My love affair with cheese

I love cheese!  Unfortunately, I am lactose intolerant, but that doesn't stop me.  Moderation in everything, right?

Some cheese history: 
A News-Making Camel Ride

The first legend concerns a long-ago desert tribesman who set out on a journey with a container of milk-probably mare's or camel's milk-in that day's ordinary milk container, the dried stomach of a sheep.  In the broiling desert sun he mounted his camel and took off on a ride as bumpy and lurchy in those days as a camel ride remains in this day.

When he stopped to refresh himself, he found the milk separated into a thin, watery substance (whey) and a thickened mass (curds)-a result of the warmth of day and the churning motion of the ride he had taken, helped along by the action of the rennet, an enzyme in the sheep's stomach.  he tasted the mass of curds and was delighted.  We can imagine that he could hardly wait to get home to share his great discovery with his family and friends.

Taken from The Complete Cheese Cookbook by Kraft.  This sells in my Amazon storefront for $6.99. The actual title is The Complete Cheese Cookbook (everything from legends to recipes from the cheese makers).The recipe that follows is also from this cookbook.

Double Cheddar Cornbread

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 cup flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

1 cup milk

1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

1 egg beaten

1/2 tsp dry mustard

4 slices crisply cooked bacon, crumbled (for Vegetarians, this could be omitted)

1 green pepper, cut in rings

Preheat oven to 425F.  Sift together dry ingredients.  Stir in 1 cup cheese.  Combine milk, butter and eggs; add to dry ingredients.  Pour into a greased 9-inch layer pan.  Top with remaining cheese, mixed with mustard.  Sprinkle with bacon; top with green pepper rings.  Bake 25 minutes. 6-8 servings.

Happy Cooking!

Simple Home Solutions

I am back home after a week's cruise, well rested and ready to start blogging again!

This is actually the name of my book "Martha Stewart Living Simple Home Solutions" which sells on my Amazon storefront www.amazon.com/stores/oneofakindcookbooks for $9.99. This book is filled with hundreds of great ideas for the kitchen and your home.  Here are just a few of them.

Baking Powder Test-To ensure that baking powder is still potent, drop a half teaspoonful into a glass of warm water.  If it immediately foams and rises to the top, it's still sufficiently active.

Perfect Egg Whites-Just a speck of yolk can make egg whites impossible to whip and wear out even the most determined cook's arm.  To remove small bits of yolk, use the egg shell as a scoop.  The yolk will be attracted back into their shell, and a jagged edge will capture even the tiniest spot of yellow.

Saving Tomato Paste-Keep tomato paste from going to waste when your recipe calls for just a tablespoon or two.  Open both ends of the can; discard  one end, and keep the other in place.  Wrap the can in plastic wrap; freeze overnight.  Use the metal end to push the frozen paste out of the open end; discard can.  Tightly wrap unused portion, and store in the freezer for up to three months, slicing off what you need as you cook.

Quick-Peel Kiwi-Here's a great way to skin a kiwi.  Trim both ends of the fruit, then carefully ease a tablespoon between the flesh and the fuzzy peel.  Turn the kiwi, gently pressing the back of the spoon against the peel as you go.  The flesh should slide right out in one piece, perfect for cutting into neat, round slices.

The recipe I have chosen is from "The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook" by Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins, which sells for $59.99.

I have chosen a Flank Steak recipe.  Flank steak is wonderful when cook properly.  Normally, I marinate the flank steak with a soy sauce for a couple of hours, but this recipe is a complete change from what I make and it's wonderful.  I use leftover flank steak to make steak tacos or quesadillas.

Flank Steak with Garlic-Ginger Sauce

1 flank steak (2 pounds)

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

Make the sauce (below).  Preheat the broiler.  Sprinkle both sides of the steak with the soy sauce and sesame oil and rub into the meat.  Broil 6 inches from the heat for 5 to 7 minutes per side, depending on desired doneness.  Cut the steak diagonally into thin slices.  Overlap 5 or 6 slices on each serving plate and top with several spoonfuls of the garlic-ginger sauce.  Serve hot or at room temperature.

Garlic-Ginger Sauce

3/4 cup olive oil

6 cloves garlic, finely minced

3 tbsp chopped fresh ginger root

4 large carrots, peeled and cut into small dice

5 scallions, sliced

1 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup water

1 tbsp dried oregano

Pinch red pepper flakes

1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a medium-size skillet over medium heat.  Add the garlic, ginger and carrots and saute for 10 minutes.  Stir in the scallions and saute' 2 minutes more.  Add the wine, water, oregano and red pepper flakes and simmer uncovered over low heat for 30 minutes.  Stir in the parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper. 3 1/2 cups.

