Category Archives: 50 Recipes

March 22, 2013 · 4:12 pm

Breaking the Rules

I once pitched this recipe idea to an editor where I occasionally freelance and was told, “We don’t run those types of recipes. We only want recipes where everything is made from scratch.”

I knew that. I was just suggesting she make an exception.

I’ve come up with dozens of recipes for this  magazine over the years, all of which were from scratch. Heck, that’s pretty much my motto in the kitchen. From scratch. This recipe is so gloriously chocolatey  and fudgey that it makes me think it’s ok to break the rules once in a while. Full disclosure I have made these chocolate chip gooey bars both ways and I would swear on a stack of Julia Child’s cookbooks that the ones made from store-bought dough are better. Honest.

chocolate chip gooey bars

This recipe is from Sally Sampson’s The BakeSale Cookbook. Sampson recommends you make the cookie dough from scratch, but you don’t have to. The simplicity of making them with bought dough is curiously freeing. Melt, squish, layer, bake. Perfect for pot lucks or bake sales, known to cure PMS when eaten in their molten just-out-of-the-oven state, these bars can also be used for some serious bribing with teenagers or grown ups.

Rule Breaking Chocolate Chip Gooey Bars

2 packages of chocolate chip cookie dough (around 2 pounds)

1 – 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 – 12 ounce bag chocolate chips

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Dump the sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips into a small saucepan and over a low flame gently heat until the chips are melted. Stir in the vanilla extract and let cool a few minutes. This will be your “fudge” layer.

layering chocolate chip gooey bars

Flip a 9″ x 13″ pan over (if you have one that is slightly smaller all the better) and press some aluminum foil over the outside. Then gently lift the foil off and it should be in your pan’s shape. You can then press it into the inside of the pan. Be careful not to tear the foil. My pan is slightly smaller than 9″ x 13″ which is the perfect size for these bars, but slightly too small for lasagna.

Next it’s time to layer up. Take the dough and squish it into super flat tiles which you will place on the bottom of the pan. I use the flat brick of dough which is prescored into squares. I break off chunks and smoosh them flat. You may need to use one or two squares from the second package of dough to completely cover the bottom. Or you can  press the dough just a little bit thinner. Spread all of the fudge over the first dough layer and top with more pieces of flattened dough. Bake for 45 minutes or until the dough is nicely browned on top. Cool a bit and cut into squares. I tend to make these small because they are rich.

chocolate chip cookie bars ready to cutMaybe someday when I’m feeling crazy I’ll get a tattoo on my stirring arm that says from scratch. It will remind me if something is chocolatey and gooey enough it’s ok to break the rules.

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February 28, 2013 · 10:08 pm

Antidote to Stress – Creamed Food

I thought we were over the major college hurdle when I wrote my last post. After all our daughter had chosen to attend UNH this fall. We could relax – right? Wrong – so wrong! It turns out getting into college is just step one, choosing which college to go to is step two. The first deposit check is the beginning of steps three through infinity.

I know there are kids out there who are super smart with extreme financial need who may get a full ride to college. There are some families for whom tuition payments are no problem. I of course don’t personally know any of families like that, but I image they exist in the stratosphere of the 1%. Then there is the rest of us. Our kids may qualify for some financial aid and scholarships from their chosen school, some of them may get merit based grants and aid, but it is rarely enough to cover the entire cost of college. So once the choosing and being chosen part of the college process is over it’s time to figure out where the money will come from.

We can help a bit, but we won’t be able to fund everything so my focus for the last several weeks has been to look for scholarships and grants which Isabelle won’t have to pay back*. This has meant filling out endless forms, all of which had to be in the correct order. We started with the forms which told colleges how much our family could afford. In between filling out those forms we scurried to our accountant to try and get our taxes done in January. She of course laughed at the thought of being able to file in the first month of the year (when you’re self-employed like we are). Many of the forms needed for our various tax schedules don’t get released until late February or March. It doesn’t matter that a different part of the government (the one who would decided how much we could afford) expected us to file our taxes by the third week of January. She took pity on us she came up with a draft of our taxes so we could (sort of) move on.

