Something new added to my repetoire...

Coulis = koo ~ lee
a sauce made with puréed vegetables or fruit and used as a base or garnish.

I have had raspberry coulis many times while dinning out. It is usually served/ordered by me with some decadent white chocolate dessert that I probably shouldn't have ordered in the first place - but then never to be one to refuse the aforementioned. I always think this sauce must be easy to make, I must look into doing so.
One of the reasons is I am needing to use up items in the freezer cause it won't be long now before we move. So I have looked into doing so, in fact I made some

Method so very simple: berry of choice in a blender with a tablespoon or two of honey. Here's the hard part after blended berries must be put thru a fine seive/strainer, need to remove the seeds.
Now I must come up with a Heart Healthy dessert to go with this yummy sauce. I made raspberry and blueberry coulis from frozen berries~~~stay tuna'd~~~


So start thinking about heart healthy desserts, send as many entries you want to Joanna who is doing the roundup and remember that the last day is 22 of April.

I've solved our dependency on foreign oil

In my attempt to keep cholesterol at bay I'd read about the health benefits of barley. Seems like barley is beneficial in any form, from whole grain to flour. My soup repertoire contains a great Beef Soup that includes barley, and was enjoyed by my family, so serving it as a side dish seemed logical.

Barley doesn't have much flavor on it's own and is better cooked in broth, I choose chicken. For this dish I used:

• barley
• pile of chopped fresh spinach
• smaller pile of grated Parmesan cheese
• smallest pile of chopped parsley
• Mrs. Dash

This was mixed together and I felt the top was lacking so about the same amount of cheese mixed with breadcrumbs on the top and dotted with butter. Into a hot oven covered with foil for about 15 minutes then foil off for about 10. This pleased my dearly beloved, he loves spinach, and I felt it was quite tasty. Some of the barley got a bit crunchy on the top. Crunch/cheesy, fits my requirements for food.

Let's have a bit of back story on barley and caution, I will use big scienc-y sounding words.

The reason it's so good for lowering cholesterol is it feeds the "good" bacteria in the lower intestines. When these helpful bacteria ferment barley's insoluble fiber, they produce a short-chain fatty acid called butyric acid, which serves as the primary fuel for the cells of the large intestine and helps maintain a healthy colon. Whew, stay with me. Also, the sugar in barley is what ferments in beer making those lovely bubbles, burb. Excuse me.

Did ya notice I used "ferment" a few times in that last paragraph? Well that's what those lovely little pearls of barley do, ferment in your body and barley doesn't care if you are making beer or just eating better, it's gonna make gas, and lots of it. Forget ethanol, use barley! I think I'm switching to barley flour bread, it's safer.

All kidding aside, barley is good for fighting colon cancer. If you'd like to see some other health ideas, visit Mele Cotte's Event, Fighting Cancer. The deadline is April 9 so watch for some yummy recipes and ideas by the 13th.

Help!!! French Onion soup..

with no depth of richnes or flavor grrrrrrr!! A favorite soup when dining out, so I thought I'll go to the Panera Bread site and use their recipe found here. I was a tiny bit above bland.

You know when you take that first bite or in this case sip and in your mind it is supposed to taste just like the very same soup you had at the restaurant a couple a weeks ago. Well it wasn't and needless to say we were disappointed.

It was just OK......see it looks good. Tell me what I did wrong please.

You gonna use that?

Here's another in my ongoing attempt to stop wasting everything.

I'm guilty of the following. You only need a tablespoon of tomato paste for a recipe so you open that little can, use a bit and then what do you do with the rest? You toss it. It's not expensive so why worry. Well, as we are learning it's not so much the expense but the energy it takes to produce something. Don't toss the energy, we're gonna need it later.

I tried buying those toothpaste-tubes of tomato paste and they aren't bad but I really didn't like the flavor all that much. I saw this on a cooking show and thought I give it a try.

Open your little can and remove what you need then spoon out the rest on waxed paper, freeze on a cookie sheet then, when frozen, pop into a zip lock bag and back into the freezer. Now when you only need a bit, fish this lump out, and toss in your pot. It melts quickly and you've saved some energy. The world will thank you.

I forget, are they garbanzo or chickpeas

Ever so often you find a recipe that immediately becomes a standard, this one I found on Kaylyn's Kitchen; Garbanzo, Tomato, and Cilantro Salad. and, as usual, I did some modification. Not that it needed any I just had a ripe avocado and didn't want it to go to waste.

I had a very simple dinner for a visiting friend on Sunday night. BBQ'd Pulled Pork Sandwiches and this great summer salad. My only deviation from the original was to add chopped avocado to the mix which was great.

The dressing was the winner in this recipe so futzing around with some of the ingredients didn't really matter. Though quite simple the dressing had tons of flavor and it looks good with all the bright colors.

Let's talk about some of the benefits of Garbanzos. They contain high levels of folate which tests show are beneficial in:

• Support red blood cell production and help prevent anemia
• Help prevent homocysteine build-up in your blood
• Support cell production, especially in your skin
• Allow nerves to function properly
• Help prevent osteoporosis-related bone fractures
• Help prevent dementias including Alzheimer's disease

I like that last one, preventing Alzheimer's disease since my beloved is sure I'm a good candidate. I have a tendency to forget where my purse/keys are so he's looking for good homes to place me. Where ever it is I hope they serve this salad.

From the nostalgia corner of our minds

Ellie at Kitchen Wench is having an event, Nostalgia, memories tied in with food so Doodles and Moon bumped their heads together and came up with this. The deadline is 3/23/07 so there is still time to send her your thoughts. Here's ours.

When my sister and I were young, seven and fourteen we had just moved to Southern California and as parents do ours made friends and these friends were happy to introduce our family to many sites and tastes we did not have in Indiana.

I'm sure our parents ate chili at one time or another but it wasn't common fare at our table. The place these friends took us to was the Night Hawk Cafe. It was a typical diner, stools with a few tables but they only had one thing on the menu, chili size. Having it with or without onions and cheese was the only choice on the menu.

