Raising Hands

Yesterday I left you with a bit of homework. Did you do it? I spent last night going through my stack of Barefoot Contessa books and focusing on finding a new root vegetable dish to try, and I have one tomato dish that is just as delicious as it is beautiful. Here's the thing about Ina Garten. Most people associate her style of cooking with memes like this one. It's hilarious because it feels true but when you spend some time reading her books you'll quickly learn that she is all about comfortable and effortless entertaining. Martha Stewart writes in the foreword of the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, "There is a liveliness in Ina's cooking, a total lack of finickiness, a reliance on the freshest and best, and a casualness that I know will be appealing to everyone who uses her book". I don't just read her cookbooks for the recipes and gorgeous photography. Ms. Garten is a really good writer to boot! In the opening pages of Barefoot in Paris  she tells ...

Here at the beach you can find lots of the usual sea side fair. Fish, and seafood, pizza and boardwalk fries. But when it comes to ethnic cuisine choices are limited. So I am forced to take matters into my own hands. As a child every so often we made a trek from Lansing, to Greek Town in Detroit, and ate at this dive of a place called, The Golden Fleece. Even though it boasted the same decor my mother remembers from her trips there as a girl, and probably hadn't changed for twenty years before that this place, hands down, had the best food in Greek town. For dinner last night I was really craving a good gyro. I hate when I order one now and find those processed prepackaged strips of beef unceremoniously tossed on top of some pita and called a gyro. Sometimes I'm so desperate for those flavors I order it anyway. In the absence of owning a vertical spit these gyros will be grilled and made from chicken instead of the traditional lamb and beef. I've experimented with mari...

I'm a sucker for a good copycat recipe. I've been suckered by so-called copycat recipes in the past too. This is not the later. This one is for real! I pinned it ages ago but after an unfortunate incident involving what were supposed to be Texas Roadhouse Rolls I've been hesitant of late. The recipe  is simple but the secret ingredient is both surprising and brilliant. Dill Pickle Juice! I followed the recipe closely with only a couple exceptions and doubled it as it's only written for two. The true test was when our five year old completely unprompted asked if they were Chick-fil-a nuggets. I say they were even better because it didn't cost us $40! What you need: 2 large chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces then seasoned with salt & pepper 3/4 cup milk (I used buttermilk) 1/4 cup dill pickle juice 1 egg 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour  2 Tablespoons powdered sugar 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon pepper 1/2 cup peanut oil, divided (or canola or ve...

Well, it's really a BLTBS salad but I didn't think that would get your attention. Yes, BS stands for Brussel Sprouts and before you abandon me let me tell you that they are caramelized in rendered bacon fat. See? Trust me. I would never lead you astray. The salad is dressed with the rocking homemade vinaigrette for t his BLT Bowl and provided the inspiration for this salad. Here's what you need (serves two): 4 slices of bacon cut into one inch pieces 1 bag of fresh whole brussel sprouts or one small-med stalk 1 small onion salad greens of your choice (I like the cold crunch of romaine) 1 tomato diced 2 Tbl spoons olive oil 1 Tbl spoon balsamic vinegar (plus a splash for the sprouts) 1 teaspoon djion mustard 2 Tbl spoons lemon juice salt to taste What to do: Cook the cut bacon on med/low heat in a cast iron pan if you have one. Be patient with it.  You want to render as much fat as you can and get your bacon bits as crispy as you can. If you don't have...

So, it's no surprise we eat a lot of chicken at our house. That doesn't mean I don't get stuck in the occasional chicken rut. I was completely lacking inspiration last night and nothing sounded good so I took to my Pinterest board (I mean, that's why I spend hours on Pinterest right?!) and found this recipe I pinned a while back. It boasted the best chicken in the world. We'll just see about that! The recipe is simple enough and cooks in a flash. Which was a good thing as we were having an impromptu family supper with the hubby's folks. I filleted the chicken breast to make sure they cooked in time and soaked up more flavor from the delicious sauce. I also doubled the measurements for the sauce as I started with twice as much chicken. Other than that I followed the recipe as written.  What you need: 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts  1/2 cup Dijon mustard  1/4 maple syrup 1Tbl spoon red wine vinegar  Salt Pepper Fresh chopped Rosemary ...

Now I know that got your attention! With Labor Day behind us the traditional grilling season is drawing to a close. Though, if you're like me? I am not afraid to shovel snow off my grill for a good January grilled steak! Summer is all about hot dogs and hamburgers but in the Fall my food becomes all about warmth and comfort. This Peach-Mustard BBQ brings both. Late Summer here on the eastern shore brings a bounty of peaches to our local farm stands and grocery stores. A jar of wonderful peach jam brings the sweet to this non traditional BBQ sauce. Rich, bold whole grain mustard delivers a bite and a good splash of bourbon delivers a swift kick in the pants. I love this sauce on pork. A beautiful pork tenderloin to be exact. It would also pair well with salmon or chicken too! I'd love to hear in the comments how you would use this BBQ? Peach-Mustard BBQ Sauce (from Food Network Kitchens) What you need: 3 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 tablespoons minced onio...

