Cool, creamy creamsicle cheesecake, Aug 30-Sept 12, 2019

Next Salon Sept 13, 2019 – Happy Labor Day!

Hosted by Barbara J Nosek

New Salon every Friday – c’mon in

CS friends, and help yourself to tasty resources!

  Here’s what you’ll find when you scroll below  

  TIDBITS – nukin’ the eggs / bubbles where??? / odd coffeemaker cleaner    CS MARKETPLACE SPOTLIGHT – gussy, helpful lunch totes    FEATURED RECIPE –  make it light or make it dense    TIP – notable    THE WEEK – pizza reheat verified / EZay mole / see you on the Bridge beloved Misty

  TIDBITS 

Newsy, schmoozy stuff for cooks 

♦  Modesty aside, I make a darn decent poached egg but ‘fessing up, it does entail a number of steps. So, somewhere along the line I will be trying this nuker method, but meanwhile wanted to share it with you. The tale teller says the microwave offers “in fact, the best way to make a consistently delicious poached egg.” When I do, will sure let you know.

  OK, which of you dear CS-ers will be first to try this? CA-based Andre Champagne Cellars is now offering its bubbly . . . in cans. Choose Brut or Brut Rose, the former the company says with hints of lemon and pear, the latter with raspberry and cranberry. Available online and at retailers you can find on their site.

  Well I guess if you can put your “teeth” in this stuff, it would seem it would be safe for your coffeemaker. I first found this on MyRecipes, the trick of cleaning your coffee maker with denture tabs. Given the sources they cite in the story and the number of other sites I found with this same idea, again it would seem to be OK. But we all can make up our own minds.

♦  CS MARKETPLACE SPOTLIGHT   

Transporting lunch in style

Well I must say, lunch bags now are sure a lot different than the cartoon lunch box I had as a kid and the brown bags that accompanied me some days to an office. Good looks and practical applications are now the order of the day.

Some are insulated, others have beverage compartments or other extra pockets or pull-out drawers, and at least one is a reusable take on the classic brown bag. Selections for little kids and “big” kids.

ICOLOR Dogs Design Hot Kids Neoprene Insulated Lunch Food Tote Bag Box cover baby bag Gourmet Handbag lunchbox Case For School work LB-115 by ICOLOR    8x4x10" 12 Pcs. Medium-Small Multi Color Reusable Tote Bags, Grocery Bags, Fabric Shopping Bags with Handles Eco Friendly- 100% Recyclable Bag         MAZFORCE Original Lunch Box Insulated Lunch Bag - Tough & Spacious Adult Lunchbox to Seize Your Day (Wolf Grey - Lunch Bags Designed in California for Men, Adults, Women)      PackIt Freezable Lunch Bag with Zip Closure, Festive Gem

The Amazon page also features reusable snack bags and sandwich bags, and multi-packs of bags in  many colors. Filter your choice to your liking.

Reusable lunch bags on Amazon    Those that are 4 stars and up

  FEATURED RECIPE  

How about this as a sweet finish

. . . for your Labor Day get-togethers? It started when I saw a reference to creamsicle desserts, and that got me thinking about a creamsicle cheesecake.

But didn’t want one that was separated into layers but rather a rich blend that gave you the full experience with every forkful. Hello google, thank you Pillsbury. This is the one that is linked below.

One thing, I wanted a nice dense texture and so left out the whipped topping. It still actually came out a little softer than I wanted, though the flavor was quite creamsicle-y. Did a second version based on the AllRecipes cheesecake prep we featured in our 08.02.19 Salon, but in a nod to this original, a 6 oz can of thawed oj instead of the lemon juice and then orange jello powder – it {shown} was a little firmer, also good flavor, but think I want to keep tweaking.

Either, btw, could work nicely just spooned into dessert dishes. And a little chocolate drizzle can’t hurt. And if you really want to go into wretched excess in the pie version, use a graham cracker crust.

creamsicle cheesecake recipe

  TIP  

Not food, but a food companion

Just a little ps to our spotlight above. 🥪🥚🥕🧁💌😁

When I was just a kidlet taking lunch to school every day, every now and then my mom would secretly slip a little note into the tote. Something about the food, something funny, or just an I love you.

