Fresh Pasta

Does anyone make their own pasta? Is it worth it? What do you need?

What's for Thanksgiving?

What are you cooking for Thanksgiving? Are you sticking with the classics? Does your family have traditions? I'm always interested in hearing new yummy recipes. This is an awesome holiday, one focusing on food, family, what we are thankful for and football:)

Dinner help

As I tend to do, I go through phases where I am very motivated about making up my menus and trying new recipes, and then when I am not so motivated. I am in the down phase, and am having trouble putting ideas together for some new dinners to try. I need to get shopping and would love some great ideas. I did a pork stir-fry last night. I was feeling uninspired and just threw it together. It didn't look great and I wasn't thrilled about it, but it actually tasted really good. 

Anyone have some great, easy, family-friendly ideas?

Green bean casserole

Ok here it is, I like green bean casserole. A few years ago our news paper ran an article on it and had some updated one. I tried one of them.   Am thinking of another one this year.  Do people make it? Do you like it? Why? or Why not? Which one would you make?

Sour-Cream Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

Anyone have the recipe handy? I can't find mine and am having a coffee/playdate tomorrow morning.

Update: Eileen shared the recipe with me, so I am adding here on the front page so it is nice and easy to find. A family favorite!

Chocolate Chip coffee cake
!/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs 
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp Vanilia
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Topping
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts
2 tsp cinnamon

Cream together butter,sugar,eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Combine 2 mixes. 
Spoon 1/2 batter into pan. Top with 1/2 chip mixture. Cover with rest of batter. Top with rest of chip mixture.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
Mom always does her in a fluted pan but I have trouble getting it to cook through in that pan so I do a 9x13. So you may need to adjust baking time.

We had a little dinner party here last night, just a few friends, a few tapas, and some nice wine. We ended the evening with a fabulous bottle of limoncello that my brother-in-law brought back from Positano for my birthday.

One of the best things about the party, was that it was followed by a do-nothing day. We’d had a busy week, and even a busy day leading up to the party last night. I hadn’t left myself enough time to do what I really wanted to do, but it was good friends, and nobody really cared about anything but hanging out and being together and relaxing a little. Everyone had had equally busy weeks.

But, back to our do-nothing day today: It was made even better by the fact that I had made tandoori chicken skewers and had enough leftover to add the chicken to salad tonight for our dinner so I didn’t really have to make dinner tonight.

It was so good, and so well received by the family, that I’ll plan it again in the future. The tandoori chicken is perfect for our Friday Night Appetizers-for-Dinner, and I’ll make enough extra for another Do-Nothing Sunday Dinner.

I adapted the tandoori chicken recipe from the Purcell sisters’ Tandoori lamb with cumin dipping sauce. I had chicken and I was looking for an interesting way to serve it, so I used this recipe.

Tandoori chicken with cumin dipping sauce

2 c plain yogurt
2 T ground coriander
2 T paprika
2 T fresh lemon juice
1½ T ground cumin
1½ T ground ginger
½ t turmeric
½ t ground cardamom
½ t salt
1 garlic clove, minced
2 lb chicken breast, cubed


¾ c sour cream
¾ c plain yogurt
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 t ground cumin
salt and pepper, to taste

Combine the first 10 ingredients in a bowl and blend thoroughly. Add the chicken, and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

When you’re ready to prepare the skewers, mix together sour cream, yogurt, lemon juice, and cumin. Salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat broiler. Place chicken onto 5-inch skewers on a broiler pan. Broil for about 3 minutes on each side. Remove to serving platter.

Tandoori chicken salad
For my salad today, I heated my chicken and added what salad ingredients I had in the fridge.

1 lb tandoori chicken skewers, leftover from Appetizers-for-Dinner
10 oz salad greens
1 pt grape tomatoes
1 cucumber, peeled, quartered, sliced
1 celery stalk, sliced
1 red bell pepper, diced
3-4 new red potatoes, boiled, chilled, quartered (these were leftover from Thursday’s mashed potatoes)
cumin dipping sauce, leftover from Appetizers-for-Dinner

Combine salad greens, tomatoes, cucumber, celery, and red pepper. Top with potatoes and chicken skewers.

You can dress with whatever salad dressing you like, but it was delicious with a batch of the cumin dipping sauce.

Cool-weather Soups

I always love to have soups during this time of year. It makes me feel warm and toasty, add salad and a bread, and I am in heaven!

Last night, I made a butternut squash soup. I roasted the squash with a little olive oil, s&p at 400 for about 45 minutes, until it was tender. Then, sauteed a little onion and garlic, added the squash pulp and some chicken stock, nutmeg and sage. Brought the soup to a boil and let it simmer. Then, pureed in the blender until smooth. Drizzled a little molasses on top before serving. It is good, but I would be more than welcome to trying other butternut squash soup recipes, as well as other soup recipes in general. 

I will come back shortly and post a few of our favorites.