Jan
3

Chocolate Mousse Cake

A good friend of mine just had a little baby girl. To celebrate I wanted to make her and her husband dinner and dessert their first week home from the hospital.  I can’t imagine a brand new mom wanting to cook!

So while at a friend’s house I picked up a book called How To Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson and what I found inside made my mouth start to water. I’ve made two very easy recipes and both have turned out amazing! I highly recommend buying this book if you like to bake. I have heard that she is a great chef as well and I will definitely check out her cookbooks at the bookstore when I go to buy this lovely dessert cookbook.

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Jan
2

Triple Lemon Layer Cake

Lemon Cake

Lemon Cake


What a fantastic way to top off our intimate and beautiful Christmas dinner.  This delicious cake is worth all the effort.  Fine Cooking (Holiday Baking Issue) is quickly becoming one of my favorite magazines for great sweet treats.

Making lemon curd from scratch can be tricky, but don’t let it intimidate you; it is worth mastering. Prepared canned lemon curd might tempt you but will it be as freshly tart and sweet as the one you make yourself? NO! So at least give the home made version a try.

This cake takes a bit of time, but can be made ahead and your guests will feel really special that you went to all that extra trouble–just for them! Enjoy~

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Jan
1

Quack Quack…

Duck with Cold Sesame Noodles

Duck with Cold Sesame Noodles

I was running on the tread mill at the gym and watching Foodnetwork when I caught the very end of one of Tyler Florence’s Ultimate shows.  Since I was only watching without sound, I had no idea what he actually made, or how difficult it was to prepare, I just knew it looked…scrumptious!

I sent Cook a text to DVR it for me, but alas I got home and no show.  A few days later they were re-running the exact same episode and this time I found out that Tyler was making Duck Breast with Cold Sesame Noodles.  Well, Cook wasn’t so sure about duck breast (he had never had duck before), but he is always up for trying something new. The perfect time came along to try our hand at duck… quack quack!

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Jan
1

Cold Sesame Noodles

Cold Sesame Noodles is one of those mainstay recipes I know Cook and I will make over and over again in years to come.  The simple peanut sauce hugs the noodles quite deliciously. Every Cook and Chef should have such a recipe in their back pocket. If you like Satay chicken skewers, you’ll love it.  You can control the heat level by the type of chili you choose.  It would be a great dipping sauce for chicken, wings, just about anything!  Definitely check this one out… Tyler Florence outdid himself!  It really is the ultimate peanut sauce!

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Jan
1

Homemade Cinnamon Buns… yum!

cinnamonrolls

Cinnamon Rolls

Christmas morning I wanted to make homemade Cinnamon Buns for my mom and sister. Cook and I had made some amazing rolls a few months ago, but they had to rise overnight and I didn’t have the time to make them the night before.  So, when I came across a recipe in the holiday baking issue of Fine Cooking magazine that was easy and manageable, I was sold!

This delicious recipe was a real find. The dough did NOT have to rise.  I made it in the morning at the very last minute.  All the ingredients are probably already in your pantry so you can whip it up any time you wake up with a craving for something warm and cinnamon-y and fresh from the oven!

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Jan
0

Christmas Dinner

This year we had a small crowd for Christmas. It was just me (Chef), my sister and my mom.  Cook was in NC with his family and was terribly missed. He always comes through with amazing twists to recipes, so we were disappointed that he wasn’t around to give the dinner Cook’s special touch!

But Christmas had to go on without Cook, so we started the morning off with warm cinnamon buns and it just got better and better after that.

We decided since it was a small group we could do it up and we made filet mignon!  Wow, I love steak… and not just steak, but filet is so good!  We served the filet with my mom’s famously good brussel sprouts with bacon and thyme, a simple sweet potato risotto, warm bread, roasted asparagus, and finished it off with a lemon cake and lemon frosting!

Next time you have a small crowd and want to make a big impression, go for the filet.  It was expensive but nothing close to what it would have cost in a restaurant and our filets were every bit as good. We served them with goat cheese and attempted a balsamic reduction that took a turn for the worse, but thankfully didn’t spoil the filet.  Filet Mignon is so good, easier than you think and quick.  Can’t beat it for a small intimate special gathering.

Recipes from Christmas dinner coming soon… stay tuned!  Happy New Year everyone!

Dec
0

Sausage and Fennel Soup with Pasta

The fall and winter seasons are great times to try new stews and soups.  This is one of my mom’s favorite soup recipes and she just loves it!  So, one weekend when Cook was away I decided to make this simple soup.  It combines one of my ingredients, fennel bulb, with the warmth and comfort of soup.

Enjoy!

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Nov
1

Kitchen Talk

The ‘Chef’ – Beat the eggs.

The ‘Cook’ – How bad you want me to beat them? Black and Blue?

 

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