Deglazing

Mocha Monkey - A Different Kind of Smoothie

Tim and I love mocha drinks, desserts, snacks of any sort.  So when I went looking for interesting smoothie ideas and came across these mocha drinks at BHG I knew we had to try them.  It may just be me, but I can't in good conscience call these straight up mochas.  They have a banana in them and I can tell you bananas aren't part of the "normal" mocha equation.  So I decided I had to rename these smoothies and the name Mocha Monkey was born.  Honestly, no matter what you call them they are good.  It's a nice little dessert or a great post workout pick me up.  It's a nice way to incorporate a little chocolate into your day.  You could even call these grown up chocolate milks.  They couldn't be simpler to make.  It's a chopped, drop and blend recipe.  I think that's why most people enjoy smoothies.  Great flavor with little effort. 

Wow, I don't know about you but winter has finally set in here in Maine.  The snow certainly is beautiful.  I hear my friends in the Pacific Northwest are going to get a rare snow event this week.  If you are reading, Jay and Gretta, stay safe and enjoy the snow!  Hard to believe the first month of 2012 is half over already. 

Mocha Monkeys (Mocha Smoothies from Better Homes and Gardens)

ingredients

• 1 cup fat-free milk
• 1 medium banana, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch slices, and frozen
• 1 to 2 tablespoons sugar or honey
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (I use a nice dark cocoa powder)
• 2 teaspoons instant coffee crystals (I like to use instant espresso powder here)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup small ice cubes or crushed ice

directions

1. In a blender combine milk, banana, sugar, cocoa powder, coffee crystals, and vanilla. Cover and blend until smooth. Add ice cubes. Cover and blend until nearly smooth.
2. Makes 2 servings

Whole Wheat Spaghetti – Bio Naturae

Over the years I have sampled quite a few different pasta brands.  Some had weird textures (even when cooked properly) and some were flavorless.  In the last few years I have stumbled upon Bio Naturae pastas.  I love these pastas.  The noodles retain their texture, hold up well to sauce, and are all around tasty.  I only sampled the white pastas until very recently.  When I ran out of regular white thin spaghetti I gave the whole wheat spaghetti a chance.  I really liked it.  I wasn’t like the other whole grain pastas I ate.  The wheat flavor was present, but not overpowering.  The pasta holds it shape nicely and there is a great toothy finish to each bite.  I dare say if you didn’t mention to anyone this was whole wheat they may never know.  It’s a nice way to get a little more whole grain into your kids, husband, or yourself.  America’s Test Kitchen also picked the whole wheat Bio Naturae out of a taste test line up.  I couldn’t agree more.  It’s nice to have a whole grain product that lives up to it’s white flour cousins.  I would also recommend any of the other styles of white flour pasta Bio Naturae carries.  I particularly love the rigatoni and thin spaghetti. 

Summer Fun Drinks – Sour Cherry Lemonade

Most of the year I drink only water, tea, and coffee, but I go crazy for lemonade in the summer.  I love it in all varieties, strawberry, watermelon, plain, with lime, and of course, cherry.  Cherry lemonade, oh I love cherry lemonade.  It’s Tim’s favorite kind of lemonade.  The cherries provide the right balance to the tartness of the lemons.  Cherries tend to be quite expensive, so I often use frozen cherries.  They work just as well and at a fraction of the price.  The added benefit of frozen cherries is you can make this drink when ever you feel like it, not just during the short cherry season.  This drink is certainly a showstopper with it’s beautiful color and amazing flavor.  This is a great drink to take to a picnic or BBQ. 

This recipe is from the July issue of Martha Stewart Living.  It calls for sour cherries and honestly, those can be a little hard to find.  I used standard bing cherries and reduced the sugar to compensate for the sweetness.  Sour cherries are wonderful and make great drinks, but if you can’t find them, don’t be dismayed.  Cherry lemonade is a beautiful thing in all of it’s variations and you will be pleased with the results from either style cherry.  This recipe also uses club soda (which I totally love), but feel free to make it with standard, still water.  It will taste good either way.  I know some people hate seltzer water, so it’s up to you. 

I don’t know about you, but with summer heating up my menu is certainly running more toward the raw end of the spectrum.  Keep tuned for more great, simple summer recipes. 

