WOW! Aunt Ruth's Festive Cinnamon Buns were snapped up immediately at Mother's 95th Birthday Brunch today. Thanks Aunt Ruth! And Thanks Gail for making them. It was also great having Pop's Waffles with Mother's Blueberry Sauce made by JoAnn. We enjoyed some other wonderful dishes that should have been included in the cookbook. And Kim decorated 4 beautiful birthday cakes. Nice to have Roger here from Washington - it was a nice day. Polly P.S. Ralph made Grammie Maki's and Diane & John's Beef Stroganoff this week and it was excellent. Another time we probably would make our beef pieces thinner. JoAnn suggests using hamburger instead as does Kris Maynard Betts who has a beef stroganoff recipe in the cookbook too. Next time.

Tofu meatballs

I made the tofu meatball recipe with spinach in them as John suggested. It makes lots of meatballs.
The second day I chopped some of the meatballs up, added it to the penne and sauce, added xtra cheese, and made baked penne. It came out gooey and also good.

Boeuf Bourguignon for the Cookware Impaired

Last Sunday we undertook the great beef quest.  One last trip to the market to procure a nice piece of chuck and we were ready to begin.  Only to realize upon careful reading of the Boeuf Bouguignon recipe (pg. 72-73) that we needed a Dutch oven or other large oven-proof cookware, which we could not locate after our recent moves.  But we were not to be denied.  The ingredients were ready to go and so were we.  The crockpot became our slow cooker, and we believe the experiment was a success.  We followed the initial portions of the recipe, only transferring the meat and vegetables to the slow cooker as each batch was browned, added the seasonings, broth and wine.  We used a chianti - on special at the NH Liquor Store - I hope Julia (and Gail) forgives us for the wine selection.  The crockpot was set on high for about 3 hours.  We held back the mushrooms and frozen pearl onions, sauteing the mushrooms and warming the onions and adding them after 3 hours, and cooking for another hour or so.  Voila!  A complex and flavorful creation.  We so seldom have bacon that the rich bacon flavor was almost a shock to our tastebuds.  (We will probably use less bacon the next time - and there will be a next time - but that's us.)  We served it with noodles and winter squash. 

We had enough for Valentine's Day dinner the next night.  We made mashed potatoes and asparagus.  The mashed potatoes were an experiment.  Along with 3 large white spuds we added one sweet potato.  When mashed, the results had a soft orange color and the flavor had subtle sweet potato taste.  A recipe worth trying. 

We have to try at least two recipes each weekend, or at least it seems that way.  Saturday we made the Rosemary White Bean Soup (pg. 34).  I hate cleaning the blender and food processor, so I just mashed the beans with the potato masher.  It seemed to work just fine.  We also added some roast chicken breast that we had, and that worked out well.

Diane made the Curried Pumpkin Apple Soup (pg. 40) a few days ago.  She was cautious with the curry but probably could have used the full recipe amount.  Diane also dislikes cleaning the blender, so she used a fresh apple (ripe Mac), diced finely.  The soup was fine without using a blender or food processor.  It does make a very hearty and warming soup.  Excellent food for this long winter. 
John & Diane

Hi All,

I'd love to read about any recipes you all have tried.

Last week I tried the Rosemary White Bean Soup and loved it. Putting the rosemary branch in whole worked great and was so easy. I'll use that idea again in other recipes.
I also made a "white" version of the Spinach Meatball Minestrone using turkey meatballs. My apologies to the beef industry.
Thanks Gail and Stan for a couple of wonderful soups.
My next recipe try will be the tofu meatballs.

Have missed your cooking comments. Everyone must be on a cooking vacation. Me too, but yesterday I made Neopolitan Lasagna and Stuffed Mushrooms. They are just as good the second day warmed up. I have to come up with a "healthy" snack for Nick to take to school to celebrate his 6th birthday and share with the other kids for Monday. Besides fruit, what is a healthy snack that most kids will eat and is birthday worthy? Polly P.S Our friend Debbie says that Sarah's Banana Bread is the best ever banana bread recipe and she has tried a lot. Loved it!

