My Favorite Cookbook

On Foodbuzz today, the "Daily Special" was about favorite cookbooks. Over some time, I have collected some great cookbooks full of delicious recipes to satisfy! Despite these fabulous books I have acquired over the years, my favorite cookbook of all time- and I will admit, no book will over surpass- is one that my parents compiled a few years ago as a present.

In this magnificent cookbook exists many family recipes. From my great-great-grandmother down to myself! (And it includes the men in the family, as well!)

Within this cookbook lies copies of recipes written by the hands of so many loved ones, many of whom are no longer with us. Beautiful recipes that no other fancy-schmancy, gourmet recipe could ever touch. Wonderful recipes of my family's heritage: Polish Family Recipes, Pennsylvania Dutch Recipes, All-American Recipes. Even down to my Poppy's recipe for macaroni and cheese: Frozen Stouffer's. And I must admit, my grandfather had me quite fooled, it was not until I received this amazing cookbook gift that I realized that this wasn't homemade (and probably the ONLY thing not homemade by my Poppy, the cook of all cooks!)

My parents were even amazing enough to put in photos of each family member whose recipes bask on the pages.

This is honestly one of my most cherished possessions. So much familial love is shared around the dinner table, and a great deal of my family's love is captured within pages of this cookbook, and no other book could ever compare.

Tuna Stuffed Roma Tomatoes

This acts as a perfect sidedish, appetizer, or light snack. It's great and good for you!


Tuna Stuffed Roma Tomatoes

4 Roma Tomatoes
1 can of low sodium tuna
2 to 3 TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 TBS fresh lemon juice
Lemon Pepper Seasoning (yum!)

Scoop out the flesh of the tomatoes using a mellon baller, or even a knife and spoon! Then mix up some yummy tuna fish- I used my earlier recipe for a light, healthy version of tuna fish! Fill the holes in the tomatoes with the tuna. Yum! What a delicious way to eat tuna fish!

Nutellatte!

It's about that time of the month, people! After sorting through my 10 million ideas of what I should do for this month's Nutella Challenge, I realized the absolute best idea for my situation (being in the process of packing/moving) is to go with simple! I made this in a matter of 5 minutes, and it was so easy! So please enjoy this Nutella Latte!

"Nutellatte":

makes 3-5 cups.. depending on your mug!

1.5 TBS Nutella

1 cup milk (I used soymilk in this instance)

Pinch of Nutmeg

Pinch of Cinnamon

4 cups of brewed coffee

In a medium or large sauce pan, combine the milk and Nutella. I recommend mixing it very well in your sauce pan, while it's being heated with medium-high heat. I found that as the Nutella is being melted, it's much easier to mix with the milk. As your mixing, throw in your spices! Stir with a purpose for about 1 to 2 minutes.

After the Nutella and milk are well mixed, cover the mixture and allow it to boil (this should honestly take no more than 30 seconds). Lower heat immediately and add your coffee.

Stir for about another 1 to 2 minutes. Voila!

Nutellatte! Not too sweet, but just sweet enough!

The Best Omelette of My Life

I work in one of the tall skyscrapers that kiss the sky in the Philadelphian Skyline. Our building has a GREAT cafeteria. Within this GREAT cafeteria, is a super amazing omelette guy. Let me tell you- the lines for this guy are LONG! This is because he simply makes the best omelette.

Most days of the week I make my own breakfast at home. However, there are some days like today in which I run longer than anticipated- or spend the time I should be eating making a super amazing latte, which I will be posting shortly- and honestly FORGET to eat breakfast. A part of me was disappointed that I forgot to eat, yet... I quickly became overjoyed that I get to have one of Mr. Reggie's omelettes. Oh boy! What a treat!!! Reggie stuffs your omelettes to the max! No skimping here.

Now, in a ravenous fashion, inhaled this glorious plate of deliciousness before snapping a photo (please, please pretend to be surprised!).

It may seem like the simplest omlette in the world, but it has honestly made my day! Fortunately, you can customize your omelette to your heart's content. This is what my fulfilling omlette consisted of:

Mr. Reggie's Veggie Omelette:

Two eggs
Approximately 1/2 cup of diced tomatoes
Approximately 1/4 cup of diced peppers
Approximately 1/4 cup of diced onions

Then cooked to perfection!

After he was finished, I customized a bit further and put about 1 TBS of hot sauce on top of this beautiful creation.

Yum! So simple. But so, so, so delicious. I fully encourage you to make your own version of Mr. Reggie's delicious veggie omelette.

:o)

Half Way!

Heyyy! Happy Tuesday everybody!

Congratulations! You have officially gotten over your Monday Blues, following a 4-day week last week! We now find ourselves at the halfway point of the month of September!

I have received some GREAT recipes for the Best Tastes of Autumn Challenge for September! Keep plugging away and send your beautiful creations to me so I can share them!

You're doing AWESOME! These recipes, so far, are unbelievable. I can't wait to see what else will be created, cooked, and eaten! Yum!

The Hip Hostess Store!

(photos courtesy of The Hip Hostess store!)

Hello my friends!

I am so happy to announce that, if by September 21, 2009, you order an apron from the super-cute, new favorite store of mine The Hip Hostess, you will receive 15% off of your order! At checkout, just put the promo code of CLEAN and you are all set to go!