The diner was about two blocks from the Los Angeles Coliseum and I think it was there when they had the first Olympics in the 30s. There was no decor and I'm not even sure it was all that clean; I remember the windows being greasy on the inside. You didn't go for the ambiance you went for the wonderful spicy mixture ladled over a fried hamburger patty and topped with chopped raw onions and cheese. This came with a french roll and butter. That was it. Simple, the best I've ever tasted and I've been chasing that taste ever since.

Doodles has a pretty good stab at the memory with her version. Little grime on the window and a squeaky stool and we'd be kids again. Ah, nostalgia it's time travel you take in your head.


Chili Size … (and no I don't know why it was called that)

under the mound of chili is a small hamburger pattie

Ingredients

1 1/2 lb ground sirloin
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
chili powder to your taste
1 large onion chopped
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp onion powder
salt & pepper to taste

Method

Brown 1 lb of the beef. Ground beef can be ground finer in a food processor after cooking but before adding rest of ingredients. Add the onions and seasonings and cook another maybe 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce and simmer to for 20 - 30 mins. If too thick add low sodium beef broth, if too thin add a bit more tomato sauce.

Now for the interesting part. Make hamburger patties out of the remainder of the ground beef, cook to desired doness that you prefer. Place patties in a wide soup bowl, pour chili on top finish off with chopped onions and shredded cheddar cheese if desired. Serve with a hard roll for sopping up the remainder of the chili. And don't forget your adult beverage. I like a good beer with this dish but serve whatever your pleasure.

Any Los Angelenos remeber this place? Yep nostalgia is a wonderful place to be right about now. Thanks Ellie for coming up with this event.

To my amazement!

Not that each and every food blogger isn't a star in their own right - but - I opened the food section of my paper this morning and see an article titled Memories that make you Hungry. Knowing this writer sometimes writes about food bloggers I started to read and low and behold it is about none other than our very own Ellie of Kitchen Wench. Check out her event on Nostalgia

Better get a move on cause her deadline is March 23. If you just wanna see a great food blog just wander over to read up on the happenings and cooking and musings of the Kitchen Wench

I'm gonna go see if I can find some great nostalgia that also includes, sister moon and lil bird - stay tuna'd!

beets

now, mooncrazy can tell you about my lifelong distaste for beets. that was before i tasted real beets, not beets from a can. beets from a can taste like pickled dirt. real beets taste sweet and earthy. i am almost ready to pronounce myself a convert.

i got a fabulous collection of beets in my most recent crop share. i love the white and pink striped ones. it was such a surprise when i peeled them and saw that they were white on the outside, then when i cut them in half, i gasped out loud - they look like candy canes!



seriously, aren't they gorgeous?



anyway, i roast them in the convection oven with olive oil and salt. the end product isn't that pretty, so no photo.

anyone know what variety of beets the stripey ones are? [i'm betting kalyn knows!]

beets are an excellent source of vitamin c, which makes them a perfect food for sweetnicks' arf/5-a-day tuesday. check out what other anti-oxidant rich foods are on display over at sweetnicks' site.

We'd sing but we'd lose everyone

If there is any champagne left we'd like to wish one of our very own a Happy Birthday! Doodles, take a bow.

Party when you get here.

So it was a sign I'm sure...

Not in the sense of a sign like Pisces, Gemini or a Sagittarius. But rather a sign from a fellow blogger Lucullian Delights. Take a look and try to participate in this great good food eating idea.
Lucullian Delights has paired up with another wonderful blogger, Joanna's Food,
to create this new venture. I am excited about it I hope you are to. The deadline for submitting is March 22nd I do believe. Even if you don't enter, We all know we should go take a look and see what you might enjoy preparing for your family or even just yourself.
For details click here http://heartyeating.blogspot.com/index.html
eat healthier, and please, know I am not promoting any diets here. But since my hunky husband and I are going to be roaming the highways and byways of this wonderful country, I thought what better timing than to put together healthier snacks and meals. And I do believe it is a matter of good planning and habit to eat healthier tastier meals and snacks.

There are many tasty finger food, the first category, out there and mine is...

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus served with Pita Bread Crackers

Ingredients
2 cans (16 ounces each) reduced-sodium garbanzos, rinsed and drained except for 1/4 cup liquid (I bought mine at the health food store) If you cannot find just rinse really well.
1 cup sauteed red peppers*
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
3 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)
2 tablespoons chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley

Method
In a blender or food processor, add the garbanzos and roasted red peppers. Process to puree. Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, pepper, paprika, tahini and parsley. Blend well. Add the reserved liquid, 1 tablespoon at a time until the mixture has the consistency of a thick spread. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Nutritional Analysis
(per serving) Serving size: 2 tablespoons Calories 48 Cholesterol 0 mg Protein 2 g Sodium 106 mg Carbohydrate 6 g Fiber 2 g Total fat 2g Potassium 15 mg Saturated fat 1 g Calcium 15 mg Monounsaturated fat 1 g

*If wanted to use roasted red peppers in a jar, just make sure they are packed in water and not oil.


no pita crackers to be had in this household, but low calories sesame flat bread. Also wanted to put this colorful hummus in one of my pretty depression glass bowls, well guess what, because we are packing up and hitting the road, husband has packed them all away. So plain and simple presentation here.

Weekend Dog Blogging: A trip to Spa Buddy

Last year lil bird and her husband, big bird took a vacation and the lil dogs came to Camp Buddy. This March the doggies decided on a spa vacation so all of them are off to get their nails and fur trimmed.

They didn't have to go far our great groomer, Sheri has a traveling pet grooming van that parks in the front and we hustle the dogs in and out. So easy and less traumatic for the pups. It only takes about an hour a dog and at the the other groomer the poor animals had to hang around in a cage. These are free-range poochies to be sure so this works great for all involved. Well, maybe not Sheri, she did look a bit pooped and wet after Buddy jumped out of the tub.

Here are some before and after shots of the hounds, it's always good to know from whence they came.

