Morsels of Megret

I have been tagged for a cooking blog "meme," a questionnaire of sorts! Imagine my surprise when I checked my comments recently and found this out. I had just last week been saying to Ken that I wish I'd get tagged for one of these fun little things. So thanks to Grommie at The Power of Cheese for tagging me. I have had so much fun preparing this. Hope all of you fellow food bloggers (and non-food-bloggers) enjoy this deeper insight into my culinary roots and habits. What is your first memory of baking/cooking on your own? Well, Mom informs me that I helped her in the kitchen at a very early age (as in 2). I don't have any memories of cooking until I was four, however. I remember cooking up a batch of alphabet sugar cookies from my Sesame Street Library book collection (with Mom's help, of course). I assisted Mom with lots of other food adventures, though....a gingerbread house, peanut brittle, egg nog, brownies, chocolate cakes (can you tell I have a sweet tooth...

Last night at home group, we had the food theme set up as "just like Mama used to make." Our families are all different, all unique, from different areas of the South (and country), so I was interested to see what panned out. Fried chicken led the menu parade, followed by mashed potatoes, Savannah red rice, green bean salad, green bean casserole, biscuits. The photo at the right shows us digging into the Mississippi Mud Cake and lemon icebox pie for finishers. Now that you're all grown up, take a few minutes today to relish in the memories of your mom's home cookin' (or grandma's). Funny how you can make the exact same recipe as she used, but it never does taste quite the same to you. Few things can top my memories of my own mom's brownies, chicken-rice casserole, and spaghetti sauce. I've tried to recreate that same feel when I make these recipes, but it's just not the same....it's not hers. Maybe that's why I tend to cook on the far extre...

I can't help but to hum this song as I partake of this red, ripe summer fruit. Did you know that strawberries are the only fruit who wear their seeds on the outside, by the way? I love these little jewels. They are so versatile....cereal toppers, waffle toppers, fruit salad inhabitants, smoothie ingredients, and even muffin enhancers. They are also, of course, delicious eaten plain (even without sugar on them....that just masks their natural sweetness!). I fell in love with strawberries as a young girl. As a family, we frequented Shoney's quite often after church services on Sunday nights. What did I always get? Even at age two, I could be found sitting there trying to make it through one of their signature strawberry sundaes. I fell absolutely in love with Strawberry Shortcake by age five....I had the complete room decor, the clothes, the stickers, the lunchbox. I always chose strawberry ice cream at the Baskin Robbins counter. Though things have changed (I've gotten ...

I spent a large part of my Sunday afternoon baking (or rather, waiting around while two separate doughs rose). First of all, I made a rye bread recipe for The Good Home Cookbook (see my post about becoming a tester). Rye bread isn't one of my favorite breads, and I wasn't too familiar with exactly how it should turn out. I baked the loaves in two loaf pans, and though I baked them for longer than the specified time, there was still a gooey part in the center of them. If I had baked them any longer, however, the edges would have been dried out too much. Any advice on how I could improve the texture and make the bread more homogeneous? Should I bake the loaves on sheets so they won't be as tall and harder for the heat to reach? Or is it mainly due to the fact that the rye breads have molasses in them, which ups the difficulty level of achieving a perfect loaf all by itself? Thanks in advance.... BUT, I made the famous pizza crust recipe (an earlier post, too) and began...

Yesterday was a blasting 92 degrees where we are, and the last thing I wanted to do was slave over a hot stove at the hottest hour of the day. I turned a dish I was going to serve hot into a cold dish instead.....with satisfactory results. Before it got unbearably warm, I cranked up the oven and made four (rather odd-shaped, as usual) French baguettes. I then threw together a Caprese Salad...fresh sliced garden tomatoes topped with fresh mozzarella slices, pesto, some olive oil, salt, and pepper. I then set to work on the main dish, a Whole-Wheat Penne Pasta with Tomatoes and Olives. It is a recipe that I came up with, inspired by a dish out of Vegetarian Times Cooks Mediterranean . The fresh basil packs a punch in this colorful, filling dish. I suggest eating it either at room temperature (antipasto-style) or chilled. Fresh summer tomatoes are a must for this fresh-tasting dish. And don't skimp on the feta. Whole-Wheat Penne Pasta with Tomatoes and Olives 8 oz. whole-wheat penne p...

Our Christmas in July party for our home group was last night. Crazy? Yes. Fun? Absolutely. We even rounded off the evening with lively Christmas tunes and a White Elephant Gift Extravaganza.

The tablescape was festive...sparkles everywhere, low lighting. The rest of the menu? Chicken & Dressing, Green Bean Casserole (of course!), Sweet Potato Souffle, Macaroni and Cheese, crescent rolls, hot apple cider. Delicious....even when it's 90-plus degrees outside.

I stumbled across an invitation to test recipes on a culinary blog that I frequent, Cooking With Amy . The testing is for a new-to-debut cookbook all about homecooking in America (especially immediately after World War II, when kitchens were thrown into high gear all across the country). I jumped at the chance. What a fun project! And if over five of my reviews are chosen, I get the cookbook free for my collection. Not bad. I have already received an email listing three recipes to begin testing. If you have a big passion about trying new recipes, leap for this opportunity. Read all about it here (email them to signup).