Happy shopping to ya, girlies!

Pumpkin Spice Latte

I find myself completely carried away with the tastes of the autumn season. This morning, I had a Pumpkin Spice Latte, and it was unbelievable.

Pumpkin Coffee Latte!
(Makes about 4 cups- depending on the size of your mug!!)
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk (I use skim)
2 cups freshly brewed coffee!
1/4 cup pumpkin puree

In a medium saucepan, over medium-low heat, combine the pumpkin puree and milk. Stir for about a minute and a half. Then, add your vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the mix, and heat and stir until foamy! Pour in your coffee and stir until it is nicely meshed together!
Ladle it out into your favorite mug and enjoy!

Who needs the Starbucks version when you can make your own?!

My apologies for the lack of photo! I was in quite a hurry this morning!

Oh no! Major fail!

Okay, so I win the ever-popular "FAIL" stamp on this blog post. Last night, in such a rush, I tried to make a Polish Black Cake with Butterscotch Icing for my usual Tuesday evening gathering. Well, I am pleased to say that the icing turned out great, but that is all that turned out! Noooo......


I ended up leaving work late yesterday. Problemo numero uno.. I quickly ran to Whole Foods to pick up my ingredients for the cake, long, long lines. Problemo numero dos.. I, then, had to walk the dog as soon as I got home. Nowhere near a problem, I love walking Daisy Mae! By the time Miss Daisy and I got back from our walk, I only had an hour to make a cake. Nail on the coffin! As I was rushing through putting together the cake batter, I made a major mistake!

The recipe (from cooks.com) calls for:

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup baking cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons oil
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups hot (not boiling) water

Fantastic! Easy! The recipe I ended up using:

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup baking soda
2 teaspoons baking cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons oil
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups hot (not boiling) water

........ Inner monologue: Oh crap! I thought it said baking soda!!! I did think that was too much, oh boy, how do I scoop this out and salvage the recipe?? Okay, maybe I'll ditch it and start all over again... oh geez, but I only had enough ingredients for this single batch... Holy moly, it's already 6:45 and I have to be at St. Francis Xavier Church by 7:30... Let's salvage it! Let's scoop out what is obviously baking soda among the sugar and flour, it will undoubtedly be okay.... (one minute later) hmmm.. It should be okay.... (5 minutes later) uhhhh.... let's pray it will be okay

... Major FAIL.


Needless to say, by the time I had to leave, the botched cake was still in the oven. I asked my roommate to take it out of the oven when it was finished, and maybe it would still be okay to bring to work with me the next day, so then it's not completely a waste.

WRONG! Major "fail". I probably ended up scooping out flour, considering the end result. Oh well. The icing turned out fantastic, nonetheless. I learned my lesson, big time! I should have made the cake in the morning when I had the time. Please learn from my lesson! I am still very new to this baking gig and am learning because of the bumps along the way. I am absolutely determined to make this cake again and have it turn out.

Before I sign off of this major failure, allow me to, at the very least, share with you the amazing Butterscotch icing.


Butterscotch Icing
(courtesy of my future Mother-in-Law's recipe book!)

1 cup brown sugar
4 oz/1 stick butter
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
about 2 cups confectioners sugar (which, for me, turned out to be about 2.5 cups)

In a saucepan over medium heat, mix the brown sugar and butter, stirring until sugar is dissolved and butter is melted. Bring to a low boil and simmer for 2 minutesadd the milk. Stir until mixture returns to a boil... remove from heat and let cool to lukewarmadd the vanilla beat in enough confectioners sugar to make the icing spreadable.

September Autumn Challenge

As I have mentioned before, I am not much of a baker. To be quite honest, it intimidates me! If you do one little thing wrong, your masterpiece will not turn out! I decided I was going to be very bold yesterday and bake pumpkin cobbler for the first time, and without trying it myself, take it with me to my parish for our usual Tuesday evening get-together (called The Oratory) and cross my fingers that I didn't ruin it!

Well I made it and ran! (hence the photo) And I am so happy that everyone ate it and liked it! I only had about 3 servings left to bring home! It was a hit! Yay for autumn and the glorious flavors that she brings!


PUMPKIN COBBLER

1 large can of pumpkin puree

4 eggs

1/4 cup fat-free milk

1 box yellow cake mix

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp cinnamon

3 TBS Nutella

3/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees!

In a bowl, mix all but 1 cup of the cake mix (set the 1 cup aside for later!), 1/2 cup of butter, and 1 egg. Mix together very well and then put it into a greased 9x13 baking pain.

Next, in a bowl, mix together the pumpkin puree, 3 eggs, Nutella, cinnamon, vanilla, and milk. After it is pretty well combined, place on top of the bottom layer of the baking pan. Even it out!

Then, combine your remaining cake mix, remaining butter, sugar, and nuts. Place on top of the pumpkin mixture!

Bake for in between 40 and 50 minutes, depending on your oven. (mine was finished in about 43 minutes). After you hit the 40 minute mark, keep an eye on your cobbler, to see if it's finished!

Makes about 15 servings! Eat and enjoy!