Turns out there were some scholarships we’d already missed the deadlines for. I guess instead of taking Isabelle to visit colleges last fall I should have put her on a bus while I spent my time searching out potential scholarships. Amazingly, even with our late start of January there were many different scholarships out there. You just have to fit their criteria.

In some cases it is about your GPA and SAT scores. For other scholarships it helps if your parents didn’t go to college. I found a bunch of grants for kids who grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts, but since we’re from Whately Isabelle couldn’t apply to those. Certain scholarships correlate with intended majors or specific colleges. Others are awarded to left-handed people whose parents immigrated from the Land of Oz. (Ok, I’m kidding about that last one)  It’s mind-boggling what is out there.

Of course just because you find a scholarship which matches your kid it doesn’t mean the scholarship committee will choose your offspring. There are still essays to write, recommendations to get, plus you’ll have to make copies of everything from your family’s federal returns (with all social security numbers blacked out), to your kid’s official high school transcript, along with your dog’s vaccination records, and a pint of blood. Ok, I’m kidding again, but I bet we could find a scholarship where they wanted those last two things. One of the more challenging parts is adhering to the various directions. They make the directions tricky because it is an easy way to eliminate certain applicants. Put your SAT scores before your extra-curricular activities? Bing we won’t consider you. Did you remember to staple everything together? No? Bing another application in the trash. Remove all staples , mail in a 10″ x 13″ envelope, scan to a pdf, with a photo, without a photo; hand written essay, typed essay, or in some cases both handwritten and typed essay. The variations are endless.

toast ready for creamed greens

Which may make you understand why I’ve been eating a lot of food these past few weeks which is both comforting and needs no elaborate instructions. Barely a step up from baby food some might say. The original recipe I’ve been rifting off of came from my friend Jessica. She ate a lot of this while going to graduate school on a very tight budget. Since she was living in the middle of Amish Country, there were wonderful markets to go to where she would buy chipped beef. She would make a glorious creamed chipped beef on toast though sometimes she got fancy and served it on a baked potato. Since chipped beef is hard to come by in western Massachusetts I’ve been substituting all things green for the beef, though occasionally I’ll use chopped up ham and peas. I am usually too last-minute to ever think about baking a potato so my creamed whatever is always served over toast. It is comforting, it is cheap, and it is fast. The perfect antidote to all these forms and applications.

rainbow swiss chard

Rainbow swiss chard as the “green”

Creamed Greens on Toast

Like I said there really isn’t a specific recipe. You’ll either need to experiment a bit or if you want to you can come over to my house and I’ll whip you up a bowl while you staple (or unstaple) pages together for yet another application.

1 or 2 pieces of bread

1/2 small onion, chopped (optional)

1-3 Tablespoons butter or margarine or olive oil

handful of flour

kale, spinach or swiss chard, stems removed if tough, washed and chopped

spoonful of mustard, grainy or dijon

cow, goat or rice milk

salt and pepper

While your bread is toasting sauté the chopped onions, if you are using them. Once they are translucent or the butter/margarine/oil is heated make the  roux (which is just a fancy name for white sauce) by adding the flour. Stir everything around until the flour is cooked a bit, but not burned.  Add your main green ingredient along with a spoonful of mustard. Then whisk in the cow or goat or rice milk. Start with a little, you can always add more. When the roux is thickened and the greens are cooked taste for seasonings. Pour it all over the toast which you’ve plopped into a bowl and dig in.

Creamed spinach on toast

Creamed spinach on toast

Of course if you can find chipped beef where you live by all means try it with that.

*I am aware that kids can take out loans for college, but starting off life with huge amounts of debt is its own challenge. We’re trying to make it so there isn’t a mountain of debt, just a small hill.

