Flashback Friday ~The Great Magazine Challenge Revisited

Last Sunday I threw out my Great Cooking Magazine Challenge to get us out of our winter funk. Hope you all have been trying out some new recipes this week! Come back here on Sunday and post your link or make a comment about what you did with the challenge.


To get you in the mood I'm flashing back this week to a recipe I tried in a previous Great Cooking Magazine Challenge. How about some juicy strawberries to make you think toward spring!



Chocolate Strawberry Shortcakes
Adapted from June/July 2009 Food Network Magazine

For the Shortcakes

1 cup all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons dutch process cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold butter cut into pieces
3 ozs milk chocolate roughly chopped
2 large eggs
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
raw or turbinado sugar for sprinkling

For the Topping
1 quart strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat. Make shortcakes: Whisk flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour mixture until sandy. Add the chocolate. Whisk 1 egg, the cream and vanilla in a glass measuring cup; stir into a flour mixture with a fork to make a shaggy dough (there will be some dry bits). Turn out into a lightly floured surface; pat flat until 1 1/2 inches thick. Cut into 6 rounds, using the scraps for the last cake. Place rounds on the baking sheet and place in fridge or freezer for 20 minutes. While in fridge preheat oven to 400°. Beat remaining egg and brush onto cakes and sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake until firm, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool. While cooling make the toppings. (Recipe calls for half of strawberries to be cooked, but I skipped that). Toss strawberries with sugar. Whip the cream until medium peaks forum. Swirl in a little of strawberries and juice into whipped cream. Split the shortcakes in half. Layer the cream and strawberries then cover with second half. Top with more cream and strawberries.

If you have a FLASHBACK you'd like to share please add your link here. This isn't the Cooking Magazine challenge...just my weekly Flashback Friday post. So come back Sunday to share your Magazine reviews and recipes!



I'm also joining in with Foodie Friday this week over at Designs by Gollum. Check it out HERE.

Inaugural of The Great Cooking Magazine Challenge

I adore cooking magazines. I subscribe to a couple and used to subscribe to a lot more. I love to see a new one in my mailbox..I rip off the plastic and flip through the pages and ooh and ahh. I pick out recipes in my mind that I'd love to try. Sometimes I even foldover the corners or put a little book marker in the pages I want to revisit. Then inevitably within a week or so it gets lost in the stack of all my hundreds of other cooking magazines and I never see it again. I have vowed many times to change this..giving myself challenges to make at least one recipe from each of my magazines a week..or maybe 3 a month..ya..maybe that will work... But the stacks still grow!! So I am giving myself a new challenge and maybe if I do it in public here on my blog I will stick to it! From here on out when I get a new cooking magazine I will do a recipe within a week from it and post it here. I've got to give this challenge a name and even a little logo to make it official and more binding lol. How about The Great Cooking Magazine Challenge! Very original huh?



I am cheating a little since I am starting this challenge when I know I will succeed at least the first time. I got a new Taste of Home in the mail this week and there are some great recipes I want to try. They had a brunch contest and there were 12 wonderful recipes that made the cut. I really would love to try each and every one of them, but because I had all of the ingredients for Benedict Eggs in Pastry it made my cut! Here is the photo from the magazine that inspired me...both to cook it and to take this challenge. I have to add that now that I have a blog not only do I want to try new recipes for how I think they will taste also I now try and improve my photography skills by taking cues from their photos. So maybe this challenge will have a dual purpose.



They really do have great photos in their magazine. Mostly served in everyday dishes, but great lighting and with a very real-life presentation.

Here is my interpretation. Not a total copy cat, but I did like the orange juice and strawberries they used.



The recipe itself had a tasty result. I would absolutely skip the hollandaise step next time and use a packet. I failed miserably with the consistency of mine, although the taste was there. That is why mine doesn't have the sauce drizzled on top. It broke apart...drizzling would not have been pretty. Chunky yes..pretty no.


