Welcome to the first edition of Magazine Mondays for 2012!

I have slowly been easing my way back into my work schedule as I’m still trying to come down from the tremendous high of my holiday trip to Italy.

As always, the highlight of that trip was the food. When I’m in Italy and I’m eating (which is pretty much 23 hours a day), I try to be very mindful of what I’m eating and how it was prepared. My aunts are all tremendous cooks and of course they all cook instinctively, having spent an entire lifetime in the kitchen. You don’t see any cookbooks lying around in their kitchens, that’s for sure!

I’m also mindful of the fact that they eat seasonally, without even really thinking about it. Eating seasonally, eating locally - these have all become significant movements in food. But I find that when I’m in Italy, no one really talks about eating what’s in season or what’s grown nearby.

They just do.

Over the holidays, one of the foods that I enjoyed eating the most was the incredible citrus fruit, especially Sicilian oranges.

While I have certainly purchased Sicialian oranges here in Toronto, they’ve never been the same. In fact, in recent years, we’ve given up buying blood oranges from Italy because they’re simply not fresh and often tend to be dry.

Well not the case over the holidays. I pretty much overdosed on citrus fruit.

Now that I’m back, it’s what I’m missing the most (right along with my aunt’s amazing homemade sausages …).

Trying to hold on to that citrus deliciousness, I’ve been enjoying a lot of tangerines and was most happy to see a feature on tangerines in the December 2011 issue of Everyday Food. I was especially happy to see the recipe for Tangerine Cake with Citrus Glaze.

This cake was amazing! The worst part was squeezing the itty bitty tangerines but beyond that, it was a pleasure. You could certainly make this with oranges or even lemons, but trying it with tangerines is worth it. I hope you’ll give it a try.

I have a lot of MM links to catch up on so here’s who’s joining me for the first MM of 2012:

Janet of the taste space made Lemon Zucchini Cookies from Food52 and Caramelized Onion and Cabbage Chowder with Sweet Potatoes and White Beans from Vegetarian Times.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Artichoke Risotto from Epicurious.

Bridget of Meals on Winthrop made Turkish Yogurt Dip from People.

Elizabeth of The Law Student’s Cookbook made Broccoli-Cheddar Soup from Food Network Magazine.

Poppy of Poppy’s Patisserie made Brownies from Delicious magazine.

Thanks to everyone that joined me. Remember that all you have to do to participate in MM is send me a link to a magazine recipe you’ve posted on your blog.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Wowza!

What exactly happened to 2011?

I feel like it was just yesterday that I was making all sorts of plans for 2011, imagining what the year ahead would hold.

Well … here we are. Once again I find myself staring out at the horizon as a new year slowly starts to make itself known.

Like every year, 2011 was unique. It had its good moments and bad, it had its ups and downs, it had its highlights and its moments that I’d rather forget. My family is with me and everyone is safe and moving forward so that, in of itself, is a blessing.

I once had a boss who gave me a very helpful bit of advice. She told me that every day, no matter how good or bad, I should always try to make note of something new. She wasn’t referring to anything work-related. What she meant was that each day, as I go about my business, to take the time to acknowledge something new.

I try, very hard, to take time each day to acknowledge new things and to also be aware of what I’m grateful for. We spend so much time rushing through life that it often feels like we’re not actually living. We’re just rushing through.

As I prepare for Christmas in Italy, I’m trying to really focus on the here and now and to be gateful for my family, my friends and my life.

As for my blog, this hasn’t been the greatest of years for Cream Puffs in Venice. It’s not that anything bad has happened it’s just that work priorities and other life priorities have meant that I’ve had less time than ever to blog.

And that’s okay.

I’m still so grateful for this space and for those of you that make it a pleasant place to inhabit.

This will be the last edition of Magazine Mondays for 2011 - I’m hoping that the “little non-event that could” will come back bigger and stronger in 2012.

I’m happy to say that the last MM of 2011 is a great one, with this delicious Maple-Walnut Cake with Brown-Sugar Frosting from the November 2011 issue of Everyday Food.

I’m a maple syrup fiend, and yet I rarely bake with it. Generally, I use maple syrup to lather pancakes and waffles but this time around I used a generous amount to flavour a cake and the end result was so delicious.

I hope that your holiday season is filled with many delicious sweet things!

Here’s the final round-up of MM participants for 2011:

Valerie of Sex, Food, and Rock & Roll made Basic Marinara from a January 2005 issue of Gourmet.

Susan of Wish Upon a Dish made a Raspberry Buttermilk Cake from a June 2009 issue of Gourmet.

Poppy of Poppy’s Patisserie made the Dense and Dark Chocolate Loaf Cake from a February 2009 issue of BBC Good Food Magazine.

Di from Di’s Kitchen Notebook made Triple Chocolate Cookies from Cook’s Country.

Bridget of Meals on Winthrop made Divine Dressing from the December 2010 issue of Bon Appétit.

I wish you all an amazing week!

Ciao!

Back for another edition of Magazine Mondays. It seems that these days the only blogging I can barely muster is for MM - it’s been a busy time to say the least. I am, however, looking forward to having some more free time in the coming weeks before the holidays.

In the meantime, though, I continue to chip away at that magazine pile!

This time around I bring you a recipe for Lentil & Pasta Soup courtesy of Jamie Oliver magazine.

I love that magazine because it’s like buying a beautiful mini cookbook every time. I justify the purchase by telling myself that I’m buying a cookbook for the price of a magazine.

Yes. I have a problem. What of it?!

Anyway, I love this recipe because a) it’s soup and b) it’s soup with pasta in it and c) it’s soup with pasta and lentils in it. It’s like the trifecta of things I love.

Whenever I do eat lentils, I’m reminded of how delicious they are and how easy they are to make. Together with the pasta and the lovely broth, this makes a most delicous dinner or weekend lunch.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Here’s who joined me for this week’s edition of MM:

Victoria of Flavors of the Sun made Butternut Squash Soup with Green Chile-Coriander Chutney from Gourmet and Roasted Pear Salad with Chèvre and Fig Vinaigrette from Vegetarian Times.

Mary of Bonbons et Chocolats.com made Mini Madeleine Doughnuts from InStyle.

My goodness it has been a long time! It’s been far too long between Magazine Mondays posts and for that I apologize. What can I say? I’ve had a lot of busy Mondays since the last one!

I’m back, though, and not a moment too soon. While my efforts to curtail magazine purchases in 2011 were somewhat successful during the early part of the year, I have to be honest, I’ve returned to my gluttonous magazine ways. This means that I must redouble my efforts to get back on track!

Let’s start with one of the best issues of Food & Wine that I’ve seen in a very long time: the November 2011 issue.

I’ve made four or five different recipes from this one and they’ve all been tremendous. Today, though, I bring you the recipe for Old-Fashioned Apple Pie. Much like pancake recipes and chocolate chip cookie recipes, I truly believe that you can never have too many recipes for apple pie.

When people ask me what my favourite dessert is, I always answer … apple pie.

My mom is an apple pie master. Growing up, she would make it often in the fall and winter months and she would make it with a lard crust. Her filling hit the perfect note between tart and sweet. The apples were never too mushy or too crispy.

While this particular pie doesn’t replace my mother’s, I must say it’s a very good one.

To begin with, the all-butter crust is a winner. Like all pie crusts, you have to be careful not to overhandle this one or it will be tough. Still warm from the oven, though, the crust was flaky and the coarse sugar on top added a lovely caramelly crunch.

I was particularly impressed with the filling. The recipe directions call for a little trick that I also learned in one of my baking classes. What you do is you mix the apples and all the filling ingredients and then let it sit for awhile. Letting the apples sit let’s the sugar dissolve and helps any juices to thicken. I’m convinced that you end up with a better filling.

While I don’t have a photograph of the finished pie (it was long gone before I could photograph it), take my word, it was delicous.

As always, I’m joined by some folks who are also targetting their magazine piles:

Mary from Bonbons et Chocolat.com made Midnight Madness Meringue Cake from Chatelaine.

Foodfreak made Masala Prawns and Khachumber from Olive magazine.

Valerie of Sex, Food, and Rock & Roll made Smothered Yellolw Squash with Basil from the August 2004 issue of Gourmet.

Janet of the taste space made Skillet-Toasted Corn, Tomato and Anasazi Bean Salad from Whole Living magazine and Roasted Carrot and Lentil Soup with Hariss and Mint from Bon Appétit.

Lynn of I’ll Have What She’s Having made Ratatouille Pizza from Ricardo magazine.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Tequila-Glazed Grilled Chicken Thighs from Cooking Light, Lemony-Maple Sweet Potatoes from the December 2010 issue of People magazine and Sausage Risotto from Bon Appétit.

Sue of Couscous & Consciousness made Pasta e Ceci from the March/April 2011 issue of Jamie Oliver.

Julia from Café Lula made Monkfish with Crunchy Aubergine and Salsa from the September 2010 issue of Delicious.

Recipe Sleuth from Eye for a Recipe made Thai Grilled-Beef Salad from the July 2011 issue of Cook’s Illustrated and Pork Souvlaki with Yogurt Sauce from the Summer 2011 issue of Food and Drink.

Elizabeth from The Law Student’s Cookbook made Olive “Pizza” from the June 2009 issue of Cooking Light.

Remember, Magazine Mondays is an informal event. Any time you post a recipe from a magazine just send me the link and I’ll include it in my next MM post.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

I hope everyone is enjoying a tremendous holiday season. I certainly had a great Canada Day and as often happens in life, my family got a reminder of what’s important: your loved ones.

This is a short Magazine Mondays post and it’s all about the simple and good things: pastry, hand-picked strawberries, pie and lots of family and friends to enjoy it with.

This particular pie is the Strawberry Pie from the June/July 2011 issue of Saveur.

As always, I’m joined by some folks who have tackled their magazine piles:

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Tortellini Amatriciana from the October 2010 issue of Redbook.

Jan from Kitchen Heals Soul made a cookie tart with strawberries and basil yogurt from the magazine Ricardo.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

I have a little bit of the Cookie Monster in me. I can’t help it.

Every once and awhile I have to stick my face in a bag of Oreos. Sue me.

This would also explain why when I get that craving to bake, it’s most often cookies that I turn to.

For this edition of Magazine Mondays, I bring you Peanut Butter-Cup Cookies from the October 2009 issue of Real Simple.

I’m not sure what I love more - the cookie part or the peanut butter cup part. When I made these delicious (and easy) cookies, I froze my peanut butter cups before chopping them. This makes the chopping easier. I also chilled the dough slightly before baking it to ensure that my cookies didn’t spread out too much.

They were so yummy and for a brief period of time satisfied the monster within … but I still want cookies.

For those of you that are new to this site, Magazine Mondays is an informal event that I created to push everyone to use those clipped magazine recipes that they’ve been saving. It’s my way of attacking the food magazine pile (or piles) that we all have.

Here’s who joined me for this week’s edition:

Recipe Sleuth from Eye for a Recipe made Grilled Vegetable Quinoa Salad from the June 2011 issue of Canadian Living; Chile-Spiced Steak and Green Onion Tacos from the June 2011 issue of Everyday Food; Chicken Skewers with Tarragon-Pistachio Pesto from the April 2011 issue of Bon Appétit and Spiced Roasted Chicken from the May 2011 issue of Everyday Food.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Oregano Pasta from the January 2009 issue of Gourmet.

Janice of Kitchen Heals Souls made Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble Muffins from the March 2011 issue of Delicious (UK) and Cherry and Apricot Focaccia with Rosemary from the July 2011 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

Mummy Dinosaur made a Rhubarb Coffee Cake based on a Bonnie Stern recipe from The National Post.

Georgia from Oh Kitchen, What Won’t You Do? made Orzo and Cucumber Salad from the June 2011 issue of Real Simple.

Thanks to everyone who joined me this week. Remember, if you try a magazine recipe and post about it send me the link and I’ll add it to my next MM round-up.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Praise Mother Nature, strawberry season is almost upon us! This weekend I harvested the very first strawberries from my little strawberry patch and they were delicious. In a few weeks, Ontario strawberries will start rolling in full force and I am so excited.

There is nothing like a summer strawberry!

I got into the swing of things for this edition of Magazine Mondays with some organic strawberries from California (I know, I know, not local but I’m only human and can only resist for so long!).

I had my eye on this gorgeous recipe from the June 2007 issue of Bon Appétit: Puffed Pancake with Strawberries by the brillian Lori Longbotham.

I am not even ashamed to admit that I had this for dinner! I had been planning to make it for breakfast but throughout the day all I could think of was a golden puffy pancake piled high with strawberries. I added a dollop of mascarpone and a nice a generous amount of maple syrup.

Delicious all around!

For those of you that don’t know, Magazine Mondays is about getting at that pile of magazines and recipe clippings that we all have lying around. Here’s who joined me for this week’s edition of Magazine Mondays:

Lynn of Les Cuilleres made Morrocan Date Bonbons from the March 2011 issue of Food & Wine.

Jan from Kitchen Heals Souls made a Rhubarb and Raspberry Upside-Down Cake from a recent edition of The New York Times.

Danielle from Eating the Screen made Mango Coconut Sherbet from the June 2011 issue of Cooking Light.

Janie from Panini Girl made Ragu’ Bolognese from Gourmet.

Thanks to everyone who joined me! And remember, to participate in Magazine Mondays all you have to do is send me the link to a post on your blog featuring a magazine recipe.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Puffed Pancake with Strawberries from the June 2007 issue of Bon Appétit.

When it comes to the choice of pancakes vs. waffles, I will always be a pancake girl.

Having said that, every once and awhile I get a hankering for a serving of light, fluffy, deep-pocketed waffles.

Blessed with a Belgian waffle maker, half the joy is making the waffles and the other half is pouring on the syrup and slathering on the butter so that every single waffle pocket is full (why else would waffles be covered in cavities if not to fill them???).

For this edition of Magazine Mondays, I tried a recipe from a June 2005 issue of Gourmet: Belgian Buttermilk Waffles with Glazed Bananas. I’m usually one to eat my waffles with butter and syrup only. I love fruit and all but I find it just gets in the way of me and my waffle. In this case, though, the glazed bananas were a perfectly sweet and toothsome foil to the light and airy waffles.

Even if you’re not into the glazed bananas, the waffles are a star and worth trying.

I actually don’t have any MM posts to share with you this week as no one sent any links. Do remember, though, that MM is all about attacking that pile of food magazines and clipped recipes that I know we all of lying around. Post a recipe from a magazine or food article clipping on your blog and send me the link - I’ll post it in my next MM round-up.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Belgian Buttermilk Waffles with Glazed Bananas

Wow. It’s been a long time between regular posts here at my little corner of the food blog world. Many apologies - between work and life in general, there just hasn’t been a lot of time for much blogging.

But that’s the beauty of a food blog - it’s always here waiting whenever you decide to return!

And I am returning with these delicious Ricotta Tortelloni from the May 2011 issue of Bon Appétit.

I wish I had a picture of the finished product, all smothered in butter and Parmigiano Reggiano. Alas, while I made these babies during the day, they were served at night and everyone was so eager to try them I wasn’t about to force guests to wait while I took pictures.

You’ll have to trust me. They were delicious. And for those of you that are intimidated of making pasta dough from scratch, this might be the recipe for you as it’s made in a stand mixer. Now I’m one for kneading pasta dough by hand as you simply cannot underestimate the deeply statisfying experience of plunging your hands into flour and egg and forming something out of that happy mess.

Having said that, it was pretty sweet to have a pasta dough come together in just a few minutes without getting flour everywhere.

The best part was forming these little babies. It was so much fun to stuff and fold and twist and pull.

This is my entry for this week’s edition of Magazine Mondays, a little event I started awhile back to help apply at least a modicum of control to the magazine piles threatening to take over every corner of the house.

It’s been many weeks since my last MM post and I have been remiss. Here’s to getting back on track!

Remember that anyone can take part in MM. All you have to do is e-mail me a link to a post on your blog featuring a recipe from a magazine or clipping. Here’s who’s joining me for this week’s edition:

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Jamie Oliver’s Zucchini and Garlic from an issue of Food & Wine.

Valerie of Sex, Food, and Rock & Roll made Bacon and Leek Risotto with Poached Egg from the April 2011 issue of Bon Appétit.

Janet from The Taste Space made a Sesame, Edamame and Pea Shoot Salad inspired by the June 1994 issue of Gourmet.

Recipe Sleuth of Eye for a Recipe made Chicken Tagine with Artichoke Hearts and Peas from the March 2011 issue of Food & Wine; Rigatoni with Eggplant and Pine Nut Crunch from the March 2011 issue of Bon Appétit; and Peruvian Roast Chicken with Garlic and Lime from the March 2011 issue of Cook’s Illustrated .

Thanks to everyone who joined me for this edition of MM!

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Ricotta Tortelloni from the May 2011 issue of Bon Appétit.

Have you ever looked at a dish of lovely sweetness and known, beyond a doubt, that you would love it even before it touched your lips?

This is how I feel about tapioca pudding. I only recently had it for the first time despite knowing for eons that I would love it.

And I did.

I don’t know what possessed me to finally buy it but there I was a few weeks ago in the grocery store gently placing a bag of tapioca in my shopping cart.

While the calendar may say spring Mother Nature is saying something altogether different so this weekend I decided we needed a lovely creamy dessert to keep us warm and fuzzy (on the inside).

I pulled out my bag of tapioca and made the most beautiful pudding.

The recipe I used is from Bob’s Red Mill (maker of the tapioca I purchased).

When I served my pudding, I dolloped on a spoonful of a delicious Italian cherry jam that I am enjoying these days. So. Good.

This is my entry for Magazine Mondays even though it’s not technically from a magazine. But who’s going to tell on me???

For those of you that don’t know Magazine Mondays is an event I created to help us all deal with those magazine piles that can sometimes seem overwhelming. This is your chance to finally try all those recipes you’ve clipped!

Here’s who joins me this week:

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel head Manor made Quick Mushroom Ragu from the March/April 2011 issue of Cook’s Illustrated.

Tia of Buttercream Barbie made Sunshine Cinnamon Rolls from Southern Living.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Whoosh!

That’s the sound that February and March made as they whizzed right by. They were good months, but also difficult ones as a big work project took up a good chunk of my time.

More than once I caught myself staring longingly at my baking pans and my long-neglected mixer, but with no real energy to actually bake something.

Finally, though, I’m back and it feels so good.

I celebrated by trying out a few recipes from the March 2011 issue of Martha Stewart Living. The first is the Yeasted Chocolate Coffee Cake, which was so delicious. I actually made it with quick-rising yeast because I was all out of active dry yeast and the results were excellent.

The real gem, though, is the Cinnamon-Streusel Coffee Cake from the same issue. This is one of the best sour cream cakes that I have every made. It’s moist and not too dense, with a lovely streusel running both inside the cake and on top of it. I made the glaze a bit thick and so it look a bit on the goopy side but I didn’t hear any complaints!

It feels so good to be back to Magazine Mondays. I have some entries that were languishing in my inbox so here they are — the folks who actually joined me quite awhile ago for MM:

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Whole-Wheat Oatmeal Waffles from the February 2008 issue of Gourmet, Flaky Biscuits from the May 2010 issue of Canadian Living and Egg and Shrimp Sandwiches from the June 2010 issue of Canadian Living.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made a Fresh Ham with Cracklings and pan Gravy from the March 1990 issue of Gourmet.

Mary of Caramels, Bonbons et Chocolats made Rosy Almond Marshmallows from Chatelaine.

Ranjani of Four Seasons of Food made Veggie Burgers from the March 2011 issue of Food & Wine.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

When it came time to bake for Valentine’s Day, I had a tough choice between Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies and this luscios tart from Food & Wine.

Ever the diplomat, I made both! For last week’s edition of Magazine Mondays, I featured the cookies but for this week I’m sharing with you a most delicious and delectable tart.

If this is setting the standard for tarts I bake this year then the tarts to come in 2011 have a lot to live up to!

It’s interesting because almost everyone that tried the tart kept asking me, “What’s in that filling?!”

And when I would say, “Milk chocolate and heavy cream” the answer was inevitabley, “That’s it?!”

Yep. That’s it! A spectacular ganache filling made with heavy cream and milk chocolate. Of course, as with all things cooking and baking, it’s all about the quality of the chocolate you use.

I used milk chocolate pieces from Ghirardelli, one of my preferred baking chocolates.

While so many people focussed on the filling, I think it’s the crust that allows the filling to shine. If you can believe it, the crust has crushed pretzels.

The saltiness of the pretzels gives the crust a certain edge that’s perfect against the sweet filling.

I will be making this one again!

As always, I’m joined by some brave folks who kicked their magazine piles in the pants this week:

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Three Seed Biscuits from the November 2010 issue of Canadian Living.

Ranjani of Four Seasons of Food made Feta and Radish Toasts from the March 2011 issue of Food & Wine.

My sweet friend Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking made a Yeasted Chocolate Coffee Cake from the March 2011 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

Recipe Sleuth from Eye for a Recipe made Roast Pork Tenderloin with Apricot-Miso Glaze from the January 2011 issue of Bon Appétit.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Tartes aux Pommes from a 2009 issue of Better Homes and Gardens.

Jamie of Life’s a Feast made an Espresso Chocolate Cake with Mocha Mascarpone Frosting from the April 2009 issue of Bon Appétit.

For those of you that want to participate in the February 28th edition of MM, please note that Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor has very graciously agreed to host for me (thanks, Tina!). If you send me your entries, I’ll pass them along to Tina.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Click here for the recipe for Milk-Chocolate Tart with Pretzel Crust.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Cream Puff is sending you lots and lots of love and I’m doing it with Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies from Better Homes & Gardens.

On this very special Valentine’s Day edition of Magazine Mondays, my entry is from a holiday magazine I bought in the fall of 2010. I had bookmarked this recipe to give it a try over Christmas but that didn’t happen.

As I was considering recipes to try for Valentine’s Day, I remembered this one and I thought how perfect it would be! It’s a shortbread cookie tinted red and flavoured with cocoa powder. I drizzled mine in melted bittersweet chocolate for the perfect final touch.

It’s been a few weeks since my last edition of MM so I have a few entries to get through today:

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Quinoa & Chickpea Salad with Tomato Vinaigrette from the March 2011 issue of Canadian Living.