Sour Cherry Lemonade

(Martha Stewart Living July 2011)

For the syrup

• 1 pound fresh sour cherries (or drained thawed frozen) (or in my case sweet cherries)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

For the lemonade

• 4 cups club soda
• 1 1/2 cups fresh lemon juice (from 8 large lemons)
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar (omit this if you are using sweet cherries)
• extra cherries for garnish

1. Make the syrup:  Simmer cherries, granulated sugar, water and lemon juice in a medium saucepan over medium heat until cherries are brown down and juicy and the liquid is syrupy, about 30 minutes.
2. Strain cherries and syrup through a fine sieve; discard solids.  Let cool completely.
3. Make the lemonade:  Fill a large pitcher with ice.  Add club soda, lemon juice, superfine sugar (if you are using sour cherries), and 1/2 cup cherry syrup; stir to combine.  Garnish with fresh cherries.  Divide lemonade among glasses.

Mix and Match Pasta Salad

This time of the year I break out the pasta and potato salads in full force.  I couple them with a good veggie burger or eat them on their own for a light lunch.  In recent years more and more of the food magazines have been coming up with make your own style recipes.  Normally, they give you a list of ingredients and a couple of sauces and allow you to mix and match your own flavors.  I love these style recipes.  Fine Cooking has been doing it for a while now and I think it’s wonderful way to help people get out of a cooking rut!  It’s great to show people how cooking is about technique and less about a standard recipe.  It’s nice to show how quickly you can change something out to your liking and have a whole new dish in minutes.  This month’s issue of Food Network magazine has a Mix and Match Pasta Salad recipe.  The other day I decided to give it a whirl with the creamy parmesan dressing.  Tim loved it.  The flavors were assertive, but not overpowering.  We decided on fusilli pasta, red pepper, fresh corn, and I added arugula (although spinach would work nicely here too).  Honestly, it couldn’t be simpler to put together.  Here’s the original recipe from Food Network.  Get in the kitchen and have fun mixing up your own concoctions.  I look forward to making a Greek Salad version next week.  I am also looking at a lightened recipe for potato salad with lots of veggies that I will be sharing in the near future.  So stay tuned for more summer recipes!

1. Choose a Pasta

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook 1/2 pound of any of these pastas as the label directs; drain and rinse under cold water. Transfer to a large bowl.

2. Pick a Protein (Optional)

Add 1 cup of any of these ingredients, if desired.

Chicken, cooked and chopped

Steak, cooked and chopped

Ham or salami, cubed

Roast beef, chopped

Canned tuna, drained and flaked

Lump crabmeat, picked over

Shrimp, cooked and chopped

Eggs, hard-boiled and chopped

Baked tofu, chopped

3. Pick Your Vegetables
Add 2 of these vegetables or beans, 1 cup each. (To blanch vegetables, boil until crisp-tender, then drain and cool in ice water.)

Broccoli florets, blanched

Corn kernels, blanched

Carrots, shredded

Cherry tomatoes, halved

Green beans, blanched and chopped

Frozen peas or snap peas, blanched

Celery, sliced

Cucumber, diced

Red onion, diced

Bell pepper, diced

Asparagus, blanched and chopped

Canned chickpeas or white beans, drained and rinsed

4. Pick a Mix-In
Add 1/3 cup of any of these ingredients.

Sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

Roasted red peppers, chopped

Olives, pitted and chopped

Any cheese, shredded or crumbled

Any nut, toasted and chopped

Bacon, cooked and crumbled

5. Dress the Salad
Make one of these dressings, then pour over the pasta salad and toss. Season with salt and pepper. Chill for up to 3 hours.

Vinaigrette

Whisk 1/3 cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar, 1 minced shallot, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste.

Creamy Herb

Whisk 1/3 cup mayonnaise, 3 tablespoons sour cream, 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1/2 cup chopped mixed herbs, and salt and pepper to taste.

Garlic Oil

Cook 3 thinly sliced garlic cloves and a pinch of red pepper flakes in 1/3 cup olive oil over medium heat, stirring, 3 minutes; let cool. Season with salt and pepper.

Creamy Parmesan

Mix 1/4 cup each mayonnaise and sour cream, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon finely grated garlic, 3/4 cup grated parmesan, and salt and pepper to taste.