Date Swirl Cookies

Shades of "Grandma Maynard" aka Susan or Grammie....
I made the beloved cookies that I remember were almost always in the cookie jar in her dining room. The recipe makes lots so I actually cooked about a quarter of them and saved the remainder uncooked in the freezer. I'll let you know how that works out.

I plan to make the jelly roll to take to the Ground Hog Day potluck.

JoAnn

Clarification on Chinese Salad Page 44

The directions should include:
break up the dry Ramen noodles and toast them in a dry fry pan,
toast the slivered almonds in a a dry fry pan as well as
toasting the sesame seeds separately.

The toasted dry Ramen noodles give it an interesting crunch.

CURRIED LENTILS AND VEGGIES ON RICE for supper. Very, very good. Took it light on the curry as I wasn't sure if it would be too much curry for me, but it could have used a little more than I added. The recipe made a lot and Ralph thinks any leftovers would work well in a soup. If there are any leftovers! Thanks JoAnn

Lots of Leftovers

Today has been left overs.  Lots of good food.  We are still working on the Pulled Pork.  Tonight it was nachos.  Yesterday I made some Hungarian Slumgullian Soup for lunch. Quite easy, hearty and tasty.  The rest of the hamburg went into a meatloaf (Individual Meatloafs) for dinner last night.  The meatloaf sauce was easy with surprisingly complex flavors.  With a bit of liquid smoke it would make a great barbecue sauce!  And since the oven was hot, a Jelly Roll with homemade blueberry jam was the dessert selection.  Making the jelly roll brought back a lot of memories from childhood.  Spreading jelly and snacking on the trimmed edges.  The spongy consistency of the cake.  It's possible I haven't had one in about 45 years! 

we tried Ralph's wedding soup every one liked it even Zack D. he had 2 bowls

Roger and Patti

Comfort food on a snowy evening

Yesterday we made Rachel and Dan's Slow Cooked Pulled Pork.  We made the dry rub and put it on the pork the night before and let it marinate all night.  We made the braising liquid the night before as well and in the morning it was quick and simple to put the pork and liquid in the crock pot.  The house was filled with a delicious aroma all day.  We did not add the onions until the last two hours - due to rushing in the morning to get to work - but the onions cooked just fine.  Rich and flavorful and just as tender as the pork.  Last night we had the pork fresh from the cooker with mashed potatoes, using the braising liquid as gravy.  Hmmm

Tonight we thickened some of the braised liquid with a roux, added some of the meat and onions, toasted some nice French bread, added a couple pickle slices and had juicey pulled pork sandwiches.  The bread and butter pickles complemented the tangy pork nicely.  As a side we made Jen and Zach's Baked Mac N Cheese.  I think we have discovered a new ingredient to add to a macaroni and cheese dish.  The eggs made a nice cheesy, slightly custardy goo.  Excellent comfort food on a cold, snowy evening.  A rich Argentinian Malbec wine rounded out the dinner.  Thanks to both couples for excellent recipes!

DELICIOUS!
Just made Gail's Rosemary White Bean Soup for lunch - Yum! Gail made it for a Maynard's Thanksgiving dinner a couple of years back and we had great memories of it. Really a nice soup for the tail end of another snow storm! Tip: We both tried it before using the food processor and it would be a great soup either way - processed or not! Thanks Gail!

New

Macaroni paste?

I tried to find macaroni paste. Ifoods has a recipe for basic pasta paste.
I think it's just the dough that you would make macaroni from.
Being the simplistic cook that I am, I'd just add pasta to the chicken soup.

Slow, steady progress

I think this is coming together.  Some things to remember if you are trying to navigate the blogs.
To add or read Comments:
All you need to do is click on the "0 Comments" (or whatever number) at the bottom of each posting.  If it says "0 Comments" no comments have been made yet, but you can make a comment of your own by clicking there as well.  It will take you to a form to fill out. 

