Congratulations to Hayley! I’ll get your book to you. Merry Christmas!

So my friend Tilly and I have a cooking show. Stop laughing. Please. Yes, I know. That’s why I haven’t said anything about it on this blog.

Then the 200th post thing came up and I thought, Now would be a good time to post something about it since you’ve been filming since May. Yes May. Seven months. In front of the camera before I’ve returned to pre-pregnancy weight. If that exists anymore.

Cooking in front of the camera. Cooking in my kitchen. At least it gets cleaned once a month. The camera man doesn’t pan the dining room table where everything I don’t want on camera is piled.

You can watch all of our epicsdes here and see the recipes.

This is our November show.

Now for the giveaway I keep mentioning. Sometimes when there are 9 or 10 children running around while filming a cooking show, things happen. Sort out the truth below and you will be entered to win . . . drum roll please . . . a book. I know. Shocking. I never give books away on this blog. The thing is I can’t decide which one right now so you’ll have to wait and see. Anyway, on to Stranger than Fiction. Maybe Truth or Fiction. Wait, I know, I know:

Kate’s Confusing Kitchen.

1. You can accidentally pour the pre-measured soy sauce into whipped cream instead of the vanilla (they are the same color after all) and the children will still eat it.

2. The camera man will stop the camera if one of the cooks has to change a baby’s diaper.

3. The camera man will stop the camera if one of the cooks has to nurse a  baby.

4. The four-year-old can walk on camera, declare he’s not wearing any pants, you can check that he is indeed not wearing any pants (or underwear), and it can all be edited out.

5. A pre-schooler can walk through the kitchen during filming, say, “I’m done,” and place a half-eaten banana on the counter.

6. Our tag line is, Family Dinner: Because You’re in a Hurry and We Make You Look Gourmet.

7. Chopping zucchini while holding a baby is easier with a second cook to move chopped pieces out of the way.

8. The Bumbo is the best invention ever! Babies can sit in it just out of camera view but with bare feet dangling in a glass casserole dish. Highly entertaining and surprisingly quiet.

9. Unwatched water does boil and may explode during filming scaring both cooks and the camera man.

10. One of the cooks is pregnant. The other one just looks like she is. Hint: I’m not pregnant.

So which one thing is not true? Yes, one. *shrugs*. Welcome to the Controlled Chaos Experiment I call my life. What? It’s too hard to pick? Okay, okay, I’ll tell you the answer. Yes, you can still enter the giveaway. Just leave a comment and you’re entered to win.

If you want to make me feel better, you could leave a comment about one of your own kitchen disasters or an embarrassing moment. Or you could just laugh with me at the ones I’ve listed here. Believe me, there are more. Many more.

Which one isn’t true? Number 6 of course. Our tagline is Family Dinner: Because You’re In a Hurry and We’re Not Gourmet. 

When my children ate the Pumpkin Crunch (scroll down for the recipe after clicking the link) Tilly made for the show, they said, “This is the best thing you’ve ever made on the show.”

I explained that Tilly had made it to which they asked, “So is Tilly gonna do all the desserts? Her raspberry shortcake was so good.” So my children are so happy Tilly endures my craziness so she can make them desserts. So go make this for your family. Enjoy.

A friend gave me some more rhubarb (thanks Kate!) so I thought I’d try out a new recipe. This is so simple and quick to throw together. I made it while our pizza cooked–yeah, it’s fast. The  sweet tartness is really yummy on a hot summer evening. So you’ll need about 7 stalks of rhubarb washed and cut into bite-sized pieces.

Toss in 2 heaping tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger. Grated, fresh ginger would be nice, but I didn’t have any on hand.

Add 1/4 cup of water, cover, and cook on medium heat until rhubarb is soft.

When the rhubarb is soft, remove the lid and let the mixture reduce. You can see there is almost no liquid left. That means it’s done.

Serve over vanilla yogurt. Enjoy!

