Cooking with Kindle

Got Kindle? I'm referring to the Kindle wireless reader from Amazon.com. If you watch Oprah, you might have seen hers when she unveiled it as her new favorite gadget back in October. Well, I have one and I agree that it's my favorite gadget as well. I love my Kindle!

So, what does a wireless ebook reader have to do with cooking? How about a cookbook, in fact a cookbook library, for Kindle? How about getting it free? You might be familiar with Cook's Illustrated magazine or its related show, America's Test Kitchen. Each issue of the magazine features best ways to prepare favorite American dishes, best (and worst) cooking equipment, best brands, and best cooking techniques. What the magazine doesn't have is advertising, so you get your money's worth on every page of each bimonthly issue.

Now, for Kindle, there's Cook's Illustrated How-to-Cook Library: An illustrated step-by-step guide to Foolproof Cooking. Long title, also a very long cookbook. I got it for my Kindle because it's being offered free, and I'm very glad I did. (Note that the Amazon.com page says it's available for preorder. I preordered mine on February 14 and got my download a few days ago. Also note that I don't know how long this cookbook will be offered free of charge.) The cookbook translates very well to the wireless format. Even the line illustrations come across well and are quite helpful in demonstrating the techniques that are taught along with the recipes.

I'm loving this cookbook! How does "Spinach and Avocado Salad with Chili-Flavored Chicken" sound? That's the first recipe I plan to try, and I'm sure it won't be the last. I'll try and remember to take a picture of it and post it here later.

I'm far from a techie wizard, though my geek side does seem to be showing some lately, but incorporating ebook technology in my kitchen is something I'm very happy to do if it provides me with an awesome collection of great recipes. Off to go buy spinach and avocados. Happy cooking!

My Recipe Lensography

Whoops. If you're not familiar with Squidoo, you might be wondering, What in the world is a lensography? The pages that we make on Squidoo are called lenses and sometimes, to organize our lenses by topic, we make another lens to list them all and call it a lensography. Make sense?

Since I make recipe lenses on Squidoo (among other topics) I recently created a recipe lensography, gathering all of my recipe lenses on one page. Additionally, I included a plexo, a section where other lensmasters on Squidoo can add their recipe lenses. Already I have a huge collection of some of the best recipes from real people on Squidoo!

If it seems like I'm writing in a foreign language, that's okay. Don't worry about the terminology, just think "new recipes." I hope you'll check them out soon.

Aren't These Retro-Style Aprons Adorable?

My friend Dianne found these retro-style aprons and I think they're just adorable. If you like vintage-style fashion or cute things for your kitchen, or if you need a unique gift for a cook or a hostess, these would be absolutely perfect.

Click on the picture to see this apron as well as the entire collection of 1940s and 1950s-inspired retro-style aprons from Get Go Retro. Which one do you like best? I can't decide!

Fanny's Hearty Reuben Bake

Need something different for dinner? Here's a good choice, another one of our favorites, one I don't fix often enough. Let me give you the recipe, then I'll tell you where it came from.

Hearty Reuben Bake

1 c. Bisquick
1/4 c. water
2 pkg. corned beef (see note 1)
8 oz. sauerkraut, drained
1/2 c. Thousand Island dressing
2 c. shredded Swiss cheese

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease an 8 x 8 inch pan. Combine Bisquick and water until soft dough forms. Beat vigorously for 20 strokes. Pat in pan with floured hands. Arrange corned beef slices evenly over dough. Mix sauerkraut and dressing. Spoon over corned beef. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake for about 30 minutes. Garnish with dill pickles. Serves 4. (See note 2.)

Note 1: Use the little 2 ounce packages of pressed, dried corned beef from the packaged deli meats section.

Note 2: The original recipe says it serves six. I changed it to say four. In reality, my husband and I rarely have any leftovers when I serve this for dinner for just the two of us, so plan accordingly.

I believe this recipe came from Bisquick as I have seen it elsewhere online, but I got it years ago from a recipe book that my mom's bowling league put together. You know how projects like that go. Everyone's supposed to contribute several recipes, but it's usually just a few people who have to take up the slack and end up contributing a boatload of their own recipes to make the cookbook nice and "meaty." That was the case with this cookbook and, rather than having the same contributors' names appearing over and over again, those few hard workers who made the book gave some of the heavy contributors names like Franny Five-Pin, Tillie Ten-Pin, and Fannie Frame, whose name went on this recipe. Thus, Fannie's Hearty Reuben Bake!

