homemade taco holder

Taco Tuesday + Cinco de Mayo + Tip Tuesday = a quick and easy homemade taco holder using an egg carton. When Cinco de Mayo and Taco Tuesday fall on the same day you have to acknowledge it – am I right? For me it’s a triple header because I’ve been trying to launch Tip Tuesday on my website and today seems like the perfect day to do it.

I make tacos a lot and when I do it’s impossible to get them to stand up so they look pretty and the filling doesn’t fall out. If you’re like me and don’t have a taco stand, here’s my tip: turn over an egg carton place your tacos in between the grooves and there you go! Pretty cool right? I left the top of the carton on so you can see what it looks like as a whole carton, but you can certainly cut the top off if you like.

As for the tacos, no measured recipe here – use any shell you like corn or flour, crunchy or soft, fill with shredded lettuce, top with grilled fish (or chicken or steak) seasoned with chili and lime, diced tomatoes, corn, avocado or guacamole, and finish it off with your favorite salsa. Place them in your new fancy homemade taco holder and you’ll be the hit of the party. Next up… my favorite way to sangria! Olé!

Is it Possible I Own Over 100 Cookbooks?

Is it possible I own over 100 cookbooks? Apparently it is, and I can’t believe I put it out there for everyone to read! Before I sat down to write today, I didn’t know what I wanted to talk about; I just knew I wanted to start a dialog about cookbooks. But what do I want to talk about? Do I want to tell you about my favorites. Do I want to share how and why I got the books I did. Do I want to share a recipe from one of them. Should I be like Julie Powell from the famed Julie and Julia Blog and cook my through one of my books? Where do I begin? Maybe I should start by explaining how my cookbooks multiplied like rabbits!

At some point when I moved to NYC, I became a cookbook collector. Maybe it was all the hours I spent at the Strand Book Store http://www.strandbooks.com/ at the corner of 12th and Broadway. With an iced coffee in hand I could easily spend the day leafing through the art and design books, poetry books, and biography’s, but somehow I always ended up by the cookbook section. My collection grew as the years went by. When I got married, my mother gave me 3 cookbooks plus one she had handwritten just for me with some of her famed recipes. That little cookbook she gave me was the start of something really great.

Over the years, many became gifts from family and friends. My husband was a business consultant and wherever he traveled, he came home with a cookbook. Still not sure what I’m going to do with that Mormon Cookbook from Utah! There was also the cookbook of the month club I joined and a new one would show up every month. Then I found Kitchen Arts and Letters http://kitchenartsandletters.com/bookstore/ a bookstore which sells only cookbooks! Can you hear the ethereal music playing in the background? I can! Lucky for me, Columbus has it’s own special book store called The Book Loft http://www.bookloft.com/  It has 32 rooms of books, three of them containing cookbooks!

Over the years I realized I enjoy reading cookbooks the same way other people read novels. Right now the books on my nightstand are Modern Jewish Cooking by Leah Koenig, Cookie Love by Mindy Segal, Martha Stewart’s Appetizers and Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston. Since I counted over 100 cookbooks on my bookcase, that Feng Shui book is looking like a must read and will remain on the top of the stack!

Do I have a favorite? Well I’ll have to channel my mother here and say no, I have 10 fingers and I love them all the same! The same can be said for my collection. They each have a reason for taking their place on my shelf. Whether it’s the style of cooking, a chef I like, history, a particular region, or technique; they all have a place in my heart. I do have a soft spot for any cookbook with beautiful photography. Some are so stunning, they warrant a special place on my coffee table! I treasure the ones I have from my mother and mother-in-law with their handwritten notes and newspaper clippings of recipes used as place markers. Both great cooks and bakers who never needed a cookbook but, like me, enjoyed reading them cover to cover like a novel.

This past winter, I signed up to be part of a cookbook swap. I guess I thought I needed yet another cookbook! It was so much fun to get a cookbook in the mail and if you’re keeping track, this book makes the count 101!  I’ll share more about the swap in another post. In the meantime…

Tell me about your favorite cookbooks so we can start our own cookbook of the month club! We can call it What are you “Reating” unless you think that’s way too corny! I think it could be fun to find out what cookbooks you, my fabulous readers are using. Until then, happy cooking… and sweet baking.

 

In 2016 – Look to the Cookie!

Let’s make 2016 the year we all look to the cookie!

I wonder what it is about certain catch phrases that live on for years. You know the ones I mean.  Everything from where’s the beef, to suit up, to how YOU doin’. For my family these catchy sayings usually come from the television show Seinfeld. 17 years since the series final episode, we still find ourselves quoting the show almost weekly – serenity now! Maybe because we are New Yorker’s at heart or just because they are so darn funny – probably both! With that being said, this year I propose we look to the cookie and all our problems will be solved (thanks again Jerry)! In this case, not the black and white, but the fortune cookie. After reading though several fortune cookies, I realized they encourage mindfulness. They steer us towards enlightenment, positivity, humor, and make us stop and think.

When it comes to believing in fortune cookies, my sister is the real deal! One of the things I love most about her is how serious she takes them. She will try to figure out if there is a hidden meaning for her in the message, or why she got the one she did. When we go around the table and read ours aloud, she makes adorable faces as if to agree or disagree with what it said, sometimes disappointed when it doesn’t have a good message, and she always saves them. If you walked into her house right now, I can promise you will find a fortune somewhere! We all love when she gets excited and says “OMG that’s so true.” I think she’s on to something.