I stumbled across this cookbook by accident. As a naive 21-year-old girl, I suscribed to the Cooks Book Club (or something like that), one of those services where you get five cookbooks for a penny each, then commit to buying five more within the next two years. As much as I loved and used cookbooks, I figured it'd be worthwhile for me to try it out. I wrote down this title on my order card since it was all about baking, my favorite niche of cookery overall. When it arrived, I was blown away by how amazing this cookbook really is. It is from an actual bakery in California, successful for years, and the recipes inside are tried-and-true, delectable, carefully-chosen ones....I've yet to make a bad one. Now, let me preface by saying I haven't tried all of its recipes quite yet. The croissants look somewhat easy, yet I chicken out whenever I am inspired to try them. I aim to do so one day, however. What I have tried have all turned out ten thousand times better than I could hav...

This week, our home group theme was "Tapas Night." These little hors d'ouvres were a huge hit. The variety in the dishes couldn't have been more perfect! Mingling was the idea of the evening....little plates, lots of trips to the food table, lots of good conversation. We will have to repeat this one soon....I think everyone loved it. Pictured here, cucumber tea sandwiches.

Baked pita chips with black bean hummus.

Wings n' things.

Mini pizzas.

Fried ravioli.

Spinach-artichoke dip.

Veggies and dip. Yay for some green on the table!!

Jennie's mini blueberry cheesecake tarts.

Jake, Brian, and Ben.

Sara and Jennie (and babies).

Skye.

I put to good use today the orchard-fresh peaches that I purchased at Callaham's....I baked a succulent peach-blueberry crisp. Topped with a scoop of low-fat vanilla frozen yogurt, it was heaven in a bowl. And not a dessert to make you feel guilty afterwards, either, mind you. I took the liberty to alter the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook recipe to make it more Meg-friendly (i.e., health-conscious)....I used whole wheat pastry flour instead of white, used raw cane sugar instead of granulated, and organic steel cut oats in place of regular. It's always a risk to switch things out like that, but this time, it resulted in a winner (thus said our tastebuds). One bite of anything peachy, and your mouth turns into a slow smile. "Mmmm...it's summer." May summer last forever.

We journeyed to Callaham's Peach Orchard yesterday. We could not leave without purchasing some of their delicious produce. I now have a 1/2 gallon of juicy peaches and a pint of blackberries in my kitchen, waiting to be turned into something wonderful.

Plums, farm fresh and oh-so-tart.

Ken and I got the opportunity to go on a date last night, just the two of us. That is an escape that is not as common as it once was before parenthood, and so we relish every minute together when we have an evening like that. We headed to Greenville, a town 30 miles away, to eat at one of our favorite downtown spots, Trio . The brick-oven pizzaria boasts many other types of menu items as well....calzones, homemade pastas, etc. Ken and I almost always get personal pizzas, though, since their selections are so culinarily creative. I always eat three pieces, he eats five....then we have several to take home for the next day's lunch. It works out well. I opted out of my favorite pizza, Pizza Marguerita, for BLT pizza this time around. It's just what it sounds like....tomato sauce, fresh tomatoes, sizzling bacon pieces, cheddar cheese, all topped with mayo-coated lettuce. (Lettuce on a pizza? Oh, yeah. Don't knock it till you try it.) Ken selected the White Pie, a slathering o...

Our garden is starting to roll in its bounty....so much that we can't keep up with it all (that's not a bad thing). We have zucchini coming out of our ears, and we also noticed yesterday that it won't be longer than a week before we have armloads of corn and okra to harvest in. I struggled to find out what to do with all of the zucchini....and I have come up with some really nice recipes. They are very varied, so we've yet to grow tired of this vegetable. Just look at the array: - Whole Foods Market's Summer Soba Noodle Salad - Zucchini-Walnut bread (I made this last night....delish) - Penne with Zucchini and Ricotta (a Cooking Light recipe) - Cheese-Stuffed Zucchini Boats Among my future recipes to try include: Zucchini Parmesan, Oven-Fried Zucchini Chips, and my old-standby, Thai Chicken Curry with Zucchini over Rice Noodles. Anyone have any more zucchini recipes that I could steal? I have a feeling I will run out of new recipes to try way before I run out of...

So.....I received a call from the assistant editor of Cooking Light this afternoon as I was trying to balance the two tasks of feeding Gardner his lunch and steaming green peas on the stove. She explained to me that one of the recipes I'd remitted a few months back had been chosen by their test kitchens for publication. My heart lept, my stomach flip-flopped. I couldn't believe it. I had about as crazy a reaction two Novembers ago as I calmly sat on my couch with a cup of chai tea, opening the newest issue I'd received in the mail. As I turned the page, I saw my name, my recipe, and even a beautiful photo of my submitted Wholesome Morning Granola . I fell off of the couch, and Ken came running. I couldn't dream of it happening twice to the same girl....a novice "chef"....housewife, even. I do not want to toot my own horn, but instead I just want to share this tidbit, feeling that you will rejoice with me as my culinary friends. Please look for my "App...

I was in a "let's use fresh fruit in my cooking" mood today, and so when planning the menu for tonight's dinner guest (Cpl. Jason Richbourg, dropping in on us while on leave from his Marines unit), I opted for two dishes which spotlighted two different fruits. The first is technically a dish that should be reserved for the onset of the autumn season....Apple-Cheddar Spoonbread....comfort food at its finest....but Ken convinced me to make it tonight. It was certainly a winner, as most of Southern Living's recipes are (albiet not very health-conscious). For dessert, Ken pleaded with me not to make something chocolate. (That's right, everyone, I, a chocolate enthusiast (to put it mildly), married a man who doesn't care for the stuff.) So, I opted for the next best thing....a lemony flavored "something" that fits perfectly into a sweltering, summer day. I did not have the time to make ice cream, nor the ingredients on hand....so I turned to ol' t...