Tag Archives: recipes

Organizing the Kitchen

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spices-2-0023new-spice2I cleaned out my spice drawer this week! I’m so proud of myself!!! Isn’t the newly organized and easily accessible drawer a a work of art now? I mean, I know it’s not alphabetized or arranged in descending order of expiration dates, but you have to admit it’s about 40 times better. Remember what it looked like before? Yuck — the sorry result of unbridled optimism that this might be the night I actually will make Nigella Lawson’s Honeyed Almond and Orange Cake with Figs … if only Survivor and Ugly Betty weren’t on. I have my priorities, after all, right? But after writing about it in my TimesDaily column today, I realized how pathetic it is to hold on to chili powder from 1983 and that it all had to go: http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20081120/ARTICLES/811200346

How Old Are Your Spices?

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Are you like me when it comes to spices? Digging through the jumble of your spice drawer is an archaeological dig of your culinary life: Oh, there’s that bottle of tumeric you needed when a Middle Eastern recipe called for 1/8 teaspoon — and you haven’t used it since. There’s the dip mix you bought at a friend’s home-selling party and the remains of your prolific sesame-seed bread-baking period. (Who knew you could get tired of sesame seeds?) There’s the souvenir pink Hawaiian sea salt you never opened. And what the heck is ground coriander seed anyway? Perhaps you need to do some spice cleaning. Or, you may have your spices neatly labled and constantly updated. If so, would you please come do that for me? I’ll even bake you some bread with sesame seeds on top! In the meantime, if you have McCormick spices of unknown age but you vaguely remember wearing shoulder pads when you bought them, go to the McCormick Web site — http://www.mccormick.com/Spices101/HowOldSpices.aspx — and type in the code on the bottom of the jars. Just be prepared. Apparently I still have a bottle of McCormick Chili Powder I bought when I had only the one child — and my second child is 22. Ouch. I do not want to find out what 23-year-old chili powder tastes like. I see spice-drawer cleaning in my very near future.

Fall Food

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Take advantage of fresh fall produce and cool fall days and whip up some squash soup. Sherry Campbell, the director of the Shoals Commercial Culinary Center in Florence, Alabama, http://www.shoalsec.com/facilities/SCC_index.html, showed us how to do to it in less than an hour at a recent Lunch and Learn cooking class. Even if Sherry weren’t a friend I’d go to her classes — she teaches how to create tasty dishes using seasonal ingredients and time-saving shortcuts and doesn’t mind if you ask stupid questions. (Plus, she’s the fastest acorn-squash peeler I’ve ever seen — it only takes her seconds.) Then when she’s done teaching, we eat the results. In fact, some non-cooks (and I am not naming names here) admit to coming to class only for the eating. And can we blame them? This Acorn Squash Soup with Fresh Sage was so incredibly delicious and easy. We also had Rustic Rosemary Tarts, which was herbed goat and cream cheese spread over thawed puff pastry — so simple and good. Coming up are Lamb Entrees with locally raised lamb, 6-9 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 13, $35; and Lunch and Learn on potatoes and other root vegetables, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 18, $16. Pre-registration is required. Call Sherry at 256.764.0044 or e-mail her at scampbell@shoalsec.com

While you’re in downtown Florence, go to McGraw’s Coffee House for a healthy pumpkin bar. It’s packed with nuts and oats and pumpkin. Don’t want a healthy pumpkin bar? What about a muffin, scone, cookie or slice of melt-in-your-mouth cake? And of course you have to have some freshly roasted coffee to go with. McGraw’s is a friendly hometown gathering spot that attracts a lively mix of University of North Alabama students, downtown workers and coffee fans. Check it out at http://www.mcgraws.shoalsonline.com/

Pumpkin Mania

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Fall means pumpkins, and we all love pumpkins! There’s just something about them — I’m not sure what. Maybe that they’re only around for a few weeks. Maybe because they smell so good and taste even better. Maybe because they just instantly make me happy. Who knows? But I’m always glad when the air gets cooler and the leaves start to turn and I can go all pumpkin, all the time. Bath and Body Works has some great-smelling pumpkin things, such as Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin lotion and scrub. Fragrance oils and sprays also come in Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin as well as Perfect Autumn Pumpkin. This past year at Bath and Body Works, I bought some autumn potpourri that has stones, beads, glass leaves and wooden pumpkins in it and a Perfect Autumn Pumpkin travel candle, although I haven’t seen those items in stores this year. A few drops of oil refreshes the potpourri and everybody who comes in says, “Oh, your house smells so good.” Be careful, though, that somebody doesn’t think the potpourri is Halloween candy and tries to crunch a rock. (Who would do that, Lizzy Jane???!!!!!) And of course, there’s pumpkin you can eat. Pumpkin Spice Flax crunchy granola bars from Kashi are my favorite emergency on-the-road food — although they are, as advertised, quite crunchy. But delicious! Fresh Market sells a pumpkin pancake and waffle mix that’s easy and perfect for cool crisp mornings and fun breakfast-for-supper fall evenings. I’m also a big fan of pumpkin seed oil, which I’ve only found at Tria Market in Birmingham, Ala. (in Soho Square in Homewood, http://www.birminghammenus.com/tria/) It’s a rich and green oil that flavors bread and hearty vegetables with a woodsy taste of fall. But the best fall flavor is the pumpkin dip Connie Carpenter does at Jack O’Lantern Farms, the hydroponic greenhouses in Muscle Shoals, Ala., http://www.jackolanternfarm.com/. The Carpenters have the best selection of pumpkins for sale in northwest Alabama. Connie makes a dip by roasting pumpkins (quarter, brush with oil, roast and remove meat) and then combining the pumpkin with cream cheese, powdered sugar and spices. It’s absolutely October in your mouth!