Summer Drinks – Orange Lemonade

  

New England is a spectacular place to live, especially this time of the year.  Summer in New England is a real treat, warm days and crisp nights.  Recently the weather has warmed up.  I am a big fan of 70 degree days.  I love them.  I wake up and all I want to do is go outside.  This time of the year it’s hard to keep me in the house.  I can usually be found in my gardens or on the weekends hiking somewhere.  I grew up on a lake and I still love water.  We joke that I must have been a Sea Captain in a past life.  It’s always been this way.  When I was a little girl (3 years old) I spent all of my time in a kiddie pool my parents bought for me.  It got to be so bad my parents had to block the door at night or I would go outside and sit in my pool.  I don’t get to the water as much as I would like these days, but I do enjoy it when I can.  On really nice days I think of my days on the water and I crave lemonade.  I don’t know why, but I have always loved lemonade this time of the year.  I make a bunch of varieties, raspberry, strawberry, watermelon, cherry, and orange.  Oh, orange.  My two favorites are orange and cherry.  This recipe comes from Martha Stewart’s awesome cookbook The New Classics.  I have yet to find a recipe in this book that just isn’t stellar, but since it’s Martha I am not surprised.  Any of her cookbooks will help you become a better cook in no time.  The New Classics is filled with wonderful recipes for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  Two of my favorite recipes in this book are the Challah Bread and this Orange Lemonade.  It’s a wonderful and refreshing version of lemonade that works nicely plain or with fizzy water.  It’s a nice way to welcome summer and let the good times roll.

Orange Lemonade (from Martha Stewart’s The New Classics)

Makes 7 cups

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 4 cups fresh orange juice (about 12 oranges)
• 1 1/2 cups fresh lemon juice (about 9 lemons)
• Ice, for serving
• 2 oranges, washed and thinly sliced
• 1 lemon, washed and thinly sliced

1. Make the sugar syrup.  Combine the sugar and the water in a small saucepan over medium heat, and stir until all the sugar has dissolved.  Remove from the heat, and let cool completely.
2. Combine the sugar syrup, orange juice, and lemon juice in a large pitcher or punchbowl.  Stir to combine.  Add the ice and sliced oranges and lemons, and serve immediately.

 

 

Resources for Home Cooks

 

One thing is for certain I read a lot of food related literature.  I am always reading a magazine or a cookbook and finding new ideas.  Today’s post is going to be about my favorite resources for cooking.  There are three main types of resources that I use daily – cooking magazines, cookbooks, and the internet.  So let’s take a look at each of these types in a little more depth.

Let’s start with cooking magazines.  I am an addict.  An absolute addict, you don’t want to know how many magazines I read in the course of a month.  There are ones that clearly stand out from the pack and so here goes.  I have two big favorites – Fine Cooking and any of the Martha Stewart magazines (Everyday Food, Living, and Whole Living).  Fine Cooking is such a great resource.  They cover everything from simple and quick recipes to more involved classic recipes.  I love a couple of the columns they do in each issue.  My favorite section was the Weekend Project.  Each issue they put together a more complicated recipe like homemade sausage and croissants.  I loved this feature.  The recipes were killer.  I haven’t seen this one in recent issues, but I hold out hope that it will make a return.  I also love a section they do called Cooking without Recipes.  This is a really great feature that shows you how take one recipe and rework it a bunch of different ways.  One issue it was cheesecakes and I loved it!  I can’t say enough good about Fine Cooking.  I love them!  If you don’t want a full subscription the special issues they do each year are definitely worth the investment.  My next favorite series of cookbooks is the Martha Stewart brand.  I love that each magazine caters to a different kind of cook.  Everyday Food is a resource that I frequently give to friends or family that aren’t huge on cooking at home.  The recipes are simple and quick and everyone loves them.  I really enjoy Martha Stewart Living.  It’s more of a lifestyle magazine with a healthy dose of cooking thrown in for good measure.  The recipes are classics and I never get an issue without being inspired.

Cookbooks, what can I say?  I love them.  I am incredibly picky about them, but some how I wind up with a whole slew of new ones each year.  My favorite cookbooks ever are Art & Soul of Baking from Sur La Table, The Bread Bakers Apprentice by Peter Rheinhart, Simply Great Breads by Daniel Leader, Comfort Foods by Rick Rodgers, The Bon Appetit Cookbook, and How to Cook Everything from Mark Bittman. 