Can you think about the last fortune you opened? Do you remember what it said? Mine said “All your hard work will soon pay off.” I kept it, believed it, and will continue to work hard. For 2016, what do you want your fortune to say? Will you try to find the hidden meaning? Will you agree with it, or disagree? Will you save it? Look to the cookie…

Something wonderful is about to happen to you.
Laugh long, loud, and often
You create your own stage and your audience is waiting
Common sense is not so common
Marriage lets you annoy one special person the rest of your life
Don’t pursue happiness, create it.
You don’t need strength to let go of something. What you really need is understanding.
Never compare yourself to the best others can do, but to the best you can do.
Don’t panic!
If you don’t like the fortune, don’t eat the cookie!

So 2016… as we charge into this new year we come filled with new hopes, lighter eating, more exercising, and kindness towards others. Take these messages and make them happen. Something wonderful is about to happen to you! Laugh long, loud and often. Happy New Year to my wonderful readers.

Finally, a special shout out to my sister… Inside your fortune cookie today it will read “Someone loves you and wishes you the happiest of birthdays”

Look to the cookie!

An Egg Sandwich that is Simple, and Absolutely Delicious!

No matter how you put it together, an egg sandwich is simple and absolutely delicious. It’s a whole meal in one neatly wrapped package. I’ve been enjoying egg sandwiches for a long time – since high school in fact. In those days it was an English muffin with an egg in one hand, and books in the other as I ran out the door to school. I think handheld meals are the best way to enjoy a healthy breakfast when pressed for time and let’s face it, there are so many variations and are so yummy! With Thanksgiving just around the corner, and recipe websites blitzing every holiday recipe known to mankind, I thought I would go a different route and offer a healthy breakfast alternative for you my wonderful readers. This is a two for one, as I’m also giving a shout out to one of my favorite coffee places here.

Recently I had an egg sandwich I can’t stop thinking about! It was at Fox in the Snow and not the kind you want to eat on the run. Instead, you want to sit and savor every bite with a steaming hot cup of coffee. Fox in the Snow http://www.foxinthesnow.com/ is a bakery/coffee shop here in Columbus, Ohio. Cute name right? It’s located in an old garage and has a cool urban feel – which for me is a plus! It doesn’t hurt that the owners are Brooklyn transplants – something this New York girl was happy to find out! The menu is simple – great pastries and great coffee. I went in last week for a quick bite. A friend told me about their egg sandwich and said it was a must have so I ordered one with a hot mocha and as I waited listened to the album playing in the background.

The fluffy egg soufflé which is so light and rich sits on top of fresh crusty bread. It is topped with cheese (which I think is gruyere or Swiss), arugula, and a Dijon spread. (It ordinarily comes with bacon but not for this girl) Since they are a little far from where I live, I had to come up with something to tide me over until my next visit, so I decided to try my hand at making a lower fat version.

That was last Friday and I have made two of them since! Of course it’s not exactly like the one I had at Fox in the Snow. However, it has all of the components and is quite delicious in its own right and something I don’t feel guilty having a couple times a week. I think you’ll really enjoy it too!

The Sandwich
1 ciabatta roll or other fresh roll of your choice lightly toasted
3 to 4 egg whites*
1 slice of good melting cheese (gruyere, Swiss, or white cheddar)
handful of arugula
salt and pepper to taste

The Spread
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (use your favorite brand, I like Maille)
2 teaspoons Hellmann’s mayonnaise (you must use Hellmann’s)

First prepare the spread by mixing the mustard and mayo together in a small bowl, and set aside.

Place a small nonstick frying pan on the stove on medium heat. Spray it with canola oil or add 1 teaspoon of butter if you wish. Crack 3 to 4 eggs in a bowl and discard the yolks (or put them in a container for later use). Whisk the egg whites quickly with salt and pepper to taste and place in the prepared heated pan.

Lightly toast your roll while preparing your omelet. After you flip the egg, place the cheese on top to melt while the other side is cooking.

To build the egg sandwich, spread both pieces of the bread with the mustard, then place the egg with cheese on top, the arugula, and finally the top of the bread.

*You could use two whole eggs if you prefer. Crack them in a bowl, add a dash of milk, a pinch of salt and pepper and whisk till fluffy then continue with the recipe)

We Should be Holding a Pie or Something!

We should be holding a pie or something! Actually, they should be holding a birthday cake – or two!

A few weeks ago, my husband and his dad were headed out for a bike ride. Before they left I ran out with my camera to take a quick picture of them. I think you’ll agree, too cute not to! The matching shirts were kind of a coincidence – so that worked out in my favor! While I was taking the picture, my father in law said “we should be holding a pie or something.” And with these 8 little words I smiled and thought, I wish they were holding a pie so I could blog about them. Then I realized, they didn’t need a pie – that’s not what my blog is about. It’s not about how many ways can you make a cookie, or 6 photos of the same brownie shot on different plates, in 6 different angles. It’s about food and the connection we have with it, it’s about family, friends, life events and my journey in this world.

Without pie in hand, they left with two bikes on the car rack, in matching shirts, and a cooler in tow filled with goodies for the day. Among the homemade cookies were tuna fish sandwiches, potato chips, clementines, apples, 6 bottles of water and granola bars. That’s how a Jewish mother packs a cooler – filled to the brim until you can’t close the lid! Several hours later, they came home tired, sunburned and with an empty cooler!

So today’s post is all about my birthday boys, father and son, one birthday on the 12th the other on the 13th. It’s easy to remember who’s birthday comes first. My father-in-law will remind you he came first so naturally his birthday is on the 12th! Happy birthday to 2 of my favorite guys!