Microwave Tips

Cooking and reheating food in the microwave can be timesaving, but if it’s not done properly the results can be a disaster. I have a tips that might help. Use damp/wet paper towels to cover your dishes. Cooking hot dogs – lay the hotdogs on a microwave safe dish and cover with a wet paper towel. They cook evenly with no hard overcooked ends. Heating Buns – Use a damp paper towel over the opt of your buns. Again, they heat evenly with no overcooked outside edges. Heating Rice & Pasta – Wet paper towel over the top while heating. Cooking Potatoes – Puncture each potato several times and wrap in a wet paper towel. Check about half way through cooking to see if towel needs to be re-wet. Reheating Meats – Lay a damp paper towel over meat while heating. As you can see, the damp/wet paper towel works on just about anything you want to heat or cook in the microwave. Give it a try the next time you use your microwave to see how well this little trick works.

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Microwave Tips

Loaded Cookies

Loaded Chip Cookies 2 sticks butter, softened 1 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup granulated sugar 2 tsp. vanilla 2 eggs 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. salt 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour 2 cups old fashion oats 1 1/2 cup flaked coconut 4 oz. white chocolate cut into 1/2″ chunks 1 cup chopped nuts Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs, baking soda and salt. On low speed beat in flour just until blended. Stir in oats, coconut, white chocolate and nuts. Roll into 1 1/2″ balls and place 2″ apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 11-13 minutes or until golden brown on the bottoms and around the edges. Makes about 4 dozen. Changes – Of course you can use milk chocolate. You might add 1/2 cup of dried cranberries or raisins. You might even try mixed nuts. Make sure the oatmeal is Old Fashion Oats, not quick cook. This recipe is a actually a catch

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Loaded Cookies

Steak & Onion Wrap with Tzatziki Dip

While working on another dish using Stonyfield Farm Organic Greek Yogurt, I came up with this a delicious steak roast with sauted onions and Tzatziki Dip. This one is wonderful! Dip: 2 containers(5.3oz.each) Stonyfield Farm Organic Greek Yogurt 1 med. cucumber, peeled, seeds removed, grated 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 Tsp. olive oil 1/2 tsp. fresh dill, chopped Mix all ingredients together. Place in a covered container and refrigerate for at least 1 hr. before using. For wraps I use flour tortillas, cooked leftover steak strips or you can use cooked SteakUms found in your grocery store. You can even use deli thin cut London Broil, roast beef and for a different flavor, chicken. Saute enough onion for each wrap. Place your meat and onions on your tortilla leaving about 1″ free at the bottom so you can fold upward when wrapping. Drizzle 1-2 Tablespoons of Tzatziki Dip over onions and meat. Wrap and enjoy. You can also place these in the microwave for a few seconds to heat up the tortillia. This is a good time to also add a little cheese if you want. These are really delicious, they travel well in the lunch box and you have plenty of the dip left over for dipping your wrap. If you’ve never Tzatziki Dip, you must. My daughter loves it on everything from chicken and beef wraps to using it as a dip for her French fries.

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Steak & Onion Wrap with Tzatziki Dip

Jello Bites

A fun to make and eat after school snack can be made by using jello and you and your kids imaginations. Here is how. Place foil liners in 24 miniature muffin pan cups. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Stir in 2 pkg. (4 oz.) each of any flavor of Jello. Stir until completely dissolved. In the muffin tins place something from the suggestions below. Finish filling muffin cup with jello and refrigerate until set. You can use 1/2″ cubes of pound cake, whole berries, orange slice, marshmallows, or any thing you can think of that would taste good with the flavor of jello you’re using. I like to use mandarin orange and strawberry jello. You can also cut snack cakes such as honey buns, oatmeal cakes, etc. into chunks and use them. Use your imaginations and think with your taste buds to create wonderful, fun combinations. And by all means, let the kids help.

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Jello Bites

Apple Coffee Cake

It’s apple season and nothing is better than a nice slice of Apple Coffee Cake. This recipe is, of course, simple and great served with a hot cup of coffee or a cold glass of

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Apple Coffee Cake

Cranberry-Walnut Celebration Bread

So I am running a little bit behind on the BBA challenge but I still feel pretty good with my progress.? This week I made the Cranberry-Walnut Celebration Bread.? Funny thing is I almost skipped this one.? But the girls went back to school this week and I found myself with a couple of free minutes and an empty house.? When I saw that it wasn’t a 2 bread I jumped right in.? I am so glad I did… About the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Group : Nicole of Pinch my Salt sent out a twitter message saying “I need a challenge. Am thinking of baking my way through every single recipe in The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. Anyone want to join me?” Well I jumped right in . Both feet, no thought at all. I think I was one of the first 5 that joined…did I even have the book? Nope but I ordered it that night!!! The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread We are now over 200 strong with members everywhere on the globe. It’s an incredibly enthusiastic group that wants to share like no group I have ever belonged to before. Awesome! Our goal is to bake our way through Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread. An? intimidating book at anytime but to think that you are going to be baking one of these recipes a week is slightly overwhelming to say the least. But I love a challenge and feel a real need to get out of my comfort zone. Oh yah, I bake all of our bread but I never seem to have the time or the desire to try something new and different. This will change all that!!! I really, like this bread.? I followed the recipe to a tee.? Right down to the huge amount of cranberries and walnuts that went into it. It did take a while to get them all incorporated but with some patient kneading they all fit in. Someone on twitter (so sorry that I forget who!!!) suggested that these would be an…

