Cookie Twists

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Somebody's Mom

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1 cup butter
3 1/ 2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons bking powder

1 egg
milk
rainbow sprinkles or sesame seeds

1. Soften butter.
2. Oven 350 degrees.
3. Cream butter and sugar until fluff. Add eggs and vanilla, blend well.
4. Sift flour and baking powder separately, gradually add flour mixture to butter
mixture, forming a dough.
5. Pinch off 1-inch balls. Roll into 6-inch ropes. Fold in half and twist. Place twists
1/2 inch apart onto greased cookie sheets.
6. Beat egg and milk together. Brush top of twists with milk mixture and sprinkle with
sesame seeds or rainbow sprinkles. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Gently, remove from
pan, with a spatula to wire racks to cool.
7. Enjoy – Butter cookies with a twist!

Happy Mother’s Day from Somebody’s Mom to all “Moms”! The greatest gift of all is your family. I will think of my mom, grandmothers and aunts today. I will say a prayer for them along with a thank you for all they have done for me. They may not be here physically, but they are still here with me in my memories and in my heart!

These Cookie Twists are really the same recipe as my Sesame Cookies, but without the sesame seeds. But my little Chi Chi, my granddaughter Mackenzie’s nickname, likes rainbow sprinkle cookies and probably would not eat them with sesame seeds on them. Whatever my grandchildren want as far as food goes, I am always happy to comply!
My grandsons, Jared and Tommy, love cheesecake. I bake them cheesecakes, both large and mini size. All three seem to enjoy my baked macaroni and cheese, homemade with lots of love thrown in. Brownies without nuts, chocolate chip cookies, and my spaghetti sauce also are all time favorites.
As far as drinks go, there is a steady supply of ingredients to make Shirley Temples at a moment’s notice for the grandkids. I favor my own version which is different from the original drink. My Shirley Temples are made up of equal parts ginger ale soda and cranberry juice with numerous Maraschino cherries added for fun. Shirley Temple’s main ingredients consist of grenadine and ginger ale soda with cherries, but then some recipes call for real lime juice or lemon/lime soda. The only thing that matters to me is that the grandkids love my Shirley Temples, so I keep them coming.
When you love to cook, it is a joy to cook for those you love for all the generations!

Filed under: Cookies, Desserts, Recipes | 2 Comments »

Cicero’s Eggplant Rollatini Pizza

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Somebody's Mom

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I venture over the Tappan Zee to Rockland County about every six weeks to get my hair done by Paul De Carlo, owner of De Carlo’s Salon. He has been doing my hair for over 30 years, and our relationship is one of customer and stylist, and one of friendship between two who share a passion for cooking. When I settle comfortably in his chair we always end up talking recipes, entertaining, family, and everything in between.

For as long as I can remember, Paul always has coffee, tea, and baked goods neatly displayed in a welcoming corner of the salon…there for the taking. Surprisingly, there is another generous tradition observed by De Carlo’s Salon on Saturdays; pizza is served to all interested customers around noon! Who does that? Paul orders pizza from Cicero’s which is a few doors down from his shop in the same strip mall in Bardonia. One can always find plain pizza while the more adventurous will find eggplant rollatini pizza. The pies are cut into 10 slices instead of 8, making the eating process a little easier and adding a touch of class to the whole experience. The first time I tried the eggplant rollatini slice, it was heaven. At my home, I’ve tried to duplicate this special pizza, but I can’t manage to recreate those perfect little eggplant rollatini pinwheels like Cicero’s. They really burst with flavor with each bite.

The last time I got my hair done at Paul’s, I ordered an eggplant rollatini pizza pie to go as a special treat for my family. Everyone loved it. Some dishes cannot be reproduced at home, and this is one of them. Just like getting my hair done. I trust no one with my hair except Paul and my daughter-in-law, Christine, who also does hair: Only the best for this gal.

I gave up trying to make this special pizza at home, but I can still get the best ever eggplant rollatini pizza from Cicero’s after I get my hair done at De Carlo’s Salon. Talk about a double feature!

The next time you are in Rockland, venture over to Bardonia and stop in to DeCarlo’s and Cicero’s. You’ll leave with hair to envy and a pizza you will be hooked on for life!

