Here’s a lovely dish to make in the early fall or late summer, when those long thin red peppers are in season. They’re easier to barbecue than traditional rounded bell peppers!
Ingredients
6 marconi (the long thin mild bell peppers) peppers
8 roma tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 clove garlic
10 greek olives (optional)
For dressing:
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 tblsp balsamic vinegar (optional)
Preparation Instructions
Roast pepper on the bbq, or in the oven, under the broiler, until skins are blackened. Remove from heat and immediately wrap in newspaper or place in a paper or plastic bag. Seal bag and put aside.
Cut tomatoes in half. Remove seeds (run your finger or a spoon inside the tomato to loosen the fleshy pulp and seeds- they will fall right out).
Put 1/4 cup of olive oil and salt in a plastic bag or bowl, add tomatoes, and toss/mix until coated.
Arrange the tomatoes on a parchment lined cookie sheet, and place in a low temperature oven (300 degree Farenheit) for about an hour and a half, turning half way through cooking time.
Peel peppers and remove seeds.
Pull peppers apart with your hands to make long sections of pepper (you can use a knife, but this is so much easier to do while you are seeing the peppers!) Place in bowl. Add the tomatoes, crushed garlic and olives if using. Sprinkle with salt. Add oil and vinegar (balsamic is great if you tend to like a slightly sweeter sauce.) Toss. Serve cold or room temperature.
This salad is best if you can leave it for an hour or two for the flavors to develop.
October 9, 2013 | Posted in:
Quick coconut curry noodles
Here’s another near-instant soup that’s perfect if you’re craving something spicy and warm.
Ingredients
1 pack ramen noodles
1/2 can coconut milk
1 tsp thai curry paste
1/2 tsp fish sauce
1/2 cup coleslaw mix
coriander
squeeze of lime
Preparation Instructions
Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add curry paste and seasoning packet from soup. Add coconut milk, fish sauce and noodles. Simmer until noodles are cooked. Pour into bowl over coleslaw mix. Top with coriander and a squeeze of lime.
October 2, 2013 | Posted in:
Daily Recipes For Your Personalized Cookbook
We’ve started working our way through our HUGE database of shared recipes. We really had no idea, when we asked people who were building their family cookbooks if they wanted to share some of their recipes, that so many would. When we launched the new site, we went back through our 9 years of archives and found over 30,000 recipes! It’s a big job, but we’re putting them up, one at a time (OK, 50 at a time!).
Today’s recipes include Cola Chicken (yes, it’s what you think it is!), Cajun Linguini, Low Country Boil and Congo Bars. And that’s just a few of them! Head on over to our recipe tab and take a look.
September 25, 2013 | Posted in:
5 minute Asian noodle soup
This is a quick lunch for a cold day. I tend to throw whatever greens I have in there!
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp fish sauce
1/4 tsp srichacha or other chilli sauce
1/4 tsp sugar
squeeze of 1/4 lime
!/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 chopped scallion (green onion)
1/2 cup coleslaw mix (shredded cabbage and carrots)
Leftover chicken or pork, sliced or shredded
Any Asian noodle- soba, ramen, udon, rice
Preparation
Heat broth. When boiling, add soy sauce, fish sauce, chilli sauce and sugar. Add noodles and cook according to directions.
Put slaw mix into bow. Pour hot soup on top. Top with cilantro, scallion and a squeeze of lime.
September 19, 2013 | Posted in:
Pumpkin Bread – Heritage cooks
from Tynetta G.’s book, Imperial, MO
Ingredients
1 cup pumpkin
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup pecans
Preparation Instructions
Mix all ingredients together and bake in a bread pan at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Heritage note: I tried this recipe with roasted pumpkin seeds and chocolate chips as well- delicious! I lessened the baking soda to 3/4 tsp and salt to 1/2 tsp.
Thanks Tynetta for this great recipe!
September 17, 2013 | Posted in:
Tomato Tips For Your Custom Cookbook
I used to live in Little Italy. In early September, the back alleys would turn red with tomato seeds and skins running down the sewers. It didn’t take me long to befriend the nonnas in their garage kitchens and learn the ropes myself. This week-end, we canned two bushels of tomatoes, and ended up with about 60 jars of sauce. If you’re curious about home canning, tomatoes are an easy starting place, delicious, and oh so satisfying. Here’s how:
September 13, 2013 | Posted in:
Summery Party Family Cookbook
Saying good-bye to summer
Last night was one of those perfect late summer evenings, when the air starts to chill, and you stay up just a little longer than you should, chatting with old friends, wrapped in a blanket, while the cool night falls around you. I was celebrating a milestone birthday with a garden party for 40 people. I took a photo to remember the moment.
