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In: Food, Photography
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Oh, what a rare find from a local antique store.  To read the recipes, just view the original with extra pictures.   I must confess, another side of me that I’m just sharing is my love of antiquing.  Each antique store is like exploring a free museum chock full of treasures.  When I pick out an antique it is to use and not just store away to admire later.  This week I found a well preserved Hershey’s 1934 Cookbook.  Who do you know that didn’t learn to make their first batch of icing with Hersey’s chocolate.  The book I found was actually a reproduction doneRead More →

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In: Cooking Tips, Cuisine, Entertaining, Grilling, Party Food
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We had eight of our closest friends at our home to celebrate and ring in the New Year.  Cocktail and appetizer hour started at 7pm and dinner was ready to serve an hour and half later.  The twice baked potatoes were prepared the day prior and were ready to place in the oven for the final baking one hour before dinner.  The tenderloin smoked for 1 hour, grill seared for 15 minutes and then slow cooked in the oven (on and off) for the balance of the day before carving to serve at a delicious medium-rare. Oh how I wish I were better at remembering toRead More →

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In: Cooking Tips, Fish / Seafood, Pasta, Sauces
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12 ounces gemelli pasta (or any other desired pasta) Three-quarter medium-size onion chopped 4 cups sliced mushrooms One cube unsalted butter 1 tablespoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper 1/2 half cup Crown Royal Whiskey® 1 cup water, white wine or chicken broth Two extra-large vegetable bouillon cubes 1/4 cup flour and water for thickening 1 pound cooked shrimp skinned 1 – 2 teaspoons dried chives Fill a larger pasta pot 3/4 full and bring to a medium boil.  Add the desired amount of pasta to the hot water.  Continue to cook the pasta while preparing the rest of the dish.  Check it for doneness occasionally and turnRead More →

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In: Cabin Called Ironworks, Kitchen, Kitchen Gadgets, Photography
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Before, during and after building the kitchen for Iron Works. Building and creating a compact two butt kitchen for the cabin was a challenging experience with multiple mind-boggling puzzles to solve.  The best laid plans can sometimes have minor quirks and ours had several.  More importantly, though, every headache was worth the end result. One of the most unusual obstacles centered around the stove and placement of the stove. First, image how to get a 36″ stove into the kitchen opening after the granite counters have been put into place when the opening is only 34″.   Two inches too small to just slide the oven or easily carry the ovenRead More →

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In: Fish / Seafood
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My good friend who lives in Toronto, sent me this recipe to share on KCinAZ Cooks. She’s vegetarian and does find some great ideas.  It looks absolutely delicious and I couldn’t resist posting it up.  OMG, it’s got wine in it.  If it were my recipe I would have to call it Drunkin’ Sole Meunier. From Lidia’s Website – the recipe: serves: 4   This light fish in a lemony sauce, which always appears on Italian and French menus, has remained a favorite for decades. I served it in my first restaurant, and continue to serve it today. I recommend using fillet of sole in this recipe, butRead More →

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In: Cooking Applications, Cooking Tips
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BigOven is by far my favorite online cooking application.  Now I’m even more thrilled with it since they have implemented several great updates to the site.  I began using BigOven in 2004 when I tired of trying to work with an outdated recipe collection program called Master Cook which has recently had an update too.  One of the greatest advantages to BigOven is it goes everywhere with you since it is internet based.  You can sign up for a free version that is definitely sufficient for the everyday cook.  But if you want to use all the fantastic features you will soon find yourself upgrading toRead More →

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In: Cooking Tips
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If I only had one cookbook in my library it would be “Timing is Everything by Jack Piccolo”.  There are no pictures and it doesn’t really have any recipes but it’s the best cookbook around for reference.  Want to know how long to cook the tuna in my “Drunkin Yellow Fin Tuna” or the Beef Tenderloin in  “Beef Tenderloin, Port Mushroom Gravy and Red Potatoes –  Date Night Dinner”. Just turn to the appropriate meat section in the cookbook and look it up.  Tuna is considered a meaty fish found in the, of course, Fish Section.  Then it breaks down in the cooking methods of braise,Read More →

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In: Cooking Applications, Cooking Tips
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09/20/2014:  MasterCook now has a Cookbooks Store where you can get a choice of three cookbooks and two other cookbooks that are nominally priced.  I look forward to seeing more additions to the selection. Students and Teachers for a limited time can MasterCook for free.  Lucky them. MasterCook now has their own Blog.  This may be a good starting point to see if MasterCook is the cooking application for you. 09/03/2013:  The following is a recap of news directly from MasterCook about their updates.  I did receive a message from one of my readers who was concerned that they had to pay to use MasterCookRead More →