Happy Cooking!

Fondue Parties

I remember my last big Fondue Party.  We had 10 people and it was the new episode for Dallas-Who Shot Jr.   I'm not sure of the year, but sometime in the late 70's.   10 people as you can imagine was a big challenge.  We had boiling oil for the chicken & steak, three different types of cheeses and a chocolate fondue.  Also, at the stove top, was a friend making crab rangoon, deep fried.  There was a lot going on, but everyone had so much fun.  Oh, we also had a healthy Caesar salad, not much of that was eaten.

Recently, I went to the Melting Pot with friends in Las Vegas.  It was very expensive and disappointing.  The cheeses were adequate as was the service.  What happened to the Fondue Party's of yesteryear? To socializing and dripping cheese on your good tablecloth and losing your bread cubes in the cheese.  I think we need to bring back Fondue Party's.  And with that, I have a few good Fondue books for sale on my Amazon storefront, www.amazon.com/stores/oneofakindcookbooks and a couple of recipes to share with you.  And I encourage you to try a Fondue Party with your friends!

The Fondue Party Cookbook by Beth Merriman for $19.99
Fondue by Fiona Smith for $8.95
Fondue by Szwillus for $5.00
The Fondue Cook Book by Dan Callahan for $23.99
Better Homes and Gardens Fondue and Tabletop Cooking for $12.99
The Gold Medal Fondue Cookbook for $3.99
It's Fun to Fondue by M.N. Thaler for $21.99
The Beta Sigma Phi Fondue & Buffet Cookbook for $19.99

Now for a recipes:
from the The Fondue Party Cookbook by Beth Merriman
Cheese Strata
12 slices of day-old bread
1/2 pound shredded cheddar cheese
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 tsp prepared mustard
1 tbsp minced onion
1 tsp salt
Dash Tabasco sauce

Trim crusts from bread.  Arrange 6 bread slices in greased baking dish 12x8x9 or 11x9; cover with cheese and then cover with remaining bread slices.  Beat eggs, blend in milk and remaining ingredients; pour over bread.  Chill 1 hour.  Bake uncovered in a 325F oven for about 30 minutes or puffy and brown.  Serve at once.  Makes 6 servings.

from It's Fun to Fondue by M.N. Thaler
Fondue Suisse
1 pound Swiss cheese, finely diced
3 tbsp flour
1 clove garlic
2 cups dry white wine
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup kirsch
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg
dunkables

Place cheese in a bowl, sprinkle flour, mix lightly.  Cut garlic in halves, rub inside of fondue pot until well flavored then discard garlic. 
Pour white into pot and place over low heat until bubbles start rising to the surface (DO NOT BOIL).  Add lemon juice at this point if required.  Add cheese by handfuls, constantly stirring with wooden fork or spoon until cheese is melted.  Be sure each handful is melted before you add the next.  After last of cheese has been added and mixture begins to bubble, quickly add kirsch and seasoning, stirring until blended.
Serves 4

Happy Cooking!

High Tea

The "Victorian Railroad Ladies" & the "Victorian High Tea Society" of Las Vegas are meet-ups, devoted to having monthly or semi-monthly High Teas.  Complete with Sunday attire and fashionable hats.   I am going  to one in March called "Kiss the Victorian Easter Bunny" Victorian High Tea Potluck & Hat Swap.

There are quite a few rules regarding the amount of time spent or not spent at any High Tea.  I found many interesting items in my "Betty Crocker's Guide to Easy Entertaining" available on my Amazon storefront, www.amazon.com/stores/oneofakindcookbooks as a collectible for $29.99.

Specifically I was looking for food ideas, but found so much more.

Pinwheel sandwiches are made by cutting crusts from an unsliced loaf of tender fresh bread, and cutting 1/4" slices the long way of the loaf.  Spread each slice with softened butter and any well-seasoned filling mixture. The more positive the color of the filling, the more dramatic the pinwheel design will be.  Roll up the full length of the slice, secure with a couple of toothpicks and chill.  Cut in 1/4" slices just before serving.

Tiny tarts, are served hot, are among the most delightful of tea dainties.  These should be bite-sized, about an inch across.  They may be made the day before.

Tiny cream puffs are delicious with sweet fillings, also.  Try whipped cream sweetened with confectioners' sugar and flavored with almond, or mixed with drained chopped maraschino cherries or with finely chopped nuts.

Flower like petits fours with a variety of pastel-colored icings and decorations, dainty nut and date bars, shortbread made in star or rosette shapes with cooky press, macaroons, and icebox cookies make a tempting variety.

