Month: January 2015

5

Friday Favorites #1

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Friday Favorites

We have started a weekly feature showcasing some of our favorite food related favorites of the week!

1. halos – The kids have been tired of eating apples.  During our weekly shopping trip, our daughter saw these halos and requested we buy them.  Not on sale, but a 3lb. bag for $5.99 plus a coupon from the Sunday circular and we did it.  We’ve had clementines before, but we don’t remember if we’ve had halos.  These clementines were amazing!  Super easy to peel and so sweet.  The Mr. was eating these two at a time…..and they didn’t last the week!  We are hoping we can expect the same great taste and quality in future halos purchases and are looking forward to buying some more next week!

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2. Himalayan Pink Salt – The Mr. bought The Mrs. a bag of coarse Himalayan pink salt for her Christmas stocking this year. There is ongoing suspicion that he really wanted it for himself. Pink salt is not an everyday salt, as we use kosher style salt for daily use. This would be great for the tops of salted caramels and other special duties.  There are alleged benefits of pink salt including 84 minerals, minimal processing, and the balancing of the body’s pH. We don’t know if science supports any real benefit, but we like the color and perceived fanciness of using it.

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3. Fage Fruyo Yogurt:  Blackberry Lime -Full fat, blackberry lime greek yogurt.  The Mrs. isn’t a huge fan of greek yogurt, but she absolutely LOVED this yogurt!  These were an in-store special at Shoprite for only 57 cents.  So sorry we only bought two!

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4. Favorite Bookmarked Recipe of the Week:  Closet Cooking‘s Korean Bulgogi and Kimchi Nachos.  The kids will not eat these with the kimchi, but I feel like the kimchi needs to stay in the recipe……we shall see…….

5. Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Broth Starter –  The Mr. saw this on the shelf at the supermarket when shopping for bullion. We had recently been using powdered chicken bullion which you use by the teaspoon full instead of the standard cube. It’s much faster to use than waiting for the cube to melt in hot water. He figured liquid bullion would be even easier. The jar of “Better Than Bullion” Vegetable Base makes 9.5 quarts (roughly 38 8 oz. cans) of broth. The thick liquid is easy to use, is USDA Organic and Certified Vegan. It retails for about $5.99.

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What’s one of your favorite food items from this week?

Have a great weekend and we’ll see you here Monday!  Linking up with Andrea at Momfessionals, Tif at Bright on a Budget and Michael at Rattlebridge Farm.

1

Ty The Pie Guy

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There’s a new family cooking comedy show on youtube that you have to check out!  Ty The Pie Guy premiered January 14 on youtube.  I sat with the kids on one of their recent snow days and we checked out the videos.  Ty is a quirky, upbeat, and funny host.  My kids ages 6 and 8 were laughing aloud at Ty’s antics and kept wanting to see more.  We watched all the trailers, challenge, and episodes available.  In the first four and a half minute episode, seen pictured above, Sammy loves pizza, but his mom won’t let him eat it cold for breakfast.  So, he turns to Ty for help.  Ty comes up with a breakfast pizza.  When I think of breakfast pizza, I think of pizza dough with eggs, cheese and maybe some bacon or sausage.  Ty comes up with a pancake pizza with a raspberry topping.  Ty’s brainy little sister, Rose also adds some fun and interesting facts about the history of pizza.   The short episode is filled with humor and fun.  In another short video seen here, Ty’s sister Rose shows the viewer a magic tip for separating an egg.  Let’s just say even I was surprised, having never heard of separating an egg this way before.  And of course we will be trying this out the next time we have to separate an egg!

According to the Ty The Pie Guy website, the show’s goal is to inspire families to cook together, try new recipes and explore new cuisines while having fun in the kitchen.  This show supports all of the goals that we are trying to pursue with our own kids here at NY Foodie Family.

If you have young children who enjoy food and cooking, I highly recommend that you check out Ty The Pie Guy!  You can click here to go directly to the youtube channel.  New episodes air every Wednesday!