Benedict Eggs in Pastry

2 eggs yolks (reserve egg whites for wash)
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon Mustard
1/2 cup melted butter
Dash cayenne pepper
2 cups cubed fully cooked ham
2 green onions, chopped
1 Tbsp butter
6 eggs
2 Tbsp milk
1 pkg frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (Yikes..just realized I forgot the cheese! I never missed it)
1 Tbsp water
Minced tarragon, optional (I used more green onions)




Directions:

In a double boiler over simmer water or in a small heavy saucepan constantly whisk egg yolks, lemon juice and mustard until mexutre begins to thicken and reaches 160°. Reduce heat to low. Slowly drizzle in warm melted butter, whisking constantly. Whisk in cayenne.

Transfer to a small bowl if necessary. Place bowl in a larger bowl of arm water. Keep warm, stirring occasionally, until ready to use.

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook and stir ham and onions in butter until onions are tender. In a large bowl, whisk six eggs and milk. Add egg mixture to the pan; cook and stir until set. Remove from heat; stir in 1/3 cup reserved hollandaise sauce. Set aside.

On a lightly floured surface, unfold puff pastry. Roll each sheet into a 12x9 inch rectangle; cut each in half widthwise. Place approx 1 cup egg mixture on half of each rectangle. Sprinkle with cheese. (I used my rolling lattice cutter on half of the pastry rectangles and folded the latticed part over the eggs.)

Mix water and reserved egg white. Brush over pastry edges. Fold pastry over and pinch seams to seal. Transfer to a greased baking sheet or use your silicone liner (I LOVE mine). Brush pastries with more wash. Bake at 400° for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with remaining hollandaise sauce. Sprinkle with tarragon or chopped green onions if desired.





So is anyone else up for the challenge? No need to commit to anything...just use the the logo and link back to me if you try a new recipe from your stacks of cooking magazines....I KNOW that many of you reading this have them too!!!!

The Great Cooking Magazine Challenge ~Double Decker Truffled Grill Cheese

Its been a while since my last installment of The Great Cooking Magazine Challenge. Well over due given the stack of magazines I have :-) This is my way of making good use of my many cooking magazines and a challenge to all of you out there who might have stacks sitting around as well. Make something from one of them!

That's the challenge...will any of you take it and run? If so, grab the logo, link back to me in your post and let me know in the comment section of this post that you took the challenge. Then I'll add your link to this post. Now get to flipping through mags and cooking! :-)

Update!
Here are those brave souls that have taken up the challenge. Will you be next?
Carol at There's Always Thyme To Cook made Chicken and Yellow Pepper Salad from the August edition of La Cucina Italia.

Susan at Savoring Time in the Kitchen made Light and Lemony Potato Salad from the August edition of Southern Living.

Lynn at Happier than a Pig in Mud made Herb Spoon Rolls, also from the August edition of Southern Living.

Kate at A Spoonful of Thyme made Dilled White Bean and Grape Tomato Salad from the June edition of Bon Appetit



The May issue of Food Network Magazine has some great recipes in it. Lots I really would love to try and taste. This morning when I was looking through it, I was looking for ideas to use a half loaf of Trader Joe's brioche bread sitting on my counter waiting to go bad. I was thinking french toast, but ended up with grilled cheese instead! I'm sure Emeril's version was just as tasty, but I had Sandra's ingredients on hand for the most part, except for the fresh figs (I subbed nectarines).



There is one ingredient in this recipe, truffle oil that many may not have on hand and I think you could skip it, but if you run across any I would recommend picking some up. It has incredible flavor even using just a tiny amount. I found this cheapo version at TJMaxx which has mainly olive oil and a touch of truffle, with a spritzer to use sparingly. It doesn't take much but still lots of truffle flavor!



This was pretty tasty. I love sweet and savory in the same bite! If you like Monte Cristos dipped in raspberry jam or turkey & cranberry sauce sandwiches, you will probably like this.

Double-Decker Truffled Grilled Cheese

Courtesy of Sandra Lee for Food Network Magazine

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 to 3 teaspoons truffle oil
• 6 thin slices challah bread (I used brioche)
  
• 7 ounces brie cheese, sliced, rind removed
• 4 fresh figs, sliced (I used nectarine slices)
  
• 6 ounces monterey jack cheese, sliced
• 1/2 cup fig preserves

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Melt 3 tablespoons butter with 1 teaspoon truffle oil in an ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Add 2 slices bread, and toast on both sides. Set the toast aside and reserve the skillet.