So for those of you considering putting on a High Tea, I would recommend getting this book- with lots of other entertaining ideas, or you could contact Trudy Platzer, founder of the Victorian RR Ladies & Victorian High Tea Society for more hints.

Happy Cooking!

Clos Montmarte

There's a vineyard that still exists in the middle of Paris, in Montmarte, the last survivor of the many, mostly abbey-owned, that were in the city when it had walls, few bridges and a great iron cauldron near the river in which counterfeiters were boiled in oil.

The vineyard is at the corner of rue des Saules and rue Saint-Vincent, a few streets from Sacre'-Coeur.  It is small, producing only five hundred bottles a year that are sold in the mairie of the 18th arronissement and also at auction.  It's called Clos Montmartre, not expensive and not great, but from the heart of the heart of France.
This is from "Life Is Meals" by James and Kay Salter.

Remember the Swiss Miss Chocolate Roll, the one with the whipped cream inside.  This is a version of a bigger Swiss Miss Chocolate Roll.  I found this recipe in the "Tektronix Employees Kookbook", which is available on my Amazon storefront www.amazon.com/stores/oneofakindcookbooks as a collectible for $19.99.  Tektronix is a company based in Beaverton, OR, that produces Oscilloscopes.  The employees put this together in 1965.

Chocolate Roll
1/2 cup sugar
6 egg yolks
1/8 tsp. salt
chocolate sauce
2 rounded tbsp cocoa
5 egg whites
1/2 pint whipping cream, whipped and sweetened

Beat the yolks and stir into cocoa, with half the sugar.  Fold in well beaten whites and remainder of sugar.  Bake in a well-greased cookie sheet in slow oven (300-325 F).  When cool, remove from pan and spread with whipped cream.  Roll up like a jelly roll.  Slice and top each serving with chocolate sauce.

Happy Cooking!

Spiced Nuts

I like to cook, bake, etc what I like to make.  I have heard many things about spiced nuts and decided I needed to make them.  I am glad I did.  I can see a future for me and spiced nuts, developing new flavors and ideas.  And being adaptable.  The recipe that follows calls for Allspice.  I remember growing up with Allspice.  But when I went to the grocery store (s-I made an effort to find the correct spice), I couldn't find it.  Finally, I settled for a 21 spice deal found at Trader Joe's.  It worked.

When the nuts, first came out of the oven I tried them. Eww-not a good taste.  But after they cooled, I found a much better flavor and a favorite now at parties.  From "Party Atlanta", available on my Amazon storefront www.amazon.com/stores/oneofakindcookbooks for $9.99.

Spiced Nuts

2 cups of Almonds

1 egg white, beaten with fork

1/4 tsp each nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice

1/2 cup sugar

Mix almonds, spices and sugar together.  Blend in egg white, mixing well.  Spoon onto greased cookie sheet.  Bake in a 375 F. oven for 15 minutes.  Cool and store in airtight container. 

The recipe says that it serves 8.  I divided it in half for 2 different parties and with everything else served, this was plenty.

Happy Cooking!

The Perfect Basket

I have always thought I would want to open a Special Occasion Basket business.  I have never done it, but I'm still thinking about it.  In the meanwhile, I have two books for sale about this type of business on my Amazon storefront www.amazon.com/stores/oneofakindcookbooks .  They are "How to Start a Home-Based Gift Basket Business" for $8.99 and "The Perfect Basket" for $9.99.  The first one tells you all the business end stuff.  The second for "The Perfect Basket" is a perfect book filled with ideas and recipes to fill the baskets with.  Here's one of them:

Let Them Eat Cake Basket-Marie Antoinette had the right idea when she uttered that famous line and your friends will love you for giving them a selection of blue ribbon cake mixes.  Use a bundt pan, large flour sifter, or covered cake plate as your gift basket and fill it with packets of your prepared cake mixes with recipe tags attached to each.

Carrot Cake Mix

2 cups sugar

1 tbsp. powdered vanilla

1/2 cup chopped pecans

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Combine and blend the ingredients in a small bowl.  Store in an airtight container.

The recipe tag for Carrot Cake

1 package Carrot Cake Mix

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

3 large eggs

3 cups grated carrots

1 (8-ounce can) crushed pineapple

Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a 13x9 inch baking dish.  Place the Carrot Cake Mix in a large mixing bowl.  Make a well in the center of the mix and add the oil, eggs, carrots and pineapple.  Blend until smooth.  Pour into the prepared baking dish and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool the cake and frost if desired or dust with powdered sugar.

Happy Cooking!