Rice Plus Anything And Everything

 O ne of the easiest meals to make right now is rice.It's a filling comfort food that can be mixed with anything and eveything. You can mix it with fresh or leftover ingredients.

Instant rice is the best kind to work with , especially if you're a novice home chef.It 's a quick cook and also lower in carbs and calories if you're actually watching your weight right now. You could go for brown rice for a healthier alternative. Keep in mind that that flavor is slightly nutty flavor that may overpower more delicate flavors and spices. The same thing with basmati rice which has a nutty, spicy and sometimes floral flavor.The second question is what do you boil it in? water works the best but if you do want more flavor then thinl any kind of broth, from beef, to chicken to vegetable. This on it's own is a good and easy lunch or dinner. Add some butter and Parmesan and it'a great instant meal.Another good aspect of rice is that you can make two cups just for yourself our five or six for a family meal. It all dpeends on what you use the rice for. A cup is great in leftover soup but if you're making  a dinner, with gresh ingrdients, then use five to six cups.Just gauge it/

What can  you add to rice? Sauteed veggies are good. Think onions, broccoli and mushrooms sauteed in garlic and olive oil. It's a refreshing version of fried rice and made vegetarian by the addition of all these different veggies. You can also add some sliced carrots and peas too. If you want to make it heartier add some chicken , beef or shrimp. These can be sauteed separately or with the veggies themselves. Leftovers like ham or turkey can also be added to any rice dish for a satisfying lunch or dinner. You can add leftover  gravy to moisten it and also give it more flavor.  Repurposed leftovers like cubed sweet ptoatoes, and green beans can be added  if you want or jsut make a stand alone rice dish with these for a tasty side.  Aspicy dish is good on a cold night. You can make a Spanish or Tex-Mex version with the addition of chili or some hot peppers.Add a dash of chili powder and a small can of tomato sauce along with a dash of cumin. If you want toss in  some cooked crumbled beef or shredded chicken for a kind of enchilada feel.

A bowl of rice is satisfying. It's also versatile. Make it anyway you want, with favorite veggies and meats.

Easy Cooking Days

 The week between Christmas and New year's should be an easy one.This includes cooking. eveything should be a snap. Easy to cook and easy to eat.

I felt this way after two days of heavy cookiing. I just wanted something simple to make with what ever was in the refrigerator. I had the Lucenre egg whites left over from cookie baking. I had spinach. Why not makeone of my favorites - a spinach scramble.

It's just mixing half a carton with a bowl of baby spinach leaves. I cooked it in Melt for a lovely buttery flavor. It's not elaborate.It cooks quickly in only minutes. Of course I had to have bacon.

A few slices of  Morningstar Farms bacon completes it. 

This was easy  cooking at it's best. No fuss, no triumverate of air fryer  microwave and stove going for hours. No army of pots pans, or dishes to contend with afterwards/It was filling and fun comfort food.

This is the week for simple cooks.. Don't sweat it . make your favorite no fuss no muss dishes. Treat yourself to some easy comfort food.

The Merriest of Christmases

 A very happy and joyous Christmas to my readers around the world. May the day be filled with food and cheer, drink and presents. Remember those in war torn Ukraine and those suffering from homelessness and food challenges across the globe. Pray that their days will soon be filled with the contentment of a warm meal with family and friends.

Enjoy those cookies and candy canes. I know I will.

Cookie Making Part Two The Icing

 What makes a Christmas cookie cute? How it's artfully decoarated. However it does take skill and patience, along with a solid icing.

That's what I thought I had when I was all set to decorate these, those sugar cookies that I baked from a Wilton recipe.

I was more than excited to use my Wilton's squeeze bottle icings

These have to be heated in the microwave every fifteen seconds to get the icing more pourable

. It worked with the white and with the green somewhat. The red was another story. It was very runny and dripped off the cookies.

                                                           These are the early ones

To be honest it was hard to work with the icings. They could be drippy or like paste. I used a small plastic knife to flood in the Santa and snowmen hats with the thin red icing.

As for the Chrsitmas lights I just filled those in with a squiggle of any of the three colors and white icing at the bottom to simulate the screw in. 

It took a while and several microwave heatings to decoarate all thirty  cookies. I was very lucky to have my three tier cookie rack from Wilton to put them. The cookies needed air so they icing could dry properly.

The icing set pretty nicely and adds a lemony flavor to the cookies. They look cute and are fun to eat. I just need more practice for my next batch.

What is a Christmas cookie without icing? Just a cookie. It needs a zing like Wilton's icing to give it some zing and oomph!

Christmas Cookies Part OneThe Making

 What is Christmas without festive cookies? That's what many are thinking as bakers of all levels pursue th tradition of making a plate. I went into the cookie fray  -

I wanted to use my new cookie cutters from Wilton . And what better than using them on WIlton cookie dough.

This is not a dough for the faint hearted.

Since I also bake vegan I had to sub in Melt for butter and used Lucerne egg whites for the egg. The rest is basic cookie dough. It does have to be mixed in two bowls. First i'ts reaming two sticks of butter with a cup of granulated sugar and one egg. Also three and a quarter cups of flour is sifted with a teaspoon of baking powder and a quarter teaspoon of salt.The flour is added to the mix one cup at a time until a sticky ball is formed. It's then dividing it into two rectangular loaves

Here comes the fun part  - rolling it out. This was a dough to be reckoned with. The rolling pin and table had to be floured over a few times

It's rolling it out to a twleve inch circle, (More square in my case) and 1/8th of an inch thick (more like half an inch in my case). It's then using the floured cutters to cut out the shapes

This is the first batch, before baking

Thye look anemic and it took twenty minutes to bake as opposed to the usual eight to ten minutes

 This is them baked. The yield is around thirty. The dough became flaky and crumbly after four or five rolling out and it was impossible to cut shapes.