Lay out one slice of untoasted bread. Top with one-quarter each of the brie, figs and jack cheese, then a slice of toasted bread, then another layer of brie, figs and jack. Close with a slice of untoasted bread. Repeat to make another double-decker sandwich.

Melt the remaining 3 tablespoons butter with the remaining 1 to 2 teaspoons truffle oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add the sandwiches and cook until golden on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Flip and cook until golden on the other side, about 2 more minutes, then transfer the skillet to the oven and cook until the cheese is melted, 6 to 8 minutes. Serve with the fig preserves.

It made a great Saturday brunchy meal for a rainy August morning. Good thing I brought a little Kitchen Bouquet inside to enjoy :-)

The Great Cooking Magazine Challenge ~Installment #2

So I am doing good... 2 for 2! Yayyyy! Gotta celebrate every step of the way because you never know when I'm going to fall off of this Cooking Magazine challenge wagon. In case any of you reading this have no idea what I'm talking about, I have given myself a challenge to try at least one recipe out of each of my new cooking magazines within a week of them coming into my possession. See my first post regarding this challenge here. At least one of my blogging buddies has taken the challenge. Check out Carol of There's Always Time to Cook's 2nd post about the challenge here. She's ahead of me!

My wonderful sister Cindy, who was one of the main people that taught me how to cook and bake and who shares my love of good food and recipes has given me a subscription to Everyday with Rachel Ray the past few Christmases. So Rachel is going to be making a regular appearance in the challenge. Her recipes tend to be pretty easy and quick. Sometimes calling for ingredients I don't have, but usually ingredients that can be substituted without essentially changing the recipe. For this particular recipe I actually had them all, so it definitely caught my eye. I did add a little bit of parmesan and some grilled chicken to make it more of a main meal. Also, I skipped the toasted bread and served it with leftover garlic bread. Oh yeah..I also added salt to taste. For some reason it wasn't in the list of ingredients and I thought it needed just a touch to bring out the other flavors. This had a nice light fresh taste!



Greek-Style Bread Salad with Creamy Lemon-Caper Dressing

12 baguette slices
1 Tbls extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
3 cloves garlic, 1 halved 2 finely chopped
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbls greek style yogurt
2 Tbls lemon juice
1 10 oz bag chopped romaine lettuce
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
1 small red onion, finely chopped
2 oz cooked chicken
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
2 Tbls capers, rinsed
Salt & Pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375°. Brush both sides of each bread slice with olive oil, place on a baking sheet and bake for 10 mins. Rub the garlic halves on each toast. In a large salad bowl, add the chopped garlic; whisk in the yogurt, lemon juice and 2 tbls olive oil. Toss with the lettuce, tomatoes, onion and capers. Season with salt and pepper. Divide the salad among 6 plates and top each with 2 toasts.

I can't go away without sneaking in a little bit of my day in the yard. It was sooo sunny and nice today. Even a littel bit hot! At least by Northwest standards. By Louisiana standards it was a gorgeous winter day lol.

This is a flowering red currant about to be in full bloom



Another pretty daffodil opened up today



And I inspected my clematis and found so many fat little flower buds!

Great Cooking Magazine Challenge March 2011

A couple of weeks ago I threw out the Great Cooking Magazine Challenge again. This is an event for all of us to attack that stack of cooking magazines, clippings or printed out recipes. If you're anything like me you have plenty of material! The idea is to try something new. Don't worry if you didn't know about the challenge until now. Just take some inspiration and come back here to share what you tried. The linky will be open for a month.

I got a new Sunset magazine recently because I was attracted to the beautiful waterfall on the cover. But they always have pretty good recipes too. The March edition was no exception. I'm the only one that likes seafood in my house, so sometimes on the weekend I will do fish or shrimp for lunch for just me. So the Halibut Parchment Packets sounded just up my weekend cooking alley.


I like to cook with what I have on hand, so I had to make a few changes but I stayed pretty close to the recipe. It was tasty and something different for sure!

Halibut (or Tilapia!) Parchment Packets with Coconut Almond Rice
March 2011 Sunset Magazine

• 3/4 teaspoon red curry paste (I used green curry paste)
  
• 3/4 cup canned coconut milk
• 3 tablespoons slivered almonds
• 1/8 tsp chili paste (my addition)
  
• 1/2 cup basmati rice (I used regular rice)
  
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened flaked coconut
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
• 4 halibut fillets (6 oz. each) (Tilapia worked well!)
  
