Foodmomiac

Yes, we really DID eat a dish called Yummy Balls

I can always count on Stefania (aka City Mama) for great recipes. She has many of the same foodie values that I do, and our families seem to have similar tastes. We love comfort food, ethnic food, things with a ton of flavor and richness. Stefania is now pregnant with her third child, and I have to say that I am LOVING the cravings that this little dude has been imposing on her and her family. I am all for using the very finest ingredients, but sometimes it's nice to go mega comfort and eat a little bit of processed food. Just the other night, we made Stefania's nachos, complete with Tostito brand Queso poured over the top (they were a HUGE hit). And last night, we made Yummy Balls. I kept giggling as I prepared them, because I couldn't get the old SNL "Schweddy Balls" skit out of my head.

I think that might have been part of the charm. I'll let you grab the recipe from Stefania, but I did make one change. We didn't have any tomato soup on hand, so I used a can of Campbell's Cream of Chicken. I also decided to take this recipe fully 70s, and I used dehydrated minced onion and garlic powder instead of their fresh counterparts. The results were ridiculously delicious. I served "the balls" alongside some leftover mashed potatoes and halved zucchinis that were stuffed with herbed feta and heated in the oven.

Pumpkin Muffins Made with REAL PUMPKIN!!!

Pumpkin is one of those vegetables that most people buy canned. And the purchase of canned pumpkin is considered completely OK, even for gourmet types. Growing up, my Grandma Ana (a gourmet type for SURE) was always in charge of pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving dessert, and she used Libby's canned pumpkin nearly every time. I distinctly remember the one time she used a fresh pumpkin. The pie wasn't quite right. It was watery and not as full of flavor.

This memory has scared me off of baking with fresh pumpkin for my entire adult life. But then, in our CSA last week, we got a cute little pie pumpkin. It was just itching to be made into something, and since I didn't feel like dealing with pie dough, I decided that the something would be muffins.

The problem with deciding to bake with real pumpkin becomes very apparent if you do a Google search (or an Epicurious search) for pumpkin desserts. Every recipe calls for canned pumpkin. I decided to wing it, and I am super pleased with the results.

The recipe I used was this one from Smitten Kitchen, but I made a few adjustments. First, I didn't have any pumpkin pie spice, so I found a recipe for THAT as well. Second, I needed to accommodate for the fresh pumpkin. This was the tricky part. I cut my cute little pumpkin into quarters and cleaned out all of the guts and seeds (the seeds were later cleaned and then roasted with salt, pepper and paprika for a tiny snack). Then, I put the pumpkin quarters skin side up in a shallow dish with about an inch of water in the bottom. This went into the oven at 375 degrees until the pumpkin was very soft. I think it was about an hour, but you'll need to just keep poking at it with a fork.

Once the pumpkin cooled a bit, I scraped the meat from the skin into a bowl. I then grabbed some cheesecloth (if you don't have this in your kitchen, grab some at your supermarket in the cooking implement aisle - I use it all the time) and used it to squeeze all of the excess liquid out of the pumpkin. When I was done, I mashed it up into a fine puree, and voila! One cup of pureed pumpkin.

Pumpkin Muffins

1-1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup pumpkin (canned or fresh, prepared as above)
1/3 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice or ground clove
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1-1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
cinnamon sugar
raw pepitas (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin tin with paper liners. Combine all of the ingredients and stir gently. It is totally fine for the batter to be lumpy. Add the batter to the muffin tin. Sprinkle each muffin with some cinnamon sugar and some raw, green pumpkin seeds (pepitas) and bake for 25-30 minutes. Enjoy!

Dylan teaches you how to make the perfect roast chicken

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Originally uploaded by Foodmomiac

I told Dylan how easy it was to make a roast chicken, and we then decided it would be fun to make a video lesson. Here's my girl, giving you the low-down.

(Chicken is in the oven, and we are also having mashed potatoes and some sort of veggie.)

Back to School Week! (and Foodmomiac's homemade Ranch dressing)

Good morning all. It is 6:15 and I have already been up for two hours. I appeared on the local CBS morning show this morning at the ungodly hour of 5:40. The good news is that my kids' lunches are all made for the day because I prepared them yesterday so that I could bring them on air to demonstrate some of my favorite tricks.

I know that many of you in other cities started school a few weeks ago, but in honor of OUR first week I thought it would be fun to feature a good school lunch recipe every day. Today I want to share my recipe for Ranch Dressing. This was adapted from a recipe I found in Bon Appetit in 1999, and everyone in my family loves it. If your kids are obsessed with dipping things in Ranch, it is great to have this around. It will last for about a week in the fridge, so if you make some on Sunday, you'll have plenty to last all five school days - I pack it in small Tupperware or Rubbermaid containers and also pack some cut-up veggies. I am not a big fan of bottled Ranch, but this stuff is so good I am often tempted to eat it with a spoon. 

