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Share in the real-life stories of two Betty Crocker editors. Each week, Andi and Heidi will tell you all about their personal food experiences: what they love to cook, their kitchen disasters, their biggest food challenges, and how they feed their families and friends. And they’ll help you find ways to bring creativity and inspiration to your kitchen every day.
 
 

April 2008 - Posts

  • Apparently I am not the only one out there with an extreme love of bacon. A colleague recently forwarded me this article from the Dallas Morning News  that features a recipe for bacon cookies, and another coworker brought a little bag of Bacon Brittle in to work to share. The brittle is from a restaurant called Cowboy Ciao in Scottsdale Arizona. I tried it and, as much as I wanted to love it, the mixture of candy and my favorite breakfast food was just too weird for me. I still prefer my bacon naked and nuked.

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  • We have a company store in the building where I work and I sometimes stop there after work to pick up some ingredients for dinner.

     

    Last Thursday, I purchased an Old El Paso Gordita Dinner Kit.

     

    OEP box

    Instead of following the package directions, I decided to make the recipe on the back of the package for Mexican Pizzas.

     

    Mexican Pizzas


    Prep Time: 20 Min
    Start to Finish: 30 Min

     

    2 tablespoons vegetable oil
    1 box Old El Paso® gordita dinner kit
    1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef
    1/2 cup water
    1 can (16 oz) Old El Paso® refried beans
    4 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (16 oz)
    1 can (2.25 oz) sliced ripe olives, drained, if desired
    3 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions (3 medium), if desired

     

    1. Heat oven to 425°F. In 10-inch skillet, heat oil over medium heat until hot. Cook Tortillas (from dinner kit), 1 at a time, in oil about 20 seconds or until golden brown; turn and cook 10 seconds longer. Drain on paper towels.

     

    2. In same skillet, brown beef; drain. Stir in Seasoning Mix and water; heat until hot. Spread 2 tablespoons refried beans on each Tortilla. Top with 2 tablespoons beef and 1 tablespoon of Ranch Sauce. Sprinkle each with 1/2 cup cheese; garnish with olives and green onions. On ungreased cookie sheets, place pizzas.


     3. Bake 5 to 7 minutes or until cheese is melted.

    8 pizzas  

    Mexican Pizzas

     

     I used only four of the eight thick tortillas (from the package) and decided to freeze the remaining four.  This was my chance to try out my new Reynolds Handi-Vac vacuum sealer. I put the remaining tortillas into a quart size Handi-Vac freezer bag and then removed the air with the vacuum sealer by placing the sealer on the special bag and then pushing the blue button on the top until all the air was removed. It was really easy and took only seconds.

     

    Reynold's Handi-Vac

     

    The sealer cost around $8.50 at the grocery store where I shop and a box of

    14 freezer bags was $2.89.

     

    3 comment(s)

  • My sister Carrie invited me over for dinner on Wednesday night. I’ve had absolutely zero desire to cook recently so the invitation was especially welcome. She made the tortellini dish I love and blogged about here.

     

    I was washing the dishes after our meal when Greta, my three-year-old niece, came over and waved the Cheerios cookbook at me. She was especially enthusiastic about the book and went through it page by page telling me how much she liked the pictures and wanted to make each and every recipe. 

     

    I edited the cookbook a couple of years ago and it remains one of my favorite projects, so I was thrilled to see her take an interest in it (my sister later told me Greta often takes the book in the car and to bed to "read"). I told Greta we could get together sometime and make one of the recipes together.

     

    “No, Aunt Heidi,” (which runs together and sounds like ‘Aunt Tidy’ coming from her little mouth), “We have to make ALL of them!” she insisted.

     

    With Greta on board, I think cooking could be a whole lot more fun.

     

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  • I feel like the luckiest gal in the world. Well, at least in the food world that is. Last week, while attending a conference in New Orleans, I got to hang around with the likes of chefs Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse.

     

    Here is Emeril Lagasse - demonstrating how to make an étouffée recipe.

    Emeril

     

    One night I sampled gumbos at a wonderful event called the Gumbo Giveback Party – a fund raising event for the Crescent City Farmers Market. The market reopened in two locations after the hurricane and started providing the city with local, fresh food, artisanal goods as well as a warm friendly town square. There were duck gumbos, crayfish gumbos and vegetarian gumbos to sample and more but my favorite was Chef Paul's Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo.