On the menu was a buffet of mustard, garlic and rosemary rubbed tenderloin, spinach and feta streudel, grilled eggplant parmesan, roasted baby potatoes and kale ceasar salad. It was delicious. Recipes and photos will follow in the next week!
September 2, 2013 | Posted in:
Garlic roasted carrots
This recipe is perfect alongside Chicken Marvelosa. It comes from our friend Norene Gilletz’s book Norene’s Healthy Kitchen (Whitecap books), and is the ideal side dish to serve at a family gathering. Roasting brings out the natural sweetness of the carrots, or add a dash of honey for the High Holidays.
Ingredients
1 large onion, sliced
2 lb (1 kg) carrots, peeled and cut in 2-inch lengths
3 to 4 cloves garlic (about 3 to 4 tsp minced)
2 to 3 Tbsp olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preparation Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray a 9- × 13-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Place the onion, carrots, and garlic in the prepared baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste; mix well. For best results, the carrots should be in a single layer in the dish.
3. Roast, uncovered, for 45 to 60 minutes or until golden and tender, stirring the carrots occasionally. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Yield: 6 servings. Keeps for up to 2 days in the refrigerator; reheats well. Don’t freeze.
Find variations on the recipe here. Thanks Norene!
| Posted in:
Quick and easy chicken marvelosa for the High Holidays
Our friend and cookbook author Norene Gilletz of Gourmania.com has contributed this recipe that is perfect for the upcoming Jewish High Holidays, or any festive meal where you need to feed a crowd. In Sept 2008, this recipe was featured on Martha Stewart Living radio when Norene was interviewed by Mario Bosquez. It’s from her book Norene’s Healthy Kitchen (Whitecap books).
It’s easy to put together, can be assembled ahead of time and doubled should your guest list keep growing the way mine tends to!
Ingredients
2 whole chickens (3 lb/1.4 kg each), cut into pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp Italian seasoning (or a mixture of basil, oregano, thyme, and rosemary)
6 to 8 cloves garlic (about 2 to 3 Tbsp minced)
3/4 to 1 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup pitted black olives
1/2 cup dry-packed, sun-dried tomatoes, halved or coarsely chopped
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
2 bay leaves
Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
Preparation Instructions
1. Rinse the chickens well and pat dry with paper towels. Trim the excess fat. Place the chickens in a large roasting pan sprayed with cooking spray. Season the chickens inside, outside, and under the skin with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and garlic. Add the apricots, olives, and sun-dried tomatoes to the pan. (The dried apricots and sun-dried tomatoes will plump up during marinating and cooking.)
2. In a measuring cup, combine the balsamic vinegar, honey, and olive oil. Drizzle evenly over the chicken mixture; mix well so that the chicken is thoroughly coated. Pour the wine around the chicken and add the bay leaves. Cover the pan and refrigerate for several hours or for as long as 2 days.
3. When the chicken is marinated, remove from the refrigerator, uncover, and bake in a 350°F oven for 11/4 to 11/2 hours, basting often. When done, the skin will be golden and the juices will run clear when pierced with a fork. Remove the bay leaves and discard.
4. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken mixture to a serving platter. Drizzle with some of the pan juices and sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley. Place the remaining pan juices in a gravy bowl, skim off the fat, and serve alongside the chicken.
Yield: 10 to 12 servings. Keeps for up to 2 to 3 days in the refrigerator; reheats well. Freezes well for up to 4 months.
Find and even healthier variation on her site, www.gourmania.com. Thanks Norene!!
It’s perfect served with Garlic Roasted Carrots.
September 1, 2013 | Posted in:
New cookbook covers are here!!!
I’m so excited to announce that five new cookbook templates and covers are now available for you to choose from. We’ve been working on them for a while, and September 1st just seemed like the right time to release them.
1. The chalkboard cover: I wanted to offer something a little trendy, a little home-made looking, so our designers Steve and Philina came up with this beautiful cover and coordinating pages (I’m showing the section divider page here next to the cover). You can customize the title text on the cover, and section names.
2. The classic cover: This one has a cute, kind of retro look and feel that allows you to upload your own photo onto the cover and section dividers. You can also customize the text on both the cover (left) and section dividers (right).
We launched three other covers with these two, and more are on their way. Why don’t you log in and check them out??