Having a Bad Day? Try This Chocolate Brownie Recipe!

 

Chocolate has always been my comfort food, so I guess it’s not surprising that when things aren’t going well I head for the chocolate chips.  Long ago I learned to stock up on the two-pound bags, not the dinky 12-ounce bags most stores sell.

Revisiting an Unliked Vegetable

I like bargains, so when I saw a 1-pound package of fresh okra on sale for 99 cents, I immediately bought it.  I didn’t begin salivating because a few minutes later I remembered that I wasn’t very fond of okra.

Mom Cooking Tip 179

 

Can you help?  I made a stand-alone stuffing in a casserole dish instead of inside the turkey at Thanksgiving, and the stuffing turned out mushy.  I want to try again during the Christmas holidays, but this time I'd like the stuffing to be crisp.  What do you suggest? --Ellen S.

I can offer two thoughts.  

1) When you are baking the stuffing in the casserole dish, remove the lid or aluminum foil covering the stuffing about 20 minutes before it's fully cooked.  This will allow the steam to escape and the stuffing to crisp up.

2) If you are cooking onions and celery to combine with the stuffing before baking, add the dry stuffing to the vegetable mixture before adding any broth or water.  Gently stir.  This way only a small amount of stuffing will be inundated with liquid, and the rest will have a chance to crisp up.  For extra flavor, dot the top layer of stuffing with a few spoonfuls of butter before baking.

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Potatoes Are Not All the Same

I grew up eating Idaho potatoes (aka russet potatoes) and loving them, whether they be mashed, baked or fried.  Only later when I began to do my own shopping did I notice other potatoes on sale that were red, white and yellow.  I especially liked the yellow potatoes, known as Yukon Gold.  They make excellent baked potatoes as well as French fries and mashed.

My New Favorite Spice: Paprika

I used to put garlic powder on just about everything I made, apart from desserts.  Then I discovered paprika.  It’s always been in the spice aisle, and I even bought some a while ago.  I vaguely remember making Hungarian Goulash and adding paprika. I liked the color—a deep orangey-red—and it spice didn’t disappear after I sprinkled it on.  It made whatever I was cooking look and taste better—be it beef stew, vegetables or roast chicken.

Desperate for a Simple Dinner?

Some nights I simply can’t stand the idea of making dinner yet again.  What could I possibly prepare that I’d want to eat?  How about Crab Cakes?  Not the normal fare in mid-November, but this isn’t a normal November. 

A New Twist on an Old Favorite: Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

I make very few desserts that are better than Chocolate Chip Cookies.  This latest version was perfected by my sister-in-law, an excellent cook who enjoys experimenting with both classic and untried recipes.  In this recipe she doubles the baking soda and leaves out the traditional baking powder.  She also undercooks the cookies slightly so they will be soft and chewy.

Homemade Pizza Saves the Day

 

I used to make pizza for 5 every Saturday night because that’s what everyone wanted.  Then half the family got old enough to drive and preferred to hang out with friends.  So I stopped making it since just 2 of us were eating it.

Flash forward a few years.

Orzo: What Is It and How Do I Use It?

 

The first time I saw orzo, I thought it was rice.  I was confused because the color was that of spaghetti, not white like normal rice.  The packaging talked about ‘al dente perfection in 9-10 minutes.’

I quickly realized that I had discovered a new kind of pasta.  Some people use orzo in soup.  I tried it in a casserole, mixed together with fresh spinach, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese.  I cooked the orzo first and then baked it for 30 minutes with the other ingredients mixed in.

I have often wished for a different pasta shape, and now I’ve found it.

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My Secret Ingredients When Making a Fish Sandwich

I fell in love with cod a few decades ago when I ordered fish & chips at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant in London.  We were not a fish-eating family, except for pickled herring, a refrigerator staple with a very pronounced taste.

Get Your Vitamin D from Stuffed Mushrooms!

 

My friend Ilene was recently researching how to get more Vitamin D from food, and she discovered that mushrooms have quite a bit of it. And if they are left out in a place where they are bathed in sunlight for a day or two, the mushrooms make more vitamin D!

Cooking Chicken Thighs Is Easier Than I Thought

The first time I bought chicken thighs I had no idea how to prepare them.  I was used to roasting whole chickens, which is one of the easiest meals ever.  How hard could it be to cook chicken thighs?

Kalamata Olives to the Rescue

 

Back when I was a teenager, I spent a summer in Greece as part of the American Field Service program.  I discovered such foods as Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie), goats’ milk, fresh figs, phyllo dough and baklava and came home 10 pounds heavier.