This was such a day brightener, and because they weren’t all the time they were always such a nice surprise when they did appear. A little touch of home while away from home.

This can be a sweet gesture by anyone packing lunch for anyone else. That means big kids too.

  A PEEK AT MY WEEK  

Welcome to my kitchen and living room

  Verified! I tried the pizza reheating method linked in our 08.02.19 Salon. It involved the hot skillet step most of us probably already knew about. But here there’s a second step, drizzling just a few drops of water and covering the pan. Crust is crisp, top is melty. Hooray.

  My Mexican friends, you might want to look away. Because this fast, easy, minimum ingredient mole would never compare with the complex sauce in any of its variations that is such a fabulous staple of authentic Mexican cuisine. Maybe I can be forgiven because I have made sure to incorporate the most classic flavors in this blend. So, here ’tis – all in a food processor, slightly cooled fat from frying 2 strips of bacon {the bacon is your snack}, 1/4 c chicken stock, 1 T each peanut & sesame oil, 2 T chipotle sauce, 1/2 c smooth peanut butter, 1/4 c ea raisins & bittersweet chocolate chips, 2 chopped garlic cloves, 1 t cumin, 1/2 t onion powder, tiny pinch cinnamon. Shown here on shredded chicken.

♦  Very personal note: lost my precious Misty on Aug 20 after a mercifully brief illness. I’ve removed her photo, page links under the Preview, and Preview credit on the homepage, but her History Page and Gallery remain, links in the top bar. I’ve also added a note at the end of her History page. So, my CS friends, there’s now a FoodieCat just beyond the Rainbow Bridge, where golden catcaves are filled with soft pillows, moving toys, and platters of bacon and tuna, tended by hosts of angels ever-generous with hugs, kisses, brushies, and ear scratches.

So far next time: peanut butter chocolate cookies with a shortcut, laundry tip {what’s that doing here?}, Emeril + Julia = recipes, cheese/chocolate pairings, lunch on the go and in style, veggie passion, good food tv series

Last week, just below:  no-bake key lime, finding Netflix food shows, Taco Bell news & recipe, indoor grilling, griddles & smokers, bacon cheddar dip, Trisha Yearwoods’ chalkboard cookies, Venetian/English breakfast, all-in chocolate pie, gluttony good???

Direct access to Amazon homepage through my personal link

Looking for something in CS? – scroll & check previews OR use the search box OR email me at bjnosek@gmail.com, also valid for questions & comments – see the Let’s Chat tab for details

Note, transactions are solely between the buyer and linked supplier

Photo credits – lunch totes Amazon, all others mine

All pages ©2019 CooksSalon.com

Cook with passion and a party spirit, whether for a crew, or for two, or just for you

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Kids’ bacon cheddar dip, Aug 23-29, 2019

Hosted by Barbara J Nosek

New Salon every Friday – c’mon in

CS friends, and help yourself to tasty resources!

R.I.P. Beloved Misty {note on her History page}

♦  Here’s what you’ll find when you scroll down  

  TIDBITS – no-bake key lime / showfinder / pop goes the Taco Bell    CS MARKETPLACE SPOTLIGHT – outdoor grilling, phooey    FEATURED RECIPE – it’s bacony, tasty, and a multi-tasker    TIP – chalk up one of the fun-est cookie tricks ever    THE WEEK – Venetian/English breakfast / this time it’s pie / gluttony good???

  TIDBITS 

Newsy, schmoozy stuff for cooks 

  Room for one more no-bake dessert? It’s creamy key lime pie and wow is it easy. Just 8 ingredients, 3 steps. BUT, choose instead a store-bought graham cracker crust and it’s 5 ingredients, 2 steps. WAIT, not done. Choose plain over pretty and it’s 4 ingredients, 1 step! And, from MyRecipes, a darn reliable source of good stuff.

  Got Netflix? Did you know about the secret code that lets you instantly find all their food shows? Food & Wine tells all, how to access it, how to use it.

  Taco Bell fans, pack your bags for Palm Springs. That where the Mex chain is opening a pop-up hotel this month, with a menu of TB favorites gussied up a bit. Or, put your suitcase back on the shelf and just serve some of their Fire Chip Chilaquiles, recipe included in the story. And if you want to dress or accessorize for the occasion, there’s also an online TB store.

