It’s that time of year again. It is time to start thinking about your holiday cooking. I don’t know how it got here so fast. If you need any help finding good recipes, try looking for holiday cooking in the catalog.
You can also go to MCPL’s Web Resources. There are a lot of good websites listed here.
This Christmas involved a lot of baking on my part, and the festivities just wouldn't have been complete without a batch of cookies or two. This year though, I deviated from the tried and true sugar cookies and went for something a little more culturally interesting. I made peppernuts. What are peppernuts? Well, they involve neither pepper nor nuts, so don't let the name scare you away. They're tiny round cookies that are meant to be eaten by the handful. And they involve something that's difficult to find around here -- cardamom.
Ok, so we all make resolutions… and fail to keep them. We set such lofty goals for ourselves that generally include doomed words like: diet, exercise, and organization.
The holiday cooking is done, the tree has been taken down, and all of the decorations put away in the attic. I am ready to get out some of my favorite recipe books and cook a meal that does not include turkey or ham!
Heard of a new kitchen fad, lately? An new trick that you’ve recently started trying for the first time? An old trick that you’ve been doing for a LONG time? I’ve been coming across lots of trends in Kitchenland that seem intriguing. Some of them are tried-and-true (Sunday cooking to get you through the week), and some are new – to me, at least (is it just me, or is almond milk everywhere in recipes lately?!).
If you are like me, you look for quick-but-tasty recipes to have on hand when life gets hectic. This one is from my step-mother.
SUPER EASY CHICKEN
½ cup of Hellmann’s mayonnaise ¼ cup of parmesan cheese 4-5 teaspoons of Italian seasoned breadcrumbs 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Mix the mayonnaise and parmesan cheese. Spread on all sides of the chicken. • Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top of the chicken. • Bake at 425° uncovered for 25-35 minutes or until there is no pink in chicken and juice runs clear when pierced with a fork.
Introduce your child to the world of baking by using a cake mix as the primary ingredient. Cake Mix Cooking for Kids is the perfect book, as it contains simple recipes with easy to follow directions and a few common ingredients. The author, Stephanie Ashcraft, has also included several colorful photos.
Do you like to read recipes? Do you like to cook, bake, and enjoy yummy food? I like doing both. Lately, I have enjoyed the Gooseberry Patch books, Simple Shortcut Recipes and 5 Ingredient Family Favorites. Never had I really enjoyed cooking or baking until I found Gooseberry Patch.
If you have to be on a gluten free diet for any reason, you know how hard it is to find a really good dessert. You don't want ice cream, fruit, or something equally as plain; if you are anything like me, you crave cake! Unfortunately, a good gluten free cake is hard to come by, unless you want to use a mix – which usually comes out heavier than what you may like. However, I have recently come across a new book that takes gluten free cake mixes and spices them up. Suddenly, you have a whole new dessert instead of just a plain old cake!