Thanks to Sweetnicks for hosting Weekend Dog Blogging. Visit her site on Mondays to see all the other foodie poochies.

anniversary cake for breakfast?

i felt kinda bad this morning when i realized that of the eleventy-two things i had to do this weekend, i got eleventy-one of them done but i forgot the most important one: make an anniversary cake for pbe. d'oh! then i realized that i actually did, it was just a breakfast coffee cake. yay!

on sundays, i have taken to baking breakfast items that my bunky and i can eat all week long. recently, i have been working on variations of the sour cream streusel coffee cake by nic from bakingsheet. my most recent incarnation was an apple almond sour cream streusel coffee cake. i used nic's basic recipe, except for the following twists: i subbed in 1/3 cup of almond meal for 1/3 cup of the flour; i subbed 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract for 1/4 teaspoon of the vanilla; i added a layer of chopped apples between the cake batter and the streusel topping; and i used almonds in the streusel mixture for the top. the apples increased the cooking time to almost 70 minutes (i baked this in a ceramic dish, so it takes longer anyway). if i had any dried cranberries in the house, i would have added them to the topping and maybe in the batter of the cake itself. cranberries, apples and almonds...yummy combo.

so anyway, happy anniversary to us! amazing that we've stuck with it for a year. for those of you not keeping score, there are three of us: mooncrazy and doodles are sisters and i (maltese parakeet, aka little bird) am mooncrazy's daughter and, hence, doodles' niece. it all started when doodles emailed me some links for food blogs and said she'd sure love to do something like that. i think i had it set up on blogger about five minutes later. the name came from mooncrazy, who had been saving it for a while to use on something good (her punk band never got off the ground). i have really enjoyed myself this past year. it's been a really great way to spend quality time with my geographically dispersed mother and aunt. it's a good excuse to cook more and be adventurous in the kitchen, which i really enjoy. i'm also thrilled to have had the opportunity to get back into photography. but most of all, i have enjoyed getting to know some cool food bloggers all over the country and around the world, with special shout outs to kitchen wench, c for cooking, soul fusion kitchen, copperpots and la vida dulce. so thanks to everyone for reading (and commenting) and keeping it fun for us. we'll try to keep it interesting for you!

A Moon cake

The gently orb in the sky has nothing to do with the cake, it's just I wanted you to know it was from me to celebrate our First Bloggy Anniversary.

This recipe is courtesy of my doctor. Not that he's a cook, he's nagged me once again to get off my duff and shed a pound or ten which makes me head for Cooking Light.

I used the fat-free cream cheese in this recipe but would never put it on a bagel. To me, it had an odd texture. I also used butter, hey it was only 1/2 cup.

Cinnamon-Apple Cake

1 3/4 cups sugar, divided
1/2 cup stick margarine, softened
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 ounces block-style fat-free cream cheese, softened. (about 3/4 cup)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups peeled and chopped Rome apples (about 2 large)
Cooking spray

Beat 1 1/2 cups sugar, margarine, vanilla, and cream cheese at medium speed until well blended (about 4 minutes). Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture, beating at low speed until blended.

Combine 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon. Combine two tablespoons cinnamon sugar mixture with apples and stir apples into batter. Pour batter into an 8-inch springform (I used a 9-inch) pan coated with cooking spray. Top with remaining sugar mixture.

Bake 350 for one hour and fifteen minutes or until cake pulls away from the sides of the pan. Remove and cool the cake on a rack. Cut using a serrated knife. Serves 12

This was served to friends Friday evening with rave reviews even though I served it with Fat Free No Sugar Added Vanilla Ice Cream. The ice cream wasn't that bad though I detected a slight after taste. I'm not a fan of fake-sugar-anything so folks used to diet sodas might not notice. At least it doesn't have High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Congratulations to all three of us for sticking to this blog like mac and cheese does to the dish.

Note: Would you like to print a recipe? Click the following link to download a PDF. Easy to print pdf of recipe

doodles tooth boo boo get's in way of celebration

The most senior (in age) member of the PBE blog has had a slight set back. It involves a tooth and a dentist, all properly explained here, if you care to read about it.

However this is the cake I was intending to make and for no other reason than when I got my March issue of Cooking Light and I laid eyes on this cake I let out a huge sigh. Perfect I thought!!! I don't make cakes often, in fact seldom, very seldom.

So here I present my Happy Celebration cake to US, Tres Mujares, the three PBE Chicks or as we are more commonly know as Moon, lil bird and doodles.

Italian Cream Cake:

Cooking spray
2 teaspoons cake flour
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 large egg yolks
2 cups cake flour (about 8 ounces)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted (yes toasted because it deepens the flavor)
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 large egg whites

Frosting:
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup (5 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese (when I saw this I immediately thought I would use mascarpone cheese instead, I'll let you know)
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350°.
To prepare cake, coat bottoms of 2 (9-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray (do not coat sides of pans). Line bottoms of pans with wax paper. Coat wax paper with cooking spray, and dust with 2 teaspoons flour; set aside.
Place 1/3 cup butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until creamy. Gradually add granulated sugar, beating well. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Lightly spoon 2 cups flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 2 cups flour, baking soda, and salt; stir well. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in pecans, coconut extract, and 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Beat egg whites with a mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form (do not overbeat). Fold egg whites into batter; pour batter into prepared pans. Bake at 350° for 23 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 5 minutes on a wire rack. Loosen cake layers from sides of pans; remove from pans. Remove and discard wax paper. Cool completely.
To prepare frosting, place 1 tablespoon butter and cream cheese in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until smooth (do not overbeat). Add 1 teaspoon vanilla; beat well.
Place 1 cake layer on a plate; spread with one-third of frosting. Top with other cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Yield: 16 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

NUTRITION PER SERVINGCALORIES 322(25% from fat); FAT 8.8g (sat 4.6g,mono 2.8g,poly 0.8g); PROTEIN 4.7g; CHOLESTEROL 45mg; CALCIUM 33mg; SODIUM 221mg; FIBER 0.5g; IRON 1.4mg; CARBOHYDRATE 56.6g


Think I'll make this cake for an equally big celebration, we are leaving the state of Florida and headed West. Good reason to bake a cake huh? stay tuna'd...


