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The Perfect Combo-Light Crispy Fish and Clam Chowder

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Spring in the Northeast is a fickle thing.  One day it can be 80 degrees and then a few days later back to almost freezing.  Last week was one of those weeks.  I hadn’t planned my Sunday Supper so I thought I would make some fried fish and a pot of clam chowder.  Fish thaws quickly and I had all the fixings for the clam chowder in my pantry and fridge. A Sunday Supper that is filling and tummy warming.

The fish had a light crispy batter on it, pan fried to a golden brown, topped with a little homemade tartar sauce it was perfect with the clam chowder – the New England version, which was thick with potatoes and flavored with smokey bacon, onions and lots of canned clams.

If you’d like the secret to perfectly light and crispy fried fish here it is: seltzer water.  The bubbles in the seltzer water mixed with the flour makes for a batter that cooks up light and crispy, every time.  And this fish isn’t deep fried, but pan fried, which also makes it light.

To make the batter simply take about a cup to a cup and a half of all purpose flour.  Season it with salt and pepper.  Then add enough seltzer water to make a thick, smooth batter.  Dip the fish in the batter and pan fry in a skillet with about an inch of oil in it.

I guarantee you won’t be going to any fast food fish and chip joint again!

Have a seafood tip? Or a foolproof seafood cooking method?  Please share!

Beekman Boys Heirloom Cookbook Recipe Review- Rich Double Chocolate Pudding

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I’m a chocoholic, there’s
no denying it.  Sometimes you just
want old fashioned chocolate pudding made fresh not from a box but from your
pantry.  The Beekman Boys (Brent
Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell of Fabulous Beekman Boys fame) have a simple,
delicious and easy recipe for chocolate pudding in their recently released
Heirloom Cookbook.  The cookbook is
filled with family recipes broken down by season making it easy to cook
according to what’s plentiful for that season.  This recipe can be made on the spur of the moment when
nothing but something decadent and chocolately will do.  The best part – it can be made with
ingredients that are found in any pantry.  



There are a few steps and a technique called “tempering”,
which simply means pouring hot liquid into cold liquid so that it becomes the
same temperature.  In this case
it’s adding some of the hot pudding mixture into room temperature egg yolks so
that the eggs don’t cook and scramble in the pudding.  Once the eggs are tempered then they are added back into the
pudding in the saucepan.  This step
will ensure that you’re pudding is smooth and rich. 


When I made this pudding I found that it’s better to cook
the ingredients after the second step long enough to completely melt the sugar,
otherwise the pudding will be gritty and not smooth.  I didn’t find it necessary to substitute any ingredients
like I sometimes do when I find a new recipe. Although I did use dark brown
sugar (because that’s what my husband brought home from the store) and I didn’t
have any measuring spoons clean so I more or less eye balled it with a kitchen
spoon.  For the semi-sweet
chocolate the recipe calls for I used about ½ bag of chocolate chips.


If you want to make Rich Double Chocolate Pudding this is
what you’ll need:
2 ¼ cups milk
½ cup light brown sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
3 large egg yolks
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


In a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine 2 cups of milk,
¼ cup of the brown sugar, and the salt and bring it to a boil over medium heat.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder,
cornstarch, and the remaining ¼ cup brown sugar.  Gradually whisk in the remaining ¼ cup of milk until smooth.
Slowly whisk about half of the hot milk mixture into the
cornstarch mixture, and then whisk it back into the saucepan.  Stirring constantly, bring to a boil
over medium heat and boil until thick, about 2 minutes.  Remove from heat.
In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks.  Gradually whisk in about 1 cup of the
hot pudding, and then return the yolk mixture to the saucepan.  Return to the heat and cook, whisking
constantly, until the pudding begins to sputter, about 2 minutes.
Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl.  Scrape the hot pudding over the chopped
chocolate.  Cover and let stand for
5 minutes, then stir to combine and melt the chocolate.  Stir in the vanilla and refrigerate
until serving time.