  CS MARKETPLACE SPOTLIGHT   

Love grilling – but the ” great outdoors”, not so much?

Solution – indoor grills. Yikes, who knew there are so many possibilities, both electric and stove top. Some good Amazon prices too, don’t know if always or special for end of the season.

They range from the quite gussy, like the plug-in Hamilton Beach shown, complete with view Hamilton Beach 25361 Electric Indoor Searing Grill with Removable Easy-to-Clean Nonstick Plate, Viewing Window, Stainless Steelwindow, adjustable heat, non stick surface, plus the hood, plate, drip tray all dish washer safe, $69.99 at Amazon {list $89.99}, 4 1/2 stars.

At the other end of the spectrum, stove top grill pans. Here, the Lodge 10.5 square inch cast iron griller, pre-seasoned, $18.90 at Amazon {list $44.30}, 4 stars.

But, as they say, wait, there’s more. Indoor griddles that sit atop your stove also are available with grill grooves. And, you can even find indoor smokers. Neener neener bees, mosquitos, wind, rain, etc.

Elec grill shown    Stove-top pan shown  ♦  4 star & up electric grills

4 star & up grill pans   4 star & up griddles    4 star and up stove-top smokers

  FEATURED RECIPE  

Bacon rules a cheesy dip that lives on in other tasty ways

In our 08.02.19 Salon we featured cookbooks for kids. Because of “my kid” Misty I had chosen to focus on ‘Bacon Artist.” Nice recipes for soup, salad, sandwiches and snacks, plus cooking methods and safety tips. Bacon Artist: Savory Bacon Recipes (Kids Can Cook!)

I mentioned that the first recipe I would likely try was the bacon cheddar dip, and now I’ve done exactly that, and hooray! As the title indicates, its first incarnation was as a dip, which the book suggests serving with crackers, chips, and such veggies as carrots, cauliflower and broccoli.

But oh, can it go way beyond that. Since the recipe makes quite a bit there were lots of leftovers after taking s star turn during cocktail hour with friends. It’s next use was a sauce for pasta, thinned a bit with bouillon, sprinkled with parsley and parm. Future uses: over sauteed chicken or shrimp, napped on scrambled eggs {such a natural with the bacon and cheese}, or maybe the book’s suggestion to roll it up in tortillas, chill, cut into pinwheels.

Amazon has the subject of kid cookbooks thoroughly covered. The link below filters the selections by best rating but you can further customize by age group, format, condition, Prime and more.

Bacon Cheddar Dip recipe  “Bacon Artist”    Cookbooks for kids, 4 stars and up

  TIP  

Another whimsical way to decorate food – thanks Trisha!

In our 07.26.19 Salon we drew designs on holiday food with food pens and food gels. Now during a recent episode of Trisha Yearwood’s Food Network show, “Trisha’s Southern Kitchen,” she displayed another way to play.

But she went one better. Wait till you see how.

It started with butter cookie dough, cut into rectangles and then baked and cooled. Each was covered almost to the edge with store-bought royal icing that had been blended with black food coloring to create what looked much like a child’s small chalkboard.

So then we need . . . chalk. Oh what fun, Trisha nuked bright white candy melts until the mixture could be piped into silicone tube molds and refrigerated until firm. And then voila! Not only can you eat the decorated “chalkboard – you can also eat the “chalk.”

Trisha’s prep    Trisha’s cookbooks    tube molds at Amazon    Food Network

  A PEEK AT MY WEEK  

Welcome to my kitchen and living room

  So, came across a reference to “Venetian Breakfast,” and a google check outed it as a double contradiction. First, it’s a London phenomenon, more specifically for the stylish set in the early 1800s. Second, it was generally served in the early afternoon {!}  But what we CS-ers care more about – what was served? All my usual sources were frustratingly mum on the subject. But what I did find would seem to indicate the term refers to the time of the party rather than its dishes.

