Sunflower Seeds

I must confess that I haven't ever picked or roasted sunflower seeds myself, but sunflowers are among my favorite flowers-- they're just so beautiful and full of personality- and the seeds are just so yummy, that when I had the opportunity to write an article for eHow for how to prepare sunflower seeds I jumped at it, and wrote several articles about it, actually.

Follow this link for information on how long you should soak seeds in salty water, and how long they should be kept in the roasting oven for yummy nut perfection.

Just "Eat It"

Thank goodness for Dr. Seus' "Green Eggs and Ham" book. I've used it for quality time around the house, but I also quote it from time to time when introducing a new food, or when trying to convince one of my three children that we REALLY have had a certain food for dinner before! My two favorite quotes"EAT THEM, EAT THEM, YOU WILL SEE!"  & "TRY THEM, TRY THEM, AND YOU MAY I SAY!" (Thankfully my other children normally chime in and encourage the obstinate child at this point.)

This comes to mind because yesterday as I was in the grocery store, in a flurry of things to get done that day, I decided to get the simply standby for the kids' lunch- hot dogs.  What kid doesn't like hot dogs.... um, apparently my 4 y.o. son. In the car he informed me that if I "put hot dogs on his plate" he would cry. Yes, he told me this, in no uncertain terms.

Perhaps I should introduce the kids to the Michael Jackson-inspired, Weird Al Yankovic song "Eat It"

Some of my favorite lyrics from his song are:

"Don't want to argue, I don't want to debate

Don't want to hear about what kind of food you hate

You won't get no dessert 'till you clean off your plate

So eat it

Don't you tell me you're full

Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it" 

Taste of Home Cooking School

Last night I attended a Taste of Home Cooking School, hosted at the Gwinnett Civic Center. This was my 3rd time attending the show, and just as enjoyable as ever! Everyone who attends received a goody bag filled with magazines, coupons, flyers and samples of products- this time we got a 4 oz. sample of Mahatma brown rice, and a 8 oz (juice box sized) of Kitchen Basics Chicken Stock.

The highlight of the night for me, was watching our ever- hilarious instructor, Michelle Roberts demonstrate how to cook about 10 items from the "Brand Name Cookbook" magazine that as included in our goody bag. Here's what Michelle demonstrated this year:

Buffalo Chex Mix
Upside Down Banana Pecan French Toast
Gingered Carrot Soup
Bacon, Cheddar and Chive Scones
Apricot Beef Stir Fry
Corn Bread Stuffed Turkey Breast
Sausage Stuffed Red Bell Peppers
Chicken Balsamico
Cookie Dough Truffles
French Cranberry-Apple Pie



By far, the most tempting treat of the night was the Cookie Dough Truffles.... the tip here (if you don't have a fancy schmancy candy-fork is to use a plastic fork and pop off the two middle tines so that the chocolate can drip down carefully.  (Truffle photo taken from the TOH website)


** I searched the TOH website for all these recipes, but only found a few so far, I'm assuming they'll publish the recipes after the cooking school tour, but I'm not sure.

Happy Cooking!

Tortilla Pinwheels

As I gazed into my seemingly empty refrigerator I was reminded of a recipe my mom had made AGES ago when I was growing up. My mom was making appetizers for a party, and needed something small, simple, and spectacular looking. I'm not sure where she saw the recipe or got the idea from, but since then I've seen the same basic recipe on the internet and in cookbooks.

Take room temperature tortillas and slather on some cream cheese to the edges. Layer on some deli meats and baby spinach, cheese, or any other toppings you'd like, and then roll the tortilla up. My mom then sliced the tortilla into "coins" (no tooth pick necessary since the cream cheese kept it all together) but I ate it the other day just as a delicious wrap-- mine wasn't quit so colorful as the examples below (mine was only cream cheese, ham, and american cheese) but it really hit the spot!

Ironically on the same day I recreated this long-forgotten creation a friend blogged about a similar dish she'd made (thanks SCHPINKY) and so-doing she gave me the courage to blog about this simple, yet delightful treat. The photo is neither HERS nor mine, I found it online- but it gives you an idea as to how you can take the basic tortilla pinwheel and make it your own, with various deli meats and flavored tortillas. One recipe I found (while looking for photos) suggested avocado dip instead of the cream cheese, and another recipe added powdered ranch mix to the cream cheese.... YUM-O! Experiment away my friends, and let me know what you think.

Food Memories- Potatoes on the Stove

For some reason I've been thinking about my own personal "comfort foods" lately.

My first comfort food comes straight from my mom.... it's aptly named Potatoes on the Stove, and the recipe (if you can even call it that) is incredibly simple, yet the results is superbly delectable. She used to make it for us mostly on rainy days as a way to warm us up and cheer our moods.
Slice potatoes thinly on a mandolin slicer, and heat on a cast iron skillet until the potato is somewhat translucent, turn with a knife or fork and heat until the potato is slightly browned. Remove from skillet and top with butter, add salt to taste. Best eaten piping hot!