You can see how it got crumbly and how it sticks to the rolling pin despite all the flour used.

                                 This is the entire batch , waiting to be iced .I did do a taste test and it is a very pleasant almond flavor

Tomorrow will be the finishing touches to turn them into holiday gems. They will be transformed into multicolored holiday treats. There are Santas, snowmen and lights waiting to be decorated.

It's Panettone Season

 They're everywhere. In stores. Gracing bakery windows. On every Nonna's holiday table. What are these popular holiday treats?Panettone or panetung if you grew up in a Piedmontese household.

Regular contributor Julia Moskin wrote about thos beloved and historic bread in today's New YorkTimes Food section. This traditionally Northern Italian treat has become a global moneymaker with all sorts of variation over the world. The standard which originated in fifteenth Century Milan is a domed sweet bread with a golden crumb. scented and stidded with sugared fruit.It's in the same family as German stollen,Polish chalka and British fruitcake.It was made with expensive ingredients like eggs and butter, refined flour and sugar, spices from Asia and preserved fruit from the Mediterranean.Later on bits of chocolate were added and regional ingredients such as lemon from the Amalfi coast and hazelnuts from Piemonte. As Italy unified panettone became the national symbol of Christmas.It was beribboned and wrapped in fancy paper. However thanks to commercial baking the bread lost some of its' famed luster.They became dry and flat tasting thanks to cheaper ingredients like candied squash (!!!) and milk powder.

Luckily there is a renaissance of sort for the treat.There are more artigianle ones being made as opposed to industriali, that is it's going back to it's hand wrought origins instead of being mass produced.There's also the threat of outside sources such as  Peruvians, Argentinian and Brazilian producers like Bauducco and D'Onofrio where Northern Italian immigrants settled in the late 19th Century (especially in Argentina). The other problem is that panetoone from MIlan is protected like San Marzano tomatoes or prosciutto from Bologna. Luigi Biasetto, a top baker in Padua is leading an effort to have the bread declared as part of the world's cultural heritage.It is a difficult bread to create. Two separate doughs are required, each a challenging mix of high gluten flour. The first dough is slowly fermented to a specific level of acidity which takes twelve to twenty four hours, depending on microbial activity.It requires constant monitoring of temperature and humidity. rich ingredients , much like during panettone's early days are being added in. Gucci (yes Gucci) and Fornasetti are adding Belgian centrifuged butter and pure Madagascar vanilla. The king of panettone Ray Schvartzapel creates a more bready one  with cherries and pistacchios. There are even World Cup style panettone competitions.

Panetoone is such a cherished holiday treat. You can spend a lot or a little on it. Every slice is a wonderful bite into tradition.

Brisket For The Holidays

 Whether it's Christmas or Hannukah , brisket is the meat to serve.It;s' tasty and can be prepared a number of different ways. Another plus is that it's great for sandwiches the day  after.

What is brisket exactly first of all?It's a large cut of meat from the breast or lower chest of the cow.It is one of the nine beef primal cuts and one of the four main barbecue meats.It's relatively a tough cut because the animal works for moving. You can easily buy it at your grocery store but you'll get a better cut at your butcher's. The best way to soften the meat is slow cooking which breaks down the meat's fibers.If you want to make it for one of the nights then think of cooking it with brown sugar, tomatoes and red wine vinegar for a tangy sweet and sour bite. Serve with carrots and potatoes to round it out. You can also cook the meat first and them create a sauce to pour over it (which also would be good for hot leftovers the next day). Can you oven cook it? Yes! Rub it first with salt and pepper (or any rub).Doing this will create a craggy, crunchy crust that's a crowd pleaser. Then it's cooking it low and slow over night in the oven for twelve to eighteen hours. Keep the temp at 250 degrees farenheit.if it higher it will dry out the brisket and toughen it.Tent it with tinfoil for a tender bite and then leave it uncovered for the last three hours.

Brisket makes a wonderful alternative to ham and turkey for Christmas. Shake it up some by first rubbing it with a mix of garlic, onion and chili powders blended with Cajun seasoning and a teaspoon of liquid smoke.The spices are rubbed on the lean side of the flank and then sprinkle on the liquid smoke. Tightly wrap the brisket in Saran wrap and refrigerate overnight.  While this it chilling make the sauce. Take half an onion and two to three garlic cloves and mix with A1 steak sauce, liquid smoke and Worcester sauce. Add thyme, Cajun spices and cayenne pepper for more spice. This sauce is poured over th e meat and everything is cooked for  six hours.  (You will have to get up super early on Christmas morning if you want it done by one PM) save the pan drippings and cook for ten minutes in a sauce pan over a low flame.  What to serve with this.Roasted sweet potatoes would be good, especially if you serve it with a whipped cinnamon honey butter. Another tasty side is a tangy green bean salad, a change up from the traditional casserole.

Brisket is perfect for either Hannukah or Christmas.The cut is perfect for a family dinner or party. Try it at your holiday gatherings.