The Heirloom Cookbook is filled with over 100 recipes and is
available at bookstores nationwide. 
If you’re ever in Upstate NY and would like a chance to meet the Beekman
Boys in person they have a store in Sharon Springs NY called the Beekman 1802
Mercantile where they sell not only their own goat’s milk soaps, lotions and
cajeta (carmel sauce) but also other items that are handmade in and around
Sharon Springs. Can’t make it Sharon Springs? Then check out their website www.beekman1802.com where you’ll find recipes, shop for their soaps, cheeses and
other products and learn more about their life on their farm.


Sunday Supper Greek Style- 2 recipes included

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I participate in #SundaySupper on twitter where a group of
bloggers and other folks tweet about what they’re making for their Sunday
Supper.  It’s a great way to get
inspiration for meals, recipes and ideas plus “meet” a lot of foodies!  Isabelle (@familyfoodie) hosts this
every week as a way to bring people back to the table, eating and sharing time
with their families.
This past Sunday I tweeted and posted a picture of what I
made for Sunday Supper – a complete Greek dinner, full of amazing flavors and
surprisingly easy.  I have to thank
in part Chef Michael Symon for the inspiration and also for a couple of easy
recipes that I made when I took my class at the CIA (also found in The Culinary
Institute of America Cookbook).
I had bought some pork
loins on sale (buy one get one free) and was looking for a creative and
different way to cook them.  I was
flipping through the channels one day and stopped on Symon’s Suppers, Chef
Symon’s new series on The Cooking Channel.  He was grilling and one thing he was making was pork
souvlaki which is pork kabobs marinated in a Greek- style marinade.  I thought this would be perfect with
the zucchini pancakes and tzatziki sauce from the CIA cookbook.  

First thing I did was cut the pork loin
into bite size pieces, then made a marinade out of lemon juice, oregano, dill,
a little onion and then added enough olive oil to make a dressing.  Seasoned with salt and pepper. 





 I let the meat marinate for at least 30
minutes while I made the tzatziki sauce, which included sour cream, plain
yogurt, dill, salt and pepper and grated cucumber. 


A delicious, creamy accompaniment to the zucchini
pancakes.  After about an hour of
the sauce sitting in the fridge, it was time to create the batter for the
zucchini pancakes.  Grated zucchini
is added to eggs and flour then seasoned with dill, salt, pepper, scallions and
parsley.  Then feta cheese is
added.  The complete recipe for
both will follow below.
I thought it would be easier to cook the pork in a skillet
after it marinated so that’s what I did, although the original recipe called
for grilling.
If you’d like to make zucchini pancakes and tzatziki sauce
this is what you’ll need.
Tzatziki sauce: (From the Culinary Institute of America
Cookbook  p.208)
Makes 1 ½ cups
½ cup plain yogurt
½ cup sour cream
½ cup grated cucumber, squeezed dry
1 tsp minced garlic (I grate mine using a microplane)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon fresh mint or dill (I used dried so I didn’t
put in as much)
1 tsp lemon juice
½ tsp lemon zest
salt and pepper to taste

Combine the yogurt, sour cream, cucumber and garlic to a
food processor and puree until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and fold in the olive
oil, mint or dill, lemon juice and zest. 
Stir until well combined and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Keep refrigerated until use.
Zucchini Pancakes
3 cups coarsely grated zucchini
salt and pepper as needed                                  
2 cups chopped scallions
4 eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup flour
1/3 cup chopped dill
1/3 cup chopped parsley
2 Tablespoons chopped tarragon
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
2/3 cup walnuts
Olive oil for frying

