tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52321532008-09-06T18:40:27.856-07:00Family cooking with old and new recipes in the kitchen. All posts copyright (C) Ellen Lawson Ferlazzo.Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comBlogger549125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-47837430961939396762008-09-05T19:05:00.001-07:002008-09-05T19:05:12.147-07:00

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Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-17785268381865128942008-09-05T17:02:00.000-07:002008-09-05T17:19:21.531-07:00

I've been cooking from The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great and have several great new additions to my repertoire. I picked this book up on the basis of a recommendation from one of the blog readers and want to say "Thanks!" It's as fantastic as her other books. The recipes are delicious, easy to follow and very flexible, with lots of ideas for adaptations and swapping out of

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-11896545087755782782008-09-03T21:39:00.000-07:002008-09-03T21:56:03.705-07:00

I hardly even knew where to look to buy pork sausage without the casing, but I found it. I guess it's called ground sausage... but isn't all sausage ground? Anyway, this came from The Lady & Sons, Too!: A Whole New Batch of Recipes from Savannah, which I bought on a whim. Both my kids (14 and 17) liked this, although they initially expressed some doubts. I served with some sliced red peppers

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-71892957513215859332008-08-31T15:40:00.000-07:002008-08-31T15:50:54.966-07:00

Most people I know make tacos using those little packages of spices. Years ago I started using this recipe from Let's Eat In Quick and Delicious Weekday Meals. Often, I make Spanish Rice to go with the tacos, which conveniently uses 8 ounces of tomato sauce as well so you can just use half a can for each recipe. Otherwise, I find those 8 ounce cans of tomato sauce go on sale pretty frequently so

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-29278120438508549992008-08-24T17:30:00.000-07:002008-08-24T17:39:29.455-07:00

In the past, I've mostly just passed on the whole idea of peeling tomatoes. I mean, I don't mind the skins and I'm sure, as my mother always said, that the skins hold lots of the vitamins and other good-for-you things. But sometimes you want the finer aspect of skinned tomatoes. I would put on a pot of water to boil, cut an x on the blossom end of the tomatoes, then immerse the whole tomatoes for

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-36413084978205026932008-08-21T22:06:00.000-07:002008-08-21T22:14:18.588-07:00

Another hit from The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great, a crustless quiche with chicken apple sausage and apples and sage. I cheated a bit and used all whole eggs rather than half eggs and half egg whites. Mainly because I'm just in it for the good food and not the weight loss! ;) So I don't buy egg beaters. 2 tsp olive oil 1 tart apple, diced 2 chicken apple sausages, diced

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-56093614030304500272008-08-19T22:20:00.000-07:002008-08-19T22:33:57.580-07:00

Tonight we had my nephew join us for dinner so I did a die-hard vegetarian dinner. It's a nice challenge because otherwise it's too easy to slip into old habits. The menu was: Sweet and Sour Tofu Bean Sprouts and Garlic Steamed Rice Chilled Cucumber Salad All the other recipes are posted previously so I linked to them. Here's the Chilled Cucumber Salad. 5 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and sliced

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-34949717491923825352008-08-16T11:54:00.000-07:002008-08-16T12:13:34.014-07:00

I love roast chicken but sometimes it's hard to get a whole chicken to cook evenly without paying a lot of attention. I've hard great luck if I bother to turn it partway through or take the time to baste it periodically, but sometimes I just want to pop it in the oven and forget about it. I'd heard about butterflying a whole chicken for more even (and faster) roasting and finally got around to

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-77076511608259219222008-08-13T22:00:00.000-07:002008-08-14T13:26:34.904-07:00

I made these again tonight. I had been sent some samples of Country Bob's Sauce and I added it to the hobo hamburger recipe. Mmmmmm. The sauce is like A1, dare I say, but a bit sweeter perhaps. Quite good! And I always like finding alternatives to the big names. If you want to try it out yourself, you can get a coupon for a free bottle when you sign up for their newsletter. They've got some

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-77246591685359964832008-08-13T21:59:00.001-07:002008-08-13T22:00:06.002-07:00

What a disappointment. Very bland and boring. I don't normally post negative reviews but this was just blah.

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-62372495721941859502008-06-25T22:22:00.000-07:002008-06-26T07:27:34.440-07:00

This was a bit of a combo from a Rachel Ray and a Jacques Pepin, so what do you call that?! My earlier chicken curry recipes have all been great, but I always like to experiment. I wasn't sure I'd like the tomatoes but I think this was one of the best curry recipes I've made. Rachel Ray contributed the curry powder and the mango chutney. Jacques Pepin contributed the coconut milk and curry

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-87708257100132635632008-06-08T08:18:00.000-07:002008-06-08T08:31:12.920-07:00

I have made this salmon from Fast Food My Way several times and it never fails. It is incredibly moist and good--and totally easy. It's great for entertaining because you can get it all ready, then pop it in the oven about an hour before you want to eat. The only disadvantage is because the oven is on so low you can't really cook anything else in it. I served this with roasted red potatoes that I

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-14562971702073114322008-06-08T07:53:00.000-07:002008-06-24T21:43:03.319-07:00

I always like to try at least one new recipe when I'm having people over. Since I always have plenty of food, if something flops we'll still eat well. I need not have worried last night. This salad from Pam Anderson's Perfect Recipes for Having People Over was delicious! I put a bit less corn in it just because I only bought 4 ears. She said to use about 6 cups but that seemed like a lot. Now

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-6685582725769253582008-05-21T21:27:00.000-07:002008-05-21T21:35:56.568-07:00