  So as to not go away totally foodless, I took a look at what’s known as a full English breakfast on the premise there could be some similarities. Here it is at its “fullest” – back bacon {much like ham}, fried eggs, fried or grilled tomatoes, fried mushrooms, fried bread or fried or grilled oatcakes or buttered toast, sausages {bangers}, white or black pudding {or both}, baked beans, sometimes even bubble & squeak, along with HP sauce, ketchup and marmite plus coffee, tea and fruit juices. The accounts of actual 1800s breakfasts also included beer, wine & ale.

  The newest “all-in” is a chocolate pie. The filling: the leftover cheesecake from the lemon tarts in the 08.02.19 Salon thawed from freezer and blended with a chocolate medley that had been melted into a can of sweetened condensed milk – a mixed bag of milk chocolate and bittersweet chocolate chips, some of a Lindt blueberry/acai chocolate bar, a Hershey’s bar with Reese’s Pieces, and the Hershey’s Gold bar with peanuts and pretzels that was decorated for Dad’s Day in our play-with-your-food Salon 07.26.19, probably about 2 cups in all – into a store-bought crust, then chilled till firm. And yes, luck struck again, because it turned out exceedingly good, dense like a thick mousse.

  Well here’s a different take on one of the Seven Deadlies – found in my notes from “American Food Writing,” quoting turn of the century columnist Elizabeth Robbins Pennell on gluttony which she says – “deserves  nothing but praise and encouragement . . .  it is the result and proof of the digestive organs being perfect . . .{m}orally it shows implicit resignation to the commands of nature . . . {and} love of good eating is an incentive to thought, a stimulus to the imagination.” Ohhhhhhhkay.

So far next week: peanut butter chocolate cookies, easy mole, creamsicle cheesecake™, what cleans your coffeemaker???, poachin, taking lunch, notes to go, verified – pizza reheat

Last week, just below: no-cook dinners, impromptu grilling basket, reincarnating spices, Calvin Trillin’s funny food book, cilantro peanut dip, cilantro recipes, two stick trick, farmers market tips, dinner on a stick, Trillin vignette

Direct access to Amazon homepage through my personal link

Looking for something in CS? – scroll and check Misty’s previews OR enter the item in the search box OR email me at bjnosek@gmail.com

Note, transactions are solely between the buyer and linked supplier

Photo credits – grills & book/Amazon, cookies/Trisha Yearwood on Food Network, all others/mine

All pages ©2019 CooksSalon.com

Cook with passion and a party spirit, whether for a crew, or for two, or just for you

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Peanut Cilantro Dip, Aug 16-22, 2019

Hosted by Barbara J Nosek

& Misty the FoodieCat

CS friends, help yourself to tasty resources!

  CatChat –  Misty previews this week’s salon  

  TIDBITS – neener neener stove / impromptu grilling basket / reincarnating spices    CS MARKETPLACE SPOTLIGHT – funny food guy    FEATURED RECIPE – cilantro overload?    TIP – two stick trick    THE WEEK – farmers market tips / dinner on a stick / funny Trillin

Misty’s History    Misty’s Gallery

  TIDBITS 

Newsy, schmoozy stuff for cooks 

  Fall is just around the corner but most of us will still be spending time in the swelter zone. So how welcome to have Food & Wine bring us a slide show of “12 No-Cook Dinners” to make right now. In the lineup, colorful roast beef summer rolls, tuna banh mi, spicy Asian chicken lettuce cups.

  Love this guy. F&W’s Justin Chapple comes up with the darnedest Mad Genius Tips, in this case crafting a grilling basket out of baking racks and paper clips. He describes it in steps, but it’s easier I think to understand if you watch the on-page video.

  Haven’t needed yet to try this, but love the idea. When you find spices in your pantry that have exceeded their expiration or best buy date, there’s an alternative according to My Recipes that can help bring whole or dried spices back to life. Pretty easy too, just involves some skillet toasting. There are also some interesting videos on the page.

  CS MARKETPLACE SPOTLIGHT   

Trillin makes food funny

Peter Meehan, who was the late super food writer Jonathan Gold’s editor at the Lucky Peach, said in the Gold dvd {well nuts, thought I had mentioned this in a previous Salon, but guess not – will remedy that next week – great, great video} – “modern food writing began with Calvin Trillin.” Who, in fact, appears in that dvd.