Stewed Rhubarb Over Yogurt

7 stalks rhubarb, sliced into bit-sized pieces
2 heaping Tablespoons sugar
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 cup water

Place sliced rhubarb in a saucepan. Toss in 2 heaping tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger. Add 1/4 cup of water, cover, and cook on medium heat until rhubarb is soft. When the rhubarb is soft, remove the lid and let the mixture reduce. When there is almost no liquid left, remove from the heat and serve over yogurt. Makes enough to top 8, 1/3 cup-servings of yogurt.

]]> http://www.katrinapalmer.com/2011/08/19/stewed-rhubarb-over-yogurt/feed/ 0 http://www.katrinapalmer.com/2011/05/06/onion-roasted-potato-wedges/ http://www.katrinapalmer.com/2011/05/06/onion-roasted-potato-wedges/#comments Fri, 06 May 2011 21:34:09 +0000 Kate http://www.katrinapalmer.com/?p=2805 These little yummies are great replacements for french fries, potato chips, and tater tots. Get them in the oven before you start grilling hamburgers or making sloppy joes and you’re good to go. Let’s get started with our 3-count them 3-ingredients. So simple!

2 lbs. potatoes cut in large chunks
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1/3 cup olive or vegetable or canola oil
Preheat your oven to 450°. (Whew! I almost couldn’t remember the proper combination of keys to type the ° sign! It’s been a long time.)

After I chop the potatoes I like to par boil them for 5 minutes, drain them, and plop them into a large bowl. You don’t have to parboil them, but I find it makes them softer and takes less cooking time in the oven. You choose.

Now, drizzle the 1/3 cup of oil over the potatoes and sprinkle the packet of dry onion soup mix. Stir until the potatoes are well coated.

Now pour the seasoned potatoes onto a foil-lined cookie sheet, (important for easy clean up!) and slide ‘er into your preheated 450° oven for 30-40 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and golden brown.

Serve while still hot and enjoy!

Onion Roasted Potatoes

2 lbs. potatoes cut in large chunks
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1/3 cup olive or vegetable or canola oil

Preheat your oven to 450°. Set a large pot of water on to boil. Chop the potatoes into large chunks. Slide them into boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain. Pour into a large bowl. (Short on prep time? Skip the parboil and go to the next step. It will take a good 40-50 minutes in the oven without the parboil.)

Drizzle the 1/3 cup of oil over the potatoes and sprinkle the packet of dry onion soup mix. Stir until the potatoes are well coated.

Pour the seasoned potatoes onto a foil-lined cookie sheet, (important for easy clean up!) and put into a 450° oven for 30-40 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and golden brown.

Serve and enjoy!

Want breakfast ready the moment you wake up? This is the recipe for you. Be warned that the measurements I’m listing here make A LOT of cereal. This recipe makes enough to feed seven mouths in our house plus enough left overs to use in my bread recipe. Yes, it adds a bit of sweetness to the bread, but that just makes it perfect for toasting. (The fruit and raisins mostly dissolve after the sponge so you’re not left with chunks of apples and raisins in your bread.)

Let’s get started.

You will need:

5 C of water
2 C of nine grain cereal
(You can use a 7-grain or plain, cracked wheat, or your own mix. You can even try a cup of brown rice here for variety just keep the grain to water ratio the same.)
1 apple, peeled and chopped
1 Cup of applesauce + 1/4 C of water OR 1 C of unsweetened apple juice
1/4 C of dried cranberries or craisins
1/4 C of raisins
1/4 C of maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
Chopped walnuts for garnish.
1/4 C of dried apricots, chopped would be good in here, too.

How to Make It:

Place all the ingredients into a 4 or 5 qt. slow cooker. Yes, those are big chunks of apples, and yes, I was in a hurry. Nursing babies cry at night if their moms take too long to put them to bed.

(I tried using my large 7 quart slow cooker but the cereal ended up dry around the edges so I finally gave in and bought a 4 qt. slow cooker. Actually, I bought a 2 qt. slow cooker, got home, realized it was too small, and ran back to the store to exchange it for the 4 qt slow cooker. Learn from my mistakes.)