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 3/4 pound asparagus, ends trimmed, cut into 2-in. pieces on the diagonal (I omitted)
  
• 1/4 pound sugar snap peas
• 1/4 cup cilantro leaves
• Lime wedges

1. Preheat oven to 400°. In a small bowl, whisk curry paste & chili paste, gradually adding coconut milk. Transfer 1/2 cup sauce to another bowl; set bowls aside.

2. Toast almonds in a small saucepan over medium heat until golden, 3 minutes. Stir in rice, reserved 1/2 cup sauce, 1/2 cup water, the coconut, and 1/2 tsp. salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, until rice is tender, 16 to 18 minutes.

3. Season halibut (or other white fish) with remaining 1/4 tsp. salt and the pepper while rice cooks. Cut 4 pieces of parchment, each 12 by 14 in. Set a fillet in center of each, then mound asparagus and peas on top (some may roll off). For each packet, bring 2 opposite sides of parchment up over ingredients and fold several times to seal. Bring other sides up and fold to seal. Place packets, folded sides up, on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until fish is just opaque (poke with a sharp knife to check), 10 to 15 minutes. (I used the parchment lined with foil and it needed a bit more time to cook. I upped the temp to 450 for the final couple of minutes.)

4. Microwave remaining 1/4 cup sauce to warm. Divide rice among 4 plates and top each with fish and vegetables from a packet, discarding extra liquid. Drizzle sauce over dishes and sprinkle with cilantro. Serve with lime wedges if you have them.

My note: I didn't have unsweetened coconut, but rinsed the sweetened coconut I did have. Gotta improvise!

I made enough to bring for lunch this week. That office break room microwave won't know what hit it :-) Beats the heck out of Lean Cuisine!

So whatcha got cooking? Show us what you tried. Leave your link below and please link back to me in your post. That way everyone that reads your blog can see everyone else's magazine recipes too! There aren't many rules here..just cook something new!

I'm joining in over at Beth Fish Reads for her weekly Weekend Cooking event.

The Great Cooking Magazine Challenge February 2011 Edition

Last Sunday I invited everyone to join me in the Great Cooking Magazine Challenge once again. I hope everyone had time to try something new out of some of your cooking magazines - if you are like me you have piles of them waiting to be read. If you didn't have time this week..feel free to add your link later! I had a lot of recipes marked to try for this challenge, but settled on two. Both were fairly quick and both I'd make again, so it was time well spent.

First up is an unusual (at least to me) sounding recipe from the February issue of Bon Appetit (my newest subscription) that caught my eye as something that would be different, flavorful and light - all a bonus when you're watching your weight! I have to say that the highlight of this recipe, to me were the crispy crumbs. Not a one of those went to waste. They kind of remind me of those mustard flavored pretzels. A tip with the recipe noted that the addition of these crumbs eliminated the need for toast and I do agree it was enough to satisfy my carb addicted taste buds.

Sunny Side-Up Eggs on Mustard Creamed Spinach with Crispy Crumbs
Bon Appetit February 2011

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup coarse fresh breadcrumbs made from crustless country-style bread (I used a great roasted garlic stuffed bread)
• 5 teaspoons Dijon mustard, divided
• 2 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 9-ounce package fresh spinach leaves (I used kale because its what I had on hand - any green would do)
• 3 tablespoons half and half
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 2 large eggs
• Fresh thyme sprigs (for garnish)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss crumbs with 2 teaspoons mustard, 2 teaspoons oil, and mustard seeds in medium bowl to coat. Scatter on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until golden and crisp, 6 to 8 minutes. Meanwhile, add enough water to deep large nonstick skillet to cover bottom. Add spinach; toss over high heat to wilt, about 2 minutes. Scrape into sieve set over bowl; press out liquid. Wipe out skillet; reserve. Transfer spinach to medium saucepan. Add 3 teaspoons mustard, half and half, and chopped thyme. Stir over medium heat until thick, about 3 minutes. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Remove from heat. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in reserved skillet over medium-high heat. Crack eggs into skillet, spacing apart. Fry until whites are cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. Divide spinach between 2 plates, spreading out as base for eggs. Top with eggs, crumbs, and thyme sprigs.