Trillin has a unique approach to his subject. In the intro to his entry in “American Food Writers” Alice, Let's Eat: Further Adventures of a Happy Eaterauthor Molly O’Neil calls him “a hungry amateur in a world of overwrought connoisseurs, an anti-gourmet . . . {s}elf-deprecating and never at a loss for irony, the reluctant foodie serves slices of real life, hold the pretense.”

What he tells you about here is not so much a critique of food or chefs or restaurants as it is his pursuit of something wonderful he had before, something enticing he’s heard about, or something he wants out of sheer curiosity, And he’s willing to travel the world to track down that lusted-for bite.

In, “Alice, Let’s Eat,” we learn right at the start the identity of his two true passions: love of food and love of wife. It’s despite the former and because of the latter that he’s willing to forgive Alice for her “seemingly uncontrollable attacks of moderation.” That playful tension marks much of this little book full of big smiles. A joyful read. Four stars on Amazon, Kindle, paper and hardcover.

“Alice, Let’s Eat”    A trilogy that includes “Alice”    Other Trillin books on Amazon

  FEATURED RECIPE  

Too much cilantro?

Well I’m hoping some day I can say that about the yield from my mini indoor garden, but for now took advantage of a good sale at my market. Then, ahhhhh, what to do with all of it?

Good ol’ AllRecipes told me exactly what I could do with it – in of course the nicest possible way. The one that I chose turned out to be a lovely, versatile dip –  a tasty take on classic peanut sauce.

A couple of notes. Because of the cilantro, though I may have overly-indulged my love of this herb, it takes on a color that belies its flavor. Also, I did add just a touch of salt. One more thing, this is quite the delightful tongue tingler, but if you’re not a spice fan you’ll want to cut back on the pepper flakes. Note as well that it thickens {and gets even better} in the fridge.

The recipe suggests such dippers as French bread and veggies, showing what looks like bell peppers, baby bok choy and maybe jicama. But found this to be also great on pita crackers, crisped flour tortillas, even in entree mode on roasted chicken or pork, or as I did, on scrambled eggs  {shown}.

Easy too! Some minimal chopping, a couple of rounds in the processor, and done!

Peanut Cilantro Dip recipe    Other cilantro preps on AllRecipes

  TIP  

Taming the kebab

So, we’ve had some fun here with courses on skewers. And yet one more appears in “Week” below.

Whenever I’m kebab-ing, I like to use two sticks. This makes the ingredients behave, keeps them from doing roly polys as they would on just one stick.

This trick is especially helpful if you are making say an all meat kebab that you’ll be cooking in a skillet or the oven or on the grill. When you turn them over, everyone goes along for the ride.

You can see this two-stick-er in the photo below.

  A PEEK AT MY WEEK  

Welcome to my kitchen and living room

  I love farmers markets and one of my very favorite mags, Sunset, just made that experience even better. A reader in a recent issue asked how to get the most out of these bounty of the earth fests. Some of the suggestions I liked best – bring three bags, one each for sturdy produce, tender items, and dairy/meats/eggs, do a couple of laps before you buy anything, and bring small bills.

  Both here in the Salon and in my “50 Kitchen Tricks” book we’ve seen courses on a skewer – breakfast, appetizer, salad, and dessert. Now a recent issue of Food Network Magazine takes it a step further and spears dinner on a stick too. Their creative takes were actually kebab-ing classic sandwiches – banh mi, Philly cheesesteak, turkey club, and meatball & eggplant parmesan {all on this page}. The one I played with – roasted pork tacos wrapped with green salsa & cheese and heated and browned in a skillet, alternated with avocado, tomato and seeded jalapenos, served with red salsa rice and simple nachos.

  I love this glimpse into Calvin Trillin’s love affair with food, delivered to us in the “Alice” book featured above. He’s fondly recalling a  thick potato pancake he enjoyed some years back and the fact that it is eaten while standing up – and that, Trillin says, is “a method that gives the eater the additional pleasure of being able to jump up and down occasionally in delight.”

So far next week: all-in pie, Venetian breakfast, chocolate peanut butter cookies, no-bake key lime pie, food show code, gluttony good???, Taco Bell pop-up hotel, recipe & gear, wait till you see these cookies!