Stir until all ingredients are well blended.
 Cook the cereal on low for 8 hours or until the fruit has softened.

Sprinkle each individual serving with chopped walnuts. You can eat it like this OR

Serve with milk. Enjoy!

P.S. The leftovers are also very good reheated in the microwave for breakfast the next day. I love instant breakfast.

9-Grain Fruit & Nut Cereal for the Slow Cooker

5 C of water
2 C of nine grain cereal
(You can use a 7-grain or plain, cracked wheat, or your own mix. You can even try a cup of brown rice here for variety just keep the grain to water ratio the same.)
1 apple, peeled and chopped
1 Cup of applesauce + 1/4 C of water OR 1 C of unsweetened apple juice
1/4 C of dried cranberries or craisins
1/4 C of raisins
1/4 C of maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
Chopped walnuts for garnish.
1/4 C of dried chopped, apricots would be good in here too. Use your favorite dried fruits and nuts.

Place all the ingredients into a 4 or 5 qt. slow cooker. 
Stir until all ingredients are well blended.
 Cook the cereal on low for 8 hours or until the fruit has softened. Makes 6 generous servings.

Stir together dry ingredients:

1 cup flour
1 T. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Mix wet ingredients in blender:

1 egg
1 cup milk
2 T. vegetable oil
2 ripe bananas, broken into chunks

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients.

Stir, but leave the batter slightly lumpy. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium heat.

Pour 1/4 cup batter onto the griddle for each pancake.

Cook until almost all bubbles have popped and the edges are a little dry.

Turn and cook the other side.

Top with warm maple syrup and serve. But if you’re one of my boys, you should hold one pancake off the stack before you pour on the syrup so you can eat it on the way to school. Yummy! Enjoy!

Banana Pancakes

Stir together dry ingredients:

1 cup flour
1 T. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Mix wet ingredients in blender:

1 egg
1 cup milk
2 T. vegetable oil
2 ripe bananas, broken into chunks

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Stir, but leave the batter slightly lumpy. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium heat. Pour 1/4 cup batter onto the griddle for each pancake. Cook until almost all bubbles have popped and the edges are a little dry. Turn and cook the other side. Serve warm with maple syrup. Enjoy!

**NOTE:  For my family of two parents and five children, I triple the recipe.

I have not been disappointed. While I am far from having cooked every recipe in the book, my family has liked every single dish I’ve made. That is nothing short of a miracle.

Liz offers suggestions for side dishes to accompany her main courses. These suggestions are a good start to rounding out the meal. However, I always have to add another vegetable or two–but that’s simple enough.

She assigns a food theme to each day and uses that to plan meals for two weeks at a time. Her theme nights all revolve around the type of cuisine being served: Italian, Mexican, Grill, Pizza, Comfort, etc. I have used themes for quite some time, but mine are based more around the type of meat or the craziness of that night’s schedule: quick and easy, slow cooker, ground beef, chicken, with Mexican and Italian thrown in there.

I liked her cuisine-style themes, but it’s not a good fit for our lifestyle. I’m still working on meshing her themes with mine. For example, I need to make sure I throw in a ground beef night or two or I’ll end up with a freezer full of ground beef at the end of the year and nothing else. Also, I have one (at least) insanely crazy night each week where dinner has to be in the slow cooker so we can all eat whenever it is that we’re home that night. For me, I have to look at the week’s activities before I can plan dinner.

I have loved cooking out of this book. The recipes are simple and EVERYONE eats them.

You’ll need 4 bonleless, skinless chicken breasts. When I photographed this recipe, I used frozen because that’s what I had. Today I used fresh.

For the marinade you’ll  need:

1/3 cup of lime juice (or the juice of 3 whole limes)
5 cloves garlic, peeled
1 whole jalepeno, sliced or chunked
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cilantro
1/2 cup orange juice
5 T. olive oil

Place all marinade ingredients in blender and pulse to combine. Turn blender on and

drizzle in the olive oil. This marinade turns the most beautiful green color.

