M&M Cookies

Let the official holiday baking season begin!

My oldest daughter is a cellist in our local youth symphony (I love saying she's a cellist rather than she plays the cello!) and has the first holiday event on our calendar tomorrow night with a party immediately following practice so I was excited about baking something for her. She was content with brownies from a box but I wasn't so I turned to the bag of holiday M&Ms in the pantry. I started a tradition this year of sending cookies in pretty little bags to the girls' teachers every Monday so I figured cookies with cheerful M&Ms would be perfect for this time of year.

I have no idea where I found this recipe; it just lives in my tried and true treasure box of recipes. It is written in my 19 year-old handwriting so it must have landed there when I was in college. I can't say that there is anything particularly unique about this cookie recipe; I just know it works so it's the one I use. It is such a fun recipe to make with kids!

The recipe calls for shortening as opposed to butter, but I will always, always choose fat with flavor when it comes to cookies. Sometimes I will use half Crisco and half butter, but for this, I prefer all butter. Feel free to use shortening if you want fluffier cookies. The dough is a little bit sticky so I do recommend sticking it in the fridge for half an hour or so if you have time. I didn't and my cookies turned out just fine.

I make these year round but particularly love using holiday candies!

M&M Cookies (click for printable version)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter (or shortening)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 bag of M&Ms

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift flour, salt, and baking soda into a bowl. Set aside.

Cream butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Cream until fluffy.

With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour. Fold in M&Ms.

Drop by teaspoon onto parchment lined sheets.

Bake for 10 minutes or until very lightly browned. Do not overbake these cookies.

Lavonne's Cranberry Fluff

Yesterday was my birthday and I received a very unexpected gift; I ran into my friend Lavonne while I was out running errands! I was grateful not only for the two hugs she gave me but also for the chance to tell her in person how much we enjoyed her cranberry fluff on Thanksgiving. When she sent me the recipe, Lavonne had it titled Cranberry Salad (Fluff). Given the joy it brings me to name recipes on my blog after the people who share them, I quickly named it Lavonne's Cranberry Fluff!

Lavonne and I have been friends for many years but since she retired as front office secretary (one of the very hardest jobs in any school!) two years ago, I don't often get the chance to see her. I used to love going into the front office to swap recipes with Lavonne and I truly miss her being at our school! A few years ago, Lavonne brought her version of cranberry salad for a school potluck and I fell in love with it. I decided this year that I would love to add it to our Thanksgiving table and we were all glad that I did!

My grandmother used to make a dish she called 24 Hour Salad that was very similar to this one and while I love that one at Christmas, this is perfect for Thanksgiving. The whole berry cranberry sauce gives it just the right tartness.

Knowing how much I love the stories behind recipes, Lavonne shared with me where she got this one. It was passed down to her by her mother-in-law Elizabeth who has since passed away. She began working in her local school cafeteria in Pulaski, TN when her daughter started school and retired from Bridgeforth Middle School. She loved cooking for the kids and for her own family. I feel certain Lavonne must have plenty of treasured recipes from her mother-in-law as many of our own family recipes came from my great aunt who also cooked in a school cafeteria. I also imagine that Lavonne's mother-in-law was delighted that her son married such a great cook!

When Lavonne sent me the recipe, she said that she makes her fluff a little nuttier than the recipe calls for and since my life is always a little nutty, I opted for Lavonne's variation! I am just putting the amount I used in the recipe below. She also said that the marshmallows are optional but they just weren't for me; in they went!

I made this a day ahead of when I served it and it gave it just enough time to set up well. Be sure to purchase the whole berry sauce as opposed to the jellied kind.

May you love the fluff as we do and may you always unexpectedly run across a friend as good as Lavonne on your birthday!

Lavonne's Cranberry Fluff (click for printable recipe)

1 16 oz. can of whole berry cranberry sauce
1  20 oz. can of crushed pineapple, drained well
1 16 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1 8 oz container of Cool Whip, thawed
2 cups of small marshmallows

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Beef Bourguignon with Parmesan Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Beef bourguignon. Julia Child. The two go hand in hand and so, consequently, for most of my adult life I have been too intimidated to try what I thought would be a quite difficult French classic. Thank goodness my chef friend John helped me move past that fear by sharing this recipe that is anything but complicated! My hope is that you, too, will be seduced by the simplicity of it and will give it a try yourself.

John is a highly trained (think Johnson Wales) chef whom I have had the privilege of teaching with for close to nine years now. He also happens to be a phenomenal teacher! I love sharing recipes with John and learning many of his inside tricks when it comes to cooking and baking. A few years ago John invited me to dinner and game night at his house and he served this recipe. When he opened the door to welcome me into his home, the smell was heavenly and I knew dinner was going to be superb. John was kind enough to share his mom's recipe with me and I made plans to make the dish the following weekend.