The internet is actually a really great resource for recipes and inspiration, if you know where to look.  I am particularly fond of Food & Wine’s website, Epicurious from the Bon Appetit folks, Martha Stewart’s website.  I also love the Fine Cooking website, but it’s not a free resource just so you know.   There are a million food bloggers, but my favorites are baker’s David Lebovitz and Dorie Greenspan.  Each of their blogs are fun and inspirational for at home cooks.

Popcorn, How I Love Thee!

(photo from the web)

I have always been a snacker.  I usually have two snacks a day, one around 3 pm and another around 7 pm.  The 7 pm snack is reserved for my life long favorite snack, “pop-ed corn” as Megamind says it.  To say I love popcorn is an understatement, a colossal understatement! I am obsessed with popcorn.  As a teenager I would eat a bag of popcorn as a breakfast on the way to school.  These days I have moved on from my breakfast popcorn.  I love trying varieties of popcorn with different popcorn seasonings in my Whirley Pop.  Honestly, the Whirley Pop is one of my favorite kitchen gadgets.  It’s super cheap and makes the best popcorn hands down. 

Over the years I have tried a variety of seasonings, but to be honest the quality has been erratic from brand to brand.  Some white cheddars are flavored too strongly with garlic.  Some southwest mixes are too much about heat and not flavoring.  Some kettle corns are just sugar mixed with salt and have little, if no caramel flavoring.  You get the point. This Christmas I got a popcorn set from William Sonoma and I fell in love with the seasoning mixes.  After I ran out of seasonings I had to search high and low for a replacement.  I am not sure if the Fireworks Popcorn brand is the exact same flavoring, if it’s not the same, it’s pretty darn close.  These little seasonings containers go for around $4 a piece over at Bed, Bath & Beyond. 

Roasted Vegetable Pizzas

       

The photos you see here are from our dinner the other night.  It included vegetable pizza, a goat cheese salad, and a lightened carrot cake (the recipe for that is coming up soon, so stay tuned).  The salad is our take on a salad we love from the Flatbread Pizza Company in Portland, ME, recipe coming soon.  We just love Flatbread.  Recently, they added a new specialty salad that I am in love with that includes roasted golden beets.  Yum, yum!  I will try to remember to do a write up on that next week too!

I know I’ve mentioned Tim’s fondness for pizza many, many, many times.  He is in love with the stuff.  Over the years I have amassed a huge number of pizza and calzone recipes.  This new recipe is kind of a combo recipe.  It is a vegetable pizza with little dollops of ricotta cheese and it is delicious.  Pizza is nothing without a great crust, so I am going to include my favorite recipe for pizza dough at the end of this post.  It’s from Todd English and I love it.  I am a huge fan of anything that uses lots of vegetables and this recipe has three of my favorites – cremini mushrooms, yellow peppers, and zucchini.  Pizza is good a way to get vegetables into picky eaters.  Your kids or husbands won’t even notice all the vegetables in this one.  Speaking of kids, pizza dough rolling is a really fun activity for them.  My nieces and nephews love it when they come to visit and we make our own pizza.  It’s a simple activity, but a lot of fun. 

On a side note – if you make lots of pizza, then it’s worth investing in a decent pizza stone. Over the years I have invested in a couple of different stones and I have found that it’s worth getting a nice heavy stone.  Some of the lighter models never heat up in time and cook unevenly.  The one I’ve found that I really love is from Sur La Table and it runs around $50.  I know that’s a bit more expensive then the lower end ones, but when you bake as much as I do it’s definitely worth the investment. 

Now, without further ado.  Roasted vegetable pizza from this month’s issue of Cooking Light, followed by Todd English’s pizza dough recipe. 

Roasted Vegetable Pizza with Ricotta (From Cooking Light)

Total: 1 hour
Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 2 slices)

Ingredients

• 1  pound  refrigerated fresh pizza dough
• 2  cups  sliced cremini mushrooms
• 1  cup  (1/4-inch-thick) slices zucchini
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
• 1  medium yellow bell pepper, sliced
• 1  medium red onion, cut into thick slices
• 5 1/2  teaspoons  olive oil, divided
• 1  tablespoon  yellow cornmeal
• 1/3  cup  tomato sauce
• 1  cup  (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1/2  teaspoon  crushed red pepper
• 1/3  cup  part-skim ricotta cheese
• 2  tablespoons  small fresh basil leaves

Preparation

1. Position an oven rack in the lowest setting; place a pizza stone on rack. Preheat oven to 500°.

2. Remove dough from refrigerator. Let stand, covered, for 30 minutes.

3. Combine mushrooms and next 4 ingredients (through onion) in a large bowl; drizzle with 1 1/2 tablespoons oil. Toss. Arrange vegetables on a jelly-roll pan. Bake at 500° for 15 minutes.