     

      I'm standing next to Chef Paul Prudhomme 

    Paul Prudhomme

     

    Chef Paul's recipe takes more than 2 hours to make and so I shortened it a little by starting with a cooked rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. I also substituted smoked turkey sausage for the andouille sausage that was in Chef's Paul's recipe.

     

    Chef Paul's Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo

    1/2 cup vegetable oil

    1/2 cup flour

    2 tablespoons Chef Paul Prudhomme's Meat Magic

    1 cup finely diced onions

    1 cup finely diced green bell pepper

    3/4 cup finely diced celery

    2 garlic cloves, finely chopped (1 teaspoon)

    1 box (48 oz) chicken stock (6 cups)

    1 rotisserie chicken, skinned, boned and meat shredded

    1 pound smoked turkey sausage, sliced into thin slices

    Salt

    Pepper

    2 cups hot cooked white rice

     

    1. In Dutch oven heat oil, flour and meat magic seasoning over high heat, whisking constantly, until this mixture (which is called a roux) is dark red-brown, about 4 minutes, being careful not the let it scorch. Remove the pan from the heat and immediately add the onions, green pepper and celery, stirring constantly until the roux stops getting darker. Place the pan over low heat and cook, stirring constantly and scraping the pan bottom well, until the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes.

     

    2. Stir in the chicken stock and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the roux is dissolved. Stir in chicken and sausage. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

     

    3. Ladle gumbo into soup bowls and spoon a large spoonful of rice over the top of each serving.

     

    6 servings

     

    gumbo

     
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  • On Monday date I was a substitute player for a friend’s Bunco game night. The group, all from the same neighborhood, has been getting together for a while, but they recently instituted a new rule: The host can only serve food out of a box.

     

    If you’ve ever been involved in any kind of weeknight monthly get-together, you’ve experienced the craziness of cleaning your house and trying to get home from work in time to start preparing the food. I really like the only-out of-a-box rule, as it eliminates some of the stress that goes into planning a book, knitting or game-night group gathering. Bottom line, you get together with friends to talk and have fun. If you’re exhausted from getting ready, what’s the point?

     

    Here’s a photo from our out-of-the-box (okay, a can was also invlolved) dessert: Root Beer Floats.Root Beer Floats

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  • Jazz music, Cajun and Creole cooking and the French Quarter are all icons of New Orleans. Sadly now, so is Hurricane Katrina and the damage it caused. 

     

    The city is coming back thanks in large part to the people who have returned to rebuild. It’s possible to travel there today and stay in a nice hotel, eat at wonderful restaurants in the French Quarter or Warehouse District, go to the Convention Center or the Dome and think everything is back to normal.

     

    If you travel just north and east out of the downtown area, you’ll see blocks and blocks without any homes or homes that will likely have to be torn down. One estimate I heard was that at least 300,000 homes were lost not to mention the many lives that were lost too. Some neighborhoods are still without electricity and water pressure. In these areas there are no shopping malls, no hospitals and most are without schools and churches.  

     

    New Orleans needs tourists to return and that's what I did last week, while I attended the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) conference there. Here are a couple of breakfasts that I enjoyed.

     

    At the Hilton Riverside Hotel I had the Bayou Scramble for breakfast which was a big Southern breakfast of scrambled eggs with diced smoked sausage, potatoes, green onions and zesty Cajun spices. This was served with grits (in the small bowl), a breakfast tomato and toast.

     

    Breakfast in New Orleans

    One of the most popular breakfast spots in New Orleans is Café du Monde. Here is what is left of my Café au lait and beignets (fried doughnuts with lots of powdered sugar on them).

    Cafe du Monde

     

    Cafe Du Monde

     

     

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  • When in New Orleans, I eat pralines--it's the thing to do. They are best when they are freshy made. Here's the connection between pralines and New Orleans: Pralines were first made in France more than 200 years ago. During the 17th century, a count named Cesar de Plessis Praslin created this candy as a calling card when courting famous women in France. He made it by boiling nuts in sugar. It became a popular confection. In his day, the praline was made with almonds because they were the most prevalent nut in France. When French colonists came to Louisiana, native pecans were substituted for the almonds. The Louisiana Creoles added milk or cream to the recipe, resulting in a creamier candy. 

