"A Call for Help in a Season of Hope"

"An Old Fashioned Rescue, the Sequel" is now available online. Just click here.

"A Winner"

I loved reading about all of your sticky, gooey holiday projects.

They gave me some great ideas. As if my kitchen isn't messy enough.
Sara L's kitchen is going to sparkle despite making Christmas cookies with her 3 year old. Brave mama that she is. She is the winner of these festive, eco-friendly dish clothes.

The entire line of designs is available on line at Iverson's Imports. Just click here. Or visit their adorable store in St. Louis Park.

Congrats to Sara!! Sara, e-mail me your address asap to trish.vanpilsum@foxtv.com. I'd love to get these out today so you can have them by Christmas.

"One Day Give Away: Christmas Clean Up"

You won't believe it, but these flat little things...... are the best dishcloths I've ever used.

I mean, I haven't used these exact ones. They're brand new. And they are my gift to whoever wins this drawing.

Before I tell you how to win them, let me tell you a little bit about the dishcloths.
They come from Sweden but they are designed by a local guy who happens to be my brother-in-law. But that's not why I think they are the best dishcloths ever.
I think that because they absorb like crazy. Which means they wipe up the kitchen counter like a dream. And they wring out super easily. They are not bulky and hard to handle like some sponges and dishcloths.
And here's the best part: They're eco friendly!!

They're 70% cellulose, which is sustainable. Yay!! 30% cotton. They soften when you get them wet. There are many other cute designs for outside of the holiday season... birds, flowers, whatnot. I got a super cute loon pattern for the cabin.

Since these festive designs will be perfect for holiday clean up all you have to do to enter is let me know in the comment section what is the messiest thing you will cook this holiday season. I want to get these mailed right away so the winner gets them by Christmas. So the contest closes Tuesday at 9 PM Central time. Good Luck!

"Kate's in the Kitchen"

My friend Kate is awfully good in the kitchen. She writes a beautiful blog about her passion for food and cooking. The photos are gorgeous. Her writing, too.

Right now she's competing in the Iron Foodie 2010 Contest. Sort of a food bloggers version of the Iron Chef, one of the few TV shows my husband and I both love to watch.

Kate and 24 other competitors each received 8 secret ingredients. They had to use at least three of those ingredients to create a recipe. You should see the delicious soup Kate dreamed up. It looks fantastic. I can't wait to make it for my daughter when she comes home for Christmas. I just know she'll love it.

To see the soup and to vote for Kate's recipe, click here.

"Chicken Pomodoro"

I love... ...this dish.

Because it is quick. It is easy. But.

When it is done it looks kind of special.

And it tastes simple and delicious. My family loves it. I do, too.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

3 or 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts pounded into six cutlets

3 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 cup cup vodka

1 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 cup fresh tomatoes, chopped

1/4 cup heavy cream

Instructions:

1. Season cutlets with salt and pepper, then dust with flour.

2. Coat a saute pan with nonstick spray and add vegetable oil and heat over medium-high.

3. Saute cutlets on both sides until nicely browned. Transfer cutlets to a platter. Pour off fat from pan.

4. Turn off flame and deglaze the pan with the vodka (**Don't pour vodka near an open flame).

5. Turn heat back on and cook until vodka is nearly evaporated.

6. Add chicken broth and lemon juice.

7. Return cutlets to pan and cook on each side for 1 minute. Transfer cutlets to a warm platter.

8. Finish sauce with tomatoes and cream. Heat through and pour over cutlets.

9. Garnish with scallions if you like.

Here are the photo instructions.

Once you start cooking things go fast, so get everything ready ahead of time.

Squeeze 1/2 cup lemon juice.

Chop 1 cup fresh tomatoes.

Measure our 1/2 cup vodka, 1 cup chicken broth and 1/4 cup heavy cream.

Here's how Cuisine at Home says you should make cutlets:

Slice the chicken breasts in half.

Cover them with a thick plastic wrap such as freezer wrap or put them in a freezer bag.

Pound using gentle, glancing taps. That should keep them smooth and give them an even thickness. Make them about 1/4 inch thick.

A meat mallet or hammer works best. We don't have one. So...

... we use this thing. Whatever it is. I usually ask my husband to do this part of the recipe because I just hate to work with raw chicken.

Now you're ready to salt and pepper the cutlets well and dust them with flour.