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January 27, 2013 · 5:12 pm

College Ham

Isabelle

Yesterday our daughter decided where she’s going to college. As you may know applying to college is a lengthy process. It’s complicated by the mountain of decisions you need to make along the way, including but not limited to:

Does this school offer what I want to study?
Can we afford it?
Are my grades and test scores good enough to get me in?
Will I fit in at this school?
What if I don’t get along with my roommate?
Will I starve if insert your school’s name here’s food is horrible?

We were exceedingly lucky since early on our daughter knew what she wanted to study – criminal justice – and was clear she wanted a small college or university since her high school graduating class is only 21 people. Those two choices narrowed the field considerably.

Her third criteria was a bit harder to find. Isabelle wanted to be able to cook her own food because she is a picky eater. Not picky as in she won’t try things. Rather picky because she tries not to eat:

junk food
processed foods
genetically modified foods
meats treated with antibiotics
anything prepared in butter (yup she won’t eat my cookies)
fried foods
cow dairy
processed sugar

It’s a long list. It’s not a particularly food service friendly list either. None of the schools from her potential college list allow freshman to cook for themselves, though most of them accommodate a variety of dietary needs and preferences.

university of new haven campus

After Bella made the decision to go University of New Haven the first thing I suggested she do at orientation this summer is make friends with the people over at food service. The second thing is to figure out how she can tweak their food system so it works for her, because that’s what she’ll need to do. With an undergraduate population of 4,600 food services has to cook in bulk. Plus most students want to eat the things Isabelle eschews.

As part of the Accepted Student Day program we were served a classic college lunch. Dining services somehow cooked and served food not only to all of the returning UNH students, but also to the 300+ prospective freshman and their parents (we guesstimated there were roughly 800-1000 people) who had shown up to revisit the campus before making their final college decision. Isabelle and Shawn went straight to the salad bar and topped off their salads with a couple of vegan rice and bean cakes. I decided to go for the classic ham dinner which consisted of thick slices of pineapple baked ham with gravy, french cut green beans, and scalloped potatoes straight from some industrial size box. I have a secret fondness for those dehydrated potatoes you add boiling water and a package of powdered cheese mix to. It must come from growing up in the 60s & 70s.

college ham

Much as I enjoyed my trip-down-memory-lane lunch and was impressed with the variety of food choices being served at the UNH cafeteria, I have to say my all-time favorite ham is Monte’s Ham from the Saveur Cooks Authentic American cookbook. The recipe’s premiss is to buy the cheapest bone-in ham you can find* and slather it with a delicious glaze, thus enabling you to feed the masses very inexpensively and deliciously. I’ve can usually find a super cheap ham, but I have to spend as much again on the glaze ingredients which chafes my wallet. Marmalade does not come cheap (unless you make your own or find it on sale) even at a big box store.

I often make this ham during the holidays, since we can count on it for many meals. First it appears in its roasted form, then the next few days sliced cold for sandwiches, chunked for a quiche, and finally when we’re down to the bone it flavors a pot of lentil soup. Even figuring in the cost of a good marmalade it still is an economical dinner with plenty of leftovers. Perhaps I should send this recipe down to the cooks at UNH.

College Ham

1  10-15 pound ham

1 – 1 1/2 cups marmalade

3/4 – 1 cup dijon mustard (grainy or plain)

1 – 1 1/2 cups tightly packed brown sugar

1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Preheat the oven to 300ºF. Remove the little plastic disc which comes stuck into the bone, rinse and pat dry the ham, and remove any hard brown pieces of skin. Place ham in a large roasting pan, which you’ve lined with foil since the glaze bakes on hard. If you don’t mind soaking and scrubbing the pan you can skip that step. Depending on the size of your ham bake 1  1/4 – 2 hours. Near the end of the baking time mix together the glaze ingredients – marmalade, dijon, brown sugar, cloves.

Increase oven temperature to 350ºF, pour half the glaze over ham, brushing it into all the nooks and crannies. Bake another 1  1/2 hours, pouring more glaze over the ham every 20 minutes or so. You can also spoon the glaze which is starting to caramelize on the bottom of the pan over the ham as well.