True story: my own family cheers when they find out this dish is on the menu and my 11-year-old even eats the mushrooms. I love making it for us on a Sunday because once I get it in the oven, my work is done for several hours and I can just relax.

The traditional recipe calls for Burgundy wine and while that will definitely work, my friend Angela suggested trying Pinot Noir in it so that is generally what I use.

Be sure to buy high quality stew beef and to brown it in very small batches. If you don't, the meat will turn gray but won't brown and that browning is a key part of the flavor. Also, make sure you add beef broth and wine in equal portions if you find it needs more liquid when you add the mushrooms and onions. I almost always end up adding more of both at this point as I am worried about the stew drying out. If you get too much liquid, you can always take the lid off and bake it a little longer to thicken up.

John served the beef bourguignon over Parmesan roasted garlic mashed potatoes and there was no way I would do anything but the same! His recipe came from Publix and it was perfect. As most of my regular readers know, I always reach for Sartori cheesed (found in the fine cheeses section of the grocery store) for cooking and I definitely recommend their Parmesan for this recipe. You can either shred your own or use one of their shredded blends. Sartori has an incredible MontAmore that I may try next time I make this dish. If you have not tried any of their cheeses, go to the store now to get some. Now. You will thank me.

You will need roasted garlic for the mashed potatoes and while there are plenty of recipes for roasting garlic available online, John's technique is way simpler so I suggest trying it. He advised me to just buy the pre-peeled cloves of garlic from the produce section and then place them in the middle of a square of aluminum foil, drizzle olive oil over the cloves, and then pull the corners of the foil up to twist the top like a clove. Brilliant! You then just pop the packet in the oven at 350 degrees for about half an hour or until they are soft and fragrant. I usually double wrap it just to be sure the oil does not leak out. You can bake this right along with the beef bourguignon.

The last important part of this recipe is to be sure to invite friends or family over so that you can completely convince them that you have mastered a Julia Child recipe!

Beef Bourguignon (click for printable recipe)

1/4 cup olive oil
3 lbs. stew beef
3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup beef broth
1 cup dry red wine
8 oz fresh mushrooms, quartered
1 bag of frozen pearl onions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Brown meat in three separate batches to avoid overcrowding and underbrowning. Add more olive oil if necessary as you brown. Return all meat to the pan and sprinkle with flour. Stir. Slowly add broth and wine being sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Add salt, pepper, and thyme.

Cover the pot and place in oven for 2 hours.

Add mushrooms and onions. Stir. Add more wine and broth in equal parts if mixture seems dry. Be sure to add enough to allow mushrooms and onions to absorb liquid.

Cover and return to oven for 1 1/2 hours. If it is not thick enough for your tastes, remove the lid and return to the oven for 10 -15 more minutes.

Serve over Parmesan Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes.

Parmesan Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes (click for printable recipe)

1 1/2 - 2 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed well but not peeled and quartered
3 Tablespoons salted butter
3 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream
6 cloves of roasted garlic
1/2 cup shaved or shredded Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Boil potatoes until they can be pierced with a fork. Drain. Return to pot and mash with a hand masher over low heat so that liquid will steam off.

While potatoes are boiling, heat cream and butter in a small saucepan over low heat until butter melts. Add slowly to mashed potatoes.

If potatoes need it, add a little more cream or milk.

Stir in cheese, garlic, salt, and better.

Parmesan Chicken and Wild Rice Bake

If you are anything like me, you are always in need of a great go-to recipe for your family or to share with someone who needs a meal! My own repertoire was seeming overused to me but this addition to my collection was a success with my own family and with friends I have shared it with.

Earlier this fall my mom, sister, and I went out to visit family in Washington state where my aunt and uncle prepared an incredible meal of chicken, wild rice, and broccoli. Turns out that wild rice is a side dish I never realized I needed in my life!

I immediately started thinking about a way to use it in a casserole and remembered several I have tried over the years. I knew most of them had water chestnuts and since I am not a huge fan of those, I started looking for one that was a little different. After a pretty extensive search, I landed on one from Better Homes and Gardens.

The basic recipe sounded quite good to me but I knew I wanted to change it up a little bit. I didn't want all of the other flavors from a boxed wild rice mix, so instead I bought a jar of wild rice mix that only had the rice in it and substituted that for the one called for in the original recipe.