After a cold hard Winter it seemed like strawberry season would never come. It's been a heavenly few weeks slicing fresh berries on cereal and salads but nothing compares to Strawberry Shortcake.  I love making bakes goods from scratch. I specially love to use family recipes. But I'm also not ashamed to take a little help from the store. In this case doing it just like Grandma means using Bisquick. She used the Shortcake recipe right on the box! The light and slightly sweet biscuits are perfect for soaking up all that wonderful strawberry juice and take me right back to my childhood.  Bisquick Shortcakes What you need: 4 cups sliced strawberries 1/2 cup of sugar (I use half that amount) 2 3/4 cup Bisquick 3 Tbl granulated sugar 1/2 cup milk 3Tbl melted butter whipped cream What to do: Sprinkle sliced berries with sugar. Mix well, cover, and set aside. Combine ingredients until a sticky dough is formed and drop six biscuits onto an ungreased...

Blueberries are in season here on Delmarva which means blueberries are on sale at the supermarket. I'm generally not a fan of blueberries but I'm trying really hard not to pass my personal food aversions on to my kids and I don't mind blueberries in some baked goods.  My Grandma made a killer Lemon Blueberry pound cake. If I ever track down her recipe from an Aunt I'll gladly share it. So what to do with my blueberries today? I'm not afraid to take a chance on recipes found on the Internet. This recipe from SouthernFood was just what I was looking for. It combines blueberries with my love for sour cream coffee cake and begins with a stick and a half of butter. I followed the recipe as written. The only additional step I took was to dredge the rinsed berries in a bit of flour before folding them into the cake batter. It helps with even distribution and stops some of the color from bleeding into the cake. I also made a quick glaze to pour over top (butter, powdere...

The last few weeks have been busier than usual. Stephen has been traveling, my in-laws have been traveling, my parents came to stay for a week, and I stayed right here. I had a nice visit with my folks. We stayed very busy doing all the fun beach things around here. Even with all the fun we were having we missed Dad. Lucky for us Steve is home to stay for a while and his folks rolled back into town a couple days ago too. Steve was more than a little jealous when he learned I made both of these dishes for other people while he was away. To make amends I got busy in the kitchen and invited his parents over this morning for a big Welcome Home breakfast.  On the menu were Cinnamon Rolls ( Thank you Jan, for this awesome recipe ) and Egg Cassarole. The best part about this menu is that the prep all happens the day before so all I had to do this morning was turn the oven on.  The Egg Cassarole is a breakfast staple in all the Hand houses. It's another one of those...

otherwise known as St. Patrick's Day. If anyone remembers last year  I cooked a delicious meal and then the plague fell upon the house. Okay, just a stomach flu but when the number of sick people out number you 3:1  it's the plague. All I can say is that it's a good thing we had the family over to celebrate a day early this year. My St. Patrick's Day began the same way it did last year! The good news is that it appears to have been an isolated incident involving only one small person and I'm happy to report that this morning he is back to feeling quite himself. I never got around to taking a picture last year so I'll share that with you now and repost the recipe too. Oh yeah! we also received our highest accumulating snowfall of the year. It's been a wild 48 hours folks. Beef and Guinness Stew Check out this crazy March snow! Cheers, friends

This is probably the Yankee version of The casserole referenced in the piece that Lauren wrote about. It's crazy comfort nonetheless and a favorite in the Hand house. It's like a mini Thanksging dinner.  chicken and dressing casserole What you'll need: 4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (you can leave them whole or cut them into bite size pieces. I've used chicken breast tenders too. Pretty much whatever you've got on hand.)  Sliced Swiss cheese (enough to cover the chicken 1 can cream of chicken soup 3/4 cup very hot water 1 box of stove top stuffing or seasoned bread cubes (enough to cover the chicken and the cheese) 4-5 Tbl spoons cold butter cut into cubes What you'll do: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and lay the chicken in the dish. Cover the chicken with the Swiss cheese slices and cover all of the chicken and cheese with the stuffing mix. In another bowl mix the soup and water un...

Or Salad, or dig in and just eat it with a spoon. You know, so you can shovel as much into your mouth as possible! This recipe is another Pinterest find. The source recipe can be found here but I use it mainly as a guide. I do use the recipe verbatim to make the sauce. I like to get as much bang for my grocery buck so when the recipe starts with shitake mushrooms I'm going to use baby portobellos. I like their meaty texture and they help stretch this meal to feed our family. I almost never buy shallots either. I usually play with a combination of onion and garlic. In this case because garlic is already an ingredient and it's an Asian dish I used green onion. I think this is great recipe to use to clean out your fridge. If you think it would be good? Throw it in there. Another helpful hint I've found when playing with Asian flavors are to keep a few staples in your pantry. Soy Sauce, (I always buy the low sodium) Rice Wine Vinegar, Sesame Oil and Sriracha combined with...

When a recipe begins with, "Make sure you open windows or that your kitchen is well ventilated". You know you're in trouble. Today I blackened chicken. On purpose;-) I had to evacuate the children from the kitchen and dining room and make them finish their supper in the living room to do it. But I didn't burn the house down. Small victories people. This adventure began back in November when I had a chopped blackened chicken salad at a restaurant. It was delicious and spicy and I've been dreaming about it ever since. I Don't actually remember what was in it. Just that it was awesome. My version of the salad (for two) begins with a head of green lead lettuce. Romaine would be good too. 1/4 cup finely diced red onion 1/2 cup black beans (canned, drained and rinsed) 1/2cup canned corn (drained) 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese 1 avocado (diced) A big handful of crushed tortilla chips Sliced blackened chicken breast Spicy Ranch Dressing To blacken...