Note: Would you like to print the recipe? Click the following link to download a PDF. Easy to print pdf of recipe

So make us a cake, already

The PBE women are celebrating our one year anniversary. We thought it would be fun to have a virtual cake to go with our virtual anniversary and since it would be totally self-serving to ask you kind readers so we are making our own.

The year has just scooted by. Our very first post was from lil bird and it was a restaurant review. We've posted a number of Week-end Dog Blogging on Sweetnick's site, some original recipes and reviews and remember when lil bird made Kimchi? Doodle's Unusual Paring has become a standard summer lunch and re-reading my own self-imposed challenge, Please, let them eat cake made me laugh just to remember. Too many cakes!

We've come a long way since last year, have hooked up with some interesting food bloggers and had a hell of a good time playing with our food.

Watch for our three cakes coming soon.

spanakopita

there is something magical about the combination of spinach and phyllo dough. i was thrilled, therefore, to read mele cotte's post on spanakopita . it actually looked easy to make! so i gave it a try. and then i remembered why i hate working with phyllo dough. ugh, it always comes with giant tears down the center! anyway, i was excited to try this recipe because i had some spinach from our crop share and i had just made my first foray into homemade cheese. i tried out michael chiarello's fresh ricotta recipe - so easy! a gallon of milk, a quart of buttermilk and some heat. what could be simpler? (notes, i would only drain it about 10 minutes next time). here's the ricotta:



and thanks to mele cotte, the spanakopita turned out great:

Guest Chef, Mary

Our father Gene/Grandfather was such a good cook that his wife Mary didn't have to bother. After his passing a few years ago she found a new interest in cooking and this has spurred her to try some new recipes. Here is a dish we both cooked together on my last visit.

She was looking for a dish to make for guests and maybe one of those easy standards you could just throw together. We found this recipe in a the William Sonoma cookbook, Pasta: food made fast, and we both thought it was a keeper. It is rich, look at how much cream, and very easy and most important; delicious. We added some leftover chicken and thought some chopped parsley would have been a good finish.

I tried a lower fat version of the recipe substituting the cream with Trader Joe's Fat Free Half and Half with an equally yummy result though admittedly not as rich. I also added chicken and some lightly sauteed zucchini slices. I also picked up some Dolce Gorgonzola from Whole Paycheck. This was stronger than the Cambozola; I'd use either next time. This is one of those you-can-fuddle-with-all-you-want recipes.


Creamy Penne with Walnuts

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 oz. Gorgonzola, dolce (Mary used Cambazola)
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup toasted chopped walnuts
1 lb penne pasta

Melt Butter in large skillet, add cheese and melt. Add cream, simmer 3 minutes but do not boil. Sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and stir in cheese and walnuts.
Drain cooked pasta reserving some cooking water. Add pasta to sauce, stir. If sauce needs thinning use reserved cooking water. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.



Mary has appeared on this site before when I shamefully used her as my own personal sous-chef.

Easy to print pdf of recipe

Sound the trumpets, unfurl the banners

Our 2007 winner of the PBE Pullet Surprise is, Sylvie at Soul Fusion Kitchen and her version of Doro Wat a spicy Ethiopian chicken dish. Sylvie, an accomplished cook and award winning BBQ'er, stepped out of her comfort zone and tried a new recipe. She gave us a step by step presentation of the recipe she created. She also added links back to the PBE site and our logo. It's all about the marketing.

Thanks Sylvie, our design team will be sending you the official award winner's logo to be placed any where you'd like, your blog, stationery, t-shirt, side of your car, or the trash if you'd rather.

We are honored to mention the following entrants:

New to PBE is Kathy Maister and she has an interesting site for new cooks, startcooking.com Her entry is a step by step video for roasting a chicken. Very inventive video that she manages without sound. Do take a look whether you are a new or more 'seasoned' cook.

Also another new foodie friend's entry was from Mele Cotte and it was very filling as she included an entire menu. She was also gracious to include a link back to PBE and our logo. Her Lemon Pepper, & Thyme Chicken Breast entry looked yummy and even supplied a review a friend A Day in the Life. And as Bush Babee says, "she put her foot in it!"

I had to go beg ACME Instant Food for a post but it's about a fun filled evening that includes rum so why not. Ed was the cook for this post and there are lots of photos and a commentary of the event by Kevin. The Jamaican Jerk Chicken makes you yearn for your own Caribbean Dinner if you can't make it to the island. I suggest becoming a regular reader of ACME if you like humor sprinkled over your food.

Thanks to our contestants. Even though we only had four entries we hope to have another challenge in the future.

weekend dog blogging

it's been a while since i posted a picture of my pups for sweetnicks' weekend dog blogging, so i thought i'd dig something up. here's max (l) and multy (r) chillin' on the couch:



this was actually taken quite a while ago. right now, the furry little beasts are in no fit state for pictures...they need a haircut. they actually look like miniature english sheepdogs!

anyway, happy weekend dog blogging and don't foreget to check out sweetnicks for the roundup!

Notice to Pullet Surprise entrants

Thanks for the entries. We are busy celebrating the sale of our own Doodle's house so declaring a winner could take a day or two. Never fear we have our crack web team, located deep in the PBE dungeon, designing the prize as we speak and as soon as the judges sober up we'll tabulate their votes. We'll post the winner real soon, or sooner than later.

Ciao, bella: guest chef Teri

In January we attended a birthday celebration for some dear friends. It was hosted by the younger daughter and son-in-law but both daughters were involved in the planning.

The two birthday people and family will be off for a Tuscan vacation in the spring so the theme was Italian. I was really taken by one of the side dishes and asked the cook to be a guest chef here on PBE.

Here is Teri's amazing menu and sorry if I left anything out. It was abbodanza!

