This is the post I began last week, when I got derailed by my “pet peeves”.

As I write my kitchen is a veritable Santa’s Bake Shoppe. There are no less than 8 pounds of butter softening on the counter and boxes and bags of cookies that are already completed.

Each year since 1997 I have sent a “cookie tray” to John’s co-workers. Kind of a small “thank you” to them for putting up with him all year long (hahaha). The first time I did it one of the guys asked “Where did the cookies come from?” And when John answered that I had made them the guy thought I assembled the platter and had bought the cookies. That was the instant I knew I was sitting at the “grown ups’ table”. It started with simple drop cookies, and as I aged (and my son aged and needed less supervision) and I became more adept at baking, I added more labor intensive cookies like Checkerboards (moment of truth – I secretly hate those cookies, they are my nemesis. They play with my OCD – I actually use a ruler….). Apparently they have become a thing of legend because coworkers from John’s past STILL talk about them.

Each person has their favorite type of cookies. I range between really chewy and melt in your mouth. John likes crispy, crunchy cookies and anything lemon, and please no nuts in his cookies – he says it ruins the texture. Whatever! On the holiday tray John’s faves are the Secret Recipe Lemon Bars (and before you ask, no, I am not ready to share the recipe – see the note at the bottom) and mine are the Chocolate Dipped Italian Butter Cookies.

Years ago when I was a hard working waitress, the Chef told me he hated baking, but loved cooking (and he was a fine Chef, but a lousy human being). I never understood that until a few years ago. There IS a difference. COOKING allows you to experiment, get creative and work “on the fly”. BAKING is like science – the ingredients have to be measured correctly and in proper proportion or they don’t work. Of course there is room for experimentation, but while getting to an edible product you may toss several batches. With cooking, even an experiment is usually edible.

So here are a few things I know about baking in quantity:
• Have all of your ingredients OUT and ready to use (and yes, those really are my canisters)

• Have all of your equipment OUT and ready to use – those ARE Pampered Chef stoneware baking sheets

• MEASURE carefully – spoon your flour into the measuring cup, don’t scoop or pack it in (your cookies will be tough and hard).
• Make Bar Cookies whenever possible – they are EASY and cut up into LOTS of servings. These are friend Laurie’s faves.

• AVOID like the plague anything that has to be decorated – like gingerbread boys or cut out cookies – too much work. Friend Pam really doesn’t adhere to this rule….
• Use chocolate whenever possible 😉
• Buy the best ingredients you can afford.

These are last year’s trays – no pics of this year’s yet – they aren’t done….

If you don’t have a good arsenal of recipes try Martha Stewart’s Cookies book – it’s one of my faves. Also the internet is an excellent source of thousands of recipes.

Note: I fear if I share my Secret Recipe Lemon Bars that no one will need me to bake them anymore….

This year I was invited to friend Sharon’s for a Cookie Swap and she asked that each participant type and print out the recipe 20 times for the other guests to take home. Well, guess what – the typing would have taken me longer than the baking. So Sister Nancy came to the rescue! I snapped a pic of the recipe with my phone, sent it to her and she had it typed up, with notes delivered verbally, in LITERALLY 1 minute! Thanks Nancy for the typing assist!

Chocolate Dipped Italian Butter Cookies
Makes: 60
Ingredients:
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon corn oil
½ cup finely chopped pistachios (you may use pecans, or other nuts, sprinkles, or any other decoration you like)

1. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in flour just until blended.
3. Place the dough into a cookie press. Press cookies directly onto cookie sheet.
4. Bake 10 minutes, or until cookies feel firm (they should NOT brown). Remove cookie sheet to a wire rack to cool.
5. While cookies bake, put chocolate chips and oil in a small glass bowl. Put bowl over hot water and stir. When chocolate is melted and cookies are cool, dip half of cookies first into chocolate then into the nuts. Place on wax paper and allow chocolate to set.

This week’s Food Memories include a completely screwed up baked brie (don’t ask), a fantastic dinner at Comme Ca with friend Lynn (the sweetbreads were delish), and having my darling son home for dinner since he is home from college!

Until next time, go out and make your OWN Food Memories!