1.    
Place the grated zucchini in a colander.  Sprinkle with salt and let stand for 30
minutes.  Squeeze the zucchini by
pressing as much liquid as possible. 
Dry the zucchini by pressing between several layers of paper towels.
2.    
2. In a large bowl, combine the zucchini, scallions, eggs,
flour, dill, parsley, tarragon, salt and pepper until even blended.  Fold in the feta cheese.  Cover and refrigerate for up to 3
hours.  Stir before continuing.  Fold in walnuts.
3.    
Preheat oven to 300 to keep the pancakes warm as you
work.  Place a baking sheet in the
oven.
4.    
Add enough oil in the skillet to come to a depth of about 1/8
inch, and heat the oil until it shimmers. 
Working in batches, drop heaping tablespoons of the zucchini mixture
into the hot oil, leaving enough room for the pancakes to spread as they
cook.  Fry until the pancakes are
golden brown and cooked through about 3 minutes per side.  Transfer each batch to the baking sheet
in the oven to keep warm. Serve immediately with the tzatziki sauce.
Zucchini pancakes on plate in front
These recipes made a delicious side dish to go with the
Greek marinated pork, which was also amazing delicious.
Have a #SundaySupper you’d like to share?  Then be sure to tweet using the hastag
#SundaySupper. The more the merrier! 
You might even find your photos on the Sunday Supper pinterest
board.  So come and share your
family traditions @familyfoodie and #SundaySupper.

Bite Me at The Ice Cream Man

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I love my job. 
What’s that old saying? Do something you love and you’ll never work a
day in your life.  That’s how I
feel about my job at the Ice Cream Man in Greenwich NY. 
What is this job that makes me so happy?  I make ice cream.  I actually make the ice cream that goes
into the dip table and into the famous ice cream cakes they sell.  Now when I say I make ice cream this is
what I mean.  First of all I put
the machine together and make sure it’s clean and sanitary.  Then its time to put in the cream.  Depending on the recipe of the ice
cream we’re making (and we make at least 10 batches a day) I add the first bag
of cream and the ingredients then add the second bag of cream.  Each bag of cream weighs 20 pounds so
40 pounds of cream is added to the machine which will make at least 4 boxes of
ice cream each weighing 2.5 gallons. Not only do I make ice cream for pints,
quarts and the shop, I also make vanilla and chocolate to fill the cake pans
for ice cream cakes.  Sounds like a
hard day?  Yes, but so much fun
too! 
On the days that I don’t make ice cream I decorate the cakes
that we made during the previous ice cream making day.  The ice cream cakes are usually
decorated with balloons or flowers but can be decorated with just about
anything.  We’ve even made wedding
cakes!
The Ice Cream Man is well known in the Saratoga area.  So well known that Bobby Flay wanted to
do a Throw down there in 2007 and most recently we were visited by Jennifer
Savino host of the public access cable show called “Bite Me.”  In her show she highlights local food
business owners and asks them questions about the business, what makes it their
passion and how they got started. 
Since she was once a food business owner (she owned a gourmet cookie
business) she likes to participate in the actual preparation process and since
we were making ice cream the day she visited, Julia (the owner and my boss)
decided she would let her “dingle” in the ingredients in the last batch of ice
cream for the day—almond joy.  They
filmed Julia making the Almond Joy ice cream. The first bag of cream goes into
the machine, then coconut extract and real coconut, then the second bag of
cream. The machine runs for five minutes, then chocolate covered almonds are
added and the machine runs for another 5 minutes.  Then it’s time to draw the ice cream into the boxes while
another person “dingles.”  What’s
dingling? Very simple. While the ice cream is coming out of the machine the
second person sprinkles in whatever ingredients the recipe calls for, in this
case more chocolate covered almonds.
After the ice cream was finished it was time to show
Jennifer how we make waffle cones. 
Julia explained the batter and then demonstrated the procedure.  Finally Jennifer got to sample the
final product.  Then she knew why
it was our number one seller! 
“Tastes like a frozen Almond Joy candy bar!” she said.  
For us it was just another day at the Ice Cream Man, sharing
our delicious Ice Cream and letting people know where and how they can get
it.  The Ice Cream Man has grown
since it was started in the 1980’s by the Mann family and will continue to
grow.  The original shop was housed
in the small log cabin which now the production room, where the magic happens
even if I do say so myself.  The
next owner, Nancy Schneider added on the addition of the larger dip room,
indoor seating and screened in porch so that the ice cream business could go
year round.  In 2001 the current
owner, Julia Reynolds bought the business (after being the shop manager) and
has grown it into what it is today – by adding deli sandwiches, soups, pies
(from Smith’s Orchard in Charlton), cheesecake from the Nuns of New Skete along
with custom ice cream cakes and a growing retail business.  Ice Cream Man ice cream is available in
pints and quarts at Shop Rite, Hannaford (which also carries cakes), Meat House
and East Side Deli in Saratoga.  If
your having a birthday party at Strike Zone you can add one of our fresh made
and decorated cakes for an additional cost.
Northeasterners love their ice cream, there’s no doubt about
that.  So come into the Ice Cream
Man and see why we’re so well known. 
Try a sample, buy a pint or quart, order your next special event cake
(I’ll decorate it for you personally) or just grab a sandwich and a cone,
sundae or shake. 
Please be sure to say you saw it on my blog. I’d love to
meet anyone who stops by!
It will take a few months for the final editing to be done
on the “Bite Me Show” episode so I will be sure to put the link on the blog.
In the meantime here’s the link to Jennifer’s blog:
Been to the Ice Cream Man in Greenwich NY? or are you planning a visit?  What’s your favorite flavor?