Pour the marinade over the chicken breasts. Then bring the blender close to your face and inhale. This smells heavenly. Cover and put in fridge. (If you have a gallon Ziploc bag, that would be great. It makes turning a breeze. I didn’t so I used my handy dandy Tupperware. You’ll want to marinate this for at least 6 hours. Remember to turn it sometime. Halfway is best, but we do what we can. Marinating overnight is better, especially if you’re using frozen chicken like I did. Today mine will marinate for 6-7 hours and it will still taste great.

Once you’re done marinating, throw the chicken breasts on the grill. I love the grill on hot summer nights when the last thing I want to do is heat up the house with the oven. Grill on both sides until no pink remains.

I like to serve this with Lime Rice and Pico de Gallo. Although a black bean salad would be really good here, too. Serve and enjoy!

(I’m thinking of using this marinade on shredded chicken for tacos someday. The experimenting continues.)

Grilled Lime Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Marinade:

1/3 cup of lime juice (or the juice of 3 whole limes)
5 cloves garlic, peeled
1 whole jalepeno, sliced or chunked
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cilantro
1/2 cup orange juice
5 T. olive oil

Place all marinade ingredients in blender and pulse to combine. Turn blender on and drizzle in the olive oil. Pour the marinade over the chicken breasts.  Cover and put in fridge. (If you have a gallon Ziploc bag, that would be great. It makes turning a breeze.) Marinate for at least 6 hours. Marinating overnight is better, especially if you’re using frozen chicken. Turn halfway through marinating time. Grill, serve, and enjoy!

]]> http://www.katrinapalmer.com/2010/08/14/grilled-lime-chicken/feed/ 6 http://www.katrinapalmer.com/2010/05/17/moronis-bbq-turkey-but-i-used-chicken/ http://www.katrinapalmer.com/2010/05/17/moronis-bbq-turkey-but-i-used-chicken/#comments Mon, 17 May 2010 15:13:44 +0000 Kate http://www.katrinapalmer.com/?p=2334 Moroni Feed Company is famous for its BBQ Turkey recipe for good reasons. This is one of the best ways to eat turkey. It’s even delicious served cold. Killer Beans are the perfect complement to this main dish. The store was out of turkey the Saturday night before our Spring break so I bought chicken tenders instead. It turned out even better than the turkey. Turkey tends to be a rather dry meat which is why this marinade tastes so good with turkey–it infuses it with more moisture. So marinading chicken creates very tasty moist and juicy pieces. Let’s get started. Here’s what you’ll need:

Moroni’s BBQ Turkey

5 lbs. boneless turkey breast cut into smaller pieces (or chicken)
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup soy sauce
2 cans 7-Up
1 1/2 tsp. horseradish
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Marinate meat for 18-24 hours in a large container with a lid.

**I put 4-5 lbs. of chicken tenders in a gallon-sized ziploc bag, poured in the marinade and placed it in the freezer until Monday morning when I moved it to the cooler before we left for Spring Break. It slowly thawed in the cooler and was ready to cook on Tuesday night.

The outside grill was being used by the dutch oven so we grilled this inside. An outdoor grill is preferable if possible.

Slowly grill and turn to cook other side. You can baste with the sauce as you grill if desired, but NOT if you do this indoors.

There you go. Easy Peasy and Delicous. Enjoy!

Moroni’s BBQ Turkey

5 lbs. boneless turkey breast cut into smaller pieces (or chicken)
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup soy sauce
2 cans 7-Up
1 1/2 tsp. horseradish
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Marinate meat for 18-24 hours in a large container with a lid. Barbeque slowly.

Here’s what you’ll need:

2 lg. cans pork and beans
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1/2 cup catsup
2 T. mustard
2 T. vinegar
2 T. molasses
1/2 cup brown sugar
Worcestershire Sauce
Tobasco Sauce
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/2 onion, diced

Plus:

1 lb. italian sausage, browned

Drain the sausage and stir in all other ingredients.