The weather is changing and giving way to a new season. Frequently that changes not only HOW we cook, but what we cook. We go from outdoor grilling to nesting at home. Is it because that’s what our forebears had to do? Hunker down for the impending winter? Is it because it’s what our Moms did? Simple food that didn’t require a lot of effort because school and work were back in full swing? Is it because we are mourning the end of summer and we require comfort food? Whatever the reason, this time of year soup is what I want. I love to make soup. All kinds of soup.

Once you know how to make a really good chicken stock, beef stock and vegetable broth a whole world of fantasicness opens up to you. My favorites to make are cream of mushroom, turkey with wild rice and beef barley (or Scotch Broth if I have lamb). My Stepmom, Nettie, made the BEST potato soup and she shared that knowledge with me thankfully. Everyone has their faves. My friend Deb is also a soup lover and when we go out to lunch, regardless of the time of year, she orders the soup! There were lots of soups that I didn’t know how to duplicate until I went to culinary school and picked up some skills, and now even with those skills there are a few that I don’t make. Bisque, for example, is one of my faves and I never make that style, but order them when I am out.

The key is to start with a great base (stock) and then add in extras to make the soup you want. I make GALLONS – literally – of chicken stock at a time. I freeze it, so it is there when I need it. Of course there are lots of great books out there with several hundred pages of instructions on how to make good stock. For a simple primer, that is cheeky and simply stately, try Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook. It gives you the basics without the drama, plus you get to read Bourdain, HELLO?! (moment of truth – I am convinced that we are related) . Here is it in a nutshell – don’t cover your stock, don’t BOIL it and skim, skim, skim, and reduce……

As time and techniques evolve, like many other things, recipes are often bastardized, tweaked, simplified or otherwise changed. Some for the good, some not for the good. To that end, here is my non-traditional version of Tortilla Soup – it’s simple for even a novice to do, but ask any Mexican and they will tell you it is NOT authentic, but it still tastes good!

Chicken Tortilla Soup
Serves 6 generously

2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 or 2 Serrano peppers – slit open from bottom to top, leaving the stem intact
1 yellow onion – diced
2 poblano peppers, seeded, ribs removed and diced
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 cans – 14.5 oz each – diced roasted tomatoes, undrained
6 cups (more or less to taste) low sodium, fat free, chicken or veggie stock
3 corn tortillas cut into strips or squares
1 C – frozen corn
1 C canned black beans, drained and rinsed
1 C canned hominy, drained and rinsed
2 cups cooked chicken breast cubed or shredded

Garnishes– fresh chopped cilantro, plain Greek yogurt or Sour Cream, crumbled cotija cheese, or shredded cheddar or Jack cheese, diced or sliced avocado, if you desire.

In a heavy pot, heat the oil and then add the Serrano peppers. Cook until they blister and are slightly charred. Add onion and poblano peppers and sauté until onions are translucent. Add garlic and cook for a few minutes until fragrant. Be careful you don’t brown the garlic.

Deglaze the pan with a cup of stock, reduce heat and cover and simmer until all the vegetables are soft and cooked thru. You may need to add more stock as the vegetables cook down. Keep an eye on it.

Add the tomatoes and 3 cups of stock to the pan, bring it to a boil. Drop in the cut up tortillas. They should start to break apart and you’ll notice the soup start to thicken. If you have a stick blender, you can use it here to smooth out the soup and hasten the thickening process.

Return it to a boil and then add the remaining ingredients. Heat until cooked thru.

Garnish as desired and serve.

This week’s pics are a mix….

This is harvest from my yard, lemongrass, thyme, mint and fig jam

Adam Bouska and John and I – checking out the pics he took for the NOH8 Campaign. The Vegas pics will be posted to the website in about 4 weeks.

The perfect BLT – house smoked bacon, home grown tomatoes….mmmm

Braised beef with Parmesan polenta and sauteed squash – yep – comfort food.

This week’s Food Memories are tapas and salad at Bar + Bistro after having our pic taken by Adam Bouska (see pics), four empty casserole dishes after a Fundraiser dinner, search and destroy with the hubby and comfort food of several kinds.