Add Tons of Flavor with Compound Butter

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I like to make a special meal for my sweetie on Valentine’s day.  This year it included spinach salad with hard boiled eggs, bacon and mushrooms with a hot bacon dressing, poutine (A Canadian favorite) which is fries with cheese curds and gravy, asparagus with hollandaise (which broke, but that’s another blog post) and T-bone steaks with compound butter.

I wanted to make the compound butter, not because I thought the T-bones needed more flavor but because it looks impressive but couldn’t be easier.  Compound butters are just that — butter that has flavorful ingredients added to it.  It can be used on meats, fish and even vegetables.

I chose to add garlic and parsley to my butter along with a little salt and pepper.  But you can add just about any herb you’d like to your butter.

If you’re going to use a compound butter I would suggest seasoning your meat, fish or vegetables very simply so that it doesn’t fight the flavors of the butter.

I made extra of the butter so that we would have some leftover.  It would be delicious in scrambled eggs.

To make compound butter this is what you’ll need:

1 stick unsalted butter
herbs (fresh or dried) of your choice.

Let the butter come to room temperature so that your ingredients can be mixed into it easily.
For the butter I served I used 2 large cloves of garlic that I grated into the butter.  I prefer to grate the garlic since then you’re not biting into a huge piece of garlic and it gives a more pronounced garlic flavor.  I also added about 1/2 teaspoon or a liberal sprinkling of dried parsley.  Season lightly with salt and pepper.

This can be made a day ahead of time.  Once the steaks were cooked to our liking then we topped each one with the butter that melted all over the delicious meat.  HEAVENLY!

Compound butters can be made for sweet things too.  Like taking butter and cinnamon and a little sugar to top off french toast or pancakes.  Or using a compound butter to stuff inside a hollowed out apple then baked in the oven.

Compound butter is versatile and delicious.  You can easily add tons of flavor to almost anything!  So give it a try.

Have favorite compound butter combination?  I’d love to hear it — leave it in the comments below!

A Personal Post- Remembering Skylar

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I don’t like to blog about my personal life.  I like to keep it light and fun with
entries about what’s cooking in my kitchen or what new and delicious restaurant
we’ve tried recently or how to save big at the grocery store.  But this entry will be completely
different from anything I’ve done before.
Recently I’ve had an experience that I’d like to share with
everyone, an experience I’ve never had before.  In 2009 (which was a very difficult and emotional year for
me and my family) we adopted a little, black mixed breed dog from the SPCA.  We decided to name her
Skylar.  She was a quirky, funny,
scruffy and charming little dog that we all fell in love with.  As a puppy Skylar was well behaved, she
never chewed anything up and she got along well with our other 2 dogs.  She had some unusual habits. One, she
like to nudge your leg from behind, almost like a little nip.  This made me think that she might have
had some herding dog in her.  When
we were sitting at the dining room table she would poke our legs with her nose
to get our attention, for scraps, no doubt. And her other little quirk?  She could talk.  Yeah, I know, right, a talking dog! But
she could.  Okay, she wasn’t Scooby
Doo but she could communicate with us whenever she wanted something.  We always knew that she either wanted
water, food or to go outside.  I
still believe that sometimes in answer to our question she would say “uh huh”. 
Even though she might have had some herding instincts she
was a gentle dog who loved to be
outside, lay in the grass or in the snow.  She was independent and wasn’t much for
cuddling, but every once in awhile she would snuggle up next to us on the couch
and lay her head in our hand and make our hearts melt.  She was happy, and she was healthy up
until about a month ago.