Last week, just below: Martha’s spicy pulled pork in the slow cooker, s’mores ice cream cake, Uber add-on, un-frying, great kitchen organization trick, choc/cheese sammie 2.0, a sideways thinking way to solve red wine stains, put what now in the egg salad? 

Direct access to Amazon homepage through my personal link

Looking for something in CS? – scroll and check Misty’s previews OR enter the item in the search box OR email me at bjnosek@gmail.com

Note, transactions are solely between the buyer and linked supplier

Photo credits – books/Amazon, all others/mine

All pages ©2019 CooksSalon.com

Cook with passion and a party spirit, whether for a crew, or for two, or just for you

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Martha’s Slow Cooker Spicy Pulled Pork, Aug 9-15, 2019

Hosted by Barbara J Nosek

& Misty the FoodieCat

CS friends, help yourself to tasty resources!

  CatChat –  Misty previews this week’s salon  

  TIDBITS – S’mores cake! / Uber what now? / well that’s one way to deal with a red wine stain    CS MARKETPLACE SPOTLIGHT – a whole new fry-day    FEATURED RECIPE – Martha goes spicy    TIP – kitchen tangle, your days are numbered    THE WEEK – egg salad 2.0 / weird sammie upgrade / oink too! {M – could I have the other parts?}

Misty’s History    Misty’s Gallery

  TIDBITS 

Newsy, schmoozy stuff for cooks 

  A classic summertime treat just got even cooler and sweeter. I hope the picture police don’t come after me because I just had to share the image of this S’mores Cake ice cream cake. It’s on the Tasting Table page but from Pinterest and some of those are public domain and some aren’t – as always we credit the pic below. And yes, the recipe is on the page too.

  Am I missing something here? So, on some evenings you just don’t want to cook, and it’s Uber Eats to the rescue. All well and good. But now in select cities in the west, Uber is testing a “Dine-In” option. Rather than having me try to describe it, since I’m not exactly clear on the benefit, you can see the story for yourself. Then, what do you think?

  So, last week in Tidbits {which is immediately below this week’s Salon} we ran a link to an article about removing red wine stains. Came across this and thought it was pretty funny – don’t remove the stain, go with it! Here’s that solution.

  CS MARKETPLACE SPOTLIGHT   

What do you see?

To me, this looks like a cute little alien that dropped out of the mothership to bring futuristic help to the kitchen. Especially if you’d like a future that includes fried foods without the oil-driven frying.Dash DFAF455GBAQ01 Deluxe Electric Air Fryer + Oven Cooker with with Temperature Control, Non Stick Fry Basket, Recipe Guide + Auto Shut Off Feature, 6 qt, Aqua

For appetizers, desserts, wings, fries, it guarantees your food will come out crisp every time. Set the temp, set the timer, go do something else for a while {they say “minutes”}.

Cook-friendly features include auto shut-off, cool touch housing, all non-electric parts dishwasher safe. Match your kitchen with an exterior of black, white, red, aqua. Recipe book too, and recipe database access.

The chicken photo shows their crispy promise. It’s 4 1/2 stars on Amazon, Prime eligible, at this writing $20 discount. Some comments: “awesome,” “great recipes,” “everything comes out perfect.”

Dash Electric Air Fryer on Amazon

  FEATURED RECIPE  

Tasty, Spicy, Easy!

Not just the most tender ever pork. But also, those spicy and herby ingredients join onions and tomatoes and play together for hours in the slow cooker, all emerging as a unified bounty of flavor, ready to pile onto a bun or a plate, or as the recipe suggests, into taco shells with cheddar or {and?} sour cream. Btw, feel free to add even more spice.

And because it’s Martha behind this Spicy Pulled Pork, you already can pretty much guess there are cooking tips too. And as she notes, the easy prep all comes together in a matter of minutes.

Martha has a entire cookbook devoted to slow cooker recipes {good discount right now on Amazon}. As it promises, “110 recipes for flavorful, foolproof dishes {including desserts}, plus test-kitchen tips and strategies.”

Slow Cooker Spicy Pulled Pork recipe  “Martha Stewart’s Slow Cooker” cookbook  

Stewart’s other cookbooks    Other slow cooker cookbooks, 4 stars & up

  TIP  

Kitchen help – from the office supply store?