Carla from Recipe Addict Shrimp in Garlic Saffron Broth from an issue of Martha Stewart Living from 2000.

Jamie from Life’s a Feast made Fondants Châtaigne Ganache Chocolat (Chestnut Fondant Bundlets with Chocolate Ganache) from the February 2001 issue of the French Saveur.

Janie of Panini Girl made Porchetta from the June 2010 issue of La Cucina Italiana.

Nicole of Sweet Tooth made Malted Chocolate Cookies from an issue of Martha Stewart Holiday Cookies.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Chicken and Rice from the September 2007 issue of Ladies Home Journal.

Recipe Sleuth from Eye for a Recipe made Classic Chocolate Truffles from the December 2002 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

Have a lovely Valentine’s Day, everyone!

And have an amazing week!

Ciao!

Let me begin with the painful part and end with the banana part because the banana part is sweet and will make the pain go away.

Painful part:

I lost all my e-mail.

All of it.

Don’t know how. But last week, on Thursday evening to be exact, my e-mail went kaput.

Everything. Gone.

So painful. One of the most painful parts was that I lost some Magazine Mondays links sent to me by you … the lovers of MM! Sowwiee!!!!

Okay. Here’s the sweet part to take away the pain:

I made a delicious Chocolate Banana Swirl Cake!

One bite and the e-mail pain disappeared. This delicious cake is from Fine Cooking (Issue #54). Unfortunately the recipe is not available on-line but it’s essentially a banana bread with some melted chocolate stirred into part of the batter. You then alternate the regular batter and the chocolate batter in a bundt pan before baking.

So good!

Remember that to take part in Magazine Mondays, all you have to do is send me a link to a post on your blog based on a magazine recipe. For those of you that sent me links that I managed to lose, please resend!

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

While the Fine Cooking recipe is not available on-line, here are some other really good chocolate banana recipes:

Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts

Banana Coffee Cake with Chocolate Chip Streusel

Chocolate Chip and Banana Muffins

Banana-Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies

My apologies for the silence on my end. I started in a new position at work this month and it’s been amazing but hasn’t left a lot of time for baking.

Thankfully for Magazine Mondays, I have a lot of folks out there willing to help host.

The lovely Janet of The Taste Space is hosting the January 24th edition of Magazine Mondays. You can read all about it here.

If you have an MM entry, please e-mail it to Janet at saveur11 AT yahoo DOT ca.

See you soon!

Ciao!

Every year, at about this time, I always ask, “Where in the world did this year go?”

2010 is no different.

While I continue to marvel at how time passes by, I also find myself looking back and wondering at the year that was and the year that will be.

For Magazine Mondays, 2010 was a great year.

While I didn’t post as many MM’s as I would have liked, I sent the event on the road with great results. Look for MM to be on the road more in 2011. If you’re interested in hosting, let me know!

My entry for this final MM of the year is what I consider to be one of the best recipes I tried this year: Homemade Yogurt from the April/May 2010 issue of ReadyMade. Unfortunately, I’m not able to find the article on-line so I can’t link to it and even worse … I can’t find the magazine. Yikes! Basically, though, it’s just milk with a bit of yogurt added to get it started (make sure the yogurt you use has active cultures).

The yogurt was so easy and delicious. While it was a bit more liquidy than I’m used to (I like thick yogurt), I found that if I drained it overnight in a colander lined with cheesecloth (you could also use paper towels), it was so nice and thick. It had a lovely tang to it and it really was easy!

I adore yogurt. In fact not only will I often have it for breakfast, I’ll sometimes have a big serving of yogurt with granola and fruit at lunch!

If you’re interested, there’s a great site called How to Make Yogurt, which walks you through the process.

Here’s who joined me for the last MM of 2010:

Tia of Buttercream Barbie made White Chocolate Reese’s Peanut Blossoms from Cook’s Country magazine.

Mary of Caramels, Bonbons et Chocolats.com made Crisp Maple Shortbread Cookies from the November 2010 issue of Chatelaine.

Nina from Prêt à Gourmet made Grasshopper Squares from the December 2005 issue of Gourmet.

Ranjani from Four Seasons of Food made Sweet Potato and Black Bean Empanadas from the December 2010 issue of Cooking Light.

Lynn of I’ll Have What She’s Having made Chocolate Pistachio Biscotti from the December 2010 issue of Food & Wine and Pear & Cranberry Hand Pies also from Food & Wine.

Margaret of Tea and Scones made Tacoritos from the February/March 2010 issue of Taste of Home.

Remember that Magazine Mondays is about taming that pile of clipped magazine recipes. You can send me a link to a magazine recipe you’ve posted and I’ll link to it in my round-up.

Have a great week, everyone! And Happy New Year!

Ciao!

I love Nigella.

Like I really really love her. I love her food and her attitude and her eyebrows.

I love her eyebrows.

I wish she would publish a new cookbook every week because I would totally buy it. And I wish she would be on television more, not less. More.

Just sayin’.

Naturally I scooped up her new cookbook, Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home.

I kept giving her cookbook adoring looks but hadn’t tried anything until I received the November 2010 issue of Food & Wine and saw the recipe for Caramel-Croissant Pudding.

Hello!

Immediately my incredible spidey cookbook senses started tingling as I realized I’d seen this recipe before. Ah, my sweet Nigella!

So technically I am doing away with two birds by using only one croissant (I don’t believe in throwing stones at birds). I am both telling you about Nigella’s book and giving you my submission for this week’s edition of Magazine Mondays.

This pudding was extravagant and amazing. While it’s best eaten warm, I brought it to work the day after making it and it was still delicious. Trust me, though. The first time you make it dig into it while it’s warm. It’s like a crispy, caramelly trip to heaven.

It could only have been better if my eyebrows looked like Nigella’s. But I digress.

It being the holiday season I’m guessing that folks are pretty busy because I only have one MM submission this week. That’s okay. But remember, anyone can take part. All you have to do is send along a link to a magazine recipe that you’ve posted. This week I’m joined by:

Melissa of Baking Makes Things Better made Christmas Cookies from Issue 24 of Donna Hay. She also made a Roast Tomato and Broad Bean Salad with Haloumi from Issue 56 of Foodtown Magazine.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Whew!

The past four weeks have been tough, to say the least. I had a big work assignment that pretty much meant almost no baking or cooking for me and that of course translates to almost no blogging.

Now that the project is done, I am slowly readying myself for the greatest baking time of the year: Christmas.

While I adore Christmas, I do not adore starting the celebrations too early. So I’m ignoring all the decorations everywhere and the music that’s already bombarding you everywhere you go.

It’s. Still. Too. Early.

Right now I’m focussing on returning some order to my disordered life. I’m opening mail, going through long-abandoned books, tidying up around the house and generally just wiping the slate clean so I can start December prepared for the baking that lies ahead.

I’ve missed quite a few Magazine Mondays over the past couple of months and I thank all the great people who stepped in to host for me. MM is a lot of fun but it’s also a lot of responsibility and I plan on sending it on the road more often to help me cope and also to give MM fans the chance to share hosting duties.

As we approach the final editions of MM for 2010, I turn to a recipe that I tried about a month ago, with mixed results.

I should start off by saying that I adore Lidia Bastianich. She is a teacher to the core and the fact that food happens to be her subject is a blessing to all of us.

I own most of her cookbooks and find them to be thoughtful, detailed and serious. You will always have good results with Lidia’s recipes.

For this reason, I was a ever-so-slightly disappointed by the Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Sage Butter from the October 2010 issue of Bon Appétit.

While the end result was quite good, I found the method for this recipe a bit confusing. I admit that I changed the method in several instances to be more in line with what I’m used to when it comes to gnocchi.

I grew up in a family where gnocchi were made frequently. I’ve made gnocchi myself many times and while I would never call myself an expert, I’m familiar enough with the process.

The first thing that stumped me in this recipe was the instruction to roast the squash but boil the potatoes. If you’re going to roast the butternut squash to cook it, why not also roast the potatoes along with the squash to save yourself the step of boiling them? To avoid that extra step, I threw my potatoes in along with the butternut squash to bake until done. Once cooked, I peeled the potatoes and passed them through a ricer.

What really stumped me was that once the butternut squash is cooked, the recipe instructs you to puree the squash in a food processor and then cook in a saucepan until the puree thickens.

I have roasted butternut squash many, many times and it has never been exceptionally liquidy or even moist. I could not figure out why I would have to dirty the food processor and then dirty another saucepan when all I had to do was pass the cooked squash through a ricer, as I did with the potatoes? Again, I saved myself several steps there.

The rest of the recipe proceeded nicely right up until cooking time. After forming the adorable little dumplings I chilled them for an hour as instructed. Prior to cooking, I brought a large pot of salted water to boil and that’s where I did the double-take.

Cook for 15 to 17 minutes?!

I don’t think so.

I have never ever seen anyone who makes gnocchi at home cook them for that long unless you’re aiming for some sort of paste-like substance.

I was always taught that when you put gnocchi to boil, you should allow them to come to the surface and then cook for a few minutes, at most.

Against my better judgment, I decided to cook the first batch for about 15 minutes and I knew almost immediately that I’d make a mistake. My gnocchi were mushy and in some cases had fallen apart altogether.

Don’t get me wrong. They were delicious and once you covered them with butter and sage, it was all good.

It’s just that the recipe had me scratching my head a few times and that’s not what I’m used to from Lidia Bastianich.

I would definitely try this recipe, but I would save myself some effort (and cleanup) by roasting the squash and potatoes together and then passing the flesh of both through a ricer.

And when cooking the gnocchi, I wouldn’t boil them for more than 5 our 6 minutes.

I managed to put a very small dent in my food magazine pile this past weekend and here are some other folks that did the same:

Melissa of Baking Makes Things Better made Caramel Brownies from the October 2010 issue of ‘recipes+’.

Sue of Couscous & Consciousness made Moroccan Chermoula Fish Kebabs with Couscous from the November 2007 issue of Delicious magazine.

Janie of Panini Girl made Baked Orrecchiette with Pork Sugo from the October 2008 issue of Food & Wine.

Janet of Taste Space made Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa Salad from the 2007 issue of Gourmet.

Melissa from It’s the Way She … made a Golden Brown Butter and Praline Tart from the November 2010 issue of Bon Appétit.

Valerie of Sex, Food, and Rock & Roll made Eggplant, Fontina and Tomato Pizza from the 2004 issue of Gourmet.

Remember that Magazine Mondays is your chance to take control of that magazine pile and all those clipped recipes!

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

I will post again. I will bake again. Soon. Very soon. I will return to my blog. Soon. Very soon.

Promise.

One more week and my work project is done and I can throw myself headlong into baking. I have literally been itching to bake. Seriously.

In the meantime, I am eternally grateful to the devoted Magazine Mondays followers who have been saving my bacon by hosting for me.

Today’s edition was hosted by the lovely Jamie of Life’s A Feast, who is an absolute doll!

Here’s the MM round-up!

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Wow. Feels like forever since I posted! I have to apologize for my absence but I am in the middle of a big work project and by the time I get home at night there’s not much left in the tank for blogging (or baking).

Just wanted to drop you a note to say that tomorrow’s edition of Magazine Mondays is being hosted by Lynn of I’ll Have What She’s Having. For those of you that have already sent me MM entries, I’ve passed them along to Lynn. For those of you that want to send along a link, there’s still time!

Send along your link and I’ll forward it to Lynn!

Even though it’s Sunday, I’m sharing my own MM submission. This is a Peanut, Caramel, and Chocolate Tart from the October 2010 issue of Martha Stewart Living. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to make it and it was every bit as good as it sounds. I made it for the Thanksgiving potluck that we had at work in October. The picture isn’t great but believe me when I say it was delicious!

Thanks to Lynn for hosting MM and I hope you all have a great week!

Ciao!

Just a quick note to let you know that tomorrow’s edition of Magazine Mondays is being hosted by Wandering Coyote of ReTorte.

For those of you that have already sent me entries, I’ve passed them along to my buddy Wandering Coyote.

For those of you that want to enter, there’s still time! E-mail your entries to wandering_coyote{@}yahoo{dot}ca.

MM will be going on the road once or twice a month for the next little while. If you’re interested in hosting, let me know!

Ciao!

Before I went to Italy, I bought a special issue of Vegetarian Times dedicated to taking advantage of all the incredible produce at farmers’ markets.

While I am not a vegetarian, I would say that probably about 70 per cent of what I eat is vegetable, legume or grain. That’s just the way that we were brought up to eat. That’s one of the reasons why I enjoy Vegetarian Times so much. I don’t buy every issue, but the ones I do buy tend to be full of great recipes.

This is Tabbouleh with Mint and Pistachios, which are one of my favourite nuts. This dish was so good that we were fighting over the leftovers. What I love most about it is that you can make loads of it on the weekend and then pack it for lunch during the work week.

I followed the recipe exactly and I certainly hope you’ll give it a try.

Before I get into the MM entries for the week, I just wanted to let you know that in the coming months Magazine Mondays will be going on the road. I’m entering a busy time at work so I’m counting on MM contributors to host at least one edition of MM per month. I have a few people lined up already but if you’re interested, send me an e-mail!

Here’s who joined me for this week’s edition of Magazine Mondays:

Recipe Sleuth of Eye for a Recipe made Roasted Rosemary Potatoes from the October 2010 issue of Food & Wine; Roman-style Braised Chicken with Roasted Peppers from also from the October 2010 issue of Food & Wine; Mussels in Black Bean Sauce from the October 2010 issue of Canadian Living and Pumpkin Pecan Bundt Cake also from the October 2010 issue of Canadian Living.

Grace of La Mia Vita Dolce made Chocolate Mud Cake, Dark Chocolate Ganache and Sweet Glazed Cherrires from Donna Hay.

Lynn of I’ll Have What She’s Having made Shrimp Fra Diavolo from Food & Wine and Saffron Scented Pear Upside Cake from the October 2006 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Pumpkin Pecan Bundt Cake from the October 2010 issue of Canadian Living (obviously a popular cake!) and Pulled Pork from the December 2005 issue of Canadian Living.

Sue of Couscous & Consciousness made Thai Green Curry Chicken Pies from the August 2004 issue of ABC Delicious.

Janice of Kitchen Heals Souls made Butternut Squash Gnocchi from the October 2010 issue of Bon Appétit.

Mary of Caramels, Bonbons et Chocolats.com made Bourbon and Orange Pecan Pie from Real Simple.

Natalie of Seattle Lunchbox made Brown Sugar Maple Chip Bundt Cake from the October 2007 issue of Bon Appétit.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

If you live somewhere where apricots are still in season that I am insanely jealous of you.

I adore apricots, and yet, I find it more and more difficult to find really good apricots in the summer time. Some of our family members have apricot trees so I try to be extra nice to them during the summer in the hopes they’ll grace me with some of the bounty from their trees.

When I saw the pie on the cover of Issue 106 of Fine Cooking, I literally took the magazine, went straight to the kitchen and started baking.

Brandied Apricot-Almond Slab Pie. That’s the name of the deliciousness that I baked. Just tell me when it’s apricot season again so I can have another go at it!

This is my entry for this edition of Magazine Mondays. Here are all the other wonderful bloggers who joined me this week in taking a shot at that magazine pile:

Mary of Caramels, Bonbons and Chocolats.com made Chocolate Chip Cookies from Cook’s Illustrated.

Mama Bear of Suitable for Consumption made Versatile Vanilla Cake from Everyday Food.

Janice of Kitchen Heals Souls adapted Cherry Pepper and Goat Cheese Hush Puppies from the September 2010 issue of Bon Appétit and Brown Butter and Pumpkin Cupcakes from Fine Cooking.

Brenda of Brenda’s Canadian Kitchen made Pastitsio from the August/September issue of Saveur and Almost Famous Chimichanga from Food Network magazine.

Tia of Buttercream Barbie made Honey-Spice Apple Butter from the 2004 issue of Fine Cooking.

Tina from Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Chicken Florentine Artichoke Bake from Better Homes and Gardens.

Ranjani of Four Seasons of Food made Roasted Turnips with Parsley-Mustard Vinaigrette from the September 2010 issue of Food & Wine.

Fallon of Fallon’s Cucina made Turkey-Ricotta Meaballs from the September 2008 issue of Cooking Light and Tex-Mex and Bean Dip, also from Cooking Light.

Recipe Sleuth from Eye for a Recipe made Chicken with Olives and Prunes from the October 2010 issue of Canadian Living; Stir-fried Pork, Green Geans and Red Bell Pepper with Gingery Oyster Sauce from the January 2003 issue of Cook’s Illustrated; and Old-fashioned Potato Salad from the July 2002 issue of Gourmet.

Grace of La Mia Dolce Vita made a Chocolate Buttermilk Layer Cake from Donna Hay.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

I would like to thank Tia of Buttercream Barbie; Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor and Janie of Panini Girl for guest-hosting Magazine Mondays while I was away. Thank you, ladies!

While I was in Italy, I was fortunate enough to enjoy some really delicious and fresh ricotta. For my MM post, I give you this easy, elegant and delicious Lemon-Ricotta Tart from Martha Stewart.

The flavours are so clean and fresh, it’s a handy tart to have in your repertoire. Please give it a try!

As usual, I’m joined by a number of people who are taking control of those food magazine piles once and for all:

My buddy Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made a Brown Sugar & Chocolate Chip Pound Cake with Maple Espresso Glaze from the October 2007 issue of Bon Appétit.

Ranjani of Four Seasons of Food made Toasted farro, green bean, and shiitake salad with tofu from the September 2010 issue of Cooking Light.

Lynn of I’ll Have What She’s Having made Salmon with Coriander Rub and Lime Cream and Pear and Butternut Squash Soup from the October 2006 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

Janice of Kitchen Heals Souls made a Tangy Courgette and Rice Bake from BBC Good Food.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Marinated Flank Steak from Southern Living.

Janie of Panini Girl made Summer Vegetable Casserole from the August 2010 issue of Food & Wine.

Margaret of Tea and Scones made Sunflower Oatmeal Bread from the September 2006 issue of Country Home.

Karen at Mignaride made Feta-Stuffed Peppers from Saveur.

Remember, all you have to do to take part in Magazine Mondays is send me an e-mail linking to a post you did on a recipe from a magazine article.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Before I get to these week’s edition of Magazine Mondays, I have some big news about MM for the next few weeks.

I’m going on vacation soon and while I’m gone, MM will be hosted by three long-time contributors: Tia of Buttercream Barbie, Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor and Janie of Panini Girl.

In the past, the lovely Wandering Coyote of ReTorte has hosted for me when I’ve been away. I decided this time, though, it was time to send MM on the road. Here’s how the schedule will work:

Tia will host on Monday August 23rd (e-mail entries to starrysugar{@}hotmail{dot}com).

Tina will host on Monday August 30th (e-mail entries to hexandkobe{@}yahoo{dot}com).

Janie will host on September 6th (e-mail entries to jtray4{@}mac{dot}com).

If you have an MM entry for any of those weeks, e-mail it to the appropriate hostess and she’ll include you in the round-up.

I’ll be back for Magazine Mondays on October 13th.

As for this week, I must tell you that if you have not picked up the latest issue of Saveur, you simply must do so! The magazine features the cuisine of Greece and there are some incredible recipes including this delicious recipe for Peppers Stuffed with Feta (Piperies Gemistes me Feta).

I cannot tell you how delicious this recipe was! It was a huge hit with everyone and very easy to make. The salty/creamy filling was the perfect foil for the roasted peppers. My mouth is watering just thinking of them. That’s my MM entry for the week.

Here’s who joined me in this week’s edition:

Joanna of Go Ahead and Snicker made Sweet and Sour Pickles from the August 2010 issue of Southern Living.

Melissa of It’s the Way She … made Chocolate Icebox Cake from the August 2010 issue of Real Simple.

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Pasta with Shrimp and Cilantro-Lime Pesto from the July 2010 issue of Bon Appétit.

Ranjani of Four Seasons of Food made Green Beans with Mustard Crema from the August 2010 issue of Cooking Light.

Jan from Kitchen Heals Souls made Mussels with Ditalini from Delicious, Volume 7, Issue 5.

Carla of RecipeAddict made Chicken Pot Pie with Chanterelles from the September 2009 issue of Bon Appétit.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

I picked up a copy of a special publicaton by Vegetarian Times called the Farmer’s Market Cookbook featuring some of the magazine’s best summer recipes. I immediately bookmarked the recipe for Oregano and Asiago Focaccia, which originally appeared in the April 2008 edition of the magazine. This is probably the easiest focaccia you will ever make. It’s delicious and fast and it will go very quickly. Trust me.

Word to the wise: use finely grate the Asiago. I used coarsely grated cheese and it didn’t quite all melt into the focaccia (not that anyone is complaining, mind you) but if you want your cheese fully incorporated, use finely grated.

As always, this is my entry for Magazine Mondays. That’s the “non-event” I started as a way of forcing myself to use those clipped magazine recipes that were piling up everywhere. I can’t believe it but in October, MM will be three years old! Wow!

Anyway, if you post a magazine recipe (doesn’t have to be posted on a Monday), just send me the link and I’ll include it in my next round-up. Details about Magazine Mondays are all here.

Here’s who’s joining me for this week’s edition:

Melissa of It’s the Way She… made Goat Cheese and Roasted Corn Quesadilla from the March 2009 issue of Cooking Light.

Andrea of New Holistic Guide made a Garden Tomato and Goat Cheese Dip from Viva.

Recipe Sleuth from Eye for a Recipe made Creamy-Cilantro Lime Slaw from the July 2010 issue of Bon Appétit; Pasta Salad with Cherry Tomatoes and Green Olivada from the July 2010 issue of Bon Appétit and Tender Zucchini Fritters with Green Goddess Dressing from the August 2010 issue of Bon Appétit.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Buttermilk Pecan Chicken Cutlets from the June 2010 issue of Cooking Light.

Janie of Panini Girl made Mostarda di Pomodori from the August 2010 issue of La Cucina Italiana.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

This is a very quick Magazine Mondays post. But it’s a goodie! If you’re like me and have a tonne of jam jars in the fridge, all half full, this is the perfect recipe: Jam Crumb Cake from the December 2007 issue of Bon Appétit.