Easy Eggplant Parmesan

I don't remember when I first got past the odd name "eggplant" and started eating Eggplant Parmesan (or is it parmigiana?), but I'm certainly glad I did. If you love Italian food and haven't tried this delightful dish, it's time for you to find some of this lovely purple fruit (yes, it's a fruit, cooked like a vegetable) and give this easy recipe a try. Actually, I don't use a written recipe, but I'm going to type this out just like I make it, and I promise that it's simple and probably quicker to make than it's going to sound.

Susan's Eggplant Parmesan

1 medium-sized eggplant
1 egg
Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
cooking oil (olive oil if you're careful, corn or canola oil if you tend to burn things)
1 can Hunt's spaghetti sauce
8 ounces sliced or shredded mozzarella cheese
grated parmesan cheese

Wash the eggplant, cut off the ends then slice into about half-inch thick slices. Crack the egg into a bowl big enough to fit an eggplant slice; beat the egg with about a teaspoonful of water. Pour some of the breadcrumbs into another similar bowl. Begin to carefully heat about 1/4 inch of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Dip an eggplant slice into the egg and coat, then follow with a nice dip into the breadcrumbs (I use tongs to do this). Move the coated eggplant to the skillet and brown. (I prefer to use olive oil, but just watch and make sure it doesn't get too hot. You want it browned, not burned.) Repeat with more eggplant slices, enough to fit the skillet. Brown for a few minutes on one side, then turn and brown on the other side. When nice and golden and the eggplant has softened, remove to a paper towel. Repeat, adding oil as needed, until all the eggplant is browned.

Next is the casserole step. Pour about a quarter of the spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a shallow casserole dish. Top with a single layer of the browned eggplant. Pour a little more of the spaghetti sauce over top. Add a layer of mozzarella cheese followed by a good shake of parmesan. Repeat, making three or four layers, depending on how much eggplant you have. End with plenty of cheese.

Cover the casserole with aluminum foil then bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes, longer if the casserole is bigger. I bake until it smells done and looks nice and bubbly. Let cool for about five minutes then cut into serving-size portions, serve and enjoy.

Certainly you can double this recipe, just use a bigger casserole dish. I don't know how "official" this recipe is, but I can promise you that it's very, very good. In fact, I just might have to fix this for dinner tonight. If you make it, please come back and let me know you liked it!

All-American Italian Pasta Salad

This is Memorial Day weekend and it seems fitting to serve good ol' American home cooking, so at our house we're going to start off the weekend with Italian Pasta Salad, made in my good ol' American kitchen.

Here's my recipe.

All-American Italian Pasta Salad

16 ounces rotini pasta
8 ounces mozarella cheese chunk, cut into small cubes
4 ounce can sliced black olives, drained
2 small zucchini, cut into chunks
1 package pepperoni; cut slices in half if they're big
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped red onion
2 medium tomatoes, cut into chunks
1 bottle of your favorite Italian-style dressing

Cook the pasta as package directs. Drain and rinse with cold water; drain well. Combine all the ingredients except dressing in a large bowl. Add about three-quarters of the bottle of dressing and stir well. Cover the bowl and chill for at least a couple of hours for flavors to blend. Before serving, add the remainder of the dressing and toss. (The pasta tends to absorb the dressing, so it's nice to save that last little bit for serving time.) Makes a nice, main dish pasta salad. Serve with garlic bread.

During this Memorial Day holiday weekend, don't forget to fly the flag to honor those who have died in service to our country. If you need to review a little history to remember what Memorial Day is supposed to be all about, I would suggest this page from history.com.

Have a wonderful red, white, and blue weekend!

Do Not Adjust Your Set, or When to Serve Jell-O by Candlelight

I was hungry for fruity Jell-O the other day and found fruit cocktail on sale while shopping at the local grocery store. I happily grabbed a couple of cans, looking forward to soothing my craving, then headed to the gelatin aisle.