Pasta with breadcrumbs
Eggplant fritters w/yogurt lime sauce
Tortellini kebabs
Arugula salad
Marinated Italian sausage with peppers, olives and cheese.
Sweet and Sour Onions

Sweet and Sour Onions

2 Bags of frozen pearl onions (I like to get some of the liquid out of the onions first in a big skillet)

In a separate pot to reduce
4 Tbsp of butter
5 Tbsp of sugar
1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp of champagne vinegar
salt and pepper

Melt butter and sugar together to dissolve sugar. Add vinegars. Salt and pepper to taste. Let this all reduce down to a syrup like consistency and poor over hot onions in skillet. Let flavors marry in the skillet for 20 mins on low to medium heat.
Can be made ahead of time for you dinner party!

cornbread

cornbread has been mocking me recently. no, seriously. i tried to make some corn muffins last weekend, which were a resounding flop. note to self: do not attempt to bake with soy milk ever again. ever. thus shamed, i turned to uncle alton. he has let me down before in the cornbread department, though. apparently, ab likes his cornbread straight up, no sugar. hurriedly preparing for a tailgate one saturday, i pounded out the recipe and was disappointed to bite into a dry, not-sweet-at-all, corn-flavored brick. ugh. not to be daunted, i armed myself with 1/2 cup sugar and i tried again.

ab's recipe with my tweak goes a little something like this: turn on your oven to 450 and stick in your cast iron skillet. mix 1 1/2 cups cornmeal with 1 1/4 cups milk and let rest for about 15 minutes to let the cornmeal soak up the milk. in another bowl, mix together 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar [my addition, with humble apologies to ab], 1 tablespoon of baking powder and 1 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt. after the cornmeal is good and soaked, beat in 1/2 cup vegetable oil and 2 large eggs then stir in the flour mixture. take out your piping hot skillet, throw in 1 tablespoon of butter and swirl around to coat. immediately pour the batter in the skillet and stick back in the oven for about 25 minutes, or until the top is nice and browned and a toothpick comes out clean. when it comes out, invert the cornbread onto a plate, then back onto a cutting board and cut into slices.



not too bad. a little grainy, a little dry. but you know you're eating cornbread. next time, i think i'll use a little less cornmeal and a little more flour.

A Valentine and...

an entry to a fellow blogger over at Talk of Tomatoes who is having a COTM ~ aka Centerpiece of the Month. Great idea because a centerpiece usually sets the stage. Go check out the many entries

My entry for the month of February ala Valentines greetings.

The Chocolate truffle are a somewhat tedious as well as quite messy version of the Alton Brown recipe posted below.

Chocolate Truffles
10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/4 cup brandy
1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa powder, finely chopped nuts, and/or toasted coconut, for coating truffles 8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
Place the 10 ounces of chocolate and butter in a medium size glass mixing bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds. Remove and stir, and repeat this process 1 more time. Set aside.

Heat the heavy cream and corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Remove from the heat and pour the mixture over the melted chocolate mixture; let stand for 2 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, stir gently, starting in the middle of bowl and working in concentric circles until all chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth and creamy. Gently stir in the brandy. Pour the mixture into an 8 by 8-inch glass baking dish and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Using a melon baller, scoop chocolate onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and return to the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Place the cocoa powder, nuts, and/or toasted coconut each in its own pie pan and set aside.
In the meantime, place the 8 ounces of chocolate into a medium mixing bowl which is sitting on top of a heating pad lined bowl, with the heating pad set to medium. Depending on the heating pad, you may need to adjust the heat up or down. Stirring the chocolate occasionally, test the temperature of the chocolate and continue heating until it reaches 90 to 92 degrees F; do not allow the chocolate to go above 94 degrees F. If you do, the coating will not have a nice snap to it when you bite into the chocolate. Once you have reached the optimal temperature, adjust the heat to maintain it.
Remove the truffles from the refrigerator and shape into balls by rolling between the palms of your hands. Use powder-free vinyl or latex gloves, if desired.
Dip an ice cream scoop into the chocolate and turn upside down to remove excess chocolate. Place truffles 1 at time into the scoop and roll around until coated. Then place the truffle into the dish with either the cocoa powder, nuts or coconut. Move the truffle around to coat; leave truffle in the coating for 10 to 15 seconds before removing. In the meantime, continue placing the chocolate-coated truffles in the cocoa or other secondary coating. After 10 to 15 seconds, remove the truffle to a parchment lined sheet pan. Repeat until all truffles are coated. Allow to set in a cool dry place for at least 1 hour; or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Truffles are best when served at room temperature.

Yield: 30 to 35 truffles

I coated my truffles in cocoa powder, ground pistachio nuts and coconut flakes....all very tasty

minestrone?

i got some kale in the crop share this week and i was thinking of making momma moon's white beans, ham and kale for dinner this weekend. i started looking up recipes and kinda got sidetracked. here's what i ended up with:



i guess it's a minestrone, as there are tomatoes in it. here's what ended up going in the pot:

32 oz chicken broth and about half again as much water
1 lb sweet italian sausage (the trader joe's house brand is rad)
2 cans cannelini beans
1 onion, chopped
a few carrots chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 tsp dried thyme
salt
can crushed tomatoes with juice
small can of tomato sauce
a few handfuls of torn up kale

i browned the sausage links first, then put them aside to cool and slice up. i added a little olive oil to the sausage fat in the pot and then cooked the onions, celery, carrots, thyme and salt for about 6 - 8 minutes, until onion got soft and was just starting to take on a little color. then i deglazed the bottom of the pan with some of the chicken broth and added the rest of the liquid. then i added two cans of beans (drained), the tomatoes/sauce and the sliced sausage and let it simmer about 15 minutes. i added the kale and simmered about 15 more. served with some grated parmesan on top and sourdough bread to dip. proclaimed "delicious" by my long-suffering husband.

to try next time: deglaze the pan with some pinot grigio. add more broth. add some macaroni.

Just a gentle reminder:

Where's the chicken!

Enter now. Deadline Monday, February 12, 2004

pbetouffee@gmail.com

Tortilla Soup revisited for a Super Day!

