You've Got To Taste This

When you're out buying bubbly for tonight's countdown, don't scrimp. Usually I'm afraid of buying too much Champagne.  Once it's popped, it's open and there's no going back.  But this year, I'm actually hoping for a little leftover bubbly so I can try a few of the dishes in our gallery 7 Ways With Champagne.  Risotto with Champagne and Radicchio?  Yes please.  Mimosa Granita?  I'll have a double.  Scallops in Champagne Sauce?  Sign me up.

Though Champagne rarely makes it onto the dinner table unless it's in hard-to-wash stemware, it's a delicious ingredient that adds a distinct flavor, a fun fizz, and a refined element to any dish. Plus, you're cooking with Champagne!  How cool are you?

Tonight, as you're toasting, keep an eye on those half-empty bottles and, if your 2009 self is feeling particularly generous, invite the gang over for a Champagne-infused dinner or dessert that you can all enjoy.

When it comes to recipes for bar, drop and cutout cookies, year after year the same favorites seem to turn up ... and with good reason.  I make Magic Seven Layer Bars once or twice a year and no matter where I bring them, they're always a crowd favorite and immediately conjure up fond childhood memories.  It seems nearly everyone has grown up with memories of their moms making these, and with the recipe as simple as it is, it's no wonder.  Pour a few simple ingredients in a pan, bake, cut and enjoy.  Whether it's the crazy holiday season or any old time, we all need good simple standbys.  Happy eating!

Magic Seven Layer Bars

1/2 cup butter
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups butterscotch chips
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup salted peanuts
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

Melt the butter or margarine in a saucepan. Mix with the graham cracker crumbs. Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan.

Layer the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, coconut, and peanuts over the graham cracker crust. Pour the condensed milk over the layers.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool. Cut into bars.

Recently I discovered another Knoxvillian and old college buddy had moved down to Birmingham. The great thing about Dylan is his extensive knowledge of food. He’s worked in the restaurant business through out Knoxville and with his parents, owners of Riverview Grill. I was hoping to learn a thing or two.

One uneventful Monday night we decided to experiment with the standard mashed potatoes, asparagus, and pork chops. It was an Asian influence on your average run-of-the-mill supper and a mouthwatering fusion of simple flavors.

The run-down:
Dylan started out constructing a simple sauce to drizzle on the dish when finished. A good sauce is always handy to have because if the food turns to garbage, you could still possibly save the dish by drenching it in a yummy sauce. This was one part soy sauce, a few squirts of teriyaki, and two parts orange juice, cooked until it became a thicker consistency.

While he was working the stovetop, I was prepping the pork chops to be pan-seared. I’ve been itching to use the Asian Rub from Fire & Flavor I recently received. It was a fantastic compliment to the pork with brown sugar, soy sauce, sesames seed, and other spices.

The asparagus was steamed and sautéed with a red onion cut julian, minced garlic and a splash of soy sauce. Some other cooking ideas were sesame-roasted or tempura fried asparagus.

The mashed potatoes were pretty straightforward. Boil, mash, mix with heavy cream and butter, but the flavor was kicked up with a generous dash of wasabi powder.

The significant element in spicing up this dinner was just a few extra ingredients added to a family favorite. I hope this will inspire you to be a little more adventurous. Thanks again Dylan.

What are some of your favorite meals that you’ve kicked up a notch?

In my family, eggnog is not simply a beverage made with eggs and cream; it’s an event. It began in Union Springs, Alabama with my great grandparents, “Pop” and “Mama Nick” Anderson and continued with my parents in Huntsville, Alabama.  As I was growing up, every Christmas afternoon, around 5 pm, my parents' friends would show up for a cup of "nog".  After taking a break from The Egg Nog for a few years,  Mama and Daddy revived it this year.