Fall Food, Southern Style

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One of my favorite fall traditions has started: Betty Sims’ Scrumptious Culinary School in Decatur, Ala. A former restaurant-owner and caterer and the author of two cookbooks, Betty teaches eight classes or so in her home every fall. The classes, which focus on simple yet elegant menus for parties and entertaining, are so popular they sell out almost immediately. And no wonder! Betty is a delight — so warm and gracious and the very epitome of Southern hospitality. In each class, about 40 people gather in the basement of her elegant home, which she’s converted into a teaching kitchen. While we sample appetizers and sip wine, Betty demonstrates the recipes, answers questions and shares from her extensive cooking experience. Then the best part happens: We get to eat! This is such a fun evening that’s good for groups of girlfriends together or for going by yourself. A couple classes — a Spanish menu and cooking with wild game — still have openings, so check out the schedule at http://scrumptiousinc.com/

Cookie Chemistry

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Something happened with my favorite peanut-butter cookie recipe this weekend and I’m not sure what. Usually when I make this, the cookies turn out thick, soft and crumbly. However, when I stirred up a batch on Monday morning for a family Labor Day gathering, the cookies ended up flat and crunchy instead. Why? This has happened a few times in the million years I’ve been making this recipe and I never know why. Monday, I could tell I was on the way to flat and crunchy because the dough was smooth and glossy — more like a batter than a dough — as I mixed it up. When the cookies turn out thick and soft, the dough is thick and solid and definitely has to be spooned. Luckily, the cookies were a hit — some people prefer thin and crunchy — although my daughter immediately noticed that they weren’t my usual. I guess it’s good that I’ve got a go-to recipe — it’s so quick and easy  I can do it in my sleep and probably have — but I’d love to know why it turns out one way sometimes and another way other times. Alton Brown, where are you when I need you???

Here’s the recipe (it’s also one of my favorites because, with no eggs involved, you can eat the dough with abandon. Not that I do that or anything.):

Peanut Butter Cookies

Melt one cup butter. Stir in one cup each white sugar and dark-brown sugar. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Stir together 2 1/2 cups flour and 2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda and add to mixture. Stir in 1 cup peanut butter. Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet and bake about 10 minutes in preheated 350-degree oven. Let cool in pan a minute or so before removing to cooling rack.

Muffin Mania

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Muffins are the perfect food. I’m talking here about real homemade muffins, warm and melty from the oven, with crunchy tops and moist middles bursting with good things such as blueberries, apples, raisins and nuts —  then torn in two and reverently topped with your spread of choice. (Do not try this with anything you have to tear the plastic off of.) In my former life as the mother of teenagers, I was a master muffin maker, but I gave it up as my nest gradually emptied and friends started taking their hamburgers out of the buns. But a recipe in this cookbook inspired me to try again. Martha Foose is the author of “Screen Doors and Sweet Tea” and owner of famed Bottletree Bakery in Oxford, Miss., (go to www.oxfordcvb.comisfor Bottletree  and other Oxford info, especially if you’re headed there for the first Presidential debate on Sept. 26). She’s the best kind of Southern woman: Smart, funny and strong — the kind who can feed a sweaty park full of hot and hungry people while wearing an adorable sundress with coordinated espadrilles. That’s what Foose did when she was the guest chef recently at the Spring Park Farmer’s Market in Tuscumbia, http://www.cityoftuscumbia.org/Latest_News/index.html, Ala. (This link is from 2007 but the information is still correct.)  The audience at Spring Park demonstrations always is a tough crowd — they know what good food is — but Foose charmed them, deliciously. She made me believe that even after a couple-years’-break, I too could turn out to-die-for blueberry muffins. And she was right, although it took me a couple tries to get my rhythm back. (Click here to read the rest of the story: http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20080822/ARTICLES/808220302)

If you value food, family and friends, Foose’s cookbook is a must-have. The photography’s gorgeous, and Foose adds tips and suggestions in her own Mississippi style — you can almost hear her Delta accent. Almost all bookstores and online booksellers have this book. Visit http://www.marthafoose.com/ for a list of stores that sell autographed copies.

Here’s the Blueberry Muffins recipe:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon each baking soda and salt

Grating of nutmeg

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen (do not thaw) blueberries

2 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon grated lemon or orange zest

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Spray 18 muffin cups or line with paper baking cups. In large bowl with a whisk, combine dry ingredients. Toss in blueberries to coat and evenly distribute. In separate bowl, whisk together wet ingredients. Using rubber spatula, combine wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Stir until just moistened. Fill each muffin cup 2/3 full. Bake 15 minutes or until tops spring back lightly when touched. Let cool 5 minutes then turn out onto rack.