The Journey

Weekend Cooking March 12, 2021

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This weekend, I am planning to resume the tradition of preparing dinner one night a week. Currently, we are in the middle of the Roman Catholic Lent season, which means my parents observe the practice of not consuming meat on Fridays.

So, my choices were a little slim. At first, I thought to myself, “Well, I can just make a vegetarian dish from one of the blogs.” But then I remembered that I skipped making Ina recipes last weekend. So, I forced myself to find a recipe that would work. But let’s face it, while I love Ina, she doesn’t exactly abide by the vegetarian lifestyle. So, my pickings were slim. It was basically soups or some large portion vegetable dishes like spanakopita.

However, things like spinach in puff pastry doesn’t have all that much nutritional value for a major meal at the end of the day. So, soup it is. And of course, I’ll be omitting all animal products. I’ll be subbing vegetable stock for chicken stock.

I decided to make a soup that features winter vegetables. After all, spring is just around the corner! And soon we will be saying “bye bye” to squashes and potatoes in favor of other vegetables like fresh, garden-grown peppers, tomatoes, and string beans. So, I’m going to take advantage of root vegetables while I still can!

Dinner Friday will be Provencal Vegetable Soup with Pistou. This recipe, if you couldn’t tell by the name, appears in Barefoot in Paris, which is still my favorite Ina cookbook. You can read the review of it here.

This weekend is also my father’s birthday. So I will be making him a cake. Though the cake will not be an Ina recipe, I will still make a blog post about it. I may cook an additional Ina recipe over the next few days. Maybe I’ll finally attempt one of her appetizers!

Until next time…

Herbal Update March 10, 2021

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This is another quick post, but that seems to be the theme of the week, so why not keep it going?

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I started the Phytotherapy Diploma program from Heart of Herbs Herbal School. This is an intensive program with many components. However, the program begins with a section on Anatomy & Physiology. This was a difficult section because it was science-based. And while I understand the educational benefit of this section and some of the others that I will be completing, I am really looking forward to the herb stuff.

However, I have recently finished the A&P unit, so I am moving onto botany, which will be more interesting to me. I can’t wait to start it over the weekend!

Photo by fotografierende on Pexels.com

The Sun is Out, The Weather is Warm

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Okay, so another non-food related post. But without recipes made last weekend, I’m not really sure what else to talk about.

We are now in the second week of March and the temperatures in Connecticut are slowly beginning to tick up. The snow is melting, the grass is beginning to turn green once again. Spring is on the way!

Some basil, a staple culinary herb

This is around the time of year where I usually start thinking about whether or not I want to plant some herbs. The last few years I haven’t, but with the herbal studies in full force, I think it would be in my best interest to plant some. Of course, the hardest part (or is it the most fun?) is deciding which herbs to grow. Sometimes my family and I would plant strictly culinary herbs such as parsley and basil. In years passed I grew some medicinal herbs as well like chamomile and lavender to name a few. I even planted dandelion one year much to my father’s chagrin.

Once I took a hiatus from studying herbal remedies, and other interests filled my time, I didn’t have much energy or even thought of gardening. But now, it seems like a perfect growing season to do it.

Tomorrow I will be posting an herbalism update, my first official one! Then Thursday, we will return to the regularly scheduled food-related posts!

Until next time…

Barefoot Contessa Recipe #36: Red Velvet Cupcakes

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This recipe is available in How Easy is That?

This week, one of my co-workers had his last day at work before moving onto his new job. Usually we have a little party and lunch or dinner for the person leaving. Due to some COVID precautions, this was scaled back a tad. But, I still offered to make cupcakes!

Part of this — ok, most of it — was self-centered. I love to bake and I wanted another excuse to knock off a recipe. So, I offered to make the red velvet cupcakes. And let me tell you: they were a HUGE hit!

This recipe makes 15 cupcakes, which in my opinion is a great number. Many other red velvet recipes make like 24 cupcakes. I didn’t need that many…trying to lose weight and be healthy with cupcakes around the house isn’t a good idea–so Ina came through on that front as well!

These cupcakes weren’t dry and had the right balance of flavors. There wasn’t too much food coloring in them. That was nice because who likes tasting food coloring? The cream cheese frosting was the perfect balance between the tangy cream cheese flavor and sweetness. I highly recommend these for your next red velvet needs!

Due to COVID, I decided to put each one in little boxes. That way people could take them home if they didn’t want to eat them at work. Though, most of my coworkers just ate them right after serving. But, the boxes did make them look cute and more “professional.” I was very pleased with how these turned out.

Barefoot Contessa Recipe #35: Macaroni & Cheese

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This recipe can be found in Barefoot Contessa Family Style, page 202.

I’m sorry that this is a quick post!

Saturday night I made one of Ina’s macaroni and cheese recipes. This one is what I consider to be her “base” recipe, as some of her other books features variations on this recipe.

This recipe, though tasty, may not be popular with kids, despite it being in the Kids Entertaining section of her Family Style cookbook. I think it’s the Gruyere cheese that will give kids pause. It has a taste that borders on being an “acquired” one.

Despite this, this macaroni and cheese recipe is quick, easy, and tasty.

Barefoot Contessa Recipe #34: Banana Rum Trifle

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The recipe is from Modern Comfort Food, page 208.

A number of weeks ago I purchased a quart of heavy cream for a recipe that I wanted to make. However, plans changed and it didn’t happen. Soon, I realized that the expiration date on the cream was nearing and I didn’t want to throw it out. So, I started searching for recipes that would use a decent amount of the cream. Enter Ina Garten’s Banana Rum Trifle.

This is Ina’s take on banana pudding and let me tell you, it’s one of the best desserts I’ve had in a while! I will say, I did omit the rum from the recipe. I also chose not to “decorate it” with the whipped cream. However, this wonderfully light and sweet dessert can easily serve a crowd. In fact, I can see it going over very well at a summer picnic or holiday.

You begin by making a plain pudding….at that moment it is unflavored, just quite sweet. Once that chills for a while, you whip 3 cups of cream with vanilla and vanilla bean seeds. Then you add in the pudding and whip some more. Then the building phase begins.

The layers of cream and Nabisco wafers and bananas blend so well together and make this dessert taste like it came from heaven. A tip: follow the recipe and actually WAIT the time stated in the recipe before digging in. I know it will be hard, but it will be worth it!

The only downside to this dessert? It’s addicting! Be prepared to go for a jog afterward…for like an hour.

This one is going on the Favorites list!

Busy Few Days in the Kitchen…

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Aside from the usual Friday night dinner recipe (which I made on Saturday this week), I made two additional recipes that I didn’t really plan on making. Luckily, I was able to make them all Ina recipes, so they all count towards the blog! Stay tuned this week as I review and post about each one!

Of course, I’ll have an herbal related post, even though they are less popular than some others. And I’ll be posting my February wrap-up post as well!