We noticed that her breathing wasn’t quite right.  She seemed to be struggling just a
little bit, almost like panting. 
It got increasingly worse over the next couple of days.   We made a vet appointment.  Dr Brockett at Saratoga Veterinary
Hospital gave her a thorough examination. 
We told him about a few things that we had noticed that didn’t seem
right to us.  She had bumps on her
head, she had something on her gums, a cobblestone pattern and of course
trouble breathing.  We told him
that she came from a kill shelter in Tennessee.  So he thought that maybe she had some form of disease that
was indigenous to that region, since he had never seen anything like this
before.  He decided to treat it
with an antifungal, an antibiotic and a steroid.  At first she seemed to respond and her breathing improved,
but once the steroid dose was decreased she had trouble breathing again.  Dr Brockett decided to take blood and
send it to Cornell University. 
Unfortunately the blood showed nothing unusual. So once again he was
stumped.  We continued the
treatment and even after consulting with several other vets and the doctors at
Cornell, there was no answer.
I watched as Skylar got sicker and sicker.  Her eyes were red all the time and
looked like they were bulging.  Her
tongue was now swollen and covered in ulcerations, and her gums were so covered
in the cobblestone pattern that it made it almost impossible for her to eat
anything that wasn’t soft.  As a
last resort we decided to take biopsies of the affected area since the steroids
were no longer helping her breathing. 
The result: a rare form of lymphoma with no cure or treatment.  We were devastated.
Our once vibrant and playful 2 year old was now ravaged with
cancer and there was nothing anyone could do.  The last word from the vet: “tell us when you want to put
her down.”

Needless to say the next
few days were emotional.  Having to
make that kind of decision, not being able to ask her how she felt, when she
was ready to go, made it even harder. 
I could see the change in her over the next few days after getting the
diagnosis.  This cancer is fast
moving and ravaged her body in a matter of days to the point where she could no
longer eat or drink. 

She didn’t look like a 2 yr old dog, but one that was much, much
older.  The night before I made the
final decision we were both awake (Skylar and me) most of the night.  She outside and me in my bathroom,
crying, trying to come to the full realization that it was indeed time. 
I spent the next day with her.  Watching her, stroking her, remembering her when she was
healthy and full of personality, telling her over and over again that I was
sorry.  Seeing her be able to do
almost nothing but lay still, occasionally getting up to go outside but not
being able to eat or drink.  I
spent most of that day second guessing myself but knowing in my heart that it
was the right thing to do, to have her go peacefully and not suffer anymore
being eaten alive by the cancer.  I
realized that wanting to hold onto her, having hope that maybe it wasn’t as bad
as it was, was just being selfish on my part.  Many hours and many tears later I realized…. and stopped
second guessing myself and said, yes its time.
My husband Mark took her.  I just couldn’t face it.  He assured me that she went peacefully.  They put out a blanket for her on the
floor and she laid right down and never moved.  Dr. Brockett could see the change in her too – the amount of
weight that she had lost, the condition of her mouth and her tongue.  He assured Mark that this was the right
thing to do, that she was in fact suffering. It was all over after she received
a simple injection, she went to sleep. Afterward, Mark called and wanted to
know what to do with her remains, store them until Spring or have her cremated
so we could spread her ashes over the places she loved the most.  We decided to have her cremated.  I know to some people it might sound
silly or ridiculous to save her ashes. After all she was just a dog.  I was raised to believe that all life
has value, even if it’s an animal. Skylar was part of our family.  She made us laugh, she made us happy,
and so we thought it only fitting to spread her ashes over the places where she
was most happy.

