Sweet & Savory Beef Stew in the Crock Pot

I found this recipe via cooks.com. It is a great dish for a chilly fall or winter day. Oddly, it tastes a bit like savory apple pie.... if you can imagine savory apple pie. I added some cranberries and sage to the mix because I had some leftover from Nicole's awesome roasted squash recipe from a while back... a tried and true dish in my opinion.

BEEF WITH APPLES & SWEET POTATOES

2 lb boneless beef chuck shoulder roast
1 (40 oz can) sweet potatoes, drained
2 small onions, sliced
2 apples, cored, sliced
1/2 cup beef broth
2 minced garlic cloves
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried thyme
3/4 tsp. black pepper, divided
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 tbsp. cold water

Trim fat from beef and cut into 2-inch pieces. Place beef, sweet potatoes, onions, apples, beef broth, garlic, salt, 1/2 tsp. thyme, 1/2 tsp. pepper in slow cooker. Cover, cook on low for 8-9 hrs.

Transfer beef, sweet potatoes, and apples to platter, keep warm. Let liquid stand 5 minutes. Skim off fat.

In small bowl, combine cornstarch, remaining 1/2 tsp. thyme, 1/4 tsp. pepper, cinnamon, and water, stir into liquid in slow cooker.

Cook 15 minutes or until thickened. Serve sauce with beef, potatoes, and apples.

I don't have pictures because it was not beautiful, but I assure you, it is a very warming, fulfilling dish.

Cashew Chicken in the Crock Pot

The crock pot is my savior sometimes, especially in the cold months. Often, on Sunday night, I'll prepare something to cook for Monday. I just turn it on before I go to work, then when I get home, a hot meal is ready for me, plus enough for a few leftovers. Here is a new recipe I have tried, via Better Homes and Gardens:

* 1 10.75-oz. can condensed golden mushroom soup
* 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
* 1 tsp. ground ginger
* 1-1/2 pounds chicken tenders
* 1 16-oz. pkg. frozen broccoli stir-fry vegetable blend
* 1 4-oz. can (drained weight) sliced mushrooms, drained
* 1/2 cup cashews
* Hot cooked brown rice* (optional)

Directions

1. In a 3-1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker, combine mushroom soup, soy sauce, and ginger. Stir in chicken, stir-fry vegetables, and mushrooms.

2. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 6 to 8 hours or on high-heat setting for 3 to 4 hours.

3. Stir cashews into chicken mixture. If desired, serve over hot cooked rice. Makes 6 servings.

I ended up using double the mushrooms and fresh ginger. Yum!

Marilyn Monroe's Stuffing and Other Celebrity Holiday Recipes

Lemondrop.com corralled Marilyn Monroe's stuffing recipe, plus some other celeb's favorite recipes such as Michelle Obama's Apple Cobbler, Christina Hendricks' Spiced Pumpkin Cocktail, and Sandra Lee's Kwanzaa Cake.
I'm excited just to see Marilyn's handwritten recipe, but maybe I'll try some of these out, too!

click to zoom

Something Sweet in MA

Did you know that Massachusetts is home to many a confection such as NECCO, Fluff, and Junior Mints? YES! Junior Mints! Boston.com posted a great slideshow highlighting some of the sweeter things to come out of Massachusetts - view the story here.

Food Fight.

Food Fight, a short film by Stefan Nadelman, is an abridged history of American-centric war, from World War II to present day, told through the foods of the countries in conflict. Watch as traditional comestibles slug it out for world domination in this chronologically re-enacted smorgasbord of aggression.

(I reccomend watching it without reading the synopsis and/or checking the cheat sheet before hand... it is fun to try to figure out who is who and check after!)

Happy 60th Birthday, Bill Murray!

Bill Murray turns 60 today. You should celebrate by making him a themed cake and eating it with your friends (and maybe even dressing up as your favorite character from a Bill Murray movie).

This is an example of a Kingpin themed cake. Bill Murray's bowling ball in the movie is amber-ish and has a rose inside. Available themes are limitless. Try doing an illustration of the inside of a body to represent Osmosis Jones, draw the Bee Keeper's Society logo from Rushmore, or perhaps just make a green confection to represent Slimer from Ghostbusters. Don't forget to mix up some ecto cooler cocktails to wash it down!

Porch Crawler Cocktail

Labor Day may have passed, but summer is not over until September 21, people!!!! When you are a working stiff (teachers not included), you get the luxury of working through the calendar year, so you are not affected by summer vacations.
Celebrate the last days of summer with a Porch Crawler, via The Bitten Word:

First, why are they called Porch Crawlers?

When you head home after the night is over, you have to crawl up your porch steps to get back in the house.

And what's in them?

Vodka, beer and lemonade concentrate. That's it.


Porch Crawlers for a crowd

Ingredients:

* 1 handle of very cold Skyy Vodka
* 18-pack of light beer (Keystone Ice is recommended)
* 4 to 8 cans of lemonade concentrate

Into a large cooler, pour the vodka and beer. Add 4 cans of lemonade concentrate. Stir and taste. Continue adding lemonade concentrade until you're pleased with the taste. Serve over ice.