I think it takes a total of 15 minutes to pull this cake together and the results are irresistible: a buttery and sweet treat that’s perfect for afternoon tea or coffee.

Remember, if you have a magazine recipe that you’ve posted on your blog, send me the link and and I’ll include it in my next Magazine Mondays post.

Here’s who’s joining me this week:

Valerie of Sex, Food, and Rock & Roll made Sloppy Joe on Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits from the September 2004 issue of Gourmet.

Margaret of Tea and Scones made Indian Chicken Curry from an old issue of Cooking Light and Seafood Fettuccine from Cooking Light.

Brenda of Brenda’s Canadian Kitchen made Puffed-Rice Bars with Peanut Butter and Chocolate from the July/August 2010 issue of Everyday Food.

Recipe Sleuth made Piri-Piri Chicken from the July 2010 issue of Bon Appétit; Grilled Steak and Summer Vegetable Salad from the July/August issue of Everyday Food; and Green Beans and Zucchini with Sauce Verte from the June 2010 issue of Bon Appétit.

Janet of the taste space made Muhammara (Syrian Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Dip) from the December 1993 issue of Gourmet; Orzo Salad with Pan-Fried Chickpeas, Dill and Lemon from the August 2002 issue of Cooking Light; and Carrot Soup with Ginger and Lemon from the June 1997 issue of Bon Appétit.

Lynn of I’ll Have What She’s Having made Summer Vegetable Casserole from the August 2010 issue of Food & Wine.

Tia of Buttercream Barbie made Tomato Quiche from Taste of Home.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made BLT Bread Salad from Cooking Light.

WI from Wine Imbiber made Upside-Down Berry Cornmeal Cake from Better Homes and Gardens.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Growing up, chickpeas were a big part of our diet. While my mom would often make dishes with dried chickpeas that had been soaked overnight and reconstituted, she would just as often open up a can of chickpeas and use them in salads and soups, in particular.

I was going through a pile of magazine clippings recently and I come across a recipe for Spicy Toasted Garbanzo Beans and Pistachios from the February 2003 issue of Bon Appétit.

I’m always looking for quick and delicious appetizer recipes to serve with drinks whenever we have get-togethers. I find these types of recipes better for the type of entertaining we do because they offer a quick nibble and people are less likely to fill up on a dish like this as opposed to a more substantial appetizer.

These roasted chickpeas (garbanzo beans are chickpeas) and pistachios are so addictive that I often have to double or triple the recipe. And they’re fast and easy to make, to boot.

This is my entry for this week’s Magazine Mondays. Hope you give them a try!

Here’s who’s joined me for this edition of MM:

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Roasted Lemon Cake from Taste magazine. Awhile ago, she also made Everyday Granola from the June 2010 issue of Bon Appétit.

Claire of Chez Cayenne made Lemon Pulihora from the April 2006 issue of Vegetarian Times.

Brenda of Brenda’s Canadian Kitchen made Triple Cheese Spirals from the April 2010 issue of Food Network magazine.

The prolific recipe sleuth made the following recipes from magazines: Spicy Grilled Shrimp from the June 2010 issue of Martha Stewart Living; Grilled Buttermilk Chicken from the June 2010 issue of Martha Stewart Living; Grilled Pork Tenderloin and Garlicky Potato Salad from June/July 2010 issue of Cook’s Country; Spiced Strawberry Shortcake from the Summer 2010 issue of Homemakers; Roasted Red Pepper Bocconcini Pops from Holiday 2006 issue of Food & Drink; Quinoa, Garbanzo and Spinach Salad with Smoked Paprika Dressing from the July 2010 issue of Bon Appétit; and Linguine with Shrimp and Cilantro-Lime Pesto from the July 2010 issue of Bon Appétit.

Carla of Recipeaddict made Pork Chips with Tarragon Sauce and Cornichons from the November 2008 issue of Bon Appétit.

Remember that anyone can take part in Magazine Mondays. If you post a recipe from a magazine, just send me the link and I’ll include it in my next round-up.

Have a great week everyone!

Ciao!

Cherries.

How I love thee, let me count the ways!

Of all the stone fruits, cherries are my absolute favourite. One of my dreams is to have a house with a beautiful cherry tree (or two) in the backyard.

Growing up, we had a beautiful cherry tree but eventually my father had to take it down. That was such a sad day.

Every summer, no matter the cost, I make sure to get my fill of cherries.

While in Paris, I had a lovely dessert of cherries fried in butter and topped with ice cream. Since returning from my trip, I’ve been thinking a lot about french desserts and as luck would have it, the most recent issue of Fine Cooking has a feature on cherries.

Lo and behold, there is a recipe for Cherry-Almond Clafoutis.

I haven’t had much success in the past with clafoutis, but this recipe has erased past failures. It was heaven. One word of advice: serve it warm from the oven. While the flavour is still good the next day, the texture isn’t as lovely as when you first take the clafoutis out of the oven.

This is the first edition of Magazine Mondays for quite awhile so I have a lot of participants this week:

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Squash Casserole from the May 2010 issue of Southern Living. Earlier Tina made Crockpot BBQ Ribs from the June 2009 issue of Family Circle.

Tamy of Always Eat on the Good China made Cream Cheese Peppermint Cookies.

Tia of Buttercream Barbie made Strawberry Cake from a June 2005 issue of Martha Stewart Living. Earlier, Tia made an Oatmeal Apple Cookie Cake from the August/September 2006 issue of Taste of Home.

Janet of The Taste Space made Blueberry Rhubarb Cranberry Crisp with Pistachio Crust from the June 1999 issue of Gourmet. Earlier, she made a Miso Glazed Black Cod from the July 2008 issue of Food & Wine.

Carla of RecipeAddict made Vietnamese Beef-Noodle Soup from the April 2010 issue of Cooking Light.

Brenda of Brenda’s Canadian Kitchen made Herbed Flatbread from the June 2010 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

Recipe Sleuth from Eye for a Recipe made Grilled Asian Chicken and Vegetables with Ginger Cilantro Rice from the June 2010 issue of Bon Appétit, Jerk Pork Tenderloin with Pineapple Salsa from the June 2010 issue of Food & Wine, and Wine Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Rosemary-Orange Dressing from the June 2010 issue of Bon Appétit.

Jamie of Life’s a Feast made a Zucchini Ricotta Feta Tart from the June 2010 issue of Saveurs.

For those of you that are interested in participating in Magazine Mondays, just send me a link to a magazine recipe you’ve tried and I’ll include it in my next round-up.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

For the Almond-Cherry Clafoutis recipe, click here.

Happy Victoria Day to all my fellow Canadians!

Even though the first day of summer is still roughly a month away, for me, Victoria Day has always been the unofficial beginning of summer.

Barbecue season is underway, my strawberry plants are on the verge of yielding some sweet berries and I can now officially wear white pants without incurring the ire of the fashion police!

While we use the barbecue virtually year round at our house, for many Canadians Victoria Day is the first opportunity of the year to have a big barbecue.

If there’s one thing that I love at a barbecue, it’s potato salad. Much like pancakes, I’ve probably tried a thousand recipes for potato salad. And I believe I’ve loved every one!

For our Victoria Day celebration, I tried a recipe from the July 2005 issue of Canadian Living: Warm Potato Salad. The only change I made was to omit the green bell pepper, which never sits well with me for some reason.

It was a lovely salad and a perfect accompaniment to our meal.

This is my entry for this week’s Magazine Mondays. And here are some other entries to intrigue you:

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Cherry Tomato and Prosciutto Focaccia.

Wandering Coyote from ReTorte made Chocolate-Orange Brownies from the March 2010 issue of Bon Appétit.

Brenda from Brenda’s Canadian Kitchen made New York-Style Crumb Cake.

Recipe Sleuth of Eye for a Recipe made Harissa Chicken with Green Chile and Tomato Salad from the June 2010 issue of Food & Wine.

Carla from RecipeAddict made Braised Chicken Stew (Pollo Guisado) from the April 2010 issue of Everyday with Rachel Ray and Risotto with Spring Greens from the June 2009 issue of Oprah magazine.

Valerie of Sex, Food, and Rock & Roll made Moroccan Chicken with Green Olives and Lemons from the May 2009 issue of Bon Appétit.

I wanted to end off by sharing a delicious treat made by a family member. I have lots of little cousins and they’re all sweet but my “little” cousin J (she’s 21), made this delicious cheesecake for our family barbecue. So you can see the baking gene runs in the family. So sweet!

There won’t be a Magazine Mondays next week (May 31st) so we’ll see you in a few weeks.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Hot on the heels of my delicious baked rhubarb, I bring you Rhubarb Tartlets from Issue 9 of Jamie Oliver’s magazine.

I am a huge fan of tartlets. This is mainly due to the fact that I can pretend that I am eating a pie all by myself (a dream of mine) and I don’t have to share it with anyone.

What can I say? I can be a selfish Cream Puff when it comes to the matter of sweets.

While these took a bit of work to make the pastry shells and the custard, they were completely worth it. I overcooked my rhubarb ever so slightly but in the end it was all so delicious.

This is my entry for this week’s Magazine Mondays, the non-event I created to give everyone the opportunity to at least tempt to tame the pile of clipped magazine recipes I know we all have.

Before I get to the list of participants for this edition of MM, I want to introduce you to a lovely new blog recently started by a kindred spirit. It’s called Eye For a Recipe. I’m happy to say that Sleuth is participating in her first Magazine Mondays with a submission from the April 2010 issue of Food & Wine: Chicken Sukiyaki!

Here are all the other lovely entries for this week’s edition of Magazine Mondays:

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Mini Baked Potatoes.

Lynn of I’ll Have What She’s Having made Mini Tomato Chèvre Tarts from the April 2010 issue of Chatelaine.

Dawn of Doable and Delicious made Cauliflower Souffle with Brown Butter from the May 2008 issue of Gourmet and Barley Salad from Cooking Light magazine.

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Curried Pork Burgers from Canadian Living.

Remember, anyone can take part in MM. Just send me a link to a magazine recipe that you posted. Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Click here for the Rhubarb Tartlet recipe from Issue 9 of Jamie magazine.

Sometimes I’m convinced that I have some sort of internal navigation system that activates as soon as I see a recipe I simply must try.

The navigation system kicks in and directs me home, as fast as possible, to try said recipe.

This can be a problem when you’re … say … at work.

Thus ensues a lengthy inner monologue between myself and navigation system on why I can’t leave work early to go home and cook.

Ah, the dilemmas of a cream puff!

The navigation system kicked in big time when I caught a glimpse of this recipe and read the accompanying article, from Saveur.

Published in Issue 120, I actually have the magazine and when I caught a glimpse of the article on-line, I remembered that I had bookmarked it.

After reading about the history of this much-abused pasta dish, I realized that I’ve basically been eating my mother’s version of “alfredo” for as long as I can remember.

The traditional pasta dish consists of pasta, Parmigiano Reggiano and butter. In my family, pasta with butter and Parmigiano has been a staple of quick family dinners. The difference between my mother’s version, and the original, is that my mother would use just enough butter and cheese to flavour the pasta. The technique of twirling the pasta in a warmed plate and slowly building a sauce, using nothing more than the bond of butter and cheese, is unique to the original.

I went ahead and followed the recipe, carefully slicing pats of butter and laying them in the bottom of a large warmed bowl. I twirled my pasta carefully working in the Parmigiano Reggiano, and I did it all with the bowl sitting on top of the pot of boiled pasta water (that kept the bowl extra warm!).

The end result was delicious. Navigation system fully satisfied!

This is my entry for this week’s edition of Magazine Mondays, the “non-event” I created to finally put all those magazine recipes to good use.

Here’s who joined me for this week’s MM:

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Lemon Buttermilk Pudding Cake from the November 2009 issue of Canadian Living.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Coffee Sirloin Roast from the August 2009 issue of Taste of Home.

Tia from Buttercream Barbie made a Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza using a pizza dough recipe from a May 2007 issue of Canadian Living.

Tamy from Always Eat on the Good China made Apple Raisin Noodle Pudding and Imperial Pudding.

Carla from RecipeAddict made Tomato Jam from the July/August 2000 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

Janet from The Taste Space made Chilled Soba with Baby Bok Choy, Snow Peas, Spinach and Tofu from the July 2008 issue of Gourmet.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Or lack therof …

I had to smile when I read a post on Smitten Kitchen about how some bloggers in parts-not-here are enjoying all sorts of beautiful and fresh spring delights from the garden. I feel her pain. While here in Toronto we are still dealing with cold and windy weather, it’s hard not to be jealous when you know that some people in the world are already eating the first strawberries of spring.

Not fair!

While my strawberry plants are at least a month away from bearing any fruit, I thought I had resolved to grin and bear it. I’m a big girl. How hard can it be to wait until spring fully arrives and all of Ontario’s wonderful produce with it?

Alright. I caved.

It’s not my fault, though. I blame it all on the February 2010 issue of Woman & Home Feel Good Food. I don’t think I’ve ever made a recipe from this delightful magazine for a Magazine Mondays edition, but that’s entirely may fault. What a pretty magazine! I encourage you to pick up a copy if you can.

While I was flipping through the issue, I saw a recipe for Mozzarella and Tomato Brioche that looked so appetizing, I decided that I would make it immediately even though I’m months away from my first fresh garden tomato. I threw together some cherry tomatoes, green onion, chopped olives, thyme, basil, fresh mozzarella, olive oil and salt. I let the whole mixture marinate for a bit and then I fairly plunked it on some warm ciabatta bread.

I sat down at the table and inhaled it. While I’m sure I did not make for a pretty sight, it appeased (momentarily anyway), my craving for fresh food from the garden.

So for now, I’m okay. But I have to tell you, summer can’t get here soon enough!

As you know, Magazine Mondays is my “non-event” that gives all of us a chance to finally try those magazine recipes we’ve been clipping religiously.

Look who joined me this week in digging into that magazine pile:

Tia from Buttercream Barbie made an Apricot Braid from Taste of Home.

Jamie from Life’s a Feast made Quinoa Risotto with Asparagus and Parmesan Tuiles from the May 2010 issue of Saveurs. Jamie also made a Strawberry Shortcake from a 1989 issue of Chocolatier.

Janet from The Taste Space made Moroccan Carrot Soup from the April 2010 issue of Bon Appétit.

Diana from Di’s Kitchen Notebook made the Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes from Cook’s Illustrated.

Lynn from I’ll Have What She’s Having made Spicy Chickpea Tomato Soup from the Novemer 2007 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

Tina Marie from Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Indoor Pulled Pork from Cook’s Illustrated and Feta Chicken Bundles from the December 2009 issue of Family Circle.

Jannett of Canadian Baker Too made Summer Berry Shortcakes from the Summer 2009 LCBO magazine.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Every since my trip to New York City in January, I’ve been on the losing end of the weight gain battle. Just as fast as you can say City Bakery’s pretzel croissant I’m suddenly about 10 pounds heavier.

Eeek!

I’m as vain as the next cream puff and with bathing suit season on the horizon, it’s time to right the ship.

Generally speaking, I try to eat a very balanced diet. I eat everything, I just try to make sure that I eat in moderation and that I get lots of fruit and vegetables. This has served me well in recent years as I’ve turned the corner on weight gain and slowly found myself looking more and more the way I want to look and feeling the way I want to feel.

Having said that, lately I haven’t been eating the greatest of lunches. I’m either grabbing whatever is available (usually not something good) or even worse, skipping lunch.

My favourite sort of lunch has a little bit of everything: some dairy, some carbs, some protein and some vegetables and the vegetables are almost always salad in some form.

But I have to be honest, as much as I like my lettuce it does get a bit boring after awhile. I decided it was time to try some of the kabillion salad recipes I’ve had bookmarked from various magazines. I finally got around to trying this salad recipe from the April/May 2006 issue of Body + Soul magazine.

I had to make a few changes to the recipe, the biggest being no strawberries. We’re at least a few months away from strawberry season here in Ontario and I don’t care how beautiful they look, those monster strawberries you see in the grocery store have absolutely zero flavour. What’s the point?!

Instead of frisee, which isn’t always available, I used arugula, red-leaf lettuce and Belgian endive. I loved this salad! It was refreshing and the walnuts and goat cheese gave the salad a nutty, creamy angle that was so flavourful. I cannot wait to try this salad again, especially when strawberries are in season.

For those of you that don’t know about Magazine Mondays, it’s the non-event I created to give all those of us with stacks of food magazines everywhere the chance to finally try some of those recipes we’ve bookmarked! There are no rules for this event and the only requirement is that you send me the link to a magazine recipe you’ve posted on your blog. I’ll include it in my next Magazine Mondays‘ roundup.

Here’s who has joined me this week:

A regular contributor, Janie of Panini Girl made a Berry Tiramisu with Lemon Curd from the June 2009 issue of Bon Appétit.

Margaret of Tea and Scones made Peanut Butter Cupcakes from Taste of Home She also made Pasta with Chicken and Squash using another recipe from Taste of Home.

Another regular contributer, Tia of Buttercream Barbie made a Quick Raspberry Cream Cheese Brioche Ring from the Sept./Oct. 1995 issue of Cook’s Illustrated.

Tamy of Always Eat on the Good China made Banana Raisin French Toast.

Erica from the beautiful blog Cooking for Season made Green Tea Shortbread Cookies from the December 2001 issue of Martha Stewart’s Holiday Cookies.

Nova of Raining Potatotes made Poblano, Potato, and Corn Gratin from the April 2010 issue of Bon Appétit.

Dawn from Doable and Delicious made Asparagus Ravioli in Parmesan Broth from the April 2008 issue of Gourmet.

Debbie from Cafe Chibita made Linguine with Seafood Sauce from the March 2010 issue of Food Network magazine.

Needful Things from the blog Needful made Dark Chocolate Dipped Apples from a lost magazine recipe (I feel your pain!).

My buddy Wandering Coyote from ReTorte returns with Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Cake from the January 2009 issue of Canadian Living and Marmalade Cake from Food Network magazine.

Tina from Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made BBQ Shrimp from Southern Living magazine.

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Ciao!

As March draws to an end I find myself slowly emerging from the last two months. I can very clearly recall the beginning of January, but everthing between that first week of 2010 to now is a blur.

Work. Work. Work.

It’s been challenging, fun, stressful, difficult, exciting and so very busy. As always, I feel so happy and relieved at this time of year (biggest work project of the year is done), but I also feel tired and a bit drained.

As much as I enjoy winter, I was so very happy to answer the door when Spring rang the bell.

Bring on the warm weather, the flowers, the open-toed shoes and of course, the return to baking and cooking for me.

Prior to this weekend, I had not baked in over a month.

Ridiculous!

As I contemplated another Monday with no post, I remembered that I had one Magazine Mondays recipe in the bank: Classic White Bread from the February 2010 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

While I have certainly had my issues with some Martha Stewart recipes in the past, this one was a winner from start to finish. And best of all I had the pleasureable experience of kneading bread dough.

This is a sturdy, delicious bread that can be used for numerous purposes. My own favourite was to smother it with salted butter and cherry jam.

It’s been awhile since my last Magazine Mondays post so this is just a little reminder that if you post a magazine recipe, send me the link and I’ll include it in my next MM round-up. Here’s who joined me for this edition:

Tia of Buttercream Barbie made Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies from Bon Appétit and Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars from a 2001 Issue of Martha Stewart Holiday Cookies and she also made Blueberry Peach Yogurt Muffins from Canadian Living.

Tamy of Always Eat on the Good China made Blend in the Bayou from Taste of Home.

Dawn of Doable and Delicious made Herbed Balsamic Chicken with Blue Cheese from Bon Appétit.

Janie of Panini Girl made Hazelnut Cinnmaon Crescents from Bon Appétit.

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Ciao!

My goodness I don’t even know how long it’s been since I’ve updated my blog! Two weeks? A year? I no longer remember.

I’ve been a busy bee thanks to a work project and some other events. However, I could no longer bear to hear my blog weeping in the corner as the days of neglect stretched into weeks. I’m back for a very quick Magazine Mondays post that perfectly captures my eating habits of late: lots of fat, lots of carbs and almost no fruits or vegetables (long workdays and even longer work nights do not make for healthy eating …).

Having said that, if I have to indulge once and awhile, I’m happy to do so with these ridiculously good chicken wings. I made them for a family dinner we had that happened to fall on Super Bowl Sunday. While lugging out the deep fryer wasn’t exactly the most enjoyable exercise (nor was cleaning it afterwards although the credit for that goes to Mamma Cream Puff), I have to say these were ridiculously good and worth every calorie and gram of fat.

Just try them. They’re worth it.

Here are some folks who have joined me in the ongoing and epic battle to control that stack of food magazines we all have:

Dawn of Doable and Delicious made Turkish Coffee Pudding from Bon Appétit and Gnocchi with Tomato, Onion and Pancetta from Gourmet.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Creamy Parmesan Polenta from Cook’s Illustrated.

Margaret of Tea and Scones made Crawfish and Chicken Étouffée from the Food Network magazine.

The Food Hunter made Veal Stew with Vegetables from La Cucina Italiana.

Wizzy of Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner & Punch made Cornmeal Rosemary Cake with Pine Nuts and Orange Glaze from The Best of Fine Cooking (Fall 2007).

Have a great week everyone!

Ciao!

This recipe is from Sunny Anderson of The Food Network. I saw a program where she prepared chicken wings three separate ways. I made the wings with the Spicy Butter Sauce. Delicious!

For Valentine’s Day, I made a really nice lunch for Mamma Cream Puff and Brother Cream Puff and instead of ending with a chocolate dessert, I ended with a coconut one.

I’d had my eye on this pretty little thing for awhile and decided to finally try it: Coconut Rice Puddings with Crispy Coconut.

Needless to say it was so yummy! The rice was creamy with just the right touch of coconut flavour. The best part of the recipe, though, was the crispy coconut topping. Luckily I made extra, which I ended up eating out-of-hand because it was so good.

This is my Magazine Mondays entry for this week. For those of you that are new to MM, it’s a very informal event that I like to host every Monday where I invite people to send along links from magazine recipes that they’ve tried. It’s a good way to tackle that food magazine pile that we all have lurking somewhere in our house!