It’s true, Skylar was just a mutt from a kill shelter in
Tennessee. True that she was scruffy and not well bred. But it’s also true that
she captured our hearts with her quirky ways and her funny habits. I hope that
this story doesn’t stop anyone from adopting a needy animal from a
shelter.  That you don’t think
twice about giving your heart to a puppy that will give you all of themselves
and enrich your life.  In a case
like that I think it’s okay for your emotions to guide you.  Fall in love, I did and I don’t regret
it, not one bit.

If you do have an animal that has any of the symptoms that
Skylar had: breathing trouble, knots on the head, red, puffy eyes, ulcerations
on the tongue and cobblestone gums ask for a biopsy immediately to rule out
lymphoma.  This is something I wish
I would have insisted on.  But
prepare yourself for the worst. These symptoms seem to all point to this rare
form of cancer.
I’ve lost other dogs in my life mostly to old age so to have
such a young dog with such a serious, incurable illness just didn’t seem fair.
Sometimes life just isn’t fair and can offer opportunities to learn.
This piece isn’t meant to compare the loss of a family pet
to that of a human family member. 
I’ve never experienced anyone, human or animal dying of cancer right
before my eyes and I hope I never have to experience it again.  I might still go to a pet adoption but
I’m not likely to adopt one, at least not right away.  You can’t replace one pet with another, you just won’t
find  one that will be the
same.  Each dog has it’s own unique
personality and needs.  I know I
won’t be able to replace Skylar and I wouldn’t even try.  Right now I’ll remember her the way she
was before she got sick, when she was happy and healthy.
Cherish your pets….

I’d like to thank Dr. Chris Brockett and his team at
Saratoga Veterinary Hospital.  Even
though Skylar wasn’t able to be saved, they were kind and compassionate when we
most needed them to be.  We will
continue to bring our other dogs there for care.  They really are the best.

Focaccia Bread- The Easy Way

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I love a good sale!  And nothing beats getting pizza dough at buy 1 get 3 free!!  You can freeze them or you can turn them into something else like focaccia bread.  Everyone takes help from the store now and then (right Sandra Lee?) but the real trick is turning it into something else.

I took one package of Price Choppers ready made pizza dough that was in the dairy case and let it rise according to the instructions.  By placing it in a oiled bowl in a warm place, covered with a clean towel.  That took about 45 minutes.  While the dough was rising I made an infused oil.  On the stove in a small saucepan I warmed about 1/4 cup of olive oil.  Once the oil was warmed but not bubbling I grated in 2 cloves of garlic and about 1/2 teaspoon each of dried basil and dried parsley.  I let the oil steep off the heat.

Once the dough had risen I turned it out onto a light greased baking sheet.
<TIP> The dough will spring back but that’s okay.  Keep working it out with your fingers.  Once it’s in the rectangular shape, then take your finger tips and press them down all over the bread to make dimples.

I spread it with the infused oil adding a sprinkle of salt to the top.

I baked the bread in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 12-15 minutes.  You’ll smell it for sure!

Once the bread is done I sprinkled it with a little grated Parmesan cheese.

I served the bread with an old fashioned pasta dinner — spaghetti and salad.

Have a double duty use for a grocery store item?
Have a great pizza recipe that you’d like to share?

What's For Dinner- Easy Red Beans and Rice

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It was snowing today I and wanted something for dinner that would warm us from the inside out.  I was lucky enough to get an amazing deal on smoked sausage so I thought why not red beans and rice.

But this isn’t your usual red beans and rice, this dish takes about 30 minutes to prepare, and I can guarantee that it will be even better tomorrow, for lunch.  It’s a simple combination of onions, garlic, stewed tomatoes (that’s the secret ingredient) red kidney beans and smoked sausage.  It’s then served over rice.  It can be spiced up or toned down.  It’s a no-fail, easy, quick dinner.

