suzilightning

finally gotten cold here and i am on a northern europe comfort food kick. last night was maultaschen, rye bread and salad tonight golumbki tomorrow will probably be scotch broth - i have the lamb shoulder, 3 garlic cloves and an onion at a bare simmer. when done shred the meat, let the broth sit overnight and skim off. reheat the broth with barley and carrots, add the meat back and serve - childhood all over again. yum

Would you please expand on the "cranberry orange tea bread"? It sounds interesting! A recipe would be even more welcome, if you aren't breaking trade secrets or copyrights! sure thing. adapted from The New Fannie Farmer Boston Cooking School Cookbook from many many years ago. 1 orange water 2 Tbsp butter or margarine 1 egg 1 cup sugar 1 cup cranberries(if using fresh chopp them up; i many times mix fresh and the craisins) 1/2 nuts (walnuts, slivered almonds, chopped pecans) 2 cups flour 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda Microplane the rind off that orange. Into a mixing bowl squeeze the juice and add enough boiling water to make 3/4 cup. Add the rind to the water/juice mixture along with the butter and stir to melt. In another bowl put the sugar and egg. Beat well and then incorporate this into the orange mixture. Add the cranberries and nuts. Sift together the dry ingredients then stir into the first mixture. Spoon into a 9" x 5" loaf pan that has been sprayed with baking spray or buttered and floured. Bake 1 hour at 325 F. sometimes i will also add a little more dried orange peel or zest another orange.

Would you please expand on the "cranberry orange tea bread"? It sounds interesting! A recipe would be even more welcome, if you aren't breaking trade secrets or copyrights! sure thing. adapted from The New Fannie Farmer Boston Cooking School Cookbook from many many years ago. 1 orange water 2 Tbsp butter or margarine 1 egg 1 cup sugar 1 cup cranberries(if using fresh chopp them up; i many times mix fresh and the craisins) 1/2 nuts (walnuts, slivered almonds, chopped pecans) 2 cups flour 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda Microplane the rind off that orange. Into a mixing bowl squeeze the juice and add enough boiling water to make 3/4 cup. Add the rind to the water/juice mixture along with the butter and stir to melt. In another bowl put the sugar and egg. Beat well and then incorporate this into the orange mixture. Add the cranberries and nuts. Sift together the dry ingredients then stir into the first mixture. Spoon into a 9" x 5" loaf pan that has been sprayed with baking spray or buttered and floured. Bake 1 hour at 325 F.

susan- you haven't gotten to the Victory Storm King Stout? this is johnnybird's new favorite beer.

having just slid into my driveway after slip-sliding up rt 15n on about 1 1/2 inches of rain, sleet and snow here in nw nj with the temps sliding down from yesterday's high of about 60 - i am ready to cook!!! just finished lunch - weiswurt, saurekraut and TATER TOTS. up on the agenda: blueberry cake cranberry orange tea bread bake off the country rye bread that is on it's final rise unexpectedly have john home(he was heading north to his mom's) so i can't start the scotch broth soup - he can't abide the smell of lamb have to feed the boy so i think i'll start some onions and make maltaushen for dinner. it will go well with the bread, some beer cheese and some cucumber salad.

made this meatloaf from the newest eating well :http://www.eatingwell.com/articles_recipes/recipes/recipes_febmar05.htm/meatloaf_blue_plate.html really, really good - probably the best i've ever eaten yellow and green squash spinach cous cous john had some 365 truffles from whole foods for dessert

back in home ec, 7th grade, 1967 a casserole of pancakes and ground beef and onions. my grandfather, bless his heart, ate it all

as johnnybird takes his post dinner nap... simple with leftovers for tonight. i tried a new recipe from one of the mags - zinfandel cranberry sauce. oh my gawd. it was one of the best sweet and tart tastes. this went with a small pork roast done on a bed of leeks. i made a potato onion gratin and had a few pieces of potato leftover so cooked and mashed them with some leftover roasted garlic and a non-dairy sour cream i found in shoprite. john inhaled this. the veg was baby carrots cut on the bias cooked simply in some salted water then finished in a pan with some light olive oil, key lime honey(i HAVE to get a supply of this), fresh tarragon and a few scrapes of nutmeg. leftovers for tomorrow at work for both of us ... life is good.