For those of you who HAVE been paying attention, have you noticed that the titles of the past few blogs are movie titles? Yes, I have an addiction to the movies, new and old, popular and obscure, and to further that addiction I have decided that I will continue in this vein for as long as I write this blog. Some will be well known and others not so much.

Happy 4th of July America!

While I am a very good cook, there are a few things I have never learned to do well, and one of them is cook for just 2 or 3 people. I like cooking for a MOB! In fact, I’d like to say I cook for an Army, but in all actuality I cook for an AIR FORCE (go Blue)! So, because I can’t seem to control my quantities really well (something a trained Chef can do with ease), we end up with leftovers, and it’s worse when we entertain because I never can judge how much people want to eat. I’d rather have too much than not enough.

Truth be told, there are people out there that hate leftovers and I don’t understand why! Never, in all of my days, will I understand how something is no longer good once it has been served. Sometimes food that is left to sit over night gets better. Tomato sauce is a perfect example of that! I suppose if you are eating the exact same meal 2 or 3 days in a row, leftovers suck, but if you get creative there are so many things you can do with your leftovers. Chop up the veggies and put them in a quiche or an omelet. Take leftover taco meat and make a taco salad or enchiladas, or 7 layer dip. Get it? There are people out there that will NOT under any circumstances eat leftovers. They would die of starvation in my house! We frequently have “search and destroy” nights. That’s when we take all leftovers out of the fridge, line ‘em up on the counter, everyone chooses their own dinner and we clean out the fridge to make room for more leftovers! Hubby John LOVES leftovers because they become what he takes to lunch. If I make Curried Chicken, I make extra rice and we portion it out, put it in the freezer and he can grab and go, straight to work and into the microwave!

Lately I have been challenging myself to try some new approaches to using up leftovers. Using the things in the fridge to cull dinner without having to make a major purchase at the store to accomplish it is harder than it looks sometimes. One dish I have come up with is Grilled Vegetable Enchilada Casserole– the veggies are grilled, not the enchiladas. (Truth Moment – Mom says when I was little if the word “casserole” was in the name of the dish, I automatically ate it!) I had to buy one ingredient – cotija cheese because I didn’t want cheddar or jack cheese. As soon as that recipe is perfected I will share it with you all.

For those of you who have people in your house that won’t eat leftovers, here is an easy recipe to rework roasted chicken. It is one of those recipes I am asked to bring to potluck get-togethers and it’s a hit every time. I wouldn’t make it for Michael Symon, it’s not fancy, but it is a crowd pleaser. And because it is an APPETIZER recipe – they won’t FEEL like they are eating leftovers!

This week’s Food Memories are a fab Patty Melt at the CrowBar in Shoshone, CA, breakfast burritos with my boy, and a 3rd of July BBQ with old friends and smoked sausages “imported” from Texas! This week’s pic is my Step Mom Nettie’s 7 Layer Salad. It’s my fave of the recipes she shared with me.

A few notes about the recipe – I prefer Texas Pete Original Hot Sauce™ in this recipe www.texaspete.com. You can use the Hotter Than Hot™ and it will be just as good. The Blue Cheese I am using right now is St. Pete’s Select (thank you Chef Tim Grandinetti for the turn on) however any good quality Blue Cheese will work. www.faribaultdairy.com

Buffalo Chicken – Blue Cheese Dip
Serves 10 generously

1½ C crumbled Blue Cheese – divided (about 12 oz)
2 pkg cream cheese (8 oz) – softened
2 C Sour Cream
10-12 oz leftover roasted, chicken, shredded or chopped
1 C hot sauce (I prefer Texas Pete®) – or more to taste
1/3 – ½ C good quality blue cheese dressing

Celery sticks and pita chips for dipping

Preheat oven to 375.

Using an electric mixer, combine 1 cup blue cheese and the cream cheese, mix at high speed until smooth and well combined. Reduce speed and add the sour cream and mix just until combined.

Spread cheese mixture into the bottom of a deep dish pie plate.

Combine hot sauce and chicken and mix until the chicken pieces are well coated. Put into pie plate on top of cheese mixture and spread evenly. Top with remaining ½ cup of the crumbled blue cheese. Bake until bubbling at the edges and heated thru.

Top with drizzled blue cheese dressing and serve immediately.