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Cranberry-Walnut Celebration Bread

Chocolate Leaves

With the holidays just around the corner our minds will turn to cooking, eating and making pretty dishes. Chocolate leaves can make any table setting really stand out and they are really simple to make but you will need to have everything ready and work fast. The best leaves to use are mint, lemon or rose but I’ve used small tree leaves as well. Just make sure you are using leaves from a plant that isn’t toxic. Gather your leaves, wash them gently and allow to dry completely. When ready to make your leaves, in the microwave melt 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 tsp. shortening. Stir until smooth. With a small art type paintbrush, apply a thin even coat of chocolate to the underside of each leaf. Place your leaves chocolate side up on waxed paper and refrigerate for 10 minutes or until completely set. Brush on a 2nd layer of chocolate and chill until set. When ready, gently peel the green leaves away from the chocolate. Carefully place your leaves into a covered container and store in the refrigerator until ready to use. For more color, use colored white chocolate which can be found at most craft stores that carry candy making supplies. You can even do combinations of red, green and orange to represent Fall. Or when applying the 2nd coat to your brown leaves, you might want to brush on a slight coat of another color such as green or red. Be creative!

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Chocolate Leaves

Popcorn Bars

We’ve all heard of and probably made popcorn balls but what about popcorn bars? These make great after school snacks and with Halloween just around the corner, they are perfect for passing out to the trick or treaters. View the full recipe by clicking on Martha’s Kitchen Korner in the right sidebar.

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Popcorn Bars

Lemony Orzo Salad – Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club

Our Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club chose to make something light for lunch for the month of September. If you are like me, a turkey sandwich just doesn’t always cut it in the lunch department. It’s nice to change things up a bit, for the sake of health as well as variety. Here’s what is on the lunch menu this month… Lemony Hummus with Spicy Whole-Wheat Pita Chips – Val of More than Burnt Toast Mozzarella Chicken Sandwich – Helene of La Cuisine d’Helene Lemony Orzo Salad – Aggie Vegetarian Minestrone – Shelby of The Life and Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch Chocolate Fudge Snack Cake – Jamie of Mom’s Cooking Club Doesn’t that all sound so good? Check out each member’s blog for links to the recipes and their own photos! (this recipe calls for feta…I didn’t have any on hand so I substituted grated Parmesan cheese…) I really enjoyed the Lemony Orzo Salad . I am a huge fan of orzo, it’s a rice shaped pasta and can be enjoyed in many types of dishes such as a pasta salad. I loved the simplicity of this dish…lots of chopped up vegetables paired with a whole grain (I used whole wheat orzo). You can easily add something like chickpeas or grilled chicken for protein to make it a balanced meal in itself. The lemon in the dressing brightened it all up! And since the recipe makes a nice size batch it will last you for a couple of lunches (or make a great dish for dinner!). For a printable copy of this recipe click here . And don’t forget to visit the other members of the Virtual Supper Club for more great lunch ideas! Enjoy!

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Lemony Orzo Salad – Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club

Grilled Rosemary Swordfish with Capers

(Grilled Rosemary Swordfish with Capers served with Grilled Red Pepper and Squash Salad) Aaah….I’ve been missing my blog lately. I haven’t been cooking much these past couple of weeks. I think it’s because it’s August and disgustingly humid hot, and because the kids and I have been keeping busy finishing up the summer before school started. School started this week for us and I officially have two preschoolers now. My two little butterflies love going to school, you won’t find them crying at morning drop off…but quite possibly when it’s time to go home instead. Yesterday, during my new found 3 hours of (child-free) freedom, I checked out a local fish market called Lighthouse Seafood in Lake Mary that I’ve been wanting to check out for a long time. Apparently they have been around for 6 years…I had no idea! I’m sad that I didn’t visit them sooner. They have some great stuff in their little shop, most of it caught by their own boats right off our coasts. You would think that wouldn’t be so uncommon here in FL, but I have not found many local fish markets in the area that actually catch their own fish. I had a nice chat with the owner Glenda and it turns out she is from the same area in S. Florida that my hubby grew up in, and he actually knows her niece from high school…small world! I love visiting mom and pop shops, I literally walked in and said I wanted to pick up something for dinner and next thing you know we are talking recipes and I left with a beautiful piece of fish. What I really loved about Lighthouse Seafood – other than the actual seafood – is that they have a wall full of their own recipes to share with their customers! Little things like that really stick with me…you can tell these people really love what they do and take care of their customers too. I’m sending my hubby there for his next blogging assignment soon! Speaking of…it made me smile that so many of you enjoyed his first blog post last week ! It was really fun for him (and for me) and I am thrilled that he got into the “cooking thing” and might actually do it again! Ok, now onto the recipe…I found this recipe on the “recipe wall” at the fish market, when I told Glenda the owner that I wanted to grill some fish for dinner she walked me right over to this recipe…it sounded absolutely delicious! And it was!! Grilled Rosemary Swordfish with Capers Recipe from Lighthouse Seafood in Lake…

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Grilled Rosemary Swordfish with Capers

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