. Cool and refrigerate.
When serving top with toasted almonds

"You can't ever mess up."

My cooking date with Suzy started with those reassuring words as we set out to make Matzo Toffee. Even though I’m a confident cook and play with recipes all the time, always changing them to make them my own, there’s something about Matzo Crunch. Sure, it’s easy to make, with a few simple ingredients, yet I have this vague memory that I messed up once and in a big way. So, I insisted on using a recipe for my batch of the very addictive Matzo Candy (otherwise known as Matzo crack) while Suzy confidently worked from memory on hers. “You don’t need a recipe!” she chided, reminding me how easy this chewy, chocolaty toffee crunch really is. “You can’t mess this one up!” she teased.

My cooking date with Suzy started with those reassuring words as we set out to make Matzo Toffee. Even though I’m a confident cook and play with recipes all the time, always changing them to make them my own, there’s something about Matzo Crunch. Sure, it’s easy to make, with a few simple ingredients, yet I have this vague memory that I messed up once and in a big way. So, I insisted on using a recipe for my batch of the very addictive Matzo Candy (otherwise known as Matzo crack) while Suzy confidently worked from memory on hers.

It was ironic, me with a recipe in hand, while Suzy was free, melting and mixing. It’s usually the other way around as I encourage Suzy to drop the recipe and cook by instinct. But I methodically followed this recipe, step by slow step, to get it just right. And Suzy, stirring the pot next to mine, continued to wing it. But as she whisked, she began to question if her sugar and butter were coming together as mine just did. She began to worry, wondering if everything was going as it should.

At one point, I took Suzy’s advice and deviated slightly from the recipe, which instructed me to let the chips sit on the hot toffee for five minutes, and instead put it back in the oven for a minute. Suzy says that this just speeds the melting process along. The chocolate spread beautifully—smooth, creamy and really perfectly. But when it was Suzy’s turn to melt her chips, they didn’t melt as they had so perfectly done on mine. Instead, they began to congeal in that dreadful way that can happen when you melt chocolate for dipping and it just doesn’t work as it should. Her Matzo Toffee, so easy to make, wasn’t working.

So what did we do? We started to laugh. “You can’t ever mess up.” And as she did the best she could, spreading her chocolate into a thicker, less glossy finish, we decided that chocolate tastes like chocolate no matter what. Was it the mini chips instead of big ones? Or that she had waited a tad too long to begin sprinkling her chips? Did she wait too long to put them back in the oven? We questioned and wondered as I realized this very thing had happened to me once. But we sprinkled an extra handful of nuts on it and by the end you could hardly tell that her batch was different than mine.

So, it turned out she was right. And later that evening as she texted me while eating her Matzo candy:

“Everything turned out great despite rocky start! Matzo crunch tastes amazing despite chip disaster. Told ya u can’t screw it up.”

And the night ended with a smiley face emoticon.

Cookies and cream

Actually, it was macaroons and banana cream pie! Egg Beaters were whirring, coconut was everywhere and the baking sheets lined up and ready to cook last Wednesday in my petit, well-used kitchen. It was the fourth year in a row that Jackie and I made macaroons together and since our friend Debbie was off from work that day, she decided she’d join us as well. My kitchen was hopping, a bit crowded actually, so we worked in stages. Instead of making all three batches at once, we took turns using the bowls, beater and of course, the oven. It was a less messy and more efficient strategy for three bodies to work together in one small space.

As we waited for our decadent treats to bake to a golden finish, we sat down in my dining room to enjoy a simple lunch of potato leek soup and freshly made bread. The timer went off every twelve minutes, interrupting our serene meal, as we took turns running in and out of the kitchen to place some macaroons to cool and others to bake. We chatted away, catching up on our busy lives.