If you are not seeing all the blog postings, there should be a listing of all of them on the right side of the page under "Blog Archive".  Click on any of these and you will have each blog entry with comments on its own page. 

To add a New Post:
For those who have managed to sign up as Contributors, on the upper right of the blog page you should see  "Sign In", click there, sign in and then find the tab near the middle of the new page you've navigated to for"New Post".  If you're already signed in you will have "New Post" on the upper right of the blog page.  That will take you to a form to fill out.  When done, make sure you click the orange "Publish Post" at the bottom.
Good luck and Enjoy!

Chicken Tetrazzini

Made Chicken Tetrazzini tonight, or at least a version of it.  We didn't have the mushroom soup, so it wasn't too close to the recipe in the book.  Gail, does that count?

we tried Ralph's wedding soup it was very good even zack d liked it roger

Day two of the Maynard Family blog

Well, we are slowly working the bugs out.  We have some contributors who have signed up as contributors, but haven't contributed anything yet.  We may still need to do some work to get that to work.  I've gone into the blog settings a few times, and tried to adjust everything to make access as easy as possible, as long as we don't get any stray comments of questionable content from the world at large I'll try to keep it that way. 

We have gotten some comments to work.  Be sure to click on the "1 comment" or whatever at the bottom of each day's blog posting to expand the comments to read what has been written.  Comments may not appear instantly in the blog when you make them.  Give the system a while to work, it is free after all...  We're still waiting for some enlightening input in those comments.  I know you people are enjoying the cookbook!  Nothing new to report here in the Stratham kitchen  I think making two recipes a day on the weekend is my limit.  But I agree with Polly, the Onion Soup is very good!  Oh, I did not have any Gruyere, we don't keep much of that around ;-)  so we made some toasts from French bread slices with melted sharp Provolone on top.  Perhaps a sacrilege, but it worked very well in an emergency.

Oh, and for the "West Coast" Maynards, just letting you know, it's 9 degrees this morning here by the New Hampshire seacoast, I know Stanley and Gail aren't anywhere near that warm this morning.

January 16, 2011 Onion Soup for lunch

Making Onion Soup for lunch.  Made Pop's Waffles for breakfast, but I did tinker with the recipe a bit.  Substituted about 1/3 cup of cornstarch for similar amount of flour.  Cornstarch is supposed to make them crisper and not get soggy so fast when they sit.  Don't know if I noticed that much differnce.  Also added a couple tablespoons of sugar to the egg whites when I beat them.  I think that did improve consistency and fluffiness. 

Have a couple followers.  I'm so excited, but no comments.  Maybe we need some one younger than 50 to tell us how to do this blog thing.

Cookbook January 16

The Cookbook is all printed, well almost, I have one more copy to print and bind, but that's all!  JoAnn came into my office yesterday and helped with collating, binding and proofing.  Need to check them over before the Publisher releases them for distribution.  Trying to decide what to make today from the cookbook, maybe Pop's Waffles or Diane's Finnish Pancake.  If I make the pancake I can make some Beer Bread too.  That stuff is great, simple and hearty.  Thanks Mike.  Winter Ales work well, they give a subtle hint of spice to the bread. 

I made Roger's Quick Baked Beans.  Very good, though I had to adlib on some ingredients, and they might need a warning to serve with Gasex ;-)

Also made the Chicken Soup yesterday.  I called Mother to find out what Italian macaroni paste was, and she didn't know either.  My solution was to use a heaping tablespoon of Orzo as well as a tablespoon of tomato paste.  I ended up with a pink soup, that tasted fine, perhaps a bit heavy on the celery.  And even though the recipe didn't call for any chicken in the chicken soup, I did and most of a cubed chicken breast. 

I hear Gail may be doing her own version of Julie and Julia and trying to cook her way through the entire cookbook.

John