maggie - i agree with salt but i salt through the process. not fleur de sel but kosher salt. i, unfortunately, am one of the 30% cursed with a sodium intolerance so i have to watch the amount i cook with - why i cook with something other than mortons or whatever. also if you use canned stock there is sodium in there so you should taste before you add more. ok for bacon if you do it one of two ways: 1) try it out. use the fat to sweat your onions and shallot after removing the lardons 2) use turkey bacon and crisp it in the microwave then crumble into the soup. hey - i cook for all contingencies and am nothing if not inventive

for which course gg? if dessert it would be the lemon charlotte - lemon cream with lemon flavored lady fingers done like a tiramisu that i first did almost 30 years ago. course it might be the black forest mousse pie i developed so my husband could have a "birthday cake" about 20 years ago when we realized he was severly lactose intolerant and the mil insisted you HAD to have a dessert for your birthday(give me a cheese course or an extra small plate any day rather than something sweet). or even the fudgy bourbon brownies that we have all the time at the hawkwatch but gussied up with a bourbon whipped cream for a main course it would have to be duck breast with a sauce of dried cherries, port and kumquats( course wait till tomorrow when i try a new sauce of cranberries and zinfandel) served with a side of wild and brown rice. some green and yellow beans sauted with garlic and nuts should accompany the whole package. first course would be bruschetta of an olive tapenade and thin sliced perona farms smoked salmon( just walk up to the back door and say - psst can i get something?) course if you didn't want "gourmet" it would be a different story - more home cooking though some things would stay the same

evie next time skip the vidalia. i use leeks and shallots. since i can't use cream i may use a bit of lactaid milk but rely on the soup with broth(veg or chicken) not water then pureed to do the job. and if you have baked garlic (whole clove baked at 350, wrapped in foil with a sprinkling of olive oil and salt the next time you have your oven on) it is wonderful to add along with only the barest bit of thyme. you really don't need the bacon, etc. for flavor - sorry nullo, my sweet.

I read this, and got really excited, then I read that part about lamb, and was less so. I am imagining then that Scotch Broth is not actually a soup based on Scotch (the liquor) but instead something Scottish? I wonder how a Scotch based soup would be... ←

So, suzilightning, which are you entering in the NJ Cooking Contest: Tomato, Corn, or Blueberry?? ←

Anyone else done the contest thing? Anyone win? I remember a thread a while back about a chicken recipe contest... anything come of that? ←

beginning usually in october/november we take turns making soup and bringing it into work. and then pig out on it for lunch.since i was hawkwatching till the end of november i was off the hook until now so january 19 i'll be bringing in soups for all and bread. somebody last year(our assistant director/marketing person) coined the phrase and so far this year there has been a lentil, chicken and rice, bacon and potato, harvest vegetable, chili, minestrone and a few others i don't remember. this is what you get for being a librarian - we tend to be very food friendly

last night was vegetable soup. on the menu in the next two weeks will be scotch broth(when john is away since he can't abide the smell of lamb), split pea and vegetable beef. the last two are for our soup daze at work. i'm making two kinds since one of the people i work with won't eat "green soup" and i really do like her

i am about to move into my second workout shoe box. i keep a small number of cookbooks and transfer any recipes from the discard pile to cards and file them by type - breads - quick; breads - yeast; chicken; chicken - breasts; desserts; desserts - chocolate, etc.(ok so i'm a librarian - it's that training ). do the same with my magazines then pass them on - to friends, people i work with, egulleters. will pull out the recipes i need for stocking the fridge or for a meal and i love it. i get to pull recipe for a main and sides and then just move them around till i have a composition i like - wow, kinda like what i do with fabrics for quilting now i think about it. would go to word files but i love to practice my penmanship and it would deprive my in-laws of a cheap present for me - recipe cards edit to say i do have to keep up my place as the semi-luddite of my workplace though i am far and away ahead of most of the people in my in-law and friend circle -scary