4. Punch dough down. Sprinkle a lightly floured baking sheet with cornmeal; roll dough out to 15-inch circle on prepared baking sheet. Brush dough with 1 teaspoon oil. Spread sauce over dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Sprinkle 1/2 cup mozzarella over sauce; top with vegetables. Sprinkle 1/2 cup mozzarella and red pepper over zucchini mixture. Dollop with ricotta. Slide pizza onto preheated pizza stone. Bake at 500° for 11 minutes or until crust is golden. Sprinkle with basil.

And now Todd English’s pizza dough recipe.  I love this one.  I find it works really nicely with a mix of the new white whole wheat flour from King Arthur and all-purpose.

Figs Pizza Dough

Makes 4 eight-to-ten-inch pizzas

1/4 cup whole-wheat flour

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional flour for rolling

2 teaspoons (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons olive oil

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough-hook attachment, combine the whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, yeast, salt, and sugar. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the oil and 1 1/3 cups lukewarm water. Knead on low speed until the dough is firm and smooth, about 10 minutes.

2. Divide the dough into four balls, each about 7 1/2 ounces. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place two balls on each sheet, and cover with a damp towel. Allow the dough balls to rise in a warm spot until they have doubled in size, about 2 hours.

3. To roll out the dough, cover your fingers with flour, then place a ball on a generously floured work surface. Press down on the center of the ball with the tips of your fingers, simultaneously stretching the dough out with your hands. When the dough has doubled in width, use a floured rolling pin to roll the dough out until it is very thin. The outer border should be slightly thicker than the center. Transfer the dough on a spatula (allowing the dough to fold up almost like an umbrella) to a pizza peel or another flat, wide surface. The dough will be more oval than round. If any holes have appeared, pinch them closed. Repeat with the remaining balls.

Rice Pilaf Reinvented

When I think of rice pilaf I am instantly transported back to childhood.  Normally when you hear someone say back to childhood it’s a good thing.  Well, not so in this case.  My early memories of rice are in the school cafeteria and rice a roni.  I can forgive rice a roni.  The flavor honestly wasn’t all that bad.  I am sure a nice homemade version of it would stand the test of time.  School cafeteria rice pilaf can not be excused.  It’s a gelatinous mess with soggy almonds.  It’s a travesty just like pretty much anything you can think of in school lunches.  Well, except the cinnamon rolls.  Those weren’t too bad.  It’s sad what we feed our kids on a daily basis, but I digress.  Today we are talking about Rice Pilaf and this isn’t your mama’s rice pilaf.  It’s full of flavor, simple to make, and fancy enough for a nice dinner party.  This recipe comes from Fine Cooking.  Really if they stopped making such great recipes I would shut up about them, but since that isn’t happening, well you are stuck listening to me singing their praises.  They’ve done it again.  They have inspired a rice revolution in this house and honestly I am excited with the prospect of making a million variations.  This variation is spectacular to say the least.  I knew instantly when I saw it that I must make it.  Like right then.  Caramelized onions, dried cherries, and pistachios, what’s not to love?  I really love this recipe paired with another Fine Cooking recipe from Ellie Kreger.  I am planning on a write up on that some time this week.  But for today it’s all about the rice.  If you like rice pilaf, then this is a recipe you must try.  That’s right like right now.  Stop what you are doing and get to the kitchen. 

Rice Pilaf with Spiced Caramelized Onions, Orange, Cherry & Pistachio

(Recipe by Ris Lacoste for Fine Cooking Magazine)

4 Tbs. unsalted butter
3 medium onions: 2 sliced (about 3 cups); 1 small diced (about 1-1/4 cups)
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Pinch ground cloves
1-1/2 tsp. kosher salt; more as needed
Freshly ground black pepper
1 orange, zest finely grated (about 2-1/2 tsp.) and juiced (about 6 Tbs.)
3/4 cup sweetened dried tart cherries
1-1/2 cups long-grain white rice
3/4 cup shelled pistachios, toasted and roughly chopped (3.5 oz.)