Now, fruit cocktail just screams “red Jell-O” to me, and that was going to be my dilemma, deciding from among the various red flavors. Would I choose cherry, the perennial favorite, or would raspberry win out? And what about the strawberry, or even the cranberry if it were in stock this time of year? I rounded the corner of the gelatin aisle and, lo and behold, what did I see but a sale sign. Sales are good and their accompanying signs always catch my eye. This one was no different but, interestingly, there was only one sign and it was below the lime Jell-O, the only flavor on sale. Well, now I had a dilemma. It’s pears that scream “green Jell-O,” but I had chosen the fruit cocktail. Do I mix and match instead of color coordinate, or do I return to the canned fruit aisle and pick up pears? Was the sixteen-cent markdown on the green Jell-O enough to justify going against tradition and altering my usual fruit/Jell-O pairings? Not surprisingly, the sales won out and fruit cocktail with green Jell-O it would be.

This afternoon, as I began to prepare the fruity Jell-O to accompany the chicken and noodle casserole for dinner tonight, I opened the cans and knew even before I added the boiling water to the gelatin that I had a mis-match situation on my hands, but the decision had been made, the cans were open, and my anxious taste buds (which don’t have eyes) had made up my mind to go for it.

It’s the little cubes of orange peaches that clash the most, I think, but I know that even though it’s going to look a bit unusual, even teetering on the edge of unappetizing, my Jell-O fruit salad is going to taste just fine. I think we will dine late tonight, and by candlelight.

Snacks for Cub Scouts (and other kids)

When my younger son was Cub Scout age, I was the den mother for his little den of Cubs. In one of my cookbooks is a piece of paper that I obviously copied for the boys, labeled "Easy Snacks for Healthy Cub Scouts." Here are a couple of the recipes that I included.

Snack on a Handle

Spear cheese cubes, meat, or fruit (pineapple, grapes, strawberries) on straight pretzels.

Apple Pinwheel

Core an apple. Stuff the opening with peanut butter, cream cheese, or cheese spread. Chill. To serve, clice crosswise.

Both of those still sound really good. The apple pinwheels would require a lot of adult help for little guys, but the snacks on pretzel handles would be a great "recipe" to use to show children how to prepare a nice plate of snacks for family or friends - or maybe for a Blue and Gold banquet!

The Best Easy Banana Pudding Recipe

I love banana pudding. Mmmm. Made some for Easter dessert and it's almost gone. I may just have to make another batch! Here's the recipe. It really is easy quick and easy, and the result is absolutely delicious!

My Best Easy Banana Pudding Recipe

2 boxes Jello vanilla instant pudding
3 cups cold milk
3 bananas
about half a box of vanilla wafers
1 carton Cool Whip

In a mixing bowl, prepare pudding by whisking the pudding mixes into the milk. Peel and slice the bananas and stir into the pudding. Gently fold in about half of the carton of Cool Whip. Cover the bottom of a pretty glass serving bowl with the vanilla wafers and stand a few wafers upright around the edges (so they show from the outside). Pour in about a quarter of the pudding mixture. Add another layer of vanilla wafers and stand a few up around the edges. Pour in about half of the remaining pudding and repeat a layer of vanilla wafers. Pour in the rest of the pudding, add some vanilla wafers around the edges and then top with the remaining Cool Whip. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour, preferably a few hours or overnight. Serve.

This is so very creamy and rivals homemade banana pudding. You can substitute the cooked version of the pudding if you prefer; just cool a bit before adding the bananas and the Cool Whip. You could also use a pie crust of your choice (graham cracker or a regular baked pie crust), leave out the vanilla wafers and make an easy banana cream pie instead.

Let me know how you like it!

Spring Ahead to Easter

Seems like we just had Leap Day, now tonight we "spring ahead" for an extra-early daylight saving time. Easter is sneaking up on us quickly, too, so it's time to mention my Pink Pickled Eggs recipe again. Have you tried it? If you or your kids can't get past the "pickled" part of the name, call these gorgeous pinkish-purple eggs something else, like Real Pretty Pink Easter Eggs That Taste Good, because they are!

Have you planned your Easter menu yet? Will you have Easter brunch or a big Easter dinner? If the thought of planning makes you want to tear your hair out, you probably could use this guide to A Stress Free Easter Holiday. Lucky for you (and me) it's an e-book, instantly downloadable, and, as one of those cute little marshmallow peeps might say if it could talk, it's "cheep!"

And, if you need a special activity to help your children understand the importance of Easter, consider making Resurrection Cookies with them the night before Easter Sunday. It's a great way to teach them why Easter is really cool, and the cookies are good, too.