Martha Stewart Monday: Chocolate Chip Cookies

I feel like chocolate chip cookies are one of those essential recipes, like a good chicken roast or biscuits. These cookies were made with love to send to my boyfriend because yes, I can be that cheesy! Anyways, these cookies were pretty easy to make and pretty yummy too. I might have eaten a few before I shipped them off ( I had to taste test them, obviously).

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened (I zap it for 10 seconds
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract (OPTIONAL unless you are me, who adds it to everything!)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons hot water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a cookie sheet (or two if you have them)

2)  Cream (which means mix with a stand or hand mixer) butter, and sugars. Then add one egg at a time. Then stir in the extracts. Next dissolve the baking soda in the hot water. Stir in and add the salt and flour. Lastly, add in the chocolate chips, and make sure the chips are distributed evenly.

3) Spoon the cookie dough onto the cookie sheet in medium sized globs. Bake for about 10 minutes or until edges are golden. 

What’s your favorite cookie recipe? Or are Chocolate Chip Cookies your favorite?

Martha Stewart Monday: Painted Glass

I accomplished another thing off my fall project list! Yay! Now just left is the chandelier, which I am kind of majorly dreading. This one was actually quite enjoyable and would make a great housewarming gift. You could do it and send it with this teapot.  I made these for my sister Aurora, of this cake fame, see Brandon had glasses with “B”s and Aurora wanted some of her own.  You can find the enamel in any craft store in a variety of colors; the weird thing is though you have to bake it. It’s what sets the paint.  Weird but better than having it come off in the dishwasher.

Materials:

Glasses

Thin paint brushes

Enamel

Stencil

Spray Adhesive (I use a 3M kind)

Directions:

1)      Clean and dry glasses. Then use spray adhesive to attach to the glass, use tape as well to really secure it. (I like to spray the stencil then attach it to the glass)

2)      Paint! Be careful it doesn’t bleed; I like to use thin layers and then keep going over to get desired opaqueness. You can also do the reverse of the stencil with I think it looks really cool sometimes.

3)      Then bake according to directions

.

So what do you think? What would you put on a glass? Your initial? A funny quote? Design? 

How to: Equip A Kitchen (Basics)

      I love lists, I constantly carry around a legal pad to keep lists going. Lists for what I need to buy, lists for what I need to do, lists for what I need to think about even doing, the list goes on. I realized the other day there is not a good list out there for what you need to start your first kitchen, at least not on a budget. Sure if you have a hundred dollars to spend on knives alone then epicurious has a great list. Otherwise, nope. So I've decided to try to make my own.

     It takes all types to make this world, and sometimes you can simply divide it into Marthas and Sandras. As in Martha Stewart and Sandra Lee. One makes everything from the scratch, the other knows how to make it look that way. No matter what your preference, there is room for every type here. Don't think you have to spend a fortune either, a good place to look for some of this stuff are places like TJ Maxx, or Marshalls. This way you can get good quality stuff without paying full price! Check thrift stores for vintages glasses and plates, just make sure to run them through the dishwasher once or twice!

Let's start with the basics:

Sandra Basics

Baking Pan (9 x 9)

Blender (drinks don't mix themselves!)

Bottle opener

Can opener

Cookie Pan

Cutting Boards

-at least 2, so you don't cross contaminant

- I like the plastic kind that have a picture of fish, vegtable, cow and chicken so you never mix them up

Dish set

• 20 piece set
  
• 4 large plates, 4 bowls, 4 small plates
  

Dish towels

    -2 so you have one when the other's dirty

Glasses/Mugs

• 8 so you don't have to wash them everyday
  

Knives (at least 3 plus 4 steak knives)

Measuring Cups

Measuring Spoons

Microwave

Mixing bowls

• A set of three (S, M, and L) that nest are perfect
  

Oven Mitts

• 2 so you can grab the sides of a baking pan
  

Pots w/lids

• 10 qt. stock pot
  
• 8 qt. stock pot
  
• 5 qt. stock pot
  
• 2 qt. sauce pan
  
• 1 qt. sauce pan
  

 
Silverware set

• ( 8 forks, 4 knives, 4 spoons)
  
• They don't have to match, A la Anthro
  

Spatula

Slotted spoon

Steamer/Cauldron

Vegetable peeler


 
Martha Additions

Apron

Baking Pans

• Casserole dish
  
• Glass baking pan
  
• Round ones for cakes
  

Butter Dish

Cake Plate

Cheese grater

Coffee Maker

Dish drying rack

Funnel

Hand mixer

Ladle

Kitchen timer

Knives (different kinds)

Meat pounder

Muffin Tin

Nesting Bowls

Pitcher

Place mats/ table cloth

Rice Steamers

Rolling Pin

Salt and Pepper Shaker

Serving Platters/Trays

Table Cloth

Tea Pot/ Kettle

Toaster Oven

Tongs

Trivet

Wooden spoons


 
    Did I miss anything? What do you find yourself using most in the kitchen? Later this week, I will post about kitchen essentials for your pantry! Be sure to check back!