Unfortunately, Daddy was sick on the big day, and he is the one who always makes the egg nog using a yellowed recipe card with my grandmother's handwriting and instructions that are a little less than clear.  So, the duties fell to me and my sister-in-law this year. Needless to say, we were a bit nervous about this monumental task.

It's not that the recipe is hard, but the expectations were high and we'd never made it before.  This family recipe would never be approved by today's health and nutrition standards as it has 2 dozen raw eggs, 1 1/2 cups bourbon, sugar and whipping cream. It’s the real good eggnog, too, not that artificial-tasting kind that comes in a carton. This eggnog is thick and creamy; so thick, in fact, that we always put out spoons for those who prefer spooning instead of sipping. Either way, the custard-like beverage coats your tongue like sweet, velvet milk before you sense the smooth bite of bourbon. A little sprinkle of nutmeg is optional; the bourbon is not.   

My sister-in-law and I worked diligently to separate 2 dozen eggs, beat the egg whites, beat the whipping cream, beat the egg yolks until thick, then fold everything together. We served it, according to tradition, in the little ceramic Santa Claus mugs that Mama made when she and Daddy were first married.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the nog, and said politely that it was a good as Daddy's.  I'm not sure about that, but we do feel that we have made our mark and will be able to continue the family tradition.

If you want to enjoy a cup of nog before the holidays are over, the eggnog from Southern Living is pretty close to my family's recipe, but does have you cooking the egg mixture, which is indeed safer! Let us know what recipes are a part of your holiday tradition.

If you don't live in Whoville, then it's pretty likely that, when Santa dropped off the loot, he neglected to bring any breakfast.  So now you've got a gaggle of starving children and family members on your hands with hours to go until Christmas dinner and no desire to cook something complicated.  Quell those cranky low-blood sugar moments with delicious breakfast casseroles, cinnamon rolls, and pancakes.  They're hearty enough to ward off mid-afternoon hunger but still light enough to ensure your gaggle will be ready to eat again when the ham's done.

My favorite?  Real Simple's Pecan Sticky Buns.  They call for five ingredients: butter, brown sugar, pecans, frozen white-bread dough, and cinnamon.  Better yet?  Real Simple offers a "Fake It" method that saves you 55 minutes and calls for brown-and-serve rolls.  They're prebaked, so they don't have to rise or even cook, just heat and take on the rich ooey-gooey flavor of the cinnamon and brown sugar. 

For more breakfast and brunch ideas, check out our collection of sweet rolls, french toast (you saint!), and omelets.

Some families have menus steeped in tradition.  The green beans that Aunt Margaret used to make.  The beef tenderloin using Uncle Sal's famous marinade.  The yeast rolls that remind everyone of Grandma.  But for us, the true family memories are dredged in flour, sugar, icing, and filling.  That's right, we live for desserts.

For as long as I can remember, my dad has held a countdown to honor the arrival of the coconut cake (like this gorgeous one from Cooking Light) in our local Alabama bakery.  They don't make them year-round--the layers would never stand up to the humidity.  When they finally do arrive in the display case, my dad is the first to lineup and wage a one-man eating war to devour as many slices of moist and delicious coconut cake as he can before the end of cake season. 

Last year, as a surprise, I decided to try making my own coconut cake to see if I could compete with the bakery and, well, let's put it this way: dad was more than pleased.  I was super impressed at how easy the layer cake turned out to be.  Everything from making the cream cheese frosting to the lemon filling was simple, even for someone who likes to follow the recipe step-by-step, and therefore very slowly.

Now that I've got one cake-making experience under my belt, let's just say that I'm feeling good about this year's repeat attempt, which is good, because I'm not sure my dad would let me out of it if I tried.   After all, it's tradition.

Making your family's desser this year?  Turn to our gallery of cake-baking secrets.  You'll discover how to make a 5-star cake with a few of our favorite shortcuts to speed the process along.

