holidays and entertaining

Roast Sticky Chicken for Chicken Tacos

June 28, 2010 by Ellen · 1 Comment 

Rub on a fantastic spice mix, then slow roast your chicken to perfection.  The original recipe for this “Sticky Chicken” calls for cooking it 5 hours at 225. I upped the temperature to 300 because I was a bit “short” on time and cooked it about 3.5 hours.   You can go follow the link for [...]

Rice Salad

June 1, 2010 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

A friend invited me over for lunch the other day and served a delicious rice salad made with a mix of wild and long grain rice, cooked chicken, feta cheese, red onions and a lemon and olive oil dressing. It was really good! I had some friends over for dinner on Saturday and wanted to [...]

Easy Appetizers

June 1, 2010 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

I entertained twice this weekend and while I cooked a fair bit, I was a bit too busy to take pictures of everything! Both nights I wanted some easy appetizers and used a few items from Jacques Pepin More Fast Food My Way, including the idea of this simple appetizer with sliced radishes (from my [...]

Pork Scallopini with Mushroom Sauce from Jacques Pepin

May 18, 2010 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

Another good recipe from Fast Food My Way by Jacques Pepin. You can browse through a lot of great video clips here and print off the recipes for many of the dishes. I’ve been watching this series through my Netflix subscription, not available on demand alas. But well worth watching–and I’m not a big cooking [...]

Spring Salad: Sugar Snap Peas and Radishes

March 21, 2010 by Ellen · 2 Comments 

This was a fantastic spring salad recipe, from The Comfort Table, which a friend had loaned me. There are some fantastic sounding recipes in here and if this one is typical, I think I may have to go buy my own copy!  (Thanks Elizabeth for the loan!) 3/4 pound sugar snap peas 1 bunch radishes, [...]

Crockpot Pulled Pork

January 10, 2010 by Ellen · 2 Comments 

Turn a pork shoulder (often found on sale) into a delicious batch of pulled pork. Freeze some for later–it makes a lot! Or share with a neighbor. 1 T oil 2 chopped onions 6 minced garlic cloves 1 T chili powder 1/2 tsp black pepper 12 oz chili sauce (1 small bottle) 1/4 cup brown [...]

Candied Orange Peels

January 4, 2010 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

Save a few orange peels, slice them thinly, cook with some sugar… Mmmm!  Like marmalade on steroids or something, because we don’t really like marmalade here but we love candied orange peels! These are a classic winter holiday treat for us. We are lucky to have an orange tree so have an endless supply of [...]

Vegetarian Lasagna: Spinach, Artichoke Hearts & Roasted Red Peppers

December 31, 2009 by Ellen · 1 Comment 

This lasagna is full of spinach, chopped mushrooms, artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers and cheese. It has a great flavor and body. My sister made it for Christmas and I made it last night for some friends. It’s great for entertaining, as you make it ahead a bit and then pop into the oven about [...]

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

December 24, 2009 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

These are a long standing tradition in our house for Christmas morning and other special days.  The joy is that you can make large batch and freeze half for some other special day. This makes a generous 12 rolls. I usually cut the size down a bit and get more. This is one of the [...]

What to do with Leftover Turkey: Turkey Enchiladas

November 28, 2009 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

When you’re tired of turkey hash and turkey soup and turkey sandwiches, make these turkey enchiladas!  Totally not “leftovers” but just a great Mexican-oriented meal.  I made half green sauce and half red sauce enchiladas. The green sauce was store-bought, the red sauce was this enchilada sauce recipe. For the enchiladas, chop up a bunch [...]

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