P.S. To see what to put in your spice rack, look here! And finally, to prepare your pantry, look here!

Martha Stewart Sunday: Easy Chicken dinner

          On the Martha Stewart website there is a whole slideshow devoted to easy chicken dinners. As a college gal, I think eating chicken is a necessity because of how cheap it is to buy (even better are the frozen kinds, because you can just take out one at a time) and how versatile it is, chicken can be cooked thousands of different ways. Martha just did 101 easy chicken dinners so think of how many more there are out in the World Wide Web. I did not have a lot of time to make dinner, nor a bunch of ingredients on hand so I went with one that looked fairly simple. Chicken, white wine, parsley and flour. Done. Okay also a few other ingredients but you get the point. It turned out delicious, and was easy. The most important thing is to keep a careful eye on the reduction as it reduces fast and once it burns there is no going back! (Not that that has ever happened to me……….)
So I cooked pasta and broccoli and PRESTO meal. 

Anyways, here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 8 thin chicken cutlets (1 1/2 pounds total)
  
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
  
• 2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces
  
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley or mint (or a combination) (chop before starting chicken, makes your life much easier!)
  

 

Directions:

• Place flour in a shallow dish. Season chicken with salt and pepper and dredge in flour. In a large pan, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Working in batches, cook chicken until browned, 1 to 3 minutes per side, adding more oil to skillet as needed. Transfer chicken to a plate and tent with foil. (Yeah, I just placed flour on a cutting board, worked just as well)
  

 

• Pour wine into pan with chicken juices still there and boil until liquid , once it reduces to half then add chicken and turn to coat. Remove pan from heat and swirl in butter and herbs. Season with salt and pepper. 

 

What's your favorite chicken dish?


 

Martha Stewart Sunday: Birthday Banner

Ignore the ugly 3, silly apartment management!

     It was Charlotte's birthday last week, and I wanted some way to decorate her door for the occasion. Cue Martha Stewart Clip Art. Seriously, she has the coolest clip art, and for every occasion to jam lids to garlands. Here is a link to her best clip arts. http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/clip-art-and-templates?lpgStart=1&currentslide=40&currentChapter=1 (The garland is the first one!) It makes me want to make sugared citrus peels just to put the pretty labels on it. Anyways, back to her birthday, I found the birthday garland and new it would work. I used cardstock paper in two different colors. 


Tips:

*If you are doing two colors (and I highly suggest that you do), you will have to print two copies of the first color, but just the first page to get two H's.

*They are smaller than they appear, so you might have to enlarge them if you want a big garland.

*Cutting them can be a bit tricky it you aren't the best at cutting. You want to leave the black circle showing.


 

Martha Stewart Sunday: How to Roast a Chicken

     For me, roasted chickens have always come in one form: ready made from my grocery store. Yet roasted meats have been served since ancient times but now we use an oven instead of an open pit fire (well those of us, who make them). This week I attempted the daunting task of roasting my own chicken with Martha Stewart's Cooking School. (Cue dramatic music)

Here are Martha's tips for roasting a chicken:

• Conundrum of heat: low heat doesn't give nice crispy outside, high heat dries out the moist inside
  
• Check the temperature ¾ of the time, then again every 5 to 10 minutes (there is no returning from a burnt chicken!)
  
• Meat will continue to cook once removed from the oven, for another 10 to 15 degrees. (don't worry, most recipes take this into account)
  
• You will have to stick your hand up the chicken's butt (Okay, that is actually my forewarning)
  

Equipment:

Roasting Pan

Roasting Rack or Veggies (I used onions, potatoes and carrots)

Twine

Ingredients:

1 Whole Chicken

1 Lemon (cut into ¼ inch rounds)

4 sprigs of thyme

3 Garlic Cloves (crushed)

2 tablespoons of butter (softened at room temp)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Remove giblets and liver from cavity to discard (luckily mine weren't there). Let rest at room temperature for one hour then trim excess fat.
   