I AM alive... here's proof

So about the time I took on the great idea of this blog, I got a second job.... which then turned into a full time job, which has now scaled back (just a LITTLE bit) to a part time job of about 32 hours a week. My carefree days of cooking have gone basically kaput, since I now get off work at 5PM and have to trek home. (Yes, I'm aware of the fact that other mothers have been doing this for decades, but for ME this is new territory.... I was the typical SAHM who got a part-time job on the nights/weekends when the kids were asleep... but not anymore!)

With all that gibberish being said, I'm hoping to get back

into cooking some more, with simple recipes that help save time. This post in fact, is about one such product which has helped me save time over the past few weeks.

I've been a fanatic of Fast Fixin chicken products for literally YEARS, (I'm a mother of 3, so I've bought my share of chicken nugget packages) but I recently stumbled upon their beef meatballs. (I PROMISE this is not a paid advertisement, I'm simply giving a review of a product.) In a word, these meatballs were "yummy" and even far-superior to other pre-formed meatballs I've tried before. OF COURSE homemade meatballs are better tasting, since you're able to customize them to your family's specific tastes and preferences, but these meatballs were great. I cooked them a little longer than the recommended cooking times, but that's because I prefer my meatballs to have a crispy crunch to them. They are good alone, in a meatball sub, or smothered in sauce on top of spaghetti (yes, cue the music.)

And since I'm singing the praises of Fast Fixin, let me tell you that not only do they help outschools with their Home Team Rewards program, but they also have a loyalty program called Fast Fixin Fanatics which allows you to redeem 10 Fast Fixin UPCs for a coupon good toward your next purchase.

Pasta Frittata Recipe

After the onion fiasco with the Black Bean Tart, I was hesitant to make this Pasta Frittata (my first frittata ever) because it has onions in the recipe. And of course my husband came into the kitchen just as I was beginning to saute a scant amount of onions in oil. I assured him that the onion flavor would be barely noticeable, but I don't think he believed me.

In addition to limiting the amount of onions, I did make a few other alterations to the recipe. Instead of the garlic cloves I substituted garlic powder(according to my BHG cookbook, 1 garlic clove= 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder), instead of fresh parsley I used half the required amount of dried parsley, instead of Colby cheese, I used a blend of Mexican cheeses, I used honey ham instead of regular ham, and I omitted the cayenne pepper altogether.

The recipe took a little longer to combine than I had originally planned, of course separating the egg whites took a few minutes. I wished I would have left the skillet on the stove for a little bit longer, to make more of a crust on the bottom of the pan, but it turned out great. My husband liked it, and would eat it again.

I tasted a sample of it this morning, and it was even yummier now that the flavors had mingled more. This recipe is a KEEPER!  (PHOTO TAKEN FROM TASTE OF HOME WEBSITE)

Black Bean Tart

The next recipe that caught my interest was a Black Bean Tart. I'll admit that I DID NOT follow this recipe exactly. First, I did not have a fluted tart pan, so I attempted to bake this in a pyrex dish. Secondly, I toned down the amount of onions, since my husband DOES NOT LIKE ONIONS (however, I didn't realize this needed to be capitalized until this exact recipe). The original recipe in the book calls for a medium white onion, however the online recipe calls for green onion, either way wouldn't have matter for my husband.

I enjoyed the texture of the pureed black beans and sour cream mixture- I'll definitely use this technique for future bean dips, however the crust was NOT light or flaky, and my husband did not like the onion-y-ness of the dish. I've eaten dish sans crust, and enjoyed it as a nacho-type of dip with chips. Basically a THUMBS DOWN for this recipe

MY OWN Creamy Pasta Chicken Salad

Having prepared too much chicken from the previous night's Chicken Cordon Bleu Calzones, I decided to use up some of the food stuffs I already had on hand, and combine them into a tasty light lunch.

I prepared a box of large shell pasta, and then rinsed, drained, and chilled the noodles. Meanwhile I combined some chopped/shredded chicken, mayo, and spices such as garlic powder, onion, celery salt, dill weed, and pepper. I combined the noodles with the wet mixture and voila!- Creamy Pasta Chicken Salad. My husband ate it, had seconds, and ate it the second day, but he hasn't commented on the dish, except for asking if this was one of the recipes. My oldest son, LOVED the dish and has asked for it at a few meals. SCORE!

Publish Post

Chicken Cordon Bleu Calzones

Today's blog is about the Chicken Cordon Bleu Calzones As discussed earlier, I intend on following the "spirit" of recipes and not doing everything exactly by the book. In Wednesday's case (the day I actually prepared the meal) I omitted the mushrooms, since I know my DH wouldn't care for them, and switched the provolone cheese to swiss, which I already had on hand.


The meal turned out fine, although I must admit the chicken was a bit tough, and the puff pastry took a lot longer to cook that suggested, and it still came out undercooked, but the meal tasted yummy.

I did struggle with the assembly part. I wasn't sure if I should wrap the ham around the chicken, or just drape it over, and I wasn't sure WHERE to put the sauce, or exactly HOW to close the calzone.

Despite the over-cooked chicken and undercooked pastry, my husband DID like it, and so did I, which I suppose is more important. I served the meal with buttered white rice and a simple salad.