oh my goodness beautiful food, y'all johnnybird just had a blue tasting : maytag,saint agur, and colton bassett stilton with a wee glass of luxe a sparkling wine from domaine ste. michelle dinner is in my new dutch oven : beef stew using leftover beef, potatoes, mushroom sauce, beef stock, and beans paired with fresh garlic, onion, a bottle of porter, carrots and parsnip with a bundle of tarragon and rosemary from my indoor pot plants. will serve with some salad and some rolls. munch on...

ok- i did my own reception years ago as well. do not panic and put as many people to work as you can . 50 people end of may tennessee and semi-non-adventerous eaters(one of the women i work with is from morristown, tn and we have coached her through a few new adventures) plenty of sweet tea maybe bbq instead of pasta for the rehearsal dinner? there probably is a place fairly nearby known for it's bbq and with the sides it can be a fun local thing. dinner looks good reception - i'm guessing the 50 will be at the reception not at the dinner. deviled eggs - usually overlooked but loved by most non-adventurous eaters baked filet thin sliced and served on small pieces of baguette and daubed with a mustard horseradish sauce or some herbed cheese small quiches but keep it simple - ham and cheese, bacon and onion wrap the shrimp with some local smoked bacon cheddar biscuits filled with local ham small filo tarts(you can buy these in the freezer section) fill with chocolate mousse and top with a cherry or some raspberries congratualtions, enjoy and remember the wedding is one day - the marriage is for your lifetime (22.5 years later and i still haven't killed him though he isn't retired yet )

saffron china 46 restaurant nicholas hot rods bbq (if they ever open) cooper fish house, cape may

i have done something similar to melissa's first recipe but without the tomatoes. you won't need the toothpicks if YOU DO NOT OVERSTUFF THE CALAMARI. 1 - 1 1/2 tsp is all you need for most of their little bodies.

linda- at christmas all my mil kept saying was how moist it was - and i had only cooked half of one!! the people i buy from have a very large farm in the hudson valley of new york and have been raising chicken.capon, turkeys, etc for several generations. i treat it more like a chicken than a turkey. as i type there is the other half in the oven. it rests on a bed of aromatics and was seasoned with salt, pepper and some ground sage. roast at 325 for about 1 1/2 - 2 hours. i'll carve the breast for us and keep the leg and bones to do soup. i really prefer them to chicken or turkey - maybe because they are free range. hmmmm..... note to self - try their turkey later this year and do a comparison. you might also check out the area to see if anyone raises them locally. since i know where these guys come from and how they are raised i buy them and bring them back home for use.

Shame on Rachel for not knowing where Newburgh is! I mean it's got a Hudson River bridge half-named after it! ←

maggie - when do your tomatoes come in? late august/september? i'm currently testing a recipe for a tomato rice soup i hope to have worked out to submit to a contest here in nj. i'll post or pm it to you to make with the best of the summer fruit. what kind of squash soup are you interested in? i have several for pumpkin or butternut squash. i also have a recipe for hot and sour soup with shrimp from ming tsai that i've played around with. will pop that off to you if you're interested. interesting because at work all fall/winter we take turns making soup or chili and bring it to work for lunch one day during the week. a fellow worker saved me her ham bone from christmas and i'll be making pea soup with it in two weeks. i'm toying with combining split peas and frozen added at the last minute for an interesting texture contrast. will serve this with country rye bread and cheddar beer cheese.

we had a good time exchanging our presents and eating. course the best part was the side by side taste test of the 100 year old and 150 year old grand marniers. getting ready to head to warren county and bird for the day. happy and healthy new year to all!!!!