     

    In one of the recipes I found, there was a tip as follows: “What usually happens is that by the time the mixture turns cloudy, signaling that it is time to drop onto the waxed paper, it starts hardening too fast to drop correctly. You should then stir in about 1-2 tablespoons of warm water to thin the mixture. Don’t add too much--just enough to make the spoonfuls drop and settle in a “puddle.” You don’t want them to look like chunks of rocks.” 

     

    I have prepared numerous recipes in order to get the best one, and I think that this is the easiest recipe to make. Having said that, there are no fail-safe recipes and with every batch you make, you may have to throw out a few it you don't work fast enough.  

     

    Pralines 

    Pronounced “praw-leens”

     

    1 pound light brown sugar

    1 cup whipping cream

    2 tablespoons butter

    1 teaspoon vanilla

    1 to 2 cups pecan halves

     
    1. In a 2-quart microwave-safe bowl, combine sugar and whipping cream. Microwave on HIGH for 10 to 13 minutes or until soft-boil stage (234°F. - 238°F on a candy thermometer); stir halfway through cooking.
    2. Stir in butter, vanilla and pecans.
    3. Beat 2 minutes until thickened, creamy and slightly cloudy.
    4. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto waxed paper.

    24 pralines

    2 comment(s)

  • At a party last weekend, someone asked me why guacamole is called guacamole since it's basically smushed up avocado. (What can I say? I'm a cookbook editor; people tend to think I have answers to these kinds of things.) I didn't know (surprise! surprise!), but in looking into it I came across this: www.foodtimeline.org  In addition to providing a wealth of information about avocados and guacamole, the site also provides answers to such deep, probing questions like when Oreos were invented and what, exactly, toad-in-the-hole is (a dish I won't be trying anytime soon).

    1 comment(s)

  • I'm in New Orleans, attending a conference of the International Association of Culinary Professionals this week.

     

    It's quite likely that I'm indulging in some crawfish, which are freshwater crustaceans that resemble small lobsters. They are most plentiful in March, April and May. I've found a website with lots and lots of recipes for them at www.crawfish.org

     

    1 comment(s)

  • Last night I, along with two couples in my neighborhood, had dinner at Buca di Beppo, courtesy of a gift card I received for Christmas.

     

    I’ve been doing a lot of work on my house lately—little projects that keep me on my feet all day—and it was wonderful to sit back and have someone else feed me, not to mention spend time relaxing with friends.

     

    If you don’t already know, Buca serves their food family style, so everyone shares. We didn’t have trouble finding something we all liked; the problem was narrowing it down. We started the meal with one of my all-time favorite Buca appetizers: Bruschetta. One of the specials of the evening was Chicken Gloriouso and it was absolutely amazing. It consisted of four chicken breasts covered in a creamy Alfredo-like sauce and sun-dried tomatoes. The entire platter disappeared in minutes. Even if I hadn’t forgotten my camera, I doubt I could have snapped a photo of it we inhaled it so quickly. The sauce was so good we scooped it up and poured it over the Ravioli al Pomodoro that was also delicious. As if that weren't enough food, we ordered two sides: Green Beans and Garlic Mashed Potatoes. Di-vine.

     

    I also had the pleasure of dining at Chuck E. Cheese's with two of my nieces over the weekend, but that's a story for a different day.

     

     

    1 comment(s)

  • My friend Betsy came to our cabin last weekend. Betsy is the editor of Cooking Pleasures magazine and the Executive Director of the Cooking Club of America. As always, when people who like to cook and eat get together, they end up cooking and eating.

     

    In Betsy's honor, I planned a dinner party for 10 friends. She of course, volunteered to prepare something for our meal. I asked her to bring a salad and, in typical foodie style, she emailed about eight recipes to me so I could choose one that would go best with our dinner. I chose Romaine Salad with Honey-Lime Vinaigrette.

     

    As any good cook will do, she changed the recipe as she was preparing it. She added about 1 teaspoon fresh, grated lime peel to the dressing and sprinkled goat cheese on top of each serving.

     

    Romaine Sald with Honey-Lime Dressing

     

    1 comment(s)

  • My friend Amy is a party person. Basically, she’s Julie, the Cruise Director, from The Love Boat when it comes to planning get-togethers. I admire the fact that she never seems to stress out and can get a group of super-fun people together at a moment’s notice.