The leftover egg yolks spurred a last minute idea to make banana cream pie. My Joy of Cooking cookbook came out as Debbie ran home to get her pre-made graham cracker crusts. It was a true team effort as we worked together to whisk the sugar, milk and corn starch into a creamy custard, thinly slice the bananas and then layer both into a decadent pie. We laughed as Debbie realized she hadn’t “scolded” the milk prior to the whisking, as I told her it’s never nice to yell at your milk.

Our friend Lou said the macaroons were the best he and his wife had ever had and the kids couldn’t believe they had banana cream pie for dessert on an ordinary Wednesday.

It was a winning Wednesday – good food, good fun and good friends!

The banana cream pie recipe is from the Joy of Cooking cookbook but here is my recipe for chocolate chip macaroons.

Coconut Macaroons with mini Chocolate Chips
Makes two dozen

8 ounces sweetened angel flake coconut
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 stiffly beaten egg white
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix coconut, vanilla extract, salt and condensed milk together in a mixing bowl. Beat egg white until stiff. Fold the egg white into the coconut. Add the mini chips and mix carefully. Form the coconut mixture into mounds and place one inch a part onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in the oven until golden for approximately 12- 14 minutes. Remove the macaroons carefully using a small spatula and cool on a rack.

"B" is for bake with me

I received an e-mail recently as I often do, with a request for some baking help for my daughter’s school. This time it was a specific request for a few hundred butter cookies in the shape of a letter B, decorated in school spirit colors, blue and yellow. I noticed that my friend Christina was also on the e-mail so before responding I sent her a note suggesting we bake and then decorate together. It’s just so much easier and enjoyable to volunteer with a friend. Christina agreed and we accepted the job.

Although I will occasionally bake something simple like a batch of chocolate chip cookies or banana bread alone for a school event, giving many hours of time to create hundreds of decorated cookies is a whole different story, one I’d much rather do with a friend. The cooking with friends’ way of life offers a simple way to give back to the community in a fun and rewarding way. In this case, Christina and I had both been busy and hadn’t really gotten together to cook or bake in a while anyway. This opportunity offered up some necessary catch up time.

And, for those of you interested in the logistics of our baking date, here they are:

Last Tuesday was the second day of spring and I awoke to a front yard covered with snow and no heat. Needless to say, I was a bit down (not the best way to start the day) and had to wait around for the heating guy while Christina got things started. She had the dough nicely chilled and some letters already cut and ready-to-bake when I arrived. We cut, baked and made icing together and then before we started with the decorating, I suggested we make banana bread as well – a bonus for our time together. She readily agreed and pulled 8 overripe bananas from her freezer. I ran home to get more bananas and some other ingredients. I hurriedly mixed a few batches of banana bread while she got things ready for the decorating phase of our cookie making.

Later, while we sat on stools facing one another methodically outlining cookies with icing and dipping them in sugar, our banana breads baked while we chatted away about life and our kids. Christina even whipped up a quick falafel pita sandwich lunch for us to eat. With a whopping 220 sparkling blue and yellow cookies, several loaves of banana bread, our three hours together, was a huge success.
It was a modern and efficient way to spend time and lunch with a friend. And although my day started out gloomy, it ended with a smile and a sense of accomplishment: girl time + volunteer time = an excellent day.

Big Batch Bonus Banana Bread
Makes 2 large loaves, 8 mini loaves or 48 mini muffins

1 stick of butter, softened
4 eggs
7 very ripe bananas
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup apple sauce
1 cup white sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
1 cup white whole wheat flour
½ cup wheat germ
2 ½ cups white flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
½ cup milk
2 cups mini chocolate chips (optional)

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat together the butter, sugars, apple sauce and bananas. Add the eggs and vanilla extract. Beat well. Gradually add the flour, baking soda, powder and wheat germ and blend well. Mix in the milk, fold in the chips and transfer to loaf or muffin pans sprayed with baking spray. If baking mini loaves, you’ll need approximately 40 minutes. If making mini muffins, bake for less time and of course large loaves will take longer – approximately and hour.