I love this storage trick. No more the jumble of baking sheets, cooling racks, toaster oven pans, and cutting boards that used to fight it out for space in the cabinet.

Now they play nice in folder holders, the kind you’d find at Office Depot or Amazon. And you can multiple the capacity by additionally storing more of these kinds of items between the ends of the sorter and the cabinet walls. I actually use three of them.

Btw, this {she noted shamelessly} is one of the 50 kitchen tricks you’ll find in my Kindle book, 99 cents,  linked just below. Also a link for folder holders/sorters on Amazon, most pretty inexpensive, like under $20,  and saw one with 8 slots on sale for just under $10.

“50 Fun & Unexpected Food Prep, Presentation & Storage Tricks”   Folder sorters 

  A PEEK AT MY WEEK  

Welcome to my kitchen and living room

  Love egg salad? Love hummus? I recently arranged a “marriage” of the two. It still had the classic ingredients of onion, celery, a bit of dill pickle relish {some folks might prefer sweet} and then, the hummus in place of mayo. You know what – keeper!

  In our 05.17.19 Salon I mentioned two long ago experiences that had come together to create a grilled chocolate/cheddar sandwich. Now a new bit of information, a Food Network Magazine article on sprinkling smoked paprika on a whole buffet of foodstuffs including grilled cheese, sparked a memory of a wondrous chile/chocolate pie at a since-closed restaurant – all clearly suggesting that my sammie could go for an upgrade. Except I sprinkled cayenne. Thanks everybody!

PS – have the napkins handy!

  We CS-ers are pretty darn good at avoiding food waste. So guessing maybe we all can appreciate a comment by darling Tyler Florence on his Bite Club Show on Food Network a few weeks back. While creating pork dishes he said they use everything, “even the oink.”

So far next week: no-cook dinners, funny food book, farmers market tips, dinner on a stick, peanut cilantro dip, cilantro recipes, reviving spices, a A-Team approach to a grilling basket, two-stick trick

Last week, just below: pizza help x 2, Irish breakfast, red wine stains, kids cookbooks, no bake lemon cheesecake tarts {easy!}, parchment paper & squash tricks, scones ps x 2   

Direct access to Amazon homepage through my personal link

Looking for something in CS? – scroll and check Misty’s previews OR enter the item in the search box OR email me at bjnosek@gmail.com

Note, transactions are solely between the buyer and linked supplier

Photo credits – s’mores cake/Rachel Vanni/Tasting Table, air fryer & chicken/Amazon, all others/mine

All pages ©2019 CooksSalon.com

Cook with passion and a party spirit, whether for a crew, or for two, or just for you

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No-bake lemon cheesecake tarts, Aug 2-8, 2019

Hosted by Barbara J Nosek

& Misty the FoodieCat

CS friends, help yourself to tasty resources!

  CatChat –  Misty previews this week’s salon  

  TIDBITS – pizza help duo / begorrah, the winner is . . . / out damned stain    CS MARKETPLACE SPOTLIGHT – cookbooks for kids    FEATURED RECIPE – so good, so easy, so refreshing    TIP – one from Ina Garten {and one for her???}    THE WEEK – more Med / ps to scones recipe / ps 2 to scones recipe

Misty’s History    Misty’s Gallery

  TIDBITS 

Newsy, schmoozy stuff for cooks 

  Pizza help – x 2! The first, from Food & Wine, is a reheating trick – in a skillet to get a crispy crust which I had heard of, and then the addition of a few drops of water to melty-up the cheese which was new to me. The second, from Well Done, tells you what you can do following that cry of owwwww {or something stronger} when too hot pizza assaults the roof of your mouth.

  Lads and lassies, gather around Ireland’s favorite meal, as determined by an IrishCentral poll. Yep, it’s the full Irish breakfast, and hooray the story is replete with recipes for all the contenders. Btw, in the photo for bacon and cabbage you’ll see what you’ll likely be served in an Irish pub when you order bacon, often offered as an entree because it’s like the best ham ever.