 

2

As Seen on Pinterest: Slow Cooker Loaded Potato Soup

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With winter in full force here in New York, I have been looking for hearty soup and chili recipes.  Before long, warmer weather will be arriving and we won’t want to think of eating a warm bowl of anything!  While perusing Pinterest I saw this recipe and thought it sounded like something the family might eat.  The kids can be a bit picky when it comes to eating soup…..our son doesn’t really enjoy eating it, unless it’s the packaged ramen kind that we stopped buying.  So, it was a bit surprising when he ate two bowls of this soup.  My mouth dropped in surprise when he asked for seconds!  If you like baked potatoes with all the fixings, then this soup is for you!

Slow Cooker Loaded Potato Soup
Recipe slightly adapted from Cooking Classy

Ingredients:

  • 3 to 3 1/2 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch pieces (about 7 medium potatoes, 8 – 9 cups)
  • 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
  • 3 (14.5 oz) cans low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
  • 1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
  • 8 oz bacon, cooked and diced or crumbled
  • 4 green onions, diced

Directions:

1.  In. a 6 or 7-quart slow cooker, add potatoes, onion, vegetable broth, evaporated milk and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and cook on HIGH heat for 4 hours or LOW heat for 8 hours.

2. Ladle 2 cups of soup mixture from slow cooker into a liquid measuring cup and set aside. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes. While whisking, slowly pour 2 cups of reserved soup mixture from measuring cup into butter mixture (it will thicken quickly). Pour butter mixture into slow cooker and stir to blend. Use a potato masher to break down potatoes into smaller pieces or use an emulsion blender to puree. Cover and cook on HIGH heat until thickened, about 10 minutes. Turn off  slow cooker and stir in sour cream. Serve warm topped with cheddar, bacon and green onions.

My Perfect Pantry Cookbook Review

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My Perfect Pantry by Geoffrey Zakarian
Rating:  3 stars (out of 5)

We recently received My Perfect Pantry by Geoffrey Zakarian to review from Blogging for Books.   We are familiar with Chef Zakarian from the Food Network television show Iron Chef and were looking forward to receiving this cookbook.  The concept of the cookbook is great.  Zakarian takes 50 ingredients that most people already have in their kitchens and then provides three recipes using each ingredient.  The only ingredients that we didn’t have in our kitchen out of the 50 were anchovies, dried lima beans, pine nuts, and gelatin.  Before the recipes, Zakarian gives a brief introductory description of each ingredient, as well as tips for storing and cooking them.  He also provides a variety of recipes using the ingredients including drinks, appetizers, salads, snacks, main dishes, side dishes and desserts.  We made the “Sweet and Spicy Popcorn” which we posted here.    We made the “Mushroom Soy Turkey Burgers” but found that they lacked flavor and weren’t worth posting.  We started to make the Elbow Macaroni with Crispy Bread Crumbs and Broccoli, but were going to substitute cauliflower, and then didn’t feel inspired to make it and ended up making a cauliflower macaroni and cheese instead.   There’s a decent amount of family friendly recipes in this cookbook including “Magnificent Meatballs” and “Family Chicken Fingers.”  My daughter was browsing through the cookbook and bookmarked the “Cinnamon Cupcakes, “Apple Cider Doughnuts” and the “Maple Candied Apples”…….all treats of course!

We’re not sure who exactly the targeted audience is for this cookbook.  While it appears that the goal of the cookbook is to use ingredients from your pantry, we found the majority of the recipes called for other ingredients that one would have to buy.  Most of the recipes also called for some type, if not multiple types, of fresh herbs. Overall, we were not impressed with book. Although the recipes seem promising, the concept falls short. Having all of the 50″essential ingredients” doesn’t get you very far toward actually cooking the dishes.

We received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.  As always, all opinions are our own. 