Dinner from the Deli Counter

 

Ham BBQ sandwiches have long been a family favorite, but I seldom make them.  I’m not sure why.  They are a direct link to my own childhood, when my mother would occasionally take my brother and me out to lunch at Isaly’s, an East Coast family restaurant/delicatessen chain that served Chipped Ham Sandwiches.  At the end of the meal she would buy a pound of paper-thin slices of ham to take home.

How to Make Chocolate Granola Bars in 10 Minutes

 

Whenever I think of granola bars, I think of school lunches.  But with my new recipe for Chocolate Granola Bars, snack time can be much tastier.  The secret ingredient is unsweetened cocoa powder.

Food Shopping at 7 am

Visiting the supermarket at the crack of dawn is an effective way to do a necessary chore without seeing many people.  This morning I spotted just four shoppers in my local grocery store at 7 am.  I was quick with my purchases and out of there in 10 minutes.

Effective, yes.  Inspired, no.  Back when life was simpler, I would stroll the aisles, thinking about what I might want to make for dinner.  I would notice new products, check out sales and be reminded that I was running out of yogurt.

Now the planning must be done either the night before or in the store’s parking lot before I put on my mask. Do I want to serve Roasted Chicken, Shrimp Stir-Fry (see above), Tilapia?  Do I need eggs?  Milk?  What should I get for the rest of the week? 

There is an unexpected bonus about shopping early in the morning.  A wide variety of meats, vegetable and fruit may be on sale.  I recently picked up 3 yellow bell peppers for $1 and a large boneless chicken breast, very thinly sliced and marinated in hot sauce, also for $1.  The sell-by date was the next day.  No problem for me.  We ate the chicken for dinner and held over the Shrimp Stir-Fry, which calls for those on-sale bell peppers, for tomorrow.

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Question for Mom

Why are some kiwi green and others gold?  -- Margaret H. 

Despite the difference in color, these kiwi are cousins and are quite similar in taste.  SunGold™ Kiwifruit, which are grown in New Zealand, are golden and slightly sweeter than the more available green kiwi.  Both are used as snacks or are cut up in salads.  Green kiwi have fuzzy brown skins, while the golden version is smooth and slightly lighter in color.  Instead of peeling them, cut a kiwi in half and scoop out the fruit with a spoon.

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An Alternative Way to Cook Rice!

Rice always seemed the easiest side dish to make, but sometimes things can go wrong when cooking it. So I was not surprised when my friend Ilene asked me how I cook rice.

Question for Mom

I’m new to cooking and would like to know if I can substitute sour cream when a recipe calls for heavy whipping cream? –Ella H.

I almost always have sour cream in the fridge, but seldom do I have heavy whipping cream.  So if I want to make a recipe that calls for whipping cream and I don’t feel like going to the store to get some, I will use sour cream.  But I’ve learned to be cautious. 

If I add sour cream to a soup or a sauce and then bring the mixture to a boil, the sour cream will separate—not an attractive sight--so don’t do that.  And don’t substitute sour cream if you are making a creamy dessert.  Otherwise, go for it.  Experimenting is a good way to learn to cook.

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Salad Need Not Be Boring!

My ideas about salad often revert to iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber—the salad of my youth.  So I am particularly thrilled when friends send me their salad recipes.  My friend Grace Markarian shared a recipe that I would like to pass on.  It is an inventive use of cooked and raw vegetables, quinoa and spices.

Lamb Can Be a Satisfying Comfort Food

When I think back on my favorite childhood foods, I think of lamb chops.  We didn’t have them very often, probably because they were expensive.  But they were easy to cook—just stick them under the broiler for a few minutes per side and serve.  The only problem I could see was how small they were.  We needed several side dishes to fill out the meal.

In the years since then, I’ve eaten lamb chops a few times,

Combining Two Pasta Shapes in One Dish

I thought last night’s dinner for eight would be easy to put together.  I had a one-pound box of rotini, a curly pasta that would cook up nicely and go well with marinara sauce.  The table was set, and the water was boiling.  That’s when I picked up the rotini and noticed that the box was half-empty.

Avoiding Grocery Shopping!

“Do I have to go to the grocery today?” my inner voice whined.  “What could I make for dinner if I don’t go?”

I opened the freezer door and spotted the bag of tilapia filets.

Messy but Tasty: Stuffed Cupcakes

My mother-in-law used to make cupcakes stuffed with a chocolate chip mixture.  It was a unique dessert that was gobbled up as soon as it appeared on the dinner table.  She wrote down the recipe, but unfortunately I immediately misplaced it.