DeCarlo’s
59 Bardonia Road
Bardonia, NY 10954
845-623-1353

Cicero’s
71 Bardonia Road
Bardonia, NY 10954
845-627-3436

Filed under: Recipes, resturant reviews | Leave a Comment »

Somebody Else’s Mom – Linda’s Cheesy Potatoes

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Somebody's Mom

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2 lb frozen bag cubed potatoes
1/ 2 cup butter
1 can Cheddar cheese soup
1 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
8 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese
salt and pepper

4 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese

1. Mix first 7 ingredients together well in an oven casserole 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle
the other 4 ounces of Cheddar cheese over the top of the potatoes.
2. Oven 350 degrees.
3. Bake 1 to 1 1/2 hours or untl bubbly and browned. Serves 10 to 12.
4. ENJOY – Great for Brunch or Lunch!

A new tradition was established for my family when my daughter, Marisa, married and moved to Buffalo four years ago. Easter weekend would be celebrated at her home, packed with family, cats, dogs, and a lotta love! In addition, we also get to enjoy her mother-in-law Linda’s special Easter brunch over at her home.

Every year our crew is late and the last to arrive. This year we were early and the first to arrive! We think Linda fooled us by telling us to be there an hour earlier than usual; it worked. As all our hungry eyes checked out the buffet brunch, we spotted something amiss: no sign of Linda’s famous, to-die-for Cheesy Potatoes. Panic began to set in and Mia, my daughter, whispered to me, “Where are the Cheesy Potatoes?” Not one to hold back, the words escaped from my lips “Linda, did you make your Cheesy Potatoes?” To our delight and relief, she had, in fact, made two pans. I swear there was a bit of a stampede towards those Cheesy Potatoes. I managed to squeeze in a picture of them before they disappeared – sorry your eyes were closed Linda!

Linda gave me the recipe, which I tweaked a little as I always like to do with recipes. A few nights ago, I had company for dinner, and my slightly revised version of the recipe is listed below.

All I know is when I offered to give my friends some Cheesy Potatoes to take home, they were thrilled, but my husband was a bit freaked out until he realized there was plenty left over for him to enjoy again.

Cheesy Potatoes are great for holidays or any day, especially when entertaining your extended family. Thanks Linda, we appreciate you and your Cheesy Potatoes!

Revised Cheesy Potatoes

2 lb frozen bag cubed potatoes
3 baked potatoes, cubed
1/4 onion chopped
5 tablespoons butter
1 can Cheddar cheese soup
1 cup sour cream
10 ounces milk
8 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese
salt and pepper

4 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese

1. Mix first 9 ingredients together well in an oven casserole 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle
the other 4 ounces of Cheddar cheese over the top of the potatoes.
2. Oven 350 degrees.
3. Bake 1 to 1 1/2 hours or untl bubbly and browned. Serves 10 to 12.

(I happened to have had leftover baked potatoes, which I peeled and cubed and added to the dish. I cut back the butter and it was fine and added 1/4 onion, chopped which I think enhanced the flavor just enough. I increased the milk a bit because of the added baked potatoes and the last thing I did was not put
any salt in but put pepper in. Which was a mistake because everyone agreed it needed salt. Otherwise, my daughter finished the leftovers the next day and
my husband didn’t get any after all!)

Filed under: breakfast, Cheese, Potatoes, Recipes | 2 Comments »

Leg of Lamb

Posted on March 24, 2013 by Somebody's Mom

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2 1/ 2 pounds boneless leg of lamb
2 or 3 fresh rosemary sprigs
3 garlic cloves
1 / 2 cup red wine
Salt and pepper

1. In a shallow marinating dish place boneless lamb.
2. Spear the lamb with a knife on fat skin side to create small holes. Cut the garlic into
long spear pieces and place in the holes of the lamb. Add fresh rosemary and pour the red wine
over the lamb. Cover and marinate for 2 hours in the refrigerator.
3. Oven to 325 degrees. Place the lamb into a oven baking dish. Place on center rack and cook 1 hour, remove from
oven and check the meat with a meat thermometer. The correct temperature for lamb for medium is 165 degrees inside the
center of the lamb. After one hour, it should not have reached this temp yet, so return to oven. Cook another 30 minutes
and check the meat again with the thermometer. After checking if the temp is still too low, cook again for no more than
15 to 20 minutes longer. I removed my lamb at a temperature of 157, because the lamb will continue to cook while sitting in
the dish on top of the oven before cutting into it. (Depending on the thickness of the cut of the meat, check the
center for a pinkish color. If the lamb is too rare for your taste cook a bit longer but
keep a close eye on it. Lamb should not be raw but it should be cooked medium rare. Definitely do not over cook your lamb.)
4. The aroma of the lamb with garlic in rosemary is delightful and makes for a delicious gravy. Serves 4 to 5. Suggestion – serve
with either roasted or mashed potatoes.
5. ENJOY – Lamb the other meat, we love to eat!