Spray a saute pan with non stick spray. Put 3 Tablespoons of vegetable oil in the pan. Heat over medium-high.

When the oil is hot, saute the cutlets on both sides...

... until they're nicely browned.

Transfer cutlets on to a platter.

Pour off the fat from the pan.

Turn off the flame or move the pan away from the flame.

Deglaze the pan with vodka. You do not want to pour vodka around fire. Yikes!

Once the vodka is in the pan put it back on the heat.

Cook the vodka until it's almost evaporated.

Add the chicken broth and lemon juice.

Return the cutlets to the pan and cook on each side for 1 minute. (Sorry, forgot to take a picture of this stage).

Put the cutlets on a warm serving platter.

Finish the sauce by...

... adding the tomatoes and cream.

Heat through.

This only takes a couple of minutes.

Pour the sauce over the cutlets.

Garnish with scallions if you like. I don't because my family just picks 'em off.

I serve with rice. We like to spoon the extra sauce over the rice. Yum!

This is one of my son's favorites.
And if he's happy, I'm happy.

"Deardorff's Apple Crisp"

I got the recipe for this delicious apple crisp at Deardorff's Orchards and Winery in Waconia, Minnesota.

I didn't take step by step photos this time. I will the next time I make it. But I wanted to get the recipe out to you right away because I loved it so much.

Ingredients:

Filling
6-8 tart apples (I use Haralson) peeled, cored and sliced (about 2 pounds)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Topping:
1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter
1 cup flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
optional: 1/2 tsp vanilla (I used)
1/4 tsp ground coriander (I didn't use because it may be the one spice I don't have in
my kitchen).

Instructions:
1. Lightly butter 9x13 inch pan (I like a glass pan) (use unsalted butter for this).
2. Mix all topping ingredients together and set aside.
3. stir apple slices and cinnamon and sugar mixture.
4. Fill pan with apples and sugar mixture.
5. Cover with topping mixture.
6. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.
7. Lower temperature to 350 and bate for 15 to 20 minutes. Topping should be browned and apples bubbling.

"Freezing Sweet Corn"

Many years ago I sat in the kitchen of an Iowa farm house and ate the best frozen corn I have ever had in my life. Then or since.


It was my dad's cousin's kitchen. Among my Iowa relatives food was always at the heart of hospitality.


I will never forget how much I enjoyed that corn, sweet and crisp months after the sweet corn season. I just couldn't believe it. I remember how my cousin laughed when I praised it over and over again.

Decades later I still wondered if I could replicate it.

This year I decided to try.

I started with three dozen ears of fresh sweet corn from my favorite produce stand.

They assured me it had been picked just that morning. I peeled it, washed it and removed as much of the silk as I could. I also broke off the extra stems.

I blanched the corn in a pot of rapidly boiling water. (It was rapidly boiling before I put the corn in). I didn't salt the water.

I read many different versions of this particular technique. Times for blanching the corn varied from 5 to 10 minutes.

I actually only cook good fresh sweet corn for six minutes if I'm going to eat it so for freezing I decided to reduce the time I blanched the corn to 4 minutes.
I like a nice, crisp kernel.

Here's another blanching tip: don't try to cram too many ears of corn in the pot at once. Three or four at most. I did two pots at once to speed the process.

Then I immediately put the corn in an ice bath until it cooled. This is to keep it from continuing to cook. Leave it in the bath for about the same amount of time as it was in the boiling water.

While I was blanching and cooling my husband was cutting the blanched corn off the cob.

It's really nice to have a second person for this job.

He used a corn cutting device I spotted at Williams Sonoma. It worked great.

You can use a sharp knife.

I've also seen those round corn cutters that slide down over the whole cob. Those would probably make quick work of the job, but I liked the way this cutter gave us control over how deep we cut the kernels.

We nibbled on some kernels. They were sweet and delicious. The key to keeping them this way is to freeze them with as little air as possible. So why I took no photos of this part of the process is beyond me. Sorry about that.

We put the corn in quart sized Ziplock baggies. We put varying amounts in each bag figuring we'd use them for different things. Some for eating. Some for adding to soup or stew, etc.

We put a straw in the bag and closed the zipper around the straw. We sucked out all the air we could and then quickly took the straw out and zipped the baggie closed. We got pretty close to a vacuum seal.

Some how I just thing these little bags of summer sunshine are going to make this winter a little more bearable.