2. Rinse chicken under cold water (inside and out) then dry THOROUGHLY (including the inside, yes that means sticking your hand up it. )
   
3. Season the inside (Martha uses the word "cavity" but I am not that refined) with salt and pepper. Then stick the thyme, garlic cloves and lemon slices up the chicken cavity.
   
4. Rub skin with the butter. (Honestly, it's better to mush up the butter in your fingers into little parts to help rub it on)
   
5. Use twine to tie the legs together. (Martha refers to this as trussing) ((Also, I did not have twine, so I used two wooden skewers to attach the drumsticks)
   
6. Season generously with salt and pepper.
   
7. Place in roasting pan with rack or over vegetables and roast for 50 to 55 minutes with an instant read thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh (no bone!).
   
8. Let it rest 10 minutes before you serve it.

 

Martha Stewart Sunday: Pressed Flowers

     So I had a bouquet from my boyfriend from Valentine's Day. I didn't want to just throw out the flowers, I know I know, I am kind of sentimental like that. So I decided to press a few, luckily Martha was there with the know how to press them.


Materials:

Fresh Flowers

Parchment Paper

HEAVY BOOK (S)

Directions:

1. Take flowers and cut off the stem. Then tenderly place them on parchment paper, fold parchment paper over them so they are covered.
   
2. Place at the bottom of a heavy book or two.
   
3. Check back in about ten days for beautifully pressed flowers! 

Martha Stewart Sunday: Body Scrub

  
  I love a good sugar scrub, they make even the most roughest of knees feel silky smooth but I don't love is how expensive they are; my last purchase of one was over 30 dollars. So I was delighted to find that Martha had put up directions on how to make your own. They are great to use for yourself or give away as cute personalized gifts, since you can change the essential oils to match the person. Also, there are tons of variations on the mixture allowing for complete customization. I changed Martha's recipe a bit, since I love the smell of brown sugar.

Basic Body Scrub:

2 cups of Organic Cane Sugar, Epsom Salt and/or Brown Sugar (I used a three part equal mixture)

1 cup oil (Use Sesame oil (Neutrogena makes a great one) and/or Olive oil)

Essential Oils (You can find these at organic sections of groceries or in craft stores, like Michael's, where the soap making ingredients are)

Food Coloring (if you want to dye it, but that really only works if you use only Epsom salt)



My Pom Scrub-

3 part equal mixture of salt and sugars

2/3 cup sesame oil, 1/3 olive oil

3 pipettes full of vanilla pomegranate essential oil



Container-
You can use canning jars, or Tupperware to plain glass jars. I used a leftover plastic container that used to hold my favorite sorbet, Talenti's Roman Raspberry. The sorbet is delicious and the plastic jar it comes in is great to re-purpose for other uses!

Directions:

1. Pour ingredients in container and mix! The consistency should be a bit over oily, you want the scrub to stay together in your hands, not crumble into little pieces.
   
2. Decorate the container- you can print out labels or modpodge paper around the container, just make sure it is waterproof!
   

Here are some other great scrub recipes:

Coffee Scrub
Four Great Sugar Scrub Recipes
Traditional Sugar Scrub with Vitamin E

And here is a link to Martha's readymade clip art template labels.
Scrub Label 1 and Scrub Label 2



Do you have any great homemade beauty recipes?




 

Martha Stewart Sunday: Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

 

      Well, I saw these fabulous cookies and wanted to try to make them after tearing out the recipe from Martha Stewart; however, I baked them late at night while a bit sleepy and didn't fully read the recipe. I just dumped everything in the bowl and mixed it instead of making the batter first then cutting in the strawberries. The good news is they still taste delicious!

 Here's the recipe:
Strawberry Shortcake Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen

• 12 ounces strawberries, hulled and cut into 1/4-inch dice (2 cups)
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 3 ounces (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• Sanding sugar, for sprinkling
 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 7 tablespoons granulated sugar in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, or rub in with your fingers, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cream until dough starts to come together, then stir in strawberry mixture. (Or you can just throw all the ingredients in one bowl and use an electric mixer for about one minute on medium)
   
2. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing evenly apart. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, and bake until golden brown, 24 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool. Cookies are best served immediately, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day.

Strawberry-Shortcake Cookies - Martha Stewart Recipes

 

Have you ever not read the directions and still made the recipe work out fine?

