The method to my madness, Part II

OK – so you know why I love cookbooks as much as I do. Let me know tell you how I “judge” a cookbook and can tell you whether or not it has merit.

Yeah, that last sentence just made me sound way cooler than I truly am. I couldn’t tell you if a cookbook is a good one or not, because they all bring something (literally) to the table. For instance, people go ga-ga over “The Joy of Cooking.” Well, Ryan has a copy and I really don’t like it. I can see where it’s valuable to people who aren’t very experienced with cooking, but if I’m going to make homemade mac and cheese, give me the recipe in its entirety, don’t direct me to a separate section so I can learn to make a roux. On the other hand, my beloved orange “Betty Crocker” book? Is it sad that I think I’d take my copy to the grave with me?

Needless to say, I love cookbooks. And when I get a new one, I go through the book in its entirety and either earmark pages or I use pieces of paper to mark particular recipes that I think will be a good bet. I’ve recently fell in love with using those Post-It flags or bookmarks. That way they actually stick to the page and don’t fall out of the book if you happen to throw it at your cat. (That only happened once and he was creeping toward a freshly baked chicken. And it was a wee paperback. What would you do?)

I will fully admit that between my cookbooks, my cooking magazines, the recipes that I’ve torn for newspapers over the years and my latest addiction to food blogs, I’m probably never going to make every single recipe that I’ve marked and saved.

But part of the fun is trying.

Best of the Blogosphere: Holiday Candy Edition

I've been skulking around the food blog world lately and have decided that there are more recipes out there than time. Hence, I'm going to try to make what I can, but share my holiday making "wish list" with you all so you don't miss out!

Sugared Cranberries

Sesame Candy - This one is Middle Eastern and I have a feeling that I'm really going to attempt this one. It is nothing like the ones my mama makes!

Coconut Bars - Technically, this does not count as candy, but it looks sooooooooo good.

Assorted Treats - The blogging world has been full of fleur de sel caramels and despite last year's utter failure at making homemade caramels, I really really want to try these. And who has heard of buckeyes? They sound good too.

This is just a start - if I find more, I'll share 'em. Otherwise, this year's holiday-treats-as-gifts are on the simple side - brown sugar shortbread, dipped pretzels and Oreo balls.

Cranberry Oatmeal Bread

I found this peach of a recipe from About.com and I think this bread is going to turn into a serious addiction in my life. It's moist, it's good, it's somewhat healthy, Ryan doesn't like it and man - I just love cranberries. It also freezes well and is a good addition to a holiday brunch.

Cranberry Oatmeal Bread
from About.com

1 cup oatmeal
1-1/4 cups hot water
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1-1/4 cups brown sugar
2 Tbsp. grated orange peel
1 egg
2-1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1-1/4 cups chopped cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8x4" loaf pans and set aside. (FYI - I used muffin tins and one of those mini loaf pans. I put waaaay too much batter in the mini loaf pan - I probably could have made about 6 more muffins.)

In medium bowl, combine oats and hot water, stir, and let stand for 5 minutes. In large bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add oat mixture, sour cream, orange peel, and egg and blend well. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon and mix gently. Fold in cranberries and walnuts. Spoon batter into prepared pans and smooth to level. In small bowl combine 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Sprinkle over batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 55 to 65 minutes until bread is golden brown and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Cool 5 minutes, then carefully run a knife around the edges of the breads and remove to wire rack to cool. Wrap in plastic wrap to store.

Nutty Choco-Oatmeal Cookies

These cookies ended up being gifts to my coworkers out at the cab company. I assume they loved them. Heard no reports of food poisoning ...

I'm not a big chocolate chip cookie fan, but if I am craving said cookie, this is my favorite recipe on the entire planet. I found this recipe a few years ago, probably from Family Circle, and it's been cut out and hung on my fridge ever since. When I was in newspapers, I liked to whip up a batch of these from time-to-time. I don't make them as often anymore because Ryan's a purist and isn't a fan of healthy stuff (oatmeal) in his cookies.

These are seriously good though.

Nutty Choco-Oatmeal Cookies
1 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 c. (two sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 c. old fashioned oats (I use rolled oats that I find at the natural foods store)
1 c. chocolate chips
3/4 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, take your electric mixer to the butter and brown sugar. Beat until fluffy, add eggs and vanilla and mix until incorporated. The recipe says to use your mixer for the next part, but I always make a godawful mess, so I use my wooden spoon and fold the flour mixture into the egg/sugar stuff. Mix until just combined. Then add the oats, chips and nuts.

Place these bad boys on your cookie sheet about two inches apart. Typically, my little dough balls are about 1 inch in diameter, etc. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes.

Eat. Love. Thank me later.

The method to my madness

I’m not sure what it is about me and cookbooks, but I’m pretty sure it’s genetic. As I’ve patiently explained to Ryan, there is no real good reason that I have about fifty cookbooks, ranging in specialty from Indian food to 1970s Lutheran cooking madness, but I love each and every one of them.

Just like my mom does. Just like my Aunt Sue does. And just like both of my grandmas did. Some of my greatest treasures are cookbooks I got from my grandmas, their handwriting populating the corners of recipes that they tried and liked, recipes that they meant to someday make for their families and recipes that totally flopped when they tried to reproduce them in their kitchens. (A note from one of my grandma’s cookbooks: “BAD!” OK, grandma – I won’t make that one.)