Traditional dishes are something I enjoy preparing when it comes to holiday dinners. It isn’t Easter without Leg of Lamb, as much as it isn’t St. Patrick’s Day
without Corned Beef and Cabbage. If nothing else, these holiday dishes are familiar and loved. Potatoes are always part of the menu whenever I prepare lamb.
But whatever you cook, I hope you enjoy it with those you love.

This year as well as the past few years, Easter will be spent at my daughter, Marisa’s home in Buffalo. Her and her husband, Jeff, host Easter every year since they were married four years ago. We all “Shuffle off to Buffalo”! All meaning, my other daughter, my son, his wife and their 3 children and their dog. Marisa and Jeff have a dog and 2 cats. Picture this – 10 people, 2 dogs, 2 cats and 2 bedrooms. It is very cozy and close. Marisa seems to love it, the first few days anyway. No matter how many times I offer to stay at a hotel, she just shrugs it off. You can’t have more togetherness as a family than this. We spend a total of 4 nights and 5 days thisclose. If that doesn’t bond our family together, nothing will!

Whether you spend the holidays near or far, may you spend them with those you love and hug!

Filed under: Meat, Recipes | 2 Comments »

Lemon Bread

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Somebody's Mom

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1/3 cup of butter, softened
3/4 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
grated rind of 1 lemon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Topping
1/ 8 cup sugar
juice of one lemon (1/ 4 cup)

1. Oven 350 degrees
2. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Add flour mixture along with milk to wet mixture. Fold in lemon rind and walnuts.
5. Pour into a greased loaf pan.
6. Bake for 60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool and remove from pan while still warm.
7. Poke some holes on top of bread with a fork. Mix topping of sugar and lemon juice. Spread over top of bread. Let stand overnight before slicing. (But we can’t wait in my house that long.)
ENJOY – Sweet and sour lemon loaf……

Filed under: Breads, Fruit, Recipes | Tagged: | 5 Comments »

Brioche Rolls

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Somebody's Mom

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1 1/ 3 cup milk
3 eggs
1/ 4 cup sugar
4 cups flour
5 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon salt
2 ½ teaspoons yeast

1. Mix together in a bowl until dough forms. (Or use the dough option on your bread machine.) Let dough rise and then knead again.
2. Divide dough into 12 or 16 large balls and an equal amount of very small balls. Place large balls of dough into greased muffin tins.
3. Press down in the center of each one to form an indentation into which you will place the smaller ball of dough. Cover muffin pans with a clean cloth.
Let rolls rise another 40 minutes or more.
4. Brush tops of rolls with a mixture of 1 beaten egg and 1/ 2 tablespoon of sugar.
5. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly golden.
6. Serve warm with butter.
7. ENJOY – I bet you can’t eat just one!

Can we talk? If you’re a subscriber to Somebody’s Mom, my gut tells me that you are already in my corner. I am not a perfect person, but I think my readers “get” me. I appreciate you and am delighted folks take an interest in my passion for cooking.

I have a bread machine that was given to me by my good friend, Kazue, over 15 years ago. When she had to return to Japan after residing in New York for a few years, she left her bread machine behind. Never having owned one, I was thrilled to become the honored recipient. I eventually came to the conclusion that what I enjoyed most was creating different types of dough more than using the machine to bake the actual loaf. I love the fact that it does the hardest part of preparing bread; it kneads the dough for you. I have made every kind of bread dough imaginable in my machine, such as potato, sweet potato, sour dough, dill, etc. I remove the dough after the dough cycle ends and then place it in individual mini loaf pans or muffin pans and allow it to rise again, for extra fluffy breads.