Here’s who joined me for this week’s edition of MM:

Simone of Junglefrog Cooking made a gorgeous White Bean Salad with Bacon and Rocket from Issue 37 of Donna Hay.

Dawn from Doable and Delicious made Shrimp with Israeli Couscous from Gourmet. She also made Asparagus Cheese Tartines from the September 2009 issue of Food & Wine.

Nicole of Sweet Tooth made Chocolate Mudslides from a 2005 holiday issue of Martha Stewart Living.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Ghirardelli Ultimate Double-Chocolate Cookies from Rebook Magazine.

Saveur of The Taste Space made Spiced Yogurt Muffins from the November 2008 issue of Food & Wine.

Remember, just send me a link to any magazine recipe you post and I’ll link to it in my next MM post! Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

And Magazine Mondays is back!

I missed last week’s edition and I have a lot of entries this week so I’m anxious to get at it!

But before I do, I want to share my own entry for MM: Eggplant Dip … or spread … depending on how you look at it!

We had the family over on Sunday to eat a huge meal and also watch the Superbowl. I know next-to-nothing about American football but I must admit I did get caught up in the excitement of the game towards the end. I love an underdog as much as the next person and was happy to see the New Orleans Saints win. Hope they’re enjoying lots of beignets on Bourbon Street today!

As the family made their way over, I prepared numerous appetizers to quell the hunger until the real meal began and one of them was this delicious eggplant dip. Although if you wanted to call it a spread you wouldn’t be wrong.

While the recipe didn’t come from a magazine, I’d had my eye on it and decided to finally try it. The verdict: TOUCHDOWN! It was delicious and lovely spread over some crusty bread. And it was easy to make. Hope you give it a try!

In the meantime, here’s who’s joining me in blitzing that magazine pile (did you pick up on the football reference there … didya’???!!!!):

Abby of Confabulation in the Kitchen made Apricot Chicken from Everyday Food.

Tia of Buttercream Barbie made Orange Sour Cream Cake from Canadian Living and Wholesome Fruit Muffins from a January 2006 issue of Cooking Light.

Janie of Panini Girl made Sweet Cheese Puffs from Bon Appétit.

Angela of Spinach Tiger made Savory Leek and Carrot Tart from La Cucina Italiana.

Tamy of Always Eat on the Good China made Creamy French Onion Artichoke Dip.

Poppyseed of Poppyseeds and Tiger Lilies made Creamy Mushroom Soup from Cook’s Illustrated.

Dawn from Doable and Delicious made Butternut Squash Galette from the February 2009 issue of Gourmet.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Sausage and Ravioli Lasagna from the January 2010 issue of Southern Living.

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Energy Balls from Save-on Foods.

Sarah of A Taste of Savoie made Red Pepper Pilaf from Country Living.

Patricia of Brownies for Dinner made Bourbon Glazed Wings from the February 2010 issue of Bon Appétit.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Eggplant Dip
Based on this recipe.

Note: This recipe will yield about a cup to a cup-and-a-half of spread, depending on big your eggplant is. I like to make this the day before and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight to really let the flavours develop. Serve with crusty bread.

1 large eggplant
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
3 teaspoons of wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp. dried oregano
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

If you have a gas grill, preheat your grill, or preheat the broiler on your oven.

Prick the eggplant all over to allow for steam to escape.

Place the eggplant on the grill or under the broil and cook until the eggplant is scorched all over and soft inside (test by pricking with a fork or knife). This should take about 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove the eggplant from the heat and let it cool down so that you can handle it.

Scoop the filling into a bowl and mash with a fork.

Add half the olive and the red wine vinegar and mix very well.

Add the remainder of the olive oil and the lemon juice and mix thoroughly.

Add the garlic, the oregano and the salt and pepper to taste.

Refrigerate utnil ready to serve.

Enjoy!

For the first time in Magazine Mondays history, I got nothin’ for ya! The cupcakes pictured above are actually a variation on a recipe that I presented in an older MM post.

It’s been pretty busy since the new year and I haven’t had a lot of time to hit that magazine pile.

Happily, though, I’ve had so many entries for MM that I didn’t want to skip a week. All those people who’ve won a victory in the war against out-of-control magazine stacks deserve their moment in the sun. Here are all the MM champs:

Nova of Raining Potatoes made Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cheesecake Swirl Brownies from the January 2009 issue of Bon Appétit.

Tina from Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made French Chicken from Cook’s Illustrated.

Poppyseed of Poppyseeds and Tiger Lilies made Italian Pasta and Bean Soup from the Winter 2008 special issue of Cook’s Illustrated (Soups and Stews).

Nicole from Sweet Tooth made Cream Cheese Cookies from a 2005 holiday issue of Martha Stewart Living.

Sarah of A Taste of Savoie from Smoked Mackerel Rillettes from Homes and Gardens.

Dawn of Doable and Delicious made Peppered Beef Stroganoff from the January 2008 issue of Bon Appétit.

Have a fabulous week, everyone!

Ciao!

In October, Mama Cream Puff and I bought a bushel of the most beautiful Jonagold apples we’d seen in a long time. Locally grown, their gorgeous colour was enough to tempt us, nevermind how delicious they were!

For the first month or so we ate so many out of hand that I didn’t give much thought to baking with the apples. We’re down to the final apples and while they’re still delicious, they’re not quite as firm and crisp as they were in the fall.

This was a signal to me that it was time to bake with the apples. We’ve enjoyed quite a few of them baked simply with a bit of butter and cinnamon, but last week I had the urge for apple pie and remembered a recipe that I’d bookmared in an old copy of Cook’s Illustrated. It’s from a special issue published in the fall of 2007. The recipe is for Free-Form Apple Tartlets (you can find the recipe on the Cook’s Illustrated site, unfortunately, you have to pay for it).

The crust for the tartlets was made with butter and cream cheese which makes for a tender pastry. But to be honest, while the tartlets were very good when they first came out of the oven, I found that the tartlet dough softened quickly and lost that lovely flakiness that all-butter doughs or butter and shortening doughs are better at maintaining.

The filling, on the other hand, was delicious. The magazine recipe called for Granny Smith apples but I put our Jonagolds to good use instead.

I think it just proves that delicious apples make delicious pie filling. End of story. While I wasn’t thrilled with the end result, the tartlets were still pretty good. Next time, though, I’ll use my usual pie crust dough.

This is my entry for Magazine Mondays and I’m happy to say I have quite a few other bloggers who joined me this week in keeping that magazine pile in order! Here’s who joined me:

Dawn from Doable and Delicious made Sauteed Mushrooms with Lemon Cream from Bon Appétit.

Bonita of Bon Eats made Broccoli Bisque from Food & Drink.

Janie of Panini Girl made a Lemon Crostata from Gourmet.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Beef Stew from Cook’s Illustrated.

Rebecca from A North London Kitchen made Marmalade and Ginger Cream Sandwich Cookies from Sainsbury’s.

Sarah of A Taste of Savoie made Churros and Hot Chocolate from Homes and Gardens.

Jeanna of Whispering Pines Bed & Breakfast made Hearty Chipotle Chicken Soup from Taste of Home and Healthy Cooking.

Poppyseed of Poppyseeds and Tiger Lilies made Porcini and Spinach Risotto from Olive.

Tia from Buttercream Barbie made Zuccini Bread from Canadian Living and Multi-Grain Bread with Sesame, Flax and Poppyseeds from Bon Appétit.

Have a fabulous week, everyone!

Ciao!

Apple Filling for Tartlets or Pie

Note: This makes enough filling for 6 tartlets or one 9-inch pie.

6 Jonagold apples, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch slices.
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
pie crust of your choice

Combine the sliced apples, the lemon juice, the sugar and the cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl. Let sit while you roll out your pie crust. Bake pie (or tartlets) according to crust directions.

Enjoy!

I would have to say that pizza is in my top three favourite foods. Rare is the time when I have uttered, much less thought, the words “Don’t really feel like pizza right now.”

And it’s unlikely that you’ll be hearing me say that anytime soon. In fact, probably never.

I don’t know if it’s a beautifully blistered, thin crust, the tangy sweetness of simple tomato sauce, the creamy texture of mozzarella or the beauty of a basil leaf laid gently atop a just-cooked pie, but pizza is a thing of beauty to me. (In case you’re wondering, in Toronto, as far as I’m concerned, this is the only place to go for really really really good and worthy pizza.)

I think what I like most about pizza, though, is that you can make excellent pizza at home rather easily and for very little money.

Prior to Christmas, I treated myself to a copy of Jim Lahey’s stunning cookbook My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method.

Over the weekend, I delved into the pizza section and made the Pizza Patate (Potato Pizza). I had intended to save the pizza for a write-up about the book (will definitely still do one) but then I realized that there was an on-line source for the recipe, albeit a slightly different version.

You can find the recipe here but just note that it’s not the exact same recipe as the one found in his book.

This is a slightly unusual entry for me for Magazine Mondays as it’s technically not a recipe I found in a magazine, but hey, I’m the creator of MM so I get to do what I want!

I hope this will be a bigger and better year for Magazine Mondays. I have a lot of plans for the “non-event” and hopefully I can see them through. Mostly I hope to stick to one of my resolutions for 2010 which is to purchase fewer magazines and instead focus on cooking from the ones I already own.

Here’s hoping!

And here’s who joined me for the first edition of MM for 2010:

Tia of Buttercream Barbie made an Apricot Orange Coffee Cake from Cook’s Country and Hawaiian & Mushroom Pizza.

Janie of Panini Girl made Mediterranean Rice-Stuffed Escarole from Gourmet.

Tamy of 3 Sides of Crazy made Sour Cream Dutch Apple Pie.

Poppyseed of Poppyseed and Tiger Lilies made Hazelnut and Currant Baked Apples with Sticky Marsala Sauce from Issue 38 of Donna Hay.

Chaya of Sweet and Savory Says it All made Honey Ginger Chicken with Peppers from Food Everyday.

Have a fabulous week, everyone!

Ciao!

I can’t believe we’ve arrived at the last Magazine Mondays entry for 2009! Where did the time go?

I have to thank everyone that has participated in Magazine Mondays over the past year. It’s been a lot of fun and I’m happy to say my magazine pile has gotten (marginally) smaller over the past year. Hope the same goes for you!

While I didn’t do a huge amount of baking this holiday season, I baked a few of my old standbys and I did manage to try one or two new recipes including these lovely Linzer Cookies from the December 2002 issue of Food & Wine.

I switched the recipe up a bit by using a raspberry jam for the filling rather than making my own as the recipe instructs (although I would like to try that one day).

The cookies were pretty, festive and delicious.

This will be the last Magazine Mondays entry for 2009 and the first one for 2010 will not happen until January 11 as I’ll be on vacation for the first week of January.

I hope you’ll join me for an edition of MM at some point in the new year!

Here’s who joined me this week:

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Apple Raisin Bars from an old issue of Family Circle.

Carrie of Deliciously Organic made Chocolate Caramel Bars from Martha Stewart Living.

Jennifer of Daydreams of Baking made Chocolate Nut Cookies from Women’s Day.

Poppyseed of Poppyseeds and Tiger Lilies made Chicken Kiev from Gourmet.

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle from Gourmet.

Have a wonderful last week of 2009, everyone!

Ciao!

I’ve missed Magazine Mondays the past few weeks for various reasons, but I wanted to make sure that I got this one in because I have a lot of MM posts to share with you. It seems everyone is really getting into the MM spirit.

I find that during holiday season, everyone is always looking for that perfect “special” dessert or sweet recipe to impress people. I love trying recipes at this time of year that I wouldn’t make normally.

In that spirit, allow me to introduce you to the Rich Chocolate and Chestnut Torte (Torta Morbida di Castagne e Cioccolato) from the December 2008 issue of La Cucina Italiana.

Please don’t be put off by the awful picture above. I was trying to shoot a decent pic in very low light with my very old point-and-shoot. Not the best results.

Please take my word for it. This is one of the very best cakes I’ve ever made.

It’s an almost flourless chocolate cake that is both dense and almost-creamy in consistency. It’s a very simple cake (very few ingredients), but it’s elevated to another level with the addition of chestnuts that have been steeped in a sugar-vanilla syrup. It’s like instantly, the cake is transformed into something even more beautiful than just a delicious chocolate cake.

If you really want to dazzle, try using chestnut flour in the cake instead of all-purpose flour. The results may have you eating the cake all by yourself.

Yes. It’s possible.

There’s still plenty of time before the holiday season to make this cake so I really hope you give it a try!

As usual, I’m joined by lots of wonderful people who have looked at their magazine pile and decided to tame it:

Deb of Taste of Sweet made succulent Spiced Rubbed Pork Chops with Sweet Potato Wedges and Green Beans from Cooking Light.

Margaret of Tea and Scones has gotten into the holiday spirit with a Cranberry Eggnog Braid from a 1990 issue of Taste of Home magazine.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Chicken Parmesan from a 2006 issue of Reader’s Digest.

Janie of Panini Girl made a luscious Pork Shoulder Roast with Figs, Garlic and Pinot Noir from the December 2009 issue of Sunset.

My very sweet Liliana of My Cookbook Addiction made Doughnut Muffins and Chocolate Layer Cake from Fine Cooking.

Poppyseed of Poppyseeds and Tiger Lilies made clotted cream; fresh ricotta cheese; Ricotta, Pancetta and Pumpkin Bake all from Issue 35 of Donna Hay magazine.

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made seriously yummy Two-Tone Chocolate ShortBread from a magazine insert in an issue of … you guessed it … Canadian Living!

Remember, the most important rule of Magazine Mondays is that there is no rule. If you ever post a magazine recipe (doesn’t matter what day of the week), send me the link.

Have a great rest of the week, everyone!

Ciao!

Obviously, December is all about the holidays.

But in the Cream Puff household, it’s also about breakfast.

Because we all tend to be off from work for a good part of the month (I take holidays and my brother is home since the factory usually closes for two weeks), it means lots of lazy mornings where we can all indulge in some long and slow breakfasts.

The stars of the show are usually pancakes, waffles or french toast. If it’s up to me, it would pancakes almost every time.

Much like chocolate chip cookies and granola, as far as I’m concerned, there’s no such thing as the “best recipe ever”. There’s always another recipe on the horizon waiting to be tried.

This time around it’s a recipe for Classic Buttermilk Pancakes from Issue 102 of Fine Cooking.

Wow. These were good.

I have a few other buttermilk pancake recipes, which are also very good, but these somehow were just a bit fluffier. I followed the instructions precisely, especially the part about letting the batter rest for a bit. I think this is absolutely key when making pancakes or waffles. Letting the batter rest allows it to thicken as the flour absorbs the liquid and swells. This gives you a pancake that rises more and that is far more fluffy and light.

So I’m going to stop now because my mouth is watering and there’s no way that I can make pancakes right now.

I ate them all up with lots of maple syrup and salted butter.

As always, I’m joined by a few people who have decided to attack that magazine pile. That’s what Magazine Mondays is all about!

Here’s who joined me this week:

Candy Girl made a Tangerine Beef with Scallions from the November 2009 issue of Food Network Magazine.

Di from Di’s Kitchen Notebook used a recipe for Streusel-Topped Chocolate-Cranberry Bread from the December 2009 issue of Bon Appétit as inspiration for a danish braid.

Poppy of Poppyseeds and Tiger Lilies made Chicken & Fontina Quesadillas from a 2008 issue of Food & Wine.

Janie of Panini Girl made Peanut Butter Thumbprint Cookies from the December issue of Sunset magazine.

And with something a little different, Wandering Coyote of ReTorte features her lastest article in Bread & Molasses magazine complete with Cheese Ball recipe!!!

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Is it Monday again, already?!

Yikes! It never fails that as the Christmas holidays begin to appear on the horizon, it seems that time flies by even more quickly than usual.

Since Christmas is cookie season as far as I’m concerned, I had to share these amazing cookies that I first made about two months ago. Since that time they have become absolute favourites. I haven’t met one person that can resist them.

For this week’s Magazine Mondays entry, I give you Salty-Sweet Butter Pecan Cookies from the King Arthur Baker’s Banter blog.

Oh, sweetness! These cookies are unreal. Before baking them, you dip them in a mixture of sugar and salt. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times, used properly, salt makes such an incredible difference in baked goods. So many people don’t believe me but it’s so true. Every single person that tried these cookies would ask, “Why are these so addictive?” and I would answer, “It’s the sugar and salt”.

Salty-sweet. It’s the way to go!

I almost didn’t try these cookies because the recipe calls for vegetable shortening. Honestly, I can’t say I’m totally thrilled about the idea of using vegetable shortening in a cookie but I have to admit, they were delicious. I keep meaning to try them with all butter, but I haven’t done so yet.

I really can’t say enough good things about these cookies. Hope you’ll give them a try!

As you know, Magazine Mondays is all about kicking that pile of clipped recipes in the butt. And Christmas is the perfect time to finally try so many of those earmarked recipes. Get to it!

Here’s who joined me for this week’s edition of MM:

Wandering Coyote (who is on Canadian Living’s payroll … I’m convinced) made a Glazed Balsamic Chicken from a May 2004 issue of Canadian Living.

Margaret of Tea and Scones made a Pumpkin Pie Cake from an old issue of The Shreveport Times.

Poppyseed of Poppyseeds and Tiger Lilies made Creamy Mushroom and Almond Pasta from Issue 38 of Donna Hay magazine.

Andreas of Delta Kitchen made Sesame Spatzle.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

From about September to March, I could pretty much each potatoes every day.

In fact, I could probably eat them two or three times and day and be perfectly happy.

Spud, I adore you!

It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost a year since I first made this recipe, but that is in fact the case. On New Year’s Eve 2008, I made Pan-Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Pancetta from the December 2008 issue of Food & Wine.

While I didn’t photograph the dish that evening, they were clearly a hit from the beginning and have become one of our favourite ways to prepare potatoes. You can easily halve the recipe and you certainly don’t have to use fingerling potatoes. I often make the dish with Yukon Gold potatoes.

This is my Magazine Mondays submission. As you know, MM is all about getting into the kitchen and finally trying those magazine recipes that you’ve bookmarked. Here’s who’s joining me this week:

Lori of Making it My Own Way Blueberry Crumb Bars from Bon Appétit.

Jennifer of Daydreams of Baking made Macadamia Coconut Meltaways from the November 2009 issue of Women’s Day.

Tia of Buttercream Barbie made Cinnamon-Sugar Pastry Sticks using her favourite all-butter dough from September 2009 issue of Gourmet. Because I missed MM last week, Tia had a second submission which is Oatmeal Honey Bread, also from Gourmet.

Debbie of Taste of Sweet has been a busy girl! She made a Mozzarella Chicken Sandwich from Cooking Light, Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps from Cooking Light, and Bulgogi (Korean Beef BBQ) and Shank Kimchi from Cooking Light.

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made … yes … from Canadian Living … Chicken Noodle Soup.

Nina from Prêt à Gourmet made Cinnamon Rolls from Issue 31 of Fine Cooking.

Allison of Bake Your Heart Out made Pumpkin, Sage, and Browned-Butter Quick Bread from the November 2009 of Martha Stewart Living. She also made Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple-Marshmallow Cream from Bon Appétit.

Janie of Panini Girl made a Stuffed Squash from Gourmet.

Patricia from Brownies for Dinner made Brown Sugar Baked Sweet Potatoes and Acorn Squash from Gourmet.

Jamie of Life’s a Feast made Chocolate Meringue Coffee Cake from an old stack of magazine clippings.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Every year, in early October, we have a Thanksgiving potluck at work. I usually try to bring two dishes (surprisingly I tend not to bring dessert …). Because I organize the potluck, I try to wait until the very end to decide what to bring and I generally try to fill in any gaps in the menu.

This year, we were short on bread recipes so I decided I’d bring something that was appropriate for Thanksgiving … something that just oozed the fall and the harvest.

Enter the Bacon Cheddar Quick Bread with Dried Pears from the October 2008 issue of Bon Appétit.

The bread was so easy to make and was very good, however, I would recommend that you eat it warm from the oven and not the next day. I made it on Sunday for Monday’s potluck and while it was tasty, it would have been better warm with some butter.

As you know, Magazine Mondays is all about tackling that pile of clipped magazine recipes that you’ve got. Don’t look the other way. You know you have tonnes of recipes you haven’t tried yet. We all do! So get to it!

Here’s who joined me in liberating themselves from another magazine recipe:

Tamy of 3 Sides of Crazy joins us with a tempting Maple Chicken.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made a Spicy Chicken with Mushrooms dish from the November 2008 issue of Family Circle.

Mondo of Mondo’s Morsels (love this blog!) made a gorgeous Blueberry Lemon Cornmeal Cake from the September 2006 issue of Fine Cooking.

Janie of Panini Girl made a pretty Butternut Squash Soup with Sage from the November 2001 issue of Bon Appétit.

Our most loyal Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Chicken Sangria from the March 2009 issue of Gourmet.

Georgia of Oh Kitchen, What Won’t You Do? made a soul-satisfying Winter Lentil Soup from Real Simple magazine.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

It has been a jam-packed couple of weeks for the Cream Puff. Work has been incredibly busy and there’s been lots going on with family and friends between the Thanksgiving holiday and other events.

This is going to be a quick Magazine Mondays post but I definitely wanted to take the time to share with you a pasta dish that I made quite some time ago. I’d actually forgotten about these little beauties until recently, when I read a beautiful book that I’m looking forward to talking about very soon on this blog. You’re just going to have to wait for the details.

In the meantime, the pasta triangles you see above are my attempt at making pansotti, also often spelled as pansoti. I didn’t know what pansotti were until I saw a recipe for them in Issue 1 of Taste Italia magazine. They’re basically large ravioli stuffed with a filling of cheese and often bread soaked in milk. As far as I can tell, they’re not filled with meat.

I was happy to try them but I can’t say I was blown away by the recipe. It seemed like a lot of work to make the filling and I wasn’t happy with the pasta as it ended up being a bit on the touch side. Still, though, I’m hoping to try them again soon.

As you know, Magazine Mondays is an opportunity for everyone to dig into that magazine pile and try some new recipes. Here’s who’s joined me for this week’s edition:

Tia of Buttercream Barbie (cute name!) made a Marbled Mocha Cake from Gourmet magazine.