You could certainly use the boxed kind if you wanted to but I found the results with this to be perfect. I bought this one in the rice section of Kroger and while it was a little pricey (about $7 for the jar) I know I can get at least three casseroles out of it. You could also just use any other wild rice you find. I just know that this one worked great and that it only took about 20 minutes to cook the rice.

Aside from the lack of water chestnuts in this recipe, I was also drawn to the Parmesan cheese it calls for as most other recipes do not use this ingredient. I am a HUGE fan of Sartori cheeses (as you can tell from other blog posts!) so of course that was my go to for this part. You can find the grated Sartori in the fine cheese section of your grocery store. The bag lasts for quite a while and is a much better alternative to other "shakey cheeses" as we call grated parmesan in our house!

I also love the depth that the white wine adds to this recipe. It only calls for about 1/3 of a cup but it adds so much flavor overall. My preference for white wine in recipes is Sauvignon Blanc but any dry white wine would work fine. I would avoid cooking wine as it often makes recipes too salty for my tastes.

The original recipe calls for a can of cream of chicken soup which you could certainly use for convenience, but I really and truly believe my homemade "cream of" soup makes any casserole recipe a hundred times better. It doesn't take that long and the recipe makes enough for two casseroles which means one can go in the freezer for another meal. I do suggest thinning the frozen one out a little with a tablespoon or two of milk.

I wanted a little crunch to the casserole so the addition of about 1/2 a cup of chopped pecans the top accomplished this.

If you have access to fresh basil, by all means, include it to the recipe for even more flavor!

Parmesan Chicken and Wild Rice Bake (Click for printable recipe)

2 cups of cooked, shredded chicken (rotisserie works great!)
3 cups cooked wild rice
1 small onion, chopped
1 stalk of celery, chopped
2 tablespoons of butter
1/2 a recipe of homemade "cream of" soup (see below) or 1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan (always Sartori brand for me)
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a two quart baking dish.

Prepare rice, chicken, and "cream of" soup if using homemade.

In a small skillet over medium low heat, sauté onions and celery until softened.

Mix together onions, celery, soup, sour cream, white wine, salt, pepper, and basil. Combine chicken and wild rice in a large bowl. Stir together with soup mixture.

Pour mixture into casserole dish and top with parmesan and chopped pecans.

Bake uncovered for 25 - 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Homemade "Cream Of" Soup

1/3 C. finely chopped celery
1/3 C. finely chopped onion
1/3 C. butter
1/3 C. flour
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. black pepper
1/4 t. celery seed
1/4 t. poultry seasoning
1 3/4 C. chicken broth
2/3 C. milk

In a large pot or skillet, sautee onions, celery, and mushrooms in butter over medium heat until soft.  Add flour and seasonings.  Stir and cook for 1 minute.  Slowly stir in broth and milk.  Whisk over medium low heat until mixture has thickened.

Marinated Chickpea Salad

If you are anything like me, by this point in the school year you need a few more recipes up your sleeve to pack in lunches! I have one for you that is fabulously healthy and delicious.

In the midst of a fairly busy life, one dot on my calendar that I always look forward to is the monthly meeting of our Mother Daughter Book Club. I am not sure those words should all be capitalized according to the rules of standard grammar but in my head, they need to be capitalized because this group is that important to me.

Close to two years ago my oldest daughter, Kitely, read a book called The Mother Daughter Book Club and asked me if we could form one of our own. I loved the idea and helped her arrange the first meeting but honestly figured this would be something that would be fun for a bit but as a skeptical adult didn’t think our group would have the same staying power that the fictional girls in the novel had. I am so very happy to report that I was way wrong about this!

The girls decided together that they wanted to keep the club small so there are only four daughters and four mothers in it. We meet once a month and whoever is hosting the meeting chooses the book. We all read the book and the girls bring questions that drive our discussion. It is so much fun to see what we learn about each girls’ personality from her choices. Often when the girls are talking about the books the space seems so sacred and I find myself eternally grateful that my daughter chooses this activity for a Friday night. I love imagining where these girls will be a couple of years from now and what they will choose to read. I cannot even fathom what a hole there will be in my life once these girls leave home and we no longer meet so I usually quickly reign my thoughts in and focus on just how lovely this feels in the moment.

In addition to choosing the book, the hostess (with lots of help from the moms!) provide the meal for the club so consequently, I have collected plenty of good recipes over the past couple of years! The last time we met, my sweet friend Daphne made a chickpea salad for our main dish and everybody, including the eleven and twelve-year-olds, loved it. In fact, when I told Kitely I was making it for our lunches she squealed. Squealed. Over chickpeas. That should tell you how good this recipe is!

