Have you tried the Kraft Food and Family magazines yet? The only problem I have found is that they don't come monthly--they seem to sputter and it takes months and months to receive the first copy after registering. It isn't like the issue is big in any way, but the recipes are doable and the pictures are splendid.I first found copies at my sister-in-laws just before our Alaskan trip. As soon as I got home I subscribed and months later my first issue came and then months later the next etc. So maybe its a quarterly, but I am receiving them now because my niece made a gift of a subscription which was nice and that was months ago too. I've received two at once, so far. It seems the company needs to work out the kinks in this area. The slim issue introduced a new Philadelphia cooking creme. These items include: Italian cheese and herb, savory garlic, original, Santa Fe blend each in its own little tub. They add creaminess to any dish that needs a silky goodness. How about using it in the old fashioned creamy tuna noodle casserole? How long has it been since we have made this dish?
You need:
1 tub Philadelphia original cooking creme
2 cups cooked egg noodles
2 cans chunk light tuna in water, drained and flaked--I'd use the one in olive oil
1 cup frozen peas
sliced mushrooms
8 Ritz crackers crushed
1 tbsp. butter melted.
Oven 350
combine first 5 ingredients in a 1 1/2-qt. casserole; cover
bake 20 minutes. Meanwhile mix cracker crumbs and soft butter.
Stir casserole; top with crumbs and bake 5 more minutes until topping is golden brown.
I've noticed too the re emergence of the wedge salad. I cannot believe in the fancy restaurants in Florida that they offer this for a grand price. To me iceberg lettuce is totally tasteless (in more ways than one) yet people who are even picky about food, like one son, gobble this up with gusto. Go figure. The magazine shows how to whack the head of lettuce to de core it: Grasp the head of lettuce with both hands, core facing the counter, hit the bottom firmly against the counter, twist and pull the loosened core out of the head of lettuce. Then cut into thick, tasteless, wedges. Dress it with what ever floats your boat to give this thing flavor. The magazine used Kraft Catalina dressing, bacon crumbled after crisp frying, crumbled Feta cheese, chopped red onion. Well, good luck with that one. The magazine's, spring edition, had a nice little cook book with the recipes for all of the tubs of creamy goodness.
Remember in the Florida blog I carped about the Contemporary Hotel's Contempo Cafe? I wrote to the powers of Disney World to warn them trouble would be afoot if they did not straighten up that awful place to 'dine'. I heard from Disney World and 'they' are investigating that place and will let me know their findings. I forgot to tell you about their carrot cake? It was disgusting: a half- inch of dry cake (if that) in a cup, with an inch and a half (or more)of super glue icing. No one I know could or would eat that. Their so called Tuscan flatbread with marinated beef and feta cheese gagged me. What in the world did they marinate that beef in...mouse droppings?
Now here's a carrot cake (from Cook's Corner, Columbus Dispatch)
Cake:
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
3 cups shredded carrots (what a blessing to have them pre shredded in the store's bags)
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 cups chopped nuts
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
Topping:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk (I questioned this because buttermilk is known to separate when heated--Robin Davis of Cook's Corner said she did not know this.) I plan to use cream instead.)
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Cake: mix all cake ingredients together well. Pour into tube pan. Bake 1 hour in and 15 minutes in a preheated oven at 350.
Topping:
Cook all sauce ingredients in a pan until sugar dissolves. Boil 2 to 3 minutes. Pour over hot cake.
For Saturday lunch I fixed pasta with turkey meatballs that had carrots, aperagus tips, onions, bread crumbs, eggs...the usual with the unusual.