Ranch Dressing

3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk
2 tablespoons powdered cultured buttermilk blend (this stuff, available in the baking aisle of most markets)
4 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (my favorite is a combination of dill and parsley - the dill is a must)
1-1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1-1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Combine all ingredients in a bowl with a whisk or a fork. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Special Announcement: I am running the Chicago Marathon on 10/10/10 in support of Healthy Schools Campaign. I am on the board of this amazing not-for-profit, and have pledged to raise $1,000. Please help me meet my goal - even $5 helps! To donate, visit my fundraising page.

Huge Success - Homemade Granola!

Last year, I decided that I'd make my own granola. Michael fell in love with the granola at our favorite breakfast place near my mom and step father's house in Massachusetts, and there is simply nothing store bought that even comes close.

For some reason, when I made the granola last year, I decided to follow Mark Bittman's recipe. Now, don't get me wrong. I love Mark Bittman, and I love most of his SAVORY recipes. But for sweet stuff? I just never have success. So... I made some mediocre granola last year, and then I gave up.

When I spotted Molly Wizenberg's granola recipe in last month's Bon Appetit, I was intrigued. It was made differently from Bittman's version, and her description of its wonders was VERY convincing. I decided to give it a try. One of the perks of her recipe is that it encourages a lot of experimentation.

I made my first version yesterday, and I absolutely adore it. I already have ideas for riffs on the recipe next week, and I think I might cook it for 5-7 minutes less, but other than that, it is total breakfast (or snack) perfection.

Best Homemade Granola

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup raw pecans, smashed up
3 tablespoons wheat germ
2 tablespoons flax seeds
1/3 cup raw pumpkin seeds
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
2 tablespoons canola oil

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Dump the first nine ingredients into a giant bowl and combine well with your hands, making sure the brown sugar breaks up. In a small saucepan, heat the honey and the oil until it is smooth and liquidy. Add the honey mixture to the oats and stir until the dry ingredients are all coated.

On a large baking sheet lined with a silicon baking mat or parchment paper, spread out the granola into a thin layer. Bake for 30-40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so. Pull out of the oven and press down to set a bit. After the granola is cool, break it up into chunks and place into an airtight container.

Serve with milk or (my favorite) plain Greek yogurt, topped with fresh berries.

Pickle Soup (aka Cold Cucumber Soup with a McClure kick)

Last summer, our friend, babysitter, colleague, food blogger and all around great person Jessi came to visit us at our rented Michigan cottage with her boyfriend Jason (Dylan's guitar teacher, and an absolutely amazing musician). After sharing a pitcher (or two) of Oberon at one of the local bars, we convinced them to come back to the house for an impromptu dinner. We made a lot of great food that night, but the most momentous part of the evening came when I pulled out the jar of spicy McClure pickles.

Jessi was smitten, and when she made Cold Cucumber Soup later in the summer, she had a brilliant stroke of genius. SHE ADDED PICKLE JUICE. It was at that moment that a sweet summer soup became a sultry and spicy summer sensation.

Here is the recipe as I make it, just slightly adapted.

Pickle Soup

One seedless English cucumber, peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks (if you only have a cucumber with seeds, just remove them)
Small handful of fresh dill
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 can low fat cream of chicken soup (trust us)
1/2 cup McClure's spicy pickle juice
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Combine everything in a blender. Chill for at least an hour. Enjoy!

A Crazy PickPocketing Story with a Bonus Family Breakfast Recipe: Crepes!

I love crepes. But doesn't everybody? Crepes are one of those foods that I can't imagine anyone disliking (other foods in this category include garlic knots and French onion dip). I actually got pickpocketed once as a direct result of my love of crepes.

It was late at night in Paris. I was studying there during my junior year, and had a late night craving (let's call it "the munchies") that could only be satiated with a nutella crepe. I was hanging at my friend Judith's apartment on the Boulevard Montparnasse (she lived almost directly above La Coupole, for those familiar with the area), and there happened to be a crepe stand just outside her building. So, I ventured outside and purchased a nutella crepe. I couldn't wait to eat it, so I dug in right there, standing on the sidewalk, looking out at the traffic and pedestrians of the busy Boulevard.

In those days, I never carried a purse. I wore an oversized men's leather jacket (it was the early 90s) and kept my wallet in the inside pocket. In those days, a group of gypsy types hung out in an alcove right next to La Coupole. They had some mangy dogs and were all kind of dirty and scary looking. That night, I was so enraptured by the warm, sweet Nutella oozing out of my freshly-made crepe that I didn't even notice when someone lifted my wallet right out of my jacket pocket and took off with it.That was some crepe, my friends.