Easy Entertaining: Apple Dips

      During my crafternoon party, I had seen in the September issue of Living magazine these beautiful apple dips. They didn't look too hard to recreate and seemed like the perfect addition to my red and pink themed afternoon. I choose peanut butter, caramel, and my special fruit dip to place in my three apples.

Apple Dips

  Materials:

Large Apples

Melon baller (Make sure it's a sturdy one, I broke my dollar store one)

Lemon Juice

                 Pastry Brush

Directions-

1. Slice the top off the apples. Then to level the bottom, cut off the bottom part to make it level.
   
2. Use the melon baller to scoop out the inside; don't worry if it's not perfectly smooth since it will be hidden by the dip.
   
3. Take the pastry brush and dip it in lemon juice then coat the inside of the apple to prevent it from browning.

 And the recipe to my special fruit dip:

Fabulous Fruit Dip

1 part Marshmallow Fluff

1 part Cream Cheese

Simply mix together in a bowl and try not to lick the leftovers. Perfect for apples, grapes, bananas, strawberries, etc.

Martha Stewart Sundays: Valentine’s Crafternoon

      Every Sunday, I shall attempt to do something like Martha does, from baking to cleaning to (God help me) glittering pictures of your dog.

       For my first installment of Martha Stewart Sunday, I took her idea in the February 2011 Living magazine of a Valentine's Crafternoon. I invited a few girlfriends over for snacks and crafts. It was a blast, we sat around for a few hours in the afternoon happily cutting and glittering to our hearts' content. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon away from all the super bowl fanfare and instead create cards for our loved ones. Later this week, I will be breaking down everything I did for the party as far as food but here is a quick overview of the Crafternoon.

      I bought stickers, cardstock, tissue paper, scissors, glitter and glue plus more. I also asked the girls to bring over some crafting things; if they had anything to contribute (glitter hearts are not cheap). For food, I had the pie, candies, apple dips, brie bites and raspberry ginger ale with frozen cranberries.
Here's what the work table looked like:

 

 

Sandra Lee-ing a Martha Stewart: Boozy Bartlett Pear Pie

     I love Martha Stewart, she is amazing at everything she tries from modeling to stockbroking, and the woman is a GOD at baking. Yet I wish her stuff came with rating levels, like this is for a beginner crafter to this is for expert bakers only with 10 hours to spare and several special baking utensils. Sadly, I don't have 10 hours to roll out dough and then refrigerate it overnight, then cut into small pieces and then roll it all together and start again. Take this pie for instance, looks amazing. The hearts cut out and pressed in circles to form a top crust. Fresh Bartlett pear peeled, cored and cut into small slices (3 lbs. of them). Frankly, I don't have the patience for such a thing or the time for that. Thus this is my "Sandra Lee-ing A Martha Stewart" for Pear-Raspberry Pie.

My improvements:

-add brandy (Sandra Lee would)

-readymade pie crust (I don't have to time to make it)

- canned pears and frozen raspberries

-change the hearts (cut 48 individual hearts, and place them in circles around the pie crust, WAY ABOVE my pay let alone skill level)

So here is my nouvelle recipe

• 2 readymade pie crusts
  
• ½ cup sugar
  
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  
• ¼ teaspoon salt
  
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
  
• 2 cans of pears (slices or cut them yourself)

 

• 1 ½ cups raspberries ( I used frozen)
  
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  
• 1/3 cup brandy
  
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into pieces
  
• 1 egg yolk
  
  
  Directions:
  

1. Trim one pie dough to fit a 9-inch pie dish and trim edges. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
   
2. In a sauce pan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, salt, and raspberries over low to medium heat till it turns a bit gelatin. In another sauce pan, combine 2 cans of drained pears, brandy and brown sugar over medium heat. Combine the two sauce pans once pears have soaked up the brandy and sugar plus the raspberries are more gelatinous.
   
3. While the filling cools, roll out the second pie crust on a lightly floured surface and use heart cookie cutters to cut large and small hearts. Use scraps to roll out more dough to cut.
   
4.  Once slightly cooled, pour filling into pie pan, then using alternative directions to press the large hearts into the outer rim of the crust. Once full circle is formed, place the small hearts all facing the same direction on the edges.
   
5. Lightly brush egg yolk over crust and then use sugar to sprinkle over the crust afterwards.
   
6. Bake at 400 degrees for roughly 30 minutes.