Scraps From My Kitchen Table

For the past two years I have been cooking more and more with fresh herbs instead of dried spices. Needless to say, it has taken my recipes to a whole new level and with so much more flava!! I have also found that I really, really enjoy chopping vegetables and herbs more than I imagined possible. I actually find chopping in the kitchen extremely therapeutic for me. Who would have thought?! My spaghetti sauce, chili, soups, and even my stuffed bell peppers have been completely reformed. When ever I can I use fresh tomatoes instead of canned. So much better. I have been watching the food channels almost daily on my Ipad while I am in the kitchen preparing for dinner. Not too long ago I made the best version of stroganoff I have ever eaten just by adding Italian Mascarpone to thicken the gravy rather than the traditional sour cream. No bragging just saying food education is a very good thing! Now, Italian cream cheese is sweeter and a bit milder than our major brand over here but it ma...

Quite some time ago, about two years or more, after a few scares with the peanut factories in the news, I was forced to find alternative to my beloved peanut butter! And even though I didn't consume peanut butter on a weekly basis, it was always like an old friend always ready to pair up with a fresh pot of vegetable soup, or a mid day hunger crisis. When I noticed the flavor of my long time peanut butter brand had changed for the worse, I began seeking out other brands to take it's place, from old time faves to new promising brands, nothing seemed to taste like a fresh ground peanut anymore so I began to look at other nut alternatives which led me to delicious almond butter! Now I have always favored the crunchy pb&j over the smooth, so the slightly crunchiness of this new butter was not offensive to me at all. So, I began to use almond butter for my occasional pb&j fix. Well, then there was also something else new on the market! They called it Nutella! Of course being...

Out with the OLD and in with the NEW! Yep! That is how I feel about this delicious side dish I created before the holidays arrived. I have always loved ____________, and while my sister and I were shopping at The Fresh Market, I came across something I had never seen! There in the produce section was the FRESH version of this delectable yumminess that I have always loved! I was amazed! I picked out two of them right away! I had an idea of how I would prepare them in a way I had never before. Once in a while I like to roast a pork loin so when I decided to roast this one, I decided to make my new found fresh version of my favorite root plant but I knew hubby would never eat it no matter how I prepared it, so I had to come up with something for him as well. (As per usual for my meat and potatoes man.) So, seeing that I was thinking of roasting these instead of my normal stove top method, I decided to add some of the wonderful sweet potatoes that I had purchased previously at the fa...

I have actually slowed down just enough to pay attention just a bit to my blogs. So, I thought I'd try to update those interested on my last post on this blog about learning to make pasta! I had high, high hopes that we would have been completely moved in and more settled than we now are, but we are not. We still have more stuff to move and then I have to unpack it, set it up, etc. You know the rest! On top of all of the moving trauma, my stove has just gotten hooked up to the gas! The vent hood is still not properly installed and I still do not have a backsplash to keep the grease and spattering off of the painted wall. So! Unfortunately my pasta making experience will have to wait a bit longer. Booooo! The holidays are approaching quickly so it looks like I am going to have to light a few fires under some folks! How ever, in the mean time, if I happen to ever get my kitchen and pantry in working order so that I can focus on cooking once again, very soon I hope, I will be addin...

So, I was in the middle of window shopping, online of course, when my tummy told my head it was hungry. I hadn't eaten any breakfast so, naturally for me, my thoughts went to eggs because I do luv eggs almost any way you can prepare them as long as they are cooked completely. The thought then came to me that rice and eggs would be a scrumptious choice, but I did not want to take the time for the rice to cook! So! I got this, what I now think, is a brilliant idea! I had recently restocked my freezer with a yummy rice and broccoli mixed with a cheese sauce by the jolly green guy himself so I got the idea to make my usually bland rice and egg concoction with this instead!  Now do understand, rice, broccoli, eggs, and cheese are my favorite foods in their food groups. I decided to first cook the broccoli and rice mixture as directed on the package because of the cheese sauce. I then whipped two large eggs with salt and pepper in a seep rate bowl. I heated about two tablespoons of...

Okay, okay it is time! Time I learn how to and put into practice the making of my own home made pasta! I luv it! I confess! And since the store bought stuff of any brand, I might add, leaves something to be desired, I must get over my inhibitions and just do it! I mean, I love making home made yeast breads so, how much harder or time consuming can it be than that?! Right?! Hubby finally bought the pasta making attachment to my mixer, (a few years ago,) and does not forget to bring it to my attention every now and again. That said, I started looking for pasta maker videos last night on the web, (since I am a very visual learner,) to get the feel and grab some technique from those who have already been there and done that. I was surfing the Craftsy app on my Ipad when I came across this guy, " Giuliano Hazan " the son of a long line of Italian pasta makers whose late mother was a renowned Italian cooking doyenne Marcella Hazan , and wrote books of her own recipes an...

This is just one of those, plain as the nose on your face ideas that after you try it you wonder why haven't I ever thought to do this before?! But tonight, after wanting blueberry muffins for two or three days, I decided to make some to have with some coffee, only to find I had no blueberries! Fresh, frozen, canned, or other wise! What I did have was a just add water Betty Crocker blueberry muffin mix with artificial blueberries in a bag! So, I thought what do I have that can make these better? I came across a can of blackberry pie filling in the pantry and thought, would this be good?! I had to decide whether to stir it in with the mix, or to add a dollop in the center of the muffins? I decided to add a dollop in between two layers of the prepared batter. I didn't have to add any sugar because the pie filling is sweet a plenty. I just baked them according to the package directions and out came muffins fit to eat! YUM! Of course, now I have to try them home made with di...