(Side note: for those thinking that it is absolutely impossible for someone to be pickpocketed without even noticing, I urge you to rent the 1959 movie Pickpocket by Robert Bresson. Parisian pickpockets have some mad, mad skills, and this movie showcases their underworld so, so well.)

Wow, that was a really long-winded way of leading up to my favorite crepe recipe. I use the Basic Crepe Recipe from the Moosewood Cookbook. I blend up the batter, let it sit for a bit and then start making crepes to order. I put an assortment of toppings on the counter and the kids can choose whatever they want. My favorite is the simple combination of butter and sugar, to which I'll occasionally add some thinly-sliced bananas. Dylan loves honey. Michael and Max vacillate between Nutella and fruit jam.

Crepes (adapted from The Moosewood Cookbook)

1 egg
1-1/4 cup milk (I use low fat)
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
butter

Combine the first four ingredients in a blender and blend well. Let sit for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Using a pastry brush (I prefer the silicon kind), brush the skillet with butter. Pour in about 1/4 cup of batter and swirl around to make a big-ish circle. Once you get skilled, you can try spreading the batter around a bit (quickly) with a rubber spatula. Once the crepe is set, add the ingredient of your choice, fold the crepe into quarters and serve immediately.

Bon Appetit!

A New Family Favorite - Chicken Paprikash

My husband is a creature of habit when it comes to dinners. He FREAKS OUT when I change a recipe that he loves, and if he had his way, I'd make many of the same dishes over and over. So, when I made Chicken Paprikash for the first time this past weekend and he loved it, he made a declaration. He decided that we need to do a better job keeping track of our family favorites. The easiest way to do that is by just making that a category on the blog, so here it is. Family favorites.

The latest issue of Saveur is the annual 100 recipe, where they publish 100 fabulous things. This year, the issue was especially interesting because all of the articles were user submitted. It was kind of like reading eGullet or my food blogs but on paper. So enjoyable. And the recipes they included (not enough, by the way) were really enticing.

The Chicken Paprikash was written about towards the end of the issue in an article about a woman's mom and the delicious Paprikash she'd make for the family. This was so, so good. It was filling, and rich, and the chicken was moist. It was just amazing, and we all loved it. We ate this Sunday night, and it was much needed, as I had run 8.5 miles that morning. We will certainly be making this again.

A few notes: I cooked it a lot longer than they said, and it was fine (though I had it on extremely low heat). I also just added the whole pepper to the dish instead of reserving some as garnish. Finally, the dumplings were really yummy, but they were HUGE. I think next time I'll use my spaetzle maker so that they are smaller and more tender.

Easy and Impressive Broiled Chicken

Last week, I got home relatively late from work, but decided that I still needed to make a home cooked meal. We had a ton of groceries in the fridge, and I think everyone is getting sick of delivered food in this household. One of the food items in my fridge was a whole chicken, cut up, so I pulled out Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything" and started searching for the easiest option.

Broiled chicken it was! I preheated the broiler, brushed a large casserole dish (you can use a broiling pan) with olive oil and placed the chicken in it in one layer. I then mixed together about 1/2 cup of dijon mustard (I used a combination of coarse grain and regular) and a tablespoon or two of lemon juice. The chicken was salted and peppered and placed under the broiler for a minute or two, until it started to sizzle a bit. I then brushed the chicken with some of the mustard mixture and put it BACK under the broiler. In a couple of minutes, I pulled it out, flipped it, basted it again with the mustard and put it back. I repeated this process (broil, pull out, flip, baste) about 3-4 times until the chicken reached a temperature of about 165 degrees and was nice and crispy. Served with leftover cheesy potatoes and a salad, this was a simple and elegant meal that everyone enjoyed and that took just minutes to prepare. Awesome!

And the cooking has officially begun

My house official smells amazing. I love, love, love the brine that we use for our turkey every year, and one of the reasons I love it is the aroma it generates. Boil 6 quarts of water, 2 quartered onions, one cup of fresh, chopped ginger, 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar, 1 cup coarse salt, 4 bay leaves (this year I found fresh ones at my local market - OMG what a difference!!!), 4 star anise, 12 crushed black peppercorns. Once it boils and the sugar and salt have dissolved, let it cool completely and then brine the turkey in it overnight. The recipe is from an old Bon Appetit and I'm incredibly loyal to it.

A quick brining tip: I never have room in my fridge, so I use a cooler. I put the turkey and the brine in a turkey oven bag (you could also use a giant ziploc), and then put the whole thing into the cooler and out on my cold porch. If you leave in a warm climate, add some ice to the cooler.

Tomorrow, the turkey will go on the grill. I'll share pics!