 

2

Roasted Acorn Squash Stuffed with Sausage, Farro and Goat Cheese

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We have not cooked enough with squash this fall and winter and are now trying to catch up!  When I first saw found this recipe, I knew that I wanted to make it.  Only recently have I learned to love the nutty, chewiness of farro.  I was a bit hesitant because the only ingredient in this recipe that I knew both kids would eat for sure was the sausage.  Our son loves all kinds cheese.  Our daughter, though,  not so much.  However, we had gone to the farmer’s market and purchased a very large acorn squash.  As an afterthought, while doing the weekly grocery shopping, I ended up picking up another two small acorn squash so we could each have our own half, and have some left over.  This ended up working out well since we had a lot of filling.  Now, this recipe does take some preparation with the roasting of the squash and the preparation of the filling.  I recommend not attempting this on a busy weeknight.  We all ended up eating this meal.  We didn’t sprinkle additional goat cheese on top of our daughter’s serving and while she didn’t love the squash, she ate it.  Meanwhile, our son, the pickiest of eaters got a 1/2 of squash that was really sweet and liked it!  This was a hearty and filling meal.  While we ate just the squash, this can be served with a side salad to round out the meal.

Roasted Acorn Squash Stuffed with Sausage, Farro and Goat Cheese
Recipe adapted from The Hungry Goddess

Ingredients:
3 medium acorn squash
3 Tbsp.  butter
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup farro
2-4 Tbsp. olive oil
2 large garlic cloves
12 oz. chicken sausage (we used al fresco Sweet Italian)
4 0z. crumbled goat cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Cut acorn squash in half, scooping out seeds with a spoon.

3. Rub the inside and outside of each squash with 1 Tbsp. of olive oil.

4. Place 1/2 Tbsp. of butter in the bottom of each squash and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

5. Roast squash in oven for approximately 30 minutes or until tender.

6.  Cook farro according to directions.

6.  While squash is roasting,  remove chicken sausage from casing and cook in large saute pan over medium heat until browned.  Once browned, remove from sausage pan and set aside, draining if necessary.  Add 1 Tbsp. olive oil to pan and add garlic sauteeing for approximately 5 minutes.  Add sausage and cooked farro to pan.  Sprinkle 3/4 of the crumbled goat cheese into the pan.  Season with salt and pepper to your liking.

7.  Once the squash have finished roasting, let them rest for 3-4 minutes.

8.  Spoon the sausage and farro mixture into each squash, sprinkling with reserved 1/4 of the crumbled goat cheese.

 

 

1

Prestat Chocolate – Pink Everest: Equatorial Dark Chocolate with Pink Himalayan Sea Salt

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I received this chocolate bar from my brother-in-law as part of my Christmas gift.  I had never heard of Prestat before receiving this.  Prestat is a United Kingdom based chocolate company that was established in London in 1902.   This bar, named Pink Everest is a dark chocolate bar with pink  Himalayan sea salt.  Each piece of dark chocolate was engraved with the Prestat logo.  Although you can’t tell in the picture below, this bar had pieces of pink Himalyan sea salt throughout.  This chocolate was decadent.  The dark chocolate was smooth and the pieces of sea salt complemented the flavor.

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A quick browse of their website shows that they sell truffles in varieties like red velvet, London gin and dark sea salt caramel.  Each chocolate bar has a name.  Besides the Pink Everest, some other bars they sell include Tea Time Frolics:  Earl grey tea with twists of lemon in milk chocolate and Knickerbocker Glory: Passion fruit, meringue, strawberry and almonds in white chocolate.  Whatever your chocolate preference, Prestat has it.  While I received this chocolate bar as a gift, the bars are a bit pricey.  They retail on the site for 3.95 pounds which roughly equates to about $6 a bar.  This chocolate is meant to be savored though and was eaten one square at a time over several days.  A list of stores where Prestat chocolate products are sold can be found here.  If you have tried Prestat chocolates, please share any recommendations!
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Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Brownies (Blondies)

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Today is National Blondie Brownie Day!   To celebrate we are sharing these Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Brownies a.k.a. “Blondies”  that we recently made.  A blondie is basically a brownie without the cocoa.  In this dessert mash-up of sorts, a chocolate chip cookie bar is mixed with a cheesecake layer.  Our kids enjoy almost all treats and of course loved these bars.  We adults concluded that as tasty as these bars were, we prefer to eat our cookies and our cheesecake separately.  Do you like dessert mash-ups?

