Tag Archives: food network

Pecan and Almond Squares

by Jessica | Leave a comment

Shavuot is here! You know what that means? You guessed it – DAIRY DESSERTS! Delicious buttery crusts and caramels. Cheesecake. Ice cream. Yup, desserts just taste better on shavuot. This year, Mommy Foodie’s birthday is the second day of the holiday. Aside from making her an awesome cake, I made her these nut bars. My mom loves nuts, so I know she’ll really enjoy these for dessert! A dairy dessert with shortbread crust and a caramely nutty topping – how can you go wrong?

Ina really knows how to write a decadent recipe! This recipe for pecan squares has more than a pound of butter in it – enough said. These “pecan squares” are really a shortbread crust with caramel and pecans on top. Kinda like a pecan pie, just in bite size portions. How bad can that be? Well, after reading through hundreds of reviews on the food network site, I realized that many people did not really like the crust. And there were a lot of complaints about burnt sugar on the bottom of ovens. Even though I have a self-cleaning oven, I was not about to let that happen. So I halved the recipe, to make sure it really would fit on a half sheet pan. A lot of people said they just made them in 9×13 Pyrexes, but I wanted that flat look all over, plus I wanted very thin bars – once you see how much sugar and butter are in these, you’ll know why. Continue reading …

Mustard Chicken Salad

by Jessica | 8 Comments

If you’re making meat for Shabbat lunch and want an easy and light dish, look no further than this mustard chicken salad. Yeah, I know, people will probably go crazier over the chulent you made, but this dish is simple, refreshing, and did I mention simple? You can serve it on top of a bed of romaine, like I did, or arugula, like Ina did. Or you can shred the chicken and cut the veggies a bit smaller and serve this in sandwiches, my favorite way to eat chicken salad. No matter how you do it, it’s a great Shabbat lunch. Continue reading …

Vanilla Ice Cream

by Jessica | Leave a comment

Or, the best ice cream base ever.

What’s your favorite ice cream flavor? I’m sure we can make it work…

May is ice cream season! Of course, that means that summer is around the corner and baby and I will be frequenting the Lighthouse for soft-serve strawberry ice cream. But it also means that I can serve ice cream for dessert whenever I have company. And although I love going out for ice cream (even though Zeke doesn’t, despite his love for cake batter ice cream), homemade ice cream often tastes better, especially when you use as many egg yolks as I did in this recipe. Plus, I know exactly what the ingredients are. That’s always a plus for me. Continue reading …

Engagement Chicken

by Jessica | 6 Comments

AKA Jeffrey’s Roast Chicken.

Apparently we’ve been on a chicken kick lately! But all of these recipes serve different purposes, and really, you can never have enough chicken recipes! Here’s our latest obsession from our favorite Ina Garten:

There aren’t many recipes that are this easy and yield so much flavor like this roast chicken. Ina definitely knows how to take simple ingredients and add that wow factor! This chicken was moist and juicy, with just the right amount of aromatics to make bring the flavor of this chicken to the next level. Next time you’re having company, impress them with this roasted chicken. You won’t be sorry. Continue reading …

Brisket Hamburgers

by Jessica | 13 Comments

Hamburgers are the ultimate comfort food. Especially a nice, big, juicy burger with either guacamole on top. I don’t eat ketchup or mustard, so I often try to get more flavor out of the actual burger. That means better meat, and flavors added into that meat. Which is why when I saw Alex Guarnaschelli make hamburgers with brisket, the cut Pat LaFrieda claimed is the best for hamburgers, I knew I had to try it. Continue reading …

Orange Sherbet

by Jessica | Leave a comment

I don’t know why sherbet is spelled like this but pronounced sherbert. I do know that it is different than sorbet because it has dairy in it – in this case, whole milk. I’ve made many different flavors of sorbet before (my favorites being raspberry and cranberry), but I’ve never tried to make sherbet. After buying the citrus juicer for my kitchen aid, I decided I needed to make some recipes with juice, and orange sherbet was the perfect thing to try! I love freshly squeezed orange juice, so combining it with sugar and milk and freezing it must taste good, right?! Continue reading …

Meatless Mondays: Easy Tomato Soup

by Stephanie | 1 Comment

I wanted to make tomato soup to accompany the grilled cheese I planned to make with my amazing pita bread! I decided to balance out all of the work it took to make the pita (although it really wasn’t hard!) with this simple recipe I found on the Food Network site, much easier than the version Jessica made, but also delicious. There were so many recipes to choose from, but this one looked easy and had great reviews.

We needed something green for this Meatless Monday dinner, too; I guess that’s where the pickle and avocado come in.

Continue reading …

Company Pot Roast

by Jessica | 2 Comments

I have seen this episode of Barefoot Contessa many many times. Ina makes this pot roast with some baked potatoes. It’s such an easy recipe, though you do need a whole bunch of ingredients to make it. I finally decided to try it, and it was definitely worth it! The pot roast is soft and flavorful, and the sauce is thick and delicious over rice or couscous. I dipped garlic bread in mine. yum! It’s also a pretty forgiving recipe, so if you don’t have some of the ingredients, don’t fret! Continue reading …

Charred Tomato Soup

by Jessica | 6 Comments

Tomato soup is one of those amazing winter recipes. You can have it with noodles and cheese to make it a one-pot meal on a snowy evening. And it just improves in the fridge, so you can take leftovers for lunch! I had been thinking about making tomato soup with a can of tomatoes I had in my pantry when I watched Alex’s Day off. She combined fresh and canned tomatoes for an even more intense tomato flavor. Sure, her tomatoes looked better than the pinkish ones that I found in the supermarket, but after charring them on the stove and cooking them in wine, they really add some amazing flavor.

Continue reading …