Cook until hot. How easy is that! You can also combine all ingredients in a slow cooker for 4-5 hours. This really lets the flavors out!

It serves about 15 people. Now, because I was making this batch for our spring break, I divided the batch in half and froze it in gallon-sized ziploc bags. Then the morning we left, I grabbed a frozen bag from the freezer and tossed it into the cooler. All I had to do was heat it up the night we ate it for dinner.  I’d cooked and frozen sloppy joe meat and taco meat beforehand as well. I like dinners to be ready fast when we’re camping–a little trick I learned from my mom.

My favorite way to eat Killer Beans is with this BBQ turkey/chicken. Delicious. Recipe coming. Enjoy!

Killer Beans

2 lg. cans pork and beans
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1/2 cup catsup
2 T. mustard
2 T. vinegar
2 T. molasses
1/2 cup brown sugar
Worcestershire Sauce, to taste (at least 2 T.)
Tobasco Sauce, to taste (at least 2 T., okay you can try just 1 T. if you have to)
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 lb. italian sausage, browned
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/2 onion, diced

Brown and drain sausage. Add all ingredients together and cook until hot. How easy is that! You can also combine all the ingredients in a slow cooker and cook for 4-5 hours. This really lets the flavors meld and makes it a little spicier. My mother-in-law likes to throw in some salsa, too. (1/2-1 cup)

2 large cans pie filling or 2 quarts of bottled fruit (The birthday girl chose raspberry pie filling.)
1 cake mix, you choose the flavor (I convinced the birthday girl that chocolate would be a good choice.)
1 cube butter, melted
1 cup chopped nuts, optional

Pour pie filling/bottled fruit into bottom of dutch oven (or 9 x13 pan).

Sprinkle cake mix to cover. Drizzle melted butter over cake mix. Sprinkle chopped nuts on top.

Put lid on dutch oven and scatter coals on top and bottom. I used to know how many cooking degrees each briquette equaled, but that tidbit of useful info leaked out of my head some time ago so now I just scatter till it looks good. I could probably do a Google search and find it, but I’ve got to get this posted so I can have some writing time while the boys are still asleep. (However, maybe one of you know off hand and could leave it in the comments section.) Cook for 45 minutes while you make and eat dinner. (Those recipes will be coming later.)

It’s been 45 minutes so tear yourself away from the scrumptious BBQ Turkey and Killer Beans (recipes coming) to check on the Dump Cake. Yep. It’s done. Now take some pictures while a couple of campers pass by and wonder why you are taking pictures of something that smells so good instead of eating it.

Serve with ice cream if you didn’t run out of room in your coolers and have to leave it home in the freezer.

Stick one candle in–not the full fourteen–and sing Happy Birthday.

Let the Birthday Girl blow out the candle. Pull the candle out of the cake to see that the BOTTOM end is more melted than the wick end. Now all the siblings want to put a candle in their cake, blow it out, and see if the bottom of the candle melted. May as well let them since you only used the one candle.

And that’s it!  So easy and tastes so good. You have to try this. Once I added a layer of marshmallows between the fruit and cake mix–very tasty. Enjoy!

2 large cans pie filling or 2 quarts of bottled fruit (The birthday girl chose raspberry pie filling.)
1 cake mix, you choose the flavor (I convinced the birthday girl that chocolate would be a good choice.)
1 cube butter, melted
1 cup chopped nuts, optional

Pour pie filling/bottled fruit into bottom of dutch oven (or 9 x13 pan). Sprinkle cake mix to cover. Drizzle melted butter over cake mix. Sprinkle chopped nuts on top. Put lid on dutch oven and scatter coals on top and bottom. Cook for 45 minutes. (Place 9 x 13 pan in 350° oven and bake for 45-60 minutes.) Serve hot topped with ice cream if desired.