Friday January 07, 2011
Winter is a time for soup. Well, hot soup. And boy do we LOVE soup in this family. This week I made onion soup and pea soup. What's great is that they can be eaten as lunch or dinner and generally sates my appetite. I just bought all the ingredients to make Portuguese Kale soup this weekend - can't wait.
Here's my pea soup recipe.
Here's the onion soup recipe. And it's true - not a good first date food - the cheese is extremely stringy!!
Friday December 31, 2010
Closing the book on one year and opening a new one is always an interesting concept. I try not to make resolutions; I try to make a plan!!
So here's my new year's concoction/plan:
Eat real, in season foods, cook often for my family and friends, take care of myself, pay it forward, be open to the possiblities.
And regarding Heirloom Meals - we'll continue to provide more tried and true recipes, stories and tips!!
Happy New Year!!
And just in case - Here's a great menu for tonight with some concoctions!!
Friday December 24, 2010
Today's post will be short and sweet.
Merry Christmas to all! May all your wishes come true.
Spend and give love - it's the best currency. Toss it with some home cooked food, friends and family - and you are RICH!!
Love to ALL!!
Carole
Friday December 17, 2010
I must give credit where credit is due. And, today my sister, Jennifer Murko Gower gets all the credit. Jen is the consummate concoctor and she has truly developed some of the best recipes/guides for certain dishes that I often cook. Several years ago she made a pork stew out of a leftover pork roast. I asked her for the recipe and what she gave me were some basic instructions such as: "I used cumin to taste, lots of pepper, cannellini beans, onions, garlic, carrots - whatever -WHITE WINE, of course - chicken stock and finish it off with some spinach."
And I have concocted this recipe with those instructions. But I have taken it one step further - I wrote down exactly how I did it and the amounts. So, here it is but PLEASE feel free to substitute and play - it's where all the creative fun happens!!
Friday December 10, 2010
One of the hardest parts of being from a concoction family is that we know the basic steps and principles but sometimes we add a little of this, a little of that, and we think we'll remember what we did. Are you guilty of the same? And when you go to make it again - you know the basic steps but you can't remember for the life of you what you added last time to make it so special. And guess what you do? You add a little of this, a little of that and another concoction is born....
I am now trying to religiously write down and photograph what I do. Fortunately, the Liberty Medical video series forced me to capture my chicken piccata concoction and it's a keeper. There were zero, nicht, zip leftovers!!
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Friday December 03, 2010
As always, I am thrilled to be invited to share some of my recipes and ideas with the Albany, NY Newschannel Weekend news team. I am sharing Homemade Gifts for the Holidays. I am doing ginger pennies (recipe below), sugar cookie stars stacked to make Christmas trees and vanilla scented walnuts.
In my book, what can beat a jar of “pennies” for Christmas. Afterall, we’ve all been saving our pennies during these tough times. I tell people they are pennies from heaven!! I am not sure where this recipe originated. My Mom and I have made them for the last 30 years and have fun doling out the loot.
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp ginger
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup molasses
3 stick unsalted butter
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Soften the butter. Then in a medium bowl, mix flour, ginger, cloves, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, egg and molasses. Add flour in batches until well blended. Put cookie dough in a plastic gallon bag an snip off the end to create your own pastry bag. Pipe very small dollops onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake doe 5 minutes. Remove from oven, cool slightly and they’ll slide off the parchment paper into a bowl. This recipes makes enough pennies to fill a dozen pint-sized mason jars.