    I am absolutely the opposite, and therefore leave all the party planning to her (unfair, I know, but at least I know my limitations). I’ve watched her and her husband renew their wedding vows in front of an Elvis impersonator in their backyard. I’ve celebrated the 100th birthday of her home, and I’ve dressed as a 60s go-go dancer to attend her Halloween bash.

     

    Basically she already has everything she needs to plan a successful soiree: An outgoing personality, an optimistic attitude, plenty of friends, and the ability to just roll with things as they happen. Still, when I came across foryourparty, I thought of her.

     

    Perhaps next time I’m invited across the street for one of her get-togethers, I can provide her with something more than just my sparkling personality (ha!).

     

    1 comment(s)

  • Dinners at our house on Monday nights have been hectic lately. That's because Jason (my son) goes right from work to school and Katie, my daughter-in-law, works until 7:00 pm. This means my husband, aka “Grandpa Jack,” picks up our almost 1-year old grandson, Blake from daycare and brings him to our house for dinner.

     

    While Jack is feeding Blake, I make dinner for the adults. I always make extra food so that Jason can have a late dinner when he gets home from school. Last night we had North Woods Wild Rice Soup. I have to admit that I didn't follow the recipe. It cooks for 6 to 8 hours in a slow cooker but I'm away from home longer than that every day. Instead I used all the same ingredients and just boiled the wild rice in the chicken broth for about an hour. Then I added all the other ingredients to that.

     

    This soup has only 3 grams of fat per serving because we use evaporated fat-free skim milk instead of cream.

    North Woods Wild Rice Soup

    Family Eating Wild Rice Soup

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  • Rose Levy Beranbaum was at General Mills today to talk about Heavenly Cakes, her new book coming out next fall. If you're a baker, you're familiar with her name. For those who don't know, she’s also written The Cake Bible, The Bread Bible and The Pie and Pastry Bible and Rose’s Christmas Cookies, just to name a few. She’s a fellow blogger and get this: Her master's thesis was on flour sifting.

     

    Rose Levy Beranbaum

     

    Obviously this woman knows a thing or two about baking.

     

    We got a sneak preview (“sneak taste”?) of two recipes in her upcoming book. One was Devil’s Food Cake with Midnight Ganache and the other was Hearth Bread. I sampled the cake and it definitely fit in the category of “heavenly.”

     

    Rose's Cake and Bread

     

    Truth be told, I like to bake more than I like to cook, but the thought of baking bread terrifies me. I spoke with her after her presentation and she suggested I start with the bread recipe on the back of the Gold Medal Better for Bread package. (FYI: We--as in General Mills--make the flour; she created the recipe.) Me? Bake bread? Hmmmmmm....you never know.

     

    1 comment(s)

  • Like many people, I often have weekly meetings or a class right after work which can make it really difficult to prepare and enjoy dinner at home. By the time I get home, I may be too tired to cook.

     

    That said, I'm never too tired to eat. On Wednesday nights, I don't get home from my French class until around 8:00 p.m. and by then Jack and I are starving. Sometimes when I get organized the night before, I will leave Jack ingredients and a recipe so he can make dinner for us and have it ready when I get home.

     

    I know this is going to sound like just another plug for one of our products, but I’m being honest when I say that Chinese dinner kits by Wanchai Ferry have really worked for us on these busy nights. All you need to add is water, boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and vegetable oil. Easy enough, right?

     

    What I love most about the kits is that the flavors are more authentic than many other packaged foods. They come in four flavors: Cashew Chicken; Sweet and Sour Chicken; Spicy Garlic Chicken, and Kung Pao Chicken.

     

    Last night, Jack made the Spicy Garlic Chicken and he added some fresh onion wedges, and strips of red and orange bell pepper we had in the fridge.

     

     Here is Jack frying chicken and under his photo is our Spicy Garlic Chicken Dinner.

    Jack frying chicken

     

    Spicy Garlic Chicken

     

    I got the idea of adding fresh ingredients to these dinners from Marilyn, our Test Kitchen Expert, who works with these products. Instead of the chicken, she suggested we could use shrimp, pork or beef. Other great fresh add-ins include: green beans, sliced celery, carrot coins, pea pods, broccoli florets and sliced mushrooms.

     

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