So the New Year is here…

and I have been enjoying my holiday food and especially all of the wonderful recipes from The Pioneer Woman.  She makes delicious food, but unfortunately, neither my husband nor I expend the calories that a cattle rancher does. So I’ve spent today trying to figure out where I can come up with some delicious recipes for the new year that are delicious and healthy and not so chock full of butter and cream.

I remembered a show at one time on The Food Network featuring a chef named Ellie Krieger but she’s no longer on their network. She’s now on the The Cooking Channel.  So I navigated over there and then accidentally found “Not My Momma’s Meals” featuring Bobby Dean. His show is all about lightening up Paula Deen’s recipes. I love her recipes (another butter and cream lady), so I’ve set it to DVR regularly and started watching the first one now.

He made over Paula’s Fried Apple Pies with a baked apple pie featuring a whole wheat pie crust with flaxseed meal and pecans.  I’ll be trying it right away.  I’ve been trying to find a whole wheat crust recipe for a while.  I’ll post pics as soon as I’ve tried it.

Here’s the recipe in case you want to try it with me.  Bobby Dean’s Whole Wheat Pie Crust

How are you changing your cooking strategies for the new year?

Question of the day

How much is 5 cubic feet worth? According to the price difference between two different all-refrigerators, $5,500. Really?

We’re remodeling our kitchen and I wanted to replace two side-by-side refrigerators and a full-size freezer with an all-freezer and an all-refrigerator.

Subzero $6800 23 cubic feet
Frigidaire $1300 18 cubic feet

Wow!

Holiday Meal Planning

Here’s my plan (along with recipes) for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Can’t wait!

Christmas Eve Dinner

• Fajitas (Our traditional Christmas Eve Fare) 
• Nachos
• Soda
• Pumpkin Pie (Brian’s Request)

Christmas Morning

• Peach Almond French Toast (recipe from Emeals – sorry can’t link it)
• Cinnamon Rolls
• Coffee

Christmas Dinner

• Prime Rib with Rosemary Salt Crust (from The Pioneer Woman)
• Roasted New Potatoes
• Burgundy Mushrooms (from The Pioneer Woman)
• Whisky Cream Sauce (from The Pioneer Woman)
• Chocolate Espresso Torte with Raspberry Sauce (recipe from Sunset Magazine)

 

 

 

Marley’s First Cooking Lesson

This is the first time we’ve cooked together, Marley and me. I measured and she poured!  She also sifted!

Making Them Beautiful Again

For years, my mom has been giving me Wallace’s Sterling Silver Sleigh Bells as my Christmas ornament. I think I have close to 20 of them now. Every year when we get out our Christmas decorations, I unpack these with dread. I know they’ll be tarnished and they always are.

This will be the last year of that! I’ve had enough battles with the silver polish! This morning, I remembered seeing a pin or a post or something about polishing your silver with a solution in a pot lined with foil. So I surfed and found it today.

Here’s the link: How to Polish Silver Video and Steps

To get these babies submerged, I needed a fairly big pot so I pulled out my 16-qt stockpot.  I needed about 5 quarts of the solution to get them covered.

Here’s the fabulous result!  What would have taken me at least 2 hours to do with silver polish, took me 10 minutes (I did them in 2 batches). And even the insides are tarnish free, something I could never achieve with silver polish!! Make sure you try this!!