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made some gorgeous Lemon Ricotta Pancakes from Canadian Living magazine.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Chicken Club Stuffed Potatoes from Southern Living Magazine.

Erica from the charming Cooking for Seven made a New York Cheesecake from Martha Stewart Living.

Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies made Cranberry Nut Rolls from Bon Appétit.

Allison of LemonBasil brings us a beautiful triburte to Gourmet magazine.

Emily of Sandmuffin made a gorgeous Applesauce Cake.

Janie of Panini Girl made an Eggplant, Zucchini and Fennel Casserole from Taste of Italia.

Thanks to everyone that took part. Remember that Magazine Mondays is a very informal event. You can participate any time. All you have to do is send me the link to a post you’ve done about a magazine recipe.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

You can find the recipe for Pansoti with Walnut Sauce here.

So I know that summer is over in many parts of the world but for those of us that are beginning the long trek through fall and winter, it’s never too early to start planning ahead!

My Magazine Mondays submission for this week is actually a dish that I prepared before I left for vacation in August. It’s a trio of ice creams from the January 2009 issue of Gourmet magazine: Almond, Chocolate, and Pistachio Spumoni.

Spumoni is not a happy word for me because it reminds me of a flavour of ice cream that we’d buy when I was a kid from the local gelateria. It was a mix of strawberry, vanilla and chocolate ice cream and had candied fruit thrown into it. It was horrid so when I first saw the word “spumoni”, I was a bit put off but then when I actually saw the flavours and also saw that there was on candied fruit in the recipe, I bookmarked it.

Perhaps one day I will tell you about my hate-on for candied fruit. One day. Just not today.

To get myself in the mood for my vacation to Italy, I whipped up the three flavours of custard, froze them and brought them to work. They were a hit with my personal favourite being the Almond flavour. The hardest part of the recipe was making sure that I started it early enough so that I could freeze all three batches in my ice cream machine (they have to frozen separately, obviously).

Remember, Magazine Mondays, is my weekly round-up of a magazine recipe that I’ve bookmarked but haven’t gotten to yet. You’re free to participate in what I like to call this non-event. Just send me the link to a magazine recipe you’ve posted. And remember, you don’t have to post it on a Monday. It can be any day of the week.

This week, I’m joined by the following MMers who got around to trying some magazine recipes:

Patricia of Brownies for Dinner made a gorgeous Brown Butter Pound Cake from the October 2009 issue of Gourmet magazine.

Our regular contributor Tamy of 3 Sides of Crazy made Franks & Beans Cornbread Casserole.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Mushroom, Garlic and Gorgonzola Stuffed Bread from the Sept-Oct issue of Tallahassee magazine.

And our most loyal fan, Wandering Coyote of ReTorte, made Onion Bialys from Canadian Living.

Have a fabulous week, everyone!

Ciao!

Hello, blog! Hello, food world! I’ve missed you ever so much!

I had a spectacular vacation in Italy but now I am ready to get back to baking, blogging and all my cookbooks (it seems someone has come into my house and brought more cookbooks for me to look at … I hate it when that happens!).

Before I get into my first Magazine Mondays post in awhile, I’d like to thank Wandering Coyote of ReTorte who very graciously hosted MM for me for the past month. She’s a trooper!

I have loads of bookmarked magazine recipes to try and many of them are years old so it may seem a bit unfair that this week’s offering is a brand spanking new recipe from the October 2009 issue of Food & Wine. But sometimes, jumping the queue is acceptable and in this case it’s more than acceptable. I introduce you to the Nutella-Swirl Pound Cake. The recipe, while featured in the magazine, is actually from a book called Cake Keeper Cakes: 100 Simple Recipes for Extraordinary Bundt Cakes, Pound Cakes, Snacking Cakes and Other Good-To-The-Last-Crumb Treatsby Lauren Chattman.

People, I beg you, go buy a jar of Nutella and make this cake.

It’s a pound cake with Nutella layers and it’s … like … the best cake ever. Like. For real.

In the last week I’ve made it about five times and each time the cake disappears faster than I can slice it.

Go. Bake. This. Cake.

This week, the following dedicated MMers have reduced their magazine piles:

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made a Chocolate Walnut Tart from Tase of Home.

Margaret of Tea and Scones made Chicken Marsala from Woman’s World Magazine.

Remember, if you post a magazine recipe just send me an e-mail (creampuffsinvenice{@}gmail{dot}com) and I’ll link to it in my next MM post.

Have a wonderful Nutella-filled week, everyone!

Ciao!

Hey! It’s Magazine Mondays but starting this week, until September 14th, MM is being hosted by the gracious Wandering Coyote of ReTorte.

Check out her site for all the MM results and remember, if you want to participate, just send her a link to a magazine recipe that you’ve posted about. You can e-mail her at: wandering_coyoteATyahooDOTca.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Another Monday here already! It’s hard to believe that we’re almost midway through August. Just the other night I was out for a walk and noticed that night has begun to fall earlier.

Soon, the days will shorten even more and we’ll start thinking about pumpkins and frost again.

But that never depresses me. In fact it’s just the opposite. I love the Autumn and just the idea of it, around the corner, fills me with anticipation. It feels good to be anticipating something.

Not that I should complain in that department because in a little over a week I’m heading to Italy to visit my family for three weeks. I’m so excited that I’ve actually forced myself not to be excited. So much so that I’ve been downplaying my trip quite a bit. But now that it’s looming, I am genuinely anticipating seeing my family again and spending some time getting to know my roots again.

I will most definitely not be posting while I’m away. For those of you dedicated to participating in Magazine Mondays, have no fear. Wandering Coyote of ReTorte (the most dedicated Magazine Mondays follower!) has kindly agreed to host MM beginning on Monday August 17 all the way through Monday September 14. She’s a true MM enthusiast so if you post any magazine recipes, be sure to e-mail her at wandering_coyoteATyahooDOTca.

As for me, I leave you with this lovely bar/cookie as my last MM post for awhile. A few months ago I was looking for a recipe that called for almond paste as I had some hanging around that I wanted to use. Almond paste tends to harden quickly so it’s not something you want to keep for months and months. While searching Epicurious, I came across a recipe for Almond Bar Cookies that appeared in the December 2004 issue of Gourmet. I had all the ingredients so I gave them a go and was not disappointed.

These are so rich. They’re definitely decadent thanks to the buttery flavour and the sweetness imparted by the almond paste. If you’re an almond fan, though, you should give them a try. Just be sure to cut the bars into smallish squares as too big a square will be almost too much. That’s how rich they are!

Here are my fellow bloggers that have joined me for this week’s edition of MM:

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Pumpkin, Orange and Raisin Muffins from Canadian Living.

Janie of Panini Girl made Poblano Peppers Stuffed with Potatoes from Bon Appétit.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Remember, if you want to participate in Magazine Mondays between August 17th and September 14th, e-mail Wandering Coyote of ReTorte at wandering_coyoteATyahooDOTca .

I’d like to thank everyone for all of the wonderfully kind comments I received to my last post about how I’ve been experiencing a bit of a lull in the kitchen department recently.

Trust bloggers to always cheer you up!

As a way out of the doldrums, I’ve decided to keep things simple and to just go with what I want.

And at this time of year, I want berries!

An abundance of blueberries and strawberries at my weekly trip to the farmer’s market had me really inspired for the first time in a long time. I came home and as luck would have it, I had a loaf of brioche left from a recent trip to Rahier. Immediately, I remembered this recipe, which I’d bookmared in the May 2008 issue of Food & Wine.

This was so easy to make and so incredibly delicious. It restored a little bit more of my faith.

As you know, this is Magazine Mondays, which means I’m happy to share links from other bloggers who have tackled their magazine pile. Here’s the list of brave souls:

Allie of Zucchero Dolce made a Coffee Cheesecake with Nutella Swirl on a Brownie Base. Swoon!

Margaret of Tea and Scones was a busy bee as she made Watermelon Sorbet and Swedish Meatballs with Buttered Noodles from Martha Stewart Living. Wow! Last week she made Basic Yellow Butter Cupcakes also from Martha Stewart Living.

Tamy of 3 Sides of Crazy made Shredded Vegetable Chicken Egg Rolls with Blackberry Pineapple Dipping Sauce and Spicy Gingersnaps!

Janie of Panini Girl made Blueberry Corn Muffins from Country Living to celebrate summer.

Sharon of fiberdoodles is participating in her first Magazine Mondays with a Georgia Peach Barbecued Chicken recipe!

Thanks to everyone for sharing their magazine recipe adventures!

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

My Magazine Mondays submission is the luscious Berry-Brioche Bread Pudding from the May 2008 issue of Food & Wine.

Vegetarians, look away.

In several Magazine Mondays posts I’ve mentioned what a wonderful article that appeared in the March 2009 Food & Wine issue called “How to Cook Like you Own an Italian Villa“.

I’ve tried pretty much all the recipes from that article and loved them all. I would have to say that by far, the family favourite, is the Balsamic and Rosemary-Marinated Florentine Steak. One of Tuscany’s most famous “dishes” is the Bistecca alla Fiorentina.

In North America, steak is a way of life in some parts but I know that when I’ve been in Italy, there doesn’t seem to be the same focus on barbecuing meat (at least not among my family). However, I have had many people in Italy tell me that if I’m ever in Tuscany, I should take the time to try the authentic Bistecca alla Fiorentina. My understanding is that what makes this particular steak so special is the meat, which comes from the Chianina breed of cattle.

The first time that I tried the recipe I was a bit intimidated because I’ve never cooked a steak this large (three pounds). But I gamely made the trek to my butcher and lugged my three-pound porterhouse home. After marinating it overnight, we grilled it up and finished it in the oven.

Needless to say we were in carnivore heaven! I cannot recommend this recipe highly enough!

It being another edition of Magazine Mondays, I’m happy to be joined by the following people who tackled a recipe in their magazine pile:

Tamy of 3 Sides of Crazy made Watermelon Lemonade, Carrot Cheesecake with Cream Cheese Frosting and New Potatoes with Peas and Romaine Lettuce.

Margaret of Tea and Scones made Apple Blueberry Cake Cups for Two from Taste of Home.

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Sour Cream Ice Cream from Gourmet.

Elizabeth of Musings of The Waspy Redhead made Bulgur Salad from Cooking Light.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

I once wrote an ode to coconut on my blog because what’s not to love about coconut.

Unbelievably, for every person that I know who loves coconut, I know one more that hates it.

I don’t get it. How can you not love coconut?

I have a theory that much of the coconut-dislike relates to the dried or dessicated forms of coconut that you find in the baking section in most supermarkets. Sweetened shredded for sweetened flaked coconut can be a bit much, especially if it’s of poor quality.

I, however, have no such issues. I will eat coconut in pretty much any form in both sweet and savoury dishes.

When I saw the recipe for Vanilla-Bean Coconut Cupcakes with Coconut Frosting in the April 2009 issue of Bon Appétit, I was particularly intrigued because the recipe calls for reduced coconut milk, which is coconut milk that is cooked down until it’s thickened.

First of all, reduced coconut milk is now my new favourite thing. Secondly, the reduced coconut milk gives these cupcakes both a moistness and an extra boost of coconut flavour. I cannot recommend them highly enough!

As you know, this is my Magazine Mondays post. I don’t always go into the details but basically if you’ve posted a recipe on your blog from a magazine, send the link to me and I’ll include it in my next Magazine Mondays post.

This week I’m joined by Tamy of 3 Sides of Crazy who made Pineapple Cider Brine Pork Chops with Root Beer Pineapple Barbecue Sauce, Broccoli Green Almond Sauté and Strawblackberry Shortcake Topping.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Oh, people!

Get thee to Food & Wine and print thee a copy of this recipe now! (Don’t forget the Vanilla-Caramel Sauce and the Mocha Fudge Sauce).

This is a winner by every standard that I use to judge recipes. Delicious. Beautiful to look at. Easy.

The only warning I give you is that you should prepare yourselves for arguments and possibly violence, as people will fight over this incredible dessert.

If you can make your own dulce de leche ice cream, great. If not, just buy the best quality ice cream you can find (you can also make this with lots of other ice cream flavours like vanilla or coffee).

While the original recipe yields one pie, I made four individual tartlets, which limited the arguments (to a degree) since we all had our own tartlet. The only problem as that we then founds ourselves coveting our neighbours tartlets.

Ah, the glory of sin!

Here’s a look at who joined me for this week’s edition of Magazine Mondays:

Janie of Panini Girl made Grilled Turkey Burgers with Cheddar and Smoky Aioli from Bon Appétit and “Le Cake” Aux Olives et au Reblochon from Gourmet.

Tamy of The Krazy Kitchen made Chocolate Upside Down Cake.

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Herbed Focaccia from Canadian Living.

Margaret of Tea and Scones made Chicken Parmigiana from Taste of Home.

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Ciao!

My submission for this week’s Magazine Mondays is from the July 2005 edition of Food & Wine: Dulce de Leche Ice Cream Pie.

Magazine Mondays returns with a perfect recipe for this time of year. If you’re lucky enough to have fresh asparagus and peas available, I urge you to consider this pasta from the April 2009 issue ofFood & Wine: Penne with Asparagus, Sage and Peas.

Not much to say about the recipe beyond that it was delicious, easy and seasonal in every sense. I urge you to give it a try!

I have some MM submissions this week. Remember, if you post a magazine recipe, send me the link and I’ll add it to my next MM round-up. You don’t have to post your recipe on a Monday, you can post it any day of the week.

Andreas of Delta Kitchen made Asparagus Pasta from essen&trinken Für jeden Tag 06/09.

Biz from Biggest Diabetic Loser made Tofu Kebabs with Cilantro Sauce from Everday Food.

Alisa from One Frugal Foodie made a Scrumptious Sesame-Orange Salad Dressing from Cooking Light.

Di from Di’s Kitchen Notebook made Ginger-Spice Sandwich Cookies with Lemon Cream from Fine Cooking.

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Hamburger Buns from Gourmet.

Megan of Delicious Dishings made Pork Chops with Leeks in Mustard Sauce from Bon Appétit.

Tany of 3 Sides of Crazy made a Pineapple Casserole.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

A very quick post today, my friends.

I missed Magazine Mondays last week due to a furious schedule and things haven’t let up very much. Busy bee, as they say.

For my MM submission I give you Glittering Lemon Sandwich Cookies from the December 2008 issue of Gourmet.

These were okay. Not bad, but not great either. The filling is a bit on the too sweet side. While it was fun to use the sanding sugar (not so much fun to source the sanding sugar, though), in the end, I wouldn’t say this was a recipe worth making again. But I am glad I stood up to my magazine pile.

Somewhat.

Here’s a list of lots of wonderful foodbloggers who stared down their magazine piles:

Bobbi of Bobbi’s Art made Hamburger Buns and Buttermilk Raspberry Cake from Gourmet.

Elizabeth of The Waspy Redhead made Chocolate Stout Cake from Bon Appétit.

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made a Sour Cherry Buttermilk Loaf from Gourmet (different take on the recipe above).

Andreas of Delta Kitchen made Pasta with Coconut and Spinach (yum!) from essen&trinken Für jeden Tag 04/09.

The Tea Lady of Tea and Scones made Mexican Casserole from Cookin’ with Paula Deen.

Joy of The Cooking of Joy made Fresh Orange Sherbet from Cooking Light.

Biz from Biggest Diabet Loser made Wake-Up Wontons from Taste of Home Healthy Cooking.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

In early May, a coworker asked me if I’d be willing to make a birthday cake for her sweet, little daughter, who would be turning nine.

Of course I said yes.

I was particularly excited by this request because my coworker wanted a tiered cake. This represented a new baking frontier for me because I have never made a tiered cake before.

Initially I was a bit nervous because having not had any experience with tiered cakes, I was worried that if my coworker wanted something elaborate or complicated, that I wouldn’t be up to the task.

Thankfully, she wanted a three-tier cake comprised of one chocolate layer and two vanilla layers. She didn’t want any fillings in the cake nor did she want it to be elaborately decorated. Instead, she wanted something pretty but simple that would be appropriate for a little girl’s birthday party.

This calmed me somewhat and thanks to her confidence in me, I felt that I was up to the challenge.

For the cake layers, I used my trusty favourite chocolate cake recipe from The Cake Book and for the vanilla cake layers I used my trusty favourite vanilla cake recipe from More From Magnolia: Recipes from the World Famous Bakery and Allysa Torey’s Home Kitchen.

For the buttercream, however, I decided to finally try a recipe that I’d bookmarked from an issue of Gourmet magazine.

I’ve actually written about the particular cake in that article before. Last year, when I was hired to make a nut-free cake, I used the cake from the Gourmet article as visual inspiration. This time around, I thought I’d give the Vanilla Buttercream recipe from that article a try, as it seemed straightforward. Also, I needed a recipe that I could easily double and I felt comfortable doing so with the Gourmet recipe.

I have to say that May has been a great month in terms of my Magazine Mondays choices. I made some incredible cookies and some beautiful halibut and this week, on the last Monday in May, I’m happy to share my experience with what I now consider to be the best Vanilla Buttercream recipe that I’ve ever tried.

It was incredible! The buttercream is a perfect balance between that lovely butter taste and that lovely vanilla taste. Texture-wise, it was easily spread and looked very pretty on the finished cake. I had no troubles with the recipe as the instructions were clear and easily followed. The only difficulty I experienced was the constant struggle with my desire to stick my entire head in the mixing bowl and just eat the icing up.

I’m happy to share the recipe with you with the highest of recommendations.

I know that you’re supposed to be modest in life, that’s what Mamma and Papa Cream Puff always taught me, but I have to say that I was very proud of myself upon completion of this cake.

I don’t think a tiny bit of immodesty will hurt in this case.

Here’s a photo journal of my tiered cake adventure:

I applied crumb coats to each cake layer (a thin layer of icing that goes on the cake before a second, thicker layer is applied). Here’s the crumb coat on the chocolate layer.

When I unmolded my final cake layer from the baking pan, look what happened!

But I did not panic. All problems can be fixed. With some creative icing technique, I covered up the missing cake piece and you couldn’t even tell.

I made royal icing flowers in pink to decorate the bottom and top layers of the cake. Here I’m applying them to the bottom layer.

To add visual appeal to the cake, I covered the second layer in tiny pink buttercream polka dots.

Getting the third layer on was a bit tricky, but I was patient and it worked.

Here’s a view of the finished cake from the top.

In the end, the tiered cake was very successful. It served 40 people and it didn’t topple over or fall apart (although I did not experience the ordeal of transporting it as my coworker came and picked it up). While I can’t say that I’d want to make a lot of tiered cakes, it’s nice to get this first one under my belt.

As always, on a Magazine Monday, I have some links to share with you. Here are some other food bloggers who went toe to to with their magazine piles and won:

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Spicy Molasses Cookies from Canadian Living Magazine.

Mandi of Red Dirt Mummy made Zucchini and Rosemary Bread from Australian Table.

Joy of the Cooking of Joy made Sage and Apricot Shortbread Cookies from Better Homes and Gardens and Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream from Gourmet.

Emiglia of Tomato Kumato made Panko Pork Cutlets with Pineapple and Ginger Salsa from Bon Appétit.

Tamy of 3 Sides of Crazy made Pickled Eggs.

Biz from Bigges Diabetic Loser made Farro Saltato con Capesante, Gamberetti e Salsa di Zafferano from La Cucina.

Kyle from Thin Crust, Deep Dish made Fennel, Sunchoke and Apple Salad from Saveur.

Remember, if you have a magazine recipe that you’ve tried, send the link to me and I’ll post it in my next Magazine Mondays post.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Halibut and fava beans.

Two foods I don’t eat nearly enough of.

While fava beans, obviously, are not in season for long, whenever I do eat halibut I always ask myself: why don’t I eat this lovely fish more often?

The opportunity arose to enjoy both of these lovely foods when I saw a recipe in the April 2009 issue of Bon Appétit for Halibut on Mashed Fava Beans with Mint.

While I miscalculated slightly when buying the fava (I didn’t buy quite as much as I needed), this was a tremendously delicious dish. The halibut was light and smooth and the spicy fava bean mash was the perfect accompaniment.

Today is Victoria Day in Canada so it’s a national holiday. I’m off to enjoy the enjoy the day but before I go, here are some more entries from other foodbloggesr who have tackled that magazine pile!

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Beginners’ Bread from an old issue of Canadian Living.

Janie of Panini Girl made Fava Bean and Arugula Crosini from Gourmet.

Remember, if you have a magazine recipe that you’ve meaning to try, send me the link to your post and I’ll include in my Magazine Mondays round-up!

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Last week I mentioned in my Magazine Mondays post that the March 2008 Food & Wine issue had an excellent feature called “How to Cook Like You Own an Italian Villa”. I tried many of the recipes and loved them all. By far, however, the recipe for Jam-Filled Mezzaluna Cookies was my absolute favourite.

I try so many new recipes in a year, both from magazines and cookbooks. And I would say that in a year, there’s probably only a handful of times where I come across a recipe that becomes part of my recipe family.

And this recipe has now been officially adopted.

While they’re more than a cookie, these treats are buttery pieces of pastry heaven meant to enclose the jam of your choice.

They were incredible. I don’t know what else to say about them other than to say that when I bit into one, warm out of the oven, I just had this image of eating one of these lovely treats with a steaming espresso at the kitchen table in our little house in Italy.

It was love at first bite.

As with all Magazine Mondays, I’m always happy to share with you links to posts from other food bloggers who have squared off against their magazine piles. Here’s who made a dent:

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Roasted Garlic and Sundried Tomato Bread from Canadian Living.

My Jenny of All Things Edible made Brownies from The Brownie Project.

Janie of Panini Girl made Pea and Parmeson “Wanton” Ravioli from Gourmet magazine.

Tamy of 3 Sides of Crazy made Golden Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting.

Amy I. of Playing House made Vanilla Bean Shortbread from Cooking Light.

Andreas of Delta Kitchen made Asparagus Pizza.

Here’s a photo journal of the Jam-Filled Mezzaluna Cookies:

I had a lot of fun rolling out this very tender dough. I used a 4-inch tart ring to cut out the pastry circles.

I used some lovely cherry preserves to fill the cookies.