A Little Bit Irish and a lot of Tradition

Amidst our busy schedules, my friend Jackie and I snuck in a little Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. It was our third year in a row baking Irish soda bread together, officially coining a tradition. I had a corned beef simmering on the stove and a hunk of cabbage ready for a quick sauté for dinner (ok, so the non-Irish in me took some liberties here and rejected boiling cabbage) and was all set and pre-measured when she arrived. All I needed to complete the meal was the soda bread. With the gorgeous spring weather peeking through on a late winter day, I pre-measured the dry ingredients so our kitchen time would be brief and we could enjoy a bit of sunshine on my front porch while our muffins baked.

Jackie measured the wet ingredients while I whisked the dry ones. And as I measured the currants into my batter she stopped me before I threw some in hers. She announced that she’d be making hers with mini chocolate chips instead. She knew her kids would like them better, even though her husband would chide her for not using the dried fruit. (Jackie is known to enhance many foods with chocolate -- banana bread, pear and bran muffins! Who wouldn’t?) After I promised not to disclose her secret to her husband, she agreed to trade some of hers with mine. It was a nice arrangement since I knew my kids would prefer her chocolate ones and her husband would be pleased with the more traditional Irish taste.

Below is our recipe, which turned out more like petit scones than muffins. I am sure the chocolate chips didn’t hurt! Neither one of us likes caraway seeds, so our recipe isn’t faithful to the original Irish. Forgive us for taking liberties to create a delicious St. Patrick’s Day treat which can be enjoyed any day of the year as a plain old breakfast muffin.

A Tad Irish Muffins
Makes 12 large or 30 mini muffins

Hold the caraway seeds and substitute chocolate chips for the currants and you’ve got a scone like breakfast muffin. Although it hardly resembles Irish soda bread, it’s delicious none-the-less.

2 ¼ cups unbleached white flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup sugar
1 ½ cups mini chocolate chips (or currants)
1 egg
1 cup sour cream
6 tablespoons melted butter
Course sugar for sprinkling on the tops (optional)

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar and chocolate chips. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, sour cream and butter. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry.

Grease the muffin tins with butter or baking spray and fill halfway with batter. Sprinkle the tops with sugar and bake for approximately 18 minutes.

Chronicles of a Postage Stamp Gardener

I’m excited to let you know that I’m starting a new section to my blog which will appear frequently. I’ve thought a lot about where my new blog should go, whether or not I should find it a home somewhere out in the blogosphere or keep it right here in the comfy home of CWF. Well, as Dorothy famously exclaimed, there’s no place like home. After all, my garden will be planned with the help of friends, my vegetables will be tended in the company of friends (and sometimes, like when I’m away, by my friends) and of course, there should Hopefully (with a capital H) be many vegetables to cook endless meals with friends from my very own garden.

I’ve never had a green thumb. In fact, it’s kind of on the brown side. Although I grow my own herbs and a handful of vegetables, I’ll admit that I’ve never been great at it and am perpetually envious of other people’s thriving and productive gardens. Let’s just say, in the gardening department, the grass has always been greener on the other side.

Granted, I’ve had some gardening obstacles over the years. My biggest issues involve sun and soil, which from what I understand, are two fairly critical success factors to gardening. The front of my house faces the sunny south, which is great for hanging out on the front porch and lawn, but leaves the backyard lacking in direct sun. Therefore, the more traditional garden carved out of a large patch of sun drenched land has always been out of the question for me. So, I am a skill-challenged gardener with some less than ideal conditions but with the heart and soul to do it.

The title of my new blog, “Chronicles of a Postage Stamp Gardener” will record my escapades (which I can assure you will be plenty!) while attempting to grow a hearty and healthy garden. I’ve chosen Duane Newcomb as my gardening prophet and his book, The Postage Stamp Gardening Book, as my bible. If you’ve never heard of it, don’t panic, you haven’t missed the latest and greatest book in gardening. (Or maybe you have but give me a few months to give it a go!) The book was published in 1975 and I’m in possession of a very worn and tattered copy; a birthday gift from my Mom and Dad, both of whom are well aware of my determination to succeed at gardening.