Spinach Cheese Manicotti

I made Spinach Cheese Manicotti for Sunday "dinner" (which is what I call the Sunday mid-day meal- I call the evening meal "supper", but only on Sundays for some weird reason).

I pre-cooked the noodles before church so that would be ready for me when I got home. When I got ready to assemble the cheese I realized I hadn't gotten one of the ingredients- cream cheese. No biggie, I just winged it... I added more mozzarella cheese, and an egg to help bind the ricotta and the mozzarella together (something I frequently do when making lasagna, and that was actually part of the recipe on the back of the manicotti shell box as well.) I didn't follow the recipe exactly in other areas, I used a store bought sauce and omitted the garlic. In many of my future endeavors I plan on following the SPIRIT of the recipe anyway, so this was just par for the course.

When it was time to fill the shells I wanted to try a trick I'd seen on a Martha Stewart show... didn't work for me. I spooned the combined cheese into a plastic bag and cut off a tip, so it would be like a pastry bag. I don't think my plastic bag was strong enough (I used a cheap store-brand) and I must not have had the technique right. I ended up breaking most of the shells, so I just spilt them all down the side, laid them flat on a plate, squirted a line of cheese in the center and then rolled it back up- I should have done that from the beginning, it was much easier.

I plated the meal with salad and a yummy garlic crescent roll that I had seen at the grocery store's bakery department. I still hadn't told him the name of the disk. When I asked my DH for a star rating (like 4 out of 5 stars) he just rolled his eyes. I asked for suggestions or comments, and he said slowly, "there was a lot of green stuff inside." Duh- it was the Spinach. I'll admit that I'd never cooked spinach before, and it's only been in the house in baby/raw form for salads, so perhaps I should have prepared him for the spinach-ness about it, but I didn't think it tasted too spinach-y.

I will definitely make this recipe again, or at least a lasagna version with the spinach, and I'd probably make the recipe again like I did this first time, w/out the cream cheese and with the homemade sauce.

(PHOTO TAKEN FROM THE TASTE OF HOME WEBSITES)

Something New

Since the official project is not underway, and I had some leftover spaghetti sauce (that apparently my husband doesn't like) I decided to try something new.

I sprayed my baking dish with nonstick spray and placed frozen chicken tenders inside. I basted the chicken with the leftover sauce and baked it in the oven until done. About half way through the bake time I sprinkled the chicken with bread crumbs. Meanwhile I cooked some penne pasta.

The dish was served with buttered garlic bread (wish I had some salad), lightly buttered pasta and sliced chicken with a sprinkle of cheese.

Baking the sauce reduced it nicely and made the sauce much sweeter than normal. I wished I would have had some fresh seasonings to add, more sharp cheese, and some nice cooking oil to put on the pasta.

I guess my husband liked it well enough. He asked if it was one of my new recipes, and I told him it was something I just kinda put together. Don't know if they helped or hurt my case for trying new things. I just didn't have the heart to tell him that the dish was made mostly because I didn't want to let the opened pasta sauce go to waste.

Taste of Home Annual Recipes Book

After some thought, I've decided to start working my way through one of my "Taste of Home" Annual Recipes books- I have books from 2002 and 2001, however I've chosen to begin in the 2002 book since a few of the recipes have peaked my interest more.


I'm trying to decide HOW FAR out of my comfort zone I'm wanting to go when preparing dishes. For example, I don't eat fish very often, and have only cooked it a few times in my whole life. Excluding a half dozen time visiting a fish house in Pensacola, my knowledge of fish is primarily from Gorton's and Starkist.
The inspiration from for my project, the Julie Powell from the Julie/Julia Project went out of her comfort zone and ate eggs- for basically the first time ever. So should I too expand my culinary mind and skill by preparing AND eating fish as well? I have yet to decide, but feel free to comment on this topic.

What is a Recipe?

So what is a "recipe" let alone a recipe for success? According to a dictionary, "recipe" means:

1) a set of directions with a list of ingredients for making or preparing something
2) a formula for or means to a desired end
3) a method for achieving some desired objective

I'm learning there is no "one-size-fits-all" recipe for success, thus the blog title "DB" (my initials) recipe- this will be an account of my journey. Inevitably not all attempts will be successful, but I think that my failures will also help me to build upon successes and become happier along the way.

I hope to post some photos along the way of my scrumptious foods, and perhaps some of the the other successes in my life, whether it be organizing an area of thehouse, or tackling another project, I'm hoping this venue will encourage me to attempt successes, and result in a better ME.

First Post

My current dilemma is determining what type of cookbook I will attempt to cook through. Since my children are (currently) 6 1/2, 5 1/2, and 4 I will be cooking mainly for me and my husband, although I'd like to expand my children's palette. Selecting the Julia Child's book at this point in my children's lives is undo able. I've considered working through the Martha Stewart cookbook, however I admit I don't think I have all the gadgets that her type of cooking would require.

At this point I am leaning towards more practical cooking, such as Rachel Ray or possibly Paula Deen. At first mention of the project (not the accompanying blog) my DH wasn't that helpful with suggestions. It looks as if I might need to take a trip to the library or a store in order to see what type of cookbook would best work into my life.