To Make Red Beans and Rice you’ll need:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 large clove of garlic finely chopped
1lb. smoked sausage cut on diagonal
1 15 ounce can of stewed tomatoes
1 15 ounce can red beans
Rice
To season it you’ll need:

salt
pepper
thyme
red pepper flake
or hot sauce

In a large skillet heat the oil on medium high heat.  Chop onions and add to the skillet.  Cook until translucent on medium low heat.  Be sure not to brown them.  Once the onions are cooked add the chopped garlic, cook until soft.  Season with salt and pepper and red pepper flakes.  Cut the smoked sausage on a diagonal (this will allow more surface area and the sausage will get crispy faster) and add it to the skillet. Cook the sausage until brown and heated through.  After the sausage is browned then add the stewed tomatoes and the red beans (drained) to the skillet.  Stir to combine and heat through. Season with thyme.
After tasting if you’d like it spicier add hot sauce.

Serve over rice.

Makes 4 servings

Top 10 Blog Posts- My Best of 2011

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Now that all the celebration is over I thought I would take a look at my stats and see just what people were reading.  So here’s my top 10 blog posts from last year:

1. Easy Skillet Apple Pie

With 1603 page views this recipe was actually a review of a recipe that I saw in Southern Living Magazine.  By lining a cast iron skillet with a ready made pie crust this southern classic is done in no time.

2.  Double Caramel Peaches

This blog post received 1188 pageviews as part of Food Network’s FN Dish Summer Fest.  Peaches are cooked in homemade caramel and then used to top angel food cake then whipped cream and a creamy Mexican caramel called Cajeta.

3. Gooey Butter Cookies

The recipe for these cookies, which are a take off on a gooey butter cake, received 487 pageview.

4.  Christmas Cake Designs

This blog post (which got 361 page views) was all about tips to decorate holiday cakes.

5.  Sausage, Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni

This blog post was part of Food Network’s FN Dish for recipes highlighting spinach. Scratch made cannelloni shells were filled with Italian sausage, ricotta and spinach.   It received 313 page views.

6.  Baking a Pie in a Pumpkin

A novel twist on pumpkin pie.  The custard is baked in the pumpkin.  This blog post received 263 page views.

7. Curried Pumpkin Soup

I was surprised that this recipe got as big a response as it did.  I’m not much for curry but it married well with pumpkin in the soup that was pretty much an experiment.  This blog received 232 page views.

8.  Potato Canapes

This recipe was featured on Food Network’s FN Dish Summer Fest.  A quick, easy and delicious appetizer or snack for game time.  This blog post received 231 page views.

9. Carlo’s Bakery

As part of our trip to meet Rachael Ray at a book signing we stopped by Carlo’s bakery (home of the Cake Boss seen on TLC) to buy some goodies which included cannolis, chocolate cake and amazing cookies.  Couldn’t pass up a chance to visit this famous and delicious destination.  This blog post received 223 page views.

10.  Trip to the CIA

Yes that’s me on the left at the Culinary Institute of America. Last September I was fortunate enough to be able to spend the day at the institute, meet chefs and take a class.  It was one of the most special days of my life.  I’ve never been anywhere before where I felt more at home.  This blog post received 160 page views.

That’s it!  My most popular blog posts of 2011.
In the next couple weeks the blog will go through a major transformation, so I hope you continue to visit and read, and I’ll try to come up with interesting and delicious blog posts.

First Post of 2012- Full of Hope and Promise

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Today is January 1st 2012.  The first day of a new year.  The day when everyone feels renewed and refreshed, full of hope and promise.  And of course also full of resolutions and good intentions.

Like everyone else I have resolutions that I’d like to make, things I’d like to change.  We all have things that we need to work on.

Whether it’s losing a few pounds, saving money or conquering a long time challenge I wish you all good luck making 2012 everything you’d like it to be.

I hope that you will visit often to see all the changes I have planned for this blog.  New design, new recipes and new topics.  I’m hoping to inspire and entertain, to teach and to share insights and tips.  And as always I’m open to comments and suggestions.  I love to hear what you think.

So, take this new year and mold it into what you want.  Make it your own.  Be the best you can be.

Happy New Year!