Apparently, my childhood garden, which graced the front lawn of my cookie cutter suburban split level home, was designed and sustained with the guidance of this very book. Although the neighbors weren’t happy with the taboo front yard garden, my parents were proud growers and credit The Postage Stamp Gardening book for much of their success.

So, if you’ve ever had an interest in growing your own food, tune in to my new blog and if you’re adventurous, grab a spade and rake and join in – we can garden virtually together! I’d love some company.

Peach Pie Anyone?

There’s nothing like a piece of homemade peach pie in the middle of February to brighten the spirits. Yes, it’s true! -- Especially if it’s made with farm fresh Jersey peaches and a homemade crust. But how you might ask did I possibly make a peach pie in the dead of winter? There are no peaches in the grocery stores, or at least any local or sweet ones, so you may be wondering how I pulled this one off.

Well, I’ll give you my little secret. Back in July, I had a surplus of peaches from my CSA. I decided to make a few batches of peach pie filling with a friend who also had too many. This week, when I stumbled upon my very last container hiding snugly beneath a bag of edamame beans in the freezer, I decided that there’s no better time than now! My 13-year old pie-loving son was more than thrilled when I greeted him with a fresh-out-of-the oven slice of pie. If you can imagine, he asked if it was made with canned peaches! I think I even impressed him.

If you’re wondering why you didn’t think to do the same over the summer with your excess fruit, don’t! There’s always next summer. Food freezes exceptionally well – just look at the enormous frozen food departments in grocery store across America. Farm fresh foods are no exception, which brings me to my next point. Cooking with friends to preserve the harvest reaps long term benefits. We may not be shopping at farmer’s markets or snipping herbs from our garden in February, but at least we’re enjoying the delightfully fresh flavors from seasons past.

As my frozen supply of farm fresh tomato sauce, pesto, corn stocks and pie fillings dwindles, I am encouraged. The ground hog may not have seen his shadow, but I’ve got my sign that spring is near. With every bite I savor from seasons past I am inspired by what’s soon to come and the foods I will surely preserve next time.

Simple Peach Pie Filling
10 fresh sweet yellow peaches, skins removed and cut into thick slices
1/2 cup white sugar
1 -2 tablespoons corn starch
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice
dash of nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine all of the ingredients in a medium sized pot and heat slowly, stirring until the mixture becomes thick. Cool and transfer the mixture to a freezer safe container until ready to fill a pie.

Cooking with friends for a weekend away!

Cooking with friends for a weekend away!

What an amazing reason to get together and cook with a friend. That’s just what Suzy and I did before our two-family ski trip to the Catskills this past weekend. Since a full day skiing with the kids can be exhausting, the delightful après ski restaurant experience often doesn’t happen as it should. Melt downs, tantrums and pleas for television tend to replace the breezy relaxation that the adults crave. So to avoid any last minute desperate dining experiences, Suzy and I made and froze several dozen meatballs in anticipation of a Saturday night pasta dinner after a fulfilling day on the slopes. With tired feet and aching backs, we knew we'd have no desire to cook, never mind from scratch. This way, we could chill on the couch in front of the fire and our growling stomachs would be satisfied nonetheless.

Along with the meatballs, the gang was privileged to enjoy the last of my coveted farm fresh Jersey tomato sauce (Boo hoo! I need summer now to restock!). For the rest of our weekend nibbles, Suzy and I raided our fridges and freezers for salad fixings, breakfast breads, muffins and cookies. We divided and conquered and when not on the slopes, we ate our weekend away. Not only did we eat well, but we saved a ton of money by avoiding a pricy dinner.

And one more thing! While a weekend away can be brief and fleeting, cooking ahead of time with a friend enhances and prolongs the experience. Isn’t it the journey and not the reward that fulfills us most in life?

If you’re planning a trip away with a friend, make sure you think about cooking with a friend.