If you'd rather serve the drink straight, you can also pre-freeze water in freezer bags, and then drop those bags into the cooler to keep the drink cold.

Cheers to summer!

I heart tomatoes.

I love tomatoes. I think they go well with pretty much everything. Here are some fun tomato recipes for you to try from allrecipes.com:

Double Tomato Bruschetta
"A delicious and easy appetizer. The balsamic vinegar gives it a little bite. Dried basil can be substituted but it is best with fresh."

Avocado Feta Salsa
"A chunky, savory summer salsa that tastes great with pita or tortilla chips."

Insalata Caprese
"It's perfect with fresh loaf of crusty bread. For the best flavor be sure to use fresh whole-milk mozzarella - it puts the packaged varieties to shame. You can find fresh mozzarella in Italian delis, gourmet markets, cheese shops and some grocery stores."

Poor Man's Caviar
"A colorful, light, and delicious concoction to serve with tortilla chips or pita bread. Avocados, tomatoes, green onions, black beans, and Mexicorn are combined with red wine vinegar, canola oil, and hot pepper sauce. Always a crowd pleaser! Serve with tortilla chips or pita bread."

Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler

I have been craving Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler. I have never made it so I think I might have to try out this recipe via simplyrecipes.com

Ingredients

Fruit mixture
4 1/2 cups rhubarb stalks cut into 1-inch pieces (Trim outside stringy layer of large rhubarb stalks; make sure to trim away any and discard of the leaves which are poisonous; trim ends.)
1 1/2 cups strawberries, stemmed and sliced
1/2 cup white sugar
2 Tablespoons of quick cooking tapioca
1 teaspoon of grated orange peel

Cobbler crust
2 Tbsp white sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
Method

Preheat oven to 350°F.

1 In a bowl, mix the rhubarb and the strawberries with the sugar, tapioca, and orange zest. Let sit to macerate for 30 minutes to an hour.

2 In a medium bowl, combine 2 Tablespoons of sugar, the flour, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter in with a fork or pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the milk and egg until just moistened.

3 Pour fruit into a 2-quart casserole dish. Drop the batter on the fruit. Bake in a 350°F oven for 35 minutes until cobbler crust is golden brown.

Serves 6. Serve with whipped cream (optional).

Happy Bastille Day!

Bastille Day is the French national holiday which is celebrated on 14 July each year. It commemorates the 1790 Fête de la Fédération, held on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789. Festivities are held on the morning of 14 July, on the Champs-Élysées avenue in Paris in front of the President of the Republic. (thanks wikipedia)

If you can't make it to the Champs-Élysées this morning, whip up some crepes instead with this easy recipe from allrecipes.com:


Ingredients

* 2 eggs
* 1 cup milk
* 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 pinch salt
* 1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Directions

1. In a blender combine eggs, milk, flour, salt and oil. Process until smooth. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.
2. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and brush with oil. Pour 1/4 cup of crepe batter into pan, tilting to completely coat the surface of the pan. Cook 2 to 5 minutes, turning once, until golden. Repeat with remaining batter.

This French delicacy is extremely versatile, as it can be filled with virtually anything -- fruits, pudding, mousse for desserts as well as vegetables and meats for dinner. No need to add more oil each time unless the pan begins to stick. Freeze extra crepes for later use.

If you don't have time for even making crepes... at least grab a croissant at the coffee shop on your way to work!

Bon Fête Nationale!

Pintley: The Best Way To Discover Beer You'll Love!

Thanks to Thrillist, I learned about Pintley today. The gist: Rate beers you have a tried, and Pintley will recommend others based on your tastes.

"From a former consultant who fell in love with German beer culture while studying abroad, Pintley is a Medford-based online community/super-easy service that "helps you drink better beer" by figuring out your tastes and recommending craft brews based on them, essentially operating like the "Pandora of Suds" but without accidentally taking you from DogFish 90 Min IPA to "Right Said Fred". " - Thrillist

Well I am excited! Maybe I will try a new beer every night to help keep this heat wave in Boston interesting.

Easy Tomato Soup Spice Cake

Recently I was looking online for quick and easy dessert recipes. I found one for a spice cake that uses tomato soup instead of oil. Not a bad idea... I am going to give it a try. Here is how to make it, via allrecipes.com:


Ingredients

* 1 (18.25 ounce) package spice cake mix
* 1 (10.75 ounce) can Condensed Tomato Soup
* 1/2 cup water
* 2 eggs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and lightly flour two 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pans.
2. Mix cake mix, soup, water and eggs according to package directions. Pour into prepared pans.
3. Bake 25 minutes or until done.
4. Cool on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely.
5. Fill and frost with your favorite cream cheese frosting.