The second recipe I tried comes from the February/March edition of Taste of Home. I've been getting this magazine for years and it really doesn't let me down often, especially in the dessert department. This one sounded to yummy and warm and comforting and it was every bit of that! The cake is a bit gingerbready and the topping peary, appley, nutty and caramely - so many good things wrapped up into one!

Spiced Pear Upside Down Cake
Taste of Home - February/March 2011



Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 large pears, peeled and sliced (I used 1 pear and 1 apple)
  
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup warm water
• Ice cream, optional

Pour melted butter into a 9-in. square baking pan; sprinkle with nuts and brown sugar. Arrange pears over nuts. In a large bowl, cream softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and molasses. Combine the flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and baking soda; add to creamed mixture alternately with water, beating well after each addition. Spread batter over pears. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate. Serve warm with ice cream if desired.


So lets see what you did for the challenge! Add your link below. I'm trying Linky Tools this time instead of Mr. Linky, so hopefully it works well. Let me know if you have trouble.

Hope for the Winter Weary & A Challenge

This winter has seemed long and I know its not over yet. And I know we have had it pretty easy in the Pacific Northwest compared to many other parts of the country. But still...it's seemed extra cold and rainy this year. But even as dreary as its been there are bright spots and signs of warmer times to come! This recent sunrise over Mount Rainier, which I photographed on my way to work was one of those bright spots. The sky was on fire! Angels baking cookies :-)



In between raindrops this weekend I ventured outside to see if I could find signs of life in my garden. The primroses always come through. They bloom here several times a year.



Not exactly a flower, but the viburnum is looking colorful


The little snowdrops are about to bloom!


This sedum always reminds me of a flower during winter


This euphorbia's foliage reminds me of a flower too.


The hellebores seem slow this year, but they will be open soon!


The camellia still has a ways to go


I have other mini irises that are getting close to blooming, but I couldn't resist these at the grocery store! They make me smile when I leave for work in the morning.


The heather looks extra nice right about now



And doot do do dooooo (trumpet sound) : A crocus or two have popped up and are ready to bloom! Now if that doesn't give hope to the winter weary I don't know what will!


Hopefully the sun won't be crying for much longer - I think sunshine is predicted around here this week. Nevermind the 20s at night that go along with that!


I got a little nudge this weekend from a fellow blogger (Lynn at Happier Than a Pig in Mud) to throw out the Great Cooking Magazine Challenge again to get us all out of our winter doldrums. Lynn...the challenge is on. For all of you that have stacks of cooking magazines sitting around with all of those great recipes waiting to be tried this challenge is for you too!

I've done this before but this time I'm going to handle it a little different. I am giving you one week to gather those mags and start cooking. Show up back here in one week..next Sunday, February 6th and I will have a post up for you to share your reviews of the recipes you've tried. It doesn't matter how old the magazines are. Magazine clippings you've held on to are okay too. Just try something new!



I'll give you a little inspiration. I dug WAY back in my magazine archive for this recipe for Beef Paprika. It's from the October/November 2002 issue of Taste of Home! I had a chuck roast I wasn't sure what to do with and pulled a few older mags off the shelf and came on this one. We enjoyed it over rice with some cute little broccoletti (tastes like very tender broccoli) and a green salad. Great comfort food dish!



Beef Paprika
Serves 2 - easily doubled for a larger family

Ingredients

• 1 pound beef stew meat, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 1 red bell pepper (my addition)
  
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 3/4 cup water, divided
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon paprika
• 3/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Dash cayenne pepper (or my stand by Tony Chachere's seasoning)
  
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Directions:

• In a large saucepan, brown beef in oil on all sides. Add onion and garlic; cook until onion is tender. Add 1/2 cup of water, ketchup, brown sugar, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, salt, mustard and cayenne; mix well. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 hours or until beef is tender. Combine flour and remaining water until smooth; gradually stir into stew. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve over noodles or rice. Yield: 2 servings.