I often make chicken quesadillas for dinner when I have some leftover cooked chicken. The other night I had cut up a whole chicken into 10 pieces (2 wings, 2 legs, 2 thighs, and then cut each half breast in half as none of us eat a whole breast piece). Tonight, I pulled the meat off the leftover pieces. (I would normally save the bones and wings for making broth but I am overloaded on broth in

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-68572250208581152662008-05-11T16:32:00.000-07:002008-05-11T16:46:39.552-07:00

This is from one of my favorite cookbooks, The Complete Meat Cookbook. I use less less and pepper than they call for. It seems plenty salty due to the soy sauce. Sometimes I use fresh ginger and sometimes ground. Mostly I use fresh garlic but if I'm in a rush I sometimes use the granulated. I often leave out the onion, or add some onion powder. 3 Tbs olive oil 2 Tbs Dijon mustard 1/4 cup

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-16298735785389960882008-05-09T08:02:00.000-07:002008-05-09T08:03:12.247-07:00

2 tsp oil 1/2 an onion, diced 1 pound ground beef 1-2 cloves garlic, minced 2 Tbs ketchup 1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce 1 cup frozen peas, partially thawed 1 tsp beef bouillon 1/2 cup hot water 1 Tbs cornstarch 1/2 cup sour cream 3-4 cups mashed potatoes 1/2 cup grated Cheddar cheese I'm not giving a recipe for the mashed potatoes because I never really measure. I do LOVE my potato ricer though and

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-87186226756862582992008-05-03T21:42:00.001-07:002008-05-03T21:45:23.633-07:00

The Food Stamp Nutrition Connection has a recipe database which tells you the AVERAGE cost per serving of a whole lot of recipes. You can search for ingredients or browse by category. The costs are based on a national average, adjusted for inflation (but perhaps a bit behind right now). It doesn't show you what it costs you in your area so your actual costs may be more or less but it's a nice

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-39941008323459612292008-04-21T20:23:00.000-07:002008-04-21T20:28:35.033-07:00

I mentioned before that I grew red cabbage in my winter garden this year. Tonight I cooked one up, using Simply Recipes' version of sweet and sour red cabbage. Very very good! I probably had less than her 12 cups red cabbage. My red cabbages are smallish. But it came out delicious and made a great side dish. The rest of the menu was kielbasawhite beansfried apples Yum, yum, yum. Perfect

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-66588106633192767092008-04-14T19:55:00.001-07:002008-04-14T20:03:20.090-07:00

We often make burritos as a way of repurposing leftover meat and/or beans. And they're good. But I saw this recipe for Barbecued Chicken and Black Bean Burritos in Cheap. Fast. Good! and thought they'd be a nice change from our usual burritos. I had cooked black beans in the freezer so thawed them enough to scoop out the cup I needed and put the rest back in the freezer for later. I used the

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-55987344965060614122008-04-14T19:43:00.000-07:002008-04-14T19:54:38.321-07:00

A few days I roasted two chickens. We had part of one for one dinner, then a day later I pulled all the meat off the two carcasses, and made LOTS of chicken broth with them. I cubed the meat and then divided in half. I roughly followed an idea from Cheap. Fast. Good!. Their idea of batch cooking follows my mindset. I don't really do freezer cooking in the sense of cooking whole dishes for the

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-71087221075711201202008-04-10T15:47:00.000-07:002008-04-10T15:51:48.658-07:00

Wow. Somehow it slipped past me but this blog has been going for 5 years now! Back when I started it in 2003, there were probably a few hundred food blogs online. Now there are tens (hundreds?) of thousands, I'm sure. The format and style has certainly evolved over time. In the beginning, I rarely posted exact recipes. Now that's my normal post. I rarely remember to take photographs or remember

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-22730376628408555182008-04-07T12:58:00.000-07:002008-04-07T13:23:11.219-07:00

I'd about given up on Cooking Light recipes but they may have won me back with this one. Both my girls loved it and it went together quickly and easily. I used frozen bay scallops rather than the larger sea scallops and just cooked them a bit less. I think it would be better with the larger scallops but the cost was nearly double. Notes: I used apple juice rather than cider and didn't have a

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-44852736454759086492008-04-04T18:32:00.000-07:002008-04-04T18:34:06.250-07:00

Side Dishes This $7 e-book has over 50 side dish recipes from the blog and web site that will quickly become your favorites, including breads, beans, potatoes, and a variety of vegetables. I've gathered up my favorites so you can have your own side dish cookbook to spark your imagination at dinnertime.

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-22878357084227469852008-03-31T20:03:00.000-07:002008-03-31T20:18:08.497-07:00

I was making this fantastic Cuban Pork Roast for dinner tonight and wanted some Cuban Black Beans to go with it. I Googled and saw the pattern: some sugar some vinegar some alcohol (wine or rum) some sauteed onion, green pepper, and garlic added after an hour of cooking the beans in water dried herbs including oregano and a bay leaf for sure, cumin possibly hot sauce either at the table or in

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232153.post-39387546811660969982008-03-30T09:18:00.000-07:002008-03-31T08:34:00.029-07:00

I grew red cabbage in the garden this winter. It's quite pretty but then I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do with it! I picked the first one yesterday and turned to Vegetables Every Day: The Definitive Guide to Buying and Cooking Today's Produce With over 350 Recipes, a great source of vegetable recipes that another food blogger recommended. (Sorry, I can't remember who to thank for the

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467062377749049526web@sprez.com