Years passed before I found the recipe, and I wondered if these cupcakes were really as good as I remembered. 

Need an Emergency Meal?

When I used to be away from the kitchen on assignment or working into the dinner hour, I could count on Bart to get food on the table.  It was always the same meal—Spaghetti with Clam Sauce—and it was a choice the whole family liked.

These days I work more from home and thus dinner is not a crisis meal. But it’s still satisfying to serve something guaranteed to be liked.

My emergency meal at the moment

Question for Mom

While I was self-isolating at home, I cleaned out my larder and found several boxes of unsweetened chocolate.  In both the use-by date is obscured, so I can’t tell how old it is.  Is it safe to use this chocolate to bake brownies?  --Susan W.

Yes, proceed with baking.  Chocolate does not spoil, although eventually it may develop ‘bloom’ if not tightly wrapped and kept at room temperature.  ‘Bloom,’ which gives the surface of the chocolate a whitish or grayish cast, is actually cocoa butter migrating to the surface when the storage temperature rises.  It will disappear when the chocolate is melted. 

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Welcome to the World of Canned Chicken

Back when the Covid-19 pandemic started, I laid in a lot of supplies.  Gradually, though, I’ve been using them up in my daily cooking.  Only one item I bought gave me pause—the 12.5-ounce cans of cooked chicken breasts.  I noticed them at my big box store because they were sitting alone on a shelf that had been stripped of everything else.

Want a Chocolate Fix? Try This!

I admit I am a chocoholic.  At Halloween I always make sure I have extra Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups so some will be left for me.  In the summer I turn to fresh strawberries and melted chocolate.  It’s hard to think of a better dessert or a mid-afternoon snack than chocolate-covered strawberries.

Pinto Beans: What Are They and How Do I Use Them?

Dried Pinto Beans (left), Cooked Pinto Beans (right)

Anyone who has eaten refried beans has eaten pinto beans.  They are brown—sometimes light brown, sometimes dark brown—and are often speckled.  They are available cooked in cans and uncooked in plastic bags.

I Need Something New for Dinner

As the chief cook in our house, I usually make the executive decision as to what’s for dinner.  It used to be easier.  When our children were small, they ate what was put in front of them, with just a few exceptions.  

Purple Peruvian Potatoes: What Are They and How Do I Cook with Them?

Purple Peruvian Potatoes, a popular potato in South America, are available year-round in many American specialty grocery stores.  Considered a variety of fingerling potato, they are small and sometimes oval or knobby.  They don’t look like much, and their dark purplish-black skin seems out of place when sitting next to red or golden-skin potatoes.

A Teenager Improves My Recipe

I have several food-savvy friends whom I consult when I have cooking questions.  But until recently none of them were younger than 45.  Then Jake, my 19-year-old grandson, decided he wanted to learn to cook.  He retrieved our second cookbook (“Help! My Apartment Has a Dining Room”) from his mother’s cookbook shelf and flipped through it until he found Chicken Sultana, a recipe that looked appealing.

Mom’s Version of Fish and Chips

Even before I moved to London, I knew about a popular English dish called fish and chips.  But I had never seen it, let alone tasted it.  In England we tended to hang out with other Americans, and they were constantly preoccupied with locating as many American foods and restaurant chains as possible. 

We were more adventurous.

Mom Money-Saving Tip 108

Every week grocery stores have sales on select items like these: whole chickens for 99 cents per pound, 8 ears corn for $2, 3 8-ounce cans tomato sauce for $1, cherries for 99 cents per pound. Shopping these sales can save you considerable money over time. Some stores may quietly offer daily sales of perishables—meat and fish, fresh fruit and vegetables and bakery items—if you know where to look. They’re usually hidden in some obscure corner at the back of the store. If the expiration date is close at hand, you can pick up items at half-price or less, although you will need to cook or freeze them within 24 hours.

                                 See all my Money-Saving Tips!

Mom Cooking Tip 178

Now that summer has arrived and peaches are ripe, here is a quick and easy way to remove their skin before eating or cooking them.

Drop the peach into boiling water and let sit for about 10 seconds.  Remove it from the water and make a small horizontal incision near the stem end.  Gently try peeling the peach with your fingers, starting where you cut it.  The skin should pull right off.  If it doesn’t, drop it back into the boiling water for a few more seconds and try again.

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An Almost Day Off from Cooking

Sometimes I can’t face making a complicated dinner.  During these past few months of stress, I have turned more and more to beans.  My food storage area is well stocked with cans of just about every kind of bean available. 