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Brownies
recipe slightly adapted from allrecipes.com courtesy of Barb W.

Ingredients:

For the blondie:
1 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the cheesecake:
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
1/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan.
  2. In a large bowl, cream together shortening, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup white sugar. Beat in the 3 eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; blend into the sugar mixture. Stir in chocolate chips, and set aside.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix together the cream cheese and 1/4 cup white sugar. Mix in the 2 remaining eggs.
  4. Spread 1/2 of chocolate chip dough in bottom of the prepared pan. Pour cream cheese batter on top of dough. Drop pieces of the remaining chocolate chip batter over filling. Don’t worry if there are gaps; the batter will spread.
  5. Bake for 45 minutes in preheated oven, or until lightly browned on the top. Let the brownies cool in the pan before cutting into bars.

 

2

Indian Curried Potato Wraps

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I have owned the Moosewood Restaurant New Classics cookbook for what seems like forever.   Back in college, at Cornell University, I ate at the famous Moosewood Restaurant only once.  If only I wasn’t a poor college student back then and had taken advantage of this amazing restaurant when I had the chance!  In our quest to eat less meat, I recently dusted this cookbook off the shelf.  In perusing the recipes, these potato wraps caught my eye.  My kids like potatoes and I figured they would enjoy these.  These were easy to make and so flavorful.  While we rarely have repeat meals in our house, these will be making an appearance again!

Indian Curried Potato Wraps
Adapted from cookbook Moosewood Restaurant New Classics

Ingredients:

 Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking dish (we used a 9X13′ dish).

2. Place the potatoes and salt in a small pot with water to cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and cook for about 10 minutes, until tender. When the potatoes are tender, drain and mash them with the cream cheese, and set aside.

3. Meanwhile, warm the oil in a saucepan, and saute the onions and garlic on medium heat for about 10 minutes, until translucent. Add the turmeric and cayenne and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the peas and tomatoes, cover, and cook on low heat just long enough to heat through. Stir the cooked vegetables and the lemon juice into the mashed potatoes. Add salt to taste.

4. Place a generous 1/3 cup of the filling at the bottom of each wrap and roll it up. Place the wraps seam side down in the prepared baking dish, cover with aluminum foil, and bake for 10-15 minutes, until hot.

2

Slow Cooker Lentil and Brown Rice Tacos

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We are trying to eat meatless several nights during the week.  It has been challenging to find vegetarian recipes that the whole family will eat.  These tacos are a rare “recipe repeat” in our house, this being the second time that we have made these.  Our son, the pickiest eater in our house, ate two of these tacos.  (Honestly though, we think he will eat anything put in a taco shell with some cheese and sour cream!)  We love that the taco filling for this recipe is made in the slow cooker, which makes it a perfect busy weeknight meal.  Tacos are so versatile, that you can add any types of toppings to these that you’d like.  We weren’t too creative with ours, serving them with just cheese and sour cream and they were still a hit.  The lentil and rice combo is filling and tasty enough for us that we don’t feel like we’re missing out on not having meat.

Slow Cooker Lentil and Brown Rice Tacos
Recipe slightly adapted from Melanie Makes, which was adapted from The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking

Ingredients:
1 cup lentils
1/2 cup brown rice
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to slow cooker and stir to combine.

2. Cover and cook on HIGH 4 hours or LOW 6-8 hours, stirring during the last hour of cooking.

 

The Popcorn Book

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The Popcorn Book by Tomie de Paola
First published in 1978
28 pages

To help celebrate National Popcorn Day we thought we’d share a great children’s book about popcorn.  Tomie de Paola is a well-known children’s book author of many books including the classic, Strega Nona.   Published in 1978, The Popcorn Book is an informative picture book that explains what popcorn is, how it is cooked, and gives the history of the snack.  The illustrations help add a bit of humor to the book.  This is a fun book that helps teach kids about a popular snack food!

This book was borrowed from the library.