Housewifery

Frankie Doodle Dandy

Ladies, be sure to add this to your 2012 4th of July Menus!

 

 

Thank you for this joy Fuzzy Dave

Online Cooking

 

I'm finally back up and running and trying to get back into the swing of things. I lost a lot of info in the great tech meltdown of 2009 so I'm still trying to get everything back into their right place. I'll resume regular posting soon but I did want to pop in and share this little beauty with you.

Have you checked out The Mixer? It's an online cooking school from Betty Crocker! I just found out about it today and am so excited. It's free and has great instructional videos, recipes, and some places to talk to other students. I'm definitely going to be taking a few classes. What do you think?

Have you embraced technology when it comes to cooking? I spend many hours digging through online cooking blogs and saving recipes that I want to try. I do love having a lovely "old fashioned" recipe book but there's something very easy about bookmarking a recipe, bringing the laptop into the kitchen, and cooking.

I have my staples (Better Homes & Gardens, Betty Crocker, Martha Stewart, All Recipes etc) but my absolute favorite thing about the internet is that it's like one giant cook book. Think about it. It's full of family recipes from so many different times, and from all over the world. It's full of new ideas, and old favorites! If you tried, you couldn't get through every one. Amazing.

I know you are all itching to know my favorite reads so here you go:

I love The Kitchn because it's a great mix of recipes, tips, and reviews.

Pink of Perfection is a total culinary crush for me. Sarah has an amazing way of writing about food and an uncanny knack for coming up with just the perfect recipe!

Smitten Kitchen grabs your right away with the amazing photos. If you can pull your eyes away from them then you'll find out that the recipes are delish!

If you're in a bit of a cooking rut then you should check out Eat Make Read. Kelly tries lots of different things and you'll never get bored!

I have a ton more, and if you like these and would like for me to share more, then just let me know!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

I hope you have had a wonderful day full of family, good food, and fun.

I'm thankful for so much this year. Not the least of all are you lovely readers that come back day after day to see if I've posted anything.

I have to admit, we had a luxuriously small and low-key Thanksgiving this year. It was wonderful not to be stressed out about traveling and cooking, but I'm sad that we didn't get to spend it with our families. I'm also a little bit ashamed that the microwave was very much my friend this year. Not much came from scratch this year but it was all served with love and that's what really matters.

This weekend I'll be decorating the house for Christmas and I'm so excited. It really is my favorite season.

Now I'm off to enjoy some pumpkin pie!

Recipe File: Tuscan White Bean Soup

It's fall and so I've been starting to crave warm and hearty soups. I wanted something that was easy to make, would provide a few meals and was also low in calories/fat. Enter Tuscan White Bean Soup. I found a recipe online and modified it a bit to make it lower in calories/fat.

Tuscan White Bean soup

3 cans white navy beans (drained)
5 stalks celery (diced)
1 onion (diced)
3-4 carrots (diced)
Dried oregano, thyme, rosemary
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 tablespoons Olive oil
5 cups vegetable broth


Heat Olive oil in heavy bottomed stock/soup pot. Add diced onions. Cook onions, stirring frequently for about 5 minutes or until they begin to soften.
Add chopped celery and Carrots. Cook for 10 minutes. Add spices and salt and pepper. Pour in beans and stock. Bring to a boil. Cover and lower heat, let simmer for an hour. Stirring occasionally. Take out 3 cups of soup and put into blender (or use hand blender). Puree and then add back into remaining soup (to thicken).

I garnish with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and it's a great final touch. You can also drizzle a little extra olive oil on the top if desired.

This is an easy recipe to modify and make your own. Spinach would be great in this, as would chicken. I'd even add some elbow pasta in to make it even heartier.

It's always a good time for Chili

Right now I'm about to sit down to a nice big bowl of homemade chili and that got me to wondering....

What is your favorite "go-to-in-a-pinch-need-to-whip-something-up-quickly" meal? You know, the one you always seem to have most of the ingredients already on hand for and can make on the fly? I love my chili because it takes no time at all to actually prepare it and then I can just walk away and let it cook.

Generally, I love to let it brew away in the crock-pot but some nights there isn't enough time (or rather I haven't planned enough in advance) and so I just let it cook on the stovetop for an hour or so. Sprinkle loads of cheese on top and I'm a happy camper.