When ham is cooked place on a platter and let rest for 15-30 minutes, covered loosely with a fresh piece of foil. Slice and serve with or without boxed potatoes au gratin.

No mater how you slice it we are all thrilled Isabelle will be attending the University of New Haven’s John C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Science this fall. Go Chargers!!!

UNH Chargers

Images of University of New Haven and UNH Chargers courtesy of UNH

*Unfortunately a cheap ham means it was not likely to have been raised without antibiotics, but sometimes even at home Isabelle can’t have everything on her food wish list.

**During the financial aid talk Shawn and I almost choked when we heard the price of the freshman meal plan – $5,250/year. Later we realized it wasn’t as bad as we initially thought. Meals work out to about $20.04/day, which is reasonable. Especially when you consider someone else is washing the dishes.

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January 22, 2013 · 9:36 am

No Bashing Required

Food prep often includes mashing, whipping, kneading, blending, and chopping, as seen in this wonderful British TV commercial for Lurpak by director Dougal Wilson*. Much of the chaos is just plain fun! Break something around the house and you get yelled at. Break an egg and you can make something from it – an omelette, cake, meatloaf.

When I teach people to cook there are certain recipes I know will lure them into the kitchen. Really young children adore anything they can squish or squeeze through their fingers and taste along the way. Elementary school age kids are usually willing to try any recipe involving egg breaking, sugar or knives. The last being something to teach slightly older kids and always with supervision, but knife skills are important. All ages respond to the kneading bread dough – especially the part where you get to punch down the dough. The messy, tactile, physical, and sometimes slightly violent parts of food prep can be seductive. I admit I’ll use almost any opportunity or concept to introduce folks young or old to the joys of making food.

"Dad getting ready to punch down the dough"

Step one–making the face.

Grammy Caldwell wasn’t quite as sneaky about getting folks into the kitchen and cook as I am. She loved cooking, made great food, was happy to show anyone who was interested (like me) how she did it. The rest of the folks she simply fed. Despite her straightforward approach to cooking I want to tell you a secret –  she was a raisin bran basher.

"Cereal bran muffins"

Her Raisin Bran Muffins are one of those wacky doodle recipes where you transform one breakfast food into another. In this recipe you add eggs, flour, buttermilk, oil and a few other things to a box of cereal the it transforms into muffins. It wasn’t written down on her recipe card, but I remember Gram pulverizing the bran flakes with her rolling pin when she made these. No polite, gentle taps but repeated bashes till all she had was a bag of crumbs and flattened raisins. I’m guessing she figured the annihilated cereal would incorporate into the batter faster. One of the steps of this recipe which is written down is you let the batter sit overnight to allow the flavors to meld. A few years ago I was making a batch and I forgot the bashing part. I was worried it would make a difference. Thankfully I couldn’t tell the un-bashed batch from any previous bashed batches. I’m guessing it is because as the batter sits overnight the bran flakes in the cereal more or less melt (well actually they expand) into the batter. So since it doesn’t seem to make a difference I’ve stopped bashing. Of course if you feel the need to hit something with a rolling pin a bag of Raisin Bran is a good thing to whack.

"raisin bran muffins cooling"

This recipe makes enough batter so you can have 1-2 dozen mini muffins every day for a (school) week. I like to mix it up on Sunday night so all I have to do each morning is get up, preheat the oven while I make the kid’s lunches, then pop in one or two mini muffin pans. The mini version bakes so quickly you can have hot muffins ready before it’s time to leave for the bus. If your family is smaller than mine or they don’t like to eat the same thing day after day, you can freeze either the batter or bake all the muffins and freeze them. They also make a nice gifts for the neighbors.

