[26] Rum Raisin Cookies

Cover of The Complete Book of Cookies, edited by Deborah Gray

I made these cookies for a friend who had been having a rough time recently. I figured it’d be fun to joke about having some rum without actually having some rum (so she could have a cookie and then still do other things, like teach). Though, I have to admit, I mailed them to her, so I don’t know that she joked about rum before class. I hope she did.

It was also nice because I had almost all the ingredients on-hand. I had to run out and get some raisins, but that was quick and painless.

I don’t know how the recipient felt the cookies tasted. I thought they needed the rum flavor to come out more. Bill felt they were super tasty, and has already requested a second batch.… Continue reading →

[25] Beef Stew Variation 1

How to Cook Everything, Revised Edition by Mark Bittman

Beef stew isn’t really considered your average summer dish. I wouldn’t typically make it in the summer any more than you would. I think of beef stew as a deep winter dish, full of warmth and flavor, and no small amount of fat. It’s most certainly not “summery”, “light” or “refreshing”.

However, guess when none of that matters? When it’s the middle of summer, you have most of the ingredients on hand, and you accidentally thawed stew meat instead of beef chunks for stir-fry. At that point, you make stew and be thankful you can get a blog post out of it!

Actually, it turned out quite nicely, and I’m looking forward to making it again when the weather cools off. And given we live in Chicago, Bill and I should have plenty of cold weather in which to repeatedly make this dish.… Continue reading →

Bummer

Yesterday I thawed about a pound of “tri-tip steak”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tri-tip that Bill had purchased at the farmers’ market a couple months ago or so. It was big and beautiful and nicely lean. NONE of our cookbooks had a recipe for making it delicious. I forgive the vast majority of them (especially the vegetarian ones), but I was surprised that “_How to Cook Everything_”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764578650?ie=UTF8&tag=metaco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0764578650 and “_Joy of Cooking_”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0026045702?ie=UTF8&tag=metaco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0026045702 didn’t have anything. And, if you look at the Wikipedia link above, you’ll note that there’s a few names for tri-tip. None in either book.

Maybe there are yet more names. I don’t know them. I do know, however, that Bill threw that steak on our new friend, Rob’s loaner grill, and made something delicious. While keeping our five-year-old guest entertained and unburned.… Continue reading →

[24] Grandma L.’s Zucchini Bread

Well, near the end of living in the old place, I dipped into “_How to Cook Everything_”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764578650?ie=UTF8&tag=metaco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0764578650 quite a bit to figure out how to use up perishable goods, especially veggies from our CSA (which we had delivered through the whole process).

This recipe is the last of the recipes that was made in our old house, and is one of the few from that time that did not come from _How to Cook Everything_. Instead, it came from my dad’s mother.

Over the years, I’ve had a lot of this zucchini bread. My grandmother makes it often, it freezes well and is generally delicious. Also, in case you are already thinking about the upcoming holidays, my grandmother makes a basket for every household that contains all sorts of super things.… Continue reading →

[23] Turnips in Creamy Mustard Sauce

Cover of How to Cook Everything, Revised Edition by Mark Bittman

I just posted about a meal that was made basically based on what was in the fridge, where the main dish was pork chops. This was the major side dish. This recipe is actually a variant on a recipe in _How to Cook Everything_; the mustard sauce is not normally creamy. However, I had cream in the fridge that didn’t have any other recipe home and was going to go bad, so creamy mustard sauce it was.

Very good choice, I’d say. But maybe that’s just because I didn’t want the cream to go bad. 😉

h2. Ingredients

2 tbsp butter or extra virgin olive oil
1.5 lbs turnips, cut into chunks about the size of radishes (He says really most root veggies will work here.)… Continue reading →