When I would go to church festivals with my mom or if we were anywhere that sold an organization’s cookbooks, my mom would always buy three – one for her, one for my Aunt Sue and one for my Grandma Boots. I now have many of those cookbooks that once belonged to my grandma and there’s something right about that. And now if I see a unique cookbook, I’ll buy three copies – one for my mom, one for Suzie and one for me.

My Grandma Boots is currently in a nursing home and she’s gone to that place in Alzheimer’s where many people can’t reach her. But some of the best times that I had visiting her in the home when she was coherent were the times that I’d pick up a current copy of “Taste of Home” or Paula Deen’s cooking magazine and bring them in to page through with her. We would talk about the things that I would make for Ryan and how much recipes changed – how Chinese food used to be a rarity for American housewives to make and how now everyone has a go-to recipe for their own version of Sesame Chicken.

No matter how much my grandma’s mind has slipped over the past decade, there is one moment that cemented her reputation as one of the ultimate bakers in my mind. I was living in Wisconsin and tried to make a cranberry cake with a buttercream sauce. My mom always made it for me, it was one of my favorites and I wanted to try to recreate that dessert for some friends. The cake turned out fabulously, but the sauce never thickened properly.

So I came home and had coffee with my grandma and grandpa. When I told grandma what happened to the sauce, she immediately narrowed her eyes. “Which cookbook did you use?” I told her which one. “Whose recipe was it?” I told her the cook. “Hmpfh,” Grandma said. “Well, she can’t cook.” Grandma turned to where she had her handwritten recipe files. “Next time, use this one.”

And next time I make that cranberry cake, Grandma – I will.

Smoky tomato and black bean soup

Two words: Hot damn! Followed by one with many syllables: Yeee-oooooooo-w.

I had some leftover chipolte peppers in adobo sauce lurking in my fridge and found this recipe when I was trolling for ideas out in the blogosphere. It combines two of my favorite things - black beans and tomatoes. What an awesome idea for a soup! Right? Well, sort of. Ryan and I nearly offed a gallon of milk trying to eat our respective bowls of soup. It's very good, but very hot. I will make this when I am ill and trying to clear out my sinuses. Or else, I'll decrease the amount of peppers that I put in this bad boy.

Smoky Tomato and Black Bean Soup

Source: Caviarandcodfish.com

serves a few hungry people as a first-course or lunch

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

half of one (7 oz.) can of chipolte peppers in adobo, with sauce (I'd halve this amount)

1 (30 oz.) can black beans, drained

1 (28 oz.) can fire-roasted whole tomatoes, with liquid

1 cup water

1 small bunch fresh oregano (I omitted)

salt, pepper

Take half of peppers out of the can, split them open with a paring knife and scrape out the seeds. *(This part is a pain in the arse, but if you don't get rid of the seeds, this will be even hotter.) Discard seeds. Chop peppers. Add oil into a big saucepan or medium dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onions, cooking until they begin to brown. Add garlic and chilis and about half the adobo sauce. Cook for a few minutes. Add black beans and tomatoes with liquid and water. Break up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon, leaving them in chunks. Bring to a boil. Skim off the foam if you are particular like that, and then lower the heat. Add fresh oregano and simmer gently for the flavors to meld, 15 minutes if you are famished, 45 minutes if you can wait. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

**Another note - Ryan and I were starving the other night and had some of this soup in the fridge and some leftover rice from our jambalaya. So I combined 'em. And it tasted excellent. Keep this in mind for a second-day makeover or something like that.

Guest Post! Creamy Potato Soup

This recipe (and pictures) comes from my friend Lindsey. A couple of comments about Lindsey - a) she knows good potato soup - her mom has a recipe that is to die for and is loved by many ex-DJs from KWLC and b) she knows good cooking in general and if you ever need a Tastefully Simple consultant, let me know and I'll hook you up with her.

This recipe comes from Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook "Deceptively Delicious" where Ms. Seinfeld very sneakily hides all sorts of healthy schtuff in what would typically be viewed as comfort food. Lindsey made the potato soup and even added in some broccoli for an extra healthy factor.

Creamy Potato Soup

from Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld (with a few LT twists) 

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, cut in half
• 2 (14-ounce) cans reduced-fat low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 pounds potatoes, any kind, peeled and chopped
• ½ cup cauliflower puree
• 1 ½ cups butternut squash or carrot puree
• 1 cup lowfat (1%)buttermilk **
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese (optional)
• store-bought croutons (optional)

Coat a large pot with cooking spray and set it over medium heat. When the pot is hot, add the oil, onion, and then the garlic, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft but not brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the broth and potatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the potatoes are tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Carefully spoon the mixture into a blender or food processor and add the vegetable purees, buttermilk, and salt; puree until smooth. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with cheese, if you like. (Here’s where LT added some steamed broccoli to her dish. One word: Yum.)

**Don’t have buttermilk? Don’t fret. An easy substitution for buttermilk is to take 1 c. of milk and add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice. Wait for about five minutes and presto – you have buttermilk. Or an uncanny substitute.