Cold Brewing Iced Coffee

I love iced coffee. It all started with peer pressure when I was working at Boston Duck Tours in college, but I am thankful that my coworkers brought me to the dark (espresso?) side. I drink iced coffee year round... and often make it myself at home. Here is a great method for cold-brewing which supposedly produces magical iced coffee:

Cold Brewing Iced Coffee, via the Internet Food Association:

"What you need to do is fill a pitcher with a mixture of water and coffee (if you’re grinding your own, aim for a coarse grind) in a ratio of about 1 cup of coffee to about 4.5 cups of water. Stir it up to mix, and stick it in the fridge for, ideally, a 12 hour overnight brew. In the morning, strain the mixture. If your strainer isn’t fine-meshed enough (mine isn’t) you can supplement it with a paper coffee filter. Now you’ve got a delicious pitcher of coffee concentrate. Pour some over an ice cube and enjoy! Most authorities I’ve consulted actually suggest that you dilute the concentrate with some water or milk. I don’t, personally, find that to be necessary since the cold-brewing process leaves you with a coffee that’s all singing flavors and no acid and bitterness, but who am I to contradict the authorities if that’s how you prefer to drink it."

Grow Your Own Avocado Tree

I <3 avocados so much. I never really ate them until a few years ago, but I wish I had discovered them earlier. They are such a great snack and go well with pretty much everything. Sometimes I wish I could grow my own avocado tree. Well... the internet says I CAN! Check out this link to learn how to grow your very own avocado tree:

Grow Your Own Avocado Tree

I might not be able to pull it off since a) I live in not-always-sunny New England and b) they can grow to be 20 to 40 feet tall, so it could only stay inside for so long... but perhaps I'll give it a shot anyway!

Love that dirty water!

In case you didn't hear, much of Greater Boston lost clean water for several days this past week. A catastrophic water main leak in Weston Saturday forced a boil-water order for about 2 million residents in 30 Eastern Massachusetts communities. The boil order was lifted early Tuesday morning after a fix to the leak was made and tests showed clean water flowing to the communities.

As horrible as it was to deal with this problem, it could have been a million times worse and last a whole lot longer. I think this crisis truly made some of the locals think long and hard about how precious water is and hope that this problem will at least help people be more conscious about conserving water.

So take a moment today, let's raise our glasses, or water bottles, to good old H2O! Without water, we could probably not keep this blog going. Or much else going.

Movie Recipes!

Have you ever been watching a movie, only to wonder to yourself, "What are they eating and HOW do I make that for myself?"

Well, now you can look through a growing catalog of movie recipes at www.movierecipes.net! Try the Lingonberry Pancakes from The Big Lebowski, Eggs in a basket from V for Vendetta, Cherry Pie from Waitress, and more!

Do you bring your lunch to work?

Since I was in grade school, I have always been a brown-bag lunch kind of person. In school, it was because I didn't like the cafeteria food. In college, I would steal food from the dining hall due to my college student poverty. Now, in the working world, my decision to continue to bring my own lunch is a combination of saving time, saving money, and being comforted knowing what exactly I am eating. I have always been a snacker, too, so I bring a bunch of stuff to keep me going through the day.
I am also a creature of habit, so the above picture pretty much represents what is in my lunch bag each day. I'll have yogurt in the morning, sometimes with granola. Then, for a mid-morning snack, I'll reach for the Odwalla granola bar (Berries GoMega is one of my favorites but their Banana Nut is great too). Lunch is usually a salad of some sort of one of those portable soups you can get from Healthy Choice. Then the rest of the contents (usually consisting of fruit, nuts, some kind of sweets) are spread out over the day... not pictured is my iced coffee which I also usually make at home in the morning. And I try to keep a full candy dish at work since I can't go a day without the stuff! Moderation is key.
Do you bring your lunch or buy your lunch? What do you eat during the work day?

Everything Bagel Spice

Who doesn't love everything bagels? They are so good... and the combination of the spices really has such a unique flavor.
Well, some genius decided to whip up an everything bagel spice. Now that I think of it, how has it taken so long for someone to realize the brilliance of this idea?
Everything Bagel Spice can be purchased at giftgenius.com.

Mad Hectic Oatmeal

Mad Hectic Oatmeal was featured in Daily Candy the other day. From what I have read, it sounds mad tasty!

About the product:
MAD HECTIC OATMEAL is an all-natural, high-protein hot oatmeal cereal mix created to be an easy way to get important nutrients into your daily routine. We use only the finest ingredients and there are no artificial colors or sweeteners and no trans fats! Mad Hectic Oatmeal is incredibly tasty oatmeal that cooks in just one minute!

We start with organic oats that are full of fiber, vitamins and minerals. Many healthcare professionals recommend eating oatmeal daily to help reduce cholesterol and help protect your heart. A high-fiber breakfast also helps keep blood sugar levels balanced and helps you feel full longer, reducing the urge to splurge on high-sugar foods between meals.

Dan Aykroyd Wines

As I was perusing Kappy's for some cheap wine, I happened upon a $2.99 bin. I will admit - $2.99 for a bottle of wine is a bit questionable, even for someone like me who decides based on prettiness of the label, but this bin of wine was full of Dan Aykroyd Chardonnay! And - if you are wondering - YES, it is THE Dan Aykroyd. Dr. Raymond Stantz. Elwood Blues. Beldar. Harry Sultenfuss. Dan Aykroyd has a wine company. Well, that was reason enough for me to make a purchase. And maybe even to follow his blog.