Daphne found this recipe in a Martha Stewart cookbook and said she has been making it for quite awhile. I snapped a picture of it to remember the basic recipe and then made a few changes to it to make it my own. One of the things I did to save time was to use canned chickpeas as opposed to cooking my own. I was worried about them being mushy but I solved that problem by using Bush’s chickpeas. Bush’s is always my go-to for canned beans and they never disappoint! Feel free to cook your own chickpeas according to the directions on a bag of dried ones. For another time saver I switched out the fresh herbs for dried Greek seasoning. You could use any brand here, but I love, love, love the kind from Zoe’s Kitchen!

I hope you enjoy it as much as our Mother Daughter Book Club does!

Marinated Chickpea Salad (click for printable recipe)

1 garlic clove, minced (I use the kind that you squeeze from a bottle)

1 teaspoon cracked black pepper

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 Tablespoons olive oil

¾ teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon Greek seasoning (I love the kind I buy at Zoe’s Kitchen)

2 cans of chickpeas, rinsed well and drained

1 English cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced finely

½ green bell pepper, diced finely

1 cup carrots, julienned (I buy the kind shredded in a bag to save time)

2 shallots, diced finely

grape or cherry tomatoes, quartered (I don’t add these until right before serving)

Whisk first seven ingredients together until thoroughly mixed. Combine all remaining ingredients except for tomatoes in a bowl and top with dressing mixture. Allow to refrigerate overnight and add tomatoes just before serving.

Verdant Cobb Salad

     I am going to just admit right up front that the title of this recipe is pretentious. I should also admit that I am not entirely positive that I used the word "verdant" correctly. All I know is that the salad I made tonight was comprised almost entirely of green produce so verdant just seemed right to me. If it doesn't to you, I am okay with it. I will just keep calling it verdant in my head!

    After many, many, many days of indulgent meals and snacks over the holidays, all I was craving tonight was a fresh, crisp salad with minimally processed ingredients. I have always loved the design of cobb salads and often play around with the ingredients that I neatly line up in rows so that's the direction I went with tonight. I also used the salad as a means of teaching my ten-year-old daughter how to chop fruits and vegetables and how to line them up nicely on the platter. It is never too early to teach about the aesthetics of food preparation!

    I always start with a nice crisp green lettuce so tonight I layered a platter with chopped romaine lettuce. Our Costco has artisanal romaine hearts in a pack of five for only $3 so I usually grab a pack every week. One heart makes a perfect sized salad for our family.

    For our toppings we used a Granny Smith apple, an English cucumber, an avocado, pistachio nuts (shelled by my four-year-old!), feta cheese, and shredded chicken. For the chicken, rotisserie works great but we have found that our local BBQ restaurant, Archer's, has great smoked and pulled chicken. If you have a good BBQ restaurant close to you, I suggest purchasing your chicken from them. If you live in the Knoxville area and haven't tried Archer's, go now! They have fantastic meats!

    You could certainly use any bottled vinaigrette dressing to save time, but those of you who follow my blog know how much I love a good homemade salad dressing! In fact, we are down to one lone bottle of ranch dressing for Emory, my four-year-old, in the fridge since I have found that I always end up making fresh ones despite the number of open dressing we have. For this salad, I opted to use a variation from a salad I love on http://allrecipes.com (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/9237/winter-fruit-salad-with-lemon-poppyseed-dressing/). I used olive oil as opposed to the vegetable oil the recipe calls for and switched out half the lemon juice for lime. I also used dried "shaky" onions (as my friend Angela calls dehydrated minced onion) to save time. I almost always blend my salad dressings with my immersion blender or food processor. I really think the flavors just meld together better so I do advise doing this.

    My daughter, Kitely, suggested we garnish with raspberries but I happened to have some pomegranate arils left from a recent batch of my Winter Guacamole so I scattered a few around the top.

    If you are also feeling the need for something verdant, this salad might be just what you need!

Verdant Cobb Salad (click for printable version)

1 head of romaine lettuce, chopped
1 Granny Smith apple, diced
1 cucumber, diced (I like the peel left on for this salad)
1 avocado, diced
feta cheese
pistachio nuts, shelled

Lemon Lime Poppyseed Dressing:

1/2 cup white sugar
2/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 Tablespoon dried, minced onion
1 teaspoon whole-grain or Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon poppy seeds

Layer romaine lettuce on a large platter. Make a strip of apple on top of lettuce. Continue with strips of cucumber, avocado, chicken, feta, and pistachio nuts. Garnish with pomegranate arils if desired.

For dressing, combine all ingredients and either blend together or shake vigorously. Allow to sit for at least half an hour for onion to soften and flavors to combine.