Martha Mondays: 8/1

Sassy Suppers has chosen a fun little craft project for us for next week – drink umbrellas. Perfect for the hot weather. Now I just need someone to make me a virgin strawberry daiquiri to go with it! And someone to fan me.

And just a note to apologize for my lack of posting lately. I am writing another cookbook (can’t say what yet since the contract paperwork is in progress, but very delayed) and it is taking up so much time! I have been simply buried in work. The Parchment Paper Cookbook has finally finished the editing process and will be out in November. The Organized Kitchen is in editing right now (I think that one comes out in Dec or Jan) and the new cookbook is due at the end of October. I’ve also got a new edition of my book The Complete Credit Repair Kit coming out in November.

This summer has just been crazy, driving kids around, spending weekends at the lake, and an endless parade of medical and dental appointments. I hope to get back to a regular posting schedule very soon. I *still* have not gotten the July issue of Everyday Food which is really annoying me!!!

Martha Mondays: 7/25

Megan’s Cookin’ has chosen Summer Bread Salad for next week’s project. Very timely!

Martha Mondays: Turtles

SteakNPotatoKindaGurl chose turtles for today’s project. I was amazed at how easy this recipe is. It literally took 10 minutes. Pretty amazing – and no bowls either. It’s all done in the oven. Mine turned out nicely. I thought the caramel was a little hard to chew – maybe it got cooked too much in the oven, but other than that they were good. I immediately got them out of the house though and send them to Mr. MarthaAndMe’s office.

Martha Mondays: 7/18

SteaknPotatoKindaGurl has chosen Chocolate Caramel Pecan Clusters. Can’t wait to see how it turns out.

Marinated Hot Dogs

My friend Casey wrote a post at Good. Food. Stories. about marinating and crosshatching hot dogs before grilling them. I had to try it. I marinated mine in ketchup, mustard, and tamari overnight. I cut diagonal cuts in the dogs before marinating. Teen Martha is a hot dog aficionado and she liked them a lot. I didn’t feel like it added a whole lot of flavor to mine, but it was definitely fun to give it a try.

Martha Mondays: Chocolate Tart

It was my turn to pick this week and I chose the section in July Living with the chocolate chip cookie desserts. I made the chocolate tart with the chocolate chip cookie crust. I knew going in that this was going to be a lot of work – first you have to make the cookies, then you use them to make the crust, then you make the filling and bake that. You could definitely just buy pre-made cookies to make this crust if you wanted to.

Apparently, I was a little impatient, or it was just so dang hot that the cookies never really cooled, so when I whizzed them up in the Cuisinart with the melted butter, the whole thing turned chocolate since the chips were not set.

The tart filling was not hard to make and baked up nicely.

Here’s the recipe for the tart (I didn’t think there was anything special about the cookies):

16 choc chip cookies, finely ground, 2 cups

2 tbsp melted butter

for filling:

1 cup heavy cream

8 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1 tbsp butter

Mix cookie crumb and butter then press into a 9 1/2 inch tart shell with removable bottom.  Refrigerate 30 min. Then bake at 350 for 10-12 min. Make the filling by bringing cream to boil and pouring over chocolate. Stir in other ingredients after chocolate has melted. Pour into the shell and bake at 300 for 20-24 min until the edges are set.

This looked pretty and cut nicely. It was way too rich for me though, like eating candy. We cut one small slice, everyone had a taste, and off it went to Mr. MarthaAndMe’s office for others to enjoy. It was very good, but not something I could ever actually eat more than a couple little bites of.

Martha Mondays Schedule

Here is the upcoming schedule for Martha Mondays. Let me know your pick the week before. Thanks!

7/18 Steak and Potato Kinda Gurl

7/25 Megan’s Cookin’

8/1 Sassy Suppers

8/8 Perfecting Pru

8/15 and 8/22 we’re taking a break

8/29 Tiny Skillet

9/5 Sweet Almond Tree

9/12 MarthaAndMe

 

Martha Mondays: 7/11

It’s my turn to pick for Martha Mondays and I’ve chosen the section in July Living on pp 58-62 – the chocolate chip cookie desserts. Feel free to make one of your choosing. If you don’t have the magazine, let me know and I will send them to you (they don’t seem to be up on the Martha site yet).

Potato Salad

I hope everyone had an enjoyable 4th of July! We spent it at the lake with my parents, where they have what they call the “Ring of Fire.” Everyone builds fires and lights flares and the lake is circled with red light. It’s beautiful. And of course there are lots of fireworks, shot off of people’s docks.

To celebrate, my mom baked lobster tails. She also made a Caesar salad and garlic herb bread. I made a vegetable dish (garlic scapes,

Wearing our Ring of Fire shirts

broccoli, zucchini, and corn) and potato salad. The potato salad is a family tradition – my grandmother made it for every summer family get together.  It’s one of those dishes that has no recipe – you learn to make it by watching. This year I paid attention as I dumped and am able to share the recipe. It’s one of my favorite dishes in the whole world!

5 lbs white potatoes

5 stalks celery, diced

1 sweet white onion, diced

1 jar Miracle Whip Light

1/4 cup yellow mustard

5 hardboiled eggs, plus 1 reserved

1/4 cup chopped parsley, plus a few springs reserved

salt and pepper

paprika

Cut the potatoes into thirds and boil until tender. Let them cool then peel or cut the skins off. Cut into bite sized pieces and put in a big bowl. Add the celery, onion, Miracle Whip, parsley and salt and pepper. Chop the 5 eggs and add. Stir until mixed. Top with one hard boiled egg that has been quartered, the remaining parsley and sprinkle with paprika.