  Another chance to expand your vocabulary occurs when you or someone else accidentally douses your good stuff with a glass of cab or pinot. Well Done to the rescue with their guide, “How to remove red wine stains from almost anything.” One tip I also heard, fortunately no opportunity yet to test, is to immediately pour white wine on the stain. For any of these probably want to try first on a small area.

  CS MARKETPLACE SPOTLIGHT  

Kids can cook!

And did you know – there are all kinds of cookbooks for kids. Because of “my kid” Misty I chose  ‘Bacon Artist.” Nice recipes for soup, salad, sandwiches and snacks. Bacon Artist: Savory Bacon Recipes (Kids Can Cook!)

The pages also talk about becoming a bacon artist including safety tips, the kinds of bacon, cooking methods, making bacon bits, and of course recipes. Think the one I’ll try first is the bacon cheddar dip.

Amazon has this subject thoroughly covered. There’s a link below filtering the selections by rating but you can also customize by age group, format, condition, Prime and more.

“Bacon Artist”  ♦  Other cookbooks for kids    Cookbooks for kids, 4 stars and up

  FEATURED RECIPE  

Tart lemon, sweet cheesecake 

A Tasting Panel Selection

I have to give primary credit to AllRecipes because the cheesecake layer is totally theirs. It was actually for a regular full size cheesecake with cherry pie topping. Their readers gave it 4 1/2 stars.

For our version, we spooned the creamy mix into store-bought graham cracker tart shells and then topped it with out of the jar lemon curd. You could certainly also add a dollop of whipped cream.

So, what makes this cheesecake so rich and creamy? Could it be full the pint of  heavy whipping cream??? Whether tart or full cake, this is the only recipe I’ll use from now on.

AllRecipes cheesecake  

  TIP  

What a good idea

And so obvious have to wonder if I’m the only cook/baker that hasn’t thought of it. Thanks to Ina Garten for this one.

Watching her “Barefoot Contessa” show on Food Network, where she was making meringues which in turn went onto parchment paper. She wanted them to be a particular diameter and so marked the dimensions on the underside of the paper with a pencil. Voila, instant guide.

And then in a moment of spectacular immodesty, wondered if I could give her a tip{!} For the next dish, filled acorn squash, she talked about how hard it is to cut this veggie in half. With a knife Attila could have taken into battle she sliced into one of the grooves and then banged the whole works on the board till it fell in two. Ummm, what I actually do before backing is pierce the squash in a few places, nuke it for about three minutes, and watch a regular knife go through it like butter. 😉

Ina Garten cookbooks on Amazon    “Barefoot Contessa” on DVD    On Prime Video

  A PEEK AT MY WEEK  

Welcome to my kitchen and living room

  As a followup to my mention in the 07.19.19 Salon of the “The 30-Minute Mediterranean Diet Cookbook,” I’ve now found further encouragement with a Clean Plates post identifying “The Best Products You Can Buy for a Mediterranean Diet” – just in case you’d like to try some of this too.

  A ps to the scones prep we posted on our Recipe Page in conjunction with the food pen design for St. Pat’s Day in the 07.26.19 Salon. The original comes from the AllRecipes site which you can see here. It actually called for cranberries and walnuts rather than dates and pecans. the latter a nod to my mom’s awesome bread. Also I adjusted the recipe somewhat after reading some suggestions in the comments, and then adjusted it a bit further after our Tasting Panel session.

  Fair warning that my final version leans more toward moist than crumbly and just as noted in some of the comments this can make the step of cutting the dough into separate triangles a bit of a challenge. Two things I think I’ll try for future times, one is to deeply score the whole round of dough and then finish cutting through after baking, and the other is to use a biscuit cutter instead as shown in this joyofbaking demo. It’s certainly worth the effort because these are really good, and even the original, despite some issues posted on the page, rates 4 1/2 stars.

So far next week: dare to air, kitchen storage trick, weird upgrade for weird sammie, egg salad in love, Martha’s slow cooker recipe

Last week, just below: Play with your food! Draw colorful designs right on holiday classic fare, year ’round fun 

Direct access to Amazon homepage through my personal link

Looking for something in CS? – scroll and check Misty’s previews OR enter the item in the search box OR email me at bjnosek@gmail.com

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Cook with passion and a party spirit, whether for a crew, or for two, or just for you

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