Last Tuesday night I ate at a new restaurant in Huntsville, Alabama called Cotton Row and fell in love with the beet and goat cheese salad.  I was eating with my friend Tasia, who owns the Belle Chevre creamery in Elkmont, Alabama, and was thrilled to know that the chef uses Tasia's cheese for this recipe.

It's a beautiful salad featuring both red and golden beets that are roasted and served over a few sprigs of green and big pieces of goat cheese. A light vinaigrette was drizzled over the whole salad.   The mellow sweetness of those roasted beets was a perfect pairing for the tangy goat cheese, and the vinaigrette sort of tied the whole thing together. When you eat the salad, you have to have a bite of the beets and the cheese at the same time to get the maximum satisfaction.  I've been thinking about that salad since last Tuesday!

Normally, beets are not one of my favorite vegetables, but I may have just changed my mind.  I think roasting them is the key. And serving anything with goat cheese can never be a bad thing. I'm going to attempt to re-create this salad at home with Frisee, Baby Spinach, and Golden Beet Salad. If you're wondering about roasting beets, check out our how-to video.

My husband makes fun of me because I only like "girly" drinks when it comes to alcohol, but I don't care.  The very first cruise we went on together was way back in 1996, and we started off our trip with Strawberry Coladas.  Ever since then, every time we go on a cruise or think "vacation," my thoughts immediately turn to Strawberry Coladas.  A slight twist on the old standard, they are smooth, cold, creamy and go down nice and slow, just the way I like them. 

A perfect way to kick off a vacation ... or even just an evening of entertaining at home or just because.  And now that our next vacation is five (five!) weeks away, the countdown is on and I'm longing for my first Strawberry Colada as the ship pulls away from the shore.

But I don't have to wait ... and you don't either!  These Strawberry Coladas (or Lava Flows as Rachael Ray calls them) are exactly what we need ... to escape the holiday madness, a sagging economy, teething babies, end-of-year deadlines or just to celebrate the end of a long day.  Bottoms up!

See Strawberry Colada recipe here.

After reading Ashley Johnson’s blog, We Heart Cupcakes, I was inspired and had a fervent desire to be my own Bakerella for our office Christmas party. I know I’m suppose to be writing about something different, but seriously I wanted to sacrifice an inventive blog post to reiterate how right Ashley was. These are so much fun to make!

Santa Bellies and Milk Chocolate Toffee Topping
For mine I decided to go with the token Santa belt for the decor. I followed the red velvet cake instructions, mixed the crumbled cake with cream cheese frosting, structured the palm size balls, and stuck them in the freezer to get the yummy cake spheres firm enough to dip in milk chocolate and red colored white chocolate.

Following, I bought the ready-to-use Wilton icing, black for the belt and yellow for the buckle. I used a flat decorating tip to cord the belt and then I lined the buckle with the yellow. To top it off I added white sprinkles for the belt loops. The milk chocolate dipped cupcake balls were covered with toffee crumbles.

These are really great for parties, because they are bite-size and easy to make. You can be creative, messy, and your very own Bakerella. So, I want to again express my gratitude to Ashley’s blog entry and Bakerella. These are fabulous and festive.

Can you think of some creative ways to decorate and dress-up your baked goods?

If you're like me, you can never figure out exactly how many bags of fresh cranberries you need to make your homemade cranberry sauce.  And now that Thanksgiving has passed, you have a bag or two in your freezer, ready for the next recipe.  Wait, that's just me?

This recipe for Cranberry Broccoli Salad is one of my favorite uses for cranberries.  If you do an online search, you'll find that there are simply scads of variations, but this one I got from the Cooking Light Bulletin Boards several years ago (Hi Linda in MO!), and I've been making it ever since.  In fact, this was one of the first dishes that got my son to like broccoli.  A bit of sweetness, a bit of tartness and a whole lotta crunch, it's a keeper.  Oh, and I nearly forgot the bacon ... you know what they (or is it just me?) say ... "everything is better with bacon."

See Cranberry Broccoli Salad recipe here.