Alanna over at A Veggie Venture
has come up with a terrific idea to free us all of that February frigid feeling. For Super Bowl Sunday I was asked to do an instant replay of the tortilla soup. I heartily agreed cause this is easy and tasty.

My love for Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes is well known, I had some leftover chicken breast that I diced up and some of that mean green sauce that Sister moon posted. I chopped up a small onion, added the chicken once the onion was sauted, poured the mean green sauce over the chicken and added a half a container box of low sodium chicken broth.Let that simmer for a bit and added my can of fire roasted tomatoes, added the remainder of the chicken broth and let simmer for about half hour. A can of white hominy, rinsed it well and added that to the pot. Now remember the mean green sauce already has a lot of seasoning so extra is not need. Taste as you go.Once the hominy is heated thru it tends to thinken the soup, so I added another box of chicken broth. Finished it off with tortilla strips lots of em as husband says, slices of avacado, a squeeze or three of a lime and some fresh cilantro.I had made corn muffins earlier and added a can of chopped green chiles to the batter.Find the similar recipe here at the Muir Glen site. Try it if you like spice, adjust it if you don't.

What better way to celebrate the vistory of the Colts!!!

It's World Nutella Day!!!

World Nutella Day. Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Shelley from At Home in Rome solemnly declare February 6th "World Nutella Day" - a day to celebrate, to get creative with, and most importantly, to EAT Nutella. Make your favorite dish or experiment with a new one! Posts are welcome through February 6th, 2007 - the round-up will be made on February 7. Complete details are available here




Here is what y'all need to know about one of my favorite food items. I make this easy kinda dessert...sounds odd but it is tasty. Kinda hard to take a snap of melting ice cream, not that good of a photo person or not that good at thinking ahead or both. I did this during the SUPER BOWL so was somewhat distracted - but oh so happy the Colts WON!!!

But here ya go: Pineapple - Vanilla Ice Cream - Nutella Drizzle

Pour off the juice from a can of sliced pineapple, heat the syrup and add about a 1/4 cup of brown sugar. While that is cooking down, heat the pineapple slices in a skillet with a bit of butter. No this is not low calorie whatsoever. Put the pineapple in the cooked down syrup to coat the pieces, then transfer to your serving dish put a scoop or two of ice cream, I used vanilla, drizzle your nutella over that, add a squirt of whipped cream and a crushed walnut. Voila!

Tequila cupcakes...how cool is that

foodie blogger friend Nic over at Baking Sheet posted this recipe awhile back....you can take this to the bank, they are luscious! Not at all alcholly tasting at all. Yes there is a hint of tequila, so no don't be making these for your kiddies birthday gatherings.

I did not have the suggested green sprinkles so I used finely chopped pistachio nuts. I also used 1% milk instead of soy milk.

So there ya have it, a tried and true taste tested yummy dessert for maybe a SuperBowl gathering GO COLTS!!!

Go look at the photo Nic posted, cause I'm sure hers is so much better than mine had I remembered to take one.

Think I will post a Super Bowl menu that I need to plan today cause my sweet husband invited some folks over......stay tuna'd.

And please don't forget PBE's Pullet Surprise

Kermit was wrong; it is easy to be green

While I was down with this crummy cold I spent a bit of time sleeping to the TV and I can't say where I heard this but it must have lodged into a corner of my sticky brain because I woke up thinking of--Cooking Green. Now this doesn't mean eat your veggies, no it refers to being efficient with your cooking fuel. Something, I'm sorry to say, I'd not thought of before but it does make sense. Conservation of energy should not only be for your car.

Only baking one thing in your oven tonight? Don't do it, take advantage of the whole oven and partition off a baking sheet with little foil packages. What the heck, you've two racks, add another baking sheet. Adding more than two might cut down on the efficiency of the oven so don't overload.

What did I cook? The first foil lined baking sheet had separate small foil packets of onions, beets, garlic, and sliced apples. All were seasoned appropriate for their final use and wrapped. The second sheet was a cut-up fryer on a bed of sliced onions and carrots. I pealed a few Yukon Gold potatoes and tucked them in amongst the chicken pieces. All was seasoned with salt, pepper and some yummy smoked paprika. The chicken was tented and both sheets went into a 375 oven for about an hour and a half.

I'm sure you're saying, "I bet that smelled awful." Let me just say the roasting of apples, onions, garlic and beets didn't smell like garbage cooking but it did make you wonder, "Just what IS for dinner?"

The apple packet was the first done, maybe about 30 minutes so out it came. The sugar I sprinkled along with cinnamon and nutmeg had created it's own sweet sauce.

The beets and garlic were next out but the onions needed more color so I unwrapped the packet and put it back in for about 15 minutes more.

When the chicken was near done off came the foil ten so the pieces could brown. I should have either browned the chicken first or removed the foil earlier because it wasn't as brown as I wanted.

Ok, let's take stock. I had dinner for that night. Roasted garlic and leftover potatoes for garlic mashed the next night. Enough chicken for a yummy Orzo salad with roasted beets and onions for lunch. And, not to forget, those baked apples. They went in a non-stick skillet, juice and all, and dusted with a bit of flour (cornstarch would work, too) cooked until a bit thicker and over some ice cream.

All this was done with the same energy used to cook the chicken so I was quite pleased with myself. So next time you're gonna fire up the cooker think of what else you could do at the same time. Save you and the planet some energy.

Don't forget to enter PBE's Pullet Surpise .

Cooking Light...

While y'all are dusting off your yummy chicken recipes for the Pullet Surprise ... I was looking for a low fat version of Fettucine Alfredo, a husband favorite. I turned to one of my new favorite cooking sites Cooking Light low and behold in their January issue is the following.