Real Mayonnaise Made with Avocado Oil: What Is It and How Do I Use It?

Mayonnaise with Avocado Oil (left)     Best Foods Mayonnaise (right)    

For most of my life I kept a 30-ounce jar of Hellmann’s or Best Foods Mayonnaise in the fridge, alongside the ketchup, mustard and BBQ sauce.  I never thought twice about it.  Mayonnaise was mandatory because as a teenager I ate a tuna salad sandwich every day.

A few months ago I happened upon Primal Kitchen’s 24-ounce jar of Real Mayonnaise Made with Avocado Oil

Question for Mom

Roasted Rockfish

One reason that I don’t cook fish very often is that I never know when it’s done.  Can you give me some advice? –William T.

Unlike meat, which becomes firm when it is fully cooked, fish will flake when it’s ready to eat. Flaking means that when you insert a fork into it, a fully cooked piece of fish will separate into thin sections called flakes.  If it does not separate into flakes, it needs more cooking.  Test it again after another 1-2 minutes.  You don’t want to overcook fish because it will become dry and unappetizing. 

Too Many Baked Potatoes?

During this virus pandemic, I forgot about a 10-pound bag of red potatoes I bought and stored under the sink.  By the time I remembered them, mold had struck, and there was a puddle of ick at the bottom of the storage basket.

The Many Uses of Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

My first encounter with crushed red pepper flakes occurred in conjunction with my first slice of pizza.  It happened one fateful evening, probably after a high school football game. I wondered why this new hole-in-the-wall restaurant in my Pennsylvania hometown had such a strange smell.  Only later did I recognize it as the smell of hot Parmesan cheese.

By then I was a regular customer

Mom Money-Saving Tip 107

How often do you find yourself throwing out stale bread?  Here’s an easy way to use up those long-forgotten part-loaves hiding in the back of your fridge.  Make fresh bread crumbs.

Now Versus Then

When I look at what I eat now, as opposed to what I ate a decade ago, I am surprised by how adventurous I have become.  What happened to me?

Garam Masala: What Is It and How Do I Use It?

Garam Masala is a spice mixture often used to add flavor and heat to Indian and Pakistani dishes.  There is no official list of spices in Garam Masala, but you are likely to find some combination of cardamom, chili, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, curry leaves, fennel, nutmeg, black pepper and salt.

New Look at Traditional Coleslaw

My sister-in-law Sue is a very creative cook and enjoys experimenting.  This is her version of that old standby Coleslaw.

Easiest Lunch Ever!

Starting in 7th grade I ate the same lunch almost every day for six years—a homemade tuna salad sandwich.  Strangely I never tired of it.  Recently I have returned to this lunch, although I may substitute a tortilla or whole wheat toast for the white bread.

Try This Quick and Easy Salad Dressing!

Photos by Don Shirley

Homemade salad dressing is an often-overlooked addition to a home-cooked meal.  For years I always kept Good Seasons salad dressing packets in the larder and opened one up when I needed it.  We got so used to the flavor that we would lug a dozen packets back to London after visiting family.

That was long before I met Ellen Switkes, a home cook always on the lookout for something new and delicious.

Raiding-Your-Vegetable-Bin Stir-Fry

Yesterday was a super-busy day, and by 5 pm I still hadn’t figured out what we would be having for dinner.  I thought about the package of chicken tenders in the freezer.  Boring!  Then I looked in the vegetable bin and saw bok choy, onions, mushrooms, an orange bell pepper and garlic.  What more did I need? 

Basic Roast Chicken - Easiest Meal Ever!

Basic recipes have existed for centuries because 1) they are simple, and 2) they taste good.  Once you master their preparation, you’re free to improvise…or not.  I usually don’t because I know what I’m getting, and I don’t have to think twice about how to make it.

Crisis: My Oven Won’t Heat Up

It was a quiet Sunday night, and I was doing what I often do at the end of the week—heating up a store-bought croissant in my oven.  If I can get it hot enough, I’ve found that an American croissant tastes remotely like a croissant straight from a Paris bakery.

Question for Mom

I bought some frozen uncooked shrimp, and when I defrosted them, there was this greenish black line along the back of each shrimp.  What is it and should I get rid of it? –Alex B.

This line is the shrimp’s digestive tract.  Yes, you want to get rid of it.  Scrape it out, either before or after cooking, using a small knife or the tip of a potato peeler.  The bigger the shrimp, the easier this line is to remove.  Do the cutting/scraping under running water, and the gritty substance will wash away.

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