I very gently sealed the cookies.

I placed the cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet. I brushed them with egg wash and sprinkled on sugar. The recipe instructs that you sprinkle on sliced almonds but I omitted that step.

Ciao!

I didn’t know very much about Cinco de Mayo until my Aunt D and Uncle M moved to San Jose, California more than ten years ago. The holiday became a bit more significant to me because my Aunt D would often mention it in conversations.

When Uncle N and I visited my aunt in May 2005, I came across references to the celebration as I read up on Californian food culture.

A few weeks ago, I came across a recipe for Chipotle Shrimp Tostadas on the Food & Wine site (the recipe is from the September 2008 issue).

I made them for dinner on the eve of Cinco de Mayo as a nod to the holiday and also as a promise from me to me that I’m going to get back to California soon!

As I expected, they were delicious! I mean they were really really good. I scarfed mine down and enjoyed every bit of it. I don’t often cook foods from other cultures so I really enjoyed making these as well.

Happy Cinco de Mayo to those that celebrate the day!

Ciao!

The March 2008 issue of Food & Wine magazine is probably one of the best issues in a long time. I bookmarked numerous recipes, in particular a series of recipes in one of the issue’s features called “How to Cook Like You Own an Italian Villa.” For this edition of Magazine Mondays, I decided to share with you a recipe from that feature called Roasted Cipollini Onions with Sherry Vinegar.

Just one problem, the picture you see above does not feature cipollini onions. When I went to the grocery store, I actually found cipollini and was so excited but in my excitement, I ended up picking pearl onions, instead.

Pearl onions are small, round onions that are perfect for pickling, but can also be used in stews and casseroles. Cipollini, which are also quite small, tend to be flatter and yellower than pearl onions.

In the end, though, it wasn’t such a big deal and I went ahead with the recipe. I’m so glad that I did. These were easy and so delicious. In fact, in the month since I tried this recipe, these roasted onions have become one of our very favourite side dishes.

You can double and triple the recipe and then store the reserves in a jar in the fridge with some added vinegar and they’ll keep for up to a week. We like them warm, but they’re also very good cold in sandwiches. I hope you give them a try.

Once again, there a number of people out there who have been diligently attacking those pesky magazine piles. Here are some fellow Magazine Mondayers:

Georgia of Oh Kitchen, What Won’t You Do? made Curried Eggplant with Tomatoes and Basil from Real Simple.

Elizabeth of thewaspyredhead.com made a Strawberry Layer Cake from Cooking Light and a Couscous Salad from Bon Appétit.

Biz of Biggest Diabetic Loser made the Beer-Battered Onion Rings from Cooks Country.

Debbie of Taste of Sweetness … made Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp from Cooking Light.

Cathy at Noble Pig made some incredible Individual Grape and Vin Santo Cakes from Gourmet.

Alisa of One Frugal Foodie made a Simply Scrumptious Cinnamon-Apple Sauté from Natural Health Magazine.

Tamy of 3 Sides of Crazy made Delicious Fried Chicken.

Mandi of Red Dirt Mummy made a Lamb and Pasta Bake from Good Taste.

Sweet Christie and Ian of Coco Bean have sent along a Mashed Potato Gratin with Caramelized Onions an issue of the LCBO magazine.

Jen of Baking and Dogs made my favourite … Pancakes!

My apologies to Katerina of Culinary Flavors … I somehow missed this entry! It’s a gorgeous Bougatsa with Cream.

One last note before I wish you a great week, people are always asking me about where to get great recipes (besides cookbooks) and of course I’m always happy to help. Your best resource is the Internet and individual magazine sites. I’m sure you all know the usual suspects but one particular site that I’m a big fan of is the Better Homes and Gardens site, which has a very thorough and extensive recipe section. And of course, since you know I loooooooooove my dessert, I have to take a moment to point out their dessert section, which not only includes recipes, but also some very helpful baking tips and hints.

Please remember that if you post a magazine recipe, send me the link and I’ll put it up in my next Magazine Mondays post. You can post any day of the week … it doesn’t have to be a Monday!

And that’s that, my friends. Have a wonderful week!

Ciao!

I’m back with one of my favourite Magazine Mondays post in a long time.

This recipe hasn’t been bookmarked for very long. I was sitting on the subway a few weeks ago, on the ride home, trying not to nod off. I pulled out the April 2009 issue of Bon Appétit and on page 23, saw a recipe for Strawberry-Rhubarb Tarts with Crème Fraîche Sorbet. I immediately knew I had to try the recipe for two reasons: 1) I still had a package of frozen strawberries and rhubarb from last summer in the freezer and 2) I was recently looking through David Lebovitz’s Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments
and had my eye on a recipe for Crème Fraîche Ice Cream. That same night I was happily rolling out tart crusts and making the custard base for the ice cream.

I have a thing for strawberry and rhubarb. I’m always looking for the perfect strawberry-rhubarb tart recipe and I think I may have found it. These were delicious and the tangy ice cream was the perfect complement.

A bit of bad news though … I can’t seem to find the recipe for the tarts on-line! It’s on p. 23 of the magazine but it’s not on-line yet. And even worse … I don’t know what I did with the magazine!!! I’ll keep looking for the recipe on-line and link to it if it shows up.

While this wasn’t by any means one of the oldest magazine recipes lingering in my pile, I’m sure glad I tried it! Fingers crossed that I can find that recipe.

Here are all the people that joined me in making a dent in their magazine piles:

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Ricotta Cookies.

Tamy of 3sidesofcrazy made Glazed Green Beans.

Emiglia of Tomato Kumato made Spring Peas, Two Ways.

Mandi of Red Dirty Mummy made Currant and Hazelnut Baked Apples.

Elizabeth of The Waspy Redhead came in with two posts this week: Lemon Ginger Mini Cheesecakes and a Spinach and Leek Rolled Omelet.

Simone of Junglefrog Cooking made Ricotta and White Bean Salad.

Saliha of Hayat Binbircesni made Crackle Cookies!

Debbie of Taste of Sweetness made some incredible Gnocchi with Wild Mushroom and Sage Ragu.

Janie of Panini Girl made an Italian Chicken Salad.

Georgia of Oh Kitchen, What Won’t You Do? made a Chipotle Chicken Sandwich.

Joy from The Cooking of Joy made Coconut Lime Cakelets.

Nurit of 1 family. friendly. food. made Peas and Tarragon Soup. Gorgeous!

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

I’m back with a Magazine Mondays post!

For me, muffin recipes are a lot like banana bread or pancake recipes, I could try a thousand of them, constantly in search of the perfect one.

I have a general muffin recipe that I’m pretty happy with but I thought I’d give the chocolate chip muffin recipe that I found in a special issue of Fine Cooking a try. The Winter 2006 issue was one dedicated entirely to Chocolate. I bookmarked it awhile back and I happened to have a surplus of chocolate chips on hand so I baked up a batch. I looked for the recipe on-line but couldn’t find it so I’ve reproduced it here.

These are definitely mall chocolate chip muffins. They bake up huge with satisfyingly full tops. They were moist and very good, although if I made them again, I would omit the pecans (I like my chocolate chip muffins to be all about the chocolate chips). I’d also omit the glaze as I found it made the muffins too sweet. Overall, though, it was a good recipe and I’m glad I tried it.

I am so thrilled each week to see how many of you are tackling those magazine piles cluttering your homes. Job well done! Here are all the people that join me this week in conquering magazine piles everywhere:

Jen of the adorable Baking and Dogs brings us a very seasonal and timely recipe for Chocolate Cherry Hot Cross Buns.

Andreas of Delta Kitchen brings us some Rublikuchen, otherwise known as Carrot Cake. Otherwise known as yummy!

My Ottawa best friend Jenny, of All Things Edible, has promised to make breakfast for all of us and she’s serving Oatmeal-Raspberry Pancakes. I’ll bring the maple syrup!

For lunch we’re going to have the Beef and Green Bean Stir Fry that Jenny mde a few weeks ago and that I forgot to post … oopsie!

Tamy of 3 Sides of Crazy (love that name) brings us some Orange Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. I always have time for cookies! She also brings us some Carrots, Apricots and Baked Beets!

Christie and Ian of Coco Bean made a Smoked Salmon, Dill, Goat Cheese and Artichoke Quiche that has my mouth watering!

The warm Claudia of the sweet blog Cover Girls outdid herself (and all of us) with three magazine recipes: Lamb and Eggplant Shepherd’s Pie, Caramel Apple Crisp and Baked Brie with Sauteed Mushrooms.

Biz of the blog Biggest Diabetic Loser embraced Clean Eating magazine and made a delicious Mac N Cheese.

A regular contributor, Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies, brings the bundt cake back with a Cardamom Vanilla Bundt Cake with Lime Glaze.

Natashya, in a very timely move thanks to the Easter holiday, also made Lemon Current Hot Cross Buns.

Not only is Cathy’s blog, Noble Pig, noble, but so is Cathy. I. Love. Her. And I love the Roasted Salmon with a Lemon-Herb Matzo Crust that she made.

My sweet Janie from Panini Girl took a bite out of her magazine pile with two recipes this week: Chicken and Leek Pie and a gorgeous Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin.

Mandi of Red Dirt Mummy made a gorgeous Zucchini Cake … I can’t wait for zucchini to be in season again!

ReTorte of Wandering Coyote made Monte Cubano that I’d love to climb!

Claudia of Journey of an Italian Cook made Chicken with Penne and Rosemary. I’ll just go get my fork!

Saliha of the blog Hayat Binbercesni makes some adorable mini pizzas and banana pudding!

Last but not least, I got a lovely e-mail from a woman named Vicki B. who mentioned that she did not have a blog but she did have a huge magazine pile that she wanted to tackle. She asked if she could participate and I said of course. Vicki made a batch of Oatmeal Scones from the Cook’s Illustrated Holiday 2007 issue. Thanks, Vicki!

Thank you to everyone that took part in this week’s edition of Magazine Mondays! For more details on this non-event, just click the link in my sidebar. And remember, anytime you post a mgazine recipe, just let me know!

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Chocolate Chip Muffins
Winter 2006 issue of Fine Cooking dedicated to Chocolate.

Note: This recipe yields 12 large muffins. They freeze well as long as they’re wrapped in plastic. The original recipe calls for 3/4 cup of coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts but I omitted those here because I think the muffins are best without the nuts. While I included the recipe for the glaze, I recommend the muffins without it.

3-1/2 cups all purpose flour (use unbleached if you have it)
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1-1/3 cups granulated sugar
10 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup whole milk, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups chocolate chips

For the glaze (optional):

3 cups icing sugar
6 tbsp. water
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and place a rack in the centre of the oven. Lightly oil the top of a 12-cup muffin tin or spray with cooking spray. Line with muffin cups (it’s best to use grease-proof ones if you can find them).

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a bowl, whisk together the butter, whole milk, sour cream, eggs, egg yolk and vanilla exctract.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently combine using a rubber spatula. Mix only until the dry ingredients are moistened. Don’t overmix or your muffins will be too dense. Don’t worry if the batter seems lumpy or if there are still some flour streaks.

Add the chocolate chips and fold in quickly, again being careful not to overmix.

Distribute the batter among the muffin cups. Mound the better up in the centre of each cup. It will rise above the rim of the muffin cup by as much as an inch. Don’t worry. These are big muffins!

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. The muffins will be golden and will spring back when pressed lightly. As an extra test, insert a toothpick into the centre of a muffin. If it comes out clean, the muffins are ready.

Remove the muffin tin to a rack and let cool for 15 minutes. With a knife, separate the muffins evenly and then gently lift them out of the tins. Let them continue cooling on the rack.

If you want to glaze them, make the glaze and pour over the muffins. If not, enjoy them as they are!

Do you know what torrone is?

Torrone is the Italian name for a candy confection that we would refer to in English as nougat. It’s a chewy sweet that is most commonly enjoyed at Christmas time. Growing up, our holiday cookie trays always had pieces of torrone added to them both for decoration and for enjoyment.

Many people make torrone at home, but for the most part, I dislike those versions of torrone because they almost all feature marshmellows as the main ingredient.

Real torrone is usually made with honey, sugar, egg whites and other additions, most commonly almonds. But you can find all sorts of variations that include chocolate, different nuts, candied fruits and spices.

Most people that make it at home melt marshmellows to recreate the nougat consistency and then simply add in the nuts. I’ve always found these homemade versions of torrone to be sickly sweet and worse, if the marshmellows are old or if the torrone hangs around a bit too long, it’s far too difficult to chew.

As a torrone lover, I’m lucky that we’re able to find some of the very best brands in various Italian supermarkets in and around Toronto. But I am also most happy to tell you that thanks to the 2007 December issue of Gourmet, you can now make real Pistachio Torrone at home.

I bookmarked this recipe more than a year ago and finally got around to trying it this past Christmas. I was going through some pictures on my computer the other day and realized that I’d never posted about this recipe and I certainly didn’t want to wait for next Christmas.

I’m not going to lie to you. Making nougat is a bit tricky, mostly because it involves adding a hot sugar syrup to well beaten egg whites. If you’ve ever made a swiss meringue or certain types of buttercream you’ll know that this can be the beginning of an unpleasant situation involving hardened sugar, much cursing and lots of scraping.

But if you take your time and follow the steps carefully, you’ll end up with a lovely mellow nougat that’s beautiful to look at (pistachios make everything pretty) and fragrant (rosewater is officially my ingredient of 2009).

Another friendly tip: making torrone at home means buying rice paper, which is an edible paper often used in baking. I’m able to find rice paper at my local bulk food store but if you can’t locate it, try your nearest cake supply store or on-line cake supply source.

In other news, I’m happy to see that Magazine Mondays is really taking off! Remember, anyone can take part. All you have to do is send me a link to a magazine recipe that you’ve posted about. It doesn’t matter what day of the week you post your recipe, I always do the round-up on Mondays!

Here are all the people that have made a dent in their magazine pile this week:

Janie of Panini Girl had me drooling with a Sausage Stuffed Rack of Pork!

Jen of Baking and Dogs made some adorable Flourless Honey Almond Cakes.

Cathy of the blog Noble Pig (I love it … love it … love it) made it all easier for the rest of us by preparing The Lazy Cook’s Baklava.

I missed posting Wandering Coyote’s entry last week so here it is: Tilapia with Soy Sauce and Pineapple Scallion Rice.

Joy of The Cooking of Joy made some health Wok-Fried Edamame with Garlic.

Mandy from Australia (I love saying that …) and the blog Red Dirty Mummy sends along a Date Loaf that looks scrumptious!

Thanks to everyone that took part! Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

I missed my Magazine Mondays post last week but couldn’t miss this week because I’ve received so many amazing contributions! I’m really happy to see this event taking off. Sharp-eyed readers will notice that the MM logo has been added to my sidebar. It still needs a little work but I’m getting there. By clicking the link, you get to a page that explains the history of MM and the requirements to take part.

For my own submission, I chose to feature one part of one of my very favourite recipes from the February 1990 issue of Gourmet: Chili Con Carne with Chili Cheddar Shortcakes.

This is THE chili recipe in my family. But more importantly, the Chili Cheddar Shortcakes are not-to-be-missed. While I don’t always make the shortcakes when I make the chili, there’s no question that the shortcakes make the chili taste that much better.

There’s not much to the recipe. You can make them in about 20 minutes and enjoy them with soup, stew and braises or just on their own with lots of salted butter. But they really are best with the chili.

And finally, here are the submission for this week’s Magazine Mondays:

Joy from the aptly named The Cooking of Joy made my mouth water with French Red Onion Soup.

Tamy from 3 Sides of Crazy (that’s an awesome blog name!) made Baked Caramel Pears and some really cool Tomato Spaghetti cups.

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made a comforting Butterscotch Pudding.

Nurit of 1 Family. Friendly. Food. makes a lovely Butternut Squash Galette.

My sweet Jenny of All Things Edible made a Grilled-Fennel Couscous.

Lori of Lori’s Lipsmacking Goodness makes a lipsmacking Shrimp and White Bean Cassoulet.

Remember, if you’ve posted about a magazine recipe, send me the link and I’ll publish it in my next MM post.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

This isn’t going to be a very lengthy Magazine Mondays post as the Cream Puff is tuckered out! Work is nutty again and I’m beginning to feel like I’m bouncing straight from my bed to my desk and back.

For today’s MM submission, I give you the glorious brussels sprout. I didn’t grow up eating brussels sprouts, in fact I probably tasted them for the first time about ten years ago. But I was hooked as soon as I tried them and simply don’t understand why they’re not the preferred vegetable of more people.

Last year, a good friend invited me over for dinner and one of the dishes she served was Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Lemon and Pistachios from the February 2008 issue of Bon Appétit.

I took one bite of those luscious brussels sprouts leaves drenched in lemon with all these lovely bright pistachios amongst them and I was hooked! Not only is this a fast option for dinner, but it’s delicious with a capital D to the E to the L to the I to the C to the I to the O to the U to the S!

I strongly urge you to try this dish. The Cream Puff has spoken.

As always, I’m joined by a number of other bloggers who have looked at their magazine pile and challenged it to slim down:

My dear Wandering Coyote of ReTorte is sending us Paprika Roast Chicken with Sweet Onion from the February 2009 issue of Gourmet magazine.

Angela at A Spoonful of Sugar has prepared burgers and fries that would rival any diner’s. The recipe is from Irresistible magazine.

Mandi of Red Dirt Mummy participates in her first Magazine Mondays with Baked Chicken Cannelloni from the August 2008 issue of Australian Table.

My sweet Jenny of All Things Edible made some yummy Cinnamon Buns from the February 2007 issue of Fine Cooking.

The lovely Joanne of Frutto della Passione (whom I missed seeing when she was in Toronto) made Fritole Ricche in honour of Carnevale.

So there you have it! Look how many magazines were cleared out in the name of Magazine Mondays! Remember, you don’t have to post your recipe on a Monday to participate. But if you have posted a magazine recipe, just send me the link and I’ll post it!

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Ciao!

I will never forget the first time that I saw a container of Marshmallow Fluff in a grocery store! I was taken aback with mixture of fascination, excitement and disbelief with a little revulsion thrown in. So this is the stuff that goes in Twinkies!!! Now I’ve eaten my fair share of Twinkies over the years but I have to be honest, I’m always mildly horrified by what’s in them. Not that it stops me from eating them, mind you.

We all have our vices, I suppose.

Something made me buy a container of that Fluff stuff so it was only a matter of time before I used it. That happened to be a few weeks ago when I was perusing my magazine pile and came across a recipe that I’d bookmarked from the November 2002 issue of Food & Wine for Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Filling.

The recipe turned out very well although some of my cupcakes didn’t have a lot of filling as I was afraid that I might actually burst my cupcakes by overfilling them. Overall, though, they were yummy and should I ever be in possession of another container of Marshmallow Fluff I’d try these again.

This is, of course, my Magazine Mondays entry. Here are some other entries for the week from people who have tackled their magazine pile!

Allison at Bake Your Heart Out made some pretty cupcakes from the February 2008 Martha Stewart magazine.

The prolific Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made an Olive & Sun-dried Tomato Spread from Clean Eating magazine.

Remember, if you post a recipe from a magazine, let me know and I’ll link to it in a Magazine Mondays post.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

It seems I missed the anniversary of one of my life’s great loves: Nutella.

I don’t know when exactly I became so clueless when it comes to blog events, but it seems I find out about them usually anywhere from two days to four months after they’ve happened.

I realied that I missed World Nutella Day when I began seeing all sorts of nutella posts over the weekend.

So, how to make amends when you’ve missed your loved one’s anniversary?

Well, first of all, you must reassure your love that you still love them.

Nutella, I still love you.

Secondly, you must compliment your love.

Nutella, you’re awesome. And so are the hosts of your official day: Sara of Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle of Bleeding Espresso.

Thirdly, you must present your love with some sort of gift.

Nutella, I give you an oven-baked pancake upon which to lay yourself.

I was going to post something else for Magazine Mondays, but to make amends to my love, I am instead giving you an Oven Crespella with Nutella Sauce from the April 2008 issue of Gourmet.

Here are the other MM posts that people have sent in for this week:

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte is sending me some Coffee Crunch Squares because I really want some and some Dutch babies!

Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook made Croissants from a Fine Cooking issue that I’ve been meaning to try. Nicely done, Di!

Kylie of of Thin Crust, Deep Dish made a fabulous pasta dish using beets and beet greens!

Remember, if you post a magazine recipe send the link to me and I’ll include in my MM roundup!

Have a great week everyone!

Ciao!

Oven Crespella with Nutella Sauce
Based on this recipe.

Note: I made a few slight changes to the original recipe as I don’t have an oven-proof 12-inch skillet. I instead used an 8-inch cast iron skillet and made two crespellas. Please note that the recipe below is based on using an 8-inch skillet.

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup Nutella
icing sugar for dusting (optional)
nuts and/or berries (optional)

Combine the flour, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, salt and milk in a large bowl and whisk to ensure that there are no lumps. Let the mixture stand for 20 minutes.

While the mixture is standing, place your skillet or cast-iron skillet in the oven on the middle rack. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Once the oven is preheated and the mixture has stood for 20 minutes, place one tablespoon of butter in the skillet, close the oven door and wait 30 seconds for the butter to melt.

Pour half the mixture into the skillet and bake for 15 minutes. The pancake will puff up and become deeply golden. Check it every so often to ensure that it’s not burning.

Remove the skillet from the oven and place on a wire rack. The pancake will sink but don’t worry about this.

Let it cool for at least 10 minutes and then carefully slide the pancake onto a serving plate. Drizzle on a 1/4 cup of Nutella. Dust with icing sugar and sprinkle with chopped nuts or with berries.

Let the skillet cool for about five minutes or so and then wipe it out. Return it to the oven and let it reheat for 15 minutes. Place the second tablespoon of butter in the pan and let melt for 30 seconds. Use the remainder of the batter to make the second crespella.

Enjoy!

Technorati tag: world nutella day

Thankfully, I’m back to blogging. While I don’t mind taking planned breaks from my little bloggy, forced breaks never go over very well. My PC decided to be very naughty last week and caused me some grief. Happily, that is over.