I’ve made Brioche many times before using my bread machine. One sad day, my bread machine started to smoke and the dough overflowed from the dough bucket inside the machine. Not one to waste good dough, I salvaged most of it and shaped it into rolls and placed them in greased muffin pans. To my great relief and delight, the rolls were delicious!

After 15 years of hard use, I figured my little inherited bread maker had lived way beyond its life expectancy. Seriously, if I get 10 to 12 years out of any of my machines, I feel I am ahead of the game. I mentioned to my husband, Tom, that I would be looking to buy a new bread machine, because I couldn’t live without one now. Tom said he could fix it; it’s in his DNA to tinker with something before he throws in the towel to buy something new. True to his word, he took apart the whole bread machine and patiently cleaned every nook and cranny, then put it back together. Perfect! No smoke came out and the pizza dough I made was fine. I should have known he would be able to fix my bread maker from what my friend, Tilly, had told me months earlier. She had a 25-year-old Robot Cupe food processor that wasn’t working. She told me she was confident that Tom could fix it. Sure enough, she asked Tom to take a look the next time he was at her house. He took the look, fixed it, and it is still working as of today.

Some things in life are worth fixing – even old kitchen machines!!

Filed under: Breads, Muffins, Recipes | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

Tom’s Carrots

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Somebody's Mom

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2 lbs carrots

water

1 cup dry white wine

3 1/2 tablespoons butter

salt and pepper

1.  Peel carrots and then rinse them under cold water.  Slice thin with a food processor or by hand, but try to keep them the slice the same size.

2.  Place the carrots into a 4 to 5 quart pot.  Cover them half way with water.  Bring the water to a boil and then turn the flame down to simmer.  Cook 15 to 20 minutes while stirring occasionally.  If any water is still left in the pot, then drain.

3.  Add 1 cup of dry white wine to the carrots.  Cook another 15 to 20 minutes until carrots are tender, stir occasionally.

4.  Add butter, salt and pepper to taste, and cook 5 minutes more.  Serve immediately.

7.  Enjoy -  Carrots never tasted so good!

Every year our family’s Christmas dinner is hosted by our son, Tom, and his wife, Christine.  Tom, a chip off the old block, enjoys cooking and trying new recipes for these holiday dinners.  Though he manages to serve new dishes every year, there is one dish that always appears on his menu: Tom’s Carrots. I named it Tom’s Carrots, and I look forward to having them every Christmas.  

This year after the holidays, I asked Tom for his recipe so I could share it with my Somebody’s Mom’s audience.  He gave me instructions over the phone, so please consider that every measured amount for each ingredient is actually an estimation on my part.  Tom (hey, he’s a guy after all) just provided the ingredients for his carrot dish.  

Fortunately, I have been cooking for a long, long time and a recipe without amounts does not deter me.  Most of my recipes are creations from someone telling me the basic ingredients of a dish they made and me figuring out the rest on my own!  Not every recipe is a hit on the first try, but most of them are pretty close.  Half the fun of cooking something new is the trial and error part.  This carrot recipe was one of the easier ones to figure out. 

So, till next time and my next experiment…..umm…..recipe, enjoy Tom’s Carrots. As mom used to say, “eat your carrots, they’re good for your eyes!”

 

 

 

Filed under: Recipes, Sides, Vegetables | 2 Comments »

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  • Somebody's Mom met Martha Stewart. I was invited to an event at her offices in Manhattan. My friend, Patti, came along. We were working the room of about 200 people, trying to give my card out. When all of sudden, who is standing in front of me, but Martha Stewart herself. She looks fanatastic. I introduced myself and told her how I was invited, (through the Macys cooking demo) and handed her my card. I forgot I had a camera with me and asked if I could take a picture with her. She said I could, and was so nice about it. Just as she was about to leave, I told her I brought her my sour cream coffee cake. She took it. Martha Stewart may actually taste my sour cream coffee cake. After that I was done, this was enought excitment for one night. Patti and I left to head home. As we were getting into the elevator, Patti whispered to me, "Hold the door, hold the door!" Who walks into the elevator with us, but Martha Stewart! She asked if we enjoyed the event while taking the elevator down with us. Martha and me, we bonded together for 9 floors and then she was gone. Maybe we will meet again. Hey, you never know! Thanks, Martha, it was fun!

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