"raisin bran muffins"

Use your biggest bowl-this one is just big enough

One Week Raisin Bran Muffins

Grammy used Post Raisin Bran, I use Kellogg’s. She used more sugar than I do, but that is a personal preference, so you may want to give the batter a taste at 1 1/2 cups to see what you think. Don’t try to keep the batter longer than 5-6 days.

1 cup oil

4 eggs

1 quart buttermilk

1  1/2 – 2  cups sugar

5 cups flour (I mix all-purpose flour with whole wheat and a little wheat germ if I have it)

5 teaspoons baking soda

15-17  ounces raisin bran cereal, bashed or unbashed

 In the biggest bowl you have mix together oil, eggs, buttermilk and sugar. Fold in the flour/s and baking soda, the batter can be lumpy. Next dump in the raisin bran and mix it in until it’s coated. Transfer it all to a large covered bowl. You need the giant bowl to mix in because the bran flakes want to go everywhere when you’re trying to stir them in. Perhaps that was another reason Gram bashed them – to reduce their volume. Refrigerate batter overnight.
Preheat oven to 400ºF. Grease mini muffin pans and fill with batter to just below the top with batter. Bake 14-16 minutes. Serve while hot, though I must admit they make a nice little snack throughout the morning along with a cup of tea.

*I did not food style this commercial, but I dearly wish I had. It is brilliant and every time I watch it I get excited about how fun my chosen career can be. Kudos to the director, food stylist, prop stylist (did you notice all those purple cooking pots?!!) and all!

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January 8, 2013 · 11:40 pm

Birthday Punch

It’s my birthday again so to celebrate I’m giving you a present. The recipe is my Dad’s champagne punch which he has served at many a holiday party. Joe’s Champagne Punch is sneaky. After a few glasses you realize this punch serves as much of a wallop as my daughter’s boxing coach dishes up in the ring. Only it’s a cocktail wallop and you don’t realize how potent it is until after you’ve had a few glasses. Whenever Dad stirs up a batch I can hear Mom warning people, “You have to be careful with this champagne punch because it goes down soooo easy!”

When my parents serve this they mix it up in a cut glass punch bowl. A few months before I got married (and well before the advent of Photoshop) I did a job where I needed to bring a wall thermostat frozen into a block of clear ice to a photo shoot. Not really food styling, but it was a job. I found a great company near Boston who had discovered how to freeze solid objects in clear ice. For our wedding Shawn and I had them make us an ice bowl filled with flowers which we used to serve Joe’s champagne punch out of.  For my 50th birthday bonfire celebration we nestled a giant stainless steel mixing bowl into a snowdrift an ladled the punch out of that. However you serve it don’t forget to warn people of its potency or plan on making your party a sleepover.

"Joe Caldwell's champagne cocktail"

My dad Joe and his LED champagne apron

Joe’s Champagne Cocktail

2 cups orange juice

2 cups pineapple juice

3 cups lemon juice

1 bottle brandy

4 bottles champagne

Simple syrup to taste

ice

Make the simple syrup by combining 2 cups of sugar with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then turn off the heat and cool. I often find my self doing this step at the last-minute in the middle of winter so I simply put the pan on the back steps to cool down. If you find yourself perilously close to party time you can also place the pan of simple syrup in a bowl filled with ice, which should cool it down quickly.

Once you’ve made a batch of simple syrup find yourself a huge punchbowl or bowl. Mix everything together except the simple syrup. Mix the simple syrup in to taste. My husband and I like the punch a little bit tart, but it really is something you should taste and decide. You can also mix it up so it’s tart, then leave a small pitcher of simple syrup on the side for guests who like things sweeter.

You can also make a small party-size batch by quartering the recipe to use just one bottle of champagne.

"Joe's champagne cocktails"

Whatever you do don’t try to save time by pre-releasing the cork cages. One year Dad thought he could save time at their annual Christmas party by untwisting all the wire fasteners on the champagne corks. The holiday festivities were in full swing when suddenly the kitchen was filled with the retort of champagne corks ejecting themselves from their bottles at random. Bubbly (yet happy) chaos ensued.

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