Blogspot - Recipe Scratch Rusia

Each year I volunteer to donate the desserts for the annual celebration dinner at The Sheffield Place , a facility that serves homeless mothers and their children.  ( You can read about the past posts and desserts here .)  This year, since Emma has taken such an interest in baking, I decided to let her take the reins on this project.  We selected the menu together (I had to rein in some of her ambitions a bit... ) but I put her in charge of the baking, decorating and display.    Robin's Egg Blue Enamelware Trays, $22 There were to be 40 guests at the dinner, so we decided to make 26 Lemon Tartlets and 26 Strawberry Macaron.  I'll save the Macaron recipe for another post - stay tuned for that. For the tarts, we used store bought pie crust.  Emma would've preferred that we make "scratch" dough, but I wanted to make as little mess as possible in the kitchen since we were also tackling macaron in the same day. All we did was roll it out a bit thinner than ...

I know that posting a scone recipe is no surprise for me.  However this is one of my tricks, I really believe that you don't need a million different recipes, just a few that you can alter each season or occasion.  These scones are the simplest that I make (except maybe vanilla ?).  Just a basic recipe with a little lemon zest, then smothered in a buttery lemon glaze.   Do you want to know the best way to enjoy this?  Before you put the glaze on, slice it in half and smear blackberry or strawberry jam, then put the top back on then top with the glaze... great for dessert.   Lemon Scones 8 scones  2 cups plus 1/4 cup flour 1/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, small diced 2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten 1/2 cup cold heavy cream 1 tablespoon of lemon zest ..... 1 cup confectioners' sugar 2 tablespoons of butter fresh lemon juice In a mixer, combine flour, sugar, baking powder...

Chicken Piccata with Spinach, Cherry Tomatoes & Angel Hair We have this for dinner probably about once a week - one of everyone's favorites.  It is one of my very favorites because it takes 20 minutes to make (seriously - I timed myself!) and everyone in our family loves it.  It is fairly healthy with lots of spinach, chicken and tomatoes and not too much pasta.  It also feels light, but still filling and very flavorful.  I love that I can stop by the store and have this on the table so quickly and everyone is excited about dinner. I haven't done a new dinner recipe in a while - a really long time.  I think I've fallen into the same trap of most moms... feeding people every single day.  Emma's tastes are simpler than ours, and though she is a fairly good eater, she doesn't want to try something new every night and, frankly, neither do I.  We take comfort in our favorites - pasta, tacos, burgers, roasted chicken, soup, etc.  So, when I realized...

You all know that I love pasta so much.  I try to limit ourselves to just a couple of a pasta dinners per week.  One is usually a red sauce - spaghetti and meatballs, chicken parm, ragu or bolognese - and one is usually a buttery lemon sauce with chicken or shrimp.  I'm the only one in our family that goes crazy for shrimp, so usually it is chicken.  Emma absolutely loves anything with lemon and chicken, so this dinner was a big hit.  We'll do variations on this all year long, but this one felt particularly springy.   I always try to add some green veggies for dinner and being seasonal is even better.  The asparagus, mushrooms and spinach help stretch the pasta and give this so much more nutritional heft and flavor and make this feel like spring.  I used bucatini, which is a spaghetti shape but that has a hole down the center, like a tube.  It makes it sort of extra chewy and thick.  You could use any shape - bowtie, penne, angel hair or...

What is it about January and citrus?!  I know that it is actually citrus season, but could that really make me crave it so intensely?  I've been thinking about this lemon cake for about 4 days when I picked up a bag of Meyer Lemons at the store.  While they are becoming easier to get during the entire year, I'm making a real effort to eat seasonally.  I feel like there is so much more to look forward to each season when we wait for seasonal foods and focus on what is best and fresh.  So, no heirloom tomato salads for me in February, and no strawberries until at least until late spring... or until we dip them in chocolate for Valentine's Day ; )  But, gosh, won't they taste good when we do have them. It is January, and we will be making Lemon Cake (actually on the to-do list for today), Crispy Lemon Chicken , Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup , Lemony Shrimp Scampi and Lemon Mousse .  Hopefully that extra hit of Vitaman C will help cure us of our sniffles, too. ...