---

In a 12-inch heavy-based skillet, melt 2 Tbs. of the butter over medium heat. Add the sliced onions, reduce the heat to medium low, and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly caramelized, 20 to 25 minutes. Add the allspice, cinnamon, and cloves, and stir well. Reduce the heat to low and cook another 5 min., stirring occasionally, to allow the onion to absorb the flavors of the spices and caramelize a bit more. Season with 1/2 tsp. of the salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Set aside.

Pour the orange juice over the cherries in a small bowl to hydrate them, if necessary adding enough water to cover completely.

In a heavy-based 3-qt. saucepan with a tight lid, melt the remaining 2 Tbs. butter over medium heat. Reduce the heat to medium low and add the diced onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft but not browned, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and the remaining 1 tsp. salt and stir well to coat each grain with butter. Toast for a full 5 minutes, stirring regularly to keep the grains separated and to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of  the pan (the rice may turn opaque before 5 minutes is up, but keep going). Reduce the heat to low if there are any signs of scorching.

Tip:

Fluff the rice by slipping the tines of a fork down into the rice alongside the edge of the pan. Gently lift and toss the rice toward the center of the pan. Continue this process as you work your way around the perimeter. Then add your finishing-touch ingredients and gently fold them in with the fork, using a similar gentle fluffing motion.

Add 2-1/2 cups water, stir once, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 18 minutes. Remove from the heat, and let the pilaf sit, still covered, for 5 minutes.

Once the pilaf has rested, remove the lid and fluff the rice with a fork. Strain the cherries and discard the orange juice. Using the fork, gently fold in the cherries, caramelized onions, pistachios, and orange zest. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.

Let’s Talk New Year’s

Let me start with a disclaimer I love parties, but I hate getting dressed up for them.  I would love to go to a thousand parties and hide out in the back, decorating and setting things up.  I know that may sound strange.  I promise I am not a stalker, but I would love to be a party planner or caterer.  It’s always difficult for me to find something to wear.  I’m not much of a girly girl.  I would love to have a stylist so I didn’t have to pick out clothes every day.  I know absolutely nothing about makeup.  Seriously, I don’t even know what color foundation I should wear.  The only thing I use regularly is mascara and that’s because I have the fairest eyelashes and eyebrows in the world.  It almost looks like I don’t have eyebrows.  As far as clothes go, I only wear jeans and button shirts in real life.  And the thought of taking 2 hours to do my hair literally makes me want to cry.  So this New Year’s Eve I have a wedding/party to attend and let’s just say I panicked a little.  Don’t get me wrong I am really happy for the couple and I am glad to see everyone, but finding the right gear was a long and painful process.  I finally made my way through it, but I still don’t think I am going to be comfortable all dressed up, so I am going to hide behind my camera lens as a fail safe.  The camera has saved me from discomfort many a time.

  So, let’s talk about something that doesn’t make me uncomfortable.  Party planning!  This year I have run across a couple of really cool things I want to share with you.  First, these adorable little party servers.  Pier 1 has created a whole line of party sets and they are just perfect for hors d’oeuvres or mini desserts.  The price is right too at around $30 for a set of twelve.  They even come with the little tasting spoons.  Click on the image above to go over to Pier 1 and check them out. You can also find recipe ideas at this link.

 

Fine Cooking does amazing things with food.  I love the magazine and I also love the special issues.  This years Party Food is a definite winner.  The Guacamole with Chiles I did a post on the other day came from this issue.  I also love the warm black bean and chipotle dip and the spinach and artichoke dip.  If you can’t find inspiration for your New Year’s party, then look no further, this issue will help you get there.  I know that the bookstores are still carrying this issue if you need a copy.

 

This cookbook is, of course, not from this year, but…. It’s an absolute must for the at home party planner.  The quick puff pastry recipe is reason enough to buy this fabulous book.  Honestly, this book has so many great ideas.  I could go on and on.  I particularly love the stuffed mushrooms, mini quesadillas, goat cheese and black bean dip, eggplant crisps, etc.  Not sure what you want to make, then check out the full color photo selection at the beginning of the book.  Just click on the photo to follow a link over to amazon to check it out.

If you live in Southern Maine and are in need of great cheese for a platter, check out The Cheese Iron in Scarborough.  This place is amazing, you can check them out on the web by clicking on the photo.  These guys know cheese and they are more than willing to work with you to find just the right cheese for your next party.