My PC decided to misbehave right after announcing the new Magazine Mondays logo. And wouldn’t you know it I got more MM submissions than ever but couldn’t post them last week so I’m posting them today. And before I get to my submission for this week’s MM, I thought I’d share all the submissions that I’ve received over the past 2 weeks:

MM’s biggest fan, Wandering Coyote of ReTorte gives us Fish in Tomato Sauce and Mexican Chocolate Pudding. Thanks, Wandering Coyote!

Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook brings us a Blood Orange and Mango Sorbet that makes me want to run out and buy a crate of blood oranges and mangoes! Thanks, Di!

And from the department of best recipe names we have Fusilli alla Crazy Bastard (I love that …) from Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. Thanks, Natashya!

And last but not least my sweet Jenny made Mustard-Garlic Flank Stank for her very first MM post! Thanks, Jenny!

Thanks to everyone who participated! And remember, if you post a recipe from a magazine, just let me know about it and I’ll link to it in my next MM post.

As for me, I come to you today with a failed recipe. Failed, not so much because of the recipe, but more because I was a hurried mess when I was making it and messed it up royally. I’d say 95% per cent of my MM entries have been winners but this one, not so much.

What you see pictured above are (supposed to be) Ham-and-Gruyere Thumbprints from Martha Stewart Living. The problem is that while making these, I forgot to add half the ingredients to the batter and was forced to frantically sprinkle the missing ingredients on after the thumbprints went into the oven.

Not good.

I made these for our New Year’s Eve party and while they didn’t turn out horribly, they weren’t that great either.

Ah, well! They can’t all be good!

See you for the next Magazine Mondays post … have a great week everyone!

Ciao!

Welcome to the first edition of Magazine Mondays for 2009!

Before I start attacking my magazine pile in this newly minted year, I must tie up a few loose ends left over from 2008.

To begin with, I owe enourmous thanks to Wandering Coyote of the blog ReTorte. She has been a huge supporter of Magazine Mondays, so much so that she offered to host MM for the entire month of December when I mentioned that I’d be too busy to host the event.

She did a fabulous job so many thanks to her!

The final chapter of Magazine Mondays, 2008 ends with the image that opens this post. After MM turned a year old in October 2008, I decided it was time that the event had an image to go with it so I approached one of my very favourite artists: Julianna Smith.

Allow me to digress for one teeny moment.

I first learned about Julianna when I read about her on her sister’s blog (her sister just happens to be Alicia Paulson of Posie Gets Cozy … talk about a seriously talented family!) As I looked at Julianna’s site, I was so enchanted by her work and then completely blown away when I realized that I had recently bought a birthday greeting card that was designed by her!

If that isn’t a sign, I don’t know what is.

I contacted Julianna and asked her if she’d be interested in working with me on a few projects and she said yes! Considerable time passed (in other words … Cream Puff procrastinated), but I finally got my stuff together and approached Julianna with the Magazine Mondays idea. She agreed and a short while later, she produced this lovely image for me!

This will become the new symbol of Magazine Mondays. As soon as I figure how to do it (hee), I’ll be adding it to my sidebar (in other words … Cream Puff welcomes any advice on how to do that).

I want to extend my most heartfelt thanks to Julianna. I look forward to working with you in the future on other projects!

And so now we get back to our regularly scheduled MM post. I have a lot of candidates for MM posts but I decided to start this year off with a recipe that I actually made last year, but never posted. It’s from an issue of Martha Stewart Living (that I subsequently recycled so I’m not sure what issue it is) and it’s called Syrupy Blood Oranges. I thought it would be nice to start the year off with something that is both citrusy and crisp, but also sweet. Enjoy!

Ciao!

Here’s the recipe for Syrupy Blood Oranges.

Here are some other MM posts that you might want to check out:

Dan of Casual Kitchen made a mouth-watering mole sauce.

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made a Lemon Artichoke chicken that I want right now!

Happy 2009, everyone! Thanks so much for all your well wishes over the holidays. December flew by and it’s hard to believe that we’re already a week into January 2009!

I’ve taken a bit of extra time off over the holidays but I have lots of posts and projects planned for the months ahead.

Starting next Monday, you will also see the return of Magazine Mondays (with a little surprise). I’d like to thank my dear friend Wandering Coyote of the blog ReTorte who stepped up and hosted Magazine Mondays throughout the month of December. I really appreciate it!

So here’s hoping you’ll join me next Monday. Remember, all you have to do to take part is send me a link to a recipe from a magazine that you’ve posted on your blog!

Ciao

Right about this time of year, I start to get the cookie twinkle in my eye. That’s the twinkle representing all the cookies that will be born in the month ahead as the Christmas frenzy starts.

There are many family favourites when it comes to Christmas cookies; these would be the ones that we can’t do without. And of course there are always new ones to try.

For today’s Magazine Mondays post, I decided to try a recipe that I’ve had bookmarked for a very long time. I’ve made palmiers before, and have many variations of the recipe, but I just wanted to put this particular recipe (from a 1998 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings) to rest.

They were pretty and delicious and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Will I make them for Christmas? Possibly.

What I do know is that there is much sweetness ahead. Have a wonderful week everyone!

Ciao!

Note: During the month of November, I will be taking a hiatus from Magazine Mondays. But never fear! Those of you wishing to attack the magazine pile can still do so. Wandering Coyote of Retorte has so graciously offered to host MM for the month of December. So you can send your links to her at wandering_coyote{@}yahoo{.}ca.

Joining me this week for Magazine Mondays are the following people who managed to lessen their magazine pile just a bit:

Wandering Coyote made a mouth-watering Sausage and Penne Gratin.

Debbie started the week off with not one but two MM entries … Coconut Crusted Salmon with Tamarind Barbecue Sauce and New Mexico’s Chili Glazed Chicken with Hominy Polenta.

As some of you may know, the word for aunt in Italian is “zia“.

In late October, my wonderful Zia C turned 50 and believe me she makes 50 look smashing!

She honoured me by asking that I bake her birthday cake. When I asked her what flavour of cake she wanted, she said something lemony.

Now when I was a little girl, I was a bit in awe of Zia C because she was so grown up … I wanted to be just like her. I also wanted to know what she was up to, so much so that I would stand at the foot of the stairs and call out to her, asking her what she was up to. But instead of calling her Zia C, my childish interpretation of her name was … Zia Don.

Don’t ask.

Anyway, for my Zia Don I made a cake from the incredible Lori Longbotham. My Magazine Mondays entry is this most delicious recipe for Triple-Lemon Layer Cake published in Issue #63 of Fine Cooking magazine.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Ciao!

Here’s who joined me for Magazine Mondays:

Debbie of Taste of Sweetness made Beer Chili … yum!

Wandering Coyote of Retorte made chocolate cookies with M&Ms!!!

Mine aren’t nearly as pretty as Martha’s, but they’ll do.

I was asked to put together a cookie tray for a family function by my aunt and she specifically asked for madeleines. I have a favourite madeleine recipe from this book but for the cookie tray, I thought I’d finally try a recipe for Rose-Water Madeleines from an issue of Martha’s Weddings magazine.

After baking the madeleines, you apply a rose-water syrup to the edges and then sprinkle on coloured sanding sugar, which is a type of sugar used in cake and cookie decorating. As far as I know there’s only one cake decorating store in the Greater Toronto Area that sells sanding sugar (Hello, Golda’s Kitchen! … if anyone knows of any other stores in Toronto that sell the stuff please do let me know) and I didn’t have time to drive out there so I used regular granulated sugar that I tinted pink.

The madeleines were moist and not-too-sweet and the pretty edges was a nice touch, although I’d like to try them again with proper sanding sugar.

Anyway, I hope you’ll enjoy some with a cup of tea … have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Remember, if you have a magazine recipe that you’ve finally tried, let me know and I’ll link to it! Here’s who has joined me recently for Magazine Mondays:

Natashya made a comforting Fall Fruit Crumble.

Liliana made some mouth-watering Ricotta Fritters.

I had a fabulous weekend.

Let me say that again.

I HAD A FABULOUS WEEKEND!

On Saturday I enjoyed an amazing dinner at Far Niente with my brother and one of my dearest friends. The dinner was followed by the consummation of an adolescent dream: I saw Madonna in concert.

The 13-year-old within was overjoyed.

And Sunday … well Sunday actually topped Saturday as Mama Cream Puff and I spent a beautiful day in Niagara-on-the-Lake (oh, the fall colours!) shopping and enjoying some wonderful local food. We topped it off with a lovely tea at the Prince of Wales hotel.

Then I came home and baked a beautiful pie and tart.

The weather was just glorious; sunny and crisp with leaves everywhere.

Autumn, you truly are a gift!

So here’s hoping that this week is just as spectacular. To help get us all off on the right foot, I’m happy to post this luxurious Broccoli Soup with Cheddar Cheese as my Magazine Mondays post. I love broccoli soup with lots of melty cheddar … seriously … there’s not a lot that could make me happier on a Monday.

Have a beautiful week, everyone!

Ciao!

Note: Click here for the recipe for Broccoli Soup with Cheddar Cheese.

Joining me for this edition of Magazine Mondays is Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies who made soft pretzels and Wandering Coyote of ReTorte who made Sugar Cookies!

Remember, if you have a magazine recipe that you’ve finally tried, let me know and I’ll link to it!

You’ll have to forgive me but the fall brings out both the best and the corniest in me. I just love this time of year and I’m not afraid to get all mushy about it. Go ahead. Mock me if you must. But this is MY time of year and I’m going to enjoy every single bit of it.

These are days of apples followed by chilly nights where you have no choice but to snuggle. You can snuggle with your loved one, with your teddy bear or with your favourite book. Whatever.

While I can’t come to help you with the snuggling part, I can help out a bit with the apple part.

For today’s edition of Magazine Mondays, I give you one of the very best apple crisp recipes that I have ever tried. In fact, it has become my favourite apple crisp recipe. Am I ever glad I rescued it from the magazine pile.

Vanilla Bean Apple Crisp appeared in the March 2002 issue of Bon Appétit magazine. It’s only taken a little over 6 years for me to try it. I am now prepared to snuggle with this apple crisp for the next 6 months of fall/winter.

Have a wonderful, snuggly week!

Ciao!

If you have a recipe that you’ve tried recently from a magazine, send it along and I’ll link to it in my Magazine Mondays post.

This week I’m joined by Liliana of My Cookbook Addiction who pays tribute to her father-in-law with Ginger Pear Muffins; Lori of Lori’s Lipsmacking Goodness tempts us with Green Onion and Cheddar Biscuits; Jen of Chocolate Shavings made Mushroom and Roquefort Tartelettes; Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies makes me want to swoon with Eggplant Parmesan with Crisp Bread Topping and Wandering Coyote of Retorte made a luscious Deep Chocolate Pound Cake.

Click here for the Vanilla Bean Apple Crisp recipe. For my version, I baked the crips in 6 individual ramekins as opposed to an 8-inch square pan. I also added vanilla ice cream and a generous application of caramel sauce.

For as long as I can remember, we have always had a garden. My grandparents always had a garden. My aunts and uncle always had a garden. My cousins alway had a garden. My friends and neighbours always had a garden.

Now that the time has come to say goodbye to the garden for another year, like most people, there are certain vegetables and fruits that I will miss more than others. But I will miss none more than my sweet little cherry tomatoes.

I love you guys!!!

While almost all of our other tomato varieties have yielded the last of their fruits, our little cherry tomatoes are still going fairly strong.

So about a week ago I decided to find some way to preserve some of these babies. I did a little searching and came across this recipe.

The base of the tomatoes in oil is a very simple recipe for Oven-Dried Tomatoes. I so enjoyed watching the tomatoes slowly roast and dry in the oven. It made me feel like I was preserving something very special from the summer season. And it was easy! So easy that I wondered why I haven’t done this more often.

The tomatoes in oil have graced our pasta, our pizza and some fabulous panini.

This is my Magazine Mondays recipe for this week. As always, I remind you that if you have a magazine recipe that you’ve finally put to bed, send me a link and I’ll post it in my next Magazine Mondays post. And you don’t have to post your recipe on a Monday. It can be any day of the week.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

This week I was joined by the my buddy Wandering Coyote of ReTorte with some mouth-watering Braised Beef Ribs!

Here are the recipes I used: Oven-Dried Tomatoes and Dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil.

While I’m still trying to hold on to a bit of summer, I’m also happily welcoming my favourite season of the year, Autumn.

What can I say? I’m a sucker for leaves changing colour, frosty mornings, cool but sunny days and that feeling of winter, just around the corner. Oh yes … and HOCKEY!!!

Just as I savoured my homemade lemon gelato, I’m also looking ahead to the best of the fall and for me that includes figs.

I adore figs and while I can’t say that the figs that we get here in Toronto are the best in the world, we are lucky enough to have access to some good figs. We even have neighbours who have managed to grow their own figs!

For today’s edition of Magazine Mondays, and this being the first day of fall, I couldn’t help but choose a recipe featuring figs. I settled on a Fig Frangipane Tart from the Fall 2008 issue of Ricardo magazine.

This tart was fairly easy to make and so delicious. It’s a great way to use any fresh figs that you can get your hands on. And figs and almonds compliment each other so well. I made the tart for the occasion of my godson’s birthday and brought it as part of a dessert tray. It was very elegant and quite the crowd pleaser.

Magazine Mondays, for those that aren’t familiar with it, is a very informal event that I’ve started as a way to put those magazine recipes that I’m constantly collecting to good use. If you have a magazine recipe that you’ve finally tried, let me know and I’ll link to it in my post.

In the meantime, enjoy those figs and have a great week!

Ciao!

I’m always happy to be joined by other people in the food blogging world who are tackling that magazine pile! Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies (a real MM pro!) comes to us with two recipes: Curried Cauliflower Soup with Coriander Chutney and Watermelon, Feta, and Olive Salad; my dear Liliana of My Cookbook Addiction made a gorgeous Lemon Olive Oil Cake and Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made (drool) Shrimp in Ginger Butter Sauce. Remember, if you post any magazine recipes, let me know!

Fig Frangipane Tart
From the Fall 2008 issue of Ricardo magazine.

Note: This recipe is similar to the Peach and Almond Tart I made during the summer. This is a lovely fall dessert so I encourage you to try it.

Equipment: 9-inch tart pan (round or square) with a removable bottom.

For the crust:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter and sugar and mix with the paddle attachment until well blended.

Add the lightly beaten egg and mix until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the flour, cinnamon and salt and mix until just combined.

With your hands, pat the dough into the tart pan making sure you pack the dough up the sides of the pan and into all the corners evenly.

Refrigerate the crust while you prepare the frangipane filling.

Frangipane filling:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1-1/4 cups ground almonds
3 tbsp. all purpose flour
8 to 10 figs, quartered (depending on size)
icing sugar (for garnish)

Before you start the filling, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and place a rack in the centre of the oven.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar and mix until combined.

Add the extracts and mix for another minute.

Add the eggs and mix until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the ground almonds and flour and stir in with a wooden spoon until smooth.

Scrape the frangipane filling into the prepared tart shell.

Arrange the quartered figs over the top of the filling.

Bake the tart for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the middle of the tart comes out clean. The crust will be golden.

Let the tart cool on a wire rack. Once cool, dust with icing sugar.

Enjoy!

It’s been over a month since my last Magazine Mondays post. Hard to believe but true.

While my magazine pile hasn’t exactly dwindled all that much, I must say that Magazine Mondays has helped me to put some old magazines to good use. So I guess I don’t feel so bad about my food magazine habit.

Especially since I returned from Italy with a whole lotta food magazines!!!

For this edition, I chose a recipe from a specialty magazine I bought in 2006 called Lidia: Italy at Home. It’s a magazine that features the great Lidia Bastianich sharing Italian food tips, recipes and knowledge. There are a number of recipes that I bookmarked but the one that I chose to try was a recipe for Fruit Jam Tartlet Cookies.

The reason I chose this recipe is that it brought to mind the crostata made by my aunts in Italy. A crostata is an Italian sweet that can take many forms. It’s best described as a tart with some sort of fruit filling in the form of jam or fresh fruit. But crostatas can also be filled with chocolate, pastry cream and any number of other fillings.

My father’s family makes a very rustic type of crostata filled with homemade prune jam. My grandmother used to make the dough with oil but nowadays the dough is made with butter.

When I went to Italy in 2003, I was there for a very short time so the opportunity was never there for my aunts to make a traditional crostata with me. This time around, I spent so much time hopping from one family member’s home to another, that I once again missed the chance to watch my oldest aunt, Zia Filomena, make a crostata. She is the family’s undisputed master crostata-maker. So she’s promised me that next time, we will make that crostata together.

I plan on holding her to that promise!

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Ciao!

Fruit Jam Tartlet Cookies
From the 2006 issue of Lidia: Italy at Home.

Note: These cookies are actually a crostata that is then cut into small squares to form cookies. You could just as easily serve the crostata whole. The recipe is published here (scroll down a bit on the page.)

Go figure!

For this week’s edition of Magazine Mondays, I’m featuring a recipe that I came this close to dumping in the food waste bin.

When I bought the 2007 April/May issue of Taste Italia, I immediately bookmarked a recipe for Apricot Almond Shortbread (Frollino di albicocca e mandorla).

For starters, the title is slightly misleading. This dessert is a cross between a cake and a pie of sorts. While the photo was very enticing, I disliked the recipe almost as soon as I started making it. To begin with, there are a lot of steps and I found the directions a bit confusing.

The worst part of the recipe for me was the topping, which was disastrous. The topping is a meringue of sorts that you spread on the dessert after baking it a for a bit. You then put it back in the oven to bake the topping. My topping spread all over the place and it just came out of the oven looking like a disaster.

After letting it cool, I took a long look at my creation and thought, “There is no way I can serve this to anyone.” I almost threw it out but then remembered that there were quite a bit of almonds, egg whites and fresh apricots in there and tossing it didn’t seem very cost-effective.

So I let it cook completely, did some damage control to the topping and filled in the top with apricot jam.

Feeling somewhat better, I brought the dessert into work on the same day that I brought in the Peach and Almond Tart from a few weeks ago. I expected everyone to like the peach tart much better but in one of those strange twists, it seemed most people actually preferred the apricot dessert.

Go figure!

To be honest, I don’t think I’ll ever be making this one again, but it just goes to show, you never really do know how a dessert may turn out.

Have a great week everyone!

Ciao!

Note: Click here for the recipe for the Apricot Almond Shortbread. This week, I’m joined in my Magazine Mondays post by Oakley Rhodes of the blog Lemonbasil with her gorgeous White Chocolate Panna Cotta with Dark Chocolate Sauce.

A little over a week ago, I happened to be perusing the NY Times Dining & Wine section when I came across an article by David Leite on the ubiquitous chocolate chip cookie.

For me, the more chocolate chip cookie recipes I try, the more I want to try. Somehow, the chocolate chip cookie has become the baked good for which there is no “best”. Each time I try a new recipe, I somehow seem to like it better than the last one. And yet I hestitate to call it the best because I know, without doubt, that somewhere there is another recipe waiting to be tried.

Leite’s article includes the opinions of a number of chocolate chop cookie experts including the likes of Jacques Torres and Dorie Greenspan. What I found interesting about the recipe was the idea that after making the batter, you let it rest in the refrigerator.

Disclaimer: Science hurts the Cream Puff’s brain.

Having gotten past the disclaimer, apparently allowing the dough to rest for a long period in the refrigerator lets something happen magically on the molecular level so that the liquid in the cookies manages to hydrate the dry ingredients. So you get a tastier cookie. Or something like that.

So now that you know that I will NEVER be teaching a Science 101 course anywhere, what you really do need to know is that these are fabulous cookies.

I’m heading out on vacation in August and I’m desperate to clean out the pantry so my one edit to the recipe is that I used semisweet chocolate chips in place of the bittersweet chocolate disks.

So a few days later, imagine my surprise (well, not really) when I saw that the cookies had taken on a life of their own in foodblogworld. Everyone from Dorie to King Arthur was blogging about these cookies. They really are the best chocolate cookies … so far.

That is to say, one never knows what other chocolate chip cookie recipe awaits one just around the corner.

Have a wonderful week!

Ciao!

Chocolate Chip Cookies - Recipe from the NY Times.

Check out who else is cleaning up that magazine pile: Lori of Lori’s Lipsmacking Goodness made Spicy Orange Hummus; Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies made Honey Tamarind Baby Back Ribs; Liliana of My Cookbook Addiction made a Fresh Fig Tart and Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Tomato Jam.

If you’ve finally put a magazine recipe to the test, let me know and I’ll include it in my next Magazine Mondays round-up!

I love peaches.

Love ‘em.

And any time I can find a dessert that showcases them I’m always game. I’ve said before and I’ll say it again that one of my very favourite summer experiences is the chance to eat a sun-warmed peach and have all those sweet juices running down your hand.

It’s truly one of nature’s lovely gifts.

And to be able to bake with such a beautiful fruit is yet another gift that always makes me so happy.

I hope you have a tremendous week and I hope this Peach and Almond Tart from the July 2007 issue of Olive magazine helps you along the way!

Ciao!

Note: This is a brilliant recipe! It’s been in my magazine box for so long so I’m glad that I finally gave it a go for Magazine Mondays. You can find the recipe here. I used Ontario ice wine to cook my peaches and I can’t tell you how delicious it was. This is definitely a keeper!

Check out who else has been putting those magazine recipes to good use: Over at Retorte, Wandering Coyote has been making some delicious Blueberry Corn Bread and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies made a drink that I need to have right now!

For this Monday’s edition of Magazine Mondays, I bring you not one but two desserts with strawberries!

Is there anything better than a locally grown, perfectly ripe strawberry? I would argue that among all the gifts that the garden gives us, the strawberry ranks as one of the very best.

We’ve been indulging in fresh strawberries for a few weeks now and I finally got to try two recipes that were begging for fresh strawberries.

The first is from the May 2008 issue of Martha Stewart Living. It’s a Strawberry Galette served with Basil Cream and Fried Basil (that’s also sugared). While I skipped the fried and sugared basil leaves, I did make the galette and basil cream (twice) and both times it was a huge hit.