Fettuccine Alfredo

1 tablespoon butter

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 1/3 cups 1% low-fat milk

1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided

2 tablespoons 1/3-less-fat cream cheese ***

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 cups hot cooked fettuccine (8 ounces uncooked pasta)

2 teaspoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Cracked black pepper

Method

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Stir in flour. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk. Cook 6 minutes or until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Add 1 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, cream cheese, and salt, stirring with a whisk until cheeses melt. Toss sauce with hot pasta. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and chopped parsley. Garnish with black pepper, if desired. Serve immediately. Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup)

CALORIES 399 (30% from fat); FAT 13.5g (sat 8g,mono 3.4g,poly 1.1g); PROTEIN 21.3g; CHOLESTEROL 34mg; CALCIUM 451mg; SODIUM 822mg; FIBER 2g; IRON 2.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 48.9g Cooking Light, JANUARY 2007

This recipe rivals our often visited local Italian restaurant, trust me for husband to say that, speaks volumes.

***I didn't have cream cheese, I used mascarpone, also no flat leaf parsley, but I added some small green peas and a few shrimp, add a loaf of crusty Italian bread a bottle of Cline Zinfandel 04 and you got yourself a tasty feast.

This year's Pullet Surprise goes to …

Do you have a guaranteed award winning recipe? One so good it could win a pullet surprise? PBE is celebrating our first 10,000 visits to the blog and what better way than to award our version of a Pulitzer; a Pullet Surprise.

The category for this year's PS is, drum roll please, chicken. That's right, yardbird. Your own recipe, or famous family formula, or one from a cookbook, just give credit where credit is due and send us photos and a review from whom ever you cooked it for and don't forget the recipe.

Just post your recipe, review and hopefully photos on your site by midnight EST February 12, 2007 and send us your permalink. Don't have a blog? Just e-mail all your info and we'll post it here.

We will post a roundup of all entries and then judge the submissions. The winner will be announced real soon but with us, it's difficult to actually give a date. The decision of the judges is final but we can be bought so be creative. Prizes don't have any actual value but are precious unto themselves. Employees of Peanut Butter Étouffee are not eligible.

E-mail us at pbetouffee@gmail.com by February 12. Don't forget to check Sticky Dates from Sweetnicks for other roundups.

Comfort food for that cool weather

well cool weather that everyone else is having but where I am in South Florida.

All this talk about cold weather, soups and comfort food I decided to do a New England boiled dinner.

No recipe but here is my method:

about a five pound corned beef brisket, remove from packaging, rinse and pat dry. Usually when buying a piece of corned beef inside will be a packet of pickling spices. Along with the supplied spices I also added about a tsp of fresh thyme and about a tblsp of fresh ground pepper. Rub the spice mixture into the piece of meat. Line with foil an oven proof pot, I use a french over baker with a lid. place the desired amount of sliced onions, carrots, and celery around the meat. I put about a half a cup of water or chicken broth, use low sodium because the meat tends to be a bit salty. Fold the foil over to seal it, put the lid on and pop it into a 300 degree oven for about 5 hours.

When the meat is finished cooking, peel a few potatoes, wedge up some cabbage and add that to a pan with half chicken stock half water and several grinds of fresh black pepper.

Make sure you have some cornbread or cheesy biscuits to serve with the dish. And make a sauce of horseradish and sourcream for the meat.

This is a husband fav, and says I don't make it enough.

Be a wastrel not

A while back I was hanging on the door to the refrigerator trying to think of something to do with all this leftover cheese. The holidays have left me with lots of leftovers and I know there has to be something I can do outside of freezing them to death. Freezing just postpones the job of trashing them.

We are big cheese eaters. Well maybe big because we eat cheese, but I do hate to waste so--what am I going to do with all this cheese bits? A little sliced Swiss, some cubed cheddar, how about those pieces of provolone? Then I remembered a Good Eats episode and went looking on Food Network for the recipe.

Now this isn't the first time I've had trouble finding a recipe from Alton Brown. You'd think it was easy. Type in: leftover cheese; 351 results. Damn. Cheese spread? No luck there unless you'd like to wade through 1,648 results. Type in Alton Brown, 469 recipes; three with the word cheese and nothing close. The agony is, in my mind's eye, I can see him doing this show.

Frustrated but not giving up I "Google" Alton Brown and choose a link called Good Eats Fan Page. This is a scary site but I forge ahead. After a few false starts I stumble onto a list of recipes and then finally, under Snacks--what I've been looking for but, as usual, that whack job, Brown has called it something clever, Fromage Fort. What is he trying to do keep this stuff a secret?
On a side note, this recipe will air again on Wednesday Jan 24 @ 7:00 p. ET/PT.

Here is my ancient Cuisinart, still chugging along. I promised not to buy a new one until this bites the dust but I do lust after the one almost everyone has.

This recipe is easy, tasty and salves my guilt of wastefulness. Before those cheese bits lurking in your ice box turn a lovely shade of blue/green give it a try. Wait, I now have leftover cheese spread; does the horror ever end?

rosemary garlic rack of lamb

a very long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away), princess lea (heeee) tagged us for a cooking meme called inviting all foodbloggers. basically, the meme was, what would you cook for blogging friends the first time you had them over for dinner? i'm sure she thought we'd ignored it. we kind of did. actually, the meme fell victim to one of my more annoying bad habits, which is not starting a project because i can't devote the kind of time to it at that moment that i want to produce an end-result that i'd be happy with. i owe numerous people numerous emails for exactly this same reason. anyway, i kept lea's meme as a new post in my bloglines and have been looking at it for nigh on three months now. i still haven't come up with the dream menu that i would use to wow other bloggers with (sheesh, no pressure), so i'm tweaking the meme a bit in the name of expediency: what would i serve if i knew my blogger foodie friends were descending on my house at that very moment and i had to impress but i had to keep it simple because i didn't have a lot of time? simple. my trusty standby: rosemary garlic rack of lamb.

this rack of lamb is so easy to make, very hard to mess up and it never fails to impress. i got the idea from jamie oliver, who cut holes into a leg of lamb roast and shoved in rosemary twigs and garlic cloves. the rack of lamb, being smaller, needed to have those elements broken down a bit, though, so i chop up the rosemary and press the garlic, then add some salt and olive oil to make a paste...



if you're feeling really adventurous, get out your mortar and pestle and give the ingredients a good mash before adding the olive oil.

then i take a frenched rack of lamb and cut some small holes (the width of my paring knife) down close to the bone side, like this...