***************************************************
I also tried a recipe out of the Penzey's Spices catalog. They always have great looking recipes and its hard for me to throw them out. But they have all of the same recipes online I discovered, so I threw a stack of them away this week. This Banana Blueberry cake from the Spring 2010 catalog is a winner. Its got a similar taste to banana bread, but a lighter texture and the blueberries are a nice touch. The original recipe called for an icing but I thought it was good with out it. I sprinkled some powdered sugar on for a little *something* extra.

Banana Blueberry Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), room temperature

2 eggs

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3 large very ripe bananas, mashed fine

1 1/4 – 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Frosting (optional):

2 sticks butter, room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

6 tablespoons milk, divided

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-by-13-inch pan and set aside. In a roomy bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Add the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla and blend until smooth. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to the batter and mix well. Stir in the mashed bananas. Fold in the blueberries, if using. Pour into the pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes. Frost, if desired. Now its your turn!!! I'll be making something else for the challenge too. See you back Sunday :-)

I'm joining in for Mosaic Monday over at Little Red House. Go check out all of the other great mosaics HERE.

The Great Cooking Magazine Challenge May 2011 Edition

So its that time again! I'm putting out the challenge to flip through those stacks of cooking magazines and clippings or printed out internet recipes and try something new :-) I do this challenge mostly for myself - to justify my many cooking magazine purchases and subscriptions. But I know many of you out there are just as guilty as me!

I have a linky below where you can come back and show us what you did for the challenge. I got a new Everyday with Rachel Ray in the mail this week and thought I would give a couple things that caught my eye a try today. First up is BLT Mac & Cheese


Randy and I both grew up eating "the blue box" as my friend Kathleen calls it. Kraft Dinner is how my Canadian husband refers to it. I still love it, but we have graduated to Velveeta Shells and Cheese. High Class I know! But I am always trying out mac & cheese when its offered on a menu. I've tried to recreate it at home a couple of times but haven't been that happy with the results. This recipe was actually pretty good, maybe because it comes somewhat close to looking and tasting like Kraft! lol

BLT Mac 'n' Cheese

4 slices bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces (I used the Hormel pieces in the bag..hey it saves time!)
12 oz pasta (elbows or rotini)
2 1/4 cups milk
1/2 tsp turmeric (gives it that nice orangey-yellow color)
6 oz cream cheese
2 cups finely shredded orange cheddar cheese. (About 8 oz)
6 oz cherry tomatoes quartered (I used two small chopped)
Salt, Pepper
Onion powder, garlic powder to taste (my addition)
Grated Parmesan cheese (my addition)

Preheat oven to 375°. Cook bacon until crisp if not taking the short cut that I did, then drain. Meanwhile in a large pot of salted water cook pasta until done & drain. In same pot bring milk to simmer over medium heat. Whisk in tumeric & cream cheese. Stir in cheddar cheese until melted. Add pasta, bacon and tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper, tiny bit of onion & garlic powder. Transfer to 9x13 casserole and bake til heated through, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with grated parmesan before serving.


In the same June/July edition of Rachel Ray's mag there was an article about updated & homemade Popsicles. There were a few I'd like to try, but settled on the "Cappuccino" because the ingredients to me sounded more like Vietnamese Coffee which I love. Very simple to make and would be a good use of left over coffee.



Cappuccino Popsicles

3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk (I ended up using a big more in the espresso part)
1/2 cups brewed espresso (I used prepared instant espresso powder I keep on hand for recipes like this)
2 tsp dark unsweetened cocoa powder, plus some for dusting (I only used 1)

Combine the cream and 1/4 cup condensed milk, stirring well. Divide mixture between your popsicle molds. Freeze until almost solid, about 1 hour. Meanwhile in a bowl whisk together espresso, cocoa and remaining condensed milk (I used more than 1/4 cup because I like sweet coffee!). Refrigerate until cold. Divide the espresso mixture between molds insert stick and freeze until solid - about 4 hours. Run warm water over molds to remove the pops. Dust cream layer with more cocoa powder. Yummy!

I hope I gave you a little inspiration. Go search your stacks, do some cooking and blogging and come back here to link up! Putting a link back to my blog in your post would be neighborly too :-)





Happy Mother's Day to all you Mothers out there including my own! Love you Momma!


I'm joining for the following parties
Sweets for a Saturday
Weekend Cooking
So Sweet Sunday
Sweet Indulgences Sunday
What's On Your Plate?
Meatless Mondays