The pastry is a very standard butter dough made in the food processor so it comes together in a snap. The hardest part of this recipe is trying not to eat all the strawberries as you slice them. I must say, though, that I think the basil cream was even more popular than the galette. A mixture of heavy cream and mascarpone with a hint of basil to it is really captivating. Overall, a very successful dessert that’s worth the effort of trying to create perfect strawberry slices!

The second recipe is one that I’ve wanted to try for a very long time: Lattice-Topped Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie from the 1997 issue of Bon Appétit magazine!

Again, this is another winner. The pastry is a combination of vegetable shortening and butter so it’s both tasty and tender. The filling is pure strawberry and rhubarb heaven. The only caution for this recipe is that you definitely want to let the pie cool completely before serving as you may get a lot of juice running out otherwise.

All in all, I’ve had two lovely experiences with magazine recipes featuring strawberries.

Here’s hoping everyone out there has a lovely week!

Ciao!

Click here for the recipe for the Strawberry Galette.

Click here for the recipe for the Lattice-Topped Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie.

Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies sent me her own contribution. She made a gorgeous Zucchini Tart with Feta and Mint. Thanks so much, Natasha! Remember, send me your posts about recipes from magazines and I’ll link to them in my posts!

A few weeks ago, as I began hearing about people’s plans for Father’s Day, it occurred to me that ever since my father passed away in 2001, we’ve been spending Father’s Day in our own special way.

Now neither Father’s Day nor Mother’s Day were ever huge days in my family. My father always said that every day should be Mother’s Day and every day should be Father’s Day so while my parents always appreciated our little gifts and well wishes, they instilled in us the belief that honouring your parents is something you should do all the time.

I guess that’s why Father’s Day has never been a particularly tough day for us. It’s not that we don’t think about him, it’s just that we spend the day the way we always spent it even when he was alive: together enjoying a nice meal.

When I received the June issue of Gourmet magazine, I came across a feature by Gina Marie Miraglia Eriquez called “Sear Delight”. The entire menu is prepared on the grill and is also Italian-themed. This being Italian June, I thought that I might take it upon myself to prepare the entire menu!

So for this edition of Magazine Mondays, I give you the following treats:

Grilled Pancetta-Wrapped Asparagus

Love pancetta. Love asparagus. Enough said.

Caramelized-Onion and Gorgonzola Grilled Pizza

This was my first time preparing a grilled pizza and I loved it. I was amazed at how quickly it cooked. I was so afraid that the ingredients would spill over, though, that I was a bit ungenerous. Next time I’ll be piling on that gorgonzola dolce for sure!

Grilled Veal Chops with Arugula and Basil Salad

We grill veal chops all the time but this is the first time that we pounded the meat so thinkly. They were so tender! And the arugula and basil salad was a nice touch although I had to augment it with romaine lettuce as our arugula is just coming in so there wasn’t enough for a full salad.

Grilled Baby Artichokes with Caper-Mint Sauce

Prepping the artichokes was a total pain in the butt, however, it was worth it. These were the hit of the day and that caper-mint sauce had us all licking our fingers.

Acini di Pepe Pasta with Garlic and Olives

Some of us liked this pasta salad with the couscous-like acini di pepe and some of us didn’t. I loved it. It was garlicky and spicy but if I make it again I might add in some herbs for more of a flavour impact.

Stracciatella Tortoni Cake with Espresso Fudge Sauce

Hello, Tortoni! This was a cross between an ice cream cake and heaven. I loved it so much that I’ve already decided I’m making it for a big family BBQ that we’re having in a few weeks. And that sauce … oh, that sauce!!!

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Look who else is taking part in Magazine Mondays: Liliana of My Cookbook Addiction made Maple Sugar Ragamuffins. Wandering Coyote of Retorte comes in with two delicious entries: Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake and Coconut Blondies.

If you have some magazine piles you need to thin out then start cooking and baking and send me a link to your Magazine Mondays post!

Sometimes I think I must be related to the Cookie Monster.

Even though he may not be as addicted to cookies as he once was.

What’s up with that???

Anyway, I’m always happy to talk about a new cookie discovery and this week I simply must tell you about the Giant Chocolate-Toffee Cookies from the March 2000 issue of Bon Appétit magazine (another Magazine Mondays recipe crossed off the list!).

Let’s see. They’re big. They’re chocolatey. They have chopped up Skor bars in them.

Okay, go make some.

Go … and make sure you have a good week too!

Ciao!

Here’s the recipe for Giant Chocolate-Toffee Cookies.

Lately, as I rush out of the house in the morning grabbing at the fruit basket before I go, my reaction tends to be the same, “Apples, again!”

Now I love apples. But by this time of year we’ve been on a steady diet of apples as primary fruit since … oh … about September.

What I want are peaches. Juicy, fuzzy Ontario peaches.

And I want those few precious strawberries from the handful of plants in our garden.

I also want cherries, straight from Niagara.

But all I got is apples.

So I made me some Apple Pie Bars and pretended I was eating them in the middle of a blackberry patch on a sunny afternoon.

Have a good week!

Ciao!

Note: For this edition of Magazine Mondays, I finally tried the recipe for Apple Pie Bars from Food & Wine’s March 2008 issue. If you have to eat apples, you might as well dress them up!

For this week’s edition of Magazine Mondays, I bestowed the honour of “Chosen Recipe” on one that actually hasn’t been laying around my house for all that long.

Contrary to my culinary penchant for oohing and aahing over recipes in magazines and then letting them sit there for years before trying them, I actually decided to try a recipe from the May 2008 issue of Martha Stewart Living: Fava Bean Salad with Roasted-Garlic Vinaigrette.

Now Martha and I have had our moments. Some good. Some not-so-good. But when I saw this recipe, I just had a feeling that this one would find a home in the “good thing” pile (pardon the expression).

I’m happy to say I was not wrong. Beside the fact that the recipe is healthy (I usually regard this as a perk), it’s colourful and delicious and boasts what is quite possibly the most delicious vinaigrette I have ever made. DELICIOUS, I tell you. And you know the Cream Puff does not use all caps casually!

Ultimately you could make this salad with a variety of beans in the event you can’t find fava beans and while the corn left something to be desired (it’s obviously not corn season in my neck of the woods), overall the salad was bright and immensely satisfying. Please do try it.

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Ciao!

Recipe: Fava Bean Salad with Roasted-Garlic Vinaigrette.

If you haven’t seen The Godfather, then you are missing a classic cinematic experience filled with many a memorable scene including one where one mobster instructs another to leave behind a weapon used in a crime, but to make sure to not forget the box of cannoli.

While I don’t count myself among the diehard fans of cannoli (I like them but don’t love them), I was inspired to try the recipe for Cocoa Cannoli Cake from Canadian House & Home’s June 2007 issue.

I can’t believe that my last Magazine Mondays post was February 25th! That magazine pile that I had been steadily working on has begun to rear its delicious head again. So it’s time to return to my Magazine Mondays ways.

While I made this cake quite some time ago, I’m happy to share it with you today. It’s one of those cakes that you will fall in love with the first time you make it. And I guarantee you that everyone will be asking for the recipe.

It’s essentially a sponge cake that’s halved and filled with a ricotta cream filling. It mimics cannoli in that the cake and filling taste strongly of orange zest. The cake is very adaptable so you can use whatever flavours strike your fancy.

Unfortunately I was unable to find a link to the recipe on the magazine’s site so I’m listing it for you here.

Welcome back to Magazine Mondays, everyone! Have a great week!

Ciao!

Cannoli Cake
Adapted from the June 2007 issue of Canadian House & Home magazine.

Ingredients for cake:

6 large eggs, separated
1 large egg yolk
pinch of salt
1 cup plus 1/3 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. almond extract
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. cold water
finely grated zest of one orange

Ingredients for filling:

125 g. cream cheese, softened
225 g. ricotta cheese
2 tbsp. Nutella
1 tsp. Grand Marnier (optional)
1 tsp. Frangelico (optional)
1 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
icing sugar for dusting

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. and grease and flour a 9 or 10-inch springform pan.

Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer and add the pinch of salt. Beat whites until foamy. Increase mixer speed to medium and continue beating the whites while gradually adding 1 cup of the sugar. You want the whites to beat into soft peaks (don’t overbeat). Set aside.

In a clean bowl, beat the egg yolks with remaining 1/3 cup sugar, the flour, the baking powder, the vanilla and almond extracts and the cold water until smooth. Add the orange zest. The mixture might appear stiff or very thick but don’t worry.

Gently fold in the egg whites until you have a well mixed batter.

Spoon the batter into the springform pan and bake in the middle of the oven for about 35 minutes. The top of the cake will be golden and it will spring back when pressed.

Remove the cake to a wire rack and cool completely before releasing the cake from the springform pan.

To make the filling, beat the cream cheese, the ricotta, the Nutella, the Grand Marnier and Frangelico (if using), until smooth. Gradually add the icing sugar and then stir in the chocolate chips. Set aside.

Carefully divide the cake into two equal layers. Set the bottom layer on your cake tray or serving plate. Spread the filling over the cake bottom. If it’s a bit loose, refrigerate the cake bottom for about 10 minutes to firm up the filing. Top the filling with the second layer of the cake and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Just before serving, dust the cake with icing sugar.

Enjoy!

Technorati tags: Magazine Mondays, cannoli, cake

When I announced at the beginning of February that I would attempt to make every post this month about chocolate, a number of people left comments asking if I would attempt a savoury chocolate recipe.

Well here you have it! For today’s Magazine Mondays post, I decided to finally try a recipe for Braised Short Ribs with Chocolate and Rosemary from the January 2006 issue of Bon Appétit magazine.

I love short ribs and recently had them at a friend’s house. She slow-cooked them in the oven and then served them with polenta. They were so good that I was dreaming about them for days.

While looking for a savoury recipe with chocolate, I came across this lovely dish and thought, “Why not?!”

I halved the recipe, for starters, and I must admit that when it came time to add the chocolate and cocoa to the sauce, I wimped out slightly and added just a bit less than what was called for. Still, though, the end result was delicious.

It’s hard to put into words how the chocolate and cocoa enhanced the sauce but suffice to say there was a distinct huskiness to this sauce. The flavour was very deep and the sauce was a dark, rich colour as well.

This was perfect for a slow Sunday lunch. I hope you’ll give it a try.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

For the recipe, click here.

Technorati tags: magazine mondays

People will often ask me what my favourite thing is to bake and my answer is always cookies and pies. I love pies for their versatility. There’s nothing you can’t put in a pie. They’re also forgiving as no one will ever know about that rip in the bottom crust.

And cookies I love because they each represent a little baking story unto itself. Every cookie is its own beginning, middle and end. While a cookie may be related to its brethren in the batch, in the end, it stands alone.

For this edition of Magazine Monday, I had a strong urge to bake cookies so I turned to a recipe for Chocolate-Dipped Espresso Shortbread Cookies from Issue #61 of Fine Cooking magazine (my very favourite food magazine).

Judging from the looks of pleasure on the faces of all those that tried these cookies, they’re most definitely a keeper. Of course, I would not be able to tell you how good they were as I did not actually eat one.

I have given up sweets for Lent.

That’s right.

Me. No sweets. Six weeks.

And we’ll just see how well that turns out.

I wish all of you a wonderful, sweet-filled week!

Ciao!

Here are some Magazine Monday posts on other blogs:

Quellia of All Things Edible made a number of goodies.

Linda of Make Life Sweeter! made an incredible Cashew Nut, Honey & Vanilla Pie.

Technorati tags: magazine mondays, shortbread, espresso, chocolate

I’m so happy to see that you’re with me during my month of chocolate. For those of you that haven’t read my last post, I am attempting to post food made with chocolate for the entire month of February!

Today’s post, accomplishes a number of things. First of all, the little cookies you see above are in fact chocolate chip cookies so there’s my chocolate commitment fulfilled. Secondly, this is a Magazine Mondays post as the recipe for those chocolate chip cookies is one that I’d bookmarked awhile ago and finally got around to trying. And finally, I get to tell you about my little eggy friends.

It’s been awhile, but some of you may remember the Traveling Egg Meme. These sweet little creatures were created by Hannah of Bittersweet who gifted them to my sweetie Helene of Tartelette. Helene then decided that rather than keep them to herself, she’d share them with the world via a meme.

These little sweethearts travelled far and wide and made their way to my home last fall thanks to Peabody. Now the idea is to spend some quality time with the eggs and then send them back out into the world, to find a new home and to grace another family with their presence.

Just one problem. I didn’t want to give them up!

During our time together, I grew so attached.

We spent Christmas together.

We played in the snow together.

We read cookbooks together.

We watched hockey together.

We even baked together.

And through it all, I secretly hoped that Hannah and Helene and everyone else would forget the eggs and forget that they were with me. I know. That’s so selfish. But this way my little friends would stay with me always and we would be so happy.

But after a few gentle reminders, I had to face the unhappy truth. It was time to send my little eggs back out into the world.

We spent our final hours together baking these chocolate chip cookies from the May 2007 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

To the person who will soon be receiving my little eggy friends, enjoy them as much as I did!

Ciao!

I must admit it took me quite awhile to begin writing this post because I kept having fun with the title. It’s amazing how many witty (or not-so-witty depending on how you see it) pun-filled titles one can create using the word “nuts”.

And enough said about that.

Okay, so here we are with a return to Magazine Mondays. It’s been a few weeks since I posted another recipe from my ever dwindling (at least I hope it’s dwindling) pile of magazines. I must admit my decision to focus on actually trying the recipes that I bookmark in all sorts of print publications is working out well.

Today I bring you yet another recipe from Ricardo Larrivée’s Holidays 2007 issue of Ricardo magazine. This is a recipe for Nut Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze. The cake itself is a very standard sour cream cake. It calls for applesauce, which is always interesting in a cake and hazelnut or walnut oil. That is in addition to two cups of nuts also incorporated into the cake. To be honest, I wasn’t all that impressed with it. Between the nut oil and the nuts, it’s a pretty expensive ingredients list for a cake that didn’t pack a huge punch.

What I was impressed with, however, was the glaze. As I made it and then as I licked it off my fingers and every other surface in my kitchen (long story … don’t ask), I thought to myself, “Hmmm … I see many great possibilities for this glaze.”

So while I will spare you the cake recipe, I’m happy to share the glaze recipe. Have a great week everyone!

Ciao!

Brown Sugar Glaze
From the Holidays 2007 issue of Ricardo magazine.

1 cup brown sugar (light or dark)
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Place the brown sugar, maple syrup, butter and heavy cream in a small pot. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Keep an eye on the mixture because it can easily boil over.

Once it boils, let it boil for about a minute and then remove from the heat. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes.

Place the mixture in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat with the paddle attachment on low, slowly adding the icing sugar. Continue beating until it begins to thicken (about 6 or 7 minutes). Add the vanilla and mix for a few more seconds.

Pour the glaze over the surface of your choice be it cake or anything else you desire.

Enjoy!

With all the tidying up that’s been going on lately, I decided it was time for a bit of a break. Cold winter days make for the best lazy days and in between bouts of cleaning, I’ve been luxuriating in afternoon naps.

I’ve also made time for a bit of baking. These days, when I want a baking experience that’s simple and relaxing, I tend to bake bread. Since we had a lot of cheese hanging around in the refrigerator after the various holiday celebrations, I decided to try a recipe for Savory Holiday Bread from the 2007 Holiday Cooking issue from Better Homes and Gardens.

I would describe this is more of a free-form quick bread than a traditional bread (it’s not yeasted). But it came together very quickly and I had the chance to knead it a bit which is always fun. I changed the recipe a bit so that I could use what I had available and the end result was a cheesy bread with a lovely garlic flavour (I used leftover roasted garlic). We had the leftovers the next day toasted in the oven and drizzled with some olive oil.

This is my last Magazine Mondays post for 2007. I never imagined that the little idea I had earlier in the year would be so successful. Here’s to many Magazine Mondays in 2008!

Ciao!

Savory Holiday Bread
Adapted from the 2007 Holiday Cooking magazine from Better Homes and Gardens.

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups shredded provolone cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup roasted garlic cloves, mashed (2 heads of garlic)
3 large eggs, beaten
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/3 cup chopped chives
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes (packed in oil), finely chopped
1 egg yolk and a few tablespoons of water for the egg wash

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, cheeses, baking powder, salt and roasted garlic.

Add the eggs, chives, evaporated milk, metled butter and dried tomatoes.

Mix until you have a lumpy mass.

Turn the mass out onto a lightly floured work area. Knead lightly until it comes together into a ball. Don’t worry if it’s not perfectly smooth.

Divide the dough into three equal pieces and roll each piece into a rope that’s between 12 and 14 inches long.

Transfer the ropes to the parchment-lined baking sheet.

Secure the ropes together at one end and then braid them loosely. Tuck the ends of the braid under so that you have a neat bread.

Combine the egg yolk and the water and brush the loaf with the egg wash.

Bake for 40 minutes or until the bread is a nice golden brown colour

Let the bread cool completely before slicing.

Enjoy!

Magazine Mondays on Other Blogs:

Liliana of My Cookbook Addiction made some beautiful Cranberry and Almond Bundt Cakes.

Dolores over at Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity is owning Magazine Mondays with a menu that was based almost entirely on recipes from Eating Well magazine. Way to go, Dolores!

Technorati tags: magazine mondays, bread

I hope Santa likes butter and cinnamon. Because that’s what he’s getting this Christmas Eve.

Not wanting to miss an edition of Magazine Mondays, I decided to prepare these Cinnamon Spritz Cookies for Mr. Claus. The recipe comes from the December 2007 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

Now I have a tendency to be a bit hard on Martha. I sometimes find that her recipes don’t fulfill their promise. But in this case, I must give Ms. Stewart credit. These cookies were delicious. They’re crisp and buttery and enrobed in cinnamon sugar.

If Santa doesn’t leave me George Clooney as a gift after tasting these, then he’s no longer a cookie lover in my books.

I wish I could stay longer and write more but I must be off. The house is a disaster, there’s cookie dough everywhere, gifts must be wrapped, food must be prepared, chocolate must be eaten, alcohol must be consumed, friends must be hugged … and I must prepare for George Clooney’s arrival.

Have a great holiday week!

Ciao!

Note: For some reason I can’t find the link to this recipe on Martha’s site. I’ll do some more digging over the holidays and hopefully post the recipe soon.

Technorati tags: magazine mondays, spritz cookies

While I will very likely be making this showstopper as the grande finale of holiday desserts, it certainly doesn’t hurt to give other desserts the opportunity to show their sweet stuff.

I like to call this the Cream Puff version of holiday dress rehearsals.

For this edition of Magazine Mondays, I decided to try a recipe from the popular Canadian chef and television personality, Ricardo Larrivée. For those of you that don’t know, Ricardo has a show on the Canadian Food Network along with a magazine that I subscribe to.

In general, I like the food that he prepares and appreciate his focus on entertaining. While I didn’t see the episode where he made this particular dessert, it is featured in the very first issue of his magazine.

It’s called a Crunchy Chocolate-Chestnut Cake and it’s impressive! The only drawback is that the recipe is a tad on the expensive side to make. Between the chocolate, the chestnut cream and the decorative cookies, it cost a pretty penny. However, the ooohs and aaahs of those who tasted it made the expense worth it. Another Monday, another magazine down!

Have a great week everyone!

Ciao!

You can find the recipe for this cake here.

Magazine Mondays on other blogs:

Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity is all over Magazine Mondays with three recipes: Kale and Potato Hash, Persimmon Raspberry Yogurt Parfait and Cranberry Upside-Down Cake.

Remember, if you put up a Magazine Mondays post let me know and I’ll link to it!

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After a three-week hiatus, Magazine Mondays returns! I’m happy to put another magazine that has been languishing in what I now affectionately call, “the basket where magazines go to die,” to rest.

When it comes to recipes, I am nothing if not melodramatic.

This time around it’s the December 2006 issue of Food & Wine magazine and the recipe for Devil’s Food Cupcakes with Espresso Meringue.

Oh, baby!

Excuse the ineloquence but hot damn … these were good!

Densely rich and chocolatey (that’s how I like my cupcakes thank you very much), the meringue was light and not too sweet thanks to the touch of espresso powder.

I wanted to eat them all but bearing in mind that in a few short days I will be making an appearance on the beaches of Miami in a bathing suit, I limited myself to one.

I don’t want to frighten the good people of Miami anymore than necessary. They’ll be scared enough as it is.

On another less frightening note, I’ve noticed that some of you have put up Magazine Mondays posts of your own. If you let me know about them, I’ll happily link to them in my own posts.

Have a great week everyone!

Ciao!

For the cupcake recipe, click here.

Magazine Mondays on Other Blogs:

More Than Burnt Toast featured some Ranch Mashed Potatoes.

For this third edition of Magazine Mondays, I bring you what is quite possibly one of the most sinfully delicious things I have ever made.

Why I waited so long to try this recipe from the October 2004 issue of Food & Wine magazine is beyond me.

Beyond me.

Cream cheese. Caramel. And a hint of salt.

Dip your spoon through the caramel, sink into the cream cheese and taste the salty sweetness of it. And all the while, you watch as caramel oozes into the indentation you created with your spoon.

Don’t faint. Don’t wait. Just go and make this.

Oh yeah … and have a great week!

Ciao!

Magazine Monday #3: Salted Caramel Cheesecake.

Technorati tags: magazine mondays, cheesecake, caramel

For the second edition of Magazine Mondays (oooh - this is so exciting!) I decided to finally put the November 2006 issue of Food & Wine magazine out of its misery. This particular issue has been languishing in my magazine basket for almost a year thanks to two recipes that I’ve wanted to try, but haven’t until now.

For starters, I give you one of the most delicious and satisfying soups I’ve had in a long time: Spicy Grain Soup.

While the soup took some time to make (and considerable effort), it was all worth it in the end as I had a filling, warming and completely comforting soup. I also had lots of leftovers, which is great for weekday lunches!

And because one must always end a comforting meal with dessert, I decided to finally make the Double-Chocolate Bundt Cake with Ganache Glaze.

Wow!

You’d think this cake would be very sweet but it’s actually quite subtle in the sweet department. It does, however, pack a big chocolate whollop. I’m glad I finally had the chance to try these recipes.

Here’s hoping you tried some bookmarked recipes of your own. If you did, let me know.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Ciao!

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