and then use a spoon, but mostly my fingers, to stuff in the rosemary garlic paste, like so...



i flip the meat over (fat side up) and put it on a rack in my roasting pan before it goes in the oven and, if i have any rosemary garlic paste leftover, i smear it on top (otherwise, a little bit of olive oil helps with the browning quite nicely)...



into the oven at about 425 degrees (convection roast if you have it, otherwise, brown the outside of the lamb before you pop it in the oven) until internal temperature is about 140. a one pound rack usually only takes about 20 minutes. it comes out nice and crispy on the outside, like this...



after a good 5 - 7 minute rest, slice between the bones et voila...



perfect medium rare. you can see the vein of garlicky, rosemary goodness and believe me, it has flavored the meat throughout. i usually serve this with spinach and potatoes (like jeff's braised potatoes), something simple to keep the focus on the lamb. and of course, lamb like this goes great with with a bold and fruitier red wine, my favorite pairing is cline ancient vines zinfandel.

so, if food blogger friends were bearing down on my house with little or no notice, this would probably be what they would get fed when they arrived! sorry it took so long, lea!

it also occurs to me that this is a good post for kalyn's weekend herb blogging, what with the rosemary and all. whb is being hosted this week by real epicurean. check it out!

Food handling; a follow up

Sister moon's blog on food safety for potatoes got me to thinking , oh danger there for sure.

Although I am quite sure many of you already know the answers to safe food handling. But out of curiosity I googled the subject and came up with a plethora of sites.

Now that I think about it maybe the USDA should consult their own web site given the many ecoli outbreaks.

I think most food safety is common sense but that being said, can't tell y'all how many times I have had food poisoning. So maybe this should be discussed more than it is. Check out the USDA site if you learn one thing and pass that on to someone that's a good thing.

Chicken in every pot

Our lil bird, Maltese Parakeet, and her husband are quite under the weather. Could it be from our Foodie Friend C is for Cooking? Stranger things have happened. None the less he has a good idea for the bug, some fresh OJ.

My feel better recipe is a bit different prescription. I'm sure chicken soup is the real cure.

One fresh chicken
One pot of fresh cold water to cover
Lots of chopped onion
Fresh coarsely chopped parsley
Maybe a carrot, grated
Liberal amount of salt and pepper
More chopped parsley, fine this time

Cover the chicken with water and simmer skim off all the foamy stuff then add the veggies and seasonings. Cooks Note: the foamy stuff won't hurt you nor will it effect the taste, it just looks better. Foam is just protein being dissolved in the water not unlike the foam you get in the hot tub.

Simmer for about an hour or until the skins shrinks up and the meat is done. Don't Boil
Strain out the broth, remove bones and bits and return the meat to the broth alone with more parsley. Sometimes I add some more finely chopped onions, to. Cook for about another five minutes, longer if there are fresh onions, and serve.

I usually do this in my p.j.s but I bet that has nothing to do with the recipe. I wish I was closer to our lil bird but they'll just have to make-do with wishes for a quick recovery.

You say potato; I say poison?

While reading recent post on ACME Instant Food it got me thinking about some food safety myths. Evidently he tossed some red potatoes because they had sprouted and warned all not to eat them. You can imagine my horror because that would be quite wasteful. I always just cut off the sprouted or green bits and cook them, the potatoes not the crud. Had I been wrong all this time? Egad I wouldn't want to poison anyone, especially myself.

After a long research on the 'net I did find some answers. The US Department of Agriculture, they have a lovely big building on the mall in Washington but that has nothing to do with potatoes, has a lot to say about this veggie. They even have a brochure you can download. Who needs this much info unless you are twelve and writing a report for school. The following is from an article How to buy potatoes.

Wholesomeness

Look for potatoes that are free from cuts and blemishes. You should avoid buying potatoes that have a green coloring to them. This "greening" is caused by exposure to natural or artificial light. Sometimes only the skin is affected, but greening may penetrate the flesh. The green portions contain the alkaloid solanin, which causes a bitter flavor and may have a poisonous effect when consumed in great quantities. Also avoid badly sprouted or shriveled potatoes.

Wikipedia also has something to say about the toxicity. Seems like you'd have to ingest quite a bit but they do have a scary bit about birth defects. So maybe pregnant moms should watch it closely.

Bottom line: You probably would have to serve a plate of steaming potato eyes to kill anyone but for someone very young or very old or otherwise health compromised it does pose a potential problem. For me, I'll cut off the sprouts but if it's green and the raw potato tastes bitter I'd avoid cooking or eating that one. Not that I have to worry but--pregnant moms--stay away from the green potatoes.

The cost of a potato isn't worth some future health issues. If you're creative you can come up with some other yummy recipe like Acme did. Asian Grilled Steak and Noodles.

Depression Era

For Christmas I received, from my Aunt, a cookbook called Depression Era Recipes by Patricia Wagner.

When I opened the package I glanced thru it and thought interesting and put it aside. Picked it up a few days ago and amazed at the many hints that are contained in this 150 page cookbook.

Did you know to keep milk from sticking to the pan when you heat it, first rinse the pan in cold water first. Add water to egg instead of milk will make your scrambled eggs fluffier. There is also an whole page on the many uses of petroleum jelly.

I love this one... graniteware is easiest to keep clean. How bout place your broom in a tub of hot water, occasionally.
Well you get the point. It's a fun little book with the hints but also some interesting recipes. One of the reason I started looking thru it today was to find a cookie recipe. Let's see what I come up with.

Also sister moon got this same book, so between the two of us we'll have to try some Depression Era recipes.I did notice that the Oatmeal raisin cookie recipe is pretty much the same as the recipe on the Quaker Oats box. However the recipe in the cookbook called for 1 cup of lard instead of butter, it is the Depression ya see, and it also called for 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar, and 1/2 cup white sugar. The Quaker Oats recipe is only 1 cup brown sugar. See the Depression cookies would be a LOT sweeter and that's not a bad thing but I decided to make the Quaker Oats version.